Thankful for the Chaos

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We dig into a Thanksgiving week that holds two truths at once: these teams drain us and we’re still grateful to feel it. Jets and Giants chaos, a national slate with real stakes, fantasy edges you can use today, a measured betting card, Knicks defense therapy, and a lively hot stove.

• Jets show effort, penalties and turnovers erase hope
• Giants’ situational calls flip wins into losses
• Cowboys resilience reframes Dak’s ceiling
• Packers grind Vikings, Browns ride Garrett’s surge
• Stafford’s MVP form powers a Rams statement
• Thanksgiving game vibes and leverage points
• Fantasy starts to trust, fades to avoid
• Three-play betting card plus TD parlay
• Knicks’ defense questioned, role players step up
• AL East arms race heats, Japanese talent wave
• Mets move Nimmo, Yankees float payroll restraint

Make sure you follow me on your favorite social. I’m on all of them. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram. It’s all at the same handle at Rice on the Radio. Jump in on the Wednesday mic check polls. Send your questions and your rants. Uncle Rice is here for you.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:30):
You ever notice Thanksgiving week is the time of
the year where two things can betrue at once?
You're stressed out about seeingyour family, what your crazy
aunt's gonna say, you're halfhung over from Thanksgiving Eve
at the bar, bumping into peopleyou haven't talked to since math
class.
And you're still sitting therethinking, I kinda love this.

(00:51):
I'm thankful for all of thischaos, all of these games, all
these bets, and honestly, thesemiserable teams that keep
breaking my heart.
Welcome in.
This is episode 41 of Rice onthe Mics, and I am your host,
Ian Rice.
Today we're dropping a littleThanksgiving special on you.
Normally you get me on Friday,but this week, you get me with

(01:13):
the turkey still in the oven andthe first play of the game still
clean.
We got a lot to be thankful for,and I use that term loosely if
you refer for the Jets orGiants.
We'll touch on the locals first.
Jets go into Baltimore, hangtough, change quarterbacks, and
still find a way to make it feellike a funeral.
Giants blow another double-digitlead, get walked off by Jameer

(01:33):
Gibbs in overtime, fire the DCon Monday, and now somehow have
to go to New England inprimetime on Monday night.
Which weirdly is when they turninto the monsters.
Then we zoom out a little bit.
Cowboys come back from down 21on the Eagles, Packers
absolutely suffocate theVikings, and JJ McCarthy falls
off a cliff after week one,maybe they found something

(01:56):
moment.
Miles Garrett is on pace to blowpast Strayhand's stack record.
And Baker does the Warrior thingfor Tampa until the Rams and
Matthew Stafford, who might beputting together an MVP season
at 37 years old, finally snapwhat's left of the Bucks.
Plus, we got a full Week 13 lookahead, three Thanksgiving games
to set your mood, Packers Lionswhile you're picking at the

(02:18):
appetizers, Chiefs, Cowboys whenyou're sitting down with a full
plate, and Bengals Ravens whileyou're putting whipped cream on
the pumpkin pie.
Fantasy corner and rolling thedice with rights are coming
later in the show.
The card went 3-2 last week,officially over 500 on the
season.
So we are now in the house moneyterritory.
I'll give you a pick for each ofthe Thursday games, plus a

(02:38):
couple sprinkle Sundays if youuh they feel they're worth it.
Later we'll hit the Knicks andtheir defense is optional week.
How Cat got hunted by the magicand like always their dominance
over the Nets.
Then we'll close with the MLBhot stove.
Sunny Gray to Boston, Dylan Seasto Toronto, Nemo for Simeon
given Mets an existentialcrisis, and the Yankees' front

(03:00):
office talking about loweringpayroll while pretending they're
broke.
Plus Shohei lining up to playfor Japan in the WBC with a wave
of new Japanese talent comingover.
So grab a plate, grab a drink,or some Advil if you did
Thanksgiving Eve properly, andlet's talk about the teams we
love, the bets we probablyshouldn't make, and why somehow

(03:23):
we're still thankful for all ofit.
Cheers.
Let's do it to it.
So so let's start at homebecause the locals, man, they
are doing everything in theirpower to ruin your holiday and

(03:46):
somehow keep you glued to the TVat the same time.
Jets first, same movie,different quarterback.
You go into Baltimore as atwo-touchdown dog.
You change quarterbacks, youhang around all afternoon, and
you still walk out feeling likesomebody dimmed the lights and
handed out black suits.

(04:08):
Tyrod comes in for fields, andlook, he wasn't bad.
He wasn't amazing either.
It was exactly actually what youexpected.
But for the first time in a longtime, you watched the Jets
quarterback and didn'timmediately want to throw your
remote.
He pushed the ball down thefield a little, over the middle,

(04:28):
you know, down the sideline, gotguys in space and threw them the
ball before the window closed.
And you could feel the offensekind of breathe for once, which
was a nice change of pace.
To everyone's surprise, theywere actually up 7-3 going into
the half.
The defense was flying around,Lamar didn't look right, knee,
ankle, toe, whatever body partof the week we're on now.

(04:51):
And you're sitting there like,oh, wait, they might have a shot
at this thing if everythingbreaks their way.
They might actually be able tosteal it.
And then what happens?
The same old jets, the samethree things that always show up
to kill the clock kill them,like clockwork.
Back breaking penalty on thirddown.

(05:11):
You get a stop, you're off thefield, and boom.
Ref reaches in his pocket, passinterference, bails Baltimore
out.
You get a head scratching fourthdown decision, fourth and two
from your own 42, down three,middle of the third, and Aaron
Glenn goes, Yeah, we're we'rewe're doing this.
Look, I get the aggression, Ireally do.

(05:33):
I like that, you know, my guysknow we we mean business, we're
gonna go for it.
We're I trust you.
But if that's the case, don'tdial up a low percentage moon
ball to the sideline with yourright guard getting absolutely
forklifted into the quarterback.
You gotta trust your O-linethere to make a hole for your

(05:55):
shifty 215, 225-pound runningback.
Trust the guys that you draftedto get you two yards.
And then, of course, last butnot least, the massive
soul-crushing Tony Romo styleturnover.
Brees Hall puts the ball on theturf inside the five with a
chance to make it a one-scoregame late.

(06:17):
That was the ball game.
And here's the thing Brees wasactually having a nice day.
He was explosive in the pastgame.
He had that gorgeous 40-yardrun, catch and run down the
sideline to even get them downthere before he fumbled.
But when you're two and nine,your margin for error is zero.
Not a play here and there, zero.

(06:40):
You can't miss a fourth-downshot play and fumble in the goal
line and give Lamar three extralives with flags, and then
expect to be celebrating in thelocker room.
And by the way, all this hashappened against the backdrop of
the, hey, by the way, this isgonna be your tenth straight
losing season.
Ten.

(07:01):
There's entire kids' childhoodsthat have happened since the
last time the Jets were winningorganization.
There was a new Pope, he died,and then the new one was elected
since the last time the Jetsmade the playoffs.
And then on top of that, yourlet's take a flyer, let's see if
we can turn this guy into ourfranchise quarterback, Justin

(07:22):
Fields, gets benched and thengoes to the podium and basically
said, I didn't see this coming,but yeah, I still think I'm a
QB1 in this league.
Look, I don't doubt theconfidence.
To be a professional athlete,you have to be borderline
delusional in your talents andyour mentality.
But I also can't get around thisstat that I heard earlier this

(07:45):
week.
Jackson Smith and Jagba has morereceiving yards this year than
Justin Fields has passing yards.
Yes, you heard me correctly.
JSN, the number one widereceiver in Seattle, whose
quarterback in Sam Darnold wasonce supposed to be the Jets
savior, is at 1,300 receivingyards.

