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[Assistant] What's going on with Stephon Diggs? Six targets in the game, he had three catches, seven yards, did have that two point conversion catch. I know, but it was Gabriel Davis, who was the big guy, and maybe that's because partly they're focusing on Stephon Diggs, but this is not an isolated game where Diggs hasn't gone off in a big spot. What's going on there?


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[Assistant] Two hundred and one yards for receiving touchdowns. Alright, take a closer look at that. Pete, make a note of that. Neil watches PFT. He's got a question on that. Maybe you can cover that a little bit.


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[Assistant] Sean McDermott. Grandpa. Big dog. Yeah. Hindsight's 2020. You were coaching the Bills. Wouldn't you have squib kicked with only 13 seconds remaining in the game?


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[Assistant] And Romo made the point on the broadcast too, which I think was a good one, is that why did the Bills rush four there? You knew that Patrick Mahomes was going to have to get the ball, throw it. You're not going to get to him probably. I mean really, in that situation, could you just rush one or two and drop everyone back?


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[Assistant] Alright, so they blew it there, the Chiefs got down 13 seconds where the Cowboys needed 14 seconds to do nothing. The Chiefs had two plays in basically 10 seconds. Timeouts! Okay, they had the timeouts, although I think the Cowboys used their timeouts probably to stop the clock. Yea, they had to do it the right way, but just the fact that they had...


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[Assistant] And then one team got the ball, one team did not. And that caused a firestorm. I get it. Everyone's tweeting back and forth. I joined the party. I'm tweeting in favor of the current overtime rules because I like that urgency, the sudden death. You know it, win it in regulation because you know it could come down to a coin toss in overtime.


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[Assistant] Uh, a lot of people were saying different things than me, saying we should change it. Now is the time to change it. You have been a proponent of these rules for a long time. I have. You said, look, keep them. I like it. You know the rules. I didn't like when they changed the rules.


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[Assistant] Yeah, cause if you kick a field goal, now you do get a chance with the ball. And so it's like, defense is a part of the game too. Uh, after this game, are you still feeling the same way?


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[Assistant] Right now, so Pete would vote for this. And I do like that too, because you know, going in, right? You know, you're driving your Josh Allen, your Sean McDermott. You're like, all right, we know that if this game goes to overtime, chiefs are going to get the ball, right? And they might change it if you score.


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[Assistant] That's the argument of, it's kind of cool that you know that any time in overtime, once overtime starts, any one play could end it. Sure, sure. That's the argument for Sudden Death. You keep that urgency as like one play, this thing could be over.


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[Assistant] Uhm, but, I'm a, I'm a convert as well, and I was even tweeting in defense of the overtime rules as they are, and then I went to bed and I thought about it a little bit more. What I don't want to get into is, it's like, alright,


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[Assistant] Alright, so you kick off, or the coin toss happens, you're probably going to play defense first, just like they do in college, because you want to know what the other team does first, right? So, say they do that, Chiefs win the coin toss, they defer, Bills go down and score a touchdown.


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[Assistant] So then the Chiefs get the ball, say they go answer, and they score a touchdown. No team in that situation is going to kick the extra point. It's just not gonna happen. Because first of all, you just show that other team go down and score a touchdown and move the ball, so obviously that offense is clicking.


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[Assistant] So now you're saying you know, huh? You know these things, huh? Well, no, no, no. I'm just saying if this were to play out this way, my worry is that both teams scored a touchdown and now we're just, oh yea, now the real overtime begins.


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[Assistant] The second team to score the touchdown, they're always gonna go for two. Because you know that if you kick the extra point, all the other team needs to do once you kick off, is kick a field goal. Yeah, right. Right?


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[Assistant] Uh, is it really that difficult for the NFL to use the same OT rules as college football? I don't like college footballs. I don't like college footballs either. I don't, uh, although I have a way to fix college. At the end of the podcast, if we have time, I'll get into that because I thought about that too. I can fix college overtime rules.


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[Assistant] First 60 minutes of the game was irrelevant sometimes. In that college overtime, you're like, well, it doesn't even matter what happened there because it all came down to...


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[Assistant] You know, the problem with football is that if you win the coin toss and you get the ball first, you're going to have as many or more possessions as the other team. So there always is kind of a baked in...


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[Assistant] Little advantage. Little advantage for getting the ball first. So, it's hard to make it super, super equal.


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[Assistant] 4th quarter, final minutes of the 4th quarter, he's made some huge throws. Huge! Did it again here. Huge! At the end of the game, a big 44 yard catch to Cooper Cup at the end there. Who blew it? Who do we blame?


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[Assistant] In franchise history, in a playoff game, Tom Fears, back in 1950, 198. Remember that great Tom Fears game? I do. You do? No, you don't. No, I don't. I'm a historian, but I can't, I don't remember that one. I'm not gonna lie. Fear, the word with fear, Tom Fears. I mean, there's a lot of, you could have a lot of fun.


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[Assistant] Pete looked it up, he's seen that, uh, he got the numbers.


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[Assistant] Teams with four turnovers are 35 and 173 all time in the playoffs. Wow. A 168 win percentage. The last win was 2014, the Seahawks in the NFC Championship game versus the Packers before the Rams have done it. Right. Against the Buccaneers in the game that they dominated. So now, on the other side of it, Rams are moving on.


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[Assistant] Uh, a game in which it looked like the Rams were going to win last time they played in the regular season. If they had done that, we'd never be talking about the 49ers. Couldn't have gotten them out. Wouldn't have to be worried about it. Wouldn't have to worry about them ever again. But now the 49ers are coming to LA. They'll like the temperature there a lot more than what it was. A windchill of zero degrees in Green Bay. But it didn't seem like the Packers enjoyed that too much either.


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[Assistant] 13-10 was the final score. And everyone's talking about, at the end, the special teams gaffes. But I wanna, I wanna take a moment here and take a stand. Let's do it. And give the damn okay to the opposite side of that. So, Kristen, let's play the song.


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[Assistant] And it's really funny that, okay, yeaah, they messed up on special teams. How could they do that? They lost the game. No, this is what I say. Damn okay, 49ers special teams. Let's give credit to the team that actually made the plays. Richard Hightower. Richard Hightower, fourth season as the special teams coordinator for the 49ers.


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[Assistant] And Jordan Willis, they should be getting the credit instead of all this, you know, oh, the Packers blew it. No, someone had to make the play still, and those guys did.


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[Assistant] I was wondering whether you think the great receivers will always give you an edge or do they potentially lower the outcome for the team as a group? Adams is awesome, but does he keep Rodgers from distributing the ball and taking what's given?


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[Assistant] There was that last throw when he, uh, he bombed it to Devontae into double coverage. Remember that? Bad decision. You looked at the tape and Alan Lazard is open there for him. He should have hit the end cut.


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[Assistant] And a lot was made about the slow start on offense. They went three and out their first four possessions. They ended up with only five three and outs in the game. That was exactly the same amount as the Packers. The Packers ended up with


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[Assistant] Five three and outs in the game. And I think we haven't given maybe proper respect or enough individual respect to the 49ers defense. Uh, Paul Kessler, 40 forces, damn. Okay. 49ers defense and to Miko Ryan's not only this weekend, but being the best defense the last three weeks in the NFL. And I will give a shout out.


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[Assistant] To Eric Armstead, who has played really well down the stretch. I think some numbers point to him being one of the best, if not the best defensive lineman stat wise and pressure wise in the NFL the past few weeks. And, and, and they were once again in the defensive backs held up enough obviously against, against Aaron Rodgers in a tough test.


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[Assistant] Don't know, a lot of the chatter seems to be saying that he's made up with some of the people in the front office. Seems that way. And so maybe he's on better terms, but he was non-committal after the game. I don't know, what's your gut telling you? My gut tells me


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[Assistant] Alright, so if they do, uh, you're already saying they're talent deficient. If they have to pay these guys more money, then you're going to be even more talent deficient.


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[Assistant] Alright, congratulations to Peanut. Congratulations to the 49ers. They're moving on to play in LA once again. Winner goes to the Super Bowl right there. They don't even have to leave again. I wonder if they can go back home. Isn't that crazy? Let's just stay here.


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[Assistant] Thanks for the tidbit. History. You know, I need my history lessons. Although I'll immediately forget it because my memory is not that good. Uh, the Bengals beat the Titans 19 to 16 another walk off field goal. This one, Evan McPherson, who's been on fire. Maybe we'll give him a little bit love a little bit later, but I would like to start this.


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[Assistant] The podcast of Ryan Tannehill. We have been a supporter, a vocal supporter of Ryan Tannehill. And so that game on Saturday, that was a rough day for us. Because I think we've been more supportive of him than perhaps even Titan's podcasts that have been out there. Uh, three interceptions to this one, the last one leading to the game winning field goal. I don't think


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[Assistant] I mean, I think he still made some big plays in this game. The two touchdown drives, obviously, he made the big throw on the touchdown pass. Yea. And the other touchdown drive made a big 41 yard pass to A.J. Brown. Right. The field goal drive, big play to Brown in the middle too. He made some big plays in this game. Yes he did. I don't think all the interceptions were terrible. Right.


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[Assistant] What do you think? People are calling this a disaster for Ryan Tannehill. Would you classify it as that?


