Things We Are Thankful For in the 2025 NFL Season

0:00Ooh, welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm your host, Sheil Kapadia. Today, we're talking about what we're thankful for from the 2025 NFL season. You know, sometimes we're critical about quarterbacks and teams. This is a positivity episode. We're talking about just what we're thankful for with Thanksgiving coming up on Thursday. Our guest today is Billy Gil from the Ringer. We had so much fun with him last week. We said, let's call him back this week and see what he's thankful for. So we'll take a break. We come back with Billy and we're talking about what we're thankful for from the 2025 NFL season.

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2:34All right, we are back here on the Ringer NFL show with Billy Gill. You know, we had such a good time last week. I said, let me see if he could just come back on again, because Billy, you had the idea last week. Let's thank some people in a future episode. We'll be nice. So that's what we're doing today. It's what we are thankful for, I think, from the 2025 NFL season. So you're the guest.

2:55Sheil Kapadia:get us started what do you got okay so i was thinking long and hard about this because you're absolutely right last week we decided you know what this is a great opportunity to kind of come in and maybe maybe take some shots at some people say are these people good are these people bad we don't know so this is the week that we can kind of make up for that by being thankful so there's things there's different directions we can go here the first thing that i'm thankful for is black friday football okay this is interesting because you are a father of two young girls, you have a family. So make the case why you are thankful for Black Friday football.

3:31Sheil Kapadia:So a lot of attention obviously goes to the Thursday night Thanksgiving game footballs, right? You have Thanksgiving, you have three football games. How do you feel about the Thanksgiving football games? Love having football on Thanksgiving. I feel like the games are a little too important. And I kind of like one laugher in there, Lions, maybe double digits, which we don't have this year. So we'll see. We've never, I don't think we've ever had a Thanksgiving slate this good. Yeah, this is a good slate. And there are meaningful games with a lot of implications. The Packers, the Lions games, like that's a huge one for the NFC North.

4:05Sheil Kapadia:Usually by the end of Thanksgiving, that night game is the one that some people are excited about where I'm kind of like somewhat checked out. I've already had like the Thanksgiving meal. I'm tired. It's been a long day. So that's usually the one that I kind of check out on most of the time. But this year we have a good one because this year we have the Bengals We have the Ravens. Joe Burrow can be making his return, if you believe reports. Some people thought he'd be coming back last week, but it looks like he's slated to come back this week. So Thanksgiving is the one that kind of gets like all of the headlines and everybody loves Thanksgiving Day football.

4:36Sheil Kapadia:Black Friday football is a new thing that we've had. Now what? I think this is the third season of Black Friday football, right? Is it? I have no idea. I can't remember. I think it's the third season of Black Friday football. Now, here's the thing. I am someone who comes from the world of retail, where in college I worked at the mall, I was all in on the Black Friday, be the guy that would go in and he'd have to show up, leave his Thanksgiving day, you know, things at nine o 'clock at night to show up to the mall to prepare so that people can come rushing in at midnight and get in on all the sales.

5:06Sheil Kapadia:Now, the past couple of years, Black Friday has turned into like more of an online thing, right, there was Cyber Monday before, malls are kind of going by the wayside, it's a very sad situation. didn't she? I went when we were in Minnesota to Mall of America. I was shocked at how big that mall was. I was thinking about what it might look like on Black Friday and how honestly horrifying it would be if that place was packed because of how massive it is. But Black Friday football, what a delight. If you get up and you go to the rush and you want to be the first person in the store to get the TV for$2.99 and there's only one of those per store or whatever, you used to camp out and wait in lines and all that stuff, you'd kind of get exhausted.

5:45Sheil Kapadia:You'd run out and you didn't really have anything to look forward to. You could have maybe some college games. You have rivalry weekend the next day. But the NFL said, no, no, we're not going to give up on this Friday. We're going to give you a new tree. We're going to give you Black Friday football. And in between plays, in between snaps, in between quarters, because it's on Amazon Prime, we're going to give you exclusive deals with QR codes on the screen that you have to scan. And you get these unlock these things just for watching the game. I mean, Black Friday, what a game too, huh? We have the Bears.

