Tough Cover Show - 11/30/24 - The Tough Cover

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Fox Sports Radio The Gambler. Fox Sports Radio in Philly
is The Gambler. The Gambler, Philly's home for all things
sports gambling.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
In the language that everybody here can easily understand.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Time to get ready for the day's action, from the
sides to the totals and everything in between. Nobody does
it better than the top cover with Mark Henry right
here on the Gambler.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
They.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
The cultum cnuting the Colty. Hello and welcome to the
Tough Cover radio show.

Speaker 5 (01:26):
I am your.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Host, Mark Henry Junior. Can follow me on Twitter at
Mark Henry Junior Underscore. It is Saturday, November thirtieth, the
last college football week of the regular season, and I
got my co host, as always, on the other side
of the on the other side of the desk on
the ones to Sean Bernard you found at on Twitter
at Shawn Underscore Bernard One, Shawn, how you doing yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:47):
In fresh off one of the best college football games
I think I've ever watched last night between Georgia and
Georgia Tech. Eight overtimes that I lived through right there,
so enjoyed staying up for that in an awesome play
overtime format. In my respectful debate about that minute. But yeah,
I can't complain.

Speaker 5 (02:01):
Life is good.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, well Sixerland. Well yeah, outside of Sixerland, life is good.
We'll talk about the Sixers towards the end of the show.
We're gonna lead off college football picks. We're gonna get
to a couple interesting NFL topics. I wanted to spice
it up today. No guests, just me and Sean shooting
the breeze. Here a lot of football to talk at about.
Three quarters through the way of the NFL season. Yep,

(02:23):
almost fully through the college football season. Last regular week,
regular season week of the year. Next week we'll have
Conference Championship Week. Always a fun weekend, but this is
the last full slate of college football. But after three
quarters of the NFL, I thought it was an interesting
time to maybe revisit some power rankings from before the
year that I gave out, revisit some quarterback rankings from

(02:46):
before the year.

Speaker 5 (02:47):
That I gave out.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
So we both put together some rankings on those sides
of things that'll come out in the second hour after
we preview this upcoming week from a gambling perspective, but
without any further ado. Before we get to the college
football picks. I do think we have to talk about
last night's game with Georgia and Georgia Tech, because.

Speaker 5 (03:08):
I think it was an atrocity.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
I think that game being decided and now like Georgia
is in the playoff now because they're ten and two,
and I'm not even disagreeing with that, but they're ten
and two. They're not gonna get penalized. Do they take
a third loss in the SEC title game, no matter
who it's too. If they lose that game and they
lose in the Sea title game, they're out. The fact
that that's determined on an eight eight overtime two point

(03:32):
conversion off is insane. I do you here's my question.
If you like the first college overtime, I do. That's
my whole thing. Yeah, when I was growing up, that
was what it was. The whole time.

Speaker 5 (03:46):
It just went back and forth and back and forth, and.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Eventually, I in my opinion, I know Sean Brace we
were talking about it in the group chat today. They
were saying, take away the extra point, make mate, just
every touchdown you have to go for two. To me,
kind of like the strategy of having you the option
of going for one or two there. If the team
gets seven, you have the option to either tie it
up and get the ball back first next doti, or

(04:09):
try to go for the kill shot right there. I
kind of like the strategy that and that's kind of
how they didn't want these. It's funny because the reason
they did this two point conversion thing is to prevent
eight overtimes off Like they didn't want games like this
or the Penn State Illinois game.

Speaker 5 (04:24):
But it's been the opposite effect.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
You get more of these games now when they used
to want to get rid of these three or four
overtime games with you know, full possessions starting at the
twenty five. I just don't know what the problem is
with the first college overtime. Everybody loves it. It's like
a universally loved thing. I remember growing up. Everybody was
always like, oh, it's so much better than NFL overtime,
and then we messed with it.

Speaker 5 (04:47):
That's my problem with it.

Speaker 6 (04:48):
Yeah, So I'll start with I think it's cool that
there's something unique about overtime that I think that gets
looked down upon kind of universally here, Like you look
at like an NBA overtime, it's just five more Min's
basketball NFL I've hated and they've altered it throughout the years.
But like the moments where it is the walk off
and a team doesn't get a chance, to me, never
sits right. The Josh Allen in the playoffs against the
Chiefs is the classic example that always pops to mind.

(05:10):
For that, I like the college does things a little
bit different, gives a team a chance. Now, as far
as the exact setup last night, I'm with you that
I think there should be the option for the extra point.
And frankly, when I was sitting there watching it last night,
I was thinking that Georgia Tech should have gone for
the kill shot and gone for two rather than in
that first.

Speaker 5 (05:25):
Yes, that exact first way.

Speaker 6 (05:27):
I could tell even over the course of that game
that it was clear the physicality, the size difference in Georgia,
all the things that make them Georgia. We're wearing on
this Georgia Tech team. Hayes King this morning, I can't
imagine how he is feeling physically after how beat up
he got and played an unbelievable game. Now, the actual
overtime format itself for college, to me, that's like prime football.

Speaker 5 (05:47):
That was perfect to watch all.

Speaker 6 (05:49):
It is on an every play basis is, we're giving
you our best shot and we're seeing if you can
stop it. It is a two point conversion. It is
one play to get in the end zone to touch
Payder and if the other team can stop him, you know,
be my guest you win this game. That cool to
me that that is the setup is our best versus
your best, and you do that over and over until
the winter's decided.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
I just like it from the twenty five. I just
give you the full possession. There's more strategy there. I
feel like there's more interesting kind of decision making.

Speaker 5 (06:16):
Do you kick the field goal? Do you go for
it on fourth?

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Really primarily the first team that goes, because once you're
going second, you know what you have to get to
either match it or beat it. But the first team
that goes is always where I find even in the
first overtime, still I still find it interesting, and I
always get kind of disappointed when the game doesn't end
after two overtimes.

Speaker 5 (06:34):
I'm like, oh, here we go.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
The walk back and forth of the field, it's pretty hilarious. Insane,
it's insane. At least last night they were converting on
a good amount of them. In the Penn State Illinois game,
there was like four six straight possessions where nobody got
in the end zone. Yeah, so that was not as
fun a couple of years ago. But I guess before
we move on to my picks Georgia, did you walk

(06:57):
out of that game thinking, man and they are vulnerable,
they're a fraud, or did you walk out of that
game thinking they escaped they's still a team that can
win the title.

Speaker 6 (07:07):
I probably I went into that game with I don't
have a strong conviction about this Georgia team. I don't
feel good about Carson Beck, and I kind of still
feel the same after that, I was more impressed with
Georgia Tech than I was disappointed in Georgia. I'll put
it that way that I think they played a great game. Again,
Haynes King was unbelievable yesterday that that was for sure
the best game of his college career. Caught a couple
of Georgia Tech games where he's impressed me and a

(07:27):
guy that like, I'm excited by. So I give the
more love to Georgia Tech that I am critical of Georgia,
but it certainly didn't increase my optimism that they're a
real deal contender.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, well, I guess here we could talk about this
before we get to my picks, how many real deal
contenders are there? Because I think that's where we get
into a little bit of an it like or we
don't know how to say. I think everybody can universally
agree real contender Texas. I don't think they're a real contender.

(07:57):
I don't think they can win the title. I ain't
number three in the country. I don't believe in quinn
Ewers just as much as I think that I don't
believe in Carson Beck, and I have more questions about
the rest of the team there than I do with Georgia.
And then also with Georgia, they've played the hardest schedule
in the country, whereas Texas has.

Speaker 5 (08:14):
Played a cake walk.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
And you know, they have a big chance to change
that narrative a bit tonight against Texas A and M
on the road in Kyle Field. Even they're the number
twenty team in the country right now, you beat them,
they're an eight and fourteen. Yeah, So I think that
there's legitimately questions to be had about Texas and if
they're legitiate not do.

Speaker 5 (08:32):
You look at them as a title contender.

Speaker 6 (08:34):
I did at the beginning of the season. I've gotten
softer on that take. I'm still not as out as
I would probably say a lot of people are, like,
I've certainly seen a lot of that Texas and they
haven't played anybody like there's legitimacy to this, all these
type of things. I still have a little bit of
hope that this team can fully click. I've seen moments
where I've been encouraged by what I've seen from yours.
It's been up and down throughout the season. I guess
maybe I'm not out on them completely. You also own

(08:57):
quite a bit of Tennessee stock. If I'm not mistaken, correct.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
We'll get the Tennessee. Let me just knock off a
couple teams here. Penn State not winning the title. No,
Miami defense is not winning.

Speaker 5 (09:08):
The title, and it sucks because cam Ward is awesome. Oh,
the offense could win the title.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
The defense it won't allow them to smu not winning
the title. Now, Indiana, think we saw not winning the title,
Boise fun Story not winning the title, Clemson not winning
the title.

Speaker 5 (09:23):
Bama.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
I think we saw what Bama was against Oklahoma. That
was shocking ole miss couldn't even get through to Mississippi
State easily.

Speaker 5 (09:31):
Last night.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
They were like a twenty nine point favorite. They won
by twelve. It was a three point game going into
the fourth. The question marks, So we all agree we're
gonna know how the state are.

Speaker 5 (09:42):
Yeah, you think Texas? No, right, I lean towards still
giving them a chance. Okay, Okay, so let's put aside Texas.
Then I'll say, yes, there's three other teams that we
can debate.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
It's Georgia. To me, I think you have to include Georgia.
The pedigree. Kirby, he's the only coach in this conversations
wanted title.

Speaker 5 (10:00):
Yeah, it's got multiple and I.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Think when it comes down to it, they have the
depth for these That's what it's gonna There's gonna be
a lot of injuries, people go down, they're given their all.
It's gonna come down to depth of these programs. And
I still think that's why the SEC teams will be
pretty good if they're able to win the first game
and go on a run, because you're gonna see war
of attrition a little bit.

Speaker 5 (10:22):
But I think you have to include Georgia.

Speaker 6 (10:24):
I would agree with that I'm as down on Carson
Beck as I've been straight through. It's really frightening stuff,
Like to the point where if I'm an NFL team
like he borderline off my board at this point. I'm
sure he'll still get drafted and still have an opportunity somewhere,
but he is, by no means a first round pick.
He's by no means a guy that I look at
as a potential franchise quarterback, and that was everything that
he was made up to be leading into this season here.

Speaker 5 (10:45):
So I'm more concerned about Georgia than I have been.

Speaker 6 (10:48):
I'm still with you that I think they're can dominate
in the trenches and have the physicality and size and
athletes and all the above to put forth a real
strong effort here. So not counting them out, But the
back thing really does scare me.

Speaker 5 (10:58):
Yeah, I just I feel the same way about yours.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
Yeah, I wouldn't want to talk to viewers with a
ten foot poll from an NFL standpoint. Guy gets hurt
every year, and I'm not even sure he's that good
when he plays. I think he's pretty mid kind of
You've been a long time, yours skeptical, to be honest,
over there. So even back when I was a little
bit more in so then there's two more teams to discuss.
I think, so you have four, I have three contenders
at this point, Notre Dame. I don't think Riley Leonards

(11:24):
a good enough passer for them to win the title.
I think they win a couple of games.

Speaker 6 (11:28):
But I've been a Riley Leonard guy for quite some time.
I'm underwhelmed by what I've seen this year. He's been
better in recent games, There's no doubt about it. Open
up things with his arms a little bit. He is
a very good runner with the football and a guy
that like they have a puncher's chance. But that loss
to start the season, to me, should have basically disqualified
from disqualified them from being in this conversation. I can't

(11:49):
believe how much of like a set thing that they
seem to be ready to be in the playoffs here,
but you know, it is what it is. I don't
think they stand up to the test of a lot
of these other teams here.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
I will say I kind of was saying that for
a long time now, these all these teams all have
a ton of bests.

Speaker 5 (12:03):
Now, last week was big. That's where it's now I
can't even now.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
I was kind of upset they didn't go above Penn
State just because you beat a team that was ranked
nineteen in Army. Do I think they were really a
top twenty team. No, they were just undefeated. But Notre
Dame beat the crap out of the team they had nineteen. Well,
Penn State really struggled to beat a Minnesota team. I
thought maybe they'd flop Notre Dame above Penn State and
wasn't the case. But I'm not including Notre Dame as

(12:28):
a team that can win the title. And the last
team for me is Tennessee, and Tennessee, in my opinion,
has the best defense maybe in this entire conversation, if
not the best, the top three right there with Notre Dame,
Penn State, Ohio State, there's probably the top.

Speaker 5 (12:43):
Four defenses in the country.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
Maybe you could throw Oregon in there as well, but
I think Tennessee's got the most talent. I think James
Pearce might be the best defensive player in this conversation.
Will Johnson and Travis Hunter probably the two best defensive players,
and Benjamin Morrison you could say too.

Speaker 5 (12:57):
All three are hurt.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
All three aren't hurt or not into the playoffs, so
James Pierce potentially could be the best defensive player that
will be in the playoff. Tennessee, I think they have
that sec upfront, big, big defensive line that makes.

Speaker 5 (13:11):
It beef up front.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
They have the beef up front. I didn't even think
about it. That wasn't what I was going for. And yeah,
there you go, shout out Ryan Beef Coyl. But they
have the beef up front there on both sides of
the ball, on the offensive line and the defensive line.

Speaker 5 (13:23):
The secondary does a really good job.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
I think that defense is going to be something that
can carry them through a title run. Nico's obviously the
question mark, and we've been critical of a lot of
these quarterbacks.

