Balls, Bats, and Bets: Eagles Leak Turning into Flood -- 1/5/24

Tim O'Keefe looks at the #Eagles' struggles and everything you need to know about #NFL final regular season plays.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
For national winners. From a localperspective, you're in the right place.
It's balls, bats and beats withTim o'kee right here on the Gambler.
Welcome in, two balls, batsand bets everyone. Man, Happy New
Year, let's get that out ofthe way. Happy New Year. And
I'm breaking the Larry David rule.Happy New Year. I'm saying it this

(00:20):
week. That's it. That's it. Once you hit Sunday, hit the
full week, you're done. ButHappy New Year to everyone out there listening.
And man, I came in.I almost just went depressed out of
the gate because of what's been happeningwith the Eagles. It's been a while
since I've been able to talk toyou guys, and I think the last
show might have been like the ballpark, like tenth ish of December. It's

(00:41):
been a while and the holiday seasoncame up, hit some things on some
trips, and man, has itbeen terrible since that happened, since the
last time we spoke again, Ican let's just recap last month, right.
The San Francisco game is so distantat this point, but I you
know, now much gap and sincewhat's happened in between, I can get

(01:02):
it. I can get what happened. Look, they're a better team.
They came in, they had thatextra motivation for last year. I get
it. You got beat up,you got blown out. Dallas then also
destroys us right, just absolutely cooksthem. Now we've been cooked twice in
a row. And you're thinking,all right, you know what, we
got beat up a couple of times, tough part of the schedule. Let's

(01:22):
go to Seattle, get away andget back on the right track. Disastrous
last drive with Drew Lock just cookingwell, Drew Locke and Jackson Smith and
Jigba cooking, Brad Berry falling apart. And I know I'm summarizing these really
quick, but I get you guysgoing on the it's really quick summary.
Christmas Day. You get a shouldhave been easy win over the Giants turned

(01:42):
into a you know, we're alittle scared going up against de Veto in
the last stretch here. I guessit was tireroud at that point they might
have made the sub. But thispast week is the ultimate insults injury.
Like it's just each week as it'sgotten so aggressively worse. But I guess
the Giants wins, not progressively worsethan the Seattle loss, but it was

(02:04):
still as this team does not lookgood at all, but now you lose
to the Arizona Cardinals. Literally asa franchise are incentivized to lose. At
this point, they just call themselvesa second pick. They're now down to
the third pick, assuming that theteams in front of them keep losing.
I really the only one that couldimpact him, I believe, is Washington
and Arizona. I get the playersare try and they're always going to try

(02:28):
to win, but Jonathan Gannon comesin here and steals your lunch. Jonathan
Gannon, the guy that we hatein this city, we really do.
I'd never fully understood the gann andhate. I've shared that on the show
before. I thought it was alittle bit much. Again, I'm not
saying he was great here, butclearly better than whatever the hell we have
going on defense this season. Youcan tell me about the talent change all

(02:52):
this stuff, but it really hasn'tchanged. Jonathan Gannon ends up looking like
really great out of all. Outof the way this season's unfolded for the
Eagles. Obviously, show is Shane, so has Shane Stichen. But let
me focus on Gannon. For asecond, you have a defense with majority
of the same players. Right,you had Slagh brad Berry both at corners.

(03:15):
You've you've had some change at linebacker. Yeah, I guess what TJ.
Edwards isn't here? I get that. And t J. Edwards is
a big piece. He ended up. I think he's proven to be a
bigger piece. He's a bigger wasa bigger piece that we thought he was.
But there's still just these questions thatare coming up around this team,
or or let me let me backoff before I get to the questions where
it's the rest of the pieces areall the same or you know similar.

(03:38):
In fact, actually, we addedJalen Carter who was an elite talent.
We added another first round pick,and Nolan Smith. We had we had
some shift up at safeties, andthe Avonte Maddock's injury really hurts. But
for a large majority, this isthe same defense that Gannon had. Now,
yes, everyone got older by ayear, and I know we are.
We have an older team, andI'm going to talk about that a
little bit coming up, but oneyear, I'm going to struggle to blame

(04:01):
it all on this just oh,now, all of a sudden they're all
super old. I do struggle withthat, Like, I don't think that
all for everybody happens in one offseason. So give credit where credits due.
Jonathan Gannon was doing something right withthese guys that this year, the Sean
de sign and now Matt Patricia Swampjust haven't been able to figure out.
It's been an absolute disaster. Thisdefense is getting zero pressure. I don't

(04:23):
care. I understand that they hadan easier schedule last year. I get
it. That still doesn't explain howyou go from seventy sacks down to now
towards like middle to bottom of theleague. It doesn't make any sense,
like the defensive line could not havefallen off that much. It's been an
absolute disaster on that side of theball. Obviously on the other side,
the offense, while the numbers overallare fine, there there's no flow.

(04:46):
And I know what. I've heardother people say that, and I've tried
to be I didn't like it thefirst time I heard it either, So
I'm like, come on, thisis overdoing. This isn't like a Chip
Kelly where we're just running gun likethat's a big flow to an offense.
But there is something here with thiswhere it's just it doesn't seem we're ever
comfortable. It doesn't seem like we'reever making the right progress down the field.
It seems like every play we haveto fight for a yard. And

(05:06):
now I'm not just talking about thebrotherly shove, like it feels like there's
no oh, we got you attitude. When we have our offense on the
field, it's almost like, yeah, I guess, well, we're averaging.
We're averaging decent points per game,but we're still just not confident on
each drive that we're gonna score.And it's a really touch and go offense.

