Caleb Beats Drake, a Mega-Mailbag, Eagles Drama, NBA Surprises, and NFL Week 7 With Tom Pelissero and Joe House

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Tom Pelissero to react to the Patriots-Bears Week 7 matchup before discussing NFL topics. Then, Joe House hops on to help Bill answer some mailbag questions before making their Ringer 107 picks for the week. (0:00) Intro (1:08) Patriots-Bears reactions (17:02) The Pick Six With Tom Pelissero (46:46) Mailbag with House (01:36:18) Ringer 107 picks, Week 7 Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Tom Pelissero and Joe House Producers: Chia Hao Tat, Eduardo Ocampo, and Chris Wohlers See what boring banking can do for you. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines. 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 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. 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.

• 0:26Bill Simmons?

  This is the Bill Simmons Podcast presented by FanDuel. Make every NFL week more rewarding with FanDuel Rewards Club. You heard me. Just bet like you normally would, earn points on eligible settled bets, win or lose. Keep collecting points, level up and unlock bigger rewards. So keep an eye on your rewards club progress and see what you can unlock. This is your most rewarding season ever and it's with FanDuel. 21 plus select states or 18 plus DC or Wyoming. Game problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut.

• 1:29Bill Simmons?

  The Bill Simmons Podcast, we are live on Netflix after Pats Bears. It's a somber Bill Simmons. Wanted to mention rewatchables went up on Monday. We did it follows and we have a live rewatchables on Netflix Monday at 5:00 PM ET. Nightmare on Elm Street. You a Nightmare on Elm Street guy, Tom Palacero or no?

• 1:47Speaker 01

  I've never seen it.

• 1:49Bill Simmons?

  Okay. Well, it was a nightmare in Chicago today for Patriots fans. A very winnable game, but a very, very fun entertaining game. These Thursday night, what is up with the Thursday night games this year? Why are they entertaining? What's happened?

• 2:02Speaker 01

  It helps to have good teams. I think that that's a huge part of it. You know, if this game had been a couple of weeks ago and you'd been watching like Tyson Bajent against Drake May, maybe not quite as compelling. I think that Ben Johnson, anytime like the, the big games, the national TV games especially, cause he's very aware environmentally of what's going on. And Ben's like on, he's on the very short list of coaches. But even when he or his team does something stupid, like the handoff to Joe Tooney that gets flagged as being illegal, you're still like, that was the coolest illegal play I've ever seen. Knowing Ben, he knows the rules, like something got messed up on that play.

• 2:46Speaker 01

  But I was like, I've never seen anybody attempt that before. So even with the flag, still impressive.

• 2:55Bill Simmons?

  Well, the biggest attempt he made was this 58 yard field goal. 27-21 Caleb takes the Matt Ryan Memorial Falcons, Pats, Super Bowl. We have the game one and I just knocked us out of a field goal position. A good play by the Pats defense, but it becomes a 58 yard field goal in Chicago. It's 11 to 9, there's no wind, but it's still 11 to 9. Santos's, his career was 56 and I thought they were trying to draw the Pats off sides. They snap it and I'm like, oh, this is a fucking miracle. They're kicking this and then he nailed it and the game ended. It was basically over at that point, but I, could you believe that they actually kicked that?

• 3:38Speaker 01

  I thought that entire ending sequence was really weird. From Frable clearly taking the intentional offsides rather than trying to get the stop on third down.

• 3:49Bill Simmons?

  Herschel had no idea.

• 3:51Speaker 01

  To work the clock. And then, yeah, you get into that third down, like I don't mind throwing there, but that play like it, here's the thing with Caleb is you never know. Is Ben designing it for it to be a longer drop back away for things to develop? Or is it Caleb going, I'm going to go Superman here? Well, he gets caught and you know, running around in the backfield and all of a sudden he goes down. Barmore tackles him and somehow hurts himself on the play. And you're just going like, there's so many different things that could have happened there. And that was like outside of a fumble, the worst potential outcome. And good for Cairo Santos coming back and hitting a field goal after he'd knocked the previous one off, off the upright.

• 4:31Bill Simmons?

  And it hit the over as well. That was the other, if there was a lot of excitement in gambling universe, for some reason a 58 yard field goal out of nowhere. Cause it seemed like they were going to run out the clock. All right, big storylines here. Number one, super fun QB. I'm licking my wounds as a Pats fan, but super fun QB battle. I mean, these are two of the best young QBs and probably two of the best QBs we have, period. But they went back and forth. I guess Drake made the one huge mistake when he throws the pick in the end zone. I gotta be honest, man, I thought he got his bell rung on the QB sneak touchdown, the play before, when he ran in, ran into the one and he took a hard helmet, helmet hit. And they replayed it and the announcers didn't even really mention it.

• 5:16Bill Simmons?

  But I, I didn't think he was right after that for a little while. I don't know what happened, but he really got nailed and I just thought that pass was weird. Like what, he's trying to throw the tight end, but he's throwing like a straight hard pass. That's just, you turn around, you pick it off. There was no loft to it. It was unusual, but this is the Drake May issue. He makes, you know, the one killer mistake in this case, that probably costs him the game.

• 5:39Speaker 01

  I, I thought maybe there was a crossing route there that he could have gone to, but also like he can hit the tight end there. Like it is open, he's got to step on him. For some reason, yeah, there's no, there's no air under the ball. He throws a line drive. If you just kind of drop it in the bucket, you've got a chance on that play. But I thought overall Drake played really well in the game.

• 5:58Bill Simmons?

  That was his big mistake.

• 5:59Speaker 01

  That Bears defense is bafflingly good. Like they are top 10 in a lot of key categories. And then you're like, you look at who they're playing with and you're like, how are they doing it? Cause last year, like statistically, they weren't good other than they just turned the ball over so much that they were able basically to get away with not being all that good. This year, like they're a top 10 EPA defense, top 10 yards allowed defense. Like it's pretty impressive.

• 6:25Bill Simmons?

  Dennis Allen.

• 6:27Speaker 01

  And yeah.

• 6:27Bill Simmons?

  Our guy. But the thing, the thing is you watch these Flores disciple rip off defenses and you wonder why everybody doesn't do it. Cause you, you picture, especially when they have the all 22 behind the QB camera and there's eight guys on the line. And you don't know which eight guys are going. It's like, hey, the tight end, can you come over and just stand here? Cause you know, there might be a blitz up the middle and then two guys jump back, four jump forward, these two drop back. I don't know how you figure out what's happening play to play. And if you don't have a good defense, this seems like the strategy to use, right? It's almost like a gimmick.

• 7:02Speaker 01

  Unless you don't, it works. Unless you don't have your shit together and then you give up a huge play.

• 7:07Bill Simmons?

  Right, then you fuck up.

• 7:07Speaker 01

  They blitzed on the last play of the first half and somehow there's the two guys at the goal line. Your whole job, you got, you're just watching them come, you know, you're 50 yards away and just watching them come. They didn't even come close. Ramandre Stevenson walks in completely untouched.

• 7:26Bill Simmons?

  It seemed like they were afraid of the lateral, right? Cause there was two cornerbacks, there was one cornerback that could have run over and tried to tackle him. And then he veered the other way, cause I think he thought Stevenson was going to throw it across the field. And Stevenson's like, all right, I'll just keep running and runs it in. But before that you had, it was third and 17. And the Pats are about to get a stop and get out of there, you know, reasonably close. And they give up a bubble screen for an easy touchdown, right? And at that point, it's like Drake interception in the end zone disaster. Third and 17 bubble screen, easy touchdown disaster. And then the Ramandre touchdown like flipped all of it back. So we were somehow dead even.

• 8:08Speaker 01

  Forgotten in this game because I'm, I'm unconvinced he was even on the field in the second half. How about Luther Burden looking like Barry fucking Sanders in 1993?

• 8:19Bill Simmons?

  Right.

• 8:20Speaker 01

  In the first, just like jukeing guys left three, he looked like the best player on the field.

• 8:24Bill Simmons?

  Right.

• 8:25Speaker 01

  He's had a couple of good games and then nothing in the second half. Cause you know, Ben's nothing if not a equal opportunity distributor of the football.

• 8:33Bill Simmons?

  Well, we had Colston Loveland, who's alive again. If you had him in fantasy, really tough month and now a big drive with him, they go up 13. The Pats come back, AJ's involved all of a sudden. Still seems like he's kind of running on glass sneakers or something. I don't feel like he's like the full on this crazy athlete AJ yet. It still feels like he's feeling it out, but he makes play and then Raridan, my favorite guy in the Pats. They finally get him deep on a touchdown, which has been sitting there the whole season. The Pats crushed the draft, just in general, Yakis, Raridan, Lomu, like they, they, they really nailed some of these. So Drake was five for five on that. It's 27-21, they get a stop.

• 9:15Bill Simmons?

  Now they have the ball back and this makeshift offensive line, which I think is the real reason they lost this game. Couple of killer penalties, they have to give the ball back to the Bears. Ellis misses that sack on Caleb right at the goal line of the Bears. They drive down 53 yard field goal for, for Santos, doink. Now the Pats have another sign of life and they can't get it. They have to turn it again. So this, this game was in the Pats hands. I thought, you know, if you're, if you're the Bears, you're like, we're really good. Like that, like we are in the mix in the NFC. And if you're the Pats, it's like, all right, we're four and three. We should have won that, we should have won the Seattle game. We could have won this game. You know, we really only got our ass kicked in Jacksonville, but I think both of these teams are contenders. What do you think on that?

• 10:00Speaker 01

  I mean, the Patriots, just like the Bears have the same issue, which is they gotta get through their own division. Like you've got a pretty, and in the case of the AFC East, you're trying to get through the Bills. You already beat wins this season. If you're the Bears, you're kind of fighting it off from all three angles against the other teams that you're going up against. I would just say this, remember the, the Bears didn't have Caleb Williams for three games there. They just played two games in five days and they scored 30 plus in each one of those games. Like that's for a guy coming off a hamstring injury to like come back four days later and play the way Caleb did. Like that was the biggest sigh of relief. Like you just had to get through these two games if you're the Bears.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  And now, you know, in the three full games that Caleb has played, he has looked like a legit top 10 quarterback all day in the NFL and they've got enough playmakers around them. They lost Cole Komet. We'll see how bad that knee is. It didn't look good on the field based on people's reactions.

• 10:58Bill Simmons?

  Cart's not a good sign.

• 10:59Speaker 01

  The cart and the players praying. You never want to look up and see a teammate praying for you.

• 11:05Speaker 01

  But they've got the people.

• 11:06Bill Simmons?

  The ringer too. We had anytime anyone in the ringers praying. Monday at Seattle is the next Bears game. So they have 11 days for that one. But man, you look at the NFC North, your favorite division, Minnesota 5-0, Chicago 5-2, Green Bay 4-2, Detroit 3-2. They already have 17 wins. They're on pace for high 40s for the season, which is nuts. Usually, I always keep track of this because it's good for gambling stuff. Usually it's like, especially in the 17 week season, 42 range is usually the high out of all the divisions. And this division is killing it. You have Minnesota as an easy game this week, right? They're playing the Colts and

• 11:47Bill Simmons?

  Green Bay and Detroit play each other. So they could have 19 wins after, as we get through seven weeks. But to me, Chicago is a legit contender because they can move the ball and they're well coached. And you know, Caleb, Caleb's going to be what decides how far they go. That throw he made from his, basically his own end zone to, to Burden, I'm sorry, to, was it Burden or Dunze, where it was third and 11 and he just zipped it? Yeah, Dunze. And he just fucking zipped it. And there was pressure and he had to get it over guys and he had to get it in the perfect spot. He had two defensive backs on him. It was the best play of the game, but that's what he can do. That's why it's Caleb Williams.

• 12:28Speaker 01

  And him and Ben have this thing where you know that Ben could scheme this up for basically anybody. We saw him do it with Case Keenum. Like he can scheme up a way to beat you with a guy who's got no arm talent and hasn't played in five years. And then he's got this other guy who's super talented in Caleb. Like there are times you can tell he's doing things that are not on schedule. They're not within the structure of the play, which there's, I guarantee there's times where Ben is just like, oh my God, dude, just throw it where the ball's supposed to go on this play. Yet Caleb can do those freaky things. He can elevate it. And so you got this push, pull of a really good quarterback, a really good play caller. And again, in the three games they've been together, they've

• 13:11Speaker 01

  looked awesome. Lions have the number one offense in the NFL. The Vikings have the number one defense. The Packers are four and two without their best offensive or defensive player. They get Jacob back this week. Still don't have Micah. And the Bears look really good when they're actually something resembling full strength.

• 13:27Bill Simmons?

  I talked about this with Sal on Sunday. You, this could be a four playoff team division. And it would depend on whether Seattle can get there or not, which I think they will. I think there's ultimately three from this division. I think Seattle would be the other one. And I talked about this with House later. I don't think the Rams are going to make it. Right? And even right now in Fanduel, they're basically even odds either way to make it, not make it. But I, I just think, I think they had the stink on them and that too many things have happened. And by the time they get their shit together, I think it's going to be too late. But in this division, Minnesota, Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit, if

• 14:05Bill Simmons?

  you had to bump one of these four teams, if I tell you three teams are going to make it, who are you bumping? Who would you say?

• 14:15Speaker 01

  I'd say the biggest concern right now is just that Lions defense. You know, the good news is Brian, Brian Branch should be back this week. That's probably the most important guy on the entire defense. Not the best player, but the most important guy on that defense. Kirby Joseph will be back at some point. Brad Holmes may or may not be able to swing a trade and get a corner. Like offensively, they're so good and they got so many weapons. It's just, the defense can't stop anybody. They cannot get a stop when they need one. So if I had to say, I'd probably say them, but also like they're capable of just scoring 52 and just the defense not mattering. That's what makes it difficult. But I would say right now, just based on what we've seen, it's probably Detroit.

• 14:57Bill Simmons?

  Well, we're going to have our answer on Sunday because they're playing each other. We also have another answer. The Netflix audience had the poll, which QB would you rather have? Caleb Williams, 85%, Drake May, 15%. That's just hurtful. That's a route. Come on. That was a little recency bias. That's stupid. Um, one, I'll say this about the Pats. I think they really did nail that draft. And they got multiple guys, which has been, if you're a Pats fan, you know, there's been, there's been some dark years with the draft. There's certain drafts that happened this decade where nobody's left from the draft. So I look at big picture, their edge rushers, which was going to be the big question heading into the season with this team. You know, between Jones and

• 15:41Bill Simmons?

  Yaccas and Ponder, they're, they're getting pressure on the sides. They have pressure in the middle. They have good defensive backs, especially when Carlton Davis is healthy again. And I actually think their defense has a chance to be pretty good. And the season is a hundred weeks long. You know, so there's going to be these ebbs and flows. And then AJ, I think, so I, I don't mind. The Pats are four and, four and three. I don't mind where they're at. It's right around where you would have guessed. You would have guessed five and two or four and three, right? At this point after seven weeks?

• 16:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think that's fair. And you're right.

• 16:14Bill Simmons?

  So they're fine.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  They played, they had AJ Brown for, what was it? Two quarters in a series in the opener before he gets hurt. And you're right, like in terms of just how he's moving, he's not heavy. He's not overweight, but it just looks like everything he's doing is kind of heavy. He's not as fleet of foot right now. And I think that's just, he's come back from a high ankle sprain, you know, it takes some time to kind of get like the full conditioning and everything back. Yet I don't know what it was on Sunday when he just couldn't catch the ball. Tonight, it just seemed like it was, it was kind of a battle for him. He's still had a couple of catches. He'll, he'll get himself going.

• 16:47Bill Simmons?

  I don't feel like he has his legs. Watching him run, it feels like when you're like at the beach or something and you have to run on the parking lot and it's, the cement's hot and you're like, ow, and you're doing like those quick runs. That's how it seems like he's running. I always felt like he, he just, I thought in the Eagles, if you go back and look at the way he ran on the Eagles, I just feel like he was, felt a little more athletic. So I'm sure it's going to be working progress.

• 17:10Speaker 01

  I thought he looked good in the opener though. I, I, before the injury, I thought he was moving well in the opener. I think it's just a product of, yeah, you miss a month and you're

• 17:15Bill Simmons?

  He's probably, he's probably still hurt. That's probably why he's running like that.

• 17:18Speaker 01

  He wanted to get back badly.

• 17:19Bill Simmons?

  I like where the Pats are at. Yeah. Um, all right. We, uh, we usually do the six pack with you. And we decided to change that because I also do the six pack for another segment in here. And we tried to come up with it.

• 17:32Speaker 01

  You ripped yourself off?

• 17:32Bill Simmons?

  I did. Well, I wanted to give you your own thing too.

• 17:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:36Bill Simmons?

  And we, I asked you for a name. I gotta be honest. I don't know what, what kind of coffee you had today, but within two minutes, you mailed me back the answer, which we called the pick six. So it's still six things. Pick six. And we got, the Ringer gave us a fancy graphic of six quarterbacks famous for throwing pick sixes for the pick six. So I'm, I think we're off to a great start. I'm really excited.

• 18:00Speaker 01

  I thought when you sent, I thought when you sent me the graphic, it was just going to be six Andy Daltons, but he's only in there once.

• 18:06Bill Simmons?

  He's a, I think they might've stuck Nathan Peterman in there. Flacco's in there. Ryan Fitzpatrick. Um, Jameis is in there, obviously. He has, you can't have a pick six graphic without him. All right. So you've talked about Jalen Hurts on Ringer NFL Show all week. I'm sure you're going to talk about it on the sweep. Um, fiasco, mega fiasco? What, what word are we using here? This is a situation unlike anything we've seen in recent NFL history. So what the hell happened?

