Season 3 Episode 20: Bengals Fall Short, Joe Milton Lights it Up, Season Recap & Postseason Picks!

On this episode, John and Randall recap some of the big games from Week 18 that set up our playoff field, including the Bengals win, and the Chiefs huge loss. They also briefly discuss Joe Milton and the Patriots coaching situation. Finally, they tally up the scores on the games from the season and turn their attention to the playoffs!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:20):
What is going on everybody? Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to
another edition of the John and Randall Football Experience. My
name is Johnavino, and with me as always before his
big softball tournament tonight, is my main man, Randall Minogue. Randall,
how's that swing feeling right now?

Speaker 2 (00:39):
John? The swing is feeling a plus, just like how our.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Show goes every week, Man, perfect without any hitches.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, I certainly hope. So that's what we shoot for
at least, am I right? But yeah, so we got
a pretty big one here, Randall. It's playoff time, can
you believe it?

Speaker 4 (01:00):
Playoffs?

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, playoffs. I could have been I could have been
any amount of money that you were gonna do with
the game.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
I was gonna say, you had to have known that
was coming, right Like.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
You can't.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
You can't say it and lead it up to me
like that and not expect me to go playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Yeah, that was me putting the ball on the tee
for you right there.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
And that's why we're great teammates, John, That's why we
are great teammates because you do things like that for
me that you're a caring guy.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Well, we made it through another season, another regular season,
together at least, and now it's time for the playoffs,
as we said, but we still have some storylines that
are worth discussing from Week eighteen because we wouldn't be
here with the playoffs or at the playoffs with some
of these teams and games. So let's start with quick
hits recapping Week eight team quick.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
Hits, John, I think, yeah, I just want to say
one one.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Quick thing quickly. I want to try to do it.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
I know, right, I feel like this week finishing up
Week eighteen going into playoffs is one of my favorite
episodes for us because we can recap.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
You know, you get to recap winners, losers.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
We already have teams firing guys, hiring guys.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
There's just so much going on.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
It's like the excitement of Week one, but now we
got excitement of the season just ended.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
We have all this stuff to kind of digest.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Well, we're going into the next season, which is the
tournament with the fourteen teams, where the best teams in
the league have a chance to win a super Bowl.
And it's a really fun time because even though there's
only a limited number of these weeks left, you know,
it's the biggest time of year, and I agree, this
is one of my favorite episodes to do because we
get to look back on the teams that we picked,
the teams that didn't even come close that we may

(02:47):
have had in the playoffs. Some of our division winners
that we selected before the season are very funny. So
we'll do that in a little bit. But we are
going to discuss some of these games from week eighteen,
as I said a few moments ago, because a couple
of them impacted the teams did make the playoffs. And
obviously it started Saturday when the Bengals Randall's Bengals, he
had hopped on the bandwagon recently, did what they needed

(03:08):
to do. They beat the Steelers and was ended up
being a two point game. But then, unfortunately for them,
the circumstances did not work on Sunday the Dolphins loss,
which was step two for them to the Jets. But
the Broncos absolutely spanked the Chiefs, and the Chiefs losing
kept the Bengals out of the playoffs. So Randal, I

(03:30):
know this is kind of twofold for you because you've
hopped on the Bengals bandwagon. You were excited that they
might have a chance to still make the playoffs. But
lo and behold, the team that you have been ridiculing
all season finally actually lost a game, and that was
the thing that kept them out of the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
John, There's got to be something to be done about this,
because every year teams rest guys the last day of
the season, and it really doesn't come into play in
any other sport, I feel like, other than football, just
because one game really is the difference between being in
and being out. And that one game for Cincinnati was

(04:09):
Week one when you lost to New England. Right like,
they win that game like you're supposed to, and you
come into the season ready to play. You're in the playoffs,
and we're not talking about this predicament, but you're not
in the playoffs. We're talking about this predicament in the
sense of Kansas City. If I was Kansas City, there's

(04:29):
no way. And hell, I wanted to face Joe Burrow
in the playoffs, so of course I'm gonna tank that game.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
And with Denver needing to win the.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Game to get in, they got handed an absolute gift
from God.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
And is that fair?

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Is that the right way for a team to make
it into the playoffs?

Speaker 2 (04:48):
I don't know, but I mean, I.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Just feel like it is a little fishy, a little
It's just so dicey on so many levels. If it
makes sense that you got teams that are this Cincinnati,
they did what they had to do. You just said
Miami lost. So now all it comes down to is
Denver and Kansas City. And we all knew Kansas City

(05:12):
was going to be resting people. We all knew Denver
was going to be playing their hearts out. Like I mean,
they were twenty point favorites, I believe were fifteen point favorites.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
I forget what it was.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah it was pretty hefty. It was double did it's
I don't know if it was quite fifteen, but yeah,
it was up there exactly.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
So it just sucks to see that's how Denver. Now.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
Denver's a good team, don't get me wrong, but I
really do think that Cincinnati, had they made it to
the playoffs, it would have been a run.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Well, here's my whole thing. Is Number one, if even
if the Chiefs play their their guys, you don't know
that the Broncos wouldn't beat them anyway, which is the
first and most obvious thing I could say, because the Chiefs.
You know, you know this maybe better than anybody based
on your analysis and your hatred of of them. But
they've they've won all these games this year that they
really shouldn't have won, or you know, maybe you shouldn't

(06:02):
say shouldn't, but they came so close to losing or
were just a couple points or one score game when
it could have easily gone the other way. I mean,
you have teams missing field goals or getting field goals
blocked and then winning games. It was ridiculous how many
games they won like that this year. So there's no
guarantee that if Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey and whoever
else plays, that they're going to win that game. However,

(06:23):
the other thing I'll say to you is that if
they did play in this game and then God forbids
they did suffer some sort of injury, you know, the
Chiefs would have looked really dumb for having already locked
up the one seed. And now the ability to sit people.
I think this is the one thing about a seven
team playoff in each conference that's not necessarily a good thing.

