Championship Sunday, Fred Smoot, SB Champ Mitchell Schwartz, PFT vs Max and Fyre Fest
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On today's part of my take, Championship Sunday preview. Eagles, Commanders, Chiefs, Bills. We have a twofer for the people. We got Fred Smoot.

who body bags Max a little bit. He pretty much cut a promo. Cut a promo for the Commanders. Then we have Mitchell Schwartz, Super Bowl champion, who protected Patrick Mahomes in his first Super Bowl, talking Chiefs, talking Bills. We're going to get into both games. We've got Firefest. We've got a great Friday show before...

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of pardon my take civil war the tension i call the north the tensions have been high all week we've had brush fires between max and pft what do you what are you shaking your head don't shake your fucking head i don't know how he can call the north when oh clearly the north

We're to the north, too. What was the capital of the north? This is what we've been dealing with all week. Max, I'm just curious. What was the capital of the north? I'm just curious. Where do the commanders play? What was the capital of the north? Wait a minute. State of Maryland is where they play, Max. Now, remind me again. What side was Maryland on in the Civil War? The line. The line of the south. Does that line have a name? No, we were... Mason-Dixon. There it is. We were in the north.

Maryland was in the North. Washington, D.C. was, in fact, the capital of the Union. Not the first capital.

Yeah, that would be Philly. Yeah, but then bang. You can protect your crown. Bang from three. All right. So, yeah, we're going to preview the games. That's just a little preview of a battle of history is not one I'm going to win. Yeah, no, you're not. We've had this all week. It's been great. The tension is real. We're getting ready for the game. Before we do the preview, though, we should at least congratulate Memes on getting his new head coach, Aaron Glenn. That's your top choice. Congratulations, Memes.

That's history. It was cool. I'm a sucker for any time a team hires someone for a player that played there and they just do old highlights. I'm like, yeah, this makes sense. I watched an interview with him where he said when he was – he decided that he was going to get back into coaching, get back into the NFL after he took a break off when he retired. So he was like a restaurant owner.

And then one of his restaurants was right next to one of the stadiums, I think NRG Stadium. He would watch some of the games and be like, they're fucking everything up. This is really bad. And his wife was like, stop yelling at the TV. Go coach. You can coach. Love that. And then he said when he joined a coaching staff –

He didn't want to be promoted to being like a defensive backs coach or, or, uh, like defensive line coach or, or anything like that in house. He's like, start me at the bottom, send me out on the road, have me be a scout. Cause I want to learn every step of the process. And so he worked his way up. Seems like a great dude. His players love him. Memes. I I'm happy for you. Yeah. Your first choice. I'm happy for me too. Uh, good.

I think this is a great hire. He was on the Jets when they were bad, and then he was also on the team when they got good with Bill Parcells. And it's just good to get someone in the building, establish pride back into the franchise.

Even though it's been bad, there were moments of pride. It's good to get someone like that into the building. What would you say to anyone who says this is a bad hire? Racist. Okay. Okay, good. I like that. Good. You got that in your arsenal. Yeah, no, I mean, Aaron Glenn's a good coach. We should...

Now, I don't feel bad, but maybe we'll just give a hollow apology to all the AWLs listening to this from Detroit because this podcast has single-handedly taken the Lions for a ride this past week because you took them out of the playoffs. Ben Johnson went to the Bears, and now Aaron Glenn goes to the Jets. I don't know...

They can't handle much more from PMT. So I think that the Lions are going to have to raid the Bucs. Oh. That's what they're looking to do. So just, yeah, fuck Stephen Che up. Yeah, fuck Stephen Che up. But yeah, it has not been the best week for Lions fans. They've been very upset. They're calling Ben Johnson a traitor. They're mad about how the game went, not having their eye on the ball, all that stuff. It sucks, but I also don't feel bad. Yeah. What did Belichick say about that, Hank? He just said it's fair for people to be...

upset that coordinators are you know distracted the play callers when they're trying to be making plays for the biggest game of the year and that the bad teams get to basically come in and you know distract the teams yeah the Lions did have a bye week too so I know Ben Johnson didn't even go to Chicago he did zoom interviews and then decided so I can't imagine that that was super distracting and

I do like how Ben Johnson's picking a fight with the rest of the division too. Yeah. Saying stuff about Matt LaFleur, Kevin O'Connell. I'd say that's the best coach division in football.

Well, we'll see. Ben Johnson has a lot to prove, saying 6 out of 10. Okay. He's got a lot to prove. You can't win the offseason. You've got to win the season. I guess they can't go 6 and 10, but that... 6 out of 10? 6 and 10 and 1, yeah. Oh, okay. I appreciate that, Hank. I didn't really even think about that until right this second. Troll brain always working. We also had... Here's something good for us memes. The Jets and the Bears are not the Jaguars, because the Jaguars...

Fired Trent Balke after they were turned down by Ben Johnson and Liam Cohen, which is such a dumpster fire move because they were essentially like everyone. Remember when Trent Balke stayed and Doug Peterson got fired and everyone was like league sources are shocked that Trent Balke has survived another head coach. Yeah. And everyone was like, this is crazy. How are you going to get the top higher? Turns out they couldn't.

And then retroactively, they're like, actually, we are going to get rid of him. Yeah. I mean, better late than never, I guess. But it just goes to show you that Trent Balke, he had a lot of power in that organization, just being the person that was informing Shad Khan of what was happening at all times. Yeah. Because you can spin it whatever way you want. Like, if you go out there and you lose to the Texans...

and some guy that you brought in plays really poorly, then you can go to your owner and be like, yeah, you know, misused our timeouts and cost us the game. You can, like, you are the news. Yeah. You're the only source of information in a lot of cases for some of the owners. So he was just, like, doing whatever he could to scrape by and,

then they got rid of he's also obsessed with arm length this guy is like he's obsessed with drafting injured players i think guys with short arms yeah um so trent balke better late than never but i guess you learned if you're the jaguars okay well going through this decision everyone's turning us down because of him maybe maybe he's the problem yeah maybe he's the problem which has got to be a tough realization that you because liam cohen just like

said no thanks. Yeah. And he got a pay raise with the Bucs. Yeah, that can't be a good feeling. Also, I think, is it Brian Schottenheimer might get hired by the Cowboys? It's looking like that right now, yeah. He got his second interview today. Okay. And I just want Deion. I just want Deion. I think that would be so fun to have Deion as the coach of the Cowboys. But I'm tracking Jerry Jones' flights right now. I'm reporting at 419.

Central Time, Jerry Jones' helicopter took off from the practice facility and

Flew out to AT&T Stadium. Did a full circle, one full circle, and then flew back. That feels like a closing move, doesn't it? Yeah. Like the guys verbally agreed to it, and Jerry's like, let me go show you where we play ball. Yeah, yeah. Let me take you for a little loop-de-loop. Yeah. See that hole? That's where Sunpok came from. Yeah. Yeah. No, you're right. That is definitely the final. Don't they do that on The Bachelor or something? They always take a hot air balloon? Yeah. Now they're going to the fantasy suite. Yeah. That's exactly what's happening. He's going to...

Jerry's going to come in his shoe for him. Yep. And it's going to be a done deal. Yeah. And also, congratulations, Hank. You got your offensive coordinator. Oh, yeah. Josh McDaniel. Putting the band back together. Pumped. Kirk was right. He had the first of it. So you have to be excited. All the way excited. That was the person I wanted. We got, you know, it was the best offseason you could have. Yeah.

It would be very funny if some team, like let's say the Patriots, if they win 11 games this year and then Josh McDaniels gets hired as a head coach somewhere else. That'd be very funny. Yeah. For the Colts. Okay. Anything else before we do what everyone is here for? And that is the preview of the games. I did see Mark Andrews posted a long Instagram note basically saying I fucked up. I feel bad for him. But

But Buffalo fans did donate $95,000 to his charity. Which is nice. Very nice. Probably would still rather have caught that ball and not fumbled the other one. But still nice. Yeah, if you're Mark Andrews, are you happy? Are you like, this is good. Thank you, guys. I think you have to say thank you, but you're also pretty bummed out that they are donating all this money. Yeah. Really, Lamar should actually donate money to Mark Andrews personally because he's gotten a lot of the IRO. Speaking of which...

Has anyone gotten deep enough into the Ryan Clark, Marcellus Wiley beef to understand? From my...

I've looked at it. I want to say I've done about five minutes of research. And I think Ryan Clark is in the wrong in the fact that he's basically been exposed for a massive double standard with Lamar and Josh. And Marcellus Wiley has just basically been like, dude, you have a double standard. And he's gotten very upset about it. So are you talking about the Vegas stuff? No, I don't know the Vegas stuff. That's what I'm concerned about. So to set the stage, I think...

A lot of people are going after Ryan Clark right now because last year when the Bills lost, and that was a game that they lost by, what, a field goal and a missed field goal, and Stephon Diggs dropped a bunch of balls, and he basically was like, Josh Allen has to play better. It's on him, blah, blah, blah. And then this year when Lamar lost, he's like, chin up, number eight. This isn't on you. You made the plays when you had to make. And it was like, all right, this is kind of weird. So now what happened with Vegas?

So he tweeted at Marcellus Wiley,

You just couldn't let me be when I ignored you. So now I'm not ignoring you anymore. Let's have this conversation man to man. And then he did a screenshot from a text message that he was having with somebody. It's been cropped, so you can't see who it was. Somebody says, Marcel is chirping again. He always is. I'm just finally tired of it. And he's acting like Vegas didn't happen because he's a bitch. Oh, shit. And then the other person says, lol. I remember the interaction vividly. Lol.

Oh, I know you do. You actually made it funny. Then the other guy says, lol.

So there's actually no context. What happened in Vegas? But it sounds hilarious. Hilarious. It sounds like this guy's actually hysterical with laughter right now. I don't really know what's going on here, but now I want to know what happened at catch because it sounds like Ryan Clark ignored Marcellus Wiley at catch. And then Marcellus Wiley got up in his feelings because Ryan Clark was ignoring him. Got it. That would probably piss me off too. Yeah. And listen, we're biased on this show. We have biases. We just...

are pretty transparent about them. We like Josh Allen a lot. I just feel like Ryan Clark should probably just be like, I'm maybe making this, I'm maybe not treating them the same. Yeah, you can always get off a take. Yeah, you can always just be like, hey, I like Lamar a lot more than Josh. Yeah, you could say that. This is why I'm going to treat it differently. You could say that or you could say I was wrong about Josh. Yeah.

And that's okay, too. Yeah. I think what he's opting to do is just wait until he's right again about Josh. Right. And then he'll be like, see, I was right about Josh. Yeah. How he reacts on Monday. Although I think what he's going to do, because he posted also like something on inside the NFL praising Josh. So I think if the Bills lose on Sunday, he's going to go on, get up and be like, it wasn't on Josh.

But here's try to, to pave over that. I, I kind of like Ryan Clark. Maybe it's because he used to be on the Redskins, but I think sometimes he's okay. Sometimes when he gets on TV, he delivers these sermons while he's dressed up like Austin powers. Then I'm like, okay, I can tune this guy out right now. Yeah. So I don't know what I've, I've thought that he's always been wrong about Josh and it seems personal. That's the thing is it does seem personal. Like he has something against Josh Allen. Right. I don't know what that's about. Um,

Maybe it's a race thing. I don't fucking know. But it was a good media beef that I couldn't fully understand because of what happened in Vegas. And the race stuff always happens in boxing. That's when it's very normal for everybody. If there's a white fighter and a black fighter or a Mexican fighter against a Canadian fighter, then you just squad up. And you let it all happen in between the bells. And then afterwards, you're like, okay, back to normal. But in football, you don't.

Some people don't do that. Well, and the problem, too, is that Lamar and Josh are different in the fact that, like, Lamar has been the best quarterback of the regular season for whatever, three out of the last six years. That's kind of, you know, you can't really dispute that. Josh's losses in the playoffs have been, in large part, not because he's not played to his level. Lamar has had games where he's not played to his level. The thing about quarterbacks is...

50% of them suck depending on what just happened. So if you lose, you're like, see, that guy sucks. That guy sucks. And that guy's the best. That guy will never be good again. He's the best and that guy sucks. Yeah. It's really whoever's winning the game at the time. Yeah. And then the other guy, you're like, what are you doing? It's quarter by quarter. How could you throw that? How could you drop the ball when you got sacked, Lamar? How could you possibly throw that? My thing about Lamar is, does he know it's the playoffs? He might not.

I wouldn't have thrown that. No. I protect the football. The thing about me, I don't have arm strength to throw that interception. To me, the football is sacred. Mm-hmm.

The whole franchise. I would limit turnovers. In your hands. Okay, let's get to the weekend preview. It's presented by Dove Men's. As you prepare to host game day celebrations, what are some possible whole body odor related issues you may encounter that make you less confident in your hosting studios? Are you afraid to take off your shoes when you enter your friend's house? That can happen. Getting nervous your team is down at halftime? Maybe you start smelling bad, sweating, tactically?

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because it's going to be heating up this weekend. So go get Dove Men Whole Body Dio at Walmart today. All right, boys. First game, NFC Championship game. Philadelphia Eagles are six-point favorites. Over-under is 47.5.

I feel like I just need to just be like, go ahead, both of you. Just fight. Well, Max said something very interesting before we started taping, which was he just wants to fast forward and get to the end of the game when there's zeros on the clock. Oh. He doesn't even want to watch the game. Me personally, I wouldn't mind fast forwarding to maybe like 30 minutes before kickoff, see some of the pageantry, the flyover, everything.

But Max just wants to be at the end of the game when it's all over. So I don't know if Max likes watching ball. Like for me, the thing about me is I can't wait for kickoff. You love ball. Yeah, kickoff is... That's my time, baby. Max? I don't care about that. I'm stressed out. I'm done with being stressed. I'm excited for this game. I'm excited for this game. I'm also excited for this game to be over. I'm hoping that... I'm confident that the Eagles are going to win. But it's just... It's taking a toll on me. So my...

Analysis for this game is very dumb. The Eagles have better players at almost every position except for the most important position, and that's quarterback. And I keep coming back to, like, I think the Eagles' defense is better than what Jaden Daniels has played in the last two playoff games. I think the Eagles' offense is not better than the Lions', but Saquon Barkley is out of control right now, and they're going to be able to run the ball.

I just keep going back to the fact that if the commanders have the ball at the end of the game, Jane Daniels is going to do something special and we're going to have maximum pain for Max. I mean, I hope that's how it works out. I think the Eagles are a really, really fucking good team. Do you agree with my assessment that they are probably better at almost every position except for quarterback? What about running back?

Yeah, I'll give you the nod at running back. I'll give you the nod at left tackle, right tackle as well. Terry McLaurin's playing better than A.J. Brown right now. Yeah, I'd say Terry McLaurin better than A.J. Brown at the moment. On defense, yeah, maybe. I mean, if you look at Lattimore, how he played last week, if you look at how Sanra still played last week, they both played excellent. Really good ball last week.