• 18:40Speaker 01

  I, I would start with this because everyone's got an opinion, every fan, every columnist, every Twitter doctor, whether they're an actual doctor or not. And the only people who are on the same page are Jalen Hurts and the Eagles. They're fine. They put out a joint statement together. Um, there's a lot of weird things about how everything rolled out, just kind of like the slow trickle of information, some kind of conflicting or reversed reports that came out last weekend. Um, you know, and frankly, there were some

• 19:20Speaker 01

  things that weren't communicated in an ideal fashion, um, which led to myself included, um, some things getting out there that were slightly misinterpreted and misexplained. So, you know, the shortest version I'd give you is he got spiked in the Rams game. Uh, he, you know, was feeling something there, but it wasn't a major concern. He's on the injury report two Fridays ago because of, you know, what they list as a calf injury. So then they fly on Friday to London. And what do you do like when you fly overseas? They, everybody tells you like, don't, don't go to sleep, right? You gotta, you gotta beat the jet lag. And so the doctors and everybody was telling the players, hey, don't go to sleep.

• 20:01Speaker 01

  So they stay up, Jalen and all his teammates stay up all day. It's not

• 20:06Bill Simmons?

  So it wasn't just a Jalen thing. It was the team.

• 20:08Speaker 01

  It wasn't a precaution with the blood clot. It was, the whole team was staying up all day. So now the players are going to bed at nine or 10 PM at night. That's right. When Jalen realizes, hey, I've got more of an issue here. So now they go to the hospital, Cleveland Clinic in London. They always, the NFL, anytime they go internationally, they've got, you know, a, a level one trauma center and they've got specialists. If any of this stuff comes up, they've got people they can go to. So they go, they run an ultrasound, they run tests and it's, all right, it's a superficial blood clot, which from everyone I've talked to, doctors and everyone else, based on what the Eagles say, it was the information they had. Everybody I've talked to has said, we would have cleared him. He would have been good to play.

• 20:50Speaker 01

  So now though, it's two, three in the morning when he's getting back to the hotel. He finally gets a chance to go to sleep after being up for a very, very long time. They get him a room at the stadium. So then when he gets to the stadium off the bus, like he takes a little nap there for like another hour. There are all those videos that came out of him coming out like right before kickoff, basically. It was all part of this very weird sequence of events. He plays well. If you watch the game, are they not running a lot? Like you wouldn't know he had an issue. He throws for a couple hundred yards and a touchdown. And they were told based upon, you know, what that specialist had seen, all right, don't do the follow-up ultrasound for 72 hours because any changes aren't really going to show up.

• 21:32Speaker 01

  Like it may not manifest itself. You're not going to give them one every single day. So wait three days and do it. So he practices in full last Wednesday. They do the ultrasound that night. That's when they see the blood clot has moved. And at that point it's all right, now we stop. He goes and sees another specialist in Boston. He consults different medical opinions. They find several blood clots that have made their way into his lungs. And so now, so it had gotten into the vein, the superficial blood clot, you think of it like a bruise. Like that's kind of what it looks and feels like. But now, once it gets into the vein and now parts of it break off and clogging your arteries in your lungs. That's where it becomes like a really dangerous situation. So he's on blood thinners for probably about three months, which means it's highly unlikely.

• 22:15Bill Simmons?

  Chris Bass thing. It's not like a thing where this is like, you have to retire from the sport because you have this issue.

• 22:21Speaker 01

  No. And, and the other, you know, key like difference, like you remember Christian Barmore had the blood clots a couple of years ago. Well, in that case, they didn't know what happened. Like they didn't know why he had it. So you had to do like these batteries of tests and figure out what's going on in his body. With Hertz, they know.

• 22:37Bill Simmons?

  This case, they know.

• 22:37Speaker 01

  He got cleated and so he should be totally fine after he takes the blood thinners. He should be able to play next season, um, for everything I've been told without issue. Again, everybody put out a statement together. I, I get where the NFLPA is coming from because you don't want a guy to develop a potential life-threatening illness on the job and you do nothing. That's literally the job of a union, you know, protect working conditions. So they're looking into it, but again, for all the criticism and all the speculation, I don't think that there's some revelation on the other side. It's just, it's a really shitty thing that happened and, and the good news is Jalen Hurts is going to be okay.

• 23:17Bill Simmons?

  Let's move to number two on the six pack related to the Eagles. Are they sellers now? What happens if they lose this Dallas game?

• 23:25Speaker 01

  Well, I mean, Howie Roseman is always open to a good deal regardless of, you know, what that looks like. I guess what you have to ask yourself in terms of if they become sellers is of what? Like who are you willing to trade? Are you willing to trade Saquon? What's that going to cost? You know, for Howie, he held out to get a, a first round pick for A.J. Brown. He got a second round pick for Cam Jurgens. Like Saquon Barkley is not going to be cheap. And that's one of your like core guys within the organization.

• 23:55Bill Simmons?

  What if Minnesota offers me a second for him?

• 23:58Speaker 01

  I mean, I would sit there and say, how about a first? I would want to know how much I can possibly get for the player. I do think that people will come with offers. If the Eagles, you know, begin losing here. I think there's players on that defense that they'll potentially get calls on as well. But other than guys who are like right now are not in the rotation or are, are active on, on game days. I, I don't get the sense that Howie's really pushing those things yet because let's face it, like the NFC East is terrible. It is a really bad division. The Eagles have shown they still can be really good on defense. Jalen Carter, the way he played at London was the best player on the field. Um, they still can be a handful on that side.

• 24:38Bill Simmons?

  So you think eight, nine takes it, especially with the ties?

• 24:41Speaker 01

  I don't know how it doesn't. I mean, Dallas, I, I wonder like if Dallas loses this game on Monday to the Eagles, what do they do? I don't know that it's just Pickens is the first guy. That's the obvious one. It doesn't seem like it's working. But remember the Steelers had no market for George Pickens whatsoever when they traded him in the off season. Um, you know, a year and a half ago or whatever that was like, is it worth it? Is Jerry really going to go, okay, we'll trade Pickens for a fourth rather than let's keep competing and try to win a bad division? Everybody's in a weird, you know, weird spot in the NFC.

• 25:15Bill Simmons?

  Jerry's the only guy like, like in your fantasy league, the guy who just loves trading. He just likes making moves. He said, I admitted another trade. I did something.

• 25:23Speaker 01

  And then gets offended when like you won't engage, like they'll send you some shitty offer and you wake up to it's 6:00 a.m. And then you don't respond for an hour. It's like, okay, guess you're not going to respond. Never mind.

• 25:34Bill Simmons?

  Why didn't you want to trade me Colston Loveland for Drake May?

• 25:38Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. So maybe so after this Eagles Cowboys game, maybe we'll have, maybe we'll have an idea if one of those are sellers. Do you think there's a seller right now?

• 25:48Speaker 01

  There's not, there's not a true fire sale team, but I would keep my eye on the Colts. That's going to be the really interesting team. So Carly.

• 25:57Bill Simmons?

  Did you look at Carly's notebook? What happened? You saw like?

• 25:59Speaker 01

  Saw her briefly at the, at the league meeting.

• 26:01Bill Simmons?

  All 22 camera, like you zoomed in.

• 26:04Speaker 01

  She's, she's been paying attention. The, the, the statement that she put out when she's like, this is a deliberate decision. That meant something. That was, all right, here it is, guys. I did something. Everybody in the building's on notice now. So what I anticipate is they're going to take the next week or two and see, do they find the spark? They got two hard games. I mean, they got Minnesota this week on the road.

• 26:28Bill Simmons?

  What a nightmare.

• 26:29Speaker 01

  And then they're at Jacksonville. That's their next two games. So if you're two and six, then I would anticipate the Colts are going to be listening. And they got some guys that would be prime trade candidates, you know, Quentin Nelson, who's in a contract years, 30 years old, like core dude. But like you can get a real, real draft asset for Quentin Nelson.

• 26:51Bill Simmons?

  Cam Jurgens went for a second.

• 26:54Speaker 01

  And Quentin's still playing at a really high level. DeForest Buckner too. Now he had the, you know, the neck issues. And so I don't know how high the price would be, but you get a real, you know, pick for him. And then Jonathan Taylor is going to be the fascinating one. They just signed him to an extension, um, back in August.

• 27:10Bill Simmons?

  That's your first round pick guy from Minnesota.

• 27:13Speaker 01

  And not to mention, if you're the Colts and you're trying to set this up for the new GM, you don't have a first round pick in 2027. The Jets owned it from the Sauce Gardner trade. So how do we like get more flexibility and give more draft assets in 2027? That's where I think it'd be negligent to not make some moves. If they don't win one of these next two games, like they're going to, they're going to fight. They want to see, she likes Shane Steichen. She wants to see what he can do, but it's crunch time. If they don't win these next couple, um, I, I think you'll see the Colts being active in the sell market.

• 27:46Bill Simmons?

  I would argue the Daniel Jones extension coming off an Achilles tendon injury was negligent, but what do I know? Did you understand the Chris Bauer thing as it was happening? This was almost 10 years of the, 10 years of this. Some, some features, some profiles. There was that famous clip of him laughing his ass off because they got Lotu, the pass rusher. In the, in the first round, everybody else is so stupid. Meanwhile, the next two guys in that draft turned out to be awesome. But what, how, how did he keep his job so long? And why was the coverage of him so favorable for so long in your opinion?

• 28:21Speaker 01

  I mean, I like Chris a lot and I think that everybody who dealt with him liked him because he was honest. Because he was, I mean, a constant fodder machine. Do you remember when they were trying to hire Josh McDaniels and he had agreed and then he no showed? And Ballard, Ballard stood up there. I was at that press conference. I flew into Indianapolis to cover it. And Ballard like took every single question for 45 minutes. And then at the end he just goes, the rivalry is back on. And that was how he went out. Like he understood, like you can give those, those soundbites and they're like, it was a fun guy to cover. And he was aggressive. Like we all like covering people. We're like, you know what? We're going to go for it. We're going to trade for Sauce Gardner. You know, we're, we're going to trade for DeForest Buckner once upon a time.

• 29:06Speaker 01

  He, he had, you know, the Andrew Luck thing obviously turned everything sideways. It changed everything for the franchise.

• 29:12Bill Simmons?

  The whole franchise. Yeah.

• 29:13Speaker 01

  If Luck is playing and he's in a good mindset and he's healthy, I mean, he could still be the quarterback now. And they would have been a playoff contender every single year. They, they drafted pretty well overall. When you look at, you know, finding guys like Jonathan Taylor, um, you know, like they did make good draft picks. It just, it wasn't enough. And you had a constant churn at the, the quarterback position.

• 29:35Bill Simmons?

  They somehow never win the AFC South. During his entire tenure, I think he had two playoff appearances and they could never replace Andrew Luck. I mean, you could argue in the last 10 years, that was probably the single most traumatic thing that happened to a franchise. Losing Andrew Luck when they lost him, not knowing they were gonna lose him, just, you know.

• 29:58Speaker 01

  Having to trade for Jacoby Brissette.

• 30:00Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, it'd be like if you lost Brett Favre in like 2001 or something. Or I don't know what's a better QB example, but they lost him at point of his career when he was still supposed to be ascending.

• 30:12Speaker 01

  He was still young and then that leads to a Jacoby Brissette trade, which leads to a Carson Wentz trade, which leads to a Matt Ryan trade.

• 30:19Bill Simmons?

  Oh, you're doing the Rain Man thing. I like what you're doing.

• 30:21Speaker 01

  And Anthony Richardson draft pick, which leads to the Daniel Jones signing, which leads to the Daniel Jones extension.

• 30:27Bill Simmons?

  Did you mention Minshew? There was some Minshew in there?

• 30:28Speaker 01

  There was Minshew in there. There was Scott Tolzien in there. I skipped over a few things, but that's a lot of activity. I mean, it was just this every single year.

• 30:36Bill Simmons?

  14 QBs.

• 30:37Speaker 01

  Trying to figure it out and they just, they didn't get there. But listen, Chris is like one of the only people who, when you get fired, it's just like, yeah, that was probably it. It was probably gonna be the end. Like, he knew he was in a contract year. He probably was gonna be done after this anyway.

• 30:54Bill Simmons?

  And the owner called him out.

• 30:55Speaker 01

  Yeah, and he's getting, they're chanting for him. Like, he's not the one who's gonna like fight or be all, you know, pissed off. Like, I think he's, he's down about it, but also, it's a pretty good run, man. You know, he kept swinging, kept taking shots. It just didn't work out.

• 31:07Bill Simmons?

  You know, when you miss with a top eight to 10 pick with a quarterback, really hard to keep your job after that. And really, the only one that was able to do it was San Francisco Trey Lance, because they miraculously ended up with Purdy and it didn't matter. But same thing, right? You take a swing, you miss. You can't come back from that, you know?

• 31:29Speaker 01

  No.

• 31:29Bill Simmons?

  And meanwhile, it's 50-50 for a quarterback at any part of the first round. It's not, it's not like there's an exact science to this. You look at McCarthy, Anthony Richardson, like, you know, you just don't know.

• 31:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, you also have to go back to that draft and they had the number four pick. Everybody was looking to them, including ownership of like, we gotta solidify the quarterback position. And really, the only options that they had were Anthony Richardson or Will Levis. Like, that's who was staring

• 31:56Bill Simmons?

  It's just a bad luck draft.

• 31:56Speaker 01

  Back at him. And it's just like, okay, do we take the guy who's like tightly wound and the big arm? We've seen him. Or like this totally raw 6'6", 250-pound dude who started 13 college games. They took a swing. Richardson, he made some plays. Like, you remember his early starts? Like, he would make some ridiculous runs and throws. He just got hurt every time he did it. He's still there, too. Speaking of guys who, you know, maybe somebody wants to take a swing.

• 32:23Bill Simmons?

  All right, we're halfway through the pick six. I like this pick six gimmick. Let's go with the Paris game for the fourth one. So, Paris just riots all week. Not going much better here in America because it feels like we're being cyber attacked left and right. I don't know if you've been following that. It's pretty terrifying.

• 32:40Speaker 01

  I'm checking my bank accounts a lot, just making sure.

• 32:42Bill Simmons?

  But it's like, hey, your money might be gone. That's always scary. But Paris, it's continuing to go on. Was there ever a moment when they were like, ah, maybe we don't have the game in Paris?

• 32:53Speaker 01

  It is, has been edgy enough that I know like the NFL and the NFLPA have had multiple calls a day. The NFL's been in contact with the US government and the, the French authorities. But really, we kinda, like, the, the show left town when the Saints traveled there right after their game on Sunday. Like, they've been there all week.

• 33:15Bill Simmons?

  So they can't do London? They can't move it? It has to be, or they would have to postpone it? What would happen?

• 33:20Speaker 01

  It's Thursday night at this point. I mean, they always have contingencies for everything. But as far as I've been told, like, they've not really activated those contingencies. The Steelers flew in earlier today. The actual like epicenter of this is not right by the stadium. The Steelers hotel apparently is like a half mile away from where a lot of this stuff is happening. So they are kinda close. The real concern, and this will be one of those things to like monitor, again, the league's confident it's gonna be fine, but I know the players have some nerves about it. The teams have some nerves about it. There's a large-scale protest planned on Saturday and the Parisian authorities just apologized a week ago for their lack of response to the last large-scale protest.

• 34:04Speaker 01

  Now, what happens if Saturday gets like totally out of control and the police are having to respond? Like, you're relying on local authorities for police escort security at the stadium. Like, what if they're like, hey, we gotta, we gotta put out a fire at the Eiffel Tower here. Like, we, we kinda need all hands on deck. Those are the things, again, the NFL is always in communication, but those are some of the things when I've talked to people that have come up and it's, you know, it's worth monitoring just because this is such an unusual situation.

• 34:34Bill Simmons?

  Maybe, maybe send Aaron Rodgers out there? Kinda calm things down?

• 34:37Speaker 01

  He'd have some thoughts.

• 34:39Bill Simmons?

  I'm Aaron Rodgers? My, but my, I've calmed my family situation down? Now I'd like to take on Paris?

• 34:45Speaker 01

  I'm always, so the, the protests are about like the conditions of schools and like low wages and, you know, lack of future for young people.

• 34:54Bill Simmons?

  Right, but like, I always, I'm always playing the game in my head. What side of this issue

• 34:58Speaker 01

  would Aaron take? And whatever I guess, I'm probably wrong.

• 35:02Bill Simmons?

  It sounds like a good game show.

• 35:03Speaker 01

  And he, yeah.

• 35:05Bill Simmons?

  What side of this issue would Aaron Rodgers take?

• 35:08Speaker 01

  I love it.

• 35:08Bill Simmons?

  Here are three contestants. Here's Bob from Kansas City.

• 35:12Speaker 01

  And then they play, play the video, like, like Jeopardy video answers after?

• 35:15Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. Should presidents have a third term? Bob, you're first.

• 35:20Speaker 01

  I have no idea, I have no idea where Aaron would come down. Zero clue.

• 35:23Bill Simmons?

  Two more. I guess we can, do we care about J.J. McCarthy? They're starting him, but he could get killed in this game and stink. And they just put you, we could skip that one. Arch Manning. Seems like it's been a busty 2026 Texas campaign. And in general, we've been hearing about how great this QB class is.

• 35:46Speaker 01

  This?

• 35:47Bill Simmons?

  Is the league who geared up for this awesome QB class starting to panic that this might not be an awesome QB class?

