Inside Fantasy Football with Matthew Berry

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
From the King of Sports Books comes the Key Sports
podcast Unleashed, presented by the MGM. Here's your host, Jerry
Ferrara and Olivia Harlan Decker. So December brings back memories

(00:30):
for so many people of finals, like if you can
think back to high school college finals and the final
exams to end the semester, and I kind of think
it's the same in the NFL, like who's failing, who's passing.
We're going to dig into the current picture scenarios, betting, angles, everything.
Jerry Ferrara, do you ever think about these bad memories

(00:51):
of like final exams right before the winter holiday? You
know what? I do remember all that, and I just
I do remember. Of course I couldn't wait for the holidays,
but I couldn't wait for football around the holidays is
the greatest. And the fact that the way these games,
along with college football all line up with the holidays,
like New Year's Eve is going to be insane. Christmas

(01:13):
It's all like it's sandwiched in all the holidays this year,
which I think is nice. I think it takes some
of the edge off of Santa and presents and all.
There's something in there for mommy and daddy. Let's just
say that I like that. This is my first, yeah,
first Christmas as a mom. And I already told Sam,
we're not getting the baby one thing. He's seven months old.
If I threw him like a piece of you know,

(01:34):
a Kleenex, he'd be thrilled. Yeah, he'll like the boxes
of your guys gift like you guys are open stuff,
and he'll just want the box of the wrapping paper.
And like, as an adult, I told Sam, don't get
me anything like take me to a nice dinner, you
know what I mean? That's all. Yeah, what do you
guys do gifts? Or do you just say, like, let's
you know, get that new garage door. We're doing that.
And I think what we're trying to go for is

(01:56):
and this is more of a brief thing. She wants
infrared anna in the house, which I'm like, yeah, that
sounds how are we supposing So this is all in
the spirit of like saving money or let's not go
crazy for Christmas. Let's go get an infrared spot up.
I don't know how to build Oh yeah, no, I
don't think you want to build that. That's I'm kind
of excited though. The three year old Jacob wants a skateboard.
I'm taking back the fancy dinner. Now just go infrared, Sanna.

(02:19):
I mean she's She's also telling me like, you should
reach out to them on Instagram. I'm like, oh, I
know where that what that means? You know she's right,
He's right. I'm the one the west of the word.
Oh my three year old. This is I found this excited.
He wants a skateboard. I don't know how he even
knows where the skateboard is. I'm I haven't been on
a skateboard since I was sixteen. He really wants a skateboard,

(02:40):
So I guess I have a I have a skater kid.
I didn't even know recipe for a broken arms. Look
at ready for that. We have a big show to day,
jaire As. We welcome in NBC's Matthew Berry, fantasy football guru.
He made the jump from ESPN to NBC after fifteen
years over at ESPN. That happened this offseason, so we'll
get his take on the playoff picture, the career change.

(03:02):
I find that stuff really interesting, and the expansion of
legal sports betting and fantasy football everything. I can't wait
to talk to Matthew Berry. But let's take a look
at the playoff picture. I'm curious what you're gonna think
now is we're looking at updated odds starting with the
a f C. The Chargers now have the seventh seed
after a big win over Miami. It kind of quieted
people comparing Justin Herbert into a tongue of Valoa. I

(03:25):
thought that was kind of a bad comparison anyways, to
be honest, like, I think Herbert has the brighter future,
longer career ahead of them. Kind of a tangent, but
they owned the current typebreaker against the Jets. Bengals and
Ravens are both nine and four, but look like two teams.
They look like they're headed in the opposite direction. Now
Ravens might be on their third quarterback this weekend. But

(03:46):
what do you think about the a f C for
teams who are on the cost Well, I was certainly
a little off. I was worried about the Charges when
we talked about it a few weeks ago because of
their schedule and their health. Although they seem to be
getting healthier. There's talk of Bosa, which that would be
huge for them. You know, Herbert with the lead throwing
like forty three passes was was crazy. Look, I'm with you,

(04:07):
there's not I don't see the debate of who's better.
I think both quarterbacks are very very good. I think
Herbert has the chance to be one of the best.
And to A, who has the stats to back up
all the hype that he's gotten, we are really gonna
learn a lot. Because I heard the rumors that they
had like heaters on because it was like fifty five
degrees in l A. So the Dolphins that, well, they're

(04:27):
going to Buffalo this Saturday at eight o'clock at night,
and that is gonna be a real like. If to
A plays with Miami wins or just even loses, but
to if it's like a duel too, I think well,
or I think everyone could shut up about two. Is
he good? Is he not? That being said, even if
he has a tough game, I would not say all right,
we're all out on to I just certainly would say

(04:49):
it might be really hard for you in that division,
being that you should be in the a f C South.
Let's be honest, you should be in the South. You
should not be in the NFC East. You are on
the East Coast. You should be in the South. It's
it's a it's a disadvantage for them in my opinion.
When it comes to December. Yeah, yeah, that's not a
good sign when you've got the heaters on the side
and fifty degrees. Come on. So Ravens are minus one

(05:12):
when the n f C North Bengals plus one ten.
The Bengals are the highest ticket percentage and handle over
at bet MGM, so people are still loving the Bengals. Okay,
let's look at NFC. Vikings will win the North, Eagles
will probably win the East. The Niners should win the West.
The South is a ship show. Beyond the Cowboys. The
last two spots I think are up for grabs. So

(05:32):
who do you think it's those last two spots? Giants, Commanders.
Well we're gonna get that. I mean that game, which
we know is coming Sunday night. So for me, this
Sunday nights big. I hate to say that the Giants
took the week off against the Eagles. They didn't. The
Eagles are just significantly better. The Giants do not have
the firepower to go into battle, but they could still

(05:52):
kind of control their own destiny if they beat the Commanders.
I do like the Giants to do that, even though
it's on the road. What gets me about this whole
wild card situation is I actually think of the Giants
and the Commanders and a team like the Panthers. I
think the Panthers are the best of all three. And
yeah they have just been so snake bit, but they
really are. Like the DJ Moore helmet thing could actually

(06:15):
be the reason why the Panthers don't get it's as
simple as that. That might be the thing that screwed
them out of the playoffs. But my money would be
on the Giants still right now. But of course I
just I just like where they're where they're at. But
this game is gonna tell us everything. This is a
playoff game on Sunday. We're getting our first, our first
real playoff game this Sunday. I know, we kind of
thought this last weekend was going to be like our

(06:36):
playoff preview. The Panthers look like the only ones who
want to win it. Like, yeah, they're physical, they're the
defense is good, the running backs are good. Quick thing
on Heineke. I'm I don't know if our listeners no this,
I don't know if you know this. I found this
to be interesting as a sneaker head. This goes back
to last year with Heineke. He after he slays a team,

(06:59):
goes out and buys a pair of Jordan's that are
the same color way as the team he just beat.
So I thought that that's something I would do if
I was an NFL corp, Like if you beat the Vikings,
you're coming home with some like bel Air Jordan's, you know,
so I would completely or actually grape fives would be
maybe something like that. I just thought that was cool.
Be Heiniki. I don't want to like him, but that

(07:20):
makes me like him. Oh, I like him. I'm all on.
And remember last last year this got more hyped the story.
But we should remind our listeners and remind you if
you forgot that he was sleeping on his sister's couch
before he got picked up. Like he's a what we
call rags richest story as far as NFL players go,
I mean pretty good. So I'm always cheering him on.
I like that he's got a good head on his shoulders.

(07:40):
And now I love I love his Jordan's story. That's
pretty good. I love a sleeping on the couch story.
Jeremy Lynne was my favorite one when he was sleeping
on Landry Yield's couch. But if I slept on the
couch at forty three years old, I could not I
could not play NFL quarterback the next day. Let's just
say that. No, And I don't don't think anyone's asking.
You don't want me off the couch? Yeah, I know.

(08:01):
Commanders can be dangerous with him, though they've got playmakers.
I like scary Terry McLaurin. They're running the ball well,
good defense. He can be a gunslinger when he needs to.
So I'm watching the Commanders pretty closely. What about NFL
wind totals? Did you? Did you do any of that
this offseason? I did, in addition to the Seahawks for
the division which we know about. It did take the
Seahawks over, which I think was a five and a

(08:23):
half at the time. I did take the Giants over,
which I think they've already hit or they need one
more win to hit. I definitely had a loss in there.
I think I definitely took I think that two Bears
over with Stupid, which was a loss. But there's been
a lot of variants, to say the least, in these
over other winds. I remember you kind of hyping up
the Bears a little bit. I mean, see how you
were hyping up the Texans a little bit. Listen, I

(08:45):
hyped up the Texans to upset to be have one
of the biggest upset wins of the year, which almost
did this past weekend. Doesn't It didn't feel like they
like called down to love E. Smith when they were
on ninth that for first and from the one after
that interception, and then they just ran through four the
worst places I've seen for the Cowboys to stop them.