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[Assistant] I mean, you got 20 seconds left in the game. You're just trying to get, do anything you can. You're trying to be aggressive, which I like. I like teams that are aggressive at the end of regulation, trying to win the game. Um, it was a tie game. And so you're trying to like, Hey, let's win it because we don't want this to come down to a coin toss and overtime. And maybe we won't get the ball could be part of the thought process, but I do like the fact that they were aggressive.


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[Assistant] Go ahead, I didn't mean to cut you off. But I think there's two plays that are getting overlooked a little bit by the Bengals defense and it was midway through the fourth quarter. Tennessee had the ball, they were driving tie game. Have a chance to go for the go ahead touchdown or field goal there at the 35.


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[Assistant] And they had third and one, Tannahill kinda did a little keeper, tried to get the first down, and then a fourth and one, they gave it to Derek Henry, and got the stop. Yes.


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[Assistant] That was huge. Huge. I mean, that was where it seemed like the Tennessee Titans, they got the touchdown to tie it up, it's a 16-16 game, one seed, here we go, they're gonna win, momentum in their favor, and that totally changed the tide, uh, from that point forward. I mean, the Bengals didn't do anything with it there, but still, I mean, I think if Tennessee scores there, they're feeling pretty comfortable.


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[Assistant] They definitely did. Is there a chance that they lost this game because Derrick Henry was back?


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[Assistant] And that was something that they didn't have to think about the last few weeks. And of course, why wouldn't you want to with Derek Henry back, hoping he was a hundred percent, but didn't look.


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[Assistant] JakeTC2001 says, damn okay, Joe Burhoe, do you know how many quarterbacks that can be sacked nine times and not be phased at all? I wouldn't want anyone else to be the quarterback of my team.


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[Assistant] Our good friend Tomas Pena says, for the next eight years, there will be no connection more lethal than burrow to chase. Tell me why I'm crazy.


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[Assistant] The taste is just so, I mean, like, he catches though, it looks different. He's kind of like a, a Delvin Cook in that, it's like, when he gets it, he's like, wow.


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[Assistant] What a great story the Bengals are. Joe Burrow becomes the first quarterback drafted number one overall to win a divisional round playoff game within his first two seasons. I mean, they were a last place team last year and get in and now they're one went away from the Super Bowl. Unlikely they're going to get that. I think there's seven point underdogs right now going into Kansas City. Yeah. Okay. The way they.


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[Assistant] They protected, but who knows if the game is close late. Our guy, Evan McPherson, the 22 year old.


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[Assistant] From Alabama, who went to Florida, can kick in the cold. It didn't affect him at all.


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[Assistant] Because I hate when coaches do this. They, they settle for long field goals at the end of the game. I'm like, why are you settling for a 50 yard field goal? Like it's some sort of guarantee.


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[Assistant] Well, I guess for McPherson, I guess it is kind of a guarantee because he made that look easy, but I'm like, give him another 10 yards, make it a little easier. But they knew what they were doing and he, yeah, he's a weapon, right? It's automatic.


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[Assistant] Now I can go above 500. Right, so I'm working hard, baby. And you can rub it in Rodney's face, because we mentioned last time on this podcast that during our peacock show, remember that?


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[Assistant] So we don't know who you're going to pick yet to go to the Super Bowl, but we do have the odds from our friends over at Points Bet on who is most likely to be Super Bowl MVP. Don't know who's going to be there yet, but you can bet on it right now. What happens if your guy doesn't even go to the Super Bowl?


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[Assistant] You're listening, we got, uh, Patrick Mahomes is the favorite right now, plus 170, then you have Matthew Stafford, plus 320, Jimmy Garoppolo, plus 750, Joe Burrow after that, and then you get Cooper Cup, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelsey, Debo, Aaron Donald, and then Elijah Mitchell at plus 4,000.


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[Assistant] Yeah, Rams are favored by three and a half. Okay. But yeah, if the 49ers get there, I think the Deebo Samuel.


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[Assistant] Because I think other two players on there who are skilled guys who could win MVP theoretically are Travis Kelsey and Tyreek Hill. Right.


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[Assistant] Even though we've switched everything to Olympic mode, still able to fire up the music. Alright, here lie the Tennessee Titans. We'll do the Titans first here.


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[Assistant] And my Detroit Lions can't even sniff any of that, so. No, no. They should be proud of that. Alright, this one comes from a Twitter follower.


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[Assistant] A homie, Rob Taglia, sent in his own poem on the Tampa Bay Bucks. Wow. So I'm gonna use it. Awesome. Copyright infringement. This is right on. I'm surprised. What a lazy take by you. I saw it and I was like, that's perfect. I haven't done one yet. Alright, so this is from Rob.


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[Assistant] Since the rams broke the spell, they were under. That caused nearly too many a blunder.


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[Assistant] We'll see Brady harassed. Tom, was that game your last? For a bit. He'll keep letting us wonder. Well written. Well written. I like it. Good job. You had the perfect pros in there too. Yea, that was Omid quality right there. Pantameter was on point. Yeah, I love me some pantameter.


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[Assistant] I thought about this when I was thinking about the NFL overtime. I gotta think about this more too so I can add in, but go ahead. It just goes on for too long. It's like each team needs a possession, so here we go. Team wins the coin toss. At that point, they choose if they want to go first or second for the entirety of overtime.


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[Assistant] The whole time. Gotcha. Okay. So team wins the coin toss. We'll go second. Okay. So round one happens. The team scores a touchdown first. You answer with another touchdown. Alright, you go to round two here. Here's the problem though.


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[Assistant] From after round one on, starting in round two, first touchdown wins. So the team that gets the ball first, if they score a touchdown first, they win. If they kick a field goal, the other team gets a chance to kick a field goal or score a touchdown. If they score a touchdown, second team wins. But you always can end at any point after that, after round number one.


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[Assistant] That's interesting. I like that. So a lot could end in round one. Right. It would incentivize teams to end it in round one. Right. 100%.


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[Assistant] Alright, well, that was the best four games we will ever talk about on this pod. That was deep. It's all downhill from here.


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[Assistant] The vaccination status or lack thereof of Kirk Cousins into your picks last week. If only he had been able to play. If only the Vikings hadn't lost by 27.


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[Assistant] It might be different right now, but as we embark on the final week of the 2021 regular season, are you prepared, Christopher?


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[Assistant] Versus the spread, it's up to three games. Alright. Best bets, it's up to two games. Woah.


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[Assistant] I think I'm gonna have to start posting some angry tweets and Instagram stories calling you out and also sharing my bank numbers. That's how upset I am about this development.


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[Assistant] Alright, fine, fine. You still have a chance, but there's only 13 postseason games. So you got 29 games left. I know.


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[Assistant] If, if you take the lead in the straight up, that will be a shock. Because last week we only disagreed on one game straight up. Uh, oh and oh by the way. That's not gonna happen.


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[Assistant] I was very nervous about the spread. I'm surprised I ended up winning against the spread last week. 10 to 6 versus 9 to 7. I'll take 10 and 6 against the spread any day of the week. That's good. I'll take that.


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[Assistant] That's go to Vegas baby, until the next week when you go 2 and 14 against the spread and all the money that you want is gone. But I was happy with that.


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[Assistant] For both of us, that's not bad. Straight up. 13 and 3 and 12 and 4. That's a combined 25 and 7. That's Matt LaFleur numbers. That's pretty good.


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[Assistant] All right, we moved to Saturday, a doubleheader handpicked by the NFL with games that have some


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[Assistant] Playoff consequence and relevance. It begins with the Kansas City Chiefs at Denver. The Chiefs 10.5 point favorites. The Broncos aren't playing for anything other than maybe Vic Fangio's job if any of the players actually care. The Chiefs still holding out hope of being the one seed after squandering that top spot in the AFC in their loss to Cincinnati last week.


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[Assistant] 10 and a half point favorites over under a 45. 92% of the spread money is on the Chiefs according to our friends at Points Bet. Chris, I assume you take the Chiefs to win. Do you take the Chiefs to cover?


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[Assistant] The time I light up my weekly Saturday night cigar, a little relaxation before the stress that is the full day of Sunday Football Action, I will be up four games.


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[Assistant] And whether or not Vic Fangio comes back has nothing to do with whether or not they win this game. I think it comes down to whether or not the current ownership wants to tie the hands of the next owner with a new contract for a coach that the next owner may not want. So Vic Fangio, I think is going to survive because he's done enough for now, uh, to justify one more year


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[Assistant] And they go out and get a quarterback in the offseason. And you know, maybe GM George Payton is going to want to try to push for a new coach because they get a good quarterback in the offseason and Fangio may earn himself an extension. But I think Fangio's fate isn't tied to this game. The Chiefs need not just to win, Chris, they need to reestablish themselves after getting knocked a little wobbly against the Bengals. You want to go into the postseason feeling much better.


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[Assistant] Overall, both sides of the ball than maybe you do after what happened in Cincinnati where the offense got shut down in the second half, the defense did no shutting down in the second half. They need to get themselves off the ropes and feeling pretty good as the postseason arrives.


