From Buffalo To Seattle with Fred Jackson

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
From the King of sports books comes the Key Sports
podcast Unleashed, presented by the MGM. Here's your host, Jerry
Ferrara and Olivia Harlan Decker. Welcome to Unleashed. We are

(00:31):
in the holiday spirit. May your days be merry and bright,
May your bets be ambitious and lucky. May your thirty
three point lead be safe. And may your holiday get
togethers be a little messy. Get it, let me s s,
I get it. Okay, Christmas already came early. From my
friend Jerry Ferrara. The Nicks have won seven in a row,
maybe even more by the time you're listening, because we

(00:53):
record on Tuesday's a couple of games coming up. The
Giants win with maybe some help from the officials. Who
knows about that. He's hitting parlay's, he's hitting teasers, and
he won his fantasy playoff game. Life is good for
the kid. It's a Jerry Christmas. I should just quit
while I'm ahead, because there's no way this could keep up.
But yes, Sunday, I hit sports Utopia, I hit a parlay,

(01:17):
I hit a teaser. Trevor Lawrence guided me through the
first round of my fantasy playoffs. The Knicks one. That night,
the Rangers won the seventh in a row. I just
don't know where I go from here, so I should
stop all on the head. Yeah, the only thing is
your Seahawks ticket. It's just I mean, by the week
it's it's gone. So I hope you not the not

(01:38):
the only thing going into the fire. Santa might be
coming down the fireplace, but the Seahawks ticket to when
the division is going in the fireplace and lit on
fire because it's over. But what a fun losing ticket
that was. It was. It was fun for a while.
Gave us some good fodder. So coming up, we got
NFL games on Christmas Eve. We have a full day
of NBA games on Christmas. There's so much to get to,

(01:58):
plus Jerry. Coming up, we former Buffalo Bills running back
Fred Jackson. He is joining us. I don't know if
you know this. His story, his path really to get
to the NFL is amazing. Do you know his story?
I know a little bit. But he was one of
my favorite players to watch. I drafted Fred Jackson every
like fantasy stuff. He was one of my favorite running backs.
Great career. So very excited to talk to. Yeah, we'll

(02:21):
get into all of that, but I think he's like
third leading rusher in Bills history. He's fantastic, has great stories.
Really excited to talk with him. So yeah, what a
huge win for his Bills though. Last week in snowy
Buffalo against the Dolphins, and Jerry you called it the
Dolphins cannot swim in the cold. No, but I will
say I don't want to make silver linings here. But

(02:44):
it wasn't a bad performance. Did not seem like the
weather was much more of a factor than it even
was for the Bills. Like it did not seem to
really factor in for them. They just they just lost,
but they played. It was a really really fun game
to watch, and I feel better about the Dolphin. Should
they make the playoffs going into the cold, Yeah, yeah,
I hear you. That's gonna be an interesting one and

(03:07):
kind of interesting too early in the season when Buffalo
went down to Miami kind of inverse weather tricks. So,
but this time of year, like we talked about last year,
this is like finals in college. This is when it matters.
So you got to play in the cold. Before we
get into too much NFL, we have to pay off
what was the best World Cup Final ever with the

(03:28):
best player ever. Did you watch at all Argentina beating France.
I did. I definitely came in late. I I'm not
gonna lie and say I watched the entire game. Again,
I don't go too deep with soccer, but it did
feel like a an event that if you missed you'd
probably regret. So I caught the probably the best part.
I caught part of the comeback in the end, and

(03:48):
I mean, just wow. It's it's almost like sad that
it's every four years, but it's kind of what makes
it what it is, Like the Olympics. I mean, we
all have all this national pride for a couple of
weeks and it's really fun to like pit against other teams.
And what I love about World Cup especially is in
the Olympics that you have guys who are on the
same team throughout the regular season play against each other

(04:11):
like we did with France v Argentina. So really good.
Did you see that Drake put a million bucks in
Argentina to win. I did see that. Yeah. I mean
it's all relative, right, I mean that's obviously an amazing
big number, but it's all relative, Like a million to
Drake is probably you know, ten cents to me. But
either way, with those winnings, you can definitely you could

(04:33):
definitely buy something really really nice, especially in Ohio. You
you just doesn't make that in there. I'm running it
out there, I'm running it up there. Yeah, he won
two and a half million, So yeah, you could buy
something very nice anywhere. But Messi finally gets to hold
the one trophy that has eluded him. Argentina went up
to nothing France with a frantic rally. They tied it
with two Bob goals and first minute an extra time

(04:57):
both teams would score again. Argentina went up eat it two,
then Embob scored his third goal, who got the hat trick,
tying it at three. The World Cup was once again
decided by penalty kicks, which is amazing for the sport.
I think because if you're not a big soccer fan
and you just kind of, like a lot of people
tuned in this one game, you probably thought it was

(05:17):
super exciting, which it was, so it's really great for
the sport and just the storylines and you had these
two stars battling it out. It was just just incredible.
So Argentina wins for the first time since nineteen and
when we had Tim Howard on the show, he told
us that, you know, Messi is one of the best
players to ever play, but he'll always be compared to Maridonna,

(05:40):
who had one for Argentina. So if he was ever
going to be considered the best player in the world,
he had to at least be considered the best player
in his own country history. So really really cool. If
you are all wrapped up in the soccer world, which
a lot of people are right now because it was
so attention grabbing, go back to our Tim Howard episode
because his experiences at the World Cup and really really

(06:03):
beautifully laying out what this stage was. I thought he
did a really great job. So I think that listen
is just as good now in past tense. Before we
close the book on the World Cup, we have to
get to our audible of the week. I'm gonna go
ahead and crown it Telemundo commentator Andre Cantor. He had
so much pride in this call. You can feel it

(06:24):
around the globe. It's so moving to watch a grown
man cry about a soccer game. I'll just let you listen.
It's amazing, Mom and Dodd d Yeah, Okay, let's get

(07:14):
to the NFL. The big story this week, obviously Jalen
Hurts brained shoulder. The Eagles have been fine high this season,
Hurts as an m v P favorite, but now there
are fourths he could miss this Saturday's game against the Cowboys. Hopefully,
hopefully no more than that. But this is a huge meeting.
This is the game we've all been waiting for. Obviously,
I think the Niners have been dubbed either tied around

(07:36):
with the Eagles for the best team in the NFC
or second best. I still think the Cowboys can be
formidable regardless of that blown lead versus Jacksonvill. I think
that says more about Jacksonville than it did about the
Cowboys to me. But either way, we need Jalen Hurts
healthy to really experience what the Eagles could do. It's
nice that the Eagles have built this lead, although they
can get caught for the first round by in the

(07:58):
one seed. The Niners could catch them. I mean, I
guess the Vikings can catch them, but I don't think
that's likely. And you know, I think the Cowboys are
just too far behind. But without him, yeah, I do
worry a little bit about what's gonna go on, it
does seem like he'll be ready for the playoffs. This
is where it's helpful to have a gardner Minshew, who
I've always been a fan of. I think he could

(08:20):
get you. Maybe they don't beat the Cowboys. I don't know.
I think he's good enough probably to beat the Giants
and maybe lock up that one seed. But yeah, this
isn't great, and you know, it definitely helps the Giants
who might be playing them. I think the last week
of the year, I don't know if we see Jalen Hurts,
even if healthy, because the Eagles, it's still a big
game because the Eagles are gonna want to lock up
that one seed and rest Jalen Hurts. Do you know

(08:41):
what the spread is? Oh God, what did they moved
to now? I don't know. I I'm a little surprised
it favors the Cowboys. I'm not surprised, Okay, and it's
in Dallas obviously minus five and a half. That's a
little surprising because I do think Minshew is capable, and
also they just have web Philly as weapons everywhere air
and the Cowboys have a really good defense, but their

(09:03):
their secondary is a mess with injuries and Trevor, Lawrence
and Jackson will just lit them up. So that's a
little high. I I like the Eagles with the I'm
not to win, but I love the points. Yeah. Okay,
we saw some more brutal losses this week. It was
a weird weekend. So Matt Ryan, we gotta start there
once again on the wrong side of a historic collapse
as the Colts blew a thirty three nothing halftime lead

(09:24):
to the Vikings. Look, Matt got tight. You could just
like see it on his face, his body language. Where
Kirk Cousins got loose. You love to see that level
of loose Kirk Cousins. So Matt Ryan now owns a
horrible spot in NFL history as being at the helm
of two of the greatest collapses in NFL history. One
in any game ever. That one one of a Super

(09:44):
Bowl up three to loose Tom Brady. But Jerry, what's
the takeaway? Who's to blame here? Is that Jeff Saturday?
Is it Matt Ryan? Well, my main takeaway is, Look,
this is not a good part of history for Matt
Ryan to be affiliated with both of these losses. But
let's not kid ourselves. This was bad. Yeah, sure, it's
the worst, it's the biggest comeback ever. Blah blah blah.
I get it. That sucks. The super Bowl thing, that's

