Jon Gruden on Trevor Lawrence’s Revival, Drake Maye’s Ceiling & Who to Trust in the AFC, Plus CFB Playoff Cinderellas Had No Shot

Hey, we're still a listeners. You can find every episode on Apple podcast and Spotify. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon music. The Ryan Rassila show was presented by DraftKings. I'll talk to John Gruden today. We're going to get his thoughts on handicapping the AFC, which I've basically decided I give up on. I don't know what to make of this conference. Other than this Trevor Lawrence stretch for a month, is it real? The defense probably as we'll do that some Seattle some Rams. So a ton of stuff is through and and I will also in the open, which is not as in depth as some others. I'm going to touch on the reaction from Saturday's college football games after Miami's win at A&M and we've got life advice with a bunch of holiday travel savings. It's all in there. 40.4 triple doubles, buzzer beaters that shake up the standings, DraftKings sportsbook and official sports betting partner of the NBA is where you want to be. I have enjoyed watching the Utah Jazz lately. Now, I know what you're saying yourself. You're like, really? Come on, man. Out of the gates. Four and eight, I think. Although this pop up coming up in the middle of this isn't great. Yeah, four and eight, then five and 12. But if you look at it, 500 team the last 10. Yep, Filipowski has been a leading scorer for this team. Yeah, day George continues to do more with more, meaning more efficiency, more output with more volume. Marketing is back to the marketing that we saw a couple of years ago. You're like, man, this guy is balling. That's really actually two years ago. The first year with Utah has fourth with the franchise still only 28 years old and averaging 28 a game for a career high. So yeah, I like the jazz massive underdogs, massive underdogs at Denver, but not a massive trip for them three and eight in the row this year. Player props live bets, same game parlays, better the biggest moments of the holiday season and the stars that make them unforgettable. 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Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. Four additional terms and responsible gaming resources, cdkng.co. Limited time offer. Two more weeks to go and the money nighter tonight which has seeding implications. And I'll just tell you this on the AFC, not that this is breaking news. I give up. I give up on the entire conference. I have no confidence whatsoever. I'm in a position here. I was talking about the bills a few weeks ago being like it's all lining up for the bills. That might be the wrong move. I mean, let's just run through this right now. All right. So Denver, who's won 11 straight, I thought they would lose the Green Bay last week and be like, all right, enough of this. Meanwhile, Green Bay just keeps losing. Denver wins 11 straight. I think it's 12 straight at home. And then they lose to Jacksonville. And it's not close. Like Jacksonville, who nobody seems to like, I think less people like Jacksonville than they did Denver. And now you're like, what am I supposed to do? So if you didn't like Denver that much, then how impressed are you with Jacksonville going to Denver and beating them? Well, you have to be impressed with something. Okay. Something has to mean something. So I'm not being just across the board dismissive of all of it. But you know, Jacksonville has a really nice resume at this point. Trevor Lawrence, you know, hasn't thrown a pick in a month. I think one of the most impressive things from him is he gets sacked five times by this Denver pass rush and not one of them turns into a pick. Very limited yards given up on the sacks. He doesn't have a fumble on any of this stuff. They went after Riley Moss, who I think he's more camera time than any defensive back in the entire league, maybe because everybody's always throwing at him. And I feel like he's always good for a couple penalties, just because nobody wants to throw it a certain side of it. So if you go to the last five games for Denver, let's go week 11, Sandow had this no, this Denver defense that, you know, with all those guys in the front with the best corner, it actually hasn't been great lately. And that's why they were able to still somehow beat the Packers with not a great defensive effort, because bow Knicks was terrific in that game. Bow Knicks was not great yesterday. So now you factor in the Denver, well, this defense that I would say, what, the first two thirds of the season up in a week 10, or like, yeah, that's one of the three best, that's one of the five best. I think I even referenced it that way, even though I knew the numbers are declining. Well, I don't know though they were this bad. If you go week 11 on, so that's five games with the Denver buy in there, their defense EPA is ranked 27th in the league. You know, who's number one, the team they lost to Jacksonville. So Jacksonville really good old line. I know they gave the sacks yesterday. Deep receivers, Lawrence year five plus figuring it out, even I'm hesitant to even say that he has had a really nice stretch here. But on top of everything else, this defense, I know the first month into the season with Jacksonville had a nice record. And I was looking at the turnover margin, they were plus 2.3 turnovers per game. I'm like, whatever, like that's ridiculous. That's not even a real number. It's fake. That's not what it's going to be. And it's not what they are now in the turnover stuff. But it's actually a sign that they've been a better football team, they're not just relying on this absurd turnover margin all season long. I think they're still fourth and plus minus in the NFL. Chicago's is off the charts, which explains why Chicago are going to be losing so many games and come back and win. We'll share that number for you here in a little bit. So that's what you have, is you have Jacksonville, who has a win against the Chargers 35 to six right after the Houston loss, where the Houston loss is sad as it was for him to lose in fashion that they did. It's not outrageous. And look, this is this whole the rest like let's do the rest of the conference. New England's your two seed. Great comeback last night. Down two scores. They've got to get two touchdowns in the fourth quarter at Baltimore, May's 31 to 44, 380 yards, two touchdowns in the fourth quarter converts a huge fourth down. Lamar had to leave the game because he got need in the back. So what am I supposed to do with the Pats? There's basically just a collection of average stats on who they are defensively. The worst red zone touchdown percentage allowed in the NFL teams are scoring touchdowns 75% of the time they're in the red zone against New England. Good teams are in the 40s. They're at 75%. So that number is atrocious, even though the third down opposing yards for play that stuff's all average. So yeah, they're the two seed. It's the easiest schedule that we've seen in the NFL since 1999. It's a joke. So I'm supposed to like them. Pittsburgh's nine and six in the four seed. A couple of weeks ago, December 7th, I'm like, I said it on the pot, I go 0% chance that Pittsburgh wins that division. They have to play Baltimore two more times. This Pittsburgh offense is garbage. The defense isn't even that good. They're going to have Lamar back. They're going to have everybody healthy. Baltimore is going to get him two more times and then the Ravens will be in the playoffs and they'll win the division. It doesn't even matter what the rest of the seeding stuff is. Well, Pittsburgh beats Detroit at their place. They've won five of their last seven. And beating Detroit, you know, I'm sorry, like Detroit's going to have a very average record here. I think Detroit's a really nice win. I think they're a good team and hard to beat, even with their offensive limitations yesterday because of their offensive line issues on like their third center, right? But I still think it's tough to go into the Detroit and beat them. If you look at Pittsburgh's offense, it's a little bit better. Their yards per play right up until December was like 24th. So look, Baltimore at Green Bay. If Baltimore loses that one, they're done. Pittsburgh wins the division. If Baltimore wins at Green Bay and keeps this thing alive on a Saturday for a Sunday, all Pittsburgh has to do is beat Cleveland. And they're going to be your four seed in the AFC. Sensing the theme. I don't even have a best win. Oh, I do. It's still Seattle. It's still Seattle's win against Los Angeles. Maybe you could go with Jacksonville at Denver considering it was the one seed and still is the one seed now. Chicago's win on Saturday. Here's a number for you. Do you know how easy this is for me? Do you have any fucking idea how easy this is? This is a fucking joke. Ten times. Chicago has trailed under the last two minutes, 10 times this year. They are six and four in those games. The charges put together a really nice good month here. And then you have the bills. I'll just close it with this. I'm supposed to like the bills throughout all this. They actually were in a game against Cleveland. Cleveland isn't good. Their defense is good. Sanders isn't good. Maybe he's a young quarterback, although it's going to be really interesting if they draft a quarterback and then the Sanders army can say that he was never given a shot. And we missed out on seeing Randall Cunningham 2.0. But yeah, I give up. I give up on the AFC. I have a couple thoughts on the college thing here before we go because I don't have a full open on it. I just want to make sure that I get it in. So the Bama game against Oklahoma was terrific. Feels a little weird Monday recapping Friday. Saturday morning was also a lot of fun. Kind of played out the way I thought that game would play out where it was going to be a grind. Two really good defenses, quarterbacks I don't necessarily love. And I'm telling you, couple dudes considered to be part of the ball-knowing community. Talking about Marcel Reed as a Heisman guy. And that was like, what are you doing? That was surprising to me. And he has the disastrous throw because that's what he does. And next thing you know, Miami's moving on. So good for Miami. And a fun game, really fun Alabama game against Oklahoma. Completely turned things around. And then we had the other two games, which is what everybody's pissed about right now. Ole Miss Tulane was over immediately. And every time you watch Oregon, especially in the first half, you were like, oh, that guy's just going to run forever now too. Now granted, they actually got outscored in the second half big time by James Madison. So landing could do the post game thing and be super intense and pissed off about the whole thing. And so we're left with another year on this new earth system, only a two-year system of trying to figure out what it actually means. And you know, this is one of