The Season with Peter Schrager: NBC's Playoff (and Election) Guru Steve Kornacki

Peter kicks off the new year with NBC's Election Night and NFL Playoff Scenario Guru, Steve Kornacki. As we look to the final week of the regular season, Steve breaks down a few of the most interesting playoff paths, including the Buffalo Bills, the Minnesota Vikings, and the complicated AFC South situation. Plus, Steve breaks down the complicated tiebreakers that will decide the number 2 pick in the 2024 draft. Peter and Aaron talk Ravens, 49ers, and Bills, and then Peter shares a story of his dinner with a broadcast legend.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Season with Peter Scheger is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. What's up, Everybody, This is
Peter Schreger. This is the Season with Peter Schreeger. As

(00:27):
we head into the regular season finale, Week eighteen, so
many storylines, so many things going on. I'm joined here
by Aaron wan Kaufman, my great friend and producer. Aaron,
we're back here to New Year, and yet week eighteen,
your Buffalo Bills are suddenly in one of the most

(00:47):
precarious sit you. I don't think I've ever seen this
in an NFL playoff scenario. We're going to get into
it with our guests. But the Buffalo Bills, if they
beat the Dolphins, can be the number two seed, the
AFC East champion not only host a wildcard round, but
host Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in a divisional round.
And if they lose, there's a very good chance they
missed the playoffs altogether. As you head into Week eighteen,

(01:11):
Buffalo Bills a team that we have talked about all
season long because you ride and die with them, how
are you feeling headed to Miami to play an injured
ego bruised Dolphins team coming off one of the worst
losses any team has suffered this season against the Ravens.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
I mean this is indicative of the entire Bills season.
There have been these high highs. The Cowboys game, everyone
was like, the James Cook and this run game are
the best thing the Bills offense has had in the
past five years. And then their games where we're like,
wait a minute. I mean the first play of the
Pats game this week and I'm watching it and my
dad just texts me, Oh my god, and it's like, wow,

(01:44):
how And we almost lost to the Chargers right after
the Cowboys. I mean the fact that we've had so
many ups and downs, it is a perfect setup right
now for us to either get the second seed or
just totally miss out on the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
I said this on the Good Morning Fols Show, and
I'm not calling him out, but I think there's this.
If you don't watch the Bills the last few weeks,
you would look at them winning all these games and say, oh,
they're the hot team. They're the team you don't want
to face. And Jason Garrett on Sunday Night they did
that typical trope on every pregame show, what's the wildcard team?
You don't want to see? Jason Garrett's like, I don't

(02:20):
want to see the Bills. They've got their swagger back,
and like, hell no, they don't their swagger back. They
almost lost a Gift Smith and the Chargers and they
got lucky in that game. And then if the Patriots
don't throw four interceptions and miskicks and have just every
potential you know, turnover possible, they almost lost that game.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, they they seem to play up or down to
their opponent and the moment more than anyone other than
like maybe sometimes the Cowboys. But regardless of that, the
Dolphins game, I mean, the Dolphins are beat up, like,
you know, they peaked so early in the season and

(03:00):
they've just kept losing players on defense and they're gonna
have no pass rush, it feels like and waddles out.
Let mean he'll be out until the playoffs. Yeah, I
mean it's gonna be I mean, I still am terrified
of a chan a chan and so that will be
terrifying the entire time. But uh, yeah, they could also

(03:22):
just come out and tyree Kel could have two touchdowns
in the first quarter and yeah, it'll be wild, all right.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
So that's that's what we look forward to. That's Sunday night.
We're recording this on Tuesday, January second. We're about seventy
two hours removed from one of the craziest finishes and
controversial finishes we've had, certainly this season, maybe the last few.
We've had a chance to talk to a lot of
people about it. And here's where we end up on

(03:47):
Detroit Dallas. You listen to the season because you want
to know stuff beyond the headlines, beyond the hot takes,
and here's where we're at. So the play happens. Obviously
there's a flag and they call a legal man downfielder,
legal touching of the ball from sixty eight Taylor Decker.
You've seen the replace Taylor Decker running right up to

(04:10):
the official. But the official, Brad Allen, he did say
seventy is the eligible lineman and he is stuck by
his word. And in the pool report afterwards said I
was told seventy was eligible and I declared seventy was eligible,
which was Dan Skipper does the pool report. So the

(04:32):
pool report is basically this one was Calvin Watkins, I
think did the poor report. It's a reporter for me,
either the home team or the away team, and their
job after the game is to speak to the ref.
The ref will give them probably five minutes and you
get to have questions. And that is all the public
statements you're going to get from the league or from
the ref on the call. And in that pool report,
Brad Allen said seventy declared himself. I declared seventy over

(04:56):
the loud speaker based on that absolutely sixty eight decker.
That's a penalty. Lions fans are saying no. Sixty eight
declared the Lions after the game, in so many words,
said no sixty eight declared. They also said that someone
Dan Campbell himself necessarily in the pregame went through it
with the officiating staff. The play in that sixty eight

(05:18):
would be be the guy that's going to be declared.
Now here's where it gets a little interesting. That's a
difference of he said. He said right. There also has
been this push from not the league and not the officials,
but from others who have no dog in the fight, saying,
you want to get cute, you want to get too
close to the sun, you might get burned. And in

(05:41):
that case, the Lions sent three different offensive linemen, including
Piney Sewell, who had nothing to do with it, Skipper seventy,
and sixty eight Decker, who was the supposed eligible receiver
of the lineman downfield. All came running at brat Allen
in real time. Brad Allen sitting there, he says, seventy

(06:01):
declares whether or not it was sixty eight or seventy.
He said seventy. The Lions have no more timeouts remaining.
They go to the line of scrimmage. They run the play.
Now Golf is in the middle of a huddle talking
to his guys. Did he hear seventy announced? Did anyone
hear seventy announced? Because of seventy's announced, that's the record,
and whether he heard it or not, and whether sixty

(06:21):
eight said he was the guy seventy is the one
who is announced. They throw the past. The sixty eight
flag is thrown. They get pushed back five yards. It's outraged.
Great Campbell decides to go forward again. Parsons off sides.
They go up again and they throw this past to
James Mitchell, who's not a number one guy. He's not
samuela Porta incomplete. They lose. Now, so what I trust

(06:44):
greatly had a good question to me. If there was
a holding on that play and it was a two
point conversion from the seventeen yard line, was Campbell going
for it? And was Campbell so hell bent on going
for it that he was going for it no matter what?
Because I have never seen on a play chart a
two point conversion play from the seven. Now, they got lucky,
there was off sides, they got the extra yards, they

(07:05):
went back up there. But Campbell was so help bent
on ending that game. And now maybe that's and I
haven't spoken to Dan about it, and maybe I'll get
him on the season with Peter Scheger in the post postseason,
or maybe we'll get him on after the season. Was
it because they had already clinched and they didn't want
to risk any injuries and overtime. Was it just this
mentality of that's who the f we are, where the
where the Lions is what we do. We just go

(07:27):
for it. We're gonna, you know, break your neck in
regular you know duration of the regular time. We're not
going to overtime. We want to do it now here
and there. That might have been hubris. That might have
been just arrogance. That might have been just you know.
I someone compared it to the golfer on tin Cup,
but I said it was like a poker player, like
on full tilt, like just like screw it. There's a

