Speaker 1: The season with Peter Schreeger as a production of the
Speaker 1: NFL in partnership with My Heart Radio. What's Up, everybody,
Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of the season with Peter Schreeger.
Speaker 1: I am Peter Schreeger. I host Good Morning Football in
Speaker 1: the NFL network. I'm also on Fox NFL Kickoff on
Speaker 1: Saturdays this week. We usually Sundays, and I occasionally am
Speaker 1: on a sideline during a game getting snow slashed, ice
Speaker 1: thrown at the back of me um by a fired
Speaker 1: up crowd in western Buffalo. I'm joined today by my producer,
Speaker 1: Aaron Wong Kaufman, who is doing the show remotely, so
Speaker 1: it's the first time we haven't been like together in
Speaker 1: the room. Aaron, what's up, Bud? Not too much. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm up here in Maine for the holidays, and um,
Speaker 1: you had you had your ex aparience in the snow
Speaker 1: with Buffalo, and I spent the weekend shoveling the driveway,
Speaker 1: so I think I'm tough. I live in New York City.
Speaker 1: It's cold here. We walked the streets were like all right,
Speaker 1: we got the wind in our face. That Buffalo cold
Speaker 1: hit a different way, and I'm sure that main cold
Speaker 1: hit a different way. Let me give you a quick
Speaker 1: recap of the weekend. Everyone saw the game. I'll give
Speaker 1: you this stuff you might not have seen, and some
Speaker 1: of the other stuff that I collected during the weekend
Speaker 1: while I was up in Buffalo. Start off with a
Speaker 1: long conversation with Mike McDaniel, the head coach of the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins, and the week leading up I was assigned
Speaker 1: to the Dolphins uh sidelines, so I had an opportunity
Speaker 1: to sit with Mike. And I'll tell you what he
Speaker 1: is as unique a figure in the NFL as you're
Speaker 1: gonna find. He is so refreshing. He is such a personality.
Speaker 1: But he's also empathetic, which I think is a weird
Speaker 1: word to use when we talk about NFL head coaches.
Speaker 1: Most of our conversation was about Towah and it was
Speaker 1: off the record, but sort of on the record. Use
Speaker 1: it in the game broadcast if you want, but I
Speaker 1: didn't get it in the beginning broadcast, so the podcast
Speaker 1: is perfect. Really, what he was saying about to ah
Speaker 1: Um was that, you know, think about putting yourself in
Speaker 1: two is shoes, twenty four year old kid. You're not
Speaker 1: a robot. You're a human being. You go from being
Speaker 1: the most celebrated college football player to the serious injury,
Speaker 1: and then for the first two years of your career
Speaker 1: being essentially told by everyone and their mother that you're
Speaker 1: a bust. And then you go and you end up
Speaker 1: playing really well, and then you're the m v P
Speaker 1: and then you're the leading vote getter for the Pro Bowl,
Speaker 1: and then after two bad games, you're a bust again.
Speaker 1: And he said that he saw too on the sideline
Speaker 1: when he's watching the TV copy of their loss to
Speaker 1: the Chargers, which was the primetime game, and Mike was
Speaker 1: watching the game back. It was like, I don't like
Speaker 1: that look into his face. I don't like that look
Speaker 1: of being defeated. He says a lot of his job
Speaker 1: with Tah is not just pumping him up and lifting
Speaker 1: him up and and telling him he's got his back,
Speaker 1: but putting himself in two isshoes. So when a mistake happened, saying, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm frustrated as a coach because I see this, this
Speaker 1: and this, But how's to a feeling I I don't
Speaker 1: hear that often from NFL head coaches. A lot of
Speaker 1: it's top down and you're seeing some stuff and in
Speaker 1: New York right now with the Jets and and how
Speaker 1: Zack Wilson's you know, being handled not by the coaches
Speaker 1: but just by the media and everything. And then you
Speaker 1: see other teams and how it's going with their young quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and a lot of it is, you know, what do
Speaker 1: we do to protect him as far as not making
Speaker 1: him do too much with toua. I think the McDaniel
Speaker 1: to a relationship was really interesting. But Aaron, that was
Speaker 1: just the football stuff. I went for wings twice on Friday.
Speaker 1: Should I be embarrassed? No, that's great. I saw I
Speaker 1: saw a post about you went to Gabriel's Gate, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: But there was actually more to the story and landed.
Speaker 1: I had a meeting with the NFL network guys. The
Speaker 1: meeting ended and Brandon Bean, who's the GM of the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills, was in downtown Buffalo, which is about twenty
Speaker 1: miles from where he lives, and he was with his wife, Haley,
Speaker 1: and they're lovely and he says, Hey, I'm I'm downtown.
Speaker 1: Why don't you meet me for a drink before your dinner?
Speaker 1: And I'm like, all right, a drink before dinner sounds fine.
Speaker 1: He says, pick up place. I literally walked outside the
Speaker 1: hotel and there's a place called the Bottom Being. All right,
Speaker 1: if you're a Sopranos fan, the Bottom Being has a
Speaker 1: very interesting connotation. The Bottom Bing is obviously the men's
Speaker 1: gentlemen's club off of Roots seventeen on the Sopranos, where
Speaker 1: you know Sills working down there, whoever you want to
Speaker 1: talk about. This was not a gentleman's club. In fact,
Speaker 1: it was a very nice sports bar. And we go
Speaker 1: there and I'm like, all right, I don't know if
Speaker 1: I needed to drink a beer right now, I'll just
Speaker 1: have an iced tea. I'll sit, we'll catch up. He's
Speaker 1: gonna drink a beinger or whatever. And then we ordered
Speaker 1: twenty wins. We ordered pizza. I indulged, I enjoyed myself.
Speaker 1: The wings were fine. I'm not gonna say the Botto
Speaker 1: being wings were great, but they were fine. Then we
Speaker 1: finished and Jason mccordy lands because he's doing the radio
Speaker 1: and we worked together on the morning football. He's doing
Speaker 1: the radio of the game and he's like, Hey, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go meet up with some of the Dolphins players. Guys.
Speaker 1: I was teammates with last year. Do you want to
Speaker 1: join me and go meet up with them for dinner? Said? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Where are we going? He goes, Let's find one of
Speaker 1: the Wings places. Turns out this Gabriel's Gate is an
Speaker 1: old school place from the eighteen hundreds, and it was
Speaker 1: less than a mile away from where we were. We
Speaker 1: go in and this is like your prototypical Buffalo Wings spot.
Speaker 1: And I'm in my head like I don't need two
Speaker 1: things away. I already literally less than a half hour ago,
Speaker 1: I just housed ten wings. I don't need more. Get
Speaker 1: the menu and it's just a dream come true. Not
Speaker 1: only did I get ten hot wings with blue cheese
Speaker 1: and the whole thing, I also ordered a French onion
Speaker 1: soup because when in Rome, you know, it was cold
Speaker 1: as it was cold out. I'm telling you now, I
Speaker 1: woke up all right. First of all, the review of
Speaker 1: the Wings were amazing. Everything's great. And the players that
Speaker 1: joined us, uh Eric Rowe who was injured, Javan Holland
Speaker 1: star second ear player who's fantastic, and Vernon McKinley, who
Speaker 1: played really well in this game out of Oregon as well.
Speaker 1: They weren't indulging in the Wings like I was I
Speaker 1: was knee deep swinging swimming and at those Guy said meetings,
Speaker 1: they were just saying hello to mccordy. Um. I loved
Speaker 1: the wings. They were good. They lived up to everything.
Speaker 1: So we post a photo of Jason and I at
Speaker 1: Gabriel's Gate and the response is warm, it's great, and
Speaker 1: everyone's like totally into it. And then there was that
Speaker 1: bar Bill faction, that bar Bill Army. Bar Bill is
Speaker 1: the place that everyone says you gotta go to. However,
Speaker 1: bar Bill is twenty five minutes away. So here's my
Speaker 1: statement to you, Aaron. If somehow, some way you and
Speaker 1: I get to Buffalo, whether it be we do a
Speaker 1: show live on the road for the a f C
Speaker 1: Championship game, or we're doing a show in the summer
Speaker 1: and next year and we're taking the season with Peter
Speaker 1: Scheger on the road, we will do it from bar Bill.
Speaker 1: We will have ourselves some wings. We will satisfy those.
Speaker 1: But as of right now, number one in my rankings
Speaker 1: as far as wings go, is Gabriel's Gate. At number two,
Speaker 1: very far off is bottom Bank. I think if we
Speaker 1: do a live show there, we have to make a
Speaker 1: pack that we're not eating wings until after the show.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna put you in a food coma.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be tough to do the show. Wait, there's
Speaker 1: more than my night. There's more, Like can I just
Speaker 1: keep going here and keep going eating? So we go
Speaker 1: do the Bills game, epic game. I'm on the sidelines.
Speaker 1: I'm freezing my butt off. Takes us a while to
Speaker 1: get back to the hotel. And I had never met
Speaker 1: Mark Sanchez before in a professional set. I had I'd
Speaker 1: interviewed him whatever, and I've seen him at Fox things,
Speaker 1: but like, I don't know. Sanchez and I hit it off,
Speaker 1: like this is my guy. We had two days together.
Speaker 1: He let me a pair of wool socks. It was
Speaker 1: like the most endearing thing. He's like, do you have
Speaker 1: wool socks. I'm like no, It's like you should take mine.
Speaker 1: I'm like, ah, Sanchez was great, loved him. We finished
Speaker 1: the call the game and everyone's like Chippewa Street, which
Speaker 1: is where our hotels, it's on fire. Everyone's fired up
Speaker 1: and it's open to four am. All right, So I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, I'm down for one. We get back to
Speaker 1: the hotel around one am on Saturday. I've got like
Speaker 1: a six in flight, so does Mark like, I'm down
Speaker 1: for one. We go to a place called um Sidelines.
