Tough Cover Show: College Hoops, Super Bowl LIX, and Royal Rumble 2025 - 02/01/25

In Hour 1, Mark Henry Jr. and Sean Barnard talk all things #SuperBowlLIX #Eagles vs #Chiefs, and some college hoops.


In Hour 2, Nick Piccone joins the show to talk all things #RoyalRumble 2025.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you can wager on it, We're talking about it.
It's the Gambler, the Fox Sports Radio, The Gambler. Fox
Sports Radio in Philly is the Gambler. The Gambler, Philly's
home for all things sports, gambling. Bourbon Street has officially
turned Midnight Green.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
How about our quarterback? I knew he was gonna play
that way. I knew it.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Don't doubt him.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
All he does is win all things Big Game fifty nine.
Right here on the Gambler.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
You want to talk right down in a language that
everybody here can angrily understand.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
How to get ready for the days act shit 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 (01:02):
The Hello, and welcome to the Tough Cover Radio Show.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
I am your host, as always, Mark Henry Junior, and
you can follow me on Twitter at Mark Henry Junior Underscore.
And we have a huge show ahead for you guys,
two weeks of huge shows because for the second time
in three years, the Tough Cover Radio Show is lucky

(01:48):
enough to present Super Bowl previews with the Philadelphia Eagles
as one of the two participants, which is just insane
to say, and what we're gonna be talking about that
for the entire first hour of the show and in
the second hour that music you just heard cult of
Personality leading into this show week in and week out.

(02:11):
It's a big week for my guy cm punk, who
uses Cult of Personality as his entrance music for the
For the non wrestling fans out there, it is the
Royal Rumble. It is the second biggest wrestling night of
the year. Great job by the WWE putting this into
the calendar later in the year than they usually do

(02:32):
in between Super Bowl.

Speaker 5 (02:34):
In between NFC Championship and Super Bowl week, this is
an empty weekend. The Royal Rumble can kind of own
tonight and own this weekend. And we're having Pcona on
at the end of the show at noon.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
To talk about that. But we've got a lot to
get to. Let me throw it over to my co
host back in the studio on the ones. That two
is Sean Bernard. You could follow on Twitter at Shawn
Underscore Bernard one. Sean, how we doing.

Speaker 6 (02:58):
Yeah, it's gonna be a long week of waiting for
the game to actually happen. Mark Henry junior. I'm ready,
I'm excited. I'm guessed up to keep talking about it,
but I wish things were ticking off tomorrow, man. So
it's gonna be a long drag out until that point,
but still a lot of action get into. I know
you known to bring up the college basketball slate, the
NBA slate as well, So there so plenty of things
going on in the hoops world which will hold over
my appetite a little bit. And well, I'm not the

(03:18):
biggest WWE guy in the world. Always excited to chat
with Nick Piccoan, so excited for that in the second hour.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
And for today, I'm actually just gonna get the basketball
out of the way because I have a bunch of
bets here on my slate. I've got six college basketball bets.
I've got two NBA bets. I don't know if Sean
Bernard's got any back in the studio, I'll throw it
over to him once I'm done. Huge NBA slate, Huge

(03:44):
college basketball slate. It feels like I feel like I
said this once or twice before this year, but this
is the real, real college basketball Saturday where there's nothing
else going on this weekend. Obviously, if you're just a
regular sports fan, non ww nothing else besides basketball. So
they really own this weekend. And I'll get it started
at one o'clock. And I hate to fade Villanova here,

(04:08):
but my favorite bed of the day is the Creighton
Blue Jays plus three. Creighton's covered nine straight since losing
to Georgetown. They've won eight of the last nine with
a close loss in the Big East. Are to the biggest,
leading Marquette Kalkbrenner in that stretch, averaging twenty and nine
with three blocks per game. Last year, Creighton was three

(04:29):
hundred and fifty fourth in bench minutes. This year, They're
getting much more contribution from their bench. It's not just
their kind of like Big two, Big three as it
has been in a couple of the past years. And
then you look at the other side. Nova has failed
to cover five in a row, losing all but one
of those games. Villanova one hundred and eighty first in
defense on ken Pom, while Creighton's top forty in both

(04:51):
offense and defense. I'm buying all the Big East stock
I can get. Give me Creighton stock, give me Saint
John's stock, even give me some Yukon stock, which we'll
talk about in a in it, but I think some
of those teams are a bit undervalued. At one point thirty.
I like Clemson minus five and a half at NC State.
Clemson another one of these teams. Pretty well balanced. Clemson

(05:12):
twenty fifth in offense, forty first in defense, NC State
outside the top one hundred of both of those categories,
and Ken Palm. Clemson has won five in a row,
covered for the last five, NC State four and eleven,
and against the spread in their last fifteen two and
seven against the spread. As a dog with no outright wins.
They had their final four run to save Keats as coach.

(05:34):
But he's a terrible coach. I said that last year
that was a bad thing for them long term if
they didn't get it done, and they didn't. DJ Burns
ain't walking through that door. Clemson as a guy averaging
over nine rebounds per game. NC State's a terrible rebounding
team with nobody above five rebounds per game.

Speaker 6 (05:50):
I will say DJ Burns balling out in China right now,
just for the record, he is playing well.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
Good for him, Good for him. At two o'clock, I
like the over at one forty two and a half Wisconsin,
Northwestern got the two unit play. By the way, all
my favorite plays are the first four of the day.
Creighton's my favorite play, and then these next three are
all kind of tied with Clemson and these two overs.
I'm about to give you the over at one forty

(06:16):
two and a half. In Wisconsin Northwestern. Ten straight overs
have hit for Northwestern, both teams overwhelmingly positive to the over.
Wisconsin five scores and double figures, Northwestern three guys averaging
fifteen plus where Wisconsin's got the number nine offense with
Northwestern in the top seventy five. So feel pretty good
about a one forty two and a half number that

(06:37):
I'm surprised as an up near one fifty, to be honest,
another number that I think should be up near one fifty,
if not higher. Give me the over at one forty
five and a half. In East Carolina Temple the John
Jansen rivalry that he started in football with E. J. Warner.
Temples the top sixty pace in college basketball, both defenses
outside the top one forty in ken Pom. Not a

(06:59):
lot of stops on either side. The over eight and
four in Eacus last twelve, the overs eleven to ohero
in the last eleven for Temple. ECU has three guys
over fourteen points per game. Temple has four guys in
double figures and Mashburn averaging almost twenty two points per game.
At eight o'clock, Yukon plus seven at Marquette for one unit.

(07:21):
Maybe I'm an idiot, but as long as Yukon is
a top fifteen offense, I'm gonna have some faith that
Hurley's going to get this right at some point and
figure out some way to get some stuffs. So give
me a Yukon plus seven to at least keep it
close with Marquette there. At eleven o'clock, I like Gonzaga
money line at Saint Mary's for two units. Gonzaga is
still top ten in ken Pom and top five in offense,

(07:42):
while Saint Mary's is on is outside the top twenty
in ken Pom overall and not really elite on either
side of the ball, but very good on both. So
I still think Gonzaga is the better team this season,
So give me the Zags and then zagging over to
the NBA At eight thirty. I like the Spurs line
against the Miami Heat. That's a one unit play. Spurs

(08:03):
are in a back to back here, so I don't
usually love doing that, obviously, No Jimmy for Miami. Spurs
need to put together some wins. After a nice win
last night and then over two twenty four and a
half Lakers Nicks two units. Both teams are six and
four to the over in the last ten. Both teams
play one of the faster tempos in the NBA, so

(08:24):
close game wouldn't hurt here. And I think Lebron usually
you know, turns up in MSG. I think he keeps
it closer than the line expects. But I'll just sprinkle
on the over instead.

Speaker 6 (08:33):
Yeah, three plays for me, and you kind of were
on the same page for two of them. There that
for starters. I'm with you on the Spurs Spurs to
win there. Did you catch you in that game last
night against the bucks Man? Wemby was incredible. He's unbel I.

Speaker 3 (08:45):
Saw the line, but I didn't see the game.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, he looked unbelievable. Only only caught a little bit.

