NFL Divisional Round Picks, Harbaugh to the Giants & a Miami–Indiana Preview w/ Kevin Clark, Plus...

What this episode is about

The discussion focuses on the NFL Divisional Round playoff matchups, offering in-depth picks and analyses with insights from Kevin Clark, as well as a preview of the Miami Hurricanes' national championship game against Indiana. Additionally, the conversation touches on Al Michaels' legendary career and includes personal life advice.

Key takeaways

• Caleb Williams' growth is stunning: from nearly 50% sacks to under 20%. Talk about pocket awareness!
• Matthew Stafford's health is a ticking time bomb—80% fingers win games, but can they stay intact?
• The Bears’ D catching interceptions like it's a hobby—is it skill or just no pressure?
• Rams: Super Bowl potential or simply third down woes? That’s a plot twist fit for drama!
• Miami Hurricanes vs. Indiana—college football's audacious clash could spark a new era of champions!

Who speaks in this episode?

• Ryen Russillo (Host) · 60 min speaking
• Kevin Clark (Guest) · 40 min speaking
• Kyle (Guest) · 10 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: DraftKings, Kevin Clark, Ryan Rillo Show, Ryan Poles
2. 10:00 – 20:00: Ohio State, Miracle, Houston Texans
3. 20:00 – 30:00: Houston Texans
4. 30:00 – 40:00: Joe Shane, Ryan Poles, Todd Monken, Victor Cruz
5. 40:00 – 50:00: Todd Monken
6. 50:00 – 1:00:00: Ohio State, Ryan Rillo Show, Kevin Clark, Mark Johnson
7. 1:00:00 – 1:10:00: Miracle
8. 1:10:00 – 1:20:00: Mark Johnson, Miracle

Notable quotes from "NFL Divisional Round Picks, Harbaugh to the Giants & a Miami–Indiana Preview w/ Kevin Clark, Plus..."

• The Ryan Rillo Show is presented by DraftKings. On today's show, a lot of football. As we get ready for the NFL playoffs, we're going to go through every divisional round matchup. We're.

  about Ryan Rillo Show · at 0:12

• And I also say Ben Johnson, Ryan Poles deserve some credit for that because last year it was the offensive line just allowing unblocked pressures where you just had no chance. Just no. I.

  about Ryan Poles · at 6:10

• Buddy. I don't All right, let's go Houston New England. I just want to start with that fourman pass rush for the Texans. It is an absolute thing of beauty.

  about Houston Texans · at 11:06

• I love this Giants the Giants hire and here's why. I think Joe Shane's a pretty bad GM. I think that the narrative about the young core in New York. I must have missed the young core.

  about Joe Shane · at 35:43

• Going to probably bring in some front office guys, you either from Baltimore or that extended tree. He's already hiring Todd Mon to be the offensive coordinator. I think…

  about Todd Monken · at 37:16

• Well, Miami was a nine and a half point dog against Ohio State and I wasn't I was at that game. I'll be at the game on Monday. I was never too worried about Ohio State winning that game.

  about Ohio State · at 50:29

• This very often. And then to get together with Jim Craig and Mike Rouion and Mark Johnson, it's going to be very special.

  about Mark Johnson · at 58:33

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Kevin Clark — Person · Main guest (segment 1) · 3 mentions · first at 0:28
  Joins to break down NFL divisional matchups and discuss Miami Hurricanes betting/college football perceptions.
  Playoffs, we're going to go through every divisional round matchup. We're going to pick every one of them. We're going to do it with Kevin Clark. We're gonna give you matchups…
• Joe Shane — Person · Referenced executive · 3 mentions · first at 35:45
  Criticized as a weak GM in the Giants coaching discussion; framed as needing to support a strong head coach like Harbaugh.
• Mark Johnson — Person · Referenced athlete (Miracle on Ice) · 3 mentions · first at 58:37
  Named as part of the group reuniting with Al Michaels at Lake Placid; also referenced in game recap (goal).
• Ryan Poles — Person · Referenced executive · 2 mentions · first at 6:10
  Credited (with Ben Johnson) for improving the Bears’ offensive line coherence and Caleb Williams’ environment.
• Todd Monken — Person · Referenced coach/coordinator · 2 mentions · first at 37:18
  Mentioned as someone Harbaugh would hire (Giants hypothetical) and praised as an 'awesome hire' for Lamar support.
• Victor Cruz — Person · Referenced former player · 1 mention · first at 35:12
  Mentioned in an anecdote about the Giants’ pre-playoffs trip/photo; used as a punchline confirmation quote.
  Victor Cruz says it definitely quote definitely wasn't worth it.

Books & papers

• Miracle — Book · Referenced media (as 'movie Miracle') · 7 mentions · first at 0:42
  Al Michaels cites 'the movie Miracle' as a key reason the 1980 story remains culturally vivid for younger audiences.
  Miami Hurricanes in the national championship game against Indiana. Al Michaels, living legend, the miracle on ice. We'll go back to those days. We'll run through his career a…

Companies & orgs

• Ryan Rillo Show — Company · Primary show / platform · 2 mentions · first at 0:20
  The podcast episode itself; hosts the NFL playoff picks segment and the Al Michaels interview.
• Houston Texans — Company · Core topic team · 2 mentions · first at 11:11
  A divisional-round matchup is analyzed with emphasis on Houston’s front four and defensive backfield.
• Rascilla — Company · Podcast feed/brand referenced · 1 mention · first at 0:00
  Named in the opening line addressing listeners and where episodes can be found.
  Hey Rascilla listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcast and Spotify. Prime members can listen adree on Amazon Music.

Places & events

• Ohio State — Place · Referenced program (college football) · 9 mentions · first at 18:58
  Used in discussion of Miami’s betting perception and as context for CJ Stroud’s development at Ohio State.

Sponsors

• DraftKings — Company · Sponsor / advertiser · 3 mentions · first at 0:20
  Presented as the show sponsor and featured in a sportsbook ad read tied to NFL playoff betting.
  The Ryan Rillo Show is presented by DraftKings. On today's show, a lot of football. As we get ready for the NFL playoffs, we're going to go through every divisional round matchup. We're.
• Michelob Ultra — Sponsor · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at 58:06
  Presented sponsor of the 'Run the Back Miracle' event featuring Al Michaels and the Lake Placid commemoration.
  That I grew up with. I'm sure so many of our listeners did. He joins us now with the Run the Back Miracle event presented by Michelob Ultra. He is in the locker room as we look…

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Hey Rascilla listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcast and Spotify. Prime members can listen adree on Amazon Music.

0:20 The Ryan Rillo Show is presented by DraftKings. On today's show, a lot of football. As we get ready for the NFL playoffs, we're going to go through every divisional round matchup. We're going to pick every one of them. We're going to do it with Kevin Clark. We're gonna give you matchups and how you could like, all right, maybe if this team were to win, how we're going to do it that way. So, it's really thorough. We enjoyed it. And also a pick for his Miami Hurricanes in the national championship game against Indiana. Al Michaels, living legend, the miracle on ice. We'll go back to those days. We'll run through his career a little bit as well and just hang out with a guy everybody loves hanging out with. And we have life advice. 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

1:02 flips the field. The 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. And if that bet wins, you get 300 in bonus bets instantly. DraftKings Sportsbook, every drive, every play, every moment.

1:34 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.

1:51 Gambling problem? Call 1800 gambler New York. Call 8778 hope or text hope and y Connecticut call 888789-77777 or visit ccpg.org. On behalf of Bootill Casino in Kansas, wager tax pass through may apply in Illinois. 21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in 7 days. Minimum odds required. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkg.co/audio. Limited time offer.

2:17 Well, I don't normally prep like this, but I did for our next guest. Wow. cuz I just want to be locked in. I know he has a big weekend with NFL games. Kevin Clark joins us, ESPN. This is football, uh, part of Omaha's network as well. So, I know, look, this is all just the appetizer before your Canes take on the Hooers for the National Championship, which we'll end with. But let's start with the last game, Rams at the Bears.

2:45 It's going to be cold, Barry. 23°. What do you think is the biggest factor? I'll give you three factors that I think are important here. It is the Bears run success level, which is not great against what the Rams like to do running the football. Caleb and Lovelin, who's become a stud here, um against what I would say is maybe not great corners or lack of depth at corner right now for the Rams or the weather. Your choice or whatever, maybe offend.

3:13 Let's go off menu here for a second and we'll come back down to to your keys. Those were great keys. I think a couple things. I think the Bears are susceptible on defense to long throws, uh, downfield throws. I think maybe bottom five in that. And I want to see if Matthew Stafford is is healthy. I don't know what the hell was going on with the finger last week. I just want to see it. Uh, the Bears catch interceptions. They have incredible ball skills. I think they're the best team in the NFL at catching interceptions when there's no pressure, which is just indicative of just having good DBs who know where the ball is at all times. Um, and then it's it's Caleb against that that Rams front seven. And I think what's amazing with with Caleb this year is he's holding on to the ball longer than he did last year, which it didn't seem possible. But the difference is his sack rate his sack rate is is

4:02 unbelievable. Like it has gotten so much better. He is taking USC Caleb. All the escapability, all the things we thought we could see, we didn't see it last year. And I think some people got off the bandwagon. He's got it now. He's able like he I I I think he he holds on to the ball longer than any quarterback in the NFL this year and his his sack rate when he has the ball for longer than four seconds. Last year it was almost 50%. This year it's under 20. So like he his his his awareness in the pocket is unbelievable. His ability just extend plays is unbelievable. He knows where everything is. And so for me like I I we saw one of the best throws we've ever seen on fourth down last week. I I I just think it's it's it's indicative of of the growth he has and the awareness he has. And if he can keep making those plays, I don't know if anybody can beat him. Having said that, uh I think this Rams team is really

4:52 really really good. And as long as Stafford's finger is uh is is 80% I'm going to pick them to win close.

5:00 That's how I feel. I feel like the Rams I mean look they're they're my Super Bowl pick. Even if there's some things that I can pick from the Carolina game doesn't exactly instill a ton of confidence in you. I talked with Nate Ty this week and I'm just like, can we figure out what's going on with them on third down? Like if you were ever thinking of O line, weapons, Stafford, McVey, like how are you bad on third down all regular season and then yet it seemed like another issue against this Carolina team. So, um, you know, on the Caleb point, cuz I thought the Packers game was the perfect Caleb game because if you if you dig into some of the stuff, you're like, man, there's still a ton of offtarget throws. is if he gets off of some of these offtarget throws that just don't make a ton of sense that Collinssworth has been annoyed by. I think Troy Aman was annoyed by. I think Brady did like seven Caleb Williams

5:45 games this year that all the former NFL players again Collinssworth not as a quarterback kind of like get on his case a little bit which I totally understand. But if he ever figures out that part of it, it's going to be game over. The sack thing on holding on to the football, I think you'd agree that last year was holding on to the football in pure confusion. Yes. just like

6:04 what the hell am I supposed to do where now it's escapability with maybe a plan while he's holding on to a route a little bit longer.

6:10 And and I also say Ben Johnson, Ryan Poles deserve some credit for that because last year it was the offensive line just allowing unblocked pressures where you just had no chance. Just no. I almost like a college quarterback just like getting overloaded by seven guys, having no idea what's going on and going straight to the ground. This year because the offensive line is more coherent. I would say the pressures are probably coming from more predictable places. Um, if they're unblocked, he's going to see it. It's not going to be unblocked because of confusion, as you said. It's going to be unblocked because that's just how how the scheme is looking and you can identify the Blitzer and all that stuff. So, I think it just shows you how much one guy that being Ben Johnson can turn around everything and professionalizing the offensive line, getting those weapons in there.

6:51 And so, I I'm with you. Like I I just think the fact that he's been able to revert to USC Caleb in a good way. That's a compliment in one year is astounding because I think a lot of quarterbacks probably be broken by last year and and he wasn't.

7:06 I think Ted Win had it from the Athletic who I'm sure you appreciate his work as much as I do. Just just incredible. Like he should be a bigger deal. So there you go. There's my little Ted rant.

