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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Enjoy the show and thanks so much for listening. You
(00:20):
are now about to witness the strength of fantasy knowledge.
You are now tunes into Speeds to Spitting Statistician on
Fantasy Freestyle. Next on that sie Fu mic on the microphone.
You know that I'm one of the best yet Martinez,
(00:54):
you know what it is. It's boy, Dame Martinez a
k A. Speeds a k A to Spitting Statistician a
k A. This stable genius and vocal minority. And welcome
to another edition of the Fantasy Freestyle right here on
the Sports Grid Network, episode number four hundred and thirties six,
the four hundred and thirty six convening of the Stats
over Beat Cipher. When we help you win your leagues
(01:16):
and win that cash, and we do it all while
putting the fun and functional sports content. The Status over
Beat Cipher Ready to rock. My boys down in the
pit of misery ready to rock. We got Fasano, we
got Venmo Brian. Big shout out to my man dany
Otto out there in the meadowlands as well, if he
can hear me. Big time week. Okay, you may think
it's a down part of the sports calendar, but here
(01:38):
we focus on football. We are going to continue the
conversation I had with Alex last week about free agency,
the merry go round. Where might some of these key
free agents go at other positions. We talked about running
backs and wide receivers. We thought a little bit about
the quarterback position. There have been some updates since we
last talk. We'll get into that quarterback market later on
(02:02):
in this show. XFL also popping off. Okay, we'll talk
about the XFL takeaways. What was good, what was less good.
Everyone is pretty much coming up roses for the XFL.
We'll talk about my biggest takeaways with Alex Fasano as well.
And I don't know if you've heard about this guy's
(02:22):
but Major League Baseball they're tinkering a little bit. Okay,
They've announced some rules that are going to go effect
into effect this season. We'll talk about it down there
with the guys in the Pit of Misery. We'll talk
about it with the Status over Beat Cipher And there
is a pole question up as usual hit me up
at spitting speeds. I want to know which is the
biggest name quarterback that will change addresses in this offseason?
(02:47):
Do you believe it might be Tom Brady? Is it
Philip Rivers? Who? I guess they're parting ways? What is it,
guy like Cam Newton? Someone else? Let me know. We
will get into all of that and more with the
Status over Beats Cipher. Episode up A four hundred and
thirty six well, by the way, a critically acclaimed show.
Right now we get the latest news from a man
faz in the Pitch Sports Grade News Update. I am
(03:16):
Alex Fasano with your sports Gride news update here on
the fantasy Freestyle in the NBA. For his team to
beat the Toronto Raptors. Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said that
Brooklyn's effort and complete level has got to be two
levels higher than normal. We have to pitch close to
a perfect game and beat this team. Well, the Nets
fulfilled that nearly perfect metaphoric pitch, defeating the Raptors one
(03:39):
on one to snapping Toronto's fifteen game win streak. Brooklyn's
win came only four nights after the Nets lost by
one point to the Raptors in Scotia Bank Arena. Kyle Lowry,
the Raptors guard, said afterward, we were like walking zombies.
We didn't play well tonight, simple as that we missed shots,
We weren't aggressive. With Toronto streak ending a fifteen Milwaukee
Bucks hold the law win streak of this season at
(04:01):
eighteen games. Sticking with the NBA Phoenix Suns, Vivin Booker
will replace the injured Damian Lillard in the All Star
Games three point contest. NBA named Booker as Lillard's replacement Thursday,
one day after the Trailblazers star suffered a right groin
injury right groin strain to be more specific. Booker will
make his first career All Star appearance in his fifth season.
(04:22):
The former Kentucky star is the NBA's tenth leading scorer
averaging twenty six point four points per game and in
the NFL will His status with the type of a
Bucks going into next season remains up in the air.
Quarterback Jamis Winston has taken steps to correct his knee
hear sidedness. His representative, Denise White, said he had LASIK
and he didn't want to count out any options that
(04:43):
he had that could possibly help him win the game
he loves so much. Winston has struggled with near sightedness
throughout his career. When he was at Florida State, television
cameras frequently panned to a squinting Winston. You got NBA, NHL,
and college hoops. Tonight. In the NBA two games before
the All Star Break, the l A Clipper is visiting
the Boston Celtic. Celtics are your two point favorites. The
total is two and a half. And the Oklahoma City
(05:06):
Thunder visit the New Orleans Pelicans. This line is moving
a little bit. It's now three point favorites for the Pelicans.
The total is two thirty three and a half. I'm
Alex Possano for your Sports Created News update. Gonna sit
back to the spitting statistician, Dame Martinez on the Fantasy Freestyle.
Thanks a lot, Alex. Back down there in the pit,
shout out to the pit, Dilley, Dilley, to all the
(05:28):
guys down there. They're doing Yeoman's work, making us look good,
making us sound good. You know, I gotta ask you, though,
Alex Jamis Winston getting lace six is hysterical to me.
Isn't it like the idea that the man is gonna
throw for thirty picks? Oh yeah, he did an eye surgery.
Oh he can't see a word like this is hysterical
(05:49):
to me, that the guy coming off his thirty interception season.
It's like, yeah, we need to fix his eyesight. Yeah exactly.
And plus you it's true though, like cameras did used
to panda all the time and it was squint ng
and can you even see? And and coach arians said
after the season this year he was like, yeah, well
he can see the players in front of him, but
not the scoreboard. So we're finally yeah. Well, Also, what
(06:10):
b A Is saying is that you know they can
win with Jamis, they can win with anybody else as well.
Remember Alex, we're gonna talk about the quarterback Merry Go
Round a little bit later on in the show. Jamis's name,
Philip Rivers his name, These are names that will be
on it. I also want to listen in the in
the gambling world, right, the NFL made an interesting higher. Um,
I think it was last week they are hiring their
(06:32):
first ever VP of sports wagering, Okay, And I think
this is interesting. I think this is a signal that
we're even fully embracing it a little bit more. And honestly,
I think this has a in response to the XFL.
The XFL is unabashedly talking about lines, talking about totals
on the broadcast, posting it in graphics, and everyone's still okay.
(06:54):
You know, it's not all of a sudden becoming some
crazy degenerate like black hole, right, And so I think
the NFL has to respond. They're seeing more and more
states legalized sports investing, They're seeing the XFL be explicit
out there with it. So that cross also another higher
in the NFL that I want to mention. Jennifer King. Okay,
(07:14):
she was the Carolina Panthers intern during the two thousand
seventeen season. She will join the Washington football team as
a full time assistant coach. This marks the first hire
of an African American woman on an NFL staff as
a full time coach. She joins Tampa Bay who as
a D line coach Laurie Locus and the San Francisco
(07:37):
forty Niners, who has a offensive assistant, Katie Sowers. You
saw her in uh commercials throughout the Super Bowl. Uh so.
Uh you know, kudos, I guess to the Washington football
team first ever African American female. Uh so, those are
some key hires. Let's talk a little bit about Alex's
baseball stuff. You know we had in the update you
were talking about n B A NHL, UH. MLB was
(08:01):
interestingly absent, and the Astros, you know, pitches and catches
are reporting this week. The Astros came out, they ran
out Bregmant, they ran out al To to talk for
combined ninety seconds when they were like, yeah, we apologize,
We're really sorry. And then they were pressed a little
bit in locker rooms and someone asked out to um,
(08:21):
were you wearing anything in two thousand nineteen, in two
thousand seventeen, in two thousand eighteen, did you have wearables on?
Why the hell didn't you want these guys to rip
off your shirt when you hit that home run? By
the way, Gary Sanchez has already said, if I hit
a walk off in the ALCS, you can rip my
damn pants off for all I care. And now Tuve's
response was really interesting, and I gotta tell you something.
(08:43):
It's what guilty people do. They asked ol TV, did
you have any wearables? You know what the right answer
is there, No, absolutely not. That's not what A said.
What Al said is major League Baseball investigated and they
didn't find anything. Are you kidding me? That's like in
the steroids, being like my name was never on a
(09:03):
Mitchell report. You know, I think they're being a little
bit cute with it as well. You hear Verlander Korea,
you hear Springer out there talking, and then also you
heard Jim Crane, and I thought it was ridiculous. He
literally said he won't use the word cheating. He says
we broke the rules, and then he had the audacity
(09:29):
to say that he doesn't think in effect it affected
any competitive balance or any outcomes. I'm gonna tell you
something in Fantasy baseball coming up, I ain't drafting Bregman
in the in the in the first round. I ain't
drafted Al Twove as my as the top second basement
on the board. I'm gonna take a weight and see
attitude on this. It's the same way as like someone
(09:50):
used to play in Colorado and Course Field for years
and then they moved there, Like, are his numbers still real?
Is it okay? Y'all didn't think dj le Mayhew was
gonna do what he did last year for the Yankees.
Why because it's numbers were from coors Field. Larry Walker
wasn't a Hall of Famer for years? What do we
know about all twas numbers? What do we know about Bregman?
(10:11):
Here's what I mean to take it to the gambling world. Right,
I look, guys at the A L West numbers right
now where the Houston Astros are still minus two eighty favorites.
You got the Oakland A's at plus three forty, and
you have the l A Angels at eight to one.
I'm telling you if you believe that this is going
(10:33):
to be a big deal that the Astros offense will
be impacted this year because you know they don't know
the signs, and take a gang throughout the Oakland A's
at plus three forty. Take a gander at the Los
Angeles Angels who got Rendon? Who signed other kind of
guys like Julio Tehran, Dylan Bundy. Right, you got Otani
coming back. You still have the best player in the
(10:54):
game and Mike Drought there if you want to fade
the Astros because this stain this cloud. I encourage you
to look at the a L West when the A's
and the Angels are at big time numbers. But that's
not the only thing that happened in Major League Baseball.
We're gonna talk about it a little bit more on
the other side of the break, Alex, I want to
know how do you feel about some of these rules
(11:16):
changes that are happening. The playoff format may be different,
the idea of the lefty specialist that's going away, and
rosters are expanding. We're gonna talk about those three things.
I want to get Alex's take on them as well,
and then we will turn our attention to the XFL
takeaways of Week one and NFL offseason and free agency.
All that and more Fantasy Freestyle. Come on back. Are
(11:41):
you ready for the nation's first and only, free, twenty
four hour network dedicated to you the betting and fantasy
sports enthusiast. Sports Crede will provide you with a real
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Lens Sports Create. He's live eighteen hours a day here
(12:03):
to serve you the fanatic. This is sports crade. Get
on the grid, welcome back. You know what it is,
Fantasy Freestyle here episode four thirties six. We're making it
(12:25):
happen here critically acclaimed three time nominee for the Best
radio show in the Industry. I'm spending statistician holding it down.
I got my man, Alex Passano in the pit of misery.