(06:44):
Because I do love the fact that now more teams
make the playoffs. Then we only had six, which I
think now at this point's been five years or so.
It's crazy to have time moves so quickly. But the
problem is that only one team's gonna get a buy now.
So if that team has everything locked up or there's
nothing to shift around, there's more shifting that can happen,
in my opinion, and more on the line when there's

(07:06):
two buys to earn, because teams can still move up,
they could still move down, but in this case, the
Chiefs were fifteen and one anyway, so I'm not sure
it would have really mattered going into the game for them.
They may have still been in position to stick guys,
But that's the problem. You're You're not wrong. I don't
really know what to tell you as the solution is,
because at the end of the day, like you can't
tell the team they have to play people. And Carson Wentz,
I mean, the guy was an MVP candidate at one

(07:27):
point in his career, and he looked like I mean,
they looked like they pulled it out of the stands
literally to play in this game. So that's on him
and maybe on the Chiefs for having him as the backup,
because Jimmy Garoppolo played for the Rams and they actually
looked decent for a guy who hadn't played all year.
But yeah, I mean, I don't know what to tell you.
It's unfortunate because I you know, the Bengals were maybe

(07:47):
one of the most fun teams to watch based on
their offense and not having them get in because the
Broncos just walloped a bunch of backups. It does kind
of suck. I'm not gonna lie to you.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah, I just feel like, who is Denver really gonna
be able to put on a performance come playoff time?
I don't know, but I do think it's impressive. There
are two rookie quarterbacks that made the playoffs this year
on both teams that were god awful the year before.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah, well that's what happens. I mean, you know this
is you know you told me just before the show.
It's like every year we sit here and we're like, oh,
these teams are gonna be fine again, and we're like
picking the same teams that made the playoffs the year before.
But also often that's not the way it works out.
So you know, that's the beauty of the NFL. That's
why we all love football because it can be very unpredictable.

(08:39):
I think one of the other dramatic things that was
going on, and I don't think but one of the
more dramatic things going on was the Bucks Saints Panthers
Falcons saga. The Falcons needed to win and also have
the Bucks lose, and at one point the Saints were
actually winning against the Bucks. Ended up not being so
much drama here, as the Bucks did win and the
Falcons lost to the Panthers anyway in overtime. But Randall,

(09:01):
were you surprised to ultimately see the way the NFC
South shook down?

Speaker 2 (09:09):
No, not really.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
I mean, Tampa Bay really did shine. We kind of
had a feel when the Falcons weren't going to be
able to hold on. Which it's kind of crazy though
that the Falcons were able to beat the Bucks two
times this year, right, You just don't see that very often,
So I'm I'm not surprised, Yeah, are you?

Speaker 2 (09:35):
No?

Speaker 1 (09:35):
I mean, you know, the Bucks have have now been
a more pretty consistent playoff presence, you know, Tom Brady
going there and even in the years after now with
Baker Mayfield, they've been a consistent presence atop that division
for the last several years. It hasn't always Looke the prettiest.
They don't always win the most games, but they find
themselves there. And as a guy who very much thought
the Falcons were going to be really good this year

(09:57):
with Kirk Cousins, you know, as the season went, it
became pretty obvious that Baker Mayfield was the best quarterback
of the division and that the Buccaneers had the best
team now and they had those injuries to Mike Evans
and Chris Godwin and the offense kind of stuttered a
little bit. Things became a little bit more questionable. But
obviously they get Evans back. He ends up at the
thousand yards anyway, which is a pretty cool thing that
happened during that game, and you know what, they end

(10:20):
up winning the division, like I think that most of
us probably should have thought they would. I of course didn't,
but that's for me to learn a lesson since they've
won so many of these lately. They did win ten
games this year and their offense is pretty legit. So
Baker Mayfield might be one of the most scary, you know,
opposing quarterbacks to have to play against right now, because
he's got a rocket for an arm. And he's not

(10:40):
afraid to throw down field or make plays with his
legs either.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
No, he's doing what a first overall draft pick looks
like they should be doing.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
John, And it's crazy to think that just last year
the talk was, Hey, it's gonna be between and Kyle Trask.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
The for the starting position. Man.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
You can just remember like the a couple of years ago,
Donald and Mayfield in Carolina together. I mean, it's ridiculous
those two guys played together on that team.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah, yep, and now.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
They're both studs going to the playoffs for other teams.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
It looks makes it look like Carolina is uh Carolina,
the Jets, all these teams just don't know what's going on.
And it truly does go to show though that sometimes
just taking a guy put them in a different situation
and look what can happen.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, it's very true. You know, there was other seating
things that could have gone down, but the one that
we're gonna focus on before we move on to some
of the other stuff here will be the Vikings Lions
because that was obviously the big one. It was for
the one overall, the number one overall seed and the
NFC North Division title. The Lions kind of spanked the Vikings.

(11:58):
I mean, it wasn't like it is this crazy offensive
slug fest that we thought we were getting. It was
seventeen to nine after the third quarter, and the Lions
scored a couple of garbage town touchdowns. And by the
Lions I should say Jamior Gibbs because he scored four
touchdowns in this game. All four of the touchdowns scored
were by him. So the Lions win the division, they

(12:19):
win fifteen games, they're the one seed. Do you take
a little bit of a pause when you look at
the Vikings now after this game? I mean, they only
lost three games this year, two to the Lions, and
can you remind me who the other one was to
Randall John?

Speaker 2 (12:34):
Is it your Rams?

Speaker 1 (12:35):
I think it was. Yeah. So they only lost three
games this year and two of them were to the Lions.
There was only one other team that beat them, again,
the Rams. So are you are you a little concerned
after the way the Vikings came out of this game
for them a little bit?

Speaker 3 (12:52):
A little bit, But at the same time, I'm confident
in them for going into the playoffs right like that.
That's a tough environment, I get it. It was a must
win such situation right like that was essentially a playoff game.
We saw how they played, and guess what, I did
think that the Lions were gonna struggle a little bit
on the defensive side and.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
Sam Darnold was going to be able to move the
ball upfield a little bit more.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
But unfortunately he wasn't, and the Lions did what they've
been doing all season long on the offensive side. Their
defense stepped up, bada bing bata boom. Now they're the
one seed, they're in first place, and they are gonna
be rightfully so a favor going into the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (13:36):
Well, you know what's interesting with them too, is that
they're gonna get David Montgomery back, it seems because they're
gonna have this first round by and coach Campbell I
think came out and said that he is going to
come back. So if they get him back, I mean
that's obviously. Gibbs is unbelievable. What he's been able to
bring this offense is so dynamic. But the two of
them as a one to two punch has been really

(13:57):
solid the last couple of years, and it just gives
their offense another level of having another playmaker in it.
They have enough of them as is obviously, but if
they get Montgomery backs just that much better. There were
a couple other little things that we want to talk
about before we move on to our season recap. One
of the things I got to ask you about Randall
is Joe Milton. First of all, because he played for

(14:19):
the Patriots the other day. I understand the Bills didn't
have all their top guys out there on defense, and
at times it even looked like the Bills were trying
to lose this game based on some of the play
calling and whatnot. But Joe Milton, there's nothing you can
deny about the fact that he went out there and
absolutely slung the ball around. He was twenty two for
twenty nine, two forty one, and I think the thing

(14:40):
that really came out of this was that he can
obviously make plays with his legs, but he wasn't necessarily
looking to you know, he kept his eyes downfield even
as the pocket was kind of moving around him. And
you know, Drake may played solidly this year. But I'm
just curious from a Patriots fan perspective, you know, how
do you view these two guys now kind of going
fow given the fact that Milton went out there for

(15:02):
granted one game, but ended up looking like he did well.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
I remember saying this way back when that I do
I did like Joe Milton.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
Camp. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
So I remember saying, hey, you know what, we could
have got our quarterback in a later round like we
did with Milton, and we could have used that third
pick on a player that I was saying Marvin Harrison
Junior at the time, where he obviously didn't look fantastic
this year, but.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Brian Thomas would have been a good receiver pick.

