Miami Tops Ole Miss, A Trae Victory Lap, Plus Ryan Fitzpatrick & Fred Warner

What this episode is about

The discussion revolves around Miami's victory over Ole Miss and the implications for the upcoming national championship, alongside insights from Ryan Fitzpatrick on the wide-open AFC playoff landscape and a preview of the NFL playoffs with Fred Warner. Additionally, notable developments include Trae Young's trade to the Wizards and the impact of sports betting on fan engagement through DraftKings.

Key takeaways

• Trey Young's Wizard status is magical drama—but surprisingly, not everyone believes in his playoff prowess.
• In the wild AFC playoffs, wide-open competition proves anything can happen; buckle up for the unexpected!
• Miami's run game looked unstoppable, but can it stay dominant when the playoffs batten down the hatches?
• With injuries plaguing teams, depth charts might matter more than playbooks in this playoff season.
• DraftKings turns every play into a mini thrill ride; don't blink, or you'll miss the next big bet!

Who speaks in this episode?

• Ryen Russillo (Host) · 1 h 28 min speaking
• Fred Warner (Guest) · 11 min speaking
• Ryan Fitzpatrick (Guest) · 11 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: DraftKings, Ryan Russell, Trey Young
2. 10:00 – 20:00: Trey Young
3. 20:00 – 30:00: Seattle, Trey Young
4. 30:00 – 40:00: Jacksonville, Seattle, Buffalo, Jaden Reed
5. 40:00 – 50:00: New England, Buffalo
6. 50:00 – 1:00:00: Seattle, Jacksonville, Buffalo, New England
7. 1:00:00 – 1:10:00: Seattle, Jacksonville, New England
8. 1:10:00 – 1:20:00: Jacksonville, New England, Buffalo, Seattle
9. 1:20:00 – 1:30:00: DraftKings, Jacksonville, Alex Smith, Buffalo
10. 1:50:00 – 1:50:14: Ryan Russell

Notable quotes from "Miami Tops Ole Miss, A Trae Victory Lap, Plus Ryan Fitzpatrick & Fred Warner"

• The Ryan Russell Show is presented by DraftKings. They've never done this before. We taped this podcast three different times today. Early in the morning, a little midday visit with Fred Warner, and a postfiestable.

  about DraftKings · at 0:01

• Houston is one of those defenses. And I thought we saw it with Seattle last week too. I mean from the first snap in that game against the NerS, they were flying to the football. I was texting with Sherm and Wit. and that was the.

  about Seattle · at 27:30

• They don't discriminate like in who they're throwing the ball to. I think Jaden Reed hasn't had that huge game yet. He got hurt week two in our game.

  about Jaden Reed · at 36:03

• I wanted to pick Jacksonville to go to the Super Bowl. I don't know if this Trevor Lawrence resurgence of five weeks is the same. He had a hot little run before the playoffs a few years ago and.

  about Jacksonville · at 37:26

• Has to be really demanding of the player as well. And I think it's been interesting what we've seen in New England this year because I know that system is a difficult one to…

  about New England · at 41:25

• Make sure you check out Fred Warner's podcast, Real Ones, the league. again, that latest episode with Alex Smith. really good and obviously timely as well.

  about Alex Smith · at 1:20:45

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Trey Young — Person · 6 mentions · first at 0:46
  In the playoffs. I didn't mean to laugh cuz that sounded mean. And we had breaking news before we taped this. Trey Young officially a wizard. I'm gonna be a little spicy in…
• Ryan Russell — Person · 2 mentions · first at 0:01
  The Ryan Russell Show is presented by DraftKings. They've never done this before. We taped this podcast three different times today. Early in the morning, a little midday visit with.
• Jaden Reed — Person · 1 mention · first at 36:08
• Alex Smith — Person · 1 mention · first at 1:20:49
• Corey Kispert — Person · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

• Seattle — Company · 11 mentions · first at 27:32
• Jacksonville — Company · 10 mentions · first at 37:26
• New England — Company · 10 mentions · first at 41:29
• DraftKings — Company · 6 mentions · first at 0:03
• Buffalo — Company · 5 mentions · first at 37:47
  And then once the bracket, we start seeing how the seating's playing out, I'm man, they get Buffalo, right? And I think Buffalo is going to be a trendy pick for a lot of people…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:01 The Ryan Russell Show is presented by DraftKings. They've never done this before. We taped this podcast three different times today. Early early in the morning, a little midday visit with Fred Warner, and a postfiestable recap. So, we're talking about, I don't know, 13, 14 hours spanning this podcast. So, maybe there'll be different tones, maybe there'll be a different vibe, maybe I'm going to sound into it, maybe I'm going to sound I'm not out of it. I'll tell you right now, none of these topics, I wasn't out on any of them. So Fred Warner, a little defensive preview of the NFL playoffs. We've got Ryan Fitzpatrick from Fitz and Wit podcast. Ryan Fitzpatrick, of course, Amazon as well. We're going to talk about the wideopen AFC field and prepping up and you know, some of the stuff that he probably wish he got to do in the playoffs. I didn't mean to laugh cuz that sounded mean. And we had

0:46 breaking news before we taped this. Trey Young officially a wizard. I'm gonna be a little spicy in that one. And the Miami Hurricanes move on to the national championship, taking out Old Miss in a classic. And I'm going to tell you something nobody else is going to tell you. NFL playoffs, let's go. DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL, makes every moment feel bigger. A running back cuts through the line. A strip sack flips the field. A tight end hauls in the kind of touchdown grab you'll talk about for years. Postseason games shift fast. And with DraftKings live betting options, you can stay right in the moment. Plus, DraftKings has your back with early exit protection. If the player in your eligible NFL prop bet goes down at any point in the first half, you still get paid in cash. New customers bet just $5.

1:32 And if that bet wins, you get 300 in bonus bets instantly. DraftKings Sportsbook every drive, every play, every moment. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now and use the code Ryan. That's code Ryan Ryen to turn five bucks into 300 in bonus bets if your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours.

1:54 Chill. Buy now and get the little hoodie free. Call 1800 European field of the week is the Oregon Dutch.

2:04 We need a big push here. We go. Well, that was a fun game. So, taping this right after the Miami win against Old Miss in the Fiesta Bowl and I have some thoughts. First and foremost, watching the game kind of play out, right? What are you looking for? Like, what looks sustainable? Looks what looks like a problem and you're looking at Miami's Dline O line matchup, especially from what we saw in the first couple games and just making Ohio State look like a team that's soft. um you know the&m game comes down to a couple plays but at the start of this one things that are being established you're like look it doesn't seem to matter about all these other things because when they hand it off to Fletcher um it's going to be a huge problem and even Brown you know like every single time whether they rarely were ever touched the line of scrimmage on handoffs and even if you looked at the defense from miss being

3:03 able to stop him for like a one or two yard gain it was always like a five yard gain right so you're like okay this is a problem uh the defensive edge, right? Defensive line, two three and outs from Miss out of the jump. They get Lacy on the 75 yard touchdown. So, they're in the game because of the score. But, it's one of those moments you're like, "All right, score." Old Miss settles down. They hit this huge one. Lacy's one of the best running backs in college football. But, it was weird because during the broadcast, like I was like, "How come he slowed down? Was he showboating?" Like, what was going on with him? And then he kind of turns around and like cranks it back up the last couple steps and we just didn't really hear anything about it. Now all of a sudden he's out of the game and we're wondering if he's even going to come back. And we know that he did come back and he actually had a couple nice

3:45 runs, couple nice plays there as Old Miss started to put some things together. So as I'm watching, I'm thinking Miami likely is going to be able to push around this miss front and of all of the playoff teams and you looked at opponents yards per play, Miss was way behind everyone. They were in the 50s when you looked at the 12 remaining teams and I think everybody else was at least top 20. Um, and they won that game against Georgia with Chambless playing like all time stuff. Again, I'll mention those three plays on that one possession on that TD drive where I just I still can't believe how how great he was. So, you're kind of thinking about that in the back of your head. You like Stribbling, you like Wallace, you like Dcoin Wright, and you're like, "All right, so there's at least some stuff here." And then you're not hearing about Ruben Bane all that much. And then you're not hearing about

4:27 Meador who had his arm landed on, and then somehow he got back into the game. But we just weren't really hearing their their names all that much. So, you're starting to think, okay, well, even if it's just this one big play and the score is close, is there anything that Old Miss has been able to do to kind of solve some of the stuff? Cuz it's really hard to go tempo when you're going three and out and it's third and 10 every time. Um, Miami continues to just be able to run football whenever they want. Um, as the game progresses, Miami is dealing with two things.

4:58 Injuries. Well, I'd say more more than two things. I'll just list them. Both their corners go down late, so they're gone. Mesador leaves the game. They even lost Scott, that awesome safety who they can line up and and have him do everything. A team that was completely clean penalty-wise against Ohio State. I think was it one accepted penalty, zero accepted penalties, flags all over the place, right? Um, you know, both teams were getting called for PIs. I thought everything was was generally pretty accurate. There's probably some holds that were missed both ways. You can get mad about it if you want to. Um but a lot of flags and some of the false start issues. Cooper the right guard twice.

5:35 And so now this Miami offense that you know if they're just in first and 10, second and seven, third and four and then even a fourth and two that they had where Beck had it like third and nine got it to two yards shy of the line which is something I saw against Ohio State where I was like I'm looking at this guy in third down and I just don't think he's necessarily seeing it unless it's a wide receiver screen. It doesn't feel like he really wants to rip the football all that much. But if you're getting it to fourth and two and then you have Fletcher in this O line, there's not really any question. Like you're just looking at those moments almost like the Eagles going, "Well, if it's third and six, then fourth and two, they're just going to go for it because it's such a mismatch up front." And yet the score is still somehow close. Miami, the flags we mentioned, the injuries, they dropped four interceptions in this

6:17 game. I'm not saying all of them are super easy, but that's four drops as opposed to the one pick that Beck had that was on a third and forever. And it looked like he actually wanted to run first again because it was one of those things once again I'm like okay well if this guy wants to run like it's one thing to get it to fourth and short but like third and 12 are you going to get it there and then he ends up tip ball that pick wasn't his fault ends up being the uh the one turnover for the game. Beck won MVP um because he's quarterback and he ran in the gamewinning touchdown.

6:50 I thought he was um I think he was very good tonight and I know most people are gonna freak out because the guy who just won the game who plays quarterback we have to default say like oh he was he was really good. I don't think he was really good at all. Um I I could go down the list here but first possession Tony's wide open and all he has to th do is throw a post. he's already beaten his guy and he somehow throws it to his left shoulder towards the only other defensive back that would have been in the play. Um there was a pass interference on the third possession where it was a miss. Um he had a deep shot that was a complete miss.

7:36 Um there's a third and 16 where he wants to run again. Um, and on the third and 16, he takes the fourth sack, which is the most sacks that Miami has allowed all season long. Marion was wide open, left to right against no one on the right side of the field. And then on the ninth possession where they did get another pass interference, he throws a ball that I still can't figure out what he was doing. He like just threw a popup into the air and it was the right call. It was right pass interference. And I like that Miami took these shots. I like that they actually had the flee flicker play in there. Even if it felt like, hey, all the momentum's on the ground. Um, if Miami were to lose this game, you're probably pointing to that going, "Hey, you can run the football. Why would you mess it up?" I I like showing the other team some things to worry about, even if it doesn't necessarily work. Even with

8:22 what felt like, hey, if they probably just ran it 60 times right at these guys, it's probably a cleaner game and it doesn't really matter. the Tony touchdown. Um Tony had the huge play on third down where it looked like he was going to be tackled maybe at the line of scrimmage. Unbelievable balance. I cannot believe Miss guy couldn't hang on to his feet. And then on that wide receiver screen, it was such a bad alignment for Miss defensively against that look and miss gets everybody inside and the offensive line sets up this tunnel where they're running out of people to block. Tony still almost gets caught, regains his balance, goes in for the touchdown. Just an incredible season. an incredible night uh for the freshman. So, I think there were two throws. There was a throw on third down to Loftton, third and seven. Um that was the third possession for Miami where Beck looked good. He had um other

9:13 options. That was later in the progression and he absolutely rips it down the seam like a little bit of a it's not like a straight crosser. I guess it kind of was, but it's a little bit further down. um he's he's kind of on the numbers or on the hash marks and he's he's coming across and Beck saw that led him perfectly and ripped him and it was impressive because it reminded me exactly of the same throw that he hit Marian on on a third and 10 during that last drive when they absolutely needed it. So that looked like a throw that he was somewhat comfortable with. The reason I'm saying all this stuff is that this is almost nothing from Beck for the first two games. He's has some stats in the third game and this team's playing for the national championship. That's how good the rest of this stuff is. So, sure, we didn't hear from Ma Bane and Messador a ton tonight, which is usually a big part

9:57 of the victory package, but it's the O line, it's Fletcher, it's Tony. Tony should have went MVP. Um Fletcher doesn't have the numbers for it. You can't give it the entire O line, but I would say Tony on the screen and then on that third down keeping things alive and somehow not being tackled even those feet were tied up. It was such a massive, massive play and it just is a credit to how buttoned up the rest of this stuff is with all the things that Miami is facing to still pull this off and now heading home to play for a national championship. I love the Old Miss story just because of all the obvious reasons. I mean, who would not appreciate what Jed Chamblas brought to the Grove? Um, and then those moments when they go up, they go up in this game and you're like, are they going to pull this off? And of course, all the lane stuff is running through my head, like I'm sure it was for you as well, because

10:42 you're like, what would be more Lane Keifin than this team playing for the national championship? Like, imagine if they were to win this whole thing when he leaves to go to LSU. And look, I've even said when we had Max Olsen on earlier, I'm like, you know, it's kind of a funny thing to poke Lane at, but anyone that's paying attention to the sport understands why you would go to LSU and leave Old Miss. It's just the oddity that here they are in the playoffs and is they're up late, you know, and who knows if they don't miss one of those field goals and how the score kind of plays out the rest of the way, but Miami still was was going to have to go for a touchdown late. So now I'm kind of doing a bunch of scoring math, which is a pointless exercise because, you know, if the score is one way, then maybe it plays out a little bit differently. Um, but there was that moment in there and the corners

11:24 are down and some of these guys are open in a way that you're not expecting hits right the tight end for the touchdown and you're like is this actually going to happen and it doesn't and they hold on and Crystal Ball who deserved a ton of criticism like hey you can recruit but are you really that guy when it comes down to it in those big moments I don't really feel like whether it was here or as coordinators like I don't have any issues with any of the stuff they did I honestly thought that they were going into this with a quarterback they didn't really trust to throw the football down the field cuz he wasn't really able to do that at all. He got a couple pi pis out of it. You know, he had a couple throws in that last that last series, but they're not there because of Carson Beck tonight at all.