the things that I hate about us as people, like the human nature part of it is that we have to see something look stupid before we think it's potentially stupid. And we did it last year with the seedings because they changed that immediately. They're like, oh, wait, this is kind of stupid. I just, it drives me absolutely crazy that if you're A&M and you're a seven seed, you're playing Miami. And if you're a six seed, you're playing Tulane. You know, that's a totally, totally different experience. And in this case, you had two teams with the five matchup, five, 12 matchup going with Oregon and James Madison. But if I were to zag a bit, even though I don't think two group of five teams should be in the playoffs, right? I think it's a completely different experience. It's 12 games plus your conference championship game. Maybe you have one P4, maybe two P4 on the schedule. James Madison had won. It was the Washington State thing where there was some weird stuff going on last week where it was like, well, look, they beat James Madison at home and James Madison, you know, if you're looking at James Madison beating Washington State and look at Washington State, they were in a game late against Ole Miss and on and on and on. And you're like, yeah, but this is the difference. It's the difference between having to do it 12 times, line up and do it 12 times in a Power 4 conference versus a non Power 4 conference or a group of five in this case. I don't think it's close. But because these games were blah, it's like we got to do something else. Well, again, back to the zag position on this. We've had plenty of in the four team playoff system and even last year, we've had plenty of big boy versus big boy playoff games be just as unentertaining as what you saw from Tulane and James Madison on Saturday. So if you're mad that the game wasn't good, be careful. Be careful because really what you're doing is you're following for like, this is different, right? The labeling part of this. Wait, this is a group of five team going up against one of the big boys. This game stunk. Well, it's only because of the system. Maybe, but we've had plenty of times where two teams have played each other that are from the big boy conferences and it's not even close. I mean, it's happened all the time. Really, what you should be mad about is that people try to compare this to the NCAA tournament. And I know Joe Klatt caught some heat. I guess the guy's some part of my take took his man card. So I don't even know what happens when the car is taken away from you. If you're allowed to go out, whatever. But the difference between the NCAA tournament and the college football playoff is in the beginning when there's upsets in the NCAA tournament, you're not watching the whole game. You're not sitting down unfettered for three, three and a half hours of any of those basketball games. So really, it's about you. You're pissed that for six hours on Saturday, you are not entertained by this really entertaining sport. And then you go like, well, basketball is egalitarian and they give everybody a chance. And I've always said, like, the basketball thing makes sense. I liked it. Every single conference is going to have a chance because most of the time, like, you've got to play all these games. It's not really going to matter. And a lot of these games, you're not even watching. They're not early on in the tournament. Like, they're all over each other. And it's up to you to find those games. And if you're not entertained by one, you'll just watch the other game or watch the game that you bet on or watch the game that you have, like, a mild rooting interest in or watch the game with a guy who could be a lottery pick. That's really what you're saying. This is just always gets back to how incredibly selfish we are. I don't like that it happened either. Okay. But to compare it to the NCAA tournament and be like, well, if you like the NCAA tournament, you have to like what happened on Saturday. But there's no version of the college basketball tournament that would likely have, I mean, you could start saying, hey, the Elite Eight, and it's the marquee games. And we all joke about how much we love Upsets until the Upsets screw up your Elite Eight weekend. But I'd rather not see what we saw on Saturday time and time again. I'd rather never have more than one group of five team in there. But it's not an apples to apples thing with the men's basketball tournament ever. 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If you've been waiting to see what all the hype's about today's the day, go to Shake Shack and order the Big Shack. Sounds familiar, made different. I'm excited to do this. I've been with Barstool a couple of months and we were trying to figure out a good Monday to talk some NFL with the Super Bowl champ, John Gruden, who's been at the company now for a while. It's good to see you. How are you? It's good to see you. Merry Christmas. Welcome to Barstool, man. Yeah, Merry Christmas to you too. And thanks for making the transition easy for me and having some time for us. So, you know, in the open, I basically am admitting that I'm just giving up on the AFC. I don't know what to make of the conference. The teams that I don't like aren't going to be in the playoffs. What do you make of the conference in general? Is there a team that you actually do really like as far as like getting through this conference? Well, the whole NFL to me has gone upside down. You're seeing teams go from worst to first. I mean, how about Jacksonville? What they've done is astonishing. We went up there training camp. We're all excited to see Travis Hunter. He's not even playing. They took him number two overall. They gave up a one next year and they're going to win the AFC South. They just beat the hell out of Denver. They're dangerous and I never saw it coming. The Patriots were one of the worst teams in football last year and they look like Patriot vintage teams. I like New England. I like Jacksonville. I still like Denver and I have the Houston Texans. Ryan has a real dangerous team because of this defense. They can hang around for a long time if they don't give up points. Yeah, totally with you on that defense and it's funny because when you looked at that Jacksonville blown game to Houston weeks ago, that was kind of like the reset of like, ah, the Jags. Like, how do you, how do you blow that game? And then it's kind of one of those things where it feels like the public is a little late to who Houston's becoming. But if we keep this specific to Trevor Lawrence in this game, I think one of my favorite things is he was sacked five times, but didn't give up a ton of yards, didn't lead to a bad throw. It didn't lead to a fumble or any of this stuff. He put up the highest QBR against the Denver defense that we've seen all season long. I think for all of us, he was somebody that was just up and down and up and down and then you're five years in and you're like, when's it going to click for him? What do you think is actually clicking for him now? Because it feels like he's hitting the best stretch of his career this last month. Well, I think it's the first time he's had confidence in the NFL in the system. I think this system really suits him. I think the supporting cast is a lot better than it has been. And if you look at the arrival of Jacoby Myers, I know he's not a household name for people, but Jacoby Myers, his arrival is about the revival of this offense. They've averaged 33 points a game since he got there. Now they have a receiver who can go into the middle and run a lot of creative routes. He can recognize man zone. He can handle the Audibles and Parker Washington has come out of nowhere. Brian Thomas is a deep threat. Etn, he can do it all coming out of the backfield. They're tight end, strange. No one even knows who this guy is because no one talks about it. But they have five eligible receivers that can get after your ass and Lawrence is still a dual threat. He is big, Ryan, and he's very athletic and he's smart and he loves this offense. And by the way, their defense is playing as good as anybody in the last six weeks. They give him a lot of opportunities and they might have one of the best kickers in football. They're dangerous, man. They've come out of nowhere. Yeah, the Brian Thomas thing is important there too because like last year he lights it up and then you're kind of wondering where the numbers are. Then you look at that matchup yesterday, like, well, certain's going to be on him. He's not going to get a ton of targets. And then I swear, like every Denver game I watch, I've never seen a player that's not a quarterback on the screen as much as Riley Moss. And I almost feel bad for him that it's just whoever's going up against Denver, they're like, we're just not going to throw a certain. So you're going to be on every single replay Riley Moss. And it seems like that's what Jackson was trying to do, much like so many of Denver's opponents here as this defense is hit probably a rough stretch by their standards for him. Yeah, no doubt. But you know, this is a matchup league pro football, I think has always been a matchup league. If you have a guy that can take out our number one receiver, then we're going to go to our number two guy against your second corner. And if you can beat us in that matchup, we'll go to our third guy. And if you got that, we'll go to the tight end or the running back. But back to the initial point, they have five eligible receivers on every play, and they can all beat you. And there's a real creative way that Liam Cohen is using these guys. And it's been really fun to watch and they can hand the ball off. If you start playing a lot of coverage, ETN will cut you up. He is really a good back. If you were like in your dream scenario, John, getting to build out what you would want. You could say like, Oh, two great tackles and a Jameer Gibbs and that kind of stuff. But like system. And I'm sure you think about it all the time. Like, Hey, I want a quarterback to be able to make these throws. These throws aren't as important. If you were to like map out how you were building support around a quarterback in today's NFL, what would your priorities be? Well, I think you need a quarterback today that can get out of the way and create some plays with his legs. A guy you can use in the running game as a guy that keeps it on the zone read or some design quarterback runs. You have that in Trevor Lawrence. I think it starts there finding a quarterback that can do damage with his legs. And then after that, I have to have some offensive linemen. We can go to all these seven on seven elite 11 camps around the country. You can find the best receivers and quarterbacks, but if you can't block, you can't play. And I'll tell you, Anton Harrison at right tackle has done a hell of a job. They've used a couple guys at left tackle, but we have to have a couple guys