7:15 It starts now. It starts right now. It starts now. Momentum starts right now. So, I was looking at some of the matchup stuff and, you know, we all started getting really excited about this 13 personnel stuff because it actually was once you understood it, it was fun. I guess I just felt like I heard it a lot. Um, and you have a smile on your face a little bit. So, we'll just keep moving. But, if you look at the Bears run defense against multiple tight end sets, they're the worst as far as like success rate or explosive plays against multiple tight end sets with teams who want to run. Against zone runs, they're 27. And so there's just a lot of stuff on paper that tells you, hey, if the Rams just kind of stick to who they've been here in the second half of the season running the football, that's a good matchup for them. And then if you go to the Packers game, which know this is the part that I'm always

7:57 going to struggle with criticizing head coaches. It's like, okay, Dobs goes out of bounds, Golden goes out of bounds, deep shot Musgrave, deep shot Dobs again. But that was probably the only stretch where the Bears were just completely locking up the run game. And maybe it's just an offensive coordinator. It's Lafleur. It's just like look, this is the matchup. This is the right call against this matchup. And now they're run blitzing us. They know they have to stop the run. So like I can't not throw it here. Now it'd be nice if somebody was inbounds and maybe they run a little bit more clock, but I'm wondering, you know, is there anything from that when the Bears absolutely had to buckle up and stop the run? Um, and look, they still the Packers still move the football down the field there. If there's anything to be excited about despite some of those statistical matchups that would certainly favor Los Angeles

8:49 with the Bears defense. Is there anything? Uh, well, yeah. I mean, I I I I mentioned it like they catch interceptions and and that's that in these types of games is big. Guess who didn't catch interceptions last week? The Carolina Panthers because Puka Nakua broke up that late pass and obviously Mike Jackson got a couple. Shout out Mike Jackson. from hurricane. But uh but I you know for for me I just think that the especially if the finger is still an issue is that the Bears defense their ball skills are going to come into play.

9:17 And so I think that that's that's something to watch there. But I think with with with the Packers I was surprised to see and maybe this is just the media's default. People say, "Oh, Matt Lafleur got conservative. He turtled." No, no, no he didn't. He didn't. They like things just didn't go their way. They didn't catch the passes. Obviously they were underman because of the injury stuff. I think Matt Laflur is a hell of a coach. This is just a Bears team that and by the way, I think their aggressiveness is the reason that they're able to to have these incredible comebacks is because they're very comfortable on fourth and two, fourth and three, got to have it downs. They're practicing that all season long. And so in the offensive side of the ball, uh they they they're I I feel like there's a calmness even when they're striking out in the first half on those fourth downs. So I think matchup wise, I mean,

9:58 Ben Johnson in the fourth quarter, Caleb Williams in the fourth quarter, it's as good as it gets. If it's a close game, again, I'd be very scared of for my Rams pick. Um, but I'm still I'm still gonna favor the Rams here.

10:08 I'm gonna go Rams here. But yeah, the cold, you know, I don't I was thinking about it this morning because I feel like whenever I'll be wrong about something like this, it's like, hey, the reason this weather thing is pointed out all the time is because it's real.

10:19 It's real. Yeah. Like don't be dismissive of this. Remember all those like those Tampa stats for what a couple decades? It was like if kickoff is below this, like this is the record. I mean, I guess I could look back at the Philly game last year going, "Hey, they were right in this bunch of the same guys, but I mean, it just sounds so stupid." It's like, "Hey, remember when you guys were cold last year?" Good.

10:41 It really matters. It really like how often are how often are you genuinely cold in a given year now that you live in LA?

10:48 Um, not that often. Yeah, but when you go back, you're like, "Holy, I'm rattled. I am rattled. I am rattled. I don't go outside in the winter. I live in New York. I do not go outside in the winter.

11:00 You don't even have to tackle anybody. Yeah, it's fine. Although I don't know. I've seen some stuff on X with that city of yours, buddy. I don't uh All right, let's go Houston New England. I just want to start with that fourman pass rush for the Texans. It is an absolute thing of beauty.

11:15 You know, when you watch some of these teams, you 60 plus 70 snaps, you can just see the pass rush die off. That's where, you know, look, the third downs are bigger. The Spagnolo approach of like, okay, where's the blitz coming? because we just we know that he's going to dial up this pressure late. It it's not a matter of like if he's going to do it, it's just how is he going to do it. And the Texans, they're the most

11:37 basic defense ever. They do not change who they are the entire time and the first team to win a playoff game since the Bears in 1940 with two defensive touchdowns without allowing one as well. Um granted it was Rogers. It's going to be different against Drake May, but that defense, that front four, man, like that is the epitome of everything you would want if you were building a football team.

12:03 Will Anderson came across this stat. I was just playing around NextGen stats earlier.

12:07 Will Anderson is perhaps on record, uh, they've only done this since 2016, I think, or whatever, the best third down pass rusher in the history of the sport. Okay. uh 48 pressures on third down this season. Uh that is blows everybody out as far as pressure rate. And then we have obviously Dell Hunter, we know what he can do on the other side. Will Campbell did not have a great game against the Chargers. I feel like every few years it's always Ryan, it's so funny because remember after the Giants beat the Patriots twice, it's always all right, you got to copy whoever won the Super Bowl. So coming out of each Super Bowl into the off seasonason, every every media member, every every former player on pregame show is like, you know what this shows? You got to rush the passer with four guys. You got to be able to do it. Oh, thanks guys. Thank No. Yeah, the Giants crack the code.

13:00 They we got it. The Giants cracked the code. You only need four guys. If you get pressure on Tom Brady with four guys, good things can happen. Like, yeah, we know. The problem is it's expensive. Uh it's hard schematically. uh you know, you can try to do different stuff, but normally you don't have the personnel for it. The Texans have the personnel for it, their ability to get to know Hunter and Will Anderson out there. And then you add in, so I had uh Jeffrey Simmons on my show yesterday and he

13:26 I love Jeffrey Simmons, by the way. Okay. He hates the Texans. He said he hates the

13:30 I think he hates a lot of things. He does. Uh and but he was that means you're a great guest. He was a elite guest because he hates a lot of things. And I was like, what offensive line left? because you put like eight playoff teams. I was like, "What offensive line gave you the most problems of the teams left?" And he was like, "Oh." And then he like half-heartedly like praised Trent Williams and Grace Ael and then got out of the question because he just he just hates the idea that that any offensive line would be good in trouble.

13:54 Anyway, considering his year, he's probably right. He is right. That's the point. He is right. Um, but one of the things he said was about the Texans, obviously praise defensive line, but he was saying in the back end, they've got unbelievable DBs who don't have to cover for very long. That's what's so deadly about it. Lowest passer rating allowed among DBs this season, including the playoffs. Okay. Uh, Kalin Bulock second best in the NFL. Derek Stingley fourth best in the NFL. Jaylen Petri fifth best in the NFL. Okay. like passer. When you throw to those guys, bad things happen because a they're good and b the defensive line is speeding up the process. It's unbelievable. And then you add in the linebackers. Then you add in Jaylen Petri. Derrick Henry told me Jaylen Petri hit him harder than anybody's hit him in a long time this year. Like

14:44 dude, he's a beast, man. I mean, you can be thrown off by the gazoo helmet there, but I mean it's every time he is coming up the tackling in that Pittsburgh game alone, even if the pressure didn't get there. So, keep going. Uh, and so I I I just I love this defense. I think Tama Run's awesome. I think if you're asking CJ Strad to do just enough, good things are going to happen. Having said that, and in my research, Drake May is the best quarterback under pressure in the NFL this year. 65% completion percentage, best passer rating under pressure. And so I don't think he's been so good at downfield passing this year.

15:22 I don't think that's going to be able to happen. But if if he's able to to get out and escape a little bit of the pressure and make some of these miracle throws, they've got a chance. But I'm I'm picking the Texans, man.

15:35 I'm picking the Texans as well. Three-point favorites at this point. So, obviously Vegas, I think this is a little bit closer here with this. Maybe it's just a Straoud game from last week, which I do want to spend a little bit of time on. But that May pressure number, does that change when there's an eighth guy out there, you know? Well, I mean, look, there was a three I think they had a three-man rush where they beat Pittsburgh up front. Um, not that they were going with it, but I I was like, "Oh, man. They only sent three in this time." I'm like, "Yep, they got home."

16:02 Um, Rogers had the worst Rogers had the worst EPA for a quarterback like in playoff history or something last week.

16:07 It was the worst QBR, I think, in his playoff career, too. And it looked like not very much fun. But to your point, May is the great equalizer in this because the drop back. Like I've been a little obsessed with the schedule thing, but when you're talking about like what his success rate is on these deep throws, like if he were 5 years in, I I wonder if all of us would just be like looking at it more like Josh Allen. Like I think Denver is the perfect defense for trying to slow down Josh Allen. But it's like nobody wants to pick against Josh Allen.

16:38 And because this is only year one with May with all these things that tell us it's Houston's game and Stout doesn't even have to be that special in all this defense. The way May, even with this receiving core, that Henry throw, just all these throws over the season, it just feels like he's so special at this that that can keep any team in a game.

16:56 I'm with you. I I think Drake May is amazing and I think his ability to stay he's very even keeled. I think his ability to stay calm, it really it really is kind of a Josh Allen style demeanor. And so I I think again I think he's going to have some miracle miracle is the wrong term because obviously he's really good in regular season with these downfield throws. I think he's be able to escape this pressure and make some big throws. I just don't think he's gonna be able to do it consistently enough. I think that the Texans be able to maybe pick him off a couple times um because of what we talked about. Uh the Nico Collins thing is big. The fact that he's out because the the connection between Stout and Nico Collins is is as efficient as as any quarterback wide receiver combination. But I think they're going to score enough points. I I haven't they have some crazy stat where they've won an unbelievable amount

17:38 of games in Houston when they score 20 points. So you you reach 20 points I you you kind of get there. I think they do on this weekend.

17:46 Yeah. I don't know that Kirk's going to match that production that he had. Uh the Nico thing is absolutely massive. And like as somebody who's felt like, hey, you know, it's and I've said this probably too many times now, but it's like, man, Stout is like a complete afterthought after like he and Dico coming onto the scene as rookies and then you look through how he closed the season.

18:05 You know, the funny thing is, I mean, again, like whatever you want to do with QBR, his QBR in that playoff game where he was atrocious. He had five fumbles. He lost two of them. I think the most alarming single play in that game is the interception in the red zone because you can tell at that point like he's lost. He's completely lost. He was forced to issue and he's looking guys.

18:24 Yeah. He's looking back to the sideline being like I hope you can see how little confidence I have in myself and I'd like somebody to confirm that. And I I just can't fathom that he's going to have that same exact game again. The funny thing is is that game still graded out QBR-wise because it's not going to factor in recovering three of your own fumbles, I don't think. Yeah,

18:43 QBR wise that was still better than like four of his last five closing games of the regular season. And so, you know, eventually I kind of have to get to the point like I don't I cannot believe he was that bad. I wouldn't expect him to be that bad again, but that was concerning.

18:58 I I I was talking to somebody from Ohio State when he came out and when was a like that that offseason and then into the rookie season and they're basically said the light bulb came on against Georgia in a way that even surprised people at Ohio State. you remember that game? Like all of a sudden he's taking one of the deepest, toughest defenses of all time and he's absolutely torching them to the point they were a kick away uh from By the way, Ohio State figure out the kicking thing. It's been a while. It's been a while. Um but

19:25 that was a national championship game basically. Yeah, correct. Correct. And they could have made that kick and and and and won that in a game where I think everybody thought it's going to be coordination for Georgia. CJ Stra just just absolutely popped in that game. And I wonder if he's and and you hear this phrase all the time with coaches. I wonder if he's a confidence player. I wonder if he needs to see the ball go through the hoop a little bit and then he's going to go on another run. The problem is we just haven't seen it from Straoud the last few weeks. I think that if he gets a game where he's able to throw a couple dimes, a couple uh hey like uh prove it throws, then then you're going to see him go on a run here. I just want to see that like if if we get that if we get like three huge chunk plays where we go, "Oh, CJ Stout is back." They're probably going to win the Super Bowl. But I I just got to see

20:07 it first. Yeah, that's how I feel about this defense. Like I just I just need him to be average and I don't think that long term he's average. Like I don't think we get done with the CJ Strad story and we're like, you know what, he ended up just kind of being an average guy and

20:20 they wonder if they could do better, but you know, they signed him because everybody just gets signed and you know, again, we don't have to worry about any of that stuff right now, but um even as somebody that's been pretty I don't know that I've ever felt like CJ Strad doesn't feel like a quarterback you have to be like super defensive about. They don't introduce you on Get Up going, "Hey, this is a CJ Strad guy." I don't know if anybody's really doing that out there.

