Thanksgiving Recap: Eberflus Gets Cooked, Michigan Has Their Day, Drama in Qatar, Eagles Best in NFL?

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:03] Speaker B: We are back. This is sources from the Sofa sports podcast. We have Jason, Aaron, and myself, Rome, back from Thanksgiving break. Hopefully everyone had a gobble, gobble, good time, ate some turkey, got that stuffing, got the potatoes, that gravy that grits that Mac. Whatever you do for the holidays. I know, it was a fun five days. Was it five days of football. We had Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. And it seemed like this weekend was brawl central. We had brawls in college football bras, brawls in the NFL, some crazy upsets. I wasn't even too excited about Thanksgiving football as me and Jason covered in the pod last week, but ended up being a fun day. And. And some great news from the Bears game, so we'll go over that later on. I'm Jo. I'm sure Jason's excited to talk about Chicago Bears later on. I got some takes as well. Hallelujah, though. Hallelujah. Abra flu is gone. [00:01:12] Speaker A: It's what I was thankful for on Friday. So Romy sent me a great text on that. Probably 11 months too late, but we'll get to it later in the podcast. [00:01:19] Speaker B: Yeah, 11 months too late. Why they let him do the fucking press conference, though? Like, Jesus Christ. This fucking organization, dude. [00:01:27] Speaker A: We'll get into that. I got some thoughts. So, I mean, I. Switch teams. [00:01:30] Speaker B: Let's switch teams. Why are you playing through this? Why are you putting yourself through this? [00:01:35] Speaker A: You. You mentioned it in a previous pod. You know, my. My incredible loyalty that I have for all things. [00:01:40] Speaker B: So he's overrated sometimes. Look at Kevin Garnett. He was happy when he went to the Celtics. [00:01:47] Speaker A: Yeah. But we'll stick it. But I. I got plenty of thoughts. Especially that pride. Confident, really. Later. So. Well, I. I won't take up the entire first 45 minutes of the podcast. We'll wait till a little bit later. [00:01:56] Speaker B: Not for sure. We'll definitely get into it. Just because this was a lot of implications. Playoff implications for college and the NFL. Let's start off with tonight's game, though. We're recording Monday night, right after Monday night football. Broncos 41, Browns 32. One of the most exciting Monday night games we've had in a while, I would say is a fun shootout. Winston balled out those last two interceptions. You know, I can understand they were trying to catch up and. And you know, they were down by the deficit. But that pick six was not good. I don't know thoughts of that game. Obviously, good win for the Broncos. I was hoping the kind of the Browns to kind of pull, pull, pull off the Upset just to kind of rain on the, on the, on the Broncos parade a little bit just because I'm not a, I'm not a big fan of their coach but. Thoughts, guys? Thoughts. Yeah. [00:02:50] Speaker A: Well, you talked about Jamis Winston. Much of, much of the social media chat around Jamis was this is the Vin Vintage Jameis Winston performance. [00:02:58] Speaker B: Fucking vintage. All right. [00:02:59] Speaker A: You know, 58 pass attempts, 497 yards, four touchdowns. 58 pass attempts, 497 yards,. Four touchdowns, but three interceptions, one super costly @ the end of the game for the pick. Six actually at two picks. This is overall in the game and then the, the one there is at. Towards right at the end and under the last minute. So. But yeah, vintage Jamis performance. I mean this is where you know the, the true gunslinger that is still around from, from the 90s for Aaron's packers heyday with Brett Favre is what you're to get. Man will go up on the field, but the mistakes are going to be made. James is just super entertaining and you know, but the turnovers is why, you know, he hasn't stuck with a team and why Tampa didn't commit to him and he's kind of bumped around. But Jamis is a starting quarterback in this league and he, and he makes these games competitive at least, you know, when he, you put the ball in his hand, at least the offense is somewhat entertaining. They get up and down the field unlike some of these offenses in the NFL which can barely move the ball. So I give him that. But a big win for Aaron's guy, Sean Payton and the Broncos, you know, they look like they're locking in that, you know, seventh or sixth seed in the AFC make putting that kind of playoff race to bed there and really up the top seven pretty much almost locked in just seeding at this point. So very entertaining Monday night game like you said Rome. But I think we're, we're kind of locking in on what the ASC playoff picture is going to look like. [00:04:23] Speaker B: Yeah, to the FN Jamis a little bit. They're probably letting him rip as well, you know, because their season is pretty much done and they were down, you know, a couple scores. So I think they kind of gave the okay to do that. But not good though, that those intercessions were not good. It kind of looked a little Aaron Rodgers esque when he just threw into the defender and then, you know, was swung 14 points in that game. We'll talk about that. Right, Aaron, your boy a rod showing up. [00:04:52] Speaker C: I don't know where you're talking about my boy, man. My boy's Jameis Winston from Florida State, man, balling out, man. 497, like Jason said, three TDS, three interceptions, two picks, sixes. But this is what James does, man. I mean, he's a leader. He goes out there, he's gotten the Browns behind him. They've been competitive, they've been playing good, they've been playing hard since he's been in the lineup. Something we didn't see DeShawn Watson maybe saving, you know, Kevin Stevanski's job there if he wants to stay there in Cleveland. But yeah, I mean, the pick sixes that comes with the territory, given his, you know, the year. He threw for over 5,000 yards. He threw for 30 plus touchdowns, 30 interceptions. This is what you're going to get from him. He's going to make some great throws. He's going to make some throws that leave you shaking your head. I mean, the pick six there, that was a great play. I mean, the wide receiver should have jumped out and made, you know, at least touched him. I was on the ground. He didn't. He threw another pick six where the linebacker just made a great play, returned it to the house. And then that one at the end of the end zone, which is, which is bad. Time was running out. He tried to force something in there and that got intercepted by the linebacker. But you know, Jameis missed the throw to a Judy there. That could have led to a big touchdown there in the second quarter. But you know, he's. He's a guy that can throw for 5,000 yards. He can throw for 40 TDs, but he can give you 25 picks to a game on average. You know, so we'll see. I mean, it's not any worse than what Atlantis saw from Kirk Cousins on Sunday against the Chargers. Believe me. They probably would have liked famous Jamis in there for sure. [00:06:17] Speaker B: So something I kind of want to go. If you guys want to segue to the rest of the NFL, I want to do like this category. Too good to be this bad. Too good to be this bad. I have a few started on this list. [00:06:33] Speaker C: Are we talking about teams or are we talking about ex players? [00:06:35] Speaker B: It could be anything. It could be players or teams. Too good to be this bad. I got the Atlanta Falcons on there, talented squad. Same thing with Kirk Cousins. That big contract starting to look, I don't know, man. Probably after this year, not going to see a lot of 38 plus, you know, year olds signing big contracts after Achilles injury. Like I think this season kind of killed that for sure. The Chicago Bears is on that list. Lots of talent. We'll kind of go on that a little bit. But Jason, I kind of came around the corner a little bit where whereas I, I, I still think like the playoffs were too high of an expectation there, I still think they should have a few, a few more wins, you know, so we can talk about that Eber flu stuff again. Justin Tucker too good to be this bad? Did he lose his mojo? Honestly, like he's only missed like two extra free kicks. If you look at all the Ravens losses, I think they lost it by a combined of 22 points. Guess how many points Tucker's misses equate to 22 points. 22 points. Aaron Rodgers. Is he too good to be this bad? Is it, is it just done with? Is he done, Is this the nail of the coffin? Is his career over? Who's going to take a chance On a grumpy 41 year old Ayahuasca, you know, organization killer? I guess maybe we should send him to Chicago. I don't know. Just finished the job. Ryan Day too good to be this bad. My Wolverines. Aaron pulled out the big victory. Fuck your six win take for the season. We got to seven baby. It was a hell of a weekend. I'm really excited about that. And then Georgia, eight overtimes. They're too good to be that bad. I don't know some of their losses. Uh, but that's who I got in the category I call. I was kind of mixing both the NFL and college football. Kind of want to see your, your guys thoughts on any takes like that for the NFL this past weekend? [00:08:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean Rogers, I, he was too good to be this bad. I, I don't know if he's good anymore. And you talked about the Achilles and stuff like, and want him coming off. I mean overall the jets are if you guys, Jet fans are a curse franchise. So this was bound to happen. I believe it now for, for the Jets. I mean this is, this is just what, what their fan base is thinking. Yeah like they, the success they have has been very few and far between and they had all this talent and we kept saying oh it's a deep roster, they're a quarterback away. They get the quarterback and the offense just hasn't been there and Rogers just hasn't looked great. And you said yeah, who's going to take a risk on him? I, I don't know. I don't know if there's a team want to take a risk on him because you got a lot of teams that already got their quarterback situation lined up, you know, for the, for the, you know, near future and a couple teams that may need a quarterback. When you look at like the Raiders or a couple of these other teams, like, you know, There's a few QBs in the draft that you're probably going to take a risk on them before you're going to sign, you know, a big money contract to Aaron Rodgers. So it'd be very interesting. The Falcons, you know, that's another one. You know, I, we've been talking that all year. The talent they had, you know, is it the time now with Cousins that you need to see what you have with Michael Penck here? Because if they can't get things together and Cousins isn't going to get it done, his Penck need to get a shot because you've seen Bo Nick step up. Caleb Williams obviously been better the last couple of games. You know, Jaden Daniels has been good throughout the year. So Penck is one of the kind of the missing guys in that first round QB class. You know, is he going to give them some extra juice offensively that Cousins isn't provided after, you know, the turnover game he had? So Ryan Day, man, I, I guess I, I, I don't know if he's good. You know, he, he wins a lot of games, but I don't the big games is what's haunting him right now. Has he beaten Michigan yet? Because this is four straight. [00:10:34] Speaker C: Michigan one and four is one and four. [00:10:36] Speaker A: One and four. So one and four against Michigan, I think in Ohio State that's a fireable offense alone. They could probably not be good, but just losing to Michigan as much as he's lost and you know, I, I don't like the odds of this team in the playoff at this point either the way they've played. So really, I mean, we'll, we'll get into that. It's going to be, it'll be a heck of a shuffle for that, but. [00:10:56] Speaker B: Sounds good. [00:10:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I don't know if he's good. I mean, I, I had friends texting me that they wished Ryan Day upon me to be the head coach of the Chicago Bears this weekend. [00:11:04] Speaker B: So, hey, I've been hearing rumblings about that. [00:11:07] Speaker A: Nah, I haven't heard Ryan Day as much as Marcus Freeman has been the name out there too, that they've been talking to and the Bears would do that. They just ruined both of my teams. But I, I don't know. It's a good List Rome, Justin Tucker, man, like, I had a conversation with a couple of my buddies today, like, did the Ravens cut Justin Tucker? You know, this guy was the most accurate kicker in history. I don't think they will. You have. So you have too much history with this guy. He's almost kind of like a pillar and face of this era of the Ravens. But, man, like, when you feel uneasy about your kicker going into the playoffs, you know, this is what it always comes down to. It's going to be a field goal to decide a game, and you have this kind of leading indicator that there's a field goal going to be missed and he's going to do it, and that's what it's going to come down to in the playoffs. There'll be a field goal. Ways is it a field goal to send the Ravens to the super bowl in the snow against the Bills and Tucker can't make the field goal? Like, that's what you're kind of leading to. So, man, just a lot of question marks there where this guy was the most accurate kicker in NFL history and now he is having, you know, the worst year of his career. And now it becomes not the lock that the Ravens had in their back pocket for a special teams player. [00:12:18] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, to touch base. Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, I think he's done. You know, Happy birthday to you too, brother. [00:12:24] Speaker B: Happy birthday, man. [00:12:25] Speaker C: But, yeah, I think you got to stick a fork in them. I mean, I don't see anybody signing him. I don't see him being a backup. You know, I've heard rumors maybe he sits out, a quarterback, gets hurt, and then he comes in, you know, midseason next year, maybe, you know, try to fill in for a few games. We'll see. You know, the Achilles, he hasn't looked good. I mean, he looked a little more mobile on Sunday against Seattle coming off a buy. But, you know, his accuracy wasn't great. Made some, missed some throws, hit a few throws. Wide receivers, the jets as an organization is a mess. It's just been a mess from the start. [00:12:57] Speaker B: His post game was pretty interesting. He was really, really careful with his wording and didn't really take any accountability again. And he blamed the wind, I think, for not completing that pass. Who. [00:13:12] Speaker C: Who was wide open and was that Garrett Wilson? [00:13:16] Speaker B: I think it was Garrett Wilson, yeah. He blamed the win. [00:13:18] Speaker C: That was a bad throw. [00:13:19] Speaker B: And then he's like, you know, there's 11 other guys, so there's other mistakes that's happened. So he's. He's just like kind of distributing the blame around. [00:13:27] Speaker C: I mean he's, I mean he's right. I mean it's, it is a team game. I mean the quarterback, you know, gets the most out of wins and then if you lose, I mean the defense there has been poor, it's been bad. That's been one thing for sure. Ryan day. Yeah. He's one and four against Michigan. He's lost four straight, but 471 against everybody else in the big team. [00:13:49] Speaker B: 471 against everyone else. [00:13:51] Speaker C: Yeah, we, we question whether or not he can coach or not. But I will say this about Ohio State. I guess we'll touch more on it when we get into playoff and stuff. Every time they've had a bad loss, they've bounced back with a big win or showed up the next game. [00:14:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:14:05] Speaker C: Remember they lost to Michigan, got in the playoff, had Georgia beat. Marvin Harrison Jr. Goes out with a concussion. They, they ended up losing that game. Georgia comes back and beats them 43, 42. If he doesn't get that concussion, they