LIVING ON A PRAYER

[00:00:02] It would take me to notice something like that. Absolutely. Yes, you are now listening to the sounds of Sports Reports As Ordered. You've got your resident statistician on the left of the North Carolina South Park with better defense than Deontay Wilder, even on the back end, better than Washington. The same. I'm 2-5.

[00:00:30] And of course, I got with me the one and only that even killed. Born in Texas, raised in VA, representing New Jersey. And for all you nerds out there, he wants you to know that Bell Telephone Laboratories of Murray Hill, New Jersey, were the first people to prove observational evidence of the Big Bang Theory. Jersey does it all. Stand up.

[00:01:00] You're Mr. Logical. And do not, do not bring feelings to a fat fight. Mm-hmm. Like, review, subscribe, share, rate, do all the free things. Do all the good things. So, Mr. Logical. As always, I've been perusing around these channels, perusing around these social media accounts, perusing around the television.

[00:01:30] And I saw two things that stood out to me this week, you know, that involved coaches. So, the first was the one and only coach prime, Deion Sanders, being denied an extension from Colorado. The second thing is, Bill Belichick still ain't signed his contract yet? It's ironic. Yeah.

[00:01:54] It's ironic because Bill didn't like people holding out or sitting out of practice or taking a break or guys being in concussion protocol. I believe, I think it was Mike Grable told a story when, I guess you wore a red cap when you didn't want to get hit in practice. And Bill Belichick came over and was like, you're going to take that freaking cap off and play some football. So, like, he's all business, but I guess he's all money business now.

[00:02:20] Because any time someone, you announce that someone had a job two weeks ago and they haven't signed a contract, there has to be something money involved. Either, I read something that it was involved in a buyout potentially, like what that number was going to be. Yeah. Because they probably see the writing on the wall because he got his son in there to be the defensive coordinator. Yeah, he's 72. So, he's 72. His son is already coaching waiting. We already know how that works.

[00:02:47] And you still have, at this point, we're looking, we're mid-January. We still have six vacancies open in the NFL for head coaches. And we'll say one, being New Orleans, probably needs a bit of a culture revamp. I don't know if a 72-year-old guy is a guy for that. Mm-hmm. The Jets, I don't know if he would go back to the Jets because, you know, like, that's how he ended up at New England when he backed out a deal with the Jets.

[00:03:17] I don't know if they're going to forget that. I think the Raiders are cool, but the Raiders are such a young team and they got to get really young to fix their problems. I don't know if you bring in a guy at all. Jacksonville's kind of a little bit more ready-made, in my opinion. I think you got the quarterback in place. You just got to figure out how to get the best out of him. I think you have good skilled position players in place. I think you draft a well defensively. Chicago, complete disarray. I don't see him going there. And Dallas, he's a name.

[00:03:47] Jerry likes names. But with Jerry Jones, and this is something I want to give credit to Nick Wright on first things. First, he said this the other day. I think the day after we did our show, he was talking about Deion or Belichick or one of these coaches coming to Dallas. And it was like, it's just like Jerry just to have this conversation going. Because normally, Dallas is in wild card weekend. They normally are playing that game that weekend.

[00:04:15] And normally the conversation after wild card weekend is, wow, they didn't look good and they barely won or they lost. That's been the conversation the last four or five years. You know, they either look kind of iffy or, yeah, they won this weekend. But how far can they go and end up losing the following weekend? So they've been in the conversation. Nick Wright says, I'm like, having Deion in the conversation, having Belichick in the Dallas conversation, just keeps Dallas in the conversation.

[00:04:45] And we're going to talk about him for the rest of this week, do the next week of the playoffs. And then they're going to hire Kellen Moore. Which is like, honestly, makes the most sense if you're Dallas, especially if you're Jerry. He's like, yeah, I want to Jerry. He probably looks at Kellen Moore like a son or a grandson or something like that. Like, you know what? Guy's been in the building. He knows his way around. He knows facility. He knows the people here. He knows the front office.

[00:05:08] I have to admit, I would be here for Belichick and Jerry, like, you know, Jimmy Johnson part two. You know, the other thing with Belichick, though, you know, where college might fill his appetite a little bit is if he goes back to the NFL, I'm sure he's going to want some kind of player personnel power or GM, you know, role or something along those lines, because that's what he's done in the past before anyway.

[00:05:33] But so when I initially heard that he hadn't signed this contract, that was my first thought. I was like, he's fixing to go to Dallas or, you know, saying, you know, I'm about to say it. If Sean McDermott don't get to the damn Super Bowl, you don't have Belichick take over Buffalo. And, you know, but then as I, like, did some Googling, you know, because I was like, I feel like Sharon Moore didn't sign a contract.

[00:06:02] And so I went back. It was finalized during week two of the season. So the season had already started and Sharon Moore's contract still wasn't fully worked out yet. You know, so I took that off the table because I was like, baby. Some addendums on the back end. They're not deal breakers. It's probably stuff like access to a private bus or private jet or little things like that.

[00:06:30] It's probably that's why these teams have to call him because he hasn't signed the contract. So I can sign you like, you know what I mean? I don't have to pay North Carolina anything if you're not on the books. You know what I'm saying? Like North Carolina, you don't have to worry about a buyout. You just come over here and make whatever money I'm going to pay you.

[00:06:47] So and I'm sure that's part of what they're, you know, probably disconnected on is like, what's the buyout, you know, and maybe North Carolina is like, hey, why you want such a low buyout? You're trying to tell us something, you know, but Deion, though, it's kind of shocking because there's a lot of coaches that I've seen over the years get contract extensions for no good reason. So how the hell can't Deion get one?

[00:07:16] Like, I remember Charles Weiss, Charlie Weiss, he he got a contract extension after the Bush push game. Like they lost that game and they signed him to a nine year deal, like a nine year extension after that. You know what I mean? And then you got this year. Colorado.

[00:07:32] You know, I mean, I we saw the opening game photos from 2022, the home crowd photo versus the home crowd photo for 2023. In the subsequent 2024 season where they, you know, went nine and four big turnaround. His talent is gone.

[00:07:58] So if I'm Colorado, I'm like, I do want to see you with a quarterback that doesn't have your name on his back. I think that's just just doing your due diligence as I'm pretty sure Deion would want to work for an organization. I was like, you know what? I'm not going to just throw away opportunities or throw away money. You want to work for an organization that make that makes sense. Granted, it might not work in his favor initially by just him getting this extension.

[00:08:25] But honestly, I don't know who it favors for the information to come out. That's why sometimes I don't really buy into. Oh, I know the answer to that. I know the source thing. Like I said, I used a statement before. The source could be an equipment person. It could be something that they walk around the locker room and they can tell the reporter, hey, I don't think Deion's. I don't. I've heard. I overheard something about Deion not getting an extension. And that can be considered a source very close to the situation.

[00:08:54] No, I think that Deion is the one that benefits from that, you know, because at the end of the day, and this is just, you know, theoretical, it gives him an out. So if he does want to leave, it's not he turned his back on Colorado because remember he had all the drama and, you know, all the talk when he left Jackson State. There was all this talk about Deion left them holding the bag and Deion did them wrong. It was BS for the most part.

[00:09:21] But, you know, but in a situation like this, it's out there publicly, whether it's true or not, it's out there publicly that this school, after everything that I've done for them, hasn't extended me. And then, like I said, I can go back and look at coaches like Brent Venables last year, you know, six and seven his first year. They beat Texas and go 10 and two last year before the bowl. He gets extended. They go six and seven again this year. You know what I mean?

[00:09:48] But so, so, you know, so I've seen these type of coaches at a school like Oklahoma. Mike Norvell got an extension, you know, off of an undefeated season and then went two and ten or whatever. So it's like, hold on. So the only thing people knew about Colorado before I got here was weed. You know what I mean? So it's like I don't have the rock here, you know, Wu-Tang Clan, the whole clan. You can't never get the clan together.

[00:10:18] I went to a concert and it wasn't even half the clan. You know what I mean? And then you then you. Hey, meth, I'm just playing. So, you know, but then but then they turned around and, you know, you got Warren Sapp on your staff, you know. And when you look at Dallas. You know, Dallas defensive coordinator was this year, right? Why am I trying to blame? Good old Mike Zimmer.

[00:10:47] Who left Colorado to go to Dallas. But he only got a one year deal. So I don't know if he's going to be the defensive coordinator. If Deion comes in once, he will be. But yeah, like, you know what I mean? And because I saw the weird story about him talking about, you know, he was willing to help the Bengals find their defensive coordinator. And like, you know, but I think it's a lot. It's a lot in Dallas. And like I said, we talked about that Jerry Jones clip on on Landman.

[00:11:16] He talked about, you know, being able to work with his family. And I think like for a moment, I listen to like, you know what? Because I've given him a lot of grief for having all the people named Jones in the office. But understanding like, hey, as a father, like I said, I'm on dad duty. Matter of fact, shout out to everybody who participated in my daughter's Girl Scout cookie. She hit her. You know, shout out to, you know, my boy's.

[00:11:42] For that, brothers and I mean, shout out to James and all my family. Alicia, Sean. Shout out to 2-5. 2-5. I think we sold like 70 boxes in a day. So if y'all want to keep buying boxes, we'll put the link in the description. Trying to get up over 200 so she can get all the badges. She's really excited. So once again, thank you all for your participation. Like I said, on dad duty, Deion wants to coach with his son. Jerry understands that.

[00:12:11] But in the same sense, like you can't have an entire organization where everyone's kind of hinges on like this family unit. And I get it. A lot of family businesses are successful. But eventually, you're going to need outside voices. You're not going to be able to move back. So you can't get Deion because Deion wants to coach his son. So you ready for the 2-5 moment? Let's hear it. By son, could that apply to Travis?

[00:12:42] Because I was thinking that if Jacksonville takes Travis Hunter, the state of Florida, Deion's home, or at least where he's from, with the college there and everything. You know, so you got, I don't know what his family status is, but, you know, I assume he's still got some family down there. You already, like you said earlier, you got the quarterback already. Got the quarterback. You know what I'm saying? Man, you just got to get everything else in place. And Travis will help with that process.

[00:13:12] Just saying. I ain't saying, but I'm saying. I'm not saying that it could happen. I just think it's a good idea. I think if he could pick, he would pick the Raiders because I think the Raiders could get Shador. You know, they got to do some movement. I think the Raiders could get Shador, and I think in the fourth or fifth round, they can get Shiloh. Because I don't know if he's rated that high as a safety. Is Shiloh going to be on Bronny watch?

[00:13:40] Like, are we going to be sitting there like, he better not go in the second round? I don't think anyone has a high of a grade on him, but I think Deion does. And the Raiders could, let's say hypothetically, they move Max Crosby. And they get a couple extra picks in the second, third round, fourth round. They hire Deion. They get Shador in the first. They get Shiloh in the fourth or the fifth.

[00:14:09] I see that being more likely, and it fits the whole prime time because it's Vegas. It's literally the center of Vegas. So, like, I can see that being a move of all the coaching moves. I think that's the only one where it could happen because I don't think New Orleans – because I don't know if New Orleans is high enough to get Shador in the first round.

