Countdown to Kickoff Presented by BetMGM

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Don't listening to Fox Sports Radio? Are you college fans?
Welcome to the biggest tailgate party in the nation, Fox
Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bat MGM, the

(00:21):
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This is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by
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(00:41):
Brian No, former Penn State All American, Rich Hornberger, and
fs are betting analyst Jared Smith. Oh what's going on? Everybody?
Good morning, Welcome into a super wild Card weekend, three
luscious days ball over here. I am completely fired up.

(01:04):
I will be totally out of control all three days.
How are you gents doing this morning? Everything could everything
right in the world with you guys? All right, We're
getting them in a in a little bit here. I'll
get my compadres here in a bit. In the meantime, Uh,
I'm just gonna yak at you. I'm just gonna talk

(01:26):
ball in the meantime and then we'll tag team it.
You know. They're kind of like old school w w E.
They're on the turn buckle leaning over the ropes, like
tag me into I'm like, nope, not yet, not yet.
I'm gonna figure four leg black right here. So we'll
get them momentarily. So let's start off with the first
matchup of the day, Seahawks at the forty Nighters. And

(01:51):
first things first, Seattle just getting to the playoffs. What
a wild week eight teen it was. So Seattle survives
against the Rams. The game goes into overtime after they
jinked a field goal attempt off the upright didn't hurt Seattle.
They end up beating the Rams in overtime, and then

(02:13):
they needed some help in the nightcap, and the Lions
gave it to him. The Lions with their aggressive style,
their hooking ladder going forward on fourth down, Lions win
Packers out rich orin Burger, I was telling you remember
Aaron Rodgers scolding the media and scolding the naysayers. What
were you guys were talking trash when we were four

(02:35):
and eight? What now? I'm like, yeah, you're eight and eight,
you might squeak into the playoffs and they didn't even
make it. Yeah, I liked it. He was wrong, but
I liked it, you know what I mean, Like the
reality is what the reality is for both the Packers
and the Buccaneers. It's been a real rocky ride for
both of those teams. Right. They're helmed by unbelievably talented

(02:57):
quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers for all those years in Green Bay,
Tom Brady for all those years in New England, and
now the recent success in Tampa Bay. But the teams
around them, I mean, look, it's is it is it
none of their fault, No, because they're on those teams.
And we actually watched the Lions game that Aaron Rodgers

(03:17):
basically gave away himself. He threw all those interceptions, especially
down near the red zone. But um, but yeah, I
mean it just wasn't his year and it showed. And
by the way, I mean the work that Dan Campbell
has done with the Detroit Lions, you I mean, we
can't look past that. There was a team on the

(03:38):
other side of that billing that just played the game
of their lives. I mean, talk about slaying a dragon.
That's that is, that's exactly what they set out to do,
and so credit to them. But yeah, you're right now,
Seattle kind of seeks in the back door because the
Lions took care of business. It's kind of interesting last
week where the Lions were so ultra aggressive of and

(04:01):
some of that had to do with they didn't have
a playoff berth on the line, right, they could just
let it all hang out. So for Super wild Card weekend,
I'm really curious which teams play like that, Which teams
play like the Week eighteen Lions where they are aggressive
and they're not. It's sort of what Jim er Say,
the Colts team owner, was getting at, and he said

(04:24):
it in a really clunky way when he named Jeff
Saturday the interim head coach, where he's like, I don't
I don't want these coaches who are consumed by the
fear over here. I think when he was really saying
in an odd way is he wants his coach to
act like Dan Campbell did in Week eighteen and just
let it all hang out. We've got Jared Smith with us,
who i I'm tagging in right now. He was over

(04:46):
the he was over the top problem. He's like, tag
me in. I'm like Jared Smith, the only way to
get me to shut up this is shut my mic off.
The one thing have Honestly, Um, this is gonna be
a really fun weekend. There's something about the NFL playoffs
that just is different than the college bull season, which

(05:10):
obviously is more of an elongated, you know, journey. This
is a sprint. Thirteen games and that's it, and half
of them are this weekend. So this is it, guys.
I mean, we made it to the end of the rainbow.
Here we only got We only have a few teams
left that can win, that can win the Lombardi Trophy.
So we'll see how it saying that song, Susan who's

(05:33):
saying that? Michael McDonald from the Doobie Brothers. Yeah, yeah,
here you go? Is it? Kenny Loggins? Okay, okay, Isaac,
I trust I. For some reason, Sam's got Sam's working
overtime today. He deserves a race for punch absolute numbers

(05:54):
like one of those old school operators with all the
lines there. So we got the Niners favored by nine
and a half. The total is forty two, but Niners
favored by nine and a half over the Seahawks. Jared
you and I were talking about this on the podcast,
uh the Fox Sports Radio Countdown to Kickoff presented by
MGM podcast or right, like, we're talking about this and

(06:16):
it just seems like the books are like, Hey, you know,
Niners just have to win by double digits. They're gonna
do that, right, Yeah, come on take the Niners MNUS
nine and a half. What are you worried about? It
seems like it could be possibly a trap. I'm just
curious about Purty Palooza. I think a big part of
this game comes down to Brock Purty. It's been a

(06:37):
love fest Mr Irrelevant. He's played well. But can that
Seahawks defense, who's been awful against the rush, they give
up almost five yards per rush? Can they play decent
enough rush defense where Purty might have to do more
than what the Niners would want him to do. Yeah,
I'm not really sure how I feel about the Seahawks

(06:59):
defense in this game. I think the rain might be
a factor. I'm looking at it now, and I feel
like the weather is always more of a talking point
than it actually plays out as an impact on the game.
And when I'm looking at it now, rain showers thirty
seven mile an hour rain, So I'm not really considering

(07:19):
the weather a factor. I know we've heard a little
bit about that this week. I think the biggest factor
in this game is Gino Smith, who leads the NFL
and turnover worthy plays and the Niners who have the
most turnover luck in the NFL this season. And and listen,
a lot of these games this weekend are gonna be
decided by one or two plays and it's going to
be in the turnover category. So very hard to predict,

(07:42):
but you can see which teams might be a little
more turnover prone than others. Brock Purdy has been relatively clean,
Gino hasn't. So that's the key to me, is Congino
maybe play a clean game. And will brock Purty, who
almost threw a big interception in that last Seattle game,
will he finally fall off the turnover wagon Because to me,

(08:04):
the turnover differential and the turnover margin and how many
times can I say turnover in one handicap will be
the key in this game. Yeah, it's that. And it's
special teams like we saw Pat's Bills, right, you know
the season uh finale for the Bills and the Patriots.
And the Patriots all they need to do is win
and get in And Buffalo had to kick off returns

(08:27):
for a touchdown from the heam Hines and the rest
is history. So yeah, I I agree with you. I
think that some of these games, especially games like this,
where these are teams that faced each other, I mean
constantly over the past couple of years. I know this
is a different complexion of a Seahawks team this year

(08:47):
with a new starting quarterback, Gino Smith, but they've seen
them twice, you know, uh. I I realized that things
have changed with the San Francisco forty Niners, um because
now Brock Purty is their starting court back when things
were different earlier in the year. But the Seahawks outside
of that position have seen the Niners twice. So I
agree with you. I think these games, when you get

(09:09):
the opportunity to look at film of you against them,
like you're not trying to find different offenses that look
like what you do attacking their defense. You can actually
go and look at your offense attacking their defense. You're
gonna win on the margin. So it is gonna be turnovers,
it is gonna be special teams plays, just like we
saw with Buffalo New England to finish the season. I

(09:32):
think that's exactly what we see with Seattle and the Niners.
I'm kind of curious, uh, Kandre Digs. Like you mentioned Jared,
he should have picked off brock Purty in the regular
season matchup in Seattle. It was right hit him right
in the number six, and he dropped it before halftime.
Now my question would be if he had caught it
and that was in the middle of the field, would

(09:53):
he have looked at the Niners bench and talk trash
and somehow meandered out of bounds in instead of running
up the field like he did last week against the Rams.
I wonder if that would have been the case. Will
never know, never know if that was never that would
have happened with Diggs right there. But I think it
starts for Seattle with slowing down the running game. If

(10:14):
you're not able to do that, it's a freaking rap
because Gino against this forty Niners defense. That forty Niners
defense is rough, and if both the running game and
the passing game are working for the Niners coupled with
that defense, that you have no chance. So I think
it starts with slowing down the running game. I know
it's easier said than done, based on how Seattle's played

(10:37):
against the run this year, but they've got to start.
There has to start with decent rush defense for Seattle.
Seattle really struggles to defend tight ends as well. Seven
and dv O A. They gave up two touchdowns to
Kittle in the last matchup, and listen, they held the
Chiefs to two ninety seven total yards at Arrowhead, but
a hundred and thirteen of those yards where to Travis Kelsey.

(11:00):
So if you want an angle this weekend, and I
already bet this the over Kiddle. Now, of course the
rain could, of course ruin any passing game props, but
Kiddle at three and a half receptions seems like a bet.
He's the security blanket, right Rich, Like if if it's
your first postseason game and you're struggling and you're like, hey,

(11:20):
I need a guy that I can throw too, that's
gonna make a play. That's the guy I want the
ball in his hands, right Yeah, yeah, no question about it.
And also they do him a lot of favors. I'm
talking about Kyle Shanahan, the head coach and the play caller.
Does Brock pretty a tremendous amount of of help they
get him with Christian McCaffrey, who I mean, Like you

(11:42):
just mentioned Kittle, arguably the best or one of the
best pass catching tight ends in the league current thing,
maybe all time, when when it's all said and done,
Christian McCaffrey one of the best receiving running backs, maybe
all time. When he's finished. These guy eyes are at
his disposal. And Kyle Shanahan isn't shy to make this

(12:05):
game right into the sweet spot for brock Purty where
it's gonna be angle right routes out of the backfield,
option routes, you know, those those those quick digs, um,
you know, shorter passes, you know, and then on play action,
obviously he'll air it out. And brock Purty has thrown
a pension too, has has shown a pension to connect
on the sideline when he's asked to throw a nice

(12:27):
deep ball. So he's got some of the goods. But
I agree. I think they're gonna protect him. I think
they're gonna find a way to make him comfortable early
in this game, especially if this game requires the Niners
offense to wake up early. Um, because you don't want
him to make the big play. You don't want him
to turn over the football and then start getting in

(12:48):
his head like, oh this is my first time in
the playoffs, and now I get what everybody's talking about.
You want to try to make this game as easy
for brock Purty as possible, have him walking away going
that wasn't so bad and we beat him. Great, Who's next?
You know? Yeah, and we'll see if it's like that
today or not. By the way, be sure to check

(13:08):
out the new looking features in the bet mgm app.
It's fast and easy access to the sports you love,
whether it's live betting, the Daily Lions boost, or the
cash out feature. And new users can use the code
countdown for a special offer. That's code countdown in the
bet mgm app. We are off and freaking running. We've
got Rich jin Burger, Penn State, All American, Jared Smith,

(13:29):
FS are betting analyst myself, Brian no I felt like
I just had a flashback to last week in Cincinnati.
We couldn't hear anything for a second, and we tossed
it to Ilo and we couldn't hear so we just
assumed Ilo made a joke and we couldn't hear him
and there was just ted side. I'm not sure, but
it reminds me of today because I was like, I'm

(13:51):
just fired up for Super Wild Card Wick. How do
you guys feel about gets great? Ksome, I'll just talk
fun falling to me time over gangs all here. We're
all ready to go though. Man, we're all set up.
Uh Iowa Sam our technical producer is a miracle worker
doing a great job over there. All right, cop it

(14:12):
up next? Could this game be a shootout? We'll dive in.
It's Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM.
Welcome to the biggest tailgate party in the nation. You're
locked into Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff Touchdown and
it's presented by bat MGM, the King of sports books

(14:37):
once again. Here's Brian no, Rich Hornberger and Jared Smith.
Welcome back to Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented
by bet MGM. New users download the bet MGM app
today and use code countdown for a special offer. That's
code countdown in the bet MGM app. Okay, the nightcap
this evening, Chargers at the Jags, Chargers favorite on the

(15:02):
road by two and a half points, totals forty seven
and a half. I see a lot of people expecting
to shoot out. Here are we going to see a
shootout now. Trevor Lawrence justin Herbert. Trevor Lawrence lit up
the Chargers way back in Week three. He played very well.
Two sixty two yards, three touchdown passes. It was so

(15:24):
long ago. James Robinson was still the running back for
the Jags a long time ago. But one of the
Chargers main weapons, Mike Williams, is out for this game.
The wide receiver has a small fracture in his back.
Why does he have that? Oh, that's right, because he
was playing in a totally meaningless Week eight team game
against Denver last week. Great call, Brandon Staley, good job

(15:45):
by you. What a mess And you know what, here's
the worst part about it. And don't get me wrong, like,
as a general, you gotta know when the war is
over and you've got to know when to call off
the dogs. But if the plan was bad in the
first place, you have to be held accountable for that
as well. My problem was the fact that it felt
like Brandon Staley and the Chargers because I don't think

(16:08):
it was just him who made that decision. I'm sure
he needed clearance to have that many starters out there
on the field and an inconcon inconsequential ball game against
Denver Broncos um. But the fact that they started with
the script where it felt like, all right, we're gonna
beat the Broncos, like that's our plan, that's who we are,
we want to make sure we leave here with a win.

