The NFL’s Coaching Carousel, and a Round 2 Breakdown With Peter Schrager and Joe House

27:11What was that guy, Rob Chudzinski? Yeah. who took that Browns job. The Browns couldn't find a coach. They're like, all right, this guy. That guy's career was over after that. Like nobody was hiring him after that. I wouldn't want to be that. I wouldn't want to be like, this is a career ender that I took this job. The Bill Simmons Podcast is brought to you by FanDuel, the divisional round. I call it round two, where the NFL's best takes center stage and with everything on the line, FanDuel is turning on playoff mode. More boosts means more way to level up your playoff bets and all customers are getting a profit boost pack every NFL playoff game day waiting for you right in the app.

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28:29If you've ever hired for your small business, I've done this once upon a time, you know how important it is to find the right person. That's why LinkedIn Jobs is stepping things up with their new AI assistant so you can feel confident you're finding top talent. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash Simmons. That's me. Then promote it to use LinkedIn Jobs' new AI system, making it easier and faster to find top candidates. That's linkedin.com slash Simmons. Post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. So each franchise is different. I've spoken to a lot of these candidates who are interviewing for them.

29:06And it's funny, they're all on Zoom right now until they can meet in person unless they're fully out of a job. And I guess I haven't... Brady's very involved with the Raiders one. I think I'm allowed to say that. Brady is... He was at this Fanatics event. Doing cell phone calls from a St. Bart's yacht and from a Fanatics event. He's at the Fanatics event. He's at the Baker's. Yeah. At this Fanatics event at the Intuit Dome. Hold on. I'm talking to Alex Cooper. I have to call you back. Alex Earl. Late. And then all of a sudden, he's on a Zoom and he's very engaged and dialed in. Very engaged. That was interesting.

29:39That was good. I'm glad he's engaged. He owns a part of the team. He's leading the interviews. All right. He's playing a big role. I was like, all right, so what's Aikman's role in Miami? Well, once they hired the GM, apparently John Eric Sullivan, who's the Packers GM or was the Packers number two is now their GM. And he's running the show, but Aikman's on these calls also. The, you know, it's interesting. Each team is different. Like who's in the room and who's got the voice. So I think owner and leadership and corporate structure and org chart are almost more important than quarterback. Like, we'll figure all that stuff out.

30:15But give me a stable franchise where I know who I'm reporting to and I have some sort of base. Like, that to me is almost more important than the quarterback. So would you say the Giants are a stable franchise? I would because it's family owned. And those guys... So stable but incompetent. potentially the last couple of years. Yes, they've not been competent the last few years. 10 plus years is incompetent. Stable with a lot of swings and misses. They went to the playoffs three years ago and won a playoff game. A lot of franchises would sign up for that. They were like 8-1 or something that year.

30:48I get it. Come on. Come on, Schrags. So, House, you're with me? On what? Organization QB if I'm over to. Of course, yeah. I feel like we've had this conversation already. So the Washington job from two years ago, I think, has become more interesting because House ends up with Dan Quinn and Jaden Daniels, right? Coach and QB spot available in that draft. Pats end up with Vrabel and Drake May, who easily could have both been the Washington picks. And then you have Ben Johnson, who ends up a year later getting matched with Caleb, but potentially could have had the Washington job. You could write a book about how all these sliding doors, right?

31:31They were on the airplane. Oh, they were on the plane. That's right. And they read on Twitter an Adam Schefter report that he was withdrawing his name. And they landed in Detroit and found out that, oh, wait, he's actually going back to Detroit. And they flew back home. I mean, that could be Ben Johnson and Drake May right now. It's just weird. There's all these variables where it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know what the difference between those teams and quarterbacks is in Washington? Washington played in the NFC Championship game last year. He did. So I'm okay. I'm pretty good. Amazingly worked out for everybody.

32:06Ben Johnson waits a year, ends up with Caleb, becomes a cult hero in Chicago. If they win this game this weekend, probably doesn't have to buy a drink again for the next couple years. I think he's had a profound impact on Caleb. Yes. I based that just studying the locker room speeches and the demeanor of everybody. Yeah. The last one was one of the best ones last week. F the Packer. And then the Vrabel thing was a miracle that nobody hired that guy for a year. How about the fact he was with Cleveland last year? Yeah, just like coaching special teams or something? No one thought to hire him the year before.

32:43Like, it's actually amazing. So worst job is what? Cardinals? Cardinals is tough. Cardinals is tough. That's an uphill battle in a lot of ways. You're in a division with the Rams, Niner, Seahawks. You have no quarterback. Facilities are not what the other teams have. You're dealing with Jed York, who spends no tomorrow. Stan Kroenke, one of the richest men in America. And then that Seattle franchise with the Allen family money, which is just insane. So it's an uphill battle from the start. You think the Cardinals, you think they feed people on the team charter? or is it one of those like just chips and spring water and soda?

33:22I mean, that was the Dan Snyder playbook. Yeah, that's one of the things they do. This is one of my favorite things, like finding out like the cheap owners, like some of the tricks they do. Or if you want a t-shirt, they take it out of your paycheck, that kind of stuff. Yeah. Or like the one less bus, where it's like some teams will have like a lot of buses and the other ones you're like crammed onto the bus. Like you can cut corners every single way. I think the Cardinals job and the Browns job are tied for worse. I kind of like the Vegas job. I do too. Yeah, I think, you know, the fourth place schedule next year, the Chiefs are going to be a mess.

33:58Who knows with the Chargers? What about the Atlanta job? I love the Atlanta job. You like the Atlanta job too. Why do you love the Atlanta job? Because I think they have a lot of good players. I really thought that was the best team that didn't make the playoffs. The funniest thing about the Atlanta job is that we basically have to say something nice about the quarterback situation for that to be as appealing as we... You just talked about it, right? We intuit that that's an appealing job because of all of the talent on both sides of the ball. But they're going into the season with who playing quarterback?

34:29I think Penix is a write-off. I know. Isn't that insane? Penix is a write-off. So you'll appreciate this because I know you guys love the corporate... How this... Okay, so Raheem Morris thinks he's keeping his job. they lose that game. He ends up getting fired afterwards. Everyone's shocked. It turns out that that was weeks in advance. They'd already hired a consultancy firm that had already done all the work. Now, this consultancy firm, it's called Sportsology. They gave Arthur Blank a book of recommendations on how he should build his franchise, how the corporate org chart should be, all this stuff.

35:05And then Arthur Blank is like, you know what? I want Matt Ryan involved. Matt Ryan and I was involved. They do an interview for a couple other guys, but it was really Matt Ryan's job, head of football operations. And now it sounds like Matt Ryan's the loudest voice that's going to be deciding all this stuff. I mean, this is nuts. It's like... It's just honestly nuts. I mean, the Brady thing is nuts too. These guys have never had any sort of organizational anything. They were just quarterbacks. But they've been there. They know the franchise inside and out. They know the market. You know, it's...