It's like real love your little Mary J. Blige. As
we cruise into Valentine's Day. You got a real love, Alex. Oh,
girls have cooties. Okay, I see this is millennial over here. Okay, fine, fine,
(12:49):
uh you know I got some Valentine's Day stuff going
on tomorrow. Good for you. I'm making happy. Please please
celebrate for both of us. You know. It's interesting though,
I think, as you know, I'm getting married at the
end of the month, right, so we're trying to necessarily
we're trying to do home play the Valentine's Day because
you know, in about two or three weeks there will
be more than enough celebration going on and you know,
and it will cost a pretty penny, so we're keeping
(13:10):
it tight right now. But in any event, you know, Alex,
we talked about this. I mentioned kind of the Astros
trying to get up in front of the microphone al
tuve Um Bregman, Jim Crane. It left me feeling empty, Alex. Honestly,
it did not make it sound like they were truly accountable.
It's almost like they wanted to do it because they
thought that that would have it blow over. This is
not going to blow over, Alex. No, I mean, like
(13:33):
I was telling you before during the break like it
sounded like the Astros were just trying to use this
as a as a cover up or just like a
quick publicitly stunted, keeping people happy, let them get a
stage bad and then move on and keep it moving. Backfire,
complete backfire. Bregnan gave no intuitions, nine ban what what
was even the point? Like you said, maybe maybe if
they were in front of the team in the front
office would have been a little better look. Maybe if
(13:54):
they actually got a little in detail. Hey, yeah, you
know what I actually did mess up. Instead of just
saying I'm sorry for the decisions, I made. It was
just a complete backfire for the Astrows in my opinion, Yeah,
I agree with you, and and and and we're gonna
see how big of an impact this is over the
course of this year. Right. Do I think jose Al
too is still a good player? Do I think Springer
and Bregman and their crew and Korea? Yes, I do.
(14:16):
But we're gonna find out, you know. And so I'm
gonna stay away from them until they proved. Right there,
like you're saying it right here, I'm staying away from
him that's already affected by the stress conference absolutely immediate reaction.
And I do not know how much of an impact
them having the damn signs and knowing if it was
the fastball off speed, I don't know. I know I
(14:37):
played college baseball, Alex. I'll tell you what, if you
told me if it was all speed or fastball, my
average would be about fifty points higher. So we'll see.
But but Alex, that was not the only thing we're
here in at a major league bseball. I want to
bound some of these proposals off of you real quick,
because one of the things we're hearing is that or
I guess it's been decided. Um, if you come on
(14:58):
in now, you gotta face a minimum of the three batters. Alex,
and I think this is very interesting, especially with as
you know, the lefty specialists. It spans you know, decades
and generations, right, you know, so that idea of the
lefty specialist. You better get right these out too, you know,
because they're not gonna be able to mix and match
in the seventh and eighth inning. And here's what I
(15:20):
don't get about this, Alex. Where is the Players Association
on this, Because if they were going to eliminate the
d H, let's say the Players Association be piste off.
That's like fifteen people's jobs that are going by the wayside,
where there are dozens of guys in Major League Baseball
right now who will lose all of their value to
(15:43):
be gainfully employed if this rule holds, you know, like
you're gonna bring in a guy to face the lefty
and then he's gonna get blown up when lineups you know,
have switch hitters or stack lefty verse right righty, lefty,
righty lefty. I think this is really weird. Okay, Now,
if there's two outs in the inning, you want to
bring him in because if the ends the inning, then
it's okay. But I find an issue with this for
(16:03):
the lefty specialist. And also, let's say you bring in
a reliever Alex and he just ain't got it and
the first batter boom, second batterer boom. You gotta do
he has to face the third hitter. Nah, I don't
want to give him the hook. So so, so what
do you think about this? Man? I just think I
see what they're doing. I see what major League. I
think they're gonna spead the game act. But it's it's
(16:25):
the same thing with the Astros. You think you're gonna
do one thing with this, and it's a complete backfire.
Like we get it. We just had Tom Gladden on
the morning after today. He said he used to hate
watching managers walk up every single time after the seventh
inning because he knew, oh, here comes after the seventh
you know, three trips to the mound in one inning. Um,
so I get it, but this is not the way
to go about it. You're gonna ruin careers. Listen, and
(16:45):
let's put these both together. The Astros got caught cheating,
and the big part was the technology. Right, where the
hell is the technology in this if you want right,
if you want to uh robot um, but if you
want to pull your picture, why does a sixth year
old man have to walk out to the mound, like,
can't they just buzz something? Can't they just send the signal,
(17:09):
just walk off saying like, oh, I'm done, let me
just let me just walk up instead of going up
there you're like, oh, this big, this is a tough
pinch hitter. Let me give you the scouting report on it.
You can't have a microphone on the guy's helmet the
same way there is in the NFL, the same way
there is everywhere else. Why maybe it's because they're already
using these things to cheat. It's ridiculously, it's ridiculous. Um.
Here's the other thing. I think it's interesting, Alex. They're
going to a twenty six man roster. There will be
(17:32):
an extra roster spot, okay on Major League Baseball rosters
this year, And I think this is incredibly fascinating. What
would you do with your last man, Alex? What would
you do with that last player? You have a roster
spot that you didn't have last year? What is this?
Is it another bullpen arm? Well, guy's gotta phase three batters. Now,
is it a super utility? Guy? What would you do
(17:53):
with this twenty six man? I know what I'm gonna
do with it. I personally use the utility because it
eliminates the whole picture. I expect, you know what I mean,
Like you said, you just said three three batters, Like, oh,
so it was you don't need an extra need exactly,
we don't need this big of a bullpen. I think
this could be two things. I think this could be
played two ways. One, this could be the opening of
a door to Major League Baseball teams going to the
six man rotation. Alex. They do it. They do it
(18:17):
in Japan. We talk about the stress the innings pitched right,
and how we have to lessen the stress on these
pictures because there's such assets right and assigning long term contracts.
But they have Tommy John surgery. It happens in Japan already, Alex.
What about the six man rotation? I believe rotations will
be a lot different in Major League Baseball. You know,
fast forward five years, right, some teams are using the openers.
(18:40):
We're doing all sorts of ways. We know what it
does to the stress on the human arm. We are
pushing the limits of human performance six man rotation. Haven't
we seen some teams already experiment to these essence last
year or in the previous years. In essence, Alex, the
Dodgers are trying to cheat the system. Okay. Remember they
also had the ten man i l last year. So
(19:03):
what they were doing, and they had a couple of
guys that were on the shuttle bus from Triple A, right,
guys like May, guys like Urious Guy, you know, others,
guys like Strippling. Even that they were able to massage
the injured list, right and the Triple A Major League
shuttle and in essence manage their roster so that they
did do that. Okay, So I think that's one way
(19:25):
to look. Here's the other thing I would do, and
this is gonna sound crazy, but you know me, I'm
the spitting statistician, Alex. I would just employ a world
class sprinter, a pure speed guys, straight pinch runner, straight
pinch runner. Yep, that's that would be my man. I
would get Usain Bolt or someone pure speed. Okay, because
(19:48):
here's the thing. Do you talk about that super utility man? Cool? Okay,
we don't need the bullpen guy. Now, maybe it's a starter,
but like what we do need and I this is
going away in baseball, right, the stolen bases going away.
But if you're in a two two game, Alex, and
you know that this picture has to face three batters
and you get your leadoff man on, I'm bringing in
(20:09):
my pinch runner, my guy that the whole damn stadium
knows is gonna steal and it doesn't matter because he's
that damn fast. Okay, we don't have these guys anymore,
the pinch runner, and especially in the playoffs where things
get tight, you know what I mean, especially in close
games towards the end. That is a skill set that
is vanishing that I believe with an extra spot, could
(20:31):
he be like some kind of super utility defender. Could
he be someone who could play all three outfield positions? Sure,
But the primary skill set I want on Man twenty
six on my roster is speed. Alex, what say you?
I like it. I think it's a great idea, especially
because like you're saying with it, if if a picture
stuck up there for three batters and it's like, oh,
all I need to do is it a single off?
This home run. I don't have to go for power
(20:53):
from first, it's going all the way to the other
corner on third. I think it's a great idea. Yeah,
I would like let's keep an eye out on this, okay, Alex.
I want to see, um how teams start to use
this extra spot in the roster, especially when you factor
in we don't need to have as many people in
the bullpen because you can't mix a match. You can't
just burn through them all in an inning and a half,
(21:15):
you know, or an ending and third. Okay, So I
think that is gonna be very interesting. You gotta keep
an eye out on that. The last thing I'm hearing,
Alex is the idea of seven teams making the playoffs,
uh right, and and then ironically division winners getting to
pick their opponent. That's crazy to me. MLB is MTV
(21:36):
now Day. Yeah, they wanted to be like a reality show.
They wanted to be a big thing like where you know,
we unveil stuff. I think they're going way too far.
Here's what's gonna happen, Alex. It's kind of like a
be careful what you wish for, right the first time
someone you know, like the Yankees or whatever. They're like,
we want to see Minnesota in the first round and
then Minnesota beats them. Who's gonna take the blame for that?
(21:58):
Does the coach get fired? Does the GM who makes
this decision of who they want to play? The organization?
Is that the GM? Is that the owner? Is that
the manager? I think it's a slippery slope, you know.
And and do you really trust teams and managers to
make the right decision on who they want to face?
I don't. I think it's really really weird. I think
(22:19):
they're trying to over engineer at alex for for TV.
You said, it's like their MTV right now right They
want to produce and make a TV show out of it.
They see what's happening in all these other leagues they
haven't been able to do it, by example, for example,
with with their Major League Baseball Draft, or the same
way the NFL and the NBA has, So they're looking
to make a made for TV program. It sounds like
(22:40):
they're trying to be And my initial thought after hearing oh,
they want to do a reality show for it, my
initial thult was NBA with the All Star Draft, they
want to make a show out of it. It's crazy.
But that's the thing. Major League Baseball is not the
National Basketball Association. It can't be. Let's keep an eye
out on that. Let's see if this comes through. I
want to see how teams manage the three in it
a three batter limit or minimum, let's say. And I
(23:03):
want to see how teams are using this. Man, if
you see me on you know, if you hit me
on the chatting room, if you hit me on Twitter
at spitting speeds, let me know what you think about
the twenties six man, and let me know what you
think about you know, the lefty specialist. How is the
Players Association not you know, arguing this for collective bargaining?
I do not know. I mean, quick check up on
the poll question Alex. Right now, thirty seven percent say
(23:26):
Philip Rivers will be the biggest name quarterback to move.
Say Tom Brady, say Cam Newton and h nobody has
voted others. We know Philip Rivers likely will be moving.
