Speaker 1: From the King of Sports Books comes the Key sports
Speaker 1: podcast Unleashed, presented by bet MGM. Here's your host, Janice
Speaker 1: Papas and Olivia Arlan Decker. Welcome in everybody. This is
Speaker 1: Unleashed by bet MGM, the King of Sports Books. And
Speaker 1: if you like football and you like betting and laughing
Speaker 1: and maybe cringing a little bit, especially at the end
Speaker 1: where we basically give Janice free range, then you have
Speaker 1: come to the right place. Johannes Propis is my co host, Janice.
Speaker 1: How did you watch this weekend's games? Do you throw
Speaker 1: back a couple of trulies and hanging your basement like
Speaker 1: a big creep? Oh? Yeah. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: have access to my Google cameras, but that's exactly what
Speaker 1: I did. Me and Paul Versey threw back more than
Speaker 1: a two three four amount of trulies. It was it
Speaker 1: was like we were filming a commercial for Trulies. That's
Speaker 1: what this weekend was about. Most of the games were
Speaker 1: a disappointment, but it was It's still a fun hang
Speaker 1: and I am so excited for the games coming up.
Speaker 1: They are gonna be incredible. So football is fun right now, baby,
Speaker 1: We've really got to stop doing free ads for truly,
Speaker 1: we should just say sparkling alcoholic beverage until they start
Speaker 1: paying us. Yeah we really, Yeah, there are other sparkling water.
Speaker 1: How do they make that? What like that? What is alcohol?
Speaker 1: I always wonder like, Yeah, I mean it's basically a
Speaker 1: soda that gets you drunk. They're so good. Alcohol is
Speaker 1: God's tears. That's a guy I like that, but it is.
Speaker 1: It is fun to throw a couple back and watching
Speaker 1: football games, and now this weekend is getting much better.
Speaker 1: You're right, a couple of blowouts last weekend, but now
Speaker 1: I've got eight teams, four games that still have Super
Speaker 1: Bowl dreams alive. We're gonna talk about how we got here.
Speaker 1: I loved this note that I heard this, and I
Speaker 1: thought that belongs on Unleashed. The last time the Bengals
Speaker 1: want a playoff game, you could not send someone a
Speaker 1: text to talk about it. Literally, the technology didn't exist
Speaker 1: thirty years ago. I mean that's incredible. And O. J.
Speaker 1: Simpson was the sideline reporter. So yeah, let's just say
Speaker 1: it was before cancel culture. Oh yeah, it was before
Speaker 1: that's before the me too movement. I think that was
Speaker 1: before like every movement except like the Women's March or something, feminism,
Speaker 1: women voting. But yeah, so we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: the divisional round games coming up this weekend. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1: I'm assigned Bills at Chiefs this weekend again on the
Speaker 1: national radio broadcast, so I'll dive a little bit deeper
Speaker 1: in on that one. I think that's the game of
Speaker 1: the week. But I'm a little bit biased. No, you're right,
Speaker 1: that is the game. That is the game. The way
Speaker 1: those two teams are playing, that's the game I'm most
Speaker 1: excited to watch. You mean, listen, of course, I got it. Well,
Speaker 1: I got like I said, I gotta get those double
Speaker 1: A batteries first and final radio. So I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: to like look in my you know, I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: to look through my garage and see if I have
Speaker 1: an old one, or jump in your car and drive
Speaker 1: around or I'll really now I'm just plugging out on stuff.
Speaker 1: But get the tune in app, in the tune in
Speaker 1: up you can listen to our broadcasts. But anyways, we
Speaker 1: have a real treat today to help us dissect all
Speaker 1: these games. It's former NFL GM and executive Michael Lombardi
Speaker 1: joining us in just a little bit. You'll remember he's
Speaker 1: been on the show before. He's fantastic. He has his
Speaker 1: own podcast, the GM Shuffle on Twitter, at the Daily Coach,
Speaker 1: I think, just at Daily Coach, and he's written books.
Speaker 1: He knows everything and everyone, so it's a real treat
Speaker 1: to have him on. Then at the end, as always,
Speaker 1: we're going to break down the numbers and spreads for
Speaker 1: this weekend's action and give you our take. Not that
Speaker 1: it matters, but we're usually pretty spot on, right, yah,
Speaker 1: both of us, we're usually both spot on. We nail it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean we always nail it. We get
Speaker 1: the overrighte, we get the under right, we get the
Speaker 1: points right, I mean, we get how many passages are
Speaker 1: gonna be thrown, who's going to score first? I mean
Speaker 1: from A to Z. Just listen to us and we
Speaker 1: will win you money. I mean, you could just tell
Speaker 1: we work from bet MGM because we give the worst
Speaker 1: advice at least at least I do. We're trying we
Speaker 1: make the company money. No no, no, Janice usually beats
Speaker 1: me at our punishment picks. That's at the end. The
Speaker 1: winner gets to write the outro for the loser to
Speaker 1: read it's all very embarrassing. Last week I told you
Speaker 1: my mom was standing over my shoulder, and I had
Speaker 1: to read about as embarrassing as an outro as possible.
Speaker 1: Um So, if you haven't listened to that, go back
Speaker 1: to last week's show and just start thinking of your
Speaker 1: mother standing over you as you read that. Anyways, I
Speaker 1: had a little bit better luck this week, so I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give you a hint. The cream rises to the
Speaker 1: crop in the top, the cream rising of it. Cream
Speaker 1: rises to the crop. The cream rises to the crop.
Speaker 1: Isn't it cream of the crop? But the cream rises
Speaker 1: to the top. The quarterback for the forty niners is
Speaker 1: Jeanine Garoffalo, and the cream rogers to the crop. Baby, Okay,
Speaker 1: I win. Let me That's what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1: I won this week, So Janice has to read my
Speaker 1: outro by the way, honest, congratulations, we're up for Best
Speaker 1: Sports Comedy Podcast. That's right, We're a nominee for a
Speaker 1: sports podcast award. I'm so excited. Congrats. Congrats to you.
Speaker 1: And I know your competitive nature. You really want to
Speaker 1: win this thing. So from what I've heard, I have
Speaker 1: a little intel on the ground You've created about a
Speaker 1: thousand fake email accounts, and you've just been up voting
Speaker 1: and voting and voting. So you, guys, I'm not telling
Speaker 1: you what to do, but you know, if you love Olivia,
Speaker 1: do as she does. I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1: I think that's also what a couple of states did
Speaker 1: for voting for president. So that's exciting. It's on my
Speaker 1: Instagram bio if you want to help vote for us.
Speaker 1: I keep plugging it all on my social media, but
Speaker 1: it lives in my Instagram bio if you want to
Speaker 1: click that link. All very exciting. I think we can
Speaker 1: also put it in the show notes. Right, I'll talk
Speaker 1: to Alex, our producer extraordinary about that. Okay, it's time
Speaker 1: for us to go off on one topic we feel
Speaker 1: passionately about this week. Y honest, let's unleake. What's it's time? Okay, honest?
Speaker 1: How about them Cowboys? Uh No, Usually it's an emphatic
Speaker 1: year after a big win, echoing the passion of their
Speaker 1: former Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson. But I'm saying
Speaker 1: it more disappointed and kind of perplexed, like, how about
Speaker 1: them Cowboys? Once again? Cowboys fans are going home without
Speaker 1: a playoff win, a huge payroll, lots of star power,
Speaker 1: but the NFC East champs got sent packing by Jimmy
Speaker 1: g and the forty Niners. These teams hadn't met in
Speaker 1: the postseason since I was one year old, but it
Speaker 1: was highly anticipated by people around your age. Honest, because
Speaker 1: of all the great history in the eighties and early nineties,
Speaker 1: Cowboys haven't reached NFC championship game since. Despite every year
Speaker 1: we hear nothing, but this is the Cowboys year. They're back.
Speaker 1: They basically all but promise us they will. Now. A
Speaker 1: lot was made about the refs down the stretch of
Speaker 1: that game, but the Cowboys have no one to blame
Speaker 1: but themselves. Come on, Mike McCarthy and the poor clock
Speaker 1: management go together like Janice and conspiracy theories. Running a
Speaker 1: quarterback draw with fourteen seconds left, the Cowboys took a
Speaker 1: huge risk of their not being enough time left, and
Speaker 1: sure enough there wasn't. It's like football one oh one.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys and Mike McCarthy took shots at the official.