Speaker 6 (08:49):
I was mostly locked in the sixers, but a couple
flashes the development.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
It's happening at a rapid rate for Wemby. He's the
real deal.

Speaker 6 (08:54):
He's gonna be one of those top five players in
the league, possibly as soon as next year. I would
say so right now, Yeah, I think you can make
that case. I was thinking about getting there to land
that plane, but decide to give it an extra year.
But yeah, I am on the spreadest and I do
like the minus two against the Heat. I was like
the Lakers plus eleven that I hear you on the total.
I think this stays a games throughout. I think, to
be perfectly honest, the Lakers might be a bit better

(09:14):
than they've been given credit for nationally. And it's kind
of surprising that I usually sit on the opposite side
of that conversation.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
But I don't think there should.

Speaker 6 (09:20):
Be an eleven point gap between this next team, who
I'm not gonna say they've been letting on water, but
they haven't impressed me the way they were at the
start of the season. So I do like the Lakers
plus eleven. Then to shift over to the college basketball world,
I like Duke minus thirteen and a half today. I
keep trying to squint think about how UNC the talent
level is certainly better than they've played, but I just
don't see it. Man, that lost a pit earlier this
week was brutal to watch. They finished on a or

(09:42):
pit finished on a sixteen to two run to close
the game the final six minutes.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
There.

Speaker 6 (09:47):
They've lost four games by less than three points over
this recent stretch. Duke on a fourteen game winning Street
Cooper flag. I don't think there's a clear answer on
this UNC roster. With the home crownd behind them, the
Cameron crazies, I think Duke rolls today.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
I can't touch it because it's just such such a
big line, and I feel like that's every Duke game,
So I feel like I just haven't been even able
to get into the Duke market. But I certainly wouldn't
be betting North Carolina in that one, So that would
be the way I'd look if I if I had
to bet a side in that game. But let's switch
it back over to the main course. Let's switch it

(10:22):
back over to the Super Bowl preview, and I guess
I'll just turn it over to you. Where is kind
of just your overall confidence level a week out from
the game. Where was it when when you found out
it was Kansas City? Where kind of take me through
the week of your confidence level here?

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yeah, I mean I feel like this was the inevitable.

Speaker 6 (10:42):
As much as we wanted to talk ourselves into maybe
a Bills matchup if the Eagles can take care of business,
whatever the case may be, we knew it was gonna
be Eagles Chiefs again, and rightfully so. I think there's
something a little poetic about getting another chance of the
King for Jalen Hursts to try and get his lick back,
get that championship, and I think he can get that.
He can get the job done here. As much as
I came into the show complaining about the week off,
I think this benefits the Eagles in a major way.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Man.

Speaker 6 (11:03):
When you talk about how beat up that offensive line is,
I mean, we saw Cam Jurgen's Landon Dickerson absolutely fighting
through some pretty notable injuries and not looking their best,
still getting the job done for this Eagles team. So
thankful that they have that extra week to recover there.
I think that's gonna be the story of the game
to me. That as much as the Chiefs are still
the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes is still Patrick Mahomes, and Andy Reid
is going to be a factor, I think it's gonna

(11:23):
be a grinded out running gun style of game where
the Eagles just run it down their throat and I
don't see an answer from this Chiefs defense. So while
this is probably the best Chiefs defense during this era,
I still think Saquon Barkley in this offensive line is
the big difference for why I have more confidence in
this team than was the first go round. Think about
we basical got no running back production in that last
Super Bowl. There're Saquon Barkley behind this O line now

(11:44):
so very excited. That to me is the difference maker.
Jalen Hurt's gonna have to play pretty close to perfect football,
but we've seen that for a lot more than people
want to give him credit there, So my optimism is
still fairly high. Even though you know you got to
bring your best effort running against the squad.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
I think it's just about I think it's entirely fifty
to fifty, like I really do. I don't think we're
gonna run it down their throat necessarily, like I think
we'll probably have some success on the ground, but I
think they'll get a lot of one two yard games.

Speaker 6 (12:15):
This stat the uh the Chiefs haven't allowed one hundred
yard rushers since the twenty eighteen playoffs. I think Saquan
snaps that stat for sure.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
Yeah, I think so, but it's a that's a long
time they haven't done it. I would say that he does,
but I certainly don't think he hits like one sixty
one seventy. And if he doesn't, I think that that's
going to be it's going to have to be through
the air, and I think it's going to be on
jail and it's going to be on the passing game

(12:43):
to make it happen. Because I personally, and I've been
arguing about this with people all week, I don't see
Kansas City scoring less than twenty seven points Like I
think Kansas City's scoring twenty seven, twenty eight, thirty thirty one,
thirty fourth, thirty five type of points. And I think
it's going to be on the Eagles to outscore that.

(13:07):
I don't think it's going to be too much different
than the last Super Bowl, I think, and maybe that
maybe I'm a little bit of a prisoner to the
moment of looking at that game as kind of a blueprint.
But I think Travis Kelce has a huge day. As
I'll get into with some stats, I think aj Brown
has a huge day. As I'll get into with some stats.
I think Jalen Hurts has a big day and gets

(13:29):
involved on the ground. So if you made me make
a score prediction right now, I'll flip the number. Give
me thirty eight thirty five Eagles instead of going to
the thirty eight thirty five Chiefs. I think the Eagles
win a real close on but I think it's going
to be a blowout or a blowout. I'm in a shootout,
and if you're looking at the total, if I was

(13:51):
a non fan of one of these two teams, I
would be hammering the over unlike any Super Bowl bet
I've ever made in my life. To be honest, I
think that this is absolutely going to be a shootout.
I understand that the Eagles had the best defense in
football this year, I really do. But you look at
what they allowed against the Rams in the final two

(14:13):
to three minutes of that game. You look at the
first thirty five minutes of that Commander's game where they
put up twenty three points. I don't necessarily think that
the fumbles are something that we can count on forcing
every single week, especially not with a team like Kansas
City who tends to hold onto the ball almost as

(14:34):
well as we hold onto the ball, So I don't
think there's going to be a lot of turnovers on
either side of the ball. I think it's going to
be a pretty clean offensive game. I don't think there's
going to be a ton of punts. I think it's
probably going to come down to forcing a couple of
field goals here and there instead of touchdowns, maybe stopping
some two point conversions depending on the score. But I
really do think it's going to come down to the wire.

(14:57):
And I was actually more confident two years I was
stupidly confident two years ago looking back upon it, and
if you made me make a guess, like I think
we have like a fifty two to fifty five percent
chance of winning the game, what I will say, And
we'll get into some reasons throughout the show that I'm
kind of, you know, when dark thoughts creep in that

(15:18):
I'm telling myself to feel confident. One of those thoughts
is related to the line there's a team going for
a three peak in the Super Bowl, only a one
and a half point favorite, Like, I think it says
a lot that the entire world and country and square
country is gonna want to bet the Kansas City Chiefs

(15:40):
unless you factor in the people that hate the Chiefs.
That's a whole other conversation. But people are gonna look
at that and be like, oh my god, I can
get the Chiefs. I just wanted to have. I can
get the Chiefs minus one twenty two or whatever the
money line is. And the fact that Vegas is not
budgeting and I'm sure more money is coming in on
Kansas City than Philadelphia. I haven't taken a peek yet,
just based on what I'm reading and how you're hearing

(16:02):
people talk about the game, it feels like that, yeah,
and they're not budgeting, They're keeping it at that one
and a half. I think that says a lot.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
Yeah, I think it does as well.

Speaker 6 (16:11):
I think it is a little funny to me that
these are probably like maybe the top two most hated
teams in the entire NFL, which is will be interesting
to see. I guess there's a couple other you could
throw in that mix as well, but the button Yeah, yeah,
Dallas for sure. But uh, I guess the only thing
that I would push back a little bit on is
I do see a world where this could be a
little bit more of a defensive battle. You're obviously not
going to keep my home scoreless and he's gonna do
his damage. But I think this defense is playing at

(16:33):
its best level, and Kansas City really has not been
the explosive offense that we know them to be. Like,
if you want a run down their scoring totals for
this year per game, we're talking twenty seven, twenty six,
twenty one, seventeen, twenty six, twenty eight, twenty seven, thirty sixteen,
twenty one, thirty nineteen, nineteen, twenty one, twenty seven, twenty nine.
So the point being there that like, they're not this,

(16:54):
They're not what you This is a different version of
this Chiefs scene than they are in our brain, I guess,
is the way I put it.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
I just disagree after last week where they went out
and put thirty two and Mahomes at the best success
rate that any quarterback has had this in a game
this season.

