The Juggernaut Packers, Realistic Clippers Punishments, and Week 2 NFL Picks With Joe House, Jason Concepcion, and Chris Ryan

26:44If the money is being restricted by the rules to an ever-increasing degree, my opinion is the deterrence should also. If you go, hey, the speed limit is now 30, but don't put a cop on the side of the highway every once in a while, then what does it really matter? Right. I kind of feel like the NBA needs to look in the mirror just a little bit and be like, what are we doing to dissuade this from happening? Because now this type of like the owner's jet, the owner's beach house kind of free perks. I think, I think you could argue that stuff matters more now in this era. Well, don't leave out the, let me tell you about this investment.

27:28Get in on this early. Tell your guy. Cause I think that's the number one thing that's happened over the last few years. You talked about all the smoke. It just made me think like, let's say I had a 17 year old son, by the way, I'm not saying this is the case, but let's say I had a 17 year old son on a bad path. And every time I walked into his room, it was like the dazed and confused scene when all the people are in there. And it's just like, incense is going. It's like, Hey dad, what's up? And that's just happening over and over again. And I just choose not to see it. And then one day the police is there because there's just bales of marijuana in my garage that I had no idea.

28:07Jason's basically saying that's Adam Silver right now. There's been incense just burning nonstop and this is now we're at the bales of marijuana stage CR. Do you guys think that there's anything to the... We're in such a different era now. Honestly, I mean, obviously, I think about the Colangelo story when this is happening just because of the unconventional way in which it came to light. Obviously, Pablo is doing a very different kind of thing with his podcast in terms of how he's parceling out information, how the reporting is happening in real time with him. But you watch the reporting side of it, and you watch the reaction side of it.

28:48And it's so almost... The way people are speaking is very human. Very everyday speech. Like, hey, this is happening. This is happening. Pablo is obviously very buttoned up. But then you have the responses from Balmer and the league that are very like, we're just going to have to let the investigation see where it leads. And it's just going to take its time. I heard Howard and Zach talking today on Zach's podcast where it was like, this might take until next spring. I'm like, people aren't waiting until next spring. You guys have to stop talking like lawyers. The only thing you can pray for is that we get bored and something else happens.

29:24Because otherwise, this is the only thing people want to talk about with the league right now. And you can't just be like, this law firm's just going to have to do its due diligence and it's just going to take nine months. People don't like that anymore. People don't take that as an excuse. I wonder how long they can use that. Maybe, JC, maybe a Friday news dump, like right as the two college football playoffs semifinal games are starting. By the way, Tyler coaches. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just kind of sneak that in. I will say Silver's comments outside of the governor's meeting did not lead me to believe there was a hammer about to be dropped anywhere in the offing.

30:06Like, it really felt like, hey, guys, a burden's on us. Like, we got to look, and it's tough to look for this stuff. And, you know, we love due process here. We're going to let this investigation go where it leads. Again, I would be shocked if they come down, like, super hard, I think, at this point. even despite the amount of smoke. Like, remember the Joe Smith thing was like, they found a piece of paper that was literally like, hey, don't forget, we have to illegally pay Joe Smith. Okay, we have to do that tomorrow. All the figures were on it, the whole thing. Yeah, no, it's, so the report that Pablo had today, it was just more smoke.

30:48It was more like, huh? And it's just, it becomes a question of how many coincidences are you going to accept before you're like, all right, come on guys. Because what they did with this one, with the latest report about how the minority owner had funneled two million to this company, right as they're laying off all a bunch of people, right as Kawhi is do a money figure that's just slightly under that. So he doesn't do the exact figure, it's just a little more. And then it's the same thing with the bomber, with the puts in 50, right as Kawhi is getting the 28 plus the 20. And it's like just a little tilted off, but not totally.

31:26this is how you would do it if it was like a bad sports movie that we were watching, which is why I think this has gotten progressively funnier as the two weeks have gone. It's also, it kind of feels a little bit like any great piece of conspiracy text. Think about the movie JFK or something like that, where it's more of like a contagious idea that it seems like, not only do I not know, I also don't have a dog in the fight, but it seems like something I could see people beneath Balmer on the org chart kind of freelancing a little bit more than I can see Balmer doing it. And it's not because I have any like great admiration for Balmer out of whack with anybody else.

32:08It's just like, I wonder whether this is like the person who was implicated today in Pablo's reporting was this guy, Dennis Wong, who's a minority owner in the Clippers, but a college roommate of Balmer's. Tough day for Dennis. Dennis? Dennis. Yet another Dennis. Dennis' kids are like, Dad? Wait, don't give away a free pod idea Dennis and Dennis I mean, I can't wait Dennis and Dennis and then who is like the guy who is the backwards cap guy who sits there and goes, wow, that's so crazy Exactly Need a third Dennis Yeah But yeah, I think that there's something to this idea of perhaps this wasn't a conspiracy as much as it was a series of unfortunate events, but that might not matter in terms of the judgment.

32:57Do you think, Bill, that part of the reason why nobody really knows what to do, or at least how to feel about this, is because unlike, say, a Sarver or a Sterling, I don't know, maybe even the fact that this is not demonstrably... Because everyone likes Bomber. Yeah, everybody's just like, that guy built a cool stadium in the All-Star Games there, and he gets up on stage and screams developers, and he's freaking out at like, you know, charging calls. And he seems like he really likes basketball. And once like there's part of, I wonder whether or not it's like, yeah, but he seems like what's he, what's he done to hurt the league?

33:32It seems to be an issue here. Well, and then you have on top of it. So the two biggest scandals since Donahue were both Clipper scandals. Yes. The whole Sterling V. Stiviano catastrophe. that like submarine the 2014 playoffs basically. And then this, they're both Clipper related. And it's just like, I mean, when I wrote my Curse of the Clippers column for page two, it was 2009. It was Obama's first year of his presidency. And I listed 33 years of Clipper shit. And now that think of all the other shit that's happened since, I don't know, JC, they might just have to move. Like this, this could be the final piece for maybe they just have to go to Seattle and we just call it a day with the LA Clippers.

34:24I mean, that would be an amazing outcome, I think, for everyone. I'm I'm left wondering, like, to your point. And again, I'm not saying that Bomber or Dennis, other Dennis, Dennis Wong knew anything. But if they did, do you think they are wondering, man, why did we let it go bankrupt? That was the that's the rookie mistake. Oh, why didn't he just fund it? Yeah. You got to keep aspiration on its feet if it's truly like this money laundering vehicle that you hope. Yeah. I mean, to your point, there's too many things. And I think that also, how many generations would actually need to pass for the Clippers to truly establish themselves as an equal rival to the Lakers in this city?

35:17How many years would have to go by? The ship has sailed. I mean, the ship sailed a long time ago. It's the same thing for the Nets and the Knicks. It would have to be like 50 years of the Nets kicking the Knicks ass. It would have to be that. And then the Knicks could go 43 and 39 once, and it'd be like, the Knicks are back. The Nets do a full identity change every six months. Now they have like, hey guys, Michael Porter Jr. is our mouthpiece. We have five first rounders. They all need the ball. I want MPJ Jr. to weigh in on this. I want MPJ to weigh in on Uncle Dennis and Kawhi. Honestly, a budding podcast star.

