An Absolutely Horrific Patriots Loss, the Rams-49ers Travel Bowl, and Hottest Takes With Craig Horlbeck, Danny Heifetz, and Danny Kelly

10 Sep 2026 · 1 h 12 min · 37 chapters

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In short

The episode is about the Patriots’ disastrous Week 1 loss to the Seahawks, plus “travel bowl” talk for Rams-49ers in Australia, and broader “hottest takes” including fantasy fallout and sports media notes.

Guests

Craig Horlbeck (Seahawks fan; praises Seahawks OC Brian Fleury for managing Drew Lock, and Seahawks coach Mike McDonald for aggressive defense and finding practice-squad corners), Danny Heifetz (discusses Sam Darnold’s hip injury details from Adam Schefter, critiques Drake May’s decision-making and mechanics, and frames the loss as a “Super Bowl hangover” horror-movie pattern), Danny Kelly (focuses on Patriots’ lack of third-down aggressiveness, Seahawks defensive pressure, and evaluates Seahawks RB/rookie Jadarian Price’s burst and zone-running fit).

Key claims

Patriots played scared, left the door open, and Drake May’s three interceptions (including two on underthrown deep balls) plus late-game forced throws doomed them. Seahawks’ defense (Byron Murphy, Leonard Williams, Derek Hall, plus late interceptions by Nehemiah Pritchett and Rodney Thomas’s tipped ball) turned the game. Darnold’s hip injury: CT encouraging but inconclusive; MRI scheduled.

Notable examples

Patriots’ conservative first-quarter and multiple failed/settled drives; Seahawks’ fourth-and-one TD to JSN; Patriots’ final-drive collapse after converting fourth downs. Fantasy angle: AJ Brown and Drake May were major busts; Brock Bowers’ sudden meniscus surgery was a shock.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Patriots Game Disappointment

1:28 to 2:10

The hosts express their disappointment over the Patriots' recent loss.

“this week talladega nights this seemed like such a great idea pat seahawks opening night sam darnold gets hurt in the first series which kind of sucked and it felt like the season parted for the New England Patriots.”

Game Analysis: Missed Opportunities

2:10 to 2:54

Discussion on the Patriots' lack of aggressiveness and missed opportunities.

“Danny, you're a Seahawks fan, Danny Kelly.”

Drake May's Performance

2:54 to 3:55

In-depth analysis of Drake May's performance and mistakes during the game.

“I don't really have a lot of confidence in Drew Locke as like a quarterback long-term, but I thought that Brian Fleury, the Seahawks' new offensive coordinator, did a pretty good job of managing it for him in this game.”

Seahawks' Defensive Strategy

3:55 to 4:48

Exploration of the Seahawks' defense and its impact on the game.

“tonight Drake maybe for Drew Locke who says no Bill the Drake maybe I did have Sal in my head this really could if the Cowboys are good and Drake maybe just completely goes into a tailspin this year.”

Coaching Impact on the Game

4:48 to 6:05

Discussion on the coaching strategies that influenced the game outcomes.

“Like, he maybe had that last, that third interception, which was obviously his worst play of the game.”

Game's Critical Moments

6:05 to 7:35

Analyzing key moments that defined the game for both teams.

“Yeah, I think in that, you're right, that was kind of the knock on him coming in.”

Post-Game Reflections

7:35 to 12:31

Hosts reflect on the game and discuss potential future implications.

“Well, it's just concerning because he beat so many backup quarterbacks last year that now, you know, it's concerning.”

Injury Updates and Discussions

13:39 to 14:00

The hosts discuss injury updates, focusing on Sam Darnold and others.

“We're within a month with NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV.”

Discussion on Sam Darnold's Injury

14:27 to 18:06

The hosts analyze Sam Darnold's hip injury and its implications.

“I just complained about the Keyshawn booty trade for the entire break.”

Evaluation of Drew Locke

18:06 to 20:44

The group evaluates Drew Locke's performance and potential as a quarterback.

“like you kind of forget how just how hard it is to run an offense during an NFL game.”
Show all 37 chapters

Patriots Offensive Line and Trade Analysis

20:44 to 24:14

A discussion on the Patriots' offensive line and the implications of recent trades.

“Mike Vrabel must have been in the production booth cutting to Romeo Dobbs' face.”

Seahawks Running Game and Player Performances

24:14 to 26:59

The hosts analyze the Seahawks' running game and key player performances.

“you want to be around 200 carries or less for the season?”

Mike Vrabel's Coaching Style

26:59 to 28:00

The discussion transitions to Mike Vrabel's coaching style and game management decisions.

“And this is something Vrabel did a little bit last year, too, where he basically, like, he did this in the Denver game in the playoffs last year, and it actually worked.”

Analyzing the Patriots' Game Strategy

28:00 to 29:08

Discussion on the Patriots’ conservative approach during the game and its implications.

“You say the end of the half when they were up 7-0 and they kind of just like.”

Seahawks and Patriots Comparison

29:08 to 31:01

Comparing the performance of the Seahawks and Patriots in the context of the game.

“I was like, hell yeah, go ahead and do that.”

Niners-Rams Travel Strategy Debate

31:01 to 32:35

Discussion about the travel strategy of the Niners and Rams for their upcoming game.

“Now you have the Seahawks who win today.”

Rams' Scout Experiment Insights

32:35 to 35:06

Insights into the Rams’ unique travel strategy, including the scout's experience.

“Did you see the plane that the Rams flew in?”

Niners-Rams Game Predictions

35:49 to 37:04

Predictions and analysis of the upcoming game between the Niners and Rams.

“DK, what do you think of the game tomorrow?”

Fantasy Football Trauma and Injuries

37:04 to 39:40

Discussion of traumatic fantasy football experiences and recent player injuries.

“I just feel like there was even quotes from the president, Kevin Demoff, was like, we don't need to be there for a week.”

Mike Tomlin's TV Debut and Style

39:40 to 42:04

Analysis of Mike Tomlin's performance and presentation style during his TV debut.

“Cause long story short, there's just more risk of bringing in like a career threatening, destabilization in the knee.”

Mike Tomlin's Media Persona

42:04 to 44:00

A discussion on Mike Tomlin's TV presence and his authenticity.

“And then he's like, and then they're like, oh, there's Mike Tallman with his Tallmanisms.”

Chris Collinsworth's Commentary Style

44:01 to 46:00

Analyzing Chris Collinsworth's effectiveness as a color commentator.

“I feel like, look, you already mentioned it, but I do want to call it back.”

NFL Season Highlights and Personal Experiences

46:01 to 47:58

The hosts share their experiences from the NFL season and notable plays.

“almost right near the Rhode Island border.”

Coaching Changes and Predictions

47:59 to 53:14

Discussing the implications of coaching changes in the NFL.

“There's all this stuff about the Super Bowl loser after and you never want to think it's your team.”

Coaching Changes and Predictions

55:07 to 55:36

Discussing the implications of coaching changes in the NFL.

“Kickoff's coming and with NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get every game, every Sunday, all in one place.”

Take Purge Highlights

55:37 to 56:01

The hosts share their best takes from the annual take purge.

“What was the best take purge out of the three of you?”

The Curse of the Players

56:01 to 56:40

Discussion about surprising player performances and predictions.

“It kind of makes no sense that David Blaine is not as famous as LeBron James, but that doesn't matter.”

David Blaine's Impact on Magic

56:41 to 57:28

Exploration of David Blaine's magic show and its cultural significance.

“I think it's the best thing that's been on television this century.”

The Art of Illusion

57:29 to 59:00

Conversations about the appeal and experience of live magic performances.

“Can this be a reward for winning Ringer 107 and not getting a prize and then Sal and DiBundo coming in last place and getting to go to Vegas?”

Hottest Takes on Coaching and Expectations

59:01 to 1:00:08

Discussion around coaching expectations and potential outcomes for teams.

“Like Galifianakis gets a magician for the group and then they'll wake up the next day.”

Rethinking Social Gatherings

1:00:09 to 1:02:51

Discussion on alternative social activities beyond just grabbing a beer.

“I don't know if we're ever doing hottest take again.”

The No-Dogs Hotel Debate

1:02:52 to 1:04:44

A passionate argument about dogs in hotels and public spaces.

“Yeah, the Clippers have that and nobody will use it next year because nobody's ever going to a Clipper game again.”

The Evolution of Dog Breeding

1:04:45 to 1:07:19

Discussion on the implications of breeding unusual dog mixes.

“I was flying from LA to Park City and a woman was next to me with a tiny little chihuahua on her lap.”

The Case for Altruistic Cannibalism

1:07:20 to 1:09:30

Controversial takes on cannibalism and societal norms.

“There's a Rick and Morty episode where they go to a dog planet and the dogs are doing this with people.”

Ringer Fantasy Football League Updates

1:10:01 to 1:11:00

Hear about the Ringer Fantasy Football League and its upcoming season format.

“We bet on the coin toss in the Superbowl and won.”

Patriots Season Reflections

1:11:01 to 1:11:34

The hosts discuss their feelings about the Patriots' season and recent performances.

“I wish I could work up any hatred for Seattle and I just don't have any.”

Patriots Season Reflections

1:12:00 to 1:12:14

The hosts discuss their feelings about the Patriots' season and recent performances.

“or 18 plus and president DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming game problem.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Bill Simmons:This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Football has a play for just about everything. And whether it's a flea flicker or a tush push, you need a plan that fits your unique situation. That's why State Farm takes the time to get to know you so they can help personalize coverage for your life and for your budget. Now that's a solid game plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

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1:28Bill Simmons:the bill simmons podcast we are live here on netflix with three guys who did the rewatchables this week talladega nights this seemed like such a great idea pat seahawks opening night sam darnold gets hurt in the first series which kind of sucked and it felt like the season parted for the New England Patriots. A.J. Brown goes down. Drake May has three turnovers down the stretch. The Patriots blow the game. I feel like my season is over, guys. I don't know. Craig, do you want to start? I just feel like we're going 6-11 now. I'm so depressed. We just did Talladega Nights, and Drake May did kind of look like Ricky Bobby in his underwear running around.

