Giants Hire Harbaugh, Full Divisional Round Preview, Chicago Apex, and Eggs Manske

Welcome to the Render Fantasy football show. My name is Danny Hypes and I'm joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Coralbeck. You're going over all the divisional round games in NFL playoffs. But first, let's get to the real news of the day that New York Giants have hired John Harbaugh as the New York Giants said coach, Tika, who's got it better than us? Is this the greatest moment of your Giants fandom since I've known you in, I think we met in 2016? I guess winning a playoff game has to be better. When they beat the Vikings, that was a big moment. The Tommy Cutlet's era. Maybe. Well, it was fun in the moments. It was fun in the moments. What about when Cam Scataboo and Jackson Dart took that photo together? That one night where the Giants beat the Eagles and then they were cool for a day. And then I called Craig and I was like, really drunk and the Giants are back and then they all got hurt. The Giants are better than the Eagles. Craig, the Giants are better than the Eagles. And then I still might believe that. Yeah, well, it's true. I'm just a little bit more inspired, like three weeks later, whatever. This, I am thrilled by this. I don't know the way. Look at this beggar's campy choosers and I am begging for the Giants to be competitive. You guys basically have barely known me watching competitive Giants football. It hasn't been a thing. I just keep thinking about. I'm probably do this job because of how much I love the Giants and how much my family loves the Giants and how much I grew up loving the Giants watching the Giants and my family. And I realized nine of the last ten times, like, of Thanksgiving. Like, I always go home for Thanksgiving as my family saved my holiday. Nine of the last ten Thanksgiving's, the Giants had already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. That's kind of nice. Spend time with your family. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's no stakes. It's great. That's the third of the season. We don't even have to worry about it. That's my dream. Instead every year, I'm like, God, Steelers are probably going to squeak in, aren't they? Yeah. I was thinking, I was thinking about how I felt about this because I couldn't sleep. And I checked my phone like three in the morning. And like I saw the Giants, the, the, the, I hired Johar, but I was like, oh my God, I was freaking out bad. And now I couldn't fold back asleep. But I was actually thinking about what Craig said about the Steelers where it's like, you watch, like, why in a nutshell, was it time for my Toma to go? And I really think Craig nailed it when you were like, I watched that Steelers lose a playoff game. And I felt nothing. I felt nothing. And I think that is my, that is why I am so happy to have the Giants hired Johar Ball. Because I, when the Giants, the Giants are the worst record in the NFL over the last decade. They have, they're tied with the jets, the Giants, I mean, fewer playoff appearances than like the Browns. I wanted to make fun of the Browns. The Browns have been to the playoffs and as many times as the Giants are more. And in 2017, when the Giants were awful, I was really angry. And then by like 2021, when the Giants were awful at embarrassing, I was actually just sad. And in, in 2026, when the Giants were terrible, I kind of didn't feel anything at all. I have totally become numb to them losing game after game and year after year and all the stats and starting two and eight, three straight years and 10 game losing streaks and the worst in 50 years and the worstness in 100 years. I don't even care. It's like, I'd be having Giants up among all my games on Sundays and I would start getting wandering eyes in the fourth quarter because they're just getting blown out over and over and over and over again. And I just want the Giants to be competitive. And I think John Harbour will make them competitive and I guess in a nutshell, the Giants are not a laughing stock anymore. You guys and everyone have been making fun of the Giants for 10 years. And I think that if anything, what the harbour hiring means is the Giants are not a joke anymore. Are they going to start scoring some touchdowns? I really hope so. Those are big. They say those are big at the very, very least. You're going to have a healthy kicker on your roster. Oh, yeah, that's a good point. Because he's a special teams guy. He knows the importance of that. The Giants, what was three games over two years because they didn't anticipate that they're injured kicker should maybe they should back up on the game day. It's a tough time to talk about Ravens kickers, but yeah, you're right. Generally, yeah, you know, it might work out. This is the first time the Giants have had a coach that people respect since Tom Cofflin, right? Yeah, I think Brian Dable that one season he was top. Dable had a moment. Yes, he had that one year and I knew he was bad when the offseason, when Jimmy Fallon and people were shooting like a celeb. And I'm like, this rise was too fast. Yeah. But other than that, no, no one's, I mean, Ben McAduce showed up to his opening press conference in a suit that didn't fit everyone made fun of him for the big play. I probably forgot about that. Joe Judge disaster. Yeah, there's been a lot patch shirmer for two seasons. Yeah, to me, this just just like and not so the difference to me here is like, I agree with you completely. I bet you're like, beggars can't be cheaters, but that even undersells Harbaugh a little bit. Harbaugh is one of the most accomplished respected coaches in the league. You getting him is just such a steady hand. And now different from what like the Raiders had with Pete Carroll last year. The Raiders were still a mess. It was like, all right, Geno Smith, I guess the offensive lines of disaster, the defense wasn't good. The giant you're kind of coming in and you're like, we think we have our quarter rack, right Jackson dark. We think we have a young quarterback that we that has some promise, some potential. We have a couple of skill position players that we like. We have Malik neighbors who we know is very good. We like Camp Scadiboo. We have pieces on the offensive line that are okay. We have one of the best offensive lines in the league. And now we have a top five top 10 head coach in the league. Like you have all of the foundational pieces, I would say now to really do something. Yeah, in order we're way better than the Jets are, which is like important. And then frankly, I feel maybe better than where Washington is because Jan Daniels is great. But I mean, the fire clingsberry, like you got to end Quinn there and the little teetering. It's like the oldest roster in the league in Washington. The Eagles are in a really weird spot. Like I feel good about where the giants are. I agree. At Harbaugh to the pedigree thing. I mean, there's a lot of stats on it. But one of them was like the only coaches with more playoff win. I mean, Harbaugh won 180 games. When 180 and 113 in the regular season, the Ravens. Harbaugh has 13 playoff wins. I believe the only coaches with more playoff wins than Harbaugh are like, you know, Bill Bellicic and Andy Reed and like Chuck Null and Tom Landry and Don Shula and Joe Gibbs. And like basically just all inner circle hall fame coaches. And then it's John Harbaugh. It is funny that like, I don't know. I'm sure some people are like, oh, cool. You got you, you know, you got the Ravens sloppy seconds. You're getting John Harbaugh after he couldn't do it with Lamar Jackson. And like to me, basically you have John Harbaugh as your head coach because it's Lamar Jackson injured his hamstring. That is how I feel. That is how I feel. Like they are a Zay flowers fumble. A Mark Andrews bobble from going to maybe two Super Bowls in the last three years. And you just have that coach because Lamar Jackson injured his hamstring. Right. They would have been in the playoffs if the kicker would have made a kick. Right. Literally, yeah, they make the kick that maybe the Ravens end up beating the Texans in playoffs. But DK, I'm curious what you think because I understand, and this is actually how my brother feels, but I understand that there is downside. There's risk with Harbaugh. I think frankly for the Giants perspective, selfishly, it's by far the safest thing the Giants could do. If Harbaugh doesn't work out, it won't be on the team for hiring him. And then also it just is the smartest move for all these guys. But there was certainly a risk for a couple of reasons. One, Harbaugh 63. If Jackson Dirt does end up having a long career, Harbaugh probably won't be the last coach that Jackson Dirt has because he 63. It's like, so I feel like you would be happy to address those problems. If seven years from now, Jackson Dirt is still in the Giants and is good. And you're like, well, Harbaugh 70 now. Those are like, well, cross that bridge when we get there. He's a young 63 anyway. He doesn't look 63 at all to me. Yeah, well, Pete Carroll's young 73. But I don't know, but DK, I guess. I guess decade. Do you think there's any. I think if there's risk to this, it's Harbaugh 63 is a CEO coach that's really what he brings. It's adulthood. No crazy mistakes the Giants have been making. The irony is that the Giants biggest issue was the sloppiness of blowing games that should have won. And frankly, it's also what the Ravens have been known for the last five or six years is excruciating losses in the Ravens. Games the Ravens should have won. But the difference to me is. If there's an issue, it's more that Kevin's defense game maybe gets hired by the Titans and makes cam ward into like a pseudo MVP candidate in Tennessee. Or that maybe Mike McDaniel does get a head coaching job and like resurrects the Falcons or does you know what I mean? Like maybe one of these offensive guys does great work elsewhere. And they're like 10 to 15 years younger than Harbaugh. And you're like, oh, maybe the Giants should have gone with a younger offensive guy to develop Jackson, tart. Right. Do you think. Just because frankly, I'm always a little skeptical and literally everyone agrees on something. It does feel like everyone's like great job Giants, John Harbaugh. Do you think there's a world that the Giants should have looked harder at an offensive person or is this just like the slim dunk? I mean, yeah, there is a world in which they made the wrong choice here. I it's funny because if you just look at last year, there's two really good examples of both sides of the coin here. So like we mentioned, Craig mentioned Pete Carroll. Like I thought Pete Carroll was going to be successful. I thought bringing in Gina Smith was a good move because it gave them some veterans stability at the quarterback position. That turned out to be a freaking disaster. Overall, Pete Carroll was an absolute disaster in Las Vegas. But there was a lot of extenuating circumstances, Craig laid all that out. Like this was just a horrible, roster, horrible team. The other side of the coin is Mike Raible, who took the Patriots team, who just needed like a guiding, you