35:58He was coming in hot over and over again. MPJ should sign Dennis and Dennis to his network. Podcast network, yeah. I'm going to give you my hottest take of this whole scandal. I'm not saying I invented it, but I actually believe it might be true, but it's also crazy. what if kawaii just never knew about any of this and it's just all dennis dennis freelance this i the smoking gun for this theory is kawaii doesn't want to do any work he doesn't want to have to do anything flip this around why would they be so determined to not have kawaii do any work like it's actually easy to go film an ad for an hour it's easy to do like five tweets a year this is more like Kawhi's not going to do anything or is this understood it's got to be he gets paid to do work that he didn't actually do almost like when you're watching a movie or a tv show from the 70s or 80s and the guy has the fake job and I wonder if maybe they constructed it that way so that Kawhi never knew about the money yeah and and but by the way how many family members are like the fucking Billy Joel doc that just happened his brother-in-law yeah just stole $30 million from him.

37:17Like, I just, I'm not ruling it out. I'm not ruling out anything, Jason. That is, I have not heard that before, but honestly, it feels very plausible. Listen, if you're a pro athlete, you really aren't thinking about much other than work out, get ready. What's the game? What's the scouting? Well, if you're Michael Porter, you're thinking about a lot of stuff. Yes, yes. Clearly, there's the exception that proves rule occasionally. But this is a fairly convoluted scheme and it would not surprise me that like, that's why you have a team. Like when you're at that level, you have people that their job is just go out and find me opportunities, put it in front of me.

37:59I sign the thing and that's it. It would not surprise me at all. That's what CR has. Yes. If this was the Law & Order episode, that would be the big twist at the 48-minute mark. That he had no idea. They'd realize that Kawhi actually had no idea this was ever happening in the first place. The sort of confusing element of this is the reporting about how the company had a series of Colombian media stars who they were essentially acting as a laundering... They were money laundering where they would send them, I send you 50 grand, you send me back 55 or whatever it is. And so there's obvious elements.

38:40I just don't think that the way, if that's the case, and if this whole thing is a Ponzi scheme that had participants who were putting in and taking out money, they're not doing a great job. Balmer just being like, I was defrauded. These guys were frauds is not up to the level of detail of Pablo's reporting. He needs to be even more detailed and like, hey, look, here's where I was on these days and here's my communications and here's what Kawhi and I talked about. And honestly, I was joking when it first started, but this is where somebody on the Kawhi side would be helpful to Balmer to be like, our relationship with this company had nothing to do with Steve Balmer and had nothing to do with me staying with the Clippers.

39:22It's weird that he has not said that. It is weird that nobody has said that. I would not be surprised going off your theory, Bill, if Uncle Dennis ends up being a fall guy in this. Oh. So, all right, let's stay with that for a second. All three of us love watching movies all the time. Yeah. Who is the Donald Sutherland JFK character of this for UCR? Who emerges from the woodworks? It's whoever this person with the modulated voice and the first calling Pablo. So it's the aspiration VP? Yeah. It's not somebody on the inside with the clippers? No. Because usually in these movies, it's usually... Oh, so you think it's like Lawrence Frank is meeting Pablo in the Washington Monument?

40:10Not initially. Not initially. Who's the guy who's like, Pablo, you're close, but now you have to follow the money. But it's always somebody who either... Maybe it's somebody who works for the Lakers. It's somebody who's around the mix, but not totally. What if it's Robert Downey Jr.? Exactly. dream because here's my here's my here's my jfk conspiracy theory about aspiration that this thing is like a it existed as like a money laundering grand central station that served multiple properties looking to both launder and receive money and that bomber and wong were just one of several clients that used this grand central station to send money around and so i think Because I think it's not clear to me how, like, the CEO went to jail or was faced federal charges.

41:00And I think it's about this stuff. Like, it's clearly there's other, there's a larger piece of the iceberg than just the Clippers piece of this. Bill, early on in this process, Cuban came out, Mark Cuban came out, and while he is no longer the owner of an NBA team, he still is pretty defensive of Balmer, at least if not the Clippers. Do you think it's notable that we haven't had a lot of other public offers of support from the other NBA owners? Well, here's the problem. The Clippers are good, right? I mean, they took Denver to the brink. I actually thought they conceivably could have won that series.

41:44And they were probably the fourth best team in the league last year. So if I'm any of the other teams that are good, I'm like, this is great. I was worried about that. Like, think about during the summer. People were saying they were the big winner of the summer with free agency. So I'm sure around the league, people are delighted by this. I like when, you know, some of the stories have talked about how furious other teams are. Yes. That this is a breach. Get the fuck out of here. That's how I feel. Half the league does this. I wish I could say 10 % of the shit that I've heard over the last 20 years about all the shit that everybody does.

42:19It's unbelievable. Nobody, everything you think is happening is happening. Just period. I love that idea that I, the honest owner, am sick of this. And by the way, I, again, the honest owner who in the business, non-sports business world and the most like hard-nosed gladiator, like killed your like dog to get an edge in a business deal. The one thing I'm scared of is Adam Silver docking me three second rounders. I'm terrified of it, guys. Yeah. I don't want to get fined. I'm a multi-billionaire. Uh-oh. Oh, they're coming after me. I was kind of hoping that Balmer was like, when he was doing the Ramona interview, that he was like, what you gonna do, Adam?

43:12Let's go. Well, so everyone's been talking about punishments with this. And I've been thinking about this a lot. They could dock them four or five first-round picks. You're almost punishing the fans more than the owner and the team, right? You're just basically destroying basketball in some way. For dozens of fans, yes. You can't find Balmer. Yeah, for dozens of fans. You can't find Balmer because he's worth$150 billion.

43:42The huge card would be that you have to sell the team, which I haven't heard anyone mention, but they did that with Sterling. They made him sell the team. And if they find, let's say all this shit is true, All the smoke from the different Pablo pods, some of the other reporting, and this is true, and they did this. I think it's within... This is how Kawhi agreed to stay with the Clippers, is if they circumvented the cap and gave him an extra$48 million. Yeah, they prove it. I think they could make him sell the team because they did it to Sterling. You know what would be dope? Is if he was like, cool, I'm taking the dome with me.

44:21We're turning it into a roller skating rink. And now there is no Clippers home. Nobody gets to buy that. I'm buying the LA Kings. We're just going to have hockey. But I do think it's within his... We always heard that you couldn't make an owner sell, but they did make Sterling sell. Now, he had to agree to sell, but they all put so much pressure on him, he had to do it. I don't think that's out of thing. I think we need a bigger smoking gun than what we have, though, Jason. I agree. And there was also the wrinkle with the Clippers where his wife had control of it for some other tax evasion reason that Sterling was doing.

45:01She was planting trees as well. So that they convinced her. It was really like they got her to do it. That's why she has mid-court season tickets still. That's right. No, seriously, that was one of her things. I think there's almost no chance that they make him. I would not be surprised if they... Really, you go no chance? That they sell it? I think they banish him. I think at least you see Silver go, you have to stay away from the team. He can't be the governor, but he doesn't have to sell it or something. And you have to stay away from the team and all of its facilities for like a year or two years or something like that.

45:33So there's history of that in different sports. That happened to George Steinbrenner. This has happened over the years where somebody's like, you're out for a year. In this case, he could say to Ballmer, like, we find you go through your fine four first-round picks and you cannot be around the Clippers for five years. and I mean, who enjoys going to a basketball game as an owner more than Balmer? That would seriously kill him. He just built the Intuit Dome too. I'm like, Balmer's at this Pacers Clippers game on like a Tuesday. Oh my God, he loves it. I was watching him during the playoff games.

46:11Nobody is more into it. It's almost like the way you would be if you're watching your kids play sports or something. He's like five times beyond that. So I think that is one level for them. Can I ask you guys a question though? As the season approaches does this feel like they have an unfair competitive advantage to you? Do you feel like this is like the Astros? I actually I personally don't think that. You don't either, Jason? No. No. The rules are so strict now. Basically because of Balmer. Because of anxiety around him and his ability to throw his wealth around that you really can't move, use your leverage, your money in the way that you used to be able to.

