NFL Cover Zero: The most watchable teams in the NFL

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
NFL Covers Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin is
a production of the NFL and iHeart Podcast. It's episode
one of the NFL Cover zero podcast. I am Matt
Jones and joining me is Drew Franklin sitting over there,

(00:29):
well actually directly in front of me, Drew, with this
is our first episode. I hope you're excited, very excited.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Just right now, I'm looking at the NFL logo behind
your head and it kind of feels surreal that we're
able to do this.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, So for people who are listening for the first time,
Drew and I've worked together for seventeen years and we
are big sports fans, and we have thought for a
long time the NFL is one of the most fun sports.
But sometimes the podcasts take it very seriously, and we're
like a lot of fans. We just enjoy watching the
games and having a good time. And so what this

(01:03):
podcast is going to do is cover the NFL well,
you know, I won't say from a non serious way,
but just as a fan, we don't do We're not
gonna do a lot of x's and o's. We're just
gonna be like two guys, you know, sitting and talking
about the games, and Drew, I'm looking forward to that.
You and I do this anyway, so we might as
well talk about it. We'll have guests on throughout the year.
We're gonna do shows that we will record right after

(01:27):
the last game on Sunday, so when you wake up
on Monday morning, it's there.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Yeah, we'll have a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
We might leave the advanced statistics, all those metrics to
someone else because we don't know that. Not a big
player perspective between the two of us, not a lot
of football in our background, but like many people listening,
we just love watching the NFL. We'll talk about the
stories even off the field too, just anything fun happening
on a Sunday. We'll be taking notes. Totally agree.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
So now, if you've ever, if you're aware of our work,
we often have technical difficulties and screw ups. This was
our first one. So this episode you're about to listen to.
And by the way, if you have not yet, go
to where you get podcasts or YouTube's or twitters and
you click on subscribe, because we'd like to have you

(02:15):
as a subscriber. Go ahead and do that. Now, NFL
Cover zero, we would appreciate it. We recorded this episode,
the first one last week, and then all of a sudden,
as soon as we finished, we got an Adam Schefter
alert that Micah Parsons had been traded. So when you
listen to this, I don't want you to think that

(02:37):
we don't know that Makah Parsons has been trading. We
do know that allegedly to Green Bay four years, one
hundred and eighty eight million dollars for two first round
picks and Kenny Clark. We know that, but we had
just already done this and we felt good about it,
and we didn't want to redo the whole thing. We'd
have to redo our entire premise of the show in

(02:59):
order to put it in. So we're going to just
deal with Micah Parsons. But you have to understand that
when you hear the pack rating and you see the
Cowboys rating, it would have been different had we known
about the trade.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Incredible timing. We were on our way home. I wasn't
out of the parking garage when the group text got
hit with the graphic that went around announcing the news,
So we just missed that about thirty minutes it happens.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
I mean, listen, I sometimes you don't. Sometimes you don't
get the news earlier. I just recently, you know, heard
that the Olympics were over. Wasn't aware you've been dealed
in with football? Well? I just I watch it on
streaming and I was like, you know, I was just
getting through all the events. Some bad lagging it as well.
I'm in Kentucky. Internet's not fast, so so yes, now

(03:47):
knowing that, we'll start with that. You are a secondary
Cowboys fan. Are you sad to see Micah gone? I am.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
It's a big pr hit. I mean that city just
lost Luca. Micah is the other big star in that town.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
You're about to trade JR. Ewing as well for you
older fum.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, if you really leaved in a real rebuild, they
got the pieces for something here if you make those
picks work. Have some concerns about the Cowboys making it work,
since it's been several years since they've made much work there.
But it's hard to watch Michael Parsons at twenty six
years years old walk out that door for an NFC contender.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
I did hear this morning he has an F four
F five vertebrae something I don't know how many f's
there are in your vertebrae. I feel like four and
five those are important ones. So hopefully he's okay, But
but you know, he might miss the first week. Nobody
knows for sure. But do you think maybe the Packers

(04:45):
should have done more injury checks with his F four
and F five springs?

Speaker 2 (04:50):
No, I think they're still going to make out good
on this as long as they win right away.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
He wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
He wasn't cheap on their end. There's gonna be some
salary cap.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
He'say highest paid player non quarterback. Ever, is you think
he's worth it?

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Probably?

Speaker 2 (05:04):
I like that he retired his mom for that kind
of money? Will you retire my mom? And like all
the moms, I'm.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Not go ahead and say I feel like his mom already.
I mean, yeah, you're one. He had made a bunch
of money. I mean his mom had to be at
some point, like, okay, like four Pro Bowls? Why am
I still working? You know, you're on the cover of Madden, Like,
why am I still working? Micah? I've always told my
mom that if I'd made it in sports, because she'll
always send me some picture of like Lamar Jackson bought

(05:33):
his mom a car, and she'll be like in this
suite and I go, Mom, I would have bought you
a car too. I wouldn't have accepted it, like, well,
you know what, it's very nice. So I'm now the Packers.
Are they a super Bowl favorite? To you? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (05:48):
It's crazy how quickly the change around them. I mean,
obviously they're in a good spot as it is, but
it feels like just a few weeks ago, people are
wondering if Jordan Love has a thumb, if they're gonna
be okay, And suddenly.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Love's good to go. They were wondering if he hadn't details.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
I asked two of them, Oh, they're healthy.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
But you go from just worrying about that wondering if
you can reap repeats the magic from last year. It's
all of a sudden you have the best pass rusher
in the NFL on your team.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, so you know it does change. The NFC North,
which was maybe the best division anyway, gets even better.
I'm always hesitant to spend that much money on a
non quarterback. To me players, I'm not gonna say they're fungible.
They're not. Michael Parsons is huge, but I don't know
if if one player changes the entire course of your team,

(06:32):
unless it's a quarterback, but we will find out. But
I love watching Dallas make another ridiculous decision. I love
watching Jerry Jones try to explain it in a press conference.
If you could have picked the worst time he could
have made this deal, it would have been now. If
you were to say, what was the least amount of
leverage he had last year before the draft this year

(06:56):
after the season, if you were to put it on
a timeline, I think he traded it literally the worst
moment he had leverage. Way to go, Jerry, I'd love
to play poker.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
And also with the timing, my wife a diehard Cowboys fan.
We were about two episodes into the new Netflix documentary
on the Cowboys, and after the Mica news, she's out, like,
I can't watch the rest of this.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
I'm not ready.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
I'm too hurt. Yeah. Well, anyway, that's the way it goes.
So what you're gonna hear from now on is the
podcast we did. We basically ranked all the teams and watchability.
We decided if we were going to watch if a
team was on, where would we rank in terms of
how we would want to watch them? Would you want
to watch them more than any other team or less

(07:38):
than any other team? Again, if we'd known about Micah Dallas,
probably lower, Green Bay higher. But that's the way it goes.
But we did want you to know we do know
about Micah, and we wish them both the best of luck. Now,
Billy is our producer. I want to show something. Hen
me that book there, Bill, okay, so you know, to prepare.
I bought a book.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Oh my, that's not any book, that's a phone book.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
First of all, this is I'm holding it up to
the camera here. This is the Sharp Football Analysis. Some
guy named Warren.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
I follow Warren Warren's Sharp.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Now I don't know who Warren Sharp is, but Warren Sharp,
I think, I think you can say really likes the football.
If you look on the screen for those of you,
you know you on YouTube, you'll see the pages are
color coded. There are lots of numbers. And I bought
it because somebody told me if you read the Sharp
Football Preview, you'll have everything you need to know. So
I bought it and thought, okay, and then I opened that.

(08:32):
I'm not reading that, all right, I'm not reading that.
There's a lot of stuff in here. I'm not reading
all that, but I am mesmerized by how beautiful the
color is. Guess how much this book costs me? Oh, guy,
I can just tell by the printing job on. That
alone had to have been outrageous. Honest.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Hold on, it's about as thick as I'd say the Columbus,
Ohio phone book forty five dollars.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
This is like seventy four dollars. That's how much this
book was.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Look what I know this is not ind visual, but
I am holding a piece of paper that I got
from the eye lobby with a pen I borrowed from
a salesperson, and I jotted some notes down, so seventy.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
Four pages or seventy four dollars, and I just was like,
I'm not gonna read this. So I gave it to Billy,
and I said, Billy, as we go through teams, I
want you to give me a fact. I don't want
to feel like I wasted this seventy four dollars. Warren
Sharp put a lot of time.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
He's got a great mustache too, by the way we do. Yeah,
there's probably a lot of money we'll go to just
keeping that thing looking good.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Mustache wax. That GE's where a lot of the money goes.
So I want to feel like Warren did his work
for good reason, and I want to feel like I
didn't waste seventy four dollars. So I asked Billy to
as we go through teams, give me one fact from
Warren for each team. Billy, are you prepared to do that?

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Well, you gave me this assignment thirty minutes ago, so
we're we're about halfway through the teams and the other
half we will do it on the fly.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
You've got this so most you know you can do
like a preview. Here's what I want to do. I
enjoy watching the games. I don't know about you, Drew.
When I see the schedule, sometimes I think that team
is going to be fun to watk and sometimes I
think I can't. I can't do this right. It's Sunday
Night football? Are you telling me it's the Saints again? Like,

(10:16):
I can't do it.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Occasionally there will be a bad matchup that will make
me watch something on Netflix.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
It's probably more Thursday night football. That's where you get it,
those Thursday night games. And it's like I love kirkharb Street,
but can I do this again? So we decided we
were going to rank the thirty two teams one to
thirty two just in watchability. This is my if the
team is on my screen, do I want to watch them?

(10:43):
And do? I think There's a lot of factors that
go into this. One is how good are they right?
Probably the main factor. Two do they have like a
player or a style that's interesting? Then it might be
you know, are there storylines with them? What is their
home field advantage? Like I would even go visually, what

(11:03):
does it look like to watch a game? Like when
Minnesota's college team plays, they seem to be playing in
a dungeon, and so I think the combination of the
color of their uniforms and all that I cannot watch
a Golden Gopher football game. We have ranked. You and
I each have a list of our top of our
NFL teams one to thirty two, and we're gonna do

(11:25):
a draft. I'll pick one, you'll pick one, and at
the end we will have our thirty two team official
ranking of how watchable these teams are. I like this.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
There's some teams that like I hate watch We're all
familiar with the team.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
You don't like to do that.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
But yes, I'm gonna watch them just so that they
I can root for them to lose. So I consider
that another thing. You know in the NFL, it's all
these beautiful stadiums. We don't get the Minnesota domes, but
places with potential snow will give you a little bonus
points there if there's a chance I'm gonna see a
snow game.

Speaker 3 (11:54):
So I factored that in a little bit to night.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
I didn't go do the snow weather. But that's actually
good because are you more likely to watch a game
when it's snows. Oh?

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
I will turn off my favorite team to watch the
sloppy snow game.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
I'm exactly like that. So we have it. We'll go
back and forth. I'll tell you what, how many fingers
am I holding up? One or two?

Speaker 2 (12:17):
I'm gonna say too, all right, it was two.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
So I'm going you have the first pick, all right,
and you are picking for the for the group. What
is the most watchable team in the NFL to you?

Speaker 2 (12:26):
Well, it is kind of lame to answer this way,
but it is the first pick. It's going to be
a popular pick. I'm going with the New Hollywood, Kansas
City with the recent news this week their their brand
just got even bigger with now Taylor will be moving
into Kansas City. Then, of course we have the Mahomes magic,
all the improbable finishes. Anytime they play the you know,
the Ravens, the Bills, the Bengals, it seems to come

(12:48):
down to the wire. So, even though they're not a
team I particularly care for, it's hard to not watch
a Chiefs game when they're on TV. And now you've
added the Swifties.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
Yeah, I have Chiefs number two, but I'll take them
at number one. I think it was close, whether it
was one or two, all right, it's a lot of factors.
One I think the most important thing. They're good. Especially
in recent years, it seems like they are in a
million close games because they don't they don't blow teams out.
I think what last year they were eleven to one
or something in one score game. So it always comes
down to the end. Mahomes usually ends up with the ball,

(13:19):
has a chance to do it. Mahomes is fun to watch.
You know, a little bit of a dad bod, a
little bit dorky, but crazy good. You know, Travis Kelcey
used to think Travis Kelsey was goober. Now he's America's sweetheart.
I kind of like him. He's got the mustache, he's kind,
he seems like he's he's kind of an idiot, but
like in the Lovable We All Have, he's a lovable idiot, right,

(13:43):
Andy Reid mustache rotun? How are you not gonna like
a row Ton guy with a mustache? Looks like a
Philadelphia cop, but a good one. He's not corrupt, right,
not one that's being investigated. More like a school crossing guard.
He looks like he looks like Billy laugh On, a
very nice school crossing guard. Then you throw in the

(14:04):
chief stadium right. That looks fun.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
I've been. It's as good as it gets.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
Mike Snow. Mike Snow, Now you mentioned Kansas City. We've
been in Kansas City. Good barbecue, decent stuff going on.
But it's crazy to me to think that Taylor Swift
kind of lives there, you know. I mean she basically
has to live there with Travis Kelsey and they are
maybe the two most famous people in America and they

(14:30):
are in Kansas City. Do you think that's strange?

Speaker 2 (14:33):
That's why my pick I called it the New Hollywood. Honestly,
before this engagement, I probably would have had them two
or three. But I think America is gonna just that.
This is now our our home base. This is our
center point of America. Is Kansas City. I'm not even
sure if it's in Missouri or Kansas, but we'll think
it's in Missouri.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah, but that is now. It is now the celebrity
hot bed. TV is gonna be games. Do you think
they just go to like regular restaurants in Kansas City? Well,
they just go to I mean, I don't know what
the good places are there. Well, it just opened.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
It's the fifteen eighty seven Steakhouse by Travis Kelcey.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
And Pat Mahomes. Oh they have it just opened.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Yeah, they'll she'll have her own room.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
Why is it fifteen? Oh the numbers?

