The Ryen Russillo Podcast - NFL Wild-Card Playoff Preview With Ryan Fitzpatrick, Plus I'm in Love With the OK(C)

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

Russillo starts the show with a preview of OKC-CLE and explains why both teams have been so good (0:49). Then, he’s joined by Ryan Fitzpatrick to discuss Lamar Jackson’s struggles against Pittsburgh, preview the wild-card round, and pick their favorite postseason teams (17:38). Finally, Ceruti and Kyle join for Life Advice (52:50)! How do I remain civil with my friends when they have the dumbest NBA takes? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, livestreams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Ryan Fitzpatrick Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon **Photo Suggestion - Chet Holmgren Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's podcast, we go through all of the NFL Playoff games with Ryan Fitzpatrick, and we are fired up to talk some football with him. So we'll kind of go back and forth with that. I'm going to do a little NBN in the open. OKC in Cleveland tonight. All time starts. Chasing history, how much people take a knee when chasing history now, but then a bigger picture thing

on what I really like about Cleveland, what I love about OKC, and certainly fair questions if you are doubting their chances of winning a championship. And we've got life advice and a massive update. It includes Disney, it includes marathons, it includes Mike Oregon. Say hello to Tim Selex, Tim's everyday value menu. Enjoy the new spinach and feta savory egg pastry or our roasted red pepper and Swiss pinwheel starting at only $2.99 plus tax. Try one or try our full Tim Selex lineup. Terms apply. Prices may vary at participating restaurants in Canada.

It's time for Tim's. There was a bunch of things that I wanted to get to with the NBA, but I'm so excited about this Oklahoma City Cleveland game tonight that I'm going to watch more Kawhi before I talk about him. He looked actually fine, but simple mistakes. You'd expect a guy that has a ton of rust, just basketball stuff. Zion's first game back after missing two months, hurting that Cleveland game. I know, cause I was there. And he had some numbers and, you know,

even out of shape Zion has some moments of physicality. We were just like, what the hell was that? Although he did lose a shoe. So we'll have to check Nike's market cap on the day. See if Saru can update us on that. So as I was prepping all the different things that I want to talk about, obviously I would have done a lot of Denver and Boston,

but Yocan just didn't play. So I just want to talk about Oklahoma City and Cleveland, and I want to talk about a bunch of different things. So right now, the way it stands, Cleveland is actually two and a half point favorite on FanDuel. They've both been off since Sunday, so you can't really play the excuse game if one side gets blown out with that one. And there's no result tonight. There's no result that's probably going to change how I feel about both teams. And I'm going to get to how I feel about both teams here a little bit later on. Um, because you can't do anything except admire the way these two teams have been playing basketball.

Cleveland is 31 and four on pace for 73 wins. Oklahoma city at 30 and five on pace for 70 wins. Golden state to remind you when they went 73 and nine Oklahoma City at 30 and 5 on pace for 70 wins. Golden State to remind you when they went 73 and 9, they started 24 and 0. That 24 and 0 stretch I think is the best basketball I've ever seen from a team in my entire lifetime and that includes the Jordan Bulls. point. 55 and five. Uh, remember they lost to Boston late in the regular season. And then when they had beaten him prior earlier in the year, it was an overtime win and there were reports that summer, that free agency period in the NBA when

they were pursuing Durant, I hope this was exaggerated and wasn't true or just some version got out that, that was overstated, but that part of the pitch to Durant was that they had figured out solve the golden state warriors because they went one and one against them. Although one and one against the warriors that year was like really good. I hope that wasn't really true. So when Cleveland was asked about this recently in being on pace, you know, for 73 wins, is it important to you? There's a bunch of different quotes, but the general theme felt as if it was the wrong thing

to talk about because if anyone in Cleveland had said, you know what, we're going for 74, we're awesome. And let's just stay at like full tilt all season long. And that's kind of what you would have to do to get there. And I don't don't, I don't know that I like that. I don't like that. I know that no one can come out. Donovan Mitchell can't say, well, number one priority is 74 wins and then we'll see what happens there. All right.

If you said that you would get crushed, but I think it wouldn't be so much. What anyone from Cleveland would say, uh, whether it'd be accurate, inaccurate, like misguided, it would be the way we've collectively treated records, the pursuit of records in sports that I think is just a bummer. I'm gonna go over a couple of these things. Now granted when the Warriors end up blowing a 3-1 lead to the Cavs, there was even some lingering

discussion of, well, should they have gone for 73 wins as if game five is when it kicked in. Game five is when it's happened. The OKC series probably took more out of Golden State than anything that happened during the regular season. But because a team went for the record and then didn't win the championship, it's like, oh, those fucking dopes. They had just won 68 games.

They would have had another title. Well, if Draymond Green didn't do a bunch of different things and have a bunch of other guys, you know, and Steph stunk in the last game. And, and again, LeBron and Kyrie went crazy. And I still think it's the most impressive single championship of any team. I'm giving you all time or solo history here today

of any team that I've watched in the final, considering who Golden State was and how great we all knew that they were. I know we're not allowed to say it because they lost the title and everything. But because that happened to Golden State, there became this, this kind of like, it wasn't just with that.

There were other things that were happening that I'll get to, but I just think those of us that talk about sports for a living, and I think fans are guilty of this too, it's just like, oh, you tried to be awesome all year and then you didn't win it all? Losers. Saquon Barkley sat out the last game of the season. He was 100 yards away from breaking Eric Dickerson's 40-year record of 2,105 rushing yards. Saquon needed a hundred. He wanted it, but he was like, ah, that's the right thing to do.

And everybody's just cool with it. Now there could be a technicality on that where it's like, well, I'm glad Saquon didn't play a 17th game when Dickerson did it in 16 games. So actually Dickerson should have still had the record at some of that Gentie Barry Sanders stuff that we were getting into. Remember the Colts when they started, uh, 2009, 14 and Oh, well, the Pats had just lost the Superbowl recently after an undefeated season. And I remember talking about it and it was like, ah, well, you know, what's the point. I think even some of the Colts players, like when we saw what happened with the

Pats, so the Colts lost to the Jets, Curtis Painter got into that game. Manning actually played a lot and then they lost cause they already lost. They lost their 16th game. Um, and it was, it was almost applauded. I remember it, you know, it gets 15 years ago. It's like, they've got it figured out. They're not trying to go 16 and O and like, well, what the hell's the point? Like what's, what's wrong with trying to better yourself or better your organization?

So look, none of this really matters when it comes to OKC in Cleveland. I don't like when a team is keeping up this kind of pace and then you go back and you're like, wait, Golden State was 55 and five. Like maybe it's not even worth trying to pursue something like that. Here's what I really want to dig into though. I like both teams a lot. Um, I like, okay, see more. And I think I love okay.

See, if we start with Cleveland and a more an offense, the number eight defense, they're the best shooting team by, you know, a gap, there's a, there's a gap in there. Usually those numbers are just so tight next to each other. And when you go through Cleveland's rotation, they have six guys that are shooting 40% or better from three. And that's without Struz getting right, who's back, right. And our boy fan of the podcast, Sam Merrill, numbers dip in below the

standard that we all have for Sam. Um, but this team just lights it up from outside on top of having a top four that can match up with kind of like anybody's top four when you're just talking about talent from one all the way to four. Alan's clearly four out of those four guys. Garland's had the best stretch that he's ever had in his career. Mitchell's probably at peace for the first time in like five years because of actual career certainty. The uncertainty that was fueled by not only his decisions,

but all of our inaccurate speculation about him probably wanting out of there at some point. He stayed, everybody's happy, everybody's good. Mitchell's counting numbers. Like you can look at this and go, oh, there's a bit of a decline there for Mitchell. Well, the decline is because he's probably totally comfortable with where he's at his basketball life.

