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Billy Gill.

God bless football. Mikey game.

God bless football.

Stu gods.

We are loaded today, Billy. We are loaded. We have chris sims. We have austin eckler, mike Golick. Bruce hall is going to be on the show. Me and Mikey A are very excited for this. And we have Brent Key, the head coach of Georgia Tech. I'm going to try to get it out of him. Billy, I just want to know if he was laughing when Mario Crystal Ball decided not to take a knee against Georgia Tech.

Do you think he's going to tell you that?

No, I don't.

Okay, very good.

Billy, what are you looking forward to this weekend, college football or the NFL? We have a big game this weekend, dolphins and Eagles. Sunday Night Football. We're going to get destroyed.

Oh my, sorry.

Jets and Eagles. This week is Jets, Eagles. Yeah. Sorry. I got confused. I'm sorry, I got ahead of myself. What are you looking forward to, Billy?

What am I looking forward to? I guess I'm looking forward to some college football. I feel like that, um, UNC game has potential for being hilarious if something goes wrong in that one the way it went wrong last week. So that could be fun because I have friends that are fans of both schools. So either way, people that I know will either be happy or will be miserable. So it has the potential for being funny in both directions because both teams are very confident that they're going to win this game, which is like it's never good when both teams are certain they're going to win that game.

Agreed. North Carolina should have some confidence. I'm not certain Miami should, but you have friends at Carolina, huh?

I have, yeah, multiple friends, surprisingly. I'm not you know what this has me worried about, and this is probably strange because everyone's been looking forward to it, I'm worried about what a twelve team playoff is going to look like next year, to be honest with you. Because what I'm realizing is a lot of bad teams are going to get into that twelve team playoff and you're going to have the potential for star players on real teams getting hurt or just random teams making it through. And I feel like we're not going to be getting what people want.

I agree with you. There's also this like I think college football has it down perfectly. Their regular season feels like at times they feel like playoff games. For instance, this weekend you have Oregon and Washington playing and that feels like a de facto playoff game. It feels like a play in game. The winner will have a chance to make it to the playoff and the loser likely won't make it to the College Football Playoff. You are taking that out of college football when you have a twelve team playoff. And so I'm with you, Billy. I think it's going to be bad for college football. I know people are excited about it. Goal looks excited about it because Notre Dame always has two or three losses. But it takes some of the sting away from some of these big games. Like USC has a must win game this weekend at Notre Dame. They have to win it. If they don't win it, they're not going to the College Football Playoff. And therefore I think a twelve D playoff is a really bad idea. You're right, Billy. North Carolina is twelve, by the way, right now. Okay, so Carolina, most people would say they're probably deserving of being in the playoff, but Mike, give me like 1110 or give me higher, if you don't mind.

So you got nine Texas, ten UNC.

Eleven Alabama, that's where you lose two GOTS on this number eleven right there.

Who's 13 though. Who's 14? Ole Miss. Okay, so Billy, you're right. I don't think anyone views Ole Miss as an elite team in college football, but Ole Miss would get into the playoff under well would have a good chance of getting to the playoffs in this scenario. Billy, there's half the season left. They could get in.

I suppose. I mean, I think it would be fun for Lane Given to get into the playoffs. So this is a bad argument that I'm making now because it would exclude Lane when he's right there.

So let me ask you this, do you think it should say four then? Because I think four was no good. I'm with you that twelve is probably too much. But I think four is I would say eight. I always liked six.

You know what's weird about the four is that even in the four in some of these years, we get to a matchup and you're like, yeah, this fourth team should not be in this. This is a waste of a game. And now we're going to have twelve teams.

Yes. And it's always Oklahoma or Notre Dame. We could barely scratch out four good teams and now we're going to try to scratch out twelve. Billy, do we have a fantasy game this week?

We do have a fantasy game. Compete against us in weekly fantasy. Go to DKNG co Lebitard, $3 buy in. You can win some money. I won last week. Why didn't win the whole thing? I got like 30th place, but I got like $10.

Wow, congratulations.

Yeah, that'll have me covered for the next couple of weeks. I have a game that I want to play with you guys throughout the episode today. And as stugas mentioned, we have a loaded show, particularly on audio. On the video side, we're going to talk to Chris Sims, we're going to talk to Austin Eckler. On the audio side, we're going to talk to the head coach of Georgia Tech. We're going to talk we're going to make our weekly picks. We're going to have Carl Douglas come back. He had a huge week last week.

He did.

Went 40 and one. We're going to talk to Austin Eckler. We're going to talk to Bries Hall. We're going to talk Chris Sims. We're going to talk to Gola. We have a lot of people on the audio side, on the video side, we have Sims and we have Eckler, which is great. Now here's the game that I want to play throughout the episode and see if you guys can kind of catch this theme that I'm doing. I'm going to see how many teams I can suggest to the guest that Kirk Cousins is a great fit for.

Okay. That's the game.

Yeah, it's because here's the thing. We saw this well, it's not that I'm obsessed with Kirk Cousins. It's that you guys threw out there that Kirk Cousins could be traded to the jets and that it would be great fit.

Right.

And I scoffed at that and I said, that's ridiculous. Why would they do that? And then the news came this week that Colt McCoy was being worked out by the Vikings, which seems like if they're working out veteran quarterbacks, there may be a quarterback move made at some point. Right.

Listen, you don't work out Colt McCoy unless you're about to make a move. Okay? Yeah.

But you also don't start Colt McCoy. So what is the move?

I don't know. It was a dumb thing to so anyway so you want to play this game? Yeah.

So I want to find the best fit for him. But the problem is that I've kind of caught on to our analysts that come on and talk football with us. None of them like to play the games that I like to play and none of them like to think that Kirk Cousins is going to be moved, particularly with some of the suggestions that I made, because I'm thinking outside the box. I'm seeing what team can use a Kirk Cousins. Right.

You know, what team do you think could use a not?

I mean, the jets are right there. I feel like the Steelers are there. I'm not sold on Kenny Pickett. I don't know how you guys feel about Kenny Pickett. I feel like that could be a.

Fit who couldn't use a first ballot hall of famer right now.

That's what I'm saying.

Chris Sims is not a fan of any of your huh.

That appears to also be a theme that I've cut on to, is that Chris Sims doesn't really like my games.

All right, if you're watching on television, chris Sims is going to join us next. If you're listening on audio, I have no idea who's joining us next. We're very excited about this. Breeze hall is joining us. New York Jets. When you said you were playing without limitations holy shit. You weren't joking, man. Congratulations to you, buddy.

I appreciate it. Thank you. It meant a lot. Just go out there and to really show what I can do and just help the team win.

22 carries, 177 yards, one touchdown. Was that the best game you've ever had?

I mean, in the NFL, yeah, but in my life now, what was the.

Best game you've had in your life in high school?

One game, it was really cold, and our quarterback, he had small hands and he couldn't throw the ball. I think I had, like, 32 carries for, like, 366 yards.

What?

Six touchdowns?

Yeah, but what do you mean he had small hands? Were they not throwing because his hands were small and he wasn't good, or because you were so good and it was cold out?

No, it was cold out, and I think he couldn't grip the ball well enough to really throw it how we wanted to throw because we were a vertical passing team, and he couldn't grip it to get the zip on it that he wanted to. So we would just run heavy. That game brief.

I said last year when you went down because you were such a big part of the offense and such a great player and so much fun to watch, that when you sustain the injury, I said, that's it. The jet season is a wrap. It's over. Because you opened up a lot for your quarterback. You do. And so I'm wondering, from a mental and physical standpoint, can you kind of take us through when you went down with injury and what you went through to get back to what you did last week and what that must have felt like?

Yeah, when it happened, I just remember getting the toss and running, and I tried to cut up, and I just remember just like, I'm trying to cut, like slowing down, trying to cut up and falling on the ground. And I felt that something happened, but I didn't think it was anything serious because I never really had a serious injury before. And when we go get an X ray, the X ray was fine, and then the docs start moving my knee, a whole bunch to see if it was still intact and everything. And that's how I found out. Tore it. And then just like throughout the rehab process, you just go through a lot of good days and bad days and days where you see yourself getting better than days, where your knee is telling you, okay, you're working too hard, or you overworked me and you're really sore. You can't really do anything. So it's just a lot of mental barriers you got to break. And then the hardest part was probably those weeks before they were letting me get back into practice, just sitting there on the sideline watching guys the whole time. And then you got to break a mental barrier of coming back and really playing football again, dealing with your knee getting sore.

And then for me, I had crossed everything, but I hadn't been hit. Like the coaches weren't allowing nobody to hit me, so I didn't get my first hit until the first game. So then once I got hit the first time, I was like, okay, I'm good. So it was like a whole bunch of mental barriers that you got to break.

Breece, I'm watching one Jets Drive, the documentary about you, and it looks like the rehab process for an injury like that is, like, the loneliest thing in the world. It's just you and your trainer just after hours, before practice and stuff. How much does that prepare you to deal with this kind of season?

