Season 4 - Episode 1 (Part 1) - We're Back! NFL Offseason Recap, Playoff Picks, Super Bowl Prediction & More

On the first installment of our 4th season of The John and Randall Football experience, the guys recap some of the major storylines from the offseason and give their opinions on some of quarterbacks in new places that they expect to have success or fail. They also go division by division to make their picks, before adding in the Wild Card selections to round out their preseason playoff predictions. Plus, we've got MVP picks, and Super Bowl thoughts. LETS GO!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:22):
What is going on? Everybody. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back for
season four of the John and Randall Football Experience. My
name is John Avino, and contrary to popular belief, we
did not get rid of the man on the other side.
We got our guy, Randal Minou back for another year. Randall,

(00:44):
it is an honor to talk to you on this evening,
my friend.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Hey, anytime you get the franchise, cat Man, it's a
good feeling. You know nothing, You're getting the pay hey,
and I get to be back with the one and only,
the one who makes me better. You're my TEAMV twelve Baby,
you just making me look fantastic now you are, John,
So I'm just happen to be back.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
You know, it's funny you mentioned that because you know
we're not going to do all of our normal things
tonight as far as our games. We'll get into that
in a couple of days. This is going to be
part one of a two part episode where tonight we're
going to break down, you know, our picks for divisions
and also the playoffs, but also talk a little bit
about the offseason first. But it's funny the way you

(01:28):
just started that because you called me Tom Brady, and
you said you need me to win, and you know
we're sitting here on the night of September first, it's
Labor Day, and you may happy Labor Day with every
day ramble, and the final football game in the college
slate of week one is currently underway. And I don't
know if you did it on purpose or subconsciously, but
you just kind of invoked that that Bill Belichick and

(01:50):
maybe the Patriots needed Tom Brady's help to win a
Super Bowl. Bill Belichick might need his help at UNC
because they are getting smashed tonight by TCU in their
home opener, in the first game with Bill Belichick. So
I think, even though it's not NFL, we kind of
have to start right out of the gate with the
abbreviated version of quick hits Randall and Yeah, I'm gonna

(02:11):
tee you up for Bill Belichick here.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Y, Yeah, John. I mean, it's actually insane. This guy
literally ended his NFL career getting blown out basically every
game without Tom Brady, and then he starts his college
career the exact same way getting blown out by TCU.
Everybody's thought, Oh, because Matt Patricia, who is now defensive

(02:36):
coordinator from while State shut down arch Manning this past weekend.
I know this is college. I'll keep it short here,
but everybody's like, oh, defensive NFL defensive coordinator comes into college, boom,
shuts down a college kid. I cannot wait to see
what Bill Belichick does against a TCU quarterback. Let alone

(02:58):
what just happened to Arch Manning. And now all of
a sudden, we just witnessed Bill Belichick and get everything
handed to him. So not idea. Let's just say that
for Bill Belichick at the start to his UNC career,
not so much.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
They went up seven to nothing and then it was
forty one unanswered points before they scored again. TCU is
currently up forty one to fourteen in the fourth. Actually
they just scored. It's forty eight to fourteen in the fourth.
This is the last time I'll mention it, maybe until
they go final so we can give you a final
update on how it went. But Randall, how was your summer?
What you been getting into and how you doing overall?

Speaker 2 (03:36):
John, I'm doing fantastic. Man. I've been playing a lot
of softball, so I've been staying active with that. But
it's let's just say baseball. I love baseball. We're getting
into the postseason time right now for the MLB soon
the final stretch, final month. However, let's be real. Playoff
even playoff baseball isn't as exciting as a regular season game. Man.

(04:01):
I'm just I'm ready ready. It's the itch. I got
the itch for this thing. John. I don't know about you,
but this season I plan to have be my best
record wise for our fans, the viewers at home. No
mortal locks, mortal combat, any anything, do or dies, whatever

(04:22):
you need and see. I plan on winning this season
for our viewers, John, I mean our listeners.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, I was gonna say already we got a couple
of viewers from you there, when it's not it's listeners
as you as you corrected yourself. But yeah, I mean
I'm pretty pretty ready to go to your point. I mean,
baseball is fine, you know, it's I'm a big Yankees fan.
I watch pretty much every game, but there's nothing that
compares to the seventeen games that you get in an
NFL season. It's just special. They're not you know, there's

(04:52):
less of them, and if your team doesn't make the playoffs,
it becomes even less of an experience. You know you
have that extra January, and I know it's been a
few years for the Patriots obviously, so I know you're
hoping they get back there. But yeah, it's just been
it's been a great summer. I obviously don't do as
much broadcasting this summer, which is good, and you know,
it also gets to a point where I'm ready to

(05:12):
get back to it. So I've been getting back into that.
Got the NFL here. We've got the Eagles Cowboys kicking
the season off in just a few days, and then
of course we have the Chiefs playing as well the
Chargers and another destination game, and then over the weekend
we finally get to Sunday and you're gonna have a
full slate. So it's here. It's exciting, and I know
you're just excited as I am to dive into some

(05:34):
of these off season happenings, to kind of recap the
offseason from our perspective and then give our picks. I'm
ready to see kind of who you've got lined up
as your playoff teams this year. This is one of
my favorite episodes of the season.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Yeah, John, let's let's get right into it. Where do
you want to start with what happened this so offseason,
do we go pre draft or do we just.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, you know what, I think we should start with
some of the core movement that we saw happen pretty
off early in the offseason. First off, you had Sam
Donald who goes from Minnesota to Seattle. You had Justin
Fields obviously who ends up with the Jets. Joe Flac
goes back in Cleveland with the Deshaun Watson out, but
also they have the young guys there, Dylan Gabriel and

(06:19):
Shador Sanders. You got Aaron Rodgers to Pittsburgh, and then
Russell Wilson also the Giants. So you've got a lot
of quarterback movement this offseason, which is pretty atypical. You
don't often see this many guys on the move that
are starting, and especially guys like in Sam Donald's case,
and I also didn't mention Geno Smith, but in their
case guys that were coming off fairly good seasons with

(06:41):
their prior teams, they end up in different places. So
I'm curious from your perspective, what's one that you're maybe
thinking is going to be a good move as far
as one of these quarterbacks moving, and what's one that
you think might be a little overrated or not work out.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
I'm interested to see how the Sam Darnald and Seattle
situation goes. Okay, I think you know, Minnesota was just
a really good fit for him with Kevin Conley. Okay,
I really feel that it's gonna hurt him that move.
I'm honestly shocked that Minnesota decided to not resign him.