(07:48):
great meme that went around with with you know, two
kings dealt to a guy at the poker at that
blackjack table and Dan Campbell looking at it and saying
hit me. I mean, there's so many ways to look
at it. The look. The league stands behind their official.
Brad Allen's been doing it ten years. He hasn't spoken
on it since the Pool report. He said that seventy declared,

(08:10):
we don't have the official audio. We don't know what
went into the pregame conversations. We can't blame him after
calling a sixty minute game to not recall exactly that
sixty eight was going to be there. On the Lion's
side of it, they have every right to feel upset.
Their fans have every right to feel outraged if they
ran this play and sixty eight went up to the

(08:30):
official and sixty eight said, I am declaring as eligible,
and there is eye contact and the whole thing, and
they didn't hear Brad Allen say seventy, or even if
he did say seventy, if they said sixty eight and
they ran that play to perfection and they did the
three guys running to the ref because that deception is
part of football, the same as a play action pass
or an end a round. And it's look, if the
Cowboys saw sixty eight going and only sixty eight, well

(08:53):
then they're covering sixty eight. But if they say three guys,
they might think that it's going to be seventy because
he's got in before as the eligible guy. All of
it's in the weeds. But it's a kind of a
eye of the beholder. If you're a Lions fan, did
you get screwed? If you're a Cowboys fan, is it hey?
You want to start playing like that and having four
guys run at the official or three guys running the official.

(09:15):
Of course he might mess it up. There's a chance
he might mess that up. And if he didn't mess
it up, maybe you guys mess it up. Maybe Skippercock confused.
Maybe he's the one who declared the end of the day.
The Lions can claim what they claim, The league can
stand behind their official, which they are, and they're gonna
likely have to bounce back from this and not only

(09:38):
win a playoff game the Lions against what seems to
be the Rams, who might be bigger rivals in this
thing than anyone because of the Stafford situation and the
way McVeigh ended things with golf. The storylines are so
frost and so good, but they might beat the Rams
and then have to go back to Dallas. I thought
it was really really interesting how Dan Campbell would respond Monday,

(10:01):
two days afterwards, and here is his quote from his
press conference, which has me ready to run through a wall.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
I'm good. I woke up yesterday. I'm ready, man, I've
got controlled fury and I'm ready to go. I am
I'm absolutely ready to go. I don't go the other
way so and the team won't either. We're on a
mission and we're not going to We're I can feel
sorry for ourselves and Walder and everything. We had plays

(10:29):
to make, we didn't make them. And it's a tight game,
a good opponent, playoff type atmosphere, and you got to
make that one extra play that we didn't, and so
we will use this as fuel. I got pure octane
right now. I woke up. I'm ready. So we're moving forward.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Pure octane right now. Oh man, that's a good quote.
I'm curious to see how they respond. They play the
Vikings this weekend. It's it's not inconsequential because there's a
way the Vikings can still get in the playoffs, but
I believe Detroit is locked into number three. They'll either
play six seed Rams or a sixth seed. I think
there's a chance the Packers can be the sixth seed

(11:05):
if the Ram losing the Packers win, because the Packers
beat him when Brett Rippon was a quarterback, So there
is a way that they avoid playing that. And then
if that's the case, they're playing the freaking Green Bay Packers,
their arch rivals who have beaten up on them the
last thirty years, and that's pretty good too. But you
might get Detroit Dallas again. And if I'm a betting man,
that's a Saturday night games. That's one of those on

(11:26):
Divisional round weekend where we're all watching and it's Tariko
on the call, and he's a Michigan guy who lives
in ann Arbor and he's calling it. It's NBC and
it's the whole thing. So I think the only option
the Lions have is to just lick your wounds and
keep going. But it was Harry there for forty eight hours,
and you know, as the news cycle goes, we're here
on Tuesday, it's kind of a dead story. Like the

(11:49):
Lions didn't show rage against the machine, against the league.
They didn't you know, file and official protest. They didn't
kick and scream. It was kind of like, yeah, in
the locker room it sucked, and at the first game
press conference it sucked. But they're moving forward, and as
Dan Campbell says, he won't go the other way, and
the team won't either. They're on a mission and they're

(12:10):
not gonna feel sorry for themselves or wallow in everything.
So why should the Lions fans do that either? I'd
say move on and let's see if you face those
guys again. Another topic that's interesting as we head towards
Week eighteen is obviously the Baltimore Ravens and what they're
doing to the league. I don't remember a two week
span in recent memory where a team puts such a

(12:30):
statement on their season, basically declaring that not only are
we number one, we are the best team in the
NFL by a wide margin, which leads to this weekend
for the Ravens. You come off these two huge wins,
but they're all banged up. Also, they've got guys who
are injured. They play Week eighteen in what is seemingly
an inconsequential, insignificant Saturday game against the Steelers, and yet

(12:53):
it's the Steelers. Like I know, Harball, I know the
Ravens are they gonna lay down and let the Steelers
have a shot to make the playoffs because the Steelers'
playoff path is not hard. The Steelers beat the Ravens,
and then if the Dolphins beat the Bills, the Steelers
go to the playoffs. Steelers are in. If that's the case,

(13:17):
the Ravens created a scenario where the Steelers can then
not only make the playoffs, but could somehow get hot
and face them, and that would mean that the Steelers
had swept the Ravens in the regular season and then, gosh,
it's a long shot, but who knows whether it's in
the divisional round. It would probably be in the divisional
round if they want. It's a six or seven seed.
The Steelers would come to Baltimore, where they'd already beaten

(13:37):
them twice. And then suddenly it's Tomlin harblow and you
throw out the record books and Mason Rudolph's hot and
all this stuff. So the Ravens have an opportunity here
to truly eliminate the Steelers. They can win this game.
Now here's the question. Because of the way that the
active rosters work. You can't just rest everybody. Guys have
to play. So here's my guest, and here's how I

(14:00):
would approach it if I'm the Ravens, if I'm telling them,
you can still win this game. You could still ruin
the Steelers. See you wrest Lamar Jackson, you rest Kyle Hamilton.
You don't dress Roquan or Queen. You don't dress Stanley
who's up and down injured the whole last two years.
You don't dress Stevens who missed last game. You don't

(14:22):
dress Marlon Humphrey. And then you play everybody else and
you hope for the best, and you hope that Tyler
Huntley can still beat the Steelers on a standalone window
game on Saturday on NBC where the Steelers go in
there and it's like Steelers have everything to fight for.
Ravens then can say, you know what, Let's empty the playbook.

(14:44):
Let's get weird. Let's put pressure on the Steelers. Let's
go forward on fourth down on every possession. Let's do
fake punts, Let's do random on side kicks. Let's throw
a bunch of wild stuff at the wall and try
to still mess up the Steelers season. While Tyler Huntley,
who has played in playoff game and has played in
big games before, has done it.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
Pro Bowl quarterback Tyler Pro Bowl.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
Quarterback from last year at gosh, is that amazing. I
think that team's interesting. I also think the forty nine
Ers are interesting. They're not gonna play Rock Purdy. They're
gonna play Sam Darnold. The Rams probably are not gonna
play their guy. They're gonna go with Carson Wentz. I
want to see what these two teams put together, because
for all the eighteen game season and all the suspense
we want to build up, those guys can sit back

(15:28):
and smoke cigars and chill for two weeks while the
rest of the world just bangs their head against each
other and it's a collision course for their conferences. Gosh,
what a luxury it is this year, and what a
luxury for both those teams. To lock it up in
week seventeen and not Week eighteen. They have nothing to
play for, and yet pride does seep in. Not as

(15:49):
much for the forty nine ers. The Rams are in already.
But to tell a Baltimore Raven fan that you're not
gonna try and you're gonna let the Steelers into the playoffs,
that's a tough pill to swallow. We have a really
cool guest today. We had them on last year, the
same exact. He's going to break two things down for us.

