Mega Super Bowl Preview: Are the Pats Villains? Is Seattle Historically Good? What if Darnold Wins? Do Four Lokos Melt Steel Beams?

Welcome to the Rear Fantasy Football Show. My name is Dan Heifetz and I'm joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Krollbeck in person in Los Angeles. We are here. Hi guys. We are here through the Super Bowl. we're going to be doing the Super Bowl after well after the Super Bowl, our episode after the Super Bowl, obviously. You can watch us on Netflix. I know we talked about that a lot and then haven't mentioned as much but if you are listening to the show, you can watch us on Netflix and if you don't want to do that but you have Netflix, that's fine. Just turn on Netflix and type in Ringer and just put us on and then walk away. That also is fine. Maybe better. Background. Mute it, go to dinner. Yeah. If you have a dog, a cat, want to give them company, just leave our show on for hours and hours and a lot of, like, that is also sometimes my dog barks in the background. You know, Liz does that. Liz doesn't really listen. My wife doesn't really listen to our show, but she'll put it on and just go about her day, which I appreciate. The first time we had a live show, I remember thinking, I think I said at the live show, this is Liz's first time listening to the show. She tunes in every now and then. She likes the emails more than the nitty-gritty football talk. Okay, so we're going to go through the Super Bowl, ring our 107, which are winning at the end, and yeah, so Super Bowl, and just last reminder is, after the Super Bowl ends, we still cover football, so we go all year. And also, it's probably more fun because we get dumber as the offseason extends. So let's just go to the Super Bowl. Let's just do the biggest storylines in the Super Bowl. I know people have talked about this, but it's the Super Bowl, and so we're just going to go through this. Kind of through a lens of, like, what could happen, and if it does happen, what will that mean? Because half of these great storylines will disappear after the game. And we want to talk about almost what is possible before the game happens. The number one thing to me by far, and DK, you are the Seahawks fan here is they could win they could win that'd be cool but like are you great for me personally my storyline but i almost want to take your arc your arc is the real i want to take the fandom out of it for a second though yeah are you guys like mentally prepared for the possibility that sam darnold is like holding the lombardi trophy in one hand and the mvp trophy in the other like are you mentally have you thought about that i want to know where we feel like he would rank in like 21st century quarterbacks who have won a Super Bowl in terms of skill perception how much he deserved it like is he in the Eli Manning range is he above that is he below that is he down with Trent Dilfer it's where he's not down he's not down by Trent Dilfer it's so funny you said Eli Manning I think Eli Manning is the comp if you want to look at like Super Bowl winning quarterbacks it's Eli because obviously Eli didn't have the benched and like you know and the whole like Jets to you know Panthers and you know Niners backup route because Eli what was he His third, fourth year in the league when he won? So Eli sat by Kurt Warner for years. Like his third, fourth year as a starter. But I think the real similarity is gunslingers with dumb faces and had been memed a lot. Dumb looking faces. Bad faces. It was Donald pointing being like mononucleosis. No, it doesn't. Just like the deer in the headlights look kind of. Yeah, but also deer in the headlights behavior. Donald led the league in turnovers this year. Yeah, Eli had turnovers. In 2007, when the Giants won the Super Bowl against the undefeated Patriots, Eli led the league in interceptions that season. And so he's way better than – well, Joe Flacco, that was an all-time run. But, like, yeah, Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, even Nick Foles is a weird category. But, like, this – I think Eli is the comp because it's the opposite of the game manager. It's the gunslinger where it's like he could win you the game or lose you the game. That was Eli. And, like, Darnold is very much in that category. Yeah, he spots in ahead of Dilfer, Johnson, Nick Foles. I don't know how you want to count that. Nick Foles had two stretches where he was good, and they were statistically two of the best stretches in the history of passing football. You know where I think he kind of fits in? This is what I thought of is the Joe Flacco range. Because Joe Flacco got really hot right at the right time for that Ravens team, I think in 2012. I mean, he was incredible in the playoffs, but overall, the breadth of his entire career, I wouldn't say he's thought of as a great quarterback necessarily. He's had a second wind kind of in the late part of his career. Joe Flacco now versus what year? 2026? I mean, he is a pro bowler. Three years ago, Joe Flacco versus now is like a completely different. He's been reinvented. But Joe Flacco, the best four games of his career are basically the playoffs. The year they won the Super Bowl, he had 22 touchdowns and 10 picks. I think Darnold could. But look up the playoff run because it's like the best playoff run. Yeah. I think Darnold could rise to the level of Eli. He's somewhere in between those two guys. Darnold's interesting because he's – I know I talk about this all the time, but he's just to me, maybe if they win the Super Bowl, the best example ever of nature versus nurture, where the whole thing with Darlene coming out was the physical tools were there. He was mobile. Like he's faster than people think. There was a Panthers season where he was like leading league in rushing touchdowns for a month. Yeah, he had like five rushing touchdowns in the first month. Not just quarterbacks, like running backs. Like he's mobile enough. He can move in the pocket against his den. His arm talent's unbelievable, but he always was like, yeah, he plays like an idiot sometimes. and like or maybe just too much confidence and this to me is just the ultimate example of like bet on yeah we were talking before the show like an hour ago but i love the show house there's a line from house where he's like i don't bet on horses i bet on jockeys and it's like sometimes i think we have the draft backwards so i'm like just don't who's going to be good i'm like actually who goes to the jets because they'll be bad right and i do think that this is like the ultimate example of it look what happens when you give them like an actual surrounding cast with an unbelievable defense and good coaching and everything i'm I'm like, look, look what he's capable of. After Vikings, like, it clearly wasn't Darnold was the problem. Do you think this is going to lead to a lot of reclamation projects that don't work out? People talking themselves into things like Anthony Richardson? Well, Anthony Richardson, yes. But, you know, if somebody like Josh Rosen, like, are people going to go back and be like, oh, maybe we should have given him another shot on a competent team? 100%. One great comedian inspires 10,000 bad comedians. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we joke about the Josh Allen thing, that's going to spawn like a million bad quarterbacks, people thinking Daniel Jones could work, which he ended up working. I mean, Daniel Jones is another decent example. I just wonder now, like, I would almost like to do, it'd be a fun off-season project to draft who we think is the next Darnold that's currently in the league. Oh, that's a good idea. Should we Flash do that right now, or do you want to? It might be fun. Well, here's the immediate guy we don't have to go through everyone. The question is Kyler Murray. Because Kyler is shades of Russell Wilson or Jalen Hurts, where he's like a shorter quarterback that has a limited pocket skill set, but pretty impressive physical ability. Totally. But the physical stuff's waning. So it's like, is Kyler, if Kyler went to another place, what are the odds Kyler's actually worse versus actually, wow, he's really good. He just didn't succeed in Arizona. That's a great one. I mean, there's two other guys from the same draft, Matt Jones and Trey Lance. Yeah. Matt Jones is a good one. You know what I mean? Oh, like, wow. His offensive coordinator was Matt Patricia, and that didn't work. And what we've seen, I mean, Darnold goes to San Francisco. then goes to Minnesota and is great. Mac Jones comes to San Francisco, does a fantastic job filling in for Brock Purdy. It's like, he'll probably be a starting quarterback next year. And if he goes to the right team, he could go to the Minnesota Vikings would be funny. It's the talent reps quadrants. What about Will Levis? I feel like Will Levis was not a highly touted prospect. There was like a week where people thought he was a top five pick, but he doesn't have that same... Donald was... Right, right, right. Kenny Pickett? Stop. I'm throwing out names. Pickett had moments. I want to make sure people are aware of that. You're right, though. What I just did is the bias. That Raiders throw to Najee Harris. I'll never forget. Malik Willis. Again, though. But different hype. It's people who came in with somewhat of a pedigree who fell off. But Willis, though, I do think is what we're talking about because he's the rare third rounder where the physical skill set is unbelievable. Because Malik Willis is the fastest quarterback in the NFL. He's faster than Lamar Jackson now. Like, I think there are games where Malik Willis is faster than cornerback. So is DK. Fair enough. I've been working out, yeah. He's sick just as often. That's true. There are games where Malik Willis is faster than cornerback. I have a six-year-old, though. Yeah, karma's a bitch. I shouldn't talk. Malik Willis is, like, as fast as Lamar, but he also has a cannon, and the question was he kind of played in, like, a fake offense in college. But I don't know. Malik Willis is probably the right answer because he's going to be a free agent. It's like, what does Malik Willis work? where I don't know how he, he hasn't played as many games like Darnold would play more games, but Did you say Richardson? Yeah, Richardson, Mack Jones Richardson is going to go, when he gets washed out, the Eagles are going to sign Anthony Richardson for nothing as a third-string developmental guy. We should do, this would be a great off-season episode, we should do like the backup quarterback draft, or the next Sam Darnold draft. I mean, obviously, we just talked about Darnold for a bunch, but like my big storyline for this Super Bowl, the one I think that will be a huge storyline if the Seahawks win, especially like you said, if Darnold wins the MVP, if he's the guy holding the trophy on the stage. His redemption arc is such a good story. It's straight out of Hollywood. I mean, he's from LA, so he kind of apt there. His grandfather's the Marlboro. His grandfather, Dick Hammer, just a legend. You should do a cigarette ad. Seriously. But I wanted to run through his career a little bit just to give you kind of like a refresher because even And I like as a Seahawks fan. So I'm like, I'm like, I can't actually remember some of this stuff. So Darnold was the third overall pick in the 2018 draft. He went to the worst team imaginable in the Jets. He was the worst team imaginable seven years ago. Somehow they're like worse now than they were then. He was head coach Adam Gase. That started. Yeah. I believe so. Todd Bowles. And I'd forgotten about this, but he was just he just turned 21. He was the youngest opening day starter for a team in the. since the merger at that time. Wasn't his first throw of his career a pick six? His first pass was a pick six to Quandre Diggs, who is now on the Seahawks, by the way. The Jets ended up winning that game, so he didn't remember that quite as much. The Jets ended up blowing out the Lions. There was just so much disaster that you can't remember one specific thing. So he played 13 games as a rookie. He went 4-9. Obviously, the Jets were not good. 2019 season is really when it started to unravel, though, when he was his second season in the league. and this is something that is now I mean, I still see the memes this is, you know, seven years later or whatever the mononucleosis thing oh, it's the best wait, should we do that? yeah, it's the whole I don't remember what it was like Monday Night Football or whatever it was they had like a moving graphic where he just points to the screen and says mononucleosis out indefinitely between that and airing the mic it's so dirty How much did ESPN deciding those two things really kind of ruin his career? Yeah. I mean, first of all, have you ever heard of any other player missing time for mono? No, but the Jets didn't know that. Like a middle school disease? The Jets' job is to tell him to lie. Right. Sam Darnold isn't supposed to leak that. The Jets are supposed to lie. He's like, I tweaked my foot. Sorry. Adam Gaines probably just thought he was cool. Why is that bad? When you're a freshman in high school or something. So what? It implies that he was the quarter that you... He was like 21. People get mono when they're 21. Have you ever heard of anyone else missing games because of mono? No, but I would argue it's not embarrassing. It's peculiar and rare. Do you remember it six, seven years after it happened? You think it's weird that we remember it? It's very specific. It's a funny disease. Mononucleosis. I like that they use the whole word. Mono is the people who start making it. Yeah, that's the other thing. They use the whole word. Sam Darnold's frat eye will miss the game. I missed summer camp because I got mono. Anyway, he got mono that year, missing games. He's a quarterback at USC. How did I get mono at USC? I know, right? And then in week seven, it was the seeing ghosts game, the famous seeing ghosts game against the Patriots, where he was caught on the sidelines saying, oh, man, I'm seeing ghosts out there. How much do you think playing the Patriots matters in that respect today, or this week? I think. Is he like, I'm actively trying to not think about that, or is he leaning in and it's actually motivating him? I think internally it's probably that, because I think the Patriots, we don't have to go Jets