(08:09):
Justin Fields is at 1,200passing yards.
A wide receiver in Seattle hasmore yards than your quarterback
in New York.
Let that sink in.
So if you're a Jet fan, what areyou thankful for right now,
right?
Not much.

(08:29):
No, I'm kidding.
Really?
Well, look, you're you'rethankful you're thankful that
the effort is still there,right?
You're thankful that the lockerroom hasn't completely checked
out.
You're thankful that Aaron Glennseems to be a leader of men.
You're thankful for the upcomingdraft picks and the ammo you

(08:50):
have to position yourself to goget a quarterback, this draft or
the next.
You're you're thankful that thiswide receiver room went from
Garrett Wilson and the tacklingdummies to maybe actually having
some potential.
And I guess I guess you'rethankful that at the very least
they're finally trying somethingdifferent at quarterback instead

(09:10):
of just letting the same movieplay on loop.
But yeah, it it's it still feelslike a funeral most Sundays.
But we'll still tune in though.
We we enjoy the pain at thispoint as Jet fans.
Now let's flip it to the Giants.
And week in and week out is thesame script, but an even lower

(09:31):
low somehow.
If you're writing a Netflixdrama called Ways to Lose the
Football Game, the Giants seasonis your writer's room.
You go into Detroit in the dome,which is a notoriously tough
place to play, and the offenseactually shows up.
Jameis is slinging it around,Wandell is cooking, you got

(09:52):
trick plays actually working.
Jameis catches a touchdown,jukes out a linebacker who will
get relentlessly made fun of inthe film room for this whole
entire week.
And staying on Brand, Jameis letit fly.
He let it fly downfield,downfield.
You built three different10-point leads.
You marched down 86 yards in thefourth quarter, drain almost

(10:14):
seven minutes off the clock, andyou're sitting there on fourth
and goal from the six, up three,and this is the moment.
This is where you grab yourballs.
This is are you a man or are youa boy?
You either kick the chip shotfield goal, go up six, trust
your defense, and force Detroitto have to score a touchdown, or

(10:35):
you say, nah, let's let it ride.
Let's end it right here.
Well, Kafka thought he was thebig guy.
And he decides we're beingaggressive, we're gonna go for
it.
What happens?
Jameis throws incomplete, nopoints, and they leave the door
wide open.
Every single Giant fanimmediately sunk deep in their

(10:57):
seat, knowing exactly what wascoming next.
The Lions go right down thefield, and Jake Bates nails a
59-yard field goal to tie thegame.
The dude's got a cannon for aleg, by the way, which is a
shame on the Giants scoutingdepartment for either not doing
their homework or not thinkingthat it would make a difference
in this game.

(11:18):
Don't you think that would havebeen something good, some kind
of good information to give theinterim head coach who has a
million things on his platealready?
Maybe just a little sticky notethat says, hey, just a heads up,
their kicker can hit it from 65.
So if for whatever reason itcomes down to it, they can get
in field goal range pretty easy.
Do you think if he knew that,then maybe uh maybe would have

(11:39):
changed his mind about going forit on fourth down there?
So now, instead of sealing astatement win on the road,
you're going into overtime in abuilding that is just waiting to
explode.
And what happens the first snapof overtime?
Handoff to Jameer Gibbs, asemi-truck sized hole opens up,

(12:02):
bang, 69 yards to the crib.
See you later.
Thanks for coming.
Have a nice flight home.
The one person who should bekeyed on every single play, no
matter where he is.
And by the way, it's not likeGibbs had like a cute game, and
him and Montgomery did okay backand forth, and this was a one

(12:22):
play that he broke out on.
He went for 264 yards fromscrimmage with three touchdowns.
I think they knew his number bythe end of the game.
The Giants' defense just gotcompletely dog walked.
The angles were bad, thetackling was worse, and the
explosive runs just keptstacking up one after another

(12:42):
after another.
This was a blown double-digitlead, number five on the year.
All on the road, and that tiesan NFL record.
And it got Shane Bowen firedbefore he could even buckle his
seatbelt on the plane.
So now you got Charlie Bowentaking over his DC, the outside
linebackers coach.

(13:04):
And the guys seem to like him.
Brian Burns, your best player ondefense, especially.
He's been raving about him allseason.
Burns said, I've been playingthe best ball in my career under
this dude.
Straight shooter, detail guy,not afraid to get in your face.
Good.
That's probably what this teamneeds.
A coach who doesn't care who youare and isn't afraid to remind

(13:24):
you that you're not as good asyou think you are.
Now the bad news is he inheritsa defense that's 30th in yards
allowed, giving up almost 28points a game, and literally
ranks dead last in yards percarry allowed.
The good news, sometimes a newvoice and uh some simpler calls
can at least stop the bleeding alittle bit.

(13:46):
But the schedule doesn't exactlygive him a soft launch either.
Game one, Monday night in NewEngland in front of the whole
nation.
Now, look, say what you wantabout the Patriots, and I have
for sure as a Jeff fan.
But this is their this is theirbig stage.
It's their Super Bowl warm-upgame, so to speak.

(14:06):
And for whatever reason, theGiants just always seem to have
New England's number in thesekind of spots.
From Super Bowls to randomregular season games when the
lights are bright and it'sGiants versus Patriots, weird
stuff just tends to happen.
So if you're a Giants fan,you're thankful the offense

(14:27):
finally scored a bunch.
You're thankful it looks likeyour rookie QB is cleared and is
ready to play this week.
You're thankful that Kafka dialsup some plays for Wandell and is
showing that he can actuallyplay.
And you're thankful that theorganization didn't just shrug
and say, eh, what can you doafter another fourth quarter
collapse?
Somebody lost their job.

(14:48):
There's accountability beingheld.
Now we'll see if it actuallychanges anything, but that's a
different story.
Alright, I've had my I've had myfair share talking about the
locals.
It feels like they're one moreweek away from being a deep
fried turkey gone wrong.
So let's uh let's zoom out andhit a few of the national games

(15:12):
that actually moved the needlethis week 12.
First on the list, Packers,Vikings, Packers 23, Vikings 6.
The JJ McCarthy honeymoon isover.
This one was ugly.
Green Bay basically looked atthe Vikings and said, We don't
believe that you can go 10 playswithout something bad happening.

(15:33):
So we're just gonna run theball, play defense, and we're
gonna wait for you to implode.
Emmanuel Wilson, undrafted guy,MVP of the waiver wire this
week, if you picked him up,first real shot as a starter,
goes for 107 and two touchdowns.
Matt LaFour literally said, I'venever called the same run play

(15:53):
so many times in a row becauseMinnesota had no answers.
And honestly, they didn't forcehim to do anything else.
I just know that line made BrianFlores, the DC of the Vikings,
it made his blood boil.
He lost sleep over thatthroughout this week.
Meanwhile, the Vikings had fourtotal yards in the second half.