So the question is does Brady go somewhere? Does Cam
go somewhere? We're gonna talk about that. Yeah, we're gonna
talk about that. The merry go round continues on the
(23:48):
other side of the break Here Fantasy freestyle Here on
sports Grid, we talk QB Merry Go Round. But first,
I don't know if y'all saw, but the XFL popped
off last week. You know it's pretty good. We'll talk
about it on the other side of the break. Fantasy
freestyle right here on sports Grade. Are you ready for
(24:13):
the nation's first and only, free, twenty four hour network
dedicated to you, the betting and fantasy sports enthusiasts. Sportscrade
will provide you with a real time content, statistics and
gaming intelligence unlike anything you've ever seen before. Located both
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FanDuel Sports book at the meadow Lands Sports Crade, he's
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(24:37):
This is Sports Grade. Get all the grid, yo, Get
your freak on? All right, Alexan Valentine's Day? You get
your freak on? Or do they still have cooties? I
don't know if they have different Maybe I have coodies
(24:58):
because it seems to look my land it be brother Man.
Fantasy Freestyle here on sports Grid. This is what we do, Okay.
We help you win your leagues and when that cash.
We gotta pull question up. I am intrigued to see
who you guys think will be the biggest name moving.
Alex and I will continue our conversation on the quarterback
free agency, trade draft, Merry go around later on in
(25:19):
this show, Alex. The x f L kicked off, uh
last week alright, So you know, uh, we had some
I thought good games, Okay. I I gotta tell you something.
I thought, Yes, the quality of play was a little
bit lower, okay. And we saw some places where like
(25:40):
guys were just blowing assignments, like the DC defenders would
have blocked point. I was like, oh that could be
you know, that was pretty bad. He he whipped on
a block. You know, some trick plays. There were definitely
some plays where it was obvious they were attacking people
that were not, you know, professional football players, right. So
I understand that. But I've got about six or seven
(26:01):
things here that were takeaways from the XFL that are
varying in terms of like how good they were or
if there's something that could be done away with. And
I gotta tell you, Alex, I think that the XFL
is onto something in a lot of ways. A lot
of the feedback has been positive, and there's even a
rule that I think the NFL and college football need
(26:21):
to adopt a sap, Alex, you know what's one it is?
It is the kickoff absolutely absolutely Okay, it's the kickoff
a linement. First of all, the first time I saw it, Alex,
it looked weird, right, It was just visually looked weird
with the two lines of guys on the other side.
But honestly, it combines excitement and player safety. Like any
(26:44):
rule that can bring excitement and be under the guys
of player safety sounds good. You know, you don't want
these kickoff team guys running for sixty yards for these
crazy collisions. Okay, that's why they moved up the kickoff
in the NFL to try and have more touchbacks because
they don't want those violent collisions. This takes away the
violent collision, and then they put in penalties for touchbacks
(27:07):
and stuff to encourage an actual runback, balancing excitement of
the game and player safety. Alex, I absolutely love this,
and I honestly think combined with the touch at the
touch back penalties, this is like number one thing that
the XFL got right in my opinion, so much so
that I don't see why the NFL and college football
(27:28):
don't adopt it as soon as possible. Oh. I think
it's a collection of number one things that they got right.
This is definitely one of them. It's one of them
we're gonna go through for sure. But let me let
me just say this, Um, when you did you did
you see any penalties on like a block of the
backs or anything on that of the golf? So so
they're right there, tells you this is a good idea
word because also you know, when you're just you're your
five ten yards apart, there isn't that weird crackback block.
(27:52):
There isn't that, you know, there's more less time for
the formations to get warped. Quite frankly, so I agree
with you on that. Here's the other thing that I
truly loved. But we'll never come. But I don't think
will come to the NFL. Everyone's miked up, Alex. Everyone
is miked up, right. You can hear the play calling
coming in. You can hear the quarterback with the hot reads.
(28:14):
You can hear them trying to align the wide receivers up.
You could also hear the referees, Alex, and I thought
that was incredible, huge and you could hear the replay booth. Alex,
I thought that was great and you can see them
working through it. Okay, so this is actually incomplete, So
the ball needs to be spotted here, we run the
time back because we don't we don't trust it these days.
(28:38):
Right in the NFL. You're like, I don't know if
they're gonna get it right, you know, and and and
we're like, what were they looking at here? At least
you see and hear what they were looking at. I
also saw a play that you know, Pat McAfee, who's
on the sideline. These guys are interviewing players right as
they come off the field, whether they made a great
play or a bone head play, and seeing the thoughts
(28:58):
with them. That level of access on the sidelines, the
coaches headset, and the refs and the replay booth, I
think it's awesome. Okay, I don't think. I don't think
it's gonna like be able to happen in the NFL.
But like positive mark in the column for the XFL,
hunh absolutely, And you're right, it probably won't happen in
the NFL, because we did see it too this past weekend.
(29:18):
I gotta be careful the f bombs. You gotta, you gotta.
We're trying to make it happen. These guys are probably
it's live, that's the thing. I don't think NFL will
ever adopt that. But one more thing to this point,
Dane um they I don't think they were hearing those
refs in the replay at the stadium, were they? No?
I think that was the TV was just a TV thing.
So does this hinder the XFL from a live stand?
(29:41):
That's what I was going to on television because the attendance,
the ticket sales are going through the roof, Alex. But
I gotta tell you the truth. I'd rather watch an
XFL game on TV because of some of the things
you're saying. Right, I get to see behind the curtain
a little bit. Right. But here's the other thing. It's
damn February in the Northeast, Alex. I am going I'm
(30:01):
I'm serious, like in Tampa, cool l A, cool, Houston,
cool d C, New York. I ain't sitting out and
freezing my ass off for three and a half hours
in mid to late February or early March. I ain't
paying money to freeze my ass off when I can
see it on TV. Absolutely, So you're not gonna go
to a half filled stadium too, because I think they
(30:22):
cut off like half the stadiums on top, so they
want people in the bowl in the lower area, so
you're only in half the stadium anyway. One of the
other things I will say, though, I saw the l
A Wildcats, I believe against the Houston Roughnecks. I took
that money line, do not remind me Wildcats? So l
A they drew more people to the stadium than the
damn Chargers. Hmm, I'm dead serious, interesting, dead serious, Alex.
(30:49):
There were more l A fans there for the damn
Wildcats or whatever the hell they're called than for the Chargers.
And the l A Wildcats are home again this week.
They have Dallas now. The only thing I want to say, also,
don't people care about recency bias? You know I was.
I was on there last week saying that I'm gonna
(31:09):
take the points. I'm gonna take underdogs because we're on
even footing with the people who capt these games, right,
the people who have the information. Don't all of a
sudden go too crazy, though, Alex. Okay, two of the
teams that lost were without their starting quarterbacks. And I
think people really really need to know about that. Okay,
you're talking about l A. Josh Johnson is their starting quarterback, Alex.
(31:32):
He wasn't in there, alright. They went to Kaf. They
went to the third stringer as well, because Kanaf wasn't
getting it done, all right. So Josh Johnson was nursing
a thigh injury. They say he may be back. So
the l A team you saw was not what it
will be because their starting quarterback wasn't there. The same. Um,
I think the Dallas team, Alex, the Dallas renegades. I
(31:54):
believe they are Landry Jones. He wasn't there as well,
all right, So that's something you gotta keep an eye on.
I gotta tell you something. I was impressed with Houston.
I was impressed with Houston, Alex for two main reasons,
and it it is the same themes that I talked
about in the NFL. You've heard me on this air, Alex.
In the NFL. I talked about that it was gonna
be one of these superhuman African American play making quarterbacks
(32:18):
who's gonna win the Super Bowl. And I said it
was either Patty Mahomes, Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson, or Lamar Jackson.
What do you know? It was this kid, P J.
Walker for Houston. Okay, he is a guy who can
be that playmaker, that dual threat from the quarterback position
in a way that card L. Jones ain't gonna be
Landry Jones ain't gonna be Josh Johnson ain't gonna be.
(32:40):
I like that they have the dual threat, and I
like that they're slinging it all over the field on
the defensive side, Alex, this Houston roughnext team, they got
a D line, Bro, they got a D line. They
are big Coney Eally among them. These are names I
know from the NFL. You give me the elements of
a playmaking quarterback and a D line that can get
(33:03):
pressure in this secondary football league where offensive line play.
I still believe in suspect I will like the Houston Roughnecks.
They're gonna be my adopted team. Playmaking quarterback, spread offense
and a D line that can get pressure. I think
you're onto something here, Dane, especially with Walker too. I
mean I was watching Look he looked a little like
Lamar Jackson, but he was moving around. He had some mobility,
(33:25):
so it was nice to see that. Um And also
till you look at Houston and there's the Dallas Renegades. Yeah,
there could be an in state rivalry here. That just
it's more to Houston wanting to play harder and play better.
I gotta tell you, so, Houston is gonna be my
adopted team. All right. The Houston Roughnecks are at home
laying eight points against the St. Louis battle Hawks. And
this comes to my last point, the one, two and
(33:47):
three point conversions. Alex, I think it's cool, but I
don't like it. I don't like it. Ultimately, I think
I understand they're trying to do something. I understand, no
extra points, I understand, get more offense on the field.
I understand it. Here's what I don't like about it.
And I'm sure you know I just now said the
Houston Roughnecks are eight point favorites this weekend. I've got
(34:12):
no idea, Alex, Because in the NFL, three and seven
are the key numbers, right, we know about this all
three verse three and a half. Right in the XFL.
That goes out the damn window, because these guys could
be attempting one, two, and three point conversions. If you're
down by eight, it don't matter. You go for three,
(34:32):
you know. And it is going to change the way
scoring happens to a point where I'm worried about the
key numbers that we know and love not really being
in play anymore. Right. I was just talking with my
man window Will, and he says he's on New York, right,
and he's like, oh, but New York is six and
a half and plus six and a half. And you
(34:53):
know what I texted him. I texted him, Yo, if
it gets to seven, let's hammer it. But that is
my NFL way of thinking. Seven is not the key
number in the XFL. And so I think that's gonna
take an adjustment for fans and sports investors, And to
be quite honest, it's too much of an adjustment for me.
(35:16):
It's it makes It gives me cause for pause to
put my money in. It really really does, Alex. Because
this eight point spread for Houston, the seven point spread
for d C at home this week against the Guardians,
I don't know if that's a key number or not.
It's gonna take me some time. Now. Nobody attempted the
three point conversion in week one. But what happens if
(35:37):
you're down by seven in the fourth quarter. That's what
I don't know. And because I still don't know about that,
I am going to be a little bit leery to bet,
and that's something the XFL does not want. On the
other side of the break, we talk quarterback news and
quarterback Merry go Round. I've been hearing some things. I'm
sure you have to some new addresses. We keep playing
(35:59):
the will they stay or will they go? Game? It's
fantasy Freestyle right here on sports Grid. Come on back,
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Sports Grade will provide you with a real time content,
(36:22):
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the fanatic. This is Sports Gride. Get off the grid,
(36:46):
Welcome back Fantasy Freestyle. Here on Sports Grade episode four
thirties six you have to spit the statistician holding you
down for another fifteen minutes. Um, we were talking about
the XFL and were right, Fasano, Fasano down there in
the pit of misery holding it down. Dilly dilly to
the crew down there. You know what it is, Um.