12:00 So, um, don't fall for it. What else? I think if I'm Miami, I'm rooting for Oregon because based on what we've seen this year, you expect Indiana to play clean. You expect Indiana to be the more physical of the two teams. Although I think Oregon, it's almost like when I hear about the Steelers when they're running the football and it's like, "Oh, we're back to Steelers football." It's like, "Dude, they this has been like a passing franchise other than some of those Levon Bell years for like 20 years." Okay. Um, but you know, the assumption is always kind of like when Golden State was winning a bunch of NBA titles, it's like, "Oh, they shoot three-pointers." It's like, "Yeah, they're also like a top five defense every single year, too." Oregon is very physical. I I think anybody that's watched them closely this year and some of the battles that they've had um and there might even be like more high-end

12:48 NFL talent on that defense than there would be Indiana. U but just the evidence that we have of of these 14 games from Indiana is they're not going to be pushed around by anybody. They're not going to be taking a week off or anything like that. So, uh, really excited about that rematch, the rematch in the playoffs and the power four stuff because Miss did beat two lane this year, but the rest of them have gone the other way. Uh, and Sabin was talking about it at halftime as well. He's like, it's just so hard to beat a team a second time in the the history, recent history, limited amount of history. It's only, I think, like a handful of games.

13:20 Um, the rematch usually goes to the team that lost the first time around. But if I'm looking at Miami right now, I'm I'm telling you, I'm there's not many teams that could have had all the factors that I've run through and found themselves winning and then advancing and now going home to play for a national championship. So, uh it's just cool to have Miami in this in this world because it felt like we were we were teased and look it was already happening. They didn't have to win tonight, right? They're in the final four of this whole thing. They're back into the playoff even with the expansion of the whole thing. But then playing for a national championship, like maybe it finally is like the the flag being replanted after all the teases that we've had for so many years over like the last 25 since uh that incredible run in the early 2000s.

14:03 Going to start with a little Trey Young news. It's official. He's been traded to the Wizards for CJ McCollum and Corey Kissberg. I'm not even going to need any notes for this segment. CJ McCollum and Corey Kissber. Couple different ways I could do this. Couple different opens probably bubbling in my head. I'll be professional for a little while. All right. Um I don't know. We'll see. We'll see how I feel at the end of this. So, if we look at some of the reporting part of this, it was like, well, Washington was his preferred destination.

14:40 Washington's never been anyone's preferred destination. So, we can cut that [ __ ] out of the way immediately. Um, what made sense for him was he could had a place that he could go where he could put up a ton of shots, get all of his counting stats, and still feel good about himself. Uh, and also the news that he's going to get an extension there. Um, which I can't believe Washington's doing this. So, maybe he opts out of the $49 million player option. This has all been figured out ahead of time. This is where when you have one of the handful of super powerful agents in the NBA, like you're going to find a way to get something done. And Aaron Mintz is definitely one of those guys. So, you know, he's Trey had been available for a while. Atlanta didn't really like what they were hearing. You were just hearing the market for him wasn't very good. There's plenty of basketball people that were

15:22 just like, I'm not interested in that. I think Winger and his group with Washington is really, really smart. So, I guess I'm a little surprised by this. I am wondering, you know, as ownership signs off on a rebuild and brings in a new front office and they start to say, well, hey, you know, like what's going on? And the crazy thing about a rebuild timeline for most teams is like you rebuild and bring in the draft picks and then you're young and then at year three you're like we hope we have one slash two things that we feel good about and we're still probably not going to win a ton of games. So they're still one of the worst teams in the league even though there's multiple guys that they drafted that I either like or hold out hope for. So I I think this was either something where the agents talking with Atlanta going, "Hey, you don't want to extend our guy. We want to go somewhere where he can get an extension. What

16:09 works? Mince talks to Washington the relationship there and says, you know, is there some way, you know, landing spot here? Maybe ownership is is also like, hey, we want you to spend the cap money. The old age thing of I'd rather make a trade than wait around for hypotheticals. So, Trey is not perfect. Also, the obsession with almost every general manager I've ever talked to in my entire life in their obsession of just like, hey, if I'm getting distressed asset lower than what the value should be, then I'm just addicted to asset management. And yeah, Trey's not perfect, but there's no way that I should be able to get him for C.J.

16:42 McCollum and Cory Kispert. So, I'm just going to go ahead and do that deal. Even if I think Trey gets in the way of developing all these young guys around him, I think he'd be one of the worst players you could have as a teammate to be like, "Hey, now Trey Johnson, um Keshan um, Sar, uh, Koulibali, Bub Carrington, you know, a bunch of guys I would say collectively like there's nights where I watch them enough. I'm like, oh, you know, maybe there's something there." If it turns into a high pick and roll for 90% of the possessions and Trey Young, like it's going to be cool for Sar cuz he's going to catch lobs even though Sar wants to shoot three-pointers. So, from a basketball standpoint, I don't really understand why you would want to do this unless ownership was saying, "Hey, you know what guys, like nice little rebuild here. They're going to get a big pick and a great draft this year as well.

17:27 There's some protections on it they have to worry about, but ultimately like, you know, we'd like to start winning in 206 27." Uh, and again, I don't even know necessarily that that means you're going to be winning if you're bringing a trade, but there's also a lot of cap space. So, there's a lot of different levers that the Wizards can pull at. Again, I'm a little surprised. I wonder if ownership got involved in all of this. So there's also I don't know if you it was CJ McCollum and Cory Kissper for the face of a franchise. Um somebody for a franchise and look I'm just going to tell you like this one's personal not because I like or dislike Trey. Uh I'm now going to do something that I criticize the rest of us in media for doing is that you can end up talking to a very very small sliver of your audience as opposed to the overall audience. But the amount of [ __ ] that I've taken for six years of being the

18:13 first person that was critical about Trey Young's approach to basketball was overwhelming. And it wasn't just fans, it was media members in Atlanta that told me year after year that I was wrong about Trey and that I didn't get it and I was just being a [ __ ] national guy. Uh, as if I would ever do that. I would never watch a basketball player or team and go, "Hey, I'm just going to decide to be a dick about this." Um, I wouldn't do that. It's just not the way I do the job. I can sound like a dick once I decide I don't like a team or I don't like a player and that's fine.

18:44 Maybe it's just the [ __ ] in me. So, I remember going back to I think it was 2019. I did a podcast with Woge. Woge came by uh the first installment of the Manhattan Beach uh living situation. Came over was like, I want to tape a pod with you. And we're just going around and we're talking about the league the way we talk about the league, you know, whether it's with your friends or on a podcast. And somehow Atlanta came up and I was like, you know, the good thing about the Trey part of it is, you know, that summer league was so bad. People were just like, "Oh my god, this guy can't even play." And then he comes in, he puts up numbers, he takes a bunch of deep threes, but they were going in enough that you could at least still justify him. So there was a lot of points. You're like, Trey Young's going to play like a long time. He's going to make a ton of money. And you know, there's that, but I've also noticed

19:26 there's something else that happens with him where if he takes one of these ridiculous shots and they miss it and then Atlanta gets a stop, they get a defensive rebound and somebody other than Trey grabs the defensive board. I was like, and I'm saying this to WJ on the pod. I go, I noticed that um sometimes the guys won't get the ball back to him immediately. Like he'll be clapping going like, all right, you know, get it to your point guard about to run the offense. and they made me a little frustrated with the shot selection where I was like, "Maybe I'm not going to give you the ball right away and maybe I'm gonna bring the ball up and maybe I'm gonna try to do something a little bit because I'm sick of watching this right now." And I brought that up on the pod and people were like, "What the fuck?" Like, "What?

20:06 What are you doing? Can't believe this." And then you had all the timeline of like, "No, it was Lloyd Pierce, wrong offense." And oh, Nate McMillan, he stinks, too. And then you bring in like, "All right, fine. Well, Quinn Snyder, nobody thinks he stinks." And it's not any different. It's not any different. The fact that Jaylen Johnson has developed into this kind of player playing alongside him and somehow still getting as many touches as he does um is incredible. And that's kind of the frustrating thing about this entire Atlanta stretch is that there's so many guys that I've liked. There's so many draft picks that I I thought I don't know if Reese Shay is going to be any good, but the Jaylen Johnson pick alone, considering where his draft stock was coming out of that one year at Duke, that wasn't really even that good. And now you're looking at him being like, "Hey, the sky's is the limit. like I'm

20:48 not going to put a ceiling on who Jaylen Johnson is, but can you get the fully formed version of this um if you're playing next to Trey Young. And then this year it was it wasn't even debatable anymore. They were a better basketball team when Trey wasn't playing. And I was watching that Knicks game that they lost. And it wasn't because Trey came back in, but I was like, I wonder if Quinn even brings Trey Young back in with 5 minutes left. And he did. And they lost that game. It wasn't because of Trey at that moment, but I can only imagine the internal debate or what he was asking with his stabs like, "Do we do this? Do we do this? like do we keep him on the bench here as he's just come back because it's probably gives us a better chance to win this game. I also did a podcast just over three years ago, December 22, where there was talk about like what do you do with Trey and how do you do this

21:29 extension? I was like just get it over with. Trade them now. Trade them now while there's probably another team that talks themselves into it. And people freaked out about that that I was wrong that I didn't get it that I didn't get it right. Um, you know, and here's the thing is anytime this stuff comes up, it's your position is you want this to happen, so you're going to tell me it's going to happen. My position is I don't care. I'm just watching basketball. I don't care if it works or doesn't work. CJ McCollum and Cory Kisser. Um, so when I did that pod three years ago, again, tons of people lost their [ __ ] about it.

22:03 again, all Atlanta fans, you know, like you can say I'm wrong about stuff, but when it comes to counting stat players that I think are not winning basketball players, my track record's impeccable. You can hate everything else I say, but when I'm like, "Hey, this guy who puts up some big big numbers, I don't think this works, though. Like, cool numbers, bro. But I don't think this works." I'm going to be right almost all the time on that. So yeah, there's a little there's a little twinge in my voice on this one because I'm like this dude who you told me for six years that I was wrong about and cranked it up even more three years ago. This guy that you've told me I was wrong about the entire time, [ __ ] CJ McCollum and Cory Kisper and no draft picks.

23:01 All right, so I was unprofessional at the end there. So, we'll see what happens. He's going to Look, here's the other thing that's guaranteed to happen. He's going to have like 45 in a game within two weeks. And people are going to think that that's somehow like I I'm not telling you he's not going to have a million points and a million assists. I'm just telling you if I were building a team, I can't bring in somebody where I am hostage to his style of playing ball. and maybe different players you'd say, "Hey, this might humble them." Like, man, you were like, you're the keys to the city. You're the face of the franchise.

23:40 Ownership didn't want to trade you, you know, all this stuff like maybe there needs to be a little bit of like self assessment and go, do I need to change the approach here a little bit? And who knows, maybe in those first couple games too, I'll be like super eager to get other people involved. I know you're going to tell me he's great at getting other people involved because the assist numbers. Um, and look, I do think he's absolutely fantastic on the reading the defense against the drives and the lob and all that stuff. He's he's awesome at it, but all they could get for him was CJ McCollum and Cory Kisser and no draft picks.

24:21 And that fan base told me I was wrong about this guy for six years. Let's get ready for the NFL playoffs. A lot to get to. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Thursday Night Football on Amazon. Um, a couple thoughts on that, but what's up, man? It's good to see you.

24:36 Yeah, good to see you, too. How you doing? I'm good, man. Um, excited about all this. You know, those last couple weeks you're like, "All right, let's get to this." And here we are. So, if we started with kind of just generally looking at the field, I always kind of look at it this way or like looking at it this way. if we went through like, okay, if this team won the Super Bowl, it would not be a surprise. Like, how many teams do you think we'd need to get to to then be the surprise line of like, okay, well, that would be a surprise if that team won because it feels like a pretty open field, especially in the AFC.