Speaker 6 (17:09):
Night and day difference between the Bills and Eagles defense,
I would say.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
Yeah, it's also in a turf on turf in a
dome instead of playing in twenty twenty five degree weather,
which you'd have to think helps offenses.

Speaker 2 (17:22):
Sure, No, that's fair.

Speaker 6 (17:23):
I mean, I'm not saying I think the Eagles A
going to keep them scoreless or anything like that, but
my score prediction will be in the twenties for both teams,
kind of the way that I'm looking at it here.
I do absolutely hear you on your fear of Travis Kelsey.
I think that if there is a way that this
game goes south, it is through that. So excited to
hear your reasoning for it.

Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yeah, and so I guess all this, how many bets
do you have kind of bullet pointed or I don't
know if you have any placed yet or if you're
waiting or what your strategy is. How many bets do
you have your eye on for the Super Bowl?

Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yeah? Pluenty.

Speaker 6 (17:53):
I'll say the only thing that I've locked in right
now is a couple of Eagles futures from way back,
so feeling good about those in the pocket. I have
not officially locked in any props yet. I Saquon. I'm
curious on Saquon because the number obviously went down from
last week. That's kind of where my brain starts here
looking at DraftKings one fourteen and a half.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Is that line?

Speaker 6 (18:10):
I do think the eagle is gonna make like a
pretty conscious effort to feed him the rock and that
be the difference maker.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
I don't think I'm touching that one. I'm with you
on that.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
I do like they're ninth in stopping the I forget.
I think they are ninth in stopping the run and
twenty fifth in stopping the past. Now, part of that
is a little skewed because Kansas City's fifteen to two,
so teams are not running the ball as often and
they get in shootouts or they get behind, But I

(18:37):
think we could kind of play into that as well.
So but yeah, to your point.

Speaker 6 (18:42):
I do like Devontae Smith's receiving yards. I think he's
gonna be quietly be an X factor in this game,
but none officially locked in for me yet. So I'll
let you take the take the ropes.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
Here, Mark, Yeah, and I'll start it off with the
conversation we were kind of just having with the I'm
not betting. I'm actually not betting the money line. I'm
not betting plus one and a half. I'm not betting
anything on the game just or in terms of a
side because I would just rather take in terms of
how I just laid it out. I don't think I

(19:10):
think there is a zero point zero zero zero zero
zero percent chance that the Eagles win this Super Bowl
scoring twenty three or less. I really don't think that
this is twenty three to twenty twenty three to twenty
one game. I don't see it. And I so give
me the Eagles team total over twenty three and a half,

(19:31):
because I think you could win that bet and the
Eagles could lose the game, and you'd feel stupid betting
the money line instead of that, I guess, is what
I would say. So I'm just going with the team total,
and I've laid it out. Fourteen and zero jal when Jalen,
Lane and AJ start and finish a game at twenty
nine and a half points per game. I don't know
how long I've been given that stat out here on

(19:52):
the show. I think since it was eight and zero
or no. Keep sad into it, and it would be
pretty incredible if they just never lose it game when
all three of those guys are out there, which is
if they win the Super Bowl, that's exactly what they
would have done. Eleven of fourteen games that those three
have started have started or sorry eleven of fourteen games

(20:12):
that those three have started and finished have went over
that twenty three and a half point total. So give
me over twenty three and a half. And I do
think and part of why I'm so confident in this
Eagles passing game is because I do think you can
get the Chiefs passing defense. They kind of let Lugarius
Need go last offseason, they let safeties go. They've decided

(20:36):
to strengthen the offensive and defensive lines, and you have
to hope you can neutralize Chris Jones to the best
ability that you can, and that you can neutralize George
Carloftis in their pass rush. But I do think that
you can pick apart that defensive secondary, and I don't
think that they're going to be able to force a
lot of mistakes. So I think it's going to be
a big jail in Hurts game, and it's going to

(20:58):
be a lot of points score for the Eagles regardless
of the outcome of the game. And I guess I'll
shift it over and he takes on you for Super
Bowl MVP and anything you're looking at.

Speaker 6 (21:11):
Yeah, I was actually gonna jump in on this next
next getting over plus three hundred for Jalen Hurts, to me,
is a slam dunk bet there that I understand the
love for Saquon Barkley. He's been awesome, and I think
there will be a little bit of a narrative push
there because obviously he's been a guy who basically the
Eagles have given him a chance to actually win football
games rather than just be this unique talent, and he's delivering.
He's been taking this team to another level. There's no
doubt about it. But I do believe for all the

(21:33):
reason that you just said, if the Eagles are going
to win this game, it's going to be on the
back of Jalen Hurts looking like an elite caliber quarterback.
If they are going to win, he's going to need
to deliver like that. If that is the case, I
don't see why which he's not crowned MVP. So I
obviously understand Patrick Mahons being the favorite. With that and
a notable gap between anyone else on that Chiefs team,
I don't think Saquan should be the second favorite there.

(21:54):
I think it should be Jalen, and I think getting
over plus three hundred is great value for that.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
I would agree that I think it should be like
Jalen plus two to fifty saque plus three fifty. It
should be like swapped from where it is. If I
had to guess, I I'm not going to bet either
of those guys. If he made me, I would take Jalen,
And you know me, I'm hoping if the Eagles win
the Super Bowl, the Jalen gets crowned and gets his

(22:21):
Super Bowl MVP. For the haters. But what I will say,
I think that there's some value on aj Brown at
thirty five one at plus thirty five hundred, and I'll
kind of lay out the script if Saquan has ninety
to one hundred and twenty yards and not the even
if Saquan has like one hundred and thirty yards, it'll

(22:42):
feel like a little bit of a disappointment from what
he's done the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (22:45):
So the bar is so high MVP.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah, he said the bar so high. So I think
they might they might struggle to give him the MVP
if he doesn't have super crazy numbers and they win
the game. If Jalen has twenty to twenty five passes
and only only has like two hundred to two hundred
and ten yards, in that range and aj has six

(23:09):
to seven to eight catches for you know, one hundred yards,
maybe a touchdown or two, maybe the game winning touchdown
or something like that. I think that there's been enough
talk and the inn excellent stuff, and I think that
the narrative could swing around to AJ Brown at least
at thirty five to one. And if fun stat I
usually would say just bet the quarterbacks. Five receivers in

(23:31):
the last twenty years have won Super Bowl MVP. So
I think if there is a receiver in this game
who has a chance to win MVP, it's absolutely AJ Brown.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah, no arguments with that.

Speaker 6 (23:43):
As far as I think he probably is the only
receiver to have a chance there, I still just think
it's gonna be Jalen if that's how things play play
itself out, I don't hate it as take a long
shot there. I think I personally will be locking in
the Jalen Hurd's Super Bowl MVP, and I feel pretty
good about it right there, So I don't hate the
outside the box take, but I do think that Jalen
should be the guy. I really am much more confident

(24:04):
Jalen will get it in Saquon. If that's how the
game plays out.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
And I tend to agree with that. As I laid
out with my concern about the kind of the Chiefs
run defense as opposed to I think the past defense
is really gettable. Just adding on to that AJ Brown thing,
I just think Sean Brays kind of asked me, where
can you get this Chiefs defense? They don't really double
and kind of to have people travel like they will.
Kind of they're kind of at the will of the

(24:28):
offense a little bit with some of that stuff. Spags
blitzes and does some funky stuff, for sure, But the
thing that gives you confidence is Spags wasn't really able
to dial anything up to beat the Eagles last time.
The Eagles beat the Chiefs last year in the regular
season as well against Spags. And but I really do
think you look at last time in the Super Bowl,

(24:49):
the AJ Brown had six catches ninety six yards in
a touchdown, and Jalen would have won MVP in that game. Obviously,
I do think you probably add like, since you said
the running backs, I had the stat here seventeen carries
for forty five yards the running backs had last time
in the Super Bowl. You have to imagine that's more
like twenty five for one fifty. Yeah, conservatively with the

(25:14):
backups and with Saquon probably Like if you made me
guess Saquan will be like twenty for one to twenty
would would be Mike Jalen will get a couple of
chunks too, Yeah, and Jalen at fifteen for seventy last
last Super Bowl as well. But you have to imagine
Jalen probably has a I think he had three hundred
and seven yards in that Super Bowl. It's probably like
one hundred down or ish in that range, maybe eighty down.