(05:27):
We have guys like AJ Brown goesoff for that like five week incredible
stretch, disappears after that for severala couple of games, and now he's
up and down, up and down. Davante Smith's same thing. Dallas Goddard
was hurt. Now he's back.The run game is a distant memory at
this point. Pro bowler DeAndre Swift, who was great to begin the season,
has somewhat vanished. He's fallen offa cliff. He's again too many

(05:48):
touches. This is too many touchesfor me. It's a smaller back.
It's too many touches. We shouldhave seen this coming. We should have
divvied up the ball earlier on alittle bit more. But they wanted to
ride a hot hand, which Iget in the moment, but this is
where you end up paying the pricefor it. Offensive line I still think
is very good. You have threePro bowlers on there. Uh, Dickerson,

(06:09):
Kelsey and Johnson all made the ProBowl. I'm struggling. I'm struggling
to see where that the offensive Theoffensive line is not bad. Isn't the
best in the league. Maybe it'snot the best in the league anymore,
but it's easily a top five.You can't tell me you have three Pro
bowlers on it with Jordan Mylotta andCam Jurgens being the other two that are

(06:30):
left off who are still solid individualplayers, and tell me that this is
a bad offensive line, I'm justnot gonna buy it. So then it's
what the hell is going on withthis? Like there's just no flow to
the offense. And that does comedown to Sirianni and Brian Johnson. And
I'm gonna talk about Sirianni in alittle bit too, Like there's this's gonna
be a lot heavy Eagle Show Shockof Shocks, but there's just so much

(06:51):
to break down. But I don'tknow. This team is just underperforming on
so many levels. And now wehave all the back of the drama going
on, which I'll talk about.Let's just dive into that because no what
I have that later on the list, but I just want to get into
it. So the AJ Brown stuffnot speaking to the media, you know,
saying coming out and I believe itwas what was it Wednesday? And

(07:13):
saying if you don't have anything niceto say, don't say it. That's
why I didn't say anything. Ican kind of appreciate that mindset. But
you know what you're doing right,you know, as much as the like
we can be told, oh,the players don't hear everything that we're saying.
We know that they're aware of bigstorylines, and having dysfunction in the

(07:34):
Eagle's locker room is a big storylinethat you know. AJ Brown is aware
of. He is, he ofcourse is aware of it, and by
not speaking to the media, he'sblowing it up more and more than it
needed to be. He did,And I I get you don't want I
don't want to tell someone that Ihave to lie if there is true problems,
like maybe there is. There mightbe a disconnect between him and Hurts,

(07:56):
him and Brian Johnson, him andSirianni. I don't know, maybe
there's none. But even if thereis, like I don't know, Look,
you to try to keep that stuffbehind closed doors. And what you
do is you go out and yousay the the PC the public answer.
Just ask the Eagles publicist what theywant you to say. I get that
you don't want to be a mouthpiece, but this is the NFL. How

(08:18):
many guys do you think, like, look what team's terrible. Let's say
the Carolina Panthers. You don't seeBryce Young or any guys on that team
coming out each week and be like, yeah, we suck and there's you
know, it's player X y z'sfault. No, that's not what you
do. You're a pro athlete.You go out. I'm not saying to
say praises of everything. Just givethe generic answers of yep, we gotta

(08:39):
do a better job doing this asa team. We got to it's not
that tough. It's really not thattough. Instead, AJ kind of shuts
down and just sparks, all thisstuff, and granted they was already there.
I don't want to say he started. He certainly did not start it.
But by him like holding out fromthe media all of a sudden,
just get the flames on the fire, just keep getting poked. The fire

(09:01):
keeps growing and growing, and eventuallyyou're the saying where they's smoke, there's
or where there's fire, there's smoking. Guess I did this in reverse,
but you get what I'm saying.By him not talking, it blew up
and there's still questions about it.He did speak, glad he got that
out and ripped that band aid off, and he did a lot of the
PC answers. Honestly, again,he gave the hey, no, there's
nothing wrong with me and Sirianni.He gave credit to Sirianni saying talking about

(09:24):
the Seattle game with the late interceptionthat him and Jalen did that and not
the coaches, which I'm going toguess if he said that, that's probably
true. I don't know why hewould lie that specifically, that seems like
a really weird thing to lie about. So in that case, I do
appreciate him saying that honestly, becausethat makes me question Sirianni a little bit
less. But it's just absolutely absurdthat this thing got as big as it

(09:48):
did. And I love AJ Brown. I hope he stays here a long
time, but we don't need We'vehad we've had wide receiver drama in this
town before about wow, about twodecades ago. Point. We don't need
to go back to that. Solet's just, you know, give the
PC answers keep powering forward. Andit's as boring as it is, it's

(10:09):
just what keeps the keeps the flamesdown. The next topic I want to
go to is I mentioned him asecond ago with Jalen im not. I'm
not obviously not raising the red flag. I am not saying we are in
big trouble with Jalen Hurts, butI do just want to like share some
thoughts on how this season has beenfor him, because anyone like defending it

(10:33):
say, I know it's on theoffense on the side, Yeah, I
guess what some of that is problems, Like the offense itself of course has
problems, but you see quarterbacks havingsuccess in this leg in overall bad offense
but still being better than what we'vegotten this year out of Jalen Hurts in
this season, I don't for specificallythe twenty twenty three into twenty four season.
Let me get that very clear here. I don't think Jalen's been a