(37:08):
You know it's still early. We're gonna see teams try
for three. We're gonna find out one of these offenses
is going to realize real soon that they're in efficient offense.
And guess what, They're gonna go for two right away
in the first quarter. You know, I think it just
throws off the dynamic. It's interesting, Alex. You also made
an interesting point that we haven't seen like the double pass,
which is something that people were like, how is this
gonna work out? We haven't seen that just yet. Easy either.
(37:31):
One last thing on the XFL, Alex. So I'm adopting
to Houston Roughnecks. Okay it for the betting markets people.
There are four teams in each conference. Okay, four out East,
four in the West. It is a ten game regular season, Alex. Okay, ye.
After one week. Do you know that Houston was the
(37:51):
only team that won in the Western Conference, So they
had right, So they have a full game lead on
everybody in their division. And there's only ten games. This
is not a six team game season. This is a
ten game season. So having a game lead on everybody
is just a bigger lead then if it was a
(38:11):
sixteen game season. And so that's all I'm gonna say
to that point too, like you said it before, but
the public isn't informed Johnson was out, That's right. One
week where you don't have your starters isn be the
difference because it's listen, it is a bigger chunk of
the season. Absolutely, But let's turn to the guys who
played the highest level of football out there. Okay, the NFL, alright,
in the last week, here's what we're hearing. It's official.
(38:33):
Philip Rivers and the Chargers are partying ways right, There's
a lot. There's even odds up Alex of where Philip
Rivers may end up, Tampa and Indianapolis. We heard he's
moving his family to Florida. We know he has history
with Frank Reich. Uh. Those are probably reasons why the
Buccaneers and the Colts are favorite. There. I'm hearing, I'm
(38:53):
hearing stuff, and these are all about quarterbacks, Alex, that
we talked about and we played the game last week.
I'm hearing quote unquote things are fixing to heat up
with Dak Prescott and the Cowboys and their contract negotiations.
Panthers general manager Marty Hernie will not answer questions about
Cam Newton, and silence is golden when it comes to
(39:16):
will he stay or will he go? Um. The Bengals
are saying that they are willing to deal Andy Dalton
to a place that appeases him, that is a good
fit for him. Andy Dalton would one year seventeen million
dollars left. Um, And then I heard some rumors. I
don't buy it, but there are some rumors out there
(39:38):
about Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions. Let me tell
you why it won't happen. Uh. If he moves on,
it is a thirty two million dollar cap hit for
the Detroit Lions to like not be there. Okay, Yeah,
the time maybe waning with Stafford and and the Detroit Lions,
but he'll be there this year, all right. So Um,
(39:58):
we played a little bit of this game last week, Alex.
We said we'll tee will will certain players stay? Will
they go? And will they be a backup or a
um a starter. We talked about guys like Cam Newton,
Philip Rivers, Andy Dalton put the graphic up that we
have if you got it there, okay, So I love it.
First of all, my man Steve in the pit of
(40:20):
misery making the graphics for us. Right. So the top
right our guys we thought will be playing for new
teams but are still starters. The top left are starters
that we think will stay. We think Car stays with
the Raiders, Prescott does eventually sign or get tagged in Dallas.
Tannehill gets that money to stay in Tennessee. Brady you
(40:40):
can yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. And
Ryan Fitzpatrick, listen, they brought in um offensive coordinator that
he has experienced with. They're gonna sling it there in Miami.
Now here's what we have here now, Alex, because we
have decided we think Andy Dalton is moving on, Cam
Newton is moving on, Philip Rivers is moving on, and
Jamis Winston is moving on. And then you think Teddy
(41:05):
Bridgewater stays but as a backup, and you think Jacobe
Brissette stays but as a backup. So to me, that means,
and let me see if we got this right, Alex,
you think since he will have a new quarterback, you
think Carolina will have a new quarterback. You think the Chargers,
you think the Bucks, you think the Indianapolis Colts, and
(41:28):
you think New Orleans are in the quarterback market. So
one name we didn't necessarily put, you can take down
the graphic. Now, Alex, what do we think about Drew Brees?
Is Drew Brees gonna retire? Is he walking away? Is
he coming back from one last hurrah? What's going on
with Breeze? I remember we were talking about this last week.
I think if he had one the Super Bowl, no question,
he's done off into the sun. Teddy retiring to finish
business exactly. But now I think, yeah, he's he's probably
(41:49):
got like back of Ben roethlisbergermedia. As an a Steelers fan,
I have to get the Steelers in there. Um, I think,
you know, he's probably got one maybe two years left
in him. Finale comes, then you free stays. Then you
continue to think Teddy Bridgewater stays absolutely because then you think,
then what about Taysom Hill. See he was saying too
he does he thinks he deserves to be a start.
They cannot pay. All three are exactly. I think you
(42:10):
gotta keep Teddy. You have to keep Teddy. So Taysom
Hill is on the market, you think, I think as
a utility player, he could be more valuable on the market.
But Teddy Bridgewater loves being there, he loves learning from
the freeze, and he's stepped in for them this past
season and we've seen him win. So I think Teddy
has a comfortable spot. So what we're talking about here,
it sounds like we're talking about Alex We're talking about
since Carolina, Tampa, the Chargers, the Colts, right, yep, and
(42:39):
put the graphic up one more time if you can.
And these guys on the right are they are the
quarterbacks you think will be kind of playing musical chairs
that are out there in the market. Right, And let's
not act. Let's not forget. You know, you can take
it off. Let's not forget. You know, Joe Burrow will
be an answer somewhere. Absolutely, justin her will be an
(43:00):
answer somewhere. Tah. I kind of think toa goes to
Miami and you talk about Fitzpatrick is already there. He'll
be there as a bridge to us still healing up,
you know that kind of thing. So really, some of
these openings, like everybody's connecting the dots on Joe Burrow
with the number one overall pick to the Cincinnati Bengals, right,
(43:21):
oh yeah, even though I heard rumors that they were
saying they wanted to shop it. But so what does
that then mean for Dalton exactly? Do you think they
trust them? And what does that mean for one of
these backup guys? Like does Mariota for example, get signed
as an insurance policy backup with Cincinnati? Were they to
keep for like not not to draft They're gonna draft Carrow. No,
(43:41):
they're gonna draft Borrow. But without Andy Dalton, then your
QB two on that roster becomes Ryan Finley, who we
saw last year, right, And so with a rookie quarterback,
do you really want Ryan Finley as the backup? Know? Right?
So that maybe where the where the case Keenums, the
Joe Flacco's come in, right, the Tarad Taylors, That's where
(44:02):
those kind of names may come in as well. So
the merry go round is endless. But do you believe
in your heart of hearts Burrow is the pick for
Cincinnati at one, I think all the hy are not.
You just gotta go so then you know so, then Carolina,
the Chargers, the Bucks, the Colts. Here's the first dot
I'm going to connect. I think Philip Rivers is going
(44:26):
to be the starting quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts next year.
And I say this because he has a history with
Frank Reich. If you are a borderline Hall of Famer
entering your seventeenth season, you know what you don't want
to do have to deal with a coach who you
have to want to build trust with who you are like,
you don't know, if you buy into what's happening, you
(44:47):
will want a respected coach. Now, Bruce Arians is that,
but he has experience with Frank Reich. And as we
talked about in this game already, Jacoby Brissette we think
is a backup. I think there's a fit there. And
here's the other part. You know what I don't think
is strong in Tampa Bay. The offensive line. You know
what is an Indie and offensive line. I think Philip
(45:07):
Rivers needs that offensive line in front of him. He'll
have guys like t Y Hilton, He'll have a running game,
he has tight ends on that roster who he could
like you know, and so I believe Rivers is a
fit for lost for Indianapolis. As we begin to connect
the dots, what do you think where where do you think?
Since I wish we could add maybe like a as
weird as it says, a retired uh of the quad.
(45:29):
You mentioned that, and that is very interesting. Okay, because
we have this on fan duel, Philip Rivers. Next team,
the Buccaneers are the favorites at plus one seventy. The
Indianapolis cultol I'm mentioning, are the second choice at two
to one. Alex No team slash retired is the third
choice for Philip Rivers. That's six to one. Then we
(45:50):
see Miami, the Vegas Raiders, the Carolina Panthers, the Bears,
the Titans, and the New England Patriots. It's interesting all
teams that we were just talking about will be on
the Merry Go Round. Okay, so they think Tampa. The
books say Tampa. I say, Indie, you want to bet
no team that he retires. I'm just saying because I
think the Cults fits. The Colts is definitely a fit.
The question is will he get along with Jacoby bris said, matter,
(46:13):
I think it does. Considering Jacobe was the guy last season,
maybe he wants to be like, let me see if
I can have an opportunity to dethrone a potential future
caller quarterback. Interesting, So we didn't cover this because we
said Jacoby Brissette was gonna stay and be a backup.
You know where else Jacoby Brissette could do that. His
former team in New England is India. As the Patriots say,
(46:34):
Belichick likes him sure right, like Jared's Stidham is not
necessarily the man there, right they You know, maybe Jacoby
Brissette is a safe security blanket that Brady knows is
not the real threat for a year. But Belichick is
familiar with him. Brisett knows it. He'll know what have
He'll have an opportunity. Don't don't look now about that one.
(46:55):
You think Jamis goes somewhere that creates an opportunity in Tampa,
and that means Jamis has to go somewhere where Where
in the hell does Jamis go? Well, he's got new eyes,
so I'm sure somebody's gonna be looking at him. And
as he's gotta be someone who like I think I
said this last week, it's gotta be someone who has
enough of a of a defense to to make up
(47:16):
for his interceptions. Essentially, so because you know you're gonna
get four touchdowns with James, but you're gonna get four interceptions.
What about the Chargers? Do you think he's gonna want
to move across? Don't you like that? I don't know.
He's gonna go wherever his options. It's where are his
options he'll go where If if the Charges were the
only team that are gonna offer starter level money, then
that's where he's gonna go. And maybe him and to
(47:36):
Rod they fight it out. That could be an interesting one.
I am also very intrigued by the Carolina Panthers because listen,
they bring in Matt Rule, right, they bring in Joe
Brady as the coordinator there, and they've got this Sean
Payton system. We saw what happened in l s U.
Who do you think that is the fit for? Is
that like Andy Dalton doesn't move the number the needle?
(47:57):
There are they gonna try to trade up get Joe Burrow.
The guy that they know it'll work because Brady worked
with him, is an Andy Dalton. That guy I don't
really think so. Do they make a play for Philip Rivers?
I don't think that fits. It's very interesting, Alex. We
will continue this conversation and by the time we'd come back,
(48:18):
maybe Dac is signed or franchised, maybe someone else. Parts ways,
we'll keep our eye on it. We'll keep on moving
that graph throughout. We'll see if the Astros fully apologized,
and we'll see if the Houston Roughnecks continue their dominance
of the Western Conference of the XFL. Come on back
n see free Style next week. I'm out.
