Speaker 1: From the King of Sports Books comes the Key Sports
Speaker 1: podcast Unleashed, presented by the MGM. Here's your host, Jerry
Speaker 1: Ferrara and Olivia Harlan Decker. So December brings back memories
Speaker 1: for so many people of finals, like if you can
Speaker 1: think back to high school college finals and the final
Speaker 1: exams to end the semester, and I kind of think
Speaker 1: it's the same in the NFL, like who's failing, who's passing.
Speaker 1: We're going to dig into the current picture scenarios, betting, angles, everything.
Speaker 1: Jerry Ferrara, do you ever think about these bad memories
Speaker 1: of like final exams right before the winter holiday? You
Speaker 1: know what? I do remember all that, and I just
Speaker 1: I do remember. Of course I couldn't wait for the holidays,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't wait for football around the holidays is
Speaker 1: the greatest. And the fact that the way these games,
Speaker 1: along with college football all line up with the holidays,
Speaker 1: like New Year's Eve is going to be insane. Christmas
Speaker 1: It's all like it's sandwiched in all the holidays this year,
Speaker 1: which I think is nice. I think it takes some
Speaker 1: of the edge off of Santa and presents and all.
Speaker 1: There's something in there for mommy and daddy. Let's just
Speaker 1: say that I like that. This is my first, yeah,
Speaker 1: first Christmas as a mom. And I already told Sam,
Speaker 1: we're not getting the baby one thing. He's seven months old.
Speaker 1: If I threw him like a piece of you know,
Speaker 1: a Kleenex, he'd be thrilled. Yeah, he'll like the boxes
Speaker 1: of your guys gift like you guys are open stuff,
Speaker 1: and he'll just want the box of the wrapping paper.
Speaker 1: And like, as an adult, I told Sam, don't get
Speaker 1: me anything like take me to a nice dinner, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? That's all. Yeah, what do you
Speaker 1: guys do gifts? Or do you just say, like, let's
Speaker 1: you know, get that new garage door. We're doing that.
Speaker 1: And I think what we're trying to go for is
Speaker 1: and this is more of a brief thing. She wants
Speaker 1: infrared anna in the house, which I'm like, yeah, that
Speaker 1: sounds how are we supposing So this is all in
Speaker 1: the spirit of like saving money or let's not go
Speaker 1: crazy for Christmas. Let's go get an infrared spot up.
Speaker 1: I don't know how to build Oh yeah, no, I
Speaker 1: don't think you want to build that. That's I'm kind
Speaker 1: of excited though. The three year old Jacob wants a skateboard.
Speaker 1: I'm taking back the fancy dinner. Now just go infrared, Sanna.
Speaker 1: I mean she's She's also telling me like, you should
Speaker 1: reach out to them on Instagram. I'm like, oh, I
Speaker 1: know where that what that means? You know she's right,
Speaker 1: He's right. I'm the one the west of the word.
Speaker 1: Oh my three year old. This is I found this excited.
Speaker 1: He wants a skateboard. I don't know how he even
Speaker 1: knows where the skateboard is. I'm I haven't been on
Speaker 1: a skateboard since I was sixteen. He really wants a skateboard,
Speaker 1: So I guess I have a I have a skater kid.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know recipe for a broken arms. Look
Speaker 1: at ready for that. We have a big show to day,
Speaker 1: jaire As. We welcome in NBC's Matthew Berry, fantasy football guru.
Speaker 1: He made the jump from ESPN to NBC after fifteen
Speaker 1: years over at ESPN. That happened this offseason, so we'll
Speaker 1: get his take on the playoff picture, the career change.
Speaker 1: I find that stuff really interesting, and the expansion of
Speaker 1: legal sports betting and fantasy football everything. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to talk to Matthew Berry. But let's take a look
Speaker 1: at the playoff picture. I'm curious what you're gonna think
Speaker 1: now is we're looking at updated odds starting with the
Speaker 1: a f C. The Chargers now have the seventh seed
Speaker 1: after a big win over Miami. It kind of quieted
Speaker 1: people comparing Justin Herbert into a tongue of Valoa. I
Speaker 1: thought that was kind of a bad comparison anyways, to
Speaker 1: be honest, like, I think Herbert has the brighter future,
Speaker 1: longer career ahead of them. Kind of a tangent, but
Speaker 1: they owned the current typebreaker against the Jets. Bengals and
Speaker 1: Ravens are both nine and four, but look like two teams.
Speaker 1: They look like they're headed in the opposite direction. Now
Speaker 1: Ravens might be on their third quarterback this weekend. But
Speaker 1: what do you think about the a f C for
Speaker 1: teams who are on the cost Well, I was certainly
Speaker 1: a little off. I was worried about the Charges when
Speaker 1: we talked about it a few weeks ago because of
Speaker 1: their schedule and their health. Although they seem to be
Speaker 1: getting healthier. There's talk of Bosa, which that would be
Speaker 1: huge for them. You know, Herbert with the lead throwing
Speaker 1: like forty three passes was was crazy. Look, I'm with you,
Speaker 1: there's not I don't see the debate of who's better.
Speaker 1: I think both quarterbacks are very very good. I think
Speaker 1: Herbert has the chance to be one of the best.
Speaker 1: And to A, who has the stats to back up
Speaker 1: all the hype that he's gotten, we are really gonna
Speaker 1: learn a lot. Because I heard the rumors that they
Speaker 1: had like heaters on because it was like fifty five
Speaker 1: degrees in l A. So the Dolphins that, well, they're
Speaker 1: going to Buffalo this Saturday at eight o'clock at night,
Speaker 1: and that is gonna be a real like. If to
Speaker 1: A plays with Miami wins or just even loses, but
Speaker 1: to if it's like a duel too, I think well,
Speaker 1: or I think everyone could shut up about two. Is
Speaker 1: he good? Is he not? That being said, even if
Speaker 1: he has a tough game, I would not say all right,
Speaker 1: we're all out on to I just certainly would say
Speaker 1: it might be really hard for you in that division,
Speaker 1: being that you should be in the a f C South.
Speaker 1: Let's be honest, you should be in the South. You
Speaker 1: should not be in the NFC East. You are on
Speaker 1: the East Coast. You should be in the South. It's
Speaker 1: it's a it's a disadvantage for them in my opinion.
Speaker 1: When it comes to December. Yeah, yeah, that's not a
Speaker 1: good sign when you've got the heaters on the side
Speaker 1: and fifty degrees. Come on. So Ravens are minus one
Speaker 1: when the n f C North Bengals plus one ten.
Speaker 1: The Bengals are the highest ticket percentage and handle over
Speaker 1: at bet MGM, so people are still loving the Bengals. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's look at NFC. Vikings will win the North, Eagles
Speaker 1: will probably win the East. The Niners should win the West.
Speaker 1: The South is a ship show. Beyond the Cowboys. The
Speaker 1: last two spots I think are up for grabs. So
Speaker 1: who do you think it's those last two spots? Giants, Commanders.
Speaker 1: Well we're gonna get that. I mean that game, which
Speaker 1: we know is coming Sunday night. So for me, this
Speaker 1: Sunday nights big. I hate to say that the Giants
Speaker 1: took the week off against the Eagles. They didn't. The
Speaker 1: Eagles are just significantly better. The Giants do not have
Speaker 1: the firepower to go into battle, but they could still
Speaker 1: kind of control their own destiny if they beat the Commanders.
Speaker 1: I do like the Giants to do that, even though
Speaker 1: it's on the road. What gets me about this whole
Speaker 1: wild card situation is I actually think of the Giants
Speaker 1: and the Commanders and a team like the Panthers. I
Speaker 1: think the Panthers are the best of all three. And
Speaker 1: yeah they have just been so snake bit, but they
Speaker 1: really are. Like the DJ Moore helmet thing could actually
Speaker 1: be the reason why the Panthers don't get it's as
Speaker 1: simple as that. That might be the thing that screwed
Speaker 1: them out of the playoffs. But my money would be
Speaker 1: on the Giants still right now. But of course I
Speaker 1: just I just like where they're where they're at. But
Speaker 1: this game is gonna tell us everything. This is a
Speaker 1: playoff game on Sunday. We're getting our first, our first
Speaker 1: real playoff game this Sunday. I know, we kind of
Speaker 1: thought this last weekend was going to be like our
Speaker 1: playoff preview. The Panthers look like the only ones who
Speaker 1: want to win it. Like, yeah, they're physical, they're the
Speaker 1: defense is good, the running backs are good. Quick thing
Speaker 1: on Heineke. I'm I don't know if our listeners no this,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this. I found this
Speaker 1: to be interesting as a sneaker head. This goes back
Speaker 1: to last year with Heineke. He after he slays a team,
Speaker 1: goes out and buys a pair of Jordan's that are
Speaker 1: the same color way as the team he just beat.
Speaker 1: So I thought that that's something I would do if
Speaker 1: I was an NFL corp, Like if you beat the Vikings,
Speaker 1: you're coming home with some like bel Air Jordan's, you know,
Speaker 1: so I would completely or actually grape fives would be
Speaker 1: maybe something like that. I just thought that was cool.
Speaker 1: Be Heiniki. I don't want to like him, but that
Speaker 1: makes me like him. Oh, I like him. I'm all on.
Speaker 1: And remember last last year this got more hyped the story.
Speaker 1: But we should remind our listeners and remind you if
Speaker 1: you forgot that he was sleeping on his sister's couch
Speaker 1: before he got picked up. Like he's a what we
Speaker 1: call rags richest story as far as NFL players go,
Speaker 1: I mean pretty good. So I'm always cheering him on.
Speaker 1: I like that he's got a good head on his shoulders.
Speaker 1: And now I love I love his Jordan's story. That's
Speaker 1: pretty good. I love a sleeping on the couch story.
Speaker 1: Jeremy Lynne was my favorite one when he was sleeping
Speaker 1: on Landry Yield's couch. But if I slept on the
Speaker 1: couch at forty three years old, I could not I
Speaker 1: could not play NFL quarterback the next day. Let's just
Speaker 1: say that. No, And I don't don't think anyone's asking.
Speaker 1: You don't want me off the couch? Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1: Commanders can be dangerous with him, though they've got playmakers.
Speaker 1: I like scary Terry McLaurin. They're running the ball well,
Speaker 1: good defense. He can be a gunslinger when he needs to.
Speaker 1: So I'm watching the Commanders pretty closely. What about NFL
Speaker 1: wind totals? Did you? Did you do any of that
Speaker 1: this offseason? I did, in addition to the Seahawks for
Speaker 1: the division which we know about. It did take the
Speaker 1: Seahawks over, which I think was a five and a
Speaker 1: half at the time. I did take the Giants over,
Speaker 1: which I think they've already hit or they need one
Speaker 1: more win to hit. I definitely had a loss in there.
Speaker 1: I think I definitely took I think that two Bears
Speaker 1: over with Stupid, which was a loss. But there's been
Speaker 1: a lot of variants, to say the least, in these
Speaker 1: over other winds. I remember you kind of hyping up
Speaker 1: the Bears a little bit. I mean, see how you
Speaker 1: were hyping up the Texans a little bit. Listen, I
Speaker 1: hyped up the Texans to upset to be have one
Speaker 1: of the biggest upset wins of the year, which almost
Speaker 1: did this past weekend. Doesn't It didn't feel like they
Speaker 1: like called down to love E. Smith when they were
Speaker 1: on ninth that for first and from the one after
Speaker 1: that interception, and then they just ran through four the
Speaker 1: worst places I've seen for the Cowboys to stop them.
