Speaker 1: Around the NFL podcast Ragged Courts of Thunder. Only two
Speaker 1: stars from the Chris Westlake podcast studio. It's around the NFL.
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Hansas, Greg Rosal, I mean that's his that's
Speaker 1: his podcast, that's one of his many sub podcasts. And
Speaker 1: yet two stars is coming from Mark Sessler. No. No,
Speaker 1: In fact, I have co teened with Grets some illustrations
Speaker 1: to help promote the Courts of Thunder brand. I think
Speaker 1: someone in this room actually coined Courts of Thunder a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. So I'm that's Mark as well.
Speaker 1: Mark is actually technically the only employee of Courts of Thunder.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not artist, our artist. I am completely disconnected
Speaker 1: from that. I p I just I cannot do it
Speaker 1: well now it's we know where to when when football came?
Speaker 1: When football arrived, there is no more tennis podcast, but
Speaker 1: the Jessel Nickol Rosenthal Vanity Project is rolling right. You
Speaker 1: know you couldn't you couldn't just let it go. How
Speaker 1: to get your plugs in? Like, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: say that. The Throwback Podcast an evergreen show dedicated to
Speaker 1: a study of alternative rock music of the nineteen nineties
Speaker 1: with me and my friend bobcast. Would you check out
Speaker 1: right now wherever you get your podcast, I wouldn't do that.
Speaker 1: You don't need to mention anyway, not just about the music.
Speaker 1: It's about friendship. Speaking of friends, got one right here.
Speaker 1: She is, I mean, she's a star. I mean we're
Speaker 1: lucky to have her. Let's just start there. Um and uh.
Speaker 1: She is on many a program including Power Rankings on
Speaker 1: NFL Network, including Game Day Picks Live with Greg Roll.
Speaker 1: She is Cynthia Freeland. Welcome back to the Around the
Speaker 1: NFL podcast. He's glad to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Really going kind of with like the a s mr
Speaker 1: type of voice there. I mean I just felt like
Speaker 1: it matched the It really matched the like the song
Speaker 1: in the background. Ye, that's you. Totally nailed it. And
Speaker 1: that's a good sign for the rest of the show.
Speaker 1: The reason I always use that drop for guests me
Speaker 1: and Ricky Shorthand it's called sausage fingers because it's a
Speaker 1: YouTube clip of a man with like road tun fingers,
Speaker 1: like shredding beautifully. Uh. And whenever we introduce a guest
Speaker 1: with the music, what how they explain the music? There's
Speaker 1: a little bit of a window into who they are.
Speaker 1: Like I remember when Kyle Brant was on the show,
Speaker 1: He's like, oh, yeah, this is from Silk Stockings Build
Speaker 1: Red Shoe Diaries. I think it was. Actually, uh so
Speaker 1: that you see is more like this is a chill
Speaker 1: I feel like an eighties movie like Tequila Sunrise or
Speaker 1: something like that. Like it's you know, like a dramatic scene,
Speaker 1: like there's a big decision to be made and someone's
Speaker 1: contemplating it at the beach, and like, you know, definitely
Speaker 1: exactly less for montage where there's a lot of cleaning
Speaker 1: inside the head of the character turning point is on
Speaker 1: the way exactly. It's like just sitting it, like you know,
Speaker 1: next to the lifeguard station, just maybe in eighties. So
Speaker 1: they were probably smoking a cigarette. But you know, and
Speaker 1: we also know from talking with Cynthia, we won't we
Speaker 1: don't need to get into this further that that particular
Speaker 1: their player, Yeah, with the rotun fingers would be very
Speaker 1: be fine with it. Well no, I mean, yeah, Cindy
Speaker 1: doesn't like a man with small fingers. That's a small
Speaker 1: hands is a it's a deal breaker if you're in
Speaker 1: the market for a Cynthia Freeland Um and Greg's eyes
Speaker 1: light up. When I mentioned Red Shoe Diaries. He's like,
Speaker 1: which episode, which season is that? The David Duke Company years?
Speaker 1: Is it the app with matt le Blanc in it? Anyway,
Speaker 1: apparently I know a lot about that. Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: a teen boy in the nineties. I'll leave it there. Now.
Speaker 1: Why is Cynthia Freeland here. It's not to talk about
Speaker 1: little Hands, it's not to talk about soft poor, softcore
Speaker 1: pornography on Cinemax. It is to talk about the midpoint
Speaker 1: of the season, although you're welcome to talk about any
Speaker 1: of those things. Um, we call it today's conversation Cindy's
Speaker 1: pretty hate machine. So listen to this little nine inch
Speaker 1: nail speaking intern rock As as you look into you
Speaker 1: have a machine that you use that compiles data. Um,
Speaker 1: you're very talented in this realm. And we want to
Speaker 1: know as we turned towards the second half of the season,
Speaker 1: which teams are about to rise up and grab playoff
Speaker 1: spots and who are some of the playoff position teams
Speaker 1: that are going to fall out? Is the machine going
Speaker 1: to help us there? Yes, the model, that's all the answers.
Speaker 1: The player is like, like, I just want to know something.
Speaker 1: Do you think, like, what do you think that it
Speaker 1: like looks like do you think that like the machine
Speaker 1: tells me what to do? Is it like terminators? It
Speaker 1: come to a lot like like how do you think
Speaker 1: this works? Like how does this work? In your head?
Speaker 1: I think at one point you did mention that it
Speaker 1: was in your bedroom, so I imagine there to be
Speaker 1: like remember during the Cold War when the USA and
Speaker 1: USSR would have dueling supercomputers to figure out who could
Speaker 1: I pictured that like the nineteen seventies supercomputer that takes
Speaker 1: up of your bedroom space? What does heat me in
Speaker 1: the winter? So that that helps me on? Comes out
Speaker 1: of it? Like when when there's like a crazy pick six,
Speaker 1: just like upon your last visit, I think I actually
Speaker 1: requested and this was you know, pre Corona years ago,
Speaker 1: and I understand that you you know, we've all been distracted,
Speaker 1: but um for a photograph it looks like and I'm
Speaker 1: still waiting for that. I'll get it for you. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I told I told you it's literally like it's not
Speaker 1: as it's gonna make Dan upset. I gotta like maybe
Speaker 1: you could draw, like I'll send it to you and
Speaker 1: you could draw rendition of it, because I don't want
Speaker 1: to upset Dan because it's not that like exciting. It
Speaker 1: looks like a like a but you don't want it shared.
Speaker 1: It would be secret information. Well it's like you can't
Speaker 1: see anything right, Like it's like a tower. It's a
Speaker 1: few towers. It's just the point of having the towers
Speaker 1: so you have more RAM, meaning it can go faster.
Speaker 1: So then the models will take like a week to
Speaker 1: produce results. You run three thousand projections for each remaining games,
Speaker 1: every every you need a lot of RAM. It's just
Speaker 1: an excuse so that when it picks a game that
Speaker 1: like Cynthia doesn't totally agree with, she's like, oh, the
Speaker 1: model did it. I mean I programmed the model, so
Speaker 1: I have the brain of the computer. So it's it's
Speaker 1: really all my all. This just tries to make it
Speaker 1: so that's like, you know, not biased. So we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about Cindy's pretty hate machine. We're going to hit
Speaker 1: the Thursday Night football previews, we look ahead to week
Speaker 1: ten Baltimore at Miami. We're gonna hit Monday Night Football,
Speaker 1: the recap. But I just want to get one thing,
Speaker 1: one more thing. As we set the table for today's show,
Speaker 1: Um Mark apologies again with the situation with Chris Rose
Speaker 1: on Sunday. Was unfortunate that Greg and I brought it up,
Speaker 1: Um that we thought that you were shaded up. We
Speaker 1: thought that you were being short with Chris about his
Speaker 1: Brown's excitement when he rolled over to our area and
Speaker 1: you said things like I don't think they're very good.