I love... They released a rookie tackle leader. I saw this. That was tough. And Commanders fans were trying to dunk on Eagles fans because Quinion Mitchell was not on the rookie tackle leader. Yeah, for cornerback. It was pretty tough. There was one Commander fan who was like, where's Quinion Mitchell? And then everyone replied. They're like, you actually don't want your cornerbacks leading the league?

the team in tackles because that means they're giving up a lot of passes or your linebackers. Yeah, it's true. Congratulations for dunking on the dumbest people online. No, but you were just like, Sanders still is not better than either of the two Eagles D-backs. I'm just saying the way that he played last week and how he's been playing recently. But you can't just look at a game, a whole player by one game. He might be better than Cooper. Cooper to Gene. Number one, he's not.

Cooper Jean was nominated for Defensive Rookie of the Year. Okay. Sanders still was not. Okay. Point, Max. I said he might be. Okay. Okay. Jalen Hurts might be better than Jane Daniels. I disagree. What is Jalen Hurts' status? He's good. Nah. Good. He's good? Good. Because I think that's really what, I mean, not to oversimplify the game, but it really, like, if Jalen Hurts is banged up and doesn't have the mobility that he needs to have...

It's going to be a way different game. I have a question about the end of game thing. Would you have said that same thing about Matt Stafford last week? In the snowy conditions? No. I mean, he couldn't hold on to the ball. That's incorrect. He did it the drive before. I understand. And then he did it up until that drive, until the Eagles made the big plays and win the game. I would say Jaden Daniels is playing better right now than Matthew Stafford.

I mean, you talk all the time about how good Matthew Stafford is. I know he's a Hall of Famer, but he wasn't playing good the last two months. I would feel more confident with Jaden Daniels having the ball in his hand at the end of the fourth quarter right now than Matthew Stafford. But it's the Eagles' defense. I understand. I agree. You asked me a question. I'm giving you my answer. I just think that I don't know if that answer, I agree with that answer. I'll say confidently with the exception of quarterback,

and punter i think the eagles have the better roster yes i would i would i would probably agree with that a kicker punter you have the better kicker no we have the better punter tressway is a fucking legend and kicker yeah jake elliott's a problem that also makes that i i am giving you an extra player there that wasn't a he did you guys you were getting angry i was giving no no max i actually have a stat about jake elliott because this is kind of crazy in the postseason

Jake Elliott is 22 for 22 on field goals. In the postseason, Jake Elliott is 25 for 30 on extra points. Jake Elliott is the most accurate kicker in NFL history in the postseason on field goals. He is the least accurate kicker in the NFL in history in the playoffs on extra points. But he's also 4-0 when he misses an extra point.

That's also true. That's a stat. Remember that stat I gave you? Isn't that crazy that he's the best of all time at field goals and the worst of all time at extra points in the playoffs? No, that is crazy. So I think that right now his head is fucked. Field goals are worth more. The voice you just heard there was Philly Hank. We need to address this. Hank is wearing an Eagles shirt. Hank is...

I believe going for the Eagles, but he is so far inside Max's head that Max doesn't believe him. I think. And Max also, Hank, I don't know if everyone in this room knows this, but Hank is texting Max at 10 p.m. every night this week just birds. I think he has an alarm on his phone at 10 o'clock to text Max birds.

It's been every day this week at 10 p.m. He texts me, birds. No, I've explained my stance. I'm financially backing the birds. I had these futures in from before the playoffs. I didn't know they were going to go against the commanders. That might have changed things. But when you have futures at this level...

And it's such a big game. All I've been thinking about this week are the birds, the birds, the birds, the birds, the birds. And they're going to run. I know it's fun, and we're talking about it. It's a fun little robbery. It's not going to be close.

It's not going to be close. He's getting upset about this. Jayden Daniels is a rookie. The slipper's going to come off. He's going to turn back into a pumpkin. Three interceptions. Oh, he turned his mic off. He turned his mic off. Turn it back on. It's sad because Hank really can't win. You know, when he's going against Philly, you hate the guy's guts. When he finally, you know, does the bloods and the crips tying the handkerchief together, you're like, turn this guy's mic off. Don't let him talk. Wait, so you think Jayden Daniels is going to turn into a pumpkin? Mm-hmm.

Their Eagles defense is so much. Stop. Please stop. Please stop. I'm asking you to stop. The Lions are playing with XFL players. You sound like me with my kids right now, Max. Please stop. Please just stop doing that. I'm asking you nicely. You want to know an interesting stat about Jalen Hurts?

About his playoff record. So he's four and three in the playoffs all time. And when he throws for less than 155 yards, he's won all four games. Yeah, that was the stat I gave Max on Sunday. And when he throws for over 155, they lose all those games. Yeah, the key to the Eagles winning is Jalen Hurts throwing for 125 and Jake Elliott missing two extra points. So his injury doesn't even matter. It doesn't matter. That's the key. All right, can I say something that I've noticed this week? Okay. Birds. I would like to...

Read a tweet. I would like to pull it up, and I will be doing so right now. Okay. Here we go. This is from Ben Standig. He is a beat reporter for the Washington Commanders. Okay. The Commanders are practicing in the bubble with the Eagles Fly Eagles Fly song pumped in during the practice. Are you aware of what that song is to the Eagles? That's your touchdown song.

They played the song during their entire practice. Are they just preparing to let up a ton of points? I think they're just preparing to be annoyed. Oh. But that means if they're going to be annoyed by the song, that means the Eagles are scoring. You shouldn't be listening to that song at all. That's an interesting song choice. Hostile environment possible for yourself. By playing the Eagles score song. And you know there's probably a couple guys in practice that were singing along by accident.

I don't know about that. It's hard. It's hard not to sing along. And watch our eagles fly. Fly, eagles fly. On the road to victory. E-A-S-G-L-S.

Yeah, do we have a statement on, was it the mayor? Yeah, thank God she said that before the Rams game. They're 1-0 after that chant. Okay, so she was E-L-G-S-E-S. I love it when mayors try to talk sports. It is robots. Did you also see the Washington Commander defensive coordinator, Joe Witt, said that they're going to try to hit Jalen Hurts like a running back. Yeah, it's good defense. When he's running with a football, hit him like a running back.

I got no problem with that. Yeah, no, I mean, I kind of like that he's telegraphing it, too. Yeah, sure. Goes both ways. Goes both ways. Your quarterback also likes to run like a running back. Yeah, but we also agreed to turn injuries off. I mean, I don't know if your defensive coordinator agreed to that. No, we agreed. What happened? I mean...

It makes you wonder about these questionable Frankie Louvu hits the past couple months. Makes you wonder what's going on in that defense. Are you claiming there's a bounty geek going on? I'm not saying it, just it raises a question. Okay, because he hit Jared Goff, that one, and then what else? Jake Ferguson? I mean... Do you want to look at the Jake Ferguson one? Should we look at the Jake Ferguson one? I got my Windhorse fingers up. I have not seen the Jake Ferguson one.

Sorry that we play physical football. And you know what? People in Philly would never celebrate an opponent getting injured. That's a good point, PFT. Yeah, let's keep doing references. Why was the first thing JFK getting dome shot at? I was like, I don't think that was Frankie Louvu. But if that happened to Pat Mahomes, they'd suspend him from the league. Oh, man. All right. This is the Jake Ferguson getting hit.

Nope, haven't found it yet. Okay. All right. Good job producing. Well, I mean, you brought this up. No, I didn't. You brought up the defensive coordinator. Yeah, I brought up Joe Witt. I didn't have like a memory bank of every bad hit Frankie Louvoo's had in the last two months. That's ooze. Put some respect on Frankie Louvoo's name. I don't know if you're going to find it. I'm going to find it. Yeah. I don't know if you're going to find it. I...

I think I'm going to bet the commanders plus six. Now I do have that future on the Eagles, but I'm going to try to double dip. I think.

Because I do think it's going to be a tight game. I disagree with what you're saying, Hank. I do not think it's going to be a blowout. I think it's going to be close. I hope it's close. Everybody's saying that the Commanders, this is the start. They'll expect to be back. I disagree with that. When you're in the NFC Championship game, you have to need to win. They should try to win it. I'm declaring this a must-win game. This is a must-win game for the Commanders. Max? It's been a great season, but you must win this game. Would you like to counter with a can't-lose?

Uh...

No, I would like to follow up with a must-win as well. Oh, we got a must-win off. Okay. Okay. So also one difference in this game from the other two games that we played this season, Jonathan Allen is back for the Commanders, and he makes a difference at defensive tackle. So I'm happy about that. I don't know that – I think the formula for this game is just don't let Saquon Barkley score a 70-yard touchdown. That's a really good formula. He's going to have some, like, 20-, 30-yard runs. Just don't let him score on those runs.

And yeah, if you can force him into kicking 33 yard field goals, that'd be great to just simulate an extra point. Yep. But I, I'm, I'm on edge. I'm not as on edge as Max is. Max is just a basket case this week. He has been shocker. Yeah.

Max, if you lose this game, maybe you'll get to... I'm not worried about it. Yeah, Hank, you're just... Which actually should make you worried, PFT, because Hank does... He brings winning energy. And he also, like, these type of bets, he hits them. I don't know. Yeah, he does. I don't hit them.

I was going to tell Max, if you lose a conference championship, you might get to play Boise State in the first round. So that'd be nice. Shot at Penn State there, Max. He's so focused on trying to find this phantom Jake Ferguson hit that he can't find. This is a screenshot of it, but I need the full video. That looks dirty, that screenshot. Wow. That screenshot. I would also feel a lot worse, but thankfully Jalen Hurts didn't even play and the Commanders barely beat the Eagles. And so that way it takes away the top to beat the same team three times.

What about this? No team has ever beaten Jaden Daniels twice in the same season. He's a rookie. No team. No team's done it. No team has done it. Think about that. Well, yeah, the other two teams in the division sucked. Well, also the Bucs. Bucs didn't do it. Didn't do it. Didn't think about that, did you? So it's four teams. Although technically Marcus Mariota beat the Cowboys a second time.

That is true, but Jaden was the first one. Well, Jaden played for half of it. Not well. Kind of. And then he was on the sidelines, first guy cheering. Did you guys see the report about Jaden Daniels' mom? Yeah, what did she say? She does not let him date. Oh. There's a lot of skirts running around, and she's like, nope, you're not getting close to my Jaden. The big graphic that I saw just said, it was a picture of Jaden Daniels. It said, no girls. Love that. No girls. Football only. He's married to the game, which I love.

I'm so excited, Max. I really am excited to watch this game. I'm so excited as well. We're going to be streaming. Coach Gruden will be there. It's going to be great. It's going to be an incredible watch. Oh, is that the hit? Let's see. Oh, yeah. He kind of got him from behind. All right. Here he comes in. Kind of headshotted him a little bit from behind.

I mean, he's getting thrown down and then he comes in to make a tackle. I don't really know what point you were trying to make. That he's the defensive coordinator trying to get injured people. We'll put a pin in the bounty gate. Max was the first to report it. Potential bounty gate on the commanders. Have you guys decided on a bet? Um,

By the way, the reason I couldn't find it was because the tweet I saw actually, I was looking up the words in the thing, and he actually referred to him as Frankie Doo-Doo. Oh, got him good. Got him good. You should have just called him Frankie Doo-Doo instead of going on this wild goose chase, and I'd be like, good point, Max. Yeah, Frankie Doo-Doo. Also, Max, will you be wearing the overalls?

Yes, I will be wearing the overalls underneath my sweatshirt. Okay. Same outfit for all plays minus one of the Rams game. I will not be giving you use of my phone in this game because I'm going to let it play out on the field. So you don't have any superstitions with my phone, which was powerful against the Rams. You have to admit. It's not necessary. Hank, the fact that Hank...

Like he has $30,000 on the line and still wants to be a fucking asshole? I'm confident. He's rooting hard. He's confident. No, you're not. Hank is either in a position where he wins $50,000 or he can make fun of me. I would never do that. Me personally, I would never do that. That sounds crazy, Hank. I want to win. I don't want to lose. Who would ever do that? I'm glad that Hank is so confident because...

We'll get to our interview with Fred Smoot, who basically just... You cannot lay a jinx on thicker than Fred Smoot laid on by how confident he was in the commanders. So I'm glad that Hank is here counterbalancing that. I appreciate that. If you did not watch a second of NFL football this year and you just listened to Fred Smoot's interview, you would think that the commanders were the greatest team that ever was created on God's earth. Yep. It was that... All right, so wait, do we have a bet? We had talked about doing the WACs.

okay upper upper body wax our torso a torso wax basically 40 year old virgin wax okay because you've got a lot to give max yeah i got i got a decent amount of hair on this chest and we talked about the brazilian but if you're doing brazilian then you have to like actually go to a waxing person like take your all your underwear off and be like hey can you wax my ball and then that's just weird yeah and then also somebody filming that i also like we were talking about it the other day i know people want to see a bet and i think this would be good because we'll make it a pm tv like

You guys have so much at stake. Yeah, there's a lot. It's so much at stake. No bet can change how you feel about this game. Yeah. This also will suck. Yeah, no, this will suck. This is obviously something that neither of us want to do. It's going to be very painful, and I will have to take my shirt off on camera, which I never like to do either. That's a punishment in its own. Yeah, that's a fact. Max, do you have keys to the game? Yeah. What do you mean? Do you have Eagles keys to victory? Yeah.

Sure. What are the keys to victory? Win. I don't care about anything else. Win the football game. That's a good key to victory. Okay, good key to victory. I had Want It More. I had Dial Something Up. And No Girls. That's pretty good. And also make another fucking sweet pregame hype video. When is that dropping? I'm working on it right now.

I got my team on it. Shout out Quigs. I got a guy too. Yeah, Quigs is doing a great job. It's just a guy that already makes them, but I've DM'd with him a couple times because he makes sick hype videos. Oh, nice. This one's going to be better. Nice. All right, final score prediction? Memes, I'll start with you. Memes, who are you rooting for? I don't know. Memes just wants chaos. I saw the Curse of Jim Kelly clip pop up.

So that made me think the Commanders are going to win. And Schefter's tweet from last Super Bowl saying Commanders Chiefs are in the Super Bowl makes me also think the Commanders are going to win. So I'll go Eagles 34, Commanders 21. Counterpoint Super Bowl logo.

What's going on with it? That didn't happen last year. Taylor Swift, purple. That's what people are saying. Okay. So what is it this year? You can't counteract memes. You can't tell memes to change his prediction. No, my counteract of weird stats. Okay. So that does look like Chiefs Eagles again. No, Bills have red. Oh, yeah. Bills have red, too. But Chiefs are red. Okay. 3421 Eagles. Max. Max.

That was Meme's prediction. Wait, you said 34-21 Eagles? Wait a minute. Just think of two numbers. No, someone else go first. I refuse to go right now. All right, I'll go. 26-24 Eagles. Commanders. 26-24 Commanders. Wow. I think James Daniels is going to do something special, Dan. I think Zane Gonzalez. I think you're going to get a...