I say being here the whole offseason, it definitely sucked. I don't think anybody would want to stay and have to rehab and not be able to spend time with their family a lot and not be able to travel how they want to. So it definitely sucked. But it was just good for me to figure out, really realize how mentally and physically tough I was, how I was able to push through stuff even when I was hurting and stuff like that. And then being with my trainer, Bobby Daplin, who was my guy the whole time, me and him, we got into it a lot, and we're arguing a lot, but it also helped strengthen our relationship at the same time, so it was good for both of us.

Were you nervous right before that first hit? Like, were you thinking about it?

No, I had so much adrenaline and stuff, I was kind of just like, let's go. The first carry, they let me get the 30 yard run. I was like, all right, I'm good. That's all I needed right there.

There was obviously great expectations coming into the season with Aaron here with some of the weapons that you guys have with you coming back, and then we see Aaron go down the first game of the season. So going back to training camp, how did that guy get that goldfish in Aaron's hand?

Were you there for that breeze? Were you in the yeah, yeah.

That was like we were all sitting there watching it. And you try to stay as locked in as you can, and it happens that you still don't know. You have no idea. People like that. I'm a big guy who's, like, I'm real interested in just talent. If somebody can do something that I can't do, I'm intrigued by it. So just watching that whole thing happen was crazy.

The thing with that, though, is I feel like if you see certain things, you're like, I have an idea of how that worked. Right. But if I were to see that and see this fish just appear in his hands when there's no way that that could have happened, I feel like I'd be walking around not being able to trust anyone for a know, like knowing aaron.

I know aaron was trying to throw him off of his game or maybe say, oh, you got this wrong or this wrong, and try to mess with him a little bit. But he stayed locked in, and he did his thing, so it was cool to see.

Are you buying that aaron's coming back this year? You're not buying that, are you? That's crazy.

I'm not going to put anything out there in the air, but I say for a guy like him, anything's possible.

That mentalist, though. Like, was he also had you guys in the super bowl, I believe, right? Yeah. How do you feel about that right now?

I mean, that's cool, but we've only played four games. Five games. Five games this year, so we still got a sophomore to go and then plus the playoffs, so we'll see.

Billy, why are you getting mad at me? Because I tried to set him up for a question there. Like, what were you doing? Because I believe in my jets. I believe in this team. I believe in zach wilson. I think they're still getting to the super bowl. I'm the mentalist. That's what I'm trying to say. I believe in you, breeze.

It felt like you were trying to lead him to say that he was not feeling good about that because of the injuries, which is a terrible position to put breeze. Before you came on, I said, guys, how do you honestly feel about breeze hall? And they both said, we love breeze hall. And I feel like if you actually love breeze, you wouldn't be putting him in that position.

That's breeze. Did you feel like I was trying to put you in a know it.

Was a little smoke there. I felt it a little bit.

Thank you. I didn't mean it. I mean, it was unintentional, and I love you. I'm sorry. Okay.

I'm sorry.

I appreciate it. No, you're good.

All you can do is apologize when you make a mistake. You're an asshole, billy. Bruce, do you think you're better now than you were before the injury? Is that even possible?

I don't think I'm there yet. I think eventually I will be. Yeah, but I don't think I'm there yet. I'm still getting like 100% comfortable with my knee and everything like that, and it's like a new barrier that I break every week and I do a crazy juke or make a crazy cut and stuff like that, that I get more and more comfortable with it. And it's still getting stronger every week. And it's just been a blessing to not have too many hiccups and not have to take any steps back and everything. So it's like every week I'm just getting stronger. So I think it's been a positive for sure.

You were born in omaha, you grew up in wichita, so I'm wondering what it was like the first couple of days in new york. What was that like for you?

It was cool just being in the city and stuff like that. But I'm not a loner, but I enjoy my own company. So being around a whole bunch of people and stuff isn't really my thing. I'm low key, laid back, so going to times square and all that stuff, it's cool for a first time experience, but it ain't nothing I really want to do again. Okay. That was cool experience. I took some pictures, have fun and everything. But as much as I enjoy being around a whole bunch of people, I enjoy my own company, too.

You only need to see that place once. You're right, priest. That's it. You got the pictures. You're good. You don't need to go back there.

Trust me.

I'm from there. Okay.

Exactly.

Anything else about new york city? It must have been daunting, though, right? Such a big place, so many people.

I was just talking to some of our staff today. I want to go see the big christmas tree, right? I haven't gone to go see that, but people say that's hectic, too. So I'm going to try to get out there pretty early and take some pictures, walk around and maybe go to a nice restaurant and eat with some of my teammates or some friends or something and that would be cool.

Too brief. Last week we were making a big deal about the hackett revenge game going to denver. Did you guys feel that or was that something that we kind of just blew up in the media?

No, I don't think anybody really made too big of a deal about know, the coach said somewhere some stuff that he felt that he needed to say and hackett just stayed humble, stay quiet about it and didn't really care and we went out. We won. The better team, the better coach won. And that's what it was.

You say that it wasn't a huge deal for the hack game but you guys made him a captain. That's not a common thing, right? Where the coach is an honorary captain for a game.

I don't know. I just show up, bro.

Wasn't your call, breeze. But it is a little absurd. I'm just tight of it. I love you, breeze, tell me we're going to make the playoffs, okay? We are long suffering jet fans. Because if you tell us, breeze, I'll believe you. I'm serious. Tell us we're going to make the playoffs. Just tell me, just between us. Hey, we're going to make the playoffs.

God willing we make the playoffs. I have the confidence in our offense and our defense, our special team. So with that, I think that we can make the playoffs for sure.

All right. I promise you. I'm not trying to put you in a bad spot. No smoke here. I'm asking for your owner. If you think your owner looks a little ridiculous with that bling on, like.

Just a little terrible question, don't answer.

That because I think he does. Okay, I'm just going to say it. All right.

Ignore him.

Billy. Maybe he would have answered it. Well done.

Brief.

What does Bries Hall like to do when he's out playing football? Let you go here in a minute.

I'm a big video gamer. Not sure I like to watch movies and TV shows, but by the time we leave football, I don't really want to go do anything, like outside of going home because I'm so tired. So I go home. My cheat snack is some Oreos and milk, turn the video game on, chill, play video games and watch a movie before I go to sleep and then repeat it the next day.

What's your favorite movie?

I like psychological thrillers. My favorite movie. It's a magician movie called Now You See Me.

So then you definitely have to been trying to figure out the fish thing.

No, it could be some type of, like, dark magic or something that goes into that.

Now.

You see, Me was kind of messed up.

Did you see?

Now you see me too. Not as good as the first now You See Me as a little messed up.

And I like Harry Potter and stuff like that, too.

So that's okay.

Yeah.

How about on the oreos, though, Billy? You go double stuff? I go double stuffed.

Double stuffed every time.

Yeah, you can't go normal Oreos if.

You can't get the mega stuff.

No, that's.

With a glass of milk, though. Of course. Mikey had something in on his coaching college. Oh, yeah. No. Every time that we get some coaching.

Openings in the NFL, your former coach.

Matt Campbell, his name comes up, do you want to see him come to the NFL, or do you think that's not going to happen?

What do you think?

Honestly, I don't think it is just because he's kind of like set in stone and aims and he has young kids, and his kids are just reaching the middle school, high school. So they're still growing up. And I don't think in that aspect, he wants to just pick up and move. So I think not within the next probably like five years, but maybe soon.

All right, breeze. Hey, we really appreciate this. Appreciate your time. We know it's a busy time for you. Good luck this weekend. Good luck the rest of the way. And I got to tell you, as a longtime Jet fan, it really was great seeing you do what you did last week against them. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. It was really cool to see. It was.

Anytime, anytime. Thank you, guys.

All right. We appreciate go beat the Eagles, man. Let's do it. All right. Yes. Chris Sims is with us PFT with Mike Florio every day on Peacock, the Unbuttoned podcast as well. Football night in America.

Chris, I have a question for you. Football question, believe it or not. So a report came out that the Vikings worked out Colt McCoy, which is leading fuel to the fire that Kirk Cousins may get traded something here or nothing.

I think it's nothing. One, I don't think the Vikings are at the point where I would throw in the towel quite yet. They're not there yet. Now, I know the Justin Jefferson injury is adding a little more intrigue to this situation, but then I think the other part of me is like, okay, we have the jets where if it falls apart for Zach Wilson, maybe, okay, they trade for Cousins, but, like, where else? What's the market? Where everybody going to go week eight and go, Bam. We need Kirk Cousins. We need him now, and he's the future of our organization. I mean, barring a crazy injury, just I don't see that happening know, right now. I don't know.

Patriots maybe.

But are they going to like, what first off, I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel for the Patriots, and I don't think he fixes their like I don't look at it go, well, damn, they got Kirk Cousins now.

It's all good.

They're going to turn it and then, you know, for what? How much are you going to trade? And is Mr. Kraft going to let Belichick mortgage the future of the franchise on a guy where Belichick might not even be there and we're not even sure he's the future quarterback, so that's where I guess I don't really see it happening.

Sims. Can you explain the Steelers and Mike Tomlin? They're three and two. Like, what the seriously?