Speaker 1: And then you came on our show and you were
Speaker 1: like it so happy about the Browns. It was like,
Speaker 1: why didn't Chris get the same thing. It wasn't so
Speaker 1: much like the length, but the lack of enthusiasm, just like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna meet you where you are, Chris, Right,
Speaker 1: you guys practice this before that show. You're a little
Speaker 1: and you're gonna and you're gonna say, oh, Dan, another
Speaker 1: manufactured joke. This isn't real. This is absolutely real. I've
Speaker 1: gotten to know Chris a little better this year during
Speaker 1: the season, and uh we exchange phone numbers at one
Speaker 1: point and actually got this voicemail, uh late last night.
Speaker 1: This is Doug Boat. You know the drill. It's Chris
Speaker 1: Rose from NFL Network. You're doing well, Neil. Little advice here.
Speaker 1: The other day I walked past you and Cessler and
Speaker 1: and Greg, and I wanted to talk to Mark about
Speaker 1: the Browns, uh, and he just kind of blew me off.
Speaker 1: So I don't I don't know why he was short
Speaker 1: with me. I don't know if there's something going on,
Speaker 1: if he's piste off or what. I was hoping to
Speaker 1: then talk to him during the Sunday night game when
Speaker 1: we all watch together in the theater and he wasn't there,
Speaker 1: and you weren't there, and Greg with two cheese was
Speaker 1: the only one there, and I don't know why it's
Speaker 1: two geese. But anyway, um, so I don't know if
Speaker 1: you could maybe call me back and shed a little
Speaker 1: light on this. I mean, Mark and I have been buddies,
Speaker 1: I thought for a few years. And it took like
Speaker 1: all the strength in the world to not walk past
Speaker 1: him and make fun of that really ridiculous cheesy mustache
Speaker 1: he was trying to grow out of. Oh wow, anyway,
Speaker 1: just get a chance to give me a call so
Speaker 1: we can talk it out, because, um, I really I'm
Speaker 1: kind of hurt by it all. Thanks. I mean again,
Speaker 1: not not manufactured. That was a real voice mail sounds No,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, friendships, Um, I have been friends
Speaker 1: with Chris rose for for a long while. At this point,
Speaker 1: well shared you know, shared interests. But friendships go through
Speaker 1: different phases, and I you know, there's challenging phases. There's
Speaker 1: like we have to grow, and maybe this is a
Speaker 1: point of growth for me. I'm not always going to argue,
Speaker 1: uh you guys when you create these things. I like,
Speaker 1: in this case, I'm saying, like it maybe it was real.
Speaker 1: I am learning now that my I impact some people
Speaker 1: may be the wrong way at times, and you know,
Speaker 1: check yourself at the door. Cindy has someone like as
Speaker 1: an outsider on this, what's your take? I mean, I've
Speaker 1: been to a lot of therapy, so I thought his
Speaker 1: response was like just really like I mean marks just
Speaker 1: like a big man. Like that's like a very smart,
Speaker 1: like very educated, very you know, like a lot of empathy,
Speaker 1: a lot of like emotional maturity. There will I put
Speaker 1: it into action. That's big. Where was the at the
Speaker 1: on Sunday night. I think it wasn't there. It was
Speaker 1: a lot of hitting now, it was a lot of
Speaker 1: pushing back. It is an interesting window though, you mean
Speaker 1: you talked about points of relationships that Chris and Dan
Speaker 1: are at the point where Chris is now leaving long
Speaker 1: voice Why did you send him to voice mail? If
Speaker 1: you guys are so closed, that was taping Powerking. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's the minute you get Dan involved, things become destabilized
Speaker 1: with friendship, the first part of the friendship. So just
Speaker 1: you gotta be aware of that. UM, all right, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm just caught in the middle as usual. All right,
Speaker 1: here we go. That's what's going on with that, and
Speaker 1: we'll keep you updated the listeners. Uh, if that could
Speaker 1: be repaired that relationship. I just would also like to
Speaker 1: put out like Chris Rose and I really close. He
Speaker 1: like he like actually like tweeted a photo or you know,
Speaker 1: Instagram story to photo of me on Sunday, so I could.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna check up with him in two thousand twenty one.
Speaker 1: That is the greatest indicator of true friendship. Obviously, let's
Speaker 1: check out some Monday night football. Put a bow on
Speaker 1: Week nine, down long enough, Hi, Gordon pass Well, an
Speaker 1: incredible minded field has put the Steelers on top six
Speaker 1: seconds to go. Oh my goodness, are the Steelers good?
Speaker 1: I'm really not sure, but they won the game. They
Speaker 1: did over the Bears, a Chicago Bears team. Cynthia Freeland
Speaker 1: that put up a fight that was in danger of
Speaker 1: getting blown out of that building early. But with their
Speaker 1: young quarterback who threw for yards in a touchdown in
Speaker 1: the second half, they battled and battled and battled, took
Speaker 1: the lead, and then there's Big Ben in the offense
Speaker 1: getting that last drive to score uh and win the game.
Speaker 1: Where do you come down on Steelers? After watching this
Speaker 1: particular game, my first note is I never want to
Speaker 1: see Ben Roethlisberger run again, not ever. I was, I
Speaker 1: was like, wow, they're talking about that last designed run
Speaker 1: where he thought he was about to have his John
Speaker 1: ol a moment and kind of fight through that tackle,
Speaker 1: and he looked like like it was like like there
Speaker 1: was mud on the field suddenly, and he was so slow.
Speaker 1: It was I was. I was shocked, And I can't
Speaker 1: image the force would take to make Big Ben helicopter.
Speaker 1: He's more like one of those giant aircraft carriers there.
Speaker 1: Just you're not going to spin him. No, no, anyway. Anyways, UM,
Speaker 1: I think we see a really interesting thing about the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears offense, meaning I think Justin Fields is finally
Speaker 1: starting to take that step forward. It seemed like at
Speaker 1: least he could recognize zone defense a little bit better
Speaker 1: and was able to find and connect with his receivers
Speaker 1: in zone, and that's hard to see. It's not easy
Speaker 1: when you got a man. A man is way easier
Speaker 1: for rookie quarterbacks to be able to pick up on
Speaker 1: zone defense a little trickier, there are bigger holes in it.
Speaker 1: But throwing your receiver open then becomes more important, which
Speaker 1: means justin Fields is now taking a step forward and
Speaker 1: recognizing the defense a little bit better. So that's interesting. Also,
Speaker 1: I think there were some really strange penalties in that game.
Speaker 1: Was kind of my like overall overall, take away right
Speaker 1: the penalties, I'm sure we'll get to, but fields, even
Speaker 1: though they lost, felt like the biggest story, and I
Speaker 1: think he took a couple of lessons from his first
Speaker 1: also that like to run right into Devin Bush was like,
Speaker 1: why are you doing that? You don't want to do.
Speaker 1: But for the most part, his instinct the last two weeks,
Speaker 1: when the throws aren't there to run decisively have helped
Speaker 1: him out and they've picked up a lot of first
Speaker 1: downs are picked up six or seven yards. His best
Speaker 1: two games of the season are easily the last two.
Speaker 1: I think he was nine for fifteen on throws over
Speaker 1: ten yards. His his deep throws were great, and he
Speaker 1: kept going for it from the pocket. Like if you're
Speaker 1: a Bears fan. It's almost the perfect situation according to
Speaker 1: the Bears fans I know, which is that they want
Speaker 1: Naggy gone, but they want Fields to be the truth,
Speaker 1: which is a hard thing to balance so that you
Speaker 1: get the most of best. You got the best of
Speaker 1: both worlds here because their defense at the end of
Speaker 1: that game is what lost the game. Is total total
Speaker 1: coaching meltdown in that in that field gold drive, where
Speaker 1: the players were absolutely confused. The fields looks good, the
Speaker 1: coaching still bad. You get both, get both. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I trust Bears ownership to understand the divide
Speaker 1: between Matt Nig's either helpfulness or lack of helpfulness. Um
Speaker 1: And what Justin Fields is is someone that's becoming, especially
Speaker 1: over the last two weeks, more comfortable, more daring do
Speaker 1: using his athleticism, his legs. And I thought last night
Speaker 1: ripping the ball a couple of times, getting Allen Robinson
Speaker 1: involved for the first time on that team in roughly
Speaker 1: two decades. I mean that would have been a touchdown
Speaker 1: if Robinson also showed up. Jimmy Graham was there on
Speaker 1: the field, who knew the past came to the future.