He's taking less shots. He's playing less minutes, 36, 35, the last two years, minutes per game down to 31 this year, because they're generally killing everybody they play. Um, I want to find the fourth quarter stuff with Mobley and Alan in those splits that Atkinson has been on. For, for a good chunk of the season, because there's always going to be like a couple lingering things. I can point to any team, like even with Boston last year, I was like, if they get into this elbow, stop everything on offense and stand there for 10 seconds, you know, that could be their undoing against another team that's

dialed in defensively. And then it was like, everybody got hurt in the East Dallas was Boston was, I should say a terrible matchup for Dallas. They didn't even really need for Zingas. And it was ugly the entire way. Um, and Tatum, I think. Just even without the straightforward, like all world playoff numbers, I think the way he dictated and controlled the game playing center defensively, playing point guard on offense, makes you, at least for me, it made me appreciate him

like at a whole nother level, not that I was gonna just jump him ahead of a million different dudes. All right, so look, back to Cleveland, Ryan. The Allen-Mobly two bigs to close a playoff game against another team that may not respect your spacing, even though there's so many spacing options. I wonder how Atkinson will play that, but we may not really even have an answer or

maybe you don't have that question. So maybe I shouldn't generalize here, but may not have an answer to that question to like the second or third round of the playoffs in the East. Uh, as much as I try to find like what kind of tells are there, they're, look, they're plus 14 and a half points in differential or the last 15. There were over 15 points in differential in December. So even if you go to the Denver game where it's like, Mobley starts the fourth, they bring in Allen at 721 and then they were up 15 when they brought Mobley back in with three minutes left, like it's hard to even find the fourth quarters

that matter because they're destroying everyone. So that's the question that I'm gonna have with Cleveland and I'm not gonna have an answer to it of it until like May or June. On the other side of this, you have Oklahoma City. If I wanna continue out of the question theme with Cleveland, I could say like, hey, is Jalen Williams actually going to be good enough as a number two,

like in the Western Conference finals and the NBA finals? Cause that's the standard that we're talking about here with a Thunder. Um, do they have enough shot creation? Could they really use a guy like a Jordan Clarkson just to kind of come in and get your buckets? I think the Jalen stuff is fair. If you look at just the counting numbers from his playoff run last year

in 10 games, they're probably better than you would think, which is why I think stats lie more than our eyes do. Stats people would tell you this other way around. Who knows? All right. Because I think with Jalen, it's a 16 point, 14 point, 12 point stretch in games three, four, and five against Dallas.

My eyes at the time told me he was not to the level that we needed him to be at as the number two scorer for a team potentially looking, look, they're the one seed, 57 wins. If you're thinking about winning an NBA championship, your number two has to be a guy that's able to get you buckets when everything else is falling apart. Right. That's who the special players are. That's who SGA has been now for a long time and he does it all season long. With Jalen, all right, you know, it was his first run through it.

And I think it's totally fair to see somebody not play well in the playoffs. And you're like, okay, fine. That's what happened. But he's a young player. He's super talented. He's put up numbers every other time. I think he's probably going to be fine once he gets a chance at it. And ironically, you can point to his teammate in SGA as somebody that didn't

look super comfortable when he started his playoff run, whether it's the Clippers Pelican stuff where, you know, I just would completely dismiss that. But I think the 2020 series where it was OKC against Houston went seven games. Chris Paul, OKC, SGA in a handful of those games looked like a dude. I don't want to say scared because that's a little harsh, but let's say deferential, he was okay, he was willing to defer in some of those moments. And now he's turned into a, what top three, top four player in the NBA.

So it can happen. Even some of the really, you know, we're not talking magic bird here, but like some of the really special players, there's, there's some playoff resume stuff in the beginning where they just were not up to the challenge. So to assume that's who Jaylen Williams is now forever would be a huge mistake because it would have been a mistake with his teammate. But the thing I love about OKC the most, and I've already touched on this a few that's who Jalen Williams is now forever would be a huge mistake because it would have been a mistake with his teammate. But the thing I love about OKC the most, and I've already touched on this a few times, is that every player that comes into the game always seems to make sense.

He knows who he's supposed to be. I'd say even some of these guys like are willing to understand their own limitations, but ultimately they all play hard and they're all incredibly smart. There's never anybody, even when they're experimenting with some stuff, like they waved somebody the other day. I was like, Oh, like should another team just pick them up? Because they're so smart and they're so good at like building this culture where, you know, in today's NBA to have this many young dudes, like one through

12, when, you know, every night, like the 13th guy gets in and be like, Oh, he plays his ass off and knows where to be positionally and knows which shots to take and which shots to turn down. I mean, this is impossible to do in today's NBA and they're doing. Watch them anticipate the high pick and roll that everybody runs, like almost every play in the league. You know, I know everybody can talk about those as more variety than ever before. Like there's also a million pick and rolls at the top in the league. You know, I know everybody can talk about, there's more variety than ever before. Like there's also a million pick and rolls

at the top of the key. And you know, you can pretend there's all this different stuff happening off of it. But like the first thing that happens is very similar in a lot of these basketball games. And it's kind of like, what happens when the first action, are you at a disadvantage or have you shut them off? And what Oklahoma City seems to do, especially when it really matters,

is they shut down your first thing that you want to do. And now you're resetting and now you're lost. Now you're up against a shot clock. And now you're trying to swing the ball to your shot maker, to like bail you out of the bad possession. They did it to the Knicks. They did it to the Celtics on Sunday. The Boston Celtics scored 27 points in the second half. That Houston

Cup game to me is still horrifying. The Rockets couldn't even get entry passes in. The early game in the season against Wembe, they ruined him for two hours. Now again, like Wembe's fine, but for a game every dude knew when to help and when to not help too much and when to run at the ball and swipe. Like if you wait around against Oklahoma city, you are screwed. And to get all of these players to buy in like this at this stage of where this franchise is developmentally, because it's actually still kind of new, right? It's remarkable. Right.

It's remarkable. It just, I cannot express why I'm trying to, but for the basketball world of like the buy-in and, Hey man, the way this works, the way we can actually get a title is like everybody has to be locked in and everybody has to be on the same page. When you see them defend a high pick and roll, you can see the guy defending the screener, like anticipating and thinking of his plan. And then somebody on his side is already looking to help, but still like making sure it's not just reckless help to the ball and then screwing up.

And now you're in rotation, you're chasing the ball all around. I can't believe it. I, there you go. That's my love letter, and they're doing this all without Caruso for a couple of weeks and check 18 mile Holmgren who may actually

end up being their second best player. So yes, if it sounds like I like the Thunder a little bit more than calves, it's because I do. I have no idea what will happen tonight. It's one game. Football fans buckle up because for the first time ever, we've got five straight days of playoff football and FanDuel is celebrating with the great playoff payoff.

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I like the Vikings minus one and a half. I think that Vikings line is heavily influenced over what just happened. Yes, the Rams are so much better with Pukin' N'Koa and they're running that combination and you can't put any stock into what happened at the end of the regular season with the Rams, but I think that Minnesota number, um, it's just that game against Detroit was so horrifying. So I actually think that's a good value number and then Green Bay plus four and a half.

What I really like here is Pittsburgh first drive results. Punt Saturday night. It's going to be cold in Baltimore forecast 26. So it'll be colder later. So punt is minus 135. So if you just want to sit around and be like hey I'm all in on a Steelers punt on the first drive you just sit back and relax the rest of the day. You're good to go. So not only do we get to watch five straight days of playoff football but that's also five

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Let's get ready for the NFL playoffs and let's get ready with Brian Fitzpatrick Who you can join for the wild card pregame show on prime video this Saturday night at seven 30 Eastern followed by the Steelers and Ravens game at eight. Also check out his pod with Andrew Whitworth fits and whip wherever you get your podcasts. Good to check in again, man. How are you? Yeah, good. How are you? How?

I mean, I know you're in LA. How are the fires near you? You okay? Or yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm south of it, but it's just awful. Uh, you know, so I, I have, you know, I, you kind of get updates from buddies living in different areas and people are losing their houses and it's just, uh, it's awful. So, yeah, we've got a bunch of the Amazon crew is kind of in that area.

And we've been really, you know, trying to catch up with people all day. Cause it just, it's devastating to watch on the news. Yeah. I mean, where I live, um, you know, I'm not exposed to it, but when you see it happen, when you see the Malibu fires, um, for the vantage point, hey, you just see like this area to the north, just all on fire and smoke.

And then I got up this morning and walked outside and I couldn't breathe for a little bit. And I thought, Whoa, this is because it was so dark. Yeah. I was like looking around going, okay. And then again, I have my, I have no complaints, um, because of my situation, but yeah, it's just, it's brutal. It's such a big area.

And then just to see it. Um, so, you know, once I get done today, kind of making, making more phone calls and making the rounds of checking on people. So, um, tough. So you guys, um, will be going into a game with Baltimore and Pittsburgh where look like when they've played the first time through and you look at all the Lamar numbers against them you look at the overall record even though he had like missed four games because of various reasons. When they lost

to Pittsburgh the first time I was like what is like I give up because I thought there was a significant gap between the two teams. Field goal kicking a huge part of it. And then they win the rematch and you know, look, maybe the score looks a little more lopsided than it was cause it's just a fight. But do you think Baltimore finally like mentally

has figured it out where you don't give Pittsburgh much of a chance in this game? Well, I mean, division games are tough, right? And it's so interesting that first game that was the, Pittsburgh much of a chance in this game. Well, I mean, division games are tough, right? Right. And it's so interesting that first game that was the, you know, the one was Pittsburgh, one was six field goals. And you start, you know, we're doing a preparation for this game. You start looking at the numbers like you're saying.