Speaker 1: It's like there's draft picks on the line here, love
Speaker 1: you, you you don't want to win this one. I know
Speaker 1: they don't, and you've got to look at that. You've
Speaker 1: got to know that's in the back of their minds.
Speaker 1: Not so much a head coach, though, I always think
Speaker 1: this about players to players cannot tank, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? You can in the NFL. It's like not trying.
Speaker 1: I feel like you're more likely to get hurt that way.
Speaker 1: And let's be real, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: as an athlete, as a player, you're considering your future
Speaker 1: before you are. The franchises, so like you want to
Speaker 1: put up your stats. Do you want to provide for
Speaker 1: your family, you want to sign a good contract in
Speaker 1: the off season. You kind of don't care about their
Speaker 1: draft picks, you know, Yeah, I wouldn't want to. I
Speaker 1: would have to really have a long term contract with
Speaker 1: t I don't even know. Yeah, I don't think. I
Speaker 1: just don't think athletes players think in that way. Like, hey,
Speaker 1: if we lose these two, we've got a great draft pick.
Speaker 1: There's so much pride on the line and also their
Speaker 1: own safety. But also if you're the Texans, you gotta
Speaker 1: just love, love, love the Browns losing and the Gen
Speaker 1: Watson not looking good, because even if you do win
Speaker 1: a game, that pick just gets better and better by
Speaker 1: the week, oh, by the by the second. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it feels good, just like get him out of here
Speaker 1: and let's watch him lose. So yeah, we keep mentioning
Speaker 1: it was a weird weekend, and we talked before we
Speaker 1: started recording it was kind of a sad weekend, a
Speaker 1: sad week with the passing of Mike Leach. I cannot
Speaker 1: believe I'm saying that that's as someone who is so
Speaker 1: in love with college football and so ingrained in college football,
Speaker 1: that one feels like a major loss in the world
Speaker 1: of college football. That's tough. I was following that story
Speaker 1: because the first people thought he passed and they're saying, no,
Speaker 1: we didn't. But it's just awful. That's I've been watching
Speaker 1: some highlights of his Uh, it's the worst part of
Speaker 1: it all. It's really what you start to say, like,
Speaker 1: we love sports, sports are the best, but there's just
Speaker 1: a family element to this and a human element that
Speaker 1: sometimes it's a good it's just a good reminder to
Speaker 1: all of us. So, yeah, it was definitely a tough
Speaker 1: week with Mike Lee and then also obviously everything going
Speaker 1: on to the World Cup with Grant Walls, one of
Speaker 1: the you know, most prestigious he is the soccer football journalist,
Speaker 1: and then I know another journalist passed away to It's
Speaker 1: so coming off those tragedies, then the Mike Leach tragedy,
Speaker 1: it just was a tough week in sports. So going
Speaker 1: into this holidays, let's let's enjoy the football and let's
Speaker 1: do all that, but let's also give our family a hug. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's well said. It's funny. Just it's people at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, you know what I mean. As
Speaker 1: we cover these sports, it's it's people, it's families, it's
Speaker 1: it's everything. And that's the weird part. And Jerry, I
Speaker 1: know you're kind of new to being a sports journalist.
Speaker 1: We can call you now. I think officially you do
Speaker 1: have to cover a lot of ugly things, a lot
Speaker 1: of sad things, and yeah, this week was kind of
Speaker 1: one of those. But on a positive note, a great
Speaker 1: story to come out of this weekend was Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if this will be sustained. A
Speaker 1: lot of people saying that final drive ninety yards that
Speaker 1: he led the Rams on was they were in press coverage.
Speaker 1: It was kind of a gimme. They were in prevent defense.
Speaker 1: Like there are a lot of people who are like, oh,
Speaker 1: it wasn't that hard. But you've got to admit a
Speaker 1: guy who landed on a Tuesday and played on a Thursday.
Speaker 1: I think he wore a game jersey before he wore
Speaker 1: a practice jersey and pulling that off for a career
Speaker 1: that's been kind of riddled with injuries and haters and
Speaker 1: some drama and everything, I was just really happy for
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield in that moment. I was too, And look,
Speaker 1: he's not the first player to leave the Cleveland Browns
Speaker 1: and end up having success with the l A Rams,
Speaker 1: Odell Beckham, we're talking about you. Yeah, I just it's
Speaker 1: great to see people are gonna try to poke holes
Speaker 1: in it. I do think the Rams are in a
Speaker 1: pretty precarious situation without having their draft picks, with all
Speaker 1: the payroll that they have, Like this could be a
Speaker 1: good way too, if it is a blow up situation,
Speaker 1: soften the blow or even the retool because Stafford, who
Speaker 1: I love, I don't know, are you secure on how
Speaker 1: much longer Stafford plays for and what he has left?
Speaker 1: Not man even saying that. I think he doesn't have
Speaker 1: anything left. It's just hard to tell because the guy's
Speaker 1: hurt and the guy's taking a lot of hits. So
Speaker 1: to take a flyer and bring Baker in for whatever.
Speaker 1: Michael Lombardi told us it was like one point one
Speaker 1: million at that point for the Rams money. He's not
Speaker 1: an object. Yeah, that's chump change. You know, he's still young,
Speaker 1: he's a number one overall pick. I think it was
Speaker 1: a great move by them to kick to kick the
Speaker 1: tires there, and who knows, that could be their way
Speaker 1: of rebooting without having you know, not gonna be able
Speaker 1: to draft the quarterback in the first round this year,
Speaker 1: so that might be a way to a sneaky way
Speaker 1: to do it. Yeah, so that was a feel good story.
Speaker 1: Later in the show, you know, we introduced the Audible
Speaker 1: of the Week that's coming up. His postgame comments I
Speaker 1: thought were a lot of funds that's gonna be are
Speaker 1: Audible of the Week coming up. I have a question
Speaker 1: for you, Jerry, sticking with New York, go into New
Speaker 1: York the Bills. I feel like they're not as scary
Speaker 1: as we thought they were a preseason von Miller is
Speaker 1: now out the rest of the season. If they win
Speaker 1: out and they have home field advantage, I think that's huge.
Speaker 1: But I mean, I don't think they want to see
Speaker 1: a team like the Jets again, even I feel if
Speaker 1: they're looking kind of mortal, I think that's correct. I
Speaker 1: will say I love to underestimate the Jets. No one
Speaker 1: loves to underestimate the Jets more than I do. You
Speaker 1: just can't do it in a weird way. If you
Speaker 1: look at that win for the Bills, which normally have
Speaker 1: Bills Jets game that ended that way, said, yeah, the
Speaker 1: Bills might have been off. I don't. I think the Jets.
Speaker 1: To beat the Jets, you almost have to kill them,
Speaker 1: and they almost killed Mike White. Mike White almost died
Speaker 1: the field he took. Yeah, he took two or three
Speaker 1: of the biggest legal, no helmet to helmet hits that
Speaker 1: I think I've seen a quarterback take in a long time,
Speaker 1: and he still kept coming. Quinnin Williams even went down
Speaker 1: and they were still fighting. I hate to give the
Speaker 1: Jets all this credit, but I do. Yeah, you definitely
Speaker 1: don't want to see the Jets again. But I also
Speaker 1: think that I think the Bills will be okay in
Speaker 1: home field for them. I just think that's huge in
Speaker 1: case you do see a Dolphins or Chargers or the
Speaker 1: Chiefs a high powered Although I don't think my Hoomes
Speaker 1: cares where he plays, I think home field is probably
Speaker 1: most important to them out of the teams that could
Speaker 1: still get it because of weather, because of weather, and
Speaker 1: just yeah, I just think that they are built for
Speaker 1: for that exact type of game. And we're gonna learn
Speaker 1: a lot by the Bills Dolphins this week and to
Speaker 1: see a team who maybe not who knows if they're
Speaker 1: built for that. So I think it could help the
Speaker 1: Bills the most. I guess. I just feel like other
Speaker 1: teams are hitting their stride now, and like when I
Speaker 1: mentioned the Finals, analogy like this is kind of where
Speaker 1: you have to be at your best this time of year,
Speaker 1: and I feel like the Bills aren't at their best
Speaker 1: right now, where other teams are streaking getting their act together.
Speaker 1: A team like the Bengals comes to mind, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like where you're kind of like, oh,
Speaker 1: they're better than we thought they were. One team that's
Speaker 1: really getting their act together at the right time. The
Speaker 1: Lions one for the fifth time in the past six weeks,
Speaker 1: meeting the NFC North leading Vikings. They were one and
Speaker 1: a half point favorite at home. They covered, winning by eleven,
Speaker 1: and it was the most bet game of the weekend.
Speaker 1: Did you put money on this one? I did so.
Speaker 1: I I had a parlay in the teaser. I've been
Speaker 1: hitting teasers all year long, folks, and I listen. I
Speaker 1: know a lot of people have a lot of feelings
Speaker 1: about teasers. If you believe in them that much, throw
Speaker 1: them into parlay. Well. I had a parlay that I
Speaker 1: went oh for three. I lost all three picks of
Speaker 1: my money line parlay, but my teaser. I needed every
Speaker 1: single one of those ten points. I actually pushed the
Speaker 1: Vikings up to twelve or twelve and a half and
Speaker 1: covered basically by that one point because the Lions in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter just destroy them. That was a close
Speaker 1: game going into the fourth quarter and they just put
Speaker 1: some separation. It is really impressive. What's going on with
Speaker 1: the Lions and Olivia. I want to ask you this
Speaker 1: because I got into a debate with Twitter, mainly one
Speaker 1: person on Twitter who I thought had a terrible take,
Speaker 1: and I called him out based off an Ian Rapp
Speaker 1: Report article saying how what a mistake it would be
Speaker 1: for the Lions to stick with Goff and not draft
Speaker 1: a quarterback with one of their two top fifteen picks
Speaker 1: that they'll have. Okay, before and I didn't see your tweet,
Speaker 1: so before you tell me your take on it, I
Speaker 1: already have a take on this. And I think Jared
Speaker 1: Goff right now is playing this game so well. And
Speaker 1: I don't mean the game football, I mean the contract game.
Speaker 1: I feel like he's in a great position to stick
Speaker 1: around and earn some money. Now. I think Detroit would
Speaker 1: be foolish to waste one of their draft picks right
Speaker 1: now for a quarterback who right now they've got a
Speaker 1: quarterback is getting it done. Listen, you could agree, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: that is my perspective. I would maybe feel differently if
Speaker 1: that Rams pick was going to be number one, then
Speaker 1: I would maybe say, take a long, hard look if
Speaker 1: there's a quarterback you love or number two. I don't
Speaker 1: think it's gonna fall there. The Rams will probably be
Speaker 1: somewhere between four and six. The Lions pick is getting better,
Speaker 1: worse and worse because they're winning. I think Goff has
Speaker 1: had a great season. I think that offense has played amazing. Yes,
Speaker 1: you could say, well, maybe it's the emergence of amand
Speaker 1: Ross st Brown. He hasn't even had DeAndre Swift for
Speaker 1: most of the season. Jamal Williams is the best goal
Speaker 1: line running back probably in football. I think that it
Speaker 1: got off to a rough start. I think his last
Speaker 1: ten games he's been task. He's top ten in yards,
Speaker 1: he's top ten in touchdowns, that number and it's just
Speaker 1: getting better and better. And they're on a windstreet. So
Speaker 1: if you have say fourth or fifth overall, and then
Speaker 1: say overall, I'm not saying you're building around golf, but
Speaker 1: would it hurt you to take to add another defensive
Speaker 1: player and maybe another wide that or another offensive lineman
Speaker 1: to go with what you already have. I think that
Speaker 1: puts you squarely in control of the NFC North. No
Speaker 1: disrespect to your packers, no disrespect to the Vikings, who
Speaker 1: could easily be like I don't even know, like six
Speaker 1: and six. So I'm in on golf. I'm in. I
Speaker 1: am too, And this offense is clicking. Like if you
Speaker 1: were to ask us in August, if in December we
Speaker 1: are saying how good the Lions offense is looking, I
Speaker 1: would think we were tripping mushrooms in Joshua Tree, like
Speaker 1: we did an entraage that we're going to talk about later,
Speaker 1: by the way, but also a key piece of this
Speaker 1: offense that's emerging. And I personally am really excited about
Speaker 1: this kid. He's wide receiver j Amison Williams from Alabama.