(16:09):
He's going to break not only all the different playoff
scenarios and ways for teams to get in, which I
think is cool. He's also going to talk draft with us,
because there are multiple ways for other teams to get
the number two pick now that Chicago has already locked
up to number one pick. Steve Kornaki, the NBC and
MSNBC Odds and Election and Playoff Wizard, the Man in

(16:31):
the khaki pants, joins us after this.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
Well.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
As I mentioned in the monologue, we are in the
final week of the regular season, and this is going
to be an annual tradition. We did it last year
in the final week of the regular season. And he's
one of my favorite people on sports TV. Also, you
can see him throughout the next I would say the
next eight months and to ten months. He will be
very busy as we lead up to the election in
twenty twenty four. He is our friend from NBC MSNBC,

(17:03):
NBC Sports Now, mister Steve Kornaki a sir, pete.

Speaker 4 (17:07):
I'm doing great. It's an interesting time of year. We've
got the playoffs coming to a head, and we got
the political season coming to ahead. So it's fun for me.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
They sure do for the listeners who might be new
to what Steve does outside of the football world. And
I guess Steve is probably listening to this, like are
you serious? Yes, I'm serious. Some people know you from
just Sunday Night Football. My friend, all the election stuff.
We're talking Maricopa County, all that stuff where you get
to the board and you say who's winning what local
election and how it leads to the final results. Kornaky's

(17:37):
the top of the game, and Steve's been doing that
for years, and then NBC in recent years has brought
him into kind of break down the playoff stuff based
on his great work on all those local district elections
and how that leads to it real quick? You got
Iowa in two weeks. Are you on the road? Are
you stuck in a lab? Where are you going? Iowa
breaks down?

Speaker 4 (17:55):
Yeah, first book. I'm flattered if they only know me
from the NFL or I do horse racing for NBC too.
I always I get a kick out of if people
just if they recognize me from there instead of politics.
It's this is the fun part of the job for me,
so I love getting to do it. The good news
for me with the political stuff is what I do
is with this big giant board basically what you see
on football night in America too. Does not travel well,

(18:17):
so can't take it out to Iowa, can't take it
to New Hampshire. Got to stay in the studio, so
not a ton of travel. It's really just for me.
It's you know, I always got ninety nine counties. They're
all basically squares, so it's every four years I get
the old flash cards out and start going through and
make sure I know what's where. And you know, New
Hampshire's fun too because they do it by city in town,

(18:39):
so you've got a couple hundred cities in town. But
I grew up like near there, so that gives me
a little bit of home court advantage.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
But yeah, does this feel like the regular season? And
then when we get to November, it's like, all right,
that's a super Bowl and this is kind of like,
you know, you got to hone your chops a little bit,
you got you might be a little rusty after the
last two years, and now we're back in it. Like,
is that how it feels right now as we head
towards obviously Iowa too.

Speaker 4 (19:02):
Yeah, a little bit. I mean I think when I
was looking at this a year ago we started playing this,
I was thinking a year ago, this Republican primary, you know,
would be like January to June. Every week there's a
you know, a primary that's you know, could go either way.
I thought it was gonna be a wide open race,
and it's at least right now, it's not looking that way. Obviously,
we'll see when the voters start voting in two weeks

(19:24):
if it changes, But yeah, it could be. It could
be a much shorter primary season and a much more
emphatic one than I was expecting. And in that case, yeah,
then it's nine months of build up to the to
the big one in November.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
Buckle Up sat on the show Today. We were like,
welcome in, Happy New Year, and I'm like, yes, it'd
be very interesting twenty twenty four. We shall see how
it goes real quick. Before we get into the football stuff,
which everyone is listening to it right, there's a little
news nugget that like hit my timeline that made me
love you even more than I love you already. This
is in the midst of like the Taylor Swift Travis

(19:58):
Kelcey like phenomenon really breaking out. And someone on the
Today Show came out and was like, I don't, I don't.
I think Steve knows exactly who Taylor Swift is. And
they came out I think your partner even came out
and said, like, does this not a pop culture guy
he's involved in that? Is it true that you didn't
know exactly who Taylor Swift was? Steve?

Speaker 4 (20:19):
And I do know what I have learned? Is it
her fans are very intense, and I don't want to
be on the wrong side of her fans. So I
mean they said, no disrespect whatsoever. I knew the name.
I knew there was a figure in our popular culture
who was you know, famous and beloved and everything who
was named Taylor Swift. I couldn't have told you if

(20:40):
it was an actress, saying I knew it was somewhere
in that realm. I don't know. Music passed about nineteen
eighty five. I stopped seeing the movies. They're all, you know,
action hero, you know, superhero stuff. I don't like that stuff.
You know, give me like Jev Chase and funny farm
or something.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
Again, funny funny what Cramer vs. Kramer Actual, I'm not
getting that anymore here.

Speaker 4 (21:01):
So yeah, I had no offense. I know she is now,
I know all about her. Well. I really couldn't take
many of her songs.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
I know.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
She's just say, you think I love this so much
because we all live in our phones, we all live
in our bubbles, and you're like, I think the quote
from the Today Show host it might have been Chanelle Jones.
She said, like, if you check Steve's Instagram, it's lakes,
oceans and mountains. You're not posting memes.

Speaker 4 (21:27):
No, No, it's it's my respite from you know, it's
things that call me, things that give me a sense
of peace.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
Perfect speaking of things that calm and give peace. Let's
talk playoffs scenarios when people are on the edge of
their sea right now, I hope we can dive right
in here as we have it. We've got our seven
teams on the AFC, You're seven teams on the NFC,
and there's not as much fluidity with the playoff pictures
as recent years. I feel like I feel like with
our one seeds locked up, we kind of have some

(21:56):
stability there, and in most cases the three seeds, I
think the Chiefs and Lions are pretty much locked up,
and then from there the five seeds look pretty stabled.
We know the Browns sure of the five seed, the
Buccaneers if they beat the Carolina Panthers, they're the five seed.
But there is some ways to teams can wiggle in.
There's some teams that teams can fall out. I think
the most interesting scenario, if we can get right into it,

(22:20):
can you take us through the Buffalo Bills scenario and
what is that stake on Sunday night and what could
happen on Saturday and Sunday that can lead that game
to having even greater stakes than just winning the AFC
East time.

Speaker 4 (22:31):
Yeah, totally right there. That is the I think that's
the most interesting and the most dramatic, because look, you know,
a month ago, obviously Buffalo was buried, not just the
AFC race, but I mean it looked like they were
I think in the ten spot.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
You know, they're in the eleventh spot, fourteen chance, I
think around things.

Speaker 4 (22:49):
Remember, So it's interesting you look at it. The same
week you had Buffalo pull out the win against Kansas City,
you had the controversial penalty, They get the win, and
they've done nothing but win since. Then that same week,
Miami on Monday night blows the fourteen point lead against
Tennessee with three minutes left. I think that was what
the first time in forty five years or something that
it happens. So that happens the same week, and all

(23:11):
of a sudden, you watch the odds, you track them
week by week, the probabilities for that division they've collided
at essentially fifty to fifty. Now they were they were
like ninety five to five with three minutes to go
in that Miami game. And so the scenario for Buffalo is, look,
they had to win earlier against Miami. See win this game,
both teams will be eleven and six. Buffalo gets the tiebreaker.
Buffalo gets the division. That's gonna mean the two seed.