6:17Sheil Kapadia:We have the Eagles. Bears are hot. They've won, I think, eight of the last nine games. They survived this week. The Eagles, four of the last five. But the Eagles are coming off of, I don't want to upset you at all, but kind of an atrocious week this past week versus the Cowboys. Yeah. No, there's no doubt about it. It is a big game. There's a lot on the line for the Eagles with the narrative and with the record. As you were talking, you were mentioning Black Friday, 3 o 'clock. and I am always thinking of Roger Goodell and the NFL and the greed of the NFL owners. Let's say this is just such a, you know, such a big hit that they say, you know, a report comes out, maybe it's Sunday morning on the pregame shows, maybe it's Monday.

7:01And they say the NFL is considering, you know, in starting in 2026, once the high school football, like the Friday night Lights is over. Everyone's in playoffs now. That just, you know, every Friday at three o 'clock, there is an NFL game on. Would that get a thumbs up or a thumbs down for you? So are you just, I like the Black Friday football or are you, let's just have football every Friday? You're giving me a thumbs up.

7:28Sheil Kapadia:I'm in. I'm in. I'll tell you what, like the Friday thing, it seems a little crazy, but we saw this past year that they had the game first week of the season in Rio on a Friday. I like to feel like it's a special thing. So maybe I'd be against every Friday, but maybe we get to kind of like, you know how later in the season, like the last two weeks of the season or whatever, you have the regular season Saturday games also. Maybe Black Friday is the kickoff of the Friday slate. I do like the Black Friday kickoff. Things did get ridiculous a couple years ago, like during COVID when we were having like Tuesday games because people were testing.

8:01Sheil Kapadia:Like that was probably a bit much. Actually, you know what? You've talked me out of this. I don't know that I want it to be a regular thing. I want to feel the specialness of the Black Friday game. Unless, you know, as we're inching closer to the holiday season, there's more QR codes, there's more specials that come out there. I'm looking forward to the Black Friday game. Let's say, ask me next week if I liked it or not. I think I like it. We'll see if I still like it. I want another one from you. Are you a shopper? Are you a shopper? Do you go out? Do you hit the malls? You know what? When you were saying the mall thing, I actually, I don't go often.

8:32But when I do go, I'm like, the mall still hits for me. You know what I'm saying? walk around, nice smells, temperature controlled, so you don't have to worry about the weather. If you have kids, they can just kind of run wild and in a wide range. My kids are older than yours, but now my kids, they actually want to go into a store and be like, oh, dad, can I get this shirt? Yeah, you know, you're the hero that day. Yeah, knock yourself out. You've been doing well in school, get the shirt. So you get that, you go to the food court. I mean, who doesn't like a mall food court? So yeah, I still actually do enjoy the mall experience.

9:06I will not be going on a Black Friday, but just a random weekend or something. Absolutely.

9:10Sheil Kapadia:I don't think it's that crazy anymore on Black Friday. I remember the days when you would drive by like on Thanksgiving and you'd see the lines like outside of Best Buys where people were camped out with actual, you know, tents and all of that from the night before because they needed the latest trend in technology. We're now, you know, Amazon, while they do give us that Black Friday game, They do take away some of the, you know, nostalgia of the Black Friday, but it is fun. And what's your strategy in a mall food court real quick before we continue to football? Do you know exactly what you want or do you do the lap where you take the little samples?

9:44Yeah, I'm not doing a sample. I'm doing a lap and I'm mentally clocking it like, OK, that if I don't find anything better, bam, doing that. Then I keep going. All right, that's going to leave the number one choice. You do the full lap, you come back around and then you make your decision.

9:59Sheil Kapadia:So I like to do the lap where I get one sample of all the different, like the honey chicken, you know, like little mini sandwiches. And I feel bad doing it because I know in my heart of hearts exactly what I'm going to end up getting at the end of the day. And I know it's probably not what any of those samples are. So morally, I feel like I have, like I'm this moral conundrum where I'm taking your sample, which is intended to entice me to get your meal, even though I know I am not going to end this transaction, getting your meal. But I still do it. I go, I take all the sambal on. You're not doing anything wrong because there will be future mall trips, Billy.

10:32And you might remember, hey, I didn't get that honey chip last time, but you know what? That was good. I might try it this time. So you're not doing anything wrong. I appreciate that. Thank you. Okay. All right. Give me your next one. I want to hear your next one. What else are you thankful for right now?

