Lakers lose to Magic, Bears over 9.5 wins, Nick’s Tiers, Should Steelers fans want Rodgers back?

Live from New York, it's a show that is back three days after our vacation. We are here. You know what? You look awful tanned and rested. Buddy, we had vacation. Not me. Mine's in about a week and a half. I was working. I was out there working. This is like a rare baseball card. It's just great to see you. You know what? It's amazing. We have done a lot of shows. I would venture that over the last eight and a half years on sports TV, nobody has a better attendance than me. Nobody. I wish I could say the same thing about the audience in those early days. You were there. Brew, you were a part of that. No, once Brew came to think football. I came in every once in a while. First hour, first things first. Today, two stars, one bad shot. Is it panic time for the Lakers? Meanwhile, another edition of Over Under. The one or two stats about the Bears that will make you think, huh, maybe they are due for a step backwards from 11 wins. You saw something. No, what he saw. My eyeballs watching the Bears games. What he discovered? people talking bad about Drake Mays playoffs and good about Caleb's playoffs despite Caleb's interceptions. So Wilds has gone full heel. Not true. Not just the interceptions. Also just throwing the ball into the ground, which I know avoids a sack a lot. Don't get me wrong. And finally, special edition of NBA Tears. How high will the Celtics be? Maybe even overrated, bro. They can't be that high. They can't be that high. Nice season. Cute, but cute. The best defense in the league. Okay. What do you mean? Okay. It's just, they're a cute team. The best defense in the league. They have a chance to win it all. Yeah. Well, Jason Tatum's not there right now. Well, he gets back. Sure. But now they're cute. You're going to tell me they're more than cute right now. If you're the best team in the league, the Magic are cute. I don't think Denver can win the title without Aaron Gordon. He's not there right now, but he'll be back. We think he'll be back. Hobbs, can we go to the whiteboard? Brew's cute teams as a segment in the future. Maybe with Brew like winking at them. They're a cute team. We start at the end in L.A. Magic take the lead in the fourth. Lakers have seven seconds left after a timeout. Final play goes to Luka, who pump fakes it and then gives it to LeBron. LeBron's like, what am I supposed to do with it? Shoots a turnaround three-pointer that misses. Here's LeBron and Luka postgame. No, we executed. We executed. Like I said, I felt like I'm not sure. I mean, obviously, you have to ask Luka what he saw on that, but I thought he had a good look, and it looked like he kind of just lost his balance. You know, didn't have a rhythm with the ball, whatever the case may be. be and it kind of allowed him to get back in front of him. You know, I was kind of off balance when he gave it to me. I thought he had a great look, but that's what I look. That's my POV. I know I was open, but I just thought I was a little bit far. Try to take one dribble closer. Probably shouldn't pick up the ball. Just try to attack. I mean, I just saw him open. I didn't want to lose the ball and we didn't have timeouts, you know. But like I said, you know, shouldn't have picked up the ball. I should attack. I thought I was getting a clean look, but that's on me. What? Are you surprised Luke and LeBron botched this? Well, LeBron didn't botch it. LeBron just caught it and threw up a desperation. It actually was a decent shot by him, a turnaround three. A turnaround three. With two guys on it. Luka botched it, and yes, I'm surprised because Luka's been in bigger moments than this and hasn't had any issue. They called a play for him. They executed the play. They got him to open look right there. Shot, obviously, he can hit. And he just froze. He punted. Now, I don't think he's lying. I do think, you know, he obviously can shoot the ball from that distance. He said he was kind of far out. But that's because he just wasn't in rhythm. No matter where you're at on the court, you got to feel the rhythm. You got to kind of feet set, whatever. And he wasn't set. Now, that's not an excuse because it's his job. He knew the play. He knew I was going to get it behind the three-point line, be ready to shoot it, be set. And he just wasn't ready. And so, look, I also got to say this. I don't think LeBron threw him under the bus. Some people are saying LeBron threw him under the bus. LeBron just said exactly what happened. And Luka said himself, it's on me. I don't think that was insulting. I don't think he was criticizing Luka. I think he told it like it was. Now, I'll say this, Nick, for Luka. It's been a tough week for Luka. Yeah. And people may feel like we've been critical of him. I've said I think now it's on the board. He might not win a ring. I think that's on the board. Chris Paul said I'm taking SGA over Luka and all that stuff. But here's the deal. The honeymoon's over. Luka, and maybe people would say that when he left Dallas that was the case because that obviously rocked his world. But when you enter the NBA as a top player, your first phase is establish yourself as either a star or a superstar. Okay? He established himself as a superstar. Then you get the bag. You get that max deal and all that. Nobody's caring about winning early. Cooper Flagg's playing great. Nobody cares that they're losing every game he puts up huge numbers in. Because LeBron missed the playoffs first two years. Nobody cares. Your first job as a young star, establish that you are a star in this league. Now he's got the bag. He's been, you know, all NBA and all that stuff. Now he's at the phase where, okay, it's about winning. Are you going to win? Because that's what separates the immortals from the other all-time great players, right? Do you win? And so now, look, we're going to give Luka love for his numbers. We all are going to acknowledge he's a great individual player. He may win an MVP or more than that, whatever. But until he wins a ring, he's going to be over-scrutinized and over-criticized. And people are going to nitpick at his game, every little bit of his game, that might be holding him back from winning. It happened to LeBron. It's happened to James Harden. It happened to Allen Iverson. Ewing, Jordan, whoever, that's what they – yeah, Jordan, they said, oh, he could score, but he doesn't win and all that. So that's the phase Luka's at. And it's tough. And then on top of that, Nick, he's a Laker. So now with the Lakers, you got to win it. I said it when LeBron went there. You better win a championship because all of them except Elgin Baylor won a championship with the Lakers. All right, so let me respond to that and then get to the end of the play. So I agree with all that. I also think it is important to remind the audience that for another few days, he's 26. Most of those guys that we talked about, the legends, did not win, had not wanted to. He came in earlier, though. He didn't come in earlier than Bron. No, but Bron took Bron a long time. Ninth year for LeBron. That was a long time. No, correct. And then he ended up winning a bunch, is my point. Jordan obviously came in older, but didn't win until he's 27. Luka, up until this season, I would argue, has been at or ahead of schedule as far as making a finals, making another deep playoff run. When you compare him to other guys that we think could be legendary players, he was not lacking in the winning. He made a final younger than Giannis, younger than Joker, And neither Giannis nor Joker won their championship at 26. So it is really this moment this year after the trade where the screws could tighten a bit. And I don't know if that's what's getting to him. But certainly since the game, prior to his hamstring injury, he was 33-8-9. 33-8-9 on the season on 48%. And in the five games since that hamstring injury, he's 24-6-8 on 38%. So he hasn't been quite as good. And he hasn't been himself. Luka Doncic does not mind taking super deep threes. No. Some of the most famous Luka Doncic playoff moments are super deep threes. His first truly awesome playoff moment was a three. I should have had him pull the video of a game winner against the Clippers from that exact spot on the court. And honestly, I don't remember. It might have actually literally been that exact spot on the court. I think that game was in L.A. back when they played at Staples. And so I. It was odd to see him hesitate when the play was drawn, when they got exactly what the play was drawn up to do. Like, credit to J.J. Redick for getting exactly what he hoped to get. Like, we're not showing the action. All four Lakers start in the backcourt, and it's a play I think they stole from the Warriors because the Warriors, if you remember, on Christmas against the Lakers a couple years ago, ran this to get Steph a game-tying three with six seconds left in a game that I think LeBron then went down and hit the game winner. And so, it was bizarre. And as far as Wilds, LeBron's answer, I don't 100% agree with Bro. I do not think he was trying to throw Luka under the bus, but I think he was being honest in his surprise in a way that Bron, in my history watching him do press conferences, he almost always protects his teammates. And it might be a sign of respect that Luka is the best player on this team now and an all-time great himself. He doesn't need protecting. You know what I mean? He is of my – and so – That's where I landed. What do you think he said that was critical? Maybe he's out of rhythm a little bit. Hey, it happens. I had a chance for it. You've seen him sort of circle the wagons on guys. I guess my point is this. If Anthony Davis misses a shot. I think that if that was Austin, if that exact, let's say Luka didn't play and that exact play happened with Austin, I think LeBron lies and says, I screwed that up. Oh, really? No. Not because. No, no, no. I don't think he lies. I don't think he goes that far. Well, okay, so maybe that's a bridge too far. But my