(10:07):
one that he'll be thinking about. That one, he's not
going to be thinking about this game against the Vikings
with Jeff Saturday as his coach. You can't pin this
on Matt Ryan. Does he maybe get a little tight
with some of his throws, sure, but also the defense
didn't help him out at all. Jeff Saturday and the
coaching staff certainly didn't help him out at all. So
you cannot blame Matt Ryan. It's a team loss. But

(10:27):
I would give the emphasis on the coaching and the
play calling. The play calling got tight. But yeah, this sucks.
But I don't although I guess the Colts could have
had a playoff shot had they won this game somehow,
they would have still been, you know, alive. But wrap
it up, Cults, I think that's I don't know how
you bounce back. I'm curious to see how they bounced
back against the Chargers. But that that that was tough. Okay,

(10:49):
The next one that was just weird. The Raiders completely
stunned the Patriots with the lateral pass gone wrong. So
the Pats could have ran out the clock and went
to overtime. But for some weird, weird reason, Kobe Myers
tried to be a hero toss it back to mac Jones.
But Chandler Jones to the Patriots had cut, intercepted it,
walk off, touchdown a lot of meth. And here's my thing,

(11:11):
even if Matt caught it, he's so immobile, I don't
know what the plan was. If he had caught it,
he would have been toast. So of course Chandler Jones
is right there. So yeah, this loss to me is
much harder to take if you're a Patriots fan because
first and foremost, you're now seven and seven with that loss,
you should or could have been eight and six had

(11:31):
you got it into overtime and maybe one it, so
that would have put you tied for the seven. Basically
six seven, eight would have been a log jam with
the Chargers, Dolphins, and Patriots all eight and six. Now
you're seven and seven, still have some hope, but that
was one you you should. I mean, you can't say
they would have won in overtime for sure, although they
had chances to lock that game up. That just was

(11:53):
weird unlike a Bill Belichick game. I do give Kobe
credit for like sitting up and doing the press conference
and take question. He did not shy away from the
mistake in the moment. Props to him that was like
that takes a lot of guts to do that after
a moment like that. But yeah, that one, that one's
gonna haunt the Patriots because it doesn't finish their playoff chances.

(12:13):
But it's gonna be hard. It's gonna be uphill from
here on out with that loss. Then the third one,
and I've been excited to ask your opinion on this
one because everyone on Twitter sure has one. The Commanders
and the Giants. So the Commanders lose after several controversial
calls at the end of the game, involving Terry McLaurin
pointing over to the ref what oh a little violent act. Okay,

(12:36):
what is your take on this as someone who has
been on the wrong side of those calls as a
Giant fan, and there's there's been a bunch that certainly
sucks if you're a Commanders fan, because yeah, that was
p I you could say in the end zone you
could have called it. I think it's a it's a little.
I mean they were definitely boxing out and jostling for position,

(12:57):
but yes, he then wrapped him up. But here's what
to me about the argument. People who are saying you
have to be willing to call pass interference with the
game on the line. Why these refs don't want they
don't want to call pass interference. Why because the game's
on the line, you gotta call it. They are also mad,
how do you call Terry McLaren for off sides at
that point in the game if it goes both ways,

(13:18):
and it goes both ways, you can't get mad at
the Terry McLaren call and then get mad at the
non p I call. Look, it sucks. There was a
lot of bad calls in that game. Also, like we
saw it with the Vikings missing the This is happening everywhere,
so don't blame like the Giants potentially making the playoffs
and the Commanders not making the playoffs on this game.
There's also holding on on Thibodeau and he got basically

(13:43):
punched in the face and poked in the eye and
a face mask not called. There was tons of awful
missed calls or wrong calls in that game. They called
a dead ball on a fumble that was clearly a
fumble that you know, the Giants did get end up
winning that challenge, but who knows, maybe Larry Williams could
have got up and advanced the ball thirty more yards.
It was a awfully awful officiated game, not the reason

(14:06):
why the Commanders lost the game. I'm sorry, and you
still have hope. Okay, opinion, Yeah, take a breath. Um, Okay,
the NFC South is terrible. So who takes it? The Bucks,
the Saints, the Falcons, the Panthers. You gotta look at
what the Bucks did this past week because the Bengals
had something to prove after Tom Brady called their defense

(14:29):
fairly tough quote which, honestly, and I can't wait to
ask Fred about this later in the show. Fred, it
sounds like world friends. Yeah, Fred Jackson, we uh fairly tough.
I don't think it's like much of an insult. And
when you looked at the whole quote, Brady said, he's like,
they've got a great young quarterback, they have a lot
of weapons, and they have a fairly tough defense. Not

(14:50):
that abrasive of a comment, but boy did the Bengals
defense take it differently. Yeah, and I would say the
Bengals are better than a fairly good defense. I will say, however,
Tom Brady has played some of the best defenses ever
to play football over the last twenty two years, So
I basically think I read that as he's saying, you know,

(15:12):
this isn't this isn't the twenty the two thousand seven
Giants defense, but they're a good defense. If you would
have gotten rid of the word fairly and said this
is a tough Bengals defense, no one would have care.
And I don't know if that would bottom line is,
the Bengals are significantly better than the Bucks in every
area of the game. Bucks got out to as good
of a lead as they could have started with and

(15:33):
it still wasn't enough. So yeah, a lot of people
talking about that. I don't know. I as someone who
did I wanted I mean, I did want to bet Tampa.
I thought that I liked them in this spot and
that was a great start. The Bengals just on another level.
And the Bengals still have levels to go. They're gonna
get even healthier. They still have a dB to get
bat like. They're gonna get even healthier. So they're peaking

(15:53):
at the right time. Yeah, Bengals defense. Remember it took
him till a week eight for a team to even
score a second half touchdown them and they had yet
to allow a three yard passer. And in this game,
Tom Brady through two interceptions and the Bucks started the
second half with five straight possessions with the turnovers. So yeah,
Bengals defense, that's something to prove. Bengals are hot, hot hot.

(16:15):
Yeah you did mention though the NFC South. Should we
stay in the South for a second, because this is
going to pull straws, like what are we gonna do? Well?
The funny thing is, and you know me, I love
to see what teams have ahead when the schedule. The
Bucks go at Arizona with you know, no quarterback in
site there, so they should win that game. And then

(16:37):
they finished with two divisional games. They finished with home
against Carolina at Atlanta. The Saints, who are a mark ingram,
stay in bounds away from maybe being in the driver's
seat of this division. They go at Browns, which the
Browns have proven to be tough at least you have
to go beat them at Eagles, which that looked horrible
on the schedule maybe it's a little better if no hurts,

(16:59):
and then of course they Playbors the Panthers. All four
of these teams play each other in the final week
of the season. What are the odds of both of
those games ending in a tie? I would not be
surprised because then the Falcons go Ravens Cardinals, and the Bucks,
like I said, and the Panthers go Lions. Don't underestimate
this Panthers Lions game. That is huge because the Lions needed.

(17:20):
The Panthers really are the team that could have ran
away with this division. They've given away three games earlier
in the year. Uh. And the Panthers go Lions and
an at Bucks at Sts, so in a weird way,
the Panthers could control their own destiny. They win out right, No,
my gosh, it's it's crazy when you put it that,

(17:41):
it is exhausting. Do you need another breath? If you
had to pick though, if you had to pick a
team to come out of the South. With everything I
just laid out, the Bucks do have the one game
lead on everyone else. And I think the Bucks are
three and one in the division and the Panthers are
three and one in the division. Is there a team
that you lean toward. I guess Tampa Bay just because
you know it's my buddy Tom, just because it feels

(18:03):
like if he's in the division, you can't cut him out. Yeah,
and I do think they maybe have the easier They're
catching the Cardinals at a great time. The Panthers are alternate, right,
and they finish at Atlanta, which you know, with their
quarterback change, maybe that's not as tough of a game,
but this is because then that affects everything else. Whoever
wins this crazy division. And I can't believe someone's gonna

(18:26):
you someone's gonna have to go win a playoff game
in Tampa, uh, you know, New Orleans, Atlanta or Carolina,
and I think that's probably gonna be what the Cowboys
where I think are locked in at the five seed
or whatever. I mean, it's insane that we have to
watch a home Maybe in the future, just give the

(18:47):
home field advantage to the team with the wild card
team with the better record. Yeah, well, it is Christmas week,
so I think we should eat make our wish, our
our Christmas wish. But as it pertains to sports, and
I think he knows, you know what mine's gonna be
because I thought I was dead in the water. I
thought I had completely retired all of my green I

(19:09):
thought I was switching to my other team, the Chiefs,
and just going to ride them all the way, even
though the Chiefs didn't give me much to tear about
last week. But it's a lie. For the Packers, there's
still hope. So let me just run through this because
this is my Christmas wish. They need to run the
table to be nine and eight, because getting an NFC
wild card should at least require an above five records.