10:48Sheil Kapadia:Next thing that I'm thankful for is this season right now is the season of hope. Now, what do you mean? What do I mean, Billy Gill, by the season of hope? There's lots of things to be hopeful for. So I've been listening to this episode, or this week on the show. You started on Monday, you did a little bit of the hope where you started talking AFC and NFC playoff pictures, right? Which is exactly where we want to be right now because you have a team like the Miami Dolphins, for example, who right now four and seven, but there's a little tiny bit of hope in there when you look at the graphics on NBC at night and the Dolphins at four and seven still say in the hunt.

11:28Sheil Kapadia:So while the season looks lost, you still have the Saints, you have the Jets, you have the Steelers, you have the Bengals. I didn't think that's where you were going with that. No. You have a Pats team at the end of the year who could have already clinched the one seed in the AFC, could be resting people. A season of hope. And don't forget the NFC. The NFC, you have a team that we talked about last week a little bit, right? The Carolina Panthers. I mean, the Carolina Panthers, are still in the mix here. Carolina Panthers can still potentially win their division. They could be a wild card team.

12:02Sheil Kapadia:We had a very bad game for Bryce Young this past week against Brock Purdy. And you had an exchange where Brock Purdy was doing everything in his power to not let our guy, Bryce Young, blow it for his team. You had a sequence between the first and second quarter where the 49ers threw an interception, then Bryce threw an interception, then the 49ers threw an interception, and then the Panthers punted, And then the 49ers threw another interception. And they were doing everything they possibly could to keep Bryce in it. Brock Purdy was trying to deliver us something special for Bryce and the Panthers.

12:35Sheil Kapadia:And the Panthers are still believing that they're in it because this is the season of hope. And if you're not just looking at this as a season of hope for merely teams and whether or not they can still be in the mix or not, look no further than the Cleveland Browns. Shador Sanders, look at him. He comes in, he gets his first career NFL start, a hero's welcome. You have kids in the stands who are pointing at their wristwatch. He has a, you know, okay game. He delivers a win. Dion's there in the cowboy hat. Things are going well there. Everybody's flying high. You kind of have a situation with Stefanski where he's having to, you know, eat his words because he very clearly would rather have Dylan Gabriel be his quarterback.

13:19Sheil Kapadia:and he did everything in his power to make that be the case and did not want to start Shador, but didn't really have an option because, you know, the quarterback situation there is somewhat of a disaster and Dylan Gabriel now has a concussion. Listen, Shador's first game two weeks ago, not great. 4 of 16, 47 yards, interception. This week it was better. I mean, he had that long 53-yard pass. He had another 66-yard, but that was more of like a screen pass and he didn't really do that. But he had a decent game. They win the game. it's the Raiders, so whatever. It doesn't really mean anything. But for these next few weeks, you still have with Shador Sanders that what if.

13:56Sheil Kapadia:Because if you remember, in the preseason, he started off, that first game that he played, we were like, whoa, everyone was wrong about Shador. Shador should have been drafted a lot earlier in the NFL draft. And then he had that second appearance where they just kind of tossed him in like the third quarter, last game of the season. And he was like four of 16 or something, got sacked a bunch of times. So Shador has been a question mark for a lot of time, but right now, if you're a Cleveland Browns fan, you still have that hope with Shador Sanders. Actually, I do buy it with the Browns a little bit.

14:28The young quarterback who comes in, that's always fun. You don't need to have high expectations. He wasn't like a first-round pick. You say, hey, let's watch him. Let's see what we got here. Now, I did think the direction you were going in was when you said season of hope, and then you listed the Dolphins that you're going to be like, some fan bases are like the Dolphins where they don't have any hope right now. That's actually where I thought you were going with it, but we don't need to spend too much time on that because this is positivity. You're a Dolphins fan, and so you're right. They're still making the graphic.

14:59They're not making the Ringer NFL show graphic, but that's okay. All right, let's take a break. We'll come back. I'm giving Billy one thing I'm thankful for. This episode is brought to you by NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. Look, tomorrow is all about family, food, and of course, NFL football. But while you're prepping for the big day, there's something else you should be thankful for. The race for the NFL playoffs is heating up and every single game matters more than ever. That's why you need NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV. And right now, new users can get it for the rest of the season for just$48.