Speaker 1: I think you have hope as a Bears fan, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter the results of these games down
Speaker 1: the stretch. In fact, would be better if they lost
Speaker 1: a bunch of more games to clear house. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I don't know what Bears ownership. I think they
Speaker 1: understand what's going on here. The Naggi is a guy
Speaker 1: that's on the ropes, and Bill Laser his having greater
Speaker 1: control of the play calling is now connecting to justin
Speaker 1: fields looking better and also, by the way, rookie quarterbacks
Speaker 1: just get better typically if they if they're the real
Speaker 1: deal as the season goes along. So I think that's
Speaker 1: what we're seeing that's exciting. Uh, there was some money
Speaker 1: throws by fields there. And on the Pittsburgh side of things,
Speaker 1: they're really a tough team to get a handle of.
Speaker 1: You got t J. Watt and he's doing his t J.
Speaker 1: Watt thing, and you still have that, you still have
Speaker 1: that Hines Field home field advantage, and and that's a
Speaker 1: great thing too. But I just feel like this offense
Speaker 1: put it this way. I thought they were cooked after
Speaker 1: they lost the lead, I didn't think the offense was
Speaker 1: gonna be able to get it done. And I think
Speaker 1: Chicago's defense with all the errors and mental errors really
Speaker 1: bailed him out in a lot of ways. Um, they
Speaker 1: didn't know what coverages they were in it. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know, there's clear confusion. I think. I think the
Speaker 1: Steelers are a team because they're well coached and they
Speaker 1: have these big time players dotted throughout the roster. We'll
Speaker 1: get to the nine or ten wins that might get
Speaker 1: them into the playoffs. But I just don't see him
Speaker 1: as that kind of upper tier a f C team.
Speaker 1: I do think though, like against Cleveland, and you know,
Speaker 1: we all saw the photos the film coming out of
Speaker 1: that at the offensive line, which was a dis astor
Speaker 1: early on meshed against Cleveland, and I think they continue
Speaker 1: to grow. And that's what you want to ride that,
Speaker 1: because it's not the offense has changed a little bit.
Speaker 1: It's a it's transformed. But I mean they're months away
Speaker 1: from needing a quarterback of their own right this big
Speaker 1: Bend season. It's it's almost charming, like he's giving in
Speaker 1: his own I mean, I hate as a person, I've
Speaker 1: never like I've never been on what I'm trying to
Speaker 1: that sideline. He's not charming in fact, like he did
Speaker 1: the thing where he that Ben's laugh as we've you know,
Speaker 1: featured on this show over the years. Very like when
Speaker 1: they asked me, he's like, how are you feeling? You
Speaker 1: know when when you watched justin Fields going, he's like
Speaker 1: he's feeling a little nervous, and it's just like, who
Speaker 1: are you out of person? But like he's giving it
Speaker 1: his all, like I saw. I don't want to steal
Speaker 1: the joke, but when when he threw that that deep
Speaker 1: shot to Deante Johnson and someone said it looked like,
Speaker 1: you know, I was trying to hit a three yard
Speaker 1: drive with an eight iron or something like he put
Speaker 1: his back into that throw and like we learned how
Speaker 1: far he and throw it at this point, which is
Speaker 1: about forty five yards, And like they're doing the best
Speaker 1: they can't. I don't think their defense is quite good
Speaker 1: enough to make up for I mean, they had a
Speaker 1: chance to close out that game in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: and they couldn't do it and they got bailed out.
Speaker 1: Uh to other names, Pat Friar muth I got a
Speaker 1: feeling Mark that guy's gonna annoy you for a while.
Speaker 1: I mean like seven to ten years. He annoyed me
Speaker 1: last week and he continues investment in that draft pick.
Speaker 1: And Cassius Marsh, I'm sorry, dude, I am so sorry.
Speaker 1: And you look badass in the press conference, and kudos
Speaker 1: to you for looking the way that you do. But like,
Speaker 1: come on, and this is a big story right now.
Speaker 1: Everyone's talking speaking out on it. Mike Tomlin even like
Speaker 1: got out there and said, hey, we're just trying to
Speaker 1: clean the game up. He said, he's a member of
Speaker 1: the competition committee. We embrace the responsibility that comes with
Speaker 1: being the role models that we are. Well, I don't know, Mike,
Speaker 1: if it happened the other one, the shoe was on
Speaker 1: the other foot. I don't know if you're making that
Speaker 1: quote today. That was a BS call on Marsh and
Speaker 1: the way the official kind of backed into him through
Speaker 1: the flag are we doing? And he said he felt
Speaker 1: it was taunting any time that the official has to
Speaker 1: use the words. I felt that it's using so much subjectivity.
Speaker 1: We've seen the NFL course correct on some of these
Speaker 1: rules emphasis um points midway through seasons before they don't
Speaker 1: announce it publicly. But suddenly remember the other season when
Speaker 1: they just stopped calling holding after every right, and there's
Speaker 1: been a couple of ones like this with the catch rule.
Speaker 1: I think it's time. I was hoping as I was
Speaker 1: watching that that maybe this will be the moment where
Speaker 1: they're like, let's back off the taunting. It needs to
Speaker 1: happen in these primes. And he called it a point
Speaker 1: was it's a point of emphathy. It's it was a
Speaker 1: great football moment that you know, he that the practice
Speaker 1: and the off season there, he was there on their preseason,
Speaker 1: so he so in a sense that like goes to
Speaker 1: Carenti's point that he felt like it was something because
Speaker 1: in a way it was. He just was looking over
Speaker 1: at the other sideline, but like it's an emotional game.
Speaker 1: That was a beautiful moment, like you cut me, I
Speaker 1: just made this play. It would be nice if the
Speaker 1: ESPN booth, who had another rough night like had that
Speaker 1: and could provide that context to the listener because none
Speaker 1: of us knew it, were knowing that at the time. Um,
Speaker 1: but like that happened. That's why you listen to the radio,
Speaker 1: really great radio called on that. You just watch it
Speaker 1: and you time it up. Hit pause. It's great. I
Speaker 1: didn't let me say this, but you brought it up. Ready.
Speaker 1: When it's six, after the Bears touchdown to tie it
Speaker 1: and the Steelers go offside on the extra point and
Speaker 1: Greasy starts saying out loud, maybe we'll go for two here, bro,
Speaker 1: it's I mean, I think he checked himself after, but
Speaker 1: I mean the Steve Levy called where he made the
Speaker 1: whole country think it went off the crossbar, and I've
Speaker 1: heard people go like, well, it looked like it. But
Speaker 1: he's in the stadium. That's the advantage of being in
Speaker 1: the stadium. Don't watch the monitor. They're they're killing me.
Speaker 1: They're killing That's why I gotta listen to the radio.
Speaker 1: And my last thing. In the NBA, for instance, and
Speaker 1: like the playoffs, the referees put the whistle in their
Speaker 1: pocket unless they really have to call you. Let the
Speaker 1: players figure out these big moments. On a third down
Speaker 1: sack where you're getting off the field in a close game,
Speaker 1: oh my god, you gotta look the other way. All right,
Speaker 1: there we go Monday night football. By the way, I
Speaker 1: have to give cash this smart some credit. They kept
Speaker 1: that camera on him and he did not like I
Speaker 1: thought he was gonna cry for a minute, and then
Speaker 1: he pulled it together and like really like you saw
Speaker 1: him like dig pretty deep there to find some composure.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, I like that story. Like if
Speaker 1: I made a practice squad and then I made it
Speaker 1: like a crazy insane play and then I looked at
Speaker 1: them and do I probably would have cried. So his
Speaker 1: coach ripped them up as and then he came back
Speaker 1: and apologizing because he was like, oh, yeah, that was
Speaker 1: nice anyway, but yeah, no, I appreciated that like a
Speaker 1: moment of like grace. And he said. People say, well,
Speaker 1: at least it didn't like change how it totally changed.