(09:06):
It's like there's draft picks on the line here, love
you, you you don't want to win this one. I know
they don't, and you've got to look at that. You've
got to know that's in the back of their minds.
Not so much a head coach, though, I always think
this about players to players cannot tank, you know what
I mean? You can in the NFL. It's like not trying.
I feel like you're more likely to get hurt that way.

(09:26):
And let's be real, at the end of the day,
as an athlete, as a player, you're considering your future
before you are. The franchises, so like you want to
put up your stats. Do you want to provide for
your family, you want to sign a good contract in
the off season. You kind of don't care about their
draft picks, you know, Yeah, I wouldn't want to. I
would have to really have a long term contract with
t I don't even know. Yeah, I don't think. I

(09:48):
just don't think athletes players think in that way. Like, hey,
if we lose these two, we've got a great draft pick.
There's so much pride on the line and also their
own safety. But also if you're the Texans, you gotta
just love, love, love the Browns losing and the Gen
Watson not looking good, because even if you do win
a game, that pick just gets better and better by
the week, oh, by the by the second. Yeah, and

(10:10):
it feels good, just like get him out of here
and let's watch him lose. So yeah, we keep mentioning
it was a weird weekend, and we talked before we
started recording it was kind of a sad weekend, a
sad week with the passing of Mike Leach. I cannot
believe I'm saying that that's as someone who is so
in love with college football and so ingrained in college football,
that one feels like a major loss in the world

(10:33):
of college football. That's tough. I was following that story
because the first people thought he passed and they're saying, no,
we didn't. But it's just awful. That's I've been watching
some highlights of his Uh, it's the worst part of
it all. It's really what you start to say, like,
we love sports, sports are the best, but there's just
a family element to this and a human element that

(10:54):
sometimes it's a good it's just a good reminder to
all of us. So, yeah, it was definitely a tough
week with Mike Lee and then also obviously everything going
on to the World Cup with Grant Walls, one of
the you know, most prestigious he is the soccer football journalist,
and then I know another journalist passed away to It's
so coming off those tragedies, then the Mike Leach tragedy,

(11:15):
it just was a tough week in sports. So going
into this holidays, let's let's enjoy the football and let's
do all that, but let's also give our family a hug. Yeah,
that's well said. It's funny. Just it's people at the
end of the day, you know what I mean. As
we cover these sports, it's it's people, it's families, it's
it's everything. And that's the weird part. And Jerry, I
know you're kind of new to being a sports journalist.

(11:38):
We can call you now. I think officially you do
have to cover a lot of ugly things, a lot
of sad things, and yeah, this week was kind of
one of those. But on a positive note, a great
story to come out of this weekend was Baker Mayfield.
And I don't know if this will be sustained. A
lot of people saying that final drive ninety yards that
he led the Rams on was they were in press coverage.

(11:58):
It was kind of a gimme. They were in prevent defense.
Like there are a lot of people who are like, oh,
it wasn't that hard. But you've got to admit a
guy who landed on a Tuesday and played on a Thursday.
I think he wore a game jersey before he wore
a practice jersey and pulling that off for a career
that's been kind of riddled with injuries and haters and
some drama and everything, I was just really happy for

(12:21):
Baker Mayfield in that moment. I was too, And look,
he's not the first player to leave the Cleveland Browns
and end up having success with the l A Rams,
Odell Beckham, we're talking about you. Yeah, I just it's
great to see people are gonna try to poke holes
in it. I do think the Rams are in a
pretty precarious situation without having their draft picks, with all

(12:44):
the payroll that they have, Like this could be a
good way too, if it is a blow up situation,
soften the blow or even the retool because Stafford, who
I love, I don't know, are you secure on how
much longer Stafford plays for and what he has left?
Not man even saying that. I think he doesn't have
anything left. It's just hard to tell because the guy's
hurt and the guy's taking a lot of hits. So

(13:05):
to take a flyer and bring Baker in for whatever.
Michael Lombardi told us it was like one point one
million at that point for the Rams money. He's not
an object. Yeah, that's chump change. You know, he's still young,
he's a number one overall pick. I think it was
a great move by them to kick to kick the
tires there, and who knows, that could be their way
of rebooting without having you know, not gonna be able

(13:26):
to draft the quarterback in the first round this year,
so that might be a way to a sneaky way
to do it. Yeah, so that was a feel good story.
Later in the show, you know, we introduced the Audible
of the Week that's coming up. His postgame comments I
thought were a lot of funds that's gonna be are
Audible of the Week coming up. I have a question
for you, Jerry, sticking with New York, go into New
York the Bills. I feel like they're not as scary

(13:48):
as we thought they were a preseason von Miller is
now out the rest of the season. If they win
out and they have home field advantage, I think that's huge.
But I mean, I don't think they want to see
a team like the Jets again, even I feel if
they're looking kind of mortal, I think that's correct. I
will say I love to underestimate the Jets. No one
loves to underestimate the Jets more than I do. You

(14:10):
just can't do it in a weird way. If you
look at that win for the Bills, which normally have
Bills Jets game that ended that way, said, yeah, the
Bills might have been off. I don't. I think the Jets.
To beat the Jets, you almost have to kill them,
and they almost killed Mike White. Mike White almost died
the field he took. Yeah, he took two or three
of the biggest legal, no helmet to helmet hits that

(14:32):
I think I've seen a quarterback take in a long time,
and he still kept coming. Quinnin Williams even went down
and they were still fighting. I hate to give the
Jets all this credit, but I do. Yeah, you definitely
don't want to see the Jets again. But I also
think that I think the Bills will be okay in
home field for them. I just think that's huge in
case you do see a Dolphins or Chargers or the

(14:54):
Chiefs a high powered Although I don't think my Hoomes
cares where he plays, I think home field is probably
most important to them out of the teams that could
still get it because of weather, because of weather, and
just yeah, I just think that they are built for
for that exact type of game. And we're gonna learn
a lot by the Bills Dolphins this week and to
see a team who maybe not who knows if they're

(15:14):
built for that. So I think it could help the
Bills the most. I guess. I just feel like other
teams are hitting their stride now, and like when I
mentioned the Finals, analogy like this is kind of where
you have to be at your best this time of year,
and I feel like the Bills aren't at their best
right now, where other teams are streaking getting their act together.
A team like the Bengals comes to mind, you know
what I mean, Like where you're kind of like, oh,
they're better than we thought they were. One team that's

(15:37):
really getting their act together at the right time. The
Lions one for the fifth time in the past six weeks,
meeting the NFC North leading Vikings. They were one and
a half point favorite at home. They covered, winning by eleven,
and it was the most bet game of the weekend.
Did you put money on this one? I did so.
I I had a parlay in the teaser. I've been
hitting teasers all year long, folks, and I listen. I

(15:59):
know a lot of people have a lot of feelings
about teasers. If you believe in them that much, throw
them into parlay. Well. I had a parlay that I
went oh for three. I lost all three picks of
my money line parlay, but my teaser. I needed every
single one of those ten points. I actually pushed the
Vikings up to twelve or twelve and a half and

(16:19):
covered basically by that one point because the Lions in
the fourth quarter just destroy them. That was a close
game going into the fourth quarter and they just put
some separation. It is really impressive. What's going on with
the Lions and Olivia. I want to ask you this
because I got into a debate with Twitter, mainly one
person on Twitter who I thought had a terrible take,

(16:39):
and I called him out based off an Ian Rapp
Report article saying how what a mistake it would be
for the Lions to stick with Goff and not draft
a quarterback with one of their two top fifteen picks
that they'll have. Okay, before and I didn't see your tweet,
so before you tell me your take on it, I
already have a take on this. And I think Jared

(17:00):
Goff right now is playing this game so well. And
I don't mean the game football, I mean the contract game.
I feel like he's in a great position to stick
around and earn some money. Now. I think Detroit would
be foolish to waste one of their draft picks right
now for a quarterback who right now they've got a
quarterback is getting it done. Listen, you could agree, no, no, no,

(17:22):
that is my perspective. I would maybe feel differently if
that Rams pick was going to be number one, then
I would maybe say, take a long, hard look if
there's a quarterback you love or number two. I don't
think it's gonna fall there. The Rams will probably be
somewhere between four and six. The Lions pick is getting better,
worse and worse because they're winning. I think Goff has
had a great season. I think that offense has played amazing. Yes,

(17:46):
you could say, well, maybe it's the emergence of amand
Ross st Brown. He hasn't even had DeAndre Swift for
most of the season. Jamal Williams is the best goal
line running back probably in football. I think that it
got off to a rough start. I think his last
ten games he's been task. He's top ten in yards,
he's top ten in touchdowns, that number and it's just
getting better and better. And they're on a windstreet. So

(18:07):
if you have say fourth or fifth overall, and then
say overall, I'm not saying you're building around golf, but
would it hurt you to take to add another defensive
player and maybe another wide that or another offensive lineman
to go with what you already have. I think that
puts you squarely in control of the NFC North. No

(18:28):
disrespect to your packers, no disrespect to the Vikings, who
could easily be like I don't even know, like six
and six. So I'm in on golf. I'm in. I
am too, And this offense is clicking. Like if you
were to ask us in August, if in December we
are saying how good the Lions offense is looking, I
would think we were tripping mushrooms in Joshua Tree, like