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[Assistant] Look, the Chiefs don't know what's gonna happen with the Titans and the Texans, and the Texans already beat the Titans once this year, and crazier things have occurred throughout the season. So, go ahead and win the game, and hope you get lucky, because if you do get lucky,


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[Assistant] You get a week off heading into the postseason. The Dallas Cowboys at the Philadelphia Eagles. Seven point favorites are the Cowboys. The line opened at two and a half at the points bet sports book. Now it's moved all the way to seven, uh, in favor of the Cowboys. 43 and a half over under. Again, I think we both believe the Cowboys win.


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[Assistant] They're the only team in this equation playing for anything. The Eagles already have their playoff ticket. It's not like they can win the division. Do you think the Cowboys come?


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[Assistant] Get the bad taste out of your mouth from last weekend and move forward. We move forward. Go ahead. Sorry, I was gonna say one thing. I didn't even pick, did I pick a score? 2717 is my score.


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[Assistant] And I can't remember what teams were involved, but there was the question of whether or not it was better to be a lower seed or a higher seed


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[Assistant] Based upon where the wild cards were falling and coach Dungy said at the time, it's always better to be the higher seed because the higher you are, the greater chance you're going to get a home playoff game, possibly host the AFC championship. That's what happened in 2006 for the Colts. They ended up one spot higher.


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[Assistant] They hosted the Patriots, they won the game, they advanced to the Super Bowl because the Patriots upset the Chargers that year.


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[Assistant] The potential send-off for Ben Roethlisberger that will be the exact opposite!


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[Assistant] Do you think that the Ravens win? And they, the Ravens, I thought the Ravens were done. They still have a, if this happens, this happens, this happens. Yeah, right. Beautiful mind montage opportunity to get in, regardless of whether they get in or not, or even have a chance to get in.


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[Assistant] They want to beat Pittsburgh. They want to send Ben Roethlisberger into retirement with a giant L on his ass. Do you think they accomplished that objective?


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[Assistant] Yeah, I got 27, er, 24-14, excuse me, the Ravens winning. And, and I don't want the Steelers in the playoffs because, the same reason I didn't want the Vikings in the playoffs, and a couple of weeks ago we didn't want the Raiders in the playoffs, so I've changed my tune on the Raiders. I only want teams in the playoffs that I think can win.


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[Assistant] And I don't think the Steelers can win away from Hines Field. They haven't won away from Hines Field since October 31 at Cleveland.


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[Assistant] They can't, and watch, now they're gonna run the table like they did in 2005 and win every game on the road. No they won't, I promise you that. Yeah, it ain't gonna happen. It ain't gonna happen this year. Uh, and, and they're not gonna make it to the playoffs, cause I think they're gonna lose to the Ravens and end their season and end the career of Ben Roethlisberger. Alright.


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[Assistant] The Cincinnati Bengals at Cleveland. The Browns are six point favorites. Joe Burrow.


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[Assistant] playing this weekend for Cincinnati. The line opened at Cleveland minus three with an overrunner of 44. It's down to 38 with Cleveland six point favorites. It's tied for the lowest overrunner of the week with Washington and the Giants. We know Case Keenum replaces Baker Mayfield who's going to have surgery on January 19 to repair the torn laborman his left shoulder.


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[Assistant] The Bengals resting some players and are going all in. Who do you think pulls this one off, Chris?


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[Assistant] So you've got the Browns covering. I've got the Browns not covering 23-21. I think 6 is a little too much because I think it's going to be kind of a close game. It's going to be kind of sluggish. The Browns were so lifeless.


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[Assistant] It's just kind of a lifeless, sluggish game, and you get those sometimes in the final Sunday of the season, whether it's a 17-week or an 18-week season. The Green Bay Packers, 4-point favorites on the road at Detroit over under a 45. According to points bet, 95% of the spread money is on the Packers, who are playing for nothing, but I think Matt LaFleur, Coach of the Year,


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[Assistant] Learning the lessons, the hard lessons that were learned by people like John Harbaugh. Yeah. Remember that two years ago? Right.


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[Assistant] Shut it down the final week of the season, had three weeks of downtime between meaningful games and got beaten in the divisional round. I think that, I think that coaches are recognizing it's worth the incremental risk of injury if it means keeping your guys fresh when they're on the brink of being the only team in the conference to have two weeks to get ready for the next game.


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[Assistant] There's nothing more that they need to do. They are the one seed. But it's one of those games where...


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[Assistant] You know, maybe it's an old school preseason game where you play into the third quarter and you get your starters out and give them a little rest if need be, but at least they went through the routine, they played in some of the game and then you reduce the risk if it looks like the game is in hand.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I just, I think that there's no reason to shut it down. No. There's every reason to keep it going, even if it means you're risking getting someone injured against, you know, a team that really has nothing to play for, and we know that they're kind of hard-nosed.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I, I, I just, I, I like the idea of keeping the pedal to the metal and not, not taking that three week break. Not after what we saw happen to the Ravens in 2018.


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[Assistant] Alright, next game on the docket, Tennessee Titans at the Houston Texans. The Titans are 10 point favorites, 43 over under. If the Titans win, they're the one seed in the AFC playoff field.


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[Assistant] As they'd get the week off and get Derrick Henry back for the divisional round. The Titans lost to the Texans earlier this year. Does history repeat itself or do the Titans get the win and secure the one seed?


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[Assistant] I got 30 to 17, exact same mindset. Look, Deontay Foreman's been running well. The defense has been good. Ryan Tanejo good enough.


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[Assistant] And yes, this is the kick in the ass that they need. This is the opportunity to engineer for themselves an easier path to the Super Bowl with Derek Henry ready to return.


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[Assistant] You don't have to roll the dice in the wild card round. You don't even have to get out of bed that weekend. You just get yourself ready for the divisional round at home. And if you win that one, you get the championship game.


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[Assistant] at home as well. The Indianapolis Colts on the road to Jacksonville.


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[Assistant] 15 and a half point favorites in a place they haven't won since 2014. But these are the Jaguars, 2 and 14. Clown costumes expected in the crowd because they're not happy that Trent Bauchy is going to return as the general manager. Can the Colts get the win they need to punch their ticket


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[Assistant] Has not responded to the firing of Urban Meyer.


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[Assistant] Uh, you know, in the past what we see is the coach gets fired, the interim takes over, and you see an artificial bump in the performance of the team because they're thinking, if we play well enough for the replacement, maybe


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[Assistant] He'll get the job and then we get to stick around. None of that. None of that. And I think that these players know that Darryl Bevel isn't going to be the permanent head coach. And I think they know that Bevel, I don't want to say he's part of the problem.


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[Assistant] But I think it was an Urban Meyer versus Daryl Bevel thing behind the scenes. That maybe even Bevel was one of the ones who was behind all the stuff that was out there. There's people who believe that. I don't know one way or the other.


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[Assistant] But they haven't responded to bevel getting the interim gig. And I think this is get out of dodge without a major injury. Let's just end this game. Let's just be done with it. We're going to see some business decisions being made and I don't fault guys in a meaningless game.


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[Assistant] For making business decisions. It's not like anything that happens in this game is gonna carry over to next year. It's not like, oh, we beat the Colts. That's our springboard to finally not being a shit team. Sorry, Kristen, you gotta...


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[Assistant] Several profanities you gotta take out of this one, but it's not, it's not, no, no.


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[Assistant] It's not happening. I think they're done, they checked out, giving up 50 last week to the Patriots was all I needed to see. 31-3, Colts win, and they cover, and they get to the playoffs, and they can still be very dangerous in the playoffs even though they lost it home to the Raiders last week. Bears and Vikings, meaningless game.


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[Assistant] Kirk of Cousins is back for the Vikings. Justin Fields will start for the Bears. Vikings are 4 point favorites, over under of 44 and a half.


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[Assistant] I don't think it's his last game as a viking. I'm not completely sure, cause 35 million, unless they can dump him onto Shanahan. No, I know. Hey, hey Kyle, you want to, you want to, Kyle? Kyle, you want to? It may be Mike Zimmer's last game. Look, I'll keep it very simple. I think it's going to be an ugly game. I don't see


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[Assistant] Anything spectacular happening. I think this is another business decision game on both sides of the ball. Matt Nagy's likely out. Mike Zimmer's likely out.


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[Assistant] 24-21 is the score that I pulled out of thin air, which means the Bears cover, but the Vikings win. But who the hell knows? This is the ultimate who the hell knows game, because I don't know that anybody's going to have any real motivation to win this one. This is, let's just get it over with and get the hell out of here. Although Zimmer has traditionally done well in meaningless


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[Assistant] Rise up and send him out with a blowout victory if he really is moving on. You know, it's just a weird vibe from both teams right now. So 24-21 is my pick, but who knows what's gonna happen. It won't be a best bet.


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[Assistant] That was your chance. That was your chance to pick up a game. Washington minus seven against Clown Show. They're going to be wearing clown costumes in Jacksonville. They're going to be clowns on the field because anytime you have to come out and say we're not a clown show, that makes you a clown show.


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[Assistant] Uh, at home, oh boy, they better give them more than a free medium soda for this one. Over under of 38, lowest over under the week, tied with Bengals and Browns at 38. 93% of the spread money is on Washington. Are you on Washington for the regular season finale at MetLife Stadium?