(07:16):
But I'm really really john. If I'm comparing two quarterbacks
that were just in Seattle, Gino Smith, and now we
have Sam Darling, I like Gino Smith better than Sam Darnald.
So really Seattle's downgrading Seattle. I don't even think has
that great offensive weapons for him. Therefore, Sam Donald, he's

(07:38):
gonna struggle. That that's my that's my pick to struggle.
That's my shocker. I'm curious to see what you think.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yeah, I mean, honestly, I'm a little surprised to hear
you say that. Not because not because I didn't think
Sam Donald might be a guy that's the candidate to struggle,
but I just thought you were gonna go the Aaron
Rodgers were out there with the Steelers for sure. Maybe
you're saving that for later.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
No, No, no, no, let me let me clarify. I
thought it was just implied that guys like Aaron Rodgers
are gonna struggle, Daniel Jones is gonna struggle, right, Justin
Fields is gonna I literally thought it was implied that
those guys are gonna continue to suck, not that those
guys are gonna go from sucking last year to all
of a sudden they're gonna be good now. Sam Donald

(08:25):
had a great season last year, right, and obviously changed
his whole career path for him to get paid now. Right, However,
he's gonna go from basically having a great season to
now he's gonna turn into what might be a Daniel
Jones type player.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah. Well, the problem is that, like when I'm looking
at this group of quarterbacks that's moved, I don't really
think like I think Sam Donald has a chance to
be one of the better moves. But I do agree
they don't have many weapons because it's another big storyline.
By the way, they traded DK Metcalf, so their number
one receiver is not really there any more. You know,
you also had you know Smith who you mentioned go

(09:04):
to the to Oakland or Vegas rather and he's reuniting
with Pete Carroll, by the way, who is his coach
is Seattle a few years ago, would ended up starting
him or picking him and then trading away Russell Wilson.
So that's gonna be an interesting dynamic. You know, I'm
not as sold as you are that Justin Fields with
the Jets isn't gonna work out. And hear me out
for a second, but I know this guy's always had

(09:25):
trouble kind of throwing the ball down the field. But
last year with the Steelers, he looked pretty effective in
those few s four games, mostly just running the ball
and finding his spots to throw it. But they were winning.
He was looking good. And I think this is going
to be a defense first team with their new head coach,
Aaron Glenn coming over from the Lions, I think they
have what it takes to build around that defense. And

(09:47):
I think if Justin Fields can kind of figure out
the intricacies of just like how to get the ball,
by the way, to his college teammate Garrett Wilson, who
he's now reunited with, and then you know, they have
the Breesse Hall and they have break They have some
running backs who can do some things. I think it's
gonna be a interesting offense to watch with him. I'm
not saying he's gonna light up the world or be
you know this this all of a sudden his MVP candidate,

(10:09):
but I do think he could be a guy that
succeeds there. I do agree Daniel Jones, as interesting as
it is that he was able to go in there
just beat out the guy that they picked first overall
what two years ago. I don't think he's gonna have
a very good year, although I will say he had
a couple of decent seasons, particularly that one season with
the Giants where they went to the playoffs. And if

(10:30):
he can run the ball and not turn it over.
He's also a guy who's kind of like justin fields,
where it's, you know, it becomes how much athleticism can
he provide. But one guy that we didn't mention yet
that I think is going to be a huge struggle
candidate is the guy that's replacing Sam Donald in Minnesota,
JJ McCarthy, who was drafted a year ago and then

(10:50):
obviously got hurt in the preseason, which ended up leading
to Donald's breakout season. But I think McCarthy has a
big potential struggle. And I hate to say it, but
I've been like staying away from like Justin Jefferson in
my fancy drafts because I don't really know what to
expect with them this year.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
You would think John like in terms of in terms
of what's going on there in Minnesota, they would they
see what's happening in practice. Do you think it was
a money issue on why they got rid of Sam Donald.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
I think they said to themselves, you know what, we
committed the tenth overall pick or whatever it was to J. J. McCarthy,
and we didn't plan on signing a quarterback because if
they did, they would have just signed Kirk Cousins. So
they signed Donald to a team friendly deal and he
ends up becoming the guy and then he ends up
lighting the world on fire until he didn't, by the way.
I mean, he kind of crashed out pretty hard there

(11:42):
at the end to get the playoffs. I would know
because it was against the Rams. But anyway, I mean,
he's he's gonna be making a lot of money now. Donald,
he got paid. I just think the vikings were, like,
you know what, this could have been lightning in a bottle.
It could have been a one hit wonder, and the
last thing they wanted to do was give out a
long term contract to Sam Donald and then not have
it work out next year and turn to JJ McCarthy anyway.

(12:04):
So that's my opinion is that I just think they
had said they had told themselves a franchise a franchise, like,
you know, we're gonna end up drafting his kid. He's
gonna start whenever he's ready to start.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
And guess what, he's ready to start now, right, he's
ready to start, and maybe he surprises us. I think
he's a sleeper guy. I mean, I'm not really sure
what to expect with him. I didn't think he was
worthy of being a first rounder like he was coming
out of Michigan. But hey, you know what, he won

(12:36):
a national championship there. He's clearly in a good system
with guys that are around him to make him better.
Because at the end of the day, we saw Sam
Darnold do stuff that were like, wow, how where was this?
Like this is the guy that at least at the
beginning of the season last year, but he showed more

(12:56):
flashes this year, sorry, this past season than he ever
did in his entire career. With the Jets or with Carolina.
So I mean, when you look at it that way,
maybe maybe something going on in Minnesota where they were
able to make Kevin not Kevin. I'm blanking on Kirk
Cousins look fantastic, right obviously for a numerous numerous years

(13:20):
before he went to Atlanta and obviously wasn't fantastic anymore. Okay,
now they made Sam Darnold look fantastic, who's to say
they can't make this guy look fantastic.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, it is gonna be on Kevin O'Connell. So that'll
be interesting to see. You had plenty of receiver movement
this offseason as well, A couple of them very notable
to our teams. First off, Cooper Cup obviously let the Rams.
He goes to the Seahawks. They released him, they replaced
him with Devonte Adams, so I think still could be
a very viable option. He kind of had a good
run there at all.

Speaker 2 (13:50):
Oh, he's the number two receiver.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
He's the number two receiver. He'll be behind Pooka Nakuas,
so I don't think he has to go burning the
number one corner. I think a guy that you really
should be worried about is Stefan Diggs, who is the
Patriots' newest receiver.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
He's a guy me, now, why don't you well, I.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
Mean, if you're gonna throw some shade, I might as
well throw it right back. Stefan Diggs is coming off
of torn acl He's coming to a new team. He
had that weird offseason video where he was on the
boat with that substance that they or may not have been,
you know whatever, it was drugs of some sort. And
now here he is. He's going to be presumably their

(14:28):
number one option. Although the Patriots, I know, have a
lot of a lot of guys in that room. So
what's your thoughts on Diggs? Since you clearly made your
thoughts on DeVante Adams known.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
Well Davanta Adams, has you know, struggled recently with the Raiders. Okay, however,
Diggs was being very successful and it's time in Houston
until he got hurt, right Like, he was doing a
fantastic job there. And I think Diggs, you know, they
said he's moving really well coming off of the surgery,
and I believe what the reports are saying. And I'm

(15:02):
excited to see what happens Week one because we need
a number one virus. You know, we've been needing a
number one wide receiver because Lord knows, we don't know
how to draft any wide receivers. Right, And I'm just saying, John,
it was bacon soda, not that substance you were thinking of.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
Baking soda in the video. You think that was baking
soda on that boat. I don't think so I got bacon,
So yeah, I know that's what I thought of too.
You know, you had some guys like Deebo who's now
with Washington after a trade. I will see what he
has left. Tyler Lockett goes to the Titans, just another

(15:45):
one of the receivers that Seattle lost. We mentioned DK Metcalf.
He's gone. He's now in Pittsburgh, which is interesting because
he becomes the number one receiver for bron Rodgers, and
it looked like they were gonna team him and George
Picking's up and then he turned around trade George Pickings
to Dallas. So there's been plenty of action trade wise.
One of the more notable ones was one of the

(16:06):
more recent ones, and that was Michah Parsons, who within
the last few days actually it was traded and got
a massive deal from the Green Bay Packers. So he
was traded from the Cowboys. Obviously they got two first
round picks and Frank Clark, who's pretty good in his
own right back. What did you make of this Micah
Parsons trade that came down the pipeline just a few
days ago.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
I'm gonna be honest, I honestly did not expect that
to really happen. Normally, when these types of situations start unfolding,
they always come to an agreement. But you know what,
Jerry Jones, what did he do? He stood on business?
He stood on business. But also Michael Parsons has just
made out with aload of money from the trades, So

(16:50):
who knows? And really, are the Packers better than Dallas?
I think it might be. I think the Packers may
be a better team than Dallas. So he won. I
don't think you're bringing Dallas.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
I don't think you're bringing any news there. Dallas has
not been very good the last couple of years.