Speaker 1: I don't know about that, but they have no one
Speaker 1: to blame but themselves. The official had to put the
Speaker 1: ball down to be snapped. The center needs to give
Speaker 1: the ball to him. This isn't gym class, this is
Speaker 1: the NFL DC. You've got to be better. You have
Speaker 1: to have better awareness. Don't blame the refs. They've got
Speaker 1: a hard enough job. Or don't run a draw play
Speaker 1: with fourteen seconds left and take two shots at the
Speaker 1: end zone like you probably should have. That's what they
Speaker 1: should have done. I can figure it out. I can
Speaker 1: coach an NFL team, And just my overall impression, the
Speaker 1: stadium is gorgeous. Listen, Jerry World, It's gorgeous. It'll always
Speaker 1: be one of my favorites because the Packers opened it
Speaker 1: up and its first year with a Super Bowl win
Speaker 1: over the Steelers. That's one of my best NFL memories,
Speaker 1: one of my best sports memories ever. But this weekend,
Speaker 1: that big gass joebotron, it got hit by a punt
Speaker 1: that should never happen. I've done games in there, I've
Speaker 1: worked games in there, and when the sun comes out,
Speaker 1: you're basically in a big glass greenhouse or something. It
Speaker 1: gets kind of hot and it's just too sunny. It's
Speaker 1: I'm not a fan of it. For day games. I
Speaker 1: gotta say the glare is pretty bad. So it's tough
Speaker 1: for receivers to see or for kickerturners. It's not good.
Speaker 1: So I just have to go off on the Cowboys
Speaker 1: a little bit there. Wow, that sounded personal. You're attacking
Speaker 1: America's favorite team. You're it's almost like you're Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: like attacking Beyonce. You're gonna get a lot of trolls
Speaker 1: now coming out. People love the Cowboys. But guess what,
Speaker 1: I got your back. We're partners, and I am sticking
Speaker 1: with the Cowboys on this one. I think it's time
Speaker 1: to pass the torch to another team to be America's sweetheart.
Speaker 1: We're off of oil coming soon. It's all about Tesla,
Speaker 1: It's all about renewables. Dallas, you're antiquated, your archaic. It's over, baby.
Speaker 1: You're not America's team anymore. Like Olivia said, your stadium,
Speaker 1: it looks like a UFO landed in Dallas. Okay, I've
Speaker 1: been there. From the outside. It just looks like, you know,
Speaker 1: close encounters of the third kind. Bigger is not better
Speaker 1: is what I'm trying to say. Bigger is not better. Now,
Speaker 1: how many times have you said that in your life?
Speaker 1: I've had to say that many times to explain to
Speaker 1: women why why this was okay? And why I have
Speaker 1: other skills that can compensate. You're absolutely right, Olivia, You're
Speaker 1: absolutely right. I like more of a stadium with some charm.
Speaker 1: I like an older stadium. I like the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: They play right there in the neighborhood. Okay, there's people
Speaker 1: who live right next door. I like their fan base.
Speaker 1: They're drunk, they throw themselves through tables, They're committed. It's
Speaker 1: all they got up there. They live in a city
Speaker 1: that used to be great until we shipp the jobs overseas.
Speaker 1: That's America, the Buffalo Bills. We need to find another
Speaker 1: team that is America's team. Who do you guys think
Speaker 1: it should be? Should it be? Should it be the Raiders?
Speaker 1: Gambling is legal in a lot of places. Now we
Speaker 1: work for a gambling company. Should it be the Raiders?
Speaker 1: Should it be the Raiders? How about? Yeah, that's America's team.
Speaker 1: When you talk about there being homes right by the stadium,
Speaker 1: that's Green Bay. It's a factory town, it's a blue
Speaker 1: collar town. It's as Americana as you can get Midwest
Speaker 1: to honest, when you find JFK to l A X,
Speaker 1: there actually is this whole part of the country in
Speaker 1: the middle, and that's where America's team needs to come from.
Speaker 1: I vote the Green Bay Packers. Okay, well, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna be the obnoxious coastal elite and say, you guys
Speaker 1: need to learn how to code, learn how to code.
Speaker 1: I'm going with the San Francisco forty Niners. That's America's team.
Speaker 1: Tech Baby, that's the future the metaverse Bitcoin. Is it
Speaker 1: gonna be San Francisco? Is it l A? Come on,
Speaker 1: I say, maybe it's l A. How about this one,
Speaker 1: Maybe it's the Packers. Yeah. I mean, look, I didn't
Speaker 1: know until I had to live you on my podcast
Speaker 1: Long Days. I didn't know that Green Bay was Communist.
Speaker 1: But apparently the team is owned by the people. The
Speaker 1: people own the team. So are you for the people?
Speaker 1: Do you love obesity? Do you love cheese that should
Speaker 1: be illegal? You're gonna make enemies. You gotta stop. I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm having a little fun. I mean, don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong. I know when you go to Wisconsin, You're like, wow,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this is the most beautiful women I've
Speaker 1: ever seen in my entire life. But are you a
Speaker 1: Brett Farve guy? Do you like interceptions. Do you like painkillers?
Speaker 1: Do you like showing your penis penis to a cheerleader?
Speaker 1: Do you like Iver Beckton? Are you and I mectan guy?
Speaker 1: Did you recover from COVID just taking Iver meton? Well,
Speaker 1: then the Packers are your team. All is all I'm
Speaker 1: saying is it's no longer. It is no longer, Bigger
Speaker 1: is better. It is no longer the Dallas Cowboys. I
Speaker 1: nominate the Packers. I nominate the Grin. Let's go Packers. Okay,
Speaker 1: that was an obscure reference to the Grinch. I guess
Speaker 1: you might be too old for that one, you know,
Speaker 1: the Jim Garry Grinch. I'm too old for a lot
Speaker 1: of things. I nominate the Grine. Okay, Well, let's ask
Speaker 1: the people, right, Let's let's keep communism going and have
Speaker 1: the people vote. I think that's the best way to
Speaker 1: do this. Let's put it on Twitter. You think on
Speaker 1: Twitter the day the show drops on Thursday. I think
Speaker 1: that's a great idea. We'll put it up. We'll have
Speaker 1: Ben MGM put it up, and you people tell us
Speaker 1: who you nominate as America's new team. And why make
Speaker 1: it fun? Okay? I love it, honest but put it
Speaker 1: on Instagram or TikTok or I won't see it. Now,
Speaker 1: let's bring in our guest, Michael Lombardi. He's got one
Speaker 1: of the best NFL resumes in the history at the
Speaker 1: Game sharing offices with Bill Walsh to Bill Belichick. He's
Speaker 1: got three Super Bowl rings. The host of the GM
Speaker 1: Shuffle podcast and author of Gridiron Genius, Michael Lombardi. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the show, Mike. Oh, thank you, thank you,
Speaker 1: O Loivis, thank you honest appreciate you having me. We
Speaker 1: are so excited to have you back. On the last
Speaker 1: episode we had with you on did huge numbers. So
Speaker 1: you're an influencer, my friend. Yeah, whether you know it
Speaker 1: or not, you're an influencer. I got that very much,
Speaker 1: you know. I just I've been around so long. I
Speaker 1: think it's just that I have a lot more people
Speaker 1: that know me. I think that's the only reason longevity
Speaker 1: does have does pay a price at times. He a
Speaker 1: lifetime achievement influencer. Hey, Michael, we were just talking about it,
Speaker 1: in your opinion, if we had to strip the Cowboys
Speaker 1: of the title America's team and give the title to
Speaker 1: a new team who deserves it. Oh, that's a great question. Wow,
Speaker 1: you know they were America's team. I'm writing this book
Speaker 1: about the Hall of Fame and a lot of it
Speaker 1: is the history of the game. And you know, the
Speaker 1: timing of everything always works. So you know, when people
Speaker 1: only had one or two team games that would come
Speaker 1: into their market, and the Cowboys, especially here in these coasts,
Speaker 1: were so you know, I would say, any team that's
Speaker 1: winning at a certain period of time, you know, the
Speaker 1: Chiefs could be America's team. You know, you put them
Speaker 1: on nationally televised game. You know, the Buffalo Mafia would
Speaker 1: certainly think that they're all over the place. You know,
Speaker 1: the Steelers really if you if you ever go to
Speaker 1: a game and you're playing the Steelers, I think, without
Speaker 1: disrespect to any other fan base, I think they traveled
Speaker 1: better than any fan base in the National Football League,
Speaker 1: which they would lend itself to become an America's team. Well,
Speaker 1: I can attest to that. I was just on the
Speaker 1: sideline for Steelers at Chiefs, and of course it was
Speaker 1: Big Ben's last game, we think, and there were tons
Speaker 1: of yellow and black jerseys in the stands. It was
Speaker 1: pretty cool to see. And that's actually where I want
Speaker 1: to start with that game, you talk a lot about
Speaker 1: the middle eight, which is the final four minutes of
Speaker 1: the first half, the first four minutes of the second,
Speaker 1: and that's when the Chiefs really started to put it together.
Speaker 1: In that game, they started off slow and then they
Speaker 1: scored on six straight drives. Right in that middle eight.