(18:50):
we did an entraage that we're going to talk about later,
by the way, but also a key piece of this
offense that's emerging. And I personally am really excited about
this kid. He's wide receiver j Amison Williams from Alabama.
His first NFL catch went for a forty one yard
touchdown reception. I interviewed him last year after the SEC Championship,
and remember he just like lit up, like he was

(19:10):
a really likable guy, really excited about his future and
about Bama and all this. He tours a c L
a couple of weeks after that in the National Championship,
which was actually a huge, huge reason why Alabama lost
to Georgia that night. So I've kind of been following
his career and it's really great to see that they
were patient with his rehab and now he's inserted again
right time, right time of the year, and he's he's

(19:32):
doing well. So I'm excited to see that. Yeah, I
never thought i'd be lobbying for Jakoff, I know, to
keep his g I just think the guys earned it. Oh,
that's the last part of the debate. Someone this guy said,
I have golf is like twenty one to thirty, like
basically in the bottom eight of quarterbacks. I'm like, wait
a second, you could name twenty one quarterbacks in the

(19:55):
NFL right now, not three years ago. Now that are
better then God, I'm not saying that means Goff is
the guy to lead you to a Super Bowl or
base that decision. Who, by the way, he has played
in the Super Bowl. Say what you want. I have
a hard time finding like ten quarterbacks better. Seriously, I
mean Geno Smith, Yeah you can say that three weeks ago.
Do you say that for the last two weeks. Maybe

(20:16):
not so. I I didn't really find twenty one quarterbacks
better than Jarreed Goff. Maybe someone else can, Jerry. Listen
to this stat I heard today, there have been fifty
four different starting quarterbacks in the NFL this season. I
think about that thirty two teams. Let's say each one
of them started to that be sixty four. So we're
only ten fewer than if every NFL team started two

(20:38):
different quarterbacks. This sense like that's wild. And think of
the names we talked about, Mike White, Brock Purty, Baker
Mayfield in l A. Donald's back, Darnald yeah, Sam Elinger, Yeah,
the Sam Ellinger Project, I remember that. Who else I'm
missing another one? Well, you got Mike White. Even the

(21:00):
even starting black will play two games. It's been crazy.
This is a weird year. And I think this is
a huge reason why I love this league so much.
Is it's really hard to predict. And I know we
sit around all summer and we talked about futures and
all this, but this is the part that's so fun
to cover. It's it's better. You know, I love Real Housewives,

(21:21):
I love reality TV. This is that. I'll tell you
what though, it's made for a lot of fun bets,
so all these quarterbacks, it's made for a lot of
fun bets. And I think it's also made a lot
of fun for the book like betting. Yeah, I think
it's the times for both sides. I think both sides
have had a lot of fun and have had a
lot of sadness at times too. Yeah, but I think

(21:42):
our employer are cashing those checks with a big smile
on their face. So we have to elaborate a little
bit on Brock pretty since I brought him up. So
the forty Niners rolled over Tom Brady and the Bucks
who were basically missing their whole defense and everyone including myself.
So the brock Purty really just had to be a
game manage your and look, he did so much more

(22:02):
than that. He was actually pretty great. I'm the millionth
person to make that dad joke, but I had to
get it in. He threw for two touchdowns and ran
for one in the first half alone of his first
career start, and he's just the second quarterback to ever
do that. And obviously Deebo Samuel is going to be
out for some time with an ankle injury, where we
should really be glad it's not a knee injury. He'd

(22:25):
be out for the rest of the season with that.
But how do you make of the of the forty niners.
I feel like I've been sitting here all season lobbying, like,
don't count them out. They're gonna be great, They're gonna
get healthy. And that was before I knew Garoppolo was out.
I have been rooting against them because of my Seahawks
play and also thinking of our own bet MGM Zone
Peter Andrew and just showing up on the first episode

(22:46):
of this show this year where in his forty nine jersey,
I'm I got now I got an enemy. That being said,
think about the storyline you talked about quarterbacks. I made
that bet on the Seahawks mainly based off of Trey Lance.
I don't know if Trey Lance where have reached the
level to where Brock Purty already seems to be at.
I mean, there's such different types of quarterbacks, but I'm
feeling you with Brock Party. I think there's something there,

(23:11):
and uh, I think it's going to make the whole
situation crazy. What happens at the Knight We're talking about
what happens at the Niners when the Super Bowl with Garoppolo,
what happens at the Niners when the Super Bowl with Purty.
We'd have to call up Jeff Perlman and tell him
to start doing his seven interviews to get ready for
that book, because that would be a book, and then
you make it a movie. Find me some role in
it so I can retire nicely. But that would be

(23:32):
a story for the ages. Yeah, interesting, like Kurt Warner.
Kurt Warner, he's a great story. Obviously that became a
movie Undrafted, But yeah, it would be a great story.
And obviously there's already another great story of an undrafted
Now Brock Purdy was Mr. Irrelevant, so he was technically
drafted barely and Kurt Warner undrafted one Super Bowls Hall

(23:54):
of Famer. You know, a story like that is so rare,
and that became a movie. So Jerry, I'm just saying,
you jump all over this. It brought pretty to something
amazing here. I want you to get the rights? What
do you call it? Not the rights? What do you
guys call it? The right? Life rights? No, you're on it.
You're on it, that's correct. Look at you, Look at you.
I'm trying to learn something from you. Oh my god.
So yeah, a lot a lot going on. We gotta

(24:16):
be we're honest on this show. It wasn't like the
most fun week in sports, so definitely not. It was not,
but we we met. I mean I hit a teaser,
so I found outside of that. Yeah, so for a
little bit of fun, let's get to our audible the
week it's the King of l A Baker making. I mean,

(24:37):
I had Sean Liam and Zach Robinson helped me study
for since I landed. Um. I didn't think it was
gonna play all like this, but I am sure happy
we covered the two minute operation. My goodness. Originally I
was angry about having to go through many, so many
coaching changes and learned so many of your things. But
that for sure help right there. Just learning protections first
and then just talking with those guys on offense about

(24:58):
the you know, the concepts that I like and luckily
have a run a lot of them. Um, and they
put some good plays out there and put me in
a good position to win. What time is it right now? Seriously,
he's not on the time zone on Tuesday. It's been over.
Do you know you were gonna be in in Los Angeles.

(25:18):
As soon as Carolina let you go? Was this one
of the potential teams that said, do you know what,
that's probably a good spot for me. I took a gamble,
I booked the flight. Uh before the waiver whire I
went through. Okay, I love it. Let's bring in our guest.

(25:49):
He turned his fantasy into a reality by becoming the
face of fantasy sports. He's a New York Times bestselling
author and to go to source for fantasy advice to
some of the biggest names in the world, some of
the biggest stars from NBC Sports. Matthew Berry is here. Matthew,
thanks for joining us in your studio at that beautiful background.
Thank you, Olivia, so my pleasure to be here. Guys,

(26:09):
how are you? We're doing good. We've been laughing at
some of Dairy's fantasy football this weekend and the first
of all, Matthew, how many leagues are you in like
for fun? Well, they're all for fun, They're a all
for fun and they're all serious. Is because I have
to like I'm not allowed to not win one, right,
you know what I mean? Like I get when I
don't win, and you know it happens obviously I get

(26:30):
unbelievable amounts of grief. Yeah, I always joke about this.
Number of years ago, we decided to do a friends
and family league. So like it's my me and my
wife and my kids and like their friends and their
friends parents, and like, you know, it's a neighborhood league, right,
and it's just friends and families. So each adult had
a kid that they were paired with, and the and
the kids drafted. You know, we're like we just handed

(26:51):
them sheets and okay, fine. So I don't know. We're
like four or five weeks in and you know, our
our team's fine. It's like middle of the pack or whatever.
And my at the time, my like eight year old goes, well,
what are we in first place? I'm like, no, no,
you know, we're like in fourth. We're fine, And it goes, well,
we're gonna win, right, I mean, I have you as
my coach. Now I'm like, great, Now, I gotta now

(27:12):
I gonna win. You know, Now I gotta brush a
bunch of ten year old because you know, my kids
expecting us to win because I'm his dad, and we've
got the you know, we got the word of this league.
So yeah, I'm in sixteen leagues, Olivia to answer, I
get you having to win too, because that's like your
kids looking at you. You're Superman. You're like, wait a minute,
Superman doesn't fly I don't understand what you have to

(27:35):
fly at. Hopefully you picked up someone that none of
the little kids know about. I have to ask you
because I've talked a lot about fantasy on the show
and my feelings. You know when you have talked before
I go back to scoring fantasy with a pencil in
the USA today, I'll say this for you. Jerry and
we I think we've talked about this last time we
did one of these together. But there's a real, real thing, Olivia, Like,

