Did the Pats Become the Bills? Is Stafford the MVP? Do the Jags Hate Their Fans? Plus, Guess the Lines With Cousin Sal.

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Cousin Sal right after the Sunday night matchup between the Chargers and Steelers to recap Week 10 of the NFL season (1:41). Then, they guess the lines for Week 11 before ending with Parent Corner (01:06:07). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Cousin Sal Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo #ULTRACourtside could get you closer to the game! https://michelobultra.com/courtside ENJOY RESPONSIBLY ©️ 2025 ANHEUSER-BUSCH, MICHELOB ULTRA®️ LIGHT BEER, ST. LOUIS, MO. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠ www.rg-help.com⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Bill Simmons?

  This episode is brought to you by Expedia. You know how at the end of the season, your team goes to Cancun? Sometimes earlier than expected, sometimes after blowing a 3-1 series lead. But what if you went to Cancun with Expedia? Save up to 30% when you bundle and save. You can book the flight or the hotel now, then book the rest later. In all fairness, though, hopefully your team doesn't go to Cancun. 123 Cancun. Or if they do, you go with them. Expedia, the one place you go to go places. Sign in to save. Savings vary. The Bill Simmons Podcast is brought to you by The Ringer Podcast Network, where I have a new episode, the rewatch was coming on Monday. We did Snake Eyes. It is a Nick Cage, Brian DePaul movie that came out in 1998. It's a rollicking thrill ride. It's great.

• 0:45Bill Simmons?

  You can find it. It's streaming basically anywhere, but it's a really good one. It was me, Sean Fantasy and Van Lathan. So you can check that out wherever you get your podcasts. Coming up on this one, Cousin Sal and I are going to break down Sunday, Week 10. I was traveling. I'm going to talk about that. Always bad luck for my, for my bets, but very good luck today for my Patriots. We're going to talk about the AFC East. We're going to talk about the playoff picture. We're going to talk about a really crappy Sunday night game and a lot of football subplots. It's all next. Break, Pearl Jam, and then Sal. This episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast is presented by State Farm. Having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm.

• 1:27Bill Simmons?

  It's like needing the protection offensive guard on the football field, but getting an elementary school crossing guard. Sure, they're both guards, but you can only trust one to keep your quarterback safe when the game is on the line. So don't settle for just any insurance when you can have State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

• 2:10Bill Simmons?

  Cousin Sal is here, Sunday night BS podcast. Pittsburgh did not show up, but we did. Sal, I was traveling today. I traveled cross country. I somehow made it. I was on a plane. I was on one of the few planes that made it across country.

• 2:24Speaker 01

  You were so nervous. We were looking at the JetBlue lounges where you could set up the podcast recording. It didn't come to that, though.

• 2:32Bill Simmons?

  Could have been on like on my phone. I will say this, though. My plane did take off on time. Just amazing. Remember, remember, who gave you that, that handheld TV like 20 years ago? Jimmy?

• 2:43Speaker 01

  Oh, Jimmy. Yeah, the one with the rope sort of antenna around it? Yeah.

• 2:48Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. And it was like, whoa, this is amazing. And now I'm on the plane. There's DirecTV, so I can have the red zone on. But then I had my big iPad and I had Multi-View on there. So I basically had four games, including the Patriots, plus the red zone. Go all the way through the early games. Then the late games come on, watch like half of it. We land, I'm walking through the airport, I'm watching the Niners Rams game on my phone as I'm walking to my car. I was just like, man, we don't appreciate enough how great all of this is. We really don't.

• 3:18Speaker 01

  It's pretty cool. You a long flight like that? You like, screw it, keep going. Go to Hawaii. I'm covered. I got all these games on.

• 3:25Bill Simmons?

  I could have gone, I was thinking I could have gone for the London game. I could have done like a 10 hour flight to like London. Yeah. Just or further. I don't know.

• 3:34Speaker 01

  You know what's better, though? When you're watching the games and you have money on them and you win. Like then, then it's the full experience that I have not experienced.

• 3:41Bill Simmons?

  I did not have that experience and I should have known. I got, I got mildly killed today. And anytime I travel, it's like the stink goes on. Not that I'm affecting the results of these games, but very rarely does it work out. Want to start with the Sunday night really quick?

• 3:57Speaker 01

  Sure. Let's get over it.

• 3:58Bill Simmons?

  Baltimore wins earlier and Pittsburgh's in this nice little spot against the Chargers with Joe Alt out and they have no tackles and the Steelers have beaten the Colts and the Patriots this year, who are arguably the two best teams in the AFC. And it's Rogers at Sunday night. It's Collinsworth tackling his way through the game and had all the makings. And the Steelers were just awful. And Rogers particularly.

• 4:22Bill Simmons?

  Was awful. And I do wonder, was this like a two month thing with him physically? Where he could kind of patch this together, but as the season went along and he took some hits, now we're starting to see him break down.

• 4:33Speaker 01

  I hadn't thought of that. That's interesting. Yeah, he was particularly immobile tonight. Against what it seemed like a fierce, fierce front there for the Chargers. But, um, you know, I, I think it's, it's important, not that I can ever take advantage or anything, even though I had over 23 and a half of the Chargers lucky.

• 4:51Bill Simmons?

  Nice.

• 4:52Speaker 01

  It's important to not give some of these upcoming, these teams too much credit. Like, all right, what did the Steelers even do last week to the Colts? Like, well, they forced six turnovers and still only scored 27 points, right? So, and only won by seven. So I was like, I'm not buying it. I get it. Offensive line issues and everything. And that's why I like the Chargers. And I think everyone made a lot of, that they'd have like 140% of the fans there. And they did. Uh, but yeah, they did not show it all.

• 5:20Bill Simmons?

  Well, unfortunately they didn't have a competent quarterback. He was back by the second half to being the guy that we saw last year, the guy who didn't want to get hit. And they had that great replay of him about to get hit, winging that ball over, um, somebody's head, maybe it was Gainwell, because that, the pressure was coming. He basically did like a 360 after he threw it, instead of just going in, completing the ball, and then taking the hit, which we saw a bunch of good quarterbacks do today. Didn't seem like he wanted to take the hit. So I don't know what that means. I, I didn't think the Ravens looked particularly good today either. You know, that, I thought Minnesota, did you watch that game?

• 5:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, I did. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I had them all. I didn't, I wasn't on a plane, but I managed to pull the games up. Yeah.

• 6:02Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, that was one of my multi-view games. Minnesota had eight false starts, had 13 penalties. McCarthy is just, one play, he's good. The next play, he's awful. He's all over the place.

• 6:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:13Bill Simmons?

  And, uh, and the Ravens just, they were okay. They had a lot of drops. They had no flow to them. But it really feels like the four seed coming out of that division, I'm not sure how scary it's gonna be.

• 6:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, I thought we'd have a few more cross offs today and a few more. I'm excited to bet against them in the playoffs first round, but I think we can only keep it to two. But yeah, the Ravens were looking to let Minnesota back in and it was a weird rough.

• 6:38Bill Simmons?

  They basically did. They did kind of let them in. All of a sudden it felt like the game was over and then it wasn't. And the Vikings were kind of hanging around.

• 6:46Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:46Bill Simmons?

  But.

• 6:47Speaker 01

  But they got the division. They're, they're, they're good now, right? That didn't take long. They're right back in it. They're, are they a big favorite? I forgot to even look after this.

• 6:56Bill Simmons?

  They're probably like minus 200 now after that game, right?

• 6:58Speaker 01

  Who's gonna catch him? The fricking Browns? No. Yeah, the Ravens are minus 270.

• 7:04Bill Simmons?

  Unbelievable. They're four and five and they're minus 270.

• 7:07Speaker 01

  What happened?

• 7:08Bill Simmons?

  They're still a game back. Well, Tomlin at halftime of this game, they interviewed him. And he started out by saying, we'll keep snapping it.

• 7:17Speaker 01

  It's good.

• 7:18Bill Simmons?

  I've never heard that one before. We'll keep snapping. Well, I guess you got that. You still snapping the ball.

• 7:23Speaker 01

  It was right. They did. There was, there was like 25 snaps.

• 7:27Bill Simmons?

  They snapped at every play. He was, he did predict that. Yeah, I don't know what to make of that Steelers team anymore. I think I've lost money on them in at least half of their games. What's your record within Steelers games this year?

• 7:38Speaker 01

  I guess you have to be careful with them. I don't, I don't, I've, I've lost with them, but we did have them under two. So maybe that'll cash. We already lost our first over under of the year.

• 7:48Bill Simmons?

  Which was that?

• 7:49Speaker 01

  It was the Colts that cashed. We had under seven.

• 7:51Bill Simmons?

  On the Pats though, I'm one and one.

• 7:54Speaker 01

  Did they go, did that go official yet?

• 7:56Bill Simmons?

  They were seven and a half initially. I think they ended at eight and a half, but they, but when I bet on them when I was in Indiana, it was seven and a half.

• 8:02Speaker 01

  Okay. I don't know. Well, our preseason thing, I think they still have.

• 8:05Bill Simmons?

  Our preseason was eight and a half. Well, they're going to get that too. Probably Thursday night.

• 8:08Speaker 01

  Oh, man.

• 8:10Bill Simmons?

  Want to talk about them or you want to hold off?

• 8:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. Let's just, you know, I'd rather you record this part before I get on, but after a win like that, but if we must, let's do it.

• 8:19Bill Simmons?

  Should I? I could have done that with a family member.

• 8:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

• 8:23Bill Simmons?

  Could I have like Cousin John or something? Just I do the Pats part with him and then you come in after.

• 8:27Speaker 01

  Father Bill would have been good too. Whoever. Yeah.

• 8:30Bill Simmons?

  The Patriots are eight and two. They're five and O on the road. They've swept the NFC South and they've won in Buffalo and they've won in Tampa Bay. And I did not think they were going to win today. I really didn't. I thought they they were due for a shit game. This is a bad matchup. It was a team that was going to be able to throw the ball on them. They didn't really have a competent running back situation going. And all of their rookies came through. Henderson, a bunch of big plays, looked like Jameer Gibbs and Achan, like one of that in that class. Kyle Williams made a big play. Couple of the other guys made big plays. And and I just thought they they thoroughly beat Tampa. That wasn't a fluke. They they played better. And they actually should have gone up double digits in the fourth quarter and May took a headshot.

• 9:16Bill Simmons?

  Like the seventh headshot he's taken this year. And of course threw a pick two, two plays later. And then all of a sudden Tampa's coming back down. But I thought it was a pretty convincing win by the Pats. What'd you think?

• 9:27Speaker 01

  I think they do it all. And now if you add this running game in, I mean, they had two running plays that I had not really seen before. I don't think. First of all, before the half, Drake maybe like basically takes a knee, but without losing yardage so that to keep the clock running, but.

• 9:43Bill Simmons?

  So he said he was gonna sneak and Vita Vea blew it up.

• 9:46Speaker 01

  What?

• 9:46Bill Simmons?

  I don't know if I believe that.

• 9:47Speaker 01

  He didn't move forward at all.

• 9:49Bill Simmons?

  But anyway, I don't know if I believe that.

• 9:51Speaker 01

  And then Trevion at the end like gets a pitch left and runs to pay dirt and is like looking to the bench for the last 10 yards to see if he should score or not. They're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, go have fun.

• 10:04Bill Simmons?

  And Mays like going down, stay down. He's like, Mickey.

• 10:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, exactly. But yeah, but so that between that and and stopping the run, you still can't run against this team, your team. And Drake May is great. I mean, listen, I think this Pats resurgence is annoying and I think it's unfair. But as your friend, I was excited to see your Patriots score and then cut away to you and Robert Kraft high fiving in the luxury box. You seemed so happy in your, your T-shirt. That wasn't you?

• 10:32Bill Simmons?

  I was pumped. No, it wasn't me, but I was pumped anyway.

• 10:35Speaker 01

  All right.

• 10:39Bill Simmons?

  Well, Drake maybe came the MVP favorite.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:42Bill Simmons?

  That lasted a little while until Matthew Stafford got hot. I was thinking, how many people do you think waved Henderson? After about eight weeks?

• 10:50Speaker 01

  Oh, lots. Yeah, right.

• 10:52Bill Simmons?

  I had to have been at least 50% of the teams, right? There's got to be some word for that. Remember when we were working for Kimmel Show and there was one of the writers, Ribsey?

• 11:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:03Bill Simmons?

  Mark Rivers.

• 11:04Speaker 01

  Right.

• 11:04Bill Simmons?

  He would kind of zone out. I think he would be working on his talking points as we were going around the table and it would come to him. He would do this thing, but somebody had already did it an hour ago. And we started to call it a Ribsey and then it just became a Ribsey was the name we had.

• 11:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:17Bill Simmons?

  There should be a name for waving a guy who then turns into being a guy down the stretch that you'd absolutely 100% want.

• 11:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:26Bill Simmons?

  Because if you had Henderson, you spent what 25, 30 bucks on him or you took him in the first five rounds?

• 11:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, you did.

• 11:33Bill Simmons?

  And then you're like, that's it. This guy, this is a sunk cost. I gotta wait. And now he had, what did he have 27 points today?

• 11:39Speaker 01

  That was insanity. But how many, what's the volume for him? Like, that's the, that's the thing we hated with Belichick running backs. Is Vrabel gonna? Is he still gonna get, is he gonna get 15 carries a game?

• 11:50Bill Simmons?

  The running back situation's bleak because they had some guy Jennings who was a practice squad guy most of the year and then he got hurt. They had, De'arnis Johnson had a snap. I didn't even know he was on the team until like four days ago. So, you know, they're playing the Jets Thursday. Vrabel, I watched all the, all the post-game speeches. I want to talk about that later. Vrabel is very short and concise.

• 12:15Bill Simmons?

  Onto the next one. Thursday, we're playing like keep it going. Wasn't, there's no celebration on this team. This, I said this to you a couple of weeks ago on the pod. This team really thinks it's good. I think they believe in the coach and they believe in the quarterback. I don't know how long it's going to last, but they haven't played a bad game since week.

• 12:32Speaker 01

  No, you gotta stop with this. They're the team to beat now. They're minus 240 to win the division. It would be upsetting.

• 12:38Bill Simmons?

  It's 240 now?

• 12:39Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got a game ahead. You have what? More than two game lead on the Bills?

• 12:43Bill Simmons?

  We play Buffalo again now.

• 12:44Speaker 01

  All right. Okay. You don't play them three times. You only play. One. So I think.

• 12:48Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, it's Tom Kraft today in the luxury box.

• 12:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:50Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 12:52Speaker 01

  Guys are eating pizza together. I don't know. I this is a letdown now if you lose. I'm sorry. It really is.

• 12:58Bill Simmons?

  It's a letdown.