(10:56):
top ten qbing. As I lookacross the leg, I'll rattle off.
I have my list of guys thatI think have had a better season in
the games that they've played than JalenHurts, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson,
Dak Prescott, Joe Burrow. NowBurrow has been hurt for most of it,
but I am going to like again, tell me for the if they

(11:16):
played the same amount of games,who who would you have rather had Burrow
was better? Alan Tua. I'mgonna get some hate on Tua Tua's stats.
It's not even that close. Honestly, that offense in Miami is fantastic.
They got a lot of great weapons, and guess what we have weapons
here in Philly. So I can'tsay that's a huge advantage for to a
town. They're compared to Jalen hereand two has made more of it this

(11:39):
season. It's just a fact RockParty it's been better. It's not that
much of a question. C.J. Stroud having one of the best
rookie QB seasons really ever, He'sbeen elite better. This is where it's
gonna hurt these next couple of names. But Jared Goff better go look at
the stats. Tell me how youcan argue that Jalen is had a better

(12:03):
season than golf at QB. Hehasn't. Jalen's been He's been a little
careless with the ball. He's hadsome issues there. Golf this season has
been better. Matthew Stafford has beenbetter. I know he's older. I'm
not saying again, I'm not sayingI would trade Jaalen for all these guys.
Let me get that out there veryclear. I'm not saying that,
but I'm saying this season Matthew Staffordhas been better. Lastly and again very

(12:28):
limited time, but in the gamesthat he's played, I think he's played
like five six games. Joe Flakohas been better. He has And it's
wild to say like all these guysare better. And that's where I cut
off, because that gets that's's atleast ten Let me get play a little
blind resume with you on another guythat's in a completely different situation. But

(12:50):
it's pretty wild. So player Athirty eight and three passing yards, twenty
three touchdowns for team picks, Allright, they see it gives it away.
I'm just gonna focus on the passing. We're just gonna focus on the
passing. Player B three thousand yards, three seventy twenty six touchdowns, eight

(13:13):
picks. Which player had a betterseason between those three resumes? So just
let's focus on the passing thirty eighthundred yards, twenty three touchdowns, fourteen
picks, About thirty one hundred yardstwenty six touchdowns, eight picks. You
can probably make a case for eitherone to an extent like that. It's

(13:33):
a decent yardage gap. Granted,player A with A thirty one hundred yards
has played one more game, soyou know factor that in as well.
So really, if I drop down, it's like closer to like, let's
say, it would be like thirtyfive hundred yards. If I if that's
actually the person averages three hundred gas, I've probably little see, but you
get what I'm saying. Player asJalen hurts, and yes, on top

(13:56):
of he of course has a tonof rushing touchdowns and does have Vaz the
third most rushing yards right now atthe quarterback position, which is very solid,
so that I am neutralizing that alittle bit. And this may be
more than I should be. Butplayer B is Russell Wilson. If you
guys have heard of my show,I'm not a Russell Wilson guy. I
don't think he is. I thinkhe's been overrated for most of his career.

(14:18):
I think his great times in Seattlewas because they had a fantastic defensive
run game and he was just ableto capitalize on it to an extent.
But Russell Wilson this season, statswise, I can easily make a case
is right there with Jalen Hurts,very easily. And that's wow to say,
because Russell Wilson's right now being activelybenched so they can get him out

(14:41):
of town. And our guy,and I love Jalen, but and our
guys, our future like werore lockedin. Like do you see how It's
like I'm a little concerned there,Like that's gotta be a concern at this
point, like the fact that Ican compare a guy that's getting chased out
of town in Denver versus Jalen andtheir stats, and I'm like, at

(15:01):
least as a passer there personally,I mean, the picks to me are
too much like I would stats.Why is passing? I'd rather have Wilson
obviously there. Rushing that Jalen bringsis very valuable, and the tush push
is incredibly valuable, and he's gotsome rushing touchdowns. But man, it
should not be this close where ourfranchise guy is close to a guy that's
getting chased out of town in Denver. Who doesn't Denver a team that does.

(15:22):
It's not only they have this othergreat option, right, It's only
they have some first round pick sittingon the bench. No, they They're
gonna have to go to the QBwheel for next season. I don't know
everybody. I look, I'm onthe radio. I'm I'll give you my
take. I'm getting nervous just alittle bit. I'm not throwing it the
red flag yet. Jalen's our quarterbackthis year, our quarterback next year,

(15:46):
and we're gonna keep riding with that. But at some point I'm gonna start
having some questions, some more seriousquestions. Let me say it that way,
all right. I told you guysare gonna be a huge Eagles show.
So I'm gonna take my first breakhere. We're gonna come back.
Were still going to talk Eagles.I got a couple more things here.
I want to focus on the Siriannijob questions that I've started to come up.

(16:07):
I have a pretty adamant take onthat. And then I also want
to get into some Sixers, talkinghow they've been doing recently and how this
season is all of a sudden turnedinto seemingly one of the funnest that we've
had in a long time. We'llbe back on balls, bats and bets
right after this. The Gambler,Philly's home for all things sports. Gambler.
All right, welcome back, Welcomeback. We're I still gonna keep

(16:30):
going with this Eagles story because youknow, it's the talk of the town.
What else we don't really focus on? But well, I take that
back. There's other things to talk. But we're gonna talk Sixers in a
bit, but need to talk thestuff that I've been here about. Sirianni.
Has this season been great? No, of course not. We already
talked about that all the first segment. Has the offense looked stale at times?

