PMS 2.0 1493 - NFL Conference Championship Weekend Preview/Picks, Adam Schefter, Bill Cowher, Shams Charania, Jim Cantore, & AJ Hawk

21:20Cardinals Raiders. Raiders. The Raiders. I think in a perfect world, you'd also like a young, bright offensive mind to shepherd along Fernando Mendoza and to grow with him as your quarterback. Like Davis Webb would fit in Vegas, but Davis Webb might be the play in Buffalo. I think Buffalo, to me, like I said, you start with the three guys that have Buffalo connections in one bucket. Joe Brady, who had a great interview yesterday. Brian Dayball, who also is in contention. And Davis Webb. Those are the three guys to me that are in one bucket. In another bucket, you got the Outsiders. Although Anthony Lynn's got great Buffalo connections too.

22:04He was the runner-up to Sean McDermott in 2017. And basically, there were some people that wanted him and other people that wanted Sean McDermott. And the people who wanted Sean McDermott won out. Lynn was the runner-up. He took the Chargers head coaching job. In the midst of a relocation, he led them to a 33-31 record. So maybe we'll put him in that Buffalo bucket too. And then the other bucket will put Mike McDaniel and Anthony Weaver and Greg Yudinski and Phillip Rivers, some of the outsiders. But the Bills also want to see how this weekend's games go because Chris Shula, Nate Sheelhouse, Davis Webb, they'll also could be in play depending on whether those teams win or lose.

22:46A loss for one of those coaches is a win for their head coaching chance.

22:51Pat McAfee:Oh, no, no, no, we don't say that. So for the good of ball, we can't start that. But it seems like that is the accurate depiction of the situation. You're the best. Have a great day. Enjoy championship weekend, Shefty. We appreciate you. Thank you. You have me. Thank you. Where are we heading? Anywhere cool right now? Are we going anywhere cool? We're doing some errands. What do we got going on? We're running around. We're trying to take care of some things before the storm hits here. Smart. Buy bread. Yeah, good move. Toilet paper. Yeah, there you go. Water. Water, I think so. Dog food. Dog food.

23:20Pat McAfee:Dog food. Dog food, certainly good. Eggs, good. Maybe some of those Eggo waffles. Yeah. Frozen pizzas. Some of those. Frozen pizzas are good, yeah. Protein pockets. Okay, enjoy it all. Good luck out there. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Adam Schefter. Yay, Chef D. Hey, Chef D. What did you hear about the Pittsburgh Steelers right there? So, he just confirmed kind of everything that I've heard so far. They are allowed to talk to Shula and Schielhaus because they talked to them before this round of playoffs. They're smart. They got ahead of it, unlike some other teams. And then Anthony Weaver, the DC for the Miami Dolphins, he is picking up some steam as well.

23:56And then you got the homegrown native himself, Big Mike McCarthy.

24:00Pat McAfee:Okay, on that note, he would be taking over the Pittsburgh Steelers as the fourth coach since 1969 or something. Chuck Knoll, forever. Mike Tomlin, most recently, forever. In between there, Yenzer, dog. not only an incredible leadership ability and fight about every single word coming out of his mouth on the greatest chins in the history of mankind ladies and gentlemen homegrown super bowl champion for the steelers hall of famer yinzer legend bill kyer hey guys pat how we doing hey life is good coach let's talk about mike mccarthy potentially getting the gig you yinzer legend becomes Steelers head coach.

24:47Pat McAfee:There's a lot of pressure, I think, just on that job as a whole, let alone being a Yinzer. What was it like, and how do you view the head coaching role of the Pittsburgh Steelers now that it's opened up for the first time in, what, 19 years or something like that? Yeah, it's interesting. I actually talked to Mike yesterday. He got done, and he just talked about how surreal it was for him. He grew up in Greenfield, and he went then to the facility for the first time, which I share with Pitt. and just being in that building in itself. Again, I remember when I went in there for the first time, there was a mystique about that building, and you get inside there, and then you operate underneath that whole scenario that you operate under.

25:26It's a special place. It's a unique place. I think that's the biggest thing I would say. There's total transparency, total collaboration, and I think it's a great place to kind of grow your resume, whatever it may be, whether it's from the beginning, or if Mike happens to go back there, I think it would almost be like a full circle coming back home.

25:44Pat McAfee:A lot of young coaches. Obviously, you hired young. Tomlin hired young. I don't know when Chuck got hired. I assume he was young as well. He was 36. I was 34. Mike was 34. Okay, so been the trend, young. And you hear a lot of yinzers right now just expecting the same thing. Hey, a lot of yinzers voicing, we want young, we want young. Could it be maybe you go different here and bring in the older veteran like Coach McCarthy? And what do you think he potentially brings to a team where maybe young guy doesn't know yet? Or young guy growing with team a part of the entire process to make it great like you had to do?

26:19Yeah, I think those are two ways that you talk about going about this, Pat. And I think, you know, again, you put those in separate categories. You saw the first two guys ago, obviously, John Harbaugh and then Kevin Stefanski. And, you know, Hafney had been a coach at BC. And Robert Sala was a head coach before. And I think as you talk to the people going through this process, that you can see a big difference between guys who have coached before. They're much more prepared for some of the questions. But the young guys, and the only thing I'll say about the young guys is it's nice to mold a guy underneath what your system is all about, what those core values are all about.

26:53I know when I came to Pittsburgh, you know, Mr. Rooney was very good about allowing me to be a part of everything. But then you had to earn the right to have input. I think that's the biggest thing. I came in there. I wanted to make sure I had my hands on everything, whether it was free agency, whether it was a salary cap, obviously the draft you're going to be involved with. But the biggest thing for me was making sure I got myself a staff. And I think that's the biggest thing right now for some of these teams is there are some good assistant coaches out there, but they're going to keep taking up as you wait the longer you wait.

27:21So I think there's a lot to be said for that from the standpoint. If you make your coach now, he's got a little bit of a more pool of coaches that he can put around him. And I think that's a big part of your success is your assistant coaches.

27:31Pat McAfee:Yeah, and if you're a defensive coach who gets a head coaching job now and you've got a young quarterback or MVP quarterback like Minter just got hired at Baltimore, it's like, who's the offensive coordinator now that's going to have to come with you? Obviously, you rely on your network, but coordinator is very important. Offensive coordinator, very important, especially if you're a defensive head coach. And you've got to have guys in line, too, because if you have success, that guy's going to get a head coaching job. That's a fascinating little wrinkle to this all, Coach. You know, it really is.

27:57As a matter of fact, when I lost Chan Gailey back in 1997 after his second year as an OC, and the Dallas Cowboys, they signed him really right around the time we were in Indy, you know, at the Combine. So I really had a very late search to go through. We had Cordell Stewart coming off his best year, his first year as a starter in 97. We hired Ray Sherman. That did not work out. And so I went out and got Kevin Gilbride to bring some credibility back. and after two years, that did not work his way. I thought it should. And I went back on my staff with Milwaukee then and then having Wisenhunt. So I think a big part of why I learned and the advice I give to people is having a backup plan.

28:36I remember saying this to Dan Campbell a couple years ago. You're going to lose some of these guys. Just make sure that you want to be able to keep it in-house. Don't have to change the system. I'd rather have the coach learn it new as opposed to the players. And so I think that's the system we had. It was the same system that Ron Earhart had when I hired him back in 1992, we had that to the very end. Yes, you come in, you put your little plan on, you can do some variations to what that is, but the terminology was the same for both sides of the ball. That way when players came and coaches might have lost, coaches, we didn't lose a beat.

29:09Again, you put your fingerprints and your mold on what you want to do within the terminology that you have so that not everyone has to relearn it again. So I think that's one of the things you have to be able to do. And again, I go back to the same thing. And the first staff you have, like I made a lot of changes my first couple of years because you have to, until you work with someone, you really don't know who they are and do they think like you think. And you really don't know that until you're with people 70 hours a week.

29:32Pat McAfee:And you said that you would actually move on from a member just to shake some things up. Hey, every once in a while you got to keep everybody fresh. Didn't you say that? I think you've told us that before. I have told you that before. There was probably no metric that would quantify me making a change except for the fact that I just had a feel and a pulse for the fact that we needed to have a different voice in the room. And so, you know, and that to me was like trying to hold people accountable. You know, I do it with the players. I did it with the coaches as well. I was pretty hard on the coaches and I coached the coaches.

30:01And so I let the coaches coach the players because I think it was really important to have that relationship and ability to have that one-on-one. I interceded when I needed to and stepped in at times when I had to. I was a lot of times the bad cop and they could be the good cop. I was fine with that. but you know I think it's also important that they have that opportunity you know to have you know some flexibility with what we're doing we we had collaboration but you know I wanted people to also be think outside the box so I wanted them to put some input I want everyone to kind of think they were a coordinator and get up there and talk in front of the team and so a lot of times I did have other coaches and even players go up and talk to the team because I think it's my voice it's the same message and after you get to a period of time the same core values but sometimes there's different ways of saying it.

30:43Pat McAfee:You were the Pittsburgh dad of the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's what it sounds like. Yeah, pretty much. That's what it sounded like. Yeah, I'll be the bad cop, I guess. Yeah, sure. I hate it. Get it out of here. Also, you're fired. Why? We don't like you being around. Why not? We need to move along. There were reasons for it. Yeah, of course. Yeah, of course. There's certainly an argument against it, but how you feel and how the team feels, I think, is a big part of being like the CEO-type head coach, which you certainly were. Leader of men. great at rallying the crew. Now, if the refs are wrong, they were getting held accountable as well, which was also an incredible part of it.

31:16Pat McAfee:But you were CEO-like operation. Tone has a question for you about that. Yeah, Coach, there's a lot of talk about the CEO-type head coach versus an offensive coordinator coming in, defensive coordinator coming in. Obviously, you were a DC coming in before you were at the Steelers. But we talked to Kyle Van Noy yesterday, and he said he doesn't care or players shouldn't care if it's an offensive coordinator coming in or defense coordinator in, but all the guys in the league this day are looking for an X's and O's type guy because a lot of the players in the league today want to know why they are doing something and explain why.

31:51What's the purpose of what we're doing in this situation? Do you agree with that sentiment that it has changed where in the older days maybe players were just like, sure, you got to coach whatever you say versus today? Guys, they want to know the why, and do you think it's important for coaches today to explain that why and be X's and O's guys? Tony I think that's the most important thing you can do I listen I played for five years in the National Football League I went from playing right to being an assistant coach I coach special teams I coached the secondary I was coaching a secondary in Cleveland with Hanford Dixon and Frank Minifield guys I'd played with three years before that as a special teams linebacker and you're saying you're going to tell me about bump and run tell me about off coverage what do you know about secondary work well I said I just spent a whole summer with Larry Weaver who was a great secondary coach I says and if you ask the question if I don't have the answer I'll get the answer for you but I think we should try this thing just trust me along the way but I'll work with you as well and I think that's the thing that you said I'm hey Rod Woodson used to catch punts over his head and I'm making that hey Rod that's like that's not the way you catch a punt that's the way but he said that's coach that's the way I catch a punt I go okay well you're Rod Woodson and I said the next guy I go you guys are not Rod Woodson right here you look it in you put it right there So I think it's important you let players be them.

33:09Same thing when Troy Palomaro came in. The more that you could trust his instincts, that the more than you allowed him to do certain things and gave him freedom. I did not want to harness greatness. I don't want to sit there and tell you, okay, you have to coach this way. You have to turn this ball in. Well, I can turn it in, but, you know, if I go underneath this block, I maybe can make a play. So I want you to be aggressive. I want you to take chances. I want you to have the freedom to be a disruptive guy on the field. If you're wrong more than you're right, you're probably going to be standing next to me.

33:36But when you're right, a lot of the times, a guy like Troy Pomalo, he went against the grain of things we did. He would void a coverage at times, but he was right 90 % of the time. So I remember when Ryan Clark came in, I said, your job, your first job you have as free safety with Troy is you have to cover up for Troy. He's going to do some things at times that may not be what he's supposed to be doing. But I said, he's right nine out of 10 times. Every now and then he's wrong. And I said, when he's wrong, you need to make sure you cover up for him. So that's your first responsibility. So you want to give certain players just the freedom to be able to do whatever they want to do and have that confidence out there that they can take over a game, that they take ownership on the field.

34:15And if they do that and you let them have input, they take ownership in the locker room. And those are kind of the dogs that you're going to. And my message went to those guys. I knew who those guys were. So if I want to send a message, hey, man, just put the word out. We win Sunday. You're going to get a couple of days off. Oh, OK. Particularly early in the season. You got it. I said, so. But we lose. We're watching that tape. So I just want you to know that. So it was working with the players and being able to, having been a player, as you ask them to make the sacrifice to commitment to things, you got to scratch each other's back.

34:46And sometimes you got to give them a little bit of leeway as well, have input and take ownership over what we're doing on the field. Yeah.