point is, I think, and Austin's maybe not the right example. I just have seen LeBron a lot. LeBron is for the other. I have seen LeBron a lot. I think, you know, when a teammate, not on the court with his reaction, but in the media, if a teammate screws up, him find a way to kind of shift that, he was very honest about what happened here. And that was, yeah, I mean, I was surprised as you guys were that Luka didn't take that shot. All right, let's zoom out a little bit. Lakers go 4-4 on this homestand that started on February 5th. So LeBron fairly was asked about the last three weeks they've been at home, and they went four and forth. Here was his answer. How would you assess where this team's at and the growth that you guys have had over the past three weeks? I don't know. I don't know. I don't even know what today was when I woke up. You asked me about the last three weeks? What's that? I'm the wrong guy to ask champ. This is a new version of LeBron. It reminded me really quick, Brew, before you go. When he was asked about Keontae George, he's like, man, I don't know. I'm watching golf. It's just he doesn't seem to be as locked in as I had previously seen. Well, he said, what, a year ago, Brew? Everything's extra credit at this point. No, yeah. And that he feels, not starting this argument here, he feels I'm the greatest player of all time. I have all the records. And now everything I'm doing is just because I enjoy playing ball. And I think some of his answers are like that. There was a little bit of a, and you see Sean McVay do this. He's like, hey, do you want me to go through the exact play and where the ball went from three weeks ago in the second quarter? Because I can do it. But now he's like, I don't know. Who do we play? He's got a photographic memory. Is it too soon for the Lakers to hit the panic button? No. And I hesitate to say panic because I just don't think that their championship caliber. So it's not like, oh, my gosh, they're waking up today saying we're not a championship team. I think they know it. And I think LeBron knows it. And I think that's part of this whole thing, too. But look, we know the two problems. They can't play defense. And their big three don't fit. It's as simple as that. They don't fit together. All right. LeBron, Luka, and Austin Reeves. Last night was a case in point. All right. I've said it's my turn, your turn, offense. Now, all three of those guys are unselfish. So they racking up assists. The ball moves a little bit with each one of them when they have it. But last night, LeBron had 10 points in the first quarter. Austin Reeves had zero in the third quarter Austin Reeves had 10 points LeBron had two like it's one or the other or something like that and it's because not because they're selfish and LeBron has gotten off the ball but neither of them the three can be their best off the ball that's the issue like so when Luca Luca might as well not even be on the court when somebody else has the ball because all he does is go over and stand and watch. I mean, I'm just keeping it real. LeBron has gotten better off the ball, but he's not. He's spotting up a lot for three. He's not at his best doing that. And Reeves is, you know, and it's not helping that LeBron's having his worst three point shooting year in forever. Yeah. I mean, look, honestly, and we got some graphics. When LeBron and Luka, their best two players, I'm going to say LeBron's second best. They don't fit together. They got the worst point differential on the team. All right, minus 82. And there are numbers that show when Luke and Reeves play together, they're great. It's like plus 18 net rating. When LeBron plays by himself without those two, it's plus nine. All right, so the bottom line is I think there's two options for them to try to help win. And I'm going to get to this. I know you know one of them. controversial. The first one, no, first one I'm going to say this. LeBron could try to play differently. Oh, okay. In that, try to get, I think they should use the pick and roll with LeBron and Luka. And LeBron can either pop or roll to the rim. Like, I think he could have to play a little more like a big with Luka. All right. That's, that's one thing. But the, beyond that, one of those three needs to go to bench. It's not going to be Luka. Okay, so who is it? Austin, you could say him, but you want to keep him. Does that rub him the wrong way? LeBron obviously has the stature where you wouldn't want to see that, but because him by himself is good, and those two together is good, Luka and Austin, LeBron might be the answer, but you got to sit down. And I'm just out of respect. JJ, sit down with him and say, look, are you willing to do this? Or it could be Austin, but I think one of them has to come up. Listen, I think if this were 2K, the best basketball answer to solving the problem you're describing is Luka and AR play together and LeBron runs the show by himself. You know what I mean? You segment it like that. And the easiest way to do that is to put LeBron in the Manu role. Manu's a Hall of Famer. Didn't we do this with Russ just like two years ago? Like Russ doesn't fit. How did Russ go to the bench? Oh, he's too big of a superstar. But here's why I actually think that is whistling through the graveyard to a degree. I don't really care who starts. If we're talking about a team winning playoff games, it's about who's on the court at the end of games. And what we're saying is their three best players don't make sense together on the court at the end of games. So because even when like Manu was coming off the bench, he was playing crunch time. Right. You know what I mean? He was a that. And so he was coming off the bench to provide a spark to the second unit, not because he didn't fit with Parker and Duncan. It is that they are that stupid Pokemon meme of like the three different lizards, the like best of the smallest lizards. No, I'm talking about Pokemon, actually. But it's it's 50 years. Luka modeled his game after LeBron. He has said that. LeBron is now a lesser version of, you know what I mean? So, it is, Luka is the apex version of this ball-dominant scorer who can also pass. LeBron is, at this point at 41, a slightly lesser version of that. And Austin's a slightly lesser version of that. It's just three of the same archetype. archetype. And so it just doesn't fit well. And it's also... So last night was the first time I had said they were undefeated leading going into the fourth. They then lost. And they were playing with fire throughout the year on that. They finally lost one of those games. But here's the other thing, KW. They're not as good as 34 and 23. And Hubs, if we just put up this... They don't even have a positive point. Well, so look at what their rankings are. So they have a pretty good offense. Not as good as it should be. They have a bad defense. They have a below average net rating. They have a below average point differential, which is around the same. Yet, they have the 10th best record. Which leads you to believe they are at what? Oh, it's a little bit of an easy schedule? No, no, no. I know they have a hard schedule. They've been clutch. They have guys that are good down the stretch of games. My point is, I think that these 57 games, if you played them all 5,700 times, they're probably closer to a 30-27 team than a 30-29-28 team. They have the statistical profile of a team right around 500. They have the record of a team competing for home court in the first round. And yeah, where I would panic KW is this. I just do not see how the Lakers are materially different in the ways they're bad this year, next year, aside from Giannis saying, you have to trade me to L.A. Well, look, if LeBron is not there, and like we've shown it with Austin and Luka, they're good. And I just think it's a fit. It's a matter of fit. And LeBron, look, they've talked, and you've heard Rich Paul, his agent, say he wants to win championships. You know, that was going into this season. And if the Lakers aren't really there, then maybe go somewhere else. Wherever LeBron goes, though, he's going to have to adjust because nobody's building their team around you anymore at 41 or 42 years old. And if you go to a team that's ready to win, like you're the missing piece, like Cleveland say, he will have to adjust. Well, the Cleveland fit got so much harder once they traded for Harden. Yeah. You know what I like? Because it'll be a lot of the same problems we're talking about right here. But my point is, next year for the Lakers, assuming Bron's gone, yes, now the fit might work better, but you're still lacking a team of defenders and a team of shooters. And now Giannis might be great enough that the Giannis and Luka combo can paper over that, but if it's not Giannis. If they got Giannis, it's a whole different thing. Yeah, but without that, I just don't think that they are an offseason a couple tweaks away from having a flushed-out championship roster. Drew, last word about LeBron coming off the bench. I think it would work if it started earlier in the year. Do you think winning sixth man of the year is at all a carrot for him for his trophy case next year? Next year? Well, I don't think you can win sixth man of the year this year. I think, yeah, whether – no, he couldn't win it this year. I don't think he's playing – he hasn't played enough games. Whether it's this year or next year, it just depends on LeBron's ego. Is he willing to accept it? And if he not that fine I think you can split the baby like yes I have a big ego I the best I did it one year and I became the best He could be six man in a year next year All right. Headed to Dallas. The Cowboys want to make Brennan Aubrey the highest paid kicker in the league. Calvin Watkins reporting a multi-year deal around $7.5 million per year. Aubrey's camp kicked that offer to the curb. How about $10 million? Cowboys trying to figure it out. Here's how good of a kicker he is. Field goal percentage is fifth best all time, 88%. 