Speaker 3 (15:32):
Would have been a fantastic receiver pick. So it would
have allowed more conclely but you know, there we are.
So but anyway, I did like him. He has the
arm strength, he has obviously the athletic mobility and the
footwork in the pocket which is fantastic.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
I do think, though we Drake may did enough in.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
My eyes to stay the quarterback of the Patriots, to
stay at number one QB one. So what I think
needs to happen is is, hey, you were able to
show off Milton and this is the best case scenario.
What could have happened for New England is hey, let's shot,
let's get this guy in one game. Let's show him off,
because again, I don't think this is up. We're gonna

(16:14):
talk about this later on that this year before the draft,
but I'm not impressed with any of the quarterbacks in
this year's draft class.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yep, why not.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
There's a bunch of guys that are backups right now
that could be potential starters that I think Joe Milton
could be one of those guys.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
Hey, let's trade a couple picks for him.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
Let's let's let's get rid of him. Why hold on
to him. It's easy to find a backup somewhere. You
got Bailly z Appy available right.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
Well, that's another thing I had to bring up to
you here in a second. But yeah, keep keeping.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
But yeah, so I want them to obviously trade them,
get rid of them.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
That would be ideal for me.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
Yeah. It's interesting because you wonder what the value is
on him right now because he's literally played one game.
He did play in the preseason. People thought he was
pretty impressive then, but you wonder, like, what would a
team be willing to give up for a guy like him.
He's kind of an unknown. He was a late round
draft pick, but he's looked good in his very brief
interactions with actually playing football. So, but Drake, may I

(17:17):
agree he is probably got to be in line to
be the number one guy right now. But yeah, so
I would I would disagree that it's just easy to
go out and find a backup quarterback. But one backup
quarterback this year who we might not have expected to
see get his start the last week of the year
was our guy, Bailey Zappi, more specifically Randall's guy Bailey Zappi,
who we found out I think what an hour after

(17:40):
we finished recording last week that he was starting the
game on Saturday, because we recorded on what Friday or
Thursday last week, I don't even remember, but it was
later in the week and we had literally just found out,
like the day before the game that Bailey Zappy was
going to start. So, I mean, he didn't look very good, Randall,
but you got what you've been looking for forever. Get

(18:02):
Bailey Zappy out there. You've been telling the listeners that
a guy like him needs to get out there.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
Unfortunately, his last throw of the regular season was picked
off by a damn lineman.

Speaker 1 (18:14):
The last throw. It might be the last throw of
his career.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
Oh, don't be saying nonsense like that to me.

Speaker 3 (18:19):
Now that that is that is just rude and outrageous,
egregious out here.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
I mean he didn't look fit. I mean I thought
he was about texted you as soon as he threw
the touchdown pass.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
I'm like, touchdown, zappy, because you were I don't think
you were even watching the game, were you?

Speaker 2 (18:36):
I was watching at that very moment in time.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
But also Mike White played. I mean, these guys both
got in the game.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
Who is Mike White with the Bills?

Speaker 1 (18:48):
He played against the Pats the last drive of the game,
for the last two drives. Oh what, Yeah, you didn't notice.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
I didn't get to watch the game.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
They put him out there. I don't even know if
he threw a pass. I'm checking. I got this. Yeah,
he was three for eleven. He played long enoughter he
was three for eleven for twenty eight yards. Trubisky played,
he was fifteen for twenty one and then what Mike
White came in? And uh And actually Josh Allen played
the first snap of the game because he he wanted
to keep his starting streak intact, which is kind of

(19:18):
for Gayzy but whatever, Yeah, so what uh? What else.
Was there anything else for? Oh yeah, let's talk about
the coaches real quick. So some coaches have already been
relieved of their duties, and of course Drod Mayo was
one of them. And that's a guy near and dear
to Randall's heart, specifically because he was the coach of

(19:38):
his of his team, the Patriots here. So, Randall, what's
your you know, thought and immediate thought on him getting
fired and the state of the coaching search, because right
now it seems like Mike Rabel is the hot candidate.

Speaker 2 (19:50):
Which I love, I want Rabel.

Speaker 3 (19:52):
And when Brabel comes, he's going to bring Josh McDaniels,
and Josh McDaniels is going to turn this offense around.
Rabel turn around Tennessee for a couple of years. I mean,
I'm with Ryan Tannehill, mind you. Yeah, So I'm I'm
I want Rabel, I want McDaniels.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
I'm all in on this rebuild right now.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
I think it can happen a lot sooner than I
was initially expecting it to happen earlier this season. So
I'm all in. I'm glad they fired him, was it,
you know? Could they have done things better? Potentially? Yes,
but it had to happen, had to get Rabrael in,
you gotta you gotta get maybe a new GM in

(20:33):
there too, depending on how this draft goes and this
year goes. But I am all in on McDaniels and Rabel.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
I think it's interesting that they haven't fired the GM
yet because I think if Rabel comes in, he's the
kind of guy who is gonna want to do things
his way, So that could still be coming. Uh And
a lot of what the Boston media has reported has
said exactly that like, they're not gonna they're not gonna
keep their their their GM right now if it is
going to prevent them from hiring Mike Vrabel. So it'd

(21:03):
be interesting because the interview today, which is Thursday, you know,
the episode will be out by later tonight. However, he
could very well be hired in the time between us
getting off the air and going live or even tomorrow
at some point. And we're of course talking about this
very expecutively. I believe last year we recorded an episode

(21:23):
and maybe right after the episode we found out Bill
Belichick was gone, and then the next day Girard Mayo
got hired. It all happened, so quickly, but at least
we were able to kind of assess girod Mayo a
little bit here before they officially hire somebody else. We
did have a couple other openings now. Of course, the
Bears opening we kind of knew was coming. They already

(21:44):
had it. They'd fired iber Flus in season. The Raiders
did fire Antonio Pierce after he finished last year and
then coached all of this year as the head coach.
He took over for McDaniels when he was fired in
the middle of twenty twenty three. And then what was
the other coaching opening that's now happening that I am
missing because isn't there one more?