Speaker 1: It would have been a total different if the amount
Speaker 1: and that's what I wish people would have talked about more.
Speaker 1: You talked about analytics, the analytics of the time on
Speaker 1: that are you totally change the difference? How much time
Speaker 1: would have been left for then you know the Bears
Speaker 1: who showed that they could score very quickly, they would
Speaker 1: have had another drive, not just that with the time analytics.
Speaker 1: That's all right, let's pause right here for a break.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. Cynthia Freelan screaming time for her
Speaker 1: pretty hate machine. It's in her room. I see it
Speaker 1: as a giant Cold War supercomputer. I don't need to
Speaker 1: hear anything else. And that's you know, when we're thinking
Speaker 1: about okay, first half of the season virtually it's over.
Speaker 1: Now we look ahead. Let's talk about it, greg Mark.
Speaker 1: Throughout you could throw out some teams that you feel
Speaker 1: one way or the other about, whether about surge or
Speaker 1: fall off. But I'd like to start with Cynthia. When
Speaker 1: you ran it through your model, Um, were there any
Speaker 1: teams that really jumped out to you that are going
Speaker 1: win way or the other. Let's start. We'll start where
Speaker 1: we want. Well, I think ahead of the season, I
Speaker 1: think we were all, I mean, look a little shocked.
Speaker 1: The Patriots, no one to know what to do with
Speaker 1: fringe potentially, you know, maybe make the and now it's
Speaker 1: gonna be very hard for them not to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And the a f C is a very much better conference.
Speaker 1: Just that, you know, the middle of the a f
Speaker 1: C is stronger than the NFC. The guys at the
Speaker 1: top or GRAE and then the ones at the bottom
Speaker 1: are the Lions. So ultimately the differential between the two
Speaker 1: is very big. You know, take out the Jags and
Speaker 1: take out It's gonna be hard to get that seven six.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be hard to get six and seven in
Speaker 1: the a f C than it is going to be
Speaker 1: in the NFC. And it's interesting. And then the other
Speaker 1: one that's like really quite interesting to me is you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know. When I looked ahead of the season,
Speaker 1: I really I would I was very I thought that
Speaker 1: the Colts would be stronger, and I think we're going
Speaker 1: to see them push up higher. I think they had
Speaker 1: an unfortunate beginning to the season. Injuries plagued them, and
Speaker 1: I do think that they're going to end up making
Speaker 1: a Do you have wind totals? Projected wind totals? All right?
Speaker 1: What are the called in the paths? Former rivals? Okay,
Speaker 1: so well, I got an article coming out later on this,
Speaker 1: So well, we can embargo the show until it's yeah,
Speaker 1: embargo tell you that we're going to the best possible
Speaker 1: right now, Patriots have a chance making the playoffs, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, I'm pretty conservative. You know that guy
Speaker 1: do Greg knows like some of these wind projection models
Speaker 1: get like wild and that's just not the case, right, So, um,
Speaker 1: and that means they're most likely going to be either.
Speaker 1: So it's nine point seven, which is like, obviously it's
Speaker 1: a model, so it's never going to be perfectly the number. Okay,
Speaker 1: very mad about exactly. People get really mad about fractional games.
Speaker 1: But you have to remember my point here that the
Speaker 1: a f C, the middle of the a f C stronger.
Speaker 1: The point seven matters, right, So you just to look
Speaker 1: at the order more than you at the colts. So
Speaker 1: I've got colds here, and I guess, yeah, of course
Speaker 1: you have the cold at They got a hold of
Speaker 1: a dig out of here. I think you've got the
Speaker 1: cults at nine point three. Anyone else. You pitched them
Speaker 1: as sort of spicy a minute ago. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go nine point six. You got it. It's pretty good, Mark,
Speaker 1: I'm your computer. One. He wins nine point six. All right.
Speaker 1: Remember remember these are very these are small, and it's
Speaker 1: based on the schedule, correct, and remember they also have
Speaker 1: the advantage of playing you know, they have a division
Speaker 1: that's pretty that's pretty um, but that makes sense. So
Speaker 1: they're gonna win nine or ten games. The Pats are.
Speaker 1: They feel like a ten and seven team right now.
Speaker 1: I'd like that. How about the other side, so those
Speaker 1: and way the way the ANC is set up. It's
Speaker 1: so wild right now, it's so out of control. It
Speaker 1: feels so fluid that I do think I think a
Speaker 1: nine and eight can get you in. There's basically twelve
Speaker 1: teams if you eliminate the Jets Jags, which just remember,
Speaker 1: just remember they have the Colts, have the Jags twice.
Speaker 1: Still one more Textans. So there's three games right there.
Speaker 1: That's a the Steelers struggle. If you look at their
Speaker 1: schedule after this Lions. Yeah, the Steelers, at least in Vegas,
Speaker 1: they probably would be underdogs for their last eight games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I only have them favored against the Vikings. It's very close.
Speaker 1: That's the last one. We're they're close. Like the Jaguars
Speaker 1: Buffalo outcome is a perfect example. The FC seems so
Speaker 1: strange right now that looking at a schedules, going this
Speaker 1: is gonna work, this is gonna work, This won't work.
Speaker 1: It just feels like it's a fool's air. And that's
Speaker 1: why you need the machine to step in and give
Speaker 1: a little more data. Give me here. I'm going to
Speaker 1: make you an analogy of what the machine does. Right.
Speaker 1: It's bad English, So you guys who actually know grammar
Speaker 1: like this is not the right English, but like there's
Speaker 1: overwhelmed and there's underwhelmed. Like all I'm trying to figure
Speaker 1: out is what that line is, Like what's welmed? Right?
Speaker 1: So like you can say, Okay, I think it's more
Speaker 1: than that or less than that? Overpaid and underpaid? Well,
Speaker 1: what's paid? God? I have can I ask the NFC team? Yeah,
Speaker 1: because like I wanted this, let's guess the number two,
Speaker 1: Let's keep doing that. Yeah, And I want to know
Speaker 1: the process because like a team like the Saints that
Speaker 1: I think it's been kind of battling our expectations. Strange,
Speaker 1: very strange, and very strange you do with your with
Speaker 1: the supercomputer when like let's say, so Jamis goes down,
Speaker 1: you're dealing with Trevor Simeon. You're getting a little bit
Speaker 1: of Taysom Hill in there. The defense is rising, Like
Speaker 1: I trust them to be really well coached, Like where
Speaker 1: do you see him winding up? And how do you
Speaker 1: how does your process change when like chaos occurs to
Speaker 1: human beings. The good news about the Saints is that
Speaker 1: despite being chaotic you mentioned it, the coach is very
Speaker 1: like Sean Payton is one of my favorite to track
Speaker 1: because he's got he's very um reliably aggressive or non aggressive.
Speaker 1: It's he's situationally very He's a very consistent human being
Speaker 1: over time. He doesn't change his coaching strategy very often.
Speaker 1: You see it, you kind of know when you're watching
Speaker 1: you can feel, oh, this is a taste. He is
Speaker 1: always is the same. You get like a great or
Speaker 1: a number from you that you plug in, Like how
Speaker 1: do you see? I just like consistency, like be who
Speaker 1: you are, then I can model you easier just from
Speaker 1: Jamis downward to Simeon or how does that work? Yeah, Like, look,
Speaker 1: we have a lot of Simion data. Though it's not
Speaker 1: like I'm going from uh, Mike White exactly from Mike
Speaker 1: White to Josh anyways anyway, so it doesn't even matter there,
Speaker 1: But so we do have that. One's not the hardest
Speaker 1: one to shoot this season so far, especially with a
Speaker 1: good defense and their defensive state very consistent year every
Speaker 1: year in terms of who the players are. When you
Speaker 1: have a lot of turnover, it makes it more difficult
Speaker 1: for the for the I'm gonna guess, I'll guess ten
Speaker 1: point one because I doing game debut with you every week.
Speaker 1: I know which teams the model, which is often but
Speaker 1: not always uh, teams that Vegas loves and to that point,
Speaker 1: like the Saints are barely an underdog. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: Tennessee this weekend against Simeon. So I'm going high and
Speaker 1: I'm going ten point ten point two to get closer.