go on to win that game, maybe going to win the national title. So I think Ryan Day in Ohio State has responded after losses to Michigan, especially embarrassing games. He does have that going for him. I did see one tweet from an ex player that Ryan Day needs to go because last time they were losing in a game, instead of talking to the team, he just went in and started yelling at coaches. So, you know, it's hard to say. I mean his record, he wins, they got great talent. They get to the playoff, we'll see what happens. They're going to be in the playoff. So they got that going for him. Justin Tucker, I'm not ready to cut them. I think the buy, I think the bye week is great for Baltimore. I think Justin Tucker said it best. He's going to work on mechanics, get this thing figured out. If after the buy this continues, you got to think about either cutting them or maybe just coming up with fluke injury and pinning him on the ir. And you know what's like the percentage. [00:15:07] Speaker B: That'S acceptable for a kicker? Like what's the. [00:15:12] Speaker A: I mean he was the all time leading kicker. I think he was at 90 plus percent. [00:15:16] Speaker B: He was. And then 90.9. [00:15:18] Speaker C: I think he came in this year. He's kicks this year. [00:15:21] Speaker A: Yeah, he's kicked. Yeah, I think he's sub 89% now. So. Which is like Eddie Pino, the Panthers kicker is not the most accurate kicker in NFL history. So. [00:15:32] Speaker C: And he missed two kicks on Sunday. [00:15:34] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's been a weird Year for kickers. I think overall there's been a. Been a lot of what you would consider layup stuff, like within the 50, you know, within 50 that these kickers are missing. But at the same time, you know, they're bombing out stuff from high 50s, low 60s. [00:15:49] Speaker B: So weird. They're making 50s. They're spotting quarters, but they're biting apples or like onions, you know, like that Seinfeld thing. Kind of weird. [00:15:56] Speaker C: Well, I mean, ask Ohio State about the kicking game. I mean, their kicker missed two easy kicks. You know, what a 34 yarder and what, another 40 yarder. I mean, those are kicks you gotta make. [00:16:05] Speaker B: Michigan's kicker came in clutch, dude. [00:16:07] Speaker C: Yeah, he's gonna make some money on Sundays. For sure. For sure. [00:16:10] Speaker B: Yeah, he came in big balls. Yeah. Yeah. I thought it'd be kind of fun just talking about, like, too good to be this bad. Nothing else pops in my head. I just thought maybe you guys might want to add to that. But Dolphins. [00:16:28] Speaker C: No, I don't. The Dolphins, the two of the thing, I don't really buy. I mean, they're too. They're. I'll say this. They're too good to be that bad in cold weather. [00:16:36] Speaker B: How about. [00:16:36] Speaker C: I will say that they look terrible in cold weather. [00:16:39] Speaker B: Oh, that's terrible. Yeah. [00:16:41] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:16:41] Speaker A: I. To finish off with the Dolphins, you know, the two of things, the big mark and I think for. For them, you know, they got to come out hot at the beginning of the year if they are going to be this questionable team in cold weather. But the defense just hasn't been as good as it was probably like a year and a half ago. And then the offense at the same time has not been nearly as good. You know, Tyreek maybe potentially like missing a step here at a certain point that wasn't as dynamic. I know there was a knee thing, you know, earlier in the year that they talk, you know, talked about. So, you know, all the questions around Tua, you know, is he the guy in Miami or. At this point, he's the only guy. [00:17:21] Speaker B: He's the only one. [00:17:22] Speaker A: And he's the one keeping the team together for the most part because they're dreadful without him. So he, you know, seemed to be worth the investment they had. The Cardinals, you mentioned. I don't think so because the Cardinals are right in the mix. I'd have to go back to the record, but I'm pretty sure Aaron and I both have the Cardinals at the bottom of the NFC West. Our preseason predictions, you know, the other three teams were. Were, you know, Especially the both of you guys were high on the Seahawks. I was high on the ners. The Rams were kind of in a. In a semi rebuilding mode. The Cardinals had some pieces, but, you know, weren't there. I. I think the Cardinals, I don't want to say they're a year ahead, but considering how bad the division is and they're in the hunt for the division title, I think. I think they're right around where they should be. And probably, you know, just since the division regress to them, you know, they're looking. They're looking better than they probably should have. [00:18:11] Speaker B: How about the 49ers then? Too good to be this bad. Lots of Pro Bowls, lots of injuries. [00:18:17] Speaker A: But lot of injuries for them. But at the same time, their wi. Their window is probably closed right now. [00:18:22] Speaker B: You think so? [00:18:23] Speaker A: Man, you got an aging McAffrey, which I don't know what's going on with, you know, the Achilles or the pcl, I think is what he hurt now done for the year. Trent Williams, I think he's 37 years old. You know, he's getting up there from a tackle perspective. You know, Debo is getting old, older. I think he's 32 as well, so he's probably gone here. Iuke's the only, I think, young part of that core, but he tore his ACL this year. They're going to have to pay Purdy soon, and paying him is going to, you know, limit the amount of financial flexibility to get a bunch of dynamic playmakers. So, I mean, the window is super tight. Can they come back and next year with that? It's. This was kind of like their winning window. And last year they had all the health. They were like super healthy, which I think was the disappointment that, hey, they couldn't maximize that team and really get. Go to the super bowl last year. Now they have none of the health and they're gone. [00:19:19] Speaker B: No health. But I just think it's just one of those down years, right? NFL, they've been so healthy the last two years, and I think they'll just retool here and there. I don't think it's a full rebuild. I don't think that's necessary. I. I don't think it's completely closed. Just a bad year. [00:19:34] Speaker C: The. [00:19:34] Speaker A: The problem. [00:19:35] Speaker B: They should be playing better than this. [00:19:37] Speaker A: They. They should be. There's some definite wins at the beginning of the year that they probably, in hindsight would have put them in better position now. But you go in cycles of the NFL and, you know, you could say It's a rebuilding year, but there's a lot to. How deep the Niners have been because they've had a quarterback that makes like 800,000 a year. Eventually they're going to have to pay somebody here, and they're not going to be able to invest as much money in other sides of the ball, and it's going to be a different team. And how is, you know, potential if Kyle Shanahan's still there? He should be. But I know there's. There's. There's a lot of spoiled, unhappy 49er fans that are calling for his job. Those also might be. Those also may be Bears fans that are trolling and saying, yeah, they really should fire. As a diehard 49ers fan, they should really fire Kyle Shanahan. So. And he should have to be a sentence to be the Bears head coach. [00:20:23] Speaker C: Yeah, I think. I think lynch and Shanahan are. They're going to be sticking around. I mean, the 49ers, what are they. What are they, five and seven right now? They gave away three games. They gave away against the Rams. They gave a game away against Seattle, and they gave away that game against the Cardinals. Yeah, so they gave away three games that they probably, at one point or not had an 80% or more higher probability of winning. They've lost a ton of players. I think there was a stat yesterday that they've had. Their Pro Bowlers have missed a combined 34 games, the most of any team. They've. They've always done a good job of drafting guys late second, third, fourth round, and picking up depth. I mean, they still got depth, but their D line is shot. They don't blitz, so they rely on the pass rush. Now you're about a top five pass rusher. Nick Bosa out. They can't get to the quarterback, and then they got another corner that's out. A safety that's out. Their linebackers are kind of old and slow. Fred Warner's play basically playing on one leg, so. And then, you know, Trent Williams, like Jason mentioned, he's 37. He's still real productive, but once you get that age, you're not going to be around for 17 games. Those guys typically start playing 12, 13 games. The interior of their offensive line is banged up. And, you know, at Debo, Debo's had a terrible year. Kittle, are they going to pay him? He's an aging tight end. Probably going to let him go. So they got nice running backs, but Mason, he's on the IR now, so now you're down to your third and fourth string running backs. And their schedules has been brutal. They've had a tough schedule. I mean a real tough schedule. I mean you got Kansas City, they played Buffalo Green Bay late in the season right here on the road, I believe. They still got Detroit. [00:22:04] Speaker A: Still got Detroit. They got Miami, Chicago. Yep. [00:22:07] Speaker B: I mean this weekend. [00:22:10] Speaker C: So their schedule's been brutal. I mean, the 49ers has their window closed. I don't necessarily want to say that because that division to me is still winnable every year. And if they were healthy and closed out a couple of these games, they'd be winning it right now. [00:22:27] Speaker B: Stacked. Yeah. [00:22:28] Speaker C: But as far as them dominating the NFC and going 13 and 4 or 14 and 3, those days are likely over. This roster, they're probably looking at more like an 11 and 6 team if they're fully healthy and functioning on all levels. [00:22:41] Speaker B: Close. Recap. Real quick, we got Thanksgiving games. Which one's the first game? [00:22:49] Speaker C: Paris Lions. Bears. [00:22:50] Speaker A: Lions. [00:22:51] Speaker B: It was Bears, Lions. That was the first game. [00:22:53] Speaker A: Yep. [00:22:53] Speaker B: Let's talk about that game last. Giants and Cowboys is actually pretty entertaining. Cowboys back to back wins 27, 20. I don't know if you guys watch that. Packs demolishing Dolphins. Dolphins couldn't play at all in the cold. Aaron, your second quote unquote, second best team in the nfc. You're still holding the pack to that? [00:23:16] Speaker C: No, I've jumped the Eagles ahead. [00:23:18] Speaker B: Nice. [00:23:18] Speaker C: I've watched the Eagles the last three weeks. I've moved them slightly ahead, but if they do play in the playoffs. LaFleur have a good game playing. It'll be a good game. [00:23:26] Speaker B: Eagles look great, man. They look phenomenal. They're a great fourth quarter team. Saquon Barkley, Kellen Moore, the game plan he's put together, they look really unstoppable. They're a little slow coming out of the gates, but them playing the Ravens and just shutting them down like that, they have to be really strong favorites at this point. Now, number one, number two, maybe some people were saying they might be the second best NFL team right now. [00:23:58] Speaker C: You could argue him being the best. [00:24:00] Speaker B: Would you say that? [00:24:04] Speaker C: I think, yeah. [00:24:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I think you can. I mean, especially in the nsc. Like the Lions have been great, but I mean you saw it, you saw in the second half of the Chicago game like there were. There was some stop ability, you know, of the offense possible. I think Jared Goff, as much progress he's. He's made under Ben Johnson. There are glimpses of the, of the Jared Goff that was with golf from you, huh? [00:24:27] Speaker B: He's in my MVP list. And there's no love from you. [00:24:31] Speaker A: There's no love for me, I guess. [00:24:32] Speaker C: Jared. [00:24:33] Speaker A: Jared Goff's always going to be the guy that played the Bears in Soldier Field at like a 13 to 10 game or something like that. That was just brutal offensively and just, you know, and. And was a 13 to 3 Super bowl against the Patriots and stuff like that. That's. That's Jared Goff in my mind. But yeah, I think there's an argument for, for the Eagles being the best team in the NFC and best team in football. Aaron, I wanted your thoughts though, just as much. We've talked about the impact of Saquon and Derrick Henry and those offenses. Saquon right now, is he a top three MVP candidate? [00:25:05] Speaker C: He is the MVP candidate. I said it two weeks ago. He was my MVP candidate. I stand by that. [00:25:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I listed him as one of my guys. [00:25:12] Speaker C: Big runs, big runs again in the fourth quarter, he gets that team going. That's the thing with the Eagles. Rome, you said it. They start slow, but that big old line just wears on you. And Saquon in the second half, especially fourth quarter, they just bust off runs. And once he gets there to the second level, he's gone. That was a close game. You could argue if Tucker had made a few kicks that the game could have gone maybe differently. But he busted a big run there, gave him that cushion when it was 1412 to go up 2112. And that was the ball game. [00:25:42] Speaker B: The big thing for me. Jalen Hurts has been playing close to miss. [00:25:46] Speaker C: No turnovers, man. No turnovers. [00:25:48] Speaker B: This past game, only 11 of 19, 118 yards a touchdown. They've been going run first, pass set second. They've just been killing it, man. They looked really fucking good against Baltimore. [00:26:01] Speaker A: Yeah, and I, I agree with there. And I was kind of lobbing up a question which I knew the answer to, cuz I think we've been, we've been having Saquon up all year on the pod because I. He's been that impactful for a team that was just trying to pass, pass, pass all year with, with Jalen last year, you know, now having to be able to lean on Saquon and really be in the running back that, you know, he was coming out of Penn State that the Giants, I think, just never got the most out of. Now he's behind an offensive line that really, you know, is able to highlight what he can do now. I would have put him ahead first in the MVP until I watched the Sunday night game. Now I don't know if it's not. I'm a drawn a blank right now. [00:26:39] Speaker C: Josh Allen. [00:26:40] Speaker A: Josh Allen to lose at this point because, you know, if you're able to throw and catch a touchdown in the same pass of your own stuff and, and rush. Yeah, and rush. I mean, he's having the year that we said he would needed to have without the weapons that he had with digs and things like before. And it is now 100% Josh Allen elevating his game. So I, I think if the Bills are able to really push it here in this last month of football, potentially get the number one seed in the afc, I think, I think Josh Allen wins the mvp. [00:27:12] Speaker C: I mean, yeah, it's, it's, it's a, it's a real close call. We, we came into the season, I know me and Jason were low on Buffalo because we just weren't sure how great Josh Allen was with the weapons. With digs and everybody being gone, only one wide receiver returning and Shakur and a bunch of essentially no names. They had Kincaida tied in and Knox, but Knox has kind of dipped down in production. I think I talked to you, Roman. I mean, Josh Allen's the best quarterback in the NFL. People could say about Mahomes and whatnot. Josh Allen's the best quarterback in the National Football League. He just doesn't have the rings yet. Can he beat Mahomes in the playoffs? We're going to find out. You could argue that, you know, the defense has let him down. Terrible coaching decisions there, that 13 seconds left in the game that maybe. Well, you know, Buffalo may. And McDermott may never let down, but Josh Allen