Speaker 1: Very good. I enjoyed Sidelines, but the owner of great Dude,
Speaker 1: if you ever been in, if you're in Buffalo and
Speaker 1: chiple Wall, if you win and go to Sidelines, there's
Speaker 1: my promo. But they're like no food allowed or the
Speaker 1: kitchens closed. IM like, ah, I'm so hungry. It's hungry.
Speaker 1: Sanchez looks at me and I and it's Sanchez and
Speaker 1: it's his boy Stephen, and they're like, there's a Dominos
Speaker 1: down the road, shall we Aaron? Aaron, I'm not one
Speaker 1: to say no to a good time Dominoes, full pie
Speaker 1: house it, have a couple of cocktails, get on that plane,
Speaker 1: show up Sunday morning. I'm like different human being. I
Speaker 1: feel like I just went to Vegas for three days
Speaker 1: with my boys. I feel like I haven't slept in weeks.
Speaker 1: Soccers on. I'm into it. I'm like, all right, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna stay awake. I watched the games. I gotta stay
Speaker 1: up for this Giant's Commanders game. I will tell you this.
Speaker 1: It is now Tuesday. I still have not really had
Speaker 1: like a strong sleep. I'm running on fumes, and I
Speaker 1: am still feeling my Friday night two orders of wings,
Speaker 1: my French onion soup, the blue cheese, the Saturday night
Speaker 1: two Am Domino's pizza, And here we are doing the podcast.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's too much information, but that was my trip
Speaker 1: to Buffalo. I loved it. That's amazing. I always get
Speaker 1: this feeling whenever I leave the city because I'm living
Speaker 1: in New York City. There's great pizza. I feel really
Speaker 1: picky about wanting pizza when I leave New York. But
Speaker 1: but there is nothing. As someone who's been to college,
Speaker 1: there's nothing quite like the two Am Domino's pizza. Like
Speaker 1: I don't care if it's Papa John's. I don't care
Speaker 1: if it's Dominoes. I don't care if it's a little Sea,
Speaker 1: don't care. Dude, all indulge. I haven't had Pizza Hut
Speaker 1: in a while. Pizzaha. I see their ads are all
Speaker 1: over the Pizza Hut, still doing it. Don't know. I'd
Speaker 1: like a stuff plus pizza. I still like pizza. You
Speaker 1: go to Pizza Hut, they have like an arcade and
Speaker 1: they have like a salad bar in the Pizza Hut.
Speaker 1: I would indulge. I would have a little salad, feel
Speaker 1: like I'm being healthy. Then have like a double stuffed
Speaker 1: crust personal pan pizza and you get like the red
Speaker 1: cup filled with coke. Yeah, pizza Hut. If you're listening,
Speaker 1: you want to be a sponsible here. The last time
Speaker 1: I was at a pizza hut was in China, and
Speaker 1: in China, pizza huts are like fancy sit down restaurants. Really, yeah,
Speaker 1: I haven't been through a Chinese pizza hut. What is
Speaker 1: that like? I mean, it's like pretty usual pizza dishes.
Speaker 1: It's not like I mean you're getting like some Chinese
Speaker 1: beer or something, but like it's um, it's not like
Speaker 1: you're getting like white tablecloth, Like what are we eating on?
Speaker 1: I can't remember. Yeah, I don't remember how fancy it was.
Speaker 1: It just it felt such like such a bigger deal.
Speaker 1: Forget bar Bill. The next time you and I are
Speaker 1: going to China for a episode of the season live
Speaker 1: show from Pizza Hut. We're just trying to get to
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, let alone China. But I'm thinking this
Speaker 1: show is gonna take off and we're gonna be doing
Speaker 1: a full tour within the next couple of weeks, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna end up in China doing pizza hut. Alright,
Speaker 1: let's get to four downs, be ready. Alright, first down,
Speaker 1: the Dolphins. You were there, you were on the sideline
Speaker 1: with them. Are there such things as moral victories? They
Speaker 1: lost the game, but do you think is this a
Speaker 1: win for them? Yeah? Dude, like three straight losses and
Speaker 1: they're currently like hanging on to the glimmer of hope
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs. And yet I come out of
Speaker 1: that game, I'm like, Dolphins are legit. Here was my fear.
Speaker 1: My fear was the Dolphins weren't going to be able
Speaker 1: to play in the cold. Because two has been terrible
Speaker 1: in the three games he's played under forty degrees. He
Speaker 1: never played in cold in college. He's from Hawaii. You've got,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of different things going against them.
Speaker 1: And then they go into Buffalo and they just run
Speaker 1: the snot out of the ball right down the throats
Speaker 1: of a really good defense from Buffalo. And they were
Speaker 1: up late in the fourth quarter. And that was in
Speaker 1: the conditions. Now, I know, when the snow came, the
Speaker 1: offense kind of sputtered, and you can say, well, when
Speaker 1: the conditions actually came, they didn't have it, But I
Speaker 1: think Miami acquitted themselves. Well. I think they silenced a
Speaker 1: lot of people, and I think it was important to
Speaker 1: put that narrative to bed because they're gonna go to
Speaker 1: the play else. I'm pretty confident that Dolphins will find
Speaker 1: their way in and when they go, they're gonna be
Speaker 1: a road team. And if you look at the playoffs
Speaker 1: right now in the a f C, the number one
Speaker 1: seed Buffalo Outdoors talking ten degrees in January. Kansas City
Speaker 1: is the two seed, Outdoors talking ten degrees in January.
Speaker 1: Go right down the list, whether it's Cincinnati or Baltimore,
Speaker 1: whether it's Tennessee, they're going to have to go into
Speaker 1: cold weather. Now Jacksonville, if they somehow pull it off
Speaker 1: and they win the a f C South and the
Speaker 1: Dolphins end up the four, the five seed, and all right,
Speaker 1: then Jacksonville, fine, Or if they end up playing the
Speaker 1: Chargers in a divisional round game, fine, Like that's to me,
Speaker 1: They're going somewhere in the cold. And I had to
Speaker 1: see it to believe it that they could actually hang
Speaker 1: and they did. And I appreciate McDaniel. I gave you
Speaker 1: my host bill on him. Mike and I talked for
Speaker 1: a while about the T shirt he wore last week
Speaker 1: where he said I wish it were colder. They actually
Speaker 1: I got my hands on one. I showed it on
Speaker 1: the broadcast, the whole thing. They didn't They didn't shy
Speaker 1: away from it. A lot of coaches would have been like,
Speaker 1: that's not a storyline. Stop warm. He leaned into it,
Speaker 1: and mcdan know made this point, and it's my last
Speaker 1: point on Mike McDaniel. But I talked to him for
Speaker 1: a while, so I figured, if you're listening, you want
Speaker 1: to hear. It's coaching the league fifteen years. He's coached
Speaker 1: one season with the Cleveland Browns. Okay, one season with
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns. The other seasons were spent in Houston, Atlanta,
Speaker 1: San Francisco, and Washington, d C. Mike's point to me was,
Speaker 1: for fourteen of the fifteen years that I've been coaching,
Speaker 1: my teams have heard you're the warm weather team going
Speaker 1: to the cold weather city. How are you gonna win?
Speaker 1: How are you gonna win? He's like, we want a
Speaker 1: lot of games in Atlanta, we want a lot of games.
Speaker 1: You're like, you know, we want a lot of games
Speaker 1: with Washington when we had to a lot of games
Speaker 1: with Houston we had to go, and of course San
Speaker 1: Francisco last year. He said, the day before the NFC
Speaker 1: Championship game, it was like eighty degrees and sunny with
Speaker 1: no elements, and they went to Green Bay the next
Speaker 1: day and you saw what happened when they went into
Speaker 1: Green Bay. So I don't think he believes in that narrative. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, the people in Buffalo, they have heaters in
Speaker 1: their homes. They choose to use those heaters, just like
Speaker 1: the Dolphins show to use the heaters on their sidelines.
Speaker 1: That the whole thing was a little bit overblown, and
Speaker 1: I think the Dolphins they lost, but they silenced a
Speaker 1: lot of critics and people doubting whether that team can travel. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree. I was terrified watching Rahee Moster in the
Speaker 1: first half there, that was how good is Moster? And
Speaker 1: then they stopped and they stop going to him. But
Speaker 1: then Savon Ahma was was Yeah, he was getting like
Speaker 1: seven and a half yards per carry. All right, second down?
Speaker 1: What can you tell me about this Patriots loss? Like
Speaker 1: this is the highlight? I feel like this stole world
Speaker 1: cut low light or highlight? Yeah, Rock Collins shout on defense,
Speaker 1: He's all the way back. Stevenson flips it pack Stanford
Speaker 1: pan nowhere in Shy it's picked off Oh no, Livable Wow,
Speaker 1: and Chronicle tafor Jones, tench it in and wins the
Speaker 1: game for the Raiders. Have you ever seen it? And
Speaker 1: never a thing like that? I have no idea why
Speaker 1: he was doing that. Oh my goodness. I think it
Speaker 1: opens up a lot of doors two questions. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, in a in a small microcosm, it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: I mean they lost the game, and that's that's what happens.
Speaker 1: It's a freak play. We're gonna talk about it for years.
Speaker 1: It's it's Leon Lead, It's Jim Marshall and Jacobe Myers
Speaker 1: and Rondre What are you thinking? I also think it
Speaker 1: opens up quite a few conversations about what the hell
Speaker 1: is going on in New England, Like, that's not a
Speaker 1: Belichick coach team. That's not something that happens when you've
Speaker 1: got Bill Belichick, the greatest situational football coach in the
Speaker 1: history of the sport, the greatest disciplinarian in the history
Speaker 1: of the sport. That you expect them to lose because
Speaker 1: the talent might not be on the field. You expect
Speaker 1: them to lose, because who knows, it's a road game
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas. You don't expect them to give up
Speaker 1: a thirteen point lead with forty seconds, and you certainly
Speaker 1: don't expect mental mistakes to be the ones that killed them.
Speaker 1: A point that was made to me by someone from
Speaker 1: a different team, was that Jacobe Meyers lateral or throwback? Whathever?
Speaker 1: Was that happens right on the Patriots sideline? Like, how
Speaker 1: is no one yelling go down, go down? Like that?