I mean, the Steelers have won eight of the last 10. The Steelers have won four of the last five in Baltimore. And you're scratching your head going, how is this even possible? But the way they won that first game with turnovers, with timely sacks, with timely plays, and even pointing to like the Cincinnati game at the end of the year, a ball bounces off somebody's foot on a punt.

Those are the type of things they're going to have to happen in this game. They're going to have to go the way of the Steelers, but we've seen that for the last few years with them. They put themselves in good situations. And Lamar, this is it for him. They've had a great season. They're on a run right now.

These last four games after the bye, they've been playing awesome football. Todd Munkin now being there another year with him, Derrick Henry and how strong he is right now. It seems like this is the year for the Ravens, but probably the opponent they didn't want to see in the playoffs because of all the division stuff. What do you think is fair about Russell Wilson? Because one part is the defense is not even close to being what it was for two thirds of the season. The Pickens games where he was out for three and then look, it wasn't like he was awesome to finish the season in the last game. He seems to be somebody that can maybe let the game bother him so much that he's almost taken himself out of it a little bit despite his enormous talent.

I felt like a lot of the Russell Wilson stuff was really like unfair and ignoring other factors, but at the same time, and unfortunately for Russell and the Steelers throughout this entire season in this run where you're like, okay, nice job guys, but like look at the other quarterbacks. So there's clearly a ceiling with Wilson. So I'm just kind of wondering how you see it because I think some of the criticism was ignoring other major factors for their decline. Yeah. Well, the first thing I'm picking, I'll say, we all know he's an all-world talent,

but everybody has taken notice of, you know, poking and prodding and bothering him a little bit and getting him out of his game, and you're going to see more of that, right? That's something that is talked about in meetings going into a game because he is a guy that can break open a game. With Russell Wilson, what I've seen, especially the last four weeks, he's one of the best deep ball throwers ever, and he's shown that again this year. But what you've seen defense is doing,

if it's not press man, cover one on the outside, whether he's throwing it to Pickens or Calvin Austin, then he struggled a little bit. The formula that has been used, and I think the formula you're going to see, because it's what Baltimore's kind of done this back half of the year, Rush for, played different types of zone coverage, and let's make Russ beat us, getting the ball out quick reading. Baltimore's been very good at getting pressure on quarterbacks with a four-man rush this year. Russ has had a hard time playing in the pocket and throwing on time.

When he does, he's throwing the check down. So now you're seeing people hugging the backs, not giving him press one-on-one coverage, and that's where he's running around and escaping the pocket. It leads to a lot of throwaways now. For as dynamic as Russ was earlier in his career and being able to create plays off schedule like that, it hasn't been the same at the back end of this year. So I think that's what you're seeing and what you've seen the last little bit.

But if they have an opportunity to throw it deep, they've got to take the chance. And whether that's a third and one, two, three, and you're getting some of that man, those are the ways they're going to make their chunk yards in this game. And they're not going to have many opportunities with the way Baltimore has been playing defense. Did you have. Well, I'm sure like all quarterbacks, you have throws you love. Like I always love those mic'd up things and they're talking to the quarterback

and they've got the sheet and it's like, what do you like? You know, like, well, I, you know, I like this. Did you have moments where you were like, damn it, they know, they know what I don't wanna throw. They know, they know, like, this is not one of my go-tos. Yeah, I mean, so for Russ, Russ lives on the outside, throwing the ball to the outside, and outside the numbers, essentially,

he's been really good at that throughout his career, and that's kind of where he's lived this year as well. For me, it was always inside the numbers. When you look at an offense like Shanahan's, like Brock Purdy and Tua, and the way that they feast in the middle of the field, you try to take that away and make them throw to the outside. Russ is almost the opposite. Where we're going to take away the deep sideline throws because he's so effective and good

at them. This is what this team thrives on, and play the zones and make them read the coverages over the middle. The other thing that I'll say that I think is going to be interesting in this game, Pittsburgh, they're coming after Lamar. They're going to blitz them. They're going to try to get pressure on them. If there's anybody that knows his weaknesses and the way to get after them

a little bit, it's going to be Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Okay. So normally I wouldn't spend this much time on all the games that we have, but because it's your game and this might be the most important part of it is that the drop off to the playoffs has been real for Lamar. And the talk is always, okay, blitz them. You know, it does seem weird to say about the MVP at that position to go, okay, make them throw in a playoff game.

But that's why they moved on from Greg Roman is that they want to look different. There's a lot of people believe that he is, he's playing the game before the snap better than he ever has before, because he's able to adapt to the straightforward approach that has basically stopped him in the playoffs. So what have you seen in kind of your expectation? Because you're right, the Steelers thing just throws a wrench into this hole. Like imagine if Lamar loses to the Steelers

and it doesn't look good and it's like, it might not be that he hasn't developed enough. It could just be that it's this matchup. But more back to the original question of like what you see in kind of preparation of your expectations for him. Yeah, I mean, Lamar just had one of the best seasons we've ever seen a quarterback play, you know, in terms of his productivity, in terms of, you know, the limited interceptions

and turning the ball over. He's really comfortable in this offense now. So I think those are all big things, but that question does remain, can he do it in the playoffs? He's even talked about just not being so antsy and hyped up and just calming down and playing his normal game. I think maybe getting him running a little bit early. For me, if there was ever some anxiety or anxiousness, like maybe getting a run and getting that first hit in, Just let you breathe and relax and say, okay, this is a football game.

This is what I know. But I'm excited to see a man because this is, I think, the best team that they've had and they're playing their best ball right now at the end of the season. He's been pretty unflappable this year. The Zay Flowers thing, if he's not playing, that could be a big factor in the game. But Derrick Henry has been so good running the ball this year, especially yards after contact.

It's been unbelievable. And he's a guy that just continues to defy this aging, running back thing where he's playing better right now than he ever has. Yeah. And just two hours ago, it was reported Zay Flowers is still a long shot. And you're absolutely right. Like, that hours ago, as reported, Zay Flowers is still a long shot.

And you're absolutely right. Like that's just, that's huge because he's, he just opened so much up for him. All right. Let's talk a little Houston chargers here. Okay. Now there's some stuff with Houston where you could look at, like some of the defensive numbers are going to be really excited about it. And then you look at some of the other ones and you're like, okay, what's going

on? And then if you look at the Stroud year by year thing, and this is where it becomes like really nasty and political where it's like, Oh, I thought everybody liked this guy. I was like, I didn't really like him. And I still think the arm talent there, there's still throws a CJ Stroud over the course of a game where I'm like, Oh my God. Right. Um, but the numbers are down.

There's a decline on those, but then it can be just perhaps direct re correlation to the offensive line. Having Nico out, you know, like there's a lot of excuses you can make for CJ. I'm just wondering how you see him from year one to year two and expectation of a playoff game. Yeah, there's a lot of excuses that can be made and it's for everybody too, right? Because even on the other side, Justin Herbert's been banged up this year and, you know, how much has the ankle affected him? But, you know, for Stroud, the first thing I'll say about him is when he throws the football, it is more effortless than anybody in the NFL.

If I'm teaching my kids how to throw a football, I want to have them watch CJ Stroud throw a ball. It is unbelievable the way that it comes out of his hand. I think he had an amazing year last year, gone through some struggles this year, but they still got into the playoffs. We think about how far they've come in the last two years from what it was before he got there to what it is now. I think Diggs getting injured really hurt them.

Obviously, Tank Del now being down really hurts them, but this is gonna be a heavy dose of Nico Collins and Joe Mixon. And unfortunately, the vibes aren't high right now in Houston. And in that locker room, they've really struggled. They've struggled to protect him. But they're going to have to have a game where they play great on defense. The Chargers, maybe this does become a defensive battle.

But Justin Herbert, the last two weeks weeks has been playing really good football too. So I think this is the matchup maybe people are most unsure about in terms of which way it's going to go. But I would say the Chargers probably have the upper hand here. And then whoever wins this game probably gets the presence of going to play the Chiefs. Do you feel really good about just one single team in the, in the playoff field here? I mean, everybody, everybody has their question marks, you know? I mean, even, even Detroit, who has been so dominant this year, the defensive injuries just scare me.