that can pass protect. Certainly. And then you got to have one go to receiver, a bad ball receiver that can win the 50, 50 pass, a guy that can come out of the trash after the catch and make something happen when nothing is there. And it sure helps if you have a back that you can use three ways, run on the ball, catching the ball and picking up blitzes. I guess in a long story short, that's, that's where I would start. Yeah, that's kind of what I was, was, was shooting there. Cause when I, when I think about your career, it may have just been circumstance, but like, if you think about Gannon and what you did with him and then went in with Brad and then Jeff at the end, and I know you had a little, we had a sampling of Chris Sims in there at 25 years old, but did you find yourself just having a much easier time with the seasoned guys? Or is that just the circumstances of the way the rosters were built? Yeah, no, we never took a quarterback in the first round, all the years I was coaching. And sometimes you walk into a situation as a head coach and you inherit the circumstances. Sometimes, sometimes there's a guy like Derek Carr, that's a good player that we need to get playing great. And that's what we focused on doing. Some of it is circumstances. I was always jealous. Don't get me wrong. That's what I was wondering. I used to go to the combine every year and see Tony Dungey and Bill Belichick, they got Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Tomlin had Ben Rappelsberger. It pissed me off. I wish I could have had one of those guys for 12 or 13 years, but you know, not all of us can get those guys. So you have to adapt to who you have. And I learned in Green Bay from Mike Holmgren, you can make a guy successful if you get everybody on board and you build this guy's confidence and build a system to help this guy become productive. That's what Holmgren did with Brett Favre. And I learned a great lesson then. Whoever your quarterback is, get him to play as good as he can play and you got a chance. So what do you think of Drake May right now? How many guys in the AFC would you want over Drake May? I wouldn't want anybody over Drake May. I'm being honest with you. Even Josh Allen? Well, you could slap me if I had to take anybody over Drake May. Josh Allen, he's a freak of nature. But if I had Drake May, I would be hard pressed to trade him to anybody. He's 23 years old. He's just getting started. This is really the first year he's been in a system like the system he's been in. He was an RPO guy at North Carolina. I didn't think they gave him a lot of chances to use his mind in the pre-snap to check in and out of plays. What he's doing with Josh McDaniels is phenomenal. He's going to break some records at Tom Brady, never even attained. And he's only in his first year in this system. And he's so athletic, people don't realize what he's able to do with his legs. Yeah, last night, you know, it's just a weird feeling with this Patriots roster because there's a lot, and especially with all the different guys they had going into the medical tent all night last night. And you're kind of watching Drake May expecting it to happen, which is probably like the greatest compliment I could have for a quarterback is that, do I still think you have a chance considering the score and how much time is left in like Drake May's on a very short list, which seems ridiculous because it does feel like this is the first year. And it's almost like last year was, I don't know, studying abroad or something because they weren't exactly prepared roster or a coaching approach. Well, he's something. I mean, he throws the interception on the opening drive, which really shows you something else. He's got the mental toughness. It's a big game. You're on the road. You're playing the Ravens. You lost last week. The negativity starts to pile up on some people, but he just turns around and acted like he was pissed off. I don't think he had an incomplete pass the rest of the night. I mean, if you throw for 380 yards, bring your team back in the fourth quarter. What else do you want to see this kid do now? They can get spilling back and Milton Williams back to get this defense back to where it was in the middle part of the season. I don't think anybody wants to play the Patriots right now, especially up in Foxboro. How much are you game planning? You know, because if you're approach offensively, but when you're thinking about what your defense is and whether that's who's available, who the opponent is match up wise, would you, I assume, tailor some of the offensive goals for that game knowing what your defense is or isn't week to week? You're talking about the defense that I'm coaching our defense? Yeah. Our defense plan. Yeah. I think certain weeks you walk out there and you see Josh Allen and I don't care who's healthy on our defense. You tell Josh McDaniels, we got to score a lot of points this week to win. So let's be real aggressive. Let's plan on going forward on fourth down in a couple key situations and let's consider up in the tempo. Let's try to make this defense wear down what that we're playing, but obviously you're a lot more aggressive and you're trying to outscore some of these teams that have great quarterbacks and great offenses. So the Caleb Williams experiment here with Ben Johnson, how have you watched this? Because I still can't believe Saturday. I mean, I can't believe how often the Bears are down late in these games. They pull it off. Also knowing how bad it went for the Bears at the Packers not that long ago and the late throw, but seeing a quarterback and a coach who was a play caller grow together. What are some of the things that you noticed throughout the course of this season where clearly this is heading in the right direction, but I doubt even scratching the surface of what you would expect out of a quarterback in Ben Johnson's offense. Well, Ben Johnson has proven that he's made a huge impact. I mean, the negative plays are disappearing. The sacks, he's reduced his sack number tremendously. He's not holding the ball as long. And I'll say this too, they went out like we talked about earlier and they addressed the offensive line. They brought in some really good free agent linemen. They drafted another linemen in the second round. They have a very good supporting cast at wide receiver with Odunza, even though he's hurt. DJ Moore is a hell of a player. The kid Burton's a good young player, and I love their two tight ends. So they have surround him with a really good system. They put him underneath the center. I think that they're leaning on the running game. And that's a quarterback's best friend running the football. And that's something the Bears are doing as good as anybody. And it's set up some easier throws, I think, play action passes. And they're a balanced offense, but I give Ben Johnson credit for improving Caleb's fundamentals, improving his decision-making, and eliminating negative plays. And his defense has been tremendous. That might be the best thing Ben Johnson has done is hire Dennis Allen, because when you get 30 turnovers, you're going to be in the money. Yeah, it is funny how we talk about the quarterbacks all the time. It's like, hey, bow Nick, is he really good? It's like, well, Denver's defense is terrific other than this last, you know, five game stretch. And then we're talking about Jags. And you're like, you do realize the Jags are over that same stretch is like the best defense, whether it's Stroud. And feeling like Caleb is surrounded with things where, you know, it must be tough. It must be tough when you're dealing with somebody as talented as Caleb is. Maybe he had a fall on his face that first year, which you would be expected. So I'm not even looking at it like it was some complete disaster. The off season stuff, you just wild too. When you think about that deep dive, where there's like 20 sources saying this guy sucks. Imagine being that guy going like, I'm getting ready for the start of the season. So maybe all this stuff helped and was part of it. But there's clearly support around Caleb also, like it's probably easier for Caleb to kind of change some of his habits, realizing how much better all the other parts of the game are for him. And I think we got to remember this is the number one pick in the draft. We're not talking about an average Joe. He's a great talent. He's elusive. He's strong. This guy's tough to tackle in any situation. And he has a lot of guts. And I just think the Bears are proving they can get it done in cold weather. You know, Detroit, Ben Johnson and Goff, they got to play in a dome. It was a beautiful, perfect condition to throw the ball every week. What we did that 46 yard bullet to DJ Moore and overtime. It was zero degrees wind chill. That was impressive as hell, man. Yeah, that's that. Those are the kind of throws from him that I expected to see just because I'd seen him in college. And I was like, that's something that I can work with. But the rest of it has to be kind of in line and you're right on it with the sack numbers. They're not even close. It's like two completely different people. And I think we both agree that like one of the default things for a young athletic quarterback is that if I can just keep the play alive, then I'll find a way. And then the NFL, it's like more often than not, you're just going to be taking sacks, negative plays, you're behind the sticks, and then we're just not going to move the football. So he's, he's gotten a ton of that stuff out of his game. Basketball season is here, which means the excitement of being in the stands before tip is here too. The game time app gives the advantage back to fans. It's the hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences in a few taps. It's incredibly easy to use and the game time guarantee means you can trust you'll get 100% authentic tickets on time and at the best price plus fees are always included. So what you see is what you pay looking through the app. I see Rockets Clippers tickets are starting at $58. And for me, that's a convenient game. I always look at the Clippers schedule and I'm like, what do you got for me? Rockets doing a little Christmas two step in the city of angels because then the Rockets will be at LA. That's on Christmas night. So yeah, what do you do to Rockets fans? I'm spending the holidays in Los Angeles as the Rockets try to turn things around after that blown game. The Denver loss makes sense in overtime that blown game to New Orleans, then they win the rematch with Denver, but then to lose to Sacramento and overtime. So a little overtime fest for the Rockets here a little bit. See if maybe we can't cut down on that time here in Los Angeles. Take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets with game time, download the game time app, create an account and use the code RISCILLO for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again, create