Speaker 1: His first NFL catch went for a forty one yard
Speaker 1: touchdown reception. I interviewed him last year after the SEC Championship,
Speaker 1: and remember he just like lit up, like he was
Speaker 1: a really likable guy, really excited about his future and
Speaker 1: about Bama and all this. He tours a c L
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks after that in the National Championship,
Speaker 1: which was actually a huge, huge reason why Alabama lost
Speaker 1: to Georgia that night. So I've kind of been following
Speaker 1: his career and it's really great to see that they
Speaker 1: were patient with his rehab and now he's inserted again
Speaker 1: right time, right time of the year, and he's he's
Speaker 1: doing well. So I'm excited to see that. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: never thought i'd be lobbying for Jakoff, I know, to
Speaker 1: keep his g I just think the guys earned it. Oh,
Speaker 1: that's the last part of the debate. Someone this guy said,
Speaker 1: I have golf is like twenty one to thirty, like
Speaker 1: basically in the bottom eight of quarterbacks. I'm like, wait
Speaker 1: a second, you could name twenty one quarterbacks in the
Speaker 1: NFL right now, not three years ago. Now that are
Speaker 1: better then God, I'm not saying that means Goff is
Speaker 1: the guy to lead you to a Super Bowl or
Speaker 1: base that decision. Who, by the way, he has played
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl. Say what you want. I have
Speaker 1: a hard time finding like ten quarterbacks better. Seriously, I
Speaker 1: mean Geno Smith, Yeah you can say that three weeks ago.
Speaker 1: Do you say that for the last two weeks. Maybe
Speaker 1: not so. I I didn't really find twenty one quarterbacks
Speaker 1: better than Jarreed Goff. Maybe someone else can, Jerry. Listen
Speaker 1: to this stat I heard today, there have been fifty
Speaker 1: four different starting quarterbacks in the NFL this season. I
Speaker 1: think about that thirty two teams. Let's say each one
Speaker 1: of them started to that be sixty four. So we're
Speaker 1: only ten fewer than if every NFL team started two
Speaker 1: different quarterbacks. This sense like that's wild. And think of
Speaker 1: the names we talked about, Mike White, Brock Purty, Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield in l A. Donald's back, Darnald yeah, Sam Elinger, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Sam Ellinger Project, I remember that. Who else I'm
Speaker 1: missing another one? Well, you got Mike White. Even the
Speaker 1: even starting black will play two games. It's been crazy.
Speaker 1: This is a weird year. And I think this is
Speaker 1: a huge reason why I love this league so much.
Speaker 1: Is it's really hard to predict. And I know we
Speaker 1: sit around all summer and we talked about futures and
Speaker 1: all this, but this is the part that's so fun
Speaker 1: to cover. It's it's better. You know, I love Real Housewives,
Speaker 1: I love reality TV. This is that. I'll tell you
Speaker 1: what though, it's made for a lot of fun bets,
Speaker 1: so all these quarterbacks, it's made for a lot of
Speaker 1: fun bets. And I think it's also made a lot
Speaker 1: of fun for the book like betting. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it's the times for both sides. I think both sides
Speaker 1: have had a lot of fun and have had a
Speaker 1: lot of sadness at times too. Yeah, but I think
Speaker 1: our employer are cashing those checks with a big smile
Speaker 1: on their face. So we have to elaborate a little
Speaker 1: bit on Brock pretty since I brought him up. So
Speaker 1: the forty Niners rolled over Tom Brady and the Bucks
Speaker 1: who were basically missing their whole defense and everyone including myself.
Speaker 1: So the brock Purty really just had to be a
Speaker 1: game manage your and look, he did so much more
Speaker 1: than that. He was actually pretty great. I'm the millionth
Speaker 1: person to make that dad joke, but I had to
Speaker 1: get it in. He threw for two touchdowns and ran
Speaker 1: for one in the first half alone of his first
Speaker 1: career start, and he's just the second quarterback to ever
Speaker 1: do that. And obviously Deebo Samuel is going to be
Speaker 1: out for some time with an ankle injury, where we
Speaker 1: should really be glad it's not a knee injury. He'd
Speaker 1: be out for the rest of the season with that.
Speaker 1: But how do you make of the of the forty niners.
Speaker 1: I feel like I've been sitting here all season lobbying, like,
Speaker 1: don't count them out. They're gonna be great, They're gonna
Speaker 1: get healthy. And that was before I knew Garoppolo was out.
Speaker 1: I have been rooting against them because of my Seahawks
Speaker 1: play and also thinking of our own bet MGM Zone
Speaker 1: Peter Andrew and just showing up on the first episode
Speaker 1: of this show this year where in his forty nine jersey,
Speaker 1: I'm I got now I got an enemy. That being said,
Speaker 1: think about the storyline you talked about quarterbacks. I made
Speaker 1: that bet on the Seahawks mainly based off of Trey Lance.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Trey Lance where have reached the
Speaker 1: level to where Brock Purty already seems to be at.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's such different types of quarterbacks, but I'm
Speaker 1: feeling you with Brock Party. I think there's something there,
Speaker 1: and uh, I think it's going to make the whole
Speaker 1: situation crazy. What happens at the Knight We're talking about
Speaker 1: what happens at the Niners when the Super Bowl with Garoppolo,
Speaker 1: what happens at the Niners when the Super Bowl with Purty.
Speaker 1: We'd have to call up Jeff Perlman and tell him
Speaker 1: to start doing his seven interviews to get ready for
Speaker 1: that book, because that would be a book, and then
Speaker 1: you make it a movie. Find me some role in
Speaker 1: it so I can retire nicely. But that would be
Speaker 1: a story for the ages. Yeah, interesting, like Kurt Warner.
Speaker 1: Kurt Warner, he's a great story. Obviously that became a
Speaker 1: movie Undrafted, But yeah, it would be a great story.
Speaker 1: And obviously there's already another great story of an undrafted
Speaker 1: Now Brock Purdy was Mr. Irrelevant, so he was technically
Speaker 1: drafted barely and Kurt Warner undrafted one Super Bowls Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer. You know, a story like that is so rare,
Speaker 1: and that became a movie. So Jerry, I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: you jump all over this. It brought pretty to something
Speaker 1: amazing here. I want you to get the rights? What
Speaker 1: do you call it? Not the rights? What do you
Speaker 1: guys call it? The right? Life rights? No, you're on it.
Speaker 1: You're on it, that's correct. Look at you, Look at you.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to learn something from you. Oh my god.
Speaker 1: So yeah, a lot a lot going on. We gotta
Speaker 1: be we're honest on this show. It wasn't like the
Speaker 1: most fun week in sports, so definitely not. It was not,
Speaker 1: but we we met. I mean I hit a teaser,
Speaker 1: so I found outside of that. Yeah, so for a
Speaker 1: little bit of fun, let's get to our audible the
Speaker 1: week it's the King of l A Baker making. I mean,
Speaker 1: I had Sean Liam and Zach Robinson helped me study
Speaker 1: for since I landed. Um. I didn't think it was
Speaker 1: gonna play all like this, but I am sure happy
Speaker 1: we covered the two minute operation. My goodness. Originally I
Speaker 1: was angry about having to go through many, so many
Speaker 1: coaching changes and learned so many of your things. But
Speaker 1: that for sure help right there. Just learning protections first
Speaker 1: and then just talking with those guys on offense about
Speaker 1: the you know, the concepts that I like and luckily
Speaker 1: have a run a lot of them. Um, and they
Speaker 1: put some good plays out there and put me in
Speaker 1: a good position to win. What time is it right now? Seriously,
Speaker 1: he's not on the time zone on Tuesday. It's been over.
Speaker 1: Do you know you were gonna be in in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: As soon as Carolina let you go? Was this one
Speaker 1: of the potential teams that said, do you know what,
Speaker 1: that's probably a good spot for me. I took a gamble,
Speaker 1: I booked the flight. Uh before the waiver whire I
Speaker 1: went through. Okay, I love it. Let's bring in our guest.
Speaker 1: He turned his fantasy into a reality by becoming the
Speaker 1: face of fantasy sports. He's a New York Times bestselling
Speaker 1: author and to go to source for fantasy advice to
Speaker 1: some of the biggest names in the world, some of
Speaker 1: the biggest stars from NBC Sports. Matthew Berry is here. Matthew,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us in your studio at that beautiful background.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Olivia, so my pleasure to be here. Guys,
Speaker 1: how are you? We're doing good. We've been laughing at
Speaker 1: some of Dairy's fantasy football this weekend and the first
Speaker 1: of all, Matthew, how many leagues are you in like
Speaker 1: for fun? Well, they're all for fun, They're a all
Speaker 1: for fun and they're all serious. Is because I have
Speaker 1: to like I'm not allowed to not win one, right,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like I get when I
Speaker 1: don't win, and you know it happens obviously I get
Speaker 1: unbelievable amounts of grief. Yeah, I always joke about this.
Speaker 1: Number of years ago, we decided to do a friends
Speaker 1: and family league. So like it's my me and my
Speaker 1: wife and my kids and like their friends and their
Speaker 1: friends parents, and like, you know, it's a neighborhood league, right,
Speaker 1: and it's just friends and families. So each adult had
Speaker 1: a kid that they were paired with, and the and
Speaker 1: the kids drafted. You know, we're like we just handed
Speaker 1: them sheets and okay, fine. So I don't know. We're
Speaker 1: like four or five weeks in and you know, our
Speaker 1: our team's fine. It's like middle of the pack or whatever.
Speaker 1: And my at the time, my like eight year old goes, well,
Speaker 1: what are we in first place? I'm like, no, no,
Speaker 1: you know, we're like in fourth. We're fine, And it goes, well,
Speaker 1: we're gonna win, right, I mean, I have you as
Speaker 1: my coach. Now I'm like, great, Now, I gotta now
Speaker 1: I gonna win. You know, Now I gotta brush a
Speaker 1: bunch of ten year old because you know, my kids
Speaker 1: expecting us to win because I'm his dad, and we've
Speaker 1: got the you know, we got the word of this league.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I'm in sixteen leagues, Olivia to answer, I
Speaker 1: get you having to win too, because that's like your
Speaker 1: kids looking at you. You're Superman. You're like, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: Superman doesn't fly I don't understand what you have to
Speaker 1: fly at. Hopefully you picked up someone that none of
Speaker 1: the little kids know about. I have to ask you
Speaker 1: because I've talked a lot about fantasy on the show
Speaker 1: and my feelings. You know when you have talked before
Speaker 1: I go back to scoring fantasy with a pencil in
Speaker 1: the USA today, I'll say this for you. Jerry and
Speaker 1: we I think we've talked about this last time we
Speaker 1: did one of these together. But there's a real, real thing, Olivia, Like,
Speaker 1: I remember the way back in the day of fantasy
Speaker 1: sports and when before it was, when it was still
Speaker 1: considered dirty, when it's still very niche. We were still
Speaker 1: trying to get it into the main stream. We would
Speaker 1: like any time we heard of somebody, you know, a
Speaker 1: celebrity or anything like that that would talk about fantasy
Speaker 1: were like, oh yeah, we hung onto it. And literally
Speaker 1: like the two the first two celebrities I ever remember
Speaker 1: hearing playing fantasy football were the late Great meat Loaf
Speaker 1: and Jerry and I was just like, wow, wait Turtle
Speaker 1: from Entourage places you know, and like, yeah, thousand percent,
Speaker 1: and so, I mean, Jerry was absolutely one of the
Speaker 1: very first celebrities to talk openly about Hey, yeah, I
Speaker 1: play fantasy football. I enjoy it. It's one of my hobbies.