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[Assistant] Same reasoning, 27-17, uh, let's take a break. We will look at the late afternoon games in, uh, one of the two conferences. I can't remember which one. You'll find out when PFTPM and Chris Sims on button continue right after this.


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[Assistant] Hey FTPM, Chris Sims unbuttoned. Here we are, the final week of the regular season, the late afternoon games, oozing with playoff implications. At least for one of the teams. And that...


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[Assistant] That starts us in Arizona, where the Seahawks, possibly the last game ever of the Russell Wilson Pete Carroll era, taking on a Cardinals team that has lost four in a row at home. They get the win week 17 at Dallas. I think they desperately need to


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[Assistant] Pasta and meatballs time. Plain and simple gut feeling. You look at what the Seahawks did last weekend. I know it was against the Lions. They scored 51 points. The offense exploded. I don't know if there's...


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[Assistant] And I said a couple of weeks ago when the window opened on the ability to interview assistant coaches, if you fire your coach or tell him he won't be back for next season,


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[Assistant] I thought that teams didn't take advantage of that because these are relevant late season data points. You got two weeks left. How is the coach going to perform when maybe he's not quite sure what's going to happen? I mean that's pressure. You perform under that pressure, maybe you can put a team together that can win a Super Bowl in the future.


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[Assistant] I like what we saw from Pete Carroll. I think Pete Carroll knows that Jodie Allen, the owner of the team's got a decision to make and she's going to be influenced by what happens late in the season. You go into Arizona when they have a division title still up for grabs and you beat them?


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[Assistant] Maybe he stays. Even if that means maybe Russell Wilson goes. Or maybe they do enough in these last couple of games that they can convince Russell Wilson to stick around for one more year. Load up the cannon one more time. Crazier things have happened. Crazier things have happened this week. So I take the Seahawks 27-20. Pure gut feeling.


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[Assistant] And I just don't believe in the Cardinals. Even though they won last weekend in Dallas, I don't see them as a viable team in the NFC watch. They're going to win the Super Bowl now.


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[Assistant] There's just something about that one that makes me think they're going to pull that off. And let's, let's see. Prove me wrong Cardinals. You proved me wrong last week. Prove me wrong again. New Orleans Saints trying to prove people wrong that view them as not a playoff team. Four and a half point favorites at Atlanta. And we know this is a very bitter rivalry in the Falcons.


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[Assistant] Have been better this year than we thought they would be. There's seven and nine going into the final week. When they lose, they lose convincingly. When they win, they win by this.


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[Assistant] I got the exact same score. That's two games this week. We really do spend too much time together, even though it's only been three days a week during football season. Hey folks, soon it's going to be four days a week again, so get ready for that.


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[Assistant] Get ready for the Saints to win, even though I'm not 100% confident about this one, I'll tell you it won't be a best bet. I think the opportunity for the Saints to get to the playoffs if the 49ers should lose.


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[Assistant] Is enticing and the Saints are a team that I got no problem with them in the playoffs. Sure as much as I don't want the Steelers in the playoffs.


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[Assistant] Put the Saints on the road in the playoffs. They got the defense. They got the running game. Kamara get him healthy. He's been healthy lately. If Taysom Hill can run the ball, and I think they would unleash him more as a runner in single elimination games, I think the Saints could be a dangerous team in the playoffs, especially if they cross paths with the Buccaneers again.


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[Assistant] When we played like that. Right. Especially offensively. Right. If we could put it together, we could win the Super Bowl. And, uh, this one's a tough one. This one's a tough one for me.


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[Assistant] Because, uh, you know, the 49ers trying to punch their ticket to the postseason, and at some point, I don't want to get so caught up in these trends that I, I just blindly assume the trends will continue. I did that earlier this year in the Rams Cardinals series. Oh, the Rams own the Cardinals, the Rams own the Cardinals, and the Cardinals beat the Rams. So who do you think prevails in this one?


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[Assistant] Wow, wow. I was surprised. This is playoffs on the line for your guy Kyle. And I think he's gonna come up with another one of those game plans that cracks the code of the Rams defense. What are they doing well now? Use it against them, bait them into certain things.


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[Assistant] And, uh, I think the 49ers pull this off and get to the playoffs with a 23-20 victory and become a very dangerous and viable team in the NFC playoff field. Carolina at Tampa Bay. I don't think we need to spend much time on this one. The Panthers suck. The Buccaneers don't.


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[Assistant] The Buccaneers are still kind of playing for, you know, I don't know how many higher spots they can get on the ladder at this point, but they're eight point favorites over under 41 and a half.


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[Assistant] I'll go first. Tampa Bay 41-21. This is the tune-up heading into the postseason. This is the we don't need Antonio Brown game. Cyril Grayson has been great. Mike Evans is healthy enough. Gronk is still Gronk.


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[Assistant] They're, they're moving in the right direction and I think they keep it going after, after barely beating the Jets. This is one of those.


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[Assistant] To catapult themselves into the postseason with a big win, and they've been very good at home this year, except for the night they got shut out by the New Orleans Saints. But I think they continue it on Sunday and they end the regular season with a 20 point victory.


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[Assistant] Hey, the, the potential wild cards in the NFC are all very scary, whether it's the 49ers or the Saints, the Eagles, the Cardinals, you know, it could be the five seed is the weakest of the bunch, depending upon, regardless of who else gets in.


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[Assistant] Uh, whether it's Eagle, well we know it's Eagles, whether it's Saints or 49ers.


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[Assistant] Uh, I think I'd rather face the Cardinals than any of those three teams. Alright, let's go ahead and take a break. When we return, we'll look at the late afternoon games in the AFC plus our Sunday night game, an old school AFL matchup.


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[Assistant] A reunion of the holy roller as the Chargers roll into Las Vegas to take on the Raiders with a playoff berth on the line. We'll do that next year on this joint edition of PFTPM and Chris Sims on button.


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[Assistant] It's PFTPM and Chris Sims on Button presented by Under Armour. Here is the spot in the Joint Megapix Podcast where Chris talks to you about his friends at Under Armour who have still yet to send me a hoodie.


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[Assistant] Uh, click clack, I forgot about click clack. Click clack. The sound of the cleats on the concrete. Click clack. Well done. It started off as shoes, and it expanded into everything else. Didn't it start as shoes? I feel like that's what I remember. I guess the tightie, the tight shirt.


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[Assistant] I definitely don't want the tight underarmor shirt. I had one of those once, uh, once, um, yeaah. Not a good look unless you've got an Antonio Brown fizz. Little Roger Goodellish where you gotta pull down your shirt. You gotta have me.


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[Assistant] Here we go, Jets Bills. Late afternoon game, the Bills are 16 point favorites against the Jets. Biggest spread of the week, 91% of the spread money is on the goddamn Jets, as they said in one of the Adam Sandler movies. Anyway, uh, who do you like? Do you like the Bills or the Jets, and do you like the Bills to cover


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[Assistant] I think they win this one big, 34 to 13. You know, they, they still almost covered last week, even with three Josh Allen interceptions. Then you iron out some of those details.


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[Assistant] They got a lot of production out of Devon Singletary last week, which was very positive for the Bills. I think they're going to have a huge day. They're going to win the division.


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[Assistant] And, uh, they're at least gonna get one home game in the playoffs. Alright, the Patriots at the Dolphins. Dolphins had their bubble burst last week after seven straight wins. Got beat down by the Titans 34-3. The Patriots are six and a half point favorites. We know historically they've had trouble with the Dolphins in Miami. Will they have trouble with the Dolphins in Miami this time around?


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[Assistant] And I just had some popcorn and we saw that last week when he went to throw a pass and the ball went one way and it's, there's just, there's an element that rears its ugly head at the worst possible time and to and on can be in denial about it or they can aspire to have a better quarterback that will better fit the team and better enhance the chances of getting to the playoffs because even though they've been


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[Assistant] Decent the past couple of years, no playoff experience, no playoff birth, no playoff appearance the past two seasons. Alright, Sunday Night Football, playoffs on the line, potentially.


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[Assistant] It's winnin' in, with the possibility of it being screwed up, but we're assuming it's winnin' in, playoff playin' game.


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[Assistant] L.A. Chargers at Las Vegas Raiders, the Chargers of 3 Point Road favorites, highest over under the week of 49 and a half. This should be a great game. Can the Raiders


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[Assistant] It's fitting that John Madden's former team gets into the postseason just a week and a half after his passing, or do the Chargers with Justin Herbert, the AFC Pro Bowl starter, screw things up for the Raiders.


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[Assistant] I've got late field goal 24-21 Raiders victory and it defies everything that I believed about these two teams going into the season, but to have it boil down to one game in Las Vegas


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[Assistant] Allegiant Stadium will be rockin'. Don't go a-knockin'. It's a big, big night for the Raiders. This is their chance.


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[Assistant] And for the Chargers, it's just more of this same up and down inconsistency. You never quite know what you're gonna get. I expect at some point there'll be some sort of a fourth down call by Brandon Staley, the coach of the Chargers, that blows up on them and becomes controversial and I just feel like the Raiders, they're this close. It's right there.


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[Assistant] And they can really reverse a lot of bad vibes, a lot of adversity if they can pull off this victory and I think they will. Let's take a break. Best bets and Folsom Prism Blues picks when this joint edition of PFTPM and Chris Sims on Button continues right after this.


