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Nick Wright reacts to LeBron James' return to the Los Angeles Lakers and how LeBron's role alongside Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves may be different than anything we've seen before. Next, Nick previews Week 12 of the NFL season, starting with Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and the Kansas City Chiefs hosting Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts. Then, Nick debates whether or not the Cincinnati Bengals should bring back Joe Burrow with Cincy all but out of playoff contention. After, Nick discusses all the storylines surrounding the big games of the week, including Baker Mayfield's Tampa Bay Buccaneers heading to Los Angeles to play Matthew Stafford's Rams, and Josh Allen's Buffalo Bills playing in Houston against the Texans. Later, Nick answers your questions. #Volume
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in. We'll drive in the great episode three ninety four,
once again going solo as Demonse is still on paternity
leave and I actually next week, by the way, we'll
have a couple shows before Thanksgiving, and then I will
be out in Los Angeles as I will get to
see Demonse and get to meet his new baby girl, Mila,
(00:23):
which I could not be more excited for. This episode
of What's Right with the Grid is presented to you
by boost Mobile. We will get right to it straight.
The voicemail presented to you by our friends at boost Mobile.
Michael Penix really really rough. Year two's for Michael Pinnix
(00:44):
and for JJ McCarthy in particular. Pinis the worst of
it as he, after an injury riddled college career, is
undergoing season ending knee surgery. The NFL my play game
in Paris in twenty twenty six would be sick and
Aaron Rodgers planning to practice today despite having a broken
(01:07):
left wrist. Let me tell you, guys, as someone who
had a broken left wrist not that long ago, seems
impossible that one could play an NFL game with it.
I'm very interested in how this plays out. Obviously, fractures
are different. Everybody's body heals differently, but Aaron Rodgers doesn't
(01:29):
seem super fond of getting hit as is. I can't
imagine what it will be like if he's playing a
game with a broken left wrist. Remindered everybody like rate,
subscribe review to the pod. It helps us a ton
as we you know, inch really inch towards a quarter
(01:49):
of a million on YouTube list follow us on or
subscribe on iTunes and Spotify. Those numbers have been great
lately and we really do appreciate that. So even if
you watch us live on YouTube, if you just click
the subscribe button on your phones to one of the
audio platforms, that's super helpful as well. So as I
(02:12):
am inundated because Kevin Wilds is, so we're going to
start talking about the Lakers and Lebron's debut, but a
little inside baseball, if you will. To first things first,
(02:33):
Kevin Wilds only wanted to discuss a potential of Anthony
Davis trade if there was a possibility that Anthony Davis
would be able to be traded back to the Lakers.
And I told Wilds that was not possible, and it
was a dumb idea. And so he has now spent
(02:54):
the last thirty minutes trying to create a fake trade,
and he now has done it involving the Brooklyn Nets
being a third team where they for some reason that
I'm gonna have to ask Wilds to explain trade away
multiple of their own first round picks so they can
(03:16):
get a couple second rounders and Jared Vanderbilt in order
to facilitate the Lakers getting Anthony Davis back. K W.
I know you don't listen to the pod, but if somebody, oh, okay,
here we go. Then he then writes, I didn't create it,
but you have to believe somebody else did for him. Okay,
(03:38):
neither here nor there. Now to the actual show. kW
stays a dufus forever Lebron's back, and I have a
lot of takes. So no athlete in my lifetime has
(04:04):
generated more idiotic and immediately self refuting opinions than Lebron.
And it's because I think it's because he's been for
basically as long as daily sports television has existed, Lebron
(04:28):
has been one of, if not the main character, and
because he has played, you know, throughout the entirety of
this medium and because he has been at the eye
of the NBA storm, which while the NBA has never
in his career been the country's most popular sport, but
(04:52):
it has been at various times in his career the
country's most talked about. When it comes to sports debate
and sports TV and sports talk radio, Lebron is the
Lebron commentariot has spawned just some truly ridiculous and upon reflection,
(05:19):
hilarious moments. And these are for me, friends and foes alike.
I mean, we are twelve twelve. Is that right? No,
it's not right. Thirteen years ago, my dear pal Dan
(05:41):
Lebtard announced Lebron was on the downside and Miami had
gotten the best of him. That was thirteen years ago.
And I'm going to talk about guys that I love
and adore, so it doesn't seem like I'm trying to
take cheap shots here. Famously, the owner and founder of
(06:04):
this company, my mentor Colin, eight years ago said Lebron,
hang it up whenever you want. We've got the NBA's
got it from here. It was actually nine years ago,
and that that's an all time clip a because Lebron
(06:27):
would go on to win multiple championships after that, but
b because he was saying that Ben Simmons is gonna
take over. I listen, Colin, I was as high on
Ben Simmons as about anybody. I have to hold that
l as well. And there, of course is all the
skip stuff with the clutch, and then the latest steven
A stuff with the real personal I don't like that
(06:49):
guy so much of it just outright silliness. And then
we got an unexpected dose of it in The Wee
Leader in the week or so leading up to Lebron
making his debut, which was, hey, will Lebron be able
(07:10):
to fit in with the Lakers even though we saw
Luca and Lebron and Austin Reeves play together last year? Hey,
will Lebron actually make the Lakers worse? Will he screw
up what they have going on? These were real conversations,
real discussions about the most malleable, most flexible as far
(07:38):
as how he can help your team player in NBA history,
about arguably the only guy in the history of the
league that can legitimately and has literally made an All
(07:59):
NBA team at all five positions on the court. Check
his Basketball Reference for that was an All NBA center
one year for the Lakers and an All NBA point
guard the year after that for the Lakers. Late stage,
Lebron was an All NBA shooting guard as a young
(08:23):
player early and then obviously All NBA small forward and
power forward throughout his career. That that guy that can
play all five and certainly the younger version of him,
and to a degree, the older version of him can
guard all five, that that guy was gonna screw up
(08:43):
a team. And then Lebron comes in keeps his double
digit point streak alive, which is going to be a
very fun and funny thing to watch this year because uh,
it's obviously an untouchable record and we'll get more on
(09:09):
the Lebron untouchable record stuff in a moment. But he
wants to keep it going. But he is, I believe,
going to play a very different style this year. That
game Tuesday night, that's the fewest shots he's ever taken
in a game he didn't leave with injury. And speaking
(09:31):
of the double digit point streak, one of those games
that he left with injury, because there's only been two
games in his career he took fewer than seven shots,
which is what he took Tuesday Night one, he didn't
play the second half because he took an elbow from
to Kim Big Matumbo, and one he left early when
(09:54):
Solomon Hill fell into his ankle and derailed the Lakers
title defense the twenty twenty one season. But that game
involves one of my favorite Lebron moments of all time,
which is Solomon Hill falls into his ankle, Lebron recognizes
(10:19):
he has suffered the first truly significant injury of his
entire career up to that point and is going to
be out months and is sitting at seven points and
the streak is dead, And despite suffering an injury that
(10:44):
is going to knock him out for the next two months,
he pretends he's not hurt badly, stays in the game,
gets the ball, takes a corner, three hits, it keeps
the double figure point streak alive, and then is out
(11:05):
for the majority of the rest of the season. But
that's sidebar Lebron being dropped in as a team's ultimate
Swiss army knife and Lebron taking pride in that ability,
(11:25):
and Lebron then saying after the game with a smile, Yeah,
I heard what was being said. I've been a you know,
you could put me on any team and I would
make it work. Is just obviously true. And people's you know,
(11:46):
people say that about Kevin Durant all the time, like, oh,
you just drop him in anywhere, And yes, that's true
about other players, great players. You drop him in and
they would make any team better. The distinction is can
(12:09):
you drop a player in and can they instantly do
at a high level the exact thing that team needs
them to do. This Lakers team right now might need
Lebron to be more facilitator, cutter, screener than scorer. Unlike
(12:34):
some of the other great players in this league. He
has the skill set at forty in year twenty three
to be excellent at all at anything. Now, is he
the best player in the league anymore? Of course, not
see a top five player in the league anymore. No,
(12:55):
But is he still have a legitimate show at being
right around top ten And is he, assuredly when he's healthy,
still a top fifteen guy in the league. Yes, And
that guy with that malleability helps any team in the
(13:17):
history of basketball. Now, is it all right? Now? A
moot point for the whole NBA because of who and
what OKC is maybe everybody might be playing for second
this year, but we'll see things happen, and there's an
(13:43):
element of, I don't want to say lack of appreciation,
but numbness to what we are seeing at this moment.