50-yard makes 35. It's seven more than anyone else since 2023. And I think that field goal percentage is unfair to him. Because he hit some bombs. Because they asked him to try. At a 65-yarder. Yeah, that nobody else would try. So you can only franchise tag one guy. Yes. They're talking about franchise tagging Pickens. Yeah. Who's more of an important offseason priority? Listen, I think Brandon Aubrey is one of the most important weapons in the league. Now, he's a restricted free agent, which means it's a little complicated. Teams can then sign him away, but they'd have to give up a draft pick for it. Not the same as the franchise tag. And they can tinder him. If they tinder him in the second round, then a team, if he signs him, then that team has to give up a second-round pick in addition to the contract. Here's the thing. if I'm a team like Denver, I would do that. And I would – I would – if I – Denver in particular, because I don't totally trust their offense, the thin air up there, the kick – you start the possession at the 35 after a touchback, are you one first down away? If we get 11 yards on the drive and we are – At 44. At our own 46, so are we in field goal range in Denver? Close to it. 15 yards, definitely. I would give Brandon Aubrey, if I were a contender such as Denver, the kicker version of the Mahomes deal. I'd give him a 10-year, $75 million contract. And 50 million guaranteed. And guess what? I just don't have to. Of all my worries as a football team, kicker is taken care of for a decade. I think he's that good, and I think the new kickoff rules have made a guy like that that much more valuable. He's been in the league three years. He's been an all-pro all three years. And if I'm Dallas, I would – same thing. Ten years, $75 million. I know you want $10 million a year, but how about what we're offering you but for a decade? And you'll be the highest-paid kicker right now, and you'll still hold the record in 2050 as the highest paid kicker. Like, I think he has that type of value. And to me, it is easier to find George Pickens than Brandon Aubrey. Oh, yeah. And so I would prioritize him. I like that. I would prioritize him too. Wow. Yeah, no question. And I've said it, but now I'm going to show it. George Pickens is great. I think he's more talented than C.D. Lamb. All right? He was better last year than C.D. Lamb. But look at their – If Dak Prescott is healthy, they're going to have a top offense, period, with or without George Pickens. So this graphic shows 21, 22, 23, 24, their offensive rankings with Dak. Now, and the number of games Dak played, even when he played only 12, they were fourth. That's when you were like Cooper Rush. Cooper Rush played all right. They would have been first or second maybe with Dak 17 games, 16 games. Last year, or 2024, obviously, he was injured half the year. They dropped. This year, they still, even with George Pickens being great, they were only seventh offensively. And so, I don't need, as great as he is, I don't need George Pickens. I think they have many other things, defense, obviously. But this guy is a priority. You got to keep, somebody I think would be willing to pay him $10 million. I think a team would be willing to give him to me. Look, Baltimore would have been in the playoffs this year. I'm not saying they would have reached the Super Bowl. But they would have been in the playoffs without Patrick Mahomes in it if they had a kicker like Brandon Aubrey. And so let me just put it from a Chiefs fan perspective. If the Broncos who are in the division or the Bills who are the perennial, you know, competition or the Ravens who are a perennial competition, I would be way more bummed out as a Chiefs fan if either of any of those teams got Aubrey than if they got Pickens. And they all need wide receivers. They all really think they need wide receivers, and I would be more bothered by them getting Brandon Aubrey than I would by them getting George Pickens. Butker, $6.4 million a year. He's the highest paid ever. Are the Bengals playoff bound next season? They have a low over-under. I'm rooting for them. Are you? Yes. I'm a bros guy. They could be in the battle. I like guys who get to the Super Bowl and don't win. Check out the podcast if you get a chance. And we are on the road to 2 billion YouTube views. Where are we at, Jim? Feels like we're not. We're just about a billion check. What? Well, certainly 900. We have to try harder. Has the pace slowed, though? It hasn't slowed. The pace has decreased, actually. So about five years. Okay. Fresh all-animal edition of Over Under, Bears, Bengals, and Lions. We're going to start in Chicago. Caleb and company won 11 games last year. This year, their schedule, literally the toughest in the league based on last year's win totals, and a lot of those because of their own division and everybody won. At home against the Bucs, Eagles, Jags, Jets, Patriots, Frisky Saints, and then in Buffalo, in Miami, Atlanta, Panthers, and in Seattle. Over-under set at 9.5, so not that much. We're doing a lot of 10.5s. Nick, do you want to start off with the Chicago Bears? Yeah, I'll go over. I'm not as high on maybe the rest of the division as you guys might be. I'm not sure. In part because I saw what Green Bay looked like when they didn't have Micah. That's true. And I think Micah, you know, Mahomes blew his ACL later than Micah. However, he had surgery the next day, and he's a very different type of player. Like, I could see that having more of an impact on Micah in the next year than Patrick. So that concerns me. We're going to get to Detroit in a bit, and Minnesota, I think, is a bit of a mess at the moment. So I don't think the division is quite as hard as it has been. And Chicago should only get better. They are a young team. It was the first year of Caleb and Ben Johnson, and we saw them get better over the course of the year. Final 10 games of the year, Caleb had 18 touchdowns, three interceptions. And then in the playoffs, he had the five interceptions and also the spectacular plays. I would be very surprised if the Bears take a major step back next year, and going 9-8 would be a major step back. So, yeah, I will go with the over. I'm a strong over. Really? Absolutely. I agree with Nick. I see no reason to think they're going to fall backwards. Like, Caleb is going to keep getting better. As great as he was at times last year, he still has a lot of room for improvement. And I think that Ben Johnson, another year with him, another offseason, he's going to improve in that. I think he's going to be more accurate. You talked about throwing balls in the dirt, like stuff like that. All the little things he had to improve on, I think he will. And I think last year he kind of had to prove some things to Ben Johnson. He did that, and now it seems like their relationship is great. So I just see improvement from him, the quarterback, and the head coach together. And I get it. The division is tough. The schedule looks fairly tough. But I think they're a legitimate NFC championship contender. I'm not saying they're my pick or anything like that, but they are one of the top teams. We don't do picks until predictions week. Don't worry. That being said, you can put this in pen. You can put this in a Sharpie. What? Bears colors. Orange. I'm looking for. Under. Strong under. Here's why. I am a fan of the spectacular, but not too much. Bears had six game-winning scores in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter or in overtime. They're pulling a lot of rabbits out of the hat. And I think just in general, an onside kick here, a low coverage. He was spectacular. But I like three. I don't like six. It just feels like that's going to come down to an average margin of spectacular, not six. Three. Sure. That was Washington the year before. Yes. The Hail Mary. Maybe that doesn't go, and then your whole season goes differently. The other thing, and this is a little shot at Parkins in absentia, the takeaways on how great this Bears team on takeaways. Again, I think it's just a lot of how the ball bounces. This is your year-to-year once you led the league in takeaways. The 2026 Bears, we don't know where they're going to go. Vikings led it last year, then they moved to 10th. The Steelers, I guess, were good at it. Maybe it was a J.J. Watt thing. Ravens led the league, then they went down to 20th. The Giants led the league in takeaways. They went down to 28th. The Cowboys led the leagues in takeaways. Was that like the Deron Bland year? Yeah. Where we're like, man, they're just feasting on these, and they're like making big plays. And I think it's an – it feels weird to say it's an artificial way to prop up your defense, but I think it's a little bit – No, it's not – we know their defense wasn't that good. Locked dependent. So, I agree with all that. I just think they're – I also think the team offensively was not very good for the first three quarters of a lot of games last year and then turned it on late. And I just think they will be better. I think that Caleb and Ben Johnson year two is going to be that much better. I think the defense is where they're going to spend most of their offseason resources. So I just think that they have reason to believe they will have more talent on defense and be more of a well-oiled machine on offense so they won't need the spectacular. Do you think that J.J. McCarthy is going to come? Oh, Hobbs, you got lucky. I was about to start talking about completion percent. Joe Burrow, I wish this was higher because I'm rooting for Joe Burrow. Over-under is set at 8.5 for the Bengals. Here are their non-division opponents, Brew. Chiefs, Jags, Titans, Saints, Bucks. And then on the road, NND, Texans, Miami, Commanders, Falcons, Panthers. I don't mind that at all. Third easiest schedule. But their over-under is moderately low. What do you got here? I've got a strong, well, over. Okay, not strong. Just over. When Joe Burrow plays, outside of his rookie year, when he only played, he missed 10 games, I think. They won four games, right. Outside of that, for the most part, they win when he