tangent, but the Patriots ruined like 20 years of Jets quarterbacks because the butt fumble ended the Sanchez era. Seeing Ghost ended the Darnold era. Poor Jets. And also a Patriots game ended Zach Wilson's tenure. There was a Patriots game where Zach Wilson was so bad that the coaches were like, oh, we went to Mike White. Another reclamation. I know. I said Zach Wilson. Yeah. I guess Tua is another one. Where is Zach Wilson right now? Is he in the house? He's Miami. Well, they chose to play Quinn Ewers over Zach Wilson. What does that say about Mike? Yeah, he was pissed. They're literally like, we're benching Tua, we're auditioning quarterbacks whenever we're going to play Zach Wilson. What does that say? Well, I think they knew what they had was Zach Wilson. So he'll be a free agent. I'll take a guess. But no, I think, what do you think? I think that people don't forget shit like that. People don't forget. Like, what, he's going to be like, yeah, internally, you're like, this doesn't matter to me at all? No, I'm just trying to figure out if it is a motivator or if it's a fear factor for him. I don't think he's going to be too worried about it. I would probably say that. I don't think he'll be thinking about that too much. You've got this far. Maybe you think about it when you're doing your bench press on Tuesday, but when you're in the – he's won 14 games two years in a row. You don't do that if you can put all that shit behind you. That's why so much of sports is mental strength. You do worry that, like, Milton Williams gets pressure the fifth snap of the game. He almost throws a pick, and you wonder in that moment, like, can your brain handle that? Right. Is he going to unravel or is he going to stay steady? Well, that is – That's all there is. Well, that's why I think beating the Rams is so big, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I – I know. You're right. I mean, going from the Rams after that debacle last year to also beating the Patriots and the Seeing Ghost teams, that's an unbelievable back-to-back comeback for him. It is like a movie. It's really cool. It would start with his grandfather, the Marlboro Man, the coolest guy, Dick Hammer, Marlboro Man, fighter, like War Vett, the coolest guy alive. And then you're like – His grandson's going to be a cast-off loser NFL quarterback, and he's going to come back and win the Super Bowl. It's pretty cool. Yeah. It's also so funny that if you just woke up, if you just kind of haven't followed the NFL in seven years, and the last thing you saw was the 2018 draft, you're like, yeah, Donald, is he the best quarterback in the league? Yeah, you wake up seven years later. Yeah, I was right. Yeah, all the scouting reports were just dead on. So I'm still only on his first team. Okay. Oh, sorry. I'll go through these quickly, but basically. We don't have to spend a lot of time on the Panthers there, I imagine. His second season, he's actually fine. Well, I mean, better than some of the other ones. 19 touchdowns, 13 picks, 7-6 record as a starter. The Jets were pretty bad. He missed games. But third season is when it really kind of fell apart for him. He was awful. He went 2-10 as a starter. And then he was traded to the Panthers at the end of the season. And the Panthers era was, you know, he started out okay. Like, there was some reason to be optimistic. Then he got hurt. He's playing there with Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield took over as starter when he got hurt. Baker Mayfield ended up not doing well and then asked for his release. So when Baker Mayfield was released, Darnold went back and started. Some of the parallels and lines. Baker's another mini-girls. Baker was salary dumped. PJ Walker was the reason that Baker Mayfield wanted out, because they kept him as a starter. Do you remember that guy? Dude, the Browns and Panthers still need quarterbacks. Yeah, there was a famous picture of Baker Mayfield lining up on the scout team, rushing the passer in a red jersey. Just incredible. I mean, some of the crap they're having. He's like the leading MVP candidate for the month of September this year. Again, maybe it's the team that can't figure it out. So anyways, Darnold lasted for two seasons with the Panthers, was a free agent. They didn't re-sign him. He signed with the 49ers to rehabilitate his career. He ended up being a backup to Brock Purdy for a year. Clint Kubiak was the offensive coordinator, sorry, the passing game coordinator for that team that year. He signed with the Vikings after one season, did everything he did last year, and then kind of the rest is history. But I just wanted to run through that because I'd kind of forgotten some of that stuff. The part you just said and the part of the story that I don't know will ever get told properly enough is the part that I think changed Darnold's career is the year as the backup for the San Francisco 49ers. No one's ever spent a year with Kyle Shanahan and gotten worse at football. And I think that year and mentally having a year to understand the underlying principles of like what the Shanahan offense is supposed to be from the horse, like from the guy who actually is like at the cutting edge of it. It's not an accident that he goes from the year off to the Vikings 14 wins with Kevin O'Connell to the season. I think that's actually the pivot point in his career. Yeah, you can't overstate how important Shanahan is for these quarterbacks. Like, I guess the only one he couldn't figure out was Trey Lance. Who barely played football. The Nick Mullins stat we talk about all the time. I think this is repeating the most passing yards in NFL history in a player's first 16 games. Number one, Patrick Mahomes. Number two, Nick Mullins. For the 2017 Niners. That's remarkable. Which is why Matt Jones, if Matt Jones goes to the right team next year, he's the number one guy on this on this list yeah mac jones could be maybe he's the number one next maybe i think so god but it's with but it has to be the system mike mccarthy and mac jones what world are we living in here sometimes we don't say it enough i might get some of this that's like the beer gut hall of fame mac jones and mccarthy can i say one last thing just because this is like a defining nfl thing but the reason why like because again give me the question of how the fuck did this happen but your point is the shanahan system's taken over but like what is that it's just basically like a wide zone play action based like all this offense but the point is it's kyle shannon it's my his dad mike shanahan who was with the coordinator for the niners and all that and then the broncos and all the stuff and it's just worth he the other person who's doing a lot of that was like gary kubiak who's kubiak's dad this is like a 45 year nepo baby thing like shanahan and kubiak inherited this system from their dads who embedded it 50 years ago yeah and which is like, we almost don't talk about enough. And it's not like, like, Neppo Baby in a way that, like, they did. Some Neppo Babies are great. Right? I can't, there's a whole, who is, like, the best Neppo Baby in Hollywood? Gwyneth Paltrow? I don't know. Yeah, there you go. You forget it's even a thing. It's kind of like, it's worth saying, oh, yeah, he went from Shannon to Clint Kubiak. It's like, yeah, their dads invented this fucking thing. Like, they know it the best. Sure. They teach it the best. It's like the AT&T thing. We invented the phone. We invented the phone. It's our DNA. Right. Well, and it's also just recognizing physical talent. like the big picture just did an episode about the 10 most like misused misused stars right now and they talk about Rachel McAdams who just opened this movie Send Help and they were like talking about how great Rachel McAdams is and how she's been misused it's kind of the same thing with like Shanahan figuring out that Donald is somebody that he could bring back from the dead and it's like that recognition of talent it's all just scouting yeah and I know I'm belaboring the point but I am trying to do the math live but we don't talk about enough like gary kubiak kubiak's father was mike shanahan's offense quarter for like 10 years right which anyway i think that's the simplest answer to how this happened once again the nepo babies win that's the real narrative and storyline the other people win the other i do think the second biggest thing with this game is just maybe this matters more than me than other people but emotionally grappling with the possibility that the patriots are not only back on top of the NFL, but also are doing it as plucky underdog stories. Yes, I agree. The Patriots are the plucky underdogs. What's the Hollywood version of this, Craig? Do you know? I don't know. It's like the Cobra Kai comes back and they're the underdogs. You know? From the Karate Kid. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Honestly, it's Creed, isn't it? It's like Creed 2, where he's the, like, Creed 2. Kind of, yeah. That's not bad. He wasn't so much of a villain as a really big rival. This would be like if Drago's kid came in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was like this fucking Russian underdog. Fuck. I root for them. Yeah. If the Patriots win. It's a good story if it's anyone else. I don't know how do we treat them. It's so interesting because the players and the coaching staff are likable. If Drake May and Vrabel and this whole team and this whole situation were just the Dolphins, it would be awesome. Everybody would love them. a statement that will make nobody happy what if these Patriots were just the Buffalo Bills yeah of course people would be fucking all over the story well and I just I can't tell yet if the Patriots win a storyline that I'm interested in and I'm sure Bill will talk about it will they actually become the villains of the NFL again and they don't have Belichick now it's like totally different and the NFL hasn't had a villain since Brady left the Patriots were the villain for the last 20 years pretty much. I don't think the Chiefs were villains. Not in the same way. The Chiefs became a monoculture because some people wanted to react against, oh, Taylor Swift being forced upon me with Kelsey. I don't think they were villains. But the Taylor Swift stuff was even late in the game. The first four Super Bowls, Taylor Swift was not involved. I don't think they had that villainy element to them. Do you think so? Jackie hates the Chiefs. I don't think the average football fan hates the Chiefs in the same way that we hated Tom Brady and the Patriots. I don't think it's the same. The Chiefs haven't been caught cheating and things like that there was those elements all right and it's why i would argue that the team that could have been the villains that didn't or i guess hasn't yet because they need sustained success is the eagles the eagles last year actually have the building blocks to to be a perfect nfl villain they have an annoying coach they have an annoying play style they have an annoying like brash fan they have an annoying like trick cheat play with the tush push they have like a weird controversial quarterback personality and they have fucking mean annoying fans. They are the perfect villain team. If this Eagles team could sustain it, if next year they're back in the Super Bowl, they're more villains to me than the Chiefs ever were. That's a good point, also, because you're so right about the Patriots. The two cheating scandals, or whatever, or not, they're in the news a lot. And the Tush Bush feels closer to that than anything else. You need reasons for people to bitch. Everybody hates the Tush Bush, and they hate watching the Eagles. It was the Tuck rule, but that's the Tush Bush. Yes. The Chiefs, it was like, for the first three Super Bowls, it was like, this guy in the homes is fucking incredible. It's like, Michael Jordan was cool. How awesome is this? And then at the end, maybe it got a little tired. He sounds like Kermit the Frog, and it's like there's something funny. Andy Reid is everybody's jolly uncle. It'll just be interesting, I don't know, how we treat this with the Patriots. Do you dislike them? I know you do because the Seahawks are playing. No, I don't even really. That's the thing. It's like I hate the laundry, but I don't hate the players. Well, you know what? You're right about that. And I'll be honest. I know Patriots fans listening are probably screaming right now. We always say that the people, the closest you'll ever come to being a ghost is listening to a podcast and screaming and they can't hear you. And I know the Patriots fans are like ghosts screaming that I'm anti-Patriots. But, yeah, it's because I am. Because I just – but you know what? You're right that – I'm actually worse than you think, motherfucker. If I move – if you take these Patriots – I love – individually, I love Mike Rabel. Like, he's kind of – I talked about him for five years. Like, my favorite coach that isn't – like, I mean, Drake May is – You did talk him up more than anybody, I think. He's the best week-to-week game player in the NFL. It's like Drake May is pretty unhatable. Totally. What are you going to hate about Drake May? And it's like Matt Collins comes there and doesn't wear shoes to the games and has this weird Instagram where he tries to tell you, here's how you get oil stains on your shirts from the dry. They're all pretty. Will Campbell, the rookie left tackle, goes on stage and is like, I will die for Drake. I'm like, how do you hate these people? When I do hate the team. Well, and you can hate the situation. You can hate the way they got here, like the easy schedule thing. This being like just the year too early aspect of the Patriots, I think is annoying. But you know what it really is? My friend Jackson, who you guys met, nailed this. You don't really hate teams. You hate their fans. Yeah, usually. And I just hate all the Boston fans I know in my life. Before Bill. Well, no, no, no. Before, believe me, my hatred of Boston. I mean, when I was 12, I remember doing like 1918 before. You guys don't even know what that fucking means. Red Sox hadn't. This is the thing. The Yankees and Red Sox fans would scream at each other because the Red Sox hadn't won a World Series since 1918. So that was the chant. Anytime Red Sox fans said anything, you're just like, 1918. It's pretty mean, yeah. Yeah, it