(16:53):
Yeah, it absolutely has. Thewhole wide receiver screen thing on third
and twenty, the lack of arun game in the second half of this
season, tons of issues. There'stons of issues that he could be better
at. But the idea that peopleare bringing up questions of if he should
be fired, are you nuts?The guy has made the playoffs in all

(17:18):
three seasons he's been here. Thefirst season a season that we weren't supposed
to be anywhere close, but hegot there. Last year made the Super
Bowl, we barely lost. Welost and in part because of him,
Sure, but we got there andwe barely lost to an all time great
coach and all time great quarterback.It happens this season he's made the playoffs.

(17:44):
He's I believe we're tied for thesecond best record in the NFC.
I get it with a five seedbecause of the tiebreaker, but and that
this last stretch has been abysmal.I fully get that. But it doesn't
make sense to start talking about,Hey, let's fire the guy against someone
else and who could do better thistown. We stuck with Andy for how

(18:06):
long and we didn't win, didn'tget over the hump. We It's crazy,
man. Look I'm not I thinkit was the right time for us.
To move on from Andy because Ithink, you know, things got
stale, but that was after fourteenyears. If you didn't know, if
Sirianni does this for fourteen years,he just starts doing the Marvin Lewis from
Cincinnati where he makes the playoffs allthe time. It never wins. Fine,

(18:29):
you know it talked to me.He talked to me at ten,
fourteen years whatever. Right now,a young head coach who's made the playoffs
in his first three seasons and hasthis season tied for the second best record
in the NFC, you are nutsif you're talking about firing this guy.
I'm sorry, that's just like everyonelooking to say something hot take ish going

(18:49):
in and I know I'm coming offa segment where I talked about how Jalen's
you know, starting to worry meas like hot take based off which I
don't think. I don't think it'sreally hot, but hey, whoever's take
it is and never think's to thehot take. But the idea that Sirianni
should be in trouble for his jobis crazy. It's absolutely crazy. How

(19:11):
many coaches have had this hit successof the last three seasons. Very few.
Kansas City, Buffalo hasn't made aSuper Bowl. I'm trying to think
who else is, Like even upthere the forty nine ers, they haven't
made a Super Let's see in thelast three years. I guess three years
ago, yes they ah, no, whatever, I'm not gonna focus in
the exact time. San Francisco's upthere too. For Scot Shannan's had success.

(19:33):
Besides that, that's it. Andyeah, you could say he's had
a loaded roster, He's all allthis stuff, but guess what at this
point, can it be that theroster is not as good as we thought
and that's why he's a little underperformingthis year. To separate the two is
difficult. That's the whole thing,you know, with Brady and Belichick,
right like, we didn't know whatBelichick or Brady was without the other because

(19:56):
we'd gotten so used to him,and then look they split up. And
I think it's pretty definitively answered thatBrady was the reason that team was winning
nothing. Belichick didn't have a hugepart to do with it, of course
he did, but Brady was thecatalyst. We I don't know this with
Sirianni. You don't know until youbreak them up. But just breaking it
up. To break it up becauseyou're not happy about the way the last

(20:18):
five month has gone is absolute insanityto me. Also, tell me who
are you bringing in? And yeah, you guess what, you want to
drop a hot name like Belichick?Oh yeah, he's the Patriots gonna let
him go, do you honestly?Right now? Of course, Belichick,
in the realm of things, isall time a much better coach than Sirianni.
It's not even that close Belichick's resumeto Sirianni's, but right now,

(20:41):
Sirianni I think is a better headcoach. Patriots are towards the bottom of
the leg. Belichick the GM hasbeen a disaster. Belichick. It's tough
to evaluate Belichick because there's Belichick thecoach in Belichick the GM, and they're
tied to the hip. But it'sjust an absolute mess right now in New
England, and I don't want totouch him. Let him go to San
Diego or San Diego La the Chargers. That seems to be a hot name.

(21:03):
Let him go somewhere else. SoI'll tell that who we bringing in.
It's also not the Eagles move tobring in a big name coach.
It's really not out of last fourcoaches. So starting with Andy, Andy
was not a big name when hegot here. He wasn't even a coordinator
yet. Then there was Chip.Chip was a big name out of college.
That's the biggest name we have outof the reason for Doug Peterson,

(21:26):
no one else interviewed him and NickSirianni. I maybe someone else interviewed him,
but he wasn't a super hot name, Laurie, and how are gonna
bring in If they were to dothis, they would bring in somebody similar
caliber that they like having someone thatthey can mold to do what they want
to do. That's you might notlike to hear it, but that's what
the that's what they like to do. That's what they would end up doing.

(21:48):
You're not going to fire Siriani whenhe's had nothing but success and just
to bring in someone who's now lessless proven than he is when you don't
need to doesn't need to get alot of stuff under control. Yeah damn
Rady does. But still to firethis guy is absolute madness and you gotta
stop. I don't know. Again, we all have our hot takes.