(27:55):
I remember the way back in the day of fantasy
sports and when before it was, when it was still
considered dirty, when it's still very niche. We were still
trying to get it into the main stream. We would
like any time we heard of somebody, you know, a
celebrity or anything like that that would talk about fantasy
were like, oh yeah, we hung onto it. And literally
like the two the first two celebrities I ever remember

(28:16):
hearing playing fantasy football were the late Great meat Loaf
and Jerry and I was just like, wow, wait Turtle
from Entourage places you know, and like, yeah, thousand percent,
and so, I mean, Jerry was absolutely one of the
very first celebrities to talk openly about Hey, yeah, I
play fantasy football. I enjoy it. It's one of my hobbies.
So we always appreciate him carrying the flag early. I

(28:38):
saw all the guys in Entourage too. They would always
ask what I'm obsessing about, and I think Connelly Kevic Conney.
I finally won him over. I know you've spoken with
him a lot too. He's now and he's almost more
in than me. I've scaled back just because I have
two young kids now and Olivia has a young son.
I couldn't balance the sports betting now with all of it.
So I'm in three leagues, one of which still has

(28:59):
a kicker, Matt, and I'm beside myself that I've a law.
I'm not going to make the playoffs in this league,
and a lot of this because I add a kicker
who couldn't make an extra point and that should be
illegal now, right, shouldn't kickers officially be illegal? And fantasy
sports altogether like just not even an option band kickers.
I'm all in. You gotta play super flex. It's the
it's the best way to play. I am if it

(29:20):
makes you feel better, Jerry, I think in the of
the sixteen teams, I'm sixteen leagues I'm in. I want
to say kickers. We've used kickers, and I want to
say like four or five of them, like so I've
been able to fully get rid of them in any
of the leagues I planed, Like the league that I
played with all my college buddies. I've been in this
league for like thirty years, and it's just like the
commissioner is like kind of an old school guy, who

(29:42):
doesn't you know, like this is how we've always played,
And I'm like, but we play with defenses and kickers
and I literally needed I'm third and in that league,
I'm third and total points, but I've had some bad
scheduling luck and I literally need four points from nick
Folk last night to get into the playoffs and like
there's nothing and we ended up getting it, obviously, and
so I'm in it. I co owned the team with
my college roommate, and it's like a way that we

(30:04):
we stay in touch over the years. But it was like,
you know, there's nothing worse than sweating stupid Nick Folk
to make a fifty yard and you're like, you know,
like anyway, so yeah, band pickers, I'm with you, Jerry,
there's nothing And that's a tough one. That's a bad
beat when you when you're not making the playoffs because
of a missteptic point. So a lot of Jerry's leagues
are filled with celebrities. He's been very humble here and

(30:25):
I've tried to get him a name drop a little
bit of who's in them. But the only one I
know really Jerry c J McCollum that you've said, c J. Mccollins,
and one I'm still recovering from my loss to Bobby Flay.
I even asked Bobby Flay because he he trashed talking me.
I asked him he's talking to Matthew Berry. I had
to ask because he had a couple of really slick moves.
I'm like, are you talking to Matthew Berry? Bro? Are
you talking to Bobby Flay? Him and I have emailed

(30:48):
once or twice, but not a lot. I mean, he's
a good no but he's a good fantasy player. Because
I'm back when I was at ESPN, we did a
couple of like celebrity leagues with him, and sometimes when
you do the celebrity leagues, sometimes the celebs know what
they're doing, and sometimes he sort of gott to help
him out to kind of draft form behind the scenes,
and Bobby was like, no, no, I'm good, you know
what I mean, And and he drafted a really good team.
So Bobby's are a really good player. He's a really

(31:09):
good player. So yeah, it is it's fantasy or cooking.
It's hard to beat Bobby Flay. What about any US president.
I've never been in a league with the US President.
I did have the we had the Second Gentleman. It's
weird to sort of say that, but that's the second Gentleman.
So Vice President Harris's husband, Doug em Hoff, is a
big fantasy player, and he actually was on my podcast,

(31:31):
the Fantasy Football Happy Hour, and he's in a he's
been in like a thirty year league with all of
his old law school buddies, and so that was cool.
They were like, you know, we you know, it's like
it's not often that you get a call from the
White House, Like you're like, you know, right, and um
they're like no, like you know, the the second gentleman
wants to talk about fantasy football and would love becoming

(31:52):
your home. Like, you know, anyone that's in the white
House is more than welcome with my who's the real
running back in San Francisco? I can imagine what those
questions are, like what it is. It's like those weird things.
I literally joke for them. I'm just like catch you
like you get to you know, your wife gets you know,
the cop level security clearance every single day. Can't you
just like say, like listen, who's them who's getting the

(32:15):
targets in San Francisco this week? You know, can't you
kind of flip that in there like they know everything?
You know? And he didn't want to. He didn't want
to do that. He's, you know, he's playing it above board.
But uh but yeah, that was that was fun. So
certainly that's that's the closest I've got into a white
House fantasy interact. So I've done a little bit of
a three sixty. And I don't know if you've actually

(32:35):
spun because I obviously listened to all your stuff. I
don't know if you've ever spoken about this. I know
you have. I might have even heard you on Simmons
maybe talk about it. But obviously when I first started playing,
I was in like total points leagues, and then I
was really young and everyone started doing head to head,
so we transitioned to that, and it's been head to
head for eternity. But I am no longer downward head

(32:56):
to head because in one of these leagues too, I
think I have the second most points and I'm in
ninth place, so I'm not going to get in. And
also too, when you get to this point in the year,
guys who are out who forget to set their lineups
and stuff like that and and lose a game that
if they would have just started one person on the
bench they would have won. I feel like with overall points,
that doesn't happen as much, not nearly as fun maybe,
but maybe the more accurate portrayal of who the best

(33:19):
team is. Yeah, it's certainly a more accurate portrayal the
way I really enjoy playing and I played about you know,
like I want to say, like I got four, four
or five of the leagues that I'm in this year,
we do it this way, and so it took me forever.
I finally got ESPN to do this of course, and
then I leave. But so you can play this on ESPN,
and you can play this on like my Fantasy league
in some other ways, but where you in essence play

(33:40):
it's victory points. Some people call it the Howard Stern
rule because it's a way they I used to be
in a league with a bunch of the guys in
the Howard Stern Show, and so the first time I
ever heard this rule was through that league, so some
people called the Howard Stern rule. But in essence, the
rule is is that, say it's a ten team league,
you play your matchup, you play ahead to head matchup,
which is always fun Jerry, and so you get that

(34:00):
you know, interaction. So obviously whoever wins, the five teams
that win those head to head matches get one win,
but the five highest scoring teams in the league also
get a win. So in essence, every single week you
either go two and oh one and one or oh
and two and so that way, if you're you're the
third highest scoring team in the league that week, but
you play the first place team and you lose, at

(34:22):
least now you go one and one for the week.
And so that's sort of the I really enjoy that
because it's sort of the best of both worlds. It
rewards the teams that score a lot of points, but
also allows you the head to head matchup piece of
which is you know, the fun part of fantasy football
that you know, talking trash and going head to head
and knowing that one matchup that you've got to beat.
You know. So you mentioned leaving ESPN for NBC, and

(34:45):
I think it's actually a part of a bigger conversation
about the landscape of which networks cover sports. And we've
in fantasy football, we've in betting. We're seeing this change
as networks are catching up. So when you left ESPN
after fifteen years FRIENDBC, you've said that some of that
played into your decision. So what did tip the scale
and NBC's favor for their plans for you. It's a

(35:08):
little out of order in essence. Basically, I knew my
deal was coming up at ESPN, and so, you know,
we we were talking about an extension, you know, and
I had a great run there and still a lot
of friends still at the company, and uh, you know,
they said to me, I have this side business I have,
you know, it's a it's a real business. Now Fantasy Life,
the Fantasy Life newsletter and fantasy Life dot Com worked

(35:31):
a seven full time employees. You know, we're gonna do
seven figures and revenue this year. We're profitable. It's you know,
it's a it's a real business. And by the way,
for anyone that's a fantasy player, highly recommend checking out
fantasy Life dot com and subscribe to the newsletters. Add
percent free. We don't ask you, We never ask you
for a time, but a lot of tools on fantasy
life dot com for both betting and fantasy leak sink

(35:51):
and waiver wire assistance, and it's just a great site.
They do a great job with it. And so anyway,
ESPN said to me simply, hey, we want to assign
you to a three year extension, but we want you
to focus just on ESPN. We don't want you're gonna
have to give up this thing that you've had a
carve out for in your previous contract. And I love
it and I didn't want to give that up. And
so as we were having those conversations, you know, we

(36:14):
started talking to other people, and um, you know there
was hey, you know, my agents were like, hey, Matthew
might be available. And so we sort of gauged the
interest of the community, and I was very flattered that
there are a lot of companies out there that said,
like Matthews ever free, we'd be really interested in sitting
down and talking to him. So anyway, ultimately, ESPN and
I just started to you know, we decided to part friends,

(36:34):
and I decided to leave ESPN. And I was incredibly
flattered and overwhelmed by the reaction that you know, that
that was online. You know, as I I said to
my wife, I said, it's really awesome to be trending
on Twitter and not be dead or cancer, you know, right,
you know, like you know, and so um, so that
was that was really cool, really cool moment for me.