(16:19):
Four.
I'm not rereading a Jets boxscore, and that's not a
misspeak.
You heard me correctly.
Four.
That's a drive and a half for anaverage offense.
JJ McCarthy goes 12 for 19 on 87yards, takes five sacks, throws

(16:39):
two picks, and a partridge in apear tree.
Whatever we saw week one on thatMonday night game, that little
flicker of we might have madethe right call by letting Sam
Darnold walk, that feels likethat game was played in a
different universe.
They are now four and seven.
They've dropped five of six.
And at this point, it's not, oh,we're in the hunt for the

(17:01):
playoffs.
It's we're in the CalebWilliams, Drake May highlight
package that our fans hate arehate watching right now.
I mean, this team lost to theTitans for God's sakes.
On the other side of it, though,Jordan Love is dealing with that
left shoulder.
Non-throwing, but you can tellthat he is in pain.

(17:22):
He barely threw it againstMinnesota because of the defense
just dominating.
And you hear the quotes fromLaFleur talking about holding
his breath when Love gets hit.
Love saying it's an injury, I'mnot going to sugarcoat it, but I
can play through it.
If you're a Packer fan, you'rethankful for that toughness, but
you're also terrified every timehe gets hit to the ground.

(17:43):
Next game from last week,Browns, Raiders.
And God, Raider fans.
I have a couple Raider friendsthat listen to this podcast.
What happened, boys?
What happened to this team?
Browns 24, Raiders 10.
In Vegas, we got two storylinesin one game, and it's all about
the Browns.
First, Shador Sanders, rookie,fifth rounder, if you remember

(18:07):
correctly, and the 42nd, 42nddifferent Browns starting
quarterback since 1999.
His first true start, and hedoes exactly what he needs to
do.
He didn't light the world onfire, but he definitely didn't
embarrass himself either.
209 yards and a touchdown on 20attempts, which is pretty good.

(18:30):
He operated the offense.
He had a huge 52 yarder toIsaiah Bond.
And most importantly, he broke a17-game streak where Eddie
Brown's quarterback making theirfirst start automatically lost.
I don't mean to laugh.
I'm sorry.
That's insane.
After the game, uh, he hits thepodium and he just says the

(18:51):
right thing.
While also sounding exactly likehis father, he said, quote,
look, I'm not comfortable.
I know how fast that this canget taken away.
I just want to keep growing weekto week.
That's the grown-up answer.
And contrary to what all thereports were when he was
interviewing with teams duringthe draft, and Stefanski
apparently heard enough.

(19:12):
He said, Yeah, we're starting,we're you're starting again
against the Niners.
Even though Dylan Gabriel'scleared, we're gonna roll with
Shador.
But the real, the real storyfrom this terrible game that
nobody watched, Miles Garrett.
Three more sacks, two forcefumbles, 14 sacks in his last
five games.

(19:33):
That's 18 on the year through 11games.
He's now chasing Michael Strahanand TJ Watt for the record of 22
and a half for a single season.
And the way that he's playingright now, he might crush it,
not just sneak past it.
And not to throw shade at TJWatt, by the way, but he tied
Strahan's record in week 17,where Strahan broke his record

(19:54):
in week 16.
The pace that Miles Garrett ison, he might break this by week
15 with three more games toplay.
He even said it at the podium,he said, I'm chasing Mike.
I'm chasing greatness, but Iwant to come in with a win.
I want to be playing football inJanuary and February.
That's the part that matters.
The record, the record's cool.

(20:16):
But if you're a Browns fan,you're thankful that even in a
3-8 season, you have that dudeto build around.
That's good stuff.
Next game on the list, Cowboys,Eagles, and this was a wild one.
Philly comes out and punchesDallas straight in the mouth.
It's 21-0 early.
AJ Brown, after being a diva forfive weeks, starts straight

(20:39):
eating.
Hurts has two rushingtouchdowns, and the Cowboys look
like they're about to get booedout of their own building while
the Turkey is still defrostingfor next week's home game.
And then Dak just refuses to letit happen.
He throws for 354 yards, breaksTony Romo's franchise passing

(21:00):
yardage record in the thirdquarter, nonetheless, adds two
touchdowns through the air, runsin the game time score with his
legs, and leads his 25th careergame winning drive to set up a
walk-off Aubrey Graham fieldgoal.
25 career game winners for Dak.
That's pretty impressive.
Meanwhile, the stadium isflashing his name next to

(21:22):
Romo's, and he said himself he'strying not to cry mid comeback.
Hey, read the room, sound guy.
Read the room graphics guy.
He said, I saw it and I gotemotional, and then I got mad at
myself, and I told the guys,we'll celebrate that later.
Don't worry about it.
Let's go get the win.
This was one of those you eitherbelieve in this guy or you don't

(21:44):
games.
And a question that I ask Dallasfans all the time is, Do you
think you can win with Dak?
And the answer is almost alwaysa resounding no.
Well, I think after that, Ithink a lot of people might have
got pulled back in a little bit.
Now, with all that being said,it was not a clean win at all.
Okay, Tyler Gutton falls startsat the one.

(22:06):
Dak throws a pick in the endzone.
CeeDee Lamb has three moredrops.
He's up to eight on the year,six of them, oddly enough,
against the Eagles.
And Lamb owned it.
He literally said, I need tocatch the damn ball.
And Dak did the right thing, hadhis guys back, said he expects a
huge game from him against theChiefs on Thanksgiving.
So it wasn't pretty by anystretch.
But if you're a Cowboys fan,you're thankful for the

(22:30):
resilience.
And you're thankful yourquarterback just proved again
that he can drag you back fromthe dead against a legit team
and the defending Super Bowlchampions.
Next game, Rams 34, Bucks seven.
Sunday night, the Rams just senta message home to Tampa.

(22:51):
Everyone and their mother, meincluded, thought we were going
to get a drag them out,heavyweight, back and forth,
scoring fest on Sunday nightfootball.
But what we really ended up withwas a contender flexing their
muscles and then telling theyappy little dog to go lay down.
They torch Tampa 34-7.
Matthew Stafford throws threemore touchdowns, two to Devontae

(23:15):
Adams, makes it eight straightgames without a pick, and SoFi
is raining down MVP chance for a37-year-old quarterback who was
supposed to be on the back nineof his career.
He's now at 30 touchdowns andtwo picks on the year.
They're 9-2, and they haven'ttrailed in a game in weeks.

(23:35):
This is one of the best seasonswe've seen from anybody, not
just from Stafford.
He's just about in that likeLamar, Brady, Rogers, Mahomes,
Peyton historic seasonconversation.
If he keeps his pace up, he'sgonna win MVP.
And the defense, the defense,the defense is flying to.

(23:57):
They honored Aaron Donaldpregame, and the front showed
out big for the big man.
They held Tampa to under 200yards.
Picked off Baker twice, sackedhim, and basically turned the
lights off by halftime.
On the buck side, it's notgreat.
You just you feel bad for Bakerat a certain point.
I mean, he's been hanging onwith duct tape while dudes all

(24:20):
around him all year are justgoing down, and then he takes
that big shot in the third,sprains his AC AC joint in his
left shoulder, and now he's gothis arm and a sling sitting on
the sideline.
The MRI came back, and they'recalling it a low grade sprain,
no long-term structural damage,but his status for this week is

(24:42):
up in the air and probably goingforward up in the air.
If he can't go, it's good oldTeddy Two Glove Bridgewater.
And this guy was coaching highschool football at the beginning
of the year.
So look, if you're Tampa, you'rethankful that it's not worse,
but on the other side of thatcoin, you're also looking at a

(25:04):
three-game losing streak, andCarolina's starting to figure it
out, breathing down your neck ina division that you thought you
had wrapped up sitting aroundlooking like the Simpsons meme
of Ralph Wiggins.
I'm in danger.
Not great.
So now let's move forward.
Let's set the table for thisweek.