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[Assistant] PFTPM, Chris Sims unbuttoned. We come to the point in the program where we make our best bets for the week, and it's the final week of the regular season. Chris, you're up.


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[Assistant] The Panthers, I'd like to say a swear word, but Kristen's already got enough that she's got to scrub out today, but they are a, not a clown show, a different kind of show, a four letter word show. A shit show, I think is the word.


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[Assistant] I worry about that one just because the Packers really aren't playing for anything. When do they call off the dogs? When is Matt LaFleur?


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[Assistant] Dolphins beat the Patriots way back in week one. That's not something that Bill Belichick has forgotten, and he's trying to go into the playoffs with confidence for his young quarterback, confidence for his team, and what better way to do it than to mop up the floor with the Dolphins, at least by more than the six and a half point spread, Chris.


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[Assistant] Wilson Prison Blues, the one game you would take, uh, lying, dying in a gutter. One last game you can pick for this weekend. Who's the team in which you're most confident? I'm taking the Steelers over the Ravens. I mean, the Ravens over the Steelers. That's the one I'm most confident in.


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[Assistant] I'll take Colts over to Jaguars, cause again, if you can't beat the Jaguars, you don't deserve to be in the playoffs and all they have to do is win and they're in. We are out! Enjoy the games this weekend. See you next time.


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[Assistant] I find I can always tell on the air, like sometimes you can really see the dye and the color. I know what they're trying to do, but stay gray.


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[Assistant] I think it's fitting that we're talking running backs today. Cause it's like a November day here in early April here in the Northeast. Cause like if we were playing ball today, you would need a good running game. Look at it's running, it's gray, gross outside.


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[Assistant] Works well since like most teams want to get a guy mid to late rounds anyway.


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[Assistant] Jonathan Taylor, second round pick. Top three rushers in the NFL this year. Taylor, Chubb, Mixon. What do they have in common? Second round picks.


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[Assistant] You look at the top five rushing offenses in the NFL. Not one, not one of those teams has a first round running back from the recent few years running for that.


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[Assistant] Look at the teams that really build their offense around running the ball. Couple come to mind, Tennessee.


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[Assistant] Well Derek Henry's special, he wasn't a first round pick. No. You mentioned San Francisco, they would like to run it in a unique way more than other teams. They've got a sixth rounder and a freaky wide receiver leading the way in their running game. Exactly. This whole conversation is so fascinating this time of year.


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[Assistant] Is the league devaluing the running back position for first round picks or are they just doing, doing things differently in the running game as a supplement to the passing game where they're like, okay, do we really need to use that asset on that position to find the success that we want to have?


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[Assistant] I kind of look at it like the, one of the equivalents on the offensive side of the ball, something we hear a lot when a backup quarterback comes in, it's like, he can just be a game manager and they can win a couple of games. Well, that game manager is still going to have to hit a couple third and eights during the game. He's still going to have to play the difficult part of the quarterback. And you can say, we don't need a running back attack. Good.


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[Assistant] There are going to be a handful of games every season where you want to lead with the run, even though it's not what you normally do. Definitely. There are drives and plays in a game where if your running back isn't really, really damn good, you're screwed. Right. So it's like, I can jump on either side of the argument so easily.


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[Assistant] So what we'll do today, Crystal Rollout is top five running backs, five to one. And he mentioned that he loves the depth of this class. So because of that, I think we're also going to talk a little bit about some of your honorable mention guys. Some players you think will be good in the league, but didn't quite make your top five. We'll get to that. Before we get to your top five, just a couple more general things. Your 2022 draft rankings.


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[Assistant] Kind of from, from 10,000 feet here. What do you look for when you're scouting running back prospects? Couple of questions here, uh, from our friends who, who listen along with us. Tripod two, two times says, why are running backs so hard to evaluate? Seems like there are always a few late round guys who pop up on the scene that nobody talked about after draft or around draft.


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[Assistant] There's such an advantage, like what's one trait that always stands out to you no matter what the competition is doing?


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[Assistant] Javion Hawkins, right? And I think we have a list, uh, Pete, if we want to jump ahead to that, that would work the, uh, 2021 Top 5 running backs. Throw it up there. There we go. ETN, Carter, Hawkins, Harris, and Williams there at five. Go ahead.


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[Assistant] How about Najee Harris at 4 after watching his rookie season? Active as hell, he had over 300 carries and kinda struggled to be over 4 yards per carry, which I think is a knock. But him at 4, as a first round pick, what do you think?


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[Assistant] He has a little of that ability too. If you kinda group together the two Carolina guys, Michael Carter and Jomante Williams, after watching a little year one, which one do you see a brighter future?


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[Assistant] There was a running back, uh, my brief time in Minnesota. I forget his name, but he had a hilarious line. He said, you need two yards, I'll get you three. You need four, I'll get you three.


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[Assistant] Okay, we were just talking about Javontae Williams, your 5th back from last year. Let's get to your top 5 this year. Starting out at number 5, who's on your list?


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[Assistant] I mean, to me, that's even more useful. It shows up more in the NFL than someone who can hit you a home run. If it looks like a loss of two and you actually get one yard, that extra two or three, I mean, that comes into play every single down.


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[Assistant] It's kind of a must have right now. If you can just everybody picture that stretch zone run to the right. You see something back to the left. I mean that jump cut is needed all the time.


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[Assistant] If I set the unofficial over under at early to mid third round, sounds like what you're describing to me. Would you take the over or under?


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[Assistant] So, better in second half of games or better in second half of the season?


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[Assistant] Sitting here listening to you, I come back to something you said right away in this podcast, how you like the depth of this class a lot. And I think this is a good snapshot for you. You're talking about your fifth rated running back in this much of a positive way. It speaks well for what you think of the class.


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[Assistant] Okay, so at five, Ty Davis Price, LSU, bringing us to number four.


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[Assistant] Keep introducing us to him as we see. And the easy, I think fun thing to do. There we go. Compare him to his brother Daven Cooke. So there's what we see. He's a little taller, but he doesn't weigh as much.


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[Assistant] Let's see the speed. Both in the 4-4s. James Cook 4-4-2. Downwind Cook high 4-4s. Uh, vertical jump. James Cook a little bit better. Broad jump James also better that one as well.


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[Assistant] 67 catches for 730. That jumps out to me. First of all, the number. A lot of times backs catch a lot of balls and it's like 6 yards per catch. He's over 10 yards per reception. I love that.


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[Assistant] Bringing us to this question from, uh, at BBQ Chicken 43. Good handle there by the way. Thoughts on James Cook's value as a pass catching back. It seems like that's where the value at the position is going, but no one seems to be talking about Cook.


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[Assistant] So like, go routes? You're talking not just the receiver where he's just outside the tight end box. No. Like, out wide he can do that? Out wide too.


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[Assistant] Because the other way of looking at it, and it's a fun thing to do this time of year, if you want to look at the concern side and say, God, if he's that good, why aren't they letting him touch the ball more?


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[Assistant] I didn't think I was going to go with this kind of question when I saw him at number four, but just listen to you talk about him. Uh, one number here to back this up. I think Saquon Barkley in the last four years, the only running back to go in the top 10, all the other first round running backs, I think 24 to 32. And I bring that up because, okay, late twenties in the thirties, do you think a team that


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[Assistant] Okay, so that brings us to three. At five you had Ty Davis Price, LSU. Four, James Cook. We just talked about him out of Georgia. And I just have a feeling this SEC theme is going to continue here at number three.


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[Assistant] Damion Pierce. And we have some Combine sound from him before you jump into this. Cool, cool. This is from Indianapolis and he was asked the question, what is your running style?


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[Assistant] And he said all that with a big smile on his face. Love it. What are you showing me?


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[Assistant] I have the same feeling I've had the last three or four years with you where I'm listening to you describe someone at four, three or two and I'm like, gosh. He might be your guy. Why has he gone higher?


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[Assistant] Like catches it like not a liability or actually pretty good.


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[Assistant] I'm sure there are reasons he's three instead of one. Yes. What concerns are out there for you?


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[Assistant] 100 carries last year. It's not a lot. 9 career games with 10 plus carries. Also, not a lot.


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[Assistant] Ty Davis price five, James Cook four, Davion Pierce number three. Number two, buddy. Number two.


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[Assistant] Chicago Bear. Yep, he's pretty good. I think, I think I've emptied the tank on Cyclone running back.


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[Assistant] I like that about him. He's kinda like, when I watch him, like, smooth and rhythmic to the point where it's almost like, sometimes it looks like he's not going as hard as he should because he's so smooth. I know. It's a compliment more than it is questioning his effort, but his running style is just kinda that way when you watch him. That's why he's second though.


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[Assistant] Well said, and I know I kind of pushed you to jump ahead a little bit, but I mean, you ran with that, no pun intended, very well, because you took it to a place that was one of the questions that you had about him, which I think is good. So 1,500 rushing yards, a little more than that last year, led the FBS, how about as a receiver?


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[Assistant] And he is. Off the charts really, I mean high up there and all these things, height, weight. All of it.


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[Assistant] 10 yard split, 40 yard dash, 439 as you mentioned. The vertical was the best. Uh, broad jump above 90th percentile. I mean, this is for that position a very good athlete.