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah yeah yeah, but it's it's supposed to be a
big deal, literally just opening right now. So okay, so
I'd expect you'd be there a lot.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
I also, I mean I kind of liked the Chiefs
before because old Joe Montana played there, you know, when
he was kind of washed up. They had a safety
who had a rap song that I could sing. Billy
right now, do you remember Eric Barry of course, Eric Barry,
Eric Barry, You're so scared. I don't know if that's

(15:38):
exactly I don't remember, but you could look it up.
He had a song called Eric Barry and I loved it,
and so you know, I had some Chiefs positivity before that. Oh.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
I had a friend who had family in Kansas City
when we were in middle school. About once a year
we'd go and I'd get to go to Chiefs game.
There were photos of me where I'm fully painted red
and yellow, like I was all in there for a
little while. I wouldn't never call him my favorite, but
I've had a plenty of trips.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Arrowhead that were a wild time.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
I don't know if you want those photos out different time.
So I think the Chiefs are a pretty good number
one pick. Feels like they play at four thirty with
Jim Nantz and Tony Romo almost every week. So I
agree with that. My number one team is I think
most people would put here, and so it'll be number
two for us as the Bills. I think again, same
kind of thing. Really good. Josh Allen is maybe the

(16:28):
most exciting player to watch. He bounces off people, but
really a lot of it's about the fans. Right, it
gets dark in Buffalo at two thirty in the afternoon,
so the game is it's always dark there, no matter what.
It's snowing. You throw people through tables, and then there's
just the history of they've never won. They find a
way to collapse at the end. They look sad. I

(16:49):
don't think anybody would say there's anywhere that looks to
be more fun. You know, that's a team that they
almost lost the team a couple different times in their history.
So the Bills for me pretty strong. Number two.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Yeah, button Bills are number two for me. Also, like
if you don't enjoy the current Bills era with the Mafia,
Josh Allen, you just have hate your heart. I don't
care if they're you got your favorite team. They're a
likable group. Even like to bring up twifties again, when
Jason Kelsey went to a game of few years ago,
they're just showing him in the crowd with his shirt off.
The Bills games maybe more than any other team in

(17:19):
the NFL. It's an experience that's fun to watch from afar.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
By the way, I already forgot part of the show,
which is I was supposed to go to Billy for
a fun fact for each team from Warren Sharp. Hey,
we first first episode, really we got through one team
and I had already forgotten to go to Billy. So
let me go back for a second, go to the Chiefs.
What was Warren Sharp's fun Chiefs back?

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Well, the Chiefs may be fun to watch, but they
don't throw the ball down field. It's out of the
one hundred and ninety two team seasons since twenty nineteen,
the twenty twenty four Kansas City Chiefs ranked one eighty
nine and rate of passes thrown fifteen plus air yards.
So Patrick Mahomes, he's so great he done to throw
the ball past fifteen yards.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Okay, explain to me, what's your number? How many years
of that football.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
Since twenty nineteen? There s one and ninety two individual
team seasons.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Okay, and it came in one hundred and eighty nine.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Hundred and eighty nine out of one ninety two.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
It is a little surprising. And that's partially why I
think they're gonna be better this year, because they're gonna
have guys to throw down the field. But it's amazing.
He's considered universally the best quarterback and the third fourth
worst team in the last what six years to throw
the ball down the field, that's impressible.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
Ice, Well, you got Kills. You don't throw too far,
but they do throw it far. If it's fourth and
thirty four in the games on the line they get
a completion, that's when they go along.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
That's definitely true. All right, So now number two give
me a Buffalo Bills fac.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
Oh, it's all about getting over the hump in the
playoffs for the Bills. The Bills average over twenty four
points per game in the playoff losses they've had over
the last five years. Conversely, the opponents score on average
thirty three points in the games that the Bills have
lost in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
So they scored nine less points in the play Yeah,
I'm gonna say to Warren, I think that stat's better
if it's flipped. I mean, I kind of would have
assumed that they score less points in the teams when
they lose in the place. Am I supposed to be
surprised by that stat?

Speaker 3 (19:12):
Maybe by how many points they score?

Speaker 1 (19:13):
And so they scored nine points less than the other.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
Team, that's right, in the playoffs, Okay, in their losses.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
I'm just gonna say. I mean, that's not a shocking
the chief stat little shocking bill stat.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
Maybe not do we mention the potential for snow and
Buffalo because they're the one that's the they got all
the snow points.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
If Buffalo ever built a dome, I think they should
have to forfeit their their team. I mean, because that
that's the thing that's their biggest home field advantage. And
Buffalo is also the place where wasn't who was the player?
Was it Ocho Cinco who said there's nowhere to go
here but Appleby's.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
I think it's t t o to a lot of
Applebee's when he was up there for a year.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
There's no reason to disparage Apple.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Give me my hometown, that's all.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
We have.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Birthdays and celebrations were going to Apple.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
When I went to Applebee's, I felt like we're going
big time, eating good in the neighborhood. Number three. You
get to pick.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
All right, number three. It's a team nearby us. I'm
not necessarily a fan, but when Joe Burrow is throwing
to Jamar Chase, there's not much better in the NFL
when that offense is rocking. So I went with the
Bengals at three. Also like that their defense is usually chaos,
so they're getting a lot of shootouts. But it's all
Bengals locally here in Kentucky. We have a lot of
friends who like the Bengals, so I put them at third,

(20:30):
but mostly just Burrow to chase.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
Maybe a lot of people, maybe some people out there
that consider that a surprising pick. I had him at
number four, so I can't you know, I didn't have
a much lower I think it's the Burrow chase thing, right,
the do not let your girlfriend see Joe Burr, Like
if she's tuned in to watch the game hoping to
see Travis and Taylor and she sees Joe Burrow, especially

(20:53):
like me, we live in Lexington, So if I, like,
if you're with a woman in Lexington and she burrows it,
she might be like that sin is not that far,
Like like I could meet him maybe if we go
up there and he's is he married? He's not married. No,
he's dating.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
Remember when they got robbed or whatever, he got exposed
that he had a he was dating some model.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Oh we had a secret girlfriend. Yeah, yeah, that was he's.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
At the house or whatever it was.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
That would be the worst way to get caught. Yeah,
he's just trying to keep the house gets broken into
and it turns out you had a woman there. That
would be a bad day for Joe.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
That'd still probably trade place with the Joe if I
was given the opportunity, though Joe seems to have a
pretty good life going for him. Bengals I probably would
have had in the thirties before Joe Burrow on this list.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
But he and Chase that they're the offense and he
has a lot. There's a long line of quarterbacks, you know,
Boomers Sison, the one that gets forgotten, Ken Anderson. Do
you know the name Ken Anderson.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
I've met Ken Anderson here in Lexington at a golf
outing and he was the NFL MVP when you Yeah,
and I went as Boomer Sison for Halloween as a
little kid. I guess now that I've done the Chiefs beingles,
I like the Tights. Maybe I just love the whole league,
But yeah, I was a Boomer, had the full outfit
and the helmet when Kumar.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
Assasin for for well. I always say this, but it's
my one Ken Anderson fact. My mom went to law
school with Ken Anderson while he played for the Bengals.
He was also in law school. Can you imagine if
an MVP. So let's just say, like Josh Allen were
to also be in law school, Like we don'd Stephen

(22:28):
Addy say on first take, how in the world is
he supposed to focus when he has a tort law
class in the morning, But Ken Anderson did that.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
I imagine you're watching Sunday night football, watching Allen come
back to beat the Ravens, and then at am, there
he is in your class. Just he's in your group
working on the group project.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
He's my mom said, like he was in her civil
procedure small group and my mom did not know who
he was. And people were like, you realize Ken Anderson
is your partner. She didn't even she didn't know who
he was. She was like, that's Ken. He always comes
in here, dirty bar one day, nice guy. So what

(23:05):
is our Bengals fund?

Speaker 3 (23:06):
The Bengals are the only offensive line, right.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
How'd you say it?

Speaker 3 (23:09):
The Bengals, thank you, are the not the Bengals. The
Bengals are the only offensive line to rank twenty fifth
or worse for four straight years.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, their offensive line is awful. They claim it's better,
but I doubt it for people who don't live in Cincinnati.
The Bengals practice facility is under the interstate next to
a train station. You think you think I'm making this up.
If you drive on I seventy five between Kentucky and Cincinnati,
you drive over what looks to be like a chemical

(23:38):
waste dump, and right next to it is the brand
new Bengals practice facility. And I always think it's kind
of funny that, Like, it's nice, but you also conceivably
could have hobos coming off the train joining you and
running out patterns.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
They don't even have a goalpost to kicker. There's like
those two smoke stacks said that factory. He just goes
out in the parking lot starts kicking through that. A
lot of seems like isolate themselves out somewhere. It's maybe
one of the busiest roads in America, and people are
just flying by a looking.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
In the middle of downtown, like you can literally sit
and watch the practice from the bridge. We don't encourage that,
by the way, Yeah, don't go watching it, but you could.
All right, number four, it's my pick. I actually had
it at number three, but we had the exact same
top four. We didn't talk about this before. I have
the Ravens. Really, it all comes down to Lamar. To

(24:30):
be quite frank with you, I think the Ravens are
actually kind of boring to watch besides Lamar. Lamar, though,
is the most exciting player in football. And then last
year they had the Derrick Henry addition that helped make them.
But if the Ravens are in the game, it's awesome.
You know. We still if you're my age, you still
think of them as a defensive team, but that's really
not the case anymore. It's really Lamar, and it's amazing

(24:54):
that a team can be number four because a one guy.
But I think they are.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
I'm glad we did this order because this was my
first one where I got a little wild. I had
them much farther down because I said, I hate watch
teams as a Titans guy. See, and Derek Henry still
look like he's young. I can't watch it. We got
rid of him because he's too old. Let's get out.
He can't do it anymore. He's thirty one, thirty two,
and I know Saquan's out there, but I'm saying Derek

(25:18):
Henry will be the best running back next year.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
And in running back here, thirty two is like eighty eight. Yeah,
like I mean, and he's still out there doing it.
And for him to go to a rival that head
to also.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Well, see, I've also been to go to Not that
they happen often, but I try to go to Titans
playoffs games. Ravens have gotten me twice with heartbreak over
the years.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah. Well, when I say rival, that's what I mean.
You all lost in the playoffs too.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
You got a Louisville guy and Lamar who actually admire
and appreciating the NFL. But still they're a team that
when I turn it on, there's more emotions than I'm
just watching the game.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
You didn't have.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
I had him at seven because I won King Henry
and Nashville, not in Baltimore. That was the big one,
all right. So it's Chiefs, Bills, Bengals, Ravens. It's pretty good.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
Top four. Give me a Baltimore. Tell me what Warren
Sharp thinks.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
Since twenty twenty, the Ravens are twenty three and twenty
four in one score games. That's the eighteenth best in
the NFL in that time.

Speaker 1 (26:08):
That's a terrible fact. They're basically in the middle of
the pack.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
For comparison, the Steelers who made the playoffs last year
are thirty seven and fifteen. That's number two win ray, Okay, so.

Speaker 1 (26:20):
That would have been a good fact for the Steelers Baltimore.
They're always all right, that's okay, you know what. One's
one had good facts for three of the four. I'll
add one. The Ravens are undefeated. If Derek Henry gets
ninety yards. I think they were twelve and oer last year. Again,
Derek Henns is still in his prime. I miss him.

(26:40):
You think he'll be good this year? Yes? The best?
All right? Tell me who you got? What's next? Speak
number five?

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Well, speaking of let's get weird, this is where I
had to put my own team.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
I had them at four. The camp I'm not letting
you do that.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
The cam Ward experience.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
I'm not letting you get the Titan. You cannot listen.
We got to put this in a graphic out to
the public. I cannot put the Titans. That's the number
three five most interesting.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
At some point when we're doing if I'm sitting down
watching like, where are your bears?

Speaker 3 (27:05):
I mean they're probably there, but I.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
Mean that's part of the game. We have our teams.
But to be honest with you, you're gonna put him somewhere.
I feel like objectively, Caleb Williams is more interesting.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
Cam Ward the number one pick this year, year, his
years the number one pick.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
If it's games on TV and it's Titans or it's Bears,
his team or my team, who are you more excited
to watch? Neither?

Speaker 3 (27:35):
But I guess the Bears if we're choosing it. I
hate to say that for you. What happened to a
draft order? Why don't we need some? We have an order.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
The problem is we're gonna put this on a graphic
and it's gonna be the first time people are gonna
know us, and you're gonna have the Titans fifth, it's
cam Ward, it's my team. Where do you want them seventeenth?
This is ruining the graphic.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
I just want to where you said you had the
Bears at fifth?

Speaker 1 (27:58):
That but that was that's that's object But.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
They don't I mean, they don't belong in the top two.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Caleb Williams is exciting. Like with Caleb, you don't know
what color his fingernails are gonna be right, You don't
know if he's got you know, think about the games
last year. Every game we had came down to the wire.
You had to fame the Hail Mary game against the Commanders.
The ball ends up in his hands in the fourth
quarter with the chance to go win all the time.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
But you just made my case for cam Ward. He's
last year's Caleb Williams. That's why he should be ahead
of it.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
We're not watchle to know what cam Ward looks like.

Speaker 2 (28:32):
Well, it's not a beauty watch fire the big skin.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
What are we talking about?

Speaker 1 (28:37):
They got helmets on the pigskin. I'm just defending.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
I'm defending my Titans, who I think might be one
of the worst teams.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
What just know?

Speaker 3 (28:47):
How about on the graphic?

Speaker 1 (28:49):
He ruined the graphic?

Speaker 3 (28:53):
Yeah, for a podcast called Cover zero with Titans in
the top five of watching.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
I can't believe the Titans are number four, five, okay,
but then the Bears are going to be number six,
so we were I mean, this this is by cat.
We've ruined it right there. But we'll we'll have to
put a look our faces next to each one of
them says it's our team, all right, give me a
Titans fun fact. Good luck.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
They were really bad last year. Two and six and
one score games. If you want to keep that name going.

Speaker 1 (29:23):
There we go two and six and one score game.
You're a Titans fan. Cam Ward's the only reason to
watch the team. Apparently it's the reason the fifth best
reason to watch any team, but right, is there any
other reason to watch or not at all?