Speaker 1: They were pulling all the tricks out of their offensive
Speaker 1: bag to a big man touchdown, a tight end throwing
Speaker 1: a touchdown, running backs catching touchdown passes. So we know
Speaker 1: who they are when they're clicking offensively. But the Bills
Speaker 1: are just as electric and high powered on offense. What
Speaker 1: does this one come down to? You know, this one's
Speaker 1: gonna come down to the team that doesn't have the
Speaker 1: long foul balls. I mean, the last time Buffalo went there,
Speaker 1: they played and they're playing good. They're kicking field goals,
Speaker 1: which weren't you know, which was a problem. They got
Speaker 1: Singletary wide open in the flat. He's probably gonna run
Speaker 1: for thirty forty yards, may get it that inside the
Speaker 1: five yard line and he drops the pass. The team
Speaker 1: that has those long foul balls, that doesn't make the
Speaker 1: plays that are customed their customer making is usually going
Speaker 1: to be the one, and if the chief start off
Speaker 1: the game as slowly as they did against Pittsburgh, that
Speaker 1: can be problematic. But you know, these are the kind
Speaker 1: of games that come down to All playoff games really
Speaker 1: get reduced to situational football, and at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, it's about who converts third and short. It's
Speaker 1: a really key down. Now both teams might go for
Speaker 1: it on fourth and short too, so that may just
Speaker 1: lend itself to what the third alcohol is who executes
Speaker 1: the best in the red zone offensively, defensively, and then
Speaker 1: who controls the final eight minutes of the game. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that's essential. You've got to be able to
Speaker 1: control that. And if you have a big lead, you
Speaker 1: gotta keep scoring. If you if you're trying to catch up,
Speaker 1: you've got to get some stops. So I think it'll
Speaker 1: be a fun, fun game. I think it's almost a
Speaker 1: super Bowl quality of two teams and we get in
Speaker 1: the divisional round, which is fun. I was going to
Speaker 1: ask about that. Are you almost bummed one of these
Speaker 1: team season ends this Sunday? It seems like this should
Speaker 1: be the a f C Championship. Yeah, it should be,
Speaker 1: you know, or certainly, And I'll tell you what, like Fraser,
Speaker 1: and I'll leave. You know, every fight is going to
Speaker 1: take a little bit of something out of you, you know.
Speaker 1: And so whoever gets the winner of this game is
Speaker 1: gonna feel pretty good about themselves, whether it's Tennessee or Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: because they didn't have to go through the thriller in
Speaker 1: Manila to win it. You know, they got to be
Speaker 1: able that they were fortunate to play this. And both
Speaker 1: these teams will put it all out there and and
Speaker 1: they've got to get up off the mat and then
Speaker 1: go play another game the next week, the bigger game.
Speaker 1: So you know, I think Tennessee and Cincinnati the beneficiaries
Speaker 1: of that. I have a two part question for you
Speaker 1: coming up. We got a really great game with the
Speaker 1: Bucks in l A. What are your projections? What do
Speaker 1: you think is important for that game? And the second
Speaker 1: part of the question is oh b j big argument
Speaker 1: trending on Twitter right now. Everyone is arguing was it
Speaker 1: the situations he was in or has oh b J
Speaker 1: finally grown up? Well, I mean I'd like to think
Speaker 1: he's growing up, and I think the situation is different.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's got a quarterback who's a really good
Speaker 1: pocket passer, right, And we know Baker Mayfield's all about
Speaker 1: play action. You know, I say this all the time.
Speaker 1: When Baker came out of Oklahoma. One of the things
Speaker 1: he used to say at the huddle to all his teammates,
Speaker 1: I couldn't see it. I mean, little quarterbacks, it's hard,
Speaker 1: you know. And we saw it with Kyler Murray last night.
Speaker 1: I mean, he can't see. He's little, you know. And
Speaker 1: you can give them heels, you can prop them up,
Speaker 1: you can say they don't run him enough and all that,
Speaker 1: but the reality of it is is, you know, Buddy
Speaker 1: Ryan had the great line. And I say this all
Speaker 1: the time, Buddy Ryan had a great line. There's a
Speaker 1: place in football for the little man. It's just not
Speaker 1: in front of the big man. And that's what happens
Speaker 1: to Baker. And he doesn't see Beckham and he doesn't
Speaker 1: throw him open, and then he goes to get Stafford,
Speaker 1: who's a really good pocket passer and can see, and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden he excelled. And then also Cooper
Speaker 1: cups over there getting all the double teams. So now
Speaker 1: you're basically benefiting from the situation. The ball is going
Speaker 1: to Cup, the balls going to Higby. Here I'm the
Speaker 1: third wheel. You know, I don't have to back clean up.
Speaker 1: I can be the number two hitter in the lineup here.
Speaker 1: So I think that really makes a difference. As for
Speaker 1: the rematch, you know, look throw out the first game.
Speaker 1: I think that's insignificant. The Rams dominated that Brady will
Speaker 1: have a really good handle on for he Morris is
Speaker 1: trying to get done, and this game will really come
Speaker 1: down to can the Bucks force the Rams to have
Speaker 1: to throw the ball all the time and not have
Speaker 1: balance in their attack. So the whole system of the
Speaker 1: Rams offense. So when they traded Golf, they basically said
Speaker 1: to themselves, look, we've got a really good quarterback coming in.
Speaker 1: He's way better than Golf. We could open up the offense.
Speaker 1: And then what they found out after about eight weeks
Speaker 1: they said, you know what, I think Stafford would be
Speaker 1: better just running Golf's offense. And so they went back
Speaker 1: to it, and you start to see Sonny Michelle carrying
Speaker 1: the ball, you see Cam Akers carrying the ball. So
Speaker 1: now they're running more of the Golf offense. But Stafford
Speaker 1: does it a little bit better. And when you take
Speaker 1: away the running game from that Rams offense or the
Speaker 1: golf offense that we've known for years. It puts a
Speaker 1: problem on their offensive line. It makes them struggle to
Speaker 1: pass protect. That's gonna be the key of the game.
Speaker 1: Todd Bowles knows this. So Bowls is gonna be really
Speaker 1: good at stop of the run. The Cardinals couldn't do it,
Speaker 1: but Bowls can do it, and I think that's gonna
Speaker 1: be the big difference. Look, I will say this unequivocally,
Speaker 1: the front of the Bucks if they're healthy, Barrett, Vita Bay,
Speaker 1: Sue and Jason Pierre Paul these the Rams can't block
Speaker 1: that front, they will have a very hard time blocking
Speaker 1: that front. Well, you could almost flip that narrative too,
Speaker 1: because when they met week three, Tampa Bay wasn't running
Speaker 1: the ball like they are now. That's their identity now
Speaker 1: because they're shorthanded at receiver obviously, but also we're seeing
Speaker 1: that they're having some injuries on their offensive line with
Speaker 1: Tristan Worfs. He's showed up in a boot yesterday. So
Speaker 1: is this almost just about who's stopping the run? You know,
Speaker 1: it's a little bit, but I think with Brady's ability
Speaker 1: to get the ball out of his hand quickly, you know,
Speaker 1: he can offset some of that offensive line issues. This
Speaker 1: is really gonna come down to, you know, this is
Speaker 1: gonna be a tactical game, and which special teams really
Speaker 1: gives the opponent the other team that the team best
Speaker 1: field position. I think that's gonna make a huge difference.
Speaker 1: It's the three phases of the game. And I think
Speaker 1: the way the Bucks played last Sunday, the way they utilized,
Speaker 1: the way the defense complimented the offense, and then the
Speaker 1: offense complimented them as well. I mean, Brady knew he
Speaker 1: couldn't stand back there in three even though he sacked
Speaker 1: four times, He got the ball out of his hands
Speaker 1: when worse went down, and then the center was hurt,
Speaker 1: you know, So it's it's a problem. But look, I
Speaker 1: do think the Bucks are experienced. I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: be a tough team to play in Tampa, especially considering
Speaker 1: that they've at least warmed up against the Rams. They
Speaker 1: know what the Rams want to do. And if you
Speaker 1: give Brady a second bite of the apple, he's pretty
Speaker 1: damn good. Just to be clear, if Kyler Murray was
Speaker 1: to wear heels, um heels like the kind of Olivia
Speaker 1: would wear, like like really highs you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think it would still be a problem. Like, look,
Speaker 1: I call him the mayor of munchkin Land. I've called
Speaker 1: Kyra Murray the mayor of munchkin Land forever, you know,
Speaker 1: because now it's true. I mean, look, I mean, I'm old.
Speaker 1: There's it's a hard position to play when you're short,
Speaker 1: it really is. It's hard. You can't those guys are
Speaker 1: huge in front of you. I mean. And when people
Speaker 1: don't understand at home is when you rush the quarterback
Speaker 1: a certain way, when you rush them inside what I
Speaker 1: call the paint, So the area between the right shoulder
Speaker 1: of the right guard and the left shoulder of the
Speaker 1: left guard from that spot all the way back to
Speaker 1: where the quarterback sets up, that's the paint. That would
Speaker 1: be the painting basketball. Right. When you put people in
Speaker 1: the paint against a little guy, it's a hard, hard thing.
Speaker 1: Now what happens is and then you know Murray gets
Speaker 1: out of pocket and he takes off well, when people
Speaker 1: don't let him out of the pocket, Now he's gonna
Speaker 1: play big and that's a hard thing. Yeah, I have
Speaker 1: a question. I think, uh Janine Garofolo, because I can
Speaker 1: never pronounce the name Garoppolo has been announced as the
Speaker 1: quarterback for Right, Am I wrong about that? Or right?