The risk reward, all the man coverage, um, you know, will they be able to keep up and outscore everybody? I thought the Buffalo game was awesome, but that might be an indication of what's going to happen in a few of these games for them. That's why this year is so interesting though. Everybody has their flaws. Everybody has their flaws and I just feel like whoever comes out of the AFC, uh, is going to win the super bowl. And it's, you know, I'm not making any bold predictions here all year. It's kind of been chiefs Ravens bills. Those have been the three teams we've all been looking at.

Um, you know, me, I'm a Homer. I enjoy the bills of those three for sure. But I think Baltimore set up to make a real run right now. Because I, I know it's like a default every year of like, Hey, even the best teams have this, but it just because of the chiefs thing all year, right? I know I should just pick the chiefs. I might just do it. I mean, beginning of the year I had Bills Packers, so I'm still alive.

I'm still in this thing. Um, although, you know, with my Oregon call, even though I didn't want to pick them against Ohio State, sometimes you're like, well, I said it in the summer, so I have to do it again. Right. Stick with it. Yeah. Well, for me, the Chiefs, we had them against the Raiders, and they walked off that field at the end of the game.

They just had a couple of really bad games. They won them all, of course. The Denver game, the Raiders game, they were just walking off that field and it's like this doesn't look like a team. That is prime for run and then all the sudden you know they have a couple good games and vibes are high again and. You know i want to sit there and double down on the world the chiefs are gonna do this gosh, they, they look like they're primed and it make another run right now. Yeah. Sometimes I think this game is as simple as if you need to convert like third and seven, or if you need to get your 20 yards to get into field goal range, or if

you need to convert a third and two and run out the clock, like if you can do those three things and you, you just have the absolute trust and of course, Mahomes is the best in the business. So that's the guy you trust the most. But in all of those moments, you're just like, yeah, they'll get it. And then they do. And like last year, it was kind of funny because, you know, one of your favorite sports moments you can have as a fan is just Mahomes down four, right? Down four is when it's really fun and those late drives and they actually didn't work out across, but they were terrible for a bunch of different reasons

in all of those scenarios. And it's like, Hey, my favorite scenario is actually not working with the guy that's the man. And then you're like, maybe there's maybe something's wrong. And then he just turned into a completely different team in the playoffs. So it's just horrifying to think about picking against them because you just, they deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Yeah. And I, and you know, they deserve the benefit of the doubt. Yeah. And I, and you know, as a, as being part of a team, when you have a quarterback that you can sit back there and you know, when you have the ball at the end of the game, say, gosh, we're going to go and win this thing. There's no doubt in my mind. That's when you know, you have a guy and I'll just say, you know, washing,

watching Washington all year, and Jaden Daniels and how he's been able to come in and look unflappable and in the game's biggest moments, it just seems like he is at his best and he is most calm. It's been so crazy to watch him this year perform. I think he's the runaway offensive rookie of the year, and there's some other great candidates. I hate the discussions of, well, if you like him, you can't like anybody else. I mean, Bo Nix has had an unbelievable season.

Brock Bauer has had an unbelievable season. League neighbors, there's a bunch of guys, but Jayden Dan is because of what you were just talking about. When you need a third down, when you need a fourth down, when you need a thing at the end of the game, it just seems like they have the utmost confidence in him. And he's been able to turn around, not just a team, but a city and a complete franchise in one year, by the way that he plays football. And it's been amazing to watch.

I love the way that Jayden's story closed too, because, you know, I do always worry about some of the rookie quarterbacks to start putting up really good numbers early on. Cause I think for some we've seen historically there is a correction on the quarterback where it's like, remember when that guy was kind of like lightening it up and then everybody figured him out a little bit and then there were some second half stuff with Jaden where you thought, you know, is something going. And then he just, he becomes one of those players, I think towards the end of the year, it's like, this guy's just going to save you week to week.

You know, it doesn't have to happen every single week, you know, because that can turn into like, Hey, I thought this guy was good, but that you have that in you as a quarterback, as a rookie, and to pull out some of those games towards the end of the season again, in such dramatic fashion, um, it's, it's pretty special, I guess it sounds like Jamie would be your guy. Where is Bo Nix on the rookie rankings for you as they get ready for Buffalo? He's been unbelievable.

And he just continues to surprise me, I guess, is the way that I would put it. We got to have them twice this year. And in the first game, it was against the Saints in New Orleans. They won, but it was very up and down performance. He was looking around, missed a few passes, relied on his legs, maybe a little too much, but he's a great scrambler. That part is a big part of what he does. Then he went on a run after that in terms of

throwing, I think it was like 15 touchdowns of one interception or something. It was an amazing run. Then he'll have his moments. Well, he'll remind you that he's a rookie, but I think it was like 15 touchdowns of one interception or something. It was an amazing run. And then he'll have his moments where he'll remind you that he's a rookie. But I think it's a great marriage. I think as a quarterback, the situation matters a lot. And for him to be lucky enough to be drafted by Denver because of the coach, because of Sean Payton, the way he puts him in great situations, and then Bo can create. I mean, he's a very creative quarterback, and they're gonna be a problem.

You know, Buffalo, it's gonna be an interesting game. I think it matches up well for Buffalo only because the strengths of Denver, getting after the passer, and Buffalo's been really good at that all year. A lot of that's been their offensive line, and some of that's been Josh. When it's not perfect, Josh is able to create and get outside the pocket.

And then Patrick Sertan is one of the best defensive players and players in general in the National Football League, but there's not really one guy that he has to take away in that Buffalo game. And so I think some of those big strengths that you look at in Denver and their defense and what they do well, Buffalo kind of neutralizes that because of the strengths that And I remember like earlier this year, just watching Zach Allen and just how much he popped and how much he popped at his size too. And you're like, that dude is thick and he's moving like that. And you're like, is that JJ Watt?

No, no, that's not okay. Yeah. No, JJ is not playing for Denver. Right. Is this a commercial? I mean, I'm not playing for Denver. I'm playing for the NFL. I'm playing for the NFL.

I'm playing for the NFL. I'm playing for the NFL. I'm playing for the NFL. I'm playing for the NFL. I'm playing for the NFL. I'm playing for the NFL. I'm playing for the NFL. I'm playing for the NFL. I'm playing for the NFL. I'm playing for the NFL. And you're like, that dude is thick and he's moving like that. And you're like, is that JJ Watt? No, no, that's not. Okay. Yeah.

No, JJ is not playing for Denver. Right. Is this a commercial? Maybe they get him a costume from the Broncos. Cause I mean, look, I think prime JJ Watt over those three years was like horror, cause I think he stayed mad the whole three plus hours, which is really hard to do, like you're still this pissed off. This is amazing.

Well, I, so I, I play with JJ in 2014 and I'll, I still will go down as saying, you know, in my 17 years and my nine teams, that was the best season JJ 2014 that I've ever seen one of my teammates have. He was unbelievable. I think he finished runner up by a few votes to Aaron Rogers that year as the league MVP, but that was the year he was scoring touchdowns on offense. He was scoring touchdowns on defense. He was scoring touchdowns on defense. He was getting out for the quarterback and it was just so amazing to watch.

Those peak JJ, I couldn't, I'm just like sitting here gushing about it and thinking back to it because the intensity, the edge and intensity that he played with consistently through all 60 minutes feels almost like. Unobtainable like you must've had guys on the sideline just going, what is this guy made of? Like how, how can he be this dialed in consistently all, all season long? And again, it was over the course of multiple years. It was just, I mean, look, nobody's Aaron Donald. So don't, we don't have to worry about that part of it, but

like just his rage. Well, it was also the timing of when he made plays and I'll never forget being in Houston and every time they needed a just his rage. Well, it was also the timing of when he made plays. And I'll never forget being in Houston. And every time they needed a player, we needed a play on defense, they put on, I think maybe it's little John, but they put on turn down for what?

And everybody just went wild because it became turn down for what. And they were saying, all right, JJ, time to make a play. And then sure enough, third down, he made the play. He got, he got us off the field. It made an interception. He did something crazy, but pretty fun memories. Uh, every time I hear that song, I think about him and the time in Houston.

Yeah, that actually worked out pretty well for him. Um, you know, it's close enough, right? Uh, let's stay on Tampa then with Washington because, you know, on Monday I was talking about Tampa or I go, yeah, I feel like I've been. I don't think dismissive is the right word. Cause it's not like I don't respect the offensive profile. This Baker turnaround is one of the all timers. Mike Evans, part of this just keep, just keep doing it.