20:39 I think that uh but I think the offensive line has been a problem, too, cuz some of the hits he's taken the last two years, not only does he get hit, he gets

20:47 last year was brutal. Yeah, but he gets hit hard when he gets hit. I don't know why he does hold on the ball longer, all that stuff, but still that has played played a role in it.

20:59 Buffalo another road favorite of all places at Denver, point and a half this morning. Don't know if that'll flip. Um, I think the best thing here for Denver, it's the two things, and I've already alluded to it. Personnel-wise, how they can get after somebody, you know, it almost feels like Certan is a waste in this game.

21:19 Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. When you when you like, are you were you going to hit Coleman for a big one? It was like, hey, he's still around. You know, Cooks, who I think Cooks has one of the most fascinating careers cuz everybody raves about having him and everybody gets rid of him after like one year. Um, and it's like, man, he's still in the league. And it's like there's

21:38 getting traded for the 31st pick for like four straight off seasons. They were just like, hey, you got Yeah, we'll take Brandon Cooks.

21:44 Yeah, because it was like, hey, is Brandon Cooks available? It's like, well, of course he is. Like, we were psyched to bring him in here. And we know he's put up some big numbers, but my god, you're right. Like, every year it felt like he was getting traded in like a pretty decent level of like resource coming back for him. And it's like, well, what the hell's the problem with this guy? It is like the offensive the offense of Marcus Peters where it was just contenders just just passing him around saying, "Hey, you want Marcus Peters? Sure. We're going to win the Super Bowl." "Yeah, sure."

22:07 Yeah. This guy's physical, great matchup, like competitive as hell in his offseason. It's like, "Hey, can we flip this guy for a third rounder?" All right. So, I uh you know, look, all the Josh Allen stuff is fairly predictable here. But I do love two numbers here. One is that since the by-week, Boon Nick's seventh best QBR in the league for a guy that I,

22:28 you know, if he goes down his leg in this game, I'm not going to be surprised either. But

22:33 yeah, this this feels like a group because I also love their linebackers, too, and I love their front. I just like a lot of the personnel in this Denver defense, and I think that they they have a much better chance in Allen against this game than other teams would.

22:45 I agree with you. I actually was I I circled that Patrick Zan point because he's allowed three downfield receptions. the entire year. And now it's like, okay, well, I don't think Coleman's going to make a four. I think we're good. I think we're good on that.

22:57 Are they going to have him spy Allen? Be like, we're not even going to put you on Shakir. Like, there's no point.

23:04 Oh, the Oh, the little tunnel screens are don't scare you for Shakir. Sertan may not have to wash his jersey after this game.

23:12 Raleigh Moss gets gets targeted a lot. So, he sure does. I swear to God, that guy is on TV more than any corner in the NFL this season. I mean, and it's it's always when it's bad, too, you know, and you're like, does he suck? And then you look at the grades and you go, no, he just gets thrown at every single time. So, I think he actually grades out to be slightly better. I don't know if you know that.

23:35 I have I have I have the number uh from from PFF. He's been target, excuse me, from next shots. He's been targeted 108 times this year.

23:44 Uh, which is tied. That guy tied for the most in the league. Uh, Nate W. How about that? In Denver, too.

23:53 Hey, what do you want to do? We're going to draft you and you're going to turn and run full speed for the entire season.

23:59 Sounds awesome. So, uh, because of the volume, NextGen stat says, uh, 17 passes defended, an interception. Uh he saw 102 targets last season, so slightly up, but it's the completion percentage allowed is down from last year. So he's he actually is playing better than he was last year. He just he he it's it's a problem because Patrick Han's on the other side and maybe quarter quarter quarterbacks might assume he's getable.

24:25 Yeah, I look I'm probably a little guilty of it too. It's like what's going on? Is he a safety? No, no, no. He's a corner. Um, but

24:34 have you seen the biked up in with the Eagles with the guys who think Blank and Ship is Tene? Have you seen this?

24:40 Yeah. Yeah. He's like, I'm the other one. You know, sometimes I feel like we've come so far and then I hear that miked up and I just go, you know, this is why Alex Caruso doesn't go higher. Like, what's this guy? He's not a He's balding already and I'm supposed to [ __ ] draft this guy. Like, no, he's pretty athletic. Sure. Sure he is. All right. Um, all right. So, uh, yes.

25:04 Who are you picking? Well, go ahead. Stay stay in it as long as you want. You don't have to get to the big

25:08 Broncos are second best fourman pass rush team in the league. Second only to our Houston Texans. Uh, I think if there's anything to be concerned about, it's that Josh Allen is actually he's he's getting pressured less than he normally has. Um, but in in his career, but he's taking more sacks when he gets pressured. And I my guess is that's because the receivers aren't getting open. Uh my guess is that's because if he doesn't hit a a a running back or a tight end that he's got to do a little bit of of maneuvering around. Uh he's throwing the ball shorter than he ever has in his entire career.

25:42 I I have a hard time picking against Josh Allen because I think he's the best player on the planet. Uh but I I I I love this matchup for the Broncos. I just I'm sorry. I just I feel like this is Josh Allen season. I just I also think I'm curious to see it. The Bills could can't couldn't stop the run on on Sunday. And if Liam Cohen decided he was going to play caveman ball and just run with Bashelle Toutin over and over again and TA over and over again, I think they control that game and I think they win it. I think he got a little bit bored and threw the ball too much and got away. I like on outside runs the numbers with Tuton were astounding and I don't know why he he abandoned that. I think that a lot of times, especially if you're fatal flaw, I think when the the I think it was the Patriots and the Rams, I want to say a couple years ago, when they met in the Super Bowl, they were the two worst defensive uh rush

26:32 defense teams in the league. You can get away with that because NFL coaches, my theory is they get bored. Like I I had I'm sorry I have to name drop here, but but I had Pton Manning, my boss, on the show a couple weeks ago, and we were talking about how not getting bored is like the like the hack in this league. Like the like the problem is if you run four times the the play calling head coach is like, "Hey, what if we took a shot here? What if we just a little shot?" And it's like, "No, run five times. It's fine." And and I think that may have happened with Liam Cohen on Sunday. I'm curious to see if that works with Shawn Peyton, whether or not they get away from it or not.

27:09 100% agree. By the way, if Pton Manning comes on your podcast, I think it's totally fine to reference that. And it's an awesome point because it was

27:15 I'm a little biased on that point because I think that's exactly what happened in that game.

27:19 We know what you can do against the Bills. You can run against the Bills. Their explosive play rate is abysmal. I mean, it's one thing to just give up yards. It's another thing to be the worst run defense against explosives, which they have been in the regular season. And then when I was tracking pass run selection, you know, first 30, it was, you know, it wasn't like it was 25 passes, but I think it was 17 18 passes out of that that stretch. and you're watching him run the football and you go, you know, this this is actually like a coaching thing that I want to, you know, I'm just going to get it in now before we get to the other game.

27:52 I get as an owner and as a front office, you're like, okay, we got to figure out like, you know, I've kind of gone back and forth about the McVey tree and all that kind of stuff. And I feel like generally it's it's been successful, even if it was an easy thing to make fun of. Um, but when you bring in somebody like that, it's not shocking to have them go to your point like, "All right, let's uh let's get them out wide here. What do you say?" You know what I mean? Like, hey, I want to be passed on first down. Next, next four balls we like, let's just start opening it up. Let's just start opening up. Like, to your point of boredom, like if you're bringing in somebody that is all about offensive genius.

28:27 Yeah. and they see the numbers and they see the matchups or they see a weak spot in the secondary. I think it's really hard for the I mean it's like watching anybody who wants to take a three now like guys are taking threes they shouldn't even take threes but it's like man everybody takes threes like where where are my attempts

28:43 I I I don't know that you've ever seen anything more accurate and then backed up by Pton Manning. Well, also that that's why the two highest shells work so well in this league is because you can just Burrow and Mahomes are great at taking the five yard checkdown saying, "All right, we keep it moving, keep it moving, keep moving." But most of the quarterbacks are going to go, "Ah, I think I can split the safeties here or I think I can do a whole shot right now." And then they end up throwing a pick. So Chris Kanty uh was telling a story about Payton a couple weeks ago on my show where he said that about the don't get bored thing. So, they had a Giants game where they it was something like they had two healthy defensive tackles and they thought they could get away with it because they were like, "You know what?

29:20 Payton's going to spread the ball around the yard. He's going to go to the damn Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark. We can get away with the defensive tackles. You don't need to sign any guy." He said that Pton Manning checked into a Donald Brown run for the entire game. He was just like, "These defensive tackles are tired. Donald Brown a gap. Donald Brown a gap." And he said Kenny says one of the most miserable experiences of his life. And if more people operated like that, more teams would win.

29:46 All right. I like all that stuff. Um, San Francisco Seattle. Yeah, week 18 wasn't great for San Francisco's offense. 173 total yards, 2 and9 on third downs. Um, I'd say conversely, there's some Darnold stuff here. First half, second half that is very real. There's also 20 total turnovers, which I thought was an interesting number from ESPN stats and research that it's the first number one seed since 1978 to have the quarterback lead the NFL in turnovers. So, if you're a Niners fan, even with all the injuries, adding KD to the pile, coming off this great win in Philadelphia where it feels like Pertie wasn't that wasn't it wasn't like Perie came in there and gave you the a game and that's how they were able to get one on the road at all. I I was kind of surprised how long it took him to kind of look like himself. Uh, that's the thing you're banking on.

30:37 You're banking on Darald. You're banking on Darl's matchups in the red zone. Except you just wonder, can this Niners linebacker core look as good as they did in a second game here? Because I thought Hendrickx, I was like, man, when they draft this rookie and it's like, no. Well, obviously we know he's been around a really long time. I thought he played great against Philadelphia. I think it's asking a lot of these guys to play like that a couple weeks in a row.

30:58 And can they generate the pressure? Uh it just hasn't it hasn't been going like see 16% drop back uh pressure rate on Jaylen Herz last week that was the lowest in the game this season according NextGen stats for me I I I look at it no one has been more wrong about the Niners than than me frankly and I I I we did a topic on TV last summer has the Niners championship window closed and I said it had because they're an aging expensive roster that gets hurt all the time that's what happens everybody said the previous year oh they get hurt too much or they got hurt it's fine they'll be healthy this No, when you have a bunch of old guys, you get hurt. That's that was my reasoning in the summer and I was right about that. The problem is they keep getting better. Like they keep Oh, no Fred Warner, fine. We're good. No Nick Bosa, okay, we're good. By the way, Fred Warner's practice window is opened.

31:42 Um, and by the way, Trent did not play in this game, the last game of the regular season, and people weren't even sure he was going to play in this Philly game and and he was fine. So, go ahead.

31:50 Right. And then, uh, you just look at they keep getting banged up and they keep getting better. This is the best coaching job of Kyle Shannan's career, I think, by a wide margin. By a wide margin. And some of the young guys have hit. And so I I've I've been wrong every step of the way on this Niners team. I think some of the the win last week was just the Eagles and their offense and just just just not being able to execute anything. That was a disaster. But I'm I'm picking the Seahawks for a couple reasons. As you mentioned, the Darnold thing, the turnovers. I don't think the Niners can be able to force those. I think the offensive line has been much better uh this year. I think Gray's Able, again, Jeffrey Simmons had Gray's Aable is going to end up being one of the best players in the league. Uh I think the 49ers defense is good enough at keeping everything in front of them typically, but Jackson Smith and Jigba,

32:38 like some of the stats on what percentage of downfield throws from are are JSN on that team. It's like historic. It's it's that's it. It's historic. I mean, it almost reminds me it's like uh what do they call it in Columbus against Notre Dame? to call like the third down Jeremiah Smith throw third in Jeremiah like third in JSN just like just just he's down there somewhere it's going to be fine. Uh I'm picking the Seahawks because I think they can do enough and then on defense keep the score down.