does some special things. What he's doing with Buffalo right now and they're, they're beating up bad teams, they're blowing bad teams out and they're beating teams that are average to good. They're beating them bad. They're not escaping week to week like somebody else in the AFC who's got, you know, 14 straight one score victories. So Alan, as Jason mentioned, if they get the one seed, it's a possibility he gets the mvp. You know, it's going to be tough, man. But you know, Saquon, Philly, they're rolling right now. I don't believe the NFL's ever had CO MVPs. I don't know if they'll be like quarterback of the year goes. [00:28:34] Speaker B: There has been, it's been about like almost a decade. Remember there used to Be like several. It was a P. And also Sporting News. They used to do split MVPs pretty often. I think it was Sean Alexander. [00:28:47] Speaker A: I thought Peyton Manning and Steve McNair or something was one year they're CO MVPs. [00:28:51] Speaker B: It might have been that or Sean Alexander and somebody else. Yeah, it's been. It's been a while. But yeah, I've been a big fan of Josh Allen. Been pretty vocal about it. But for him, I think it's all his to lose at this point. He just has more touches. Has he having a great year? There was addition with subtraction, you know, with Diggs getting out of there. He looks relaxed. He's not worried about, you know, feeding his diva, you know, wide receiver. Everyone's playing good ball. You got fun engaging rookies. It's a team environment. You got Bill's Mafia shoveling snow jumping, you know, half naked, throwing a. I don't know if you guys saw this replay. Someone was throwing a snowball trying to hit the fortifiers of field goal attempt out of the goalpost. Man, that was fucking hilarious. But yeah, Saquon though, definitely needs his flowers for sure. [00:29:44] Speaker C: But yeah, I mean give. Give a lot of credit to Buffalo McDermott and give a call of credit for Joe Brady, the O.C. [00:29:50] Speaker B: Oh, big time. [00:29:51] Speaker C: No, he hasn't. You know, Matt Rule and Carolina gave up on this guy after a year and a half into his tenure. Who knows what they could have been if they'd kept him. Matt Rule maybe could still be there coaching at Carolina. I know you're probably happy he's there at Nebraska right now. Rome. [00:30:04] Speaker B: Well, not the way they show up on Thanksgiving. [00:30:06] Speaker C: Yeah, but Joe Brady's done a great job there. He turned lsu, Joe burrow that team into a powerhouse that one season. He's going to be. He's going to be a guy. Not this year. In the next few years working under Josh Allen that's going to get a head coaching job in the N. Well. [00:30:22] Speaker B: If you remember, the Bills kind of had kind of like a rebuilding on the offensive side when what. What's his face took the job with the Giants. Right. [00:30:30] Speaker C: D D you know. [00:30:32] Speaker B: D. Yeah. [00:30:32] Speaker A: So then they fired Dorsey. [00:30:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:35] Speaker C: So who's now calling plays for Cleveland now, huh? [00:30:39] Speaker B: Doing better with Jamis, I guess, Right? [00:30:41] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, I think he just took over play calling maybe five, six weeks ago. Cuz Stefanski gave that up. [00:30:47] Speaker B: Which is when they opened up the playbook. Yeah. Big games, big wins this weekend, guys. Who do you think had the biggest wins? [00:30:55] Speaker A: I would say your Steelers first, the Bengals. I know the Bengals haven't had, you know, the record, and they've been underwhelming all year, but, you know, the Bengals are coming out to play offensively, and I think in that game, you saw what you wanted to see out of. Russell Wilson is surprised up and down the field and, you know, 44 points scored by the Steelers. I don't know the last time they scored that many points. [00:31:19] Speaker B: This was the 82 points that they scores the most points in the NFL game this year, the most in this storied rivalry. Typically, these are like 20, you know, low 20 games. Joe Burrow had 300 yards, three touchdowns. Russell Wilson 400 yards, three touchdowns, both had interceptions. George Pickens picking fights with everybody else, per usual, which is fucking hilarious. Jamar, Chase Baldwin. I really feel bad for Joe Burrow because this guy's putting up, like historic Brady, like numbers and God's not nothing to show for it. But I feel like we've seen this before, man. Like, I, like, I've been, like, getting, like, weird Carson Palmer vibes, you know, from the season. Is this like the. Who's like, the most cursed franchise at this point? You know, getting good players or fucking them over? Is it the Bengals? Is the Bears? Is it the Jets? You can't. [00:32:12] Speaker C: You can't put the Bengals in there. Just got to a Super bowl, man, a few years ago and an AFC Championship game. I mean, the Bears can't even get out of their own way. And same with the Jets. [00:32:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I. I would say if you went back to our childhood, and if you're talking the 90s Bengals, they were definitely up there, you know, when they're drafting Aaron's guy, Peter War, and that in that kind of time frame, that the Bengals were probably just the bottom feeders of the league. But, you know, I think starting in the Marvin Lewis era, you know, they have. They've been the third best team in that division, but they've been within striking distance of the playoffs, you know, year in, year out, some seasons of, some seasons down. But you mentioned it. You talked about Carson Palmer. They've had a string of really good quarterbacks. They've had Carson Palmer, you know, say what you want about Andy Dalton, but he was a very productive starter for that team paired with AJ Green for a long time. [00:33:03] Speaker B: And now, to be honest with you, you're absolutely right. [00:33:05] Speaker A: And now Joe Burrow. So, like, as a Bears fan, or if you're talking a Jets fan or, you know, some of these other franchises, like, they've Had a franchise quarterback every single time. That has been their quarterback for the better part of a decade at this, you know. [00:33:19] Speaker B: So how long was the red rocket there? [00:33:22] Speaker C: Shit, seems like almost eight, 10 years. He was there a while. [00:33:25] Speaker B: Was he? [00:33:26] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:33:27] Speaker B: Interesting. We gotta look that up. Um, yeah. Steelers though, by the way. I, I really like, like, like that one. I was pretty excited. Shootout. I saw the first half, it was pretty close, but then I switched over the four games. I kind of want to catch a little bit of the Seattle Carolina game. I want to see the jets game because that was really close as well. I was trying to see what. Whether a rod's gonna, gonna pull. Pull the rabbit out of the hat. But Steelers man, nine and three, two game lead in the afc. Tough schedule remaining, but yeah, I just, I just wanted to play 500 ball. This was a big win. They're right on target to play 500 ball the rest of the way. That, you know, hopefully the dude. The Chiefs were so close to getting upset by the Raiders like so many, so many games and they just. The other refs, the poor spotting at the end of the game, more flags that didn't need to be thrown. Like I've never seen this before. Like I feel like this is even worse than what Brady had. Am I tripping out? [00:34:29] Speaker A: I think you're tripping out. I think it's a combination of flags along with the one score games. That's everyone given there for the Chiefs. But I will say for the cheats, they have a rough road ahead to end the season. So I think Rome might, you might get your wish. They got, they got the Chargers coming up. You know, that's going to be a tight game. Chargers have been very good this season. That's pained up though a little bit, but still, I mean the Chargers played everyone very close, so that's going to be a close game. It's a different Chargers team, you know that, you know, potentially in the fourth quarter come out with a victory. So that's a tough game. Then they got Cleveland. That may be their easiest game. But you got Jameis, you know, if he could do something offensively and not. And it's not a turnover game, that becomes a very difficult game in Cleveland for the Chiefs as well. [00:35:13] Speaker B: Hopefully it does. [00:35:15] Speaker A: It could. You got Houston. They haven't been as good this year, but still a lot of potential on that team. Then you got your Steelers in Pittsburgh on Christmas Day. [00:35:24] Speaker B: On Christmas Day. [00:35:25] Speaker A: That's a, you know that, that's a really hard game. And then they end the year At Denver. So, you know, there, there's a lot of potential losses here for the Steeler or I'm sorry, for the Chiefs down the, down the stretch. So I, I, I Rome, I think you get your wish and maybe your, your Power 8 rankings, Rome's top eight, you know, and you ranking them, you know, seventh or eighth the entire year probably will be correct. [00:35:47] Speaker C: Rome was ready to drop them out of the loss against the Raiders. He like had him, he had them pencil and they won that game. He's like, fuck, I gotta keep him in the top eight. [00:35:56] Speaker B: One thing about the Raiders, I know you guys been going against them for like the past few weeks, but I'd be like, you know what? Like that. I've been watching some, you know, just little pieces here and there. They are playing tough and Bowers, he's just a generational tight end talent. Pierce, I'm not sold that he's the coach, but at least they're playing for him. Like the past few weeks they look like pretty tough. They're tough out. I don't know if he keeps his job, I think they should probably get somebody else. But the Raiders, for what it's worth, they've been pretty competitive and you know, using this out of Bowers. So it was really close, man. I was really sad that they, they couldn't pull it out. Other big wins. [00:36:34] Speaker C: You guys mentioned the Steelers. I'm going to go with the Eagles. Going into Baltimore and winning, that was big. That's a big win. They go in as an underdog and they looked very much the part, you know, the Lions during a dog fight. I mean, the Lions are a team that could either get the one seed or possibly drop all the way down to the five, depending on what happens there in Minnesota and even Green Bay. [00:36:56] Speaker A: They give me the six. [00:36:57] Speaker C: Yeah. So I mean, they've been steamrolling people. They've won a couple Colts games themselves here. Houston and the, and the Bears here on Thanksgiving Day. But Philly's basically locked in as a. [00:37:11] Speaker B: Two, so they're looking really nice. [00:37:16] Speaker C: And I'm, I know in two weeks I think it's going to be, it's going to be a dog fight. It's a game. I'm really curious to see when Pittsburgh and Philly play because I. Pittsburgh's better than Kansas City. They're going to beat Kansas City there on Christmas Day. I'm going to call it now. Just get it out of the rate. Mark it down, guarantee it. Pittsburgh will beat the Chiefs on Christmas Day and possibly with that Schedule. Get into that two seed and you could have the Chiefs dropping all the way down to three and Buffalo being the top seed and you could be looking at a, you know, Buffalo, Pittsburgh playoff matchup, AFC championship game. [00:37:51] Speaker B: I wouldn't enjoy that at all. I'd be real quick inside of Steelers, Bills. I thought that was really big. This is the earliest the team has clinched the division since the Patriots in that undefeated 160 year. They did it in week 11. Bills had a chance to clinch it this year in week 11, but the dolphins went on like a little two game winning streak to it. Kind of fucked that thing up. But they finally get it. Week 13, man, that's early as hell. Which is pretty impressive. I thought that was a big win. Vikings lucky to get out of that. They've had like a lot of close nail biters against the Cards. Jason, me and you were talking about this last week like I didn't know what the hell Murphy or Murray was going to do. [00:38:34] Speaker A: Kyle Murphy, man. [00:38:36] Speaker C: Hey, I still yet to know what Kyle Murphy's going to do. [00:38:38] Speaker B: Dude, I just didn't know what to expect. And like bam. They fucking showed up and almost had a chance to win. Seahawks, that was giving it to them. Colts, big win for them, right? [00:38:52] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean it keeps them two games out of a wild card and two games out the division. So it keeps things interesting at least in that conference. And maybe last wild card spot. [00:39:01] Speaker B: Yeah. And then the Lions. Let's just talk about that game because that was a big win for them. It kind of keeps them ahead of the pack. They got the Eagles soaring high, flying right behind them. They should have probably lost this game against the Bears 23 to 20 on Thanksgiving. Had everyone screaming at their TVs. I know, I was screaming at the TV. Call the time out, call the time out. Run a play, call timeout, do one of those two things. And then we all saw together in unison as a nation, like those seconds ticking away, ticking away, ticking away. Caleb Williams looking around, what the fuck's happening? Looked like he was waiting for a call. We end up finding out that he was waiting for a play to be sent to him. All of a sudden, you know, they get sad. Six seconds left, the audible play. They have Rome going across the field to the right side near the end zone. The ball was thrown a little bit short and time ended. And er, Flutz looked dumbfounded as fuck. Like, what the fuck? Like no one called the timeout. He looked fucking lost. Let's talk about that game because honestly I know you guys Mentioned some other games, like, oh, this is the game that you get fired for. This was the game you get fired for. And even the CBS crew you had, who, remind me, you have Matt Ryan talking about Bill Power, Bill Cower especially. They're like, dude, Iber flu. This is like his second or third brain fart at the end of the game where he, you know, he didn't run. A player called a timeout was a complete disaster. You know, Caleb got some blame. He should have called out. Does he not have permission to call timeout? You know, I know things are hectic, right? The clock's ticking, so all that stuff can be pretty confusing. But that play, that end of the game, Bear should have won. They came back roaring back in the second half. And that was the only coffin for Ibrah Fluss. They led him to the press conference, though, after they met with him in the morning. He was talking about facing the 49ers the following week. And then an hour later, he gets fired. We all find out together. Like, fucking bizarre, man. But, Jason, you must be really happy. I know a lot of Chicago Bears fans are happy. They're like, yeah, 11 months too late. Maybe 11 games too late. But it's finally happened. Now the question is, does Pole stay there? Should he stay there? Give us a breakdown. [00:41:36] Speaker A: I think going back to the game, it feels like this game was a month ago. For all the news that has happened since. [00:41:41] Speaker B: Feels like a month ago. [00:41:44] Speaker A: So much has happened since Turkey. Yeah, it was definitely the nail in the coffin, as you said. I think there, I don't think this was the absolute. I think he could have been fired after the New England game, frankly, for how poorly they were prepared for that. Not even talking about the Cardinals game that I went to Phoenix or to Glendale and to sit through as well, too. Three straight division games that all were within the Bears grasp. The block field goal versus the packers, you know, storming back versus the Vikings and messing that up in overtime after everything did Caleb. To get him back in the game. [00:42:21] Speaker B: I did that obvious. [00:42:22] Speaker A: And obviously this game. So