46:58And to Bill's point, it feels like there's so much ambient gray area stuff happening around the edges that I really don't feel like they have some massive advantage. No one's scared of the Clippers in that way, except maybe the other owners who are terrified of bomber's wealth, but it feels like that's been neutered to an effect. I wonder how it'll feel like when we're in, we get to November, and they're getting asked about this every single day after every single practice. Or if they are, you know what I mean? Whether there's media scrutiny that approaches Deflategate or something like that, and there's people in Tyloo's face and Kawhi's face, and if it's not Kawhi, it's Harden or whoever, and they're like, hey, what do you think about this?

47:47Do you think it's fair? Did you read this? What's your comment on that? Whether or not that becomes just too much for the team and they have to make a more declarative statement or something, I don't know. But it'll be really interesting to see how this plays out as both a media story and whether Pablo keeps finding stuff and other people keep finding stuff and there's more digging into this company or whether it kind of is like a lot of modern media stories where it's like it feels like it's the biggest thing in the world for six days. And then it's like Balloon Boy and everybody forgets, you know.

48:22And will we be watching the Clippers and just be like, oh, yeah, and then there's that weird thing with Kawhi, right? Yeah. They're going to get asked about this. Adam's going to get asked about this anytime he does a press conference. It's going to be the first thing. Like, I was trying to think, like, if Stern had been in charge. because the Donahue thing was one of Stern's greatest moments where they got a whiff of that there was some FBA investigation brewing, not just with Donahue, but potentially other refs. There's some pretty good evidence that he probably leaked something to the New York Post to get it out, that there was this investigation happening.

49:01So then basically there was nothing more that could happen with the investigation because everybody knew about it. But I think Stern in this case would be moving swift and fast to not let this overshadow. You're starting this new season with Amazon, with NBC. It's this complete reboot, all this money coming in the league, these new partners that are supposed to be more positive. And you have this crazy story. But I'm with CR. I don't think competitively, to me, this isn't that much different than letting your best player use your private plane 40 times during year with all his buddies or giving people season tickets for every game that really the team is paying for like there's there's so many gray areas to this this is more just stupid you know it's an issue of scale and less of what actually happened like i an outcome that i would find unsatisfying is they ding bomber and the clippers fairly for whatever.

49:58And then we are all left with the feeling like everybody else just got away. And this is still happening on some level that's less than this. If we have rules, then we have rules. And if you really want to enforce them, then clean them up. Or don't. But don't... This is where you get into why are you into sports, though? Are you into sports because you're just like, I want to watch basketball and my life is full and at the end of the day, I just want to watch a game? Or are you into sports because it's a window through which you view the world and fairness and competitive balance and antitrust and billionaires ruin everything.

50:36Tax rules and all this stuff and money ball and the edges that guys are using. It matters to you. And I mean, I feel like my entire life, you start out and you're a kid and you're just like, this is amazing. These guys are gods. I'm going to watch these games for the rest of my life. And then the more older and older you get, the more you find yourself thinking more about the cap and the law and taxes and rumors and innuendo and stuff like that. It is kind of an interesting litmus test for why you watch sports. Well, if Kawhi didn't know anything about this, which again, I cannot rule out, it would be interesting if he was about to get suspended and then came out and said, I didn't know anything about this.

51:20If he goes... He'd have to proactively throw Uncle Dennis. Because if this was a movie... Kendall Roy? He does the press conference? Yeah. If this was a movie or TV show, at some point he would... Yeah, he would turn on him. He's a malicious force behind the scenes, corrupting everything he touches. Yeah. So we'll see. All right, any last takes before we move on from this? Because I had one more question for you. Go for it. Every day there's going to be another shoe to drop, so I feel like you've just got to wait. Well, the one today made me think, this is in the court of my house law. I don't know if I could really make excuses.

52:05It's funny because some people in my life were like, well, you probably don't want it to be true. You're a Clipper fan. It's like, I have Clipper tickets. I'm a Celtic fan. If they did break the law in the NBA, they should be punished for it. I don't know what the punishment should be because we've never been here before. Jason, what NBA storyline are you least looking forward to this year beyond this one? Ooh, what am I least looking forward to? Yeah. Oh, gosh. I am least looking forward. I'm kind of dreading just the devastation of the East. I am dreading how lopsided this season certainly appears it's going to be in terms of the power balance between its conferences.

52:47because the, listen, East has been the weaker conference for what feels like my entire adult life at this point. But this season, it's, it's, it feels like it's really gonna be crazy. And I'm not looking forward to that. How about you, Ciar? Well, maybe I don't have to ask you. I think that like, I saw a picture and it was like, I was scrolling fast, but it was like a picture and it's like, Embiid is practicing without a knee brace. And I was like, you sons of bitches.

53:19just when I thought this heart didn't beat and I was like I have no idea when this picture is from or who the report was from but I fully believe this I am not looking forward to the will he or won't he with him this year what else am I not looking forward to I have the Tatum I think I'm not looking forward to this moment where it feels like the NBA in like five years is going to probably be different. And it's like, is this going to be like one of the last couple of seasons of like the Pelicans? And like, just like watching like some of the dead weight of the NBA and watching some of the stuff that doesn't quite work anymore.

54:04I was thinking about that the other day because of like the expansion or not conversation. Does that mean teams are moving? I feel like the way things were going at the end of the season with like the Memphis stuff, it was just kind of like a bummer. And I wonder whether or not that's going to keep going with the way the media talks about the league affects the way people feel about the league. Mine is just the Tatum roller coaster that I'm about to go on. Bill, come on, man. He's just not going to play, dude. Don't believe that. He tore his a kill. Oh, he might go. Hold on. Like he's Wolverine or something.

54:40Just let Jalen have like a crazy year. Enjoy it for what it is. I don't know if you noticed or you know about how fast he had the surgery after the injury. I do, but I also know that he's not moving. He's four months ahead of schedule. I don't know. If the Celts hang around, I do feel like it's going to be. I just don't even want to go there. I don't want him to play this year. But if they're like 26 and 20 and shooting a bunch of threes and all of a sudden they're a four seed and they have the shots of him scrimmaging, I know I'm going to get sucked in. I'm not looking forward to it. The other one, I'm just trying to figure out how LeBron is going to handle this season where he's clearly not the center of attention anymore as a Laker.

55:26There was an athletic story this week about Luka, how great he looked at Eurobasket. It's changing how the Lakers feel. And just seeing LeBron push to the side like this, how he's going to handle it from a getting stuff out standpoint, I just think is going to be, you know, at some point you got to be Nicholson in The Departed and just like steal some scenes. But this is Leo and Damon's movie and just, just be happy to steal some scenes. And I just don't know if he's wired that way. So we'll see. Who's Damon in this? Is that Austin Reeves? Like who are we talking? Like he's still. Yeah. Fuck yeah.

55:57It's Austin Reeves. What do you mean? How dare you? Yeah. So that doesn't probably my two. All right. What's, what's your favorite TV show you're watching right now, JC? oh wow that's a good one i'm doing a deadwood rewatch but i think the studio was my favorite show that was on recently new show thing yeah i know cr's cr's all in on they made tasks for him yeah an ai machine made tasks just made it for cr and greenwald this society was worth it when they I had in the third episode, I don't want to spoil it, but the guy has a Flyers phone cover, one of the characters. And I was like, they're just like fucking with CR now.