• 35:54Speaker 01

  I wouldn't say panic because like, I was texting with one college scouting director today and I was just like, all right, like, how would you rank Arch now, knowing what you know? You know, there's a report that the, the backup's getting more first-team reps this week, which suggests maybe Arch is gonna lose game reps, maybe even get benched. And what that scouting director, who's been around a long time and I trust him, he's got a really good eye for you, he goes, I still rank him number one because it's six games and like so much is happening in college football that like it's hard to sit there and lock into any one thing. Like, oh, this completely changed everything. Having said that, the quarterback class as a whole, and specifically Arch, like, yeah, there, there

• 36:36Speaker 01

  are a lot of people who are watching this right now and not only saying, man, this quarterback class might not be as good, this quarterback class might not exist. There's only a couple of them that are out of eligibility. Like Trinidad Chambly has to come out because he's out of eligibility. But like, Arch could transfer. I texted one person who's known Arch a long time earlier tonight and I said, where do you, where do you see Arch in 2027? And his response was Ole Miss. That's, no one would have thought that we'd be talking about is Arch not gonna finish at Texas. And listen, again,

• 37:18Bill Simmons?

  That would've been 100-1 odds.

• 37:19Speaker 01

  Long way to go. Lot of things can happen. He's being advised by his family. You know, who knows where we end up. Like, the best quarterback right now playing is probably a mess to make her, but he's got, I think, two years of eligibility left. If I'm getting paid $10 million to stay in college versus like, maybe I'm not a first-round pick, I'm probably staying in college longer. A lot of these guys could end up just transferring again. Dante Moore's another one who's been so good, he hasn't played since the concussion. It's just, there's all these different factors going on. And so those NFL teams, whether it's the Jets sitting on three first-round picks, the Browns with two first-round picks, some of the other teams like the Dolphins and Cardinals who could be in that mix next

• 38:02Speaker 01

  year, nobody can feel super confident about where this is going to land just because some of those guys we thought were gonna be good haven't played well. And therefore, can you take them that high? Or are they even gonna be there? Are they gonna be in the class of 2028 or 29?

• 38:18Bill Simmons?

  It's funny, McShay came on, I gotta have him on again. McShay came on, I think, July or August, and we talked about how great this QB class is, but then also how every year, what you think is going to be the ranking and everything, July, August, and then you get to December, and it's like, oh, Fernando Mendoza is now number one. And you just don't know. These are 20, 21, 22, 23 year old kids, and the wild swings. But this feels even wilder than I think anyone could have anticipated.

• 38:46Speaker 01

  Oh, and by the way, Brendan Sorsby, not playing college football, training on his own. He could be QB1. Like, that's where we are. It's talented enough.

• 38:56Bill Simmons?

  That would be incredible. Last one, Seahawks Chiefs, Sunday night. House and I are going to talk about later in Ringer 107, the Kenneth Walker revenge game. Why didn't they keep him? Do we ever have a good, like, we're, obviously, a bunch of people are going to be talking about this game and him all week. They'll show him, it'll be a big storyline on Sunday. It wasn't like he got a crazy amount of money from Kansas City. And then you think about when, when Philly won with Saquon, and then they took care of him. They just, you know, running backs, that's usually between 12, 15 million a year, something like that. In Seattle, they spend a first round pick to try to replace him, Jadaian Price. They have Charbonne coming back. They just feel like they can patch it together. And yet, this has been the biggest issue with their team. Are there regrets on the Seattle side?

• 39:42Speaker 01

  Not regrets. You know, there's probably a comparison to be made, albeit at different stages and different levels of success. But when the Giants let Saquon go, and he goes to the Eagles and runs for 2,000 yards and wins the Super Bowl in the first year, like, everything, and of course, the Giants' thoughts on that were well documented in Hard Knocks. Like, they had all these reasons of just like, it's the injury history, it is the age, you know, here's all the reasons that we just can't justify paying him all that money. With Seattle and Kenneth Walker, it was some of those same factors. Like, they'd seen him be beat up for several years. Even last season, he wasn't playing great until they made a running back coach change. And then all of a sudden, in December, he became the best player on their

• 40:25Speaker 01

  team, and he, you know, helped spur the Super Bowl run. They would have taken-

• 40:28Bill Simmons?

  So you're saying it's like when you buy a car from somebody who's like, oh, yeah, I hit that pothole that time. I got rear-ended that other time. I'm going to sell the car right now. The next person will never know all the things that happened on this car.

• 40:39Speaker 01

  But they might love it. They might love it for the first year.

• 40:41Bill Simmons?

  They might love it for a year, until they're broken down the highway.

• 40:43Speaker 01

  What's Saquon been since 2024? He's gone back to missing a lot of time and being banged up and not being as productive. So, I mean, Kenneth Walker's, he's on base to break the single season record for yards from scrimmage. Like, this is a, kind of like, boy, this is the worst case scenario, and so the Seahawks are hearing all about that. They would have

• 41:02Bill Simmons?

  That's going to end this week. That pace will be ended when they're in Seattle this week.

• 41:06Speaker 01

  Going against one of the best defenses, and you know they're not going to let that guy beat you. What I tell you is, they would have taken him back at a certain price. Like, there was a certain price point, but it would have been, I don't believe, anywhere near what the Chiefs paid. It was, it was still, it was the biggest running back contract ever in free agency. It was, I think, three years, 45, with upside to 48. And the thing was, there was no one else in the market. It was really just the Chiefs. They were the one team that was willing to do it. They had the vision. This guy's going to totally transform our team, you know, through the first, whatever it's been for them, five games of the season. He really has, because they don't have, you know, a receiver, really, to speak of.

• 41:48Bill Simmons?

  They don't have an offensive line either. I mean, they've had a bunch of injuries and stuff there. Their schedule's been pretty easy. Now, now we're going to find out how real this is, I think.

• 41:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I'll just want to see, you know, Kenneth Walker, last year's the first time he played a full season. Can he do it again? If he can, I mean, good for him. It'll be the greatest investment of all time, you know. But for Seattle, they just weren't willing to put that type of money. They should get Charbonne back this week. They activated him today. I think he's going to play. Price should be back next week. I can see them being in the running back market, too. But if those two guys-

• 42:20Bill Simmons?

  I think they're fine.

• 42:21Speaker 01

  Get back and rolling.

• 42:21Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, we talk about it later. They're three and three, and they easily could be five and one or six and oh. I think they're okay. I'll leave you with this. You talked to a bunch of people around the league. Who do you think is the alpha right now in the league that everybody else is looking at as the team they have to measure themselves against? Does that team exist yet?

• 42:41Speaker 01

  I don't think so. I think-

• 42:43Bill Simmons?

  I don't think it does either, because you would say San Francisco, but they've had so many injuries, I would look at San Francisco and be like, we can beat those guys. They're so beaten up.

• 42:52Speaker 01

  That, that would be the team. And I had, you know, somebody with the Rams say after they played them the first game, that that's probably the best team we're going to see. I mean, when, when Kyle's got his guys, even with all the other injuries, but when he can play with McCaffrey and Purdy, and he's got Kill, he just lost Debo. But as long as those guys are there, you know, they've got a chance to be pretty good. By the way, they're playing without Bosa right now on defense. Like, they've lost all those defensive linemen. It's pretty remarkable how they do that every single year. I would have said the Bills, you know, over the first couple of weeks of the season, but then they turned over five times against the Chargers. The Patriots beat them. Their defense, if you look at, you know, the efficiency numbers, they're like dead last in the league. So there's a lot that they have to clean up on

• 43:34Speaker 01

  that, that side of the ball. No, I don't, I don't think that you have a single team that everybody fears. Yeah, because, because you can poke holes, right? Minnesota hasn't done it offensively, even though, you know, the last game they played was the best. The Chiefs are undefeated, but I think there's all sorts of reasons. They're like, how sustainable is it? I think they're a good team. I don't know if they're a great team right now. If you had to name one, it probably is San Francisco. But you just, every week, you watch them, and there's like, three more names on the injury report. And it's just like, we got a lot of season left to try to figure this out.

• 44:10Bill Simmons?

  Well, it's funny, we have three undefeated teams, and yet we don't have an alpha somehow. It reminds me of like, those Colts seasons with Manning, when they would be like 14 and one, but they would be 30th in DVOA on defense. You'd be like, yeah, I don't know. And that's kind of where the Niners are now, where the, the track record says they're the best team, but I don't trust it. We'll see. Maybe we'll have more answers this week. All right. You can subscribe and read to the Sweep, your excellent newsletter, and then see you on Ringer NFL Show as well. And then rumors, the show is coming to LA for the trade deadline in November, which hopefully, do we have, what's the, what are the odds that would be a great trade deadline? What are we looking at, like 40%? Four out of 10 times, it's a

• 44:55Bill Simmons?

  good trade deadline? What are, what are the percentages here?

• 44:58Speaker 01

  I booked my flights today, Bill, so I'm going to go high percentage chance. I do think there will be some significant things, and here's why, very briefly. Some teams that were supposed to be good and thought they were going to be good and have veteran rosters are bad. That is the recipe you need, because that means star players, older players who are the core guys, that you're thinking they're going to win a Super Bowl, and all of a sudden, we're four games below 500. Those are exactly the guys that now you have to make the hard decisions and decide-

• 45:31Bill Simmons?

  Chargers.

• 45:31Speaker 01

  Are we willing to move on from? The Chargers are on that list. The Eagles could certainly be on that list.

• 45:37Bill Simmons?

  Could be the Rams, if they're two and five.

• 45:39Speaker 01

  Could be the Rams, could be the Cowboys, that thought that they were going to be really good, and what exactly ends up happening with them. I mean, there's, there's a lot of them, man. If you go top to bottom in the league, there's a bunch of teams right now that are looking at their roster and just, or looking at their, their record and just being like, holy shit, how did this happen? I mean, the Bucks are one and five. They don't play, they haven't played a division game yet. They'll probably end up getting back into it if they can beat the Panthers. But like, that goes to one and six, one and seven. Like, what are you doing? You got some older players on that roster. There's just, there's a lot of teams.

• 46:09Bill Simmons?

  One-year deal, basically.

• 46:11Speaker 01

  There's a lot of teams that are going to be really, really fascinated to see how these next, whatever we got, 19 days play out.

• 46:17Bill Simmons?

  All right, Tom, thank you coming up. We're going to take a break, come back with Joe House and the Mailbag right after this. This episode is brought to you by PNC Bank. In today's sports, everyone is constantly trying to outdo each other. Trick formations, infield shifts, constant rotation changes. And yet, it's proven time and time again that strong fundamentals are the thing that will lead you to victory, and banking is no different. While everyone tries to outdo each other, PNC Bank just keeps going right down the middle with steady, calculated money moves. And the financial wins, they just keep coming. PNC Bank, brilliantly boring since 1865, brilliantly boring since 1865,

• 46:57Bill Simmons?

  is a registered mark of the PNC Financial Services Group, Incorporated. PNC Bank, National Association Member, FDIC. All right, Joe House is here. We are recording this before Bears-Patriots, but we are going to do a rollicking Mailbag. We're going to talk a little NBA, and we're going to do a Ringer 107 picks for Week 7. And most important, House's team is 1-0, the Washington Wizards. You did it. Anthony Davis looked the healthiest he's looked in two years, and you're back, baby.

• 47:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, one whole game without an injury to Anthony Davis, that's a wild success. Yes. He dominated Kyle Kuzma. That was his primary defender. Great job. The first time since 2022, I believe that this is the stat, that the Wizards are above 500 at any point in any season.

• 47:52Bill Simmons?

  Did you have any, first of all, congrats on that. Did you have any overreactions from the first two days of games with our over-unders that you wished we had done differently? The, what, the thing that jumped out to me was, the Suns just getting annihilated by the Blazers. And we were like, the Blazers, who the hell knows? This is the weirdest roster in the league.

• 48:09Speaker 02

  That was so hard.

• 48:10Bill Simmons?

  The Suns fans are upset already.

• 48:13Speaker 02

  I think they have reason to be. I didn't watch any of that game. Did you watch any?

• 48:18Bill Simmons?

  No, I, well, I was going to, and it was 19 to nothing, so-

• 48:21Speaker 02

  They got all the way up to 21-0. They were up by three touchdowns. Like, well, I'm not going to try and work hard to watch it. I don't understand why the Suns were unprepared defensively. I guess that's what I would say.

• 48:34Bill Simmons?

  Well, the biggest thing to me is that Dame looked good. Wasn't expecting that.

• 48:37Speaker 02

  Yeah. And Ja looked good, too.

• 48:40Bill Simmons?

  The most fun game was Indiana-New Orleans, and I think New Orleans is going to be in a bunch of these where they'll, they'll lose a bunch because they have Jamal Mosley as their coach, and, you know, some, some questionable game management at the end, but they do have a lot of talent. That game was really fun. I saw the second half of that game. And then Toronto, not Toronto, Orlando and Atlanta, which was right in that vortex of, what do we make of all of these teams? They all are on the same over-under, but that was a good battle, too. So I'm not going to overreact to anything other than basketball, other than to tell everybody who sent me Jason Tatum texts and things, they can go eat a fat one.

• 49:17Speaker 02

  I was one of them.

• 49:19Bill Simmons?

  Mailbag. These are actual questions from actual listeners. You can send them to bs podcast 33 at gmail dot com.

• 49:29Bill Simmons?

  Chris from Hewitt, New Jersey. House hasn't seen any of this. Is the Jim Nance devastating injury cut to commercial? The most ironic thing ever now, considering he shattered his wrist hand on live TV punching a football. I wish he would have immediately punched the football and then said, we're not going to show you what just happened. We'll be back after this with tears in his eyes. Do you think he shouldn't have done that?

• 49:52Speaker 02

  And they could have played the quiet injury music that they play.

• 49:55Bill Simmons?

  They should have.

• 49:56Speaker 02

  That would have been incredible.

• 49:57Bill Simmons?

  He's like, oh, we're not, we're not going to show you guys again.

• 50:00Speaker 02

  Have they said out loud? Has anybody done any reporting on how injured he is? Is he going to be in a sling this upcoming week?

• 50:07Bill Simmons?

  So I haven't heard anything. I did Google it. So the question, if you're Jim Nance, let's say you did break your wrist or hand. Do you, do you tell anybody? Do you keep it a secret? Do you hide it? Do you do the game where you're in the booth? And you, you basically take off your, your wrist or your carpal tunnel thing or whatever they have you. But when they show you in the booth, it seems like you're fine. But meanwhile, you have five broken bones.

• 50:30Speaker 02

  I, I, I mean, it's devastating for him because his primary outlet in terms of leisure activity and probably, you know, his own psychological wellbeing is golf. Like this is by far the thing I'm most concerned with in terms of any, uh, you know, risk that I undertake. I can't have anything get in the way of me playing golf a couple of times a week. Just can't have it. And if he busted up his hand and wrist and he's on the shelf for four to six weeks at a minimum? That is brutal. That is.

• 51:02Bill Simmons?

  Well, then CBS gave him the, the extra FU after J.J. Watt crippled Jim Nance. They announced that J.J. Watt's going to be their number one analyst. They just plowed ahead. They took the CBS seat off the table. They were like, we don't want to be in this Trey Ackman stuff. Keep us out of it. Joshua Cohen wrote in, just listened to the Friday the 13th rewatchables. My cousin got married at the camp where they shot the movie and it felt like a bad omen. Marriage lasted less than two years, predictable. Would you get married at the Crystal Lake? You got married in Martha's Vineyard, near Chappaquiddick.

• 51:37Speaker 02

  Not that near. Not near that, not that close to Chappaquiddick.

• 51:42Bill Simmons?

  That was a puncher's, oh, puncher's distance.

• 51:45Speaker 02

  There were funny stories about people driving around at night.

• 51:49Bill Simmons?

  There were funny stories.

• 51:50Speaker 02

  Things happening in the buses.

• 51:51Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, I would not get married at Crystal Lake.

• 51:54Speaker 02

  I, I would not either.

• 51:56Bill Simmons?

  The Simmons fan, because we support all our, um, excursions. We watched all of Crystal Lake on Peacock, the Linda Cardellini prequel.

• 52:04Speaker 02

  From the beginning all the way through the end?

• 52:06Bill Simmons?

  On my iPad scale, I was about a 38% looking up versus doing work and not paying attention. But there's a lot of bloody people and some nudity and just kept my attention.

• 52:18Speaker 02

  I'm interested.

• 52:18Bill Simmons?

  Tommy from Lincoln, California. Sit down for this one. This one jolted me. And then I kind of sat with it for a while and I was okay with it. Are we currently watching the NFL equivalent of Steph Curry's 2015 MVP season with Brock Purdy?

• 52:38Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 52:39Bill Simmons?

  He has a whole bunch of bowl points. Both undersized or physically limited for their positions allegedly. Significant doubts about their ceilings. Impressive seasons before injuries derailed them. Fanbases that recognized their potential and defended them vehemently, not to mention Bay Area. Consistently viewed as products of their surroundings rather than driving forces behind their team's success. And then he said, neither fits the traditional mold of what we thought a championship caliber superstar would be. Curry had 2015, he became an undeniable superstar league MVP. Will this now be Brock Purdy? I, my instinct was like, that's ridiculous. Steph Curry changed the way we played basketball and started a revolution.

• 53:23Bill Simmons?

  And people were showing up with Steph Curry jerseys, but that's not what he's saying. He's not saying there's a thing that transcended the sport. He's just saying, maybe he's that good and we just didn't realize it till this season. I, I'm not against this take. What are you doing? You're typing? What are you doing?

• 53:40Speaker 02

  Well, I, I'm in the, uh, Googleopolis machine, the look stuff up machine to see.

• 53:49Bill Simmons?

  Oh, don't get what you're going to get cyber attack now.