[00:14:38] No, they're like seven or eight. I mean, I don't see the Jets doing it just because you've got the Aaron Rodgers situation. But the Jets need what's after Aaron Rodgers. Because they got Jordan Travis. So, real quick, Tennessee's one, Cleveland's two, Giants three, Pats are four, Jacksonville five, Raiders are six, Jets are seven, Carolina, New Orleans, and Chicago.

[00:15:07] That's your top ten. So, who's three again? Three is Giants. Giants, Giants, Giants. They kept day ball. Kept day ball. Do they want – do they want to trade for McCarthy and get the best player available? And maybe the Raiders could make that call for six or three? Oh, you're talking about J.J. McCarthy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so you make – You think that's on the table? Like, you think Minnesota really going to do that? I don't know.

[00:15:36] It depends on who you call. It depends on, you know, who you call. But like I said, I – I mean, you're still getting a cheap rookie quarterback. But that – you would have – you would need a lot of dominoes to fall in order to get Deion. But like I said, just from my basic knowledge as a GM from watching football, if a guy says,

[00:15:58] I want to coach my sons, the only teams of the six remaining vacant slots that can really fulfill that, to me, in my opinion, the Raiders. Can I ask you a serious question? Yes, hear it. Do the Bears have any idea of who their next head coach is going to be? I think the Bears head coach is on one of these eight – one of these staffs that he's found on eight teams. I think they're looking at one of these guys. Oh, speaks to me Spagnuolo.

[00:16:27] It's going to be the – they're going to get the wrong guy. Oh, okay. Oh, what I – like, just because to me – They're going to get the wrong guy. Whoever – Oh, I see what you did. I see what you're doing. Who? You're taking shots at Todd Munkin, aren't you? Yeah, I'm just – I just think they're going to get the guy that – they're going to get the fourth guy. Okay, okay.

[00:16:57] And it's going to be something that they do. It's going to be – it's going to be a request they won't acquiesce. It will be maybe a number of years on the deal. It's going to be something that the Bears can be – listen, I don't know what coaches' contracts are on the NFL now because, like, the latest ones have been such splash deals, like $18, $14, $15 million for some of these guys. So I figure a new coach will go blanket $10 million. No, we'll go $5 million.

[00:17:26] We'll go $5 million a year. Say that's the number. The number could be, hey, you want Ben Johnson? Listen, it's going to be $5 years, $28 million. Oh, he gives you more than that. But I'm just saying – I'm just using this example. It's going to be $5 years, $28 million again. That's what the agent's going to tell the Bears. The Bears are going to come back like, listen, we'll go $4 years, $22 million. It's like, what's the difference?

[00:17:56] Right. Just go to $5 years, $28 million. Yeah, if it don't work, you're going to fire them either way and, you know, all that. So that's what I think the Bears are going to do. It's going to be, my guy wants $5 years, $28 million. They're going to come back with $4 years, $22 million. They'll say $5 years, $28 million, and he wants final say on the first three round draft picks. Just the first three. I want to be able to get final say on those first three. You guys – we can confer on the remaining.

[00:18:25] But, like, the first three, because I'm trying to build a vision here. I get final say on the first three picks or the first three rounds. We can discuss on the back end. Right. Now, Ryan Poles makes the decisions on draft picks. Cool. Boop. Mm-hmm. And I'm telling you, that's how they're going to end up with the fourth guy. Yeah. Because they're going to do some shit like that where instead of just being like, you know what? We'll ask you this request. Boom. We'll give you $5 years, $28 million. We'll give you final say.

[00:18:56] And, you know, your daughter can use the facility to make TikToks. Whatever. Whatever the fuck it is. Whatever it is. Like, we'll give you these concessions. The Bears won't do it. And they're going to end up with someone who is probably a year or two premature to be a head coach. But one of those teams – one of these teams is going to put up 41 points in the playoff game. And they're going to be like, that's our guy. Yeah. And, you know what I'm saying?

[00:19:26] Hopefully, y'all out there checking out the One Mike podcast. You know what I'm saying? Mondays and Thursdays. Get your gyms. Get your black on black news. You know, go over there. Subscribe and all that good stuff. So, Mr. Logical, is Detroit going to be the new Philadelphia where we're going to come look in September and they're going to have new coordinators on both sides of the ball? Because for some reason, I don't feel like Aaron Glenn's going to leave. I don't think Aaron Glenn's going to leave.

[00:19:58] Unless it's the Jets, I guess. He made it known that that's his first pick. Let me get my Shannon Sharp on. My mom used to always tell me growing up, baby, pick up people's good habits, not their bad habits. Kansas City has had years, even with the B&B years, where they had essentially head coaches as coordinators on their staff. They're able to keep Matt Nagy.

[00:20:25] Yeah, I know he had his run as a Chicago coach, and I'm pretty sure he could have, if he would have interviewed for the Jacksonville job after Urban Meyer got fired, I think he could have done a good job down in Jacksonville. Just as good as Doug Peterson. I think Spags could have done a good job as Chicago's head coach if he would have left a couple years ago after the Super Bowl victories. But they kept him in-house. You pay him a little more. Keep him in-house because that's your continuity. That's how you get – because you're going to turn over your players.

[00:20:53] 35% of your players are going to be brand new next year. So that means at a minimum probably a 30-year defense, 30-year special teams, and a 30-year offense if you divide that ratio up. So you need someone that's been there for the long haul. Matt Nagy, Spags, been there. Everything's locked in. You bring in new players. He can teach them exactly what the scheme is.

[00:21:22] Spags versus with Detroit. They're probably going to lose at least one coordinator if you lose both. And they're going to lose players too, especially if they go as far as I predicted them to go being in the Super Bowl. Guys are going to want money. We saw the same thing happen with San Francisco. Win or lose. Guys are going to want to get paid. Guys are going to want to adjust contracts. Guys are going to be due money. You know, you got Sam Laporta. You got Aiden Hutchinson. These guys are going to be due money soon.

[00:21:48] Guys coming off – a lot of guys coming off of injuries that were, you know, viable players. So it's going to be a lot of people who want money you can't keep. You got to keep something because what's going to happen? You're going to lose coordinator, coordinator, and you're going to lose two or three of the glue guys on your defense and two or three glue guys on offense.

[00:22:09] And you're going to be starting from scratch come March with a new coordinator, probably a first-time coordinator, or someone who's going to be completely opposite of like – Ben Johnson seems to be a little bit more innovative. And it could be the athletes that they have or just the ideas that he comes up with. But I don't know if you're going to get another coordinator like that for sure in March. So I would just say try to keep one. If you can keep both, I would.

[00:22:38] But like I said, as I predicted them going to the Super Bowl, I can see a lot of people wanting – a lot of people reaching in and trying to pull talent out of the organization. And a lot of people with the organization reaching out to the upper manager trying to pull, you know, a little bit of money for their pockets. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, of course, you know, that's the coach talk. But we got some playoffs to get to. Tomorrow, we got it going on.

[00:23:08] You know, we're going to do these games in order as they appear. So, Mr. Logical. Let's go. You know what I did preseason? You picked who to win what? I believe the quote was, In the divisional round, the Houston Texans are going to put the three-peat to sleep.

[00:23:37] Oh, because the Chargers kind of crumble. You could bring that back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Even though I picked the Chargers to win that game. I was thinking about that on the pick six. I was thinking about like, you know what? Mike about to get his wish. You know what I mean? But no, but seriously, though, like that was what I said at the beginning of the year because, you know, the Texans had a little bit of hype. Some people, you know, somewhere, according to Jay Lethal,

[00:24:05] picked the Texans to go to the Super Bowl. I didn't hear it one time. All I said was – I heard it from a few – I didn't hear it. All I said was, you know, the Texans are going to go into Arrowhead and they're going to win the playoff game and then they're going to lose in the AFC Championship game to the Baltimore Ravens. So we'll see what happens there. But anyway, you know what I'm saying? So as I look at this game, it's the logical. The Chiefs are favored by eight and a half. That's a lot.

[00:24:35] It is a lot. They haven't won that. All of the reason that my prediction is going to come true. And then – Oops, spoiler alert. My bad. And then you got 41 and a half. You know, you had a lethal bet. 41 and a half as you're over under. So these two teams just played a few weeks ago. And, you know, the Texans were on Patrick Mahomes' ass. You know, he didn't have very much time to throw.

[00:25:02] It was a one-score game and then the thing happened where Tank Dell decided that his knee was going to detonate. So – And then from there – He didn't miss the 2025 season. Yeah, that's what they said. It was bad. So, yeah, he's going to be right next to Deshaun. You know, hopefully not – never mind. So anyway, the Texans are 0-5 all time in the divisional round.

[00:25:29] And you know that includes that 24-0 first half lead that they gave up to the Kansas City Chiefs. And as they look on the other side of the field, they're going to see DeAndre Hopkins. But if we see DeAndre Hopkins, that means DeAndre Hopkins sees Derek Stingley Jr. That's part of how the Texans win this game.

[00:25:53] Now, Patrick Mahomes, to his credit, has never thrown an interception in a divisional round game. His stats are stupid. Here's another stupid one. If he wins this game tomorrow, he ties Joe Montana for second all time in playoff wins. Only behind the GOAT, Tom Brady. Only behind the GOAT. Still like 16 or 17 behind him. But, you know, that's a whole other story. Tom Brady has more playoff wins than like – Franchises. 70% of the –

[00:26:23] Probably more than – damn sure. Yeah. He probably has 10 times the playoff wins that the Detroit Lions has. I think he's at 35 wins. Yeah, he might be. I got to look it up. But anyway, the Chiefs in this game when they played a few weeks ago, 28 rushes, 124 yards. So the Texans are going to have to clean that up if they're going to win this game because you need to force Mahomes to beat you this year. Remember earlier this year he had the interception problem. He cleared it up at the end of the season.

[00:26:51] But another concern that I have, Mr. Logical, when the playoffs start, there's a team that's fortunate enough to get a bye. But when you get a bye and you didn't play week 18, I don't care how much film you watch. There's got to be a little rust, especially considering that Patrick Mahomes just had a baby. True.

[00:27:13] I mean, I go back to this conversation that Urban Meyer had when they Florida played Ohio State back in 2006, 2007. Yeah, it was the 2006, 2007 title, yeah. Yeah, so what he said, he was like, every week we practiced like we had a game on Saturday. So Andy Reid, room full of veterans, veteran leadership. I imagine a lot of guys just got healthy.

[00:27:42] They didn't forget how to play Kansas City Chiefs football. You had a couple of running backs come off an injury. You had Hollywood Brown coming back from injury. So I think it's going to be something like 22 days from the last time they played a game, 22 or 24 days. Some crazy number like that because I think they played on Christmas. They locked everything up, right, that week. So, and then they're going to be playing this weekend.

[00:28:11] So it's like three weeks of not playing football. It could be tough, but a lot of these guys don't play preseason. They come out looking just fine in week one. And it goes six or seven months between March and September without playing real football. And guys ramp it back up for the season. So I imagine just having three weeks, having the Super Bowl, you know, your back-to-back chance, having the leadership that you have, I think they'll be ready to go. Because they're not like a rhythm team. They're a smash-mouth football team.