Hey, thanks for downloading the podcast. If you want to
listen live, all you have to do is download the
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Enjoy the show and thanks so much for listening. You
(00:20):
are now about to witness the strength of fantasy knowledge.
You are now tunes into Speeds to Spitting Statistician on
Fantasy Freestyle. Next on that sie Fu mic on the microphone.
You know that I'm one of the best yet Martinez,
(00:54):
you know what it is. It's boy, Dame Martinez a
k A. Speeds a k A to Spitting Statistician a
k A. This stable genius and vocal minority. And welcome
to another edition of the Fantasy Freestyle right here on
the Sports Grid Network, episode number four hundred and thirties six,
the four hundred and thirty six convening of the Stats
over Beat Cipher. When we help you win your leagues
(01:16):
and win that cash, and we do it all while
putting the fun and functional sports content. The Status over
Beat Cipher Ready to rock. My boys down in the
pit of misery ready to rock. We got Fasano, we
got Venmo Brian. Big shout out to my man dany
Otto out there in the meadowlands as well, if he
can hear me. Big time week. Okay, you may think
it's a down part of the sports calendar, but here
(01:38):
we focus on football. We are going to continue the
conversation I had with Alex last week about free agency,
the merry go round. Where might some of these key
free agents go at other positions. We talked about running
backs and wide receivers. We thought a little bit about
the quarterback position. There have been some updates since we
last talk. We'll get into that quarterback market later on
(02:02):
in this show. XFL also popping off. Okay, we'll talk
about the XFL takeaways. What was good, what was less good.
Everyone is pretty much coming up roses for the XFL.
We'll talk about my biggest takeaways with Alex Fasano as well.
And I don't know if you've heard about this guy's
(02:22):
but Major League Baseball they're tinkering a little bit. Okay,
They've announced some rules that are going to go effect
into effect this season. We'll talk about it down there
with the guys in the Pit of Misery. We'll talk
about it with the Status over Beat Cipher And there
is a pole question up as usual hit me up
at spitting speeds. I want to know which is the
biggest name quarterback that will change addresses in this offseason?
(02:47):
Do you believe it might be Tom Brady? Is it
Philip Rivers? Who? I guess they're parting ways? What is it,
guy like Cam Newton? Someone else? Let me know. We
will get into all of that and more with the
Status over Beats Cipher. Episode up A four hundred and
thirty six well, by the way, a critically acclaimed show.
Right now we get the latest news from a man
faz in the Pitch Sports Grade News Update. I am
(03:16):
Alex Fasano with your sports Gride news update here on
the fantasy Freestyle in the NBA. For his team to
beat the Toronto Raptors. Nets coach Kenny Atkinson said that
Brooklyn's effort and complete level has got to be two
levels higher than normal. We have to pitch close to
a perfect game and beat this team. Well, the Nets
fulfilled that nearly perfect metaphoric pitch, defeating the Raptors one
(03:39):
on one to snapping Toronto's fifteen game win streak. Brooklyn's
win came only four nights after the Nets lost by
one point to the Raptors in Scotia Bank Arena. Kyle Lowry,
the Raptors guard, said afterward, we were like walking zombies.
We didn't play well tonight, simple as that we missed shots,
We weren't aggressive. With Toronto streak ending a fifteen Milwaukee
Bucks hold the law win streak of this season at
(04:01):
eighteen games. Sticking with the NBA Phoenix Suns, Vivin Booker
will replace the injured Damian Lillard in the All Star
Games three point contest. NBA named Booker as Lillard's replacement Thursday,
one day after the Trailblazers star suffered a right groin
injury right groin strain to be more specific. Booker will
make his first career All Star appearance in his fifth season.
(04:22):
The former Kentucky star is the NBA's tenth leading scorer
averaging twenty six point four points per game and in
the NFL will His status with the type of a
Bucks going into next season remains up in the air.
Quarterback Jamis Winston has taken steps to correct his knee
hear sidedness. His representative, Denise White, said he had LASIK
and he didn't want to count out any options that
(04:43):
he had that could possibly help him win the game
he loves so much. Winston has struggled with near sightedness
throughout his career. When he was at Florida State, television
cameras frequently panned to a squinting Winston. You got NBA, NHL,
and college hoops. Tonight. In the NBA two games before
the All Star Break, the l A Clipper is visiting
the Boston Celtic. Celtics are your two point favorites. The
total is two and a half. And the Oklahoma City
(05:06):
Thunder visit the New Orleans Pelicans. This line is moving
a little bit. It's now three point favorites for the Pelicans.
The total is two thirty three and a half. I'm
Alex Possano for your Sports Created News update. Gonna sit
back to the spitting statistician, Dame Martinez on the Fantasy Freestyle.
Thanks a lot, Alex. Back down there in the pit,
shout out to the pit, Dilley, Dilley, to all the
(05:28):
guys down there. They're doing Yeoman's work, making us look good,
making us sound good. You know, I gotta ask you, though,
Alex Jamis Winston getting lace six is hysterical to me.
Isn't it like the idea that the man is gonna
throw for thirty picks? Oh yeah, he did an eye surgery.
Oh he can't see a word like this is hysterical
(05:49):
to me, that the guy coming off his thirty interception season.
It's like, yeah, we need to fix his eyesight. Yeah exactly.
And plus you it's true though, like cameras did used
to panda all the time and it was squint ng
and can you even see? And and coach arians said
after the season this year he was like, yeah, well
he can see the players in front of him, but
not the scoreboard. So we're finally yeah. Well, Also, what
(06:10):
b A Is saying is that you know they can
win with Jamis, they can win with anybody else as well.
Remember Alex, we're gonna talk about the quarterback Merry Go
Round a little bit later on in the show. Jamis's name,
Philip Rivers his name, These are names that will be
on it. I also want to listen in the in
the gambling world, right, the NFL made an interesting higher. Um,
I think it was last week they are hiring their
(06:32):
first ever VP of sports wagering, Okay, And I think
this is interesting. I think this is a signal that
we're even fully embracing it a little bit more. And honestly,
I think this has a in response to the XFL.
The XFL is unabashedly talking about lines, talking about totals
on the broadcast, posting it in graphics, and everyone's still okay.
(06:54):
You know, it's not all of a sudden becoming some
crazy degenerate like black hole, right, And so I think
the NFL has to respond. They're seeing more and more
states legalized sports investing, They're seeing the XFL be explicit
out there with it. So that cross also another higher
in the NFL that I want to mention. Jennifer King. Okay,
(07:14):
she was the Carolina Panthers intern during the two thousand
seventeen season. She will join the Washington football team as
a full time assistant coach. This marks the first hire
of an African American woman on an NFL staff as
a full time coach. She joins Tampa Bay who as
a D line coach Laurie Locus and the San Francisco
(07:37):
forty Niners, who has a offensive assistant, Katie Sowers. You
saw her in uh commercials throughout the Super Bowl. Uh so.
Uh you know, kudos, I guess to the Washington football
team first ever African American female. Uh so, those are
some key hires. Let's talk a little bit about Alex's
baseball stuff. You know we had in the update you
were talking about n B A NHL, UH. MLB was
(08:01):
interestingly absent, and the Astros, you know, pitches and catches
are reporting this week. The Astros came out, they ran
out Bregmant, they ran out al To to talk for
combined ninety seconds when they were like, yeah, we apologize,
We're really sorry. And then they were pressed a little
bit in locker rooms and someone asked out to um,
(08:21):
were you wearing anything in two thousand nineteen, in two
thousand seventeen, in two thousand eighteen, did you have wearables on?
Why the hell didn't you want these guys to rip
off your shirt when you hit that home run? By
the way, Gary Sanchez has already said, if I hit
a walk off in the ALCS, you can rip my
damn pants off for all I care. And now Tuve's
response was really interesting, and I gotta tell you something.
(08:43):
It's what guilty people do. They asked ol TV, did
you have any wearables? You know what the right answer
is there, No, absolutely not. That's not what A said.
What Al said is major League Baseball investigated and they
didn't find anything. Are you kidding me? That's like in
the steroids, being like my name was never on a
(09:03):
Mitchell report. You know, I think they're being a little
bit cute with it as well. You hear Verlander Korea,
you hear Springer out there talking, and then also you
heard Jim Crane, and I thought it was ridiculous. He
literally said he won't use the word cheating. He says
we broke the rules, and then he had the audacity
(09:29):
to say that he doesn't think in effect it affected
any competitive balance or any outcomes. I'm gonna tell you
something in Fantasy baseball coming up, I ain't drafting Bregman
in the in the in the first round. I ain't
drafted Al Twove as my as the top second basement
on the board. I'm gonna take a weight and see
attitude on this. It's the same way as like someone
(09:50):
used to play in Colorado and Course Field for years
and then they moved there, Like, are his numbers still real?
Is it okay? Y'all didn't think dj le Mayhew was
gonna do what he did last year for the Yankees.
Why because it's numbers were from coors Field. Larry Walker
wasn't a Hall of Famer for years? What do we
know about all twas numbers? What do we know about Bregman?
(10:11):
Here's what I mean to take it to the gambling world. Right,
I look, guys at the A L West numbers right
now where the Houston Astros are still minus two eighty favorites.
You got the Oakland A's at plus three forty, and
you have the l A Angels at eight to one.
I'm telling you if you believe that this is going
(10:33):
to be a big deal that the Astros offense will
be impacted this year because you know they don't know
the signs, and take a gang throughout the Oakland A's
at plus three forty. Take a gander at the Los
Angeles Angels who got Rendon? Who signed other kind of
guys like Julio Tehran, Dylan Bundy. Right, you got Otani
coming back. You still have the best player in the
(10:54):
game and Mike Drought there if you want to fade
the Astros because this stain this cloud. I encourage you
to look at the a L West when the A's
and the Angels are at big time numbers. But that's
not the only thing that happened in Major League Baseball.
We're gonna talk about it a little bit more on
the other side of the break, Alex, I want to
know how do you feel about some of these rules
(11:16):
changes that are happening. The playoff format may be different,
the idea of the lefty specialist that's going away, and
rosters are expanding. We're gonna talk about those three things.
I want to get Alex's take on them as well,
and then we will turn our attention to the XFL
takeaways of Week one and NFL offseason and free agency.
All that and more Fantasy Freestyle. Come on back. Are
(11:41):
you ready for the nation's first and only, free, twenty
four hour network dedicated to you the betting and fantasy
sports enthusiast. Sports Crede will provide you with a real
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City and inside the Fandel Sports Book at them the
Lens Sports Create. He's live eighteen hours a day here
(12:03):
to serve you the fanatic. This is sports crade. Get
on the grid, welcome back. You know what it is,
Fantasy Freestyle here episode four thirties six. We're making it
(12:25):
happen here critically acclaimed three time nominee for the Best
radio show in the Industry. I'm spending statistician holding it down.
I got my man, Alex Passano in the pit of misery.