• 53:51Speaker 02

  What year Brock Purdy and Lamar Jackson, it was just two years ago that we had this. Wasn't it two years ago? On Christmas Day, these two teams played each other, San Francisco and the Niners. And it was a referendum or that week, there was a, a, an island game where the Niners played Baltimore. And it was supposed to be a referendum on this MVP question. So my reaction, the reason I'm looking this up is because we've already been there with Purdy. Purdy was in the MVP discussion in the race for, you know, three quarters of a season, four fifths of a season.

• 54:24Bill Simmons?

  So Curry's version of this was 13. When things were really happening for them and nobody took it seriously. And everybody's like, you can't win playoff rounds by shooting threes. And then who'd they beat? Denver? They beat that Igudala, Ty Lawson, that weird 56 win George Carl team. Then lost to the Spurs the next round, but that was kind of his moment, like what Purdy had. I don't think people took Purdy seriously as a major dude until this season.

• 54:51Speaker 02

  I don't, I don't disagree with that. They had to, we had to have, it was, it was Christmas night, 2023. A high profile matchup that heavily shifted the NFL MVP race in Jackson's favor because of how Lamar played. And people were in that situation. The dialogue was focused on the idea that Purdy, where he was drafted. How could a player come from that place all the way to MVP conversation? Um, and it was, you know, that he, all of the undermining of his case was built on the idea that he was a system quarterback, just performing well inside that system. This feels different this year, I think, but here, here's the challenge, right?

• 55:33Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 55:33Speaker 02

  We'll see because Mike Evans is hurt. Mike Evans has been the secret sauce. He has been an incredible asset to this Niners offense. And we watched him go out.

• 55:44Bill Simmons?

  It seems like a beloved teammate too. Everybody just fucking loves Mike Evans. Brady loves him too.

• 55:48Speaker 02

  He was loved in, in, loved and be loved in Tampa. But let's see how this Niners offense does without him.

• 55:59Bill Simmons?

  Purdy's looking a little Mahomesy. I have, I think he's unquestionably one of the top four or five quarterbacks now.

• 56:05Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 56:05Bill Simmons?

  I've seen enough. We, we argued about this for years. People were down on him, advanced stats were high on him in some things, eye test. I, I'm done. Jesse from the Bay Area, coincidentally, asks, if you could give him truth serum, do you think Aaron Donald would say he regrets coming back? If he could do it all over again, would he have just waited until week 10?

• 56:27Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 56:28Bill Simmons?

  And join contender TBD.

• 56:30Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 56:33Bill Simmons?

  So I think it's a two-part question. One, I don't think he would have played for anyone.

• 56:36Speaker 02

  Totally agree.

• 56:37Bill Simmons?

  I think it was Rams or bust.

• 56:38Speaker 02

  You and I agree with that or agree on that?

• 56:42Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, maybe just wait till week six, especially like, didn't they know Miles Garrett's knee was hurt before they actually told us he was hurt? Like he's friends with Miles Garrett. He didn't know. I would have wanted to see him on the knee for four weeks. He's got to be so bummed out now.

• 56:56Speaker 02

  Who, Miles Garrett or, or Aaron Donald?

• 56:59Bill Simmons?

  Aaron Donald. The Rams suck.

• 57:03Speaker 02

  They do, but there is light.

• 57:05Bill Simmons?

  They're not going to make the playoffs, House.

• 57:07Speaker 02

  Oh, I don't, I wouldn't go that far. We're only a third of the way into the season.

• 57:10Bill Simmons?

  I'm going to go that far. I don't think they're going to make the playoffs.

• 57:12Speaker 02

  Here are their next four games.

• 57:14Bill Simmons?

  This week, and I might bet on them on FanDuel to not make the playoffs.

• 57:18Speaker 02

  Their next four games are at Vegas this week. Home, home against the Chargers.

• 57:23Bill Simmons?

  Coming up in Ringer 107 later.

• 57:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm, I'm. I understand your perspective. Home against the Chargers, at Washington, at Arizona. So if they're six and four.

• 57:36Bill Simmons?

  Just kicked their ass last week.

• 57:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, well, I think they'll get vengeance and, and, you know, the, one of the remarkable things about that Arizona game. Um, is that historically McVay had absolutely dominated Arizona over his, his career. So I think they're with that extra incentive, but if they're six and four through 10 weeks, they're still in the playoff hunt.

• 58:01Bill Simmons?

  All right. So you just gave them four wins in a row and they're two and four. And they just lost Devante Adams and Miles Garrett. We have no idea when he's coming back and they have offensive line issues and they're on their third kicker. And McVay has blown two games and seems like he needs help.

• 58:15Speaker 02

  Exactly. The, the, the time to buy.

• 58:19Bill Simmons?

  Well, you can buy because it's basically even odds for them to make the playoffs. They're minus 112 to make it, minus 104 not to make it. I don't see it. Andrew from Texas. I didn't know about this. I just saw a video clip of Joe Mazzulla's newest segment on Zolak and Bertrand. This is a Boston radio show.

• 58:38Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 58:40Bill Simmons?

  Where he takes calls directly from Boston fans. And it was hilarious. The first fan immediately informed Joe that when he was first hired, he did not care for the way he handled himself with the media. And then launched into a tirade about late game Tatum possessions and a lack of creativity at offense. Joe handled it well, but it got me thinking, would Boston go first overall in the worst fanbases to open the phone lines with draft? I think Philly's number one.

• 59:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, Philly's definitely number one.

• 59:09Bill Simmons?

  Philly fans are furious right now that this was even a question, but I think Boston might be second.

• 59:14Speaker 02

  It's up there. Like who, who, who else is in that Philly, Boston class?

• 59:18Bill Simmons?

  Any cold weather place.

• 59:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, right. Maniacal Buffalo? Although Buffalo's had a good run, they've been pretty happy.

• 59:25Bill Simmons?

  Sad. I would say it's New York City, Philly.

• 59:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 59:30Bill Simmons?

  Philly one, Boston two, New York City probably three would be my rankings. And then there's probably somewhere we're, we're forgetting somewhere where it's maybe like Portland this year, maybe teams would move up or down depending on how pissed off they're. It reminded me of SNL used to have this great sketch in the late eighties. They did once, I think with John Goodman, the referee Pittman show. And it was like a talk show with a referee. It was like done like a morning show. And he came out and they applauded and then people would be like, yeah, referee Pittman. I just want to know what, what it's like to officiate a game with your head completely up your ass.

• 1:00:06Speaker 02

  I remember this.

• 1:00:06Bill Simmons?

  Just how do you handle that? But just having your head that far up your rectum. Uh, but, uh, I, I gotta get my dad to call into this Joe Mazzulla thing though. He's already not happy.

• 1:00:17Speaker 02

  Unbelievable.

• 1:00:18Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, he doesn't understand why we're playing so many lineups. My dad's like, we've played 130 lineups.

• 1:00:24Speaker 02

  It's a fair question.

• 1:00:26Bill Simmons?

  Amok, oh, I should have done this after the Rams thing. He writes about the Rams. Are we back to square one when it comes to the how should you approach an Australia game decision? We thought the reason the 49ers beat up the Rams was because they flew there early. But maybe it was just because the Niners are significantly better.

• 1:00:45Speaker 02

  That's a take.

• 1:00:47Bill Simmons?

  It did make me rethink it after we saw the first six weeks, like the Niners are better than the Rams these first six weeks, like pretty convincingly. So maybe we need to, maybe the Rams had the right strategy and just their players weren't good though. You don't like this?

• 1:01:05Speaker 02

  No, I, I, I'm gonna make that bet on the Rams to make the playoffs.

• 1:01:08Bill Simmons?

  I feel like you're gonna lose a lot of money on the Rams.

• 1:01:10Speaker 02

  It's fine. No, I'm already protected because one of our best takes on, on, across the board and over unders was under 11 and a half wins for the Rams. So I'm super covered, I feel like. Under 11 and a half feels pretty decent right now.

• 1:01:26Bill Simmons?

  One of my big bets that I did before the season for futures was the Rams under 13 and a half wins.

• 1:01:32Speaker 02

  My goodness.

• 1:01:33Bill Simmons?

  With Seattle over eight and a half and New England over eight and a half. And I think it was like plus one 12.

• 1:01:38Speaker 02

  Yeah. Oh, that's a good one.

• 1:01:39Bill Simmons?

  And I, I'm about to win the Rams side. They just need one more loss and they win that one. But I'm not bragging because I have multiple Tampa Bay Buccaneers bets that you can just set on fire and throw into.

• 1:01:50Speaker 02

  My word.

• 1:01:50Bill Simmons?

  Diarrhea hell. I'm not gonna give up on Houston, but I'm gonna give up on Tampa.

• 1:01:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:01:54Bill Simmons?

  Kel wants to know, is it possible the NFC East champ will be in the Shaky's Bowl?

• 1:02:01Bill Simmons?

  I wanna talk this out. Shaky's Bowl, worst game of the day, early Saturday.

• 1:02:08Bill Simmons?

  It's usually the game they're most embarrassed by. The Texans were in it multiple years in a row. We called it the Shaky's Bowl because for our fantasy draft, the one I'm in with Sal and those guys, we would go to Shaky's and watch the first game. Last year was Rams Panthers, which was actually a pretty good game, but all the matchups were pretty good last year. But usually the NFC South's in here. So the, the NFC East champ, I think will be a four seed this year. I think they're gonna have the worst record of all the divisions, right? If you had to say NFC South first, NFC East?

• 1:02:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, not, not, not even close.

• 1:02:38Bill Simmons?

  I think it's gonna be close. Who's winning? Nobody, nobody's winning 10 games in either.

• 1:02:43Speaker 02

  Right. The winner of the NFC East is the first team to get to seven wins. That, and, and it might be.

• 1:02:50Bill Simmons?

  That was Sal's prediction for the NFC South.

• 1:02:52Speaker 02

  Well, I, I mean, I think it applies to the NFC East now.

• 1:02:58Bill Simmons?

  So Shaky's Bowl, if it's Dallas, no way. That's a night game.

• 1:03:03Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:03:03Bill Simmons?

  They won't care who, how good Dallas is. If it's the Giants, no way. I think they put the Giants in a higher profile game.

• 1:03:10Speaker 02

  Wow. Even if they've only have seven wins or eight wins.

• 1:03:14Bill Simmons?

  I, I just think they put them, even, what was the year with Danny Dimes? They didn't put Danny Dimes in the Shaky Bowl that, that year.

• 1:03:20Speaker 02

  Against Minnesota?

• 1:03:21Bill Simmons?

  I don't think that was Shaky's Bowl.

• 1:03:23Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:03:24Bill Simmons?

  Your team, definitely a possibility.

• 1:03:27Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:03:29Bill Simmons?

  And then I think Philly would know Jalen Hurts and Tanner McKay, whoever the hell else is good to be QBing.

• 1:03:35Speaker 02

  Right.

• 1:03:35Bill Simmons?

  Would be the other one.

• 1:03:36Speaker 02

  Jimmy Garoppolo?

• 1:03:38Bill Simmons?

  I still think NFC South will, will be in there over the NFC East.

• 1:03:41Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:03:42Bill Simmons?

  Would be my, my prediction. Jimmy Garoppolo, did you hear that name?

• 1:03:45Speaker 02

  No, but he's available. I, I don't know why you wouldn't take a look at him.

• 1:03:51Bill Simmons?

  Chris from Charleston, South Carolina.

• 1:03:55Bill Simmons?

  Love the show. I was making chicken salad and was adding Dijon mustard, opened a new bottle and promptly squeezed out mustard juice over everything. And I wanna talk about this in a second. This got me thinking, which NBA team will be the mustard juice of the season? Big anticipation and then disappointment and horror. As a Wizards fan, I figure we're the leading candidate. Wonder what you think? I, I don't agree with the Wizards. I think it's, might be Utah. I think Utah's the mustard juice team.

• 1:04:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, that was phenomenal.

• 1:04:26Bill Simmons?

  They shot mustard juice all over the place yesterday.

• 1:04:30Speaker 02

  I'm sorry to do this on the pod at this point. I don't know where exactly this is gonna show up, but aren't we just talking about pre-con? I mean, isn't, isn't that the mustard juices?

• 1:04:40Bill Simmons?

  No, the mustard juice is worse because you have, you have a turkey sandwich.

• 1:04:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's worse.

• 1:04:46Bill Simmons?

  No, but you have turkey sandwich or a hot dog. It's all exciting to be like, oh man, I can't wait to put mustard on this. And then the mustard juice goes everywhere. It soaks the bread. I fucking hate the mustard juice.

• 1:04:57Speaker 02

  Because you, we, we eat it. We're not eating the pre-con. And that's, that's why the mustard juice. But, I mean, this is, this is a.

• 1:05:06Bill Simmons?

  Eduardo's cutting this out. I could feel it. This, no, this is a social clip. I, I could feel it.

• 1:05:11Speaker 02

  Oh, cutting it out to run it.

• 1:05:13Bill Simmons?

  Joe House thinks we're not eating the pre-con. Social clip.

• 1:05:17Speaker 02

  The mustard juice, uh, here's the thing. It, it can be dealt with because if you observe, catch it quickly enough, then you can.

• 1:05:27Bill Simmons?

  If it gets the bread.

• 1:05:28Speaker 02

  Well, but you have, if you get the right, like you, you have to be quick. Like as soon as you see it, oh, oh, get that, get the container back up. Get that nozzle squared away. Give it a bigger shake and then get yourself down and then now give me some, something solid.

• 1:05:44Bill Simmons?

  Are you talking about the pre-con or the mustard?

• 1:05:46Speaker 02

  Both, both, both. It works for both, definitely.

• 1:05:49Bill Simmons?

  I never use the mustard without doing it over the sink.

• 1:05:52Speaker 02

  I understand.

• 1:05:53Bill Simmons?

  And making sure there's mustard juice and it drives my wife crazy.

• 1:05:55Speaker 02

  Well, you're a pro.

• 1:05:57Bill Simmons?

  Top 11 most annoying things I do for her. Oh, good. Thanks for the mustard juice in the sink. I'm like, sorry, I don't like mustard juice.

• 1:06:04Speaker 02

  Yeah. Would you rather I have it on my sandwich than I have to waste food?

• 1:06:08Bill Simmons?

  I knew you'd like this question. I think it's Utah.

• 1:06:11Speaker 02

  That's a great call.

• 1:06:12Bill Simmons?

  I think everybody got excited to hold the Utah mustard, but oh my God, there, and, and then, you know, you watched them last night. They can't rebound. Jaren Jackson's overrated and Peterson is 20 years old.

• 1:06:23Speaker 02

  I mean, the worst thing is nobody on that team, not one person is like, I'm gonna take this Ty Jerome situation personally. Not one fucking guy on Utah is like, I'm gonna go try and stop Ty Jerome. Not one?

• 1:06:38Bill Simmons?

  We talked about it when we did over unders. It was like, who's gonna, who's their shutdown guy when somebody gets hot on the other team? How do they handle the two guards together? Who's gonna rebound? I just never got it.

• 1:06:49Speaker 02

  Well, the Nurkic part is, is the answer for the rebounding. He should, he should impact that when he comes back, but.

• 1:06:55Bill Simmons?

  Certainly in a really important piece.

• 1:06:56Speaker 02

  You just can't.

• 1:06:57Bill Simmons?

  Use of Nurkic.

• 1:06:58Speaker 02

  You can't no-show your first game of the season when, uh, you know, Cam Boozer had a, a bet. Did you look? By the way, the rookies all sucked last night, all the, all the top rookies. The only guy that.

• 1:07:10Bill Simmons?

  Cam Boozer didn't though. Caleb Wilson had one of the worst rookie of the year things in a while, right?

• 1:07:16Speaker 02

  Boozer was not impressive for, for four fifths of that game. He didn't need to be.

• 1:07:21Bill Simmons?

  Did he get rebounds though?

• 1:07:22Speaker 02

  So what? That's not, um.

• 1:07:25Bill Simmons?

  I didn't have time to watch that game.

• 1:07:26Speaker 02

  Brayden Burries was pretty good last night. I will say that. He, he showed something in the second half for Milwaukee.

• 1:07:31Bill Simmons?

  Do you think Kuzma's new business podcast is affecting his basketball at all? He's gonna, he's gonna talk to people about business.

• 1:07:39Speaker 02

  It's so, I mean.

• 1:07:40Bill Simmons?

  It's the number one thing people pitched us.

• 1:07:42Speaker 02

  At this point.

• 1:07:43Bill Simmons?

  Oh yeah, so it's gonna be, he's gonna have celebrities and they're gonna talk about how they became successful. There's like 7,000 of those. So did that change the rookie of the year yesterday?

• 1:07:53Speaker 02

  Oh, I, I.

• 1:07:54Bill Simmons?

  Oh yeah, Boozer's plus 230 now. He's favorite.

• 1:07:57Speaker 02

  Well, he was the, he was favored, he's been favored all along.

• 1:07:59Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, but they were all closer. He was three to one, now it's plus 230.

• 1:08:03Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:08:04Bill Simmons?

  Peterson moved back. Your guy, your guy could.

• 1:08:07Speaker 02

  Well, he didn't play. My guy didn't play. Let's, let's see him play.

• 1:08:10Bill Simmons?

  You know what I really did enjoy was the Yaxle against Luka.

• 1:08:14Speaker 02

  A plus, plus, plus, plus, plus.

• 1:08:16Bill Simmons?

  I have a question about that coming up later, but I like, he went in him. There was good stats about him.

• 1:08:21Speaker 02

  As he should. He's not arriving. This is one of my favorite bets. By the way, that Golden State team is as bad as we imagined.

• 1:08:29Bill Simmons?

  That was, I locked that as the under.