And I love Bucky Irving. So like, there's a lot of things about this team I really like, but they haven't won a million games over this stretch to fight winning the division. And then when you look at some of the division numbers, you can make an argument, it's like they score like a touchdown more per game when they were playing NFC South teams as opposed to outside of it.

In Washington, I think defensively is somewhat, they're middle of the pack, even though I like so much of their personnel. Yeah. There's a lot in the front seven that I really like for them. So just go ahead and pick the game. Well, I mean, you talk about Tampa, Tampa has been up and down this year, right? But Tampa has beat Detroit and they have beat Philly. And so you look at a couple of those wins and you're like, gosh, wait, they have, they beat both those teams. But the thing about Tampa, I think defensively, it's been a struggle this year more than on the offensive end.

And what I like about Tampa, Todd Bowles, this is now, you're just playing these games three hours and Todd Bowles is going to be able to scheme, he's going to be able to create pressure. And I'm not too concerned about their defense and the playoffs because of that, because being around Todd, I was with him for two years in New York. Uh, Richard Sherman being with him in Tampa, you know, loves the way that he can go and attack, uh, you know, in a playoff type atmosphere and he's done it before. But Liam Cohen deserves a lot of credit for the Bucs and what they've done this year offensively. Baker's been unbelievable.

Mike's been unbelievable, but at least Chris Godwin, that was a huge loss for them. I didn't know much about Bucky Irving before this year, so that was a huge surprise for me. Oh my goodness, especially early on too, the way they were able to scheme stuff with two running backs on the field at the same time and just utilizing the personnel that they had for the week. Liam Cohen's been amazing. But I'll just say this too, I'm going to pick Tampa in this game.

I loved week 18 Baker. They're struggling. You know, they need to pick up a win. They're not playing well versus New Orleans. They come out in the second half. That play, the first third down where he takes off, he lowers his shoulder, and that wasn't the end of it. He gets up, he stands over the dude, he causes a fight.

He walks away to the sideline. Tristan Wirfs is there shoving people. The whole Tampa offense is over there fighting New Orleans defense. It's like the dude just understands football. He gets it. He understands how to provide a spark. He understands how to get his guys going. And those dudes love playing for Baker Mayfield. So I'm going to go with Tampa in this game, although I think it's going to be one of the more intriguing quarterback matchups of the first round. All right. I, I love that you point to that play. It was the best, man.

Because you just nailed it. You nailed it from the perspective of somebody that's coming out of the tunnel and then you need something like that. Because it's also this weird dynamic where you're like, Atlanta's not losing to Carolina. If you're Tampa and you're down at the half to New Orleans, you don't think they're gonna actually lose to Carolina,

except the Bryce Young story continues. The funniest part about that play is Harris, the defender for the saints. Baker didn't go down. So Harris hit him and then Baker acted as if it was, it was, I'm telling you, he came out of the huddle or out of the tunnel at halftime thinking like, all right, I gotta do something. And so, you know, the, the run was not a surprise, but it was the standing over him that was, he did that intentionally, you know, to get the guys go, which was, which is why he loved Baker.

I love that line that you just gave us though. He gets football. Um, Green Bay Philadelphia week one was one of the best games of the season. Yeah. And I remember, you know, doing the pod the next morning. I was like, I think the important thing to say is, Hey, I think both of these teams are really good, um, from a personnel standpoint, it would have been shocking if they had disappointing seasons and listen, but health, but you know,

Philadelphia's completely turned around this defense from where they were last year. Um, you know, the green Bay, Minnesota stuff kind of, kind of bothered me cause I felt like both games played out. Where even the first game where they come back and make it look close, it was a million mistakes. I think Minnesota just kicked their ass the second time around and then they get a couple of late scores when you know that the defense is just not going to be as tuned up when the score is that way.

So, you know, the hurts part of it's a huge deal. I think it feels like people are leaning toward the fact that he's going to play even though he's going to play even though he's still in concussion protocol. So just go in any direction you want. Yeah. I mean, Philly might be the most complete team in the playoffs. It's been awesome to see Fangio come in and the way their defense has performed.

I think my guy, Andrew Whitworth, always wants to talk about the trenches. I think Philly has the best combination of defensive line and offensive line in the NFL. So the Saquon stuff this year has been great. You can talk about a guy that everybody across the NFL cheers for just because of the human being that he is, but what an amazing player. So to be able to showcase his talents this year and do what he's done in Philadelphia has been awesome.

I'm not concerned about Jalen Hurts not playing. I think he'll be in the game. It's been a couple of weeks. And with him, I think it's been up and down a little bit this year. But I go back to watching that Super Bowl. And other than the one play, the fumble, a little bit this year, but I go back to watching that Super Bowl. And other than the one play, the fumble, that was one of the more impressive quarterback performances I've ever seen in a Super Bowl, certainly in a losing effort.

And so they have skill all the way across the board. Jaylen's shown that he can do it in the game's biggest moments. The Packers, I've been so high on all year. They're so young, they're so fun. Josh Jacobs has been incredible Their defense has played well at wide receiver the Christian Watson injury hurts, but they're so deep at wide receiver I would love to see Romeo Dobbs be more involved Jayden Reed's kind of been quiet the last few weeks You know Wicks is the guy that's gonna be able to step up, but then it all kind of falls on Jordan Love.

I think they've done a great job this year putting him in position to be successful. And Matt LaForest on a great job calling the plays. Even when you saw Willis come in for those two games, putting him in great situations to make plays. So it's going to come down to can Jordan Love make those plays at the end of the game? I think he's been inconsistent with that. He obviously has shown that he can do it, but I don't know that the expectation right now is that he's going to do it with the Green Bay Packers fans. It's an intriguing game, but Jordan Love is going to have to show up and play really well in that game. I think his elbow is similar to what

Josh Allen had, the funny bone and just feeling weird for a couple of hours. I think he'll be okay. Um, but I love this Packers team and, you know, I hope that Jordan could put on a great performance. Yeah. Reed's been a little quiet. Dobbs has been, you know, he had the seven catches against Minnesota, but he's going to be a super, I think he's going to be a superstar Romeo Dobbs. When I watch his tape, when I watch, you know, how smooth he is off the line is run after the catchability.

I hope to see him get some more opportunities in this game. Cause when they're rolling, it's like, Oh, that guy, Oh, that guy, you know, like, especially like if you really know. And again, I'm talking more like a Packers fan just locked into their personnel. But for those of us that, you know, paying attention to how you put together that receiver room, and then there was just these moments where like, Oh, that's the diff, that's the different dude. Yeah. Yeah.

It's a completely different guy. And these names like, wait a minute, what? But yeah, they just have makers across the board. Okay. Final, final couple of thoughts here. We'll finish here soon, but I hate like whenever it's the blueprint, you know, did so and so give you the blueprint? Did Detroit? I told myself I wasn't going to use the term. Yeah, well, I don't use the

term anything to the way Detroit blueprint. Okay. Well, I say this. You know, there's been some, you know, the same, you already know what the question is. Yeah, it's Sam, Sam Darnold. You know, we all know what happened with the jets and I'm seeing goes first, the Patriots and all that. I'll say like, he's been great against the blitz this year. He really has, but teams really haven't blitzed them a lot either. And I think part of it is they're really afraid of if you blitz, you have less guys to cover and look at who they have on the outside. Part of it was early on in the season, it just wasn't successful and guys were getting gashed by the Vikings. I think it's a thing. I think they got after

them early and I think it caused some problems in that game. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rams come after them a little bit more. And, you know, the Rams since the bye week have been blitzing more. That's been part of it. But the problem is you can do that and you can come after Sam a little bit more. But again, you have less guys to guard Addison and Justin Jefferson, the greatest receiver on the planet. So I think it was a good wake up call for Minnesota to say, gosh, we gotta have better answers. You know, Sam, I've got to have better answers. Uh, when stuff like this happens, go back to the drawing board and it'll help them

prepare to hopefully make a run in the playoffs. Yeah. Cause I, what I didn't want to do, cause I felt like Minnesota in that spot against Detroit with the injuries, I'm like, okay, they'll, they'll get this one. And then when you see the swing, as everybody listening understands, like the one seat in the NFC as opposed to now you're going on the road. It's like, it's just a completely different level of challenge here. And so then I thought, okay, well, this means you just have to go with Detroit out of the NFC. Again, because I pick whatever the summer, summer will just see how it goes. But then it's like, well, maybe I'll just flip it. I'll just flip it to Philadelphia. I'm like, man, this feels like, what else does Detroit need to do?