was great. And, like, whatever. But the point is, I just, I don't want, I love the players and coaches on the Patriots, except Josh McDaniels, but I don't want their fans to be happy. I don't know what else to do other than hate the Patriots. It's, like, burned into my. Right, it's just tradition at this point. Yeah, it's like I was told to hate the Yankees growing up, but like how many times have the Yankees won in the 21st century? Like twice? Perfect example. I don't feel it. I don't feel it as much. The Patriots, I feel it. You don't hate the Yankees. You hate Yankee fans. Yeah, and the Yankee stuff, it's not – I was told to hate them. It was passed down to me to hate them. Right, right. Inherited hatred. Yes, it was inherited hatred. Blood field from McCoys. My grandfather and like watching them win in like the 50s and 60s over and over and over That where it all came from Like my father before him You know Yeah yeah So I don know Will we hate the Patriots if they win the Super Bowl I really do think that's where, I'm not going to look at Drake May and be like, fuck Drake May. Like Tom Brady, when he holds a sixth trophy, I'm like, god damn it. Well, sixth one you appreciate, the fourth one. I was like, god, are you kidding me? We're still doing this? Drake May, I'm kind of happy for him. I'm more like, I can't believe they, I can't believe his fans get to be happy again. that's really like i don't know and again so patriots fans have been mad at me of why don't i like the team i like the team i don't like the fans right i don't want i want to be happy is that crazy are you gonna be mad if bill simmons is happy you're gonna be upset about that yeah a little yes absolutely it's just it's just like really yeah it's just it's been how long have they not had enough have that have they not had enough yeah oh my god it's like please anyway uh but i think it's but on that note though it is worth like to separate the agent from the point but it is a pretty incredible i don't know if you guys want to talk about drake may first of rabel if the pages win this game it's pretty either one is pretty insane if it's drake may as a second year quarterback you know we're recording it's wednesday we don't know who's gonna win mvp but there's a chance drake may does win mvp and super bowl mvp and his second season which is pretty insane right right um even if he doesn't win the regular season MVP who gives a shit every MVP would trade it for Super Bowl anyway. Then I could talk about variable forever, but Drake May is probably worth it. I think Drake May, it's a great storyline. He seems like a good guy. He's a very exciting young player. I just think if he wins the Super Bowl, goes Super Bowl MVP, maybe the full MVP, this will be one of the greatest second year quarterbacks of all time. I'm like, what? I'm unprepared for this. You know what I mean? It just came out of nowhere. There's a lot of examples of quarterbacks having great second years, but I mean, he's up there with, you know, Lamar Jackson, I want to say, won an MVP in his second full season as a starter. Mahomes came in and he was immediately awesome. Tom Brady, I think in 2001, won the Super Bowl. That was like less, you know, his stats weren't as good, but he did it. And then Big Ben, Kurt Warner did it and won a Super Bowl. And then Dan Marino, second year in the league. There's a whole bunch of other examples. These are a few that I picked out, like some of the most impressive names on the list. But, I mean, Drake May's second season will go down in history as one of the craziest ascensions for any quarterback we've ever seen. If you go back, Heifetz, week one, we're like, is Drake May good? They lost to the Raiders. He looked terrible. His accuracy was all over the place. Bill was probably sweating like, oh, God, this guy actually isn't any good. What we talked about, we talked to some Patriots beat writers, and May was really inaccurate and kind of all over the place during the offseason and training camp. And we were just still wondering if he was any good. And now he's potentially having one of the greatest second seasons of any quarterback ever. And if he wins the Super Bowl, it's going to be cemented. The thing, I still kind of go back and forth. You could convince me about Stafford or May for MVP. But the case to May and what's so impressive about him is to me, it's very simple. The entire offense is about Drake May. And it's about doing a bunch of things that you don't usually see go together. And one, the rushing, the scramble, he's able to scramble. and obviously when the play breaks down, which I think is a skill that will make it better from next few years. But to me, it's really simple. It's that Drake may have led the NFL in completion percentage this year, but also adjusted net yards per attempt, which is he completed the most passes as a percentage, but he's throwing the ball really deep. And just to give you an idea, if you look at, if you just sort by pass completion percentage, like who is the highest completion percentage ever in a season? It's like Drew Brees, but his average pass was like five yards down. Like, he ranked first in completion percentage, but 30th in how far he was throwing down fields. Right, right. Tua, who was, like, first, like, the third best completion percentage ever, dead last in how far. He's, like, the completions because he's throwing screens to Tyreek Hill. Like, late career Drew Brees. Yeah, so Drake May this year has, like, the eighth or ninth best completion percentage ever. But he's second in the entire league in how far his average pass travels. Only behind, I think, like, Anthony Richardson. No, sorry, Anthony Richardson. Fuck. That was 2024. I forget. It was a back-up. What, he was chucking the ball down the field? Oh, now I'm forgetting who came in first this year. But it was like a short-term thing. It was like someone just slinging it down. Yeah, yeah. But like he's literally throwing it as far as possible. And so the deep accuracy combined with the completion percentage and the rushing, you just don't ever see that. His deep ball is unbelievable. His deep ball's hit rate feels like it's 80%. I mean, everything is right on the money. It's actually the thing I'm kind of most worried about with the Super Bowl is hitting those chunk plays. It's not like he's been playing with the best supporting cast. He's throwing on Matt Collins and Keyshawn Booty and Stefan Diggs, who's 32 years old, off an ACL. Hunter Henry, a rookie running back, Ramondre Stevenson, who can't hold on to the football. It's a ragtag group of randoms. It's extremely impressive. Again, I'm unprepared for it. I feel like everyone is. I feel like we blinked, and it's like Drake made the MVP. Last year, he won one game. How is he the MVP? And there's a little bit of like Stafford deserves one, right? You know, it's like Paul Newman won an Oscar in 1994 for some random movie. But it was like, yeah, but he deserves one. He's Paul Newman. I feel the same way about Stafford where I'm like, Stafford has been a top five quarterback in the league for a long time. So he kind of deserves it. I just looked it up. He's also not Anthony Richard. He's the one who's first at how far average pass downfield this season. No, it's Stafford. Oh, there you go. I'm confused for Anthony Richardson. But the difference Stafford's completion percentage this year is 65%, which is good. Sure. Drake made 72, which doesn't sound like a big difference. But the entire spectrum is like 59 to 73. Do you think his ability to run improves his completion percentage? Because if Stafford is under duress, he needs to throw the ball away. And if Drake May is under duress, he can scramble and complete a pass. I think adjusted completion percentage accounts for throwaways. Well, for staff. But to your point, the answer is, like, basically, does Drake May have a higher completion percentage because he runs 100%? Because you know who said that? Drake May. Because when he had one of those, we have too many stats now, but one of them, like, the first quarterback to have 50 rushing yards and a 90% completion percentage and a win. And Drake was asked, how do you feel about having a 90% completion percentage? And he was like, I actually left some throws in the field because there were a couple of reads where I actually didn't know what the read was, so I just ran. And he's like, but that's actually like a negative grade when we go through the film on Mondays. So like, it's not always as simple as looking at it like that. Completion percentage, fake stat. So Stafford's the MVP. It's funny because we do all the MVP shit. I'm like, yeah, but who'd you rather have for the game? I'm like, Stafford. So isn't it fucking him? Do we like that the MVP he comes a week before the Super Bowl or like three days before the Super Bowl? No. I think it should come right after the regular season ends. Why not? The only thing the NFL's bad at is how to do the All-Pro, the Pro Bowl, the awards. Or after the Super Bowl. Why is it in the middle? If it's a regular season award, give it right after the regular season. Why am I waiting a month? Well, no, they should do it to build the excitement. But now I've been influenced by everything I just saw in the playoffs. When they go to the 18-game season, and I think what they're going to do is add a second buy for the players and then they'll make the two-week gap between the championship games and the Super Bowl back to a one-week gap. Oh, really? You think so? I do because I think they want the Super Bowl to be president. Maybe I have my days wrong, but they want the Super Bowl to be president's day weekend. So that way they have to be a super holiday. But if they add a game and a buy, they have to push two weeks. Well, so right now the Super Bowl— Which would be past president's day weekend if they have to push two weeks. Yes, but you add a game and a buy is two weeks, so then you collapse this two-week gap back. I feel like the two-week gap is necessary. I mean, honestly, just from the media perspective, they want, like, all this time to build up anticipation and sell ads and do the whole thing. Yeah, but also think about— You've got to get the guys to fly to the city. They'd have to do that the next day. But think about how much more the Super Bowl will be an event if the day after the Super Bowl is, like, a federal holiday. Can they start a week earlier? That's what I think they would have to do. I think they need the two weeks. No, they do it because Labor Day is the end of the summer, and the NFL owns the fall. They love starting the Thursday after Labor Day. The two weeks, though, helps with, like, making sure everyone's healthy and playing in the game. if somebody gets a concussion. You say all we talk about for 12 days is like, this is too long between the games, and now you don't want to do this. I understand why the NFL does it. I don't necessarily like it as a fan, but I understand why the NFL does it. I think if they could get 18 games, and then they have two bye weeks during the... Which will fuck fantasy football, by the way. We've got to talk to someone at the NFL about not fucking over fantasy football with that. Okay, yeah. But, like, if that's... We'll put... Yeah, I'll talk to somebody. Well, we'll call him. Could you call Roger? Yeah, yeah, I'm on it. But I would rather, as a fan, Wouldn't you rather the Super Bowl be on a three-day weekend for President's Day? For sure, of course. And this is a week between the games? Should be President's Day. But then, so the week after, then you're like, hey, Pro Bowl and NFL Award. The NFL Honors, which they do, we're recording Wednesday. They're doing it on Thursday night. I'm like, they try to make it a whole show. Stop doing this stuff when the Super Bowl's in three days. When after the Super Bowl, we're watering a desert. We'll take whatever last drops. Like the Pro Bowl, now we'll watch because it's the end of pro football with the awards and everything. People won't give a shit. Once the Super Bowl's over, people don't care. They don't want, then it's like, now who won the MVP? The entire season's over? Yeah, because it's the last gasp for football, whereas the Super Bowl's in three days. Why don't we give a fuck about the Pro Bowl? When the Super Bowl's over and you're like, oh, there's no football left, now I'll turn it on, like this is the last thing I'm going to get. I would rather have the MVP right after the regular season ends. When everyone's talking about it. I'm open to that. I'm open to that. I think that's probably better than what we have now. This is just for us. They want to make it a thing. And then if you're not, if the actual playoff performance is not factored in, I just like don't like it because now I feel like the Drake May case has been hit because the last three weeks he hasn't played great. So now it feels weird if he wins the MVP because Stafford was good in the playoffs, better. It's also weird to have a two-week gap between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl and then give the MVP on a Thursday night before the game. That's kind of weird, too. It's like the Super Bowl is in two days. Why the fuck are we... Whatever. I don't really care that much. It's all I think about. The Ringer Fantasy Football Show is brought to you by FanDuel. Last call for football. And FanDuel is giving you a daily profit boost every single day leading up to Super Bowl 60. Today's 30% profit boost is on first and last touchdowns. And check back each day for a new daily boost because Fandle is giving everyone something extra to cheer for during football's final week. Play your game with Fandle, official sportsbook partner of Super Bowl 60. Must be 21 plus and present in select states or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming. Opt-in required bonus issued is non-withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wager amount. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fandle.