Speaker 5 (13:34):
But what I will say is they have maybe the.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Second best running back in the country and Dylan Samson,
who's if you're telling me, Tennessee just has to be
a dominant defensive team that can run the crap out
of the ball, and Nico just has to playoff play
action and make maybe one plays game manage the rest
of the way. That's where I can start to squint
and see Tennessee. I placed it at fifty to one.

(13:57):
It's down to twenty to one now, so I'm pretty
I'm a volunteer for the rest of the way, guarantee
Notre Dame and Toenna See he'll be faced off in
the first round now. But do you see Tennessee as
a team having a chance.

Speaker 6 (14:09):
I think video have a chance and the Nico stuffs
weird like when comparing them to the viewers and Carson Beck,
I think there's a caliber throw that Nico's physically capable
of making that these other guys just aren't. But you
also see how he's still green, how he's still learning
that he is a freshman guy playing the highest leverage
football of his entire life so far, and these are
other guys that are battle tested here. So I'm with

(14:30):
you on that has to be the game plan is
it's got to be a grinded out, old fashioned football.
Is the way that you can work your way through
these playoffs here. I'm a little bit skeptical that, like
the downside of Nico or kind of the inability to
read a defense for stretches shows face at the worst
time there, which is my biggest concern.

Speaker 5 (14:45):
But the talent is there on that team.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Yeah, I just And here's the thing, like with the
quarterback conversation, and this goes against some of the stuff
I said about some of these teams like Leonard and Ewers,
and these teams can't win because of this quarterback outside
of Dylan Gabriel on all, where's the elite quarterback in
this conversation, Cambell Ward you could also throw in there,
but Miami's defense is so bad. I don't see Miami

(15:08):
beating any of these teams really unless it's Indiana or SMU,
and it won't be SMU because they're gonna play them
in the ACC title game potentially.

Speaker 5 (15:15):
So let's uh, let's wrap that up. And so you
have five.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Teams that you think can be the title I have four,
and you could sway me on Texas. Let's see today tonight. Well,
you know what, Tonight's a big one. Tonight's my prove
it game for Texas. So Texas comes out and not
only wins, but covers the spread and controls the game
and looks good impressive doing it on both sides of
the ball.

Speaker 5 (15:33):
Then I can put them in.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
That five and I'd be excited to have five teams
that can win the title. Instead of four, to be
quite honest. But to me it's four. And we're gonna
get to the NFL number with the Super Bowl in
a little bit, because I think that's interesting as well.
But let's cross over to the college football picks. I
got people yelling at me on Twitter. My I have
two bets today to five unit bangers on the board today.

Speaker 5 (15:54):
Wow. Not sure which one's my best bet. I think
I have won that.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
I think one's from my heart, one's from my head,
to be quite honest. And from my heart even though
I think my head plays into it is my Duke
football Blue Devils Duke minus three and a half at
wake Forest five units. I need to commemorate this magical
twenty twenty four duke football season that nobody's talking about.
Eight and three straight up end against the spread, six

(16:19):
and one against the spread as an underdog with four
outright wins. He has more wins as an underdog than
losses straight up. Only coach in the country this year
in Manny Diaz. They're favored today, but by a disrespectful
three and a half points to a four and seven
wake Forest team plan for Tittley winks this team can't
make a bowl game. They got nothing to play for.

(16:39):
Duke's playing for a nine win season. They got a
lot of young guys, not a lot of NFL guys
opting out after this game. Like even to be honest,
like going into the bowl game season, I'm not a
big bowl game better.

Speaker 5 (16:50):
There's always a couple teams that you know will try.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
Last year, I remember Arizona was one of those teams,
a lot of young guys, nobody opted out.

Speaker 5 (16:57):
I could see this being the same with Duke this year.
Not a ton of opt outs.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
Maybe transfer portal stuff changes that, but we'll see. I
think Duke will be a good team to look at
for a bowl game win. If they come through and
cover for me today to get to nine and three,
I will be I've looked into it. I will be
buying a customized Malik Murphy Duke jersey number six. Last week,
at the end of their win, he threw up the
double middle fingers. He was allegedly disciplined internally because quote

(17:25):
that's not what Duke's about. Let me just say I
stand in solidarity with Malik Murphy and an honor of
stone Cold Steve Austin. I've got a little sign language
for anybody who wants Malik Mursey I ruined it. Who
wants some Malik Murphy disciplined, there's to you. I'll flip
you the bird. Shout out to Malik Murphy. He's actually
having a better season than Daniel Jones or Riley Leonard

(17:48):
ever had statistically at Duke if you go into it,
he's got like double the amount of touchdown passes than
either of them had. I think they both had a
few more rushing touchdowns than Murphy has, but similar yardage.
And he has another game here coming up to improve
on that, and maybe a bowl game yeah as well.
I'm assuming he will play in that unless he hits
the transfer portal from the.

Speaker 5 (18:09):
Bear Chris Falca.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Manny Diaz is eight and three in year one at
Duke and if the Blue Devils can beat Wake Forrest
on Saturday, they have a shot at the second ten
win season in school history.

Speaker 5 (18:18):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
The three losses to Top ten Miami and a game
that they were down one point with eight minutes to
go they ended up not covering twenty three and a half,
don't ask me about it. And over time to SMU
when they went for two and didn't get it. They're
in the playoff and at Georgia Tech in a game
that Duke led by seven in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 5 (18:37):
Georgia Tech.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
We saw what they were against Georgia last night. They
put up a couple. You know, they're a bull eligible team.
Those are not None of those are bad losses.

Speaker 5 (18:45):
No, not at all.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Since Wake ten and since Week ten Wakes quarterback on
the other side of the ball, averaging only one hundred
and forty three yards per game Wake one and five
at home. So I don't think this being a road
game for Duke is a problem. Right down Tobacco Road.
They called this to the Tobacco Road rivalry. So let
me Duke minus three and a half. I think they
take care of business. Moving on to anything on my
Duki's over there now, I lean that direction. You sold

(19:07):
me on it, so yeah, I'll ride with you on that.
I'm with you on Duke anything at twelve o'clock for
college football picks for you.

Speaker 6 (19:13):
I do like Ohio State to absolutely lay the hammer today.
I'm seeing nineteen and a half as the spread. Now,
I think it gets even uglier than that. And while
there is obviously the rich history between these two rivals,
here This is just a night and day different caliber
of teams. That Ohio State is this real deal playoff contender,
potential national championship team, and this Michigan football team is
almost as bad as I could remember it during my lifetime.

(19:33):
That there's just not that spark that hope there. So
this Ohio State team, the core group of these players
have not beat Michigan during their time there.

Speaker 5 (19:40):
I think a lot of those frustrations get out today.

Speaker 6 (19:42):
Wouldn't shock me if this ends up like a thirty
plus point victory here, Yeah, it.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Wouldn't shock me. I'm laying off. I'm not betting it,
but I think that's the right side. I hate laying
the big numbers. I feel like I have terrible luck
when doing so. I am laying one big number that
we'll get to, but I'm not a That's where I would.
You cannot bet Michigan in this game. There is no
Michigan bet that can be made. Going back to the see,

(20:07):
I guess it's an sec ACC showdown. I'm going with
the game Cock South Carolina plus three in Death Valley
at Clemson.

Speaker 5 (20:15):
It's a two unit play.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Clemson in South Carolina faced each other, both ranked in
the top twenty five to seven times South Carolina seven
to zero. In those games straight up and against the spread,
Clemson has lost three straight home games against the spread.

Speaker 5 (20:27):
Entering this game.

Speaker 2 (20:28):
They get into the ACC title game if Miami loses,
regardless of the outcome of this game. So I know
Clemson's fighting for an at large bid and right now
they potentially even get it. But kind of a little
bit of a letdown spot when you're saying that they
can make the a SEC title game with a loss
if someone else loses, it's kind of an interesting spot.
I just think Clemson crushed on a bad schedule and

(20:49):
lost to a good team in Georgia thirty four to three,
and got crushed by.

Speaker 5 (20:53):
A decent team in Louisville.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
I remember I was watching that game from New York City,
but I was shocked so that they were getting blown
out in that one.

Speaker 5 (21:02):
But that's exactly what happened.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Here comes another good team in South Carolina, and I
think Carolina takes care of them. Fifteenth in the country,
and there's a lot of teams out there rooting for
South Carolina to win this game because South Carolina doesn't
have a lot of playoff hopes to be honest with you,
even though they're sitting at fifteen, even though they have
three losses, just like Baman and Ole Miss. The problem

(21:25):
they lost twenty seven to three.

Speaker 5 (21:26):
To Ole Miss.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
They also lost Tobama at home, so a close game,
but it was in South Carolina, so they don't really
have a case to move above those teams even with
a strong win. But Clemson would move downly. It's funny
South Carolina winning probably pushes Alabama into the College Football Playoff,
so it's kind of funny how that works out. But sorry,

(21:47):
game Cock fans out there, you're helping. You're helping the
tide role I think. But today, which is what I
think is gonna happen. Moving on to another acc SEC showdown.
I've got Louisville minus three and a half at Kentucky
for two. Kentucky's had Louisville's number lately. Five in a
row for Kentucky that they've won straight up and against
the spread, the longest streak in the history of the rivalry.

(22:09):
This is revenge for Louisville with a staff and seniors
who have never beaten Kentucky before. Here they are is
the much better team and here's a chance to kind
of put it on them.

Speaker 5 (22:18):
A little bit as a home dog.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Kentucky seven and twenty two under Mark Stoops winning their
last game back in twenty twenty two as a home
dog against Louisville Stoops zero to three, straight up and
against the spread. This will also be the final regular
season game in the insanely long career of Tyler Schuck.

Speaker 5 (22:34):
He's like thirty five years old.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
The Oregon and Texas Tech transfer has been solid at
Louisville all year long, throwing for over three thousand yards
twenty three touchdowns to six interceptions. Louisville minus three and
a half two unit play and then two more units
are two more plays on the twelve o'clock slate, two
units on Kansas money line. Kansas might be like a
top ten team in the country the way they're playing

(22:57):
right now. It's a shame they're five and six. They
lost a ton of close games early in the year.
Give me it's Kansas money line at Baylor, by the way,
but of the Jayawk six losses, five have come by
six points or less, four have been by three or less.
Devin Neil has been absolutely insane as of late at
running back for them. Ran for three hundred and seventy

(23:17):
five rushing yards and seven touchdowns over his last three games.
He's averaging over one hundred yards per game. Has rushed
for over one thousand yards in three straight seasons at Kansas.
He's broken a bunch of Kansas rushing records there, his
fifteen touchdowns right a second in the Big twelve. And
then you look at the quarterback, a guy who I
came into the year loving, Jalen Daniels, and I threw

(23:38):
in the towel because he looked terrible in the first
half of the year and he was banged up playing
through something. In the past six weeks, Jalen Daniels has
thrown nine touchdown passes with just two turnovers, adding four
rushing touchdowns. He's averaged close to fifty rushing yards per
game over that stretch. Kansas allowed at least thirty points
in each of their first three conference games, but they've
settled down on defense only allowed thirty plus and one

(24:00):
of the last five games. They're fighting for Bowl eligibility,
Baylor's already clinched. I think the motivation factor leans towards
Kansas there, and I'm also on the over in this
game at sixty one and a half. Sawyer Robertson at
Baylor ever since he stepped in. He stepped in a
couple games ago, I think seven games ago. Twenty two
touchdowns and seven interceptions, so it has really really turned

(24:20):
that offense into a juggernaut a little bit. But they
still have a ton of issues defending the pass. They
allow way too many teams to cash in in the
red zone. One of the worst red zone teams in
the country, and even during the Baylor winning streak here
they've allowed over twenty eight points per game. Seven of
the last eight games have went over for Baylor. I
can't prepare this week, Sean Bernardo did. It's the last
week for this I don't have a lot more games

(24:41):
that I can rattle off all these numbers. Now we
have a lot of numbers too. End of the year.

Speaker 5 (24:47):
I usually feel like I do really well.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
These last couple weeks of the season. Last week had
a pretty good week. Hoping to do even better this week.
Best bet of the day at three point thirty at
least tied with Duke cal plus thirteen and a half
at SMU for five units. SMU's already clinched in acc
title birth. This is an ultimate letdown spot. It's also
an ultimate Justin Wilcox spot. He's thirty eighteen and one

(25:11):
against the spread as a dog at Cal. Fernando Mendoza,
young quarterback there at Cal, has been a revelation. Sophomore
quarterback completed sixty eight percent of his passes for over
three thousand yards.

Speaker 5 (25:22):
And then you look at Cal.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
They've nearly beat Miami, Pittsburgh, NC State, and SMU's only
loss of the season was at home. So despite sitting
at six and five, you look at Cal, they could
have a lot better record if they would have.

Speaker 5 (25:36):
I think Miami beat him on a hail Mary or
something crazy at the end of the game, but allegedly
caught that ball time.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah, So there's they've gotten really unlucky in some of
these games. And I know Beef and Tanzy have had
They've done really well the last couple of weeks fading Cal,
and they've been a big favorite against teams like Stanford
and Georgia Tech and Syracuse and some of these other teams.
They've won some of the games, lost some of them.
They haven't covered any of them. Justin Wilcox terrible against
the spread as a favorite, always bad and it wouldn't

(26:04):
letdown spots, But they just want a big game against
cal coming from behind in a game they should have
won handily, but they come from behind, they win it
on a game winning field goal. And here they are
six and five, all fired up, plus thirteen and a half.
This is the spot where Justin Wilcock comes back around
and comes through for California. At seven o'clock, I've got

(26:25):
the Florida Gators minus fifteen and a half at Florida State.
When Florida's listed as a favorite against Florida State, you're chomping?