(25:25):
Literally and figuratively,actually.
We got three games on Thursdayand one on Black Friday.
So I'll save you the officialpicks for rolling the dice with
rice later in the show.
For now, let's just talk aboutthe vibes.
And Packers at Lions, 12:30,really 1 o'clock.

(25:46):
This is the appetizer game.
You rolled out of bed with aheadache at around 9.
You're cleaning up your roombecause apparently Thanksgiving
dinner is going to be eaten upthere.
You're still assembling thecharcuterie board.
Someone's burning the rolls.
And just when you think youcan't take it anymore, you hear
that Fox football music, andthey throw this game at you to

(26:10):
start your day, reminding youthat everything, everything is
going to be alright.
The Packers just played thatbully ball game against
Minnesota, and now they walkinto Detroit where Jameer Gibbs
just ended the Giants season byhimself.
And the Lions are now staring atthe standings like, man, we
needed that one bad, but we needthis one way worse.

(26:33):
Look, Detroit's defense is stilla problem.
You give up that many explosiveplays at home to Jameis.
That's not exactly nothing.
But this team is also a teamthat can score in bunches.
They play tough in the dome, andthey got multiple ways to beat
you if golf can just stay clean.
From the Green Bay side, I Iwant to see how they manage

(26:56):
Jordan Love on the short weekwith that shoulder.
Do they lean into anotherEmmanuel Wilson, Josh Jacobs,
volume day, or do they do theylet Love just rip it a little
more?
This is a huge NFC seating game,and it's it's also one of those,
are you really for real, or areyou just feasting on bad teams,
check-ins?

(27:17):
For both teams, really.
Chiefs at Cowboys, 4 30.
This is the main course.
This is the emouge booze.
This is the chef's kiss.
The ah everyone's finallyseated.
The wine has been cracked andpoured.
Most of the family is donearguing.
The house smells great.
There's stuffing, there's gravy.

(27:40):
There's that one family memberthat won't stop talking about
some parlay that's still alive.
Uncle Eddie is trying to geteveryone to say grace.
And you made sure to get the oneseat that can see the TV in the
other room.
Kansas City coming off thatemotional win over the Colts at
home.
They emptied the clip inArrowhead.
Pacheco was out, so they justrode Kareem Hunt like it was

(28:03):
2018 again.
Mahomes does his Mahomes thingsand they survive.
But now, now it's a short weekon the road against a Cowboy
team that just pulled a 21-pointcomeback and has all the
momentum in the world.
And more importantly, hasn't hadto get on a plane all week.

(28:23):
They've been at home sleeping intheir own beds.
The big storyline here is thatIsaiah Pacheco sounds like he's
targeting a return.
If he's back, that gives KansasCity a little extra gear in the
run game that they were kind ofmissing, but not really.
And you just know that Andy Reidis going to have some something
a little special cooked up forthis national game.

(28:45):
On the Dallas side, this iswhere you find out if the Eagles
win was a turning point or justlike a cool comeback that we
talk about and then forget whenthey go flat.
Lamb versus secondary, Dakversus Spags, Blitz's looks.
Can they protect without Guytonat left tackle?
That's the stuff that I'm goingto be watching for.
Love this game at the 430 slot.

(29:07):
And last but not least, Bengalsat Ravens 820, closure Thursday
night out.
Now we're in dessert territory.
Half your family is eitherasleep on the couch and the
other half is trying to convinceyou to play board games.
But this is when you need tolook them dead in the face and
say, We've got Joe Burrow backin our lives in prime time.

(29:31):
I will not be playing Yahtzeetonight.
Thank you very much.
This game has pure chaospotential.
Burrow off injury, short week onthe road in Baltimore against a
Ravens team that has pulleditself from one and five to six
and five, now tied for first ina division.
All while their quarterback istaped together with a knee, an

(29:52):
ankle, a toe, a finger, a this,a that.
Lamar hasn't exactly beenlighting up the stat sheet
lately, but he's been.
Nails in the fourth quarter,leading game-winning drives and
just protecting the ball.
And defensively, the Ravens justmade Tyra Taylor and the Jets
work for every yard.
I know that doesn't sound hard,but it's now it's welcome back,

(30:12):
Joe.
Enjoy our pass rush.
For Cincinnati, no T.
Higgins.
I think concussion protocol, butJamar Chase is coming off the
suspension and the spit dramawith Jalen Ramsey, and you just
know he is itching to get backon this field with his national
championship winning quarterbackteammate in prime time.

(30:33):
He put the statement out.
He apologized, took the one-gamehit, and now we see how he
responds on the field.
I'm expecting big things.
We'll see.
Last game I want to touch on isthe newest addition to the NFL
schedule.
All courtesy to our Amazonsponsorship, the Black Friday
game.
And this one actually has somepotential to be pretty fun too.

(30:58):
Last year was the first year wegot Jets Dolphins in a rock
fight.
This year we at least have somejuice.
The Bears have won eight ofnine.
Caleb Williams is out hereputting up big plays while
completing 59% of his passes anddriving his coaches insane.
Ben Johnson literally at thebeginning of the year said the
goal was 70 cent per 70%completions, and they're just

(31:21):
not even close.
Caleb knows it too.
He said, look, my base got wide,my legs weren't under me, the
ball sailed on me, yada yada,yada, yada, yada.
The Bears offense is explosiveas hell, believe it or not.
They lead the league in bigplays, but that inaccuracy shows
up, especially early in games,and it digs a hole for this team

(31:42):
to have to force to climb outof.
Now they got to go into Philly.
They get Vic Vangio's Eaglesdefense, which is like the
anti-Bears.
Philly's offense might beconfusing as hell, but the
defense is still the one thingthat you can kind of trust every
week.
They want to keep everything infront and make you march down

(32:02):
the field on them.
So this is strength on strength.
Explosive Bears passing gameversus a defense designed to
just kill explosive plays.
If Caleb can stay patient, takethe underneath stuff, and avoid
the hero ball, they might beable to pull it out.
And if they do, that's when youstart talking about Chicago as

(32:23):
something more than a fun story.
Talking about maybe they mightbe making a real play here.
So that's where we're at afterweek 12.
The Jets are inventing new waysto lose.
The Giants are blowingdouble-digit leads like it's a
hobby.
Stafford playing like an MVP at37, Miles Garrett trying to
erase Michael Strahan from therecord book.

(32:44):
And we're staring down fourstraight days of football while
pretending we're helping in thekitchen, moving some silver
around.
So if you're going to sit hereand stress over every snap
anyway, well, we might as welltry to make a little money off
the chaos, too, right?
Last week's rolling the dicewith rice card goes three and
two.
We are officially over 500 onthe season, comfortably in that

(33:06):
house money, but don't be stupidzone.
On the other side, we will movefrom pure fan mode into fantasy
corner and roll in the dice withrice.
We'll talk you through who youcan actually trust in your
lineups this week, and I'll giveyou a pick for all three
Thanksgiving games, plus thelocal teams.
So grab a notebook, face ID,your favorite betting app, and

(33:27):
let's set the table for the week13 five.
Okay, let's dive into somefantasy talk for a second before
we get back into yelling aboutreal football lives being
ruined.
We're gonna keep this tight thisweek.