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Jacksonville?

Speaker 1 (22:06):
Jacksonville, thank you. Doug Peterson was relieved of his duties,
so they will be looking for a new coach. A
lot of rumors, of course, the Jets too. The Jets,
we knew that one was coming to a solid got
fired in season as well. So there are some coaching
coach openings right now, a lot of rumors swirling. The
interesting little rumor that came out of Vegas was that
Tom Brady, who's now part owner, reached out to Bill

(22:29):
Belichick regarding are you you know, are is he interested
in coming back to the NFL? And of course Belichick
has the new deal with UNC at the collegiate level
and that buyout situation, so you know, his camp has
denied that he's interested, but it is interesting that his
name is being floated again here as these openings are
circling Randall.

Speaker 3 (22:51):
I think that it's crazy that Belichick was reached out
to by Brady, So apparently that goes to show maybe
the relationship wasn't tarnished. I like that it's a pretty good,
well working, healthy you know, hey, Brady still respects him
enough to say, hey, I want to call you, I
want to get you in over here. I wonder if
he hit up McDaniels and said hey, well, probably not

(23:13):
because he was just fired by there, so I have.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
To imagine that he was not on their list of candidates.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
Yeah, so unless unless Belichick comes in, McDaniels is the YOC.
That's the only way I could see that happening. But
I doubt that Belichick is gonna go there. Ten million
dollars buyout before June one. After June one, only a million.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
Yeah, there's apparently there's been more about that that's come
out in the last couple of days about how there
might be other things the factor in and and it
could change specific but he, I mean, Belichick already came
out and denied it, essentially saying that he's not leaving,
and he's done that now a couple of times. Maybe
this was a little bit of of a of a
help to him, or maybe the Raiders were trying to

(23:56):
help him out, or Brady specifically was trying to help
him out but getting his name back up there in
case he was interested. But yeah, I have a hard
time imagining at this point that he's going to come
back given you the job he accepted and he's knee
deep kind of in it at this point. So we
shall see if that is the way things go. Is
is that a hit for Week eighteen? There we on

(24:17):
to our season long recap.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
Now we're onto the season long recap.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
Maybe all right, so let's give you some season numbers
here before we move on to anything else. So Randall
is going to take home the crown on the hard
locks this season. Randall went twenty eight, twenty two and one.
So if you bet with Randal this year you won
money on his hard locks. You can say that for sure.

(24:43):
If you took every one of them, as far as
I'm concerned, you probably didn't win money unless some of
these were big underdog money line picks, which we always
picked the spread, so I can't imagine they were. But
I was twenty four, twenty six and one. I almost
got back to five hundred. Didn't quite happen for me
because I went two and one the last week instead

(25:03):
of going three to oher. But Randal, you took home
the hard lock crown this year. We will still do
picks during the playoffs, but congratulations on picking correctly more
than me during the regular season.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
Thanks John. It feels great to be back in the
Wilm column.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
Yeah, I'm sure it does. I really am sure it does.
I might have to readd this up though, because fifty
one games would only be seventeen weeks of picks, so
I must have miscalculated here somehow. But I still think
you one. I'll double check him at some point here.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
All right.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
The word of the day, we determined I had a
slight edge ten to eight on those. Will continue to
do that, I'm assuming throughout the playoffs. Actually it was
it's nine eight, because we haven't gotten week eight teams yet,
so that's I don't have anything marked in this column.
So nine to eight, there's still one to come later
today and then guess the spreads, so we will be

(26:02):
still doing guests the spread for the playoffs as well. However,
the regular season, I picked thirty three of the spreads correctly,
thirty three percent of the spreads correctly, eighteen out of
fifty four. Randall, you had thirteen to fifty four, very
respectable number, nearly twenty five percent. No exacties this year,
but I took home the crown on guess that spread.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
Yeah, congratulations, John, I mean you you absolutely roasted me.

Speaker 2 (26:29):
In the fourth quarter and last minute games there. I
mean it was. It was unbelievable, you think, so see
you did it. You did. I'm impressed, thank you.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
And then now it's time for the fun part. Because
before the season starts, in the first episode of the year,
Randall and I go through the divisions. We pick every division,
we pick who we think is gonna win it, and
of course we pick our wild card team. So we
have our teams from preseason and we will go quickly
divisioned by division. Talk about the teams that Randall and

(27:03):
I picked and then talk about what actually happened and
then see how far off or how close we were
to these picks. So let's start with the AFC in
the East. We will start in the East. Are you okay?

Speaker 2 (27:18):
I'm just laughing at what.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
I didn't know if you were laughing or coughing. I was.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
It was laughing, cough. It was a little bit of both.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
So the AFC East, Randall and I were completely wrong.
I had the Jets, Randall had the Dolphins. Needless to say,
we both thought the Bills would maybe be a little
bit of a regression this year. But Randall, I don't know.
I have nothing to say about my Jets pick. That
was just brutally bad.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
Yeah, I mean, I like to think maybe the Dolphins
might have had a shot, had to have not gotten hurt.
But still that nonetheless just shitty pick on both of us.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
That's a big, fat l for both of us. I
will say. The good news is that we both rebound well.
With the AFC South maybe the most obvious division to
pick the Texans. We both had the Texans there, Randalls,
so we both deserve some flowers for that one bang bang.
You're going to have to defend your pick for the
AFC North, my friend, because the Ravens, you picked the

(28:19):
Cleveland Browns and Deshaun Watson to win the AFC North.
So go ahead, please explain yourself to the people. What
were you thinking and what do you have you mean
that yourself?

Speaker 3 (28:29):
You mean you mean to tell me a team with
Nick Chubb, who I get it, he was hurt at
the beginning of the season, but you're expecting him to
come back. This defense that was fantastic last year. I mean,
they were a good team. They were good with with
all these different quarterbacks. The coach just won Coach of
the Year the previous season. Like, I mean, it's just it.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
It made sense.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
I thought Deshaun Watson had to play well, finally, like
he's due to play well. Clearly that was not the case.
They had wide receivers who all stunk it up. And
I was very wrong, very wrong.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
Yeah, I could say that you were certainly very wrong.
And Deshaun Watson maybe not the guy the Browns were
hoping he would be. Certainly he hasn't been to this
point and now he's out for the year. Of course,
we both had the Chiefs in the West. Even though
you didn't want to pick them, you did. I still
remember the day we did this and how disgusted you
were with yourself when you picked them to win the West.