[00:28:41] So if you're running downhill, you get your offensive lineman engaged like that. You get your running back and your running game engaged like that. It's just, it's smash-mouth. Even defensively, they play big guys up front, constantly starting a lot of blitzes. So it's like guys are going to be able to get right back into it. There's going to be a lot of just early contact. You know Houston's going to run the ball. They have big rivals. There's going to be a lot of just off the bat, just come out. It won't be a lot of finesse stuff.

[00:29:09] It's not like they're going to come three and I'll go five wide. It's going to be smash-mouth football, three tight ends, one running back, 13 personnel. I was like, let's go establish. He's just trying to suck up with a check-out now, huh? Shout-out to Violet in Jersey. But I can see him getting, you know, like I said, he's coming off an injury. He runs aggressive. Kareem Hunt, I just think that he'll get about, I'll get him about 17 to 20 touches

[00:29:38] between screens and just handoffs. Yeah, I got him at like 30 yards, Desmond Ritter style. Wow. But, you know, as I was thinking about this, right, here's my corny cliche of the week. All right. So, the Houston Texans, 49 sacks this season. So, obviously, needless to say, they got to get to Mahomes because I know that he can improvise, but they got a Will Anderson and a Daniil Hunter.

[00:30:05] So, what I'm going to say is, the back of his jersey may say Mahomes, but the front of his jersey is going to say Anderson. Now I'm going to read all these draw plays. No, he'll neutralize like power. He's going to try to get Kelsey involved. But Kelsey's routes are short. I know. But, yeah. Kelsey steps up during the playoffs.

[00:30:32] I think he has the opportunity to pass Jerry Rice for all-time receiving yards. I believe so, yeah. Which is crazy. Like, no one passes Jerry Rice records. No one. It just doesn't happen. The thing that I don't like about the Texans, though, you know, of course, they cut Deontay Johnson. So, I just want to know, how bad was he that you're down Stephon Diggs and Tank Dell? And you were like, no, I don't need you. You know, like, come on. I don't know.

[00:30:59] His resolve is just, I mean, it's beyond. He went from Pittsburgh last year, Carolina, Baltimore, Houston, back to Baltimore. Yeah, but he's not going to play for the Ravens. Yeah. Well, they can. I don't think they can. You know. It's like you just used me to use me as trade bait in the offseason. Like, I wouldn't even let me pick my own team. Yeah. Yeah. Coach Prama will pick him up.

[00:31:27] He likes speed. You know what I'm saying? But, yeah. So, what I don't like, I don't like that about the Texans. I don't like that they're going to have to lean on Dalton Schultz, which they haven't done all year. So, that's one of those things where it comes back to bite you because you can't just figure it out in the playoffs. You have to build habits, have a game plan that works and accentuates your skills. They don't in that area. But I'm going to go with my preseason pick.

[00:31:54] I'm going to go with defense, defense, defense. And I'm going to piss Mistological off because he's going to be like, you really think they're going to hold Kansas City to 20 to 16 Texans? 20 to 16 Texans. I'm going to disagree with that. You talked about Daniil Hunter and Will Anderson. Will Anderson.

[00:32:24] I got Chris Jones, Mike Pinnell. And we talked about Houston's interior blocking. It was like one of the worst in the league. And Chris Jones is probably one of the best interior defensive tackles in the league. Yeah, give me Kansas City. The thing is, they haven't really been putting teams away. So, this eight and a half is tough. Right.

[00:32:54] But 24-14, I think is doable. Because I just find, I just feel that I think Kansas City is going to try to control the line of scrimmage with the run game. And we know, I know Tom Brady used to say this, hey, my favorite receiver is the open one.

[00:33:23] My home's getting the ball to tight ends in the flat, keeping drives going at home. Loudest stadium in the league. My money's on Kansas City. So, 24-14, 24-17 is probably more realistic. So, I'll go 24-17, Chiefs Houston covers. But it's going to be a struggle. It's going to be a struggle. I think it's going to be a struggle for Houston.

[00:33:50] Because I just believe, you know, I think they're going to be in a lot of long third and eight, third and nines. A lot of passing downs. Just because I think they're going to dare them to pass the ball. Okay. All right. So, then, you know, at 8 o'clock Eastern tomorrow night, we got Operation. Houston, Phil Mufasa, the Commanders, going into Ford Field.

[00:34:18] Fresh off a win down at the old pirate ship last week. Detroit coming off the rest. Mr. Logical, as I tell you the spread, I want you to think about what percentage of a chance do you – would you give Washington to win this game? So, the line is – I think it's the spread. No, no, no. Okay, go for it. Go for it. Detroit, seven and a half.

[00:34:47] Detroit, nine and a half. Over, under, over, under 53 and a half. So, what percentage chance would you give Washington to win this game? 37. Oh, that's pretty high. I mean, I just – because it's – the way the football is shaped, the bounce is funny. It's just – that's just the way the game works.

[00:35:13] I just think that – I think Detroit, we have seen Jerry Goff throw five picks for no reason. We have seen them go fourth and three from the 50-yard line, you know, a handful of times throughout the year. We remember the last playoffs. We understand Dan Campbell is, you know, the gunslinger. Like I said, the ball just could just bounce funny. You're down Montgomery, so you're just – you got Gibbs, who's dynamic.

[00:35:42] But, you know, sometimes when you have a guy that dynamic, you might try to force it to him. Maybe a screen. Maybe a ball gets tipped in the air. You might not have to if David Montgomery's back. Well, he's been – like, okay, we talked about Russ. Like, you got a guy coming off an injury who was shut down for the, you know, for the last part of the season. So, if they get him back, I'm pretty sure, like, they will use him. Oh, no, he's playing. 5'10", 235, or something like that.

[00:36:12] 5'11", 235, yeah. That's a useful weapon to have. But he's going to be on the pitch count no matter what. Like, so the likelihood of him getting 15 to 18 touches and really breaking one unlikely. So, more likely Gibbs is going to be your guy or Jameson Williams is going to be your guy. So, you have a lot of weapons. I just think the injuries that they had on defense, shuffling guys around.

[00:36:39] Jayden Daniels just – he's playing the game at a level where it's like – he's playing the game like he's seen it before. You know, like that third down against Tampa Bay where he scrambled and looked like, oh, my God, he's not going to make it. He just kind of dips his head, couple more steps, lunges forward. Now it's a six-yard game. Right. And his first down. And, you know, then the kicker – oh, my God. The kicker for Washington, when he was coming off to the field, he was stressing me out.

[00:37:07] When he kept taking his helmet off and adjusting his hair, I'm like, dog, you don't – it's cut. You cut your hair this week. Like, I don't know if he forgot. He just – yo, he was stressing me out. And then when he doinked it, I was like, yeah, he was stressed. Because I think if it was like a 55-yard field goal, he would have been like, you know what? I'm not supposed to make a 55-yarder in this person's situation. But it was like a 27-yard field goal.

[00:37:36] He was like – he kept taking the helmet off. He was stressing me out. But, like I said, I think the team really buys into what Jaden's doing. Exits and nose-wise, we know the defensive backfield or, you know, defensive backfield for Washington isn't the greatest. Lattimore was getting cooked like rice last week. He was frustrated. Look, he had tears in his eyes coming to the sideline. But that could just be –

[00:38:05] Yeah, he looked like Marshawn Chicken Moore out there. Yeah, so, I mean, I don't know if he's going to follow Amorat St. Brown or if it's going to be a different scheme. You know, Dan Quinn being a good defensive coach. I mean, he got Atlanta to the Super Bowl. He turned around Dallas' defense. He was part of the Legion of Boom. So, I think he can make adjustments on the fly. I just think the weapons for Detroit keeps my Super Bowl prediction intact of Kansas City-Detroit. I got to see how they play this week.

[00:38:34] Like, if they stay away from the trick plays and reporting all these guys as eligible and trying to do these hook and ladders, if they just keep it like, yeah, let's just take our advantages. Our advantage is that Amorat St. Brown and Jared Goff is like a 90% completion rate, 95%, something crazy like that. So, third and seven, we don't need to go over the top of the fleet flicker. Just run this drag around with Amorat St. Brown, get it from Jared Goff's hands and him, and keep the ball moving.

[00:39:03] I can't believe you would say such a thing after what Washington did to Atlanta. Really? We call a timeout that game's over. I could have coached that from my couch. Matter of fact, I did a better job coaching it from my couch. You call a timeout there. Got another timeout. You get 12 more yards, and the dude you hired off the street can make a 45-yard field goal. He couldn't make it from 55. But I think what's even crazier than that is I think I'm picking Mufasa, too.

[00:39:33] You see, I'm not wearing a Commander's jersey right now. I'm wearing a hockey jersey because I ain't want no smoke. No, but so this game, I said it last week or Tuesday. I said it Tuesday night. This game is going to be close. Yeah, he's going to play, Mike. I saw that he's going to play. This game is going to be close. If Detroit goes on to win the Super Bowl, it's going to be because of this game. Because they're going to come off the bye. They're going to come in. They are going to run trick plays.

[00:40:02] They are going to go for it on fourth down because that's what the Lions do. And they're going to meet resistance. And they're going to learn that they can't be complacent. So Washington's going to play well. I think that we're done. You know, we saw a road playoff game last week. So we don't have to do is this going to be too big of a moment for Jaden Daniels, especially with everything he's done this season. Because, like, you know, we were talking about the Minnesota Vikings a couple years ago.

[00:40:32] You know, oh, they went this record in the one score games. Well, you know what? Like, Washington, the only game of their losses that they lost by double digits was their week one loss. So every other game they've been in. So they're not going to be afraid of Detroit. They got a head coach that took a team to the Super Bowl. So I think Washington will be motivated. I think Washington will play.

[00:40:58] But there's one name that you said, and my antennas went up. It's Jamison Williams. He's going to be the killer over the top because our secondary sucks. But theirs does, too. Mike Sanistril, the rookie, is probably our best corner. Problem is, he's got to be out there. You know what I'm saying? You could bring Jamison inside. Have some slot action.

[00:41:27] As Mr. Logical would say, you got to hit him on a dig. You got to get him on a post. You know what I mean? So guys that fast? Yes, it's over. You clear out the zone and you hope that Jared Goff can just get the ball up and over. Let him run under it. Nine catches, 132 yards, and two touchdowns. That's what you're predicting for him? That's what he's getting tomorrow. Washington has a problem on offense as well.

[00:41:58] If you're playing a team like Detroit, the one thing that is imperative is that you have to run the ball. Keep that clock running. Keep that offense off the field. Remember there was a playoff game, the Jaguars against the Patriots. Jaguars scored 24 points. They held the ball. But the Patriots was scoring in like 30 seconds. So that's the problem that Washington might run into here.

[00:42:24] You can't score too quick because they're going to come right back with the firepower. So I'm going to give Washington the cover here. And I'm going to call it 34 to 30 Detroit. Oh, you got him getting 30 points still. Yeah, I still got him getting 30. I say 20. Still no Aiden Hutchinson, you know. They don't really punt. Maybe it's field goals. Might not even see a punt in this game. I don't think we'll see a lot. What's the over?

[00:42:54] Over under 53 and a half? Yeah. I'm going to take the under. Okay. I'm going to go 30, 20. Okay. Detroit. Okay. All right. That's a good over. That's a good bet to bet to under there. Things that make you go. Hmm. So then, you know, saying you go up I-95 from my hometown and you run into this shithole called Philadelphia.