Well, I mean, it is crazy. The last two home games they won, they were severely outplayed, right? And one was because of Deshaun Watson playing about as bad as I've ever seen him play. And the missed throws, some turnovers altogether by their football team. And then last week they won the game, and I give them credit for hanging around and doing all that, but if we all sat there and watched it together, you'd go, oh, my gosh, the Ravens should have won this by 20 points, right? I mean, it was a debacle. It really was. That was a master class and how to screw up a football game. I mean, Flowers, Zay Flowers dropped a big pass on the first drive, second drive, they do whatever they want and score a touchdown. The next drive, they go right down the field goal and settle for a field goal and have two drop touchdown passes on that drive. They're moving the ball again, and Justice Hill gets stripped. They horrible at the end of the first half, right? They're in field goal range. I don't know if the center was supposed to snap and not whatever else.

They come away with no points on a fourth and two, right? So there's that. There's more drops, another drop touchdown in the second half. Then the interception in the end zone by Lamar, right? So, I mean, it was just one thing after another, and I don't feel necessarily confident in the Steelers. I know they're battle tested and tough, but I don't look at it and go, man, they're close. They're going to turn the corner here.

I hear you, but I'm confident in that, coach.

I am, too. I mean, Tomlin's always going to rally the troops, right. Where I'm not confident is the offensive coordinator, coach. Where I just still see a very simple not a lot of answers on offense. And I don't think you can just go, well, we'll just rely on the team we're playing this week to mess it up. They'll drop wide open passes and all that. And that's, to me, what kind of happened in the last game. The Ravens must have been sick watching the film of that game back on Monday morning.

No doubt. It's been interesting to watch, at least this season, through five games, I guess Justin Fields, because got off to a terrible start. Chris but the last two weeks, he's played the position nearly perfect as well as you can actually play it. What is happening? What are they doing differently with Justin Fields and he's not running the ball?

Chris yeah, no, I think, well, one a little bit like we've had conversations with. They're just they finally are opening it up and just going, wait, like, we got to take the training wheels. We just got to be aggressive and either he sinks or swims. Right. But either way, we're going to find out when we know here. And I think you're saying it right. He's staying in the pocket better. He's seeing the field better. Slowly but surely gained some confidence, I think, in that Broncos football game to go. Okay. They're finding ways to feature a guy that I've been telling everybody is a superstar for the last two years in I mean, he's a superstar. He just got stuck in a bad situation in Carolina. But, yeah, I think I'm like, I couldn't be happier for Justin Fields. The way he's throwing the football, the decisions he's making, really impressive. And I'm expecting that to continue into next week. Listen, they got a decent run game, like you said. Hopefully they can expand the quarterback run game. They got a good tight end, a good running back. And Mooney, along with DJ Moore, is a damn good duo at receiver.

So there's some potential there for them to make some waves on that offensive side of the ball.

Yeah, they play the Vikings this week, so that's going to be an interesting game. Another guy who's I guess fans have been critical of but kind of answered the questions last week, desmond Ritter. Like, I thought, Chris, I watched a lot of that game. I had money on it. They're three and two. Ritter had a really good game. Like, what's your evaluation of him as a quarterback?

Well, it's the first game that I've gone. Okay. There's Desmond Ritter looked like a starting quarterback, right?

Yep.

There we I you. Talk about a pressure moment. I think that was a game that if he doesn't play well, that you're going to hear like, maybe we should start Taylor Heineken and all that. But Stu gotch you're exactly right. They got an awesome offensive line. We know they can run the ball and their defense is a top ten defense in football. The only thing that was missing was going, wait, they can't live in the Stone Age here. We got to start throwing the football more and making some plays. In the past game, there was two things when I watched the film back of that game. One, Ritter was aggressive and decisive and I mean that even with his throws. Like the first thing I said when I watched it and I wrote it down, I won't. The first thing I notice is Ritter is letting it go, throwing with authority, throwing it through the target. I mean, he was throwing balls with real pace on the ball. To me, a lot of the times he's, oh, gosh, is he open. And he passed the ball and he throws it real nice and soft and tries to place it on the target and oh, bam, it got knocked down because the ball hung in the air for 7 seconds.

I saw in this one going, no, I'm going to throw the fastball here. I'm not going to second guess myself. I saw that. Let alone I think when you couple that with first down passing and playing from a position of power, again a little right. I think so many times coaches and they all make the mistake of, hey, we're going to manage the quarterback, right? And what do they do when they manage it? They make it simple. They throw a lot of routes that are short and I can speak to that as a quarterback. You're like, well, damn, the defense is just playing downhill. We got five guys all at six yards. Hey, coach, for six yards, I got to really fit that into tight windows. And you're calling basic plays that the defense has seen all training camp all spring. You're not giving me any help here. They had some game plan, specific throws and play action passes to kind of jump start him a little bit. And I think that was important. Another team that I would say took the training wheels off and said, all right, it's do or die. We got to see is he the starting quarterback or are we going to manage this thing and look like a first grade offense all the time.

And they let it go and he answered the bell in a big way.

Did the Cowboys get exposed or was that just a one week kind of ass?

No, I mean, this would be like something that if you listen to my been talking, the Cowboys are so simple on offense. It's totally reliant on the Jimmy's and the Joe's, right. And I know everybody's going to get on dak Prescott. And I would encourage anybody to listen to Chris Sims unbuttoned from my Wednesday. What the fuck happened? Podcast because I drew a few diagrams of plays. I talked about it. It's always been a simple offense, right? Kelvin Moore they were a little more aggressive about pushing the ball down the field. The thing they're doing with McCarthy this year is run the ball and they're throwing the ball short a lot. And that has made Dak Prescott be efficient. And they've know high completion percentage of moving the ball. That like like simple, basic. We don't motion, we don't shift. And then have a simple route tree with everybody that ain't going to fucking beat the San Francisco 49 ers. Are you kidding me? Look on my social media later today. You're going to see two plays that I drew up. Two of the first three passes of the game are like, oh, the 49 ers saw that in the first day of OTAs in April.

They're like, whoa, three guys ran straight. Holy coach call a timeout. Let's have a game plan. They all ran straight. Coach, what do we do? What do we do to defend? Like, are you kidding me? Another throw is like, oh, it's a backside slant and a guy running a hitch and a guy running a know in an eye. There's no, like, there's no avenue for Dak Prescott to succeed in a game like that. There was nobody open. So I wrote, the Cowboys will never be able to beat the 49 ers with that pass game approach unless they can run the football. And I don't think they're going to ever be able to run the ball in the 49 ers. They're going to beat a lot of teams the way they play because they're more talented, but they're not going to beat the really good teams in football. It's just too basic and simple. And that would be the thing that bothered me about the game.

Mikey A, is it down to Dak and Joe Burrow for being the quarterbacks, I guess, in the worst spot because of the simplified offensive approach, or is there someone else in that conversation?

The one thing I'll give the Bengals credit for, like watching that game back on film, they're trying. They're expanding it's. Slowly but surely. They are. And you know how I said to you guys last week, right? A really good offense has to be really good at something, right? What are you elite at to get the game plan to go, whoa, they do this and we got to stop it? The Bengals said we're going to be the best short passing team in football, and every play we call is going to be for Jamar Chase. That's what we've kind of seen here the last two weeks, especially last week. And I'd go, okay, there's a start right now. Oh, wait, this week, the Seahawks are going to look at it and go, damn, they'll carve you up with a short passing game. We need to get up there.

Damn.

We need to double jamar Chase. And that's going to open up a whole bunch of other things in their offense. So, no, I would say the Cowboys are and Dak Prescott are fighting even a more uphill battle than the Bengals. Now, they can protect better the Dallas Cowboys than the Bengals can. They're better this week, the Bengals. But I think the offense is still more imaginative and going more in the right direction in that sense in Cincinnati than in Dallas.

Do you agree with Arlovsky when he says that Mac Jones would look a lot better playing for the San Francisco 49 Ers than the Patriots?

Well, you guys know me.

Of course. Yeah, I agree with him.

And I'm not trying to say, like, Mac Jones would be better than Brock Purdy or anything like that, but yes, this is the theme of us talking. Let's put this guy here. And you think he won't look as good on this all star team. And you think this one's going to look as good with this offense and slow receivers and offensive line that can't block and not a good running game? I mean, yes.

What are you smiling about?

I'm just taking it all in. I was honestly trying to figure out where I could put Kirk Cousins in that.

And then this is where I know MVP conversations and all that. And it's where I even said this on my podcast this week. Like, I'm just so sick of the MVP going to the quarterback on the.

Best team convenient here for this take.

Yeah.

Because the most valuable player on your offense is Tyreek Hill, period. It's not even close, all right? And the most valuable player in the 49 Ers offense is Christian McCaffrey. It's not even close. So that's the thing I'm going to pound the table for all year. I'm sick of this. They shouldn't even call it the MVP. They should just call it the quarterback on the best team award. That's what it's become.

Your dad would beg to differ. Your dad believes into it.

My dad and like me again, because that's what it is. He knows that that offense is awesome. He's going to put the stats up. He's playing great. I'm not trying to take away from that. The most valuable player on that team is Tyree Kill. Come on. He changes everything.

Fair.

Everything. You get to throw a screen over here and he runs across the field and up the sidelines for 70 yards. Who the has that luxury? Come on.

Nobody?

It's insane.

Chris, I know you watch the film, so I ask you this. How do the Dolphins make running the football look so easy?