2:07Help me, Tom Cruise!

2:10Bill Simmons:I just, they played like, Like, they played scared, and, like, they thought 10 points was going to win the game for two solid hours, including right before halftime when it felt like they could have gone for the jugular, and they just kind of left the door open for everything that happened. Danny, you're a Seahawks fan, Danny Kelly. Yeah. As you're watching that, are you surprised the Patriots are letting them hang around like that? What are you thinking? I was a little shocked at the lack of aggressiveness on third downs in particular. I feel like the one that you're mentioning, I believe, they just ran, like, a draw on third and five, settled for...

2:42At midfield. Yeah, settled to punt. They thought they were in control of the game. And I mean, for a little while, they were. And then this is what happens when you let teams hang around with a really good defense and they've got some turnovers. I thought, yeah, I thought, and I thought for, I don't really have a lot of confidence in Drew Locke as like a quarterback long-term, but I thought that Brian Fleury, the Seahawks' new offensive coordinator, did a pretty good job of managing it for him in this game. So that was encouraging. I thought he finished 16-22. So he was... No picks, right?

3:11Bill Simmons:No turnovers, nothing. One touchdown, no picks. I think that play call to do the play action on fourth down, give it to JSN where he scored that touchdown. I thought that was a ballsy play call. But yeah, I mean, this is what happens when you let, you know, teams with really good defenses hang around. The CX defense, I think I was texting the guys, like, CX defense needs to get a big play. And then immediately after that, they got that pick. And they just kind of got rolling. Heifetz, we didn't know each other when the helmet catch happened. This is like 40 % of what I looked like.

3:41Danny Heifetz:I've never been happier to be on this show I've always wanted to be here after an absolute Patriots meltdown well it happened it's the worst Patriots loss I've seen in seven eight months there it is first of all in honor of cousin Sal who couldn't be here tonight Drake maybe for Drew Locke who says no Bill

4:00Bill Simmons:the Drake maybe I did have Sal in my head this really could if the Cowboys are good and Drake maybe just completely goes into a tailspin this year. Just take the year off. Just skip a year. Come back next year. Who else could I get to guest host this Sunday? Like, Kimmel goes away for the summers. Maybe I just have to do that. Maybe I get Rosie O'Donnell to host every Sunday with Sal. Maybe that'll be my way I'd torture Sal back.

4:24Danny Heifetz:In all seriousness, this is pretty terrible. You literally had eight months to prepare for this humiliating Super Bowl loss. Sam Darlan goes out on the fifth snap of the Seahawks offense of the entire season. You get Drew Locke for 99 % of this game all drake may has to do is not throw three interceptions and you're gonna win this game you never go full stroud he went full stroud in this one it's tough because a lot of the mistakes that may made i feel like i feel like the thing about drake may last year he was so good with the deep ball and every deep ball he threw tonight was under thrown like he got lucky with the pi to aj brown the other one was to dobbs is under thrown turned into a pick and then the last pick to end the game was the most in it that was the worst throw he's thrown in his entire career i don't know why he didn't throw the ball away he completely forced it it was totally under thrown they were forcing the ball to mac hollins i i was shocked at how nervous he looked in this game

5:15Bill Simmons:well the flea flicker was a really bad throw that should have just been an easy touchdown all three of those interceptions happened because it didn't feel like his feet was set and it felt like he was arm thrown danny wasn't this danny kelly wasn't this what uh this was the rap on him in college right the mechanics were a little shaky but his mechanics last year were fantastic. Like, he maybe had that last, that third interception, which was obviously his worst play of the game. He might have had five of those for the entire year last year. And I don't even know if five of them became interceptions.

5:46Bill Simmons:But that was... And the other thing is he took the sack on first down before that interception, which was also stupid because they had first down on the, you know, on the 20 with 35 seconds left. At the very least, like, you figure you need a field goal to go to overtime. but I just felt like he self-combusted DK. Yeah, I think in that, you're right, that was kind of the knock on him coming in. It's just his feet get a little happy when he's throwing. He doesn't really get set, and then the ball kind of sails on him or whatever. Craig, to your point about the deep passes, I saw this from NextGenStats.

6:17He had one interception on deep passes last year. He had two in this game. That was his whole thing. He was almost perfect as a deep ball passer last year. So, you know, I think also you do have to give credit to the Seahawks' defense. I mean, this is one of the best defenses in the NFL. They were really doing a good job of bringing the heat from different areas and kind of like forcing him off his spot late in the game, especially. I thought the CX defense defensive line took over Byron, Byron Murphy, Leonard Williams. They were really just and then Derek Hall late in the game. They were just really getting after him.

6:45I think that made him really uncomfortable. Obviously, that decision late in the game that the final pick was, you know, just pretty much on May. But overall, I thought the CX defense really stepped up to.

6:56Bill Simmons:Yeah, either you're throwing it out of bounds, which he didn't accomplish. or you're trying to do a jump ball for Matt Collins, who's covered by two guys. I don't like that decision either. You could take the field goal and take it to overtime, but I watch every Pats game. He was lights out the entire year last year and really starting with the playoffs when I didn't think he was healthy. He looked healthy in this game. That's the thing. There's no excuses this time. He was scrambling around. He looked like the Drake May from the first four months of last season. They were third and ones, like controlled, draw, you know, draw sweeps for him and stuff like that, that that that's what they did last year.

7:33Bill Simmons:And he still suck. What were you gonna say, Hefitz?

7:36Danny Heifetz:Well, it's just concerning because he beat so many backup quarterbacks last year that now, you know, it's concerning. He couldn't beat the backup quarterback to start the year. No.

7:45Bill Simmons:Well, I had I mean, I had notes and I was always doing hypothetical notes for the Pats one about how they passed the Super Bowl curse, the hangover recurs right to the Seahawks. Like, it follows the horror movie. And just like the Darnold going out, what a break that was to start out 1-0 with a game that seemed like such an obvious loss. Then you look at the next five games of the schedule, like they could have been 5-1 after 6. Now they're 0-1. Now this is even worse because it's a Wednesday. They don't play again until a week from Sunday. So this is 10, 11 days of what's going on with Drake May.

8:25Bill Simmons:So we're just going to get that over and over again. And AJ Brown has hurt as well. Well, yeah, that's the nice thing. And AJ Brown.

8:30Danny Heifetz:And the depression of losing the Super Bowl arising, which I don't think can be understated because all these guys spend two weeks before the Super Bowl just trying to keep in the back of their mind that you're going to achieve this lifelong goal. And then you're embarrassed in front of 100 million people. And then it just gets like all of it just comes flooding back after you spent the six months burying it in your head.

8:49Bill Simmons:yeah and that's those are the stakes of a game like that because you could have flipped the narrative in that last drive you have 40 seconds left you have two timeouts you're on the 20 um you have a seahawks secondary that was another break they got in this game other than drew lock the seahawks secondary missing two guys from last year puts aminori's out you know and this is like this should this should this should have been set up for some sort of great moment and instead I mean that yeah that pick the second pick that may had it was ironic because it was Rodney Thomas who I've barely even heard of coming up off the practice squad right knocking it into the air and then Nehemiah Pritchett made the interception he was the I guess sort of surprised or not surprised but third corner because that was a competition in training camp and everything so that just is like another another just nod to the Seahawks defense they found guys to step up in this game and these two random guys that you know you didn't really hear much about

9:43Danny Heifetz:out certainly not last year making the play that's the coaching of mike mcdonald just like josh joe got that pick he got a contract extension that was josh joe last year they found him off the eagles practice squad like the ability to get these guys they find cornerbacks who can tackle yeah and learn the system that was big the pop douglas tackle on that on that short pass to the left i easily thought pop was going to get that and everyone was flying around in the seattle secondary tonight even though it was backups i thought mcdonald was incredible i mean he had Drake May on his heels the entire game.

10:12They would send an all-out blitz. Patriots are having to call timeouts. I thought McDonald completely cemented himself. Like, this was such a... Bill, you've been talking about this all offseason that, like, even though Seattle won the Super Bowl, they almost feel like a fluke or a nobody believes in his team. And this felt like McDonald was like, I'm the best coach in the league.

10:30Bill Simmons:Yeah, and I think he is. I mean, I certainly watched with the stuff they did today and how they kind of undressed the Pats as the game went along. And And yet on that last drive, Pat's out of fourth and two. Like, what was it? On their own 32, which I thought was really ballsy because there was still enough time left to punt. You had three timeouts. And they just said, fuck it. And they get it. Then they have third and 19 because Will Campbell, I think it was Will Campbell, back-to-back drives with huge penalties by Will Campbell. Locking the back, yeah. Not awesome.

10:59Danny Heifetz:Right after Collinsworth talked him up.

11:00Bill Simmons:Yeah. Third and 19, they cut it to fourth and nine. They go for it at midfield, and they get it on that Matt Collins play, which Collinsworth, Collinsworth did a great job today. He called like seven plays. Like he was calling it out. He called out the JSN play on the fourth and one. But they're putting together this drive of like, holy shit, they're doing this in Seattle. This is the toughest place to play in the league. They're converting these crazy fourth downs, even though they don't have A.J. Brown. And then it all falls apart because Drake just loses it. I got to say, guys, there was about an hour there with A.J.