(36:55):
And so anyway, in terms of NBC, so we you know,
we we started taking meetings, and by we, I mean,
you know, I have agents, and so we started taking
meetings with all the people that had said like, yeah,
if he's a free agent, we'd be really interested. And
so we're like, hey, I'm I'm a free agent now,
and you know, it's sort of interesting. I uh, Olivia,
I sort of made this joke before where it's like,
you know, as you're going and taking these meetings. It's
a little bit like you know, dating as a single parent.

(37:17):
You're like, hey, listen, I know, I know you'll like me,
but like I also got this kid, you know. And
I was just like, listen, you know, fantasy life comes
with me. I'm not I'm not doing anything without fantasy life.
And NBC. NBC just came over the top and just
such a massive way. NBC came to me and they said, look,
we love you. We'd love you to come over here
and really help us out in this space. We know

(37:38):
how important betting and fantasy is and it's something we
want to, you know, really dive into even more in
a bigger way. And we think with you, we can
do that. And so what we'd like to do is
we'd like you to come over here. We want you
to be a part of Football Night in America. You know,
So the pre game to Sunday Night Football, the biggest
show in television. It's literally the it's the second highest
rated show on television, not the second highest rated sports show.

(37:59):
It's the second stranded show in television. The only thing
higher rated than that is the actual football game. And
so you know, for me, it's you know, it was.
It's the iconic pregame show, and that was always a
big part of of me. And I'll talk about this
in a second, but I it was important for me
as I always trying to sort of push the ball
forward for fantasy football is throughout my career to be
a part of NFL program. That was a big part

(38:21):
of me and not just like sort of some sort
of off to some side set on the shoulder, like
you know where you're just like forty five seconds because
whatever some sponsor started, you know, sponsor to start sitting
you know thing, and I'm doing, like, you know, just
be a truly integrated member of the cast of a
pregame show. And so NBC said, we'll put on Football

(38:41):
Night in America. We're gonna give you a daily show
on on Peacock that will be a podcast of you know,
with your name on it. We'll do a Sunday show
on Peacock and CNBC as well. We'll put you on
Football Night in America. And as for Fantasy Life, like,
we're totally comfortable that Chris Collinsworth owns Pro Football Focus,
Mike Floria owns Pro Football Talk, Jim Kramer owns his

(39:01):
Investment Club. So we've proven that we are. And I
talked to some of those guys saying, what's your experience
been with NBC, and they're like, it's been great. They're
incredibly supportive on my side business, and you know, they
want me to accomplish what they need me to accomplish
for NBC. As long as I take care of that,
like they're good, and that's been the case here. They're like, yeah,
we're gonna need you to do X, Y and Z
for us here at NBC. And as long as you

(39:23):
do that, not only can you have Fantasy Life and
promote it and contribute to it, but you know, if
we can figure out a way for it to be
uh a mutually beneficial relationship between Fantasy Life and NBC Universal,
we'll you know, won't promote it, will support it. And
so we're having those conversations now which have been great
and productive. And I mean it's a I say this
with no disrespect to my former home, but it is
a dream come true to be here, to be an

(39:44):
NBC there. They have every single thing they've promised me,
they have delivered on and over delivered. It's been it's
been awesome. It's just been it's been great, and so like,
let me just take it full circle back to your
question what put them over the top? It was just that.
I mean they at the highest levels of the company.
They you know, they took me up to dinner and
they recruited me, and they're like, we're gonna will pay

(40:06):
you a nice salary, will like you have Fantasy life,
will put you on football night in America. I mean,
you know, it's like where do I sign? Where do
I sign? Yeah, it's great. Off of all that, well,
I find so fascinated to is uh trying to relate
to that. I've been acting for a long time, but
I get I got like the opportunity to being a
Clint east With movie, and I was significantly more nervous

(40:26):
than I ever was before, to a point where I'm like,
can I do I even know how to do this?
What is Matthew Berry feeling like moments before he's about
to be on, as you said, the second biggest TV
show in the country. Jerry, that's a great question. It's
exactly the same thing that you felt like when you
were on the set of that The first time you
know you're on set and there's Clint, you know, like

(40:46):
it's the same thing. I'm just like. And the other
thing is my first time was we made the announcement
and literally hours later, I was on the field for
the preseason game, the very first game of the of
the year, the Hall of Fame game between the Raigners
and the Jaguars, and so not, don't is it right?
It's football night in America? But I also know, like
it's the first preseason game, it's the first game of
the year, so there can be a huge audience anyway.

(41:07):
And then then you're on the field and you're at
the Hall of Fame, right, and so like, you know,
I'm standing there on the field and like whatever, there's
you know Wherevor Lawrence walks by, and then you know,
I see Davante Adams, you know, screwing around with Derek Carr,
and you're like, and then you know it's like Mike
Dreko walks, Hey Mike, you know, hey, Matthew, welcome team.
You know, Chris Consworth, like you know, these guys that
I've watched for years and years and years, and I

(41:28):
knew Mike from my days of ESPN, so that helped.
But you know, super nervous and like, yeah, I mean
I've been on TV almost every day of my life
for fifteen years, you know, on ESPN, and I don't
think I've ever had butterflies like that because it's one
thing where you're like, yeah, my dumb little podcast or
whatever I'm doing. Even when I was doing like Fantasy
Football Now or the Sunday Show, that kind of stuff,
it just right, you know, Jerry, Right, You've been acting

(41:51):
your whole life, and it's a sort of I've done
it for fifteen years. It's like, you know, I know
what I'm doing, but I was so my heart's being
a million miles a minute and trying to remember what
I'm saying, you know, they're in your ear wrap and
throw to Chris and what I'm doing because my first
segment was Chris Sims. And yeah, I mean I still honestly,
you know, it's gotten a lot better, but I still
get nervous every Sunday night. Everyone's watching the world's watching everyone.

(42:15):
It is well because they literally say that, like, and
so my producer, Matt Casey, he'll will like, like, we're
watching the game. The show starts at seven o'clock, and
so we'll still we've got in the background, we've got
the late games. But once you know, and they'll end,
and so I usually don't show up in the show
until later on in the show. And so like you know,
segment six and segments seven and segment eight and so,

(42:37):
which are whatever towards the end of the show. And
so we'll have you know, our our earpieces in and
everything like that, and we'll see like the last late
game go final, and Matt always goes, all right, man,
He'll just say whatever, whatever the late game was, Kansas
City Dever just went final. All right, guys, the whole
country's with us. Let's go, you know. And it's like
and it's true, right, I mean, because right, you know,

(42:59):
like every one watches that show, and so um, it's
definitely nerve wracking. It's that like, please don't screw up,
Please don't screw and then Jerry and then you know
this too is because now that you've gotten into the
betting and fantasy world as well, like in addition to
like just okay, please don't screw up, then you're like, okay,
whatever it is. You know, twelve million, fourteen million people
are watching me this past week, fourteen million people or

(43:19):
whatever it was, saw me say I think TA has
a great game and just kills the Chargers. Yeah, it
was like I regret that. Why did I just you know,
why did this tell so many people? Why did I
believe in too? Uh? You know, it comes with the territory.
But people have been great. The response has been absolutely terrific.
And what's really cool is, and this helps you to

(43:41):
answer your question, Jerry, is that NBC and specifically the
cast of Football Night have been so welcoming because it's
I've been in situations many times in my life where
it so it's like, oh, what's the fantasy nerd doing here?
What's the like we gotta do betting, we gotta man,
you know everything like that. And I have to tell
you to a person when it came on the set
and I'm like, so I'm the new guy, right, I mean, like,

(44:03):
and they've they've built this great show that's you know,
super successful over the years, and so I'm the new
guy showing up and you know, Jason Garretts knew this
year as well, but like, you know, that's a guy
that everyone that watches football has been seeing for years
and years and years on the sideline and he's been
in the NBC family because he was calling usl phall
game USFL games last year and I'm the new guy
in the fantasy nerve and everything like that, and everyone

(44:24):
was just like, hey man, it's awesome. Thanks so much.
They're like thanking me. We're like, oh, we're so glad
you're here, and like, oh, we we need to do
more in fantasy and betting, and we're so glad you're here.
And you give us credibility in the space. And like
Maria Taylor, who had never met at ESPN because she
worked on pro basketball and college football, which I never did,
so like I literally never interacted with her at ESPN.
I walk up to shake hands with Maria to say hi,

(44:46):
and she just immediately hugs me and she goes, welcome home.
You know what I mean? Like this right, I mean,
like Maria is the best or whatever, and it's just
a great casting crew that have made me feel so welcome.
I'm so glad to hear that Maria is the best.
I we both went at Georgia a couple of years apart,
and then I knew her at ESPN on the college
football side. But I've got to ask you because I
think he may be the nicest man in show business.