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. I want to talk about Vrabel. Your guy. We just did, like, I feel like we actually did the rarest thing in sports, which is everyone just agreed that what Kursik Nitti did at Indiana was like, yeah, it's probably the best coaching performance in the history of college football. That became a mainstream thing. College football's been 150 years. You're like, that's the best thing we've ever seen. And it's not wrong. And it's not wrong. Roger Sherman did a great article for The Ringer. They're like, this might be the best short-term turnaround anyone's ever had of how low it was, how high you got immediately. And incredibly, if the Patriots win the Super Bowl, Mike Vrabel is quietly up there in terms of NFL, like immediate turnarounds. I how many coaches could have made the Super Bowl with this Patriots roster I would argue zero people other than Mike Vrabel could have done this I mean talk about an impossible question but yeah it's a short list is your point entering the season how was this Patriots team perceived Ron Montre Stevenson was even a top 20 running back no I thought it was gonna be irrelevant offensive line being generous we're like the Patriots being generous entering the year we're Like, this is a bottom five offensive line. Even if you like Will Campbell, you're like, he's a rookie left tackle. Receiving group, entering the year. We're like, this is a bottom five receiving group, and that's being generous. Probably bottom three. Like, the strength was Drake May, who had won one game. No, I think he had won three games, by the way. As a starter? He went three and nine, according to a pro football reference. I thought he won one game. As a starter. Well, that's what I saw. Did he go like one and ten or one and eleven as a starter last year? because Bursette won a couple I thought I don't know I mean he won one as a starter but it was against the Jets he threw three of six he threw six passes in the game I kind of hurt the middle I kind of take that from him no offense so he one of the wins was he came in the beginning one of the ones was against the Bills he threw one throw which I don't really give him credit for in week 18 so technically sure but I think he played three snaps that makes sense then alright But the point being, like, Drake Mays, second-year quarterback, who had had one win where he played more than 20 snaps in his start, was the strength along with the secondary. And everything else was just, like, free agents they added. It's like, Milt Williams is the best player they added in free agency. He was the sixth best player in the Eagles defense last year. Like, Carlton Davis. I don't know. If you look at this team, I don't think it's insulting to the players to be like, this is not a Super Bowl-caliber team when you look at it. It's the best. Like, if coaching is just the whole is supposed to be greater than the sum of the parts, how many teams do you remember being better than the sum of the parts more than this Patriots? For sure. Probably back to the 99 Rams where they went, like, I think they won four games, and the next year they won 13 and won the Super Bowl. Like, that's kind of the last time something like this really happened. Yeah, it's very rare. Yeah, it sucks because the schedule thing does cloud a lot of it, you know? But, I mean, at the end of the day, they have been playing really well in the last two months or whatever. it is. The individual games, when you look at each individual game, the Patriots won. They're easy. But winning the Super Bowl is not easy. I don't care what anyone says. Getting to the Super Bowl is not easy. And look, if they beat Seattle, they beat Seattle. The final three games the Patriots played, no matter what happened to Bo Nix, is like they were the three best defenses in the NFL. So Texans, Broncos, and Seahawks in 1-2-3. Like, even if, I mean, even if the corn toss, you have an odds of 80% chance of winning a corn toss, what are your odds of winning that thing 22 times in a row, basically? Like, the Patriots, what they've done I it's incredibly impressive and the most important part of all is Mike Vrabel said he would cut his dick off if he won the Super Bowl do you think he's a man of his word? when did he say that? he said it to Will Compton and Taylor Luan Will Compton played for Mike Vrabel I don't think he said he would cut his dick off if they win a Super Bowl I would do it too wait what was it? he would cut his dick off to win a Super Bowl But the quote... Once I win a Super Bowl, I'm cutting my dick off. Well, the actual quote was they were like... There's a distinction there. There is, actually. You have to cut your dick off first in order to win the Super Bowl. Right, and he said, you know what, I'm going to try it with my dick attached. He did actually later walk it back. He's like, actually, I can keep my dick and win a Super Bowl here. Okay. He actually walked it back. Do you know what he said? No. He said, I'll cut half of it off. I'll leave my wife six inches. That's a quote. Are you serious? Yes. Oh, my God. More than enough. Okay. Yeah, again, once again, can't dislike the Patriots. I'm having a hard time disliking the Patriots. It's just a bummer all these cool people are on the Pats. I know. It sucks. I just get the Patriots fans where you're like, man, everyone's on the Colts or something. Could they just be the worst, the most annoying players? Dude, I will say. If they were on the Cardinals, everybody would be like, wow, Cardinals. Kind of plucky. Imagine just you're a Patriots fan and you're like, oh, so everyone likes the Bills and is mad their coach. Their coach used the 9-11 hijackers as a motivational speech. My coach is like, I'll cut my dick off for the Super Bowl. Are you like that guy? I know. All right. I feel like enough Patriots talk. Yeah. Fuck. DK. Yeah. The other thing, so this is a good segue, I guess, because I think this season has felt weird. Like, the Patriots being in the Super Bowl feels weird. Drake May doing what he's done feels weird. Like, I don't think it's really sunk in that the Patriots are in the Super Bowl and, you know, Drake May has had this incredible season. I also think it's kind of weird the Seahawks are this good, and people are at least, you know, and I am too, like kind of underestimating just how good the Seahawks team can be if they win this game. My question is, and the storyline is, like, where are they going to be remembered in history in terms of like one of the great Super Bowl teams? Probably because it's against this Patriots team that doesn't have a great reputation. They won't go down as one of the greatest teams ever. But if you look at the stats, they're up there. In terms of DVOA, this is the fifth best team ever, according to DVOA. It does not feel that way. No. Is it because we're all the fifth best team ever? According to DVOA, and obviously that's just one metric, but it is a— Can you name the—who are the four above them? So the four above them are the 91 Washington team, which won a Super Bowl, the 85 Bears, who are fucking legendary. Like, you just say 85 Bears and then devoke something. The 2007 Patriots, who went undefeated until that Super Bowl where they lost to the Giants. They're the best team ever. I mean, yeah, they changed football forever. That was like a legendary team. And then the 1989 49ers won the Super Bowl. And I think we talked about them the other day. They had like an 18-point spread. Maybe that was that team in the Super Bowl. And they covered 19 points for the Super Bowl. Anyway, so these are four of the greatest teams, and especially the 85 Bears, I feel like, and the 2007 Patriots are two of the most legendary teams. Here's the thing. We say that, but, like, take all that out. Gut check. You have to answer immediately. Is this team better than the Legion and Boom Seahawks? No. I would probably take that defense over this defense. And I would take that offense over this offense. Do you think this Seahawks are better than last year's Eagles? Yes. Oh, interesting. I do think so. I think of the Eagles last year as one of the more dominant teams. That would be a hell of a game. Yeah, I would love to see that game. That would be a crazy game. I mean, that's an impossible question to answer. But, yeah, I do feel that way. I think the Seahawks is a third-tier all-time team. And that third tier sounds like an insulting thing, but I'm talking of Super Bowl winners, where it's like of the top tier teams. I know the undefeated Patriots didn't win the Super Bowl, but I think they're a top tier team. And like the 85 Bears, like whatever you want, whatever your version of the best team ever, probably the peak Niners, whatever. And then I think there's like the teams that I think we can say the 2000 Ravens, like that defense. Right, right, right. They're probably better. I think the Legion of Boom. I don't think it's insulting to be like, I think this team's probably slots in a little below that, which is like probably, you know, one of the 12 or 13 or 14 best. They're probably a top 15 NFL team ever. Bill talks about the size of the MVP trophy, depending on how good the season was. It's almost like the same thing with the Super Bowl trophy, where it's like, how big would the Seahawks Super Bowl trophy be if they win? I think it's like, it would not be a, that's the thing, it wouldn't be a, that's one of Bill's best takes ever, is how MVP trophies should be in trophies, and it's like, if the Legion of Boom crushing the Broncos' historic offense, that gets the standing cup size trophy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, this is probably, we would not be like, you get the Stanley Cup trophy. You get the second biggest or the third biggest would be the conversation. Yeah, I agree with all that, actually. I think, you know, obviously, I think if you look at the CX resume for the season, it's pretty impressive. I mean, they had, so they went 16-3, which, just saying that sounds pretty crazy. I mean, going into the Super Bowl, the Patriots are 17-3. Three losses are by three points each, right? Yeah, the CX have lost by nine total points in three losses. They beat the 49ers twice, who finished 12-5 the regular season. They beat the Rams twice, who finished 12-5. They beat the Texans, who finished 12-5. They beat the Jags, who finished 13-4. They beat the Steelers, who finished 10-7. They were frauds, no offense, but yeah. They also beat the Vikings, the Panthers, who were in the playoffs, the Falcons, the Patriots. So the Seahawks had one of the hardest schedules in the NFL this year, and the Patriots had the easiest schedule. I'll have you know, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the New England Patriots this year. There we go. So not frauds. That actually makes me feel better. That's right. Are we going to remember that one set exchange right there? Can we entertain for one second that the Patriots might get their fucking doors blown off? I've been entertaining it in my head all week. Well, because all my instincts are like, you know what? He's been entertaining it in his pants. The bloody doors off. You're like walking around like Ron Burgundy. It's the pleats. It's the pleats. Yeah. Look, I talked a ton about Vrabel. I think he's a great game planner. Him and Joshua Daniels are way more experienced than the guys at the coaches on the Seahawks side. like the Patriots haven't got blown out either in any of these games, but it's, I don't want to write off the Patriots. It's probably a close game, but I do keep wondering the Seahawks are so much fucking better than the Patriots, right? Drake may is a second year quarterback. And I'm like, if you just look at it, there are a couple of games that the game started and you're like, Oh my God, the defensive line is so much better than the O line. Like the chiefs Eagles last year starts. And you're like, Oh my God, the bucks chief Superbowl. And I'm kind of like DK outside. aren't all of the Seahawks defensive linemen basically all better than the guy across from them? Like, lately, every single one is better than the guy they're laying on. Yeah. Does anything else really matter? I mean, maybe not. The way that I look at this game, and I think you're dead on, there is a world in which the Seahawks just dominate. I just look at the difference between the AFC and the NFC, and it does help the Patriots, I think, that they played three really good defenses. Basically, three of the top defenses in the AFC they had to beat to get here. but they weren't particularly impressive on offense in any of those games and those other teams' offenses were all pretty bad. I'm just looking at, again, going through who the Seahawks beat this year. They've been through the freaking gauntlet and they might just be way better than the Patriots. The Seahawks have decided to name their defense the dark side and I do think that the Patriots winning this game, it's like they have to be Luke Skywalker. Drake may have to be Luke Skywalker and we don't know what the deal is with Drake May's shoulder or any of this stuff, but he has to literally do the Death Star running. He has to hit three to four deep shots and he has to hit two or three. What are we supposed to rename it? What do you want me to call it? I didn't say anything. You know what you did. You know what you did. You're right, though. He has to hit. Drake May has to... Now I'm watching my words. Keep going. with playing scared. Jake May has to have three or four really... He's got to hit the Seahawks from behind. Just the back shots to the back of the end zone. Yeah. Yeah. Got to clap their cheeks if you will. I've never... Something about back shots I can't really move on. Back shots. Back shots is a crazy phrase. I don't know how, but I heard everyone over there stop moving. I heard them stop moving. They all froze. Isn't it weird that we talk like this, but we're at work. I know we're lucky that we do this for a while that's crazy anyway you got an email you have a calendar invite now yeah anyway so Drake may ask to do back shots Drake may ask to do back shots is that yes is that our breakout keys to victory we'll have our own graphic keys to victory back shots yeah yeah minimum four I don't remember what I was saying you were saying they have to thread the needle to win this game basically Yeah, it's like there's a very specific. It has to be a perfect game, and a couple things also have to go their way. But part of me is like, am I just mythologizing Mike Vrabel in my head? It's impressive they got this far. Also, the Seahawks are going to blow their fucking doors off. I mean, I hope that's true, but I don't really feel that that will happen. Me