11:35Bill Simmons:Brown, especially that one. what was it like a third and 10 and he just had that slant for the easy 15 and it was like oh man it was like putting down the top on the highway just like let's fucking go that's that's the aj brown experience for one play you're like wow this guy looks like a ferrari and then usually oh my lord and then what happens with the ferrari like blows a gasket you're like well all right i guess i guess i'll try it again in two months right and he gets more hyped than jsn who you know just had a typically awesome game. Somehow it was left uncovered on a fourth and one runs for 40 plus yards.

12:09And all right,

12:11Bill Simmons:there's a lot to discuss on this. We're going to take a quick break and we're going to come back. We're going to go through some angles. We also, I think this is one of the random craziest fantasy days we've ever had. And I want to talk about that too. And then I'm going to drink some cyanide to end the podcast. So that's all coming up next right after the break. The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Thursday Night Football is back. FanDuel has given you a reason to celebrate with every single touchdown. That's right. Niners versus Rams. Every touchdown pays. Here's how it works.

12:42Bill Simmons:Opt in. Use your token on an eligible bet, then sit back and watch the touchdowns add up. Stribbling. The rookie receiver on the Niners. If you think he's going to score in this game because the Niners are more rested, well, knock yourself out. He's plus 360, I think, for any time TD, plus 380, somewhere in that range. Every time either team finds the end zone, Now, you'll get bonus bets. It doesn't matter which team scores. Every touchdown can mean more bonus bets coming your way. So stay tuned. Pay attention. Download the Fandu app to get started. 21 plus select states are 18 plus DC, Kentucky, Wyoming.

13:16Bill Simmons:Opt-in required. Must apply bonus token to eligible wager. Bonus issued as non-wetroble bonus bets, which expires seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply, including minimum wager requirement. See terms at sportsbook.fandu.com. Game problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER. call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat Connecticut. This episode is brought to you by one of my best friends in life, NFL Sunday ticket. Man, I missed it. Kickoff's coming. Yeah, we're getting close. We're within a month with NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV. You get every game, every Sunday, all in one place, and it's magnificent.

13:53Bill Simmons:And there's no other way to follow the NFL season. I'm so mad I didn't get YouTube TV until a couple of years ago because it's the best. New users, that might include you, can get NFL Sunday ticket for eight payments of just$30 a month. You heard me correctly. New users pay$240 or eight non-cancelable payments of$30 a month. First charged at purchase. Availability varies with NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games and YouTube TV for local and national games. YouTube TV required. Terms, restrictions, and embargoes apply. Commercial use excluded. No refunds. I just complained about the Keyshawn booty trade for the entire break.

14:34Bill Simmons:Didn't need that guy. Who needs insurance for a guy who caught like 15 huge deep balls last year and A.J. Brown lasted an hour. I don't want to talk about the Pats all the time. We could circle back later. So Sam Darnold, what are we thinking? Out of the three of you guys, who's the number one amateur injury expert? Who is the Dr. David Chow of this group? I feel like Craig, probably. I would give it to myself, but to be honest, I thought it was a knee, and then I thought it was an ankle, and then when I found out it was a hip, I mean, I have no idea what's going on in there. Hip injuries can go in any direction.

15:06So I feel like we have no idea if Darnold, I thought he was going to tough it out and come back in the second half when I saw the injury, and now it looks like we have no idea. Schefter just tweeted. You want me to read his report here? So from Adam Schefter, he's been at Harborview Medical Center, which is a big hospital in Seattle. CT scan on his hip. The initial test was encouraging but inconclusive. And Darnold is now scheduled to undergo an MRI. So at least it's not the worst news imaginable. I don't know. To me, I'm like, my gut just tells me he's probably going to be back this year. I don't think this is a season-ending injury, but who knows.

15:42Bill Simmons:Duloc, I never thought, like, if you're talking, if we're doing a backup power rankings, I don't think he's in the bottom half of those rankings. I would probably they put him in the top 10, right? Is that crazy, Heifetz?

15:55Danny Heifetz:I think Drew Locke is ironically a lot of what we criticized Sam Darnold for a year ago when we were not sure how Sam Darnold would be, which is Drew Locke is, I mean, self-described a gunslinger who never really, I mean, he came to the NFL. He told Peter King, like, I never really saw receivers open. I kind of just trusted my arm and let it rip. He's kind of like how Brett Favre was. I don't know how much he's reading defenses and stuff, but he's had to learn all that. I think he's not necessarily the kind of quarterback you would pair with like an elite defense. No. Like it's not, you know, it's not like a Teron Taylor game management style thing.

16:28Danny Heifetz:Neither is Darnold though. He's more like a Jameis. Yeah. Locke kind of, he's kind of like a mini Baker. He's white Jameis. Yeah. He's got a little James, little Baker to him. He's James. Yeah, James. Get rid of the eye. He's James Winston. I just feel like, like Drew Locke with a lead is almost a disaster, but Drew Locke down 10. You're like, you know what? He needs a little adversity. He needs to feel something. That's a great point. I think you saw that tonight because him losing is almost more to his style where he ripped a couple passes in there. I mean, the third and 22 where he got like 21 and a half yards.

17:00Danny Heifetz:I think Jason got that first down. That was a pivot point in the game too because I think Jason got the first. I think that honestly, A.G. Barner probably would have got the tish push where they, you know, kind of called that like ticky tack penalty. But I thought Drew Locke actually had a bunch of moments where he looked good, but I don't know if I want him protecting the lead. So it's a huge loss. for any time Darnold misses.

17:20Bill Simmons:It is funny how many of these quarterbacks that you would just never trust as your full-time starter, but they can have these flashes. Like, Drew Locke had that rollout on the drive that ended up being a football, but it's just like, man, this guy runs like a gazelle. This is, were we missing out? Were we missing out on Drew Locke? Was this in here the whole time?

17:40Danny Heifetz:He put Spillane into the grave right there. Yeah. My whole thing with Locke is, have you ever watched his college basketball? highlights or high school basketball highlights. I'm like, I still believe somehow because he's like really good at basketball. But I would say the one like, look, Locke, don't forget, he also threw that touchdown to Cooper Cup that got called back on the procedural thing. Yeah. That was kind of the big thing here is, and I was saying to these guys during the game, like you kind of forget how just how hard it is to run an offense during an NFL game. There's so many procedural things that Locke screwed up.

Read the full transcript

18:14Yeah.

18:15Bill Simmons:He didn't delay a game at a terrible point. The shift was his fault. I mean, the whole game was messy. I mean, especially the first half. It was very, they always talk about how week one is really just an extension of the preseason. And I forget it every year. And then you watch week one and you're like, this is barely football. These guys don't know what they're doing. There's like a million timeouts and offsides and false starts. It was messy for two and a half quarters.

18:36Danny Heifetz:That's the other thing worth saying. I don't want to pile on. Well, that's not true. I actually really do want to pile on. This game should have been worse. I know this was a bad loss, but Drew Locke cost them. four points when he had the illegal shift to Cooper Cup. That should have been a touchdown instead of a field goal. And then he also kind of cost them points later in the game when he had another penalty. The delay of game, that right there is eight points. That's more than a possession, basically. This game actually could have been worse.

19:05Bill Simmons:You were making me feel better that the patch are lost by more, but then apparently there was a Netflix poll, should Drake maybe be his name, and it was 88 % yes. I really hate Sal. Like, I don't know. Sal and I might have some real issues this season. I might have to do all the unders and the Dallas and just really, we might be having real issues. 2026 Patriots. Offensive line looked better. Campbell still had a couple things, but for the most part, it was at least better than it was in the Super Bowl last year. Can they just be a middle-of-the-road offensive line? Sure. A couple of the guys from the draft, that looked pretty good.

19:45Bill Simmons:They really missed Travion tonight. You know, Ramonji was just out there basically the whole game. I think there was a couple, especially like with the younger secondary, I think there was a couple plays for him. The booty trade looks worse than ever. I didn't understand it when it happened. I understand it less now. We'll see with AJ. The big thing that's changed this year is that every Mike Vrabel halftime interview is hilariously funny now with the announcer. when they're asking him what happened out there. And I don't know. It's just hard not to think about Sedona, Arizona. What happened out there?

20:21Bill Simmons:He's like, out where? Out in Sedona or on the field? My wife happened to be sitting next to me. She barely watched the game, but was there for the halftime interview. And she did it. And he did it. And my wife was just like, I don't know. I just don't trust him anymore. He just left the room. And I was like, that's it? You're leaving me at that? But I didn't know if I would think about the offseason with him during the game, but I thought about it 20 times. I don't know how you guys felt. It's definitely still there. Mike Vrabel must have been in the production booth cutting to Romeo Dobbs' face.

20:55He's like, cut back to Dobbs. Cut back to Dobbs. Get off me. Poor Dobbs is sitting on the bench. They cut to him four different times in over two minutes.

21:03Danny Heifetz:Dobbs played like Dajon Love. In retrospect, it was weird. Romeo Dobbs just bringing that giant helmet around with him everywhere. You know what I mean?

21:09Bill Simmons:that drop he had, it felt like maybe they had a chance to get, and they kept the drive going, but. No, the next play was a pick after that drop. Oh, that's right. You're right. It was the second to last draft. Every time Dobbs was involved with anything, it felt like it went terribly. And this was somebody they were really counting on and thought he was going to make a dramatic difference. Obviously, they traded next year's first for A.J. Brown. I'm not ready to talk about that on a live Netflix draft podcast when we're 0-1. But for that moment that AJ looked like he was good, it's like, we've drafted a receiver with those kind of tools 12 times and have gone 0 for 12.

21:47Bill Simmons:And it was just nice to be like, okay, we finally have it. And here's Matt Collins and here's Dobbs. And the hypothetical Patriots felt like they lasted for about 10 minutes. Yeah, the variable thing is just weird. I don't know what week it's going to stop being weird. Have you guys ever dealt with anything with your week-to-week football team or sports team or anything where there was some off-the-field thing you couldn't stop kind of thinking about? Steelers are a super normal team. Oh, that's right. Oh, that's right. Craig's a Steelers fan. There's been no issues with any Steelers player the last 10 years, I don't think.