[00:43:22] So you got the Eagles. Philly fans, we love y'all too. You got the Eagles. Jared Verst, don't. He already got getting them started. Don't. Just don't. That's a rookie. You know what I mean? But the game is in Philly. The game is in snow. And for those of you that don't know and were wondering, Matthew Stafford just happens to be 1-8 in the snow. He happens to have a 54.6 completion percentage.

[00:43:50] He happens to have 11 interceptions in those nine games. Last time these two teams played, Saquon ran for 255. Obviously, I don't think he's going to do that again. The Rams defense has been playing better. Yeah, but on the snow, those jump cuts. Because Philly. Well, he jumps backwards when you're in the game. In this weather right now. Yeah. Because right now, this week in this region, it's been cold.

[00:44:18] So Philly's been practicing in this cold weather all week. They know the turf. They know what kind of cleats to have. They know what he likes. Because a lot of his runs, especially in that game in L.A., it just was like he hit the hole, one cut, and the safety just was out of position. You get out of position in the snow. Granted, the temperature is supposed to be 33 and snow.

[00:44:48] You got the Delaware River right there. So it's going to be cold. Like, literally, the stadium's right off of, you know, just pretty much right over the bridge from Jersey. So it's going to be cold. If it's windy, that just limits Stafford so much. Because Jalen Hurts, he could throw the ball 22 times and be good Deacon and Duncan. He can go 13 or 14 for 22, and Philly can still be effective offensively.

[00:45:15] Stafford has to go 35 passes, 36 passes, and then the snow and the cold. And not turn it over. And not turn it over. So that's going to be tough. We know Philly secondary. You know, you got the exciting whites and Blankenship and Cooper DeGene. We had Quinion Mitchell, probably like one of your best rookies. And like, so you have two rookies in your secondary. Both are dynamic.

[00:45:41] Once it goes back there, returns punts, plays a slot. I mean, the chase down on like fourth and one of Jamar Chase is just like, that's the kind of stuff that Cooper can do. So as long as the battle between Cooper DeGene and Cooper Cup, if DeGene wins that, then it's going to be a long day for L.A. Because I know Keir Williams can run it, but Philly's defense is like number one against the run. Number one defense overall as far as yards giving up.

[00:46:10] And then, like I said, it's going to be a lot of times where you think you get single coverage or you want to go with it, and Stafford's going to check to that. But in the snow, you don't know if Cooper Cup's going to be able to get off the line in the snow. You don't know if his cleats are going to be ready for the weather, for the slickness of the field. Well, see, like, and that's the thing, right?

[00:46:31] Like, I think this is a game that Philadelphia should feel good about because you don't have to ask Jalen Hurts to go out there and have the game of his life or, you know, to play outside of his means, if you will. So that's a good thing. They get to run the ball. Obviously, the Rams are going to be alert. And they also, yeah, I was about to bring that up. Mike, you keep taking all my stuff.

[00:46:58] The Rams had nine sacks against Minnesota. I almost called them Carolina because that's how bad Sam Darnold played. But that's going to be a big loss. N'Kobe Dean's going to be a big loss. So there's going to be lanes for, you know, for Kyron Williams to get through as well. The problem is. They have to get to the defensive line first. That's the problem. The problem is you've got to get those guys that just eat blocks like cheesesteaks. You've got to get through them first.

[00:47:28] The problem is that you're going to have to hold Saquon to a ridiculously bad game. Like, you know, you're going to have to hold Saquon to 20 rushes for 44 yards or something like that. You're going to have to literally shut down. No, no, I'm being serious because – Like 77 yards is holding them. You know, because that's the thing.

[00:47:56] You know, they're going to be able to just sit back and, you know, get into third and twos and things like that. And Jalen Hurts can finish you off versus having to rely on Saquon. I can see Philly running like six quarterback – like six design quarterback draws. First and ten.

[00:48:14] Five guys out and just running a quarterback draw, getting six yards sliding and just keeping – I think what Philly can do offensively can keep the Rams defense on their toes and have them thinking versus playing. Whereas with the Eagles, defensively, I think it's going to be assignment-based. Do your job because this is what they're going to give us.

[00:48:43] Stafford isn't going to give you anything that you haven't ever seen before. They won't call a single quarterback draw. He's going to go – anytime it looks like it's going to be single coverage, he's going to take that shot. He's going to try to get the sidearm passes off. He's going to try to get you off balance with the cadence. You already know what you're going to get.

[00:49:02] With Jalen Hurts, like I said, he could throw 22 passes, six quarterback draws, and then some scrambles, and then you get the ball to Saquon 24, 25 times. Gainwell pops. Get you a break. Especially if it's snow on the field, I'm going with the team that runs the ball with three people versus the one guy that really is the runner that carries a load for the Rams. Yeah, and depending on that weather, you know what I mean?

[00:49:30] Like I want to see the receivers running their routes. I want to see Philly's offensive line trying to keep up with Jarrett Verse, Braden Fisk, you know, so on and so forth because the Rams are going to get pressure. They have the potential, especially in the weather, to get strip sacks as well. You know, so I think this game is – I think it's a swing game. I don't know if it's such a big Philadelphia win. I do think Philadelphia does win. They're favored by six and a half.

[00:49:59] Over under is 43 and a half. This is crazy for the playoffs. I get that it's a divisional round. That's three games of nearly – basically a touchdown. Or over, yeah. So I am going to go with Philly, and I'm going to call this game 20-17. Oh, you got it close. Yeah, I got it close. The way Philly runs the ball, like I said, in the snow, these guys were out of position in a dry field at SoFi.

[00:50:28] And that's part of why I'm giving them benefit of the doubt, you know, because – I got a big game from Saquon. I got the Sean McCoy game he had in the snow back in Philly. I'm thinking something like that. I'm thinking a shifty guy, great balance, great power. I just feel like he's going to have a big game. I think Gainwell is going to have, like, a big game for his limited touches.

[00:50:53] I just feel that the offensive line where every single guy got all pro votes, I think they handle – I know Jarrett Verse and the Rams defense is much improved, but I think it's going to be a few drives towards the first quarter. Thank you very much. First quarter, second quarter, where it's three and out or four and out for the Rams because they're throwing the ball.

[00:51:23] Yeah. And they're not effectively running the ball, whereas I think – like I said, I think third and sixth, you can call a quarterback draw and confidently believe he's going to pick it up, especially in the snow. Like, you know, like that's – I think that's the edge. This cold weather, being able to run the ball with a dynamic offensive line, it's like that's what you want in a football game. I mean, if you're the football coach of a team that's like, look, I have the best running back in the game.

[00:51:49] I have one of the bigger mobile quarterbacks. Because Jalen Hurts isn't like a Kyler Murray where he's small and has to run. He's a bigger, stronger – you know, he's like pound for pound one of the stronger guys on his team from high school through college and to the NFL. So if I have that on top of the fact that I have – I mean, if you got A.J. Brown, Dallas Goddard, you just have bigger targets. I just like that.

[00:52:14] Coupled with home field advantage, the weather, and the fact that this team is from Southern California. They haven't – they don't play cold weather games in Cali, whereas you've been practicing this weather all week. I don't know when the Rams – I don't know if they're on the East Coast yet or if they stayed in Arizona to practice. But if they're not here – because even today, today was 45 and I was considered warm. The rest of this weekend is supposed to be like, you know, very cold and very windy in this region.

[00:52:41] Yeah, we're supposed to get – allegedly, we're supposed to get snow on Tuesday. So it's America. It's not Tuesday weather because Tuesday and Wednesday here, granted, has nothing to do with football. It's supposed to be 18 and 19, back-to-back days. That's nuts. You know, and Devontae Smith is six yards away from becoming the Philadelphia Eagles all-time playoff receiver leader. Yeah.

[00:53:08] Get him a quick touch pass to start the game and let him put the pressure on the defense. Yeah, and then we get to the main event where I learned a very crazy geography lesson this week. You know, like I was looking at Greenland and Iceland on the map just to figure out where our new state is. And then I was like, I never knew Buffalo was in Mississippi.

[00:53:34] Buffalo Bill fans, you ought to be ashamed of your damn self for all the shit y'all was posting on Twitter yesterday. Just despicable, disgusting little people. And I hope that each of you this weekend that go through a table really go through the table and go through the ground too. Now, with that being said, look, it's link effect season. Those are my favorite two words in football over the last couple of years.

[00:54:01] And you dastardly Buffalo Bill fans, your team has the ability this weekend to do something stupid that hasn't been done before. They could become the first team in NFL history that were a two seed three years in a row that didn't make the conference title game. So keep that in the back of your mind because you don't match up with Baltimore at all. You just don't.

[00:54:29] We saw this a couple of weeks ago, 35 to 10 in my hometown. Now, the good news for you to take away from a 35 to 10 loss is that Aaron Johnson, Matt Milano and Bernard didn't play. Terrell Bernard didn't play. So you got that going for you. You know, our big defensive guns weren't present that night. But Derrick Henry was. He ran for 199 yards that night.

[00:54:57] Now, do I think that Josh Allen is going to lay a dud? I don't. Not at home. And Mr. Logical, you know what's crazy about this? It's here. All right. I thought I was going to forget to say this, but it just clicked when I said that. So the over under in this game, 51 and a half. The line is Ravens by one.

[00:55:24] And the reason that that stands out to me is because the Ravens should be favored. They kick their ass like I just said. Correct. But this is the first time Buffalo has been our home underdog in the playoffs since 1967. Don't think that the Bills ain't heard that all week. Yeah, but they also remember that 35 to 10. Because it was Derrick Henry's first handoff.

[00:55:52] And he was running away from defensive backs. 70 yards down the field. It was like he should be tired. And it's like, no. He extended his lead on defensive backs after he hit the hole.

[00:56:07] So this, I think this is the kind of game, and I've talked about this before, where it's like, I think fans like the guy who had the career where it was like, he had a great career, but he ran up against Kobe. He ran up against Jordan. He had to battle with Dwyane Wade. He had to battle with this Boston team or this Detroit team.

[00:56:36] And football was like, oh, man, just something about New England and the AFC East. No one could get over the hump. Josh Allen's about to have that caveat on his career if he loses this weekend. Because it's like, you like him. He's a likable guy. He plays very well. It's very fun to watch. His teammates love him. You can tell he loves his team.

[00:57:04] I saw a clip earlier today before we recorded of the postgame interview after the Mar Hamlin game where they took the opening kickoff back. And he's wearing a hat that said three, and he had tears in his eyes. And he's like, someone just told him that it's been three years and three months that they had like a kickoff return for a touchdown. So you can see that he really cares about his team.

[00:57:28] It's just that I think in this moment he might have to do too much. And when you have to do too much, that's when mistakes happen. And it's going to be mistakes that happen in any game where you're just throwing the ball 40 times. Some of them are going to get tipped. The wind's throwing around. Maybe if there's if it's active snow and snow's flying in guys' faces and you're trying to throw because you're going to have to throw the ball. You can't just run it.

[00:57:56] You can't just keep running it with him because he can't keep taking hits. So I think it's going to be one of those games where either he's going to be lifestyle spectacular and you're going to win like the six touchdown game you had against the Rams. Or it's going to be one of those like, oh, Josh Allen did it again. You know, he had such a great season. But this this happened or another guy gets the ball and they fumble because of snow. You know, just little stuff like that.