neither, but I keep thinking, like, why not? If anything, I just think it's maybe the Seahawks' offense can't get moving. But I do think the Patriots, like, and this is, I wish we had talked about this more, the Patriots-Broncos game, so much of that conversation was everyone's like, you know, the snow, man, the weather affects these games. We should play these games indoors maybe. The snow's overrated. That game sucked before it started snowing. Yeah, even in the first half. Granted, it was like eight degrees, but yes, it did suck. But they could not move the ball an inch when it was not snowing. The Patriots have had 12 quarters of offense in the three playoffs. The three playoff games, they've had 12 quarters. They have probably had four good drives on offense the entire time, and Jakeman's been very impressive. But if this shoulder injury is anything more than a smoke signal, I'm not saying it's part... I do think it's more possible than you think that it actually kind of looks like the other Seahawks Broncos Super Bowl. Yeah. The only fear is that the offensive line stuff is a real problem. And both offensive lines are vulnerable. That's the issue, yeah. I watched a compilation today of the Seahawks right guard just getting abused. Anthony Bradford, yeah. Man. He is the weak link, man. It is a little bit nerve-wracking. Milton Williams, I do think that is the key. Milton Williams, just the Patriots. Guys you've never heard of. Corey Durden on the Patriots. It's a random defensive tackle. It's like probably way better. The third string defensive tackle of the Patriots is better than the starting guard. So the only fear is that they just like blow everything up and force Darnold to panic. Yeah, yeah. And he throws a pick or two, and the game is closer than you expect in the third quarter. Yes, I think that's the script of a Patriots win. Yes. The other part that I think is essential to a Patriots win, and I've been thinking of this more, and I just... Which is funny, because remember the Chiefs losing to the Bucs? it was like the defensive line just dominated Mahomes and rattled them and they couldn't win. And they were all injured along the interior line. And that offense was fucking incredible. Yeah it goes like that Defense wins championships Everyone says offense wins championships Maybe it the opposite actually Maybe it defense The other thing I will say though just if the Patriots win because that part of it I do think there's a world... Jackson Smith and Jigba is over-under 95 yards. Part of me is like, Vrabel played for Belichick for like 12 years. I couldn't agree more. Isn't the... Just take him out again. Yes, that will be one of my Ringer 107 offers to you guys. I'm like, do you think... They've had two weeks, and do you think Vrabel's going to be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know how they just get JSN the ball wherever. We're going to let him do that. No way! It's going to be like that first Rams-Seahawks game this season where JSN, did he have a catch in the first half? I don't think so. And then A.G. Barner got 12 targets and 10 catches in that game. And they're like, you have to throw the ball to Barner and Cooper Cup and they have to break them tackles. And JSN's not getting the ball. And Darnold threw four fucking interceptions in that game. I mean, you know, Christian Gonzalez is one of the best corners in the league, but even if the Seahawks do things to move JSN around, like the Patriots switching to zone or doing whatever they can to bracket him and keep him. To me, that is like, we always joke about this after games, where it's like, oh, what'd they do? And A.J. Brown's like, eh, they put a safety over the top of me. So I had zero catches. I'm like, Belichick. Is that easy? Well, it's like, all this shit Belichick used to do, I would always think like, that always sounds like the simplest solution. It's like the most obvious solution. Like their best player, we'll just double team them and make them figure it out. So I do think with JSN, I'm like, 100 yards is a lot. I think Christian Gonzalez is going to be, maybe not shadowing him is the right word, because he doesn't really follow him the inside nickel, but I think that on the outside, it's going to be Christian Gonzalez on him. But if it's not Christian Gonzalez, whether it's Carlton Davis outside or Marcus Jones, it's this simple. Jackson Smith and Jig was in the slide. He's going to fucking cook Marcus Jones. He cannot guard him one-on-one. When he's inside, I think he's getting more or less doubled every play, and then only Gonzalez is going to handle him one-on-one. If A.J. Barner has to cook Robert Spillane in pass coverage to win, then I'm like, alright, that is what it is. But yeah, I agree. There's a world where I'm looking at J.S. since 95 yards and I'm like, he might have 16 yards in this game, and that's the story of the game. It's like if the Patriots win, it's because of JSN, like, two catches for 19 yards. And you know what? He could have 95 in the first half, but I guess too. Yeah, I was going to say, and this is from Aaron Schatz from his DVOA preview of the Super Bowl, which is awesome, FTN. The Patriots ranked 31st during the regular season at covering number one receivers. So they didn't do that for the rest of the year. Maybe they'll do that in this game and change things up, which actually would make a lot of sense. but they were just not very good at taking away opposing teams. Not the same in terms of a big number one receiver, but it reminds me of the last Patriots Super Bowl, which is the other Patriots-Rams Super Bowl, where Sean McVay and his wonderful, cool offense ran in and then went punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, pick, punt, fumble. By the way, that's one of the craziest strategic victories in NFL history, right? Like completely taking away that entire offense. They had no answer. It was a weirdly crazy full circle storybook ending to Belichick's tenure as the Patriots coach because he beat the Rams as two touchdown underdogs with Kurt Warner. And he was like Marshall Fox, the quarterback of this team. And we are going to shut him down and we're going to just dare that. We're going to basically Mike Martz wants to prove himself to pass the ball. So we're going to let them run and they're not going to do it. Like it is great. Belichick himself described it as they're an uptempo basketball team. We're going to slow them down, make them play like slow tempo basketball. And they're not going to they're not going to like it. Half court. And then you go all the way 20 years later and Belichick's beating up a crazy record-breaking Rams offense again. I do think the JSN thing is kind of like Marshall Falk in that 2000 Super Bowl where it's like, the offense is really a lot about him. And I do think they're like, if JSN can't do it, it's going to gum everything up. Anyway. It's going to be fun. I mean, it'll be a good chess match. I do think you're right, though. They probably will try and take JSN out of it. If the Seahawks do win, the other thing I was thinking about for storyline coming out of this is just how underratedly good the Seahawks have been in the 21st century. The fact that the Pats have been to 10 Super Bowls this century, the Chiefs have been to five, and the Seahawks are next with four. They've been to one in each decade. They were two in the 2010s. But pretty impressive that they've had three different eras that have all taken them to the Super Bowl. You had the Matt Hasselbeck era. They were in the Super Bowl against the Steelers. They had two in the Pete Carroll era, Legion of Boom with Russ. One they won, one they lost. And then the Russell Wilson thing crashing and burning and Pete Carroll leaving and then just immediately turning around, crushing their first round picks over the last like three years and just getting right back to the super bowl i don't know i just think the seahawks are one of the the more underrated under discussed competent organizations in the nfl like everybody talks about the steelers no losing seasons blah blah blah the steelers aren't making super bowls or winning playoff it's been a long time what the seahawks have been able to do and what schneider has been able to do dude looking at their first round picks since 2022 charles cross charles cross devon woma dooday taros quast uh devin with a spoon jackson smith and jigma bywin murphy and gway zabel pretty good don't forget anthony blasphemy and then fucking you know signing sam darnold yeah really impressive yeah no i think that's i think that's a great point you know if you we don't i don't think people think of seattle that way yeah i think i agree with that and i got lucky enough to like really get into the seahawks starting around like 2010 you know that was when i started covering them, and I was lucky enough to write as Carroll got hired. If you look at since 2010, if you narrow it down to since 2010, just search this, the teams with more wins, and so like the last 15 years, Patriots, Chiefs, that makes sense, Packers, Steelers, and Seahawks. That's the list. I don't think the Seahawks, maybe nationally, I don't know if they get that kind of respect. I feel like they don't. To your point, in our lifetime, Well, Craig and I's lifetime. So I last like since 1993, 1994, the Seahawks have had under seven wins in a season twice. Yeah. That's why it was so not controversial is not the right word, but it was kind of a hard decision. It reminded me of the Tomlin thing. It was a hard decision to move on from Pete because he had brought Seattle so much consistent. They were consistently competitive at the very least. But that's not just Pete. I'm saying, like, since 1992, they've had under seven wins twice. They're just an incredibly competent organization. Yes. Is that right? I'm looking right now. They literally had, like, I say 7-10, I think, is a good mark because it's like, everyone's like, Tomlin, no losing, see 8-8. 7-10 means you almost went 500. It's like you weren't pathetic. Like, you know, you weren't going to get the number one. You didn't have any, like, the terrible, terrible years. Yeah, you were almost 500. Well, and back then it was 7-9. Exactly. So 2008, they had four wins. 2009, they had five wins. Other than that, they have not had under seven wins since 1992. You want to know the season that I had season tickets to the Seahawks? 2015? 2008. Was it like the last Matt Hasselbeck season? No, no, Hasselbeck lasted longer than that. Sorry, no, actually, I think it was 2009. It was the Jim Mora era. Oh, yeah. To your point about the competency, though, I bring up that number, seven wins, because the Giants have had under seven wins seven times since I started working here. I'm telling you, scoring touchdowns helps. To underscore how competent the Seahawks are, there was a stretch with Pete Carroll where they did not lose a game by more than 10 points for 95 games. Yeah, yeah. And the other thing is... 95 games they didn't lose by more than 10? But the similarity with all that, though, the similarity, especially between the Carroll ones and this one, is the drafting is amazing. The Patriots were kind of weirdly... I was talking about Austin, about Austin Gale. I heard the ringer about this before the show. But the Patriots kind of built this team on the fly with free agency. The Seahawks, all these players are drafted. Yes. And, like, your point about John Schneider and everyone, like, the GM. But the Patriots, sorry, the Seahawks are, like, the example of, like, when we go to the draft show and talk about the draft, it's like, it's funny, because sometimes you're like, why are we talking about the draft so much? It's like the story of teams that win Super Bowls and are competitive, for the most part, is just teams that hit a lot of draft picks in a row. Right. Over and over. All of them are the same. It's the power-up mushroom of the NFL. Because, yeah, it just financially gives you so much, you know, breathing room. But when Carroll and Schneider came in at the same time, right, 2010, their first three years, Schneider drafted Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Cam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Malcolm Smith, and Byron Maxwell. You said that fast, but it's like five Hall of Famers. He drafted all those guys. And Russell Wilson, of course. Five Hall of Famers and then also Russell Wilson. Well, and now, ten years later, he just did it again with Cross, Witherspoon, and Jigba, Murphy, Zabel. He just did it again. And also, while we're here, the NFL Honest hasn't happened yet. I feel very – I said this at the end of the regular season, but I actually – I mean, obviously, it's easier now because they made the Super Bowl. I think the Seahawks should have offensive and defensive rookie of the year. I think Nick Aminwari should be the defensive rookie of the year over Carson Schlesinger, the linebacker. He had a great season for the Browns, but I'm kind of like, Nick Aminwari has unlocked the best defense in the NFL, and the Seahawks are the best defense in probably three or four years. He's filled up the stat sheet and had a lot of stats, but he's not the transformational type of player that changed their defense, right? Yes, exactly. I like the way I'm still doing that. Nick Aminwari is a transformational player on the best defense in a few years. and then I think the offensive rookie of the year should be Gray Zabel who has changed your offensive line the biggest weakness in Seattle and we're going to give the rookie of the year to Ted Aroa McMillan because he had a meager 1,000 yard season like a solid year as a receiver I don't want to poo poo a 1,000 yard season but yes here's the thing, who actually had a bigger impact on their team's season? Ted Aroa McMillan or Gray Zabel? I think it's freaking Gray Zabel I don't know Yes, I agree. I think because he stabilized an offensive line that was known as legitimately one of the worst in the NFL last year. Yeah, and I don't mean to be contrarian. Be like, an offensive lineman deserves the Rookie of the Year. It's like, it's for a cool award. It's for cool players. It's for cool to get it. But you need a year where Cam Ward, the Titans sucked, and he doesn't deserve it. Jackson Dart didn't play enough games to get Rookie of the Year. Tyler Schreck didn't play