The Ryen Russillo Podcast - What’s Fair in the Lamar Criticisms? Jayden’s Run and the Chiefs' Dark Arts With Willie Colon. Plus, Notre Dame–Ohio State Picks.

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

Russillo starts the show with his thoughts on Ravens-Bills and what it's fair to critique Lamar Jackson on (0:50). Then, he’s joined by Willie Colon to recap all four divisional games, discuss the Chiefs' penalty controversy, and talk about which of Willie's former teammates he could beat in a fight (16:55). Then, Ryen shares his picks for Notre Dame–Ohio State (61:39) before Ceruti and Kyle join for Life Advice (69:12)! How do I tell the girls I’m hooking up with that I have no interest in dating them? 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: Willie Colon Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Mike Wargon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's episode of the podcast, we open with Buffalo advancing, which is Death Waite. Lamar, America's favorite quarterback? Probably not, but what's fair about the guy behind center for the Ravens? We're going to break down all these games, Willie Colon, including the Eagles holding up, Rams, KC, controversy, and of course, Washington doing unprecedented things with a rookie quarterback. That's right. Historically unprecedented. We've got our pick for the national championship and why Ohio State has a chance to achieve unprecedented redemption. Love that word today and life advice. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. You know, Amazon Prime is not just a shipping

subscription, right? Amazon Prime isn't just one thing, but a collection of excellent services. Amazon Prime offers a range of services, Prime Video, Amazon Music, and Prime Fast Free Shipping. They also have great shows, great movies. Here's my favorite Amazon Prime thing. Ready? So we do the rewatchables, right? And I always like to know who the actor is. They have this really cool thing when you watch a movie called X-Ray, you can click on it as you're watching the movie and the cast will pop up. And you can see who all the actors are.

And it sounds dumb, but when you host a movie podcast, it's like the greatest thing ever. Anytime I rent or buy a movie, I buy it on Amazon Prime. That's true, I swear. On Prime, whatever you're into, or just getting into Prime service can help you get closer to it. Or discover something else to get into.

Whatever you're into, it's on Prime. Visit Amazon.ca slash Prime to get more out of whatever you're into. Air Transat presents two friends traveling in Europe for the first time and feeling some pretty big emotions. This coffee is so good. How do they make it so rich and tasty? Those paintings we saw today weren't prints. They were the actual paintings.

I have never seen tomatoes like this. How are they so red? With flight deals starting at just $589, it's time for you to see what Europe has to offer. Don't worry, you can handle it. Visit airtransat.com for details, conditions apply. Air Transat, travel moves us. Buffalo wins their head of the AFC title game.

And that's where I'm going to start. And I'm going to do really the open on that. And then we'll get to all the other games that Willie Colon is going to join us here. So Buffalo's taking on Kansas City again this week. And they're getting a point and a half. That's the opening line at Arrowhead. We've been there before. We've seen this before.

We've seen it in Buffalo as well. I don't know if it's because of Kansas City having this absurd regular season record, despite not being the Kansas City that we, that we always expect. And like, I don't really want to pick a Kansas City, but I guess I'm doing it. On Monday, I'm doing it. Maybe it's a little Buffalo hangover and the excitement of their win, but I'm picking Buffalo again. And I don't love it. And we'll see if I change my mind. I'm usually pretty stubborn on this stuff. So I don't know that it will happen. I don't know. You know, it's not like I'm going to Kansas City.

I'm going to start walking around like it's happened in Louisiana where you're just like, yeah, let's go see what happens here. But that's what I'm doing. That's what that's the way I feel on Monday. So. There's, um, there's a bunch of stuff that I need to get to with this game, and that's why we're going to spend so much time on it because Baltimore. At one moment, I thought, okay, this game has turned around and the Ravens are going to win it. So when I say Buffalo hung on to win, despite leading at halftime and, and

pulling this out, there's a moment in this game where I'm like, okay, this is where Buffalo is absolutely hanging on. So Buffalo goes up. It was 21-10 at the half, but if you look at Baltimore scoring on possessions, there's three straight possessions, real possessions in there, because there's an end of half thing there, but it's field goal, field goal, touchdown on three straight, real possessions that make it 21-19. They failed the two point conversion on a batted pass.

So they had a look, but it's 21-19. The touchdown drive for Baltimore at that time had to be probably the worst experience for Bills fans all season long. Because when we looked at this matchup, whether it was the quarterback discussion, the coaching stuff, skilled guys, pass rush, whatever, the accepted advantage, and we talked about this on Wednesday with Ted Winn and the film breakdown part of it, the accepted advantage was that Baltimore's front, not their defensive front, their offensive line, and Henry, and the Lamar dynamic. Like that was going to be something that was going to be tough to hold up

physically over three hours for Buffalo's lighter front. And that series, that, that possession, I should say, was the epitome of everything that everybody had talked about. All right. So during that drive, Baltimore went 80 yards in seven plays in 344. Six of the seven plays were runs and they were just absolutely gashing Buffalo's defense

to the point where Baltimore had offensive linemen that were looking for other people to hit and they were knocking people out of the way. And they just, you're like, okay, this is the part of the matchup that is problematic. You had Nance and Romo, like you can almost tell their tone during that drive was like, uh, and I feel like all of these close games in NFL games, there's always this moment. You're like, this might be when they win it.

Like this is when the game is changing in their favor. And I think too often, you know, the team goes up 14, nothing. Everybody's like, Oh, thanks for coming to the other team. And you're like, this is a battle. This is a physical and mental battle that plays out over three hours. And you have to stay in the game mentally. You have to show your toughness to get through those down times early on, which certainly Baltimore had, and we're going to get to all that stuff.

The interesting, um, but that was, that had to be really scary for Buffalo fans. So luckily for Buffalo, they hit a 51 yard field goal, get a little momentum back. I think that field goal was important as we close on that as a reminder, when Buffalo gets the football back, um, that field goal made it 24, 19 Baltimore has the fumble on the Andrews catch, which was just a disaster. Like I said, we'll get to his day here in a second. And at 24, 19, Buffalo moves the ball all the way to the Baltimore two yard line.

On third and goal at the two, Allen is stuffed. If you're like, wait, that play that works all the time, that everybody knew we were gonna run, that ends up getting stuffed. And Allen has this weird Brett Favre moment where it looks like as his back is to the goal line, he's looking back at a skill player to his right. It wasn't really even that close. It was like, is he about to pitch that, you know, and there, it clearly, there

was a moment where he thought about it and it looked like it would have been a disaster, uh, and luckily he didn't. But now at fourth and goal, the bills, McDermott have a choice to make. And in this movement, I don't know, because look, team should have been going for it on fourth down far more, but then it bleeds into like, why are you doing it here? And I love that they kicked the field goal.

I did. I understand going up to two scores and it's like, now the game is over. That's the way you do it. Like sometimes guys are just so aggressive in the thought process that you're assuming way too much. Like, what if you go for it? You just ran the Allen play. It doesn't work. Do you run it again? And it doesn't work. Are they that ready, that hyped up for it? The most important possession of the entire season for a defensive front for Baltimore. Like they just stuffed it on third down. Do you get cute? Do you give Allen a run play kind of decision where he can just get out to one side and decided what he wants to do, but then you're giving up the other half of the field, like there's just so much that goes into the decision.

And I think the part that's ignored far too often is what's wrong with going up eight points, even if they score the touchdown, they have to convert the two. There's also some math in your favor and it's probably more of an aberration on this season, but two point conversion historically is always around like 50%. This year it's in the thirties, like low thirties. I don't know that defense has figured this out. One of the only things I could think of is that is everybody so aggressive now that you have teams who stink on offense in the red zone, meaning touchdown

percentage, because there's a lot of teams it's like, wow, you know, the math said this, it's like, yeah, but your touchdown percentage in the red zone is like 27th in the NFL. Why are you going for two? You're not good at it. You're not good, dude. Um, I wouldn't put Baltimore in that category, but I, I was just trying to figure out like, maybe it's just random, maybe it's

completely random and it doesn't mean anything. Or does it mean that more teams that shouldn't be going for two are going for two? And that's why it's dragging that number down. So, of course, the bills go up the eight and there's still a lot of time left. I would I would I know you're asking Baltimore to do if you go for a fourth down in your stuff, you're like, OK, but they've got to go 97, 98 yards, score a game when he touched out. Well, the point is that touchdown would have been a game winner and who knows what kind of clock

management they're running and how much they're leaving on the clock there, right? Who knows? Like, I don't know, I don't have an answer to that. So even with Baltimore going 88 yards getting backed up on the holding penalty on the return, they score the touchdown Lamar's terrific on the drive, right? They line up for the two point conversion. They get the look they want. Andrew's out to the right side at one moment.

It looks like he catches it. The announcer started, I thought he caught it. And then you see the ball just kind of dribble onto the snowy field. And you're like, this thing is over and Mark Andrews. That's a tough one. That's a tough day. I think it's important to remember though, that Buffalo is going to get the football back with 1.33 left after that with two timeouts.

And the fact that Bassett hit the 51 yard field goal going in that direction in the start of the fourth quarter. Again, it's an assumption. I think Buffalo probably finds a way with Allen because remember you're moving the football on third and fourth down so you're asking the defense you get a convert. You got to stop all of these extra downs on that drive. I think Buffalo with the timeouts and Alan and what Bass had just done I think they probably would have gotten the game-winning field goal but again that's

a massive assumption. I will listen to arguments that tell me I'm wrong. So what's fair with Lamar Jackson? Let's take a look at the stats. 18 to 25 yesterday, 254 yards, two touchdowns, the one pick. The pick was terrible. He didn't see wrap safety, I don't think. And they ended up getting a three and out and Buffalo punted. So the score taxation in that didn't necessarily happen. He had a 114 quarterback rating, not QBR.

That's his third highest in a playoff game of his career. Number one overall is Pittsburgh last week. Number two is Houston last season. Lamar ran it six times for 39 yards, kind of held in check for the most part. His second lowest rushing total in a playoff game. The other was 34 yards against the Bills four years ago. So the Bills have done a good job containing that, even though we're talking about different personnel four years later.

The interception was on second and 11. Bad, but the fumble was much worse on the next possession because Von Miller runs it back to the Baltimore 24. That's a touchdown. It's 14-7. So now you're actually paying that score tax with this. So Lamar is going to win his third MVP it looks like based on everybody's projection on the postseason voting.

I've made the hardened comparison before with Lamar because I thought it was just so bad earlier on. And I don't think it's the same thing. Now, clearly something was wrong if they had to change the entire offense and bring in new coaches. Uh, the personnel is a little bit better because Lamar was always kind of lacking in the skill guys as well. Um, but the hardened thing that I'd always talked

about, like when I watch hard in a playoff game, I can just watch and be like, something is just wrong. Like when he gets into these games and now he's getting older enough that like my expectations aren't necessarily that high. But, um, I can just watch and be like, something is just wrong. Like when he gets into these games and now he's getting older enough that like my expectations aren't necessarily that high. But at least with Lamar, it's getting better. That maybe that isn't a fair comparison anymore.