Well, he's from Shanahan, right? So there's real genius in what they do in the attack, right? It's not just like, hey, this looks cool. And we'll send this guy in that way. Like we always talk about, there's rhyme and reason to the attack. They're masters at stressing the guy who has to set the edge in the running game, right? So there's always one guy that's in charge of, hey, don't let anybody outside of you. You have to funnel it back inside. And they find a million ways, like Shanahan does, to kind of expose that usually, right? And then if you overplay that, then they start running up the middle. They have a great combination of if you play too deep and you're worried about Tyreek and Waddle going to they can run the ball, and then if you play wait, we're going to crowd the middle of the field because Tua hits all these quick play action passes over the middle. Boom, boom, boom. Well, then they cram you in there and throw it outside too. So that's their formula. Like, you're going to play too deep and you want to stop the big play in the pass game.

Well, then we'll run the ball and I got some creative ways to run it. And you're going to be outnumbered because you're playing too deep. Oh, wait, you're playing single safety, but you're really playing for the middle of the field. Crossers and throws there. Well, we'll smash all you people in there and we'll toss it outside. Now you're all stuck inside and here we go. Right. So it sounds basic, but the way they coached it up and tied all together is phenomenal.

PFD with Mike Florio every day on Peacock, the Unbuttoned podcast football night in America as well. Again, Giants and Bills quickly put us in the living room as Texas and Sark owes you a game. I mean, he owes everyone an apology. That was a terrible coaching job by Sark. You have that good of a quarterback and you're being that conservative, put us in the living room there. Chris, what was going through your?

I mean, I was pissed. I really was. We're better than them. I think anybody could have watched that game and saw mean we were better. We messed it up. We're on the 1 YD line and we can't run it in. We can't run the freaking ball and we don't have another trick or something just to get a cheap touchdown in a big moment there. But then make the clutch drive and we let Oklahoma just go down the field in three or four plays like we were just like, oh, man, let's start the celebration. We won. Let's start having shots. That game every year, oklahoma always comes in with a chip on their shoulder and feeling like they're the little brother, the step brother to Texas and Texas. And I know this because I was a part of it. They always coming in like, well, we're Texas and we're going to put on a show and our school is worth $90 billion and we're an awesome university and they punch us in the mouth and all of a sudden we're like, what? We're in a rivalry game. It's just annoying. Really blew a big opportunity to maybe go to the national championship there in that one.

I say this lovingly. I felt like Billy was producing the game. The amount of times they showed your interception in that game, you had to be pissed off, right? No, I say that lovingly. I'm a friend of no, I couldn't watch that if I were you.

It's all know at some point you got to come to terms with it. It's the highlight that never dies.

Right.

That's just the way it is every year when that game gets close, I know that's going to happen. As I've told people before, right, I'm in the hall of fame at Oklahoma's football hall of fame more than most of their hall of fame football players. I mean, I'm all over that.

It's a weird flex.

I know.

It's not a weird flex. I'm not proud of know. Also, like, hey, context of the situation is we were allowed to block him know a little bit.

Team leader guy over here is everyone else's.

I did have somebody open over here and it was going to be interesting. But that was a great play by Roy Williams. And as I always say, Roy was the greatest college football player I ever played against. He was phenomenal.

Crazy PFD with Mike Florio every day on peacock unbutton podcast as well. Football night in America and every week here on God bless football. We love him, Chris. Thank you. Enjoy the weekend, man.

We made it, austin, we made it to your by week. Now you can come back healthy. Yeah, everything's going to be all good.

Is that a question? Well, hold on, austin, are you asking Austin Eckler if indeed he's coming back this year?

Oh, no, I'm just stating it as fact. Yeah, I know Austin's coming back.

Yeah, we all can you confirm that Austin 99%? I saw the 99% was out there.

Why are you leaving?

1% of doubt. Well, you never know, right?

I don't know. Some can happen. I want to make sure that I'm putting out appropriate message there because 100% I mean, is anything ever 100%? There's always crazy stuff that can happen.

You're right. By the way, I am working on your best man speech. I'll just have you know.

That nice.

I should have it prepared for you next week.

Are you going to chat GPT it?

No, there's been a draft. I don't know how much you're going to like this speech, but there's a.

Draft that's out there.

I've heard Austin.

All right.

I'm expecting at least a 20 minutes speech, so I'm just letting you know right now.

Okay?

Don't do that.

Don't do that to yourself. I'll keep it to ten minutes. Okay.

I mean, that's even extensive. If it was like three or four, I'd be like, well done.

It's going to be nine minutes of him thanking his sponsors and then 1 minute of a speech.

Okay.

Austin, I'm wondering, man, I know you're very friendly with Jonathan Taylor, and so what you learn? Because you don't just look at a situation and just evaluate it. I know you learned something from how he handled his business. So what did you learn from how Jonathan Taylor handled that situation?

Well, I don't have the full insights on the situation, so I can't really speak on it of what all went down. Obviously he got his deal, but I don't know, there was stuff going on with owners and him that came out on social media and it's like, how much do you trust that, right?

I guess just the extreme measures that he went to to get the deal that he indeed wanted sitting out.

What were the extreme measures?

I mean, he didn't play the first four games. He asked for permission to seek a trade. He didn't get a trade. He came back, he sat. He sat.

What about the injury coming back from that, from the pup list, all that stuff, right?

I mean, he was placed on that list. It wasn't like he was healthy. And he just said, I'm not playing anymore. The team kind of made so many other factors that I'm like, I can't.

Even speak on it, man. I'm just happy that he got extended, got himself a deal towards the top of the market at that as well, because he is one of the top players in our position. So looking forward to see the impact he continues to make on that team.

Did you guys talk throughout that whole situation with him?

I hit him up. No, I didn't talk to him throughout his contract negotiation and all that. I just hit him up after he had his press conference, even before, I think the news came out that he had gotten his new contract. And I just thought he handled it very professionally, talking about how, look, wherever he is and at this moment, it's with his current team, he's going to try to go out there and make the biggest impact. And it's not about him, it's about the team. It's about continue to contribute, and while he's available, hey, he's going to give it his all. So I appreciated his message that he put out there just to keep it in a space where it's like, neutral. No one can really fuster up anything about he's salty, he's happy. Just keep it neutral, man, because people are going to try to tear you down, try to tear you up, they try to put some controversy in it, and then that's not what you want to bring into your locker room. So he handled it very professionally.

I guess what I was thinking throughout is I want Austin Eckler to get that deal. I want my friend Austin Eckler to get that deal. That's all.

Hey, well, look, I'm in a into he's that was his second contract. I'm going into a different situation because I'm going into my third contract. And look, I have this last year on my know, the the fundamentals of my deal that I'm on right now were this situation where I was backing up Melvin Gordon. I had never been a you know, I wasn't considered a workhorse back. I don't even know if you still consider me that. But they were really uncertain about the impact I was going to be able to make and if I was going to be able to actually hold down my own as the starting running back. And so that's what my deal was based off of. And so now I've kind of proven over the past couple of years, like 1600 yards, 20 touchdowns each year. It's like, okay, this guy can do it. I can do it by myself. You can bring someone in to help. That would be great. I would love that. But also, if you don't have anyone, I can hold down the rope. So now my circumstances have changed. I think someone said it yesterday's prices are not today's prices.

And so I got to go out there and continue to prove that, and that's what I'm going to use this year to do. We were too far away from the deal being made, and so it didn't get done. And now it's up for me to go continue to make an impact and show that I can impact not just this team, but any other team that I'm going to be on.

You have the Cowboys on Monday night. Do you like, do you enjoy playing in Monday Night Football?

Yes and no. Yes, because it's a primetime game. Everyone's watching. It's like, okay, this is a spotlight and no, because I got to wait around all day. There's nothing on. There's no football on. And so us as football players were really anxious on game day, there's this feeling of like, okay, it's time to go. We're locked in. And when you have to sit around all day with that feeling of like, okay, let me go over my script again. What are the plays? What are the keys?

I don't know.

Maybe it's just me, but I just want to get to it. I want to get to it, but.

I want to wake up and play football.

Wake up, get right to it, man.

Let's go.

It's funny that you say that because Mike Golick told us the exact same thing. Like, two weeks ago. He was talking about a Notre Dame, like, 08:00 game, and he's like, I absolutely hated night games as a player. I wanted to get up and play as early as possible just because I'm wired that's what I'm doing that day. And if not, I'm just waiting around all day. And I hated that feeling.

Yeah, I'm going to be sitting in my hotel room for hours and then finally get to go play a game. So it's like, yeah, I would rather just get straight to it. Let's get in, let's go smash each other and let's go play some football.

But do you get extra once you're in it's Monday Night Football, the entire country's watching and you're playing the Cowboys. That's pretty cool.

Austin yeah, it's a pretty cool experience. It's hard to match that. The NFL and just what has been built over the decades of this league is pretty hard to beat, pretty hard to compare to as far as experiences, for sure.

Sounds like the mentality of someone who's confirmed he's playing on Monday night.

He got you.

As much as I.

Can, I guess, whatever that means.