22:19Everyone's been normal. Yeah. Last 20 years were fine.

22:22Bill Simmons:They went great. And then the Seahawks, I thought Price looked – I mean, it's not like he had 30 carries, but he certainly has the burst. Oh, yeah. DK, you must have been pumped. Oh, yeah. Like, he just clearly has juice as a runner, which is something they definitely need. I mean, they've got Holani and they have Emmanuel Wilson who are kind of like, you know, just pickup truck running backs. And I think that Price could be the guy that... It's kind of like the Travion Henderson thing. He just gives them some speed, some big play potential on the ground. They were really good. This was kind of been talked about in the preseason.

22:59They're really good on wide zone runs. This is something that I think price is just really good. So like they basically string it, string it out to the end and to the outside. And then he'll just cut up field. He did that several times. I thought he looked great. Um, so yeah, I mean, what'd you think if it's, I thought price was awesome.

23:14Danny Heifetz:I mean, Jadarian price was awesome at Notre Dame too. I mean, again, it's weird. The first two running backs taken in the first round were Notre Dame, but Jadarian price, if he went back to college would have been like a$3 million NIL player. He's legit. And he had all this explosiveness at Notre Dame. and he just didn't play a ton because he didn't get he didn't really catch like he i think he caught less than 15 catches in college because yeah he tore the killies and then jeremiah love was like reggie bush but then he didn't get goal line stuff because he fumbled kind of early in the season and he had a couple of an opportune fumbles but i mean he was an incredible kick returner he's just he's a human highlight reel and i thought that the zone running and everything it was frankly way more in sync the seahawks running game than i thought it would be and he did a way better ken walker impression in the super bowl than i ever thought he'd be able to in his debut.

23:59Danny Heifetz:I thought it was like really encouraging, especially once Drew Locke came in.

24:03Bill Simmons:So he was 10 for 52, two catches. Rookie running backs, where do we want to get from a carry standpoint, Craig? We're like at, if we're using like the Jameer Gibbs kind of, you want to be around 200 carries or less for the season? For any guy you want to actually be relevant, like you need him to be touching the ball like 15 times a game. And I think Jadarian Price already getting 12 in week one. Like definitely think he's going to get there. This is just, I feel like these week one games are just like survive in advance. Even if you lose, it's like, just get through the game. Nobody get hurt.

24:34And I feel like both these teams, it's like, I know Seattle won the game, amazing comeback, but they're down Darnold. The Pats are now down AJ Brown, Travion Henderson's hurt. It's just a war of attrition. It's a war of attrition. I'm like, I don't know who you feel better. I mean, you obviously don't feel good about New England, but Seattle doesn't have Sam Darnold going forward. Like, I don't know who you'd rather want to be going forward. DK, how do you feel about that? I mean, look, I'm still a little bit hopeful. It sounds like, you know, based on Mike McDonald's talk after the game, that they're feeling pretty good about it.

25:05Like, they maybe dodged a bullet on this one. He didn't fracture his hip. So I'm feeling a little bit encouraged that, like, maybe he'll only miss a few games. I don't know if that means that they're just going to roll with Locke or try to make a trade of some sort. I highly doubt they'll do that. I think they'll just roll with Locke. But right now, at the very least, I'm feeling a little bit encouraged like he's not going to be out the whole year. If he was out the whole year, obviously that's pretty devastating.

25:28Bill Simmons:Here's the thing. The Seahawks have the best coach in the league. They have one of the best three defenses. They have one of the two or three best receivers. It looks like their running game is going to be fine. They have a good offensive line. They have a good home field advantage. They have the pedigree and the chip on their shoulder from last year. And if they have to have Drew Locke for eight games, I think they'll be fine. AJ Brown, Andrew Callahan, good follow. Patriots Twitter is elite. I don't know if you guys are aware. We just have a lot of good beat reporters. Oh, yeah.

25:56Danny Heifetz:Callahan is my, like, dark alley guy at the NFL combine.

26:02Bill Simmons:How big is he? What is he like? He's like Vrabel.

26:05Danny Heifetz:Yeah.

26:06Bill Simmons:Could he beat Brian Curtis in a fight or no? Definitely. No offense to Brian Curtis. Are you kidding? Brian Curtis, he's killed guys. You seen Curtis lately? What do you mean? You didn't hear about the Brian Curtis bar fights in Texas? Oh, I heard about those, yeah.

26:19Danny Heifetz:That should be a narrative pod we do.

26:21Bill Simmons:Brian Curtis, he has the strength of, like, five people. Andrew Callahan said AJ Brown just walked out of the Patriots locker room wearing a boot on his right foot but Romeo Dobbs said his message to the receivers were he told us that everything was going to be alright what does that mean?

26:38Danny Heifetz:DK Metcalf just said there's a city underneath Antarctica so I don't know what they're teaching at Ole Miss so

26:43Bill Simmons:did he tell them everything was going to be alright because we're all human beings and next day you wake up and it's a brand new day or was his ankle going to be alright I don't know good question good question the boot on the right foot is not how I wanted I was going to talk about this with you guys later but I have the in the fantasy league I really care about with Sal and those guys where we vote somebody out I have the Drake May AJ Brown hookup oh no and that hookup has gone horribly the hookup is going like the first date in Obsession basically so far pretty soon that would be being made a cat sandwich or something the The biggest first half plays, just to go back to the Pats blowing that game, third and five, Ramondre, minute left, handoff, and then punt.

27:38Bill Simmons:And this is something Vrabel did a little bit last year, too, where he basically, like, he did this in the Denver game in the playoffs last year, and it actually worked. I'm good. I think we might have enough points. We'll get 10 this half. Maybe we end with 13. I don't think Seattle can get to 16. I just fundamentally don't agree with that, guys. What do you, Heifetz, when a team does that, don't you feel like it's, they're doomed?

28:01Danny Heifetz:You say the end of the half when they were up 7-0 and they kind of just like. 7-0, yeah. I'm okay with it because for a variety of reasons. Mike Vrabel is, I mean, look, he's an incredible coach. Like, he got that Patriots team to the Super Bowl and the truth is I thought the Patriots roster was fine and he got them to the Super Bowl because he's a great in-game coach. He's frankly the only person in the Bill Belichick tree that's learned all the Bill Belichick rules and if he's like, it's 7-0, Drew Locke's not going to score any more points, I'm fine with him just at that point on kind of ending the game and not wanting to move on.

28:31Danny Heifetz:I think he was afraid of Drake May doing something stupid at the end of the half. It was the Jared Stidham Broncos gameplay. Yeah, exactly. And I think Rabel was afraid Drake May would do something dumb. And he was right. Drake May just did it dumb at the end of the game when they needed him to do something. This is the runner-up MVP. Like, why would you play that way, though? Why play scared? That's how I feel. I don't think he was afraid May was going to do something dumb. I think he just wanted to bet on Drew Locke making mistakes and they wanted to play safe. He's a defensive coach. Let me put it, to me this test is the most clear way of telling whether something was right or wrong.

29:07When the Patriots were doing that, I was celebrating. I'm a Seahawks fan. I was like, hell yeah, go ahead and do that. I'm happy with that.

29:14Bill Simmons:If they would have been aggressive, continue to push and try to take advantage of the situation. the Seahawks felt like they were really reeling in the first half. I felt like they were on the ropes. And then I think the Patriots kind of gave them a break. And the crowd was dead, too. Totally. Here's the other thing. The whole first quarter, they're as conservative as all hell, the Patriots. I have A.J. Brown. This is the first game where I get to take him out of the garage, give him a little spin around, right? I'm not just going 20 miles an hour around my neighborhood. I'm taking A.J. Brown on the highway.

29:49Bill Simmons:I'm sure you're watching the game DK like what like being like oh shit they're gonna test our secondary they're gonna chuck one deep and they just never did and the only real AJ play was that one slanting but they never unleashed him and now with booty out I don't really feel like they have another deep ball person so you you watch what happened to them in the in the second half Craig and it was like um this was kind of the Super Bowl offense all over again they've caught now that I feel like they're just last year's Patriots again, where I'm like, can you trust Romeo Dobbs? Booty's gone. You have, it's just Matt Collins and pop Douglas again is kind of what you have to deal with.

30:24I was also annoyed. I feel like every time they ran it things, it went well, but it's always scrambling with him. He led the league in scrambles last year as a quarterback. And I feel like they just need to design rushes for him more like Josh Allen. Every time it does, it goes well. And they refuse to do it.

30:37Bill Simmons:They did in the fourth quarter. They ran the Denver play. The Denver play was a naked bootleg where nobody knew he was doing it. This time, I think it was designed, but I just think he beats every single edge guy. He can beat around the corner and get out of the way. So the Pat schedule, they're Steelers at home next week at Jaguars, at bills, Vegas and the jets. And they were looking like that could have been five and one and not. And now who knows? Now you have the Seahawks who win today. Tomorrow is Rams Niners. If you're ever going to get a Rams loss, that's tomorrow. When they flew, I had a friend who's in Australia and saw the Rams coming into their hotel.

31:16Bill Simmons:And I was like, how'd they look? And he said, they looked like a team that had just been on a 15-hour flight. I was like, great. Good sign for tomorrow. Niners plus four, plus three and a half, whatever. So you could get the Niners beating the Rams and you could have DK a one-game lead heading into the first Sunday of the NFL season. That's not bad. Yeah, I'm into that. So I assume your take is that the 49ers did it right in terms of like traveling there a week early. No, here's my take. I know you guys have talked about this too, but we can all do it together. I think the Niners did it. It's going to lead to a win tomorrow would be my bet.