(16:30):
And then in the third quarter, sometime around seven minutes
left in the third, all of a sudden, it was
in about face on that game plan. It was like, no, no, like,
we're not We're not trying to win. We're trying to
leave here with our health. And that, to me should
have been the thought process out the gates. I like
what Tampa Bay did in their final week. I think

(16:53):
that the Chargers should have done the same thing. I
think by the time it was the fourth quarter, they
should have had their third string quarterback in the game,
because why, why do you need to see more from
Justin Herbert? What have What did we learn about Keenan Allen,
Justin Herbert, Joey Bosa or um or or Big Mike
that we didn't know heading into this game in the

(17:14):
first place. We learned nothing, so that I felt like
it was a foolish endeavor playing all of those guys
totally agree, and Rich, you followed this team for years,
you know San Diego, and obviously the move and some
of the trials and tribulation, like just even a verb
that that we've come up with for this team, like

(17:35):
they're gonna charge her, and they managed to do it
in a meaningless game, and that just I don't like
know why that strategy was employed. Maybe it was something
that they've discussed for weeks and they were ready to
deploy it at this time, but it made absolutely no
sense to me. But I agree like the Giants last week,

(17:57):
you saw Davis Webb, it was the third stringer. They
didn't even put Tod Taylor out there because he's had
his injury problems too. It should have an eastern stick
from the second half on. And you know, we saw
the Vikings put their backups in, We saw the Bucks
do it. We saw every team in the NFL employed
this strategy. But Brandon Staley has this very aggressive, contrarian

(18:17):
mindset that can get him into trouble. Sometimes sometimes it's
okay risk different being different in the NFL. Sometimes it's
it's a good thing. But I think the best coaches
know when to throttle up that risk and when not
to and last week was not a week to do it.
And we'll see if it impacts the game. Now. The

(18:39):
one curious thing about this guy's is line didn't move
off two and a half yesterday when the Mike Williams
news was announced. Now, to be fair, receivers don't move
the lines a ton to begin with. But you thought
maybe the sentiment on this Chargers team would be a
little bit more negative and you would have gotten one
or two sharp betters that took two points with the Jags.

(19:00):
This is a I see a lot of errands with
this game because you have two quarterbacks making their first
playoffs start. Odds are one of them doesn't play well,
and we'll see which one it is. And well, i'll
give you the stat later when we get first time
playoff quarterback going up against playoff veteran. It is very,
very negative against the debutantes. But I could see both
quarterbacks playing well. I could see both quarterbacks playing poorly. Honestly,

(19:22):
I do see a lot of variants with this game.
The thing that stands out to me that I find
so interesting Rich you were talking about chargering, you know,
and I get it where you might be uncomfortable taking
the Chargers because if you take them and they invent
another way to lose a game, you're gonna look like
an idiot. And some people guard against that, like I

(19:43):
don't want to look like a complete sucker. But think
about this. The Bengals last season, they hadn't won a
playoff game in three decades, and they were horrible on
the road, and they had all these negative stats, and
then all of a sudden, you blink and they're basically
like a play away from winning the Super Bowl and
a defensive holding penalty away from winning the super Bowl.

(20:05):
So sometimes teams that haven't fared well for a long time,
you throw that out the window in one specific year,
and that could be the Chargers this season. If you
think about Jacksonville, they're lucky to be here. They should
have lost last week to Josh Dobbs and the Tennessee Titans.
Trevor Lawrence was brutal last week. They couldn't move the ball,

(20:28):
They needed a scoop six to pull that thing out,
and they needed an ugly interception from Dobbs that was
a squeaker man. So I just take that into account
when you just start thinking about, oh, I don't want
to look stupid if I take forget all of that,
don't even get into that mindset, because guess what, from
one time or another, you're gonna look really stupid. But

(20:51):
I wouldn't pick games based on a fear of that happening. Yeah,
and I'll say this, Um, Brandon Staley, for all of
the criticism about how he handles UH fourth downs and
his aggressiveness and his contrarian point of view, he has
finally emerged as one of the more creative and excellent

(21:13):
defensive minds in football. What he's been able to do
since Week fourteen is nothing short of spectacular. I really
the Denver Broncos game on the regular season finale withstanding,
because they were able to score a bunch of points
on the Chargers in a game that didn't matter. Um
that you really felt like the game plan changed, like
I said, in the second half for the Chargers. But

(21:35):
Week fourteen on they they've gotten eighteen sacks, which is
nearly half their sack total on the season. They got
forty on the season. They've woken up again. Uh, this
defense is playing inspired football. In that first matchup in
Week three, they lost Joey Bosa in that game. That's
when he went down with the groin injury and he
went on uh I R and got groin surgery. Um.

(21:57):
So the end of the season, they were waiting for health.
They were waiting for some of these pieces that they
added to the team in the off season to finally
coalesce and become the defense that they were hoping to become.
On paper, it looks great, but you know, not all
the pieces fit right away. And I think this game
comes down to the pass rush. You got two rookie
quarterbacks out there. Uh the first time they faced each

(22:20):
other early in the season, Herbert got rushed a ton
and Lawrence had an easy day in the pocket, and
you saw who won the game. I really think it
comes down to whichever quarterback has the most time in
the pocket. Whichever quarterback doesn't feel the stress and the
pressure of the defense bearing down on them is going
to excel in this game. And the one who who

(22:40):
is struggling out there and it has the defense in
their face and is getting hit and has up the
middle pressure, that's gonna be the team that unfortunately folds
up their tents and go home for the off season. Yeah,
Court Lindsley didn't play in the last game, and Rich
I know you know this. I mean, the center position
is just vital when you watching to diagnose blitzes. And

(23:03):
Joey Boza got hurt in the last game as well,
only played thirteen snaps. Now, the one thing about the
Chargers offensive line is I think they're getting healthier. The
Jaguars are kind of going in the other direction. Cam
Robinson big downgrade without him, Walker Little has made three
starts at left tackle. He's been okay, eight total pressures,
gave up a sack, below average grade. But to me,

(23:24):
the key is Brandon Staley likes to be I mean,
we just said he played his starters in Week eighteen.
He's an aggressive coach. He is going to bring the
house and he's gonna make Trevor. Lawrence diagnosed that Trevor's
actually been okay this year against the blitz He's only
taking eight sacks when blitz this year. That's the fifth
lowest amount in the league, and he's got the seventh

(23:45):
lowest pressure to sack ratio. This is kind of a
off the cough metric that I like to look at
to tell me how quarterbacks are at absorbing pressure and
not taking the sack, either getting the ball out or
going to your check down. Ever, has actually been pretty
good in that category this year. Justin Herbert has been
great too. He's a top ten quarterback pressure to sack ratio,

(24:07):
so we'll see. I agree with you too. It's it's
always about the trenches. The trenches dominate the you know
who wins and loses these games, and it's often in
an overlook category because it's the offensive lineman and the
defensive lineman. There's no stats, there's no you know, touchdowns
or yards or props. It's it's often overlooked, but not
by me. I love the trenches, Rich, I'm in the

(24:28):
big ugly category just like you. But this is what
we do. We diagnose this stuff. So I think it's
gonna be a fascinating matchup game. Within the game, Brandon
Stanley will bring more pressure and the Jaguars are pretty
good at getting pressure too. And both quarterbacks are are
kind of slippery in the pocket. You know, they're not
you know, burners like a Justin Fields, but they can
move and they can avoid sacks. And I think that's

(24:50):
gonna because you know, second and seventeen it's the worst
possible scenario you can be. And just like we took
that sack on the opening drive, but we got it back.
A couple of chunk players. Right now, richis rated to
pancake block and we're the offense. You love the trenches,
We love the trenches. We also love Isaac lob and
cron Ill with the latest. What's going on? By good morning, fellas. Indeed,

(25:13):
the NFL playoffs kick off at four thirty Eastern today
as the San Francisco forty Niners host the Seattle Seahawks
in an NFC wild card game. Then tonight, as you've
been discussing, eight fifteen Eastern from Jacksonville, it's the Chargers
and the Jaguars in an a f C wild card game.
Chargers star receiver Mike Williams ruled out because of a
back injury. In the NBA on Friday, No excuse me,

(25:37):
we have a cop button for a reason, folks. In
the NBA on Friday night, Denver defeated the Los Angeles
Slivers one fifteen to one oh three without Nikola Yokich.
Denver on a five game winning streak now and sold
possession of first place in the West at twenty nine
and thirteen break up the Sacramento Kings. They beat the
Houston Rockets by twenty five behind a Demontes Samoa's triple double.

(25:58):
Sacramento is now twenty three and eighteen and get this,
Sacramento was five games above five hundred for the first
time in seventeen years. Lori market and scored twenty eight
in Utah's won twelve to Watawait win over Orlando Golden
State What at San Antonio one four to one thirteen.
The game was played at the Alamo Dome as part

(26:20):
of the Spurs special fifty year anniversary celebration in front
of an NBA regular season record crowd of sixty eight thousand,
three hundred and twenty three. Everyone what you're talking about?
Thank you? Coach Pop. Jalen Brunson scored thirty four as
the New York Knicks one at Washington one twelve to Watahwait.
The Knicks have won six out of their last seven games.

(26:42):
Kyle Kuzma forty in a losing cause for Washington fellas,
I I can fill you in on the witticism that
I gave to you last week that you did not
hear from Cincinnati as I recall, it was a It
was just it was not a joke. It was rather
a question about whether you had I had the opportunity

(27:03):
to sample Skyline Chili during I was met with the chili.
So I was met with a chili silence. Okay, moving yeah, yeah,
sorry about that. I low. We couldn't hear a word
of that just just for a couple of minutes. Uh,
strange timing. You didn't miss much, did you know that?

(27:24):
It's funny though, man? It's Fox Sports Radios count Down
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(27:45):
in my notes, we have to talk about this next game,
whether you like it or not. No, it would be
my dolphins, my beloved dolphins over here against those Bills.
You think they're winning. I gave you the Mega Teaser
you know card this week, and you're like, the Dolphins
are gonna right. Oh yeah, yeah, that was just that

(28:06):
was a joke on the text right over there. Jared
was like, how does this lose? And it was a
mega teaser, and I'm like, fins up, fins rise up
and win out right, that's how it loses. Was so big.
That was the only teaser that didn't get me through
the zero that. Yeah, I know. So the bill is
favored by thirteen and a half. No to a tongue

(28:27):
of La hasn't been cleared from concussion protocol. Teddy Bridgewater
has a dislocated pinky finger, so in steps in seventh
round rookie Skyler Thompson, who my goodness, shield your eyes
and ears. I think when you hear some of these stats,
it's just bad. It boils down to it's bad. There

(28:47):
are forty seven quarterbacks with at least a hundred attempts
this season. He's last in touchdown to interception ratio. He's
forty five in QBR, He's forty six in completion percent.
So it is a house of horrors, most likely today
for the Fins on the road against Buffalo. Yeah, I listen.
I I think Skyler Thompson's better than we think he

(29:11):
is based off a very limited exposure. Uh. Look, the
preseason counts for nothing. It's basically uh college All star game. Um,
but he he completed seventy of his passes in the
preseason and through for five touchdowns. However, he kind of
was thrown into action early in this season and then

(29:34):
again against the Vikings and he really struggled. But in
Week eighteen against the Jets, here he did. He made
some eye opening plays. Like there there were moments where
I'm like, Okay, yeah, I get it, Like he's the
seventh rounder he is in brock Purty, but he's the
type of guy who you can sort of see, all right,

(29:56):
I understand he is a pro. Like he's gonna be
on somebody roster for a long time here because he
can he can do some things. I don't think making
a game plan around him like they would if Ta
was healthy is the intelligent thing to do. And I'm
not I'm not at all campaigning for that, But what
I'm saying is if they find a way to create

(30:17):
a run game against the Bills, if they find a
way to make this hard on the Bills to get
to Skylar, this could be a more evenly matched game
than we then were anticipating. So I'm not completely sold
that this is gonna be the Bills rolling their helmets
out on the field and onto the divisional round we go.