(25:37):
So I really do think that this has a chance
to be like the AJ Brown game, like if he
just takes over, and I think that they're not gonna
devote enough resources to him, and I think that plus
one eighty for him to score is ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah, locking myself.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
More throughout the week into it being one of my
favorite bets of the week. He scored four of the
last six, five of the last eight, eight of the
last fifteen, four of his last eight playoff games. And
I know that the rebuttal that is, oh, only half
the time, plus one eighty is way less than fifty
percent kind of expectancy if you're looking at it that way.
And like I said, in his only Super Bowl six

(26:16):
six for ninety six in a touchdown, I think this
guy's a big game player. And we saw it last
round against Washington in the NFC Championship. We saw it
last time in the Super Bowl. I think AJ Brown
shines when the lights of the brightest. I think he's
gonna Absolutely, I think he's gonna ball. I'm I'm so
confident that Jalen and Aj are gonna go out there
and ball out because we saw it. We saw it

(26:38):
and when in their most important game of their lives before.

Speaker 6 (26:41):
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. Now, I don't I think
that does get lost on people. Let's not forget the
version of Jalen Hurt as they showed up in this
last Super Bowl. Yes there was the fumble, and yes
they lost that game, but that dude brought it man
and really like that that the octagon he put up
to tie that game, the rushing touchdown in the two
point conversion, that to me told the Jalen Hurd story
is that's a he would not be denied. He found
a way to get the job done and muscled his

(27:02):
way into that Intipador twice there, So I think he's
going to carry himself in the exact same way. I
kind of like the way he's carrying himself with I
don't want to say a little bit of attitude, but
sort of just the next question mentality when he's getting
a stupid one of the podium and stuff like that,
Jalen's going to bring it.

Speaker 2 (27:15):
So I'm feeling more confident than that.

Speaker 6 (27:17):
And that's a pretty good feeling when you have that
level of confidence in your quarterback.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
And that's exactly what I expect from Jalen Hurts at
this point.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
And speaking of Jalen Hurts, I bet it when it
was plus one hundred. I think it's at minus one
ten now and one of five wherever it's at. But
I put seven units on plus one hundred. Jalen Hurts
anytime touchdowns board three times last time he was in
the Super Bowl. In terms of the anytime touchdown. I
know that the Chiefs did a good job stopping the
tushbush with Buffalo last week. Buffalo ain't Philadelphia, Josh Allen

(27:48):
ain't Jalen Hurts when it comes to the tush push.
Do I need to quote my stats? Over the last
few years with Jalen Hurts twelve and six at plus
thirty eight units this season this year eleven and six
at plus fifty three and a half units, the year
before twelve and five at plus twenty three and a
half units. That means over the last three years I

(28:12):
am thirty five and seventeen at one hundred at plus
one hundred and fifteen units when betting Jalen Hurts anytime touchdown,
every time that we get to whatever the last Jalen
Hurts game of the year is. It was obviously two
years ago, it was a Super Bowl. Last year it
was Tampa. A couple of years ago it was Tampa.

(28:33):
It's like me, it's a I'm Vin Diesel and the
Jalen Hurts anytime touchdown market is Paul Walker. It's just
going to go in the opposite directions. See you again.
Music's playing, it's it's it's a beautiful thing. And then
you know, around September comes around again the next year
and the sportsbooks forget that they should be setting Jalen

(28:55):
Hurts minus one fifty.

Speaker 6 (28:56):
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. I love it for this game.
I also would not mind taking a swing and may
just do this on two touchdowns at plus five fifty here,
he's gonna have He's the first DIBs every time they're
in the red zone and right around the goal line
there and it's delivered. I mean, he did it in
last Super Bowl. He's done it plenty of times this season.
I do like that plus five fifty there. So yeah,
all in on Jalen Hurts find his way, and I
think he showed a lot as far as like having

(29:17):
no concern about that knee in that last game there,
that that was something I think that was floating on
the back of our minds. He looked exactly like Jalen
Hurdis during that entire game and has an extra week
to rest it up. So yeah, I think he'll be
leaving it all on the field and finding his way
to pay dirt plenty.

Speaker 3 (29:31):
So okay, so you mentioned Davante. You like the Davante prop?
Where did you get that?

Speaker 6 (29:36):
At fifty five and a half on a trouble check?
I mean, check this here. The over under for his
receiving yards for DeVante Smith is sitting at fifty and
a half.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
Why are you Why are you so confident in Smitty
to have.

Speaker 6 (29:49):
A big game, so a little bit of the same
reasons that I think they are. Priority Number one from
a chief's perspective is absolutely going to be stopping Saekwon
Barkley stack in the box and making Jalen Hurts beat you.
AJ Brown is also obviously the guy who's gon command
the number one attention in the pass defense there. I
think DeVante still does not quite get the respect that
he deserves from a talent perspective, and I think that
the Eagle is going to be pretty effective in using
him in some of these over the middle slants type

(30:11):
of just get him the ball in his hands. They've
been a little bit more creative in some of these
end around and pop passes and trying to get him
the ball in these kind of ways. I think they're
going to lean into that even further in this game.
And I think he's a guy that, from the season
wide standpoint, has not been leaned on as much as
he probably should. There's obviously a ton of mouse feed
in this offense here, but I think with their pass
defense being their weakness, with AJ Brown being the guy
that's going to be the number one getting attention there,

(30:32):
that Devonte Smith could be the guy that ultimately does
the most amount of damage against this Chiefs defense. So
fifteen and a half seems super low to me. Wouldn't
surprise me if he's up near eighty nine year even
eclipses one hundred in this one.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
It just scares me. The last three fifty five, twenty one,
forty five. But before that, he did have a nice
run eleven for one p h nine on a touchdown
against Pittsburgh, six for fifty one against Washington, and six
for one to twenty and two touchdowns against Dallas. He's
just been pretty quiet in the playoff run here. Yeah,
but that's kind of why I've been leaning on AJ

(31:05):
a little bit more. But fifty and a half, I
mean even last week and what was a down game,
he still had forty five.

Speaker 6 (31:10):
Right, Yeah, fifty nine point six yards per game on
the season. So like it is a downstretch. But I
think this is kind of one of those chances where
you fully on the show.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
Yeah, that's fair, and it's kind of this by the
dip a little bit, right, It's kind of went a
little bit too far. That's fair, that's fair. Let's flip
nothing else on the eagle side of the well, nothing
with Goddard.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
I can't.

Speaker 6 (31:30):
I've seen a lot of the Goddard love. I don't
mind him for a touchdown. I'm a little bit none
of the props particularly jump out of me when looking
at the numbers.

Speaker 3 (31:37):
Yeah, that's kind of where I'm at to any By
the way, I don't know, have you heard anything on
gain Well, Like it seems like he's been limited with concussion,
and they said me, I think as well. But if
they don't have game well, it's actually kind of like.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
A low key big deal lost.

Speaker 3 (31:52):
Like he's been pretty useful in terms of passing downs.
It's been pretty useful in that so he's pretty important
to spell Saquon. Obviously, only one game left, so I
don't know how much spelling of Saquon you need as
much as maybe past games. Maybe it is a little
bit more balls to the wall and kind of you're
out there until you're not. But I would love to

(32:15):
have bet like a Saquon receiving prop here gain Well
receiving prop here if I was confident he was going
to play a full compliment of snap, because I actually
do think I remember I bet that last Super Bowl
and it hit easily. I do think he'll get a
couple looks if he is out there.