(23:34):
That's gonna mean you know, at least if you keep
winning at least two home playoff games. You know, Buffalo's
really you know, come from nowhere to being you know,
in a great spot heading into the playoffs. Now, if
Buffalo loses, they definitely could fall into the wild card,
but they're gonna need help to stay in that wildcard mix.
So what Buffalo would then need is either Tennessee would

(23:57):
have to knock off Jacksonville or they would need boll likely, yeah,
you would say, unlike. I mean, we've seen some you know,
some cheered Week eighteen outcomes before the other one is
you know, they would need to Baltimore to beat to
beat Pittsburgh, which, okay, on paper is certainly say is likely.
But then there's the question of who's playing, who's motivated more,

(24:18):
and all of that. So Buffalo's you know, it's a
tailor two cities.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
That's all that happened, That's all the needs to happen.
So the Jaguars, playing for everything, have to beat a
Titans team playing for nothing, and the Steelers playing for
everything have to play have to beat a Baltimore team
that is gonna have probably eight ter nine. Starter is
not even dressed. So if those two things happen, it's
win and a two seed lose, an out of the
playoffs for Buffalo.

Speaker 4 (24:43):
Yeah, fascinating, that's what I say. It's the crazy. Now
Miami obviously is locked up. Now they wouldn't get They
would fall if they lost, they would fall, not to
the five to the six. You say five is locked
up for Cleveland, so six would be Miami, and three,
as you say, is locked up in the AFC for
Kansas City, So Miami. It's not quite as dramatic, but

(25:04):
it's two seed home game at LEAs one home game.
These two home games if you keep winning, or trip
to Arrowhead playing Mahomes on the road in the first round.
So you know, it's not quite a stark, but it's
stark either way.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
The next team I want to talk about is the
Minnesota Vikings, because they lost that terrible game Sunday with
a lot on the line, they go tumbling in the standings,
and yet I wake up this morning and I see
there is still a path for the Vikings to get in,
especially if the Chicago Bears continue to play like they've
been playing.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
Yeah, I'm gonna look here, we partner with PFF Pro
Football Focus and seeing what their current odds are for
Minnesota to actually get in. They have met three percent
right now, one point three. It's three. They are of
all the teams that are still alive in some way
for the playoffs, Minnesota is the longest shot of any

(25:56):
team currently alive. So yeah, beat Detroit now. First of all,
the way Minnesota is playing, you got your doubts. Detroit's
probably going to be angry. I'm not sure there are
motivation level in terms of seating, but I'm thinking they're
gonna be a little angry company Campbell.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
He used the quote controlled Ferris. That's how they feel, right,
that's a.

Speaker 4 (26:17):
Good face, controlled fury. H. Then you're gonna need green
Bay to lose to Chicago. Like you say, Chicago's playing
real well right now, but green Bay, you know, must
win game and look good. Certainly on Sunday. You're gonna
need Seattle to lose to Arizona. And I think that's
where it starts to really Now, look, Arizona's pulled off

(26:37):
a big way and Seattle's a Seattle can be a
weird team. So you would need that, and then you
would also need Tampa Bay or New Orleans to lose.
Tampa play in Carolina, and then New Orleans has that
game against Atlanta, so one of those two would have
to lose. If all of that happens, then Minnesota could
still get in with that last wildcard spot.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
Okay, how about Seattle? Do you have that handy? What
does the Seahawks need to get back into it? A
heartbreaking loss to the Steelers on.

Speaker 4 (27:06):
Yeah, I mean, so it's basically they need now they
need green Bay to turn around and lose. They need
to win obviously, and then they need green Bay to
turn around and lose and they can get into that,
you know, into that seventh spot. So they're cheering.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
And last year green Bay on your network on NBC,
green Bay had everything to play for a playoff spot
and the Lions were already eliminated because the Seahawks had
beaten the Rams. And what do you know, Jared Goff,
the Lions they come into Lambo. Can justin fields do
that and now give Seattle hope because I would think
Seattle beats Arizona and if they're winning, they're they're watching

(27:43):
that clock closely. Can that's not that crazy, I thought.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
Yeah, I mean it's just yes, we saw it. We
saw it, uh last year and you know, I don't know,
between the Philadelphia and Tennessee games, you know, you see
uh uh Seattle put themselves in the same spot. They
needed the last minute long drive they got into two
straight games to get back into playoff mix. Maybe two
straight years they could get the kind of unexpected assist

(28:08):
from the team, you know, out of the playoff picture.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
All right, do you want to go through the AFC
South situation a little bit because it is a little complicated.
We know there's a winning in game on Saturday night
between the Colts and the Texans, but it's not for
the division. It could be for the division. Explain it.

Speaker 4 (28:24):
Yeah, it's interesting because in some ways right now, it's
the three way tie there at the in the AFC South,
and Jacksonville has all the tie breakers over both Indie
and Houston. But the winner of that Indie Houston game
is going to come into Sunday in better shape than
than the Jacks at ten and seven, either one of them.
All they have to do is get to ten and

(28:45):
seven and they clinch a playoff berth whether it's a
wild card or the division title is then going to
be settled Sunday in the Jacksonville Tennessee game. If Jacksonville
drops that game to Tennessee, then the winner of Indie
Houston wins the division gets the four seat because they'll
have leaped. You know, Jacksonville be nine to eight and
then you know ten and seven will get them in. So, uh,

(29:10):
the scenario there obviously be those teams just you want
to win and you would hope Jacksonville loses. But even
if Jacksonville doesn't lose, you are in the playoffs. Now Jacksonville,
if they lose, they could they could fall down. They're
nine to eight and they could fall into that wild
card pool and they would need uh, two things to happen.
They need Baltimore to beat Pittsburg because Pittsburgh's hanging around

(29:31):
that wild card race. And then they would this was weird,
but they would need Vegas to beat Denver, two teams
that are out of the playoff picture right now interconference records. Well, yeah,
what would happen is if Denver were to win, you
know he gets nine and eight. Denver's not making the
playoffs no matter what. But Denver would enter into it
nine and eight, a very complex tiebreaker. We already know

(29:55):
Denver would lose the tiebreaker.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
But they'd all be nine and eight, so they're still in.

Speaker 4 (29:59):
The time presence in the tiebreaker would screw it up
for Jacksonville. So so it Yeah, so Jacksonville is gonna
be cheering for if they can't get it done against Tennessee,
which is obviously the easiest path. They're cheering for the Raiders,
and they're cheering for the Ravens. They're gonna need both
of those to happen.

Speaker 1 (30:16):
Not to put you on the spot here, but if
the Colts or Texans lose on Saturday night, are they
mathematically eliminated or can they still somehow find a wild
card spot? If Jacksonville gets what they need to be,
it doesn't get what they need. This is in the week. Yeah,
let's let's just is there. I just don't know if
I'm a.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
Winner in I'm pulling out. I think this is a
I'm going through like one hundred pages right here, but
I got I got a fun love for you here. Yeah. Basically, uh,
there is the ogive the odds. So again, this is
from our friends at pff. This might be a good
way of looking at it. The best path the playoffs,
obviously for Indy and Houston is to get that division win,

(30:59):
but they each have and give them to you here, Houston.
Right now, the odds are getting a wild card. They
have a twelve percent shot at picking up the six seed.
They have a fourteen percent shot of picking up the
seven seed. Indianapolis a thirteen percent shot at the sixth seed,
and a fourteen and a half percent shot at the
seventh seed. So you know, they do they do essentially
if you add those two together, the division and the

(31:21):
wild card possibility, they're each floating around fifty to fifty
to make the to get in the playoffs here.