(22:08):
Everyone there's gonna find topics in themedia to talk about I get it,
but this one's just so dumb tome. It is just idiotic in my
opinion, to be talking about firinga guy who's made the playoffs in three
straight years and is again. Peoplemight look no one believes at the moment.
I'm not even saying I believe it. The Eagles could win the Super

(22:29):
Bowl. Of course they could.They made it to the title game last
year. They have a very solidrecord overall. Of course they could.
It's going the wrong direction right now, but of course they could win it.
So stop writing the story before it'sover, or stop reading the story.
Let me say that, stop stopreading the story and making your opinion
before it's over. Absolutely absurd tobe talking about fire and Sirianni. All

(22:53):
right, let's get off the birds. I need to need a breather from
this because again just driving me crazy. Let's go over to the sixers,
where saw something that I thought wasvery relevant. I think a lot of
us already know this, but hey, you know what, you got to
give credit where credits due. ESPNcame out with their ranking of the best

(23:14):
or let me get it correct,the most valuable off season signings, and
by valuable, I mean like valuebeing the highlight of Hey, you know,
someone might not cost a lot,but they are giving you like primetime
stuff, and they had Kelly UbrayJunior at the top of that list.
And quite frankly, I don't knowif there's a better answer than that the

(23:34):
guy is being all time efficient orthe most efficient he's really been in his
career. Where we got forty eight, I'm around forty eight percent. Field
goal percentage thirty eight percent, fromthree, field goal percentage, free throw
percentage seventy three percent. That's slightlydown, so I guess not every category

(23:55):
effective field goal percentage at fifty sixpercent, that's that's absolutely absurd. That's
really efficient scoring. That's very efficientscoring for a guy that you know somewhat
was written off right he drafted intwenty fifteen, sixteen hes twenty fifteen,
when he's drafted in fifteenth overall pick. Well, it had some hype coming

(24:17):
out of college, came out ofKansas and fell a little bit in the
draft, and he has never fullyput it together. He's always been able
to score. Like last season hedid average twenty with Charlotte, but he
just wasn't nearly as efficient as hewas this season. Last year he was
attempting. Last two seasons in Charlotte, he had attempted seven point three threes
a game, which is a prettyhigh number. That's a lot of shots,

(24:41):
and he was averaging just over two. Right now he's only taking about
four and a half per game andaveraging just under two. The efficiency is
so important with this, and he'sbeen elite. He's also given you solid
defense. He's an athletic wing.We absolutely need athletic wings. He's he's
been fantastic and you got to givecredit where credits due with Kelly yu Bray
and again, I think it's crazyDaryl Moury for signing and realizing the potential

(25:04):
value and how he would fit here. And he's done a great job.
Moury's done a great job, youknow, for coming up on a decade.
Now, maybe it's not quite adecade because he was hurt for the
first two years of MB but youget what I'm saying. We've been saying,
hey, you just got to fillthe team with three and D guys
once. I mean three point shootersthat can play defense, athletic wings.
I've been saying that for years.Instead we try you know, Hey,

(25:26):
we got Ben, Ben can't shoot. You got other stars, you got
Harden, you got all these differentideas that they tried instead of just doing
that, which is what high levelwe've been claring for forever. You don't
need stars. You need some stars. Let me back off, you need
some stars. But what's more importantis having depth and three and D guys.

(25:47):
And they finally got there. Buttomb has been fantastic hitting in that
Melton's having a solid season. There'sjust so many guys that can now fill
this role. And this team isbuilt so well. It's just been built
so well in my opinion, arethey good enough to get over the help?
Obviously we have to get to theplayoffs to see that. But the
other thing, Nick Nurse, Itrust Nick Nurse. I'm not sure I've

(26:08):
loved the first You know what,how what are we through the season?
Like halfway? Let's see, let'sgo to the standings, uh be a
standings, let's see how what's ourall? Right? So we've played thirty
three games, so we're not halfwayyet, so we're about we're over a
third, you know, probably callit three eighths of the season. The
way through. I'm just gonna callit a little over a quarter, just

(26:30):
to you know, keep my ownsanity. I don't think there's a coach
that I've like liked more in thefirst quarter of their first season than what
I've seen on Nick Nurse compared toDoc. And look, Doc, I
wish him nothing about the best.I'm sure he's a great guy and I
look, I thought he had agood personality here in Philly to an extent.

(26:53):
Yeah, maybe not. I'm probablyoverstretching out, but you get what
I'm saying. But Nick Nurse,this offense flows so much better. We're
talking about Eagles flow offense. Theyshould They should bring in Nick Nurse for
a day. Just bring him inand see what he says, because man,
this guy, it runs so muchsmoother. You're getting the best out
of Joel ANDMB just on track rightnow. Have to be another for another

(27:14):
MVP award. Ah. I Man, this team flows right now. And
I think it's a combination of theteam that Maury built in a combination of
Nick Nurse's style coaching. I thinkthey're scary come playoff time. I really
do. I think this team Ibuy. I know we say this each
year with the six Ers that youbuy in and all of a sudden,
you're you get you get your heartripped out. I'm in. I trusting

(27:37):
Nurse. I trust I trust himto maximize Joel in the playoffs. I
think Doc did a terrible job atthat. And I think this team is
built with depth with wing players thatwe can really do this. I fully
buy it. Now. Boston andMilwaukee are still above us in the standings,
were right behind Milwaukee. Boston.Boston looks fantastic. Boston is a
stacked roster. Tatum Brown, DrewHolliday, porzingis that that is a stacked

(28:04):
roster. I will say, Ithis is this is a year where if
you were if we were to loseto Boston like an Eastern Conference finals,
Obviously, the Sixers big issue wasto get to the Eastern Conference Finals.
First. We got get over thathump, so that you would still call
that a success. But Boston isdamn good. Still a defeated at home,
that's absurd to me. They stillhave not lost in the Garden,