25:05 It does. The AFC is wide open, but I still I mean, who who the hell do you think's coming out of the AFC? like I think the the Patriots would be a shock to be in that game and to make it through the AFC into the Super Bowl. Um but they're are the two seed. So that's how wild the AFC is right now. I think Houston is a team if they can generate a little bit on offense, you could certainly see them in the Super Bowl, too, which is wild since they started all agree.

25:37 Yeah, absolutely. Uh if we if we start with them, um we know that the defense is their their calling card and I was looking through some of the numbers today that I think is really interesting and like their their personnel groupings like they're a fairly predictable group like they're not going to try to surprise you. if you're going up against a defense that's awesome, but you're like, you know, it's not like they're trying to disguise all this stuff and and and I mean, does it really get down to just, hey, our personnel is that good, our 11 guys are that good that we don't need to be confusing. We don't need to get cute about this. We can just play you straight up.

26:14 Yeah, their personnel is really good. They play fast. They rally to the ball. They're physical. Um, but it always starts with can we get to the quarterback rushing four? and they're really special with those outside edge rushers and being able to do that. And then that when you're simple on defense, all of a sudden everything you do each week is studying that offense, studying concepts, figuring out ways to pass things off. And so they're also exceptional at that on defense, reading route concepts. Um, you know, eyes is always in the right spot with the secondary. So, they can really instead of focusing on what the heck they're doing every week, they can really hone in on, okay, what is the opponent this week? What do they like to do? And how can we pass that off? Read these concepts and make our defense even more successful.

27:04 Does it trick you during the weekend of game prep of thinking like, okay, we know what they want to do. Does it trick you into maybe being more confident than you should be considering how successful they've been on that side of the ball? I I don't think I don't think when you watch the film of the Texans defense, you go into that game real confident. Um and and a lot of it is just when you watch teams and you can see on the all 22 on that film how fast they play. Houston is one of those defenses. And I thought we saw it with Seattle last week too. I mean from the first snap in that game against the NerS, they were flying to the football. I was texting with Sherm and Wit. Um, and that that was the one thing right away that jumped out in the first series. You can see these guys and the passion they have and they're taught to be so aggressive.

27:56 When I look at um Pittsburgh this year, like I can't believe they're in the playoffs, right? You know, if you look at over the course of the season, we know what happened in the last game. You know, that ex missed extra point. Like, who knows how Steelers fans would have remembered that if Luke makes the field goal, but you know, there were a lot of third down numbers. I didn't like from Rogers. And then sometimes when you look at like how quick a guy gets the ball out, it could be like a really good number. And Rogers gets it out quicker than everybody else. But when I watch it with Rogers, I feel like it's like, is he trying to keep himself upright all season long? Um, is it the personnel or lack of personnel on on some of the deep balls? Obviously DK was out towards the end. He likes to throw it to some of the backs. So, he gets the ball out quickly.

28:35 So, the headline of that feels like this advantage, but I wonder if you see it like more layered as if sure, he gets the ball out quick and that might neutralize some things, but it also tells you that there's other things that are just not going to develop because they seem to be determined to get the ball out so quickly.

28:53 Yeah, I I think part of it the Texans are going to have eyes on the football. Um, and so when he gets it out quick, how is it getting out quick? It's flat routes to tight ends, but it's also Gainwell and uh Warren are going to be really involved in the pass game. And so, can we bring those guys down? That's going to be a huge part of this game is just the tack tackling, the rallying to the football. And then the interesting thing with them, and they haven't had it the last two weeks, is DK Metaf. So, he comes back into the lineup. When it's a one-on-one matchup, we know where the ball's going. So, how many times he'll be one-on-one with Derek Steinley Jr. is yet to be determined, but it's going to be a really fascinating matchup to watch because Aaron knows in order to get those chunk plays, they're either doing it through the screen game with Jaylen Warren with him breaking tackles or it's

29:42 him through the air uh being able to take advantage of those few opportunities they're going to have in the game to throw it to DK Metaf. So, Stingley Jr. does a great job of playing the ball in the air. I think he's one of the best corners in the league. So, those are the things you look at going into this game, but he will neutralize the rush a little bit. You know, that's not going to be a huge factor in this game. That being said, it's the dink and dunk, dink and dunk. You know, will they be able to break some tackles and get some first downs? I think Houston's going to have control of this game.

30:11 All right. So, you're picking Houston. Um, again, I just sure I mean, we can play the turnover game here. You know, Pittsburgh is, I don't think, great defensively, but they've been able to force turnovers. they get a couple turnovers, you know, but uh I'm with you on that one in Houston. All right, I have a couple Caleb numbers for you. Um let me let me just start with this. Like Caleb's first year with Ben Johnson, just your thoughts to summarize what you saw this year.

30:35 I think the first number that jumps out to you is the sack number. It's it's been uh obviously it was awful last year. It's been great this year. Caleb hasn't turned the ball over. So, as a quarterback, if you start with we're not going to take sacks and we're not going to turn the ball over, then that's going to allow you to have a little bit of success as a football team. Um, they run the ball really well and that's helpful for a young quarterback, too. I think they're a top three rushing team in the NFL. And the thing I like about Ben Johnson is he's patient and he doesn't panic. If the run game's not going well, he's not going to abandon it. And that helps out Caleb as well. You know, Caleb is still scrambling on a fifth of his drop backs. So, there's some stuff where he's just not seeing the game as well as he needs to ste see it still. But, he does have a knack for making these big

31:26 plays. So, I think he's made a lot of progress this year and I'm excited to see where it goes because they're dynamic. Ben Johnson's going to demand a lot out of Caleb. He's not going to put up with his [ __ ] and I think that's really important for Caleb to have in a coach and I think Caleb respects and appreciates that. I think we completely agree on this, you know, because like as I've watched it this year, I've gone, "Okay, there's a chance." Like there's a chance this can work out. This is a chance the guy gets a second contract and he's with Chicago a long time. But like I'm It sounds crazy to turn the page on a really fun Bear season. I mean, it's it's probably as much fun the way they've closed some of these games, but like I really am like, we're all going to know be what his future is based on like what next year looks like

32:09 because there's just drops where you can see that he doesn't he doesn't see it the way Ben Johnson wants to see it from the sideline. Like, you can just tell when a guy drops back and you're like, "All right." Like, it was probably there by design and he didn't want to let it rip. And I'm enthused, intrigued, whatever word you want to attach to Caleb about year three, but if you look at ontarget throws, he's at 70%. Which is 34th out of 36 QBs just ahead of JJ McCarthy and Shador Sanders. Um, if you go bad throw rate, the highest bad throw rate, he has the third highest bad throw rate. Pennix is above him. I think Shidor is above him, too. It's like at 21%. And so they've turned the ball over, like excuse me, they've forced the turnovers.

32:54 They've run the football to your point and they've closed so well that you're like, well, whatever you want to say about Caleb, like he finds a way to step up there towards the end and granted he had the interception in the end zone, one of the Packers matchups there, but then you have the other game where they score 13 points in the fourth quarter. So, like I think it's awesome and there's great, but at least for this year, this feels like a lot of smoke and mirrors for this team to try to go on some kind of playoff run because collectively I just don't know that they're that much more above average in the turnover game has kind of helped them survive.

33:29 It has, but and you have to give credit to them, right, for being able to force all those turnovers. And it's no surprise that Al Harris is there and they did such a great job in Dallas with him. Uh and now he's there doing great things. But I I think you have to be careful like when we look at Caleb, what do you see? Rocket arm. Like he can make every throw. And I don't think there's a guy in the league that can generate more power on a football on the run than Caleb Williams. It's crazy every time I watch it. Does he need to hone in his accuracy? Yes. But does he have a knack for big moments in games and making big plays? I think he does. And the other thing with him and why, you know, this year there's been some more success and, you know, hopefully he just as he goes on those scramble numbers go down. He continues to play better from the pocket and see it better from the pocket.

34:20 There's two numbers that jump out to me when I look at Caleb. One is he's fast and we can quantify that by he has gone over 20 miles per hour five times as a ball carrier this year which matches every other quarterback in the league on every team. I think he's deceptively fast and you don't realize it until you play in a game with him. And then two, he struggled more with zone coverage this year than man. And as a quarterback when it's man coverage, it's easy to see. You can rely on your arm talent. You can rely on your receivers to get the separation to make the throws. When it's zone, you have to trust it. You have to feel it. You've got to listen to your feet. That's when you're playing within a scheme and a rhythm and getting the ball out. And I think those zone numbers as he progresses as a quarterback, we have to see those get better and better.

35:10 Want to remind everybody that um Fitz and the whole crew are going to be on because that's their game. Packers, Bears, Amazon Prime, Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. I'm picking the Packers in this one, even though I feel like they've gone from everyone's favorite team at the start of the year to just being completely dismissive of them. And the thing that I can't shake is zero trips into the red zone in that overtime loss and they had zero touchdowns in that game.

35:37 Dude, I I keep going back and forth and I I think that I've landed on the Packers as well and they've lost four games in a row, right? They lost Chicago, Baltimore, Minnesota. They rested everybody in that last game. The thing that concerns me about the Packers, their defense, the way the Ravens just ran right through them. That has me really concerned because that's what the Bears do best. But what I love about Jordan Love and this offense is they don't discriminate like in who they're throwing the ball to. I think Jaden Reed hasn't had that huge game yet. He got hurt week two in our game.

36:13 um you know and has come back now with the la the last few games, but I think he's going to be a huge factor in this game. And then the other thing with Green Bay, Josh Jacobs, he's healthier probably than he's been all season or at least since that New York game. Um didn't have a ton of carries in the Baltimore game and then got to sit out last week. So I think a more fresh Josh Jacobs is really going to help them too. But Green Bay has been in control of both the games they played this year and obviously the crazy comeback by Chicago. But how lucky are we to get this game to be able to be at Chicago like the it's going to be an electric atmosphere. We could get some weather. I mean a little bit of snowfall would be wonderful for the visuals. Um but it's going to be incredible energy in Chicago. I can't wait.

37:00 Yeah, I can't wait for that game again. Saturday night 8 Eastern. Um I that's probably the game I'm most excited about and I'm just there's certain games the matchups that will happen in the regular season where I'll watch the game and be like, "Hey, if they match up again, don't forget what this game felt like." Um but then you factor in like the positive parts of the Caleb thing because I still am excited about him. Still excited about his career, but like nobody cares about year three when we have the playoffs at our doorstep here.

37:26 Uh I wanted to pick Jacksonville to go to the Super Bowl. I don't know if this Trevor Lawrence resurgence of five weeks is the same. He had a hot little run before the playoffs a few years ago and then actually was like a disaster even though they came back against the Chargers which led to all sorts of different timelines with those teams. And then once the bracket, you know, we start seeing how the seating's playing out, I'm like, man, they get Buffalo, right? And I think Buffalo is going to be a trendy pick for a lot of people because they're going to look at the quarterback field and go like, hey, just give me Allen. I just don't like that Bill's defense enough. Um, I think Allen's turned the ball over a little bit more after a career best of like interception numbers, uh, at least percentages. And this Jacksonville defense feels like it's not getting talked about nearly enough because of

38:08 what Houston's doing and then what we've seen out of Seattle, as you've mentioned. So, I'm I guess I just didn't want to be wrong, Ryan. I didn't want to be wrong in week one with my AFC Super Bowl participant.

38:20 Yeah. Well, I I'm I mean I'm shocked that the Bills are favored in this game or at least as of yesterday they were.

38:26 Still are this morning. Still are. So, um you know, I admittedly like I didn't watch a ton of Jacksonville. You know, we're watching all the games. They're not the one I have on the big screen all the time. And you just thought over the last half of the season, ah, they're going to fall fall off at some point. They're going to fall off at some point. Well, um they've won eight in a row. They've won nine of their last 10. And so I started to dig and look at some of the film and stuff and you know that interesting point that bye-week came at the right time. They played Seattle and they played the Rams uh offensively 12 points and seven points. They didn't play well but since then almost 33 points a game. So it's like okay let's look at Trevor Lawrence.

39:04 Sometimes when I watch him he seems a little bit unsure of himself. But since the by-week the dude has played great. I think the things I love about him he's not afraid to let it rip. And so you're seeing all these great throws down the middle with him. Um you're seeing the throws on the outside and then the emergence of all these receivers. Um but Jacobe Myers is obviously a big pickup for them. But Parker Washington has been awesome. He's a lot of fun to watch and he's using his legs a little bit more this year than he has in the past, but he's seen the field really well and you can tell guys are coming after him and pressuring him. Uh but he's throwing to the right spot. He's throwing on time.

39:44 He's accurate. So, I think kudos to Liam Cohen for the season that Trevor's had so far. And you've seen the drastic improvement from the first few weeks in the system to what he's done the second half of the year.

39:56 I know you had a lot of stops. I mean, everybody loves your career, you know, cuz it's like, hey, is this going to work out? Like, hey, you know, who's pretty good? And then it's like, oh, maybe that wasn't real. It's like, hey, did you see his numbers? Like, it's all over the place. And I I have to imagine that like maybe in the beginning with the unheralded resume coming out, maybe you had coaches that were like, "Hey, don't do don't try to do anything. You know, just let the defense win. Hand it off like third down. If you don't like it, get rid of it." All that kind of stuff. And, you know, maybe it's the the evolution of coaching because I feel like it's just generally more positive.