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[Assistant] I have one more issue with Hall. I want to bring up it and see what you think. Especially because with a couple of guys we talked about already that hadn't carried the ball or they did not carry the ball that much in college, you kind of like that.


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[Assistant] You get to haul, 531 carries last two years. I know. 111 more than any other running back in the Power 5. So it says a lot about his durability. Uh huh. Would you take it into consideration as a concern if you were thinking about drafting him?


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[Assistant] So four running backs that you like a lot. We were at this point a week or two ago talking about quarterbacks, and I wouldn't have said that. I'm like, well, Chris doesn't love the four quarterbacks that went before. I think you really like the four running backs we've already heard about. Bringing us to number one.


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[Assistant] I mean, what? Did you watch him play in the fall, like October, November? I did, definitely.


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[Assistant] You've touched on this a little bit, but I want to kind of roll it out here as the hammer because so many people are thinking about Reese Hall against Kenneth Walkers or top back. Which one goes in the first round? The biggest difference between the two is...


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[Assistant] So as I pointed out before, I mean, with the exception of Saquon Barkley, the running backs in the first round the last four years have been 24 to 32. You said you think he goes somewhere in the 20s. Do you think he's the one who goes somewhere before that 24? We haven't seen it besides Barkley in four years. Does he get consideration in the mid to late teens?


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[Assistant] Top fives are always fun at every position, uh, for all of us who love the draft, but especially when I can tell you really like all the guys. It's a little something extra to it. So before we get to your honorable mention, just to recap, five Ty Davis Price LSU.


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[Assistant] Yes sir. There's a list, that's a list. There's a list, that's a list. This is one position we do have to do the honorable mentions because I know that you love the class as a whole. I do, right. So let's start with Pierre Strong Jr., South Dakota City.


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[Assistant] Another one you like a lot, Bryan Robinson Jr., Alabama. Go ahead and throw up his measurables, uh, because they're pretty good as well. They are. Uh, from Alabama. Also like the way he catches the ball, catches the ball too.


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[Assistant] Ready to go to this guy? Sure. I have a question to get you started from GoLineStan. Right. Hey Chris and Paul, do you think Kyron Williams measurables are too poor to be an effective NFL running back? I thought he could be a good NFL scatback, but he only ran 4.65 at 194 pounds. It's gonna hurt him.


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[Assistant] So he plays, I saw him play every game of his career. He plays faster. He does play faster. You don't watch him and think, boy, if he was fast, he'd be, you know, then he'd be good. His effort and quickness and instincts are really, really good. I came home from one of the games in South Bend this, uh,


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[Assistant] This past fall, and my oldest son had a great comment about him. Like, did you watch the game? He's like, yeah. I'm like, what'd you think? He goes,


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[Assistant] Looks to me like every weekend, no matter who they play, Kyron Williams is a guy who just plays harder than everybody else. Yeah, I think there's something to that. And like, I know that's a very collegiate thing to say and to notice, but I mean, his effort and energy I think are terrific. He's a pro.


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[Assistant] I think from sitting here and listening to you talking about the backs and the draft for the last hour plus, Chris, like,


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[Assistant] There's the automatic conversation about where do they belong in the first round and all that, the devaluation, all of that. I think I might have created a word, but like now to me the lead story is how deep this class is. It's a fun debate or conversation about where they belong in the draft.


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[Assistant] Based off of recent history and where the league is going with the passing game. But I mean, the fact that there are so many backs that you described.


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[Assistant] Pointsbet first round running back, or the first running back drafted. Our friends at Pointsbet helping us out here. So they see it this way. Your number two back, Grease Hall, negative 250.


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[Assistant] As the most likely, the way they're viewing this class, and they have Kenneth Walker at plus 175 just behind him. So they're clearly the guys that everybody looks at as being the top two.


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[Assistant] I like your additions with the emphasis and the words, it just works out well.


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[Assistant] Monday was good. Monday was not. It was just okay. Just okay. It can happen. Yeaah. It seems like a great deal.


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[Assistant] What do we have here? Questions sparked by our Running Back Rankings podcast. Would you ever want your favorite team to draft a running back in round one? Only 15% yes.


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[Assistant] 60% say the earliest they want their team to draft. Running back is round 2.


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[Assistant] There's some good, there's some good history to say round two is a good idea. There definitely is some good history there. So that year that McCaffrey and Fournette went in the top ten.


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[Assistant] Overall, I think, uh, I'm, I'm searching for this year. I feel like you- Yeah, please do. Roll reverse here. Right, but Chimera was in that draft, right? I think there was a Chimera. I think that might have been the, uh, Chubb and Mixon. I think you're, I think you might be right. Let me see, let's see.


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[Assistant] The next three, and this is the year top ten where we have McCaffrey and Fornette. Next three running backs taken in round two, Dalvin, Coke, Joe Mix, and Alvin Camaro.


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[Assistant] Sit down and be like, okay, I'm gonna compare first round backs to second round backs the last five years. And Kareem Hunt was right after that. Geez. Holy cow. James Connor as well. Gosh. It's just everywhere.


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[Assistant] Round two, be ready to hear your name called. Yea, that's right. That's basically what it is.


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[Assistant] Hi, I'm Mike Tirico and thanks for watching. Make sure to hit subscribe for the latest news and highlights from NBC Sports.


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[Assistant] Oh yeaah, what's up everybody, it's Chris Sims, it's Chris Sims on Button, episode 373. It's Monday, I don't know the exact date, don't ask me. It's just Monday, somewhere in the middle of May, and Ahmed Farid is here.


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[Assistant] Talk about the cameras in his face. He doesn't give a shit. If you just heard that.


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[Assistant] Now you're doing good though. I mean, Ahmed wasn't, he was pregame baseball yesterday.


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[Assistant] So it's a, you can go there and hang out for the day and. Yea, 100%. Yea, that's cool. Even when there's not a game there. Right.


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[Assistant] There is. Yeah, that seems to be the new thing in professional sports is to build something around these stadiums that keeps the crowds coming to these restaurants or whatever else.


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[Assistant] Okay. Right. That's where you and me are different.


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[Assistant] You're taking the safe bet. I am. You're good. That's why you're good and you're responsible better for points bet and everything else.


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[Assistant] Oh, look at that guy. Look at him. Got my favorite blue pants on. Why am I standing like that? You must be mid-walk. I was mid-walk. Cause Matt Casey sent this to me too.


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[Assistant] We're, we're friends now. We definitely are. I hear ya. I know. Now, now you're going to have to like, you know, watch the podcast and act like you like what we do. Awesome. All right. Good to hear. I will be for sure. All right. So Rob, first off, you're a teacher, right? You're in school right now.


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[Assistant] Alright, well you weren't crazy wrong. There was a lot of people that thought that. There was a lot of people that thought that could happen. A lot of experts that thought it could happen. So you weren't crazy there. That's the first thing I want to ask you, Rob. It's just like, how'd you come to your conclusion of your top five? Yeah, like what made you finally go that route with those first five picks there?


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[Assistant] Were you looking, I, it's a great, it's amazing. I mean, top 10 is almost impossible. I mean, five in a row is amazing in itself. Were you looking at, like, points bet odds and things like that, or odds from sports books as far as the picks are concerned?


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[Assistant] That's awesome. Alright, so give me like, alright, the weather's getting a little nice here, it's May, what have we got scheduled in PE today?


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[Assistant] Uh, cool, little gym teacher there, PE teacher. My dad was a gym teacher, health teacher, yea. Right, and he's into sports, he could tell that. I love that. So that's good, hopefully we can help people make some money every now and then.


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[Assistant] We do. And right now, that code is MBC2K, alright? And you can get two risk-free bets up to $2,000 if you're in an eligible state.


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[Assistant] If you're in an eligible state, PointsBet has an exclusive sign up offer for unbuttoned listeners that you cannot miss, Ahmed. You can't miss it even when you're wearing your commander's clothes, alright? Download the PointsBet app. Use code NBC2K to sign up.


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[Assistant] And get two risk-free bets up to $2000. So.


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[Assistant] Changing odds and everything. Yes, right. So and then once the game starts, you know, don't just bet. Live your bet life, Ahmed. Cool.


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[Assistant] I can say that. As a commander, I can do that. You're an unofficial commander of the podcast today.


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[Assistant] With some of these close ones, hopefully you can listen to and go, oh, Chris made sense. That makes sense. Chris does this for a living.


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[Assistant] I get why you say that. I'm here to be that guy that'd be nitpicked between the fourth and fifth quarterback and tell you exactly why. Or 38 and 37.


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[Assistant] The next thing would be the mental aspect. Decision making. Going through reads. You know, how much of the playbook can you handle? All of those type of things. Certainly huge as far as the success of the quarterback. Third would be leadership.


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[Assistant] And leadership is huge. Of course it is. You know, the effect you have on the football team, their belief, whether it's through the season lens, the game lens itself, the effect you have on the team every day in practice, right? Tom Brady's got all that stuff, let alone he's also


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[Assistant] Hey, I got a cool play here. Let me add this to it. It's great. It's unreal leadership. It's hard to compete with that. And then the last one to me would be pocket presence. I think because there is something to that. You know, there's the physical ability.