35:38They were the... I'm less dismissive than you. Bill, you're the same guy who hates the blue shirt, khaki pants mafia. That you work for? Who's that? You know what that is, right, Bill? Yeah. It's any of those middle managers. Yeah, the middle managers at the former giant company I used to work for. Well, no, I don't even know if it's that company. It's any company. Middle management. They just show up in waves like coyotes wearing blue shirts and khaki pants. Office space. And they have generic notes for everybody. Hey, guys, here are our generic notes. You missed work yesterday. I wouldn't say I missed it.

36:15So now you've got Troy Aikman and Tom Brady and Matt Ryan who are like, I actually have done it. I actually respect that too. It's like, Matt Ryan, you've been on the set of CBS for the last two years. We need your thoughts on how to rebuild our football organization from top to bottom. Come on in. Hear the car keys. Please tell us what to do. I don't understand. I don't think this is that hard. The fact that Vrabel was sitting there for an extra year, I almost feel it's probably like us with the Ringer 107 Picks house. We just stare at too much information and your brain breaks. And you can't just step away from it and look at stuff logically and be like, I'm taking Trevor Lawrence against Josh Allen.

37:00What am I doing? I have to ask Pete. Did the Titans put out some bad words about, did they let, you know, some whispers? Because there was acrimony that led to that split. And Vrabel was always the, you know, we understood from our side of things, it seemed like he was the one that should have outlived that situation. Yeah, in hindsight. In hindsight. Well, not even in hindsight, in real time. Let me speak first. Shrigs is reporting that. I don't know if he wants to do or not. But he's a big outsized personality alpha. And some people don't want that in the building. I don't think Washington did either.

37:41Like you get that guy. That's like your guy. The whole culture is coming from him. The Patriots don't care because they had no culture. Their owner is 85. Yeah. And they're like, fine, take this. He was there. Yeah. And they knew him. Whereas like Washington. Why did you mention Washington? Because Washington hired Peters. They had the new ownership. and they didn't could have co-existed no but they didn't they didn't necessarily need the awesome they were together but they didn't necessarily need the one man culture show they wanted to do like this group group thing where a bunch of people are in and Dan Quinn don't get it twisted survival for these executives is always in the equation and it's why Belichick got one interview and it's why you know a Vrabel isn't for everybody because you're handing the keys over to Vrabel.

38:32And I give Elliot Wolf, who preceded Mike Vrabel as the GM, a ton of credit for saying, you know what, bring it on. Read in the room. Yeah. This could save my job also if we start winning because at the end of the day, it won't. And then today, Joe Shane could have very easily argued for a 33-year-old defensive coordinator because that means he's going to be the biggest voice in the room. Joe Shane is no longer the biggest voice in the room, but knows what's best for the franchise is to hand the keys over to a 63-year-old and he's going to say, I'll do my job the best I can. But this is the new face of the franchise.

39:06Well, he wouldn't have had a voice if he didn't go for that. Can I just read you Bob Kraft's house? No way you saw this. Bob Kraft gave an interview a couple of days ago and one of the things he talked about was Gerard Mayo's firing. And he said, he was talking about how tough it is. And he said, I would say that was one of the one or two hardest decisions I've had to make because the fire guy after one year, And by the way, it was very expensive because it was not only his contract, but 25 other coaches. It's the worst financial implication since we've owned the team. Oh, I'm sorry, Bob Kraft.

39:40You're like a freaking multi-billionaire. The team's worth$8 billion. You print money. We spent 50 million unspent money this year. You're complaining because you hired the wrong coach. You had to fire him. I love Bob Kraft. Thank you for bringing us six Super Bowls. But come on. You can't complain about how expensive it was. You're the fucking owner. you've printed money from this team for 30 years just stop we're going to take a break we're going to go through the four games, we only have four we have some great subplots I can't wait to talk about them, so quick break alright, we'll go through the games in order, fellas same scenario as last week with the Bills who are now 1.5 underdogs in Denver and this all comes down to what is your appetite for betting against Josh Allen Last week, it seemed like a great idea.

40:30I stand by the pick. I feel like Jacksonville lost the game in the first half, but they hit a point in that game where every third and seven, you just felt like Josh Allen was getting it, and it felt really dumb to bet against them. So, House, why is this different this week? Why would this be different in Denver? Because Sean Payton is not Liam Cohen. I mean, honestly, the thing that we miss in the handicapping of that Jacksonville game is we did not spend enough time thinking through. We're so dismissive of McDermott. I think somewhat justified, like the touchdown with a minute left that gave the other team the ball back with a chance to tie.

41:12Probably not the best decision in the highest leverage moment. And he's got a lot of those on his resume. But respectfully, respectfully, because I am a huge Liam Cohen fan. He just wasn't up to it. I mean, you know, he botched the play calling. And that Jacksonville team did exactly what we asked of them. Go run down Buffalo's throat. Keep doing it. Never stop. Run, run, run, run, run, run, run. And instead, we're giving the ball to Trevor Lawrence. Now, good. I'm glad that we're continuing to build him up. He is your franchise quarterback. Next season, they should be good again. But it's the playoffs, motherfucker.

41:55Tucker, it's time to go win the football game. Take advantage of your advantage. The advantage was the run game, and they didn't bite down hard enough on it, and they lost because of that, in my humble opinion. So that's the question for me, Schrags. Do we throw out the result last week because Jacksonville screwed the game up? Or is Buffalo in 2006 Pats mode, where they somehow made the AFC title game with Brady and Rache Caldwell and Jabbar Gaffney and Ben Watson and Lawrence Maroney. And it's just like, how did this happen? I look at the Bills, who now are down to Shakir, Brandon Cooks, who was in the league six weeks ago, Samuel, who just came off IR, banged up Kincaid.

42:41I think McCole Hardman, I saw. Yeah, and Dawson Knox. No Shavers. Some running backs. Shavers out. No Gabe Davis. Gabe Davis out. and now they're missing two safeties and no Poirier honestly House, the line should be Broncos by three and you're getting a point and a half just because of Josh Allen and it sucks to bet against Josh Allen that's it, I can't think of another reason other than Bo Nix just shitting the bet in this game which is the other thing you have to think about with Denver oh shit, I took Bo Nix against Josh Allen why did I do that? I also I saw a good and they were underdogs to start the week now they're favored they were the first number one seed in the AFC ever in the divisional round to be an underdog at home they are the second ever since and the only other one is the Eagles in 2017 who Carson Wentz had just gone down with a knee injury so no one believed in foals there's no reason that the Broncos should have ever been underdogs now they're favored by a point or whatever the disrespect is out of this world for Bo Nix.

43:50And you got to think full two weeks, but really three weeks because of that week 17, that week 18 game. Yeah, that was an exhibition game. Been resting, home field advantage, out of control. Besides the Jacksonville game, they didn't lose at home. So on paper, and they've got a Super Bowl winning head coach and Sean Payton, who is a master motivator and doesn't let these guys take their foot off the pedal. And they're healthy. And they're all healthy. Healthy. So it seems like their biggest problem is like Patrick Sertain is awesome. Who do we put him on? There's nobody left on the bills. Right.