When you watch the film of the Cowboys, what are you doing and thinking when you watch Micah Parsons, that guy is a menace. Austin yeah.

We call guys like that werewolves. We faced a few werewolves in our days. And you got to have a plan for these guys because they've earned the respect to get multiple hands on them like we are planning. We'll have a plan for him. I mean, they got a couple other studs on that defensive line, too. They got a really stout defensive line. So it's going to be a good test for our offensive line and tight ends and myself putting a protection plan to keep Justin upright and keep this run game moving forward. And so for guys like that, we just faced Max Crosby. We had a plan for him. He's another werewolf out there who just motor, just doesn't stop ever and is just efficient, is just ferocious and just has all these moves and power and has this thing. And so same thing with Micah where they're going to move him all over the place. He'll be on the edge, he'll be in the three text, he'll be over the nose, he'll be a linebacker. And we got to have a plan. And we have Kellen Moore who is planned against it for the past whatever years he's been over there.

And there's no doubt in my mind we'll have some type of way to try to slow him down.

Billy I want his top five werewolves.

I was wondering the same thing.

Can you think of that before the end of the second?

I can't give credit for taking that one. That is definitely Joe Lombardi saying so I want to give credit where credit's due there. I've just kept that one because that's gold, man. These guys, these DNS werewolves, we got a couple on our team, too. Top five werewolves. Micah is definitely up there. TJ Watt is up there as well, right? I would know. Both the Bosas are there. This Aiden Hutchinson, I think is that guy. He's there, too. I feel like there's a lot the guy from Tennessee, 93 or 98 on the interior over there. There's a few guys man, I feel like every team has that guy on the D line, but those are some that stick out to me.

Is this a Kellen Moore Revenge game? Wow. Didn't even think about that. We love a revenge game, Austin.

Love a good revenge game, for sure. It's definitely a revenge game, right. But I don't know how he went out over there if it was on good terms, bad terms, neutral terms. But regardless of how you go out, if a team doesn't bring you back and you play them, you want to prove to them, like, hey, this is what you're missing out on. Same if the Chargers didn't want to sign me back in the future if I'm playing them, I love the Chargers. I love being here, but it's like, hey, I'm going to show you what you're missing out on. And so, yeah, it's a revenge game. He wants to run up 100 points on these guys, and I'm there to help him try to do that. So looking forward to it.

Austin, when you watch the Dolphins run the football and they do it so, like, have you watched them enough to can you break down what the hell they're doing and how they do it so easily?

Man, they have such a creative running style with how they're running their wide. Their a lot of their run game is attacking the edge of the line of scrimmage. They do have some up the middle, traditional inside zone, wide zone runs, but a lot of their stuff, I feel like, is let's get ourselves on the edge.

Why?

Because of the speed that they have on their team. It's obviously built around speed. So where can you get the speed going? Where there's space, where there's not a lot of space in the middle. So they're attacking these lines of scrimmage and try to get their guys on the edge. So the simple manner, that's what I see them doing and they're really effective at it.

Billy, I'm interested here if Austin wants our advice, because he did announce last week that he's getting married in the offseason. We're very excited for him. But, you know, the key to a good wedding is the cocktail hour. And so I was wondering if we could offer up some advice as to certain things you should have at said cocktail hour. What do you know?

For whatever reason, I feel like this advice is going to be so ridiculous. However, I just want to hear just.

Pigs in a blanket. Well, pigs in a blanket. We could start right there. It's a staple. They need to be there. Okay.

Pigs in a blanket.

Yeah. Little hot dogs. Mini hot dogs.

Yeah.

No, this is like a tailgate party. What are we talking about here? It's a wedding.

You don't need to don't overthink it, Austin. Don't do like you don't need more than three, probably. Sometimes venues will give you a six. You don't really need six. It's not going to be actually that long. That's where they get you on the extras. Three is fine.

Austin, don't listen to them. They're skinny. You want to talk to me, listen. Lamb lollipops. That's what you want. The lamb chops. Lamb. Lamb lollipops. You call them lollipops. The little lamb chops. How about an ice sculpture with tequila flowing down from it?

I need to get my fiance up here because she's planning the whole thing. Give this advice to her.

He's got no say in any of it. Best advice. He's learned so quickly.

Best advice, Austin, keep it that way.

Don't involve yourself, because it's never ending.

Once you do, then it's like, well, what do you think about this? What do you think about that? It's like, I don't really care what color the thing underneath the table is.

Wait. Austin, next week, can you prepare questions for us about getting married and marriage in general and we'll help you out?

There we go. Yeah, I'll get a little list. We'll see if you guys can help me out. I would appreciate that. Yeah.

All right, man. We look forward to hopefully watching you play on Monday night. We're 99% certain we'll be watching you play on Monday night. It'd be good to see you back on the field, buddy. Thank you.

I would say those are pretty good.

Say they're great odds. Anything you want to promote on the way out here?

Yeah, actually I'm actually starting up a new company. Nice. Yeah, well, it's not like a huge corporation thing. It's a thing called X Games. It's a community that I'm starting in discord. We have trivia nights for Adidas gift packs. You can win some jewelry. We have online putt putt golf tournaments, a free poker tournament. You can come join. And so, yeah, check us out in discord on X Games. You can find it in my link tree on Instagram. If you want to come hang out, we got Uno night coming up on Monday. We have some contests coming up, some cool prizes. So just a place where you can hang out, play some games together and really just kick it.

You like uno.

I do like uno.

Draw four. You don't know?

Do I know?

Yeah. Reverse. What do you mean, do I don't.

Let me ask you this before I get out of here, okay? Do you allow the stacking of the plus twos, or is it just very controversial issue?

It is very controversial. So what do you thought growing up? I thought that you could only like, if you got it, you had to take it. You couldn't multiply it. But as you get older, if you can put a red four on top of a green four, why can't you put an extra reverse or an extra why can't you stack?

That's what I'm saying.

And by the way, Austin, here's my thing on this. Now that we're talking about it, i.

Feel like people.

I think that people have reached out to Uno, and Uno has made an official declaration on what the rules are on social media. And it's like, exactly right.

Shut the hell up. Like we're going to play by the rules that we want to play by. I don't care what the creative the game thinks.

Yeah, for sure, we'll play the game. You just make the cards. Let us play the damn game.

Exactly right. We'll make up the rules. What do they know? All right, so we're going to talk to you after you beat the Cowboys on Tuesday. Next Tuesday. I'm looking forward to that.

All right, awesome.

Likewise. All right, we'll see y'all.

Good luck to you, man. It is time for this week's edition of Stu. You got presented by DraftKing Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Download the DraftKing sportsbook app today. Use Code Stu for a special offer when you sign up. That's code Stu? Only at DraftKing sportsbook. College football week seven. Big week ahead of us. Let's get to the games. Colorado minus eleven. Take it on Stanford. This is at Colorado. Colorado has proven itself to be a really good football team. Stanford, not so much. Colorado wins, they cover the spread. Colorado by 17 points. At home over Stanford. Florida state -17 and a half. Take it on syracuse, they're at home. Buy it down to 17. Florida State wins, they cover the spread. Florida State. By 27 points. At home. Alabama -19 and a half. They're taking on arkansas, buy it down to 19. Alabama wins, they cover the spread. Alabama by 24 points at home over the Razorbacks. Kansas minus three at Oklahoma State. Buy it down to two and a half. Kansas wins, they cover Kansas by ten points over Oklahoma State. USC, big game this weekend. Take it on, Mike.

Golick's. Notre Dame fighting Irish. It's at Notre Dame. USC getting three points. Buy it up a half. Point to plus three and a half. The Trojans win by four points at Notre Dame. LSU minus eleven. They win, and they cover the Tigers by 14 points. Oregon State. Minus four. Take it on, UCLA. I like Oregon State here. They win, they cover Oregon State by seven points. And then finally, after I lose all of those games, we go to Hawai. They are home dogs plus six. The Rainbows. Take it on, San Diego State. San Diego State wins the game. Sorry, Hawaii, but Hawai covers. Let's go to the NFL. I need a big week, I really do. It is week six, three and four. Last week, 14 and 18 on the season. We start with the Titans and Ravens. Titans plus four and a half. Take it on the Ravens. The Titans win the game outright. Take the titans here. Titans win because that's what they do. The titans win by a field goal. Bengals minus three at home. Take it on the Seahawks. Buy it down to two and a half. Bengals win, they cover.

Bengals by seven points. Dolphins at home, they are a machine at home. -13 and a half. Take it on a winless. Carolina team buy it down to 13. Dolphins win by 21 points at home over Carolina. The Bears plus three at home. Take it on the Vikings, buy it up a half point. Bears plus three and a half. The Bears win it by seven points at home. Texans, they get a point, they're taking on the Saints. The Texans win, they cover the spread. Texans by four at home. Raiders minus three. Take it on the Pats, buy it down to two and a half points. The Raiders win. They cover. They win by four points. That is not a bet on the Raiders, that is a bet against Bill Belichick and the Patriots. The lions minus three at Tampa Bay. I love Baker Mayfield, just not this week. I love the lion. If any team is going to get in the way of Eagles and 49 ers NFC Championship game, it will be the Lions. The Lions win this week, they cover the spread, buy it down to two and a half. The Lions win by seven points against Tampa.

