Speaker 1: Welcome in What Driving nick Wright Episode four oh five,
Speaker 1: as we are officially one week out from Christmas. This
Speaker 1: episode is always of What Drivin nick Wright is presented
Speaker 1: to you by our friends at boost Mobile. And I
Speaker 1: should have asked to find out whether or not I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to be talking about this or not. And since
Speaker 1: I didn't ask, I'm just going to you know, wink
Speaker 1: and not and hint at something. But our friends at
Speaker 1: boost Mobile, who have been amazing partners for twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna be even better friends with us
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty six. I'm really good news for the
Speaker 1: pod and we greatly appreciate it. We greatly appreciate them
Speaker 1: and everything they've done for the pod and continue to do.
Speaker 1: And so the show, as always is brought to you
Speaker 1: by boost Mobile and today and demon's great to see you.
Speaker 1: How are you pal?
Speaker 2: Good to see Pops. I'm doing amazing. I'm feeling good.
Speaker 1: Listen for the father of you know, a newborn, I
Speaker 1: think newborn is the classification until we get to three months.
Speaker 1: I think I think it three months infant, yeah, and
Speaker 1: then around one becomes toddler.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: For father of a newborn, you seem like you're doing
Speaker 1: just fine. Yeah, also yeah, chugging along. I gotta I
Speaker 1: gotta say something and then I'll get back to the show.
Speaker 1: And I'm not gonna reveal details on this, but there's
Speaker 1: sneaky proud parenting moments, and I have a lot of them.
Speaker 1: I have a lot of proud parenting moments that aren't
Speaker 1: like sneaky that it's just like, oh, that's when you're
Speaker 1: supposed to be proud. But the other day demands hit
Speaker 1: me up because there had been I'm just gonna it'll
Speaker 1: be as vague as possible, Uh, an issue with his
Speaker 1: bank account and money wasn't missing, but money was not
Speaker 1: where it was supposed to be. And the fact that
Speaker 1: you were so it now, I don't want to say nonchalant,
Speaker 1: but that it was not like, man, if this money
Speaker 1: doesn't show up, like I can't pay my car payment,
Speaker 1: that's right, And that's like really, uh the buffer for real,
Speaker 1: that's like a real part twenties. Having enough of a
Speaker 1: buffer that if you know, if city banker whomever screws
Speaker 1: something up, that it doesn't cause a catastrophe in your
Speaker 1: life is like a real It's like a real moment in.
Speaker 2: Feeling. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And it wasn't an it wasn't a you know,
Speaker 1: enoughing sum of money. It was a real amount of money.
Speaker 1: But it was like no, I mean, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: not I'm not paycheck to paycheck, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: no judgment on that for folks who are like it's
Speaker 1: hard out there. I was, shoot, I think I was
Speaker 1: paid check to paycheck the whole time we lived in Houston.
Speaker 1: But that was really more of a spending issue than
Speaker 1: a money making issue regardless, So it was that that
Speaker 1: was really cool. It made me very happy, and I'm
Speaker 1: very happy you're gonna get the first Christmas here in
Speaker 1: a week with your daughter. I was saying, our friends
Speaker 1: boost Mobile, they not only sponsor the show, they sponsor
Speaker 1: our straight to voicemail segment, which typically we can throw
Speaker 1: it up there. Typically are the stories that we're not
Speaker 1: going to spend much time on because we have too
Speaker 1: many other things to do today. Because I like at
Speaker 1: least two of these stories, and has a little hat
Speaker 1: tipped our friends of boost Mobile a little extra time
Speaker 1: on those. So the Knicks win the NBA Cup, they
Speaker 1: won't hang a banner. I have two, I have three
Speaker 1: NBA Cup takes first one is this. It was nice
Speaker 1: to see someone could beat the thunder. Shout out to
Speaker 1: the Spurs for doing that and maybe giving, even if
Speaker 1: it's false, hope, some hope to the rest of the league.
Speaker 1: My other Spurs take is and I guess I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be a man on an island on this. It seems
Speaker 1: like me and the great writer Jay Caspian Kang are
Speaker 1: the only people that feel this way. But I don't
Speaker 1: need to be talked down to or lectures about ethical
Speaker 1: basketball or which teams have sophisticated offenses from a twenty
Speaker 1: year old French kid who's never wanted anything and and
Speaker 1: so like I, Wemby has shown more than flashes of greatness.
Speaker 1: He is, you know, bordering on just being a great
Speaker 1: player already full stop. He obviously has seemingly limitless potential.
Speaker 1: But I'd love to see the guy, you know, accomplish
Speaker 1: literally anything before he's telling us about which teams have
Speaker 1: a sophisticated offense and which teams play up back to
Speaker 1: the well. He was asked about the Knicks and he
Speaker 1: was like, well, listen, they don't have, you know, the
Speaker 1: sophisticated offense like the heat or the thunder, but they
Speaker 1: play really hard and it was like a nice sat
Speaker 1: on the head. And then he was asked about the Thunder.
Speaker 1: He was asked about the Spurs, and he talked about
Speaker 1: how they play an ethical brand of basketball and that
Speaker 1: it's the Spurs way and he thinks tactically correct. Listen,
Speaker 1: call me and Neanerthal. I think a slightly more tactically
Speaker 1: correct thing for the Spurs to do might be get
Speaker 1: wimby the ball more so he can at seven to
Speaker 1: six dunk on people a bit more. That's just my take.
Speaker 1: He also had some spicy takes about the best player
Speaker 1: in the league and whether or not it could be
Speaker 1: Jokic because of the defensive end, like.
Speaker 2: A lot, he said, once I get back, it's me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of talking.