(19:32):
So the Giants finished with the Vikings, Colts, and Eagles
with a chance to face Philly week eight team those backups,
like you mentioned, Landers still need to play the forty Niners, Browns,
and Cowboys. Okay, we've walked through that. But the Lions
play at the Panthers and host the Bears. The Lions
play at Panthers hosting the Bears. That's their next two weeks,

(19:54):
so pretty favorable matchups, although not not a cakewalk. That's
before they based the Packers, so obviously then Packers would
have to beat the Lions. Seahawks need to deal with
the Chiefs and Jets until they face the Rams. At
home finish the season. Okay, so the Packers need to
take care of their schedule, but they need to get
a lot of breaks from the other So I think

(20:17):
they have like a five percent chance right now of
making the playoffs. But if they lose a game, they're
out and and it starts here like it's do they
go into beautiful Miami on Christmas Day to deliver? Helps
start to deliver? You're like Cindy who in the Grinch
writing the letter of the Santa that you're hoping for
a Christmas miracle, but it can't happen. They just need

(20:39):
the Lions to lose one of these games to Carolina
or the Bears, which that would go a long while.
Though I don't I don't think you're gonna get your
Christmas miracle. I'm sorry. Oh, this is why it's a miracle.
It's if not this time of year, then when yeah,
look at least you're still a mathematically alive, which is
more than I thought I did not just gonna be.
At this point in the podcast, do you want to

(21:00):
hear my Christmas wish? Please? And look, if you would
have told me whose wish was more of a miracle
at the beginning of the season. It would have been mine.
The odds would have been mine. Is more of a miracle.
Dear Santa, I've been a very good boy this year.
I have not gotten into any trouble. I've done all
my chores. I've been a good dad, I've been a

(21:20):
good husband. I've tried to be a good podcast host.
All I want for Christmas is for the Knicks to
make the playoffs, not the playing game, the playoffs. Surging
with seven in a row, we take this on a Tuesday.
Who knows what will be after this airs, but I
see it now. I'm getting pulled back in. Come on, Santa,
come down the chimney and deliver me a Knicks playoff berth.

(21:41):
Thank you. Okay, so obviously you get to see your
Knicks on Christmas. They host the seventies Sis. That's gonna
be a good one. Buck the Celtics. That's probably the
best game on the slate Christmas Day. But yeah, a
lot of good NBA coming up. I do think it's
interesting that the NFL decide, you know, not that they
decided because Christmas Day is on Sunday, so they're always
just going to be football. But you know, they're kind

(22:02):
of going head to head with the NBA, who's always
owned Christmas Day, regardless of what day falls on. I'm
not gonna lie you'r Packers Dolphins match up is the
best game of Christmas Day because then you go Broncos
Rams I can't even name you who the quarterbacks are
gonna be. And then you go Tampa Bay and Brady Verse.
I don't know whose quarterbacking in Arizona. I will be
glued to the NBA. The Knicks are finally back on

(22:24):
Christmas Day. They always used to play on Christmas Day.
I spent a good amount of my thirties because in
my family, Christmas Eve was always like the bigger holiday,
because that's what we spend on my mom's side, and
my dad's side was not nearly as big and haven't
really kept as much as close with them as I
would have liked to. So Christmas Eve was the big one.

(22:44):
Is mom's side Italian too, yes, And then Christmas Day
I would always go me and I take my same
friend Gerard. Every year. We're almost like orphans. On Christmas Day,
we go to the Knicks game and they never really
won on Christmas Day, but it was a great tradition,
and then they it got so bad they took the
Knicks off Christmas Day and now they're back. That's the

(23:05):
game of the day. Although Buck Celtics might have something
to say about that. But I think the Nick sixers.
I'm glued to the TV on NBA NFL. I'll be watching,
but I'll be watching NBA will be on the bigger TV. Okay,
I like that. Yeah, Christmas Day NBA just feels right.
But I think he made a good point. NFL is
not scared to go head to head in that meeting,
because NFL really does. Whenever you look up like TV ratings,

(23:28):
NFL's king always. Yeah, And I guess if you looked
at those matchups before the season, like, oh, Rogers versus Miami,
that's a great game. And then you got Russell Wilson
versus Matthew Stafford and defending champion Rams and Brady versus
Kyler Murray in an eight twenty west. Yeah, well I
didn't work out that way. Sorry, all right, Jerry, it's
that time of the show where we need to just

(23:50):
say what's on our mind, and I'm leaking. It's time
to unleash. So here's my only R E L a X.
Let me explain. So, my uncle is an agent. He
represents NFL and college coaches. So at our Thanksgiving table

(24:12):
growing up, he was always really busy working the phones
because on Thanksgiving that's when college coaches are fired. In
the NFL, it's called Black Monday, the day after the
last regular season game January nine, by the way, this year.
So because my uncle's an agent, I'm always really in
tune to these key days on the calendar, on the
sports calendar, and especially this week when I saw this.

(24:34):
The NFL has come out saying that teams have paid
about eight hundred million dollars in fired coaches and front
office execs over the last five years. They are urging
teams to be more patient and to not waste this money.
A perfect example, Jerry your Giants. They're currently paying three

(24:55):
different head coaches this season, Pat Charmer, who was fired
nearly three years ago, that was only two years into
his five year deal. And then two years later the
team fired Joe Judge, who also only coached two years
into his five year deal. And then of course now
they're paying day Ball. I mean, it's pretty crazy. Last
year saw nine teams part ways with their head coaches Bears, Broncos, Texans, Jaguars, Raiders, Dolphins, Viking, Saints,

(25:19):
and Giants. Of course, so far this season, two head
coaches have already been fired. That's Panthers and Colts Frank
Wright obviously, and the Titans also fired their general manager.
So this is a trend that we are always going
to see. Black Monday is coming up and we're going
to see this happening. But I think the average fan
needs to realize how much teams have to end up

(25:41):
paying to fire their coaches and fans are so impatient
and just get him out of here, you know. And
that's my unleashed is r E l a X. Sometimes
it's not that one man in the room that's causing
all the issues. That is an amazing unleashed. Best gig
I guess in town is to be a fire a
NFL coach because if you are that, that's I mean,

(26:03):
isn't like Sean Payton still getting paid. I don't even
like it just sounds amazing. I'm I'm sure these guys
love to work and want to be coaching, but it
also sounds amazing, I will say. In the Giants case, though,
great case you laid out, I mean Shermers, but I
don't know if those are NFL head coaches, because then
when you see what a guy like Dables doing with

(26:25):
kind of the same ingredients, pretty much it goes a
long way. But I will say the flip side is
Dan Campbell and the Lions who won in six could
have absolutely been fired. They stayed patient and that's worked
out great. Unleashed, That's what I'm saying. That's what teams
need to do. Yea believe believe. So from my unleashed

(26:46):
I just need your help. I need you to give.
This is more of a question than a statement, okay,
and it doesn't have to do any professional sports. So
I love basketball, you know this. I still play basketball,
not nearly. I would love to play with Sam one day,
but that would be like a joke for him. So
me and a couple of buddies meet up at the

(27:06):
local rec center here after we drop our kids off
from school at eight thirty in the morning, and we
play a very light like two on two, three on three,
a lot of three point shots. So they have a
curtain down the halfway part of the gym. Half the
gyms for basketball, the other half is for the pickle
ball and I hope you're all listening. I don't think

(27:27):
any of these senior citizens are listening to our podcast.
I hope you are, because I want the smoke they
get about forty fifty people for these two pickleball courts
that they get. So here's what happens every single time
you play. Me and my buddies are playing and it's
only four of us, and right when the fiftie pickleballer
walks in, they start coming around the curtain and looking

(27:47):
at us and looking at their watches and motioning there's
no one under seventy years old. By the way. Now
they've they've officially approached us. They come over and I
can't keep my mouth shut, but I was taught to
respect my elders. And they're basically like, would you guys
mind playing on the side hoop? You know about the
side who? You don't even get a three point line
on the side who, so we can get an extra

(28:09):
pickleball court, so four more of us could play and
we don't have to wait as long. My initial reaction was,
do they know who I am? No? My initial reaction was, um, no,
you guys get half the court, we get half the court.
We come here for an hour, you're here for four hours.
We'll be done in twenty minutes. Is that cool? Cool?
The whole time they're watching us just like throwing bad

(28:31):
old people juju at us, just like I just feel
it coming. They're just they're judging us. Then they sent
over their leader, this this really nice older woman who
came over and was like, guys, you guys should try
pickle ball. You're young, you'll be really good. I've never
played pickaball. Now they're recruiting us for pickleball. So my

(28:52):
question to you listeners and Olivia from my unleashed is
Number one, do I go to the side court with
my three friends and play not no three point shooting
pick up basketball to give them one more court? Where
do I hold the line? Part B is do I
just start playing pickleball and dominate because I'm thirty years