• 12:59Speaker 01

  It's a letdown. You. I don't know how you did it. You freaking you just with the quarterback things. All you do is date supermodels. You go from one to the other in the maybe for like four months in the middle. There was a Adrian from Rocky one, you know, like, all right, yeah, she has potential. That was Mac Jones, but there you go. Now you're right back.

• 13:20Bill Simmons?

  Now you're back. We've resuscitated Mac. He's just he's 3,000 miles away.

• 13:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:25Bill Simmons?

  I will say this. They're getting a lot of weak schedule stuff, which admittedly that was one of the reasons we both loved the over because their schedule is pretty weak. What are what are Indy's big wins? Why doesn't Indy get the weak schedule thing? Indy's in the AFC South.

• 13:39Speaker 01

  That's true.

• 13:40Bill Simmons?

  They've beaten seven teams with with or they've beaten six teams with three wins or less Indianapolis. And their two good wins are Denver and the Chargers. And that Denver game they should have lost and it was an absolute highway robbery. Right? The Chargers was their one good win.

• 13:56Speaker 01

  Right.

• 13:57Bill Simmons?

  They've lost to the Steelers. They lost to the Rams. The Patriots have good wins in Tampa and in Buffalo. And really only one bad game that week one in Vegas, which as we discussed, you just kind of, I guess, throw away week one.

• 14:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'll give you that.

• 14:10Bill Simmons?

  Week one's like the last preseason game, but I don't think you could use the weak schedule thing and not use it against the Colts.

• 14:16Speaker 01

  You're true. That's true.

• 14:17Bill Simmons?

  Barely got by Atlanta today and probably shouldn't have. And I can't wait to talk about that game, but yeah, I don't know. I can't tell how good this Pat's team is because

• 14:29Bill Simmons?

  I it worries me that they can't run the ball with the lead in the fourth quarter. And I think you have to do that in January, but Ramandre is going to come back and maybe that'll be the last piece. And, you know, I think they've conditioned May now. When he's doing those scrambles on the outside, it's like he's almost like he's gone the opposite of last year. Like last year, he was like Jackson Dart. He was like, just settle down, dude. You're going to get hurt. This year, he's almost like trying not to get hurt. And I feel like he's. He's gonna get hurt doing that. He took a couple of huge shots today. So he's gotta find that middle ground, but.

• 15:02Speaker 01

  When you tense up, well, maybe that's where the leader for coach of the year, odds wise, could get in there and tell him to relax a little. Do we talk about?

• 15:11Bill Simmons?

  Who is the leader now?

• 15:11Speaker 01

  It's Vrabel at plus 125. I think he was, he was three to one when we did this last week. Steichen's plus 140. So maybe people are starting to believe in that. What wins do you have Colts? There you have.

• 15:24Bill Simmons?

  Interesting. I would say Vrabel had a probably harder job than Steichen did this year.

• 15:30Speaker 01

  Getting this together? Yeah.

• 15:31Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, the Pats lost 13 plus games two years in a row and they have a bunch of young guys he cleaned out. Basically, the Colts thing came down to they added Tyler Warren and they they hit on the Jones thing, which he gets credit for, obviously, but I think Vrabel has more.

• 15:47Speaker 01

  Well, in August, as is evidence of us betting under seven and a half, we didn't have any hopes for Daniel Jones to do anything.

• 15:54Bill Simmons?

  No, why would, but why would we have, you know? Even today, when you're watching him in that Germany game, every time there's like some sort of Daniel Jones player like, oh, here we go. Here it is. He's gonna pull off his Daniel Jones mask. Turn into Giants.

• 16:09Speaker 01

  Do you want to talk about that just now? Because I was, because, you know, I was doing the pregame show, so I didn't have like a lot of attention to it. I would, I would watch, but, and then I watched the extended highlights. I thought he was pretty good. I thought this was like one of their more impressive wins. Like I said, I was gonna say, like, this should be, this is a first round exit. The Colts put them up there with Denver. I've seen enough, but he was dumped seven times and that wasn't even, none of those were the hardest he was hit, but that third and 21 play where he runs for 19, then he bangs his head on a bench and he's bleeding from the mouth. He looks like a child who got into the cherry sorbet in the middle of the night. And I don't know, I've just, I haven't lost faith in him right now. I'll say that. They should beat a team like Atlanta better

• 16:53Speaker 01

  than 30, 25 in overtime, but pretty damn good.

• 16:58Bill Simmons?

  The fourth and two to Warren was great.

• 17:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:00Bill Simmons?

  Cause if they don't make that play, they lose the game.

• 17:04Bill Simmons?

  I kind of felt like it was going to Warren because that became a video game situation. But what would you do if you're playing a video game? I would just throw the guy who catches everything. Comes off the line. Atlanta knows it's coming. He has to throw it high to get to him and Warren like still made like a crazy catch. But that was an awesome play. I, I thought they won the game.

• 17:23Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:23Bill Simmons?

  You know, like they, they had to actually go take it. With that said, um, the Raheem Penix alliance is, is an all-timer. Penix had, I don't know. Maybe 12 terrible throws, might've been 15.

• 17:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:40Bill Simmons?

  I wish that was a stat. I know there's no way to just, you'd have to have somebody just assign terrible throw. But he just had, he got behind things.

• 17:48Speaker 01

  Don't they have it?

• 17:49Bill Simmons?

  They have uncatchable throws. I wish they had like.

• 17:52Speaker 01

  Anyone is.

• 17:53Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wish they just had fucking terrible throws. Like FTTs.

• 17:57Speaker 01

  FTTs.

• 17:58Bill Simmons?

  But, uh, bad special teams, like just a fucking staple for Raheem Morris. Like I over, even, even, uh, there was one time when they're kicking off and like, well, this is going to go to the 45 right at, right at the end. Right?

• 18:12Speaker 01

  Mm hmm.

• 18:12Bill Simmons?

  You're just like, you just know the Colts are going to start like close to field goal range somehow.

• 18:18Speaker 01

  Then we should talk about Jonathan Taylor.

• 18:19Bill Simmons?

  And Taylor was the other piece. Taylor was incredible.

• 18:22Speaker 01

  He's spectacular.

• 18:23Bill Simmons?

  Four, three touchdown game.

• 18:24Speaker 01

  And he is now third. So it's, it's Drake May. It's, he's three to one. Stafford's three to one and JT is plus 500. And I'm not.

• 18:33Bill Simmons?

  Well, who do you think is MVP? I think it's a, it's a worthy conversation after 10 weeks. If you had to pick somebody, who would you pick?

• 18:41Speaker 01

  I can't say.

• 18:42Bill Simmons?

  Did you pick Drake May?

• 18:42Speaker 01

  I can't say baby. I can't. I mean, I said maybe.

• 18:45Bill Simmons?

  You go maybe?

• 18:45Speaker 01

  I regret it. No, I'm going to say Matthew Stafford.

• 18:49Speaker 01

  I think he's excellent.

• 18:49Bill Simmons?

  I'm obviously biased because I love the Patriots and I love Drake May. But I think it's Stafford. I think he's been the best guy. Cause it can't just be the stats and it can't just be impact on the team and how actually valuable you are. And that there's narrative and all that stuff. Stafford's just been lights out every week. Like he has the, the performance thing. May will still have like his two kind of sketchy throws a game. He had the one today, the terrible pick near the end. Now granted, he might've been at his bell rung. But Stafford's just been lights out week after week after week. And I, I just think it has to be him. You have 12 touchdowns in three weeks. You're housing everybody, but I think next week will be the MVP test for him.

• 19:30Speaker 01

  That'll be a big game.

• 19:31Bill Simmons?

  If they beat Seattle. That'll be it.

• 19:33Speaker 01

  That's a good one. So now he's going, yeah, so it's hard. Yeah, maybe stats are phenomenal too, but Stafford, you're right. Last six games, almost 1,700 yards, 20 touchdowns, no interceptions. Some of those games without.

• 19:46Bill Simmons?

  No interceptions.

• 19:47Speaker 01

  No, no turnover, no, no interceptions. And by the way, today was the first time he, he hit 500 in his career. He's got 115 wins, 115 losses and a tie.

• 19:58Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 19:58Speaker 01

  He dug himself out of the biggest hole in history, being the Lions quarterback for so many years. I think just the, I don't know, the sympathetic vote should go to him. Maybe he's probably going to win MVPs down the road, but this guy had to go out there, all those Thanksgivings and embarrass himself with that crud team. Give it to Stafford if it keeps up.

• 20:17Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, I was thinking the, the shit red herring storylines from before the year that affected what we thought was going to happen during this season.

• 20:25Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 20:26Bill Simmons?

  The MVP of that was Stafford's back.

• 20:28Speaker 01

  Right, right.

• 20:30Bill Simmons?

  People were so freaked out about Stafford's back. It became the only way they looked at the Rams and they, people, you know, they, I can't remember if they were actually favored. I think the Niners were favored for the.

• 20:40Speaker 01

  Niners were favored. They had a very high.

• 20:42Bill Simmons?

  And there was a lot of like, I could see the Rams, the Stafford, who knows? I remember thinking it too. Uh, that, and I think the Parsons trade were the two.

• 20:51Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 20:51Bill Simmons?

  The two things that skewed how people thought of the season heading into it.

• 20:55Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 20:55Bill Simmons?

  Cause when Green Bay got Parsons, like, oh my God, look out. And, uh, you know, didn't have the same.

• 21:00Speaker 01

  Yeah. Stafford, I think we were turned off by the fact like this is a 34, 35 year old who has had spine. So I'm never going to fall for that again. If a 35 year old athlete has spine surgery, I'm betting the house on them every year. Cause it's only, only good. Yeah.

• 21:15Bill Simmons?

  Pro spine surgery. Well, the Pats, Brable apparently was saying after the game, he was congratulating people in the Pats for being the NFC South champions. Cause they swept the NFC South 4-0.

• 21:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:29Bill Simmons?

  That's not nothing. I actually think Atlanta is like a pretty talented team that just can't stay out of its own way. But I, I feel like I've watched five or six full Falcons games and they have talent and they can do a lot of different things. And it's, they have this identity where all of a sudden they can run the ball and it just seems like Algier is downhill, just running for nine yards a carry for 10 straight minutes. It seems like they can rush the passer, right? It seems like Drake London can just take over the game. There's moments where Bijan, we used to call him Bijan, now he's Bijan, where Bijan seems like he's the best player in the league. And yet then you look up at the end and they've lost again. They're three and six.

• 22:09Speaker 01

  They should be talented. I feel like teams like Atlanta, teams like Miami, they're not awful. They will show up. Could you just tell us when you're gonna show up?

• 22:19Bill Simmons?

  Right. Give us a heads up.

• 22:21Speaker 01

  Like Miami, all right, we won't put you in the bottom three. We'll uncross you, but just tell us when you're gonna look like, you're gonna look like the Kurt Waters Rams on offense.

• 22:30Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 22:30Speaker 01

  Unstoppable. The same kind of thing.

• 22:33Bill Simmons?

  Last thing on the Pats.

• 22:35Speaker 01

  Thank God.

• 22:39Bill Simmons?

  I thought there was a different level to that win because I think Tampa's good.

• 22:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 22:42Bill Simmons?

  And Tampa was relatively healthy, right? They didn't have Evans. Godwin, God only knows when he's gonna play or not play. No Bucky Irving. So if you're a Tampa fan, you'd be like, well, we'll see, we'll see in February if we have all our guys, basically. But I thought Tampa tried to bully them in a good way. Like they were just really physical. They were like, they were trying to hit when May was going out of bounds. They were always trying to hit him before he went out of bounds. They were always, they were just really physical with everybody and, you know, treated it like a playoff game. And it wasn't, when they went in Buffalo, I didn't think Buffalo played that well. I thought Tampa played reasonably well. They really thwarted Mayfield. It was the best defensive game plan.

• 23:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 23:24Bill Simmons?

  Kind of execution thing that they've done. Like it just really felt like. It felt a little 2001-ish. I gotta be honest.

• 23:31Speaker 01

  They threw a lot at them.

• 23:32Bill Simmons?

  Ceiling is.

• 23:33Speaker 01

  For sure. Yeah, I just, and you could have folded after that Egbo touchdown. Like, all right, this is, we're not really supposed to win this game, so let's not. But the fact is.

• 23:40Bill Simmons?

  Started out terrible. It was pouring rain. We're down seven, nothing. May was sailing passes.

• 23:45Speaker 01

  But if they can't, if these teams can't run on you, you're always gonna have a shot. And, you know, you're just as good as them anyway. So it was fine.

• 23:53Bill Simmons?

  I thought Romo did a great job today. I really enjoyed his commentary. I think Romo, I think he slumped a little two years ago, but I feel like Romo's back. I thought he was, I thought he had a real good sense of who to pick on, on defense. It was like all the old school Romo things, like what May was seeing.

• 24:09Speaker 01

  Right.

• 24:09Bill Simmons?

  What this meant. He, he had a sense for where the momentum of the game going, was going, and what like the holes were in the teams. I thought he did a really good job.

• 24:17Speaker 01

  This one's going to digs and then it goes to digs. I, I think he has a very tough job because he, he can predict a lot of this shit. I think he could, he could hit like on 85% of it. It's how much he wants to expose and how much he wants to take away from the viewer and trying to figure out if he is taking away from a viewer. So.

• 24:34Bill Simmons?

  Well, remember there was one time where they, they audibled and they did like 19. And he's like, that's going left.

• 24:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:43Bill Simmons?

  And they ran the ball up. He's like, when they say 19, that means they're going left.

• 24:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, right, right, right.

• 24:47Bill Simmons?

  And then you could hear, he was like, oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that aloud. He just completely exposed that.

• 24:52Speaker 01

  That's great to know, but then it's like, oh, people probably get mad saying that.

• 24:56Bill Simmons?

  Let's, uh, we'll take a break on the pod. Keep going here on YouTube. This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra, the official beer partner of the NBA. So the NBA season is starting. I'm excited about a bunch of different things. We have a lot of, a lot of teams up in the air. Boston, Milwaukee, Indiana. What are we getting from these teams? The Lakers, can they hang on and, and still be a top six team? I think I'm most excited for the Texas teams. I want to see Duran in Houston, Cooper flag in Dallas and Wemby and Dylan Harper in San Antonio. I feel like I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the state of Texas with my basketball choices. There are a lot of moments worth playing for. The ones that taste best are served cold, unlike in Texas where it's usually hot. Whatever happens this season, catch every moment with Michelob Ultra,

• 25:41Bill Simmons?

  the official beer partner of the NBA, getting fans closer to the game with a chance to win. Courtside seats. You heard me correctly. A trip to All-Star Weekend.

• 25:52Bill Simmons?