an account and redeem code RISCILLO R-U-S-S-I-L-L-O for $20 off. Download the game time app today. I want to talk about Seattle a little bit because that might be the game of the year, especially when you consider the comeback, the weird replay, then the fact that the number one seed is all on the line here. When I look at what Seattle's doing, run success rates, that kind of stuff, it's not great. We know kind of who they are, but when you aren't necessarily a great running team, but your quarterback is like off the charts, play action, how do you make that work? Because clearly they're making it work, even if the play action numbers for Darryl are so much better than just the normal dropback stuff. I think you got to remember sometimes a good run is three yards. A good run, a real good run is four yards. And the difference between Seattle being 28th in the league and yards per carry and 15th is really one long run. That's the one thing Charbonneau doesn't do. He doesn't make the long runs. Kenneth Walker made one the other night, but a couple long runs will put this running game right back into circulation. The one thing Seattle hasn't done well is eliminate the negative yardage runs. They've got a lot of yards that have lost, a lot of running plays that have lost yardage. And that's kind of surprising, but the running game, if you stay with it, you can stay in normal down in distances. And you know this, third and three, third and four is a lot better than third and 13th. So Seattle, when you look at them, they're not behind in the chains a great deal. And Sam Darnold has might maybe the best receiver in the league. I mean, they use this guy creatively too, man. He's in the backfield. He's in the slide. He's in motion. They do a great job with their play action attack, strategically using this receiver and just enough running game to keep it honest and keep things balanced. So you have to, even though it's your default, you're like, Hey, we know our guys like 12 and a half yards. I think I think that's 12.4 and yards per attempt on play action. You have to know like you, all the coaches, you have to know like, Hey, we can't, we can't just default to this stuff all the time because then they're going to start ignoring the whole thing. Because I think that's happened in the past with golf sometimes too, where it's like, yeah, I know what the play action numbers are, but you know, we can't just, we can't just call play action every single time. So I imagine that's something you guys are kind of mapping out a little bit, right? And I think I've been to Seattle several times to play, not one time has it been perfect conditions. I think you got to run the ball in Seattle to have an opportunity to control the game in the weather. Marshawn did it. Sean Alexander did it. Ricky Waters did it. And the Seahawks are trying not necessarily to replicate the success of those guys, but they are committed to it. They're running the ball 50% of the time and it helps Gray Zabel at left guard. He's a rookie cross at left tackle. This guy can pull. He can execute a lot of blocks. They have a young center in there. Bradford at right guard, his head ups and downs. Lucas at right tackle. You don't want to be dropping back to pass trying to throw for 350 a game. I think when you play the Rams, let's shorten down the ranks. Let's slam the ball at these guys and let's fake it to these guys that throw it over their head. I love what they're doing and they're getting time of possession, which keeps this defense humming, man. And when they're on the grass, they are really the straw, the stern, this drink. And I just think about like the one seed where the Rams playing up the street here, perfect conditions versus having to play out at Philadelphia last year. When they're in that game against the ultimate champs there, you're like, man, the Rams still have a chance at this thing here at the end. How different do you feel about who gets out of the NFC based on home field? I mean, does that change everything? I think it's wide open. I think anything goes this year in the playoffs. Philadelphia after beating the Raiders. I know it was the Raiders, but they look like they got their swag back. I think when Lane Johnson comes back, I think the Eagle offense will look different. I really do. Saquana look different. Hertz is thrown for 24 touchdowns. That's the career high for him. A lot of people think their passing game is, is bad. Arguably, it's better than it has been. They still have a lot of guys that can hurt you. And defensively, Fangio's going to limit you no matter who you are to 20, 23 points or less. And it's a credit to the Bears, as you know, for what they did running it down their throats. But other than that game, they're still, I think the top team to beat the NFC. So you're still on the Eagle side of this thing. Hard to believe I'm saying that, but yes, I am. I just think world champions know what it's like. I think they have the ability to raise their level of play in the big games, but obviously they're going to have to go on the road and prove they can do it in LA or in Seattle or potentially even in Chicago. They did run the full, they did run the ball really well yesterday, which is kind of nice. You know, I mean, I know we're not talking about a great opponent here, but I mean, just anything, anything that looks like some sort of semblance of balance, which opens things up for her so much more. And we've talked about the old line stuff that you're referencing there the year after you win. I mean, I mean, this is a little different because it was back to back appearances, you know, so well, two appearances in three years. You wonder, like, can you tell, can you tell the personality of your team pretty early on? I mean, like, hey, we have the right group of guys, I don't know about any like, or these guys are just not about the right things this year. I mean, what's that like when you're a coach? Well, it's, it's a journey. You got peaks and valleys during the season. You got to respond to injuries. You got to respond to bad calls, bad weather. The schedule is the shit sometimes. I mean, you're playing in London. You're playing on Thursday. You're playing across the country. You're playing on Saturday. So there's a lot of distractions. There's a lot of things you can't predict that you got to adapt to. You got to have a mentally tough group of guys. And sometimes when I watch Philadelphia, I wonder if these guys really like each other because there's not a lot of engagement on the sidelines. But this team knows how to win. And when you have a quarterback that can run it and throw it, God help you. I just think they're a hell of a football team. But you're always redefining your character of your team. But winning, winning is the best way to advance everything. What is your favorite offensive system that you see right now on Sundays? Man, that's a good question. I like Detroit. I know a lot of the coaches there, a lot of those guys work with me in the past. I love the way they train Jared Goff. He's a pocket passer. I think winning in the pocket, those are the offenses that I love to watch. Some of the scrambling, playmaking, wild things, you can't count on that unless you have one of those guys like Josh Allen, Mahomes, or Lamar. But I do like watching the Detroit Lions play. I'm really excited with Seattle. I like some of the action that they have in their offense. Obviously, Sean McVeigh and I work together. Kyle Shannon and I work together. So those are the teams I spend the most time looking at. And I like Ben Johnson stuff, obviously. Yeah. Is it, does it bum you out that Mahomes is, I mean, look, we don't want him to be hurt, right? On top of everything else, but a playoff season without Mahomes, have you prepared yourself? Because I'm not prepared. Yeah, I am shocked. I mean, you think about Pat Mahomes and Lamar Jackson not being in the playoffs, Joe Burroughs not going to be in there, but Mahomes just doesn't seem like football without him in there. No. And that's where I'm at with this Josh Allen thing where I keep thinking like, all right, Burroughs not going to be there. Mahomes is going to be there. I mean, the chances of Baltimore getting in and winning the division are pretty slim. I mean, it's not impossible, but it doesn't look great considering some of the matchups. They'll have to close this whole thing. And I'm like, all right, well, all those guys are gone for Josh Allen, but I can't, I can't get past that bill's defense. Like I may be, I may be going from being incredibly dismissive of Jacksonville to maybe when this whole thing gets started. I just, I don't know. I can't believe it. I can't believe I'm so close to maybe picking Jacksonville and having, having some respect for this franchise that, you know, they've been keeping track of everybody disrespecting him. And I'm like, go ahead, keep track of all of it. But that might be kind of this full circle moment here as we have two final weeks of the season. Yeah, it's hard to bet against Josh Allen. It's hard. And as you say, if there ever was a year for Buffalo to do it, to get to the Super Bowl, this is the year without Mahomes and Lamar and without Joe Burrow. But as you said, there's always another fighter. There's always another guy that's taken off his cape and getting in the ring. And some of these guys have been paying their dues. They've been working their asses off, man. And Trevor Lawrence is the number one overall pick. And every once in a while, if you're not careful, you get your block knocked off by the unexpected. And I think there's some young quarterbacks that are on the rise. And I think that's what makes this game this season really exciting. If you have something going into a playoff matchup, like we even saw this a little bit with Oklahoma and Alabama, if you're, if you're up for it, but you see how bad Alabama's rushing attack is going up against this awesome Oklahoma defense against the run. And granted, they got a little bit more work done than anybody would have expected with that matchup. Alabama comes back, you know, great win for them. But when you see something where you're like, we probably won't be able to do this, do you still want to see if it, if you can't just to be able to show it early, just to be able to not be one dimensional when you're coming out on the field so soon, even if it makes no sense that you have an advantage on that part of the ball? No, you know, you're not going to, Bill Walls said a long time ago, let's not save any bad ideas. You know, if we're playing the first Steelers back in the day, we would throw the ball 45 to 55 times. We would know that going in. We would tell our players, make sure you take your salt tablets and Gatorade because we are going to run you guys, man. We ain't running. We're going to throw the ball 50 times in this game. And I think that's how you have to