(30:37):
I I like the sentiment that the issue that I
have with the Dolphins this week is it's not just
Skyler Ins Tarren Armstead, It's Brandon Shell, it's Leah Mikenberg.
It's what do we just talk about with the the trenches,
Like I need to see Miami get healthy in that area,
and I don't think they are. I I was on

(30:59):
the Dolphins last week and I was praying to the
Skyler Thompson gods that he would make a few plays
and win that game. And he did, and thankfully I
did not. Um, well, if you had the Jets plus
three and a half, I I don't even know what
to say. Um, that was one of the worst losses
of the year. I think, Um it was the old

(31:20):
you know, kudos to Scott Van Pelt, the pitchy pitchy
woo woo. UM. Never never liked to lose about that way,
but it and for he moster to like it's it's
just there. There's there's not a lot of positive roster um,
you know, news to talk about with Miami now on
the other side for Buffalo, it's just this emotional lift

(31:41):
that we can't quantify with themar Hamlin and the inspiration.
I mean, and this has now turned into one of
the best stories in sports maybe ever. Um, I don't
know if he's gonna be on the sidelines tomorrow. I
think no, But I think at some point it's fair
to assume he will be back with the team, maybe
during this postseason run doctor's orders permitting. But I didn't

(32:02):
do a ton of backlog research with this game because
the priors with the Dolphins are really useless. That they've
been so good this year, but how can you really
use that in this game? And with Buffalo, there's just
such an emotional thing that you can't quantify. I think
the Bills in the first half at seven is is
a bet I've seen floated around by some really smart

(32:23):
people this week. I got in there. I think it's
seven and a half now. I would still play it
there because I do think there's an early boost for them,
just like last week against New England and then the
down to down stuff. Maybe you see Miami keep it
relatively close, but if they're if three fifths of the
offensive line is out. Armstead and Shell are questionable. Eikenberg's
doubtfel that's left tackle, right tackle, left guard. I don't know, Brian.

(32:46):
You tell me you've watched this team a lot, like
I just I don't see a lot of upside there
if those guys aren't on the field keeping Skyler relatively upright. Yeah,
That's what it comes down to is the running game
was big in the last regular season mad Chip where
he most rushed for a buck thirty six, and that
was big in that game. So if I'm Buffalo, it's like,

(33:09):
stop the running game and make Skyler Thompson beat you
over and over and over again behind a banged up
offensive line. We're betting you can't do it. And so
that's the first thing for me is can Miami take
some pressure off of this kid, your seventh round rookie
quarterback by running the ball effectively? No, raheem most with
the broken thumb. So it's Jeff Wilson right, like, can

(33:30):
you can you get a decent running game? Because I
think it starts there. Any hope for the Dolphins starts
with a legitimate running game. And if I'm Buffalo, I'm
doing everything I can to prevent that from happening. Oh yeah,
there's no question about it. I I I I look
at the Dolphins is having a puncher's chance just because
of two names, and one has been less effective this

(33:51):
season than the other, but Tyreek Kill and Jail and Waddle,
if you can find a way to get those guys
involved in the short game. They're explosive with the ball
in their hands. You know, when you talk about the
San Francisco forty Niners, and by the way, they're their
head coach, the Dolphins head coach comes from that system.
It's all about with Brock Purty, getting the ball to

(34:11):
your playmakers as quickly as possible. Like even when teams
attempt to and successfully do, shut down the San Francisco
forty Niners run, they still have a puncher's chance in
every game because you're throwing the ball out on flares
to Debot and to Christian McCaffrey over the middle to Kittle.
And if you look at some of the weapons that
they have in Miami with Hill and Waddle and what

(34:33):
they're able to do on short routes we're talking about
they've only covered eight yards and they get the ball
in their hands. It can be magical. So what you
do when you're going against the defense where you know
the game plan is gonna be to slow down the
run or they know that you're banged up up front,
is you major in the short pass game, and we've

(34:54):
seen this before, you can be very successful. How many
times have we seen this with Tom Brady teams where
the goal is, hey, you know we're gonna put middle.
It's like the Ravens every time Tom Brady faced the
Baltimore Radiant Ravens during his time with the New England Patriots.
We're gonna get up the middle pressure, we're gonna shut
down the run. And if the best quarterback in football

(35:14):
beats us, will will at least be able to sleep tonight.
And what they would do is they would just throw
these three yard passes down the field against the Ravens
and it would be an ugly ball game, but Tom
Brady would win it for him. Now, can Skyler Thompson
be Tom Brady in this game? Chances are no. But
could he get the ball successfully to Tyree Hill and
Jalen Waddle on a couple of plays where if you

(35:37):
you hurt him, if you hurt this defense early and
this past defense has been a little leaky, especially against
the Dolphins. I mean, this could be a ball game.
So look, the Bills right now are riding that emotional high,
and I think that motivation is a tricky thing to quantify,
like we always talked about on this show. Uh but
but yeah, I'm not I'm not completely sold that the

(35:59):
Dolphins don't have a death knell in them that could
you know, kick like a mule. I'll give you this
one to to close on and then Brian can take
it home with his hometown team. There. Josh Allen does,
like Geno Smith, lead the NFL and turnover worthy plays.
What do we say at the top of the show,
is going to be the likely X factor in every

(36:23):
single as it usually is in every single playoff game.
Does Josh Allen have one of those little floaters in
him where it's you know, and he also leads the
NFL and big time throws, So it's a it's a
it's a volatile it's a volatile gap there. And and
the highs with him are high and the lows this
year have been pretty low. I mean, we've had we've
questioned a lot of his decisions this year. So I

(36:45):
don't know, Brian Neo, sneak a couple turnovers there from
underneath Mr Allen's nose and get yourself in this game
somehow with a with a defensive or special team score.
But hits an uphill battle today for the top hill
that certainly is uphill. It's gonna take a few of
those things, and I hope it happens. I would like
to see a competitive game. I'd love to see a
Finns win. But we don't always get what we want

(37:07):
in life, you know what I'm saying. We don't always
get that. We do get rich Orinburger today Penn State
all American. We do have Jared Smith betting analyst with us.
I'm Brian though. Coming up next one of us is
following the lead of Hanold Schwarzenegga. Go Chargers Go, which
one of us you'll find out next? It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown to kick Off, presented by bet MGM. Alright,

(37:40):
this is Jay Glazer. And you may know me for
the world of football or fighting or even shows like
hbos Ballers. Well you don't know is for my entire life.
I have lived in something I refer to as the
great depression anxiety. So now I'm coming out with a
new podcast, Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer,
where each week when we talk about mental health, I

(38:01):
hope to describe it, give it words. Listen to Unbreakable
with Jay Glazer on the I Heart Radio app, Apple
Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Kickoffs are coming, Sue,
and we're leading you up to that. This is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by Bett MGM, the

(38:24):
kick of sports books. Once again, Here's Brian no, Rich
Hornberger and Jared Smit Are you chilling? It is Fox
Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM. Let's
dive into this. Check this out our late letter, Yes,

(38:47):
our Parlay Ladder is brought to you by bet MGM.
Earn a fifty dollar bonus by signing into bet MGM
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the King of sports books, the King of barlay's. Okay,
Jared Smith, you're feeling go charges go today? Why is

(39:08):
that the case? It's a Charger correlation and sco oh,
I just had to that. Can we get one more?
Sam go Chargers Go. That's gotta be my favorite. Arnold
Schwarzenegger meansco whatever of all time. Um So I see
Crack do these all the time. And you know, we've

(39:29):
been doing a lot of college you know sports this year,
obviously on the Saturday Show. But now we're switching in
the NFL. We don't get these opportunities to do the
one game parlays in college football very often because they
don't offer them a bet MGM, because we don't get
a lot of college props. Well, now here we are NFL,
and I'll give you one this week that I think
is very correlated. And you're still getting plus two hundred
on the money line, um or excuse me on the

(39:49):
on the parlay price here, So Chargers money line right
off the top, we obviously think they're gonna win the game.
The correlated aspect of it comes now when we put
keenan Allen six or more receptions based over five and
a half's at nine or more targets in five in
the last six games. The only one he hadn't was
the Rams game where they had a big lead and
they were running the ball, and then you're throwing Keenan
Allen seventy five or more receiving yards basically over seventy

(40:11):
four and a half. And this Jaguars offense or defense
excuse me in devo against wide receiver ones this year,
So Chargers money line. Keenan Allen reception six or more,
Keenan Allen receiving yards seventy five or more and rich second.
I sent this to the group last night. Immediate love it,
retweet sign off. Yeah, yeah, I think Keenan Allen's gonna

(40:32):
have to have a big day for them to have
a big lead, or if they're behind, they're gonna pump
the ball to him. I like it either way, Yep,
like it. I freaking love it. This one coming up next.
This story continues to get stranger and stranger by the day.
We will have details next. Fox Sports Radio has the

(40:53):
best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of
our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com. In within
the I Heart Radio app, search f s R to
listen live. Oh what's going on? Everybody? Welcome in here,
Happy Super wild Card weekend. I'm doing somersaults right now.
That's a lie. I can't do that with speaking into
the microphone at the same time. Maybe I could, Maybe

(41:15):
I could, But I am all fired up over here
for a ball fest six games. And I'll tell you what, guys,
I think the strangest story it's what's happening with the
Baltimore Ravens and their quarterback, Lamar Jackson. Lamar Jackson's out
for this game against the Bengals. Bengals are favored by
eight and a half. It's most likely going to be

(41:37):
Tyler Huntley, the backup quarterback. He's got tendonitis in his
throwing shoulder, though so we that hasn't even been confirmed.
But this story has so many layers with Lamar where
he had to tweet out the other day like, Hey,
I've got a PCL Grade two sprain on the borderline
of a strain three, and I would go if I could.

(42:01):
My knee is still unstable. Can't do it. So he's
putting that out there because there's a lot of chatter
of is Lamar milking this injury a bit because of
the contract status he didn't get the deal he wanted
in the off season. Those are those questions are out
there and the Ravens have taken the approach of like, hey,

(42:21):
we we can't really say anything about anything over here.
Here's a taste from their head coach John Harbaugh. It's
not something that that we can comment on the nature
of an injury specific is he's really the only pertake
a comment on as a person. I mean, there's there's
laws among those lines were educated by the league in
terms of what we're allowed to say and what we're
not allowed to say. So that's nothing I could ever

(42:43):
begin to comment on. It's interesting to me, guys, because
he could say, look, Lamar is a gamer. Nobody wants
to be out there more than Lamar. He could have
done that, but instead he's like, well, we got Hippa
and we can't really say anything about anything. And maybe
he doesn't feel that way about Lamar. The whole thing
is really really strange right now. It really is, And

(43:05):
unfortunately for Lamar, these are some of the circumstances where
really does help you to have an agent. So I
appreciate authenticity. I appreciate communication, especially when you're a star.
That's the reason why even though he says things that
are sometimes controversial, and he says a lot of things
that people don't agree with. I like the fact that

(43:25):
Aaron Rodgers is authentically himself. So whether you love the
guy or you think he's a douche bag, it does
not even come close to mattering. It really doesn't, because
my thought process is, well, at least we know who
he is, you know I I think that's great, and
we know who Lamar who Lamar Jackson is. The problem

(43:48):
is he doesn't have any buffer. He has nobody who
could float a story from him. So instead of being
on the defensive, where it's actually good for him from
a public relate aation standpoint, to be answering questions about
his injuries, he's always on the offensive. He's always the
person who has to be tweeting out about you know, hey,

(44:11):
I never said that, or or what are you talking about?
My knee is really unstable? Like usually the way it
works is if you want that information out, you get
on the phone with your agent, or your agent gets
on the phone with you, and it makes you aware
the way the media tide is turning, whether with you
or against you, and maybe somebody suggests you, like, hey, Lamar,

(44:33):
I think it would be in your best interest if
we flow a source report out to Chefty, out to
wrap aport out to one of these Jay Glazier types,
and we get them to tell everybody how bad your
knee is. And then what they're gonna do talking about
all the local beat reporter types who show up to
the locker room every day in Baltimore, is they're gonna

(44:54):
ask you questions about the instability of your knee, and
then you're gonna confirm it. So we're getting to of
the same ends. But it's not Lamar sounding like that
he has to explain to everybody how bad his knee is,
like that, that that information has just become available to everybody, uh,
through whatever channels, and now he gets to just confirm it.