33:04 I always love the t-shirt that said one with threequarters of the earth is covered by water the other quarter is covered by Eric Barry.

33:14 Yeah, that was a big thing in the late 2000s. They had Reggie Nelson. There was a Reggie Nelson shirt in Gainesville. I remember seeing when I'd go up there and visit my friends. Eric Barry's probably a better t-shirt candidate than Reggie Nelson.

33:27 And now the SEC isn't good anymore, so they can even make those t-shirts. That's true.

33:34 There's one down in Coral Gables. This is something about like Malik Tony. It's like, you know,

33:38 Keonte Scott. Deontay Scott would be a good one. That guy I thought I had read something about the Kane secondary not being as good. Don't worry. Don't worry. We're getting to it. We're getting to it. I'm not I'm not doing no false starts here.

33:50 Well, you're 100% right because like sometimes I forget about who the number two option is as a receiver for the Seahawks. Theland's second most targeted guy I believe in the red zone, which is kind of asking a lot. Um maybe it's Barner who with their red zone failures in week 18 against this Niners defense, you could say, "Look, he was in and out of the game. He's going to be healthier. He's going to be good to go here." I I just it's really hard for me to think about them going up there. I love what McDonald has done the entire approach, Leonard Williams, the DTackles, Murphy where they've talked about like we were practicing in the elements all week long. Although I don't know how many teams with the number one seed in the buy party for a week and go on vacation. Is that is that they were kind of like Leonard Williams was like, "Hey, it's not like we're going to Mexico or something like that." I'm

34:35 paraphrasing a bit. I'm like, "Do a lot of teams that have the one seed be like here's what we need you guys to do. Go on a little bit of a bender. Wait, didn't the Giants do that? Didn't the Giants do that picture?

34:45 Yeah, I think so. Was that Was that before the playoffs? I I'm I'm pretty sure.

34:50 Oh, I think you might be right. Let's look at it on it. Um um it was before the wild card game.

35:00 Maybe. Did they already know they were going to get killed though? They weren't they Weren't they an awesome team that year?

35:06 Were they? I don't even remember. They lost 38 to 13. Yeah, there you go. Victor Cruz says it definitely quote definitely wasn't worth it.

35:18 You're right. It was before the playoffs. Thanks, Victor. Thanks for the Packers.

35:21 By the way, Victor Cruz, college roommate, Liam Cohen. That's where he learned to not run the ball.

35:29 This Victor guy's great. I'm never going to run the ball. Would you um would you hire Harbaugh for every team? Some teams? No teams? I love this Giants was a stupid stupid way to ask that.

35:43 I love this Giants the Giants hire and here's why. I think Joe Shane's a pretty bad GM. I think that uh the narrative about the young core in New York. I must have missed the young core. Uh it was just like this happened with the draft two years ago. Like Joe Shane hit on all his picks, did he? He hit on Malik Neighbors. Let's not go roster by roster, but I I think that was overrated. Um, I think Jackson Dar can play, but I think the biggest thing that they needed because they haven't hit on a hire since Tom Coughlin.

36:17 The biggest thing they needed was somebody to come in and tell them how it was going to be, how how to win football games because the organization seems incapable of doing it. And the fact they were keeping Joe Shane and the fact that it sound like his job was never undervaluation. Like they fire brand Ael, they say, "Hey, Joe Shane's going to lead it." And then the leaks coming out to me were astounding. that was like, "Oh, Joe Shane modernized the scouting services computers or whatever." And it's like, "Okay, well, did he get good players?" Because I feel like the IT department can handle the the scouting the scouting computers. And so they needed somebody to come in and whether I feel I felt this way about Ryan Poles and and and to a degree less is a better GM than these guys. But with polls and now Shane your job and you can go on your business card is to be the head coach's buddy and to support him and to

37:07 get the the players that is needed and all that stuff. You can win with Joe Shane in the building. He just can't do a lot from from where I'm standing. And I think John Harbaugh coming in, he's going to probably bring in some front office guys, you either from Baltimore or that extended tree. He's already hiring Todd Mon to be the offensive coordinator. I think Jackson Dart can play. He can get through to Jackson Dart and tell him to protect himself or change, you know, change the way he plays a little bit because that that really is a huge problem. Uh I think it's an awesome hire. I think it's what they needed. I've been banging this drum for two months. They needed a Harbaugh, a Mike Tomlin, a Marcus Freeman, just a huge personality who's going to come in and say, "This is my organization now."

37:44 Very similar to what Shawn Peyton did in Denver. Shawn Peyton just changed. No one thought that was Russell Wilson was there. Nathaniel Hackett was there screwing up everything. Nobody thought that the turnaround was going to be that quick. And by the way, it wasn't. They lost 70 to three or whatever to to to Mike McDaniel. Like, it took a while, but they ended up getting there. You have to have the only way to change your organization is for one guy to come in there and tell you how to change it. Whether that's Shawn McVey, whether that's Shawn Payeyton, whether that's John Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, whomever. I I think it's a home run hire.

38:18 Yeah, I I think you're right. I think he's he's probably not for everyone. You're like, "Okay, wait a minute. Does he call plays? Is he a quarterback guru?" And it's like, no. But remember like early on was having all that success the first five years with Baltimore. It was funny because, you know, this is a lot of the result thing, the Josh McDaniel success early in Denver still being the best example ever of playing the results and how we would tell the story after the fact that because he was young, everybody related to him and it was like, okay, except for the part now we want to fire him.

38:43 Um, but early on with with Harbaugh, it's like, you know what's great is that he doesn't come from a defensive side. He doesn't come from the offensive side. Special teams, it's more people, there's more turnovers. So, you have to learn how to like delegate authority and all these different things. and he's like a football CEO and all this stuff. And then towards the end on the way out when it's like him being talked about as a potential head coach for other teams, it's like, you know, he doesn't really call any plays. Like he's never built an offense. He's never he's never built a defense. But the adult in the room thing is like some of these teams need it more than they want to admit. And um for the Giants like this might not even like it might not be Jackson Dar, you know, it might not be I would think a few of these guys defensively. I might like some of the names on the on the defensive side of the ball more than you

39:26 do because I think there have been times where I'm like, "God, that guy like stands out today." I mean, look, it even happened with the Jets a few times this year. I'm like, "Dude, why are there like five guys on this defense with the Jets that I really like and it seems like this team absolutely sucks." So, I I think it makes sense. So, we agree on that one.

39:42 There's two things I want to say in Harbaugh's favor. Number one is that people who were in Baltimore, this is before my time covering the league, people who were in Baltimore when he took over, Ed Reid and Ray Lewis and and that defensive core, I they didn't exactly go to John Harbaugh's house with cookies and be like, "Welcome to the club, man." Like, you had to you had to earn their respect. And I think it kind of took a while. And I the people who were there at practice said it was really astounding to watch that process unfold and how well he commanded that that that room when it's not an easy thing to do when it's a playerled franchise sometimes like that was especially on the defensive side of the ball the coach has to earn his stripes.

40:22 John Harbaugh did that. So he's that's when you say could he be a higher anywhere he would have won over 32 locker rooms because people just love him. The other thing is I kind of feel like he's been written out of the organizational support for Lamar, especially in the beginning. So there was that nugget. I think Albert Brer had it maybe a year after Lamar was drafted. Like the Patriots loved Lamar Jackson. They just knew they had to change their entire operation to run an offense where Lamar Jackson's the quarterback. John Harbaugh said, "Okay, hand up. We'll do it. We'll change our whole operation.

40:56 We'll we'll we'll we'll draft for Lamar Jackson. We'll uh we'll we'll change the way our offensive line plays for Lamar Jackson. We're good with that. We'll hire the offensive coordinator whe that was Greg Roman at the start who I think is uh with that obviously I think he probably that was a well-deserved change in the Chargers but I think Greg Roman did a lot with the run game there early on and and helped Lamar Jackson initially. Todd Monin was an awesome hire. I think they made some dumb mistakes like you know the uh the Kansas City game offensively it I think they ran into a stacked box like 36 times or something or or sorry pass passed into uh into into light uh basically the defense is playing the pass they passed into it anyway against Kansas City like at a historic rate. So they made some dumb game management mistakes but there's a lot of teams that would take that floor and that level of success. I

41:44 I think the world of it I think the Giants are probably two years away from from playing for real stuff in the NFC East.

41:52 If you're looking at the landscape as of some of the available coaches cuz you know I think the Flores Miami timeline and then what Flores has done since because I mean if you're talking about somebody who it seems like everybody that understands defense is like this guy's incredible like you can plug him in with kind of any personnel. is going to figure out a way and he's going to like end some of these QBs. Like some of these QBs you get really excited about that maybe got bounced around a little bit that have had limitations but put up numbers like maybe I'm thinking Darnold, maybe I'm thinking golf a little bit and then it's like Florida is going to come in and just ruin it. He's going to come in and ruin it. But then I think back to the Miami thing. It's like you hire the coach who apparently hated Tua so much that like he didn't like it was so obvious that first year that he's a Tua.

42:33 He thought he sucked and it's not the way like Tua appears to be kind of a sensitive guy like that. It was just the wrong personality matchup. Um and so then you look at McDaniel and you're thinking, "Okay, well you have to go this way." Like tell your quarterback he's awesome. You just spent this pick on him. You might as well just convince him that he's awesome. Convince yourself that he's awesome. Like whatever it is. Like you be old school football tough guy mentality, but that's not really what the job is. the job is to maximize this one position and then McDaniel kind of does that to an a level that I never thought was going to happen. So I I find them interesting in that like I hope Flores gets another shot at this. I don't want the old school coach to be done,

43:18 but I guess I would have reservations about thinking like, do I bring this guy in and if I give him the wrong quarterback that can't handle this hard coaching, like am I am I wrong from the jump even if I think he's a great coach because of like going back to that Miami experience?

43:35 All right. Well, let me ask you a question. They're both available. Who would you rather have? Let's say you're Okay then.

43:42 And if I But I don't know the quarterback. Like, who's my quarterback? Can he be

43:46 tennis? What about Tennessee? Cam Ward. I think Cam can handle it. I I do too. Yeah,

43:52 I do too. I think Cam Ward is one of the most confident people that's ever played the sport of football. So, I think that Brian Flores being like, "You shouldn't have done that." I think I think he can handle it.

44:02 Yeah. On the same. Yeah. Okay. Um Yeah. Can he pick it? I don't know. You imagine imagine Odor being like your number one job is to empower Kenny Picket.

44:20 This feels very mean towards Kenny Picket. So I don't I don't want to keep doing this.

44:24 It's fine. That's what the money's for. I was just trying to think of a name. I was just trying to think of name. But I love I love this exercise. Like I kind of want to do it three more times, but we're just going to be naming guys that aren't starters. So go ahead.

44:35 All right. Well, I I just want to say I've been surprised top down the exor the the organization runs through Anthony Richardson.

44:43 Uh didn't work. I just want to say on this note, uh I've been surprised at the reaction to Kevin Stapansky's interviews. Like Dolphins fans were like, "No, thank you." He won coach of the year twice. He knows how to run an offense. I know people were, especially Cleveland fans, because I tweeted something positive about Spansky. They were say, "Well, the team made a bunch of mistakes and penalties and they were undisiplined." I still think Stansky is a really good coach. I think gives you a really good floor and I think that the roster had gotten so bad in the offensive side of the ball and they they obviously were victims of he let's assume let's assume he didn't have as much a role in the Deshun Watson trade as Andrew Barry and Jimmy Hass.

45:22 Let's assume that. Okay. I I think that's probably the case that he was on the receiving end of the worst trade in the history of sports. And I I don't think you can drop context.

45:33 Oh yeah. Oh man, that's so I never thought about that. That's so good for the Browns

45:39 that the Luca trade. I never There's arguments to be made. I can't say it. I can't say it's a worst trade in sports anymore.