know, adult in the room type of coach, a guy who's like getting command respect from the players and media alike. You know, that you could go down the list. There's a lot of similarities. I think between Raible and Harbaugh and turn the Patriots into a freaking 14 win team with a young quarterback and like basically, you know, no skill players are like a handful of interest and couldn't beat Pete Carroll. In week one. Yeah. If I would have told you that if I would have explained this all in week one, we would have turned out the other way around. But so it is interesting. I think to see that there's both sides of the coin there. I think it's absolutely possible this doesn't work out, but I do think more likely than not. Harbaugh is going to be a good thing for the organization. You know, brings in that institutional knowledge, I think of, you know, how to win and how to organize practices and how to do all that. So how to deal with the media. There's just so many. There's so many variables to being a head coach. And at least we know he can handle like most of them. You know what I mean? I think any of these new coaches might be a total disaster in one area and like really good at offense or whatever. But there's just I think fewer variables when you talk about Harbaugh. I think you made the basketball analogy. You're like, is this a slam dunk? It's a layup. I think it is you had a fast break and you could have tried to win mill. You could have stopped and shot a three. You laid the ball up. And you know what? It's probably what you need to get, you know, to get a lead. I think you're absolutely right. And also I wanted to talk to you guys because this is time for let's be honest everyone's single favorite football activity, which is. So the schedule doesn't come out to me, but the opponents, you know, from the second season end. So I just want to quickly with John Harbaugh now go through the giant schedule and just just preview exactly what's going to happen. So the giant's home games next year. Cowboys. That's a win easy fastball high up. No chance. Eagles. That's running. Eagles. They're drowning. There's no way you're going to win. You know, Jags Jag Wars. That's a that's a loss element. Niners. I'll be generous. That's a loss. But then Titans easy win Browns easy win Saints Tyler Shuckett. That's an easy win. So right there that's six and six home six and two at home away. Cowboys. That's a win. Giant's dominating Jerry world Eagles. I'll admit loss and Philly beat the commanders beat the Cardinals. You lose to the Texans. You beat the Colts. You lose to the Rams loses. You'll beat the Lions 11 and seven. Sorry 11 and six. You'll be playing 18 games. Okay. Well, you never know. I mean, anything's bad. Yeah. It's not season. It's going to be wild. So I'm just telling giants 11 wins. They're going to win the division. How do you feel about the likelihood that Todd Monkin is going to be your offensive coordinator? I like it. I like Todd Monkin. I will admit that part of me just thinks he's the most interesting quote of any offensive coordinator. Like he's kind of like a philosopher. Like the way he talks about football is interesting. But at the end of the day, he came in and the first year here's the the offensive coordinator for the Ravens. Lamar Jackson literally won the MVP. And then the second year was Lamar better. He threw 41 touchdowns and four exceptions and then didn't win the MVP. But maybe it was better than the MVP year arguably. And then this year Lamar got hurt and the Ravens fumbled weird stuff happened. And now it's like, oh, Todd Monkin and Harb are at. I'm like, I don't know. Seemed like he did a pretty good job with Lamar. I'm pretty into the, I mean, he was the coordinator for Georgia when Georgia won the championship 63 to seven or whatever over TCU. Sorry to Kai. And the, you know, the frogs, but. I, if Todd Monkin doesn't get the Browns job, I think it's very clear. Todd Monkin will be the giant softwares coordinator. I love that. It's funny. Oh, I like it. Is he hired yet or not? No. So Harbarr is Monkin. Monkin. No, he's interviewing for the Browns at coaching job. And the deal is basically if Todd Monkin gets that, obviously he's going to take a coaching job. Right. But if he doesn't get the Browns at coaching job, I think he's going to be the giant's offensive. You know, it's funny is Todd Monkin's Wikipedia right now currently says he is the offensive coordinator for the Giants 2026. Is that because you and Rafa Port reported this morning that it's expected Monkins. Yes, I saw expect it. But like, yeah, who knows, which I feel like you don't post that unless it's going to happen. I mean, I think he will be the offensive. I mean, he's not only is he getting the Browns job either like I think. It's due diligence, I think to interview the coordinators of your division rivals because they've game planed against you for years and you should probably get their thoughts for seven hours. But um, yeah, so I'm thrilled about this. This is awesome. I'm very happy for you. This is great. Thank you. What are we for the podcast? The sea hawks are like the number one seed in the NFC and then like Tomlin out and then Harbour to the Giants like will say, I guess it's less positive for Craig, but a lot of stuff for us. I mean, well, I will say, I'm really crossing my fingers. I have decided that where I want the Steelers to land is I want them to hire Chris Shula as their head coach and bring a Nate. She'll host. Is that how we say his name? Sure. She sounds like a guy like a Steelers legend already. Yeah, he's got that it's like she'll host works for the Pittsburgh actually like gentleman's piss club in Germany. Yeah, she'll host. I want Shula head coach, she'll host offensive coordinator. We just basically steal all the good people from the Rams and they're all like 38 years old. That's right. Please do. I want some brain drain happening from the Rams right now. Yeah. I, yeah, I honestly do think that will end up happening. I think the interview is probably matter for the Steelers maybe more than other teams, but I think that's smart. I do think Kevin's to fanski might be the next guy hired. I feel like he will be a top guy for the Falcons and Matt Ryan. The president there now is, which is funny to say. And then I think the Titans are going to be really into Kevin's to fanski because the Titans one in Matt Laflare and he went to the Packers. And so I think the Titans might see Kevin's to fanski as their best option came word. I think Steve Bishott had the owner of the Ravens gave a wild press conference. He was pretty lubricated. He just he was having a good time. He was drunk. Not drunk, but he like he's loose. He was loose. He's a loose guy for team that did make the playoffs. And he was talking about how all the former offensive coaches that did really well and were gurus in the past, but had bad quarterback cards dealt to them like Kevin's to fanski. He was fascinated by them. He just said that. And so it'd be kind of wild if the Ravens tired Kevin's to fanski. That'd be crazy, especially because the Ravens were the Browns that would be insane. But I think the fanski's probably the next domino and then also the Packers and Matt Laflare. I know I think we all kind of agreed that the Packers firing Matt Laflare would be stupid because he instantly be the best candidate probably better than Kevin's to fanski. The way it works. So he is a year left in his contract, but that teams don't literally 31 teams don't let coaches coach on the last year. They're deal because you're like a lame duck and the players know it and like, right. It's hard to get the players to listen to a coach that his contract expiring. So they act if they have don't fire Laflare. They have to extend him. His contract is taken a watch. I can like three weeks to do and it's usually done by now. So unless something happens to Laflare. I think to fanski is the next guy to get hired. And then there's going to be like probably a cascade after Stephensky. I'd like the record to state that if Matt Laflare is a free agent, I would like the Steelers to hire him immediately. Yeah, I just basically I'm not arguing and D. Kitt tell me if you feel differently. I just think Laflare has absolutely botched a lot of game management clock management stuff at the end of games, but it's easier for him to learn that that find someone else who knows that stuff and also is being able to build off. And so the packers average age is 25. It's an incredibly young team. Yeah, no, I totally agree with that. I think it would be ludicrous if they fire Matt Laflare. I would do Matt Laflare in a year of Malik Willis. Kett things going. Sure. Let's pull it out. All right, let's get to the divisional round here. Let's just dive into a DK your team. The Seattle sea oxer hosting the San Francisco 49 week off to kind of relax. Forget about things. I got to game. You got to game it home. You guys last week during the during the wild car. I was like, my god, when your team is not playing in the playoffs, like it, but they're still in it. Best feeling in the world. So the best when your team is not playing. I don't have to worry about what bullshit they're going to do in this game. It's so fun to watch. I just think like straight up across the board. Some like a playoff game that your team is not in is just better than a game that you're. It's just. It's just it's torturous to watch. Like you obviously want to throw the dice because your team could win the Super Bowl. But like if you just asked me, would you rather watch the Steelers in a playoff game or a different playoff game? I probably just say different playoff. That's like, that's maybe that's the real take is actually the giant's being terrible. It's great because I just watch all these games. You can enjoy. Yeah, you're like, what is it? Laflur from dodgeball? He's like, yeah, when you have no expectations, everything is fine. And if you got to tell you that feels phenomenal. You want you want to cook dinner for six people at a dinner party or do you want to attend a dinner party? It's just way easier. Since your princess is great. I don't want to figure out where we're going. Along along that line along those lines. Guess what I saw while you guys were talking about coaching candidates. Sam Darnold has been added to the injury report today with an oblique injury. He's questionable for Saturday. He's pleased. Things are going great. After taking a freaking week off to rest and recuperate. He hurts his oblique in practice. This is the first time hearing about it. It just happened. So obviously we'll find out if it's like actually something to worry about. So my honest to God first take with that is that an actual first take of my immediate reaction is I think I would have been more worried about something like that two years ago. Because it's like, oh, he pulled his oblique. And maybe he can't play to be honest. We're recording this Thursday. I think there was like a couple dozen college basketball players and involved in a potential like point shaving fraud schemes. And it's like every sport has been like really heavily touched by