  Custom merch and much more. Michelob Ultra Superior is worth playing for. Enter now at michelobultra.com/courtside. Michelob Ultra Courtside 2025 to 2026. No purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents 21 plus begins on October 1st, 2025. Ends on June 30th, 2026. Multiple entry periods. See official rules at michelobultra.com/courtside for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes and details. Buffalo, something's wrong. We're officially here. This is a what's wrong with Buffalo segment.

• 26:26Speaker 01

  Something's wrong with my checking account.

• 26:29Bill Simmons?

  Well, we were laughing because we had the, the most obvious parlay of all time was Broncos, Indiana yesterday and Buffalo today. I didn't even need to ask to see if you had it.

• 26:42Speaker 01

  That's exactly what I had.

• 26:43Bill Simmons?

  Denver squeezes through. Yep. They get the classic missed field goal with four minutes left. They're still like fucking around with you to the bitter end. They cover. Then yesterday, Indiana, the guy makes probably the greatest catch I've seen in three years.

• 26:57Speaker 01

  Right.

• 26:57Bill Simmons?

  The toe tap where he lifts up the right foot and toe taps the left.

• 27:01Speaker 01

  Just hovering over.

• 27:02Bill Simmons?

  Yep. Just unbelievable. So they win and all that's left now is Buffalo and you could feel it right away. It's like, oh, here we go. This is going to be one of those weird at Miami games that happen twice a year. I'll say this, I, we said this last week, I think. Nobody's ever open on the Bills.

• 27:20Speaker 01

  Right.

• 27:22Bill Simmons?

  They'll show that wide shot to all 22 or they'll show whatever. And it just, there's always D backs right next to whoever's running. And they said there was next gen stats at Twitter account today said, Allen's average time to throw is 3.53 seconds, which was the longest time to throw of his career.

• 27:39Speaker 01

  Well, he had that one play that was like 14 seconds. So that didn't do one, that did wonders for his average. But you're right.

• 27:46Bill Simmons?

  He just doesn't have people to throw to. And then Kincaid got hurt and it's like, all right, where is he going on 39? I still don't know.

• 27:52Speaker 01

  And you'll have like Mac Hollins get open for like a bunch of big catches. I'm like, holy shit. Yes, I know. It's like, why can't, why can't Shavers or all these guys we laugh at for the Bills? Why can't they get like, why can't they do the same? Why does he have to do so much? It was really like when they got down to the 12 yard line. It's like, either he's going to have to run it in himself or they're not scoring.

• 28:13Bill Simmons?

  And I actually thought he should have run more.

• 28:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:16Bill Simmons?

  I was surprised. I mean, they have Tampa next week. They're at Houston and at Pittsburgh for their next three. So maybe they felt like they could sneak through this, but they're playing this Miami team that is one of the all time, what the hell is going on with this team teams. Week seven, they lose in Cleveland 31 to six.

• 28:37Speaker 01

  Right.

• 28:37Bill Simmons?

  Week eight, they beat the Falcons 34 10. Week nine, they lose to the Ravens 28 to six, and then they beat the Bills 30 to 13.

• 28:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:46Bill Simmons?

  That has to be some sort of record. They have, they have four straight games with 17 points plus or minus each result like that. How many times could that have happened?

• 28:57Speaker 01

  Do they just, I don't know what it is. I want to say they quit on this coach and maybe they just get up for some games more than others, but then two also looked sharp today, you know?

• 29:07Bill Simmons?

  He looked pretty good.

• 29:08Speaker 01

  You weren't ever going to tackle HN. They went after them, you know, they, they, they crushed them that game. I don't care what the stats say. Like that wasn't even as close as 30 to 13. I don't think.

• 29:18Bill Simmons?

  I agree. It was, it was a, it was an actual beating, which is why I started this segment. What's actually wrong with Buffalo? And it was the first time I thought to myself, what if they didn't make the playoffs?

• 29:35Speaker 01

  All right, let's look.

• 29:36Bill Simmons?

  Six and three. They have Tampa at home this week and at Houston next week, at Pittsburgh, home Cincy, at New England, at Cleveland, home Philly, home Jets. And the only easy games I see in there are home Cincy, home Jets, and maybe at Cleveland.

• 29:56Speaker 01

  They need four wins.

• 29:57Bill Simmons?

  They need four wins, and I think those are three. So they gotta win one of those other ones to get to 10 and seven.

• 30:03Speaker 01

  What kind of odds you think you get on, on a miss on no January?

• 30:08Bill Simmons?

  For Buffalo not to make the playoffs, I'm going to say it's like minus 500 or something. What is it?

• 30:13Speaker 01

  Plus to not make it? Yeah.

• 30:16Speaker 01

  To not make it? Plus 820.

• 30:19Bill Simmons?

  Plus 820.

• 30:20Speaker 01

  To not make it. So it's minus 1800 to make the playoffs. But you're right. I mean, also that defense, whatever. Josh Allen's great. He's going to do everything he can. But if that defense shows up every other game, every third game like it did today, you're right, man. That is going to be, that's going to be a tough run.

• 30:38Bill Simmons?

  It was weird because when the Pats won there a couple of weeks ago and Buffalo didn't play that well. And I don't really feel, I don't, I didn't feel the same about the Pats that I do like this week. It was still like, oh, it'd be so cute if we beat Buffalo. And I think this is a playoff team, but I don't really know what the ceiling is. But Buffalo didn't play well. Last week against KC,

• 31:02Bill Simmons?

  I don't know. They played pretty well. I don't, I don't feel like it wasn't one of those like, oh my God. The Super Bowl runs through Buffalo. It wasn't like one of those games. It was better. But today was alarming.

• 31:15Speaker 01

  Might be an overreaction, but their over under wins are, is 11 and a half. And you just went through that. There's like six plus three, probably 10 or 11 would be spectacular for them at this point. I think under, under 11 and a half is plus 115. I'm writing that down.

• 31:34Bill Simmons?

  It seems like if you can take out Cook.

• 31:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:37Bill Simmons?

  Which is Miami was able to do today.

• 31:39Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 31:40Bill Simmons?

  I'm not sure who you're really scared of out of their other weapons they have.

• 31:43Speaker 01

  And Kincaid walks off, right? Hobbles off.

• 31:45Bill Simmons?

  Right.

• 31:46Speaker 01

  Who knows what's going on with him?

• 31:47Bill Simmons?

  And they were able to contain Allen. It was a really interesting game by Miami. I watched their, I had to watch the post game. I sent it to you.

• 31:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:56Bill Simmons?

  I have nothing better than a Mike McDaniel post game speech. He just, he just seems deranged. I don't even think he knows they're being filmed. But they, a couple of the guys talked and were like super confident and like this is who we are. Like, I don't know.

• 32:11Speaker 01

  You know, I'll tell you something about Mike McDaniel. You know how they do the halftime, right? Going into the third quarter interview on. The sideline and they pretend it's happening like right then, but it definitely happened right when they came out of the tunnel. McDaniel stuck around for like, that's just a quick sound bite and you're out, right? He was in there for 45 seconds.

• 32:29Bill Simmons?

  Doing a podcast?

• 32:30Speaker 01

  He was doing a podcast to a point where you could see the empty stands. They had to pan because no one's still back from getting their hot dogs at the concession stand. Half the players are still running through the tunnel. He wouldn't shut up. And then you're right, then after the game, they're like in blue, big blue buckets, riding around the locker room like they won the Super Bowl.

• 32:48Bill Simmons?

  The problem with the Buffalo not making the playoffs is you have to find an eighth playoff team that would take their spot.

• 32:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:55Bill Simmons?

  And then, so the Chargers are seven and three. Let's put Denver and the Pats and Indy in. Chargers seven and three, I think that really helped them today. Buffalo's six and three. And then KC and Jacksonville and Pittsburgh are five and four. Baltimore and Houston are four and five. So I think it would have to be Pittsburgh or Houston taking their spot. I don't think Jacksonville, we'll talk about them in a second.

• 33:20Speaker 01

  They crushed them. They could have had a nice spot there. Like, how close were they to winning? And then the Colts losing. And then we would have been talking about Jacksonville winning the AFC South and it just dumped completely the other way. But I think those are the teams.

• 33:33Bill Simmons?

  There's a reason we aren't talking about it because they suck.

• 33:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's true.

• 33:36Bill Simmons?

  That's why, because they were like, wait a second, we suck.

• 33:42Bill Simmons?

  But yeah, Houston's interesting to me. Cause I, I do think they bring some real things to the table. Their secondary is really good. They kind of dominated that game today, even though, you know, they were behind 10-0 in like two seconds. Right? And it was just one of those games where, I think it was 17-0 at one point. And I, I had the Texans, so I was watching it pretty closely. And I was like, I don't know how they're down 17-0, like Jacksonville hasn't done anything. You look at the total yards at the end of the game and I think it was. Was it?

• 34:13Speaker 01

  Well, lots of catch.

• 34:14Bill Simmons?

  It's twice as much, right?

• 34:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, lots of catch, lots of garbage time, right?

• 34:18Bill Simmons?

  It was 412 to 213, though.

• 34:21Speaker 01

  But it was 2910.

• 34:22Bill Simmons?

  213 total yards.

• 34:23Speaker 01

  2910, the fourth quarter against Davis Mills. They ought to be a share. The win probability machine blew up. They had to bring in the backup win probability machine. And it was a tic-tac line.

• 34:33Bill Simmons?

  It's a generator?

• 34:35Speaker 01

  Was that the big? Was that the worst bet ache of the year? If you had Jacksonville, plus one and a half?

• 34:41Bill Simmons?

  Well, it was a tic-tac back and forth.

• 34:43Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 34:44Bill Simmons?

  Both teams were favored by one and a half, basically, every day last week. I, I wrote this down in my notes as the game was going on. It was 2910. And I had the multi-view in their other games that, like, the Saints game was close and the Giants game was close. And I kept it on because it's the Jaguars. And it's like, well, of course they could blow this. And Davis Mills was getting, like, pretty comfortable as that game was going along. So I kept it on. I just, I never stopped watching it. There would have been other times when I would have turned it off. But with Trevor Lawrence and with Jacksonville, you can turn it off.

• 35:18Speaker 01

  No.

• 35:18Bill Simmons?

  And he didn't really have anyone to throw to, so it wasn't 100% his fault.

• 35:21Speaker 01

  I can't blame him, no. I mean, when you're up 2910, you won the game. Like, just, just come on, defense, get a stop. Don't let Davis Mills go 97 yards with the sun in his eyes, with the hell ever was going on there, like?

• 35:32Bill Simmons?

  But they're not good. They don't have a good defense, though.

• 35:34Speaker 01

  I know. I, I, you know, we were confused because they had such a plus turnover ratio, like, you know, three weeks ago. And it's Davis frickin' Mills, like, you know? He takes the sack, Lawrence, okay, that was bad. But then he runs for 20 and then a hands to the face penalty. Like, otherwise, they would, they were in good shape. And they have the kicker. I like, kind of, I wrote this down in the notes when I thought they were going to win. But that kicker, I thought, would be a real difference maker. I'm like, all right, this guy is going to help a team that's not necessarily good. But they're in the AFC South. Maybe they can win the division just with this kicker. Nah, no way. 3627.

• 36:10Bill Simmons?

  It was interesting, they're driving for the game, tying, whatever. And they put the distance they need to reach and they had midfield.

• 36:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 36:20Bill Simmons?

  Right. Which I think the only other one is your kicker.

• 36:23Speaker 01

  Right.

• 36:25Bill Simmons?

  Where it's like, they just have to get to the 50. I mean, you already, you get the ball at the 30-plus now and just to, when you return a kickoff. So you get the ball back, you basically need to go. I don't know, a first down and a half and you're in field goal range? I don't know if I like this kickoff thing.

• 36:40Speaker 01

  Well, it's not the best.

• 36:41Bill Simmons?

  I think it's too easy to get to midfield.

• 36:43Speaker 01

  No, it is probably too easy, but yeah, we're going to see that where that kicker like prob where he needs to go. It's just going to be like the midfield stripe the whole time for all 32 kickers eventually.

• 36:54Bill Simmons?

  Well, if he was kicking a 70 yarder, I would have thought it was going through. Cause we saw the guy do a 60 yarder last week.

• 37:01Speaker 01

  For sure.

• 37:01Bill Simmons?

  This guy, John Shipley, covers the Jags and he tweeted, trying to think of worst Jags losses since I've covered them. And he listed a bunch of them, including losing to that Raiders roster last year, losing to Deshaun Watson at home last season. Couple Detroit games with Doug Peterson. Think that is the top five, but this is number one. So he thought this is the number one loss. And as you mentioned, it was an incredible bed egg too, because the game's over. Houston had a chance to go for the two point, didn't get it. So they're winning by one. Some people had the minus one and a half, other people have them plus one and a half, whatever. But Trevor Lawrence figures out a way to have like a fumble. Was that a pick six or a fumble six?

• 37:44Speaker 01

  It was a fumble. Danel Hunter was one of his three and a half sacks, knocked it down, then it was run back by.

• 37:49Bill Simmons?

  And then he did the, he did the Michael Jackson over the goal line, but he crossed it and the guy knocked it out. Anyway, they covered. Here's why I thought that was significant. Now, forget the Jaguars, because they suck.

• 38:04Bill Simmons?

  I'm, I think the Texans might be pretty good. But that's a team that, and House and I talked about this Thursday. Just because of how good they are in defense and I like Woody Marks, Collins is back.

• 38:17Bill Simmons?

  There's, you know, they, they can't really block is the one thing, but everybody's got some sort of flaw, but their, their, their defense is good. That sting is incredible.

• 38:24Speaker 01

  I mean, you mean good for next year because they have, they have nowhere to go really with that Colts win. They're still three and a half games behind.

• 38:32Bill Simmons?

  As, as it comes along, if they can get a seven seed and they can get in.

• 38:36Speaker 01

  Oh, seven. I mean, they're, but they're four and five.

• 38:39Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, but I think nine and eight could be nine and eight or 10 and seven could be playoffs.

• 38:43Speaker 01

  I'm thinking 10 and seven, which means six and two for them. I'll have to look. I know they have some crap on their schedule there.

• 38:49Bill Simmons?

  They have some crap on their schedule. Um, two teams that don't have crap on their schedule.

• 38:56Bill Simmons?

  The Seahawks and the Rams, who might be the two best teams in the league. I have, I keep track of wins, losses and the either or games.

• 39:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:06Bill Simmons?

  I have the Seahawks at seven legitimate wins, zero losses and two either or games. And I have the Rams at six legitimate wins, zero losses and three either or games. Those are the two best records out of everybody. And the Rams are plus 420 for NFC, Seattle's plus 490. So basically the two in the four best odds. Seattle's number one in DVOA and their last three, they have, I think they've been up 21, nothing, 28, nothing and 35, nothing, something like that. Just killing everybody.