And this is something that you know I've said before,
(14:05):
but I don't know that people like fully take it in.
And especially because you know Steph is playing at such
a high level at an advanced age. Durant is playing
at such a high level at an advanced age. But
(14:30):
see whether you want to focus on the age forty
part or the year twenty three part. The it being
without precedent is such a wild understatement. Like Kobe Bryant,
the late great Kobe Bryant. How old do you think
(14:56):
Kobe was when he played in his final playoff game
with the Lakers. I'm gonna give it a pause so
you can actually think about it. How old was Kobe
in his final career playoff game? Are you shocked when
(15:17):
I tell you the answer to that is thirty two.
Kobe Bryant did not play in a playoff game with
the Lakers after the age of thirty two. Like a
(15:37):
little context to that, Lebron joined the Lakers when he
was thirty four. So obviously Jordan stop with that was
(16:02):
done with the Bulls at thirty five, thirty six. Obviously,
we've never seen a player play in a year twenty three,
and the only one to get to a year twenty
two was Vince It's I said this a couple of
years ago and people laughed. I think we are now
(16:24):
seeing it in real time. He'll simply never be bad
and he could easily play at again, not an MVP level,
but a high level throughout his forties barring again, barring
a you're always at this age of a catastrophic injury away.
(16:47):
But he's ducked that up to this point in his career,
and people can have the argument about the greatest player
of all time that is going to age so well
on my end and so poorly for so many other folks,
because it is when it does come to And this
(17:10):
isn't the whole discussion, but it is at least a
piece of it. The record books. With the way things
are going right now as far as injuries, load management,
guys not being able to make it through a full season,
(17:30):
Lebron's longevity records are going to when people look back
on him in forty years. It's going to be like
if you look at complete games in baseball right now
and you're like, wait, a guy had forty in one year.
(17:51):
Like all of these games, minutes, points, the playoff records
are going to be shame Mberlin esque, untouchable and farcical
in the numbers to future generations. And I'm very, very
(18:13):
interested to see the full role Bron takes on with
the Lakers, because in Game one of year twenty three,
he was like, Okay, I'll be late stage Magic Johnson,
and that's pretty damn good. There's one other Bron adjacent
(18:39):
thing I wanted to talk about, and this is one
of those things that I imagine will do well on
social media or YouTube or and might cause me a
little grief, but I I just I can't leave it unaddressed,
(19:03):
and I don't. I'm not trying to start anything, but
this is so it was maddening when I heard it.
So the greatest sports podcaster of all time, the guy
who in some ways invented the medium, and a guy
(19:26):
I like a lot, Bill Simmons brought the mail bag back,
which is awesome. It's vented Simmons. It's part of the
reason that he's who he is and it's awesome, and
because I'm a fan, I was listening and he gets
(19:47):
asked about the biggest sliding doors moments in NBA history,
and he goes to the Draymond Groin shot of Lebron
in Game four of the twenty sixteen Finals, which is
(20:12):
a legitimate sliding doors moment, There's no doubt about it.
And he talks about how if the Warriors win that title,
Durant can't go, you know, to Golden State. So then
who wins the next two? Does Lebron ever win in Cleveland?
Does Lebron ever go to the Lakers? There's that is
(20:34):
you know, what does it mean for Steph? Back to
back championships? He and Lebron then at that moment would
have been two to two. He would have had back
to back league MVPs, including a unanimous there are it's Clay,
He's Simmons talks about all of it, and he's correct
about that being a sliding doors moment. But there's two
(20:57):
pieces of the commentary that are just one is enraging
and it's not about Bill, and the other one is
I he just must talk to very different NBA people
than me, because what Bill said was the conspiracy theory
(21:24):
that people believe more than any other conspiracy is that
the NBA suspended Draymond because they wanted Cleveland to win
the title. And I've literally never heard that. Now, I
certainly have heard the conspiracy that they suspended Draymond because
(21:50):
they hoped the series would go longer than five. But
the idea that in real time, anyone outside of the
Calves locker room, me and Zach Lowe, we're all on
(22:10):
the record during this, everyone's doing media. Nobody else when
that suspension came down said oh, well, now I think
the Calves are going to win. That Warriors team was
considered the greatest team of all time and had dominated
(22:31):
the Calves through the first four games of that series.
So the first point is the idea that it is
widely thought in NBA circles that the Draymond suspension was
going to lead to the Calves winning the championship. We
(22:55):
were all there in real time that was not a thing.
And then and then to the opinion piece of it,
nothing is more maddening for me as a bron fan.
(23:17):
Then the fact that when that happened, and then the
Calves win Game five by fifteen and Lebron scores forty
one points. The entire media asserts that would have never
(23:49):
happened if Draymond was there. The Calves winning by double
digits and Lebron scoring forty plus never happened if Draymond's there.
And then in Game six, when Draymond is there, Lebron
scores forty one and the Calves win by fifteen points.
(24:15):
Game five of those finals, No, Draymond, Bron scores broncos
I'll give you his exact stat line, just so we
all are on the same page. Forty one, sixteen and
seven on fifty five percent from the field, sixty three
percent from three, and the Calves win by fifteen. So again,
(24:39):
forty one sixteen to seven, fifty five sixty three splits,
fifteen point win. Game six of the finals, Forty one
eight eleven on sixty five seventy five splits and the
Calves win by fourteen. Like, what are we talking about?