Speaker 2 (17:06):
No, so why not go to a better team? Get paid? Hey,
it just showed the power he had. He said, nope,
I'm not playing. I'm not playing. Forced Jerry Jones's hand
and Jerry Jones got rid of him, simple Jerry.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Jones getting old man. Might be time for him to
go for some help from some of his kids. I mean,
I know they already are, but he's still making some
of these negotiations harder than they need to be. How
about the draft? Were there any surprises in the draft? He?
Were you surprised that Shador Sanders dropped to the fifth
round and that the Browns, who already had drafted Dylan Gabriel,

(17:42):
end up drafting him.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
I think everybody was shocked that he just kept dropping
and dropping, just because of the sheer fact John that
everybody said he was going to be like a top
five pick, top five pick, top six pick, top ten pick,
and then you drop that far. So I don't know
what to make of it. Is it collusion between owners
saying okay, because this guy was blowing off meetings and

(18:08):
not taking them seriously with gms at the combine, that
is why this happened, I don't know. Or is it
because they saw certain numbers saying hey, yeah, he had
a seventy seven percent completion percent, which led all A
Division one college football, but his attempts downfield were also

(18:28):
one of the lowest in college football. Right, so there's
things to say about both of them. Right. However, from
what we saw in a couple of preseason games, his
first preseason game, yeah, it was pretty solid, but after
that it wasn't really anything spectacular. I am surprised, though,

(18:49):
you picked somebody like Dylan Gabriel and the third and
then you take shador in the fifth. That move did
not make sense to me personally.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
Well, let me counteract that and just say I think
sometimes if your team is looking for a young quarterback,
then maybe taking two of them isn't the worst thing.
I mean, just look at how it worked out. I
could think of two examples where this worked out. One
of them is the forty nine Ers, that's the more
obvious one. They took Trey Lance third, and they took
Brock Purty last in the in the whole draft, and

(19:19):
Purdy's worked out. Okay, I know he's not a Super
Bowl winner yet. I know he hasn't been maybe as
great as he initially was, but he's still pretty good.
And then Washington with RG three and Kirk Cousins, they
were the same draft, and then RG three obviously won
Rookie of the Year and a few years later, you know,
got hurt and he was gone, you know, to the
Ravens and what not to be back up for a
few years. I think the Browns at one point two,

(19:41):
but Kirk Cousins started for them for a while and
he was successful with them for a while. So I
think if you're the Browns and you're saying, okay, we
don't have maybe the quarterback of our future on this roster,
which I think says a lot about what they think
about Deshaun Watson and his ability to maybe come back
from this most recent injury after he's already been pretty
terrible in his time in Cleveland. But they took two guys,

(20:02):
and they didn't take either one with one of their
first two round picks, so they're not paying you know,
an absorbent amount to either one of them. So I
think it's an interesting strategy. But I don't think. I think,
I don't know what, I forget the word you used
for it, But I think there is some sort of
you know, logic here, because you're saying to yourself, all right,
if one of these guys works out in the long run,

(20:23):
it was worth taking two of them in a three
round span. You know who is the backup to be
So Gabriel is two behind Flacco and then uh, Chor's three.
And of course they traded Kenny Pickett, who was also
there after he was traded to them. He's now in Oakland.
I keep saying Oakland. He's in Vegas. He's going to

(20:43):
be the backup for Ginouh. So Kenny was there, now
he's gone, and they have just three of those guys
and then obviously Deshaun Watson too, so it's a very
interesting quarterback room. And then of course you have cam
Ward who now becomes the Titan star Craft. He was
picked first. Uh, you know they're trying to set him
up for success down there. I know they've brought in
some guys. They obviously have Ridley, They just brought in

(21:05):
Tyler Lockett. Uh. They also have Tony Pollard who was there,
so they've got some interesting options. Offensively, do you think
cam Ward is set up for success in his first year?

Speaker 2 (21:18):
I mean, you're going to the worst team. They got
the first pick for a reason, right, It's just so
hard it honestly is you know, it can be tough
on these guys. I mean, look at Joe Burrow. Joe
Burrow's first year, he did well, he showed signs of
a life before he ended up getting hurt as well

(21:38):
as his first two years. But you're they're the worst
team in the league for a reason, right. It's it's
gonna take more than just one off season for them
to get where they need to be. But if he
really is as good as a Joe Burrow who can
turn around, really turn around, and they can get a
couple of great draft picks in over the next two years.

(22:01):
Ken word I think is a stunt. He's a great leader.
It seems like I mean, he was playing for a
team in Miami for college that you know, didn't really
have that many standout players, right, And that's what I
like to see. You know, acc school, you're not going
you don't have that Alabama front line protecting you, right.

(22:22):
So he's used to a little bit of pressure's he's
used to getting the ball. He can win games with
guys that are non NFL players. Just wait to see
what he's gonna be able to do with NFL caliber players.
So I'm excited about that. But he needs more than
just a Tony Pollard back there.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, I agree. I think that's a great point. I
think they have some interesting pieces offensively. I think your
point is spot on about the fact that he was
at Miami where they didn't have, you know, a full
lot of NFL talent, and especially when you look at
some of the other guys who kind of recent memory.
You know, lsu Is is a receiver fact, so of
course they're going to have success with quarterbacks there. And

(23:03):
these guys have gone onto the NFL, especially Burrow, who
you mentioned to do good things. You know, you talk
about Alabama and their offensive line, whatever it may be.
These other schools they have NFL players in other positions.
So I think cam Ward has set up for success
and that he's been through the gauntlet, like you said,
and he also like he's in a situation now where
he kind of earned this spot. The lot of the thing,

(23:24):
a lot of the talk was leading up was talking
about him and you know, Shador Sanders, maybe a little
bit of Jackson Dart, but he ended up standing out
enough to be the first overall pick. And I think
it's an interesting situation anytime they come in and have
to start right away. But I would not be surprised
if they have another down year kind of, like you said,
hopefully he doesn't become a you know, Bryce Young two

(23:47):
point zero, who luckily has started to kind of figure
it out a little bit, or so it seems, but
you hope that his growth doesn't get stunted right out
of the gate because of ineptitude around him. So we'll
see if he's set up for success. Last rookie I
want to ask you about is Ashton Genty, who obviously
is one of the bigger names coming out as running
back from Boise State, had an unbelievable year there last year,

(24:09):
and now he's with the Raiders. How do you kind
of see him fitting into the landscape this year as
far as overall running backs, because obviously the last couple
of years, we've had a couple guys, maybe most notably
Bijon Robbinson come in and be a stud right away
in a lot of ways. Do you think Genty has
that same potential?