Speaker 1: I told you how there's the ones that have like that.
Speaker 1: They don't ever land on the normal number. It's ten
Speaker 1: prices rules. You can't say the Let's be clear, it's
Speaker 1: good when I give my numbers before Vegas gives there.
Speaker 1: So I'm not trying to get My point is is
Speaker 1: it is good, but it's good. Vegas is way better
Speaker 1: at my job than me, and we do similar say
Speaker 1: that allowed though that's like no. But my point is
Speaker 1: is when the things end up the same, people on
Speaker 1: Twitter like, oh, you just copying the Vegas number two. No, No,
Speaker 1: your girls getting good at this because she's better, then
Speaker 1: they're better than be at it for longer. So I
Speaker 1: want to honk about being right about the Cardinals all year,
Speaker 1: because you've had them as one of the very best
Speaker 1: teams in the NFL from week one. It's probably why
Speaker 1: you're leading our picks competition. On game debut. More than anything,
Speaker 1: it's just it's just getting the Cardinals right. And do
Speaker 1: you have do you have them continuing to be this good? Um? Yes,
Speaker 1: but they're not my super Bowl team from They're not.
Speaker 1: Why do you think the models like the Cardinals so much?
Speaker 1: Right about them? Um? Well, I had them as a
Speaker 1: risky team. Either I was going to be very very
Speaker 1: They're either be very good or go very poorly because
Speaker 1: they were expanding their playbook in such a way where,
Speaker 1: if you know, everyone talked about Kyler Murray has the
Speaker 1: execute this, this and this. Well they got a little
Speaker 1: bit lucky with some Raiders exodus from their old line,
Speaker 1: getting Rodney Hudson there in the last minute, because that
Speaker 1: was it's really interior pressure that makes a lot, huge
Speaker 1: difference for Kyler Murray. Now does Coult McCoy help out
Speaker 1: with this? Oh, it makes it way harder. But I
Speaker 1: do have a number of cold data points to refer to,
Speaker 1: but interior pressure and also no, I love Colt McCoy
Speaker 1: two but na so after McCoy, which is perfect, baby pony,
Speaker 1: I love it, um so. But but long story short
Speaker 1: of like you know, like after they stopped rolling out,
Speaker 1: only that like basically the bootleg where he goes off
Speaker 1: to his right and spins all the way around. Like
Speaker 1: once they added more to the playbook, I'm like, well
Speaker 1: if he if they can keep the interior pressure from
Speaker 1: being too, which is why you see the difference when
Speaker 1: Hudson's playing when he's not very big difference for him.
Speaker 1: And also they got him a bunch more playmakers. I
Speaker 1: mean A. J. Green obviously hasn't played in a couple
Speaker 1: of games, but when he's out there, it creates a
Speaker 1: lot more space for DeAndre Hopkins when he's healthy, and
Speaker 1: Christian Kirk has been the beneficiary of that. And now
Speaker 1: they've got zach Ertz. And you know when J. J.
Speaker 1: Watt was healthy for the two minutes, he was helpful
Speaker 1: to them. So you know they and I love their
Speaker 1: the way that they create space with their safeties. I
Speaker 1: love Buddha Baker, I will I'm a like unapologetic Buddha
Speaker 1: Baker Buddha Baker Lever and Isaiah Simmons is taken a
Speaker 1: big step forward too, So you know they're only it
Speaker 1: all fit. You're a super Bowl team though they're not.
Speaker 1: I hate my super Bowl team. I'm gonna throw oh
Speaker 1: that's interesting. I'm gonna throw another volatile team in the
Speaker 1: a f C out there, a team that I'm trying
Speaker 1: to make sense of. A lot has happened around this
Speaker 1: team this year. They've been up. They've been theirsters on
Speaker 1: what I can see, Yeah, um yeah, imposters. So they've
Speaker 1: gotten exceptionally lucky because for their first few games, like
Speaker 1: the first eight games at they played, they've got an
Speaker 1: overt pressure percentage against opposing quarterbacks. If you have sustained
Speaker 1: pressure for that long, then you're absolutely going to do
Speaker 1: some damage. And congratulations Max Crosby. That like extra X,
Speaker 1: it really works out for you. But the problem is
Speaker 1: is they have on the other side, they don't have
Speaker 1: a very reliable running execution, even and I mean that
Speaker 1: with like short passes to screen passes. Most coaches consider
Speaker 1: those running you know, running downs for kind of the
Speaker 1: way that they think it through. They don't have consistency there,
Speaker 1: and you know they don't. I like Derek Carts, absolutely
Speaker 1: nothing against him, but when you don't have an old line,
Speaker 1: it is hard to an old line that consistently can
Speaker 1: keep you from harm's way. It just it's hard to
Speaker 1: have long term, sustained wins like they're just like Vegas,
Speaker 1: high risk, high reward, but it could go terribly wrong
Speaker 1: as well. I see them as nine and eight, but
Speaker 1: I think your model is going to have them at
Speaker 1: eight point four. It's it's closer, it is undernine, it
Speaker 1: is underneath. But remember again big but because there's five
Speaker 1: and three, so somewhere in the eights is that's another
Speaker 1: nothing nothing short of. But they've got the next three Chiefs, Bengals, Cowboys,
Speaker 1: and then I have a win for Washington. The Chiefs, Brown's, Broncos, Colds, Chargers,
Speaker 1: like the rest of their schedule is not very nice
Speaker 1: to them. We'll get to it Thursday. But to me,
Speaker 1: this Chief's Raiders game is is fascinating. This super fascinating,
Speaker 1: especially because they payed. I have a quick one um
Speaker 1: and we'll keep it brief. The Lions, aren't you about them?
Speaker 1: That's your team, but they're not my team. I hate them.
Speaker 1: They're my team to hate emotionally, which I appreciate you
Speaker 1: hash like as like zero point to like are they
Speaker 1: hovering towards that? Oh in seventeen season the first time
Speaker 1: I mean to give him a w they got to
Speaker 1: be h two point three. The model had them beating
Speaker 1: the Eagles a couple of weeks ago. Do you know
Speaker 1: how mad I was about that? I hated it? They
Speaker 1: were they could run up for like five sis. That's
Speaker 1: why you're so mad at it? Is your computer does
Speaker 1: a great disobedient at times, and like, is it rebellion
Speaker 1: against you on some level? So Mark wants to know
Speaker 1: how do you punish the computer when it becomes disobediently?
Speaker 1: The funny part, right, Like the funny part here is
Speaker 1: it's all actually like I name it after like I'll
Speaker 1: put in random things, like some years it'll be like
Speaker 1: random eighties rockers, other years it'll be and it's all
Speaker 1: named things that I can't so I can't look at
Speaker 1: it because I have to make some corrections. They'll be
Speaker 1: errors in the code, and I don't want to know
Speaker 1: because I do like certain teams more than other teams,
Speaker 1: like teams that give me a paycheck. I did the
Speaker 1: preseason with the Bills. You're darn right. I like them
Speaker 1: better than I like the Jets. I like them better
Speaker 1: than other teams like, so I don't want to be
Speaker 1: biased in any way possible. So it's all you can
Speaker 1: name them. Next year, I'll let you name, and it
Speaker 1: just randomly assigned to be part of the process on
Speaker 1: the perfect Yes, so when you when you have it,
Speaker 1: do it like anonymously and you have to do these
Speaker 1: air fixes and you're not like fixing, you know, because
Speaker 1: sometimes the reason that my model is like valuable more
Speaker 1: than like just random numbers is like I'll ask coaches
Speaker 1: for real context, so I'll be like, what happened here.