(29:36):
But we both deserve some flowers for that. So you
had two of the three sorry, two of the four
divisions correctly. I had three of the four divisions correctly.
And I just got to say, that's where my success
in the AFC ends, because I had the Dolphins, Bengals,
and Colts as my three AFC wild card teams. Did
not have anybody that made it, So I you know,

(29:59):
I had three of the af the teams correctly. I
did not have the Bills in there, didn't have the Broncos,
didn't have the Steelers, didn't have the Chargers. I had
the other three teams, the Chiefs, the Raves, and Texans. Randall,
I will give you credit. You two of the three
teams you picked in the AFC wild Card, the Ravens
and Bills did make the playoffs. However, they both won
their divisions.

Speaker 2 (30:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:19):
So I mean I had what four to one, two, three,
four out of the seven correct and you had one,
two three.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
I had a seven correct.

Speaker 4 (30:29):
Wow, So it looks like wow. Wait a minute, Wait
a minute.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
I had the division winners, though, you just had these
teams in the playoffs when they actually won the division.
You had the No.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
I feel like, just gotta you, just gotta. It's okay, John,
I forgive you people.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Because mine are exact. They count for more.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
You know, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
I mean making the playoffs, just getting the right playoffs
on there that that has to speak for something.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
All right, Well, that's that's fine. Well we call the
tie in the NFC or AFC.

Speaker 2 (31:03):
Is it though? We'll leave it up to the people.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
But all we need to know is I got four
out of seven correct, and you got three out of
seven correct.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
All right? All right? Uh okay, So on the NFC
we go. We'll start in the East, as we did
with the last With the AFC, neither of our teams
won the division. However, you did have the Commanders getting
into the playoffs, so I guess you deserve credit for that.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (31:25):
I had the Cowboys winning the division. We all know
how that turned out. So not.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
What what did I say, John, before the season?

Speaker 1 (31:31):
What I said they weren't going to get in?

Speaker 3 (31:33):
I said they No, I said they would not win
the division. I was very adamant about them. Now, I
guaranteed they would not win the division. And guess what
that guarantee hit.

Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yeah, I mean I remember you talking about taking the
Commanders to win the division, though specifically as a bet,
and that didn't hit.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
So I mean it was plus one thousand, John, I mean,
I'm sorry. I'm not taking the minus five hundreds like
you are out here. I'm trying to get some value.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
See you've seen the value. Yeah, okay, and then we've
got the uh let's see here, we got the Falcons.
We both had the Falcons in the NFC South, so
we were both close because it, you know, certainly came
down to the last week. However, the Falcons didn't make
the playoffs. That's a big old fat X for both

(32:19):
of us.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
You know.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
Yeah, John, I'm waiting. I'm waiting for this next one, though,
waiting for this next one.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
Okay, the next one. The NFC North. I mean, how
could you have anybody but the Lions win it, right?
They were the team that won the year before they
came back stacked. Of course, I had the Lions, and
of course.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
You did too, right Randall, No, John, I did not.
I had a team then.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
You must You must have had the Vikings because they
finished with fourteen wins and they were pretty good too, right,
and they got in the playoffs, top wild card team.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
Must have had them, right, No I didn't.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
Then you must have had the Packers, because the Packers
made the playoffs. They were a great team too, double
digit wins, they beat some good teams. They lost to
a lot of good teams too. But you must have
had the Packers winning the division. That's that that could
be explained as well.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
Well, you know, there was a seventy five percent chance
of picking a team to win the division or with with.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
Make a playoff appearance, and I did not pick any
of them. Jobs.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
Oh, so who did you pick?

Speaker 3 (33:23):
I ended up going with the Fabulous Bears somehow thinking
that they were gonna like make a miracle happen.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, I would, I would say so. I mean, I'm
looking down the list a little bit here, and spoiler alert,
I had the Bears in the playoffs too as a
wildcard team. So you and I were both drinking the
kool aid a little bit there, but you were drinking
it a little bit harder than I was.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
God, Yeah, this this was not this was this was
not the NFC was not my cup of tea. Let's
just let's just say that I didn't get one damn
division winner.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
No, because out West, I had the Rams, correct, because
you'd call that a homer pick if you want. But
I just had confidence of my guys. You had the Niners,
and that was probably the smartest pick of everybody. They
were certainly the betting favorites. But we know how their
season turned out with the injuries. So no Niners getting in,
no dice for you. Only one of your four division

(34:20):
picks got into the playoffs, and for me, only one
or only two of my division picks got into the playoffs,
but they were both what what?

Speaker 3 (34:30):
But guess what, we both tied with the exactly three
picks right for getting into the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Sean, you're right because the division or sorry, the wild
card teams that I had were the forty nine Ers
and the Bears, which both did not make it, And
then I did have the Packers correct. Randall had the
Lions and Eagles and Cowboys. So the Cowboys, who he
was so adamant about not making or not winning the division,
he did have in the playoffs. Essentially, you thought the
NFC East was going to be the NFC North was

(34:59):
going to be the NFC East essentially because you had
three teams from that division getting in when we know
how it turned out. So by my calculations, that means
that you have more teams correctly in the playoffs than
I do. Is that correct?

Speaker 2 (35:16):
That is correct? John?

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Seven Texans, Chiefs, Ravens, Bills, Commanders, Lions, and Eagles. So
you have seven, I have six. So yeah, you have
half the field correct.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
Give me mark up another win for me, John, Come on, baby.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
That is another win for you. I have to admit.
All I could say is I had more division winners,
so mine were more exact, but he had more overall,
so he wins. He had seven of the fourteen playoff teams.
I had six. That does it for our season recap.
It's always great looking back at these picks because it's
funny when we just blindly picked them, you know, in August,

(35:58):
when we're doing this, whenever we do it right before
the season starts. And now we're here at the point
where it's the you know, month left in the season,
and we can re look back at how dumb we
were with some of these Like my Jets and my
Bears picks and whatever, and Randall thinking the Bears are
gonna win the NFC North. So it's fun to recap.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
With you, Randall, love it, John, all right?

Speaker 1 (36:22):
So that will bring us into our games before the
week or I guess playoff week, wild card week games.
So we will start as we always do with guess
that's spread.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
It's time to play guy.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Yes, spread, that was really good. Uh, it's time to
play guests that spread. Randall and I just discussed the
regular season that results for this. Of course I was
the one to take home the crown, and now we
will discuss the playoff lines for this. So Randall, I

(37:06):
can begin by giving you a line first if you like,
or you can start with me whatever you want to.

Speaker 2 (37:11):
Do, man, John, you can hit me first, baby, what
you got?