I think that's kind of where I'm at. Like, yeah, he wasn't great yesterday, but he wasn't terrible. And some of those stats prior to what he's put together the last couple of games, like the entire portfolio was just was bad. The wins, losses things for quarterbacks can almost be. I know this sounds kind of stupid, but. The quarterbacks are eliminated, so it tends to be kind of like what's wrong with this guy. Because it was happening to Alan last year when he was being like Lamar would

be brought up on a talk show and then it'd be like, yeah, but what about Josh Allen? You're like, seriously, do you want to, you guys want to build a graphic and put those stats up side by side? Cause Alan was five for five or excuse me, five and five, five wins, five losses in his playoff career before the two wins in this 24 to 25 season. But the numbers are incredible. He's now at a 23, four touchdown split, throwing seven more rushing touchdowns. The ratings over a hundred versus Lamar who first careers now a 10, seven

touchdown interception split with only three rushing touchdowns and 84 rating. And now he's three and five in the playoffs. The Mahomes factor, I think is destroying some of these quarterbacks because normally it's like, hey, let's take turns at winning some Super Bowls here, or at least winning a conference championship. And Mahomes just isn't letting that happen. And my homes just isn't letting that happen. So you can look at Lamar and say, okay, well, Josh has got them twice now and my homes last season. Alan's lost to Kansas city three times. Um, so, you know, what are we really talking about here?

I think the best way to talk about it for Lamar is that. It's getting better, but it's certainly not what you want. Not from somebody who's about to win his third MVP and the is that it's getting better, but it's certainly not what you want. Not from somebody who's about to win his third MVP and the fact that he's going to win the MVP against the other guy that had the head stuff here. Like I understand all of it, but I thought it was a lot worse earlier on. And even with the mistakes yesterday, is there something to feel a little bit better about probably not on Monday.

Maybe we'll do that in August. The Mark Andrews fumbled and the two point drop. At first it was discussed as something that like, oh, you know, this is actually going to hurt Lamar. I think it hurts Lamar today, but does it help him for the more nuanced conversation about who he is or who he's becoming as a quarterback? Because even though Lamar had the earlier mistakes, the fumbles, disastrous. And of course the two point conversion causes a chance at, you know, maybe over

time and maybe pulling this thing out. So instead of just going out, he lost again. And we're talking about the 25 season. It's like, what's wrong. I don't think it's a, what's wrong with this guy. Cause I do think it's getting better. And you have something very specific to point to from a teammate that had an awful game, and it's like, what's wrong with this guy. Cause I do think it's getting better. And you have something very specific to point to from a teammate that had an awful game that led to Lamar taking an L

and another one had to head against Josh Allen. So instead of being eliminated by Philip Rivers in his first game where I didn't think he was very good and look, there's nothing wrong with being eliminated by Philip Rivers. Tannahill is a little bit more problematic, that terrible Tennessee game Lamar had years ago, but now if it's Allen and the homes, is that really the worst thing?

Final thought on the weekend. I feel terrible for Detroit fans. 15 and two, that Vikings win, home field, indoors the rest of the way, golf and everybody flying around. But we knew that the defense, I was going to be tough to win all of these games, win three straight to win a Superbowl. How about just get there, right?

If you're Detroit, you still get a shirt. However, the NFC North, this dominant division. Did it just have an SEC season? The NFC North outscored its division opponents by eight point seven points per game. The best division did again, verse non division opponents. Since the 1970 merger. Oh, and three in the playoffs. At least Texas got a game. So the NFFC North doesn't have the history of the SEC. I think we'd agree with that.

The North had a better regular season, probably some nicer wins in there, perhaps, but a division that was just so dominant this year. And you can get into, okay, who were they playing on the other divisions? I always think of the Patriots, Matt Castle, 11 win season. It's like, how do they do it? It's like, well, look at who they played in the AFC and their NFC assignments,

their division assignments for that year schedule. Could that have something to do with it? But to have all three of these teams not win one playoff game after putting together that kind of resume during the regular season. And I think it has a little bit to do with the quarterbacks as well, maybe just like the SEC, because golf was disappointing, love was certainly disappointing, and Donald had a nightmare day against the Rams. We're going to do more on the rest of the playoffs.

We've got the Jayden conversation with Washington, Philadelphia, and we'll do that with Willie Clome. College football is coming to an end with the national championship game tonight. You won't want to miss a moment of the action. And right now all customers can score a 30% profit boost on any bet for tonight's showdown between Notre Dame and Ohio State. Here's how it works. Place a bet on the game, apply your profit boost,

and enjoy boosted winnings when your bet hits. And the best part? You get paid instantly when you win. Use your boost on bets like spreads, over-unders, method of first touchdown, and so much more. I have a four-legged for you and a two-legged for you, so we will share that with you momentarily as I talk about tonight's national championship game a little bit later in today's show.

Don't wait, visit fandale.com slash Ryan RYE and to download America's number one sportsbook and make your playoff payoff even bigger. Must be 21 and older in present and select states or 18 plus in present and DC, opt-in required. Bonus issued is non-retributable, profit boost tokens, restrictions apply, including any token expiration. See terms at sportsbook.fando.com gambling problem

Call 1-800 gambler or visit rg-health.com Perfect time to have Willie cologne on again from SNY and breakfast ball on Fox gearing up for you know Some can say this is the best weekend of football. I love the conference championship game Just because the idea that you're getting into the Super Bowl I think we remember these games a little bit more. That's not really where the debate goes, but good morning to you, man. Morning, brother. Did I see you after or before the new year? Can't tell if I remember. Anyway, happy new year. Yeah, repeat. Happy new year. Good stuff. Let's start with Washington because this is a story and And I did a big open on Lamar all night.

We're going to get your thoughts on Baltimore and Buffalo anyway. But Mike Sandow, who you know how much I like his work, checked in on his stuff this Monday morning and he had this. All right. So if you think of quarterbacks that are rookies making to the conference championship game, Jaden's now the fifth to do it. And if you look at the combined special teams and defensive output from the other rookie QBs, there's a common theme here.

Uh, Purdy in 22 combined defensive special teams ranking for the Niners that year, number one, uh, Mark Sanchez in 2010, number three combined on that side of the football and the other two units. Flacco, oh nine, number three, Ben Roethlisberger rookie year 2004. Number four, if you combine the defense and special teams of Washington, those units and their output for Jayden, they're 24. So what this, I mean, you know, how many times can you say about a rookie quarterback, like it's not supposed to keep, like hey nice year buddy and then eliminate it and let's see what they can build on

but like what is possible? He is moving the walls of what's possible for a rookie quarterback. So just anywhere you wanna go with what you've seen from him and that big win against Detroit. Well that's a hell of a static. I think, cause you're right, I think all the quarterbacks you just mentioned,

I think some would just say they were kind of ride alongs, right? Just because this team was so superior in different categories. I think, listen, I think watching him over the last couple weeks, I'm just impressed with the kid. I mean, he doesn't seem like he's ever rattled. He's always prepared for the moment, yada, yada, yada. I mean, all the cliche stuff. I think what impressed me about Saturday was that the run game really came alive between

him, Austin Eckler, and Brian Robinson. I mean, that's what I thought. If they weren't able to run the ball and he wasn't able to make plays with his legs, I thought Washington was going to be in trouble. And on top of that, I think the offensive line doesn't get enough credit. And Valley, I know, listen, Detroit had a lot of injuries. They weren't able to get to Jaden Daniels with their front four, so they blitzed a lot. But I thought his ability to spread them out and just really be deliberate and on time

with the ball was just like, and that, and on the road in Detroit, when the place is rocking, I was like, man, this kid, this kid got the marbles. And so I'm impressed with everything he's done thus far. I think what most impresses me is that he continues to be consistent. And that's the hardest thing to do in this league. Just be consistent. You can have those one-off games. You can maybe even go on a little bit of a hot streak.

But to be consistent week after week going into the playoffs. And I also, and I was talking to my brother about this. I think one thing we talk when it comes to rookies, sometimes not having a resume or prior playoff experiences help you. Like he only knows what he knows, right? He doesn't have that prior like, oh, like Josh Allen can go down, even Lamar Jackson can go down that playoff resume and be like, Oh, I remember that game. I know not, I know what not to do now. Jaden Dainty doesn't have that, right? He's just, he's playing football as he feels like the best way he can play. And

so I think that's helping him a lot. And I think, listen, I thought the commander's defensive line did a hell of a job of collapsing the pocket, really disrupting the timing of Jared golf, especially with those intermediate throws. And I thought Washington, man, I just thought, I thought they was like, hey, man, I know this is a stealer line, but I think they really rolled into Detroit. I'm like, we're going to burn the boats. Are we going to give them hell or are we going to die right here on this field? And I think they really rolled into Detroit and like, we're gonna burn the boats. Is we gonna give them hell or we gonna die right here

on this field? And I thought they fought their tails off. All right, I'm glad you brought up the Blitz because when it works, whether it's Spagnolo at the end of the game or you're like, okay, like he did it again and we'll get to some Kansas City Houston stuff here as well, but we saw the Blitz destroyed Arnold in that Detroit, Minnesota matchup.

And then we saw a carryover where the Rams probably a bit of a departure with Shula's defense of what they liked to do. And it's like, well, we just watched this guy look like a shell of himself. So maybe, maybe we do some of that. And so you figure with Detroit and again, what do we always see? We were watching regular season Sunday games, say third and seven. It's a rookie quarterback. You know, they're just sending pressure.

He's not going to understand. He's going to miss somebody. And yet here's Jayden and it's like, nah, you know, and I don't, I don't know. If it like, clearly it's on him because it doesn't seem like there's an area of a field where he's afraid to throw it. It looks like they're asking him to hit. Like, no, let's throw the ball over there. Like the McLaurin screen to the side,

that never works that well. Like, whenever we see that throw. No, I think it was three over two. Three over two, he just dumped it off and it went to the crib. And I'm like, I was sitting there like, uh-oh. Like, the kid is on, like he never, it was never rattled by any of that.

He just knew where to go with the football right away, picked it up at the line, and it was balls out, and up in there goes McLaurin. So how does a blitz, this is stupid, cause I'm asking it kind of, but I remember like Rex, when he showed up on the scene, and it was just like, yeah, and I remember we were on the air,

I'm like, so you just blitz all the time now, and it just, it just works because the blitz doesn't work against Jayden in the regular season. It didn't work in this game. I think the great ones are like, please, like Brady was a point, it was like, please blitz me, please do it. Cause you guys, like I'm going to destroy you all day long. So where is that line of like, when it's no longer as effective as the times where you're like,

Hey, you know, after the game, like, how did it work? Oh, we were super aggressive. They couldn't figure any of this stuff out because we just saw Detroit do it to darn. You know, it's interesting. Like I thought that was the one thing that really, I thought Dan Campbell and Eric Lynn, I think that's what I think that's like the blind spot that that's why they lost the game. This is what I mean,'s like the blind spot that, that's why they lost the game. This is what I mean, because I feel like, listen, if you're not able to get to Jaden Danziger four, fine.

Then you blitz and you're still not able to get to him, but yet you're scoring at a high level. At some point, I feel like they should have changed the strategy and be like, all right, we can't stop this kid. So let's go to ball control mode, keep this kid on the bench, and let's get out this game with a W.

That never happened. It was almost like we're going to try to out shoot them. And their defense didn't have enough to stop. And it was clear through all four quarters. And so I'm saying to myself, and Jared Goff, who you would think, I got a rookie quarterback in Jaden Daniels, and I got Jared Goff, my guy in the Detroit Lions, Jared Goff, should win this shootout.