be sometimes, you know, you got to play to your strengths, but you also got to appreciate and understand the strengths of their defense. Now there are some predictable situations where we are going to have to run the ball, maybe to run the clock situations like that. But to your point, that's, that's part of individual game planning. Every week is different. Yeah, God, I love that. What else? Do you got any other great story time stuff going back to like your first impressions? Do you think like the people that were the most like made the most impression on your philosophy is becoming a head coach, being like, you know, I want more of what that guy's telling me. Well, you know, I was fortunate as a young guy and I encourage all the young coaches out there to try to find the position that you want to coach and try to surround yourself with the best people possible to train you. I got to go to Tennessee, work with Walt Harris, and I got a job with the 49ers as a young guy. I was the first quality control guy. I didn't even know what quality control was. I was one of the very, I think I was the very first guy to start drawing the plays in the computer. Everything had been hand drawn for years and years. How old were you? I was 28, 29 years old. I'm working for the 49ers. We go out there. Eddie DeBardlo was the owner, the best of all owners. There was no salary cap then. So we had Joe Montana in his prime. How about the backup quarterback was Steve Young, Hall of Famer. Steve Bono was the third strength quarterback. And we played a 34 defense. And in a three, four defense, you got to have a nose tackle, a guy that can kick the center's ass. So we had Michael Carter, we got Jim Burt from the New York Giants, and Fred Smerlus, we had the Buffalo Bills best, three of the best nose tackles in the freaking world. And only one of them can play at a time. But being in that environment, watching these coaches coach and watching these players practice, you got to understand Ronnie Lott wasn't just a great player. The way he practiced was insane. And Jerry Rice practiced harder than Ronnie. And Roger Craig might have practiced just as hard as the others. The work ethic, the way the 49ers did things, it just had such a huge impact on me. The way they installed plays, the way they, it's not the plays, it's how we practice the plays. They were creative. They stimulated their players. They mixed things up. They traveled with class. That was the cutting edge of football. It'll never be that way again. I'm just glad I got to see it. How did you get the job so young, John? Well, my dad coached with John McVeigh, who was the general manager of the 49ers. And my dad coached at Notre Dame. My dad recommended Joe Montana to John McVeigh. So I think coach McVeigh returned a favor to me because my dad drafted Steve Young with the Buccaneers when he was the personnel director. And guess who my dad traded Steve Young to the 49ers. So the 49ers had some pretty good quarterback. So I think coach McVeigh did me a favor, I guess, in return. Yeah. Well, I guess, um, I guess for Joe Montana, it's worth it. I think that, I think that's a good price. You know what? It was just unbelievable watching them. And I just want to tell you this, the terminology of the 49er system was very verbal. A lot of words, shifts, motions, different protections, very lengthy stuff. And we were famous for having game plans where you could play a double header with. We had 125, 140 passes, 30 different running plays, 15 or 20 audibles. And there was no quarterback to coach walkie talkie. I couldn't say, Hey, Ryan, Ryan, let's run trips, right? 76 Dusty X out. I had to signal the play and Montana had to memorize all the formations. So Joe would sit there on Wednesday in the room and he would watch Holgren and Bob McKintrick install all these plays. And then he would go out in the walkthrough 45 minutes after the meeting and he didn't want anybody to tell him anything. Just give me the play. He would memorize every formation. He had the quickest mind of anybody I've ever seen. He was awesome, man. I love Joe Montana stories. I listen to all day. Um, well, let's do it again. Let's have some Joe Montana stories. Uh, next time we catch up, enjoy the clothes of the regular season. We'll see you in the playoffs. All right, John. Thanks, man. Happy, happy Christmas to you too. Nice meeting you again. See you. Stella Blue Coffee's new can lattes are here crafted with 100% Colombian coffee. Each can is a good source of protein and comes in two smooth flavors, espresso, cafe mocha and espresso, sweet cream. And whether you're braving your morning commute or chasing your pup, Stella Blue Cans are for those always on the go. And for those who care, Stella Blue is more than just great coffee. It's about giving back. I named the brand after my rescue dog, Stella, who inspired our mission to help more dogs find their forever homes. Every purchase supports animal rescue organizations. So when you drink Stella Blue, you're not just fueling your day. You're saving a dog's life. Try the new cans today, taste the difference and make a difference. All new Stella Blue Coffee can lattes now available at StellaBlueCoffee.com or subscribe on Amazon for 10% off. You want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life advice, life device, rrgmail.com. We've got Kyle, we've got Steve, we've got a lot of Christmas themed ones here. Maybe we just try to get them in for the holidays. How's everybody doing by the way? Speaking of Christmas theme, look at you today. What are you talking about? Dirty Santa Claus. What do you mean? You got a green, what looks like some sort of Santa looking coat. You got a red shirt under there. You're rocking green red. I mean, I know you're not like a super festive guy, but... It seemed like you got a lot more beard than I was expecting you to have. I just don't know. I don't know. Maybe your pace is faster than mine, but I just feel like I just saw you and I wasn't expecting this. I know. We did just see each other. It wasn't that long ago. So I don't know. It's like the Santa Claus when he just shaves it and comes right back. Yeah. Yeah. The Christmas season, you know? Hell yeah. Great call back. I know. I feel like, well, I can't shave it off now. Not. Because it's Tuesday. Yeah. Noted. Noted. I didn't know if you were like moonlighting as like Santa on the side or something. I think I'd be on some sort of watch list, wouldn't you? Is that Rassila? What's going on? Hey guys. He's at the mall. What's your name? Stephen? Oh, you want an iPad? This guy looks like he's probably going to nail a parlay. He'll probably get you an iPad. Okay. Do you think Gabe Vincent has anything left? Not at all. Nope. Not at all, buddy. Let's see what kind of steamy Lakers fan response we can get to that. Observation. God, are they fucking annoying? Just every, every, no, no, you're right. Jackson Hayes is awesome. You're boy Jackson Hayes. Yeah. So I probably wouldn't do Santa in person, at least around Torrance or something. They could be like the lifeguard Santa. Do they do that in the beach communities like lifeguard Santa? Lifeguard Santa. Probably. Oh, this is big like fire company Santa around here. They just ride around the trucks and they're Santa throwing stuff at candy canes and stuff at the kids. To the kids, not at the kids, but yeah, that's big. It's a big East coast thing. I don't know. Is there anything out there at beach community Santa that's like a little bit that's own flavor? I probably should try to figure out more than three days before Christmas that there's something I could do for the community. I did a toys thing. I did a donation thing. So I feel good about that part, but like real man hours boots on the ground, man hours. I don't know. Maybe just dress up. Maybe just BYOS, just dress up as Santa tomorrow at the farmers market when I go to get fruit, just start asking kids what's on their mind and then what happens if you don't have a permit. Yeah. I dropped a tenner at the Salvation Army out front of right out front of Acme. So I feel good about that. Whole 10 bucks. It's hard to say no to that. I mean, the guys out there with the bell right, you're just like, you know, you know, you have something on them. Yeah, I don't know. Sometimes I see these guys and like, you know, I've had to do community service before. Is there a chance that this is why you're here? I don't know. I mean, because I'm not legit. I had to do community service for the Salvation Army and I had to clean like, I don't know, 80 pairs of roller skates in the summer one time. So I had to do a bunch of community service and that was Salvation Army. So I was thinking, it's like, maybe some of these guys aren't just like out here because they're given time. They might be like, knock at some points off their license or something here. I don't know. I've been using screws over here. Like, I'm just saying some of the guys not doing it for the love of the game. The guy in front of Acme didn't look like he was doing it for the love of the game. That's all I'll say. All right. I'll never look at it. Santa is the same again. Just the Salvation Army ones. Just those guys. We get an unsanctioned Santa here. All right. Christmas ruined. That was the headline. Ryan, 32, 510, 135. Jim Stats rarely benched last time 155, five times player comp 510, redheaded, slightly slightly underfed Kyle Korver. 