40:32 And it's not even just in football where it's like, you know, back in the day you come back, you make a mistake, it's like, oh, this guy gets to yell at me the entire time. And I think all of us just sort of accepted that that was normal. But what did it mean to you to have coaches where it was like, hey, we believe in you. We want you to do some of these other things. Um, because I feel like you're just seeing that generally throughout the league is that even if you may not love your quarterback, you're tasked with making them feel great about their abilities as opposed to prepping them to diminish their abilities.

41:00 Yeah. I I think it goes both ways. I think, you know, early on with Mike McDaniel and Tua, Tua had it one way for a while and then Mike comes in and showers him with praise and it goes the other way, right? And that infusion of confidence really helped him um initially in that relationship, but I do think there's still that fine line of yeah, you can be buddies, but the coach has to be really demanding of the player as well. And I think it's been interesting what we've seen in New England this year because I know that system that system is a difficult one to pick up and Drake May's done a great job with it. But they'll continue to demand excellence out of him. Not just for every game, but every single day in practice, there's going to be a demand there. So you can shower a guy with praise. You know, you can talk great about them in the media, in front of the team, but there also have to be those

41:56 tough conversations where you need to get the best out of guys and find the way that they tick. And so with some of these quarterbacks, you have to have thick skin. You have to allow yourself to be coached. And I don't know Trevor really well. Um I know him a little bit, but with some of these guys, like they want hard coaching. They want you to be able to get after them. And look, there's enough as a quarterback, you the when you don't play well, there's going to be plenty of critics out there and it's a tough thing. You need a tight room. You need a good support system and it starts with your head coach, but behind closed doors, he has to be very demanding of you as well. And you had to be receptive to that.

42:37 Did you respond to tough coaching? Did you like being yelled at? it, you know, as you get older in your career, um, I never like to be shown up, right? So, like you can you can coach me hard all you want, you know, in a team meeting behind closed doors, like whatever it was, but if it's one of those things where we're on the sideline and you're doing the theatrics and you're over the top because you want to make sure that everybody knows that it's this guy's fault, not mine. as you get older, you know, you you don't don't think you really need a lot of that stuff, uh, outward stuff on the sideline, but certainly in front of a team or behind closed doors. Um, I was always open to that hard coaching. Can you explain like I mean I know I'm not going to be educated enough on it because I didn't play the position, but when you just said, "Hey, I know that system in New England, that's a tough

43:31 system." Like what makes it a tough system? like what are the things that you're like, "Hey, if you're prepping in this and installing it, like this is going to be this is going to be kind of tough." I'd love to get a further understanding of that from you.

43:42 Yeah. So, you know, I was in that system when Bill O'Brien took the job in Houston. I ended up going to the Texans. Um, so that was year 10 for me and that system hopefully it has a resurgence here because the systems that are demanding of the quarterback um with the mic points with you have your hands on everything whether it's a run game or the pass game and have to have a full understanding of not just your guys and where they are but those offensive linemen in front of you, what they're doing, how you can get into successful plays, how you can get out of bad plays. um all those things like that New England philosophy of, you know, not losing a game. Before you win a game, you got to stop yourself from losing a game. Um there's an intensity that's put on the quarterback before the snap. And then that gets to like processing after the snap, too. But the intensity before the snap of getting everybody in the

44:37 right place to get yourself a successful play or at least the ability to have a successful play, there's a lot of brain power that goes into that. Um, and so I really enjoyed that year I had with Bill O'Brien. Um, and it's a cool system to be in as a quarterback.

44:53 When you look at May's entire year, like he might end up winning the MVP. Um, and you know, I think some of the younger guys it's like, oh, you know, by we had Matt Ryan on recently and I was like, when did it really click for you? And I thought Matt pretty much out of the jump as a high overall draft pick. Like it was pretty clear immediately like Atlanta's got a good one here and they're going to have one for a long time. And then Matt Ryan gives you the answer. He's like, "Yeah, year five is when I felt comfortable." You just go, you know, this this [ __ ] position, man. Um,

45:21 but then May, it's, you know, there's some younger guys, it's like, oh, he's pretty good, and that's a pretty good QBR, but you just know like you're not really stretching the defense. You're not challenging him. And then you have May who's like number one on deep balls. He's number one QBR on deep balls. when you see someone this young compete and and perform at this kind of level like I I imagine I don't know if awe is the right word but when you watch the film of this what are your impressions?

45:46 Oh it's awe. You are the amazing thing to me with Drake May the the deep ball accuracy and the ability for his guys to come down with the catches has been unbelievable but it's his consistency every week. Like for me that was the hardest thing even you know through year 17 was every single week having the consistency to go out there and put your team in the best uh situation possible to win a game on every single play on every single drive every quarter every half and every game and he has done that. There has been no fallout. There really haven't been any games where you point to it you're like oh yeah he really lost the game for the team there. So, I think that part of it, the consistency and the way that he's played all year long has been the most amazing thing to me. And just, you know, the difference from last year to this year as well, knowing how hard that system is that he's in and knowing how

46:46 well he's operating it right now has been really fun to watch. I'm in awe of Herbert being upright uh by the end of the year. So when I was looking at this game, you know, we know the tackle situation and how different they've been without all and obviously Slater hasn't been there all season. They've got the running back health back. There's there's at least one number that maybe gives you some hope here in the Chargers. And it's not like, you know, the Pats are favored by 10 points here. They had one of the easiest schedules in the history of the league.

47:12 So I'm still a little like unsure of of what to expect against what I think will be a physical game against the Chargers. But the Chargers red zone offense has been a mess as far as touchdown percentage and New England's the third worst. So if you're the Chargers struggling in the red zone all season long to get in the end zone, at least in the preparation of this one, you're like, "Okay, well, at least we're going up against the Pats here." Because that's been probably one of the worst statistical things they've had on what has been an overwhelmingly positive season.

47:41 Yeah, I feel I feel good about New England. You know, we talk about strength of schedule and how they haven't beat anybody. I mean, if you look at the amount of teams that have beat the Bills in Buffalo in the last two years, uh it's not a list of many. So, uh for New England to go in and do that and then that second game to get up 21 nothing on the Bills, uh and you know, to the Shagrina Patriots fans, but to the thrill of Bills fans to relinquish it was, um it told me a lot about who they were and who they are as a football team. So, I I think that the way that they're coached, the way that they play, limiting mistakes, uh, is going to be good for playoff football.

48:21 And again, the consistent performances of Drake Bay week in and week out, I think that'll continue. I I do think the biggest X factor in this game because the Chargers defense is lights out is going to be a couple plays by Josh McDaniels that are schemed up that he has that they get big shots down the field. And that's going to be the difference in this game because I don't see it being a high-scoring one, but I do see some explosive schemed up plays by the Patriots in this one.

48:49 So, it sounds like you like New England at home then. I do. Yeah, I like New England.

48:53 So, here we have Philly, who we're only judging them based on who they were in 24. And if you look at the rushing numbers, it's it's two completely different teams. The scoring stuff is down significantly. There's some other like stuff I was looking at this morning like yards per play. It's not dramatically different, you know, but the ranking can be different just off of a half a yard. What do you see as the biggest issue of of what's happened because I still I love the way that defense is playing right now, you know, and I'm like reminding myself like don't be too dismissive of this team, okay?

49:26 Because they don't they can be average on offense and win a couple of these games. Um, so I guess I'm kind I want to ask just more open-minded like just where are you at with the Eagles as they get ready for this? Yeah, to me this is the this is the one I'm having the most trouble figuring out who's going to win because it's two completely opposite teams the way they're set up, right? I mean, the Eagles defense, Vic Fangio, they're proven, they've been playing awesome, especially the back half of the year. The offense has struggled. They've got all the playmakers. They have all the pieces. They're playing a little bit better now than they were. And then you have the ners who defense is obviously the Achilles heel. The injuries there, but they just, you know, they've got to be able to somehow try to create some turnovers. Jaylen Herz doesn't really turn the ball over that much. Uh, and the Niners offense has been on fire

50:16 other than the game against the Seahawks. So, this one's really intriguing to me. Um, I think, and this might be just me rooting for that underdog. I mean, look at all the starting quarterbacks that are in the playoffs right now. I think two of them were drafted in the first round. Jaylen Herz, second round pick, and Brock Curry. Um, I think the Niners win this game, man. I really do. Uh, and Vic Fangio has done a great job. Shanahan obviously loves him and the work that he does, but I think the Niners find a way. Both teams are experienced in the playoffs um with Brock Purie to pull this one out.

50:56 Okay. Is there anything from the Rams Carolina match up in the regular season that is is giving you any chance? Oh, you're just shaking your head.

51:04 Pure pure anomaly Stafford couple picks like it just this game the spread is over 10 I think and it's going to it's going to be one of those games. It's a Carolina, you know, had a chance to get in uh by beating Tampa Bay. They didn't do it. Obviously, they get the gift from the Saints Atlanta game. Uh, but no, I think this one's going to be pure domination from the very start of the game.

51:30 We agree on that one. All right. If you're gearing up and we'll include the one seats here because you know this we're previewing the weekend here, but you maybe maybe I'm mentioning Denver and you already mentioned Seattle. Um, but you can use the entire field. Which defense would you least want to go up against of the entire playoff field?

51:47 Houston I would least like to go against. Uh, with Seattle being a close second there,

51:53 is Denver third? Um, I think I would put the Eagles at third and Denver fourth.

52:03 And was that a Buffalo pick or a Jacksonville pick? I don't know if I actually got you.

52:09 I mean, I I don't know if I got yours either. You said Jacksonville Super Bowl, but then you didn't want him to go out. So,

52:14 yeah, I'm going to pick Jacksonville because I I just don't like that Bills defense. I don't like the Bills run defense. And you know, Allen's certainly capable of of carrying a team for an entire day here, but I would go Houston.

52:24 I'm gonna go New England. I'm gonna go Jacksonville. Um I'm going to say Philly's defense is enough for them at home.

52:33 Uh and on pick Green Bay. Okay. So, we're the Rams. Rams Rams and Green Bay were the same on. It's like I

52:41 I actually have to make a pick on Saturday during the Green Bay Chicago game, though. So, I keep going back and forth. I feel pretty good about Green Bay right now. Um I'm going with the Bills. So we're different there and I'm going with San Fran. So Bills and San Fran uh are the two that we're different on. Um so I can't wait to come back on and rehash why I was right and you were wrong.

53:02 I I'd be happy to do that. I don't really blame you. You know, it's like when Desmond Howard is up there for the Michigan Ohio State pick on game day. like what's what's and all the years that you didn't think Michigan had a chance of beating Ohio State, he ended up being right because they just kept beating him uh to close out up until 24. I want to I want to end on this because I've I've only watched the Amazon Thursday Night Football promo 200 300 times this year with Shabuzzi. I had a question about the script at the end.

53:33 Okay. So when Tony Gonzalez comes in and Wit's there and Wit's like, "Hey, it's Shabuzzi." I'm wondering if the script is like, "Hey, I told you Shabuzzi would be here." Because there's a there's a surprise element to it. Or, "Hey, you didn't believe me that Shabuzzi was going to be here. Look at Shabuzzi." Or maybe Whit didn't even know that Shabuzzi was going to be there. and Shabuzzi's like it's like I can't believe Shabuzzi's actually here. So I' I've like I said I've only watched it and thought about it every time a few hundred times this year. I'm just wondering how if there were different takes if there was Ryan I would tell you there were probably 30 takes of that moment and you know I think it's the moment you're talking about Whit and Tony like embrace and I'm in the background like I'm not even there almost like you're not surprised

54:29 like like but I my my question is you know every Thursday night we go to let them know like I love the song it's super catchy. So, do we have to change it to every Thursday night and Black Friday and then wild card weekend on Saturday? We going to let them know. That's my big thing is what are we going to do for the intro? Is it still going to be every Thursday night? Do we change it to Thursday night, but wild card weekend? I think there's a lot of questions we have to get answered before we have this game.

54:59 Well, again, I can't wait because now instead of just processing it without even realizing I'm processing, I'll be I'll be watching more intently. Uh, say hi to everybody for me, man. I appreciate it.

55:10 All right. Thanks, dude. See you. Let's get ready for the playoffs. Our friend, the allpro linebacker, Fred Warner, joins the show again. What's up, man? It's good to see you,

55:19 man. It feels like it's been forever. How's it going, baby? I'm good. I'm good. And, by the way, congratulations. The newest addition to the family. So, um, if there was a time I know there's no time to be hurt, but if there was a time to be hurt, you know, it's it's

55:33 it's it's crazy. It was crazy cuz I'm in the hospital. uh the day of the game uh is when my my wife went into labor and I'm I'm sitting there I'm like can you imagine if I was playing right now and like we're in the same scenario and I got to figure out how am I going to operate this like playing if like the question would come up of honey are you still going to play in the game or are you going to be there with me and I'm like God like why are you like you can't even put me in that position to make that kind of that kind of decision like this is for the one seed d so you know we came to consensus we won't say what that consensus was you probably figure it out But, you know, it was just like everything happens for a reason though.