31:56Bill Simmons:I think long-term it's going to be bad because everybody says the longer you stay over there, the harder it is to adjust when you come back. Catching up. Whereas the Rams are basically like not throwing away the game, but rolling the dice with this game, going in and out. But then when they come back, they'll be fine for week two. So it's almost like a short-term, long-term play.

32:14Danny Heifetz:The only quibble I'd have with that, Bill, is everyone, like the whole, well, I went for a week for Australia and I came back. No one's ever flown to Australia for a day and then flew back like 30 hours later except for the one scout the Rams sent to test this whole theory. And so I kind of keep wondering if the Rams are going to be just as troubled. Who was the one scout? Who was it? I know. Did he have to audition? Like, how did he win that job? That's interesting. Craig would have done that. I would have done that immediately. Did you see the plane that the Rams flew in? It was some special plane.

32:43It's like the biggest commercial plane ever. And it had enough lay down seats for every player on the team.

32:49Bill Simmons:Sounds great. Should we get one for the ringer? I think we should.

32:52Danny Heifetz:So they auditioned somebody, Heifetz? I believe what they did is they sent at least two people. And one got to stay there for seven days or eight days. and then one had to come home after 30 hours. And imagine drawing the short straw and not getting the week in Australia. You have to fly to Australia, get one day of jet lag and immediately come home. And they tested it and they were like, you know what, screw it, let's just try. Yeah, the guy who went for eight days just partied his ass off. He's like, I'm exhausted. What a job. Man, I'm tired.

33:22Bill Simmons:Legal brothels. The other funny thing about this is this huge experiment, but the smallest sample size possible. I know. Like a baseball team, like we've tried two bunts and here are the results for our entire season. There's a million variables too.

33:39Danny Heifetz:Meanwhile, like whether Stafford sleeps is more important than probably 30 other players. Right.

33:44Bill Simmons:Has anybody been on a plane for 15 hours? I have. You have. Where'd you go? I flew, when I went to Africa, I had to fly from Nairobi to Qatar, which was eight hours and then immediately get back on a plane in Qatar and do Qatar to LA, which was 16 hours. Did you have to play a football game the next day? I didn't. Yeah, I went on a run the next day, though. It was really difficult.

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35:51Bill Simmons:NMLS 910. four, five, seven. DK, what do you think of the game tomorrow? I mean, yeah, I think this, this jet lag thing is obviously a huge deal, but I don't know. I'm kind of just like with you where I feel like the 49ers are being overlooked. The Rams have had such an awesome off season on paper, you know, getting Garrett and Donald coming back out of retirement. Like just like my actual nightmare thing that could happen for the top rival for the Seahawks. But yeah, I mean, And I think the 49ers are so good. I was like, you have to remind people they won like 12 games last year. They were still really good.

36:27And now they're theoretically a little healthier, although that could be not lasting very long. I don't know. I just think Shanahan gives them an edge.

36:37Danny Heifetz:Yeah, it's three and a half. I do, I do. Just take the points. I wish it was the Ringer 107 eligible. This whole thing is insane. And the fact that there is a team you can get three and a half points, they're somewhat evenly matched. The Rams are a better team, but this is in freaking Australia. No one knows what's going to happen. Now I'm nervous because everybody, now that all of us are on the Niners, one of us should probably take the Rams. But I agreed as well. I was like, well, I think the Rams are more or less punting this game. Donald's not flying there. I just feel like there was even quotes from the president, Kevin Demoff, was like, we don't need to be there for a week.

37:09Like, we'll focus on - Yeah, he got a little feisty. He's like, we'll focus on expanding the league the other 51 weeks. We're just trying to get through. I feel like the Rams are like, we're old. We're just going to get there and get out. If we lose, it's fine. we're going to be okay.

37:21Bill Simmons:Yeah, because I thought today, I thought was actually a pretty easy, the under, the under was, I think, 44 and a half. The pats were three and a half. And a lot of people had pats in the under, parlay tees, whatever. And every version of that hit. Tomorrow, everybody's in the Niners. Yeah. What are the odds two days in a row? Everybody's on the right side of football bets. Because I really feel like almost, every version of today's game was a win, right? Because even if you had Seattle, you probably had them in a money line or a money line parlay, whatever. But this was Seattle winning, but not covering.

37:57Bill Simmons:It was like the perfect result for normal bettors. And then tomorrow, everyone on the Niners makes me nervous. It was a perfect result for bettors, but it kind of a catastrophe for fantasy football. I feel the Drake May, AJ Brown, pretty much everybody except Jackson Smith and Jibo was a mess. Well, let's talk about today that being one of the most traumatic fantasy days ever. Darnold, I don't think was starting for anybody, but he was definitely a backup for people. If you had two quarterback league. Or if you had a 15, yeah, two quarterback league or like a 15 team league. AJ Brown, who was the sexy receiver, right?

38:28Bill Simmons:He was one of the eight or nine biggest value guys, but is one of the most fun people to go in on because it's like new team, he could be Randy Moss. But then the other thing that happens, one of the craziest stories in, I think, fantasy football history, Brock Bowers, waiting until everybody had done their draft and then announcing he needed meniscus surgery. What the hell was that? I don't remember that ever happening. It was like an hour after Clint Kubiak told reporters at a press conference that everyone was looking good to play for the game. You could see Kubiak deciding to lie in the middle.

39:05It was a very interesting choice. It was kind of like an I've been immunized where they were like, hey, is Bowers, is everyone is Gentian Bowers going to play? And he was like, I'm planning on having everyone out there ready to go. What do you mean by everybody? Very tricky.

39:22Bill Simmons:I have spent a lot of injuries last year. I fits. No,

39:26Danny Heifetz:it's a PCL last year. I don't know exactly. Obviously who knows, but what happened to Brock Bowers last year is like what happened to Ricky Paris. So we had a PCL injury, Drake London had this. And for reasons, I don't totally understand. They don't want to do PCL repairs. The same way you do ACL repairs. Cause long story short, there's just more risk of bringing in like a career threatening, destabilization in the knee. So they just, if they can, they let the PCLs heal on their own. Sometimes it's like Brock Bowers where it goes well. And sometimes it's like Ricky Parasol where it didn't get better and they have to do the surgery later and they regret it.

39:56Danny Heifetz:The Bowers thing was like, he was fine. He looked good in practice, all this stuff. And then suddenly he has a meniscus trim, which is bad. I don't know if it's a meniscus injury, if there was mobility issues in the knee. But what I spent too much of my August hyping up Brock Bowers and AJ Brown. And there's a chance they combined for three catches in September. and I'm never going to recover from this. Why do we do it?

40:17Bill Simmons:I don't know. Maybe we should just all not do it. Fantasy football and golf. I'm like, why don't we even play?

40:22Danny Heifetz:Why don't we do it? Sometimes I play in a survivor fantasy football league and like the show Survivor where I like when you draft players. But the way you do it is you watch the first episode and then you pick the players. I think you should do the same. We should just do drafts after week one. Just do drafts after week one. That's not bad. It's not worth it. Everybody gets hurt week one. It's still basically preseason.

40:44Bill Simmons:Week 18, it should go through week 18. We're always afraid of week 18. Maybe we should be more afraid of week one. Or you just do week two to week 17. We got a 16-game season. Isn't that what we all wanted anyway? Let's just do that. I did, because I know Deshaun Bailey is going to be the number one fab fantasy pickup after week one, because he's going to have seven catches for 140 yards. He's going to be the guy. Calling it right now. Clip this out. Put it on Sunday night. So I just, I picked him up in the league with Sal. I just spent a dollar on him. I'm like, you know what? I'm going to spend a dollar now instead of the$28 after week one.

41:17Bill Simmons:Got him in a guillotine league, too. And I just like, this is how it goes. Because fantasy football is stupid. And Deshaun Bailey is going to have seven catches, 128 yards, and a touchdown. Well, and you had A.J. Brown in that league, right? So you knew. You knew you were going to have to find a backup. I knew A.J. would be in a walking boot. All right. So traumatic fantasy day. interesting sports media television day as mike tomlin debuted for nbc what did we think what do you think craig this is your coach i mean i think tomlin is a great quote i don't i i feel like they're using him in kind of a weird way i feel like they're trying to gen zify mike tomlin i saw him doing tiktok dances he recently said he's been playing minecraft for the last 12 years which kind of upset me because the steelers haven't won a playoff game since like 2016 and he says he spent 12 years building a city on mine on minecraft but i i mean i still think tomlin's great i thought he was a little bit kind of boilerplate and i want to kind of unleash him a little more but but i still think he's good it was bizarre like the beginning of that thing they

42:23Danny Heifetz:they really they made him jason garrett for like most of that and then he just like you could tell that all the media training they give jason garrett as mike tomlin kept going he like slipped out of it and just became himself he's like look the the nickel cornerback you got to deliver the baby like you gotta be there and deliver the baby. You're the one who's up to. And then he's like, and then they're like, oh, there's Mike Tallman with his Tallmanisms. Back to you, Jason. And it was like such a strange thing. I know. They're leaning into it too much.

42:49Bill Simmons:You can't try this hard to establish somebody as a TV person. They either have it or they don't. And I agree with you, Craig. I thought, it's like you get Daniel Day-Lewis, you don't put him in the wrong Missy. You put him in a drama. You lean into the fact that he's an awesome dramatic I can't. Mike Tomlin is this super intense, charismatic, whatever. I don't want to see him doing TikToks and I don't want to see them like turning him into a TV character. Like to me, it's like he has real command of the TV when he talks. I'm like, oh, Mike Tomlin speaking. So I don't, I just think they, you know, this is, this has been an NBC issue with all their studio shows, but they're, they try to make it, they try to be intentionally jovial and they try to make everybody characters.