Speaker 1: So we always appreciate him carrying the flag early. I
Speaker 1: saw all the guys in Entourage too. They would always
Speaker 1: ask what I'm obsessing about, and I think Connelly Kevic Conney.
Speaker 1: I finally won him over. I know you've spoken with
Speaker 1: him a lot too. He's now and he's almost more
Speaker 1: in than me. I've scaled back just because I have
Speaker 1: two young kids now and Olivia has a young son.
Speaker 1: I couldn't balance the sports betting now with all of it.
Speaker 1: So I'm in three leagues, one of which still has
Speaker 1: a kicker, Matt, and I'm beside myself that I've a law.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to make the playoffs in this league,
Speaker 1: and a lot of this because I add a kicker
Speaker 1: who couldn't make an extra point and that should be
Speaker 1: illegal now, right, shouldn't kickers officially be illegal? And fantasy
Speaker 1: sports altogether like just not even an option band kickers.
Speaker 1: I'm all in. You gotta play super flex. It's the
Speaker 1: it's the best way to play. I am if it
Speaker 1: makes you feel better, Jerry, I think in the of
Speaker 1: the sixteen teams, I'm sixteen leagues I'm in. I want
Speaker 1: to say kickers. We've used kickers, and I want to
Speaker 1: say like four or five of them, like so I've
Speaker 1: been able to fully get rid of them in any
Speaker 1: of the leagues I planed, Like the league that I
Speaker 1: played with all my college buddies. I've been in this
Speaker 1: league for like thirty years, and it's just like the
Speaker 1: commissioner is like kind of an old school guy, who
Speaker 1: doesn't you know, like this is how we've always played,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, but we play with defenses and kickers
Speaker 1: and I literally needed I'm third and in that league,
Speaker 1: I'm third and total points, but I've had some bad
Speaker 1: scheduling luck and I literally need four points from nick
Speaker 1: Folk last night to get into the playoffs and like
Speaker 1: there's nothing and we ended up getting it, obviously, and
Speaker 1: so I'm in it. I co owned the team with
Speaker 1: my college roommate, and it's like a way that we
Speaker 1: we stay in touch over the years. But it was like,
Speaker 1: you know, there's nothing worse than sweating stupid Nick Folk
Speaker 1: to make a fifty yard and you're like, you know,
Speaker 1: like anyway, so yeah, band pickers, I'm with you, Jerry,
Speaker 1: there's nothing And that's a tough one. That's a bad
Speaker 1: beat when you when you're not making the playoffs because
Speaker 1: of a missteptic point. So a lot of Jerry's leagues
Speaker 1: are filled with celebrities. He's been very humble here and
Speaker 1: I've tried to get him a name drop a little
Speaker 1: bit of who's in them. But the only one I
Speaker 1: know really Jerry c J McCollum that you've said, c J. Mccollins,
Speaker 1: and one I'm still recovering from my loss to Bobby Flay.
Speaker 1: I even asked Bobby Flay because he he trashed talking me.
Speaker 1: I asked him he's talking to Matthew Berry. I had
Speaker 1: to ask because he had a couple of really slick moves.
Speaker 1: I'm like, are you talking to Matthew Berry? Bro? Are
Speaker 1: you talking to Bobby Flay? Him and I have emailed
Speaker 1: once or twice, but not a lot. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: a good no but he's a good fantasy player. Because
Speaker 1: I'm back when I was at ESPN, we did a
Speaker 1: couple of like celebrity leagues with him, and sometimes when
Speaker 1: you do the celebrity leagues, sometimes the celebs know what
Speaker 1: they're doing, and sometimes he sort of gott to help
Speaker 1: him out to kind of draft form behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: and Bobby was like, no, no, I'm good, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, And and he drafted a really good team.
Speaker 1: So Bobby's are a really good player. He's a really
Speaker 1: good player. So yeah, it is it's fantasy or cooking.
Speaker 1: It's hard to beat Bobby Flay. What about any US president.
Speaker 1: I've never been in a league with the US President.
Speaker 1: I did have the we had the Second Gentleman. It's
Speaker 1: weird to sort of say that, but that's the second Gentleman.
Speaker 1: So Vice President Harris's husband, Doug em Hoff, is a
Speaker 1: big fantasy player, and he actually was on my podcast,
Speaker 1: the Fantasy Football Happy Hour, and he's in a he's
Speaker 1: been in like a thirty year league with all of
Speaker 1: his old law school buddies, and so that was cool.
Speaker 1: They were like, you know, we you know, it's like
Speaker 1: it's not often that you get a call from the
Speaker 1: White House, Like you're like, you know, right, and um
Speaker 1: they're like no, like you know, the the second gentleman
Speaker 1: wants to talk about fantasy football and would love becoming
Speaker 1: your home. Like, you know, anyone that's in the white
Speaker 1: House is more than welcome with my who's the real
Speaker 1: running back in San Francisco? I can imagine what those
Speaker 1: questions are, like what it is. It's like those weird things.
Speaker 1: I literally joke for them. I'm just like catch you
Speaker 1: like you get to you know, your wife gets you know,
Speaker 1: the cop level security clearance every single day. Can't you
Speaker 1: just like say, like listen, who's them who's getting the
Speaker 1: targets in San Francisco this week? You know, can't you
Speaker 1: kind of flip that in there like they know everything?
Speaker 1: You know? And he didn't want to. He didn't want
Speaker 1: to do that. He's, you know, he's playing it above board.
Speaker 1: But uh but yeah, that was that was fun. So
Speaker 1: certainly that's that's the closest I've got into a white
Speaker 1: House fantasy interact. So I've done a little bit of
Speaker 1: a three sixty. And I don't know if you've actually
Speaker 1: spun because I obviously listened to all your stuff. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you've ever spoken about this. I know
Speaker 1: you have. I might have even heard you on Simmons
Speaker 1: maybe talk about it. But obviously when I first started playing,
Speaker 1: I was in like total points leagues, and then I
Speaker 1: was really young and everyone started doing head to head,
Speaker 1: so we transitioned to that, and it's been head to
Speaker 1: head for eternity. But I am no longer downward head
Speaker 1: to head because in one of these leagues too, I
Speaker 1: think I have the second most points and I'm in
Speaker 1: ninth place, so I'm not going to get in. And
Speaker 1: also too, when you get to this point in the year,
Speaker 1: guys who are out who forget to set their lineups
Speaker 1: and stuff like that and and lose a game that
Speaker 1: if they would have just started one person on the
Speaker 1: bench they would have won. I feel like with overall points,
Speaker 1: that doesn't happen as much, not nearly as fun maybe,
Speaker 1: but maybe the more accurate portrayal of who the best
Speaker 1: team is. Yeah, it's certainly a more accurate portrayal the
Speaker 1: way I really enjoy playing and I played about you know,
Speaker 1: like I want to say, like I got four, four
Speaker 1: or five of the leagues that I'm in this year,
Speaker 1: we do it this way, and so it took me forever.
Speaker 1: I finally got ESPN to do this of course, and
Speaker 1: then I leave. But so you can play this on ESPN,
Speaker 1: and you can play this on like my Fantasy league
Speaker 1: in some other ways, but where you in essence play
Speaker 1: it's victory points. Some people call it the Howard Stern
Speaker 1: rule because it's a way they I used to be
Speaker 1: in a league with a bunch of the guys in
Speaker 1: the Howard Stern Show, and so the first time I
Speaker 1: ever heard this rule was through that league, so some
Speaker 1: people called the Howard Stern rule. But in essence, the
Speaker 1: rule is is that, say it's a ten team league,
Speaker 1: you play your matchup, you play ahead to head matchup,
Speaker 1: which is always fun Jerry, and so you get that
Speaker 1: you know, interaction. So obviously whoever wins, the five teams
Speaker 1: that win those head to head matches get one win,
Speaker 1: but the five highest scoring teams in the league also
Speaker 1: get a win. So in essence, every single week you
Speaker 1: either go two and oh one and one or oh
Speaker 1: and two and so that way, if you're you're the
Speaker 1: third highest scoring team in the league that week, but
Speaker 1: you play the first place team and you lose, at
Speaker 1: least now you go one and one for the week.
Speaker 1: And so that's sort of the I really enjoy that
Speaker 1: because it's sort of the best of both worlds. It
Speaker 1: rewards the teams that score a lot of points, but
Speaker 1: also allows you the head to head matchup piece of
Speaker 1: which is you know, the fun part of fantasy football
Speaker 1: that you know, talking trash and going head to head
Speaker 1: and knowing that one matchup that you've got to beat.
Speaker 1: You know. So you mentioned leaving ESPN for NBC, and
Speaker 1: I think it's actually a part of a bigger conversation
Speaker 1: about the landscape of which networks cover sports. And we've
Speaker 1: in fantasy football, we've in betting. We're seeing this change
Speaker 1: as networks are catching up. So when you left ESPN
Speaker 1: after fifteen years FRIENDBC, you've said that some of that
Speaker 1: played into your decision. So what did tip the scale
Speaker 1: and NBC's favor for their plans for you. It's a
Speaker 1: little out of order in essence. Basically, I knew my
Speaker 1: deal was coming up at ESPN, and so, you know,
Speaker 1: we we were talking about an extension, you know, and
Speaker 1: I had a great run there and still a lot
Speaker 1: of friends still at the company, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: they said to me, I have this side business I have,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a it's a real business. Now Fantasy Life,
Speaker 1: the Fantasy Life newsletter and fantasy Life dot Com worked
Speaker 1: a seven full time employees. You know, we're gonna do
Speaker 1: seven figures and revenue this year. We're profitable. It's you know,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a real business. And by the way,
Speaker 1: for anyone that's a fantasy player, highly recommend checking out
Speaker 1: fantasy Life dot com and subscribe to the newsletters. Add
Speaker 1: percent free. We don't ask you, We never ask you
Speaker 1: for a time, but a lot of tools on fantasy
Speaker 1: life dot com for both betting and fantasy leak sink
Speaker 1: and waiver wire assistance, and it's just a great site.
Speaker 1: They do a great job with it. And so anyway,
Speaker 1: ESPN said to me simply, hey, we want to assign
Speaker 1: you to a three year extension, but we want you
Speaker 1: to focus just on ESPN. We don't want you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to give up this thing that you've had a
Speaker 1: carve out for in your previous contract. And I love
Speaker 1: it and I didn't want to give that up. And
Speaker 1: so as we were having those conversations, you know, we
Speaker 1: started talking to other people, and um, you know there
Speaker 1: was hey, you know, my agents were like, hey, Matthew
Speaker 1: might be available. And so we sort of gauged the
Speaker 1: interest of the community, and I was very flattered that
Speaker 1: there are a lot of companies out there that said,
Speaker 1: like Matthews ever free, we'd be really interested in sitting
Speaker 1: down and talking to him. So anyway, ultimately, ESPN and
Speaker 1: I just started to you know, we decided to part friends,
Speaker 1: and I decided to leave ESPN. And I was incredibly
Speaker 1: flattered and overwhelmed by the reaction that you know, that
Speaker 1: that was online. You know, as I I said to
Speaker 1: my wife, I said, it's really awesome to be trending
Speaker 1: on Twitter and not be dead or cancer, you know, right,
Speaker 1: you know, like you know, and so um, so that
Speaker 1: was that was really cool, really cool moment for me.