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[Assistant] No, this is all me, this is all me, and uhm, anytime I did a draft, I mean here, you know, I mean just to be transparent, I mean I'm on draft 7 or 8, this is all I did the last few days.


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[Assistant] I got, uh, I got seven drafts, I have eight drafts total of these. And I sent like Pete and Matt Casey, you know, every time I had a new one, I take a picture, I sent it to them, have some conversations on there. The only person I converse with this at all really is my father.


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[Assistant] Who to pick here? And then you start having a conversation and then it starts to reveal itself. So that's where I'm great with my dad and he bounces things off of me there as well.


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[Assistant] That's the hardest part of the exercise here. Alright, so, because first off, my number one fear of this...


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[Assistant] It was two years ago. Pete will tell you. He got to the list and he goes, you know, Cam Newton's on here. And I went, oh shit, I forgot Cam Newton. And we were at number one, so we had to make him number one.


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[Assistant] And Mahomes didn't make the list. So as you know, yeaah, I send him that screenshot of that first draft and I was like, oh shit, I forgot him. So that's the first thing I do is, I gotta go through each roster, I write down all the quarterbacks names, I look at the free agency, go, then I go, okay, now,


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[Assistant] Let me, who can I cancel off? Who's, who, who do I know for sure is not in the top 40? Alright, so I start to cross things off that way. Then, now the names that I have left, I write them all down. What I basically got down to, to answer your question finally here is


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[Assistant] Basically 48 names that I got to where I went, mmm.


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[Assistant] I mean, there really is. There's, the talent of the player is better than 40. Alright?


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[Assistant] The talent of that guy right there, he has the type of talent to be in the top 18, top 15. He really does. But playing the position is not, he's not great at it yet.


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[Assistant] You know, to me the biggest reason he's at 40 is because he just, for lack of a better way to say it, he's not in the trust tree. You can't trust him.


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[Assistant] You can't trust them with decision making, taking care of the football, and that's to me the piece we're still missing with Drew Lock.


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[Assistant] Overaggressive decision making at times. Why are you fitting that ball down the field into that tight window? Take the underneath one.


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[Assistant] You know, some silly decisions with just being careless and turning the ball over that way. It's consistency is the issue with Drew Lock. We see snippets. I've seen snippets the last three years. They go, ooh, oh, ooh, it looks good. He's, he, this, it could be coming. He might be taken over here soon, but it just never quite gets there.


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[Assistant] And it is, it's a little bit all over the place when you break them down with decision making, sometimes inaccurate throws or you're too good to miss that throw.


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[Assistant] And then taking care of the football, certainly I think all those aspects as a guy that's got a higher ceiling than 40 for sure. But right now I can't put them any higher than that because I don't really know what to expect out of him when you get them on the field.


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[Assistant] No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm trying to go where they're at right now as people and as players right now, right? And within that, am I trying to balance some projection growth there that I've seen through my experience of the years in the NFL? My experience with this is that the players


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[Assistant] And really one of my things that I, if I look back at years past where I've been a little wrong is I haven't projected.


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[Assistant] The big time players kind of making that leap to me to the extent, and it's hard because of course, you know, when you do it,


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[Assistant] Like, Mahomes going into his first year, I think I made him somewhere in the 20s, and people go,


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[Assistant] Well yeaah, my experience, what I've heard, studying, watching that one game, what he was coming out in the draft. Yeaah, that's why I'm here to do this, to hopefully be the guy that goes, hey, he's smart, he's been here and done this. I'm not saying I'm right all the time.


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[Assistant] Yeah, to project that growth a little bit. But this is not that. We kinda, we know what this guy is to a degree. Yes, it's a different situation certainly. He's gonna have less talent around him here than he did in Denver.


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[Assistant] He's got DK. I know, but as a whole, I think cause I would still probably have gone Denver last year. They're all their weapons included.


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[Assistant] Uhm, I know, I know, it's close, you're right. As I started to say it, I mean, Locket and Mecha are really damn good.


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[Assistant] Geno Smith is coming up on the list. He is ahead of Drew Locke. I'm not, sorry, I've, I've spoiled the list. You can just cancel out. Don't listen to the next 20 episodes.


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[Assistant] Has this, and we'll get to it at the time, just has this perception around him because of the Giants and Jets stuff that is just not fair, totally. It's just not. And we'll address it at that time, but that'll be a good competition, certainly. And Geno Smith, as Pete Carroll said last week, is in the leader house, for sure.


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[Assistant] He's got experience there. He played pretty well there last year. He knows the offense there.


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[Assistant] There's real physical, tangible talent there to where you go, ooh, you know, if they finally, it does all line up right, these guys could be, you know, substantial starters in the NFL for a while.


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[Assistant] That's exactly right. I think there's all of that. So you've heard, like, you know, what I tell you, hey, physical talent, great. Mental aspect, not sure about. Leadership aspect, not sure about. You know?


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[Assistant] Lost a job to a guy last year who has less talent than he does, but has the other things that we're talking about that we're questioning with Drew Lott. And then you had a defensive coach in Vic Fangio like a Pete Carroll who was all into it. I just want consistent and the guy not going to screw the game up.


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[Assistant] And we'll kind of play it through our defense, right? And Drew Locke as Vic Fangio, I think probably was justified when Drew Locke got in last year and went, I don't trust him. And then when he got in.


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[Assistant] Baltimore game comes in relief. Bad interception. Chargers game played there. There was some bad interception. They ended up winning the football game. But nonetheless, I think it proved to Vic Fancio like, oh yea, see this is why I didn't start him. I don't trust what this guy's going to do with the ball all the time.


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[Assistant] That's right. He's made some progress. Make me talk about you different.


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[Assistant] No, it's not. This is the only one right here. Kenny Pickett. Pittsburgh Steelers pick number 20 NFL Draft. Can we please get a new picture on that graphic besides my 2015?


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[Assistant] Red carpet picture, okay? But this guy right here just got done walking down the first round red carpet. Alright, Kenny Pickett, Steelers quarterback. Yes, he is my number 39. You know, and he's not number 39. I'll tell you, my first few lists I wrote down, he was 40.


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[Assistant] But then, you know, as I've told you before, I start to watch film on guys and nitpick and do all that. Kenny Pickett of course is now an NFL film. I just got done watching him for a long period of time during the draft process, but has a lot of the things that we talked about with Drew Lock that like I don't trust. Kenny Pickett.


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[Assistant] Drew Locke had all these same concerns coming out of Missouri. It's kind of in his DNA. We were hoping he would mature and get better to your point and clean those things up. And we're still in the process of it.


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[Assistant] Kenny Pickett, that is not the issue at all. We don't. Kenny Pickett's top end talent, it's real good. Is it as good as Drew Lock? No, it's not a strong arm. You know, he's not as big of a human being as he is. But he is as good an athlete. Pickett's a good athlete.


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[Assistant] Is as impressive as it gets coming out of college the last few years. Then Mac Jones, Joe Burrow, the only two guys I can remember in recent history where I went, ooh.


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[Assistant] In the pocket, making decisions, going through reads, putting the ball in the right spot. It's as good as anybody we've seen come out there. And I think that's why some teams absolutely loved him in the draft. It's the high end talent that I question, but not still a starting quarterback here. But so.


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[Assistant] You know, I wish there was some more big playability and a little more aggressiveness, like I said, during the draft process. But as far as being ready to play in the NFL, I have no doubt that this guy is going to be ready.


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[Assistant] Yes, he's gonna be able to run an offense, he's been running a pro offense, and he's very well schooled at playing within the pocket and making decisions and throws that way. That's why I like him and that's why I'm gonna put him in front of Drew Lock.


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[Assistant] I think it all came together, I do. Again, he was in a school that's, you know, they're a good school, they're well coached, he wasn't exactly surrounded by big time, huge talent at receiver either, right? But no, this is a guy that's, you know,


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[Assistant] Like we talked about during the draft, it's a good arm. It's middle of the road NFL starter arm, you know? Like if you look at the quarterbacks that we'll have around 15, 16, that's where Kenny Pickett is. Yea, it's not Lazers, it's not Rodgers, Mahomes, Allen, that kind of guy. That's not what it is. But, like,


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[Assistant] And I'm just going to dice you up that way. And I think that's what Pittsburgh's looking for is that kind of guy. Now, whether he starts there in Pittsburgh, that'll be, that'll be interesting to see too.


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[Assistant] I mean, I think that's probably why they loved him. They knew little details and things about the guy, and they got to see kinda, you know, what goes into making the donuts behind the scenes in the guide, and they go, okay, we feel comfortable.


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[Assistant] Plus they've gotten to probably see a million reps of him on the practice field, just in passing and all of that. So yes, that's where it makes sense. You know, and, and, you know, he's, he is, he's ready.


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[Assistant] He's, he's ready as far as like his college quarterback being able to come in and you know, oh, I don't know, he hasn't done some of these things. I'm not sure if he'll be able to mentally digest it all. He's going to.


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[Assistant] You know, again, I know it's college football, but these are one of the few college football teams out there that ran a real kind of pro style drop back quarterback offense. So it's, it's easy to see and it's easy to picture it translating, you know, to the next level. Not that, not that RPO.