34:52Pat McAfee:But they got to earn that just like, you know, the room that you're not just going to everybody and treating them the same way. Bruce Arians, he was the most blunt about it. Bruce Arians was the most blunt about it that I've ever heard in team meetings. he would walk in and go, hey, this is a five-stars game. Our five-stars got to beat their five-stars. And if you don't know if you're a five-star, you're not. So all you other guys need to just show up. We need you guys just to show up. This is our five-stars need to beat their five-stars. Got it? Team break. Let's go. Move. That was literally Bruce Arians.

35:24And to me, there's always going to be three matchups during the course of the game that could determine the outcome of the game. And let's talk about those matchups. It may be our left tackle against their right defensive end. And you know what? We have a backup plan. If you're struggling, we have a backup plan for you. But if you can win, I got one more guy I can put out into the route. So, you know, that's going to be a big part, a pivot part of that. We have to be able to stop this running game on the inside. And once we stop it, just make them one-dimensional. The first thing I wanted to do on defense is make a team one-dimensional.

35:55I was going to take away what I perceived to be your strength. And I was going to make you beat me with what I perceived to be your second strength. So I want to make you beat me left-handed, not right-handed. And you know what? The biggest thing I want to do also on offense is be able to oppose myself and have a backup plan for any matchup that I don't feel comfortable with. Receiver out there, I'm going to put you out there periodically one-on-one, or I take my best corner, I'm going to put him on number two, and I'm going to just take him out of the game, and I'm going to double number one.

36:21So it's the different approaches you can take, best on best. How about best on second? And we can put two on one on your first guy. So it's those types of things that you have to be able to do in the course of a game. You adapt, you adjust. And I love that strategical part of football. I love doing it. I loved it. Coach, do you love ball? Do you think you love ball? I love it. I still do this day, Pat. I said, you know, I've talked to some coaches and I still have some blitzes to this day that I've given to some people. You know, I love to get four guys on one side. if I can scheme a guy open with a five-man rush, man, I'd beat you.

37:00And you know what? I remember playing Lindy and Fonte one time. And Lindy and Fonte, who was with the Colts for a while, he was a head coach. And I was with Lindy in Cleveland. And Lindy wanted to get everybody out. And I remember one time when we were playing him, and he was up in Green Bay, and he brought the tight end back into the backfield with the back. There was two backs back there. So I said, man, that's like him just waving the white flag. He hated to have to have all that protection in there because he couldn't block the blitz. and we had some guys in Kansas City that we could do some things on the grass in the dirt in Green Bay.

37:31Lloyd Burris and Daron Cherry, they'll be up there mugging the A-gap and Daron says, I'm telling you, Coach, if I go, they're not ignoring me. I said, well, then you go. I said, Daron, you better get your butt back in the middle of the field as fast as you can, but if you guys are doing it, then do it. I said, you're out there. I'm not out there, but let's talk about it and scheme something up. I would like to hear about this first, though. Yeah, let me know. Just let me know you're doing it.

37:55Pat McAfee:Yeah, I like that thought. And I also appreciate the fact of you now at this stage of life on a dry race board somewhere, probably spitting all over it if I had to catch you. You got an idea, taking a picture, sending yourself, video recording yourself, sending it to a defense coordinator. I think this is – now, I don't want to dive completely into X's and O's in modern ball. We got 13 personnel showing up now. We got six offensive linemen having for people. I think everybody's trying to protect their shit right now. Now, you talk about being a former player and your ability to be able to connect and also coach.

38:24Pat McAfee:There's something happening up in New England that was very special. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Coach, all the fans are ready. As you can see, I got my helmet on for Sunday. And as you mentioned all those blitzes, I'm going to be ripshit if you didn't give one to Mike Vrabel while you're up there in New England. But when you're talking about culture, you know, and Vrabel has established it very quickly in one year. Mike McDonald, another guy, in two years, you know, they've gotten their teams to the conference championship game. What is kind of the steps you have to take right away when you are establishing that culture?

38:57And also, what is the importance of kind of bringing in veteran guys that understand you, your culture, what you're trying to do? And are those the ones that you mentioned that are kind of leaking things to the rest of the locker room? Like, hey, we might take a couple days off if we win. Yeah, I mean, I think they are. And Mike understands that very well. And just having coached him his first four years. and we drafted him out of Ohio State. And then really, it's funny, we talk about this. I did a sit down with him and we shared the conversation we had. After four years, he came in. It was at the end of his four-year contract.

39:30I knew he was going to be a free agent. And I just said, listen, Mike, I can pay you the same, but I just can't give you the same opportunity if you go somewhere else if you want to start. Because I got Joey Porter and I got Jason Gilden. I got two outside linebackers and you'll be in the rotation system. That's just the way we're going to do it. So if you have a chance to go start somewhere else, then if you feel it's important, then do it. And I get it, totally understand that. So we had that conversation, and he appreciated that. I think the fact is that, like, the transparency that you have, and I think up there, Mike, as you go to that practice, and I saw those guys, they're loose.

40:08It's a very fast pace that he has. He interjects special teams in there. You have some times I was sitting over talking to Booty and Diggs. And, you know, they said, give me some dirt on Mike Bravo. I said, listen, he was not a pain in the butt of coach. I said, matter of fact, I knew he was going to be a coach, but he would ask questions that nobody else would even think of. And so, and I said, that's when I knew that this guy was pretty special in what he did. And I said, but he was also a guy, whatever you asked him to do, he would do it. And I think when you look at this, the other guy is Josh McDaniel.

40:37I was just talking to Josh yesterday too. That drive he had at the end of the game last week, against Houston, which was about six minutes. They took off the ball. They ran it, and they just one time, six offensive linemen, the fullbacks in the game. Chisholm comes in as the blocking receiver. He's like a little pit bull. He's just getting in people's way. And I just loved it. And I think it was like one of those staple drives. That's what they were all about. And it reminded me of our teams. I said, you're snapping a ball with one second left. You're using the clock, and all you're doing is just taking away the Houston will.

41:09and because all of a sudden the time is just going down. I said, when you break someone's will is when you know you're going to run it and they know you're going to run it and you continue to do it snap after snap. That's breaking the will of the opponent.

41:22Pat McAfee:Four or five yards a pop too. Just right on schedule. No problem. No stress. Maybe one for seven or eight. Maybe one for ten. Maybe one for two. Okay, then we're going to get up. Bang. New running back coming in. Oh, fresh. Fresh guy coming in here fourth quarter. And then, oh, yeah, our defense, it's going to be quick. So your defense is going to be on the field again. Turnovers are about to come. You're about to be on the field again. So this is just coming right down your mouth. Yep. You get it. I'll tell you, you look at the free agents that they spent, and they spent their money. Every one of them has made a significant impact on that team.

42:00I mean, Chisholm is playing as good as he's played. Ellis is playing. You also talked about Landry, the leadership that he brought in. and Carlton Davis on the other side there of Gonzalez. So they have gotten some – on the other side of the ball, you get the whole offensive line, you get Bradbury in there, and then Diggs and what he's done for that wide receiver room. It's a great group of people that have come together that were like Mike, Rabel guys. They came up there, and it's a culture. It was ironic. I said, you know, when Rabel left in 2000, he did leave. He went to New England. He went to New England to play linebacker and beat us in the championship game in 2001.

42:36So, you know, I'm just, and I asked him, I was just wondering, is this team got a little bit of that sense? You went on there for the first time and you brought a new, a lot of people came up there. It was Bill's second year. It was Tom's first year of being a starter. And so there's a lot of similarities. You kind of feel what's going on in that building right now. It's like a turnover. It's a little bit different vibe that's in there. You had a five-year period of time. You did not go to the playoffs or win a playoff game, but now you can feel it coming back and there's a little bit of that sense right there.

43:04That guy right there, Drake May, and that catch by Booty, how good was that? But Drake May has really been a big, big part of this right now. He's a great leader, humble, and tough. And I think that represents a Mike Vrabel team.

43:18Pat McAfee:Yeah, I'm excited to watch this Patriots team, I guess, for the next 20 years. Yeah! Yeah, I guess that's what this is now. Go ahead. No, listen, Sean Payton is going to have a plan in place. So you can talk about what you want to lose the quarterback, but he's going to be fine with Stidham. And actually Josh McDaniel knows Stidham very, very well, obviously from his time with the Raiders and initially even with the Patriots when he was there last time. So Stidham, I don't think he's going to give you the outside, the running that Bo Nix did, but he'll be able to stay in that pocket. And I can see him coming in with a game plan.

43:56It's kind of like one of those things for Sean is, you know, we are the biggest home underdog in a championship game in the history of football. So you know what? Go out there. You have nothing to lose. No one's giving you a chance. So it's one of those us against the world kind of things, playing at home and playing in Denver. It's going to be a big challenge for New England because I tell you, Denver Broncos play very well at home. The altitude is a real thing, particularly in the fourth quarter of those games. So we'll see what happens as the game goes on. But, you know, I think I would be surprised if this is not a good, a close game.

44:25Pat McAfee:The altitude's real. The crowd is awesome. They got a great fan base over there. They're obviously ready. And to your point about already having built-in excuses to not have success in this game, that can be a little bit of a relief. And on that note, the pressure is all on the Patriots. Oh, yeah. It is crazy to think about that. The Patriots have first-year head coach, second-year quarterback, nowhere near supposed to be this amount of success for this quick of a turnaround. And then going into the championship game, it's like, all right, you lose now. You guys stink, basically. It's like that is a crazy little narrative that could potentially happen here way ahead of schedule for this Patriots team.

45:00And it's the complete flip of what it's been all year. All year it's easy schedule, easy schedule, easy schedule. Now it's conference championship in the AFC. If you don't win, then it is a huge letdown. Whereas the whole entire thing, after everyone or most people took Houston to win in New England, now it's completely flipped to, hey, if they don't win, I mean, we're talking about easiest schedule and they don't beat Jared Stidham. whereas if they win, it'll go back to this is the easiest path. In the history of all. In the history of the playoffs. Yeah, like the narrative is comedy for whatever it will be on Monday.

45:37It's loud, Coach. It's loud up there. Listen, it's loud on the outside, but I'm telling you, I watched this team work through practice, and there is just a kind of quiet confidence going about business that they're doing it. And I tell you, Mike is all over it. He's got his hands in everything that they're doing, making sure that everyone's okay. you know and so i was over there talking he goes you know boots dig you guys okay step yeah he goes yeah we're good we're good coach so like and so he's he's got his hands on i mean it took some time to come over in the middle of practice show me his you show me what his structure of his practice was i was just curious like what how many players you guys playing today and they took the pads off they don't have the pads on wednesday they put the pads on thursday so which is i which i thought was a little unusual but he said no these some of these guys they need till thursday to their full, and they performed well all year with that.

46:26So he's got a system in place. You're in a routine. You know, I just remember when we went on those runs, the biggest thing you can do is stay in routine. Just stay in routine because I think that makes every game just seem the same. It's like there's no – one game isn't bigger than anything else. You don't deviate because you're playing a championship game or even playing in the Super Bowl, whatever it is. You try to keep that week the same, the Wednesday, the Thursday, the Friday. They're going to fly out Saturday. Don't worry about the altitude. We'd have to go out there two weeks ahead for the altitude, but we couldn't because we had to play a game last week.

46:56So, you know, he's just don't make a big deal about it. So he's just, you know, I think when he's played and he stands in front of that room, he's got a presence about him. I think he's got a calmness and a confidence that this football team is following.

47:12Pat McAfee:Okay, Coach, and I don't want to do this because of all the incredible compliments you just gave, so I don't want to turn it to a completely combative segment, but you in your prime. Okay. Yeah. Hell yeah. Vrabes, I think he's still in his prime. Yeah. MCDC, Dan Campbell up there in Detroit. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Is there any other coaches I'm missing? D 'Amico. D 'Amico. D 'Amico Ryans. I think D 'Amico Ryans. Yeah. Yeah. Put him in there. Yeah. Yes. You can put him in there. Put him in there. Good. Where are you going with this? Put him all in the ring. Yeah. Who's going to come outstanding? Kind of, yeah.

47:51Pat McAfee:And who else deserves to be in the ring? You think, yeah, okay, I like your face. Yeah, I thought so. I want to let you know I went to bat for you earlier today pretty hard. Coach, we know the neck roll at NC State happened. Yeah, we know. Yeah, a couple people are on Vrabel. Won't say who. Well, listen, oh, no way. Vrabes is good. Very one-dimensional. I mean, I think when you look at him. But I love the guy to death. He is what he is. Listen, 19 was a defensive lineman. and I made him a linebacker. So, you know, I mean, I got him standing in a two-point stance. Yeah, you ever said that? But, you know, yeah, he did.

48:25He did. And he was smart, and he was tough. He was all those things. But, you know, you got to stay a step ahead, you know. As a matter of fact, do you know that I was just talking to Mark Cuban the other day, and we're talking about Kurt Signetti and what a great run that is. And his background, I guess, you know, Frank went to West Virginia, Pat, where you went to it. Do you know that I was down at West Virginia football camp when Jim Carlin was there? I was 12 years old, his last year. And I went the next year, it was Bobby Bowden. So it was a Jim Carlin Mountain State Achievement Camp. My parents took me down there.