45:48 Thank you, Nico. By the way, Nico was at the Miami game the other day. Did you know that? Did you

45:52 never stop scouting? Never stop evaluating. As Dennis says, Brian's in his sleep

45:58 trying to give Malachi Tony away. Um, all right. So, uh, Stfansky's good. I think I I'm intrigued to see what the Steelers do. Uh, because I think Jerry Dulac had said yesterday there's 0% chance that they hire a guy with experience. Like, they're going to want the next Mike Tomlin, the next Bill Cower, the next Chuck Null. All of whom I believe were defensive assistants. All of whom were young. I don't know if that means it's going to be a defensive assistant. could be Krishula. Uh could be on the other side of the ball with the Rams, Nate Shel House. Um I I I I think there's a lot of possibilities there. I I I find this coaching cycle as intriguing as as as anything I've ever seen.

46:38 What's up with this 30-year-old guy that like does he have incredible PR or is this Grant Grant Udinsky?

46:45 Yeah, the Jaguars guy. I'd say both both Jaguars coordinators are going to get some some looks. Uh I I I don't I so I don't I don't know. I've never met him. I've never met Grant Yinski. What I'll say is that uh when you say incredible PR, it's typically and again I have no idea who his agent is. Typically coaching agents are really good. They're very there's like five of them and they're all awesome at their job. And when a name appears out of nowhere, typically uh they've either hired an agent or or or and you'll see it. You're going to see it. Like you're going to see guys like I'm not even talking about anybody you've already named. Like tomorrow you're going to see a national guy be like, "You know who should get a look?" And that's a guy you've never heard of. And then they're going to get a look. Like that's that's how this tends to go. And uh I think that that's interesting, but I also

47:39 think that that's uh part of we don't know. We don't have any tape on these guys, right? Grant Gadinski is in Jacksonville. He's Liam Cohen is a strong play caller there. So we don't we don't know how good or not he is. We don't have much tape on that. He called plays in the preseason, I believe. So we have that tape. Uh but I I I think that in general, coaching is an extremely inexact science. When I read that he called plays in the preseason, all I could think of was PR agent manipulation. I'm like, who the [ __ ] ever says this about anybody that isn't on the radar and probably if you're connected with him on the representation side, the point is to start the mental awareness clock for him. Like you're like, hey, he's not getting a job in this cycle. But if we just kind of get a couple things out there, when I read that somebody was like, you know, people raved about his pre-season game calling,

48:28 I'm like, who? I I was like, I don't know that I've read that a lot ever. So, so credit to them. I'm not even mad about it.

48:35 The other problem I have on my end is that when I do meet these guys, how they interview and explain their offense has very very little to do with whether or not they're going to be a successful coach. Okay? Like just because you're thoughtful like I I think we've talked about it. I interviewed Freddy Kitchens before he took the job. Uh I I did not think Freddy Kitchens was was going to be the next Bellich check after that interview. Okay? So sometimes you get that. I thought I thought the world of Brian Callahan because of our conversations in Cincinnati about Joe Burrow and how thoughtful he was and all that stuff, but he wasn't calling plays.

49:09 Zack Taylor was calling plays and then we saw him call plays. I think Brian Callahan can still be an awesome offensive coordinator. Maybe one day he'll be an awesome head coach. Um, but the only thing we had to go on was that Brian Callahan when you're hiring him was that he gave he he was seemed like a very thoughtful guy in interviews and he helped Joe Burrow prepare and then they he was kind of he was heavily involved in in the rise and the kind of the blending of the playbooks between what they did at LSU with the with the Bengals uh you know the the McVey Shanahan offense merging it all together. Brian Callahan was a instrumental part of that. That seemed to not help in Tennessee with that roster. uh that seemed to not help with Cam Ward early on. And so it's hard for me now, and this is a lesson I've learned in the last three cycles to say, "Oh, great example, Aaron Glenn. Aaron Glenn gave me great quotes on Dan

49:56 Campbell." So he gets hired and I go, "Oh, he gets it. He gave me great quotes on Dan Campbell." Turns out that didn't help at all. Final thought here. Are you annoyed that the U is back is being replaced by is college football forever changed if the Hooers pull this off? Because the U I mean they're Miami is an eight and a half point dog here but the U is back thing is now like you know we don't even get to do it because what the Hooers are on the cusp of accomplishing here next week.

50:29 Well, Miami was a nine and a half point dog against Ohio State and I wasn't I was at at that game. I'll be at the game on Monday. Uh, I was never too worried about Ohio State winning that game. Um, once the game started, once the game started and I thought it was going to be a fourth quarter game against Ohio State, the Indian Indiana Indiana game is very similar to me. Um, and we can get to that in a second. But what's interesting to me is, so Patrick Everson does a great job covering the sports books, had talked about this before Ohio State. The public really thinks Miami stinks from a betting perspective. And that what was happening with Ohio State was the Sharps were trying to bet it down and because they thought it was going to be a close game and the public could not be hammering Ohio State more.

51:12 And that's happening with Indiana. If you look at the I think at one point I think I saw it was like 80% of bets were on Indiana at 7 and a half and now it's climbed to eight and a half. And we'll see if the Sharps are able to to bet that down. Um, I don't if I if I barely covered if I barely watched college football, which most betterers do, um, I would see the SMU and Louisville losses and go, "Oh, okay, whatever." But I'd also probably look at the Texas&M win, the Old Miss win. That defense, that offense was unbelievable and Miami was able to kind of crowd them. And then obviously the Ohio State win. Um, I'm shocked at the fact that they're still Miami is still being dismissed even after those wins. Um, that they haven't really played a bad game since the loss to SMU, which has a lot of had a lot of mitigating factors. Uh, I was really I don't want to get in I I I very rarely care about my mentions. I very

52:08 rarely care about the reaction I get to anything. I was downright shocked. Dillo, when I came on your show in November and you asked me if Notre Dame and Miami played now, who would win? I said Miami would win because the issue is that in August Notre Dame couldn't block Ruben Bane and Nakeim Mezador and they wouldn't be able to block him now. And I was shocked at that. And I shock I'm sorry, shocked at the reaction that I got from saying what I thought was a pretty simple truth. And the fact that this that has played itself out over the past month and I I probably would pick Miami to beat Notre Dame again if they played on Monday.

52:44 Well, you you're better positioned now for that argument. Yeah, but I I I was shocked at how the negative the perception was of Miami going into those playoffs. And um I hope that I I I I don't know like I a lot of like the Crystal Ball jokes um you can say a lot of things they show up in big games. They've beat Notre Dame.

53:11 They've beat Miss. They've beat Ohio State. They beat Texas A&M. Okay. when they seem to struggle is when it's the sleepy he's lost four games over the past two years in the regular season and they've been sleepy Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Louisville, SMU. Like they've been those sleepy games. He's beaten the rivals. He's swept the rivals in in each of the last two seasons. Neither of them were particularly close. Um the instate rivals and so uh I hope the conversation going forward changes around Miami. I I doubt it does. It seems like people are dismissing the Ohio State win already.

53:44 Um, Caleb DS and Kaden Curry said that uh that that Ohio State would win nine out of ten times. I disagree. They they would get whipped on the line of scrimmage nine out of 10 times and we'd probably see uh a lot more than one win out of 10 if they played again. So, um I don't I don't care if I'm called a homer about that. Uh because I'm right and I almost rillo to bring you into this. Uh I almost in Dallas at the Ohio State game I got pretty drunk almost sent like a really taunting tweet and then decided not to cuz I was just so shocked at the reaction. No, no, no, no, no, no. To to the reaction that I got after that pod.

54:29 Like you look at my mentions after that pod and it was like there's no way no way. No, but it was like it was all these people saying there's no way you believe Miami is good. There's no way blah blah I I I believed it because I was I was right. And so it wasn't about you. It was about the reaction I got from that. And it was actually like uh it really pissed me off.

54:50 All right. A lot of good points in there. I'm going to give you two words for this title game. Carson Beck, how did you feel about the Old Miss game? Uh, I felt that the last drive was really astounding. Those third down dimes to Keelan Marion and stuff. Um, the tip pick was bad, but that's that you can't put it on him. I think that the Old Miss game, uh, they shouldn't. Every game, it's actually funny you bring that up. Every big game they played this year, the games I mentioned, they've all looked the same, which is the first quarter. It looks like Miami is a more physical team and then they just kind of [ __ ] around with that information for three quarters. Like they don't go up three scores. They don't like, you know, they just like whatever. And then in the fourth quarter there's a got to have it drive and they cash in. That has happened in I believe every all all four of those games. Uh Notre Dame, Texas&M,

55:52 Miss and Ohio State. All four. They had a fourth quarter drive where they just put it together. I think there's an awareness on how good the defense is. I there's an awareness that Carson Beck gets in a lot of trouble when he throws the deep ball. That was a Louisville game. People keep talking about Jeff Braum figuring out the Miami defense. No, they figured out that Carson Beck throws bad deep balls and you can catch them. Um and they threw four interceptions on that. Two of them just pure bad deep balls that were picked off by athletic defensive backs at Louisville. And so um they're not not going to ask him to do too much. I don't think he's I think Brandon Mendoza is obviously going to do a hell of a lot more on the offensive side of the ball uh at the quarterback position, but I think that it can be I I I I'd be shocked if this wasn't a fourth quarter game.

56:39 All right. Fair. Fair. I just uh I'm going to say I trust Mendoza more than I trust your guy. Although I

56:46 I'm not agree. I was more I was more dismissive of your Miami arguments last year. Um, November was a weird time for a lot of us because I feel like they were entering the college football rankings at the worst possible time where everybody was just like, "Hey, here we go again." And unfortunately, previous seasons stick to you for college football programs, both positively and negatively. Like, if you're able to solve pre-existing perceptions of things, then credit to you as a human being. It's just really hard to do. All right. So, that means um I'm going Hooers, you're going Canes, and then our NFL picks, rapid fire. I got Rams, Houston, Denver. I'm going Denver at home and then Seattle.

57:27 Uh I agree with you except Bills. Okay. Shout out to the Buffalo Gills. I love it.

57:39 Yeah, that is Kevin Clark. This is football. Pton Manning was on it. Not a not a name drop.

57:45 Not a name drop. Right. Enjoy uh enjoy the weekend. Enjoy your national championship game, buddy.

57:50 Thanks, buddy. This is a pleasure. It's an honor. We have Al Michaels from Amazon again, the Thursday Night Football broadcast of the NFL and just a legendary voice, a voice that I grew up with. I'm sure so many of our listeners did. He joins us now with the Run the Back Miracle event presented by Michelob Ultra. He is in the locker room as we look back on uh something again that it's been a backdrop in sports history. Your call of that game. It's good to see you. Thanks for doing this. Al.

58:19 Oh, this is my pleasure. You know, anytime I can get associated with something like this and when Michelob Ultra called and said we'd like you to be a part of this, I jumped at it because, you know, to come back and revisit Lake Placid, I don't get to do this very often. And then to get together with Jim Craig and Mike Rouion and Mark Johnson, uh it's going to be very very special.

58:42 I always think about like when a when a famous actor runs into another famous actor, they don't even necessarily need to know each other, but they kind of know like they've had a very similar life and there's this immediate respect.

58:52 I wonder what it's like for all of you to get together from this this memory from 1980 and each year that it's it's celebrated. What that connection is like for you to realize how special this was. I'm sure you knew it was special in the moment, but there has to be this extra level that just is so rewarding to you and everyone that played

59:10 it. It is. And with the guys and I talked to them with some frequency and especially, you know, when you had the 10th anniversary, the 20th, the 30th, 40th, the next one, the next big one coming up is going to be 50 in four years. But I mean, the story, I don't want to say it doesn't die. It gets better. It really does. And especially to be here in Lake Placid. They got here last night, had dinner with Mike Rouion and a few other people and everybody in the restaurant, all of the the the service people, all the the patrons, they they couldn't wait to say hi and just share their remembrances of of what that meant. And you know, Ryan, if you were old enough to, you know, to remember that night, um the memory is fantastic. people can remember, let's say, Lake Placid, uh, number one, but then you have Pearl Harbor, if you're old enough to remember that, or the Challenger blowing up in 1986, or John

1:00:05 Kennedy getting assassinated in 63 and certainly 9/11. They're all terrible memories. This is something that everybody just glows when they talk about it. And even if that you weren't there, I think the movie Miracle and the documentary on HBO and I know Netflix has another one coming up, it's kept that story alive and people now can even though they weren't here and are much younger, they they know what it is. And every time like a father and son or a grandson talks to me about it, uh they just smile and and and can't get enough stories.