Speaker 1 (31:27):
Okay, okay, so it's not so crazy, all right, Pittsburgh Steelers.
It's kind of a simpler path. They're gonna need a
little help. But how do they get in as they're
on the outside looking in right now?

Speaker 4 (31:38):
Yeah, so Pittsburgh and call this one up two here. Look,
we talked about the scenario with the Ravens, the question
of motivation. You just got to you gotta get that
win to get you to ten and seven. You then
need Buffalo to lose. So that's because they would get
that tie breaker. So then they're in, Yeah, get get

(32:01):
a loss there, you know your ten and said, well
you need Buffalo to lose or the other place they
could get into trouble here. Uh that's with a loss. Yeah,
with a win at ten, I think it's a win
at ten and seven, Yes, because then Buffalo falls and
you get that winter and you're you know.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
The longest shot is the Vikings. What's the fun the
most fun and complicated scenario you've got there that you've
had to go through or that maybe you could present through.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
I think, well, I think it is the Vikings because
there we have three percent. I mean, just looking at
the odds we give to every team here, there's nobody
else who's in the mix, who's who's less than about
a quarter. I think the uh, the NFC South is
interesting just because you know, Tampa had the chance. Yeah,
Tampa had the chance to lock it up. And now
you've got eight Nate Tampa, eight Nate New Orleans seven

(32:48):
to nine Falcons, and the Falcons playing the Saints you
know in week eighteen. So Tampa, look again, this is
one of those on paper, they're playing Carolina. Just beat
Carolina win the division. But if they slipped up, then
New Orleans, uh, well, then the winner that New Orleans
Atlanta game gets the division. Obviously New Orleans would get it.

(33:09):
If they were they'd be nine and eight. They'd be
the only nine win team in the division.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
How would Atlanta get it? They would sweep No.

Speaker 4 (33:14):
Orleanta. Then Atlanta would be eight and nine. New Orleans
would be eight and nine with that loss, and Tampa
would be eight and nine. And if they all finish
at eight and nine, Atlanta is actually going to win
that tiebreaker on the division record, right, I see, I
think it's the No, it's not the division record, it's
the combined record of three teams when they've played each other.
So Atlanta at eight and nine would get that. And
the other kind of interesting, you know, kind of long

(33:36):
shot scenario there is New Orleans. If Tampa wins in
New Orleans beats Atlanta, New Orleans at nine and eight,
they'd like they're like third in the pecking order. But
could they move into the wild cards? Could they get
a Green Bay loss? Could they get a Seattle loss?
And at nine to eight, could New Orleans suddenly be
alive to make it not as the division champ, but

(33:57):
to make it as a wildcard. And could that NFC
South that we've kind of penciled in all years a
one bid division, could they produce two teams?

Speaker 1 (34:04):
So you're basically saying the Vikings need three things to happen.
The Saints need two. Like whatever it is, the Saints
need one less thing. The Saints are above the Vikings
as long as they win and they get the same thing.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
The Peggy order is basically green Bay right now, it's
green Bays to lose. If green Bay loses it, it's
Seattle's to lose. If Seattle loses it, in New Orleans
enters the picture. If they lose it, then you're looking
at maybe it could default to the Vikings.

Speaker 1 (34:28):
And if you're a Falcons fan, all you need to
do is worry about winning and somehow Carolina pulling the
upset and then you're in the playoffs as a division.

Speaker 4 (34:34):
Cam you get a home game. It's a home playoffs nine. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Great, all right, So that's one side of football fandom,
and everyone's doing that. There's another side watching the draft order.
This isn't your This isn't your expertise. Usually they don't
bring you on NBC to talk draft order, but it
got really interesting this year because of the quarterbacks that
are involved. And if you know how the last few
seasons have ended on Week eighteen, the draft order has

(35:02):
shuffled tenfold based on crazy results and what we think
are meaning last Week eighteen games. But then it kind
of shapes the future of the NFL base on where
these quarterbacks go. Let's look at this draft order right now,
as number one is locked up with the Carolina Panthers,
Number two is the Washington Commanders. That you would think
with the Cowboys having to win this game and win

(35:23):
the NFC East and the Commanders having nothing to play
for except pride, that the Cowboys would win. However, if
the Commanders lose, that set if the Commanders win, Let's
go through the motions here and see. If the Commanders
win and they do not have the number two pick,

(35:44):
who can get the number two pick because it's either
Caleb Williams or Drake May and those guys are going
to be outstanding NFL quarterbacks.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
Yeah, so this is fun. I got I got my
spreadsheet up right now, you got it? Currently for the
two spot you got a three way ties, you say Washington,
who right now controls that tie breaker? Can we explain
what the different like this is the weird time so
they not head to head, could end up being head
to head, but it starts out at strength of schedule.

(36:10):
It's just the number one time breaker is what's the
record of your opponents? And the worse the record of
your combined record of all the opponents you've played this
year is the better you get draft position, So you want.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
That seems backwards, yes, but that is how it goes.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
So if you look right now the Washington, it's basically
it's by one game. If you add up the wins
and losses of all of the Commander's opponents this year,
the Commander's opponents are one hundred and forty and one
hundred and thirty two, and they're four and twelve right now.
The Pats are four and twelve right now, and the
combined record of all their opponents this year is one

(36:46):
hundred and forty one and one hundred and thirty one,
So this is a now and then also the Cardinals
are tied at four and twelve, but there it's there.
What's the number here? They have a much stronger They're
now opponents are much better than say, yeah, any tie
with the with the The only way the Cardinals get
the top pick here is if they lose next week

(37:07):
and both Washington and New England win, they have to
be alone four and thirteen because they're not winning any
type of Their schedule is too strong. It's a weird.
It's a weird. But that Washington New Eeland one is
interesting because the one game between them, so you look
at now, is New England going to lose to the Jets?
If it's Belichick's you know, final game in New England.
You know his history, that is he gonna really want

(37:28):
to you know. Okay, but let's say they do. Let's
say that That's lose it. Let's say Washington loses it.
So you got two at four and thirteen. How is
that common? How is that?

Speaker 3 (37:39):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (37:39):
A straight? The schedule going to change? The big swing
game to watch. There's a couple that come in, but
the biggest one to keep an eye on by far
is Atlanta New Orleans. Okay, love, New England played New
Orleans this year, right, and Washington played game and Washington
played Atlanta. So it's it's a key swing. If New

(38:03):
Orleans wins the game, the Patriots, in their strength of schedule,
get what they don't want. They get another win for
their opponents, and meanwhile, for Washington, they get another loss
for their opponents, because that's that's Atlanta losing. So the
Pats really want if they're playing the draft game, the
Pats really want Atlanta to beat New Orleans, and Washington

(38:26):
really wants New Orleans to beat Atlanta. They want the
team they played to take another loss. And the interesting
thing is, there's a couple others that play out, but
let's just stay with that one because if that, if
the Pats get what they want there, and let's say
everything else kind of works out evenly it wouldn't have to,
but let's just say it does, and that would mean
that Pats would move into a tie in strength of
schedule with Washington. And if it ended up tied strength

(38:49):
to schedule, that is, pardon me, is when head to
head comes in. And this is the opposite of every
head to head you've ever wanted, because this is where
the loser of the head to head doesn't get to
pick the loser of the head to it doesn't get
to the loser gets to pick. The winner doesn't. So
Pats played Washinghington, Pat's lost to Washington, and it comes

(39:09):
back to bite Washington because it gives the Pats the
number two seats.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
So there's a real shot that the Patriots get the
number two overall pick. Even if Washington loses and New
England loses.