(25:05):
What are we talking about? Oh? Hold on, I gotta
do that, because I'm sure I have to fix that.
I have to fix that. I apologize I gave you
the wrong field goal percentages. Let me do that again,
because I want this to be accurate. I gave you
so Game five of the Finals, No Draymond forty one
(25:28):
sixteen and seven on fifty three fifty splits in a
fifteen point win. Game six of the Finals with Draymond
forty one, eight to eleven on fifty nine fifty splits
in a fourteen point win. It's just revisionist history. And
(25:58):
it's the only other reason that's relevant to me right
now is that game happened ten seasons ago and this
guy's still playing. It's just a career that will never
(26:26):
be even remotely approached. And it's if you're if you're
listening to this right now and a sports fan of
this era. The fact that we got to experience Tom
(26:49):
Brady going more than twenty years of elite in the
mix every single year, ten Super Bowl appearances across multiple teams,
(27:12):
while experiencing Lebron doing the exact same thing in the NBA,
it's just unreal, just unreal. Today's show brought to you
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or Virginia. All right, so, Chief, season on the line
Sunday at Arrowhead. I don't like it. It's not what
I expected. I thought they were going to give themselves
a bit of a margin of error and be right
(29:40):
back in the thick of the divisional race by beating
the Broncos. That did not happen. And now, as we
talked about on Tuesday, it's very very simple. Run the
table and you might win the division. Amazingly you'll definitely
(30:04):
make the playoffs. Go six and one and it would
be very difficult to miss the playoffs, and you'll be
super dangerous going into the postseason. Go five and two
(30:27):
and you're probably out. Go four and three and you're
definitely out, and it's a true disaster of a year.
That's where they're at. Okay, I am not going to
(30:47):
be quite as chesty about my feelings and predictions for
this game given what we saw last weekend. Now in
the despite the Sauce Gardner trading, the fact that they
might have Tavarious Wardback obviously does not have the defense
(31:10):
that Denver has. This game, you know, is in Arrowhead,
not on the road. There is no deforce Buckner, and
Daniel Jones has been shaky his last few appearances. All
(31:30):
of that makes me feel as confident as I can
given how I feel after that Denver game. Jonathan Taylor
is a great, great player. The Chiefs tend not to
get gashed by like they're pretty good at at least
(31:56):
not shutting down but slowing down great backs. But Daniel
Jones is better than bon Nicks, and bo Nicks carved
the Chiefs up so and this is the Colts off
a bye. With all that said, as important as this
(32:19):
game is for the Chiefs, it is greatly important for
the Colts as well, because what the Colts all of
a sudden have is seven straight games to end their
season against teams fighting for their playoff lives to one
(32:41):
degree or another. So they're at the Chiefs. They then
get the Texans, who will be on extra rest themselves
after tonight's Bill's Texans game, and the Texans will either
be six and five coming off their best win of
(33:03):
the year, or five and six in a de facto
playoff game. They then go to Jacksonville, then to Seattle,
then home for the Niners, home for the Jags, and
at the Texans. Really odd for the Colts that they've
(33:24):
only played two divisional games up to this point in
the season. They're both against the Titans, so we haven't
really seen well not really, we have not seen the
Colts play the other two legitimate AFC South teams. So
a loss here and things maybe get a little shaky
(33:51):
for Indy. A win here and they're like, hey, why
can't we be the one seed? So I obviously like
the Chiefs in this spot, but they have lost for
the short term, the supreme confidence that they'd had that
(34:15):
they would have had in this spot at any other
moment of the Mahomes EUO and the inability to get
off the field in third and long is the number
one problem for me with the defense and offensively obviously,
(34:39):
and I've talked about it. Patrick needs to be more precise,
particularly on the deep balls. But the biggest systemic issue
with the offense right now is teams basically play the
(35:00):
pass at all times against Kansas City, and Kansas City
doesn't make him pay for it by running the ball.
It's just that it's just the truth that the total
lack of any threat of the under center run game
(35:22):
has made it to where Patrick in the passing offense
is up against really onerous defensive looks at all times
that should be easy to run on, but they won't
run the ball. Now, maybe with Pacheco likely back, that changes,
one would hope. I also got to acknowledge lou An Arumo,
(35:51):
the former Bengals decoordinator who's now with the Colts, has
cooked up some really good stuff against Patrick in his career.
So that's the concerning pieces of it, the bright sides
of it. So to speak or this a week from now,
(36:17):
they could be at seven and five a week from today,
take care of business at home against the Colts, go
to Dallas on Thanksgiving and they'd be seven and five
(36:37):
with two games remaining against the Titans and the Raiders
saying okay, there's nine and then we have a We
have Houston, the Chargers, the Broncos, all in Kansas City.
Win two out of three of our home games, and
(36:59):
you become the most dangerous likely seven seed in the
history of the NFL playoffs. That's where we're at. But
it has to start with a win against the Colts
on Sunday, and it has to start with Patrick being better,
Chris Jones being better, and the Chiefs ability to get
(37:21):
off on the field on third and long being better.
One of the other huge stories this week and is
obviously Shadoor making the first start of his career in Vegas,
Dylan Gabriel out with a concussion. Amazingly, he is the
(37:43):
forty second person to start at quarterback for the Browns
since nineteen ninety nine. Just a remarkable number. I think
in that same timeframe the Packers have had farv Rogers
(38:06):
love Willis, I believe are the only four. Maybe there's
like a Sean Manyon mixed in in there, but it's
certainly not more than five, and I think it's just four. Sure,
last week was terrible. You don't need to argue with
people on the internet about why he was terrible. He
(38:27):
was terrible. And it is not an overstatement to say
this game right here is by a wide margin the
single biggest moment of Schador's football life. It is not
(38:53):
an ideal circumstance. It is a somewhat ideal opponent, but
it is what it is. And Schador does not have
to be excellent in this game. But if he's awful,
(39:20):
there's a world that exists where this is the only
start he ever gets for any team. Because we know
definitively no team, no team loved him coming out of school, nobody.
(39:43):
There is not a player that teams love that is
available in the fifth round. So we know that. We
also know that if people were concerned that through no
both of Shador's own, he would there would be a
(40:09):
lot of other stuff, media wise and nonsense social media
stuff that other players are more importantly coaches on the
team have to deal with. If you take him as
a backup quarterback. Those concerns have been fully validated, and
(40:36):
so does a world exist where if Shadoor is really
bad on Sunday, he does not start again this year.
Kevin Stefanski is fired in Cleveland after this year. The
(41:03):
new head coach comes in with multiple first round picks,
takes his quarterback of the future, has Dylan Gabriel as
the backup, and says, we are not dealing with more
(41:27):
chatter surrounding our third string quarterback, and they cut it.