Speaker 2: I mean, the world loves him. Can you blame the guy?
Speaker 2: I mean it's I don't want to say it's gotten
Speaker 2: to his because I don't think Womeny's that type of guy.
Speaker 2: But it's like he's no.
Speaker 1: He is. He is espousing wisdom like the Shaolin monks
Speaker 1: he spent time with. The Thing is those guys are
Speaker 1: sixty and so that's all right. So that's first. That's first.
Speaker 1: From straight to voicemail. Second one is dolphins benching to
Speaker 1: a tongue of Iiloa, and here is so obviously this
Speaker 1: is a move that had to be made. Obviously, folks,
Speaker 1: the old tuann folks and the folks that were really
Speaker 1: in no, Actually, do you guys remember some of the
Speaker 1: Tua arguments. It was stuff like no, you don't understand
Speaker 1: how he moves defenses with his eyes. There were so
Speaker 1: many now in retrospect, ridiculous to it defenses. Folks were
Speaker 1: really convinced if he were right handed, you'd respect him more.
Speaker 1: They showed us those flipped videos and they're like, no,
Speaker 1: when in reality, it was always that he was an undersized,
Speaker 1: not very strong armed player who tragically, because of the
Speaker 1: injury history, became totally immobile and that drastically limited his effectiveness.
Speaker 1: You then added to it that he might be the
Speaker 1: worst quarterback I've ever seen behind a podium at press conferences,
Speaker 1: and what you had was a fifty four million dollar
Speaker 1: a year albatross. And here would be Here's where I
Speaker 1: think people haven't gotten there on what's next for Tua,
Speaker 1: because Miami's going to have to either cut him and
Speaker 1: eat ninety nine million dollars of a dead cap hit,
Speaker 1: they can split that up sixty seven and thirty two
Speaker 1: for next year in the year after, or Demonse, when
Speaker 1: he has a fifty four million dollar guaranteed salary next year,
Speaker 1: they can trade him. But in order to trade him,
Speaker 1: in order to get someone to pay fifty four million
Speaker 1: dollars for a backup quarterback, you probably have to attach
Speaker 1: multiple second round picks, like I, and so I don't
Speaker 1: know if mya. I think Miami'd rather eat the dead
Speaker 1: cap hit than lose the draft capital. So if they're
Speaker 1: just if no one's gonna trade for him and they're
Speaker 1: just gonna cut him, I think it's on the board
Speaker 1: that he's done. And here's why. I the quarterback reclamation
Speaker 1: projects for the most part, Demonse, those guys had never
Speaker 1: been paid, so they still had something to go. Chase
Speaker 1: Baker hadn't been paid, Gino obviously hadn't been paid, Darnald
Speaker 1: hadn't really been paid. Daniel Joe Zones had been paid.
Speaker 1: But he also, you know, maybe correctly, felt like, you know,
Speaker 1: I just got hurt a bunch. I'm good, I just
Speaker 1: got hurt a bunch. Tua got paid top of market,
Speaker 1: So will he be interested in playing for four million
Speaker 1: dollars the when.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if that's what it takes if he
Speaker 2: wants to play.
Speaker 1: But I so that's the thing. I don't when he's
Speaker 1: been paid like that and been a starter, interested in
Speaker 1: making the least money you've ever made, And there might
Speaker 1: even be an offset in it where he makes the
Speaker 1: same amount of money no matter what, Like if someone
Speaker 1: pays him four million, then the fifty four million Miami
Speaker 1: os and just drops to fifty. So I'm not even
Speaker 1: sure if he makes an extra dollar be a backup.
Speaker 1: And here's the other thing. For other teams, there's a reason,
Speaker 1: and for you know, simplistic, I'll use this example like
Speaker 1: Tyler Huntley is Lamar's backup, because you usually want your
Speaker 1: backup quarterback to be a poor man's version of your
Speaker 1: starting quarterback. There's no starting quarterback in the league like
Speaker 1: to him, like he doesn't seamlessly step in. First of all,
Speaker 1: he's left handed, which does hurt him as far as
Speaker 1: being a backup. Yes, Pinnix is a lefty. Right Pinnix
Speaker 1: is a lefty, But so the left handed thing already
Speaker 1: is going to work against him a bit. As far
Speaker 1: as being a backup just in that the way your
Speaker 1: play action works, the way your runs were, like everything
Speaker 1: is reversed. The other one is because of his size
Speaker 1: and the limitations on his mobility and all that, there
Speaker 1: is a very specific style of offense he must run
Speaker 1: that nobody else is really running. So like, could he
Speaker 1: be the backup in San Francisco? Sure, Like that's where
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel came from. Except for this part of it.
Speaker 1: The one trait you really need of backup quarterbacks is terribility. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because if you're like you, nobody wants to go to
Speaker 1: third string, you have to go to third string. All
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you're pulling Philip Rivers out of retirement.
Speaker 1: So I just I don't know what's next for Tua,
Speaker 1: but I think this is a This is a tough one.
Speaker 1: And then the last thing from the straight to voicemail
Speaker 1: brought to you by our friends of Boost Mobile. I
Speaker 1: didn't tweet about this, but I appreciate the show putting
Speaker 1: it in there. Awful announcing, which last year gave first
Speaker 1: things first their annual award for Best Debate Show, gave
Speaker 1: me the award for Best Debate Personality and the here's
Speaker 1: thank you to the people AFO announcing it's very nice.
Speaker 1: Here is what I will say. Do you want to
Speaker 1: say something demant say?
Speaker 2: It looked like no, I was gonna say, it's pretty
Speaker 2: freaking cool. I mean, I read through this.
Speaker 1: It was very nice write up. It was a very
Speaker 1: nice write up, and I and I don't want to.