Speaker 1: That's not like that was in the middle of the field.
Speaker 1: It's not like it was on the Raiders sideline. Like
Speaker 1: even that situation was peculiar. And it opens up the door, like,
Speaker 1: what are we doing with the Patriots? I don't think
Speaker 1: they're going to the playoffs? Belichick seventy, Robbert crafts eight,
Speaker 1: Like is this the team they're rolling out next year?
Speaker 1: I don't know what the future is for everyone. Mac
Speaker 1: Jones is he the quarterback? It's great free agents left?
Speaker 1: Tom Brady is a free agent. Bill Simmons went into
Speaker 1: this in depth with me a couple of weeks ago, Like,
Speaker 1: Brady's miserable with this Bucks team. Are we sure he's retiring.
Speaker 1: On this note, the Patriots seem as like, is there
Speaker 1: no way that Brady comes back one more year for
Speaker 1: the Patriots. That's the stuff that happens when you lose
Speaker 1: games like that. You have those conversations. Jimmy Garoppolo is
Speaker 1: going to be a free agent? Do you not bring
Speaker 1: Jimmy in if your Belichick and say all right, what
Speaker 1: are you firing the coaches Patricia and Judge? Are you
Speaker 1: firing Belichick? No? But are you talking to Belichick and
Speaker 1: saying like, where are we going with this thing? Maybe?
Speaker 1: I just know this that I broke with chas H
Speaker 1: mccordy every day it was the Patriot for three years.
Speaker 1: His brother has been one of the all time great Patriots.
Speaker 1: Robert Kraft is in it. He's in the team meetings,
Speaker 1: he's in it. He travels with the team. He loves
Speaker 1: this stuff. Robert Kraft has to be seething right now.
Speaker 1: And it's not just like, oh, Robert Kraft is sad
Speaker 1: that his team isn't competitive in these games. No, Robert
Speaker 1: Kraft wants to be a championship contender every single year.
Speaker 1: And I wonder if there's some hard questions that they
Speaker 1: asked this offseason, and it was only brought to light
Speaker 1: even more with that freakish play. I might be all
Speaker 1: she wrote for the Patriots, and I don't know what
Speaker 1: that means long term, but I think it's gonna an
Speaker 1: interesting off season in New England. Alright, third down, what's
Speaker 1: the Jalen Hurts injurym mean for his m VP chances? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Good question. So I put this on Twitter on Monday night.
Speaker 1: I said, if Jalen Hurts misses a couple of games,
Speaker 1: does that mean he misses out on being the m
Speaker 1: v P. And I said that he should have a
Speaker 1: chance to be the m v P. He's been the
Speaker 1: m v P h to get them the thirteen and one.
Speaker 1: He's been the best player. He's been the guy wired
Speaker 1: to wire, and he's elevated his games so much. I
Speaker 1: think he's really valuable. And I would say the responses
Speaker 1: were like boo hoo hoo, like this is what it is.
Speaker 1: You got to be on the field, and if you're
Speaker 1: getting hurt in December, I'm sorry, Like it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: The votes come in at the end of the regular season,
Speaker 1: and the numbers really do show that Mahomes has had
Speaker 1: the statistical season that is far superior to Jalen Hurts.
Speaker 1: And I think the Mahomes army is making a case.
Speaker 1: It reminds me, Aaron of my childhood watching the NBA
Speaker 1: in the nineties and Michael Jordans and three was the
Speaker 1: best player in basketball, but Charles Barkley won the award,
Speaker 1: and and in ninety seven it went to Karl Malone.
Speaker 1: You know, like the voters, they might be bored by Mahomes.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, is Mahomes not
Speaker 1: the most valuable player in the league? Is he not
Speaker 1: the best player in the league what he's doing on
Speaker 1: a week tweek basis. He saved them in that Houston
Speaker 1: game with some you know, miracle, but he saved them
Speaker 1: in the Denver game when the defense gave up twenty
Speaker 1: seven straight points or whatever it was. Mahomes was there
Speaker 1: down the stretch when they needed a most Mahomes numbers.
Speaker 1: He might end up breaking the single season passing record,
Speaker 1: like it's probably the Homes Award now. And I think
Speaker 1: if Jalen Hurts had been able to finish the whole
Speaker 1: season and go wire to wire, it was probably his award.
Speaker 1: That's the cruel truth. To it. Um, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 1: Do you hold it against him? I just think it's
Speaker 1: how the voters vote, you know. I so I have
Speaker 1: a tough time because sort of along the Michael Jordan's lines,
Speaker 1: like it's tough to see the same person win MVP
Speaker 1: over and over and over again. I mean, even if
Speaker 1: he's right, but he's still been I mean everyone he's
Speaker 1: the guy. Yeah, um, I think you know. Andy Reid
Speaker 1: had that thing. He came out in the press conference
Speaker 1: this weekend. He was like, if Mahomes isn't the m
Speaker 1: v P, I don't know what he's doing wrong. And
Speaker 1: of course, like every coach is going to fight for
Speaker 1: their players, but yeah, I don't know. I mean, all right,
Speaker 1: let me let me put these out here for you.
Speaker 1: Let me you're the voter right now. Now Here's that
Speaker 1: works for years, as long as there ever was the
Speaker 1: AP voting. There's fifty voters and they all can only
Speaker 1: pick one guy, and the winner of that most votes
Speaker 1: is the m v P, and that's that it's non disputed. Whatever.
Speaker 1: This year they changed it. They did a different thing
Speaker 1: where they're going to be doing it, where you rank
Speaker 1: your top few m v ps and your first place
Speaker 1: vote is waited deffinitely than your second place vote data
Speaker 1: in your third day vote, and then they put those
Speaker 1: tabulations together and that's how the m v P is voted.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you, if you're a voter and you
Speaker 1: have to rank, you're top four right now, knowing that
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts might miss a couple of weeks, who who
Speaker 1: do you put in your belt? And then I'll do mine? Okay,
Speaker 1: I think unfortunately, I think Mahomes is first. I think
Speaker 1: it hurts the second. Um. You know, I don't want
Speaker 1: to be too much of a Homer, but I'm gonna
Speaker 1: have Alan third. You're not Josh Allen's amazing. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: just know it's it's tough to say that. Um. Fourth, Um,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say Russell Wilson just so that he can
Speaker 1: finally get a vote. No, not seriously, but Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: not getting a vote for them if he was like
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick went to Harvard, Like, yes, we understand, stop
Speaker 1: mentioning it every time. Um, I'll fill it in. Your fourth,
Speaker 1: I would say, without your the listen for you probably
Speaker 1: go either justin Jefferson or Burrow? Right would Burrow? Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: mine would go like this, I really want to put
Speaker 1: firm Hurts. I think it sucks that he got hurt,
Speaker 1: but like I understand it, I'd go one Mahomes two,
Speaker 1: I'd go, Okay, how about this, the winner of the
Speaker 1: Monday night game between Cincinnati and Buffalo in week seventeen
Speaker 1: is my number two? Vote get her? So that's Alan
Speaker 1: or Burrow two, three the other other and then I
Speaker 1: guess Hurts is four. So those are my four guys
Speaker 1: that are in there, all quarterbacks. I know it sounds
Speaker 1: like it's a quarterback award, but those are the four
Speaker 1: I would go with. Uh And I'm curious with the
Speaker 1: listeners think as of right now going into week sixteen,
Speaker 1: Mahomes Hurts with an asterik Alan and of course Joe Burrow,
Speaker 1: who is suddenly red hot and is getting himself in
Speaker 1: the conversation. Alright, fourth down? Who do you want to
Speaker 1: shout out this week? Two years old turned twenty two
Speaker 1: five days ago and might have had the best single
Speaker 1: game performance by a New York Giant in a big
Speaker 1: game in the last five years. Cavon Thibodeaux is my
Speaker 1: shout out. I got to know this guy just a
Speaker 1: little bit in the pre draft process. But what I
Speaker 1: really got to know was what other people were saying
Speaker 1: about him and the Giants, And we had Joe Shane
Speaker 1: on earlier in the season on this podcast. The Giants
Speaker 1: really liked what they saw. They were like, he's authentic.
Speaker 1: He says things, but he backs him up and he
Speaker 1: actually means them, and he's a good kid, and he's
Speaker 1: a smart kid. And I think he had the quote
Speaker 1: of the year and he's like prime Time, I don't
Speaker 1: look for prime time, prime Time finds me. Whatever he
Speaker 1: said after that game. Thibodeau was amazing on Sunday night.
Speaker 1: Amazing in a game where we're like, oh, Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: and Sakwan Barkley have to step up. They did, but
Speaker 1: it was Thibodeaux who stole the show. And for the
Speaker 1: New York Giants to have a defensive player play like
Speaker 1: that in a Sunday night game in the NFC East,
Speaker 1: I couldn't be more jazz for this market, for that team,
Speaker 1: for that franchise, and for that kid just twenty two
Speaker 1: years old. I thought he was the best rookie on
Speaker 1: the field this weekend, and he makes the game saving
Speaker 1: tackle on third on second and goal but also makes
Speaker 1: the game saving you know, strip touchdown, all whole thing.
Speaker 1: Thibodeau is a freak. We've been waiting for him. He's
Speaker 1: been showing flashes and it's been boiling up to this point.
Speaker 1: They've got three games left. They need him to play
Speaker 1: that way for those final three weeks. And I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what New York New York football between Garrett Wilson
Speaker 1: and Sauce Gardner and Bam Knight, the rookies that these
Speaker 1: that this market has right now, and now you add
Speaker 1: Cavon Thibodeau to that, just an unbelievable performance. Who do
Speaker 1: you give your who do you give your fourth down to?