(45:16):
But there's something very desperate about the way Lamar Jackson
looks when he's talking about how his heart is still
with the Baltimore Ravens even though he's going through this
huge this this huge contract dispute in the beginning of
the season, and now how he would love to be
out there with the boys, but he's got this this
torn up knee. I believe in Lamar Jackson. I don't

(45:37):
think he's lying to anybody. I bet you that knee
is too uh is too messed up to actually play on.
But I will say this, I think that he needs
to hire an agent and a marketing manager in a
huge hurry because he's making some costly errors in terms
of how he handles his public relations. Yeah, it's really
well said. And again I don't have the player agent

(46:00):
effective like you do, Rich. But from the fan perspective,
from the betting perspective, I always appreciate when Aaron Rodgers
comes out and says certain things because I always say
the hardest thing I do week to week is try
to get inside these guys minds because that's always what
the X factor is with a lot of these games.
We can break down the stats till we're blow in

(46:21):
the face sometimes I do. But at the end of
the day, what's the vibe like in the locker room,
what's the vibe like on the sidelines. That's something that
is really hard for us outside the lines to gauge
every week. But Aaron Rodgers other players that are a
little more and the podcasting era has given us more

(46:43):
of a glimpse into this. Everyone's got a podcast these days,
including ours, Please go listen to it, And I think.
I think it's fantastic. It's great, everyone's got one, but
ours is the best. Um. I think that's the hardest
thing we do is to try to figure out the
headspace of in college sports. And we we mostly handle

(47:06):
college here on this show until the NFL, you know,
takes over in January eighteen. Twenty year old kids even harder,
at least in the professional ranks. They are considered professional athletes.
There's a certain standard that they are held to with
their off field you know, the ways that they go
about their business. But with Lamar it's very unique because

(47:26):
of I mean, he's got to be the most high
profile athlete on the planet without an agent, right, I
can't think of a bigger one. Yeah, I agree with that.
I really honestly can't. I mean, who else represents himself
as a starting quarterback over the past two decades? I
can't think. I don't know another one off top of
my head. And that's part of the tweet that he

(47:47):
sent out there. You can tell he doesn't have an
agent or a PRS because the tweet doesn't even sound
like Lamar. I'll reach a couple of lines. You tell
me if this sounds like Lamar. Thank you everyone for
your support and concerns regarding my injuries. I want to
give you all an update as I am in the
recovery process. I've suffered a PCL grade two sprain on
the borderline of a strain three. There is still inflammation

(48:10):
surrounding my knee and my knee remains unstable. I am
in good spirits as I can sound. Came from a
doctor on the road to recovery. Do you like a
doctor sent him that note? It was like just copy
and paste. This is bad. If one of his buddies
was like, Lamar, how are you feeling. I'm in good
spirit as I continue with us on the road to recovery.
What are those automated messages that like someone calls him

(48:32):
and it's like that's the response that comes. If you
would like to hear about the procost, if you would
like presit now like zero for representative representative representatively, Hello
and welcome to Lamar. Phone used to call for showtimes, Yeah,
moviel episode there's such as you like here, there's a

(48:55):
lot of money on the line, and you're right rich.
It's when you don't have an agent, when you don't
have a pr team, And this is real series. You're
going into an off season with your next contract negotiations
on the heels of not playing down the stretch for
a second straight season, and there's speculation that you're milking

(49:16):
it a lot of money on the line Taylor made
for you need a buffer, you need an agent to
help your cause out, and he doesn't have that here.
Yeah yeah, And and like, by the way, all of that,
all of that probably is generated by the Baltimore Ravens
and their front office. And and the reason is, and
we know this, this happens in Major League Baseball arbitration,

(49:39):
This happens in the NBA with contract disputes, this happens
in all sports. The pool gets awfully dirty. All of
those coaches who smiled at you and shared meals with
you and asked you about your mom and and asked
you about your grandma. She she's still okay, yeah, yeah,
she she told me she got sick less week. Okay, Well, listen,
our prayer as are with her. Every night I say

(50:01):
a quick prayer for uh mama Jackson. Like let me
tell you, don't don't worry what we got her. We
got her, you know, Okay, spirits up, like all those
guys turn their backs on you as soon as their
jobs on the line, to make sure that you signed
for as little money as possible. And what does he
miss out on without an agent? Is it ten million dollars?
Is it fifteen? Is it five million a year on

(50:23):
his contract? I don't know, but I do know this,
that's generational wealth. Like that alone, we're talking about the
margins of his contract alone, could change your life and
your family's life, and you're probably your grandchildren's life forever.
So we're not talking about pennies on the dollar here.
We're talking about life changing money. It's not all about money.

(50:46):
It's also it's also about public perception because guess what,
at the end of the day, even though this is
a game and it's a game that you grew up
playing and you loved and you went to college, it's
it's also it's also entertainment. And in the world of entertainment,
as much as people love to build people up, they

(51:07):
love to tear him right back down because everybody loves
a comeback story. And how do you come back, Well,
you gotta be torn down first. So right now we're
seeing the story arc Lamar Jackson. The heights couldn't have
gotten higher after being a thirties second overall pick. The
Baltimore Ravens snuck back into the first round and get him,

(51:28):
and he probably saved John Harbor's career as a head
coach with Baltimore. But now all of a sudden, we're
on the back side of that peak and it's getting
pretty ugly for Lamar. So I don't know, I don't
know if this message gets to him. Um, I'm hoping
he's hearing our voice right now. I'm hoping that he's
tuned into us and listening this morning out there on

(51:49):
the East Coast. Lamar, get an agent, Lamar, get a
marketing guy or girl. Find somebody's been in this business
for a long time so they can start helping you out,
because he's the decisions are not good decisions. Yeah, And
now it all seeps back into what I think is
a little bit more of an intriguing game than maybe
the points bread indicate age. I mean, and again, this

(52:14):
is a subplot to now the main event, which is
all week long. And I'm sure the Ravens players, we
just heard Coach Harbaugh talking about it, I'm sure they're
getting asked this week, and they're trying to deflect. I
heard Calais Campbell come out and say, well, any given Sunday,
you know, trying to make it about well, you know
we're not what we don't have our quarterback, and who

(52:34):
knows what's gonna happen. But anytime you roll out the
ball or throw out the ball, or kick the ball
or whatever metaphor you want to use, any given Sunday,
anything could happen. And I will say this, Lamar Jackson
doesn't play defense. And this Ravens defense is pretty good
since they got real pant Smith in Week nine, their
fifth and efficiency third against the run, and the Bengals
offensive line no Lyle Collins at right tackle, Alex Capp

(52:56):
a little bit questionable to it right guard. This is
a Ravens defense that can cause problems. And with Joe
Burrow three and a half sacks per game first eight
weeks four and four, one and a half sacks allowed
per game for this Bengals offensive line and Joe Burrow
eight and oh in that stretch over the last eight games.
This is a very very fascinating game. I don't can

(53:20):
win it, but I think they've got a chance to
be in it because of their defense. We'll see what
Tyler Huntley does again. Turnovers. That's the theme of the weekend.
But man, I it's it's tough that the Ravens have
to answer all these questions this week because this is
an interesting spot and performance. It could turn into a
game like the Ravens one, which is just freaking ugly,

(53:42):
just ugly. And the Bengals this is an interesting stat.
They gained fewer than three hundred yards five times this season.
Happened in five games. Two of those games were against
the Ravens. They held the Bengals under three hundred yards.
And you said it, Jared, their defense is legit. And uh,
if let's say Tyler Huntley plays turn over free football

(54:06):
right like he's able to run the a little bit here,
you know, you put together a drive here and there.
It's a fourth quarter game. You never know. And Joe
Burrow was not sharp last week against Baltimore. So could
it be competitive? Yeah, I could absolutely see a competitive
game here. Yeah, that's on. Yeah, I just yeah, I
just I think that without without Lamar Jackson, the Ravens

(54:29):
really struggle, obviously for obvious reasons. But if they can.
If they can somehow force the Bengals to play left handed,
if they can somehow rattle the cool confidence of Joe Burrow,
well then they have a shot. But I'll tell you
right now. I mean, if I'm in a defensive room,
whether it's on the secondary side, the linebackers working with

(54:52):
the defensive front, the pass rushers, I'm basically putting up
a picture of Joe Burrow and saying that's it. That's
that's the key to our future right there. If you
get to that man, we have a chance to beat
the Bengals in advanced the divisional round. If we don't
touch him, if he stays clean, we have no shot.
We have no shot. You gotta find a way to
rattle his cage. And I'll be honest with you there,

(55:13):
I'm not sure if there's a way to rattle Joe Burrow.
We haven't seen it yet. We've seen him get sacked
nine times in a postseason game and still persevere um.
So yeah, we'll we'll find out. We'll find out what
kind of CHINNI has, uh, you know, because that would
be my game plan if I was Baltimore. By the way,
what a plot If they're able to get to Joe Burrow.

(55:36):
They're somehow able to pull off a stunner. Most people
don't see that happening. But what if just play this out?
What if the Ravens win the game? What happens with
Lamar the Follower next week? I mean, it's a problem
that I think they want to have, right, they will,
everyone in that locker room will gladly answer questions about
Lamar Jackson for another week if it means they get
to play another week. Yeah, but that would look a

(55:58):
little fishy too, of like, well, we're the divisional round
and he's feeling great. Yeah, I'm gonna go, you know,
Like it's a tricky situation. This season probably comes to
an end tomorrow night, but we'll see how it shakes out.
Every time you make a wager at bet MGM, you
earn bet MGM rewards points that can be redeemed for
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(56:20):
used towards dining shows and hotel rooms and over twenty
MGM resorts. All right, we've got Jared Smith betting analysts,
We've got rich Orin Berger, Penn stayed all American. I'm
Brian though. Coming up next, we could see the best
performance of Super wild Card Weekend from this guy. It's

(56:41):
Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM.
Welcome to the biggest tailgate party in the nation. You're
locked into Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff touched up
and it's presented by bat MGM, the King of sports books.
Once again. Here's Brian No, rich Orin Berger and Jared Smith.

(57:04):
It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by
bet MGM. Every Thursday, be sure to check out our
Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Original podcast features
yours truly, also Jared Smith and Bill Krackenburger. We give
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set up for the weekend in betting. That's every Thursday.
Playoffs are here, huh, take advantage if you get down

(57:28):
betting wise. Definitely check out the podcast. Just search Fox
Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, so this guy,
maybe he has the best performance of Super wild Card Weekend.
What do you think about Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson
he's been tremendous this season, could carve up the g Men. Uh,

(57:49):
it's possible. It's something to keep in mind. I love
this from Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martin Dale. He was
talking about Justin Jefferson and said he's a top two
receiver in the NFL and then quickly said, and he's
not number two. So the great convent from Wink, Yeah,
he really is. I could see Justin Jefferson having a

(58:10):
huge game against the g Men. I don't know if
it's gonna be the best performance of the whole weekend,
but it could be on the shortlist when it's all
said and done. He's incredible. He's incredible. What he did
in that thriller against the Bills earlier this season on
fourth and eighteen on the sideline, that one handed grab
was singularly the best reception we've ever seen in the NFL.

(58:34):
Just considering the circumstances. It wasn't lucky, right. You know,
as much as I love Frank o'harris, a Penn Stater
just like me, as much as I love the man,
you couldn't meet a better person, and obviously was sad
to see him pass away this year. Um, there was
a fair amount of luck to get that play accomplished.