Speaker 1: I don't want to act like it it's nothing. It's
Speaker 1: not nothing. I also don't I also felt like tweeting
Speaker 1: it out would be I'd look like a dork, like, hey,
Speaker 1: work this thing, and so I didn't want to do that.
Speaker 1: But what I do want to say is this is
Speaker 1: very I have I have been very honest with you
Speaker 1: guys and uh with anybody when they talk about like
Speaker 1: career goals and that when I got into this field,
Speaker 1: I had a very it wasn't nebulous, but it wasn't
Speaker 1: It was going to be very difficult to ever prove
Speaker 1: I achieved it, which was for there to be a
Speaker 1: moment in time where if you asked family feud style
Speaker 1: And this is what I've always said, one hundred sports fans,
Speaker 1: who who's the biggest sports talk guy in the country
Speaker 1: that I get the most votes? You know that I'm
Speaker 1: the plurality, if not the majority. I want to be
Speaker 1: very clear, not only have I not achieved that, it's
Speaker 1: undeniable that I have not achieved that that question. If
Speaker 1: it was asked right now, steven A would win it,
Speaker 1: and win it rightfully. But I do think maybe that
Speaker 1: if that were asked right now, I might come in second.
Speaker 1: I certainly would be one of the handful of people
Speaker 1: that would get you know, that I'd show up on
Speaker 1: that board and that maybe that's shallow, maybe that's vapid,
Speaker 1: maybe that shouldn't matter, but it's a career goal and
Speaker 1: so awful. Announcing stamping me as you know, the best
Speaker 1: was very nice and it was touching, and it was
Speaker 1: like it was kind of the culmination of last week
Speaker 1: ended up being a pretty random but very cool week
Speaker 1: for me. Oh I, you know, I mentioned it. On Tuesday.
Speaker 1: I was on Bill's pod for the first time ever,
Speaker 1: which was a career goal. I had the little moment
Speaker 1: on Levitard show that people seemed to really like, and
Speaker 1: so I started the week in a hospital bet on
Speaker 1: the show. So it was all really cool. So I
Speaker 1: appreciate that. So a fun kind of end of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five. And you know the only thing that can
Speaker 1: make it better to Monday. If people subscribe to our
Speaker 1: YouTube channel and subscribe to us on iTunes and spot only,
Speaker 1: we would great. It's the only thing. We would greatly
Speaker 1: appreciate that, So thank you guys so very much. And
Speaker 1: then I might at some point in today's show or
Speaker 1: maybe it'll be better for next week. Oh, I'm glad
Speaker 1: I'm doing that as well. Next week's schedule the next
Speaker 1: two weeks because we usually do shows on Thursday. This year,
Speaker 1: Christmas Day is Thursday and New Year's Day is a
Speaker 1: course of Thursday. So each of the next two weeks
Speaker 1: we're gonna do our regular Tuesday show and then Wednesday
Speaker 1: we will drop our weekly gambling show, and so there
Speaker 1: will be two episodes a week instead of three episodes
Speaker 1: a week each of the next two weeks. But this
Speaker 1: week we have this show, obviously, and then tomorrow's gambling show.
Speaker 1: With all that said, let's get into one of the
Speaker 1: games of the year tonight.
Speaker 2: In the NFL Massive Game tonight, Rams Seahawks, with the
Speaker 2: one seed on the line, Rams are potentially playing without
Speaker 2: Devonte Adams. I think they should be playing without Devontae Adams,
Speaker 2: but with the stakes.
Speaker 1: Well, his hamstring three days ago, EI ask him to
Speaker 1: play on a Thursday be insane.
Speaker 2: With the stakes being clear, who would make a bigger
Speaker 2: statement in a win here?
Speaker 1: So, whoever wins this game will become the favorite in
Speaker 1: the NFC, whether they should or not, they because what
Speaker 1: it will mean for the one seed, And if the
Speaker 1: Rams win it, Seattle is basically eliminated from anything but
Speaker 1: a wild card, and they obviously would get a wild card.
Speaker 1: If Seattle wins it, it's a little trickier because then
Speaker 1: they'd have a split the they would have the same
Speaker 1: divisional record, and so we wouldn't know, you know, what
Speaker 1: would happen, except the Seattle would have the upperhand record wise.
Speaker 1: Here to me is the story of tonight's game. The
Speaker 1: story of tonight's game is Sam Donald must play well
Speaker 1: because Seattle's a really good team. I think they have
Speaker 1: an excellent coach. I know they have an excellent defense.