• 1:08:30Speaker 02

  I don't know if, I feel like I did as well. But what does he have to lose? He's not gonna arrive and get punked. I mean, you know, I put me on their best player and let me go at it and let me get my NBA season in, in this way. I thought he handled himself brilliantly.

• 1:08:49Bill Simmons?

  I have a question about this from Britt Pierce. Full disclosure, I hate watching Luka play, but breaking down Yaxle's post-game comments, tell me where he was wrong. He said he didn't actually watch NBA games, so he thought Luka was great because he'd only watched his highlights. Then playing a full game against Luka when he sees his bitching, whining, foul baiting and push offs. Just curious what he got wrong. Nothing.

• 1:09:13Speaker 02

  Nothing. Who asked that question? Who is this?

• 1:09:16Bill Simmons?

  Uh, Britt Pierce.

• 1:09:18Speaker 02

  Britt Pierce, great, great question.

• 1:09:20Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, he got nothing wrong.

• 1:09:22Speaker 02

  We're in lockstep agreement.

• 1:09:23Bill Simmons?

  No, no, it's, by the way, Luka's great. He made a fuck you halftime bank shot and stared at Yaxle. I mean, it was.

• 1:09:30Speaker 02

  It was funny.

• 1:09:31Bill Simmons?

  And nobody should probably talk shit to Luka because it just seems like it, it fires him up. Kessler looked great. Uh, they, all, all my Laker fans are like, oh my God, you think we're the starting team USA center? It's like, settle down. Let's see if he can play three weeks in a row.

• 1:09:45Speaker 02

  They don't get to play Golden State every night. How about that?

• 1:09:48Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. Golden State's gonna be bad. And I, I, listen, we talked about during the over under pod. I have no explanation for the Porzingis thing. One of the weirdest signings ever. They put him, Shams tweeted yesterday that they, they're exploring trade opportunities. Who the fuck's trading for him?

• 1:10:02Speaker 02

  With China?

• 1:10:04Bill Simmons?

  How do they sign this guy when they know he had issues already and they lift her and they're like, here's 20 million?

• 1:10:09Speaker 02

  The Greek team? They could go to Greece.

• 1:10:12Bill Simmons?

  Well, the rumor was that they're gonna try to do like a, take Myles Turner, something like that where they take a.

• 1:10:18Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 1:10:19Bill Simmons?

  They, they somehow get a contract back and I don't even know how that would work.

• 1:10:23Speaker 02

  I watched quite a bit of Myles Turner last night. That, that, he might be in Larry Holmes status. It's gonna be a very, it's gotta be a, a very narrow, uh, you know, need for a team that acquires Myles Turner.

• 1:10:36Bill Simmons?

  That might've been the rare trade that wasn't good for either team, the Yanis trade. That was my biggest regret from over unders was going over on Miami. The more I thought, like seeing some of the play stuff, like they just can't hit. I don't think you can survive in the NBA and win 60% of your games or 55% of your games. If you're not making threes and I don't know who's making threes for Miami. I didn't, I didn't like what I, what I saw in that.

• 1:11:02Speaker 02

  Tim Hardaway Jr. Was one for seven. So there's your answer.

• 1:11:07Bill Simmons?

  Robin W. listened to my parent corner where I talked about my dad when he came to visit last week. And we, he wanted to watch all three Chicago shows in a row when I was doing my podcast. So I had to set him up with Chicago P D, fire and med.

• 1:11:21Bill Simmons?

  So Robin asks, are the three Chicago shows essentially Paw Patrol for the elderly?

• 1:11:25Speaker 02

  Hey.

• 1:11:26Bill Simmons?

  Simple morality stories of how our civil services could save us from various disasters and villains. And he says he's the father of a two year old and also is a 70 year old mother in law who lives with them part time. And noticed that his mother in law will keep watching Paw Patrol after his son has left the room. She is of course also an avid viewer of all the Chicago dramas, N C I S and S V U. Time is a flat circle. We all return to Paw Patrol in the end. Does Dick House watch, watch, uh, Chicago shows?

• 1:11:57Speaker 02

  I don't believe so. I think he's, he's not, he's moved into a phase. He's not into the, those dramas. He doesn't want to sit through. He, he likes sports still. He's still, you know, heavily involved in, in, in our sports stuff. He's not, he's not in those, uh, serial dramas.

• 1:12:14Bill Simmons?

  I stopped by to visit my dad today in Boston and, um, he was watching Boston Blue or whatever that Mark Wahlberg show is. And he's like, I don't even really like this show, but I watch every episode.

• 1:12:26Speaker 02

  Wait, Mark or Donnie? It's gotta be Donnie.

• 1:12:28Bill Simmons?

  Donnie, Donnie Wahlberg.

• 1:12:29Speaker 02

  Not Mark.

• 1:12:30Bill Simmons?

  Not Mark Wahlberg, Donnie. Boston Blue.

• 1:12:34Bill Simmons?

  Speaking of Dick House, your dad's, that name is actually Dick House.

• 1:12:38Speaker 02

  Richard House has gone by Dick his whole life.

• 1:12:40Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:41Speaker 02

  For sure.

• 1:12:43Bill Simmons?

  Matt Madison, Wisconsin, said in my over under preview pod for the N F C. I looked into a crystal ball, Clairvoyant Bill. In visionary world of mid October where the Packers were struggling and the Brewers would be meekly bowing out to the Dodgers. Although the Packers still have room for improvement, they're doing better. I'd like to invite Clairvoyant Bill to accept the eat a fat dick award for week seven.

• 1:13:05Speaker 02

  Oh.

• 1:13:06Bill Simmons?

  As the Brewers dominated the evil Dodgers in advance of the World Series. Clairvoyant Bill, eat a fat dick.

• 1:13:11Speaker 02

  My goodness.

• 1:13:12Bill Simmons?

  So that's now the, now the listeners are, are inviting.

• 1:13:16Speaker 02

  They have nominees. They have nominees for the Stanley Cock.

• 1:13:20Bill Simmons?

  Juice on it. Mark Quadro, who are you rooting for in that World Series, by the way? Brewers race.

• 1:13:27Speaker 02

  Uh.

• 1:13:27Bill Simmons?

  I bet on the race.

• 1:13:28Speaker 02

  Brewers, I'm rooting for the Brewers. We have a Brewer fan in our life. Gotta give up the chipper. Yeah, the chipper.

• 1:13:35Bill Simmons?

  I think it's more fun if, if he loses in the World Series personally.

• 1:13:38Speaker 02

  Why is that more fun? I don't get it.

• 1:13:40Bill Simmons?

  I think it'll be better for his, uh, character and wellbeing.

• 1:13:43Speaker 02

  Baseball, baseball can't, it's, it's world champions going to be a team where you can hit the ball and it hits the roof. And, and it's like, oh, well, it's an out for you. It's an out if you hit the roof. What?

• 1:13:54Bill Simmons?

  I have two notes for baseball. Sorry, I'm chewing an ice cube. One is I think the home run trots are out of control and we need to go back. It, we just said, we're in a beta society now. We need to go back to just when you act like an asshole after a homerun. You just, the next guy just takes one right near his chin and maybe even gets hit. I just thought we, we policed everything better that way. What's funny is hockey is the best it's ever been at policing. I don't know if you saw the Kachaks, the highlights of that game yesterday against Ottawa, but it was just like fucking roadhouse for the entire game.

• 1:14:28Speaker 02

  They just dropped the gloves immediately if there's been any misconduct.

• 1:14:32Bill Simmons?

  Baseball, you know, Diaz or Caminero, they're hitting homers. They're, they're stopping, they're turning, staring at their dugout, doing like little things.

• 1:14:41Speaker 02

  You can still hit them.

• 1:14:43Bill Simmons?

  Take forever.

• 1:14:43Speaker 02

  Understand why not.

• 1:14:44Bill Simmons?

  And they get back in the, here's the other thing I don't like. Everyone does it now where you put like the helmet on the heads or the Red Sox had like a, you know, big stupid one. And some other ones they'll put like.

• 1:14:55Speaker 02

  The green monster one and.

• 1:14:57Bill Simmons?

  Let's just go back to hit a homerun and go back in and fist bump guys.

• 1:15:01Speaker 02

  I don't mind.

• 1:15:02Bill Simmons?

  Where, what's the next level of this? Pull your pants down?

• 1:15:04Speaker 02

  I will say this, do that in the dugout and, and be careful of the mustard juice.

• 1:15:10Speaker 02

  In the dugout, I don't mind whatever celebration they want to do. The guys, I like that because the baseball season is so goddamn long. You have to have something to.

• 1:15:19Bill Simmons?

  I get it.

• 1:15:20Speaker 02

  To keep that, but the, the trot, I bring back the drilling the guy in the ribs. Why we have, especially in the postseason, the expanded rosters, bring a guy in from the bullpen. Let him drill the guy. That's it. He, he's throwing his pitch, he's hit the guy and off we go. Let's restore some justice.

• 1:15:41Bill Simmons?

  My social media feeds me baseball fights and hockey fights. Thank you. Thank you to everybody in charge of that algorithm. They had one where the managers got in the fight 30 years ago. Phil Garner and I forget the other guy, the White Sox guy where they, they were arguing about something and Phil Garner ran out, was mad. The other guy was, and they just started fighting.

• 1:15:59Speaker 02

  The managers were fighting.

• 1:16:01Bill Simmons?

  The managers, I didn't remember this. It was 1995.

• 1:16:03Speaker 02

  They both must've been ex-baseball guys. You know what I mean?

• 1:16:06Bill Simmons?

  They were, they were former players.

• 1:16:07Speaker 02

  I mean, Garner obviously, but his opponent must've also been.

• 1:16:10Bill Simmons?

  Players didn't know whether to start fighting or separate them. And it was, it was hilarious.

• 1:16:14Speaker 02

  Stand back like it's a hockey fight. You just wait and then you tap your bat, tap your stick. Just like in a hockey fight.

• 1:16:21Bill Simmons?

  From Mark Quadro. He's curious if House is ready to induct Dan Quinn as the inaugural member of the eat a fat dick Hall of Fame. Two weeks in a row of boneheaded game management, first end of the Giants, then going for it on fourth down against the Niners. Not knowing if it was fourth down or not and his QB didn't either. Has he done enough yet?

• 1:16:44Speaker 02

  So this might sound like a kind of an outlier take. He doesn't deserve to eat a fat dick.

• 1:16:52Speaker 02

  He's just stupid. And, you know, he is the, the overseer. He's not the architect because Kyle Shanahan was truly the architect, but he was the head coach in a Super Bowl where a team came back from 28 to three.

• 1:17:06Bill Simmons?

  He was.

• 1:17:07Speaker 02

  And.

• 1:17:08Bill Simmons?

  It was a delight. I watch it all the time.

• 1:17:11Speaker 02

  Making repeated mistakes in, in game management with, with this particular team. I mean, I'm at the point.

• 1:17:19Bill Simmons?

  After the Julio Jones catch?

• 1:17:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:17:22Bill Simmons?

  They could have kneeled three times and the game would have been basically over.

• 1:17:25Speaker 02

  They could have done that.

• 1:17:26Bill Simmons?

  And it said Matt Ryan figured out a way to go backward by 12 yards. By the way, he's running a team now too. So this is great.

• 1:17:31Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, again, to me, that's Shanahan more than, than Coach Quinn. But I do like that Coach Quinn, he took the backward hat. He brought it around to the front. We've seen a lot more front hat, so I, I appreciate that gesture.

• 1:17:44Bill Simmons?

  Good. He's given a good front hat.

• 1:17:45Speaker 02

  Yeah. And by all accounts, he's a wonderful guy. The team loves him. The players love him.

• 1:17:51Bill Simmons?

  We're doing that now. Okay.

• 1:17:52Speaker 02

  Oh, that's, there's nothing to extol any virtue in terms of actual coaching game management. I don't know what he does. He, he bungles all of the game, game management calls in front of him.

• 1:18:04Bill Simmons?

  Culture guy.

• 1:18:05Speaker 02

  But I wish him.

• 1:18:06Bill Simmons?

  He built the culture.

• 1:18:07Speaker 02

  I wish him the best of luck. I don't intend for him to eat a fat dick. He didn't do anything in terms of.

• 1:18:13Bill Simmons?

  Have somebody in mind for this week's eating contest?

• 1:18:16Speaker 02

  Let's just go through it. Let's just keep moving. I might, we'll see how it goes.

• 1:18:22Bill Simmons?

  Grant in Kansas City.

• 1:18:25Bill Simmons?

  Kansas City now hoping the Blazers thing falls apart. So they can sneak in with El Chepo. By the way, I'm going to Portland for, uh.

• 1:18:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, you are.

• 1:18:34Bill Simmons?

  For the pod.

• 1:18:35Speaker 02

  I saw that. Go visit that restaurant. See if the phone booth is still there. You remember that's.

• 1:18:41Bill Simmons?

  Look, you could always come.

• 1:18:43Speaker 02

  Oh, is that an invite?

• 1:18:45Bill Simmons?

  Oh, you could always come. I'm just saying.

• 1:18:46Speaker 02

  BS pod, right? You're doing the show.

• 1:18:48Bill Simmons?

  BS pod.

• 1:18:49Speaker 02

  I, I mean, I'm on the BS pod.

• 1:18:51Bill Simmons?

  We're making close to him and join us.

• 1:18:53Speaker 02

  Oh, that's amazing.

• 1:18:55Bill Simmons?

  Thinking about calling it El Chepo Palooza, like very, getting very close, like t-shirts, hats. It's, it's, it's a possibility.

• 1:19:02Speaker 02

  What if they're five and O by the time you get out there? So like, what if they rip off a bunch of wins?

• 1:19:08Bill Simmons?

  Are you following what this guy is doing to them?

• 1:19:11Speaker 02

  I mean, I saw.

• 1:19:12Bill Simmons?

  This thing about they have to promise them a first class facility or he's able to leave in 2030 with no punishment. And, and so they, they basically put the relocation fee, I think was a billion dollars or something. If he left and he got really mad at that, like he clearly is trying to leave. Grant in Kansas City wants to know.

• 1:19:33Bill Simmons?

  In the over unders pod for the East, for the NBA, Joe House said the Nets had supposedly moved pass tanking and turned the corner.

• 1:19:42Speaker 02

  Wrong.

• 1:19:43Bill Simmons?

  Well, I'm just reading the question.

• 1:19:44Speaker 02

  Go ahead.

• 1:19:44Bill Simmons?

  Prompting the entirely reasonable question, what the fuck corner did they turn? Was it the one in Goodfellas when Jimmy Conway kept waving Karen Hill down the alley toward the toward the stolen Dior dresses? No, no, no, no, no. No, no, it's over there. So then he says that makes Sean Marks, Jimmy Conway, Nets fans, Karen Hill, and the rebuild is the Dior dress. Is this the ultimate Goodfellas team? It's Grant's question.

• 1:20:10Speaker 02

  It's not a bad one, but but Grant, Grant's missing a crucial distinction.

• 1:20:15Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:20:15Speaker 02

  When I was talking about the Nets and going through that, I was reporting something that I had read. The research amongst the research, somebody, I can't remember which, you know, punditry, which publication in their season forecast. Yes, characterized the Nets situation as a turn the corner situation.

• 1:20:34Bill Simmons?

  Passing that along.

• 1:20:35Speaker 02

  I had the exact same question as Grant. What fucking corner did they turn? I mean.

• 1:20:40Bill Simmons?

  No, no, no, no, no, no. No.

• 1:20:44Bill Simmons?

  No, that's right, no, no, no.

• 1:20:45Speaker 02

  He wasn't wrong. Grant's not wrong.

• 1:20:48Bill Simmons?

  No, no, no, we're gonna trade Michael Porter Jr. Right there, right? No, go around.

• 1:20:51Speaker 02

  They really should do that. And they have every, they're, they're still incended to tank. I mean, I, I think I said that they should do, they should, you know, just bite down super hard on the two balls. I would put two balls, dangling balls on, under the Nets. I mean, we went through this. Come on, Grant.

• 1:21:07Bill Simmons?

  Okay. Sorry, Grant. We're taking a quick break, then finishing the mailbag and doing ring one oh seven. And now it's time for Who's Delivering presented by Uber Eats. You know, who's delivering on game day? The rookie having a breakout, the player who's suddenly having a moment, veteran turning back the clock. Uber Eats delivers more than just wings for the watch party. Might be a Bluetooth speaker for the pregame, beers and seltzers for the tailgate, cleaning supplies when somebody spills salsa in the second quarter. You can get almost, almost anything for game day on Uber Eats. So on Sundays, I think of all the guys who showed up this year that I wasn't counting on and actually did, CJ Stroud might be man number one. He was the big question heading in with the, with the Texans.

• 1:21:50Bill Simmons?

  Somehow the Texans aren't doing as well as the team as we thought, but CJ Stroud has been lights out. I think he's played like one of the best six or seven quarterbacks in the league through the first six weeks. So I would say he showed up. He had it in the bag, you could say, as soon as he stepped on the field or remembered that he was a high draft pick. With Uber Eats, you can have almost, almost anything in your bag and at your doorstep. This week, buy a four piece signature chicken from Popeyes. Get another one free on Uber Eats. Enjoy game day deals every week, all season long. For alcohol, you must be of legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Whether it's a pumpkin spice coffee that goes splat in your seat or a weekend tailgate

• 1:22:35Bill Simmons?

  that leaves your trunk full of gear and who knows what? You're gonna want WeatherTech in your vehicle, whether you call it fall, autumn, or spooky season. Whether the mess is your fault, the kids, the dogs, or the weather's fault, you're gonna want WeatherTech for American made floor liners and a cargo liner that laugh in the face of fall weather. Visit weatherTech.com today.