49:00I was 12 years old and dropped me off. They said, we'll be back in a week. And I thought I did something wrong at home. I said, you guys are coming back, right? And so they get me. And so that was like one of my, you know, West Virginia. So I have those West Virginia roots and Signetti kind of just reminds me of that. So what a great run that was. I know deviating from the NFL, but I just thought that I think that was fantastic. You guys did a great job with game day. Just, you know, the field pass stuff that you guys did. That was a really tremendous run by him and them. And I just, I love everything he stands for.

49:33And obviously with Mark Cuban was a big part of that success as well. But, you know, he's another Pittsburgh guy. Yeah, were you McGee? Were you McGee Women's Hospital? No, I was not at McGee, no.

49:46Pat McAfee:Okay, so because Mark Cuban was born at McGee, Cignetti was born at McGee, I was born at McGee. You were born at McGee? Yes, I thought there was a chance that there was about to be like. Wow. Because McGee Women's Hospital reached out to us and we're like, we are so thankful that you guys are shutting us out, but also maybe we should look into who all was born at Tundigs, born at McGee, Nick Morato. Oh, you were McGee? Yeah, where were you born? You know what, maybe I was. I don't even remember. Yes! Probably a hardware store, if I had to guess. Yeah, a hardware store. Potentially. Winter storm.

50:20I know.

50:21Pat McAfee:That's why you win that fight, by the way. That's why you win that fight. Hey, listen, I was a Boilermaker through high school. I was actually, I had my first year in college. So I went back. I got Freddy Galtier from the local, got me into there. And I was getting full rate. I was telling Cuban, I said, you know, you were working making$1.30. I was making like$12.30 an hour. so I worked for like I worked 7-12s for one month I'd get my money and I'd go back down to college man I was I was picking up the check going out to the bars you know but I mean after one shot yeah good union yeah good union obviously that's good working out there Pittsburgh hell yeah that's just classic Inzer story right there uh you're the man built uh AQ Shipley McGee Women's Hospital as well wow AQ yeah Joe DiNardo probably probably in there coach we need to find out where you came into the world at, brother?

51:10I'm going to find out, too. It might have been McGee. Yeah, it might have been. I mean, listen, I grew up in Beachview. I was in Beachview right downtown.

51:20Pat McAfee:So that would definitely be McGee, we would assume. I don't know all the hospitals. Yeah, I think you must be. It must be McGee. It has to be. I believe we had this conversation with Big Mike McCarthy, him as well. McGee? At McGee, yes. You're definitely there, Bill. You're definitely there, Coach. I know, I know. What a place. What a magical hospital. That is incredible. That's like a documentary-worthy hospital. And I think that's what the McGee people were saying. We didn't even think of this, but it feels like we should maybe look into first breaths in this particular hospital. Because like Aaron Donald?

51:50Pat McAfee:I would assume. Aaron? I would assume. Revis? I would assume. Darrell Revis? Curtis Martin? Yeah. My favorite. Dan Marino? Dan Marino. Joe, Tony. I mean, yeah. Go down the line of those names. McGee. Shout out to McGee. and coach we're just going to assume you're born there and wherever you're born as well and we're thankful you're still in ball and love ball so much we appreciate you stopping by coach you're the man thanks man thanks pat oh are you gonna be in pittsburgh for the draft or what yeah i i'm playing on going i plan on being there you're gonna be there right you guys gonna be there yeah do you want to uh do you want to work yes well i mean let me let me let me let me see about that one yeah cbs got it got it got it yeah smart smart if you are allowed to we would love to have you work we would love to have you be a part of our shit yeah talk talk yeah you guys you're talking about the draft show yeah the draft spectacular the fact you know field pass exists crazy too by the way you just dropped that in there thank you for knowing that that exists that was very cool of you good preparation on the uh for this particular combo you're the man but yeah our draft spectacular is outrageous would be awesome if obviously we don't want to ruffle any feathers piss anybody off we know how it goes no no no no i mean listen pittsburgh's still Pittsburgh.

53:01The draft's coming to Pittsburgh. That's pretty special. I'm on the host committee, so I know that. I don't know what that consists of. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. You're going to be doing a lot of this.

53:12Pat McAfee:Hey, good to see you. Welcome to time. You might be up with Goodell. You might be the one doing the first chest bump, actually, before Goodell does the entirety. We appreciate you, Coach. You're the man. Alright, thanks, man. Thanks, guys. That's all the famer. Bill Cowher. Absolute GOAT. If he didn't give Vrabel a blitz, then his ass better not be. He's not sharing knowledge with your stupid team. Oh, yeah. Well, was he there? Tony, don't be jealous. Don't be jealous. Don't be petty. No, he was there to ruin your team. All right, Bone, let's talk about it. How do you feel like the first 53 minutes have gone?

53:45Pat McAfee:And do you think maybe after the first 25 seconds there was a decision made that we're not doing that again? Absolutely. Okay, a little basic voice there. There you go. That was good. He was talking like he was reading a nighttime story or something. But the football decision, I just want to go over that one. Like, what was the decision when you thought, like, you know what, I will say football first before me and Tony. No, I think he was trying to hit it. I think he just got excited. I think it was a false start. Every day when you guys do that, I'm back there trying to time it up, and I do the same thing every day.

54:13So that's what that was. False start.

54:15Pat McAfee:D3 national champion offensive lineman. You do get a little excited maybe. A lot of false starts in my career. Hold your water. Bone. Bone. Hold your water, Bone. Yep. You're recently a Buffalo Bills fan, potentially a Buffalo Phills fan. Absolutely. Was going to bring you in to ask a question. Didn't know if your voice would make it to Schefter in his car. What are your thoughts on the Buffalo Bills and the situation there? Can't interview anybody because they missed the window. Yeah, I mean, first year as a fan, I'm kind of in for everything. I don't have a favorite yet. You know what? I was going to correct Schefter, but Weaver was also a Bills D-line coach in 2013.

54:51So there's another connection there. Oh, really?

54:53Pat McAfee:He's a Buffalo guy? Yeah, he is. He's a Buffalonian. So we got three to four Buffalo guys that could get the call and could run the show. You're saying take them to a place they've never been. The Buffalonians have been there before. They've shoveled the snow. They've gone through a Buffalo winter. They understand what it's like to be a Buffalo Beal. Is that what you're saying? Absolutely, and I'm here for it. Josh Allen. This guy's making decisions for you guys. Is he hiring a coach? Is that how do you feel about that? Whatever Josh wants, let him do it. I like that. That's a new age fan, but I also appreciate the fact that we're all kind of understanding that maybe the MVP should have a little bit of a say.

55:27Pat McAfee:I do appreciate also if the MVP quarterback doesn't want, like if Lamar's like, that's on, please, I would like a guy that is this, and I don't want to necessarily be in there or somebody else. But if you have become an MVP, I think it's only smart to kind of get, because they are the CEO of the locker room. Like, you should get all the leaders of the building in there. I know Fitz doesn't like it, and I think Fitz is wondering if they're only going to hire to appease Josh. They shouldn't just do that. Fitz is saying as a quarterback, like, you shouldn't just be making a decision that's just good for me.

55:53Pat McAfee:So you just have to assume that they're handling it in the proper fashion. I would like to hear more from Fitz, actually. We're going to try to reach out and learn. Yeah, that would be awesome. Because I have a lot of respect for Fitz. I personally have a lot of respect for Fitz. He's been in a lot of buildings, so I respect the hell out of him. Buffalo being one of them. But, like, I feel like what Steve Bishotti said was kind of what I thought it was going to more so be like, hey, I want all the opinions. I want them all. But as far as sitting in there and the power of kind of swaying it maybe, that is where it comes too far because you can see down the pipeline, Bills get off to a slow start perhaps, or there is a little bit of a lull in the offense.

56:28You can see people already saying like, oh, this is the guy Josh Allen wanted, even though definitely should ask him. Yeah, but Shadi during that conference said, like Lamar's not in these introductory ones, but if he wants to fly up with me for the ending ones, he can definitely do that if he wants.

56:43Pat McAfee:Okay, so it feels like that's it. The Aaron not getting ass was crazy for us. That's insane. Because it was Aaron Rodgers. But now, I guess, having too much power, we can see how maybe people don't want it. So, fascinating development up there in Buffalo, and they might have Phil Rivers as their next set coach. I hope. I love it. There's a lot of people that'll kill it. Maybe it wins, though. Hour 2 on the other side.

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58:26All for that sweet, delicious, truly one-of-a-kind taste of Dr. Pepper It's a Pepper Thing

58:37Pat McAfee:football is the greatest unbelievable work and it's not just me that has the opportunity to chit chat about sports and ball every single day it's not just me that happens to be the luckiest person on earth it is also a group of dudes that are up here on the stage right now the toxic table at boston connor and at derrick murphy 32 one half of the hammer Don! Did he not? I mean, baby steps here. He hit the football. I think it would be an early jump. I think it would be one of those ones in slow replay. They would notice it, but the ref's eyes didn't call it. Sure. So good work on that. One half of the hammer.

59:11Pat McAfee:Don! Cowboys AP. Tony's here. Way to go, Tony. Thank you. Thank you. How's it feel about the bone sandwich you and Connor are making here today? It's actually a dream come true. I've dreamt about this many, many nights, and it's finally here. Can you tell me about the numbers of the game this weekend? I know you're going to be distracted with Bone and his Carhartt Uggs he's wearing. Heart, though, sweet. Yeah, those are. He did not know he was going to be on there today. This all came about. Ty had to go home and be dad, you know, because mom worked in a very serious world. So, Ty, literally, you just got the call.

59:43Pat McAfee:He was not going to be here today. We put Bone in here. First hour, he didn't speak. So, it was tough to offer him up another opportunity to do that. Yeah. But as we're looking at him, the Carhartt Uggs with that particular quarter zip, with the Seager hat, feels like today was the right day for you to do what you're doing right now. We're proud of you, Bone. Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys. Wow. Dial it up a little. They're kind of like they have Air Force bottoms and then the – I like the Air Harts. The Air Hart, Carhartt. Perfect for Dom Hicks. Jeez. I don't think that's the case. I think it's perfect for a lot of situations.

1:00:23Pat McAfee:Debuting at the Talks at the Table is certainly one of them. Hammer, Cowboy, AP, what are the numbers on the weekend's game telling us, and what should we be looking at? Okay, so yesterday we talked about Pats and Broncos. Pats, yesterday moved from minus 5.5 to minus 4.5, even though they were getting a ton of the money, and by a ton of the money, over 70%. They're currently sitting at 73 % last time I checked, and they moved from 5.5 to 4.5, which in that world is called reverse line movement. Normally when a team is getting majority of the action, their number would get larger. So they would go from minus five and a half to minus six and a half because the book is trying to get more money on the Broncos, but that did not happen.

1:01:02And we have been sitting at four and a half ever since in that situation. And then the Rams, sorry.

1:01:08Pat McAfee:Hold on, on that, more on the Patriots-Broncos. Denver plus four and a half is in line to become the second home team to get four plus points in conference championship in history. When it was at five and a half points, it was the most ever. at four and a half second time it's happened in 1976 you remember the raiders beat the steelers they had just gone back to back 24 7 as a four and a half point underdog shout out to the raiders at that point in la oh yeah yeah is that right la raiders yeah i would assume yeah i think that is the la raiders at that particular time so congrats to them on getting a big time huge underdog story movie-like win over the back-to-back Pittsburgh Steelers in 1976.

1:01:48Pat McAfee:Will history repeat itself this weekend in Denver? It could. I believe the, if my memory is serving me correct, I believe the Steelers won the next two after that. Could have had five in the decade. That would have been sick. Yeah, you guys blew it. Yeah. Four and a half point favorites, and you guys blow it to the 1976 Raiders. What the hell? Yeah, you saw that seven on the board. If I remember correctly, Terry didn't have a great game, but that's okay. That'll happen. So, yes, that's what we've talked about as far as, you know, the Broncos. They were in Oakland. They were in Oakland. We apologize to the Los Angeles Raiders fans.

1:02:18They might have played it at the Coliseum. That's where a lot of Super Bowls were played back in the day. But, yes, 4.5 as a home dog is a huge number, obviously. 5.5 was historic. And then you go to the other game, the Seahawks minus 2.5. That line has not moved at all, even though the Seahawks have been over 80 % of the action so far up to this date. And as we talked about yesterday, it's probably a lot of recency bias because the Seahawks have just been absolutely trouncing people, especially on defense. And the Rams, you know, over the last, I don't know, five, six, seven games, have been playing tight, close games.

1:02:53They had the tight one against the Bears and the Panthers in the playoffs.