44:25How do we use this advantage? We don't even have a number one receiver to throw him on. I say all this and I'm with you because you and I rode the Mahomes train all those other years in the playoffs and it was always the right move. This guy is Superman and it's his time and he's been knocking on the door for years and the path is clear. I can't pick against him dude Wow Wow I mean we can get into the X's and O's I was expecting I spent a year with Sean Payton and this guy's bill for this moment Nope Didn't do it at all I mean you know the game plan the bills just have to be close in the fourth quarter and then let Josh be Josh and that's it that's the game plan It's a fun game Allen has five playoff losses four to Mahomes, one to Deshaun Watson, one who was good.

45:20Wild card round. That was an overtime game. Early in his career, it was like baby Josh Allen. He threw that crazy lateral. Yeah. An old timer. My fears for this game from the Denver side, other than Josh Allen, I thought there was some weird game management stuff with Peyton this year, as good of a coach as he is, and I think culture setter, motivator, all that stuff. there was some over aggressiveness at times some just kind of do the thing you should be doing i to me like i love rj harvey 90 plus yards rushing in this game is plus 400 on fandle after watching that jacksonville game where they should have had 200 plus yards in that game i think average seven yards a carry i just like just feed rj harvey have bo nicks doing some design rollouts It's like, just fucking run and keep the ball and don't let Josh Allen have it.

46:13Have these long-ass drives. Then on top of it, no safeties. Cortland Sutton, 30-yard pass reception plus 195. I like him hitting one. I think Denver's just, it would have to be a collapse on their part combined with Josh late, right? Oh, yeah. So it would have to be like that Jaguars game where it's halftime and you're like, fuck, they blew it. They left all the shit on the table. Now I know where this is going. They've also, like Chicago, have won a ton of one-score games in miraculous fashion. And as we've seen time and time again, sometimes that stuff wears down towards the end of the season and it doesn't happen in the playoffs.

46:53So, you know, they've won all these games. They were winning at home. That Jaguars loss was real. They got beaten in their building. And a lot of these guys, they're young still. Now, they played Buffalo in the playoffs last year. Bo Nix, I think, threw for 140 yards and completed 55 % of his passes. But that was in Buffalo. Totally different circumstances. I don't know. Is it their time? Might be. Or it's not. The Broncos. Yeah. I mean, this is the fascinating piece of it to me, right? If they run, then they don't need very much from Bo Nix. And if the Bills play their standard, like, you know, too high, and they take away the explosives and they throw the sky's coverages, right?

47:39I mean, because McDermott is a good defensive coordinator. Bobby Babich is calling the D and he's really good too. They can throw a defense at Bo Nix that will sort of bottle him up, but if the Broncos can establish the run, you don't need very much out of Bo Nix. You just need him to really not turn the ball over. Now, Bill, I heard you on with Sal and you said you're kicking yourself, but then again, the outlier is the Eagles Chief Super Bowl last year where we all took Mahomes because we're like, on paper it should be the Eagles. Did you not? You took Philly? I took Mahomes and the lesson I learned from that is if literally the only reason I have is the quarterback and I don't want to bet against them, that's not a good enough reason.

48:26Well, then you're taking Denver. I think I'm leaning toward Denver House. Where are you leaning? Unfortunately, I already bet on Denver. I like Denver. I understand exactly the harm that I'm putting myself in front of. You and I have been terrible, terrible at this. Everyone has a bad year from time to time. I still don't think that our analysis of the Jacksonville situation was wrong. And the Packers one wasn't either. We should have hit both of those. I mean, we should have at a minimum been three and three across the six games. You had New England pegged perfectly. Yeah, and then I threw the dumb under.

49:02I know. I told you not to do that. I know you did. We had the Panthers figured out. That was a good angle. Stupid Packers, they had that game in hand. Let's ask Shregs. We moved on too quickly. Who is Green Bay trading Matt LaFleur to, and what will he fetch it in return so he could be a head coach somewhere? That's a good idea. He still doesn't have an extension. Now he's going into the final year of his contract, which none of these guys do. Still doesn't have an extension. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They didn't fire him, obviously. Right. Because they can get something in trade. New president, Skyhead Policy, who's trying to put his imprint on things.

49:39And the truth of the matter is this. It's like, they're talking about a deal. LeFleur is not one of the higher paid coaches. Like, there are some head coaches in this league that have been hired in the last few years that make significantly more money than him. So he's got a point too. The question is, can we win without you? Or do we just suck it up and pay the extra$6-7 million that you think you need? That's going to be one that they have to decide, but time is ticking. You're going to do this win. I don't know. I think he stays, but I could be wrong. All right. All right. House, Bo Nix, 25-plus yards rushing.

50:13Love it. Harvey plus 90. And the Denver money line, that's 12-1 as the same game part. Let's go. That's it. That's how we're playing it. Well, I mean, I'll take the L. It'll be the second week of going against Josh Allen in the year that the AFC is the most wide open it's been in his entire career. And he is the best quarterback in that conference. And here we are going against him two straight weeks. A weaker team than they were a week ago. In a game they should have lost. He's more banged up than he was. I just can't. I don't think they have enough. This is disrespectful to Denver to think that somebody can go in there with Shakir and Cooks and Samuel.

50:54So the thing we didn't talk about was could James Cook actually cook in this game because Jacksonville shut him down. Well, Denver's defense is really good too against the run. And healthy. I just think this is a bad spot for Buffalo. And to me, if I had to pick the narratives, Buffalo wins, the narrative is, oh my God, Josh Allen, this is your superhero. The other version is Denver just kind of controls the game, beats them, and then we turn into a, they're not doing right by Josh Allen and we do that whole thing. Why didn't they get a wide receiver? This is their fault. They wasted a great Josh Allen season.

51:31All right, so we're going to go Denver minus one and a half. I honestly think that line is... I think this should be Denver by three. Okay, then definitely take it minus one and a half if you can. Next game, Seahawks seven over the depleted 49ers who are just losing guys left and right and are under attack by electromagnetic rays at their practice facility. Has an article ever gone more viral? No, it's amazing. Kittle out. We've lost him. Trent Williams playing, but just as like, I'm just not healthy. I don't feel great at all. Gave up six pressures last week. Yeah, just not doing good. Seattle, two-week rest.

52:16Well, major news today. Killed this team, and yet Sam Darnold comes out of nowhere with a weird abdominal injury. Middle of the day on a Wednesday, Thursday. At practice. What are we? Come on. He's running with the Theragun. It's listed as an oblique. And Clint Kubiak said in his press conference, who's the offensive coordinator, that Drew Locke took a lot of snaps with the ones. Certainly. And I was with Orlovsky today in Bristol. And I'm like, I don't know enough about each injury. I'm like, oblique? He's like, horrible for a quarterback. Horrible. It hurts to run. every throwing motion it's as bad as one of the arm injuries well that's why we have drugs that's what I said that's why we have Toradol I don't know can you get it I have a question for you House Sam Darnold versus Drew Locke how much of a drop off is that for you if I have a better defense I'm just going to run the ball and I barely ask my QB to do anything so no joke what do you think the line will be let's play guess the lines What will the line be if Drew Locke is announced Saturday morning as the quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks?