• 1:22:53Speaker 03

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• 1:23:37Bill Simmons?

  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. All right, couple more mailbag before we get to the picks. David Wong says, as a foodie, there's no words for what a mistake Anthony DeBlundo did in not eating David Chang's stew. His name should not become synonymous with any food related mistake and be called the DeBlundo like Steve Bartman and Bill Buckner. You just instantly know what it means.

• 1:24:21Bill Simmons?

  And you guys can do a lot better than calling him Stewie. He should be called Muff from this day forward to both recognize his egregious error and the fact that he did it for a hotel muffin. Please make this right. So this is now day, day 11 of us making jokes about. DeBlundo is a pretty good ad. I don't.

• 1:24:40Speaker 02

  It's a blunder. It's an all time deblunder.

• 1:24:42Bill Simmons?

  It's a blunder.

• 1:24:43Speaker 02

  So that's pretty, a deblundo is, as a food mistake, that would be like getting mustard juice all over your sandwich before you get, that's a deblunder.

• 1:24:51Bill Simmons?

  Maybe we have Chang make him a mustard juice, something. Is it, are you still making jokes about this on Ringer Wise Guys or is it dying down?

• 1:24:59Speaker 02

  No, I mean, we, we were calling him Stewie, so it's still, it still comes up. I mean, there's lots of opportunities still.

• 1:25:08Bill Simmons?

  Okay. Corbin from Chesterfield, Michigan, one of the best emails of the year. I'm a Clippers fan. Anytime Kawhi was on the court for Raptors Bulls tonight, I felt like seeing OJ Simpson live a free life after being acquitted for double murder.

• 1:25:24Speaker 02

  My word.

• 1:25:25Bill Simmons?

  Everyone that paid attention to the cap circumventing scandal knows Leonard was not only a part of it, but had vivid knowledge of what was going on.

• 1:25:33Bill Simmons?

  I, this is a consensus opinion by the, from the Clipper fans. He just walked away scot free and now he's on the Raptors and the Raptors looked unbelievable last night.

• 1:25:44Speaker 02

  I don't think you have to be.

• 1:25:45Bill Simmons?

  Everything's fine for him.

• 1:25:46Speaker 02

  You, you don't have to be a Clippers fan to have that same take. He did. He walked away scot free. I don't know.

• 1:25:53Bill Simmons?

  Does that make Uncle Dennis, A.C. Cowling's or who?

• 1:25:57Speaker 02

  Oh, boy.

• 1:25:58Bill Simmons?

  I got Kawhi in the car. You know who this is, god damn it.

• 1:26:03Speaker 02

  That is some analogy. OJ living scot free, my word. I will say, I want to, I want to be very, proceed very cautiously here.

• 1:26:14Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:26:15Speaker 02

  The odds aren't great. If you look at the last eight years of Kawhi's career of back to back game, you see seasons where he plays a sufficient number of games to really impact.

• 1:26:26Bill Simmons?

  So you're telling Clippers fans be patient.

• 1:26:29Speaker 02

  The basketball karma, the basketball gods, they have a way.

• 1:26:33Bill Simmons?

  Speaking of the Bulls, Alec H. says, my take on the likelihood of NBA commentators coining and using more than once the term booze cruise for either a Buselis led or Buselis co-led Bulls win this season. He break down percentages. He had Mark Jones, 97%. Richard Jefferson, 88%. The field, 28% and nobody uses it less than 1%. Well, I'm gonna use it because I love booze cruise. I don't know what, what were we doing the last two years? Anytime Busella scores 25 plus points, it's where we're on a booze cruise.

• 1:27:11Speaker 02

  Okay, that's a booze cruise because it can't be tied to team success. It has to be his own individual success. He dunks on somebody.

• 1:27:17Bill Simmons?

  25, 10, 30, 10. I think we need booze cruise shirts. I'm all in on booze cruise and I'm even okay if Mark Jones says it.

• 1:27:27Speaker 02

  But it's gotta be something like remarkable and individual accomplishment by him. Because that team.

• 1:27:32Bill Simmons?

  Like his first triple double. We went on a booze cruise tonight in Chicago.

• 1:27:36Speaker 02

  That's pretty good. I like that.

• 1:27:37Bill Simmons?

  Booze cruise is great. Tom Eck

• 1:27:43Bill Simmons?

  writes in, from my beautiful and brilliant wife, Amanda Eck, this suggestion.

• 1:27:49Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:27:49Bill Simmons?

  How about a red zone, multi-box equivalent for holiday movies?

• 1:27:55Bill Simmons?

  It's hard to get everyone together in your family and you only have so much time and attention spans are short. You just play four movies at the same time and you can just dip around with the audio in the multi-view. I laughed at this and then I'm convinced my wife would watch this. If it was like The Holiday, The Notebook, Devil Wears Prada, My Best Friend's Wedding, and it was just a four box and she could move the audio around, I swear to God she would watch it.

• 1:28:18Speaker 02

  But those are rom-coms. That's not holiday movies.

• 1:28:20Bill Simmons?

  Well, but it made me, well, the same thing for holiday, whatever, like rom-coms, holiday, like basically multi-view for people like my wife. I think it's a home run idea. I'd like to see, I'd like to see Casey Bloys at HBO Max be the first one to try this or Netflix, since we're on Netflix right now.

• 1:28:38Speaker 02

  How about that?

• 1:28:38Bill Simmons?

  Netflix has multi-view.

• 1:28:40Speaker 02

  Do they have it?

• 1:28:42Bill Simmons?

  I thought the NBA had the multi-view going yesterday and it was delightful.

• 1:28:46Speaker 02

  I enjoyed it. They did a great job.

• 1:28:48Bill Simmons?

  Like they got better at it. They figured out how to just keep the whole screen, which we argued, we were yelling about last year. Just have all the games.

• 1:28:55Speaker 02

  The hard thing with the movies is for especially movies that you're familiar with, you can't have, you know, the, the key dialogue moments occur simultaneously. They need to be staggered in some manner because you, you know, you want your money shots. You want to be able to get.

• 1:29:12Bill Simmons?

  But if it's the multi, multi-view for the movies and I'm watching four sports movies at the same time. And maybe two great scenes are happening simultaneously. And then it becomes a Sophie's Choice trying to figure out which one I want to watch. But I can just bounce around with the audio, but I still get to see everything. I'm all in on this. I think it'd be great at bars. I think we just need more multi-view in general.

• 1:29:32Speaker 02

  It definitely works at bars.

• 1:29:34Bill Simmons?

  More multi-view.

• 1:29:35Speaker 02

  The bars give you, that's one of my favorite things about the holiday season. When the bar has a TV dedicated to a great holiday movie. You can't hear it in the bar, but it does have, it's a nostalgic thing. That, that's pretty good.

• 1:29:48Bill Simmons?

  Even during the day at a bar, you could have, you have like first things first is on, get back up with Peter Schrager, ESPN news, we, just four, four people yelling about sports at you.

• 1:30:02Speaker 02

  I was, I, I found myself, I'm not going to describe all of the circumstances, but I found myself in a bar on Tuesday. Oh no. Yeah. Tuesday. That's when the Celtics.

• 1:30:15Bill Simmons?

  Why are you not going to describe all the circumstances? Was this like a Tinder date? What, I don't, what are you hiding?

• 1:30:20Speaker 02

  I'm not against it, but I was with my family and we were in a neighborhood and my kid was hungry. It was, it was middle of the day. So we went to an Irish bar because he's like, you know, let's go.

• 1:30:33Bill Simmons?

  Love Irish bars.

• 1:30:35Speaker 02

  I mean, three 45 in the afternoon, Piston's self-packed bar.

• 1:30:43Bill Simmons?

  Makes me so happy.

• 1:30:45Speaker 02

  This is in Rockville, Maryland, right? This is in a, in like a town center kind of place. And a lot of regulars in there, a lot of people coming in, everybody knows each other. Ah, you know, shaking the hands and everything. I felt like an outsider. Uh, I was thrilled. We had two giant screens with the game on. And, and I was like, I, I had bet on the Celtics. So I was thrilled by what I'd seen the first half of that Celtics game. I was enjoying it very much. Uh, the Paul George, you know, whatever.

• 1:31:18Speaker 02

  But it was, it was just like, I was reminded, this is what makes America great. America is great. It doesn't need to be great again. It's already great because it's fucking 3:45 on a Tuesday afternoon, October the 20th, and a fucking bar is packed. And they weren't in there for the Piston Celtics game. I can assure you of that.

• 1:31:39Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. Anything we do that is more like when you go to London and people are just drinking at a pub at two o'clock on a Tuesday for no reason. It's like, we just need more of that.

• 1:31:48Speaker 02

  Right. Communal. It's community. People are telling stories with each other.

• 1:31:54Bill Simmons?

  I forgot to finish this point when I did, I did my, my six pack Tuesday night after the three NBA games.

• 1:32:01Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:32:01Bill Simmons?

  And I started this thing about the early game Piston Celtics and I forgot to land the plane on it because I got sidetracked.

• 1:32:07Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 1:32:08Bill Simmons?

  I'm pro. I think they should have a Tuesday, three o'clock game every week. And they do it because they're showing it in, in Europe, right? It's prime time Europe. It's prime time in France. It's prime time in London, Germany, pick a, pick a country.

• 1:32:26Bill Simmons?

  The, the game was packed.

• 1:32:29Bill Simmons?

  I'm just pro. I think you could do it with the, these different, and maybe, maybe it's a Friday. You can start it early because that makes it more realistic.

• 1:32:36Speaker 02

  I'm into that. I love that.

• 1:32:37Bill Simmons?

  I'm pro. I like the weekday early game, especially in the West coast. It was amazing.

• 1:32:42Speaker 02

  Well, Thursday, they already have a slate of games, putting an early game on before the NFL game as your lead into Thursday night football. Like make, get a marquee NBA matchup at four o'clock East Coast time and for 4:30 or five and feed me right into NFL Thursday night football. That's good. Can I give you a note on your, your six pack from Tuesday?

• 1:33:03Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:05Speaker 02

  I'll speak for myself, but I think that America shares this point of view.

• 1:33:08Bill Simmons?

  Okay.

• 1:33:09Speaker 02

  You saving the Celtics for last. I know you did it on purpose. How could?

• 1:33:13Bill Simmons?

  Well, they, they were the, they were the, the longest away from the opening game though.

• 1:33:18Speaker 02

  So what?

• 1:33:19Bill Simmons?

  I was coming on after OKC. I was on a high from Mara playing 10 minutes.

• 1:33:24Speaker 02

  It was an amazing, the OKC San Antonio game was phenomenal. I, I, I, I was hoping and I'll, let's see how it goes. There is a take. Has the NBA figured out Wemby?

• 1:33:39Speaker 02

  You know, the Knicks held Wemby to under, to like in the low 40% in terms of shooting efficiency. And he sucked again shooting wise against the Thunder. I mean, how, how many more games are we going to have to go?

• 1:33:51Bill Simmons?

  I saw this on social and it was a former NBA player. And I'm really sorry that I can't say what player it was, but it was one of the 130 former NBA players that are on podcasts with fancy studios and the one white guy. But made the point of, does Wemby have a go-to move?

• 1:34:08Speaker 02

  It's a great point.

• 1:34:09Bill Simmons?

  And it was the first time I was like, huh. Cause we talked about this in the playoffs last year, but he doesn't have his version of like the Kareem skyhook or a jump hook or anything. And it does seem at the end of these games, he's 25 feet from the basket, trying to figure out stuff and these teams are getting better. But I mean, the Mara thing was super exciting.

• 1:34:29Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:34:29Bill Simmons?

  That, you know, we'll see if it ever happens again. But I thought, I thought that was a significant, even, I said it that night, but even two days later, I felt like that was a significant win for OKC. I think they're clearly the, the team to bet.

• 1:34:42Speaker 02

  You know, the funny thing is it is time is a flat circle kind of moment. You will recall that San Antonio announced its arrival last season by deliberately circling all of the Oklahoma City Thunder games and coming in and trying to punch them in the face and all of that. That's why they went eight and four against the Thunder last season. Yeah. And so the Thunder were like, oh, uh, we took notes. We have been sitting all off season. We are ready for you on game one. And I enjoyed it thoroughly.

• 1:35:09Bill Simmons?

  OKC is plus one 10 for the conference on Fanduel.

• 1:35:13Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:35:14Bill Simmons?

  And plus 200 for the title. And I still think, I, I think it's about another week before all of those odds have a minus in front of them. Title won't. The title will probably get into the hundreds, but the conference ones will get to like minus 140, minus 130.

• 1:35:29Speaker 02

  I'm not, I'm not betting any of that.

• 1:35:30Bill Simmons?

  Did you, did Minnesota suck you in at all last night?

• 1:35:33Speaker 02

  No. Uh.

• 1:35:34Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. That's what we know is going to happen.

• 1:35:36Speaker 02

  It was a mismatch and Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball combined for 33 point attempts.

• 1:35:44Bill Simmons?

  I loved it. That's just what they're going to be.

• 1:35:46Speaker 02

  Is that what they're going to do? 33 point. Now, I don't know how many of those they walked on. They certainly walked on what felt like, you know, four or five of them. The, the LaMelo Ball where he took seven steps, his gather step. I mean, it's a, it's a gather six steps. Okay. By all means, the league's going to accommodate that now. Okay. But no, it's a, it's a very fun way to play and Ant talking shit the whole game was very enjoyable as well.

• 1:36:13Bill Simmons?

  I am, I said this after the trade and I still wouldn't have done the trade. I didn't like it for them. But I did think the number one reason they did this, other than they changed the vibes, which you could feel last night. We haven't had a team like that in a while.

• 1:36:26Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:36:26Bill Simmons?

  What was the last team that really swaggered it up like that?

• 1:36:30Speaker 02

  Oh, that's a great question.

• 1:36:31Bill Simmons?

  Like they're just like having fun together, talking shit to everybody. Like it's been a while. You probably go back to like early Ja Grizzlies. Was the last team that was just like, we're here.

• 1:36:45Bill Simmons?

  The three-point variance is the, is, I, I'm convinced Tim Conley, this is number one, number two, number three reason. Cause in a seven game series where you don't have as many good players as OKC or San Antonio, but three out of seven times you can have a game like they had last night.

• 1:37:01Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 1:37:01Bill Simmons?

  And then you have one other, and then that's how you beat those teams. And I think that's why he did it. I don't think it's going to work, but I get it.

• 1:37:07Speaker 02

  I don't think so either, but.

• 1:37:10Bill Simmons?

  Chad from Fresno says, I was just cooking dinner while my one-year-old daughter was screaming at me in the background. I looked at her without thinking and said, you need a glass of settled down juice. I'm listening to the podcast too much. We're going to have Chad, the, yep, these are my listeners for the. 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 three, one 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. One, two, three Cancun. Or if they do, you go with them. Expedia, the one place you go to go places. Sign in to save. Savings vary.

• 1:37:54Bill Simmons?

  This episode is brought to you by Seven Up. Okay. This one's a case for conspiracy bill. Let's bring them in. Ever notice lemon is everywhere from lemon recipes to lemon-scented cleaning supplies? And when it comes to lemon lime sodas, why is lemon always first? There's a reason. A shadowy organization called the A Lemonade has been padding the stats, keeping big lemon in the lead for decades. But let me tell you something. The sip is about to be flipped. Seven Up is fighting back, swapping lemon lime for their new lime lemon soda. Now lime comes first. Seven Up, flip the sip. This one. Last email.

• 1:38:30Bill Simmons?

  This is from Shane in Orange County, Raiders fan. I've been following along with Ringer 107. I couldn't help but notice a trend. You finished week six at 3-2 respectable. You're sitting at 15-15. Your weekly records have been 2-3, 3-2, 2-3, 3-2, 2-3, 3-2. Are you the Pittsburgh Steelers of Ringer 107? Dare I say the Pitts Bill Steelers. Never spectacular. You always end up background even. I hope you break the trends in week seven.

• 1:39:00Speaker 02

  Well, I'm proud of you. You improved. You're doing better than you and I did together as a team last year. So that's good. You're beating me by, I'm at least three games behind you.

• 1:39:12Bill Simmons?

  I feel like I should be better than 500. Like in our picks league, I'm 5-1 on double downs. The one that our buddy Gus runs.

• 1:39:20Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:39:22Bill Simmons?

  And I'm just, I don't know. I've had, I've had, I feel like I haven't had like a big week yet. I think this might be the week because I actually like some of these games. But before we do that, we have to give a shout out to our friends at FanDuel. You still like FanDuel House?

• 1:39:38Speaker 02

  I never stopped liking that. You don't have to ask still. I've never stopped.

• 1:39:41Bill Simmons?

  Because they're bringing us Ringer 107 today. They're going to make this our most rewarding season ever. Download the FanDuel app to check out all of our 107 picks and boosted teasers every week this season. I can't wait to do 1700 UCLA bets while I'm here in Boston.

• 1:39:57Bill Simmons?

  Ringer 107, you have first pick this week because it's an odd week. So you tell us what you're doing.

• 1:40:02Speaker 02

  Okay, okay.

• 1:40:06Speaker 02

  I'm worried because I feel confident.

• 1:40:08Bill Simmons?

  I feel confident too. I don't like it.

• 1:40:10Speaker 02

  So it makes me uncomfortable to feel confident. And I had to like try and be judicious with which teams do I want in my teaser versus teams that I want to bet on outright.

• 1:40:21Bill Simmons?

  Because some really good teaser options this week.

• 1:40:24Speaker 02

  Three of my favorite games are ones where I could easily play them outright. And I've already bet them in my, on my own card as outrights, but I'm going to use them in the tease.