And if that were to happen based on what teams
thought about him going into the draft, do I think
it's more than on the board. It's potentially likely that
(41:52):
no team would sign up for that bringing in that
guy to be your third third string quarterback. I I
could see that happening, and that would feel unfair. But
(42:14):
there's plenty of guys that were fifth round picks in
this league that got that. If they got a shot
or two and it didn't go, well, it's just over.
It's the NFL. And so I'm by the way, I'm
not predicting that he'll be terrible. I think this is
(42:34):
actually a pretty good spot for him in this game
against this opponent. I am predicting though, that if he's terrible,
and he was terrible last week, that more likely than
not this game is the only game he starts in
(42:55):
his career. So as Marlow Stanfield would say, do it
or don't, But I got places to be. The league's
gonna keep moving. This is Shititor's moment. Now. The flip
side is if he's excellent, then maybe he just keeps
(43:17):
starting for Cleveland this year and you see if he
can rekindle some of that Colorado magic. But if he's terrible,
this can get away from him real quick. Hey guys,
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wayfair dot Com. All Right, So Joe Burrow was a
full participant in Bengals practice on Wednesday. That was shocking
to me. Here is my prediction on Burrow's status because
(45:09):
keep in mind they play Thanksgiving against Baltimore. So I
don't think Burrow is going to come back this early.
This would be early no matter what. Come back on
Thanksgiving would be crazy. But I'm good for him if
(45:30):
he can do it. But I don't think he's gonna
come back earlier than Thanksgiving and then play in a
game four days later. But do I now think it's
possible he comes back on Thanksgiving and then has ten
days before their next game and tries to just obviously
(45:52):
play the rest of the year. Yes, that's what I
think is likely. I think he misses the Patriots game
and his back for the Ravens game. Now, do I
think that the Bengals that gives them a shot to
get back in it? No? Is that because I think
(46:15):
the Steelers are about to run away with it? Nope,
it's simply that I think that Bengals defense. I think
the Bengals, had Joe Burrow not been hurt, they'd be
in the mix for the playoffs, but they wouldn't have
that much better of a record than they do right
now at three and seven, because the problem hadn't been
the offense. The problem's been the defense, which they never fixed.
(46:37):
This does, however, make me feel like the Ravens' chances
of winning the division just went down significantly, because if
Burrow comes back and they just go their first three
(47:04):
games Baltimore, Buffalo, Baltimore. When you were looking at how
the Ravens could win the division, a lot of the
math was sweeping. Sinceyet that does get a lot harder,
and now, all of a sudden, if you're Baltimore, you
(47:26):
obviously have the Jets this weekend, that's a win or
should be. But then your final six games Sincy Pittsburgh, Sincy,
New England, Green Bay, Pittsburgh. So four winning teams plus
or four games against winning teams plus two against Joe Burrow.
(47:57):
And if you're the Steelers, you're like, man, we duck Tim.
Now they did lose one to Joe Flacco anyway, But
still the other piece of this that if I were
a Bengals fan, I wouldn't be able to I just
couldn't get over is why did we have to blow
(48:20):
the Jets game and the Bears game the way we did.
We lose thirty nine to thirty eight to the Jets,
who we had, We had a fourteen point lead on
the Jets in the fourth quarter and lost to the
(48:40):
Ozho to seven Jets. And then the next week we
had we were down fourteen at the two minute warning
to the Bears and a minute later had a one
point lead and then blew that one too. Had they
(49:03):
won one of those and we're sitting at four and six,
they'd be alive. Had they won both of them and
were sitting at five and five, they might be the
co favorites in the division when Joe gets back based
on the strength that offense alone. But they didn't and
they blew it just the reality of the situation. So
(49:27):
now they can just play spoiler and now Joe. Also,
here's the other thing for Burrow, because I don't know
if you know. Obviously last year he was unbelievable in losses.
This year he played Week one against Cleveland, played really poorly,
(49:52):
they won seventeen sixteen because it's the Browns. And then
week two he barely played in a game they ended
up winning against the Jas. I just think for Joe
it'll feel good to get back out there and play
like Joe Burrow again and remind people how good he
can be. I don't think that's going to be this weekend.
(50:17):
I would be shocked. Hey, Ay, you think about upgrading
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boostmobile dot Com. Terms do apply. My NFC Championship game
pick from before the year. Buccaneers Rams, that is Sunday
Night Football are flying the highest they have all year.
(51:02):
The Bucks are flying the lowest they have all year.
We will discuss that game much more during our Week
twelve is it Wow Week twelve NFL gambling show tomorrow.
Real quick here, though, I do want to spend a
couple of minutes on Bills Texans, because I I think
(51:28):
this is a very important. Obviously, let me say something
about the Texans. I do not believe the Texans are
in the playoff mix. And I know that technically they've
got the same record as the Chiefs. I get that.
I think the fact that they are home for the
(51:49):
Bills than at the Colts than at the Chiefs, and
then still have a game left at the Chargers and
home for the Colts, I just don't think. I and
given how awful their offense has been all year and
that CJ is still not back, I just do not
think Houston is going to be able to play anything
(52:11):
but spoiler. The Bills, on the other hand, are still
in the mix for the division, but also are just
a loss tonight away from feeling like they are, you know,
right back in the swirl of Hey, what the hell's
(52:34):
going on? With games remaining at Pittsburgh home for the Bengals,
at the Patriots, and home for the Eagles. I have
been encouraging Josh to be Josh. It's gonna make some mistakes,
You'll take it because of the wild stuff tonight. Tonight
(52:57):
is not a night you should need that. Tonight is
a night that you should be able to win on
the strength of James Cook and not turning the ball over.
And so this is a good test of can Josh
throttle We saw him last week throttle up? Can he
(53:18):
throttle down? That's what i'ma be watching for tonight. I
expect the Bills to win, and I think the Texans
only path is multiple Bills turnovers. So we'll see the
thing throttle down tonight. Listener questions w asked, if you
can flip the result of one lebron play or game,
what would it be for me? It's finishing the dunk
(53:39):
over Draymond in Game some of the twenty sixteen Finals.
I mean, yes, that would be the lebron play that
I would flip to be the greatest dunken NBA history.
The actual play I would change is Kyle Korver hitting
the corner three in Game three of the twenty seventeen
(54:04):
NBA Finals or George Hill making his free throw in
what became the j R. Smith Game. Those would be
the two that I would change. Danny asks if the
(54:25):
Chiefs win all of their remaining games, could the Broncos
loss become the loss that led to the loss that
led to the the loss that led to Lombardi. That's
pretty good. I'll keep that in my back pocket. Q
(54:48):
asked if the Chiefs missed the playoffs, wouldn't the Bills
and Josh be under the most pressure by a country mile,
No doubt about it. And we'll talk about if the
Chiefs end up losing this weekend, we'll talk about what
that does for the rest of the AFC playoff picture.