gambling stuff and like injury reports. The NFL has been really cracked down on injury reports and teams like they're like, because remember this is the Ravens fall. And I think that's a little more like the Mar Jackson, like they didn't report that he was on the Friday that I'm full participant that he didn't play. And I think DK the optimism would say maybe Darnel's fine and he just felt it and they're like, we're going to report it. We don't want to get the trouble. Probably what happened. He did not he played. He was off to the side today at practice and drew lock got starters reps at practice, which is alarming to say the least. Super concerning. That's super concerned. It's ironic because like the only reason the CX are going to lose this week is because of Sam Darnell. But if he doesn't play, they will definitely lose. I will fucking drew lock. To lock his best game ever was to cost the Giants the number one pick. Well, I don't I'm just getting right into Darnel. I mean, you know, I just be an editor. This amazing stat decay. And Darnel let the NFL 20 turn over to season. It's the first time since 1978 a player in a number one seeded team led the league in turnovers. Wow. Super. Yeah. Well, it's enough. You got there. It's a tremendous looking stat you brought to the table. Thank you for that. Yeah. And it is, you know, when you look at the entire season with Darnel, obviously like the numbers look really good. But you know, if you split it up between weeks one and 10 basically that Rams game where he threw four picks. I split the season into and from weeks one to the time I saw this from ESPN weeks one to 10. Darnell was number one in QBR from week 11 on he was 27 in QBR. So that is why I've kind of been harping on this. I'm sure C.O. fans are tired of me friggin like talking about Sam Darnell and worrying about Sam Darnell. But it just does feel like every, you know, he's got a Bozo plan him every game at least. And I just really that's the one thing that can kind of like throw this off the sea. I have a super bowl super bowl defense. They have one of the best defenses we've seen in the DVOA era in terms of like their efficiency. So that is the worry here. Obviously if you look at the last game, the sea ox absolutely stifled the 49ers. They didn't let Brock pretty do basically anything. The one big difference of course. Well, there's a couple of big differences. The big difference for the 49ers is Trent Williams is back, which is huge. I mean, if you look at the splits with and without Trent Williams during the Shanahan era, it's dramatic. It's stark. It's like insane actually. So that's huge for the 49ers, but they're out Kiddell. Kiddell is injured with a Killy's injury. So he's gone. He's obviously a big time player for them. And that hurts them. And you know, obviously the sea ox are getting Charles Cross back. I'll have tackles. So that's that's bonus. It's not the exact same matchup as we saw last year. I think the big thing air is Trent Williams. Alasta in week 18. I should say. And also the 90ers linebackers, which I were injured last week as well and been injured. But I don't think teams took advantage of them the same to be like the Eagles just because hurts. Honest struggle storm over the middle of the field. You didn't really sense how much Eric Kendrick's who is was washed like years ago. And then Garrett. Well, I haven't heard in a while. I know. The lineers linebackers first the Eagles to win the game where Eric Kendrick's and Garrett wallow. I think Garrett wallow sounds like a bird. Sure. Like you know, they're like that just Carolina wallow. Exactly. Like, you know, there's barn wallows and Garrett wallows. But I feel like the nine basically that the sea ox are going to absolutely just spam everything against these nineers linebackers who frankly like literally Fred Warner says he might come back. But at the very least that's set Fred Warner for season ending injury with no practice. Oh, he's not coming back. Shanahan just said he said, I mean, that makes sense because I mean Fred. I think Fred Warner might play the Super Bowl. The Niners make it. But yeah, I feel like it just comes down to Ken. Darnell, Richard Locke. Take advantage of the Niners linebackers more than the Niners can confuse Darnell trying to take advantage of the Niners linebackers. DK, what is your confidence versus nervous scale right now? Oh, that's a good question. The sea ox beat the Niners 13 to three little bit ago kind of dominated that game defensively. I mean the Niners scoring three points. I know it wins the last time the Niners scored three points under Shannon. Literally the first game from Shanahan. His first game he scored three points and then a week 18 you scored three points. Those are his two worst games. So like where are you at in the I'm not that nervous. The Niners roster is completely depleted. And we should win this game by 17 or are you like I'm terrified Darnell's going to blow this and the Niners are like a sports movie team that shouldn't be in any of these games and yet they are. If if the Darnell's going to blow it is one and I'm really confident they're going to kick the 49ers ass is 10. I'm probably like at like a seven. I feel better about this game that I would feel about if I was playing the Rams, if the sea actually playing the Rams. But you know I especially because of this Darnell question especially because see how fans were freaking rooting for this which always makes me nervous. It's they were like everyone was celebrating when the 49ers get to come down. It's just like Jesus. We're just tempting fate here. But at the end of the day like analytically taken bias out of it like the Seahawks should beat the 49ers. I think that they have a very good chance to do so. But you know it's the playoffs and anything can happen. It just comes down to again inside of Sam Darnell's there are two wolves. And one of them is one of the idiot. Yeah. You know it's funny. I don't feel like Sam Darnell feels like he leads the NFL intern over this year. It doesn't feel like that. It does feel that way to me. Yeah. Well, it's because of the back half. It was all in the back half. Yeah. I think the first 10 weeks they were so good and everyone watched Darnell then decided like all right. He's for real. We had Minnesota last year. We have this this year and maybe by week 10 they were like I've seen all I need to see. And the record is obviously so good and the defense is able to like keep them in games even when he does commit turnovers. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know man. What is the lie like you think Darnell would be the least trust worthy quarterback to win a Super Bowl in a while. No, because I feel like the defensive team. I think honestly we can get to this with this. It's probably Nick Foles and in 2018. Yeah. Yeah. Foles definitely definitely probably the last guy because I think Texans and CLX are actually very similar. I think C2 Stroud is the same Darnell though the AFC doesn't have the same rep. But I think Stroud is the biggest weakness on that team at this point, which is weird because I also love the wayplays sometimes. But it feels to me like drive to drive sometimes Stroud. It's kind of a little Darnell desk. And but it's either it's either Foles or if you go all the way back to 2012 when it was Flacco. But if you look at just like teams that almost want a Super Bowl, there are plenty of great defenses that either one or almost one where it's like the box had Brad Johnson the Ravens a Trent Dilfer the Bears made the Super Bowl. Yeah. Rex close to the two time about a really long time ago. Like yeah, but it's like you go through it's like it happens. I don't forget how people talked about Eli Manning before you actually beat the Patriots in 2007. Like you're like Manning wasn't well thought of that was a great defense. So it absolutely happens again Nick Foles want a Super Bowl is back in quarterback. I mean, even Russ even Russ Oh Wilson early on was like well so Wilson. So I think the difference is Darnell and Stroud are absolutely or Mark Sanchez and they have seen champ made back to back. I've seen champs. I think Darnell and Stroud are unquestionably better than all of those guys. But they're not the traditional game manager like I think of Alex Smith in that but they'll protect the football but they can't win you the game. You think Donald and Stroud are unquestionably better than like Eli Manning and Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco and all those guys are talking about more like Rex Grozman Trent Dilfer. The Rex Grozman Trent Dilfer because at my point is the maybe I should have been clear the Texans and CLS defenses have the potential to in retrospect be viewed as all time units. Like they have the potential to be seen as the best defense so far of the 2020s if they go on a run right now in which case. I think it wouldn't I think Darnell wouldn't be viewed like Brad Johnson he'd be viewed more like a Joe Flacco or Eli Manning like it'd be viewed more like a tier. And I don't think to be clear I the fact that Darnell can lead a game winning drive late in the game and make some like pro postures throws puts him in a different category in my mind. Then you know I can't because I think I catastrophize it a little bit with with the turnovers it is the main thing that worries me with him but he's got some he's got some magic in him too and I and I really do appreciate that and acknowledge that because like if the CX are down two points with a minute to go I'm feeling like pretty good about it actually. How do you feel about Brock pretty would you switch right now and take Brock pretty on the see how it's over Sam Donald. Probably I think you have to probably because I think there is a little bit of pretty as well we're like once or twice a game he makes a completely bone headed throw and it's a terrible interception but they're a little similar in that regard I was trying to think of like what are you even nervous about other than like. Shanahan Blackmagic Donald collapsing like in terms of just like talent on the field is there any position group that you're like we're worse. No, probably not I guess run back. Yeah that's why I said it the way I said it I think that the C-hux on paper if you just take it out take the bias out of it in the C-hux fear that's instilled in me out of it. The C-hux should win this game they are the better team but you know crazy things happen and that's what I'm worried about is like some weird wacky shit happens early in the game and it gets out of gets out of hand we saw that in the last game with the week 18. Yeah like the C-hux probably should have won that game by 25. Yes. Whatever but it was close to the end because of funky shit that kept happening like the C-hux kicker missed two field goals that he normally would make he's like one of the most accurate kickers in the league this year and he just missed. He missed an extra point and a field goal and then yeah. It's not just our the C-hux have to be able to run the ball and we can move on but the C-hux have to be able to run the ball because they've been tricking