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16:1821 plus in present and select states. First online real money wager only. Minimum$5 wager required for seven consecutive days. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets, which expires seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See full terms at FanDuel.com slash sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET. All right, we are back on the Ringer NFL show. All right, Billy, I'm giving you one now. You know, I don't want people to say Shields not thankful for anything. Billy did the whole. I'm thankful for the Micah Parsons trade. Because I don't know if you know this.

16:48I actually don't root for the Eagles. I'm not a fan of any one team. I'm a fan of team content. And the Parsons trade was pretty much the perfect content trade. You know, I'm going to give you reasons why. Because now you can pitch me any hypothetical trade and I can't say, it's never going to happen. Because you know what you can say? the Micah Parsons trade happened. If that can happen, you can't laugh at this. You know, Jamar, hey, maybe the Bengals should trade Jamar Chase and use the picks to rebuild their defense. Three months, you know, four months ago, this is the dumbest thing I ever heard.

17:21How do you even have a podcast? Now, well, Cowboys traded Micah Parsons. Maybe, maybe that's not crazy. So you got that. Here's what else I was thinking. It has spurred other trades. Like we had this crazy trade deadline. Sauce Gardner for two first round picks. Quinn and Williams for a first and a second. Do those trades happen if the Parsons emboldened teams to kind of think outside the box? Hey, we have a star player. Hey, let's at least call about this player and offer up some picks. So I like that. And then here's the other thing. Last thing. There are so many takes you can have. You know, right now, like I could give it to a take.

17:57Hey, did Jerry Jones cook? You know what I'm saying? Quinn and Williams. Did you see him last week against the Eagles? He's cheaper than Micah Parsons. Defense is playing better. Maybe Jerry Jones isn't the old man everyone's making fun of. Maybe he knows what he's doing there. And then if the Packers get to the Super Bowl, Billy, I mean, I can't believe the Packers got Micah Parsons and he put them over the top. So this is the trade that keeps on giving. And Jerry Jones, for all of his faults, the man understands content.

18:26Sheil Kapadia:So I was just going to ask you if you wanted to revise it and say what you're really thankful for is Jerry Jones. I can't get that. Like you might be, but you don't want to be. No, I won't say that. I cannot say that on a BNM mic. You might be thankful for Jerry Jones. Listen, Jerry Jones understands media. Great scene in Landman season one. And he understands the content game and how to keep his name in the headline. I will give him credit for all those things. He may understand media and content better than he understands football. And I don't mean that as an insult. That's not a maybe. That is 100%.

19:00No, that's 100%. True. So there you go. Micah Parsons trade.

19:04Sheil Kapadia:Do you like the Eli Manning shows where it's like Chad Powers or whatever it's called, where they do like undercover on Amazon? So like last year, Baker Mayfield had one, which was great with season ticket holders. And this year they did one with Micah Parsons. And then it was awkward because he was traded. So he did all of that stuff in Dallas and like a bar or whatever before he got traded. So then after it came out, he wasn't even part of that community anymore. I didn't see that. I haven't seen it yet either. Yeah. Okay. It's timing. You know, they didn't know. They just woke up one day and decided.

19:39All right. What do you have? What's next on your list for things you're thankful for? You got one more for me, right?

19:43Sheil Kapadia:The final thing I'm thankful for, and this is something that I don't intend to be divisive, as it may be divisive with the audience and the crowd, especially this time of the year. This is a thankful thing. Remember, this is coming from a good place. I'm thankful this time of year for ham. Why ham? Yeah, ham. Actual ham, not hard ass. You're talking ham. I'm talking about ham because ham is the perfect second option for a Thanksgiving meal and Thanksgiving dinner. So everybody talks about turkey, turkey. They love turkey. They love turkey. And now, as of late, there's been kind of people turning on turkey.

20:18Sheil Kapadia:But turkey is a very important part of football on Thanksgiving. You have the big turkey legs. You have the turkey trophies. Of course, I have John Madden with his turducken. But the ham is very underappreciated. When everybody's focusing on the turkey, I don't know about you. I'm not a fan of like the wet meat turkey. I like the dry kind of burnt turkey a little bit. It's not a very popular take. I know that. I don't do the deep fried turkey. Have you done the deep fried turkey at all or no? Billy, the Kapatias are actually vegetarian. So we don't do the ham. We don't do the turkey. We don't do all the sides and all that until we can have a nice get together.