Speaker 3 (29:36):
I love him.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
It's been a been a rough existence since nineteen ninety nine.
We've had a few good years. Those are getting few
and far between. But cam Ward in the little glimpses
we got him in the preseason, It's not just me
being a fan. There's some excitement around him and thinking
he could be one of those dudes. I don't know
if we're gonna have a Jaylen Daniels run of a
year ago and make the playoffs, but I think he
is one that a lot of people will want to

(29:57):
see how he pans out.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
Yeah, I I just for just comparison's sake. I had
the Titans twenty ninth. It's perfect twenty ninth. I had
the Titans twenty ninth. I feel like most of the
time when I watch the Titans, the field is coming
up like the field has been. It feels like you
all get more divots in the field. Do you should

(30:19):
see the upper deck?

Speaker 2 (30:20):
If you go to a game, you look down and
the concrete has cracks in your thing, and there's a
chance I could end up in the.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Parking lot if they don't fix this. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
Also, it's very fitting for the Titans to make a
bad pick at the top of the draft, because that's
exactly what they do. It's a little tribute taking the
Titans number four. Okay, so the Titans end up number five.
I guess we're going with the Bears number six. My
case is gonna have an exciting offense, lots of weapons.
Caleb Williams.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
You get to see an SNL skip from the eighties
every time they play while they show the guys go bubbers.
They keep showing all those guys. Think they've all passed away, unfortunately,
but they're still on there. You got the mustaches. They're
also the only stadium I've ever been to that only
serves RC cola. Oh wow, did you know that? No,

(31:05):
they're official soft drink is not coke and it's not
Pepsi's RC, so you can all the RC. You can
only get RC products. Impressive that's really strange, Like, is there,
first of all, is there any other place in the
United States where you can only get I think you
could go to the RC factory and they would still
offer you a coke.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
I grew up around the corner from an RC plant,
and I thought when it closed that was the end
of r C. That was like thirty years ago. You're
telling me it's still out there floating around. It's the
only drink you can get it sold. Your field is
RC so one of the oldest stadiums that they're just
going for the nostalgia thing.

Speaker 1 (31:42):
Yeah, I guess so, So there you go, and that,
to me is the fun fact for Chicago. But does
Warren have one better than that?

Speaker 3 (31:49):
Caleb Williams took a league high sixty eight sacks last year.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, well I felt that watching. I mean, he that's
over four sacks a game, and he he was he
held the ball too long, but he also had a
tearbo offensive Lindy. They upgraded it during the off season.
Watch him hopefully, Yeah, call him Missouri. That's exactly right,
all right, number who's next for you?

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Well, if you didn't like my last one, I don't
think you're gonna like this one. Well, they are America's team,
so America will agree with me. But just the chaos
of the Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
I don't think that's a bad pick. Actually, I mean
I have them, you have them, what they were fifth
on my list, I have them eight, So like, I
don't think that's a terrible And it's because of the drama.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
The drama, I mean, are they ever going to be
good again?

Speaker 1 (32:37):
It is because of the drama. And then the agonizing
shots of pain on the fans' faces are also great.
And then I love when Troy Aateman's doing the game
and his disgust about his former organization comes through. That's
so I don't think the Cowboys are crazy.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
Bit Yeah, if Prescott can stay healthy this year, you
got Lamb and Picking, so that's a good duo. Also,
just little side things like when the light comes through
the stadium and blinds everybody, like, how do you have
the nicest stadium?

Speaker 1 (33:05):
That is all always bizarre to me because they always
have that one light and the announcers will go, this
is hurting people.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
Remember Lamb last year dropped to touch your home Pro
Bowl receiver dropped the pass.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
And the end zone and you've been before. And I
think watching a game at Cowboys Stadium has to be
like what it's like to watch a concert at the Sphere,
Like it doesn't feel like you're in a real place.
It's so beautiful and so it almost feels like you're
in a theater, you're not in a football stadium.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
And because that screen so big, you look up instead
of even though the live ashes right in front of you,
you've never.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Seen a moment on the game on the field. Now
you're only looking at the stadium. Also, note when you
park there, I'm still walking back to my car. The
parking lots are so far you get your steps in though.
That's that's good.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
And if you haven't been, you know it's not Dallas Dalla.
It's out on its own, so if you're trying to
make a day out of it, there's a few things
around it, but it's kind of out there on it,
so you see it when you're flying in.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
Its way out there, right to go. So this will
be number eight for the group. I'm gonna take the
Lions mostly because they used to be towards the bottom
of the list for me because I hate the indoor stadiums.
But I do like watching Dan Campbell. I always feel
like at some point, uh, he's gonna spontaneously combust. He

(34:25):
reminds me of the gym teacher from Beavis and butt
Head and then Aiden Hutchinson. I get to see his family,
always enjoy that. I hope they're doing good. I love
showing them. Yeah, they love showing them. I hope they're
doing really well. The offense was really exciting. Now I
don't know without Ben Johnson if they will be quite
as exciting. But you know, it seems like a fan
base that's desperate to win, and so I enjoy the Lions,

(34:48):
and then I think the Lions are one of the
top teams in the league. Along with the vikings of
people dressed up in costumes, you know, there are people
dressed up as in Lions gear, or they'll have like, uh,
there'll be a plumber, or they'll be dressed as Mario
or Luigi.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
Or they'll just wear shoulder pads to the game with
the Lions.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
There's a lot of.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
People who think they might check in then at some point.
So so the Lions come in next.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
For me, I'm glad we're getting back on track.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
I had the Lions as my next if it had
been my pick, So we agreed on this one.

Speaker 1 (35:16):
All right, what is your line? First of all? Cowboys? Fact?
I skipped them to what's your Cowboys? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Cowboys?

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Fact?

Speaker 3 (35:22):
The Cowboys have made the playoffs twelve times since nineteen
ninety eight. They're four and twelve. Eight of those trips
were brief zero to one postseason.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
They have only won four playoff games since win ninety eight.
It's crazy. They've had some hard burners. Four playoff games
in twenty seven years now, that Warren Sharp slash Billy
is a pretty amazing statistic. Four and twenty seven years.

(35:50):
I kind of hope they win now, just I don't
like looking at Steven a and his cowboy hat. That
never it never makes me happy. All right? What is
the Lions? Fact?

Speaker 3 (35:59):
The Lions drafted Tate Ratledge in the second round from Georgia.
He allowed you.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
To stop right there, that's the fact. There, go ahead.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
He allowed just one sack in three years as a
starter at Georgia, only ten pressures, only four penalties in
over sixteen hundred snaps.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
That don't really stuck out for you, you big Tate
Ratlage g.

Speaker 3 (36:21):
Yeah, I mean one sack in three years as a
starter at an SEC school.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
That's have a Do you have a picture of Tate Ratledge?
Are you related?

Speaker 3 (36:29):
It's close to Yeah, it's the last name thing. Just
move a letter Rutledge Ratledge Billyard sports on Twitter if
you want to follow.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
Look at him trying to get the NFL bump for
the Twitter account.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
We know Billy will shoot a shot on those things.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
That's exactly right. Jennifer Lawrence, you asked her out, Uh,
Tate Ratledge. I'd get a chance. I think we could
pull strings and maybe get Tate Ratledge on the pom.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
Glad you didn't say be an honor. We can meet
Jennifer Lawrence to that'd be funy.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
We're getting Tate Ratledge. I want you to start working
it on this Oh, I'm working on it. Okay, Well,
I mean you're the producer. I think you need to
call the lines. Just go, uh, may I have the
lines and say we'd like to get taped because he
can't get a lot of requests.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
Sounds pretty good. Will you see the expectations?

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Ask for Tate rat and if you can't get him,
get the entire Hutchinson family.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
We know they're there. No, No, I think we're going
to discover that Tate Rat in addition to not giving
away Sacks, is a fine young fella that helps you.
All right, Good Georgia boys, Southern charm. Good, all right,
let's see back to you. Who what is it? I
went with our defending Super Bowl champs here, kind of
surprising the Eagles all the way at number nine. I

(37:47):
had them at twelve, but we had them that far.
We had to go all the way to nine to
get the Eagles. Why the Eagles this way? Why wouldn't
the Super Bowl champs be higher than this for both
of us? That's a good question. I mean, they are
fun to watch, They're absolutely loaded with talent. I think
part of it is I kind of hate how their
their GM Howie keeps getting away with robbery on Draft night,
and I don't like that they're.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
As good as they should be. Also, I mentioned that
Derrick Henry thing's hard for me. I still can't look
at AJ Brown. That dude should be retiring as a
Titan one day and they let him go to Philadelphia.
So I have a little bit of a hard time
watching AJ there. Arthur one, as I call him, have success.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
Jalen Hurt's too handsome. That's a problem for me. You
know these guys going back to Brady. When you have
dudes too handsome, I can't deal with it. He's another one.
Don't watch a game, which don't if you've got with
your girl, don't watch a game when Jalen Hurts. Come on,
there's a couple people. We'll get to one here in
a minute too. There's like three quarterbacks. You can't let
your girl run, can't let her around Joe Burrow, can't

(38:46):
let her around Jalen.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Hurts, especially when he starts to tush pushing.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
Yeah, exactly, and he smiles and just if it doesn't work,
then I did enjoy the Saquon Barkley rejuvenation, you know,
the Toush push, though they bring him down the list.
From me, I wasn't putting a team that Toush pushes
in the top ten. Fourth and one should be exciting,
and it's not exciting. They get it every single time.
I hate the Tush push, and that makes them down

(39:11):
for me. So I think number nine is good because
I'm not gonna put him high when they're pushing all
that Tush.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
I've mentioned jealousy with some some former players my team
let walk, but I mean New York Giants watching Saquon
Bark they go to the Eagles and it's got two yards.
I think I would shut down the entire organization.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
He also looked like a corpse at the end, and
with the Giants, I mean he look he looked. He
looked like Tate Ratlet's trying to run it. We're trying
to run the ball.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
And then there's that clip like, well, we hope he
doesn't go to the Giant the Eagles, and then he
goes to Eagles and he's amazing.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
So normally a Super Bowl champ defending you think would
be in the top three or four. But the Eagles
down the list. And I don't think we're the only
ones I feel like this. They're like boring good. You're
just so good.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
It's so complete.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
We just know you're good.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
I don't have to watch it.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
Give me an Eagles fact.

Speaker 3 (39:56):
Jalen Hurts has scored thirty three of his career rushing
touchdowns on the tush push. That's sixty percent of all
of his rushing scores.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
See that's in and of itself should not be allowed.
Sixty percent of his touchdowns are tush pushing. That doesn't
feel he's gonna have to admit to this as a
little fraudulent. I'm not gonna like it. I'm gonna when he.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
Has a record for rushing touchdowns, that should be an
as he'll have probably the quarterback record.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
I mean, I have to think he's probably in the
vicinity on his way soon. So all right, My next
one on the list, he's the Commanders and the reason
is Jalen Jade Daniels. They probably if we were starting
this last year, they probably would have been one of
the bottom six or seven teams. They hadn't been interesting
in a long time. But he's fun. I'm gonna I'm

(40:40):
kind of wondering is they're gonna be a second year
curse for him, a lost c J. Stroud where he
takes sort of a drop. They had game after game
that they won at the end last year. I think
they're gonna take a regression this year. But Washington fans
are a big reason I have number ten. They've had
so little to cheer about that last year. They just
seem so happy, you know. They just I like people

(41:02):
who who are very happy in that stadium four and
a half hours from Washington, DC. So by the time
they get there and you know, they've had to trek
across the Oregon Trail to get to the stadium. I
like seeing them get to have a good time.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
I had them just to spot away. So we're pretty
like minded here too. Obviously, Daniels last year getting the playoffs,
But like you said, there's a little bit of charm
when these teams that have sucked our entire lives are
are good, Like we have the Lions in the Super
Bowl conversation. I could remember a good Lions here before
he recently. Commanders, you'd have to go all the way
back to the early nineties. I mean, we Bengals. Some

(41:38):
of these teams that seemed like they were awful forever
have really served and it made last year fun to
watch with the Commanders well things.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
I'll note that's interesting. Our top five most interesting teams
to watch all AFC teams, and then the next five
were NFC. So THEAFC is an objectively more interesting league
at the top than the NFC. But the NFC does
come in next. Give me a Washington Commanders.

Speaker 3 (42:01):
That also includes the Titans, but here's your Commanders. I
hope the twenty twenty four Commanders were the most successful
fourth down team, not just last season, but in recent
NFL history. Washington covered eighty seven percent of their twenty
three fourth down at one flash.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
That is a high number. Eighty seven percent.

Speaker 3 (42:18):
Next closest was the twenty eighteen Saints, who had eighty
one percent of their sixteen attempts.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
And they and Alvin Kamar at that time kind of
running forward and they had debo this year. That'll be fun,
so interesting. That's a see one sharp when he wants to,
when he focuses.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
When I find the right one, when he comes to the.

Speaker 1 (42:37):
Right ones goes all right, what's next for you?

Speaker 2 (42:54):
This is one I can't believe I put here, but
I really think they're going to be exciting.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
And that's the Vikings.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
With JJ McCarthy making his debut a year too late.
I watched that entire Week one preseason game where they
got to see him for the first time after he
missed the whole year with injury in Minnesota. Was rocking
to see him on his first series.

Speaker 3 (43:12):
He looked good there.

Speaker 2 (43:13):
They didn't play him much in the preseason, but a
team that's been pretty good lately with Jefferson and all.
They've known that offense. Now we get to see McCarthy
go to it. So I'm just interested to see how
that looks well.

Speaker 1 (43:22):
The exception of your boneheaded Titans pick. I've been in
the vicinity with you on all these JJ McCarthy, I
think is probably not going to be good, but I
want to watch it again. A lot of people dressed
up at these games. This is where you bring people.
Everybody sort of wears the fur, you know, they wear
fur on their shoulders like giant gonzales. And they come

(43:44):
in and they all are very hefty and and they wear,
you know, have shields. Some people will get swords in there.
Hard for me to surprise me. They let that through security.
That's what the shoulder are for. Keep it all safe here.
Everybody's armed, just in case something happens. The team itself,
you know, were great last year. I never believed they

(44:05):
were going to go to the super Bowl, and of
course they collapsed in the final week. But I'll be
interested to see what they do with JJ McCarthy. Very
rare though, to be the number one, what overall seed
in the playoffs, Number two and then just get ready
of your quarterback.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
Yep, that's gonna be a fun division, and I know
your team's in it. As an outsider, I think all
those teams look look pretty good this year.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
So I'll go next. This is number twelve for our group.
I'll take this. Well, first of all, give me a
Vikings fact.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Nearly fifty percent of Sam Darnold's dropbacks last year lasted
three plus seconds. The NFL average was thirty two percent.
So he holds out well, he had all the time
in the world back there.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
Yeah, probably takes a pill for that, he can, probably
helps him. Okay, Well that's good. That's a long time.
I don't know is that good or bad?