plays. I know he came back the one year and they were 5-5 with him. But last year they only won six games. But with him, he missed nine. They were 5-3. So, this eight and a half, like, they're going – I definitely think they're going to win at least nine games. And so, just with that offense, which is going to be high power – now, again, he has to be healthy. If he gets hurt, obviously, this is kaput. But if he's healthy, Nick, I see no way – and I'm not even predicting greatness for them as a team because the defense still will have question marks. But if he's healthy, I see no way they're not winning nine games. Yeah, I'll take the under. Under. And it's a little complex why. They're not a good football team. They have three players we like. Three. Now that Hendrickson's going to be gone. Okay, three and a half. We love their quarterback and their two wide receivers. They have a bad defense. Yeah. They have a mediocre at best offensive line. I don't think they have a good coaching staff. And we just keep treating the Bengals like they're someone they're not. Here are the teams who have won a playoff game more recently than Cincinnati. That's 15. Here are the teams that have played in a playoff game more recently than Cincinnati. That's 23. The teams that have missed the playoffs for each of the last three years like Cincinnati, Arizona, the Colts, the Falcons, the Giants and the Jets, the Raiders, the Saints, and the Titans. That's the neighborhood the Bengals have lived in for the last three years. But why have they lived there? Historically. Don't you think, and I get it that Burrow was healthy a couple years ago and they didn't make it. I get that. But for the most part, they've lived there because he's been hurt. He might be hurt again. I get that. Can I make a counterargument to that? Because I was thinking that someone's going to say that, so I just pulled other stats just defensively. They lost to Detroit with Jake Browning 37-24. Like, they will put up points. The Flacco game they lost to the Jets 39-38. The Bears game with Flacco they lost 47-42. It's a defensive problem. They lost to the Bills with Brown 39-34. They're losing their best defensive player. Well, they just got to get slightly. but don't give up 37. Give up 31. Exactly right. So they, I just, I, this has the, again, I'm going to use a second time on the show. I'm going to reference a stupid meme. Charizard? No, not Charizard. They are the, the trap house with the Bugatti in the driveway. Ah, that means they, you know, they, um, they, they have this amazing quarterback and wide receivers, but the bones of their team, Their coaching staff, their offensive line, and their defense are awful. And so I just. It's a trap house. I think it's just like. No, I think it's a trap house. It is. Yeah, I think so. I'm pretty confident in it. Pretty confident? Yeah, I'm pretty confident in it. Okay. Finally, the Lions. Nine and eight last year. They're a trendy pick for worst to first. I might try to grab that real estate. Let's look at their non-division. They were worst? They were worst. Yes, they were. They finished behind Minnesota. That's fascinating. I'm fairly certain you're wrong. What was I looking for? Third to first. We go with that. But not first to first. Third to first. Third to first. Third to first. Oh, I was. What? Oh, you're right. Wow. They tied Minnesota? How about that? We're at Brew. Let's just go to break. I thought I made an epic mistake. Turns out I nailed it. I looked it up and I saw the Lions. I was like, was I on the wrong year? I'm like, no, they were good. I didn't know they tied with Minnesota. Wow, my bad. Crushed it. Jeez, call it jet lag for me. It was really a bad year. I can't believe it. Now they say, I forgot about the Vikings. Go ahead. In any event. Those were the teams that were playing. Go ahead. What's their over on it? Ten and a half this year. With some hesitancy, I will go over. I think, look, I'm just going to take a chance and think, okay, they'll be healthier on defense. Last two years, their defense hadn't been that healthy. I think they'll be healthier. The offense should still be great. Yeah. Dan Campbell, I definitely still think he's a great coach. And I think, again, kind of like the Ravens, coming off a bad year in which you missed the playoffs, I think there's going to be a fire lit under them, and I think they're going to have a bounce-back season. Too big of a number. I'll go under. Doesn't mean they don't have a bounce-back year. 10-7 would be a bounce back year. 10-7 probably makes the playoffs. They have a ton of free agents on defense. They don't have a lot of cap space. I don't love the defensive personnel outside of Hutchinson. And all of a sudden, what had been their strength, their offensive line, no longer feels that way. And so I – and I don't know that they've gotten offensive coordinator, you know, solved post Ben Johnson. And so I like the slight under in pencil for the – pardon me, for the Detroit Lions. Really? Okay. You're over. You're right. I'm at a strong over. A strong over? So what does that mean? You think they're going to win 13 games? No, just I strongly think 11. They're definitely winning 11. Definitely winning 11. I don't mean 14, but I feel great about 11. I feel strong. I just don't believe in these teams. I'm looking at a bunch of opponents without quarterbacks. I don't know who the quarterback of the Cardinals is. I don't know who the quarterback of the Jets is. Steelers GM Omar Khan at the Combine says, you know what? We'll take Aaron Rodgers back. Reunite him with Mike McCarthy. Take a listen. The doors open. to have Aaron back. You know, I've had conversations with him. I spoke to him last week. You know, Mike McCarthy spoke to him, and, you know, he knows how we feel about him. And, you know, right now we're proceeding. You know, he's a free agent, and he's not on the roster. But he knows how we feel about him. Okay. Should the Steelers want him back? No. Oh. What are they doing? I mean, you might be right that the goal is 9-8, 10-7 every year. Period. Yep. That's it. Because, look, Aaron Rodgers could come back next year and maybe they win nine or ten games. Maybe. All right? I'm not convinced that they would. We'll see how Mike McCarthy is. But they would have no chance of getting to the Super Bowl next year. And then, going forward, it would make things worse because you probably have a better record with him than without him. Maybe you have a bad year. You try Will Howard. He doesn't have it. and you have a bad season. But guess what? The 2027 draft class supposed to be full of quarterbacks. Maybe you get your future quarterback. What in the world are they trying to do? And I would think, Nick, with Mike Tomlin walking away, the fans had wanted to get rid of him anyway, a lot of them. Maybe they're ready for a rebuild year. Just one bad year and then we'll be right. They didn't hire a young coach they want to grow with. They hired Mike McCarthy. And this is kind of related to the question, but I just want to be on the record on this and relate to Steelers quarterback situation. I do not understand why we act like Will Howard is viable. People are like, well, I know they really like Will Howard, and he was a good college. The kid was a sixth-round pick, and he's not Tom Brady. So is Tom Brady. He's not Tom Brady. He's not. It is. There is nothing about the Steelers quarterback plans should be predicated on. It didn't do with Will Howard. Shador and Will Howard. It's just not. I just don't get it. I mean, look, maybe he's not the guy. I'm just saying you're right. We heard some of his name. Yes, he's on the roster. I liked him at Ohio State. Yeah, we heard his name after we heard 187 names taken in the draft. Then we heard his name. So I agree with you, Brew, that I think, you know, taking your medicine for a year and trading T.J. Watt, having a conversation with Cam Hayward. Like, hey, you're a future Hall of Famer at the end, so we don't want to ask you to play elsewhere, and you're still really good, but what's best for you? Do you want to play on a team that's going to be rebuilding? That's what I would do. If that's not what they want to do, when I read this morning on Twitter that there is some belief that Malik Willis could get $30 million per year in this market, I'm like, oh, geez. Well, if it's that much of a seller's market for quarterbacks, and you don't get Malik Willis, or you don't want to, I think $30 million for Malik Willis is very, that's a lot, and it's really tying yourself to him based on an awesome few games. I don't, I understand why Aaron Rodgers' stopgap, like here are the other options. Daniel Jones, but we think he's going back with the Colts. Right now, Tua and Kyler are not actually available, and I don't think it would be materially different than Aaron Rodgers. And then it's the names that Barnwell listed in his great manifesto about the offseason. It's Jimmy Garoppolo. It's Kirk Cousins. It's Justin Fields. Justin Fields? Again? No, not for the Steelers. He's just listing quarterbacks. And so I understand why a fallback safety option, if it's like there's no quarterback in this year's draft that we want to take a first-round pick on, and we are trying to be competent next year, why they would do it. And this sounds like silly analysis. I just would not prioritize being competent in 2026. I would prioritize playing my young players, cleaning up my books entirely, trying to stockpile picks to try to build the next great Steelers team rather than keep this streak alive independent of Tomlin of us never being bad They are not going to do that Seeing what Will Howard is He fits in it Yeah. See what he is. Mike McCarthy is going to try to win every game. He's not. That's not the direction they made. And Mike McCarthy should try to win every game. It's Omar Khan's job to make sure that's very hard to do. You know, that's wild. And they should sit down and have a powwow about this. Like, look, Mike, you're not getting fired if we go 2-15. All