56:44I hope that there's a moment where like one of the characters talks about a CR clip from a pod. That would be great. You see this guy, he's got a lot of great ideas. He starts talking about Taycunner. All right. Concepcion, great to see you. Great to see you. It's always a pleasure, CR. Great to see you as always. Thanks for popping on. I appreciate it.

57:32in their Shop Appartake app. And now it's time for Don't Settle, a new segment presented by our friends at State Farm. You may think that insurance is all the same, but let me tell you, having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm. Don't settle for just any insurance when there's State Farm. It's like, take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Seem pretty set at receiver, right? Mike Evans, future Hall of Famer. Chris Godwin's coming back later this month. They had Jalen McMillan. Didn't seem like they needed to draft a receiver. Well, what did they do? They had the 21st pick. They drafted Emeka Ekbuka from Ohio State.

58:08And by the end of August, he was a team captain. He was a fantasy football darling. He caught two touchdowns in the first game and helped them beat Atlanta. And it looks like he's going to be this year's Michael Thomas Jr. And the whole point of this is that Tampa Bay did not settle. They're like, you know what? Let's beef up receiver. This guy's great. Let's add him to the group. You wouldn't settle for just anything for your team on the football field. Shouldn't it be the same for your insurance? Don't settle for just any insurance when there's State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

58:44All right, as promised, we traveled back in time to do Ringer 107 picks on Thursday afternoon. Joe House is in an undisclosed location, sitting in a big chair. It looks like he had a couple drinks at dinner. It's like a little buzzed house, which I think we needed because we went 1-4 in Ringer 107. You know what? I look back at the picks last week, House. No regrets. I'm going to say Bo Deju. I think we had the right analysis. We were on the right sides. The only game, honestly, that I regret is the Chargers. Yeah, because we messed with Brazil, which we're never doing again. But we lost on the Falcons.

59:21They completely outplayed the Bucs. The Bucs were incredibly lucky to win. That's right. And then we had the Ravens, which was the right pick. I would do that 100 times out of 100. Me too. Listen, I'm not going to make excuses. I'm not going to apologize. And we lost the Bears on Monday night in the halftime. I thought when that pick six happened, I thought that game was over. If only the game was only 45 minutes. The last 15 minutes really got us in that Bears game. Well, let's go through. We're going to bounce back. I'm not worried at all. Yeah, I feel fine. We have a good process. I've always done well in week two.

59:55Yeah. I'm going to do the stayaways first. Jaguars plus three and a half at the Bengals. Two bad offensive lines. Two bad defenses. There's backdoor potential. I don't want to bet on Jacksonville. This is a complete stayaway to me. You agree, correct? Absolutely, because we don't want to bet on Jacksonville, and Jacksonville is the correct side in view of the history of the Bengals in the first couple weeks of a season. Did their defense show us anything by virtue of what they did against the Browns? I don't think so. So let's just stay away. We're not messing with that. The next one, Niners-Saints, where you have, that line has dropped three and up points because Brock Purdy's out.

1:00:39Spencer Rattler, 0-7 in his career, versus Mac Jones, 4-19 in his last 23 starts. I would lean Saints, but if it's okay with you, I'd like to move on. It's a hilarious game. I did bet on the Saints when the number was in the 4.5, 5.5 range at the beginning of the week. Not because I thought that Purdy was going to be hurt, but just because I thought the Saints were pretty goddamn lively against the Cardinals. I agree. I agree with you. They were not bad, and they had a chance to win the game. We are not gambling on this game this week. No. Cardinals, Panthers, there's some money in line potential with this.

1:01:15The cards are favored by 6.5. half. This goes back to the let's never put Kyler Murray in a money line or a tease, which I just think is a good rule for life. The only caveat here is the Panthers were the worst team in week one. And I don't see a lot of signs that that's going to change going forward. They're low on receivers. They've had some injuries already. Their defense looks awful. And it's going to be hard to talk myself out of this, and yet I'm going to talk myself out of it. I came this close to showing up for today's show and trying to argue to you that we should get on the Cardinals, lay the points, because that Panthers run defense is as horrendous as we imagine.

1:02:02They didn't improve one lick, and for the Jaguars to run all over them, this Cardinals run offense is good. This is a top 10 run offense. But the problem is the look ahead for this game was 4.5. Now it's 6.5. Just can't do it. And the Cardinals almost lost to the Saints, or at least it was almost a tie game going to OT. There's even a great revenge argument to be made. The Panthers beat the Cardinals down the stretch last year, 36-30 in a shootout, and it really had an effect on the Cardinals making the playoffs, but I don't want to do it. You know why it had an effect? Because it knocked them out of the playoffs.

1:02:41It knocked them out of the playoffs. That actually scared me for this. Because if, like, the Panthers, an ultimate nobody believes in us, looked the worst out of anyone last week, but then has the belief of, hey, we beat these guys in December. Come on. I'm staying away. Okay. Texans, Bucs. We're still not back for the Bucs. I thought the Bucs, on the one hand, I do still like them as a playoff team, but I really thought they were lucky in a variety of ways last week against the Falcons. And yet Houston can't block. Texans favored by two and a half at home. And I just, I don't want any part of it.

1:03:16We can move on. Let's go to the possibles. Titans Rams This is Titans at home Plus five and a half. The Rams have some middle of the offensive line injury stuff. Tennessee arguably could have beaten Denver. They were right there. They got a bunch of turnovers. Pollard had a big fumble. I didn't think they played that bad. They don't have Latham at right tackle. And the Rams, you know, they had 14 points last week. I looked at this long and hard, and I just couldn't get their house. Well, here's the thing. I share your sentiment. I think the Titans are super live. And I think that that five and a half is like two and a half points too many.

1:04:02If you want to say Rams by three, that's fine. But here's the problem. That goddamn coach for the Titans is a moron. He is who we thought he was. We came into this season like, well, look, the Titans are lively. Do we want to get on their futures? Well, here's the limiting factor. The coach might be a moron. He proved it beyond a reasonable doubt. This goddamn guy gave the Denver Broncos a touchdown. They lost by eight last week, and he gave them a touchdown in the last 45 seconds of the first half by not just running the ball. Denver had no timeouts. The moron threw the ball three times and gave Denver the ball.

1:04:39They were from their own one-yard line. Denver's like, oh, thank you very much for this present. We'll take the touchdown. This dummy also doesn't know that an elbow counts for the purposes of inbound. They didn't challenge the fact that their receiver was inbounds and had a successful completion because dummy goes in front of the press and says, well, an elbow doesn't count for two knees. So I didn't want to challenge. We dispense with it. So that means, first of all, he's getting bad advice. He's got a moron in the booth, and he himself is a moron because he doesn't know the rules. We can't bet on Tennessee.

1:05:11I'm sorry. It's a shame. This is what we worried about when we thought about them for, you know, a long, long, long shot for the AFC South because I don't like anyone in the AFC South, but the coach was so bad last year. He's bad in that first game. I really thought they hung with Denver, and I thought their defense looked good, and I liked how Cam Ward played, even though the stats weren't there. No, me too. I had that game on. He's a gamer. Just kind of marveling at, like, he was hanging around. Anyway. I mean, Cowan Ridley's dropping balls. Come on. If you had to do a bet for the AFC South, Houston plus 175, Jacksonville 185, Indy 240, or Tennessee plus 950 on FanDuel, what's the best value in your opinion?

1:05:56My answer is none, but I think Tennessee plus 950 might be the best value. So something like a quarter unit on that, but honestly, we're going to find out. It might be Indy. It could be Indy. What if their defense is good? What if? We'll get to them. And then another possible, I have this one in bold. Jets plus six and a half against the Bills. I really want to bet on the Jets this week. I'm not going to do it. I really want to do it. Well, I test wise, they hung with the Steelers and their offense looked good. And Fields, I thought watching it, I thought Fields was actually good in the game. And then all the stats backed up.