Speaker 3 (44:54):
Though it means you have a good offensive line. But yeah,
I don't know if.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
I mean he holds on the ball too long.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
Either or yeah. You don't have to read more about
what Warren Sharp say.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
Yeah, we'll see what Lawren says. By the way, Warren,
that color page you use for the Vikings very ugly,
very ugly. That's what. That's a weird looking green. Let's
go purple.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
That's purple.

Speaker 1 (45:17):
Oh you had it on something? Yes, all right? The
Steelers Steelers they're going to be number twelve. For me?

Speaker 2 (45:23):
What this is gonna be our biggest discrepancy? Where'd you
have thirty two?

Speaker 1 (45:29):
I think the Steelers are the worst team to watch
thirty two.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
I do not care to see Aaron Rodgers this year.
I've never liked the Steelers. If they're on my TV, Wow,
turn on Gilded Age on HBO. I want nothing to
do with the damn Steels.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
Steelers are the least interesting team to watch in the NFL.
Last year we went to a Steelers game in Pittsburgh.
Was yeah, it was fine, But then they go and
aed Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
I just can't do it. I want nothing to do
with it.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Wow. Well, first of all, thirty no one disliked Aaron
Rodgers worse than me. Clearly you do. That's an amazing
call by you to put them last. Let me give
him the case for twelve. I like Mike Tomlin. If
you were to look up the word stoic in the dictionary,

(46:18):
it's gonna be Mike Tomlin. Facial expression never changes ever,
like he's got the same look on his face. He
looks mildly disappointed in his children at all times.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
I enjoyed that and he's looked the same for twenty years.
I think if you took a picture of him from
every season and you had to guess what year was,
that you wouldn't know.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
They'd all look exactly. He does an age very exactly.
If you watch a Steelers game is required by law.
I think it is an executive order that was passed
by Lyndon Baines Johnson that they have to say that
they're blue collar. The words blue collar are coming out
at some point. They're gonna say that during the game. Then.
I love the fact that they have this team. They

(46:56):
have winning record every year, no chance at ever finding
a capable quarterback, not not even interested, Like they're just like,
you know what since Roethlisberger? Hey can you play? Let's
give you a shot. Hey Billy, Hey, Tate Ratley. You're right,
Aaron Rodgers, would you like to keep? Yeah? Aaron Rodgers,
I know you might be on a podcast. Why don't

(47:17):
you come join us? Uh and play? I think that's good.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
I do.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
I came off as a little hater there, and I
am a bit of a hater. What Tomlin does there
is pretty amazing. How they're in the mix, the defense,
we all know the Steelers brand, but this year specifically,
I just I can't do it.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
They're dead last. So I hate Aaron Rodgers so much
that one of my friends for my birthday, which is today,
by the way, because one of my friends got me
an Aaron Rodgers like bobblehead. Okay, and it's an Aaron
Rodgers Jets bobble all right. Now here's what's interesting about it.

(47:54):
I said, Wow, they knew it would be like something
I wouldn't like, and they said yeah. It was five dollars,
so it was very cheap. Now here's what was interesting.
It was Jets. And I looked at it and I go,
why is it all green? And by all green, I
mean his face is green, his hair is green, everything

(48:16):
is green. And she said, I don't know. Then she
looks up online. This was a Jets bibblehead and it
said as a special for Aaron Rodgers one in fifty
are all green. So I got a rare Aaron Rodgers.
I got a one in fifty all green Aaron Rodgers

(48:42):
Jets bobblehead. So I hate it, but I wonder do
I have a steal? Is this like an antique road
show thing? And only one in fifty are all green?

Speaker 2 (48:53):
Two things. That sounds like there was a misprint. They're
trying to spin it to sell that batch and not
lose anyone. Know what right back, you could just say
it's day after ayahuasca trip. Aaron, he's a little sick. Now, fillwell,
little green, We're coming back down to earth with the
rest of us.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
I'm gonna bring it in here and show it to you.
It's awful. You can't even really tell it's Aaron Rodgers
because think about it. If you just had a statute
and it was all green, how do you know what
it looks like? And Aaron Rodgers going to give me
a jab? Steelers.

Speaker 3 (49:24):
Speaking of Tomlin, he has led the Steelers to eighteen
straight non losing seasons.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
Amazing. But also I think in fact everyone.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
Knows well Warren Sharp had it in his book.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
He uses more colors in there than the bottle hit.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
That's true, all right.

Speaker 1 (49:42):
I thought the fun fact was gonna be Mike Tomlin
is the coach run back? They used towels, all right?
Who's at number thirteen?

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Oh it's my pick, all right, lucky number thirteen. Let
me get back on track. I got a little chaotic
even though it was yours. Putting them at thirty two
was wild. I have here the Green Bay Packers just
exactly who I would have had we would have hit
it the same time. I just mentioned that's gonna be
a fun competitive division all this week that Jordan Loves
Thumb's good to go. He has two thumbs. That's very

(50:10):
important when your quarterback. Actually just the throwing win as
all the needs. But Tom two thumb is gonna be
the Packers quarterback.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
Mario.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Look at that this guy.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
I mean, that was what Jordan Love would have said.
That's not me.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
Good team though had a good year last year. I
think Love's gonna take another jump. But the real reason
they're right here. I said it before the show. Snow potential,
A lot of snow potential here. This in Buffalo got
a big bump for cold weather, snowy games.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
You pro are con wearing cheese on your head. Bro.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
We were blessed to go to a Lambeau game last year.
I had an absolute blast. That's a bucket list I wanted.
It was still cold, we had to sit on our cardboard,
but that's a place where I'm going. I want the
frozen tundra bring the weather and we were cold, but
that can get real nasty.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
I was there for a week one last year with ESPN,
and I'm the only person who's ever nearly passed out
of heat exhaustion in lambeau Field. It was I believe
one hundred and fourteen degrees and I decided to wear
a hoodie. I don't know why, and I was so
hot and and the Packers lost. It was it was

(51:11):
brutal cool placed. I mean, like the best stadium and
go to on television. I like it because you know,
usually people are bundled up right there see their breath
coming out, so you get to see how their cheeks
get really rosy, you get to see the breath. There's
always people on the sidelines. The other team always looks
so sad to be there. One of the few stadiums

(51:34):
you could see actual ice on the field right like
you can see white ice. Packers games end up inevitably
producing some of the best weather moments, so I'm with you.
Whether the team was good or not, you can put
them in.

Speaker 2 (51:47):
You remind me of someone about bundling up and blowing
out your breath there. I like when the opposing team
comes out without sleeves and it being tough. And then
halfway through the first quarter, the guy that had his
shirt off is completely bundled up and you can see
the regret and his face. But they try to be
the tough guys there in Lambeau in the beginning.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
Is there anywhere in America that sells those jackets they
wear on NFL sidelines except the NFL Like those big,
huge jackets. It's like a jacket a nineteen ten New
York gangster would wear, except it's a football with a
football logo, and it seems to be made of plastic.
Usually yeah, the gangster versus saying.

Speaker 2 (52:23):
They had their Tommy guns in there, but this is
just to cover I guess them pads and they're plastic.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
It doesn't feel like a comfortable jacket.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
Now certainly wouldn't fit in my closet, your luggage, but
I guess it's necessary in Lamba.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
What's the Packers? What's their fact?

Speaker 3 (52:37):
The Packers ranked number one in the NFL last year
in receiver air eight percent of passes were not caught
by either drops, not getting their feet in bounds, or
you know the.

Speaker 1 (52:48):
Route, So they are an air prone wide receiving George
Love would put out.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
Yeah, yeah, Jayden Reid was the worst out of all
receiver eligible receivers. The second worst was mister Wicks on
the same team.

Speaker 1 (53:01):
So the two worst wide receivers in football for airs
were both on the same team. Yes. Wow, that's a problem.
By the way, you just calling people out like Jayden Reid,
Well you have something against you.

Speaker 3 (53:14):
I'm sure they're used to it. NFL players gotta have
thick skin.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Yeah, I mean, if you're going to be on this
NFL Cover zero podcast, you gotta be ready for the
heavy heat from Billy and the big phone. Be better
start catching the ball every week, all right, So I'll
go next fourteen. I'll put the Broncos, all right. The
reason I say that they would not have been on
this list for a long time. But the reason I

(53:38):
put him is bow Nicks as fun. I'm expecting a
bow Knicks massive regression year. Mark it down. I watched
him play too much in college. He did crazy things,
he made crazy decisions. Things just went too well in
year one. I think it takes a I think it
takes a step back. Sean Payton like him always looks

(54:01):
when they show him on the sidelines, perplexed and staring
up into the crowd. Every showing he always has a
look of befuddlement, like and he's looking in the crowd
like where's my family. I always see that when I
play them or when they play. But I do think
they're entertaining. I think bo Nicks is entertaining. Fourteenth bo
Nix is very entertaining. I feel like I watched him
play college football for forty two years. I feel like

(54:24):
I grew up watching bow Knicks play quarterback. Speaking of
Britain Deleage quarterback. By the way, in NFL history, with
only five letters, when you add up to two.

Speaker 2 (54:32):
Names, it's gotta be one of the shortest names.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
I did this stat once Warren Sharp's book, but I
did it last year. He's the only player in NFL
history who's only had five Because you know, if you
think about it, four is the minimum, right, because you
just got a letter? Yeah, I mean I don't even
know a human being with only two letters in each name.
Mo By, I have one. Can you think of one?

(54:58):
Can you think of anybody with only four letters in
their name?

Speaker 3 (55:01):
I'll give you three, mister T.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
That's that's that's not a that's not a legal name.

Speaker 3 (55:07):
Oh you didn't say legal man.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
Yeah, so I don't think so. I with that. Bonnicks
the fewest letters in their name of any NFL player
in history.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
I just thought of another one that tas Bonicks. I
don't have four have a fun tyd Low. I think
his name is Tyrone Touche. I'll put that one back
in the jar. But so there you go. Just a
little fact for you while we're talking Denver quarterbacks. My
favorite preseason moment happened this week. They cut Ben Denucci
and he immediately went and did my favorite thing, airport beer.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
She's sweet.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
It said, nothing tastes better than getting cut by the
NFL airport beer. It was a seventh time getting cut,
and he tweeted his airport beer not a better beer
in the world than the one at the airport.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
Did he go straight from being cut to.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
The airport and it's a seven time it's happened, And
he tweeted his beverage, said you all wouldn't understand, but
getting cut by the NFL airport beer is the number
one beer. I haven't had the cut version, but I've
had the airport version, and I'm same wavelength Ben.

Speaker 1 (56:00):
My friend Max Stuffy. He played punter for the University
of Kentucky for people who don't know, and he tried
out for the Broncos right, and uh it was it
was a punting battle for years ago. It's him and
somebody else. And I don't know if Max will be
listening to this. Max, I'm sorry, I'm gonna say this,
but he lost the punting battle. He still is very

(56:21):
angry about the fact that he lost the punning battle.
He insisted whoever it was the beating, that he was
better than him. And I'm on Max's side, of course
he's better than them. But what I like is Max
blamed the altitude. He said that the altitude is what
caused him to lose. And I would ask him, what

(56:43):
do you mean. I mean, it's not like that guy.
Other guy kicked in a different altitude and he was like,
altitude doesn't work with how I kick. Not sure what
it means, but I did make the point to him,
you're gonna have to play in Denver regardless, but he
Max will not go back to Denver because of that. Well.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
I remember we were passing through Denver on a trip
last year with Max and he did, wanted to drive
around it. I mean, weren't even do anything related to
Mico's and didn't think you wanted to go through Denver
at all.

Speaker 1 (57:13):
Tell me what you got? Fifteen?

Speaker 3 (57:16):
Uh you want a fact, get your checked in there.
Sure they were ten and seven last year. In those
ten wins, they only won one of those games by
one score.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
Yeah, that's that. If you're wanting to make a case
for them to be better, their wins were not flukes
last year. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:30):
By comparison, the Chiefs won fifteen games eleven yeah score games.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
So that there are people who would that's that is
a good a good stamp. All right, what's next for you?

Speaker 2 (57:39):
I am might be wild colored, we'll see, but this
will be one of the worst teams in football. But
I Shadoor Sanders in Cleveland. The quarterback situation were interested, right,
I mean, the Browns are gonna suck no.

Speaker 3 (57:52):
Matter who they go with.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
But you have forty five year old Joe Flacco and
two rookies fighting for a spot. So I have the
Browns here at fifteen.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
If that's a little higher than I had them, But
I don't I don't think that's a crazy case. I
mean the Chador drama, especially if we get to mid
season and the Browns are two and six or something,
then I think you get interested. Does he play? And
then you got the Dylan Gabriel piece, like if they're
probably gonna play Dylan Gabriel first with the Browns, will
they give him a chance? Will the fans give him
a chance? Or will they just be calling for Jador?

(58:21):
You know a lot of these rookies, it takes a
few games. He might you know, Dylan Gabriel might not
even get the few games to give it a chance. So, yeah,
I think there's a lot of interest in the Browns,
another team where people are dressed up a lot home
maybe the most.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
I mean they eat dog bones.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
Yeah, I mean you never know what Again, back to
watching a game with a woman that doesn't like football,
Turn on a Browns game, have him show the crowd,
and then look at your woman's reaction. She'll be like,
what are these people doing? Have they showered? Why are
they dressed like that? And I'll go, well, they're the
dog Pound and you'll they'll go why I thought their

(58:56):
nickname was the Browns? And you don't really have an answer.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
I have a good dog pound story. I know two
guys in Ohio, one's Browns fans one's Bengals, and they
did bet loser or the winner. No winner got to
take the other one to their home team. The guy
bought tickets and the dog pound, and the Bengals fan
went and set in the dog pound. He didn't make
it a quarter. It was so rough in his Bengals jersey.