Speaker 5 (26:31):
Are you with me?

Speaker 4 (26:31):
There?

Speaker 5 (26:32):
All right? I like that? I like that. I hate
laying the big numbers. This is my big number of
the week with Florida when they're.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
Listed as a favorit against Fida State, it's been They've
been pretty unbeatable since two thousand and nine to zero
straight up when they've been favored against Florida State five
to the last six FBS opponents, Florida State has played
ever quarter at least four inger and forty five yards
of offense, and they're terrible on offense themselves.

Speaker 5 (26:52):
Florida State hasn't.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
Scored over sixteen points against an FBS team in North
America this season. Geez, that's not what you want to hear.
And I don't think that changes in Luke Cromanhook's second
career start here. It was pretty bad in the first one.
I can't imagine it's gonna be much better against the
Florida defense that has stepped up a bit. Seven thirty
not much on this one case State plus two and

(27:14):
a half at Iowa State.

Speaker 5 (27:15):
I don't believe in this Iowa State team. I think
they're a fraud. And then my third favorite bed of
the day, three unit play.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Give me the over forty eight and a half Texas
Texas A and M in the big games tonight. Five
of the last six games they've went over seven to
the last nine games they've went over for the Aggies Texas.
I have questions on yours. I don't think he's not
gonna put up twenty plus. And if he puts up
twenty plus, you look at what Texas A and M's
offense has done. They've put up big numbers and that
defense has serious problems.

Speaker 5 (27:43):
So give me the over. I've actually throughout the week.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
It was something that wasn't on every other play I gave,
kind of was on my card on Monday or even Sunday.
That was kind of the one play I talked myself
in on throughout the week, and it's become one of
my favorite plays of the week.

Speaker 5 (27:55):
So take that. Maybe that's a bad thing, maybe that's
a good thing. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
But over forty eight and a half, Texas, Texas, A
and M, anything for you that we didn't touch on,
Shamber or any games that we did touch on.

Speaker 6 (28:04):
Yeah, the only one I wanted to bring up here
is I know we just talked up Tennessee and our
belief in them. Oh oh, big bad Diego Pavia walking
in here. Do you have any concern in this game?
Ten points spread in favor of Tennessee. I feel like
that's a lot for badman Diego.

Speaker 5 (28:18):
I lean Tennessee.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Okay, Fandy's seven to zero against spread as a double
Ditcher favorite this year with nice, nice group of wins
as well. But I don't think Fandy's sneaking up on Tennessee.
It's their little brother, it's in their backyard in Nashville.
They they hear all about it all the time all
year long. I'm sure they've heard about Diego Pavia. I
think they've snuck up on some of these teams. They
also haven't been quite the same these last couple of weeks,

(28:42):
especially on offense. They really disappointed. I thought they would
either win one of those It was at LSU and
then I can't remember the other team they played, but
I thought that they'd win one of those two games.

Speaker 5 (28:52):
And I just don't think.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
They're quite as good as they were when they were
beating Bama and some of those other teams in the
middle of the year. And I don't think they'll sneak
up on Tennessee. I actually lean Tennessee in a game,
I lean Tennessee minus ten. I lean Ohio State, but
those plays did not make the card a couple other
I'll be rooting for Fresno State at three thirty plus
eight and a half at UCLA. I leaned the eight
and a half there with Presno. I can't pull the trigger,

(29:16):
but I'm just rooting for them to win. I have
UCLA under five. They're sitting there at four and seven,
so if they win, I push. Really bizarre that I
got it at five and not a half number. If
they win, I push if they lose, that's like a
five unit winner for me. That that was my big
off season play, so big, big watching that President State
game at three thirty that no one else will care about.
By the way, Fresno State UCLA being played on the

(29:37):
Big ten network assault. Wow, that is not a Big
ten game. Fresno State Ucla. That is just as salt
on the PAC twelve and taking that away from us,
it's it's unbelievable. And then three thirty on CBS, Notre
Dame plays at usc and the line tells you everything

(29:59):
you need know about why I'm nervous about this game.
Lines only at seven and it opened at six and
a half. So it's been bet up by the public
who have seen Notre Dame win a ton of games
by a lot of points. I'm telling you out there,
bet the Trojans.

Speaker 5 (30:14):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
I think they went out right. Wow, I'm nervous. Here's
the one thing.

Speaker 5 (30:19):
I think Notre Dame might get in if they lose.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Really, I don't want to say that out loud, so
I whispered it. You know this, We're in a trust tree.
No one's allowed to put that out and clip that out,
But I do think there's a chance they lost a
close game at USC. Does ten and two Notre Dame
have that much worse of a resume than an eleven
and two SMU team would, or then at nine and
three Bama, or then not a ten and two Clemson

(30:43):
who lost thirty four to three to Georgia and lost
to Louisville, and they would got to win today against
South Carolina. But I think it would at least be
a conversation. And people don't want to hear that, but
I think it would at least be a conversation.

Speaker 6 (30:54):
Yeah, No, I do think that's true there. I'm still
so scarred from the loss that did occur that it
was Illinois.

Speaker 5 (31:00):
Is that what it was? Yeah, that's me.

Speaker 6 (31:02):
Yeah, I like that one was one of I remember
writing about it at the time of how historical of
an upset that is, and that just still does not
sit right with me.

Speaker 5 (31:11):
Now.

Speaker 6 (31:11):
They have been a different Notre Dame team to this
since that point, but I also know it's looked like
a different USC team these past couple weeks as well,
that they've been playing good football there, So I'm curious
that one goes down. I kind of fork out football
across the board route for madness here. I still like
Notre Dame to get the win and kind of give
themselves an easy path here.

Speaker 5 (31:29):
But it could get interesting this week. For sure. I'm very,
very nervous.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
I'll have the Notre Dame on the big screen, I'll
have cal Smo on the second biggest screen, and then
we'll have to get Fresno on the laptop or something
at three thirty. But twelve, Paul George, twelve was a
nightma you shout out Paul George that that's a good pole.
But twelve is gonna be a nightmare for me because
it's coming up here twenty five minutes. I'll have to
broadcast through it. I got five games that I've got
eyes on. That's not counting Ohio State Michigan, that's not

(31:56):
counting Tennessee Vandy where I've got this fit on Tennessee ticket.
I need Tennessee to win that, you know, gosh durn
game there in vanderbert Yeah, at Vanderbilts. It's on the road, right,
it's ye, So I imagine there's gonna be a lot
of Tennessee fans there, probably, sure, I'm sure it's probably
gonna be more more fifty to fifty than maybe even
more leaning towards Tennessee.

Speaker 6 (32:18):
But although I think Vandy will show out for this,
this has been their best team in however long I
can remember, and I do think there's a legit buzz
about this team for the first time, so I think
Vandy will be well represented as well.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
Interested to say, we'll have to split the game on
here in the studio, but that's gonna do it. For
the college football segment of the show, that was some
good stuff right there. Happy we went through the playoff scenarios,
and I guess here real quick, before we get to commercial,
I will read out the kind of the conference championship
scenarios for the people out there who might be a
little bit confused with some of these situations that could

(32:51):
arise here with the with the ACC, it's pretty simple.
SMU has clinched in, so their game today does not matter.
Will face Miami if Miami beats Syracuse. If Miami loses
to Syracuse, it's Clemson no matter what. Doesn't matter what
happens with Clemson today. With Big Ten, it's Oregon, Ohio State.
If Ohio State wins today, If Ohio State somehow loses

(33:14):
to Michigan, I don't think we even have to worry
about this, then it would be Oregon, Penn State, if
Penn State beats Maryland. If Ohio State and Penn State loses,
then it would be Indiana if Indiana beats Purdue. If
they all lose, it's Ohio State with the Big twelve.
This is where it gets crazy.

Speaker 5 (33:30):
Yeah, I don't even I'm not even gonna really read
the all of the scenarios.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
Colorado won last night, which clears up some of the
crazy scenarios. If Arizona State and Iowa State win, Arizona
State and Iowa State will play. If Arizona State and
Iowa State, or if Arizona State wins in Iowa State
loses but BYU wins, then it's Arizona State BYU next week,

(33:54):
which would be a rematch of last week, which is
what I want. I think Arizona State and BYU would
be the two teams I hope to play. Get Colorado
in there. But Colorado now needs like they need two
of Arizona State, BYU and Ioway State to lose, and
they also need West Virginia to beat Texas Tech for
tiebreaker purposes with like common record of A.

Speaker 5 (34:15):
It's really crazy.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
It's a shame that Colorado lost that game and had
to face a hot Kansas team there. And then with
the SEC pretty simple, Georgia's clinched in and the winner
tonight of Texas Texas A and M goes to the
SEC title game, which is what makes us such a
fun game. And it's a bigger game for Texas A
and M than it is for Texas. Texas A and
M loses this game, they're out. If Texas A and

(34:38):
M loses the SEC title game after losing this game,
they're out.

Speaker 5 (34:42):
But if Texas loses this.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Game, they'll still be in there. Whether that's right or wrong,
it's what's gonna happen. Let's take a break now on
the other side, talking all things Week thirteen.

Speaker 5 (34:51):
In the NFL. Yeah, Week thirteen, Week thirteen in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
We'll talk all things week thirteen coming up on the
other side right here on the top cover radio show.

Speaker 3 (35:00):
Spreads totals and all the prop that's in between. It's
the gambler.

Speaker 7 (35:05):
You can tell me, I'm the pay I'm the may Man.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Welcome back to the Tough Cover radio show right here
on Fox Sports, The Gambler break it down all things
NFL Week thirteen, after we just talked all things College
Football Week fourteen. But let's switch it over to Sunday
and start it off just previewing the games starting at
one o'clock. No London games this week, just a normal
Sunday ahead late. Yeah, it's a pretty good slate, I think,

(35:39):
a pretty good slate. I don't love the board from
a gambling perspective, but there's a couple of games I
do like on it, and I'll start with what I
do here with the Seattle Seahawks at the New York Jets.

Speaker 5 (35:50):
I'll throw it to you first. Where are you landing
on this one.

Speaker 6 (35:53):
Eileen, Seahawks? I think the Jets are that big of
a disaster at this point. This is not a game
I have a play on or feel overly passionate about.
But I do think that the Jets are the Titanic
right now. Everything that has gone bad basically or could
go bad basically has for that team. I don't see
with Aaron Rodgers. He just doesn't look like the same guy.
And I mean father Time is undefeated. As they say, obviously,
there's been the firings from just about everyone in the organization.

Speaker 5 (36:17):
It just feels like disaster there.

Speaker 6 (36:18):
Seattle still has a little something to play for their
playoff hopes not overly bright at this point, but still
certainly in it. That division is wide open for the taken,
so I think they take advantage of that, get the
victory and keep it going there.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
I'm going with the Seahawks my favorite play off the
one o'clock slate, maybe maybe my favorite.

Speaker 5 (36:34):
Side of the week.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Obviously, every week Jalen Hurts my favorite on the NFL slate,
and it's at minus I think I got minus one
ten this week, but Seattle might be my favorite pat
on the board.

Speaker 5 (36:44):
Outside of that.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
Gino smith Remain's prevenge game, I feel like there's been
true not enough attention paid to this, and I think
it's because he played against the Giants in New York.
The revenge is not against the Giants. It's where he
got punched in the face and got his job taken
from the three. Was drafted against the in New York
for the Jets, not the Giants.

Speaker 5 (37:02):
The Giants.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
He was there for a year, is Eli's back up
and played two games and they let him go. It's
ridiculous that that was referred to as a revenge game.
This is a true revenge game. And Gino's career six
and oh straight up as a road favorite of at
least a point or more here that that's kind of
actually swayed when I put that stat down.

Speaker 5 (37:18):
They remind us one and a half.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
They're like plus one now, So that's that kind of
goes on the trash, but still thought.

Speaker 5 (37:23):
It was relevant.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
I feel like they beat better team or they beat
worse teams when he's the better team. Generally, he struggles
when he has to play better teams. Usually you look
at Aaron Rodgers and he's just been one of the
worst quarterbacks in football. There's no way around it. He
owns the sixth worst completion percentage above expected and the
sixth lowest average depth of target for any qualified quarterbacks

(37:44):
this season. This is the six game Rodgers will play
this season against the team over five hundred. They are
one in four straight up and against the spread in
those games, with their loan win coming against the Texans.
So a lot of people are going to point to
this game and say, Vegas News, you gotta take the
juts to Ratlin, and I understand that philosophy, even though
I hate betting like that. As I've said very many

(38:06):
times on this show, clearly Vegas has been off on
the Jets for the entire year. They continue to give
them too much respect, and that's kind of evident by
being one to four against the spread against teams above
five hundred. So Seattle probably my favorite player of the week,
definitely my favorite play of the one o'clock sleeate. Next up,
I'll go to the game. I barely have something on.
I've added this late in the week, And tell me

(38:28):
what you think. Okay, Colts Patriots, Okay, I'm taking the over,
really two and a half. I feel like these defenses
both stink. I think their offenses both stink too good. Yeah,
but I'm gonna go with the over. I mean, two
of the last three have went over for Indy. The
last two have went over for New England. New England's

(38:48):
given up thirty four and twenty eight. They've at least
put fifteen and twenty two on the board in those games. Indy,
you did see Anthony Richardson put up twenty eight against
a bad Jets defense.

Speaker 5 (38:58):
I don't know how.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
Much better the Patriots defenses than that, So I kind
of think it's gonna be like a shootout that comes
down to the end of the game, and just because
both teams sick.

Speaker 6 (39:06):
I'll just say this, Anthony richards from Anthony Richardson for me,
has climbed very rapidly on to the absolutely avoided all
costs as far as a bad perspective that I have
no clue what that guy's gonna look like on a
week to week basis.