(29:14):
younger than everyone. Can? I also just let the listeners
know a story that you told us off fair, that
you think you got tennis elbow from picking up a
britt a picture that did happen that's true. Needs to
keep this in mind when you answer this question, um boy,
pickle ball has like swept the nation. My friends are
all playing, and it's families are playing. Some babe, this
is something you should get into. I've never played. I

(29:34):
don't know, so okay, pickle ball aside? Do I give
up the real estate? Do I give up the half
half regulation half court so they could have another little
pickleball court and then we go play on the side hoop? Nope,
you hold firm because you have you know, Jerry, you
mentioned on the show a lot. You're aging in front

(29:55):
of me, and I don't know how many good basketball
years you have left, so you need to protect them.
I gotta get a ring trying to get okay, So
I will respectfully when they look at me tomorrow when
we're playing to one too, I will respectfully decline to
move to the side hoop because they are my elders,
and I do have respect for my elders. It's a
bad day to be an old person playing pick a

(30:17):
ball in Cleveland. I'll tell you that I would not
want to miss you. Yikes. That's a good unleashed all right.
Let's get to someone who uh would never hurt their
elbow picking up a brit of picture or play pick
a ball at a rec center with some moldie. Let's
get over to Fred Jackson. Jerry, I'm noticing a trend

(30:46):
that we keep getting Bills players on the show. Why
are you letting this happen? You're this big Giants fan? Listen.
I'm a big Giants fan, but I can't say that
I am not enjoyed the way the Bills have played.
I am also a big fan of our next his
whole career has been um something I've followed really really closely.
Do you want to take it from here? Because we
have someone who's the first player in NFL history Kapable

(31:08):
a thousand rushing yards and kick returns in the same season.
What that's insane? All right? Everyone we know Buffalo is listening.
It's Fred Jackson. Fred, How you doing? Not too bad? Man?
And I really appreciate you guys having me on. You know,
I first got to ask about your background here. And
for those who are watching on YouTube, they can see it.
For those listening on the podcast, they're gonna have to

(31:28):
just use your imagination. But walk us through the jerseys
and is there a special story that goes with each
one of doing a jersey swap without a doubt. It's
one of those deals that it's kind of grown over
the years. Back when I was doing it, we weren't
swapping as much as guys do now. You see it
all over social media and stuff now where guys are
getting jerseys from everybody but Marshawn. Actually, it took me

(31:49):
until I left Buffalo to get to Seattle for me
to get a jersey from him. I have to actually
chase him down. So there's a story with that one.
Drew Brees is Drew Brees. He was I was always
a fan of his, And when I came to play
in Buffalo, the restaurant that I owned out there, I
was like, brim new jersey. Everything else is taken care of.
I'll take care of the mill and all that with
you guys, come hang out. All I want is a jersey.

(32:10):
So he was obviously gracious enough to do that. Von
Is Vaughan, You want one in the camp is right here.
But I have a bunch of different jerseys, just guys
that I respected and loved playing with. Teammates are over
on the wall behind us. And and then I have
you know, I even have an abbe wand back and uh,
Carly Lord Jersey, Jersey. They are hanging up. I just
like to collect the people that I've respected and guys

(32:32):
that I love playing against, and it's great to be
able to have them up on the wall down here
in America. Carly Lloyd Jersey. That is a hard sentence
to say. That's a really impressive collection you got there.
I'm a Packer fan, so I love the Rogers Jersey.
There was Aaron pretty generous giving that one up without
a doubt. So Aaron and I have you know, I
played him two or three times and we both respected,

(32:53):
like I mean, I could read what it is. It's
that's congratsman. I love the way you played. Always been
a fan, so same respect for him. You know, I
love the way he plays and still playing. It's not
going to the way that he wants him to for
this season, but he's still still a dynamic player, first
ballot Hall of Fame. There's still a chance, there's a
tiny chance. Earlier we were talking obviously this was a

(33:14):
crazy weekend in the NFL. There was some gut wrenching
losses this past week. Two things. One, next, do you
remember your toughest loss? Similar to the endings that we
kind of saw and is there a game that you
still think about, one that you're just not quite over still,
or have you healed from everything? You know what, I
think being a competitor, you never healed from him. But

(33:35):
I mean, the most recent that I can think of
is we went out and played in the black Hole
when Oakland was still out in Oakland and or the
Raiders were still out in Oakland and we needed to
win that game to keep our playoff hopes alive. And
we went in there and Charles Woodson was Charles Woodson
and ended the game on us. And that's you know,
a different story, but I think that's probably the one

(33:56):
where he had a chance at the end of the
game and he made a play to end it in um,
you know, that basically ended my career in Buffalo because
you know, the next year I was off to Seattle.
So that's probably one that six out the most of me.
How does the team get over losing a thirty three
point lead then, or even losing a game like the
Patriots did this weekend? What can a coach possibly stay

(34:17):
in the locker room after a game like that? You
know what, I don't know. I think as players and
the captains of the team. I think the number one
thing you have to say is we get another opportunity
next week to go out and showcase what we're capable
of doing, and that that's not us. You know, it's
gonna be a bitter taste. There's no way you can
ever say that you're over giving up a thirty three

(34:38):
point lead. That's always going to be something that haunts
those guys, and unfortunately it's something in the record books
now that you know every time it gets brought up
about leads and and giving up you know, Matt Ryan,
here's about three every time he plays against anybody and
they have a lead. So but I think that's the
number one thing is in the game of football, it's
so humbling that you have to have a short term

(34:59):
mem You have to be able to get over things
like that, especially this late in the season. For those guys,
you know, they start playing, they have to realize they're
playing for their jobs, they're playing for their livelihoods, where
their families are going to be be at at the
end of the season. And I think that's what you
look at and what takes precedent on what you're looking
at the rest of the season and not this the

(35:20):
buckle of a game that you had the last weekend.
But I would love a player point of view here
because I talked about this earlier in the show and
I don't know if there's a way to fix it.
But the NFC South this year, let's just be honest,
it has not been a graceful thing. Right. We have
not watched good football from any of the teams. I
don't know who is gonna. I mean, they all play

(35:40):
each other in the final week of the season. I
wouldn't be shocked if both games were tied. That's how
weird the NFC South has been. But so if you're
another team like the Lions or the Seahawks or even
Olivia's Packers, who may end up squeaking out eight or
nine wins, we might very well see a seven and
ten team in the playoffs. So, as a player, if
you're on one of those other of teams that doesn't

(36:01):
get in, even though you might be nine and eight
and might be watching, what does that feel like? And
is there a way we can fix this? Because that's
this is gonna be a rough one watching the NFC
South playoff team. Yeah, I think the number one thing
you taken into account when you're a player and you
see that happen is you don't blame them, Like you
don't blame those guys for the seasons that they had.

(36:21):
You say, if we wanted to get in the playoffs,
that's on us, you know, go go handle the business
that we can take care of. Goin our division, ensure
our road to the playoffs is taken care of, and
not relying on what's happening somewhere else. I think that's
the only way as a player, you know, you get
over something like that. When you start a season, your
number one goal is win our division that guarantees us

(36:44):
a role to the playoffs. And I think that's the
only way you can look at it. As much as
you don't want to, you have to say, those guys
did enough to get into the playoffs. It might not
be a lot, but they did what they had to
to get in the playoffs and we didn't. So that's
how I would look at it, and how I would,
you know, try and justify to the team being in
that locker room. But I mean it's always gonna be

(37:06):
a tough pill to swallow knowing that. Okay, last beat
on that. Then, can we at least say the road
for the first round should not go through Tampa or Carolina?
Cretly say that's a road game for the division win
because you might have the Cowboys sitting at eleven wins
or whoever, or even the Giant my my New York
Giants at ten wins going on the road to a
seven win t would that be a terrible thing to

(37:28):
say they don't get a home game. I don't think so.
I think, you know, I always always go back to this.
You know, when the Saints went into Seattle and we
had the beast quake. You know, that's a huge advantage
for Seattle winning their division, So you also don't want
to take that from them, you know. And and the
fact that you know this gives us a chance to win.