Speaker 1: Did they say next season he's got the job? Oh,
Speaker 1: Jimmy G. I think they've been I think they've been
Speaker 1: rather cooy about that. I think they know that. I
Speaker 1: think they know they can't really get rid of them.
Speaker 1: You know, Lance is having these great practices, and yet
Speaker 1: when they get in third and one, they never use
Speaker 1: them on any of those situations. So I don't know
Speaker 1: what to make of it. I do know that you
Speaker 1: can just see, you know, you can really see, as
Speaker 1: Jogi barrawand say, you can see a lot from looking
Speaker 1: You can see a lot of the reaction of Garoppolo
Speaker 1: and his teammates, how they interacted. How much that team
Speaker 1: really likes Garoppolo. I mean, he's endeared himself to those players,
Speaker 1: and they know he gives them the best chance to win.
Speaker 1: So for me, I mean, unless they really felt one
Speaker 1: thousand percent certain, like the Chargers when they let Breeze
Speaker 1: walk out. Part of that reason they let him walk
Speaker 1: was because he had the bad shoulder, they weren't sure
Speaker 1: he was ever going to play again. And also they
Speaker 1: were one thousand percent comfortable that Philip Rivers could play
Speaker 1: the same thing with Brett Favre when when Rogers took over.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you could say there are one
Speaker 1: thousand percent comfortable in San Francisco. That was my question.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's been affecting his play in the
Speaker 1: forty nine? Is just sort of that uncertainty and that
Speaker 1: hovering over the head because they he looked good, they
Speaker 1: look good, the defense look good. Do you think it
Speaker 1: would behoove them to just say, hey, he's our starter,
Speaker 1: just make an announcement, make him feel comfortable, make the
Speaker 1: team feel confident. I think that would probably. You know,
Speaker 1: they drafted him, they drafted Lance because they felt like
Speaker 1: they had to get better. And they've got to keep
Speaker 1: promoting this idea of Garoppolo because look, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of teams. I mean, there's you know, you go to
Speaker 1: try to get a New York driver's license in New
Speaker 1: York City, there's a huge line waiting there to get one, right.
Speaker 1: It's the same thing with trying to find a quarterback
Speaker 1: in the NFL. There's a huge line to trying to
Speaker 1: find quarterbacks. And they have to or they might have to.
Speaker 1: And I think they know that these teams are going
Speaker 1: to compete for him. So if they keep saying they're
Speaker 1: gonna hang onto Garoppolo, they're gonna raise the antie up
Speaker 1: a little bit and people kind of see through that.
Speaker 1: So I think they're in really good position. Better Garoppolo
Speaker 1: plays the harder decision it is for them because they
Speaker 1: don't want to lose them, but then the offers are
Speaker 1: gonna go up high. Well, speaking of the forty Niners,
Speaker 1: a lot of people called their upset over the Cowboys
Speaker 1: that ended in very dramatic fashion. So is San Francisco
Speaker 1: a legit test for the Packers this weekend? Oh, there's
Speaker 1: no doubt. I mean, look, I forget the ending and
Speaker 1: the ending it was a joke. I mean, come on.
Speaker 1: First of all, you can't run that play with seventeen
Speaker 1: seconds left to go on the clock. There's just not
Speaker 1: enough time. Secondly, that should have known that he needed
Speaker 1: to get on the ground. There was nobody going to
Speaker 1: tackle him. He slid. Thirdly, he should have handed the ball.
Speaker 1: If they practiced it as much as they said they did,
Speaker 1: he should have handed the ball off to the official.
Speaker 1: But you could just see they didn't practice it. So
Speaker 1: that whole play has got caught up. And it's one
Speaker 1: of the things when I used to get on the
Speaker 1: airplane and the Okland after games, Al Davis would call
Speaker 1: me over and he said, you know, you know, kid, uh,
Speaker 1: do you know why we won? You know why we lost?
Speaker 1: And if I gave him a bad answer, he would
Speaker 1: rip me. I mean it would be brutal, right, I
Speaker 1: mean I would be in tears walking away. But if
Speaker 1: I had to give him the right answer, the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are dealing with the wrong answer. They're blaming it on
Speaker 1: the officials, They're blaming it on the you know this
Speaker 1: and that when they lost that game because they were undisciplined,
Speaker 1: they had unfore stairs and they made too many critical mistakes.
Speaker 1: So I think the forty Niners beat them soundly. I
Speaker 1: think the forty Niners deserved to be where they are.
Speaker 1: This wasn't a fluke win yannesty here that are unleashed
Speaker 1: as sounding really smart right now. We just went off
Speaker 1: on the Cowboys and now it's been it's been reinforced
Speaker 1: by Michael Lombardi. It's being what you call confirmed. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, look, you've got that's part of the problem
Speaker 1: with the Cowboys. That's why they've only won three playoff
Speaker 1: games since nineties six or their four at eleven since.
Speaker 1: I mean, part of the biggest problem in sports is
Speaker 1: to figure out why you win and why you lose, right,
Speaker 1: and so oftentimes bias enters into the equation. So you
Speaker 1: make up reasons why you've lost, or you make up
Speaker 1: reasons why you've won, and until you really get to
Speaker 1: the core issue of that and you really break it down,
Speaker 1: then you can't improve. And the Cowboys have to come
Speaker 1: to the realization. Look, they're the most undisciplined team in
Speaker 1: the National Football League. They were talented, you know, they
Speaker 1: offense did nothing to really help their receivers. They've got
Speaker 1: all these great skill they could get him the ball.
Speaker 1: They're playing Zeke Elliott millions and millions of dollars. He
Speaker 1: touched the ball thirteen times. Meanwhile Samuel for the forty Niners,
Speaker 1: he touched it thirteen times. And he's a wide receiver
Speaker 1: and they put him in the backfield. You've got to
Speaker 1: break that down. Going over to the a f C,
Speaker 1: the Bengals got their first postseason win in thirty years.
Speaker 1: They go to Nashville to face the top seed rested
Speaker 1: Titans as a three and a half point underdog and
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry's activated off I R and might play. How
Speaker 1: do you see this one playing out with or without them? Well,
Speaker 1: I think that one thing we failed to understand about
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans is they are the reason that the
Speaker 1: number one seed in the a f C. It isn't
Speaker 1: because they played a soft schedule or they didn't be
Speaker 1: the playoff team. It's because they're the best team this
Speaker 1: year in situational football. They played the best in situational football.
Speaker 1: They were very good at protecting the football. They lost
Speaker 1: to the Houston Texans. They turned it over five times.
Speaker 1: They lost to New England Patriots, they turned it over
Speaker 1: four times. They lost to the Steelers, they turned it
Speaker 1: over four times. When they don't turn it over, they
Speaker 1: beat pretty much any team they play. They're great on
Speaker 1: third down offense, they're great on third down defense. They're
Speaker 1: great in the red zone offense, and defensively, they keep
Speaker 1: people out of the end zone, and they're very good
Speaker 1: at creating situations that work in their favor. They turn
Speaker 1: the ball over and they protected. So this is gonna
Speaker 1: be a really hard game for the Cincinnati Bengals. Without
Speaker 1: oba job, the defensive tackle that got hurt in the
Speaker 1: Oakland game. That really hurts them. I don't know if
Speaker 1: Hendrickson is going to play, But with Henry on the
Speaker 1: field and their ability to run the football and play
Speaker 1: action and use a J. Brown and then use Julio Jones,
Speaker 1: a J. Brown is a problem not to cover. He's
Speaker 1: a problem to tackle. And if you try to put
Speaker 1: Mike Hilton on him, who's a really good young player,
Speaker 1: you know, but he's a little man and he's gonna
Speaker 1: have a hard time getting a J. Brown on the ground.
Speaker 1: So that they have the perfect blend. The only way
Speaker 1: they're gonna beat the Bengals are gonna beat them is
Speaker 1: they've got to force mistakes, fumbles, turnovers, block a kick,
Speaker 1: do something in the kicking game. Because I think this
Speaker 1: Titan team is very underrated and undervalued because they play.
Speaker 1: Belichick would often tell the team, we can't win until
Speaker 1: we avoid losing, which is what they didn't do in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: They turned them all over, they made mistakes. Well, Tennessee
Speaker 1: doesn't do that. They avoid losing first, then they win.
Speaker 1: See this is why I love having you on. You
Speaker 1: are the biggest football head we ever have on the show.
Speaker 1: You're talking about third and short line play, kicking game.
Speaker 1: You're even height shaming players. I love having you on, Michael, Well,
Speaker 1: thank you. I'm not hight shaming. He is what he is.
Speaker 1: He's the mayor. I mean, he is the mayor. I
Speaker 1: call him the mayor. I mean, I know, I love him.
Speaker 1: I mean he's like the road runner too. He's like
Speaker 1: meat meat. He's all over the place, and I love
Speaker 1: watching him play. But if you play him the right
Speaker 1: way and you forced him to play, you know he can't.