your three division rivals, who are all fantastic teams, you know, they're all playoff tops of the nfc. You are playing with all of these teams, so you are in. In the conversation and have the competitive roster to win these games and you blow all three of them in this one. Yeah. Like you said, the nation. The nation was looking on. What are you doing? You know, I guess in his mind is I needed the timeout for if they get the ball in bounds and fourth down, they can Attempt the field goal. But on the flip side, and every analyst said this was you call timeout right after the sack, you get your team together, you call the first play and then there's enough time to get the field goal unit to run out of the field and kick the field goal. So that, that being said, obviously it was terrible. Everyone's talking about it, you know, the, the onto the next portion of it which was, you know, Friday morning you mentioned iberfluous does the press conference and then not more than two hours later it's sent that he's been dismissed as head coach of the Chicago Bears. So why are you, why are you trotting out the head coach? There was, I was looking on X for Chicago beat reporters and stuff like that. Basically like I think it was, it's 9:00 our time. So it's like 11:00 central. This is the time it goes. And it's like 903, 904. They haven't logged on to the call yet. The reporters haven't got the link. And then all of a sudden he's on because they thought, okay, maybe he's, maybe he's getting dismissed because, you know, he's their lease late. Well, he comes on, he talks, you know, talks through the press conference. It was super awkward. And then he gets dismissed. So that leads us to today. Kevin Warren, the Bears president and Ryan pgm. They had their press conference at the media. Warren did say that Polls is staying on in the GM for the future, which I agree is the right decision because the roster that has been assembled was Ryan poll. So this is a roster that should be in the playoffs. You can make an argument that. But they are competitive against playoff teams. And we're talking about head coaching decisions and preparation and whether it's coordinator hires or other portions of that, that was to the head coach's job. That's been, you know, the, the downfall of the Bears so far this season. So I think Polls is the right man for the job right now. Polls has had three huge mistakes as gm. Number one was the trade with your Steelers for Chase Claypool for a second round pick. [00:44:42] Speaker B: I think that was great. That was great. [00:44:43] Speaker A: I don't think, I don't think he'll ever live that one down. So that was strike one. But hey, he went big and flashy. Didn't know what was going to happen at the time. Needed a receiver, but obviously a huge bust of a trade. The second was signing Nate Davis as a guard in free agency who the Bears Cut, I think last week. So a guy who's supposed to be fixing your offensive line in the interior, they've cut. The third to me, was him not firing Eberfluce last year. Now give him a pass on this only because I know the history of the Bears organization and sometimes they're rather on the cheap and they're about loyalty and being, you know, nice and having continuity and all this type of stuff. So I think that was a decision from the ownership down. Why he wasn't be able. He wasn't able to fire Eber flu, so I'll give him a pass on that. But now it's about finding the next head coach and there's a lot of conversation about who the final decision maker is. And that was part of the press conference today. Kevin Warren says polls is the point man for it and he's basically making the call. But Warren's going to be involved in the conversation, which I think he should be. Warren wasn't around for the hiring of Eberfleet Loose. So my recommend, well, not that my recommendation. What I don't want is, I don't want any sort of search committee or any of that, that being a part of that. Because the two of the Bears biggest fumbles in head coaching and they've had a lot of them since they fired Lovey Smith. I had a previous pod where I ranted about since the McCaskeys fired Lovey Smith after a 10 and 6 season, they've had this litany of bad coaches. Two of them they have hired outside help for this. The first one was when after they dismissed Mark Tressman, they brought in Ernie, of course he the former Giants gm to help with the search there. Well, he hired his friend of, you know, 30 years, John Fox, you know, four days after he was fired from the Broncos and he had a, you know, utterly dreadful tenure for the Bears. [00:46:31] Speaker B: I did not like that hire. I remember that. [00:46:33] Speaker A: Terrible hire. So you, you bring in this guy, you know, who's his, you know, who's his friend probably, you know, this is a guy, he's got experience, Terrible hire was there. Then they brought in Nagie. They didn't need the outside firm or anything higher from that. But then they dismissed Nagie. Now when they hired Eber Flus, they brought in Bill Pulley in for that one and they had, you know, a de and I, you know, chair or VP for the Bears and somebody else was a five person committee and it was this whole thing to hire Eber Fl and I, I think I called this out to you guys before, but it was mine. And plenty of Bears fans and critics is that they, they narrowed down the Bears coaching search to three head candidates before Ryan Polls was hired. So polls only got to pick from a pool of three guys and Eber Fluss is the guy. But this is what this, the search committee did. So I want to give Ryan polls and say, hey, you have the open market now. You get to hire the coach you want. So this is, this is the biggest decision probably in Bears football somewhere though. [00:47:28] Speaker B: That Ryan Polls was the sole person that did second and third round interviews for the coaching. When he finally hired Eber Fluss, he. [00:47:36] Speaker A: Did for the three. So he picked out of a, out of a group of three and. But so you know, to me you're narrowing my options to start. I don't get to choose who I want to lead that organization. [00:47:46] Speaker B: So other two options, by the way, do you remember those or do you have that man? [00:47:50] Speaker A: I don't remember who it was. I think it was Jim Caldwell was one of them because that it was, it was another of the things that it's been very popular in Bears Twitter right now is the next head coach is going to be a leader of men. [00:48:03] Speaker B: That's what I'm saying. That's what I said. [00:48:05] Speaker A: That's the thing. The leader of men comments to talk about that and the last time. Oh no, I have. Okay. I actually have this tweet I found it was from Booger McFarland on December 31st in 2018. Chris Richard, Matt Eberflusse, Jim Caldwell, leaders of men teachers, clear Vision and Focus3 to keep your eye on. So these were the leader of men conversation years ago where it wasn't there. The Bears need to not overthink this, but they definitely will. Ben Johnson's the hired. It's who I've talked about forever. Too many Bears fans and he's the number one head coaching candidate in the pool right now. He needs to get hired. He needs to get hired. Mike Vrabel. That's the trendy name that's go around because he's apparently, you know, the leader of men as well too. [00:48:48] Speaker B: That would be a leader of men. [00:48:49] Speaker A: True. But I'll give for this Mike Vrabel, Mike Vril. Not as good once Arthur Smith wasn't his offensive coordinator. So, you know, the stick on, you know, I can lead these guys here, you know, goes out the window when you can't put a good offensive and defensive product out in the field at the same time too. So the other Thing Aaron mentioned Brady from the Bills. Don't want him either. As much as the resume you're breathing, you're bringing up to me, this is, this is the Josh Allen effect. All right? I don't, I don't want Matt Nagy 2.0 where I get the rub because I had Patrick Mahomes. For me, Ben Johnson has proven that he's able to do an offense with a guy that is not the top tier talent at QB with Jared Goff and build an offense and he has been the sole architect of that offense and that's what's proven to me. So that's what I want in the head coach. But I will tell you they probably won't hire Ben Johnson and I'm going to be unhappy with the hire. And this is the biggest turning point for the Bears organization probably in 20 plus years. [00:49:45] Speaker B: So leader of men. I think everyone's looking at Detroit for that kind of coach. Right? Just getting everyone to go to war for Mike Tomlin. He's the leader man. That offense has not been great either for a few years but you know, he's always trying to tool around stuff like that. I think they're just looking for someone that can actually just have the balls and have everyone unite behind them. He's not going to second guess themselves. Even Thomas doesn't make great decisions all the time. But when you're, we're talking about leader man like that though, Frable sounds really nice. I wouldn't want him to go to the Bears. That sounds like a really good hire to me. [00:50:19] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean Mike Vril sounds like a good, I mean Ben Johnson's the guy, he's the hot name. He's a hot name, but see what he does on offense. [00:50:26] Speaker B: How often does a hot name actually become a great head coach though? It's not a good track record. [00:50:33] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, but I mean he's doing things with Jared Goff. Maybe the Bears have similar weapons and would have a more mobile quarterback and Caleb Williams's upside's greater than Jared Goff's. The question is if the Giants, the Jets, are they going to write a, you know, give them a blank check and say, hey, Bears are cheap, they're not going to pay you, we're going to pay you as a first time coach, you know, 12, 14, 15 million similar to what the Panthers did with Matt Rule bringing him from college. They basically gave him a ton of money and everybody was like, hey, what are you guys doing? You know, we gave him 75 million for like 60 year deal. That was a lot for the Bears talking about leader man. I doubt they'll go this route. I mean, Ben Johnson would probably be the guy. You can get him I'd go with. But you need to bring in a guy that brings some sustainability and Bill Belichick's the guy. Bring him in. You already got a great defense. It can help him without that. And you got to get a great OC and a guy that can go in. Fundamentals will be much more better there. They'll be much more disciplined. They've got the talent. Those three guys, Raybould, Billichek and Johnson would be the top three candidates on my list. Any one of those three I think would be great for Chicago to hire. [00:51:43] Speaker B: I've been here at Belichick a lot with Vegas now. [00:51:46] Speaker A: Yeah, why it's hard for me to pass up a. Well, how many Super Bowls Is Belichick have? 8 overall if you include his 2 with the Giants as defensive coordinator. But Belichick notoriously wants total control of everything and if you have Ryan poles in place, he's not getting total control of everything. So I, I, I don't think that's going to be an option. Haven't even seen that name come out. So Aaron would be the person to throw. So I'd be, I'd be shocked with that. But it's hard to say, man, you hire an eight time super bowl champion being a bad hire. The variable thing just scares me because I mean I found the stat with Mike vrabel, with Arthur Smith 43 and 27. Mike variable after Arthur Smith 13 and 21. So your biggest thing of being the stability leader of men guy when you don't have a plan on offense and the rest of your coaching hires, that is, you know, setting your team up for failure. And if you're going to hire Vrabel, you better understand what is your plan for offensive coordinator? Who are you pairing with? Caleb Williams. What is your plan for Caleb Williams? Because the Bears have already wasted year one, so now they have four more years under Caleb's rookie deal and that's the window. So by year three and year four, the Bears need to be competing for NFC championships and going to the super bowl before you start going into the Caleb Williams extension and start going things out. So this is, this is the rookie quarterback conundrum. This is where you can pay, you know, people. The Bears have $80 million in salary cap after this year. So they're going to be able to pay to have people and they have a young Core, you can't mess this up. So if you're going to bring in Vrabel, okay, cool. You're going to be the leader of men, but you better get a detailed plan of who are the people I'm bringing in. Because you saw how bad Shane Waldron was as a hire, and all of a sudden we switch him up to Thomas Brown and you saw how much better the offense has been. So these hires mean so much more of what you're bringing into. I like Ben Johnson. He's already said he's calling the play. So that's an Andy Reid type thing that's going on where, hey, I'm calling the plays. I'm in total control of this team. This is where I go. He's been what I've liked most about besides all the offensive, you know, creativity and what he's done with there. But I like most about Ben Johnson says he could have taken, I believe was the Panthers job or the commander's job last year, and he backed out and said, no, I'll wait for the yes, I'll wait. I'll wait for the right one. There was a lot of people interested and he didn't jump at the first chance. So he knows his value, he knows what he wants to go do and what's going to be the right fit. So I'm hoping the Bears will be it. But if we're going to go these other routes, if it's variable, there better be a clear, clear plan of what you're going to do with your coordinator positions. [00:54:25] Speaker C: Yeah, I think the key for the Bears is they definitely need to hit a home run, an offensive coordinator, and Ben Johnson is exactly that. He's the most creative, best play caller in the game right now, offensively, hands down. I don't think that's even debatable right now in the NFL. There's some other guys that are pretty good, but he's the top guy. Brave roll, you know, maybe he goes to Ohio State if Ryan Day gets canned. There's been rumors there if he does get canned, he could jump ship. He could go to the college game. He's an Ohio State alum. He was there working there as a, you know, defensive coordinator slash coach with Urban Meyer in the early days there getting that program on the rebuild. So that's a possibility of Ohio State does decide to move off Ryan Day. But yeah, for the Bears, Ben Johnson makes the most sense given that creativity. He's got the offensive weapons, they've got money. I mean, for the Bears, another thing they got to be worried about with Thomas Brown. Let's say he wins four of these five games to end and we've seen it all games. All these intern coaches become the guy. It's like, oh, because you already know. You already know they're going to say Brown. They already know they're going to say Brown's a leader of men. Look at. Everybody's already done with the offense. [00:55:34] Speaker B: Yeah. In three short weeks. [00:55:36] Speaker A: It's. It's already. [00:55:36] Speaker C: This is the worst case. This is the worst case scenario for. For Jason and the Bears. Is the Browns a home run these next five games? [00:55:42] Speaker A: Oh, it's. It's already started. I'll tell you in. In the press conference today. You got all of Twitter. This guy's got Mike Tomlin vibes. Just got. He's got Tomlin vibes. And you know, he's, you know, no nonsense, engaging with the players, you know, accountable. You know, he's saying all the right things. So he's impressive. But yeah, that, that. Glad Aaron brought that up because, yeah, as good as Thomas Brown could be, this guy's gone from passing game coordinator to offensive coordinator to head coach in four weeks right now. [00:56:12] Speaker B: Impressive, impressive rise, like Game of Thrones type of rise to