Speaker 1 (59:19):
Bengals jersey.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
He didn't know they had dog pound tickets. He said,
I'm taking the game. He was telling me his story.
He made it a matter of minutes and had to
get out that.

Speaker 1 (59:27):
People like hiding, not violent, but just barking, NonStop, reltless
for being a Bengals fan right in the middle of it.
I like that night. Then let's go for mine number sixteen. Well,
first of all Browns fact.

Speaker 3 (59:40):
At this time last summer, the Browns were favored in
nine games before the season started. This year, just one.
They're only favored in one game one game this year. Wow.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
I have another Browns fact too, But the Pro Football
Focus ranked the all players in the NFL and Miles
Garrett was number one.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
I can see it. I can see it. Plus Joe Flacco.
It's gonna be nice seeing a fifty eight year old quarterback.
I want to see how that works out. He's old,
he's kind of brittle. I love that image.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
I guess it's been two seasons ago where they had
to call him out of retirement and he's like sitting
coach in a Southwest flight on his way to save
the team. Someone took a picture. He just looks like
a dad on his way to Disney vacation. And then
a few days later that I think he goes and
wins the game.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
They made him fly coach.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
He's just amongst him on this flight to to you know,
restart his career, and then I think ended up having
a great run.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
I'm glad you're using the phrase amongst them. I think
that's it's a good one. All right, I'm gonna go
sixteen halfway point Tampa Bay. The reason I picked Tampa Bay.
Baker Bayfield is fun. You know, you never know what
make or playfield is gonna do. He scrambles around. I
know that's Billy's team. Very attractive people in the stadium.

(01:00:49):
That's another one. Like now again, another group of dressing
up people. This is a lot of women dressing up
as swashbucklers. You know women like to wear pirates, don't
y'all have a festival? It's like they do down there.

Speaker 3 (01:01:02):
Well, there's a pirate ship in the stadium that they
know that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
But there's a festival in Tampa where everybody dresses his pirates, right.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
Oh yeah, I imagine. So yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
I thought you lived there.

Speaker 3 (01:01:11):
I did for twelve years.

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
It seems like you know about it. You remember the
biggest festival.

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
No, didn't remember the festival.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
I am fairly certain that there's a festival in Tampa,
a big one where people dress up as pirates, and
it feels like that's a fun dress up. So the
combination of that in Baker hasn't met sixteen for.

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
Me, what's a pirate's favorite letter?

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
No?

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
The sea?

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
Thank you? Also like Tampa. I watched.

Speaker 3 (01:01:41):
I watched Tampa. I can't believe.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
I was so mad at you for telling that joke
because it was so stupid, and then you actually had
a good way.

Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
Everybody everybody goes for ar there.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
Take that one with you. But Gasparilla, that's the name
of the festival.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
I have to check it out next time I'm down
the next time.

Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
You're doing there for twelve years.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
Yeah, it was the first twelve though, so it wasn't
like I chose where I was going.

Speaker 1 (01:02:01):
Oh you were a child, Okay, Yeah, still though, I
feel like you should have heard of it. If I
can pay the Bucks a compliment.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
I watched the entire Week one preseason game because they're
playing the Titans, who are the fifth most likable watchable
team in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
But Billy, I think you guys are going to be good.
The running backs are stacked, the rookies look good. Bucks.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
I mean, I'm not gonna have him in the super
Bowl conversation, but I think you're due for a fun year.

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
It's another team where they mentioned an offensive lineman a lot.
Tristan wors Yeah, there's never been a game where they
don't bring up Tristan wors I don't know if he
has I don't know if he has pictures that he holds,
if he's got pictures of the announcers that he's threatening him,
if they But Tristan Wurfs is mentioned a lot in

(01:02:42):
game broadcasts.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
He's pretty good boy.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
Yeah, he's a great left tackle.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
All right, So give me a Bucks fun fact.

Speaker 3 (01:02:48):
Well, besides Mike Evans tying Jerry Rice for consecutive thousand
yard seasons and looking to break the record this year,
The twenty twenty four Bucks scored one hundred and fifty
two points in the fourth quarter. That was the most
in the NFL last year.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
Okay, well, they lose Liam Cohen as their offensive coordinator,
so we'll see if they'll be able to keep it going.
All We're gonna take a break right here. We are halfway.
If you want to pause it and maybe go outside
and mow your grass. That would be a weird thing
to do, but nevertheless, we could take a little break.
We'll be right back. He's the NFL cover zero. All right.

(01:03:33):
Time for part two. We are doing our appointment watching teams.
We've done the first sixteen. Let's go what's next, Drew,
What's number seventeen? And we're starting to get into teams
that are harder to watch. But what do you Got?

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
I still like to watch this team occasionally, even though
they ripped my heart out many years ago.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
But the Rams have some potential this year. I'm gonna
put them here. I was close to having the you
got them? About where I do.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
I feel a connection to Matthew Stafford right now, my
back is killing me. He has back problems. I feel
like if he can overcome his back problems, the Rams
might have something. I'm dealing with that too, first first
year without Cooper Cup since I don't know, since they
were in Saint Louis, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:09):
But uh so, what is mad Stever's playing or not playing?
He's not playing, he's got back problems.

Speaker 3 (01:04:14):
He's practicing again.

Speaker 1 (01:04:16):
Yeah, well so, I mean I have overcome those that
problems can change day to day like their day. Like you,
if you have back problems, you can one day feel
like you can do the everything and the next day
you can't move. Can can do either way. Uh. I
think if the Rams, if Matthew Stafford, if you told
me he was healthy all year, I think they're a

(01:04:36):
dark horse super Bowl contender. If he's not, and it's
a Jimmy G experience, then we're at step three of
how'd your girlfriend? Because Jimmy G? I mean I want
Jimmy G like your your girlfriend will will leave you
in a heartbeat. I mean, he is arguably the most
handsome person they ever play sports. Think about him, Brady

(01:04:57):
by Jones, Those are the two most handsome people to
em play to ever play sports. But Jimmy G. Part
of me wants Jimmy G to play because people act
like he stinks. I don't think he stinks.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
Listen, he's in LA We don't need Jimmy G going
and leading them to the super Bowl. He's got enough
going for him. We don't need him in former Hollywood.
Kansas City's the new Hollywood.

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
But in the old La La Land.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
We don't need Jimmy G becoming some A list celebrity
because he's good at football.

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
Like Sean McVay, he kind of looks like a guy
who who would try to get you to sign up
for P forty five class or whatever it is those
things are. He's you know, he's always wearing the kind
of muscle shirts, but apparently it seems like a very
smart dude. They sort of create wide receivers out of
you know, they just get tiny guys from anywhere and

(01:05:47):
they end up good.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
Added DeVante Adams too.

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
Yeah, so who didn't do a whole lot last year?
I think with the with the name, but I enjoyed
watching the Rams. Great You has been the greatest show
on turf. A couple of times. I think they'll be
good again this year, So I think this is a
good spot for me.

Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
I have the greatest show on turf. You just took
me back to that one yard stop when the Rams
ripped my heart out. But not even just this year.
With the Rams, they're usually on at four thirty. When
we've gone through that first slate, I usually find myself watching.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
A Rams game. Give me a fun fact.

Speaker 3 (01:06:18):
Slow starts are the name of the game for the Rams.
They ranked thirty first in first quarter points per game.
That's down from tenth a year.

Speaker 1 (01:06:25):
Kind of amazing because on paper, you would think they'd
be good at that. You know, you get this offensive
genius who probably comes up with a scripted set of
plays to start the game. You would think Sean McVay
would be one of the best in the league. It's
at scoring a lot of points at the beginning, but
it just had it did not happen last year.

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
It didn't and part of that, you know, he's got
the coaching tree. I feel like half the league now
their head coaches have got some connection to McVeigh. So
he's been putting out a lot of a lot of
coaches everywhere too.

Speaker 1 (01:06:50):
All right at eighteen, I'm gonna go with the Dolphins.
That's who I had, Nicks. Look, we really did an
amazing job if it wasn't for your stupid Titans pick.
We've been pretty pretty good at putting where things where
they are. I have the Dolphins here a couple things.
Enjoy watching Tua. He does scare me. I don't like like,
I just don't want even get hurt so much that

(01:07:12):
it makes it hard. Mike McDaniel, I think I love
to hate because I think he love. Oh you love
Mike McDaniel.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
You've mentioned all these quarterbacks girlfriends might leave their brothers
for my wife. If Mike McDaniel, I thinks Mike McDaniel's house,
it's not so much it's that dorky funny, Like he's
not funny.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
He's like a teenager.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
He's not funny at all.

Speaker 3 (01:07:34):
I think he's pretty funny, unintentionally funny.

Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
Okay, I'll give you that, But I think he thinks
he's intentionally fun Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
He looks like a kid that just played a bunch
of meden and they picked him up in like you're
a head coach.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
Now. No, he looks like a kid who puts out
a rap song in middle school and everyone laughs, and
then he thinks he's a rapper, Like I mean, the
way he dresses and all that, he's just he's ridiculous.
And then those glad and he he's so I don't
know's it's it's it's it's like a he's social. But

(01:08:05):
then also at first I kind of thought he was cool,
and now you know, you hear players kind of whispering like, okay,
a little bit of a dork. So I don't know
what The other thing that works against him is it
only always feels like there's only fourteen to fifteen people
at the games there that hurts them. It starts at
one o'clock, most of the crowd gets there at two

(01:08:26):
point thirty and the game is almost over. It just
always seems to be really hot there. I'm sure it is,
but Tula in and of himself is probably worth six
or eight points.

Speaker 2 (01:08:37):
Tyreek walla. They got some playmaking. One pm in Miami
is usually when people are leaving the club from the
night before. That's why they're slow arrivers. With the McDaniel thing,
I like, not so much when he's trying hard, but
like there's there's bloopers of where he's walking in a
stadium and the camera's following him and he'll just take
off running trying to outrun the camera, or a little
goofy things. In press conferences. He can be a little

(01:08:58):
bit of a try hard but I like more of
the unstry's more of the unintentional comedy.

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
Right now, I know you've seen this, true because we've
talked about it before. But if for those of you
that have not ever seen it, take a minute go
google Mike McDaniel's parents wedding photo.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
I'm going to do this right now. I don't think
i've seen this.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
You do not seen this. Everybody needs to do that.
Mario wants you to google Mike McDaniel's parents wedding photo.
It's one of the great photos. It's one of those
photos that kind of shows how like in America, anything
could happen, because you look at that family and you go,
can you imagine what that party was like? Like it's anything,
And the dad looks to be one of the I
will say this, his dad looks to be one of

(01:09:37):
the coolest people I've ever seen.

Speaker 3 (01:09:38):
Yeahroh, I like.

Speaker 2 (01:09:39):
Mike McDaniel even more. I don't know how I've seen this.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
I mean, look at the dad. The dad is kind
of awesome, And I just want to know what those
two families talked about at the wedding. It feels like
it feels like the table would have been very entertaining
as you watch those two groups of people.

Speaker 2 (01:09:56):
Interact, do you think, yeah, absolutely, it's hard to look
at dad.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
Mario pulled dad up there? Look at look at look
at dad right there? Does he not look like a
fun dude? Like put everything aside about his son? He
looks like a.

Speaker 2 (01:10:07):
Fun dude now that I've seen photos of his family
even higher on my list.

Speaker 3 (01:10:14):
As he go out, the swag is even higher.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
It is a swaggy family, all right, tell me about fun.

Speaker 3 (01:10:20):
Fact two has been pretty good at throwing the ball.
Over the last three years. He's been number one in
success rate and number two in completion rate on all
passes fifteen yards down the field.

Speaker 1 (01:10:30):
Fifteen yards down the field. See see if you told
me that stat with the way to have played, I
would think he's been like.

Speaker 3 (01:10:38):
One of the worst. Yeah, I could thought how fast
he throws it out.

Speaker 1 (01:10:42):
But what I'm saying is like if he is number
one in the league. It passes over fifteen yards. I
would think he's a dominant player because in my mind,
he runs so much and the short pass is what
he does well. So it's kind of amazing when you
tell me that stat that he has not been played
better than he has, You know what I mean, because
I would have thought his weakness.

Speaker 2 (01:11:04):
That's mostly got to be Tyreek Hill is running as
far as fast as he can and he's chucking, and
I would say Tyreek was on the receiving end of
many of.

Speaker 1 (01:11:11):
It probably right. Still, though, that's kind of an amazing stat.
All right, what's next? Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
Is this one?

Speaker 3 (01:11:18):
You know?

Speaker 1 (01:11:18):
You begs me.

Speaker 2 (01:11:20):
I'm standing Florida. I'm going with Duve. Okay, I liked
I like the Cohen Lawrence there it is. I like
the Cohen Lawrence connection. I think that might work, even
though this is a divisional rivalry. For me, I think
Lawrence might have a little life left now that Cohen's
as head coach. And then of course Travis Hunter, if

(01:11:40):
he's really gonna play both sides of the ball. Anyone
that watches football wants to see how this is gonna work.

Speaker 1 (01:11:46):
Liam Cohen, for those of you not in Kentucky Land
get ready because the Liam Cohen experiences. First of all, fun,
I think he's a really good offensive coordinator. I think
he's gonna really I mean, listen, he revitalized Baker Mayfield's
career with the Rams. He obviously took him to another
level in Tampa Bay. He's the reason Will lev has
got drafted in the NF Draft. Here's the thing about him.

(01:12:07):
Whatever he says to you, and don't believe it. When
this is a tree, like there's nothing he can say that.
I love him, but like, I'm not gonna believe it.
Word he said. True story. When he took the Tampa
Bay offensive coordinator's job, I put out a tweet where
I was quoting a guy in Tampa Bay that said
Liam Cohen was the leading candidate. I tweet out, Liam

(01:12:29):
Cohen's the leading candidate for the Tampa Bay offensive coordinator job.
He calls me up and he goes, where'd you hear that?
That's crazy? That's not true. And I went, I mean
it was a guy in Tampa and he was like, well,
it's not true. I don't know why you put that out.
Thirty minutes later, it was announced he was taking the
offensive coordinator job, like he literally like, I mean you were.

(01:12:52):
I mean it's like, did you think do you think
I'm not going to exist thirty minutes from now? Like,
what is the point of lying to me for thirty minutes?