(45:07):
Mike Terrico is he not just the best, he is
the second nicest man. I'll tell you that. Tony Dungee
is like is like st Tony. It's unbelievable. But yes,
Mike is great. He's been really encouraging. You know. Mike's
a fellow Orangemen like myself. We both went to Syracuse
and oh, that doesn't narrow it down in our industry.

(45:27):
That does not narrow it down. But Triko is your right.
Rico is great. He's the consummate professional. He's so good
on air. He's just I'm in awe of him and
is played by play skills and and just how good
he is. But um, yeah, we he said hi to
me before the game. But after the game, all of

(45:48):
us were back at the hotel and the casting crew
were we had like some pizzas and beers and stuff
like that, and he pulled me over to the side
and he was just like, here's the difference between ESPN
and NBC. Here's what you can expect, and just sort
of gave me, you know, a really nice kind of
welcome here. You're gonna love it here. Here's kind of
a layer of the land. Here's some things that I
found helpful. By the way, you know, here's by selling email.

(46:10):
Still had it from ESPN brads. It's like they haven't
gonna make uran He's yeah the best. Yeah. So you
mentioned being a can, right, you know you're very busy guys.
So we could maybe potentially end on this depending on
your answer. I think there's a great opportunity for the
NFL to include Fantasy in the Hall of Fame like
a wing, like a like a a wing. And I

(46:32):
think if anyone's ever gonna preside over who gets in,
maybe not the green jacket or a yellow jacket. Maybe
it's a silver jacket. I think you would be maybe
the best call ever to preside over that. I appreciate that, Jarry.
That's high high phrase. I'll say this. I certainly think
fantasy deserves a place somewhere in the Hall of Fame,
some sort of acknowledgement. I will tell you that Fantasy

(46:54):
Baseball is in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. But
they have the original they have the original constitution of
the very first the Rotissary League Baseball guys, and and
those guys have been honored at the Hall of Fame.
So fantasy football has brought so much joy and interest
into the game, and there are you know, people over
the years have tried to do fantasy Hall of Fames

(47:16):
and that kind of stuff. But I do feel like
I think that's a great idea, Jerry, it should be.
I don't know how it's you know, I'm not the
curator of the Hall of Fame. I'll leave it to
the people that are in charge of that to figure
out how. But it absolutely it's too it's too woven
into the game. It's too important to the overall fan
enjoyment of the game to not have some sort of

(47:37):
acknowledgement at the Hall of Fame. All right, do you
have one player before you go? Then if you're doing
an inducting, now this could be a personal one. You
don't have to go on who are the maybe just
the best, every personal Matthew Berry, if it's my Hall
of Fame because maybe something this player did for you,
Like for me, it's Randy Moss only because of what
he did for me for three specific years on that

(47:58):
Patriots run. He'll get me my only chip. Who fits
that criteria for you? That's meant the most to you
that you would say that guy gets the silver jacket
or whatever color our jackets are. Yeah, I mean, gosh,
I mean there's so many. I've been playing fantasy for
so long. I know it's probably not fair because you
have you know, you can make a case for everyone,

(48:18):
really can. I mean, like, you know, listen to my
my very first fantasy league ever. I had Cordell Stewart,
you know, and he was like awesome that one year
and very first year ever played fantasy football. Have been
playing fantasy sports much longer than that. But those in
college listen Darren Waller. Darren Wallers, you know, kind of
breakout year with the Raiders. He was a big sleeper
for me. And I want to like a deep industry

(48:40):
dynasty league where I I beat a bunch of big
names in the fantasy football industry and it was It's
a tight end premium league and I had Waller, so
like he's important to me. I also have my homes
in that league. I love, you know, I love my homes. God,
you know, I have to think about that one really,
I mean, you know, it's it's always sort of Jalen
Hurts this year, like who was my writer died. He's
made me look purty to share what a crazy story

(49:04):
Brock Party is, uh as well, So you know, I'd
have to have to really think about come back and
maybe give us a little all those guys, I mean, listen,
Brandon Marshall, you know Brandon Marshall especially like reception games. Yeah,
like you know, so there's there's a bunch of guys

(49:24):
that I would uh, I would throw in there, you
know as well. So speaking of Brock Purty, there have
been fifty four different starting quarterbacks this year, which is
mind blowing considering that if each team started to we'd
be at sixty four. So we're almost at each team
starting two quarterbacks. With that in mind, and with the
fantasy perspective, what do you see from some of these
backups that are now starters and who's going to do

(49:46):
well for guys fantasy leaves. It's a great question, Olivia.
You know, I think it's all dependent. It's you know.
What I will tell you though, is what's interesting is
is that fantasy success in general comes from two things,
talent an opportunity. And so a lot of these quarterbacks
now have the opportunity, do they have the talent, you're
always surprised by it. Like brock Purty was a little

(50:06):
bit of a surprise just because he didn't think he
would run. You know, you don't think he's more of
a pocket pastor. He's not gonna run. It's hard for
a quarterback to have fantasy success when they don't run right,
generally in today's NFL, like you have to be able
to if you're going to have tremendous success as a
non running quarterback, you have to be like just a
massive touchdown equity pocket pastor like Joe Burrow right, and

(50:29):
so you know, it just would pretty have that and
pretty ended up doing that. It was a little more
mobile than I think people gave him credit for. I
don't know that there's anyone that you feel great about,
you know, I will say that I think we saw
the Kyler Murray injury last night, which is just awful.
I don't think Colpe McCoy is going to be a
great fantasy quarterback, but I think he's going to be
competent enough to keep the fantasy prospects of DeAndre Hopkins

(50:52):
and Marcus Brown alive. James Connor, he didn't have the
arm that Kyler Murray does, so I think he's gonna
dump off to you know, James Connor a lot. I
think when Rondel or comes back, if he comes back
next week, I think Rondel Moore becomes pretty interesting. I
will say, if there's a backup quarterback that I would
stream this week that's available in more than whatever you
know of Yahoo leagues or ESPN leagues, Mike White becomes

(51:16):
interesting to me. He's at home against Detroit. So Mike
White in the three games in which he started, he's
averaging at least forty three pass attempts. He's averaging three
seventeen passing yards. He faces the lines. Detroit allows the
most Fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks over the last four weeks.
The lines are giving up the third most passing yards
per game. This game is in New York. Now, as

(51:38):
we tape this podcast, the expectation isn't that White will
be starting. He took a couple of shots to the ribs,
so it's not a hundred percent. But like, if you're
asking me, like, give me a backup quarterback that I
could stream this week, Mike White would be my choice.
I've got just one more before I let you go
about you giving jay Z fantasy football. It's a fun story.

(51:59):
Ten years go, I get a get a call from
a guy named Mike and he says, you know, hey, Matthew,
we we're all big fans. My league's a big fan
of yours, and uh, we'd love you to come buy
our draft and hang out, you know, and just speaking
just to kind of critique the picks, you know, give
your analysis and that kind of stuff. And I'm like,
he's like, yeah, it's in New York on this date.
And I'm just like, listen, Mike, I don't know this

(52:20):
guy from a whole long I'm like, listen, Mike, I'm flattered.
I really am. I appreciate it. But you know, August
is my busiest month. I live in Connecticut. It's like
two hours to get to New York, and I just
I'm just, you know, I'm swamped, and I just I
just don't do that, Honestly. I just don't go to
random people's leagues and hang out for three and a
half hours. I'm sorry, you know. And he goes, well,
it's it's for jay Z easily, Wendy need me, you know,

(52:45):
what are the directions? What am I wearing I mean,
like you know, like so you know, I've told this
story many times. But anyway, so I walk in and
it was and so jay Z's league. The guy Mike
that was asked me to be in the league is
a guy named Mike Kaiser who's the president of Atlantic
Records and at Little Burger on Instagram as well. A
lot of people don't so he's he's very close friends
with Jay and has been for twenty years. And so,

(53:07):
uh and so I've just sort of I've not gone
to that draft for ten years, and so when I'm
at the draft, sort of everyone kind of like I'm
kind of like a community property, if you will. And
so there be times where Jay will call me over
and ask me for some advice or Mike Kaiser. Chris
Paul is in that league. Uh V Gotti from Murdering,
he's in that league. Jesse Hitzler, who's one of the

(53:27):
co owners of the Atlanta Hawks, He's in that league.
Great motivational speech speaker. Uh. Steve Stout from United Masters
and Translation, he's in that league. Like Kevin Lyles, who
you know Three Entertainment, former president of def Jam, He's
in that league. Like it's it's legends, back and forth.
Juan Perez, the president of Rock Nation Sports, he's in

(53:49):
that league, like it's all. It's all legends all, you know,
we all just sort of pop around and people will hey, Barry,
you know, I'm thinking about these two guys who will say, so,
so I give you know, Jay advice. Uh, in that
sense that you know I'm at the you know, I'm
at the at the draft. He's a really good player.
He's the last year he won the championship. You know,
he's a really good player. He's he's in the playoffs
this year. He's um uh, so you know he's a