Speaker 1: I'd be like the safety was in the wrong spot,
Speaker 1: or the quarterback didn't see you do didn't pick up,
Speaker 1: or the running back didn't pick up the blitz or
Speaker 1: something great. So you can put in something there with
Speaker 1: like real people, who's who duty? And then like when
Speaker 1: my PhD people from when this is why you like,
Speaker 1: I still paying for my my master's degree right because
Speaker 1: you know I won't want I took out loans and too,
Speaker 1: because then I can go back and be like these
Speaker 1: PhD people who don't care about football. They can be like,
Speaker 1: your math's wrong here, fix it here, so it gets
Speaker 1: better every week, But what what do you got? The
Speaker 1: Lions at one point four okay, jerks that well, you're
Speaker 1: a celebration. When they get that second congratulations, they are
Speaker 1: officially not great quarterbacks in this upcoming draft class, and
Speaker 1: the Lions will continue to be terrible. Could I could
Speaker 1: have had a lot? Let's not pile on all right,
Speaker 1: we only have a few more minutes with you, Cynthia.
Speaker 1: They can deserve it. There's that kneecaps to bite. And
Speaker 1: by the way, when I was there for so first
Speaker 1: Bill's preseason game was at Ford Field, and like I
Speaker 1: was happy because Ford fields a great field and I'm
Speaker 1: from Michigan in the summer, in Michigan's great. Like an
Speaker 1: hour before the game started, all of a sudden, you
Speaker 1: see like this coach like throw fit. He takes his
Speaker 1: heads and throws it off on the Lion side that
Speaker 1: he goes storming off the field, and like I walk over,
Speaker 1: like what happen? Oh, they fired their strength and conditioning
Speaker 1: coach um like ninety minutes before the game, and I
Speaker 1: was like, why this is first preseason game. And then
Speaker 1: I was like that's weird. So I'm like googling it
Speaker 1: and whatever, and I'm not reporting because I'm on the
Speaker 1: Bill side, and no one cares. And then they play
Speaker 1: their starters against the bill third string until the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: I kid you not, and they lost what they were
Speaker 1: going to be a great season. Guys. All right, okay,
Speaker 1: before you go, you said you don't like your super
Speaker 1: Bowl pick. So before Cynthia tells us who it is
Speaker 1: with that information of mine, let's take a guess the model.
Speaker 1: It is easy. Guess. All right, I'm gonna say the Packers.
Speaker 1: What about you? Greg Um? You don't you're seeing both? No,
Speaker 1: I like my I like my acis. That's was just
Speaker 1: a guess. I'm gonna say that the Bucks. You don't.
Speaker 1: I like the Box. I love Todd Bowls. You know
Speaker 1: that don't like Um. I think Packers is very strong,
Speaker 1: But just for the sake of variety, I'll go Rams. Um,
Speaker 1: it's it's the Packers. What nothing to do? Like, I'm
Speaker 1: mad that like my preseason or my my preseason said
Speaker 1: Packers Chiefs, and now mid season it's Packers Bills. And
Speaker 1: I'm so you because the Chiefs and Bills that partly
Speaker 1: because they're gonna get the one seat. Sorry. Well, before
Speaker 1: last week it wasn't going to be the Packers, and
Speaker 1: then the Rams lost, and then like some weird stuff
Speaker 1: happened last week, and then of course the week before
Speaker 1: the Saints beat the Bucks. So I was like, come on,
Speaker 1: give me something that I like. So this like Chiefs Bills,
Speaker 1: everybody's grouping them together about how the defenses are are
Speaker 1: strategizing and slowing down the attack. I guess the model
Speaker 1: says Brian Dable and the Bills are going to figure
Speaker 1: this out and get back on track. Otherwise how they're
Speaker 1: going to get to the big dance. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: concerned about it when I watched that game on Sunday
Speaker 1: in the last few weeks with this reason. Absolutely, it's
Speaker 1: really come down to pressure on the quarterback. That's what
Speaker 1: happened in the Pittsburgh game. That's what happened in this
Speaker 1: last game against the Jags. Early pressure. So what Brian
Speaker 1: Dables on He almost didn't run the ball at all
Speaker 1: in the first half. I think two runs like that's it.
Speaker 1: Like Josh Allen scrambled a few times, but those aren't
Speaker 1: running running designed runs in any way, right, So it's interesting.
Speaker 1: I'm curious to see, like what's going out with the
Speaker 1: running backs because it's gonna be it's really going to
Speaker 1: come down to you for this team. Can they keep
Speaker 1: Josh Allen from getting pressured especially early in the game,
Speaker 1: because we've seen a few slow starts for the Bill,
Speaker 1: So if they don't have like the if they can't
Speaker 1: get it going right away, then it's going to be
Speaker 1: difficult for them to to kind of pick up the
Speaker 1: pace at the end because of that pressure. So it's
Speaker 1: really comes down to offensive pressure. Now we don't have models,
Speaker 1: but but you can see. We were asked editor we
Speaker 1: are on Monday to send in our new predictions for
Speaker 1: the season. So I wanted to check in with with
Speaker 1: you guys to see did you actually send senda. I
Speaker 1: know Dan busy on Mondays. I made time on Monday
Speaker 1: and did it nice? Did you What did you guys
Speaker 1: go with as your Super Bowl? So I so my
Speaker 1: my move here number one is like it's I didn't
Speaker 1: put it through a model. I kind of said, I
Speaker 1: want to do something that I don't think anyone else
Speaker 1: will do. I like it and it will get you know,
Speaker 1: that's how you had That's how you have the Dolphins
Speaker 1: winning the a f C East going into the clearly
Speaker 1: not a model there. But I have the Cardinals, which
Speaker 1: feels secure, feels like I'm observing the sport on some
Speaker 1: levels over the Patriots, who I think are going to
Speaker 1: something like it's super spicy, but it's really just to
Speaker 1: get that. I decided it was it's too late to bacca.
Speaker 1: I think it's a cowards move to change your pick.
Speaker 1: So even though I think the Chiefs are all sorts
Speaker 1: of issues, I didn't bail. I picked them before the season.
Speaker 1: I'm sticking with the Chiefs to figure this out and
Speaker 1: it becomes a big story. They beat the Packers a right. See.
Speaker 1: I only change it if it's totally necessary. But then
Speaker 1: this is the first time I've changed the Super Bowl pick.
Speaker 1: But I changed, you know, two of the playoffs. I
Speaker 1: had to take the Dolphins out of the playoffs. I
Speaker 1: had the Bucks Bucks over the Ravens. I mean, Greg
Speaker 1: and I had both had the forty nine we had.
Speaker 1: We should publish that, know, But you happy I kept
Speaker 1: I kept my ten of the twelve playoff teams. I
Speaker 1: removed the forty Niners and Dolphins through in the Chargers
Speaker 1: in the guess what, mark else? I still love the
Speaker 1: Browns in the playoffs, just like I did in August.
Speaker 1: I Oh, I put the Browns in now too, So
Speaker 1: I guess that's who I put in for the Dolphins. Well,
Speaker 1: some of us had it from the jumb Come on.
Speaker 1: I wish I wish I could do like like split
Speaker 1: my personality because like my gut versus like sometimes I
Speaker 1: look at these and I'm like, I don't want to
Speaker 1: make that pick, but like I it's my own head
Speaker 1: whatever is like and sometimes it sometimes just right and
Speaker 1: sometimes it lets me down right like it's sometimes I
Speaker 1: did not want to pick the Panthers last week, but
Speaker 1: my model said it because they had they had some
Speaker 1: you know, they have some positive indicators when Christian mcaffrey's
Speaker 1: on the field there. I didn't like that when you
Speaker 1: did that. Bill Belichick ruins everything when when you ran,
Speaker 1: you put they put this little graphic up on game
Speaker 1: debut when she does the Survivor picks three hundred thousand
Speaker 1: simulations a lot, and uh, the Panthers were somehow like
Speaker 1: going to be the better machine first and Greg is
Speaker 1: just a man and like you're going machine verse. Greg's look,
Speaker 1: sometimes you've gotta go with it. They've neither one's right.
Speaker 1: You know you got And this week has like some
Speaker 1: of the most upsets we've seen in like this season.