1:00:38 as people know, you know, it's the construction of the roster. It's the favored Russians. Also the backdrop of like peak cold war stuff or maybe I guess you could say coming out of it a little bit. Maybe I'm being a little bit too biased in how old I was. But then, you know, even the 84 Olympics, it's like, okay, it's in LA, so like the the positioning of of Russia or the USSR at the time in America and this just absolutely strained relationship. So, I'm wondering is it is it even possible to understand even though that's all current event stuff that's happening in this at this time? Is it even possible to like realize their perspective of what this moment is going to mean as you were doing it?

1:01:16 I sort of did in a way, Ryan, because this country just wasn't in a very good space. Uh, and I mean that we had a recession going on. Our hostages were being held in Iran. We felt very inep. The Soviets had invaded Afghanistan. We had threatened to boycott their summer games, which we did. And of course, they paid us back by not coming to our games four years later in Los Angeles. Uh the crime rate was 19.5%. People can look that up. Yet gas lines, a lot of things weren't very good at that particular time. And the Soviet Union with this great hockey team, you know, we had a bunch of amateurs, average age 22. They were all listed as students and soldiers. They were professional hockey players. They played 11 months a year.

1:02:04 They were paid to do this. They were the greatest team in the world, bar none. And then for us to have this happen at that moment in time, it really it really galvanized the country like nothing I could think of could have done it at that particular time. Were you more nervous about the outcome or I mean is it is it true that you would only call one other hockey game ever? That is absolutely the tr what happened? I'm remember I'm on I'm the young guy on a Mount Rushmore staff that included Howard Coell, Jim McCay, Keith Jackson, Chris Shankle, Frank Gford. I'm the new kid on the block. So why did I get the hockey assignment? All of those guys had never done a hockey game. I did one I grew up in New York. I love the New York Rangers. I knew what icing was. I knew what offside was and that's how I got that job.

1:02:57 I uh I love talking to you about your just listening to you talk about your career. So, this is this is fun for me. Um were you more excited when you started as a scout for the dating game or you were like, "Hey, I'm kind of miss baseball."

1:03:10 That that was before I actually started my broadcasting career. But I got married. I'm still married to the same fabulous woman to to this day. And uh we had got married I think on August 27th, 1966. So I'm looking for a broadcasting job, but we are working for the dating game. And Chuck Baris, who's one of the craziest guys of all time, wrote books, did movies, the whole thing. And we also started a show called The Newlywed Game. So I am helping to pick the girls for the dating game. It's a hell of a job. But I'm a newlywed myself, so I had to be very careful. And my wife was also working in the office at that time. So I could go just so far.

1:03:49 That's good. I didn't know she was working. I didn't know the backs stop of that one because I I know the Chick Hearn story and I know that you know you ended up having a great relationship with him. But it was funny cuz like my first job was playbyplay minor league baseball. You know I had grown up in Massachusetts. Um you know I I loved all the old school guys. You know just there's something about baseball even on the radio. You know it just reminds you of growing up. It reminds you of summer. um just this kind of beautiful backdrop and the skills that it takes to call hockey, to call basketball, football, and then baseball. And like baseball, as I'm getting started, I'm really insecure. And I'm also like, it's funny, there was somebody who was already established that was in the booth that was calling all the games. And then, oddly enough, they were like, "Hey, you're going to have this this Ryan guy

1:04:31 call three innings with you every game." And uh my guy Dan Oul at the time was incredibly nice to me, but I could also understand that he's turning you aside being like, "Who's whose idea was this?" So, as I've read about your story where you thought you were going to be calling the Lakers and you being fired as you're getting on the plane, I know that initially you thought it was Chick Hearn, but that had to be just an unbelievable tease and and moment in your career where you're like, maybe this isn't going to work out.

1:04:56 Well, my career is going to start as Chick Hearn's color announcer or analyst. He had none in those years. Chick had always worked by himself, but Jack Ken Cook owned the team and he was trying to get Chick to embrace bringing somebody in with him. That somebody turned out to be Hot Rod Hundley. So I was, he was just retired as a player. So I was the sacrificial lamb. I'd gotten a job. I was going to work in PR. I get a call one day, "No, you're going to be Chick Hearn's color man." What did that mean, Ryan? I'll tell you what it meant.

1:05:28 When we were on radio, I did the halftime stats and at the end of the game, I did the end of the game stats. On television, I just sat there and kept stats for a check. That lasted about oh 12 games, counting about four preseason games. And then we're ready to make a trip uh early early that season to Boston and Cincinnati. I am now also the traveling secretary and I get to LAX and my job is to hand out the tickets to the guys on a commercial flight and Bill Van Bredikov is the coach and Bill says, "Hey, listen." He said, "I just got word for the office. Uh, let me have those tickets. I'll take care of them. Uh, you've got to call Alan Rothenberg who was a big guy in soccer all, you know, subsequent years." And I knew that I was going to get fired. So, I knew I had to go back to Beverly Hills, get fired. But the the hardest thing for me, Ryan, at that point, I'd already checked my bags.

1:06:22 So now I have to get my bags off that plane before that plane leaves for Boston. And here I am. They said they'll be able to do it, and they did. But I'm a I'm I'm a lone figure at the carousel at LAX, waiting for my bags to come down, waiting to go to see Rothenberg to get fired, and making the call to my wife, which I know is going to be the hardest thing of all. Did you think like did you understand all the moving? You couldn't have at that young and being so new to the business. I don't know that you could have understood what all the moving parts would have been as this thing is happening to you, right?

1:06:52 Yeah. I I I but I had I had a sense first of all I'm going what am I doing as Shikarn's color man? I'm not a color man. I'm a guy who reads some stats. Keep stats. Read stats. That wasn't the job. I I didn't understand what my role was, but I I couldn't turn that down. Wow. I'm going to get on the air. So, I sort of could sense that this was not going to end particularly pleasantly. And I mean the irony, there's so many ironies in my life, Ryan. I mean, so I wind up obviously, you know, going to ABC doing Monday Night Football. And my first Super Bowl was in 1987. And wouldn't you know it, the Washington Redskins are in uh that Super Bowl to play the Denver Broncos in San Diego.

1:07:34 And who owns the Redskins? Jack Ken Cook, the guy who had fired me, right? Who' hired me, fired me, broke my heart, right? and he does he did an interview with somebody in the Washington Post or Washington Times, I can't remember which, in which he took credit for my career.

1:07:51 I had to call that writer and disabuse disabused that part of the story. You did call the writer.

1:07:58 Oh, I did. I said, "Wait, I said I said you can't believe this crap. Come on. This guy almost ended my career." So anyway, and then of course the team won 42 to 10. What can I tell you? I well I can imagine after like you know you have to be pretty driven right you have to have an idea of what you want to do to get to the levels that

1:08:20 you know we can all sit here and say hey put in the work and all this kind of stuff there there I think there's an obsessive line of like I don't care what anyone else thinks of what my path is going to be like I know that my path needs to be all these things and you know as everybody that knows your story you end up in Hawaii after all this I I there must have been some moments you go hey maybe maybe this tempo of life for me is is just fine And I don't need to be in a major marketer. I don't need to be I wonder if you ever let your mind flirt with the idea of that I don't need all of it.

1:08:46 Never. Ryan, I was totally driven as a kid at Arizona State and I got to announce tons of games at Arizona State as a student, including a baseball team that had Sal Bando, Rick Monday, and Reggie Jackson on it. So, I'd had a lot of experience and that's how I wound up getting the Hawaii job, the minor league job in Hawaii. But I always dreamed big big big big big big big. I wanted to do the World Series. I wanted to do the Olympics. The Super Bowl didn't even exist when I was in college. But I and then when it came into being and I got to ABC so I was able to I was one of those lucky guys who lived out every dream. But let me tell you something. A lot of it had to do with my nae. I thought, "Oh, I can do this. Of course I could do this." And then I think back to some of the breaks I got along the way and I go, "Whoa, how in the world did that happen?" So I, you know, I I have a rabbit's foot in my back pocket or or

1:09:43 something or fourleaf clover because all this stuff, you know, came to fruition. But I look back now and I go, "Whoa, how did I wind up there at that point?" And didn't, you know, when I was doing the Hawaii Islanders, we the most successful minor league franchise. We drew almost a half a million people. that got me into the mix for the Cincinnati Red's job when I'm 26 years old, the big red machine. I get hired to do Rose Bench, Morgan, Perez, that team. So, that's, you know, that's the launching pad really for me. It's and at that particular time in the early '7s.

1:10:14 I worked with Chris Ballard for a bunch of years at ESPN. You know, I I I love Chris. And he had said something in an interview because he didn't say it to me, but he had said something in an interview once where he was like, I want to be attached to history. I want my voice to be heard his. And I was thinking like, "Oh man, maybe I need to have like higher goals for myself." Like what a what a profound statement. Um, when you knew you were prepping for this game, what were what were you trying to like, you know, you're going like, "Okay, do I need to come up with some way if they have an upset, like what went into the prep for that game for you to tell that story if it were going to play out the way it ultimately did?"

1:10:51 I didn't think the US had a chance to win the game. Why? because Ken Dryen and I had gone over to the Soviet Union about a month and a half before the Olympics to scout all of the teams except for the US team. They weren't there and I had seen the Soviets play any number of games and I saw them in the runup to Lake Placid. They would toy with people. They might win a game 4-3. They could have won the game by whatever score they wanted to. They beat us 103 in an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden 3 days before the Olympics. It could have been 20 to nothing. They were just so much better than every team. So, our hotel here in Lake Classic was about four or five blocks from the arena. Game is going to start at 5:00 and Kenny and I limp the the the Hilton Hotel at like 1:15. And in that 10 to 15 minute walk, I think I said it can at one point, what's the best we can hope for to keep an audience? If it's like 3-1 Soviets

1:11:50 midway through the second period, at least the audience would be hanging around at that point. I'm thinking totally in television terms. I just feared it was going to be six to nothing. I thought they would blow us out of the building. So, and and in that game, as you know, we came from behind three times. They outshot us 39 to 16. So much of that game was played in front of Jim Craig. They put an intense pressure on and then out of nowhere, you know, Mark Johnson gets that goal at the end of the first period as as time expires. Jim Craig is fabulous in the second period. They outshoot us 12 to2, but it's only three to two. Get a power play goal for Mark Johnson in the third and then Aruzion scores with 10 minutes to play. I'm going Whoa. Then all of a sudden it's like it's almost surreal. Is this really happening in terms of trying to button up the game? Absolutely not, Ryan. because I was working in a very

1:12:40 intense state of concentration. Crowd is going crazy. The production truck is going crazy. Screaming gibberish into my ear. The booth is shaking. Uh and it was all I could do to just concentrate. I was like a horse with blinkers. Call the play by play by play. And the Soviets are putting pressure on. So to come up with a line at the end, the end the game could have ended with a Soviet goal, you know, and how stupid would some line have sounded at that point? The game could have wound up as a 4-4 tie, but when the puck came out to center ice with about six or seven seconds remaining, I remember the word that came into my brain was miraculous. And miraculous got morphed into a question and an answer. And it's like, woo, game over. And then all I knew, it's television. And I think at one point I said, no words necessary, only pictures.

1:13:30 What was I going to do? Put into people's minds what they were thinking? You had this vast country with a lot of diversity and different thoughts. So I thought the pictures told the story and look I got unbelievably lucky coming up with I guess a kod and the word miracle you know was the title of the movie that they did back in in in 2004. But uh believe me, I I have some uh periods of time, Ryan, where I I I I think back and I go, man, man, I could have screwed that baby up, too. So, you know, again, there's that rabbit's foot again.

1:14:08 I what I always thought about it, though, and you know, I I know a little bit of that story. I'm so glad that you shared it with us here, is that your the unexpectedness of that game led to such a natural reaction that it was way better than you planning out anything. um because it just wasn't it was so unexpected. It's why we remember this game so much and for all the reasons that we're pointing out, but that you were able to allow a completely natural reaction at what I think now is a spot where so many and I don't blame play-by-play people for doing this. You want to be prepared. You want to have some sort of moment for a Super Bowl win, for a World Series, on and on and on. But it was it was so human and it was exactly what everybody was feeling at the time that it was the best thing ever that we ended on a scenario that you were never imagining. never imagine.