Yeah. Well, and Detroit, you know- Rather than get healthy overnight. Yeah. But it's those injuries. Okay, they're going to catch up to them. They're going to catch up to them. And it's like, they just continue to play so well on offense. And I give Aaron Glenn a lot of credit. They're aggressive on defense. And that's the whole mentality of this football team, they're aggressive. And so, in order to beat them,

you're gonna have to do what Buffalo did. And you're gonna have to score 40 something points. And even when you're scoring 40 points, I mean, people kind of forget that game. Detroit started coming back and putting some pressure on Buffalo and Dawson Knox make this unbelievable one-handed catch in the fourth quarter. Even though Buffalo dominated that game, if you look at the final score and you have that

feeling of what was going on in the second half, it wasn't a blowout. Detroit was putting pressure on them the whole second half to score every possession. That's how you're going to have to beat Detroit this year. If you're going to beat him, it's going to be 35 plus points. And you know, you're going to have to get after Jared Goff, which people have had a hard time getting to him this year. That, that game for Allen may be my favorite game, a quarterback at all season.

Oh, that's great. Just because he was, he was doing stuff that you're just not supposed to be able to do in an NFL game where it's like, I'll just completely like single-handedly figure this out. Well they teach you not to do some of the stuff he was doing too right? Some of the throws rolling right throwing left, rolling left throwing right. I mean he was just on another level which you know maybe two of his two of his best moments that game and obviously the Kansas City game and the run at the end of that game to put it to two scores were pretty incredible moments for him.

Are you going to Buffalo? I'm not kind of disappointed. I, you know, getting Buffalo to Baltimore is not the easiest flying wise. And then my daughter's got a birthday on Monday, getting back from Buffalo to Arizona is not the easiest. So I'm hoping they win and maybe I can make it the next week, but I'm not going to be able to make it out this weekend. Yeah. I think I knew I could tell you you're hedging. You're hedging a bit like maybe, maybe I'll show up for.

We'll see, you know, fingers crossed. Hey man, say hi to everybody with the Amazon crew. Again, you can catch Ryan Fitzpatrick and the rest of the crew. That's gonna be the Wild Guard free game show, our prime video this Saturday night, 730 Eastern. Again, Steelers, Ravens 8 Eastern. Enjoy the playoffs, man, thanks. All right, thanks Ryan.

Just an update on the schedule, because of the Ohio State Texas game, we're gonna go on live after that. So we'll have like a full episode for you, but instead of releasing it part one in the morning, part two, we're just going to have the full episode and we'll be live ready to go right after Texas, Ohio State. I'm picking Ohio State because I don't want to pick against them anymore. And I'm picking Penn State. So we get an all big 10 jamboree and media members that graduated from big 10 schools can rejoice forever. All right.

Here's what we got. Um, Ohio state four legs. Let's do it. Alt spread Ohio state plus three and a half against Texas. That feels awesome. Right. Will Howard, 175 plus yards. I think we come out and try to attack just like they did against Oregon, just

like they did against Tennessee. The team is still angry, my friends. And I don't know why they would ever just try to run it right at Texas D line. Will Howard's lowest passing total on the season is 175 and that was against Michigan, I forget what happened in the game. All right. Um, give me, 50 plus yards. He's the number one target for Texas.

He's had 73 plus yards in four of his last five games. The low total in that stretch, 49 yards against Clemson. I think if Texas is down, they've got to find Golden. You should be able to get 50 yards out of that. This one's a little dangerous. That's right, I am dangerous. G Scott, I love this cat. Not a huge part of the offense.

Had a big catch against Oregon has felt like a little bit more of an option. Can we get 25 yards or more out of G Scott? Those four all plugged in together is plus 526 by the last number that I got when I did this about an hour ago. So there you go. Again, reminder, we'll be posting Friday's pod right after the result of Ohio State in Texas. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous

house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. We've got Kyle. We've got Sarudy potentially work on it's life advice, life advice, rr at gmail.com Sarudy going with the high and sorta tight little Kendall Royish after another meltdown, what's going on with you? I, this is just my, my theory of like every you know a couple times a year

You just got to mix it up a little bit mix the look up a little bit I'll mix the mustache in I'll cut the hair. I'll grow the hair out Just kind of wanted to buzz it. It's also like beanie season. It's freezing here in the Northeast So it's just easier when you put a beanie on we don't have a lot of hair. So home cut Would you know this one? No, I got this one. This is my guy my guy fantastic Samford No, no downtown West Hartford. It's spot. Hmm. Okay You like it no, it doesn't seem like it I Love it. It just seems like I think it's think it probably feels awesome

The sides are great. It just feels like there's like a straight line going over, you know Kind of almost like a hairline thing, but it's not. And then there's just like a little bit of fuzzies in the middle. Is that just length? Maybe it's just cause I'm looking at this in 2D. Do give me a little side turn.

Oh yeah, it looks better when you turn to the side. Profiles are better. Great profile. I don't have the straightest hairline in the world. I got good hair, but I don't have the straightest hairline. So sometimes that I don't get like edged up. You know, I just kind of fuzz it. No, that was a 2D in a 3D world thing. When you turn to the side, I got good hair, but I don't have the straightest hairline. So sometimes that I don't get like edged up. You know, I just kind of know that was a, that was a 2d in a 3d world thing that when you turn to the side, it looks good. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. The Candler Roy meltdown.

That just seemed unnecessary. I don't think I'm going through, there's no crises going on in my life. It just, I don't know what you'd be like in a meltdown. Just are so even. Super measured. Even super measured probably. Yeah, like well this sucks. That would be here's what I move on. If Saruti has a meltdown, he's not posting about it true on Instagram. Hey dudes, just thought I'd give you an update. Going through it right now. Could really use your help in comments. And on top of that, my dog bills are through the roof. You know, it's like, oh, cool, man. So you're bummed out.

All right. Got it. Yeah. And I think, I think you were doing that, but yeah, Saruti is kind of like an action figure. If action figures were skinny fat, because you have so many different like, hey, have you gotten Euro soccer Saruti?

Like, you know, like, you know, were skinny fat because you have so many different, like, hey, have you gotten Euro soccer Saruti? Have you gotten winner hybrid Saruti? New skins just dropped. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Apple picking Saruti. Yeah, that is true. I will say, it's probably just being a dad.

Like the ease of this haircut is pretty great. You get out of the shower, you don probably just being a dad. The ease of this haircut is pretty great. You get out of the shower, you don't really gotta do much. You like your styles, man. I bet you have like- I thought the last one really worked for you. Which one was that? It was like the right amount of hair,

definitely more than we've got here. And I don't know if you're a hair powder guy or whatever it is. It looked like it definitely took a little something, but it didn't look like you tried. It wasn't like a construction helmet, like one of those things. So I don't know.

I wonder how long that would take you to get that all together before you leave the house. What are the casualties of working at home, I feel like, is I just wear a hat. I mean, you're wearing a hat right now. I just wear a hat every day. And it's because I'm just like, I don't really want to put any stuff in it.

I don't want to put any powder in it, whatever. And this I'm just like I don't really want to putting stuff in it Don't put any powder in it. Whatever and this is you know, don't really got to do much, you know So you are a powder guy. I discovered the hair powder recently. It's way better. Yeah. Yeah, we don't have to talk about this Why don't you want to talk about it? I just I feel like you don't have anything to say and I don't know You just may have a lot to offer I You just made a lot of offers. I felt bad about saying skinny fat, now I don't. Oh, it's accurate. I've been thinking, yeah, I was talking about,

because I was talking to my, Wargon actually, he's running a half marathon next week. Oh yeah? FYI. Hey, Wargon. Marathon Mike. Holy shit, are you kidding me? Plug in, buddy.

So go ahead, Serti. No, it just got me thinking like I should probably start running again. So I was like looking into those like couch to 5K haps because I just don't, gotta get the cardio up. But Wargrounds got me beat. So I got to maybe I can take some tips from him. What do we got?

It's a half marathon, not a full guy. All right, but you know. Just halfway. Whatever, man. 12 more miles and I'm gonna run this month. Correct. What are we talking about? It's Disney World, man.

Where else would I go? Wait, what? We might not even get to a question. Are you gonna have martinis on your way down there? You're gonna like, or are you gonna skip the, you gotta skip to lounge before you fly down. Flight's at 7 a.m. so I don't think that's my car. Safe.