It's like real love your little Mary J. Blige. As
we cruise into Valentine's Day. You got a real love, Alex. Oh,
girls have cooties. Okay, I see this is millennial over here. Okay, fine, fine,
(12:49):
uh you know I got some Valentine's Day stuff going
on tomorrow. Good for you. I'm making happy. Please please
celebrate for both of us. You know. It's interesting though,
I think, as you know, I'm getting married at the
end of the month, right, so we're trying to necessarily
we're trying to do home play the Valentine's Day because
you know, in about two or three weeks there will
be more than enough celebration going on and you know,
and it will cost a pretty penny, so we're keeping
(13:10):
it tight right now. But in any event, you know, Alex,
we talked about this. I mentioned kind of the Astros
trying to get up in front of the microphone al
tuve Um Bregman, Jim Crane. It left me feeling empty, Alex. Honestly,
it did not make it sound like they were truly accountable.
It's almost like they wanted to do it because they
thought that that would have it blow over. This is
not going to blow over, Alex. No, I mean, like
(13:33):
I was telling you before during the break like it
sounded like the Astros were just trying to use this
as a as a cover up or just like a
quick publicitly stunted, keeping people happy, let them get a
stage bad and then move on and keep it moving. Backfire,
complete backfire. Bregnan gave no intuitions, nine ban what what
was even the point? Like you said, maybe maybe if
they were in front of the team in the front
office would have been a little better look. Maybe if
(13:54):
they actually got a little in detail. Hey, yeah, you
know what I actually did mess up. Instead of just
saying I'm sorry for the decisions, I made. It was
just a complete backfire for the Astrows in my opinion, Yeah,
I agree with you, and and and and we're gonna
see how big of an impact this is over the
course of this year. Right. Do I think jose Al
too is still a good player? Do I think Springer
and Bregman and their crew and Korea? Yes, I do.
(14:16):
But we're gonna find out, you know. And so I'm
gonna stay away from them until they proved. Right there,
like you're saying it right here, I'm staying away from
him that's already affected by the stress conference absolutely immediate reaction.
And I do not know how much of an impact
them having the damn signs and knowing if it was
the fastball off speed, I don't know. I know I
(14:37):
played college baseball, Alex. I'll tell you what, if you
told me if it was all speed or fastball, my
average would be about fifty points higher. So we'll see.
But but Alex, that was not the only thing we're
here in at a major league bseball. I want to
bound some of these proposals off of you real quick,
because one of the things we're hearing is that or
I guess it's been decided. Um, if you come on
(14:58):
in now, you gotta face a minimum of the three batters. Alex,
and I think this is very interesting, especially with as
you know, the lefty specialists. It spans you know, decades
and generations, right, you know, so that idea of the
lefty specialist. You better get right these out too, you know,
because they're not gonna be able to mix and match
in the seventh and eighth inning. And here's what I
(15:20):
don't get about this, Alex. Where is the Players Association
on this, Because if they were going to eliminate the
d H, let's say the Players Association be piste off.
That's like fifteen people's jobs that are going by the wayside,
where there are dozens of guys in Major League Baseball
right now who will lose all of their value to
(15:43):
be gainfully employed if this rule holds, you know, like
you're gonna bring in a guy to face the lefty
and then he's gonna get blown up when lineups you know,
have switch hitters or stack lefty verse right righty, lefty,
righty lefty. I think this is really weird. Okay, Now,
if there's two outs in the inning, you want to
bring him in because if the ends the inning, then
it's okay. But I find an issue with this for
(16:03):
the lefty specialist. And also, let's say you bring in
a reliever Alex and he just ain't got it and
the first batter boom, second batterer boom. You gotta do
he has to face the third hitter. Nah, I don't
want to give him the hook. So so, so what
do you think about this? Man? I just think I
see what they're doing. I see what major League. I
think they're gonna spead the game act. But it's it's
(16:25):
the same thing with the Astros. You think you're gonna
do one thing with this, and it's a complete backfire.
Like we get it. We just had Tom Gladden on
the morning after today. He said he used to hate
watching managers walk up every single time after the seventh
inning because he knew, oh, here comes after the seventh
you know, three trips to the mound in one inning. Um,
so I get it, but this is not the way
to go about it. You're gonna ruin careers. Listen, and
(16:45):
let's put these both together. The Astros got caught cheating,
and the big part was the technology. Right, where the
hell is the technology in this if you want right,
if you want to uh robot um, but if you
want to pull your picture, why does a sixth year
old man have to walk out to the mound, like,
can't they just buzz something? Can't they just send the signal,
(17:09):
just walk off saying like, oh, I'm done, let me
just let me just walk up instead of going up
there you're like, oh, this big, this is a tough
pinch hitter. Let me give you the scouting report on it.
You can't have a microphone on the guy's helmet the
same way there is in the NFL, the same way
there is everywhere else. Why maybe it's because they're already
using these things to cheat. It's ridiculously, it's ridiculous. Um.
Here's the other thing. I think it's interesting, Alex. They're
going to a twenty six man roster. There will be
(17:32):
an extra roster spot, okay on Major League Baseball rosters
this year, And I think this is incredibly fascinating. What
would you do with your last man, Alex? What would
you do with that last player? You have a roster
spot that you didn't have last year? What is this?
Is it another bullpen arm? Well, guy's gotta phase three batters. Now,
is it a super utility? Guy? What would you do
(17:53):
with this twenty six man? I know what I'm gonna
do with it. I personally use the utility because it
eliminates the whole picture. I expect, you know what I mean,
Like you said, you just said three three batters, Like, oh,
so it was you don't need an extra need exactly,
we don't need this big of a bullpen. I think
this could be two things. I think this could be
played two ways. One, this could be the opening of
a door to Major League Baseball teams going to the
six man rotation. Alex. They do it. They do it
(18:17):
in Japan. We talk about the stress the innings pitched right,
and how we have to lessen the stress on these
pictures because there's such assets right and assigning long term contracts.
But they have Tommy John surgery. It happens in Japan already, Alex.
What about the six man rotation? I believe rotations will
be a lot different in Major League Baseball. You know,
fast forward five years, right, some teams are using the openers.
(18:40):
We're doing all sorts of ways. We know what it
does to the stress on the human arm. We are
pushing the limits of human performance six man rotation. Haven't
we seen some teams already experiment to these essence last
year or in the previous years. In essence, Alex, the
Dodgers are trying to cheat the system. Okay. Remember they
also had the ten man i l last year. So
(19:03):
what they were doing, and they had a couple of
guys that were on the shuttle bus from Triple A, right,
guys like May, guys like Urious Guy, you know, others,
guys like Strippling. Even that they were able to massage
the injured list, right and the Triple A Major League
shuttle and in essence manage their roster so that they
did do that. Okay, So I think that's one way
(19:25):
to look. Here's the other thing I would do, and
this is gonna sound crazy, but you know me, I'm
the spitting statistician, Alex. I would just employ a world
class sprinter, a pure speed guys, straight pinch runner, straight
pinch runner. Yep, that's that would be my man. I
would get Usain Bolt or someone pure speed. Okay, because
(19:48):
here's the thing. Do you talk about that super utility man? Cool? Okay,
we don't need the bullpen guy. Now, maybe it's a starter,
but like what we do need and I this is
going away in baseball, right, the stolen bases going away.
But if you're in a two two game, Alex, and
you know that this picture has to face three batters
and you get your leadoff man on, I'm bringing in
(20:09):
my pinch runner, my guy that the whole damn stadium
knows is gonna steal and it doesn't matter because he's
that damn fast. Okay, we don't have these guys anymore,
the pinch runner, and especially in the playoffs where things
get tight, you know what I mean, especially in close
games towards the end. That is a skill set that
is vanishing that I believe with an extra spot, could
(20:31):
he be like some kind of super utility defender. Could
he be someone who could play all three outfield positions? Sure,
But the primary skill set I want on Man twenty
six on my roster is speed. Alex, what say you?
I like it. I think it's a great idea, especially
because like you're saying with it, if if a picture
stuck up there for three batters and it's like, oh,
all I need to do is it a single off?
This home run. I don't have to go for power
(20:53):
from first, it's going all the way to the other
corner on third. I think it's a great idea. Yeah,
I would like let's keep an eye out on this, okay, Alex.
I want to see, um how teams start to use
this extra spot in the roster, especially when you factor
in we don't need to have as many people in
the bullpen because you can't mix a match. You can't
just burn through them all in an inning and a half,
(21:15):
you know, or an ending and third. Okay, So I
think that is gonna be very interesting. You gotta keep
an eye out on that. The last thing I'm hearing,
Alex is the idea of seven teams making the playoffs,
uh right, and and then ironically division winners getting to
pick their opponent. That's crazy to me. MLB is MTV
(21:36):
now Day. Yeah, they wanted to be like a reality show.
They wanted to be a big thing like where you know,
we unveil stuff. I think they're going way too far.
Here's what's gonna happen, Alex. It's kind of like a
be careful what you wish for, right the first time
someone you know, like the Yankees or whatever. They're like,
we want to see Minnesota in the first round and
then Minnesota beats them. Who's gonna take the blame for that?
(21:58):
Does the coach get fired? Does the GM who makes
this decision of who they want to play? The organization?
Is that the GM? Is that the owner? Is that
the manager? I think it's a slippery slope, you know.
And and do you really trust teams and managers to
make the right decision on who they want to face?
I don't. I think it's really really weird. I think
(22:19):
they're trying to over engineer at alex for for TV.
You said, it's like their MTV right now right They
want to produce and make a TV show out of it.
They see what's happening in all these other leagues they
haven't been able to do it, by example, for example,
with with their Major League Baseball Draft, or the same
way the NFL and the NBA has, So they're looking
to make a made for TV program. It sounds like
(22:40):
they're trying to be And my initial thought after hearing oh,
they want to do a reality show for it, my
initial thult was NBA with the All Star Draft, they
want to make a show out of it. It's crazy.
But that's the thing. Major League Baseball is not the
National Basketball Association. It can't be. Let's keep an eye
out on that. Let's see if this comes through. I
want to see how teams manage the three in it
a three batter limit or minimum, let's say. And I
(23:03):
want to see how teams are using this. Man, if
you see me on you know, if you hit me
on the chatting room, if you hit me on Twitter
at spitting speeds, let me know what you think about
the twenties six man, and let me know what you
think about you know, the lefty specialist. How is the
Players Association not you know, arguing this for collective bargaining?
I do not know. I mean, quick check up on
the poll question Alex. Right now, thirty seven percent say
(23:26):
Philip Rivers will be the biggest name quarterback to move.
Say Tom Brady, say Cam Newton and h nobody has
voted others. We know Philip Rivers likely will be moving.