The chargers plus two. Take it on the cowboys. Our boy Austin Eckler, will he play? I don't know. But the Chargers win and they cover. How about that? Cowboys gonna lose two straight chargers getting two points at home, they win the game outright. Chargers by eight points at home over the Cowboys. Those are the picks, everyone. Good luck.

Rough one for the Irish this, huh?

Yeah. Rough season for the confidence.

Yeah. Listen, the Ohio State game, I mean it was a great game. I mean it was a bad ending, but it was a great game.

Yes.

And Notre Dame had showed, at least at that game, that they could stand toe to toe with one of the top Louisville. Listen, this is now against SC, going to be their fourth straight night game against an undefeated ranked opponent. It's just the way it falls. You got to be able to get through that. And they weren't. They played. Give Louisville credit. I thought in the second half, Louisville had the ball, notre Dame got a turnover and a field goal went up ten to seven. And I thought, okay, this is where Notre Dame starts to kind of push them around, kind of get physical on the line, kind of roll with the running game. And to Louisville's credit, that didn't happen. And Louisville is the one that got the running game going, so credit them. And now Notre Dame is out of the playoff hunt. I mean that's just as cold and cut dry as it is. That will change next year when we go to twelve teams, two losses, you can get in, but it's not going to happen this year.

This is why I don't like the twelve team playoff. Okay, I know you're looking forward to it, but what it does is you have Washington and Oregon this week. That is a de facto playoff game. The winner has a great chance of making it to the playoff. The loser is likely out of the playoff. It takes away from these regular season games that have so much meaning. That's why I don't like it. Mike?

Yeah, I get what you're saying. The loser of this game next year, if this were the same scenario, could literally still get in easily get in? I think, yeah, I mean, it depends. I still overall like it for a year, like this year, as a matter of fact, because I think there are a number of teams that could win. I don't think it's the normal three or four. Now, the way Georgia played against Kentucky, holy smokes, they finally looked like the best team in the country. Michigan still hasn't played anybody, but they're one of the top teams, but they play Penn State and Ohio State. So we're going to get a better view of that. But I mean, Florida State, Oklahoma. What they did to Texas, Washington, Oregon, Texas, SC, Alabama sitting at eleven. I'm going to the top twelve in North Carolina is twelve. I just think this is one of those years and this is what you hope for, where it could get competitive, where you have a number of teams. Because in the last few years a twelve team I think, would have been a waste and it'll go in spurts. Some years there'll be three dominant teams where the twelve teams will just be you're in the playoffs.

Cool.

And other years you legitimately will be able to have maybe the 8th seed pull off a few wins and win the whole thing.

Mike, is this the game for Notre Dame that you get the most excited about? The USC game?

I always have, like my kids, it's Notre Dame, Michigan, right? When they were there for me and like my brother Bob, who was before me, it was USC for right after me in the Lou Holtz type of era, it was Notre Dame, Miami, right. Catholics versus convicts and that whole thing. And when Miami was a hell of a ball club. So it switched from the players perspective over those different decades. For me it was SC, and I think overall I think it is SC.

You got the whole family coming in for this one.

What's happening?

No, actually nobody's coming in. I think my brother Bob might that's.

What happens with two losses. If they were undefeated playing USC the.

Whole well, no, I don't think Jake was actually just here for other reasons. My daughter Sydney is about three weeks away from giving birth, so she's not flying out here. Her husband's in med school. So there's an abundance of reasons now to your excuses. To me, Mike, maybe if they didn't lose to Louisville and they were still a top ten team.

You can take the maybe out of that, mike more would have shown up.

But I'm wondering how much this game in an ancillary statement, there are usually at the south Bend international airport, there are usually two to 300 private planes that are there on USC weekend between Notre Dame Rich Alum and USC Rich Alum. It is unbelievable. So I wonder how much of a hit that will be because Notre Dame lost that game to Louisville. Who decides not to come into this game now?

Where does South Bend fly to? Internationally. It has to be Canada, right? Like it has to just be it's.

All private, I think.

No, it's not all private, Billy. It's a great international Notre Dame, their team flew to Ireland from here.

So there you go.

That makes it is, I mean, there's, I think six or seven gates that are never all open at the same time because there's always construction on a couple of them. It's a tiny airport. So, yeah, to have the international tag is pretty interesting. Yet here we are, South Bend international airport.

Mike, you buy in Penn State, by the way, we've seen this before with Penn State. Them get off to a five and six and start and then they play Ohio State and Michigan. It's over.

Cautious optimism at best, but I don't think so. Ohio State looks like they can be had they get off to slow starts. Would I come on the next day on my show and say, oh, my God, one of the greatest upsets of all time, penn State beat Michigan or Penn State beat Ohio State? No, I wouldn't say that, but I would understand them being underdogs in both those games. Kid, their quarterback, alar, has got a what a monster arm that he has. God.

Mike, you buying into Oklahoma or was this just a rivalry?

What a game. What a game. I picked Texas in this one. I thought they were going to win. Oklahoma's defense has been playing pretty well, though. When you say defense in big twelve, you kind of say it with a smirk on your face. But at times there are good defenses in the big twelve then. What an awesome game. What a great drive that Oklahoma had at the end of the game. They're a fast offense anyway, so that was nothing to them for the fact of how quickly they moved down the field. But the success they had, that was incredible.

Billy, what have you found out here about Notre Dame's airport? International airport.

I'm on the South Bend international airport website, flysbn.com, and I found the page of airlines and destinations and it says right here, mike, you can go anywhere from here with twelve nonstop destinations. So I click on the destinations and I see Atlanta, Charlote, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Detroit, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Orlando, Punta Gorda, which is Fort Myers, Phoenix, Sarasota and Tampa. So it seems like at the moment we're not servicing international flight.

I have no idea what the criteria is. I'm just as surprised with you that it says international on it because I have never flown international. But like I said, they had a flight that took the team from here to Ireland.

So technically that's international in South Bend international airports defense. If I had an airport, I'd call it international. Even if it was only local.

You have to you get mocked by.

The other airports if you're not.

But Billy, I think they think international is the west coast of well, because.

It used to be South Bend Regional. It's another I mean, and international sounds so much better than regional. Yeah, that's true.

That's a good point.

Well done.

Mike, we didn't have the BCS ready for you this week, but I'm curious, your thoughts on this. There has been one shameful omission, disrespectful omission from the top 25 all season long. And of course, I'm talking about Air Force, who remains undefeated here, defending our country, going out there, protecting and serving. They can't even crack the top 25. What's going on here, Mike?

Yeah, they're like third in the others receiving votes. It's going to be teams in front of them losing. Unfortunately, they're not going to get that respect. And that would be the thing when you get to a twelve team. In all honesty, that's what I'd love to see a team like that go undefeated and then would they be able to get into the top twelve? When you go to twelve to get into the playoffs, it's going to be.

A four loss Alabama team over there. Exactly.

But also it'd probably be a terrible.

Game if that happened.

Yeah.

Respectfully.

Thank you for your service.

You'd love that as yeah, the little guy gets a chance here and then we'd go the game. We go OOH, because they'd be playing.

Look like every time Notre Dame makes the playoffs.

Are you done that's? That's a myth. Billy, other teams have gotten beat worse in the semifinals than Notre Dame has. So that's just Notre Dame hate on.

Your part, that's all, Mike.

I won't dispute that.

Thank you. Mike, just quickly, on the NFL, I've been saying all week for me it's been a while since you could really say this. It seems so predictable in the NFC, am I wrong? You'd be shocked if the Eagles don't play the niners in the NFC Championship game, right?

Yeah, I mean, the way it's going. Well, we said that from the beginning of the year, right? That those were the two top teams. And then you would probably put Dallas next. And then you had an array of teams. It was Philly San Fran. San Fran, Philly, however you want to do it. Drop Dallas. Drop everybody else. So who can be that team that maybe rises up? And that's the thing. Where do you go? Detroit? We all love the fact that they're four and one. We putting them up there to do that.

That's the one team I think that could sneak in there, Mike. I could see them beating either of those two teams.

I agree. Because they're a very physical team. I would agree. But I still don't see it happening. Nobody from the south, you know, has been a surprisingly fun team and surprising is the Rams, in all honesty, now they get cup back. It's been amazing how young they are and how they've been winning. But yeah, it is such a top heavy conference and after Dallas just getting smoked by him, but didn't stop Micah Parsons from continuing to talk about the possibility of a rematch. But they're just not at their level. Right. Is they are something to watch. I mean, they are so stacked on both sides of the ball and Philly has not played to their level yet, but I don't worry about that. They're still undefeated. They're finding a way to get it done and all they need to do is make sure they get in third and one and fourth and one situations and they're going to be fine with the brotherly shove. But, yeah, it's hard to think that those two teams aren't going to meet up and they're going to meet up December 3 in the regular season, which will be you absolutely want them both to be undefeated still at that point.

And that would be a game for probably the number one seed then.

Right.

So the jets have never beaten the Eagles. Mike, tell me why this week it's different. It's not beaten the eagles. It's not wait. This is a big couple of weeks for Golick here on God bless football. He gets the jets this week and the Dolphins next week. Billy, how about that?