• 39:40Speaker 01

  They were 28, nothing twice, the last two games in the second quarter, they're up 28, nothing. And I mean, it might just be that they face now an Arizona team who was due to get whipped, right? Jacoby Brissette on the road enough already.

• 39:52Bill Simmons?

  I mean, that line was only seven with Seattle at home. So there was some or Arizona, like that was like the tease of the, of the year. And everybody's like, I don't know, Arizona looked good last week.

• 40:03Speaker 01

  I think most people had the Marcus Lawrence scoring under one and a half touchdowns. I think that was the problem. But you were sending us some hilarious live lines, like it's like 34 and a half in the second quarter. You don't see that in the second quarter, but all those games, I really wish someone would have said, all right, you know, just take all three favorites and all three overs in the 4 p.m. games. I would have been like, all right, I'll sleep in and we'll watch the early games. That was so fricking easy. 44, 22, 44, 22, 42, 26.

• 40:30Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, you almost feel like they have to rig one of the games to have them be relatively close.

• 40:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 40:35Bill Simmons?

  So the Rams, their best four wins are Houston, Indianapolis, Baltimore and San Francisco today. Seattle's best wins are really only Pittsburgh and Houston. That's another team that the schedule hasn't been, hasn't been awesome so far. But now, now they're going at Rams, they play at Atlanta, they play the Rams twice, they're at San Francisco still, but they have an easier schedule than the Rams. The Rams have some tough ones left. They still have to go at Seattle, at Atlanta. At Arizona, at Carolina, I don't even know if that means anything anymore. They got Tampa and Seattle at home.

• 41:13Speaker 01

  The Rams are a slight favorite to win the West right now.

• 41:16Bill Simmons?

  Well, who do you like? That was gonna be my question. Who do you like more?

• 41:18Speaker 01

  We were talking about Seattle four weeks ago at eight to one, and now it's like

• 41:23Bill Simmons?

  We talked about it every week.

• 41:24Speaker 01

  A coin flip. Yeah, so I'm gonna stick with that, I think. I don't know why. I just feel like they have it and, you know, you don't wanna, you don't wanna pick against McVeigh over and over and over, but I think they're in there, man. I don't know. Maybe, I hope it's not just that the last two teams they played were disasters, but they're showing me a lot.

• 41:47Bill Simmons?

  The one thing I've noticed with the Rams, and I think it's intentional, they, you know, they have all these tight ends.

• 41:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:55Bill Simmons?

  It feels like they have 20 tight ends on their roster, and though sometimes they'll have three out there at the same time, four, the guys are catchy, you don't even know who they are. But it's, it's become this really physical offense with these two receivers, both of whom, Puka especially, are physical. And I don't know, they've just completely redid their identity. And when you watch it, you can really feel it. And I'll be interested to see how Seattle, you know, that I think they have the best defense in the league, and this Rams team that will obviously try to go bigger and try to go bully ball with them.

• 42:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 42:29Bill Simmons?

  Which has been, you know, think about how the Rams used to be five, six years ago. Like, they weren't like that at all.

• 42:35Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 42:35Bill Simmons?

  They were like just dudes running around. They, they were like a lot of smoke and mirrors. Now it's like this kind of punishing team. So, and defensively, like, you can't run outside of them at all.

• 42:49Speaker 01

  Right.

• 42:49Bill Simmons?

  McCaffrey tried over them. They, they stuffed them. I thought the Niners Rams game was closer today than the score was because it really came down to Jennings fumbled that ball, and McCaffrey got, tried to get outside on that fourth and one, and verse just stuffed them.

• 43:03Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 43:04Bill Simmons?

  And then the Rams seemed like they scored every time they had the ball, but the Niners were moving the ball on them. So I wonder, like, can Seattle move the ball on them, and can the Rams bully them?

• 43:12Speaker 01

  Right. So it's a Niners defense. I think it's just gonna, once in a while, they'll surprise you, but there's just too many injuries, too many. So you knew the Rams were gonna get to 40. Mac Jones wasn't, and that, that was just the answer.

• 43:26Bill Simmons?

  Mac Jones though.

• 43:28Speaker 01

  Take him back. Come on, it was more fun when he was on your team. Just take him back, please.

• 43:32Bill Simmons?

  What's the funniest 2026 team for him, for you?

• 43:36Speaker 01

  Next year?

• 43:38Bill Simmons?

  What's the one that you're like, oh, that could work? And what's the one that you'd go, oh, no, that's going to be a disaster?

• 43:43Speaker 01

  Well, the Raiders is always the funniest, right? No matter what. And then.

• 43:50Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, Raiders. I had Cleveland. I don't know how he'd end up there.

• 43:53Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. Everyone's got to end up there. I could convince myself that he'd be okay in Arizona.

• 44:00Bill Simmons?

  Arizona. The Jets, I think, would be the saddest for everybody, for the fans, for Mac. What team would he go to that you'd be like, what would be the Daniel Jones Indianapolis situation?

• 44:12Speaker 01

  That he could actually pull together?

• 44:14Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 44:18Speaker 01

  Indianapolis.

• 44:21Bill Simmons?

  After Jones plays up?

• 44:22Speaker 01

  I don't know if there's a team like that. I wouldn't have said Indianapolis either. I'm not sure.

• 44:28Speaker 01

  What do you say?

• 44:28Bill Simmons?

  I was thinking Minnesota if they cool off on McCarthy.

• 44:31Speaker 01

  Oh, they got so many quarterbacks. Yeah. Yeah, I guess that would be it.

• 44:36Bill Simmons?

  I think he's been pretty good. This is about as good as you're ever going to get from a backup quarterback in a league that only has 20 quarterbacks. You can't ask for more than this.

• 44:45Speaker 01

  Hey, I was looking at it and I was like, hey, Chuck was good today and who else was good that like, you know, Davis Mills, like, thank God, these guys are good. I'd rather it be when I don't have money against them. But it's nice when there's not 15 quarterbacks who you know are going to be awful every week.

• 45:03Bill Simmons?

  Well, I mean, Browns, Jets, accepted. I think Rogers is probably the worst quarterback today.

• 45:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, you're right.

• 45:10Bill Simmons?

  He was awful. Everybody else at least had flashes. Penix was really bad, too.

• 45:17Bill Simmons?

  We should have, did, when you did that hour and a half pregame show today, did everybody, anyone mention that Brissette was going from playing the Dallas defense to playing the Seattle defense in a week?

• 45:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:27Bill Simmons?

  Maybe, maybe we should have factored that in, how ridiculous of a jump that is.

• 45:31Speaker 01

  Right. And how hilarious, Demarcus Lawrence, another F you to Dallas, right there. Against Brissette, who kind of torched them. Yeah, I guess we should keep an eye out for that.

• 45:42Bill Simmons?

  So with the odds. Just for this NFC West, I, to me, these teams are dead even and I would just rather have higher odds and take Seattle. And I think Seattle might be better anyway.

• 45:52Speaker 01

  But I don't think the Niners are worth it, right? We look at third place teams in these 850, so it's still not worth it.

• 45:59Bill Simmons?

  This is the single best game of the year next year so far, I think.

• 46:03Speaker 01

  Really?

• 46:04Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, not from a marquee like, oh, it's Mahomes and Buffalo. Like, there's sexier games and there's like more fun for casual fans. This is like the best game in terms of, I can't wait to watch it. I want to see the matchups. I want to see what the coaches do to each other. I want to see what they pick at, because I really feel like this is a playoff game. And Eagles Packers will be really good tomorrow, too, I think.

• 46:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:27Bill Simmons?

  But I don't know if those teams are as advanced as these two are for being ready for January.

• 46:32Speaker 01

  Detroit Philly also next week, right? So probably four of the last five or six teams in the NFC. Yeah, I'm excited for it, but we gotta get to.

• 46:41Bill Simmons?

  We gotta talk about Detroit's, Campbell took over the plays.

• 46:46Speaker 01

  Did he announce that after the game?

• 46:48Bill Simmons?

  There was rumors all week.

• 46:50Speaker 01

  Right.

• 46:51Bill Simmons?

  That, that the, the players were bristling at offensive coordinator, John Morton, I think his name is. Campbell took it over. I think, kind of a dick move. I mean, it worked. They scored 44 points, but to be like, this is the week I'm going to take the offense over and seem like the hero when we're playing this like Washington team that's like a corpse.

• 47:13Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 47:14Bill Simmons?

  Like, let me, I got this from here. It's like, why didn't you do this last week?

• 47:18Speaker 01

  Right.

• 47:19Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, we had harder game. I don't know, I would have been mad.

• 47:22Speaker 01

  That was, and yeah, and you know, like you said, like the commanders are outscored 110 to 43 in the last three weeks. I was told, listening to that telecast, that they were a great, great team. I learned a lot. I learned that.

• 47:34Bill Simmons?

  Tremendous team.

• 47:34Speaker 01

  I learned the commanders are a great football team. Their prices are way, way down. So, but other than that, I just thought, you know, this is, Detroit's going to have these games, right? Weren't they like, first of all, this is a rematch, playoff rematch. So when Dan Campbell gets mad, I think that's why he took the reins. He's like, we have to teach this team a lesson.

• 47:52Bill Simmons?

  Oh, that's interesting because they beat them last year. I didn't think of that. Yeah, he wanted to stick it to them. I don't know if we've had a more classic year after team than the Washington commanders this year.

• 48:03Speaker 01

  No.

• 48:03Bill Simmons?

  They, they had every single sign of a massive regression. They had the massive regression. It was even more depressing than I think people realized. And they didn't even really make it to November before their fans were like, ah, we're going to go five and 12. This sucks.

• 48:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, I love that because you and I called it. You and I are going to make money off it. And then our friend House is so sad. He's so dejected. I see him with the Washington jerseys in the pregame show behind them. It's, uh, it's over. It's like the sewage in the stadium is about to run through again. Really is no better than it was two years ago.

• 48:36Bill Simmons?

  I'm trying to figure out how I didn't do better on picks this year when my preseason picks, the three teams I liked the most were the Pats, the Broncos and the Seahawks. And those are the ones I had the most bets on and I was the most bullish on the whole thing. And then Miami shorting them, not liking Washington. I feel like I had a lot of like the framework for the season and then the season started and I've screwed up the week to week.

• 49:00Speaker 01

  Why'd you screw up? I mean, the Broncos don't cover.

• 49:02Bill Simmons?

  Cause I keep doing stuff like, like betting on Aaron Rodgers and Sunday night game. And then he does nothing. Um, Jets, Browns, the depressing ball?

• 49:16Speaker 01

  I had that on a small.

• 49:17Bill Simmons?

  Do fans of this team even watch? Do you, do you watch this if you're fans of those teams?

• 49:22Speaker 01

  I don't know why you would. I mean, then you see like the Jets, like, hey, just return kicks and punts back for touchdowns, back to back in the first quarter and you'll, you'll be fine. Why is that so hard? That's, uh, he had what 12 yards passing before that touchdown throw? That screen pass? I mean, it's so miserable. Every week you see a stat about the Browns that you've never seen before. Like no team is ever without a turnover, lost to a other team that only had 150 yards of offense, and yet they do it every single week.

• 49:52Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, it's, I, it's almost like they're not happy stats. They're like, how the fuck did we lose this game stats? It needs some sort of name. I had some PTSD kicked in today. So I'm all excited. I'm on JetBlue and it's one of the newer planes. So it has the DirecTV. It doesn't have like the whole guide of channels. The older planes have like the actual

• 50:16Speaker 01

  Right.

• 50:16Bill Simmons?

  football package. The newer ones have like less channels, but the wifi is way better. And, uh, They had the local, the local CBS and the local Fox and the Red Zone were the three NFL channels. I'm like, oh, this is great.

• 50:29Speaker 01

  Did they really?

• 50:30Bill Simmons?

  Maybe they'll have Pat, maybe they'll have Pat's Tampa as the national game.

• 50:33Speaker 01

  Don't tell me.

• 50:33Bill Simmons?

  They fucking had the Giants game and the Jets game on the two channels. I was like, oh my God, it's like 1990 again. We used to get screwed by this over and over again, or 1996, whenever those two teams sucked.

• 50:46Speaker 01

  Turn this plane around. I can't do this.

• 50:49Bill Simmons?

  Where's the Pat's game?

• 50:52Bill Simmons?

  Well, I got, I got in the wifi, but I was just laughing. I was like, man, what a bummer. If you live in New York, you have to watch these, you can't get any of the good games because you have to sit through fucking Brian Dayball and, and this terrible Jets team.

• 51:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, or paid $600, whatever it is. Yeah. My God. I, I don't even know what to do. It's like, I had it on the smallest screen I possibly could. I'm going to buy like, I'm going to buy that thing you talked about that day. I'm going to buy an extra small screen.

• 51:20Bill Simmons?

  Like a walkie talkie?

• 51:21Speaker 01

  I guess I'm just punishing myself, but I mean, I would show that on my thumbnail if I could. Is that bad?

• 51:28Bill Simmons?

  The Jets traded two of their best guys and, and won anyway.

• 51:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:32Bill Simmons?

  There's a setup here. I'm not sure if you're aware of this. Week 14, Browns, Titans, both teams have one win. Who's the prize? Is it going to be the Indiana QB? I don't even, I'm not even positive about him.

• 51:46Speaker 01

  You know, the thing is, I saw the-

• 51:48Bill Simmons?

  His receivers do a lot of work for him.

• 51:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, that was, look, that was a great drive, especially after the interception and everything, but it was the tight end who had seven catches in the game, uh, flying out of bounds, making catch, and that catch at the end was insane. But I saw the top five is into like, who's going to, who has the first five picks? Who definitely takes a quarterback out of those five teams?

• 52:11Bill Simmons?

  Maybe nobody.

• 52:13Speaker 01

  How could that be? It's Tennessee, one, New Orleans, two, Giants, three, Cleveland, four, Jets, five. Jets, Jets, right?

• 52:24Speaker 01

  I don't know if the others bite.

• 52:25Bill Simmons?

  You don't think the Browns would roll the dice with the quarterback position again?

• 52:29Speaker 01

  Took two more.

• 52:30Bill Simmons?

  Why not? Let's just keep, let's keep doing it.

• 52:32Speaker 01

  I guess it doesn't matter. And Tennessee can't. Uh, Shuck is fine for now, right? We like, we like, uh, Jackson Dart.

• 52:41Bill Simmons?

  So Shuck won you over by putting up 17 in Carolina?

• 52:44Speaker 01

  It's fine. I had him straight up. That was my best other draft.

• 52:48Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. Bears Giants was the other one that, uh, that I, you know, Dayball might get fired tomorrow.

• 52:56Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 52:57Bill Simmons?