(28:25):
which is wild, so they're intheir category. But the Bucks, I'll
be honest, I think the Sixersare better than the Bucks. A lot
of people are gonna say blasphemous.I get it. Giannis is Jannises have
another great season. He saw,and they got Damian Lillard. I need
to I don't know Damian Lillard.To me. While he is a better
player than Drew Holliday, obviously interms of scoring metric, I'm pulling up

(28:49):
some stats. It gets how doI put this? He's a better player,
but I think he's a worse fit. I really do like it's an
absolute mess in Milwaukee at some pointson defense. Drew Holliday was so good
on defense, he really was.Milwaukee comes in as and again it's gonna

(29:15):
sound not that bad, as thetwenty first defensively rated team doesn't sound terrible.
But when you think that the teamsbelow them are Dallas, Brooklyn,
Utah, San Antonio, Atlanta,Detroit, Indiana, Charlotte, Washington,
that's a pretty bad group to bekind of associated with. Sixers in Boston
are top three. I think that'sgonna be a huge deal coming down the

(29:38):
stretch. I really do. Ithink Milwaukee got a little starship. They
said, hey, I need apair a star with Giannis, and look,
Dame's been a beast in Portland foryears, and I get it.
I wanted to here in Philly.I just don't know that that's the fit.
I just really don't. I justreally don't know. A little messy.

(30:00):
But we'll see what we'll see ifthey're able to pull it together.
But I like the Sixers to beable to beat the Bucks in the seven
game series. Right now, theseteams meet thousand percent. Give me the
Sixers over the Bucks. Maybe I'llbe eating those words when we get to
you know, May in June,but that's where I'm sitting with them.
I think this is the second messteam in the East right now. Boston's
Boston's Boston. But we would haveto get to that series to know that

(30:22):
or to know what would happen there. All right, we're gonna take a
quick break. We got our lastfull NFL slate coming up this weekend,
so we're obviously gonna talk through that. Yeah, no, stop bablin,
stop bablince, and we're taking thebreak. We're going out. I'll talk
to you in a minute. Spreadstotals and all the prop bets in between.
It's the Gambler Final fifteen minutes,everybody, we got one full quarter

(30:48):
left. Well, this will goa little bit faster than an NFL quarter
but bringing out we got one weekone, final week of a full slate
of NFL football until so Yes,even though a lot of players will be
sitting. Quarterbacks that we know areout so far, Stafford, Lamar Jackson,
Patrick Mahomes, Brock Purdy, JoeFlacco will not be suiting up this

(31:12):
weekend, along with a lot ofplayers on those teams. Still treasure it.
This is it. You don't getall on until September. So we
got a full slate. We're gonnabreak down every single game, re least
not as breakdown as as much asthe Eagles, but actually we'll do.
We will break down the Eagles alittle bit more than the others, of
course, but looking into it.Starting off, we got two Saturday games,

(31:34):
which, honestly, I don't likethat the NFL is doing this.
I get why. I get whyyou do it for ratings. You want
to isolate as many primetime games asyou can. But all of a sudden,
these games aren't. These games matter, the Saturday ones, and now
all of a sudden they can begetting in it. These teams are getting
inn advantage potentially in Week one ofthe playoffs by having an extra day's rest.
I really don't like this the waythe NFL scheduled this this year,

(31:55):
but nevertheless, we're gonna power through. So first game on Saturday, Steelers
versus Ravens. Obviously, the gamedoes not matter to the Ravens. They're
locked in as the one see LamarJackson I just said not playing. Several
other players I'm sure will either notplay or barely play and then come out
because there's no reason to get themhurt fear the Ravens. Steelers are going.
They're starting Mason Rudolph, so he'sgoing now. Whether it's because Kenny

(32:19):
Pickett's hurt or just refuses to bethe backup, that's yet to be seen.
I don't fully know. But Steelershave everything to gain during this yet
spreads only three and a half.That spread screams Baltimore to me. It's
a rivalry game. The Ravens.The Ravens Steelers don't like each other.
We know that, But I dowant to say this. I saw someone

(32:44):
doing some in depth analysis. Ithink it might have been Mark Kenry Junior
from the game I forget. Someonewas breaking it down though, where they
said the Ravens would be better offby on the Steelers win, because then
it helps them potentially avoid a firstround match or the divisional round matchupgainst the
Bills. Because the Bills lose butstill get in all of a sudden,
Baltimore could be seeing them really quick. Whereas if the Steelers win, I

(33:07):
think there's a way that the Billscan be out of the playoffs. There
is a way that that happens.I think that's impacted if the Steelers win.
If you're Baltimore, that similar LikeI remember the twenty eleven I think
Philly season where we let Saint Louisin and then they beat us. By
let I mean, we beat Atlanta. The game didn't matter to us,

(33:29):
but we beat Atlanta, kept Atlantaout, and then Saint Louis got in.
This is a really similar situation forthe Steelers or for the Ravens.
I guess you should say, I'mgoing to total in this game's thirty four
and a half. I think it'san under that I feel good about.
I think this is an ugly lowscoring game, if you make me call
it. I think the Ravens aregoing to try and take care of business

(33:51):
here, so I think I'm gonnago with the Ravens, but Steelers are
the ones I have everything to losethere next to the Saturday Night It's kind
of a winner get winning, getin Texans and Colts. Texans one point
favorite on the road road C J. Strouds obviously had a phenomenal season.
I like the Colts at home.I do. I like the Colts at
home in this spot, playoff ishatmosphere. Rookie quarterback on the other side,

(34:15):
I know Gardners have a ton ofexperience in this type of scenario,
but he is a more seasoned NFLquarterback. I'm not saying he's gonna play
better, but I think he mightbe able to limit a mistake or two
that we might see out of Stroudcome out. Also, the Texans,
to me, they've up and downa little bit more recently. Not as
consistent as I'd like to see themplay. Not saying the Colts have been.
But I'll take Stiking in. I'lltake Stiking and Garter at home.