Speaker 1: Jackson Smith and Jigba's been the best receiver in football
Speaker 1: all year long, and Donald, to his credit, has been
Speaker 1: for the majority of the season excellent. Like he was
Speaker 1: excellent last year, he's been excellent this year. With that said,
Speaker 1: if Donald plays poorly tonight, absolutely no one will believe
Speaker 1: in the Seahawks, and I wonder if even internally there
Speaker 1: will be some doubt because and it's not fair entirely,
Speaker 1: it's not entirely unfair, but it's also not entirely fair
Speaker 1: that for Donald because Week eighteen last year, with the
Speaker 1: division on the line, you know, all of that on
Speaker 1: the line from Minnesota, he played poorly and then had
Speaker 1: the disastrous playoff game, and then this year their first
Speaker 1: game against the Rams, which is who the playoff game was,
Speaker 1: again he threw four picks. People are just ready for
Speaker 1: him to go pumpkin, and if he plays poorly again,
Speaker 1: no one's gonna believe in Seattle. But the flip side
Speaker 1: to that coin is this, if he tonight at home,
Speaker 1: in a standalone window, can bounce back and play not
Speaker 1: just fine, but really good, then you have to start
Speaker 1: looking at Seattle and saying, hold on a second, they're
Speaker 1: in the driver's seat for the one seed. They Darnald
Speaker 1: just kind of slayed the one team he has had
Speaker 1: so much struggle with, in the Rams. That defense at
Speaker 1: home in the playoffs with that crowd is going to
Speaker 1: be a monster for teams to deal with in one
Speaker 1: of the only stadiums left that has a real home
Speaker 1: field advantage, and that defense has been since they lost
Speaker 1: to the Bucks thirty eight to thirty five. They allowed
Speaker 1: twelve to the Jags, nineteen to the Texans, fourteen to
Speaker 1: the Commanders, twenty two to the Cardinals, But that's a
Speaker 1: misleading twenty two because that game they were up thirty
Speaker 1: eight to seven at half, and so you know they
Speaker 1: were in coast mode the rest of the way. Twenty
Speaker 1: four to the Titans. But another game that's a little
Speaker 1: misleading because they were up seventeen to three at the half,
Speaker 1: zero to the Vikings, nine to the Falcons, sixteen to
Speaker 1: the Colts, and the one loss in that stretch they
Speaker 1: allowed twenty one to the Rams in a game the
Speaker 1: defense was awesome to only allow twenty one because Darnold
Speaker 1: was so bad with the four picks. So that, to me,
Speaker 1: demand's is the flashing red light story for tonight. Can
Speaker 1: Donald play a high level game in a high leverage
Speaker 1: spot and really stamp Seattle as legitimate a list Super
Speaker 1: Bowl contender.
Speaker 2: It's the biggest question on the field, no doubt.
Speaker 1: So I know we got some follow ups here, so
Speaker 1: go ahead.
Speaker 2: So we've got the gambling show tomorrow. But in this game,
Speaker 2: where would you lean? With the line being Rams at Seahawks.
Speaker 2: Seahawks is one and a half my favorites.
Speaker 1: With all that said, I'd take the Rams because I
Speaker 1: don't trust Darnald, but like I A, the no DeVante matters,
Speaker 1: but the and the Rams had some travel issues which
Speaker 1: I don't love, especially on a short week. They had
Speaker 1: some issue with their playing. But I would I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to bet this game tonight. I don't
Speaker 1: feel so for the better quarterback here, but that yeah,
Speaker 1: and I do think the Rams are the better team.
Speaker 1: I think Seattle's excellent. I think the Rams are the
Speaker 1: best team all year. Keep going on this.
Speaker 2: Could do you think Stafford could lock up MVP before
Speaker 2: he even get to the Sunday of week fifteen or sixteen? Sorry?
Speaker 1: A monster Stafford game tonight in a win, and I
Speaker 1: think MVP is his Okay, the I mean his numbers
Speaker 1: this year are stunning in the overall. I mean thirty
Speaker 1: seven touchdowns, five picks he should hit or four thousand
Speaker 1: yards tonight, A one to twelve rating for a team
Speaker 1: that if they win. Demonsee is gonna have the best
Speaker 1: record in the entire NFC by themselves.
Speaker 2: That to me, I mean they came in and they
Speaker 2: were saying, the guy's shoulders messed up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, it's back shoulder, but mostly is back. Yeah.
Speaker 1: A huge win for the Amortal Chamber. Want to know
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Speaker 1: New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia. All right, demand let's
Speaker 1: get to pats.
Speaker 2: Ravens Uh yeah, so Lamar Jackson's missing practice. I think
Speaker 2: he's sick again. It's that time of year. The Patriots
Speaker 2: are super relevant. Denver and Jacksonville are in the top
Speaker 2: teams of the AFC. You tie that in with Kansas
Speaker 2: City and Cincinnati missing the playoffs? Is there a new
Speaker 2: class of the AFC.
Speaker 1: So I listen, I don't. I think this is a
Speaker 1: weird year. Yeah, and in a lot of different ways,
Speaker 1: because it's not just the Chiefs, and we've talked of
Speaker 1: and every year there's big turnover, but there's not typically
Speaker 1: this level of turnover year to year. Where the the
Speaker 1: best teams in the NFL last year the teams and
Speaker 1: we've talked about this a bit, the twelve plus win
Speaker 1: teams last year, Detroit one fifteen. They're on the outside
Speaker 1: looking in on the playoffs. Kansas City won fifteen, they're
Speaker 1: eliminated from the playoffs, Minnesota one fourteen, they've been terrible,
Speaker 1: the More one twelve, they're on the outside looking in
Speaker 1: on the playoffs. The Commanders won twelve, They've had season
Speaker 1: from hell. The two to twelve plus win teams that
Speaker 1: have maintained some level is Philly, which I think it's
Speaker 1: fair to say is not the caliber of team they
Speaker 1: were last year. And Buffalo, which might be you know,
Speaker 1: Buffalo surging at the end of the year. So that
Speaker 1: part is uh. I have talked a lot about how
Speaker 1: This year reminds me a lot of eight sadly, in
Speaker 1: that the Patriots coming off the undefeated season, Brady blows
Speaker 1: out his knee, they missed the playoffs. Peyton Manning the
Speaker 1: with the Colts, they're a wild card team because the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Titans. God, I think that was the carry, was
Speaker 1: that Carrie Collins Tennessee Titans. They end up uh being
Speaker 1: the one seed overall the and it feels like there's
Speaker 1: a lot of upheaval, which then led to one of
Speaker 1: the weirdest Super Bowls ever where the Steelers make it,
Speaker 1: which isn't that weird, But they were pretty clear going
Speaker 1: into the season third choice if that in the AFC,
Speaker 1: behind the Patriots and the steel and the Colts, with
Speaker 1: really the Ravens being right there in that conversation. And
Speaker 1: then in the NFC, a nine win Arizona Cardinals team
Speaker 1: made it and that was that Super Bowl. So I
Speaker 1: say that because then the next year things kind of
Speaker 1: went back to normal. The Patriots won their division again,
Speaker 1: the Colts won fourteen games and won their division again.