And it wasn't happening. And there was no changing of philosophy in that moment. It was just like fire and brimstone and it hurt him. And so that's why I sit back and Dan Campbell was emotional at the end of his presser and on and on and on. I'm like, bro, it's kind of getting old. Like the tears, I get that you're ultra passionate, but like you're playing a brand of football where obviously you have Jamar Gibbs, you got Montgomery back. Run the ball to the point where you can control the clock and figure out how you can have these long drives

with Jaden Daniel, we could cool him off at some point during the game. That never happened. And I honestly think they didn't think Commanders defensive line was gonna be as effective as they were during that game Okay, let's talk about that group because I do want to get to the aggressiveness there because I think there's more to that conversation But whenever I watch Washington

There'll be numerous guys in that front in particular where I'm like I like that guy like there's that guy You know just there just seem to be all these dudes and then when you look at the stats over the course of the season, there's nothing special, right? If you look at their scoring defense, you look at the yard stuff, you look at the red zone defense against the touchdown and all that stuff, it doesn't, it feels like I like more dudes than the profile should allow me to. I think that's fair. I mean, especially when I look at Zach Ertz, like you forget Brian Robinson was shot.

You know, you forget that he's playing football right now. Like his story in itself. You talk about Austin Eckler who, you know, Valley doesn't play a lot, but when he's on the field, he's impactful. Like there's guys who you just, I'm a fan of their stories. And then when you watch them produce and they're actually winning games, it's like, man, this team, they're on a magic carpet ride. I remember watching the Commanders,

they were four and 13 last year, with Jacoby Bissette leading them up and down the field. And I'm like, this is the dark side of football. Like this team, they'll never be good. And here you get Dan Quinn, Jaden Danes in a new regime. And I'm looking at the Commanders, like if you're a free agent right now, you're looking at watching as a possible

landing spot because of what this kid can do behind a, on the center. Yeah. I think there was even perhaps a bit of a push for like, if you give Sam how a little bit more time, I mean, he was sacked 65 times last year. Yeah. You know, whatever I, you know, he just, uh, it was, it was tough. It was a tough year for, for Sam back there, but I think things are moving in the right direction. All right.

So the aggressiveness thing with Dan Campbell, because they do feel like it's playing the results a bit, uh, because it's hard to just change your identity and everybody seemed to love it. They're at home. They run the reverse, but I would argue that down 38 28, a couple of minutes into the fourth quarter and on first down at the Detroit 46 to trust Jameson Williams to make the right decision on that play is one of the

single worst play calls of the entire year by any team. And they're awesome. Campbell's awesome. Ben's awesome. But to tell a receiver, and again, Jameson usually has a moment every game where I'm like, what the fuck are you doing? Like if he and George Pickens got a house together, I would sign up for whatever

TV show that was, and I wouldn't even be mad if I still were billed and forgetting to cancel the subscription. Um, because I just realized I paid another 150 bucks for the MLB package, which I wasn't aware of. So I like to, and we know this with receivers, like that becomes a moment where like, it is my time. The crazy thing is actually the throw, I can't believe the guy intercepted it.

Like I can't believe the recovery to throw a one-on-one like normally. And then Jameson comes back and they're like, what are you doing? And then he's yelling at the guy. And cause you just, you're putting him in a spot comes back and they're like, what are you doing? And then he's yelling at the guy. Cause you just, you're putting him in a spot where it's like,

Hey, do we trust Jameson to make this? But Ryan, isn't it as simple as if he's covered, don't throw it. Yes, it's supposed to be. It's that simple. Like I didn't see- But dudes want the stat. Dudes want the stat, man.

But don't be dumb. But don't be dumb. Like you're covered bro.. I would tell you that in Sandlot football, with nobody in it. He's covered. What are you doing throwing the football? I would say I thought I could make a play. And I would say, sit down right next to me. We can't trust you with the football in your hands. I would say you're a stud. I know I know I get it but right now you just go to games like it's dumb. He's covered. So we are on the same. You cannot

put him in that position. No I put him in that position but it's I put it more on on Jamison. Like what are you what are you doing? Like it's a bad play. I trust the kid with the ball in his hand. I trust him to tuck it and get busy with it and get up the sideline or something. But to make a Herculean type throw when he's clearly covered, like that's just dumb, it's just dumb football. Like I looked at the play, I don't blame Bim Johnson on a play call,

I don't blame him for it. I do, I blame everybody. I don't. I just blame the kid for throwing the football and knowing damn well. And you can see my old teammate, Antoine Randall, like, dude, like, he's covered. Like, I was trying to explain to the kid, like,

he's covered, why would you throw the ball? And he's like, you see him trying to mummer, or say something, kind of say something back, and he's like, bro, it's not hard. He's covered, don't throw it. If he's uncovered, chuck it down there. ABC, bro. Simple as that. Right. I could tell when Randall L.

Like looked at him like you done shit. That must have been, right. That must have been if there's any chance of it not working, you know, you probably can run it. I'd have to go back and look at how many people were. But even if he's tackled back there, you're still in the fight. The ball was turned over.

That was over after that. Do you feel bad for Detroit? Yeah, I do. I ain't gonna lie. It's tough because Dan Quinn recruited me to Hofstra. And the assistant office line coach of the commanders was my right guard with the Steelers. Obviously I know Anton Randuel

because he played with me at the Steelers. And Will Gaze on this. So I have a lot of the homies on the commander's side. But damn if I wasn't a fan of the Detroit Lions this year. Damn if I wasn't a fan of, I said, I was talking to somebody about this the other day, if you're a young, chunky office lineman who feel like, man, all I would do is block, block, block.

Like watching Lions this year was like, nah, there's more to this. You know what I mean? I'm like, I can actually catch the football, I can would do is block, block, block. Like watching Lions this year was like, nah, there's more to this. You know what I mean? I'm like, I can actually catch the football. I can actually run with it. There's actually plays designed for me. You know, so I think they made Office of Lions play extremely fun to watch with everything else

they have going on. So I was a fan of, I still am a fan of Dan Campbell and the Lions. I like them a lot. So, but overall, man, it sucked to see them go out like that because it felt like the city was like, oh, this is our year. Like it was just all hands on deck,

we're going to the Super Bowl. And now they're armed. The Quinn relationship with his players, it does feel very, very real. And maybe we overstate that at times. It feels like you played for a lot of guys that you were like, no, no, this is somebody that I really love and respect.

What is it about Dan? Is there something specific about Dan that maybe is perceived as the same, but a little different with that player coach dynamic? Well, I think for me just knowing him, so I never, just for clarification, he, when I got to Hofstra, he was gone, he was off to the league, but he recruited me to Hofstra

and then once I got there, he took off. But fast forward, man, having known him for some time now, I think God's disrespect is just, his ability to just be genuine, right? Just be genuine and honest and keeping it a buck for the less lingled out there. Give it a buck means keeping it real, honest and true, right? Just be genuine and honest and keeping it a buck for the less lingled out there. Give it a buck means keeping it real, honest and true. Okay. But I also think,

I think he's just done a great job everywhere he's gone. Valley, you know, you talk about his time in Seattle, even with his time, even Atlanta when he got fired. All the guys I've ever known that I know that played for him, they just say he's just a genuine guy. You know, he just keeps it to you straight. He never gives you no fluff. And you tell you cares about the man underneath the helmet rather than just the helmet itself. And that goes a long way with guys.

I know it's cliche, but it goes a long way. When you're allowed to push the business aside and say, hey man, what's going on with you? Yeah, he and Robinson, man, I was like, we still got some game left, but they were like. Even watch old man Bobby Wagner, they hugged like they were in a soap opera, they embraced chest to chest, hip to hip.

The guys love them. Listen, there's nobody in the free world. I thought the commanders were going to be in this position. Nobody, nobody. I, I damn sure. I thought, I thought the commander was going to finish fourth in the division. Hands down. They're the fourth lowest Vegas wind total of any team in the NFL.

It's, it's unbelievable. I'm like, you can say like, Hey, this is what a rookie, like the sprite rookie, the special rookie QBs, they don't, they don't do this with the lack of support back to the original point of the other guys that we're talking about. Like that Flacco 09 year, they used to drive me insane. Cause I'd be like how, well, cause the way he would be talked about, it was a very Matt Ryan based thing.

I like Matt Ryan better than Flacco coming out of the draft. And then it was like, yeah, than Flacco coming out of the draft. And then it was like, yeah, but Flacco was like winning all these games. Like he was 11 of 18 again. You dopes. That team is so good on defense. They were damn good. Right. Right.

And then he turned into Montana for a month in the playoffs. So, I mean, he has, he has one of the strangest careers of anybody, but there were so many Flacco years early on. Or I was like, yeah, that's cool. His record's incredible, but he's not being tasked with what some other other people doing. And again, historically, what Daniels is doing right now for rookie quarterback to be playing this upcoming weekend, this is not done. Well, I think you made a good point. It doesn't feel like he's being assisted, right? It seems

like he's literally shouldering this franchise and putting his organization on his back on his way to an NFC championship. And when you talk about the matchup that's coming up, the fact that the last time where we kind of crowned him like, oh, this kid's special was against, what, there's week 12 against Philly, right? Where he actually beat the Philadelphia Eagles

in that second half of that game. I remember that fourth and 11, he was like, I'm tucking this thing, and I'm gonna put this team on my back. To see him do that in a multitude of ways, man, I'm like, yeah, the kid is special. I don't know if that game means anything, because it's one of the weirdest games

of the entire regular season. Five turnovers? For what this matchup is, right. And then the fact that Hertz has knocked out of it. So let's start with the good stuff here with Philadelphia. They take out the Rams, they run the hell out of the ball. 34 for 285, eight yards of carry. Saquon goes for 205.

Hertz has the huge one to start the game on that 44 yard touchdown, by the way, the left tackle, I lot it, he pulls and he is on the hole immediately. And they're so dominant on that play. He didn't even have anybody to block a pulling. He couldn't even, it was already over. It was already too late. and he is on the hole immediately, and they're so dominant on that play, he didn't even have anybody to block. He couldn't even, it was already over, it was already too late. Somebody kind of gets into the mix a little bit later,

but go ahead. No, I know you're 100% right, and I apologize for cutting you off. No, he broke through the line, and he gets about 15 yards up, and he has to turn around to find somebody to block, because he was like, there's nobody out here. I think the Eagles right now, man, I was,

were you impressed, let me start, were you impressed by the win? It's twofold. It is what's going on with Hertz and holy shit, that they can do this against a Rams team that's turned around is, is remarkable. You know, who they were the first five games one and four of the offensive line is a mess.

I know the receivers. I think I always have a soft spot for Stafford because I felt like he was always this good and Detroit's defense and special teams, we want to stay on that theme, were terrible. And then all of a sudden by product like Stafford was just this massive disappointment. And you're like, you know what,

I'd like to believe that in the NFL there exists players. They're actually spectacular. And it just doesn't work out for reasons that are outside of their control. But we're just, we're just not allowed to do that with quarterback. So Stafford having his Superbowl moment and even some kind of redemption this year. I like that part of it. And look, they get back into this game, but I, I have this, this hurts part of me. That is like, you want to talk excuses. This guy has great legitimate excuses to not be sharp right now. Misses all the time after the concussion in that Washington game.