Speaker 6 (32:30):
Yeah, and it does seem like a little bit of
a decent chance that he's not, more so than I
expected to be the case. And this this coming from
Zach Berman. Here he says if the Eagles played this weekend,
Cam Jurrigans and Landon Dickerson would not be on the
final injury report. Neither would Devonte Smith or Dallas Gotter.
The players who would be questionable would be wide receiver
Britain Covey, running back Kenneth Gainwell, a defensive end Brandon Graham,
and then c j Uzoma there the tight end. But yeah,

(32:53):
for as far as Gainwell is concerned, I do think
that's a bigger deal than people kind of recognized, like
Will Shipley. While he had that amazing run there, it's
not quite a guy that you know in your first
real like actual game NEPs, you want to be in
the super Bowl there and game. Will has been very
good in his opportunities this year as well as like
being a part of special teams on kickoffs all those
type of things, So it would be a lot of
moving parts. Concussion is one of those weird things that

(33:14):
you kind of never really know what the timeline is,
so will be interesting. I would say the start of
this week will probably have a better idea about it,
but definitely would be a big hit if.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Game Weill is not an option for the s Eeagles team.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
Yeah, not nearly enough talk about kind of if he's
going to be able to play, And I feel like
there hasn't even really been questions. I've been watching some
of the Nick press conferences. I don't even know if
I've heard him be asked about that, to be honest,
But let's flip it over. Let's talk about the other
side of the ball. Let's talk about the Kansas City
offense versus the Eagles defense. And I gave out my

(33:45):
favorite prop of the game, but that's Jalen Hurt's touchdown.
It almost is in a different bucket. It almost doesn't count.
I bet that every single week, no matter what the game,
is my favorite non Jalen Hurts touchdown bet in this
entire game is Nolan Smith over point twenty five sacks
at four units. He's gotten a sack in five of
the last six games, six sacks in that stretch, eight

(34:07):
sacks in his last ten games. I think that Nolan
Smith is developing beyond anything I thought he could be
when I had him graded. I think I had him
with my number twenty five overall player in the year
that he was drafted. We took him thirtieth, and I
remember at the time a lot of people were celebrating, saying, oh,
we got a top five, top ten player in the class,

(34:29):
and I was like, well, he's a project. He's a
pass rush guy, like I think I always thought. I mean,
I remember my comparison for him was DeAndre Hopkins. If
DeAndre Hopkins was a defensive end, so his body type
was just that of a guy you bring in on
a Hassan Redick, like a guy you go rush the
passer and that's all you're worried about. That's all you're doing.
Get around the edge. We're not asking you to stop

(34:51):
the run. You look at the guys his size, not
a lot of those guys stopping the run in any capacity.
What Nolan Smith has done not only with this eight
saxs and ten game games, five sacks and six games,
leading leading sacker in the history of a single season
Eagles postseason run, he could break the Eagles postseason single
season sack record. That's kind of wordy there. He could

(35:12):
break that record with even just a half sack in
the Super Bowl. But the most impressive thing that he's
done is he's graded at is one of the top
twenty to twenty five rush defenders at the edge rusher position,
which at his size is just it shows like his
motor and kind of how good his technique is and
for his size to not be a factor on those

(35:33):
and for him to be able to play the amount
of snaps that we're asking him to play. In the
absence of Brandon Graham and in the absence of Bryce
Huff being a good football player, they had to go
to this role where Nolan Smith's playing almost all the
snaps and he's lived up every bit to what how
he drafted him to be. And it's only a year two,
So it's gonna be beautiful to kind of watch how

(35:55):
I think he's truly going to be one of the
best ad rushers in the NFL over the next couple
of years, and we're kind of seeing his arrival in
the most important games of his life. It's pretty awesome.

Speaker 6 (36:04):
Yeah, And beyond just the on the field stuff which
has been terrific. I don't mean to downplay by any
means he's come on as strong as this season concluded,
but you're seeing him step up as kind of one
of these voices of leadership in the sequels defense, and
that's something that I did not remotely expect to be happening,
at least this soon. Like you're seeing the personality come
out in Nolan Smith. Nix Siroanni has spoken openly about
how he plays football, the way he wants his sons
to play football, and things like that, which I think

(36:25):
are very cool things there. So it's cool to see,
like we initially it was all praise for Howie Roseman
forgetting all the Georgia Bulldogs, and all of a sudden
it was like, Okay, maybe not all these guys are
panning out the way. Now we're seeing like the full
I guess, you know, flower blossoming for what these guys
can be. And Nolan Smith, I think is probably the
best example of that. This guy who really did not
make much of an impack for his first season and

(36:45):
a lot of this year, and now we're seeing him
on full display. So I think part of it obviously
has to do with Brandon Graham's injury opening up the
opportunity to an extent. And Nolan Smith, really I think
the bigger story is him just coming into his own
So he's been awesome.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
He's going to be a key part of this game.

Speaker 6 (36:59):
And we all know how important that one strip, sack
or one hit on the quarterback can be as far
as changing a game. So if Nolan Smith can be
the guy, would absolutely love it. But each member of
this defense line is a threat there.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
Yeah, I mean Jalen Carter. We all know how good
Jalon Carter is. Sometimes it doesn't hit the stat sheet
the way that it hits the eye test because so
many of what he does is force incompletions or force
bat downs or force you know, a two yard loss
in the run games. So and a lot of what
Jalen Carter does is open up things for the edge

(37:31):
rushers and open up things for the guys around him.
But in my opinion, obviously Zach Bond gets the Defensive
Player of the Year nomination where he's there for the
NFL honors as one of the top five guys in
that there's no debate to me who the most important
defender on this defense is. And it's Jalen carteraly for
what he does for that entire defensive line and even
for guys behind him like Bonn. And he saw that

(37:53):
in college where na Kobe Dean looked so much better
because the fact that he was running behind Jalen Carter
and Jordan Davis to a lesser extent. But I think
that for what this pass rushing lacks from twenty twenty
two in terms of the ability to get to the

(38:13):
pass rush get to the quarterback at the same historic
great that twenty twenty two team I think people have
forgotten broke a record for sacks. Yeah, that did happen.
I know we all want to act like that defense sucked,
and that's why this year we're so much better. The
difference is the sod Father took away our biggest advantage.
We weren't able to get any sort of pass rush
on that turf. The difference is we are way better

(38:35):
against the run with this defense than that one. They
were able to actually pick up some important yards down
the stretch. I'd have to go back and look at
the box score to see what Pacheco was able to
have and see what some of the guys were able
to have in that game, but they were able to
pick up chunks. I don't think Kansas City is going
to be able to run the ball whatsoever in this game,

(38:55):
to the point where I'm willing to bet Isaiah Pacheco
under twenty two two and a half rush yards and
under eight and a half for the longest rush over
the last three playoff games. He's at early the last
three games eighteen, eighteen, and twelve rushing yards over under
three and a half yards per carry in all of
those games. His longest rush was in the last four

(39:16):
games five, ten, eight, and eight. So it gave me
that under eight and a half and that under twenty
two and a half. Kareem Hunts become the kind of
the lead back there and Cream Hunts washed. So I
think that tells you how stinky Isaiah Pichecko always was.
People were paying their hard earned money to play fantasy
football this year and drafting Isaiah Pichecko in the top twenty.