Speaker 1: The Steelers ended up missing the playoffs. The in the
Speaker 1: NFC it Drew Brees and the Saints were dominant the
Speaker 1: so it was thing got back to normal to a degree.
Speaker 1: So this is a weird year and there are now
Speaker 1: you do have to take more seriously that young gun
Speaker 1: quarterback led teams in the AFC. But I don't think
Speaker 1: it's a full blown changing of the guard. So that's
Speaker 1: first of all. Now let's talk about this game specifically.
Speaker 2: Come.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start with Lamar and I do not care
Speaker 1: if people think I'm a hater. I just don't. This
Speaker 1: is gonna sound that whatever. Gotta grow up. Man can't
Speaker 1: get sick every year in misswork. Just can't what other quarterbacks, demanse,
Speaker 1: what other quarterbacks? Since we've been doing the show, can
Speaker 1: you remember us talking about all critical playoff push time
Speaker 1: and he's sick again? I can't. It's it's every year.
Speaker 2: It's every year. I'm thinking, yeah, I'm thinking something else
Speaker 2: is going on, but uh but yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Mean every year gets every year when it gets called
Speaker 1: out if you're a pro athlete. He just can't. It's
Speaker 1: every year the guy is sick and we could you
Speaker 1: can't be like, ah, well, what does it matter? He
Speaker 1: plays on Sunday like missing practice this year has hurt him.
Speaker 1: He missed four weeks of practice with different injuries, or
Speaker 1: four weeks of in four weeks in a row. He
Speaker 1: missed a practice, he didn't was you know? Then last
Speaker 1: week he missed a practice because of a rest day.
Speaker 1: Yesterday flew like symptoms like I'm sorry, but I know
Speaker 1: that this is this is me being an old man,
Speaker 1: and I understand. I say this walking into it knowing
Speaker 1: that Ravens and Lamar fans are going to clip this
Speaker 1: and see it and say, this guy, he's the only
Speaker 1: quarterback in the league that would get criticized for getting sick.
Speaker 1: And it's like, you know what, that's true because it's
Speaker 1: every year the guy got COVID a dozen times and
Speaker 1: then and since then, every year has the seasonal flu.
Speaker 1: Can't have it. So that's like the I know I'm right.
Speaker 1: I don't care if it sounds bad. I know I'm right.
Speaker 1: So that's first of all. Second of all, I'm not
Speaker 1: sure whether or not Lamar healthy or not is back.
Speaker 1: This past week was such a weird game because he's
Speaker 1: a of twelve but it's for one hundred and fifty yards.
Speaker 1: But he threw one pick but that wasn't really his fault.
Speaker 1: But he also took four sacks, and four sacks when
Speaker 1: you throw twelve passes means sacked on the court of
Speaker 1: your dropbacks, so that part's a little concerning. Also, Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: winning all these games, these last couple of games has
Speaker 1: really put the Ravens behind the April. So none of
Speaker 1: that makes me feel good about Baltimore, which leads me
Speaker 1: to the Patriots. So go ahead and ask me the
Speaker 1: Patriots question. Because these two tie into each other.
Speaker 2: Should Patriots fans be concerned if they drop a second
Speaker 2: game in a row.
Speaker 1: Yes, because Baltimore is not that good. That's the I
Speaker 1: think that the Patriots were crushing these bad teams, and
Speaker 1: the one knock on him was you haven't played anybody,
Speaker 1: and they're like, but we played the Bills and we
Speaker 1: beat them, and then you're up twenty one nothing on
Speaker 1: the Bills and they walk you down and beat you.
Speaker 1: You then respond respond to that by Sunday Night Football
Speaker 1: National TV. A Ravens team that has been shaky, you
Speaker 1: lose that game, then, to me, I am putting you
Speaker 1: in the category of awesome season, something to build on,
Speaker 1: not real contender. Does that you seem like you think, I'm.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the same thing with the Bills. How
Speaker 2: the Bills just came back and beat them just because
Speaker 2: I just think they're older guys. I think they're more experienced.
Speaker 2: Same thing with the Ravens. I think Patriot fans should
Speaker 2: be disappointed if they lose to the Ravens. It's a
Speaker 2: good squad. You've seen how Lamar Jackson play, and if
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson comes back and he's good in this game,
Speaker 2: I think that it'd be pretty understandable.
Speaker 1: But I guess here's here's would be my counter to that.
Speaker 1: You're right, there's no shame in losing to Baltimore. It
Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're a bad team. But even your two
Speaker 1: playoff dress rehearsals, you play playoff caliber teams and you
Speaker 1: lose them both. Do I then think you're going to
Speaker 1: win three straight playoff games to make the Super Bowl?
Speaker 1: I don't. It's the Patriots, you know, fall to one
Speaker 1: in three on the year against teams above five hundred,
Speaker 1: which is what it would be.
Speaker 2: That's well because first you were saying, like all the
Speaker 2: Ravens are cheeks, like you know, if you can't if
Speaker 2: you lose to them.
Speaker 1: Listen, it's a bit of It's not that the race,
Speaker 1: and I won't call them that. I was born in
Speaker 1: the eighties. It's not that I think the Ravens are terrible.