1:14:52 And you know, the other thing too is if you're doing a Super Bowl or whatever other big event it is, you know, the crowd is mainly 50/50. You got this this group rooting for one team, this group running for another team, and a lot of people neutral, just enjoying the game itself. This was the one game I I did where 99.9% of the audience is going one way. So that that line will work for that. And I always said that that onetenth of 1% a bunch of KGB agents maybe somewhere out in the middle of Nebraska. Who cared about them? So that had that, you know, I don't like to root at the end of a game and whatever I try to say I I try to make it, you know, uh down the middle and and and not lean one way or another.

1:15:39 Uh just uh talk to the the drama of the game. But that worked for that particular game. So, I couldn't have gotten luckier.

1:15:48 This is incredibly cool. Al Michael's joining us from the locker room here thanks to Michelobra and the Runback, the miracle event. I know that you have a lot planned uh here in this partnership as we ramp things up. So, just close with with whatever else you have going on.

1:16:02 Well, I'm I'm just I'm very excited to be here because uh this is going to be a great night. Uh we're in the arena, the Herb Brooks Memorial Arena here in Lake Plen and to come back here. I mean, now I can I can feel it in my bones. Uh, obviously, you know, they've done a lot of work in the arena and all of that, but to be back here with with Mike and Jim and with uh Mark Johnson who's done a fantastic job as the women's hockey coach, I think they won eight national championships at the University of Wisconsin, probably on their way to a ninth, and half of his team is going to be on the US women's Olympic team coming up in Milan. So, it's um it's great at this point in my life and my career to be able to come back here one more time uh you know thanks to Michel Ultra putting this whole thing together uh is wonderful. It just it's and I've got my two grandsons here as well. So, I mean this is like the perfect uh night for

1:16:56 me. Al, I appreciate it so much and like I said I bunch of friends that work with you just love being around you, love stories, professionalism, the whole deal. So, uh, enjoy this. I hope you enjoy it every single year and we look forward to, uh, watching you on Thursdays for a long time. Thanks. Before we get to life advice, the Alliance divisional round marches on. Sir, Rudy Kyle, uh, who's got the board as of right now?

1:17:24 Well, we I mean, NFL wise, we've only done one bet before this. Kyle and I did hit last week. Uh, you were dual threats. Not

1:17:31 all together, right? What is it all together? I think it is me still technically because I've got those two like you know null bets that Kyle hates but man that's what happens.

1:17:40 Hey real is real. I don't know. What do you want me to say? Like Kyle you you're also doing fine. Uh

1:17:46 Ryan, you know there's a little room for improvement but I'm not I'm not worried.

1:17:51 Would I give out the Packers last week? Uh you had the Jags. Oh, I had the under and ner uh Eagles. Kyle had Drake May rushing yards which was way over. So, if we're doing overall records, Ryan's four and six, Kyle I'm sorry, Ryan Yeah, Ryan's four and six. Kyle's six and four. I'm 53 and two.

1:18:10 All right. So, Julie. All right. Anyway, um All right, Kyle, lead us off. I guess I should go then, right? I was going to I was going to do the uh that was a little I think you should leave reference that my dad and I love in case anybody was wondering. But uh I was trying to do the

1:18:25 I was trying to do the Drake May uh rushing, but they've like totally jacked it up now and it's like something I don't feel comfortable with. I think it was like they wanted it to be like almost 40 and I'm like I'm not going to not going to ruin our parlay with that. So I went with uh Raandre Stevenson rush and receiving yards. Been getting a couple touches in the back field now. Um, so that's going to be plus I think they raised it. I had it at 63 and a2. We're moving it up to 64 and a half. Still feel pretty good.

1:18:52 Correct. Rush. M Andre, hold on to the Ryan. Why don't you go cuz you're in the same game.

1:18:57 All right. So, I'll uh I'll go Houston plus three on the road. Okay. Sorry, Kyle.

1:19:02 This has been such a bummer of a podcast with your Houston love. I knew we were going to end up meeting each other eventually. So, it's been super huge bummer.

1:19:11 I love that front four. I don't know what to tell you. Love it. Sorry the schedule was so easy and everyone who didn't watch it had to just complain about games I never watched, but whatever.

1:19:20 Would you want me to stay on the Jets game after 47? I really enjoyed it. I really did. You should enjoy it.

1:19:26 Yeah, I enjoyed that stuff, too, back in the day. All things could be true. They had a terrible schedule and they're still a good team. I feel like that's it's reasonable to say, you know.

1:19:35 Yeah. Yeah. I haven't heard much of that on this show. Just more of the schedule thing. But, uh, Drake May there's been a lot of Drake May Love, which I

1:19:40 Do you miss the other show you worked on? Does it like the Pats more? It did like the Pats a little more.

1:19:48 Yeah, it might be. You know, fair. It's a fair question. I wasn't even trying to start anything. I wasn't trying to make it tense or anything, but I just

1:19:54 Yeah, I know. That's what I get. You, you know, you opened a can of worms. Sorry. What's your bet?

1:19:59 Uncomfortable. I'm uncomfortable now. So, uh, I'm just going to go. Uh, I'm going to take the over in Rams Bears. I try to figure out how to like a bit bunch of different ways to bet this Rams team total over. Caleb Williams passing yards over, but like I don't know. I think these two defenses are kind of sneaky, not great. And you know, if one of them scores, the other one's gonna have to kind of keep up. So I I like over 40 and a half. Rams Bears. I like the Rams to win, too. But I'll take the over. And

1:20:22 even that weather, right? Yeah. Not worried about it. Not worried about chucking a ball. 23°.

1:20:30 It was cold in the Packers game, too. And that thing was I mean, honestly, your best case is probably take the second half over because like Bears second halfs are insane. Caleb just like goes off and starts slow and then goes off. Maybe that's the play if you're looking for something spicy. But no, I'm not worried about the cold. Come on.

1:20:43 He's in first place. Why am I even messing with any of your picks? I love it. Arguably.

1:20:47 Hey, tell Kyle that. Uh, all right. Those three get us to plus 700. So, this is a nice little bet for your boys.

1:20:55 I like it. I feel really good about it this week. 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.

1:21:16 Let's get to it. Live advice. Live advice rrgmail.com. Hello to everyone, including

1:21:23 our international audience. All right. Anything Anything we need to cover real quick?

1:21:29 No, just to it. Yeah. All right. I watched that uh Well, real quick, I watched that uh

1:21:36 Yeah. Okay, never mind. The Dave Franco Allison Brie Together movie last night. It was intense.

1:21:44 Wow. You know anything about it? I the first I've heard of it, I think. Oh, it's crazy. It's basically like, you know, it's not really like a spoiler thing, but like they go into some cave and then their bodies just start like attracting to each other and they just like become like they they start like melding with each other essentially. It's it

1:22:00 Huh. It feels like a spoiler alert. Wild movie. No, that's kind of what the trailer was about. like amiebas took me uh that's what that's what I'm picturing.

1:22:11 Yeah, I guess in a way. But like you know in one thing their arms just are just like you know they're just together and they got to like basically cut them off. It's it's intense. It's like a body horror. Uh it took me a while to go to sleep last night.

1:22:23 Is it like Stranger Things where they keep totally randomly guessing exactly the supernatural thing that's going on uh through through metaphors? You're like dude that could have been anything and you just guess what the [ __ ] that was. But we there can't be any sl any Stranger Things slander on this pond now. Come on.

1:22:39 I just found it a little funny that at like through five seasons they were like, "Oh, and what if this acorn is Vecna and this is us and what if we just have to walk backwards and that's how we get into it's like what?" It's like there was constantly figuring out like things that scientists could never figure out and these kids are just like, "Oh yeah, it's kind of like Dungeons and Dragons." Anyway, whatever.

1:22:59 I didn't watch it so I don't I don't know what you're talking about. I did. You're right. Damn. I was hoping you were because you would have been like, "Yeah, there was a lot."

1:23:05 There's no way Stranger Things guy. You would hate that show with all due respect. Shout out.

1:23:09 I watched the first few episodes and I thought it was like so cool, so incredibly done. All these different things that they were capturing. I think like in that sense,

1:23:17 they franchised it and you were like, I'm out. Oh, no. Modine started going at me.

1:23:21 Yeah, that's right. From this lap pull down thing. And so I was like, you know,

1:23:25 not giving this guy views. What are we doing? I totally forgot. All right. Um, we had a followup on the am I a dick email where the guy celebrated his friend's birthday who was in Italy with his girlfriend took the pictures. Um, I think I can't imagine any sane person not agreeing with everything that we said about that one. Although, you never know, you know, sampling.

1:23:48 We haven't got all the poll data back yet. Love the show. The guy that wrote in is a dick for giving that effing pword a $100 gift card.

1:23:57 P word. Did you do that or was that a a crafted email? What do you mean? Did I Did you put the P word in there? Did you substitute that or he he wrote that?

1:24:08 I did. I subbed it out. I I just don't know. I mean, it's a perfect word for sometimes how I feel about myself at times.

1:24:14 Yeah. You know, so I may I may call myself it. A cold turkey p word is just it's tough. Yeah. Like, you know, just to read that like it's just like, oh, all right. Just going to we're just going to say it.

1:24:23 Especially with the transition. I mean, it was it was both. Like, there was no warm-up. We get right to it. The whole email was one sentence. So,

1:24:33 okay. What am I supposed to do with that? Okay. All right. Um, question here. Uh, little maintenance. Longtime listener, mostly exclusively on audio. Was excited to check you guys out on Netflix. Confused why Kyle is voicing the Affleck intro. Is it a clearance thing? I've never watched on YouTube or Spotify, so maybe it's always been that way on video. Yeah. Uh, basically

1:24:57 he nailed it actually. Yeah. I mean, we couldn't use it and we were like, "What do we do?" And I really like the animation that our guy Francis did and I was like, "I don't want to lose this. What could we do?" So, I asked Legal, "Could we have Kyle voice it?" They said yes, surprisingly. And honestly, I think it's I think it's awesome. Like, genuinely, I'm not even blowing smoke, dude. I think it's very good.

1:25:16 I love that cuz I was really nervous to send it out. So, no, the cadence is right. It like doesn't really miss. You added like the little keychain stuff, the key toss in there like for the audio reverb on there. Yeah.

1:25:27 Yeah. There's a little little Easter egg in there too as well. Maybe it's not that compliment or complicated to figure out, but yeah, that's uh that's it. And Seri was the one that told me. He was like, "What do we do here?" I was like, "Bring in honestly the most real. You're the most like any Affleck character." Okay. If you think about it, you know.

1:25:49 Ah, well, you know what? I do. We have some similar stats. Yeah, I think so. Some some that aren't very similar, but yes,

1:25:55 I [ __ ] kill to have what you have. All right. Um, can I switch to cowboy boots? I like this one. Specific.

1:26:07 I have this question. Hey guys, first time long time. 6'4 227. I'd say yes, but that's a lot of height with the boots. I'll get right to it. Can I switch to wearing cowboy boots? I have a friend who does. It looks cool and he swears I can. I love the simplicity of this email. I just have to commit to it. But I have my doubts. Facts below for your help in assessing. Love the show. I live in the south. Have for 20 years. But I live in metro Charlotte. So not exactly big sky country. No. Born and raised in Delaware. Again, not big sky country. My mom grew up on a farm and I'd visit my grandmother there, but that's about as close as I've ever come to living or working on a farm or ranch. I do not own a truck. I do not hunt.

1:26:47 It's in the I don't know that you have to have a truck, but there's a few cars you probably can't have. You're going to be getting out of it in a pair of cowboy boots, and you're going to be rocking it like 66 in these things, too. Which, you know, who knows? Who doesn't want to be 66 some days? So, go for it. But I like that you're worried about it. I would say go for it. I'm not going to lie. I've looked at a couple pairs every now and then. I had a

1:27:10 Border Patrol uh back when people didn't hate the Border Patrol. He was a Border Patrol guy in Texas. the old Rio Grand in the 70s, I think early 80s, and so he always had cowboy boots, but he was in law enforcement. Um, and you know, whatever. I mean, he was living in Texas, so I think it made sense. Then my dad had a pair for a little while. I don't think it took because that made him even like a weird he always argued that 6'5 to 67 is when it gets weird. I think he may have just said it because he was 6'5 and he just felt like, hey, I'm the perfect height. And then he's like, once you get over that, it's like the the one extra inch, right? Right.