Speaker 5 (39:17):
There.

Speaker 6 (39:17):
He absolutely could pop off throw for four touchdowns and
I wouldn't be overly shocked about it. But I also
could see him fail to complete a pass for the
entire first half, and that also wouldn't surprise me there,
So I don't mind it. I'm surprised this is where
your head went there, but I can rock with that.
I'm not gonna be overly against it. So over forty
two and a half interesting there.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
I just thought it was low.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
I just feel like it's a low number, and it's
low for a reason. But well, let's kind of do
these as a two packs. I've got nothing on either
of them Tennessee Washington Washington or a six point favorite
there against Tennessee Tennessee who beat Houston last week. Houston
only a three and a half point favorite on the
road in Jacksonville. I think Vegas is coming around in

(39:55):
my take that Houston is a total fraud job that
I think that's is so fraudulent. I will do their
power rankings in a little bit on the other side
of the hour, But any take on I'm not betting
either side of these games. I would lean Washington in Houston. Yeah,
which are the square sides? But would you be bet
Are you betting either of these games?

Speaker 7 (40:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (40:15):
I do like both the favorites here for both these games.

Speaker 6 (40:17):
Jacksonville kind of the same situation that like, obviously they're
kind of imploding here as a franchise. Trevor Lawrence will
be back this week, which helps their case. I mean
mac Jones bars on the floor for where that is there.
I feel like Hunger's got a kick in for this
Texans team. That they've been bad, there's no doubt about it,
but I still kind of have optimism that, like, they're
not as bad as they have played. The second year

(40:37):
wall has very clearly hit c J.

Speaker 5 (40:39):
Stroud.

Speaker 6 (40:40):
The sophomore slump is very much in full effect for him,
and it's not some of them overly worried about in
the long haul, but kind of surprised at the how
much of a step back that he's really taken this year.
They've dealt with injuries at the wide receiver position. There's
other reasons why, and it's not just on Stroud, but
I do think that he kind of snaps out of
things and we see a glimpse of what this team
could be this week against the defense that will provide
you every opp team ay to do so. So I

(41:01):
like the Texans minus three and a half and for
the Commanders, kind of the same mindset here. They're on
a tough stretch that I feel like they're due to
turn things around. I'm still a Jayden Daniels believer. I
think that offense can find a way to click and
it's just gonna put up more points than Tennessee's capable
of matching there. So I do like both the favorites here,
but definitely have some concerns about each of these teams.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
Moving on to a game that I'll kind of do
these two as a two pack two a little bit.
We have Arizona going on the road to the Minnesota Vikings.
Arizona made me feel as dumb as I ever felt
in my life last week, as one of my favorite
bets of the week was Arizona, and they showed up,
or I should say they did not show up to
the game. They lose sixteen to six. I still kind

(41:40):
of think a lot of it was kind of fluky,
and the offense just I don't think it's gonna look
that bad ever again. And the defense stood up. I mean,
the one was a pick six they gave it. The
defense only gave up nine points to Seattle there, which
is a little bit of my concern that I'm hopping
on the Seattle train at the wrong time. But that's
a whole other conversation. I'm going back to the well.
I'm taking Arizona plus three and a half. I think
this is going to be a close game. I would

(42:02):
lean Arizona winning it. I think Minnesota is due for
some close game regression, yep, a little bit. Sam Donald
had a great game last week. A couple of games
before that really started to struggle. He was forcing it
to Justin Jefferson. Last week they went the opposite, didn't
throw it a lot to Jefferson, but got everybody else involved.
I don't think that's going to work inainst in Arizona
defense that has looked a lot better. So give me

(42:23):
Arizona plus three and a half, low scoring, close game.

Speaker 6 (42:25):
Yeah, I lean that direction as well. I'm not in
on this Vikings team. I keep trying to talk myself
into it. Obviously, they started incredibly hot. I think the
defense has kind of regressed a little bit. Still very
good in kind of the NFL wide standard, but not
quite as dominant as they look through the first couple
of weeks there. Sam Donald is Sam Donald, and we've
kind of seen him return to his traditional self in
the most recent weeks.

Speaker 5 (42:46):
I'm still Kyler Murray believer.

Speaker 6 (42:48):
I do lean for the Cardinals for this specific game,
but I'm interested to dig into that conversation. We get
to the power rankings, because I'm pretty skeptical of this
Vikings team.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Yeah, it's really I mean, Minnesota should be higher than
Arizona on the power rankings. They're not Arizon in a
six and five. This is just a situational spot kind of.
But another team that made me feel really dumb the
last time I bet on them was Atlanta when they
got blown out by Denver. I'm betting on them again here.
I'm taking Atlanta on the plus one and a half
is what I had them at against.

Speaker 5 (43:16):
The Chargers at home.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
Chargers flying across the country on short rest Monday night football,
Atlanta coming off of the bye, coming off a brutal
loss before the bye, Chargers have kind of regressed. I
think these last couple of weeks, they go up ten
to nothing and then they punt for their next six
times against Baltimore or Baltimore defense that a lot of
people seem to think is terrible. So I think that

(43:38):
the Falcons, if not now, then when. So the Falcons,
you got to come out and show me something.

Speaker 6 (43:43):
Yeah, it's a desperation game for sure that they have
to have. You know, keep your door open at least
give yourself a chance here. It's disappointing. I didn't think
it would get this bad for Atlanta that I thought
they would be in the mix at the minimum, and
they still are.

Speaker 5 (43:53):
So I don't want to open it.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
I mean, they're in the lead of the divisions. Just
the Tampa seems like they're surgeon.

Speaker 6 (43:58):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely there and with it the amount of
injuries that they've dealt with as well, so I lean
towards the Falcons as well. I do think the Chargers
have to kind of regress the mean and come back
to Earth a little bit. Feels like they've gotten a
lot of games that have just barely gone their way,
which has not traditionally been the case for the Chargers there.
So I do think we see some slow pitch here.
I do lean towards Atlanta, but not a play I'm

(44:18):
passionate about.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
Yeah, I'm Atlanta and Arizona. I feel like I can't
be passionate about it because last time I was passionate
about either team, they made me feel like the dumbest
guy on the planet. So I'm not gonna touch I'm
not going to be super passionate about that one unit
plays for both.

Speaker 5 (44:33):
Give me Arizona and Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
Last game that we're gonna touch on before we take
a break here on the one o'clock slate. I've got
I know it's dumb, but I think the line is
telling you something. I'm not a line's telling you something, guy.
Ever see give me Sincy minus two and a half
against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I have a couple of player
props in this game as well. I'm also gonna go
with Jamarsh's touchdown thirteen touchdowns on the year, leading receiving

(44:58):
touchdowns by a wide margin. I think he's only missed.
I think he's only not scored in three games so
far on the season. As we have Peter herb Street
walking around the college game day set, they're always good
to see.

Speaker 5 (45:08):
Shout out to the Dogos.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
And then you have Chase Brown over twenty eight and
a half receiving yards is another one. I'm gonna play
three straight weeks over. He had thirty seven, fifty five,
and fifty nine receiving yards in each of the last
three weeks. I'm gonna go over. You could honestly convince me.
So the rushing prop was sixty four and a half,
he was fifty seven, and then he was like ninety
something in one hundred and something in the last three weeks.
So I like the rushing prop as well. The combined

(45:32):
rushing receiving prop, it was like sixty four and a
half and twenty and eight and a half, but the
number was like ninety eight and a half. It was
higher than it should have been.

Speaker 5 (45:38):
Combined.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
I can't figure out the right way to bet this.
I'm going receiving yards. Maybe you want to go rushing
and receiving this in case he breaks one either way,
maybe you just go rushing. No matter how you slice it,
I think Chase Brown does better than people expect him
because he continues to do that every single week.

Speaker 5 (45:55):
Chase Brown's a guy I.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Would unload a little bit for in DFS if your
trade deadline had happen, I would go out and trade
for Chase Brown. To be quite honest, I think that
guy's going to be someone who maybe can win some
fantasy leagues for some people down the stretch at a
weird running back position this year.

Speaker 5 (46:09):
Anything on this one for you, I lean that direction.
With Cincinnati as well.

Speaker 6 (46:13):
I do believe in this Pittsburgh team that I think
this is going to be a battle, and we've basically
seen a lot of the luck situations go against Cincinnati
this year. Joe Burrow playing terrific this year and has
not been rewarded for it whatsoever. I'm in on Chase
Brown love as well, and also shout out obviously the
brother of Sidney Brown on the Eagles. There there's been
some cool stories about that, so we'll be rooting for
the guy. I would like to see this Bengals team

(46:34):
have a chance. Man, it's looking darker and darker and
more and more unlikely that they do have a playoff
chance here, But it starts with this week.

Speaker 5 (46:41):
You got to get a win if you want to
keep that door open. Whatsoever.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Burrow has won and covered four in a row off
of a bye during the regular season coming off of
bye here and in his career, Joe Burrow is thirteen
and four in December or later.

Speaker 5 (46:53):
Well, make Tomlin Steelers.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
Teams just eighteen and nineteen since twenty eighteen in December,
so they faded a little bit down the stretch.

Speaker 5 (47:00):
Also a couple of fun stats I forgot to bring
up earlier.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Kirk Cousins at one PM in defense of the Falcons
pick sixty one to thirty five and one in his
career twenty two and forty four any games after that,
pretty crazy splits.

Speaker 5 (47:12):
Everybody knows about one PM Kirk in Arizona.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
Fun stat arizonah to ten in Minnesota since nineteen eighty
have not won a game in Minnesota in fifty four years. Wow,
fun little stat there. But Kyler Murray thirty seventeen and
two against the spread as a dog, one of the
best underdog quarterbacks in the NFL. That's gonna do it
for the one o'clock slay. On the other side, let's

(47:35):
break down the four o'clock games, including the Eagles Ravens
big showdown in Baltimore, and a couple of the night
games on Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football. On
the other side, back after this at the top of
the hour.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Okay, if you get wager on it, we're talking about it.
It's the Gambler, Fox Sports Radio and Gambler. Fox Sports
Radio in Philly is The Gambler. The Gambler, Philly's home
for all things sports gambling.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
Welcome back to the tough cover radio show right here
on Fox Sports The Gambler, bringing.

Speaker 5 (48:15):
Down all things NFL Week thirteen.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
We're gonna get some NFL Power rankings talk and some
QB rankings talk as well. But let's keep going with
where we've been going with the NFL Week thirteen picks.
We gave out our one o'clock pase. I like the
Seahawks Bengals minus two and a half. Jamar touchdown at
plus one o eight. Chase Brown over twenty eight and
a half receiving yards, Falcons plus one and a half
against the Chargers, Cardinals plus three and a half at

(48:38):
the Vikings, and over forty two and a half in.

Speaker 5 (48:41):
Colts Patriots at four oh five.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
This is not one that This is another one I've
kind of talked myself into as the week as went along.

Speaker 5 (48:49):
But Rams at Saints.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
I know the Saints are playing better football going into
that bye week with the Rizzler at Darren Rizzy stepping
up to be their head coach.

Speaker 5 (48:57):
But I think Rams my two and a half.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
I think it's a little bit of an overreaction to
seeing them get torn apart by Philly, who's just one
of the best teams in the NFL. YEP, I don't
think there's any shame in what the Rams had happened
to them on Sunday nights. So give me the Rams
minus two and a half. Not confident in it, though.

Speaker 6 (49:13):
Yeah, I lean that direction as well. I do think
the Rams like are better than their record indicates. And
do you think there's a bit of overreaction and overcorrection
with how last week went? Not a lot of teams
can go I to ie with the Eagles right now,
and that's a great thing from the city of Philadelphia.
The Rams clearly not one of them. I don't think
they're quite a contender, but they're still kind of knocking
on that door.

Speaker 5 (49:30):
To me.

Speaker 6 (49:31):
The Saints not quite the situation, so I do agree
with that, but not something.

Speaker 5 (49:34):
I have in my card.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
Moving to the other four h five game before we
get to the big one, which we'll spend some time
on Tampa Bay at Carolina at Tampa Bay six point favorite.
Total is at forty six and a half. I'm staying
away from this one. I'm not betting it.

Speaker 5 (49:48):
Bruse Young.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
I was shocked by how good Brice on the roof
last week, and the stats were like twenty one for
thirty five and you know, two hundred and forty yards
a touchdown or two, so it wasn't like you lit
it up on the statue. But watching the game, I
was so impressed. That was actually the game.

Speaker 5 (50:02):
We got here locally, which I was shocked to see.

Speaker 2 (50:05):
But he looked really, really good in that game, kept
a competitive obviously, took it to overtime and all. But
I don't know if that's a one week blip in
Ken City's defense has maybe maybe some problems, or if
that's just what Bryce Young is now and he's gonna
bounce back and he's been fixed by Canalis and he's
gonna fight Tampa Bay. Here, I would lean a one

(50:26):
week blip. I would lean Tampa Bay lay on the points,
but I'm not touching it.

Speaker 5 (50:30):
Yeah, I lean the opposite here.

Speaker 6 (50:32):
I think it's worth taking a chance on the plus
one ninety five on the money line for Carolina. That
where I keep getting stuck on the Bryce Young conversation
is even as bad as he looked like. When I
think about the version of Bryce Young leaving Alabama, I
thought there was no world on which the floor was
that low for him that I thought he would at
worst be like a fine quarterback. And he was not
that for until obviously everything that went down, the benching

(50:52):
and everything else in between.

Speaker 5 (50:54):
Here, I think he's back.