  Because what he's done with Dart this year was just nuts. And this is the same thing Mayo did with, with Drake May last year, which is why, one of the many reasons I thought he should be fired. These rookie quarterbacks that don't know any better, you have to protect them from, from, from themselves. You know, like if, if I leave a hundred pounds of food in the kitchen, Murph's going to eat the hundred pounds. Is that Murph's fault or, or my fault? It's my fault. I should have done that. I'm putting him in harm's way.

• 53:25Speaker 01

  Interesting.

• 53:26Bill Simmons?

  This Dart is a maniac and he's running around. He thinks he's like stiff harming people in traffic. And he thinks he can navigate these 250 pound dudes and 300 pound dudes that want to take his head off. And he's just going to be fine and duck around. And I, every Giants fan I know is like, Dart's fucking amazing. We, we just got to make sure we can keep him out of the blue tent. Like you shouldn't be saying that about your prized possession quarterback.

• 53:50Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 53:51Bill Simmons?

  It should be point blank. Keep him out of the blue tent. Your team sucks. What, what is he taking on any tacklers for? So anyway, he finally gets concussed and it was the most predictable concussion of the year.

• 54:02Speaker 01

  Yeah. First of all, a little pat on the shoulder here. People should tune into the Ringer pregame show.

• 54:07Bill Simmons?

  It's a really good show.

• 54:08Speaker 01

  We give out a lot of winners too, like big same game parlay winners where he hits houses.

• 54:13Bill Simmons?

  More channels next week.

• 54:14Speaker 01

  Oh, I wasn't going to say anything.

• 54:15Bill Simmons?

  Well, it just might be. Keep an eye out.

• 54:17Speaker 01

  Is it because I gave out Jackson Dart, two plus touchdowns at 14 to one? Maybe.

• 54:21Bill Simmons?

  Wow. Did he really?

• 54:23Speaker 01

  Don't worry. They make a slightest dent in my losses, but yes, I did give that out, but.

• 54:27Bill Simmons?

  Did you give out Russell Wilson will run out onto the field and the fans will groan collectively? And you can actually hear it on TV in an airplane?

• 54:34Speaker 01

  Talk about.

• 54:37Speaker 01

  I didn't have that. Was it the flight attendants?

• 54:39Bill Simmons?

  Everybody's like, oh, people thought the flight got delayed. It was just Russell Wilson coming in.

• 54:45Speaker 01

  The barf bag and everything. Yeah. And by the way, talk about like, it's our fault. Why didn't we just bet the Bears live line when Russ came in? That should be an immediate thing.

• 54:55Bill Simmons?

  It should be an immediate, immediate bet.

• 54:57Speaker 01

  But back to the coach, like, we talk about like coaching conditions, like when certain things happen, a coach has to be fired. So they should sign this when they take the job. Like, hey, sorry, but if any of these things happen, it results in immediate dismissal. Like if you go winless two years as a coach, we have to get rid of you. If you show up high on meth to practice for all of August, you're gone. If we find out you're plowing the owner's wife, you're gone. If you're 0-4 in road games that you've led by 10 or more points, and you know, you, sorry, you signed it. There's nothing we could do. Imagine that. Four road games.

• 55:32Bill Simmons?

  That would be a good one to put in.

• 55:33Speaker 01

  Double digits.

• 55:34Bill Simmons?

  I would have just had from the beginning of the year, Dart cannot keep getting hurt.

• 55:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 55:40Bill Simmons?

  It's gonna be my one thing I ask from you.

• 55:42Speaker 01

  Right.

• 55:43Bill Simmons?

  Keep this person healthy.

• 55:44Speaker 01

  And Russ has to keep getting hurt.

• 55:46Bill Simmons?

  Did you, did you see the thing? They have 25 designed runs for him this year, Dart.

• 55:52Speaker 01

  Oh, man. Is it that many?

• 55:54Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, 25. And by the way, he wasn't the starter until like week four.

• 55:58Speaker 01

  Three of the runs are to the blue tent, but it's like, yeah, take a right and then head straight and then walk around it. Yeah, it's sad. But back.

• 56:07Bill Simmons?

  Does blue tent runs a stat?

• 56:10Speaker 01

  The, the, no one's taking the full shit crown away from Denver, but the Bears are for sure the NFC representative. Right? The way they have these and these teams they play and everything else.

• 56:20Bill Simmons?

  They're six and three.

• 56:22Speaker 01

  Nuts.

• 56:24Bill Simmons?

  And I can't get enough of the Ben Johnson post-game speeches are my fucking favorite. And he is now in full, this is how, this is what we do.

• 56:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 56:34Bill Simmons?

  We know what's gonna happen when it gets late. Let's say you do, you know, it's gonna happen.

• 56:38Speaker 01

  How do they know?

• 56:39Bill Simmons?

  You do?

• 56:39Speaker 01

  How did Nico Ryan's know?

• 56:41Bill Simmons?

  The tea leaves again? He said, I really love it.

• 56:44Speaker 01

  He also gave Caleb a ball, right?

• 56:46Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 56:47Speaker 01

  He gave Gardner Johnson a ball, gave Caleb Williams a ball, and he said, this guy has ice in his veins. It's like, ice.

• 56:56Speaker 01

  Crush or cubed? That's gotta hurt. Isn't it ice water? Oh, wow. All right.

• 57:00Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, ice, ice water.

• 57:02Speaker 01

  Walking around with 12 extra pounds? That's interesting.

• 57:04Bill Simmons?

  This guy has crushed ice in his face.

• 57:06Speaker 01

  This guy's got big, giant rocks.

• 57:11Bill Simmons?

  Can we pencil Chicago into the Shaky's game?

• 57:14Speaker 01

  Oh, man. No, we don't have them. We have San Francisco as the seventh team, don't we?

• 57:20Bill Simmons?

  Well, if Chicago takes the San Francisco spot.

• 57:22Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 57:23Bill Simmons?

  Oh, I guess you would be San Francisco.

• 57:25Speaker 01

  I haven't looked at their schedule.

• 57:27Bill Simmons?

  Philly, San Francisco, Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago. We gave this out a couple of weeks ago. It was like three to one.

• 57:32Speaker 01

  Right.

• 57:33Bill Simmons?

  That's still gonna be the five. Carolina blew it. Carolina had a chance to bulldoze their way in and they lost to the Saints.

• 57:40Speaker 01

  Chicago right there though, plus 146 to make the playoffs.

• 57:45Bill Simmons?

  Man. Plus 146 to make it?

• 57:47Speaker 01

  To make it.

• 57:49Bill Simmons?

  Really?

• 57:50Speaker 01

  But San Fran's minus 325 to make it. Yeah, they're not letting you make too much off of these.

• 57:56Bill Simmons?

  I hit my first future on FanDuel that I made in like.

• 57:59Speaker 01

  What was it? Patriots?

• 58:00Bill Simmons?

  June in Indiana. Patriots plus seven and a half.

• 58:03Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 58:03Bill Simmons?

  Pretty exciting. I didn't know I was gonna hit that on November 9th. That I was gonna be a, wouldn't have guessed that one. Let's, we'll take another break for the pod. Keep going on YouTube. All right, quick break. This episode is brought to you by Fire TV. You ever sit down, ready to watch the game, only to search and scroll endlessly? If so, you need Fire TV. It shows you are live games from your favorite teams all in one place, right on the home screen. No more searching. Just sit down and turn on Fire TV. Separate subscriptions may be required. Feature and content availability may vary. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Football has a play for just about everything. And whether it's a flea flicker or a tush push, you need a plan that fits your unique situation.

• 58:46Bill Simmons?

  That's why State Farm takes the time to get to know you, so they can help personalize coverage for your life and for your budget. Now that's a solid game plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Excitement is in the air. That's right. It's the start of NBA season. I can't wait to get together with friends, share some Michelob Ultras and watch Tip Off. Plus, as the official beer sponsor of the NBA, Michelob Ultra is getting you closer to the action with experiences that make you feel like you're courtside to actual courtside tickets. Enter now for a chance to win at michelobultra.com/courtside. Michelob Ultra Courtside 26 to 27. No purchase necessary. Open to U.S. residents 21+ Begins on October 1st, 2026. Ends on June 30th, 2027.

• 59:30Bill Simmons?

  Multiple entry periods. See official rules at michelobultra.com/courtside for free entry. Entry deadlines, prizes and details. Cross off teams. So we had the Jets, the Browns, Tennessee, Miami, New Orleans, Vegas, Cleveland, the Giants, Arizona, Washington. Is there anybody else you would like to add?

• 59:50Speaker 01

  It's been weird to cross off Cincinnati in their bye week, but I've seen so many better teams than them now.

• 59:57Bill Simmons?

  So I was going to raise the Cincinnati question.

• 1:00:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:03Bill Simmons?

  They're three and six. They're two back for one of the spots, but their defense is just abhorrent and, and abhorrent?

• 1:00:13Speaker 01

  I'd say.

• 1:00:14Bill Simmons?

  What I say abhorrent?

• 1:00:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:00:16Bill Simmons?

  It's a boring.

• 1:00:16Speaker 01

  Well, it is boring. Yeah.

• 1:00:18Bill Simmons?

  It's a boring.

• 1:00:19Speaker 01

  Stress the bore. Why not?

• 1:00:21Bill Simmons?

  I think they should be on there. That's the worst defense I've ever seen. And it doesn't even seem like their players like playing for them. I, so this is interesting. I don't think Atlanta is a cross off team for me yet because I really do think there's something there. And they might go five and 12 and I'm like, I don't know. This could be the week, but they really have a lot of talent.

• 1:00:40Speaker 01

  They should pick up a game. They play Carolina where they got crushed by. So there should be some motivation there. And so that would make them what? Four and six?

• 1:00:50Bill Simmons?

  I'll say this, I've watched, obviously, every play of every Pats game. I thought Atlanta was the, was, if you didn't know anything about the season, records, anything, you would have thought Atlanta was the best team they played out of everybody this season.

• 1:01:03Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah. Yeah, they stayed in with you. Yeah. I, Drake London, I think he has potential to be one of the top three or four receivers in the league.

• 1:01:12Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:13Speaker 01

  Like, I think also, I said it during the week, I think he's gonna set a record for catching balls over his head, not using his body at all to catch balls. He has so many of these before going out of bounds. He'll have the record there. But yeah, that offense is, if, if Penix can get it together, I think, I know we love to hate him, but all he has to kind of do is be average, right?

• 1:01:34Bill Simmons?

  I don't think he can do it. He's not athletic enough. He's not accurate enough. And then during the times he is accurate, half the time, his guys will just drop the pass like Pitts did in the first quarter today. It was interesting being on the East Coast for the early game, by the way.

• 1:01:51Speaker 01

  You don't have to, yeah, like, oh, for the early, early game. Yeah, yeah.

• 1:01:55Bill Simmons?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:01:55Speaker 01

  Was that 9:30? Yeah.

• 1:01:56Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. I got up at eight, had coffee, I was packing, I was in the car on the way to JFK, was watching, watching the Germany game, having a great time. Super Bowl circle.

• 1:02:11Bill Simmons?

  We always say eight teams. Always eight teams you think can win the Super Bowl.

• 1:02:15Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:02:16Bill Simmons?

  I think I have six. Three in each conference. Indy, KC, New England, Philly, Seattle, and the Rams. Two spots open. Who are you putting in there?

• 1:02:31Speaker 01

  Isn't that crazy?

• 1:02:32Bill Simmons?

  I didn't mention Green Bay.

• 1:02:33Speaker 01

  We don't have Buffalo.

• 1:02:34Bill Simmons?

  I didn't mention Detroit. I didn't mention Buffalo. I didn't mention Baltimore.

• 1:02:37Speaker 01

  Isn't Buffalo, Green Bay, your Super Bowl heading in?

• 1:02:41Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, but I'm just saying, this is the circle. These are like the eight teams.

• 1:02:45Speaker 01

  I'd put them in.

• 1:02:45Bill Simmons?

  The way they're playing right now. Who would you put in?

• 1:02:47Speaker 01

  I'd put both of those in. Green Bay and Buffalo.

• 1:02:51Bill Simmons?

  So I think I would too.

• 1:02:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:02:55Bill Simmons?

  I want to make the case for Baltimore, but I didn't really totally see it today, even though they won. I didn't think the flow was there. I didn't think Lamar looked great. I thought they just don't seem crisp to me and they haven't really seemed it all year. I know they've had a lot of injuries, but I haven't seen them lay the smackdown.

• 1:03:13Speaker 01

  Maybe Minnesota is a hard team to play. Maybe they're just a weird team to play, but yeah, we, we automatically assumed also that Baltimore's defense is back when like three weeks ago, they were giving up 40 points to anybody. So that could be a problem too. But yeah, I would still put Buffalo in over Baltimore.

• 1:03:29Bill Simmons?

  So you'd put Buffalo in over Denver just because of how Nix looks?

• 1:03:32Speaker 01

  I wouldn't trust him as much in the playoffs as we have. Like I know we'd load up on a parlay for them, week one playoffs, divisional round, whatever. I just wouldn't trust him as much, but I like that quarterback so much that I think he can get them in.

• 1:03:48Bill Simmons?

  He was so bad on Thursday.

• 1:03:49Speaker 01

  No. Oh, Nix. Oh, yeah.

• 1:03:52Bill Simmons?

  Nix was, he was doing this thing during the season where he would be bad for two hours and then be really good for the third hour. Now he's narrowing it down where he's bad for like two hours and 40 minutes and then he'll give you a good 20. But that Thursday game, now granted, we've, we don't want to overreact to Thursday games. They're always weird. That was the first time I just felt like he was openly missing guys and missing looks and like he had that, that one, that one all 22 that the behind him camera they had. When he had that guy just running in for the touchdown, he just threw a grounder at him. And it was like, he just would have hit that guy five weeks ago. So I'm starting to worry. He's losing his confidence a little.

• 1:04:35Speaker 01

  You know, I don't, I don't get it with him. I really don't. Like I, I watched him, you know, my son goes to Oregon, so I had to adopt him as a Ducks player. He was good there. I watched him even at Auburn. He, he could throw a long ball. He could run for first downs, which he still does. I think the one good thing he does is when he steps up in the pocket, he's like a yard behind the line of scrimmage and he could fire like an eight yard pass. Like I have confidence in that and nothing else. Like I'm not sure what the hell.

• 1:05:03Bill Simmons?

  I don't mind the design rollout. With him when he kind of throws the sidearm to like the tight end for seven yards.

• 1:05:09Speaker 01

  All right, fine. Two things, but I mean.

• 1:05:12Bill Simmons?

  I don't ever think his deep pass is gonna connect.

• 1:05:14Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:05:15Bill Simmons?

  Like when he's, when he's getting, putting his feet into it, I'm like, here we go. This is five yards past the guy.