[00:58:21] Well, I think that, you know, see Mike in the comments, you know, saying still saying my stuff, you know, flowers is doubtful, you know, so that's going to be a weapon. Baltimore's down. They were down that last week, but they were playing against the Steelers. Needless to say, this is a level up in competition, even though I do think it's a good matchup for the Ravens. Now, you know, this type of game.

[00:58:48] Mr. Logical was talking about Josh Allen taking all these hits. We forgetting now that he got a James Cook back there. And I don't know if you remember Sunday night football, but I still remember him running all over the 49ers and that snow. And I can't get that out of my head. You know, Baltimore's defense has been great over the last couple of weeks, but that secondary can still be tested. And now you're going into the rocket launcher.

[00:59:15] So, you know, you ain't got my whole take, Mike, because watch this. Because as much as I despise the shit floating around Orchard Park, Josh Allen is going to walk over to Lamar Jackson, sit on the ground and say, you can have your fucking MVP. And the Bills are going to win this game 27 to 24.

[00:59:45] And yes, Tucker's going to miss a big field goal. You know what I'm saying? Because remember what I said the other day, right? No opposing kicker has hit a 50-yard field goal in Orchard Park in playoff history. I think Buffalo getting those pieces back on defense is going to help a lot. I think that part of this, and I hate to say it, it's just me not trusting Lamar at this stage.

[01:00:15] You know, like I can't get that Kansas City game out of my head. Now, granted, that was the AFC Championship game, but I can't get that out of my head. Like all of his playoff losses, I don't know if you can call them shockers, but it's just something odd about his play. It's like, I don't know what the numbers are, but I remember seeing these stats, you know, throughout the years, you know, as I'm watching like different podcasts, different shows.

[01:00:44] Something like his passing is around like 150, 175 yards in those losses. It's just, it's just, it's very unlike Lamar. Like it's not like he had 175 yards passing, 88 yards rushing. You know, he counted for a couple of touchdowns and then the running game was just popping around him. So he didn't have to throw it a lot. It was one of those games where he threw it a lot, but didn't complete a lot of passes, like 56%.

[01:01:11] It's something, it was something very abnormal considering how well he's been passing the ball, nearly 70% completion rate for, in all of his victories. So if they, if, like I said, Mike said, if they lean on a run from the beginning, the problem I've always had with Baltimore this whole season is that you got Derrick Henry as your running back one. And I know there's only like one other dude who plays running back that's close to his size.

[01:01:40] And that's the other guy who played at Alabama who wore 22, who was Najee Harris. He's probably the only guy that's that big. But I just felt like you probably should have gone with another big back that can kind of hit, you know, hit these same kind of runs that Derrick Henry runs. Because like I said, sometimes. Not Justice Hill. Because when you put Justice Hill in, it's like. They're not running that same power run with him as Derrick Henry.

[01:02:07] Like if I'm, if I'm on defense, I'm selling out for anything else. Like if you run that count, that counter with Justice Hill and he gets loose. Okay. You got me on that one. But I don't see those same kind of play calls being called when he's in the game. I always feel like he's in the game. It's some kind of stretch handoff or RPO. And then it's Lamar on the edge. It just doesn't feel like. It feels like you give away.

[01:02:38] You know, you kind of throw out a third of the playbook when you put him in the game. Even though I think he's dynamic with the ball in his hand. And I just feel like you, you give the defense, you don't give the defense enough to guess about. So if Derrick Henry's not getting the ball consistently and you got to bring Justice Hill in, then I think that's going to be a problem. So if they give the ball to Henry on first down and he only gets three yards and they take him out. And then the defense is like, hey, cool. We got screen. We got to stretch this way.

[01:03:06] Or we got to RPO with Lamar. Like we're looking out for these three things. If we can attack these things and get to this spot before he sets up, maybe we can get them in third and 11. You're not bringing Henry back in on third and 11 because you're not going to run again. So you probably have Justice Hill in it. So if you can get those kind of, if Buffalo can force Baltimore into that, but that's going to have to be Baltimore saying like, you know what? Second and eight, I don't care. Run it with Derrick again. Get us a three and four.

[01:03:35] Get us a third and four. And now we can bring Justice Hill in. And now it's scary because Lamar can keep it. Lamar can get you four yards like that. He gives you a little stutter and you stutter. He accelerates. He gets four. He's out of bounds. Now you bring Henry right back in. But at, like I said, second and nine, you try to run something like that, you know, incomplete pass or maybe a sack or a loss on the play. It's a little different. But as long as they stay consistent with like, listen,

[01:04:03] we have a guy who is bigger than most defensive ends. That's running the ball. Let's just keep giving him the ball. Have the oxygen ready on the sideline. Have the massage gun. Have whatever he needs in the tent to get him going for the next drive. Just make sure you have whatever he needs. Bananas, snacks, Skittles, whatever it is he needs so he can get 20 to 25 carries or at least 20 to 25 touches, however you get to make that happen.

[01:04:31] But the 20 carries is probably like, is that that marquee number? Yeah. And I can't shake that last time Lamar Jackson played a playoff game in Buffalo too. So I don't know. You know, when he got held to three points and all that. I mean, obviously the Bills was better. Yeah. You know, so we'll see. We'll see though. But those are our picks. You know, we disagree on two of them. You know, sounds like. Yeah, but I got Baltimore. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:05:00] We both got Philly, you know, but Mr. Logical's got them big. You know, we both have Detroit. I have Houston, you know, and I mean, Kansas City's probably going to win, but I'm sticking to my preseason pick. And then I have Buffalo. He has Baltimore. So that's not it though. That's not the only playoffs going on right now. Because over in the compressor on Monday night, just one question.

[01:05:30] Will Jesus bring touchdowns? You know, because look, I said it the other night. I don't know how Notre Dame is going to score in this game. This is one of those games where they might need a pick six. You know, they might need another pick and a fumble just to get a short field or something along those lines. But the good news is they've played Ohio State two out of the last three years. This will be the third meeting in that third year once they play this year.

[01:05:59] So, you know, thank you, sir. You know, so when they played in 2022, it was at Ohio Stadium. 21-10 Buckeyes. Last year, we know Lou Holtz. You know, we were trying to figure out where he was. Notre Dame with 10 men on the field, batting the back plays. And it still took Ohio State two plays to get it into the end zone. Yeah. Craziest thing ever.

[01:06:26] But what I was thinking about during this, Mr. Logical, I was thinking to myself, I was like, you know, how does Notre Dame win this game? And I thought to myself, their secondary has to win. That's first and foremost. Jeremiah Smith out there and Mecca Abuka. The good news is both of those last two times they played Ohio State, they played against Harvin Marison Jr. So they won't be afraid of the moment. Like, Marcus Freeman has seen this.

[01:06:54] Now, obviously, Jeremiah is quicker, way faster than that other guy I just said. But, you know, you don't say that name too much. But, you know, last year, Ohio State, 4.7 yards per carry against Notre Dame. Harvin had three catches for 32 yards. The year before that, 4.9 yards per carry, 5 for 56. But he didn't score a touchdown in either game.

[01:07:22] So I guess the key here is how about you don't let him run for damn near five yards of carry? Because how you're going to win this game. Can't win the game like that. Yeah, how you win this game is not letting Ohio State get the big play down the field. You know, like I talked about how much man Notre Dame has played. And that makes sense when you're playing against a Penn State who somehow can't get a wide receiver of football. I don't know. Just run the jet sweep. Something.

[01:07:51] Literally just run the jet or the bubble screen. Like, I don't know why. We're not getting the ball downfield with wide receivers. Cool. Let's just get it in their hands. Just run the screen. Right. Five wide bubble screen. Every team has it. My son's high school team has it. Just call it and run it. Like, get the ball in the hands of these. They're at least fast. They might not be great route runners. But, like, if I can just throw it to you 16 yards away from me, let me just throw it that way. You can do what you got to do to get the field. So, that's silly. Right.

[01:08:19] That's just poor planning by an offensive – whoever their offensive coordinator or passing game coordinators, all these different titles they give these guys. Get the ball to fast guys quicker. I think that's a pretty simple thing. I think Chip Kelly is going to do that. Like, let's get the ball to dynamic players as much as possible. Keep it out of the hands of the quarterback. Because quarterbacks give a lot of credit. They get the quarterback wins.

[01:08:48] They get all the accolades. They get to date the prettiest girl on campus. All this stuff. They get the cards. They get the commercials. They get to give free TVs out to their team. They get all the stuff that comes with being a quarterback. But they have the ball in their hands a lot, and they can make a lot of mistakes. The skilled position guys are some of the most dynamic athletes in sports across the board.

[01:09:15] Wide receivers, running backs, and that battle with safeties and corners. These are some of the most dynamic athletes you're going to have in any sport on earth. So, get the ball out in the hands of the quarterback to those guys as quick as possible. So, that means running the ball a lot. That's boom. Snap, step, handoff. Quarterbacks out of the play. Now you got the big uglies up front. You run Judkins and Travion with the speed.

[01:09:44] Get them the ball and see what happens. Don't come out here trying to showcase, you know, your play calling and your play design. No, just establish the run. Establish it up front. Make them bring a safety gun in the box. And now you get your one-on-one matchup somewhere. When we talk about how guys in college, somebody won't get the assignment. You go hurry up. The guy's, you know, out of position.

[01:10:10] Now you got Tate wide open or Buko wide open or God forbid, Jerry Myr Smith over the top. So, establish the run. Dominate up front. If they don't do that, then I think Ryan Day kind of panics. We saw, like, I forgot. It was a former player who tweeted out after the Michigan loss saying that when they were down at halftime in the national championship game in Alabama, he didn't say anything to the team.

[01:10:37] He just went and, like, yelled at the coaches about why nothing's working. And so, I think if you can frustrate the coach, I think that will matriculate the entire team. But if Chip Kelly could say, you know what? Let me put away these big, deep shots and just go with how do I win the line of scrimmage? How do I keep, you know, Notre Dame off the field?

[01:11:03] Because I think, I know Ohio State has two losses, but I imagine that the public, the real vote, not the personal fans, but, like, the pundits and the people who are picking, it's probably 65-35 Ohio State. Oh, I'm sure it's worse than that. I think the country's probably thinking maybe Notre Dame because I think they're a little sickle because I think everyone has an Ohio State fan that they know that they don't like the fact that they're an Ohio State fan.

[01:11:32] So, I think if you did a country poll, it might be more Notre Dame. But I think even with that, if you just look at both of these teams, you look at the dynamic offense of Ohio State, you look at the big play made by Jack Sawyer in the game against Texas, but people kind of get, like, if Queen Geras throws a touchdown there, it's a tie game. So, it wasn't like they just dominated Texas who had to, you know,

[01:12:00] had to convert a long fourth down to beat Arizona State. You know, so it's just, it's a lot of parallels to it. I think Notre Dame does have a shot, but I think their shot's kind of predicated on Ohio State reverting back to how they played against Michigan versus anything that Notre Dame could do. Because, you know, Rylander's not that great of a passer. He's a playmaker. He's a gamer. All of that, you know, all those monikers you want to give them. I just think that they need, they being Notre Dame, they need a couple mistakes.