So, I mean, you look at that matchup and the part that scares me the most for your jets is your old line against Philly's D line. And the pressure they're going to put on Zach Wilson is going to be tough.

We just lost our best offensive line.

Exactly. So what I am looking forward to is Philly. O line jets. D line.

Right.

That is going to be a great matchup. I'm really looking forward to that. I love how Salah talked about stopping the brotherly shove. He says we're going to give him eleven kisses, meaning you want eleven guys to hit jalen hurts. It's just a hard thing to stop of what you have to do. You're starting to see linebackers dive over the top to try and get jalen hurts. And that's not going to work because you can dive and grab them, but you have no leverage at all because your feet aren't on the ground and they're just going to push forward. So I just don't see it. Now, we did see Arizona beat Dallas. You see crazy things every week in the NFL. I just don't think the match I know. I just don't see the matchup. Jets offense, Philly defense working too much in the jets favor.

Gojo and Golick every day, eight to 10:00 a.m. Eastern on the Draft Kings network. You can get it on Roku. You can get it on Samsung TV. Also check out the podcast. You have a game this weekend, mike Olig.

I am doing Monday night again. So I'm doing the cowboys at the Chargers.

Nice.

And then next week back to Sunday nights. I have miami going to Philly.

Excellent. Yeah, that'll be miami. Philly.

That'll be a good one. But yeah, I'm going to be hanging out with my son Mike because he lives right by the stadium out there in the airport. So we'll do gojo and Golick from his place of residence out there a block from the beach. So I'm looking forward to hanging out.

There a little bit with him. Brent Key is with us. He's the head coach at Georgia Tech. Their game was pretty uneventful through a half and then it became one of the greatest games and maybe the greatest finish to any college football game that I have ever seen. But Billy was saying that because of that game, because of the ending, he could not sleep that night. So I'm wondering, coach, did you sleep at all that night?

I think I got in bed about 515 that night or the next morning after flying back and got to the house.

And here's what I did.

On Saturday mornings at ten we have a staff meeting. So it lets the coaches sleep in a little bit after a long week. And I forgot to turn my alarm off. So 915 on Sunday morning. My alarm goes off after getting in bed at 515. Massive mistake by myself.

How many times did you hit the snooze?

I threw it against the wall. Then I was up.

I was good.

So I started watching the game again and starting in my normal Sunday work.

So it's third and ten there, coach, and Miami has the ball. You're out of time out. 33 seconds to go. What are you thinking? You're not thinking taking evils, we're going to strip it and get the ball back. What are you thinking there?

You got to create a turnover, really.

But are you expecting the victory now? You know, Mario, a little bit from your days in Alabama. So you guys are friends. Like, are you thinking victory formation games over.

We lost know that was their run run the ball or go victory. But like, I mean, even if they'd gone victory, we would have done something to try to force the ball because we had to get the ball back. Look, regardless of the chances, somebody sent me the little graphic that's played of the 99.9% win lose. Well, that's why there's that's why it's 0.9%, not 100%.

Were you surprised he didn't take a knee?

I can only tell you what I would have done. I'm not going to tell you anything.

What would you have done?

I would have taken a knee.

Because you win the game and move on. Right, right. So you get the ball back and what do you tell your quarterback in that spot?

Well, leading up to that, the message to the team and the quarterback was, you can't always wait, put the energy on the quarterback to go win a game for you when things aren't going great. That's a lot of pressure to put on one person. And look at squartback position. They're going to have that pressure. But at that point now, the defense had stepped up, they had gotten the ball back for them. So it wasn't looking at one singular person to go win the game. It was the team working together. So they got the ball back. And look, we had 22 was it 22 seconds, I believe 24 seconds, something like that on the clock, yeah. So we had to put ourselves in a good position. We knew what our kick line was. Was it 20 to 17 then? I believe so. We knew what our kick line was. We knew we didn't have time out. We knew he had to get the ball to the sideline first play, didn't really find anybody open and threw it at the feet of the running back. Save the play there. Then he makes a gutsy throw to the sideline to Malik Rutherford.

Malik goes up, makes the catch, and he's trying to get out of bounds, but momentum obviously had him down beforehand. And we get to the line, hit it, spike the ball. So there's 10 seconds left now and you got no time out. So there's only one or two things to do. The whole fast field goal is out of the equation because you got 10 seconds. It's either catch it and hit a quick one to the sideline, get out of bounds, and how far you can get to getting field goal range. Now, you're still leaving it up to chance. Or actually, when he got pushed out of the pocket and started to scramble, the play wasn't designed to be a shot play down the field to win the game. I mean, there's 10 seconds there. So you're playing with two plays and you're working to get in field goal range as well, unless something big is there. I mean, you sit there and you design a play to go all the way down the field. At that point, you're going to run out of time. So when he got flushed, the receivers all went into scramble mode and they did exactly what they're supposed to do in scramble situations.

And Christian, the rule is the deepest stays deep if you can beat them deep. And that's what he did.

It's amazing. What was the kick line, by the way?

33.

So you get to the 33, you're going field goal there. Yes, and you're thinking on that final play, it turned out to be the final play. Let's try to get to the 33 or closer, get out of bounds, kick a field goal. Good over.

Percentage of plays. Percentages. That's what you're trying to do, right?

So what was your reaction as you saw him open down the field? You saw your quarterback deliver the ball perfectly to the wide receiver. What's going through your mind there?

I think it stayed in the air about 10 seconds.

I'm watching the quarterback.

My, at that time, went to the quarterback in the front because they've got talent on that defense now. I mean, that's a formidable defense as far as the talent goes and the way they can pressure the quarterback and get after the quarterback and cross the board. So I'm watching the front. He scrambles out, and then my eyes immediately go to the back end to see if we're executing scramble drill. You know, they got great talent on the back end of their safeties as well. And Christian was able to slip through and basically just kept it high. And by then, I'm like, he's about to throw that thing. And when I saw him looking and waiting, that's when my eyes went to the back end and I said, he's waiting for Christian, this kid. He's about to get open. And the thing he threw it up and able to make a play on it.

Coach, we have had Jalen Hurts on the show. We've had many guys who played at Alabama on this show. They tell us stories of Saban taking him out to the lake and trying to throw him off a raft. Did he ever do that with you?

No, he didn't. I wouldn't get on the back of the thing with him driving. He does he whips them around, tries to throw them off. I lived across the lake from him down in the slums. I lived in the small part of the lake.

The coordinator part?

Yeah.

You're working his side?

Yeah, he's over on the other. He's got three or four lots I think he's on. He tries to whip them off.

Maybe not the quarterbacks, though. They're important. Those know, I don't between between Jalen.

And Tua and Mean, I think all three of them probably flips off that thing.

Did you expect Jalen to be this me, I love.

He is he is as competitive as they come. The way he handled the situation there when everything went down, you got to think now the quarterback room was Jalen Hurts, mac Jones and Tua tongue aloha ridiculous. And to have that amount of talent in the room together, spread out different ages, but the competition between them, you're friendly and cordial, they're your teammates, but there's also a competition. And I think everybody in life has things they would have handled different at times. But the way Jalen handled that stuff graduated, and then it kind of came full circle for him that year in the SEC championship game when Tua got hurt, and he comes in and wins the game for us. And to see the light on his face when that happened, and after a whole year of just things going craziness, I'll say. And then to have the success he did at Oklahoma that he's having now, there was zero doubt in my mind that that kid was going to be a top level NFL quarterback. You talk about guts. And what you see with him is not fake. It's as real. He's as true to himself as anybody.

Billy wants to ask technology questions. I know he does. You know what? Well, I've always wondered what the tech in Georgia Tech was.

And it's not zoom, I guess.

No.

Hey, look, what's the biggest piece of technology we all have is this.

Yeah, the phone.

Everybody has it.

That you threw against your wall.

Yeah, well, the kicker I played with invented the camera on it, so there's wait, what?

Wait, what are you talking about? I regret asking you any questions about the Miami game. I only want to talk about the kicker. Invented the camera for the iPhone.

Yeah, I think the newest camera, he's got the patent on it.

How many kids on your team have a patent on something?

Ten to 15.

Where is that kicker today? The one who invented the camera on the iPhone?

I think he's back out in Silicon Valley.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, he came back to Tech for a year or two years. A year and a half. Two years to be the dean of the biomedical engineering school. And then he got bored with that and went back out. I think he bounces back and forth between Apple, Google. He'll go and get some new.

Metric.

System for hedge funds and help them make money and then take profits. Percentage of that. Then he'll go teach for another year at some school, and then he'll jump back into the I think he invented he got a patent on a new knee for a knee replacement at one point. Oh, yeah. Crazy.

What are you doing, Coach? Yeah, what are you helping with?

With society.

Taking knees.

There it is. What's this kicker's name? Who is this guy?

David Frakes.

All right, we got to get Frakes on the show, Billy. Yeah, you got to get Frakes on there, man.

Frakes is the smartest person I know.

All right. We appreciate your time, sir. All right.

Thanks, guys.

Is that a Wiffleball jersey? Yeah.

Do you own a Wiffleball team?