(33:47):
No waivers, no 20-minute deepdive on some tight end who runs
17 routes a game but only getstwo catches.
Just who you should feel goodabout, who you should feel
nervous about, and then we'llroll right into the rolling the
dice with Rice segment.
So first, quarterbacks.
If you got Mahomes, this is notthe week to galaxy brain

(34:10):
yourself.
I know it's been a weird monthfor him.
The rushing has cooled off, themonster weeks have cooled off.
He's been living in that 14 to16 point fantasy meh
neighborhood.
But Dallas is the pretty nicebounce back spot.
Their front is getting better.
Quinning has been awesome, butthe secondary is still giving up

(34:34):
the most fantasy points to aquarterback in the league.
You're not sitting Mahomesanyway, but if you've really
been annoyed at him andthinking, do I really trust him
on Thursday, Thanksgiving?
Yeah, you do.
You set it, you forget it, andyou live with the result.
On the other side of that coin,Daniel Jones with the Colts

(34:55):
against Houston.
Look, I love what he has beenthis year.
I love the rushing, I love theefficiency.
He's been crushing it with TylerWarren, but I hate this matchup.
The Texans are giving up thefewest fantasy points of
quarterbacks.
They are rushing the quarterbackat an uninsane level.
Their defense is letting in thelowest EPA per dropback, second

(35:17):
lowest success rate, and they'rejust squeezing people.
So if you've been rolling DannyDimes out as your every week
quarterback one, I think this isthe week you at least look at
your other option and see if yougot a safer play.
He can still get there with arushing score, but if you're

(35:40):
desperate for a quarterback oneoutput, he's probably gonna be
more of a quarterback two thisweek.
Running backs, this is where thematchup really pops.
I really, really like TrevionHenderson this week against the
Giants.
We literally just watched JameerGibbs go full Madden create a
player mode on that defense.

(36:02):
And the numbers back it up, man.
The Giants are just now thesecond softest matchup in the
league for fantasy runningbacks.
They're giving it up over sixyards per carry.
That's not just bad.
That's we should have ain-house, no press, no coaches
meeting bad.
And Henderson's usage last weekwas actually pretty encouraging,

(36:24):
even if the box score wasn'tsexy.
18 carries, four targets,two-thirds of the snap count.
If he sees that kind of usageagain against this run defense,
he's a strong running back, too,with legit running back one
upside this week.
Start him with confidence.
Same game on the flip sideMonday night, Tyrone Tracy going

(36:46):
into New England.
He is clearly the lead guy forthe Giants now, but this is a
brutal spot.
The Patriots are the hardestmatchup in football against
running backs, the best yardsper carry allowed, the fewest
rushing touchdowns to theposition.
Giants are big underdogs, andyou're probably not getting 34
rushing attempts for thisbackfield.

(37:06):
Devin Singletary is going tostill mix in, he's still gonna
eat up that red zone work.
Tracy's path this week isbasically catch four to five
balls and hope that he falls inthe end zone.
If you don't have anotheroption, you cross your fingers.
But if you got a similarlyranked guy in a neutral matchup,
go that way.

(37:27):
Receivers, this might be thefirst week whole year, where I'm
actually kind of excited to playKhalil Shakir if I have him.
He is usually that looks greaton the stat line, scares you on
the volume kind of guy, but thematchup is just too good.
Pittsburgh is the second mostfantasy points to wide receivers

(37:49):
behind Dallas.
Most targets, most catches, mostyards allowed to the position.
And they're not exactly lockingdown the slot either, whereas
where that's exactly whereShakir lives.
If you're staring at that widereceiver three flex spot and
you're between like a coupleguys, this is the kind of
matchup where you chase thatspike week.

(38:11):
Chase that Jameson Williams bigtouchdown play.
I'm not calling him a must-startif you have better options, but
he is very much a green light ifyou're on the fence about him.
On the other hand, I said itbefore with Danny Dimes, Colts
receivers.
Michael Pittman Jr., AlecPierce, that same Texans defense

(38:31):
that scares me off Daniel Jones.
Well, Houston allows the thirdfewest points to wideouts.
And both those guys have hadgames where they just completely
disappear.
If this turns into anotherJonathan Taylor run for four
touchdowns game, one of them ismost definitely going to get
squeezed out.
Probably both, to be honest withyou.
Pittman, you should probablystart in most leagues just

(38:53):
because of where you draftedhim, but temper the
expectations.
Pierce is more of a, I got someguys on by, desperation shot in
deep leagues, and hopefully hedoes well.
As for tight ends, Mark Andrewsagainst the Bengals is about as
good as it gets.
I said it last week with HunterHenry.
I'm saying it again with MarkAndrews on Thursday.
Cincinnati is somehow comicallybad against tight ends this

(39:16):
year.
They are giving up way morepoints than anybody else, more
touchdowns, more volume, justmore everything.
Even if Andrews isn't playing at100%, and neither is Lamar, you
aren't thinking twice about thisstart.
He is a smash this week.
And if you're truly desperate,even Isaiah Likely has had a

(39:36):
little bit of a pulse as oflate.
And just because of how awfulCinse's defense is against tight
ends, he could be worth thestart.
On the fade side, ColsonLoveland with the Bears against
Philly.
I love the talent long term.
I love the flashes.
He's got great hands, but Idon't really love the usage yet.
He's ran rounds on just a littleover half of the dropbacks last

(39:59):
week.
And the Eagles are the secondtoughest matchup in the league
for tight ends.
They're giving up basicallynothing.
Low yards, low points, almost notouchdowns.
That's not where you want tochase last week's touchdown.
He's still a bench guy, benchand watch guy, but you got to do
what you got to do in a pinch,right?

(40:21):
Okay, let's roll into therolling the dice with Rice
gambling card.
Last week's card, we go threeand two.
Colts plus three and a half,check.
Cowboys plus three and a half,check and outright winner.
Jets plus thirteen and a half.
We bought it up to 14.5, bothcovered, winner.
Bucks and Rams over 49.5.

(40:42):
Well, I said before I thoughtthis was going to be a
knockdown, drag them out,shootout.
Nope, not even close.
And Lions minus 10.5 against theGiants.
Bought it down to 9.5.
Still didn't win.
I've been wrong on the Giantsall year.
You would think I learned mylesson by now.
But on the season, we are nowofficially 28 and 26.

(41:03):
Officially over 500.
Still on a little bit of aheater.
As always, this isentertainment.
Not call your guy and refinancethe house money.
But I got three plays forThanksgiving and an anytime
touchdown parlay that I love.
So game one, early window,Packers at Lions.
And I'm on the Lions, minus twoand a half.
Look, Detroit needed that gameagainst the Giants and still

(41:27):
tried their hardest to blow it.
But Gibbs bails him out.
Giants DC gets fired.
And now they come home on ashort week in front of
everybody.
That Thanksgiving crowd, witheverybody asking, are you
actually contenders or was lastyear just a cute story?
They're going to play theirhearts out.
Meanwhile, Green Bay just beatup Minnesota, but Jordan Love is
clearly not 100% with thatnon-throwing shoulder.