Speaker 4 (39:21):
Well, that that it's not automatic with that, Atlanta, New Orleans,
A couple others come into play, but that's a huge
one if that happens. If New Orleans loses, excuse me,
beats Atlanta and both the Patriots and Washington a four
and thirteen at that point, there's a real chance, and
I mean some of the other games to keep an
eye on. Let me say I wrote him down here.

(39:44):
I mean, for instance, they could affect this because a
lot of it there's a lot of common games between
these teams. There's not many that really matter on the schedule.
But like Denver in Las Vegas, right, Okay, So Washington's
played Denver and played Vegas. Pats have played in both.
So Patriots would want Denver to beat Las Vegas because
that'd be another win in Washington's column instead of a loss.

(40:05):
So that's an important one. Another important one in Chicago
Green Bay because Washington's played Chicago. New England hasn't played
either one of them. But you know, obviously Washington is
a Green Bay fan because that would get them and
a loss in their column. Indy Houston is an important one.
Pat's played the Colts, so Pats are cheering for Houston again.
They're doing the draft thing. Pats are chanting for Houston

(40:27):
to beat the Colts because that could give them another
loss in the lost column. And I think I had
one more here, Oh, Baltimore Pittsburgh. Yeah, so the Pats
having played Pittsburgh, Pats are cheering for Baltimore to knock
out Pittsburgh.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Right.

Speaker 4 (40:41):
So there's there's basically five games that have some that
could affect the strength to schedule between Washington and New England.
There's only one that involves a team that both teams
have played this year. That's at Lanta, New Orleans.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Really quick. Two more teams that I'm gonna let you go.
Is there a chance the Giants can get the number
two overall?

Speaker 4 (41:01):
Pick a chance? But it's it's it's fractional. So it
involves First of all, you gotta remember that you know
Arizona is sitting there, you know, playing a desperate Seattle team,
and even if Washington wins, and even if New England wins,
you're still, if you're a Giants fan, you're gonna need
Arizona to win as well. You're gonna need all three

(41:22):
of those teams to win. Now, if they do, Washington
does the Giants, excuse me, do enter into that strength
to schedule mix Right now? Their opponents are combined one
hundred and thirty nine and one hundred and thirty three,
so they're actually, you know, it's a game weaker, but

(41:43):
in this context, the game better than Washington right now
when it comes to that, when it comes to getting
the two seeds. So now that again there's some common
games there that could change, so there would be. But yes,
if if Washington loses to Dallas, if New England loses,
excuse me, if Washington beats Downs, if New England beats

(42:05):
the Jets, and if Arizona beats Seattle and the Giants lose,
then the Giants enter into a tie with those teams,
and their strength of schedule would give them a shot.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
Unbelievable. Last one, the La Chargers, they have gone from
being a super Bowl favorite for the season, could they
end up with the number two.

Speaker 4 (42:25):
So it's a similar scenario here, but the strength is
so right now, the Chargers combined opponent record is one
forty three and one twenty nine, so you could see
it would they need They'd probably want the Giants to win.
You know, they wouldn't want to be in a tiebreaker

(42:47):
with the Giants, and they're gonna they would beat if
they could get into a tiebreaker with Arizona, their strength
of a schedule would would break in their favor with Arizona.
To catch New England would be tough. You know, there
are two games up there. To catch Washington would be
So there is a scenario for them, but you know,

(43:08):
again it involves they're gonna need some breaks on common games,
on a unique games, i should say, in the strengthen schedule,
and they're going to need Arizona to win.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
My big takeaway from this is a revelation that the Patriots,
despite thinking all their fans thinking, they ruined any chance
that Drake may when they beat the Steelers, they ruined
any chance when they went on Christmas even beat the
Broncos that hey, you could just take care of business lose.
See Washington lose, that's okay. And if they need New

(43:42):
Orleans and they they need Atlanta.

Speaker 4 (43:44):
Because they played New Orleans, so they want New Orleans
to take a loss, and Washington played Atlanta, so they
want that to be credited as a win in Washington's column.
How much do this? How much are the Patriots? How
much is Bill Belichick willing to lose to the Jets?
They getting it first is the first question there. But yeah,
it's possible, and.

Speaker 1 (44:01):
I don't think They've got fifteen straight wins, and Belichick
hates the Jets and they're so prideful as a franchise.
I don't see them losing unless the Jets just somehow
put it together. But based on what they've done Thursday
night against Cleveland, I don't see that either. Hey, real quick,
before we go, I want ninety seconds to a minute.
Tell me about Humboldt County and how it's looking out
in Iowa right now.

Speaker 4 (44:24):
I don't have go to work, Cord, Now, do you
live this way? I don't have county to county polls
in Iowa, but our last pool of Iowa, which we
do with the devoid register, I'll give a plug to them.
They have the best by far pool in Iowa had
Trump head by forty points. So I imagine he's ahead. Okay,
I imagine he's up at all ninety nine counties in
Iowa right now. But yeah, we are.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
Is there a debate before that is gonna get on
that announced?

Speaker 4 (44:48):
It looks like he's not. So it looks like you're
going to have a Nikky Haley ron to see it.
This debate seat. They haven't seemed to matter. Christ not
meeting the threshold, not meeting the threshold. So and no
Trump there and uh, here's here's the plug. The Sunday
mo before the Caucasus. It's gonna be a Sunday morning

(45:08):
of January fourteenth. NBC News has a partnership with the
des Moines Register, biggest newspaper in Iowa. They have their poll.
This goes back decades. They have the best poll of
that state. Everybody looks for the day before the Caucasus.
It's historically been very accurate. We're gonna release it with
them the Des Moines Register that Sunday morning before the Caucasus.
So look for that poll is a big clue heading

(45:29):
at the caucas day in two weeks.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
All right, I need a time because I got wild
card weekend. That weekend, I'm gonna be sucked. I'm gonna
have what time is this, I'll meet the frost when
we have six am, we get out.

Speaker 4 (45:41):
I believe that's what we're looking at.

Speaker 1 (45:43):
Yeah, our updated Paul, Steve Karanaki, you are the man.
Good luck. Not only this weekend on Sunday, We're gonna
work Saturday too, probably right.

Speaker 4 (45:51):
Yeah, this is this is pretty much going around the
clock these days. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Yeah, so Saturday night you'll be doing the football, Sunday
doing the football, and then he'll be doing Iowa and
of course all the election stuff. Steve, it means so
much when you join the show, and I just really
appreciate the friendship that we've begun just based on this stuff.
I love it. I'm a numbers wonk and I love
hearing you talking.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
I love talking to Seed. In the second pick in
the draft, there's completely what else, all the terminologies reversed.
I probably confused it one hundred times, but this was fun.
Thanks a lot, Thank you, Steve.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
Real quick before we sign off, like the little recap
of the guest uh Kardaki in the playoff odds, it's
not that crazy this year. So I thought the draft
stuff was fascinating.