1:02:56Pat McAfee:Okay, so, Bone, after watching film, what does the NFC Championship look like in your eyes after watching every play from both these teams? I think the Seahawks dog-walked the Rams. Bone. Bone. You didn't really say it with your chest, but the words that you said would be something that would be said with somebody's chest pretty heavy. That was a pretty heavy hammer there. You went hammer. God. You like the Seahawks team, huh? I do. I do. Is it just because what they just did to the Niners or because the seasons work? Why do you think the Seahawks dog walk, your words, not mine, the Los Angeles Rams?

1:03:28You know, we were at the Dom Toretto's garage, and we saw him put up an ass whooping, and it convinced me that these guys have a real shot at going to the Super Bowl, and I think it's going to happen.

1:03:38Pat McAfee:I completely forgot about Dom Toretto's garage being a part of our story down there at College Football Playoff Championship in Miami. We were actually sitting in between a really cool-looking building and Dom Toretto's garage from Too Fast, Traw, Too Furious, Traw, Too Fast for y 'all. We were sitting in the garage. It was as if the garage was just reserved for us. It was another party that I guess wasn't happening until like midnight-ish. We wanted to watch the game. The ESPN event was happening across the street. There was no way we were going into what we heard that ESPN event was at the time that it was.

1:04:11Pat McAfee:Not a lot of people in there. So we walked right across the street to this place. Dom Torres' garage. And owner George says, hey, come on. Do what you guys need to do. We have an entire patio, open area. We can smoke, entire inside. Two bartenders. That's nice. DJ playing. We had this entire thing. And then we're told by George, he comes out. Too fast, too furious. Right here. Filmed it. And we looked it up. It's like, yep. Excuse me. Literally right here. We were where the cars were lined up to race against each other. Dom's in there. We were having a couple cocktails. And at that moment, we did watch.

1:04:38Pat McAfee:We watched that Seattle Seahawks team just absolutely. It was good times. We were having a blast while they were doing it. It felt bad for the Niners, but the Seahawks do have a chance to do that, especially with the 12th man humming the way that it's humming. We talked earlier today. It feels like both these games are going to be good games. Yeah. But if they were to become blowouts, what could it possibly be? Well, I guess Seattle could blow out the Rams, especially if that home field gets rolling. And then on the flip side of that, what if it is St. Darnold? What if the Rams defense gets a couple quick turnovers early?

1:05:08Pat McAfee:And then all of a sudden the Rams are able to roll because they're able to run the ball. They're able to kind of keep the defense on the field. They're able to do that type of stuff. So I guess both teams could kind of blow out each other if they really wanted to. And then when you go Patriots-Broncos, you would think the Patriots maybe just absolutely demolish if Stidham is not prepared for the moment. But on the flip side of that, what if Stidham is ready for the moment? What if Stidham is ready to turn Denver into Stidham City? There's a chance that that happens, and all of a sudden the Patriots, which we don't think is possible, just weren't ready for a Stidham-led offense.

1:05:36Pat McAfee:I guess there's a chance both of these games could get ugly, but we feel four best teams actually available right now, and we're going to have dogfights through both of them is how I feel about it. But there is a chance, I guess, it gets ugly in a couple different ways. No, I think we're all on the same page. It's impossible to see one of these teams, any of these four, pulling away. Maybe there's a lead at some point during the game where it's 10 points, 14 points, but then you would expect the other team to make a big play and make that thing a game in the fourth quarter. It's very difficult to see that, but at the same time, like you mentioned, even with Darnold, could he turn the ball over four times?

1:06:13Drake May, he had three turnovers against the Texans. Could he do that against the Broncos? Stidham very well could too, so it's one of those situations, but that's why these games are so good. I feel like every single year when it comes to conference title games, were all ready for a very, very close game. And they've delivered for the most part, you know, as teams have stayed healthy. Yeah, we talked about, you know, you could see the Broncos just because Sidham is a backup quarterback. He hasn't played in two years or whatever. But the one thing to watch to potentially keep it close, no matter how Sidham is playing, the Pats have given up five sacks in both of their playoff games.

1:06:50They are 28th in the league in protecting Drake May. Broncos are number one in sacks by a wide, wide margin. So even if Siddham is playing horrendous, there's a chance that that Broncos D-line could keep them in this.

1:07:03Pat McAfee:Most sacks off the right edge, to your point, Nick Bonito right in that middle of that thing there. Will Campbell now, rookie left tackle, three sacks on 13 pressures this postseason. Who knows what those stats mean? What we do know is Drake has been getting hit. And also Drake's turnovers have been happening whenever he's in pocket getting hit. Feels like he has no fear. Feels like he has no fear about what could potentially come. Now, some people will say he has no awareness either that this was happening, is how some experts would say. And I think he'll develop that as he has. But he has no thoughts.

1:07:33Pat McAfee:He goes into the pocket. A lot of these young quarterbacks do not do that, especially as athletic as Drake May is. He could easily have this constant, I'm going to get out to the left, I'm going to get out to the right. Because we've seen him go left and go across his body. We've seen him go right. We've seen him get the edge. We've seen him lead a team in rushing before. So it's like you could see how he would maybe want to just get out and move outside the pocket. He steps up in pocket on a lot of different occasions. That is a pro quarterback, first of all. That takes years to do. But when you step up in the pocket after you've already come out, there's a chance that that thing is already starting to kind of collapse.

1:08:04Pat McAfee:But if you're able to get up in there, obviously you're going to have your best options. And escape through there is normally a huge gash. So he's way ahead of schedule, it feels like, with the way he operates. But he's a little bit behind how normal pocket guys operate because they have a sense of when this shit's about to happen. And when that thing's collapsing, he had two against, I don't know, it wasn't Houston. in. Was it the Chargers? The Chargers. In the first run, yes. Two against the Chargers that were him stepping back up into it and then just having no real, oh, I'm good, and then bang, ball just out.

1:08:31Pat McAfee:It's like, hey, if you're going to step up in the pocket, the reason why you're stepping up in it is because it's already coming down. So you've got to figure out what the hell you're doing now, not tomorrow. Yes, and maybe he has so much faith in Will Campbell, which I do love, and I think we all expect him to get much better after his rookie year. But something he did against the Chargers that he didn't do against the Texans at all was run. Like he moved a lot more up into the pocket and then escaped, hey, let's go get 10 yards. I feel like that will be a massive thing against Denver. Darius Butler sent me a bunch of stats about how Denver plays the most man-to-man.

1:09:05So you assume that with the team that plays man-to-man that maybe there will be a couple escape hatches that he can get through. That's what I think a lot of Patriots fans were shocked about against the Texans. Against Texans, I think he had 15 rushing yards, maybe. Even in that play right there where he gets strip-sacked by either Will Anderson or Daniil Hunter, you thought he would kind of escape to the left there and maybe pick up a first down because that's what he did against the Chargers. He went away from that last week completely. So I think that will be a massive thing against the Broncos, especially because they play a lot of man-to-man coverage.

1:09:39You would think, hey, a lot of backs turned. Let's go get a first down.

1:09:41Pat McAfee:He is only in a second year, first year in the system. It does feel like some of his strengths can also be kind of weaknesses every once in a while. Like, hey, ultimate faith in offensive line. Hey, you're going to have that thing good for me in the back there. I think a sixth sense is going to be developed. I think that only can come through football. But what he can do with his legs, I don't even think we've even seen it to what it could be. No. And they might save that. I mean, Super Bowl, if they were to make it there, two weeks of preparation, whoever's preparing for it, it's like, okay, yeah.

1:10:10Pat McAfee:And we got a quarterback that can run like 4-5, 4-6. And this dude is durable, seemingly. Takes massive shots and keeps it rolling. Dude, the only game that they did this was against Buffalo at home when they had that site where they were up 24-0, 24-7, whatever, and gave up that lead. He started the game off with a read option, touchdown run, and then a quarterback draw, touchdown run. And that's the only game all year where we've seen, like, very legitimate design runs for him. And I think they don't want him to be a run-first quarterback. Like, it's very much like, hey, you're going to be a passing quarterback.

1:10:41Pat McAfee:The only reason why quarter or the only way that quarterbacks can win a Super Bowl is they have to be able to pass the ball. OK, if you want to run later, we can do that. So I think it is by design to be like, hey, you're staying in, you're staying in, you're staying in. But they haven't even really unleashed the run. And I don't know if they will ever because maybe they think it's too many hits and maybe they think it's not worth it. What you're able to do in the pocket without taking all those different shots is much better for our team as a whole, as opposed to you always scrambling and take maybe getting concussed, maybe getting knocked out for a few.

1:11:07Pat McAfee:so maybe it is by design for them not to do that but it's like what Drake may can do on the ground is very lethal I mean like very very very lethal you're talking about ball in his hands makes plays on a very regular basis yeah like underestimated to your point because we don't use it enough but that was his problem his rookie year before McDaniels got there is that when he would escape you know he would get blasted he didn't really slide and we've even seen it this year I still remember against Tampa Bay him taking the ball to the outside can easily step out of bounds. And he gets eviscerated because he was trying to get a couple extra yards.

1:11:41It's to the point where it isn't worth him doing stuff like that, but it will be very interesting to see if they do break that out this week. To all these points, Josh Allen ran 12 times last week for 66 yards. His long was 26. And also with the amount of man that they play, I believe they're also the most penalized secondary in the league as well. Backs are turned a lot. Obviously that happens. tend to draw PIs in that situation as well. So something to watch for that game as well.

1:12:07Pat McAfee:Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who's a Super Bowl champion. He's a college football national champion. Ryder Cup winner. The all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers. Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawker. Yeah, Hawker! Hawker! Hawker! Hawker! Hawker! You see Boner out here? Yeah, I see Boner. I was leaning heavy Rams, but after Bones' breakdown I might have to rethink my thoughts. Dog walk was just too persuasive for you? It was, especially when you spring it on. After watching all the film and everything, what's your thoughts on the championships games? So, Bone, credit to him thinking, I may have missed a snap or two.

1:12:44I might as well just throw something crazy out there and, you know, nail it home. You know, drive it home, I guess.

1:12:49Pat McAfee:D3 national champion, brother. I mean, you talk D3 football, you're talking attention to detail. You're talking no stone unturned. You're talking about watching every single snap of every single player that's on the field ever for both these teams. Just so, you know, you get your shot on a microphone, you know what you're talking about. And what he said, I watch everything Sean McVay has done going all the way back to whenever he was on at Washington. Ooh, the Washington J. Gruden's. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yes, good call. That particular staff or whatever the case was. I watch everything he does. I know his tendencies.

1:13:19Pat McAfee:I know what he's thinking. And if I know what his tendencies are, D3 national champion, what do you think McDonald? McDonald, obviously. The stats for Sean McVay and McDonald, by the way, special. This is awesome that we're getting this in the NFC Championship time. Two and two, 109 to 107. Yards, 1 ,600, both of them. And time leading, about the same. So these teams match up very well. And if you're the Seattle Seahawks, you are very thankful that you found a young coach that is able to keep up with McVay out there in the U.S. West. Because Sean McVay, potentially, and now none of us believe this will be the case because there has to be burnout at some point in every single profession, even if you are a football coach.

1:13:56Pat McAfee:Him having so much success, so much pressure at such a young age, just kind of change things. We don't know if he's going to coach as long as some of these other coaches. I don't know if he's going to 70. I don't know if he's going to 60. He's not even 40 yet, right? Exactly. We don't know. Maybe he will. Maybe he goes down as the guy who coaches as a head coach in the NFL for the longest of all time. Maybe that is the case. But if he is to get to 55, 60, 50 to 60, which we all assume head coaches can definitely get to, I mean, that's a long time in the NFC West of these people having to deal with Sean McVay.

1:14:26Pat McAfee:So then McDonald gets hired. He's young. This guy could do it. Maybe he'll put up – he's the defensive Sean McVay. Exactly. I mean, and he's a young lad as well. It's like what a great hire for them. And also, it turns out these teams are going to be fist fighting for the next 20 years against each other the exact same way. Not to mention Kyle Shanahan. Like, Kyle Shanahan, also a young guy who loves ball from a football family who's been doing it for a long, long time, who has had devastating loss after devastating loss and has had to rebuild his team multiple times already. He has more heartbreak than 75-year-old coaches.

1:15:01Pat McAfee:No doubt. Shanahan is still young. And speaking of Sean McVay, it's his birthday, Amar. Oh, really? Happy birthday, Sean. Happy birthday, Sean. Championship weekend, having a birthday. This boy was destined for it. Yeah, he was. Might as well be Super Bowl weekend, this guy. Oh, my gosh. Most sport weekend is championship weekend because that's get to the big dance. And once you get to the big dance, you let the big dogs kind of do what they got to do. You let them go ahead and eat. Happy birthday, Sean McVay. I was born May 2, 1987. Him, January 24, 1986. Man. He's been a head coach for 45 years already?

1:15:35Yeah.

1:15:35Pat McAfee:This guy's unbelievable. And he's been offered every other job under the sun, too. Hi, we're Amazon. We got this thing. A lot of people are going to watch. We just invested a billion dollars. We're wondering if you just want to. You've already done the whole thing. Maybe you just come into the booth. You'll be the next Madden. A plane check. Yeah, what do you want? What do you want to get paid? 20, 30, 40? You decide. We're paid a billion for, so if you think in comparison. You had to think about it, don't you think? Yes. From what we were talking about. Now, granted, what was being reported, what was real, you know, who knows what's actually real?