Speaker 3 (01:12:59):
I think his old.

Speaker 2 (01:13:00):
Boston Lexi's and got a little bit of a surprise
on that exit too.

Speaker 1 (01:13:04):
Well, y'all can put those pieces together. Why are the
thirty minutes? It's like, man, you could have just ignored it.
But so anyway, I like Liam calling I'm pulling for
Duvall and then you have really good at that. Then
you have Josh Allen. There are Josh Allen. But I
don't I do not think he's the biggest truth teller
in the world. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
I know there's some some election and stories to back
that up too, but uh, he is a good offensive
coach and the Travis Hunter is the real reason there
where they are in my list.

Speaker 1 (01:13:33):
All right, I'm gonna go next. This would be a number.
First of all, tell me Jacksonville.

Speaker 3 (01:13:36):
Think fact this sentence has no other context along with it.
Trevor Lawrence is one of the most sensitive quarterbacks to
pressure over the last two years.

Speaker 1 (01:13:44):
Oh so they mean like feelings. Yeah, I'm not.

Speaker 3 (01:13:49):
Sure it's a bus according to Warren.

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
Yeah, I want to assume that that Warren is not
talking about football, like just in lives, like if if
he faces a pressure field situation a little sensitive, he
gets a little sensitive. And then so his wife is like,
I need you to make a decision. Where are we
sending our kids? Are we going to private school or
public school? In Trevor's line, it just like, don't put

(01:14:15):
this pressure on this too much.

Speaker 3 (01:14:17):
Don't try.

Speaker 1 (01:14:20):
Me now, you know, not to do this to be please.
That's what I would assume.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
It's like, I feel like that was a great Trevor
Laarrens personation.

Speaker 3 (01:14:36):
Sensitive Trevor, this is birthday.

Speaker 1 (01:14:41):
Read the line to get all pressure, what kind of pressure?

Speaker 3 (01:14:44):
I know he's just sensitive under pressure.

Speaker 1 (01:14:47):
Just what it says, He's just sensitive to pressure, no
other content.

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
I took it as it might be like physical touch,
like can't sit through a deep tissue massage and possible
you mean like literal pressure?

Speaker 3 (01:14:58):
I do.

Speaker 1 (01:14:58):
I do like that warn't sharp. I'm gonna think about
that all year when things happen with Trevor Lawrence, I'm
gonna be like the dude sensitive if he's coach to
the trainer's table. Be careful, be careful with hey, hey, Liam,
be nice. Things are hard, all right. The reason I

(01:15:18):
had the Giants at twentieth oh me too, did right,
is I think it's fun. I think the Giants are fun.
First of all, again sad the sights of the Giants fans.
When I watch a Giants game, the camera will pay
to somebody. He'll just be shaking his head. It's just
very angry, as anybody from New York knows. Getting to

(01:15:40):
Giants Stadium is a herculean feet and you can see
on their face they're like, I came all the way
out here, and this is what we're gonna do. And
now you throw into that the Russell Wilson experience, which
Russell Wilson Giants fans that's not gonna work. And then
Jackson Dart being sitting there right behind them the fans

(01:16:03):
wanted to play. I think the Giants are gonna be
entertaining to watch for this sort of anger purposes.

Speaker 2 (01:16:08):
How did you mention the craziness in that room? Didn't say, Jamis,
I mean, it's what a That's true even with the
Browns in the conversation there's no wilder qb room than
what they have in New York. I don't think it's
going to be a good year for them between the
Jets and Giants. MetLife probably not gonna get a lot
of wins this year, but watchable just because of the
division they're in with a lot of good teams and

(01:16:30):
what kind of chaos can come out of that quarterback room.

Speaker 1 (01:16:32):
Also, no game goes by where they don't mention Michael Straighthan.
I think, by the way, can be on fewer shows.
I don't think there's you know, my ex seems like
a good guy to me, but like, I don't know,
he needs to be on everything. I mean, there comes
a point where you go, Okay, I've got I got
my straight hand fixed, you know, I damn good good

(01:16:54):
TV host. We don't need him on every chow. He
didn't have to be on every channel all the time.
Give me a Giants back.

Speaker 3 (01:16:59):
The Giants haven't had a ten win season since twenty sixteen.

Speaker 1 (01:17:03):
It's been that long. Wow, that's wild. So they haven't
won team games since twenty sixteen.

Speaker 3 (01:17:10):
Ice a decade.

Speaker 1 (01:17:11):
One compliment to them.

Speaker 2 (01:17:12):
I think Abdul Carter is going to be one of
those dudes.

Speaker 1 (01:17:15):
It was the league guys. I completely agree with you
are you're up next.

Speaker 2 (01:17:20):
I went with the San Francisco forty nine ers here,
you know, for your last year.

Speaker 1 (01:17:26):
But for a good team, this is very low. I
mean they were in a super Bowl. Yeah, we were
in Super Bowl two years ago, and then you got
them at twenty first and with an offense with a
coach that's pretty exciting by the way. I have them
this low too, but it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:17:40):
Yeah, last year was weird with a lot of injuries.
I mean, you go from being in the Super Bowl
to where the we like four or five games of
Lara bole year. So kind of the interest is just
will they rebound? I've never Maybe it's because they're the
West Coast at four thirty slot. I don't focus on
those teams as much as I do the East Coast
the one o'clock games.

Speaker 1 (01:17:57):
So I don't they're still playing on a baseball stadium
that I know they don't, but I feel like they did.

Speaker 2 (01:18:04):
But this year especially, I want to see if they've
really fallen off or if that was a blip last.

Speaker 1 (01:18:08):
Year and they can put it back together. I'm heavily
invested in brock Party being overrated. I mean, they gave
him all that money. I think it's a mistake. So
part of me, I'm going to be rooting against him,
which is not fair. Brock Party's never done anything to me,
but I've just kind of been big on the Brock
Party as a fluke. And you know, sometimes you just
take an opinion so strongly you have to hang on

(01:18:31):
to it. So I'm going to be actively rooting against
them in all the games. Everyone gets hurt for them, though,
I mean like they just stay hurt every year. Just
everyone's hurt all the time.

Speaker 2 (01:18:42):
I have a soft spot for Brock Party because when
he did lead them a couple of years ago, every
game they'd do a graphic of what people are getting paid.
It was just all these multi millionaires and like brock Party,
you know, seventeen bucks in a Nuber ride home before
we're paying.

Speaker 1 (01:18:53):
Him as criminally underpaid. That year we were so good. Yeah,
well I don't. I mean, listen, Brock this isn't anything personal.
I just want you to fail because I need I
need to in a continued argument I have with people,
I need to say they shouldn't have given him that money.
Give me a forty nine.

Speaker 3 (01:19:10):
In fact, speaking of money, the forty nine Ers are
one of two teams, along with the Eagles, to have
seven players making at least nineteen million dollars each. Brock Purty, Bosa, IUK,
Trent Williams, Fred Werner, George Kittle, and CMC.

Speaker 1 (01:19:25):
Christian McCaffrey. Do you know what CMC? Like, that was
a weird thing to call?

Speaker 3 (01:19:31):
Oh it's his nickname.

Speaker 1 (01:19:32):
Boys do it run? CMC?

Speaker 3 (01:19:35):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:19:37):
You didn't know who that was, right, You just read
the That's what Warren Sharp said.

Speaker 3 (01:19:40):
Oh no, that's what I wrote down as an abbreviated
Christian McCaffrey CMC.

Speaker 1 (01:19:44):
Yeah, Billy calls it.

Speaker 2 (01:19:45):
And just we went full names for every player. Then
you're like, I'm a boy, CMC.

Speaker 1 (01:19:49):
I feel like Nick Bosa, he tell us what he
thinks about the like I feel like, I don't know.
I just feel like I don't really know his stances
and I'm kind of curious. Do you know why he
keeps him so close to the vest.

Speaker 3 (01:20:02):
I'm not sure. Okay, he should share.

Speaker 1 (01:20:04):
You should let us know because right now, I mean,
at this point, I think we're not sure. I'm gonna
go next here at twenty two with the Seahawks. I
think I just like it because you know, I feel
like they're always showing somebody pounding on a drum. I
enjoy them. They added green to the colors. That that
was a good good. They do have a good color scheme.

(01:20:25):
They always tell me that the crowd is the twelfth Man.
It feels like to me their crowd is similar to
everywhere else. But I keep getting told that it's good.
I know Geno Smith doesn't play for him anymore, but
I like that they replace Geno Smith with what is
basically just another version of Geno Smith with Sam Darnold.
I like the idea of we're just gonna just keep
doing that kind of thing. But usually the Seahawks are

(01:20:48):
good for a one interesting late afternoon games. I'll put
the Seahawks here because we're getting into bad territory.

Speaker 2 (01:20:56):
Yeah, I mean some of these games, it's really a struggle.
The Seahawks need some branding right now. I mean, they
had the fun even with Russell, who's little bit corny,
but like be Smoe with Marshawn for while, they've always
had that. They had the second k DK, the secondary
legion to.

Speaker 1 (01:21:13):
Boom there for a while.

Speaker 2 (01:21:14):
I don't really know what they're selling. Maybe they're selling
the twelfth Man, but they need to get some of
that back, some star power, or just bring back those
awesome uniforms from the early nineties before they added the
neon green.

Speaker 1 (01:21:24):
I've said this before in other places, but when I
was a kid, ESPN got Sunday Night Football, Okay, And
when ESPN got Sunday Night Football, they did a new
commercial to get you to watch it. Paul McGuire was
the color announcer for it, and they created a song
and I remember no words of the song except one

(01:21:45):
of the lines was there was a guy on the
Seahawks named Cortes Kennedy, Okay, And in the song, I
remember the line was something like, if you don't watch
ESPN Sunday Night Football, they go, mister Cortes Kennedy will
find your house, and they showed him like walking up
to your door in a Seahawks uniform. And I was
a little scared.

Speaker 3 (01:22:04):
As a child, a little traumatized for it.

Speaker 1 (01:22:08):
Was a little scared because Cortes Kennedy was a big guy,
and since I didn't watch the Seahawks, I didn't really
know who he was, and now fast forward thirty years later,
I still sometimes will say, mister Cortez Kennedy, will find
your house. I bet somebody can find that audio. The
NFL's got it in their archives somewhere, so that I

(01:22:29):
still stick with that. The Seahawks stays in my mind.

Speaker 2 (01:22:32):
That so, if not Cortez Kennedy. Right now, if you
were sitting home the doorbell ring, which NFL player would
you want to be at the door of the most.

Speaker 1 (01:22:40):
Entire last year just NFL player that I would, well,
I'd want some. Probably Jason Kelsey. I feel like I
feel very fun. I feel like he'd be cool to
talk to, wouldn't be intimidating. It seems like he'd accept
me for who I am without judging.

Speaker 2 (01:22:56):
He'd bring his own beer.

Speaker 1 (01:22:58):
Yeah, so I think I think Jason kell The other thing,
when I went to law school, there's a guy named
Teddy Werner who's now like CEO of the Milwaukee Brewers,
but he went to Lost with me. I always found
it interesting. His favorite player was Steve Largent, and he
was very wealthy, dressed very well, handsome, like smart, but
he would wear a Steve Largent jersey. The law school

(01:23:21):
class all the time. I just found it so weird.
We're duke law school, but man's walking into Steve Largent
Jersey all the time. That's so those are the two
things I know about.

Speaker 3 (01:23:33):
That's a great breakdown of Seattle this year.

Speaker 1 (01:23:35):
Who's neck? What's the next one?

Speaker 3 (01:23:36):
You want a fact?

Speaker 1 (01:23:37):
Yeah? Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:23:38):
On top of all those facts that just did, there's more.
I got more. We talked about Sam Darnold, how he
needs time right well, warrener Sharp's twenty twenty five rankings
for Seattle by position, he has their offensive line thirtieth,
so he needs.

Speaker 1 (01:23:52):
A lot of time and they don't have a good
time correct. Interesting see you actually combined facts there. You
kind of took Warren.

Speaker 3 (01:23:58):
I went a little above, and I was like Warren and.

Speaker 1 (01:24:00):
Billy molded into one fact, Like Phil is feeling himself
now in these facts? All right, what's next? Twenty three?

(01:24:24):
Twenty three?

Speaker 2 (01:24:24):
I don't love this pick here, but that's kind of
territory in. I went with the Raiders. That's who I
am kind of interested in the gentee experience and just
the Vegas games can be fun because they got the
little club there. You mentioned Miami in Vegas they really
haven't been to bed yet when they're at their games.
So just the whole Vegas experience and the curiosity in
their rookie running back is why I have them here.

Speaker 1 (01:24:44):
Another great stadium for people dressing up, you know. I mean,
although the Raider Nation they're they're wearing spikes again, how
does that get through security? I've never totally understood. Love
the Pete Carroll's there. That's what I'm excited about. Seventy
three years old will headbutt you. He's so excited all
the time. But in a way I don't find annoying.

(01:25:07):
Like everything that you know, once you get past like
a certain age, sometimes people slow down. You question. I
don't question that. I think Pete Carroll could beat me
up right now. And so I'm gonna watch the Raiders.
Love the color scheme, love the fans, love Pete Carroll,
as far as the players brought bowers really good instant
see what happens ash and gent But otherwise, yeah, some.

Speaker 2 (01:25:29):
Young pieces on offense to go with Gino there. I
love Vegas and it's it's fun watching them, But I
do feel like the Raiders shouldn't have been the team
there that they don't carry that Raiders brand like.

Speaker 1 (01:25:41):
They used to.

Speaker 2 (01:25:41):
It's a little more flashy and look at our Vegas
strip now when they used to be the big intimidating team.

Speaker 1 (01:25:46):
Yeah, you it does feel a little not exactly what
they what they should be. But I'm excited to have them.
The Raiders are are, you know, relatively interesting. I will
go right here. Fact I always have to remind me
go ahead.

Speaker 3 (01:26:02):
Warren Sharp has has dove into rest advantage and disadvantage,
and the Raiders have the number one largest net rest
disadvantage this year at minus nineteen days.

Speaker 1 (01:26:14):
How do they how do they compete?

Speaker 3 (01:26:16):
Like when you have a game on Thursday night football
and then you've got to turn it around.