Speaker 1: Before we go to that? I just want to I
Speaker 1: was looking at some cavan stuff too, And according to
Speaker 1: New York Post, before the game, usually for the Giants,
Speaker 1: Xavier McKinney pulls everyone together and they just like have
Speaker 1: a game little huddle because he was injured. Thibodeau did it,
Speaker 1: and yeah, Kwan was like, it's amazing the leadership. This
Speaker 1: guy is showing like sixteen game fifteen games in his career. Um,
Speaker 1: so yeah, I'd love to seeing that. And he was
Speaker 1: amazing to watch. The Giants were struggling on offense, and
Speaker 1: he kickstarted him. And despite being a defensive player, Um,
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna go from my fourth down, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go with Jerick McKinnon, who you know, I remember watching
Speaker 1: him in Minnesota. He was always split in time with
Speaker 1: met Aciota, and Aciota would get all the touchdown Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then then he goes Remember his free agent signing,
Speaker 1: it was such a big broke it. Yeah, Shanahan was
Speaker 1: so excited. It was Jets or Niners, and he chose
Speaker 1: the Niners over the Jets. And it was like a
Speaker 1: bidding war at the end. Yeah. And and there was
Speaker 1: so much like optimism for what he could do in
Speaker 1: the Shanahan system. And he gets injured, and then he
Speaker 1: comes back and he gets injured, and and it just
Speaker 1: seemed like his career was kind of petering out. He
Speaker 1: signs with the Chiefs, and you know, this year cech
Speaker 1: started for them, and he was catching all these touchdown passes.
Speaker 1: He was like a red zone weapon for them, and
Speaker 1: then he faded out. Pacheco comes in and then this game,
Speaker 1: Pacheco fumbles in the second. He's like out of the
Speaker 1: game for a long time, and McKinnon just like he's
Speaker 1: he. He He had the game winning touchdown and over time
Speaker 1: he had seventy receiving yards. He had another reception receiving touchdown,
Speaker 1: he got the two point conversion like he and he
Speaker 1: was big against the Broncos too, with two touchdowns. He's amazing.
Speaker 1: So it's so good to say. I'll tell you this.
Speaker 1: Last year in the NFC Championship game, they were riding
Speaker 1: McKinnon against the Bengals and they were sitting pretty and
Speaker 1: then he didn't touch the ball in the second half
Speaker 1: for whatever reason. They went away from that and Mahomes
Speaker 1: struggled and and defensive coordinator lowed and Rumot had all
Speaker 1: these tricks up their sleeve to confirm McKinnon almost was
Speaker 1: that guy last year for the Chiefs. That foresee him
Speaker 1: come back and then do it this year. I couldn't.
Speaker 1: I couldn't refer a guy more. I give you a
Speaker 1: personal story. I was in Vegas with my friends one time,
Speaker 1: no joke, and Jet McKinnon and Matt Brita, who are
Speaker 1: college teammates, were there together and I didn't recognize him,
Speaker 1: had anything, And McKinnon's like, Yo, Shriggs, what's up? And
Speaker 1: like we were in the club together, and I was like,
Speaker 1: coolest moment. I'm like, I went to the club with
Speaker 1: Jett McKinnon. He was the man. I think he was
Speaker 1: drinking water that night, so I have new respect for him.
Speaker 1: Pretty good guy. Um. But yeah, let's see how it
Speaker 1: goes down the stretch and I love that pick. That's great.
Speaker 1: Are you ready to bring our new guests in? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm excited and should I should I set it up
Speaker 1: a little bit. This guest has I think I want
Speaker 1: to tell him this and I'll say it as much
Speaker 1: when we bring him on. But like, there's been a
Speaker 1: couple innovations in an NFL TV that's been really cool.
Speaker 1: I think that the first down marker being yellow was
Speaker 1: a cool one. The scoreboard being on the game. I
Speaker 1: thought when they brought in Mike Pereira for the first time,
Speaker 1: that was cool. And then there was this guy's addition
Speaker 1: to the NBC studio show. Our guest is the man
Speaker 1: in the khakis. We're bringing on Steve Cornaki after this
Speaker 1: and now it's time for our guest. I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to have him on the podcast. As I mentioned going
Speaker 1: into the commercial break, there have been some great innovations
Speaker 1: in Sports TV in recent years. I love the first
Speaker 1: down marker. I love the fact that we can now
Speaker 1: see the scoreboard. I think the addition on Mike Pereira,
Speaker 1: I like Mike Dupp. I think when you have the
Speaker 1: players audio on the field, that's cool. But there may
Speaker 1: be no more enjoyable thing that I see on a
Speaker 1: Sunday night at around seven thirty o'clock seven thirty eight
Speaker 1: o'clock Eastern and December and January when I see this
Speaker 1: gentleman in khaki pants show up on my television with
Speaker 1: a giant screen and he's breaking down the playoffs scenarios
Speaker 1: with no further ado. One of my favorite guys to
Speaker 1: see on television during playoff time, Mr Steve KORNACKI, Steve,
Speaker 1: what's up man? What a what a welcome? She's the
Speaker 1: compared me to the first town marker. I love you know.
Speaker 1: It's it's cool because I've been watching you for years
Speaker 1: on on MSNBC NBC, and I know politics, uh was
Speaker 1: where you got your start. But I got to imagine
Speaker 1: a lot of football fans they look at you as
Speaker 1: the playoff guy and not as the election. You know,
Speaker 1: let's go into the Gerryman during situation here in Nebraska. Um,
Speaker 1: how have football fans kind of come to you in
Speaker 1: the last couple of years since you have been in
Speaker 1: the playoffs on NBC on that big screen TV. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I mean it's been it's been just a really fun
Speaker 1: experience for me, A great experience. Kind of. I think
Speaker 1: it came out of the election. Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: got a call from NBC Sports. Obviously the election ended
Speaker 1: right as the playoff race was kind of heating up.
Speaker 1: You know, it's that time of year when you get
Speaker 1: close to Thanksgiving or so, and really just kind of
Speaker 1: kind of thought it was a natural fit the you know,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, just when you look at the election,
Speaker 1: you know, presidential election. You know, I spent months leading
Speaker 1: up to election night doing the road the two hundred
Speaker 1: seventy electoral votes. You know, if this candidate wins this state,
Speaker 1: if this candidate wins that state, what are the different scenarios,
Speaker 1: what's the probability of all that? And it really there's
Speaker 1: a lot of overlap there with the with the NFL
Speaker 1: playoff chase. You know, hey, look, if the Jags win
Speaker 1: this game, if the Titans lose that game, what's it
Speaker 1: gonna do to the odds. What's it gonna do to
Speaker 1: the uh, you know, to the big picture. So you know,
Speaker 1: we really thought there was kind of an overlap. There
Speaker 1: got a chance to start doing it in this is
Speaker 1: the third year, and yeah, it's one of those It's
Speaker 1: just look, I'm a fan myself. You I love the UH.
Speaker 1: I love the playoff chase I always have. So you
Speaker 1: get to actually kind of cover it is. It's just
Speaker 1: a really cool experience. I think you're great at it
Speaker 1: and you give it um this almost analytical, data driven
Speaker 1: angle to it with without the editorial that you put
Speaker 1: in there. You don't usually kind of weighing on your
Speaker 1: thoughts on what you think is gonna happen. You're like,
Speaker 1: just hear the numbers and hear how it goes, um.
Speaker 1: But you weren't always just data driven, you know, five
Speaker 1: thirty eight like that kind of stuff. You you you've
Speaker 1: had a really rich journalism career and I go through
Speaker 1: it with with different publications. When did you start leaning
Speaker 1: into the numbers and when did you become that guy
Speaker 1: on the political side, and then how did you translate
Speaker 1: that over to the sports side. Yeah, it's funny. I
Speaker 1: mean I started I covered New Jersey politics. I think
Speaker 1: you're from Jersey originally, so you can probably you can
Speaker 1: appreciate what a rich what a rich could go back
Speaker 1: to Christine Whitman. Let's go oh Man, Okay, yeah, Whitman.
Speaker 1: I got there is McGreevey was coming in, Bob Torres.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna go a separate podcast. But uh, Jersey
Speaker 1: was a great place to learn in the cover politics.
Speaker 1: And I tell people still to this day, the best
Speaker 1: stories I have, you know are like just covering the beat.
Speaker 1: What were you doing? No, I lived in I started
Speaker 1: in Woodbridge because it was centrally located, ended up in Hoboken.
Speaker 1: And the fun part of doing it then for me
Speaker 1: was I didn't just cover the state House. I covered
Speaker 1: you know, Jersey has these these big strong regional county
Speaker 1: political organizations, Hudson County, Bergen County, yes, the Irish, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and that's where that's where the stories came from.
Speaker 1: So uh, I got to cover that. Spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time in Hackensack, you know, I spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time in New York and Jersey City, and and
Speaker 1: that's where I got the best stories from. But I
Speaker 1: loved I did three years of doing that. Then I
Speaker 1: covered Congress you know for a little while, and and
Speaker 1: came back up this way and I actually it's it's I.
Speaker 1: I did some sports stuff. Um. I was writing for
Speaker 1: the New York Observative. This goes back about ten years ago.
Speaker 1: The Wall Street Journal had launched a sports section, um,
Speaker 1: and they had a thing called the Count and they
Speaker 1: were trying to kind of combine number sports and so
Speaker 1: I was a contributor to that for a little while.
Speaker 1: So that's how I kind of got got started a
Speaker 1: little bit with that crossover of you know, politics and sports. Uh.
Speaker 1: Then ended up you know, doing the TV stuff and
Speaker 1: election nights and here we are. Yeah, and when you
Speaker 1: prepare for that election night and you're doing the numbers
Speaker 1: at the board, obviously John King's on CNN, You're on MSNBC. Uh,
Speaker 1: who the Brett Bear. I don't know who's doing it
Speaker 1: for Fox News. But it's like this has now become
Speaker 1: a job, like just like NFL Insiders, a job just
Speaker 1: like you know, this is the cooking segment on the show.