1:06:38The advanced metrics were in his favor. He just played really well. Their offense in general played really well. They were who they told us they were going to be. They were pounding the ball. Brees Hall looked fast. Fast. And Fields was good. The problem is their defense couldn't stop Aaron Rodgers. And it feels like this line is three points too high when you think Bill's coming off an emotional Sunday night win. Ed Oliver's in a walking boot right now. Their secondary's in shambles. They didn't really stop the Ravens ever until they got the Derrick Henry fumble, and then the Ravens had to do their turtle hardened rockets routine.

1:07:13We have no idea if the Bills' defense is even decent and it's in Jersey. Yeah. And I think the line's too high. I'd say I'm not willing to cross this off yet as a possible bet for us. Let's keep it. Let's keep it because you hit on the important things. The credit that I will give to the Jets organization for constructing an offense, recognizing who Justin Fields is, This is possibly, we're only one game in, the smallest sample size possible. But Homie was, they constructed an offense that maximizes his talent. I mean, they were not, you know, having him sit back there and putting him in a position of having to make super accurate, you know, deep throw.

1:07:54They just, that was a very efficient offense that they ran. And I'm impressed. Yeah, when he used his legs, it was purposefully, it wasn't like, almost like Caleb in that Monday night game. I'm running backwards. My guys aren't open. I'm going to run around. I'm going to go this way. We'll mark that one down. Ravens-Browns, I'm not allowing us to bet any direction. Why? The Browns were like one of the most obvious sides last week against Cincinnati, and you didn't allow us to bet it because it's the Browns. But another divisional game, it's way too many points. So I wrote down this line is four points too high.

1:08:36I think this line should be Ravens by seven and a half. That would be fine. And then we would just dispense with it. But the reason that I want to stick on this and just make sure we talk it through is because it's a division game. The Browns absolutely positively snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. They invented ways to lose that game last week against Cincinnati. They beat Cincinnati pretty soundly in the underlying metrics. They just had horrendous special teams. Okay, I'm convinced. That's it. No, we can't bet it. I mean, the special teams thing is like, well, you can't put that guy out and have him kick.

1:09:12They brought the kicker back. Shit Schmidt, whatever his name is. Whatever. Shit Schmidt. I did read, I did some deep diving on this one because I wanted to see how the Browns felt after they should have won last week and they didn't. And then just like heading into this Ravens game. There was some nobody believes in us quotes floating around. The defense was legit good against the Cincinnati offense that we all felt that, you know, was going to be this point machine. But they had a little more juice on offense. And it wasn't just that Deshaun wasn't playing. This guy, Fannin, the rookie tight end, who I picked up on a couple leagues because I was watching the game, they were designing a bunch of stuff for him and he looked really good.

1:09:53They just have a million running backs. You never know who has the ball. They have Judy. Judy, that's another thing, man. It's like the Flacco interceptions, they hit the receiver. I mean, that's the problem. He did, but they weren't really terrible throws. They were extremely lucky bounces for the Bengals. Yeah. Well, there was one terrible throw. One terrible throw. I have it marked. Falcons, Vikings. Vikings played Monday. They played 15 good minutes and won the game. They're banged up. They lost Blake Cashman, who's their shot caller. Ben Ginkle has a concussion, and I always feel like with concussions, you're out for the next week.

1:10:31I think that's like the unwritten rule. So there's two. They're basically four guys down on defense now. And then Darryl Sala, the left tackle, and Ryan Kelly, the center, are both questionable. And then on top of it, House, J.J. McCarthy just had a kid. Like, in the last 24 hours, had a kid. Whoa, congrats. Yeah, like, mispracticed, had a kid. Good job. We've had children. It's a tense 48 hours. I don't love the thought of my quarterback having a child and then having to play, you know, the Falcons on a Sunday. and uh did we go back to the well? did we do it? did we dare? listen I went back I looked at the stats I wanted to make sure my eyes weren't deceiving me I thought the Falcons played the best other than the Ravens of any team that lost in week one and I'm including the Browns like you name a team I thought they moved the ball and did whatever they want they just did dumb shit and their kicker kept fucking up and that's why they lost because they're the Falcons because they I mean they really I like the three and a half I like the hook.

1:11:32I feel like they have cheap touchdown potential. And I think we should at least mark it. Yeah, mark it. Okay. Seahawks-Steelers. Seahawks plus three. The Cousin South special is plus 503 for this. Seattle wins first half. Steelers win game. It's a Metcalf revenge game. I really want to take the Seahawks, but I'm just not going to do it. because that coach, there was that moment in that game and Sal and I got really mad about it Sunday when he didn't go for it and he kicked the field goal and gave the Niners back. They kicked a game-losing field goal. Congratulations, coach. Well, this is interesting though.

1:12:13He talked about it after, the coach, McDonald, and he said his nerds, they said go for it. The book says go for it. he didn't go for it because he didn't trust the offense and that's why i the nerds are telling him go for it you got to go for it and he's like i don't know like that tells me he doesn't like his offense well you recall a week ago you and i had a conversation you really wanted to bet seattle against san francisco you talked me out of it well you know who else doesn't like their offense me right so you and my yeah so we're i would take them but i just i the fact that he doesn't like the team made him nervous.

1:12:52All right. Giants, Cowboys. I think this line's too high, but I don't where the left tackle injured Thomas limited in practice. I'm just not betting them. If we don't know if we have him or not, I'm not doing that on a Thursday and I just want to stay away, but I would take the giants normally. I understand. I am endorsing your lean here. And I'm also endorsing the idea of staying away because Russell Wilson not being able to move and he's as bad as we remember. If he plays, we might just get dart on a Sunday. There's too many variables. Okay. It's a stay away, but yeah. And then Eagles Chiefs.

1:13:35The Chiefs are underdogs at home. I was stunned to hear that on Sunday with Sal. The Eagles are favored by one and a half. Mahomes has never lost three straight games in his career. Mahomes is 12-2 as a home dog. And Philly threw everyone off their scent in that Dallas game when they Milton Burled it, and they just pulled out the tip. Just did enough. They didn't use A.J. Brown at all. Just a little bit of the tip. Just enough to get some pee in the urinal, and that was it. And were they saving it for this game? This is a really hard one to figure out because from a football standpoint, I feel like the Eagles are undervalued just because they didn't have Jalen Garter 10 days ago.

1:14:19And, and just saw the nerves that, well, you got to take Casey at home and that my homes and all these things. But I just don't think Casey's that good. Yeah. This is the hardest game on the board. Cause I really have a strong conviction in favor of the Eagles here. Well, the, the, the, the thing that we watched in the Superbowl was the Eagles controlling the Chiefs on both sides of the ball in the trenches. And we watched the LA Chargers go down to Brazil and repeat that exact same footprint. They beat the crap out of them physically. They were, Justin Herbert just stood back there and went through progression number one and progression number two.

1:15:02And he didn't have to get to progression three because he found a guy open because the secondary for the Chiefs is super vulnerable, not an impressive secondary. Well, the only thing that worries me about this is what if the Chargers are really good? This is exactly the concern. This is the problem with week two. We talk about this all the time. And it's not about over-action, under-action. It's about the previous week coloring your opinion this week. And it's like, wow, the Chiefs didn't look that good against the Chargers. But that might be because the Chargers are good. And that's what we have no idea with.