1:16:06Pat McAfee:But if I'm Amazon and Sean McVay's potentially going to be opening every single week, at that stage, we've already put a billion in. It's like whenever you're getting a mortgage for 30 years and they ask if you want another 10 ,000 for these things added into a 30-year payment, it's like, yeah. Yeah. You want to add another$35 million a year for Sean McVay? It's going to up the everything. Oh, we can find that in here somewhere. Don't we have a billion dollars we've put into this thing? We can do that. That kind of was a situation. That's only going to continue for him as his teams continue to be great, and he continues to be exactly who he is.

1:16:36Pat McAfee:So I guess that temptation is what's going to be driving him maybe away from what he's doing. Because all I've seen from Sean McVay is he wins games. Oh, yeah. And his team loves him, and he's innovative, and he's an offensive guy, so that whenever he does well, the offense coordinator is not getting plucked. He's not having to continue to battle that whole thing. Sean McVay is an incredible story, an incredible story. I mean, even ESPN. Before they got Joe and Troy, I thought ESPN was in it for Sean McVay to maybe pull him out. That's the good thing about the booths now, though. They're so close to having all good primetime booths that maybe some of these coaches that were thinking about it at one point are now, hey, let's just go win Super Bowls.

1:17:13Pat McAfee:And I will say this. I will say this. There's going to be more primetime games because they're going to go to 18. Yep, for sure. There's going to be more little gimmick games. Yeah, the international ones. Yeah, but there's going to be a Wednesday game coming. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Wednesday night action is going to have a two-week period, a two-week run, because some streaming platform is going to be like$2 billion Wednesday games. I guess, yeah. We'll give those guys – they're already getting two buys, 18 games. They get a back-end buy. But most guys aren't healthy by Wednesday. Well, they have to be.

1:17:51Pat McAfee:So that's just how this is going to be. There's only going to be more of those. I think there's only going to be more people being tasked with going into the booth. The Black Friday games do so well. You would assume Fridays maybe towards the end of the season where, yeah, there's no more bye weeks. Like, what is it, 15, 16, 17, 18, I guess maybe 19 now. Those weeks when there's nothing on Fridays, kind of high school football. I know that was the thing. Hey, we're not going to do Friday night games because high school football. High school football by then is kind of done, so you would think they would do...

1:18:20Pat McAfee:Friday Night Lights. Yes. The NFL's Friday Night Lights. Yes. They'll have a whole thing. Boys of Fall, Kenny Cheshire, probably singing that entire thing. I mean, there's only more and more and more coming, and I think the NFL understands that. Let's pivot away from the NFL, and let's pivot to the association, something we're going to be paying attention to after this Super Bowl ends. And who's going to be in the Super Bowl? We find out this weekend, championship weekend. Who matters in the NBA? Okay? That's what we need to know. And I'm doing this not only for us, but I feel like for the people watching, we're about to be in the, hey, we're watching other sports time.

1:18:54Yes.

1:18:55Pat McAfee:Okay, we are in it. Next week. It's coming. Yeah, it's here. Fast. Now, granted, there's other sports happening, which we will certainly talk about here in a little bit that are awesome and storylines that have been developing around there. But the NBA is about to be a big part of our lives after this Super Bowl, after this playoff run. To give us everything we need to know, ladies and gentlemen, senior NBA insider for ESPN, front of the program, Sean Sharanya. Yay! Yes, Charlie! Pat, congrats to your Hoosiers. Congrats to your Hoosiers. And I know Boston Connors got a big weekend with the Pats.

1:19:23So best of luck to him as well.

1:19:25Pat McAfee:Well, thank you for that. The state of Indiana is certainly pumped. I was very thankful that the Hoosiers got a win. Obviously, the house is much happier whenever they're doing that. And it's great for the state. Connors actually picked the Hoosiers as his college team like last year. So not only does he have a national championship and his short college football fanhood, but now he's got a chance to have the Patriots all the way back. It's a wild time to be Connors. And I want to let you know, we do appreciate the aura he is radiating, Shams. Listen, if you would have told me that IU would win a national championship in football, I did not expect them to ever be a football school.

1:19:58So shout out to the Hoosiers. Hell yeah, shout out to the Hoosiers. And Mark Cuban.

1:20:01Pat McAfee:Yeah, and Mark Cuban. And also Yorkman, I believe, who's the head of Cook Medical Group down there in Bloomington. There's like a lot of NIL people. Cuban's certainly a part of that. Cuban, not the biggest. I don't think he's ever said that he's the biggest donor to the NIL. He has certainly helped. There are others. Indiana's got a lot of people that are pumped about Signetti and the Hoosiers. Anyways, and their basketball team. Anyways, let's move to your sport, shall we, in the NBA. We talk about Conor having the Hoosiers win and maybe the Patriots win. Are the Celtics, once again, dominant?

1:20:32Pat McAfee:Like, who are the teams that are doing well this season that we need to maybe think about as we look ahead to post-football season? The Celtics definitely, like, they've surprised everyone. You have to give Jalen Brown a lot of credit. You think about MVP candidates, he has to be up there. His game, he's going to be an all-NBA player. He's already voted an all-star starter. So what he's been able to do to propel this team to being a top three seed in the Eastern Conference without Jason Tatum. And we'll see if and when Jason Tatum, exactly when he comes back the second half of this NBA season.

1:21:02But when I look at the Eastern Conference, I think of Boston. I think of Detroit. You have to still put New York in there, even though they've had this lull over the last 12, 13 games. where I think they've lost nine of the last 12 games. Cleveland still has some talent. Philadelphia's come on pretty strong. So those are really the teams, but the East is wide open. Detroit has been far and away the best team in that conference so far from a regular season perspective. But you look at what Boston has, they've got the talent. They've done it before. So you have to put them up there. And then I think you look at this trade deadline, right, Pat?

1:21:35So I think, you know, as the schedule is starting to turn here, I think hopefully we're going to be having a lot more chatting coming up because trade deadline is less than two weeks away. And Boston could be a team where going into the year, it's like, okay, are they going to shed some salary? We know they shed Christoph Porzingis and Drew Holiday last offseason. Who else will they shed in season? Will it be Anthony Simons? Will it be another Peyton Pritchard? But those guys are essential parts of this team. I could see Boston going the other way and maybe adding a player, maybe adding another big man.

1:22:07They've been in the marketplace trying to go get a big-time starting center potentially. So they're going to be, I think, aggressive in moving the needle. They've got assets. They've got contracts to use and play with. In the Western Conference, Oklahoma City, I said it early in the year, it's Oklahoma City and then it's everyone else in the NBA. Like Oklahoma City right now, even though Jalen Williams, aka J-Dub, he started the year out and now he came back and he got hurt again. but this team is a machine Shea Gills Alexander right now is a leader for MVP but then San Antonio they had a stretch within two weeks where they beat Oklahoma City three times so San Antonio has shown they've got the pieces and the parts to give Oklahoma City real problems and we know Victor Romanyama loves to go up against not only Shea Gills Alexander but Chet Holmgren as well so you have to put San Antonio in there Denver you have to put in there they're the third seed right out third i think 30 and 15 uh they were the i think the third seed when nicola yokich got hurt a month ago and a lot of people on the league are like this is a team that's going to fall into the play-in you know they're gonna they're gonna become a wild card type team but they're still in that third position they've been able to do more than enough without yokich in the lineup to to keep their heads above water and then we see the standings there houston i think i think you know after you get by oklahoma city and san antonio and denver you have like that second tier of teams that's like houston the lakers minnesota you have to put up there they've been in the conference finals the last two years uh and then phoenix like shout out the sons they lose kevin durant and their team that's now fighting hard even though they're there they can be without devon booker they can be without this guy but they hired a new coach jordan out there that's been able to change the entire foundation and the culture there so uh you have to give them a lot of credit and then the two hottest teams in the NBA right now Portland and the Clippers uh and so the

1:24:04Pat McAfee:Western Conference is absolutely loaded okay so those are the teams that we'll be looking forward to make a run and maybe make a move at the trade deadline less than two weeks away which we appreciate congrats to the Celtics being buyers and not sellers and Tatum potentially coming back which is absurd to think about after he tears an Achilles in the playoffs last year so congrats to boston okay having new england in the uh afc championship and then also having the celtics and what was supposed to be a down year and an up your trade deadline let's talk about it as you uh your connection comes unstable feels like somebody's trying to throttle you a little bit they know what i'm bringing up here they know what i'm about to bring up here trade deadline any big names that we should think about yannis for instance so you have been on this on our show for a long time.

1:24:51Pat McAfee:I remember Pacers in the finals talking about this. I remember in the offseason talking about this. I remember you throughout this season talking about this on your ex. The big thing for me is it has seemingly been that Giannis' team, business people, you know, around him, have certainly been wondering if Giannis and his time at the Bucs should come to an end and maybe he has a chance to win a championship or relevancy or anything like that somewhere else. Giannis seemingly has not loved that you've been messaging that publicly now you as an insider are only saying this because your credibility relies upon it your legacy relies upon it and also you're new in this business so you can't be wrong you have very reliable sources to be saying what you are saying Giannis has come out publicly and said to hell with this this ain't it because I don't think Giannis wants to piss off the entire city doesn't want to piss off the organization he wants to be kind of a hero but maybe also understands like if I was to go somewhere else there'd be a whole new career potentially sitting for me, which could benefit me publicly.

1:25:51Pat McAfee:Am I accurately depicting that? And are we anywhere near an end to this entire story as the trade deadline looms with the Greek freak? I mean, the totality of, and we see right there, the timestamp and Giannis and the Bucks, they've been having ongoing conversations about his future, even going back to May. Those conversations have just every single passing week, every passing month since May, when I first reported that he is exploring his best fits outside of Milwaukee for really the first time and really getting down to which team he would want to go to, where he would want to be. Those conversations have only grown with every passing week and month since May.

1:26:37And recently the Bucks and Giannis' conversations have intensified in nature because we saw Pat, he made some comments after their game on Wednesday. They've had some big blowout losses recently and they got blown out on our airwaves at ESPN against Oklahoma City Thunder. They lost another blowout game and he came out and absolutely went off on his team. These are very uncharacteristic comments from Giannis and Titecumpo. We know Pat also, about a week, two weeks ago, the fans in Milwaukee were booing him and the team when they were playing and he booed them back as we saw in that clip right there that is also something we have not seen from Giannis and the Bucs fans is the booing and so his comments after the game the frustration that Giannis and Titekumpo has is at an all-time high he's frustrated with the losing he's frustrated with the situation and I will say this I've spoken to about a dozen sources on and off for weeks now and the tension that's in the air within that organization in that locker room it's at an all-time high and there's a somewhat of a splintering environment that we're seeing going on there because when when a player of Giannis's caliber is maybe has a wandering eye or maybe doesn't know what his future holds there and is having these intense conversations with the organization about what that looks like, there's going to be such high levels and degrees of uncertainty within that organization.

1:28:07And all of this is, you know, to me, it's, again, it's been going on all year, but I just think back to the summer. Late July, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks general manager, John Horst, are meeting face-to-face. And John Horst and the Bucks and Doc Rivers and ownership, they're selling Giannis Antetokounmpo and competing for a championship. Like we have a title contending roster and Giannis makes it very clear that he has concerns. He has issues with the roster that he maybe doesn't believe that this is a truly contending teams. And that leads to conversations with the Knicks. That's a preferred destination that he had in the off season.

1:28:46Those two teams spoke. There were offers made. Obviously there was no deal that happened. The Bucks ended up signing his brother, Tenasis. He ends up committing to the season and he ends up starting the year there. And so everything about Giannis' brand has been loyalty. He spent 13 years in Milwaukee. It's clear he loves the city. He loves the organization. But what I've been hearing over and over for months now is that the writing is on the wall for Giannis and the Bucs. It's just how do they get there? When do they get there? And really, when is either side ready to step up to the plate and have that level of understanding?

1:29:23or will it continue to live in this nebulous state where, you know, will they or won't they, will he or won't he? And that has a direct impact on the team and how the performances and just the level of the air. And so everything that happened in the summer, everything that I reported, that is all just a backdrop to what we're seeing play out now in real time. The only difference with what was going on in the summer and right now is it's all happening in everyone's public domain because there are games to be played. This is a team that's 18 and 25. They're in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.

1:29:58If the season ended today, they would not even be a play-in team or a playoff team. These guys, buddy. Way out of the realm of what Giannis wants from this team. And so we're seeing all of the frustrations, all of the feelings all play out in real time. It's like, they're like, with the

1:30:16Pat McAfee:Greek freak, they're like Greek yogurt ass. You know, that's crazy that that's what they are right now. and obviously he's not happy. Nebulous, it's an adjective meaning hazy, vague, or indistinct. So kind of a purgatory situation between the Bucs and Giannis. And you talked about Giannis' brand is like loyalty and obviously he loves the city and brought a title there. He's brought a lot of success there. We had a similar situation in football where it was like Russell Wilson and then Team 3. There was like Team 3 was reporting things or leaking things and then Russell Wilson was like, well, kind of what they're saying.