enough games to get Rookie of the Year. Ashton Gentry, where did the Raiders finish in yards per carat? You know what's funny? I saw something about Ashton Gentry had better stats than Trent Richardson, and Trent Richardson won Rookie of the Year. Oh, really? Fitting. But that's kind of my point. Yeah, it's like a weird year. Ralf is a lemon. Don't say those two names together, by the way. How dare you? Anything else in the game? I wanted to talk about Bad Bunny, but anything else in the game itself? How much do you think we're going to learn about these two teams? We're going to learn a lot about these teams. I think we're going to learn a lot. And I'm going to be prepared for 2026 after this game. Must win? Is it a must win game? No, not quite. I'm not ready to go that far now I have a take however long we've been doing this is this the least must win Super Bowl you can remember for the Patriots is it actually among must win games, Super Bowl generally is a must win game is it really a must win game for the Patriots he's right Daniel it's like everyone's just happy to be here is it a must win game can we call Bill and ask him if it's a must win game I want to pull up the Super Bowls I mean like look last year Chiefs-Eagles 3-peat for the Chiefs, huge Eagles, fantastic team more of a must-win game Chiefs-Niners, year before that Niners and Eagles had already lost to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, so that's a revenge matchup Yes, and you're right Niners fighting to get that 6th ring Shanahan needing it desperately year before that, Chiefs-Eagles maybe that one was less must-win Josh McDaniels been to 10 Super Bowls Mike Vrabel won 3 Rams-Bengals? Bengals didn't need it. No. It was his second year in the league. They were happy to be there. Of course they needed it. It wasn't really a must win. They don't need it like Shanahan needs a Super Bowl. Every time Shanahan loses a Super Bowl, I'm like, this man might die. Did the Rams need it? It wasn't a must win. Sean McVay was 33 years old when that happened. It was a nice-to-have for Matt Stafford. It didn't need it. I would say that's the most recent. Which game is more must-win, this game or Rams-Bengals? I think it's got to be I think Rams-Bangles is more must-win Because the Patriots are so young I hate this so much when I kind of feel that too This is the stupidest conversation we've ever had But I do think it was the Rams Because that was almost at the end of his career He was getting towards the end of his career But he languished on a bad team forever The only thing holding him back from the Hall of Fame Is getting a Super Bowl He might not have that opportunity anymore It's hard to get back to the big game Sorry I said the big game. I don't know why I did that. What is it, dude? You can't say Super Bowl. You can't say Super Bowl on commercial. I have pretended to understand this for so long. Why can we say it on this podcast on Netflix? Don't go barking up that tree, Craig. I don't get it. Don't pull on threads you don't want to know the answer to. Yeah, so not a must-win game for the Patriots. It's really nice. It's last call for football, and to celebrate the end of the season, Fandles running a $6 million touchdown jackpot. Just opt in, place an anytime touchdown bet, and if your guy scores first or last, you win a share of the prize pot. Is it too easy to just be like, bet Jackson, Smith, and J.B. Is that our groundbreaking analysis? He's good. This is just to score first or last in the game? Then you win a share of the jackpot or the prize pot. So it doesn't matter which player it is. A player that's less likely to score is not more valuable, or does that matter? because then I would be like throwing A.J. Barner for a tush-push to end the game. I mean, it definitely matters. A little A.J. Barner action? I think, I mean, definitely. I mean, Ramondre's plus money. Ramondre's like one and a half to one. Oh, I see. No, that definitely matters, I think. I always feel like, you know, quarterbacks, like, I would do Drake May rushing to end the game or I would do A.J. Barner tush-push to end the game. Is Drake May, Darnold's eight, almost nine to one to score a touchdown, and Drake May is like three to one. Is Drake May actually three times more likely to run into touchdown than Darnold? Obviously, Drake May does it. Yeah, part of me just... Yeah, fine. I think so, yeah. Yeah, probably how the numbers bear out. Part of me is like, I kind of think Darnold could run in a touchdown. Yeah, for sure. But that would feel more unscripted than planned. Drake May... Well, you only had zero this year. Right. I was actually trying to remember any of them. He has no touchdowns this year. Right. So they won't see it coming. Yeah. All right, that's my pick. Save it for last. That's my pick is Darnold. You're taking what, JSN? Yeah. All right. I'll take Drake May. Okay. because he's done it before a lot. I get it. Okay. Head to Fandle and celebrate the last call for football every day leading up to Super Bowl 60. I just want to mention the Bad Bunny. We'll give you Bad Bunny. No, no Bad Bunny, I guess. I just wanted to mention the Bad Bunny thing because I think there's going to be everyone is going to at least either feel or have someone in the Super Bowl. It will be a narrative. People are going to be like, no, it's in Spanish. I love Bad Bunny. Yeah? Yeah, I think he's great. My brother is funny. You like him on SNL probably, right? Love him on SNL. I don't listen to his music a whole lot, but I really like him as a person. He's like the Sting thing. He's funny. I don't really listen to his music, but I like his vibe. Sting, I'd call him a hero of mine. Yeah. My brother speaks fluent Spanish, and so he actually has been listening to that album, I Wish I Took More Photos, like the entire time, and he's like, you should play, he's playing it for me, and I'm like, oh, you actually know all the words, don't you? And he's like, yeah. I'm like, oh, yeah, okay. But like, I wanted to mention the Bad Bunny thing just because, we talked about this on the press box this week, Brian Curtis, but just the... You weren't there. No, you weren't invited. I was working. Sure. But basically just the whole, like, oh, this isn't for me. Like, oh, he's in Spanish. This show isn't for me. And I just want to be like, if someone says, like, yeah, no, it's not. Because you're watching the Super Bowl. And the point of the halftime show is to get people not watching the Super Bowl to turn the game on. And Bad Bunny is, like, the perfect person for the NFL because they need to expand beyond just that they've grown the domestic game as much as they can. It's a ridiculous argument. I know. And it's just like they literally there are 600 million people between the Grammy. He's the biggest artist in the world. And a crazy and but a crazy percentage of the people who listen to the biggest, a crazy big percentage of the biggest musical audience are the people. The NFL is trying to be like, turn on the game. And so it's I actually am curious. I don't know how much without Bad Bunny, the game would drop in viewership because like Mahomes isn't in it. I don't know how much that matters, but I kind of wonder if Bad Bunny like part of me just keeps wondering. I don't know how ratings even work these days. I kind of wonder if he's going to shatter it. He's going to bring like 20. I don't know. Last year, I think the Super Bowl, it used to be 100, 10, 115. Last year, they changed the count to 130. Is Bad Bunny going to bring like 20 million people to this just by himself? I don't know. I don't know if anyone gives a shit. Maybe. Yeah, we just did a ratings prediction on the episode of the town that comes out tomorrow. But spoiler, I took the over. I think it will be the most watched Super Bowl ever because last year was the previous record holder. It's like 128 million people watched Super Bowl last year. I think this one's going to break it. And part of the rationale is because of Bad Bunny. Yeah, it's not because the Seahawks and Pats have the juice. I think they're big enough markets and it's good enough. I think that's fine. But that was part of it. Also, NBC weirdly has the most watched game ratings-wise of the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and 2010s. The most watched Super Bowl for all four decades has always been on NBC. and NBC had the last Seahawks Patriots Super Bowl in 2015 14 It was January of 2015 That was the most watched Super Bowl of the 2010s So NBC is the Patriots of the networks Yeah Are they cheating? NBC? Yeah, or are they just good? They just got Collinsworth Yeah, same thing, it's Tariq's first time Is it time? Have we talked about Is he going to have any big surprise guests? I have no fucking idea. Tariqo? Oh, no, Bad Bunny. That makes more sense. Yeah. I'm not the brightest. No clue. There was odds for it. Who were they? Do you know? Latin artists that I'm not super familiar with. I don't know. I felt out of my depth last year being like, here's three white men explaining Kendrick Lamar's performance. And now I'm like, yeah, no. I can't pretend that I'm a big Bad Bunny fan because I don't listen to a lot of his music. But I like him a lot. He was the only funny part of Javi Gilmore, too. I loved his... He was the only funny part of Javi. He was the funniest guy of the whole thing. He's good, man. The Shrek digital short on SNL. Oh, I've seen that, yeah. With Please Don't Disturb. It was really funny. Yeah. I hope he's in Shrek 5. He should be. That's a no-brainer. Shrek? It's a free idea. When's Shrek 5 coming out? Next year. What? Yeah, Shrek 5. Bad Bunny's got to be in that. When did Shrek 4 come out? Ooh, I don't know that. I haven't... I think the... I don't think I've seen that. Is Shrek, like, the biggest... Is Shrek, like, the most... 2010. Did Shrek surpass SpongeBob as, like, the most widely beloved cultural thing from our childhood? Yeah. It's probably the most, like, the movie version of Spongebob. Yeah. Yeah. It just feels like it has lived larger. Like, I actually can't believe how long. It feels like it's surpassed every other movie from my entire childhood. Yeah, that's probably right. It is. I mean, the first Shrek is the only one I really care about. Like, the second one's fine. The person boots is fine. Tell you guys something. I haven't told you guys this yet. You've never seen Shrek. No. Stop. That would, I'd be worried about that getting me canceled. All-time soundtrack. Oh. I thought that guy wrote Hallelujah for like forever. I saw Shrek when I was like seven. I'm like, this thing rips. And then I was like, this song is Paul Newman. The salad dressing guy? Yeah. The salad dressing guy? We were talking to Austin Gale. I'm going to out him. And I was like, have you seen any movies lately? He's like, oh, I just watched The Sting because you guys did it on the rewatchables, whatever. He's like, Redford's so good. And he's like, who was the old guy in it with him? Oh, no. I was like, Paul Newman? The salad dressing guy. He was great. Wait, are we doxing people? I don't want to dox it. No, no, no. Would you have other doxes? I think that's okay. I'm not doxing anyone. Who's the old guy? We can cut that if we want to. What? Who's the old guy? Yeah. Paul Newman? That's so funny. I liked him. He has something. He's got like... He has a look about him. Yeah, he has like blue eyes or something. He has a way. I think I would have cast him in more. Austin, have you not seen Butch Cassidy in The Sundance Kid? No, he's shaking his head now. Watch that next. Redford and Newman. You know what's funny? You know how last episode I think we ended with DK thought Tango and Cash and Turner and Hooch and got him confused? I can't remember Tango and Cash or Butch Dance and the Sundance Kid. When I said Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, I'm like remembering the movie and I'm like, which one was which? He named Sundance Film Festival after that character, right? I think. That's where that comes from. That makes a lot of sense. I don't know where the phrase the Sundance Kid comes from. I think it was a real person. Was it? Now I'm feeling unsure about that. Hold on. I don't know where that comes from, what that means. This just sounds like a cool old-timey. It was based loosely on fact. Okay. The real Sundance Kid. Is Sundance like an area in the Rocky Mountains or something? Like the Sundance Valley? I have no idea. I don't know. The Sundance Kid was Harry Alonzo Longabout. He was a silent Frank. He died in 1908. He was an outlaw in Butch Cassidy's gang. Wild Bunch. The Wild Bunch. Yeah. But I want to know where... The Wild Bunch is a great posse name, don't you think? Well, they also, what's the song with Wild Bunch? It's a crazy popular, they're like a, not a one-in-one. Why? Oh, it's because Wild Tra... Here it is. He was traveling across 3V Ranch near Sundance, Wyoming. Oh, so he didn't name it. So it is based on the place. But maybe that was named after the guy. You think Sundance, Wyoming was named after the Sundance Kid? Let's see. The Sundance Kid was born in 1867. No, there's no way Sundance, Wyoming was named after that. Oh, no, I'm sorry. I thought, okay. What are you talking about? I misunderstood. You named the Sundance Kid because he was traveling through Sundance, Wyoming. No, no, no. I misunderstood what you said. I thought you were talking about Redford naming the ballot. I was trying to get to the etymology of Sundance. I just didn't listen correctly. I'm going to visit Sundance, Wyoming next. That'll be my next vacation. All right. Ringer 107. All right. We have to talk. So today's Ringer 107 is brought to you by Fandle. We've talked about this whole season. This long nightmare is almost over. We've been picking games at the end of each season all year, and we're competing against Bill and Sal and Dabundo and JJ and Raheem. Gambling experts. All the gambling people. I need to find. They all relentlessly mocked us before the season about coming in last. Guess what? Bill said fake lines, and we were like plus 700. Dead last. Dead last. So not only are they guaranteed to not. We are in first place. Shiel Kapati here at the Ringer is one spot behind us and all of the other people are locked into under 500 fighting for last place. Clowns. Absolute clowns. Bill promised us a trip to Las Vegas for the winner and Bill... We gotta fight a paper trail on that. It's been cancelled. The trip to Las Vegas that was promised to us for the winner has been cancelled. Yeah, I'm looking here. We're in 53 and 50. Not bad. Above 500, we're still technically probably losing money. If we go 0-4 this week, we could go below 500. Anything else, we're above 500. Yeah, yeah. We're a game ahead of Sheil. So I kind of don't want to change our process. I don't want to try to be like, what's Sheil going to do? I just want to – Well, how many bets do we have to make? Four? Four. It would be funny if we got the number wrong and won anyway. We're just going to grip it and rip it. We're going to take Seattle minus 4.5. No conversation. Yeah. Do you want to snag some unders? No one takes those. The thing I really – That's where I would lean. Okay. What unders? do you want? I don't know. Game total? Darnold? Passing under? What is it? I don't care. Part of me thinks, let's not look at any of the totals and still make our bet. That worked for us last week. I said Drake made over rushing yards, didn't know what it was. Can I suggest something? I mentioned this in the other show, but I just had a gut instinct when I first saw it, which is the Patriots' first drive result is a punt. I just think it's going to happen. It's minus 120. It counts. If you look at the... It's plus 150. It depends what you look. But, like, I just kind of think that's going to happen immediately. And, like, yes, maybe the Patriots get a shot play in their first play and they get a field goal or whatever. But I'm like, they're going to, like, run the ball and they've got stuff. They'll be second and ten. And they're just going to punt. And then we'll just win one immediately. Craig. I know you said don't tell you the numbers, but can I tell you the numbers? Because you're convicted on it already. You want it. Darnold, the over-under for Darnold passing yards is 228.5. Drake Mays, 220.5. I think we take... Under on Drake? Drake. What is Drake saying? 