53:27I think it drops to Seattle four and a half. Yeah, five and a half, four and a half. Yeah, I think we go to the Vegas zone. Only a point and a half? Yeah, like two and a half. That's the difference between Darnold and Locke? Because I don't think for this game. So one of my ideas, you'll love this house, was a parlay with this game. I'm out. Go ahead.

53:51Seattle Moneyline under 49 and a half. No, sir. No, no, thank you. No, absolutely not. I mean, the bet I would really, we're not allowed to do this in the contest, but Seattle Moneyline with Kenneth Walker to rush for 60 plus yards, plus 109. Like that bet in general. We'll bet that. I'm going to bet that. I'm not betting. The contest? No, but in real life, yes. I'm willing to be talked out of it over the next four minutes. I just don't want to take the Niners. I don't see it. I don't, I just can't believe how many injuries they had. We just did this. Yeah. I thought they got dominated. I thought that game should have been like 30 to 3.

54:30174 yards of offense. It was the least amount of yards a Kyle Shanahan offense has ever had. And by the way, if I'm Seattle and I'm their fans, like this is it, man. This is now lined up to win the Super Bowl. Right? But wait, look who they'd beat. They'd have to beat, let's say hypothetically, their arch-rival Niners and then their arch-rival Rams in their building. An absolutely beatable Rams team playing their third straight playoff road game. A team that they know really well. And then AFC, are they scared of any of those teams? They have the best unit of any... I sound like I'm a Seahawks fan.

55:06I just feel like this is laid out for them. They could easily fuck it up. But if I'm a Seahawks fan, I'm like, holy shit. We might be able to win the Super Bowl for real. Our defense could just dominate the Niners this round. We go to the next round. We got the Rams at home. Fine. And then we're going to play Bo Nix in the Super Bowl or, you know, this Pats team that has the youngest team in the league or Josh Allen with no receivers. Like, I like my chances against anybody. I want to try and make a case for San Francisco. I want to try. I want to see what you think about this. So first of all, it's not like Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers had an infinite amount of time to prepare for the Eagles defense.

55:48And yet he looked Vic Fangio right in the face and said, eat this big boy. Robinson deep over the top twice in the first half. Nope. Nobody had him on the bingo card. Yeah. Trick, trick plays. Reverse sky bang is what that play was called. I have some ideas for that one. How's he trying that tonight? the circumstances are so upsetting. Netflix just canceled us. No, they encourage that. But the question is, he knows Mike McDonald very well now, right? He's very familiar with what Seattle's bringing to the table. He's seen it. They had over the course of the two games that they played, 17 drives on offense that were non-kneel downs.

56:47Of those 17 drives, nine of them reached, they were inside the Seattle 40-yard line. 17 drives, nine of which landed inside the Seattle 40-yard line, and they scored a grand total of 20 points over those two games, right? There were missed field goals, there was blocked field goal, there were turnovers all inside that 40-yard line. So there is a demonstrated ability for San Francisco to kind of get into the scoring zone, but they couldn't capitalize in any way, shape or form. Again, I'm just trying to make a case here to make sure that we're thinking it through. There's a couple more manifesto rules here for this.

57:32Beware of the nobody believes in us team. That's the Niners and all flashing colors and neon. That's rule three. Rule six, never pick an underdog unless you genuinely believe they have a chance to win. I can see them winning. I don't think it's inconceivable because more because the Seahawks offense, I could just see throwing a turd sandwich out there and it just being like a 10 to seven game in the fourth quarter or something. It was four months ago, but they beat the Seahawks in Seattle week one. Yeah. They've done it. I don't trust the Seahawks offense at all. Right. If you can just like limit JSN a little bit, then they're going to have to run the ball.

58:07They have been running the ball and they've been doing it successfully. Like the last four games, they established the run. That's why I like them heading into this podcast because I think they can run on the Niners. But then there's the when in doubt, gravitate toward the one pick that screws over the most gamblers and experts. That's a Seahawks tease or money parlay. That's the logical bet. Everyone has it. I might even have it right now. I might have already done it. But people are just like, oh, cool. I can move the Seahawks down to one and then I'll do other stuff. And that makes me nervous.

58:39Kyle Shanahan, to House's point, is a mad genius. And whether or not you think he's good in the late stages of a game or a Super Bowl or a big spot, no one prepares and out schemes these defensive coaches better than Kyle. So you're banking on Kyle and Purdy, who's been outstanding the last few weeks, with the exception of the Seattle game. And you just think that they're going to find a way. Again, this is not X's to no's. This is purely you're betting on people and you're betting on Kyle Shanahan to out coach Mike McDonald and you're betting on the nobody believes in this factor. And the nobody believes in us.

59:15But I would say this. There's one other thing you're betting on. Sorry to interrupt you. Yeah. The Mike McDonald. We've seen it a couple of times. The underwear gets a little tight for him. This is his first playoff game. This is his first playoff game. This is his first playoff. I'll take the points. I don't know if I 100 % trust him. Anyway, go ahead, Shrex. San Francisco has playing completely free. They don't blink. San Francisco's not wearing underwear anymore. They're just fucking free-balling it. You can tell. Bobby Sala's swinging that baby maker every which way. No doubt. And they are...

59:53I don't think there's more of a nobody-believes-in-us team that we've had that might actually be able to back it up in a while. And I would add, you know, they were pissed as hell at the league. And by when I tell you furious at the league that they chose ratings and the thought of a Chicago and L.A. market Sunday night. It's fucking outrageous. It is bad. Doing what's right and what's fair and what seems to be. Integrity of the game. Health and safety. That's right. You would think you wouldn't want a team playing on six days when they can play. Another team gets eight days. So all that. But guess what?

1:00:32Jed York, John Lynch, Salah, Shanahan. They get the players going. Hey, the league doesn't want us. The league doesn't think we're a big enough market team. They don't want us to be good. We're getting screwed again. We're getting screwed. And the players, they hear that. They respond and they galvanize. Now, whether or not that plays out in the field, that's a different question. but I know that the motivational tactics are at play here. Well, and when you go back to that last game, Trent Williams didn't play in that game, right? Nope. Yep. Kittle played, but Kittle's been in and out all year and I do feel like they can replace some of his production.

1:01:10Oh, Tongass is a stud. Get every Tongass prop now. He's good. Pearsall this week? They're hoping, Pearsall goes, Fred Warner is not ready yet. He'll be ready. They're hoping next week. I don't know how. He might have won me over in this one. Straight up or with the points? No, with the plus seven. Yeah, we have to make a pick. I like this. Teams playing on a short week like the 49ers against a team off the bye. Nine and six against the spread in recent memory. Also, the third time play, I feel like that always gets weird in some way. But I like the... I don't even think... I mentioned this a couple weeks ago because I always text Danny and Mina about the Seahawks.

1:01:56I don't even think they fully trust the Seahawks. Like the people that have watched them week in, week out, I don't think they trust their offense. So you're throwing in this Sam Darnold abdominal thing that we know about on Thursday, which is like, okay, they're not going to need him that much, but they're still going to need him. We know he's hurt. They're playing 48 hours. They're playing 48 hours. It's clearly something. Not to be so obvious. So number one seeds favored by seven or more, 21-25-1 against the spread. just keep doing it. I mean, we can just keep pounding the trends game. And the part that I mentioned earlier that it is so lined up for Seattle, so lined up for the next couple weeks that it almost makes you nervous.