So the question is does Brady go somewhere? Does Cam
go somewhere? We're gonna talk about that. Yeah, we're gonna
talk about that. The merry go round continues on the
(23:48):
other side of the break Here Fantasy freestyle Here on
sports Grid, we talk QB Merry Go Round. But first,
I don't know if y'all saw, but the XFL popped
off last week. You know it's pretty good. We'll talk
about it on the other side of the break. Fantasy
freestyle right here on sports Grade. Are you ready for
(24:13):
the nation's first and only, free, twenty four hour network
dedicated to you, the betting and fantasy sports enthusiasts. Sportscrade
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FanDuel Sports book at the meadow Lands Sports Crade, he's
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(24:37):
This is Sports Grade. Get all the grid, yo, Get
your freak on? All right, Alexan Valentine's Day? You get
your freak on? Or do they still have cooties? I
don't know if they have different Maybe I have coodies
(24:58):
because it seems to look my land it be brother Man.
Fantasy Freestyle here on sports Grid. This is what we do, Okay.
We help you win your leagues and when that cash.
We gotta pull question up. I am intrigued to see
who you guys think will be the biggest name moving.
Alex and I will continue our conversation on the quarterback
free agency, trade draft, Merry go around later on in
(25:19):
this show, Alex. The x f L kicked off, uh
last week alright, So you know, uh, we had some
I thought good games, Okay. I I gotta tell you something.
I thought, Yes, the quality of play was a little
bit lower, okay. And we saw some places where like
(25:40):
guys were just blowing assignments, like the DC defenders would
have blocked point. I was like, oh that could be
you know, that was pretty bad. He he whipped on
a block. You know, some trick plays. There were definitely
some plays where it was obvious they were attacking people
that were not, you know, professional football players, right. So
I understand that. But I've got about six or seven
(26:01):
things here that were takeaways from the XFL that are
varying in terms of like how good they were or
if there's something that could be done away with. And
I gotta tell you, Alex, I think that the XFL
is onto something in a lot of ways. A lot
of the feedback has been positive, and there's even a
rule that I think the NFL and college football need
(26:21):
to adopt a sap, Alex, you know what's one it is?
It is the kickoff absolutely absolutely Okay, it's the kickoff
a linement. First of all, the first time I saw it, Alex,
it looked weird, right, It was just visually looked weird
with the two lines of guys on the other side.
But honestly, it combines excitement and player safety. Like any
(26:44):
rule that can bring excitement and be under the guys
of player safety sounds good. You know, you don't want
these kickoff team guys running for sixty yards for these
crazy collisions. Okay, that's why they moved up the kickoff
in the NFL to try and have more touchbacks because
they don't want those violent collisions. This takes away the
violent collision, and then they put in penalties for touchbacks
(27:07):
and stuff to encourage an actual runback, balancing excitement of
the game and player safety. Alex, I absolutely love this,
and I honestly think combined with the touch at the
touch back penalties, this is like number one thing that
the XFL got right in my opinion, so much so
that I don't see why the NFL and college football
(27:28):
don't adopt it as soon as possible. Oh. I think
it's a collection of number one things that they got right.
This is definitely one of them. It's one of them
we're gonna go through for sure. But let me let
me just say this, Um, when you did you did
you see any penalties on like a block of the
backs or anything on that of the golf? So so
they're right there, tells you this is a good idea
word because also you know, when you're just you're your
five ten yards apart, there isn't that weird crackback block.
(27:52):
There isn't that, you know, there's more less time for
the formations to get warped. Quite frankly, so I agree
with you on that. Here's the other thing that I
truly loved. But we'll never come. But I don't think
will come to the NFL. Everyone's miked up, Alex. Everyone
is miked up, right. You can hear the play calling
coming in. You can hear the quarterback with the hot reads.
(28:14):
You can hear them trying to align the wide receivers up.
You could also hear the referees, Alex, and I thought
that was incredible, huge and you could hear the replay booth. Alex,
I thought that was great and you can see them
working through it. Okay, so this is actually incomplete, So
the ball needs to be spotted here, we run the
time back because we don't we don't trust it these days.
(28:38):
Right in the NFL. You're like, I don't know if
they're gonna get it right, you know, and and and
we're like, what were they looking at here? At least
you see and hear what they were looking at. I
also saw a play that you know, Pat McAfee, who's
on the sideline. These guys are interviewing players right as
they come off the field, whether they made a great
play or a bone head play, and seeing the thoughts
(28:58):
with them. That level of access on the sidelines, the
coaches headset, and the refs and the replay booth, I
think it's awesome. Okay, I don't think. I don't think
it's gonna like be able to happen in the NFL.
But like positive mark in the column for the XFL,
hunh absolutely, And you're right, it probably won't happen in
the NFL, because we did see it too this past weekend.
(29:18):
I gotta be careful the f bombs. You gotta, you gotta.
We're trying to make it happen. These guys are probably
it's live, that's the thing. I don't think NFL will
ever adopt that. But one more thing to this point,
Dane um they I don't think they were hearing those
refs in the replay at the stadium, were they? No?
I think that was the TV was just a TV thing.
So does this hinder the XFL from a live stand?
(29:41):
That's what I was going to on television because the attendance,
the ticket sales are going through the roof, Alex. But
I gotta tell you the truth. I'd rather watch an
XFL game on TV because of some of the things
you're saying. Right, I get to see behind the curtain
a little bit. Right. But here's the other thing. It's
damn February in the Northeast, Alex. I am going I'm
(30:01):
I'm serious, like in Tampa, cool l A, cool, Houston,
cool d C, New York. I ain't sitting out and
freezing my ass off for three and a half hours
in mid to late February or early March. I ain't
paying money to freeze my ass off when I can
see it on TV. Absolutely, So you're not gonna go
to a half filled stadium too, because I think they
(30:22):
cut off like half the stadiums on top, so they
want people in the bowl in the lower area, so
you're only in half the stadium anyway. One of the
other things I will say, though, I saw the l
A Wildcats, I believe against the Houston Roughnecks. I took
that money line, do not remind me Wildcats? So l
A they drew more people to the stadium than the
damn Chargers. Hmm, I'm dead serious, interesting, dead serious, Alex.
(30:49):
There were more l A fans there for the damn
Wildcats or whatever the hell they're called than for the Chargers.
And the l A Wildcats are home again this week.
They have Dallas now. The only thing I want to say, also,
don't people care about recency bias? You know I was.
I was on there last week saying that I'm gonna
(31:09):
take the points. I'm gonna take underdogs because we're on
even footing with the people who capt these games, right,
the people who have the information. Don't all of a
sudden go too crazy, though, Alex. Okay, two of the
teams that lost were without their starting quarterbacks. And I
think people really really need to know about that. Okay,
you're talking about l A. Josh Johnson is their starting quarterback, Alex.
(31:32):
He wasn't in there, alright. They went to Kaf. They
went to the third stringer as well, because Kanaf wasn't
getting it done, all right. So Josh Johnson was nursing
a thigh injury. They say he may be back. So
the l A team you saw was not what it
will be because their starting quarterback wasn't there. The same. Um,
I think the Dallas team, Alex, the Dallas renegades. I
(31:54):
believe they are Landry Jones. He wasn't there as well,
all right, So that's something you gotta keep an eye on.
I gotta tell you something. I was impressed with Houston.
I was impressed with Houston, Alex for two main reasons,
and it it is the same themes that I talked
about in the NFL. You've heard me on this air, Alex.
In the NFL. I talked about that it was gonna
be one of these superhuman African American play making quarterbacks
(32:18):
who's gonna win the Super Bowl. And I said it
was either Patty Mahomes, Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson, or Lamar Jackson.
What do you know? It was this kid, P J.
Walker for Houston. Okay, he is a guy who can
be that playmaker, that dual threat from the quarterback position
in a way that card L. Jones ain't gonna be
Landry Jones ain't gonna be Josh Johnson ain't gonna be.
(32:40):
I like that they have the dual threat, and I
like that they're slinging it all over the field on
the defensive side, Alex, this Houston roughnext team, they got
a D line, Bro, they got a D line. They
are big Coney Eally among them. These are names I
know from the NFL. You give me the elements of
a playmaking quarterback and a D line that can get
(33:03):
pressure in this secondary football league where offensive line play.
I still believe in suspect I will like the Houston Roughnecks.
They're gonna be my adopted team. Playmaking quarterback, spread offense
and a D line that can get pressure. I think
you're onto something here, Dane, especially with Walker too. I
mean I was watching Look he looked a little like
Lamar Jackson, but he was moving around. He had some mobility,
(33:25):
so it was nice to see that. Um And also
till you look at Houston and there's the Dallas Renegades. Yeah,
there could be an in state rivalry here. That just
it's more to Houston wanting to play harder and play better.
I gotta tell you, so, Houston is gonna be my
adopted team. All right. The Houston Roughnecks are at home
laying eight points against the St. Louis battle Hawks. And
this comes to my last point, the one, two and
(33:47):
three point conversions. Alex, I think it's cool, but I
don't like it. I don't like it. Ultimately, I think
I understand they're trying to do something. I understand, no
extra points, I understand, get more offense on the field.
I understand it. Here's what I don't like about it.
And I'm sure you know I just now said the
Houston Roughnecks are eight point favorites this weekend. I've got
(34:12):
no idea, Alex, Because in the NFL, three and seven
are the key numbers, right, we know about this all
three verse three and a half. Right in the XFL.
That goes out the damn window, because these guys could
be attempting one, two, and three point conversions. If you're
down by eight, it don't matter. You go for three,
(34:32):
you know. And it is going to change the way
scoring happens to a point where I'm worried about the
key numbers that we know and love not really being
in play anymore. Right. I was just talking with my
man window Will, and he says he's on New York, right,
and he's like, oh, but New York is six and
a half and plus six and a half. And you
(34:53):
know what I texted him. I texted him, Yo, if
it gets to seven, let's hammer it. But that is
my NFL way of thinking. Seven is not the key
number in the XFL. And so I think that's gonna
take an adjustment for fans and sports investors, And to
be quite honest, it's too much of an adjustment for me.
(35:16):
It's it makes It gives me cause for pause to
put my money in. It really really does, Alex. Because
this eight point spread for Houston, the seven point spread
for d C at home this week against the Guardians,
I don't know if that's a key number or not.
It's gonna take me some time. Now. Nobody attempted the
three point conversion in week one. But what happens if
(35:37):
you're down by seven in the fourth quarter. That's what
I don't know. And because I still don't know about that,
I am going to be a little bit leery to bet,
and that's something the XFL does not want. On the
other side of the break, we talk quarterback news and
quarterback Merry go Round. I've been hearing some things. I'm
sure you have to some new addresses. We keep playing
(35:59):
the will they stay or will they go? Game? It's
fantasy Freestyle right here on sports Grid. Come on back,
dilly dilly to the crew out there. Are you ready
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(36:22):
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(36:46):
Welcome back Fantasy Freestyle. Here on Sports Grade episode four
thirties six you have to spit the statistician holding you
down for another fifteen minutes. Um, we were talking about
the XFL and were right, Fasano, Fasano down there in
the pit of misery holding it down. Dilly dilly to
the crew down there. You know what it is, Um.