56:09 You know what I'm saying? Like just being able to be there in that moment. I'm like, "Okay, now now I realize why all this happened." So,

56:17 you know, I could probably do like an hour on this topic, but we're not going to because I've I've had, you know, look, I'm I'm at a certain age where I've had this discussion with plenty of my friends wives and everything because I do think it's really interesting that the shift and I I don't know that it was recent, but maybe the last 10 years or so of like if a guy missed a playoff game, no one was ever going to go on the air and be like, "Really, dude? Like, you you're going to miss a playoff game for this?" And then, you know, I understand um you know, the arguments that I've had with maybe wives, with my friends, and they'd be like, "Look, you know, you never know. You would you would it would haunt you the rest of your life if something ever was wrong. Like, you have to be there. This is more important than any of this stuff."

56:57 And then I think about like all of these scenarios. And I was just like, it's generally applauded because nobody wants to be on the other side of criticizing a man for missing a game to be with his wife and the birth of his child. But I do think there's a line where the public would be like, "Hey, the quarterback's going to miss the conference championship game because of this." Like there there exists a scenario where there'd be people going,

57:20 "Really? You're going to" And I'm not even sure that I'm even comfortable doing this right now, but it's too late now. It's too late. I

57:26 mean, yeah, the line the line is super blurry. Like, you could sit there all day and say, and when you're not in that scenario, you could sit there and be like, "Oh, yeah, like I would miss the game." Or vice versa. Oh, I would uh you know, I'd miss the birth of my child if it were the Super Bowl. Um you know, and it's like you think there's like these hard lines of when when to go, when not to go, and all these different things, but uh when you're in it and it's like this is your actual like you mentioned, like what if something were to go wrong and like you really going to miss the birth of your child? And I'm not saying that people who do miss it are wrong by any means. Like everybody got their own way of doing things and and how you handle that situation, but it's like the line is so blurry. So, I'm just happy I wasn't put in that position. It was it was clear-cut. You know, I'm not going

58:08 to be in the box this game. I'm going to be in the hospital watching the game. So, that's just how it unfolded.

58:12 On today's episode, Ryan Fitzpatrick joins us as well. And, you know, I get a lot of the QB stuff from him. So, I want to go to the other side of the ball and kind of look at this playoff field. And, uh, I'm going to start real simple, which you can't pick the NerS.

58:23 Yeah. Who has the who has the best defense of all the teams in the playoffs? Oh, boy. Um, you know, I think obviously they're fresh in my mind given what I watched this past Saturday night, but I think Seattle, um, you know, I think just at all three levels, they got guys that are so disruptive and like the what they did against our offense who have scored so many points in the past three weeks to then hold us to just three points to ultimately, you know, win the the one seed. It's not like their offense dropped 30 on us. They they scored 13 points in that game. They won 13 to three. And so, you know, I think I like I I I do respect Seattle. I wouldn't say I like their defense, you know, I hate them, but I do respect their their defense. I respect their team. Um, and uh, I there's a reason why they did get the one seed and they played like that all season long and I think they're only going to get better

59:09 as the playoffs go. If you look at the top defenses, like I was looking at some of the numbers today and, you know, depends on kind of like how into the stuff you are, but I mean there's basic numbers that tell a story that these defenses are dominant, you know, for this season and it's Tex, it's the Texans, it's Denver, it's Seattle. Um, if you go points per drive, which is usually a pretty interesting one there, Seattle's number one, Texans, they're number two, Denver's number three. So, you know, we

59:33 we look at these defenses. I I'd love to get kind of like an idea of I know there's probably some that you're far more familiar with based on just prep and kind of being around especially a division opponent like Seattle. But,

59:44 when you look at like what Seattle does, what Houston does, what Denver does, like what are some of the things that are different despite the same results being the top groups this year? Uh, you know, I think it all starts with their ability to stop the run. Uh, you know, every team rather they're, you know, a team that airs it out. You know, they might have a head coach that has that philosophy of, man, we want to air the ball out. We want to we want to throw the ball and score touchdowns and score points, but at the end of the day, you know, the league is cyclical where we we've obviously transitioned to a time of running the football is becoming more prevalent now. you see the drop in the amount of total yards that quarterbacks are throwing these in in today's game than they were back I don't know 10 years ago when Drew Brees and Tom Brady and Pton Manning those guys are airing it out throwing for over

1:00:28 4,000 5,000 yards a season now you're seeing guys 3,000 4,000 yards so like teams are running the football a lot more so when you have a defense that can stop the run and make a team one-sided where that now they're forced to pass the ball which creates more opportunities to take the ball away in the pass game and and play different coverages to that. I think that's where you find the best defenses that are playing. So, that's where I see the those three defenses that you mentioned. And Houston, I think obviously is right there at the top as one of the best with De Mo uh and the things that he's been able to create with that defense personnel wise and philosophy wise. They are all super relentless and violent in the run game to now make a team one-sided. And that's why you see all those takeaways happening uh in the ability to hold teams to such low amount of points.

1:01:16 What would you rather have behind you? Like a certain a shutdown one-on-one corner that you know like I was watching some clips this morning and it's just stupid. Like he's running the route with the guy.

1:01:27 Um so you can argue, okay, well wait a minute, if this is their number one, we can take him out, right? Mhm.

1:01:32 Um, so it see feels like that's an obvious answer, but then I look at like the way Seattle's built a little bit and how much I love their safeties and

1:01:41 I'm just wondering like if you had a preference behind you, would you rather have one of those hybrid safeties that strike some fear into people or that kind of true number one corner that feels like takes away the number one receiver?

1:01:54 Oh, um, I thought you were going to ask the question. Would I rather have a, you know, lock down back end or a relentless pass rush? And in that case, I definitely take the pass rush over the back end because when you have a pass rush, it makes everything easier, not only for the third level, but the second level as well. All everybody in the back end can play with their cleat to the ground and ball out breaks so much quicker when the quarterback knows he doesn't have that time. Well, when you're talking safeties and corners, yeah, I kind of lean more towards corner, but it's so even because it's like safeties are so involved in the run game. They're so like they they have to play the pass and the run effectively. Corners can kind of get away with just having to play the pass and are just kind of whatever in the run game, it doesn't really matter. It won't it won't show up as much. But if you got

1:02:40 a safety that's lackluster in the run game, that's going to show up a ton. But I mean with how talented these guys are, they're how talented these guys number one receivers are in this league. You've got a true lock down corner who can who can match up one for one against a guy and kind of lock down that side of the field and then you can you can really run a true double team uh to the other side. I think that's what is super effective when you have that.

1:03:03 I love the corner pass rush one as well. Like I used to probably when I was younger like I was just so enamored with the nasty nasty corners, right? Like there's nothing better than having one of these guys and then you start to realize like yeah but if you can get there with four

1:03:18 it doesn't matter if you're getting there with fouract you don't really need the lock down guys. It's like hey don't get beat the first 10 yards because that 10 15 yards like our guys are already going to be collapsing the pocket more often than not. Like we may not get home. We might not even knock the quarterback down but if we're moving that guy around there a little bit we don't need to be step for step with somebody 30 yards down the field.

1:03:39 Yeah. And then when you see you look at Houston, right, and you have when you got that combination of the pass rush with a Dil Hunter, a Will Anderson off the edge, and then you got a Derek Stingley uh as you know, like these are these are all pro players at every level. That's where you see true dominance happening. And that's why it's like it's not a surprise what they're doing, you know, and you match that up with a guy and De Mo and their defensive coordinator who instill the right philosophy of how to play the game. It's that that's as good as it get. And that's why I think the Texans are such a sleeper pick in the AFC where it's like, yeah, nobody's when people are talking about the AFC that nobody I guarantee you was talking about Houston as a team to watch who who's going to represent the AFC because they're like, oh no, Jackson Jacksonville Jaguars, who are also a great team. Denver Broncos, New

1:04:24 England Patriots, like teams that are who obviously had great seasons and are hot. But Houston has the formula that you see in like teams that have the opportunity to win the championship. So, I'm really I'm interested to see how they do uh in this first round.

1:04:37 Why do you think Hunter doesn't get more pub? Um I don't know, man. Maybe it's just uh it seems like all you dudes are like, "Hey, man, Hunter." And then it's he kind of has the stats to back it up, too. I'm not saying it's not Miles Garrett. Okay, that's that's fine. Like, I think we went through the Garrett, Crosby, Watt, Parson's thing of it. So maybe maybe I even understand my own question, but I feel like whatever the gap is to those guys to Hunter, it's like Hunter doesn't even get brought up ever.

1:05:05 Yeah. I think it's because his style is so unique. Like if you if you watch his rush and like kind of how he like and he's been around for so long, like his dominance has been forever. He back to in Minnesota like he was the guy, right? He's been the guy for forever now with Houston. He's he's still been able to produce at that same level even this late into his career. He has a very unique uh style in which he rushes, you know, and he's real quiet about what he does. Like you see him get a sack, he not the guy jumping up, got the the signature sack celebration. He not he not talking about his his game or how he does out in the public. He just he seems like a guy that just keeps his head down, grinds, works, and produces consistently on a on a play in playout basis. Um, but then yeah, of course, when you have the young guy who's the first first round pick and Will Anderson, he's kind of more of like the

1:05:51 splashier guy who shows a little bit more of that fire and he's like the guy that people can get excited about. So, you're going to hear more about him uh rather than Denil, but just having the combo of the two is like is unreal. That's that's what you dream of right there.

1:06:04 I want to go back to some of your playoff games and and talk about like I don't know if there's stories in there or how we'll do this, but you know, the preparation. I think your first game was what that Minnesota game against Cousins. Is that your first playoff game?

1:06:17 That's right. Yeah. So, and this isn't to like look I don't think any of us are saying at Kurt Cousins and Aaron Rogers level, but like go through the

1:06:25 like back to that time of like hey when we knew we were going up at Cousins like going up against him like we knew this and then

1:06:32 the next week it's Rogers, you beat Minnesota. I'd love to get like locked into the preparation of how you're like we kind of knew what to expect here. This really surprised us. So, take us back to kind of like your first run through the playoffs as you were getting ready for a defense to to take on two different styles of quarterbacks here.

1:06:50 Well, it was super unique in 19, right? You got to remember we went into that week 18 game exactly the exact same scenario that we our team just had against Seattle was the exact same scenario we were in in 19 except we're on the road you know against a super talented and really good Seattle team in in that kind of environment. We won it on the last play with the Drelaw you know smack at the one yard line and everybody goes crazy and we we secure the one seed knowing that the playoffs run through uh you know Levi Stadium.

1:07:19 And so I think when I think about the question you just asked, it was so invaluable. I can't even talk about how important it was that we have Richard Sherman on our side of the ball. A guy who not only has been through the playoffs, but who's won a championship, knew what it looked like, cuz we had a perfect combination of young young players, veteran players. So us relying on a guy like Sherm to be like, "Hey, Sherm, what what's the difference between regular season and playoffs?" And he said, "Listen, there is no difference. We've been dominant on defense all year long. I think that season we had the number one defense outright and he's like there is no difference. You do not make the moment bigger than what it needs to be. We need to go in here, we need to prepare exactly how we've been all season and if we truly are a championship team, we we practiced like a championship team all year long. And so this this game is no

1:08:05 different. And so I think we went in so ultra confident in that first game. Even though that was my first playoff game, it truly was like in any other game. And when you have guys like Sherm, like Corin Alexander, Dre Green Laws, our front four was unreal. Nick Bosa, uh, Eric Armstead, DeForest Buckner, like it was un D4. Like it was there was no way we were going to lose that game because it didn't matter if our offense scored three, three, seven, 10 points, we were going to stall their offense to whatever was going to be one point lower than our offense needed. So, um, I remember, you know, their their team kind of their team battled. It just it was I feel like it just was lopsided the entire I don't know what the final score was, but we we got after those guys.

1:08:48 Yeah, they had a late touchdown. Make it a little bit closer, but you're up two scores on them. They scored a touchdown there at the end. Was it 2720?

1:08:54 Um, do you remember Garopolo's numbers the week after against Green Bay? No, I remember they weren't that great. I remember Raheem Oster ran for like four touchdowns. So, it was

1:09:07 it was pretty. You guys ran the hell out of the ball, you know, because it was like what I'm what I'm getting at here is you probably felt pretty good going up against Cousins and then it's like, all right, well, who knows with Rogers. Um, but you were able to pick him off a couple times.

1:09:20 Garopolo finished that game six of eight for 77 yards. And I remember watching it going like, man, I love this defense. But like,

1:09:29 yeah, dude. So, are you you're not expecting six of eight from the quarterback for 77 yards. And again, it when you get 285 on the ground, you don't really need a ton for the quarterback, but you also,

1:09:41 you know, you you may know that like I'm wondering in the preparation of that game, it's like we may need to win this one ourselves. Um, and you know, there's there's there's an argument to be said. Obviously, the running and the defense were the main components in this one. Yeah, I think that was another game where we came in ultra confident because of playing Green Bay earlier in the year on Sunday Night Football and we dominated them in that game as well. Um, you know, and so when we came in, I always remember this pregame, we're on the field for warm-ups and on the big screen, they're playing the highlights of when we beat them on Sunday night on the on the big screen. And so, not only our team, but their team has to watch these highlights of us whooping them.