(58:56):
You know, he was in the right place at the
right time. The ball bounced, he got his hand on it,
and it was a game changing play. But what Justin
Jefferson did was a culmination of all of the effort
that he's put into his his you know, his athletic
prowess and his dominance to to be a leaper, and

(59:18):
his coordination and air and he was fighting off a defender,
he was covered, there was no room for that football.
And the fact that he was he had the hand
strength to reel that in and then again bringing back
up the down and distance, and the fact that this
was a god to have it play if the Vikings
were even gonna have a chance to win this football game.
It was outrageous. And it's been that kind of season

(59:40):
for the Vikings. But a big reason for that is
Justin Jefferson. I think with the remaining fourteen teams that
we see in this postseason, I don't know if the
Vikings are gonna make it that deep. I don't know,
but I will say this amongst the remaining fourteen teams,
and for my money, that is the best player left

(01:00:00):
amongst all of them. He is a highlight reel. Yeah,
And the matchups this week. So McKinney didn't play in
the last game, he's healthy one of those safeties for
the Giants. But for the most part of door Jackson's
the other guy that didn't play, one of the starting
corners in the last game. But man Jefferson just trks

(01:00:20):
Fabian Moreau, who's going to be the other corner on
the other side today And we'll see what those matchups
look like, because this is this is a Giants team
that is a bottom ten team in d v O
A against number one receivers and what did Wink Martindale
just say? The number one receiver is Justin Jefferson. So
I think that's that's going to be the great equalizer

(01:00:42):
for all of the Kirk Cousins, Daniel Jones fodder that
we will throw at you for this game, because obviously
the game's revolve around the quarterbacks. But at the end
of the day, I think the Vikings have a player
on their roster that the Giants cannot match, and I
cannot say the same about the Giants. I know se
Kwon Barkley's had a great year. But the Vikings are

(01:01:03):
really good at stopping the run. That's kind of their
strength defensively. They really struggle in the secondary. Daniel Jones
had his best game, one of his best games of
the year, when they faced off three weeks ago. Can
he replicate that Kenned Donotel makes some adjustments and can
Justin Jefferson do what rich just said is make those
explosive plays that just suck the life right out of

(01:01:25):
a defense when the guard, when the play is defended
perfectly and he still makes the catch. That's the Those
are the plays that win postseason games, and I think
Justin Jefferson can make them. I don't see a lot
of players on the Giants skill position roster that can. Yeah,
I wonder if you run it back. That was one
of your better plays of the year, Jared Is. He

(01:01:46):
had Daniel Jones against the Minnesota Vikings completions, attempts, the attempts.
It was the attempt I mean, he went over across
the board. He had his second highest passing yard total
of the season and that game three thirty four past.
Defense is brutal, man, It's brutal, and the Giants throw
a bunch of short, quick stuff, so he could have

(01:02:09):
a bunch of complains. Those are the X factors here,
Jones with his legs, and and you know what can
Brian Gable come up with with obviously a very underman
receiver group. Yea, what can Isaac Lohenkron come up with?
That's a question on all of our minds. We're gonna
find out right now. I low with the latest what's
going on, but I'm actually gonna come up with a

(01:02:33):
complaint in just a moment. It has nothing to do
with you guys, but I want you guys to weigh in,
and has to do with the NFL playoffs, which kick
off at four thirty Eastern. Leading off, it's the San
Francisco forty Niners hosting the Seattle Seahawks in an NFC
wild card game. Then tonight at eight fifteen Eastern from Jacksonville,
the Jaguars, the champions of the a f C South,

(01:02:56):
host the Los Angeles Chargers in an a f C
wild card game. Charger star receiver Mike Williams ruled out
with a back injury. My complaint is about a non
Fox sports television network that insists on having these poor
reporters reporting live from the stadiums eleven hours before these

(01:03:21):
games kick off six o'clock in the morning in San Francisco.
It's still dark, it's freezing, it's raining, and they have
a poor reporter there. Why why, I'm just saying, I
just feel so terrible for them, eleven hours before kickoff,
seven and a half hours before kickoff. You guys have

(01:03:42):
seen these pregame shows that the stadiums empty, accepted this
poor reporter. What are they gonna say, I swing the
other way? Yeah, I think a prime video. I'll never
forget the crew after the Jags Jets game, they were indoors.
The freaking elements over this is, let's get after it.

(01:04:03):
I don't have as much of a problem with that
because there are actual other people in the stadium. I'm
just yeah, let's go out to our reporter eleven hours
before kickoff. What's going on at the stadium? Uh? Nothing
back to you. Somebody somebody drove by in a cart
with a popcorn. All right. That's the end of Isaac's
ramp for the moment that was me In the NBA

(01:04:24):
On Friday night, Denver defeated the Los Angeles Clippers one
fifteen to one. Oh three without Nika Leokich, Denver on
a five game winning streak, now in sole possession of
first place in the West. At twenty nine and thirteen.
The Sacramento Kings with the twenty five point victory over
Houston behind a Demonta Samota's triple double. Sacramento at twenty
three and eighteen is five games above five hundred for

(01:04:44):
the first time in seventeen years. And in San Antonio,
the Golden State Warriors defeated the Spurs one to one
thirteen as part of the spurs fifty year franchise anniversary celebration.
The game was held in one of the former homes,
the Alamo Dome, and a druid NBA regular season record

(01:05:05):
crowd of sixty eight thousand, three hundred and twenty three.
But at least no NBA reporter had to be there
twelve hours early. Back to you guys about the weather though,
right in San Francisco today or Santa clar that's a
valuable information, I would say, oh, yeah, it is. It's valuable.
You don't necessarily need someone standing out in the rain

(01:05:26):
to report, Yeah it's raining. I'm freezing my bleep off.
Back to you can't right there, can't believe believe in
the rain unless you see it for yourself. Ill could be,
could be c g I. I'll tell you right now,
this water is wet. Back to you guys in the studio,
this wind is windy. It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown

(01:05:47):
to kick Off, presented by bet MGM. Let's dive into this.
Follow the money, real good money. Alright, we're following the
money with Shamus McGee, our guy, team lead of sports
trading at bed MGM. Shamus, Happy Super wild Card weekend.
To you anything that stands up big line movement, You're

(01:06:09):
a sharp guy. Any anything that you see point spread wise, total,
wise prop wise that you think about taking advantage of here.
Hey guys, thanks for having me back. UM yeah, I
like you guys were talking about. With the weather out
in San Francisco today, we've seen that total start to
tick uh pretty almost two points now with a lot

(01:06:31):
of people starting to back the under their um. We
saw some sharp money coming in on the Ravens yesterday
with with Huntley being a full participant in practice, so
there was a little bit of buy back there on
the Ravens with that line going up to begin with
when Lamar wasn't gonna play. I mean, we saw a
good shifting points for the Bills with the confirmation that

(01:06:57):
it was gonna be Scotlert Thompson. Probably it looks like today,
uh so, Yeah, I mean a lot of weird injuring news.
I mean Mike Williams was one, uh he got ruled
out yesterday. That one actually didn't move. We were still
sitting at two and a half in there. Yeah, that's
a good jumping off point. I think, Shamus, because Twitter,
you would have thought our social media and you know,

(01:07:17):
obviously the media in general, you would have thought the
Chargers already lost the game based off of the reports,
and you know, we have been very critical of Brandon
Stalely and then rightfully so this week. But the market
didn't blink. And I could see a little bit of
exposure some of the sharper shops here in Vegas towards
the Chargers as that line creeps towards three. But for

(01:07:38):
the most part, nobody back on Jacksonville. After the Mike
Williams news yesterday. Did that surprise you? And the second question,
will we see a little bit of that today? Yeah?
I mean the news came out. We were waiting to
see what kind of action we took. I mean there
were some there were some recreational bettors back in the
Jags off that news, but nothing sharpened thing that we

(01:08:00):
should move off that two and a half number. Yet.
Have you seen a lot of action on Dallas Tampa
Bay yet, Because now with the standalone Monday night playoff game,
it sort of feels like nobody's thinking about that one
until we inch closer. It sort of feels like the
standard Monday Night during the regular season, where you know
people are either limping into Monday looking to make back

(01:08:22):
everything they lost or maybe they're looking to add to
a winning weekend. Um. So what's the handle like right
now on Cowboys Bucks? I mean it's getting there. We
haven't seen any of like the huge five figure bets
uh yet on that game so far. Like we took
a big bet on the Giants muddy line yesterday, took

(01:08:44):
a huge bet on the Jags Chargers under today, waiting
for John Youlling to confirm whether he can release that yet.
But nothing too sizeable yet in that Bucks Cowboys games.
It's one of those games where I feel like a
lot of betters are gonna see how they do over
the weekend. There's probably a lot of parlays involving the
Cowboys in the Bucks that people will just parlaying all

(01:09:06):
the wild Card games, but nothn't too noticeable yet, you know,
shame as no one likes to look stupid, especially betters.
And I'm curious if you see that reflected in some
of the bets heading into Super wild Card weekend. Where
take a couple of teams, the Chargers they've invented ways
to lose games, the Cowboys they haven't had playoff success

(01:09:27):
for the better part of the last three decades. Do
you see betters shying away from those teams because it's like, Man,
I want to look like an idiot if I get
this wrong. So Jags and the Chargers has been pretty
good two way action on the spread and the money
line so far, a really good U split going that way,
and we're seeing a lot of action on the Giants

(01:09:49):
for sure. I think we're really gonna need the Vikings
this week. I think a lot of people are kind
of caught on that maybe this Vikings team is maybe fraudulent.
I think that lot of them solve them get just
whooped by Green Bay and Lambeau a couple of weeks
before the season ended. So I think that's sticking out
to people a lot. And I mean day will put
on a coaching show against Philadelphia and week eighteen we're

(01:10:13):
playing the g V squad and with the Eagles all game. Yeah,
I like hearing the the side that I'm on is
the side that you guys need. That's usually where I
like to be. And we'll give out, you know, our
picks later in the show. But this is an interesting
weekend strategy wise, Shamus, I think when we get to
this point in the year, it's fair to say that

(01:10:34):
the NFL is the most efficient of all the betting markets,
and the lines after eighteen data points that we can
collect from each team are as sharp as they've been. Teasers,
money line parlays, ways to manipulate the lines in your favor.
Is that to you a strategy that you add more
value too in the postseason because if you're moving the

(01:10:56):
lines in an efficient market, then you're gaining even more
of an edge because the line should be right where
they are. Sure. I mean, these massive betting weekends for
the NFL, you're always seeing people, you know, whether it's
teasing using our alltlines or whether it's the money line
parlays just throwing them more their way, like they want
to get a little more so, they want to get

(01:11:17):
a little more juice on that Giant's money line bet,
so they throw in, you know, a couple other big favorites. Um,
that's definitely something we see around weekends like these. Yeah,
you know, it's so weird when you look at a
spread like thirteen and a half, right, I I it's
such an uncomfortable number to bet on in the postseason.
I understand, and I'm looking at the bet MGM book.

(01:11:38):
I'm pretty sure that the Bills are favored by thirteen
and a half here if I got current numbers accurate.
When you see a number that high and you take
a side, it's sort of like, yeah, I mean, I
love the Bills. I think offensively they're fantastic. I think
Josh Allen is an X factor. I think defensively that's
one of the the baddest units around in terms of

(01:12:00):
beating you up and making it hard on you. But
that's a lot of points. I mean, is there a
lot of action on this side? I mean, are people
just holding their nose and saying, yeah, I gotta take
the medicine because I don't think the Miami Dolphins have
a chance. Yeah, we're gonna need Miami this week. There
you go, every pick a line we needed, we pick

(01:12:23):
a number, we need the Dolphins at that number. But
I mean, it's not like the Dolphins did themselves any
favors and how they looked against the Jets in Week
eighteen in a must win game against Joe Flacco at home.
This is a Bills team. I think they're gonna want
to look really good going into that. You know, let's
say a probable matchup against Cincinnati at home. I it's

(01:12:45):
it's hard for me to picture away where we're gonna
we're gonna come out looking good on our end for
that game. At least you don't say it was. I
think in betting, something valuable is diagnosing the game where
you're like, I don't know, I just don't know. I
don't have a good feel for how this one's gonna
play out, and you just avoid it. You stay away
from it. So I'm curious, when you look at these

(01:13:06):
six games, is there a game which matchup are you
least confident about? And then also the matchup that you
are the most confident about. There's a few of these
this week. Like I'm not too tempted at all to
bet the Niners this week, you know, the third third
game against a divisional opponent. Brock Purty has been spectacular

(01:13:28):
so far, but this is still the last pick in
the NFL draft. I don't want to lay over a
touchdown with that guy at quarterback, and in the elements.
I've seen what the Niners have done in a monsoon
in Chicago Week one. I'm not sure if I want
to touch that I like, don't. I'm not crazy about
what I like in the Tampa Bay Dallas game. I

(01:13:52):
I had to pick one I'm most confident on. I.
I really like the Vikings this week. It's rains to say,
but you know, I'm not a huge I don't put
a lot of stock in a trend. But what I
do like is the first time playoff to be playing
against an experienced playoff quarterback. And I think the inexperienced

(01:14:15):
playoff quarterback is something like thirty against the spread. Less
than that eight and a half percent. Shame is fourteen
thirty five and one a t s. I've been all
over this trend this week. I love the Vikings this week. Again,
I don't like to put a lot of stock in trends,
but when context is involved in something like this, I
think there's definitely some value in that. UM Giant has

(01:14:37):
been a great story. But I think playing at home,
I think the Vikings can can definitely take this by
a field goal. And another thing too, Again you can
provide context here. They just played three weeks ago and
the line was four and a half. What has changed
in three weeks that has moved it onto the most
key number now of three? And you're getting a good

(01:14:58):
favorable price at three. I'm seeing even minus five. I
mean it's a cheap three now for Minnesota. What's changed
in three weeks to push the line one and a
half points towards the Vikings. I let's just let's go
with the next following week the Giants. That's steam rolled
a bad Colts team, but I mean they took care

(01:15:19):
of business. Credit to them for doing that. And then
that that uh same afternoon, you saw the Vikings get
absolutely rolled over by the Packers. And then like last week,
obviously the Giants are almost coming off a buy on
with their offensive unit and the Vikings, I mean, kirk
Husins played like what three quarters in Chicago like they

(01:15:39):
were clearly just trying to get right for this week.
So I think that is really what's driving a lot
of what this number means right now. Shamus, you're the man.
Always appreciate your time. Man. Hope you enjoy all the ball.
Thanks there. He is Shamus McGee, team lead of Sports
Trading at bet MGM. We could talk about how complicated

(01:16:00):
banks make it to redeem credit card rewards, or we
could talk about how we discover you can redeem your
rewards for cash in any amount at any time. I
mean talk about amazing. Learn more at discover dot com,
slash redeem rewards terms apply. Okay, we got a lot
more coming up. We've got Jared Smith, betting analyst. He
puts on the spectacles, he looks at analytics, breaks it

(01:16:24):
all down. We've got I'm a rich rn Burger, Penn
State All American. I'm Brian No coming up next. There
are opportunities before the games, and there are opportunities during
the games. We'll break it down for you. It's Fox
Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM. Kickoffs
are coming, Sue, and we're leading you up to that.