(41:49):
They hit it in last week's superconservative run the ball game
plan.
And that's a little tougher inDetroit in a dome against an
offense that can get up to 27-30points fast when they're
clicking.
Under a field goal, I'll trustthe Lions to make a statement.
Something like 27-20, 27-23.
I'm going to lay the two and ahalf with Detroit.

(42:11):
Game two, late afternoon, Chiefsat Cowboys.
And I'm taking the Cowboys plusthree and a half.
How about them, Cowboys?
This is a classic.
Give me the home dog with thehook territory.
The Chiefs just emptied a lot ofthe bag against Indy.
Huge emotional win.
Mahomes had to be special.
Kareem Hunt carried the mail,the whole thing.

(42:33):
But now short week, travel, bignational window, and you walk
into a Dallas team that just hadtheir season basically saved
against Philly.
We know what Jerry World is likeon Thanksgiving.
Dak at home, CD in the bounceback spot after all those drops,
pickings being pickings.
The Chiefs defense is legitenough, and Mahomes should have

(42:57):
a big fantasy day, but thisfeels like a one-score game
either way.
So if Kansas City wins by afield goal, we cash.
If Dallas can win outright,cool.
But I'm absolutely taking thatplus three and a half at home.
Game three, nightcap, Bengals atRavens.
And I'm doing it.

(43:18):
I'm on it.
I'm on the Bengals plus sevenand a half.
I'm buying the hook.
It's at seven.
I'm taking it up to seven and ahalf.
The prodigal son is back home.
Joe Burrow, prime time, divisiongame against the Ravens team
that he has made very clear hehates losing to.
That matters.
Plus, he said he's been dying toplay on Thanksgiving.

(43:39):
Baltimore has won five straight,but it's all been in that win
ugly, win close mode.
Lamar's banged up.
They're leaning on DerrickHenry.
Defense is good, but notsuffocating.
On the Bengals side, you gotBurrow back, Jamar Chase back
for suspension.
Higgins is out, but thestructure of that offense is
still let Joe Cook and live withit.

(44:00):
I don't need Cincinnati win.
I just need them to not die bytwo scores.
Over a touchdown in a divisiongame with Burrow back on
Thanksgiving.
I'll take my chances.
If Baltimore wins by seven, wego home happy.
So give me Bangles plus 7.5 tokeep it sweaty late.
Now for the parlay that Ipromised you, a nice lottery

(44:21):
card.
Give me all three stud widereceivers to score a touchdown.
St.
Brown, CeeDee Lamb, Jamar Chase.
All three of them together willput you at plus seven
thirty-four.
That's seven to one.
And just to get a little extraspicy, I'm going to throw in a
super lotto ticket for all threeof them to score two touchdowns

(44:41):
each.
That puts you at 600 to 1.
$5 pays at$3,000.
Shit, I've spent$15 on smokes.
I'll throw$5 on a lottery ticketlike that all day.
So, just to recap, theThanksgiving card is out now.
It is now Lions minus two and ahalf.
Cowboys plus three and a half.

(45:02):
Bengals plus seven and a half.
And the stud wide receiverparlay I gave you.
We might sprinkle a Sunday playor two off air that you can
catch on the Instagram in themorning before the game start.
But those are the three that I'mstamping as official.
That's the fantasy corner.
That's rolling the dice withrice for this week.
On the other side, we're headedto the hard way.

(45:24):
Knicks Benz, we gotta talk aboutthis defense.
This roller coaster week.
And why somehow he's still aloneBrooklyn even when everything
feels sideways.
Keep it right here.

(46:04):
All in about five days.
We'll start where the bloodpressure spiked, the magic game
in Orlando.
Franz Wagner gives you 37.
Orlando hangs 133.
And it just felt like everysingle time the Knicks needed
one stop, they got the opposite.
Offensively, you can't evencomplain either.

(46:26):
Brunson gives you 33-11.
Kat drops 24-8.
The team shoots over 54%.
Those numbers, those are usuallynumbers that win you the game.
But this was the full on whypeople call Carl Anthony Towns
soft experience on defense.
Late on switches, flat feet inspace, wrong help, wrong angle,

(46:49):
and the magic just straight uptargeted him.
It wasn't subtle either.
They went hunting for him, andit worked.
You could see it in MikhailBridges' face a couple times
throughout the game.
He gave him that.
Look, that's not even Twitterslander, that's just on court
frustration.
That game was the red flag.

(47:12):
This was supposed to be a teambuilt on high scoring and
defensive DNA.
You bring in Bridges, you bringin OG when he's healthy, Josh
Hart, Mitch, Brown running areal system.
And then one breakdown at thefive spot just seems to nuke the
whole possession.
That's where the is thisactually going to work in May

(47:35):
conversation starts creeping in.
But then you go across thebridge to Brooklyn, and it's
like they remember who they arein that matchup.
You beat the Nets for the 12thstraight time.
That's no longer a rivalry, bythe way.
That's living rent-free in theirheads.
Cat absolutely destroys 37-12,super efficient and in control

(47:57):
the whole game.
Brunson glides to 27, Bridgesadds another 16.
And yeah, look, Noah Clowneygoing for 31 on the other side
is a little weird, but theKnicks basically kept Brooklyn
at arm's length the entiresecond half.
The fun part there is thepsychological piece.
For years, it was always, oh,the Nets are the cool new team

(48:19):
in town.
They're the cool New York team.
The Stars want to play there.
The Knicks are a joke.
Yeah, now the Nets are 0-8 andhome, and their biggest home
court advantage this year hasbeen when the Knicks fans showed
up to play against them.
So you go from Cat is gettingturned into a traffic cone in
Orlando to this is exactly whythey traded for him in Brooklyn.

(48:41):
Floor spacing, shot making,rebounding, taking pressure off
Brunson.
Same guy.
Two completely different vibesdepending on the matchup and the
effort.
And then you hit Charlotte.
And that was just uh that was abusiness trip with a side of
extra credit.
It's an NBA Cup game.
You're already two-and-one ingroup play.

(49:02):
You know point differentialmatters, and the Knicks showed
up like they read the rulebook.
They dropped 72 in the firsthalf.
All five starters in doublefigures before halftime.
Josh Hart plays like a man whoheard the word tournament and
thought it was game seven.
22 points, does everything.
Brunson goes for 33 again and isgetting MVP chance in Charlotte,

(49:26):
which is hilarious and alsoactually kind of real now.
Kat quietly gives you 19 and 10,another double-double on the
book, exactly what you wantefficiency-wise.
And Miles McBride, the sneakybig one, 19 points, 5 for 5 from
3.
Real confidence, real rhythm.
That's not just garbage timestat padding either.

(49:46):
Those are like, those are shotsthat you're going to need with
Landry Shamut out.
And while we're here, let'stouch on the Shamut piece.
Because I know everything's, oh,Landry Shammit, who is he?
Who cares?
But it matters.
It matters more than it looks onpaper.
He's out at least four weekswith his shoulder sprain from
the Magic game.
But before that, he he hadplayed his way into this

(50:07):
starting lineup and was shootingover 42% from three.
That's exactly what this teamwas missing last year.
He just had that 36-point gamein Miami and finally looked
comfortable, and now he's gonethrough probably the end of
December.
That's a big loss.
So now what?
Now you're asking, you're askingMcBride, can you be more than

(50:27):
just a defense and hustle guyand actually punish teams for
loading up on Brunson?
Can you hit your shotsconsistently?
You're asking Clarkson to giveyou that bench microwave stuff
without like turning everypossession into a mixtape.
And you're asking Hart andBridges to keep this at a level,
this level of aggression going.