But they're not gonna lose this weekend. Will they be
one of my week twelve picks? Find that out on
(55:08):
tomorrow's show. Thank you to everybody like rate, subscribe, review,
huge shout out to Volume in Blue Duck, and thank
you of course to hard rock at boost Wayfair and
the great people at Zen. Talk to you guys tomorrow
for our week twelve picks
Welcome in. We'll drive in the great episode three ninety four,
once again going solo as Demonse is still on paternity
leave and I actually next week, by the way, we'll
have a couple shows before Thanksgiving, and then I will
be out in Los Angeles as I will get to
see Demonse and get to meet his new baby girl, Mila,
(00:23):
which I could not be more excited for. This episode
of What's Right with the Grid is presented to you
by boost Mobile. We will get right to it straight.
The voicemail presented to you by our friends at boost Mobile.
Michael Penix really really rough. Year two's for Michael Pinnix
(00:44):
and for JJ McCarthy in particular. Pinis the worst of
it as he, after an injury riddled college career, is
undergoing season ending knee surgery. The NFL my play game
in Paris in twenty twenty six would be sick and
Aaron Rodgers planning to practice today despite having a broken
(01:07):
left wrist. Let me tell you, guys, as someone who
had a broken left wrist not that long ago, seems
impossible that one could play an NFL game with it.
I'm very interested in how this plays out. Obviously, fractures
are different. Everybody's body heals differently, but Aaron Rodgers doesn't
(01:29):
seem super fond of getting hit as is. I can't
imagine what it will be like if he's playing a
game with a broken left wrist. Remindered everybody like rate,
subscribe review to the pod. It helps us a ton
as we you know, inch really inch towards a quarter
(01:49):
of a million on YouTube list follow us on or
subscribe on iTunes and Spotify. Those numbers have been great
lately and we really do appreciate that. So even if
you watch us live on YouTube, if you just click
the subscribe button on your phones to one of the
audio platforms, that's super helpful as well. So as I
(02:12):
am inundated because Kevin Wilds is, so we're going to
start talking about the Lakers and Lebron's debut, but a
little inside baseball, if you will. To first things first,
(02:33):
Kevin Wilds only wanted to discuss a potential of Anthony
Davis trade if there was a possibility that Anthony Davis
would be able to be traded back to the Lakers.
And I told Wilds that was not possible, and it
was a dumb idea. And so he has now spent
(02:54):
the last thirty minutes trying to create a fake trade,
and he now has done it involving the Brooklyn Nets
being a third team where they for some reason that
I'm gonna have to ask Wilds to explain trade away
multiple of their own first round picks so they can
(03:16):
get a couple second rounders and Jared Vanderbilt in order
to facilitate the Lakers getting Anthony Davis back. K W.
I know you don't listen to the pod, but if somebody, oh, okay,
here we go. Then he then writes, I didn't create it,
but you have to believe somebody else did for him. Okay,
(03:38):
neither here nor there. Now to the actual show. kW
stays a dufus forever Lebron's back, and I have a
lot of takes. So no athlete in my lifetime has
(04:04):
generated more idiotic and immediately self refuting opinions than Lebron.
And it's because I think it's because he's been for
basically as long as daily sports television has existed, Lebron
(04:28):
has been one of, if not the main character, and
because he has played, you know, throughout the entirety of
this medium and because he has been at the eye
of the NBA storm, which while the NBA has never
in his career been the country's most popular sport, but
(04:52):
it has been at various times in his career the
country's most talked about. When it comes to sports debate
and sports TV and sports talk radio, Lebron is the
Lebron commentariot has spawned just some truly ridiculous and upon reflection,
(05:19):
hilarious moments. And these are for me, friends and foes alike.
I mean, we are twelve twelve. Is that right? No,
it's not right. Thirteen years ago, my dear pal Dan
(05:41):
Lebtard announced Lebron was on the downside and Miami had
gotten the best of him. That was thirteen years ago.
And I'm going to talk about guys that I love
and adore, so it doesn't seem like I'm trying to
take cheap shots here. Famously, the owner and founder of
(06:04):
this company, my mentor Colin, eight years ago said Lebron,
hang it up whenever you want. We've got the NBA's
got it from here. It was actually nine years ago,
and that that's an all time clip a because Lebron
(06:27):
would go on to win multiple championships after that, but
b because he was saying that Ben Simmons is gonna
take over. I listen, Colin, I was as high on
Ben Simmons as about anybody. I have to hold that
l as well. And there, of course is all the
skip stuff with the clutch, and then the latest steven
A stuff with the real personal I don't like that
(06:49):
guy so much of it just outright silliness. And then
we got an unexpected dose of it in The Wee
Leader in the week or so leading up to Lebron
making his debut, which was, hey, will Lebron be able
(07:10):
to fit in with the Lakers even though we saw
Luca and Lebron and Austin Reeves play together last year? Hey,
will Lebron actually make the Lakers worse? Will he screw
up what they have going on? These were real conversations,
real discussions about the most malleable, most flexible as far
(07:38):
as how he can help your team player in NBA history,
about arguably the only guy in the history of the
league that can legitimately and has literally made an All
(07:59):
NBA team at all five positions on the court. Check
his Basketball Reference for that was an All NBA center
one year for the Lakers and an All NBA point
guard the year after that for the Lakers. Late stage,
Lebron was an All NBA shooting guard as a young
(08:23):
player early and then obviously All NBA small forward and
power forward throughout his career. That that guy that can
play all five and certainly the younger version of him,
and to a degree, the older version of him can
guard all five, that that guy was gonna screw up
(08:43):
a team. And then Lebron comes in keeps his double
digit point streak alive, which is going to be a
very fun and funny thing to watch this year because uh,
it's obviously an untouchable record and we'll get more on
(09:09):
the Lebron untouchable record stuff in a moment. But he
wants to keep it going. But he is, I believe,
going to play a very different style this year. That
game Tuesday night, that's the fewest shots he's ever taken
in a game he didn't leave with injury. And speaking
(09:31):
of the double digit point streak, one of those games
that he left with injury, because there's only been two
games in his career he took fewer than seven shots,
which is what he took Tuesday Night one, he didn't
play the second half because he took an elbow from
to Kim Big Matumbo, and one he left early when
(09:54):
Solomon Hill fell into his ankle and derailed the Lakers
title defense the twenty twenty one season. But that game
involves one of my favorite Lebron moments of all time,
which is Solomon Hill falls into his ankle, Lebron recognizes
(10:19):
he has suffered the first truly significant injury of his
entire career up to that point and is going to
be out months and is sitting at seven points and
the streak is dead, And despite suffering an injury that
(10:44):
is going to knock him out for the next two months,
he pretends he's not hurt badly, stays in the game,
gets the ball, takes a corner, three hits, it keeps
the double figure point streak alive, and then is out
(11:05):
for the majority of the rest of the season. But
that's sidebar Lebron being dropped in as a team's ultimate
Swiss army knife and Lebron taking pride in that ability,
(11:25):
and Lebron then saying after the game with a smile, Yeah,
I heard what was being said. I've been a you know,
you could put me on any team and I would
make it work. Is just obviously true. And people's you know,
(11:46):
people say that about Kevin Durant all the time, like, oh,
you just drop him in anywhere, And yes, that's true
about other players, great players. You drop him in and
they would make any team better. The distinction is can
(12:09):
you drop a player in and can they instantly do
at a high level the exact thing that team needs
them to do. This Lakers team right now might need
Lebron to be more facilitator, cutter, screener than scorer. Unlike
(12:34):
some of the other great players in this league. He
has the skill set at forty in year twenty three
to be excellent at all at anything. Now, is he
the best player in the league anymore? Of course, not
see a top five player in the league anymore. No,
(12:55):
But is he still have a legitimate show at being
right around top ten And is he, assuredly when he's healthy,
still a top fifteen guy in the league. Yes, And
that guy with that malleability helps any team in the
(13:17):
history of basketball. Now, is it all right? Now? A
moot point for the whole NBA because of who and
what OKC is maybe everybody might be playing for second
this year, but we'll see things happen, and there's an
(13:43):
element of, I don't want to say lack of appreciation,
but numbness to what we are seeing at this moment.