1:27:44 Like you just made it. um 67's up there in those boots. I just think that there has to be some kind of car where when you get out of it, you're stepping down.

1:27:57 Okay. Sure. I think there needs to be a decent amount of ground clearance for the car that you're getting out of if you're going to be I mean, are we talking full-time cowboy boot guy? Are we talking,

1:28:07 you know, perfect jeans type deal? Yeah. I mean, look, there's a lot of a lot of things you can pull off here. Like I wore a pair in college a couple times and that didn't go well at all and that was it. Those were really stuff in college.

1:28:19 Yeah. Try you always trying stuffowboy this mismatch suits. I like it does kind of match.

1:28:28 I can't imagine some of the fraternities. It was like you're going to be a cowboy hack guy. But [ __ ] dude. Like you got a place in Sun Valley. Like I actually do like a little ranching. you're from you're from Westport. Like this doesn't work.

1:28:47 Sorry, got distracted. So, I only have I very limited experience with this. Um I think in there's more like LA I guess it's it's probably just an anomaly, right? Like dudes just decide they're going to wear hats and boots and they're not from one of those places. And I think maybe LA is just a different thing. But I'm wondering like is it do you think it's weirder in the south if like there are people that probably know guys who are like about that cowboy boot life and they just see you walking around or if you're just in a place where it doesn't actually make sense like maybe upstate New York because I do have a pair of boots that we had a we had a Takova sponsorship a bunch of years ago and I jumped on that and I'm actually not very sturdy. I'm kind of like a [ __ ] baby deer in them. They're a little slippery on the bottom, but like so that that like not being super confident walking

1:29:34 in them as well as not being confident outside wearing them. I'm not really sure what I should be doing. Um LA, it seemed like there was a place in Hollywood called like Desert 5 and it's just like a cowboy themed rooftop bar. Two things that really don't go together at all, but it's like all right, this is LA and everyone's out of their minds. So now that I'm here, I look at them every once in a while. They're next to my shoe rack and I'm just wondering like do you think maybe upstate New York is a place to try this out?

1:30:01 Probably not. I mean every Yeah, I know. Where do I have to go? I think you might just

1:30:05 tough to pack in a suitcase, you know. Might be a Poshmark situation where it's just like you got to give up, you know?

1:30:10 It's a total give up. Yeah, but I think I I don't know. I It is funny one day. Could do that. You never know where he'll end up.

1:30:19 Um that was an odd tone. No, no, I'm just saying like he could be now that you mentioned everyone's I'm not it wasn't there was nothing mean about it just hey who knows maybe he's like maybe he's moving to Austin too like everybody else and

1:30:31 yeah we going to do any fit right in but it is funny south somewhere this year there are like regions obviously have their own like uniform right their own dress code like do people who there's like somebody from the south who moves into the northeast they automatically have to start wearing like you know the patagonia vest and collared shirt button down do they feel like posers if they're not like in finance or something like I don't know I don't I think if you're walking people aren't going to ask too many questions and if you wear it confidently, you're probably going to be fine. Charlotte's like close enough where I think you're I don't think it's that big of a deal. I remember,

1:31:00 you know, back in the day working on Will Kane show, he wore cowboy boots all the time with a pair of Levis's and dude, it looked great. He was in Connecticut for most of the time. It's just about too guy. He looked good in them. I couldn't personally I don't think I could personally pull that off, but I thought

1:31:14 he's legitimately like a Texas guy. He is. And yeah, I think he even tried to rant. He read Lonesome Dove and like moved to go work on a ranch.

1:31:23 Yep. He had the he had the bonafides. Yeah, I agree. Wow. Um they said that he showed up with like a revolver and the old ranch hands were like, "What are you going to do with that? Throw it at the bear?"

1:31:36 They were like making fun of his gun. Like he said he was that guy. like he read Lonesome Dove, blew his mind, got a job on a ranch, thought he was going to write like a great American novel

1:31:47 and bought a gun and started riding around. And he was like in the beginning it was all all that ever happened was the older guys just made fun of me the whole time. Told me I was like, man, that must have been great. It's living the dream.

1:32:02 How's work? Uh, well, everyone hates me. I think Charlotte's actually I'd say you get the green light for me.

1:32:10 Are we saying that though because we're all Northeast guys? Because I don't see Charlotte that way. Like sure, is there a crew of guys that you could probably look ultimately how far outside of Charlotte would you have to go before you weren't surprised that there was like a bar with dudes that had their cowboy boots on? How far would you have to go really? Well, if it's based on how far a bar is with these kinds of themes, like I could argue that down the street from ESPN, good old Cadillac Ranch that never disappointed that people.

1:32:40 It was honestly I believe the cosplay, right? The number one line dancing bar in the Northeast or some some ridiculous stat. And that place I used to live in the hotel that shared the parking lot and that place went off. People come from all over New England to go to that thing. So,

1:32:58 how about a grocery store? How about a grocery store? Honestly, I think it's about what's up here in the old brain.

1:33:05 Okay. If you want to wear them and you like the way you look, who gives a [ __ ]

1:33:11 Mhm. I think you should try to have a good first experience. You know what I mean? When you're doing it. So, like maybe pick the right thing to go to wearing them. I I don't know if I'd go to work in them, but I don't know. Um, I remember my dad went to Santa Fe and came back with a Stson hat and was all pumped about it.

1:33:34 Those are pretty hard not to buy when I see him, dude. Those are pretty hard to buy.

1:33:38 I tell you what, though. Never seen him wear it one time. Yeah, that's what I think would happen.

1:33:41 It doesn't play in Connecticut, unfortunately. Yeah. Let's see here. Um, we got a gym one. Speakers of the gym. Am I wrong? 31, 63, 210, 225, bench, 40 or five squats, deadlift. Don't really care to go higher after some long-term injuries from six years of 16 years of playing rugby. All right, so we've got a a rugged dude here. Uh, I was just at the gym now working out. He sent it. Wow, he sent it as soon as it happened. In between sets, I hear your voice being drowned out by what I can only describe is unintelligible throat screaming. I take my headphones out, try to see if it's the gym playing music through the speakers, which would be weird to do at midnight UK time. All right, so we're guys overseas. I turn around to see two younger guys about 5'9, 170 each.

1:34:29 There's two of them. There's two of them. That sucks. That already sucks. Mike Ley wouldn't care. Each have a speaker out blasting it. I've never had an issue telling people to stop playing music in public as I'm quite big and have been punched in the face enough to know I can take it. Wow, this guy's just unloading the resume of toughness. I stand up and say quote, "Hey, can you turn that down? I can hear it over my headphones." They both instantly jump up and ask why they should. Oh, no.

1:34:54 Giza that they come in all the time and do that. Nobody has an issue. They don't

1:35:01 as I've been going to the gym 5 days a week here for seven years. I've never seen them. I tell them, "Okay, they're probably annoyed listening to this [ __ ] but don't want to deal with you." I don't mind telling someone to be rude to stop. They then go on about how it's a public gym. They can do what they want. To which I retort, "Yes, it's a shared space, but not your sitting room. Have respect for others." They then claim if I just asked them politely, they'd have done it. Now I'm just going to turn it up louder.

1:35:28 Which is an obvious lie because I already talked to them politely and they got aggressive. I end the confrontation by saying, "Aren't you embarrassed to publicly tell everyone you're too poor to afford nice headphones?" Whoa.

1:35:37 Love that. Love that. That's a tough one. To which they try and make fun of my old running shorts and hoodie. Damn. I think your comeback was way way tougher because if you're a decent sized guy and you went hoodie running shorts and you were putting putting together a workout, you probably, you know, whatever. I then put my phone down, turn it on to video, which picks up the music and send it to the gym's complaint office. Oh, so he took a video of him. So now I feel like a [ __ ] for not just turning off their music in a snitch for telling. further.

1:36:07 I have quite middle class accent, so I feel calling someone out um who probably not as well off as I am uh poor is quite out of the line. I think I'm just sick of music in public and needed a vent.

1:36:20 Yeah. I don't know. When things start getting mixed up in a argument, I think there's that's not a line you you can cross that one. There's a couple that you wouldn't cross, but you know, I I think that's okay. If you're just trying to hurt feelings, you got to be efficient. So, uh I think that's okay. Yeah. And you clearly won that that that exchange. So, I think you're fine. It would be funny like can you I'm trying to think. Can you tap in if it's like a Bluetooth speaker and just tap into one of their speakers and start playing stuff that you want to play?

1:36:46 I think you'd have to unpair. You'd have to be pretty sneaky and unpair. I think

1:36:51 might be the move. If you're bigger and don't mind getting punched in the face, you said you you weren't.

1:36:57 No, he find Jimmy likes middle age. He doesn't want to be thrown down with [ __ ] that aren't going to get I don't even think that's middle age. He's 31. missed that part

1:37:06 forever. I mean, it's clear this guy, you know, based on what he's told us, is a tougher guy. And I think ultimately he's really offended that two 591 170 guys,

1:37:15 really. That's what it is. That's what happens. There's strength in numbers. They those guys get, you know, emboldened when there's, you know, and it multiplies by however many there are. So, that's it's unfortunate.

1:37:26 How old comes down to what's that? Did they say these guys were like 20s? They're definitely younger than him, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's unfortunate. She said two younger guys. Yeah. I I think it's whenever I see like a corner getting into it with a left tackle like during a game and you just have to think like the left tackle just wants to go even if I'm not good at this, I'm probably going to kill you. Like you might be the toughest dude ever, but like more often than not, like it's going to be so frustrating when you're one of these massive like especially like you're a tough offensive lineman and you're getting into it and like obviously the corner can't back down.

1:38:04 It's the NFL. Like you can't back down from anybody else and all this stuff, but there's probably times where it's just like this is so stupid. Like why are you like let's not kid ourselves here. And I think that's what this has like sure you could have just gone up and turned it down, but who knows? Like what if you beat up two guys at the gym? then you're dealing with all sorts of other stuff, which is where almost none of this ever actually goes. So, yeah, you can feel like a snitch a little bit, take the video and the whole deal. Um, you probably could have just put the headphones back in and then let it go.

1:38:31 But, I don't know, some days you just don't want to let it go, man. Some days you just don't want to let it go. Somebody the other day brought their dog in, you know, to a place where people were eating and and the person was so out of central casting, aloe everywhere, [ __ ] all made up. And it was like, you know, and it's like, oh, but you get to bring your dog in. And then there was a sign that said specifically like, don't bring your dog in. And it's like, well, I get to. And everybody just looks at that person. It's like, so maybe somebody's had bad enough a day, want to say something. Most of the time, we're just trying to get through our day and finish our burrito. All right, that'll do it for the show today. Thank you to our entire crew here. Uh, make sure you download and check us out on Netflix as well with a little like on there if you could. The Ryan Rosillo show Barcel Sports

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "NFL Divisional Round Picks, Harbaugh to the Giants & a Miami–Indiana Preview w/ Kevin Clark, Plus..."?

Ryen Russillo (Host), Kevin Clark (Guest), Kyle (Guest).

What is "NFL Divisional Round Picks, Harbaugh to the Giants & a Miami–Indiana Preview w/ Kevin Clark, Plus..." about?

The discussion focuses on the NFL Divisional Round playoff matchups, offering in-depth picks and analyses with insights from Kevin Clark, as well as a preview of the Miami Hurricanes' national championship game against Indiana. Additionally, the conversation touches on Al Michaels' legendary career and includes personal life advice.

What is mentioned in this The Ryen Russillo Show episode?

13 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Ryan Rillo Show, Kevin Clark, Houston Texans, Ohio State, Joe Shane, Mark Johnson. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "NFL Divisional Round Picks, Harbaugh to the Giants & a Miami–Indiana Preview w/ Kevin Clark, Plus..."?

The episode runs 1 h 40 min; the transcript is about 21,527 words in 278 timestamped sections.

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