510, 135. I live in Hawaii. I work a lot, watch a lot of sports, mostly keep to myself. I don't get too high or too low. I don't look forward to much. Jesus. Not to be depressing too late. But holidays, birthdays, special occasions, none of it really does anything for me except Christmas. Okay. Christmas is the one day of the year where I consistently walk away thinking, yeah, that was actually special. I don't over romanticize things, but it's the one time I genuinely slowed down. I've been home in almost a year, took time off of work to come back and was legitimately excited because I really miss being a part of my family dynamic. Yeah. You're starting to get to that age where you're like, you know, this is actually, these people are all right in my book. It's always been very intimate. Mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, grandparents, small group, family rhythm, familiar rhythm, family rhythm probably works too. Same couch, same house, same vibe. That's the whole appeal. My parents' house is very small, one bathroom. Tight. That's small. Christmas has always been just the core group. Obviously, mine or my sibling's certificate others would attend as they come in and out of our lives with nothing more. Then a few days ago, my mom told me, my brother asked if his, my brother asked if his fiance's parents could come, which my mom ended up reluctantly agreeing to. I wasn't thrilled after hearing this, but I know that no one else was either. So I talked myself into it. Fine. I'll sit on the couch, watch basketball, deal with the crowd and still try to have fun. Then today I found out that her brother is coming too. That blew the top off of things. So now we're at 12 people. There are only seven comfortable seats in the house. It's in the Midwest, so we'll all be stuck inside. One bathroom. This becoming less Christmas and more airport gate delay. Sitting on the floor while people I don't even know have a good spot in the couch at a good angle to TV. This guy's still pissed off. Here's the real issue though, the family dynamic. I'm outspoken. I don't fake enthusiasm well. If something bothers me, it shows. I usually express it. My brother on the other hand is extremely sensitive because of that. No one ever pushes back on him. My mom agreed to all of this largely to avoid hurting his feelings. I challenged her by saying, if I try to bring this many extra people into that house, everyone would have immediately said, you're fucking insane. But because it's him, everyone tiptoes. Meanwhile, the one holiday I care about and my first time being able to be with a family in a year gets quietly turned into a stress test. I've basically told my family that since no one else is willing to say anything, I will not to start a war because I won't be able to sit there all day and act like it's all good if it isn't. Well, that's going to go great. Don't be a bitch. Come on. Yeah. They're all telling me to chill and not go on Christmas, but I feel like it is. It's already ruined. Am I being unreasonable for being pissed valid if I say something? Or is it just one of those situations where you accept you'll be the villain regardless? Do I shut up and just be a grown up PS? I'm only there for the week, which I will spend time with them all individually, but really the only opportunity to have everyone together. Anyway, I love the show. Welcome to having brothers and sisters, by the way, and not being the favorite one or the kid gloves one. Like surprise, you're just figuring this out now, but that's just how it is. Different rules for different people. I thought you would have known that even though everybody loves everyone equally. Let's just say there's different rules. I wouldn't say anything. You could do stuff, right? You could do stuff. You said one bathroom. There might be something there that might be flipping, flipping their plates. No, no, I mean, I mean, just don't hold back. Be your normal self. And like you're saying, obviously don't say it. You guys weren't even supposed to be here, but do like say your... Not bad for a Christmas that I'm not even officially recognizing with all these people. Right. Just be yourself. And there's one bathroom. Maybe there's something going on there. Don't light a match. See what happens. I guess I'm just saying there might be something where you're like, all right, we tried this thing. It felt a little crowded and maybe they won't come here next year. It's also the last thing I'll say and I'll be done. You don't only have to go home on Christmas. I mean, you've seen what I did for five, six years. I mean, vacation in Poughkeepsie exclusively. So there must be... There's probably a happy medium between only coming home for a week on Christmas and spending your summer vacation in your hometown. So maybe you won't feel so like bent out of shape if Christmas isn't perfect every year. So thanks for listening though. Yeah. It obviously sucks. But what if they don't have anywhere else to go, man? What if... I don't know. I guess you could say, hey, the three of them can hang out by themselves, but this is the point of the time of year. It's not for you to be an asshole. It's for you to be welcoming. And Kyle, I think Kyle hit it right. The sibling dynamic, you just have to shut up and take it sometimes. And you certainly don't do it in front of other people. You certainly don't do it, call people out during the holidays. I think you're going to get there. People are going to realize how tight it is, how much it sucks, and everyone's going to get the vibe. Maybe it doesn't happen again next year. But you to just be like, hey, I have to say something about this. I don't think you have to say anything about it. I think everyone's going to know it might not be awesome. And then next year, if it happens again, then nobody learned their lesson. But it feels like it's one of those things where people might learn their lessons this year about how terrible this was. So I don't know. I'm not the big ruin, the Christmas guy, just to say what needs to be said. Because I don't think it really necessarily needs to be said. I think they'll get the hint. And then hopefully you just don't hope you only get any fights with your... Because the whole point of this time of year is not to fight your family. And then DeKalus point, yeah, maybe you should come during the summer because the holidays, everyone gets together just like this breeding grounds, people being mad at each other because they're not normally in these confined spaces together. But you chose to come here, man. You don't live around here. You chose this life to come here once a year. However often you come, you said you haven't been there in a year. This is also kind of on you. You could live there and not have to deal with this and just go home. But that's not how you chose to live your life. So I don't know. I think you got to kind of just take it and eat this one and not really say much. Yeah, dude. And wear that brother badge differently. Like you're the one who nobody really needs to use the kid gloves on. Like whatever, probably made you stronger. I always say like, my sister used to be able to like, say she had a headache and not go to school. I remember one time I flushed my puke in the toilet. My dad didn't believe me and he was like, you're going to school. I forgot to save the evidence because he thought I was faking it. So it was just like, there's different rules for you wear it as a badge of honor and just, you know, harder, tough for everything. Shout out to Tom Brady. It's the old, if you don't feel good, just go to the nurse. Like I currently don't feel well. I'm throwing up right now. Don't flush it. Go to the nurse. Now I can't prove it. Yeah, this guy's really worked up. I mean, that was a long, intense email about things. And I think you wrote that email expecting that we were all going to say, yeah, you know, like, live your truth, have your voice be out there. And I don't feel that way at all, man. Are you working? Yeah, I totally understand where you're coming from. But a guy had a situation one Christmas where it was like three different versions of Christmas. I hadn't been home in a while. So I was home and then there's this faking guy around. And he, he was able to come to all three versions. And I was like, are you serious with this? I didn't say it to his face. Sister's boyfriend. And I didn't like him. Yeah, you don't say. I was like, you're coming, you're coming to all three levels of this thing. I was like, we can't get a break from this guy and one of them. Did you, did you express that at the family function? I didn't say in front of people, but I said it to a person. I think that you have to be an adult and just be mad to yourself, like just be mad and just suppress it. That's like, that's what, that's what you do in these cases. I don't think that's like, but he didn't have anywhere to go. But I personally thought it was something that was really selfish by sibling to be like, I'm just this guy's coming to everything. And he wasn't really in the picture at all. The next thing you know, he's, he's at Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and then Christmas dinner. Best secret Santa gift. You're like, what this? Yeah, no, he's getting hooked up to everybody was sort of scrambling, trying to figure out like, oh, I didn't know. And then after, after edition three of it, I went to one of my other sisters and I was like, what the fuck's going on here, by the way? I was like, if you can't get a break from this fucking guy. And she was like, well, you know, better, you know, this whole thing. And I was like, I don't know. I was like, I don't know. How old were you? How old was she? 40 and then 30 maybe. Oh, what do you mean? I thought it was gonna be younger. I thought you were gonna be like, yeah, I was visiting, I was back from college. No, no, no. It wasn't that long ago. I mean, it's 10 years ago. Yeah. Oh, wow. Okay. Okay. You guys think I was wrong? No, I just, the way that you were just like, I just seemed like you were telling me your 25 year old feelings, not your 40 year old feelings. I would agree. But there's nothing feelings or feelings, man. Can I just say one thing? Some of those early 20s Christmases were just, just rough. You were the guy who's doing the, no, my parents, my parents have split up. Yeah. And like, you leave for college and then you come back and you're like, what the fuck happened here? It's been three and a half months. Like, what's going on here? Next thing you know, you're living in a, you're sleeping in a spare room, you know, high tailing between houses. Yeah. Like I'm living with a bunch of framers because there's an empty bed there and because your house is sold. You're like, what's going on? All right, that sucks. Yeah. So those are, those are really rough. I don't, I don't look back on those days. It's like a ton of NBAs. I'm like, man, I missed those. So look, how about that be the lesson? You didn't have it that fucking bad, bro. So, no, actually this was your, was the third, you, so you were 40, he was like in his 30s. Was he like pumped to be there? Did he realize kind of how uncomfortable the situation was too? Cause sometimes it's kind of nothing. Yes. Yeah. I think he should have taken a hand. Yeah. I don't think he should have gone to all sat one out. Yeah. Okay. Cause it was like, oh, all right, we're doing this and then it was the next day and I was like, all right. And then I was okay. But now we get to go back here and do dinner here. And I was like, great. And then I was like, he's here again. I was like, nobody even knows this fucking guy. So what's his name? Yeah. There's a t-shirt in there somewhere. He didn't last long either. He didn't. Nobody even knows this fucking guy. You know, like, I don't think I would ever play. Yeah, they got married. Yeah. Couple kids. Yeah. No, right. It's like, no, I called it. No, he's actually, he's living here with me now. We get along right now. Yeah. It was like, man, that first Christmas was rough. Yeah. So look, man, I would tell you this, you're not wrong to feel the way you feel here. But if you drop this just atomic bomb of emotions on everybody, especially day of or day before, like you want to get weird, get mad after, you know, like, you're going to have to hold this one in. I think. Yeah. Maybe take your dad's temperature on it after and then decide whether or not you want