43:34Bill Simmons:And Jason Garrett's just sitting there grinning like a fucking serial killer like every episode. He's like Dexter. I just, I don't like seeing Mike Tallman in a suit. Like put him in a hoodie. I don't want him in a quarter zip. I don't want him in a suit. It's just the whole thing feels weird. Steelers gear. Yeah, they should be dressing him like he's one of the leads in CSI New York or something. Like he shouldn't look like he's doing studio stuff. DK, did you learn anything from him today? No. Yeah. Not really. Do we ever really? I feel like, look, you already mentioned it, but I do want to call it back.

44:07Like Chris Collinsworth calling several of the biggest plays in the game before they happen. He was all over it. This is exactly what I'm looking for from a color commentator or the guy who's calling the plays or whatever. It's like understanding the situation and the formation and the defense. Like when that JSN play happened, he was like, this might be the only time the Seahawks get JSN lined up one-on-one with a cornerback in the entire game. and then lo and behold, you don't expect a team to run a play-action thing on fourth and two in their own end. That was, I think, a pretty ballsy play.

44:40So, yeah, I just give credit to Collinsworth because I do feel like I learned from him at least once again.

44:44Bill Simmons:He's still throwing his fastball. He still is great at capture in the moment. Drake May is falling apart and he's like, Mike, I don't know what Drake May is looking at there. I just don't know, Mike. He kind of captures how you're feeling. I thought he was great. Craig can do it.

45:01Danny Heifetz:Craig can do the Collinsworth. He's scared. Come on. Sal's not here, Craig. Sal's good at it. I don't know if I have it as good as Sal, but I just, Matt Collins, Mike. Matt Collins over the middle. Mike, what a throw, Mike. Drake May. Just so good. He did call that Matt Collins fourth and nine. He did. Yes. An in-breaker. He's like, Drake May loves these in-breakers to Matt Collins. Mm-hmm.

45:25Bill Simmons:Any other stuff we want to hit in the fantasy or real NFL universe? Do you feel like the NFL change today? DK in any way? I mean, they did do a camera on the fish throw in Pike Place Market. Pretty revolutionary, I felt like. Craig and Heifetz hadn't seen that before I told them about it. They didn't know that the fish toss was a thing. Still shocking to me. What is the Pittsburgh equivalent of the Pike Place throwing the fish? What do they do for the Steelers game? Pramante Brothers? Just making Pramantes? Putting french fries and sandwiches? I don't know. Boston, they always go to Faneuil Hall, but meanwhile, the game's being played an hour away in Foxborough, which is almost right near the Rhode Island border.

46:03It's always like the Santa Monica Pier and then they go back to Inglewood. It's like,

46:09Bill Simmons:let's go back to take a right right after the Target in Inglewood and it's right there. Yeah, the Pike Place thing. So what else would you do, Danny? What else would I do to revolutionize the Pike Place throw? No, what else would you do for Seattle footage? Like, would you show like the sub pop? Sure. Would you start leaning into the old, here's where the Seattle Supersonics used to play? Oh, yeah. That's good. Like the old Key Arena. Yeah. I just think people, they think we want to see fish being thrown. Seattle Center.

46:39Danny Heifetz:They put the camera on the fish, and that's good because it's kind of like what Josh Jobe was seeing, right, when he caught Drake May's final interception. It was kind of like POV. I love it. The Giants are about to get their ass kicked. I got to get it. He is taking advantage of the situation right now. While we're here, Bill, honestly, was the peak of the NFL season for you? Literally the NFL season being like, but first Pearl Jam?

47:03Bill Simmons:McCree, well, I was in a whole different situation because my daughter was playing a game and pouring rain and wind in Boston, actually, against Suffolk. So I was watching that game and trying to watch the Pat, and it was like second half of her game. The Red Sox were trying to come back against the Angels, and then the Pats game started. And I, I'm just trying to watch everything all at once. And all of a sudden, Darnold's just looks like he's walking off the field. And I'm, I, I'm just too old. I thought my head was going to explode. It's like, is Darnold, is he leaving the field? Is it true lock time?

47:39Bill Simmons:And there's 10 minutes left in Zoe's game. So I don't know. I was, I was, uh, that was probably the peak of my NFL season because now it's looking pretty grim for the Pats. Listen, Raheem did all these stats today and ringer wise guys like these, the, the Super Bowl matchup. I think it's your own five this century when they do it as the opening game. There's all this stuff about the Super Bowl loser after and you never want to think it's your team. What happened with the Sean Alexander team the next year? Probably not great, right Danny? I'm trying to remember. They were not nearly as good. I think I was talking to Van about this.

48:18The fans kind of turned on Alexander a year or two after his big season because he kind of started just going down too easy and trying to preserve his body. I think late in his career, people were kind of starting to turn on him. I still love it. Now it's like I kind of get it, for sure.

48:34Bill Simmons:Yeah, because when I was growing up, Franco Harris used to go out of bounds over taking a hit. And everybody was like, pussy! People get so mad about it. They're like, serious, Adam. Look at this loser. I was at a game. I remember they were booing Sean Alexander because he went down before he got hit or whatever. I was like, man. the tide turns quickly that would be a great podcast that wouldn't do well but like because we had wade boggs on the red sox who used to try to draw walks so it'd be like third and second one out he's hitting like 360 but he'd like work the pitcher to like a you know five pitch walk and the fans would like get mad they would like boo it's like what are you doing why are you being so selfish drawing that walk and now 40 years later that's exactly what you're supposed to do Meanwhile, now it's like, Puka, go down, go down, Puka.

49:21Danny Heifetz:It is funny, though. We've been joking with this on our show. The amount of things that, like, should have been done in sports earlier, but guys were just afraid of looking like wimps. Like, my favorite is catchers should have been splooting for, like, 100 years. Catchers just crouched. And now all of them stick a leg out. And the answer is, well, we just thought you kind of looked like a bitch. And, like, same with hockey. Like, do you just stand up on two feet? Because no one wanted to, like, get on their knees. And like, that's it. They did that for like 40 years. I think the problem is that it's called splooting.

49:51Who's that? Come up with a better name.

49:54Bill Simmons:Call something cool. Thankfully, we still have the UFC. If you just want to see people with no disregard, no regard for their bodies or heads or anything. What were your football picks for the season? Although Collinsworth made a great point today about people ask me for my Super Bowl pick. I don't even know why I have to give one. Everyone gets hurt every week. I was like, that's genius. We should use that for every ringer podcast. That's what I'm saying. Thank you. That's what I said. And they made fun of me. Bill, on our last episode, we made our Super Bowl picks. And DK kind of refused to make one.

50:24He's like, I don't know who's going to win. It's week one. How am I supposed to know? I said the Seahawks, all right?

50:28Danny Heifetz:Craig, no. Craig and DK Bill had the biggest fight I've seen them have in a while about this. We can run the tape back. I said the Seahawks. And then Craig goes, really? You think that? And I was like, I don't know. Maybe. Oh, and you got mad. He didn't have conviction. Yeah, he's like, I don't know. How am I supposed to know? He's like, ask me in week 15. Maybe I was like, I didn't know Darnold was going to get hurt in six plays.

50:48Bill Simmons:You know, what was yours? I picked the bills. Yeah. See, I was thinking about that because Sal had the bills. This is why predictions are stupid. You're picking something that's never happened before and will probably never happen. I just think everyone's like, I think it's their year. It's like, this is like when the Red Sox fans would go and bet on the Red Sox to win the World Series every year for like 50 years in Vegas. And then we actually won. I just feel like everybody likes the Texans. A lot of, you know, the Ravens are a hot team to pick. I feel like Josh Allen's the best quarterback in the league and nobody's picking them.

51:21So that feels easy to me. And for some reason, because he hasn't done it the last four years, it means he'll never do it. He's like 29 years old.

51:27Bill Simmons:I guess Michael, I had the Joe Brady questions is where I really landed on that. Where, because McDermott, who I know had some bad endings, but the guy was a, you know, a good coach. he was a defensive coach and now they're replacing him with a guy who's never been a head coach and people are like, should be great whereas like Minter, I felt like I just thought he was awesome on the Chargers last year. I don't know, how awesome was Joe Brady in Buffalo when you have Josh Allen and James Cook? He had two of the best offensive players in the league.

51:57Danny Heifetz:Are you wondering about Joe Brady as coordinator or Joe Brady as head coaching managing decision making and all that?

52:04Bill Simmons:I just don't know how much credit he deserved for their offense. For Josh Allen. They had a top seven or eight offensive line. They had the best quarterback in the league, and they probably had one of the five or six best running backs in the league, and they scored points. So it's, I don't know how much. We'll see. I guess we're going to find out in these next two months. Whereas Minter, I do feel like something special might happen. I said this on the pod on Sunday. It feels like once a year there's a coordinator that everybody kind of knows is going to be an awesome head coach. Like last year, it was Ben Johnson.

52:36Bill Simmons:And everybody was like, this guy's going to be an awesome head coach. And I would think it's Minter, right? Do you guys have another candidate that's not him?

52:43Danny Heifetz:To take an extremely oversimplified analogy, I think if Mike McDonald's the Sean McVay of defense, the hope is that Jesse Minter could be like the Kyle Shanahan of defense. That's a tremendous label to put on anyone, but that kind of is the comp because his dad goes way back with the Harbaugh's. They have a system that's kind of spreading. It is kind of similar in that what McDonald and Minter are doing. there at the cutting edge of this thing that's like cutting the McVay Shanahan thing down at the knees I think I had I kind of thought the Ravens are gonna make the Super Bowl I had the I had the Rams winning I had the Rams winning the Super Bowl it's kind of over Ravens but it's like yeah it's like eight eight teams are trying to win the Rams are trying really hard to win the Super Bowl which is actually more than you can say for a lot of teams and I know the super team thing never works I know Stafford at 38 years old making it unscathed is a whole thing but my god If Stafford actually is healthy again, I'm like, I don't know.