Speaker 2 (24:30):
Of course, he's built like a brick house man like
he he can do get yards after contact like crazy.
I think I think that's where he's going to be.
I don't know. He's obviously not going to be breaking
off seven eight yards of a carry like he was
at Boise State. But he's going to be a very,

(24:51):
very productive back without a doubt in my mind.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yeah, I mean the only and I think.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
He has I think I think I think he's top
obviously for Rookie.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Of the Year. Yeah, right now, I think he's probably
my favorite. I think he's definitely the favorite. I just wonder,
you know, is the team around him going to be
a product of his maybe stunting of his season. And
obviously they they had a great rookie last year, Brock Bauers,
who had an unbelievable year set records and he did
that with really no consistent play at quarterbacks. So if

(25:24):
they're able to do that with him last year, I
have a feeling that Genty is only going to help
the situation there. So I agree. I think he's going
to be a very interesting player to watch. I think
he's got potential to be the top top five rusher
this year in the NFL. I am excited to see
what gent he can do at this level after such
dominance at Boise State, especially last season. I'm trying to think, Randall,

(25:47):
is there anything else in the offseason that was notable
that I haven't brought up that you want to cover.
I know, I think we talked about Mike Vrabel way
back when, But how do you feel his first camp went.
Are you excited to see what he brings to the
table this year?

Speaker 2 (26:03):
Of course I am. But I mean when you go
from being projected to not win any single games last
year to being a favorite in eleven this year, I
mean that no team in NFL history, they said, had
done that, which means this is signed for New England.
I'm still not sold on Drake May. I think you

(26:25):
know Joe Milton the third with Dallas, I've seen so
much of him this preseason where the dude's just stud.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
The dude is a stud sometimes I'll tell you.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
That I think it's because he had he didn't have
his quality people around him in New England, he would
have been fantastic. Just just saying, but I really do
think the biggest news out there from this training camp,
John is can we just take a moment of silence

(26:57):
for my man, the one, the only you know who
I'm gonna mention right here.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Bailey Zappi.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Do you know what happened to Bailey Zappi the other day? No,
you get cut, you got cut. However, he got shigned
to the practice squad for the Browns, so good news
and bad news. He's a practice so.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
He's behind Flaco Gabriel, Schador Sanders and an injured Deshaun
Watson on the depth chart. And don't they have Tyler
Huntley too?

Speaker 2 (27:33):
I'm not sure if they have him, but I don't.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
They definitely did. I don't know if they released him
or not. But yeah, okay, Well, I'm sorry that Zappie
didn't make any teams this season.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
There's just so much potential there. But on to the
next job.

Speaker 1 (27:52):
Well, by on to the next I think it's time
to move into our season long picks. This is one
of my favorite segments because we get to pick, you know,
this whole season in front of us. It's a clean slate.
Nothing that we have yet said is stupid or doesn't
make any sense because we haven't seen anything happen yet.
So today we can make some bold predictions. We can

(28:14):
make some maybe you know, chalk predictions, but either way,
we don't know what's going to happen yet. We could
be completely wrong, we could be completely right. So oftentimes
we come in and we're sort of right, sort of wrong.
But Randal, I'm very excited to get into our season
long picks, and I, as always, will let you decide
what conference and division you would like to.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Start in, John, I always want to start with the AFC. Man,
that's my conference, not your conference. I want to start
with the AFC division winner.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Of course you do. It's only right because that means
that we'll finish with the NFC West. So we will
start with your team, we will finish with my team's division. Randal,
why don't you go ahead and tell me who you
think the division winner from the AFC East will be
this season and give me a little reason why.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
Well, you know, I really really really want to go
with you know, my heart's torn in two. Do I
go with logic, which it's the Buffalo Bills minus three fifty,
just them starting to go on their Patriots division tear
of just winning the division for years to come. Or
do I go with the second favorite team to win,

(29:28):
my New England Patriots at plus five fifty to win
the division? So John, give me the Patriots could not
win the division but make the playoffs as a wild card.
Take the Buffalo Bills, John, Well, I'm gonna take the
Buffalo Bills to win the division.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
As you always, I guess forget. We usually do our
wildcard team separately at the end after we pick the
division winners. But that's okay, We'll put the Patriots in
there for you. Now, how's that sound?

Speaker 2 (29:57):
That sounds fantastic?

Speaker 1 (29:59):
All right, I'm gonna go ahead and pick the Bills
as well. I just think, like, as much as I
think the Patriots have all the potential in the world
to take a massive step forward this year, I think
that the Bills are still, you know, one of the
main Super Bowl contenders, especially coming out of the AFC
where there's not a ton of true contenders. I think

(30:21):
there's maybe three or four as of right now at least.
But I like the Bills. I like Josh Allen, I
really like what they've done the last couple of years.
So I will take the Bills, and I won't tell
you if I'm gonna pick anybody else from that division
to make the playoffs right now? Like it? All right?
We're gonna move on to the AFC North and we

(30:42):
will alternate who goes first. So I'll go first here
and give you my pick for the division, and I'm
going to go ahead and go with the Cincinnati Bengals,
who I know had a little bit of a down
year last year. They missed the playoffs last year. Am
I correct and saying that that is.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
One game out?

Speaker 1 (31:03):
Yeah, they never got quite back to it once. They
fell out of it very early. But I'd like them
to rebound this year. I think it's gonna be a
two team race between them and the Ravens. I don't
necessarily dislike the Steelers either. I think they're good for
another nine and eight type season with Aaron Rodgers there
and some of the guys around. I think Rodgers, if
he could stay healthy, it's gonna be an interesting case.

(31:23):
But I just think Joe Burrow and this Bengals team,
especially after they were able to lock up not only
Jamar Chase last year, but t Higgins gets his contract,
and I think Trey Hendrickson also got his contract, which
means that they're going to you know, they're going to
have going to have their full gauntlet of weapons there.

(31:44):
So I will take the Bengals to did he get
his contract? I don't even know if he did. Maybe
I'm making that up with Trey Hendrickson one year twenty
nine million, so he signed for one year twenty nine million.
Didn't get a long term deal yet, but anyway, he
is there. They figured it out, and I like the
Bengals to be the division winners this year. John.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
You know, I was gonna go with the Bengals too
until you said that, just because you know they're due
for that bounce back. Right however, they might still be due,
but know who else is due? The Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
For whatever reason, John, I mean, Mike Tomlin and Aaron Rodgers.
Just something about it screams old school football, getting the
job done and winning hard ball games. Like you said,
every single year for whatever reason, they finished at nine
and eight, finish at that five hundred record. Now, okay,

(32:42):
not this year. This year they're finishing a couple of
games above five hundred, good enough to not only make
the playoffs, but to win the division. Put me down
for Pittsburgh plus five fifty.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
John, Wow, I'm actually shocked to hear you, especially because
you always had them number one. But earlier of this
episode you you said you thought it was a four
connclusion that Aaron Rodgers was not gonna be good with
the physical Steelers.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
I you know what I still stand by that. Potentially,
I really have no clue. What's gravity.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
You love. You love playing the pie man. You love
being able to go back and say, oh no, I
said that, and it's like, well you said that too,
So like you know, either way, either way you come
out looking good.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
Look you gotta look at it out for number one, right.
But I mean, in all seriousness, John, we should also
be adding extra points to who's right here. You know,
if you pick a team that's minus one hundred, you
get a point that way, if you pick a team
plus two hundred, you get two to three points plus
three hundred four points.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
You know, that's how you're just complicating this. So I'm
gonna ask you who you are. I'm just saying, who
do you think is going then? FC South.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
NFC South. I'm going with Jacksonville Man a f C
take taking it good? Yeah, okay, yeah, I'm taking I'm
taking them at plus three hundred. Trevor Lawrence Man, he's
been just struggle Bus, struggle Bus. We've seen the stats.
Him and Gardner Minshew basically have the same exact stats
over the course of their career. One's one hundred to