Speaker 1: He can't do it. It's hard, sir. Yeah, he's a
Speaker 1: pip squeak. He's definitely a squeak. Okay, let me let
Speaker 1: me ask you about where is Russell going next year?
Speaker 1: Is it Pittsburgh? Is it New York? He said he
Speaker 1: wants to test the free agency market. Obviously, is he
Speaker 1: leaving Seattle? Where's he going? Who do you think could
Speaker 1: benefit from having him? What's your predictions? Well, I think
Speaker 1: anybody would benefit from having Although he didn't play the
Speaker 1: way we're used to seeing Russell Wilson this year, he
Speaker 1: was off. He was really off. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was a thumb injury, I don't know, but it
Speaker 1: wasn't the same Russell Wilson were used to. But I
Speaker 1: think this more than anything. Everybody says, where's Russell going?
Speaker 1: But nobody ever says what will Seattle do at quarterback?
Speaker 1: They don't have a first round pick this year? Where
Speaker 1: are they going to get a quarterback? Round? I mean,
Speaker 1: they gotta bring Charlie Whitehurst back? Are they gonna bring
Speaker 1: Matt Flynn back? I mean, like, where are they getting
Speaker 1: a quarterback? Those are the guys that were there when
Speaker 1: Russell came in, Like how come we have to make
Speaker 1: the Giants better and make Seattle worse? And that's the
Speaker 1: way the media kind of drives this train. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: what's John Schneider gonna do? What's he gonna get? He get?
Speaker 1: So they give him a first round picks? They don't
Speaker 1: give them two number one for Russell Wilson. What's that
Speaker 1: do for him? Nothing? There's nothing for him. Yeah, that's nothing.
Speaker 1: You just go being You're gonna be like three and fifteen,
Speaker 1: you know whatever it is, right, Like, that's I'm fired.
Speaker 1: I might also get myself fired. And you know, everybody
Speaker 1: says Russell wants to explore Russell as a contract. Here's
Speaker 1: a contract, you know, and if Russell wants to hold out,
Speaker 1: If Russell wants to retire, I would be John State Russell,
Speaker 1: go ahead. We we love you to death. You want
Speaker 1: to raise, we'll talk about that. But I'm not just
Speaker 1: giving you away because you don't feel good. You've got
Speaker 1: a little addita like that's not gonna happen. Like we
Speaker 1: gotta fix the team too. Kind Of on that same note,
Speaker 1: with the Steelers, their GM is on the way out.
Speaker 1: They've traditionally built this team in the draft under him.
Speaker 1: Do you think they'll try to get someone like a
Speaker 1: Kenny Pickett who already works out in the same facility
Speaker 1: as a pit player, or like the Seahawks may have
Speaker 1: to try to navigate free agency. Well, it's hard to
Speaker 1: do it free agency, Like who are they going to get? Right?
Speaker 1: You know? So I think that no one, Kevin and Noling.
Speaker 1: One thing You've at the Steeler organization, it's always the
Speaker 1: long game. They're gonna play the long game. Now they're
Speaker 1: talking about bringing Mason Rudolph back. We've seen Mason it
Speaker 1: all play. You know, he's he's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a problem because he's an RPO quarterback and those guys
Speaker 1: have a tendency to have to wait for the receiver
Speaker 1: to be open before they throw it. So that's a problem,
Speaker 1: and that's why Mason hasn't really taken off as the
Speaker 1: star of the Steelers. It's more of a play action scheme.
Speaker 1: But I think what you'll see out of Pittsburgh next
Speaker 1: year they will go back to what an offense they
Speaker 1: want to be. They couldn't do it this year because
Speaker 1: Ben refused to be under center. He don't want to
Speaker 1: be under center. He wanted to be in shotgun. He
Speaker 1: wants to bother his hand quick. All that, they're gonna
Speaker 1: change what they do offensively. I think they'll draft somebody.
Speaker 1: I'm sure they'll try to find someone out there who's
Speaker 1: available to see if they can bridge themselves from today
Speaker 1: to tomorrow. That might just be Mason Rudolph, but they'll
Speaker 1: play the long game. I think they'll play the long game,
Speaker 1: and they will not be desperate. They will not give
Speaker 1: up a boatload of picks just to get a player. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Mason has been there a while, certainly comfortable in the system,
Speaker 1: but it'll be curious to see how that one plays out.
Speaker 1: Let's get to some head coaching news. Do you think
Speaker 1: Denver would be smarter to get Chief's offensive coordinator Eric
Speaker 1: b Enemy. He has a relationship with the GM or
Speaker 1: Laura Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, and hope that he
Speaker 1: packs Aaron Rodgers with him. Well, that would be a
Speaker 1: great hope. I mean, I don't think Nathaniel can do that.
Speaker 1: I think that's the hard is his own man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know, I think Roger is gonna be the
Speaker 1: first shifty million dollar a year player in the league,
Speaker 1: and I think the Packers will make him that. Here's
Speaker 1: what I would say on the Denver Broncos. I think
Speaker 1: that I really think dan Quinn's the leader in the clubhouse.
Speaker 1: He and George Peyton. The thing I like about what
Speaker 1: George Payton did is George Peyton took a year and
Speaker 1: he observed everything. He watched Vic Fangio, he watched Pat Shermer,
Speaker 1: he watched the organization. So now he knows exactly what
Speaker 1: his organization lacks and needs, and I think that leads
Speaker 1: it to dan Quinn. I think he wants somebody with
Speaker 1: high energy, somebody who's versatile on defense, somebody who could
Speaker 1: leave the organization, somebody who's going to give them some
Speaker 1: enthusiasm and increase their level of energy within the building.
Speaker 1: That's why I think that's gonna go to dan Quinn.
Speaker 1: I don't know where you know he would go if
Speaker 1: he didn't go to dan Quinn. The people in the
Speaker 1: league tell me that everybody thinks it's going to be
Speaker 1: Quinn's job unless something happens, maybe in Dallas or some
Speaker 1: other team just decides to make him an offer he
Speaker 1: can't refuse. But what about the enemy? Do you think
Speaker 1: this is the year he gets that head coaching job?
Speaker 1: You know? I mean you would think so. I think
Speaker 1: he's certainly he's interviewed enough for it, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's been out there, he's interviewed enough, and they've gone
Speaker 1: through some you know, the one thing I think you
Speaker 1: always want to see at any good coaches to go
Speaker 1: through struggles and see how they handle it. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody wants to shoot a Hollywood movie with the perfect ending,
Speaker 1: But to me, it's who overcomes obstacles during the year
Speaker 1: and who makes those obstacles go away by their coaching.
Speaker 1: I think that's certainly benefit of the enemy this year.
Speaker 1: What's your insight though, Like, what is Rogers doing? He
Speaker 1: knows that the Packers would give him everything. Money is
Speaker 1: not an issue. They'll give him everything. Why is he
Speaker 1: holding it over their heads? You don't think there's any
Speaker 1: chance he wants to go and play at home in
Speaker 1: San Francisco. He's mentioned in the past finished his career
Speaker 1: there at home. He's a California kid. You really think
Speaker 1: the Packer he's going to stay there? I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know what you know. I mean the Packers they
Speaker 1: they're not making him a free agent. It has to
Speaker 1: be mutually agreed upon. I think if you read the
Speaker 1: language of that of the terms, I think the Packers
Speaker 1: have a strong play. I think the Packers have to
Speaker 1: do whatever is necessary to keep him. And he seems
Speaker 1: like he's happy. He gets along with the floor, like
Speaker 1: I know, you know Green Day's winners can be harsh.
Speaker 1: But again, you know, like, what are they gonna do?
Speaker 1: Like they've got they need a quarterback too. We saw
Speaker 1: Jordan Love play against Kan's City with some play against
Speaker 1: Detroit my last game two. Are you ready to pass
Speaker 1: the torch to Jordan's Love? I don't think so. So
Speaker 1: Why is he being coy about it? What's his play?
Speaker 1: What's his motive? Well? I think you're always coy when
Speaker 1: you're looking for more money. I'm sure when you did
Speaker 1: your contract you probably were coy too. You know, we
Speaker 1: don't pay this. I mean it's just part of being that,
Speaker 1: you know. It's like indifference is the greatest negotiating method
Speaker 1: you could possibly have. When you're in friend then the
Speaker 1: other side has oh I want them, I want them,
Speaker 1: and they start paying more. Now over to harbaugh Land
Speaker 1: because that's always just a good question. But Michigan or Okay,
Speaker 1: we're going to Michigan, Harty, Jim. Michigan is one of
Speaker 1: the most prestigious college jobs. So if you're Jim, would
Speaker 1: you ride this momentum, keep building there, enjoy an arbor
Speaker 1: and that big bag of money. He lives down the
Speaker 1: street from his dad, his kids get to be by
Speaker 1: their grandparents. Or do you answer that call, the phone
Speaker 1: call that's inevitably coming from somewhere for an NFL job. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, when you have a big bat
Speaker 1: of money, you can move your parents no matter where
Speaker 1: you left, right, So I don't think that's the problem. Look,
Speaker 1: I know Jim really well. I was. I have so
Speaker 1: many stories about Jim. But when John was in Indiana,
Speaker 1: Ray Rhodes was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles,
Speaker 1: and Raybob is a wonderful guy, and he asked me
Speaker 1: to pick a special teams coach for the nineteen seven
Speaker 1: philadelf the Eagles football team, and so I through, and
Speaker 1: he wanted our college guy. So I went through and
Speaker 1: we came up with two names, Rich Bisacci and John Harbaugh.