Speaker 1: It's that the Ravens we have seen over the course
Speaker 1: of the season. I think it's fair to say they're
Speaker 1: not a great team, you know what I mean? Like,
Speaker 1: Ravens are a high upside team, but we just haven't
Speaker 1: seen that upside and even last week. The defense was
Speaker 1: awesome last week, but they scored seventeen offensive points against Cincinnati, Like,
Speaker 1: that's not a game that afterwards you're like, man, we
Speaker 1: are rolling. And so I'm very interested to see it.
Speaker 1: This game will be featured in Knicks Picks in tomorrow's show. Uh,
Speaker 1: all right, what other follow up you got before we
Speaker 1: move on?
Speaker 2: I mean, do you think that the Ravens are likely
Speaker 2: to get a head coach a new head coach next
Speaker 2: year for Lamar if they crap out this season.
Speaker 1: If they missed the playoffs. I think the hardball's out right.
Speaker 1: I just think that you can have a new team doctor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, team doctor as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe, or maybe have Lamar put a cote on.
Speaker 1: I don't know, cold.
Speaker 2: Ones explain football outside. What do you mean?
Speaker 1: No, I'm talking about I don't I have a theory
Speaker 1: as to why Lamar gets sick so often, but I'm
Speaker 1: not sharing it.
Speaker 2: You don't think he addresses appropriately for the weather.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I I have a theory, but I'm
Speaker 1: not the I'm this is okay. It's too hot of
Speaker 1: a take, so I'm saving it. Let's go. Speaking of
Speaker 1: cold weather, let's go to green Bay, Chicago.
Speaker 2: So a few weeks ago, Caleb threw a game inning
Speaker 2: interception in green Bay. He gets his chance to get
Speaker 2: revenge back on green Bay this weekend. Jordan Loves looking
Speaker 2: been looking pretty shaky. He's throwing three interceptions and he
Speaker 2: only has six this whole year, in the last two
Speaker 2: over the last two weeks. Yeah, which quarterback do you
Speaker 2: trust more at this point of the season.
Speaker 1: Listen, I trust Jordan Love more, and I don't think
Speaker 1: Jordan Loves all that trustworthy. But I do think that
Speaker 1: he went the first dozen games of the year and
Speaker 1: only threw three picks, so I'm not going to kill
Speaker 1: him for the last couple of weeks. Like, and you know,
Speaker 1: one of them was an unbelievable play by Pat Sartan,
Speaker 1: Just an unbelievable play. Another one got popped up in
Speaker 1: the middle of the field. So I think Caleb has
Speaker 1: higher upside than Jordan Love. I think Caleb has showed you,
Speaker 1: you know that he is starting to put it together,
Speaker 1: because the second half of that game against Green Bay,
Speaker 1: he was awful in the first half, and then in
Speaker 1: the second half of that game two weeks ago, he
Speaker 1: was sensational and then he threw a game losing pick.
Speaker 2: So you know, it's weird, like he had been so
Speaker 2: good better over there in Chicago. It just seems like this.
Speaker 1: And also I think that's the Ben and Caleb getting
Speaker 1: on the same page, winning the run game, rolling defense,
Speaker 1: forcing these turnovers, and green Bay Mike is down done
Speaker 1: for the year, and it's just devastating. Yeah, And is.
Speaker 2: It surprising to you that they're favored in this game
Speaker 2: going down?
Speaker 1: Vegas still really likes Green Bay and doesn't really like
Speaker 1: the Bears, and I understand it to it like the Bears.
Speaker 1: Caleb has not been steady enough this year to where
Speaker 1: you fully trust him in a big spot.
Speaker 2: Yet.
Speaker 1: With that said, finished the game against Green Bay, as
Speaker 1: I mentioned, playing great, made the one mistake, played awesome
Speaker 1: the whole game against Cleveland, and I know Cleveland's weird
Speaker 1: because Cleveland's a bad team, but the defense isn't bad
Speaker 1: and Caleb was excellent. If he then follows that up
Speaker 1: with a great game against the Packers, then you do
Speaker 1: feel like, oh man, he is peaking at the exact
Speaker 1: right time as we head into the postseason. And by
Speaker 1: the way, the Bears the Bears. Right now, everything feels
Speaker 1: all good. You lose this game and things start to
Speaker 1: get very you start to get very well. It's not
Speaker 1: just ceiling. It is ten and four going to become
Speaker 1: ten and seven and miss the playoffs. So here's why.
Speaker 1: I know that sounds crazy, but demon's say, here's their again.
Speaker 1: If they lose this game, here's their next two at
Speaker 1: the Niners home for the Lions in Week eighteen, a
Speaker 1: Lions team that could right well definitely is going to
Speaker 1: be fighting for their lives. I mean, while let me
Speaker 1: praise it the Lions' best case scenarios, they're fighting for
Speaker 1: their lives. But so the Lions have home stealers this week,
Speaker 1: then at the Vikings on Christmas. Do we think the
Speaker 1: Lions are going to win those two games? They're favored
Speaker 1: in both of them, so that puts them at ten
Speaker 1: and six. The Lions annihilated the Bears earlier this year
Speaker 1: fifty two to twenty one. So if you're if you're Chicago,
Speaker 1: you if you lose this game, you run the very
Speaker 1: real possibility of running into the Lions when you're both
Speaker 1: ten and six and the final playoff spot is on
Speaker 1: the line, And so that would be my that would
Speaker 1: be my concern. And I'm trying to see what the
Speaker 1: playoff who do they think? Oh, it's the Packers, That's
Speaker 1: what it was, because I was trying to see even
Speaker 1: if the because even if the Bears win this game,
Speaker 1: demanse and you feel like, oh, then they're eleven and four,
Speaker 1: they're golden. Yeah, but they play the Niners and then
Speaker 1: the Lions. If they were to lose both of those
Speaker 1: games and fall to eleven and six, the Lions can
Speaker 1: get to eleven wins, the Niners would be at at
Speaker 1: least eleven wins, and those teams have the tiebreakers over them,
Speaker 1: so you feel like, oh, man, would they be in
Speaker 1: trouble there? But I think the answer to that question is,
Speaker 1: as I'm doing it kind of in real time right now,
Speaker 1: is if the team, if the Lions, you know, rally
Speaker 1: down the stretch, the team that would be at risk
Speaker 1: of being on the outside looking in would actually be
Speaker 1: green bet and that would be a devastating spot. So
Speaker 1: like this, the NFC playoff picture is tight, really unsettled.