And this is something that you know I've said before,
(14:05):
but I don't know that people like fully take it in.
And especially because you know Steph is playing at such
a high level at an advanced age. Durant is playing
at such a high level at an advanced age. But
(14:30):
see whether you want to focus on the age forty
part or the year twenty three part. The it being
without precedent is such a wild understatement. Like Kobe Bryant,
the late great Kobe Bryant. How old do you think
(14:56):
Kobe was when he played in his final playoff game
with the Lakers. I'm gonna give it a pause so
you can actually think about it. How old was Kobe
in his final career playoff game? Are you shocked when
(15:17):
I tell you the answer to that is thirty two.
Kobe Bryant did not play in a playoff game with
the Lakers after the age of thirty two. Like a
(15:37):
little context to that, Lebron joined the Lakers when he
was thirty four. So obviously Jordan stop with that was
(16:02):
done with the Bulls at thirty five, thirty six. Obviously,
we've never seen a player play in a year twenty three,
and the only one to get to a year twenty
two was Vince It's I said this a couple of
years ago and people laughed. I think we are now
(16:24):
seeing it in real time. He'll simply never be bad
and he could easily play at again, not an MVP level,
but a high level throughout his forties barring again, barring
a you're always at this age of a catastrophic injury away.
(16:47):
But he's ducked that up to this point in his career,
and people can have the argument about the greatest player
of all time that is going to age so well
on my end and so poorly for so many other folks,
because it is when it does come to And this
(17:10):
isn't the whole discussion, but it is at least a
piece of it. The record books. With the way things
are going right now as far as injuries, load management,
guys not being able to make it through a full season,
(17:30):
Lebron's longevity records are going to when people look back
on him in forty years. It's going to be like
if you look at complete games in baseball right now
and you're like, wait, a guy had forty in one year.
(17:51):
Like all of these games, minutes, points, the playoff records
are going to be shame Mberlin esque, untouchable and farcical
in the numbers to future generations. And I'm very, very
(18:13):
interested to see the full role Bron takes on with
the Lakers, because in Game one of year twenty three,
he was like, Okay, I'll be late stage Magic Johnson,
and that's pretty damn good. There's one other Bron adjacent
(18:39):
thing I wanted to talk about, and this is one
of those things that I imagine will do well on
social media or YouTube or and might cause me a
little grief, but I I just I can't leave it unaddressed,
(19:03):
and I don't. I'm not trying to start anything, but
this is so it was maddening when I heard it.
So the greatest sports podcaster of all time, the guy
who in some ways invented the medium, and a guy
(19:26):
I like a lot, Bill Simmons brought the mail bag back,
which is awesome. It's vented Simmons. It's part of the
reason that he's who he is and it's awesome, and
because I'm a fan, I was listening and he gets
(19:47):
asked about the biggest sliding doors moments in NBA history,
and he goes to the Draymond Groin shot of Lebron
in Game four of the twenty sixteen Finals, which is
(20:12):
a legitimate sliding doors moment, There's no doubt about it.
And he talks about how if the Warriors win that title,
Durant can't go, you know, to Golden State. So then
who wins the next two? Does Lebron ever win in Cleveland?
Does Lebron ever go to the Lakers? There's that is
(20:34):
you know, what does it mean for Steph? Back to
back championships? He and Lebron then at that moment would
have been two to two. He would have had back
to back league MVPs, including a unanimous there are it's Clay,
He's Simmons talks about all of it, and he's correct
about that being a sliding doors moment. But there's two
(20:57):
pieces of the commentary that are just one is enraging
and it's not about Bill, and the other one is
I he just must talk to very different NBA people
than me, because what Bill said was the conspiracy theory
(21:24):
that people believe more than any other conspiracy is that
the NBA suspended Draymond because they wanted Cleveland to win
the title. And I've literally never heard that. Now, I
certainly have heard the conspiracy that they suspended Draymond because
(21:50):
they hoped the series would go longer than five. But
the idea that in real time, anyone outside of the
Calves locker room, me and Zach Lowe, we're all on
(22:10):
the record during this, everyone's doing media. Nobody else when
that suspension came down said oh, well, now I think
the Calves are going to win. That Warriors team was
considered the greatest team of all time and had dominated
(22:31):
the Calves through the first four games of that series.
So the first point is the idea that it is
widely thought in NBA circles that the Draymond suspension was
going to lead to the Calves winning the championship. We
(22:55):
were all there in real time that was not a thing.
And then and then to the opinion piece of it,
nothing is more maddening for me as a bron fan.
(23:17):
Then the fact that when that happened, and then the
Calves win Game five by fifteen and Lebron scores forty
one points. The entire media asserts that would have never
(23:49):
happened if Draymond was there. The Calves winning by double
digits and Lebron scoring forty plus never happened if Draymond's there.
And then in Game six, when Draymond is there, Lebron
scores forty one and the Calves win by fifteen points.
(24:15):
Game five of those finals, No, Draymond, Bron scores broncos
I'll give you his exact stat line, just so we
all are on the same page. Forty one, sixteen and
seven on fifty five percent from the field, sixty three
percent from three, and the Calves win by fifteen. So again,
(24:39):
forty one sixteen to seven, fifty five sixty three splits,
fifteen point win. Game six of the finals, Forty one
eight eleven on sixty five seventy five splits and the
Calves win by fourteen. Like, what are we talking about?
(25:05):
What are we talking about? Oh? Hold on, I gotta
do that, because I'm sure I have to fix that.