Wait, 26-24. We call him OCD Gonzalez. Zane Gonzalez misses an extra point, so it's 24-23. Then he makes a field goal. Prove it. Cash out. I'm not going to cash out. I'm going to bet the Commanders plus six for probably more than the money. I'll show you the bet before. Actually, I'm happy that you did that. What did you get me there on? Nothing. If Big Cat had taken the Eagles and Hank takes the Eagles, you take the Eagles, I was just going to abstain, so we had the graphic that was all Eagles. Yeah.

No, I'm not going to cash out of the Eagles' future, but I'm going to bet the Commanders because I do think no matter what, this is going to be a very close game. I honestly believe that. That's my analysis of the game. I think these teams, I think Jayden Daniels is the X factor that will make this game close. Hank?

42-13 Eagles. Wow. Confident. Bird game. Wow. Confident slaughter. So I shouldn't take Commander's plus six. No. We're looking at pick sixes. 250, take one. I don't know why you do this to me. Believe in you? Yeah, he's being a good friend. He's supportive.

I'm going to go Commanders 30, Birds 25. Okay. Max? 28-24, Eagles. So you're telling me I should bet Commanders? Yeah. He's a good pick, Big Cat. Yeah. I don't care about the spread. Yeah, I know. No, you pick them to win. I can't get it out of my head that something's happening and that when J.D. Daniels gets the ball at the end of a game,

Something happens. The only thing is too many people are saying Team of Destiny. Too many people are saying it. I actually have not said Team of Destiny. I know, but I've heard it a lot. I just think something's happening. It's not Destiny. It hasn't happened yet. You got to go out there and you got to earn it. And this is going to be a very hard game, very, very hard environment against a great team.

What's the weather? And I also think in all these scenarios, what is the path of maximum? Like, what is the sicko? What do the sickos want the most? And what is the path of maximum destruction? And it's commanders beating the Eagles and the Chiefs, like, absolutely butt fucking the commanders. That's what it is. Mm hmm.

Yeah, that's just pain all around. That's pain every which way. And everyone's unhappy and everyone's pissed off. That's what's going to happen. What? Never mind. What? Never mind. What? Say it. We're on a podcast. I mean, just no matter what, I will be the commanders. I will not be rooting to win the Super Bowl. No matter what. I will not be a commanders fan. Okay. I feel the same about the Eagles. Yeah.

Okay, so maybe wait. New vision. New vision. I just dropped new vision. Eagles beat the commanders, and then Josh Allen beats the Eagles, and we all celebrate. Max is miserable. Yeah. New vision. That'd be good. Wow. I'm down. Wow. Wow. New vision. New vision just dropped. That'd be cool. That would be because the sickos would get their payday twice, and we would become the sickos. Mm-hmm.

With the AWLs, we would join the AWLs. That's the best case scenario. Turn it on Max. That's the best case scenario. Oh, the glazing that we would put on Josh Allen after that Super Bowl. Oh, my God. We would be taking victory laps while Max is just completely devastated. Yep. Oh, my God. Yeah, that would be...

Win this week. Yep. Win this week. Win this week. Everyone's got to win this week. I do have one numerology. We got into it for the Ravens. Yeah. There is some numerology for the Commanders. Mm-hmm. January 20... Or, excuse me. Yeah, January 26, 1992. Okay. The Redskins beat the Bills in the Super Bowl on that day. Ooh. Ooh.

This game will be played on January 26, 2025. That was 33 years ago, same day they beat the Bills in the Super Bowl. Okay. 33 years before that, January 26, 1959, Fidel Castro marries revolutionary Vilma Espin. Every 33 years, Akami gets a ring. Oh. And this is a ring game. Not really a ring game. No, you get a ring.

I love the numerology. Factor fiction, you get a ring if you win this game. I think it's every 33 years that Kami has a big day. You get a ring. We also learned from the Ravens that that means nothing. That's true. But that was only two examples. This is three. No, they had two. Oh, yeah. Fuck, you're right. Yeah, I fucked myself. Damn it. Also, Maryland played both sides in the Civil War. Oh, yeah.

Go on. I don't know. That's what I looked up is that they were a slave state, but they were technically in the Union. So some parts of Maryland fought for the Confederacy. Some parts of Maryland fought for the Union. They were a Union state, though. They were a border state. They were a Union state.

border state. It's south of the Mason-Dixon line. I don't think you understand Max has read all of two sentences about the Civil War in the last 30 minutes. So I'm an expert. To Max's point, there were definitely some militias from Maryland that fought on the south. Not from Pennsylvania. Okay. To my knowledge. I still called the north in the Civil War this podcast. But I said south of the Mason-Dixon line and I was correct. Yeah. Okay. All right. I just want this to be a great game.

I don't want it to be Hank's 42-13. No, I don't want that either. Although, if it was 42-13, I would actually like that a lot if it was for the Commanders. Yeah, that would be fun for you. All right, AFC Championship game. I mean, it's crazy because, obviously, with the Civil War in our podcast, this game is so, so huge. Josh Allen versus Patrick Mahomes. The Chiefs are one-and-a-half point favorites. The over-under is 48-14.

I don't know where to start other than I'm rooting for the Bills. I'm worried about the Bills, though, because I don't know. Their defense is banged up again. The Chiefs, the weakness of the Bills' defense is the middle of the field. Travis Kelsey, middle of the field guy. Maybe they'll just try to shut him down. And it's Patrick Mahomes as an under-a-field goal favorite at home in the playoffs.

And it just feels like that's what they do. Yep. We've seen this story before. I've kind of convinced myself that the Bills can do it. Even though I know all the history, I know that you shouldn't doubt Mahomes in the playoffs. But that's the part of me that just wants to see the Bills in the Super Bowl. Yeah. That's part of it. I think, in all honesty...

If you're putting money on this game, I would probably bet on the Chiefs to win this game. That's how I feel, but I'm not going to bet the Chiefs. It feels like they will find a way to get it done, and Josh Allen is going to be standing there on the sidelines just with that same look in his face, thousand-yard stare. This happened again. Oh, my God. I can't believe it happened again. Here's what I'm hoping happens.

And obviously I'm hoping the Bills win, but here's what I'm really hoping happens. I hope that Sean McDermott and Joe Brady and the Bills organization says, we've got one of the best quarterbacks in the world who had an incredible season. And in the Ravens game, they were conservative in the second half.

You can't leave this game up to a last possession. You just can't. It's happened before. It just doesn't go. Patrick Mahomes has proven it time and time again. If he gets the ball, it's what we were saying about Jayden Daniels. But Jayden Daniels is more of a feeling. Patrick Mahomes is literally facts. Like you see the facts. This is what he does.

I hope the Bills let Josh Allen just fucking chuck it. And I hope they let him just be Superman. And I hope they realize that to win this game... And this sounds very simplistic, but to win this game...

You got to just – you got to like step on them early and never let them back in it. Because if you let this be a one-possession game in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs are going to win. That's what you have to do. Just let – and if it doesn't work, you went out on your sword. I don't want the Bills to get tight. I don't want the Bills to feel the pressure. And I don't think they will, but I just –

I want them to take the shots necessary to trying to stomp out the Chiefs because if you let them hang around, they're going to win the game. Yeah, I think that this is a...

This is a situation where you let Josh be full Josh. Turn him loose, and then we're going to see how many downfield laterals are we going to see between Josh Allen and Travis Kelsey? That's a good question. Maybe like four or five this game. That's a good question. I hope Josh does all the crazy shit, all the stuff where sometimes he saves himself in the regular season. I hope he's jumping over people. I hope he's doing pump fakes 25 yards downfield.

I hope all that happens. I want a very fun game out of this. What sucks is that between me and Max, one of us is not going to be able to enjoy this game for how good of a game it probably is going to be. Correct. But yeah, I mean, if Josh can have...

one of his better top five of the year performances, I think the Bills have a very, very good chance of winning this game. I agree. And it sucks because they've had some playoff losses that have not been on Josh Allen, but that's how we're going to look at this. After this game's over, we're either going to look at Josh as the conquering hero and what a great story for him, or we're going to look at him as just the guy that can't get it done. Right. And it sucks. It's not fair. But as a member of the media, that's what we're duty-bound to do. Yes. So the Bills...

injury report is not great. Christian Benford was limited in practice. He has a concussion.

Teron Johnson was limited. He has a neck shoulder injury. Matt Milano was limited. He has a bicep hamstring injury. And Taylor Rapp, safety, did not practice with a back hip. You need those guys. You need those guys. I hope that the Bills can get as close to full strength as possible because that's really the part. I think we all agree, like, the Bills' defense is –

It's had moments where it's looked good. It's also been injured. They did a great job against the Ravens in the first half last week. They got bullied in the second half. I want the Bills defense to give the Bills offense a chance here, and that's my main concern because you're going up against Packers. Because I think the Bills offense is going to have success. Their offensive line is legit. They do have weapons. I think the Chiefs defense is good, but maybe a little overrated. I just...

Come on, Josh. He's Superman. For the ref group, Cleet Blakeman, let the boys play. Let the boys play. Let them play. Josh and Pat, they like to flop. They're going to try to bait you. Please let the boys play for America. Because if you throw a flag, you're probably getting the flag wrong. Yeah. Let the boys play. Hank, do you have any thoughts on this game? Are you going to bet this game? It's going to depend on the result of the Eagles game. I'm going to bet the Bills, though, I guess, either way.

But if the Eagles win, I'm in a head spot with the Chiefs. So I'll probably just bet the over and just pray for the – pray, pray, pray for the Bills. Pray for the Bills. Yeah. One crazy thing to keep in mind for the AFC. This is how dominant Mahomes and Brady and Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger have been. Only seven quarterbacks have started at quarterback for the AFC since 2001 in the Super Bowl.

Only seven guys. And in the NFC, in that same time span, there have only been two repeat quarterbacks. It's crazy. So I think that's 22 quarterbacks versus seven. Yeah. And, I mean, Mahomes is... If he retired tomorrow, he's a Hall of Famer. Yeah. And he's...

He should retire, you're saying. It's funny because Hank, you're fighting a three-front war against the Chiefs as a Patriots fan. You're fighting the Andy Reid Belichick. Yep. You're fighting the Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, and you're fighting the Kelsey Gronk battle. Kelsey Gronk. Which one would you say that you're winning in right now? We're winning in the—oh, there goes some dove. We're winning in the—we're winning in all three, but we don't have time. Like, we're done. They have time on their side.

a loss in this game would be huge for all three fronts. I don't think the Gronk won. I think Gronk is the greatest of all time, no matter what. And the Bills' mafia being in New Orleans would be quite something. I've already received word that if it happens, Ed and Alicia will be coming down with a truck, which will be incredible. I just think, geez, man, at home. Sister city, Sang. Mahomes. I got to find the stat. Let me find the stat. Yeah, that's right. It's snowing in New Orleans. That means that...

Winter's coming. I'm going to find the Mahomes. There's no snow in Kansas City ever. There is no. Yeah, never. It's never snowed. I think we have good weather for both, right? It's going to be like 40 in Philly, I think. That's what the early report is. That's beautiful. Yep. That's beautiful. And then what about the- I already have it up 43 and cloudy in Philly. The other game doesn't exist to me. I'm kind of the same way, Max. When I was prepping for this show, I was like, I need to focus.

This is the biggest game of my life. Okay, here it is. Patrick Mahomes. Patrick Mahomes is 15-2 straight up in home or neutral site games in January or February.

The only losses to Joe Burrow and Tom Brady. And in the playoffs, Patrick Mahomes is 7-0 straight up and against the spread when either listed as an underdog or a favorite of less than a field goal, covering the spread by 5.9 points per game. Josh deserves this. Yeah, I mean, I know Chiefs fans are going to be mad because, like, I mean, listen, you've had...

Let Josh go to a Super Bowl. Yeah, but Hank, you know how it is. If you're a fan of a dynasty, it becomes you against the world, and now you're just defending the wall. Yeah. That's what you're doing. That's the only thing that you can do. Yeah. You're laughing at people that are blaming the refs.

You're laughing at everybody in the media that says something bad about you or something that's perceived to be bad about you. I also saw a stat from our friend Jay Kuda who does the best stats. Follow him on Twitter. I believe it was the Chiefs and the Bills have played 10 games over the last 10 years. Both have five wins. Both have five losses. Both have 251 points for. Both have 251 points against. So...

Unfortunately for the Bills, all their losses have come in the playoffs pretty much. Keep beating them in the regular season, losing in the playoffs. But not tonight. Tonight? Friday night? It's the miracle. Oh. Nine times out of ten, they beat us. Yeah. Okay. Last thing before we get to our interviews. PFT and Max, you guys are going to create parlays for the people for your game tonight.

Hank, would you like to collab with one, maybe a whiteboard parlay on Championship Sunday for the late game? I'd love to. Two of us just getting together. Who could...

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Okay, what do you guys got? Real quick, the Jaguars are hiring Liam Cohn. Oh!

So it was literally Trent Balke. Yep. That's hilarious. Yep. So the beginning of the show made no sense. Yeah, so... Sorry, our bad. Breaking Moose. I guess they sent Liam Cohn back. Oh.

Liam Cohen also agreed to a deal in principle with the Bucs that would have made him the highest paid coordinator in the league. Oh, this is great. And then he left the Bucs. Memes is saying that this is incorrect. The two sides are discussing a deal that would make Liam Cohen the next head coach of the Jaguars. I think we have a reporter off right now. Oh, shit! We have a source off between Memes and Adam Schefter. No, no, no. Wrap up for me.

Oh, I love it. What does Rappaport say? The deal is not done with the Jaguars, but for Liam Cohen to be in the building in Jacksonville speaking with the Jaguars about their head coaching job days after agreeing to the extension, it's clear he's the favorite to be the next coach. And Schefter did... Schefter's confirming that he's the next head coach. Oh, shit. Let's see. I got to call Stephen Shea because he was...

He was puffing his chest out that Liam Cohen was staying. And this would be awesome if we break the news to him. Oh, my God. I hope we break the news to him. Who doesn't pick up their phone at 5 o'clock? 5 o'clock. The beginning of the show makes no sense now. That's okay. We podcast by the seat of our pants. What? What are you going to say? We don't know. We don't know. It's a reporter off. It's a reporter off. I mean, if they get Liam Cohen, how much did he hate Trent Balke?

A lot. Really smart by Liam Cohen to be like, I'm not going to do this job if you keep this guy here. Fire that guy. Yeah. We'll talk. Okay. So that might be another spot that's no longer open. So it's now down to the Cowboys, Raiders, and Saints. Yep. I feel like Mike McCarthy to the Saints. I do too. That feels better by the day. Yeah. Okay. Max, PFT, you guys got your parlays for us?