Speaker 1: As far as the three NFC North teams, all three
Speaker 1: of them could still, in theory win the division. The
Speaker 1: Lion's shot of winning the division is very slim, but
Speaker 1: like I think it's like twenty percent, and all three
Speaker 1: of them could miss the playoffs. And so Packers Bears
Speaker 1: becomes just one of the biggest games of the year.
Speaker 1: And obviously Shaane Mike is not going to be there,
Speaker 1: and I'm very curious see what Caleb looks like. Excuse
Speaker 1: me in that game. All right, guys, I told you
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Speaker 1: our great friends at seat geek. All right, deman, say,
Speaker 1: let's talk a sneaky huge game in the AFC H.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so my Jags have been humming. Offense is looking great,
Speaker 2: defense holding up?
Speaker 1: Yeah, just call them your jazz solid team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're your Jags. They've been. But they got Denver
Speaker 2: this week. Well obviously has that excellent defense. How high
Speaker 2: would your confidence be if Trevor came out of this
Speaker 2: game and dealt with that defense with a win.
Speaker 1: Oh here's the thing. It's not just that my confidence
Speaker 1: would be high. They win this game. They are super alive,
Speaker 1: demands to be the one seed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, their next two colts Titans.
Speaker 1: So let's just go ahead and ship them those wins.
Speaker 1: Then all you need is for Denver to slip up
Speaker 1: one once in the final two weeks. Now, that's gonna
Speaker 1: be hard to do because Denver faces what's less left
Speaker 1: of the Chiefs on Christmas and then the Chargers in
Speaker 1: a game the Chargers might not need. So in that
Speaker 1: reguard that you know that it's unlikely that Denver falls,
Speaker 1: you know, loses one of those two games, but it's possible.
Speaker 1: The other thing for the Jags is this, and I
Speaker 1: do think for Trevor in particular, that matters. If they
Speaker 1: win this game, they have a great chance of not
Speaker 1: necessarily getting the buye but being the two seed, So
Speaker 1: why does that matter. I don't think Trevor and this
Speaker 1: Jags offense, which also is a super potent, wants to
Speaker 1: go to New England or I guess in theory Buffalo
Speaker 1: in round two, like they want it in Florida, like
Speaker 1: that is where for this team. I think staying out
Speaker 1: of the cold as long as possible is a real benefit.
Speaker 1: And Denver it just came off it's best game of
Speaker 1: the year, and Denver is playing it's best football of
Speaker 1: the year. And I've talked about this enough. No one
Speaker 1: can say I'm running from it. I am staring in
Speaker 1: the face potentially being as wrong about Denver as I've
Speaker 1: been about any team. Going from where I was on
Speaker 1: them going into the year to the end of the year.
Speaker 1: You can say, you know, it's kind of Denver and
Speaker 1: the Raiders right now are the Raiders though I was
Speaker 1: just stone wrong on but and maybe the audience agrees
Speaker 1: with me on this, I don't know. I feel like
Speaker 1: a team that everyone expects to be bad, that you
Speaker 1: think can be good and then they end up being
Speaker 1: bad is not as embarrassing a type of wrong as
Speaker 1: a team that a lot of people think can be
Speaker 1: really good. Everyone thinks will be kind of good, and
Speaker 1: you're like, they're gonna stink, and then that team ends
Speaker 1: up being awesome. That's like the most embarrassing type of wrong.
Speaker 1: And that's what I'm say staring at with Denver. Uh
Speaker 1: i uh. But if the Jags go to Denver and
Speaker 1: win that game, you have to start opening up the
Speaker 1: possibility that don't know why the Super Bowl, Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: that don't know why. It took Trevor this long for
Speaker 1: it to click in for him. But post Thanksgiving, he's
Speaker 1: got ten touchdowns, no picks, they're scoring thirty five a game.
Speaker 1: He's been awesome and they Liam Cohen has just done
Speaker 1: an awesome job and so and Trevor, by the way,
Speaker 1: was not playing very well earlier in the year. They
Speaker 1: were winning earlier in the year despite him, and so
Speaker 1: this would be obviously just a massive, massive win. Now,
Speaker 1: the flip side is this, they lose this game Demanse
Speaker 1: and it becomes on the board that the Texans run
Speaker 1: them down for the division. So like that's the that's
Speaker 1: the other. So this is a huge we're talking about
Speaker 1: could the playoffs go through Jacksonville, could they be the
Speaker 1: two seed. The flip side to all of that is,
Speaker 1: if they lose this game, the Texans path to winning
Speaker 1: the division opens up quite a bit. And so they
Speaker 1: did split, and it's a bad split because the Jags
Speaker 1: beat them early and then when they played again, that
Speaker 1: was the game the Jags were up twenty six to
Speaker 1: nothing entering the fourth quarter against Davis Mills and they
Speaker 1: lost that game.