I have to fix that. I apologize I gave you
the wrong field goal percentages. Let me do that again,
because I want this to be accurate. I gave you
so Game five of the Finals, No Draymond forty one
(25:28):
sixteen and seven on fifty three fifty splits in a
fifteen point win. Game six of the Finals with Draymond
forty one, eight to eleven on fifty nine fifty splits
in a fourteen point win. It's just revisionist history. And
(25:58):
it's the only other reason that's relevant to me right
now is that game happened ten seasons ago and this
guy's still playing. It's just a career that will never
(26:26):
be even remotely approached. And it's if you're if you're
listening to this right now and a sports fan of
this era. The fact that we got to experience Tom
(26:49):
Brady going more than twenty years of elite in the
mix every single year, ten Super Bowl appearances across multiple teams,
(27:12):
while experiencing Lebron doing the exact same thing in the NBA,
it's just unreal, just unreal. Today's show brought to you
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(29:17):
or Virginia. All right, so, Chief, season on the line
Sunday at Arrowhead. I don't like it. It's not what
I expected. I thought they were going to give themselves
a bit of a margin of error and be right
(29:40):
back in the thick of the divisional race by beating
the Broncos. That did not happen. And now, as we
talked about on Tuesday, it's very very simple. Run the
table and you might win the division. Amazingly you'll definitely
(30:04):
make the playoffs. Go six and one and it would
be very difficult to miss the playoffs, and you'll be
super dangerous going into the postseason. Go five and two
(30:27):
and you're probably out. Go four and three and you're
definitely out, and it's a true disaster of a year.
That's where they're at. Okay, I am not going to
(30:47):
be quite as chesty about my feelings and predictions for
this game given what we saw last weekend. Now in
the despite the Sauce Gardner trading, the fact that they
might have Tavarious Wardback obviously does not have the defense
(31:10):
that Denver has. This game, you know, is in Arrowhead,
not on the road. There is no deforce Buckner, and
Daniel Jones has been shaky his last few appearances. All
(31:30):
of that makes me feel as confident as I can
given how I feel after that Denver game. Jonathan Taylor
is a great, great player. The Chiefs tend not to
get gashed by like they're pretty good at at least
(31:56):
not shutting down but slowing down great backs. But Daniel
Jones is better than bon Nicks, and bo Nicks carved
the Chiefs up so and this is the Colts off
a bye. With all that said, as important as this
(32:19):
game is for the Chiefs, it is greatly important for
the Colts as well, because what the Colts all of
a sudden have is seven straight games to end their
season against teams fighting for their playoff lives to one
(32:41):
degree or another. So they're at the Chiefs. They then
get the Texans, who will be on extra rest themselves
after tonight's Bill's Texans game, and the Texans will either
be six and five coming off their best win of
(33:03):
the year, or five and six in a de facto
playoff game. They then go to Jacksonville, then to Seattle,
then home for the Niners, home for the Jags, and
at the Texans. Really odd for the Colts that they've
(33:24):
only played two divisional games up to this point in
the season. They're both against the Titans, so we haven't
really seen well not really, we have not seen the
Colts play the other two legitimate AFC South teams. So
a loss here and things maybe get a little shaky
(33:51):
for Indy. A win here and they're like, hey, why
can't we be the one seed? So I obviously like
the Chiefs in this spot, but they have lost for
the short term, the supreme confidence that they'd had that
(34:15):
they would have had in this spot at any other
moment of the Mahomes EUO and the inability to get
off the field in third and long is the number
one problem for me with the defense and offensively obviously,
(34:39):
and I've talked about it. Patrick needs to be more precise,
particularly on the deep balls. But the biggest systemic issue
with the offense right now is teams basically play the
(35:00):
pass at all times against Kansas City, and Kansas City
doesn't make him pay for it by running the ball.
It's just that it's just the truth that the total
lack of any threat of the under center run game
(35:22):
has made it to where Patrick in the passing offense
is up against really onerous defensive looks at all times
that should be easy to run on, but they won't
run the ball. Now, maybe with Pacheco likely back, that changes,
one would hope. I also got to acknowledge lou An Arumo,
(35:51):
the former Bengals decoordinator who's now with the Colts, has
cooked up some really good stuff against Patrick in his career.
So that's the concerning pieces of it, the bright sides
of it. So to speak or this a week from now,
(36:17):
they could be at seven and five a week from today,
take care of business at home against the Colts, go
to Dallas on Thanksgiving and they'd be seven and five
(36:37):
with two games remaining against the Titans and the Raiders
saying okay, there's nine and then we have a We
have Houston, the Chargers, the Broncos, all in Kansas City.
Win two out of three of our home games, and
(36:59):
you become the most dangerous likely seven seed in the
history of the NFL playoffs. That's where we're at. But
it has to start with a win against the Colts
on Sunday, and it has to start with Patrick being better,
Chris Jones being better, and the Chiefs ability to get
(37:21):
off on the field on third and long being better.
One of the other huge stories this week and is
obviously Shadoor making the first start of his career in Vegas,
Dylan Gabriel out with a concussion. Amazingly, he is the
(37:43):
forty second person to start at quarterback for the Browns
since nineteen ninety nine. Just a remarkable number. I think
in that same timeframe the Packers have had farv Rogers
(38:06):
love Willis, I believe are the only four. Maybe there's
like a Sean Manyon mixed in in there, but it's
certainly not more than five, and I think it's just four. Sure,
last week was terrible. You don't need to argue with
people on the internet about why he was terrible. He
(38:27):
was terrible. And it is not an overstatement to say
this game right here is by a wide margin the
single biggest moment of Schador's football life. It is not
(38:53):
an ideal circumstance. It is a somewhat ideal opponent, but
it is what it is. And Schador does not have
to be excellent in this game. But if he's awful,
(39:20):
there's a world that exists where this is the only
start he ever gets for any team. Because we know
definitively no team, no team loved him coming out of school, nobody.
(39:43):
There is not a player that teams love that is
available in the fifth round. So we know that. We
also know that if people were concerned that through no
both of Shador's own, he would there would be a
(40:09):
lot of other stuff, media wise and nonsense social media
stuff that other players are more importantly coaches on the
team have to deal with. If you take him as
a backup quarterback. Those concerns have been fully validated, and
(40:36):
so does a world exist where if Shadoor is really
bad on Sunday, he does not start again this year.
Kevin Stefanski is fired in Cleveland after this year. The
(41:03):
new head coach comes in with multiple first round picks,
takes his quarterback of the future, has Dylan Gabriel as
the backup, and says, we are not dealing with more
(41:27):
chatter surrounding our third string quarterback, and they cut it.
And if that were to happen based on what teams
thought about him going into the draft, do I think
it's more than on the board. It's potentially likely that
(41:52):
no team would sign up for that bringing in that
guy to be your third third string quarterback. I I
could see that happening, and that would feel unfair. But
(42:14):
there's plenty of guys that were fifth round picks in
this league that got that. If they got a shot
or two and it didn't go, well, it's just over.