right? Omar, you're not getting fired if we go 4-13, whatever. Let's have the youngest team. Let that be our brand. We have the youngest team. The youngest team and the cleanest cap sheet starting in 2027. We're eating our dead money medicine. We're eating any bad contracts we have. Anyone that's over 30, anyone that wasn't born in the 2000s, you're on the hot seat, buddy. All right. All right, a fresh edition of Tears next. Live from New York, the show that got yelled at by a flight attendant for having their shoes and socks on. No, that is not true. You just told us a story. Nothing about socks. I may have missed something. I thought you just told the story that you were in business class and your dogs were out. No, that is not true. And you turned to the person across the aisle and said, I hope you like Georgia football because these dogs are going to be in your face. Does that even sound like a believable story? Does that even sound plausible? I heard you say, I hope you like Georgia football. You know what? And then you go, because these dogs are out. The audience doesn't know this, Hubs. I need 15 seconds in the open. On our flight to Daytona, Kevin Wilds was supposed to sit next to me, Went behind my back and surreptitiously changed his seat to three rows behind me. And guess what karma did to him? Eight seconds into the flight, the lady next to him spilled wine all over him. And he's standing up, like, looking for a towel. You could have been sitting next to me. And then I heard her say, so, live in New York or just visit? I'm like, KW's in for a long three hours. You guys can talk all the time. Covered in Chardonnay. You could have sat next to me in my feet. Today, is there a chance Drake May takes a step back? A four-minute segment that I prepared a full 30-minute podcast on. Meanwhile, should Mendoza start week one in Las Vegas? Whoa. Just got to beat out Gino first, buddy. What's going on with Gino? I've got to take on that. Okay. Okay. But let me get you caught up to speed on what was going on last night. Last night on a red-eye flight from the West Coast, an elite committee of analysts, savants, and people who aren't fans of my haircut fought and toiled and burned the midnight jet fuel to concoct the best segment in all sports. It's an honor and a privilege for the first version of 2026 NBA tiers. A little bittersweet, however. NFL tiers, it's basically a year-round experience. But it certainly starts prior to week one with the full league. NBA tears were two-thirds of the way done with the season, which means these six teams will never make the tears. These six teams eliminated. Grand opening, grand closing for the Kings, Pacers, Nets, Wizards, Pelicans, and Jazz. I can't argue any of those. And I, by the way, because Rick Carlisle came out and said the NBA is really trying to shake down the Pacers about the tanking. The Pacers are not the tanking problem. Yeah, I wouldn't worry. The Pacers have tried to be competitive year after year after year. Their best player pops his Achilles in Game 7 of the finals, taking a year off. Well, guess what? What? There's another team in the East whose best player popped their Achilles, and they're doing just fine. But they have a way better infrastructure, and they're a better team. I was just saying, Trent. It's not just like, well, it looks like we're headed to the lottery. Well, they're trying. the Pacers. Are they? I mean, a little bit. See, I come strike. All right. Time for the tears. Not eliminated, but unwatchable. The Bucs without Giannis are unwatchable flatly. The Bulls are like, Hey, you guys didn't tell us we were going to have to start tanking as early as you guys are. They're trying to catch up. They're not going to get there. And the Grizzlies are just kind of a sad they're like a dead mole it's like you know what this used to be I have memories here Radio Shack that was good and now the ticket prices free I would imagine dollar and a half it's terrible next line like many bad marriages in it for the kids we're here for Cooper Flagg, Brandon Miller and Con Canipple for the Hornets I don't want to leave Brandon Miller out He's been excellent. And the Hornets are frisky-ish. The Mavs are not. But if you're a fan of those teams, it's not about this year at all. It's about watching your young star or young stars grow up and evolve. Maybe something in 2027. Interesting. The Blazers. Yeah. Building around Denny. Scoot? Scoot. Scoot is the bad call. Listen, you miss hundreds of the shots you don't take. Shaden Sharp, like they're trying to build something in Portland. Credit to them. The Hawks, you have Jalen Johnson, all of a sudden, unshackled Jonathan Kaminga. I think last night was probably an aberration, but we'll see. But most importantly, maybe the number one pick. Because remember, they have New Orleans pick. And New Orleans is one of the eliminated teams. And even if it's not number one, so it could be Devante, it could be Peterson, it could be Wilds guy, Cam Boozer, whomever. And for Miami – Those guys are all going to be excellent. Correct. Excellent. I think you have three guys that are the caliber of a typical number one pick. Yeah. Not Cooper Flagg, but a typical number one pick. And Miami, I think, is going to take one more shot at Giannis in the offseason and see how that goes. Hardest of ceilings. Suns, Raptors, Warriors, Magic. I would be stunned, stunned if any of these teams went around. And I am going to go ahead and say it is impossible for any of these teams to win two rounds. And so the Warriors would have been different, obviously, if Jimmy didn't get hurt. The Magic are very disappointed that this is where they found themselves. Obviously, great win for them last night. But when you trade five firsts or four firsts for Bain, it's not because you think you're going to be one and done in the playoffs. Again, the Raptors kind of a positive season. The Suns a positive season, but the Booker injury and Dylan Brooks breaking his hand, it's going to put him in guaranteed in the play-in. And then you're playing OKC in round one, or you're playing the Spurs. It's a disaster. On the right night, catch any of these teams on the right night, and you're like, ooh. If Luka's cooking, LeBron is doing, you know, kind of Swiss Army knife stuff, and Austin Reeves is giving you 30, it's like, man, they'd be a, beast to deal with over two weeks. But on the wrong night, it's like, oh, but they don't defend anyone. Their guys don't fit together. Sixers, similar story, not they don't fit together. Maxie's been first-team All-NBA-ish caliber this year. Embiid, when he's been playing the last couple months, has been excellent. Edgecombe's a great rookie, but you just don't feel like it's sturdy. And I think the Timberwolves are a little disappointing this year after back-to-back conference finals. But Ant isn't. Ant has been just about as good as anybody in the league this season on both ends of the court, but it doesn't feel like they do that on a night-to-night basis as much as they need to. Very good teams, yet disappointed. All four of these teams are very good, and I'll get to the Clippers in a second, but I think underachieving their preseason expectations. The Cavs, you know, last year, They were the best team in the East until they needed to be. They fell apart. They thought, all right, no Pacers, no Tatum. It would be us. They haven't been that all year. The Knicks feel like, okay, this is our moment for the same reasons. They have been inconsistent all year. The Rockets didn't go all in, but went, you know, semi all in getting Durant. And they don't seem to be in a markedly better position than they were. Last year, they were the two seed. They're not in a better position. And the Clippers, listen, they haven't been at 500 since they were 3-3. However, they're 21-9 since starting 6-21. So what's disappointing is that they dug themselves such a massive hole. And I think because of that, they traded Harden. They moved on. But maybe they feel like the Garland-Kawhi combo and Garland's back is going to work. Kawhi's been unbelievable. Brew will hate this one. Godzilla versus Mothra. Nuggets and Spurs. Are you familiar with that, KW? I'm not familiar. I'm familiar with Godzilla. I'm not totally familiar with Mothra. Is that the big moth? Great context clues. Hubs the image. This is a Jokic-Wimby playoff series. Jokic-Godzilla, the giant moth is Wimby. Yeah, go ahead. Can I just take a second here? I don't even know. Maybe we go to break or something. No, go ahead. What was going on while we were gone? What do you mean? You're talking about Godzilla, you're talking about Pokemon, you're talking about Charizard. You just feel like you got into like some cartoons or something? I've read our, you know, when I was meeting with the executives that I told you about, while you guys were on the beach, I got some demographic data about the show. And we need to skew a little younger. So I'm trying to, yeah. Is that true? Yeah, so Gianna has given me some words to use on the show. I haven't really. Yeah, because you're talking about other memes. You keep on bringing up memes. Gianna says I need to talk about guys mogging more. But I don't know what it means. That's why you've been on fleek. What? No. Younger words. No. No. You've been on fleek. No. I think that was five or six years ago. No, I think longer. I think longer. Is it back? Yeah. Gianna says yes. Okay. Go back to the tears, please. Point is this. I don't know if the bracket's going to allow it. But, man, I'd love to see Jokic versus Wimby for two weeks in round two. That would be awesome. That would be so great if we can get that as a 2-3 matchup. Now, Denver, after starting 20-6, is 16-16 in their last 32. Yeah, the injuries. The injuries, but it would be such an interesting contrast in styles between those two guys. I just really want to see it. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. Every quarter century, the Detroit Pistons. The Detroit Pistons, in the early 1960s, bro, made the playoffs, I think, six years in a row and made a conference finals. The Detroit Pistons then, a quarter century later in the late 1980s, made three straight NBA finals. The Detroit Pistons then, a quarter century later in the early aughts, made six straight conference finals, won a ring, and made another finals. It's been about 25 years since then, and they are the number one seed in the East, and they check all the boxes except for preseason belief. You know what I mean? They have a legitimate MVP candidate. They play good defense. They're well coached. They're deep. All those things, but they weren't one of the top five preseason picks. Yet, I don't have them atop the East in the tiers because of the looming threat that is Boston. This is fascinating. I have been so blown away by the job Joe Mazzula, Jalen Brown, and the entire Boston supporting cast has done. Not just holding down the fort, but playing great basketball, winning basketball, analytically brilliant basketball, even if stylistically you don't love it, while Tatum's not playing. I think it's very on the board that Tatum is back in the next few weeks. And if that's the case, I don't think they need all NBA first team Jason Tatum to be a championship contender. They just need Jason Tatum to be 70% of Jason Tatum because of where they are right now. But they're still not the favorites. That, of course, is OKC with this one question, Brew. Are they bored or are they flawed? Because after the 24-1 start, they're good, but not unbelievable 21-13. In the last 17, they're 10-7. Now, Shea's been out for a piece of it. And they've been winning without Shea. Right. It's not like a lot of those losses came with Shea. Is this the lethargy of a long season as a defending champ? Once it was clear they weren't going to break the Warriors record, it's like, who cares? I don't know if I can chalk it up to that, because they have not locked up the one seed. And if they were to make the finals, they're basically tied with Detroit for home court in the finals. That were the matchup. So these games do matter. They're the best team, but they don't seem as invincible as they did two months ago. That's the first edition of Tears, bro. I like it. Oh, no. How many bonus takes do you have? About three. Okay. All right. Let's hear it. Quickly. Put it back up. A couple quick ones. Look, I agree. Boston with Tatum. If you're baking in Tatum to this, then they got a good shot. My pick is Detroit in the East. Wow. But if Tatum comes back, Boston could win the East. Yeah. Is Detroit or Boston? All right. Second take, bonus take, the Timberwolves I want higher. Like, I think they're very dangerous. They're 2-1 against OKC and 2-1 against San Antonio. So I get it that it's been a bit of a disappointing year, but I think they're very capable of turning it up in the playoffs, and I think they're dangerous. So I would raise them higher. But my main take is I got to put Godzilla versus Mothra on the second line, right below the Thunder. So you think the three best teams are in the West? Yes, yes. I do. Look, the East is the JV. San Antonio just went into Detroit's house, took their best punch, and I mean that literally. Like Detroit really got physical with them to their credit. I think Detroit's best punch is a literal Isaiah score. Well, yeah, Isaiah was missing. But they took that physical play and beat them by double digits in Detroit. They've beaten Boston. The Spurs are 7-1 against the top five teams on your tiers. They're 4-1. 4-1 against OKC. 1-0 against Boston. 1-0 against Detroit. 1-0 against Denver. And I'm more so obviously focused on the Spurs. I think they're Denver healthy. That'd be, as you said, a great series. But I just think the Spurs, we talked about it yesterday, they have it all. There's nothing other than their youth. Yes. There's really nothing you would point to and say they lack this. Detroit lacks shooting. You know, obviously Boston isn't fully whole yet. Even OKC has injury issues. They have nothing going on in San Antonio that is a negative, except being so young and inexperienced. So I will move the Spurs particularly up to second, and you can throw Denver up there with them. I think that's a very fair critique. I'm not sure I agree with you that the East is the JV if we're talking about the best. Yeah, like the top four or five teams in each conference. I think, you know, if we did a draft of them, so to speak, there would be more back and forth. Certainly the bottom of the East and the West is better. But I think at the top, I just, I think, and I do not believe we are going to get this player this year. But if Jason Tatum came back and was 100%, I think that's the best team. Wow. I think, I mean, this is just fantastic. I just feel like I've done a great job. I feel like I'm going to coach a little bit. You think you're my coach? I'm kind of like proud of you right now. Is that fair? So you're all in on the Celtics. Well, it's just like New England in general, and I feel like you were kind of reviled a little bit. I think I probably am still reviled. But I also did it with Denver, and I'm like, let me see if I can pull another rabbit out of my hat. Maybe I can get him to get on to the Celtics. What helped me with the Celtics is you haven't talked about him in a year. I think the Celtics are underrated by the world, but properly rated here. Wow. I think you did a great job. This is with you, including Jason Taylor. So I had two graphics, and I just switched the order because I want to show the home road splits on just how wildly effective they've been in both spots. So they're 9-1 in their last 10. They just came off this road streak. That's remarkable. Everything. That is incredible. Right? So they just are playing a really, I mean, I guess this is a great thing. They're the exact same team. Yeah. And I don't, look, Tatum's gone. They're the exact, they seem like a very similar team. Jalen Brown was gone last night. They seem like the same team. I think they're 5-1 without Jalen Brown. And they win those games pretty easily. So here's the, because they trounced the Suns last night, and the Suns didn't put up much of a fight offensively. Suns also without their two leading scores. Yes. So that vaulted them to number one in the scoring defense. So they've got the best defense scoring-wise in the league. So this is how good their defense has been the last few years. And the reason why I wanted this second is this. When we talk about Tatum coming back, obviously a plus. But I think when you think about Jason Tatum coming back, at least me, I see him shooting threes and getting to the rack and making those little finger rolls. I don't see him slapping the floor playing defense with an Achilles that's recovering. Well, I mean, even coming off Achilles, he's a better defender than Peyton Pritchard. He's going to be a better defender than the guy whose minutes he's taking. Fully healthy Jason Tate is an excellent defender. Even post-Achilles, I think he's not a better defender than post-Achilles in recovery. He's not a better defender than Jalen Brown and Derek White. But those guys, he's not taking minutes from those guys. You know what I mean? Those guys are going to be playing the same amount of time. That's what I'm worried about. I'm worried about defense. So you're not worried at all about fit or taking some guys? No, I think the system just works perfectly. I think they're a real team that really likes each other. But I am a little bit nervous. Like, if it's not broke, don't fix it. And I would rather have Tatum take it. Well, I think that's part of what they'll do. Like, if you can't play defense the way we want you to play defense, let's just wait. It doesn't hurt the Celtics at all to wait until next season. But unless it costs them a chance to win the title. But you don't want, just to follow up your point, you don't want Jason Tatum out there not able to really get after defensive. Oh, I agree. But I don't think he would come back if he felt like, athletically, he is not recovered. I think there will be rust. There will be getting your wind, those things. But I think he'll only come back if athletically he's recovered. And to be clear, me coming around, if you will, on Boston, has nothing to do with you or your coaching or anything. And to be honest, watch this. It has to do with, while you're the mayor of fair, I'm trying to do something this basketball season. I'm trying to fair max. Fair maxing? Yeah, fair maxing. What's fair maxing? Well, it's a thing that young people do. They just put maxing on the back of things, like fitness maxing or style maxing. I'm trying to fair max. I saw something Mac. Exactly. I don't know what it was. Exactly. It's big amongst the young people. Threat, troll Mac. There's some Macs. No, don't do that, Bruv. Some Macs. Don't troll Macs. No, there's some Macs. It's a lot of Macsing. Yeah. There is. Yeah. Also, clavicles are big. I don't get it. Clavicles? They're big. I'll tell you what. They're big. Deanna told me. Slang isn't what it used to be. Deanna told me. We're trying to get the young people, and they hit themselves in the face with hammers. Oh, I saw that. Yeah. Yeah, they do. Punch themselves. Yeah. Yeah. Fastest racing on earth returns to Fox. Alex Pillow, Knicks guy, reigning champion of Indy and the whole thing. Joseph Nugard, looking to bounce back a little bit. We got a win last year. And Pato Award, friend of the show, came on. Lead the way as the 2026 IndyCar season kicks off in St. Petersburg, Sunday at noon Eastern, live on Fox. Bruce Guy Alex Bruce Guy a hot award Patriots GM Elliot Wolf had a hot take at the Combine He was happy going to the Super Bowl and having his sophomore QB He was a vote away from winning MVP. He did a great job and made news, made headlines. Take a listen. I mean, satisfied is a tremendous understatement. Drake made a ton of progress in a lot of areas, you know, not only at the start of the season, but throughout the season. And, you know, I think people forget that he's 23 years old and, you