220.5. So the other question we could have is, Drake may just... What is his number for completions? It is 20.5 for Drake. Drake, by the way, I think I have these stats correct, has averaged 177 passing yards in the playoffs in the last three games. Should we just blindly do that, Drake may under passing yards? I was going to ask him again what the number is, Maybe we shouldn't know. Don't we think the CFD is good? And if the Patriots win this game because it's like they got Darnold to do dumb shit? The most completions he had in a game in the playoffs is 17 Should we do the under and passing yards 17 16 and 10 Well here the thing Drake May is such a good deep ball thrower Should we take the under on the completions, not the yards? Well, it depends because it's going to be threes and layups, I think, for the Patriots. It's going to be a lot of short completions because that's what the Seahawks defense funnels you to with a few calculated deep shots. Let me hit you with one. What's Ken Walker's rushing total? I'd like to take that under. It's high. it's really high. I think it's like... My gut says that's going to go under. No, he's going to play a ton. 73.5. I don't think he's coming off the field. I do think they're going to have a hard time running. It feels high to me. I agree, though. If he makes an impact, it's probably as a receiver. Ken Walker under. What has K-Bone done? Can we do the JSN under on 95, or is that crazy? Kenneth Walker, 62 yards against the Rams, 116 against the Niners. And then if you go back one more, 63 against the Niners. Can I throw one other one at you guys that I just saw and, like, immediately was like, we should just bet this. And I kind of like – I think we've done it our best all year when we haven't thought about it at all. Okay. Yeah. A.J. Barnard to get one rushing yard. Oh, for the push push? It's just – they do the push push. They kind of do it every other week. But it's like – Is that actually the over-under? It counts and everything. It's plus 115, actually. I kind of don't care. Is it a half-shot? Is it a half yard? It just needs one yard or more. You get one carry for one yard, we win again. We win the bet. Don't you just think that's going to happen? I like that. It does require them being in fourth and short. Fourth and short, yes. It does. It might not happen, but I don't know. Here's the thing. If you take everything else out. I don't hate it. Isn't that just going to happen? That's going to happen. That one doesn't tickle me in the same way that the others do. But I like to lay my trust in you two if you feel strongly about it. That's more important to me is that you care about it. What was the Kendrick Walker line? 73 and a half. And you said you really like the JSN under 93 and a half. It's scary to bet against JSN. I also, what I don't like about the unders is what I like about what we've been doing for the playoffs. And, you know, I'm the captain. We should just bet all unders all the time. But I like, and we are winning in part because we just have blindly been like, we're not putting ourselves into position to root against Seattle. So my fear with JSN is, are we going to be subconsciously upset that JSN catches a 30-yard pass? I kind of don't want to feel that way during the game. I don't think that matters, really. It's because you don't care about this as much as a win. I think it's going to be a low-scoring game. That's how I feel about it. Why don't you take the under on the game total? Yeah, that was what I was going to say. But if JSN has a 60-yard touchdown, we're going to be like, shit, lost the bet. I don't want to feel that way. DK, I'm worried that you don't see the importance of the Ringer 107 competition. DK's like, my team's in the Super Bowl, and we're like, dude, this is what I'm doing. I've got more at stake here. I'm a little concerned that you don't understand the gravity of the situation. Okay. The total is 45.5 right now. You want the under? Yeah. Part of me is like, well, I was going to say that. Do you actually think the Seahawks defense is one of the 10 or 15 best defenses in the history of football? NFL football? Yeah, they're pretty fucking good. Should we just take Patriots under 20 and a half points and be like, if the Patriots are going to win this game, it's going to have to be with 17 to 12 or something. Like, should we just take Patriots under 20 and a half? Well, do you like that more than just banking on the whole game being under 46 points? Kind of. Did you, do you have a score prediction in your head? No. I think mine was 16 to 10. I think this game is going to be like 20 to 17. if New England wins, and it could be like 35-13 if Seattle wins. That's the thing. So then maybe we do go with it. Is the Patriots under 20.5? Maybe. Pats under 20.5 is not bad. God, it's going to suck if the Patriots win. Fuck. Can I throw out something else as a traitor move? Is there a world we should play both sides so we come out on top? Because you realize that we just win one bet, we guarantee being over 500. So part of me is like, is there a world where we should do like Drake May over 23.5-10, to strike me under 23. No, let's just bet heads and tails. Yeah. Oh, there we go. Just guarantee a dub. Should we just do heads and tails and just go two and two and dare shield and dare shield and win three bets? Yeah, because we could guarantee going two and two. Should we just do that? That's pretty funny. The card when they put out the grab just says Seahawks like minus four and a half Patriots plus four and a half. I feel like that kind of goes against the ethos that we've had all year, which is fun. I know, we are kind of gaming it. Yeah. But sure, it looks like we care. Which we need to win, which we care about but also seem like we don't. Here's what we're turnkey on. Seattle minus four and a half. I like, Heivitz feels strongly about the Patriots' first drive ending in a punt. And maybe we like pass under twenty and a half. That's three locked in. Should we put heads on the coin toss to fuck with them? That would be kind of an all-time flex. Wait, why don't we do six minus four and a half heads on the coin toss and we put that straight up in? Yeah. Heads on the coin toss and then... Alright, we have it then. I mean, punt under twenty and a half, Seahawks minus four and a half, and heads. Can we wait for a second? Do you feel that good about a punt? I just kind of think it's going to happen. I can't explain it, but I can't you just... First of all, the thought of starting 2-0 is incredible. We just hit heads. I will say that... Then they punt. Can we linger in two seconds? Toss his tails, and then the Patriots just get a meager field goal in the first drive. We start 0-2. Are we going to be upset? Yeah, what do you mean? Is that worse? I'm going to be bummed if 30 seconds into the game we're 0-2. Is that worse than the joy of starting 2-0 on a 20 toss at a punt? I don't think so. I think the joy of that is thrilling. Is this the way that we're deciding this? Who cares? So Seahawks minus 4.5, Pats first drives a punt. Pats under 20.5, heads on the 20 toss. Sure. Today's Ringer 107 is brought to you by Fandle. Odd subject to change. Okay. You guys want to do an email or two? Get out of here? Let's do it. I just sent the odds into the guy who does it. Just typing in heads on coin toss and sending that. It's so funny. For him to put this on the graphic. Could we do coin toss colon heads? Whatever. He'll do whatever he does. That's so funny. Yeah, no, it's going to piss him off, too. I just think it's hilarious us sending our Super Bowl picks to win this competition. We literally chose something. Actually, just a 50-50 shot. We're just playing Russian roulette. It's so funny. Dude, I'm so into the coin toss now. um okay you guys uh for a loco story and then a college story oh yeah actually i kind of want to read both okay this is from jesse j bone we asked someone who had an original formula for loco email us whoa wait what we asked someone who had original are you on twitter what are you doing i was trying to find something were you on twitter it's important it's for the show okay okay i mean it's not that important but it's for the show i wasn't just fucking around we asked you asked for someone, or you, I don't remember who asked, for someone to send us original Four Loko. Original Formula Four Loko. Yeah, the real shit. Oh, to send it? Yeah, yeah. We want some product. Does anyone have one sitting in the basement? Well, so we got an email from Jesse. Jesse! The subject line is I hoarded 200 cans of the original Four Loko. Holy shit! Wow, he loved it that much. That's hilarious. So Jesse writes, Honey, what are these in the closet? Nothing. They're going to be valuable one day. Those are going to matter. So in fall of 2010, I had just graduated from college. I was living in New York City with several friends. Four Loko was my whole personality. I went as Four Loko for Halloween in 2010. Oh my God. He's not kidding. When it was announced it was getting banned in late 2010, we were devastated. So using some of our very first adult paychecks, we went to several bodegas and bought all of the Four Locos. Just bought them up. Stocking up on them, 200 cans. We He stacked them into a seven foot tall pyramid in the living room and rationed them to deserving loved ones. This is like a lane with the sponges in Seinfeld. Four local worthy. Amazing. So Jesse writes after a shockingly short amount of time, a couple months, one day I hear this fizzing noise coming from the local pyramid. I walk into the room to find that they're growing angry. A four local, the four local had eaten through the sides of several cans, apparently simultaneously with, They all did decay at their exact same rate. The four-loads, you see the scene in Breaking Bad where the bottles are all popping? Yeah. It was like that, where basically multiple cans. They all erupted at the same moment? Yeah, it was literally eating through the metal of the cans. Jesus Christ, and that's in your stomach. And that's in your stomach. Only for a little bit. Yeah. Fine. This was two months. It's worth the best night of your life. But yeah, he says that they had to get rid of the cans after that, so they just drank them all. But it was eating through the metal so they had to drink all of them as quickly as they could because it was exploding in their living room. I love the idea of our four locals are eating through metal. We've got to drink these. Like it does melt steel beams. It's like crazy. They're all 23 years old and every night they're like, fuck, we've got to drink these. John, I saw you only did two tonight, huh? You've got to keep it up with your quota. It's like fucking Girl Scout cookies. They'll just have ulcers and they're like, I wonder what's going on with this. oh my god wait so he doesn't have any laughs no that's unfortunately put him in like what do they keep acid in Jesse's like what's up breakfast this morning was a for loco okay this one this is a unique email this one is bizarrely also it's from a different Jesse okay J-bone so Jesse who had emailed us about something else but Any breakfast from either of these Jesse's? Yeah, sorry. He's following up from a previous story about something else. He sent a breakfast and he replied to it. So the reply didn't have a breakfast. I'm sorry. Jesse writes. What was the original one? I don't remember, man. Okay, go ahead. It's the only thing I care about. All right. I'll pull it up right fucking now since you have. Fine. It's a window into these. It is. It is good. It is a good window, especially if you're a parent. Craig, what did you have for breakfast this morning? I had Greek yogurt with banana, blueberries, and walnuts and some honey. Wow, that's pretty good. I had a really fucking weird breakfast because I'm at the office and I don't have my normal stuff. So I had two hard-boiled eggs. You're like a skinny pop in a soda? No. No, well, close. I had two hard-boiled eggs, a string cheese. The hard-boiled egg from the fridge here? Yeah, yeah. A string cheese? They're free-range. Austin just verbally. A audible gasp. A audible exhale. Yeah, Austin doesn't. I'm going to dock Craig Gaines, who is like, because we were talking about how all the people email in are talking about, like, The store-bought hard-boiled egg has never Well, that one's