(01:16:45):
This is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by
Bett mg the kick of sports books once again. Here's
Brian no, Rich Hornberger and Jared's sich agree. It's Fox
Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM. We're

(01:17:09):
nearing five and a half hours until kickoff. That's right.
We've got two games today, first one at four thirty
pm Eastern Time. Let's dive into this not live yet live.
Oh yes, it's prods by Discovery. We could talk about
how complicated other banks make it to redeem credit cards are.
We can talk about how we Discover you can redeem

(01:17:31):
your credit your rewards for cash in any amount at
any time. I mean talk about amazing learned more discover
dot com slash redeem rewards terms apply, all right. We're
looking for in game betting opportunities once these games take off.
What opportunities could be presented our way? We'll start with you,

(01:17:52):
Jared Smith. Anything you see in your crystal ball here
yet I think just the weather in Santa Clara is
kind of on my radar unintended here, Um, we don't
know right now it's raining and it's windy. But as
Isaac just said, it's not gonna game. It's not gonna
play for the eight hours. Check what's happening right when
the game starts, Watch the pregame, watch the opening kickoff.

(01:18:14):
If rain and wind is a factor at that time
more than we think now, well then obviously belive unders
the prop unders. All of those UH shirt certainly should
be taking into strong consideration. Um here's what I'm looking at.
You got Cincinnati favored by ating that half hosting the
Baltimore Ravens. I think Cincinnati wins this game. I'm not

(01:18:38):
in love with the line. It just feels like, look
divisional rival, it's the third time you play a team.
I think it's gonna be a closer game than that.
So if you feel like me, and this game starts slow,
Cincinnati typically a pretty fast starting team. They're up there
in the top ten in terms of first half scoring.
But if Baltimore finds a way to slow down Joe

(01:18:58):
Burrow and company, and this line comes down, and you
still love the Bengals, you might be able to get
them out of discount if you want to pick that side.
So that first half of Bengals Ravens. I'm gonna be
staring at pretty closely. Like it like that you're staring
over here. Very good. Um, you know, I hit an
in game opportunity in the regular season Giants Vikings. I

(01:19:22):
took the end game over. It was a little lower
scoring at the time, and I thought we'd see fireworks
at the end, and we got it. So that hit.
If a similar scenario presents itself tomorrow, I'd be looking
to pounce. The Vikings past defense is freaking brutal. You know,
the Giants. I don't know how you contain justin Jefferson.

(01:19:42):
Let's just say the game starts off a little slowly.
I'd be looking at the end game over in that one,
I keep your eye on Giants Vikings. That worked in
the regular season might work in the playoffs as well.
See how that shakes wild wild Card weekend. Yeah, it's
gonna be wild. It should be absolutely yes. Yes, Hey,
we're not done being wild yet. We have got a

(01:20:05):
smorgess board of topics right around the corner, including overtime strategy.
What do you do in this scenario? We will diagnose.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the Nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
Search f s R to listen live. Oh what's going on? Everybody?

(01:20:27):
Welcome in Super wild Card weekend is upon us. Fail
it fail, it wash all over you. I can that wait.
It's gonna be fantastic. You know, we gotta get to
the matchups here momentarily, but we got topics. Go lord,
we have a smartgue sport of topics. This one actually
came from Jared Smith. Interesting. He hit the text thread

(01:20:48):
and he said, guys, if there's time today, I might
want to talk about the new overtime rules. There's a
lot of chatter about if it's an overtime game, do
you kick off first instead of received? So we all
know the rules. We've seen it in the regular season.
It's a little bit of a tweak in overtime in
the postseason where if both teams get a ball, get
the chance, right unless you give up a touchdown on

(01:21:11):
that first drive. And uh, or are we doing that
in overtime? Here? The do both teams So the first
drive the other team gets the ball, Okay, so that
it's squared everything away over here. So yes, So we've
got that because of the Josh Allen situation with the Bills.

(01:21:33):
Bills didn't get the ball. Chiefs scored a touchdown. So
now it's a a whole new ball game over here.
So what do you do first? Do you take the
ball or do you kick off? It's interesting to think
about that. The first team that comes to mind actually
is San Francisco. Now we might not see overtime in
this game. Let's say we do. If you're San Francisco,

(01:21:54):
you gotta think about this. Let's say it's, uh, the
weather plays apart. You've got your rookie quarterback brock Bertie,
and you've got a really strong defense. So let's say
you kick off and you stop Geno Smith and company,
and you get the ball in good field position only
needing a field goal. Like it might be a decent

(01:22:14):
strategy situationally to kick off. I wouldn't say you do
it every single time, but I would absolutely entertain it
with certain situations if they're presented to you. Yeah, listen,
I I think that analytically, there's so many different ways
to peel this uh, this citrus, right, you know. I
mean some people like to take out a knife and

(01:22:36):
they're carefully cut around, you know, the little uh, the
little stem. Some people just bite into it to get
it started. I mean, you know, it's look, I I
think that we get way too analytical with football or
all sports sometimes. And I understand maybe in baseball there's
a huge advantage because it's such a long season and
it's such an individualized sport picture verse hitter that maybe

(01:23:00):
when you extrapolate all these numbers over the long run,
it makes sense to make certain adjustments. I get it.
But in football there's a lot of feel still, and
I think you got to really base it on the
way the game has been played. You know, if you
feel like your offense stands the best chance to go
out there and get the ball first because you've kept
their defense on the field for the entirety of the

(01:23:22):
second half, you know, catching up to tie a football game, well,
then keep them on their heels, you know what I mean.
There's something to be said about momentum, and there's something
to be said about exhaustion. I mean, there's a lot
of people out there who are pushing pencils, you know,
calling themselves analysts who have never been on a football
field for forty plays and a half and exhausted as

(01:23:45):
an offense is just beating you down and beating you
down and beating you down. And then all of a sudden,
it's overtime. You've given the game away and you're telling me,
I gotta go back out there against that offense. Holy cow,
here we go again. But you know, maybe there's analysts
out there and say, well, you should actually differ on
the opening kickoff of overtime because parer of the rules.

(01:24:05):
Blah blah blah. You know it's it's it's yes, look
at the numbers, and sometimes yes, trust the numbers, but
also understand momentum, understand injury, understand how players are feeling,
and how your offensive coordinator is dealing. Those things are
important too. Totally agree. I think coaches out smart themselves

(01:24:29):
sometimes in a lot of these decisions, and the analytics
have become a big part of the game, but they
are not the full game by any stretch of the imagination.
And I think the best coaches are the ones that
are able to balance. Just like life, life is all
about making decisions. You can go down Road A or
Road B. Both offer different angles, but it's all about

(01:24:53):
gauging where the game is currently and in making a
decision that's based either in numbers or in in gut,
and I think every game will be different. I can
tell you that all of the nerd analysts that I
have seen talking about this today have not given a
definitive answer on whether or not the models say it's

(01:25:14):
better to kick off or receive and over time. Now
that the rules have changed, it's kind of fifty. And
I think that's what the NFL wants, because now I
think it will be more like before it was a
no brainer, right there was no analytics involved. You get
the kick off and overtime you take the ball a
hundred percent of the time. Now there's nuance there, and

(01:25:37):
I think it adds a level of intrigue that the
NFL probably wants. First of all, a playoff game goes
over time. The intrigue is there already. Now it adds
another level, and I kind of hope we get an
opportunity to see which coaches decide to go in which
I'm not saying every game is gonna go overtime, but
I'll tell you what Chargers, Jags, Staley and Peterson. I

(01:26:00):
fascinated to see what decisions they make because I don't
think it's cut and dry, black and white like it
was last year. That's for sure. I think there's a
real argument, and I would lean to. Again, this is situational,
but I would lean to more times than not kicking
off because I'll give you a couple of reasons. Look
at college football is not the best comparison, but when

(01:26:22):
we go to overtime in college football, what it teams do?
They almost always go on defense because you know what
you need to do, you know what you need to get.
So how is that completely worlds different? In the NFL?
You would know what you need if you kick off,
you go on defense first. Let's say you give up
a field goal. Okay, we need at least a field goal.

(01:26:42):
We could win with the touchdown. Can I give you
over buttle really quick? Yeah. The reason why I would
take the ball, You're guaranteed to touch it twice. You
get the ball, well, I take that back, score a touchdown.
Let's hold if you score unless the other team goes
for two on night second touchdown. But again, that is
an also very risky move. If you take the ball

(01:27:05):
first and you score a touchdown, you are all but
guaranteed to touch it again. That's the argument I think
for taking the ball. I will offer a counter rebuttal
to your rebuttal. There we go, let's get it. So
this is if you defer the opening kickoff and you
get even if you win the toss and you give

(01:27:26):
the other team the opportunity UM and you go on defense,
or you you choose honestly to kick and you go
on defense. UM. My thought process is this, if you
intercept or fumble recovery for a touchdown, the game's over.
That's true. Or if the kickoff is is fumbled and
you recover for a touchdown, the game's over because the

(01:27:49):
second team, regardless of if um possession was secured even
on the opening kickoff or not, if the attempt was
to give a team possession to start over time and
the other their team scores, they're still considered the second
team to possess it and the game will be over
on that place. So you could have presumably a situation
where you kick the football and the returner is stripped,

(01:28:12):
the fumble is recovered, taken to the house, and within
the opening seconds of overtime the game is decided. No
other opportunity exists for the first team who was originally
supposed to get the ball to start overtime gets the ball.
So there may be a competitive advantage, And I would
I would. I would imagine a lot of coaches, as

(01:28:33):
long as they're examining the rule book the way we
just all did um and turning this thing over a
couple of times, I imagine a lot of coaches are
gonna want to kick the football off and they're don't
want to play defense first. All the coaches studied this
this week, name the ones that maybe didn't let me think,

(01:28:53):
is there one anute of the field overtime? Baby? I
saw that And Mike McDaniel is a really cerebral guy,
and like obviously all these which are smart, but but there,
But there was the funniest thing because they showed that
that um that b roll of him sort of dancing
around while his players were in their stretch lines, and

(01:29:16):
they were like, Mike McDaniel coaches the Miami Dolphins, like
his dad's the CEO and is on vacation and he's
running the company while he's away. Just read this meme
and I'm like, that is a but he but he's
he's look, he's an amazing practitioner and obviously a well
studied guy, like all these guys are, and they surround

(01:29:37):
themselves with smart people. But like you said, Jared, these
coaches can outsmart themselves. That Sean McVeigh king of it.
I think he was the king of it well. And
I also think this trends happened in the NFL. We
hear this all the time. It's a copycat league, so
someone's got to be the first. Let's say we get
an overtime game this weekend and that first coach says

(01:30:00):
we're kicking off, We're going on defense first, and let's
say it doesn't work out at all. That could establish
a trend until things go differently. I could see that happening.
I think it makes all the sense in the world.
Is yeah, I think kicking off makes all the sense
in the world. If you get a stop, you're in business.
If you get a takeaway, you gotta stranglehold in that situation.