1:02:36Well, maybe we take the points. For this next game, I have a featured bet. And it's a featured bet from Fandu Sportsbook because they have turned playoff mode on. Fandu's got it all. They have same game parlays, quick bets for jumping in lives, offers to boost your winnings every game day. and my Patriots are playing and they wanted me to do a three-teamer. Same game parlay. Which I happily obliged. Here's where I landed because obviously I have to have the Pats winning it. And we'll talk about the game in a second. Ramondre Stevenson over two and a half receptions. More and more as the season went along, he's gotten better as a receiver.

1:03:17Drake trusts him. There's a couple where he's like in trouble and he dumps it off to him. They'll have a design wheel route for him. I just feel like he's getting three. And then Drake for 225 plus passing yards. Everyone's terrified of this Texas defense after that Pittsburgh game. I have some thoughts on that. But anyway, that total price right now is plus 370. You can use your 30 % SGP profit boost token. Get an even higher payout. Tail my bet. Trust me. Don't throw away the last 19 weeks. Tail my bet. Make your own. Bet another playoff game. The possibilities are endless during playoff mode with Fandle.

1:03:56All right. Patriots favored by three. No Nico Collins, it looks like. Likely out concussion protocol. He can't possibly. You can't have a concussion and play five days later. That's nuts. It's like the playoff concussion protocol. Let's not do that. Let's not do that. Here's where I became confident about the game, guys. Josh McDaniel, a little press conference this morning. just raving about the Texans defense. These guys are the fastest defense we've seen all year. They don't make mistakes. We're going to need our best offensive game of the year to compete in this one. Just doing the butter up routine.

1:04:35I'm like, I don't believe that for a second. I agree with all that, by the way. It's a zone team. I'm persuaded. I think they think they can throw on them. I've seen them do this before. They rave about the other team, and then they, meanwhile, have five things up their sleeve. I think they're going to move the ball. How does New England score on this Texans defense, Bill? Drake May. A couple big deep shots to Butte. We've seen the Texans get beaten by deep shots. It happened in that Chargers game. Yep. Riley Leonard. We saw Rodgers. And Alec Pierce. We saw Rodgers because a lot of times they're just rushing for.

1:05:12We saw Rodgers with opportunities to run where he didn't because he's old. Drake May will run. And I just think the Pats are way better than the Steelers. But that Steelers team, in hindsight, maybe we should have predicted this house when we actually made our picks, but the Ravens game was the Super Bowl for them. The moment they... And they still almost had a chance. It was 7-6. They still had a chance. Yeah, we weren't on the wrong side of the analysis. They just ran out of steam. Well, they just weren't good enough offensively. They were not good enough. That's right. I was pushing you guys hard to pick the Steelers that day for the Ravens game.

1:05:50I felt vindicated. And then I picked them again to beat the Texans and I felt like an idiot. The big issue with the Pats is the left side of the line and Campbell not being good. He's taking some heat. He got a little salty in an interview. But I also think that there's stuff you can do. You can put an extra tight end on there. You can roll coverage away from Will Anderson. There's things in play. Schraggs, what do you think? I've seen the Texans defense up close now twice this season. And Seattle, for a doubleheader, Monday Night Football, they lost the game, but they crushed Sam Darnold. I think I picked him off three times, and they were in the backfield the entire game.

1:06:25And then I was at Monday Night Football. I am blown away by all three levels of this defense that I am going to give you the biggest hyperbole of all. This might be like the 2000 Ravens. They might not need to do anything on offense. They might just win games 13-10, 16-13. we might wake up the Monday after the Super Bowl and it's freaking Will Anderson on a float at Disneyland. This defense is that good. They're that fast. And I just don't see how the Patriots score enough to beat them. And the only way they lose to the Patriots and I know they're a young team on the road playoffs, is that their quarterback holds them back and their offense just isn't good enough and they give the ball away.

1:07:10Because if they just protect the ball I think you're underestimating this defense in a serious way. I think it's historically good. Definitely not underestimating. But my question is, this Texans offense going against the Pats defense, which was really, really good last week and is healthy and is a different defense than Milton Williams. I don't think they're going to be able to run the ball in the pass at all. Is that going to be a worse matchup than Drake May, who's been one of the best players in the league all year, a really good offensive coordinator, playing at home, cold weather that they're used to, Houston plays in a dome, all of these other factors that go into it, that Houston defense would have to overcome all of that.

1:07:50They were able to do it on Monday night. But that game, like Pittsburgh blew that game. They were... No, 7-6 in the third quarter. They were in it. Like Stroud was like broken. What makes you think Stroud's not going to be broken this week? What do you think, Cass? It really comes down to how many plays do you think that Houston defense can make? because I don't see a scenario under which Houston establishes any kind of offensive rhythm whatsoever. The difference between... Especially without Collins. Agreed. It's like, oh, we're replacing him with Christian Kirk. Christian Kirk has bounced around for three years?

1:08:25Get out of here. I don't think we're properly rating the significance of Milton Williams. I mean, I know you, Bill Simmons, understand the difference. I've been saying it all year. He left the defense and everyone could run on us. Yeah, so when he's in the lineup, 3.8 yards per carry for opposing running backs. That's the second best run defense in the NFL at that rate. They give up 83 yards a game. The high running back rush when Milton Williams was in the lineup was 58 yards, and he got hurt in that game. That's how that running back got to 58. Yeah, Marks is over as 55.5, and I think it's dropped four yards during the week.

1:09:08Don't you feel like Rudy Marks, he has a season-ending injury every game and then just plays the next week? Yeah, then he's fine. Right, you have to, he misses four carries because he's in the blue tent. Four to six carries a game. And they have Chubb as a backup. I don't think they're going to be able to run the ball at all. And I think Stroud is going to be in a lot of trouble. Keep going, House. Well, I mean, that's it. I just want to make the case for the New England defense and how the version of this defense, Gonzalez was a full participant in practice today. Thursday. Tonga's back. How do you say his name?

1:09:39Chris? Kyrus? I don't know how to say it. Tonga. Tonga the defensive tackle. We call him Tonga. That's part of the run defense as well. And I think that they can get a little bit of a pass rush going as well. They were in Justin Herbert's lap all game Sunday night. They served out. Also, Shrig, some manifesto rules this week. And you just laid out one of my favorites. This is the number one rule. beware of the looked a little too good the previous round team this is textbook with the Texans D Texans D was awesome all season right it was one of the three back they went up a level against this Pittsburgh team that offensive line wasn't good they didn't had Metcalf that's about it Rodgers was slow that's as good as that's as good of a situation as they're probably going to get Texans offense was not good against the Bills, but they sacked Josh Allen, I think, nine times on a Thursday night.