(34:37):
I'll if it was in Texas,I would be on the other way.
But give me them at home Colts. I'll take the money line at plus
one h two next up, wegot Bucks and Panthers. Bucks win,
they're in they would be NFC Southchamps. This spread is screaming Panthers to
me. This is the Panthers havenothing to play for. They also don't
have any motivation to lose though,as they don't own their first round pick.

(35:00):
I'm calling madness. I think thePanthers find a way to get this
win. I do. I thinkit's gonna be I think that's what causes
some chaos. I think the Panthersgonna win outright at home. Pure spread
read four and a half. Ithink it's an ugly win for Carolina and
sadly Baker after a very good season, pulls a Baker. And as an

(35:21):
issue Lions and Vikings game does matterto both teams. Both teams not eliminated.
Lions are in the playoffs, butthey're still fighting for seeding. Viking
is not eliminated yet. I thinkthe Lions Dan Campbell's a no nonsense type
of guy. I think they goin and just take care of business and
beat up on Minnesota. Hear Minnesotastarting Nick Mullins. So I think it

(35:44):
could be a relatively high scoring game, relatively high total forty five and a
half. Uh, but I likethe Lions in that one to come out
pretty pretty on top. I thinkI don't think they're gonna rest because they're
not going to know their motivation duringtheir game because hype Ofthically, if Dallas,
let me do this math right,if Dallas Dallas loses Washington, not

(36:07):
Washington, excuse me, Washington beatsDallas, that's how we can include Washington
this sentence, and Detroit wins.I believe Detroit gets a two seed even
if the Eagles win off to doublecheck that piece with how the Eagles factor
in. But I mean either way, the Eagles could also lose them that
would give Detroit the two seeds.So Detroit's not going to know their full
motivation. There's going to play itout, and I think that's what they're

(36:29):
gonna go with. I think they'regoing to beat up on Minnesota, not
rest anybody, and just go forward. That's my gut. With Dan Campbell
Jaggs, Titans might have seen alittle bit of a turning point last week.
Jags beat up on the Panthers,great defensive performance. Titans Mike Brabell
I do love as a coach andthey have some fight four point spread.
I'm still gonna go with Jacksonville inthis one. I think Tennessee is limping

(36:50):
a little bit too much coming tothis last week in Jacksonville might be a
sneaky playoff team. If I'm beinghonest, I think Jacksonville could be a
very sneaky playoff team as we getcome into as we're in January, getting
ready for some playoff football. SaintsFalcons. I got one of those recaps
on one of our one of thesports betting sites, and the Saints are

(37:12):
my most bet team this year,and man, they've been frustrating. I
bet them live, but I believein that team. I want to go
down with the ship. I thinkthey win that game. I think the
Saints end up winning that division,which is wild to say if they're up
and down, but I think thePanthers win and the Saints win, which
gives us Saints the NFC South.They're three point favorites at home versus Atlanta
Jets. Patriots Patriots two and ahalf point favorites. I don't know why

(37:37):
one of the Patriots shown us besidesthat one win in Denver. Let's look
at the resents for these teams.I know neither one's good both out of
the playoffs. Nothing really of notegood either way. But I don't know
why in your right mind we wouldhave the Patriots favored over anybody at this
point in the season. Lost.They played all right last weekends Buffalo,

(38:00):
so I guess that's what we're basingon. They lost twenty seven to twenty
one to Buffalo Jets. Not great, of course, but with Trevor Simeon
at least sometimes of life to beatthe Commanders a couple weeks back, beat
the Texans a couple weeks back beforethat. I think the Jets do a
Jets, hurt themselves in draft position, and get a win. Bill Belichick
knows that they don't. Patriots don'twant to win, and great, even

(38:20):
though he's out the door, Idon't think he's gonna, well, look,
he's gonna try to win the game. I'm not trying to say he's
gonna rag it. But I thinkthe Jets end up pulling that one out
on the road. Give me Jetsover Patriots that won that game, and
then to close out our one o'clockslate, Browns versus Bengals seven points.
Joe Flaggers not playing Browns are gonnabe resting people. I think the Bengals
can padd some stats with Jake Browningand go get a win. I think

(38:44):
the Bengals dominate that game all lateat seven points Cincy, I'm gonna save
the Eagles game for last. BearsPackers game really matters to the Packer.
Oh no, one, let medouble check that out. Are the Packers
eliminated or not? One second?Hold? Please, hop please? I
thought the Packers still had a shot. I think they do. Confirming,

(39:08):
confirming, confirming, Yeah, yeah, Packers. Absolutely. The Packers are
in the seventh slot right now.Part of my French excuse me, of
course they are. So Packers playingthe Bears. Packers are three point favorites
at home. That's a Bears line. Again. The teams have nothing to
play for. Be careful, they'rethe most dangerous. Justin Field's really playing