teams all year like the Ramsat where they put two or three tight ends on. So the other teams put more linebackers on the field and then they ha ha and they throw on the linebackers the Niners are not getting trick to putting their shitty. It deserves signed off the couch linebackers on the field so they're going to have more defensive backs and the C-hux are going to have to be able to run on the when the Niners are matching with nickel or a dime like like more defensive backs basically the C-hux have to be able to run on those looks and like you know that's been a wait the civil say we'll see I'm sorry a DK I'm genuinely hope ready for you. I also assume you're going to be a big bears fan because I have to imagine oh yeah nobody wants this this no C-hux fan wants to see the Rams the enemy or the enemy of my enemy is my friend yeah like Donald's had 11 picks and 20 sacks versus the Rams in the last 365 days so yeah the Rams are at Chicago this week the Rams are three and a half points favorites Craig you are are you worried at all like where are you your legions is lie between your brother Sean McVeigh and your favorite team this season the Chicago Bears. I at whatever happens after the game I'll say I was rooting for that team is my plan that the Rams will be like so happy for McVeigh I secretly wanted to have an old time and if the Bears would I'm like team of destiny I love this fucking team. This is unbelievable I'm most excited for this game out of any game this weekend. This is just going to be great. This in Chicago it's going to be cold as hell be windy playoff football baby. This is fantastic. Did you guys know that I read this in an athletic piece that the the Field like the actual grass in Chicago is known as the turf monster. Are you aware of that? I've heard of the expression turf monster. It's nicknamed the turf monster and is known to trip players up in the open field at times It feels like this is like a like a spirit that takes over during games in Chicago the holy ghost Yeah, but I've been seeing a lot of stuff online about like Stafford and cold weather I don't buy any of that Stafford is a dog poo cuz a dog Devante Don't green Bay for like eight years like all these guys are dogs. I'm not worried about that at all They're also gonna run the hell out of ball I think that's what I think this whole game is like who's not gonna turn the ball over both these defenses are vulnerable Both these defenses can let up points and I think both these offenses are like run the ball play action big play Score touchdowns and don't turn the ball over and like the Rams 13 personnel stuff They're gonna get Terrence Ferguson their tight end back the Rams are pretty healthy. I mean Stafford heard his finger and That has to be monitored and there was a moment there He's in the air stream. He's fine. Yeah, they like Isn't epidural in his finger so be fine. It's got like to back to tank remember from Star Wars That's what he's got in the in the air street, but like Stafford was in the snow against the Eagles last year It was great like I just I don't think that's a narrative at all to me at least I think it's gonna be hard for I mean it's fun cold for everybody. It's what I'm clinging to Craig Let me have this I They're gonna fold like a cheap What is the extent tent yeah, one share like the blue tent? Yeah, the $90 blue tent. I think I don't know man These are like two teams that are fucking heroic in the fourth quarter These are two offenses and quarterbacks and schemes that are just like do crazy stuff in the fourth quarter I'm a little surprised that the bears are getting our underdogs by three and a half points at home That is a little spicy to me isn't the most obvious thing to just bet the Rams line and then wait for them to take a huge lead And then bet the bears and just kind of like play both sides because this is Basically the Rams have the craziest ways all year to lose games and the bears have the craziest ways all year to win games Yeah, but how much would Rams have to be up to start this game where DK were like this is over I mean the number does not exist 29 It's high by the way the expression is fold like a cheap suit I think that Isn't it why wouldn't it be 10 I think it's long I don't break Well, I was picturing a lawn chair. Yeah, fold like a cheap suit. Yeah, I Fold like a cheap suit. Why would you fold any suit? Well because if you have to pack it up in the go somewhere I don't know. I don't know. It's like a cheap tent makes more sense. I agree. Yeah But anyway, yes, all the ghosts are screaming us right now Telling us the answer The bears left tackle Aussie Trapilo Taurus Petteler tendon And the Theo Benaday is now going to be the left tackle who's a little bit of struggle bust this season I may basically get benched for Aussie trap below at left tackle and then TJ Edwards the linebacker for the defense is out But he hasn't been playing as well I feel like the Rams defensive line has underperformed Relative to where we had them after watching the Eagles playoff game We talked to a lot of season out awesome they are and then they've been Not the game wrecking force. I think we had envisioned and I think it's pretty important for them to not allow Caleb to expand plays when the Rams cornerbacks Suck and are absolutely going to be the liability for the Rams on defense I mean, they had trouble containing Bryce Young Teteroma McMillan and Jalen Coker and now it's Caleb Williams DJ more Luther Burton and Roman Dunes. I mean, that's a bit of a level up I'm verging on like I don't really care what's going on Just taking the Bears territory because like this team is magical That's kind of like where I'm at. I'm like I don't care that their linebacker T.J. Edwards is out I don't care if the Rams are getting the rams are getting Kevin Dots in their guard back It looks like Terrence Ferguson's coming back the Rams are healthy. I'm just kind of like maybe I'm thinking more from the spread perspective But even straight up I'm kind of just like not a no man. I Bears the Bears Let's be honest the Pope is from Chicago, right and then the Bears now have the most fourth quarter come back wins every Ever in NFL history and every week we say that they actually keep adding a more and more remarkable like the last four ones the Bears did were all better than the one before Craig do you think if the Bears win this game? Do you think that means God is real? Yeah, I'm gonna say yeah, I think so How many games to the Bears have to win do you think God is like officially? How many games they've been before I believe in God yeah, like I was they have a 28 point comeback this week and beat the Rams Are you like like you need to win the Super Bowl if they win the Super Bowl? You'll find me at church. I believe I went right to church after STU hit that buzzer meter in the final four to go to the nadi That's what I knew God was real and on my side Yeah, you thought God was real when you hit a half-quart shot when you were in college for a pickup truck and then you realized It was fank when you yeah, then you realized the devil God didn't tell me about APR. Yes It's a lease lease options You're like I don't have a parking spot. It's a college campus. There's a crazy stat from this game This is Sean McVeigh's 15th career playoff game and it's against his 15th different opponent. Oh interesting It's played every single playoff game. He's been as a different team. It's played half the league in the playoffs That's pretty crazy Especially because of the nature of the playoffs. He's made two Super Bowls. Yeah Wait, wait, wait, that's crazy because that means so patriots obviously in bangles. So he's played 13 NFC teams of the playoffs I mean, you that true Look, it was on Twitter I know it is true. I think so the giants and oh my god. That's kind of wild Here you want me to read it off? Yeah, I do I believe it is true I saw I think it was in the New York Times piece. I read so 2025 Kip Panthers and then this is the Bears that last year they played the Vikings Eagles the year before that lions 2021 Cardinals bucks 49ers bangles you're before that Seahawks Packers you were 2018 Cowboys Saints and Patriots Wild And then before that it was Falcons Yeah Actually, I might have gone back too far when when did McVeigh take over 2017? Yeah, that was Falcons was That first year they lost you guys think that that on paper there is a strong Inbalance in this game favoring the Rams or no, I think it has to be yes What do you think I mean? I just you look everywhere? It's like would you rather a staffer to Caleb? And it's like I'd rather a staffer like frankly like the only reason I kind of want the death star with the Rams is I just can't believe that Harrison me this is the kicker and it's thicker kicker and it's a joke But like special teams yeah across the Him kicking in the wind in Chicago the this Rams punk coverage the Rams punk units are not good I that's that at some point it always comes back to bite you. It's like at the end of the year It's like that stuff always comes back around And also I just genuinely wonder about God Right the God piece the God the God piece. I will say if we have a talk about the God piece here to steal something from the rewatchables In the rewatchables Craig which you produce here They have the category apex mountain which is very Bill Simmons creation And so I have an important question for both of you if the bears win the Super Bowl Is it apex mountain for Chicago? I mean 85 bears city the bull is basically is Michael Jordan's bulls run. It's the bulls But is that better than winning a Super Bowl and getting the Pope? The Pope and the Super Bowl in like no, no the dual two three-peats in Chicago. This is not apex mountain I'm just asking if rather two three-peats are a pope and a super I would way rather have two three to be honest People would kick the pope out of Vatican in a minute to win a Super Bowl Folks come and go three-peats are eternal Yeah, there was a great picture of Acres your stadium which I hate saying Himesfield and it's like Yinser Conclave and have like the smoke and I have like every I think it was a I generated everybody like surrounding to stadium looking for the next coach I thought was great. I did see a video recently God of somebody talking about How the 85 Super Bowl for the bears is more important that the entire six Championships for the bulls like the bears care about I mean the Chicago cares about football so much more than anything else that they would take the 85 win over all six Michael Jordan what I'm saying It's there's no way that's correct. There's no way that's correct. I think it was I don't want to say I'll double check. Okay, I don't want because I can't remember if it was a Chicago native or not But I want to double check. I can't believe that I wouldn't I would just the magic of being in Chicago during the bulls runs I can't even the mythology of Jordan changes it But if I mean put I guess another way to look at it is would you rather a bulls title now or bears title now? I don't think you could find Many people that I wonder how long you'd have to go to find someone to rather