1:10:20 And it's like, I could only imagine how just demoralizing it was for them to watch that. I mean, we're just sitting there like, man, I can't we can't wait to go out there and do the same exact thing we did last time. And sometimes maybe that's a motivator for the other team, like, oh, okay, they got us last time, but they're not going to get us this time. But we truly just had so much confidence. But you got to remember our offense our our offense's identity that entire season was running the football. I think it just it just happened where it opened up completely in that game.

1:10:46 And I don't know if their their defense necessarily was ready for it or if we just were that good that day, but the way that Raheem and that offensive line worked together and for him to run over 200 yards and like four touchdowns, which is I think the most in like playoff history, it was something crazy. But um I mean, yeah, that's that's the winning formula in the playoffs. You want to be able to run the ball and you want to be able to play great defense. And so we had those two pieces to ultimately get have a chance to to go to the Super Bowl.

1:11:13 Okay, here's what I love about basketball. Um, you know, I I'm probably thought of as more of a basketball guy, but I'm going to explain why that is.

1:11:21 All right. That if you are a truly special basketball player and it's a tight playoff game,

1:11:26 Yep. then you can probably figure out a way all on your own to take over that basketball game.

1:11:31 Mhm. That's really hard to do in football. Yeah. You ain't kidding. You ain't lying. That's why I think of the whole Bills scenario of people talking about, oh, this is Josh Allen's time. There's no Mahomes. There's no Lamar. There's no Joe B. Like, all these things about is is Josh's time. I'm like, that whole thing, that whole thought process is so flawed because it's not one player. It's never been one player. It's never just been Patrick Mahomes. It's never just been Lamar Jack. Like, Patrick Mahomes has been a part of so many great defenses. Like, it's unbelievable. And it's no surprise why they've won as many Super Bowls that they had. Yeah. Pat Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reed, Travis, they're all fantastic. But without that defense, who knows how many of those Super Bowls they're winning. Josh Allen right now, unfortunately, is playing with a defense that is not playing all that great. And so, you're telling me

1:12:23 that, oh, this is his time and he just has to turn into Superman and score 40 points and he'll win his first Super Bowl. It's like, no, he's not he's not alone out there. And unfortunately, it doesn't matter how well he plays. the team has to play great as a collective. And so, like you just said, that that whole thing about players taking over games, basketball versus football, of course, like you've seen it over and over again in basketball, you know, the the games with Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, uh, you know, it just it's way more it's way easier in basketball because there's less guys on the court and you can affect you affect the game on both on both ends of the court, right? So, um, unfortunately with football, you can't play offense and defense at the same time.

1:13:05 Well, that's a perfect summary kind of like how I felt about it and why I'm actually not picking the Bills. I picked Houston to win the AFC and I may have picked Jacksonville. Yeah, I did. I did. Um, I'm going to be totally frank about it. I was thinking about going Jacksonville. I'm not sure that I'm I'm married to the idea that Trevor's like just all of a sudden turned it around. He's been on an absolute tear, but I didn't like that their first game was against Buffalo. So, I didn't want to have my AFC participant be eliminated wild card weekend. So, I went with Houston because of the matchup.

1:13:33 What about New England and and Denver? Uh I I think Houston and Jacksonville are better than both those teams.

1:13:40 Why? I don't like Bick's week to week. I don't like Now I still don't understand how Joe Flacco turned into Joe Montana for four weeks that Super Bowl run because I felt like that was about their defense. He used to drive me crazy. We talked about it all the time. There's a lot of like Joe Flacco or Matt Ryan and I'd be like, "Are you out of your [ __ ] mind?" Like Matt Ryan's a better quarterback. And then Joe Flacco turned into like,

1:14:00 you know, QBR 15. Yeah. I mean, just unbelievable what that guy did for four straight weeks. But if you look at like his full body of work, it was actually kind of a statistical outlier of who he had actually been. And you know, early on it was

1:14:13 I felt like he was getting a lot of credit for wins. And it's like, do you realize like this guy's being asked to complete 13 passes a game? Like look at some of this stuff. that defense is outrageous and that's why they're doing this and I think Matt Ryan's a better quarterback whatever. Um I think Bo Nick's like the Green Bay game kind of like man I can't you know it was awesome. He was great in that game was a huge spot. It's when I still probably believed in Green Bay a little bit more and he was great and then I would say there's just there's like the next dud game waiting for you right around the corner. So I like May better than him. I like Straoud better than him.

1:14:43 Um obviously I like Allen better than him. I think I like even Lawrence better than him. Um, and Shawn Peyton would probably think I'm insane because, you know, we were talking with somebody, we were talking to Bur Brier on Monday, and he was like, "Yeah, they had they had Knicks number two on their board behind uh Jaden Daniels, so they had him ahead of Caleb Williams

1:15:00 on their draft board." And sometimes when I hear that stuff after the fact, I'm like, "You're just saying that because you drafted him." But,

1:15:06 you know, whatever. Right. Yeah. Exactly. It's worked out for him. And look, I think the AFC's wide open. But if you're telling me Houston and Denver's defense are on the same level, there's no way I'm going to tell you I like Bo Knicks better than Stout in a playoff game.

1:15:20 Okay. I like that thought process. Am I crazy? Like what do you see when you see Bon Knicks?

1:15:25 No, I I I uh it's hard for me to say because I haven't I haven't studied Bo that much this season. I'm going strictly based off of the games that I've watched just as a fan on the TV.

1:15:34 And you know, there has been, you know, inconsistencies, right? I think there was there was a stretch there where they're questioning like can he uh you know just be a consistent thrower of the football playing and play out when when the game is is being relied on him to to to win the game. Can he do that? And he is so young still like you got to remember he's only a secondy year quarterback and I think that's why people probably aren't as quick to want to put their trust in a second year guy with Bicks or Drake May even Drake May has had an MVP type season. And it's like, all right, well, he hasn't experienced the playoffs yet, so I don't know. You can't really say how he's going to perform when the lights are the brightest, right? But, um, you know, again, at the end of the day, it's not just fully on those two guys to be like, you got to go win us a game. They have to have they have to have the ability to

1:16:20 make the plays in the in the crunch when it's when it matters most. That's that's for sure. Like, you can't you can't have a guy that can't make those plays. But, you know, with with the type of play caller that Bo has and Shawn Peyton, I think that gives a that gives that team and that offense a lot of confidence, especially with the type of defense they have to and and having the one seat playing at home in that environment. There's a lot going well going right in their favor to come out of the AFC. But, um, it it is hard to say because do you put your chips all on a guy Bo Knicks versus some of these other guys? the defense, you know, plays at their best and and I love so much of their personnel and they're running the football and I I like the receivers.

1:17:02 Like it it could happen. I'm not saying like it's crazy, but uh I just I just like Houston and the full package uh a little bit better. And I I think there's going to be spots where you're going to have to have your quarterback like, you know, put together some of these drives. And it's not that Nicks hasn't done it. I mean, he there's there's evidence that he has late in the games and one score games and all that stuff. So like

1:17:20 this I know my position is is likely not a popular one. And I think the New England part of it is I think that schedule I think if it was an average schedule they'd have a few less wins and we'd be wondering if they were even a wild card even though I think Drake May should be MVP. So um yeah, that discussion in itself is really interesting. I mean I I before I even heard anybody else's opinion about the matter, I said that Matthew Stafford was clearcut the MVP. Like it's I think when a guy has 15 more touchdowns than the other guy, it's like why is that even up for discussion? Who's the MVP? But it seems like guys value what Drake May has done with less as saying like that's why he's MVP. Maybe because of how he played later down the stretch versus how Stafford and the Rams played later down the stretch. So kind of holding that against Stafford, but I feel like Stafford couldn't could not have played

1:18:07 better this season to ultimately receive the MVP. You know what I'm saying? Like I I don't I don't see how that's not clearcut in my in my opinion.

1:18:14 Final thought before we let this go. We know um I got to get your thoughts on Philly and obviously your squad.

1:18:22 Um but is there a chance that you're going to give a big speech and tell everybody, "Hey, you get this one and I'm back next week."

1:18:30 Um even if it's not true. Yeah. I mean, I I I may be done with the speeches for now because I actually gave the defensive speech before this task game and you saw how that went. So, my speeches my speech game needs a little work, I guess, to to ultimately really really fire the group up. But, uh, listen, you know, I love I love this matchup. I'm I'm really excited to see it. But, uh, you know, at the end of the day, we were fighting for a one seed with the hopes to let the playoffs run through Santa Clara. That didn't happen.

1:18:57 So, now you have to completely flip your mindset now to saying, "No, we that's in the past. That's done. We're not that's not how we're going to do this thing anymore. We are the road dogs. We got to find We got to get it the grimy way. We got to get it the dirty way. And you got to do it short-handed, right? You got to do it with guys that obviously aren't going to be on the field. You've got Tatum Mthoon who's out because he tore his groin next man up. Eric Hendricks is up to to be the guy. He's been there. He's done that. Um, you know, and ultimately just as a group, we got to we got to bounce back and rebound from this loss that we just took against Seattle and and uh put put together our best performance against Philly, who's obviously a great football team. um but hasn't truly met the expectations I'm sure that they put on themselves after, you know, such a dominant Super Bowl performance last year and and being such

1:19:42 having such a loaded roster. Um they got some things they're trying to figure out as well. So,

1:19:47 sounds like a good breakdown and we're it's a sign for me to just not push anymore on the injury update on on your your timetable because I know

1:19:57 Yeah, I'm I'm ready. I'm ready uh whenever they're ready. You know what I'm saying? There's there's some some tees that got to be crossed, do eyes that got to be dotted. Unfortunately, if I if it were just up to me, I'd be out there this weekend. But it's unfortunately not that it's not that way, right? I got to make sure that I'm I'm checking all the boxes and everybody has to give me the okay before they let me go out there. But I'm pushing, man. I'm training. I'm training hard. I'm back full doing full football drills and everything. So, um, time will tell, man.

1:20:25 We got We got to pull the win off first. I love it. I love it. inspire. I'm mad I already worked out today because I would want to go right now after listening to this. Uh I love these. I love catching up with you, man. We We really appreciate the time. I know you're super busy. Congrats again on the addition to the family. And we will talk to you a little bit further on in the playoffs.

1:20:43 Yes, sir. Appreciate it, man. Make sure you check out Fred Warner's podcast, Real Ones, the league. Uh again, that latest episode with Alex Smith. Uh really good and obviously timely as well. Before we get to life advice, again, lifeadvice rrgmail.com. Rudy and Steve hanging out with us. Um, well, Sery and Steve is the same person. Kyle's also here as well.

1:21:05 Nice hat, Kyle. I like that hat. Little lower like the positioning. Yeah, did that for you, buddy.

1:21:12 Your eyes look great today, Kyle. Skin's glowing. No, you guys doing anything for us.

1:21:20 Don't you think about us? Uh, let's let's have a little action here. A little action on the wild card weekend from our good friends at DraftKings. The Alliance wildcard version. Uh the board is yours, Rudy.

1:21:33 Yeah, the NBA Alliance for the NFL playoffs is going to turn into the NFL Alliance. And we can I I was hoping can go wherever we want. So, we're just going to pick uh we're going to avoid the Monday game, so we'll just do weekend games. Uh nobody likes an under, but I do in this game. Uh Eagles Niners 44 and a half. Eagles offense sucks. I'm not sure the 49ers offense is any good against good defenses. I think this is just like a lowscoring. I don't know who wins it. Weird game. I'd probably take the Niners with the points, but I like the under 44 and a half.

1:22:02 You're a Niners fan, aren't you? You know, I don't like to talk about this because I like Yeah, I was like a diehard Niners fan growing up and I just don't really care that much anymore. Um, like

1:22:13 Aren't you a Miami Hurricanes fan though, too? So, aren't you aren't you revved up emotionally these next couple days? Cuz I feel like you've never talked about it recently. because I'm not really a fan anymore. I'm definitely not a Miami Hurricanes fan. I liked I liked the 2002 team when I was like, you know, in middle school, high school. Uh, you know, shout out to our guy Greg Olsen and

1:22:32 that whole crew. But, you know, team was awesome. So, it wasn't like, you know, and I I have no affiliation with Miami, the University of Miami. I just like like the uniforms and, you know, what up swag. Uh, so I kind of feel like a fraud. So, I just kind of I sort of avoid talking about it. Yes. I So, I'm I I honestly I'll probably take Miami tonight. I think they're minus three right now, which uh is great, but that won't be because I'm a fan.

1:22:53 But it's not because I like them. Yeah. The only team I care about The only teams I care I care about the Magic a lot and I care about my soccer teams a lot and that's about it.

1:23:04 Baseball. Who did you ever root for as a baseball fan? Grew up Red Sox. Then it was like a weird I was a weird Nationals fan for a while because I was in DC. They had just built the new stadium and I would go to I would go to like every game because it'd be like $5 tickets. I go after my internship and uh they I think I've told the story before I I saw a weekend series I think it was against the Marlins where they had the lead in the ninth inning in every game and lost all three games. So it was a tough run there and that was preh Harper. So like I was on the I was early on the Nats before the uh before they actually got good but I didn't really care that much.

1:23:36 We don't talk about the DC year enough on this show to holiday special Easter have that planned

1:23:43 another time. Yep. Uh, okay. Kyle, what are you going with? Under. I've been smashing smashing Patriots props the last couple of weeks and uh haven't been bragging about it, but I have been I've been winning a little bit here and there. And I've always done a a Drake May rushing prop. I'm going to do I'm going to do uh Drake May 20 or more. They wanted me to do 26, but they gave me the option to do 20 plus. So, um I think we're going to get that done.