(34:17):
two hundred million dollar man. The other is a backup
somewhere right now. Okay, but this is a year it
all changes. Give me Trevor Lawrence and the Jags plus
three hundred to win the Vision, because John, you want
to know something. You want to know something, John, I
said this last year. I'm gonna see it again. Every year,

(34:39):
half the teams that make the playoffs end up not
making the playoffs. And that's gonna be Houston. Houston is
not going to make the playoffs this year.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
Yeah, I think I think the problem is when you like,
we like, you're right. We look at these things. We
so often thinking about what happened last season, and reality
is last season don't really matter at all. Right now.
It's it's trying to pick the and I think Jacksonville
is a fine pick with some of the things they've
been able to do. You didn't even mention Travis Hunter.
We didn't really talk about Travis Hunter earlier. Kind of

(35:08):
forgot to mention him when were talking about the rookies.
But he's gonna be very interesting because he's playing both
sides of the ball. Remains to be seen how much
he'll play of each of those things, but obviously he's
a very big threat for them wide receiver, and if
he can play corner two, that's gonna be amazing. So
I'm going to go a different direction, though, and I'm
gonna go with the Texans. I know it's chalk, and

(35:29):
you know that's okay. I just think right now, this division,
in my opinion, is the least competitive in all football.
I don't think the Titans are gonna be very good.
I don't think the Colts are gonna be very good.
Even if Jacksonville is a mid level team, you know,
seven eight wins, I think that the Texans can win
nine or ten games and become a division winner. So
I'm gonna go with the Texans to win the AFC South.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
I respect it, and I will.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
Go ahead and tell you right now, I'm going to
pick the Kansas City Chiefs to win the AFC West.
We've been over there a lot over the last few years. Randall,
it just until I don't see it's happening. Uh, it happened.
I'm not going to go against it. So Patrick Mahomes,
he didn't have his best year last year.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
They have an interesting offense this year where she Rice
is suspended for I think four or five games, maybe six. Uh,
he'll be back at some point. But they do have
you know, Marquise Brown is back, Hollywood Brown. Uh, They've
got Pacheco healthy. Hopefully they've got some guys and I
think Mahomes Travis Kelsey's last ride potentially give me the
Chiefs to once again win the division.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
No shot, no shot, no shot shot minus What is that?
What is what does that tell us? Minus one twenty?
Vegas knows, Vegas knows that they ain't winning this year.
Man taking Vegas. No, No, I'm not being Vegas. I'm

(36:53):
talking about Vegas.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
Yeah, I got you, I got you. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
I'm picking a team last year, third team to win
the division in the favor of the odds. Give me
the Chargers plus three fifty. Okay, you want to know why, John,
Because that quarterback is a bad man. Justin Herbert six
foot six, beautiful, luscious hair. And by the way, David

(37:19):
Madison Ray. Now, come on, like this guy's got it
all going on. You know what, He's the only thing
missing in his life is the division title and a
great shot at it. And in the playoffs. You give
me the Chargers plus three fifty.

Speaker 1 (37:33):
Yeah, I feel like we have the same. Uh, you know,
every year, the same We have the same problem.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Where I'm I'm abound to be right one of these.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
Every season Justin Herbert has you know, he has a try,
He has a lot of praise and a lot of
expectation coming into the season, and then it just does
not work out the way that everybody thinks it's gonna
work out. And I think that's probably where we're at
once again with him. And I'm not going to say
that he's going to completely fall off a cliff or fail,

(38:04):
but I just don't think Justin Herbert is who we
think he is, at least not yet. I mean, he
has the potential because, like you said, the build is there,
but until he proves something, man, I just can't get
myself there. That's why I like the Chiefs. And I'm
kind of surprised to hear you say the Broncos are
actually favored ahead of the Chargers. That's interesting.

Speaker 2 (38:24):
I was shocked by it too, honestly, But maybe they're
expecting big strides over there in Denver. So who honestly,
who knows over there? But Sean Payton's getting that team
ready to go to fight.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
I agree, I agree all right, Let's move on to
our wild card teams for the AFC. You gave us
one of yours a few moments ago. Indeed, it was
the Patriots. So I'm gonna go ahead and tail you
my first AFC wildcard team, and I'm going to go
ahead and go with the Ravens. I'm not going to

(39:01):
overthink this one. I picked the Bengals to win the division.
I still think the Ravens are one of the other
main contenders of this AFC conference. I'm definitely going to
be a little bit out there with maybe one or
two of these picks because I know a lot of
them have been pretty chalk. But I do like the
Ravens to once again get there and be a wildcard
team because I think the Bengals will win the division.

(39:25):
Say that again, John, I think the Ravens will be
a wildcard team.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
Yeah, I mean, I mean that makes sense. That makes sense.
I'm gonna I'm gonna go with but but New England
being a wildcard team, even though.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
We already already knew that. So now your next one.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
My next one is going to be the Cincinnati Bengals.
They're a bounce back. Like you said, there's no way.
There's no way they do not make the playoffs. If
you don't make the playoffs back to back seasons, but
then offense like that, I can get it. The offensive
line is worn. I understand the defense sucks, but I
just still expect them to get there. John, give me

(40:12):
the bags.

Speaker 1 (40:13):
Yep, you got the Bengals. We got the Bengals. I
got the Bengals in as well. So that's our second
overlap pick, the Bills being the other one. However, obviously
you have them in the wild card I have for division.
My second wild card team in the AFC this year
is going to be the Denver Broncos. I think bo

(40:35):
Nicks are going to take a big step forward this year.
I think Sean Payton is, you know, the man for
that job. I really like what they've done in that
receiver room. I love Marvin Nim's number two.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
You know.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
I think that the running back situation is going to
be kind of fluid. They have JK. Dobbins now, who
comes over after just one year with the Chargers. He's
had a lot of injury history. They have a rookie
as well there, so we'll we'll see what kind of
that unfolds there with that situation. But I do like
the Broncos this year. I think they have a stout defense.
Give me the Broncos my second AFC wild Card.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Team, John, I hear when you do this to me,
you want to know why?

Speaker 1 (41:13):
Why?

Speaker 2 (41:15):
Because I'm going to take the Broncos too.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
Wow. Okay, so you're also picking a second AFC West team. However,
it is not the Kansas City Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
It is not the Kansas City Chiefs. They are going
to be stumped at people this year and not making
the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
All right, all right, Uh well my final AFC wild
Card team, it's going to befuddle you, Randall, It's going
to shock you. It's going to shock a lot of people.
And I cannot believe that I'm going down this route
again after I did it two years ago and a
certain somebody got hurt four plays into the season. But

(41:52):
I'm going to put my trust into Justin Fields, into
Aaron Glenn, into the system they're building. And I think
the Jets will finish one game ahead of the Patriots.
I think they both will have much better years than
they had last year, and I think the Jets will
narrowly edge out the Patriots and get the last AFC

(42:14):
wild card spots of the Jets to finish in second
in the division and get into the AFC playoffs. My friend,
So my teams are Bills, Bengals, Texans, Chiefs. Those are
my division winners, Ravens, Broncos, Jets. Randall's got the Bills, Steelers, Jaguars, Chargers.
He's got the Patriots, Bengals, and Broncos. What are your

(42:40):
thoughts on the AFC.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
I just want to see the end of the season results already, man.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
That's what I'm saying. Man, this is why this is
so fun. All right? Are you ready to move on
to the NFC conference?