Who wants to go first? Max, you can go first. I'll go first. Don't let him do that to you, Max. I'm going to go right off the rip. Right off the rip. Break the streak. Jalen Hurts, 175 plus passing yards. This is the game that he tells everyone to suck it. Lights it up with 175 yards passing. That means the Commanders are going to lose. Wrong. I mean, the Eagles are going to lose. I thought the Eagles would win as well. But if he goes for over 155 yards, they lose. I don't care.

Okay. I don't care what you say. He doesn't care what you say. All right. Is your next bet that Jake Elliott won't miss an extra point? Fucking idiot. Okay, so Jalen Hurts, 175-plus passing yards. A.J. Brown to score a touchdown. We've done it every week. He has to get in there once. Eagles to win, and my favorite play on the board, Jalen Carter, one-plus sack. Okay. You're doing just like a streak break.

Jalen Carter, one plus that. No, no, not that. Just... Fiddle off Eagles to win? No, A.J. touchdown. I mean, yeah, I did two of the four. Okay. You're calling your shot. Keep that energy, Max. What's the payout? Right now, it's 9-1, always subject to change. Okay.

Okay, I'm going back to Austin Eckler receiving yards. We had it last week, that bad hit. I like it even better this week. I think that they're going to use him a lot out of the backfield. 25-plus receiving yards. I've got commanders over 23.5 team points, and then I've got Olamide Zaccheaus, 25-plus receiving yards. People forgot about Zaccheaus because of the emergence of playoff Diame. We also have playoff Olamide, and this is also revenge game for him.

The Eagles didn't want him. Okay. Birds didn't want him. 25 plus receiving yards. I will not say the same of Jahan Dotson. Yeah, who won that trade? Remember when we had that? That was at Camp Barstool. We'll see who wins this weekend. Yeah. All right. So, yes, Sunday we'll be streaming it. Gruden will be in the house. Nate will be in the house. I don't think Roan's going to be here.

Although I did leave it open-ended saying, don't tell us if you're coming. So he could just show up. That's good. That way you're kind of like leaving yourself a little treat. It's like leaving the tickets at the front, like hopefully you come to my concert. Yeah, listen, I would love to watch the game with Roan, but he scares me. I love him, but I would rather him not be in that room. Max?

I don't care. I don't care the elements. Put on the overalls and win a football game. Just win a football game. Win a football game. Okay, let's kick it to ourselves with Fred Smoot and then Super Bowl champion Mitchell Schwartz, and we'll finish up with Fyre Fest. Okay, before we get to Fred Smoot, a quick word from our friends at Kevin's Natural Foods. If you haven't tried Kevin's Natural Foods, you're missing out.

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It is faster than takeout too. Find Kevin's in the refrigerated section at your local grocery store. Okay, here he is, Fred Smoot. Ooh.

Okay, we now welcome on a very special guest, and for the first time we can say, co-worker, it is Fred Smoot. Now I want to just address this off the top because I saw you have so many fans in the DMV area, and they were like, don't steal Fred Smoot from us. Fred is joining Barstool on a part-time basis. He's going to be doing the pro football show next year with Coach Gruden and myself, and also come to the office, mixing it up. He's still doing everything else.

But it is great to call you a coworker because you're insanely talented and it's fun to have you part of the pirate ship. But we wanted to have you on this week because the commanders are in the NFC Championship game and I can't believe I'm saying that. But let's start there.

Are you shocked at all by this run and the fact that they're playing on Sunday to go to the Super Bowl? Big Cat, I told you when I was visiting that this was biblical. This has already been written. Do you remember Daniel 5-17 when he has to walk into the lion's den and have to conquer those lions? I told you we had something going here that was special. Dan Quinn and his leadership. And don't forget about the fact that we got a Jedi quarterback, Jedi 5-17.

the ultimate force multiplier. It's changed everything, but it ain't just them. It ain't just the coaches and the players. I got to give a lot of love to this new ownership. Josh Harris and those guys, they have changed everything. They have set a standard. There's a very high standard. And I think everybody's getting to see right now that America's had a new team. We are America's new team, the nation's capital, the Washington Commanders. All right.

One thing I've loved watching about this team is that they're getting better. I don't know that we've seen their best yet, which is a crazy thing to think about. And certainly in the future, you would like to imagine that given the cap space and everything that we got going on, we're going to be able to improve the team as it keeps going. But that said...

I don't like the people that are saying like, Oh, you're the commanders will be a good team for the next 10 to 15 years. I've already heard that. I've heard people talking about that because we have a good quarterback. It's very, very hard to, to sustain excellence in the NFL. So you got to take this opportunity. Like, don't, don't take it for granted that we're going to be back next year, the year after like we're,

we're here right now. It's the Bengals. Yeah. Yeah. So like there, you can say window is open. That's fine. But also recognize it's very hard to get to this point. And not every team that gets here is guaranteed to get back. But what I've seen, especially from this defense is,

is the defense gets better almost on a weekly basis. It's gotten better consistently throughout the year. And what we saw last week with Joe Witt going up against Ben Johnson and Jared Goff and the Lions offense, I was really impressed with. So the Eagles, different animal. Taking them on is going to be a different game plan from the Lions. What do you expect our defense to do to try to slow down? Because you can't stop them, but just try to slow down Saquon Barkley.

I'm going to be honest with you. I understand where everybody's coming from because we're at ground zero right now. When I say ground zero, this was our quarterback's first year. This was our offensive coordinator's first year. This was Dan Quinn's first year installing his culture. So what they're saying is it can only go up from here. Think about it. We got 80 million plus players.

and cap room. All right. So then we can go out here and sign the vest. We got draft capital. We're only going to put better pieces around him. And the thing about it, I think this is what, uh, Jane has did a good job of. He's shown you how he gonna play when we had to pay him 300, 400 million and we can't buy all the receivers. We can't have all the tight ends. He's showing you, uh,

I am the ultimate force multiplier. I'm going to make everybody around me better no matter what so I can understand why people are so excited. But when we talk about Philadelphia, the only thing I can say is different when it comes to them and Detroit.

I think Detroit, especially the way that Jalen Hurts is throwing the ball right now, the Detroit Lions had another level to their offense because not only can they run the ball with their great offensive line, they could push the ball down the field with J-Mo and St. Brown. And when I look at Philadelphia, even though they got A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith, something's going on with Jalen Hurts where he's not pushing the ball down the field. Then he gets another anchor injury this week. So I'm

wondering how they're going to use him. Is it one of those things where we need to crowd the box and stop, I mean, say, Kwon Barkley and force Jalen Hurts to beat us? I'm very eager to see what Coach Witt does when it comes to that figure in that situation. Now, because you said it, I

defensive backs played well last week. All right, Sarah Steele making two intercepts. We got guys taking balls to the house. So it's a different defense, and I knew it was going to be a different defense from week one to, what, week 18, 19, 20 right now. They have gelled together. They have grown.

Yeah, so, all right, so another thing, though, that we should mention is the Eagles' defense is a lot better than the Lions' defense, and the Eagles' defense is a lot better than the Bucs' defense. And you lose Cosme, and Jalen Carter's playing his balls off right now. What, I mean, are you worried at all about the fact that the Eagles' defense, they have guys at every level. I know N'Kobe Dean's out, which is a big injury, but their cornerbacks are elite, their defensive line's elite. This feels like the game...

the step-up game for Jaden Daniels, especially with the stakes, and he's playing against a defense that is, I think we all agree, better than the previous two defenses he played. Hand down one of the best defenses in football. You're right. They got Jalen Doomsday Carter at the defensive line. They got Sweat coming off the edge.

They got linebackers. They got defensive big backs. But I don't know how healthy Quinn Young Mitchell is, one of the best rookie cornerbacks to come out in a long time. They do have their team. But don't forget, guys, we played this team twice. Last time James Daniels played this team, he threw for five touchdowns against this vaunted defensive backfield when they was fully healthy. And then you go to the first guy. I always tell people,

Everybody's talking about the game that we won. I'm more impressed with the game that we lost because that game was in Philadelphia, and we turned the ball over a ton, and Steele was at the end of that game. So when we're playing against an individual four and you're playing them for the third time, everything kind of becomes

that comes together at that point. And it's like fighting your little brother or your big brother. I know all of your moves. Now it's all about who can withstand it, who can play four quarters, and who's not going to make mistakes. And my quarterback doesn't turn the ball over. Jalen Hurts turns the ball over. He's the key to this game. Jalen Hurts is the key to this game. Yeah. Yeah, I would agree with that. I am scared of Saquon Barkley, though, because it seems like every – I couldn't sleep last night because of Saquon Barkley. Nightmare. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, he is keeping me up at night. Like, literally, last night I was up until like 2 a.m. watching film of Saquon Barkley just being scared of him. So I don't think you can stop him. Let me give you a fact right quick. He has those four long runs against us. You take those four long runs out and he's averaging 3.2 yards a carry against us. So we found a way to bottle him up. Like, that first game, he broke those runs in the fourth quarter. We thought –

Joe Witt has found a way to bottle him up, but can we consistently do it and not let him come with the back-breaking run that he's done week in and week out? The guy is special.

Yeah, I was just going to say, I think the key to limiting Saquon is to make sure that when he does break one out, because he's going to break a few off. Just don't let him score. Like if you give up 30 yards to him, have your safety make a big tackle. Have your cornerbacks ready to hit. And because there's always going to be gaps that that offensive line is going to create.

I'm looking at Frankie Louvu this weekend. I think it's a big weekend for Frankie Louvu because he's violent as fuck. And if you want to stop the Eagles offensive line from opening up big holes, especially when they get moving side to side, you just knock the fuck out of their guard. You knock somebody back a little bit, disrupt the timing of the offense. And I think that Frankie Louvu is the kind of psycho that is going to be ready to do that.

Well, he's a penetrator. He's organized chaos in a bottle. He's the Tasmanian devil. He's everything that you want at the linebacker position. Yes, he can make plays, but we need the D-line to play on the other side of the ball because they get behind that mammoth offensive line and they let Saquon pick his holes. So they're running a zone scheme. That's why you see him bouncing from hole to hole. And once he finds that crack, that's when he hit him. So it ain't going to be one of them things where it's just Frankie Lueb. Frankie Lueb is going to have

to bring some of his homeboys to the party. It's going to take a group to stop Saquon Barkley. So it's one of those things where it's going to have to be Bob Wagner to the bowl, Corey Martin to it, and Jeremy Chin has been an enforcer. I don't know if people have been watching Jeremy Chin, but Jeremy Chin has been playing light side at the strong safety position. It's going to take a group. It's going to take a family to stop Saquon Barkley. Luckily, I think we got the guys with Payne, Allen, rest of those guys, Lawrence. I think we got the guys to make this happen.

Okay, so we're making the case for the Commanders. Obviously, you're picking the Commanders, Fred. PFT obviously is as well. Max, our producer, is a big Eagles fan. Max, do you have any counter to this? Because it is one-sided right now to the idea that the Commanders... I'm probably going to pick the Commanders against the spread, but Max, what do you say? I mean, Fred's right here. Face him head-on. Yeah, no, I think the defense you are...

greatly overestimating how much better this defense has been than the past couple defenses you've been playing. Jaden Daniels hasn't looked as good as he has in the past couple, as he has the past couple weeks against elite defenses and the Eagles are an elite defense. Yes, Jaden Daniels is very good, but this is a different animal.

and I understand that Detroit was a tough place to go into and win, but that team you were playing is a third-string defense. This isn't the same team. You know what? I love the fact that you got your version and I got the truth. Now let me give you a couple of facts when it comes to the truth.

You've already beaten y'all. We let you off the hook when we was in Philadelphia. And let's be honest. When we played in Detroit, we could go position by position comparing our offenses, and they got better players than us at every position besides one. That's quarterback. Like, my quarterback is better than yours. That's what I told him against Jared Goff. Well, guess what I'm going to say against the Philadelphia Eagles? My quarterback is better than yours. So, at the end of the day, the quarterback position sometimes defines that. And don't forget, don't forget, I know you like to forget.

You say he had been praying so well. We threw five touchdowns against you when we beat you on the walk-off. Touchdown the last time we played you. So this is all I'm going to say. One of them always told me the truth hurt just a little bit more than a lie. But if you want me to lie to you, I'll make it sound fly to you. All right. There's another fact that if you want to talk about facts, you said that the Eagles had a completely healthy secondary.

But C.J. Gardner-Johnson got kicked out of that game for talking shit. Was he healthy? He got everything he deserved. Yup, yup. Coming from you. Talking shit. Everyone should get kicked out of the game for talking a little shit. It happens when you go across the line. Like, the one thing about it is our team doesn't hurt itself in that type of way. Our team plays with discipline. It's a difference between a Dan Quinn coach team and a Sarayani coach team. Your guy punched him in the face. No, no. The one thing...

Y'all got guys on the sideline reading the Bible. We don't do that over here. We don't do that in Washington.

We'll see. Jalen Carter, it's going to be a tough day with a backup going against Jalen Carter. Actually, it's not a backup. We got Taylor Biotis at center. And I don't know if we can introduce you to him because he's dominated everybody from Dexter Lawrence and anybody else he's played. We're going to be fine. Next man up mentality. At this point of the year, everybody got people hurt. Philadelphia got people hurt. Will you tell us?

How hurt is no quarterback, the one that you got the fat head of right behind you? How hurt is he? He's not. I mean, we'll see. We'll see. He didn't look great at the end of last week, but a lot can change in a week. Yeah. You know, in the last time we played, y'all right, he was out for two weeks after we ran into him a couple of times, Mr. Frankie Louvu.

Yeah, helmet to helmet. We don't condone helmet to helmet. Player safety is paramount. All right, so Fred, I got a question for you about the mentality here because I do think this is an interesting aspect of the game. And it's not saying that windows open or anything, but the Commanders are underdogs. It does feel like there's a lot of pressure on the Eagles because this team is, you know, their defense is young, but they got some older dudes on the offensive line. You don't know how many times you're going to be back here.

Do you think that that is real, that the commanders can play a little more free and that underdog role of like, hey, no one's expecting us to be here. We don't have the same pressure. We can play a little more free. We can play a little more like that underdog role. Is that a real thing that happens in the locker room?

I just think we in an unexpected window. I don't think we want to call ourselves underdogs. That ain't what Coach Quinn teaches. He said that word a couple of times. Like, that ain't what we do. We here because we supposed to be here. All right? We're a team of destiny. It's a different – like, everything's going – like, you know –

Sometimes it takes the football gods for things to follow y'all away. Y'all remember the open hand with Tom Brady and Charles Woodson? Y'all remember Pat Mahomes numerous times? Things happen in this game, and the one thing we're not doing is saying we're not supposed to be here. We're playing with house money. No, we're not playing with house money. We're too modest in it. The only thing that's in our way is a city with a broken build in there and a statue of a man that don't exist in Rocky.