1:15:35I just think Worthy might play, might not. No Rasheed Rice. The Chiefs didn't look explosive at all. And I really feel like Philly was rope-a-doping everybody in that first week. I think there's a lot more coming with them. I think they can score when they want to score and when they think they need to score. I don't have any concern about that Philly offensive line putting them, if they need to go down the field and get a score, a three or a seven, they can do it. I don't see the Chiefs putting up any kind of resistance to that. That defensive line. It's basically just Chris Jones. So tell me what kind of game Chris Jones is going to have.

1:16:14And then I'll tell you. Carlathis on third down. Yeah. Yeah, I was thinking about narratives coming out of week two. Chiefs going 0-2, heading into that Sunday night Monday would be the biggest story in the league, right? Everyone's like, oh, my God, the Chiefs are 0-2. Do we have a new king of the AFC West? I just feel like we're going to do that, and then they'll probably be fine by week 10. This is it. We're done. And then the Chiefs will be like seven and three. Baltimore started last season 0-2. I don't know if we should actually bet this, but I have a hard, hard, hard lean on the Eagles.

1:16:55So do I. So we'll see. We'll see as we work this out. Bears-Lions. Bears are getting six and a half in Detroit. Great. There's some major Lions uncertainty on the offensive line. There's some Bears defensive back uncertainty, although it seems like they're going to get some corners back. I wish we had known that for sure when we did that Bears pick on Thursday. They're basically, you can feel it in the fourth quarter. They were just on all their backup D-backs. Down two guys. They're two of their best guys. This game, and the reason I had it bolded, was it's one of my favorite scenarios. The old offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator who intimately knows the team that he just coached for the last few years and knows every little button to push, every weakness, every single thing.

1:17:42Because he's coaching this team week after week going, man, I hope they don't do this against us. I hope they don't realize blank. He knows all of these things. And I think the line's too high. I also don't think the Lions are, I thought they got their asses kicked. Like the DVOA rankings came out for week one and they were in the bottom four, I think. Like, they got their asses kicked against the Packers, and maybe the Packers... The Packers might be good. That's the problem. Yeah, well, yeah, that's the problem. But I just thought the line was too high, and it seems like an overreaction to me because of how that Monday night game played out at the end.

1:18:15I agree, and I especially like your angle, the correct angle of Ben Johnson understanding how the order of operation for that offense and how that offense can be most successful there in Detroit. and sitting all week with his defensive coordinator and saying, this is how we're going to defend this. This is the right way to try and take away some of the stuff. And Green Bay was super effective at taking away a bunch of that stuff. Yeah, they sure were. Did you see that stat about Jared Goff when he doesn't have Sean McVay and Ben Johnson calling plays for him? He hasn't won a game, right? He was like, oh, and 75.

1:18:54Whatever it is. Yeah, it's right, exactly. but uh yeah that i'm not done with the bears yet i just think that was a weird game they got that pick six and it just felt like they were off to victory and then and then jj just made a couple big plays and big throws and the and the bears just kind of died it was weird i don't think i can get there with the bears because they they can't run the football and if you can't run the football. And it just made, you know, put Caleb in so many, um, situations where he's going to happen to go through, um, reads and he's backpedaling and he's sprinting left. Did you read the excerpts from that giant piece Tyler Dunn did about Caleb?

1:19:36No, no. Talking to all the people through it. It's a sub stack piece, but, uh, it's pretty damning, man. It just did not make you feel awesome about whatever's happening with them. Or if you have them on two fantasy teams, like I do, So Chargers Raiders, Chargers minus three in Vegas, which is the overreaction line of the week, I think. Carroll versus Harbaugh. I had the Raiders all week, but this Brock Bowers maybe not be 100%. I'm not locking in the Raiders and then Brock Bowers is out on Monday night because that's going to be a loss. Well, Mike Mayer got all of the routes, you know, and he was pretty successful.

1:20:16Yeah, but he's not Brock Bowers. Like Brock Bowers killed the... So this is another one of those week two. What do you think should be the right line then? If it's an overreaction. I think it should be chargers one and a half or two and a half. I don't think it should be three. Okay. But I think maybe some of that has to do with Bowers. I will say this though, going back to the earlier discussion about how week one shapes week two. The Raiders might be pretty good and it might've made the Pats look a little worse than maybe they are. because they're just really explosive. They had dudes all over the field, and Geno was hucking it, and he makes the two or three dumb Geno plays, but for the most part, they were maximizing who he was.

1:21:02The thing is, the patch shut down their running game, and they were still able to get all these explosive plays, but I kind of like their offense. I think they're going to be able to move the ball. I regret not having more balls. I should have argued with you about getting on the Raiders. I really like that situation. I said in the thing, I thought they were going to win, beat the Pats in week one. I mean, there was no Gonzalez. Anyway. The Gonzalez thing we didn't know for sure until after the show. We knew for sure. I knew. Yeah, but, you know. And then the last two. These are my favorites. Speaking of the Patriots.

1:21:44I swear, even if the Dolphins didn't have all this crazy shit going on, I would still like the Patriots in this game. But the fact that they have all the crazy shit going on makes it even better. Patriots plus one and a half in Miami. I honestly don't think Miami should be favored over any team in the league except for Carolina. And their secondary was so bad in that Colts game. They were so poorly coached. All the Colts were doing were just kind of stacking the middle. and Tua didn't seem like he knew who to throw to. I just think Miami's a mess. And I actually think the Pats might be a little better than they showed last week.

1:22:23I watched the game again after Sal and I did the pod and it was like, yeah, it was a little bleak, but they also didn't run the ball at all, second half for some reason. I thought it was from a strategy standpoint was the bigger issue than a talent standpoint. I don't think the Pats are, I don't think they're that bad. And Gonzalez looks like he's coming back this week. Like, Vrabel has done great against Tua over the years, and I just like the Pats. So this is going to be one of my picks, House. Well, here's the only thing that I would want to make sure that we're feeling good about is Gonzalez coming back.

1:23:00We said at the outset that he's vital, that he's a crucial piece to that. If we know he's coming back, then I feel good about this. I don't disagree with the idea that the Patriots should be favored. What we're really fighting against here is math because the history, the trends, the legacy of a team that got beat the way that the Dolphins did in week one, there is a strong inclination over the years that that team bounces back in week two. It's not nearly as bad or bleak as it looks. It's as bad and as bleak as it looks from my perspective. There's a counter trend to that where both teams lost against the spread in week one.

1:23:41The underdog is like 70-something percent in week two. I looked at all the trends. They all contradict each other. I'm going to look at this trend. Mike McDonald trending. Mike McDonald trending on Monday because he's been relieved of his duties after this game. I think it's a likely outcome. Good. This one's in. Put this in. It goes in the 107. because I think the Dolphins are the worst team in the AFC. And if the Pats can't beat the Dolphins, this is going to be a disaster of a season. They should be able to beat the Dolphins. I think they're going to be able to run the ball. They'll use Henderson more.

1:24:18The thing with the Pats this year, and it really jumped out when we watched it, was they do have speed this year. Like, Booty, he's been a 100-yard guy basically for four games in a row now. They have Diggs, and they have Henderson, who I think they're just going to end up using more. But it's just not last year's team. I think they're going to get Drake going. They're going to start rolling them out. And I think if you can get a lead on Miami, you can break them. So that's one of my picks. Then the other one, I'm not going to get shaken off the Broncos because they fell asleep at home against a team that they thought was going to suck.

1:24:57And they got Super Bowl smoke blowing up their ass for the whole offseason. and Bo Nix just absolutely sucked in the game. I don't think he's going to suck all season. He sucked in the game. He better not. It was a bad game. And it's not like the Colts defense is going to harass him. I thought Tennessee's defense was good in that game. This line being under three feels like a miracle to me because I would have bet crazy money on this in August. And FYI, why do we trust Daniel Dimes and the Colts? because they lit up this awful, poorly coached Miami defense. They're going to keep doing that? I don't see it.