Wasn't great last week. Didn't matter. You've got the fact that he gets hurt in this game, right? The conditions on top of everything else. I think these are very legitimate excuses, but the fact is this is two games from Hertz and the standard for Philadelphia is winning a Superbowl Willie. So I think it's awesome what Philadelphia did yesterday and to hang on throughout all of it and all this personnel on defense, which I love, but yeah, there's a,

is Hertz going to win against. I like them against Washington, but is he going to be Alan or Mahomes? And that's where the conversation turns because of who they've been the last few years. So I actually just answered maybe your question. Yeah, you did. I think right now, why didn't I looked at it from this fold? I mean, he was sacked four times in the first half. And overall, they gave up seven sacks. And I thought the

office and I would have I thought it would have did a better job pass protect. I just did. I knew they were going to run the ball extremely well because they did, they did early in the year. So I knew they was going to be able to run the ball on the Rams. I wasn't worried about that. But I was just, I just suspected another gear and I felt like I didn't see it. I thought I was like, they just, they were just a better team up front running the ball and it was able to get away with it. But even, I was more impressed with Stafford. I mean, a minute 48 and he goes on a 10 play drive

and I'm like, holy shit. This kid, I mean, he had the building in knots. Like he had eagle fans like, oh man, this is, you know, we're about to, we're about to, our heads are about to explode. We can't believe we're about to lose this game. And I was so frustrated with the Rams off his line, in particular Kevin Dodson in that center.

I'm like, you've been double teaming Jalen Carter, the whole game, and being able to neutralize him. The one time you go one-on-one, he wrecks havoc. And it was only miscommunication. I think the one sack, the one pressure they gave up, the center turns left thinking he has inside help. Dodson's sitting there and over-sets, and Jalen Carter, he has inside help, dots and sitting there and oversets and Jaylen Carter, he's a stud, he's a stud.

He just gets busy, pressures and it messes up the down. So I was more frustrated with the Rams office line in that minute more than ever because there were just some mental errors that were just unnecessary. Rams could have stole that win if they would have staffed it some more time. Where is Jalen Carter on disruptive forces on a defensive line for you? Like how many dudes are ahead of him now? Ooh.

And it's a little different because he's gonna be playing inside so much compared to just the pure edge guys that get all the headlines. Right. I think he's up there with Destin Lawrence, 100%. Like Destin Lawrence is, I think, is just all dog. I mean, like he was, I've seen that man

like just cave in all his lines. I think Jalen Carter is just different because I think his ability to be more shifty at the point of attack. Man, I think he is for a guy his size and his hip mobility is exceptional. And I think he's, between the ears, I think he's an absolute, he's a mass murderer.

Like you tell, he plays to hurt people. Like he plays to get after people's asses. And I think that's something you're born where you can't teach that. So you put his physical abilities along with his mindset, you know, he is who he is right now. I think the arrow's only gonna go up for him. Do we have more on hurts?

Do we have more on what's good? have more on, on what's good? Yeah. And I, I don't know how critical I feel like I can be of him considering everything leading up and the fact that he got hurt in this game. But then there was, there was a throw that he throws to the left side line into the end zone to Brown where he just doesn't see witherspoon underneath it. And he got away with it. It ended up just being an incompletion.

And I don't mind throwing it to AJ one-on-one against the defensive back. I mean, that guy's a beast. But the throw, not to say that like quarterbacks don't lose a safety every now and then, but considering on it, like that was a throw where I went, what, how did he not see Witherspoon at all? Yeah, I think that's him to your point,

trusting AJ then going with a ball that he's shitting the throne. You know what I mean? Like sometimes like, man, I got AJ. If this is bad, he can make it good. And he just didn't you tell, it's just so weird. And I also don't know, like I think his knee, once they braced it up, like I thought, and

maybe I'm wrong with this. After he hurt his knee, they had one play where he rolled out to his left and he got sacked. And I'm saying to myself, if you're Kellen Moore, you're Nick Sirianni, you go to her and say, all right, obviously you're jacked up, dude. Tell me what you can do, what you can't do, so we can get you to next week, rather than put you in harm's way. And I thought it was like a second and seven. I it was just like a second and seven,

I think it was like a second and seven, they rolled him out left man and he just got, he's got, you know, he kind of slid down and took the sack but I thought they didn't do a good enough job of really protecting him late in that game when he was clearly dinged up at hobble. I thought they could have did more of just kind of taking some things off his plate where he could have got out of a game a lot more safer.

Matchup wise. Do you, do you think Washington has a chance here? How can you not? I didn't think they had a chance to get Detroit. I thought Detroit was going to dog walk him. I did. I thought Detroit's healthy. They arrested. I mean, they got, they got Montgomery's back.

You know what I mean? I just thought, I thought Detroit was. And I, like I said, I have personal relations with the commanders. I know a lot of those guys. I was secretly cheering for those guys. I just thought Detroit was a juggernaut. I don't think the Philadelphia U's are a juggernaut.

I don't. I think they're a very good team. They got a very good defense. Jalen Hurts went healthy, is a badass quarterback. Obviously you got Saquon in the office line. I didn't think that office line would give up that many sacks. I understand that the Rams are a young, vibrant defense, but they had Jarrett Verst looking like Tom Bahaly out there. I mean, I was just like, what the hell is... I guess Malata, who I think is a damn good tackle. So yeah, I think

the Eagles can get it. Are they going to win? I don't know. But I think it could be a lot closer game than what people expect. I don't know if all the sacks are on that group though. And maybe it's just me giving them a benefit of the doubt because it's the best offensive line in the NFL. But I think between hurts, reluctance, and the tendency to hang on to the football a little bit longer and the knee injury in this game. So I wanted to make sure I didn't sound

like I was being critical. I just haven't liked what I've seen for two weeks from them, but there are very valid reasons why that might be happening. We still have two other games to get to here. So I've enjoyed this so much, but let's go through it. Okay. Kansas City beats Houston and then we'll close on Buffalo Baltimore, right? I have a little number for you here. The past two years, Kansas City opponents have been flagged

for 48 penalties in the fourth quarter and overtime of one score game. So to repeat that, go the last two years, the other team, team Kansas City is playing against in one score games, the fourth quarter overtime situations, that team has been flagged 48 times. Do you want to guess how many times Kansas City has been flagged? Under 10. 47. Oh, wow. See, see what's happened. Do you see what's happened? I bit the apple. Everybody's biting the apple right now. Look, as much as I love my homes, that shit was gross this weekend, man. There's no flopping the flip ball, Ryan. There's no flopping.

The flop on the sideline. Oh my God. If I had a kid who had a poster, we may take it down for a week. The flop on that sideline, I literally, I had, my wife made some rotel dip and I had it in my lap with a couple of chips. And it was so egregious.

No, it goes good with that chili. Right. And I literally, it fell on the floor cause I couldn't believe the acting job that came along with it. It was outstanding. I'm like, get this man an Oscar. Give, to bake the hit, slow down,

and then throw his hands up. Like if he got hit by a shopping cart in the back, I was like, oh, he's playing with people's emotions today. He's chose violence. Cause for me, if that's gonna be the game, I'm gonna make it worth it. I'm gonna do something dirty. That's just my mindset. Oh, you wanna act today? We gonna act, I'm gonna make it worth it. I'm gonna do something dirty. That's just my mindset.

Oh, you wanna act today? We gonna act. I'm gonna make sure you get your award. It was insane. I would not have a problem with a defensive player just destroying one of these quarterbacks. No question. Next time they flirt with this sideline shit, okay?

100%. And I understand what has happened and all the hand-wringing about, this isn't the football I grew up with. Ratings would tell you nobody cares. Nobody cares enough to- No, gotta be able cares. Nobody cares enough to do something else. The quarterback flags that are excessive. It's, it's done that way for a reason.

Now on the first one, I can at least understand. Yeah. When you see the official that's throwing the flag on that, he's reacting to the angle of the drive. And then my home's going down. Look, it's the point of replayed in. What to the angle of the drive and then Mahomes going down. Look, it's- But Ryan, what's the point of replay then? What's the point of replay?

Like that hit propelled the Chiefs on to score that drive. Right, it was a huge, huge flag. My point is, what's the point of replay if you can't say, you know what, it looks bang bang, I understand the referees are, it's tough for them in that moment, but what's the point of replay if we can't go back to replay and say, no, no, no, no, that was just a bang bang, it was the referees are have a, it's tough for them in that moment, but what's the point of replay? If we can't go back to replay and say, no, no, no, no, that was just a bang,

bang, it was never no helmet to helmet connection there. What's the point of it? Um, I agree. I agree. I'm just at least justifying why I could understand the initial flag on it because of the angle and what he thought that he saw. And I think this happens a lot with officiating and I would always wonder whether it's football or basketball.

Like I'm thinking about this, uh, there was a Sixers game this year, right? And Jenner Schroeder was officiating for the baseline and there was already getting a little hot and Drummond had a play where it looked like he pushed the player down to the ground. And Drummond ended up getting ejected and then they bring them back in, which is once they overturned it because they knew that it was wrong. And she basically was making the call on something that was, like, she didn't know why something had happened, but the end result was that somebody was on the ground.

And I wonder if officials like feel like over time, you're better off going with that, even if you didn't see the first part of it. Because more often than not, that you're going to be right. And look, that game ended up being weird and B got ejected the whole thing. He deserved to be ejected in that one.

I think what happens with some of these quarterback hits is if I think what could have happened happened, then I'll likely be right. Now look on the second one, you're asking defensive players to do something that's impossible now. It's a bit like Baker has figured this out too. Like Baker will go down in a way where there's going to be physical contact. And yet now everyone's conditioned to think, I can't believe the quarterback was touched. You're like, dude, the quarterback was standing up two seconds ago.

And they just dropped straight to the ground. Right. Like, what am I supposed to do? Kyler Murray had a plan to sideline this year where he's veering towards a sideline. The defensive players give up because they're afraid of even breathing. Well, that's what happened on the flop. Like you see the guys kind of did it. They start walking and then you see my homes kind of pity pat to the sideline and then the one bump he gets is like the whole like the dramatics behind it.

And I'm like, I'm down on dip and I want to fight my homes. Like, you know, it's just, it was insane. And I'm saying to myself too, on this, from this aspect, like, and I thought Aikman said it best on the call. He goes, listen, as a guy who played in a tough era where quarterbacks usually get slammed on the ground, I have empathy for these defensive guys. What do you want them to do?

They're running full speed to cover the ball and you have a guy baiting them. And then once they get there, just a tap on the shoulder, it looks like something and a flag's being called. And so it's insane, man. I don't know. I don't know. The NFL clearly has a problem because the flopping has entered the NFL.

Yeah. And the sideline stuff is the defensive player has no choice because now you'll see flags where a player was inbounds but veering out of bounds. So then the hit carries itself out of bounds. But there's also been times where I've been pleasantly surprised. Like there was a hit. I think it was Lamar hit where they kind of use common sense. You know, what was the funniest thing about that was one of the

offensive linemen for the Ravens came over to shove the Bills player. And usually the defensive player gets killed because he's not prepared for it. And the offensive lineman is kind of allowed to do it. Everybody just kind of understands the way business is done. I think Oliver got up and like jacked up the old lineman, like he was ready. It was the wrong, it was the wrong, it was the wrong going to the party. Not everybody's about that life. Yeah.

Very often. Um, having said all these things, the Kansas City thing that plays out on social media is bullshit. They had past interferences that were not called in their favor last year on two games that I can think of. They had the offsides thing on the Tony play. Like it's just, the numbers do not back it up, but the problem is yes, or excuse me,

Saturday was so gross. But ultimately, like, do you think that's why Kansas City won? No, listen, I'm going to be honest. I was no, I thought they couldn't protect CJ Shred. I thought he took a couple of bags sacks. Dolted Schultz, by the way, was horrible and blocked like, hey, like I remember the one sack he gave up.