Speaker 1: Like you are the guy at that full screen and
Speaker 1: you have to manage not only the numbers but also
Speaker 1: be the technical guy. To know where to go and
Speaker 1: where to swipe. How much work are you putting in
Speaker 1: into just the technical part of knowing how all those
Speaker 1: things work and then also trying to balance that with
Speaker 1: the actual data and information you want to provide. The
Speaker 1: prep is is I I think the almost is a
Speaker 1: full time job in a lot of ways, and it's
Speaker 1: learning the counties, it's learning the geography, it's learning the
Speaker 1: history of each county to be able to say something
Speaker 1: meaningful on the fly if a count it comes into
Speaker 1: into play. Um. The other thing that's become a huge
Speaker 1: part of this in the last couple of years is,
Speaker 1: you know, voting is more complicated than ever. People vote
Speaker 1: by mail, People vote two weeks early at an early
Speaker 1: voting site. People vote on election day at a at
Speaker 1: a polling place, and those depending on what which way
Speaker 1: people vote is are very different. You know that the
Speaker 1: people who vote an election day it's pretty strongly Republican.
Speaker 1: The people who vote by mail it's overwhelmingly democratic. And
Speaker 1: so one of the things that I do is I
Speaker 1: spend months calling county level election officials across the country
Speaker 1: and asking them, what is your sequence on election? What
Speaker 1: is the sequence that specific because it's meaningful because if
Speaker 1: we're standing there, you know this, George, we just had
Speaker 1: a Georgia Senate run off, and if we get a
Speaker 1: big batch of votes from a big county fifteen minutes,
Speaker 1: you know, after polls closed, you need to know what
Speaker 1: you're looking at, you know, if you're if if it's
Speaker 1: mail ballots, it could mean one thing. If it's early votes,
Speaker 1: it could mean something else. If it's same day votes,
Speaker 1: it could mean a third thing. And to be able
Speaker 1: to interpret it, you need to know what it is.
Speaker 1: And it's very as the votes come into our system,
Speaker 1: it can be very unclear. So a lot of this
Speaker 1: is just calling up county election officials asking them to
Speaker 1: take you through what their plan is. Um. A lot
Speaker 1: of them are really good about it, you know about
Speaker 1: talking about it. And one thing I've learned too is
Speaker 1: that old Mike Tyson line. Everyone's got up to a
Speaker 1: lot of times. A lot of times they got a
Speaker 1: good plan for what they're gonna do, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: work out, and you've got to be so good on
Speaker 1: the fly. And I respected so much. TV though, is
Speaker 1: a visual medium and it's not just the information. You
Speaker 1: also have a look and you have a style and
Speaker 1: a swagger and there's cornaki is a thing. And I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, after the election, they showed your tie. Maybe
Speaker 1: you put it on Instagram or something, and it was
Speaker 1: put together by Staples because you have been ripping it
Speaker 1: off so many times, like Christ like Chris Farley, like
Speaker 1: in a van down the river. You're just You're in it, man,
Speaker 1: You're totally in it. Your look I think I feel
Speaker 1: like that's just authentically you, which I love that they
Speaker 1: didn't try to try to change that when when you
Speaker 1: got on air. The problem with a tie was I
Speaker 1: don't know, I still don't learn how to tie a time, right,
Speaker 1: So that was the only Yeah, this was twice was pandemic.
Speaker 1: There aren't a lot of folks around, so I know
Speaker 1: people who know how to tie ties. That's how I've
Speaker 1: kind of got behind this world. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I I usually have a few kind of just on
Speaker 1: the shelf, and I could put one on and finish
Speaker 1: the knot. But it was the only one that was tied,
Speaker 1: and there was no one else around to do it,
Speaker 1: so I, you know, the thing was coming apart of
Speaker 1: the seems literally stapled it together to get through the
Speaker 1: election week. Now I got a second one, but once
Speaker 1: again I had to have somebody else do the through
Speaker 1: the dirty work for me. Did it blow you away? Though?
Speaker 1: Like Halloween people went to Steve cornecky like, and it's
Speaker 1: like the look of like the khakis and the tie, Like,
Speaker 1: did you ever think in a million years that you'd
Speaker 1: be this, you know, not only an important influential figure
Speaker 1: in journals and be like a cultural icon in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways. It's not. No, I still don't know
Speaker 1: what to make of it. It's you know, baffling. I mean,
Speaker 1: and I didn't even the whole khaki thing, I mean,
Speaker 1: honest to God, like I I didn't set out to
Speaker 1: make that, you know, a thing. Again, I think it
Speaker 1: was kind of like a pandemic thing. I was. There
Speaker 1: wasn't a lot of adult supervision here Rock, and I
Speaker 1: was just I had him on during the day and
Speaker 1: then I look at my clock and it's like five
Speaker 1: time to go to the studio for election night. So
Speaker 1: I just tucked my shirt and put the tie on
Speaker 1: and and go out there. And then the next day,
Speaker 1: I think sometime that week, my producers asking me, He's like,
Speaker 1: what kind of pants are those? And I'm like why
Speaker 1: why are you asking me? People were interested? I don't
Speaker 1: lasting honestly, So the last thing I ever ever would
Speaker 1: have expected. I love it. Um all right, let's go
Speaker 1: to the football side of it. So every Sunday night
Speaker 1: you get there. What time are you rolling in to
Speaker 1: the Stanford studios to get to that that fall that
Speaker 1: big screen what do you call that? The full screen monitor?
Speaker 1: What time? Yeah, it's the same technology we use here,
Speaker 1: you know, big board. Um, there's a little different. There's
Speaker 1: a little they got they got a wooden frame around.
Speaker 1: There's a little classier, I think, But uh no, it's cool.
Speaker 1: I get there, you know, a little bit before to
Speaker 1: one o'clock games. Um, and you get to just watch,
Speaker 1: you know, they got him all on the screen, you know,
Speaker 1: in front of the room. Um. And it's one of
Speaker 1: those last couple of years. And I'm just kind of
Speaker 1: pinching myself because I'm sitting and I'm like, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: watching the games, but really I'm like I'm watching again,
Speaker 1: which is just you know or you know now Jason
Speaker 1: Garrett or you know, uh and seeing their their real
Speaker 1: time reactions, you know, two different things. Um. Is it's
Speaker 1: really cool. It's just it's a it's a you know,
Speaker 1: you're watching the Hall of Fame a reacting real time
Speaker 1: to these games. And if you've ever sat there just
Speaker 1: watching at home, wondering what they're thinking, now you're actually
Speaker 1: seeing it. So that's that's been a really cool experience.
Speaker 1: You have out like pad and paper, you've got a
Speaker 1: statistician with you because in real time, those things change.
Speaker 1: And then hey, by the way, we're going live in
Speaker 1: about twenty minutes, Steve, what's the latest of four o'clock games?
Speaker 1: Just ended? Like how is that all worked during the day?
Speaker 1: Because I think you're so good in such real time
Speaker 1: and it's almost like the n c A tournament reveal
Speaker 1: when you're like, here're the latest playoff standings and here's
Speaker 1: what your team needs to happen to get in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so we've we've got a great partnership with PFF,
Speaker 1: you know, as a data provider, so they've been they're
Speaker 1: in touch with us, you know throughout the day. You know,
Speaker 1: got a producer, John for Along, who I work with,
Speaker 1: and um, yeah, you know you kind of know going
Speaker 1: into the day what the big possible playoff implications stories
Speaker 1: could be. But then you know some of them fizzle out,
Speaker 1: you know, based on you know, how the games go,
Speaker 1: and then some of them really kind of come into
Speaker 1: focus during the day, and then we get a big update,
Speaker 1: you know, I think you know, usually it's about five o'clock,
Speaker 1: I say, after the one o'clock games are done, we
Speaker 1: get a big update about where things stand now and
Speaker 1: kind of what the contingencies are for the four o'clock games.
Speaker 1: Because you know, the way Football Night America works, we
Speaker 1: go on seven. Usually there's still a couple of games
Speaker 1: still playing out right, so we know there's like this
Speaker 1: Sunday was a great example is past Sunday. You know
Speaker 1: that a f C wild Card picture. So much hangs
Speaker 1: on that Patriots Titans, right, and I mean, at one
Speaker 1: point we're standing there in the middle of the seven
Speaker 1: o'clock hour and they're both going overtime. What are we
Speaker 1: gonna do for this hit? And then suddenly they both
Speaker 1: end in regulation one in the most crazy and and personally,
Speaker 1: as a Massachusetts native, pain By I've ever seen, but
Speaker 1: it just changes and shakes up the numbers in a
Speaker 1: huge way. Um, Okay, we're week sixteen right now. You
Speaker 1: did the show on Sunday. We just had a Monday
Speaker 1: night football game. Would you mind, you know, indulging us
Speaker 1: a little bit. Can we go and we go through
Speaker 1: some of these teams and just kind of help with
Speaker 1: the listeners. All right, let's start with one of our
Speaker 1: favorite teams um on this podcast, one that we talked
Speaker 1: about all the time and we've had so much commentary
Speaker 1: on at the Detroit Lions. They have now won what
Speaker 1: looks to be seven of eight games. No team has
Speaker 1: gone to the playoffs, are starting one in six since
Speaker 1: nineteen nine. And yet here they are on the doorstep.
Speaker 1: They're not currently in there in what we call in
Speaker 1: the world of football quote in the hunt, but they're
Speaker 1: right there. They've got three games left. Go through the
Speaker 1: Lions scenario, what they need and what the percentages are. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we got him at so still not even not even wow, Okay, no,
Speaker 1: but it's not I mean, it's nobody. Basically, if you go,
Speaker 1: it's a fight essentially for the last two wild card
Speaker 1: spots in the Cowboys and then you got the two
Speaker 1: more right Cowboys more or less, you know, you let's
Speaker 1: stipulate that the Cowboys, you know, are are there at five,
Speaker 1: so six right now would be the Giants the Giants
Speaker 1: are in great shape, you know, just statistically. So then
Speaker 1: you go down to Washington and Washington is also under
Speaker 1: there in the seventh spot right now, but they're under fift.