1:24:07 Okay. Uh I like it. You've been locked in on Drake May and you've been humble about it, which

1:24:12 yeah, you guys haven't earned a peep from me about Drake May. First I've learned about your winnings with Drake May. So, let's keep that thing rolling.

1:24:19 Uh, all right. I'm going to go Jacksonville plus the point and a half. Am I getting a point and a half or is it back to a point?

1:24:25 Yeah. All right. I think I've seen it somewhere at a point, but we'll take the point and a half. Uh,

1:24:30 I thought it would be a somewhat public play for Buffalo, and actually it is not.

1:24:34 Um, uh, based on some of the stuff that I was seeing. So, the most public plays so far have been uh a lot of lot of bears money it feels like. Um, which I actually was going to switch it to that once I realized the Jacksonville thing wasn't as cool as I maybe thought it would be going into the week, but now I'm in my own head that if I switch it, then it means obviously Jacksonville will cover. So, I'm not going to switch it. So, there you go. check out the latest odds on DraftKings and uh I guess you know monitor those monitor the situation over the entire weekend.

1:25:09 Download the app. Uh as you know at the top of this show promo code hook you up whole deal. You want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.

1:25:33 All right. Life advice life advice rgmail.com. We have just endless stream of unwanted dog waste content.

1:25:44 Yeah. Gets people filed. Gets people fired up, man. Always. I think it always will.

1:25:50 It seems like it's like cut and dry. We figured it out. That was like I feel like that was like the best ruling we've ever given. The most definitive thing we've ever said in life advice and gets the most emails.

1:26:01 Yeah. And guess who returned his garbage cans and recycling bins ASAP this morning as soon as we were done taping some of

1:26:08 top of mind. Nice. It's the first thing I did. Put all three of them away because there's guys out there like that one guy who's like basically, you know, think about the dad who's like, "Oh, hey, I got to rush the kids. Practice went late. It's dark out. I've got to run the kids in. Maybe there's a bath. Maybe there's some pasta. Maybe some chicken nuggets. Dinosaur nuggets. Who knows? And then it's like, "Oh, this guy didn't put his cans away. Let me punish him." Well, you don't know what's going on in his life. Maybe his wife doesn't like him anymore. She's talking about living with her sister for a little while. And this [ __ ] guy is supposed to remember to put in the cans because it was trash day that day, and his punishment is your dog poop tax.

1:26:44 I don't think that's fair. I don't think anybody wants to be in that kind of society. All right. Uh, here we go. A headline. Almost 50-year-old DJ lives above me. Hey crew, been listening since the SVP days. I've lived in London in my 20s and Ryan was my connect back to the States and sports. I'm chuffed to bits. One in the eye for all of us.

1:27:06 Sure. That's that's from Peter Munion. Succession. Oh, really? Yeah. Rum situ right over

1:27:17 when Logan dies. It's a rum situation and a punch in the eye for all of us. It's just so brilliant. Just extra those little extra things. So, our guy, uh, feel free if you're in the audience, you want to start throwing this into your everyday vernacular, chuffed to bits,

1:27:31 uh, that you were a fan of your trip out here. I want to thank you for keeping me connected to my American roots while I lived out there. All right. No gym stats or player comp, but I did ask Latril Spreewell for an autograph at a McDonald's drive-thru in Milwaukee as a seven-year-old. nice guy, but given his history, it was wild that my mom let me do that. Well, I don't think you were in any danger. You're seven at the time.

1:27:51 That's probably why he pulled it off, too, buddy. I guess he didn't say if it happened. He just said he asked him.

1:27:56 Yeah. Yeah. You have no conclusion. You got it. Well, yeah, that's a good point. Keen insight there. I'm 34, live in one of Ryan's favorite cities. Wonder what that would be.

1:28:07 Denver. West Harvard. West Harvard or Denver. Yeah, pretty much. New Orleans. Not

1:28:15 Boseman. Boseman. I don't think I like Boseman as much as everybody else does. I didn't dis I didn't dislike it.

1:28:22 That's what real Montana heads would say, right? It's like you're going to Boseman. Okay.

1:28:27 I liked Boseman. I didn't think it was uh I don't know. There's other towns. I like Whitefish a lot better than Boseman. How about that?

1:28:37 Checks out. Rent an apartment with my partner. Yeah. more of a Columbia Falls guy. Uh but is I I haven't hit up but yet so we'll see. I have not done the full Montana. The full monty as I say. Yeah. Kind of. I don't know if it works, but I like that you did it. So it does either

1:29:01 fire from the hip here. This has a Friday feel taping. Let's see how Friday night goes. We should do a Life Advice Friday night just to see what happens. Uh, just to remind everybody, we're going to have this will release. Well, you're going to hear it when it releases, so this isn't some [ __ ] break.

1:29:15 This will be out while it will eat that one, [ __ ] Um, but Friday, there'll be an extra one after that college football semi-final. So, uh, yeah. Right. Hey, just to keep you locked in for Thursday, make sure you check out Thursday's bod, the one I'm listening to. So, all right. Our guy rents an apartment with his partner in a mostly 30 years plus uh 30-year-old plus part of the city. Here's the issue. We're in a two-bedroom condo and the guy that lives above us is the definition of Peter Pan syndrome. Almost 50 years old, Nepo kid. I don't know for sure, but did some digging and it looks that way. His real passion is DJing. Every 2, three weeks, he hosts afterparties at his place, which is directly above us from midnight on, often passing out with heavy bass going into the morning. Who amongst us is not passed out with some heavy bass?

1:30:02 Uh, the other night I finally went up there, knocked on the door, and asked him to turn it down. My partner works in healthcare and sleep is pretty crucial for his work. My corporate strategy job less so. The neighbor answered the door off his face and said, quote, "I didn't even hear you knock. I just came out here by chance. What's up?" I said, "Quote, no kidding. It's pretty loud in there." Uh, and asked him to turn it down. He seemingly agreed. When I returned to my apartment, the volume may have dropped from like 30 to 28.

1:30:29 Here's my dilemma. Do I even bother? This is obviously not the kind of person who's going to change his behavior at the same time. I don't want to come across like a [ __ ] to my partner for not being able to resolve this. Some people don't like the P word a lot anymore. Um, anyway, any advice would be much appreciated. A few details. Sorry, Kyle. What was that?

1:30:46 I just said it really cuts through. Really? Wakes you up in the middle of a sentence. I said it the other week and you were like, "What?" And I was like, "What? Did I just screw up here? Sorry."

1:30:55 No, I don't know what it is with that word. I mean, obviously there's the kids in the car thing. Sorry to the kids and their parents right now, but it's not like we're not I mean we I think we talked about uh we must have said dog [ __ ] a record number of times. So yeah, you know, I mean I guess we're aware of it, but we're not doing very well if we were ever trying to correct something. But I don't know. It really depends on my mood probably more than anything else.

1:31:18 I'll put it back on the no-go list. I'll just go ahead and do that. I don't know cuz sometimes it just works perfectly. Like when I get done with some sort of training thing today and I'll just say to the coach and he's like, "What's the problem?" I use it. I I feel like this today. This is I feel if I were to describe how I feel, here's the word I would use and it's perfect. Um and then being in London to our emailer again, a word that no one's ever really supposed to use. But then I got back, I'm like, should we try to get this movement going here because it just kind of fits when a guy with a British accent says it about another guy and just says, "Oh, that guy's a this." And it's like, well, I don't really need to know anything else. This is really efficient. You'd almost need like one of those guys with you so you could test it out and be like, "No, dude. Look, Jared knows. Jared, tell him. It's all over

1:32:02 the place over there." It's funny when you say it. Do British people use the P word? I don't even know.

1:32:06 They don't. They use the other one. Yeah. Well, they're not really the same thing though.

1:32:11 Well, I don't know. Actually, they're not even close to the same thing. Uh, I don't know if we're talking about the same thing right now.

1:32:18 Okay. Well, the C word and the P word. Well, I mean, if if you were to look it up, I guess that it would be pretty much the same thing.

1:32:26 Well, yes, the etmology, I think, would be correct. But in a science thing, the person

1:32:34 calling someone the C word and calling someone the P word are not are not true. Yes. Now, I understand.

1:32:41 Yeah. I I understand like the Yeah. The body what is is Yes. This is this was starting to feel like Dwight sitting down with Toby. Where is

1:32:56 all right? Um, thank you for getting that. A few other details. One, even match, but I'm not going to fight. This is incredible.

1:33:04 Neighbors. Uh, number two, the other neighbors don't border his walls in the same way, so a group approach won't work. Three, we have two bedrooms, but it's a split level, and both are upstairs and subject to noise. Yeah, it's a tough one. It's a tough one because like is if if this guy's DJing after hours parties just shy of 50, there's probably not a lot of changing going on. This is kind of who he is, right? Uh

1:33:30 also there Yeah. I mean, this guy's wrong. He shouldn't be doing this. I mean, eventually an age kicks in for most of us. You're like, you know what sort of blows is kid A at 11 when you have other apartments, Ryan? Um that that have to listen to this stuff. You know, there was a few times I' I'd be like, "Hey, is there any way you could not do that?" I'm like, "You know what? Fine. I I submit." You know, there goes that age of like, "What's wrong with this asshole?" And it's like, "Nothing's wrong with him. You're just too stupid and young." Okay? And then you get into kind of the guilt range where you're not going to stop doing it, but you're going to feel worse when you do do it. And then you hopefully hit that peak where it's like, I don't even know that I even want to do this anymore. Um, and then you're thinking about everybody else first before you're thinking about yourself. And I think that's a very

1:34:15 common thing depending on where you're living and, you know, how close proximity everybody else is around you. Uh, sometimes you just luck out. You have a deep deep sleeper living next to you and you're like, I can't believe I'm getting away with this. Uh, or maybe they're just afraid to say something to you. I don't know. I mean, there's a bunch of different ways this goes. I think right as I finish my thought on this is you have to hope if he's on some sort of uh booze or drug induced bender that goes along with this that you have to hit him while he's weak immediately after the next day. You have to hit him when he's weak physically and when he's weak mentally. All right. Where he is leaving his apartment maybe a little bit later after one of these because he just doesn't want to interact with anyone else and maybe he has food delivered and he's hoping nobody notices because he's feeling a tremendous amount of guilt

1:35:01 because he knows he's doing it all the time. Right. Right. And so what you need to do is not hit him up mid dance party after hours whenever this goes. You need to hit him up

1:35:10 probably around when you think he wakes up. It sounds like you may be able to hear when he wakes up and attack then because that dude who's almost 50 that's staying up that [ __ ] late and throwing these kinds of benders, his weakest attack point is right when he's woken up and he may be agreeing to things cuz he just doesn't want to interact with anyone. So that would be my plan of attack. strike him while he is both mentally and physically weak. And he's probably going to agree to anything you say just so that he doesn't have to talk to you anymore because he's probably like old person hung over and that person isn't a super productive member of society and more likely willing to agree. Like look, if I ran a country, I would have a huge party and that I'd be signing the treaty the next day with guys hoping to strike them while they're weak and want to leave.

1:36:02 I don't think I've ever knocked on the door. I I the first four years that I lived in LA had some furniture movers above me. I mean, like an ungodly amount of furniture movers. It was like they get home, they're like, "You know what? Let's try it this way." And it's it was like it it was crazy. I think I had two like shut the [ __ ] ups out the window, but I don't think I like, you know, but they're upstairs. I don't think they heard me. But I never knocked like, "Hey, it's getting a little crazy up here." I've never done that. Uh so I'm more of a grid barrett kind of guy. Um, so yeah, I don't I don't really know.

1:36:32 You've already done the That's different. Yeah, that's different. This is This we're talking about like he's saying every two or three weeks. Like you have to know how little this person seems to care or maybe they're completely unaware of it. Like maybe because no one has ever said anything to them. I mean, he may not even remember that night when you came in.

1:36:49 Sounds like the way that I'm just the way I pictured it in my head just reading that script there. Sounds like he's totally It's like, "Hey, what are you doing?"

1:36:56 He woke up the next day 12% thinking that was a dream. Yeah, exactly. 12%. Yeah.

1:37:02 Like the next time you see him and be like, "God, I'm having deja vu." Be like, "Yeah, because we actually did do this." Yeah.

1:37:08 So, I I you know, this is one of those things where like can't you just go hire that and just take it to is there like a super? Is there somebody you could talk to? Like that's that's what their job is to complain on your behalf or the owner of the building to be like, "Hey, a bunch of us have this complaint about this guy." And go from there. And like that way you don't have to deal with it. That's I I've had one I've had one complaint against me and it was totally my fault throwing a tennis ball on the ground with a dog second floor and I I owned it and it was like an elderly woman. I felt really bad. I was like, "All right, yeah, my bad." Like this is like, you know, but like that's the self-awareness. Um but I don't know that I if somebody was doing that to me, I don't know that I would do it. I would probably just be like, you know, if it happened if it if it was regularly happening every couple weeks and this

1:37:51 was that bad. I don't I feel like you have to take this to a higher this isn't your job to figure this out. like you know you you complain use the group of you in the building to complain about this person and and hopefully the owner or somebody else can do it on your your behalf and then you can keep your hands clean.