Speaker 6 (50:55):
He's playing decisive football, making the right throws, throwing guys
open for stretch, which is in a way that we
had not really seen for him. I think Tampa Bay
they've been good, they've been hot, they've been playing. Baker
has been one of the more fun quarterbacks to watch
across the entire sport.

Speaker 5 (51:09):
But I think Bryce Young needs one.

Speaker 6 (51:10):
I think he's gonna get one this week, and I
think he makes a little noise getting a win this week.

Speaker 5 (51:14):
Yeah, I could definitely see it. Obviously, it's not in
my card.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
I'm not laying the six, so clearly, I think Caroline
is a live dog in the game. I just can't
I can't figure out what they are yet. So yeah,
I'm gonna back off.

Speaker 5 (51:25):
Four twenty five.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
Big game of the week. I already talked about Jalen
Hurts touchdown. That's obviously the best bet on my card.
But Eagles at Ravens total sitting at fifty one, Ravens
are a three point favorite in the game.

Speaker 5 (51:37):
I'll throw it over to you first.

Speaker 6 (51:39):
Yeah, I like the over to start with, and I
think we're gonna see some points in both directions here.

Speaker 5 (51:43):
I think this is gonna go right down to the wire.

Speaker 6 (51:45):
This is probably up there on the game I've been
most excited for the across the entire season. I think
the Eagles get it done. Man, I think they've flipped
the switch. This team looks locked in and clicking on
all cylinders in a way that we haven't seen for
them in like over a year and a half. At
this point, I think that this is the type of
matchup that they're going to get up for. It's really
cool to see the dynamic as far as both Derrick
Henry and Saquon Barkley being guys that were added to

(52:07):
teams that have made such difference. Lamar Jackson and Jalen
Hurts both guys who are in that upper echelon of
the quarterback conversation but have their unique stylistic ways that
they go about things. There is the dual threat nature
that both teams carry. The defense is going to be interesting.
I'm with you that I don't think the Ravens defense
is as bad as the perception of them. When you
just look at that depth jar, there's guys on that
team that it hasn't fully clicked together. There's talent, the

(52:29):
Nate Wiggins, the Roquan Smiths, There's some guys that are
actually good on that defensive unit. So I think it's
going to get better for the Ravens defense. I think
this is going to be a challenge from start to finish.
This is gonna be a game that goes down to
the wire. But I think the Eagles find a way
to get the job them.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
Yeah, I agree with a ton of that for sure.
And the Ravens d I think people have given up
on them too early. Kyle Hamilton was missing some time.
There was multiple guys on that defense that were missing
some time when they were really really struggling.

Speaker 5 (52:55):
And here you have the last two weeks.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
You gave out twenty three points, including one touchdown in
total garbage time to the Chargers, and you gave up
eighteen points to Pittsburgh. Everybody freaked out after that Steelers
Ravens game. I walked out of that game thinking maybe
Baltimore figured out some of their defensive problems. I'm not
walking out of that game worried that the offense was
bad because they scored sixteen points, missing three kicks and
fumbling the ball three times. Yeah, that's gonna happen. Your

(53:19):
offense is gonna stall when you have six drives and
like that. So I wasn't worried at all. I actually
walked out of that raven Steelers game higher on the Ravens,
lower on the Steelers, and that defense I think has
really stepped up these last two weeks. Yep, I'm not
sure that I actually wouldn't go to the over.

Speaker 7 (53:34):
OK.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
I think it could end up being like twenty four
to twenty one, a little bit lower scoring, but I mean,
up close to that number, it was fifty one. But
I'm leaning towards the Eagles. I'm taking the Eagles plus three.
They're probably my second or third favorite player of the week.
Baltimore's zero to two against the spread on short rest
this year. Their defense did give up seventy nine points
in those two games, so maybe the defense. You will

(53:55):
see some of those defensive problems as Vanderbilt's returning a
kick to win to open the game against Tennessee. That's
an absolute nightmare for me. Also, Kansas dropped a touchdown
and then missed a field goal, so good start for
faris college football a fun stat? Eagles are eight to
o with AJ Brown averaging thirty one points per game
in those games. They're just you look at over the

(54:17):
last couple of years thirty five and ten with AJ
Brown active one in three in games that he's missed,
and I think there's probably this is probably the right.

Speaker 5 (54:24):
Time to talk about the MVP thing. YEP.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
In Jalen's last seven games, the Eagles are seven to
zero straight up. Obviously, since that time, he is fourth
in EPA per play fourth and success rate second and
completion percentage over expected, top five in total touchdowns with
eighteen total touchdowns and one interception. In that stretch, Hurts
his tie for the most rushing touchdowns in the NFL

(54:50):
since Week six with nine. And I think if any
other quarterback had done what Jalen Hurts has done in
that stretch, we'd be talking about him as an MVP candidate. Instead,
we're talking about it with the running back, and I'm
not pushing for Jalen Hurts to be an MVP candidate,
and Saquan's unbelievable. I think I've kind of landed on
why the Saquan MVP candidacy makes me so annoyed.

Speaker 5 (55:14):
To be honest, did you take it as a Jalen discredit.
It's not just a Jaalen discredit.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
It's a discredit to the entire team, because I think
a running back being MVP should happen on a team
that a running back is strapping that offense on its back.
And like Adrian Peterson did ten years ago when he
went Christian quarterback, whereas in this situation. You have Jalen Hurts, so,
in my opinion, is the top ten quarterback. You have
AJ Brown. Honestly, if we want to get to we'll

(55:38):
talk about a quarterback ranks. I think jale Hurts is
the number five quarterback in the NFL. You want to
talk about AJ Brown because I think he's the top
three receiver on the planet. He will talk about Davonte Smith.
I think he's top twenty receiver on the planet. I
think Dallas got It is the top ten tight end.
I think they have the best offensive line in the NFL,
including the best offensive line min in the NFL. I
think the top ten and the defensive line. If you're

(56:00):
making me take all the defensive lines, ends, and defensive
tackles and mush them together, I'll take Jalen Carter over
almost everybody. So I think their top ten on the
defensive line. I think the way Zach Bond's playing, if
you have an all Pro linebacker, you're probably a top
ten linebacking crew at this point. And I think they
might have the best secondary in the NFL. All of
that to say, I think the Eagles are top five
to top ten in every single position group on the field,

(56:23):
offense and defense. So for running back to an MVP
on that team, I think is a discredit and a
disservice not only to Jalen but to Howie Roseman and.

Speaker 5 (56:32):
The entire team. And I get that that's not how
you know.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Saquon and Howie and Jalen would hear that and be like,
are you kidding me? But that's how I take it
from the outside looking in, Whereas I look at the
Baltimore Ravens and I think if Lamar Jackson was replaced
with an average quarterback, I think that team is four
and eight right now. It's in the Bengals situation, then
they're in. If you take I mean same if you
take a.

Speaker 6 (56:55):
Joe Burrow, but if you like same offense, Like, look
how good DeAndre Swift was what he turned into Miles
Sanders same conversation, Like Sequon obviously is a notable counts.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Better than those guys, But those guys were rushing for
one thousand yards close to it. The offense was still
top five in the NFL, top ten in the NFL
with both of those guys, they went to a Super
Bowl with Miles Sanders like people being like, whereoud the
Eagles be without Saquon Barkley. It's like, well, they've been
in the playoffs the three years prior and they've won
two divisions without him, and they made the playoffs without
AJ Brown or Saquon Barkley three years ago, and Jalen

(57:25):
and Sirianni's first year here where they won nine games.
They're supposed there over under was six and a half
going into the year and they made the playoffs. Anyway,
in my opinion, Jalen Hurts is the most valuable player
on the team and it's gonna be hard to take
that away from my thoughts. I think if you just
told me, if I got a tech, I wasn't watching
the game. If I got a text Saquon Barkley got hurt.
If I got a text that Jalen Hurts got hurt,

(57:47):
If I got a texted AJ Brown got hurt, the
reactions are ranked like Jalen aj Saquon in terms of
what the drop off I think would be. And that's
not Saquon's fault. That's partially due to the running back position.
And then people like John Jansen are going to hear
me say that and think that that's me disrespecting the
running back. The running back position, it's just the fact

(58:08):
of life. Look at what Saquon's being paid this year,
and it's way too low. And we'll talk about that
in a second. He's being paid thirteen million dollars two years,
twenty three years, thirty nine million over the next three years,
I believe was what it was or what was really guaranteed.
Aj Brown has got a three year, ninety six million
dollar contract. Yeah, Jalen's making like one hundred and sixty
million over those three years. The reason that those positions

(58:29):
are valued that the way they are is because of
the effect that they have the defense, Like you have
to devote two people to aj Brown because of Jalen Hurts.
Saquon Barkley's a much better running back because they have
to devote a spy or someone to be worried about
the read option game with Jalen Hurts rushing on on
the backside. So there's a lot of these things that
I think people just see Saquon go on these long

(58:50):
runs and they go, oh my god, Saquon MVP. Really, Like,
does anybody actually think Saquon's more valuable to the Eagles
than Lamar Jackson is to the Ravens, and Josh Allen
is to the Bills.

Speaker 5 (59:01):
Then Joe Burrow is to the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
Then Jalen Hurts is to the Eagles, and that's honestly,
then Mahomes is to the Chiefs. Yeah, all these things,
and I get that stats have to matter at some point,
all that stuff, but man, it frustrates me.

Speaker 5 (59:15):
I can't lie. Yeah, I hear you.

Speaker 6 (59:17):
And to lay out the full odds right now, these
coming from DraftKings that Josh Allen the betting favorite at
plus one fifty.

Speaker 5 (59:22):
That's the whole other thing.

Speaker 6 (59:24):
Lamar Jackson at plus two to fifty, Saquon Barkley and
third at plus four seventy five, Jared goff In, fourth
at plus six hundred, Pat Mahomes at plus thirteen hundred,
and then Jalen Hurts at plus twenty five hundred.

Speaker 5 (59:35):
There so a pretty significant gap.

Speaker 6 (59:37):
I'm with you, especially in that kind of when you
do the pecking order of Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Saquon.
I think you just look at these stats of the
night and day difference with Jalen Hurts when he has
a j Brown when he does and there's shout out
to aj one of the best receivers in the sport
of football better than he gets credit for. These are
It is a testament to Howie Roseman that this team
is deep in every single area.

Speaker 5 (59:57):
It is tough to praise everybody.

Speaker 6 (59:59):
The only way I think the conversation gets really interesting
is Saquan looks like he's going to be in the
ballpark of breaking the all time rushing like record if
that happens for the length the season. Now, granted, I
don't think it's probably in the Eagles' best interest for
him to go for that that I think if we're
at that point in the season that he's in that range,
we probably should be having the talks about saving this
for the playoffs when the games actually matter a little
bit more. But if that happens to me start breaking

(01:00:21):
those kind of records, that's when I think, like you
got to acknowledge the conversation a little bit. But from
the overall prevince like the conversation of what is most valuable,
I'm with you. I don't think it's Saquon Barkley, even
as great as he is, and we saw how good
this Seagules team has been with far inferior running backs
behind that offensive line. So I love that he's getting
the praise, but do feel it's a little over the top.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
Vanderbilt got a pick and is now about to go
at fourteen nothing, So rip to my Tennessee ticket that
I was bragging about fifteen minutes ago.

Speaker 5 (01:00:47):
Oh a lot of ball only two minutes into this game.
Oh my god.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
But Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, That's another thing I
just wanted to ran on. And obviously I have Lamar
Jackson eighteen to one ticket full disclosure, So I'm obviously
rooting for lamarto win MVP, But the Saquon MVP conversations like,
take Lamar out of it. If it was Josh Allen
vers Saquon, I'd be arguing justice passionately for Josh Allen.
But Lamar verus Josh Allen. Lamar's on pace for four

(01:01:12):
three hundred and twenty five passing yards, Josh Allen's on
pace for three thousand, nine hundred and thirty. Lamar's on
pace for thirty eight passing touchdowns Josh twenty eight. Lamar's
on pace for four interceptions Josh eight. Lamar's on pace
for eight hundred and fifty rushing yards and four rushing
touchdowns Josh four hundred and eighty eight rushing yards and
eight rushing touchdowns. Lamar beat Josh Allen thirty five to ten. Yeah,

(01:01:32):
people have forgotten about that game, so that game exist. Yeah.
I picked Central at Barstool show I like to listen to.
They were arguing about this and they Marty Mush very
staunchly for Josh Allen, and I think Big Ev was
pretty staunch for Lamar, And at the end of the conversation,
Big Ev went, I just wished.

Speaker 5 (01:01:47):
They played each other. They did, Lamar won thirty ten.
It was a blowout.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Somebody explained to me by Lamar's out the MVP outside
of using voter fatigue or outside of using the words
people don't want to vote for him for a third time.

Speaker 5 (01:02:00):
Yeah, I don't have an answer for that one.

Speaker 6 (01:02:02):
I am a Lamar Jackson guy, one of my favorite
players to watch play, and this is the best football
that I've ever seen him by far. Yeah, Like, it's
really impressive stuff. And the three interceptions, if you watch those,
like they're being actively pulled from receivers hands, We're bouncing
off guys like they haven't even been bad reads or
misthrows or anything like that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Last week shouldn't even have been an interception. He should
have kuinded as a fumble he had enough possession.

Speaker 5 (01:02:24):
Yeah, yeah, So I don't know's he's been great.

Speaker 6 (01:02:26):
I do think Lamar will forever fall in that category
of a guy that doesn't get quite the flowers that
he deserves. And I think if he played in a
different era from Patrick Mahomes, we're probably having the conversation
about the gold standard of quarterback play being Lamar for
the special things that he does.