to actually say something to your brother once all the fun stuff is over. But yeah, certainly, there's got to be an embargo on pretty much all these emotions. Can you buy some like collapsible chairs, some folding chairs from like a Walmart or something? Bring in five extra. Yeah. Maybe like, this guy's mad around the board of one. Be like, oh, we got to use the cheap chairs. We usually have enough, but God, this one, this isn't good. We never use these chairs because we only really have enough for us. Small house, obviously, one bathroom. What if the people are like really nice too? They come over and they bring all these great food. That's what I was thinking. You know, like I'm with you, like I'd be annoyed too, but you just can't. You can't be an asshole. You can't do that. I think people are going to know the deal the day after. And then you can maybe just say, hey, I knew it. I knew it. This is BS. I mean, as somebody who like I have, we have the in-laws over with my parents and a bunch of extended family just because it's like easier, especially now with two kids. Like I kind of love it. I know this is a different scenario, but like, I don't know. Yeah, look, it seems like it seems like we're over capacity. Just Christmas. That's the issue. That's the core issue. All right. Life Advice Addicted to Saving. I'm 36 married. Player comp would be an older gym or for debt. Ford Otters, 5'11", 193.7 pounds. Down from a very stable 210 for the last decade, thanks to one simple move, fasting every Monday, like it's a religious observance. Do you say Ford Otters? Kind of sped through that. Yeah. Okay, cool. Wow. Ford Otters, 5'11", 193.7 pounds. We haven't got a lot of point. It's a guy's dialed in. Yeah, dialed in. Physically, I'm doing fine morally. That's where the nickname comes in. Amongst my friends, I'm known as Mr. Two for One. Two for One, for sure. What? Two for One. Not because I'm generous, because I have mild to moderate obsession with getting discounts, freebies, retroactive wins. It's not about need. It's not even about money. It's about execution, the chase, the feeling that somewhere a system existed and I beat it. I have to add, just for you guys, I'm a highly compensated sales rep for a Fortune 500 company. I don't need to do this, but it's part of what makes me good at my job. I have to get max value. For example, every Christmas or birthday gift my wife buys me, I immediately price match online, like I'm auditing a Fortune 500 expense report. If it's cheaper somewhere else, I call the original store and politely but firmly explain that I'm happy to return it and repurchase unless they want to make this easy. I return shoes about a day before the max return window after heavy usage, gym, basketball, real minutes. I bought the same shoe two years later, returned the old ones in the new box. My wife hates this. I hate this. Dude, what do you do at restaurants? What the hell? Do you find just the amount of steak to eat before you can send it back? Like, what do you do? Well, it's crazy you said that because I see some stuff coming up here down the pipe. She believes it's thievery. I believe it's a loophole with customer service hours. At sporting events, I take a massive bite of a hot dog, head back, and say, this is ice cold. Any chance I can get a fresh one? Same with beer, drink half, mention it still, request a replacement. Again, it's not the savings, it's the win. The dopamine hit of successful complaint. So here's the question, am I wrong? Not legally. I'm usually within rules but spiritually, rationally, no, relationally. My wife sees a massive criminal mastermind in gym shorts. My friends see performance art. I see a man refusing to leave value on the table. Is this a harmless quirk that just needs boundaries or am I slowly becoming the guy everyone dreads standing behind at the return counter? I generally don't know. I know that full price feels like losing and losing feels personal. I love you guys. Well, thanks. That'll change what I'm going to say. I think I might tweak what I'm going to say a little bit. But I think I might be irrational too because when I'm, I mean, I lose patience when I'm standing behind someone at the return counter real fast. And I think it's irrational for me. Like, I mean, you got like two good minutes. And if we're still like trying to figure it out, I mean, I'm just, I start getting antsy. And but so noises. Yeah. Yeah. See if, see if there's someone behind me that wants to like lock eyes and be like, yeah, you see this fucking guy? Are you serious? Tic-Tacs? What's, what's the problem? Just take the tic-tacs you got or whatever it is. Like, but these tic-tacs are cold. That might just be, it might just be me. This one has a crack in it. I don't know. But I feel like your wife's probably the one who suffers. I mean, does she bring you on date nights? Like, do you guys, how do you guys like, if you have a dinner, if someone, if it's your turn to pay, is there something going on here? Like, but I was going to say boundaries is probably the word, right? Because you got to figure out when it's okay to turn this shit on and not, if you got four kids, maybe you're just, maybe it started as like a way to ensure a good future. And now it's like, this is a bit of a spiral, I think. Yeah. Like, I can, I can appreciate it. I'll say the nice thing first. I can appreciate it. It's like this, it's like Sam Presti trust the process. Like, this isn't, it's not about the, like you just, you have to keep doing the same thing. Am I on the scenario? Like, keep executing the same plan and you're doing that. And I, I, I do respect that to some degree. So not Hinky Presti. I'm sorry, Presti. Yeah. Well, what did I say? So Presti. I mean, I mean, Sam Hinky, my bad. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, we now process, right. And he's, and he's got a process and he does it. And it's just like that some people are like that, like they just, that they need like the organization of the lives, they do things in a specific way and the outcomes are what they are. I do respect that. But like, think about like, how, how do you, like your wife, like, if you're out with people and your wife has to see you do this in front of other people, think about, you know, how embarrassing that is for her. Like, what is this guy doing? He's like trying to get a half a hot dog at a game. Let's eat the hot dog, dude. Like, so I, I, I respect the idea behind this, but the execution, like you just can't be that guy 24 seven. You can't because it's, it's just not a way to live your life. And other people are going to get so frustrated with you that you're not going to have any, I don't know how you'd be able to maintain like a meaningful relationship. Like if any of my buddies did this, it'd be like funny at the first couple times. And then I'd be like, dude, grow up. Like this is how life is. Like he gets screwed over. And I, I get it. Like, hey, Walmart, all these big companies that you, you want to stick it to the man by like, you know, return stuff on, you know, before it's done. I get that. But like you're only kind of like effing with your own mind here. Like you, you're going so out of your way to do all these little things. Like, are you, are you really, I guess he's enjoying it, though. He said a dopamine hit. So maybe it's drugs for some people. And this is his drug. He's just not gambling. He's doing this instead. I guess that's cool. I'd rather he gambled. So he'll never, right. Yeah, me too. Like you'll never have a relationship. I mean, four kids, he's probably not looking for like the bar from Cheers or something, but you'll never have like a relationship with like a restaurant, right? That you and your wife have a place and you guys go because you're constantly like, maybe fighting or not fighting this urge to like send back this hamburger and, and, you know, I wanted to try this instead. Well, like, you'll never be able to have that sort of like relationship because you just keep fucking with people. How bad does food have to be for you to return? I like, I would have to have like a plate full of salt to return. Yeah, I'll just eat it and suck it up. There was a salt issue once. And I think, yeah, I think I just ate something raw one time too. So I don't even think I sent that back. I'll eat something. But if it, if it's done and I won't want it off the bill, I'll just be like, how was it? I'd be like, it wasn't very good. They're never expecting that. So they'll be like, Oh, well, we could, I'm like, no, no, no, please leave it on the bill. I'm going to tip you well and, you know, service is fine. You actually want an answer. Yeah. Yeah. I just, I've stopped telling people it was really good when it wasn't. Yeah. But I'm not doing it because I want a discount. I'm not doing it because I want it to be free. And I still tip whatever I'm going to tip like, I, you know, usually would tip pretty well, you know, I mean, you got to really fuck up for me to not tip you 20%. Although you get a Denver and grab a cup of tea, they want 45%. Is there a story? Yeah. What do you mean? I think I'm worried about where this is going. You know, like to Sartre's point, like you can justify any of the stuff if you really want to. You're like, Oh, this big corporation, you're at, you know, say you're at a Nuggets game and you're a ball arena and you're thinking about like, Corp the man and you just like, I got a free hot dog and a free half a beer out of these guys. Like nobody's nobody's rooting for the food purveyor. Right. I just would worry about like, how often is this always is it getting worse? Because if it's getting worse, I don't know, I, you know, I wouldn't want to spend as much time doing this stuff. That would be the thing, especially knowing that your wife is probably like, are you seriously going to keep doing this? I think his boys are the ones that are really keeping this alive. It sounds like he's saying they think it's performance art. Yeah. And I feel like he's getting enough positive or just not negative reinforcement that they don't have to live with you. You know, my wife, she doesn't like this and she doesn't like that about me too. You know, I forget to put my clothes in the hamper. What's the day? It's just me. My boys like, you know, even if the friends are kind of into it because they, they're entertained by it and they think it's funny. If I were to meet your friends, you'd be like, oh, you got to see what Steve started Steve. You got to see what Steve does. He'd be like, what does Steve do? And then be like, he eats half a hot dog and then he goes back and returns it because he says it's cold and then he gets a full hot dog. So he actually pays one, he pays for one hot dog, but he gets to eat a hot dog and a half. And I would be like, end. He can't not do it. That's the funny part. Is that can't help himself? He loves doing it. You should see a sneakers. Never