1:10:37Yeah, it's Thursday night. And they won. All right, that's fine. Chiefs season on the line in Arrowhead. Texans offense, nothing special. Stroud made a couple plays. They eliminated the Chiefs with their defense. Like, their defense travels. And what's interesting is I'm the same way. but offensive lines do not travel. That sucks. And their line in the Steelers game didn't travel. It's not going to travel in New England. I think there's also, we look at those logos, and I think you said this, because I covered, I was in Foxborough for about three of these. And the Texans always, with Matt Schaub and with whoever else used to go up there to Foxborough in a divisional round game on a Saturday night, and they'd just get the shit kicked out of them by the Patriots.

1:11:17And we know that visual. It always happened. I would say, this particular group of Texans, they have been to the final four of the AFC the last two years. So it's not like they're just this neophyte team that's going in with wide eyes. Like, they've banged on the door. They took the Chiefs to the wire last year. They did. And the year before that, they took the Ravens with Lamar to the wire. And if it was for a couple plays, they could have won that game. So they're not this group of just wide-eyed guys that are like the old Texans where we don't belong on the same field as Brady. If anything, they've got more experience than this Patriots team when it comes to big games.

1:11:53I want to hear from BS the recipe on offense because part of the reason why I was bullish on the Chargers last week, the case I made. That defense was excellent. And that was the first top 10 defense that the Patriots had faced in quite a while, maybe the entire season, depending on the metrics you want to use. And this defense is an entirely different class altogether. Like one of the props that I'm already on is Drake May over 35 and a half rushing yards. I don't know if it's going to still be there. I like that one. It might go even further up. Scramble yards. Of 40, of course. And those scramble yards are what were really the only thing available to Aaron Rodgers.

1:12:36But the problem for the Patriots is because Houston doesn't blitz and they don't have to blitz. They just put four man pressure. They take away the middle of the football field because their linebackers can all go back. And you're saying to the Patriots, you know, who's going to beat us in the middle of the football field when we have that? We're going to take that away from you. And I absolutely adore your Ramondre play. So that's one of the ways, right? Yeah. He's been built in. I like his yardage. I like his reception overs. But let me hear the recipe from your perspective. All right. The viewers probably noticed there was a little edit there is because the power on my street went out and I lost power for like five minutes.

1:13:19right as I was about to answer House's question about why I thought the Patriots could move the ball on the Texans. I don't know if that was an open.

1:13:32I wish I had a better answer than this. I really believe in Drake May. And I felt what he did in the second half of that Chargers game against, I think, a good defense, where he just kind of figured it out as the game went along. I think he got out all his like rookie, rookie C leg playoff, rookie C leg stuff. And I don't think he was happy with how he played all the dialogue all week was Drake's got to be like, just like slightly nudging him. And I think he's going to love playing in this game against Houston. Like, I think that I think he likes this shit. It's like, Oh, this is the best defense.

1:14:06We've seen teams move the ball on, on Houston. And I don't, the 2000 Ravens, I get it. You can, that feels like a little bit over and over reaction. Triggs. I know. It's hyperbole. I know. Yeah, after a Steelers team that we've seen other defenses do that to, you know? The Browns. I just like our defense's chances against their offense as much as, I think, the reverses. So, they'll patch it together. The McDaniels, I have one crazy play. Henry will be involved. Drake will use his legs to save some plays. That's what Rodgers couldn't do last week. He didn't save any plays. You know? I have a bet house that you're going to absolutely love.

1:14:50Love or hate? No, this is a FanDuel prop. Okay, great. I'm going to love it. First half of the game is a tie. Why? Why though? Why? Patriots win. No, this is for Ringer 107. First half of the game is a tie. So it's like 3-3, 6-6, 0-0, 7-7, whatever. Patriots win. 17-1. Wow. Wow. So you're just rooting for like a 3-3 first half and then... Do it. I thought those odds were great. Now you're talking about it. We got to do it. This is my favorite bet of the entire second round. CJ Stroud to throw a pick, minus 125.

1:15:35Fine. He doesn't throw a pick. I'll be disappointed. So Schrags is in on the Texans. You're in on... There's a bunch of manifesto rules against you, including the law of Lombardi, your guy Lombardi. Bad offensive lines don't travel. Just throwing that one out. We're just throwing out the dome team outside. We're just throwing out CJ Stroud. Looked like he was having a legitimate meltdown last week. It's only going to be worse. Obviously, I have to take the pats. But I think the line's fair, and I like the minus three. How else do you agree? I'm fine with it because I can't come up with on the offensive side of the ball for Houston.

1:16:17A way for them to get 14 points? There's no rhythm. Like, there's like, you know, I might just play like on the pregame show. You guys watched Monday, Jalen Petrie, like a scud missile on every single, I mean, they were, there was not a second. They were amazing. It's Christian Kirk and it's, you know, it's all these guys. Yeah, Petrie was amazing. That's absolutely amazing. It was like Shregs went to the Boogie Nights set during the filming of Spanish Pantolones. And he's like, you don't understand this, Dirk Diggler. I was there. I was there. This guy is the best porn star I've ever seen. He was, too.

1:16:53Am I Scotty in the corner? He would go doggy style. He'd go straight up. Diggler really was that, though. That's the problem. Pete's right. That could be the issue. Roller Girl did say he was the goat. All right, last game. The most fun one. And the one I actually feel the most strongly about, Bears getting three and a half at home against the Rams. Can I set the table for you and your listeners? Just go. Just go. Let's do it. So a little bit was made out of it. And Stephen A actually hit on it a touch. But that handshake and all that mother F, mother F stuff from Ben Johnson did not go over well with the McVay tree, if you will, and around the league.

1:17:40Mike LaFleur is Matt LaFleur's little brother. He's the offensive coordinator for the Rams. And Sean's best friend in coaching is Matt LaFleur. So when you do the utter disrespect and the brazen locker room video where you're saying F the Packers, F that coaching staff, and the social media team clicks go, send it, put it out in the world. And then the next day, when you've got 24 hours to really think about it, to say, no, I'm fine with what I said and my owners got my back on that too. It's the stuff that I know you and Sal were talking about. We're like, it's the stuff that I live for. It's like, this is the WWE part of this where there's actual personalities involved.

1:18:23And like, I think McVay wants to kick the snot out of Ben Johnson. And I think Ben Johnson, who's beaten McVay the last two times when Detroit played the Rams, has no problem with that. I'll beat the snot out of you. Like, I love these two guys. Two young alpha offensive minds. going at it in this game. I can't wait. Wow. Shregs got legitimately aroused. I did. I'm right there with him. I love that shit so much. And Shregs, you just put the hairs on my neck. No, I did get a nice haircut. Put a revenge. Let's go, man. Let's go. In a league where every coach hugs the other coach and they give the jerseys.

1:18:57Great effort. Great effort. Tua loses to the Steelers on a Monday night game and is seen there hugging Jalen Ramsey trading a jersey. That's the stuff that this is the opposite. These guys do not like each other right now, and I think that's great. What's your take on the game, Huss? So, I can't get past the Bears terrible run defense. That's the starting point for me. I love that's where you start. It might be the ending point as well. The ability of the Rams to establish the run, I think like all of this stuff with the weather and everything, we're just overdoing it. I'm just not going to like use that as a element, but for, for sure it's the case.