They actually triple teamed Coloskis and Schultz just kind of laid like soft little pretty hands. I'm like, dude, you're in a playoff game. You got to sell out for CJ. He, he, at one point they had two guys on routes and they just, it was a max protection because they were just trying to keep him upright. And so I thought they just did a horrible job protecting him. I thought he took a couple of bad sacks.

But with all that said, you know, if, if the tech, I can't say his name, uh, the Texans, uh, kicker, I mean, they had a chance to tie that game. It's 13 13. He, he, it's a botched kick. So the Texas had that. I thought they fought. It was scrappy though. Mixing had a good game. I thought upfront, they just had a really, really bad game. Um, and Stroud, I thought it was tough. I thought he tried to stay in there and the little football just wasn't working for him. All right. Let's talk main event here because I opened with it.

So we'll close with it with us. Buffalo gets past Baltimore. Your first thing you've got 10 minute monologue. I don't want you to go 10 minutes, but we already did that. But if the, the number one thing you have to get off your chest observation of this game, I don't think it's all of Morris fault. I think there's a procession because of the two turnovers. I know he took the interception to fumble

and he took that bad second, I think, only 10 yard line or something like that. I don't think it's all, I blame Todd Monkin for a lot of it. I think, you know, I think it was at one point, I think it was like 21-10 and they stopped running the footballs. Like Derek Henry when he had like 73 or 78 yards in the first half. He had 21 yards at the half, yeah, 21. Yeah, it was like, and10, and they stopped running the football. Derek Henry only had 73 or 78 yards in the first half. He had 21 yards in the half.

Yeah, 21. Yeah, it was like, and I'm saying to myself, why go away? What was the panic? It reminded me last year of what happened in Kansas City when Kansas City started playing bully ball with them, and they got behind. There was this instinct, like, we got to start throwing the ball. You don't have any receivers. Zay Flowers is out.

Bateman got hurt. So now you got Andrews and likely doing go routes and seeing posts. I'm like, dude, run the damn football. Like there's no reason. And Buffalo, in my mind, said I left the game, going into that game like, all right, you got two quarterbacks that they're gonna have to bring

their cape to the field. Josh Allen didn't need his cape. Lamar Jackson obviously forgot his cape. Buffalo just played an extremely clean game of football. And they didn't do a great job rushing the pass. Their front four didn't get there. They covered fairly well. I mean, they had the blitz because they weren't able

to get after Lamar. But I thought overall, I thought the first drive from the Baltimore Ravens, I was like, uh-oh, here comes the Ravens. And then Buffalo scored right back. And I'm like, okay, we got something here. And then it was just kind of like, ugh,, here comes the Ravens. And then Buffalo, you know, scored right back. And I'm like, okay, we got something here. And then it was just kind of like, ugh, for the rest of the game.

And I thought Buffalo just had to be Buffalo. They didn't have to be special. The two mistakes from Lamar are massive. The Andrews won. I mean, you just keep chalking up the turnovers and the other team isn't gonna turn the football over. It's gonna be tough to beat anybody that's good. You're just like, it's almost remarkable

they got back in this situation to even tie this football game up. Would you say, there was a moment late in the game where Buffalo's up and I'm like, do you guys think you're up like 14? Do you think there's four minutes left in the game? Because the 12 minutes, I'm like, you guys are more worried about the clock here? Cause I thought at that 12 minutes I'm like, you guys more worried about the clock

here? Cause I thought at that point, I was like, I, it's almost as if they were so afraid to make a mistake. They didn't want to put themselves in any position to lead the one. And then I think they, it just felt like they were really conservative and conservative with Alan in the way this offense has developed and what has turned into, or there's just a lot of stuff you have to worry about. Even if the number one targeted receiver isn't, um, isn't a huge threat, you know, it's here, but it's not, it's not like, Oh my God, like how are we going to stop this beast? We have to double team in the entire time. I, it doesn't matter. It'll be forgotten by the end of the day.

But that's the problem. And remember, would you agree with that though? I just, I think you're a hundred percent right. The game is forgettable, right? Because the lack of production for Baltimore and being as efficient as we thought they could be. But I think overall, I think the unsung heroes at that game is James Cook, Ray Davis, and Ty Johnson. Like those, all three of those guys were money good. And Alan, you know, for me, I thought he just played a very clean game.

It was a moment when I think it was like, I think it was like Torres going into the end zone, met a big way, had him like wrapped in around his arms. It looked like he was about to ladder it. And I was like, oh no, don't, don't, don't. And I was just like, don't be that guy. Like I'm glad he didn't do what I thought, everybody thought he was about to ladder this ball

and try to get a quick score, but he was safe. It was, I thought it was just all three phases. They played really well, man. And the team that didn't turn over the ball won. And then I was very like, you know, elementary to say, but you gotta give Josh Allen credit. Like he just, he seems like he matured. He matured when he like, listen, I got this run game.

I got this offensive line. I'm gonna take care of the football. We're just gonna be efficient. And then they were. And they got out the building with the dub. Who would you rather have, quarterback Allen or or Lamar for the next five years? Yeah. I think for me right now it's, it's, it's Josh Allen.

Um, I thought Lamar, like even that bad throw, that one pick, like everybody wanted like, well, you know, Milano pressure them, it's just a bad throw. It was a man coverage. You knew what to do. It's like, he just had to be a little more poised.'s just a bad throw. It was man coverage. You knew what to do. It's like, he just had to be a little more poised. It was a time, throw it up there and deliver a good ball. But he threw a stupid pick. The fair catch picks always look pretty bad.

Like I don't have a ton of. On those. But they try to be like, oh, Milano pressured him. Milano then just swim the running back and was just there. Hey, I love Milano, but yeah, Romo was kind of married to that take because I think he saw it live and then it came back to the replay.

He was just kind of sitting in the hole. Yeah. You know what I love what they did with Milano and I think Romo did a really good job of explaining this is how they would kind of shift their front and Milano would start, if you're on offense, he'd be on your left side. And then he would kind of trick you into thinking he wasn't in the play, but all he really was doing

was spying you to the right side. So it was as if they wanted Lamar to think he had a running lane there. And then it's still up to Milano to make the tackle, which again, I don't like anybody's chances against Lamar in space, but this is a real thing. Like they've done a good job against Lamar in the rushing attack. Like it wasn't, it's a threat, so it exists, but it wasn't like it was something that was a problem for Buffalo's defense. No, I thought collectively that Buffalo's defense

played a sound game. I thought Ed Oliver gave him hell. I thought Eponeza did a great job of really, you know, really controlling the edge. And I thought, listen, that's secondary. DeMar Hamlin had eight tackles. I was surprised by that. That was just like, oh. He was all over the place.

He was all over the place. What is DeMar Hamlin? I know that he had that one ball that went over his head, that Bateman in the corner. But overall, he had a pretty good game. And then Bernard, when he was able to punch out that ball on the Andrews, I was just like, all right, this is wild right now.

This feels wild. Is, is Mac Collins' job to get one catch potentially? That's somebody I would fight. Right. I, I didn't know if you were going to like Mac Collins or hate Mac Collins. I think I know. Yeah. Why? Mac Collins gives me like, oh man, like I wouldn't, I wouldn't fight. I would absolutely try to dog walk Mac Howlands. The whole barefoot thing to the stadium, the whole bavado, he's this caveman. Like, homie, you ain't built like that. I know killers, you ain't a killer, man. I play with killers, you ain't him. I mean, you're just a light-skinned dude

who just loves the wilderness. I get it, man, but he gives me big ink, man. I would fight. I would, Matt Connell's would be like, Oh, Steeler Ravens. If he was on the Ravens, like it would be, it would be like his number, it would be a hit on his number. Like, we got to take care of this guy. Okay. Perfect segue. We did this with you back in the day. I may bring it back for select athletes. I'm God. I'll let you try my Wu-Tang style. select athletes on guard. I'll let you try my Wu Tang style. That sound means we're bringing it back. Could you beat up this teammate with our guests?

Okay. So we're going back to the 2009 Steelers. Okay. Uh, let's start with Heath Miller. Oh man. It's one of my favorite teammates of all time. Heath will probably give me hell. Yeah.

He feels like, you know, how UFC yeah, I probably can get Heath but like you would have to like You have to really hurt heat to stop heat But he's gonna give you like he's not the guy that's not gonna like you know How do you have city they put the guy in a choke held and they make him a tap you have to put Heath to sleep He's not gonna tap but he's that type of death. Okay I promised that race was not part of the theme here, but Brett Kiesel. Could I take diesel?

Yeah, I could take these. Yeah. Two diesel tough. He'll probably, he seems like a biter. Um, but these are, these are, I love diesel, but yeah, yeah, I could take these. All right. Uh, let's mix it up here. Dick LeBeau.

Yo, Dick LeBeau is like insanely strong. Like he knows Tai Chi. He was like, and he was like a, like Dick LeBeau gives me like old man prison strength. Like he used to do pushups. He could like rip out like 50 pushups out of nowhere. He was always doing pushups. Like we would like the offense would be going on the field

and we kind of going through our thing and we look off and Dick LeBeau would be like off two fields over, just ripping out a set of 20, just keeping it tight. So he'll give me, yeah, he was sneaky. Old man Dickie LeBeau was something else in his day. He was a hell of a cornerback. I did not expect that answer because sometimes when I mix it up on the contestants,

they'll be like, come on, dude, like that's ridiculous. Tai Chi, that's a balance thing. So who knows? Yeah, a lot of balance in there. I may have to get work. So let's end it with the headliner then, James Harrison. D-Bow, man, so quick story. It was my second, my first and second,

I think it was my second and third year, D-Bow's on the team. And there was a bar on the south side called S-Bar. And we had, I think it was an off season, we were all getting to drinking and Ben pulled a trick on me where, he was like, man, we're gonna go shot for shot. But he had told the bartender, shot of tequila,

he had told the bartender like, man, make my shots all water, give him all tequila. So I did about 20 shots and I am blasted, blasted. So Deebo's in there and Deebo at the time, James Harrison, doesn't really, he drank, but he didn't really drink, drink, drink, whatever. So I go in the bathroom and I'm sitting in there and I'm just like, he's just charging me up.

He's like, hell yeah, we just having like kind of a program moment, like ladder man, we're just screaming and laughing and stuff. And I was like, he's just charging me up. He's like, hell yeah. We just having like kind of a program moment, like ladder man, we just screaming and laughing and stuff. And I was like, you want some D-Bow? He's like, hell yeah. And we're locked, we're locking up. We're locking up in this small ass bathroom. And we like, he's ripping my shirt, I'm ripping his shirt.

We're just kind of just wrestling. Bro, no bullshit you man. I once like, like grab his back and I felt like his muscles bulging in my hand. And at that point I was like, man, it's not human. I've never felt in another man's back where you can feel the bulging muscles in the palm of your hand.

He was just like, it was insane. And he was just like, all right. And then we ended up just having one of them drunk nights. And, but G, Debo's honestly the strongest human I've ever seen in my life, by far. Sounds like a no. I mean, he's another one like I might, I couldn't beat him with my hands.

I would have to bring something to the party. I'm gonna be honest. Well, I think you were very fair. You might've been a little, I think you were a little self-deprecating in this. I think with the James Harrison one though, all of us from the outside would just be like, I guess that's just a loss.