Speaker 1 (01:26:22):
The other team will have nineteen more days of rest
than they will. Yeah, I've heard people say that that's
very important. I think where it plays in a lot
is when a team plays on Monday night then versus Sunday,
or even Saturday, or Sunday versus a Thursday, et cetera.
So interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:26:41):
Raiders also have the problem. This happens in Nashville a lot.
But you you're in that setting, you look up and
it's mostly the away team because it's such a destination city.
Who wouldn't want to go watch their NFL team in
last problem? Yeah, so they always have a great turnout
from the opponent.

Speaker 1 (01:26:53):
Well, another team that has that same problem, which I'm
going to say is the Cardinals. I'm putting them next.
The reason I'm putting them next, they're always involved in shootouts.
They seem to pull up sets. And then Kyler Murray,
assuming he's held at any given moment, fun to watch.
He's just like a new big guy around with and
it's very fun to watch him be little bitty uh

(01:27:17):
and and I think he's excited. Hen't even though he
sometimes does doesn't thing? You know, it never feels like
to me his helmet fits though. Have you ever noticed
it like goes down over his eyes. It feels like
a lot. I just feel I think they could do
one change to make him a better quarterback, just getting
one smaller size on the helmets because it's just a
little big.

Speaker 2 (01:27:37):
I think there's nobody that's more fun to watch scramble
than Kyler Murray. He does like he just keeps going
backwards and making defensive lineman trip over their own feet.
This year, I think he probably have his best offense
that he's had since he's been there. So if Murray's
ever gonna work and really take him to another level,
this might be the year he can do it.

Speaker 1 (01:27:54):
Have you've seen the picture of Marvin Harrison. You know
he he looks like Batista? Yeah, I mean he's gotten huge,
Like he's ripped, like you know how DK Metcalf used
to look. That's how he looks. Now. I don't know
if that's gonna make him good, but he's ripped.

Speaker 3 (01:28:09):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:28:09):
When I said the offense has gotten better, I actually
had that image of Marvin Harrison Junior in my head.

Speaker 1 (01:28:13):
He's gonna be a piece in that big piece in
that will give me a fact.

Speaker 3 (01:28:17):
The head coach, Jonathan Gannon, is in his third year.
He was the defensive coordinator for the Eagles before he
was a head coach. Last year, their defense was twenty seventh.
Their first year with Gannon, they were thirty second.

Speaker 1 (01:28:29):
So it got worse and it got.

Speaker 3 (01:28:31):
A little bit better.

Speaker 1 (01:28:32):
But if thirty second that he hasn't been related to Rich.

Speaker 3 (01:28:37):
Gannon, I don't know. I don't know that.

Speaker 1 (01:28:40):
It doesn't matter if he is. I just was. I
just was curious, all right, So your next what do
we got.

Speaker 2 (01:28:48):
I have maybe again maybe the worst team. I got
three teams. I think it would be the worst, but
I have the Saints here. Just how could you not
have the Saints as the most boring? Well, they are boring,
but I think that's why I want to watch them.
I mean, the name Spencer Rattler, their starting quarterback, Ratler
like collar shock when they made that that draft pick, right,

(01:29:08):
is this really the answer? And I think we're going
to learn that they are going to continue to suck.
So it's more of a I just want to see
how this Spencer Ratler experiment is going to work out.
When they could have done better in the draft.

Speaker 1 (01:29:17):
I had them last. The reason I had them last is,
first of all, always so dark in that state. I
don't know why they don't turn more lights on. It
feels like it is always so dark in there. That's
part of it. They'll they'll do a shot from one
of the endzones you can't even see the other end zone.
I mean, it's it's it's so they just need light.

(01:29:41):
And then I don't think there's ever been in an
NFL team where I know less players than I do
the Saints. I don't know anyone on that team. I mean,
who is on the team, Kamar, I think he still is, right?
He is?

Speaker 3 (01:29:55):
And then who Chris Olave?

Speaker 2 (01:29:57):
Yeah, got Chris, Okay, he's still on the team. He's
got Spencer Rattler throwing to him. It would be a
great year for him, Spencer.

Speaker 1 (01:30:04):
The fact that you have Tyler Shuck and Spencer Rattler
is joints is they're going to be off.

Speaker 2 (01:30:08):
And I left out the second part of my point.
If Arch Manning actually looks good this year, it's going
to be a tank watch for Arch kind of thing
with them in the number one pick next year.

Speaker 1 (01:30:17):
But do we know Arch is good?

Speaker 3 (01:30:19):
No, I don't think he'll be that.

Speaker 2 (01:30:21):
But if he does live up to the billing, there
will be a lot of Saints tanking to get the
number one pick.

Speaker 1 (01:30:27):
Give me a Saints fact.

Speaker 3 (01:30:28):
The Saints defense may not be good, but they're ranked
number one in generating offensive holds, and in fact, it's
the third straight year they've been in the top three.

Speaker 1 (01:30:37):
See these are the stats that are just too deep
for me. When you're who created the hole so that
their first and generated offensive holds, which I would just
sort of rite off is being random but then you
tell me they've been in the top three for three
straight years. That can't be random, so they must. I
guess their defense is such that maybe they are quick twitch.

Speaker 3 (01:30:57):
Cameron Jordan, yeah, gets hold held all the time, or they.

Speaker 2 (01:31:01):
Teach them to, you know, grab the hands and kind
of teach him to sell it a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:31:06):
Well, I'm gonna be watching for that this year thanks
to you and Warren. How many holds do they? Did?
They draw? It was an interesting fact. I guess I'm
on up next. I'm gonna go to the Patriots. I
hate the Patriots mostly because of Bill Simmons. When I
was growing up, my friend Trevor liked Washington, and I
hated Washington even though I love Trevor, because I was like,

(01:31:29):
I don't want Trevor to be happy. What you would
think with your friend. I just didn't want him to
be happy, So I wanted them to lose for them.
I feel that way about Bill Simmons, not my friend,
only many ones. Actually, you haven't man him at all.
Talk to him one time and I listened to almost
everything he does. But he's so annoyed about the Patriots

(01:31:49):
that I want them to lose every game, and when
they lose a big game, I just keep refreshing the
podcast feed, waiting to mock him. So I don't want
him to be good. I don't like Drake may. I
don't like the uniforms people from Boston. Boston sports fans
are usually arrogant, and so I'm anti Patriots. But they

(01:32:12):
might be better, and that's why I don't have them last.

Speaker 2 (01:32:15):
I had them next here too. I also don't like
the Patriots just you know too many people that latched
on to that dynasty that pretend they're lifelong Patriots fans.
I'm like, you're from western Kentucky. Why do you like
the Patriots? However, I have a connection to the Patriots.
My Peloton user name is bike Verbel, so big Verbel guy.

(01:32:37):
I didn't want him to leave Nashville, and I want
him to be happy. So even though I don't like
the Patriots, I want my guys able to have a
good career.

Speaker 1 (01:32:46):
Let's go back to bike. Yeah, so I'm gonna guess
just I mean, let me guess. I'm gonna guess you'd
got on Peloton during COVID, right, yeah, when we were hot,
And do you have a Peloton still? Do, I'll you
have it before covid. Uh No, you're one of those
people that made the stock like shoot up. Yeah, all right,

(01:33:07):
you're a clever guy. You like puns. How long did
it take you to come up with Bike Rabel?

Speaker 2 (01:33:13):
Well, Bichel kid Gilchrist was too long. That was my
first pick. Like I said, the Titans were hot in
that area era kind of short.

Speaker 1 (01:33:20):
There.

Speaker 2 (01:33:21):
One thing that's interesting about it is I don't know
if you all a peloton, but you can hide, you
can high five just strangers, like go get them. There
are a lot of people who I think think I'm
Mike Rabel because I have his picture also as my picture,
so I get it like it was.

Speaker 3 (01:33:35):
More so when it was Titans.

Speaker 2 (01:33:37):
But I get a lot of like tighten up, go
get them, coach, and I just want to be like, no,
it's just my username bike Rabel.

Speaker 1 (01:33:42):
But so you're doing like stolen valor on the bike
from Yeah, I've actually never confessed this to anyone, but yeah,
I'm bike Verbel on there for from. I still do Peloton,
Like I know that was huge, but I don't talking
about it anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:33:56):
It's been about a year and a half for me.
So you stop paying the well, they have a lot
of other stuff on there. You like stretches, stretch on it. Yeah,
they did a bike on the bike like, once you're
a peloton member, I can pull up on TV.

Speaker 1 (01:34:09):
I mean, do you have to? I mean you could
stretch on your own, right.

Speaker 2 (01:34:12):
I am, But I like fit people to tell me
I'm doing it, and I just kind of watch them
and I'm like, well, he hasn't happened.

Speaker 1 (01:34:18):
Talked. There was a woman who got kind of TikTok famous.
She was like, I think, an instructor, right, And she'd
be facing you and she was very attractive and she'd
like he should go, go, you should do this. Yeah,
and then she'd be dancing and all this and I
wasn't riding a bike, but she had me just moving
in my chair.

Speaker 2 (01:34:37):
She works for ESPN now, really, Jen, I think is
her name?

Speaker 1 (01:34:41):
Jen? What sims the.

Speaker 2 (01:34:43):
Peloton instructors are like? They all became their own little
celebrities over time?

Speaker 1 (01:34:47):
Really? Yeah? Huh, Well good for her. I haven't seen
her riding on the peloton on TikTok, but I was
gonna buy a peloton during that period, Glad I just
didn't because I thought you know what. A month later,
I won't do it. I don't regret it, but I
probably need to get back on it. It's been a while.

Speaker 3 (01:35:06):
Got to get the close off of it.

Speaker 1 (01:35:07):
All Right, you're next? Or what's First? Of all? What's
the Patriots?

Speaker 3 (01:35:10):
Fact could be a good year for Vrabel. The Patriots
have the easiest schedule in the AFC and the second
easiest in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (01:35:16):
They do have a very easy schedule. The forty nine ers,
who we talked about earlier, I think have the easiest game.

Speaker 3 (01:35:21):
Believe so.

Speaker 1 (01:35:21):
But the Patriots schedule. If they're decent, they could end
up making the playoffs. All Right, what's next? We have
six more? This would be I guess what? Twenty seven?

Speaker 2 (01:35:31):
Twenty seven, and I am going to Atlanta for the
sophomore Michael Pennock's experience. I feel like Atlanta hadn't been
good in a long time, and maybe he's given them
a lot, a little bit of faith. They had some
explosive games a year ago. Basically, with what's left on
the board, I would turn to Atlanta if I'm watching again.

Speaker 1 (01:35:50):
Yeah, I haven't been really interested in Atlanta game since
Michael Vick or the Dirty Bird dance. Think about the
Falcons for me only means one thing, Chris Myers is
going to be on my screen, you know Fox as
Chris Myers only calls in NFC South games, and really
I think he only CAUs Falcons game. I mean I've

(01:36:10):
listened to him say welcome back to Atlanta, thirteen to ten,
three minutes to go, Panthers have the ball. I think
that's happened eighty three times in the last four years. Yeah,
so I'm not I mentioned with Michael Pennis because he's
so old as a as a second year player, and
people forget him in that draft class. But this is

(01:36:32):
about where I would have put him. I might have
even put him lower. Billy, give me a Falcons. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:36:36):
Before the season last year, they signed Kirk Cousins to
a four year, one hundred and eighty million dollars deal.

Speaker 1 (01:36:41):
He's still on the team. Like after they give after
they get take his job, he's still on.

Speaker 3 (01:36:45):
The team, including one hundred million guaranteed. He went seven
and seven and was benched to Michael Pennox, who they
drafted with the eighth overall pick.

Speaker 1 (01:36:53):
Yeah, that's your fact.

Speaker 3 (01:36:56):
Yeah, that was it for Atlanta Warren.

Speaker 1 (01:36:58):
They Warren take Atlanta off.

Speaker 3 (01:37:01):
Well, it was more just like wow, that decision.

Speaker 2 (01:37:04):
Still, I'll give you one the habit one more than
a games since twenty seventeen.

Speaker 1 (01:37:09):
Wow. So like the like the Cowboys and the Giants
with those crazy stats in the NFC hasn't even been great.
You would think they would happen. I guess I'll go next.
I'll take the Jets again. Part of the reason I
picked them, like with some other teams, sadness, I mean,
the amount. And then there's guys who have the like

(01:37:29):
the firemen, you know, and there's people that they play roles.
It's kind of like they're their own celebrities at these games.
Jets kind of like, you know, the village people of football.
They have the Jets plumber, you have the Jets fireman.
I am excited. I like Justin Fields. I got a
soft spot in ma RT for Justin Fields because he
was in Chicago. I want to see him do well.

(01:37:51):
And then that defense is really good. Their defense is awesome,
and I do have to assume that when they hold
teams to fifty yards and still they have to be
so angry at the offense. I would love to be
in the locker room when the Jets defense is just
furious at the offensive.

Speaker 2 (01:38:09):
I do love some Sauce Gardner one of the better
personalities in the league. But if you're watching the Jets
this year, you're probably just checking on fields. They're not
gonna be good. Might win fourteen if it is good.

Speaker 1 (01:38:21):
I actually.

Speaker 3 (01:38:23):
It.

Speaker 1 (01:38:24):
I think they win seven or eight. I think they're
gonna surprise you because I think justin fields isn't as
bad as people think, and I think that defense is great.

Speaker 2 (01:38:33):
So their schedule, though, is not doing the many favors
in that division in some of the other games of him.

Speaker 1 (01:38:39):
Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna take your I don't know
what the over under is, but assuming it's probably like
five and a half or something like that, I'm gonna
take the over. I give me a Jets. Fact.

Speaker 3 (01:38:47):
We've been talking streaks. The Giants were the one that
haven't had a ten win season since twenty sixteen. It's
the Jets that haven't had a winning season since twenty fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:38:57):
Wow, it's sad. I just I just I want good
things for the secondary teams in New York. I always
feel bad for the Jets, the Mets, the Mets, the Nets.
They all rhyme the Jets, the Mets, the Nets, the Islanders.
I can always feel sorry for those people because it

(01:39:17):
feels like the Devils. They're also I guess that's the
New Jersey Devils, and I feel like those people they
always have to look at big Brother being rude to them.
I feel some sympathy.