(01:30:23):
So I think it makes it so weird because it
just goes against the trend of taking the ball every
other The rules are different, it is, and it's funny
how they change the rules, And now I am curious.
I wish we could, the coaches wouldn't answer like honestly,
you're truthfully, but I wish we could take a poll

(01:30:43):
and and see which coaches would kick and which coaches
would take the ball, like like an anonymous poles. Yeah,
like a grassroots There's something be said though about like
you know, I'm and again we're talking about the most
important part of your season, you know, the most scrutiny,
and everybody's obviously hyper aware of everything. But there is
that aspect of this rule. There's one set of rules

(01:31:05):
in place for overtime in the regular season, and then
there's another set of rules in place for overtime in
the postseason. And there's a lot going on a lot
of media. Trust me when I tell you this, I've
been in the postseason four times over my career in
the NFL. All of a sudden, all of those other
reporters who are spread thin across thirty two teams are

(01:31:25):
now only spread thin across four team and then there's
only you know, uh, what does it come down to?
Twelve more matchup? I mean it's it gets smaller and
small and smaller the group of teams left to play,
and though the locker rooms get more and more crowded,
and so you've got a lot of distractions around and
so as a result of that, things slipped through the crack.

(01:31:48):
So imagine if you're going out to the coin toss
and you know you're you're thinking it's the regular season, oh,
team rules, and you make a mistake and like, I
really out at the kick? What are you doing? Yeah,
I'm sure that get second guest a million times on
social media this weekend. Whenever it does happen, I hope
it does. Please please get what's one overtime game? I

(01:32:10):
hope it's tonight. I hope it's Chargers Jacksonville, and I
hope it's Brandon Staley's decision. If he does something that's
quote unquote unconventional man and kicks off first and it
doesn't work out, man, he's what do you think about this?
Real fast? I think if the Chargers lose this game
to Jacksonville, he very well might be out of a gig, man,

(01:32:32):
he very well could. You've got Sean Payton lurking if
you can upgrade to Sean Payton. That's the yes with
Justin Herbert and also the decision last week, you played
your guys Mike Williams got hurt. If you lay an
egg today against Jacksonville, I would not be shocked at
all if Staley is out of a gig. I think

(01:32:53):
the Charge is gonna win the game, But if they don't,
I would not be surprised if his head rolls. I
just don't know if they could afford Sean Payne. And
I mean that like, I mean, the reason why Brandon
Staley got this job is because he's young and cheap,
you know. And that's the reality of the Los Angeles
Charges right now. I think I got this job. Well,
they're you know, they're they're kind of a cash poor

(01:33:15):
franchise right now. And and I mean this is publicly
known because they're actively being sued by their own family members,
so something like because of miss misappropriate. It's just it's
so I don't I don't necessarily think they're in the
running for Sean Payton. And I do think because they

(01:33:36):
got you know, we're still working on quote unquote the
rookie contract with with Brandon Staley, and you may even
be able to, you know, if things go well, resign
him for a hometown discount here considering how it's sort
of been touching go at times. I yeah, I don't.
I don't necessarily see him letting go of him, But
I do agree with you. I think that this game

(01:33:58):
is going to be one of the more heavily scrutinized
games from that man. It's a complete roller coaster ride.
With Brandon Staley. It was just a couple of weeks
ago he was getting a ton of praise and I
think rightfully so for his defensive game plan against the Dolphins.
Dolphins offense was flying high at the time too. It
did nothing. They took away the middle of the field,

(01:34:20):
pressed the receivers, was a great defensive game plan. There's
just a couple of weeks later, it's like, yeah, he
could be fired, he could be done. Why were they
playing their guys against him? What is he doing? When
you look at these games, like, to me, the the
nature of the quarterback play is where it starts and ends.
And that's why I think this game particularly has a

(01:34:40):
lot of variants involved already before you even get to
the head coaches, which on the other side, Doug Peterson
could be a bit of a gun slinger himself, and
then you have to rook and we just hurt from Shamus.
The first time quarterbacks, we have a lot of first
time We've a lot of All of them are all
return matchups, all games we saw it in the regular season,
and most of them fee your quarterbacks that have never

(01:35:01):
played in the postseason game before except for the Monday
night game for the most part. So there's just a
lot of variants involved with these games. First time quarterbacks,
first time head coaches, and all games that we have
film on tape from prior this season, which means if
I'm a coach watching that film, I'm trying to break
tendency and not do what I did all year when

(01:35:21):
I played these teams last. So that makes it really
hard to predict work out of bed right. Absolutely welcome
to betting you know exactly every Thursday, be sure to
check out our Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM.
Original podcast features yours truly, also Jared Smith and Bill
kracken Burger. We give our takes and all the key lines,

(01:35:42):
prop bets angles get you set for the weekend in
betting that's every Thursday. Playoffs are here. Take advantage a
lot of good information. Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever
you get your podcasts. Okay, We've got Jared Smith, betting analyst,
Rich orn Berger, shape clown Nicole jef from them making
ready to go for playoff action over here, I'm Brian No.

(01:36:04):
Coming up next. It is the matchup of Super wild
Card Weekend and it has a headline that has nothing
to do with the matchup. We'll tell you about that.
Coming up, it's Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented
by bet MGM. Welcome to the biggest tailgate party in
the nation. You're locked into Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to

(01:36:28):
Kickoff Touchdown and it's presented by bat MGM, the King
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to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. New users download the
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(01:36:48):
special offer. That's code countdown in the bet MGM app. Okay,
I think it's the matchup of Super wild Card Weekend.
It would be the Cowboys against Tampa Bay Tampa. This
is Monday night game, Tampa two and a half point
home underdog, and I don't want to take us away
from the matchup, but just a little side street on

(01:37:10):
this one. One of the headlines has nothing to do
with the game. It's Tom Brady in this report that
going to the Dolphins is definitely on the table. And
it's just such strange timing leading into this game against
the Cowboys that we're talking about Brady maybe being a
part of the Fins next week. But here we are

(01:37:30):
welcome to uh craziness. And normally we're thinking about the
Cowboys when there's craziness going on, but right now it's Tampa.
As far as this headline goes, well, if we've learned
one thing over the past couple of years about Tom
Brady winning a Super Bowl with the new team and
really opening up his production of social media and his

(01:37:51):
production in media in general. I mean he owns a
production company. Um, he can multitask, right, you know. I
mean this guy is uh not just a talented uh
football player, but businessman as well. And outside of you know,
endorsing FTX, I mean, have there ever been really any
moments where we've second guessed him? The answer is really no.

(01:38:14):
So it would not shock me if that while he
is working on his next potential Super Bowl run, he's
also working on where's the next landing spot? Um, Because
as we found out when he was departing New England,
he had those irons in the fire, even though they
were in the postseason. He was shopping around and he

(01:38:36):
was trying to find what the best possible fit was
going to be for him in the future and maybe
even trying to steal a head coach on his way.
And well, that head coach, by the way, is available. Um.
You know, does that mean that he'll necessarily work with
Sean Payton's wherever he ends up. Probably not. If he
ends up in Miami, definitely not. I think they're pretty

(01:38:56):
happy with Mike McDaniel there. Um, But we'll see. I
think I can name about four or five teams that
make a whole lot of sense for Tom Brady, and
that says, honestly, a lot more about Tom Brady than
it does about those teams, because he's still that good
and he's turning forty. Yeah, the numbers on Tom haven't

(01:39:17):
fallen off at all. I think it's just fair to
question a lot of the play calling. And we'll get
into when we capped this game, but just Byron Leftwitch
is overall malaise with early downs and how he handles that.
And I think there's a lot of other coaches in
the league that think they can still get the most
out of Tom at this age, you know, And and

(01:39:39):
it's it's all about the pieces around him, and again
the how the how the the offense is constructed. I
thought the raiders into the mix, I think that's an
interesting landing spot he was. I know there was reports
of that during his first little go around here before
Tampa and obviously Miami, but I don't have a really
strong vibe on on where he's gonna go after the season.

(01:40:00):
I think it's I still think he'd used it very
much as we have a game in a Super Bowl
to win, and there's some people that I respect that
think Tampa Bay, if the offensive coordinator and and if
the offense can kind of replicate what they did against
Caroline a couple of weeks ago, which is throw early
and throw off him, then there's a chance that maybe
they can make a little run here. But obviously Monday

(01:40:23):
Night's game is gonna be really tough, and you know,
there's gonna be a lot of really experienced and very
talented pass rushers that are gonna want to take Tom's
lunch money more than he lost with FTX. You know,
I just wanted to verify this. This is one of
the stats of Super wild Card weekend. Tom Brady has
thirty five playoff wins. That's the same number as the
Dallas Cowboys entire franchise history. That's insane. And the funny

(01:40:47):
thing is I always go to Pro Football Reference to
verify some of this stuff and you see the nicknames
at the top, and so for Tom Brady, it's TB
twelve the Goat. And then you get to this the Pharaoh.
Who has ever called Tom Brady the Pharaoh? Have you
ever not? Not me? I've never heard of the parting
of the Red Seas? What does this passover commandments? But

(01:41:12):
he's got the same number of playoff wins as the
Cowboys entire franchise. It's pretty amazing. But I also think this,
I think that you can't get caught up in the history.
If you look at Tampa Bay, they've proven time and
time and time again that they stink. This season, they're
eight and nine in a decrepit division. And the Cowboys,
I get it, they've had these playoff calamities left and right,

(01:41:36):
but it's not about then, it's about now. And do
you think Dallas is the better play now? If you do,
forget about the history, it doesn't matter when Monday rolls
around it all. Yeah, it really doesn't. It really honestly doesn't.
But I will say this, when when you go to um,

(01:41:57):
I don't know, build a house, you want the guy
who's who's doing it for the first time, like you
know what I mean? Or get heart open heart surgery. Yeah, yeah,
you want the part, or you want you know, the experience, Yeah,
the guy who just wrapped up his residency in his internship.
Where do you want the guy who's been on the
job for twenty years? And maybe I want the guy

(01:42:19):
I'll answer that I want the guy who's done it
for twenty plus years. But if the team around him sucks,
I had to take that into account. If the anesthesiologist
is is fresh off the you know, off of his
or her medical school, yeah, I agree. Now listen, I
just look at it this way. When when you are
when when you're going to war? Uh? And and I'm

(01:42:40):
sure anybody would would tell you this who's been in
the military. And obviously during my playing career, many times
I've interacted with members of our armed services, and uh,
you know, you talk about leadership with these guys, whether
it's the Navy Seals or the Army or the Marines
or the Air Force, anybody, anybody who served. You talk

(01:43:00):
to them about leadership and they talk about how important
that is, and good, experienced, high composure leadership is what
you need when like the bullets are flying for real,
like where everybody has that moment of panic, but then
you look to your right and you see a guy
who's been there before and it just automatically calms you down.

(01:43:23):
That's Tom Brady. And I remember in the worst of
times when I was playing with guys like Brady or
Philip Rivers, when you look at them and you realize, like,
oh no, no, no, we're We're still good. We got
a chance because these guys are great, and especially with Tom,
because he was unflappable in those situations. That's the reason why. Yeah,

(01:43:43):
you want to talk about Michael Parsons, You want to
talk about Dark Prescott and his is incredible ability to
take over games with his accurate passing and Zeke Elliott
in the year he has had close to the goal line,
and Tony Pollard and all the weapons that they have
offensively now with Ceedee Lamb and I and I want
to make it about Dallas too, but when you talk

(01:44:03):
about this game, it basically comes down to one guy
wearing the number twelve for the past, you know, two
decades plus. I I if he has a good day,
like if Tom Brady has a really good day, you
sort of know the Bucks are gonna win, right that.
That's the way it feels like to me. And maybe
I'm too biased because I played with the guy. Maybe

(01:44:24):
I'm too biased because I love what he's done for
our game, but um but yeah, I just I can't
see it any other way. And it goes to the
other side too, when you look at the team he's
facing this week and that exact scenario plays out. Like
you just said, Rich, the bullets are flying, things are

(01:44:45):
going bad, adversity is striking Dak Prescott being the other quarterback.
And I don't want to take anything away from what
Das accomplished in his career, but I don't feel the
same way. And also on the defense of side of
the ball, they don't have that leader either, especially in
the secondary. Their secondary, specifically, the cornerback positions have been

(01:45:10):
very boom or bust for this Cowboys team. And Tom
is just so good at absorbing, diagnosing, and then executing.
And I don't know if Dallas is secondary now. Now
that's not to say that the Tampa Bay defense doesn't
have their issues too. They've been a little bit leaky
in the back as well, and Ceedee Lamb and those
guys certainly could present some problems. But with the Tampa