Speaker 1: And so anyway, in terms of NBC, so we you know,
Speaker 1: we we started taking meetings, and by we, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I have agents, and so we started taking
Speaker 1: meetings with all the people that had said like, yeah,
Speaker 1: if he's a free agent, we'd be really interested. And
Speaker 1: so we're like, hey, I'm I'm a free agent now,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's sort of interesting. I uh, Olivia,
Speaker 1: I sort of made this joke before where it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, as you're going and taking these meetings. It's
Speaker 1: a little bit like you know, dating as a single parent.
Speaker 1: You're like, hey, listen, I know, I know you'll like me,
Speaker 1: but like I also got this kid, you know. And
Speaker 1: I was just like, listen, you know, fantasy life comes
Speaker 1: with me. I'm not I'm not doing anything without fantasy life.
Speaker 1: And NBC. NBC just came over the top and just
Speaker 1: such a massive way. NBC came to me and they said, look,
Speaker 1: we love you. We'd love you to come over here
Speaker 1: and really help us out in this space. We know
Speaker 1: how important betting and fantasy is and it's something we
Speaker 1: want to, you know, really dive into even more in
Speaker 1: a bigger way. And we think with you, we can
Speaker 1: do that. And so what we'd like to do is
Speaker 1: we'd like you to come over here. We want you
Speaker 1: to be a part of Football Night in America. You know,
Speaker 1: So the pre game to Sunday Night Football, the biggest
Speaker 1: show in television. It's literally the it's the second highest
Speaker 1: rated show on television, not the second highest rated sports show.
Speaker 1: It's the second stranded show in television. The only thing
Speaker 1: higher rated than that is the actual football game. And
Speaker 1: so you know, for me, it's you know, it was.
Speaker 1: It's the iconic pregame show, and that was always a
Speaker 1: big part of of me. And I'll talk about this
Speaker 1: in a second, but I it was important for me
Speaker 1: as I always trying to sort of push the ball
Speaker 1: forward for fantasy football is throughout my career to be
Speaker 1: a part of NFL program. That was a big part
Speaker 1: of me and not just like sort of some sort
Speaker 1: of off to some side set on the shoulder, like
Speaker 1: you know where you're just like forty five seconds because
Speaker 1: whatever some sponsor started, you know, sponsor to start sitting
Speaker 1: you know thing, and I'm doing, like, you know, just
Speaker 1: be a truly integrated member of the cast of a
Speaker 1: pregame show. And so NBC said, we'll put on Football
Speaker 1: Night in America. We're gonna give you a daily show
Speaker 1: on on Peacock that will be a podcast of you know,
Speaker 1: with your name on it. We'll do a Sunday show
Speaker 1: on Peacock and CNBC as well. We'll put you on
Speaker 1: Football Night in America. And as for Fantasy Life, like,
Speaker 1: we're totally comfortable that Chris Collinsworth owns Pro Football Focus,
Speaker 1: Mike Floria owns Pro Football Talk, Jim Kramer owns his
Speaker 1: Investment Club. So we've proven that we are. And I
Speaker 1: talked to some of those guys saying, what's your experience
Speaker 1: been with NBC, and they're like, it's been great. They're
Speaker 1: incredibly supportive on my side business, and you know, they
Speaker 1: want me to accomplish what they need me to accomplish
Speaker 1: for NBC. As long as I take care of that,
Speaker 1: like they're good, and that's been the case here. They're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna need you to do X, Y and Z
Speaker 1: for us here at NBC. And as long as you
Speaker 1: do that, not only can you have Fantasy Life and
Speaker 1: promote it and contribute to it, but you know, if
Speaker 1: we can figure out a way for it to be
Speaker 1: uh a mutually beneficial relationship between Fantasy Life and NBC Universal,
Speaker 1: we'll you know, won't promote it, will support it. And
Speaker 1: so we're having those conversations now which have been great
Speaker 1: and productive. And I mean it's a I say this
Speaker 1: with no disrespect to my former home, but it is
Speaker 1: a dream come true to be here, to be an
Speaker 1: NBC there. They have every single thing they've promised me,
Speaker 1: they have delivered on and over delivered. It's been it's
Speaker 1: been awesome. It's just been it's been great, and so like,
Speaker 1: let me just take it full circle back to your
Speaker 1: question what put them over the top? It was just that.
Speaker 1: I mean they at the highest levels of the company.
Speaker 1: They you know, they took me up to dinner and
Speaker 1: they recruited me, and they're like, we're gonna will pay
Speaker 1: you a nice salary, will like you have Fantasy life,
Speaker 1: will put you on football night in America. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like where do I sign? Where do
Speaker 1: I sign? Yeah, it's great. Off of all that, well,
Speaker 1: I find so fascinated to is uh trying to relate
Speaker 1: to that. I've been acting for a long time, but
Speaker 1: I get I got like the opportunity to being a
Speaker 1: Clint east With movie, and I was significantly more nervous
Speaker 1: than I ever was before, to a point where I'm like,
Speaker 1: can I do I even know how to do this?
Speaker 1: What is Matthew Berry feeling like moments before he's about
Speaker 1: to be on, as you said, the second biggest TV
Speaker 1: show in the country. Jerry, that's a great question. It's
Speaker 1: exactly the same thing that you felt like when you
Speaker 1: were on the set of that The first time you
Speaker 1: know you're on set and there's Clint, you know, like
Speaker 1: it's the same thing. I'm just like. And the other
Speaker 1: thing is my first time was we made the announcement
Speaker 1: and literally hours later, I was on the field for
Speaker 1: the preseason game, the very first game of the of
Speaker 1: the year, the Hall of Fame game between the Raigners
Speaker 1: and the Jaguars, and so not, don't is it right?
Speaker 1: It's football night in America? But I also know, like
Speaker 1: it's the first preseason game, it's the first game of
Speaker 1: the year, so there can be a huge audience anyway.
Speaker 1: And then then you're on the field and you're at
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, right, and so like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm standing there on the field and like whatever, there's
Speaker 1: you know Wherevor Lawrence walks by, and then you know,
Speaker 1: I see Davante Adams, you know, screwing around with Derek Carr,
Speaker 1: and you're like, and then you know it's like Mike
Speaker 1: Dreko walks, Hey Mike, you know, hey, Matthew, welcome team.
Speaker 1: You know, Chris Consworth, like you know, these guys that
Speaker 1: I've watched for years and years and years, and I
Speaker 1: knew Mike from my days of ESPN, so that helped.
Speaker 1: But you know, super nervous and like, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I've been on TV almost every day of my life
Speaker 1: for fifteen years, you know, on ESPN, and I don't
Speaker 1: think I've ever had butterflies like that because it's one
Speaker 1: thing where you're like, yeah, my dumb little podcast or
Speaker 1: whatever I'm doing. Even when I was doing like Fantasy
Speaker 1: Football Now or the Sunday Show, that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: it just right, you know, Jerry, Right, You've been acting
Speaker 1: your whole life, and it's a sort of I've done
Speaker 1: it for fifteen years. It's like, you know, I know
Speaker 1: what I'm doing, but I was so my heart's being
Speaker 1: a million miles a minute and trying to remember what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, you know, they're in your ear wrap and
Speaker 1: throw to Chris and what I'm doing because my first
Speaker 1: segment was Chris Sims. And yeah, I mean I still honestly,
Speaker 1: you know, it's gotten a lot better, but I still
Speaker 1: get nervous every Sunday night. Everyone's watching the world's watching everyone.
Speaker 1: It is well because they literally say that, like, and
Speaker 1: so my producer, Matt Casey, he'll will like, like, we're
Speaker 1: watching the game. The show starts at seven o'clock, and
Speaker 1: so we'll still we've got in the background, we've got
Speaker 1: the late games. But once you know, and they'll end,
Speaker 1: and so I usually don't show up in the show
Speaker 1: until later on in the show. And so like you know,
Speaker 1: segment six and segments seven and segment eight and so,
Speaker 1: which are whatever towards the end of the show. And
Speaker 1: so we'll have you know, our our earpieces in and
Speaker 1: everything like that, and we'll see like the last late
Speaker 1: game go final, and Matt always goes, all right, man,
Speaker 1: He'll just say whatever, whatever the late game was, Kansas
Speaker 1: City Dever just went final. All right, guys, the whole
Speaker 1: country's with us. Let's go, you know. And it's like
Speaker 1: and it's true, right, I mean, because right, you know,
Speaker 1: like every one watches that show, and so um, it's
Speaker 1: definitely nerve wracking. It's that like, please don't screw up,
Speaker 1: Please don't screw and then Jerry and then you know
Speaker 1: this too is because now that you've gotten into the
Speaker 1: betting and fantasy world as well, like in addition to
Speaker 1: like just okay, please don't screw up, then you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. You know, twelve million, fourteen million people
Speaker 1: are watching me this past week, fourteen million people or
Speaker 1: whatever it was, saw me say I think TA has
Speaker 1: a great game and just kills the Chargers. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was like I regret that. Why did I just you know,
Speaker 1: why did this tell so many people? Why did I
Speaker 1: believe in too? Uh? You know, it comes with the territory.
Speaker 1: But people have been great. The response has been absolutely terrific.
Speaker 1: And what's really cool is, and this helps you to
Speaker 1: answer your question, Jerry, is that NBC and specifically the
Speaker 1: cast of Football Night have been so welcoming because it's
Speaker 1: I've been in situations many times in my life where
Speaker 1: it so it's like, oh, what's the fantasy nerd doing here?
Speaker 1: What's the like we gotta do betting, we gotta man,
Speaker 1: you know everything like that. And I have to tell
Speaker 1: you to a person when it came on the set
Speaker 1: and I'm like, so I'm the new guy, right, I mean, like,
Speaker 1: and they've they've built this great show that's you know,
Speaker 1: super successful over the years, and so I'm the new
Speaker 1: guy showing up and you know, Jason Garretts knew this
Speaker 1: year as well, but like, you know, that's a guy
Speaker 1: that everyone that watches football has been seeing for years
Speaker 1: and years and years on the sideline and he's been
Speaker 1: in the NBC family because he was calling usl phall
Speaker 1: game USFL games last year and I'm the new guy
Speaker 1: in the fantasy nerve and everything like that, and everyone
Speaker 1: was just like, hey man, it's awesome. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: They're like thanking me. We're like, oh, we're so glad
Speaker 1: you're here, and like, oh, we we need to do
Speaker 1: more in fantasy and betting, and we're so glad you're here.
Speaker 1: And you give us credibility in the space. And like
Speaker 1: Maria Taylor, who had never met at ESPN because she
Speaker 1: worked on pro basketball and college football, which I never did,
Speaker 1: so like I literally never interacted with her at ESPN.
Speaker 1: I walk up to shake hands with Maria to say hi,
Speaker 1: and she just immediately hugs me and she goes, welcome home.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Like this right, I mean,
Speaker 1: like Maria is the best or whatever, and it's just
Speaker 1: a great casting crew that have made me feel so welcome.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad to hear that Maria is the best.
Speaker 1: I we both went at Georgia a couple of years apart,
Speaker 1: and then I knew her at ESPN on the college
Speaker 1: football side. But I've got to ask you because I
Speaker 1: think he may be the nicest man in show business.