53:33Danny Heifetz:I mean, they're so good.

53:36Bill Simmons:You know what I didn't like today? I forgot to mention this. Tomlin sitting down with Harbaugh and calling him Harbs. He's like, I don't want you guys to like each other. What are we doing? I thought the Steelers and Ravens hated each other this whole time. It's like being behind the curtain, Craig. I didn't like it. I feel like that's more of a modern thing. Did they used to do that back in the day? Now the second the careers end, I feel like rivals are now doing commercials together and they're in bits and they're on TV. I've never liked it. It's why I didn't want LeBron on the Warriors. I'm like, I just, we can't have stuff from LeBron on the same team.

54:08Like, what are we doing?

54:09Danny Heifetz:We're going to pretend this is some new thing. I mean, I don't know. Was it? I mean, the beginning of Space Jam has like Michael Jordan and Larry. All these guys are in the beginning. This is like everything.

54:18Bill Simmons:People used to do this as soon as they retired. I like animosity. I want animosity to come back. This episode is brought to you by PNC Bank. In today's sports, everyone is constantly trying to outdo each other. Trick formations, infield shifts, constant rotation changes, yet it's proven time and time again that strong fundamentals are the thing that will lead you to victory. Banking, no different. While everyone else tries to outdo each other, PNC Bank just keeps going right down the middle with steady calculated money moves and the financial wins just keep coming. PNC Bank, brilliantly boring since 1865.

54:53Bill Simmons:brilliantly boring since 1865 as a registered mark of the PNC Financial Services Group, Incorporated, PNC Bank, National Association, member FDIC. This episode is brought to you by my old friend, NFL Sunday Ticket. Kickoff's coming and with NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get every game, every Sunday, all in one place. New users can get NFL Sunday Ticket for eight payments of just$30 a month. New users pay$240 or eight, eight non-cancelable payments of$30 a month. First charge at purchase. Availability varies with NFL sending ticket for out-of-market games and YouTube TV for local and national games.

55:29Bill Simmons:YouTube TV required. Terms, restrictions, and embargoes apply. Commercial use excluded. No refunds. Well, you guys did the take purge. What was the best take purge out of the three of you? It's an annual gimmick. Great idea. Craig said that. You purge the takes that you don't actually want to say in the show, but you basically get a get-out-of-jail-free card with the take. So what was the best one? Well, the best non-football one was Craig saying that magicians should be the most famous people in the world, which I fully get behind. That's really good. I really respect and appreciate that. It kind of makes no sense that David Blaine is not as famous as LeBron James, but that doesn't matter.

56:10I thought Hyven said that he wanted to see Jerry Jones. He secretly wanted to see Jerry Jones win the Super Bowl, which I thought was absolutely fantastic. But we've already cursed a couple players. That's pretty good. We cursed some people already. I said that Sam Darnold was going to turn back into a pumpkin and that Brock Bowers was the most overrated pick in fantasy this year. And so I guess two for two. Two for two. I don't know who the third one is going to be. They always go down in threes, so we'll see.

56:38Bill Simmons:On the magician thing. Okay. ABC, maybe 15 years ago, had a show with David Blaine 12 to 15 years ago where he did tricks for celebrities. Oh, I've watched it 10 times. The Harrison Ford one. I think it's the best thing that's been on television this century. I've never been more riveted by anything. And the way people reacted to it, like real famous people. Yeah. Not like actually being truly authentic, famous people versus like this massage thing that were fed by all the celebrities, but the way they were reacting to him, I don't know why that show isn't on every year. I would watch it over and over again.

57:13Bill Simmons:What happened to that show? Everybody makes fun of magicians. I think it's because they're frustrated that they don't know how the tricks work, but every time you are forced to go see a magician or something, you kind of have a good time. It blows your mind. And you leave going, oh my God, how did he do that? These guys, they should be more famous. I really think so.

57:30Danny Heifetz:Can this be a reward for winning Ringer 107 and not getting a prize and then Sal and DiBundo coming in last place and getting to go to Vegas? Can we just go to the Magic Castle in LA next time we're in town?

57:40Bill Simmons:That's a great question, Bill. We could just do that anyway. Have you been to the Magic Castle in LA, Bill? I went early. It's been over 20 years since I've been there. Was it fun? I've never been. It was okay. I've had better magician experiences. But yeah, I feel like it should come back. The Prestige, 20th anniversary of that movie. Good movie. it's been on the rewatchables schedule a little bit Bill do you remember when that guy I don't remember his name made the space shuttle disappear does that ring a bell for some reason I don't remember that to Craig's point I don't know why I remember this but it was when I was a kid it was probably in the 80s or 90s and someone made a space shuttle disappear on TV and I thought it was like the coolest thing I've ever seen and I still remember it I don't remember hardly anything these days it does just feel like society collectively agreed that because we're annoyed that we can't figure out these guys' tricks, that we're not going to annoy them as cool people.

58:36Bill Simmons:Where do you stand on card tricks? Is that like cousins of this? Card tricks are okay. It's like that's running the ball, setting up the play action for a deep ball. But my friend hired a magician for his birthday for like 10 of us on a roof. This random guy came up, did tricks in front of us for an hour. It was amazing. He like emptied a Coke can and filled it back up somehow. Like these people, it's remarkable. Illusions, Craig. I love it. illusion. It sounds like the start of Hangover 4. Like Galifianakis gets a magician for the group and then they'll wake up the next day. Did he strip after doing all that stuff or what?

59:11I will say, I don't like when they include technology. Now it's like, pull out your phone and open up Instagram and check my story. And then it's like, some illusion is inside the story. I don't love when they do that, but.

59:21Bill Simmons:Well, that's the internet and YouTube, I think has hurt magicians too. Like people debunking the different tricks. I don't want these tricks debunked. I mean, Pablo Torre took down O's The Mentalist. Right. Did you even have to take him down, though? Yeah, spoiler alert. It's fake.

59:36Danny Heifetz:Well, I mean, the new magicians could never survive in that earlier, more physical league, you know? Now it's just too digital. Craig likes the analog magician. So Craig won the take perch with the magician thing. Yeah. Maybe. That's the one I've been thinking about the most. Well, speaking of Mike Tomlin, the other one I had that I do feel deep in my soul but that I don't want to admit is that I think there's a chance that Mike McCarthy goes like 12-5, wins a playoff game with the Steelers, and then everyone's like questioning if Mike Tomlin was a good coach. I do think there's a chance that happens.

1:00:06Bill Simmons:I had the Steelers in the playoffs, as you know. Yeah. I had... Oh, I have some hottest takes. I don't know if we're ever doing hottest take again. I thought that was in the plans. It's not happening. No, it is. Now we have the new thing we added in Sycamore, and we're going to have this conference table. I'll just test drive one that I didn't think was good enough, but I think is good for the purpose of this. People, this is like an adult male thing where people, they want to get together and they go, we should get a beer. Let's go get a beer. I just think we need more options when we say that.

1:00:46Bill Simmons:Let's get a beer is always the go-to. I don't really just want to randomly get a beer with somebody that I haven't seen for a year and a half. So what are other things I could do with them? I feel like saying let's get a beer though is like a disarming phrase to a man. It makes them feel comfortable. I know, but I'm saying it's 2026. What else? What else do we have? How about let's just go get lunch? We want to go to putt-putt. Yeah. You want to go to mini golf? You want to go get a matcha latte? Can I give you a ride? I won't wear a seatbelt. Any interest? Anybody? Yeah. Matcha latte would be good.

1:01:18Is that good? Okay.

1:01:19Bill Simmons:I don't know, but I just feel like, hey, you want to go get a beer? Hey, I'm going to be in town. Should we go get a beer? It's like the only option that's ever been presented. I just wish there were more options. It's a good call, but I feel like specifically with men, like men don't get dinner. You know what I mean? I feel like you and your friends, it's like me and my friend, Chris, I'm never like, we should get dinner. So he's like, let's grab a beer.

1:01:39Danny Heifetz:Well, that's true because women converse and catch up on their lives face to face and men have to do it shoulder to shoulder. Like men tell each other they're like having a kid in the middle of talking about, like by accident, you've probably learned like watching Red Sox games to someone.

1:01:54Bill Simmons:Yeah, men have to be next to each other looking out. Yeah, right. Bill, maybe instead of instead of let's grab a beer. What about we should we should catch a game? Let's catch a yeah, catch a watch a game. Well, not a Dodger game. Yeah, football game. Yeah, let's watch Monday night game.

1:02:10Danny Heifetz:So is it about the beer or the time? Is it about the beer? Like, are you just done drinking beer?

1:02:15Bill Simmons:I just want I just think it's too much of a cliche. We need more options. The other one I had, I don't think this one works either for hottest take is facial technology for movie theaters. We have it for sporting events. Oh. I just walked right into AMC. They know me right away. I have my thing. I'm just in. I get charged later. I just decided on when I want to go to a movie. I'm just in. They have all our shit anyway. Bill, there's a thing. I mean, I went and did this at the Mariners game the other day. It's like you just show your ID when you're going in. Like you kind of flash it to them and then you go in and you can take as many beers as you want or whatever and you walk out and they charge you.

1:02:51You don't have to like check out. You just grab beers and leave. The Clippers have that. Technology sometimes is good.

1:02:57Bill Simmons:Yeah, the Clippers have that and nobody will use it next year because nobody's ever going to a Clipper game again. But they had the same thing where you just walk and you kind of feel like you're looting the store, but they're charging you the whole time. So I don't know. You guys like facial technology or no? Like that facial recognition where they walk in and they know it's like, it's Craig. He's been to three Clipper games this year. Probably not. It's Craig. Yeah, it's a little creepy, right? He's seen Babylon three times in theaters.