Well, the new 7-Elevens are kicking the Japanese model It was good High quality But I can tell who's a parent because of what they eat Because they're eating off their toddler's plates for breakfast Like scrambled eggs with my hands And Craig Gaines, who's young kids, was like, yeah, this morning I had Doritos for breakfast I snack on When making Calvin a lunch I snack on a lot of the stuff I put in his lunch Yeah, it's good, like raisins Chicken nuggets Ritz crackers what else we got hummus you must be excited about the big apple slices advertisement calvin for the super bowl can't wait what yeah big remember the big ritz ad who's in it against john ham oh easy sorry oh my god i just i just realized the thing i wanted you after the john ham and bow and yang i just realized the thing i wanted after the game but i can't tell you otherwise it'll ruin it but i just realized that a way we can we're going to grade which was the best commercial but actually We were trying to get you to find the thing. We were stalling. You talk so much about breakfast. What did Jesse have for breakfast? He didn't actually include it. I'll read someone else's breakfast. Nick had a slice of carrot bread and black coffee. Carrot bread? What does that mean? What does that mean? Is it just like carrot cake? Probably carrots and bread, right? No, I guess it would be like zucchini bread with carrots. It's like a little banana bread. Yeah, that does sound good. Wow. Emails of a clock. I want that now. Man. I'm getting back into sourdough, too. Nick, can you send us the carrot bread recipe? How'd you get out of sourdough? I let my starter die. Come on. No, we can't. One of the biggest misconceptions is that it's hard. You can make a starter. It's not that hard. Everyone's like, I need to borrow some starter. I've always thought that. Also, it's literally like flour and water and you wait. Shout out to Joyce who let me borrow the starter. You know, you can go to a bakery and they'll give you some starter. They have starter daycares now where bakeries can take it. and we'll take care of your starter. Some bakeries, if you just go to Tartine and you're like, can I please have some starter? No way. Don't dox the place that did it for you. No, they didn't. I just named a bakery. I don't know if Tartine does it, but I'm saying you can go to some bakeries. I'm just saying it. All the kids are saying it. We are not sponsored by Tartine. No. What was I doing? They do make great bread, though. The recipe I make is based off Tartine. Oh, yeah. I was reading an email. Have you been to a Tartine? I don't know. I don't know what that is. Isn't that a French pastry with the little pears? Tartina is the name of a bakery that is here in LA Have you taken us to work? No He's like I only eat hard-boiled eggs Unless you take me to a restaurant I am the passenger princess You are a passenger princess I am taking you guys to a great restaurant We all have our own strengths and weaknesses We all bring different things to the table Having said that We take five trips a year And this man hasn't called an Uber in years To the point where I called an Uber last night to the wrong spot. He didn't say a word because he's like, yeah, it's all right. I'm like, I will not complain. We went like two blocks. The guy was like, is this where you guys wanted to go? I was distracted. Anyway, this email, despite all that, is worth reading. Jesse writes, I think it's worth mentioning since Craig talked about the College of the Redwoods. My dad and I both went to the College of the Redwoods. Nice. What are they? The Redwoods? Go Redwoods. I have no idea. I may assume. So Jesse writes, Even their mascot? Yes. Let me look it up. Sorry. Keep interrupting you. Sorry. Go ahead. Jesse writes that my dad and I both went to the College of the Redwoods at the same time. What? Nice. You heard me. He went to College of the Redwoods at the same time as his dad. Did they dorm together? I'm glad you asked. Oh, no. Jesse writes. This is a movie, man. Why do you think I wanted to tell you? It's an 80s movie. God damn it. I can't believe this. They've done motorcycle jousting, and they haven't done this as a movie. so jesse writes after my dad turned 50 wingman name of the movie fuck oh like father like son that's a cheaty like father love son love father like son no like father like son is good yeah like father like son should we cut this it's like steve martin and somebody oh good yeah um apple doesn't fall too far from the tree something in there no that's like the tagline it's not the title all right can i tell you the story yeah yeah so jesse writes after my dad turned 50 he suddenly decided he wanted to earn a degree. Okay, sure. And this was about a year or so before I graduated high school. So my dad enrolls and puts in a full year at the College of the Redwoods. Okay. And my dad... He's counting it out. He's casing the joint. My dad basically spends the entire year becoming this polarizing class clown. He's like so popular. Yes, he's involved in every possible after-school group. He takes over the school like Ferris fucking Bueller. Wow. And so Jesse writes, I graduate high school. I decide I just want to get some gen ed credits. College of the Redwoods, they live, like he says, it's an easy campus in the town that we live. He says, our campus at high school was actually across the street from College of the Redwoods. So he can like walk to this college. He's like, I'm going to get some gen ed credits like at the same time. So Jesse writes, I don't know how many people in the world have ever been big brothered by their own father, but I have. Because every teacher at college was like, you're not as funny as your dad. and then they're like oh all the teachers like your dad's funny i thought you'd be funny and then it turns out that a lot of my dad's papers were about me so i i i go to a professor and it turns out my dad wrote a paper about how messy my room was my dad wrote another essay about how i had no ambition which was a little personal and then my dad is just doxing me to his teachers and classmates and he just basically put me on blast and then it ends up they end up taking a psychology class together. And he said, and this is what made him drop out of College of the Redwoods. Spoiler, he didn't say. And he says, my dad was the class clown of psychology and just blurted stuff out and everyone loved it. And he said, to the point where Freud would come up about the part of young men and loving their mothers. And my dad would be like, sounds a lot like... More than loving your mother. Well, yeah. Mother lover. Reading emails here. That's another 80s movie. but they're reading emails they're reading about Freud and then Jesse's dad's like yeah sounds like my sounds like Jesse he's always at his mom's house and then everyone's like laugh point and laugh dad you're ruining it and he's like everyone would turn and look at me like I'm the asshole in this situation oh my god this is turning into like a tragedy it's crazy it's not as funny as it was you could totally build in the storyline of like the girl who like hooks up with both guys and realizes that they're related like Indiana Jones it's the part of the movie that's the part of the movie where like you're like oh the dad went too far here like okay and then so I he actually dropped out after that he dropped out and he went to a different college probably the right answer probably the right move is his dad are they on good terms now I think so yeah I mean he emailed him this was a long time ago sure that's iconic I know that's good that was incredible like accepted sort of but different Imagine like showing up to a frat party You know like dad's doing a beer bog in the back Everyone's like Larry Larry Larry So good Them taking psychology together is the part of the movie where you're like this would never happen I can't believe that I can't believe You're doing Freud and your dad's in class and everyone's like yeah Why are you always at your mom's house man Alright that's all I got That's kind of a sick burn It's so funny Can't come back from that Alright we're going to have our Super Bowl recap app will be up after the Super Bowl on Spotify. Netflix. Again, if you don't want to watch this on Netflix, there's no hard feelings. Just turn it on on Netflix and just let it play. Just do us a solid. We're kidding, but we're not. Just do that. Thank you, DK. Thank you, Craig. Thank you, whatever musicians coming up. I can't see everyone who's in this room, but thank you, Carlos and Kai and Austin and Cam and who else is here? Abu. Abu. And I'm definitely missing someone. I'm sorry. Thank you, everyone else is here. It's really dark and these lights are really bright. Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Luther Vandross. Heifetz asked me to do that. That's what I was researching. Who did he ask me to write? You've had four days. Do you know what that is a reference to? No. Oh, my God. You didn't see the whole Grammys thing with Cher? No. So Cher gets up and gets the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. And... I have a question about this. Please. No, no. You explain it, and then I'll bring it back. Well, she seemed... I think she genuinely probably isn't great. The first thing she said is, like, I'm not good at public speaking. She was also... seemed like really high and like or at least she's having a good time but like in a fun way okay not a nervous way like she's like oh my god i can't believe i'm here slanderous like in a larry way like at a party yeah like in a cool way like in a cool way like you would want to she also be noted she was pulling a larry she's 79 years old 79 oh it's crazy wow look at dolly parton but it is the grammy for record of the year she opens it up she makes them joke like oh it's not on the prompter i guess i gotta read it off the card she said they told me it'd be on the She has to read the card. She stares at it. And I see what happened. It's hard to read at that age. I mean, because of your eyesight, not because you forget how to read. Yeah. I don't think anybody was thinking that. People listening are like, yeah, it's hard to read because of the brain. They're like, well, Cher probably forgot how to read. I guess the teleprompter is not going to help. They do just a picture of who won. So she opens it. The nominee was a Kendrick Lamar song named Luther. but the song is about Luther Vandross so and it says there and I think they had a sample I forget why but Luther Vandross is like a person so she just reads the record that Grammy goes to Luther Vandross everyone's like confused it was incredible and then they're like apologizing Warren Beatty and Kimmel gets up after and goes Warren what did you do Warren oh no talk about like truly the worst nightmare dude they got left out to dry Warren and Cher got left out to dry so did Cher fucked up or was it like kind of ha ha it was like it's not a huge deal it was funny because like Kendrick Lamar was like talking to the ward and the other guy whose name she he comes up he's like yeah shout out Luther Vandross and then she's like apologizing he's like no it's fine my question is was the name the name Luther was obviously on the card Was Vandross on the card, or did she just fill that in herself? Do you think Cher was aware that the song Luther is about Luther Vandross? No, I think that because it samples. Do you think his name was on the card? I think he samples his music, so he, as a credit, like, he was listed. So she's looking at Luther. Why would she think the name of the song is Luther? She's thinking, like. You read the first thing you see there. But do you think the word Vandross was on the card? Yes, I do think it was. That's why. Because I don't think she knows that the song is about Luther Vandross. No. Warren, what did you do? What did you do? Warren. Dude, that's so brutal. The La La Land guys got up there and they were like, we didn't win. That was Moonlight 1. That makes me, it's painful to think about this. And I have no relation whatsoever to any of these. Dude, we had some crazy Oscars moments. We had that and then fucking Will Smith slapped Chris Ross. That's one of our best episodes ever. I had so much fun that day. That was unbelievable. I still can't, I still am in shock. That was crazy. We don't spend enough time on that We just fucking hit him We're going to be telling our children One of the biggest movie stars ever Just got up and slapped one of the biggest comedians ever In the middle of the Oscar Get your wife's name Out your fucking mouth I thought it was fake Everyone thought it was fake He like cocked back He hit him Greatest moment in the history of television Wow bro Wow bro Wow dude Wow, dude. It was a G.R. Jane joke. You know what else I think about all the time? Because Will Smith then wins the award later. Yes. And then Denzel Washington. Got a standing ovation. Denzel Washington stands up in the commercial break. He won Best Actor. But the other part that I think breaks the fourth wall is that Denzel Washington, apparently, between the commercial breaks, comes up right to him. And he's like, gives him a legit Denzel Washington training day level Denzel speech. And he's like, at your greatest moment, that's when the devil comes for you. And he hypes up Will Smith. He's like, the devil's coming for you right now. He's like, you have to be a warrior of God. I'm like, can you imagine Denzel Washington's telling him this in the commercial break? That's kind of age the worst, I think, don't you think? Yeah. You're not the victim here. He was at the Governor's Ball after the award, partying with everybody, Will Smith. I'm like, maybe we should have not done that. Take it down a notch. He just assaulted a man on live television. I think Chris Rock was really mad about that for literally years. As he fucking did. He just hit me. He just slapped me. That was crazy. Oh, good times Alright Oh, we already did the thank yous Okay, just goodbye everyone Luther Vandross, I watched a documentary on him once at Sundance It was okay Great story Compelling and rich Don't remember a lot from it But I didn't know who he was really So it was nice to watch Okay, cool Alright, now it's goodbye everyone Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text hope and why in New York for Louisiana call 1-877-770-7867.