(37:48):
We got in it. I think they we're seven and
nine a year or something, and we did enough to
get into the playoffs. Now you come here and beat
us if we're not. If you're looking at us saying
we're not good enough to be in the playoffs, then
you should be able to beat us wherever we play.
So I think that's also, you know, the other side
of the coin, so to speak. If you don't think

(38:08):
these guys belong, then just go beat them where you
have to go beat them, Matt, and then you gotta
face guys like Marshawn who's great earthquakes when he's running.
So there's always always a different bunch of different ways
you can look at it. Speaking of seeding, the Bills
are holding onto that top seed in the a f C.
Buffalo beat Kansas City week six in Kansas City twenty

(38:29):
and a highly anticipated meeting, but they traveled to since
on week seventeen in Monday Night football. Who do you
think gives them a tougher matchup as the Bengals are
really getting hot right now. I think it's they both
have tremendous quarterback playing and tremendous guys around the quarterbacks
that are gonna get you know, those guys absolute fits.
So I think you're you're flipping up, You're flipping a

(38:50):
coin at this point. With the way that Cincinnati's playing
right now, they are one of the hottest teams in
the NFL. Patrick Mahomes is Patrick Mahomes and with Andy
Reid at his side, those guys are always capable of
winning every game that they play, So if you're a
Bills fan, you're just saying, I hope our guys show up.
I hope Josh is Josh and makes plays that Josh

(39:11):
is capable of making. But no, it's going to be
a shootout. It's going to be who makes the least
amount of mistakes in those games. Because it's gonna be
two great teams. It's gonna be too great offenses going
at it, putting up a lot of points, you know,
which is what guys want to see around the league.
But I think you're picking your poison. You know you're
you're gonna go against both teams are great. You're gonna

(39:33):
have to show up and beat whoever it is you play.
They're not gonna hand you the game, no matter who
it is that you're facing. And on that note, the
Bengals clearly had something to prove this last weekend when
they faced Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. After Brady said
what a fairly tough defense, they seem to take big
offense to that. Did you like as a player having
that bolleton board material in any given week? Well, I

(39:54):
think it doesn't hurt to have bullets at all. You're
motivating a lot of people when you give them bullet
bulletin board material. But I think guys as competitors at
the pinnacle of the sport are gonna show up and
be ready to play anyway, especially when you're going against
a guy like Tom Brady, you know, who's the best
to ever play this sport. Defenses are gonna show up

(40:14):
weekend and week out to compete against him. For him,
I wouldn't really give guys bulletin board material because they
want to beat him anyway. You know, they want to say,
all right, I got Tom Brady. You know, if this
is his last year. I gave him a loss when
I played against him, so I wouldn't recommend it. He
continues to do that. You mentioned Marshawn Lynch earlier. You know,
I know in your few first few years in Buffalo,

(40:35):
you guys shared the backfield. What was he like as
a teammakers? Every now and then they would make him
up right on the sidelines and he would be talking
about everything but football. I feel like when we would
listen to him, mike up almost like he was so
just at ease with the game I know nothing about.
It's easy and YouTube are literally my favorite backfield to
watch and I think modern day right now, you two

(40:55):
be the ideal NFL backfield to have. Yeah, and that
was the think about Marshawn. Have one. You won't meet
anybody that had an opportunity to play with him that
has bad things to say about him as a football player,
as a teammate, you know, even in the locker room,
not on the football field. It was just an absolute
joy to be around. And um, you know, anytime you

(41:16):
get a guy like that and knowing the work ethic
that he brings to the field and how he plays
and what he leaves out on the field, he just
a guy that everybody gravitates to him towards The game
was easy to him. You meet those players that every
now and then you come across somebody and you're just like,
how is this guy doing this? You know, how is
he capable of doing this? We're talking about Thanksgiving and

(41:38):
going to spread turkeys in my community and he's out
here rushing for three touchdowns. So, um, that's that's who
he is. And that was the epitome of Marshawn. All
this miked up stuff you see. I tell guys around
here all the time, I'm like, that is him. That's
not him putting on the show. That is Marshawn Lynch
through and through, and that's why guys love him and

(41:59):
gravitate towards him, and why he can be Marshawn Lynch
whenever he's anywhere and everywhere he is around. It could
be a two year old or a fourty year old,
you're gonna get the same person. So now, for when
you played in Buffalo, the Bills Mafia was a thing,
but it's not. It wasn't as crazy as it is now. Right,
you never jumped through a table, have you table jumping
in the condiment man, and all that stuff. That's all,

(42:21):
you know, relatively new. But yeah, it was still Bills Mafia,
but not to the extent that it is now. I
just always wondered, you know, we're watching on TV as fans.
I'm freezing just watching you guys. What on earth are
you guys doing to stay warm? Especially when like the
the other team has a long drive. I mean, they're
just just heaters crank and you're just standing right on

(42:41):
those heaters. What are you guys doing in that freezing weather.
It's a combination of things. It's easy when you're on
the field because when you're on the field, you're worried
about you know, this three hund pound dude that's trying
to take your head off. That's easy to forget about
the cold, but man, you're doing everything those big jackets.
You see guys running as soon as there's a time out,
running over to the guys that put the jacket on them.
When we played in Minnesota. When I was in Seattle

(43:03):
and we played on the in the one of the
coldest games ever, they had like little boots and stuff
that we can stick our feet in, and handwarmers that
we had all of this stuff on. There's a lot
of different things over sitting on the sideline because one
of the things that you don't realize is how you
have no dexterity in your fingers when you get so cold,

(43:23):
so that you're trying to do everything you can. That's
why you see quarterbacks with constantly putting their hands in
handwarmers and stiff stuff like that so you can grip
the football. There's a bunch of little things that they
have going on. We have chicken broth that we can
sit on the sideline that they're in, these giant coolers.
There's all kinds of stuff that they try and do
to help, but just I mean you, like I said,
there's these big things to slip over your legs, things

(43:46):
go over your arms, coats, chicken broth and then all
that and then you ripped all that stuff off and
running on the field and try and play a football game.
You know, you mentioned von Miller earlier. He's one of
your jerseys. He was having such a great year before
his injury. Let the human sacks with eight really out
of that pressure on opposing quarterback. Something important as we
talked about going against the Mahomes the Boroughs, how much

(44:07):
of a loss is he for the Bills defense now
that we're seeing that play out. Obviously, you don't replace
a guy like von Miller. There's just no way to
do that. You know. He's a Hall of Famer in
my opinion, you know, and a lot of people would
agree with that. But he did such a tremendous job.
I watched the Bills weekend and week out teaching those
guys behind him, and you see the way that their

(44:28):
game is elevated on how he's He's continuing to be
in their ear and have Greg Russell is one guy
that I've really watched Epanessa is another guy that has
taken his game to another level. And one guy that
I'm really impressed with and you can tell us from
being around Vaughan, is Shack Lawson. Shack Lawson is taking
his game to the next level, and I think that's

(44:49):
what it is. You know, it has to be a
group effort. It has to be all of those guys playing,
feeding off of each other. And that's exactly what you
hear from those guys in every press conference that they
do is we replaced von Miller, but we can go
out and we can be our best self, be pretty
damn close. And that's what those guys are trying to do.
You played for. In my opinion, I think two of

(45:10):
the best or two of the five say best fan
bases in football, Buffalo and Seattle, and also two amazing
home field advantages. Is there one that you feel like
it's not more intimidating, But what would be the in
your opinion, tougher road game going into Seattle with that
noise or going into Buffalo in January with like, as
you said, can't feel your fingers. Well, I mean, obviously

(45:32):
playing in Seattle is a daunting thing. You know, when
they get that that that fan base behind them, it's
hard to hear in you know, I said it about
my daughter before she's been in She always wore nors
canceling headphones and would sleep when she was a baby,
and she couldn't do it in Seattle. But there's nothing
like playing in Buffalo when the weather's the way that

(45:53):
it is and the fan base is behind you. You
know where you're dealing with, you know, swirling winds when
you're trying to kick X and snow beating you in
the face. Where you're trying to run down the field
and catch a ball. You have to have a big,
strong arm. That's a reason they took Josh Allen to
guide the ball through the wind and you he's able
to pick you know, the knowledge of guys like Jim

(46:14):
Kelly and how you navigate all that, so it's easily
Buffalo to me. You know, it's hard to come into
Buffalo in January and play, especially when you're playing a
good team and figure out ways to navigate not only
beating this team, but the weather and how it is.
We have to acclimate to that in this short period
of time that we get to be in it. Could
the Bills build a dome on their new stadium, you

(46:37):
know what, you would make so many people in Bills
Mafia mad if they did that, including Josh Allen. Josh
Allen says, it's soft. It has to be open air,
you know, it has to be an open air and
like we said, continue to allow those elements to be
a part of their advantage when guys come in there
and play. I said that the team that it mattered
to the most was when I played the Dolphins. Obviously,
this Dolphins game this past week was a great game.