• 1:05:20Speaker 01

  I mean, he's played in two of, I'm not even the worst games this year, that, that Jets game. And then there's standalone games too, that, that European game. And then Thursday night, they were like, just hideous. He's, no one's benefited. I'm trying to think if like you put him on another team. Like if he was on New Orleans and Shuck was on Denver, would they have, like they have 46 sacks. That's great. That keeps in every single time.

• 1:05:45Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. You think like they played nine games. So it's 27 hours of QB play.

• 1:05:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:05:53Bill Simmons?

  And he's probably been bad for like 17 of the 27 hours.

• 1:05:58Bill Simmons?

  Maybe like 19.

• 1:05:59Speaker 01

  Or just not.

• 1:06:00Bill Simmons?

  Cause I've watched almost all of it. Cause that was like one of my big teams heading in this season and.

• 1:06:06Bill Simmons?

  You know, it's, and not to compare him to May, just to do it, but when May misses dudes down, I'm like surprised. Like if he sails it over or if he's putting his feet into a long ball, like I just assume he's gonna hit the guy in stride. And when he doesn't, like, oh, he missed one. Next is the opposite. Yeah. It's like surprising when he hits the guy in stride at this point. So they gotta figure that out.

• 1:06:27Speaker 01

  I was thinking, I, I want to do, you know, I always say, I can't wait to bet against them in the playoffs. Fandel allows us to not have to wait. Like you could bet Denver to lose in the first round at plus one.

• 1:06:38Bill Simmons?

  Right. True.

• 1:06:39Speaker 01

  Plus one 20, plus one 20, like.

• 1:06:42Bill Simmons?

  Wow.

• 1:06:43Speaker 01

  So what kind of value would you get? If like they're home, they'd have to win the division to be home. Right? But other than that, I don't like them on the road. I don't like them at all. Like if they played KC on the road or home, I would take that team.

• 1:06:58Bill Simmons?

  Well, that's one of the Pats. The Pats have a real chance here to get a top two seed now.

• 1:07:03Speaker 01

  I know, I know.

• 1:07:04Bill Simmons?

  And Denver and Indy are really the two competitors. Cause I don't, even though the Chargers look good tonight, I would just be surprised if they went like 13 and four, whatever.

• 1:07:16Speaker 01

  Who do you think's favorite to be the one seed?

• 1:07:19Bill Simmons?

  I would say Indianapolis.

• 1:07:22Speaker 01

  You'd be wrong.

• 1:07:23Bill Simmons?

  Who is it?

• 1:07:24Speaker 01

  It's the Patriots.

• 1:07:25Bill Simmons?

  What's the number?

• 1:07:27Speaker 01

  Plus 220. It's close. Colts are 240.

• 1:07:29Bill Simmons?

  Well, they don't really have, I think they have one 10 win team on the schedule left.

• 1:07:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:07:37Bill Simmons?

  Like ironically, now the schedule is gonna get easy. What do they have? They have Jets, Bengals, Giants, Bills, at Ravens. That's a hard one. At Jets, Dolphins.

• 1:07:48Speaker 01

  I'm betting.

• 1:07:48Bill Simmons?

  So two hard games left.

• 1:07:49Speaker 01

  I'm betting them to get the one seed. I have to have an emotional hedge in there. This is just too much. It's too much.

• 1:07:55Bill Simmons?

  Mike Frable's not thinking about it. He takes it one game at a time. So, all right. Guess the Lions week 11.

• 1:08:04Bill Simmons?

  You've been in a tailspin.

• 1:08:05Speaker 01

  This is getting disgusting here. It's 7-3, 7-3.

• 1:08:09Bill Simmons?

  I don't think I'm gonna win this week. I did this on the plane. I get my head gets screwed up going cross country. I didn't, I didn't feel good. So ironically, the Pats are playing and they're playing the Jets, which I think, I can't imagine a better time to catch the Jets than after they won in Cleveland, playing four days later with a relatively depleted team.

• 1:08:27Speaker 01

  Good news for New York fans. They'll get a different local game on next Sunday, right?

• 1:08:31Bill Simmons?

  True, yeah, they'll get the AFC team.

• 1:08:34Speaker 01

  Well, will they just replay this one?

• 1:08:35Bill Simmons?

  So funny. I remember the darkest days of the Pats when we would get, it's just the, you know, the 1-10 Patriots at Houston. That would be like. And it would be like no competitors. So it'd be the only game.

• 1:08:51Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:08:51Bill Simmons?

  Couldn't see anything else unless they showed highlights.

• 1:08:53Speaker 01

  I want to see Terry Bradshaw.

• 1:08:54Bill Simmons?

  The NFC game would be like, well, then it would be like the Giants in the late game. Cause they always felt like, cause they, there was a Boston Giants at one point that people cared. And it would be like the Giants just killing somebody where they'd be up like 35, nothing in the second.

• 1:09:08Speaker 01

  The St. Louis Cardinals.

• 1:09:09Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. It'd be like, cool. That was my day of football. Thank you. So then like that ESPN game with Paul Maguire and like that was, and Mike Patrick. That was like the first chance to see an actual decent football game.

• 1:09:22Speaker 01

  Even more than that, it's funny. Someone wrote about that, how TNT and ESPN used to split those games. And yeah, and then, then it all became ESPN, but think of how important Boomer and Berman and TJ that was. Cause that was all the football you missed during the day. That was great.

• 1:09:38Bill Simmons?

  And we had no internet either. So we, we didn't know what was going on, except for the ticker.

• 1:09:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:45Bill Simmons?

  And especially like, I started, we, you started gambling before me, but early nineties, I'm gambling. And you're just kind of waiting for the ticker.

• 1:09:53Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:09:54Bill Simmons?

  And then it would be like Tampa 17, Carolina 16. I'm like, whoa, what happened? And then you just wouldn't know. All of a sudden the score would change.

• 1:10:02Speaker 01

  CNN would have the 2858, right? Like they'd have scores at the top and like, and God forbid.

• 1:10:08Bill Simmons?

  Van or right?

• 1:10:09Speaker 01

  If you've been all right, if you bet the unranked team, you would never see your score. You would have to see it in the paper like three days later.

• 1:10:15Bill Simmons?

  Or then we had the 900 numbers we could call. That was the other sad thing.

• 1:10:19Speaker 01

  Yeah. Get all your sports news instantly. Dial 9761313.

• 1:10:24Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:10:25Speaker 01

  I cried. Yeah.

• 1:10:26Bill Simmons?

  It's like a dollar.

• 1:10:26Speaker 01

  I jacked up a lot on that. Yeah.

• 1:10:29Bill Simmons?

  Thursday night, Pats home for the Jets. And I think this has to be close to two touchdowns. And I'm going to say Pats by 13.

• 1:10:40Speaker 01

  That's what I said too. And it's 10 and a half. What gives?

• 1:10:45Bill Simmons?

  Okay.

• 1:10:46Speaker 01

  Come on.

• 1:10:46Bill Simmons?

  Thursday line, you think? Just like thinking the Pats are just gonna try to get through the game.

• 1:10:54Speaker 01

  That's not fair. That's, that's asking too much of the Jets. It really is putting a lot of pressure on Justin Fields to have more than like 45 yards passing in the fourth quarter.

• 1:11:06Bill Simmons?

  That's the first.

• 1:11:09Bill Simmons?

  That has to be the first time the Pats have been favored in a night game like that.

• 1:11:15Bill Simmons?

  Probably since Brady's second to last year.

• 1:11:19Speaker 01

  All right.

• 1:11:20Bill Simmons?

  Cause Brady's last year, they weren't very, they were fine. They were like 10 and seven. But yeah, it's been a while. All right. We have a Madrid game.

• 1:11:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:11:30Bill Simmons?

  We went from Berlin this week.

• 1:11:34Bill Simmons?

  To, uh, it was interesting. The announcer told the story about the stadium they were playing in. You were doing the show.

• 1:11:40Speaker 01

  No, what happened?

• 1:11:42Bill Simmons?

  He, uh, they're playing in the stadium where they had the 1936 Olympics. So he told the whole Jesse Owens story, which is an awesome story, obviously. And it's like an Adolf Hitler and, you know, and he just goes through the whole thing and Kurt Warner didn't have a lot of places to go. So he was just like, yeah, that was some, that was just an amazing event. Like it was like, nothing you could really add to like a Jesse Owens Hitler story.

• 1:12:08Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:12:09Bill Simmons?

  But, uh, but yeah, that, that arena they played in today, that stadium, it's like a hundred year old stadium. It was pretty cool.

• 1:12:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:12:17Bill Simmons?

  I think Germany has, I think that Germany has the least exciting anthem you'd want to hear before a game.

• 1:12:23Speaker 01

  Right. Say it to their face.

• 1:12:26Speaker 01

  When Bad Bunny does it in February, you'll love it.

• 1:12:28Bill Simmons?

  What's your favorite anthem of all the countries?

• 1:12:31Speaker 01

  Uh, this is gonna, this is gonna get me in trouble. Other than ours, right?

• 1:12:34Bill Simmons?

  Other than ours.

• 1:12:35Speaker 01

  Canadian.

• 1:12:35Bill Simmons?

  Is it right?

• 1:12:36Speaker 01

  Canadian.

• 1:12:37Bill Simmons?

  I thought you would go Russia.

• 1:12:38Speaker 01

  Oh.

• 1:12:39Bill Simmons?

  The Volkov?

• 1:12:39Speaker 01

  Volkov, yeah.

• 1:12:45Speaker 01

  The Iron Sheik standing at attention and then just a spit to the, the original Hocktor.

• 1:12:52Bill Simmons?

  Canada's really good.

• 1:12:54Speaker 01

  Oh yeah. It's a great song.

• 1:12:55Bill Simmons?

  Madrid game. Dolphins home.

• 1:13:00Bill Simmons?

  For the Washington, uh, Sea words.

• 1:13:06Bill Simmons?

  I got Miami by two and a half.

• 1:13:10Speaker 01

  Why isn't it more than that? And why is it less than what you guessed? It's one and a half. Come on. I said three and a half. Well, this Washington teams. All right, maybe we're just counting. Are we doing what we did with Pittsburgh now with Miami? Like they're back, they're fully back, everything's back. I guess maybe we should back off.

• 1:13:30Bill Simmons?

  Do you think Vegas is just? They're putting in like the zigzag of the Dolphins where they're this. And now this week they're going to be this and they're just assuming they're going to do this.

• 1:13:40Speaker 01

  Okay, but how much has Washington zigged and zagged over the last three weeks? All they do is give up 35 points.

• 1:13:46Bill Simmons?

  Daniels could play in this game, right?

• 1:13:48Speaker 01

  Is that what they're saying?

• 1:13:49Bill Simmons?

  I don't know, he might.

• 1:13:51Speaker 01

  I just said him for the year.

• 1:13:55Bill Simmons?

  Sunday marquee. I have four watchable games plus this one. Next week's a good week.

• 1:14:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:14:01Bill Simmons?

  Next week is the last normal football week.

• 1:14:04Speaker 01

  Is that right? You looked ahead?

• 1:14:05Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, cuz.

• 1:14:06Speaker 01

  What do you mean?

• 1:14:06Bill Simmons?

  Well, cuz then we have a lot of buys in week 12, then Thanksgiving.

• 1:14:10Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:14:11Bill Simmons?

  It just gets wonky basically from that point on.

• 1:14:14Speaker 01

  Yeah. After Thanksgiving is it's tough viewing. You, I don't know, you're gonna have to take two seats on a plane because uh, you're gonna get like 10 1pm Easterns. One's gonna buy your shot.

• 1:14:26Bill Simmons?

  I think this is the marquee game.

• 1:14:29Bill Simmons?

  Well, you tell me, is it Seahawks Rams or Chiefs Broncos?

• 1:14:31Speaker 01

  Atlanta? Uh, yeah. Seahawks Rams.

• 1:14:36Bill Simmons?

  Okay.

• 1:14:36Speaker 01

  It's the one I want to say.

• 1:14:38Bill Simmons?

  I had Chiefs Broncos, but I think it's Seahawks Rams. Or we could just say there's two marquee games. Chiefs Broncos is a great game.

• 1:14:48Bill Simmons?

  So Seahawks Rams, it's in LA.

• 1:14:52Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 1:14:52Bill Simmons?

  And I think the Seahawks are going to be one and a half point underdogs.

• 1:14:58Speaker 01

  Oh, I was hoping you said favorite. That's exactly what I had. It is two and a half.

• 1:15:05Bill Simmons?

  Two and a half.

• 1:15:08Bill Simmons?

  Think our friend Tall John's gonna be there?

• 1:15:11Speaker 01

  Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah, he loves that Seattle team.

• 1:15:15Bill Simmons?

  This is a great game.

• 1:15:17Speaker 01

  They were, I guess, I mean, they, they covered that easily today, but it was a little suspicious that they were giving that many points, but Vegas, I can't say Vegas, Vandal respects the hell out of them. Two and a half at home.

• 1:15:32Bill Simmons?

  Chiefs at Broncos. And the Chiefs are going to be favored. This is a, so we say every week, somebody emerges as a new MVP candidate, and this week it was Stafford, even though these guys were already candidates.

• 1:15:48Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:15:49Bill Simmons?

  This has the makings of a Mahomes throwing himself back in the ring for the MVP race. Anyway, I have Chiefs minus three in Denver.

• 1:15:58Speaker 01

  Come on. Can I get a half a point on you? It's three and a half. That's what I had. I had three. We split it.

• 1:16:07Bill Simmons?

  That, that ends up at three. I don't think that ends up at three.

• 1:16:10Speaker 01

  That's fair. That's fair.

• 1:16:12Bill Simmons?

  There should be a three point line.

• 1:16:13Speaker 01

  Let's just bet the first half under. Let's bet the Broncos first quarter under. Let's just get it out of the way. We know what this game's gonna look like.

• 1:16:19Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, I mean, maybe the, maybe this is the new Cousin South special team this year, the Broncos.

• 1:16:23Speaker 01

  Yeah, you're right.

• 1:16:24Bill Simmons?

  You just bet Chiefs first half Broncos game.

• 1:16:27Speaker 01

  It's a good call.

• 1:16:27Bill Simmons?

  They've probably hit that four times. Watchables, three of them. Buffalo is home for Tampa Bay.

• 1:16:36Bill Simmons?

  And I had, I guess, these lines before, when I was on the plane before the Bills game, and I had Bills by five, and now I'm dropping that to Bills by four.

• 1:16:46Speaker 01

  Ooh, alright.

• 1:16:47Bill Simmons?

  Bills minus four.

• 1:16:48Speaker 01

  I get you. I said four and a half. It's five and a half.

• 1:16:52Bill Simmons?

  Oh, that's too high.

• 1:16:54Speaker 01

  They're really putting in some must win, must win points in there.

• 1:17:00Bill Simmons?

  Well, when are we gonna get a cold weather week? Is it this week?