(54:11):
really good player. He doesn't really need my help. What
did the loser in that league have to do? I've
gotta know it's got to be big steaks. They don't
have a loser punishment. I will say it's a pricing Uh.
It is. Uh, it's definitely a pricing league. It's one
of those Olivia that if you have to ask that,

(54:32):
I'll leave it there. I'll say though, that their trophies
are in terms of first place. So Jay has a
deal with Tiffany's and so when he won the championship
last year, they designed him. I mean, it's a Tiffany
designed fantasy football trophy. Is the most beautiful thing I've
ever seen in my life. Like it's gorgeous. I don't
even know what it costs, but like, I mean, so

(54:53):
it's um, it's just uh the trophies in that in
that league are just absolutely uh insane. There's a lot
of stories that I can tell about the league. The
one thing else interest it's a great league and all
the guys in that league are great, and it's always
one of my favorite days of the year is just
going there and hanging out with all those guys. What's
funny is the very first time I meet jay Z,

(55:14):
I don't know what to call him, right. It's not
like it's not like you get introduced to him the
way you normally would like him. Olivia. You know, Matthew
meet Olivia. Olivia me, Matthew, OHI nice to meet you.
How are you right? You don't it's it's just like
he's him, right, you know what I mean? And so
like and so he motioned me over. I wanted to
ask me a couple of questions, but I don't know
what to like do I call him like you know, like,

(55:34):
you know, do I call him Jay? Do I come hope?
Do I call him Mr? Carter? Do I call Mr? Z?
You know? Like what do I? How do I? How
do I friends? You know what I mean? Like what
do I? I don't know what to you know, don't
I'm literally sweat and bullets thinking like how do I
address him? You know what I mean? Because I don't.
It's not like I've been introduced, and it's not like
we're friends. And I mean, he's you know, you know,

(55:56):
to me, he's the closest thing we have to royalty
in this country. And and so anyway, super exactly like
all right, but I gotta called Mr Carter. You gotta
help someone buckles out for you, right, you know, King,
Mr President like you? And anyway, eventually everyone in the league,

(56:16):
everyone in the league calls him J or Hove and
so like um like after like about three hours in
I sort of kind of floated a little trial balloon, like, hey,
J what do you think about this tight end here?
You know? And he didn't. He didn't react, So I
was like, okay, all right, you know, okay, all right,
I can I can call him j alright, So he's
great by the way, he's the one thing I'll say

(56:37):
about him, What I will say is is that what's
incredible to me is that if you didn't know who
he was, like you know what I mean, Like, if
you just met him without any context whatsoever, you would
not know he's him. Like he's like he's he's the
most down to earth like normal dude you would ever meet,
you know what I mean, Like he's just he's super

(56:58):
chill and just like it's really it's disarming to be
honest with you, Like it's uh in terms of just
how unaffected he is, if if that makes any sense,
Like he's just like the most normal guy and you know,
and you're like, you know anyway, you know what I mean.
And yet like I've I've been at events with him
or I've you know, been in places with him, and
it's just like he he can't walk three feet without

(57:21):
being surrounded by twenty people. I mean, he's just like
he's that iconic anyway. But I love that guy. I mean,
I just I absolutely love the we We definitely might
we've kept you long enough. We're gonna have to get
you back for a follow up because there's so much
more to talk about. But Matthew Berry, thank you so
much for being here. Good luck with the rest of
the season and keep adding to the trophy case for sure.

(57:42):
And also, as you know, we will all be watching
on football night in America. So continued success with that.
Love watching you, love seeing you succeed and doing your thing.
You look like you're having a blast. So thank you
for taking the time and coming on here and talking
to us. I appreciate it. Guys, Thanks for having me.
Glad we were able to make this work. Thank you
again for stopping by. And yeah, please come back if

(58:02):
you could fit us, if you could fit us in,
would love to have you back as we get into playoffs,
are even leading into next year. Yeah, anytime, man, happy
to do it. I love you guys. Are Yeah, you

(58:32):
know when you hear that music, it is time to talk.
Entourage to go back into Jerry's past and ask him
really all the behind the scenes stuff. And I've got
a good episode this week. I'm dying to ask you about, Jared.
It's the Joshua Create episode, the Tripping Shrooms. This has
to be one of the episodes you're asked the most about.
I know you say that frequently. But this one's got

(58:54):
to be a fan face. It is definitely up there.
This is such a good one to talk about because
you know, we always talk about those episodes where we
go somewhere really cool and usually spend like a few
days shooting there, whether it was Hawaii or can Joshua Treat,
which is really cool. Not the greatest place to shoot
in like the middle of July in the desert when

(59:14):
it's a harder intend degrees. But the episode itself is
one of my favorites because it was such like a
non Hollywood thing and the whole premise of We're going
there to find answers of Vince to do Benji the movie,
It's just hilarious premise. There's a lot here, So I'm
curious what you want to talk about first, because I
have a few stories off the top of my head. Okay, Well,
I first have to ask because I always thought if

(59:35):
I was an actress and I had to be drunk
in a scene, I've always said this, I would have
a couple of drinks before the episode. So my question is,
did you guys do anything to loosen up a little
bit before shooting this? To my recollection, and I could
definitely speak for myself and I can speak for you
the guys. No, no one, No one did anything. And
I've been asked a lot about Look, have I ever
had a drink on the set before where I have

(59:56):
no lines and it's a party scene. Yes, But here's
how I would describe. You have to play drunk or high. Typically,
what do drunk people or even stone people say when
you ask them? Are you fucked up? They say no, no,
I'm not. They try so hard to play it straight.
So if you really watched that episode, We're not doing
we talked a lot about this. We're not doing like

(01:00:17):
too much of the WOA. It's so trippy, it's subtle.
The funny thing is and Connolly kevinc Connelly in the
episode was given Doug Ellen a lot of ship because
he's like, Doug, I have no lines in the episode.
My character doesn't speak. It's the best part. And he
got nominated for a Golden Globe that year. The hope
the whole season. But it's like he could plain and

(01:00:39):
you'll see in the next episode there's a lot of
jokes about him. He complained the most about these two episodes,
and he got nominated for a golden globe three months later. No,
it was great when he says he writes it down
my mouth or something. Yeah, there's so many lines in
that in that episode, and it's funny. In some shows,

(01:00:59):
I know, it does contribute to the overall plot, but
it does seem like kind of a one off, like,
I don't isn't there a phrase for that in Hollywood?
Like in ted Lasso it's the one there's one Christmas scene,
there's like one really trippy scenes. Yeah, it's kind it's
kind of like episodic, meaning like it has a beginning, middle,
and end. Theoretically, there's not a ton of the overall

(01:01:20):
storyline that gets pushed. Like the only overall storyline really
was should Vince do Benji or should he go after
smoke jumpers? So he gets that answer. But yeah, in
a box, that episode has its own beginning, middle, and end,
and you can watch it by itself without really knowing
what's going on in the show and it will still
work for you. And then the Arian Lloyd banter in
that episode is so good. You know, Lloyd's my favorite. Yeah,

(01:01:44):
like naked Pictionary in the Pool, that's a lot of
fun funny story about Arnold, the dog who in the
episode We're looking for the entire time. That dog's real
name is Rocky. Okay, so, like I said, it's a
hundred ten degrees. There are rattlesnakes in Joshua Retreat. They
was a take we did with Rocky and then at
the end of the take he just ran back to

(01:02:05):
his trailer and Rocky would not come out of the trailer.
He Rocky basically wrapped himself. He's like, I'm done, I'm
done with the desert. Fuck you guys, It's over. So
Rocky wrapped himself. So he's the biggest diva. Absolutely, So
I guess I just have to know what inspiration do
you draw on when you're acting like you're tripping on mushrooms?

(01:02:28):
Do you just draw in real life experience? I would
say you could still a little real life or maybe
a little stories you heard, you know. We definitely, like
I said, we all got together and made the plan
along with our director and Doug Ellen of like, we're
not going to go for the Like wow, so trippy,
right that story with my character at the end where

(01:02:50):
he's like kind of crying, like I want to call
my mom. Apparently that really happened with something. Either it
was either Connelly or Doug or one of their friends.
That's a real story. Uh, Kevin Dillon has a lot
of the show. First time I got drunk, I said,
Kevin Dillon had the line of the show which I
won't repeat, where he's peeing and he says, I thought
I pulled my off. Everyone was firing on all cylinders

(01:03:13):
that episode, but we were very happy to get back
to l A after that. Yeah, any other stories pertaining
to that episode, because again it was just like, yes,
I do think so. Eric Roberts, who who had the
cameo playing himself, great actor Eric Roberts, And he's driving
that Winnebago and do you remember that part where Vince
S's like the firefighter and then he sees himself for

(01:03:34):
a second he thinks he's still There was like a
crane shot. We were doing, right, So there's a crane
in a car next to us, following the Winnebago, and
the arm of it's like shooting us while we drive,
and I feel like Eric Roberts almost took out the crane.
Oh no, yeah, I think I think there's a chance that,
like we almost died. I think so he was actually
driving the winter. Yeah, he was driving the Winnebago for parts,