So at the end of the day, we're going to Philadelphia, and we're not going there to eat chili steaks. We're going there to get a victory. We're four quarters away from a Super Bowl. Nobody would have gave us a chance to say that at the beginning of the year. And the team that's in front of us that's trying to stop us is a team that we already beat one time and we took to the brink at home. We're not afraid of the Philadelphia Eagles. I can't wait because I really do. I'm loving this. Everybody said all year long the NFC North was the best conference in football. Psych.

It's the NFC East. He did it with a psych. This is actually unfair what we're doing to Max right now because bringing in Fred Smoot as mouthpiece for the Commanders is like the most tilted you can get in an argument. I mean, he's also just not saying that Kenny Pickett was the quarterback in the game that he won. That hasn't been mentioned once. Well, he wasn't talking about doing anything against the offense. He was talking about five touchdowns.

But you have to, I mean, that is a big piece of the game. Look, we want your backup quarterback. Just like when Marcus Mariota comes in the game for us, all he do is ball. Because guess what? We took time and we picked the right guy. Y'all pick Kenny Pickett. He's nothing like your starter. Your whole office changed when he come in the game. So I can't blame the fan base, but I can't blame the front office. Oh.

But this is, you agree, PFT, like there's, you can't argue with Fred Smoot. No, no, it's impossible. This has me thinking the commanders are going to win by three touchdowns. Because you could say something, you could make a great point against him, and then he's going to come back and make a louder point that rhymes. Yeah. And then you're like, fuck. I can't compete with the rhyme. I can't compete with the rhyme. Fred, I think...

I love the vibes. I'm a little bit – I'm backing off saying team of destiny just yet because I'm also – I respect the Philadelphia Eagles. Why don't you stop from saying that? Because I don't think we're playing with house money because I think house money means we lucked up and got here. We beat legit playoff teams. We went to Tampa and beat them on the road. We went to Detroit and beat them on the road. We have beat playoff teams all year long. We beat Philadelphia. We have beat playoff teams. We have been bro to bro with –

We have back down from mode one. I, and like I said, long as we enter a game and my quarterback is the best quarterback on the field, we feel like we can win the game. And we walk in Philadelphia this week. We don't feel like our quarterback is better than yours. I,

I'm with you. I'm with that. I love the mentality. I just don't think saying team of destiny is a good – because you got to go out there and you got to earn it. If you go into it thinking team of destiny, then it's like, oh, we're going to win because we're a team of destiny. That's quiet self-confidence. They're saying that we're not playing with house money. Like when you say you're playing with house money, we're smoking to the braille, that's a hint of we're not supposed to be here. No, no, no.

no, no, no. My, when I say house money, I mean like, I think the commanders are very good. And I think Jane Daniels is the best quarterback in this game. I'm saying more like this season going into it. You never expected to be in the NFC championship game. You can play loose. You can play fast. You can play this like a

This feeling of like, hey, what we've been doing, we're on this incredible run. Let's just keep being ourselves and play the way we want to play. And hopefully the other side gets a little tight here and there because their offense hasn't looked as crisp as the commanders have. So it's not a diss. It's like...

house money is a great thing to have because you're just sitting there like, hey, we're going to go out and be ourselves. And I do think, I said this like maybe, I think it was after the Falcons game, it's like,

There's something about Jaden Daniels that he makes everyone better on that team. And when he has the ball late, you just expect him to do something and you have that faith in him that I think elevates an entire team. Big Cat, let me ask you this, Big Cat. All right, let's just say the game is 25-25. We got the ball, Les, with two minutes left. Who are we going to gain? Yeah.

Yeah, you guys. I said it in the Bucs game. I turned to, I think it was Hank I was sitting next to when the Bucs kicked the field goal. I turned to him and I said, Bucs aren't getting the ball back. Like, they just aren't getting the ball back. There's four minutes left. I was like, they're not getting the ball back. Jaden Daniels is going to figure this out. And that fourth down, you know, like you guys have been running so hot on fourth down, which...

Obviously, what is it, 20 of 23? We got a big fourth down team of all time. Say it with your fist, big cat. No, no, it's insane. Now, are they going to be 20 of 23 percentage-wise for the rest of his career? Probably not, but it doesn't matter because they're 20 of 23 right now, and that's how they're running. And I love that Dan Quinn is staying aggressive. That Marcus Mariota fourth down to start the Lions game was bad. And he didn't. It didn't.

He didn't blink. He was like, no, this is what we're doing. And it's almost like the commanders have gotten into the push, the tush push territory where if they can get into... If you look at the statistics and you compare it to... I heard you say this, Smoot. You compare it to 2022 when the tush push was unstoppable. The commander's fourth down has been better than the tush push. Yeah, and it's that point where it's like if they can get... All they have to do, it changes the whole like...

approach offensively because they basically are saying get us to fourth and three. If you get us to fourth and three, we'll convert it. Actually, we've been more dangerous because we've been doing it on fourth and seven, fourth and eight. The thing about it is the four best fourth down teams are the four teams that's left in the playoff right now. The just pushing Philadelphia, Josh Allen in Buffalo, and of course, of course, the God's gift, the Prince that was promised, Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City. They all four are

are ranked 1, 2, 3, and 4 and 4th down, I think that has a lot to do with who makes it to the Super Bowl because of that. Because you're talking about four teams that don't turn the ball over much. You're talking about four teams that can run the ball not with just their running backs, but they can legitimately run it with their quarterbacks. You're talking about four teams that's optimistic on defense and play great special teams. So this is going to come down to the end. Both games are going to come down to the end. And if Jedi 5 gets their ball

Paulette's made a force be with you. I love that. I love that. Do you have any thoughts on the AFC championship game? Do you have a pick? I think it's going to be another classic, man. Think about it. Endgame with Pat Mahomes and Josh Allen.

hand line this game, this game can go either way. And for the first time in a long time, somebody's going to go to Kansas City that's not afraid of the cold because Buffalo is not afraid of the cold. And one thing we know about Buffalo is James Cook get to running that ball downhill and they get to possessing that ball and making Pat Mahomes watch that game.

We could have that old rematch of, I don't know if that was Super Bowl XX, XXIII, or XXIV, but you remember Washington and Buffalo played a Super Bowl that we ended up beating them in. I don't know. Maybe we get another replay of that. Yeah, if we're lucky enough to make it to the Super Bowl, I think me and you should host a love boat party on Lake Pontchartrain. What do you think? Yes, we should. Yes, we should.

Get a boat out there. Get some ladies. Get some liquor out there. We'll have a good time. Nobody will tell us for pissing. We need to go there and bathe in Bourbon Street. That's what we need to do. We need to go and take on New Orleans like never before. You're talking about a fan base that has it.

had this chance in three decades, almost four decades. Y'all have awakened a sleeping giant. We got fans from Australia to Canada to China. We got so many fans when it comes to it. They have nothing to cheer for for over three decades, and now we are back as America's new team. That's the new moniker. All right. I'm going to look at boats if we win this game. I'm not going to look at boats until after the final whistle on Sunday. Make sure it's a yacht.

Yeah, we'll get a yacht. It's got to be a yacht. Or maybe a fan boat. Maybe get strippers on a fan boat out there. That would be fun. Don't come out there in a tugboat. You get no love.

All right, well, Fred, I have one last question for you. It's the Roback question. R-H-O-B-A-C-K.com, promo code TAKE. 20% off your first purchase. Q-Zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts, Roback.com, promo code TAKE. Give us a final score. Final score, I think it's going to be a rock'em, sock'em, bring your ride'em, let's not bubble football game. It's going to be physical, old NFC East.

I wish we had men calling this game. I think it's going to be a 30-27 game. It's going to come down to the wire. It's going to come down to the lid of a kick. I call him Big Game Gonzalez. So hopefully he can close it for us. 30-27, Washington going to New Orleans. I think we will outlast Philadelphia in Philadelphia. And I cannot wait to go to King Street and get me a Philly cheesesteak on my way back home to the DMV.

I love it. From your lips to God's ears, Fred. Yes. Yes. Please. Please. We need it. We need it. Well, this is a good fair and balanced preview of Commander's Eagles. We just came. We just invited Fred on to just fucking bash Max over the head.

That's what Philadelphia is usually doing to us. And, you know, it has got to a point where Philadelphia fan base is so hostile that our fans are afraid to just travel up 95 and go to a game. But we kind of acted this because everybody got a cousin, nephew, brother, somebody with a teardrop on their eye that don't believe in following the rules. So we're going to get all of them in the car and we're heading to Philadelphia to fight back this week.

Oh, man. I love it, Fred. I hope you're right. I hope you're right. I love the confidence. I wish I could be as confident as you. I'm nervous. Because what I hear, Philadelphia is still a little worried. But why? What scares you? There ain't no Super Bowl window and we're not? That makes you afraid? No.

No, I respect the hell out of their defense. And Jalen Carter is a guy that will wreck a game, and you can't really stop him for the full 60 minutes. And then Saquon Barkley might be the best offensive player in the NFL. So there's a lot to be concerned about. But that said –

You remember sexy Dexy Lawrence from the New York Giants who dominated everybody this year? He didn't dominate us. Deontay shut him down. Do you remember Villavella, one of the best defensive tacklers in football? Deontay's made him come up missing, still putting him on the mail card. But you remember all the D tacklers that we faced all year? And Jay Carter, he's kind of included in that, him and Gordon Davis. We've been there. We've done that. The only people we're afraid of is Jesus. If you ain't pulling him out, we ain't afraid.

Yeah. All right, well, Fred, I mean, I think the commanders should be 14-point favorites if you're listening to this. I also respect Big Dom. So he scares me too. But I love it. I'm confident. I think we've got a real chance at winning. And if we play our game and if we operate fast and no huddle, tire the defense out, I could see it happening. I hope you're right. I hope you're right. Why not us? That's all I'm going to tell you. Why not us?

Oh, man. All right, well, Fred, thanks so much, man, and hopefully we see you in New Orleans because that would be great. Most definitely. We got a couple of weeks, fellas, but we don't know after this weekend are we back in. Are we back in the Super Bowl window? Coach Gills talked about it this week, and you know when the Josephs talks, we listen. Darrell Green been talking about it. So come on, man. The football guys are lining for Washington right now. Right now between the football team in Washington –

The baseball team in Washington, the Capitals are number one. This is Washington District of Champions. All right, and if y'all want to come and jump on the bandwagon, you're welcome to. All right, thank you so much, Fred. We appreciate it, and congrats on joining the Pirate Ship. We love having you as a coworker. Yeah, very happy. I can't wait to work with y'all guys. We're going to have some fun. Fred Smoot was brought to you by our great friends at Kevin's Natural Foods. They've got great entrees, super easy to heat up.

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Okay, we now welcome on recurring guests. It's been a while, but we thought he'd be a perfect guest to come on before Championship Sunday. It is Super Bowl champion, four-time All-Pro Mitchell Schwartz from the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns. We've got to throw out the Browns there too. Mitch, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. I want to do the hardest question first, if that's okay. I want to do the real hard question first, then we can do easier questions about the game after. The hard question is...

when you were playing for the chiefs, winning a super bowl, how did it work? Uh, with the refs telling you they were going to like throw the game for you. Was that during the week or was it just on Sunday morning where they would come into the locker room and be like, Hey guys, don't worry. We got your back. Yeah. It was Sunday before the game. You know, they, uh, they didn't want us to mess with our preparation. And then, uh,

You know, I was really thankful for that because I ended up my career ended with a second back surgery. So I just got to thank the refs for, you know, causing me all that pain that ended up requiring another surgery because I'm so thankful to have back pain for the rest of my life. Yeah, I think it would be during the game, like in WWE, when they like whisper something into each other's ears, the refs are going to be like, I'm going to call hands to the face, act like he hit you in the face. Yeah. And then you just go out there and do that. You did a great job, but you're a great actor. Yeah.

Thank you. So that's honestly my thing. If people actually think that that's realistic and that's what's happening, then treat it like wrestling. Then it's fake and treat it like wrestling and stop complaining about it. Yeah. Either you don't care or treat it like wrestling. It's one of the two. So what's your take on all of this? Because obviously the Texans game – now, we had the take after the Texans game that –

Listen, I don't think the Texans, those weren't the two plays that made them lose the game. They were bad in special teams. They didn't get a couple big fourth down conversions. The Chiefs convert on the big plays and take advantage of big plays time and time again in the playoffs. But what do you say to people who are conspiracy theorists and being like the Chiefs get all the calls and this is bullshit?

You know, there's only so much you can say. I think the first call was legitimate. I mean, there's that camera angle from the side that for whatever reason they didn't show Buck and Aikman when Aikman was complaining about it. They only showed the one from behind that looks like he doesn't get hit in the face. But there's one from the side that you can argue that Hellman is touching Pat's face mask. But there's, you know, in general, that kind of forcible contact to the head and neck area. His head snaps back. And it's defined in the rule book. If you're unsure, throw the flag because we want to protect the quarterback. So that one...

if you're a Texans fan or you're rooting against the Chiefs, but I think the refs were correct on that. The second one I disagree with. I think that it was a late slide and the guys were already committed. It's not, it wasn't the Trevor Lawrence slide that I felt like, you know, Alshayer had plenty of time to pull up. I felt like

Pat slid late and there probably should have been a penalty or there shouldn't have been a penalty. So yeah, I mean, one out of two and I've seen people say, obviously, I've got a lot of Chiefs fans in the follows in the timeline. If that penalty doesn't get called, it's second and six, right? It's not like,

that was the end of the drive. It's not like that was, you know, a turnover type of play. It just, it ends up being second and six in a game that to your point, Kansas city largely controlled, especially defensively. So it's, it's, I understand why people get frustrated when there's kind of ticky tack calls, but I think it just,

a volume thing. The Chiefs have been on TV in prime time the most of any team the last seven years and people like to root against you when you're having success. So of course there are going to be plenty of calls. We see them in every game every single week. The refs are not as good as we want them to be. It's just we see a lot more high leverage calls with the Chiefs playing. The volume thing is something that

I don't think I ever brought up, but that's a really good point. They are on TV the most, and they're in these big games. They've played the most playoff games in the last six or seven years, so you're just going to see it, and whenever it happens for the Chiefs, everyone's like, well, it's a conspiracy theory. Right, and I'll give you a little bit of ammunition that you can use, and Chiefs fans can use this too this weekend. So the referee assignments for this weekend. Cleet Blakeman is the head ref.

The Kansas City Chiefs are 9-7 with Cleet Blakeman as the ref since Patrick Mahomes was the starter for the Chiefs. That sounds like, you know, not a bad record, 9-7, until you realize that the Chiefs in that same time period are 90-26. So, like, if you just look at that, Cleet Blakeman is the most effective person in the NFL at stopping Patrick Mahomes at 9-7.