1:25:36I think the Broncos have an awesome defense. It's indisputable. They do have an awesome defense. And we love the idea of that defense against Mr. Daniel. The problem is Bo Nix. And I am concerned. I'll just voice the concern. I'm not going to argue you out of this position. I like it. I endorse it. but this Colts team was about to blow the doors off this Broncos team last season. I remember. Jonathan Taylor. Two and a half quarters, they were doing it. Jonathan Taylor was about to cross the goal line and the big dope dropped the ball before he crossed and that was going to be the end of the game.

1:26:17And we just need to see basic competency out of Bo Nix. He cannot do what he did last week. If he does that, we're going to lose this bet. I'm betting on Sean Payton kicking these guys in the ass all week and kicking himself because he coached a really shitty game last week. He did. And I actually think that was a good, terrible win for them. It was like, hey, guys, we're not just showing up. Like, let's fucking try to go deep in the playoffs. Let's go. And I think they're going to be actually almost like they lost last week, like with that kind of thing. And I just don't think the Colts are good enough.

1:26:56Colts beating Miami, Colts playing any of these AFC South teams, it's like a different caliber. It's lower. The Broncos are like an SEC team. They're in a division that might have four playoff teams, by the way. I mean, there's a chance we could have four AFC West playoff teams. It's not inconceivable. Okay. I'm not going to argue out of it. Do you like a second AFC East team? Do you like a second AFC North team? Maybe Pittsburgh? Do you like a second AFC South team? I don't even like a first AFC South team. We could go 9 and 8 and above in the AFC West. So I just think that's the best division, not only in the AFC, but maybe in the whole league.

1:27:37And I've seen Daniel Dimes when he's going against a good defense, and it's pretty ugly. So my two are going to be Pat's Broncos. We have to agree on two, but what's your pick? What's the one? You get one. I have three candidates, and let's choose them. No, you choose. This is your call. Unfortunately, I am going back to two teams that kicked us in the nuts last week. Well, give us the bronze and give us the silver and then give us your gold medal winner. All right. So the bronze is going to be the Eagles. I really, really, really want to bet on the Eagles against the Chiefs, but I just have too much respect for Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, and I can't, I don't want to do it.

1:28:23The thing that is the challenge with the Eagles defense is they have, it's a cast of characters that are new to a Vic Fangio defense, and we've seen so many times, so many years. It takes a little while for them to get it. They will get it ultimately, but they're so susceptible and vulnerable. They could have definitely lost that game. Now, I know no Carter, but still. So that's the bronze. The silver is the Bears. I thought you were going to throw the Eagles at me. I really wanted to do it, but I just have too much respect. I don't want to sit there on Sunday evening like, God damn it, why did I go against the Chiefs?

1:29:01And that is counter to what I did at the Super Bowl. I love the Eagles at the Super Bowl. I bet them every which way. That proved out, but this is it. Arrowhead Stadium is not a neutral stadium. And this is really it for the Chiefs. You said it. If they lose this game to the Eagles, we might be in reckoning mode, even though they can turn it around. My bronze is the Bears because the... No, this is your silver. I knew you would screw this up. You just threw it at me. The silver is the Bears. I'm just asking you to reverse gold medal standings. It's ridiculous. The number is ridiculous. Six and a half is preposterous.

1:29:40I am definitely going to bet on the Bears getting the six and a half. And yet, I just don't want to be in Caleb's hands. I just don't want to. I didn't enjoy that fourth quarter. I didn't enjoy watching him run around. I didn't enjoy the inability of the Bears to establish the run in any meaningful way. And the playbook just got thin real quick. They were on script. And then when they went off script, it was a bad offense. So I just don't want any part of it. Okay. I'm playing on the Atlanta Falcons. I'm sorry. Wow. That's my pick. It's the numbers wrong. If you wanted to tell me it was like a one and a half or two or whatever, but it's a number based on priors, and that's fine.

1:30:27It's in line with look ahead. I just think that this Falcons team showed us a version of themselves. They're better. They lose games by self-defeating. They lose games by self-sabotage. Maybe we just take them every week until we can hit one of them. So are you going to be mad if we have to look at this Falcons team? I knew this was coming. I had them already in a spot. All right. So it's the Falcons. That's my pick. Well, so if we do Pats and Broncos as my two picks, now we have to agree on two. And here's where I can offer you for agreeance. Jets plus six and a half in Buffalo or at home against Buffalo.

1:31:14I want to do it. I mean, I think that Bill's defense is so depleted. And what we saw out of Baltimore, I think the Jets, they really conceived. No Ed Oliver. Can they just run the ball? They can. Well, let me ask you this. If Henry doesn't fumble and Baltimore just runs out the clock on them, and that game is 40-25, and we spend the whole week going, Oh, my God. What's up with Buffalo's defense? What's the line for this game? Is it now plus four and a half? Did we just get two free points because Buffalo came back? I need to look at the look. I'll try and look at the look ahead in the meantime.

1:31:57No, just in your head. What would it have been if it's 40 to 25, they just lose? Honestly, Vegas zone. That would have been my guess. So somehow that bought us points. Let me walk you through a little thought experiment because we didn't talk about a parlay, which we're allowed to do as one of the picks. I'm listening. Sadly, it brings the Arizona Cardinals into our lives against Carolina. We know better. Well, do we? Because we could take the Eagles to plus four and a half on FanDuel in Kansas City. And just bet on that being a close game. And we could put that with Arizona, and that gets us under the minus 120 number.

1:32:45It's like minus 113. Arizona to win. Philly to plus four and a half in Kansas City. A team we both think is going to win. But let's say they don't win. Is KC going to blow out Philly? No. They're going to win by a touchdown by 10? This is good. If they win, Mahomes pulls this out late in the game, right? The issue would be if it's 20-20. But I just think this is like a tight game or Philly wins. Okay. Tell me the number. What's the number? What do we get with that? We get it to minus 114. Fine. That gets it. Done. Say less. I'm there. I'm convinced. All right. So I got the look ahead. The look ahead for that Buffalo Jets game was eight and a half.

1:33:31So it's already down two points from that, right? Yeah. But nobody knew the Jets were going to look like that. Right. All right. And before we pull the trigger on this parlay, are we sure we feel okay about putting the Cardinals in anything? They just have to win, right? Just have to win. Just the W. That's all we're asking. Go home. Like if they're going to be a team that contends in the NFC West, a darling to win the NFC West, the Cardinals. A lot of people got in on them. Because we could also nudge the Bears up to like 11 and a half and do that. Put that in double digits against Detroit. I know how ludicrous it is.

1:34:23I trust Kyler more than I trust Caleb. Okay. That's it. Also, maybe the Saints are okay. Maybe that's why the Cardinals look a little shaky. I personally think the Cardinals should be able to rush for like 290 yards against the Saints. I feel the same way. I mean, against the Panthers. I share your conviction. Yeah. Okay. I didn't hesitate. I think that Cardinals-Eagles combo is a nice one. It's tasty. All right. Great. So those would be the two we agree on. Okay. As always, today's Ringer 107 is brought to you by our friends at FanDuel. The Ringer 107 picks for week two. Tough start for us, one and four.

1:34:59I only regret one of the four losses. We easily should have been three and two. We should mention that I called you as the Ravens were up by 15 points to talk about how we still had a chance to get to three and two for a week. And like Derrick Henry, it's like his ears were ringing and he fumbled in the rest of his history. You know who else's ears were ringing? Chris Chen, our friend who joined the Bel Air Country Club last week. Yeah, our buddy Chris Chen. Yeah, and we talked about how he joined and he was like, all these people are hitting me up to play. Like, can you not talk about that on the podcast again?