1:30:51Pat McAfee:it it's like uh it's because russell wilson loved seattle as well russell wilson loved the seahawks russell wilson wanted people were you know good guy russell wilson consummate movie-like character of a football player so you never want to be associated with that for some reason there's a negative connotation potentially but team three though was like yeah but we're here to think about him okay and what we think is this feels like you've been potentially talking to team freak okay potentially team freak you know i'll be honest this is now reaching different levels because you know maybe in the off season you know you have to really trust your sourcing and trust you're getting it from from people and things like that but this is now happening in real time with the bucks like this is there are games being played there are are pre-games there are post games there are in-game environments that are going on right now that you know maybe it is a lot more sheltered in the offseason, right?

1:31:49Where it is very much between player and agent and team, you know, but as the season continues to go on, there's frustration that happens. There's conversations that take place. And the reality is when you have a star player, who is Giannis is the one that said on Monday on MLK day, he was asked, are you going to spend, And do you have confidence you're going to be with the Bucs for the rest of the season? His response was, I don't know. I don't know. I take it day by day. Now, I'll be honest. How that's interpreted to everyone around the league and everyone in that locker room is not a sign of full investment.

1:32:31That's just the reality of the situation.

1:32:32Pat McAfee:Sean, do you feel vindication here? Because I assume the Bucs people, because that was part of some of your mentions because you said this stuff on our show. I'm sure they wanted to do some very, very mean and harsh things to me all summer when I went out. Yeah, they were saying mean stuff to you, Shams. And there was a lot of things they were saying with what rhymes with your names and other stuff. I mean, they were getting clever with it. I don't think they were certainly thrilled with what you were saying. But what you are saying now is it seems like the rest of the world is kind of seeing what you've been kind of told since May, seemingly, is kind of how this whole thing was going.

1:33:03Pat McAfee:and it's crazy if this ends in a super negative way because for me it feels like Giannis has only been good for the NBA in my eyes you know just learning his documentary learning his story where he played in Greece obviously bringing his brother along what all he's been able to do for the city how committed he is how much better he's gotten at basketball since getting into the NBA so it's like we obviously think nothing but positive things but you get him to where would he go because New York I think you reported was the only team that was very interesting New York was his So think about it, right?

1:33:30If the New York Knicks and the Milwaukee Bucks are having trade conversations in August, what is leading to that, right? Like, if people just look at it, just think about that, right? And so, yeah, I mean, the Knicks were a team in the offseason where it was made clear to all parties, whether it's the Knicks, whether it was the Bucks, whether it was people around the Giannis situation, that that was a spot that was a preferred destination. but obviously no deal happened there were offers made the knicks made offers the bucks obviously didn't feel like you know there was two sides of the coin right on one side the knicks felt that the bucks were never serious about trading giannis in the offseason and and then the buck side there were people there that were like there were never offers that were really serious enough for us to really even consider like there weren't offers made to the level that made sense for us to even think about it and so there's two different sides of that story either way it ended in no trade but the reality was all summer, Giannis, he didn't want a gap year.

1:34:32This is a player that's 31 years old. He's a two-time MVP. He won a championship in 2021. He's been on the record. He's made it very, very, very clear. I want to compete and win a second NBA championship. That level of competitiveness and window looks like it has run its course in Milwaukee, potentially. At least that's what he feels. That's what the concerns that he shared with the Bucs. The Bucs, on the other hand felt like they had a roster and a team and still do apparently uh that can compete for a championship and can go uh compete with Giannis and win a championship there and so you know you have two differing kind of opinions or two differing kind of takes on where this organization might be at and so he was sold on competing for a championship that obviously where they're at right now with the record that isn't what has transpired and so that's why you're seeing the frustration that's why you're seeing the conversations continue to intensify and something that we could very well see play out over the next two weeks the Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo have major decisions to make these next two weeks that part is abundantly clear to everyone in the NBA

1:35:42Pat McAfee:yeah and the nebulousity of it all is just kind of part of the problem you know if we could get out of the nebulousness and maybe just address the elephant in the room you know maybe address the tension head-on then we'll be able to get past it and what that looks like we'll see I guess but then we'll no longer be nebulizing. That's true. I think that's a big part of it all. So good luck to the Bucs and good luck to Giannis. Here's another storyline that's seemingly brewing in your world and will never stop. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Sean, I was talking about the Lakers. I know there's some drama there.

1:36:10Rich Paul goes on his podcast, gives his opinion on what he thinks the direction of the franchise should be. I guess what's going on there with LeBron, Jeannie Buss, the whole situation? How do they figure all this out? yeah you know you know rich paul you know i think everyone with the lakers feels rich paul is i guess entitled to however he you know he he wants i mean he's got his own podcast he can say what he wants now there's no doubt like austin reeves his camp how they might feel about the comments they made that clear dave mcmenderman put out a story uh a few weeks ago saying one of austin reeves agent approached rich paul had a you know really really uh you know i think a good conversation with Rich Paul about where things are at.

1:36:53I actually saw that take place in front of me. It was a very respectful conversation. It's two people that have known each other for years. But the reality is here, what we're having right now, this is an end of a relationship, right? In terms of LeBron James and the Lakers. Now, whether that comes at the end of this season, if LeBron James decides as a free agent to sign somewhere else, or if he decides to retire, or he decides to come back for one more year and decide that he wants to retire as a Laker. Like the end is near with this relationship, either however you want to slice it. And so the end, there's always seems to be some sort of, you know, storyline with that.

1:37:32And it can be unceremonious at different points. We've seen fallouts the Lakers have had, whether it's, you know, Jerry West, rest in peace. You know, he had a falling out with with Jeannie Buss to an extent. And so at the end of the day, I think LeBron James, when he made his comments last night, he was very succinct. I mean, he's someone who's 41 years old. He spends most of his time playing golf. I don't think he cares much for really anything that goes on with basketball other than him playing in games and trying to win on a nightly basis. I think he's got other things on his mind right now.

1:38:04That's the reality of the situation. But before LeBron got to the Lakers, this was a team that was a lottery team. LeBron James goes there. They win a championship. This is, I think, his eighth season there. And so we'll see how much longer he wants to play. but this is a Lakers team with Luka Doncic that wants to compete for a championship. But how do they get there? Do they make moves to get there as well? These are all questions going into the trade deadline.

1:38:27Pat McAfee:LeBron's still playing after this season? It sounded like you kind of left it open for interpretation. And then I think you said Lakers as well, if he was to play. Is there a chance free agency? LeBron's playing somewhere else next year? I don't think LeBron James knows right now, January 23rd, 1.41 p.m. Eastern time, what he wants to do uh with with his the rest of his career like i think there are multiple pathways that this could play out now it's made a lot of sense to people that he's in year 23 his numbers 23 in los angeles the all-star game is in los angeles could this be the year but you know maybe it's in part because of how this season's going with the lakers how the relationship has gone with the lakers over the last year year and a half they make the trade moving out anthony davis you can see they've clearly turned the page like Luka Doncic is this team's franchise cornerstone Luka Doncic is where this team is going and and I mean that's understandable to everyone especially LeBron James but how he wants the end of his career to play out does he want to retire a Laker does he want to retire somewhere else next season or does he just want to retire period those are all questions that he's going to have uh and things that he's going to have to answer but on what time it's going to be on his time.

1:39:42Pat McAfee:Okay. Excited to find out what that is. We're always on Brawnwatch. Always. Yeah, we are. Ever since the LeBronversation, I feel like I know him a little bit better. It feels like we know him a little bit better. It feels like he's earned the right to do whatever the hell he wants. And I think that's what everybody's saying is he is doing whatever the hell he wants. He's eating enough of it. It's too much. Rich Paul, good news. New podcast dropping today. Okay. Pumped. Yeah, Rich Paul's got a new podcast. Good show. I feel like he's probably going to address everything in his own way. Rich Paul has done a lot of really good business with the NBA.

1:40:12Pat McAfee:You know, now his name is getting brought up a lot. Now he's got a podcast as well to kind of answer things. So there isn't like, oh, Rich is doing this. Clutch is doing this. I called him this morning and I asked him, I'm like, hey, you pissed everybody off. What's going on? It feels like everybody's talking about it or whatever. And he goes, yeah, you know, I got another podcast dropping today. I'm like, okay, so we're still doing a podcast. Okay, so we are, we got one coming today. Rich Paul has been very good to us. I think he has done a lot of good for a lot of different cities and a lot of different places.

1:40:38Pat McAfee:but certainly having a podcast and being a pundit as well as an agent and an insider. You know, it is an interesting thing to have. He's got the people talking, though. Yes, he does. He's got the people talking. People be talking. Talking about people. All right, last headline we need to address. Go ahead, Con Man. Yeah, Sean's not sure if he is a Rich Paul guy, but John Morant has been in the news. I believe he requested a trade two or three weeks ago, and then last week they said, hey, I don't want to trade. What is kind of the situation with Ja and the Grizzlies and then staying with that team?

1:41:13You've mentioned a big man being available for trade. It feels like Jaron Jackson Jr. is that guy, and he is also with Memphis. Are they going to sell everything, completely restart this thing, or what's the deal with the Grizzlies right now? Right now the focus around the league with the Grizzlies is Ja Morant because that's the player that they are openly entertaining offers. They're taking calls. They're getting calls. They're taking offers. And, you know, this is a situation where there hasn't been a formal trade request to my knowledge, but it is something that I think could both sides be ready for a fresh start.

1:41:48My understanding is, yes, that that that is the case, that this is something that does go both ways. But how does that play out? John Morant, there's, you know, Trey Young got traded. He was the first big blockbuster deal of this trade season. And that happened in the way it happened and the timeliness of it. he has one year left on his deal player option for next year and so the return that atlanta got was just salaries the difference between john morant and trey young is john morant's got three seasons left on his deal like this is a player that's under team control for the long term so memphis if they want to keep him they don't get offers that they feel are satisfiable they could keep him certainly after the deadline but i think there is a level of motivation and the calls are incoming to the grizzlies there are my understanding is multiple teams interested uh making offers and And then from there, the Guzies are going to have to sift all of them out.

1:42:38And then they could go multiple pathways after that. Do you continue to build your organization? Jaron Jackson is a piece that has a ton of value on the marketplace. I think there are several teams that would throw multiple picks, multiple swaps, like the kitchen sink at a guy like Jaron Jackson because he can play the four, the five. He can defend. He can shoot. He's a defensive player of the year award winner. like he's so versatile but the Grizzlies view him as a player where if they move John Morant and you have a young team with Jaron Jackson you can move forward if there's someone that completely blows them away um you know I think that is something you have to take a look at too if you're the Grizzlies but I think I think the first piece of this all is going to be what happens with John Morant's future um you know you think about Giannis Giannis hovers around all these guys But whether it's Ja Morant, whether it's a Demantis Sabonis, whether it's an Anthony Davis, a Michael Porter Jr., these are all players that are big names that could have a big swing on what the NBA looks like in the second half of the season.

1:43:43Pat McAfee:Okay, you said a lot of names. You didn't say one big name in our eyes. And Ty Schmidt is at home dadding right now. We will see him on Monday. Sitting in for him, Bone has the last question for you. What's up, Shams? It wouldn't be a Shams appearance if we didn't ask an update about Zion Williamson. Is he still just crushing it for New Orleans? Last time I checked, he was putting up massive numbers for the team. Way to go, Bo! I would be proud of that. This is the Zion show, though. If we're not giving a Zion update on this show before or after me coming on, like, come on, we're not doing it right.

1:44:17Zion Williamson is playing basketball. The New Orleans Pelicans, you know, record-wise, I can't say. They're having a great season. They're shy. But, listen, I think there's going to be a level of interest in Zion Williamson. Do the Pelicans want to move him? Do they want to stand firm? I think there's still questions around where his long-term future is there. But I think right now the Pelicans are taking a lot of calls, and he's someone that he just needs to stack games. He just needs to play in games. They need to let him play.

1:44:48Pat McAfee:They need to let him play. Maybe come in the Pacers. Coach Carlisle would love that. That'd be perfect. As we keep throwing it forward. Shams, we appreciate you. Basketball season's about to happen for us. We'll talk to you soon. Appreciate you guys. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Shams. Shams, you're on. Thank you, Shams.

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1:47:16Pat McAfee:Way to go, Bone. Bone. Thank you, man. That felt good. Bone, come in there strong. Yeah, because you even said, you even checked the notes, too, to make sure you got it all. And then you said, every time I see him, he's crushing it. That was good. Ty would have added at least one. Everybody says he's a fatso, but every time he plays basketball, he's good. You did not do that. No, I don't fat shame anybody around here. Why? It's not shaming. It's just pointing things out. I think that is kind of the wrong thing to say. It's a shame. It's just like, no, this is what people were saying about Zion.