• 1:40:34Bill Simmons?

  We didn't talk about this at all and I had the exact same thing. It's like, ah, do I use this as straight up or one of the two teaser spots?

• 1:40:41Speaker 02

  Right. So I'm very straightforward. Going to go ahead and lay it with Houston. Anything under 13 points is fine by me. Houston minus 10 and a half at home against the Giants. This is J.J. McCarthy's return, I guess. What would you call it? He played last week. He had a great fourth quarter and incredible.

• 1:41:05Bill Simmons?

  Return? What's he returning from? Being terrible?

• 1:41:08Speaker 02

  Well, I mean, he was, he was traded. He was dumped. So what is it? Don't call it a comeback?

• 1:41:15Speaker 02

  I don't want to call it a comeback. So that's why I said return, question mark.

• 1:41:18Bill Simmons?

  But he threw for like 250 yards in a quarter coming out the bench.

• 1:41:22Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 1:41:23Bill Simmons?

  But he, now he's going into Houston who needs a win because they continue to need wins because they started out the season so badly.

• 1:41:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:41:30Bill Simmons?

  And Houston's laying minus 10 and a half and you're not scared at all.

• 1:41:33Speaker 02

  No, not, not in the least bit. There is, it is a combination of just a reminder to the world of how bad J.J. McCarthy was last season. In like some of the most important statistical categories, completion percentage over expectation. He was bottom three out of 50 some quarterbacks that started, you know, sufficient number of snaps. The same is true of like EPA per play. Like you can get into the numbers and find, you know, eight or 10 things that, that all look and smell like shit. And I think that, you know, with this, this Giants offense can't run the ball.

• 1:42:13Speaker 02

  It's the worst run offense in, Cam, Cam Scataboo Boo played and somehow had zero fantasy points.

• 1:42:22Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, they iced them.

• 1:42:23Speaker 02

  They didn't, like, why did they do that to America? There are a bunch of fantasy fools out there that have him on their roster, but they're like, we're putting this. Is it, was it because of the fumble against Washington that they did that? Was that the punishment?

• 1:42:39Bill Simmons?

  Squirted mustard juice all over everybody. He's like, I don't care that you started Cam Scataboo this week.

• 1:42:44Speaker 02

  He didn't, he didn't say we're, we're, you know, DNP coach's decision. He peed. He played, but he no carries. That is very rude. Anyway. So I like this Houston offense with, with the weapons especially. And CJ Stroud just continues to, to keep cooking.

• 1:43:02Bill Simmons?

  Harrison was good for them.

• 1:43:03Speaker 02

  He was good.

• 1:43:04Bill Simmons?

  So they're, they're 14th. I have them in a tease, so I did some work on this one.

• 1:43:08Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:43:09Bill Simmons?

  I wrote down they're being served J.J. McCarthy, medium rare.

• 1:43:15Speaker 02

  My favorite.

• 1:43:15Bill Simmons?

  It's like, do you want a little darker red on the inside? They're like, no, no, no, just medium rare is good.

• 1:43:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:43:20Bill Simmons?

  Houston defense, 14th in DVOA, but they've already played Allen, Burrow, Dak and Lawrence.

• 1:43:26Speaker 02

  Right, exactly.

• 1:43:27Bill Simmons?

  They played dimes and they played Cam Ward, gave up 20 points total in those two games. They do have a couple of injuries though. That, that's what worried me about the 10 and a half.

• 1:43:38Speaker 02

  I get it.

• 1:43:38Bill Simmons?

  The Al Shair looks like he's not playing. He didn't practice today or, or yesterday. The P-3's hurt, blank and shit. So they might be missing three starters. So that's why I wanted to tease them down to minus four and a half because I had the same thing. I don't know how many chances we're going to be able to have to bet against J.J. McCarthy without a running game.

• 1:43:57Speaker 02

  I just want the first chance. I'll take the first chance right away.

• 1:44:01Bill Simmons?

  Plus, as, as the Bundo always jokes, Houston, just banking field goals.

• 1:44:06Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:44:06Bill Simmons?

  Like, we know they're not going to do anything stupid. They're just going to be like, we're, we're happy to go up 9-0. We're happy to go up 13-3. We're happy to go up.

• 1:44:14Speaker 02

  As long as CJ doesn't throw an interception in the end zone, you know, when they're driving for the dagger.

• 1:44:20Bill Simmons?

  I'm a believer in CJ. I think he's been really good.

• 1:44:23Speaker 02

  He did that last week against Jacksonville. It was the dagger score that they were sitting on.

• 1:44:27Bill Simmons?

  That's London game.

• 1:44:28Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 1:44:30Bill Simmons?

  London makes everybody crazy.

• 1:44:32Speaker 02

  It makes people lose their minds. It was the dagger score that they were sitting on. That game was over as soon as Houston, you know, got the score that they should have had. I'm not worried about that against this Giants team. So I'm going to lay all of the points. I don't mind it. Anything under 13, I'm in favor of.

• 1:44:48Bill Simmons?

  I have that in a tease and I'll do it later because I want to talk the tease out with you, but I want to see what else we take. My first pick.

• 1:44:57Bill Simmons?

  So one of the things with doing these on Thursday, where if you think the line's going to shift, grabbing it on a Thursday versus like, oh, I think the line's going to shift my way. I'll, I'll wait till Sunday and see if it changes.

• 1:45:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:45:13Bill Simmons?

  Bengals plus one and a half at Baltimore. Excuse me.

• 1:45:18Bill Simmons?

  It made me, made me burp. I was so excited. Bengals plus one and a half at Baltimore. I think by the time we get to Sunday, the Bengals are going to be favored in this game. And I think it's going to swing three points because I don't think Lamar Jackson's going to play. He's by all counts, like he left a practice, he was hobbling and they have the Bills next week.

• 1:45:40Bill Simmons?

  I think they're four and four in two weeks, Baltimore. They're four and two right now.

• 1:45:44Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 1:45:45Bill Simmons?

  Meanwhile, you have Cincy coming off a bye.

• 1:45:48Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:45:49Bill Simmons?

  You have Baltimore flipping their offensive line all the way around again. That they haven't settled on a combination yet. Hendrickson's already hurt and all the Cincinnati fans are all excited that Hendrickson is hurt. Because this was the rap on Hendrickson.

• 1:46:03Speaker 02

  That's not nice, but I understand.

• 1:46:05Bill Simmons?

  And Cincy was like, this fucking guy's already hurt. Oh, it's hurt.

• 1:46:09Bill Simmons?

  And, and Cincy really needs it. I, I thought they lost some mojo from the first couple of weeks. I like their matchup of their run defense against, against Henry.

• 1:46:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:46:19Bill Simmons?

  I don't think it matters if they're in Cincinnati or on the road. I think they're fine either way. I think they'll be able to move the ball. And if this is Huntley, there's, there's too much tape on him now. Like he could barely do anything in Cleveland last week. So to me, I thought about them in a tease. I love the Bengals plus seven and a half, but I'm going to take it straight up because I think the line moves. So Cincy plus one and a half.

• 1:46:40Speaker 02

  Great. This is going to help us expedite this segment because I also have Cincy plus one and a half.

• 1:46:46Bill Simmons?

  Oh, interesting.

• 1:46:47Speaker 02

  At Baltimore for all the reasons you just listed, plus the fact that, that I feel very confident. The Baltimore insiders in this area are all like, there's no chance Lamar is playing.

• 1:46:57Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:46:57Speaker 02

  And I.

• 1:46:59Bill Simmons?

  And the line moved the last two days indicating that that's out there now.

• 1:47:04Speaker 02

  There is no explosive possibility with Baltimore. Baltimore needs to get the ball down the field to, to, you know, really realize the, the, the best version of itself offensively. And Snoop just won't do it. So they will load the box. We, they just have tons of tape. I lost last week. This Baltimore team was up on Cleveland 10-0 and I had Baltimore in that game. That line got dropped all the way down to three. Yep. Derrick Henry fumbled, flips the whole.

• 1:47:32Bill Simmons?

  Fourth one this year.

• 1:47:33Speaker 02

  Goddamn game. And I ended up taking the L on that. So this is a little bit of pettiness out of me, but I am joining you on Cincinnati plus one and a half. Both receivers healthy also. I mean, this is your classic NFC North matchup. They have to, you know, both teams super motivated.

• 1:47:51Bill Simmons?

  I would say it's more classic for the AFC North.

• 1:47:53Speaker 02

  What did I say? NFC?

• 1:47:54Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. I'm just, I'm correcting you the way you would correct me.

• 1:47:58Speaker 02

  As, as you should. It's appropriate.

• 1:48:01Bill Simmons?

  I, I really like this specific, I think the Bengals really lucked out. Coming off a bye, Lamar was supposed to play, didn't. Baltimore coming off a really bad loss. They, I'm not giving up on Baltimore by any means, but I think they're going to be four and four after eight weeks. And then they'll probably turn into the team we thought they were.

• 1:48:22Bill Simmons?

  I'm a little worried about Zach Taylor versus Minter.

• 1:48:26Speaker 02

  Sure.

• 1:48:27Bill Simmons?

  And just a little bit worried about.

• 1:48:33Bill Simmons?

  Joe Burrow, let's, let's, let's get going here. Are you one of the six or seven best QBs in the NFL or not? That, I think this is a referendum game for the Bengals in a lot of different ways, including with that question.

• 1:48:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:48:45Bill Simmons?

  Hey, Joe Burrow, let's see it. You're going against Tyler Huntley on the road. Like, come on. You're, you're plus one and a half? How are you not favored in this game? All right, so we both have Cincy. That puts me back up.

• 1:48:57Speaker 02

  It does.

• 1:49:00Bill Simmons?

  Man, well, this goes back to our discussion earlier. I think the Rams have the stink on them. I'm taking the Raiders at home, plus four and a half. I think it's way too many points. And I get, like, the Vegas stats, they played New England, Buffalo, Kansas City last three games, so their DVOA is bad, they're 26th. They haven't been able to run the ball, but I also think that maybe they have some tricks up their sleeve this week. I think this is a kitchen sink game for them. I don't think there's gonna be a ton of Rams fans there, because I don't think there are a ton of Rams fans, so they'll have a good crowd. And honestly, really surprised by the line. I think this should be Rams by one and a half, Rams by two. Yeah, I really do. I, I think the Rams are a mess.

• 1:49:43Bill Simmons?

  I don't trust the special teams at all for them, especially on the road. I don't think, they, they have no deep threat at all. Now they don't have Adams, so just fucking triple team Puka. What are they gonna do now? So they're gonna need their run game to just run the ball down Vegas' throat, which they might be able to do.

• 1:49:59Speaker 02

  The run game's been pretty good this season.

• 1:50:00Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:50:01Speaker 02

  As a, as a, as a Kieran Williams fancy holder.

• 1:50:03Bill Simmons?

  I haven't liked what I've seen from Stafford.

• 1:50:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:50:04Bill Simmons?

  And I don't think they're Rams defense. I think you can move the ball on them. And I like what I've seen from Cousins. I like the two tight ends. I think Trey Tucker is actually pretty good.

• 1:50:13Speaker 02

  Agree.

• 1:50:14Bill Simmons?

  And I think this is a three-point game, so I'm getting a, a point and a half. And I could see the Rams losing this. I think, like, we don't do, I was thinking about for Ringer 107, maybe next year, we have a parlay component to you, the five picks, plus you have to pick a, some sort of parlay that's plus 350 or higher.

• 1:50:33Speaker 02

  You love it. You love to, to, and that's fine.

• 1:50:36Bill Simmons?

  One of the, one of the ones.

• 1:50:38Speaker 02

  Go ahead. No, we, we do on the Ringer Wise Guys program every week, an underdog money line play, for sure.

• 1:50:46Bill Simmons?

  I get it, I'm saying a parlay, but it could be anything.

• 1:50:49Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:50:49Bill Simmons?

  That you could move up to, because one of the ones I liked, where is it?

• 1:50:58Bill Simmons?

  Oh, the, uh, the Tennessee-Cleveland game.

• 1:51:01Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 1:51:02Bill Simmons?

  Which I don't have in Ringer 107.

• 1:51:04Speaker 02

  Nor do I.

• 1:51:05Bill Simmons?

  But one bet that I think would be fun is like Tennessee minus nine and a half in that game. If they're ever gonna blow somebody out, this would be the game, that crappy Browns team, right?

• 1:51:13Speaker 02

  Pretty good.

• 1:51:14Bill Simmons?

  So you do a money line parlay with Tennessee minus nine and a half, and then the Raiders money line, something like that. But everything you have to do would have to be plus 500 or higher, and then we just see, if you hit one, you get a one, you know, you get a one, basically.

• 1:51:26Speaker 02

  Oh, okay, that's fun.

• 1:51:27Bill Simmons?

  Anyway, I think the Raiders aren't bad. The Pats made them look bad. They cut the Pats on the wrong week.

• 1:51:33Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:51:33Bill Simmons?

  They, they hung with.

• 1:51:35Speaker 02

  Fly across country after that, yeah.

• 1:51:36Bill Simmons?

  They hung with, with Buffalo legitimately.

• 1:51:41Speaker 02

  Both, this is one of my, my only question that I'll say out loud. Both the Rams and the Bills coming off that Monday night game that went into overtime, and that was a knock-down, drag-out affair. They both looked shitty on Sunday, and I think it's because of, of what that Monday night game took out of both of those teams. I mean, the, the Bills for sure.

• 1:52:01Bill Simmons?

  Devonte Adams.

• 1:52:02Speaker 02

  Well, that's, it's a bummer for Devonte.

• 1:52:06Bill Simmons?

  You really think the Rams could move the ball in the same way with Puka and that's it? Like, they don't really have anybody else. I don't trust them at all. I, I've watched every Rams game. I think that, I think they're in a really weak spot right now.

• 1:52:17Speaker 02

  I think they can run the ball. You're right, they are in a weak spot. They just lost to the Arizona fucking Cardinals that were supposed to win three games this season. Yes, they're in a bad spot right now.

• 1:52:25Bill Simmons?

  I was alarmed by how hard it was for them to move the ball in the fourth quarter against a defense that had just given up 45 points. Like, even on their, on their drive when they took the lead, it basically happened because they threw, Puka was double-covered. They threw him a pass, and two guys bounced off him. He basically just single-handedly created a 40-yard pass, but it was an eight-yard throw. They don't get any throws downfield.

• 1:52:49Speaker 02

  You're right. It looked like a lack of preparation to me. They don't get the, the ball downfield because Stafford isn't comfortable enough. He's not standing back there.

• 1:52:57Bill Simmons?

  He's not. I think the Raiders can get him. I think this is a Big Macs Crosby game, so I'm gonna take.

• 1:53:01Speaker 02

  Go ahead.

• 1:53:02Bill Simmons?

  Raiders plus four and a half. Thank you for the extra points, Vegas.

• 1:53:06Speaker 02

  Go ahead, do it.

• 1:53:07Bill Simmons?

  Your last pick?

• 1:53:09Speaker 02

  Uh, I kinda hate myself for this, but I just have to do it. I have to take this number. I'm gonna go ahead and lay the two and a half with Seattle at home against the Kansas City Chiefs.

• 1:53:18Bill Simmons?

  God damn it, I'm doing it too.

• 1:53:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, you ha, you have to do it. I mean,

• 1:53:22Bill Simmons?

  Yeah.

• 1:53:22Speaker 02

  You know exactly what you're walking into, and nobody will be yelling F U's, you know, F U Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold will be invited to eat a fat dick if he throws another two interceptions this upcoming week against the Chiefs. I mean, I could just.

• 1:53:36Bill Simmons?

  Fear with this pick, I, I went through all the emotions with it, and I land in the same spot, but the fear with this pick is that he sucks early and the crowd gets restless, and that's where you don't wanna be with this pick, where it's like, oh no. Sam just threw a pick, the crowd's groaning.

• 1:53:51Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 1:53:52Bill Simmons?

  They showed Drew Lock on the, on the bench. You know, it's a night game, so the TV crew's like, there's Drew Lock, looks really good in week two. So, yeah, I went through all the emotions for this.

• 1:54:04Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 1:54:04Bill Simmons?

  Go ahead, make your case.

• 1:54:05Speaker 02

  Well, the case is, you know, who knows Kenneth Walker better than thi, this team? Who knows Kenneth Walker better than Mike McDonald? I, I am really thrilled to have a Mike McDaniel, Mike McDonald, Andy Reid combo. And Mike McDonald has the benefit of the extra time. He's coming off a Thursday night game, Andy Reid off the bye. So both teams coming in with additional rest, uh, for sure.

• 1:54:28Bill Simmons?

  Seahawks have, it's an 11 days for the Seahawks, going Thursday to Monday, so that's great.

• 1:54:33Speaker 02

  That is great. Um, but it's just so, so rich. The, the Seahawks' rush defense is so extraordinary, and it's been excellent for, for a couple of years now. But the added layer of their ability to, you know, the way that the Chiefs have been deploying Walker is outside. We keep seeing him busting these, well, that, nobody's better than Seattle at, at, you know, closing off that route for, for, um, opposing runners. And it does seem like the Chiefs are gonna be missing Jonathan Simmons once again, and it's 50-50, I think. And then the other tackle, it seems like, might be out as well. But a lot of this is, to me, the NFL, great job, congratulations, you did, you got exactly what you wanted.

• 1:55:16Speaker 02

  You gave the Chiefs the easiest goddamn schedule in the entire NFL, and the Chiefs did what they were supposed to do.

• 1:55:24Speaker 02

  Mahomes hasn't looked great. He hasn't, like, good getting, now, a lot of that has to do with the continuing injuries in that receiver room. But he's not, you know, his, his accuracy isn't, you know, up to the standard that he, him, his own self has created. He's not throwing the ball.