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[Assistant] You know, you saw some of that, because everybody in college does it, but no, you got to see real, like, oh wait, look to the left, read number one, oh, number two's over the middle, oh, he's not there, number three's just a little to the right of him, okay, he's not there, oh, no, no, I need to move in the pocket and find number four, boom, I do that. You've seen it. You've seen evidence of that. You've seen a lot of it. A lot of it.


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[Assistant] Pick it'll be the starter. He's the number 20 pick and, you know, like he's polished, like we're talking about. He's got some skills and everything there.


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[Assistant] But then I also, as this process unfolded last week, and I'm starting the nitpick,


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[Assistant] You know, hey, as, as much as I respect him, Mitchell Trubisky is good. He's got real physical ability too. He does.


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[Assistant] And the Steelers are a team that, you know, I don't know if necessarily you'll feel the pressure or the politics of going, Oh, we got to throw in our number 20 pick in there and just get them in there to like appeal to the fan base and quiet that, that part of it.


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[Assistant] So that's where it'll be a, I think a legit competition. Where it's not gonna just be handed to him. Cause I don't think they're gonna be in any rush to just give it to him either. They realize they got a good team. You know, their team, they went to the damn playoffs, they're not far off. So I don't think you just throw out the guy that's like,


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[Assistant] Oh man, he's clearly not ready, but he's the number 20 pick, so we'll throw him out there.


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[Assistant] No, more times or not, you'd rather have that guy come off the bench and save the day.


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[Assistant] A la Baker Mayfield Tyrod Taylor, right? Exactly. That kind of thing, right? Uh, so that, that, yes, that, that makes sense and, you know.


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[Assistant] You know, again, I think you do gotta look at that early part of the season and go, wait, is it being fair to throw this guy right into the lion's den right away here against some of the better teams in football?


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[Assistant] Okay, that's where we're going. Teddy Bridgewater. Miami Dolphins. Yes, he's the backup there. He is.


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[Assistant] You know, I do think he will be the backup. Now, it'll take Tua. They're going all in on Tua. Tua's going to have to, you know, have some eggs splatter in his face and trip up and make some bad mistakes, I think, for Teddy Bridgewater to take over. But to me, Teddy Bridgewater's the ultimate backup. That's what he is.


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[Assistant] He is the ultimate backup. I would never want him starting for my football team as we saw from the two seasons previous to this. That's just not what he is. You know, Teddy Bridgewater does a lot of really good things. You know, he's got good control of the football and accuracy. He is a pretty good decision maker. You know, his arm is solid.


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[Assistant] He's a good athlete. My big thing with Teddy Bridgewater, especially at this point in his career, is we know who he is, right? He's not big time.


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[Assistant] And he's not the future of any franchise. And my biggest thing with him, more than anything, and people have listened to me in years past, no. You know, it's, it's, it's, it's...


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[Assistant] There's, like I said, a lot to like, and the polish is there, but the 2022 NFL to me doesn't translate to guy like Teddy Bridgewater all the way. To guys where I go,


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[Assistant] They don't go and try to win the game. They just go try not to lose it. And I think there's a big difference in that. And to me it's hard to win in the NFL when you have a quarterback who just plays not to lose.


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[Assistant] Exactly. That's where he's good. Exactly. And that situation, you know, and it could be that way in Miami too, cause Miami's good enough here to where you might be able to go, they might not need a quarterback to be a superstar here.


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[Assistant] I know. Exactly right. Well, and let me just say, that's also a reason Teddy Bridgewater's at number 38. He has not, he does not have the great ability to stay healthy either. That's an issue for Teddy Bridgewater. Health is an issue. He's a fragile guy. He's not always great within the pocket when the pocket's collapsing. But to your point, if it's all set up,


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[Assistant] But if you don't have that team, if you got the, uhm, 2020 Carolina Panthers or 2021 Denver Broncos, you don't want them.


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[Assistant] Cause he's not gonna put your team over the edge, or give you any advantage, like, against a team that's even, or maybe slightly better than you, where you go, ooh, our quarterback can maybe put us above them today. That's not gonna happen, in my opinion.


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[Assistant] Well, maybe, we'll see. I wouldn't say you're surprised to see him hovering around this right in the same area next year either. No doubt, but yes, I think as the years have gone on here,


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[Assistant] Where maybe I hope for a different Teddy Bridgewater to a degree. I think I've come to the determination between what I saw in film last year, the notes I wrote down over the past ten days, and then the two years period. Like, this is what he is. This is what he is.


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[Assistant] The one thing I'll say with Tua, where I give him an advantage over Teddy Bridgewater, cause Tua's on this list. He's gonna be, you know, sometime here in a little bit. Not today, I don't mean in a little bit.


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[Assistant] Like, where I, I, when people want to compare that, I go, well, this is, this is two thing.


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[Assistant] Tua, there is a little charisma and leadership about him that he brings to the table. Tua's movement is clearly a notch above, uh, Teddy Bridgewater. Like as far as being able to scramble for yards or even hop around the pocket. And then the other thing that Tua is sneaky good at, kinda watching again back this weekend, and of course there's things he's gotta improve on.


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[Assistant] Tua's ability to move his arm angle around on things is a subtle skill that he maybe doesn't get enough credit for.


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[Assistant] You know, stepping up in the pocket this way, and there's a lane to throw it here, and he can kinda just do that, and stuff like that. See, that to me is where, like, Teddy doesn't have that. Teddy's more the traditional, gonna throw it the right way, do all that stuff. So that's where I, like, I thought there was a little separation between the player and...


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[Assistant] The last thing too, to give you just one more thing for Tua, Tua's a more aggressive decision maker.


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[Assistant] He not, he might turn the ball over as you see there, a little bit. But, like, if 2 will seize, oh wait, this coverage.


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[Assistant] Coach told me all week to be like, ooh, the post might be there. He'll, he'll go back and take it and give it a good look, right?


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[Assistant] Bridgewater at times, if the timing of the game is not right, he won't look at it. And that, that's what bothers me. He will leave yards and plays on the field. And to me, that's a big detriment in 2022 NFL, where the league is set up for the quarterbacks in the passing game to take advantage of everything that's there, that's there, excuse me.


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[Assistant] Not ranked last year. Not ranked last year. One of the first guys out. He was like 41 or 42 last year. I think believe the year before that I, uh, Pete wrote it down somewhere.


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[Assistant] He was 30, yeaah. Alright, so Adam on a, well, you know. He's been volatile. He's been volatile. He's right here in this stretch. You know, this is where he is a little bit, I think.


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[Assistant] You know, ultimately, low end starter in the NFL, really high end backup. You know, but Gardner-Minshew, first off, I mean, you can depend on him as a backup. He's, he's a natural at the position. You know, a little bit where,


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[Assistant] You know, the physical skills are not as good as Drew Locke or even Kenny Pickett. No. Maybe his arm might not even really be as good as Teddy Bridgewater. Bridgewater might have a better arm. Right. But Minchu can really play. Minchu is a very good decision maker.


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[Assistant] Minchu is really crafty and good in the pocket.


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[Assistant] Lin, Menchu brings a leadership and a flair to your football team that is undeniable. That is un-f***ing-deniable. In fact, it's cra- it's, it's, it's, it's, it's one of the rarest backups I've ever seen from that aspect. And that, like, the team gravitates towards them.


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[Assistant] Go watch the Jets game last year, when he was dicing up the Jets, and I know it was the Jets.


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[Assistant] He scores and looks at the sideline and makes these silly faces and poses and they f***ing heat it up. And that adds to the value too.


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[Assistant] Let alone, he's got great anticipation and great touch and can change the arm angle. So, he's a guy that can really play. He's a pretty aggressive decision maker even though he doesn't have this big arm.


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[Assistant] Right? And he can make plays in the pocket and outside of the pocket and has a little moxie and flair to him. And I, I, I like Garderman's shoe. He's one of the best backups in football. And that's why I got him ahead of, you know, Teddy Bridgewater. I think there's an element he brings to the team that Bridgewater doesn't. And that's why I just, you know, I notched him up one, one, one bump ahead.


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[Assistant] He's just into it. He loves it. He does. It shows in the field. It shows off the field. And he embraces who he is.


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[Assistant] And to me, that's why he is a good leader. That's why Jacksonville was like, damn, should he be our starter? And now Philadelphia, you know, and Jalen Hurts, any time he even struggled last year, what did everybody say? Early in the year when he was struggling, maybe Gordon Mitchell to start. Cause he's got...


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[Assistant] A charisma that a starter has. He really does. And that's where he's a little different. And I think he is one of those guys that you can go.


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[Assistant] Hey, our quarterback's hurt for three weeks, we needed to play good for three weeks, or our quarterback's just hurt for the next three quarters and we needed to save this game for you, I don't think he f***ing cares, and I think he's just ready to play because he loves it and he prepares himself the right way.


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[Assistant] You know, and Hertz's arm is, is good. Again, it's not crazy strong either. Not enough to where I go, oh.


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[Assistant] It's such a difference in the arm strength that Hertz will be able to make so many throw, it's not. Hertz is, I would say, is, you know, just a little bit stronger than Gardner Minshew. But Minshew is good that way. Now he's a little smaller, right?