1:03:24Danny Heifetz:He didn't like Megapolis. As a Knicks fan who really, really, really wants to attend a Knicks game this season in the garden, I love facial recognition technology. Oh, yeah.

1:03:35Bill Simmons:I love you, James Dolan. This would be my first hottest take, though. Okay. I'll just test drive it. America can tell us if they want it to come back. No more dogs in hotels. You know what, Bill? I think you're 100%. We've gone way too far. I have two dogs. I've had two dogs the entire time I've lived in California, basically. I've written columns about my dogs. We have an Instagram page for my dog, Merv. I love dogs. I don't want to see a dog in a hotel. And you know what else? I don't want to see your dog in a grocery store either. Keep your dog out of places where there's food. Keep going. I love dogs.

1:04:12Bill Simmons:I'm never going to bring my dog into a place where people are shopping. There's produce. There's meat. Get the fuck out of there. Nobody wants to see your dog. Well, planes don't get me started. Restaurants? No dogs in restaurants. No dogs. Maybe outdoor, maybe? Maybe they could sit outside. Beer gardens. Dogs should only be in a place where if they immediately take a shit, it's okay. Everyone kind of chuckles. Yeah, it's fine. Not a plane, not a six-hour flight. No, not a Target. Not a coffee shop.

1:04:44Danny Heifetz:Wait, Craig, did you ever tell Bill the story of the time the woman made you hold her dog on the plane? I'll make it quick. I was flying from LA to Park City and a woman was next to me with a tiny little chihuahua on her lap. She asked if I could hold it for 20 seconds as she got situated. I said, sure. I looked over, the plane was about to take off. She was knocked out of sleep and I had to take care of that dog for three hours. Come on. True story. So that's Craig's dog now. He adopted the dog. The plane landed. I gave the dog, the dog's name was Greta, eight pounds soaking wet. I gave it back to the lady and the guy across the aisle as we landed looked over at me and said, you're a saint.

1:05:23Bill Simmons:Wow. Why didn't you just wake her up and give her the dog back? I don't know. She had like a bunch of clothes on her lap. It seemed like she was having a day. So I was like, whatever. This dog can sit in my lap, I guess. We've all lost our minds. Yeah. So no dog hotel. Like if, I don't know, maybe not the Marriott, but like the Kempton was like, hey, one of our things in Kempton, no more dogs. I'm into that. Don't ever have to see a dog. You don't have to stay in a room that a dog might have diarrhea on the night before on the floor and they cleaned it up. But you can still kind of smell it. Nothing.

1:05:56Bill Simmons:Checking in nowhere. It's like no smoking. There should be like no dog sections of restaurants and planes and things like that. You could pay a premium for that.

1:06:03Danny Heifetz:Would you like getting in the elevator and seeing a dog though and then just never seeing it again? It's kind of nice. Sure. Elevator's okay.

1:06:09Bill Simmons:Well, part of the problem is there's too many dogs. Everybody has a dog now. Yeah. It's a proliferation of dogs all over the place. like in 40 years ago we didn't there weren't dogs all over the place i feel like you're speaking chris ryan's language right i feel like he'd love this take i asked someone love this take i asked

1:06:25Danny Heifetz:someone the other day i thought they had a mutt and i was like what kind of dog is that and they were like it's an exo and i was like what is like it's an exotic and i was like oh and it meant one of those french bulldogs that was like 18 000 i was like oh my god okay oh wow an exo like exotic like one of those frenchies french bulldogs with the blue eyes that and like a little pink hue that I think it's actually like Kendrick Perkins' breeding or whatever is like$15 ,000.

1:06:49Bill Simmons:Well, then another thing that this might be an LA thing, people are breeding dogs that are like really dramatically different sizes. Yeah. And I don't know how I feel about that. Where you have like, it's like a Great Dane had sex with a schnauzer and now it's a schnauzer Dane. It's dogs like short legs, like what are we doing? Your scientists never considered whether they should, right? They only asked if they could. It does feel like we've gotten bored. And now we're trying to...

1:07:19Danny Heifetz:We're doing so many dog breeds. There's a Rick and Morty episode where they go to a dog planet and the dogs are doing this with people. Yeah. And what happens? It goes poorly. But they're like, you know what? If you don't like this, then you're weird. Right.

1:07:34Bill Simmons:Well, we've never done Island of Dr. Moreau on the Rewatchables, which is one of the worst movies of all time. But that's where Dr. Moreau is breeding humans and animals. And he has this island of human animals, basically. And it's tremendous. We have a Netflix poll. Should dogs be allowed in hotels? 67 % said no. Oh, the people are on your side.

1:07:55Danny Heifetz:But if you take the poll results, you mean that Drake May should be called Drake Maybe if you're going with the mob.

1:08:01Bill Simmons:Well, after today, I can't even fight back on Drake Maybe. This is the worst. Sal's going to be like a pig and shit for four fucking days. Now I have to root for the Giants on Sunday night. If it's...

1:08:12Danny Heifetz:The Giants are going to lose. I told Deacon Craig this, the most underrated thing. I mean, Dak Prescott hasn't lost to the Giants in a game that mattered since his rookie year. Like, the Giants are like 2-16 versus the Cowboys, and the two wins are like games that they benched Dak because the game didn't matter. Do you think Harbaugh, before the game,

1:08:28Bill Simmons:will get everybody together and say, you play for the New York Giants? This is Sunday night football. Sunday night football. NBC is here. part two with tomlin and harbs yeah they liked each other all along yeah so if we bring back the hottest take which i really want to do and have wanted to do for a while now that we have this expanded um studio situation i think we're gonna be able to the netflix polls would be good for this oh yeah because a lot of people accuse craig of killing the hottest take with his cannibalism should be legal hottest take altruistic cannibalism altruistic cannibalism I still think there's a case, but...

1:09:09Bill Simmons:People think that the feed kind of slowed down and I think stopped right after that. They're like, we have to stop. I believe you made us do the rewatchables. We did that movie Alive after I gave that take, right? About the plane crash with Ethan Hawke? Yeah. Right, right. So altruistic cannibalism is one of the last hottest takes. We need to bring it back just for that. Did you guys agree with that take or no?

1:09:32Danny Heifetz:Not really. Honestly, when Craig breaks it down, it's like so... You know, when hypothetically, if you're not wearing a seatbelt and you died in a car crash, Craig's like, I can donate my eyes, but no one can eat me. You have to light me on fire. All my organs? What about my bicep? What about my thigh? What's the difference?

1:09:49Bill Simmons:Yeah, you're rump. Yeah, by rump. It's a rump steak. Yeah, we talk about the veal chop all the time. What would my veal chop look like? I don't know. All right, guys, you're in the Ringer 107 contest. Ringer Fantasy Football. but you did you win last year? You did, right? Yes, we won. No, we won 11 games. There was no prize. We bet on the coin toss in the Superbowl and won. Yeah, there it is. So you're the ringer 107. You'll be giving your picks on, uh, on your last show of the week. House and I are going to be back tomorrow. We're going to do, so we're doing a gimmick where we're going back and forth, four picks each, but we can't have the same picks.

1:10:28Bill Simmons:Um, and then everybody's going to have the fifth picks that will be, uh, on social media, but this will be good. I feel like last year was a test run. This is going to be a real thing. And FanDuel was saying, there's going to be some stuff. There's going to be some prizes. That's how I felt about the Ringer Fantasy Football League that Mallory won. I felt like that was a test drive as well. Now it starts, I feel like. We didn't really know what we were doing. Mallory won it last year, and she lost it this year. She has Brock Bowers. Brock Bowers is already out. His PCL, MCL, whatever CO. And my Patriots season now feels like it might be over.

1:11:00Bill Simmons:I really need a rally. 10 days of intensive therapy. Hopefully AJ Brown in the walking boot. DK, congratulations. You beat us again. I wish I could work up any hatred for Seattle and I just don't have any. You might get an NBA team again soon. We might be out there in December doing rewatchables too. Heck yeah. Yeah, might happen. All right. DK, Heifetz, Craig, great to see you guys. Check out the Ringer Fantasy Football Podcast. I am back tomorrow night live on Netflix after their post-game show from Rams Niners. We're coming on about a half hour after that meet house. We're going to be doing all of our picks.

1:11:33Bill Simmons:Thanks to Gahau and Eduardo and everybody behind the scenes as well. Thanks, guys. I will talk to you soon. Thank you.

1:11:59Bill Simmons:Must be 21 plus and president select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas star casino or 18 plus and president DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming game problem. call 1-800-GAMBL or 1-800-MY-RESET. Call 888-79-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelpline ma.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY in New York for Louisiana. Call 877-770-7867.

1:12:36Danny Heifetz:Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time. We go V. We go V. Ask your prescriber about We Go V. Semaglutide Injection 2.4mg, a GLP-1. Call 1-833-4-WEGOV or visit wegovy.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about We Go V. Why wait? We go V. Every game day you show up for your team. Now it's your time. We go V. We go V. Ask your prescriber about We Go V. Some maglutide injection 2.4 milligrams, a GLP-1. Call 1-833-4-WEGOV or visit wegovy.com to view the medication guide and to learn more about We Go V. Why wait? We go V. Thank you.

From the publisher

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Craig Horlbeck, Danny Heifetz, and Danny Kelly to react to the NFL season opener between the Patriots and the Seahawks. Then, they preview 49ers-Rams in Australia before giving some hot takes.

(0:00) Intro

(1:07) Patriots-Seahawks reactions

(30:51) 49ers-Rams preview and hot takes

Host: Bill Simmons

Guests: Craig Horlbeck, Danny Heifetz, and Danny Kelly

Producers: Chia Hao Tat, Eduardo Ocampo, and Chris Wohlers

The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines.
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