Speaker 1: Then you go to the Seahawks there in the eighth spot,
Speaker 1: same record as Detroit, but they beat them head to head,
Speaker 1: so they have the eight spot because of that. But
Speaker 1: the Seahawks percentage of getting into the playoffs is actually
Speaker 1: I think we have met twenty nine. I think there
Speaker 1: are ten points less than Detroit because the trend is
Speaker 1: so unfavorable. The schedule is so unfavorable for Seattle. You know,
Speaker 1: they gotta go to play at Kansas City this week,
Speaker 1: So you look at it from Detroit standpoint, essentially a
Speaker 1: right now at seven and seven, I think the schedule
Speaker 1: is you know, look Carolina Chicago at green Bay. Um,
Speaker 1: it would have helped him. I think last night off
Speaker 1: green Bay had lost, because then green Bay would definitely
Speaker 1: have nothing to play for in that last game. It's possible,
Speaker 1: not that likely, but it's possible green Bay is gonna
Speaker 1: have something on the line in that last game. But
Speaker 1: those are three very winnable games for Detroit on paper.
Speaker 1: So kind of the way I look at it is
Speaker 1: the Giants have the best chance of getting one of
Speaker 1: those last two spots. And I think the Giants have
Speaker 1: a gift here in the schedule because they get Philly
Speaker 1: in the last week and Philly is probably not gonna happening. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and if if Philly wants to rest starters, and it
Speaker 1: looks especially likely with the jail and hurt situation, and
Speaker 1: then you get the Colts before that the Giants, if
Speaker 1: if you really then say, okay, Giants more likely than
Speaker 1: that are going to hang on. Let's say that's six.
Speaker 1: It's about Washington, Washington, Seattle, and and Detroit. And if
Speaker 1: Detroit just wins the last three, all they need to
Speaker 1: have happened is both Washington and Seattle lose one, and
Speaker 1: you can it's in the past. It could be this weekend.
Speaker 1: To actually be this weekend when you look at it
Speaker 1: like it could happen because Detroit plays Carolina this weekend,
Speaker 1: totally winnable, right. Seattle goes to Kansas City, huge upset
Speaker 1: if Seattle actually wins that game. So Seattle could be
Speaker 1: seven and eight coming out of this weekend. Detroit could
Speaker 1: be eight and seven coming out of this weekend, and
Speaker 1: Washington goes and plays. The Niners could obviously lose that.
Speaker 1: They could be seven seven and one, so right away
Speaker 1: this weekend, Detroit could pass both of them, and then
Speaker 1: all they'd have to do is win out. All right?
Speaker 1: Love that? All right, We've got a huge game, and
Speaker 1: we're recording this on a Tuesday, the podcast to go
Speaker 1: live on Tuesday night. Huge game Thursday. I laughed, because
Speaker 1: you and I are in sports, are in sports media.
Speaker 1: You're in a different sort of media as well when
Speaker 1: you talk to politics. But when Jeff Bezos pays three
Speaker 1: billion dollars to the NFL to get a Thursday night
Speaker 1: package and they tell you you've got Jets Jaguars in
Speaker 1: week sixteen, I can only imagine he and his lieutenants
Speaker 1: are like, well, that's an interesting decision, NFL, thank you
Speaker 1: very much for that. And then here we are Jets
Speaker 1: Jaguars Thursday Night with potentially a playoff spot on the line.
Speaker 1: Can you go through the Jets and Jaguars a little bit?
Speaker 1: This might be spoiling the weekend listeners because they will
Speaker 1: already know the outcome, but going into the game, how
Speaker 1: important is this one? And really, Jacksonville, their story is amazing.
Speaker 1: The craziest thing about Jacksonville right now is they're sitting
Speaker 1: at six and eight and they control essentially they control
Speaker 1: the a f C South. If the Jags go three
Speaker 1: and oh, that's going to include a win the last
Speaker 1: week of the year against Tennessee. And they so right
Speaker 1: and and I mean Tennessee also at seven and seven,
Speaker 1: controls the division. If they went out, that would include
Speaker 1: a win over the Jags. Jacks couldn't catch them, but
Speaker 1: I mean Jacksonville. It's huge for Jacksonville because I think
Speaker 1: essentially they need to get into that last week within
Speaker 1: one game of Tennessee. If they're within one game at
Speaker 1: Tennessee going into that last week, then all they gotta
Speaker 1: do is beat Tennessee. They tie him in the standings,
Speaker 1: they have the head to head be two and oh,
Speaker 1: head to head, they'd get the division. And yeah, Tennessee
Speaker 1: is playing Houston this week, so you know, if Tennessee
Speaker 1: wins that, and I look the way Tennessee has been
Speaker 1: right been playing, that's no you know, we I think
Speaker 1: our model has a seventent likelihood Tennessee wins the game.
Speaker 1: Say Tennessee wins the game, huge opportunity for the Jags
Speaker 1: here because you know, the underdogs against the Jets. But
Speaker 1: if they win the game, then they Houston the next week,
Speaker 1: you know, so they it would put them in a
Speaker 1: situation where they could win this one where I think
Speaker 1: it really makes it likely that that last I believe
Speaker 1: in momentum, Like, the Titans have lost four straight and
Speaker 1: I know the numbers might say, well, here are the
Speaker 1: odds all that I don't know, Malik Willis might be going.
Speaker 1: And they've lost four in a row and they've fired
Speaker 1: their general manager and they've had issues all season long.
Speaker 1: Like to me, that's that's the stuff that the numbers
Speaker 1: maybe don't account for. And to me, it's like Jacksonville's
Speaker 1: just rolling, you know, and Jackson's was rolling that the one.
Speaker 1: The one thing I say though, is as think about
Speaker 1: Sunday night, you know, Washington came in six one and one,
Speaker 1: New York came in winless in the last four and
Speaker 1: then the Giants going, I know, they got a little
Speaker 1: help their potentially Washington's coming off by the arrested, and
Speaker 1: they still couldn't find it. But yeah, and then for
Speaker 1: the Jets to it's look, the Jets, I think we
Speaker 1: haven't met about twenty because going into the weekend they
Speaker 1: were in it. Yeah man, yeah, huge, huge missed opportunity
Speaker 1: for the Jets, huge missed opportunity for the Pats. Pats
Speaker 1: would have been over fifty well over to make the
Speaker 1: playoffs if they hadn't blown that game. The one thing
Speaker 1: the Jets have going for them, at least potentially, is
Speaker 1: they get Miami last week of the year. So it
Speaker 1: might not be playing for anything, yeah, or it could be.
Speaker 1: It could potentially be a playoff spot on the line.
Speaker 1: You know, if the Jets can be so I sar Jets,
Speaker 1: you know, if they can win this one there. I
Speaker 1: think they're trying to put themselves in the position there
Speaker 1: where that Miami game matters last week and there's a
Speaker 1: chance to potentially they need some help, but it's a
Speaker 1: chance to potentially leap frog Miami and get in. Okay,
Speaker 1: So these are the realistic options. But some of my
Speaker 1: favorite stuff is when you get the well, if this
Speaker 1: happens and that happens, and you get the Russell Crow
Speaker 1: beautiful mind graphic up and then you got the guy
Speaker 1: from always Sunny in Philadelphia connecting all the dots, then
Speaker 1: you've got the true detective image, and it's this long
Speaker 1: shot can make it. To give us your greatest long
Speaker 1: shot scenario for a team that no one expects to
Speaker 1: actually make it that still could here it is the
Speaker 1: most remote playoff possibility. The odds of this happening are
Speaker 1: zero point to percent. Okay, so this is this is
Speaker 1: the Indianapolis Colts. They are not out of it yet.
Speaker 1: They are out of the wilder. It's not. The wild
Speaker 1: card is out of the question for them, but the
Speaker 1: a f C South isn't. And here's what the Colts
Speaker 1: would need to have happened to win the FFC South
Speaker 1: and get in. They would need to win out obviously,
Speaker 1: and that would put them at seven nine and one.
Speaker 1: Then they would need Tennessee to lose all three of
Speaker 1: their remaining games, that's Houston, Dallas, Jacksonville. If that happens,
Speaker 1: Tennessee is seven and ten, Indianapolis is ahead of them.
Speaker 1: Then they would also need Jacksonville to lose to both
Speaker 1: the Jets and to Houston and then Tennessee the last week,
Speaker 1: and the Jags would land at seven and ten and
Speaker 1: then at seven nine and one the court. So they
Speaker 1: just gave up the biggest head in NFL history. This
Speaker 1: would be the biggest playoff come back history to get in.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. They have the biggest playoff, they have the
Speaker 1: biggest regular season collapse, and the greatest playoff come back.
Speaker 1: That would be a fantastic sticking. All right, let me
Speaker 1: wrap this with just a couple of rapid fire questions.
Speaker 1: You have this incredible journalism career. I always start off
Speaker 1: with advice. What would be your one piece of advice
Speaker 1: that I gets an elevator, Gal gets an elevator and
Speaker 1: looks at you and says, Wow, you're doing what I've
Speaker 1: always wanted to do. What would be your advice to
Speaker 1: a young journalist trying to break into either politics or
Speaker 1: even sports media at this point? Yeah, I think, if
Speaker 1: it's early in your career or whatever, just don't be
Speaker 1: afraid to to take a chance and don't be afraid
Speaker 1: to kind of go off the beaten established path. Because
Speaker 1: I was telling you the start of this, the experience
Speaker 1: I had in Jersey was just such a great one
Speaker 1: for so many different reasons for me. And it wasn't
Speaker 1: you know if I was grad when I was graduating college,
Speaker 1: you know, if I wanted to start in political journalism,
Speaker 1: or I mean that the move would have been go
Speaker 1: down to d C. There's a you know, a million
Speaker 1: ways to try to get in down there. And I
Speaker 1: found kind of a unique job covering state politics in
Speaker 1: New Jersey and I learned a lot about journalism. I
Speaker 1: learned a lot about politics. It's a cliche. I learned
Speaker 1: a lot about life. Like I said, I just had
Speaker 1: so many great experiences there. UM learned to just I
Speaker 1: love the state, I love the people, and that I
Speaker 1: love the culture, and it's just a it's a huge,
Speaker 1: huge part of my life. I still talk about it
Speaker 1: a lot and get me going on Jersey. I'll go
Speaker 1: all day so um, and you know, it all ended
Speaker 1: up working out two from a career perspective, So you know,
Speaker 1: don't be afraid, I think to kind of take a
Speaker 1: chance and go off the beaten path, because that's where
Speaker 1: some of the some of the fun in life might be.