1:19:45Like the Rams can run the football. They have one of the best run block win rate, you know, percentages across their number two in that all three of the, their, their guys Jackson, you know, he's playing at McClendon. It looks like they're getting Kevin Dotson back. They're hoping Dotson is getting back. That's a big deal. They haven't had him since Seattle. He's big. He's big. He's huge. I mean, he's huge for their run. But they've been doing this two-headed run monster here with some success over the last, like, you know, six, seven games. And this is the way that they keep their defense off the field.

1:20:26Because their defense, since week 13, kind of trash. I don't want it to be a shootout kind of scenario where the Bears have the ball in the fourth quarter and they need to go down to tie or win. At some point, it feels like that luck will run out. But who the hell can say when? Who can say when? Well, here's the thing. The Bears have won in crazy fashion. They have won games in the wildest ways. And the Rams have lost games in crazy fashion. Like that Seattle game, the San Francisco Thursday night game, the Carolina game. Yeah. So like it's the polar opposites. It was the craziest. No doubt. The cold weather thing is interesting.

1:21:11So you could say, you know, it's gonna be eight degrees and the Bears play in that. And that's just what they are. And like the Rams are a warm weather team. I would argue Blake Corham went to Michigan. Karen Williams went to Notre Dame. Pukas went to BYU. Devontae Adams played at Green Bay. Stafford's a Detroit guy. I don't know. He's at least an NFC North guy. He's played in Chicago when it's cold before. So I don't know if I make as big of a deal as it. Bill, what do you think? Rule number eight. Beware of any AGQ being cold weather.

1:21:45By the way, a finger that's real. Uh-oh. Rule number 12. Beware of any team that celebrated the previous weekend's playoff victory like they just won the freaking Super Bowl. That's the Bears. There is one of those. We have one of those in this game. Rule number 13, don't dismiss the nerd evidence that the nerd evidence is absolutely overwhelming. So that goes both ways. Bears run defense that House mentioned. Can we talk about how bad the Rams special teams is and how that's going to be the demise of their season? In eighth degree weather, is there ever been a better blueprint for getting your season fucked up?

1:22:22God.

1:22:27I'm in on the Bears Wow

1:22:33Stafford and freezing cold Rams special teams and the Bears have just done this too many times that I'm tired of watching I think they're gonna be able to throw on them the 8 degrees thing is meaningful it's gonna be freezing cold the Rams are a fucking dome team and I know they have the profile of they can do outside and run the ball and all that stuff. But, um, I just feel like the bears are, it's like a legitimate Michael Myers situation. You have to be up like 20 points before you feel safe. The Packers were up 20 points or they're up 18. They basically didn't go up to 20. Um, I just think this says all the makings.

1:23:12I can see it in my head. The Collinsworth to Rico, uh, Mike, just going nuts. Just the shots of the bears fans. They like the crowd. Yeah. Bears fans just loving it. Them cutting the Rams and them being like, Jesus Christ, I've never been this cold in my life. Like, you say Stafford was from Detroit. They played indoors in Detroit. I know. They played in the NFC. They played in Lambeau and it's over the field. I get it. But he lives in LA. I go back east when it's cold and it takes me like two days to, I'm just freezing the entire time. It's a real thing. The Edwards thing really wears me. Yes.

1:23:49Yes. How about the left tackle? Their left tackle played a great season. He's injured. Is he definitely out? Right now, he's trending that way. The hook is great. I like that this could be Rams 27-17, and I could still get a hook at the end and steal one with the Bears. And the picks have been terrible all year, and it'll be more fun to root for the Bears. That's really my case. The Rams go in road game last week, road game this week, road game looming next week, I think is, unless San Francisco can somehow win. So there is this other weird scenario where Rams can win, Niners win, and then all of a sudden we have a Rams going in.

1:24:31Because they have extra rest for completely unnecessary reasons. When the Rams won the Super Bowl that year, they were the five seed and the Niners were the six seed. Same thing happened. They hosted them at the NFC Championship game. Well, can we do worst case scenarios for each side? Because I think this is the perfect game to do that. Okay. Worst case scenario, you bet the Bears. You can't stop the Rams running game. They just have the ball the whole time. Caleb gets it three and out. Rams back. Puka makes his one 50-yard play that he broke three tackles. You can't get the ball back. And you're like, we just want to get it to the fourth quarter.

1:25:06And then it's 27 to 10 and you never had a chance. Right? Is that the worst case scenario for the Bears? Just the Rams on the field, 39 minutes of possession. Do you know what team scored the most points in the wildcard round? The Rams. They score. They're going to score. The fear is that they come out and they just put up 40 on you. When they don't play good defenses, they average 32 and a half points. They've scored 27 points in 11 of their 14 games, the Rams. Worst case scenario for the Rams, a couple of dumb things happen. Stafford pick, missed field goal, blocked field goal, some sort of kick return, something.

1:25:47And they're just frigid. And it's close late. And Caleb starts heating up and you have the Rams minus three and a half and you're like, fuck. Why did I bet against this? This team has done this seven times. It bears them this seven times. The 19-week schedule where they've had these crazy comebacks. I don't know how you can bet against it. This feels like the last hurrah for them because then they go to Seattle the next week. But I don't know. The hook, I wish this line, if it was two and a half, I'd like the Rams. The three and a half, I feel like it's an extra point house. What do you make of a few of the Rams assistants interviewing for head coaching jobs this week?

1:26:28Oh, distraction. Distraction. Distracting. So you have to weigh that against the Ben Johnson hatred. Which one, which emotion is going to carry the day? They might hate him. in obviously a football sense, not personal. Yes, yes, of course. But he has run the ball and done whatever he's wanted with Detroit's offense the last few times they've played also. Can we talk about the Rams' last two months would be my other thing I wanted to bring up. Yeah, Carolina last week, Arizona week 18, whatever. The Atlanta game they lose. They lose the Seattle game by one. The Detroit game is back and forth. They end up winning by seven, 41-34.

1:27:10Arizona the other game, throw out. Carolina, they lose by three. Is there like a ton of evidence this is a juggernaut-y kind of team at this point? I would say none whatsoever. Would you argue a beatable team, House? Of course. The Panthers almost beat them. Like they were one play away from winning that football game, the Panthers. So last piece of my case. They deserved it. They deserved it. Last piece of my case. What if Caleb went up a notch? what if he actually went up a level over these last couple weeks and like that fourth quarter was actually like this might be closer to who he is now versus like this guy who takes two hours to warm up like what if he just comes out and he's really good in this game what if he's just awesome in this game it's conceivable right yes of course and we know the bears can run i mean they're you know they they've demonstrated against defenses at least as good uh run defense wise as this rams team, you know, if Ben Johnson gets any kind of a weakness, it's what he did to the Philadelphia Eagles.

1:28:16He's like, oh, I have an advantage here. Let me just keep running the exact same play for 260 yards on the fucking ground. Let's see how that works out. And they just beat him. Last week, Coker, 9 for 134. McMillan, 5 for 81. And now, and the other thing is Loveland's turned into an absolute monster in the last four weeks. I really like their passing offense. I think they can throw on the Rams and keep the game. Even if the Rams score on them, I think they can come back and score on the Rams. And my whole thing is like, if you feel like either team can win, you got to take the points, right? It's totally fine.