[01:12:31] Either bad drives, a shanked punt. You know, just something that gives them, like, momentum they didn't think they were going to get. I do think that Ryan Day will keep this game close just from the standpoint of there's got to be nerves. You know, there's got to be pressure. Now, you know, like... You think he's still coaching for his job? No, I don't think he's coaching. I don't think he ever was. Like, I just like to joke about it. I just like to joke about it.

[01:13:00] I think if the college football committee felt like... If the narrative was, if you don't play for your conference championship, you're automatically in that pool of 10 to 16. Like, if you're down in that range. Like, I think if that was, like, the guidance, then I think Ohio State would have been in trouble. But since that wasn't the thing that kept them in the playoff,

[01:13:28] but say, like, because, you know, next year that might be the case. Like, hey, if you don't play for your conference championship, you can't be top eight going into the conference championship weekend. So did you... I thought he was going to get the first job for a while. So did you hear Lou Holtz's quote? Something about we want Ryan Day to keep his job. Yeah, if we lose, it's because we want Ryan Day to keep his job. That sounds like, to me, somebody that knows they're going to lose this game.

[01:13:58] That just sounds like something a silly old man says when you put a microphone in his face. Yeah, but... Some people, you can't just put microphones in their face. But Notre Dame's also got a big problem because, you know, like, when I look at this game, and Ohio State's favorite by eight and a half, by the way, with 45 and a half as your over-under, I don't think they're going to blow them out. I don't think they're going to blow them out. Like I just said, they just played them two... The last two years, or two out of the last three years, I should say.

[01:14:27] You know, they gave up 21 points the first time. They gave up 17 the second time to include a touchdown with eight seconds left. So I don't expect Ohio State to just run away with it. I just think this is going to be one of those games where Ohio State just takes the air off the ball. Like, they're not going to have to score a lot because their defense is the best unit in this game. And their offense is the second best unit in this game.

[01:14:55] Notre Dame's other big problem is Anthony Knapp. You can't go into the national title game having just lost your left tackle. So now, before where Riley Leonard had a certain luxury because you could design certain runs for him, you could kind of manipulate his carries, now he's going to have to run around just because he's got to find space, he's got to find gaps,

[01:15:25] and the pressure's going to be in his face. So I think Ohio State is going to get out to a lead and just kind of go on cruise control, and that's where Ryan Date might get in trouble is if Notre Dame's hanging around. Like, say it's something along the lines of 13-3, but you're starting the fourth quarter. You know, or if it's something like 17-10, and there's eight minutes left in the game,

[01:15:52] that's where I think Ohio State could be prone to make a mistake if Notre Dame can keep it that way. So it's not just Jack Sawyer. He's got four and a half sacks just in the playoff, but they still got JTT. They still got Cody Simon. Denzel Burke was a little banged up against Texas. He had, you know, he didn't play the whole game against Texas. So keep an eye on that. The other problem is Jeremiah Love is still nursing that knee injury. He has to be Jeremiah Love for Notre Dame

[01:16:21] to have any chance to win this game. So there's a part of me that sees the eight and a half as not enough. There's a part of me that sees like a 30-10 or, you know, like a 31-13, something along those lines. But out of respect for Marcus Freeman, the coach that I think he is, and, you know, what this Notre Dame team has been through, because they're not even supposed to be here. They lost to Northern Illinois.

[01:16:49] So this is a team that overcomes adversity. They're not afraid. So I think I'm going to give them a little bit of respect. And I'm going to take Ohio State to cover, but 23-14. So you got a little bit more low scoring. The game is indoors in Atlanta. At the compressor.

[01:17:17] I think, I don't think there's going to be an advantage. I don't think there's going to be a home-field advantage. I think Notre Dame fans travel well. I think Ohio State fans travel well. Oh, yeah. The story, Rudy. Haven't won a national title since 1988. I believe it's like 60,000, 65,000 seats in the compressor. So I figure it's about 30,000 each. I mean, some neutral fans. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. There is going to, I think there are going to be a lot of Georgia fans in the crowd

[01:17:46] because, you know, they have a birthright to the national title. Yeah. They got tickets. They bought their tickets early. It just so happens that the team didn't play. So Mike just said 31-10. I just, I think Notre Dame has more talent than that. I think because they're not in the conference, we don't think about how wide they're recruiting that is.

[01:18:10] Like they, from Miami to Washington State, they're grabbing the best players from all these regions. So it's not just, we know LSU is going to recruit Texas. Well, they're going to recruit Mississippi and Louisiana. Well, we know Alabama is going to get Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. Well, we know Georgia is going to get Georgia and Florida. So we know based off like some of these schools where they are regionally, we know they're going to get those best players from there. Notre Dame pulls players from everywhere.

[01:18:39] And now with the transfer portal, they have the financial, you know, substitute for recruiting by getting guys in. So they have talent. And I think they have talent that, like I said, is from all over the country. So they're going to be able to compete. I like their coach. I like how their coach has them prepared. I like how just the team, just, I don't want to say team of destiny. I just, I just feel like they're just, I feel like Ohio State's a little bit of a front runner.

[01:19:10] And I think if they get down 10-3, you know, let's say they go back and forth possessions. Ohio State gets the ball, stalls out, field goal. You know, Notre Dame pops one, seven, three, maybe a punt. Now it's 10-3. I think because they're, they're kind of a front running kind of group. I think they get tight. Well, I will push back. And I think Notre Dame squeeze. I think Notre Dame squeeze a little bit.

[01:19:39] I'm going to go on the edge. I'm going to go Notre Dame. Okay. And a close one. But I'm very similar to the, the Penn State game. I'm going to go Notre Dame. I'm going to go 27-20 Notre Dame. Marcus Freeman. Yeah, I think, I think my, I think my pushback on that will just be, they do have talent.

[01:20:06] The problem is the depth because they have those academic requirements. So they can't get them all in. They can't get them all. So, so, so that's where I saw something earlier where Ohio State has, I think it's 17, five stars. Notre Dame has two. Then it gets, as you go lower, you know, Notre Dame has more two stars and like whatever, blah, blah, blah. So yeah.

[01:20:30] All I'm going to say is last season, preseason, this guy said Michigan was going to be your national champion. This year, preseason. This guy said that Ohio State's going to be the champion. And the other thing real quick, since I popped my hockey jersey, for those of you keeping track out there, Ovechkin is 21 goals away from passing Wayne Gretzky.

[01:21:00] So, boom. Mr. Logical, I got another question for you. Let's hear it. Is it time for Joel Embiid to go be a family man? I think it's going to be a lot. I think over the next couple of years, there's going to be a lot of guys that are hanging up these sneakers a little earlier than we expect. I know the money is good. I think like a guy like Steph is on like a one-year, $62 million deal. I think Embiid is probably in line with that per the CBA and everything else they got going on.

[01:21:30] But, I mean, it's okay to be good at something once and for that time to pass. It might have passed for Embiid. You're not Nelly. It just... It's okay. It's okay. It's okay that you just don't have it anymore. Everybody doesn't have Kevin Durant's career where you have these injuries and you get to come back.

[01:21:59] Everybody doesn't have the muscle and the physical stature. Giannis Witte can play forever. Guys like Jokic just have... They're such skilled basketball players. They can play for a long time. Some guys just... You have a shelf life and it's shorter than other players. And I think... We talked about it like, you know, different sport. But Andrew Luck, he retired abruptly because he was like, I'm sick of rehabbing. You know?

[01:22:29] Like, I think the sick of rehab is like, that's when you fall in love with the game. A lot of players talked about it and like a lot of these players who have podcasts like The Pivot and, you know, Club 520 and, you know, Shannon Sharp and his podcast. A lot of them talk about... I knew I was ready to hang it up when I didn't feel like working out anymore. Like, I didn't feel like getting up and going to the facility. I didn't feel like working out with my trainer anymore.

[01:22:59] Or I wanted to work out, but my body wasn't like me. Like, a couple of these things that way... Like Richard Sherman said, when he pulled a hamstring trying to cover Devontae Smith, he was like, I knew I was done then. He's like, as soon as I pull a muscle just trying to cover a guy when he ran a double move, he's like, I knew that was it. And a lot of these guys are on that. But they've gotten paid and they have these contracts and they feel obligated to the contract. And I think they're looking at the dollars. I'm not going to knock them. If somebody...

[01:23:29] If I had $100 million left on my deal, I wouldn't want to go anywhere either. But at some point, you got to, like, realize, like, this might not be for me anymore. Like, when I was looking at the 76ers on Tuesday, their injury report looked like a very expensive night at a restaurant.

[01:23:50] Kyle Lowry, Joel Embiid, Paul George, Andre Drummond, Caleb Martin, Tyrese Maxey, K-Mart Jr., and you already had Jared McCain out for the season. That was one game. All those people missed that one game. And, you know, Embiid was supposed to come back. And then now they're saying, oh, it's going to be an extra seven to ten days. So I don't know what Philadelphia is doing. I don't know what Embiid is doing.

[01:24:20] Just do the right thing, man. You know, they're 15 and 24 coming into tonight. So, you know, it's not as if you're on the brink. Like, you know, the East is bad enough that you'll still be within play-in range. But it ain't even worth it. But the problem is, is that they're a dumb team. So because of trades that they've made and all that kind of stuff like that, you know, they got to win a certain amount.

[01:24:49] Because if their pick finishes, you know, outside of the top, I want to say it was wherever it finishes, OKC could end up with it. Yeah. So they could they could end up being the worst team in the league and OKC could get. No, we don't. Like, yeah.

[01:25:14] And the thing about like Embiid's a talent, but I guess I know you don't want to lose a gear, especially when you're, I'll call it early 30s. I believe he's like 33, 34. I don't think he's that old. I think so. Really? Either he's 30 and I think he's like 30, but his knees are 34. I think I said something like that. Yeah, he's 30. 30. Yeah, that's what it was. He's 30, but his body's like 35, 36.

[01:25:47] Just chalk it. Just get ready to say, hey, shut it down for the season. You're not doing yourself any service by coming out here. And you are. You hurt your, you know, just have to. You hurt your right knee. You rehab that. You're laboring on that. You come back early to practice and you come back early for your, you know, your your five on five drills.

[01:26:15] And then you hurt your left ankle. And now that's hobbled because you're compensating for the right knee, which is you probably have a brace on and a sleeve and a shot before the game. So then you get a new ankle brace for your left ankle. Now your foot hurts or you're kind of clumsy because you got all this stuff on your fall. You hurt your shoulder and your big body. You know, he's like they listen at 285.

[01:26:40] So he's probably with these injuries up and down, send down to 90, 295, seven foot one, seven foot two, then 300 pounds running around chasing guys who are literally 90 pounds lighter than you. Falling, chasing, trying to get these blocks, doing his cardio was like, it's a lot of wear and tear. Like, yeah, just shut it down. And I get that these guys have a passion to play, but he already talked about not wanting to play back to backs. Right. So I think it's already kind of seeping in. Like, listen, my shelf life is limited. Go ahead, shut it down for the year.