Speaker 5 (01:02:39):
I don't think we'll ever get there.

Speaker 6 (01:02:41):
It is what it is, But I do think he
should be the front runner in the absolute favorite right now.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Yeah, I mean forever we've said like he's the second
best quarterback. I think you could make an argument he
is the second best football player in the sport, right
behind Mahomes. And Mahomes gets that because of what he's
done in the past, and we're gonna get to a
rant I have on that in the power rankings on
that side of things with the Chiefs, But Lamar, there's
a chance he's like right there with Justin Jefferson, TJ.
Watt whoever you want to say is the most impactful

(01:03:07):
non quarterback in the sport lane. Johnson might be in
that conversation, but I might. I think Lamar's obviously more
valuable than any of those players because of the quarterback position,
and just a reminder, he was available for like he
was franchise tagged, teams could have offered picks. Teams tried
to negotiate a contract with them, and Atlanta put out
a public statement that they were happy with Desmond Ritter,

(01:03:30):
and there were plenty of teams that had no interest
in Lamar Jackson. Looking at what he's doing now, it's comical,
but let's move on. We're both taking the Eagles, and
by the way, Eagles two and zero straight up and
against spread as a dog this year. So they haven't
always been the best underdogs with Serianni and Jalen Lean
in the way, but it seems to have turned up
a corner. Let's touch on the Sunday and Monday night

(01:03:52):
games real fast. I don't have anything on either of them,
to be honest, but San fran at Buffalo looks like
perty's playing Buffalo six my favorite total at four forty
four and a half.

Speaker 5 (01:04:00):
Anything for you there.

Speaker 6 (01:04:02):
I lean Buffalo just because I think San Franz teetering
on disaster.

Speaker 5 (01:04:05):
I do.

Speaker 6 (01:04:05):
I have been impressed with how brock Party's played this year,
and him returning will make a difference there. But the
defense just doesn't have the bite that we think of
for a San Francisco team. Buffalo is a team that has,
you know, shown the highs that they can reach there,
So I do think they ultimately take care of business.
I think it's probably going to be a rocky game
throughout the Buffalo finds way to pull away from from
the end. And I will say I do lean a
little bit stronger on the Broncos at minus five and

(01:04:27):
a half for the Monday night game.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
Yeah, I am staying away from that one. I actually
lean Cleveland.

Speaker 5 (01:04:32):
Though, Okay, I lean Jamison. Yeah, they seem to have
played a lot better.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
They had the one weird game where their defense just
forgot how to cover like long routes. If you watch
that Chargers game that that Cleveland. I guess they also
got blind up by this Saints. You know what, I
think I'm wrong here? Yeah, I think I'm wrong lean Cleveland.

Speaker 6 (01:04:49):
The thing I was gonna point at is like I mean,
the Broncos defense has been terrific, and if you give
Jamis enough opportunity, he will turn the ball over.

Speaker 5 (01:04:57):
There.

Speaker 6 (01:04:57):
I love Jamis, He's a blast to watch. I'm happy
that he's getting the opportunity. But I do think that
Wire due for a couple turnovers in this game. That's
going to set up the Broncos for a nice spot.

Speaker 5 (01:05:06):
No, that's fair. I don't know. I'm a Jamis guy.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
That's probably what I love. Yeah, so that's probably why
I was leaning Cleveland there.

Speaker 5 (01:05:13):
I guess they did have a long week. They played
lest Thursday, so they had the rest advantage.

Speaker 6 (01:05:17):
But really fantastic soundbites from that game too.

Speaker 5 (01:05:20):
James just one of a kind. The horse is ready
for battle, but the horse is preparing for war.

Speaker 7 (01:05:24):
Whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
I get exactly what he said. But Louisville and Kansas
get on the board for me. There, that's okay. There
we go get something going. Let's get it over to
our NFL Power rankings. I just did my top twenty.
I actually kind of you could do twenty one, and
I think after those twenty one teams there's absolutely everyone
else sucks. Yeah, so it's not even worth ranking those teams,

(01:05:47):
to be honest.

Speaker 5 (01:05:48):
But Tier one.

Speaker 4 (01:05:51):
R.

Speaker 5 (01:05:51):
Here's what I'll ask you before we get to it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:52):
How many teams would not surprise you to see when.

Speaker 5 (01:05:57):
The national Championship?

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
I have five for this, I have six interesting national championship.
What I'm watching super Bowl, I'm watching college football here
and I'm thinking national.

Speaker 5 (01:06:08):
I'm thinking Natty.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
I'm getting texts about Tennessee for my cousin Troll and
me that that bet the bet, the U bet the
future with me last week. I'm a tough time for me.
Fourteen Oahan Vanderbilt. Tennessee is dead. They're they're dead. So
but Super Bowl not National Championship? Do you have five teams?
So the Packers would not be on that list? For
you Packers, that would shock you. The nine and three Packers? Yeah,

(01:06:31):
I do went to the who went to the second
round last year?

Speaker 6 (01:06:34):
This year, I don't see it just yet. I think
Jordan loves excellent. I like him a lot. I don't
think he's quite there. I think that there is a
slight gap in tears between him and some of the
other top quarterbacks that we'll discuss that as well. Their
defense is good, not excellent. I would say, I'm not
as inning this Packers team that you are for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:06:53):
Nine and three loves me three games number three in
offensive dvo A number twelve and defensive. I think this package,
so we'll do it Tier one to me, I don't
really care about the ranking of the tier. To be honest,
all five of these teams jumble them up and we
can you know, you can tell me which way you
have it ranked.

Speaker 5 (01:07:13):
I put Baltimore five.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
Buffalo four, Detroit three, Philly two, and I put Kansas
City one and my rant that I want to get
to Kansas City. I know everybody thinks they're really unique
and creative when they tweet.

Speaker 5 (01:07:25):
Out the Chiefs could keep getting away with this.

Speaker 4 (01:07:28):
Oh my god, they're fraud Every week.

Speaker 5 (01:07:33):
Is everybody like, have you seen Men in Black Sean?

Speaker 2 (01:07:36):
Do you know the device where the guy they go
up and they wipe your memory?

Speaker 5 (01:07:40):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
And has everybody had Agent j come to their house
and wipe their brain of not only the last two years,
of the last five years, the Chiefs have made four
of the last five Super Bowls. They've won three of them.
They've won the last two Super Bowls, including all the
Eagles fans tweeting all my time line about how they're
fraud eleven and one and how they're the twenty twenty

(01:08:02):
three Eagles.

Speaker 5 (01:08:03):
Guess what. Twenty twenty three Eagles weren't trying to three peat.

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
Yeah, the twenty twenty three Eagles had won three Super
Bowls in five years. Twenty twenty three Eagles didn't have
the best athlete on the planet on their team. The
way people are talking about the Chiefs as if, oh
my god, well this year is different. I posted the
tweet earlier today. Let's give a look at the twenty
twenty three Chiefs schedule. In Week eleven, ileter twentieth, they

(01:08:26):
lost twenty one to seventeen to the Eagles. They escape
a game against the Raiders. The next week on the road,
they lose twenty seven to nineteen to the Packers. They
lose twenty seventeen to the Bills. They beat a terrible
Patriots team twenty seven to seventeen. They lose to the
Raiders at home on Christmas. Then they beat the Bengals,
and then Week eighteen they played their backups to get

(01:08:47):
to eleven and six. They won with their backups. They
went ten and six last year when their starters played
in games, including them closing the year three and four
with their starters playing games. Guess what This team we
all think stinks, This teams we all think is fraudulent.
This team we all thinks coasting. They're eleven and one.
They went ten and six last year. They have more
wins with their starters in than they had last season.

(01:09:09):
The Chiefs are just fine and they're probably gonna win
the Super Bowl.

Speaker 5 (01:09:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:09:13):
I do unfortunately feel that way as well. I think
if there was a year to get the Chiefs, it
was last season. Like I had more concerns about them
at this time last year than I really do for
this year now. Granted, I do think they play with
their food too much. I do think that there is
a little bit of, you know, Patrick Mahomes messing around
when he shouldn't and seeing how much he can push it.
But he also has not been bitten the butt by it.
That he's gotten wins and gotten the results when everything's

(01:09:34):
said and done. It does feel insane that something happens
to allow that to be the case.

Speaker 5 (01:09:38):
Every week.

Speaker 6 (01:09:38):
I mean, yesterday a perfect example of like I don't
even understand how like, hey, no, O'Connell, heck of a
drive to just get down and field goal range, have
an opportunity, and then all of a sudden, that is
taken in what ended up being a fumble, and obviously
everything went down a bad snap, whatever the case may
be there. So it's frustrating to me to see this
continue to happen on a week to week basis.

Speaker 5 (01:09:56):
But I don't see it.

Speaker 6 (01:09:57):
It's kind of like, you know, a concern with what
they have, or that there is like a weakness that
they're truly showing. I think they've changed their identity, that
defense is the real deal, and I don't think they
get quite.

Speaker 5 (01:10:07):
Enough credit for that. Overall.

Speaker 6 (01:10:08):
I think they're more defensive minded than we're accustomed to
being the case in this Andy Reid and Chiefs era there.
But I mean added DeAndre Hopkins, got Kareem Hunt and
Pacheco back at running back. Now Patrick Mahomes is Patrick Mahomes,
They're gonna be just fine. They're real deal contender. They
should be right at the top. It just about everyone's list.

Speaker 2 (01:10:24):
So the top five that I just stained there is
that your top five as well. It is slightly different order,
But is that kind of a tier of its own correct, Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:10:32):
Yeah, So who are those five in order?

Speaker 6 (01:10:34):
So I dropped the Chiefs to three for this for
the sake of currently right now, I go Detroit Lions
number one, Philadelphia Eagles number two, Kansas City Chiefs number three,
Baltimore Ravens number four, and Buffalo Bill's number five.

Speaker 5 (01:10:46):
Is my top five list?

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Yeah, any order you give me I can understand, to
be honest, of those five, to me, that's a tier one.
I have Tier two. It's one team Packers, it's the
Green Bay Packers. I think the Green Bay Packers are
the only other team that I could see getting to
that tier, and I think there's an argument that maybe
they should be in it right now. They need to
show me a little bit more. They've won a little
bit too many close games. I need to see some
more games like we saw Thursday night. But games like

(01:11:09):
we saw Thursday night is why I'm so bullish on
this Packers team, and why I'm so bullish on Jordan
Love and why anytime he does have those kind of
games where he makes some mistakes hasn't affected him too much.

Speaker 5 (01:11:20):
I mean, there's a good three. Yeah, So I really
believe in the screen Bay team. I think they're.

Speaker 2 (01:11:27):
Clearly sixth, but that's there the last team I could
see winning the Super Bowl.

Speaker 6 (01:11:33):
So I had my next I have a tier of
four here, which I put as my dark horse contenders.
These are teams I don't think can truly win it,
but I think will absolutely be in the mix here.
Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Texans, and Minnesota Vikings.

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
Houston's not that high. I think Houston's like nine spots lower. Well,
i'll get to where I have Houston, but I have
Houston at eighteen.

Speaker 5 (01:11:54):
Actually wow.

Speaker 2 (01:11:55):
But besides Houston, I agree with the premise. I have
it green Bay tier two. They're in there, and then
I have three teams in Tier three, and it's the Steelers,
the Vikings, and the Chargers.

Speaker 6 (01:12:05):
Okay, I was close to bumping Minnesota out of this too.
I'm really very skeptical of them in the long haul,
but I mean the results speak for themselves. They're nine
and two, they're ninth in points, fifth in points allowed.
It's they've been good, so I can't dispute it. The
proofs in the pudding.

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
I think Green Bay's clearly six and I think Pittsburgh's
clearly seven.

Speaker 6 (01:12:23):
Okay, I'm in on Pittsburgh as well that I think
they're legitimately good. The defense is phenomenal. Russell Wilson has
brought something and they're not asking him to do too much,
which I think that's when we start to see the
weakness of him. Mike Tomlin, I'm glad he kind of
has a team again, because I honestly have flipped into
there's been a lot of the anti Tomlin takes her
or you know, like all he does is get to

(01:12:44):
the playoffs or just win enough games to be above
five hundred. Look at who he has done that with,
with the Kenny Picketts of the world and all these
other guys that Duck Hodges taking snaps at quarterback, like
he now actually has a team here. So I'm excited
to see where the Steelers team can go.

Speaker 5 (01:12:57):
But I don't think they're close to that time five.
But they're the closest, is I guess how I would play.
I think green Bay is closer.

Speaker 2 (01:13:05):
You had green Bay higher than them, I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
But they're the closest. But and I know that they
beat Baltimore. It took the three Mystics and the fumbles,
and I don't think that that was. My issue with
them is like, they're definitely better than the rest of
these teams. I think there's a chance that Minnesota and
the Chargers, and maybe even a Denver or in Arizona
or Seattle maybe have a better chance than.

Speaker 5 (01:13:27):
Some similar identity dogs. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:13:30):
Kind of all all those teams you kind of mentioned,
particularly Denver, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh are just They're gonna
be a defensive minded team. They're gonna be very careful.

Speaker 5 (01:13:39):
In Minnesota.

Speaker 6 (01:13:39):
Yeah, in Minnesota even have a clock, manage, have the
control pace and then go for it at the end.

Speaker 5 (01:13:44):
And it's a formula that is clearly working. So shout
out to them.