Yeah, it was the thing with, I think it was the Texans game. They're like, oh, the Chiefs are 4-0 or whatever. They've never lost with the ref. It's like, yeah, when you're 80% over the guy's career, you know, and there's 20 refs, there's going to be a few refs that have never called a game that the Chiefs lose. Like, that's just the percentages. But I don't think anyone who's still talking about the refs and, like,

talking about it in a meaningful way wants to hear both sides. They're just stuck in with their side. They want to complain about it. They want to be online. So it's just, it's not even fun to like try to actually use stats. You know, there's a lot of people out there who are compiling different things. Every single data point shows that this isn't a real thing, but people just don't want to hear it. And that's okay.

Yeah, you don't have to. It's people who are blowing off steam, and they're angry because the Chiefs are really good, and there's a lot of fan bases that have been personally affected by the Chiefs that don't want the Chiefs to win anymore. So sometimes it's easier to just complain, just bitch and moan about it. It's the American way. Yeah, they have a right. They have a right to do that. All right, so in terms of this game and the Chiefs this season, you know the game at such a high level. You watch the Chiefs. You know what that locker room is like, Andy Reid.

Like, are we in the mindset that the Chiefs have a, you know, switch that they're able to flip for the playoffs and their offense is able to hit a different level? Or is it, hey, maybe this offense is not going to look great for this playoff run, but it doesn't matter because Patrick Mahomes will get you the big third downs and he'll find Travis Kelsey and it will work and all that matters is winning games.

Yeah, I don't think it's a switch that gets flipped. I think there is a human element to it that it is really hard to play a lot of football games to be the best team and every year have every team treat your game like it's the biggest one on the calendar. You know, in week two or three, whatever it was, when Kansas City went to Atlanta, there were some

thing that this is Atlanta's biggest game since 2017. It's like, okay, well, this is just another Sunday night football game for Kansas City. That's a huge difference when one team is treating it as the biggest game in the last eight years of their franchise, and for the other team, it's just another ho-hum game. As much as we want to discredit that human element, that's part of it. So it is hard to match the other team's energy level every single week throughout the course of a season, let alone over the last five years. I think it's been really interesting that

in the media, the players that have come to the Chiefs defense the most have been the Patriots guys because they are the only ones that have been through something similar to this. Obviously, they had a 20-year run, but they understand how difficult that is to be the team that gets hunted year after year after year. And, you know, it seems like they have a lot of respect for what Kansas City's done and still, you know, putting out the records they do, winning the Super Bowl. So I think once you get to the playoffs, you're able to, from the Kansas City perspective, you know, that sense of urgency, it's cliche and sounds dorky, but I

This game could be your last. Like, the sense of urgency is upped. Obviously, these guys have shown that they have an ability to raise their games in the biggest moments. And so it's not like, oh, on first and second down, we'll just kind of do whatever and, you know, Pat will make us right. Somehow he does make most things right on third down. I still don't know exactly how that's the case other than he does it and he's done it since he started playing for Kansas City. But no, it's just it's a combination of

really that's the biggest thing I learned last year you know after the Raiders game on uh Christmas I was like okay Chiefs gonna make the playoffs it's gonna be really hard to win four straight games against good teams and win the Super Bowl and then they won four straight games against really good teams including going to Baltimore who is a consensus best team top five offense top five defense top five special teams uh and you know won that one pretty convincingly and then had a good Super Bowl so we now have evidence and proof that Kansas City can elevate in the playoffs but I don't think that

means that they're not trying as hard necessarily in the regular season. It's just an element of how important the playoffs are. Yeah, and it does feel like it comes... It doesn't feel like the whole team flips a switch, but it does feel like that is the case for Kelsey in terms of he's later in his career...

And that stat that we talked about on this show, but everyone's been talking about the 14 straight playoff games where he has 70 yards or more. What is it about Kelsey and how he's able to operate? Is it really like sometimes in the huddle he's just, he's like, I'm just going to be open, find me? Because it does feel like that, where it's like he's not even running a route that's predetermined. He's just finding open space. And whenever they need a big play, he's there.

Yeah, he doesn't have to say that. It's just understood that whatever the lines are on the paper, you know, Travis is going to use that as his jumping off point. And then he's just going to kind of feel his way through there and figure out exactly where he needs to be to get open. I think, again, he's 35. It's hard to play tight end in the NFL. I mean, again, this gets into the Gronk comparison, but.

you know, Gronk's been retired twice now and Trav's still kicking. So it's hard to be an elite tight end into your mid thirties, late thirties. And so there is that element of, you know, doing what you need to do and not necessarily more in the regular season, understanding that you need to play your best football in January and February. And yeah,

the help of the schedule in terms of getting the one seat in the buy and being able to rest in week 17. We saw that last year, you know, the start of the season travel was injured week one. And I feel like never really got fully healthy until that week 17, I guess week 18. Now, uh, he got the, the week off that he chose not to chase a thousand yard record. Um,

This year, we know the guy's got 24 days. Trav obviously looks a little more spry, a little bit more juice in those legs at 35. So yeah, there's something to understanding what's needed when your best is needed. And also,

I think people understand how important Travis is to the team, but the emotional leadership that he provides on the offense, you know, as he goes, the team goes. And again, getting back to what I said earlier, it's hard to be that emotional leader every single game, all the time, be hyped at all times and do it at the age that he is. So it does make sense that it's easier to conjure that magic for all 60 minutes in the playoffs.

There's another guy that always shows up in big moments, and that's Chris Jones. It seems like every big third down, he's making a play. I'm curious to know from your perspective as an offensive lineman, and you can get as detailed and nitty-gritty as you want, what is it about Chris Jones that makes him such a pain in the ass for offensive linemen to deal with?

Yeah, I mean, he's been showing up in big moments since the combine. He showed flashes. So the thing with Chris is he's so naturally strong. You know, when you're watching film or one of the scouting reports, the reason he wasn't like a clear first rounder, well, he plays high and, you know, he's got to get his pad level down. Turns out you don't have to get your pad level down if you're stronger than the guy across from you. And so what Chris combines is a great natural strength with –

really skilled hands and the ability to basically make the offensive lineman wrong you know if he beats you with power and that bull rush and that strength your tendency is an offensive lineman you want to get your hands on the guy you want to try to lock him up early you want to kind of shut down the rush before it gets started well the second you throw your hands at chris he swipes them he beats you around the corner uh you do get your hands on him you know we call it a hamilton technique but basically he grabs your wrist lifts it up and converts into power and kind of walks you back to the quarterback

So he has the ability to make you wrong however you want to block him. If you want to be handsy and be jumpy and try to get on him before you get started, you're going to get swum and you're going to get beat with those Hamilton techniques. And if you want to kind of play patty cake and back up and kind of shake with him, he'll just run right through you and get to the quarterback either way. So it puts the offensive lineman in a really tough bind. You're not quite sure what technique to use because...

Typically, there's one thing I can try to take away, and if the guy beats me on a second or third best move, okay, I can deal with that. But Chris's two best moves counter the two things you want to do as an offensive lineman. So he really makes life difficult, and

And unless you've played him and unless you kind of understand how to block him, I think you have to do that in real time. And obviously that's a pretty difficult task. You always see the offensive lineman doing that sad little turn after their hands get hit to the side and he's by you. And you know that he's by you. They do the sad turn where they take one step like they're going to try to catch him and block him again. But he's like halfway to the quarterback and they just have to, I guess, run a couple steps so they can help their guy up after he gets sacked.

Well, usually guys get beat so bad. They get so discouraged that you don't even like think to go get the quarterback. You're just like, Oh man. And you dropped your head. And, uh, there's some times where guys criticize, uh, offensive lineman for not picking up the quarterback. It's like, you are so disheartened that it happened. You don't even like remember to go get the quarterback.

You just know that inner shame is so strong that you almost forget to go get them. So, yeah, it is a sad little thing. Obviously, whenever one of us gets beat, they like to draw the circles and make sure everyone knows exactly who you are and how you got beat. So it's not so much fun. The other sad thing is when they call an illegal man downfield on an RPO. And what are you supposed to do as an offensive lineman in that situation? Is that your fault? Do the coaches end up chewing you out because you got the flag afterwards?

It depends on the timing. I know you love good questions. That's a good question. It depends on how good your coaches are. It depends on how locked in you are as a lineman. But you know if it's an RPO and you have to change your angles and you have to change your timing to not be downfield. You know, if the quarterback is getting rid of it within the kind of acceptable window of RPO, you're reading somebody. OK, the read tells me to throw it. I'm going to pull it and throw it. The offensive lineman should not be downfield.

If the offensive lineman runs up to the linebacker immediately or if he's using his correct technique, staying at the line and then goes past the line of scrimmage and still gets the flag, then you know it's probably on the quarterback. So yeah, it can be the offensive lineman's fault for sure. There's also times where you realize that you're a little bit too downfield. You realize it's not a run play and you try to kind of turn around and backtrack. Sometimes you do the old dump truck technique. You just start backing up.

sometimes you turn and, you know, kind of try to get a couple steps in and get closer to the line. So there are some tricks as well. If you do realize your downfield, I feel like people have gotten smarter about offensive line play through the years. And especially to the point where I think it's, it's now common knowledge amongst football fans that, you know,

sacks are not always on the offensive line. There's times when the quarterback is holding onto the ball too long or he steps to a place where he shouldn't step to and he's not stepping up and there's a pocket there. When you were playing, would quarterbacks ever say to you, like, hey, that was my bad? Like, that wasn't on you, even though technically if they replay it, it's like you got beat to a position, but the quarterback had a spot where he could have gone. He just didn't go there.

Yeah, absolutely. It's usually not necessarily during the game. You're just kind of in the flow of the game. And it's not like he's like, you suck. You need to give me more protection. It's not you don't play for that guy either. It's just snacks happen and you move on and you try to make the best of it. But after games or the next day while you're watching film, quarterbacks definitely will come up to you and say, hey, kind of screwed you guys there. It's typically not.

holding onto the ball per se. I think that's more of an understood thing. Um, you know, at times they'll come in and say, Hey, I'm going to get rid of it a little sooner. You know, you guys are doing a good job, but it's more kind of that depth of the pocket or where he's supposed to be. Uh, you know, sometimes guys can get a little too deep. Sometimes they like to bounce around too much when they, they feel things. Um,

It's a good notice from you, you know, Chicago fan and the quarterback situation. Yes. I'm sure you've got your spreadsheet of how many of those sacks are on the O-line versus the quarterback. Yeah, people have pointed that out. What was it? Was it hard to adjust to blocking for Mahomes? Because he does float sometimes, but he does it so effectively, and it's not –

When Mahomes is floating, it never feels like he's floating in a panic move or like he's not in control. It's just he kind of has that spatial awareness that only the elite guys seem to have.

No, he makes it easy for us. I think that blocking for a guy, especially as the right tackle with a right-handed quarterback that can flush to your side, you know, if my guy goes too, too far up the field, kind of runs that loop too high, that opens up Pat's throwing side. Um, you know, we've seen defensive coordinators now try to use that to their advantage. And then you have the spy, you know, popping over the top, probably see that a little bit with, you know, Milano or Terrell Bernard, one of those guys chasing him down. Um,

But it's to my advantage because in that defensive end doesn't feel like he gets to rush the way he wants to. He has to have that contain in the back of his head. You know, I think it was we were playing Denver and my guy didn't allow Pat to stay in the pocket. Pat got outside and I just heard the coach screaming at him. You got to keep contain. I'm like, OK, so this definitely does benefit me. Yeah. Yeah.

But there are some interesting stats. You know, you can, if you really want to get into the nitty gritty, you can look at, you know, quarterbacks, look at offensive tackles and look at how often guys see inside moves. You know, some of those sites now that break things down, you'll see against mobile quarterbacks, offensive tackles are likely not getting as many inside moves because again, if the offensive tackle blocks it correctly, they flatten it off. You've now opened up the outside area to where the quarterback can scramble, where he can make plays happen on the move. So again,

So, yeah, it's always beneficial to block for a quarterback that's running in my mind. It's not beneficial when they take a long time in the pocket to realize that they should break container, that they should run. That's definitely the hard part. Yeah. For this specific game, how are you feeling about the Chiefs offensive line? Because they haven't had the best season. There's been some ups and downs. You know, they move Tooney out to tackle, which...

He's done a good job there. You could make the argument it's probably hurt their run game a little bit, but maybe protects Pat more. But how do you feel overall in terms of how they're coming together? Because we've seen it. I mean, the only time Patrick Mahomes has really had, you know, a horrific, well, I guess the Bengals game and the AFC Championship game, but the Super Bowl against the Bucs when he was just under fire the whole time. No one can win in that situation. But how are you feeling about this particular matchup against the Bills?

It's going to be tough. I mean, the Bills run defense-wise played so well in the first half against Baltimore. I think we all expected Baltimore to run the ball and be effective, but the Bills run defense showed up. You know, Von Miller seems to be, talked about Kelsey earlier, turning on the playoffs. Von's turning it on. Ed Oliver's turning it on. You know, Rousseau's been an ascending player for a while. So they've got all the pieces there. You know, I think

maybe a benefit to Kansas City's O-line I felt like they didn't play their best game against the Texans in large part because the Texans are so good but you know when you're kind of watching the film back and you're looking at certain things it wasn't maybe the performance from the start that the offensive line wanted I thought they had played well in that you know three game and 10 or 11 day stretch regressed a little bit against Houston so that feeling of hey we need to do better we need to you know show our guy that we're in control and we can can you know

kick ass and do what we need to do to make him feel better. That makes me a little bit optimistic. I think that's going to be honestly the key determining factor to the game. You know, on the other side of the ball, the Bills offense line, I think has played fantastic all year. I think that's really the under talked about part of, you know, we see all the chatter now with Buffalo. People say we don't have weapons and they've,

it's like, well, your offensive line is probably aside from Josh Allen, your best offensive weapon for the course of the season. You watch him and he sits back there. The pockets are beautiful. He's got all day. He's able to do what he wants. Um, I think, you know, they don't necessarily get the individual accolades, you know, Dawkins gets some Spencer Brown got a big contract and has ascended as a player, but, uh,

by and large, they don't get the accolades on an individual level that Kansas City's O-line does. But I think, you know, for the whole, and especially from a past game perspective, you know, they've done a really great job throughout the course of the year. Yeah. Yeah. They're able to run the ball really effectively against Baltimore too. Your, your rushing defense might be different story. Spag Doolittle, he always seems to have something planned. He's always thinking a couple of steps ahead. I heard somebody talk about this a couple of months ago, and it made me wonder that Spag should be a hall of famer.

As a coordinator. I don't think there are any coordinators in the Hall of Fame. Are there no offensive coordinators, no defensive coordinators? Obviously guys that have gone on to be head coaches later. But I feel like if Spag, if you get three in a row and this defense plays well again, I think Spag should probably be considered for the Hall of Fame at that point.