(39:39):
I'll never be able to wrap my mind around it.
But you look at what the Chiefs did against the
Texans in that game where the run game wasn't working.
They beat the Texans twenty three to fourteen, but the
run game was just not working. You look at Kareem
Hunt eight for forty four that's not terrible, five and
a half yards spent per carry in a touchdown, but

(39:59):
Pachecko five carries for eight yards, So in total they
had thirteen running back carries for a total of sixty
two yards. I think you could see something really similar
in this game. I think Kansas City's going to realize
and realize early that the way that you can kind
of attack this Eagles defense is five six seven yard inns,
out slants, drags across the middle and the sides of
this defense because we play far back and we do

(40:22):
this thing where we stop you from the explosive plays.
And I don't think the Chiefs are going to make
explosive plays at a high rate in this game. Their
explosive play rate on the season, the margin is minus
nineteen and the Eagles are plus forty five. And the
reason for that is the Eagles don't give up explosive
for plays just as much as they make them on offense.
So I don't think it's going to be death by

(40:45):
explosive plays. I think it's going to be death by
ten yards, eight yards, seven yards, ten yards twelve yards,
eight yards, eight yards touchdown, and I think that's gonna
be excruciating. But I think the Chiefs are going to
be more than willing to do it and less worried
about making a mission, and also maybe if you want
to play to this conspiracy, less worried about penalties to

(41:05):
back them up in those situations, which can be a
killer against Fangio defenses, I do think. And the reason
that I'm kind of scared of this, and the reason
that I wanted Buffalo in part, is because I thought
Buffalo would commit to running the ball against the defense
that I think is going to stop the run no
matter what. After that Baltimore game, I have full confidence

(41:28):
that the Eagles would stop the run against any team
in the sport. After stopping Baltimore relatively in the run game,
I think Buffalo would have bashed their head against the
brick wall for a long time trying to run the
ball before figuring out that they needed to pass the
ball far more. Kansas City is not going to do that.
I think Kansas City is just going to go right
to the passing game, which is why I'm kind of

(41:49):
nervous about the defense a little bit.

Speaker 6 (41:50):
See that's an area where I'm more optimistic because I
think this secondary is much improved from that twenty two
And I'd like think about James Bradbury for example. Here,
who's the guy who obviously we all remember with the
penalty at the end, he's still on.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
The rocks and he wasn't all pro that year he was,
I know, I know.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
But was he better than Quinnon Mitchell?

Speaker 3 (42:09):
No?

Speaker 6 (42:09):
No, So like I feel more confident in this defensive unit.
Coupris teen like this season really took a turn when
he was injected in this starting lineup and playing a
part so read blanket Chip I think has been even
better this year. I mean he's been good throughout his
tenure in Philadelphia, but the point being here, this is
a more complete unit than I think we've seen at
least for that, and I think that's a good counter
now fanjo He's been excellent in the wider scale, So

(42:30):
I don't mean to rag on him. I would appreciate
a little less prevent I know that's not really his style,
that it is a ben that don't break. It does
feel like when he gives these over the middle kind
of short ten twelve yard games like you're mentioning far
too easily. I would like that to be the stop
because I think, like, I don't see any world. I'm
with you on the Pajeco standpoint. I don't see any
world where the Chiefs get any sort of traction running
the football against this Eagles defensive line. I just don't

(42:52):
see that happening there. So it's gonna be the past
or nothing to me. If that's gonna be the case,
make them give him your best shot that I don't
think this Chiefs team is exploded. I don't think Xavier
Worthy is remotely in the category of wide receiver that
they need him to be, or how this offense is
designed Hollywood. Brown really has not brought anything. It's Travis Kelce,
it's Patrick Mahomes, it's Andy Reid, And that's really the
reasons for confidence for me. The defense is good. They

(43:14):
have these big names at the most important positions here.
But I think when you go position by position and
looking at all these matchups, it makes me feel better
and better about this Eagles team.

Speaker 3 (43:23):
Yeah, I do think the difference is to slock. I
I'm not going to get too far into the differences
between the outside corners with differences. Dejean and Bad those
are the things that give you the big difference, and
Jalen Carter for the run game and Quinnon Mike. For me,
it's less about that because we had two All Pro
corners that year. Slay and Bradberry both were All pros

(43:45):
that year, and I think Quinnan's better, but they were
both All pros. Sure, So I do think it's a
little revision assist through the way some of us talk
about the twenty twenty two defense and part of it.
If you just want to say, I'm actually more open
to just pointing out that twenty twenty two defense and
being like the.

Speaker 6 (44:01):
Field, like, yeah, the field was bad and a big
deal for pass rush, like that's a huge factor. We're
trying to get up and get to the quarterback, which
was a huge story there.

Speaker 3 (44:10):
Absolutely. So let's talk about bets that I'm not making.
These are two bets that I would make if I
wasn't involved in this game emotionally. But first of all,
it would be the over. I would hammer the over.
I already said that, but I'm basically doing that anyway,
betting the Eagles team total. But Travis Kelcey over sixty

(44:32):
two and a half and Travis Kelcey touchdown at plus
one thirty five. I don't get why these lines are
in higher. Eight for eighty four in a touchdown in
his last regular season game against Pittsburgh, seven for one
seventeen in a touchdown against Houston, held quiet against Buffalo.
But I don't see it happening twice in a row.
It hasn't had two straight games under sixty two yards
in the playoffs since twenty twenty when that when they

(44:54):
won their first Super Bowl and had Tyreek Hill around. Still,
he's went sixty t three plus in nine of eighteen
games this season, so half the time, and he turns
it on in the biggest games. As we know, He's
had seventy one plus yards in fourteen of his last
fifteen playoff games over the last five postseasons. It's a
pretty insane stat there. He's had six for eighty one

(45:16):
and a touchdown against us last time he met in
the Super Bowl, Ertz just had eleven for one oh
four against our defense. I think that we are going
to kind of give up those eight to ten yard
plays and ERT's less than ten yards per catch on
those eleven catches and we all pointed that and said
Ertz killed us. I bet you. Fangio looked at it
and said he didn't because it was less than ten
yards per catch, and I think they're probably willing to

(45:39):
give up that same output to Travis Kelce. So if
you made me guess what Kelsey has, I'd say nine
for one twenty in a touchdown.

Speaker 6 (45:47):
Yeah, I can see that for sure. I can't believe
Ertz still has something left in the tank.

Speaker 7 (45:50):
Man.

Speaker 6 (45:50):
I thought that dude was washed up like four years ago,
and he, to his credit, played pretty well for him.
So Kelsey obviously, even a higher tier of caliber of
tight end, he certainly cannot move the way he once did.
Like it was interesting when I was in here on
Tuesday Show with Brace, so they had on the twenty
twenty two Super Bowl on the TV, so we're watching that.
It is like night and day different for how that
guy cuts in and out of routes based on like
where he is. That this just shows what a toll

(46:12):
football takes on you. And Travis still one of the
most trustworthy hands and a guy that certainly will make
his impact. But that was kind of startling to me
or I guess surprising to see how much the contrast
is and what his athletic ability or quick twitches at
this point in his career still gets the job done.

Speaker 1 (46:25):
Though.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
I thought he looked pretty good in that Houston game. Sure,
I remember I thought feeling like he turned back the
clock a couple of weeks ago in that Houston game.
Last week, I felt like Buffalo did a lot to
kind of take him out of the game, which kind
of left some running room for mahomes a lot of
the time there. But I'm worried about him. I'm having
nightmares about Kelsey. I think he's gonna absolutely kill us.

(46:47):
I don't think that betting his MVP prop would be
the worst idea, to be honest, either if you're thinking
the Chiefs are going to win the game. But we
obviously aren't doing that around here. By the way, one
last ramp before we go to commercial and head over
to talk a little rumble with Nick Pecone and we're
obviously gonna have plenty more super Bowl talk next week

(47:08):
on the show. To all the donkey brains of the week,
here a little impromptu donkey Brains Donkey Brains of the
Week go to everybody, Oh, Zach Ertz is.

Speaker 5 (47:18):
Gonna come back next year for twenty twenty six Eagles.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
Do people forget that Zach Ertz and Nick Sirianni. Nick
Sirianni had to be separated from having a fistfight like
a month and a half ago on the field by
Big Dom.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
They did have a nice dap up and hug it
out after that last came.

Speaker 3 (47:33):
I will say, you see ERTs look out on his
face after Sure, my god, this guy.

Speaker 6 (47:40):
Yeah, I mean he did just lose. I kind of,
you know, I think that's a little like not blown
out of proportion. Whatever happened happened. But I guess, you know,
money talks and situations talk a little bit louder than emotions.