Was, um I was so proud of my first performance in Vegas yesterday that I slept in my jersey. But you do own a Wiffle ball team? Yeah, but I joined a Wiffle ball league, of course. Gord, you were in Vegas a week ago. You told us you were going home. You're still in Vegas. Have you left Vegas? Does it look like it? When. Are you going home, Gord? I just want to show you something else, too. Hold up, because I was unaware that I just woke up this is what I just woke up next to. It's an Easter bunny head. Yeah. Once again, I don't know where I am. Are you in your hotel room? No, definitely not.

So there's an Easter Bunny costume head.

In the bed next to you and.

You'Re wearing a Wiffleball jersey and he owns a Whiffle.

Absolutely ridiculous. Okay, what happens when you're here in Vegas?

Good life you lead. By the way, Gordy went 40 and one last week, as did Carl.

So it was Carl, I believe Gordy went 40 and one last week.

An incredible week last week. Now, on the other end of the spectrum, Kfunk went two, two and one, which is very embarrassing for me.

It is. And I will say this, though, I picked the jets, and then Stu got started talking and I changed my pick, otherwise I would have been a little better. So you're blaming me? Yeah, blaming you for that one. For your two, two and one. Where'd Share Bear go?

Share Bear went three, one and one.

Share Bear text me.

He goes, hey, what was my record? I go, I don't know, dude. I thought, I do know one thing, your banking team lost. And he goes, Bro, there's a reason behind that. Monday was a holiday, and I didn't take that into consideration. And since Monday was a holiday, the banking like, he blamed it all on the holiday.

That's actually a really good point. It was a banking holiday.

Yeah. Was it a regional holiday or national holiday?

National. Supersede regional.

Everyone knows that.

Share Bear, how was the pickleball tournament, by the way?

It was short.

You got knocked out in the first round.

How does this affect your world ranking Share Bear?

It comes and goes at the end of the day. I got a lot done, though, personally, when I was out. I mean, you win some, you lose some, right?

Did you try to get Gord home? I mean, man, Gordy had a high.

Roller out there and they were playing some big money. So Gordy was smart enough, he went partnered with him and want to load me instead of me taking X amount out. I thought it'd be cool just to lose 1500, 1508. Hundred. 800,800. 800. It just slow death. Slow death adds up quick let to them.

And that's low. I'm with Carl. That seems very quickly. 52535.

That's slow dollars.

Exactly.

Not hundreds, thousands. And Gordy's over there just piggybacking off the high roller. What'd you get, like 10% of his juice, guy?

25. Gordy got 25. Jesus, he was killing it.

If you guys are here, I bring you all out to a nice romantic dinner at maybe Spearmint Rhino. Romantic dinner? Yeah, they told me to have good food there. The grilled cheese is there is the best.

It's tough to beat.

Okay. Really? That's good to know. Jabba ordered 200 grilled cheese one time.

Wait, why did it?

Yes, jabba did.

She handing them out to people.

Listen, me and Jabba jason Derulo cheese. Jason Derulo was performing New Year's Eve. Jason Derulo performing at Jammies Club. We took the limo. Me, Jabba, Jason Derulo and his friend Spearmint Rhino. At like, 03:00 a.m., jabba orders 200 grilled cheeses and just starts handing them out to strippers like everyone in the place. Dude, Jabba, I miss him so much. He doesn't miss us, but not at all. Let's pick games so Gordy can get some rest here. All right. Carl can get to work because he's got an abortion job. All right. Seahawks at Bengals. Joe Burrow. Jamar Chase was right. Carl. He's always open. Burrow got on the ball last week. They look better. I've been going back and forth on this game, guys. I'm going to give up the points and take the Bengals at home. There you go. Bengals minus three at home. Share Bear, who are you taking here? Bengals. Seahawks.

I went with the Bengals. I remember good old Jeff Rubies. I'm going to go back with the Bengals.

All right. Taking the Bengals. Gord 401. Fresh off of four and one week and seven more days in Vegas. Who are you taking? I think Cincinnati wins. But Seattle covers. I'm taking Seattle. All right, who are you taking? KFOG. Big borough, baby. Let's do it. Okay, two in a row. Two in a row. Let's go to the next game. Here we'll go to share. Bear first. Vikings minus two and a half at Chicago. Taking on the Bears. Share Bear, who you going with?

Here back of my theory from last week.

US.

Bank Stadium. I'm going with Minnesota.

Oh, that's right. US. Bank Stadium.

No holidays coming up, so you're looking good.

Carl, who you taking in this game? Vikings, two and a half. Hey, man, I want to rock Western. Give me the bears. I got to go with my Bears this week. Gord, who you taking here? Minus two and a half. Vikings. Bears. I have to go with Minnesota. Bears are just too much of a liability. My favorite game last week was the Bears on Thursday. I pounded it.

I'm going to take the Bears again this week.

Gord, I don't want to ask you to do too much. I really don't, but can you put that bunny thing on and make the picks with the bunny hat on? Yeah.

Hold on.

Don't move too much. Don't strain a right. Let's go to Eagles and jets. Eagles minus seven. Taking on the jets at New York. So what a bad game. Cape on. Who you take it? I'm scared to even mention the J word, so I'm going to take the Eagles. Okay, carl, who you take it? Here? I'm going the Eagle as well, man. Give the points. Share Bear, who you take it? Here? I can't wait to go back to Gord. Share, bear who you take? It here?

I'm going to jets, baby. Anything Kristen does, I do. Opposite.

Okay, good call.

All right, let's is Gord ready? What's smell like in there? Actually, it smells like candy. All right, Gord, do you need me to tell you the game again? It's eagles minus seven. They're at the jets. Who you taking? Gord. Oh, that's a lot of points. I'm going to go with the jets. Jets, let's go. Lions at Buccaneers. Lions minus three at Tampa Bay. I got to go K Funk first. K Funk, are you going to the game? Who are you taking? I'm going to the game and this is tough, man. I don't know the last game. Just the debacle that happened with the Bucks. I'm going to go with the Lions here. I think they're just a better team overall. I don't trust Baker. Carl Douglas is shaking his head. I think he agrees. Are you taking Carl? Of course. The Lions. Easy one.

This one.

Easy, lions.

All right, Share Bear, you know, from.

Fort Myers here, henry Ford had his good know winter home and I think I'm going to go with Detroit Lions.

Good old all right.

Good old Henry Ford.

Yep.

I like it. It's a good theory. Wait, who did K Funk take in that game? He took the lions. Care Bear, who did you take?

The Lions.

You just told us you were fading him. Did you?

Yeah.

Yeah.

But when it comes to Henry Ford's house, what is he supposed to do?

Henry Ford's house, right. There's a loophole. Let's go. To Gord. Who's wearing a bunny costume. Gord, who are you taking? I have to go with the Bucks because of TV twelve and big Rob. Gordy, where are your eyes? What can you see out of do you see out of the eyes?

Out of the nose?

What do you see? Kyle Douglas, this is a real easy pick, just like you said. I'm going with the Bucks. No, but he asked you a question, Gordon. Can you see out of that costume? Where's your eyes? Where's the eyes? Okay.

There we go.

I guess there's. All right, here we go. Gord. Final game. Cowboys minus two at the Chargers. Gord, who you taking here? Chargers. Carl, who you taking here? Look at my hat. The chargers all the way. Okay. Sorry about that game. Fog, who are you taking here? That's not a Chargers hat. I didn't want to say it my bad.

Wrong hat. Wrong hat.

I think our guy our regular on God bless football eckler. I think he's back this week, right?

I'm giving, yeah, 99%.

Two tuddies for him and the Chargers win. Let's go.

Okay.

I can't wait to hear Share Bear's theory on why he's taking the Chargers. Go ahead, Share Bear.

I mean, Dak Prescott can't have two or three games in a row like that. So you got to go with the Cowboys.

I like, I'll go money line.

It gives me a win and a half.

Wow. A win and a half. Okay.

You want to do the money line here?

Give me a win and a half to make up for a tough first week.

So if the Cowboys win by a point, you don't win. Is that what you're saying? I like the idea of you guys taking money lines for an extra win. I like that both ways. Win or loss. Let's do this. We can start that next week. Okay, that's good. It's a good idea by you, Share Bear. I like your style, man. Gord. All right, guys. Carl, on the way out here, promote the law firm, man. The one thing I do better than picking teams is Douglas Hicks Law in La. For all your pledges, please call me Gord. Promote something on the way out. Promote the PWL. The Professional Wiffleball League. Yesterday was my appearance. I was the first ever player that was voted into a league that was picked at the beginning of the season. There was a lot of controversy in the chats yesterday. That ex professional athlete is now playing pickleball, and he had the best stats compared to anyone else in the league, and he's never played before. So I'm going to have to deal with that today. But I'm promoting them just for goodwill to make sure that I don't get kicked out of the league after the first.

Right. All right. Well done. Gord. We love you, dude. All right, Share Bear, you want to promote anything on the way out here?

Yeah, we're on the weekend.

A little deso's.

It's the first gluten free vodka seltzer. Not bad.

Perfect for hydrating a guy like Gordy.

On at 08:00 on a Thursday morning.

All right, jets, we love you. Take care.

Always a pleasure.

We'll talk to you next week.