Speaker 2: So you know that is heavily of note.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, that's a huge spot. I mean, it's just
Speaker 1: an absolutely huge spot that because had they just held
Speaker 1: onto that game demanse, then they would be playing this
Speaker 1: weekend to be the one seed. They would be eleven
Speaker 1: and three, Denver's sitting at twelve and two, and then
Speaker 1: you beat Denver and get the tiebreaker and basically lock
Speaker 1: up the one seed. So yeah, that loss is brutal
Speaker 1: for them. But aside from that game, the Jags have
Speaker 1: been what they here's what they've done since that game.
Speaker 1: They beat the Chargers by twenty nine, a pretty lucky,
Speaker 1: ugly overtime win against Arizona, annihilated the Titans, annihilated the Colts,
Speaker 1: annihilated the Jets. Now, if you're looking at that, I mean, like,
Speaker 1: that's a lot of bad teams, agreed. But early in
Speaker 1: the year, they beat Houston, they beat San Francisco, they
Speaker 1: beat Kansas City. There they have the best if such
Speaker 1: a thing exists in the NFL. They have the best
Speaker 1: losses this year. As far as who they played, they
Speaker 1: lost to Cincinnati in Week two when Burrow was still there.
Speaker 1: They but I guess Browning, you know, Burrow got hurt
Speaker 1: in that game. They lost to Seattle, they lost to
Speaker 1: the Rams, they lost to the Texans, So they don't
Speaker 1: have they haven't lost to any awful yeah, Natio, but
Speaker 1: Cincinnati was with Burrow at least he Burrow started that
Speaker 1: game and they so this is massive spot for them.
Speaker 1: And on the Broncos side of things, I mean, they've
Speaker 1: just been excellent all year. I just I gotta call
Speaker 1: it like it is, and they've just been excellent all year.
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Speaker 1: let's go to the listener questions. Uh, because we're gonna
Speaker 1: get to these the other games we didn't talk about
Speaker 1: today and the gambling show. All right, let's get the
Speaker 1: listener questions.
Speaker 2: So the producers ask what happened that with these are
Speaker 2: the producers, what happen what happens if Jake Paul versus
Speaker 2: Anthony Joshua this weekend? Well you have to say, so.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing right now, and maybe the producers can
Speaker 1: put in there what this is on hard rock At
Speaker 1: the moment last I saw it, It's like Jake Paul's
Speaker 1: like around eight to one, I think, and Joshua was
Speaker 1: like minus twelve hundred. Yeah if this is eight, oh,
Speaker 1: hold on, and so Paul is, I mean, this is crazy.
Speaker 1: So Jake Paul's five minutes, So it moved Jake Paul's
Speaker 1: five and a half to one, and Anthony Joshua's only
Speaker 1: minus eight hundred. I I don't want to tell people
Speaker 1: to bet this because the fact that there is a
Speaker 1: line and the fact that it's not Joshua minus forty
Speaker 1: thousand makes me worried that this is a work and
Speaker 1: not a real boxing match. If this is a real
Speaker 1: boxing match, I would put every dollar I have available
Speaker 1: to me on Anthony Joshua minus eight hundred. I would
Speaker 1: I if this is if you were to if someone
Speaker 1: were to con like, tell me beyond a shadow of
Speaker 1: a doubt that this there isn't this isn't you know,
Speaker 1: just made for TV. There isn't something worked out behind
Speaker 1: the scenes that this fight is on the level, I,
Speaker 1: honest to god, would feel comfortable. I I would bet
Speaker 1: if I could get if I could get the bet down,
Speaker 1: I would put eighty thousand dollars on Anthony Joshua and
Speaker 1: just take the free ten and be annoyed. I didn't
Speaker 1: put more down like I I'm gonna reach out. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna tower by boxing expert Nick Shulman, because I've got
Speaker 1: to imagine, like he I, if he has bet this game,
Speaker 1: I could see I bet this fight. I could see
Speaker 1: Nick putting considerably more down than what I just said.
Speaker 1: Like just all the cash he has access to if
Speaker 1: he thinks it's real, Like this feels like a once
Speaker 1: in a lifetime gambling opportunity. And mine is eight hundred
Speaker 1: right and minus eight hundred. It's a lot of Jews.
Speaker 1: But that's still a twelve and a half percent return
Speaker 1: on your money. Twelve and a half percent. People kill
Speaker 1: for that in the stock market over a year. Just
Speaker 1: get it in a night. With that said, I don't
Speaker 1: trust it. I would trust it more if it was
Speaker 1: Joshua minus fifty thousand, minus eight hundred. I I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: that feels duels. Something feels weird, and so I I.
Speaker 1: But but if it's a.
Speaker 2: Really put a little taste on Paul plus five point fifty.
Speaker 1: No, see, no way, no way. I'm not betting a
Speaker 1: fight that I can I'm not making a bet that
Speaker 1: I can only win if it's rigged. I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: just not doing that. Uh, Paladine says, Duval, welcomes you
Speaker 1: on the wagon for the playoffs. Uh, let's get the
Speaker 1: you know what, great take Dusty's watching, I'm sure Dusty hubbs.
Speaker 1: He says, we should get the Prince or Liam Cullen
Speaker 1: on the show. Absolutely get him on the show, and
Speaker 1: Daytona's asked as Herbert finally get a playoff win. I
Speaker 1: mean if they if they draw the Steelers, maybe against
Speaker 1: anyone else. I don't believe in them. Reminder, everybody like
Speaker 1: rate subscribe review to the show. Gambling show Uh coming
Speaker 1: up tomorrow, so check that out there. Huge thing thanks
Speaker 1: to Volume and to Blue Duck and of course our
Speaker 1: wonderful sponsors hard Rock Bet, our friends at Boost, our
Speaker 1: friends at seat Geek, and the great people at Zen.
Speaker 1: See you guys tomorrow. What's right