Speaker 2 (47:51):
I would say, you want to.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
Hear my take. I think it's blown under proportion. I'm
shocked how little it was talked about leading into that game.
The game, it's almost like Nick and Zach like went
to the media and we're like, hey, like, we don't
want to talk about this, please don't bring it up
on the broadcast. Like the guy at eleven for one
of four touchdown he tried to fight the head coach
of the other team, and one and a half before

(48:14):
used to be his head coach like I was actually
shocked at the restraint of the media that they didn't
blow it out of proportion. I I, it's not normal.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
Sure, yeah, sure, yeah, that's fair.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
That would be what I would say. But let's think
a break and next week we're gonna get all We're
gonna get a bunch of angles from the whole Gambler
gang on the Super Bowl and birds on bourbon and
whether or not the Eagles are going to finish the story.
And speaking of finishing the story, on the other side,
Nick Pecone from the Straight Shooters Radio talking all things

(48:49):
Royal Rumbole twenty twenty five right here on the game.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
Spreads totals and all the prop that's in the tweens.
It's the Gambler. If you can wager on it, we're
talking about it. It's the Gambler. The Fox Sports Radio
the Gambler. Fox Sports Radio in Philly is the Gambler,
The Gambler, Philly's home for all things sports gambling knows.

Speaker 3 (49:19):
I am we incorginated homost dog life goes on. Honey Home,
my babies, look for Mackley. Welcome back to the Tough
Cover radio show Royal Rumble Preview here with our guy
Nick Picon. You can follow over on Twitter at Underscore
Pracon and check out all of this stuff over on

(49:40):
Straight Shooters Radio Nick pecone. How we doing Rubble up? Man,
Let's get it? Always always exciting. It's the second biggest
wrestling day of the year, but I always say it's
the most exciting because it sets up the most the
biggest wrestling day of the year. It's like the NFC
and AFC Championship. Little bit here for the non wrestling

(50:01):
fans that are listening out there, who gets to go
main event?

Speaker 7 (50:06):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (50:06):
Yeah, like Bernard back in the studio. Then the Rumble
winners get the main go get the main event. Uh
the WrestleMania Night one and Night two Extravaganza that'll be
in Las Vegas on Easter weekend. And I'll just start
right there, Nick Pecoon. Obviously we know who the contenders are,
and it's CM Punk, It's John Cena, It's Roman Reigns.

(50:29):
Maybe there's a couple others you need to include, maybe
Seth Rollins, maybe Drew McIntyre. Who do you think wins
the Rumble tonight?

Speaker 7 (50:38):
I think it's gonna be John Cena, just because I
think they're gonna go that route. But I also don't
necessarily think he'll win at WrestleMania. So I think tonight
will be the start of a storyline, probably a year
long storyline, maybe maybe not a whole year, But I
don't think WrestleMania will be the climax of the storyline.

Speaker 3 (50:59):
So I just feel like the way that they have there,
they have every guy on the roster holding the WrestleMania
main event over CM Punk's head, like Sammy, like Kevin,
like you know, Roman, whoever, whoever you want to say.
I just think he has to win the rumble today.
And I'm a Mark obviously literally, but I'm a cmpunk guy,

(51:22):
and I think this is kind of his night, And
I think I don't think like you said, I don't
think he's winning at WrestleMania either way. Like if you
if you put Cody in there with or if you
put Punk in there with Cody, I think he's jobbing.
If you put him in there, even with the guns,
maybe a Roman or a Scenic got the belt before
Manian he could face them. I think he's probably losing

(51:43):
to whoever he faces at WrestleMania, but I do think
they are going to give him that WrestleMania main event.
I think it might have even been part of the
part of the contract to be.

Speaker 7 (51:52):
And he's never won the Rumble, so you know that'll
be a feather in his cap. These are these are
things that he has said publicly mean something to him.
So and he's at the point of his career where
maybe w at this point, Hey, he's back and he's
been easy to work with, so let's give him this. Possibly,
or maybe that was the plan all along, but I
could see that happening for sure.

Speaker 3 (52:13):
Forty six years old, not too many more of these,
you'd have to think. But I guess just from a
fantasy booking perspective kind of what is how do you
think the WrestleMania card shapes up here? And I feel
like we know from the main event standpoint, it's probably
going to be some combination of Cody Sina, Roman Punk.

(52:37):
I feel like, I don't know if that's fair to say.
Maybe there's another name I'm not mentioning. I don't know
if that means Gunther keeps the belt and has a
separate match, or maybe goother jobs. The belt out from
between here and Mania. But kind of how do you
think this plays out from it from maybe your fantasy
booking perspective or what you expect.

Speaker 7 (52:57):
Similar to last year. I think it's all predicated on
what the Rock decides, what the Rock wants to do.
So I honestly thought for the longest time it be
the Rock and Cody for the title, and then when
they started the seed planning with Roman and Punk, absolutely
I thought that was the avenue they would take. But
they've done a really good job at throwing these different

(53:19):
things at you that you really can't have a prediction,
you know, set one hundred percent, because so many different
moving parts. We haven't seen that in years. It was
almost always like, yeah, this guy or this woman's gonna win,
and you know, start that way, and then whoever wins
the elimination chamber they go that way. So but now
we have so many different things. But I still think

(53:41):
there's a possibility of The Rock comes back and probably
sets a sice on Cody and then starts a thing
with Roman maybe after WrestleMania that builds to next year's WrestleMania.
But yeah, to me, I think I would probably rather
see the Rock and Cody than See and Cody, But
that's just me. I'm I'm kind of hoping he shows

(54:04):
up tonight. I really want to see like that thirty
first entering. I'm kind of like everyone go nuts and
that would be quite a moment.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
I think, I think I'm passing on the Rock. I
think I'm good on the Rock. And I don't think
he's gonna come back. I don't think this is this
year that like promo on the Netflix rawl, like I
if something was gonna happen, it feels like that would
have started something. And I feel like that being just

(54:32):
a nothing burger where he like squashed his beef with Cody.
I think if he does come back, it'll be Roman.
I think it'll be a Rock Roman thing, and probably
that means that Roman wouldn't need the belt necessarily for
that kind of story. But I just feel like if
this was gonna happen, it would have started to happen
by now, because maybe that's dumb Rumble is just later

(54:55):
this year, so maybe that's why it feels like that.
But I I'd be surprised if he's in one of
the main events. I think, like you said, we might
see him next year. Maybe he sets something up for
next year at me but real quick. On the other side,
I guess before we get to the other side, on
the women's side, Cody, and Cody is obviously wrestling a
ladder match the night against Kevin Owens. Is there any

(55:18):
chance that they throw a curveball here and give Kevin
Owens a run with the belt? Or maybe you have
a Kevin Owens Sammy storyline for the belt and whatever
Cody does is separate from the belt. Is there any
chance of that or has did that?

Speaker 7 (55:33):
Kind of though, I could absolutely see Sammy coming out
and actually trying to help Kevin win. I could see
him doing that, and then Cody kind of being like
with the hell Cody winning in the end, and then
Kevin winds up turning on Sammy even though Sammy tried
to helping him. So Sammy's still like a sympathetic character,
but people are kind of questioning his motives, kind of

(55:53):
like Kevin is the bad guy now, so what are
we doing here? And that would be an interesting curve
ball because I think everyone just assumes Kevin asking Sammy
to help him, and there's no way Sammy's going to
do that. I think maybe we do see Sammy try
to but you know, maybe Halluva kick Kevin by accident,
because all these Halluva kicks are by accident now by Sammy,

(56:15):
so you know, it would be an interesting curveball if
they throw it that way. I do think we'll get
Sammy and Kevin at WrestleMania in some type of match.

Speaker 3 (56:23):
And then on the other side of thing with the
women's rumble, What are you kind of expecting tonight by
way of surprises, I guess is how I'll phrase that question.

Speaker 7 (56:33):
A j Lee might be the biggest surprise they can do,
and so I think the possibility of her showing up
is real. It's in Indianapolis, so it's not that far
from their home in Chicago. Sam Punk always dropping these hints.
I guess a person at the press kickoff presser yesterday

(56:55):
dropped the hint or yelled a j Lee and Triple
H's kind of reaction a little that. So that would
be the biggest surprise I think they could do. But
to me, other than that, I don't see. I think
we'll see some of the you know, maybe Nikki Bella,
because their rumors are her, you know, retraining and stuff
to possibly make a comeback. I don't think that's like

(57:17):
a huge surprise. You know, maybe it's a little surprise,
but you know, there's.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
Another name out there. Oscar's been going crazy on Twitter. Yeah,
that's a sad situation. But on the other side of things,
you mentioned Punk's wife, and there's another wife that has
been absent for a while in terms of Seth Rollins's wife,

(57:43):
the man Becky Lynch. Is there a chance we see
Becky tonight?