Speaker 1: Mike Terrico is he not just the best, he is
Speaker 1: the second nicest man. I'll tell you that. Tony Dungee
Speaker 1: is like is like st Tony. It's unbelievable. But yes,
Speaker 1: Mike is great. He's been really encouraging. You know. Mike's
Speaker 1: a fellow Orangemen like myself. We both went to Syracuse
Speaker 1: and oh, that doesn't narrow it down in our industry.
Speaker 1: That does not narrow it down. But Triko is your right.
Speaker 1: Rico is great. He's the consummate professional. He's so good
Speaker 1: on air. He's just I'm in awe of him and
Speaker 1: is played by play skills and and just how good
Speaker 1: he is. But um, yeah, we he said hi to
Speaker 1: me before the game. But after the game, all of
Speaker 1: us were back at the hotel and the casting crew
Speaker 1: were we had like some pizzas and beers and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, and he pulled me over to the side
Speaker 1: and he was just like, here's the difference between ESPN
Speaker 1: and NBC. Here's what you can expect, and just sort
Speaker 1: of gave me, you know, a really nice kind of
Speaker 1: welcome here. You're gonna love it here. Here's kind of
Speaker 1: a layer of the land. Here's some things that I
Speaker 1: found helpful. By the way, you know, here's by selling email.
Speaker 1: Still had it from ESPN brads. It's like they haven't
Speaker 1: gonna make uran He's yeah the best. Yeah. So you
Speaker 1: mentioned being a can, right, you know you're very busy guys.
Speaker 1: So we could maybe potentially end on this depending on
Speaker 1: your answer. I think there's a great opportunity for the
Speaker 1: NFL to include Fantasy in the Hall of Fame like
Speaker 1: a wing, like a like a a wing. And I
Speaker 1: think if anyone's ever gonna preside over who gets in,
Speaker 1: maybe not the green jacket or a yellow jacket. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's a silver jacket. I think you would be maybe
Speaker 1: the best call ever to preside over that. I appreciate that, Jarry.
Speaker 1: That's high high phrase. I'll say this. I certainly think
Speaker 1: fantasy deserves a place somewhere in the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: some sort of acknowledgement. I will tell you that Fantasy
Speaker 1: Baseball is in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. But
Speaker 1: they have the original they have the original constitution of
Speaker 1: the very first the Rotissary League Baseball guys, and and
Speaker 1: those guys have been honored at the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: So fantasy football has brought so much joy and interest
Speaker 1: into the game, and there are you know, people over
Speaker 1: the years have tried to do fantasy Hall of Fames
Speaker 1: and that kind of stuff. But I do feel like
Speaker 1: I think that's a great idea, Jerry, it should be.
Speaker 1: I don't know how it's you know, I'm not the
Speaker 1: curator of the Hall of Fame. I'll leave it to
Speaker 1: the people that are in charge of that to figure
Speaker 1: out how. But it absolutely it's too it's too woven
Speaker 1: into the game. It's too important to the overall fan
Speaker 1: enjoyment of the game to not have some sort of
Speaker 1: acknowledgement at the Hall of Fame. All right, do you
Speaker 1: have one player before you go? Then if you're doing
Speaker 1: an inducting, now this could be a personal one. You
Speaker 1: don't have to go on who are the maybe just
Speaker 1: the best, every personal Matthew Berry, if it's my Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame because maybe something this player did for you,
Speaker 1: Like for me, it's Randy Moss only because of what
Speaker 1: he did for me for three specific years on that
Speaker 1: Patriots run. He'll get me my only chip. Who fits
Speaker 1: that criteria for you? That's meant the most to you
Speaker 1: that you would say that guy gets the silver jacket
Speaker 1: or whatever color our jackets are. Yeah, I mean, gosh,
Speaker 1: I mean there's so many. I've been playing fantasy for
Speaker 1: so long. I know it's probably not fair because you
Speaker 1: have you know, you can make a case for everyone,
Speaker 1: really can. I mean, like, you know, listen to my
Speaker 1: my very first fantasy league ever. I had Cordell Stewart,
Speaker 1: you know, and he was like awesome that one year
Speaker 1: and very first year ever played fantasy football. Have been
Speaker 1: playing fantasy sports much longer than that. But those in
Speaker 1: college listen Darren Waller. Darren Wallers, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: breakout year with the Raiders. He was a big sleeper
Speaker 1: for me. And I want to like a deep industry
Speaker 1: dynasty league where I I beat a bunch of big
Speaker 1: names in the fantasy football industry and it was It's
Speaker 1: a tight end premium league and I had Waller, so
Speaker 1: like he's important to me. I also have my homes
Speaker 1: in that league. I love, you know, I love my homes. God,
Speaker 1: you know, I have to think about that one really,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's it's always sort of Jalen
Speaker 1: Hurts this year, like who was my writer died. He's
Speaker 1: made me look purty to share what a crazy story
Speaker 1: Brock Party is, uh as well, So you know, I'd
Speaker 1: have to have to really think about come back and
Speaker 1: maybe give us a little all those guys, I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: Brandon Marshall, you know Brandon Marshall especially like reception games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like you know, so there's there's a bunch of guys
Speaker 1: that I would uh, I would throw in there, you
Speaker 1: know as well. So speaking of Brock Purty, there have
Speaker 1: been fifty four different starting quarterbacks this year, which is
Speaker 1: mind blowing considering that if each team started to we'd
Speaker 1: be at sixty four. So we're almost at each team
Speaker 1: starting two quarterbacks. With that in mind, and with the
Speaker 1: fantasy perspective, what do you see from some of these
Speaker 1: backups that are now starters and who's going to do
Speaker 1: well for guys fantasy leaves. It's a great question, Olivia.
Speaker 1: You know, I think it's all dependent. It's you know.
Speaker 1: What I will tell you though, is what's interesting is
Speaker 1: is that fantasy success in general comes from two things,
Speaker 1: talent an opportunity. And so a lot of these quarterbacks
Speaker 1: now have the opportunity, do they have the talent, you're
Speaker 1: always surprised by it. Like brock Purty was a little
Speaker 1: bit of a surprise just because he didn't think he
Speaker 1: would run. You know, you don't think he's more of
Speaker 1: a pocket pastor. He's not gonna run. It's hard for
Speaker 1: a quarterback to have fantasy success when they don't run right,
Speaker 1: generally in today's NFL, like you have to be able
Speaker 1: to if you're going to have tremendous success as a
Speaker 1: non running quarterback, you have to be like just a
Speaker 1: massive touchdown equity pocket pastor like Joe Burrow right, and
Speaker 1: so you know, it just would pretty have that and
Speaker 1: pretty ended up doing that. It was a little more
Speaker 1: mobile than I think people gave him credit for. I
Speaker 1: don't know that there's anyone that you feel great about,
Speaker 1: you know, I will say that I think we saw
Speaker 1: the Kyler Murray injury last night, which is just awful.
Speaker 1: I don't think Colpe McCoy is going to be a
Speaker 1: great fantasy quarterback, but I think he's going to be
Speaker 1: competent enough to keep the fantasy prospects of DeAndre Hopkins
Speaker 1: and Marcus Brown alive. James Connor, he didn't have the
Speaker 1: arm that Kyler Murray does, so I think he's gonna
Speaker 1: dump off to you know, James Connor a lot. I
Speaker 1: think when Rondel or comes back, if he comes back
Speaker 1: next week, I think Rondel Moore becomes pretty interesting. I
Speaker 1: will say, if there's a backup quarterback that I would
Speaker 1: stream this week that's available in more than whatever you
Speaker 1: know of Yahoo leagues or ESPN leagues, Mike White becomes
Speaker 1: interesting to me. He's at home against Detroit. So Mike
Speaker 1: White in the three games in which he started, he's
Speaker 1: averaging at least forty three pass attempts. He's averaging three
Speaker 1: seventeen passing yards. He faces the lines. Detroit allows the
Speaker 1: most Fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks over the last four weeks.
Speaker 1: The lines are giving up the third most passing yards
Speaker 1: per game. This game is in New York. Now, as
Speaker 1: we tape this podcast, the expectation isn't that White will
Speaker 1: be starting. He took a couple of shots to the ribs,
Speaker 1: so it's not a hundred percent. But like, if you're
Speaker 1: asking me, like, give me a backup quarterback that I
Speaker 1: could stream this week, Mike White would be my choice.
Speaker 1: I've got just one more before I let you go
Speaker 1: about you giving jay Z fantasy football. It's a fun story.
Speaker 1: Ten years go, I get a get a call from
Speaker 1: a guy named Mike and he says, you know, hey, Matthew,
Speaker 1: we we're all big fans. My league's a big fan
Speaker 1: of yours, and uh, we'd love you to come buy
Speaker 1: our draft and hang out, you know, and just speaking
Speaker 1: just to kind of critique the picks, you know, give
Speaker 1: your analysis and that kind of stuff. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: he's like, yeah, it's in New York on this date.
Speaker 1: And I'm just like, listen, Mike, I don't know this
Speaker 1: guy from a whole long I'm like, listen, Mike, I'm flattered.
Speaker 1: I really am. I appreciate it. But you know, August
Speaker 1: is my busiest month. I live in Connecticut. It's like
Speaker 1: two hours to get to New York, and I just
Speaker 1: I'm just, you know, I'm swamped, and I just I
Speaker 1: just don't do that, Honestly. I just don't go to
Speaker 1: random people's leagues and hang out for three and a
Speaker 1: half hours. I'm sorry, you know. And he goes, well,
Speaker 1: it's it's for jay Z easily, Wendy need me, you know,
Speaker 1: what are the directions? What am I wearing I mean,
Speaker 1: like you know, like so you know, I've told this
Speaker 1: story many times. But anyway, so I walk in and
Speaker 1: it was and so jay Z's league. The guy Mike
Speaker 1: that was asked me to be in the league is
Speaker 1: a guy named Mike Kaiser who's the president of Atlantic
Speaker 1: Records and at Little Burger on Instagram as well. A
Speaker 1: lot of people don't so he's he's very close friends
Speaker 1: with Jay and has been for twenty years. And so,
Speaker 1: uh and so I've just sort of I've not gone
Speaker 1: to that draft for ten years, and so when I'm
Speaker 1: at the draft, sort of everyone kind of like I'm
Speaker 1: kind of like a community property, if you will. And
Speaker 1: so there be times where Jay will call me over
Speaker 1: and ask me for some advice or Mike Kaiser. Chris
Speaker 1: Paul is in that league. Uh V Gotti from Murdering,
Speaker 1: he's in that league. Jesse Hitzler, who's one of the
Speaker 1: co owners of the Atlanta Hawks, He's in that league.
Speaker 1: Great motivational speech speaker. Uh. Steve Stout from United Masters
Speaker 1: and Translation, he's in that league. Like Kevin Lyles, who
Speaker 1: you know Three Entertainment, former president of def Jam, He's
Speaker 1: in that league. Like it's it's legends, back and forth.
Speaker 1: Juan Perez, the president of Rock Nation Sports, he's in
Speaker 1: that league, like it's all. It's all legends all, you know,
Speaker 1: we all just sort of pop around and people will hey, Barry,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm thinking about these two guys who will say, so,
Speaker 1: so I give you know, Jay advice. Uh, in that
Speaker 1: sense that you know I'm at the you know, I'm
Speaker 1: at the at the draft. He's a really good player.
Speaker 1: He's the last year he won the championship. You know,
Speaker 1: he's a really good player. He's he's in the playoffs
Speaker 1: this year. He's um uh, so you know he's a
Speaker 1: really good player. He doesn't really need my help. What
Speaker 1: did the loser in that league have to do? I've
Speaker 1: gotta know it's got to be big steaks. They don't
Speaker 1: have a loser punishment. I will say it's a pricing Uh.