I agree. I mean, he's won, I think it's either four or five Super Bowls as a defensive coordinator. He kind of, you know, shepherded in that new era of the four defensive ends in a rush package. You know, I think he inherited that from, you know, kind of the 06-07 Giants and then kind of made it his own, that NASCAR package back in the day. And that kind of changed football. You know, how you got after quarterbacks,

being able to put smaller guys in the, you know, big apps and run some funky things on third downs and that evolution of what he's become. I mean, he went to St. Louis, didn't have success, but,

Not many people did have success there. I don't know how much you pin on him, how much you want to pin on just the general tenor there. But yeah, I mean, what he's been able to do for Kansas City, Bob Sutton had a lot of success as a defensive coordinator. Things got a little stale. Got rid of him, brought in Spags, and that's really been a key point of the Kansas City run. And

enough that you know he's older and he did fail in his first spot that he hasn't gotten poached away you know most guys with his level success will have gotten a head coaching job at this point you know when you look at the body of work the last five years so definitely belongs in the Hall of Fame if you're looking at best coordinators I don't know how you can have a list without him pretty high on the defensive side yeah you know on the other side tell me about what a great job Matt Nagy has done this year

Yeah, it's been a... I mean, the whole Chiefs offense, I think, has been interesting. Okay, so here's my thoughts on the Chiefs offense. Hollywood Brown was going to play a massive role. You know, he was killing it in OTAs. The guys were really excited about him. He essentially was the closest thing to Tyreek since Tyreek in terms of the burst, the long speed, the route running, kind of being able to run the offense through him. Rasheed had the role as kind of that slot guy, the inside guy, intermediate, and obviously Kelsey's Kelsey.

Hollywood goes down. And I think that just completely threw off what the offense was looking like. Now where she comes out, has like 30 catches in the first three weeks, he gets hurt. He's out for the year. Now you're out both of your receivers. Uh, and I think that honestly threw off what the chiefs offense was going to be. Xavier worthy gets drafted in the first round. You're thinking he's going to be the third option at best. Um,

But now he's the number one receiver because your top two guys are down. And he's learning on the go. Obviously, Travis is being Travis. And as we talked about earlier, maybe not playoff Travis throughout the course of the season. And so they finally kind of found that groove in weeks 10, 11, 12, figuring out exactly what the roles were going to be. Hollywood comes back, trade for DeAndre Hopkins, bringing McColl. He's hurt now. So I do think the offense has had to adapt on the fly and

As people want to talk about other offenses and Lamar from this past week, well, he's without wide receiver one and he's without this and without that. It's like, well, the Chiefs have been in without wide receiver one pretty much all year, whether you want to define that as Hollywood or Rasheed. People don't want to necessarily speak about that. They're on the fourth left tackle. They've had all these different injuries as well. So I think that the offense has had to change. I do think they have done a pretty good job of figuring that out. I think the Texans defense is just pretty good. And so it's not...

what we're used to seeing from 2019, 2020, where it just bombs away and scoring 30 plus points every game. But I do think the offense understands what they want to be now and they can lean into that identity. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you could see it too with even Xavier Worthy. They started getting his targets up towards the end of the season and it was clear that they started to trust him more because I would imagine like just from a guy like Patrick Mahomes, like he's got,

He can't just immediately say, like, oh, we drafted this guy high. I'm going to throw it to him, you know, 10 times a game. You have to find that, you know, second nature where you can trust that they're going to make the play. You can trust you can throw them the ball. It feels like they finally are there. Is that right? Yeah, for sure. There's...

There's the way, again, the quarterback is supposed to kind of play the game on paper, and then there's the way Pat plays the game, which is similar to the way we talked about Travis earlier, like just feeling space, understanding that not everything that you're supposed to do on the sheet is the thing that is expected of you. There's a lot of adjustments, and this is what's made passing offenses come down a little bit. It's what's made things so difficult from the offensive side, as defenses are so much more complex. We see all the cool clips of safety spinning around, and this invert two that everyone likes to talk about and sound smart, and

um, all these different things that defenses are doing, realizing, Hey, we can still play the cards that we want and confuse the offense. Well, if you're a receiver and you're, you know, a rookie and you're trying to figure out, is it cover two? Is it cover three? Is it cloud coverage? What's my adjustment off that, you know, as a quarterback expect me at a different level, that's a lot to think about while you're trying to go full speed on third and 12. Um, so there definitely is a learning curve in terms of what's expected of you for the offense. And then also, you know, kind of how Pat sees things and how he plays it, uh,

Coach Reed talked about that last year with Rasheed, kind of learning Pat being Mahomes friendly. He's talked about it a little bit this year with Xavier, and you can definitely see a huge difference. And to your point, he's being asked to do so much now. He is...

Really a full compliment receiver who just happens to be smaller and really fast, but he's not being used as a gadget guy. He's being used in all facets of the offense. And I think that is one of the things they realized once he was thrust into that role, once he grew from weeks one to 10, that, hey, we can trust him and we can put him in these spots and let him be a true receiver. He doesn't have to just be speed or jet sweep.

Yeah. Yeah. It's been really interesting to watch them develop. They just overcome everything. That's the thing about the Chiefs is like, as long as they have Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reed, Travis Kelsey, it feels like they'll figure the rest out and it's going to be different solution every single year, but they'll, they'll end up getting there. And from, from the weather perspective, it's,

It's not going to be like it was last year where you had the Dolphins coming into town and it was like six degrees. It's going to be like 34, maybe down into the upper 20s by the end of the game. Offensive lineman, sleeves or no sleeves?

So you're not supposed to wear sleeves. Um, you know, we've gotten loose and, uh, you know, soft as an offensive line community and allowed guys to start wearing sleeves over the years. Um, if you are super cold, the thing you can do is put on elbow sleeves. You know, those things are nice and thick and insulated. Uh, I always wore an elbow brace on my inside arm, uh,

Um, and if it was super cold, I would just like throw a sleeve or a brace on the other arm and it looks O-line sweet. Like, yeah, my elbows suck and I get to wear these things, uh, but actually keeps you pretty warm. So that's the kind of workaround, uh, if you want to, you know, look, you don't quote unquote old school O-line, uh, tough, but still want to get a little bit of extra warmth in there. I like that. That's a great trick. I would, I would say the colder it gets, the less you should wear sleeves. I would actually be okay with the live and wearing sleeves if it was like

30 to 45 degrees outside. You wear sleeves then, yeah, who cares? But if it's like 20 degrees, no, sleeves off. Yeah. Got to show those guns. Yeah. I mean, I think it was Strahan that was like, I'd rather just feel good and play good and get sacks instead of like being miserable out there and being cold and not producing. So there's, I mean, again, we've kind of gotten away with some old school toughness stuff that's just stupid. Like you want your guys to be comfortable and play well. That's really the most important thing at the end of the day. But from like,

crazy perspective. Yeah. I think we still respect the guys who are out there, uh, sleeveless. I mean, there's not too many gloveless guys anymore. I think Nolan Smith on Philly is one of the few. Um, but anytime you see a defensive end, who's not wearing gloves, you just, you assume he's a psycho. Yeah. There's no, there's no valid reason to do it. I think Jared verse maybe doesn't wear gloves either. No surprise what he's going to win, you know, defensive rookie of the year. Um,

Vita Vey doesn't. Every time I see Vita Vey, I'm like, how is he? He's just in the bottom of every pile, and he's got no gloves. Trey Hendrickson. Yeah, it's nuts. It's so intimidating. Mitch, your Twitter account, I love following you on Twitter because I do think that you put out really good nuance takes from someone who played in the NFL for as long as you did. Everyone should go follow Mitch Schwartz.

I have a two-part question for your Twitter account. First is, how awesome does it feel when someone who just watches film tries to correct you on how to play football and how to play offensive line? Because I've seen that happen a couple times before.

where someone will literally be arguing with you or your brother Jeff, who's also great on Twitter, and it will just be like, you guys are arguing with people who actually played in the NFL and know what they're talking about, and it's someone who's sitting and watching film and just guessing what's happening.

I will say, if you're at least watching the film, I'll respect the fact that you're trying to do this correctly. 99% of what I get is people who are not watching film or who just watch the game on TV and think they know what's happening. So that 1% of people who are watching the film, I respect that you're trying to do it. I get really frustrated when...

People have a following and people are looked up to because they study football and they watch film and they put out analysis and then they're putting out bad analysis. You know, you can't necessarily be Twitter corrector. You just are the jackass who corrects everybody on Twitter and you look terrible. But it does frustrate me when people with followings put out bad info. So,

Like you said, for the most part, I try to do things in a respectful way and nuance and I try to have the conversations and try to teach because I do want people to understand better. But it is frustrating when people don't take your experience into account. Like I...

at no point say I'm always correct about things. I'm willing to kind of talk through everything. But at some point you have to at least account for the fact that I did it. And that maybe I know a little nugget or two, or maybe this is the thing with, I don't think, you know, former players are the only ones that should be analysts. I don't think you had to have played to have the certain like high level understanding, but I do think it shortens the time to see something and to understand what's going on. I can watch something and have a really good gut feeling about,

either what happened what the guy was intending to do um maybe what the protection was supposed to be that maybe other people who weren't in my shoes and didn't live that life would have to take a few more watchings to kind of figure out exactly what was supposed to go on yeah so i do think that's where it's advantageous to have play because you can just look at stuff and you're so used to seeing it that like oh yeah i know that's supposed to happen the right tackle had a sift here and he was indecisive because he saw this like that gut feeling is what's really helpful having played the game

That's – and it does have to feel awesome. You took the nice approach, but I would be like, if I had that type of expertise, dunking on someone would feel so good. The other thing was you tweeted about this. I think it was either yesterday or the day before, and I found it fascinating because –

We're dumb fans, and there's a lot of Lions fans who this podcast specifically has been putting them through hell because BFT's commanders beat them. The Bears got Ben Johnson. Memes Jets got Aaron Glenn. We've raided the Lions, so I do feel bad for them in that respect. But you pointed out that anyone who's blaming Ben Johnson for not being focused on the playoff game because he was doing interviews doesn't realize that

These guys are not like, it's not like a, uh, like all nighter for seven days straight trying to get a game plan. They have a game plan. They have their convictions. There's time when they're not working on the game plan because if they did, they would just be getting way too nuanced and probably like analysis by paralysis. So you like, that's, that's the reality of it. Is it not?

It is. I think the best example for that, and he had admitted it after the fact, is Sean McVay, that Super Bowl against the Patriots, where he had two weeks and he just drove himself crazy. And he did too much and he tried to change too many things. And he's a grinder by nature. That's why he burns out. And you can't watch 20 hours of film for 14 days straight. You're going to overthink things. The way the football week works,

you know, we get for the most part, Monday, Tuesday off, you're, you're in for one of those days, you're watching the film, you get a lift in and that's about it. Our work week technically starts Wednesday. Well, Wednesday, when we show up and we get the base game plan, the coaches did all the work Monday and Tuesday. Those are their long days. Those are the awful days where they're, you know, staying at the office all night or they're sleeping there for a couple of hours. That's their, you know, Superbowl of the week. And so, um,

we get our install Wednesday, we go through practice. We get install for certain situations Thursday, practice. Install for red zone on Friday, we practice. And at that point, the game plan is pretty much put together. You're still going to tinker with things if you're a first 15 guy who's the offensive coordinator or head coach. You're going to try to figure out exactly what that combination of plays looks like. But for the most part, all the preparation is done. Because from the player perspective, after Friday's practice, you're not putting in anything new. You might be adjusting things, you might be fine-tuning some stuff that didn't

look quite right on Friday. But Saturday morning, you're watching Friday's film. You're not getting a new install. And you're doing a walkthrough of all the plays you've already done that you want to hit again, you want to see again. So that game plan is pretty much shut by about 3 p.m. on Friday. So yeah, coaches, they'll go on date night. They'll get to see their wife for the first time all week. They'll go to their kid's high school football game. They'll do all these other things. You can't just be locked in and doing it all the time. And in that tweet specifically, I said some coaches...

They'll start watching film for the next week, Saturday, you know, once it gets later in the day and they got nothing else to do. Sunday, if it's a night game, you're just sitting there all day. You don't have to stare at your hundred play call sheet all day for 12 hours. There's nothing that's going to change. It's already printed. It's laminated. So you can turn the page and get a look. That doesn't mean that they're not going to coach as hard that Sunday night. So yeah, it's a...

People don't necessarily understand how the work week goes. And if you're going to blame Ben Johnson for that, like I said, blame Kellen Moore, blame Spags for having interviews, blame Aaron Glenn for having interviews, blame everybody else for having interviews. But it's only a guy that lost when his side still did pretty good stuff that's getting the heat for it. And that I just don't understand.

And also it was a bye week. They had a bye week, which gets, you know, like that's 14 days where they had nothing. I think it's going to be good for the rivalry. I think it's going to be great for Chicago versus Detroit. Like you're going to get some of that. And then I think a fair thing to say if you're a Lions fan would be like, well, yeah, you're also taking three of our coaches with you.

So I think it's Antoine Randall, their O-line coach, and there's somebody else. No, the O-line coach is not coming to Chicago. Oh, he's not? No. It's not Farley? Farley, I think he's interviewing with Seahawks, but I don't think he's – there's a report that he's probably not going to come. Sam Johnson actually was like, I don't want to raid their whole staff.

Okay, yeah, so you're bringing a couple guys. So then the fan starts thinking, oh, were you having these conversations all week, like looking at Zillow together and circling neighborhoods and being like, oh, is this where we're going? So you create like a whole fan fiction in your head. Yeah. But again, I think that this is good for the rivalry in the NFC North. I think that's awesome that there's going to be genuine animosity between those fan bases.

Oh, for sure. And then he just kind of throws that jab at Matt LaFleur. And I don't really understand where that came from because I don't think they're like friends that work together. No, they're not. I thought they were friends. I thought that was like, can't wait to take on Matt. You know, Matt sucks. No, I don't think they've ever worked together. Yeah. No, no. I mean,

No one can focus on one thing all the time for like an entire work week. Like your mind has to wander at times. You're allowed to do other things in your life. Like no one has questioned his preparation until this specific week. He has been the genius of the NFL the last three years who turned Jared Goff into a top quarterback, who weaponizes his right tackle into this weapon that everyone loves. Dan Skipper, the sixth alignment, all the fun stuff they do. The trick plays galore. And all of a sudden...

one single game in which his team underperforms and now he's not committed. It's just, it's dumb. Like when you say it out loud, it's dumb. So we're just not going to give that any more credence. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it, Mitch. You're very smart. Yeah. I had one last question. It's a row back question. RHOB, ACK.com promo code take 20%.

20% off your first purchase. Oh, yeah, you're wearing the Roback right now. You got to get the new Hesi hoodie. Super comfortable. Roback.com promo code TAKE. 20% off your first purchase. How's the golf game? Because I know you built, this is kind of weird that I, well, no, you put it on Instagram, so that's not weird. I follow you on Instagram. You built a simulator in your house, which rocks. How is the golf game going?