Speaker 7 (57:48):
For sure? For sure? I don't know how they can.

Speaker 3 (57:52):
What's that I kind of expected to be honest.

Speaker 7 (57:54):
Yeah, yeah, And you know we kind of expected her
at the Netflix for all two and it's like, okay,
or they saving her for the rubble and if she
doesn't show up tonight, or they saving her for elimination chamber,
you know, maybe that happens. So I think they want
It's almost like the to me, like an anti Alexa Blist.
Alexa Blist might actually be a surprise too, given all

(58:14):
the news that's coming out of her and not exactly
you know, having a new contract to w W or
something like that, or maybe they're on the outs and
creatively just nothing for her. That might be an actual
like big surprise too, just based off the internet chatter.
But yeah, with Becky Lynch, I think we're all assuming, like,

(58:35):
okay when she comes back, because I think it's already
been reported that she signed to do w W deals,
so the Rubble will be a perfect place for her
to return and maybe set up her WrestleMania path.

Speaker 3 (58:49):
Yeah. I don't know, because obviously Charlotte is coming back
for the first time in what like eighteen months now.

Speaker 7 (58:56):
And the apparently favorite.

Speaker 3 (58:58):
So yeah, which I actually I've always kind of been
a Charlotte guy. Like I. People get up set with
Charlotte winning a lot. It's been eighteen months and people
are already gonna get upset wins. But I'm ready for
her to come back in a main events spot. Charlotte
coming back, potentially, Becky coming back, potentially, aj Lee coming back,

(59:18):
like you said, potentially Nikki Bella whether or not you
want to make that a big deal or not coming back,
Bianca big Star, whether or not they've been your treating
or like it lately or not. Naya in the Rumble.
Maybe I'm missing some names. Maybe Jade comes back here
in the Rumble. Maybe a Trish or Alita like it

(59:38):
feels like there is a lot more juice to this
Swomen's Rumble than there has been in years past. Maybe
because the champions have been the interesting characters in years past,
and obviously Tiffy and Tiffy's great and I'm forgetting and
Ria is great, but it probably just goes to show
how good the roster is. It feels like this year
is more juice than usual on that side of things.

Speaker 7 (01:00:00):
Yeah, we always will go into the rumble. When they
started having two rubbles, like, Okay, the men's rumble hype
is a lot they put a lot more effort into that,
it seemed like. And last year the women's Rumble was
a lot better than the men's rubble. And you know,
not for lack of effort in the men's rumble hype,

(01:00:22):
but it seems always seemed like the women's didn't get
as much hype. This year definitely feels equal. I know,
they're like a ton of big names and the men's
rubble a lot more than we've kind of like seen
the last few years. Yeah, but in terms of hype
and you know, just pushing in the champions. You said,
Ria and Tiffany, there's a lot more juice in the

(01:00:42):
women's division as a whole, and I think that codes
well for now they have the two midi card titles,
so they tell basically equal I don't want to say
equal time, but they feel as important, you know, in
their segments, whether they're shorter or you know, than the
men's segments, but does feel just as important in twenty
twenty five, So the hype going into the women's Rumble

(01:01:05):
and even the men's Rumble, you know, hopefully they can
live up to it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:10):
Yeah, And I didn't even mention Bailey, who won the
Rumble last year. I didn't even mention liv who just
lost the belt like two weeks ago. I didn't even
mention Io who. I've seen a lot of kind of
like smart Mark kind of sympathies for this, a lot
of people picking her, I guess, on like podcasts and
out there on the on wrestling Twitter, So a lot

(01:01:30):
of interesting stuff kind of out there tonight. I think
that I how do I guess, how do you feel
about the short cards for the triple EH shows, these
four or five match shows. Obviously we both grew up,
I mean you grew up even on the like the
the early nineties shows where they would have eighteen matches
on like a card sometimes, where for me, I think

(01:01:53):
like ten to twelve matches in my childhood was like
the bread and butter. Now I can't remember the last
time we had more than five or maybe more than six.
Like I kind of miss I get it. I like
the longer matches. I kind of miss having more people
on the card. Obviously not as big of a problem
for the Rumble, but what do you think in general
about that.

Speaker 7 (01:02:13):
I missed the flow of kind of just going into
the next match, like given the end of a match,
time to breathe, recollect yourself, and then just going right
into the nextmatch. Now we have commercials, bat stage segments,
we might have an n ring segment from somebody that
we're not thinking about. But four matches right now with
a star time at six pm, you think it probably

(01:02:35):
goes to ten pm, So it's about four hours, maybe
a little less than four hours. That's usually the ple
time lines now or time frames, I should say, so,
I do think we're gonna get like quite a few
probably have the superstar promos that might take up a
few minutes on the men's on the women's side of
the Royal Rumble participants, and I always liked those. Those

(01:02:58):
were always great in the early nineties, but they were
you know, quick, you know they so I think now
they have like they just space it out of a
little more and with the commercials and everything. You know,
as long as they can make the four matches makes
sense logically and have that psychology in there, I don't
mind like a shorter match card as long as it

(01:03:21):
moves storylines.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
What am I forgetting you the fourth match obviously the
Cody match, the two out.

Speaker 7 (01:03:26):
Of three falls bag match, so that should be good.
You know, they'll get to get time. I would used
to love the old Royal Rumbles where the tag match
would open the card almost always, and maybe bangers all
the time, like the Rockers were involved in so many
of them too, or express Yeah, like I just loved it. Like,

(01:03:46):
so I wanted that to open the show tonight, but
obviously it's probably gonna be I would say the Women's
Rumble because I think the Men's Rumble the main event.
But you know, it really doesn't matter to me. I
just want to see like good matches and the fact
that you have the two rumbles and then two title matches.
Maybe that's why there's only four. They want to give

(01:04:07):
each match its own thing, and that's what they've done
well recently. But I do understand why some people are like, uh,
you know, includes SmackDown in that as well. You know,
they had a few big matches last night and that's
three hours now, so it's almost like an extension of it.
It's just not in a stadium. But I understand why
people be like, oh, well, get these people in a stadium,

(01:04:29):
get them in front of those people, you know, have
more than four matches. I understand that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
Final question before we get out of here's what's Punk
doing at Mania? Who's Punk facing a Mania today?

Speaker 7 (01:04:42):
I do think they'll probably go in Roman. Whether that's
for the title or not remains to be seen, but yeah,
I mean they're doing a good job of all these
different things, involving everybody that you know. I think, to me,
it's almost like the most recent thing. You know. I
don't think he's gonna make AVN with Seth or Drew
or even seen A. I just don't think that's a

(01:05:04):
thing unless it's for a title. So maybe Roman wins
the title that's still floating out there. Elimination Chambers still
you know March first, so so that that. But I
think Punk and Roman would as of now be that match.

Speaker 3 (01:05:17):
Yeah, I think it's Cody r. Roman, and there's some
rumors that they both want to face them backstage, and
they both think that's the money match. I think Hayman
has sold has sold Roman on that being the money
match for him at Mania. But that's gonna do it.
We have plenty of time to talk about Mania, and
we'll have the results from this rumble to preview that
later on on the Straight Shooters and here on the

(01:05:38):
Tough Cover Radio show. Thanks so much to Nick mccoch
coming on, and well, I think we'll pick we'll be
bringing you on next week. I think we're gonna be
bringing on a bunch of Gambler Gang guys to give
their take on Super Bowl fifty nine. I know picone's
a big fan of those cheeks, so I'll be sure
to bring them on to.

Speaker 7 (01:05:55):
Talk about I gotta do something different than the last one.

Speaker 3 (01:05:59):
There we go, There we go. Thanks, Thanks Sean Bernards
back in the studio. Keep it locked right here to
Fox Sports Gambler for the Villanova pregame with John Janssen
Right here on The gambler.

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
Spreads totals and all the prop that's in between. It's
the gambler