Speaker 1 (37:14):
All right? So we've got the three games this weekend,
or sorry, the six games this weekend. There'll be two
on Saturday, three on Sunday, and then one on Monday night.
The first one I'm gonna hit you with. Let's start
with the Bills Broncos game, and I would love for
you to tell me the passing yard number for our
guy Bo Nicks.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
I'm gonna go Bills Broncos in Buffalo two forty five
and a half.

Speaker 1 (37:48):
You overcooked a little bit two twenty five and a half.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
I was gonna say that, but he's been tossing up
some big numbers.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
Geez, he has him and Josh Allen are within seven
yards to one another.

Speaker 2 (37:59):
Wow. That's that's literally insane. That's insane. Wow.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Yep, Okay, Well, let's go with my main man, Jalen
Hurts Green Bay at Philiphiyll.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
This is interesting because he was just cleared today fully
so he will be playing. He was cancussed for a
couple of weeks. They didn't play. God, this is a
good one to give me because I literally don't even
know where his numbers have been. I'm gonna say something
pretty similar to what that number was for bow Knicks

(38:37):
games in Philly. I'm gonna say two thirty and a half.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
Oh, John, just outside the window. You should have went
with the exact number for bo Nicks. It is two
twenty four and a half.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Oh man. I almost did go with the exact number
for Bonnicks, and I was like, I'll go five higher.
But that was my uh, that was my mistake. All right,
let me, uh, give me the rushing yard total. Let's
go to Washington Tampa Bay Sunday night game. Bucky Irving,
great rookie season for him? How many rushing yards is

(39:11):
he on the dock at four? Here?

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Oh? John? Sorry?

Speaker 3 (39:15):
Sorry John? Uh, it's actually lower than what I said.
It's two thirteen and a half.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
Oh how did you get this false number?

Speaker 2 (39:23):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (39:23):
This false number was the number that was shown that
I saw. It said minus one forty. I'm like, that
can't be right. So then I went to the hard
rock gap saw this at minus one fifteen at over
under too, thirteen and a half.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
Yes, you were seeing an alternate line.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
Yes, yes, that was as the.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
Kid say, Now, how does that make any sense that
the higher number was minus one forty?

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Maybe for the under, because I said.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Two thirteen was minus one fifteen, but two twenty five
was minus one forty.

Speaker 3 (39:56):
That wouldn't really see Yeah, for under for under, it's
it's a like it's a it's predicting taking under on
the twenty four.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Yeah, I gotcha.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
Right, all right, So give me Bucky Irving rushing yards.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
Oh, let's see sixty seven and a half yards?

Speaker 1 (40:19):
You are, hello, eighty seven and a half.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
I'm pretty sure I did this last week with him. Wow,
eighty seven.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
And a half.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
You said, yeah, that's the bad guys. I've been exactly
twenty off on Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Yeah, he's uh, he's had a good year, especially lately.
He's been the main man in that offense. So wow,
you under him.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
Well, let's do this, John, give me. I'm gonna ask
you for one of your boys in the Vikings Rams game.
It's not Kyne Williams.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
It's as isn't it.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
Give me the rushing yards for cam Akers.

Speaker 1 (41:05):
I knew that was coming, man as soon as you
said Rams Vikings Um cam Acres one of my favorites.
If he didn't tear his achilles, he probably still beat
the Rams the first time because he did it twice.
Umm cam Akers rushing yard total. He usually gives a
good amount of breaks to Aaron Jones. I'm gonna say

(41:27):
this number is twenty seven and a half, twenty nine
and a.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
Half, twenty and a half. John, your clothes yours.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
My boy overestimated, my boy. Oh that sucks. That sucks
all right. Let me see here, I gotta pick a
good one for you. Oh, I gotta pick a real
good one. I got a good one for you, guy
that the Patriots could have had you mentioned him earlier.
Lad mccolkey, what's the receiving yard number against the Texans

(42:06):
in Houston?

Speaker 3 (42:09):
Seventy eight and a half yards. I know it's high.
I know it's high, but he's gonna do it. Seventy
eight and a half. That's way too high. Why am
I doing that?

Speaker 2 (42:20):
You are.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Correct? Seventy four and a half.

Speaker 5 (42:25):
Ay, you are within five and you're on the board,
which means I can only tie you, unless, of course
I have the first exact day of the year.

Speaker 3 (42:37):
Let's see, let's see, let's see.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
Here we go, Here we go. All right, John, we
are gonna.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
Go all the way up north Old Steelers Ravens.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
Give me the receiving yard.

Speaker 4 (42:59):
Total for Mark Andrews.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Oh, okay, good one. Because Zay Flowers announced today that
he will not be able to play after he got
injured last week. They have Rashad Bateman, who's been really
good in filling in that one spot when Flowers hasn't
been playing. But Andrews is still gonna be a respectable number.
He's a guy that I think Lamar really likes and

(43:26):
has come on a lot better lately than he did early. Randall,
I'm going to go with I don't want to be
too high here. Forty four and a half.

Speaker 6 (43:40):
Ah, this guy, man, this guy is good.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
This guy is good. Forty six and a half.

Speaker 3 (43:47):
Job wow, okay, okay, okay, No something you out here?

Speaker 1 (43:53):
Ever? God? I you know what, that's my knowledge of
betting on him a lot, because I've been taking him
a lot this year. So that's that came back to
help me there a little bit.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
And that does it for Gus.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
Spread All right, it's time to move into hard Locks, Randall.
And because it's the playoffs, we are both going to
pick all these games. Do you think you're up for
that task? This? Uh? This time around here picking six
games instead of three.

Speaker 3 (44:30):
I'm always up for the test, John, I'm looking to
stay hot, stay ready.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
All right, Well, then why don't you introduce the segment?

Speaker 2 (44:38):
All right, John, it's time to play.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
Hard Locks Playoff edition. All right, yes, yes, all right,
let's go with the Super wild Card Weekend edition of
hard Locks. We're gonna go right in order of the game. So, Randal,
you told me, because you won the regular season hard
Lock Picks that you get to go first. So Chargers Texans.

(45:05):
Now here's the rules. We don't have to pick opposite sides, obviously,
but we are gonna alternate who picks which game first.
This way we can each take turns of picking it,
and one's not just responding to the other one the
whole time. So Randal will go first for the first game,
and again we can both have the same pick here.
This is just overall picks that we're keeping track of.

(45:26):
Randall Chargers, Texans. It's in Houston. The Chargers are three
point favorites, coming in as a wild card team to
the division winners. How do you look at this game?
Who you taking?