[01:27:10] Get it scoped. Get it all figured out. Get the MRIs. Get everything you need. Get the diagnostic test from head to toe and say, hey, you got a slight tear here. You can't play through. You got a slight. You got a bone spur here. Just get the get get all the answers before you come out here and just halfway do it and end up hurting yourself anymore. Like he was in the playoffs. He dropped 50. And it was like, I still didn't think they were a threat to get out of that round because it's like he can't do it again.

[01:27:38] In the next game, Giannis drops 50 in game five. And now they're up three to game six. I'm expecting to still get you 40. Like, I don't think anything. I don't think he's going to be slowed down by his 50. The previous game where it's in beat is like you get 50. And it's like, man, you might get 20 minutes and 50 seconds out of the next game. Right. And Mike, that's the wrong one. It was Bell's palsy, Bell's palsy.

[01:28:07] You said cerebral palsy? Yeah. But Embiid, I respect it. You know, he wants to play. I'm actually surprised that he hasn't shut it down. You know, and as we talked about this back in the summer, like why the hell was he even playing in the Olympics to begin with? You know, I get it right. Like you want to do it. He was playing for the U.S. But while the Olympics are in France, you're French.

[01:28:37] You can't play for your organization. Now you can't play for your country either. It's just so much going on. Well, he's from Cameroon, right? Or no, he's from. Yeah. He's Cameroon. He's French citizenship. Okay. Yeah. I mean, you could always play for the black country. Oh, never mind. We got to get into that. So then we had a trade this week. You know, the Charlotte Hornets send Nick Richards and a second round pick to Phoenix for Johnson. Huh? Hey. Hey.

[01:29:07] Who? Don't do that, bro. Why you got to be like that? Charlotte making trades is pointless. Then that trade in the middle of the ball is pointless. I don't even care about that. But why y'all talking about my Kentucky Wildcat like that? You know what I'm saying? But he got traded for Joshua Kogi in three second round picks. NBA don't care about the second round picks at all. And a 2031 first round pick.

[01:29:36] I'll be 50. You know what I'm saying? I'll be 50 years old. So then we got that trade. But Mr. Logical, I heard something yesterday that took me aback. I was here. You know, because everybody's been talking about Jimmy Butler. Phoenix is to him what Miami was to Dane. You know, Phoenix is where he wants to go.

[01:30:05] Phoenix is where he will sign the extension. So I was listening to some stuff, listening to some reports and all this kind of stuff. And the person said that the Milwaukee Bucks may try to get Jimmy Butler. What do you think about that? Man, I think it's the same thing. It's good for pickup. It's good for just a tournament.

[01:30:32] It's good for you guys are going to go to the Rucker. Can I run this door in the NBA Cup? You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, that's dope. But long term, I don't know. I don't know what it gives you other than another name that you don't need. It gives you a defender, I guess. You can get one of these young guys off the bench that you have. Well, they got my guy, Andre Jackson.

[01:30:59] And Doc's actually been playing him this year, you know, except for the other night when he only got two minutes. But, you know, that's my guy from UConn. I'm telling you, he's going to be this Kawhi-level defender, I think. But, you know. If Jimmy Butler gets traded, it's going to be somewhere he doesn't want to go. I see him like Indiana or something like that. Some surprise team he pops in. Yeah. Or maybe Charlotte thinks they need a veteran leader. He ain't going to sign that extension, though. You know what I'm saying?

[01:31:28] I think if you throw him a big enough number, maybe he signs it. But if not, then you trade. You trade. You got a team, an expiring contract. They trade that guy off and they start over Brooklyn or somebody like that. Like, you know what? We've botched so many of these deals over the last few years. We need to shake the etch and sketch and start over. So bring in Jimmy Butler. See what he can do. He's disgruntled. We'll buy him out. Send him on his way.

[01:31:59] Get a new staff in and start over. Because he's not going to get what he wants. Because Pat Riley's not going to get what he wants. Phoenix maybe. Maybe. Maybe get that Phoenix deal. But does Brad Bill want to go to Miami? I'm sorry. I don't think. I don't know if guys in Miami can shoot 30 times. I don't know if that's a thing that they are allowed to do. Like, no. I'm not trying to be like addicted about Bill. But it's like, I don't know if guys in Miami have a green light like that.

[01:32:27] I don't know if you have a green light to go 17 for 30. You know? I just don't know if that's part of how they run their offense. And if he's going to be able to come in and just off the bat. Him and Tyler Hero going back and forth for shots. And not really moving the ball around. That's a thing for Bradley Bill. Because it's probably dope location wise. Like, yo, living in Miami is probably pretty cool. But as far as like a basketball sense.

[01:32:55] For a guy who wants to be the man the way he was the man in Washington. And when he isn't the man in Phoenix. I don't know if Miami makes sense for him the way he was no trade clause. If he still has it. I believe he still does. Well, you know. I think the three. I think the three team trade is going to be. Is probably going to be a thing as well. There was a team. I want to say it might have been Washington. That said that they were willing to be the third team. You know? So like a deal that I saw floating around was. Jimmy Butler.

[01:33:26] Along with Rashawn Holmes and Josh Richardson to the Suns. The Heat would get. Bradley Bill. Rookie Ryan Dunn. Who I don't think the Suns should give up. In a 2031 first round pick. And. I can't even think of his name right now. Sorry. Duncan Robinson would go to the Wizards. That's the deal that I kind of heard. Potentially floating around. And you know. Like.

[01:33:54] So Jimmy Butler did come back from the seven game suspension tonight. You know. They had. They had the Denver Nuggets. They lost by 20. So you know. I don't. I don't know. How legal it is. But the way that I view situations like this. Jimmy Butler. Miami. I kind of look at it like the whole Anthony Davis. New Orleans situation. Where I'm like. Just sit him down. And don't even play him. You know. Like just. He's there.

[01:34:23] Until he gets traded. But I'm sure. Silver. See Anthony Davis. Had a two. In the beginning of his age. And potential. So. I think New Orleans did themselves a disservice. By letting Ego get in the way. Because they could have moved off of him. For the same deal that they got at the end of the season. Like they could have got all those same pieces. In the midseason trade. Instead of. Playing it out.

[01:34:51] And like keeping this drama spotlight on them. Like that a Dallas Cowboys or something. For all these months. I'll never forget like. His last game. He. He wore a shirt. It was like the cursive writing for. Mooney Tunes. That's all folks. He said. That's all folks. I was like. That was. It was dope. It was dope. But it's like. Just. Listen. Put your dicks away. And do the deal. Like you knew he wanted to leave. You lost your leverage. When the players started to get controlled.

[01:35:21] Owners are starting to kind of take it back now. Which is fine. But in that moment. You didn't have the leverage. You could have had the four players. And not have had the drama. But you let the drama. Just kind of. Just hover over your team. Like a storm cloud. Just to get the same deal. At the end of the year. Yeah. So I'm surprised that you're wearing that jersey. Like I know you're not. Necessarily a Brooklyn Nets fan. But it was.

[01:35:50] But it would be hard for me to wear that jersey. Two days after they lost the game. By 59 points. Listen. It happens. You know what I mean? You go out there. You try hard. They ain't trying hard. Their injury list looks just like Phillies. And you know. Cam is on the train block. I saw something today. That he could be potentially going to Cleveland. Yeah. And the question was. Could he help Cleveland? Yes. Yes. He's six foot. Oh, he went to Cleveland. Boston's shaking in their boots.

[01:36:20] I don't know why Boston's not trying to make a move. Like listen. Well, I was going to bring them up as well. Because you know. They just lost to Toronto the other day. Granted, it was the first time in a long time. Toronto had their whole starting lineup plan. But. Mr. Lodge. You want to play an ESPN game? Let's hear it. What is your level of concern? Last year. The Celtics lost four games. At TD Garden.

[01:36:50] They've already lost seven home games this year. That's tough. I wouldn't. I don't. I don't like that. But I. If I'm Boston. I'm looking at one team that can. That can beat me in. In my conference. 15. 15 total teams. 13 of them. I can just scratch off the list right now. And it's us versus Cleveland.

[01:37:19] As long as we're ready to play Cleveland. Sometime in. Late May. Then that's all that matters. You know. You just got to get to the playoffs. And then you turn it on. Turn the button. Hit the switch. We'll see. You know. You know. We talked about them a few minutes ago. 0-8. Against Cleveland. New York. And Boston. Not looking good for a playoff series. Where you got to play at least two of them. Yeah.

[01:37:50] Donovan Mitchell. Speaking of Cleveland. They had the rematch with OKC last night. SGA put up 40 and three quarters. And the demolition was on. The Cavs beat OKC last week. In those two games against OKC. Donovan Mitchell is shooting 19%. I think. The conversation of NBA finals preview. I think. Sometimes you just.

[01:38:20] You got a guy that you really want to compete against. Because these guys know each other from different times in their basketball playing career. And they know what teams are serious contenders. And what teams aren't. And maybe in these games. Where you're like. You're going up against someone. That you can really rock. Like we all talk about playing down to your competition. I think sometimes you try to overdo it. And I think that's one of those situations where. Cleveland. Like I said. Cleveland and OKC. Are having like this.

[01:38:49] This Josh Allen. Lamar Jackson. Kind of just. Historic simultaneous run. And you sprinkle in Boston. And they're Joe Burrow. It's like. Yo. They're out here too. So. We have a lot going on. Yeah. I like. I like. The fact that. These Midwestern teams are. Really thriving. Because we. You talk about. The. What you sent me. Earlier with Bernie Bickerstaff. Talking about. Gilbert Arena. Saying that. Cade Kenningham. Has to play in a bigger market. It's like. Yo. Basketball travels. Yeah.

[01:39:19] And Detroit's a big enough market. They're old. Historic franchise. And if you think about. And if Gilbert Arena. Thinks about his position. Like. People watch your podcast. He can simply say. I think. Cade Kenningham. And Detroit. I think. They're going to be the next team. I think. Next year. They're going to be. Putting up numbers. Like Cleveland. This year. Now the whole conversation. Is different. So. Now the question. That the reporter. Ask. The coach. Is. Hey. Heard on Gilbert Arena's.

[01:39:49] Podcast. That. You guys. Are probably going to be. The team. Next year. That surprises everyone. It comes out. The way. Cleveland is. This year. The way. Boston played last year. Now the whole narrative. Is different. These old heads. In the NBA. You got to start selling your product. Because that product paid you. And it's going to continue to pay you. If you can't talk about. Your podcast. Your podcast will be on TV more. If you highlighted your product more. Look how many podcasts. Almost strictly talk football.

[01:40:19] ESPN almost strictly talk football. Now imagine if you were highlighting Detroit. And how good Kate Cunningham is. And how good Detroit is going to be going forward. Now. You can get your show on Barstool. You can get that. Cam. Cam and Mace deal. You can get that. Gillian Wallow deal. Where you. Can talk about. And expand your brand. And expand the brand. Of the sport that you played. But these guys keep shooting it down. Every chance they get. I. Like I said. I like the fact that. It's Cleveland OKC.

[01:40:49] I like that. The fact that it's young talent. It's not in a. Not in a disparaging way. But. I like the fact that these old guys. Aren't going to these teams. And it's working. Right. I'm glad that it's not. It's finally not working. And it's scary hours. Whenever Chet gets back. You know. He hasn't played since November 14th. Or something along those lines. And then you got. Hartenstein did get hurt last night. He's so fragile. I know. Hartenstein did get hurt. He might be. He might be one of those guys. You put on the block.