Speaker 1: I love that. I always talk on this podcast about
Speaker 1: the broadcasters I grew up looking to at someday emulate,
Speaker 1: but also the sports writers and how important Peter King
Speaker 1: or a Bill Simmons or Gary Smith was to me.
Speaker 1: Who was the political writer or pundit on television that
Speaker 1: when you were in high school, college and right out
Speaker 1: of school you were looking to and saying, Okay, that's
Speaker 1: someone that I really aspire to someday even emult Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, honestly, it was election nights. I mean a
Speaker 1: huge memorable election night for me and for you know,
Speaker 1: tens of millions of people was the two thousand election.
Speaker 1: And you know, I really think that's one that kind
Speaker 1: of was a pivot point where you know, we had
Speaker 1: a lot of blowout elections before two thousand, were a
Speaker 1: job like mine wouldn't have made much sense because by
Speaker 1: eight oh five pm we'd know who to winn oorl.
Speaker 1: But we we live in an air now of close
Speaker 1: elections and election that go on sometimes for days, and
Speaker 1: that was really kind of the first one. And the
Speaker 1: guy I I just I watched, you know, all night
Speaker 1: and for for the next forty days was Tim Russer.
Speaker 1: And I just think Tim Russer had a great ability
Speaker 1: to communicate what was going He had a lot less technology.
Speaker 1: I mean the famous thing with Tim Russer and election, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the grease board because at the Smithsonian or it's at
Speaker 1: one of those big museums. Um, but just taking you
Speaker 1: through what was going on, what the paths were. I
Speaker 1: think he had a great way of communicating. I think
Speaker 1: he had a great kind of way about himself on
Speaker 1: the air. I think he's somebody people just you know,
Speaker 1: I know this is working at NBC. I know this
Speaker 1: is true. Off the air. I've met so many people.
Speaker 1: I didn't know him personally, but I've met so many
Speaker 1: people who did, and they just they talked about what
Speaker 1: a great person he was off the air. But I
Speaker 1: think that came through on the air, you know, And
Speaker 1: and I think it's just you know, um, the audience
Speaker 1: wanted to kind of spend time with him, and I
Speaker 1: know I kind of felt that way as a viewer,
Speaker 1: So I think it was Russer definitely. It's special and
Speaker 1: I'll never forget, you know, when we learned that his passing,
Speaker 1: like the response that me just as a viewer had
Speaker 1: just completely just like I cannonball to the gut like
Speaker 1: that that's a huge loss. And you know, he felt
Speaker 1: like a guy you'd have a beer with, because I
Speaker 1: think authentically he was a guy you'd have a beer with.
Speaker 1: He was a Buffalo Bills fan and like that was
Speaker 1: just who and like that's really endearing. I think you
Speaker 1: have a lot of those same qualities where you see
Speaker 1: you on television, and this is you know, I think
Speaker 1: the greatest compliment to a broadcaster to another one is
Speaker 1: I'm like, I feel like you're authentically yourself and you
Speaker 1: are who you are, and I love that you lean
Speaker 1: into that and you get as excited and as fired
Speaker 1: up by the election results as you do about the
Speaker 1: NFL playoffs scenarios. And I think it's a viewer we
Speaker 1: really appreciate it. No, thanks, it is. I hope that
Speaker 1: comes through because I'm a fan. You know. It's like
Speaker 1: I I do. I care about the election results. I
Speaker 1: care about you know, getting it right. I care about
Speaker 1: the NFL playoff Chase, Like you know, I'm a I'm
Speaker 1: a fan myself. Like I said, I'm a Yeah, I
Speaker 1: grew up a Patch fan. I try to keep that
Speaker 1: quiet around New York, but you know, I I got
Speaker 1: an interest in this too, So I hope that comes
Speaker 1: through all right. And the last two are a little sillier,
Speaker 1: but I think you'll enjoy our early episode here, one
Speaker 1: of the one of the most um i'd say recognizable,
Speaker 1: but also daily viewers and passionate yours to my morning
Speaker 1: show NFL network, Good Morning Football is the actor Paul Rudd,
Speaker 1: and Paul Rudd is a huge Chiefs fan and he
Speaker 1: will text me throughout Good Morning Football. Why are you
Speaker 1: not talking about my homes right now? Why are you busy?
Speaker 1: With Josh Allen? And he loves the show. We had
Speaker 1: him on our podcast and he talked about when he
Speaker 1: got the news that he was voted as People's sexiest
Speaker 1: man um he wasn't alone in one. I believe Steve
Speaker 1: Cornaki was voted as one of People's sexiest men alive.
Speaker 1: Where were you when you got that news? What was
Speaker 1: your reaction and how do you how do you handle
Speaker 1: such news like that? I feel like my ego would
Speaker 1: be out of control. I tell people that's where the
Speaker 1: real voter fraud was in. I have no idea where that.
Speaker 1: All I could say is that you know, our tastes
Speaker 1: are in are in decline in this culture. If something
Speaker 1: that is happening, was there a photo shoot, like did
Speaker 1: they show up and they're like all right, CORNACKI put
Speaker 1: on the Khakis No no, no, no no. I found
Speaker 1: out about it and it was I was, I was,
Speaker 1: I was on the list that was nowhere near to
Speaker 1: the top and and believe me, it's it's not been
Speaker 1: worth the grief I've gotten from my friends. Uh, and
Speaker 1: my last one is this we talked about meeting. I
Speaker 1: just you know, name dropped Paul Rudd. So casually, trust me,
Speaker 1: I do what every conversation I can. Um, who's the
Speaker 1: person that is someone that you never thought would ever
Speaker 1: be a viewer of yours or a fan of yours
Speaker 1: that has stopped you that you're like, it was pretty
Speaker 1: crazy that person X knows my work, loves my work,
Speaker 1: or even had the wherewith thought of saying, hey, I
Speaker 1: know who you are. That's a good question. Um, my
Speaker 1: all time favorite movie is Hoosiers. And uh, the director
Speaker 1: of Hoosiers turns out was a viewer and I, you know,
Speaker 1: I found out. I'm trying to remember exactly how it
Speaker 1: was that I found out, but UM got in touch
Speaker 1: with him because he, you know, knew my work. Did
Speaker 1: you go to Hickory High? Have you been? We im
Speaker 1: into the gym? Yeah, he lives, you know, he's they went,
Speaker 1: They're all I you eyes, It's well, that's that's where
Speaker 1: the game, the championship game was shot. Think the field us,
Speaker 1: which is Butler's. But there is a gym probably about
Speaker 1: an hour east of Indianapolis, and it's the gym that
Speaker 1: was Hickory High's home and they've converted into they play
Speaker 1: games there, but they also it's almost like a museum too.
Speaker 1: You know the movie Hoosiers to Indiana High School Basketball.
Speaker 1: So I've been there. I saw like an exhibition game there,
Speaker 1: which is a really cool experience. And I got to
Speaker 1: go to an Indiana University game with David Anspaul, the director,
Speaker 1: with the writer and you know, they they went to IOU.
Speaker 1: You know, they grew up in the culture of Indiana basketball.
Speaker 1: And I just heard so many great stories from them
Speaker 1: and it was a just a just a great I
Speaker 1: spent the whole weekend asking him a million questions about
Speaker 1: you know, the movie about Bobby Knight, about you know,
Speaker 1: it's a great, great experience, Jimmy child. Did they put
Speaker 1: their khaki pants on one leg at a time, just
Speaker 1: like you do? It's not bad, right, measure measured the
Speaker 1: rims that. Yeah, Um, I really appreciate you coming on.
Speaker 1: You will be on Sunday night, I imagine will be
Speaker 1: uh glued to the television set to see what the
Speaker 1: latest playoff breakdown is yeah, actually not this Sunday because
Speaker 1: we're it's Christmas night and there's only gonna be a
Speaker 1: couple of games the okay, so it's it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a kind of bare bones. But the last two weeks, well,
Speaker 1: New Year's Day will pick it up again, and then
Speaker 1: last week and all that fun chaos of the final
Speaker 1: Sunday of the year. As someone who is a complete
Speaker 1: mess on the touch screen every morning on our show
Speaker 1: where I don't know how to work this button and
Speaker 1: they're telling me to zoom in and I completely you know,
Speaker 1: just I'm faltering everywhere. I am amazed at your grace
Speaker 1: and your you know, dexterity on the board, but also
Speaker 1: the information. And it's Steve Cornaki. This is a thrill
Speaker 1: for me, and I think our viewers are going and
Speaker 1: listeners are gonna love it. Thanks so much for joining
Speaker 1: the season with Peter Schreeger. Hey, happy to do it.
Speaker 1: Good lucky the rest of the season. Awesome guys, Steve Cornaki.
Speaker 1: Football Night in America Sunday nights, you see them an amazing,
Speaker 1: amazing mind when it comes to data but also footballs
Speaker 1: and scenarios and and now in this case the playoffs
Speaker 1: scenario and awesome dude. Also thanks Steve. All Right, Steve
Speaker 1: Cornaki was awesome and in there he said, the Giants
Speaker 1: are in really good position to make the playoffs, so
Speaker 1: that they just have to take care of business with
Speaker 1: the Colts in two weeks or the Eagles team that
Speaker 1: is going to be benching their starters in the final week,
Speaker 1: and the Giants could be looking at a sixth seed,
Speaker 1: which would be wild considering how dark and dreary the
Speaker 1: last few years have been and how dark and dreary
Speaker 1: the start of December has been. I gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: I stayed up way too late Sunday wired, just like
Speaker 1: just like completely electrified by the Giants Commanders game A
Speaker 1: because of the calls, be because what it means to
Speaker 1: New York City and see, because of all the Giants
Speaker 1: fans that I have in my life, and I'm on
Speaker 1: Twitter and I see some great, great Giant fan content
Speaker 1: out there, and on a week to week basis, there
Speaker 1: may be no better stuff than what I see from
Speaker 1: my next guest. His name is Eli Rax, but Eli
Speaker 1: Rax also goes by Vibes because he is constantly positive
Speaker 1: and vibing with the Giants. He's not one of the
Speaker 1: he's what was me? Guys? And he was feeling himself
Speaker 1: on Sunday night on Twitter. I asked him on the
Speaker 1: show Eli Rax, what is up? Man? What was going on?