(01:03:56):
not the whole time, but for certain parts he was driving.
The end a story. You know, we we were we
were in a hotel or motel, I should say, very close.
But there was a night when we were driving to
a different location and we stopped at a Mohegan Sun
were one of those types of places, and we were gatting.
We played some blackjack and craps and we were on
a heater. It was a great episode, so we all

(01:04:17):
won money too. It was a great episode. Now that's
a recurring theme I've noticed when you guys have gone
in Vegas and you guys end up hitting the tables
pretty hard. It's great that now you work in sports gams. Yes,
you were just getting your feet wet. Yeah, I feel
like I've been training for this my whole life. All right. Well,
and I knew you'd have good stories on that episode.
That was such a good episode. Okay, let's get over

(01:04:38):
to our bed MGM betting analyst. We're not calling an
expert analyst. Peter Andrews. All right, Peter, welcome back. I'm
looking at last week. Not a bad week, only down

(01:05:00):
to units from last week. I did love your over
teaser because we love over players, because I'm an emotional better.
So it didn't pan out. We could blame our Dolphins
Chargers matchup for that. But you did hit on your boy.
Brock Purdy did his thing for you. Gotta feel good
about that. And then your teaser. You know you had
the you had the Browns. Did you have the Browns
and the you had the Browns and the teaser you

(01:05:21):
asked for it. You asked for it one point one
measly point I would have hit that Chiefs did their business.
I think that's You're right, That's what I get for
betten on Browns. But but Rock Purty kept me somewhat
floating towards even I still mutter about that Jets come
back when over the Browns that destroyed my six leg parlor.
I still will wake up in the middle of night

(01:05:41):
being like fucking Browns ruining that. I still will wake
up in the middle of the night thinking about that.
But it's a new week. Your man, Brock Purty is legit,
So let's see if we can make the people some
some money here. What does Peter Andrews, what is your
menu looking like this week. Yeah, so two weeks in
a row, he was Aim of the Week Fox on Sunday.

(01:06:02):
There's a night football at Seattle this week. I know
he's technically on the injured list. I think he's questionable.
They got an m R in as a leak, but
based off everything he said, he's good to go. So
we're doing an O G P for the Niners. I
couldn't resist two units here. So first, it's just Niners
money line, very plain and simple. I don't love the
points here. I think it's gonna be closer than people expect.

(01:06:24):
I think it's a low scoring game. What's the spread
right now? Pete spread is Niners or minus three and
a half minus three and a half, staying away. I
just like money line here, so taking Niners money line.
I'm taking Seattle under twenty one and a half points.
So they played early in the season, Niners kept him
to seven. I think Niners defense obviously matches up really

(01:06:47):
well against them, like they do with the rest of
the NFL. Um so I seen similarities from early on
to to right now. If anything, the defense has gotten better. Yeah,
that's a big part of it. But sand fan with
that Devo sand Fran without Debo dodged a bullet there
looks like only four to six weeks. Thank god. This

(01:07:07):
week is going to be about the running game. I
think Seattle's got a bottom three defense run defense specifically,
so I'm boosting McCaffrey up from I think it's right
around sixty seven yards was his over under. I'm actually
taking a hundred plus, so I think this is a
heavy run game. They're going to exploit them with their
zone running. Those three things combined plus four so that's

(01:07:30):
twenty bucks. So that's two units there. Really like all three.
McCaffrey looked awesome last week. It's just funny because I
feel like they use their offense for probably two and
a half quarters, maybe because things were just so out
of control. I think you could have seen record numbers
from lots of guys. Pretty didn't even have hit over
two yards because they essentially took him out of the game,

(01:07:52):
didn't have to, right, So um, I think it would
be a little bit different, a little closer here, lower scoring.
Like I said, I can see something like nine ers win.
So yeah, I think good value there for just three
picks in the one game part like good value and yeah,
without Walker and without Debot, I liked the McCaffrey over
rushing yards and the under twenty one and a half
Seattle points. Okay, two units five? Love that. Do we

(01:08:16):
have a teaser this week? We do have a teaser
this week? First, real quick, you got Bills minus one
and a half at home against Miami. Miami has been
on a bit of a steep decline here. Haven't looked
great rumor last week, you know, or the last couple
of weeks. When they play in cold weather, fifty five
degree weather, they're using heat warmers on the it's it's

(01:08:39):
gonna be. It's gonna be what fifteen to twenty degrees
in Buffalore this weekend. They are going to suffer. I
was half considering taking this alone, but I'm just teasing
the Towns one and a half in case something funky happens. Vikings,
I've teased them down to plus two against the Colts.
If this was any other team, I would not be
looking at the Vikings. They have a horrendous defense, specifically

(01:09:02):
their past defense. But the good news is the Cults
can't throw the ball, so I think must win game
for them. You know, they're pretty locked into their playoff
spot obviously, but they're fighting for the two three seed
and I think this is an important game to get
kind of back on track. So I like Vikings to
take care of business, probably pretty handily. And then Jags
plus ten and a half. I've teased that they're at
home against Dallas. Dallas looked really shaky last week against Houston,

(01:09:25):
against your Houston Texans. I actually think Jags win this
game out right this week, So I think the ten
and a half points there is a nice little buffer.
Trevor Lawrence looks awesome. I mean it's taken a year
and change, but he's actually got some weapons now. I
think this dude's a Jones is legit. They have a
t N. I mean, they have some weapons now to
build off of him, and I think he's he's kind

(01:09:46):
of proven himself to be that legitimate number one overall pick.
So could sprinkle some money line there with some extra
extra units, but ten and a half seems really good,
especially at home. Okay, so that's five units, You've got
five remaining. How are you going to used the remaining five?
Big week for you, Peter Andrew, similar to last week,
and I felt so good about the Niners minus during
a half. I got my lock of the week. I've

(01:10:07):
been talking about this since the game on Sunday week
Lions plus one at the Jets at Netlife. They've already
beat a MetLife team once this year. I think you
remember that I do, and that typically happens when teams
play both Giants and Jets in Jersey, they usually win
both games. Yeah, there you go. I mean there's a
combination of things here. Start with the Jets. Mike White

(01:10:28):
got shaken up real bad last week, so he's clearly
not gonna be playing at I think he was in
and out of the game like three times last week.
I wouldn't be surprised if he's got a cracked rib
from the hits he's taken. Fast forward to this week,
you got guys like Hayden Hutchinson coming at him. I
think he's in for a bit of rude awakening. And
then on the other side of the all you got
the Lions, who, again, similar to the Jags, seem like

(01:10:48):
they have a kind of complete offense right now. They've
traded away t J. Hockinson, but you bring in a
guy like Jamison Williams last week quote his first touchdown
was amazing to see after that torn a c L.
Jamal will Ms looks great. They they're playing really complete football.
They are probably gonna end up short of the playoffs
just because they put themselves in a pretty deep hole

(01:11:09):
to start the season, but they're gonna do everything in
their power, and Dan Campbell specifically to get right close
to that seven seed, especially if you see the teams
like the Giants or the Commander's tail off a little bit,
even Seattle, they've got a shot still. And clearly he's
putting every trick in the book out on the field,
I mean fake punts, Pinney Sewell with a fourth down

(01:11:30):
completion there, Star Guard. So they're they're going for it,
and I love to see it, and I think that's
what people were kind of hoping watching Hard Knocks this year,
is seeing that team really kind of ride behind their coach.
So I think they win. I think they win. Big
Jets are on the way down here. They have not
looked great and obviously a bunch of injuries have kind
of turmoil their season a little bit. So five units

(01:11:51):
minus one ten plus one lions there, it's not worth
the value of moneyline it's only think an extra five cents,
so take the plus one just in case. Um, but
really like the Lions this weekend. Okay, that's a good argument.
I think that I do think that teams that win
one if they're going to men like you know, the
Sinatra as it called or whatever. I think that's that's

(01:12:11):
in play here. And the Lions are surging. I mean
I I think that this is a better time. We
talked about the Lions and Jared Goff a lot today,
so this is a good This is a good that
I'm definitely gonna ride with you on that. O g P.
Just don't get him started again, Peter, don't hopefully on
the same side as me and not go posing every now.
I'm on the same side as you. Yeah, I'm on
a draft don't draft the quarterback side, which is a

(01:12:34):
healthy debate for right now. But let's see O the
rest of the year goes. But I really like the
O g P. I don't know what what you were feeling, Olivia. Well,

(01:13:00):
unlike Jerry, I write it to you every week, Peter,
every week. We will see you next week. I'm excited
for all of your hottakes, and I also like you know,
kind of selfishly when you're wrong, when you're bad, because
it's nice to rub it in. Because we have that
friendly rivalry. Bill, Jerry and I are always going to
be against you as a forty Nighter fan. That's one
thing we haven't comed. But thanks again for popping on
every Make sure you follow us and subscribe to the

(01:13:21):
podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and on the YouTube
page if you want to watch us, because you know,
Jerry just looks even better than he's sounds, so you've
got to watch it. Thanks guys for joining us. For
you next week.

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