Speaker 1: And Rich Pasacchi was coaching at Clemsony had four young kids,
Speaker 1: the job wasn't paying as much as he was getting
Speaker 1: a Clemson, and I basically said the Rich that you
Speaker 1: need to stay at Clemson. We hired John, and John
Speaker 1: went on to stay with Andy Reid and had great success.
Speaker 1: Of course, actually I got fired right after we hired him,
Speaker 1: but that's a whole other story. But then when I'm
Speaker 1: at the Raiders now, I get a phone call from
Speaker 1: John saying my brother Jim is going to retire and
Speaker 1: he wants to get into coaching. I said, okay, great,
Speaker 1: literally hang up the phone, and twenty minutes later, Al
Speaker 1: Davis calls me in my morning phone call with him
Speaker 1: and he says, you know, we really need an ex
Speaker 1: player to be a quarterback coach. And I said, I
Speaker 1: think I got one, and so that's when we hired Jim,
Speaker 1: and that's when I became friends with Jim, and Jim
Speaker 1: became like part of the Raiders. And he loves the Raiders,
Speaker 1: he really did. He just Jim's a look. He justice
Speaker 1: like Bo Schemblecker on the sideline, you know. He wears
Speaker 1: Bo Schembucker's basses. He has a great sense of history.
Speaker 1: He loves the history of the game team, he loves
Speaker 1: the history of Michigan, and I think he loves the
Speaker 1: history of the Raiders. I mean, he used to play
Speaker 1: the Autumn Win when he would come to work every
Speaker 1: morning and he worked his tail off. I mean one
Speaker 1: of the great stories I have and every time I
Speaker 1: look at the m key on my computer. Jim fell
Speaker 1: asleep one night in his office. He would sleep there
Speaker 1: constantly learning the game, trying to learn to become a coach,
Speaker 1: and when he woke up, there were like seven thousand
Speaker 1: pages of m's because his nose hit the m key
Speaker 1: and it just kept typing. So he's highly competitive, you know,
Speaker 1: and I think he certainly should listen to whatever somebody
Speaker 1: wants to offer. I'm not saying he should take it,
Speaker 1: but I think it's got to be the right job, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, he got fired and not fired. He left
Speaker 1: San Francisco because the front office wasn't what he really wanted.
Speaker 1: You know, Trent Balkey was there. The forty Niners picked
Speaker 1: Balkey over him, essentially, and that left the scar and
Speaker 1: where at Michigan. He's his own general manager, he's his
Speaker 1: own everything, and unless he gets that kind of deal,
Speaker 1: I don't see him leaving now. I'm reading between the
Speaker 1: lines he would hold down the m as he slept Michigan.
Speaker 1: M I'm good one that It's just I think his
Speaker 1: nose hit it perfectly. Well, Michael, what do you say
Speaker 1: we play a little game. Now. We know that you're
Speaker 1: a big Sopranos fan, and we wanted to play this game.
Speaker 1: It kind of combines two of your loves, the Sopranos
Speaker 1: and football. As a stout in general manager, you've helped
Speaker 1: build rosters, but now we want to see how you'd
Speaker 1: build a cast, specifically the NFL's version of the Sopranos,
Speaker 1: and you can pick anybody NFL past or present. We're
Speaker 1: calling it sportscasting. Are you ready? Okay? Sure, okay, Let's
Speaker 1: start with the Great Polly Walnuts. He had a temper,
Speaker 1: very hard worker, liked bust some balls, but you did
Speaker 1: not want to cross him. Who was an NFL guy
Speaker 1: who fits that description, you know. And he dressed kind
Speaker 1: of uniquely and his hair was always perfectly comed. He
Speaker 1: look perfect on the sidelines. Do I need to put
Speaker 1: this in present day term or past time? Past is great?
Speaker 1: Whatever you want, past is great too. You know, I
Speaker 1: would say probably Mike Dicko would be a good Collie
Speaker 1: Walnuts because he was emotional, could fly off the handle.
Speaker 1: He was always dressed well, you know, he had a
Speaker 1: code that he believed in, you know, and he was
Speaker 1: very loyal to the Bears family and the mc caskey So,
Speaker 1: you know, I would say that would be a good
Speaker 1: comparison there. That's good. Alright. How about let's move over
Speaker 1: to Christopher. Christopher christ I mean that might be Matt Naggie,
Speaker 1: you know, out of control, probably gonna you know, not
Speaker 1: last a long time, you know, making some bad life
Speaker 1: decisions along the way, can't quite get anything settled, you know,
Speaker 1: probably reverts back to his old habits in the past.
Speaker 1: I'm not calling plays, Yeah, I'm gonna start calling plays,
Speaker 1: you know. You know, he thinks he wants to do well,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day can't get out
Speaker 1: of his own way. I'm probably gonna go Backneggie on that.
Speaker 1: That's a great explanation. What about Sylvio Dante? Perhaps no
Speaker 1: one is more loyal, level headed. What do you think
Speaker 1: I love I love Stevie van Zanne. We had him
Speaker 1: on my pot. I love him to death and wish
Speaker 1: he was my best friend. He's just tremendous. You know,
Speaker 1: that's an interesting one, you know, because Sylvia is the confidant.
Speaker 1: You know. Stevie actually wrote that into the script. David
Speaker 1: Chase didn't have a concert area for Tony, so he
Speaker 1: wanted to cast Stevie van Zann in the show, and
Speaker 1: so Stevie kind of thought, well, look, you need to
Speaker 1: be able to put him in there. And so to me,
Speaker 1: I I think it's this would be somebody who's given
Speaker 1: great advice, somebody who's kind of stayed in the background
Speaker 1: that really wasn't running everything, but was doing a really
Speaker 1: good job at helping an organization build, build a team,
Speaker 1: and was advising and counseling the head coach. As I
Speaker 1: look at this, you know, I would say probably John
Speaker 1: McVeigh the former forty Niner gentleal manager I started with.
Speaker 1: He used to help Bill Walsh. He was his constantly area.
Speaker 1: He could bounce things off of them. They have a
Speaker 1: little different per soonality. Although John dressed well. Sylvia has
Speaker 1: the greatest shoes in all NFL history. You know, as
Speaker 1: we look over the as you look over the landscape
Speaker 1: of the NFL, I think that these coaches that kind
Speaker 1: of run everything, you know, they need somebody to bounce
Speaker 1: something off of them. They need somebody to kind of
Speaker 1: help them along the way, kind of get them going
Speaker 1: to feel like they're perfectly aligned. Jason Light, I'm sure
Speaker 1: helps Bruce Arians. So that would fit the the the
Speaker 1: Sylvia Dante roll I thought you might say Eli Manning
Speaker 1: for the facial expressions, you know, well, you know, I
Speaker 1: mean if Eli was working somewhere for his brother, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that certainly could help. But but Eli,
Speaker 1: you know, Eli is a little bit like I mean,
Speaker 1: elis got a little bit of a little bit of
Speaker 1: the all in him. He's a little got a little
Speaker 1: devil in him. I mean I see him more like
Speaker 1: I see Eli, a little bit more like Ralphie. He's
Speaker 1: gonna cause some trouble. He's like the boat that goes
Speaker 1: through the wake zone, you know, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden you got to deal with the waves. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he puts it up there, he's he throws the ball
Speaker 1: up what he'll do, and then he kind of does
Speaker 1: his brother have to deal with it? You know, I mean,
Speaker 1: so that's that's what Ralphie was like. Ralphie was always
Speaker 1: you know, got these smart alec comments and then he
Speaker 1: makes it, you know, he and then and then you
Speaker 1: have to deal with all the problems. All right. Finally
Speaker 1: let's get to the boss. You know who it is,
Speaker 1: Tony Soprano, that's Belichick to it to you know, makes
Speaker 1: hard decisions. You know that you know, has to protect
Speaker 1: the family at all costs. Is you know, if he
Speaker 1: if somebody has to go, they go early instead of late,
Speaker 1: and does what he feels is in the best interest
Speaker 1: of the whole family and puts the team first, which
Speaker 1: I think ultimately Tony how to do So would Brady
Speaker 1: be Carmela, you know, I think Brady would have been No,
Speaker 1: Brady would have been uh, you know that's a great question.
Speaker 1: Brady would have to call him a j would be
Speaker 1: so unfair. But Brady was like a son you know
Speaker 1: that has to go off, you know, and it's certainly,
Speaker 1: but it was the right son. I mean, Brady would
Speaker 1: be more Michael Corlely Ellen than anybody. I like that.