I did this with Teddy Boruski once. Like I expected Teddy did not pick anybody, right? Cause it's just Teddy. Like I did not's just a loss. I did this with Teddy Boruski once. Like I expected Teddy did not pick anybody. Right. Cause it's just Teddy. Like I did not expect Teddy to be there. Right. That anybody would get him. And then when you, you name that one dude, where you're surprised, because we

don't know, and then they'll be like, no, actually, like, I mean, it was some random like defensive lineman in the rotation that I had named that he was like, no, because that guy would kill me. And I was like, oh. Well, because there's some people that you spend intimate time with. And so you have those moments. There's those kind of those peaks in the window. You're like, oh, this guy's different.

Like this just isn't football stuff. This guy's wired differently. The great thing with you is I can do this with you multiple times. So we'll do it again next time. We'll pick some guys from the Jets. Willie, enjoy the rest of the week. Enjoy your snowstorm, enjoy your chili. Oh man.

And we'll talk to you again soon. Appreciate your brother. Ohio State Notre Dame for a national championship tonight, like everybody, all the hours, all the tape, lifting all those weights, this is why we do it. Watch a national championship that I wonder, is this less popular based on the brands and the fan bases is less popular than a Georgia Alabama game? Is this Mets Yankee subway series?

I had a tough time with that, but that might be my own thing. Um, for Ohio state, Notre Dame, maybe, I don't know. But what we do have on the table for Ohio State is an unprecedented chance at redemption. Now, a year ago after they had lost to Michigan again for the third straight time, now when he had lost to Michigan, they were ranked fifth, third, and third. We'll get to this year's loss.

They lost the third straight time, it's just not to cut it, right? It's not how this rivalry goes. You keep losing this game. You're supposed to be fired. And the parallel that I made essentially was that, yeah, remember when Michigan fans were doing the exact same thing with Harbaugh? Maybe it wasn't Michigan fans. I think the loudest voices were national media members that just resented the attention, right? Harbaugh shows up on the scene. It's going to be different. He's going to demand that attention.

I think he actually tapered off on that a little bit. Remember they had to like rework the contract, but I always felt like, look, if Michigan's happy with him and he's still recruiting and he keeps losing Ohio state, if you look at this historically, like how different is it than everything that has happened because Michigan beat Ohio state in 2011, and then they lost in 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19. And the result of this game has almost everything to do with your approval rating among the fan base.

So it's like, well, he's not beaten Ohio state and they had flirted with a playoff appearance, I think a couple of times during that Harbaugh run. But since they were losing Ohio state, it was like, this isn't going to cut it. It's like, well, actually weren't really beaten them before he got there either. In 2015. So what like, okay, I know it, I know you get real bummed out about it, but are you sure you're going to do better if Harbaugh is still invested into it? If

the boosters are okay with it, if the administration is okay with it, are you really sure? Because, you know, they had the disastrous COVID season, but for the most part, they were in the mix, in the mix at least enough for me to think, I don't really know that you need to make that change. And despite day's struggles against Michigan, the third straight loss last year,

it's like, yeah, but Ohio State kind of starts every year in position to at least, there's disappointing years, but they at least start from a place where you figure, and granted it's a little bit different with the big 10 expansion, but certainly over the other years before all these other teams showed up from the West coast, like their path to playoff contention is almost like automatic, depending on what happens with that last game.

So are you sure you really want to do this Ohio State fans because they has lost three straight? Well, when they lost the fourth straight, they lost three straight, and they lost three straight. So are you sure you really want to do this Ohio State fans because they has lost three straight? Well, when they lost the fourth straight to an unranked Michigan team that couldn't complete a forward pass, the answer was unequivocally yes.

I mean, I liked the segment last year. This year I was laughter that loss. I was like, okay, reasonable Ohio State people. Brian Winhorse, we love Winhorse, big Ohio State fan, listen to his podcasts all the time. He was like, yeah, Brian Winnhorst. We love Winnhorst. Big Ohio state fan. Listen to his podcasts all the time. He was like, yeah, right. It might be time.

And now Ohio state sits hours away from a chance of winning a national championship, which didn't seem like, well, you can't say it seemed impossible because with the playoff expansion, it's like now it kind of is possible. And that's why it's unprecedented because any other team that had lost that game is not in the 14 playoffs and it's just over and you get to hang around Columbus, not playing in the big 10 championship game, stewing on four straight Michigan losses. And what maybe day doesn't even survive. But the reason I look at tonight is a chance at unprecedented redemption because there was no system that would ever even allow. And again, this is not a complaint about the system. I've already done it too many times.

I don't know if I can make a pact with you that I'm just not going to do it anymore. I don't think I think we know come August, I'll get warmed up again and have a few minutes in me. But to win a title, which again, I pick in Ohio State because I don't know how you pick against them right now. You want to talk about the Will Howard game that's supposed to happen. The last time it happened was Michigan. Look at his numbers in the playoffs.

This thing is scary. And you could say Texas was in it and they were in it. I mean, they were lined up for, for, for a game tying touchdown. But the biggest part of Ohio state struggles offensively with their own fault, the penalties and getting backed up those four straight possessions, which you talked about the night after the Texas win with Van. So this will be an all time, like full circle moment recovery for whatever you want to talk about redemption. Right. That's probably the right word redemption in a way, if Ohio state pulls this off

that we've never seen before, because no one's ever been allowed to have this kind of second chance and I would think a national championship would be enough to get over what happened in Columbus a month ago, but you know, it's going to be like sweet sweatshirt. Is that the year you lost to Michigan when they were unranked? And now for the official place for the national championship. The line is still Ohio state minus eight and a half on FanDuel right now. And what I first want to do is I have something I'm going to do, and then

we're going to do the official four leg. We hit the four leg Ohio State, Texas. That's G. Scott special. We'll get to him in a second here. What I like to do is if I could look for two legs here where I get Ohio State in a manageable spread with something I think would happen if I'm picking Ohio State, then I look for those things. So Ohio State minus two and a half, Jeremiah Smith, any time touchdown scorer, is paying out at plus one 16. So again, you can just play Ohio State straight number minus eight and a half. Jeremiah Smith, anytime touchdown score is paying out at plus one 16. So again, you can just play Ohio state straight number minus eight and a half. You know, who knows, maybe they stop them tonight.

Um, and I don't blame anybody for picking Notre Dame. It just momentum wise, the two teams looking at it all. It just kind of hard to pick them unless, you know, you're just trying to zag every now and then, which I am certainly a fan of, but at least you're down to a much more manageable spread again for Ohio State. And again, even though Smith was shut out against Texas, you understand the thinking with that. All right.

If we're building this out to four legs with a bigger payout though, let's get exciting. All right. So Riley Leonard plus 25 yards, that is 25 more yards plus 235. Now G Scott, we've been doing the G Scott 25 or more yards. If I did that, that is plus seven Oh four tight ends. It's going to be a little tricky. Why do you like G Scott so much? I don't know. Every time I watch him, I just always feel like what if we go G Scott,

two or more receptions. So that way we get screwed on the yardage thing. You know, they're going to look to them at least once, maybe twice, a developing part of this Ohio State offense. I think that's the move. So let's look at it. Jeremiah Smith, any time touchdown score, Ohio State minus two and a half. Riley Leonard, 25 or more rushing yards.

G Scott, two or more receptions. Paying out right now on Fandu at plus 443. You want details? Buy. 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. Life advice, the email address is lifeadvice, rr at gmail.com. We've got Saruti, we've got Kyle, anything to report? Any updates on your worlds? Nothing yet. I don't think the new rankings are out, so I have no Johnny's information to give you, but we should be seeing their name in that top 25, but that's all I got.

Yeah. No nice performance against the hall this weekend. People a little down on the big East though. People down on me tweeting about the big East and the Johnny's during football games, not quite sure how people don't understand. That's why you do it. What do you see? No, but why can't I have the Johnny's on another TV, especially when there's

only one football game on and. Why can't I have an opinion about the Johnny's because the NFL window, not dominant enough, but we can't fucking have a thought about anything else. I guess I just don't understand football's on reply guy. You're also, yeah, you're also doing something while football's on too replying to me about who I should be watching football. Well said. Smells like up dog in here. Oh that's brilliant. Okay uh let's see got one that feels pretty serious so let's start with that one and then another one that came in as soon as I start halfway through reading it I checked what time it pretty serious. So let's start with that one.

And then another one that came in, as soon as I stopped halfway through reading it, I checked what time it was sent. It was like, okay, this, usually all mysteries, like the aggressiveness of the email, be like, oh, we get a 2.01 AM here. Okay. All right, five foot seven, 170.

This one came in during the day. So very straightforward, very adult email here. NBA comp late stage Damon Jones after the springs and the jump shot went. Damon Jones was arguably the most confident above his abilities of any player. But he had some nice stretches there with LeBron playing off the ball.

It was LeBron, you know, a lot of those guys made all of them better. All right. Probably better in skills competition than actually playing the game of basketball. Long time, every episode listener, Ryan, I've been tuned in since I had to download the Scott Van Pelt Show and the NBA Today podcast from the ESPN Pod Center and load them onto my iPod Touch. Well, thank you, sir. Thank you.

My wife and I have a two and a half year old son and now a five month old daughter. My son recently attended a birthday party at a local jungle gym type establishment, the kind with blow houses, climbing apparatus is where everything is intended to be completely kidproof. Living up to his father's late stage, Damon Jones, underwhelming athletic profile, my son managed to flail into a set of unexpectedly exposed screws, resulting in an alarming amount of blood in an emergency room visit, a $10,000 settlement. Okay. So 10,000 is a rounded number to make the on-air verdict easier to follow. I'll do the math afterwards if needed. Well, thank you. My question is, what is the right way to equitably distribute the money? The kids have college saving funds. The obvious answer would be just to put 10K in my son's college

fund and let it turn into good money in 16 years. The problem is I get a little squeamish thinking about giving my son what might compound a $50,000 leg up over his sister. Some other facts to consider. My son will have no long-term physical damage or scarring unless he loses his hair. He's still gatable. So I really don't know how much. I'm not sure you were supposed to laugh that hard, but I'm going to let it happen. I just love that. That's a factor. He's like, you know, I mean, he's not really going to carry this for a while. Like,

does he really need the full 10? If he was named, I know, I mean, he's not really going to carry this for a while. Like, does he really need the full 10? If he was named, I guess, I don't know. This guy's like, really? Like, I wonder what this guy does for a living. Cause it's, you know, it's like he does house home appraisals. Right. Yeah. Fact number two, given he is two and a half, he will have no conscious memory of this. Fair.

I was almost hit by a car in Nantucket once. It was pretty young. Um, and a woman ran out the street and gave me a peanut butter cookie, but I have immune memory. So, um, yeah, I don't think your kid's going to freak out. Anyway, fortunately, my wife and I have decent insurance and most of this was covered with splitting the money into two parts, one part of which is the I don't think your kid's going to freak out. Anyway, fortunately, my wife and I have decent insurance and most of this was covered. Would splitting the money between my kids be the right thing to do? Is my daughter entitled to any of this money, even though my son is the one who paid the

iron price? Are my wife and I entitled to any of this money? We do all right, but we have far more than 10,000 in debt between a house, a car, child care, and in this, uh, in post-holiday credit card debt. How should we divide this money? What's fair for everyone? Thanks, you guys. Looking forward to the next 15 years of this shit. 15 years, whoa.

Reminds me. All right, well, this guy has quite the conscience on him because I can think of, I tell you, who wouldn't see a fucking dime of that money if he were two and a half? Me, Kyle, how about your parents? No, dude, no. My mom would finally get to go to Aruba.