Speaker 1: Actually two weird things like away teams are winning more
Speaker 1: often than tip like a normal season and you know,
Speaker 1: in terms of those Vegas odds or whatever we're allowed
Speaker 1: to say or not. I don't whatever that Okay, whatever
Speaker 1: Vegas thought. There's been way more upsets of like you've
Speaker 1: seen a lot of like the line get totally blown up,
Speaker 1: like further from the standard deviation. That's probably an off
Speaker 1: limits word just because it's bad, um than than normal
Speaker 1: to right, Like we just don't know what it means. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the math dog is getting a little above above the
Speaker 1: old sea line now. But you've said it all, all
Speaker 1: of it. You check check her out on Game Day
Speaker 1: View another film Network on Friday's Power Rankings Game Day
Speaker 1: Morning on Sunday, is you name the show Fantasy Live
Speaker 1: quite a bit, and I feel like my hourly rates
Speaker 1: like probably under minimum wage. Now put that in the
Speaker 1: machine and then send it upstairs. All right, Santhia Freeland,
Speaker 1: thank you very much. Goes all right, stay right here,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take a break. We'll be right back out,
Speaker 1: goes one queen of around the NFL, and in comes another.
Speaker 1: I don't even think we need to stop down. We
Speaker 1: just don't we to show our professionalism and tap dance
Speaker 1: until Colleen Wolf comes on. Then they're would be a
Speaker 1: great time storming through the door, leaves a dent in
Speaker 1: a wooden wall. Oh, it's not it's not Colleen's music.
Speaker 1: It's Frianka, miss Jonas, Miss Jonas. Brother. What Connie, there's
Speaker 1: your headset? Yeah you know Colleen. Oh my god, high
Speaker 1: just recorded the Split Ends podcast with Erica Tamposy. That
Speaker 1: out the latest episode, and now we're gonna welcome you.
Speaker 1: And how are you? By the way, I'm great. This
Speaker 1: chair is very high. Well, but I think it's just
Speaker 1: because I'm short, so my legs aren't touching the ground.
Speaker 1: They're just swinging around like uh, you know, the dummy thing.
Speaker 1: But you're no dumb and you are the Thursday Night
Speaker 1: the face of Thursday night football coverage on NFL Network.
Speaker 1: And we're gonna talk a little Thursday night football right now.
Speaker 1: Connie Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins. So you get to
Speaker 1: go out to Miami. That's good, Miami, Miami. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: tell us about this game? Is you you do your
Speaker 1: tireless research? What are you feeling about this? Just like,
Speaker 1: after doing all of this research, I'm just so psyched
Speaker 1: out of my mind to see Justin Tucker in person.
Speaker 1: I can't wait because you replaced Cynthia Freeland, who's like
Speaker 1: putting two thousand million reems of data into a computer
Speaker 1: to reach day. So I know your research dream. But yeah,
Speaker 1: watching Justin Tucker warm up, I've done that before. That's
Speaker 1: that's a show in itself. See him drill it from
Speaker 1: Have you ever in your time on TNF had a kicker?
Speaker 1: Come on? If there? This is the greatest kicker of
Speaker 1: all time. The problem that we have here is that
Speaker 1: the Dolphins stink and Tua might not be playing. So
Speaker 1: the chances that it comes down to a Tucker kick
Speaker 1: are slim, but not nil because primetime games are weird,
Speaker 1: especially Thursday night games. But can you get in the
Speaker 1: ear of the producers if it does come down to it,
Speaker 1: Tucker is He's a well spoken guy, He's got some
Speaker 1: chrismas an opera sy there's pop. Let's go after Justin
Speaker 1: Tucker if we can. You know, I was thinking about
Speaker 1: this during the Seahawks Rams Thursday night game when we
Speaker 1: had the double punt, and I was like, why don't
Speaker 1: we get why? What is it? Michael Badgeley, I don't
Speaker 1: know the money? Yeah, So I was like, why don't
Speaker 1: we get him on the days like that would be fantastic.
Speaker 1: We did not. We got Matthews. You've pitched the money badger.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's going to be the girl that
Speaker 1: cries wolf. When we go to go to them with
Speaker 1: the kicker again, they're gonna be like, well, Colleen, that's
Speaker 1: got serious. Like the other burly football men on that set,
Speaker 1: are they not going to respect a kicker? Is that
Speaker 1: the issue? The kickers are people too? I think I
Speaker 1: think even like the real burly football men respect Justin
Speaker 1: Tucker though, because I think everyone realizes he's plus. If
Speaker 1: you can get Lamar and they win, then that's that's
Speaker 1: who you want. But it could be a game winning
Speaker 1: kick because that's the kind of games the Ravens play
Speaker 1: for for uh, fourth quarter comebacks for them for game
Speaker 1: I know, I hear you. But their last second wins
Speaker 1: are against two the Chiefs. Of course, they're good to
Speaker 1: the Lions, the Colts, you know, and the Vikings not
Speaker 1: exactly a murderers row of teams that they had to
Speaker 1: you know, come from behind to be. They're always in
Speaker 1: a second half deficit too. It just feels like they're
Speaker 1: slow starts are so thing that they need to change,
Speaker 1: and I don't know, I don't know how they fix that,
Speaker 1: but this team is super resilient and Lamar Jackson he's
Speaker 1: able to do it with his arm. He's able to
Speaker 1: do it on the ground, and we saw it again
Speaker 1: against the Vikings when they were down by fourteen. But
Speaker 1: Hollywood Brown, he's also having a breakout season, has six
Speaker 1: touchdowns already this year, and I just feel like it
Speaker 1: says a lot about this team that they're able to
Speaker 1: win the games that they've won in the way that
Speaker 1: they've done it with all of the injuries that they've
Speaker 1: had this season. Well, here's the thing with the Ravens,
Speaker 1: because when people like Cynthia with the with their data
Speaker 1: machines and then you look at things like d v
Speaker 1: O A and all that stuff is good and it
Speaker 1: shows it spits out numbers that say the Ravens aren't
Speaker 1: actually that good, and it kind of annoys me because
Speaker 1: it doesn't factor into me Lamar Jackson and why he's
Speaker 1: just a cheat code for their offense beIN the ultimate
Speaker 1: fixer he is, and I see it week after week
Speaker 1: and the way he just kind of got them back
Speaker 1: into that game against the Vikings, a game that it
Speaker 1: felt like they were in a lot of trouble. They
Speaker 1: got back into the game before halftime and then give
Speaker 1: up a ninety seven yard kickoff return. But they keep fighting.
Speaker 1: They keep fighting, and they're just a team that I
Speaker 1: think just finds a way. I know that's not analytical,
Speaker 1: but they just are. That's who the Ravens are under
Speaker 1: John Harvit. That is when you have someone like Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: like it's going to defy numbers and all our beloved
Speaker 1: dev o A data and everything else. They're a team
Speaker 1: that piled up thirty six first downs in that Vikings game.
Speaker 1: In the NFL record is forty. I mean, they just
Speaker 1: and I think the one thing about Lamar Jackson's the
Speaker 1: fumbles have been there, there have been some mistakes, but
Speaker 1: he always it doesn't shake him at all. Like I
Speaker 1: think last year you saw the Ravens offense become a
Speaker 1: little chaotic to the point where Hollywood Brown and Lamar
Speaker 1: were squawking publicly. It's all gone away because he is
Speaker 1: I think Lamar Jackson able to overcome personal errors and
Speaker 1: and like an offense that's largely like missing guys all
Speaker 1: over there. But they they have weapons now that that
Speaker 1: that is the strength of their team is their passing
Speaker 1: attack and the depth of their passing attack. Brown is
Speaker 1: a true one right now. Sammy Watkins might come back
Speaker 1: for this game. Andrews is a Pro Bowl tight end.
Speaker 1: Rashad Bateman's coming and immediately been a pro made like
Speaker 1: tough catches where he's like the number two type of
Speaker 1: chain mover. Duverney is kind of a fun number four
Speaker 1: who who makes plays too. So it's like suddenly, that's
Speaker 1: that's the strength. And they built this offense this off
Speaker 1: season to beat all the zone coverages that he goes against,
Speaker 1: and so that's where the ball keeps going. And they're
Speaker 1: not beating zone coverages like Kirk Cousins does with the dumpops.