Speaker 3 (45:37):
I'm gonna be taking John Up seeing him on my
side at minus two and a half. If you want
to give it three, I'll take the three. Fine, it's okay.
I'm gonna take the true team in La.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Here.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
Give me the Chargers on the road. Jim Harbaugh is
doing his thing. Man, this guy's a winner. He's brought
a winning culture everywhere he goes. He's gonna win a
playoff game. I don't know if he's gonna win two
playoff games, but he's gonna win one playoff game, he's
going to take on a depleted Houston team. Chargers win
Herbert MVP of the game.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
Yeah, you know, I am going to agree with you
on this one. I think the Texans have been kind
of trending in a weird way.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
C J.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
Stroud specifically. I don't know if you remember a few
weeks back when Tank Dell got hurt, but he got
super emotional, and I feel like after that moment he
has not really fully regained form. And I mean he'll
wake up because the playoffs, they're at home, the crowd
will be crazy. But this Chargers team has played really
well lately and I've just really like what they got.

(46:40):
They got Dobbins back now running well, and they've got
McConkie and Johnston who's been excellent for Herbert. So give
me the Chargers minus three as well.

Speaker 3 (46:49):
I love it, and and minus two and a half
minus two and a half, Okay, we'll do two and
a half.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
That's fine. Steelers Ravens is the nightcap on Saturday. This
is the biggest spread of the five six games this weekend.
The Ravens are at home. They are nine and a
half point favorites. Randall, I think I am going to
take the Steelers plus nine and a half here. I

(47:15):
know they haven't had the greatest second half of the season,
or more specifically last third of the season. Here. I
know that even this week, there's been some talk that
it could be a mix of Justin Fields is playing
as well as Russell Wilson. I know Mike Tomlin kind
of made some comments during his press conference it sort
of suggested that. But you know what, I just feel
like they're a well coached team with a good defense.

(47:37):
I don't think they're gonna win, but I think this
is gonna be closer than people expect. It's one of
those AFC North battles on a Saturday night, So I'll
take the Steelers. Nine and a half just seems like
too much to me.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
It's definitely a lot for a playoff game, especially where
Pittsburgh has had Baltimore's number and Lamar Jackson's number in
the past. You know, they finally Lamar finally got over
one of the big humps this last game against Pittsburgh,
and with this division rivalry in the playoffs, I mean,

(48:12):
nine and a half is a lot. Gimme the Ravens
John minus nine and a half. They're gonna cover this
thing easy. They're gonna do it. It's gonna be a
late back to recover though in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
Yeah, you've I feel like you were on the Steelers
early this season, but you've kind of turned heel on
them as the year's gone on, and rightfully so, they've
not had a great back half of the year. As
I said, all right, Broncos Bills will be the one
o'clock game on Sunday, Denver will head into Buffalo. This
is an eight and a half point spread in favor
of the Bills. Obviously, Buffalo comes in they you know,

(48:50):
they've looked like a dominant team all year, but eight
and a half is a big spread. What do you
look at this game and think.

Speaker 3 (48:54):
Randall, what's even bigger than eight and a half is
I'm seeing nine on my end, which is even crazier.
I mean this this game is gonna be something very special.
And when I say that, I mean very special for
the Bills. They're gonna be It's gonna be like the Ravens. John,
give me nine, give me ten, I don't care. Give

(49:17):
me the points. They're gonna cover.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
Easy at home.

Speaker 3 (49:20):
I know, you know they just rested everybody against New England.
I don't think it's gonna hurt them. If anything, I
think it's gonna help them. You're not getting the bye
week like you normally do. That was their bye week.
Give me Buffalo at home, it doesn't matter what the
spread is. Take Buffalo all the way.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
See, I'm inclined to do the same thing I just
did with the Steelers because the Broncos have been a
good team all year. But I do think this Bills team,
specifically Josh Allen, is built differently this year. James Cooks
had a great year as well. The receivers are a
little bit weird for me and a little bit unpredictable.
Uh you know, they don't really have that great play

(50:00):
which is why when we were talking earlier about our
division winners in the East this year in the AFC,
neither one of us picked the Bills because I think
we both share a sentiment that we don't think that
they would, you know, be very good, or they would
be worse than they had been based on losing some
players and not having the main playmaker around Josh Allen anymore.
So that all being said, it's tough for me to

(50:21):
not take the Broncos at eight and a half. But
I think Buffalo has created a real culture up there.
I think they're gonna come out firing. Everybody's gonna be
fresh and rested. So I'll take the Bills with you
at eight and a half. It's a big spread, kind
of like the other game. But you know, I do
like this one, and I think I'll take the Bills
at home.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
John, all Right, Well, the Packers and Eagles game. So
the Eagles are getting Jalen Hurts back. They will be
four and a half point favorites at home, and they
will host the Packers, who obviously are coming off of
the game last week in which Jordan have left the
game and then came back in the very end, right.

(51:04):
I think he was on that last drive for them.
The word was that he kind of lost feeling in
his arm, but then got it back late after taking
a stinger to the elbow. So four and a half
points spread. I look at this game and I think
to myself, the Eagles have been the better team all
year long. The Packers, you know, they've been good. They've
had ups and downs, though I think they're a little
bit more unpredictable, and with Jalen Hurts is out there

(51:25):
at one hundred percent, I don't see any reason why
the Eagles won't cover the four and a half points
and win this game. So I will go ahead and
take the Eagles at minus four and a half. I
think it's too good of an opportunity for them at home.
With Saquon Barkley after the season he had, he now
got a week off, you got aj Brown, you got
Jalen Hurts back. Give me the Eagles minus four and
a half.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
Green Bay really hasn't been anyone spectacular this season. I
do think the way the Eagles have been playing, By
the way, who's their offensive coording there, John Kellen moore By,
He's been doing a great job. Hurts undefeated this year
when he started. I mean, give me the Eagles to win,

(52:09):
but give me green Bay to cover. I'll take green
Bay plus five.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
Yeah, I mean I could see a close game, but
I just feel like the Eagles are gonna be firing
with Hurts back, so respectfully, I disagree with you.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
All right.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Next game that we have on the docket will be
the Sunday night game. It should be a fun one
between Washington and Tampa. It's one of the closer spreads
of the weekend. In fact, we have three spreads that
are all very similar here, and this one is one
of those. The Bucks are three point favorites at home
as the division winner. Randall, who do you like in
this matchup?

Speaker 3 (52:43):
I like them team that I picked to win the
division that didn't win the division.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
Give me the rook I know Tampa's been doing great.