Speaker 2 (42:54):
Let's do it, all right?

Speaker 1 (42:56):
Perfect? So I'll start in the NFC East and again
I'm gonna go maybe a little bit shock here, but
I'm just gonna take the Eagles. I don't think there's
been enough improvement from anybody else. I don't really like
the Cowboys. I think Washington's fine, but I think they've had,
you know, an interesting offseason. Their running back situation kind
of scares me a little bit. I don't know what
Debo is gonna bring to the table. And know McLaurin signs,

(43:18):
so he's good. But I'm gonna take the Eagles to
win the division and coming off a Super Bowl, continued
to be a dominant force in the NFC.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Yeah, it's kind of interesting. They're only you know, they're
at minus one point fifty right now to win the division.
Dallas all the way up plus seven hundred. I'm with you. You know,
the wins that Washington had last season, when you look
at who they were playing, the quarterbacks that they had
their wins against. You know, obviously Jenn Daniels was fantastic,
but one of those plays, like fantastic games, was a

(43:50):
Hail Mary. Obviously they never should have been in that situation,
but it came down to a Hail Mary versus the
Bears beat Caleb Williams. Right, Nothing special there. That's why
I like you like the Philadelphia Eagles to win the division.

Speaker 1 (44:06):
Yeah, nothing too crazy to think about for either one
of us there, All right, NFC North, Randall, who do
you like coming out of the North. A lot of
good teams in this division, obviously the Lions, But who
do you like?

Speaker 2 (44:22):
John? This is one of those things where it's like,
do I really love the Lions? Though? Give me green
Bay plus one seventy five to win the division.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
John, Okay, I don't hate that, but I am going
to go a different direction, and I'm gonna go with
the Lions. I maybe get stuck again picking from last
year's results, but I really think the Lions they've built
something good there. I think Jared Goff is good. I
think their offense is good. I think they've got a
good defense. Aiden Hudgson will be healthy again. They did

(44:55):
lose both their coordinators, whos been a big part of
success the last few years. But I like the Lions
to be a force in that division this season, So
I'm gonna take them as the division winners in turn.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
Yeah, I mean, in terms of all overall odds, John,
this division is actually the tightest division out of all
of them. For winning. You got green Bay plus one
and seventy five, Detroit plus one eighty five, in Minnesota
plus three seventy five, and then Chicago only plus four
seventy five. So they even have a fighting chance. You

(45:29):
know where to.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
Say green Bay is slightly favored, Yeah, because I mean,
I mean people are running to bet them after they
traded for Micah Persons.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
I think that's one hundred percent possible. Jordan Love is
just a stug guy, right.

Speaker 1 (45:47):
But.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
It's just crazy because all these others, the worst team
in each division. You know, you got Cleveland plus three
thousand plus fifteen hundred Vegas plus eighteen hundred to the Jets,
right like you have all these different things where teams
where it's like some of these have no shot. Essentially though,

(46:09):
you just gave the Jets playoff somehow, oh somehow, you're good, dad,
And I don't even know.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
I go man, I was going to Chalky. I had
to put somebody else in there.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Bro is this your new word? Chalk chalk chalk? You
said of like five thousand times? There are you playing
a game like, guess that word with me?

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Now?

Speaker 2 (46:31):
You said chalk chalky? Just did you hear a kid
say it?

Speaker 1 (46:35):
Now?

Speaker 2 (46:35):
You want to say it all all of a sudden
all the time.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
All right, let's go to the South. Man, stop wasting time.

Speaker 2 (46:43):
Uh you got put off blast and that was all butter.
Now it's okay. John's okay, But NFC South, I'm gonna
take John the one the only really, it seems like
the only option. You gotta take Tampa Bay in this horrid,
absolute horrid division.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
Yeah, you don't have to. You could take Atlanta, and
that's what I'm gonna do. I think this could be
the year of the Falcons. Kind of figure it out.
Michael Penix, I'm actually pretty high on that kid. I
think he's gonna have a good, solid career. I think
he was good in college, and I think he's a
little bit older obviously than a lot of guys who
come out of the out of the draft. He's a

(47:23):
year in now, he played a few games at the
end of the year. Beijon's an ultimate weapon. I think
they've got some good guys in the outside, starting with
Drake London. You've got Darnell Mooney who's been solid for them.
Who knows if Kyle Pitts will ever turn into what
we think he was capable of being. But I do
like the Falcons, and I'm going to maybe take them
just because, you know, I think that they could have

(47:44):
what it takes this season to upend the Buccaneers. I
don't think the Bucks are going to be bad necessarily,
but I just think it's time for a different team
to win the division. So let's go with the Falcons.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
That's fine. I just don't see Michael Pennox getting the
job done. I just to that whole team getting the
job done. But I think we both can agree that
Carolina and New Orleans really have no shot. But surprisingly,
I want you to I want you to guess what
the odds are for Carolina to win the division.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
I'm gonna say, plus forty eight hundred. Is it better
than the Saints?

Speaker 2 (48:19):
It is better than the Saints.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
So it's it is as if they're the third team
to win in the division, or the Saints are.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
That is correct, which one?

Speaker 1 (48:31):
I gave you two options.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
Thirteen thirteen thirteen.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
So there are they plus forty eight hundred's right? Way
less than.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
That the air plus plus four jobs?

Speaker 1 (48:44):
Well, yeah, I would run. As soon as I said it.
I'm like, wait a minute, he's going the other way here.
It's gonna be lower because the division is so closely knit.
I don't know if there's one standout team, maybe the Bucks,
maybe the Falcons in my opinion, But what are the Saints?
Are they like plus four.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
Thousand plus sixteen hundred? Shockingly?

Speaker 1 (49:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Shocking?

Speaker 1 (49:05):
I think they haven't really which.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
They should be Yeah, which I mean, I don't know
how Carolina is even close at plus four to twenty five.
To be frank with you, you go from winning a
couple of games, like, yeah, it just makes no sense.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
It really doesn't make a lot of sense when you
put it that way. Out West, I'm gonna go with
the Rams. Uh. This is obviously you kind of knew
it was coming kind of thing. But they won it
last year, came down to the last week for the
last two weeks, and then they won it the week
before the last week when they beat the Seahawks, and
now they have a chance to do it again. I
think the forty nine ers are the the wild card

(49:42):
team here because and maybe literally I'll put them in
my wild card here in a second, but I think
they're the X factor. I don't really know, you know,
I think Seattle is gonna be an interesting team as well,
But I think they're gonna agress based on some of
the stuff that we were talking about earlier, not really
having the weapons around Donald the Gino Smith had. You know,
they do get Cooper Cup for Sam Donald, but what
does he have left? Which is so hard for me

(50:04):
to say after I was rooting for him very hard
for the last few years. But like you know, the
Cardinals don't really scare me, and they never have. The
Rams usually beat them. I'm gonna take the Rams to
win the division and see maybe the forty nine ers
have a bounce back type year if everybody stays healthy.
But I like the Rams to win the division.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
I think they're having that bounce back tug. You're John,
give me Sam Fran give me brock Party, give me
Christian McCaffrey. I mean, it's just a no brainer. I
love them. They're a great team. Give me there.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
They are fun watch. They are fun to watch when
everybody's healthy. And if if run CMC can stay healthy
this year. We saw what he did a couple of
years ago, he's gonna be a lot of fun to watch.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
Uh Hey, they they just they just got a great
backup running back and beat uh and Brian Robinson. So,
I mean, so I think that was.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
The Unfortunately they got him right after I drafted him
in Fantasy, way too high for not being a starter anymore.
But that's okay, all right.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
His history books they'll tell you he'll be a starter
soon though.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
So so true. There's a reason they went out and
got themselves a qualified backup. Okay, let's go to the
wild card teams, Randall, and why don't you go ahead
and go first here?