Speaker 2 (01:39:28):
I do too, And I know some of it's just
kind of where you grew up in New York, but
you also had an opportunity to pick one of the
other ones, and you no one was going to say anything.
If you're from New York and you like the Yankees,
no one's gonna call you out. But it's like you
chose that existence.

Speaker 1 (01:39:39):
I think some of it is like kids like rhymes,
that could be it well, easier to teach the kids
the Jets, Nets, Mets, it's easy when you have Rangers,
Nicks gets harder. That's got to be it.

Speaker 3 (01:39:53):
That's the reason the Yankees Yankees.

Speaker 1 (01:39:56):
Yeah, all right, you're next. I have the Houston Texans next.
What is okay? So let's wear twenty nine. The Texans
are legitimately good, and they are so boring that even
though they're legitimately good and have a quarterback that, if
we did this last year, would have been ranked as
a top five to seven quarterback. We have them at

(01:40:16):
twenty nine, and by the way, I'm not saying you're wrong.
I had them at twenty eight.

Speaker 2 (01:40:20):
So I won a playoff game last year and gave
the Chiefs a good fight if I'm not mistaken in
the second round. But they're just I mean, they're the
Houston Texans. They're kind of boring. They're in the AFC
South Stroud's good and they are a good team. They're
gonna run away with the South easily this year. But
I just if a Texans game on it's one of
the teams I'm watching the least.

Speaker 1 (01:40:42):
I'm gonna sit here and think. I don't want to
speak too quickly, but Mario, I think I'm gonna say,
I don't think I've ever watched the Texans game in
my entire life.

Speaker 3 (01:40:54):
Oh, come on those playoff games.

Speaker 1 (01:40:56):
Since they're always on Saturday at one o'clock and I'm
doing so Yeah, I don't know have I watched. I
like Aaron Fox at least when he's on podcasts.

Speaker 3 (01:41:08):
Yeah, he's been gone. Awhile uh.

Speaker 1 (01:41:15):
Played the jj wats gone to Uh can you all
think of one Houston Texans moment.

Speaker 3 (01:41:23):
Andre Johnson fighting Courtland Finnegans Titans.

Speaker 2 (01:41:29):
Well, winning the playoff game last year was a pretty
big deal.

Speaker 1 (01:41:32):
That was two years ago. It didn't they win last
year too? Uh, let's see, but you're probably maybe we
should know.

Speaker 2 (01:41:39):
This regardless, the Texans even in the playoffs isn't something
I would have thought of a few years ago till
they got Stroud.

Speaker 1 (01:41:45):
Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen him play. I've
never met a Texans fan, so that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:41:50):
Beat the Chargers and lost to the Chiefs.

Speaker 1 (01:41:52):
Yeah. Yeah, well, oh no, I do remember the Chiefs game, Okay,
I get I do. I did. Actually, they they kept
that close, so I take that back. The first ever
Texans game I watched was last year Divisional ploffs against
the Chiefs.

Speaker 3 (01:42:07):
I do.

Speaker 1 (01:42:08):
I do vaguely remember that game. Give me a they're
gonna have.

Speaker 2 (01:42:11):
A good record again because that division is so bad.

Speaker 1 (01:42:13):
Give me a Texans fact.

Speaker 3 (01:42:14):
Yeah. Despite all that success, their offense ranked twenty ninth
in overall efficiency.

Speaker 1 (01:42:20):
Really yeah, and they got they won a playoff game
twenty ninth. Yeah. CJ. Stroud had a big regression year,
so be interesting thirty. When guys have a good rookie
year in a bad second year, the third year usually
decides their career if you look historically, so it'll be
interesting to see what they do. I'm gonna go thirtieth.
I'm gonna take the Panthers sneakily. If you're like me
and you are a Chris Meyers stan, you would have

(01:42:43):
known that the Panthers were kind of fun at the
end of the year. Last year, Bryce Young's good, Xavier
Legrett they beat up on some teams towards the end
of the year. So I think Bryce Young, I don't
know if he's good, but I think he's better than
probably the average football fan realizes, because you kind of
wrote off his career and then he came back, you know,

(01:43:06):
last year after he won the job back. So yeah,
I'm kind of I'm kind of in on the Panthers.
Thirtieth is obviously pretty low. I'm not that in on him,
but I do. I think they'll they'll have their moments.

Speaker 2 (01:43:18):
I went to a real life Panthers game shortly after
he was picked. It was one of his first games,
and it was hard to watch. I was like this
guy has no business being a starting quarterback. I can't
believe he was a number one pick. This is a
horrible experience experiment. But then last year, as you said,
he kind of turned it on and they've got some
optimism around him. Right now, they just lost feeling back
to the to Minnesota, but they've got one of my

(01:43:38):
favorite people in the entire league, Xavier Legett, in that accent,
so I actually wanted that to work out.

Speaker 3 (01:43:44):
Really just for Xavier.

Speaker 1 (01:43:45):
Look at the problem with the Panthers is Charlotte is
basically just one big bank, and their stadium is kind
of a bank too. It's just if you've ever been
in Charlotte. I lived in Charlotte one summer. It's a
very sterile city and it feels like everything is is
a Bank of America lobby and that's kind of how
I feel like their stadium is too. But other than that,

(01:44:06):
I also don't like their logo. But other than that, yeah, yeah,
I'm just but that's why they're thirty. They're not the worst, though. Yeah,
they're third to worst. They're third to worst. Give me
a fact.

Speaker 3 (01:44:20):
My fact is about Bryce Young and his finish over
the final ten weeks. He threw fifteen touchdowns to six interceptions,
and had multiple touchdown passes in each of the season's
final three games.

Speaker 1 (01:44:29):
See might be good. I'd be fun to watch them.
I think they opened with the Jaguars in a game
that before even and that I knew. You want to
talk about a game. I knew Chris Myers was gonna
be honest. When I saw Panthers Jaguars, I knew it
was Chris Myers, and then Fox released it a couple
of weeks ago. It was Chris Myers, like that was
the game was made for him. What's next? You're getting

(01:44:52):
to side here? What team is not coming in last?

Speaker 3 (01:44:55):
So go.

Speaker 1 (01:44:57):
Two choices.

Speaker 2 (01:44:58):
I mean, I've already made my decision without knowing how
this is planning out. I got to go by what
I have written down, and I have next the Chargers.

Speaker 1 (01:45:04):
All right, Chargers.

Speaker 2 (01:45:07):
What can I say about the Chargers.

Speaker 1 (01:45:09):
I'm a zero fan that there is no one in
America that can prove they're a Chargers fan.

Speaker 2 (01:45:16):
I remember the COVID draft year where they would do
a zoom and they'd have fans at home, and the
Chargers came up and they just had like helmets because
no one would even get on that zoom.

Speaker 1 (01:45:25):
Remember they would have like fifty fans, Remember in their
living room, nobody was there. And then they're like, Chargers,
we didn't really get anybody.

Speaker 2 (01:45:32):
I think the one woman I think they went to
think she went viral that night because she was like
the one.

Speaker 1 (01:45:38):
She was the one, the one Chargers when they do that,
Jim Harball, and they might be good. I mean, they
might be really good. Like I think I was listening
to somebodcast that had them as the number five team
in the NFL and we have them at thirty one.
I mean, it could be the case that Chargers in
the AFC Championship game and we feel stupid with it,

(01:45:58):
especially with you having the Titans at number five.

Speaker 2 (01:46:01):
All right, Bears at number six, let's slow down on
getting them in the championship game. But there is tension
with Harrball and Justin Urvert I liked and the preseason
Harball was out tailgating with the fans. He's at least
trying to find fans and bring them into games, so
must be worried at the game.

Speaker 3 (01:46:17):
But Antonio Gates.

Speaker 1 (01:46:18):
And Ladedian Tomlinson and Philip Rivers are eating at a
restaurant across the street, and he said, I'll give you
fifty dollars if you come stand next to my car
and act like you're going to this game. Please come
on with my team. Yeah, I can't act like I care.
I mean, I do like their I do like their cool.
You know. I think the color of the uniforms is nice.
I like when they wear throwbacks. They're very rarely on television.

(01:46:39):
It feels like Sunday Night football against the Chiefs once
a year is usually when I see them play. But
they could be good. Justin Herbert is a legitimately really good.
He needs one big win. I think he gets it
this year. But I can't put him higher than thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:46:55):
They won the Hall of Fame game a few weeks ago.
Beating the Lions gets you a little.

Speaker 1 (01:46:59):
Fired up about the Chargers. It's always weird that they
play that game. It's always in early.

Speaker 2 (01:47:04):
July now, like it's just an extra game and the preseason.

Speaker 1 (01:47:09):
Yeah, what do you got? Well?

Speaker 3 (01:47:10):
Warren Sharpe agrees with you. He says the Chargers don't
have a home field advantage, so every game is either
an away game or a neutral game.

Speaker 1 (01:47:19):
No, he's right, they have the least home field advantage
of anyone because when the other AFC West teams play,
they invade their stadium. I mean when the Chiefs and
Broncos especially play, there are many more Chiefs and Broncos fans.
And then you have people you mentioned this about Nashville
and Vegas. There's people who say, hey, I want to
go to LA. This is a good chance to go

(01:47:39):
to LA and tickets will be the Chargers. That's exactly right.
So that's the way it goes, all right. That means
last place the most boring team to watch in the NFL,
the Indianapolis Colts. Don't disagree another team, stadium's too dark.
By the way, they were next to last. I mine

(01:48:01):
stadium's too dark. The one thing that was interesting is
in what way will Anthony Richardson fail this year? Now
you get Daniel Jones. I mean, if you were to
look up poor guy. I said, not if you look
up poor guy, but if you were to look up
a boy, think he was very poor. If you look
up boring quarterback, you're gonna see Daniel Jones. I mean
went to Duke or Goggles when he was in high school.

(01:48:21):
I mean he's he is. The Colts, right, games always
at one o'clock, feels like most of the time they're
playing the Titans. And they won like.

Speaker 2 (01:48:32):
Seventeen in a row against the Titans.

Speaker 1 (01:48:34):
Yes, and it is. It's just not interesting and they
every game is seventeen fourteen, and I just I can't
think of anything that would make me want to tune
into a Colts game. And they are only a couple
hours from where we are, and I never have once
thought about going to a game.

Speaker 2 (01:48:52):
Well, I hate that their stadium for Kentucky Basketball Final
four reasons, but the Colts are what I have as
a rivalry in the NFL. As you mentioned, they played
the Titans a lot, had their number for many years,
so I genuinely hate them. I have like an actual
hatred of the Colts. However, right now I feel a
little bit bad for them that just two years ago
they had a top five pick, had several options. We're

(01:49:14):
about to get our quarterback from a future you blink,
you wake up, and Daniel Jones is your starting quarterback. Like,
how did that happen in the span of a year
and a half, But it happened to them, and I
want the worst for them, but this might actually be
too far for them.

Speaker 1 (01:49:27):
Well, it's interesting you said that you you hate them
because they're your rival. I think if the NFL dot
Com were to do a piece best Rivalries in the NFL,
it Wou'd be low on the list. Last place would
be Colts Titans. I wouldn't have even thought you were
a rival. You're not even that close to each other geographically.

Speaker 2 (01:49:45):
There was a time when in the AFC South those
two were good and the Jaguars sucked and the Texans
were getting started.

Speaker 1 (01:49:51):
But Billy, do you agree with me in terms of
rivalries near the bottom. Yeah, yeah, I don't think the
Colts would even claim that. Would be like somebody that
goes to Colorado State going we have a huge ribery. Wildly,
you don't understand Colorado and you don't even understand how
important that game is. That's what I would feel with
that one.

Speaker 2 (01:50:09):
What do you think the old Kerry Collins Peyton Manning
showdowns in the NFL?

Speaker 1 (01:50:13):
The best? Historically the best is Bears Packers, but recently Steelers.

Speaker 3 (01:50:18):
Raising Steelers Ravens. Yeah, Thanksgiving game.

Speaker 1 (01:50:21):
Yeah, Steelers Ravens. I think recently has produced the best
games historically, I think most people would probably say Bears, Packers,
But yeah, I mean I make it a point to
watch every Steelers Ravens the game.

Speaker 2 (01:50:33):
Yeah, I have one I mentioned. I used to go
to Chiefs games a lot, the Chiefs Raiders. It's died
down a little bit, but back when they were both
really good. It was nasty and arrowhead when the Raiders
were in town.

Speaker 1 (01:50:45):
In its heyday. Cowboys Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, Cowboys commander like Cowboys.
Niners had a good run in their heyday. But for
me in the NFL now, I mean, the only games
that I'm like, I gotta see because these rivals are
fun to watch each other is Steelers Ravens. Yeah, all
right with your fact.

Speaker 3 (01:51:05):
It's been rough over the last two seasons with Anthony Richardson.
Out of fifty five eligible quarterbacks, Richardson was last in accuracy,
last in completion rate, and fifty out of fifty five
in TD interception ratio.

Speaker 1 (01:51:18):
And if only someone could have seen that company with
the fact that he also wasn't good in college, and
he also wasn't good in high school.

Speaker 2 (01:51:24):
My favorite is Kentucky beat Florida and after the game
at Kentucky defensive back tweeted Heisman question mark that boy
hot dog water is for what he said about Anthony Richardson.
I don't even know what that means, but that was
his takeaway after the game.

Speaker 1 (01:51:39):
Hot dog water is a mean thing to say. Well,
I hope everybody enjoyed first episode of NFL Covers ye,
or what'd you think of Warren Sharp's previous.

Speaker 3 (01:51:46):
And pressed very analytical deep dive?

Speaker 1 (01:51:50):
Is it worse seventy four dollars? Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:51:52):
Yeah, one hundred percent? Has my recommendation?

Speaker 1 (01:51:55):
Well good if it has billies and you're ready. Thank
you all very much for listening. Click on the little
subscribe button, especially for those of you that are in
areas that you don't know us, Tell a friend about it,
or you know, just recommend it to one person. We'd
appreciate it. We will be back next week. We will
preview week one and hopefully have a guest for you.
This has been an NFL Cover zero. NFL Cover zero

(01:52:25):
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Matt Jones

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