a bulls Well, and like I think it's obvious if you said one Super Bowl vs. One LBH championship What should you take they would take the Super Bowl? How many NBA chips could you get to before they take that over Super Bowl? That's the right question. You're like you get a free for Another 3p Oh That's more important to me and I was the signings man so But I'm a basketball Okay Anything else and bears Rams other than it will be cold and hopefully that's Dafford can handle it Bear right all right. Oh wait. Sorry before we move on. Let's cut the social breakouts right now It's keep this in the show Craig we're a post whichever whichever team wins will post these videos So first Craig bears just won this if they win will post this go Team of destiny you can't stop them Pope everything's everything's coming together I don't care who they're playing in the championship game. They're obviously going to the Super Bowl This is it Caleb Williams. We said he's gonna win the Super Bowl in the next three years He's gonna win a Super Bowl this year and next year Last week we were talking about how many Super Bowls versus NBA chips would you take would you take a three-peat for the balls? I think the Bears are gonna get a three-peat Perfect all right now now if the Rams win will do this you like you never you always believed in the Rams You never doubted them from the moment I did flying coach was Shawn McVeigh 2021 I knew that I mean look after we did flying coach What did that what happened they won a Super Bowl? I always knew that he added in him for a second one and Look the Bears they're just getting started you know what I mean like they are gonna We said last week there's Bears are gonna win another Super Bowl in the next three years I stand by that they even overachieved this year and the Rams There's a reason why Matt Stafford just won the MVP because of what he did and it's why Drake may who just lost to the Texans didn't deserve the MVP Throwing in other facts here. Okay next game here bills are at the Broncos. This game feels weird I don't know why bills versus the Broncos like doesn't feel right. I'm like what is this? Well, I'll tell you what happened the last time to these teams ever play Well, they played what is this? I don't know if you're joking you're not but they played last year in the playoffs and the bills actually kicked the living shit out of the Broncos Yeah, I remember bonyx march down score to touchdown We're like holy shit. They're like 50 touchdown to start the game and then the bills I think it was like 42-7 It was 30. Yeah, the bill the Broncos literally didn't score again. They were they're 31-7 Yeah, this is when the bills really went all out putting six off into lineman on the field and they just bullied They just as Matt LaFlor would say they big boy the Broncos They ran the bills ran 44 times for 210 yards in that wildcard win over the Broncos last year The bills of the ball for 42 minutes Yeah, which is about as many as much time of possession you'll see in a game that doesn't go to overtime in the modern NFL Like it's hard for a team to have the ball less than 18 minutes Which is what the Broncos did like crazy domination and I just feel like This is I don't know it's like feeling the Broncos like the team that got bullied at the end of a school year And then you have all summer they're trying to like get bigger or trying to get taller and blifting weights They took like karate and trying to be a yellow belt and now like school started again You're gonna see the bully again and but now it's like it's that there are turrets like Denver at altitude Josh sounds like Need it You know, yeah everything with Josh Allen that he's got going on in foot injury and The Broncos I think for their own psyche really really need to like return the favor and kick the shit out of the bills It's like gonna affect Denver. It feels like I'm just like if the same thing is happening as last week where I was like I think the Jags have a better roster and might be better But it's Josh Allen and I'm kind of like the Broncos are a better roster and I think they're better Well, it's Josh Allen. That's kind of where I'm at yeah We also haven't seen the Broncos in three weeks. I mean they didn't really the week 18 didn't matter They were off last week It's been a while since we've seen the Broncos and they've had a lot of like lackluster wins It's like they win these close games low scoring. They lost to the Jags and it's like all right We saw them beat the Chiefs on Christmas without Patrick Mahomes like it has been a while. It's really since I mean, I week 14 15 since we've really been like all right. That was a Broncos game that matter Yeah, they beat the Packers and week 15. Yeah It's funny too because the first run by is also just confirmation bias because when teams come out look good You're like, man, that's why they got the one seed and when teams suck they're like, oh look at them. They're rusty I don't know man and the Broncos I The truth is the bills are weirdly well suited to match up with Denver in a funny way because The Broncos are Incredible getting sacks. They've lived League and sacks are to use in real but Josh Allen's the hardest person to convert a pressure into a sack So that gets mitigated and then also the Broncos just are incredible at man coverage because you have Patrick Sartain and you have Riley Moss who you know One of the better white cornerbacks we've ever had so and We've ever had I want to say You know take Backers can't be choosers But it's funny because the bills counter the great cornerbacks by the bills don't have any receivers were throwing to They have like Khalil Shakir and they have Brandenkochak Don't you dare say that about Khalil Shakir? I mean, he's great But I'm just saying like the bills of everyone else has heard Charles Shavers has heard gave Davis has heard the bills Receivers suck so the they don't have received like it's locked down the receivers. It's fine The bills throw to running backs and tight ends the bills throw to James Cook and they're gonna throw to Dawson ox and Dalton Kinkade and Like they're the most targets in the NFL per game I believe it's Josh Elmthorne who's running backs and tight ends combined they had that in the USPN this morning And that is how you want to attack the Broncos anyway So they're kind of weirdly suited to even if the Broncos decide we don't want to let you run the ball like last time That is how the bills are gonna attack is like either spread them out or go heavy whatever But like I do think they're gonna be throwing the ball to running backs and tight ends obviously Josh has to play Really well again probably flawlessly But I also think this is a huge game for Bo-Nex because the difference between A bad game from Bo-Nex and the Broncos go one and done versus beating Josh Elmthorne the playoffs Fair or not will have a massive swing and how he gets talked about for the entire offseason Look, I recognize and admit that I'm just being super simplistic about this But like My if you looked at this on paper you should you would think that the Broncos are gonna win But then you look at the fact that the bills have Josh Allen and I think that they have they're going to win I think the bills are going to win So that's kind of the where I am I think I basically so all my thunder in terms of like talking about like the way that they've played the last like month Has been very underwhelming even though they did pull out wins You know, they be a Justin Herbert list chargers team they beat him a homeless chiefs team Then they lots of the Jags before that and then they were off last week So I just don't have a ton of confidence in the way that they're playing right now even though they they've set themselves up incredibly well You know, so that's kind of where I am. I know it's a very simplistic way of looking at it But like a lot of times in the playoffs honestly that kind of shit is really what matters. So yeah, I don't know That's where I am. I just think Josh Allen again. It's the same deal from last week if he can kind of Do his superhero thing the bills will win if he can't if he doesn't if he turns ball over if you're whatever Then the Broncos will probably cruise. I think you're right and If Josh does play at that level then I think what's gonna happen is the Broncos are gonna try to run on the bills And they're gonna try to run them out of like two high safeties And if they bring the safety down and try to get BoNix to like look like one high safety looks But makes us to hit the deep throws and that also is what's gonna come out like jump in is saying it out He's like we're gonna take vertical shots in this game and Part of music mind games and part of me's like I actually think he's just so fucking confident. I want to bring up Sean Payton that that's what did Sean Payton do now Oh, did you see how he's a total asshole to her poor the other day? Yes, I did actually miss this When he was like, he asked him about getting Dre Greenlaw back and how he's like excited He asked him something about like is he excited for him to come play down hill or whatever I think essentially what he's saying is like What the impact is he bring against the run or whatever And Sean Payton was like you want him to attack down hill like what do you know about attacking downhill in the run game? You don't know it's like dude have you ever been asked a question before I'm trying to see that. I cool. You don't have to be a fucking asshole. Yeah, the reporter was like it must be nice to get Greenlaw back Is like you know one of your best like downhill defenders and and Sean Payton was like Here's my chance to fuck this guy. He like he like chuckled that he's like down hill. He's like what do you know about downhill? Just so validating for me personally. That would work for any question Of course Yeah, oh you must hate that guy. Don't the the Sean Payton don't be an asshole challenge Dude that is never forget how many different coaches hate Sean Payton. It's funny though. Also he has You know no coach team is ever won No coaches ever won a Super with two different teams So Sean Payton advances. It's like all you can hear about until they lose if the Broncos do win this game. Good coach coach Anything else in bills? Yeah Josh Allen. I also wrote kind of rooting for the bills right It's probably more interesting. I have new blood if the Broncos make it but Josh I agree that's the best story left probably is Josh dragging the bills Probably a Fc and then the bears and the NFC and I agree with you that if the Broncos are there That's kind of frisky and fun. I wonder how the analytics like I I feel like the average person is gonna be like I'll just take the bills and Josh Allen But I wonder if this will once again be a situation where a lot of the sharps are taking Denver Well, interesting. Well maybe Denver is better on paper. Yeah, of course. Yeah, well Let's play the game on paper Texas speaker with Texans are at the Patriots this week interesting game So we act in game honestly because the Steelers because Tom and step down my Tom and step down on after the money to football lost