Speaker 1: You know, people called it the divorce, but I like
Speaker 1: the way you just brained it. He was a son
Speaker 1: that went off. It's not a divorce, no, because you
Speaker 1: look everything that they do in Tampa. I mean, I
Speaker 1: know Bruce was gonna say it's his offense. Okay, that's fine,
Speaker 1: But the part of the issue in Tampa is Brady's.
Speaker 1: Brady brought that place. He raises the level of play
Speaker 1: and where'd that all come from? New England. M Michael Lombardi,
Speaker 1: you are what the kids call a little shady, and
Speaker 1: I like it. I don't think is that a compliment
Speaker 1: or is that a shot at me or what do
Speaker 1: you do? I think it's a compliment. You're a little shady.
Speaker 1: I like it. I like to consider you an influencer.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I wish. I wish I'm such an influencer.
Speaker 1: I've been over a hunter spracten concerce. I'm still trying
Speaker 1: to get backstage to meet the man. So I'm not
Speaker 1: influenced with anybody. You can follow Michael Lombardi on TikTok
Speaker 1: just kidding, just kidding. I no idea what I have
Speaker 1: a neighbor who has two teenage girls. They kind of
Speaker 1: do the TikTok thing. I have no idea what it is. Well,
Speaker 1: you can actually follow Michael on Twitter at m Lombardi NFL,
Speaker 1: read his advice at The Daily Coach, his podcast The
Speaker 1: GM Shuffle. There's a new book coming out. There's so
Speaker 1: much this man is up to and he loves coming
Speaker 1: on Unleashed. We love having him. Michael Lombardi, thanks so much.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you having me. Thank you, Yannae, sit up
Speaker 1: straight and make sure you're doing well. Our boss is
Speaker 1: filling in today. It's me Haul Nagel of BET MG
Speaker 1: me Hall, thank you for joining us. Hello everybody, how
Speaker 1: we doing big shoes to fill this week? With Peter
Speaker 1: on on Hollidas. Yes, Pete is on holiday and a
Speaker 1: good one at that. He's what Jamaica, the Maldives? Where
Speaker 1: is Peter Andrew? I can't remember what I call was Mexico.
Speaker 1: He tends to get around that guy. He he wants
Speaker 1: somebody to burn. Yeah, promotion is the job. I should
Speaker 1: be in a thing because he always seems to be
Speaker 1: traveling around the world. Well, he told me he was
Speaker 1: going to the Cayman Islands to meet with his accountant
Speaker 1: to uh, you know, he's got a tax shelter out
Speaker 1: their kids hiding a lot of money. If I would
Speaker 1: have known our boss was gonna be here, I would
Speaker 1: have worn pants today. I mean might under where I apologize.
Speaker 1: That's why we keep a camera up, You're honest camera up. Well,
Speaker 1: before we get to this weekend's picks for the Divisional Round,
Speaker 1: we want to tell you how bet MGM is getting
Speaker 1: you playoff ready with an incredible NFL Divisional Round offer.
Speaker 1: You just register four bet MGM on the app or online.
Speaker 1: Make your first deposit in place a ten dollar money
Speaker 1: line wager. Easy. I suggest doing it on my Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers this weekend. If Aaron Rodgers throws a touchdown pass,
Speaker 1: you will win two hundred dollars in free bets, regardless
Speaker 1: of the money line bet outcome. Just use bonus code
Speaker 1: Unleashed two hundred when you make your first bet. Boys
Speaker 1: had a good deal. Enjoy the playoffs like never before
Speaker 1: with the King of Sports books, and score an easy
Speaker 1: win on your very first bet. Download the app or
Speaker 1: go to bet mgm dot com and use bonus code
Speaker 1: Unleashed two hundred janas say it with me un to hundred.
Speaker 1: You gotta work on that. You'll win two hundred dollars
Speaker 1: in free bets. If Aaron Rodgers throws a touchdown pass
Speaker 1: in the game, you wager on wow. Is that good?
Speaker 1: Eligibility restrictions apply. Visit bet mgm dot com for terms
Speaker 1: and conditions. Twenty one years of age or older to
Speaker 1: wager new customer offer. All promotions are subject to qualification
Speaker 1: and eligibility requirements. Rewards issued as non withdrawal free bets
Speaker 1: or site credit free bets do expire seven days from issuance.
Speaker 1: Now is the time to do it, folks. Please gamble responsibly.
Speaker 1: Gambling problem called gambler. Okay me haul that's a pretty
Speaker 1: good promotion. Let's start with that game. Then forty Niners
Speaker 1: at Packers. A lot of people did call the forty
Speaker 1: niners to upset the cowboys, your girl included. But now
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit worried, and we've talked with Michael
Speaker 1: Lombardi about it. But what do you see in this contest?
Speaker 1: I think the Packers will smoke him. Well, I know,
Speaker 1: Pizza Liners, Fine, he's not here this week and we've
Speaker 1: ye have played something the me and I am a
Speaker 1: Liner's side as well, so I'm going to take Pete's
Speaker 1: place here. I kind of like the Niners to cover
Speaker 1: the line. We have. The moll is five and a
Speaker 1: half points um. The Packers seem to be getting bet On.
Speaker 1: I know what. Jimmy g has a train shoulder. Apparently
Speaker 1: he's gonna be fit for next week. But hard to
Speaker 1: know how you will be. But I'd say that Lion
Speaker 1: probably go to six, maybe six by Sunday. I kind
Speaker 1: of like that. The the Niners had to play one
Speaker 1: against the Packers. They lost earlier this year, the year
Speaker 1: it was the Super Bowl. They beat the Packers in
Speaker 1: the playoffs pretty comfortably. The Packers are a team you
Speaker 1: can run on. The Niners like to run the ball,
Speaker 1: so I'm not sure if they'll win, but I think
Speaker 1: they'll keep the game close, maybe under a touchdown. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm thinking. Anyway, Apparently you do not, like
Speaker 1: I've been saying it all year, believe in the power
Speaker 1: of Iver Mecton. It's gonna be a blowout. He's gonna
Speaker 1: be throwing duards all over the field. His COVID toe
Speaker 1: is probably recovered. The Niners are gonna get steam rolled
Speaker 1: by the Green Bay cheeseheads. So I disagree. And let
Speaker 1: me just say about that promotion. Sign me the fuck
Speaker 1: up Aaron Rodgers to throw touchdowns. I mean, that's like
Speaker 1: it's gonna fish to swea. That's free money. Isn't that good? Yes,
Speaker 1: that's like asking Joannice to drink it truly on a Sunday.
Speaker 1: Let's stick in the NFC Rams at Tampa Bay. Leonard
Speaker 1: for Nett maybe playing this week. I think that really
Speaker 1: helps because Tampa Bay is wanting to run the ball.
Speaker 1: They need bodies to do it. But Rams look so
Speaker 1: convincing last night. What a bad playoff game Monday night.
Speaker 1: What do you guys think in this one? Honest, we've
Speaker 1: already disagreed on the first one. I like it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sticking with Oh b J. I'm sticking with the Rams. Baby.
Speaker 1: They're gonna win. They're gonna win big. They they've tightened
Speaker 1: it up. The defense looks amazing. I'm going with the Rams.
Speaker 1: I'm going with l A. Bro Um. Yet for them
Speaker 1: might be back, but I think the Tristan Worth's is
Speaker 1: a big one. I think he's going to be a
Speaker 1: true game time decision on Sunday. He's probably one of
Speaker 1: the best right tackles in the league. If if he's
Speaker 1: not playing, they might not be able to run the ball.
Speaker 1: I know Jensen was injured for them for the Books
Speaker 1: as well as to Eagles the other the other day. Um,
Speaker 1: he would also be a big glass on the whole
Speaker 1: line and a lot The Rams and Aaron Donald like
Speaker 1: to to rush the pass her up the middle and
Speaker 1: braid it. Doesn't like that, so I think those two
Speaker 1: players have a big factory outcome the game. I'm with Janis,
Speaker 1: I kind of like the Rams, but we would would
Speaker 1: like to wait and see on on those games eplicodes
Speaker 1: before and make it. Do you know the number on
Speaker 1: that one for the spread? Me? Huh, yeah, it's three
Speaker 1: points the moment. M hmm. I like Tampa Bay to
Speaker 1: win and cover with that. I gotta be honest. We
Speaker 1: always do money line for our punishment picks here, but
Speaker 1: when you're looking at the spread, I think I think
Speaker 1: that's a small enough number. I think Tampa Bay wins
Speaker 1: at home. They're so good at home. See, but that's
Speaker 1: your problem, Olivia. You paid too much attention to the analytics.
Speaker 1: See what I'm paying attention to here? Did you see that,
Speaker 1: Oh b J and Cup already have a secret handshake
Speaker 1: on touchdowns? That team is jelling, they're having fun and
Speaker 1: oh b J, he's better as a third option kids
Speaker 1: throwing touchdown passes. They're having too much fun on You know,
Speaker 1: Brady's an old curmudgeon. He's concentrating on his Brady brand.