Yeah, stuff like that. I just wouldn't know. Happy little island. I just wouldn't know. Happy settlement mom. Settled in some money. Yep, yeah. So Rudy, I mean, you know,

I don't wanna put your parents on blast here. I think Joe would probably put a little something aside for young Steve. He would, I don't know about all of it, but I think this feels like a pretty easy thing. Like, can't you just split it like in thirds? Like you take 33%, you give the kid, the son 33, or maybe you want to give a little more,

maybe do 40. Give him 34. 30, 30. Take the chunk out of the want to give a little more maybe do 40 give him 34 30 out of the MX. Yeah, just do everybody kind of here. Yeah. Yeah, like and I you know you pop I think I think what you do is you pop maybe the 40% of his in the 529 you put 30% your daughters in a 529 And then you you know, baby pay off some bills with the extra three grand I got it just seems like no harm. No foul. Everybody's happy, you know It's gonna be more than 10 grand by the time they take it out.

I seems like everybody wins in this situation here. I mean, it's sort of like a bar tab. You're like, dude, I'll get you back. Like it'll all work itself out. Like that's exactly what it works itself out. This one will not work itself out. Yes, it will. What do you mean?

It's like, if you don't get this 10 grand, I'm like these two years old. I'm gonna get you 10 grand later. No, you got- I'm gonna get you the equivalent of 50 grand later because that's not happening. Think about how much money you're gonna be spending on this kid anyway.

Like it's all on you anyway. You pay all the money. So that's why it's just like, it's a wash. I think the thing is like, do you, do they, he says they do all right financially. Do they need the money? Like, you know, everybody has debt. Like, you know, we've got a house

and everybody's got certain debts, but like, are you in trouble? If you know, we've got a house and you know Everybody's got certain debts But like are you in trouble if you're not in trouble and you feel like you're just making your monthly payments and you're gonna be fine Then like maybe do you do you actually need any of this? I think the question is do you split it between the two kids? that's the bigger question me and I would I was split it between the again, maybe you do a 60-40 situation, but The kids never gonna know about never He's never gonna the exact numbers So if it's gonna be your conscience both your kids are gonna be about it, never. Never gonna know the exact numbers. So if it's in your conscience,

both your kids are gonna be good in the long run. Yeah, the conscious thing is like, we have to kind of factor that into all of this because I was thinking of some things like, okay, wait a minute, if you're in debt, if you get out of that debt, as opposed to paying money towards interest for just awful, stupid debt

and money that's not going anywhere, if you can wipe that out and then take that money that you're saving, they can go towards real things. Can you reroute it that way where this $10,000 goes down for a really good cause and then you're making up like the quality of life over $10,000 is a bit of a stretch here, but are you setting yourself up with more financial freedom and being able to use

incoming money in better ways by not having to pay down this other bad debt because you feel like you have to start day one to start funding your college kids thing. I'm gonna ask a tax question because I'm fucking back. I'm sorry to those of you that think you're the hero. No, no, I'm scared. I'm all day.

Right. Oh, I didn't even think of that. You know what's funny is I didn't even know. You up early this morning? All I knew was that it was Snoop Dogg. Because I was like, oh. It looks like I'm back. God, is that funny?

That is so funny because I completely forgot. Yeah. All right, so maybe I'll leave that tax rant alone, but to have people think it is because of today. Is there a tax, is there a yearly tax thing, Saruti, that because you're paying into the college fund that kind of presents its, I think I'm answering this sort of knowing the answer, but you know better than I do,

where it makes sense to have this money like being non-taxed year to year. Does that help you with your taxes? Well, the 529 is just like a college plan. I don't know like the exact like details of it. We just kind of whatever money we get for birthdays and this, this and that, if we put like a few grand at the start to get it going.

Yeah, like the idea I think is that you could use that sort of tax-free or at least there's not as big of a burden of taxes like 18 years later. So I don't know the exact specifics of the question. I guess I was just wondering if that becomes non-taxable income that's being contributed towards the college fund each year. I'm not talking about when you're taking it out.

Oh, you're saying that you just dump it all in there tax-free. I would guess whatever payment you get from the settlement, you just get. I don't think that I'm talking about yours specifically yours specifically like hey, I make $50,000 a year. These are my expenses. Okay, well, I'm not I can't tax you again. It all depends on the rate and whatever you fall into here. I guess I'm I'm asking a question. I don't know the answer to and I don't think I want to have an accountant on call. I don't think we need it enough, you know,

maybe comes up a couple times a year. I think this emailer is like, this guy seems like a really good person. Yeah, good guy. I'm serious, he seems like a good guy who's making it more complicated than it needs to be. I would say if you're in credit card debt and you're paying out, you know,

a couple hundred bucks a month in interest on a debt that you can't get down, and you're just fucking, you know, a couple hundred bucks a month in interest on a debt that you can't get down and just fucking blindly paying all of this interest. That is one of the worst possible ways to be spending your money. So delaying the college fund, um, or not maxing it out. And again, I don't know what you can do every

year here on this. I actually think that's the right call because it's going to send you on a path to spending your money in better ways quicker as opposed to writing this check for credit card debt. It just sucks. And the rate is, what are you talking, 20 plus percent, 21% on some of this stuff, depending on the card that you have. That's just nasty, nasty stuff that you should not want to be involved in. So it doesn't mean that all of a sudden like, dad, we can have a porch now, you know, um, and now all your kids are going to like have better friends. And I'm not being dramatic about this.

I just personally despise when I hear of anyone, uh, that I'm friends with that I care about or whatever. I'm like, what? And granted, I was an absolute moron with my finances for a long time. The major issue was I didn't have any money. That can definitely get in the way. Usually a tough one to get around. Right.

Like, what do you think some of your root issues were? Not having any money was number one. And then decision-making. Then having three credit cards is number two. Right. So like, look, you want to put a grand in each of the accounts to feel like it's even, Steven, even though the kid's not going to have most likely weird hair as an adult, um, fine.

Um, I don't know that your kid at 18 can be pissed at you if the other kid had a better start because of an accident that happened to him and the fact that everybody's so young here, I think most parents would just pocket all this 10 grand. The fact that you want to do something right is commendable and maybe doing something right is getting your family, getting your household out of some awful, awful, pointless debt.

And then if you want to, and I think because of the email, you'll probably hold yourself to the standard, make it up for them later on. Because start doing some of the math on how bad the interest payments are going to be if you don't get this $10,000 in credit card debt down. So that's what I would do. That's bad at baseball practice.

How about that? No, it's even just do something nice in another way. Yeah, right. Like maybe you take them to a vacation that you don't want to go to. Right. I think of the parents that do that. Like, what did you do? Oh, we took him to this thing.

It sucked. Drove nine hours to Great Wolf Lodge. Yeah. Yeah. I think of the parents that do that. Like, what did you do? Oh, we took him to this thing. It sucked. Nine hours to Great Wolf Lodge. Yeah. Yeah. Both you and your wife had zero interest in this destination. I actually don't even understand how parents do that. You can't pick something that you would like. That's actually probably a pretty low percentage of parents.

Like how many parents are out there? Both are like, we hate the idea of even going to this place, but we're doing it for the kids. Look, soccer practice is a different category, but just like full on summer vacation. Yeah, it feels like probably the like, the six to seven year old range, like the Mecca Disney, you know, pilgrimage,

that's probably, I don't know, maybe there's some more Disney. A lot of adults like it. Yeah, I know, but. Orgon, you know, he's in, yeah. I don't know, you got a some more Disney. Lot of adults like it. Yeah, I know. But. Orgon, you know, he's in, yeah. I don't know, you got a group of five, including the two adults, and you're just shelling out every single night,

and you know, the Mickey's Buffet sucked actually, and it's, I don't know, I could see a lot of parents be like, we just, you know, they're all the right age, we waited till everyone will remember this trip, and we just have to do it. I think there's a lot of adults like that out there. But you're right, there's way too many Disney adults for, uh, how many kids there are still. Yeah.

I think a lot of adults bring their kids to Disney cause they actually want to go to Disney. Perhaps my dad wasn't one of them. I can tell you that. Yeah, we never, we never, I tried to go to the spectrum so I could watch Moses Malone, my dad was like Philly, fuck that. Like for four or five years in a row, I was like, can you just take me to the spectrum so I can see Moses and then Charles? Because Moses was traded in 86 and he's like, I'm not driving to Philadelphia for a fucking Sixers game.

It's like, all right, but we go to Hartford for Yukon games. So it's a lot closer. It's a a lot closer all right uh good luck with all that hit us up in 18 years hope it works yep let us know okay all right let's get to um a guy who is just he just cannot stop hooking up um forgot to mention the friends with benefits part. I'll hello friends, Jim Nance voice, 37 years old, six one, 176, precise measurements here. No basketball comp. I don't watch or play it golf comp.

Nick Dunlap good enough to win it, but also shoot a 44 in the back nine to miss the cut, but I'll chug a beer with you exclamation. Anyways, dot, dot, dot. So I signed up on Bumble with every intention to just have, ideally, multiple, strictly physical relationships. It was going well. Lots of matches. I live in Los Angeles.

Don't worry. You can say all the cities and names. There's no shortage of beautiful women here. This guy's just like, and then my dad who works at, just kidding. All right. So you already know how it works. Actually, I don't know how it works. You don't need to bore you with a matching and small talk details with these women,

question mark, females. There's two women in jeopardy here. Now I told you guys I want to keep it strictly physical. However, I did fail to mention that minor detail to these ladies. I thought it was on my profile, but it is not. Are dudes putting, keeping it strictly physical on their profiles?

Cause that's a, just. No, I think we know that's why it wasn't on his profile because I think, I think you get less matches when you do that. Come on. I think you know that man. I won't like you. Here for the banging.

Totally will take the L. Hand up Doug Christie style. Okay, I used to watch some ball. I still can't get over that Doug Christie mic'd up thing with Ellis where he was telling his own player to make sure he like didn't give the ref too hard of a time when he wasn't really even giving him. And he's like, well, you know, we have a standard here.

Fascinating stuff, I'll leave it at that. All right, so now I'm splitting time with Amanda and Liz and. All right. You didn't want to change the names. Maybe this is the whole point of the email. Two matches, juggling it all. They're both. They both are cracking wise on me, wondering why I can't stay the night or why I can't

come over Friday or whatever the day may be. Because if I'm not with Liz, then I'm with Amanda and vice versa. So now it's snowballing on me. I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm with Amanda, vice versa. So now it's snowballing on me. I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm single, just looking to hang out. I always think of the time a girl tried to extort Yarmir Yager after she slept with him. She took a selfie with him while he was sleeping

and was like, yeah, I'll post it for you. I'm not married. Year of age smile. I don't remember that full Yager details. Oh yeah, I do. It's not that sketchy other than she took a picture of him, right? Yeah, he was like, I don't care.

All right, anyway, Jagger style. What are you doing tonight? I'm going out Jagger style. I don't love quotes, either of them. I've had sex with both. It was awesome. They're great in all aspects. What a read from you. What a great read from you.

They're great in all aspects, but I have zero interest in dating either of them. I just think about the lonely guys listening to these emails being like, kill this guy. Those feelings of theirs are not as casual. Amanda just made a joke that her lease is coming up in a few months and asked when mine is coming up. All caps, nope, not having that convo. The Lions game was about to start.

See, this is just like, this guy's just riffing. He's riffing pretty good for a later at night email send. I guess I can't just rip the bandaid off and tell him how I really feel. Should I? Maybe one more round of hookups and then break it to them. Do I do it at the Red Lion? Silver Lake, Kyle, you ever been there?