1:38:05 Do you guys know many like midlevel middle-aged DJs? That was just like a thing I thought like

1:38:11 only I only know highend. That's what I Well, I mean you know guys who made like a I mean it's all careers. I'm not trying to belittle anyone who is but it's just like it's sort of a young man's game. It's like sort of like, you know, when there was like a 50some year old drug dealer like selling small level [ __ ] and we'd come around. It's like, what is your life like, man? I like if you were if you were 25, you were 30, it would make sense. But I just just what it just sounds like he's got a different kind of lifestyle. I feel like I'm pissing people off and I shouldn't even have said anything. But it's just one of those like job things where it's like you're pissing off our older DJ, our mid-tier older DJs that are listening.

1:38:41 Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, there's got to be wedding weddings need DJs and stuff like that. So, I'm not I don't know. I'm I'm digging myself. a wedding meeting a DJ versus like hey after after he's at my place.

1:38:53 There's a guy like there's a guy who's who works at the derby. I don't know what else he does. I don't know what else he does. I know that like Wednesdays he's at the derby and then I don't know how he fills his days other than that. I had a bunch of guys in like fresh out of high school they were like I'll just DJ on the weekends and I'll figure it out. But you know if you speed up 25 years I just wonder seem like a young man's game. I'd give that to you. Is Outsider Mike a D? He was He was a DJ.

1:39:15 He was big time. big in the New Haven club scene. Yeah, he was a he was a club kid for a while. I don't know if he does that anymore.

1:39:23 Does determine size city you're into those opportunities. So maybe we got to have him on.

1:39:29 50. I look like he's 50. Yeah, dude. He said 50s. I I I think I'm right. That was the donkey guy. I get a tweet about him every once in a while. Was that the Donkey story guy?

1:39:42 Yeah. Honestly, he's going to as soon as this episode comes out, I'm going to DM from him on Saturday asking to come on.

1:39:48 You know what? I'm more open to it now than maybe I was. I'd love to hear it live. I mean, could he do it again or would that be like too on the nose?

1:39:55 He was a really nice guy, man. He's a really nice guy. Great guy. Yeah. He just smoked cigarettes outside by the dumpster. Like, you know,

1:40:00 I love that he smoked. Yeah. He actually one time told, not me, but in general, he said he was allergic to water. I believe this was a true story.

1:40:09 Um because he would Yeah. He only drank Red Bull. Yeah. You remember this? Yeah. I could I Listen, this could be like an urban legend thing, but

1:40:18 I'm pretty sure he was like, I'm I only drink Red Red Bull because he doesn't like the way the water makes him feel.

1:40:27 To be to be paired with that is Big Jud Ryan is funny because of all the stats you could have, like my friend Mike, outsider Mike. He's allergic to water. Well, that would be the third stat you say in the the rule of three here.

1:40:45 Imagine going to dinner with him and everybody's like, you know, somebody doesn't drink, they put their hand over the wine glass and then he's like, "Oh, none for me. Thanks." Over the water glass.

1:40:52 Yeah. Just trying to stay healthy. Yeah. Yeah. Like you're just pouring that stuff. You don't even ask

1:40:59 what uh I like my I shouldn't say past tense. I just don't interact with him a ton. Is he still working there?

1:41:07 I think so. Yeah. He confused the hell out of people. People didn't really know what to make of him. Then we started we started just having him talk a little bit more on the show and his his hit rate was no I don't know anyone's ever approached his hit rate since

1:41:23 it was Barry Bond's uh 2001. Yeah. Yeah. And then of course somebody in management was like how come he's talking like are you serious? You're not listening to this kid? is he's a waterfall of content. I can't turn it off. It's nature.

1:41:43 Except he can't use waterfalls apparently. He'd be like, "Ah, you anybody else getting a rash?"

1:41:51 Uh, yeah. So, good luck. Either tattle or don't. I I don't know. That's It seems like that's your one of your two options. Just be careful if you start saying that there's other people supporting your position and they don't know what's going on because they're just not hearing it. If the HOA manager, building manager, or whatever, super maybe hears your complaint and then you start saying other people like, "Hey, I've got some people that back me up on this." And then if that person goes and checks with the other people and they're like, "I've never heard anything. I don't know what's going on."

1:42:22 They're going to be totally right. Oh man. Or you could just battle him like 8 a.m. Carpenters

1:42:28 TJ Batter DJ like, "Okay, this guy was up till 4, so it's 8 a.m." Yeah, just keep knocking on his door. Ask him to do like, you know, community service with you like every morning. Just, hey, man, bunch of us are getting out there. Just, you know, move some couches around for for some people in need.

1:42:44 Track. We would agree. No note, right? Don't leave a note. We've been we've been over this, right? We're note levers.

1:42:49 Notes are easy. You're doing You're doing the mail that comes through his door. If you're s if you're if you're afraid to see me in person and you're doing no I'm like, "Okay, this person's weak, right?" But honestly, there should be an age at some point that any of this is supposed to bother you and you'd hope this would happen, but then the other side of it is if it's a 50-year-old DJ who's still throwing late nights. Um, I mean, maybe that's working out for him lifestyle wise, but he may have just gone, "Hey, this is exactly who I am, and there's no apologies the rest of my life. Everyone out of my way." All right. Uh, next one.

1:43:20 Should I let a 10-year friendship fizzle out? Hey, fellas, 2858 with shoes. 140. No impressive gym stats or basketball comp. I recently ran a six and a half minute mile. Considering a half marathon later this year. Apologies for the long email. Check with Warun. See what um what we should expect his pace to be for a half. All names have been changed. I need some advice on this situation. I have a friend. Let's call him Steven. I still can't believe that he may have been allergic to water. Um we've been buddies since college.

1:43:47 There's water in his body. What the hell? You can't be allergic. That's different.

1:43:51 Different kind of water. Different pH. Not exposed water. Yeah. Yeah. Like, dude, do you just drink water that they give you? You nuts? I got a YouTube video. It's

1:44:01 like something you'd say at your friend's house when they're like, "Can I please have some juice?"

1:44:05 He would forever be known. Be like, "Is that the guy that doesn't drink water?"

1:44:08 Yes. Who's allergic to it? All right. While we never roommed together, we've always been close and we're in each other's weddings. We both got married after college and lived in different cities, but ended up in the same city in 22. Once we were local, my wife, who we'll call Janette, and I started doing every other week dinners with Stephen and his wife, let's call her Amelia. These dinners went on for quite a while, became something all four of us really look forward to. They were often the first people we'd call. We wanted to go out. They later announced they were expecting their first child. We were generally excited for them. We visited them in the hospital after the baby was born. After that though, things shifted.

1:44:41 They're pretty anxious firsttime parents. Our every other week dinners came to a halt as they lived on the other side of town 25 minutes away. Did not want to mess up their child's feeding and sleep schedule. We tried to accommodate by going to them or meeting earlier in the day, but we were also juggling busy schedules ourselves. Over time, communication slowed and felt like something was off. About a month after an incredibly awkward dinner with them, my wife asked them directly what was going on when we met them for coffee one morning. They told us that they felt we weren't being accommodating or supportive enough of them as new parents. and they pointed to other friends who would babysit for them as examples. This really caught us off guard as we generally thought we'd been making an effort. I feel like they left that conversation feeling like the air had been cleared, but we left that

1:45:22 conversation without feeling like anything was resolved. Around this time, my wife and I are also going through a lot. 25 was really difficult year for us. My father, who've been struggling with cancer for a while, died uh digressed pretty quickly at the start of the year and passed away in the fall. I'm sorry to hear that.

1:45:34 Damn. Damn, it's quick. Uh yeah, man, it's terrible. I'm sorry. On top of that, I was struggling with some job insecurities and my wife and I were and still navigating infertility. These friends knew about my dad and my job, not infertility, but it felt like they were not being very supportive of us during that time. Over the last few months, things have felt strange. We've not had uh dinner together in quite a while. We have seen them each individually a few times, but it's not felt the same. My wife is fine with letting the relationship fizzle out, but I'm having a hard time with that. I don't know if it's people pleasing nostalgia for what the friendship used to be or something else, but it's been weighing on me. Steven reached out over the holidays and asked to catch up over coffee, just the two of us. My question is, how do I proceed? I don't realistically things think things uh think things can go back to how they

1:46:16 were, but I see few options. I see a few options. Let the friendship slowly fade. Clear the air and see if there's a way to maintain a relationship just between the two of us or possibly something else I'm not seeing. Would appreciate any advice. Congrats on the new venture. Oh, thank you. Appreciate it. Um

1:46:30 you could clear the air without like having an un who supported who le off, you know? It sounds like that's what he's thinking about. It's like, "Yeah, well, you didn't say [ __ ] about my dad and you didn't babysit my kids or like you don't have to do that." Like, you could just It sounds like your wife is fine being out, so maybe you're just like, "All right, obviously things are a little things have been different than we're, you know, than they used to be. A lot of life changes, you know, do should we should we just be a you and me buddies thing? Should we figure something out?" And maybe that's once a month instead of once a week and whatever. Or, you know what? Like, just level with him that way. You don't have to be like, "This [ __ ] is broken and it's your fault." Like, that's that's my point.

1:47:06 Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to think of any instance in which I would ask any of my friends to watch my kids and I I can't think of one. So that's insane.

1:47:13 I've offered never take got to give you a little bit of notice, but yeah. Um I wouldn't worry about you. I think you'd be all right. You know, I think Marlo would enjoy some Ryan time. She's a good hang. Not

1:47:26 I got a lot of hours. I got a lot of hours. Yeah. Just telling you right now. Also, it's not crazy for a dude to disappear for like two months when he has a kid, right? Isn't like you can kind of expect that

1:47:35 two months. disappeared for years. You [ __ ] up for like six months, didn't you, S?

1:47:40 No, he broke it. He broke it up. It was three and three. There we go. Here we go.

1:47:44 Here we go. I am very, as I'm older now, I am very much on the side of fighting through all the [ __ ] to maintain the friendships with the guys that were your core guys through almost anything. All right? And the chances are their world is now turned upside down because they have a kid. And if you're even saying they were kind of like nervous first- time parents and everything else, like they can become I don't think narcissism is the right word, but it just becomes like their day-to-day is so important to them, which is what it should be, that there probably some things that you could read as like, man, this feels a little selfish, but I don't think selfish is necessarily the right thing, but they're just not seeing the thing in the same way of like they're not going to be as accommodating because their entire world has been disrupted. So, honestly, this seems fixable. And if you mentioned something with this guy that

1:48:31 you were this close with about the infertility, then maybe he'd understand. Maybe he tells the wife. Like this to me, you're hitting a really, really rough patch because the dynamic has totally changed. This is kind of the way it's gone. But I'm just telling you, like going through life, if it's somebody you like, you like spending time with, you know, let the rough time play itself out and and find a way to fix it at some point because, you know, you're going to have a moment where you're a little bit older. you're like, "Man, I really like that guy. He was in my wedding. We go all the way back to college." Like, the cool thing about my college friends is like we put up with each other for so many years that like there's almost nothing anyone can do to the other person anymore that's going to make them go like, "Hey, I'm out on you." That's what's tough about making friends when you're older cuz it's like

1:49:12 the threshold for you screwing up is so much smaller. It's just like, "Hey, you know, I'm like 40 and I met you and you did something I don't like." It's like, "Fuck this guy." When you

1:49:20 find a new friend. Yeah. Right. when you're 18, it's like I would never be friends with you today, but it's like, you know, it's been 30 years and be doing this whole thing. So,

1:49:30 I it's it's obviously challenged now for a bunch of different reasons, but I'd go with them. I'd go to get coffee. I'd explain everything. I wouldn't be critical of anything that they've done, even if you'd be justified in being like, "Wait, so we're supposed to babysit? We're like, we're already changing the schedule around. We're supposed to babysit for you people? Like, what what is wrong with you?" Um, I would just eat all that. Don't even address it.

1:49:48 Get back to basics and then start from there. Yeah. Maybe a little fantasy football update. I go four for three. All right, that'll do it for Serudi. That'll do it for Kyle, um, Tom, and Kevin. Thanks as always. Please subscribe to the Ryan Russell Show. Bars are still sports.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Miami Tops Ole Miss, A Trae Victory Lap, Plus Ryan Fitzpatrick & Fred Warner"?

Ryen Russillo (Host), Fred Warner (Guest), Ryan Fitzpatrick (Guest).

What is "Miami Tops Ole Miss, A Trae Victory Lap, Plus Ryan Fitzpatrick & Fred Warner" about?

The discussion revolves around Miami's victory over Ole Miss and the implications for the upcoming national championship, alongside insights from Ryan Fitzpatrick on the wide-open AFC playoff landscape and a preview of the NFL playoffs with Fred Warner. Additionally, notable developments include Trae Young's trade to the Wizards and the impact of sports betting on fan engagement through…

What is mentioned in this The Ryen Russillo Show episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Seattle, Jacksonville, New England, DraftKings, Trey Young, Buffalo. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Miami Tops Ole Miss, A Trae Victory Lap, Plus Ryan Fitzpatrick & Fred Warner"?

The episode runs 1 h 50 min; the transcript is about 24,541 words in 277 timestamped sections.

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