the top here. [00:56:16] Speaker A: Really getting through the ranks and sitting on the iron throne at Hallis hall in Chicago. But yeah, I don't love that because, you know, don't give me this small sample size of minor success being the vision for the franchise. Because what are you going to be doing to sell now? I'll say this. They. If they pass on Thomas Brown, maybe he's the most attractive candidate out there outside of Ben Johnson, and all of a sudden he's, you know, he's going to lead some team for the next 20 years. [00:56:42] Speaker B: That'd be fucking hilarious. That'd be so great. [00:56:44] Speaker A: It'd be so on par for the Bears. [00:56:46] Speaker B: It'd be really good. [00:56:48] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, also the problem is if Brown comes in, he's got the respect of the players. So if they win, you know, you're going to have a lot of players have his back. This is what happened to the Raiders, right? Antonio Pierce got the job because basically Max Crosby, their top defensive player, said, if he's gone, I'm gone. So if you have leaders, come out and say that. I mean, I don't know if the Bears even have a leader right now. Cause all their guys are pretty young. They don't have anybody that's really stepped up that has that team captain vibe that I know of. Jason may be able to speak on it. [00:57:18] Speaker A: I'll say it's Jalen Johnson. So Bears cornerback, one of the best in the league. Rumor has it was he went off on Eber Fluss and then coaching staff in post game, basically just ripping them. And many are crediting him with the change because polls and Kevin Warren were in the locker room after the game and I think he was the leading in the charge of how, you know, he is really done with it. And for Johnson, he's been in the league for five years and know nothing but losing. And so his personal thing is like, I'm one of the best corners of the league. He doesn't get the respect he deserves, I think in the national media. And he's been on Nothing but Losers where he just say he locked down Justin Jefferson last week. He, you know, he held, you know, Alvin Ron St. Brown to a pretty, you know, pedestrian performance this last week as well too. So he's doing his part and the defense has been doing their part, but stupid, you know, coaching decisions or lack of preparation has led to this guy having to sit on a losing team for his entire first half of his career. [00:58:17] Speaker B: Cool. I'm going to wrap this up here so we can go to college football real quick. Let's take like a quick 5,000 foot view of the, of the playoffs right now. 70% of the season's done. Only got a few more weeks left. Bills are locked. Chiefs are a lock. Unfortunately, Steelers are a lock. [00:58:39] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:58:39] Speaker B: And then we got, I think the. [00:58:44] Speaker C: Seven teams that are in right now. Chargers, Broncos, Ravens, Ravens, Texans, Texans. [00:58:52] Speaker B: Do Colts take that away. [00:58:57] Speaker C: It's gonna be awfully tough, man. I, I'd say right now those, those seven teams are in the driver's seat. [00:59:03] Speaker B: National League Eagles on top. You got commanders right behind them. [00:59:06] Speaker A: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The. The nfc? [00:59:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:59:09] Speaker C: The National League. Now what. [00:59:15] Speaker A: You said, you said the National League. [00:59:17] Speaker C: We're not talking baseball, man. [00:59:19] Speaker B: Whatever, dude. Who gives a shit? You guys fuck up all the time of these fucking podcasts. I'll correct you guys. [00:59:23] Speaker C: No, no, no, I don't want to correct you, but Rome, you've always said if I fuck up, correct me. [00:59:28] Speaker B: You've always said you'd be calling lafleur laflower like so many times now for like weeks. That's just like, fuck it. I don't care anymore, dude. [00:59:36] Speaker C: I don't, I don't care. I mean, you told me to correct you every fucking time. This is what you told me and Jason, am I right? Jason? [00:59:43] Speaker A: You are absolutely Right. [00:59:44] Speaker C: And I just want, if you want the change, I'll let Kyle Murphy be Murphy and I'll let it be the National League. Let's continue. Let's continue. [00:59:54] Speaker B: Eagles commanders do the Cowboys, they won back to back games. McCarthy has been pulling a coaching exercise out of his ass. I still think he's pretty decent. Not my favorite coach, but he's, he's been doing a pretty good job. Do they sneak in 5 and 7? They're not completely out of it now. Seahawks, Cardinals, Rams, 49ers are not even out of it. They're still a game and a half back. Lions, Vikings, packs, Falcons, Bucks. Who wins it out of those two? They're both tied 6 and 6 with Falcons owning the tiebreaker. I mean, I, it's packed. [01:00:35] Speaker A: The Falcons have been disappointing all year. They should have ran away with this division altogether. Your guy Baker, I don't know why you wouldn't like him at this point to really pull this out, but there's only one team getting in from the NFC South. I think it's one of those two teams, whether it's Falcons or Buccaneers. The commanders, the NFC east, they have that unlocked. And then the three teams in the NFC north are a lock as well, along with the Eagles winning the East. I'm sorry I said the commander is winning the east, but they're going to finish second. So the Eagles win the East. So I mean you pretty much have Lions, Eagles, Vikings, packers, commanders, all unlocked. Someone needs to win the NFC West. And so I think winner of NSC west and NFC south and that's, that's who it is. So I think it's tight, but it's probably Buccaneers. And at this point, I think you guys made the right call at the beginning of the year. And it's probably the Seahawks. [01:01:25] Speaker B: I picked them to be the wild card. I didn't pick them to win it. [01:01:28] Speaker C: Well, I said they had a shot to win the division. Yeah, they've got, they've got out of Arizona this weekend, Green Bay, Minnesota. I mean, they got a tough schedule. [01:01:36] Speaker B: What do you guys like more? Seahawks, Arizona or even the Rams? You give the Rams a shot or even the Niners. Let's do a pick right now. [01:01:45] Speaker C: 49Ers are done. [01:01:47] Speaker B: Already have a clip of you saying that. [01:01:50] Speaker C: Cardinals. I mean, I, I, I'm going to say this. The winner of the Cardinals Seahawks this week is probably going to win that division. [01:01:56] Speaker A: I would, I would say the Cardinals have the most favorable schedule left after that game because they played New England and Carolina before they Finish up with the Rams and Niners. [01:02:06] Speaker B: Carolina's been playing pretty good now for two weeks. [01:02:09] Speaker A: They have. I. You. You segue went into the Bears. I didn't want to interrupt, but I will say not biggest wins of the week. It wasn't a win for the Panthers, but I would say that was one of the most perfect loss. It was a good loss. And they've had a couple, you know, they've had a couple wins and a good loss. [01:02:22] Speaker C: So that was a good one for Tampa. Tampa. I want Tampa to get in. I just think those two losses to Atlanta might come back to haunt them when it gets to that tiebreaker. We'll see what happens. [01:02:32] Speaker B: Yeah, they should have took one of those, that's for sure. [01:02:35] Speaker C: Both got big games. I mean, Tampa's still got to go to the Chargers, but then they got. They got Vegas, Carolina, New Orleans at home. They should take care of business. All those games. Falcons still got at Minnesota, at Washington, Tampa. Tampa's got the schedule to get in. Can they. Can they take care of business? Real. [01:02:55] Speaker A: The. The NFC West, I think is difficult. They're going to all play each other. The Rams got to play Buffalo this week. The Seahawks got a pretty couple hard games. So did the Niners. You said that their schedule. So I. Man, it's going to come down to probably a 9 and 8 winner at this point, and there's going to be like probably three tiebreakers at the side of the division. [01:03:15] Speaker B: Do you think there's actually a nine and eight division winner there? Or possibly we're looking at a eight and nine division winner. [01:03:22] Speaker C: Well, Seattle's already got seven wins. Yeah, they win this weekend, they get to eight. If they lose, they're seven and six. Seven and six. Nine. Nine wins. You're gonna have to win nine games for sure to get in the South Division. [01:03:33] Speaker A: Nine wins for sure. I think if anyone gets 10, which is more likely the Seahawks. That's, that's, that gives them the division. [01:03:39] Speaker B: Offhand before we go to college, since we've been doing this like typically like the lines on Thursday. I just want to grab your guys take on Thursday's game. Packers at the Lions. It's going to be a hell of a fucking game. Who do you guys got? [01:03:57] Speaker A: Check the line really quick. So you got to line up. [01:03:59] Speaker C: See three and a half right now. Lions are really banged up, man. [01:04:03] Speaker B: They're really pretty banged up, especially on defense. Is it too much injuries on defense? [01:04:07] Speaker C: Detroit win it. I mean, Green Bay went in there, beat him last year on Thanksgiving Day. I would Lean towards three and a half. Man. That. That hooks. That hooks. That hook's worth the points. I think three and a half Green Bay might be my early lean right now. [01:04:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Early lean. You Jason? [01:04:24] Speaker A: Yeah. I would take the packers three and a half as well. Yeah. Worried about that Lions defense as you mentioned. I think this is going to be. You don't see a lot of them on Thursdays all the time. It might be a heck of a shootout here that, you know, 51 and a half. Maybe the number you're looking more is like, is that going to be an over? [01:04:42] Speaker B: Is that the over? [01:04:43] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:04:43] Speaker A: 51 asks what I see. Over, under. And I, I would lean out to the over right now that we might see some points put up on Thursday. [01:04:49] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm going to take the Lions. I think they played a pretty sloppy game and that was last week. So they basically had a week off, shorter week for the Packers. So I think they rebound. Goff, four touchdowns in this game. [01:05:03] Speaker A: I will say this. [01:05:04] Speaker C: No way. Golf gets four touchdowns and it's not a short week. Both played on Thanksgiving Day. Both teams have a full week. [01:05:10] Speaker B: Totally forgot packers played. [01:05:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:05:12] Speaker C: So packers, packers got the advantage coming into this game right now. [01:05:16] Speaker A: I'm gonna lean though. Roma. I will take the +3/2 for the packers. But I do think the Lions still win the game. [01:05:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Cool. I can't wait, man. That's gonna be a fun Thursday night game to talk about. All right, let's take a quick break. We come back some college football. F1 and anything else. It's already been an hour and five minutes. We're doing a Bill Simmons length pod today. We're back to talk some college football. Just for fun. We were looking up some videos right now. It was like melee fight central ufc boxing. This weekend in college football. Arizona, Arizona State. But that was pretty mild. North Carolina game, the Michigan Ohio State game. That was probably the biggest one. That was pretty great. But before we go into that actually, let's just go into that like that was like a fun game. That was a fun game. I don't know if you guys remember, Aaron had a prediction in the beginning of the season that Michigan was a 5, 6 win team at best. And we pulled out win number seven and the biggest win of the year, 7 and 5 against what? Number two ranked Ohio State rivalry game. This is a game that Ohio State probably was looking forward to winning. Right. Cementing their. Their positioning for the title game for the playoffs. And they got their ass smacked, handed it to them and Ryan Day. Lots of drama with that. Disappointed. Does he even come back? Does he even want to stay in Ohio State? Does he want to stay in Columbus? 1310. Hell of a game. I was watching the post game. Mullings was getting interviewed. All of a sudden the interview stops short because there's a fight breaks down in the background. You see Michigan trying to plant the flag and it was like a brawl. It was a good five, six minute brawl. It was classic. And of course they're saying like, yeah, you know, there's, there's no space for this in football as it happens, even in the NFL. We forgot to talk about that in the Jaguar game with Lawrence. Got hit with a. Was it a dirty play? I don't know. [01:07:30] Speaker C: Yes. Was it dirty? [01:07:31] Speaker B: Yeah, it was. It was dirty all right. It was pretty fast, to be fair. [01:07:37] Speaker A: It. It was, but it was dirty play. In the, in, in the 80s, they would have said that was like one of the big hits of the week, but it was a dirty. [01:07:46] Speaker C: It would have made ESPN's top 10 hits of the week for sure. [01:07:49] Speaker A: Dude, was it, was it, was it jacked up? [01:07:52] Speaker B: Jacked up. [01:07:52] Speaker A: Just get jacked up. [01:07:54] Speaker B: Dude. When I watch old highlights like that on, on, on you YouTube, I'm like, fuck, dude, these, these hits were bad. Yeah, guys are getting concussed all over the place. It was five Central though, man. I think that was the biggest game of this weekend. I think Michigan. Ohio State. Michigan wins. They win four in a row. Ryan Day, one in four against Michigan. This is a game that they should have ended the three game winning streak before Michigan retools in the quarterback room next year. And on offense. Unexpected. They'll probably lose next year as well. Does Ryan Day take off? Which is really funny though. I was kind of thinking like, where did Ryan Day coach before Ohio State? You just kind of inherited it. Usually like people that come up in these blue chip programs, they've like brought up at least like two or three other programs before they end up in a place like Ohio State. But not Ryan Day. Isn't that weird? [01:08:48] Speaker A: He was the, he was it within Ohio State. So he was the OC and QB coach under Urban Meyer. [01:08:56] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:08:58] Speaker C: Before that he was a quarterback's coach for the 49ers. [01:09:03] Speaker A: Yep. And Eagles and Boston College and Temple. So he made his way around his assistant. So it is a, it is an interesting head coaching hire, you know, given, you know, he really didn't have any big time head coaching experience prior to this. [01:09:20] Speaker C: Well, it was Urban Meyer that gave him the keys. So it wasn't like Ohio State went outside the box. Urban Myers basically was stepping down. What happened was going to the NFL and gave the keys to the Cadillac to Ryan Day. And that's how Ryan Day became the head coach of Ohio State. [01:09:44] Speaker B: Wild. No. Yeah, that was a big win. Obviously it's going to impact the playoff seating rankings, all that good stuff. Any comments on that game or any other big games that we saw this weekend? [01:10:00] Speaker A: That was a big game. Obviously a little bit of a shuffle with the rankings because now Ohio State's out of the Big Ten title game. They don't have a chance for the first round by which they're probably looking to get. At the same time though, they don't have to play in the Big Ten title game. So now they get saved an extra game. So if they were to lose that game, hypothetically, you know, they would have been playing the extra game to still play a first round playoff game. So I've been talking about that every week. But it's gonna be very interesting in