know, there's been a lot on his shoulders and there will continue to be with the expectation that it has been a quarterback for the New England Patriots. But I'm just really excited about him, his toughness, his competitiveness. He's always the same guy. And, you know, there's obviously areas on the field that he's going to improve and he's going to work with Coach McDaniels and Coach Grant and get those things taken care of. Full story. When this question was in the doc, I wrote, I don't think anyone agrees with this. we should probably do Sean Payton giving up play calling or something. Yeah, you want to do a Davis Webb story is what you want to do instead of talk about your quarterback. Anything but this. Is Drake taking a step forward or back in year three? Well, look, a few years ago, I nailed this situation. When Brock Purdy coming off the Super Bowl appearance, left the field with the lead, fourth in MVP voting, higher than Trevor's ever been, crazy passer rating. I say he will be a better quarterback next year, but his stats, he won't be fourth top five MVP. What evidence do we have that he was a better quarterback? He fell off a little more than I expected, but I think he's a better quarterback. I agree. I'm sure Brock would say, and Kyle Shanahan would say, he's a better quarterback today. I don't know that he would say those things. This is going to be the case with Dre. He's not going to be second in MVP, I don't think. All right? His numbers, will he have a 113 passer rating? Probably not. And I don't think they're going to win as many games. Obviously, the schedule's tougher. But he is going to learn from these playoffs that you've been rightly criticizing him for. I think he's going to learn from that, the struggles in the playoffs and the Super Bowl, be better with it. A second year with Josh McDaniels, the receiving court, I would expect to get bolstered. So I just think everything around him is going to be better. Vrabel, obviously, is a good coach. And Drake will be a better quarterback. back next year and have a very good year. So, listen. Now, numbers might not be. The numbers, he was second in repeat. It's a take that's impossible to be wrong on. Because if what we're saying is he could have worse numbers, look worse, the team could be worse. Look worse. I test wise, he'll look better. Purdy looked worse. There's an idea. Purdy fell that too far. Year three, yeah. This year, you could argue. Right. Year three. Right. He looked worse. Numbers were worse. Team was worse. and we're still saying he's better because he's more experienced, then there's no way for it to be wrong. But since you brought up Purdy, and I knew you would, just a reminder for the audience, Purdy's year two versus Drake's year two. Very similar. Drake had the better record. Purdy had, I mean, their numbers are almost, it's 113 rating versus 113.5. 33 to 13 versus 35 to 11. You know, Drake has him in completion percentage. Purdy has him in yards per attempt. Yards per game are almost, you know, it's within 10. And then a reminder of what year three, four Brock looked like. Now, I'm not anticipating this for Drake, but it was a precipitous and massive decline across the board. And one way, KW, that the NFL is very different than the NBA. is player progression is very typically nonlinear. Like NBA guys, they usually do just get better. Their numbers get better. They are more productive every year. In the NFL, it's a lot of fits and stops on an upward trajectory. And so I think across the board, he will take a step back next year. I think he will not look his eye-popping on the deep passes like he did early. I think his numbers will take a huge hit. I think the team's record will take a huge hit. And I think there will be some, particularly early in the season, real scar tissue from the playoff run and Super Bowl and what that did to at least his early season confidence. It doesn't mean he's not going to continue on. You think he's going to have less confidence going to the Super Bowl than if he had lost against, you know, Justin Herbert? No, not that if he had lost in round one. No, I don't think that. But I do think that he went the entirety of year two leading into the playoffs, you could argue, without really having a bad game after week one. Like he had gone 16 weeks in a row without a bad game. Yeah, even his bad games. And certainly never had back-to-back bad games. And then probably feels like he had four consecutive substandard games. And so you're off the top five quarterback right now. Right. Correct. Yes, I am. I am. Because for a while. I was going in. Okay. That doesn't sound like a top five. It doesn't. I didn't. When I was saying he was going to be a top five quarterback, what I did not anticipate was the most fumbles in a playoffs in league history. One of the worst completion percentages in a playoffs in league history. And what I thought was four straight bad games. Okay. And so that's. We can, we can agree to disagree about four straight bad games. Yes. considering he threw three touchdowns against the Texans, which is more than, I think, Josh Allen and Patrick Holmes and maybe somebody else combined, another great quarterback. Certainly somebody else. Lamar. Yeah, but go ahead. Another good quarterback. Threw in the playoffs. Yeah, find somebody. But you wouldn't, if you could get into a time machine, week 15, you wouldn't say, you know what, I'd rather have the Drake from last year than this year. No. Okay. That's what I'm saying. But I think he's going to be better. So, yeah, you think he'll be a better quarterback. No, I thought you meant year two versus year one. No, year three versus year two. Oh, I know it's weird to talk time. No, no, no. I don't think he will be better next year than he was this year. I don't know how else to say it. I think he will definitely be better. Be better. Definitely be better. There's four reasons guys fall off, and you guys can add them. I'm just making this up. Injury, obviously. Some sort of mental block, which maybe he has some scar tissue. Personnel changes. Your O-line or your receivers. Or, sorry, go ahead. And then I say organizational changes. You lose your OC, you lose your coach. Outside of that, I think he's going to be healthier. He had a little bum shoulder. Why, though? Because he had a bum shoulder in the Super Bowl, and then he's not going to have a bum shoulder week one. I mean, maybe he gets hurt in week 10. I don't know. Okay, go ahead. I'll let you finish. I'll let you finish. Sorry. We didn't have any changeover at any of the major positions. I assume, actually, we're going to get better for personnel, and mentally I think he'll be fine. Here's the issue that I where I was wrong with Drake May because he's very young right he's actually Cam Ward turns 24 in May Drake May turns 24 in August if you think Cam Ward's gonna be better You think Caleb's gonna be better. I think you should think Drake May is gonna be better But I got a little bit over my skis and I betrayed one of my own values and Brew I think you'll like this especially I do like experience I like an old doctor An old pilot. An old pilot. Not too old on the pilots, but I like the old doctor, Moonlight Graham style. If they fall dead of natural causes while they're checking you out, I'd be like, I'm okay with that. I don't like the young doctor come in. I'm like, are you assisting someone? I like the old doctor. So I got over my skis when I was like, hey, Seattle, you are facing a more dynamic, more accurate version of Matthew Stavrid. I was wrong about that. You think? Drake May has played a total of 33 games. Matthew Stafford has played a total of 256 games. I may have. I almost want to say I have underestimated the 220 extra games that Matthew Stafford had played when it comes to looking at defense. But I assume that I think 12% of his games have been playoff games. he's still a pretty raw product and that he will immediately be better so so here's why here's where i just disagree again will he know if if there was a 100 question test on quarterbacking would he get a better grade you know week one of this year in the training camp this year than he did last year yes i think he'll know more do i think he will process faster than he did yes i think that is all still developing but i don't the at some point sports are a results business and if i think across the board by the objective measures he will be worse i think that would be weird to call it a step forward and i disagree with your list of the reasons people i the full list so the first one you said was gets injured. Right now, he plays a style that is prone to getting banged up. And we saw the tax on his deep, you know, hunting the deep shots, what that can be. So that's the first thing. What was the second one you said? I did organizational changes, coaches. So, right. That's obviously going to be fine. Another reason guys take a step back is either teams have figured out, oh, It took a good defense to go up against the Drake-May-Josh-McDaniels combo to solve it for us, but some of those defenses put some stuff on film that the teams that were playing the regular season did not. And the same way when Vic Fangio four years ago, five years ago, was like, hey, against Mahomes, what if we just play cover two, shell, and make them solve it? So I think that is a piece of it. It's a little bit of the chess match, I buy that. And I also think the other thing that can be is it's just, oh, man, we have so many more good teams that we have to go through. And what we have not seen is Drake may thrive. I'm not saying he's played poorly in every spot. Thrive against the best teams. And so given the fact that your schedule appears to be laden with the best teams, that adds to my concern. I buy all of that. I want you to, since we're trying to get younger now, keep the same energy when I have to hear a chorus of how, for I don't know why, Caleb will just automatically be better. Because I don't think Caleb was that good last year. That's the difference. So then