(39:30):
for his job quite frankly, becauseyou know the Bears have the number one
pick because they own that Panthers pick. I think Justin Fields shows up and
balls out in this game. Ithink this is an over I think him
and Jordan Love will give you goingback and forth here. I think This
is an over forty five in thisone. I like the Bears. Give
me the Bears to coming out onthe road. Justin Fields looked good last
week in a big win for Chicago. They dominated the Falcons, who are

(39:52):
also fighting for playoff position. Sogive me the Bears on the road.
Cowboys Commanders thirteen point spread down obviouslyneeds to win to lock in that two
seed in the division. I thinkthey win the game. I don't know
if they cover the spread. Ithink Commanders show a little bit of fight.
Sam how is enough talent to lookhe ken ruin you with the picks,
but he can also keep you ina game. Games in Washington,

(40:13):
I think the Commanders have a littlebit of fight. Ron Rivera gets his
guys up for what could be hislast game as head coach there. He
has not, unfortunately had a greattenure there is the commander of the Commanders.
But I think they wake up andcover the thirteen. Seattle versus Arizona.
Arizona coming off a high now thisis going to be their last home
game, but I think Seattle goesin there gets it done again fighting for

(40:36):
playoff position. Seattle's a three pointfavorite on the road. It's a letdown
game for Arizona. They's had theirSuper Bowl. Jonathan Ganning got his win
over his X team. I thinkSeattle goes in there and beats him up.
Raiders Broncos. Antonio appears getting somelate pushes for like Coach of the
Year status. Give me the Raiders. Yeah, as give me the Raiders.
I know they lost the Colts lastweek in a close game. Raiders

(40:59):
are at how minus three, Broncosare eliminated. Jared Stinhams starting. Not
that he's great, but I dothink he is downgrade from Russell Wilson.
So yeah, give me the Raidersthere. But next up after that the
Rams. Forty nine ers, bothquarterbacks sitting, a lot of players on
both sides of the ball sitting.I don't know what to think of this
one. This is this is anabsolute mess. Forty nine Ers are four

(41:22):
point favorites. It's a backups game. It's gonna be messy. I don't
think either coach is gonna show anythingbecause they very well could end up playing
each other in the for a divisionalround. If the Rams can get out
of there. Yeah, I thinkit may be an under under forty one.
I think both coaches are gonna playa very conservative So that's my play
if you want to, if youfeel that urge to play Rams forty nine

(41:43):
ers, give me the under inthat one. Chiefs, Chargers, Eastern
Stick and Chargers three and a halfpoint favorite over Kansas City because Kansas City
is sitting players. I think theChargers get it done. I think Eastern
Stick can put up some points.At least he's shown it a little bit,
you know, the twenty point rangeor so. I think they get
that done, and the Chargers showup a little bit in their last home

(42:05):
game, the Nightcap Bills Dolphins.Bill's two and a half point favorites on
the road. This is for theAFC East title. Man, it's a
tough one. I can't believe us. I think it's Miami. I think
Miami finally gets a good win overa good opponent. It's tough to say

(42:27):
that in Week eighteen. We haven'tseen it much from all season, but
I'm just telling you my gut,my gut is Miami here finally gets a
job done at home. Week seventeen. We'll see if Josh Allen company make
the playoffs. It's wild. TheBills can either be the two seater out
of the playoffs. It is avery fun, crazy season in that sense.
In the last game obviously skipped overit four to twenty eight. It's

(42:49):
listed here on Sunday Eagles Giants Eaglesfive and a half point favorites, your
totals forty two and a half.I've heard the debates, and I honestly,
I don't know what I would do. This is one where I don't
have a full opinion. My gutreaction is Eagles need to get right game.
You play everybody and just go forwardand get there. But it's gonna
be rainy. That met life turfwe know causes injuries. Man, it's

(43:13):
messy. I don't I can seeit either way. I think as of
now the Eagles are playing everybody.At least that's the assumption I gotta go
with until I don't hear it Giantsgetting five and a half at home.
Quite frankly, the way this Eaglesteam's been playing, I'd have to take
the Giants even if the Eagles doplay everybody. So therefore, if you're
really looking to bet, and Idon't bet against the Philly teams, so
I won't be doing this just fortransparency, But I think the money is

(43:37):
on the Giants here, because wemight be there's a chance we set some
guys or at least pull some guysout earlier, especially if you see during
that game that, let's say Dallaspulls away from Washington. Yeah, I
could see it. I think thevalue here is on the Giants getting the
five and a half, if notthe money line. All right, everyone
that does it for another episode ofballs, Bats and Bets. We'll be

(43:58):
back next week. NFL playoffs comingup. I'm not missing that show,
so we're gonna be talking all thingsNFL coming up very shortly as the playoff
season gets going. I want todo some playoff futures, but no,
we'll save that for next week ona Friday as we dive into that.
Thanks is always for tuning in.Keep a tuned to the Gambler all week
long, all NFL playoffs. Long, fantastic minds here. Everyone you know

(44:21):
it. You know the names,Sean Brace, John Jansen, Mark Henry
Junior, Sean Barnhard, Joe Tanzy, etc. Etc. So many Luke
Arkan is everyone beef. A lotof awesome dudes. Roy Burton, you
know I got because IM gonna missone and I can't have that. So
I'm going to stop there, buttune in Gambler all year long. We're

(44:42):
just getting started. Twenty twenty four, Happy New Year everyone, The last
time I'm going to say it.Peace,