(37:08):
You know it's still early. We're gonna see teams try
for three. We're gonna find out one of these offenses
is going to realize real soon that they're in efficient offense.
And guess what, They're gonna go for two right away
in the first quarter. You know, I think it just
throws off the dynamic. It's interesting, Alex. You also made
an interesting point that we haven't seen like the double pass,
which is something that people were like, how is this
gonna work out? We haven't seen that just yet. Easy either.
(37:31):
One last thing on the XFL, Alex. So I'm adopting
to Houston Roughnecks. Okay it for the betting markets people.
There are four teams in each conference. Okay, four out East,
four in the West. It is a ten game regular season, Alex. Okay, ye.
After one week. Do you know that Houston was the
(37:51):
only team that won in the Western Conference, So they
had right, So they have a full game lead on
everybody in their division. And there's only ten games. This
is not a six team game season. This is a
ten game season. So having a game lead on everybody
is just a bigger lead then if it was a
(38:11):
sixteen game season. And so that's all I'm gonna say
to that point too, like you said it before, but
the public isn't informed Johnson was out, That's right. One
week where you don't have your starters isn be the
difference because it's listen, it is a bigger chunk of
the season. Absolutely, But let's turn to the guys who
played the highest level of football out there. Okay, the NFL, alright,
in the last week, here's what we're hearing. It's official.
(38:33):
Philip Rivers and the Chargers are partying ways right, There's
a lot. There's even odds up Alex of where Philip
Rivers may end up, Tampa and Indianapolis. We heard he's
moving his family to Florida. We know he has history
with Frank Reich. Uh. Those are probably reasons why the
Buccaneers and the Colts are favorite. There. I'm hearing, I'm
(38:53):
hearing stuff, and these are all about quarterbacks, Alex, that
we talked about and we played the game last week.
I'm hearing quote unquote things are fixing to heat up
with Dak Prescott and the Cowboys and their contract negotiations.
Panthers general manager Marty Hernie will not answer questions about
Cam Newton, and silence is golden when it comes to
(39:16):
will he stay or will he go? Um. The Bengals
are saying that they are willing to deal Andy Dalton
to a place that appeases him, that is a good
fit for him. Andy Dalton would one year seventeen million
dollars left. Um, And then I heard some rumors. I
don't buy it, but there are some rumors out there
(39:38):
about Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions. Let me tell
you why it won't happen. Uh. If he moves on,
it is a thirty two million dollar cap hit for
the Detroit Lions to like not be there. Okay, Yeah,
the time maybe waning with Stafford and and the Detroit Lions,
but he'll be there this year, all right. So Um,
(39:58):
we played a little bit of this game last week, Alex.
We said we'll tee will will certain players stay? Will
they go? And will they be a backup or a
um a starter. We talked about guys like Cam Newton,
Philip Rivers, Andy Dalton put the graphic up that we
have if you got it there, okay, So I love it.
First of all, my man Steve in the pit of
(40:20):
misery making the graphics for us. Right. So the top
right our guys we thought will be playing for new
teams but are still starters. The top left are starters
that we think will stay. We think Car stays with
the Raiders, Prescott does eventually sign or get tagged in Dallas.
Tannehill gets that money to stay in Tennessee. Brady you
(40:40):
can yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. And
Ryan Fitzpatrick, listen, they brought in um offensive coordinator that
he has experienced with. They're gonna sling it there in Miami.
Now here's what we have here now, Alex, because we
have decided we think Andy Dalton is moving on, Cam
Newton is moving on, Philip Rivers is moving on, and
Jamis Winston is moving on. And then you think Teddy
(41:05):
Bridgewater stays but as a backup, and you think Jacobe
Brissette stays but as a backup. So to me, that means,
and let me see if we got this right, Alex,
you think since he will have a new quarterback, you
think Carolina will have a new quarterback. You think the Chargers,
you think the Bucks, you think the Indianapolis Colts, and
(41:28):
you think New Orleans are in the quarterback market. So
one name we didn't necessarily put, you can take down
the graphic. Now, Alex, what do we think about Drew Brees?
Is Drew Brees gonna retire? Is he walking away? Is
he coming back from one last hurrah? What's going on
with Breeze? I remember we were talking about this last week.
I think if he had one the Super Bowl, no question,
he's done off into the sun. Teddy retiring to finish
business exactly. But now I think, yeah, he's he's probably
(41:49):
got like back of Ben roethlisbergermedia. As an a Steelers fan,
I have to get the Steelers in there. Um, I think,
you know, he's probably got one maybe two years left
in him. Finale comes, then you free stays. Then you
continue to think Teddy Bridgewater stays absolutely because then you think,
then what about Taysom Hill. See he was saying too
he does he thinks he deserves to be a start.
They cannot pay. All three are exactly. I think you
(42:10):
gotta keep Teddy. You have to keep Teddy. So Taysom
Hill is on the market, you think, I think as
a utility player, he could be more valuable on the market.
But Teddy Bridgewater loves being there, he loves learning from
the freeze, and he's stepped in for them this past
season and we've seen him win. So I think Teddy
has a comfortable spot. So what we're talking about here,
it sounds like we're talking about Alex We're talking about
since Carolina, Tampa, the Chargers, the Colts, right, yep, and
(42:39):
put the graphic up one more time if you can.
And these guys on the right are they are the
quarterbacks you think will be kind of playing musical chairs
that are out there in the market. Right, And let's
not act. Let's not forget. You know, you can take
it off. Let's not forget. You know, Joe Burrow will
be an answer somewhere. Absolutely, justin her will be an
(43:00):
answer somewhere. Tah. I kind of think toa goes to
Miami and you talk about Fitzpatrick is already there. He'll
be there as a bridge to us still healing up,
you know that kind of thing. So really, some of
these openings, like everybody's connecting the dots on Joe Burrow
with the number one overall pick to the Cincinnati Bengals, right,
(43:21):
oh yeah, even though I heard rumors that they were
saying they wanted to shop it. But so what does
that then mean for Dalton exactly? Do you think they
trust them? And what does that mean for one of
these backup guys? Like does Mariota for example, get signed
as an insurance policy backup with Cincinnati? Were they to
keep for like not not to draft They're gonna draft Carrow. No,
(43:41):
they're gonna draft Borrow. But without Andy Dalton, then your
QB two on that roster becomes Ryan Finley, who we
saw last year, right, And so with a rookie quarterback,
do you really want Ryan Finley as the backup? Know? Right?
So that maybe where the where the case Keenums, the
Joe Flacco's come in, right, the Tarad Taylors, That's where
(44:02):
those kind of names may come in as well. So
the merry go round is endless. But do you believe
in your heart of hearts Burrow is the pick for
Cincinnati at one, I think all the hy are not.
You just gotta go so then you know so, then Carolina,
the Chargers, the Bucks, the Colts. Here's the first dot
I'm going to connect. I think Philip Rivers is going
(44:26):
to be the starting quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts next year.
And I say this because he has a history with
Frank Reich. If you are a borderline Hall of Famer
entering your seventeenth season, you know what you don't want
to do have to deal with a coach who you
have to want to build trust with who you are like,
you don't know, if you buy into what's happening, you
(44:47):
will want a respected coach. Now, Bruce Arians is that,
but he has experience with Frank Reich. And as we
talked about in this game already, Jacoby Brissette we think
is a backup. I think there's a fit there. And
here's the other part. You know what I don't think
is strong in Tampa Bay. The offensive line. You know
what is an Indie and offensive line. I think Philip
(45:07):
Rivers needs that offensive line in front of him. He'll
have guys like t Y Hilton, He'll have a running game,
he has tight ends on that roster who he could
like you know, and so I believe Rivers is a
fit for lost for Indianapolis. As we begin to connect
the dots, what do you think where where do you think?
Since I wish we could add maybe like a as
weird as it says, a retired uh of the quad.
(45:29):
You mentioned that, and that is very interesting. Okay, because
we have this on fan duel, Philip Rivers. Next team,
the Buccaneers are the favorites at plus one seventy. The
Indianapolis cultol I'm mentioning, are the second choice at two
to one. Alex No team slash retired is the third
choice for Philip Rivers. That's six to one. Then we
(45:50):
see Miami, the Vegas Raiders, the Carolina Panthers, the Bears,
the Titans, and the New England Patriots. It's interesting all
teams that we were just talking about will be on
the Merry Go Round. Okay, so they think Tampa. The
books say Tampa. I say, Indie, you want to bet
no team that he retires. I'm just saying because I
think the Cults fits. The Colts is definitely a fit.
The question is will he get along with Jacoby bris said, matter,
(46:13):
I think it does. Considering Jacobe was the guy last season,
maybe he wants to be like, let me see if
I can have an opportunity to dethrone a potential future
caller quarterback. Interesting, So we didn't cover this because we
said Jacoby Brissette was gonna stay and be a backup.
You know where else Jacoby Brissette could do that. His
former team in New England is India. As the Patriots say,
(46:34):
Belichick likes him sure right, like Jared's Stidham is not
necessarily the man there, right they You know, maybe Jacoby
Brissette is a safe security blanket that Brady knows is
not the real threat for a year. But Belichick is
familiar with him. Brisett knows it. He'll know what have
He'll have an opportunity. Don't don't look now about that one.
(46:55):
You think Jamis goes somewhere that creates an opportunity in Tampa,
and that means Jamis has to go somewhere where Where
in the hell does Jamis go? Well, he's got new eyes,
so I'm sure somebody's gonna be looking at him. And
as he's gotta be someone who like I think I
said this last week, it's gotta be someone who has
enough of a of a defense to to make up
(47:16):
for his interceptions. Essentially, so because you know you're gonna
get four touchdowns with James, but you're gonna get four interceptions.
What about the Chargers? Do you think he's gonna want
to move across? Don't you like that? I don't know.
He's gonna go wherever his options. It's where are his
options he'll go where If if the Charges were the
only team that are gonna offer starter level money, then
that's where he's gonna go. And maybe him and to
(47:36):
Rod they fight it out. That could be an interesting one.
I am also very intrigued by the Carolina Panthers because listen,
they bring in Matt Rule, right, they bring in Joe
Brady as the coordinator there, and they've got this Sean
Payton system. We saw what happened in l s U.
Who do you think that is the fit for? Is
that like Andy Dalton doesn't move the number the needle?
(47:57):
There are they gonna try to trade up get Joe Burrow.
The guy that they know it'll work because Brady worked
with him, is an Andy Dalton. That guy I don't
really think so. Do they make a play for Philip Rivers?
I don't think that fits. It's very interesting, Alex. We
will continue this conversation and by the time we'd come back,
(48:18):
maybe Dac is signed or franchised, maybe someone else. Parts ways,
we'll keep our eye on it. We'll keep on moving
that graph throughout. We'll see if the Astros fully apologized,
and we'll see if the Houston Roughnecks continue their dominance
of the Western Conference of the XFL. Come on back
n see free Style next week. I'm out.
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