Speaker 3 (52:51):
Tampa hosted a playoff game last year and shocked the
world when they beat the Eagles. That everybody thought the Eagles.
Everybody thought these were gonna come in and stop them.
Tampa Bay here favorites. They're just not gonna be able
to hold on to jail and hers show and Hurst
is gonna put up a big number on them.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Gimme Washington Dogglert plus three.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
Oh man, I didn't do the dogg alert earlier. That's
a missed opportunity by me when I picked the uh,
the Steelers. I'm not gonna take the dog here. I'm
gonna go with the Bucks minus three. I do like
Baker Mayfield what he's done this year. The Bucks had
a little bit of trouble with the Saints, last week.
I'm not gonna lie. It looked a little bit ugly
there for a little while, but they did ultimately get

(53:36):
it together. They had that great moment with Mike Evans
where he had the one catch at the very end
of the game to get to the thousand yard mark
for the eleventh straight season. I'm gonna take the Bucks here.
They're at home. You know, the rookie quarterback Jane Daniels
had a great year. I give them a lot of
respect for what they've been able to do, but I
think it ends this week for Washington. So give me Tampa,

(53:58):
the team that's kind of been there before of the
last few years, to cover the minus three. And that
brings us to the last game on Monday night, which
we just found out a few minutes ago that will
be moved to Arizona because of the wildfires ongoing out
in the Palisades in the Los Angeles. You know, everybody

(54:19):
out there please stay safe, obviously, but yeah, the game
is now gonna move to Arizona, so they'll play Monday night. Still,
it definitely hurts the Rams from a home field advantage standpoint.
I do think the Vikings are one of the teams
that they probably the Rams probably would have had a
good home field advantage for you know, if they had
to have played with Green Bay or something like that,

(54:40):
they probably would have had less fans because the green
Bay fan base, in my opinion, is just better than Minnesota's.
But now you're in a wild card or in a
situation where you have the neutral site, which to me
is a complete wild card, and with Minnesota at minus
two and a half for this game, I feel like,
you know, I'm obviously going to stay on the Rams

(55:01):
side of things, but I feel a little less confident
just because of the fact that they have to move
out of LA. The Rams are one of two teams
this year though, to beat the Vikings in the regular season.
The Lions beat them twice, the Rams beat them the
other game. And I do feel like this is a
little bit of the situation with the you know, the
teacher and the student, and Sean McVeigh was certainly the

(55:22):
head coach when Kevin McConnell was with the Rams on
the coaching staff. So I will take my Rams. It's
definitely a homer pick, if you want to call it that,
but I just like them in this spot here. I
like it a little less maybe out of LA, but
I still like them. At plus two and a half
is what I've got. I don't know what you have.
If you have the three or whatever, I'll take it.
But if it not, I'll take the two and a half.

Speaker 3 (55:44):
Gee, wellekers, John, You're taking your favorite team in a
tough situation.

Speaker 2 (55:49):
Who would have thought?

Speaker 3 (55:50):
I mean, didn't see that one coming? Now, John, I
have the two and a half on my end as well.
But it's one of the hardest.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
Things in the NFL to beat a team two times. Right,
the Lions did it?

Speaker 1 (56:10):
Correct?

Speaker 2 (56:10):
Now?

Speaker 3 (56:11):
Is it gonna be ironic that this year Minnesota has
four losses all year and all four come from two teams.
I don't think so, John, That's not gonna be the case. Okay,
so give me Minnesota minus eight. This game is gonna

(56:31):
be like a home game for them. It's not gonna
minus eight. I'm taking the alternative line. I'm taking a
minus two, and that's not.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
How this game.

Speaker 3 (56:41):
I'm just saying, mark it down on the Bucks because Minnesota,
eh is gonna be spanking that tush tush.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
Okay, you have to disrespect me like this in my
own house.

Speaker 3 (56:52):
This is I'm just saying, John, I'm sorry that they're
gonna do it to you, but give me Minnesota.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
Minnesota, eh all the way.

Speaker 1 (57:04):
Well, I mean, I just feel like you could have
been a little bit more respectful about that. I saw
that coming a mile away. But yeah, you didn't have
to do me that dirty. I'm just saying.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
I'll tell you about John, you can make it.

Speaker 3 (57:20):
I'll apologize if Minnesota doesn't count the eight Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
I'm gonna make you apologize next week. Win the Rams
win this game, so you better get your best apology ready, good,
fire up the chat GPT and get a good apology
set up. All right, Well that doesn't for hard Locks
hard Locks Playoff Edition. So we're on to the final

(57:51):
game now of the episode during the regular season. This
is still week eighteen's I guess word of the day,
but I was ten or nine to eight to this point.
So Randall, why don't you go ahead introduce the segment
and then I'll figure out if I have a guess.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
All right, John, I get a word or phrase, you
have to guess it. Playoff Edition?

Speaker 2 (58:14):
What is the word?

Speaker 3 (58:16):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (58:17):
I think maybe it's roasted, but I doubt it.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
Let's let's find out. No no, no, no, no no.

Speaker 3 (58:28):
No Gee Willickers, John, no figure you're picking your favorite
team to win.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
Ge Willickers makes a lot of sense. You just said it.
You literally just said it like five seconds ago. That
makes way more sense than anything I thought of. You
said roasted at some point early on, I was like,
that kind of stands out, not really, but a little bit.
And you know what, I just am a dummy for
not assessing the g will Okers there at the end.

(58:57):
That's that's good on you for pulling a fast one
right at the.

Speaker 2 (58:59):
End on me, Thank you, John. I try try my
best to sneak it in there. Got to get a win,
I know you do.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
All right, Well, we are very excited to watch some
playoff football this weekend. We have six picks out there
for everybody, so it'll be fun to track these all
playoff long. You know, we obviously are happy to hit
this mark in the season. Randal, I'm sure you feel
the same way. But it does also mean that the
times are dwindling here. So we've only got a month
or so left and with that, you know, I don't know,

(59:29):
we're at the point where this is it. We got
playoffs the less and less teams each week, and nothing's
guaranteed anymore, Randall, So let me just hit you with
that thought before I ask you if there's any other
thoughts you.

Speaker 3 (59:41):
Have, No, John, the only thing guaranteed is I'm feeling
really good about my picks this week, man, really good.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
Yeah. If that minus eight hits for the Vikings, I
will not be here next week.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
Let's let's see, John, I want to.

Speaker 3 (59:57):
I want to before we go, I just want to
see you what the alternate line is at minus eight.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Let's see minus eight.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
Is plus two fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
Yeah, that's not bad, not about at all.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
I would not advise taking it, but all over so
uh okay, Randal, that doesn't for us. Why don't you
take us home for the first time in this playoff,
for the first time in his playoffs.

Speaker 6 (01:00:27):
Goodbye, goodbye, good.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
Friends, goodbye.

Speaker 6 (01:00:32):
This was the John in Random of Unspis Playoff Edition.
We got some games on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It's
coming down to the end, down to the end.

Speaker 4 (01:00:49):
So long friendly down't have

Speaker 3 (01:01:00):
The profound and as everything