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
Tier four, I have nine teams. Okay, I put and
you could jumble this up anyway you want to be honest.
I went Denver at ten. I thought about bumping Denver
to the tier above that, but I stayed away. It's
too you, it's too new. I don't want to overreact.
It's mostly been bad teams. Then it's where it's really tough.
I put Arizona eleven. Wow, Okay, they really were impressing

(01:14:11):
me before last week. I don't want to totally throw
that away because I once stood in Seattle a really
hard place to play, because if that wing streak before that,
they looked like I was thinking maybe they could be
the third best team in the NFC. And you know,
I was bragging about having the playoff ticket that I
had for that we get that, we took that we
gave out twelve.

Speaker 5 (01:14:31):
I put Seattle. I put Arizona Seattle back to back
at eleven twelve. I put it at lant at thirteen.
That's another one.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
Like some of the early season, like the game against
the Eagles, whether or not they should have won it,
they hung with the great team in Philly on Monday
Night football. I don't want to erase that they've beaten
some pretty good teams early in the year. I put
Washington fourteen, okay. I put Sincy fifteen, okay, Tampa sixteen, seventeen,

(01:15:01):
and then I put Houston at eighteen.

Speaker 5 (01:15:03):
Wow, okay, I think Houston stinks. I think that and.

Speaker 2 (01:15:06):
Third three and nine point favorite against Jacksonville this week.
Like I think Vegas things, they stick too. I probably
went too far putting the Bengals bucks and rams in
front of them.

Speaker 5 (01:15:16):
They probably should be fifteen.

Speaker 2 (01:15:17):
But I just if you honestly like since he played
in Houston, I think the line would be like a
pick them, And if if Tampa played in Houston, I
think same thing there. Yeah, but maybe that's me think
it's too much like a gambler and not looking at
the records sometime there a little bit, and then I put,
like tier the next tier is San Franity in Miami
nineteen twenty twenty one. However you want to put that

(01:15:39):
like San France impossible to rank right now?

Speaker 5 (01:15:41):
Yeah, So I had a next tier of five.

Speaker 6 (01:15:44):
I'll call this kind of the squint and hope of
tier here, which is I don't these are teams that
I want to include in sort of the contender conversation,
but I don't fully see it. We're pretty much in
the same boat here. I have Cincinnati in this tier.
I do have the Chargers in this tier. I have
the Broncos in this tier, I have the Commanders, and
I have the fat Folks.

Speaker 5 (01:16:00):
And that's kind of where the list of teams that
I have teams.

Speaker 6 (01:16:03):
No, I think for so for Seattle, which I think
is the most legitimate team out of there, I think
that like the Geno it feels like the magic's gone
back in the bottle a little bit with Gino Smith.
He's airing the ball out a ton, He's throwing it
all over the place. And I mean he is exactly
who he is. That he's better than the version of
him we once saw. But I don't think that's a
guy that can be like a championship winning quarterback.

Speaker 5 (01:16:25):
Unfortunately.

Speaker 6 (01:16:25):
I like Gino, A root for him, but I don't
think the defense is good enough to carry them, and
I don't think he's good enough to make the place.

Speaker 5 (01:16:30):
For the team. Would you say you're writing him off.
I mean he's not. He's a starting caliber NFL quarterback.

Speaker 2 (01:16:36):
I think he's he might for a long time. The
Around the NFL podcast rest in Peace. Now it's heed
to call an NFL daily two different pods.

Speaker 5 (01:16:46):
Its split up.

Speaker 2 (01:16:47):
But they used to call it the Andy Dalton line.
Of this this guy.

Speaker 5 (01:16:52):
He's above the Andy Dalton line.

Speaker 2 (01:16:54):
Yeah, I think he might be the new Andy Dalton
I think he might be. Well, we'll get to it,
but they at a certain point they called it the Tannehill. Okay,
well yeah that was the prime Meridian almost but yeah,
we'll get to that.

Speaker 5 (01:17:09):
But yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:17:11):
I so you're a Seattle guy. I'm an Arizona guy.
But it's a slight difference. I'm still buying on Arizona stretch.
I still think that they can get the job done,
and you know they haven't. They have a game against
Seattle in Arizona coming up. That'll be a big one
for sure. Let's switch over and talk some Wait, you
didn't finish it out there, finish out your.

Speaker 5 (01:17:28):
House, so my next one.

Speaker 6 (01:17:29):
So that's kind of the I closed the door of
the Atlanta Falcons at fourteen. Here fifteen, I have the
Buccaneers sixteen. I have the Seahawks seventeen. I have the
Cardinals eighteen, forty nine, Ers, nineteen Rams and twenty Dolphins.

Speaker 5 (01:17:41):
Yeah no, Colts, Coltson mak it. You're out on Richardson.
I am.

Speaker 6 (01:17:44):
I'm pretty out on Richardson. I would like it to click.
I do like the guy and would like to be
an Anthony Richardson guy. I just literally have no idea.
I used this comparison and a couple of weeks ago,
but he feels to me the Karis Lavert of the
the NFL that it's it's a roll of the dice
on any given night that they can look like an
elite caliber player on any any given night, you just
can't win with them on the on the field or

(01:18:05):
on the floor. So yeah, I'm kind of out on Richardson.

Speaker 2 (01:18:07):
So let's switch back over to the NFL or to
the quarterback side of things here, and let's do our
quarterback rankings after three quarters of the season. I think
there's very clearly a top four, and I think it's
the mahomes Lamar Alan Burrow. I think that's a tier
of its own. I think Burrow I wouldn't have put
in that tier before the year. It's funny that they're
four and seven, but I'm putting him in the tier.

(01:18:29):
I think how good he's been, you know, twenty seven touchdowns,
four interceptions. I actually think he should be more in
the MVP conversation than he is even with them being
four and seven. Just to be quite honest, Kansas, there's
a big pick. My life's awesome.

Speaker 5 (01:18:41):
But that's the top four for me, the same top
four for you. Yeah, no arguments there.

Speaker 6 (01:18:46):
I kind of I did separate it in the top
five that I think Jalen hurts the next guy on
here too. I kind of penciled back and forth whether
or not I had heard to Burrow higher. I think
Burrow's played at a higher level this year, But I
think team success matters to extent here. I think that
is the top five quarterbacks in the NFL pretty clearly
to me, So I would kind of extend it to

(01:19:06):
make that tier that top five to me.

Speaker 5 (01:19:08):
Hey, don't let people here hear you say that about Jalen.

Speaker 2 (01:19:11):
People think he's like the nineteenth best quarterback according to
Steven Ruiz, Yeah, Jack Fritz and others.

Speaker 5 (01:19:17):
And so yeah, I had Tier one, is that top four?

Speaker 2 (01:19:19):
And then in my next tier, I had two guys,
and it's Jalen Hurts and Jordan Love at five and
six and games like Thursday is why I have Jordan Love.
And I'm so much more bullish on Jordan Love than
kind of the other young guns and some of the
other maybe the Golf and Cousins types, because I just
think the upside. I think he can be one of
those top four guys when the time's right. And last
year and he had a twelve game stretch where he

(01:19:40):
was the best quarterback in football leading into the playoffs
last year, and I think we're kind of seeing him
start to get there a little bit over these last
two weeks. He's cut down on turnovers just a bit
of the last two weeks. So I have loved six.
I also have love six. This is where it gets
tough after this to me, but I'm with you from here.
So this is the interesting conversation and that I wanted

(01:20:00):
to I was gonna bring up actually on the power
rankings when the Chargers came up, and now also with
Herbert when he comes up here in this conversation, chaum
Bernard and I have been long time Justin Herbert haters,
and I think scham Bernard has lost the plot a
little bit with the hate. I think the hate is
consumed cham Bernard when it comes to Justin Herbert, and

(01:20:22):
he's gone too far. Whereas he's not an average or
he's not a starting above average quarterback, I think you'd say,
I think he's firmly above average at this point. And
the problem I think above all of it is the
quarterbacks after the top six, there's not a lot of
guys you can argue for being elite that don't have
a lot of blemishes. And then the same thing with

(01:20:45):
the Chargers. I had them nine. I think you probably
had them ten or eleven. Like, not a lot of
teams that you can argue that don't have a lot
of blemishes other than the Chargers around that area. So
it's like, yeah, do you want to argue with me
the CJ. Strouds better than Herbert? I would take Stroud. Yeah,
I would take Strod Herbert.

Speaker 3 (01:21:01):
I have eight.

Speaker 5 (01:21:03):
Okay, if you want to tell me you have Dak
higher than Herbert, that's fine.

Speaker 6 (01:21:06):
I don't, but I didn't get there yet. I do
have ones you'll have an issue with. So I've Jordan
Love at six. I put Matthew Stafford at seven.

Speaker 5 (01:21:14):
So that's fine. I'm lower on Stafford.

Speaker 2 (01:21:18):
I think week to week you look at the numbers
and he's more of like an eye test guy. And
I understand that when you, I mean, we watched him
last week and I thought he was really impressive in
a lot of ways.

Speaker 5 (01:21:27):
The numbers are not there.

Speaker 2 (01:21:29):
Like, and I understand that shouldn't be the end all
be all. I put him fifteen. I get it, though,
I do understand.

Speaker 6 (01:21:36):
Okay, I put Stroud at eight, which is I feel
I had st seven. I struggled with Stroud because I
am lower on him than I thought I would be
at this point. This one I know you'll take issue with.
At nine, I got Jayden Daniels, I'm in.

Speaker 5 (01:21:48):
I don't know it.

Speaker 2 (01:21:50):
I understand it like I get it. I didn't rank
any of the rookies. I decided it's been May. May
hasn't played enough. Caleb, I don't even think you can
make and it's so good when he's been good though
the second half yesterday before the travesty Thursday, before the
travesty at the end of the game, and then also
the game against Minnesota, he was like three hundred and

(01:22:11):
forty yards. He was unbelievable in those two games for
the most part. So it's hard for me to let's
get more of a sample size with dout Waldron before
I rank Kaleb and then bow Knicks. I think I
need to see a full season under Sean Payton. Yeah,
and it's been great, but I think I need to
see if it's gonna kind of, if anything, anything's gonna
catch up to him down the stretch here.

Speaker 5 (01:22:33):
So I didn't rank these guys.

Speaker 2 (01:22:34):
Jayden's got in the same thing where it's like, yeah,
Jayden's played like a top five quarterback for the first
six weeks. Yeah, I don't think he's been a top
twenty quarterback since then.

Speaker 5 (01:22:42):
So it's a tough thing for me to figure out
where that where the where what he is?

Speaker 2 (01:22:47):
Is he more of what he saw the first couple
of weeks, Is he more of what we've seen recently?

Speaker 5 (01:22:50):
Somewhere in the middle. I think he's probably somewhere in
the middle. Yeah, I think that's fair.

Speaker 2 (01:22:53):
So, I mean, yeah, jam Dane was probably above average,
Like so if I'm ranking these, he's probably above whatever
that's sixteen seventeen number is.

Speaker 5 (01:23:01):
But it's hard for me to know right now. Yeah,
that's completely fine. I take too much an issue with it. Okay,
do you want to keep going till I get to Herbert?

Speaker 4 (01:23:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:23:07):
Yeah, all right, ten, I have brock Party. I get
the forty nine has been a disaster this year. This
has been the most impressed I've been with brock Party
as a quarterback that I think he's making the right place.
I think he's making things happen rather than just kind
of relying on the skill position surrounding him, which has
been a critique of mine on his I think he's
the best quarterback in the NFL.

Speaker 5 (01:23:23):
I don't have a problem with it. I have him
at thirteen eleven, I have Jared Goff. I have a
little bit of a problem with it. Okay, just a
merchant of the offense he would take.

Speaker 2 (01:23:31):
Yeah, I think he's been a Sean McVay Ben Johnson
merchant the whole way for his whole career. I don't
want to go full heel on golf because I do
like golf a little bit. But I think you know
the reason that I'll just be honest with you. The
Lions don't scare me, and you can clip that out
and that people will love that. My heart of hearts,

(01:23:55):
I do not see Jared Goff beating us in a
playoff game.

Speaker 6 (01:23:59):
I hear you on as like you give that guy
the ball and say go drive down and score on us.
He's not at the top of your mind for how
you're scared. They're good man, and he's.

Speaker 2 (01:24:08):
The guy to be more scared. If they had Herbert,
I not know I would. I don't think I know
I'd be more scared.

Speaker 5 (01:24:13):
Off that Herbert.

Speaker 3 (01:24:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:24:14):
I can't get there. I can't get there all right.
Eleven eyed got twelve. I put Russell Wilson back in here.

Speaker 2 (01:24:19):
That's crazy. I think that's crazy. You think I have
him like twenty Wow? Okay, I think he's played well.
I think he's done exactly.

Speaker 6 (01:24:27):
Well and off though he has last couple of weeks
the moon ball that announcers just love to talk about,
which drives me crazy every single week. I think Russ
is exactly what that team needs and has been very
good this season.

Speaker 2 (01:24:39):
I don't think Russ has an argument to be in
the top eighteen, or maybe I'll say Trevor, because I
have Trevor eighteen. I don't think he has an argument
to be in the top seventeen. I think that's the
biggest disagreement we'll have is the thing Russ over Herbert's crazy.

Speaker 5 (01:24:53):
How about Baker? Baker's fine? I have Baker. I put
Baker ten.

Speaker 2 (01:24:58):
Actually, okay, So part of why this list was actually
because I wanted to see where i'd put Baker. So
I had Strout seven, Herbert eight, Dak nine, and then
I thought that there was kind of a little bit
of a drop off to Baker. There have you put
Dak anywhere?

Speaker 6 (01:25:12):
By the way, I don't. I don't have Dak yet.
Did you not list him or I did. I dropped him.
I have him at nineteen, which I think is a
little disrespectful. Yeah, that's party due to injury for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:25:23):
Definitely getting hurt a good amount lately. Yeah, if you
want to say he's injury prone, I can't argue too much.