It's the NFL. And so I'm by the way, I'm
not predicting that he'll be terrible. I think this is
(42:34):
actually a pretty good spot for him in this game
against this opponent. I am predicting though, that if he's terrible,
and he was terrible last week, that more likely than
not this game is the only game he starts in
(42:55):
his career. So as Marlow Stanfield would say, do it
or don't, But I got places to be. The league's
gonna keep moving. This is Shititor's moment. Now. The flip
side is if he's excellent, then maybe he just keeps
(43:17):
starting for Cleveland this year and you see if he
can rekindle some of that Colorado magic. But if he's terrible,
this can get away from him real quick. Hey guys,
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wayfair dot Com. All Right, So Joe Burrow was a
full participant in Bengals practice on Wednesday. That was shocking
to me. Here is my prediction on Burrow's status because
(45:09):
keep in mind they play Thanksgiving against Baltimore. So I
don't think Burrow is going to come back this early.
This would be early no matter what. Come back on
Thanksgiving would be crazy. But I'm good for him if
(45:30):
he can do it. But I don't think he's gonna
come back earlier than Thanksgiving and then play in a
game four days later. But do I now think it's
possible he comes back on Thanksgiving and then has ten
days before their next game and tries to just obviously
(45:52):
play the rest of the year. Yes, that's what I
think is likely. I think he misses the Patriots game
and his back for the Ravens game. Now, do I
think that the Bengals that gives them a shot to
get back in it? No? Is that because I think
(46:15):
the Steelers are about to run away with it? Nope,
it's simply that I think that Bengals defense. I think
the Bengals, had Joe Burrow not been hurt, they'd be
in the mix for the playoffs, but they wouldn't have
that much better of a record than they do right
now at three and seven, because the problem hadn't been
the offense. The problem's been the defense, which they never fixed.
(46:37):
This does, however, make me feel like the Ravens' chances
of winning the division just went down significantly, because if
Burrow comes back and they just go their first three
(47:04):
games Baltimore, Buffalo, Baltimore. When you were looking at how
the Ravens could win the division, a lot of the
math was sweeping. Sinceyet that does get a lot harder,
and now, all of a sudden, if you're Baltimore, you
(47:26):
obviously have the Jets this weekend, that's a win or
should be. But then your final six games Sincy Pittsburgh, Sincy,
New England, Green Bay, Pittsburgh. So four winning teams plus
or four games against winning teams plus two against Joe Burrow.
(47:57):
And if you're the Steelers, you're like, man, we duck Tim.
Now they did lose one to Joe Flacco anyway, But
still the other piece of this that if I were
a Bengals fan, I wouldn't be able to I just
couldn't get over is why did we have to blow
(48:20):
the Jets game and the Bears game the way we did.
We lose thirty nine to thirty eight to the Jets,
who we had, We had a fourteen point lead on
the Jets in the fourth quarter and lost to the
(48:40):
Ozho to seven Jets. And then the next week we
had we were down fourteen at the two minute warning
to the Bears and a minute later had a one
point lead and then blew that one too. Had they
(49:03):
won one of those and we're sitting at four and six,
they'd be alive. Had they won both of them and
were sitting at five and five, they might be the
co favorites in the division when Joe gets back based
on the strength that offense alone. But they didn't and
they blew it just the reality of the situation. So
(49:27):
now they can just play spoiler and now Joe. Also,
here's the other thing for Burrow, because I don't know
if you know. Obviously last year he was unbelievable in losses.
This year he played Week one against Cleveland, played really poorly,
(49:52):
they won seventeen sixteen because it's the Browns. And then
week two he barely played in a game they ended
up winning against the Jas. I just think for Joe
it'll feel good to get back out there and play
like Joe Burrow again and remind people how good he
can be. I don't think that's going to be this weekend.
(50:17):
I would be shocked. Hey, Ay, you think about upgrading
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boostmobile dot Com. Terms do apply. My NFC Championship game
pick from before the year. Buccaneers Rams, that is Sunday
Night Football are flying the highest they have all year.
(51:02):
The Bucks are flying the lowest they have all year.
We will discuss that game much more during our Week
twelve is it Wow Week twelve NFL gambling show tomorrow.
Real quick here, though, I do want to spend a
couple of minutes on Bills Texans, because I I think
(51:28):
this is a very important. Obviously, let me say something
about the Texans. I do not believe the Texans are
in the playoff mix. And I know that technically they've
got the same record as the Chiefs. I get that.
I think the fact that they are home for the
(51:49):
Bills than at the Colts than at the Chiefs, and
then still have a game left at the Chargers and
home for the Colts, I just don't think. I and
given how awful their offense has been all year and
that CJ is still not back, I just do not
think Houston is going to be able to play anything
(52:11):
but spoiler. The Bills, on the other hand, are still
in the mix for the division, but also are just
a loss tonight away from feeling like they are, you know,
right back in the swirl of Hey, what the hell's
(52:34):
going on? With games remaining at Pittsburgh home for the Bengals,
at the Patriots, and home for the Eagles. I have
been encouraging Josh to be Josh. It's gonna make some mistakes,
You'll take it because of the wild stuff tonight. Tonight
(52:57):
is not a night you should need that. Tonight is
a night that you should be able to win on
the strength of James Cook and not turning the ball over.
And so this is a good test of can Josh
throttle We saw him last week throttle up? Can he
(53:18):
throttle down? That's what i'ma be watching for tonight. I
expect the Bills to win, and I think the Texans
only path is multiple Bills turnovers. So we'll see the
thing throttle down tonight. Listener questions w asked, if you
can flip the result of one lebron play or game,
what would it be for me? It's finishing the dunk
(53:39):
over Draymond in Game some of the twenty sixteen Finals.
I mean, yes, that would be the lebron play that
I would flip to be the greatest dunken NBA history.
The actual play I would change is Kyle Korver hitting
the corner three in Game three of the twenty seventeen
(54:04):
NBA Finals or George Hill making his free throw in
what became the j R. Smith Game. Those would be
the two that I would change. Danny asks if the
(54:25):
Chiefs win all of their remaining games, could the Broncos
loss become the loss that led to the loss that
led to the the loss that led to Lombardi. That's
pretty good. I'll keep that in my back pocket. Q
(54:48):
asked if the Chiefs missed the playoffs, wouldn't the Bills
and Josh be under the most pressure by a country mile,
No doubt about it. And we'll talk about if the
Chiefs end up losing this weekend, we'll talk about what
that does for the rest of the AFC playoff picture.
But they're not gonna lose this weekend. Will they be
one of my week twelve picks? Find that out on
(55:08):
tomorrow's show. Thank you to everybody like rate, subscribe, review,
huge shout out to Volume in Blue Duck, and thank
you of course to hard rock at boost Wayfair and
the great people at Zen. Talk to you guys tomorrow
for our week twelve picks
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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