(01:45:33):
offensive line now getting healthy Jensen, I think trending in
a positive direction worth since Smith are back, and I
could just I could see the secondary for Dallas if
Byron left, which decides to throw on early downs, Please
Byron do it. It's for everyone's benefit, especially my over ticket.
This is a secondary that I think can be had,

(01:45:54):
and it's the numbers aren't good, and Tom's probably one
of the best allow to that. He is the best
quarterback that the Cowboys defense has faced over the last
six weeks. Here here the Here the quarterbacks he's faced.
Trevor Lawrence, the Jags, they they got Dallas pretty good.
The other quarterbacks Davis Mills, Matt, Ryan Gardner, Minshew, Josh
dbs Sam how since Week thirteen, Dallas is secondary? Is

(01:46:17):
twenty five in passing d V A A against those quarterbacks,
Tom's better than all of them by a mile. Well,
I think a big part of this game is how
well does Tampa defend the run, because in Week one,
I know it was you gotta go in the hot
tub time machine to get back to Week one, but
Tampa gave up seventy one rushing yards in that game

(01:46:38):
and Dallas scored three points. Dak broke his thumb at
the end of the game, but Dallas's offense could do nothing.
So you think about these last seven weeks. DAC has
thrown eleven interceptions in the last seven games. So let's
say dallas is run game, isn't that effective. Well, there's
more pressure on Doc and you gotta throw it a
little bit more. And if he's turning the ball over, yeah,

(01:46:59):
I could see a path to Tampa winning. Uh, there's
certainly a path to either team winning here, But I
think that Listen, Tom Brady is a huge part of
this game, but he's not the only part. And the
way that Tampa has played this entire season and eight
nine team in a decrepit division, like I can't just
bypass that and be like, well, the records are zero

(01:47:19):
and zero. Now, you know right, I gotta take that
into account as well. We're taking into account Isaac Lowan Kron.
I'm taking notes during this update as I always do,
because he's going to share some valuable information with us. Highlo.
What's going on man? Speaking of valuable information, we indeed
have some fun breaking NBA news that I think you
guys will enjoy. That's coming up. At first, we get

(01:47:40):
ready for the first day of the NFL playoffs. It
kicks off at four thirty Eastern with an NFC wild
card game as the San Francisco forty Niners host of
Seattle Seahawks. ESPN reports Seahawks defense Eve and Shelby Harris
will play today he'd been listed as questionable because of
a knee injury, and then tonight at eight fifteen Eastern
from Jacksonville, it's the Jaguars, the champions of the a

(01:48:02):
f C South, against the Los Angeles Chargers in an
a f C wild card game. The playoff debuts for
two of the top young star quarterbacks in the NFL,
in Trevor Lawrence and Justin Herbert. However, Chargers star receiver
Mike Williams was ruled out of this game because of
a back injury. In the NBA on Friday night, Denver
defeated the Los Angeles Clippers one fifteen to one oh

(01:48:23):
three without Nikola Yokich. Denver on a five game winning streak,
now in sole possession of first place in the West
of twenty nine and thirteen Sacrabatto at twenty five point
victory over Houston. Sacrabatto now twenty three and eighteen, five
games above five hundred for the first time in seventeen years. Now,
do you guys remember how the Utah Jazz is Home

(01:48:45):
arena used to be called the Delta Center. Well, guess
what the Delta Center is coming back. The home of
the Jazz will once again be known as the Delta
Centers starting in July. It was known at the Delta
Center from its opening in through two thousand and six.
Since then it was known as First Energy Solutions Arena,

(01:49:09):
which was notable because Energy Solutions was actually the name
of a nuclear waste disposal company. I'm not making that up,
and presently Vivent Smart Home Arena. But starting in July,
it will once again be known as the Delta Center.
And here's hoping the trend continues for some other poorly

(01:49:30):
renamed arenas throughout America. Staples Center, a bunch of them.
Now I can't even keep tracking anymore. It's because all
the stupid names are going out of business or bankrupt
and they have to like change them on the fly.
That's why Benway Park and Grigley Field. Although I guess
that's technically my childhood right there, the Delta Center when

(01:49:52):
Michael Theta Center. Yeah, all right, it's Fox Sports Radios
count down to kickoff. We're brought to you by Progressive Insurance.
Progressive makes bundling easy and affordable. Get a multi policy
discount by combining your motorcycle, RV, boat, a TV, and
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at Progressive dot com. All right, let's dive head first

(01:50:15):
into this player plays the prop bets you feel like doing,
Just a nesty plunge into prop bets over here, A
lot of possibilities. Let's start with you, Jared, what's on
your list? Yeah? I love Keenan Allen in this game,
and I think tonight six and a half is whereas

(01:50:36):
reception prop currently at that MGM, I it's gone up
obviously since the Mike Williams news, but I still think
target share is key nine or more targets in five
up six games, and now with Mike Williams out, I
think that target share will even go up. So I
play his over and I would also look if I
had to pick a guy in the Niners Seahawks game,
weather permitting. Obviously, if it's a complete total downpour, you're

(01:50:58):
not fed disc but three and a half is a
fair receptions number on George Kittle. Um Seattle gives up
the third most targets too tight ends this season at
almost eight per game, and Kittle had a really good
game against him a few weeks ago. And again the
security blanket nature, I think he's going to be a
big part of it. So I'll give you a Kittle
and I'll give you a Canaan Allen over receptions for

(01:51:19):
both guys today, Love it, Love it Um. I'm only
looking at one prop that I've fallen in love with
for today's slave, and here it goes brock Purty. Wow. Okay, Brocklabster,
if you are the forty Niners offensive staff. With the
weather in the Bay Area and the fact that brock
Purty is making his first ever playoffs start and just

(01:51:40):
became a starting quarterback like a month ago. The Niners
need to take the ball out of Brock's hands and
just let him manage this one. Style points don't matter
when ugly run the absolute stuffing out of this football.
Rock Purty against the Seahawks defense, the numbers set a
tow nineteen and a half passing yards. I'm taking the

(01:52:01):
under and they're moving on to the divisional round. Like it?
There you go. I like that one. I'm gonna look
to the Pharaoh. I'm gonna look at Tom Brady over here, Pharaoh,
the Pharaoh Um. I would be absolutely floored. If Tampa
just had great success running the ball, they just can't

(01:52:22):
do it. Their offensive line hasn't been very good this season.
Against Dallas, I think they're gonna have modest success at
best running the ball. I'm gonna take over forty two
and a half passing attempts. It sounds like the huge number.
What are they gonna do against Dallas who has a
great pass rush. They're gonna throw a bunch of short,

(01:52:43):
quick passes. And the crazy thing here too, is if
Tampa is leading late, they're still gonna have to throw it.
I mean, you're gonna have to chuck the ball here
and there because I don't think they're gonna be able
to run it, especially if Dallas is expecting it late.
So I like Tom Brady to get to at least
forty three passing attempts against Dallas. Yeah, and again, I

(01:53:05):
think it's game script, right, Like when we talk about props,
I know what their prior hit rates are. It doesn't
matter as much of the playoffs. Game script in the
playoffs when you're trying to pick these props matter. Is
the team going to be ahead? Is a team going
to be behind? Do you think even if they are ahead,
they're still gonna throw it? And with the box? I

(01:53:25):
I agree. I think that's the strategy. Yeah, man, we
might have to parlay all these things. Good button, it's
like bundling at an insurance company. Just saved a bunch
of money on my parlay by switching to props. Yeah,
don't just ensure your RV. Bundle it with your mout

(01:53:47):
and a TV. What are you doing? Progressive flow over
here there you go? Alright, So we've got Jared Smith
betting analysts with us today. We've got Rich Orin Burger
the Penn State All American with this as well. I'm
Brian No. We still have a lot to do. Six
luscious games, so many possibilities with predictions, betting angles. We'll

(01:54:13):
give you a bunch of picks right around the corner.
It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by
bet MGM. Kickoffs are coming, Sue, and we're leading you
up to that. This is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff,
presented by Bett MGM. The kick of sports books once again.

(01:54:34):
Here's Brian No, Rich Hornberger and Jared Smich agree. It
is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM.
A little more than four and a half hours away
until kickoff. We've got two games today over Super wild
Card weekend. Very much looking forward to it. Shout out

(01:54:56):
to the crew, by the way, Isaac Lohencron on the updates,
Ryan bur Shinger, tremendous job producing the show and our
technical producer Iowa Sam. Iowa Sam had some elbow grease
going on figuring out stuff at the beginning of the show,
did a fantastic job. Top of the hour up on
game LaVar Arrington t j Hushman's out of Plexico burrows.
They'll get you all set for a big, big playoff

(01:55:19):
football weekend here. All right, we gotta get to the picks.
Let's do it rapid fire. Yes, may be sure to
follow bet MGM across all socials At bet MGM, Jared
will start with you three picks. Any direction you want
to go in the flora is yours? All right, I'm

(01:55:39):
going Bills in the first half link seven points the
Skyler is not the limit, Sorry, Brian, but I think
the motions running very high in Orchard Park. I think
Buffalo gets off to a fast start, and I think
the Dolphins just kind of happy to have a seat
at the table here for what should be a very
interesting game between the Bills and Dolphins. I'm laying three
with the Vikings in Kirk we trust since two thousand

(01:56:00):
and two, first time playoff quarterbacks against non first timers
just fourteen and thirty five against the spread. That oh
and three last season, Jalen Hurts, Kyler, Murray mac Jones
all got blown out. Brian Dables building something great with
the Giants. I think he's the coach of the year.
But even Eli Manning got shut out in his first
ever playoff game. I think it could be a rocky
ride for Daniel Jones and the over forty five and

(01:56:21):
a half Cowboys and Bucks shoot out at the New Sombrero.
The Cowboys secondary has been torched by Davis Mills, Matt
Ryan Gardner, Mite, Josh Stops, Sam Howell at Trevor Lawrence
over the last six weeks. I think it's gonna be
a big day for Brady, and I think there's gonna
be points on Monday nights. There you go by Kings
minus three, Cowboys, Bucks over forty five and a half,
Bills minus seven. In the first cow loving it, loving it.

(01:56:43):
Last week go I was one and one with a push.
Let's win all three. This week, Jaguars are hosting the Chargers.
I think this game comes down to the pass rush.
I think both of these quarterbacks are gonna get harassed.
I'm predicting turnovers. The number set at forty seven. I'm
taking the under here, all right. Tom Brady at home
as an underdog against Dallas Enough said, if you're giving

(01:57:06):
me points here, I'm taking them. Give me the Buccaneers
plus two and a hook. Death tax is taxes and
Shamus specials. That's what life's all about. I mean, those
are the only constants. Our favorite book manager. If he
gives you a gift, you take the gift. Capeche Vikings
favored by three at home against the Giants, give me

(01:57:29):
the Vikings. I'm loving it. I'm loving frop bets here.
I've got three of them for you. I am doubling
down on Tom Brady passing attempts over forty two and
a half. You've got Micah Parsons and company breathing down
your neck. Brady's pass rating has been fantastic when he
gets rid of the football in two point five seconds

(01:57:50):
or less, a lot of quick passes. I see Brady
throwing it at least forty three times in this game.
I'm gonna look at Minnesota. Big time play make big
time plays in big time games. That's justin Jefferson. I
am going to take the over and it's saucy nine
two and a half. He gets to at least ninety
three receiving yards. I see him in triple digits against

(01:58:12):
the Giants. And close your years on this one, Jared,
this is not a troll job. I actually do believe
in this. Evan Ingram over forty one and a half
receiving yards. We were on it last week, but think
about this, the Jags tight end going up against the Chargers.
Christian Kirk has done most of his damage from the slot,

(01:58:33):
and you've got the Chargers. There are a top five
defense against slot receivers. So I think Trevor Lawrence and
what could be a shootout is gonna look Evan Ingram's way.
I see him getting analytic yards. Yeah, big analytics guy
over here, he can han nerds. Yeah, I can get

(01:58:54):
all the nerdy on you if you want. All right,
we got time for this. Let's do it. This is
the best play of the day. Alright, Jared, what do
you have circled in bold over here? I mean in
Kirk we trust. Salute to Shamus McGee who I. We're
just gonna rename this segment the shame of special Um

(01:59:16):
Vikings laying a field goal. I I no one wants
to bet him this week. Everyone hates the Vikings. They're
down on him. That's usually when it's time to bet
on a team. So we'll lay it and we'll hope
that Kirky Kirky pie uh plays a good game for us.
And and Daniel Jones kind of falters a little bit
in his first playoff Star, So we have the Pharaoh
for Tom Brady and Kirky Pie. Kirky Pie because it's

(01:59:40):
enjoy Super wild Card Weekend, everybody,

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