(50:48):
Just stay fast, stay hard, stayplay mean, not just wait around
for like the Brunson heroics andhope for the best.
And that's kind of really thetheme of the Knicks this week.
You can argue it from bothsides, and you're not wrong on
either side.
If you're negative by nature,you look at Orlando and say Cat
is going to get hunted in everyplayoff series.

(51:09):
Mikhail is already gettingannoyed by him.
OG's hurt.
Sham is hurt.
The ceiling is fake.
But if you're a if you're aglass half full kind of guy and
you look at the Brooklyn andCharlotte games, even if they
are terrible teams, you say wejust smoked two teams.
We're three and one in the NBACup group play.
Our starting five can drop 70and a half if we need to.

(51:31):
Our point differential ishealthy.
Brunson is playing as an at anall-NBA level, and we're still
winning games while we're tryingto figure it out.
Both things are true.
That's kind of the wholeepisode.
Thankful but not blind, right?
For me, with the Knicks, thiscomes down to cat and defense.

(51:54):
Look, offensively, this isexactly what the Knicks paid
for.
He makes the floor huge forBrunson.
He can punish mismatches.
He can carry a quarter whenBrunson's off the floor.
That's real value.
But defensively, he he cannotcontinue to be the big red

(52:14):
attack this dude button everytime you play an athletic team
with a good wing.
I mean, Mike Brown and the staffhave to keep chipping away at
the bad habits, being early onrotations, trusting scheme,
communicating, just taking pridein that defensive side.
You can live with the occasionalblow by.

(52:35):
It happens.
It's fine.
You can't live with every goodteam circling him on the
whiteboard in April.
That's bad news.
The good news, it's still early.
It's November.
Most people don't even considerthe NBA season starting until
Christmas.
Your banking wins while you'resorting this out.

(52:56):
You dominated the Nets, youhandled Charlotte, you survived
an ugly night in Orlando withsome lessons.
And you're doing all thiswithout OG and without Shaman
for the next month.
And by the way, if you're aKnicks fan, you know exactly
where you came from.
There were years when thehighlight of the week was Nate
Robinson jumped up on a table.

(53:17):
Or we almost beat the Celtics ona random Wednesday.
Now you're debating whether yourmax big is good enough in round
two while your point guard getsMVP chance on the road.
So it could be better, but itcould be a lot worse.
All right, let's put a pin inthe garden for now and flip over
to the other winter sport thatsomehow never sleeps.

(53:40):
The hot stove.
Sunny grade of Boston, Dylan C'scashing out in Toronto, the Nimo
for Simeon Trade ripping Metsfans in half.
And the Yankees doing thatyearly.
We'd love to lower the payrollroutine while the Dodgers spend
like they found a second salarycap.
Diamond talk next.
Keep it right here.

(54:07):
Let's slide headfirst into homeand cover the diamond for a
minute.
Because the hot stove isstarting to get the water
boiling this week with some bignames moving around.
First one, Sonny Gray to the RedSox.
Boston goes out and gets Sonnyfrom the Cardinals.
St.

(54:27):
Louis eats like 20 million ofthe money.
And now the Sox are rolling into2026 with two of the five guys
in baseball who have 200 plusstrikeouts each of the last two
years.
That's Garrett Crochet and SonnyGray.
That's a nice one to punch.
Look, Sonny's 36.
He's not the Cy Young runner-upversion every single night

(54:49):
anymore.
But his strikeouts to walks isstill pretty elite, and the
stuff is still real.
And he takes the ball.
He is not afraid to push inningsto go deep into games.
In that ballpark with thatdivision, you need adults in the
room in your rotation, andthat's what this move is about.

(55:10):
And then right on cue, the nextAL East Arm domino falls.
Dylan Cease to the Blue Jays,seven years,$210 million.
Toronto just went to game sevenof the World Series, came up
short, cried about it, andbasically said, okay, let's run
it back, but let's add morestrikeouts.

(55:31):
Cece is Cece is one of thosehilarious weird pitchers in the
most pitcher nerd way possible.
When he is on, he islegitimately one of the five
best starters on earth.
But when he is off, you arelooking at his stats and you're
wondering how a guy with thisgood of stuff has a 4-5 ERA.

(55:52):
The big picture, the last fiveyears, he's fourth in pitcher
war.
The slider dipped a little bitlast year, and the ERA was a
little funky, but the Padreswere kind of messy too.
Even with all that being said,he still he still punched out
nearly 30% of everyone he facedand posted strong numbers

(56:13):
throughout the year.
So now looking at the AL East,you got Cease and Toronto to
pair with Shane Bieber, KevinGossman, and their rookie stud
Treasavage.
You got Sonny and Crochet inBoston, mix in maybe Brian
Bellow or something.
You got Cole and Freed and Rodonand Schlitler and Lis Hill in

(56:36):
the Bronx.
And then you got the Rays doingRays things with three dudes
that you've never heard of whoall have a 2-9 ERA and a closer
who can literally just make theball disappear disappear.
The division is an arms raceagain, literally.
You love to see that.

(56:57):
That's the kind of stuff thatbreeds good playoff baseball
between these guys.
Alright, we got a showheiquickie here.
Otani announced that he's goingto be playing for Japan again in
the next WBC.
And it's it's pretty cool forthe sport.
I mean, I personally like theWBC.
I'm a Met fan, you guys knowthat.
I had to watch Edwin Diaz tearhis knee up, celebrating a

(57:19):
close, but I still appreciatethe WBC.
It's kind of like the all-stargame of all-star games.
It's cool for the sport.
I mean, the last time, the lasttime we saw Otani in the WBC, he
was striking out Mike Trout forthe final out in a movie script
that would be rejected for beingtoo on the nose.

(57:42):
Now, X amount of years later,he's coming off back-to-back
rings, four MVPs, an entry tothe 50-50 club, of which he is
the only member of.
I mean, he's putting hisnation's jersey on his back, and
as much as I hate on the guy, ifyou're into baseball, this

(58:02):
tournament is probably going tobe appointment viewing TV.
He's not the only story comingout of Japan, too, by the way,
this winter.
We got a little wave of uhplayers coming to America.
Alright, bear with me.
I got these names written downhere, so bear with me here.
Uh Tatsuya Ima, mid-three ERAprojection pitcher, 93 to 97,

(58:27):
but with a nasty slider.
I think kind of Kodai Sanga.
Munataka Murakami, video gamestyle left-handed power.
He broke the net the MPB homerun record at 22 years old.
And Kazuyama Okamoto, a rightythumper, more steady than Flash,

(58:49):
probably a really solid everydayfirst baseman over here.
Someone that both probably theMets and Yankees are looking at.
I mean, I we don't have to do afull scouting report on the
three of them just yet, but justknow that that real Japanese
talent is coming even afterSanga, Shohei, Yamamoto,
Yoshinobu, all those guys.

(59:09):
There's more real talent comingto America.
And both New York teams arealways lurking that foreign
market.
Now, speaking of New York teams,let's talk about the move that
probably ruined a few Mets fans'Thanksgiving appetite this week.