Safe. What time are you getting there? 11 o'clock the night before? If only. If only. So wait, have you done one of these before? Have you ever done it? How does a Disney half marathon work? Explain it all, leave out nothing.

I couldn't tell you, this is my first one. Very first one. Why? That's a great question. Seemed like fun. Seemed like fun. Really good question, Ryan. Started running like four or five months ago.

How you feeling? Just like three miles. I'm up to like full half marathon now. I feel okay. Did you start running before you booked the marathon? You were like, I'm doing so good. I booked it so you had to get your ass in gear. Holy shit.

Yep, exactly. How much time was in between? I can't live my life like you, man. I wish. How far out do you have to book it? I don't know, maybe like. I don't know maybe like I don't know Like were you a were you a runner before this? You know, I'm just gonna run a marathon You came across your desk and you're like oh shit I better get back

I booked it wanting to like start running. Okay. Wait, so how long you been training for like how long did you get up to? You know a half marathon four or five months maybe Training is like a shot. It's like running like 30 minutes, you know It's not. I had no idea, cause you didn't post your routes like everyone else that does this. So I had no idea. Sensitive subject, yeah.

Keep it to myself. Good for you, man. Did you run a marathon if you didn't post your routes and take pictures? Every single day. Yeah, document your success along the way. Damn it. All right, do you know you dress up for this?

I'm looking at some pictures right now. I know people dress up for it. I will not be dressing up. Not even the ears? Not even the ears, no. Gotta wear the pin. Wear like a light hoodie. Hey, this guy's not wearing the ribbon.

Are you a big Disney guy? Yeah, go ahead. I'm a pretty big Disney guy. I mean, I got a big Lion King tattoo, I don't know. No, that's right, That massive gun Simba. Will you have a shirt that shows off the ink? No, not today. No tank?

It starts at 5 a.m. so it's gotta be something warm. Oh, cause you gotta be out of there by the time the park opens? Gotta be out of there, yeah. Dude, what is going on? It's early. Is it okay to say this sounds like the worst thing ever? Yeah, I'm not looking forward to it. And no espresso martinis, buddy?

I don't. I mean, after the- Why are you doing this again? I feel like the answer isn't good enough. I don't know. It feels like something that should have been good and then I started running and it's like, wow, running fucking sucks.

Well, that part everybody understands, but then to put the Disney layer on it and then there's the 5 a.m so you can get out of there so they get kids in there. Well then you just get like a trip afterwards which is nice. Okay you like Disney World though Epcot. Did you get married at Epcot? No I'm not married yet. You're not married yet? Dude totally Mandela effect there I was like what does your wife think about this? I didn't even I just she's running with just assumed that you were married Do you get is there like a good part where you get like alright you did this half marathon here You can go into Disney for free. Is there a discount anything? Yeah, like a shirt Everybody that finishes gets a

Banana yeah, a cone-shaped cup of water that you can't drink down. Orange drink, medium. Exactly. Look man, you killed it. 10 out of 10 again, Mike. We'll check in with you again soon. So is this one weekend? Is that it? One weekend.

So you're not gonna miss a show for this? You're just, you'll be back? No, I'm missing Friday and Monday. What? Yeah, Kyle, I gotta talk to you, but I gotta. I'm crying. Nobody checked with me. Yeah, I talked to Saruti. All right. Yeah, this thing's real. We're days away. All right. Well, can you call in on Monday? Um no, probably not. Yes. All right. That was stern.

We'll do a Wednesday check in. You know, gotta be stern. Yeah, I think I'm, am I sensing attitude right now? I don't know what's going on. Is it just a scheduling thing or are you like, I mean, obviously maybe the title shouldn't be the wild card and WarGuns marathon, half marathon. Yeah, I'm just thinking Monday will probably be like in the parks. Yeah, all right.

So it's a scheduling thing on your end. This isn't, you know, I just want to, I like to get levels of resistance. Maybe just a selfie on your first mile so we can post that just when you're feeling good. I don't think I'm bringing my phone. Just shut down after shut down. Yeah, we need a picture. You're going to do the battle in the teeth thing. That's what we need.

Yeah, buy one from Disney for like 50 bucks. How about that? I'm looking at some videos here of the women crossing the finish line. This looks like the Paris Olympics. This is a first class operation. I like that. I know people that have done this.

Former like, because obviously ESPN, we had all the Disney hookups forever. People used to do it all the time. I don't know why, but no offense for it now. All right. any hookups forever. People used to do it all the time. I don't know why, but no offense for it now. All right. Let's, uh, We just did over-rate, under-rate, appropriate, and related marathons like a month ago, too. That's 10 minutes on marathons. All right. My God.

All right. Um, that's 10 minutes. Okay. What do we got? Time for a sit down. Hey fellas, love the pod. Obviously not a hooper. So let's say I'm like, Mike All-Stars with minimum talent. No lifting stats anymore, but can run a sub seven mile regularly. We know about a half marathon. You can sign up for here. Uh, also used to be able to power clean 300 pounds, but I'm not bragging. I think you should brag about that.

Uh, live in the Midwest in a Metro Midwest Metro that wins to be able to power clean 300 pounds, but I'm not bragging. You should brag about that. Live in the Midwest in a Midwest Metro that wins Super Bowls regularly. I live on the good side of the state line. Oh, okay. Anyway, you got it? I got it. We'll just leave it alone, just in case.

Anyway, we have a core group of guys. It's been friends since high school, some before our buddy, let's call him Nate. Name has already changed. He's going through one of the nastier divorces I've seen real accusatory stuff and a lot of fighting but that's just background Nate told us he was going to see gladiator 2 by himself on a Tuesday afternoon I see movies by myself all the time. So that part is fine. Yeah, we would agree Yeah, doesn't you don't need to be added to a watch list myself went to a movie. Yeah

You did it recently? Yeah, it's too glad I did it too by myself. I haven't done it yet, but you really pumped me up and I feel good about doing it in the future. So that was a day when I got some real life advice. Yeah, I mean, again, I can't understand why people, I think if you hate the idea, you should make yourself do it.

It's like running. It's like a marathon. All right, so. I just can't get yourself do it. It's like running. It's like a marathon. All right. So he checks his, um, so all that part is fine. He checks his phone at the end of the movie and finds out his wife is pulling legal shenanigans for him. Parentheses. He gets angry. He tells us he had a great one-liner at the theater. Here is the text. I got an awesome one-liner out. I was so angry reading the emails at the end of the movie, went to take a piss and some old ass man next to me

was two and didn't wash his hands. I walked out and his wife was there and I said, your gross ass husband doesn't wash his hands. Look out for piss. And she just looked mortified. The emailer continues. This is insane behavior, right? I think it might be made up, but that's even worse.

And what scenario is that funny or even something to brag about? Do we need to have a chat with him and tell him to chill? We already give him a lot of shit because he pays for Twitter to boost his engagement, not a joke, but at what point is it too much walking a fine line because he's going through a lot, but I can't let weird behavior like this slide. Is it worth a full roast because that's actually what I wanna do

or should I just let it go? Hurt people hurt people, man. I don't know. Yeah, that is insane behavior. I would agree with that. And then to one, to be that mad and then to do it and then do it to a stranger and then to do it to the stranger's wife and then feel like he won the day and then share it with all of you guys. Like that's what I did. Still kicking ass. I mean, clearly gladiator to affected him in a way that maybe

not Saruti was affected by it. Uh, yeah, I just, I just think that stuff is like really, that's totally overboard. That's totally overboard. Is he, we were just talking about this before the pod. Is he trying to be like hand washing narc, like the carton arc guy? Like is he just, is that like his thing? He's just start calling people out in the bathroom

for not washing hands? I don't know that that's a lane you wanna be in, even though it's disgusting. The carton arc guy is doing something good, I though. I mean, people may argue with his methods, but the root of it is good. This guy, I mean, just don't touch a stranger's hands if you're not, you know, kind of signed up for whatever if you do that.

So just everyone keep your hands to yourself, but it doesn't matter. So I think those are two different things. I think this is just a merciless joke thing. I don't know if you're like, you know, hey, man, we really need to talk about this or whatever. I think this is just, this is what terrible jokes are for. That guy's probably going home and crying anyway, right? He's got a lot of stuff. He can't go to a movie

by himself without, you know, getting, getting emails about things changing in his passwords or whatever the hell's going on with the legal stuff. So I think, you know, this was just misplaced aggression, obviously. But yeah, I don't know. I don't think this is a full, we need to take a stock here. I think this is just jokes. I think the jokes thing might even be, you just gotta check on them. I don't, the joke.