to the Texans We like didn't really talk about the Texans performance. Yeah, all of you lost all a so it's worth going through it again Texan want beat the Steelers gradually And then like really suddenly because it was seven to six I don't think the fourth quarter and then it was very quickly like 30 to six And the Texans just went fumble six touchdown pick six touchdown. It just got out of hand fast and I am curious Craig Were you more more impressed by how Houston finished the game on defense? Then you were a little surprised that the Texans couldn't actually close out the Steelers for 53 minutes Well, I know I would say I was I was more impressed with their defense and it is rock solid The Steelers cannot run the ball at all. I mean the Steelers at six points It's not like they couldn't close the Texans often. It's just couldn't score and strad kept throwing interceptions I mean the Steelers kept having great field position and the Texans kept stopping them over and over So I think the six points that they allowed in the first three in all game Was even more impressive I mean, I there was a big DK mech have dropped but like otherwise, I mean Rajas continually had fantastic field position And they couldn't do anything with it So no, I still feel very confident about Houston's defense I think they're great the the the wrinkle in this game is that Nico Collins the Widers here for the Texans unlikely to play with a concussion And then I believe as there have been an update on Christian Gonzalez the top cornerback for the Patriots I think he's also unlikely to play right whenever I see something like that I'm like that advantage goes to the defense like the whole point of having Christian Gonzalez is to shut down Nico Collins If neither out then like that's an advantage to the Patriots in my opinion Yeah, I think that's simplistic but I think it apparently Gonzalez Per Mike Reese No longer in a red note non-contractor jersey grabs his helmet to head to practice This is as of three hours ago. So maybe you will play it. It's let me touch and go This is funny. I mean the We are now not 19 weeks through the NFL season And there are still questions about like Who are the Patriots like they just beat a terrible Chargers playoff team And again that like it feels like they could have won by even more and it was kind of slow for a while And Drake made did not have a good first half had a fantastic second half but I certainly still have questions and I do think a defense like the Texans and I think the streakingness of stroud Like if you catch him on the right moment I think this game could be close and I think the Texans could win. You think we're gonna learn a lot about these teams I think we're gonna learn a lot about these teams And then this is a must win game next week Must win game whichever teams win this week And then are in the they'll play again next week those games. We're gonna learn a lot about those teams Yeah, this is a must win game. I am The the Drake May part. He didn't play well. I think he had you know his butterflies It was like yeah, you're two quarterback playing you know the charge of defense in the first half. I think after I think this is If the Patriots win. I hate to I hate to report I do think that it would be about Drake May and Drake May like Being incredible because the Texans defense is like this death star We've talked about it a lot and they deserve all the credit where they just I mean They have no coverage disguised in Sir diversity kodi Alexander at match quarters had a great article about this A shout out his sub stack and he kodi Alexander measures um coverage Diversity basically how much teams mix it up and he scales at zero to 100 the Texans are a one out of 100 They literally are one and a hundred what they're so much like the L.O.B It's crazy. They are like the line up and they're like okay go ahead beat us Which you have the luxury of doing when everyone on defense was better than everyone on the offense and all and honestly It's funny. All it comes down to all their guys who can cover can tackle And when you watch the Texans all of them can tackle and so in all the corner Like and that matters in the run game and it changes everything and so the You know will Anderson's an amazing pass rusher. You can stop the run like everyone just does everything well Jalen peachy's like the best nickel in the league probably so exciting and so fun to watch Mario Lassiter's amazing quarterback so Because it's everything simpler they play faster that's why they get the wow This defense is flying to the ball award of this season because there's no complexity. It's just like see They run and hit and so They still have to pick how you're gonna beat them though right every defense has to pick a you get beat They pick okay, sure deep shots to the outside an early downs on first and 10 second and whatever second and eight If you think you can get a deep pass to the sideline And you will have not get sacked or intercepted by Derek Stingler or Kamari Lassiter go for it That is what Drake may will win the MVP on is the crazy deep passing accuracy He's had to digs and k-shambuity down the sideline like Drake may all season is a crazy deep accuracy Build barn over to great comedy is being where he kind of was saying he's thinks Drake may shit when the MVP in part where if you look at like Catches over expectation this season and receiving arts over expectation It's like puking a cooler and people and then it's like Three of this top six are Patriots receivers like Mac Collins and digs and booty and you're like that's a Drake May stat that three of the top six receivers. So anyway, that is to me every the new England and nutshell is they have to run You can't go horizontal to two Texans defense too fast you have to run vertically and throw vertically and that's doing When it's only shot however, the other thing I wanted to ask you DK is I think the real chance for new England wins game is C.J. Stroud He being your England's best player C.J. Stroud. I really think he's the darned over the aFC and I feel like yeah I feel we're the same way. Yeah, we need a new term for game manager when I think of game manager Maybe everyone is there I think of Alex Smith where he's not likely to be the reason that you can win the game But he's not gonna lose it for you And I think we need a new term for like Sam darn old or Stroud were darned. Oh absolutely Has been the reason you've won games you've started you've gotten huge leads you've had comeback wins Dornell's also absolutely the reason you lose games Strouds like that too and I feel like That is the real concern here is that variable figures out how to get into Strouds brain Yeah, cuz I mean if you look at just this last game as a perfect example Stroud fumbled about five times Five fumbles he lost two of them. He had a couple of the biggest bozo plays I've ever seen He did he played really bad. It was like he was pressing There was a couple plays where he I think he thought he had it And so he like tried to make some miraculous play. I just didn't have it at him and he'd turn it over But at the same time I'm looking at the Texans were 10-15 on third down like they were really good when it like in those clutch situations in the And the in the moments that mattered obviously those turnovers were glaring and in horrific But you know compared to the Steelers who went two of 14 Aaron Rogers, you know, just could not do anything This was literally I saw this from Nate Tice great stat that just kind of like tells you how good he's since defenses 283 playoff games were a quarterback had 20 pass attempts Aaron Rogers game was 283rd in Dropback success rate and EPA for dropback That was the worst game we've seen from a quarterback in the playoffs basically All right, you know, so great but gentle More complimentary to the Texans because I think just they were I think the Steelers was completely overmatched Well on that but yeah, so I think what you were saying Stroud is the X factor I feel exactly the same way I feel about darn old where Stroud could make some incredible plays He's got an in him he could make some you know, just pinpoint down 30 yards down the field to drop in in a bucket But he needs to start with these Bozo plays because that you know in a different world could have sunk the Texans in the first round The Steelers couldn't do anything, but the Patriots can do stuff on offense I do think that no Nico Collins is a big deal. Yeah, and if Nico Collins were in this game I think I would have taken the Texans Dude Christian Kirk is like their playmaker. Yeah, it's Xavier Hutchinson Christian Kirk and two rookies two rookies I think that matters a lot So I think that's fair So one other thing here on this game. This is important guys So I saw the stat on Monday night he used to became the second team in playoffs history to score multiple defensive touchdowns in a game without allowing a touchdown Joining the Bears in the 1940 NFL champion shape game versus Washington, which they won 70 to nothing The legendary 1940 Bears. So obviously I looked up the 1940 bears and I'm happy to report it was 70 to nothing Yes, it's like the like we've talked about this game. It's a hilarious game. Yes 70 to nothing Uh an addition to the bears having a guy in the team named Sali Sherman Okay, uh, I was going through the names and I'm getting like you know a little immune to it And then I saw one of the guys names on the 1940 bears was named Eggs Man ski Yes eggs EGGS eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs eggs Oh, that's so good. And you know what's the whole name? It's so great He literally just had eggs every morning and they were like your eggs now So they ate eggs one time Craig and then he was eggs for the eggs Like that baseball player didn't drink so they called him sloppy. Yeah Uh, so do me this shit never gets old. Do me a favor DK I'm sending this guy's Wikipedia page. Do me a favor DK. I want you've never seen this before I want you to read the first two sentences of eggs man skis with a pd page Eggs man don't read it had a time just read it out loud for me Eggs man eggs man ski Uh read the first two lines read the first two lines blind go Edgar John eggs man ski was an American professional football player Who was an end for six seasons in the national football league man ski was the last college football player to play without a helmet I love it No helmet on his egg. Do you know how much restraint I've had to have to not share that with He was the last guy. This is like the friggin old hockey players who didn't play with a league without You know how to play football with a helmet unfortunately his name is Edgar which makes eggs make a lot of sense Skido eggs man ski was out there running around that a helmet and last one to do it How does that get his pretty handsome? How was it he a part of an entire team that was the last One to do it. It couldn't be just him. I don't know was he refusing everybody else got grandfathered in yeah It's like guys. It's still of neck rolls. You know, even though it looked all it's like he just He boycotted the helmet everybody else