• 1:17:03Speaker 01

  I mean, they say technically that Bears game was the first snow game. But yeah, it'd be nice to see something. Tomorrow is supposed to be-

• 1:17:11Bill Simmons?

  Next Sunday.

• 1:17:12Speaker 01

  Green Bay's supposed to be, at Lambeau's, supposed to be in the twenties by the, by halftime.

• 1:17:18Bill Simmons?

  Says 45 degrees on Sunday in Buffalo.

• 1:17:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, not good enough.

• 1:17:23Bill Simmons?

  That's not cold enough. Next one.

• 1:17:27Bill Simmons?

  I think this is a watchable. I'm surprised that I'm saying that, but it's kind of a loser leaves town match for the Vikings.

• 1:17:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:17:36Bill Simmons?

  Vikings home for the Bears.

• 1:17:41Bill Simmons?

  I have the Vikings by two and a half.

• 1:17:43Speaker 01

  All right. You get this exactly. I said one and a half. I don't know why. That was dumb.

• 1:17:50Bill Simmons?

  Let's see it this week with this goofy Bears team that has all these dumb wins against bad teams. Let's go into Minnesota, move the ball for four quarters and let's see you do it against the Flores defense.

• 1:18:02Speaker 01

  Ben Johnson's got some game balls to give out, so.

• 1:18:06Bill Simmons?

  Well, they lost to them. What was that, week one?

• 1:18:08Speaker 01

  27-24. Is that what it was? Yeah. Good game.

• 1:18:12Bill Simmons?

  Cards are home for the 49ers. And I guess this could probably go on fairly watchables, but I always feel like these games are entertaining when the Cardinals play the 49ers. So I put it in there. I have the Cardinals favored by one and a half.

• 1:18:27Speaker 01

  Oh, I'm gonna get this, right? Oh, no, we split it. I said four and a half. Oh, Cardinals favored. Okay. Yeah. Oh, no, you're wrong. I said San Francisco by four and a half. It's San Francisco by three.

• 1:18:39Bill Simmons?

  Oh, my God. That was way off.

• 1:18:42Speaker 01

  Well, they have six wins. They're gonna be a, they're our playoff team.

• 1:18:45Bill Simmons?

  But didn't anybody watch the game today?

• 1:18:47Speaker 01

  I know. No, it's weird. It doesn't even matter.

• 1:18:49Bill Simmons?

  Didn't come close to stopping anything.

• 1:18:52Speaker 01

  If Purdy comes in, doesn't matter, right? Then we know, doesn't, you know, Murray, forget him. It's just, this is just what they have. This is what the line's gonna be Sunday night before.

• 1:19:05Bill Simmons?

  I liked Keon White when he was on the Patriots. I always thought he had a lot of potential. He was this defensive end we had. He showed flashes. Then this year, the team was good. And he just didn't play. Very bold didn't play him. And then eventually they just traded him to the Niners for like a seventh round pick. And when they did it, it was like, oh, that's cool. I like that guy. I hope, I hope he gets some run on the Niners. He was like playing a lot today. And I just thought it was interesting. This guy that literally couldn't play for the Patriots. And he's just out there for the Niners. It's like, that's not a good sign for your defense.

• 1:19:38Speaker 01

  If you want to play a lot, that's the team you go to, the 49ers. A spot will open up for you eventually. You'll get there.

• 1:19:44Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, they're listing dudes where you're like, oh, Bryce Hough. Oh, there he is. Fairly watchables. Packers, Giants? So.

• 1:19:55Bill Simmons?

  This feels like a Russell Wilson start.

• 1:19:58Speaker 01

  I mean, they're making-

• 1:19:59Bill Simmons?

  I don't know how Dart gets cleared in six days.

• 1:20:01Speaker 01

  They make them sit one, right?

• 1:20:03Bill Simmons?

  So I went high. I went Packers nine and a half.

• 1:20:06Speaker 01

  Oh, I said six and a half. It is seven and a half.

• 1:20:11Speaker 01

  They're baiting us, right? Watch, Green Bay's gonna win like 30 to 10 tomorrow and then we're gonna all have them on a teaser next week and Russ is gonna have the last good game of his career.

• 1:20:22Bill Simmons?

  I'm trying to think of how high this would get to before I took Russell Wilson in a in a bet.

• 1:20:29Speaker 01

  Thirty-six.

• 1:20:30Bill Simmons?

  Like 14 and a half?

• 1:20:33Speaker 01

  It's so rough. You can't run. You can't, you can't throw.

• 1:20:36Bill Simmons?

  She's completely shot.

• 1:20:39Bill Simmons?

  Steelers Bengals in Pittsburgh. And I still think this has to be a touchdown, even though the Steelers look like shit today. So I'm gonna say Steelers by seven.

• 1:20:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, you edge me out here. I said seven and a half. And it's five and a half. What are they doing?

• 1:20:56Bill Simmons?

  Vegas, huh?

• 1:20:57Speaker 01

  What are they doing? The Steelers lost that Thursday night game. They can't, this would be this-

• 1:21:03Bill Simmons?

  Maybe they're thinking this is like a last team with the ball kinda game.

• 1:21:07Speaker 01

  Oh my God, they were so embarrassed in Cincy. Few Thursdays ago. I think you have to add two points to some. We have another one coming up with Atlanta, Carolina. Carolina got shut them out. Like, I don't know. I think these need to move.

• 1:21:21Bill Simmons?

  Chargers at Jacksonville. I have the Chargers favored. Chargers minus one and a half in Jacksonville.

• 1:21:28Speaker 01

  I got it exactly. Two and a half. Unless they change it. Nope, two and a half.

• 1:21:33Bill Simmons?

  You're beating me this week.

• 1:21:35Speaker 01

  Hold on, three, hold on. Seven to six.

• 1:21:42Bill Simmons?

  Three poop fucked up games. Unless you think Ravens Browns should be a fairly watchable.

• 1:21:48Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:21:50Bill Simmons?

  I'm guessing no on that one.

• 1:21:51Speaker 01

  Especially in that window with Seattle. That's the late afternoon, but we don't have to watch it.

• 1:21:55Bill Simmons?

  Ravens at Cleveland. It has to have at least a hook. So I'm gonna say Ravens by seven and a half.

• 1:22:04Speaker 01

  I mean, I went crazy here. I said 11 and a half and it's eight and a half. Why? Why?

• 1:22:13Bill Simmons?

  They beat them 41-17. Who was the quarterback when they beat them?

• 1:22:17Speaker 01

  41-17. Wasn't Flacco, was it?

• 1:22:20Bill Simmons?

  I think it was.

• 1:22:21Speaker 01

  Oh, this guy's so much worse than Flacco.

• 1:22:25Bill Simmons?

  Pretty rough.

• 1:22:26Speaker 01

  What are they gonna do?

• 1:22:28Bill Simmons?

  Falcons home for the Panthers. If this is in the Vegas zone, then I don't know anything. I have Falcons four and a half.

• 1:22:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's exactly what I had. Three and a half. Oh, three and a half. Like, there. There's gotta be.

• 1:22:44Bill Simmons?

  Unbelievable. I'm gonna end up beating the Falcons again.

• 1:22:46Speaker 01

  I know. I am too. They lost 30 to nothing to the Panthers. You don't think they have this game circle?

• 1:22:53Bill Simmons?

  So I didn't have the Panthers game on today. I had no interest. I only had four spots. It wasn't cracking it. Those are two non-playoff teams. Apparently Bryce was really bad.

• 1:23:04Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:23:05Bill Simmons?

  Like, even for him, like, really, really bad. And it just feels like we are not making the progress we thought we were gonna make with that dude.

• 1:23:13Speaker 01

  Right? It's, I watched it. I had it on a small screen because New Orleans was my underdog pick. And when Chuck goes wire to wire on you at home, you're, you're just a cross off. It just doesn't matter how many, I mean, this, their thing is they can't be favored in games. This is 11 in a row where they're favored and they lost. It's like a child wetting his bed at home. But he's okay during sleepovers. Like, dude, you're home. Should be easier. You're favored.

• 1:23:40Bill Simmons?

  So maybe, maybe that's, uh, maybe they're in the spot they need to be in.

• 1:23:44Speaker 01

  They did. Getting points? Yeah, maybe.

• 1:23:48Bill Simmons?

  Texans at Tennessee is the last one. And I put this in the Vegas zone too. Texans by four and a half is my pick.

• 1:23:56Speaker 01

  Oh, all right. I'm closer. I said six. It's seven and a half.

• 1:24:00Bill Simmons?

  That's dumb.

• 1:24:03Speaker 01

  They beat them 26-0 the first time, week four.

• 1:24:08Bill Simmons?

  Titans coming off a bye week.

• 1:24:12Bill Simmons?

  Sunday night is a really good game. Eagles home for the Lions.

• 1:24:15Speaker 01

  Good one.

• 1:24:16Bill Simmons?

  I have Eagles minus three and a half.

• 1:24:19Speaker 01

  Uh, we split this. No, I get it. I had two. It's one and a half.

• 1:24:23Bill Simmons?

  Wow, you beat me.

• 1:24:24Speaker 01

  Look at that. Come on, I'm back. We did it, Jacobes.

• 1:24:29Bill Simmons?

  So Eagles, one and a half over the Lions. They're saying these two teams are even? Because now you get one and a half for home. So they're saying these are dead even teams?

• 1:24:37Speaker 01

  I guess so. They haven't been power ranking Philly high. I mean, think about it. Green Bay is, is up to what now? Tomorrow. Oh, they're still one and a half.

• 1:24:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, maybe it should be a tick higher.

• 1:24:49Bill Simmons?

  It's a, it's a small thing, but it's also not. I don't like when teams have stuff where they're like, coordinators are getting fired or guys are losing their job or this guy's gonna call the plays now. I think when that's happening in November, that's a horrible sign.

• 1:25:05Speaker 01

  Which team you talking about?

• 1:25:06Bill Simmons?

  For the Lions.

• 1:25:07Speaker 01

  Oh, the Lions?

• 1:25:08Bill Simmons?

  I didn't think this was, I know they played well today, but I don't think this reflected well on them at all. It just tells me they hired the wrong guy. This is your offensive coordinator. It's the biggest job on your team other than your head coach. You blew the job, obviously. So now Dan Campbell is gonna call plays for them the rest of the year? Like, I don't think that's a good sign at all.

• 1:25:31Speaker 01

  Do you ever think like Goff, he does look good. I know we're playing each other in fantasy. You were watching him closely. We're neck and neck this week and I had Goff, but if they could have a better fit, like what do you think Stafford would do with this Lions team?

• 1:25:44Bill Simmons?

  Oh, my God.

• 1:25:46Speaker 01

  It's just so much talent. And if you can't, like Jameson Williams, like, oh yeah, that guy. Why is he getting like two targets a game? Look at him. He's in the end zone. They just released the ball.

• 1:25:55Bill Simmons?

  Embarrassment of riches. It feels like they can go to La Porta over the middle for 15 yards anytime they want and they never do it.

• 1:26:01Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:26:03Bill Simmons?

  Monday night. Oh, your sad team's playing.

• 1:26:08Bill Simmons?

  You're in Vegas.

• 1:26:09Speaker 01

  Call the season.

• 1:26:11Bill Simmons?

  You going to this?

• 1:26:13Speaker 01

  No.

• 1:26:16Bill Simmons?

  It's your team. It's an hour flight.

• 1:26:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, let me lose like six grand playing blackjack and then go watch the Cowboys at night.

• 1:26:23Bill Simmons?

  Raiders I have favored at home by one and a half.

• 1:26:27Speaker 01

  You have the Raiders favored?

• 1:26:29Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:26:31Bill Simmons?

  Your team's terrible.

• 1:26:32Speaker 01

  I know, but they are favored.

• 1:26:33Bill Simmons?

  They be favored.

• 1:26:34Speaker 01

  They're favored by two and a half. Oh, they're favored by three.

• 1:26:37Bill Simmons?

  Oh, my God. That's ludicrous. Your team stinks.

• 1:26:40Speaker 01

  You're not taking Vegas here. Cut it out. You're not taking them.

• 1:26:46Bill Simmons?

  I'm taking whoever the, whoever is getting points. Two terrible teams.

• 1:26:52Speaker 01

  11-8. You didn't see those trades Jerry made early in the week? You must not have seen those. Oh, man.

• 1:26:59Bill Simmons?

  I know you already talked about that on Ringer Gambling Show, but it just has to be mortifying when

• 1:27:06Bill Simmons?

  it's the same sensation we have with our parents, but the guy's actually in charge of one of your teams.

• 1:27:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:27:12Bill Simmons?

  Where you're just like, what do we do?

• 1:27:15Bill Simmons?

  And it's the, it's the, it's they get the better first? Why did we do that? And it's just a trade that is just official and approved by the league.

• 1:27:23Speaker 01

  Yep. And it's all now because he realized the Micah thing is a disaster and he's got to make that look good before even the offseason. In a season that we don't have a shot, like we're going to go two and four the next six. Like had we won against Arizona, it still would have been probably a bad trade. But he's got, I think he's got no short-term memory. I think he forgot about the Arizona game, even though the trade was in the works. And he's like, oh, I have some really good news for you people.

• 1:27:49Bill Simmons?

  I think you, I think he might've forgotten that there were only seven playoff seeds.

• 1:27:52Speaker 01

  Yeah, maybe that's it. Yeah.

• 1:27:54Bill Simmons?

  I think he just thought it was like the March Madness.

• 1:27:56Speaker 01

  I thought we voted on a 22-week season.

• 1:28:00Bill Simmons?

  I thought, I thought it just kept going until we played a playoff game. All right. That's it for, for guest lines. Really good week next week though. Jesus.

• 1:28:09Speaker 01

  That's good. And there's so many good games. I was like, oh, the others are going to suck. But no, the, somehow it matches up nicely for like seven teams, seven games.

• 1:28:17Bill Simmons?

  This episode is brought to you by Core Power Protein Shakes. You know how we always talk about the little things that separate great athletes? Post-workout recovery is a big factor. Core Power Protein Shakes help you keep going after your workout with high-quality protein to build muscle and electrolytes to help hydrate. It's all you need for your recovery in one bottle, available in 26 and 42 gram protein options to pick what works best for you. Visit corepower.com to learn more. This episode is brought to you by NBA 2K27. We just had one of the craziest off-seasons we've had in the NBA, which is perfect for 2K because every 2K season can be one of the craziest off-seasons. The whole league shifted in real life. They could shift to an NBA 2K27.

• 1:29:01Bill Simmons?

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• 1:29:44Bill Simmons?

  a spread of your favorite foods, pizza, burgers, burritos, you name it. Uber Eats is here to deliver it to you all season long. Ironically, I'd got Uber Eats two hours ago.