Speaker 2 (46:35):
Well, I mean, I love the playoff stuff too, but
the draft was. I couldn't believe how close those strengths
of schedule were with one thirty ninety one combined wins.
I love that the head to head actually could come
into play. I mean the draft thing like.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
But the the odds and the way the way the
tie breakers work are completely reversed.

Speaker 2 (46:57):
So right until you get to head the head and
then it's and then the way you want it. I mean,
this feels like something you need to be looking at visually. Yes,
because algorithm. Even me trying to explain it to myself,
having just listened and understanding it, I still can't explain.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
A segment I should do for Good Morning Football explaining
it because I feel like, as a viewer, I'm a
huge draft fan. I just assumed Washington has a tiebreaker
and that's forever over the Patriots because they've had the
second pick this whole time and the Cardinals loss, so
that but the Patriots still could possibly get it if

(47:33):
the Falcons win and then other things have happened.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
All right, and that number two pick is really between
New England, Arizona, New York, Washington, Washington, and potentially the Chargers.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
I mean, the Jets are out of it because they
have one more win, but.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
That's four out of those five teams you could argue
really really want a quarterback. That two is a really
important spot.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
And there's a chance that the Bears do something funky,
don't take a quarterback or trade out the pick.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
To someone else, so many things.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
One of these teams, I got it. I don't want
to call bs, but like, how do you not know
who Taylor Swift is?

Speaker 2 (48:18):
I mean, I'm sure he could have seen.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
Like if Doua Lipa walked right in right now, I
don't know if I would know who that is. And
I've heard her music, I know her face, and I
know her, I know her songs, but I don't know
if I would know her in like a crowd. I'll
give you another one. If Meghan the Stallion walked in,
I would tell you her songs, I know, but I
don't know if I would one hundred percent know her.
If you gave me a crowd of Taylor Swift, I

(48:42):
think like Beyonce, I know, yeah, I'm I'm as diehard
football an one Taylor Swift, I know, right.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
I think the fact that you are saying maybe you
wouldn't know Megan the Stallion just from look is enough
to say you're a lot more tied in. And so
it's understandable that cornet.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
You know a movie he referenced. He referenced Funny for Google,
Funny for It came out in like nineteen ninety. I
want to say, Chevy Chase eats a what's you eat?
Like dog tested?

Speaker 4 (49:12):
What's it?

Speaker 1 (49:12):
Do you remember that scene? What is it? Nineteen eighty eight?
What testicles does he eat in the movie?

Speaker 2 (49:17):
That's what.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
He eats, like animal testicles and he's like, oh, your tasty.
That's the big scene that was in the trailer. It's
basically a city slicker lamb testicles and he eats and
he's like, oh, these are chewy, and it turns out
their lamb testicles. And that's the trailer. And that's all
I remember from nineteen eighty eight. I was six years old. Dude.
Karnaki referenced Funny Form as like his pop culture touch point.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
It was not even like a recent Chevy Chase thing too,
or like eighty eight.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Yeah, and not did not reference Fletch.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Right right, or Caddy Shack, National Lampoons or anything.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
Yeah, funny farm.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
I'm currently rewatching community with which has Chevy Chase.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
And is it worth the rewatch?

Speaker 2 (50:03):
Yeah, I think it's I think it's the beginning. The
first couple of seasons are great.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
Chevy leaves after how many seasons.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Forget, like four or five? He's in it. Maybe notoriously
yet yep, yep, yep, yep.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
That's not what they say about KERNACKI they say, right, yeah,
he wants the harm. He said, I don't want to
get the ire of Taylor Swift, right.

Speaker 4 (50:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
I don't think any of them would be upset with him.
It's not like he was like, oh, I don't know
her because she's bad. I know. There was a big
news story. This is we don't even talk about this.
There's a big news story. This weekend. Some country music
guy was like he was playing some festival and he
was like, Taylor Swift has had the most success for
someone with no talent, and it was like, oh my god, man,
you're I don't.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
Know well no, I mean it was the cap from
Barstool is great on this stuff. He just checks him up.
He says that the Chiefs are losing because of Taylor Swift.
But he's all doing as a troll job and he's
doing it when he's in on the joke. What's this one?

Speaker 4 (50:58):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (50:58):
I can't you know how small the story this is.
I just searched Taylor Swift in news and it's not
coming up at all. Everything is about the outfit that
she wore to New year Z.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Let me ask you this one. I work with Erdoll,
Jamie Erdol Swifty. She's in Taylor is in Japan, Tokyo.
The day of the Super Bowl. I said she would
cancel the show. She will be at the Super Bowl.
She's not missing, She's not going to games against the
Denver Broncos on Christmas and traveling out there to see

(51:33):
her play the play play the Jake Browning Bengals. And
Erdoll's like, I don't know. And then Kyle Brant, who
is plugged into all this stuff, is like, it's a
really really really big deal to cancer cancel a concert date.
Like the amount of money, the amount of people, the

(51:53):
amount of things evolved to cancel a concert date is like,
And I said, well, what if they had two weeks
heads up and they knew they were going to the
super Bowl, And like the night they win the AFC
Championship game, Taylor Swift announces that particular concert is going
to be another day. Everyone's fully refunded. It just is
what it is. I'm not missing Aaron. You're in the
arts and you're into concert. Now. Look, I know that

(52:14):
you're not Taylor Swift, but from a different viewpoint someone
who knows the music world. Is it so crazy for
me to think that she would cancel a night in
Tokyo and go to the super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
I mean that's wild, I think so. I mean, we
the three of us, talk about theater a lot. I'm thinking,
what if you went to go see if what if
you went to see most of Atherage do her one
woman show and that night like, oh, she's sick, there's
a stand in. I mean, I don't know if she
even had an understudy. Fashions right, but it's it's not.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
I know someone who went to see Funny Girl Liah
Michelle wasn't there and they were not happy.

Speaker 2 (52:50):
Yeah, exactly, it's in it right, Yeah, but fans get
really upset when a concert, especially an international concert, is
canceled for whatever reason. Uh. Pretty famously, a couple of
weeks ago, Daniel Caesar, this R and B singer had
to shut down all of his concerts internationally or just

(53:13):
in South America. I think because of some like label disagreements.
I don't know the whole story, but people were furious,
and I think, okay. If Taylor Swift was like, I'm
can't I'm rescheduling this, Lison.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
Shews it like January twenty sixth, the concert's February tenth.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
And if she said I'm rescheduling and while I'm rescheduling,
I'm adding a second date.

Speaker 4 (53:35):
Ooh.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
I think people would be okay with it.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
If she's doing it for.

Speaker 2 (53:38):
Love, if it meant she had she would have to
give something everything.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
This is her supporting her. She's flying one night in
from Asia to see her husband play in a Super Bowl.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
Well not husband yet? Are they married? Did she just
play some special news?

Speaker 1 (53:51):
Sorr would have made some big news from what does
that makes it even more romantic? Her boyfriend.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
As someone who's not as swifty. I don't know what's
more important to them. I do think seeing the show
is very very important to them. So but I'm going
to turn this question around on you real quick.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
Would I'm Mary Taylor? No, no, no, my wife America
and I love her eleven years due relaxed. No.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
If so, say the Chiefs get to the you know,
the AFC Championship and they lose, They're not going to
the super Bowl. Does Kelsey go to Tokyo?