Speaker 2 (51:21):
Yeah, the first wild card team I'm gonna go with
is going to be Dallas. I know I shout on Dallas,
but I do think what's the playoffs without the Dallas Cowboys?

Speaker 1 (51:32):
Right?

Speaker 2 (51:33):
They need to be in it. They need to be
in it. And it's honestly crazy because this is also
I think again the Eagles win and they were Okay,
every single year has been a new winner of the

(51:56):
NFC East. So with me picking the Eagles, you picking
the goals, right, this is the first time that we
are expecting up our repeat champion in over twenty years? Job?

Speaker 1 (52:10):
Is that true?

Speaker 2 (52:13):
Know who the last team to do it was the Eagles?
The Eagles two thousand and three, two thousand and four,
they won the division.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Wow, that's crazy. Who wants so the Cowboys? Because remember
twenty twenty three and the Eagle? Yeah, the Cowboys the
last few years. Yeah, you're right, that's that's a crazy stat.
I knew that was a stat a few years ago.
I didn't realize it was still in place. I kind
of figured the Eagles put that to an end, but
they've not won back to back division titles.

Speaker 2 (52:39):
I'm gonna go I just mentioned it, but yeah, yeah,
I like that.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
I'm gonna go with my first NFC wild card team
as the forty nine Ers. I just was mentioning them
a moment ago as a team I think is gonna
have a bounce back year. I'm hoping that they don't
finish ahead of the Rams. I could very well see
a scenario where they do win the division. But I
do think that Christian mcaffrey's gonna stay mostly healthy this year.
I think they'll get a really good year from him,

(53:03):
and as long as brock Perty doesn't miss having Deebo
Samuel Ran and by the way, Brandon Ayuk's gonna be
out for a while too, so he's gonna be throwing
a lot younger guys. They have Juwan Jennings, they have
Ricky Piersoll. As you mentioned, they went out and got Robinson,
so maybe he plays a part in that offense as well.
George Kittle is obviously still there. I'm gonna take the
forty nine Ers as my first wild card team.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
I like that, John, That's that's a good pick this NFC.
I just I'm just not sold on the NFC this year.
But with my second pick, I am gonna go with Minnesota. Minnesota. Eh.
I think the rookie is gonna get it done.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Eh.

Speaker 2 (53:41):
You mean the Minnesota Vikings in a wildcard spot over Detroit.

Speaker 1 (53:45):
Yeah. They had such a good, surprisingly good year last
year with Sam Darnold and it's hard to just leave
them completely out of the playoff picture. But unfortunately, I
think I'm trending towards doing that. I think my second
team here, as crazy as this might sound to some people,
is going to be the Buccaneers because that division usually

(54:06):
never gets two teams in the playoffs. But I just
think there's a world where this year the NFC could
be a little bit not mid. But I think there's
gonna be a lot of mid teams, and I think
mid could be good enough to get you in. I'm
talking with more lingo for you. Uh so, maybe Chalk,
maybe not Chalk. Maybe you know, no caps here, told,
no lies whatever. I don't know, Brandon, I'm just talking

(54:28):
on my ass. I'm gonna take the Bucks as my
second wild card team.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
John. Did the Rams make the playoffs last season?

Speaker 1 (54:35):
Yeah? They won the division and they beat the Vikings
in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
And what was I just they got to the NFC?

Speaker 1 (54:43):
What was that division round ahead?

Speaker 2 (54:46):
And what was I talking about earlier about half the
team's making and not making it? Well, guess what, John,
give me Arizonas in my final spot. Heartbreaking season for you,
per usual, right, But I'm liking Arizona. I think they're
gonna finally utilize Martin Harrison Junior and they're going to

(55:07):
take off, takeoff, John, give me Arizona.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
I actually like Arizona, like, not like them, but I
think they're a good team. I just don't get scared
of them because the Rams seem to dominate them every
year under Sean McVay. But I think you're right. You know,
between Harrison and McBride, that offensive passing attack could be
really special. Obviously James Connor is there as well, but

(55:32):
I'm gonna stay away from them for my final pick,
and my final team in is going to be the
Washington Commanders, who I'm a little bit surprised, after as
high as you were on them last year to see
you completely omit them from your playoff picture this year.
I just like what they've done. They've brought in some reinforcements.
You know, they they have a good team. I know

(55:52):
they lost Brian Robbinson as we just talked about, and
I still not completely sold on their running back situation.
I think they're going into the year with basically Austin
Ecklers their number one, and then they have a couple
of kids behind them and we'll see what happens. But
you know, they have Von Miller now, they went out
and got him this offseason. Defensively, they have Bobby Wagner

(56:13):
back for another year, so their defense is gonna be
pretty decent as well. The linebacking corps is good, the
second is good. So I like the Commanders. I didn't
pick them to win the division. I didn't pick them
as one of my first two teams in the wildcard,
but I'm gonna pick them as my final NFC team
and final playoff team. Overall.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
I like it. John. I see sophomore slump, but that's okay.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
That's okay, And then so that means the NFC teams
for me. Let's see here, had the Eagles had the oops,
I wrote down the Packers and Lions in the wrong
spot for each of us, but I had the Lions.
You had the Packers. I had the East, So I
had the Eagles, Lions, Falcons, Rams, and then the forty
nine Ers, Bucks, and Commanders. My three wildcard teams. Randall

(56:57):
had the Eagles, he picked the Packers to win. The
NFC North Buccaneers, forty nine Ers, and the Cowboys, Vikings
and Cardinals are your three wild card teams, my friend,
this is the last chance for either one of us.
Do you want to make any changes to your teams
before these go final?

Speaker 2 (57:15):
John, I want to make changes to perfuction.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
M all right, Well, let's put uh, let's put that
perfection statement to the test here, Randall, because we're also
going to make our very early Super Bowl picks. And
before we do that, how about our season MVP picks? So,
who will win the regular season MVP Award?

Speaker 2 (57:39):
John? Obviously, it's gonna be a great quarterback. And I'm
gonna go with who won it last year? John, Do
you remember Josh Allen? Josh Allen want it? So you
know what that means. Josh Allen's not gonna win it
this year because just Jan Herbert is gonna win the

(58:02):
MVP this year plus two thousand, John, he is number sticks. Sorry,
seven on the list. Give me Justin Herbert.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
Yeah, that's a good pick. I mean, he's probably one
of those guys that if he can finally put things together,
it's gonna be a breakout year for him. I'm gonna
go with Joe Burrow. I think that again, they're gonna
have the major bounce back. I picked them to win
the division. I think they've got such a talent offense.
Chase Brown is maybe the one and the more running
underrated running backs in the league, so I think he

(58:33):
provides a dynamic to that. So I'm gonna go with
Joe Burrow as my MVP this season. And with that
being said, I will give you my prediction for the
Super Bowl as well. Randall. I'm gonna go with the Bengals.
Been very high on them in this episode. Who they

(58:55):
playing in my Super Bowl? Bengals forty nine and the
forty nine Ers are gonna win it finally after they
got there a few times. Forty nine Ers over the
Bengals in a rematch of a classic mid eighties Super
Bowl in which the forty nine Ers beat the Bengals. Wow.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
Wow, okay, okay, I'm gonna go with I think this
is the year the Bills finally get over the hump.
Give me Bills versus Niners. Niners winning the Super Bowl?