had one This used to be a sport games not the same as it was Ha what how old did eggs man ski make it? I think he died at the age of 89 89 He fucked it was a tall 89 years old. Has there ever been a better case for no helmets in the NFL? Then eggs man ski dying at 89 years old You can't leave yeah, you know, I have seen radical arguments about like football and concussions People would be like move helmets to the problem 100% they would hit less hard and because you keep them fucking hit their heads when you put a weapon on your head essentially with the helmet Naturally our human instinct is to protect the head So if you played without a helmet theoretically you would never lead with your head He was also in World War II of course, which is a which is a given he lived to 80 90 died in LA in and 2002 eggs eggs Wow, what a absolute legend. He was in a 1932 Olympian bronze medalist. Oh wait. No, he's married to a 1932 bronze medalist Jane fonts Jane speaking of which wow pivoting here to college football So Indiana's playing Miami on Monday, you know, we have a show between now and then we don't get to in depth into the game But I want to shout out Roger Sherman former ringer colleague who texted me you'll never guess who the first head coach of the University of Miami's football team was Um, who is it milk plum better guess Cloise box that uh not as good Buzz not her close jug jug Cubbuck Cubbuck was the first Cubbuck of the University of Miami. Her game What? Cubbuck Was the first coach Miami's ever had there were we ever showed each other a picture of Cubbuck by the way he looks There were only like 27 people back then dude. I tell you They didn't have enough people Cubbuck looks like a funny little guy Cubbuck look he didn't have a helmet playing football Yeah, man, uh, we don't have to get to yeah, I know we don't have to get to do it in any of Miami I mean meant for native and does he used to walk to the Miami campus He was like less than a mile away growing up and he's like hundreds of family into Miami areas So that'll be a big storyline and obviously just kind of kind of love when a team actually makes the home stadium the fact that Miami's playing in Miami It's unfair, but I kind of love it Uh, the thing I wanted to ask you guys about briefly is Dante more went back the quarterback and organ went back to organ Yeah, which To me is basically spurning the jets to go back to organ Uh, deacon curious we think it's Dylan Raolo who transferred to organ off a broken leg is gonna sit behind Dante more for a year as you know, um, you know Uh, Dante more did behind Dylan Gabriel. I'm just curious Just call space bay draft Lot less interesting now that's like Fernando Mendoza and then basically like one first round quarterback unless you count Tyson's in which some people may some people might not um Craig a lot of people are giving him to the Steelers and mock drafts. It's going to be a very popular pairing um, but yeah, I mean it definitely makes things a little less interesting. This is going to be I mean right now off the cuff. It's probably not not a great class, but you know, we'll get into it and everything But we'll talk about it more next Wednesday and just going forward on the we're gonna cover the draft all season like I don't want Tyson's and I would like the record to show that I don't want Tyson's in But do you want to record a social clip in case he's great? We can post hi Simpson just has it. He's got the it factor. I know I never doubted tie Simpson I don't care that he's only played 15 games and he's 23 can't be any he's nothing like Kenny picket. What's the ever On that on that note, I we don't have to we'll talk more draft on Wednesday But I just the question I keep wondering about the stunte more think DK What does it say about the NFL draft maybe this year's draft or the draft in general that The narrative is basically hey don't take more junior if you come out You'll definitely be the second pick in the draft of the jets or at worst like the third pick to the cardinals And you'll get 40 to 50 million dollars guaranteed and yet Everyone who studies the draft and like advises people the NFL draft everyone's like hey don't They you're not ready. You should go back to school because you're not even close to ready And this guy who everyone's like hey you need more reps Would 100% be you the second pick in the draft Desperations is stinky calone. I I think it's I when you're saying this all I think you made the right choice. I think if you look at The list of quarterbacks who have one year's he was like one year and change starter In terms of the number of games that he started is like basically one and a half years And if you look at the guys Throughout history have that few starts in college It's a lot of misses in the NFL. I think he just looked at that was like I need more experience We talk about this ad nauseam. It's just the rep. He needs the reps. He needs experience before he gets the NFL Especially to the frickin jets of all team of all teams So I think he made the right choice for the long term obviously people could say like he's gonna make a lot more money If he comes out now if you can wait another year then and there's a lot more variables You could get hurt you could have a better quarterback class There's a bunch of guys that people are excited about next year, which is what we say every year, but there it is true With archmanning and Linoa seller some other guys It's gonna be a deeper class potentially at a quarterbacks, so that could like have him fall But at the end of the day If you want to have a successful career in the NFL the odds are he's gonna be better off playing more in college and getting more starts and getting more experience And so when he gets to the NFL He can hit the ground running rather than try and learn all that shit on a terrible Jets team Yeah, I think this is less like he didn't want to play for the Jets and more. He just he wanted more experience probably I mean spoiler alert the Jets are gonna suck again next year and he'll probably he could still be on the Jets So it's like But yeah, I have a steer point though. It is funny that like the the guaranteed second overall pick in the NFL draft is like I'm not ready to go to the NFL and yet the NFL is like please you'll be the second pick in the track It's a very mature decision by him. Yeah, it's very mature all that money. I was gonna say yeah, he'll get whatever How old is Phil Knight? I'm yeah, yeah I think Phil Knight took care of him Okay Ringer 107 Today's ringer 107 is brought to you by Fandall I think I was convinced during the Bill's Broncos thing to go bills and you know what I went it's so funny You can talk about whatever you want when the game comes on you're like I want the Josh Allen team Like it's so right. I agree. It's it's so fun rooting for him It's like having like rooting like picking him and Ringer 107 is like a 10% of what it feels like to have him in fantasy. It's just nice to have him on your team Yeah, because there's like it's it's again, it's the bell curve meme We're like actually you should bet on Josh Allen and then the wise get the ends like you probably take also Especially because the lines that we were sent The bills are underdogs by a point of half like I'm happy. I'm thrilled to get that Let's just do it. I thought about doing the Broncos and then if we lose we get the bills to go around But now let's take the bills. Let's do Seattle minus seven Seattle salt blind solidarity I don't want any mixed emotions if the Seahawks win. By the way, Darnold says he's gonna play. Okay. He said he felt Something a little something in his oblique just today during practice, but he's gonna play DK Do you want to take the Niners as a reverse jinx and emotional hedge? No, don't be a wuss Okay, but when the Seahawks lose to the Niners, are we gonna be upset that we do? Yeah, we will be yeah, I'm gonna be upset All right, I'm gonna be upset if our good pals team loses will be upset But shouldn't we like maybe be like hey, at least we would have another how many times do we have to say no? All right, there you go Okay, all right, I want to skip Texans paths. I bears Rams I want to take the bears who getting three and a half the three and a half is lovely I don't want to root against the bears the bears are too cool. Obviously the Rams are an awesome team I love the Rams fun of a story. Yeah, I don't want to be rooting against Chicago Chicago's like clearly the best story this season. It's not even close to me I picked the Rams, but I'm okay with taking the bears the Rams are gonna win the game. I just I maybe this is stupid But like I don't know I do not feel confident the Rams. I don't feel confident either way But I don't think it is a lock at all that the Rams are gonna win this game I just I just look I'd rather the Rams blow the the bears out and we feel stupid for taking the bears then Rooting against the bears the entire time and as they win again, and they're like the coolest story and we're like just rooting against them for It's gonna be it's gonna be 24 to seven and a half and then we're gonna be like we're fucking idiots and then things We gotta double down if they're losing the middle of the game We have to double down and put more money on them and let me ask you question if you hurt your finger bad enough to where the next 12 throws You you throw you go two for 12 on It still hurts I bet right now like that what happened in the game yeah That's where the day was the one immediately after well There are things you can do in the moment perhaps, but I'm like I don't know a sprained index finger on his throwing hand Probably still hurts even if it's fine Sprayings do not heal in six days, and I'm kind of just like it's The point of finger of the quarterback's finger hurts that that probably matters hurts even if it just hurts It's cold matters. It's cold so I think the most like 19 degrees. I was like finger is to put his hand out my fingers hurt It's a landscape. I don't know. I'm just thinking about that like oh the quarterbacks pointer finger hurts that probably matters All right Craig, what are you thinking for Texans pages? I don't know. I was I actually my gut was Texans plus three We talked about it a little bit and now I Think I could be swayed. I think the no-neco Collins thing matters Vrable I trust I don't know. I was originally Texans plus three now. I think I'm open Where are you guys? I wrote down Patriots the first time and I'm kind of almost the opposite of you Craig Where I'm just like picturing the Texans defense just smothering everything the Patriots try to do with like K-Shot. We're like worried about K-Shot booty We're like worried about how old is Stefan DeGues now? It's like the entire argument is just Drake May is totally legit Mike Raeble and Josh McDane is incredible coaches Because frankly I don't see and or you don't believe in Stroud the only way I see them moving The only way they see the Patriots moving the ball is they're going to throw a touchdown until they're running back somehow That's how they're good score the argument is the Texans were up seven to six