Heard of it, never went. Saruti, put down your dad cap and think with your dick and give me some solid advice. That's when I double checked what time it was sent. All right. With this one. Attach the pic to perhaps just get a better feel if I'm the asshole or not.

Well, there's some aggressive ink, bro. Some aggressive ink, but that's an assumption. If this were sent 10 years ago, I'd go, oh, I'd make all sorts of now. It doesn't mean anything. Okay. Who wants to go first here? Kyle, you seem ready.

I'll just say, I mean, he's all, what did he say? 37? Is that what he said? 37. Good starting point. I'll just, I was thinking back to when this was me and this was strictly, this was high school. This was my year off, or this high school. This was my year off or this was college. This is my year between college.

Just a lot of didn't have the Gutter portal. Didn't have the guts to tell these girls like, I see where you're going. Uh, I see, I see the road you think this is going down and it's just not, but I don't want to make you feel bad by telling you it's not so I'll just eventually disappoint you massively. Um, and then I'll just eventually disappoint you massively. And then I'll just, I'll move on. And yeah, it sounds like that's what's gonna happen to you. And you're asking, am I the asshole in the situation?

The answer is gonna be yes. It's just a lot easier than to say, hey, listen, with that rent comment that you were making, or with that lease comment that you're making, that's, I just don't think that's what I'm looking for. I would have just been like, I don't know. I think a month to month, I would have just said that the thing that makes this kick the can down the road a little bit while you're not disappointed in me, I don't have to

have a hard conversation. It's so much easier to go through life that way, disappointing, like not showing up for things or, or, you know, just saying I'm not sure about that plan. Just it's, it's not, it's, it's not constructive. It's, it doesn't, it's just easy. It's the easy way, like you said, you wanted to hook up, but you didn't wanna, I don't think you wanted to put that on your hinge profile because it wouldn't be as easy to get matches and go on dates and have fun right now. So it sounds like you're doing all the stuff

that's like having fun right now and I totally get it. It feels right, it's so easy. But you're a little older than I was when I was doing that. So that's the thing you were what? You might be the 18, 19. Yeah. Well different than 37. Think LA factors in here a little bit.

I add 10 years still, still, I think is a little bit of an issue. I think he knows the, it sounds like one of these girls at least thinks they're dating and you don't even remotely think that. Think she's moving in potentially. Feels like a problem. She didn't find a lover, she found a roommate.

Think about how much money we could save if just one of us kept our cars. I was going to settle it for 10 grand with that towards the security department. But I think the age thing does matter here and that like, yeah, if you're 18, even if you're in your late 20s, it like kind of doesn't matter. But like, you got to think of, I don't know, you're just stringing these girls along who want probably some sort of relationship, and I assume they're at least somewhat close to your age, maybe a little bit younger, I don't know,

maybe they're older, who knows, you're crazy. I would guess he's younger, just thinking about everything he's saying. Yeah, I would guess that too, but still. I would, this goes back to the conscious thing from the last email of, hey, if I take this money, am I gonna feel like an asshole? Like I would feel like a dick if I was just stringing this girl along for a while who was like actually wanting a relationship

But I don't want that if you're cool with just being an asshole then Keep living your life and kicking the can down the river and just saying hey, you know, maybe yeah what kyle said about You know, I don't know i'm going month to month. We'll see and just kind of stringing them along I wouldn't love that. I'd feel kind of weird about that at 37 But if you don't then I think you kind of just, you know, keep thinking with your dick, dude. I don't know what to tell you. Sounds like somebody put down their dad cap there

for a couple minutes. I didn't appreciate that line, I'm not gonna lie. I don't think you should have. I totally got what he wanted from you though. He was just like, dude, just tell me, man, you know, let's get out of the office. Just tell me what you really think. Hey, look, the ladies love Saru at ESPN.

He has no idea. Some of the scattering reports I would get. So you're not gonna shame my guy. And I think it's just because he became an adult pretty quickly overnight, going multiple hairdo combos from different European soccer players and checking out UA for media guys to figure out what he was gonna tell his barber

to stand up all night, smoking darts, playing with leads, you know? And then all of a sudden he's fucking banging out kids, dogs, mortgages, and a great wife. Like it happened fast, but it doesn't, it doesn't mean there wasn't a window in there where there'd be a girl on TV being like, is that the guy that's, is that the nighted guy? Like, yeah, works on my show. Girls, girls on my show. Yeah.

Girls, girls like Saru. I think Kyle nailed it in the very beginning is like the age thing is like how, you know, there should be a moment, I think, again, we're speaking to the male side because three males and we could get kind of this nasty like gender. Well, if they're doing it to us, then we can do it to them and that whole deal.

And you wouldn't necessarily be wrong, but I would think you'd get to a point where. At least, all right. I can tell you from my firsthand experience, twenties could not give a shit. Don't care. Don't care from waste of your time. Don't care how you feel about stuff. Don't care. And that was a bit of a carry over where I was like really,

really nice. And then I noticed I was like, the Dicks always seem to be doing better than the non Dicks. Like, what's that about? And, um, tough realization. Yeah. Yeah. And then I was like, I guess you just be like a little, like just don't care about anything and then you'll be better off. And look, I sort of regret feeling like that was the path because it kind of gets in the way.

You sort of stunted the development of relationships because you're still kind of dealing with this younger thing that you've developed. And I want to say like in your adolescence, but college and post twenties and those first years, like those first years after college and everybody's in a city and it's sort of real, real now, as opposed to fake real being on your own. It's like real, real, but also depending on your financial independence or having zero financial independence, like impacts a lot of these decisions. I know I'm rambling here a bit, but like, I think it's all baked into just how you are going to treat other people in romantic relationships. Right.

Some of it comes down to like security. Are you insecure? You know, can you actually be that secure in your twenties to begin with? Um, cause I think there's like, there's insecure 20 year olds and there's like insecure 40 year olds where you're like, what the fuck is wrong with you? So I do think the mature thing to do, and I don't know that it's that a man needs to do it more than a woman needs to do it. But as you get older, you know, some of the things that have happened that haven't worked out, haven't worked

out because you didn't like the person because you feel like you owe it to this person because you do care about them. That you're like, I don't want to waste your time. I don't want to be deceit time. I don't wanna be deceitful. I don't wanna lie. I don't wanna get in the way of whatever personal goals that you have for your life and building a family and all of this stuff.

So if I'm gonna be misleading, and I don't know how misleading you were, you know, like they're on Bumble, they met up with you. Sounds like you're awesome. Both these girls like you here. But I think 37 is around the age where you should start to take some accountability of what you could potentially be doing to them by, I don't know if you're misleading them a ton, but there's going

to come that moment and sometimes it comes way too early in a relationship. Sometimes it comes when it's way too late and then people are even more pissed off, but times where it hasn't worked out for me would be a realization of like, I do not want to be wasting your time. I actually do care about you and I want you to reach your goals and it's going to suck to think about you with somebody else, but I'd rather those things than you have all this massive resentment because you signed up for a partnership where you were not aligned at all.

So yeah, I think 37 is about the age. Like good for you. Like I kind of get it. And it is tough to just start the courting phase, be like, just so you know, DTF onlys. Okay. Like that's it. Right. Cause it, you're going to be some kind of like Josh Allen type dude to be pulling

that kind of stuff off, right. To bring, bring it full circle from the beginning of the podcast. Um, and look, some of those guys, it does work and it does exist. Like there's this one dude who I met who just was that way about everything, just completely open. He did have a place in a really nice stretch of LA. So it's sort of just all baked together work for him, where it was just like from the jump, everybody understood he wasn't a long-term bet.

And because of that freedom, it kind of worked for him. Good luck figuring that one out. I've never been able to figure it out, but again, to close here, I think the mature thing to do, and if you want to take it upon yourself that a man is more likely to have to do it and we can pretend it's all bullshit or whatever, maybe I'm being a little old in it,

a little outdated, but I think it's the responsible thing to not waste people's time. All right. Even if it's going to cost you a roll around in the old shack, you know, like clearly you're attracted to it. He doesn't want to lose that. Right. He wants to have every option to do that.

Maybe be a bit more forthcoming, but whatever these like little short term wins for you, they're not even close to adding up for what is like a long term loss when the partner is completely in the dark about what your long term intentions are. And I will never think that that's the wrong thing to do, even if you're selfish and it's costing you something in the short term.

How do we feel? Yeah, I mean, his question was, am I the asshole? My answer is leaning yes. selfish and it's cost you something in the short term. How do we feel? Yeah. I mean, his question was, am I the asshole? My answer is leaning yes. Because of your age. Because of the one thing that he didn't say, one thing I'm positive, I don't know what was and wasn't said to these women.

The one thing I'm positive he didn't say was like, hey, I just want to kind of keep this casual because it doesn't feel good to say it. It doesn't feel good to watch her face say it. It doesn't feel good to like work up the energy to say it. It also doesn't work a ton in general. Right. Like very few guys, the original point, like most of you aren't gonna get where you want

by saying that's all you want. And the thing he likes probably is when he's around his buddies, be like, dude, Jenna and Mary, they're both like driving me nuts. Like it's cool to be the guy that's wanted when you, like it feels good in my, you know, asshole 22 year old brain.

It felt cool to be like that guy that has this problem. Yeah, juggling. Yeah. I mean, it actually, it feels good to tell your buddies about it. Like it's a real problem you have. It feels cool to be wanted. It's just, you know, but you're right. It's a bit like being the town tough guy. And if you're not that, like it's a real problem you have. It feels cool to be wanted. It's just, you know.

But you're right. It's a bit like being the town tough guy, and if you're not that, then it's like, oh, you know, so and so is always juggling all this stuff. It's like, yeah, cool, I've caused to myself massive headaches and all of these people are gonna hate my guts, like for years beyond this, but it's so, yeah, so cool. Right, exactly.

You know? I mean, I think that's why, when you hear about older guys juggling stuff, you're like, dude, that's not exhausting. Right. What time have you gone to bed, dude? Okay. Yeah.

That's how I think about the cheating thing. It's like, who has the time? It seems such an extra chore. I have revisited my thoughts on cheating based on far more understanding of the complications of marriage without being married. Is my point.

I get how it happens. But yeah, it's just, it's a lot of work. To have that as the game plan, right? Yeah, to have that as the game plan. Yeah, a lot of prep. I just think I was more naive about it until I had had more friends that were just married longer and you know, having deeper conversations about what was going on specifically with them. I,

I'm entirely less judgmental about it. And honestly the main reason I was super judgmental about it before was it was married guys fucking with my thing. So that was, it wasn't like I was like, Oh, you're so ultra. No, no, it's not even a morality thing. It's like, Hey, don't fuck with me. I respect your, your right to do this. Yeah.

Right. Getting in my way. Yeah. Yeah. It's getting in my way. Yeah. Yeah. Say hi to your kids for me. All right, that'll do. Little spice there for you at the end. Awesome.

Good job, Oregon. Thank you, Kyle. Thank you, Saruti. And we are back tomorrow, less than 24 hours. We'll have a fresh episode off the college football national championship, Ohio State, Notre Dame. I can't wait to do tomorrow's show.

It's gonna be a lot of fun. We're gonna have David Pollock, who was actually my last guest ever on my ESPN podcast. So another full circle moment. Please check out the YouTube page and subscribe to the podcast. Ryan Roussillo, Fingers 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 rgpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland.

Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.