(47:00):
It There's been times when I've played and I was like,
these guys do not want to play football in this
weather today, And it was a huge advantage for so
you you gotta have that in your back pocket and
anytime you do, you want every adventage you can get
in the NFL. Is there any inverse to that? I mean, look,
no one's gonna complain. You know, I think Olivia that
your packers are going into Miami for a Christmas game

(47:20):
or whatever. Yeah, I don't think it was gonna complain
going into Miami to play. But Miami in September, that's
a whole different thing degrees, like, is there a little
bit of a home field advantage playing down South with
I mean, you get guys carded off because they're just exhausted.
Oxygen everywhere, fluids and stuff like that. You saw it

(47:40):
in the game with the Bills playing in Miami. You
saw how exhausted those guys were, how they're taking I
vs And stuff at halftime and it's not helping in
Kudos to Miami for also building a stadium where the
Sun is signing directly on the opposing team. All those
little minute advantages that you get, they add up at
the end of it. So there's definitely an advantage of

(48:02):
playing in the South, you know, early in September and
stuff like that, and you know throughout the season. I
know you've been asked about your journey a million times,
but for our listenership, if anyone is not familiar, it's
really an incredible story. Especially right now we're talking so
much about brock Purty being Mr. Irrelevant. The guys who
have an even bigger chip on their shoulder are undrafted guys,
and that includes you, from what I understand, and correct

(48:25):
me if I'm wrong. No scholarship offers out of high
school in Texas, undrafted out of co College D three
in Iowa, played Arena football, than NFL Europe, and then
finally to the NFL. I guess I'm curious in that
span before your NFL dreams were realized, did you need
help staying motivated or was that just not going anywhere?

(48:47):
It was a combination of both. You know, I was
always a self motivated person, but I did surround myself
with people who had the same dream that I did.
And I think that's the number one thing I tell
any young kid that wants to play in the NFL.
It's not gonna be easy. There are eighteen hundred jobs
in the world to play in the NFL. So to
get one of those eighteen hundred jobs, you're gonna have

(49:08):
to do something special. But it's easier if you surround
yourself with people that are going to help you and
keep you motivated to chase that dream. That's the number
one thing you can do is have people that are
gonna continue to push you. There's gonna be days you
don't want to do stuff. It's human nature. I don't
want to get up and go work out. I don't
want to get up and film this this training session

(49:29):
so that I can have it to show people. But
if you have people that are like, no, you don't
get to do that today. You know, you don't get
to take this day off, you have to go work out,
It's gonna make that motivation. You're gonna be motivated because
you know those people are behind you just as well.
You want to fulfill your dream, so they can be
a part of it. Anytime you get people around you

(49:49):
and are a self motivated person, like I was. You know,
I was watching Reggie Bush was doing the same play
at the same time in college that I was, and
I wore number five, and I was like, you know,
that's a pretty damn good back. But I feel like
I can do the same thing, and I just need
to get the opportunity to showcase that. Which I'm at
Division three, he's playing at USC That's a huge difference.

(50:10):
But all I can need is a chance. And I
got my chance with Marvel leaving once he went back
to Buffalo. I said, I'm not gonna let you down more.
You know, I'm gonna make make the most of this
opportunity that you're giving me. And you know, one of
the things I like to brag about is name another
running back that was able to play ten years, nine
years and one organization where they drafted two first round

(50:31):
running backs. You know, top top twelve at your position,
and it's not not something that you're gonna hear from
anywhere else. And that's one of my things that I
wanted to be able to say, is I had to
work for everything that was given to me, and I
wanted to Granted, I love both of those guys to death.
Marshawn and c. J. Spiller were both are and still

(50:52):
are great friends of mine. But they motivated me to
They said, you know what, we we got drafted here,
but we can see why you're still here, so continue
you to do what you're doing. We're gonna push each other.
They brought out the best of me, and I tried
to bring out the best of them. Do you feel
like when you finally made it to the NFL that
it meant more to you, maybe than other guys who
were first round draft picks or whatever. Absolutely? Yeah. Yeah.

(51:16):
Small things that I enjoyed about the game that you know,
not everybody else did because I knew what work it
took to get there. I loved going to practice you know,
I loved getting up and being able to say what
I get to do for practice or for a job
is to go practices against the best guys in the world.
You know, at this sport that I love playing and
love giving everything too. So yes, there was absolutely things

(51:38):
about the game that meant more to me and still
meant more to me when I was competing against some
of those guys than a lot of guys in that
locker room. I really having a conversation a few weeks
ago with my buddy where we're talking about running backs
kind of from your generation and and now, and your
name came up as like, who would be just like
the perfect running back the way the NFL offensive a

(51:58):
story of going today. So with that, I ask you,
who are some of the guys that you like watching
at running back specifically because obviously you're looking at it
through a whole different lens than an average fan like me.
So who are some of the running backs that you've
enjoyed this year? One of the guys that I've enjoyed
the most just watching him is Alvin Camara. I love
the way Alvin plays every down back. He does everything

(52:19):
you ask for him. Aaron Jones is another guy that
I absolutely love watching. He's a guy that you you
split out wide and you throw him a ball like
he's a wide receiver. I can't remember who it was,
but but he has more reception yards than everybody else
on the team as a running back. You know, so
I said, I tell every every running back, young running
back that I talked to. Now I say Devin Singletary.

(52:42):
I don't know how it left Devin Singletary out. He's
absolute beast and I love watching him because his number
is not called on every week, but when his number
is called, he's ready. He's ready to run routes. He's
ready to catch the ball out of the back field
past protect, which I think is one of the biggest
things we need to do is running back, and he
runs the ball well. So this day and age, man,
you have to be able to do it all. And

(53:02):
watching some of these quarterbacks and being able to go
out and pass protect for him and then know that
they will come to you in a route they say, hey,
go out there and run a route for me. I
would have had an absolute blast point in in today's football,
There's no doubt about it. Yeah, I feel like the
Giants also would have loved you because the way they're
using safe one has just he's leading the team in receptions, yards, touchdowns,

(53:23):
Like the whole offense is built around one back. And
I always felt like that was exactly your kind of game.
You could build a whole offense around what you do.
So Brian Dable is my favorite person to watch called offenses,
and I told him all the time. I was like, Man,
I would have loved to play for you the way
you you do these scheme up these offenses and stuff
like this. Man, it would have been an absolute nightmare

(53:45):
for coaches that have to worry about me because I
would have been like, Dave's put me wherever and I'm
gonna get it done. So I tell him all the time,
and I talked to him two weeks ago. I said, Man,
continue to call these crazy offenses because you got a
weapon that I think is gonna be tremendous for you
just last for I know we all get caught up
in like the m v P conversations and candidates and
all that. It's a fun conversation. I personally really believe

(54:06):
that we should start looking at other players that are
just not quarterbacks, like you even mentioned the guy like Singletary.
Obviously he's not the league m v P, but for
all the things he does, there's so much value there
tyreek Hill, there's so much value of what he does
to the offense. But all that being said, from everything
you've seen this year, as of right now, who do
you kind of lean toward as the guy who should

(54:28):
maybe walk away with that award later? I know there's
still three very important weeks left, so you know what,
I'm glad I don't have to make this decision because
you know, it's you can't go wrong with the way
that a lot of guys are playing this year. And
it's funny because it kind of changes from week to week,
Like yeah, from I mean two weeks ago, three weeks
ago when Tool was playing as well as he was playing,

(54:50):
you know, he deserved to be in the m v
P conversation. Jalen Hurts has to be there. You know,
they're the number one team in the league and quarterback
is the most responsible. They get all the glory and
they get all the hate when things go the wrong way.
I'm a homer. I think Josh Allen in the way
that they're playing, you don't get to be the number
one seed in the a f C without playing well

(55:11):
at quarterback. I think he definitely you don't hear about
him as much when he went through his low kind
of two or three weeks ago where they went through
a low and loose and lost a couple of games.
But I think absolutely he should be up there. One
of the guys that I would say that's kind of
you know, I think should be get a lot more
attention is justin fields. That guy continues to do things

(55:32):
that are unheard of at the quarterback position, and we
don't really talk about it as much as we should
because he is that dynamic of of a player. I'm
actually not wanting the Bills to play them next week
because I know what he brings to the table and
now hard of a task it is going to be
for them to go into Chicago and beat him. So
but you get guys that are playing well on defense

(55:54):
that don't get enough attention, and running backs that have
played out of their minds. Se Kwan has been absolutely
fantastic this year and should be getting some recognition at
that and should be in the m v P conversation.
But it's a quarterback driven league. And that's usually who
we we end up even as ex players. That's who
we look at and say, you know this, this this guy
should be the m v P. Oh, don't get Jerry

(56:16):
started screaming this for weeks that like, maybe just separate
the awards then. I mean, I know I have Offensive
Player of the Year and that typically goes to I
get it. But oh man, there's something. There's just been
some seasons this year that outside of the quarterback position,
to me or it's really been glaring even on the
defensive side of the ball, like you said, at least

(56:38):
through like eight weeks, Michael Parsons single handedly was like
the number one defensive dude, making plays and more touchdowns
than a lot of wide receivers on defense. So Fred,
I I can't thank you enough for being here. Your
story is amazing. You've You've always been one of my
favorite players to watch. I feel like I drafted you
every single year in Fantasy I had to have Fred
Jackson on my squad. Thank you for went on. Enjoy