more than 90 or 89 days old. All right. This is, I think we did this one other time. Where's the line? Accommodating a mother's request to switch seats with her kids. Love the pod. Been listening since the dual threat days. Thank you. Six foot three, 180 player comp. See, if you're six foot three and you're checking in here, I'm guessing you probably you're like locked in. I want to see you. I want to see that got player comp Christian Brown, lethal and transition, great off ball cutter. It can knock down an open three, but if then the lead scoring option, the team definitely has a ceiling. Well said. I recently declined a mother's request to switch seats with one of her kids on a plane, need a ruling from the group. And if I'm the asshole for saying no, I booked a window seat and boarded in the later group as it came up to my row. Mother seated in the aisle with her young daughter, three to four years old in the middle, asked me if I would switch seats with her adolescent son, 12, 14 years old in the other aisle seat across the way. The crest was made with moderate to loud volume. And I felt quite a few eyes on me in the surrounding seats as I answered. I politely said no. Well, I did not feel bad about it. It raised a question. How young would her son need to be for me to be obligated to say yes. I have long legs and strongly prefer the window. Her son was also in the aisle right next to her, which makes the request even weaker in my mind. I think I could reasonably say no unless he was five or younger. Did you peek over and see if you had anything going on though? Oh, sounds like he didn't. I have long legs. We already covered this. He said a PS about another email, but we're just going to leave it alone. I think I could reasonably say no unless he was five or younger. And even then, I think I have a case five or younger. And you think you have a case? Come on. What if the kid's crying because he's like freaking out these four because he can't see his mom? What do you guys get on this one? I think it's a lot like our emails, our emails that we get when we said we did something and they say I would do this. I almost, when I, like I see a lot of videos on planes too about this stuff and I don't know what's even real or not on planes. Planes used to be one thing where you're like, oh, that's in a plane. That's definitely not fake. And then you learn there's like these places in Santa Monica you can go to like fake that you're on a plane or like private jets, whatever, like having these things or skits. But whenever I see one of those things where it's like somebody's like not giving up their seat and like the mom starts to freak out, I think like, man, I wish there'd be a lady like that come up to me when I got all my stuff out of my pockets in the net of my seat. And they're like, can you actually, we'd rather have this. But I don't, I think I might fold. I really don't know. I like in my head. I'd like to be like, I'll stand, stand my ground, but I might fold. I really don't know. So it's a window for an aisle. Yeah, already don't want that. Well, it's not a window for a middle. Well, I'll never accept that actually. No, I have to be like a veteran baby or something. I don't know. I have to be like a veteran baby. A baby that's also served. Yes. You have to have something extra there. It's just a baby in full fatigues. Yeah. Desert storm hack. Yeah. Three. I would, if I was the parent in this situation, I would not ask. You would already be in my window seat. Because that's the dick move of dick moves. That's when you're getting a no. That's when it's like, oh, you thought you were going to haze me into a decision I don't want to make. Because your kid is no kid has ever been able to change seats after the fact. Like you came in and this is assuming. Yeah. On my most recent trip to Tampa, I was flying with two of my buddies and I had the window and my buddy had the aisle and we were like, hope and hate like nobody will take the middle and somebody did. So that's fine. But we got on the plane kind of late and there was an old woman sitting in my buddy's aisle seat and he was like, I think, I think your I sat down and say it works. I'm like, I'm not getting involved. Oh yeah. And so he goes, I think, I think you're in my seat and this woman was probably 60 or 70. She's like, no, no, no, this is my seat. Like I picked the aisle and he shows her and is like, nope, I'm whatever. It's 28 F. Here's my thing. She's like, well, I wouldn't have picked a middle seat. She just said, straight up said that. Like I wouldn't have picked a middle seat. It's like, but you did though. Her seat is in fact the middle. It is the middle and she's like, well, I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have picked that. And it's like, it doesn't really matter though. You like that's your this is my seat in your seat and my buddy just got out. He got out foot. Like he didn't have a response. He sat in the middle. He sat in the middle. Holy shit. Honestly, like the people that have no shame like that, like it's, I would say is 90% too high. Like most people are just going to give in. I would give in. Like maybe I'm a, you know, maybe I'm a wuss. I don't know. She's won enough battles. She knew she could size them up and was just like, no, no. Straight up saying like I wouldn't have picked the seat. It's like, what am I supposed to say to that? Like, all right. Like, I guess I, so I wouldn't have picked the seat is such insane response. Cause what do you do? Did she, did she take a wheelchair to the plane too? No, she was, she would have been in the first. She was fine. Yeah. Yeah. And so he, the wheelchair is out of control for certain airlines. Like 20 people that can't walk. And then they get up with everyone. Yeah. Yeah. Like, Oh no, you feeling better? Comes and goes, does it? Jesus. Yeah. I think because she stepped up to our guy here, like clearly based on everything this guy is saying, he's just like, I wasn't going to do anything for anybody. And to me, there would be like a line. I mean, if it's, if it's window, window, your, your, what's the difference? A demon. Yeah. You know, if it's the same thing and it's not the exit row and the extra leg room and all that kind of stuff, and you're just like, no, I want to be in 12. Like that's, that's somebody you hope you never encounter. That's not what our guy is saying here. This guy's saying, I'm in the window. She's in the aisle right across from her son. And he's in 12 to 14 range. Like, yeah. And how long is the flight? You know, if it were less than two hours, I might go, I had no problem because I became a window guy after years and years of being an aisle guy and window is, I don't even want to tell people. It's so much better. It's like a whole new world over there, dude. So yeah. And then when people say like, Oh, well, I want to have to tell people to get up. It's like, if you got to do it once, everybody's going to get up. All right. Because I would get up for you the other way around. I understand like, you know, we're on the relationship in our little row here, and we're all going to try to be cool and respectful whole thing. But just because I prefer a window doesn't mean I'm going to sit here for seven hours. Good point. To answer our guy's question, I don't think he's an asshole. But I think most people would think he's in the wrong here. Yeah. Yeah. Not me. That kid's 14. I'll, he's right there. That kid's probably like, say no, I want to be by myself. Leave me alone. Yeah. Yeah. He said she didn't say, well, you know, he has this. So there wasn't like an underlying thing that maybe you should have considered, which is good. He has what? No independence. You think you might be starting learning something? Like a sort of syndrome. Oh, I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying. When are you going to cut the leash here, ma'am? Look at the fucking kid. He's got a mustache. What's he going to be? All right. Then you high fives the kid. Hit him in the zins. Hell yeah. Dude, zins on planes. What a game changer. Here you go, buddy. Yeah, I get where you're coming from on this, but I think, yeah, I think it'd be just, you know, it'd be smart as for us to just come up with like the 10 commandments of when you can or can't switch with a kid. I like it. Baby that's served. Off for a couple. Yeah. Yeah. What about like an elderly couple that gets separated? Yeah, I look at the guy and see if he really, if he's giving me like, no, I could see if he's like, you know, if I could do him a favor, or if he actually does want to be next. They may be the dirtiest people in the business though. Right. You know, you ever sit in first class and then they're like, oh, you know, we got separated. Actually, no, really? What happens on your phone when you book it? You get to pick where your seats are. Right. Because that's what happens on mine. I pick where the seats are. I'm supposed to give up a first class seat, sit coach, because you guys are into each other. Yeah, first class. Someone ever actually never heard that. Yeah. A couple times. A couple times. Oh my God. Yeah. That's that's. Oh, what is that? Because one, one person has like the points that got upgraded. Yeah. And they're like, so like, well then, until I can take the upgrade, you know, there's basically no, do you want a 1000% less happy time so I could sit next to my wife? That's crazy. Yeah. I don't think there's a scenario first class where I would change. I haven't sat in first class a ton, but like that's about like three tours in Fallujah. Not. I patch. I patch. I was thinking about the eye patch thing the other day. In what capacity? Well, if you have an eye patch, try one out somebody else with an eye patch, you must you have to, don't they stop and be like, let's run through it. I gotta say, yeah, I think so. Yeah. Like if you have an old firebird, you see another one or something like, holy shit, you got to pull over at Duncan or something. I think I patched a whole other level. Well, yeah, I'm just saying. You see each other like across the grocery store and you're like, just put your shit down. All right, go first. Buy a coffee. All right. I think that'll do it for the show today. Yeah. I think we'll come back. We'll circle back on the 10 commandments. I'd like to put forward a couple. Yeah. Yeah. I patched me. That may be the one. That may be the clincher. Okay. Do you mind just popping that up a little bit? Follow, follow. Yeah. Well, I have been playing much basketball. Oh my God. All right. That'll do it for us. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Steve. We'll be back. Are we releasing the pod tomorrow or Wednesday? Yeah. We're going to tape it tomorrow and release it Wednesday. Fred Warner will be with us for Wednesday's episode. So make sure you check that one out and the YouTube stuff as well. Please subscribe. Ryan Russell, the show, part of the Barstool Network.