• 1:55:38Bill Simmons?

  Covered a lot of words.

• 1:55:39Speaker 02

  He's not throwing the ball down the field. They have been doing an, an enormous, uh, leap forward in terms of play action. Mahomes under center, like, like, you know, 20% higher in terms of the percentages of, of, they just renovated their offense with Kenneth Walker, this weapon that they have, and you gotta give it up to Andy Reid and, and the Chiefs for, for doing so. But now it's time, now it's time to pay the piper. Let's see it. And I'm willing to go ahead and lay the two and a half to, for them to show me. It's a show-me game.

• 1:56:10Bill Simmons?

  Well, it's the, it's the old Lombardi, Lombardi axiom. Bad offensive lines don't travel.

• 1:56:17Bill Simmons?

  Chiefs' offensive line looks bad. You got that. You have wide receiver issues. Charbonne is back for the Seahawks. Now, he's coming off a torn ACL, but their running back situation's been pretty bad. At least now, he's somebody that can pound into the line. You mentioned it earlier with KC, they're 5-0, they're 5-0 against Bo Nix, Daniel Dimes, Malik Willis, Kirk Cousins, who's the best quarterback of all these five I'm gonna mention, and One Wish Willow, Justin Herbert.

• 1:56:46Bill Simmons?

  That's the five QBs they played, including last week, the emotionally shattered Justin Herbert, who's just, just completely checked out. And then you have Seattle, who's 3-3, 11 days rest. They gave away the game against your stupid team. They blew the Niners game, all self-inflicted wounds, and gave up one drive, but that was one of the dumbest losses of the year. And then four days later, they have the stupid loss to Denver, which was one of the dumbest games of the year, and not even really worth talking about. It was just stupid. Kitchen sink game for them, I think.

• 1:57:18Speaker 02

  Agreed. They can't, they can't be three and four.

• 1:57:21Bill Simmons?

  You can't. And honestly, KC doesn't, they need the game. It's a night game, but this is, there's a level of desperation. It's completely different for Seattle because that you fall back, you've three and four, you're so far back in the NFC West at that point. And, uh, but yeah, am I, are we first quarter? Are we going to be texting each other like, oh my God, this Sam Darnold thing has gone completely sideways? I don't know.

• 1:57:43Speaker 02

  We did to ourselves. We might be, look what we did to ourselves. It is a secondary with, for the, with the Chiefs. That Seattle should be able to exploit. The problem for Seattle is that their opposing defenses know what they're going to do. They're in passing situations so often because they can't establish anything with the run. They can't run play action. Nobody is biting on the idea that the run is something that's going to be successful. So.

• 1:58:08Bill Simmons?

  I like taking the team that is three and three, but all three losses were stupid and they probably could have won if a couple of things had happened.

• 1:58:14Speaker 02

  For sure.

• 1:58:15Bill Simmons?

  So, and they're home.

• 1:58:17Speaker 02

  Yep. They have to have it. It's a must have.

• 1:58:19Bill Simmons?

  It's a half to have.

• 1:58:20Speaker 02

  Two and a half.

• 1:58:20Bill Simmons?

  Also, like for me, I didn't want to wait till Sunday. I like the minus two and a half because I think this goes to three. I want to get it now.

• 1:58:27Speaker 02

  Okay. All right. I was going to ask you that. Go ahead.

• 1:58:30Bill Simmons?

  Who do you have for a teaser?

• 1:58:32Speaker 02

  I'm doing the Vikings from six and a half down to just a half.

• 1:58:37Bill Simmons?

  I certainly looked at it.

• 1:58:39Speaker 02

  They have to beat the Colts outright. That's the requirement. Um, certainly I understand the challenges. I don't want to lay six and a half with Kyler Murray. Don't want to, you know, try and forecast the Vikings offense doing anything, uh, meaningful, even though the Colts defense is an abomination.

• 1:58:57Speaker 02

  Yeah. I think Jordan Mason's coming back. Did I see that? But in any event, it doesn't really matter. Um, I like the Vikings to win that game outright. Because the havoc of this defense against Daniel Dimes is by far the most convincing element of it.

• 1:59:11Bill Simmons?

  And they've had Daniel Dimes. I do want to mention. You are putting Kyler Murray in a tease.

• 1:59:18Speaker 02

  I understand. I get it.

• 1:59:20Bill Simmons?

  I just, that has to be mentioned. It's like a disclaimer. It's like putting a kid's toy where it has the stuff written on the side of it. Kyler Murray in a tease. You, you did just do that.

• 1:59:30Speaker 02

  I'm overreacting to my own embarrassment, my, my self debasement at putting the stupid ass Saints into a tease when the Saints played the Vikings. Cause it was like, oh, there's no way that the Saints are going to lose by double digits. This, the Saints can move the ball. Uh, even against a great defense like, like Minnesota and Kyler Murray, how are they going to score in a, well, that was stupid. So I'm not going to make that kind of mistake again. And so I'm asking. The Vikings to win this game outright at, at home. It feels reasonable.

• 2:00:02Bill Simmons?

  Win with your defense. Don't do anything offensively that can threaten anything. Just kick field goals and win 13 to three.

• 2:00:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, exactly.

• 2:00:12Bill Simmons?

  Seems reasonable. What's the other piece of your tease?

• 2:00:14Speaker 02

  Uh, it's a little bit, you know, I, I don't love it, but I'm playing Green Bay, getting nine to Green Bay from the three to the nine.

• 2:00:23Bill Simmons?

  Holy macro against Detroit.

• 2:00:25Speaker 02

  On the road at Detroit, and there's lots of numbers that talk about Detroit, um, with the extra rest, Detroit at home, the, in, you know, in, in this particular matchup. I just like what I've seen out of the Packers the last two weeks. I'm not prepared to play the Packers, um, in this match. I think Detroit minus three is a fair number. Um, but the Packers defense very quietly, what they did to the Dallas offense. Now, the, the hard thing to, to assess is. Did, was that an element of Jonathan Gannon and that defense scheming up something against those, those Dallas weapons? Or was Dallas self, self sabotaging? Uh, and the answer is probably yes, because it was probably both.

• 2:01:05Bill Simmons?

  Is there an answer that covers the wide receivers just seeming bummed out jogging through routes? Is that self sabotage? That's covered that.

• 2:01:12Speaker 02

  Probably. Um, the other element to this, it's a, it's a huge division game. If Green Bay, see, Green Bay is a quiet thing. Josh Jacobs back, right? So, so that's a, that's a big deal. That's a big effing deal for Green. We've been skeptical of their offensive line. They changed some protection and they got love some time. And they immediately ripped off two good wins, a good win against the Bears, even though it was against Tyson Badgett and a good win against Dallas. I mean, you know, both of those were at home. I get that. Going into the dome in green, in, in Detroit, you're walking into harms way a little bit. But I like them to keep it under two scores. So that's the reason for the teaser leg.

• 2:01:51Bill Simmons?

  Teasers. We brought them back on Fanduel. By the way, we had a score up last week with bringer 107, but all of our picks will be on. Uh, Fanduel this weekend, including our teasers with the minus one 10 juice. So I already took Texans minus four and a half. A once in a lifetime opportunity to bet against J J McCarthy on the road with a good defense, hopefully. So my other candidates for the tease, I had the Vikings down and really stared long and hard at Kyler Murray.

• 2:02:21Bill Simmons?

  Falcons plus eight and a half against the 49ers. All the 49ers injuries.

• 2:02:27Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 2:02:28Bill Simmons?

  Looked long and hard. I'm so tired of being wrong with the 49ers. I just, I, they're, I'm just staying away. I can't do it.

• 2:02:36Speaker 02

  The other side of that, fuck off, Atlanta.

• 2:02:39Bill Simmons?

  Well, that's the other thing. Is Penix healthy? Is he not healthy?

• 2:02:42Speaker 02

  The goddamn game barely started. They're down 21, nothing. Their defense didn't show, they're at home against the Bears. Just fuck. Caleb, Caleb sets his own personal record. He's been out for a month. He comes back and immediately rips off 12 straight completions. Caleb Williams does and, and you know, this, this deep, they're unprepared. They rushed Bijon nine fucking times. Atlanta can fuck off. I, I'm sorry.

• 2:03:05Bill Simmons?

  I thought you were going to cook something for Stefanski there.

• 2:03:08Speaker 02

  He.

• 2:03:10Bill Simmons?

  Yeah, maybe.

• 2:03:11Speaker 02

  Maybe.

• 2:03:14Bill Simmons?

  Well, I'm not doing the Falcons.

• 2:03:15Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 2:03:16Bill Simmons?

  I don't trust them.

• 2:03:17Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 2:03:17Bill Simmons?

  I don't think there's a worse site in gambling than watching Tua warm up.

• 2:03:22Speaker 02

  None worse.

• 2:03:23Bill Simmons?

  I looked at the Titans long and hard, plus seven and a half. That just seemed like a lot of points.

• 2:03:29Speaker 02

  It would have been hilarious. I would have enjoyed it.

• 2:03:31Bill Simmons?

  It seemed like a lot of points for a Titans Browns game. You know, there's another piece we can do with the, with the teasers too, which is the over unders.

• 2:03:42Speaker 02

  You can do it.

• 2:03:44Bill Simmons?

  So you can take Titans Browns, which I can't find on Fanduel because maybe, oh, there it is. It has yellow police tape around it.

• 2:03:53Speaker 02

  And a chalk out line of a body?

• 2:03:55Bill Simmons?

  Thirty seven and a half. So you can take that up to 43 and a half. But then I was thinking with Watson, who know, pick sixes, like God only knows with these teams. Staying away from that.

• 2:04:07Speaker 02

  Good job.

• 2:04:09Bill Simmons?

  Did look at it though.

• 2:04:12Bill Simmons?

  And I, and I kept circling back sadly.

• 2:04:18Bill Simmons?

  To Kyler Murray and the Vikings. I can't believe it. I'm doing it.

• 2:04:23Bill Simmons?

  I'm doing it. The Vikings. So I went, I even went back and I looked through some of the, uh, Vikings Colts matchups.

• 2:04:30Speaker 02

  Sure. Over the years.

• 2:04:32Bill Simmons?

  They shut, two years ago, they shut down Jonathan Taylor. Flacco was the QB for the Colts, but that made me feel better.

• 2:04:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:04:38Bill Simmons?

  But yeah, it's just betting on the Minnesota defense. Just, I didn't win by one point. I don't really care.

• 2:04:45Speaker 02

  Right. The only thing.

• 2:04:46Bill Simmons?

  Just win by one.

• 2:04:47Speaker 02

  The only thing that gets us is, is Chris Ballard liberation. Like, you know, Carly will be on the sidelines.

• 2:04:54Bill Simmons?

  I thought about that, but.

• 2:04:55Speaker 02

  Look guys, we got, we got rid of that, that bum.

• 2:04:57Bill Simmons?

  That only works for coaches though.

• 2:04:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:05:00Bill Simmons?

  It's not like, oh, our GM's not here anymore. I'm going to play harder. I just don't see it.

• 2:05:04Speaker 02

  Yeah. I don't think there is a, a bounce for that. Isn't, uh.

• 2:05:09Bill Simmons?

  Also, here's the other thing with the Colts, and this is what made me feel good about taking Kyler Murray in Minnesota.

• 2:05:16Bill Simmons?

  It's really bad. Sal and I covered it Sunday night. This is the angriest fan base right now, the Colts. So they fired the GM. But it's still the same owners and it's still a coach that might not actually be a competent head coach. And the quarterback situation got messed up. Sauce Gardner, they traded two picks for him. I don't think he's playing this week. They have injuries. Alex Pierce, they gave all this money to, he's not playing.

• 2:05:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's part of the handicap.

• 2:05:40Bill Simmons?

  Yeah. Um, and I just think it, I think it gets sadder and worse for Colts fans. So the only way you lose this game is Jonathan Taylor just goes nuts. He, he has like one of his 23 carries for 230 yards games. I'm not ruling it out.

• 2:05:55Speaker 02

  Against the Vikings. That would be something.

• 2:05:58Bill Simmons?

  But I'm going to do it as well.

• 2:05:59Speaker 02

  It would have to be, we have two Kyler turnovers. That's, that's what would, would get us.

• 2:06:04Bill Simmons?

  And with the tease, you like having, I am betting in a tease against J J McCarthy. And the Colts to lose are the two sides I need to hit and you feel better about that.

• 2:06:14Speaker 02

  I was going to ask you if you thought that Philadelphia's fan base was madder than the Colts, but.

• 2:06:20Bill Simmons?

  God, I haven't even talked about that on the podcast. One of the most egregious medical handling of any sports thing, not since. Tyrod Taylor got stabbed by the Chargers doctor. I think that was our leader for the decade until this happened.

• 2:06:33Speaker 02

  Yeah. I, I mean.

• 2:06:34Bill Simmons?

  Really awful. If this was like our kid, like your son or my son, I'd be so fucking mad.

• 2:06:39Speaker 02

  Right. Of course, of course.

• 2:06:41Bill Simmons?

  It's like, what? He had a blood clot? What, what, what's going on?

• 2:06:44Speaker 02

  And he was in the hospital and then he said, oh, well Luke, he'll go play the game with the blood clot. And then the blood clots go from the leg to the, to the lungs. Like I, I haven't sat down and done, invested the time. To, to properly go through the timeline and understand, of course, the NFL stepped in and their own medical folks are endorsing the way the Eagles approached it.

• 2:07:05Bill Simmons?

  Of course.

• 2:07:05Speaker 02

  That's a shocker.

• 2:07:06Bill Simmons?

  They did a great job.

• 2:07:07Speaker 02

  Yeah. The, the best job.

• 2:07:08Bill Simmons?

  They nailed it.

• 2:07:09Speaker 02

  The guy's career might be over, but you know what? No, no, no mistakes were made.

• 2:07:13Bill Simmons?

  I did think about that, but after with the Eagles putting Dallas in something, but.

• 2:07:18Speaker 02

  And the Eagles.

• 2:07:19Bill Simmons?

  Dallas did last week.

• 2:07:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:07:22Bill Simmons?

  And the Eagles, maybe, who knows? I, I just, that's a stay away for me. All right.

• 2:07:26Speaker 02

  I mean, they, they, they won the Superbowl two years ago. It's fine.

• 2:07:29Bill Simmons?

  So ringer 107 picks, we both have Seattle minus two and a half. We both have Cincinnati plus one and a half. I have the Raiders plus four and a half. You have Houston minus 10 and a half. I have Houston in a tease down to minus four and a half with Minnesota just to win. You have a tease with Minnesota just to win. And Green Bay plus nine. And what's gonna happen is on Sunday, we will be able to add one more pick. And hopefully I could not be the Pitts, Bills, Steelers. And, uh, and could actually, um, pour some mustard juice over my picks and go four and one or five and oh.

• 2:08:05Speaker 02

  I am oh and six on my Sunday picks thus far this season.

• 2:08:09Bill Simmons?

  On your best bets, your wise wagers?

• 2:08:11Speaker 02

  No, no, no. When we make our pick on Sunday, I haven't gotten-

• 2:08:14Bill Simmons?

  Oh, your hand in picks to make you B balls?

• 2:08:15Speaker 02

  Haven't gotten one right. Oh, and six.

• 2:08:17Bill Simmons?

  Oh, no.

• 2:08:17Speaker 02

  I had the Ravens last week. I felt pretty good about that. That number had gone from three and a half down to three. I mean, I don't want to, I will not subject America to the litany of missteps and, and mistakes. I will say I'm four and two in teases. So if you want to back me on anything, four and two on the teaser for the season.

• 2:08:33Bill Simmons?

  That was today's Ringer 107 brought to you by FanDuel. Download the app now to find all 107 picks. Make this your most rewarding season ever. FanDuel, play your game. Odds subject to change. And by the way, just throw in any of those with the UCLA money line this week.

• 2:08:48Speaker 02

  Pretty good.

• 2:08:49Bill Simmons?

  I don't know what it's up to. And I don't think it really matters. Just throw them in. House, a true pleasure as always.

• 2:08:58Speaker 02

  Always.

• 2:08:58Bill Simmons?

  I will see you next week for Ringer 107. Thanks. All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to Pellicera, thanks to House, thanks to Gahal and Eduardo and Chris and Jack as well. Don't forget, new Rewatchable Monday. Nightmare on Elm Street, live on Netflix, 2:00 PM, PT, 5:00 PM, ET. The boys and Freddy Krueger will be there waiting for you. And, uh, don't forget about the last Rewatchables we did, by the way. It follows, and I will see you on Sunday night, live on Netflix with Sal. Have a good weekend. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 plus and present in DC or Wyoming.

• 2:09:41Bill Simmons?

  Game problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MYRESSET. 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 8778HOPENY, or text HOPENY in New York for Louisiana. Call 877-770-7867. 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 Award winner Martin McDonagh.

• 2:10:24Bill Simmons?

  Writer-director of The Banshees of Inisherin and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Set in the 1970s, filmed on location on Easter Island. Malkovich and Rockwell play CIA agents Chris and Lee, who are caught in a dangerous game of secrets and survival. Also starring Steve Buscemi, another one of my guys. Parker Posey and Tom Waits. Wild Horse 9 is being hailed by critics as a revitalizing shot of pure entertainment and easily one of the best films of the year. Don't miss Wild Horse 9, only in theaters November 6th. Get tickets now. This episode is brought to you by Whole Foods Market. Fall is here and Whole Foods Market has everything you need for cozy meals, seasonal treats and easy entertaining. Elevate your hearty dishes with tasty bone-in beef short ribs

• 2:11:08Bill Simmons?

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