[01:41:20] And listen. I like Chet. But. If I could trade him. The Brooklyn. And grab. Kim. Six to eight defender. I got Hartenstein. I can go get a regular. Big. Insert African name. To protect the rim. For 18 minutes a game. And not have to worry about. My seven foot two guy. Always hurt. And it sucks. I mean. He's hitting the ground hard. He's falling the time.

[01:41:48] Like when he got hurt against. In the pro-am. With LeBron. It's just because of the floor. Like he just. He stepped wrong. Like he didn't get his foot stepped on. It just. And he missed the whole season. So. I hope he gets back. Like I said. See you doing. I like that. I like the fact that these old heads. I'm like. I'm liking that. Their light is show. Slowly dimming. And we can turn the page. The new chapter. To the new young guns. Of the league.

[01:42:20] Give these guys their due. Like. It's a young man's game. That's why. We talked. I was telling some air in this. At my office. Like yo. Back in the day. We used to have an over 30. Basketball league. Like intramural. They're like what? I'm like yeah. You guys had your regular league. And then it was an over 30 league. They played a new. I mean. It was like. You went to the over 30 game. And then you went to lunch. And maybe you went back to your office. Maybe you went home. But.

[01:42:48] It's a reason that they had the 18. And 29 year olds playing against each other. And the 30 to 40 year olds. Playing against each other. Yeah. There's a level there. Yeah. And you know. It's. I don't know. It's. That's pretty funny. You know. Like the kids are so. They're always so shocked. They're super surprised. Yeah. But. My daughter. I used to drink out of the water hose. She was like what? Outside? Yeah. You know. But. But yeah. Like you know.

[01:43:18] These teams. Appreciate it Mike. Boston and OKC. Are in charge right now. Houston still hanging around. You know. And then how about those Grizzlies. You know. I went down to Frost Bank Center. The other night. Saw the best dunk in history. That didn't count. When Jai tried to jump over. Victor Wimbenyama. And I was so befuddled. The whole night. Because I was like. This dude is seven foot five. Seven foot three. Without shoes. And he went five for 19.

[01:43:49] You know. He shot 10 three pointers. And hit three of them. Where's George Girffin? Get. Get. Get George Girffin in the building. To teach this young man to finger roll. Because he can do it from the three point line. Realistically. He could get a pick. He could get a. Get a screen. You know. At the. At the horseshoe. At center court. Take two more dribbles. Jump from behind the three point line. And finger roll it. Because he jumped from behind the three point line.

[01:44:19] It will count as three. That's all I'm saying. Try it out. He had eight blocks in the first half. You know. None in the second half. But. It was crazy. Because. Early in the game. And this is where. These NBA teams. And you know. They just. This Amber Alert. Is going nuts over here. They. These teams. Just. They confused me. Because Zach Eadie. Was. Like. Just throwing Wimby. All around. The paint.

[01:44:47] And he only played 17 minutes. Though. Like. I don't know. If it's because. You know. They're trying to. Like. You know. I don't know what the word. Acclimate him to the game. Or something. But. The MIT guy. In the booth. Said. It doesn't make sense. To play a guy. That's seven foot four. More than 18 minutes. That's why. That's probably why. You know. But yeah. It was a great game. It was a great time. The Grizzlies. Stomped the mud hole. You know. Ja. You know. Is ja. You know. So.

[01:45:17] When I think about the NBA. This season. Boston stands out. Because. They just don't look like Boston. You know. We talked about OKC. We talked about. Cleveland. And. Denver. Denver and Houston. Is where it's at man. I'm not Denver. I'm sorry. Detroit and Houston. Is where it's at. You know. Like. The young gunners. Just coming up. Scoot Henderson. Had a 39 point game. The other day. You know. The Kings are 8 and 2. Without Mike Brown now.

[01:45:47] Get him on interviews. Get him in commercials. Like. NBA. I get it. We're never going to forget LeBron. I got like. Eight pairs of his shoes. In my closet. Trust me. We can't. I'm trying to forget him every day. I got more. I got plenty of Jordans in there. Like. Kawhi is. An outstanding player. And he's been a staple of. You know. Stability. You know. A Spurs guy. Paul George. Entertaining player. We all like. You know.

[01:46:16] Everything about all these guys. We like. But it's like. Their time is coming. To an end. And it's. That's fine. That means you Steph. You know. Steph is probably the only one. That looks like he can go to another team. To contribute. But. This is his time to do that. Like. I know this is like. Super fancy basketball. Whatever. But like. Steph. I don't think he'll ever come off the bench. So I can't imagine that he would.

[01:46:48] Like a year. Or Boston. Or Cleveland. Or one of these other teams. Or he went. Back home to Charlotte. You know. The Tony Parker route. Like. You know what. I'm gonna go play. Charlotte. One year. And put up some crazy numbers. This is the time for him to do that. But. He can't go there. On the three year. 45 million dollar year extension. Like Paul George. With Philly. It's like. You're beyond that. Like. Stop paying these. These prices. Like.

[01:47:17] These guys got their money. They got their time. But it's coming to an end. And I'm. Like I said. And I know it's. Like I said. It's all for me. I'm going to repeat it. I'm glad it's not working. Shout out to Russ. For doing this thing with Jokic. It does. Kind of. Highlight. How tough it is. To play. As LeBron's teammate. When you are a playmaker. It's. You can see guys. When they leave. LeBron. It. It does. They do look a little bit better. They don't win more. Generally.

[01:47:47] But they do get to play better. And showcase their skills. But it's about guys knowing their role. But shout out to Russ. For how well he's been playing recently. I like his energy. He's always smiling. He said probably the funniest thing. When he was talking to Jalen Green. He was like. Dude. You should play on my AAU team. Now you. Out here talking to me like I'm some little kid. Yeah. So like. Even. Even Emei at Duke. Emei was laughing at him. Like the. The Rockets coach was laughing. Because like. It's.

[01:48:16] It's good to see. Like. Someone really enjoying the moment. And not. Being so hard pressed about championships. But listen man. They only give out one a year. All. 440 of you can't be like. So hard pressed. You didn't get a championship. You got to go out there. Enjoy a kids game. You're playing with a round ball. On a hoop. With your friends and your family. Watching. For King's Ransom. Get out there. And. And play. Play some basketball. Enjoy yourself. But it's like. Take care of yourself. Like listen.

[01:48:46] If you ain't got it. If you keep falling. Hurt in the rib. Or hurting the hip. It might be time to walk away. For a little bit. Go ahead. Put you on the. The six week. Disabled list. Like. It's. I get it. That sometimes. It's like. It's intrinsic to be. I'm a basketball player. But you're also. A human. And human bones. And human ligaments. They stretch. They strain. They crack. They break. They get damaged. They get injured. They need time to heal. You might heal quicker than me. If I were to fall down my steps.

[01:49:16] Yeah. I might be down for the count. For a few months. Whereas you being a superior athlete. Might be six weeks. I would tell you to take nine. Get right. Then come back. And last thing for me. I had a crazy. Just nasty thought today. Oh. This time it didn't involve Lily Ty. But. I was like. Dude.

[01:49:45] Kitty Cat might get some MVP votes this year. Come on. Can he downs? Yes. I ain't saying. I'm not saying he's a threat to win it. I'm not saying he's a threat to win it. I'm just saying like. I wouldn't be surprised to see his name on the ballot. The way he's playing this season. Is Jalen Brunson the de facto leader of the team though? Yeah. Jalen Brunson is the leader of the team for sure.

[01:50:14] If he's not playing better than him. I think. What he might get. I think he is though. That's the thing. I think he is. I think he might get more. I think he's going to get the benefit of the doubt. Because. The way they shipped him out of Minnesota. Didn't make sense to me. It's like. That's not the truth. Especially. Well they had already paid him too. So it wasn't even like you were trying to avoid paying him. Yeah. So it was like.

[01:50:43] You traded a really good player. For. Trying to use a good word. That doesn't. Support how much you. You don't got to say nothing. It's Julius Randle. We already know you're talking bottom of the barrel. You traded from Julius. For Julius Randle. And. They're not. I don't think they're. I don't think it's a comparable thing. And then the Knicks doing DiVincenzo. It was like. That's another move. So it's like. Each team. Made a bad. Choice. In that trade.

[01:51:13] And it's like. It didn't make any sense to me. When it happened. And I think. People are going to look at Kat. Like okay. Maybe it wasn't you. Maybe it's just. Minnesota. Premature. Pulled the trigger. Thinking like. Oh we got. We need this move. To go over the hump. It's like. Yo you. You regressed. With that trade. That trade. Didn't open up space. For. Anthony Edwards. Because it's like. We know once that ball. Against Julius Randle's hand. And it's 10 seconds. Less than the shot clock. It's not going to anybody else. Right.

[01:51:42] So as long as you can defend. Until it's 11 seconds. And he has to kick it to Julius Randle. You're not getting the ball back. So. Like I know. Face guarding. And. And just let Julius Randle do his thing. And maybe he hits it. Maybe he doesn't. I live and die with that. The one thing that I do know though. Is if the standings stay the way they are right now. And the Knicks have to play Boston in the second round. Instead of the Eastern Conference Finals. I am here for it. And on top of that.

[01:52:12] I am here for you. And Mr. Logical is as well. We got some great football to enjoy. All the way through Monday night. Buffalo. Baltimore. Sunday night. Operation Mufasa. Must die. Tomorrow night. At 8 o'clock Eastern. You know. And of course. Anthony Edwards said that. Julius Randle looks like. He plays in James. Which is the. Is the only thing. That tops Draymond.

[01:52:42] Looking like. He's shooting with a backpack on. You know. That's the only thing. That beats that. But you know. A guy in my office says something. What's that was so funny. Some dude says. And he said. He felt was like. Out of pocket. He was like. I sent you to sleeping. Sleeping in jeans for a lifetime. Like you know. I'm comfortable. It is. Sleeping in jeans for a lifetime. Yeah. If I had a football. And a. If I owned a football. And a basketball team. And they told me. You could have either. Julius Randle on your basketball team.

[01:53:12] Or Hollywood on your football team. My head would explode. Like that would be the hardest decision. That would be the hardest decision. In my life. I'd take Hollywood. Just because it's like. Like. If you get it to him. He could make something happen. Julius Randle. The ball kind of stopped. I don't know man. Because I mean. These days. I probably take. Denzel Mims over Hollywood Brown. Of course. I. But I think. I think a jet sweep. With Hollywood Brown. And a good block on the edge.

[01:53:42] That's 12 yards. But. You need a three. Down two. And the ball swings. To Julius Randle. I mean. Julius could get you. The occasional. Four. Four. Eleven. From three. Instead of one of eleven. As usual. Or whatever. Like. I don't know. It could happen. Yeah. You know. But enjoy the football. We will be back on Tuesday. With reaction. To the national title game. The divisional playoffs. We'll have more around. The association. For you.

[01:54:12] We love you America. Can't believe you Nelly. Can't believe you. Support the Girl Scouts. Support the Girl Scouts. Like. Review. Subscribe. Share. Rate. Do all the free things. Do all the good things. And. Don't bring feelings. To a fat fight. Congrats on the overrated career. Tyson Fury.

[01:54:41] Peace.