the rankings on how they kind of decide this first round of playoffs for teams that didn't play in their conference championship game. [01:10:40] Speaker B: This is not the final one tomorrow, right. Is the penultimate. So the final ones next week. [01:10:47] Speaker C: Essentially the final one is this upcoming week are coming up Tuesday. I mean conference champions, we know how that's going to play out. I mean Penn State, Oregon are either are both in. Smu, Clemson and the ACC the winners in. And then Boise State, unlv, that winner gets in. But Georgia, Texas from the sec, they are in. [01:11:13] Speaker A: They're in. And that I. You said Iowa State, Arizona State. [01:11:16] Speaker C: Yeah, the winner of that's going to get in. [01:11:18] Speaker B: Oh, the final reviews on Sunday. [01:11:20] Speaker A: Yeah, so it'll be interesting because a Clemson, you know, a Clemson win gets them in. But then do you hold out an 11 and 2 SMU team over a three loss Bama SEC team like this. This is. [01:11:34] Speaker C: I told, I told Rome this. If Clemson beats smu, it bodes well for South Carolina because they just beat Clemson out of Clemson this weekend. So they. If Clemson beats SMU, SMU's out in South Carolina probably is that 12 final team in over Alabama and Ole Miss. Given the fact that they just beat Clemson at Clemson and now Clemson is representing the acc. [01:12:04] Speaker B: That's really tough. Alabama, I just don't think like their losses have been pretty bad and even some of their ones have been like nail biters games that they should have lost. The thing that I like about Ole Miss is the good teams that they Beat the ranked teams. Like they demolished them. Like they, they manhandled them. Their losses though, not great. Right. The one to Kentucky. They had a close one against LSU and then who else did this to Florida? Florida, that's right. Which Florida? Not bad. Right? They're having a pretty good year. South Carolina though, they're ballers. I, I kind of like leaning towards them as them deserving a playoff berth if there was one with three losses to get in. But. [01:12:52] Speaker A: Well, well, I'll tell you, the buzz online I saw today was Alabama is the favorite. [01:12:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:12:59] Speaker A: The betting favorite to get in. So regardless of any of the, you know, resume looking and things like that, like this is where the politics come in and where does the brand, you know, tell you? And that's where Alabama is going to lean. Where was it last year? Because they got, they got in the foreseeable last year. Where there was, was a, there was questions around even them getting in last year. [01:13:18] Speaker B: Well, they had that, what, two losses? [01:13:22] Speaker C: They had one loss. [01:13:23] Speaker B: One loss. [01:13:24] Speaker C: Well, no, they, they were. [01:13:27] Speaker A: No, they won the SEC championship game. So they. [01:13:29] Speaker C: Yeah, they lost. They lost to Texas. So then Texas went on. So Texas was guaranteed to get in. The question was between Alabama and undefeated Florida State. [01:13:39] Speaker B: Florida State. Yeah. [01:13:40] Speaker C: Obviously the committee said the brand and then Florida State not having their quarterback got them in. I would, I would agree. I think the brand of Alabama is bigger than South Carolina obviously and Ole Miss. But if you look at. And that's what it comes down to, I mean 12 guys are going to decide this. I mean us three, we could probably say we could each have one or two different teams. But Alabama bad loss at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt only finished 6 and 6. [01:14:08] Speaker B: Did they. [01:14:09] Speaker C: They got demolished by Oklahoma. Say what you want, Oklahoma just got whipped by LSU by 20 points. So the next week following that Ole Miss you talked about early loss against Kentucky, they lost a tough game at LSU was shootout. Now Bama went in there and won a month ago by like 20 points. So these guys kind of like canceled games out if you look at it. But if you look at the last six games, South Carolina 6 and 0. Ole Miss is 4 and 2. Alabama's 4 and 2. And like I said, the South Carolina I've been saying the team nobody wants to play, they just beat a, they just beat a number 12 team that was the last team out ahead of Alabama in the previous playoff ranking in Clemson at Clemson. If Clemson beats smu. If I was choosing just off merit, I'd give the edge to South Carolina. But the brand is the brand and it's Bama and Bama getting in and Notre Dame hosting them. I'm not going to complain if that's the game. [01:15:07] Speaker B: Just saying who you guys like it in the Big 12 championship. [01:15:10] Speaker A: Aaron's been on Arizona State most years. [01:15:14] Speaker B: I think they're the hottest team in the country right now. [01:15:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I would tend to lean with Arizona State. The big, the Big 12 has really been up for grabs for a lot of, for a lot of the year we've had. You know, BYU and Colorado kind of enter the fray. But I think, I think this is Arizona State's game to lose. [01:15:35] Speaker C: Agree Arizona State if they can. They've had woes in the kicking game but they've been getting touchdowns. They're playing a little bit better than Iowa State. They're a little bit better than them. Arizona State. Who would have thunk it? I think they're going to get in and win the big toll championship. [01:15:51] Speaker B: It's kind of crazy like with like all like the upsets because Clemson loses but then Miami loses so they back their way into the championship game. Do you guys like Clemson's chances? [01:16:09] Speaker A: I mean Clemson has been up and down kind of all year. They were my pick to win the ACC at the beginning of the year but I, I did not see SMU coming. I thought this was a Clemson Miami ACC title game. But Clemson kind of played themselves out out of it until Mario Cristobal did what we all knew what he was going to do and blew it when he really had the perfect opportunity to put this Miami team kind of back in the, you know, top of the college football, you know, world where it was in the early 2000s. But I, I think Clemson's definitely got, got the skill still. And SMU I think has just been under the radar. No one's talked about him all year. Wiley putting together a good 11 and one season. I'm going to pick Clemson though. [01:17:02] Speaker C: SMU is a good football team. I've liked them. Their only loss is a three point loss to BYU early in the year. Clemson's been playing well. Should have beaten South Carolina through a late interception with a chance to tie that game or win it there towards the end. Clemson's more talented. SMU I think is a little bit ahead of the curve their first year coming into the ACC got a lot of talent. They're young and raw. They haven't really been tested. I'm leaning towards Clemson winning this game but I wouldn't be shocked if SMU does win and, and get that automatic birth and a A buy in the playoff. [01:17:38] Speaker B: That'd be crazy. [01:17:39] Speaker C: But, yeah, going back to what Jason said, Miami 210 lead against Syracuse. And they. [01:17:46] Speaker B: I didn't catch the second half of that game. [01:17:49] Speaker C: I mean, Miami's been. They've been living on the edge all year, man. We. We've been talking about it. They. They were down 25 points in the second half to Cal. They came back and won that game. They had games against Louisville. You had the game Rome, where you say it was a touchdown. Me and Jason say it was an. [01:18:05] Speaker B: Incomplete pass against Tag, not a touchdown. [01:18:08] Speaker C: So maybe the football gods have come back around. You know, Crystal Ball was talking a lot of shit after they beat a bad Florida State team, saying they're the best team in the state of Florida. Guess what, Miami, the two best teams in the ACC have always been Clemson and Florida State, and you still ain't won a fucking title. She'll shut up Miami. I'm glad they're out of there. Gimme Clemson SMU all day over those piece of shits from Miami. [01:18:32] Speaker B: It's angst. [01:18:35] Speaker A: It's just wild that Miami's never won the acc. It's wild. [01:18:39] Speaker C: It really is. [01:18:40] Speaker B: That's pretty crazy. [01:18:41] Speaker A: I. It's maybe just. It's. It's in my brain because when I think of Miami, you know, you think of the Sean Taylor, Kellen Winslow, you know, Clinton Portis, Willis McGahey, you know, Miami Hurricanes. And this program has been down just so bad for so long. And when they left the Big east, when everyone kind of did and they joined the acc, you figure like, oh, besides, like, you know, Florida State, you know, this is. This. This should be, you know, something for Miami to really take up and dominate, you know, you know, some years in the ACC and they just been nothing. And then really is. Clemson, you know, dominated for quite a long time, and they've been on the downfall the past two years. It's been theirs for the taking, and they still can't get it done. So I. It was still an improvement year for Miami, but given that they got the right quarterback in the transfer portal, which they were missing, and Cam Ward was just so outstanding for the first, you know, half, three quarters of the year. It should have been. It should have been theirs for the taking, and they just Lew it, like two games that they should have easily won. [01:19:42] Speaker C: Miami had everything set up for him. They got the best quarterback in the transfer Portal, maybe the second best quarterback in college football in Cam Ward. Zero teams in the top 25 on their schedule, everything lined up Perfect. Florida State shit the bed. All they had to do was win out and could go probably into the ACC title game and lose and probably still sneak in. Now they've got losses against Syracuse and Georgia Tech, which isn't, you know, we'll get to Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech's not a bad football team. They blew it though, man. They definitely did blow it. [01:20:26] Speaker B: Congrats to Jason's Nordame for pulling it out. I thought they might get upset. Man, that was pretty close. [01:20:33] Speaker C: Never a doubt. [01:20:35] Speaker B: 49, 35. Thank God USC is done. Hopefully what's his face will finally get fired and that's the end of that. [01:20:48] Speaker A: I don't, I don't think, I don't think Lincoln Riley gets fired. They put a lot of, a lot of investment into him. I know there's, they've been losing a lot of recruits. They have been, I think they lost a couple like this week and then people entering the portal. So yeah, I. Notre Dame, it was a trendy thing to pick USC in this game because of obviously they're the raw talent that USC has and everyone's waiting for Notre Dame to slip up because the Northern Illinois loss kind of looms with this team. But once they kind of figured out, and I mentioned this in I think our pod last week, Rome, but once I figured out, once the Notre Dame offense figured out how to use Riley Leonard, both in the air but specifically on the ground to really have like a three headed attack with Leonard, Jeremiah Love and a Jadarian Price, you know this team has basically been next to unbeatable, you know, on the ground, in the air. Pretty dominant defense I will say. You know, USC for their, you know, for, for their effort in the game, they did make it, you know, fairly close throughout the entire game. You know they were able to score quite a few points on the Notre Dame defense. I think that was the, that was the most points the Notre Dame defense had given up all season and the most sense their Louisville, their 3124 victory over Louisville. So it was their most competitive game since the Louisville game was usc. But they did what they had to do. They won. They pretty much locked themselves into the five seed of the College Football Playoff. And you know they're one of the, I think they're one of the best teams in the country. I was going back and forth with some friends of mine because they, you know they just love all the SEC teams and so they're just talking Notre Dame is going to get blow out. But you know, Notre Dame, you know they, they, they took it to Georgia Tech early in the year and beat him 31, 13. And now you've seen, you know, Georgia, you know, struggling against Georgia Tech. It was an epic game, but, you know, they struggled against Georgia Tech and these other playoff, you know, teams like a Miami you talk about, lost to Georgia Tech. So Notre Dame has not had an easy schedule. They played, you know, undefeated Navy and Army teams that, you know, were doing good in that in there. Obviously the fsu, FSU wasn't as strong as opponent as it probably looked in. [01:23:02] Speaker B: The preseason, but fall from grace, and it's like an epic fall from grace for fsu just, they just, they're. [01:23:07] Speaker C: They're back on top, brother. Now they're back. Great hires this week. Great hires today and this weekend. I'm feeling great about Florida State, man. I'm bullish. I'm all in right now on them. [01:23:17] Speaker A: Yeah. But yep, yep, yep, yep. Whatever. We'll get to that next year. We'll talk about. For your bullish reporters. [01:23:24] Speaker B: They go to the kids table, dude. [01:23:26] Speaker A: Yeah, but I mean, Notre Dame, this has been their best season, you know, and in quite a while. And I think they're, they're a threat in the playoff. I think them not getting the first round by obviously hurts because they're gonna have to play the extra game at home, you know, potentially. Aaron said Notre Dame, Alabama, you know, hasn't gone well for Notre Dame in the past when they played Alabama in one of these big games. But it'll be exciting. [01:23:50] Speaker B: Yeah, my bad. Like, so, like the game was pretty close, man. And then the third quarter, Notre Dame kind of had touchdowns. So it was 21. 