Speaker 1: They're beating it over the linebackers and ahead of the
Speaker 1: cornerbacks and so everything is fifteen to twenty yards up
Speaker 1: the field. And I I find this matchup interesting if
Speaker 1: only because the Dolphins are I think number two in
Speaker 1: terms of blitzing this year, like the number two most
Speaker 1: blitz heavy team, which goes against what you normally would
Speaker 1: want to do against Lamar Jackson because you gotta play
Speaker 1: man coverage if you do that, and then he just
Speaker 1: runs all over you. So do you dare Lamar to
Speaker 1: run and just keep blitzing like crazy? His numbers, for
Speaker 1: what it's worth against the blitzers are not good. So
Speaker 1: if I'm the Dolphins, and if I'm the Ravens, who
Speaker 1: are another one of the most heavy blitz heavy teams,
Speaker 1: like I just blitzplit splits and then your Dolphins just
Speaker 1: see what happens. It might go terribly and he might
Speaker 1: run for two hundred yards, but I'd rather that than
Speaker 1: him throwing over the top all game. And the Dolphins defense,
Speaker 1: they really haven't faced a ton of mobile quarterbacks outside
Speaker 1: of Josh Allen who crushed them. So I think it'll
Speaker 1: be interesting to see how Lamar Jackson does against them.
Speaker 1: This is an important game, I think for Brian Flores,
Speaker 1: it's a island game. A lot of eyes on it,
Speaker 1: and you know, ownerships mulling what they want to do next.
Speaker 1: As an organization. What are the guy in the Ravens
Speaker 1: wanted to point out anybody else notice a little bit
Speaker 1: of juice in Devonte Freeman, a little bit like so
Speaker 1: there's just a lot of pieces on that offense. They
Speaker 1: had five hundred yards on the nose against the Vikings
Speaker 1: that I think is just gonna overwhelm Miami, Miami. Well
Speaker 1: that was awesome. But Connie, the good thing about the
Speaker 1: game that you cover every week is Thursday Night is
Speaker 1: weird as hell. I love it, and you don't know
Speaker 1: how it's actually going to play out. So justin Tucker
Speaker 1: needing to kick a long field goal and getting up
Speaker 1: on the days in play, please pitch it if it happens.
Speaker 1: By the way, I saw that someone screenshotted on their
Speaker 1: timeline that you and I both had the same Mike
Speaker 1: White reaction seconds apart, milliseconds apart. I was so upset
Speaker 1: that they took him. They took him. Yeah, I predicted
Speaker 1: that though you did. Sorry, Yeah, I'm sorry that that
Speaker 1: came true. All right, Connie, anything else you want at?
Speaker 1: How's everything else? Hey? Everything's going great of you and
Speaker 1: your husband on the Old Graham. Yes, we went to
Speaker 1: a wedding. It was super fun. It was an Anaheim.
Speaker 1: We stayed what are weddings like, Anna, I haven't been
Speaker 1: to a wedding so long, Annaheim. It was so much
Speaker 1: fun because it was a big wedding too. And when
Speaker 1: we you know, normally when you sit down the reception
Speaker 1: opens up after cocktail hour and it's just some nice
Speaker 1: jazzy dinner. He's like, no, no, no, this was like
Speaker 1: a Greek club all night, from start to finish. It
Speaker 1: was really fun. Greek Persian our friends. If you can
Speaker 1: get yourself to a Greek wedding, you should do it.
Speaker 1: Do you predict success for the couple? I mean being real,
Speaker 1: like they're not going to hear this. No, I love them,
Speaker 1: They're great together, good people. The wedding party, No, but
Speaker 1: I should have been. I was in the wedding party
Speaker 1: of it. No, not really like I mean just because
Speaker 1: we are teople brought it. We were the we were
Speaker 1: the fun table. The ceremonies different than most weddings. Somebody
Speaker 1: walking in a circle around, there were stuff going on.
Speaker 1: There were crowns with ribbons where the three things it
Speaker 1: is the music. Yeah, and they do this thing where
Speaker 1: they're like, I think the Persian side. I had never
Speaker 1: been to a Persian wedding before, and they were like no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no no no no, they'd make that. Haven't been
Speaker 1: to one of those yet? That sounds ess sounds good.
Speaker 1: What percentage would you say, um, John looking good at
Speaker 1: a wedding is like the reason that you married him. Wow,
Speaker 1: So there's because he does. Yeah, hepend lot of baggage too.
Speaker 1: That I'm kidding. He has many reasons why I married him,
Speaker 1: but that, yes, is one of them. You think John's hot?
Speaker 1: I think I was just going off of her comment
Speaker 1: on the thing, just like look how nice my well
Speaker 1: scale did find him? Greg? Yeah? What is his number? Like,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to give him a number. If he
Speaker 1: was coach, where would you slot him in? That's your guys,
Speaker 1: I have my number. I won't share it because there's
Speaker 1: almost it's like a no win situation. There's high on
Speaker 1: I would put it. I would say it'd be alarming.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying like, yeah, he's bringing a lot to
Speaker 1: the table. But there's you know, he was at Johnson
Speaker 1: and Johnson guy, Like there's some negative too, So were
Speaker 1: you though? Right? That's and I haven't been You want
Speaker 1: to grade the three of us before you say goodbye?
Speaker 1: Do you want to keep that to myself? But you're
Speaker 1: all you have in your head? Like just when I said,
Speaker 1: I've never thought about it before, so I would rather
Speaker 1: not like you've never even thought not even we don't
Speaker 1: even occur in anyone say that because my three brothers,
Speaker 1: you know what's funny, and you're a sister, as you're
Speaker 1: a little sister. I sometimes say it to my wife too,
Speaker 1: you know you're married for a long time. I was like,
Speaker 1: do you still see me as a man? Am I
Speaker 1: a man? To you? Still? Like? Where where are we
Speaker 1: talking to her? Wow? Sometimes sometimes you have that conversation
Speaker 1: then Greg goes, wow, nothing ever unfortunately happens in mind.
Speaker 1: That's I just it's a funny. Yeah. I feel like
Speaker 1: a tease when it's like, hey, let's get back on
Speaker 1: the track in terms of being a uh we fell
Speaker 1: in love as a couple, Let's go on a date,
Speaker 1: let's have some fun together. Let's you know, it's tough.
Speaker 1: When I've come to the I am um, it's not
Speaker 1: even a conclusion. It feels factual that my significant other
Speaker 1: is severely annoyed with me generally, right, I've I've long
Speaker 1: assumed that no woman ever looks at me like that
Speaker 1: or as a man. And if you ever find out
Speaker 1: the opposite, like what a nice pleasant surprise that here's
Speaker 1: a perfect example that sometimes it gets on my radar
Speaker 1: with my wife, like if I go and I have.
Speaker 1: Let's say, right now, I have a grizzly beard. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to grow in if if what I'll always do
Speaker 1: when it's time to shave it, I will keep I
Speaker 1: will shave the beard and keep a mustache. Right, and
Speaker 1: then I'll start walking around the house and I look
Speaker 1: like Don Mattingly and she doesn't notice, and I'm like, whoa, whoa,
Speaker 1: that's concerning. Yeah, she's she's gonna play this back for
Speaker 1: it and she's gonna tell me she's tuned out. All right.
Speaker 1: It will be the second time she listens to the show.
Speaker 1: But straight tens though you three thank you dime pieces.
Speaker 1: We got three dimes in the studio. Yeah, Erica, another ten?
Speaker 1: Thank you? Um do you want to get a Split
Speaker 1: Ends plug in? We had a very special guest on
Speaker 1: this morning, and I think everyone's going to really enjoy
Speaker 1: this episode. O good. So wherever you get your podcast,
Speaker 1: check out the Split Ends podcast and Connie Fox, the
Speaker 1: Tiny Box, the Platonic Friend, the Little Sister Scribe is
Speaker 1: right added to it. Um, have fun to my Miami,
Speaker 1: justin Tucker, Let's make it happen. Let's will it into existence.
Speaker 1: All right, that's it. Dan has a signing off for
Speaker 1: Cynthia Freeland, the pretty hate Machine, the old boss quiet Storm.
Speaker 1: That's good nickname, Cythia, and of course that was not addicted. Uh,
Speaker 1: he's the call. Sorry, Colleen's looking su confused. H