Speaker 1: It is. Uh, it's definitely a pricing league. It's one
Speaker 1: of those Olivia that if you have to ask that,
Speaker 1: I'll leave it there. I'll say though, that their trophies
Speaker 1: are in terms of first place. So Jay has a
Speaker 1: deal with Tiffany's and so when he won the championship
Speaker 1: last year, they designed him. I mean, it's a Tiffany
Speaker 1: designed fantasy football trophy. Is the most beautiful thing I've
Speaker 1: ever seen in my life. Like it's gorgeous. I don't
Speaker 1: even know what it costs, but like, I mean, so
Speaker 1: it's um, it's just uh the trophies in that in
Speaker 1: that league are just absolutely uh insane. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of stories that I can tell about the league. The
Speaker 1: one thing else interest it's a great league and all
Speaker 1: the guys in that league are great, and it's always
Speaker 1: one of my favorite days of the year is just
Speaker 1: going there and hanging out with all those guys. What's
Speaker 1: funny is the very first time I meet jay Z,
Speaker 1: I don't know what to call him, right. It's not
Speaker 1: like it's not like you get introduced to him the
Speaker 1: way you normally would like him. Olivia. You know, Matthew
Speaker 1: meet Olivia. Olivia me, Matthew, OHI nice to meet you.
Speaker 1: How are you right? You don't it's it's just like
Speaker 1: he's him, right, you know what I mean? And so
Speaker 1: like and so he motioned me over. I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask me a couple of questions, but I don't know
Speaker 1: what to like do I call him like you know, like,
Speaker 1: you know, do I call him Jay? Do I come hope?
Speaker 1: Do I call him Mr? Carter? Do I call Mr? Z?
Speaker 1: You know? Like what do I? How do I? How
Speaker 1: do I friends? You know what I mean? Like what
Speaker 1: do I? I don't know what to you know, don't
Speaker 1: I'm literally sweat and bullets thinking like how do I
Speaker 1: address him? You know what I mean? Because I don't.
Speaker 1: It's not like I've been introduced, and it's not like
Speaker 1: we're friends. And I mean, he's you know, you know,
Speaker 1: to me, he's the closest thing we have to royalty
Speaker 1: in this country. And and so anyway, super exactly like
Speaker 1: all right, but I gotta called Mr Carter. You gotta
Speaker 1: help someone buckles out for you, right, you know, King,
Speaker 1: Mr President like you? And anyway, eventually everyone in the league,
Speaker 1: everyone in the league calls him J or Hove and
Speaker 1: so like um like after like about three hours in
Speaker 1: I sort of kind of floated a little trial balloon, like, hey,
Speaker 1: J what do you think about this tight end here?
Speaker 1: You know? And he didn't. He didn't react, So I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, all right, you know, okay, all right,
Speaker 1: I can I can call him j alright, So he's
Speaker 1: great by the way, he's the one thing I'll say
Speaker 1: about him, What I will say is is that what's
Speaker 1: incredible to me is that if you didn't know who
Speaker 1: he was, like you know what I mean, Like, if
Speaker 1: you just met him without any context whatsoever, you would
Speaker 1: not know he's him. Like he's like he's he's the
Speaker 1: most down to earth like normal dude you would ever meet,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like he's just he's super
Speaker 1: chill and just like it's really it's disarming to be
Speaker 1: honest with you, Like it's uh in terms of just
Speaker 1: how unaffected he is, if if that makes any sense,
Speaker 1: Like he's just like the most normal guy and you know,
Speaker 1: and you're like, you know anyway, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And yet like I've I've been at events with him
Speaker 1: or I've you know, been in places with him, and
Speaker 1: it's just like he he can't walk three feet without
Speaker 1: being surrounded by twenty people. I mean, he's just like
Speaker 1: he's that iconic anyway. But I love that guy. I mean,
Speaker 1: I just I absolutely love the we We definitely might
Speaker 1: we've kept you long enough. We're gonna have to get
Speaker 1: you back for a follow up because there's so much
Speaker 1: more to talk about. But Matthew Berry, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for being here. Good luck with the rest of
Speaker 1: the season and keep adding to the trophy case for sure.
Speaker 1: And also, as you know, we will all be watching
Speaker 1: on football night in America. So continued success with that.
Speaker 1: Love watching you, love seeing you succeed and doing your thing.
Speaker 1: You look like you're having a blast. So thank you
Speaker 1: for taking the time and coming on here and talking
Speaker 1: to us. I appreciate it. Guys, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Glad we were able to make this work. Thank you
Speaker 1: again for stopping by. And yeah, please come back if
Speaker 1: you could fit us, if you could fit us in,
Speaker 1: would love to have you back as we get into playoffs,
Speaker 1: are even leading into next year. Yeah, anytime, man, happy
Speaker 1: to do it. I love you guys. Are Yeah, you
Speaker 1: know when you hear that music, it is time to talk.
Speaker 1: Entourage to go back into Jerry's past and ask him
Speaker 1: really all the behind the scenes stuff. And I've got
Speaker 1: a good episode this week. I'm dying to ask you about, Jared.
Speaker 1: It's the Joshua Create episode, the Tripping Shrooms. This has
Speaker 1: to be one of the episodes you're asked the most about.
Speaker 1: I know you say that frequently. But this one's got
Speaker 1: to be a fan face. It is definitely up there.
Speaker 1: This is such a good one to talk about because
Speaker 1: you know, we always talk about those episodes where we
Speaker 1: go somewhere really cool and usually spend like a few
Speaker 1: days shooting there, whether it was Hawaii or can Joshua Treat,
Speaker 1: which is really cool. Not the greatest place to shoot
Speaker 1: in like the middle of July in the desert when
Speaker 1: it's a harder intend degrees. But the episode itself is
Speaker 1: one of my favorites because it was such like a
Speaker 1: non Hollywood thing and the whole premise of We're going
Speaker 1: there to find answers of Vince to do Benji the movie,
Speaker 1: It's just hilarious premise. There's a lot here, So I'm
Speaker 1: curious what you want to talk about first, because I
Speaker 1: have a few stories off the top of my head. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: I first have to ask because I always thought if
Speaker 1: I was an actress and I had to be drunk
Speaker 1: in a scene, I've always said this, I would have
Speaker 1: a couple of drinks before the episode. So my question is,
Speaker 1: did you guys do anything to loosen up a little
Speaker 1: bit before shooting this? To my recollection, and I could
Speaker 1: definitely speak for myself and I can speak for you
Speaker 1: the guys. No, no one, No one did anything. And
Speaker 1: I've been asked a lot about Look, have I ever
Speaker 1: had a drink on the set before where I have
Speaker 1: no lines and it's a party scene. Yes, But here's
Speaker 1: how I would describe. You have to play drunk or high. Typically,
Speaker 1: what do drunk people or even stone people say when
Speaker 1: you ask them? Are you fucked up? They say no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not. They try so hard to play it straight.
Speaker 1: So if you really watched that episode, We're not doing
Speaker 1: we talked a lot about this. We're not doing like
Speaker 1: too much of the WOA. It's so trippy, it's subtle.
Speaker 1: The funny thing is and Connolly kevinc Connelly in the
Speaker 1: episode was given Doug Ellen a lot of ship because
Speaker 1: he's like, Doug, I have no lines in the episode.
Speaker 1: My character doesn't speak. It's the best part. And he
Speaker 1: got nominated for a Golden Globe that year. The hope
Speaker 1: the whole season. But it's like he could plain and
Speaker 1: you'll see in the next episode there's a lot of
Speaker 1: jokes about him. He complained the most about these two episodes,
Speaker 1: and he got nominated for a golden globe three months later. No,
Speaker 1: it was great when he says he writes it down
Speaker 1: my mouth or something. Yeah, there's so many lines in
Speaker 1: that in that episode, and it's funny. In some shows,
Speaker 1: I know, it does contribute to the overall plot, but
Speaker 1: it does seem like kind of a one off, like,
Speaker 1: I don't isn't there a phrase for that in Hollywood?
Speaker 1: Like in ted Lasso it's the one there's one Christmas scene,
Speaker 1: there's like one really trippy scenes. Yeah, it's kind it's
Speaker 1: kind of like episodic, meaning like it has a beginning, middle,
Speaker 1: and end. Theoretically, there's not a ton of the overall
Speaker 1: storyline that gets pushed. Like the only overall storyline really
Speaker 1: was should Vince do Benji or should he go after
Speaker 1: smoke jumpers? So he gets that answer. But yeah, in
Speaker 1: a box, that episode has its own beginning, middle, and end,
Speaker 1: and you can watch it by itself without really knowing
Speaker 1: what's going on in the show and it will still
Speaker 1: work for you. And then the Arian Lloyd banter in
Speaker 1: that episode is so good. You know, Lloyd's my favorite. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like naked Pictionary in the Pool, that's a lot of
Speaker 1: fun funny story about Arnold, the dog who in the
Speaker 1: episode We're looking for the entire time. That dog's real
Speaker 1: name is Rocky. Okay, so, like I said, it's a
Speaker 1: hundred ten degrees. There are rattlesnakes in Joshua Retreat. They
Speaker 1: was a take we did with Rocky and then at
Speaker 1: the end of the take he just ran back to
Speaker 1: his trailer and Rocky would not come out of the trailer.
Speaker 1: He Rocky basically wrapped himself. He's like, I'm done, I'm
Speaker 1: done with the desert. Fuck you guys, It's over. So
Speaker 1: Rocky wrapped himself. So he's the biggest diva. Absolutely, So
Speaker 1: I guess I just have to know what inspiration do
Speaker 1: you draw on when you're acting like you're tripping on mushrooms?
Speaker 1: Do you just draw in real life experience? I would
Speaker 1: say you could still a little real life or maybe
Speaker 1: a little stories you heard, you know. We definitely, like
Speaker 1: I said, we all got together and made the plan
Speaker 1: along with our director and Doug Ellen of like, we're
Speaker 1: not going to go for the Like wow, so trippy,
Speaker 1: right that story with my character at the end where
Speaker 1: he's like kind of crying, like I want to call
Speaker 1: my mom. Apparently that really happened with something. Either it
Speaker 1: was either Connelly or Doug or one of their friends.
Speaker 1: That's a real story. Uh, Kevin Dillon has a lot
Speaker 1: of the show. First time I got drunk, I said,
Speaker 1: Kevin Dillon had the line of the show which I
Speaker 1: won't repeat, where he's peeing and he says, I thought
Speaker 1: I pulled my off. Everyone was firing on all cylinders
Speaker 1: that episode, but we were very happy to get back
Speaker 1: to l A after that. Yeah, any other stories pertaining
Speaker 1: to that episode, because again it was just like, yes,
Speaker 1: I do think so. Eric Roberts, who who had the
Speaker 1: cameo playing himself, great actor Eric Roberts, And he's driving
Speaker 1: that Winnebago and do you remember that part where Vince
Speaker 1: S's like the firefighter and then he sees himself for
Speaker 1: a second he thinks he's still There was like a
Speaker 1: crane shot. We were doing, right, So there's a crane
Speaker 1: in a car next to us, following the Winnebago, and
Speaker 1: the arm of it's like shooting us while we drive,
Speaker 1: and I feel like Eric Roberts almost took out the crane.
Speaker 1: Oh no, yeah, I think I think there's a chance that,
Speaker 1: like we almost died. I think so he was actually
Speaker 1: driving the winter. Yeah, he was driving the Winnebago for parts,
Speaker 1: not the whole time, but for certain parts he was driving.