1:35:37So I want to apologize to Christian for not. For nothing. For telling people last week that he belongs to the Bellar Country Club. And by the way, it's available for golf if you've ever met Christian. Magnificent. Just ask him. He'll host you. It'll be great. He'll set you up. Yeah, Christian available. Okay. Okay. The Ringer 107 picks for week two. One and four last week. Your pick, the one you loved, was the Atlanta Falcons. I really do love it. Who absolutely kicked us in the nuts and broke our hearts last week. They did that. And we think against a little bit of a depleted Vikings team coming off a big win last week.

1:36:18Big comeback win. Short week. J.J. McCarthy just had a kid. Short week. Defenses is injuries all over the place. Yeah. And very least Falcons, like there's some backdoor cover potential, all kinds of stuff. We're taking the Falcons plus three and a half. We agree on the Jets plus six and a half against the Bills. We do. It's in Jersey, and we think they can run the ball and that this game could be a nice competitive game. By the way, shout out to Membo, the right tackle for the Jets, because I talked in the preseason about how he was really bad at a preseason game, and he was like lights out in the PFF rankings.

1:36:55He was. Maybe they got a thing, but it's, I feel like they can hang in this game. And this is like a let's be careful out there. If you're throwing the Bills in a parlay, tease, elimination pull, whatever, I would steer clear. Because the Jets looked good last week. And by the way, they lost on a 60-yard field goal. And because their punt returner, who they waived, messed up a punt. Two variables that, you know. Yep. The next one we agreed on is a little parlay. We're going to use our parlay card here. The Arizona Moneyline at home against Carolina, the worst team in either conference, unless Miami can top them.

1:37:36With Philadelphia and Kansas City, adjusted outline on FanDuel, plus four and a half. Put those together, it's minus 113. So Eagles plus four and a half, Arizona Moneyline, that's our fourth. Broncos, you were a little nervous about this, in Indianapolis. This is one of my picks. I'm not wavering from preseason. I think the Broncos are really good. Yeah, I'm not talking to you out of it. And I know who Daniel Dimes is, and I'm doing Broncos minus two and a half Colts. That's fine. And then last but not least, I didn't think the Pats would win last week, and they didn't. I thought the Pats were going to be terrible last year, and they were.

1:38:14I think the Pats are going to win in Miami this week. I like the plus one and a half. I'm grabbing it. I think this is maybe even a little less about how bad the Dolphins are and a little more about it. I think there's something in there with the Pats, especially if Gonzalez can come back. So those are our Ringer 107 picks for week two. Today's Ringer 107 was brought to you by our friends at FanDuel. Remember, odds are subject to change over the course of the weekend. I'm just going to start calling the country club and charging stuff to Chris Chen. Can I get two orders of the Pigs in the Blanket just for the bar?

1:38:50Thanks They have an off-the-menu burger that's phenomenal I wanted to shout out Louis K. too, our publicist Yeah Because he sent me the voicemail like eight out of nine times What happened? I texted him and I was like, if you send me the voicemail again I'm going to be looking for somebody else even though we've been friends for 23 years So to his credit he was like, I'm at a screening, I'll call you when I get out and he called me. So we're okay for now, but I would just monitor it. He's busy. He's got, you know, Amy Poehler's calling him. Well, that's the thing. It's like, you know, at some point you got to figure out how to juggle me a little bit with your massive clients.

1:39:29So anyway, shout out to him. How are you feeling about the guillotine league we're in? Oh, I'm phenomenal. Try to be nice. Well, first of all, the concept is amazing. I can't believe we've, you know, we're slightly behind the curve in terms of guillotine. you've been doing it a couple years now no I only did it last year and I went to a Dodger game with our friend Dave just randomly who was one of the people threatening to be cut and he needed just a little more from DeAndre Swift down the stretch and we're in somebody's suite watching this Bears game over watching the Dodgers who by the way were throwing a no hitter at the time a no hitter on the baseball field in front of your face.

1:40:14And he's just staring at, just praying for a DeAndre Swift touch. And they finally get the ball back. Near the end, they're down, whatever. And they're just in like... And he's studying which receivers are out for like the Hail Mary lateral play. Swift's not out there. He's like, ah! Ends up losing by two points. The guillotine is great. It really is. It's really amazing. He was devastated. He was like, I love this league. I didn't want to leave. it's really like survivor where it's like you, you, you fly to, you know, some crazy location and then you get voted out in a day. I offered my team to him.

1:40:52I finished in first. I offered if he wanted to pay me over, over the winnings of what the league would have been. Yeah. A fair amount of money. That's all. I mean, if, do you want the first place team? That's I try to make a fair price. That's what I offered. He didn't bite. So I had George Kittle in this league, and I never have George Kittle in fantasy because he always gets hurt. And this year he was sitting there. We were doing like a snake draft, and I was like, all right, George Kittle was healthy last year. He'll be fine. He's fine. He got hurt in like an hour. It's the worst. So I had to pick up Fannin on the Browns.

1:41:27So now I've got Harold Fannin stuck. That's pretty good. Well, and then we're in the Ringer Yahoo fantasy thing too, which we did for the ringer. And I did my 5QB strategy. And I think one of them has already been waived, Matthew Stafford. Tua is on the chopping block. Why would you waive Stafford and keep Tua? Well, because I just can't do it with Stafford. All right. I can't. Fine, fine, fine. I can't. I understand completely. He can't move anymore. I mean, God bless him. but yeah, you know, 14 points last week. Anyway, fantasy is the, this is the most fun it's ever been. Don't call it a comeback.

1:42:10It's great. Yeah. All right, house. Great to see you. Always. Thanks for staying relatively sober for us. Do you have any last, last thoughts on the Steve Ballmer scandal before we go? I talked about it earlier in the pod. Well, I, it is what we thought it was like, you've made the point. A lot of smart people have made the point. It doesn't matter. We don't need to go find smoking guns. And I think there are some. I mean, Pablo keeps on digging up more stuff that makes it look worse and worse. But the appearance of impropriety is sufficient. You just can't have the thing that they did. He invested in a closed investment and Kawhi benefited in almost exactly the same amount of money.

1:42:50That's enough. We don't need any other discussion about it. It looks bad to the other owners. And what's coming out of this owners meeting will be really interesting. I don't have a sponsor yet for this new studio, so I'm calling it the Aspiration Studio for now. The Aspiration Dome. Getting ready to go. I'm worried about that, though. Why would you want to do that? They don't have any money. Well, they're hot right now. It's a hot brand. You're putting the stink on your studio. Oh, that's a good point. It's a Ponzi scheme. Yeah, that's a good point. All right, I'll have to come up with another name.

1:43:24All right, House, let's celebrate our Rainer 107 comeback in a couple days, and I'll see you next week. Only when the games are over. Don't send me any texts while the games are going on, please, for the love of God. By the way, when's Ryder Cup? It's in two weeks, and I'm going to go. When do you start getting fairway rolling the odds and start talking about all that? Next week or the week up? We've been talking about it, but we'll have a little bit next week and more the week of the Ryder Cup for sure. All right, see you, House. See you, buddy. All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to House and CR and Concepcion.

1:43:58Thanks to Gahal and Eduardo as well. And I am not going to be back until Sunday, which will be the same day we put up that Prestige TV podcast with the recap of episode two of TAS. I'll see you with the cuz on Sunday.

1:44:23You live with them.

1:44:53327-5050 for 24-7 support Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY in New York.