1:28:56I'm not getting your way. The other thing you have going for you is like the first bet I made this week was Seattle Rams Moneyline Parlay. And then I put Indiana with it as well. So, you know, you know how this is going to go. I feel like either team can win this game. Bears plus three and a half. That's my last one. Schrags hates it. I hate it. I forgot one bet that I really love from the Texans game. Drake may have the most rushing yards in the game, plus 410. Okay. More than Ramondre. That could be like 47 yards could be the most rushing yards in that game, right? What is it? What are the odds?

1:29:33It's plus 410. I got it. I got to take a break. He had 66 last week. What's the over-under in that game? What's the total? Well, that was one. This is my last thing. Talking about the picks. Over-under is 40 and a half. Patriots, Texans. House, we could do Pat's money line under 51 and a half. The game would have to do 52 points to beat it. Why is he doing this? He hates these bets. No, no, no. House, what scenario does this go to 52 points? It doesn't fucking matter. What scenario did the Chargers and the Patriots not get to 31 points? How did they not get to 31? It doesn't matter. You're done?

1:30:14No, we do do totals and we lose because of it. It's one of the reasons we have a 40 and 55 record in the 107. Honestly, I think the parlays, like if you took out the parlays, we'd be damn near 500. Yeah. Like we were on the correct side many times on these parlays. today's ringer 107 brought to you by FanDuel we're picking four playoff games house would not allow us to do any parlays we went against Peter Schrager's advice on all four games I think is that true no I was with you on Seattle Broncos minus one and a half over the Bills when the only cases don't go against Josh Allen and you can't come up with a single other reason to take the team sadly you gotta take the Broncos and I actually think that line should be minus three.

1:31:03Next one, 49ers plus seven over the Seahawks. We're all aligned on this one. Line's a little too high. Don't know about this startled abdomen thing. Haven't loved the Seahawks offense the last couple weeks and third time these two teams have played, which usually leads to something wacky. Next one, Patriots minus three over the Texans. Some people are asking, how are the Patriots going to move the ball against the Texans D? I ask, how are the Texans going to move the ball in cold weather in New England against the Patriots, D? Low scoring game. I just think this is a quarterback's game at some point.

1:31:43This is Drake May versus C.J. Stroud. Pick carefully. And then last but not least, Bears. Plus three and a half against the Rams. Schraggs was horrified by this pick. House kind of liked it. I think I talked him into it. Two things here. I think either team could win I like the hook and I think the Bears are going to be able to move the ball so I actually like the over in this I think what was that game you played last year House was the Washington Philly game what was that like 52 to 30 55 to yeah yeah usually cold weather games don't do that I mean it wasn't 8 degrees it was the NFC championship game cold weather games tend to bring that down so yeah alright and and wait a second wait a second that was today's Ring 107 brought to you by FanDuel odd subject to change.

1:32:29What do you got, Shrakes? I was going to tell you, you're still on fire. We were talking about this two weeks ago. Your Peyton Manning, OJ Simpson mailbag question was one of the... You're still in your apex moment here. You're still on fire. It's a re-apex. Re-apex. That's exactly right. You're on Apex Mountain in the re-apex with the sliding doors and the whole thing. I'm telling you, on fire, whatever you're doing... Do you agree with that house? That modern OJ... I missed the mailbag. I did it... Yeah, it was within the last 20 hours. that if the OJ car chase happened again, who would be the athlete that could compare the most to how we felt about OJ in 1994 when that happened?

1:33:11And my answer, after offering Serena Williams and Charles Barkley, I forget who the third one was. Oh, Jason Kelsey. Kelsey. But the answer is clearly Peyton Manning. Fame, being shocked that it's happening. my mom would care. I think he's the answer. And then House, he's like, they would break into even the Oscars. Yeah. Super Bowl, Oscars, name an event. Stranger Things season finale. Every event. They would be interrupted. Peyton Manning is in. Who's in the car with Peyton Manning? Who's in Austin Colley? Dwight Clark? It's probably Marvin Harrison, actually. Oh, God. I got to look around. I hope he's not here.

1:34:01I'll say that. Yeah. So you agreed with that answer, Shregs? It was amazing. You're on fire, dude. Please, whatever you're doing. No carbs, no sugar. Just keep it going. You're on fire right now. You're kicking ass, and I love being a part of it. I'm going to see him in three weeks. Oh, that's going to hell. I'm telling you right now. Yeah, House and I are going back for Bob Cousy's court retirement at Holy Cross. Naming ceremony. College of Holy Cross and Woodson. It's the weekend of Super Bowl. We don't care. Are you really going to go Super Bowl weekend? Yeah, it's Bob Cousy. It's the fucking Cousy.

1:34:33We'll be back in time. No, we'll be back for the game, but we're not going to... I don't want to go to Santa Clara and have the electromagnetic rays being shot at me. I care about my tendons and my ligaments. No Super Bowl week for you at all? No Super Bowl week. Oh, that's a disappointment. It's going to be a Holy Cross weekend. Me, Hassel, Jacko, we're back. Jalen Coker. Yeah. Maybe Jalen Coker will be our fourth house. Should we ask him? Yeah. He's invited. It's either him or Gordy Lockbaum, one or the other. Triggs, Kuz is 97. It's unbelievable. And still killing it. He was so old in the movie Blue Chips, and that was 30 years ago.

1:35:15He's the absolute best. And one of the reasons we loved being at Holy Cross 30 years ago was we had this Kuzi-Heinstein legacy. It was just so cool that they won the NCAA title, NIT. like it was a big part. And now it's like so many years ago. I don't even think the kids there probably even realized those guys went there. So yeah, we're going back. I'm going to miss you in San Francisco. We usually have a good hang during Super Bowl week. I'm a little sad. I mean, San Francisco, Santa Clara, it's all over the map. I don't know what to tell you. You love Super Bowl though. There's nothing more you love than sidling up to a minority owner and a TV exec and then a retired quarterback just being able to just move around.

1:35:59I've seen you in action. You, me, Mike Tirico, and Bryce Young in a conversation last year. Yeah, that happened last year. That was great. That was really fun. All right, guys. All the greats. Well, I mean, that rivals this appearance by Lena Dunham on Netflix. I'm on with Lena Dunham and Bill Simmons. That's amazing. Hello. I forgot about that. Look at Lena. How's your own Ringer Gambling Show on Saturday? Shraig's, any more TV this week for you? Yes. Friday morning, I'm on Get Up. That's tomorrow. Yes, in a couple hours. Oh, Jesus. Go to bed, Triggs. Thanks, guys. Thanks to Gahal and Eduardo as well.

1:36:35Don't forget, I'll be back here live on Netflix on Sunday night after the Rams-Bears game. You'll be able to watch and listen to that on Spotify as well. Enjoy the weekend. Enjoy the gambling. Great to see you guys.

1:36:55I don't have periods with them.

1:37:25helpline, ma.org, or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support Massachusetts, or call 877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY in New York.