Drake May has to wear a Drake May tax for going to the Super Bowl? No, but the question, no. If the question were, who do you think is going to be better next year, Caleb or Drake, that is very different. Caleb could take a step forward. Drake could take a step back and Drake still be ahead of him. So these are different things. I feel like I've seen a lot of Caleb is going to be better. No, I am not ready to say Caleb's better than Drake may. You haven't heard me say that since he was playing at USC. But I do expect Caleb to take a step forward because I think Caleb was intermittently spectacular and largely inconsistent last year. Drake was the paragon of consistency. I might be fighting a battle against people that aren't on this show when I hear Caleb is going to be better on this, this, and this, and he'll be better than Drake May. I'm like, well, why doesn't the same thing apply to Drake May? No, I think that's a fair critique to have. But if Drake May was an A student last year and Caleb was a C-plus student and we're going into next year and it's like, hey, I think Drake's going to be not quite as good and Caleb's going to be a lot better. That could be an A- to a B- plus in Drake's favor. We've landed on an okay place, I guess. Raiders have the first pick. Oh, this is why Hub's in my ear. He wants to do some Raiders talk. Raiders have the first pick and put out the, hey, we're always listening to offers. We didn't do that story, though. They're taking Mendoza in. Their conversation moved to, if he starts week one, should he start week one? Take a listen to the Vegas GM. I think you want to have as much pressure, limit the amount of pressure you have on that guy from the start. Now, if you have a young quarterback, I'm not necessarily in favor of running him out there right away either. So, another quality player that can play the quarterback position if you have a young quarterback, and obviously a great offensive line, a run game, all the things that can limit his chances to really get killed. Eek. Proop, you want to start him week one? Look, I like his attitude. We're not automatically starting him just because he's the number one pick and presumably our franchise guy going forward. We've seen guys develop at different rates. Now, he does have some traits that make me think he might step right in. He's, you know, three years of college experience, playing at Indiana. You didn't, week in, week out, you didn't always have the superior talent around you, right? That's right. A lot of times it was inferior. Your receivers, your running backs, your line and stuff like that. So that's good. And obviously he's a very smart player, has enough athleticism, processes quickly. So he might be ready to step right in and be effective. But I like the attitude of I'm not forcing him in there because Sam Darnold's an extreme matter, but there are a lot of other players. Drake may didn't start right away. All right. For Jacoby Brissett. So Mahomes obviously didn't start right away. I'm sure both of them could have, but they took their time with him and were patient with him, and he's going to right now what was a bad team last year. So maybe it's best. Now, I'm not against him going out there and struggling. I'm just saying if he's not checking all the boxes that make you feel like he's ready in training camp, throw Geno out there. Well, that's – Let Geno – and if Geno's bad again, then week seven or six or whatever, you put Fernando in and you go from there. Or maybe it's longer. Maybe he sits a whole year. I'm not against that. So, I totally agree with you. And I also think some of – it's not entirely about how ready he is. It's also about the – I was obviously dead wrong about the Raiders last year. And Geno was not good. but also that offensive line was arguably the worst in football. That to me, like some of it was Geno was bad. A lot of it was Geno's bad, but a fair amount of it was the offensive line. I still think Gentry's going to be excellent. We'll see. I think he was drawing very thin with that O-line. If the Raiders are not, there's been number one pick on quarterback. Excellent offensive linemen very rarely come available via free agents. free agency, pardon me, they have a lot of work to do there. So I'm not opposed at all to even if Fernando is like, man, I think he is ready, saying, hey, let's give this offensive line some time to gel and mesh and figure that out, which is why if I'm the Raiders, I do not cut Geno. I say, and Geno has, I think, the exact right disposition to help a young quarterback. And so I think Geno, he has a good contract with them. I think he would be a good soldier in that regard. I don't know if Geno thinks he's past his prime. I don't think so. He thinks that either, but I think he understands if you take a kid number one overall, that my time here is ending. Huge top ten showdown on College Hoops Friday. Number three, Michigan, against number ten team, the Illini, who don't forget I've got the Illini going to the Elite Eight. Oh, really? Yes. Johnny, have that down? I'm losing track. I think you had six teams in the final. And 11 Elite Eight. Once March hits, I'm going to lock in. I'm like the guy who locks in. Right, March is creeping up. A little playoff preview last night in Cleveland, at least we thought it could be, but it wasn't because the Knicks offense didn't show up and Harden was pretty good. News that he did break his right thumb during the game. But what's the... He might miss tonight, but he's going to keep playing according to Shams. Maybe wear a splint. He's left-handed, not going to have surgery. Okay, good. As for the Knicks offense in the third quarter, Ramsey, our resident Knicks fan, I'm surprised he showed up for work. 11 points, 3 for 24, 1 for 12 from 3. We're not even good at free throw line, 4 for 8. Looked like they didn't show up for work. Not great. That's good. Panic time in New York? Yes. Yes. Sorry, Ramsey. There's a lot of panic time in the NBA for you. This is real panic time because unlike the Lakers. The Knicks have a shot. Look, entering the season, they were the clear, clear favorite in the East. Indiana obviously is hurt with Halliburton out. Boston with Tatum out. Cleveland's had their own playoff issues, even worse than the Knicks. They lost to Indiana in the second round last year. And now Detroit was young, and you beat them. Now I got Detroit ahead of them, six straight wins in the regular season against the Knicks for the Pistons. I got Boston, especially with Tatum ahead of them. And I get it. They beat Boston last year with Tatum, but I think Boston looks better than them. And then Cleveland, who knows with Harden and how he'll play. But I don't think they're coming out of the East. I'm not totally 100% writing them off. But, and here, look, last night, Nick, how do you not show up for that game? Carl Anthony Towns took five shots. So that's the part I wanted to ask you about. Yeah. Look, I think part of that is on him. He's got to be more aggressive. and give me some, if they're not getting the ball to you, go get some offensive rebounds. He had one. You're 6'11". Get more than one offensive rebound and create your own offense. But also I put some of it on Mike Brown and Jalen Brunson. You are the point guard. A point guard or head coach should say, let's get our guy something. Let's get him some plays to get him going. Let's get going. He was five for five, so he had it going. Get him to rock. And four of those shots, Nick, were in the first quarter. So from the last three quarters, he took one shot. What is your point guard and your head coach thinking in a game against a rival when you're not getting your second best player of the ball? But that is also, you're right that it's a group failure in that regard. But Carl Anthony Towns was the number one pick of the draft once upon a time. He is a multiple time. He might be a Hall of Famer. Right. Really? I mean, his resume again. The NBA Hall of Fame is weird. I mean, possibly. Or the Basketball Hall of Fame. So he is a multi – he's a – I think it's fair to say perennial all-star player and an all-NBA guy. If you haven't missed a shot in the game and your team is going through that – because it wasn't a blowout at halftime. They were down five at half. Right. Your team is going through that type of cold spell in the third quarter. You must demand the basketball. Like, that is where your salary, your draft slot, your pedigree matters. Because it's easier for, if Mitchell Robinson's 5 for 5, he can't be like, get me the match. It's a different situation. And so, that is where Kat's disposition can work against the Knicks and work against him. I'm not as down on the Knicks as Brew is. If Tatum doesn't come back, I might pick the Knicks. to get to the finals. That side of the table is higher on due dates than I am, but it does feel like they're due to break through at some point. They definitely do. But this was a grisly loss, KW, that didn't have to be this grisly because, again, their defense was fine. Like, 109 to the Cavs in modern NBA is fine. I think they held them to 42%. But it is – it's unacceptable for a top two player on your team to not miss a shot in a game and not take a half dozen. No question. Quickly, Brew, the Cavs have won 15 of their last 18. There are two losses – two losses to OKC, one to Phoenix. Or do you believe a little bit more in the Cavs after last night? I got one question for the Cavs. Is Harden going to be Harden in the playoffs? If you could tell me yes, then I'm like, yeah, I believe. I think they got a shot. Okay, I thought that was an insult. No, is he going to be the regular season James Harden? But the problem is he – That's what it depends on to me. And that team has been soft in the playoffs too. That's what I was going to say. It's not just him. And Donovan Mitchell came into the league as an awesome playoff guy in Utah. He's still like, I think, top five all-time in playoff 50-point games, stuff like that. But they have not been a good playoff team. Right.