1:47:43Pat McAfee:Yeah. People were saying that. You're not saying it. Yeah, you're not saying this is just journalism. We're talking about what the story is, okay? It's not same, Donald. It's not same, Donald. Exactly. And it kind of makes sense. That is a big storyline with him. Not to mention the Bumpus Hans. He might have been talking about throwing a Bumpus Hans. Are they still okay with the grocery store? Quick, before the show ends, we've got to cover all the stuff happening around the world of sport. I guess Penn State basketball ass this year from my understanding. But they've been doing this full court putt thing where you win one year worth of apartment lease money.

1:48:17Pat McAfee:And I guess this guy was getting booed. Yeah. What?

1:48:26Pat McAfee:He's just going to raise it up a little bit. Thumb down right there. Full cart. What do you do? The place is booing that you're a part of. Give me that. Free apartment. What a putt. I think a lot of people didn't know it was a Penn State jersey he was wearing because it's a black Penn State jersey. So I think their natural reaction was, you know, home of whiteout up there. Everybody else was wearing white. I think their natural reaction was, oh, this must be from the away team. This guy got randomly selected. Boo. That ain't drains any of those. I'm one of you guys. I'm one of you guys. I actually spent more money on this thing.

1:48:59Pat McAfee:They go crazy for him. I guess that's the second person to ever hit it. Let's go to a little high school basketball, shall we? How about an eighth grader? Eighth grader. Rajon Rondo's kid. Pierre Prodig Orlando 8th grade playing varsity this is all from one game you're about to watch this this this guy might be the one this might be the one oh yeah he's 8th grade doesn't look obviously undersized or overmatched talks shit plays the whole game and this highlight from one game is over three it's three minutes long in total you're talking everywhere passes dishes number one the white kid in the corner always makes a shot by the way He's unbelievable.

1:49:40Pat McAfee:This kid's in eighth grade, needs to be talked about. Also, this isn't against some scrub team. This was against the number one team in Kentucky. So against incredible competition. And, yeah, he was unbelievable. Also, everyone he passes to makes every single shot. There was a big man they hit a pick and pop with. I mean, this team, very good. As an eighth grader, a 13-year-old, I believe, unbelievable. Yeah, I don't think you're supposed to be this comfortable and confident as an eighth grader on varsity, A.J. Hawk. No, yeah, that's the thing. He looks like he absolutely belongs. I mean, eighth grade.

1:50:11He runs the team. Imagine the rest of this guy's high school career, how fun it's going to be to watch this team play.

1:50:16Pat McAfee:Yeah, and in the age of content and I guess NIL and everything like that, the only issue would be like, can you keep him hungry? Can you keep Pierre hungry through this whole thing? Because I like watching his teams react to him too. This one, he dives on the ground, gets the ball. Let me go ahead and get that thing back. He passed it to number one there to save himself. Number one, where's he at? Corner. Ray Allen. Splash. This team's unstoppable. I assume the rest of the team, I assume they had to be in on it knowing that an eighth grader was coming to play with them. As soon as they found out that, oh, Rajon Rondo's kid is also just like him and making us all a lot better, the buy-in feels real.

1:50:51Pat McAfee:And it's Rondo's team. He's an eighth grader. It's clearly his team whenever you're watching this. Yeah, it's unbelievable. And it feels like this is why maybe GMs trade for draft picks in 2030 because he's part of the 2030 class. He will probably do what Cooper Flagg did, reclassify. Hey, look, I played four years of high school basketball, but I started in eighth grade. I just need to go to the big leagues because I'm ready for it. Tonight, 5 p.m. Pacific, 8 p.m. Eastern on Netflix, free solo. Alex Honnold will be attempting to climb one of the tallest buildings in the world. Taipei 101 1 ,667 feet to the top and Alex Honnold's doing it all without a rope I wonder how he's going to get to certain spots because there's going to be little patios where he's just going to be able to hang out a little bit maybe breathe is he going to go to the very top like the big antenna looking thing is he going to the top of that I would assume yeah he had to map it out and all these little latches I guess would probably make it easier for Honnold but there's certainly going to be parts of that where we're going to think about him dying you know and i appreciate the fact that he's doing without a rope i appreciate there is no backup plan if he gets up that high and he falls he's gonna die because we started getting to death defying stunts that weren't actually death defying because lawyers got involved and so we can't have this on tv this feels like he could actually die as they show us right here this is his body if he was to slip and fall so that should be pretty insane as we look ahead to this evening i hope it is what we hope it's going to be because as you just said when the lawyers got involved all these things started to suck okay we watched the across the grand canyon there was a big giant net underneath we watched uh what's his name david blaine he was riding a hot air balloon and it was the dumbest thing i've ever seen in my life okay well the wild and wonderful one was wellenda wellenda's that one made me upset remember we too we were super pumped about the blaine one like he was gonna walk on a hot air balloon he was just taking a ride yeah he was he was strapped in honold actually talked about in free solo how like hey i don't do ropes like That is my thing.

1:52:55I'm not a bitch. So this would be one of those things where he actually does show up no ropes. Hopefully there is a net maybe to catch him.

1:53:02Pat McAfee:Let's get back to ball. Fernando Mendoza made his late night debut last night with Jimmy Fallon, and he was breaking more records. You get it? Breaking more records. Jimmy and he got into a good groove. Jimmy threw some fastballs, some highballs, some different balls, and Fernando was spinning it all over New York. He also showed up on morning shows. Fernando Mendoza representing ball in a great way, And when he was standing against Jimmy Fallon, it almost felt like we were watching the bigger Jimmy Fallon. As they were kind of going at it, AJ. I thought it was a good appearance. I thought he handled himself well and represented for Ball well as he didn't snipe one at Jimmy Fallon's head right there with seven seconds left.

1:53:37Yeah, I thought he handled himself beautifully. You can see he can obviously sling it. But Jimmy wasn't giving him the easiest tosses there. That last one, I think Fernando should have buzzed the tower there and thrown one right by his ear when he threw it behind his head at the end.

1:53:50Pat McAfee:Great work, Fernando. I believe we'll be talking to him at some point next week. They have a celebration happening tomorrow down in Bloomington. It's going to be cold as shit. Good luck out there. Shout out to him, Andy, Indiana Hoosiers being 16-0, first 16-0 team since Yale in 1800s. This weekend, obviously, we look at the championship weekend and weather across the board. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is the weatherman of all weather people. Now, Joe DiNardo passed on, so this man could do his thing. Amen. Ladies and gentlemen, you'll see him wherever is bad weather telling us what we need to do and what we need to expect.

1:54:22Pat McAfee:We appreciate him for that. Jim Cantor. Yay, Jim! Hey, what's going on, man? Hey, listen, I actually did the Walenda crossing of the Grand Canyon. I was the forecaster for that. And when they did the buildings in Chicago. And they had a huge – Nick had a huge gust that came when he was in the middle of that. And I'm just – I'm right there, dude. I'm watching it. And I was like, oh, no way am I going to see this. Please, God, don't let me see this. But I remember that. and what Alex is going to do, holy smoke. So that was back in the day. Honestly, I'm not saying we could do it, but whenever they were hyping it up, it was like actual chance of like what could happen.

1:55:03Pat McAfee:That's like the part of it. I don't want to see it. It's like a train wreck. You don't want to see it, but that is the entire purpose of the gimmick. So then whenever it started getting too safe, I think networks started getting scared of everything. And it was like worst case scenario here up at Niagara Falls was he was going to bungee jump above Niagara Falls. They had him tethered to the thing. It would have literally just been a bungee jump. It was like, oh no, is this type of entertainment been ruined forever? And then Travis Pastrana's like, nope, just come over to the internet. We're doing dumb shit, crazy shit over here all the time.

1:55:29Pat McAfee:And now Honnold's climbing Taipei 101. It feels like we're a little bit back, Cantor. It feels like we're almost a little bit back. What do you think the weather is over there? I gotta thank you for the visual if Alex doesn't make it. You painted a great picture if Alex doesn't make it. I got a whole picture on that. Thank you. What do you think the weather's gonna be like over there, Jim? You got any insight on what Alex Honnold's gonna be battling? I think you froze up there a little bit there, Therod, and you made the weather slowing you down. What do you think it's going to be like as he climbs this building?

1:55:55Well, there's going to be more wind the higher up you go because you're away from the surface of the earth. Less friction, right? It also could be a little bit cooler up there on top. That's usually how it works.

1:56:06Pat McAfee:Hot air rises, I thought. Temperatures decrease with height. Okay, temperatures decrease with height. Hot air rises. I mean, there's a reason we call you into this thing. I'll teach you, bro. I'll teach you. You teach me how to jump off a diving board in Miami in your underwear, and I'll teach you some weather. That was an Olympic speedo. Thank you so much. Not underwear. I see you are potentially close to your underwear. That Bronana hammock did you well. Thank you. I feel like it worked out. Almost saw all of Pat there. We'll be back for Overreaction Monday. We continue digitally here with Jim Cantor as we say goodbye to the ESPN audience.

1:56:38Pat McAfee:SportsCenter is next. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Have a great weekend. Okay, so Jim, we're still live. That was a great one, by the way. Thank you. I feel like we got in there pretty good. You hammered that one. Thank you. Let's talk about what you're on for. And I don't know if you are in a robe right now in a hotel room and if it came or you brought your own, but where are you and what should we be expecting this weekend? I forgot my kimono, so the hotel robe has to do. That's exactly what I am. I'm comfortable. Some of us have been up since 3 a.m., so I said, you know, my producer, Pedirac, he's in his pajamas too, but we're not staying in the same room.

1:57:11Don't worry about it. He's like, Pat wants to have you on. I'm like, oh, my God, that's my beauty sleep time.

1:57:16Pat McAfee:Okay. So I'm just going to get in that mode, and then when we're done, I'm just going to put my head down on a pillow. Get you some rest. We're going to need you. I heard this is going to be a sustained one here. What is this storm? This storm is different than most cold storms? How is this? Because we've got a northern clip coming down, and then we've got some precip coming from the south there. Not a lot of pressure here, so it wasn't expected. Did the southern precip one kind of outpower the northern clip? That's why this thing is moving north? What the hell are you talking about? What in the...

1:57:45You fucking tell me, bud. It's what Fike told us. You tell me, Tim. We got Clippers coming from the north. He's going to break his fingers with all that fingering going on.

1:57:55Pat McAfee:We got Precinct coming from... No, seriously. I mean, here's the deal. It's shallow cold air, so you're going to get this huge area of ice. I mean, picture trees down. Picture, you know, since I didn't talk to you during hurricane season. You know, so that bottom graph that you're looking at right there, That's where we're expecting ice accretion, maybe over an inch. And that adds about, between poles or power poles, that's about 800 to 1 ,000 pounds, just an inch. So down, down they come. Trees come down. It's an absolute mess. And then it turns cold afterward, which is what really makes this storm the worst.

1:58:30Usually we can get some melting, we can get some cleanup going, but it's going to turn bitter cold afterward. So whether you're in the snow or even in the ice, this catastrophe will be far from over.

1:58:41Pat McAfee:Okay, so the line of ice and snow and everything seemingly has moved a bit north from original projections. Will that continue to move north, or what are our expectations? No, nothing to change. We're locked in now. The Hurricane Hunter planes, here's a neat one for you, Pat, that they usually go out and chase hurricanes with. They actually sent these planes out to the storm when it was over the Pacific and down in the Gulf to get like a high resolution grid so that they could put that into the models. So they really started coming in line as soon as they did that. And so now we're pretty confident in what we see forecast wise and what we're going to get.

1:59:19Now, it's still a disaster. OK, it didn't take the disaster away. That's still a catastrophe. But now models are in agreement.

1:59:26Pat McAfee:OK, so models are in agreement. We basically know who's getting what. This is a long one, right, that we're going to be in this for a while is kind of the expectation. It's really starting this afternoon in Oklahoma and Texas and New Mexico, and it's going to scream across the Mississippi Valley tonight, scream up into the Northeast on Sunday, which is where I am in New York City, for this, maybe about 12 to 18 inches of snow. God, go ahead, AJ. Snow's easy, though. It's the ice. No bueno. Yeah, no bueno, yeah. Hey, what do you think it's going to be like in the Midwest? Hey, listen, I got a great fact for you.

1:59:58Okay. Go ahead, AJ. Go ahead. No, I mean, you just stopped your shit there. I didn't know what's on this card. I didn't know what's on this card. Oh, you want my stuff now. Yeah, we'd like your shit. All right. Yeah, we would. Okay. You want my shit now. All right, so the Broncos during, and you may know this, Ari, all of their regular season games at home, at home, they did not have a temperature below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Wow. It was 60 or above for every home game for the Broncos. Now they go into this weekend, you know, championship, and we're talking about, oh, my God, teens, 20s, wind chills in the single digits.

2:00:38So a whole different animal for them. We'll see if it plays a role. I like the web you're spinning, kid. I think they'd rather have a quarterback than a warmer temperature.