versus a sealer Because Stroud turned over three times and it's Mike Vrable versus CJ Stroud that is the argument to be for New England Let me see if we may is there an alt line we can mess with if we did like the Texans getting seven and a half And would you guys want the under? I don't like doing that we haven't done that all year I originally wrote down the Patriots so I'll stick with that. What do you think Craig? Were you at your with your on Patriots? I got every one of my picks right last week guys It just straight up. Hi if it's where you at I'm desperately trying to find an alternate total page unfandable to We've been straight shooting at all season I don't want to do it now. No All right, we went three to flip it at last week. Wait, where's your lean hyphids and you're gut Your life is on the line. What do you like? I like that framing life is on the line because what matters and you come back to what matters And it's it's you're probably taking the Patriots if your life is top tier is coaching quarterbacks of defenses And I you know what Stroud I have my issues with but the truth is Drake may also has Carson Wentz moments in him And he added the first half first the charges. There's a lot of formaling this is the hardest one for sure my Brain says Houston. Okay, my gut says Patriots and I think we go at the gut Now do we want to be rooting for the Patriots though? Do we want to be staring at our televisions being like go Drake May defeat the Texas defense? Well, we want to be Well, yes, because then if if they lose and we lose and Drake may suck them We can say he doesn't deserve the MVP. Yeah, yeah, unless they win by one and we and they win it That would suck that was suck that's like a game winning drive by Drake made a win by two that would suck That would suck Okay, screw it. All right today's ringer 1-7 was brought to you by Fandall odd subject to change. Can you guys start calling me eggs? Eggs world. Yeah, crags Hey sounds like a breakfast eggs Yeah, wow that is correct My friends jokingly call me eggs sometimes I should admit egg The eggs Why didn't you bring this up before? What the hell Craig? Eggs, eggs coral back down the whole eggs thing and you didn't bring up that eggs Hole, you sounds like like a version of eggs Benedict. Yeah eggs. Horrible back. I'll get the eggs. Horrible back instead of Holland days. It's what salsa. I don't know. I'm just I'm a little chile. I'm a situation Okay Speaking of which though we have to Talk about so we were talking about Taco Bell sins as a business idea that legally you were not allowed to take from us You're not allowed to take her. Yeah, Zins but for like that When Netflix will sue you if you take it the idea you don't bring it in the big lawyers Yeah, and I think this without us the idea was that like Zins we invent a Zin but for tasty food So when you're craving fast food you just pop it in and it tastes like Taco Bell It's like you put in McDonald's fries Zinn and you eat broccoli but you guys get the pouch in yeah can't take that idea. So Jared E. Mildon That we got wonkyd Yeah, yeah, yeah, will want to be said that so this is from the Charlie and the chocolate factory film. fandom.com wiki Which is what the internet's great And willy Charlie and chocolate factory willy wonky had a three-course dinner chewing gum that was a piece of gum Willy wonky invented that feeds a person like the really eating dinner Oh, yeah, I remember that tomato soup as an appetizer roast beef for dinner fake blueberry side and then blueberry pie and ice cream for dessert And vice-dee violent turning you a blue bit a giant blueberry she turned it. Yeah, unfortunately Well, so that's a faulty product ours would never do that no No, but yeah, I wonkyd by up by our products But ours is not gum No, ours is it put it in your lip. Yeah ours gets into your bloodstream via little shards of glass So our lawyers Very clearly ours is not gum. It's a gordita's in How dare you suggested a wait like gum All right, I'm looking this up here. This is the concept inspired real-life food scientist to explore multi-flavor sequential release gums using technology Yes, he It can't be gum. No, it's not gum gum. Not gonna work. You're not chewing on that shit. No, you don't want to Yeah, I don't you guys like gum you gum people I love gum guy. You love gum. Do you get huge on gum? Really yeah, you chew gum daily No, but I like gum. What's your favorite gum brand? I don't care. Just say it free as orbit orbit If you find that what is the most important is it long lasting flavor? Um, where's the integrity of the gum? It's the integrity of the gum if it starts to crumble. I that's disgusting I actually have like I have dreams where I'm like my like the gum is starting to like turn into like Paste yeah for some reason I have that dream. I don't know what to tell you have you guys seen those videos on like tiktok I Instagram have people who basically make natural at home gum And I've always wanted to try one of those, but I'm not gonna spend like $35 on a stick of gum $35 on a stick of gum I it's not it's like more expensive obviously because it's like all natural ingredients handmade Whatever, but I've always been curious about that and it's like good for your teeth and good for your gut but um Yeah, I'm not a gum guy. Yeah, email us at ringer finisie football gmail.com about gum If I go out without gum, it's like going out naked really yeah, I hate to me like don't I hate the idea of having like Beer breath. Well, I you were the one who told me I remember I breathed the worst Well, I remember you were the one who like if someone offers you gum never turn it down But maybe that's just because you love gum No, it's probably because you have bad breath. Yeah, yeah Hmm Unless they're just being polite and they're they want to offer when they pull out a stick of gum and much rather than a mint I feel like I do two minutes into chewing gum. I'm sick of it. I A hundred crag that's exactly where I'm at because I'm not a gum guy So dick it gives me gum whenever I'm on the wire work trips and I genuinely don't know if it's because my breath sucks Or he is nice like he's being a nice guy. So I put in the gum. Yeah, I'm like five minutes later I'm like what the fuck do I do with this gum? I gotta reach into my mouth and put it in a piece of paper in front of all these people I'm like I don't want to deal with this thing. What do I do with it? What's the socially acceptable thing? I want a mint. Give me a mint I think a mint is fine crag, but what is there's no good mint carrying systems like are you gonna put a fucking tin of altoids in your pocket and carried around The fuck are we doing here? Well the real move is a list of rein strip those are small see that final I'm okay with that it is a little intense though, but yeah, those are so potent that like you cannot eat anything Within an hour of having that because it'll just taste like it's burning your mouth. Is that the one where it's like Molly you put it right in your tongue? Yes, like a tab of acid. Yeah If you can if you can come up with a good like altoid delivery system, I'd be fine with that I mean, so I want to I don't want to pack it a loose is this another's it? You just want a small container to hold mints. Yeah, I feel like that's doable. Can we make silent mints? We have to take that rattle. I would carry them. He's right. If you didn't sound like it eating it walking around with them I'd have them. I have like a you can have like a little pouch like a little purse Of of mints and you carried around, but then if you take it out of that people think you're taking drugs. Yeah I was gonna say if you have like one those little cocaine bags with like three white you like hills and you like hanging it You know like people think you're doing drugs. This is my problem with lactate So lactate Jackie because I am lactose intolerant and so Jackie got me this funny little thing and it's like a milk A little dare. It's like a keychain and it's just a little like dairy container like a milk carton on my keychain And I could put lactates in it. She's like here now. You don't have to look at an idiot ripping open all these papers at the table You can just open it with the problem eating dinner with ice. That's there's just like dozens of just rappers at our table and Sometimes if he's seen a real like if he's already eating this slice of cheese pizza He needs to lactate sometimes so crush it up into a powder and snort it. Yes Yeah, with his credit card Get into the bloodstream quicker. He carries a like a little mirror around so he can snort the lactate. Well not nope All right. Thank you DK. Thank you Craig. Thank you cam. Thank you Carlos. Thank you Kai I think you'll also thank you everyone for listening email us at ring of fantasy football gmail.com about gum I guess it should be more specific, but I don't really have anything Tell us if you can fix gum If anyone can help us make a good mint delivery system which makes silent They make the mint's head a pezzed dispenser. I was thinking about that. He's back. Those are kind of big You know what a pezzed dispenser kind of clunky. Imagine pulling one out of your pocket Also, then you look like a nine-year-old. Yeah, he's pezzed although that might be cool. I don't know Maybe be pretty cool. Thank you lord lord. Thank you Jackson Brown Jackson Brown running on empty banger Uh rosy banger have you heard that one Craig it's about masturbating Go check it out. I haven't you pervert, but um You got to tell me about it. I guess uh So rosy hold on I got pulled to lyrics. This is actually hilarious um He's talking about how he's like Third or fourth in the band in terms of sexiness and all his bandmates always take hold of the girl And so he gets to go hang out with rosy Who is his rosy palms? Oh wow But rosy you're all right you wear by ring when you hold me tight rosy. That's my thing When you turn out the light I got to hand it to me Looks like it's me and you again tonight rosy. Wow Fucking great song. He I love that he was like you know what? Fucking I'm gonna write a song about this. I'm fucking jacking off every night. We're gonna sing this song You know, it's funny. There's another song with Rosie in it by Neil diamond crackling rosy And that song is about how much he loves rosé wine Really yeah, all right rosy y'all right. Yeah sing it My ring I'm getting up. I'm fucking up the melody here, but it's it's great. Oh thank you rosy palm And thank you rosé wine. Sometimes the two the two those go hand in hand Just drinking rosé Soving Are those happy tissues are sad tissues All right goodbye everyone You Must be 21 plus in present and select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas star casino or 18 plus in present in DC Kentucky or Wyoming Gambling problem call 1800 gambler or visit rg-help.com call 1888 888787777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat and Connecticut or visit md gambling help.org in Maryland Hope is here visit gambling help line ma.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24 seven support in Massachusetts or call 1877-8 hope and why or text hope and why in New York