Speaker 1: The end a story. You know, we we were we
Speaker 1: were in a hotel or motel, I should say, very close.
Speaker 1: But there was a night when we were driving to
Speaker 1: a different location and we stopped at a Mohegan Sun
Speaker 1: were one of those types of places, and we were gatting.
Speaker 1: We played some blackjack and craps and we were on
Speaker 1: a heater. It was a great episode, so we all
Speaker 1: won money too. It was a great episode. Now that's
Speaker 1: a recurring theme I've noticed when you guys have gone
Speaker 1: in Vegas and you guys end up hitting the tables
Speaker 1: pretty hard. It's great that now you work in sports gams. Yes,
Speaker 1: you were just getting your feet wet. Yeah, I feel
Speaker 1: like I've been training for this my whole life. All right. Well,
Speaker 1: and I knew you'd have good stories on that episode.
Speaker 1: That was such a good episode. Okay, let's get over
Speaker 1: to our bed MGM betting analyst. We're not calling an
Speaker 1: expert analyst. Peter Andrews. All right, Peter, welcome back. I'm
Speaker 1: looking at last week. Not a bad week, only down
Speaker 1: to units from last week. I did love your over
Speaker 1: teaser because we love over players, because I'm an emotional better.
Speaker 1: So it didn't pan out. We could blame our Dolphins
Speaker 1: Chargers matchup for that. But you did hit on your boy.
Speaker 1: Brock Purdy did his thing for you. Gotta feel good
Speaker 1: about that. And then your teaser. You know you had
Speaker 1: the you had the Browns. Did you have the Browns
Speaker 1: and the you had the Browns and the teaser you
Speaker 1: asked for it. You asked for it one point one
Speaker 1: measly point I would have hit that Chiefs did their business.
Speaker 1: I think that's You're right, That's what I get for
Speaker 1: betten on Browns. But but Rock Purty kept me somewhat
Speaker 1: floating towards even I still mutter about that Jets come
Speaker 1: back when over the Browns that destroyed my six leg parlor.
Speaker 1: I still will wake up in the middle of night
Speaker 1: being like fucking Browns ruining that. I still will wake
Speaker 1: up in the middle of the night thinking about that.
Speaker 1: But it's a new week. Your man, Brock Purty is legit,
Speaker 1: So let's see if we can make the people some
Speaker 1: some money here. What does Peter Andrews, what is your
Speaker 1: menu looking like this week. Yeah, so two weeks in
Speaker 1: a row, he was Aim of the Week Fox on Sunday.
Speaker 1: There's a night football at Seattle this week. I know
Speaker 1: he's technically on the injured list. I think he's questionable.
Speaker 1: They got an m R in as a leak, but
Speaker 1: based off everything he said, he's good to go. So
Speaker 1: we're doing an O G P for the Niners. I
Speaker 1: couldn't resist two units here. So first, it's just Niners
Speaker 1: money line, very plain and simple. I don't love the
Speaker 1: points here. I think it's gonna be closer than people expect.
Speaker 1: I think it's a low scoring game. What's the spread
Speaker 1: right now? Pete spread is Niners or minus three and
Speaker 1: a half minus three and a half, staying away. I
Speaker 1: just like money line here, so taking Niners money line.
Speaker 1: I'm taking Seattle under twenty one and a half points.
Speaker 1: So they played early in the season, Niners kept him
Speaker 1: to seven. I think Niners defense obviously matches up really
Speaker 1: well against them, like they do with the rest of
Speaker 1: the NFL. Um so I seen similarities from early on
Speaker 1: to to right now. If anything, the defense has gotten better. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a big part of it. But sand fan with
Speaker 1: that Devo sand Fran without Debo dodged a bullet there
Speaker 1: looks like only four to six weeks. Thank god. This
Speaker 1: week is going to be about the running game. I
Speaker 1: think Seattle's got a bottom three defense run defense specifically,
Speaker 1: so I'm boosting McCaffrey up from I think it's right
Speaker 1: around sixty seven yards was his over under. I'm actually
Speaker 1: taking a hundred plus, so I think this is a
Speaker 1: heavy run game. They're going to exploit them with their
Speaker 1: zone running. Those three things combined plus four so that's
Speaker 1: twenty bucks. So that's two units there. Really like all three.
Speaker 1: McCaffrey looked awesome last week. It's just funny because I
Speaker 1: feel like they use their offense for probably two and
Speaker 1: a half quarters, maybe because things were just so out
Speaker 1: of control. I think you could have seen record numbers
Speaker 1: from lots of guys. Pretty didn't even have hit over
Speaker 1: two yards because they essentially took him out of the game,
Speaker 1: didn't have to, right, So um, I think it would
Speaker 1: be a little bit different, a little closer here, lower scoring.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I can see something like nine ers win.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think good value there for just three
Speaker 1: picks in the one game part like good value and yeah,
Speaker 1: without Walker and without Debot, I liked the McCaffrey over
Speaker 1: rushing yards and the under twenty one and a half
Speaker 1: Seattle points. Okay, two units five? Love that. Do we
Speaker 1: have a teaser this week? We do have a teaser
Speaker 1: this week? First, real quick, you got Bills minus one
Speaker 1: and a half at home against Miami. Miami has been
Speaker 1: on a bit of a steep decline here. Haven't looked
Speaker 1: great rumor last week, you know, or the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks. When they play in cold weather, fifty five
Speaker 1: degree weather, they're using heat warmers on the it's it's
Speaker 1: gonna be. It's gonna be what fifteen to twenty degrees
Speaker 1: in Buffalore this weekend. They are going to suffer. I
Speaker 1: was half considering taking this alone, but I'm just teasing
Speaker 1: the Towns one and a half in case something funky happens. Vikings,
Speaker 1: I've teased them down to plus two against the Colts.
Speaker 1: If this was any other team, I would not be
Speaker 1: looking at the Vikings. They have a horrendous defense, specifically
Speaker 1: their past defense. But the good news is the Cults
Speaker 1: can't throw the ball, so I think must win game
Speaker 1: for them. You know, they're pretty locked into their playoff
Speaker 1: spot obviously, but they're fighting for the two three seed
Speaker 1: and I think this is an important game to get
Speaker 1: kind of back on track. So I like Vikings to
Speaker 1: take care of business, probably pretty handily. And then Jags
Speaker 1: plus ten and a half. I've teased that they're at
Speaker 1: home against Dallas. Dallas looked really shaky last week against Houston,
Speaker 1: against your Houston Texans. I actually think Jags win this
Speaker 1: game out right this week, So I think the ten
Speaker 1: and a half points there is a nice little buffer.
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence looks awesome. I mean it's taken a year
Speaker 1: and change, but he's actually got some weapons now. I
Speaker 1: think this dude's a Jones is legit. They have a
Speaker 1: t N. I mean, they have some weapons now to
Speaker 1: build off of him, and I think he's he's kind
Speaker 1: of proven himself to be that legitimate number one overall pick.
Speaker 1: So could sprinkle some money line there with some extra
Speaker 1: extra units, but ten and a half seems really good,
Speaker 1: especially at home. Okay, so that's five units, You've got
Speaker 1: five remaining. How are you going to used the remaining five?
Speaker 1: Big week for you, Peter Andrew, similar to last week,
Speaker 1: and I felt so good about the Niners minus during
Speaker 1: a half. I got my lock of the week. I've
Speaker 1: been talking about this since the game on Sunday week
Speaker 1: Lions plus one at the Jets at Netlife. They've already
Speaker 1: beat a MetLife team once this year. I think you
Speaker 1: remember that I do, and that typically happens when teams
Speaker 1: play both Giants and Jets in Jersey, they usually win
Speaker 1: both games. Yeah, there you go. I mean there's a
Speaker 1: combination of things here. Start with the Jets. Mike White
Speaker 1: got shaken up real bad last week, so he's clearly
Speaker 1: not gonna be playing at I think he was in
Speaker 1: and out of the game like three times last week.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if he's got a cracked rib
Speaker 1: from the hits he's taken. Fast forward to this week,
Speaker 1: you got guys like Hayden Hutchinson coming at him. I
Speaker 1: think he's in for a bit of rude awakening. And
Speaker 1: then on the other side of the all you got
Speaker 1: the Lions, who, again, similar to the Jags, seem like
Speaker 1: they have a kind of complete offense right now. They've
Speaker 1: traded away t J. Hockinson, but you bring in a
Speaker 1: guy like Jamison Williams last week quote his first touchdown
Speaker 1: was amazing to see after that torn a c L.
Speaker 1: Jamal will Ms looks great. They they're playing really complete football.
Speaker 1: They are probably gonna end up short of the playoffs
Speaker 1: just because they put themselves in a pretty deep hole
Speaker 1: to start the season, but they're gonna do everything in
Speaker 1: their power, and Dan Campbell specifically to get right close
Speaker 1: to that seven seed, especially if you see the teams
Speaker 1: like the Giants or the Commander's tail off a little bit,
Speaker 1: even Seattle, they've got a shot still. And clearly he's
Speaker 1: putting every trick in the book out on the field,
Speaker 1: I mean fake punts, Pinney Sewell with a fourth down
Speaker 1: completion there, Star Guard. So they're they're going for it,
Speaker 1: and I love to see it, and I think that's
Speaker 1: what people were kind of hoping watching Hard Knocks this year,
Speaker 1: is seeing that team really kind of ride behind their coach.
Speaker 1: So I think they win. I think they win. Big
Speaker 1: Jets are on the way down here. They have not
Speaker 1: looked great and obviously a bunch of injuries have kind
Speaker 1: of turmoil their season a little bit. So five units
Speaker 1: minus one ten plus one lions there, it's not worth
Speaker 1: the value of moneyline it's only think an extra five cents,
Speaker 1: so take the plus one just in case. Um, but
Speaker 1: really like the Lions this weekend. Okay, that's a good argument.
Speaker 1: I think that I do think that teams that win
Speaker 1: one if they're going to men like you know, the
Speaker 1: Sinatra as it called or whatever. I think that's that's
Speaker 1: in play here. And the Lions are surging. I mean
Speaker 1: I I think that this is a better time. We
Speaker 1: talked about the Lions and Jared Goff a lot today,
Speaker 1: so this is a good This is a good that
Speaker 1: I'm definitely gonna ride with you on that. O g P.
Speaker 1: Just don't get him started again, Peter, don't hopefully on
Speaker 1: the same side as me and not go posing every now.
Speaker 1: I'm on the same side as you. Yeah, I'm on
Speaker 1: a draft don't draft the quarterback side, which is a
Speaker 1: healthy debate for right now. But let's see O the
Speaker 1: rest of the year goes. But I really like the
Speaker 1: O g P. I don't know what what you were feeling, Olivia. Well,
Speaker 1: unlike Jerry, I write it to you every week, Peter,
Speaker 1: every week. We will see you next week. I'm excited
Speaker 1: for all of your hottakes, and I also like you know,
Speaker 1: kind of selfishly when you're wrong, when you're bad, because
Speaker 1: it's nice to rub it in. Because we have that
Speaker 1: friendly rivalry. Bill, Jerry and I are always going to
Speaker 1: be against you as a forty Nighter fan. That's one
Speaker 1: thing we haven't comed. But thanks again for popping on
Speaker 1: every Make sure you follow us and subscribe to the
Speaker 1: podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and on the YouTube
Speaker 1: page if you want to watch us, because you know,
Speaker 1: Jerry just looks even better than he's sounds, so you've
Speaker 1: got to watch it. Thanks guys for joining us. For
Speaker 1: you next week.