It might even be like give them a little grace. Yeah. I think you need to have one friend in the group to be like, just so you know, that's a total asshole thing to do to somebody, right? You know you're unhinged. You're aware of this. You thought that was, why did you even. Like you thought that was, like why did you even tell us? And by the way, did you tell us?

It's probably not 100% true. You know, guys can, this kind of story, be like, hey, guess what I did? Yeah. And I get it, like you're going through a divorce, even though I haven't been through one experience with many, just the filing process of like, they're saying I did what?

I mean, it sucks. It absolutely sucks because both sides are trying to paint a picture to gain more sympathy when somebody has to decide who gets what. So in this case, like you can understand of the root cause of why he would be this unhinged, but you need to, anybody going through something and. You know, as Kyle had said, the hurt people hurt people thing. I mean, it is true when somebody's like just miserable and then has a mean streak

in them, their goal is they want just everybody to be as miserable as they are. And maybe you attack it that way. So it's not even about the quote. It's just going, Hey, what's your plan? It sucks. We're on your side. We're here for you. But like, what's your plan to bring society down around you? Do you want to see the world burn? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe see dog man next time. See a preview for that one, Kyle?

No. It's a cop, but he's a dog with the attributes of a Kung Fu fighter. No, it's not. Is that real? Would I lie to you? I guess not. I just saw a bunch of previews,

didn't see anything like that. I didn't see a ridiculous one about like a chimp who becomes a rock star. That looks fucking terrible. Did you guys see that? Oh yeah. Isn't that supposed to be about Robbie Williams? That's a Robbie Williams bio pic,

but it's a chimp for some reason, right? What the hell that is, dude. It looks fucking terrible. There is a movie coming out called Wolfman, which I'm a little intrigued by. A guy gets bit by a wolf, turns into a wolf, assume it's a werewolf situation, but Dogman. That was all this time, dude.

Yeah. Gotta watch out for the wolves. I'm trying to find a quick one here. Oh, I know what it is. We got it for you right here. It's a very Soorootie based one here. Yeah, Better Man is the chimp movie. It's Robbie Williams.

Better Man. Yeah. Okay. So we have Dog Man, Wolf Man, and Better Man. Dude, that Better man. Yeah. Okay. So we have dog man, wolf man, man, better man. Dude, that better man thing looked absolutely insane. What's up guys? Gonna jump right into it. My buddies and I have a three person group chat

that's almost exclusively for talking basketball. The three of us live here in Orlando, watch just about every Magic game, attend a fair amount of games per year. I've lost the ability to talk to them about sports based on their horrendous takes. And I need to know what the play is going forward. For example, both friends claim that Jason Tatum was, quote, carried to the finals.

It would not be a star if not given his Celtics roster. That's horseshit. Both friends also believe that Rudy Gobert holds no value as a basketball player because he has, quote, no bag. While I agree the trade and contract were a little much for Rudy, his defensive presence along with his shot and decision alteration can't be overlooked. At various points throughout last off season and early this season, one or both have pleaded for the following.

Trading Franz Wagner for Lamelo Wall. Trading Jaylen Suggs for Lamelo Wall. I was waiting for Sarudy to make a noise. Trading away a 20-year-old Anthony Black in a deal to require a player like Sexton Clarkson or Brogdon. Brogdon. I mean, you need new friends. That's yeah, it's about up. It's what I can offer.

Cut all the minutes of Tristan dime Silva. Although he's shown great promise as a rookie. I'm at a loss where to go from at this point. I can't hear any more about how Tatum is horrible and Rudy go better should be out of the NBA I'm sure you guys have dealt with something along these lines before so I'm asking what's the play is it just to be a solo basketball Watcher with nobody to discuss with or is there room for potential reform? I'm hoping you all read this and knock some sense of these guys So you want to take this one? There's no knocking any sense of them. Like this is, I feel like a prevailing part

of Twitter sports culture, I feel like. Everybody thinks that Go Bear sucks, like the Tatum thing. I'm trying to think of like other takes like that, that are just like out there that are dumb, but are just somehow like a take that people have that are casuals. I don't really like the word casual. I don't even like that I use that.

But I don't know, like do you not want any friends either? Are they good guys? Do you go to Topgolf with them? Are they fun? Are they good to go out with? Are they good wingmen? Is this the only downfall that these guys have? Because if that's the case, then I don't know.

Sports takes are, I don't like talking sports with people outside of our kind of group here, because it's just like, I don't know. I don't really want to get into stuff. It's kind of annoying, but it know, it's obviously our job. So it's a little bit different, but if it's just like, if you have to deal with bad sports takes and you have good friends, like then I think it's kind of just something you got to overlook a little bit.

I could see maybe start like trying to push the chat in another direction. I mean, maybe it's like, I don't know, it's like a meme thing. I don't really have something like this. Like I got this one guy who was sending me, this was on Instagram, so it was a little different, but he was just sending me like cringe videos of like, I don't know, it was just, but it was like women doing like, there's a guy you have specific.

Yeah, yeah. And it was like women doing like monologues and like making just, I don't know. It was just, I hated it. I hated it. He wouldn't stop. And then I just started sending him poop content and he's stopped.

He's out. He's done. I know this isn't the same thing, but I just started. You went lower. You just went. I went lower and it was like farts and poop. That's what I was sending him. I followed this page called world of farts.

They usually have some bangers. Uh, I sent those to him and I gotta say the cringe stuff stopped. And I know it's not the same, but it's just the only thing I have to say on this. So what you're saying to the email is that he needs to figure out. What's his world of basketball takes that correlate with world of farts. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

I, it doesn't, they kind of run parallel. They don't really intersect, but I don't know. It's the only thing I have for this. So maybe you throw like, do we found it, find out a way to like do Palo for the number one pick this year to reset the financial roster and Palo's been hurt and you know, you might not want to extend them, like just try to out world of fart their basketball takes. Right.

Because your, your issue is you're taking them seriously, right? And you're like, you can't be serious. So maybe you just have to be completely on serious and it's a joke thing. I don't know. I know that the Rudy one's not terrible. I'm just kidding. I know that dissing first date these days, you know, they like to, like, you know, they like to bite back a little bit. Um, but my, I will say my, my,

my perspective and my, not enjoyment of that show, but just how I view that show change when I just stopped taking it seriously. When you stop taking, and that's far hard for me because I do take things very seriously, like sports, whatever it takes. Like I have a hard time with just like letting shit go like that. But when you, when you just kind of are like, Hey, these guys are idiots and you just don't really let it bother you that way. Or you look at it through a different lens. It completely changes. And that's what first take was for me. As soon as I stopped looking at that, it's like a serious sports show.

When you stop hate watching Skip Bayless. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, Shannon starts writing to fight somebody or whatever. It's like, Oh, this is actually, it's an entertaining show. And just, I think you could treat your friends. Is there a way you can just treat it as entertainment? Can you, as you said, like, can you just send them like fake trades or are there different things that you can just do to kind of like rev it up even more, just kind of like have a personal laugh to yourself. Cause again,

I don't think it's worth like ending friendships over this unless they're also shitty friends. Yeah. I wouldn't end the friendship, like ending friendships over this unless they're also shitty friends. Yeah. I wouldn't end the friendship, but those, the Tatum one, actually the Clarkson trade or Brogdon for Anthony black, Anthony black, the mellow. I feel like the mellow thing. Like if you are a lamello guy, that's a red flag for me personally. Lit it up last night.

Beat the sons. Cool. Lit it up. Fourth quarter demon gremlin. Maybe. All right, thank you to Kyle. Thank you to Saruti. Thank you to Oregon, who I cannot wait to talk about this next week with him. Good luck, buddy.

We'll be cheering you on. Maybe a virtual donation, a couple Disney bucks your way. Spend it at Jelly Roll before last call. Good for two Disney bucks. You can get a Guinness and Epcot. way, spend it at jelly roll before last call. Woodford too. It's the books. You can get a Guinness and Epcot. Yeah. And then you can head right over to China. So that'll, that'll do it for the show.

And we'll be on again, Friday, right after Ohio state, Texas for a five day playoff football celebration. With van, van, van, van, van, van, van, van, van, van, Playoff football celebration with Van Van Van Lathan SEC Van tough one tough one for us that'll do check us out on YouTube and subscribe to the podcast Must be 21 and older, present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in DC gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland.

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