2:00:48Pat McAfee:Certainly backup quarterback in the championship is not the best time to have that. But they are not necessarily, Denver, not necessarily getting the full wrath of this particular storm, right? Just the cold weather coming in. No, they'll get a little bit of snow, I think. But, I mean, when you think about the regular season home games that they have, 60 in Denver, that's so rare to go their whole regular season at home with temperatures that warm. I mean, they could have snowstorms, you know, wind, everything. But it was just incredibly mild. And I thought that was interesting in the fact that, oh, they've got to wait until the championship.

2:01:21to get into the good stuff.

2:01:23Pat McAfee:That's a good stat. I'm happy you did that. AJ, now back to your regular schedule program that you were about. Mr. Cantor, I'm curious, what's the Midwest going to be like? Are we dealing with 8-12, like say Ohio, Indiana, places like that? Are we going to have tons of snow? Are we going to have the ice as well? Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. Thank you, AJ. Alright, very similar. Probably

2:01:478-12 inches of snow. What? How about ice? What kind of ice? We have that serious ice. The kind of snow you ski on in Colorado. Oh, I didn't know we're going to have pow-pow. We're going to have pow-pow out here? Oh, yeah. Dude, this is big pow because if the air is so cold and dry, you get a lot more bang for your buck out of the cold, dry air mass with less moisture. You don't need as much. That's why we talk about snow to liquid ratios. On average, 10 inches of snow equal one inch of water. Now, we're talking about 18, 20 inches of snow out of one inch of water. You see what I'm saying? So you get a lot more bang for your buck.

2:02:23Pat McAfee:Because that's the no pressure, low pressure coming in from the north. Clipper. The Clipper coming in from the north. You know what? Quit with your head, bro. It's the big high. I thought I was – It's the big high to the north. The big Arctic high. That's what's – Oh, the big Arctic high from the north. They be smoking up there. Big Arctic high. Big time. Yeah, I'm trying to get – Big arcing. Yeah, I'm trying to get Baltic high up there, aren't I, Gump? Aren't we trying to get Baltic high up there? That's what's coming down from the north. Canadians are sending us down this to start this entire run.

2:02:56Pat McAfee:Thank you, Gumpy. Absolutely, Baltic, yes. All right, Jim. Anything else we need to think about? Uh, 40s in, um, Seattle. Who do you, who do you, I think Seattle takes it all, but that's just me. How about exploding trees? Can we talk about this real quick, just before we let you get out of here? Uh, that's not exploding though. That just broke apart. Oh, exploding trees. Oh yeah. So, and you know, this is another thing from that big Arctic high. You know, you have sap in those trees. It's still liquid and you get like this, you know, 20, 30 degree temperature drop down to zero or below. and all of a sudden that the water that's inside those trees goes pow.

2:03:37It's got to go somewhere because it's expanding, right? You ever put a full glass of bottled water in your freezer and all of a sudden it's like it pops the top off of it? Yeah, the worst. Same thing with the trees. Same thing with the trees.

2:03:50Pat McAfee:Okay, so let's keep our eyes out for the trees. It's just the bark's blowing up, not the inside of the tree, right? We're not going to get a big boom, boom. Oh, no, the sap's on the inside. So sometimes it is the inside. Oh, so Zambelli fireworks potentially happen everywhere. Yeah. I don't like that. Stay safe out there, man. What are you going to be doing? Are you just going to jump your ass into 18 inches of snow and be like, hi, I'm down here. They're going to be like, what is the weekend look like for you? That's not a height comment by any chance. 18 feet? Are you 18 feet tall? You like the robe?

2:04:19Pat McAfee:I'm sorry. You're 18 inches. 18 inches. Yeah, sorry. Not 18 feet. Russia. That's something to brag about right there, right? 18 inches. All right, Jim. We appreciate the hell out of you. Good luck this weekend. We appreciate your service. Hey, thanks, man. Great catching up with you guys again. Thank you. I'll be here in New York for the entire event. Sunday's game day here. Sunday's game day with the weather. Championship Sunday. Amen. You're the man. Good luck out there. Ladies and gentlemen, Jim Cantor. Yeah, Jim. He's kind of taking that. He's awesome. Yeah, he's been up all morning. More ice.

2:04:52Pat McAfee:They sent the hurricane plans to get a little bit better picture on when this thing's coming, and they are all aligned. Yeah, they're locked in. They know what's coming now. We got it. How long has he been in the game, Tone? Since the day he was born. Yeah. Yeah, weatherman. Boom. And he said, yes, please. Kindergarten. Does that mean the snow will be packing snow? Sorry. Is it like if it's – I don't know anything about skiing, but – No. No, dry snow is tough. Yeah, fresh powder. Yeah, we need some liquid in there. You're right. Fresh powder, nice. Yeah, we like fun. We like fun snow. You know, stuff we can do with – Snowballs, sledding, all that.

2:05:33Pat McAfee:Bam. Toss one up. Oh, that's crazy. And boom. Bam. Right down the suckle. T-Bone, we shouldn't have even told you that. You would have fell for that immediately first time. We had to chill outside. Sorry, I'll forget. Yeah, he will. Yeah, he will. What did you learn today, you think, on the microphone? Yeah. What did you learn today, Bone, for a couple times? I realize that the show is four quarters. You know, you might not start off the best, but it's how you finish. Well said. How many points did the Steelers score in the first quarter over 76 games or something like that? They haven't scored more than seven.

2:06:03over the first quarter in 77 straight games, I believe.

2:06:06Pat McAfee:So you're like Mike Tomlin. I'll take it. I think so. Yeah. I'll take it. Yes, you certainly should. Just started horrendously early. Did you see him? He was 14 feet away from the microphone. His voice did change a bit. His voice did change a little bit from the beginning to the second hour. We did put it on pretty quick. And he always said, like, if I was practicing a tackle and then game day they told me I got to be guard, I was not fully prepared. and that's where the mistakes came. Jumped off. Kind of reminds me of Jim Tomsula more than Mike Tomlin. Oh, what about McAdoo? McAdoo would work before the haircut.

2:06:41Pat McAfee:I think he's got some Jacksonville Urban Meyer in him. Oh, yes, he certainly does. Might miss the plane, go see the boys. Exactly. Yeah, there's a chance. There's a little bit of that happening. You never know. AJ, any motivational speeches for D-Bone as we try to wrap up the show today? I give D-Bone credit. When did he find out he was going to be in that seat? I'd say 10-15. I mean that's probably good but that gave him just enough time to freak out probably and have some anxiety leading up to it no question but it's better than the night before do you think it would be better if he would have known last night?

2:07:12Pat McAfee:absolutely not his graphics were shite immediately upon learning that he was going up there he actually stopped making graphics and started taking notes for the show and I said that's absolutely worth loose bone let's just keep going with the graphics and he did and we appreciate it just like we appreciate DoorDash I'll tell you what anything you need DoorDash has got your back And right now, if you were to scan that QR code, that'll get you a part of something special. Now, I think the contest is over because I think it was during the regular season, during game days. But nonetheless, DoorDash will show up for you on any day, especially on game days.

2:07:43Pat McAfee:Make sure you're not distracted from anything with friends at DoorDash being your assistant. They'll run your pants if you need it. Ooh. Yeah. Power tools. Holy shite. Got my entire outfit for the national championship. You can get soft, probably. DoorDash can get you ready for a national championship. salt on DoorDash for the big snow that is coming in. They're all sold out. There's not much of it available. I've checked. That's in where he lives. Obviously, it might not be where you live, but you should have got in ahead of time. I will say that yes! Yes. I just saw the updated graphic. I didn't know that I came back and won this.

2:08:20Pat McAfee:Yes! 8-8-4. Just where we want to be. Heading into championship Sunday. This is it. Me and the hawker. You know, this isn't it necessarily. True. This isn't it necessarily. Anything can still happen. True. We got a Super Bowl that awaits us in Santa Clara, California, where we will be there Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from Radio Row with a litany of guests and maybe even a special show on Friday. Oh. Let's get to the pick, shall we, for Championship Sunday. Patriots, Broncos, everything that needs to be said has already been said from both teams. The line moved from 5.5 to 4.5 while having 70 plus percent of the bets on that.

2:09:03Pat McAfee:A little reverse line movement from the sportsbooks but it has not changed much. Still 70 plus on the Patriots. Over under at 42.5. Tone, what's the final takeaway from this line and what the over under is? The final takeaway on the line is that the sportsbooks, if I'm reading correctly, like the Broncos in this one, and then the 42.5 feels a little low. The Broncos when playing other good teams. You know, the Jaguars, the Bills recently come to mind. They've been higher scoring games, surprisingly. Now, obviously, a different quarterback for the Broncos, but, you know, it's just something to look at.

2:09:37Pat McAfee:Harold Landry has been ruled out of Sunday's AFC Championship game due to a knee injury. Matt Collins, Carlton Davis, and Mapu are questionable. Okay, so questionable, obviously, better than doubtful or out, I think is what we just saw from Connor right there. Connor, your final thoughts as we head into championship weekend with your team playing as four-and-a-half-point favorites on the road. Matt Collins being back would be huge. He's been on IR, so him even being questionable up to be able to play is massive. Huge second half every single game thus far throughout the playoffs, rather. Chargers, second half, they ran away with it.

2:10:12Texans, second half. Sorry, I'm all jacked up. Texans, second half, ran away with it. Broncos, I would expect kind of an early kind of feel each other out. First half is going to be tough. Second half, they're going to run away with it. They play a lot of man-to-man. We just mentioned it. Drake May has got to run. He's got to be able to move. I hope they kind of go into their bag of tricks when it comes to his QB run, some things of that nature. And then, again, a couple deep shots. Need to get Kyle Williams the ball. They've missed the first two playoff games on him deep down the field, even though he's been open.

2:10:43Let's get one of those in. Let's get Drake May running, and let's go to the Super Bowl, baby.

2:10:46Pat McAfee:AJ, with all that being said, are you with Connor, with this Denver Broncos team, number one seed in the AFC with Stiddy getting the start at home. Yeah, so Stidham, I am a fan of Stidham. I think this guy can absolutely slang it, and I'm a huge fan of this Broncos defense. I think they will generate plenty of pressure, but I think it's going to be one of those iconic days in Foxboro. Give me the Patriots. Sorry, sorry. I think the Patriots are not in Foxboro are going to do, are going to figure it out on the road. Sorry, I'm a bit jacked up as well because I'm excited for Braves and the boys, but four and a half does feel like a lot, but I do.

2:11:23I still am taking the Patriots here.

2:11:24Pat McAfee:Just because Bowles called us out, I'm with the Patriots as well. If we can provide motivation to Stiddy and the boys, we certainly feel honored about that. Love the way the Broncos play with this Patriots team. What their defense just did against the Texans when we were talking about the Texans with Drake not playing his best football yet ever in his life. And so as that opportunity Stiddy stepping in there. I like the way he operates. I just like the Patriots defense as well. I'll take the Patriots, and let's go to the NFC Championship. Rams, Seahawks. Seahawks favored by 2.5 at home, over under 46.5.

2:11:57Pat McAfee:Tone, your thoughts on DraftKings? So the last time they played on that Thursday night, the total flew over this. Earlier in the season, it stayed low. Sam Darnold had thrown a ton of interception in this one. You see the 81 % on the Seahawks. We talked about it earlier in the show. You know, that's probably recency bias on the Seahawks, minus two and a half there. These days, home field is around 1.8 to 2.2 is what sportsbooks kick in for that. So this is basically a pick-em in the sportsbooks. 81 % of the bets on the Seahawks. AJ, are you riding with the Seahawks at home or the Rams and MVP probable Matthew Stafford?

2:12:33Well, Bones' breakdown of the Seahawks really got me worried as a person that was leaning Rams early, but I just can't pick against them. I like this LA Rams football team. I like Puka. I love what the defense can do, and I think Stafford is having a magical year, and I think he gets to the Super Bowl.

2:12:48Pat McAfee:Give me the Seahawks minus two and a half at home. Can't wait to watch it. We appreciate you all so much for allowing us to do this for a living. We are the luckiest people on earth. Have an incredible championship Sunday. We will see you on Monday for Over Reaction Monday. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together. In the back, great work this week, boys. Draft design, boys. Great work. D-Bone, way to step in here. Mitt, Zito, Tim, we appreciate you all. AJ, you crushed it this week. Anything to say as we head into the greatest weekend of all time, AJ?

2:13:15I think enjoy it. I know we keep talking about that football's almost over. No, football is right here, and the times that matter the most are right here, so we need to enjoy these games while we have them.

2:13:24Pat McAfee:That's right. Perspective. We have it. Let's enjoy it. I got to piss. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye. Two teams, one cup. The primetime stage is set for the TGL presented by SoFi Finals. Los Angeles Golf Club versus Tigers Jupiter Lynx. Keep up, it's playoffs. Tune in Monday, March 23rd, 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2, and Tuesday, March 24th, 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN and on the ESPN app. Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network in service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional cause.

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