Speaker 1 (59:32):
John, Wow, we both picked the forty nine ers to
win the Super Bowl. How do you like those apples? Alright?
I know, man, and I had this pick written down
in my phone for some time now. So you win
forty nine Ers, and who'd you say they're gonna play
the Bills? So you said, you said they're finally get

(59:52):
over the hump, but they're not gonna get over the hump.
You just think they're going.

Speaker 2 (59:55):
They're getting there. They're getting over there. Yeah, they're getting
over the af I thought I would be able to,
you know, throw a little teaser in there with.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
It, one one hump at a time, all right here?
Not yet? Do you have any other bold predictions for
this season or anything that we didn't talk about in
the regular season that you wanted to mention?

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
Yeah, John, I honestly I want to put together. I
want us to do something new, and folks listening, we
haven't planned this. I'm just shouting something now right now.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
I want us.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
I want us to pick a season long parlay right now, Okay?
And what that season long parlay is going to be.
It's gonna be to make the playoffs and to miss
the playoffs. Okay, So I'm gonna I'm gonna give you
a couple couple of teams I think to miss. You
put the odds down, we'll put it in the calculator.
We'll see how much it pays out. Maybe we toss

(01:00:53):
some money on it together, and you know, we can
ride it for the season. But if you want to
play this game real quick, I got our DraftKings odds
pulled up. I can send you. I can send you
a quick little link. John, I'm gonna send you right now.
That way you can follow along too, and you can
you can play. So right now, folks at home, I'm
looking at odds to miss the playoffs, not to make

(01:01:19):
the playoffs, but to miss the playoffs. So I'm thinking, John,
we can, we can. We can make this pretty pretty fun. Here.
I say we make we take five teams to miss,
and we pick three teams to make, and we got
an eight, four four or four perfect perfect? All right,

(01:01:40):
So I'm gonna I'm gonna pick Okay, the Indianapolis Colts
to miss the playoffs at minus two ninety first John,
that's gonna be my first pick for US.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
Okay, I'm going to go ahead and pick v Miami
Dolphins to miss the playoffs and minus two seventy five.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
Oh I like that one. I like that one. I'm
gonna pick the Commanders at plus one thirty to miss
the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
Oh wait a minute, wait a minute. I picked them, though,
I don't want to get behind this parlay.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
That's fine, Oh fine, fine.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
That's the problem with doing this is that there's gonna
be cross over. It's okay, I'm gonna pick the I'm
gonna pick the Carolina Panthers minus three fifty. The odds
aren't great, but I think it's a guarantee they missed
the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
Perkay, I like that. Should we just toss in the
Cleveland Browns and the Saints at minus sixteen hundred and
eighteen hundred and for them to miss the playoffs as well, just.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
By like eighty So it's probably not worth it, but
we'll explore it all right now, who do you want
to make the playoffs? Now?

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
Oh, let's see to make the playoffs. Well, I didn't realize.
Let's see here.

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
I'm gonna go with Atlanta plus one fifty. Oh unfortunately, Randall,
it's not letting me parlay the make and miss playoffs.
It's only letting me do the miss together. Really.

Speaker 2 (01:03:11):
Oh well, that is unfortunate.

Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
That is unfortunate.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
Well, well we can. We can have two parlays, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
So I'm gonna be the first one here, all right.
So the misplayoff one is the Colts, Dolphins, Commanders, and Panthers.

Speaker 2 (01:03:28):
Yep, perfect, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:31):
And then to make the playoffs, let's start, like I said,
with them.

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
You said Atlanta, Atlanta.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
Let's start with Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
I'm gonna I'm gonna then go with Denver minus one
sixty five.

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
I can get behind that. I'm gonna go with the
Lions minus one sixty five. And that's too good to
pass up for them.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
And then my next one I'll do for us is
going to be the Bengals at minus one forty.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
Oh yeah, I love that. And that's that ends up
bringing us for that one to plus one twenty seven,
which is a lot of fun because that's a little
bit better odds than the other one was. Yeah, the
odds of the other one was like plus four fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:04:16):
That's all interesting. Well, perfect, John Alzelia some money and
let's let's put a little tim Buck action on this.

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
Yeah, I love it, and honestly, the you know, this
is a good tease for something that we're going to
be doing throughout the season this year. It's called the
People's Parlay randall. So we will be debuting a new
segment on Thursday when we pick the games for week one,
where we pick some touchdown scores for each week, and
that will be our parlay week to week. Maybe some

(01:04:44):
other player pops we want to throw in there, maybe
some of the guys, some of the ones that we
guess on Guess that's spread, but we're bringing back guess
that spread. We'll have quick kits, we'll have you know,
we'll have hard locks of course, and we will of
course bring back guess that word or phrase. But yeah,
I'm very excited to get into all this stuff next week,

(01:05:07):
including the People's Parlay. But this week we have a
little bit of the People's Parlay Futures edition making the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
So good good idea, Thank you, John. I figured we
could have a little bit fun with it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:22):
I always have a little bit of fun with you.
And speaking of which, that brings us to the end here.
I'm just curious, did you work in a word or
phrase here today on the episode?

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
John? I did not. You know. I think we're gonna
have to talk about that, just because you know, it
was fun at the very beginning when we weren't even
doing it was just a me thing doing it without
you knowing, And we would go weeks and weeks and
weeks went half the season until I told you, hey, look,
i've been adding these funky words in here, and you've

(01:05:55):
been repeating. My job was to get you to repeat it. Matt, Yeah,
and you would and I would win. You know it
is then are you thinking?

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
Are you thinking it lost some of the allure that
it used to have?

Speaker 2 (01:06:05):
John, It's just it was fun for a good whole
season that we did do it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:10):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
The only thing that struggles now is any any like
one little word or phrase it it tips you off.
But also I don't want to be tossing ten different
funky words in there, and then that's not funny either
for you because now you're just guessing random words, even
though you're great at it. But we can talk about it.
But there was no word. That's why I was asking

(01:06:32):
you a chalklate if you started trying to do it
yourself with the chalk.

Speaker 1 (01:06:37):
No, no, not not this week, at least maybe in
the future. But all right, well we'll talk about all
that and more. But it's okay if it lost some
of the luster it had, because you're right, it was
more fun when you kind of were doing it without
me even knowing you were pulling a fast one on me.
But we'll see. Maybe we'll replace it with something else.

Speaker 2 (01:06:54):
All right, sounds like a plan.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
All right? Was there anything else? This in a little
bit longer than I was actually expecting it to for
our part one of this two part week one episode, Randall,
is there anything else we didn't talk about on this
welcome back episode that you wanted to get to tonight
as we finish up here in the wee hours of
the morning.

Speaker 2 (01:07:16):
I'm all set, John, I'm about to make my way
to waffle house.

Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
All right. I love to hear that, and I would
love to hear you with our first exit tune of
the year, Goodbye, Goodbye, good friends, goodbye.

Speaker 2 (01:07:34):
Really I should be saying hello. It's week one, part
one of the John and Randall Experience, and we got
a whole season to Go season to Go so long
friend

Speaker 1 (01:07:51):
You know, I thought it was Mortal com