(57:00):
the holidays, stay warm where you are. Everyone you could
follow Fred at Fred twenty two Jackson and uh yeah,
happy holidays, and thank you so much for being here.
I really was a pleasure to talk to you, man,
absolute blast. I appreciate you guys having me on. I
would love to do it again. You know, let's make
it happen. Enjoy the holidays so much. Man, I love

(57:41):
hearing that music play because it means we get to
talk about Entourage and Jerry, you'll be very proud of me.
I finally finished season five just in time for the holidays,
and you said this was one of your favorite seasons.
I see why. The season with all over the place
like location wise too. So one quick question. When you

(58:01):
guys go to Hawaii, you never actually film in Hawaii, right, Like,
you didn't go there for this scene. No, it would
have been nice to go there for that scene, but no,
that was shot at a hotel I want to say,
in like Long Beach, California, you know, decked out to
maybe look a little more tropical than it is now.
On that one, we didn't get to go there. But

(58:23):
that was a fun episode. I know we talked about
the Mushrooms episode where Connolly didn't speak, but also I
think what added to his Golden Globe run was that
next episode where the model is sort of making fun
of his height, and I do remember too, that whole
episode Connys like, this is awesome just getting made fun
of for thirty minutes on TV. This is Golden Globe nomination.
Those two episodes, I think are the two that really

(58:46):
sealed the deal for him. He was great in those episodes. Now,
how tall is he in real life? He's about my high.
I think we're both around like five seven. You know
which shoes on? Standing up straight? You know we're board,
We're he If you ask him, this has been a
debate for twin of years, he would say he's a
full half to three quarters of an inch taller than me.
I have shrunk in the last three years, so that

(59:07):
might be true. But before I had such terrible posture
holding kids, I think we were like, I mean, it
was dead. It was a dead heat. Because his character
gets so much flak forward on the show and yours
never does. No, but I got all the everything I got.
I got fat jokes too. You know, I was the
heavier guy, so he can't call me short and fat.
That would just be mean. Speaking of that, you get

(59:29):
actually called fat to your face by Jamie Lynn Sigler
in this episode, and that part I was like whoa. Wow. Wow,
that was the first time they had actually ever said that,
And maybe I'm I'm too sensitive. I'm like, that's so mean,
But that whole storyline was really interesting in a big
part for your character. So walk me through that love interest.
It's really your first love interest on the show. It

(59:50):
was definitely was my first love interest on the show,
and almost one of my first, like ever on screen.
I think I had a girlfriend in a movie I
did earlier, but I was never I never had like
the love interests. So I do remember and Jamie, who
we all knew before the show a little bit, and
she even knew our show creator. I think when Doug approach,
do you remember the episode like we're on the plane,

(01:00:12):
Like that's a hard thing to pitch someone. She's just like, yeah,
I'm down, Like let's do it. That's hilarious. But I
do even remember to one of our producers like Jamie
would never date Turtle, blah blah blah, and that might
might have been true, but like in real life, we dated.
So I wasn't going to bring it up, but I did.
But but that was a little bit like, well, I

(01:00:32):
guess you're wrong on both levels. On the show and
in real life. But uh no, that was really fun.
I had a whole new respect for actors who are
in those romantic situations a lot. I don't love playing
all that stuff, even doing like the Walk of Shame.
Turtle does like the Walk of Shame almost something I
just don't. I don't ever have to do that stuff,
and I would be more than happy just being funny

(01:00:54):
or being a lawyer. But that was that was like
the first real evolution for her. I think he starts
to become a man now, like a grown man. You're
watching before your eyes. Someone who is on this season
in the last couple episodes that kind of got me
by surprise, and I think we talked off air about this,
but Phil Mickelson makes a return because he was the

(01:01:15):
butt of a joke earlier on and then he's in
this episode, the episode where that one studio head dies
on the golf course. So sorry. And my one thing
that stuck out was boys Bill a bad actor. Listen,
you know, he's great in commercials and stuff like that.
A couple of things about Phil one like we made
that joke in the season prior where I think the

(01:01:35):
Ari character says, my god, the kid's melting down like
Phil Mickelson at Winged Foot, which at that time that
was not that far removed from happening. So now it's
an old joke, but that had just happened. And Kevin
Dillon and I ran into him at a golf course
in like San Diego area, and I think Dylan was
the one who asked him, like, Philly should come on

(01:01:56):
the show. We were worried though, because did he see
the joke? Is he gonna he's a big Actually, he's
gonna take a swing at me. And he he had
the best sense of humor about it. He thought it
was hilarious and he's like, hell, y'all come on, and yeah,
that episode with the studio had done. I love season five, Olivia,
because it really is the up and down of an actor.
And this is arguably the lowest the Vincent Chase character

(01:02:19):
is he gets fired from a movie. And I even
love that line from Ori after Alan dies and he's like, tomorrow,
we'll see how alive Vince is. Because yes, it's terrible
that he died, but that Alan character was hell bent
on seeing Vince never make another movie again. So and
clearly this has to happen in real life, right of
and and you this is a sports podcast, this happens

(01:02:41):
in sports. Certain coaches, certain gm just like we'll never
sign a certain guy. They just will not like a
guy they feel like snake bit And this happens in Hollywood.
Have have you known the situation like this that you
can even speak of, like, yeah, that one studio had
he hated so and so. I don't think I know
of a specific scenario where that I could say like,
all this happened to this guy or this this girl.

(01:03:02):
But I do know the minute that you are sort
of dubbed either hard to work with or you know, Vince,
you know he doesn't want to play the game. And
maybe you could say the Vince character didn't want to
play the game in seasons past where he would do
the studio movie and sacrifice some things and be a collaborative.
But what I loved about it Adrian played it so

(01:03:24):
well is once he realized he was down, he said, Okay,
I will do whatever it takes to get but he
was willing to take a smaller role, humble his ego.
But yeah, that Alan character just hated him and grudges.
Like you said, it's real in sports. I think it's
real in Hollywood too, And um yeah, getting Vince back
on top was it was always a fun, a fun task.

(01:03:45):
But the other question to Olivia is is Vincent Chase
a good actor or is he a movie star? There
is a difference, there's a differently. I think there is
a difference from like a really great actor or a
really great movie star. And sometimes you get people who
are both. Those people end up having careers forever. Yeah,
Leo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, like guys like that. But we

(01:04:06):
never really see Vince act as the funny part a
little bit in like the Smoke Jumpers thing, which again
you can't even tell it what metaean right, Like you
see the trailer and it looks so goofy because the
makeup scoofy. And when he was doing that scene in
the Smoke Jumpers movie was hanging from the tree. I
don't know, it didn't look like he was a bad
actor out of context. But that was always the great question,

(01:04:29):
and I don't know if it ever truly got answered.
Is Vincent Chase a good actor or not? Or is
he just like a really good movie star. Well, that
sums up season five. I'm going to start season six
after the holidays and we will pick back up where
we left off early January with our entreage behind the seat.

(01:04:55):
Al Right, everyone, it's time for my favorite part of
the show, and we're bringing on our guest. And I
think we could officially go back to the early moniker
that we had for him bet MGMs. We could just
call him a betting expert at this point. Also, guys,
if you hear a little, that's the sound of our
Mike smoking hot because the on fire Peter Andrew is

(01:05:18):
joining us to make some picks. Peter, let me just
let me just I'm just gonna clap it up for
you ran the table last week. How did that? I mean,
we we needed it and you delivered. That's why we're
all read today. Just those flames left and right. So
I had to just match it. Yeah, I felt good,
though I think you might have tailed me. I don't know,
but we went perfect three for three I think, up

(01:05:41):
fifteen units so plus the ten original units for the week.
Couldn't have been any better. Started with the one game
parlay Thursday Night Football McCaffrey hundre plus yards. We had
Seattle under twenty one and a half and then Niners
money line everything hit. Things were flying from there, and

(01:06:01):
then I got a little lucky with the Vikings plus three.
I mean, probably all of us have ever seen, so listen,
you take it as it comes. For sure, I will
say that that one game parlay too. That was almost
like a no doubter from the moment of kickoff to
the end, Like I really don't even think you had
to sweat much with that one. That one just seemed

(01:06:22):
like a note. McCaffrey was running well Seattle and looked
like they could do anything with that Niners, and it
never really was in doubt. The Niners are gonna win
that game. So that that must have just been a
nice Thursday night for you. It was great, and you
know it's funny we didn't get to talk about it
on the podcast. I placed another one before Thursday night.
I added those three things in plus McCaffrey and Kittle
touchdowns have the receipts to prove it. So I hit

(01:06:43):
that at like I think sixteen of one or something
like that. So I was, I mean, you better buy
your wife something amazing for Christmas. With all those weddings
you're closing out the year strong. All right, what do
you got for us this week? Then? Because you're on
a roll, yeah, so start again. Obviously we have to
hit another one game parlay after last week. There's a quick,
easy one. I think there's great value too. So two units.