Speaker 1 (54:28):
Yes, yes, he supports her, just like she supported him.
He's on the tour. He came to South America.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
During the season, right, oh yeah, yeah, bye week Yeah okay,
And you don't think I mean, I totally understand.

Speaker 4 (54:38):
A lot of out of it.

Speaker 1 (54:39):
They'll have a Waves podcast and he'll be doing Travis
Kelsey does Japan, and they'll be doing Man on the
Street stuff like he's Anthony bourd Dame. Yeah yeah, he's there, Okay,
all right, And you may never see him a football
feld again. He might that that might be his second career.
He's going to be traveling Travis Kelsey, which.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
I mean he could be. He and Jason could be
singing back up on some songs. You know, they could
do a Taylor album. I've got some writing in there.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
So we net out where you say it would be
a acceptable for the diehard swifties as long as she
had a nice wrinkle to it and offered a nice
carrot at the end, saying, I love Tokyo so much.
We're gonna do another night?

Speaker 2 (55:14):
I think so? Okay, Yeah, I think that that would
be a way to win back some good grades.

Speaker 4 (55:21):
One more.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
The day they announced Usher It's going to be the
halftime show, she made her first appearance at a Chiefs game.
I forget who they played, but she was in the
crowd and that just blew everyone away, and that was
the biggest story. And Usher's super Bowl halftime announcement was
kind of buried because Taylor Swift was at an NFL
game and she was cheering on her boyfriend Travis kelce
which was crazy. Do you think Taylor Swift showing up

(55:46):
at the super Bowl to support Travis kelcey undermine the
artist Raymond and his big night being the super Bowl
halftime show? And would that even come into consideration as
she would not want to take any of the glow
or glamour away.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
Woo. I don't know if they have any sort of
relationship already, and I think maybe they're so different, like
Usher is more an R and B singer than a
pop star. Maybe that's entirely wrong, but it'd be something
else if, like, right, if Katy Perry was the half,
you know, because she's already done. Of course Katy Perry
did the halftime show. If Taylor showed up, oh my god,

(56:25):
just to be in the crowd, to be in the crowd,
that would be that'd be rough.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
I think interesting. Uh we wrap with that. I also
want to mention I didn't know if I was going
to share it. I had one of the coolest career
experiences Friday night in Los Angeles. My my fight is
usually Saturday morning. I flew out Friday night and a
mutual friend, the great Carissa Thompson, helped arrange something. I
had a long, four hour, amazing dinner with al Michaels

(56:55):
and his wife Linda on Friday night in Los Angeles.
I have never had a real relationship with al Michaels.
We had met before h at one time. I'll just
tell you the stories here in Sochi at the Olympics
in twenty thirteen, he was there and have a NBC
obviously in a much more prominent role than me for Fox,
which was not a right soldier, but one time I

(57:18):
met him there and we had a great conversation and
we talked, you know, his stories, which was cool. Fast
forward a couple of years ago, I was in the
same hotel as Al when they were doing a Sunday
night game and I was there for Fox in Los
Angeles and Chris collins Worth and his wife Holly, Al
and his wife Linda, and me as a fifth hung
at the bar watching like a college football game, which

(57:39):
was so cool. And then most recently, it would be
this Friday night, I get this text from Carissa who's like,
Al Michaels wants to meet you. I know you're a
huge fan of his. Let's put this together. It was Carissa,
it was myself, it was our mutual friend Spoon Spandune
daf Turi, who is the Amazon pregame show producer used

(58:02):
to be a Fox pregame producer, and it was Al
Michaels and his wife. And the topics went from Al's
relationship with Don Rickles, which spanned many years, Al's role
in the O. J. Simpson Chase coverage as the Brentwood
native and the guy who was a man on the scene.

(58:23):
Al's relationship with Howard Stern, who is a hero of
mine and his relationship with him. To Al's thoughts on
Today's NFL, it was amazing and I hope he becomes
a lifelong friend. We had an amazing dinner and it
was really cool, and it just, you know, keeps you
grateful and grounded that you can have those cool experiences.

(58:46):
And Alan Michaels Aaron pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
Yeah, did you? I just I assume you workshopped that
Taylor Swift canceling the Tokyo show idea with him to
bring it up to me.

Speaker 1 (58:58):
Yeah, you know, he's got his He's got his what
do you call it? Piccadillos, know what they would call it. Like,
there's there's the Taylor Swift stuff, which I didn't get
into with him. There's the vegetable thing, which I dined with.
Oh right, he didn't need a single vegetable he's never
had he said, he's never had a vegetable. And then
the gambling stuff. But she used to always allude to.
Now he's like out in the open, and I was

(59:19):
like curious his thoughts and then he's like and he
has a great line. He's like I was always a
bit of a rascal. But I said, is there any advice.
He's like, yeah, be a rascal. I'm like, yeah, I
don't have the same leeway and log be a rascal.
I like that you have a little bit of a
bad boy side thea we have pushed the envelope sometimes.
Hopefully we do that here on the season.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
Maybe a bad boy that still eats vegetable so I.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Know, even the rascals. Yeah, all right. Uber Eats is
our sponsor. The season with Peter Schrager is delivering results
done by Uber Eats. It's time for delivering results. The
player I want to shout out is Joe Flacco. It
happened on a Thursday night game, so it's already been
forgotten because so many things have happened. But he guy
threw for two hundred and ninety eight yards and a half,
the most he's ever thrown four and a half. And
he did it at thirty eight after a week of

(01:00:01):
hype and build up, and just went on and just
thrashed the Jets. Then it seemed like he fell a
sleep on the sideline in the second half and came
out and he was like, I wasn't asleep. Yeah, you
were probably asleep It's all good, Joe. What Joe Flacco
is doing is insane. I love seeing it. One of
the coolest stories of the year. He's your comeback player
of the year. I know Hamlin came back from near tragedy.

(01:00:21):
Take a sit in the field. Maybe we just named
the award that the Mar Hamblin Comeback Player of the Year,
and you give the award to Joe Flacco, who has
I think, put on such an amazing performance, has galvanized
this Cleveland locker room and has given the city a
reason for hope. Jason mccordy earlier today on Good Morning Football,
we were talking about that Detroit, LA first round matchup,
whether that's the most scintillating possible matchup in the playoffs

(01:00:44):
and then includes Super Bowl everything he goes. Could you
imagine Las Vegas gets their first Super Bowl and Detroit
and Cleveland are the teams, and those two cities descend
upon Las Vegas, every fan who has not seen a
Super Bowl ever in their lives going there for Super Bowl.
It's possible. Both those teams are playing inspired football and
Joe Flacco I wouldn't bet against him right now that
was delivering results been by Uber Eats where you can

(01:01:05):
get almost almost anything, the official on demand delivery partner
of the NFL. Order Now, next week we'll be in
the playoffs. We'll have a whole different feeling and tone
to this thing. But thank you to Steve Kornaki, Thank
you to Aaron wan Kaufman, Thank you to Jason English.
New Year's to everybody, Happy New Year's, Happy New Years
to our official team of the season with Peter Scherger,
the Arizona Wildcats, who not only won their bowl game,

(01:01:27):
but will finish in the top ten in the AP rankings.
When we had jedfish on in August coming off I
think a one win season from a year ago. So
kudos to Jed and kudos to all those Arizona Wildcat
bear Down fans who work on this podcast on the
West Coast. You guys know who you are. Till next week,
Let's go. The Season with Peter Schrager is a production

(01:01:55):
of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you
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