Speaker 5 (01:25:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:25:28):
Uh so I go Baker at thirteen, I have Kyler
at fourteen, and then I have Herbert at fifteen.

Speaker 5 (01:25:33):
I think Kyler is the hardest. Got a rank, Yeah,
dificult one.

Speaker 2 (01:25:35):
You could tell me he's seven, and then you could
also tell me he's seventeen. Like I put Kyler seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven,
I put him twelve. So I put Kyler twelve. So
here's I guess my question. Like you think I think
the Troy would be a lot scary, not a lot scarier.

Speaker 5 (01:25:51):
I think the Troy would be scary if they had Baker. Yes,
I would agree. I think you had Ba. That's true.
Like I think that there's a Baker Golf Kirk. Did
you say Kirk, I didn't say Kirk. I have Kirk
at seventeen.

Speaker 2 (01:26:04):
I think Baker Golf and Kirk are the same person. Basically,
Baker's a little bit more swaggy and yeah, can I
think make a little bit more happen for himself. Probably
a little less consistent maybe, But I think if you
swapped those three teams like each one moved one team over,
I don't think any of the records are really different.

Speaker 6 (01:26:22):
Yeah, I think that's probably true there. I think Herbert's
in that same exact category. To me, it's not crazy.

Speaker 5 (01:26:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:26:28):
To me, I kind of look at it like I
almost look at Lamar Mahomes, Lamar, Alan Burrow their own category.
Jalen in Love is the guys who maybe could get
into that, and then Stroud, Herbert Dak as like guys
maybe that can get above their.

Speaker 5 (01:26:43):
I think Dak, we got to call Dak is who
he is at this point.

Speaker 2 (01:26:47):
Yeah, he's looks like an MVP at times though, like
he those like five thousand yard season. I hate to
be the Dak guy. I've always kind of been the
DA guy. But I think Dak's really he's fine.

Speaker 6 (01:27:00):
He's for sure starting caliber quarterback, but I don't think
he's I don't think there's any hope of him playing
better football than we've seen.

Speaker 2 (01:27:06):
If the Lion said Dak, they'd be better. I think
that's that's very the same to me, very that's fair.
I mean I had two, I had two spots above Golf. Yeah, yeah,
I went. I think I said a couple of these already.
But Stroud seven, Herbert e. Dak nine, Baker ten, Golf eleven,
Kyler twelve, Purty thirteen, Kirk fourteen, Stafford fifteen, Tua sixteen,

(01:27:28):
Gino seventeen. I also didn't have the rookies, and I
didn't have Jayden in so that influences things. But to
a sixteen Gino seventeen Trevor eighteen, I think and Trevor.

Speaker 5 (01:27:39):
I don't want to make.

Speaker 2 (01:27:39):
Trevor the like the medium point because he's so volatile.
He's playing like a bottom five quarterback. Yeah, but we've
seen him play like a top seven quarterback at times
for pretty long stretches.

Speaker 5 (01:27:50):
I don't want to do the Trevor argument game here
and there.

Speaker 2 (01:27:52):
Maybe, but whatever, he did have a long stretch the
year they made the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (01:27:56):
I don't want to do the Trevor argument.

Speaker 2 (01:27:57):
If anything, I think I'm like the most unbiased Trevor
Lawrence person at the Gambler. Somehow I think I'm I
think I'm able to be pretty objective on Trevor and
I have him at eighteen. You got him higher than
I did, though somehow, Yeah, I have Trevor at sixteen.

Speaker 5 (01:28:10):
That's that shocked me. That shocked me.

Speaker 2 (01:28:12):
John Jansen should get get clipped that he had him
higher than I did. But I'm gonna say, is Tua
or Gino, where's you have those guys?

Speaker 5 (01:28:22):
Gino I have at eighteen two, I have a twenty?
Is too a below average? Then? I guess by this definition, Yeah,
so I guess I think Gino is. It's the Geno line. Yeah,
I guess that's fair.

Speaker 6 (01:28:34):
Kirk's too good for or has been at stretches too
good for that to be the line. He's kind of
playing sort of like that to me, I might you're
gonna hate this, but I think the Herbert line is
sort of fair here.

Speaker 5 (01:28:44):
Now he's he's played, he's been really good this year.
He's played.

Speaker 6 (01:28:48):
They don't have good weapons, that's I mean, sure, Lad
McConkie rocks man, Lad's awesome.

Speaker 5 (01:28:55):
He's he was a second one. I'm not.

Speaker 2 (01:28:57):
I think Lad mcconaky's a little bit of a justice
Herbert Merchant, to be honest, I think Justin Herbert is
a lack of cockey merchant. If anything, I can't lie
that the Justin Herbert argument. For me, I've struggled with
this year because I really thought the Chargers were gonna struggle,
and I really thought that they didn't have enough talent
around him on offense. And we're gonna it's gonna be

(01:29:18):
interesting to see them about Dobbins now because I think
Dobbins probably misses two to three games and he's been
such a big factor for them, and Gus Edwards I
don't think can pick up the slack. So we'll see
if maybe they get anybody else involved. But I've just
been really impressed by what the charge. And here's something
I'll tell you. I think, if you're gonna crap on
Herbert the what you're doing this year, you have to
be like mister Jim Harball.

Speaker 6 (01:29:38):
I think a year I mean for a complete honesty
here for all the flowers that is being given Justin Herbert,
the Chargers. They rank as a team eighteenth in points
per game. Herbert is throwing the fewest passing yards of
his career, his interception rates terrific. They're limiting what he
can do like this has been defense.

Speaker 5 (01:29:55):
It's been the.

Speaker 6 (01:29:57):
First four weeks he was through the ball twenty times
the lif Yeah, he was.

Speaker 5 (01:30:00):
Like last in passing yards if you look at it.

Speaker 2 (01:30:02):
Since Week five he's been top ten and all those stats,
and he's been up there in yards, and I mean
he's about there as a fantasy quarterback since we Yeah,
so I think that tells you everything statistically, but I can't.
I have to kind of hop off the Herbert hate
train just a little bit, right. I felt like I
had to announce it. And the reason I had to
announce it is kind of like the reason I get

(01:30:23):
upset with some of the Jaalen criticism a lot of
the time is because I'm like, do you guys like
look around at the non top four quarterbacks? And I
can understand that now with Herbert a little bit more
after looking through it. But where I will take issue
is sometimes people do put I mean Stephen Ruivez being
one of them, people will put him above or around
Josh Allen Lamar, Joe Burrow. Obviously almost everyone puts him

(01:30:46):
above Jalen Hurts and Jordan Love. I disagree with that vehemently.

Speaker 6 (01:30:49):
Yeah, for this exact Stephen Roueie's article that Justin Herbert
is considered the fourth best quarterback in the sport, and
to scroll down and find Jalen He's sitting at fifteen there.

Speaker 5 (01:30:57):
That to me, stuff like that insane.

Speaker 2 (01:30:59):
And that's where I'm willing to get back on the
on the fight and fight against Justin Herbert with you.
But then when we get into like he's above average.

Speaker 6 (01:31:08):
I guess I'll put it this way, like I kind
of contextualize this with a lot of the success they're
having on the field. If I was to just say
one drive, can this quarterback get a win or not?
Justin Herbert doesn't crack the top thirty of my list for.

Speaker 5 (01:31:21):
That, that's crazy. I think that that's crazy. He doesn't.

Speaker 6 (01:31:25):
Like I am a firm believer that there is like
a winning characterist sicond player. There's winning players. There's players
that don't have the dog in them or in their
gut however you want to put it there. Justin Herbert
is one of those players. And even this year we've
seen that. Do I know, I wouldn't say they do either, Gino.

Speaker 5 (01:31:43):
I think as a little I think there's.

Speaker 2 (01:31:47):
Like I think a lot of these middle guys have
the same kind of thing like Kirky.

Speaker 6 (01:31:50):
Yeah, no, I wouldn't say kirk is like like like.

Speaker 2 (01:31:55):
Jared Golf to be honest, like, isn't someone who leads
like kind of late game drives to win. And that's
where I kind of struggle because I think that this
middle tier is kind of as mashed together as it's
been in a long time.

Speaker 6 (01:32:07):
The frustrating thing about Herbert specifically to me, is I
constantly see him just leave the door open to lose games,
Like even like that Bengals game, which we fought all
about in the group chat everybody again.

Speaker 5 (01:32:18):
Going in on that one.

Speaker 6 (01:32:19):
That was a prime example of like, if you're this
elite caliber quarterback, you just put that game away that
it was there to be put away constantly last season
And this is when I fully kind of developed into
my anti justin Herbert. I watched three straight weeks where
the ball was given to him with a chance to
win or tie the game in the final like final
three minutes of a game, and he came up short
all three times.

Speaker 5 (01:32:38):
That's quarterback defining stuff to me.

Speaker 6 (01:32:41):
I don't care about the EPA per play, I don't
care about whatever the case may be. Can you lead
your team to go win a game? And I don't
think Justin Herbert has that in him. That's fair, that's fair.

Speaker 2 (01:32:51):
I know, I don't think he's got like I don't
think he's a winner necessarily. My issue was always that
he was put in top five conversations when I didn't
think he had earned any thing yet. I think he's
starting to earn some things this year. Yeah, but he
hasn't been earned to put in that top five conversation.
I still have an issue with that, But anything beyond that,
I'm not going to argue too much.

Speaker 6 (01:33:09):
Yeah, I mean just to note once again, you and
I both have the same amount of playoff wins.

Speaker 5 (01:33:13):
As Justin Herbert right here, no, I.

Speaker 6 (01:33:16):
And now, and we didn't blow a twenty seven point
lead in the process of that either.

Speaker 1 (01:33:20):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:33:20):
I agree with that. I agree with that, and most
of the time I'm not even going to bring that up.
It's the only time I bring that up is when
it's in relation to Jalen Hurts, when it's in relation
to Jordan Love, when it's in relation to Mahomes obviously
Lamar Alan Burrow. But outside of that, I think you
can make cases better than everybody, even Stroud, like I
Stroud above him, but you can make the case because
Stroud has really regressed this year.

Speaker 5 (01:33:41):
I thought that was fun.

Speaker 2 (01:33:42):
I think that's fun to kind of put a bow
on and look through real quick, let's talk a little
sixers before we have to get out of here. I
think I'm at the point where I'm just willing to tank.

Speaker 6 (01:33:55):
So I guess my opinion is it's just going to
work itself out that this isn't something that you should
be pressing the tank button RD making trades to improve
this team right now. Just let it settle for these
next couple of weeks, see what happens. The concern I
have with the tanking plan is you just have to
be so bad, you have to be one of the
four worst teams in the NBA for that to be
an effective plan, because it's a top six protected pick,

(01:34:16):
and if you just end up as the lottery oadds
play out with the seventh pick, then you get nothing
out of the season whatsoever. And I do think in
Darryl Morey's brain that he's gonna heavily lean towards the
calculations of we have a higher chance of making noise
in the playoffs we can scrap in from the play
in tournament than we do of actually getting that draft
pick there. So I'm more skeptical of it happening than
my belief that it shouldn't. But I do think like

(01:34:37):
they have a very winnable stretch coming up against the Pistons,
against the Hornets, two games against the Magic, who are
good but not unbeatable. They got to show some signs
of life in the short term future to have any
sort of hope here. It's way bleaker of an outlook
than I ever expected could be the case.

Speaker 2 (01:34:50):
Yeah, I can't even wrap my mind around it. I
don't even want to talk about it too much. It's
too depressing. I'm sure we'll have trill on soon.

Speaker 6 (01:34:56):
We'll we'll have some basketball ib Jad McCain TikTok and
if this, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:35:00):
Definitely, I think you're you're well on your way there.
But yeah, we have a big fourth and one coming
up here at Tennessee Vandy. We got Kansas Baylor fourteen
to seven, Baylor, wake Forest up seven to three on
Duke not great for me, Louisville up ten nothing on Kentucky,
Clemsing up seven to nothing on South Carolina, Ohio State, Michigan.

Speaker 5 (01:35:20):
I don't think we've got a score yet, and am
I wrong? There is it still sitting at I know?
Three nothing?

Speaker 2 (01:35:24):
Okay, so three nothing Ohio State heading into the second quarter.
There's a little update on the scores. And on the
other side, I believe we have Villanova coming up at
three o'clock.

Speaker 5 (01:35:33):
I think one thirty pre games, one thirty pre game
or is it? Let me look that up.

Speaker 2 (01:35:37):
Two o'clock kick, two o'clock kick, okay, two o'clock kick.

Speaker 5 (01:35:40):
One thirty pre game.

Speaker 2 (01:35:42):
So coming up in a half hour, we've got John
Janssen coming at you for the Villanova pregame. For who
they playing, it's incarnate word, I believe, is it?

Speaker 1 (01:35:50):
Is that?

Speaker 2 (01:35:50):
What I heard on the on the here, there and
everywhere show Villanova playoffs coming up next in Kentucky.

Speaker 5 (01:35:57):
They're playing Eastern Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (01:35:58):
I don't know why I thought they said in Cacarnate
were They're playing Eastern Kentucky this week in the College
Football Double A playoffs.

Speaker 5 (01:36:06):
So check that out here on the Villanova Radio network
on Fox Sports. The Gambler. But that's gonna do it
for us.

Speaker 2 (01:36:11):
For Schaumbernad On the other side, I'm Mark Emery Junior,
tough coover country, let's ride.

Speaker 3 (01:36:17):
Spreads, totals and all the prop that's in between. It's
the Gambler.

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Tough Cover Show - 11/30/24

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