Speaker 1: He wants to be Michael Jordan's. Yeah, he's an all
Speaker 1: he's focusing on. He's all over. He's putting promos out
Speaker 1: for Brady right now. He thinks he's Michael Jordan's. He's
Speaker 1: got a game to play. He's an old man. He
Speaker 1: should be sitting with me drinking. Truly's having a cigar,
Speaker 1: talking about our grandkids, which I'm sure he has a
Speaker 1: few of them around the country. It's not as clean
Speaker 1: as you think. He's not as clean as you think.
Speaker 1: Watch it. We're not throwing out on allegations on our show.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying him and Larry Johnson got a lot
Speaker 1: more in common than you think. Oh God, you see
Speaker 1: what I have to deal with week after week. Got
Speaker 1: to put up with this guy, I know, and you're
Speaker 1: the one who did this to me. Okay, let's go
Speaker 1: over to the a f C. Bills at Chiefs. I
Speaker 1: think this is the best game of the weekend. I'm
Speaker 1: working it. I can't wait when you look at the
Speaker 1: Homes and Josh Allen, You guys, this is the first
Speaker 1: time in NFL history both quarterbacks are coming off a
Speaker 1: five touchdown pass playoff performance, history making quarterback play and
Speaker 1: buy young guys at that. Who do you like here?
Speaker 1: What's the line right now? Mew let's start with you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we have the line on minus Chiefs minus two and
Speaker 1: a half and the overhem there is the Bigs of
Speaker 1: the week's fifty four and a half points. I like
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. I know everybody's gonna like the Bills after
Speaker 1: that performance on Saturday against the Patriots. Um for me,
Speaker 1: that leans the Chiefs is a perfect spot to bet
Speaker 1: on them, because I didn'd up Bills are overhyped now.
Speaker 1: I think Patrick Mahomes is still a much better quarterback
Speaker 1: than the Bills. Our head is still a tough place
Speaker 1: to go. I know the Bills beat them there order
Speaker 1: this year by the time. The Chiefs are in a
Speaker 1: kind of bit of a slump um. I kind of
Speaker 1: like the Chiefs minus two and a half. Be honest, Well,
Speaker 1: I gotta agree with you. I think this is the
Speaker 1: best game. I'm the most excited to see this game.
Speaker 1: I think there are teams that are have been trending
Speaker 1: in the right direction playing well. Oh man, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a good game. But I still think the Chiefs
Speaker 1: are one trick pony. I think it's all about Tie Reek,
Speaker 1: and if you take him out of the game, they
Speaker 1: don't got much. Okay, I'm not impressed, Kelsey. I'm not impressed.
Speaker 1: I'm not impressed because he did a dance in the
Speaker 1: end zone. He tried to do a little he tried
Speaker 1: to do a little TikTok dance through a touchdown pass.
Speaker 1: How are you not listening, Kelsey? He does everything for him. Listen. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm not impressed. I'm not impressed. I'm more
Speaker 1: impressed with you. You're blind. He's gonna fall apart. Josh
Speaker 1: Allen is right now. He looks like a young stallion.
Speaker 1: He's the nude they should call him. Why is his
Speaker 1: name not Big Josh Allen? Okay, Benjy. The kid is big,
Speaker 1: the kid can run, and he's throwing darts. I'm going
Speaker 1: with the Bills. Bills Nation. They put themselves through tables.
Speaker 1: That's what the fans do. They get arrested. They're gonna
Speaker 1: carry the fever of their fan base and steamroll the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: who deserve the ass kicking because of Jacksonhome and his
Speaker 1: AUNTI I'm not letting it go. Calling the Chiefs of
Speaker 1: one trick pony is just as nine. They had an
Speaker 1: offensive lineman scored a touchdown, Travis Kelsey throwing a touchdown pass,
Speaker 1: running backs catching touchdown passes. They do it all. They
Speaker 1: scored on six straight drives. My problem here with the
Speaker 1: Chiefs and why I think I do like the Bills
Speaker 1: to win, is they started off slow. If that happens
Speaker 1: like it did against the Steelers, they're not beating the Bills.
Speaker 1: That was horrible. They started really slow. They didn't score
Speaker 1: until later in the second quarter, where the Bills started
Speaker 1: last week by scoring on their first seven drives. Bills
Speaker 1: were great from the jump, So I think I like
Speaker 1: the Bills here. It is a rematch at Arrowhead a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago. That's where they played. And then
Speaker 1: the next week Chiefs were so upset about losing at
Speaker 1: home to the Buffalo, they put up three points against Tennessee.
Speaker 1: So I don't know this team gets in their head.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna take the Bills too. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna I'm a Kittles guy. I'm a kittle guy.
Speaker 1: I'm a kittle guy. Me. I'm a kiddle guy. I'm
Speaker 1: a gron guy. Okay, I'm an old Giants fan. I'm
Speaker 1: a I'm a Mark Bavarro guy. Okay, he's I don't
Speaker 1: know what he's doing right now. Mark Bavari probably owns
Speaker 1: a car wash. But let me just say I will
Speaker 1: be getting am radio to listen to you do called
Speaker 1: the game. So I'm gonna go out there. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: throw some batteries in the old radio and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: listen to you. Well good, I'm glad because you're blind,
Speaker 1: so you do need to listen because you you have
Speaker 1: missed the greatness that is Travis Kelsey by watching it.
Speaker 1: So maybe if you listen you'll catch it. Okay, guys,
Speaker 1: one more Bengals of Titans. We've talked about it with
Speaker 1: Lombardi Titans are arrested. I think they're getting Derrick Henry back.
Speaker 1: He's been practicing this week. What do you think Home
Speaker 1: favorite three and a half? I jumpened there. I like
Speaker 1: the Titans minus train a half. I know, I know
Speaker 1: the Bengals playing a while. I guess Raiders last year.
Speaker 1: Borrow looks amazing, Chase one of the best rookie wide
Speaker 1: receivers we've seen for a long time. But I know
Speaker 1: I don't believe in the Bengals head coach that Taylor.
Speaker 1: I think Mike Rabeles coach of the year. Titans are
Speaker 1: number one sing DFC for a reason. They've been waiting
Speaker 1: for this game. I think they'll run all over the
Speaker 1: Bengals and they'll they'll cover the spread and win this game. Okay, honest,
Speaker 1: m hmmm. This is a tough one. This is a
Speaker 1: tough one. I'm just gonna go with who I like
Speaker 1: watching the most and who has the most swag right now,
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, I'm going with the Bengals. Yeah, I'm just
Speaker 1: going with the Bengals on this one. Too many question
Speaker 1: marks with the Titans. What's Derek gonna be doing? I'm
Speaker 1: just going with Joe Burrow kids got swagged, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to take the Titans. I like him to cover
Speaker 1: and win. I think if Derrick Henry is in, he's
Speaker 1: in full force. They're not gonna limp him out there,
Speaker 1: so I think he'll start off slow, build up, have
Speaker 1: twenty something carries, and be fantastic. So I like Tennessee
Speaker 1: at Home. Okay, we disagreed on a good amount of them,
Speaker 1: so I like building up our punishment picks for next week.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Me Hall for joining us. Don't
Speaker 1: forget to go to bed MGM on Twitter next Monday
Speaker 1: in submit your bad beat of the week. We'll announce
Speaker 1: the winning bad beat next week. Don't forget to follow
Speaker 1: us on Apple podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or anywhere you find
Speaker 1: your podcast. When we get back from this, Jani's Papas
Speaker 1: has to read the outro I write for him because
Speaker 1: I won last week. Something tells me I'm gonna win
Speaker 1: this week. It's gonna be good. All right, Here we go, folks.
Speaker 1: I have no idea what's coming my way, but I
Speaker 1: assume it's gonna be making me look real good. Here
Speaker 1: we go. My outro written by the Great Olivia Harland, Decker,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, guys to the show another week like you,
Speaker 1: I just feel so lucky to get to join O
Speaker 1: h D. Every single episode, her insight, humor, and if
Speaker 1: you can see her beauty just radiates. I hope some
Speaker 1: of its sprinkles on me. In fact, after she gets
Speaker 1: this motherhood thing down in a couple of months, I
Speaker 1: hope she and Sam adopt me. I like free tickets
Speaker 1: to sporting events and great athletic jeans too. It's not
Speaker 1: fair her baby gets to have all of this. And
Speaker 1: I just gotta say I only took this job for
Speaker 1: the paycheck. That's not true because my one year old
Speaker 1: wedding sized birthday parties don't pay for themselves. But now
Speaker 1: I find myself nominated for a freaking award. My hot
Speaker 1: wife has always been my biggest trophy at accomplishment. Oh
Speaker 1: that's not right. But because I'm working with Olivia, I
Speaker 1: may find myself with two trophies. So vote for our show.
Speaker 1: The link is in Olivia's Instagram bio, which I'm starting
Speaker 1: to think is just a mechanism for heard it yet
Speaker 1: more followers. See you're next week. Peace