Speaker 1: Piece of blessing? Brother? Sure, thank you for having me on. Man,
Speaker 1: this is this is a great opportunity. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you. You do your own content online.
Speaker 1: It's New York Provival. You guys do great stuff. But
Speaker 1: I gotta get right into it. What's it feel like
Speaker 1: to be a Giants fan after finally getting a big
Speaker 1: win first time in maybe a decade. Let me tell
Speaker 1: you this, man, and I just want to paint this
Speaker 1: picture first for the Giants community. I mean, all Giants
Speaker 1: fans know that day, right, It's like your first case.
Speaker 1: You can't forget it, right. That's the last time the
Speaker 1: Giants had made the playoffs. So winning this Sunday is
Speaker 1: exactly what we needed for this Giants community, for this city. Guys,
Speaker 1: we finally are making the playoffs at any eight percent
Speaker 1: chance to ninety of making an eight percent, So man,
Speaker 1: we'll take a right. I'll take those os to Vegas
Speaker 1: any given Sunday. But the Giants have a chance to
Speaker 1: make the playoffs. Guys. This is it. This is what
Speaker 1: we waited four six long years. Guys. This should be
Speaker 1: in your man cave of shrine of coach day Ball
Speaker 1: and freaking Joe Shane that a New York city is
Speaker 1: buzzing Giants. We are here, we arrived. This is amazing, Shrikes.
Speaker 1: How do you feel? This is amazing? I feel great.
Speaker 1: And you know i've kind of I grew up a
Speaker 1: Giants fan, but I put that hat away and I
Speaker 1: you know I have I'm objective, I'm on NFL network,
Speaker 1: I'm on Fox, I'm on the sidelines doing all these things.
Speaker 1: But I gotta tell you I got like a little
Speaker 1: grin in my face watching Cavon Thibodeau just just dominate
Speaker 1: that game. Giants haven't had a guy like this on
Speaker 1: defense since Oh I don't know. I mean you tell
Speaker 1: me Astray and o C and Tuck and those guys.
Speaker 1: I got. This guy was unbelievable on Sunday as a
Speaker 1: Giants fan, A what was your action when they drafted
Speaker 1: Cavon Thibodeaux and then be Sunday night seeing him step
Speaker 1: up like he did. Listen, when I tell you I
Speaker 1: was a huge fan of Cavon Tibodeaux, you know, coming
Speaker 1: out the draft seeing him in college. They were saying
Speaker 1: he had a slow motor, but I didn't see that.
Speaker 1: When I broke down this film, I saw that the
Speaker 1: guy didn't really didn't give up on the place as
Speaker 1: some analysts thought. And just to see him come out
Speaker 1: and be that guy to have that high motor. You
Speaker 1: could tell he was looking at gas or some of
Speaker 1: this stuff, but he was still out there attacking that defense. Man.
Speaker 1: It was a huge coming out party for Cavon Timbo though.
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of that guy. Man. But he's exactly
Speaker 1: what I expected watching that film, that this guy is
Speaker 1: gonna be a monster. He's gonna continue to distructive league,
Speaker 1: and man, I'm just glad he's on the Giants man,
Speaker 1: for sure. What's your reaction to Commanders fans saying that
Speaker 1: the refs won that game, not the Giants. Listen, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of calls that didn't go to Giants way
Speaker 1: this season as well. Right, we didn't really cry about it,
Speaker 1: but just to see you guys on my timeline, even
Speaker 1: even Kevin Durant, man, really, come on, come on, Durant.
Speaker 1: You have a number one. You're in Brooklyn, Okay, so
Speaker 1: in your contract is not really getting there. But he's
Speaker 1: supposed to root for the Nel team regardless because you
Speaker 1: were in Brooklyn. So I don't want to see none
Speaker 1: of that in my timeline. Get over it. Go fight
Speaker 1: the Colts and I mean the Lions, et cetera for
Speaker 1: your spot. All right, this is it. We got our spot.
Speaker 1: Stop crying. Let's go for that. Yeah, all right, I
Speaker 1: love this. I just take us through like the Giant
Speaker 1: fan community over the last five years. I know this
Speaker 1: sounds like a weird question because everyone just assumes that
Speaker 1: like w f A N is where people go for
Speaker 1: their content or MSG or or even NFL Network or ESPN,
Speaker 1: But like there's such a I wouldn't say it's like
Speaker 1: a sub world, but there is. Like, if you're a
Speaker 1: diehard Giants fan, you know your stuff. You know, uh,
Speaker 1: you know Big Blue what's it Big Blue Interactive. You've
Speaker 1: got like the sites that really follow it day to
Speaker 1: day and the Reddit threads and all that stuff. It's
Speaker 1: kind of cool that you guys have all become almost
Speaker 1: more influential and more go to than the TV networks
Speaker 1: in the radio stations. You know, it's pretty awesome, man.
Speaker 1: I mean for the last six years, I mean we
Speaker 1: have over platforms since this Talking Giants entertain the Talking
Speaker 1: Sports New York Revival as well, So you know what
Speaker 1: we do was this. You know, it's just great man,
Speaker 1: to have a pulse on the Giant community and to
Speaker 1: actually get to this point of winning football is this
Speaker 1: makes the content a whole lot easier to put out.
Speaker 1: But to give the Giants to spin, you know, within
Speaker 1: that six years, to say hey we will get there,
Speaker 1: we will surpass and you know, stop losing eventually, and
Speaker 1: to finally get to this point within the Giants community,
Speaker 1: let me tell you it's awesome. But they used to.
Speaker 1: There was there was some some people banging their heads
Speaker 1: against the wall. There was some fight, and there was
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of Giants fans wearing paper
Speaker 1: bags over their heads. So to get to this day,
Speaker 1: take that paper bag off, man. Enjoy these moments. Win, lose,
Speaker 1: a draw, but right now we're winning. But enjoy this moment,
Speaker 1: Giants fans. It's been a very very long time. Take
Speaker 1: it all in and um, the fact that we have
Speaker 1: a chance to fight to get to the Pinnacle like
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. I mean, all it takes is one game, right,
Speaker 1: so you gotta enjoy this moment. Man, this is awesome.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm gonna wrap it here with you. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you coming on. Why don't you let us know
Speaker 1: where we can find your stuff and who you do
Speaker 1: the show with. And uh, if you're not a Giants
Speaker 1: fan and you want to see complete New York caisteria
Speaker 1: when it comes to sports fans, this is where to go.
Speaker 1: I love checking in with these guys every single week.
Speaker 1: So guys, you can follow me at I am Eli
Speaker 1: Rax on Twitter and i G. But guys, most important me,
Speaker 1: I'm from the New York Revival gang with my guy
Speaker 1: Mr Glass half Full and Mr l hef a Pilgrim.
Speaker 1: If you don't know his videos about now, then I
Speaker 1: don't know what you got tapped into. All right, this
Speaker 1: is where the Giants is at. We bring that here, Okay,
Speaker 1: So tapping man New York Revival at New York Revival
Speaker 1: on Twitter and at New York Revival Underscore on i G.
Speaker 1: Come check us out, man, I'm telling you you'll have
Speaker 1: a great time for sure. For sure, New York Revival, Eli,
Speaker 1: We appreciate you. Keep on with those good vibes. Thanks
Speaker 1: for joining the podcast. I've had a good luck to
Speaker 1: your giants. I appreciate you. Shk same here, Thank you
Speaker 1: so much. Piece of blessings. All right, there we go,
Speaker 1: fun episode, Um Buffalo awesome Steve Karnaki, great Eli Rax
Speaker 1: also known as vibes. You just feel just like optimism
Speaker 1: around the giants for the first time since I've been
Speaker 1: an adult, I think, And that's what feels like a
Speaker 1: New York City right now. Life is good. The NFL
Speaker 1: is in a great place. We've got an amazing weekend ahead,
Speaker 1: Like Saturday is the big day I'm going to We're
Speaker 1: doing our Fox NFL kickoff pregame show on Saturday, not
Speaker 1: on Sunday because there's only a few games on Christmas.
Speaker 1: They're mostly on Christmas Eve. But even the Christmas Day games,
Speaker 1: which I was like, oh those games stink. I don't
Speaker 1: care about Broncos Rams, Like I don't know Packers Dolphins
Speaker 1: is a game like that's two teams fighting for their
Speaker 1: playoff lives. I'll be watching it, um, but I do
Speaker 1: wanna real quickly wish everybody a very very Christmas, have
Speaker 1: a great holiday. If you celebrate Hanukah Kwanza, have an
Speaker 1: awesome holiday season, and I beg of you. Please be safe.
Speaker 1: So many silly things happened during this time of year.
Speaker 1: Be smart with your drinking, be smart with the driving,
Speaker 1: all that stuff. UM, just appreciate everyone listening in Aaron
Speaker 1: to you, my buddy, UM, have a great holiday season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: on behalf of Aaron, Jan Kaufman, on behalf of the
Speaker 1: I Heart team, on behalf of our two guys in
Speaker 1: studio here Mike and Jason just kicking ass. We're doing it. Uh.
Speaker 1: Jack Rudd, our music maestro with the amazing beats, and
Speaker 1: on behalf of the NFL and the NFL Digital team.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to this podcast. CORNACKI well, guy,
Speaker 1: I love them. Until next week. The Season with Peter Scheger,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to everybody. H The Season with Peter
Speaker 1: Schreeger is a production of the NFL and partnership with
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio
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