(01:07:06):
You got Jags at Jets Thursday night football. I think
that's a actually a pretty good game, really meaningful for
both teams. Over thirty and a half. I think what
you're seeing with Trevor Lawrence and the Jags, they're scoring points.
They have to win out. But but listen, they play
the Titans to wrap the season up. That's gonna be
for the division. I think they do went out, But
for this week, I've kind of take I've stripped out

(01:07:27):
the money line. I just went over thirty and a half.
I think both teams are going to have to score
some points and be aggressive. Za Jones has been an
unbelievable wider super one for them the last probably three
or four weeks. He's moving up into a top twenty
overall role. The way he's playing so really impressive. So
any time touchdown for him, and then I think Zach
Wilson has to get Garrett Wilson going. He's had trouble.

(01:07:49):
We've talked about in the past, he's had trouble getting
him going. He is the focal point of their offense,
especially without Breese Hall due to injury. No brainer for me.
Those guys are gonna be two big parts of the offense.
Two units to win two so to win pretty substantial
amount of money twenty to win two hundred. Yeah, interested
in your guys thoughts there. I think that's a quick
and easy one, but obviously two pieces offense that I

(01:08:11):
think need to get going. Look at someone who has
been riding Trevor Lawrence to the through the Fantasy Football
playoffs so far. Even what I love about what Lawrence
is doing is now you feel like the Jags are
just in every game even when they're not. They were
going to it's a good defense, so I knew they
You know, Dallas's secondary was banged up, but still to
go put up that amount of unanswered points against the

(01:08:31):
Cowboys is pretty spectacular, is a Jones fantastic? I agree
with you with Garrett Wilson because Zach Wilson did I
mean four catches yards is probably the best those two have.
Look Garrett Wilson, My guy, I mean, boy, did they
hit that pick? Because he even making look mc zack
Wilson look good. I'm listening. I'm riding you to just
like Trevor Lawrence. Buddy, we're gonna go into three to

(01:08:52):
the Moon, Peter Andrew to the Moon. I love it.
And you know funny, we talked about it last week.
I think Jags were one of my picks in the teaser,
and I said, sprinkle a little on the money line.
If you have a couple of units, they're that good,
they're gonna stay in games. I know they they struggled
for about a half, but they worked themselves back into
games and I think maybe a fun playoff team. I'd
rather see them over the Titans, just with kind of

(01:09:13):
the what they can do the intangibles versus a kind
of one dimensional offense like the Titans. So that's two
units there. Where are we going to next? And just
for context, everyone, he's wearing a red San Francisco forty
Niners kind of skull cap and Alabama T shirt, which
Olivia was highly offended by the minute he came I've

(01:09:35):
done it. I've done it once before. The chirp Olivia
this time, I promised you, just because I have to
do a lundry. Where are we going next peat? So
sticking to the beanie, I think four units Niners seven
and a half. Taken away the homer element of this,
I think Niners have a really interesting opportunity the next
couple of weeks. So they finish up against Washington, Vegas,

(01:09:58):
Arizona for re very winnable games, they can put themselves
in a great position. Talk about Jale hurts this injury.
Based off the odds, it looks like he might be
hurt longer than one week. I heard rumors about collar bone,
things like that if they slip, If Minnesota does what
they do and slip and lose a couple of these games,
Niners could find themselves in the one slot. So it's unlikely,

(01:10:20):
but it's possible. So I think they have to I
think they have to play every game with full rosters. Here,
Washington had a ton of trouble against Cavon Tabideau and
and the Niners front for front seven. I think that's
going to be no better this week, especially at home
for the Niners. I see this being a two touchdown
plus game, and you gotta keep you know, brock Purty

(01:10:41):
going he's only played two and a half games. You
gotta get him ready for the playoffs. Now that they've
won the NFC West, so I think they come in
with full offense, keep rolling, and then a pretty substantial win.
So four units there, minus one ten with the minus
seven and a half, so the hook going the other way. Yeah,
I think the Niners have been a big part of
your formula. To get bad at all started when you

(01:11:03):
took those five Giant favorites on a on a very
uneven money line. I like that too. I mean you
saw with the Giants defense, which is not very good.
They're only okay, but so that defense is able to
do to Hei Nikki, So yeah, going into San frand
that might be scary. Okay, So you got that for
four units, So you've got four units remaining. Yea where

(01:11:23):
we go very simple parlay here, two teams that are
desperate for wins, Dolphins home against Green Day and then
you got the Chargers at Indie. Start with the Dolphins.
This line doesn't make sense to me. We're sticking to
the money line. But four and a half points, I
think that's a little bit misproportioned because of the win
last night, I can say really really bad Rams team.

(01:11:44):
I think the Dolphins have to take care of business
at home, give themselves a good position to go into
the last couple of weeks of the year without having
a stress too much. Played really well in Buffalo. They've
got all the tools, they just gotta put it together.
I think they bounced back this week after a couple
of tough, tough weeks plus three straight their tail spinning. Yeah,
but I thought all things consider, they played decently well

(01:12:06):
in Buffalo. Again, homer aside, they went against a really
really good Niners defense a couple of weeks ago, So
I think there's there's some opportunity and they should bounce
back and win. But they are hungry and they are
poised to make a run. Yeah. I thought we were
done with this, but not I I should have known

(01:12:29):
putting the Packers here this would have been a bad idea. Yeah,
just baiting Olivia. Yeah, this one. I think maybe everybody
will agree upon a very one dimensional Colds team now
going against the Chargers team who are gainner fighting for
a playoff spot. Put themselves in good position. But Jonathan
Taylor likely out for the year coming off a really
really really bad loss against the Vikings. I think that's

(01:12:52):
one of those things that you have to put the
mental and emotional element to this. They are super deflated
from that. Chargers going to India. I think they take
care of business. So both of those I don't want
to touch the spreads. Keep the money lines. It's plus
one thirteen, so it's plus money. It's forty to win
ninety three or four units to win nine point three. Again,
not asking for too much, but I think two teams
that are super desperate for a win. To Olivia's point,

(01:13:14):
especially the Dolphins, I do like it a lot. I
do think that that Dolphins Packers gains will be very
interesting because to Olivia's point, there is a pulse. They
are not dead completely. They might be on life support.
Is back. He looked good. Christian Watson looks good. A J.
Dillon two touchdowns, but he might be hurt. So I'm

(01:13:34):
just saying there's there's things happening. I got the hype machine.
The Packers hype machine has been gone. All I'll say too.
I like that Parlay a lot. You are tempting fate
again because you've got such a gift from the cults.
You would think, right, they're gonna just like, let's pack
it up, guys, let's just get out of here safely
and healthy. I just those are just two weird teams.

(01:13:56):
I'm glad you took the money line. I don't trust
the charges with any kind of point spread at all,
but trust him to win. I agree, especially on the road.
It's it's a tough one, but I think you're just
you're in desperation mode for a lot of these teams
and they have to win out or they have to
win two out of three at this point, so you'd
expect them to beat the subpar teams. And Olivia. It's
almost like your family that's worked for the packers before

(01:14:17):
with how you're touting them. So I don't know, it's crazy.
Do you think they're writing me checks? They are not.
I'm just loyal. My my blood is green except for
playoffs when it's red and gold. For Yeah, that's that's
that's February, it's red. Yeah. Peter, can't thank you enough.
I truly, truly hope you have a happy holiday. You're

(01:14:40):
off to a great start going into this holiday season.
I hope you close out too strong, because I would
love nothing more then to come back for the first
episode and Peter on a heater. That's my line on
a heater. Yeah, we have to think of the converse
one when I go on a Greek or a bad streak.

(01:15:01):
Because Peter needs to take a cedar. I'm to fold
he's cold. I'm excited to go into the new year.
We don't talk any basketball, any hockey. We have, Well,
we're going to have a good start to once we
make a couple of bucks from from the NFL and
start pivoting. So I'm excited. Same to you guys. Happy
holiday is gonna be a fun next couple of months.

(01:15:23):
Thank you. Happy holidays you two guys. Take care. M Well,

(01:15:46):
that was a very fun show. I am so in
the holiday spirit. And Jerry, I just want to wish
you a very jerry Christmas. Uh, Merry Christmas. Also, first
Christmas as a mom, enjoy it. Christmas gets I mean,
Christmas is always cool, but seeing it through your kid's
point of view, it's like you get Christmas back as
a kid again. So enjoy your first as a parent.

(01:16:08):
It's the best. I saw you put that on social
media and it just like melted me. That is such
a good sentiment, but thanks everyone for listening, Thanks for
another great years. We wrap up two. We do have
a show coming out next week to make sure you
listen to that. We look back on the best moments
in sports in two and you're actually not going to
believe what we came up with, so it's a really
fun listen. Thanks everyone for joining us. Happy holidays, watching

(01:16:30):
everyone health and happiness in twenty three.

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