21. That's what I remember. Then all of a sudden Notre Dame went up 35, 21. [01:24:04] Speaker C: Well, Notre. Dame. Yeah, Notre Dame sealed the deal of a pick six. They had two there at the end. Yeah. [01:24:09] Speaker B: And then two more touchdowns. [01:24:10] Speaker C: Two. [01:24:10] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, two. Two pick sixes. [01:24:13] Speaker C: Yes. [01:24:13] Speaker B: Back to back possessions and that sealed it. 49, 28. That last session didn't mean much. [01:24:20] Speaker C: Yeah, Notre Dame's good, man. They are good. You know, we talk a lot about the Georgia Tech game. They got fortunate that the Georgia Tech quarterback was out, didn't play that game. That really benefited Notre Dame. I think they still would have beaten Georgia Tech, but it would have been a lot closer than that score indicated. That quarterback was back for Miami and back for Georgia. You see that Georgia Tech's a much better team when he's in the lineup. But Louisville, that was a gutty win. That was A good win for them going to usc. Say what you want. This is the same USC team that Penn State should have lost to there at this stadium. [01:24:53] Speaker B: That's true. [01:24:54] Speaker C: Notre Dame's legit. The playoff is open. Anybody really can win it. There's not really one clear cut favorite outside of maybe Oregon. They have the edge right now. [01:25:04] Speaker B: Do you guys. [01:25:05] Speaker C: We'll see how they handle Penn State. We know Penn State and James Franklin has never been able to win a big game. He can, you know, kind of put those critics to ease a little bit if he can get a buy and beat Oregon. But that, that'll be. That's still a lot of tasks for those guys. [01:25:20] Speaker B: I just. Penn State number three match just like the. Oh, that's weird. They're ranked number three. Let's talk about that Georgia Tech. Georgia. Georgia Tech game. That was pretty epic, man. Eight over times. I think I caught it in. I jumped in the first quarter. I came back in the fourth because, dude, the score was like 17 to 20 something at the beginning of the fourth and all of a sudden we ended 44 to 42. It was a fucking wild fourth quarter. They both scored what, two, three touchdowns each. And I was really playing for Georgia Tech. This team's good. They're better than their 75 record, for sure. [01:26:05] Speaker A: Yeah, they are. I think you just. Aaron mentioned the injury they had at quarterback. They haven't been great in away games. They were one in four away. So they, they've been, you know, great at home. They were up 17 nothing in half. And I think at that point it would give us like, hey, this is, this is a legit upset alert right now. And even, you know, closing out the third quarter was 17:6 and the game was close and it was in their kind of hands to close out the overtime was exciting. They were trading blows back and forth. It was really a coin flip. You know, Georgia, you know, they haven't looked as impressive as the Georgia of the last couple years. So, you know, is there, you know. Yeah. Are they going to be the playoff team, you know, going through this stretch? They're not going to get probably the first round by maybe. I don't know. I mean, they, they might because Aaron and I, we, you know, we think about Texas, but Rome, you probably have other thoughts. But it was a big win. It was a big game for Georgia Tech even though they didn't get the win. But it was, it was what Georgia needed to stay alive because a man. It would have just thrown the SEC into more chaos for, for what's going on in that conference this year for sure. [01:27:11] Speaker C: Man. Georgia definitely needed that win. That win secured them as playoff spot regardless of what happens against Texas this Saturday. Agree, Georgia's in the playoff. Had they lost, they would have needed to beat Texas again to get locked in for sure. [01:27:28] Speaker B: When are all the games this Saturday? Championship games Friday. [01:27:32] Speaker C: Friday night is Boise State UNLV for the Mountain west and for that at large because the winner of that game is going to be the Highest group of 5 non power 4 ring teams to win a conference. So the winner of that game is in and then the other games are on Saturday. Some I think Georgia, Texas is at 1:00 Saturday afternoon. [01:27:52] Speaker B: Let's do the lines for the championship games then on Thursday as well along with the football or the NFL. Unless you guys want to give your Mountain west take right now. [01:28:02] Speaker A: No, we can save it for Thursday. [01:28:04] Speaker C: I mean I already know who Jason likes in the Mountain west on him all year. [01:28:08] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:28:09] Speaker C: And I tend to agree. [01:28:11] Speaker B: It's time to bust out. [01:28:12] Speaker C: It is a home game. Boise State hosted. It's a home game the Mountain west. Have you win the conference regular season. You host the championship game in the conference. [01:28:20] Speaker A: It's on the blue turf, man. It's a wrap. [01:28:22] Speaker C: So we're looking at back to back blue turf games for Boise State here in the playoff or a buy for them. [01:28:27] Speaker B: I'm going to think it's going to be an NBA cup game with that blue turf. I will be sure to bring all our preseason predictions next week to see how we did all our picks, see how that all looks and turned out. But I don't know. That's all. I didn't really have much to talk about for college football like that Was it basically Michigan? Fuck yeah. Nebraska. You guys fucking let me down again. Not gonna talk about you. Ucla. You too. [01:28:56] Speaker C: UCLA beat the Fresno State. Man. They got the five wins. [01:28:59] Speaker B: Did they? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, they did. That was kind of ugly though the first time. [01:29:04] Speaker C: It was. It was an ugly game. [01:29:05] Speaker B: It was bad. Dude. [01:29:06] Speaker C: I didn't, I didn't watch much of it but yeah, I mean I'm surprised Rome you're not bringing up Texas victory over Texas A and M. Well, you. [01:29:12] Speaker B: Know it was expected. Aaron. You know when you expect. When there's like an expectation of winning championships. [01:29:18] Speaker C: Sir, do you got. You got Texas winning the championship. I'll take the field against. They were my pre season pick. [01:29:24] Speaker B: They're my prison pick. Texas. [01:29:25] Speaker C: I'll take. I'll take the field all day over Those guys. [01:29:27] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, they're gonna, they're gonna beat Georgia this week for sure. [01:29:32] Speaker C: So I think they might. Georgia's banged up. They're tired, man. Georgia's fatigued, dude. Been in, They've been in wars. Unlike Texas. [01:29:38] Speaker B: Yeah. 11 and one, ranked number two in the country. Not bad for the fourth, fifth best team in the SEC. That's all I gotta say. [01:29:46] Speaker C: I still, I still stand by that. [01:29:48] Speaker B: Fucking wild. [01:29:50] Speaker C: Just a wildest take your, your best win in the SEC is against what, the eighth best team? Get out of here. [01:29:58] Speaker B: Still wild. [01:29:59] Speaker A: Yeah. I would say we talked about in the preseason and just all the playoff talk for college, but the one thing I have not enjoyed, and these conferences are just too big not to split them up and have more parity in the scheduling. The fact that they don't do, you know, you got what, 18 teams in the Big Ten. The fact that you just don't have nine, you know, in each division of the Big Ten. And then I know they used to, and they got rid of it and now you have this to kind of randomize your playing schedules. But now this is what, you know, Texas gets gifted, you know, this favorable schedule of SEC opponents while other teams are playing, you know, way tougher schedules allegedly, you know, from an SEC perspective. And just the imbalance I think is not, it's not giving a good read of what can go there and it's from a content perspective for us, it gives us much more to talk about because now we're talking about how many three loss SEC teams are going to get in because the bias is, you know, that the SEC and the Big Ten are going to have to get three or four, probably four teams each in every year. And there's going to be this rationale that a 3 loss, you know, Bama team who lost every big game they had, but they play in the SEC is better than, you know, a one loss SMU team or whatever the arguments may be. So there's, there's something there, but that's probably not going to get ever fixed. You're just going to have this utter chaos of random schedule stuff because the schedule is so imbalanced. [01:31:32] Speaker B: Well, we'll kind of equal out one once we go to 16 teams. And no, I think, I think the. [01:31:39] Speaker C: Thing is the ACC are the other conferences. The Big 12 just got to get better overall. I mean, you have. SMU was great, Clemson was great, Miami was great. The fourth team that was supposed to be great in that conference was Florida State. They weren't. [01:31:54] Speaker B: Speaking of teams that didn't win big games. Look at Miami schedule, man. They haven't. [01:32:00] Speaker C: Well, we told they beat no teams in the top 25. [01:32:03] Speaker A: Nope. [01:32:03] Speaker C: And lost to two. I don't know if Georgia Tech is ranked now or not. [01:32:07] Speaker B: I thought Virginia Tech was ranked at the time. [01:32:09] Speaker C: No, Virginia Tech was bad this year. I don't even know if Virginia Tech got bowl eligible. They won five, maybe six games. [01:32:17] Speaker B: I don't even know. [01:32:20] Speaker C: They beat a Cal team that just got, just got demolished by SMU. SMU beat him what, 317 over the weekend. [01:32:27] Speaker A: Yeah, the. If I'm looking at this right, there was no ranked teams that Miami beat the entire year. [01:32:33] Speaker C: Six and six. Virginia Tech. [01:32:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:32:36] Speaker C: Mail the pack 66 gets you to a bowl game, man. [01:32:41] Speaker B: That's bullshit. [01:32:42] Speaker A: Yeah, Aaron's not wrong. I just think it's more, you know, you're going to have this conversation about a three loss SEC team every year that you're going to get some rationale about. You know, we got three SEC teams that all have three losses but they beat each other and they should be the best teams in there versus, you know, some of these other conference the resumes. Aaron's not wrong. Like Miami and SMU easily, probably both could be in the playoff right now if Miami does what they're, you know, what they should have done all year and they go undefeated going in and they could afforded the loss in the ACC championship game and they're probably a pretty good argument. But it's just tough. I think with the amount of teams in the conferences and the schedules you're looking at, you're just going to have a ton of this and you're going to have some, a lot of conference bias. I think with the SEC and Big Ten because those you talk about a power four, there really is a power two conference overall. [01:33:29] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean like you said, Jesus, it's two conferences, the SEC and the Big Ten and then the acc. The ACC really traditionally has been two teams. I mentioned Florida State and Clemson. Since Miami's joined the conference, I think Clemson's won it seven times. Florida State's one in five. [01:33:45] Speaker B: It's too bad there's not a fifth conference like a Pac 12. Oh yeah, geez, what a shame. [01:33:51] Speaker C: It's basically the Mountain west or Mountain west, part B, whatever you want to call it. [01:33:55] Speaker A: Now at a certain point, Rome, you, you, you start, you know, this would fear another pot, another day. But like the ACC is terribly unhappy with their TV contract because when it was signed it was great, but it's bad now, you know, Florida State and Miami went out of the acc. You know, there's a point where these teams are going to be going to the Big Ten or SEC and you're talking about those conferences being 20 teams. And then, hey, if you give three 20 team conferences, that makes up the 60 best football teams in the country. That's what it is. [01:34:24] Speaker B: I, I think we talked about this. So, like, I think that's where we're going. We're gonna probably go from 134 schools, whatever it is, down to like top 80 and everything else is like relegated. And you know, it's like a different Division one, Division two thing real quick. There's not like a real quick path for the new PAC 12 to get that 18 to become a legitimate conference. But the Mountain west does have that, um, and now they're working on, on a, on a TV deal. So my prediction is that the Pac 12 doesn't happen. Mountain west just bolt. Bolsters up. [01:34:58] Speaker C: Is that the right word? [01:34:59] Speaker B: Bolsters up? I don't know. I can't really talk right. I'm pretty tired. 11:00. I, I've been up since 3:30 this morning. So, yeah, that's all I gotta say. [01:35:12] Speaker A: So your prediction, There is no PAC12 or PAC10 and it's just gonna be the Mountain West Conference? [01:35:18] Speaker B: Yeah, it'll end up being a big Mountain west conference. Mountain West 8 up. The Pac 10, Pac 12, whatever it is, the Pack 2, the Pac 7 right now. [01:35:27] Speaker C: Well, you got what, Boise State joined the PAC 12, right. Or is in line two. Yeah, the, the shocker was UNLV pulling out. I thought UNLV for sure was going to join the PAC12 and then at the last minute, like stayed in the Mountain West. That would have given them the 18 that they needed. Which makes sense since the UNLV and Boise State have been the best two teams in that conference for the last two years. [01:35:55] Speaker A: Yeah. So you have Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State. All right. [01:35:59] Speaker C: With Oregon State and Washington State. Right. [01:36:02] Speaker A: All the states. [01:36:03] Speaker B: All the states. It's a, it's a state conference. The state of disarray. The state of disappointment. [01:36:09] Speaker C: Utah. Utah State's in there now too, as a seventh team. Right. [01:36:13] Speaker A: I didn't. [01:36:14] Speaker B: That's the Mormon State was. [01:36:15] Speaker A: It wasn't Gonzaga joining, but in basketball only or something like that. [01:36:21] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was that the Pack? [01:36:25] Speaker C: Yeah, it was the pack, yeah. [01:36:27] Speaker B: Yeah. But yeah, yeah. [01:36:29] Speaker C: So they will have, I mean, they're gonna, they're gonna have to work it out because you can't have a basketball power conference or whatever conference. [01:36:36] Speaker B: And the short one school still. [01:36:38] Speaker A: I think UCLA should go back to the PAC 12. That's just me. [01:36:41] Speaker C: I think USC should too, but. [01:36:44] Speaker B: Yeah, well, sometimes the grass isn't greener when there's more green on the other side. What about. [01:36:49] Speaker C: What is. What conference is New Mexico's in? The Mountain West? [01:36:55] Speaker B: I didn't even know the Mountain west had a legitimate fucking. [01:36:58] Speaker C: Where's New Mexico State? What conference is New Mexico State in? I mean, the Pac 12 is gonna. They're gonna take one other team. They're just going to. [01:37:05] Speaker B: There's nothing. Everything's locked in. [01:37:08] Speaker C: They still got a year. They'll figure something out. [01:37:11] Speaker B: They got one fucking year. Usually it takes another year or two to get them in the conference. Which means it's too late. The school have to come in right away. Someone's gonna have to pay a 30 million or 10 million dollar whatever it is, buyout someone is. [01:37:28] Speaker C: It's gonna be the conference if they want it to happen. [01:37:30] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. [01:37:32] Speaker C: I mean, the PAC12 already had egg on their face once. They can't afford it twice because this be it for them. [01:37:39] Speaker B: Let's take a quick break. When we come back, F1. And anything else sounds good. All right. All right. Now we're going to talk some F1, which was this past Saturday in Qatar. There's one left. Abu Dhabi, right, Jason? [01:38:00] Speaker A: Yep. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this weekend. So it'll be the season finale. Talking about last week, the Drivers Championship. Sparty been wrapped up by Max Verstappen, but still got plenty to race for for the Constructors Championship after this weekend. [01:38:14] Speaker B: Yeah, Totally forgot that it was on until me and my daughter went to go get the Christmas tree. And like they're already talking about like the initial results. I guess it just wrapped up. You know, I always have like sports radio on the. In the car. But when we got back, I. They were doing a replay. So my daughter did catch the last 20 laps. I didn't think she was actually gonna watch it, but then she saw a pink car, got really pumped up. She was like, is there girls driving? I'm like, not yet. Maybe you could be the first girl driver. She's like, yeah. And then she just sat there eating her cheerios and watching F1, so didn't see that one coming. That was not on my bingo card for Thanksgiving. She watched a lot of football though. So we might have a young little F1 fan now. She wants to race something. So. [01:39:01] Speaker A: Well, this was the first year, I will say there is an all women's Formula One kind of series, the F1. [01:39:08] Speaker C: Really? [01:39:08] Speaker A: Yeah, the F1 Academy. It was started by Susie Wolf. She's the wife of Total wolf, who's the CEO of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team. But yeah, Susie Wolf's a former racing driver herself. And so she got all 10 teams on the F1 grid to invest into, you know, a, into all women's series called F1 Academy. So that was actually decided this week. Abby Pulling, who drives for Alpine, which is the pink car, so she drove, she actually clinched the F1 Academy's first title this weekend. So she had podium in every race so far this year. So, you know, if your daughter wants to see it, there is, there is a path for women to get into F1, and it's the F1 Academy is a good starting ground for them. [01:39:53] Speaker B: I'm trying to get her to golf, trying to get her to do tennis. We're doing some gymnastics. Be really fun if she just picks up F1 racing. That'd be kind of cool, though. I, I, I'll be one of the mechanics for sure. Yeah, I'd be totally down with that. [01:40:07] Speaker A: Well, to get her to like a pole position or K1 space first, to see how, how she can do the carts around the track over here, you know, get, get her started. [01:40:16] Speaker B: Well, she drives like her mom. I'll be maniac. So we'll see. Maybe there's a chance, but yeah, man, break it down. Verstappen wins. Heard a lot of drama went down. [01:40:28] Speaker A: Yeah, a ton of drama went down really, from the qualifying is where the drama kind of started. And that was on Saturday. So this weekend format, I think we talked about it before, but there was a sprint race. There's a couple of those throughout the year, I think. Four of them, four or five or so sprint races. So on Saturdays, they do kind of a mini race. It's like 19 laps that they'll do kind of. If you're attending the F1 in person, it gives you kind of another event to go to. So they do a no pit stop race. There wasn't a ton of drama with that. The McLarens dominated the sprint. They finished 1:2 with Piastri, Oscar Piastri winning and then lando Norris finishing second. So the McLarens do what they need to do to clinch the title, but the drama got after the sprint race was done in the qualifying effort because Max was. Max Verstappen won the poll, so had put a great lap Time in, guy wins the championship. Still is not taking anything for granted at this point. He's just going to continue, you know, putting up great outings. But there's a little bit of drama with him and Mercedes driver George Russell. [01:41:26] Speaker B: Because, yeah, what was that about? [01:41:28] Speaker A: So at one point, you know, these guys go out and they kind of do like a warm up lap prior to them doing kind of what they call the flying lap, which is basically what their qualifying lap is going to be. And it's an open, hey, 10, 15, 20 minute session and you're just trying to put in your best lap and so you're kind of like, hey, first lap you're going slower, you're warming up the tires before you do your flying lap. Well, there's a minimum speed you're supposed to do, but at some point in this kind of warm up lap, Verstappen was accused by George Russell of driving too slow and Russell almost rear ended him at a point. And so after the qualifying was over, George Russell kind of went and kind of blamed the referees, which is the Stewards or the F1 officials. They're saying, hey, this was a dangerous maneuver. You know, he should get a grid penalty for this. The F1 officials unprecedentedly gave Verstappen a one position grid penalty, took the pole away from him, which gave the pole to George Russell. And so Verstappen took that personally because when they started the race he went straight at it and it's like, I'm going to just take the lead in the first wrap regardless. And he had some really harsh words for George Russell basically that basically called him out for being a fraud. Basically. He's got a public Persona and then there's one thing where it's this nice, happy, you know, British, you know, guy and then. But yeah, in person. But yeah, yeah, behind the scenes he's a bit of a snake and he's like, I lost all respect for this guy. He basically went at me and just trying to take the pole position. So that was kind of the drama in the race. I think the officials overall were the biggest kind of drama coming out of the race. Not just a result because you had Lando Norris getting a stop and go penalty that basically took him out of the points, which was just an insane penalty because he was speeding during a, during a caution, which was kind of a brief, not a safety car caution where they basically put like a, you know, just a brief caution if there's some, you know, car goes off the track or something like that. But apparently he didn't lift the gas and he was still going flat out gas and gain ground on Verstappen. And so they gave him a 10 second drive through penalty which basically just takes him out of the top 10. So that was devastating. And then we talked about this in the pre pod you had one of the Williams cars lose their mirror and it was on the front stretch outside of the racing line. But this is where a lot of the passing goes at the Qatar track is down the front stretch. So you have this mirror on there for like two to three laps. Eventually Valtteri Botas like runs it over, destroys the mirror to a million pieces over the track. Lewis Hamilton and Carlos signs blow out their left front tires. Don't know if it was connected or they're just wearing but it seemed very fishy that all of a sudden there's debris all the traff but the stewards and the. And the F1 officials don't call a yellow flag prior to that thing exploding all over the track. And there's. So there was other weird penalties throughout the race. So tons of drama. There is and we could talk about this in future pods. There is a pretty big riff between the F1 president and the drivers. And the way this stuff's getting officiated and they, the F1 president basically is telling you know, the drivers don't worry about it. I'm in charge of the sport. You guys worry about your own stuff. And he has not been popular to say the least amongst the driver side and the teams. But the, the F1's drama with officiating just like every other sport is pretty crazy. But some of their time penalty decisions definitely impact the outcomes of these races like pretty severely. As in the case of Lando Norris. [01:45:01] Speaker C: Yeah. Wasn't Lando like in the top five? He's racing like fourth or fifth at the time of that penalty. Ten second penalty. Right. [01:45:07] Speaker A: I think second or third he was like right. He was right behind Verstappen. So I mean that put him. He was able to crawl back and get 10th and he put in the fastest lap to give McLaren two points. But that really gave a lot to Ferrari because you know that kept Ferrari in the hunt for the constructors going into Abu Dhabi. So at least it gives F1 a little more drama into the final race because it's McLaren versus Ferrari for the constructors. These are basically the two kind of heritage brands of Formula One. Ferrari has the most constructors titles. McLaren is the second oldest F1 team. They have eight, they have seven or eight constructors titles. They're like third all time. Williams is second. So two of the biggest brands I think in F1 right now. And mclaren's really been on this comeback the last two years. And Ferrari, you know, they haven't won in forever. It's been Red bull and Mercedes dominating for the last 15 years. So it'll be interesting what the final is going to bring us. I think you're going to have a big battle between, you know, Lando Norris and Piastri versus LeClaire and signs and we talked about it last week. Rowan, this is kind of. Carlos signs his farewell for Ferrari before he goes into Williams next year. [01:46:14] Speaker B: Nice. Aaron, you got anything? No. [01:46:18] Speaker C: I mean, Jason pretty much summed it up. I mean. Yeah, I mean, he actually watched it. Yeah, he came out early like you said. He took that first turn, he basically blew by Russell. A lot of safety cars were out. I mean, you had a three. Three cars just right off the bat ran into each other there. So I think the safety car was out what, three times. Unless on this race at least, right? At least twice. [01:46:43] Speaker A: At least twice. You had five. Five cars not finish the race. So it was a lot of people out. You had the kick saber team with Joe bland. Yuju hadn't had any points the entire year. He's the Chinese driver for. For a kicksaber. He got eighth place. So he got. He got their first points of the year. It was the first time they had been in the top 10. So it was. It was his best, I think tied his best career finish, which was big for him because this is his last two races because he doesn't have a car a seat for next year for any of the F1 teams. So there, there was some interesting stuff going on this race with five DNFs. Lewis Hamilton, you know, my favorite driver. There was super drama with him at a certain point. The car was not good. He had the flat tire. [01:47:26] Speaker C: He had a five second penalty too because he got to an early start. [01:47:29] Speaker A: Yeah, they gave him a five second penalty because they said he got a jump start. And then at a certain point they made him come in and he basically said, I want to retire the car. And they told him no because you'll have to serve the five second penalty in the next race. And then he went back out anyways. And then they said, okay, retire the car. And he didn't. And he just, he just finished the race anyways. So, yeah, there was. There was just drama, I think top to bottom for this race as a whole. So it Was it was entertaining on a track that I will say it's not one of my favorites. And it was another weird thing. I haven't heard him talked about much, but it was. There's a graphic for every F1 weekend that usually says total weekend attendance. So, like, you know, when I went to the British Grand Prix, it was like 400,000 or the Vegas, it was like 350,000 people that attended, like, the weekend for the Grand Prix. It just said weekend attendance, sold out. [01:48:21] Speaker C: Yeah, I saw that. I did see that. [01:48:23] Speaker A: And I swear, when you're watching this race, like, you barely see anyone at this track, so. [01:48:30] Speaker C: I know track, man. It's a weird track. It seems so much different than watching the one in Vegas. It just was like. Yeah, it was like a weekend track that people were just kind of, you know, racing around. [01:48:42] Speaker A: It was. It was built. I think. I don't know how it was. It was famous for how quickly it was built because basically at the time of the. The World cup, they're just like, hey, we'll just build an F1 track too. So they just constructed this whole thing in the middle of the desert and put it up. But yeah, a lot of. There's a lot of people and, you know, fans of F1 that love the street circuits better. There's generally, obviously, better. Better views when you're going down the Vegas strip or you're in Monaco or you're in, you know, in Baku and Azerbaijan, which goes down some. Some really, like, cool architecture. So street jacks generally are a lot. A lot cool visually on TV and for the drivers. And there's a little more challenge. So there's some circuits, like, I think Tech Texas is a really good circuit and the circuit of the Americas that people like because there's a lot of elevation changes and different churns. You know, the British Grand Prix, I. I really enjoyed and thought that was. Is an interesting track. But a circuit like this one, where it's just in the middle of the desert, it's, you know, fairly flat. It's. It just really wears in the left tire. There isn't a lot of passing. The only true passing kind of lane is on the front stretch where the main DRS zone is at. So just not. Overall, just not a great, great place where there's a lot of good racing. [01:49:51] Speaker B: Real quick, I was kind of curious, Sergio Perez leaving Red Bull. I was reading something that he's technically on contract, so they really can't fire him, but there's like, there has to be, like, some negotiations Negotiations going on Red. There's like a few guys on the junior track that are going to get the promotion up and take his place. But what do you do with Perez? He doesn't really have a team. If he doesn't race with Red Bull, he's obviously going to get let go or something like that. It'd be like some mutual agreement. How's that all worked out? Or how does that all work out? [01:50:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, there's always tricky things with. [01:50:27] Speaker B: They make any sense to me. [01:50:29] Speaker A: Yeah, there's always weird things with F1 driver contracts and stuff. And I think things that are not released because these guys are. Can be replaced all the time. Sergio Perez has been an interesting, you know, figure with Red Bull. Red Bull notoriously has a very short leash for their drivers. So if you kind of go back and I don't. I don't think neither. None of you guys watch Drive to Survive, right? [01:50:51] Speaker B: So negative. [01:50:52] Speaker A: That's kind of Drive to Survive on Netflix has kind of put F1 on the map of the United States. And that was the drama starting. Red Bull was. There was Max Verstappen, who's been on Red Bulls, you know, for a while. But at the time, Max Verstappen was the number two driver back in like 2017, 2018, whatever year it was. And Daniel Ricardo left at that time, and he was. He was kind of the. He was kind of the star driver survivor. He left Red Bull, went to Renault and since then, the search for the number two behind Verstappen as he kind of inherited the number one spot on the team, they had. So they had Alex Albon, who basically got a half season. They had Pierre Gasly, who was driving that pink car for Alpine you're talking about. He got a half season and they, you know, kicked them to the curb. And then Sergio Perez was brought in for, you know, in. As a free. A free agent that wasn't in the Red Bull program. And he has been fairly successful and they've won the couple constructors championships. But last year, you know, he had a good first half of the year and just has struggled. And then this year, you know, he has been nowhere close. He's the only driver off the main four teams that didn't win a race, let alone multiple races, which the other seven in the top have. And I think from a Red Bull standings, you have the exact same car that Max Verstappen has, and he's been a dominant champion. And even the car hasn't been great this year. Sergio Perez can't even get out of his own way in the qualifying. He's generally knocked out in the first round every single weekend. And when you have these type of standards and you have a top four team, there's a lot of expectations. So he's gone. I think it's been the expectation. But who will replace him? The logical two choices are from the junior team, which is the Visa Cash app. Racing Bulls. So you have Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson. Rumors are that Lawson's going to get the spot and Yuki Sonoda will stay with the the Racing Bulls team. And then Red Bull. I think he's an F2 driver, but he's in the Rebel program. It's Isaac Hadjar. He's in Formula 2. I believe he'd get brought up to replace Lawson's spot in the Visa Red Bull team. So I think, yeah, I think Perez. They're probably just negotiating stuff by the teams. I think they want to give him kind of an ambassadorship role or maybe a reserve driver. Probably more a bash. They'll use somebody else for reserve at this point. But Sergio's really had a. Had a rough year and a half. [01:53:05] Speaker B: That sucks. That definitely sucks. Cool. I think that's it, right? [01:53:14] Speaker A: That's it, man. A lot of big weekend. Was that like a five day weekend of sports? And we got a lot coming up this weekend too. [01:53:21] Speaker B: It's a big weekend of sports. Yeah. It was more entertaining than I thought it'd be. It was good. A lot of football and this is it, man. Playoffs now for college, end of the NFL season, the holidays. It's cool. [01:53:39] Speaker C: I dig it. [01:53:42] Speaker B: Lines on Thursday. [01:53:44] Speaker A: Thursday lines. [01:53:45] Speaker B: Catch some clips on X and you two from source from the Sofa podcast. Follow us on Instagram as well some of Aaron's rants and takes. We'll be updating with some end of the year projections. See how we all went. We're all coming full circle with that. I'm excited. It'll be fun. All right, peace out, everybody.