(59:29):
Marcus Simeon to the Mets,Brandon Nimo to the Rangers,
straight up, pretty much one forone.
Maybe some money changed.
Look, on paper, you can sell it.
Simeon's 35.
The OP has dipped a little bit,but he still plays every day,
still wins gold gloves, stilldoes all the little winning
things.
Great clubhouse guy.
Stearns wants to improve runprevention, tighten up the

(59:52):
infield, bounce the lineup witha righty who can hit for some
power, a legit second basemaninstead of McNeil who's bounced.
And all over the place.
From a spreadsheet standpoint,fine.
I get it.
I don't like it, but I get it.
From a fan standpoint, this onestings.
Moving Nimmo.

(01:00:14):
Homegrown kid.
Last active met who played withDavid Wright.
That hurts.
Was kind of the face of thefranchise when we didn't really
have much.
And then he waves a no tradeclause, like an ironclad, I'm
not going anywhere unless I sayso.
No trade clause.
Because probably he heard allthe smoke from the front office
or whatever got leaked out of wemight move him and yeah, blah

(01:00:38):
blah blah blah.
And he probably said, Listen, ifyou don't want me, I'll go
somewhere else.
I'll go to a team that does.
And where does he land?
Texas.
With good old Jacob deGrom, theprodigal son.
I mean, you couldn't script amore of course that's how this
ends scenario for the Mets.
I do think there is a version ofthis where it ages fine on the

(01:01:03):
field.
I mean, look, see me in asecond.
The young outfit is getting somerunway.
You had some pitching.
It looks like part of an actualplan.
I don't know.
We'll see what they do withPete, what they do with Diaz,
who's gonna play.
Fine.
But emotionally, you don't justreplace the guy tipping his

(01:01:24):
helmet after every walk andsprinting down at first and
being the last link to the DavidWright era.
That's a scar.
And then you hear David Cernscome out and basically saying
running it back wasn't the rightthing to do.
And yeah, you're right.
No kidding.
The core has failed.
It's time to make some changes.
But that's also not because ofBrendan Nimmo, it's because you

(01:01:46):
never fix the rotation.
Nimmo wasn't really the problem.
He's not great, but he's not theproblem.
Anyway, across town, the vibesare different.
But somehow just as annoying.
The Yankees and Hal are talkingabout payroll.

(01:02:07):
Like you're not the New YorkYankees, like you're not the
evil empire.
Hal gets on a call and says,quote, ideally we'd like the
payroll to go down from 319, butthat doesn't mean it will.
We still want to build achampionship team.
End quote.
And every Yankee fancollectively rolled their eyes
and immediately goes, here we goagain.

(01:02:30):
Because this is the cycle.
This is the Yankee cycle of thelast five, six, seven, eight
years.
Cashman hands out giantcontracts like it is the evil
empire.
Stanton, Cole, Rodon, Judge,Freed takes on Ryan McMahon,
takes on this, that, and theother.
All that money on the books.

(01:02:52):
But then when it comes to timefor the free agent signing, that
the fans actually want, the guysthat actually make their team
better, suddenly theconversation turns into well,
you know, we got to beresponsible.
There's a budget, the luxurytax, it's not a great fit.
We like our internal options.
Come on, man.

(01:03:12):
You can't play both sidesforever.
You're wasting judges' prime.
You either lean all the way ininto being the big bag Yankees
again, or stop pretending you'rebroke while charging Yankee
Stadium prices and finishingsecond in the division.
The funniest part is for all thenoise, they're still sitting on
a massive payroll, even if theytrim it.

(01:03:34):
They still need an outfielder,which would be either Cody
Bellinger or Kyle Tucker orsomebody else, and that's going
to cost a bunch of money.
They still need bullpen help,and they're still probably going
to be in on at least one of theJapanese guys, plus whatever
mid-tier arms that they want totry and fill the rotation in,
since C's and company are offthe board.

(01:03:58):
So when Hal talks about weakcorrelation between spending and
championships, that's cute.
But nobody in the Bronx isbuying that small market cosplay
BS.
Either go big or go home.
You literally have the greatestplayer in baseball on your team
entering the last couple yearsof his prime.

(01:04:22):
Go for it or don't.
But don't sell us garbage.
So yeah, that's uh that's thehot stove.
The stove is definitely on, andit's only gonna get hotter.
These guys, once one guy falls,the rest of them are gonna fall
right behind him.
So if you're a Mets or Yankeefan, it's that same kind of

(01:04:45):
Thanksgiving feeling we talkedabout at the top of the episode.
You're stressed, you're annoyed,you're side-eyeing ownership,
and you're still weirdlythankful that your teams are in
the middle of the chaos and noton the outside looking in.
Let's take a breath, we'll grabone more metaphorical plate, and

(01:05:06):
then we'll close this thing outthe right way.
A little perspective, a littlegratitude, and a reminder to
spread some good energy whilewe're all yelling about sports.
Let's land this plane.

(01:05:47):
The turkey's gone cold, and theepisode ran long.
But that's kind of the wholepoint, right?
I mean, I'd rather sit here andgive you the real version of how
I feel about the Jets beingallergic to winning, or the
Giants inventing new ways toblow double-digit leads, or Dak
dragging the Cowboys back fromthe dead, or Miles Garrett

(01:06:07):
hunting down Strayhand's sackrecord, and the Mets trading the
last guy who played with DavidWright.
I'd rather go long on all thatthan give you some 35-minute
here are your talking points,thanks for listening version of
the show.
If you're still with me at theend of this one, you guys are my
people.
Thanksgiving week is supposed tobe about being thankful and as

(01:06:28):
dumb as sports make us feelsometimes, this stuff matters.
You remember where you were whenthe Giants ruined the Patriots
perfect season.
You remember where you were forJeter's final at bat, the first
time you saw Mike Trout or Melloor whoever your guy was, with
your dad, with your mom, yourgrandpa, your best friend.

(01:06:49):
Hell, you're gonna rememberwhere you were when Stafford put
together this late career MVPrun, or when Miles Gary broke
that sack record, or when JoeBurrow came back on Thanksgiving
night and either cooked theRavens or cooked your parlay.
So, yes, the locals are a mess,the Yankees are crying poor, the
Mets just shipped out a fanfavorite, and Justin Fields has

(01:07:10):
fewer passing yards than JacksonSmith and Jigva has receiving.
But the fact that we can sithere, complain about it, laugh
about it, and sweat a gamblingcard together, I'm thankful for
that.
If you tailed the Thanksgivingpicks, let me know how the card
treated you.
If you faded me and won anyway,well, hey, good for you.
You don't have to brag, butdefinitely screenshot it and DM

(01:07:32):
it to me.
I can take it.
Make sure you follow me on yourfavorite social.
I'm on all of them.
YouTube, TikTok, Instagram.
It's all at the same handle atRice on the Radio.
And make sure you jump in on theWednesday mic check polls.
Send your questions and yourrants.
Uncle Rice is here for you,handing out sports therapy for
free.
All of it is welcome.
So enjoy the food, enjoy thegames, enjoy the chaos, enjoy

(01:07:56):
your family.
Lots of people in this world whowould give anything to have one
more conversation with someonewho is no longer with them in
their life.
Don't take it for granted.
As always, make sure you spreadsome good energy in this world
and make sure you tell someoneyou love them.
And if you're going out onThanksgiving Eve next year, make
sure you hydrate.

(01:08:17):
This has been Rice on the Mikes.
I appreciate you more than youknow.
We'll talk again next week.