• 1:29:54Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:29:55Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:29:56Speaker 01

  I got it this morning.

• 1:29:57Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, it was delicious.

• 1:29:58Speaker 01

  Grapes, Coke Zero, watermelon, and Fritos. I shouldn't have gotten that.

• 1:30:04Bill Simmons?

  Fritos? What kind of Fritos?

• 1:30:06Speaker 01

  Oh, I got the barbecue ones. Have you had?

• 1:30:10Bill Simmons?

  I've had. Those are pretty good.

• 1:30:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, I'm in bad shape.

• 1:30:13Bill Simmons?

  There's a couple of people in my life that that's their number one.

• 1:30:15Speaker 01

  Really?

• 1:30:16Bill Simmons?

  The barbecue Fritos, yeah.

• 1:30:17Speaker 01

  You can't say, you can't say their name?

• 1:30:19Bill Simmons?

  No.

• 1:30:20Speaker 01

  Blasphemous? Okay.

• 1:30:21Bill Simmons?

  Well, one of them's my wife's friend, so I think doesn't tell her husband cheats.

• 1:30:24Speaker 01

  Oh, I see. It's a Jenny Sack situation.

• 1:30:29Bill Simmons?

  What do you got for parent quarter?

• 1:30:31Speaker 01

  All right. Well, okay. So let's start with the other parents, like our parents, my father in particular, who, he has trouble getting around. Yeah, he's in his mid 80s now, but he loves going to the kids' games still. So we take him to Harrison's flag football playoff game. By the way, go bolt up, they're in the finals next week. So we take him and we're driving, and we get there. Now, we're driving home, and these are Friday night at eight, so about, it's like 10 o'clock while we're driving home. So everyone's quiet in the car. And so I was like, you know what? I'll put the 70s station on for him, even though that's like two to three decades too contemporary for him. But, and Paul Simon's 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover is on, right?

• 1:31:08Bill Simmons?

  Uh-uh.

• 1:31:09Speaker 01

  And my father starts humming and then starts singing the song, except he kept saying 50 Ways to Please Your Lover. And he's not doing it ironically, he's not trying to be funny, but he's loud about it. He's like, 50 Ways to Please Your Lover. And my wife is like gagging in the backseat, I could see.

• 1:31:30Speaker 01

  He thinks that's the words because I know he's screwing up the other words like he's got everything wrong, but 50 ways to please your lover. Sorry, Paul Simon. So that's that's my old dad going at it.

• 1:31:43Bill Simmons?

  50 ways to please your lover. Fantastic.

• 1:31:45Speaker 01

  Not leave your lover. Some with a tongue. I don't know. Anyway, uh, next, uh, okay. So my son, Jack is a Steelers fan.

• 1:31:54Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:31:54Speaker 01

  For no reason. The same, same as me being a Cowboys fan. Um, a couple of weeks ago, I sent him a picture of a bar, uh, right around where we live and they've hung a Steelers flag. And he ended up looking up the bar and he does the research and not only is it a Steelers bar, but they have a fan club and he ends up emailing the president of the fan club. And now they're emailing each other and now he wants to go to the game. I forgot that the Steelers were at SoFi tonight and he wants, he's like, can you take me to the game? And I was like, I can't go, Jack. Like I don't, I don't even see the Cowboys. I have to work. We do the live show right after the game. It's just not going to happen. So maybe you can find a friend to go with. And now my wife is like, no, no, no, we're not letting him

• 1:32:37Speaker 01

  go alone with a friend, just a friend, you know, they're still in high school and he's going to go, you know, so, and now he's going to go with these, he can't go with these new adult friends. So I was like, well, you know what this means? This means you have to go. So my wife, uh, took Jack to the Steelers game tonight at SoFi. The game is at 5:20. I was like, all right, just take an Uber there at like four or something because traffic's going to be bad. No, no, no. Jack wants to go with this club because they rented a Sprinter van and they're going at 11 a.m. And they're tailgating at SoFi. So my poor wife, who now hates me more than she's ever hated me in my life, has to go to this game at 11 a.m.

• 1:33:18Bill Simmons?

  And tailgate?

• 1:33:19Speaker 01

  And tailgate. I'll send you the videos later and, uh, they are not back yet. So, uh, this is gonna be good.

• 1:33:29Speaker 01

  I was checking in. She was very, very short with her responses, but what am I gonna do?

• 1:33:32Bill Simmons?

  Did they leave at 11 o'clock or they got there at 11 o'clock?

• 1:33:35Speaker 01

  The bus left at 11 a.m. and it's a Sprinter van with like a stripper pole and everything. I gotta send you this. It's really nuts. Really, really nuts. And did they score a touchdown? We went on right before the end. They didn't even score a touchdown, did they?

• 1:33:49Bill Simmons?

  Oh, my God. I can't think of anything your wife would hate more than that.

• 1:33:52Speaker 01

  I might have to leave the back door open. I may have to stay with you tonight. Oh, they did score a touchdown. All right. At least they scored a touchdown.

• 1:34:01Bill Simmons?

  I went back to Boston because my daughter's team was in the playoffs.

• 1:34:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:34:08Bill Simmons?

  And they were the higher seed. So I went back for the Tuesday game. Thinking I'd at least get to see two games and maybe they'd make the finals. And of course they got upset in the first game and lost. But, uh, um, but it was, it was still a good season. I was, I was psyched for my daughter because she stayed healthy the whole year. She played a ton of minutes and had a really good year. So that was good.

• 1:34:31Speaker 01

  She doesn't have a Brian Day ball who's not looking out for her, right?

• 1:34:34Bill Simmons?

  No.

• 1:34:35Speaker 01

  Good, good.

• 1:34:35Bill Simmons?

  She, but yeah, she, she made it healthy, really good season. So on Friday, we went to Stanford because it was my Uncle Ricky's 80th birthday party.

• 1:34:46Speaker 01

  Nice.

• 1:34:47Bill Simmons?

  My Uncle Ricky, who had one of the great quotes of all time at his 50th birthday, um, 30 years ago, when he told us, hey, when he turned 50, just remember these two things. Never pass a bathroom without going in and never leave a hard on unattended.

• 1:35:03Bill Simmons?

  That's his advice to me. That's 30 years ago.

• 1:35:08Speaker 01

  You telling your kids or that's just that?

• 1:35:10Bill Simmons?

  He passed that, those words of wisdom long.

• 1:35:13Speaker 01

  Did you pay attention? Did you follow his advice?

• 1:35:16Bill Simmons?

  So it's been ringing in my head. Just a legendary member of the family. Just too many stories. So we had a whole, uh, whole weekend and a couple dinners. But we took the Amtrak, my daughter and I, and we watched, uh, this Peacock show called All Her Fault Was Shevroy.

• 1:35:35Bill Simmons?

  Or she is this mom who has a play day with her kid and the kid gets kidnapped. And it's like, uh, it's like your classic, it's like, it should have been like a Nicole Kidman show. I don't know how she turned it down. Maybe she's too old to have a five year old kid. But we're on the Amtrak in the quiet car. And I'm watching on my iPad and she's watching on her iPad and we sync the iPads. So that it's happening at the same time, but we're not looking at two iPads. But then a couple of times the wifi would stop. And my daughter would get really mad if my iPad was ahead of their iPad. So she would make me stop so the iPads would sync. And this is how we spent, uh, three and a half hours together going to Stanford. And I was thinking about her, her boyfriend now is, is Hank, who's a great guy.

• 1:36:20Bill Simmons?

  And I was just thinking like, good luck Hank. Syncing those iPads.

• 1:36:25Speaker 01

  Sync them off.

• 1:36:26Bill Simmons?

  I was like, I can't even imagine what the, what the days are like. She's furious, like you're two seconds ahead of me. I'm like, it's the same scene. What are you, what are you doing?

• 1:36:36Bill Simmons?

  But anyway, we had a good time on the train. It was awesome being on, that was where I, I basically grew up on the Amtrak going back and forth. As a child.

• 1:36:43Speaker 01

  It's nice now, right?

• 1:36:44Bill Simmons?

  Right. Really nice. Great times all around. But anyway, it was, it was some good, uh, dad, daughter time, but she said she might not come back for Thanksgiving and I was heartbroken.

• 1:36:54Speaker 01

  Oh no, she's going to Hank's?

• 1:36:56Bill Simmons?

  Well, Hank, Hank's on the basketball team. And he's gotta stay and I think she feels bad. And so I don't know, we've had every Thanksgiving with her. And it's just, it's really the beginning of the end in all these different ways for us as parents. So.

• 1:37:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was thinking about this.

• 1:37:12Bill Simmons?

  Right? Where it's like, yeah, I'm not going to be back for Thanksgiving. It's like, oh, what do you mean? We've spent every Thanksgiving together since you were a baby. You're just not going to come back. So I don't know if she's coming back or not.

• 1:37:22Speaker 01

  Doesn't seem right. I'm trying to think, when did you blow off your parents Thanksgiving?

• 1:37:27Bill Simmons?

  I was trying to think of how many times I blew my parents off for everything and it was, it was a lot.

• 1:37:33Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 1:37:34Bill Simmons?

  So I think, and she made that point to me like she, when I was complaining about the iPad. She's like, you're lucky I'm here. I'm a college student. I'm giving up a Friday night to take the train to Stanford to go to my uncle's thing. Like you should be more appreciative and.

• 1:37:47Speaker 01

  And you're not even syncing up the Shiv Roy rom com or whatever the F were watching.

• 1:37:52Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, that was a shibra kidnapping.

• 1:37:54Speaker 01

  The kidnapper. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a good show. I think that's a good Netflix show. You and Zoe riding an Amtrak, watching these and critiquing these shows.

• 1:38:02Bill Simmons?

  She goes to the bathroom and disappears and then it becomes like, oh, right. Or I disappear, one of us disappears.

• 1:38:07Speaker 01

  Well, you've never passed the bathroom that, that you've, well, how's it go?

• 1:38:10Bill Simmons?

  I can't. It'll hit the never, never pass a bathroom without going in.

• 1:38:14Speaker 01

  Right. All right.

• 1:38:16Bill Simmons?

  I realized that Shibra just is Shibra from now on.

• 1:38:19Speaker 01

  Oh, she is.

• 1:38:21Bill Simmons?

  But you can't unsee her because I know Tom from Succession is in this new thing that's on Netflix. Like some presidential assassination show. I wouldn't be able to unsee Tom from him either. I just think, remember with the sopranos, those people, some of the actors just never shook the characters.

• 1:38:38Speaker 01

  Right. You couldn't do it.

• 1:38:39Bill Simmons?

  Like Montesanti, I just couldn't, couldn't see Imperiali as anybody else. He was just Christopher.

• 1:38:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, big.

• 1:38:45Bill Simmons?

  Adriana was just always Adriana.

• 1:38:47Speaker 01

  Yeah. But, and I, yeah, I feel that way with all those succession characters too, except I would never would have thought Cameron. Is it Cameron from, uh, from Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

• 1:38:58Bill Simmons?

  Right. He's kind of Alan Ruck.

• 1:38:59Speaker 01

  I was okay with that.

• 1:39:00Bill Simmons?

  Kind of transcended. Yeah, he was okay.

• 1:39:02Speaker 01

  Yeah. All right.

• 1:39:03Bill Simmons?

  But Jeremy Strong, and that's a tough one too.

• 1:39:05Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All the main characters for really good shows is tough. I'm telling you, that's a good show. You and Zoe on the Amtrak. Amtrak and the.

• 1:39:14Bill Simmons?

  I'll work on it. I'll, I'll pump a script into AI tonight. I'll just have AI spit out a script.

• 1:39:18Speaker 01

  Love it.

• 1:39:19Bill Simmons?

  Today's parent corner presented by Uber Eats, who also sponsored the, uh, what, what was the, the van that your wife took?

• 1:39:28Speaker 01

  It was a Sprinter van. Yeah. Yeah.

• 1:39:29Bill Simmons?

  Sprinter van, the Steelers Sprinter van. Get almost anything for game day, like your favorite game day foods, drinks and snacks on Uber Eats. The official on demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order now. How's it going on Ringer Gambling Show with the Bundo? Have you and House illegally adopted him?

• 1:39:46Speaker 01

  Love it. He's good. He's very serious about his bets. He also comes on the pregame show and I think he's like seven and one with his best bets. And yeah, yeah, we're out. But yeah, House and I have fun with him. And Tuesdays with Tate is great and Friday with the Bundo and Hyphens. And yeah, Sunday pregame, like I said, lots of winners, lots of big odds winners, SGP's. And tune in, you may see it elsewhere, not going anywhere, but you may see it.

• 1:40:09Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, I might add a couple, couple spots to watch.

• 1:40:12Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:40:13Bill Simmons?

  I was thinking, tell me if you think this is a good idea. I know Fando doesn't like negative props.

• 1:40:17Speaker 01

  Right.

• 1:40:18Bill Simmons?

  But I was thinking interception parlays would be such a fun corner.

• 1:40:23Speaker 01

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:40:25Bill Simmons?

  There were a couple guys today that were just clearly throwing an interception. Like J.J. McCarthy, there was no question he was throwing a pick to somebody. Mac Jones, you gotta pencil him every time. Lawrence, did he actually throw an interception or was that a fumble? But yeah, I think he did it before.

• 1:40:42Speaker 01

  Did he get one?

• 1:40:43Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, he threw one.

• 1:40:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:40:45Bill Simmons?

  But there's some, but I think interception parlays.

• 1:40:48Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:40:49Bill Simmons?

  I want, I want to make that my corner the rest of the way, especially with some of these bad QBs.

• 1:40:53Speaker 01

  Why wouldn't they do that? You could bet under in passing yards and stuff like that.

• 1:40:57Bill Simmons?

  They don't put the interceptions in the same game parlays.

• 1:40:58Speaker 01

  But you could bet under passing, you could bet negative stuff. I don't, come on, Fando. Yeah, that's a fun one. Yeah, just jack up, you know, Cam Ward's to minus 500, do whatever you have to do. We just want to put the parlays together.

• 1:41:11Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, I want two of them, maybe even three altogether. All right, cuz, as always, good job by you.

• 1:41:16Speaker 01

  Good job by you, buddy.

• 1:41:18Bill Simmons?

  Thanks to everybody who watched on YouTube. You can watch this podcast, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, on Spotify and on YouTube as well. Thanks to Gao, thanks to Eduardo as well, and I will see you on this feed on Tuesday.

• 1:41:47Bill Simmons?

  Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 plus and present in DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com, call 888-797777, or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, or mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org, or call 800-327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts, or call 877-8HOPES-NY, or text HOPENY in New York. This episode is brought to you by Searchlight Pictures Wild Horse 9. John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell, I like those guys, star in the sharp-witted comedy thriller from Academy

• 1:42:28Bill Simmons?

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