Golf game's good. It's been pretty frozen out here in Kansas City, so luckily I do have the simulator. I've been getting some lessons. I got burnt out on it. As you know, with kids and stuff, it's hard to do everything that you used to do the same. Between having a baby and working on golf, I was just kind of burnt out on the golf stuff. So back around the last couple months, been working on it. Hopefully it gets sunny, it gets warm, I get to start playing outside and

It's kind of my outlet. I mean, as an offensive lineman, you tend to just kind of hate yourself and feel bad at all times. So golf, you're never going to feel like you played well. So it's kind of the perfect outlet for an offensive lineman to hit balls, feel like you suck, watch film, try to get better and go out there and just be miserable. I love that. I felt too good recently. I would like to feel shitty so I can know what I can improve on. I love that. It's a cool mindset. Yeah. Is it also like, this is a stupid question, but how sick is it like living in a city that you won a Super Bowl?

It is pretty cool. Um, you know, my, my Superbowl has since been surpassed by a couple of Superbowls and, uh, you know, there are some much more famous and important guys for the city, but it is cool. I mean, it keeps you grounded. That's why we love Kansas city. Like the people are great. You know, you still get noticed every now and again, but everyone's respectful and just like, Hey, you know, thanks for what you do, blah, blah, blah. I love all you on social media, all that stuff. So, uh, it's pretty cool. You know, strokes the ego every now and again when you need it. Uh,

And then I go downstairs, hit balls and start hitting myself again. Yeah. So it's smart move. That's what I, if you want to see, if you want a Superbowl, just stay there. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. So when you went from Cleveland to Kansas city, were you a free agent at the time? I was. Yeah. Was there a moment where it was between like Kansas city and some other team and you look back on that and you're like, thank God I chose the chiefs. Yeah. It was between Kansas city and Tennessee or the last two that were in it. Yeah.

definitely worked out to choose kansas city uh i mean the cleveland thing we don't have to go back to that i mean i'd wanted to stay in cleveland my wife's from cleveland i met her there joe thomas hall of famer alex mack john greco joel betonio we had a great offensive line i loved you know doing that every day i wanted to stay they were in the you know shed assets get draft picks you know suck and tank phase so they weren't resigning anybody uh turned out to be the best thing for me and um

Yeah, I don't really look back on that too much. I just appreciate the fact that I was able to come to Kansas City. And I didn't realize how important the Super Bowl was. I mean, to your point, if you're the Rams, if you're, you know, the Chargers, is it going to be as important to win a Super Bowl in that city and live there? Probably not, you know, living in a...

sports crazed city, the one that's so passionate about the team, I think is more important. You form a better bond to the city than some other places. So I think it just happened to be that perfect kind of mixture of finally getting our homegrown QB 50 years since the last Super Bowl. You know, the city loves football. So I just got really lucky and, you know, I feel really good about that. Yeah, it's pretty cool to be like, I blocked for Patrick Pahoa.

because that will be something that you could say probably 50 years from now and people are like, holy shit, that's awesome. You kept them healthy while you were there. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's...

I responsibly am the one to keep him healthy. Since I've gone and done other things, he seems to have a lot of those ankle injuries everyone wants to see conspiracy theories about too. So I'm going to take credit for that. Yeah, bust. Actually a bust since you left. All right, well, Mitch, thank you so much, man. We really appreciate it. Always fun having you on. Everyone do go follow him because you just make us smarter as football fans, so we appreciate that. Thank you. Good to see you guys.

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But you got a Fyre Fest. Classic memes, taking away your First Amendment. Well, that's because Hank, one of my Fyre Fests was Hank. This is one of the biggest weeks, should be one of the biggest weeks in numbers for part of my take. Monday's show had to be taken down because Hank was breathing too heavy in the mic. Wednesday's show was taken down because someone had a G-U-N on the show. Hopefully this doesn't get age restricted again, but yes. Which, I mean, if we're going to have one taken down, having it be...

Stavi with a revolver I think is a pretty good reason. Yeah. I'm willing to make that short-term sacrifice. Yeah, that got age-restricted, so that was why you had to log in to watch us on Wednesday's show. But let's not... It wasn't Hank's. Hank was just existing. He was just existing. You're just breathing like you normally breathe. Does he have a mic now? What? Why are you looking at me like this? I'm just wondering if you're going to let me fall on the sword or not. Are you going to turn on Hank's mic? I didn't show the gun. He knows I didn't show the gun. You can't say the G word!

What? He's talking about Mondays. I feel like Hank's still not on. He's very low. He's very low. Can I get your tongue? Hey, memes is trying to silence Hank. That's what they're doing. You can't exist. That's what I'm saying. Hank, for the first time ever, I agree with you. They're trying to stop you from existing. I got your back. No, but when Hank's looking at them, he's waiting for them to apologize for not taking Hank's breathing out. So now we have a stare down going on between Hank and the booth. The podcast. Whatever. Whatever.

I took the breathing out. Okay. Hank? Of the podcast. I mean, I can't. Why is his mic not on? Why is his mic not on? There's a, this fucking thing sucks. It breaks every time we. Keep all this in. I've talked to Pete about it, and then he just starts saying a bunch of words. Oh, Pete's too busy getting on more dogs. He starts saying a bunch of words that I don't understand what they fucking mean. Yeah. We're not the smartest people. Oh, there it is. I feel like I just heard Hank.

Pete's over here using three syllable words. Memes also just not talking into a mic either. Memes just keeps saying, I got it, but he's not saying it into a mic. This is some good stuff. Number one sports podcast for a reason, folks. I fixed it. All right, there it is. I fixed it. All right, Hank. Yeah. A lot just happened. Care to address?

No, I mean, the breathing thing, like, I was a little sick, so I was breathing loud. But also, like, if I'm talking for 5% of the episode, I don't think I need to have my mic on the whole time. That's neither here nor there. It's a fair point. Max cut it out of the podcast, didn't get cut out of the video. No.

Max probably could have told the person who edits the video to cut it out of the video like he did, but that's fine. Hank's not allowed to breathe. Max would normally be very happy if you weren't breathing. Is it Max's fault or Pug's fault? Or is it your fault because you're technically in charge of all of them? Well, yeah, that's where it's like it all falls on me. No, it all falls on me. But you just said the podcast was fine and said nothing about the... Like, you didn't take anything. I know. I know, Hank. We've already had this conversation. Yeah.

How many times are we going to have this conversation? Pugs do have very labored breathing processes. Yeah, that's true. A little snout nose. But yeah, that was a tough wake up Monday morning. And also crazy that it was like there was...

really loud breathing and it wasn't me or Max like that's huge huge for us huge for us cause like that's like a fart whenever there's a fart on the podcast like you know Big Cat or Max that was big win for us Hank was the one who's breathing with his mouth way too hard no I just my nose was stuffy so when it like it sounded it was it was a vocal vocal breathe okay um my fire fest which I've I've gotten over in the past 24 hours but in hindsight I

It was just 2020. I should have vetoed the nine darter. Yeah, I didn't. And now I am going to deal with the consequences of my own action. And I feel bad for the booth because they're also going to have to deal with it because I'm just going to be living at this office forever. So I've seen you tweeting about it a lot. And I also have people like you're bitching, bitching, bitching. I tweeted. I threw darts. I'm in trouble.

And that was it. Yeah. No, you haven't been bitching. I have something to say. We, as a community here, we got to stop freaking out when one person says that we're bitching about something. And we just got to do it. I mean, who are you freaking out about? Is that not how us or our fans? I know. Well, people bitch and then everyone freaks out about it. Let people bitch. People are going to bitch about everything. Yes, it doesn't matter. People are going to bitch. Hank, I do...

I do remember it is funny that it all goes back to the dunk because you should have just taken marathon, but I couldn't. It wasn't an option to take. That's the other thing. You had a veto. I had a veto, but that doesn't mean I would have gotten marathon. Okay. That was the one reason you said you

Didn't use the Vito. Yeah, I know. It does all go back to the duck. So wait, didn't you suggest putting the nine darter in there? No, that was fucking dumbass. We said so much shit. I like how Mimicat knew exactly who he was talking about. Dumbass over there. He wasn't talking about memes. Dumbass. We're not even talking about the Eagles and we're fired up. It's been a long week. Birds. Listen. All right. All right. Birds.

Let's just reset. Hank, you've done some work in the last 24 hours. You're going to be here for a long time. But you've also, it sounds like, made peace with the fact that you're just going to have to do it? Yeah. Eventually, you're going to be close enough that you'll just be able to put it in. Yeah. And I'm going to go through it all. I just am concerned that at a certain point, my arm is going to get to a point where I can't throw. And then I don't know what I'm going to do on stream. Right.

And then people are going to throw darts, but I'm like, you know. Have you thought about getting a blowgun and shooting darts? Oh, good idea. No, that's a good idea, though. Yeah, that's a really good idea. You got to get a blowgun. That's a good idea. Yeah, I mean, it's going to suck. I didn't like that professional darter who quoted you and was like, I've been playing darts my whole life, and I've only done this twice. That felt...

You didn't need to say that, dude. He was definitely talking about a full nine darter. Yeah, I know, but still. Well, no, that's where it's 180. It's also extremely. I've gotten a lot of people that are like, I play darts every week. I've played darts every week for 20 years. I've gotten 180 like twice. Yeah. And these are people that are significantly better darts. Blow dart is a really good idea. Blow gun. Maybe. Is there like a dart gun?

Yeah. Like the blow dart gun is one thing, but like a nerf style trigger. Or would that get taken down from YouTube? I don't know. Not if Stavi's not holding it. When Stavi holds a gun, you think it's going to be used. Yeah. I think you need to figure out a blow dart. Okay. Because that would be a good... Because that would be still very difficult. And it adds probably a couple feet closer. And we know that you've got some really good lungs with breathing through your mouth, Monday show. You got this.

The marathon, though, that was, that's a, just because you thought you were going to dunk and then you didn't dunk. It's funny to also think that the marathon would have been the much easier choice. It would have. Because he could have, he could have jogged, lightly jogged it, walked a little bit. It would have taken like seven hours at worst. Yeah. Yeah. No, that was, again, hindsight's 20-20. I'm dumb as fuck. And this is just, you know, added to the long list of examples of me being an idiot. It'll be good content, though. Mm-hmm.

I'll stop by for a little... I'll stop by? Yeah. You'll have buddies. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, Michael Van Gogh. Oh, Michael Van Gogh. Yeah. Just get that going. But yeah. We'll be live until the games start on Sunday and then back again Monday if... Back again. I'm not done. Okay. And I will be staying at the office. PFT. My Fire Fest of the Week happened last night.

I accidentally went live on the part of my take Twitch for about a half hour by mistake. Okay. So I was trying to record myself

Flying from Washington, D.C., from Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia up to Philadelphia to do a flyby for the Eagles-Commanders game at Lincoln Financial Field. I downloaded Microsoft Flight Simulator. I hopped in my F-18. I buzzed the tower of the Commanders facility, flew all the way up, which is, by the way, a pretty boring game to play. I think you just get up to altitude and then you just kind of cruise there for a while. Yep.

So I was just trying to do a flyby. As opposed to other flight simulators? Yeah, combat simulators. When he's dogfighting? Yeah, when you're dogfighting. That's when it rocks. But this is just you fly up in the air and the object is to not inflict violence on people. So I'm flying up to Philadelphia. I think I'm recording it on OBS on my computer, which is the program that we use to stream on Twitch. And instead of clicking the button that says start recording, I accidentally clicked the button that says start streaming. Ah.

And I had no sound, no volume, for real. So I was in turn kind of fucking with the chat because they were all like, no sound, no volume. No sound, yeah, yeah. But I didn't know I was streaming.

I do this for about 25 minutes and then I quit because I crashed twice. And then I go back to OBS and I'm like, oh shit, it says stop streaming, not stop recording. So I click stop recording and I immediately call Hank. I'm like, hey, Hank, my bad. Can you delete this from our Twitch account? But before Hank did that, I went back and I watched it and I just saw all the comments coming in that were just like, no sound, but for real. Like, honestly, no sound.

So they didn't know if I was fucking with them or what was going on. But yeah, it was just a complete mistake that I made by clicking that button, which is right next to the start recording button. But I think it was a pretty electric stream. I did an inverted flyby through Lincoln Financial Field, like about 20 feet above the bleachers. But you crashed? I crashed not into Lincoln Financial Field.

Which, credit to me, I thought I was just playing on my own. I could have just steered that motherfucker right into the stands, and then I would have been caught in 4K. But no, I crashed maybe two seconds after I got right past Lincoln Financial. So in the lot. Yeah. How many Eagles fans did you kill? It was people that live within a quarter mile of the stadium, so I think probably seven or eight. Probably my brother. Yeah, I killed Max's brother on stream last night. But yeah, that was...

I just didn't know what was going on when I was like, oh, shit, have I been streaming this entire time? So my bad if you tuned into the part of my take Twitch last night and get a push notification. Scary phone call to get because you don't know when you're like, I was accidentally streaming on the part of my take Twitch. It's like, oh, streaming what? Yeah, I'm Shannon Sharp. Except when Shannon Sharp's thing goes off, he's not doing a flight simulator at 9 p.m. on a weekday night.

Your life is cool, too. Yeah, it is. But it was fun. It was fun being able to do like a super low altitude. Dude, Microsoft Flight Simulator, not that fun of a game in terms of actually flying everywhere. But they've got like a real 3D representation of the Earth. Yeah. So they had everything. You could see like the, I could see Xfinity Live almost drove into that. So Max, you know that even when I think no one's watching, I'm not crashing planes into your stadium. Yeah, you just didn't do a successful flyover.

Oh, I did two successful flyovers and then I crashed. So two out of three. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You think it's bad vibes? I mean, it's not a great omen. Probably not. I think...

especially when you weren't trying to show people this. You were trying to do this in secret. Yeah, I was trying to be, well, yeah. And you would not have shown the crashes if you weren't streaming. Oh, yeah. I never crash on stream when I'm flying in the simulator. Well, not over the, I mean, fly over. Yeah. At least I didn't get shot down. That's true. That would have been way worse. Max's brother shot you down. Yeah. Ah.

All right. My Fire Fest is – so I think I said this. That's why I missed the Commander's Lions game. My wife was out of town, so I was solo dadding for the majority of the weekend and then Monday as well. And it's essentially like – the best way to describe it is being a backup quarterback and you get in for a drive or two and you're like, all right, I can do this. I can do this. And then if you have to stay in for longer than that, everyone's like, oh.

Mike White might not be the guy, that kind of thing. But I thought I did an okay job. I missed giving Stella her medicine like maybe two days in a row that I doubled up. So we're fine. But...

I likened it to the office episode when Dwight gets fired and all the plants die. So I did okay. It was a lot of like, I'd tell my oldest, like, hey, I need your help. A lot of pep talks, a lot of eating cereal for dinner, all that shit. Then my wife did come home and it turns out I do have plants in my house and I didn't water any of them.

I had no idea. Yeah. If you had asked me if I had plants, I would have been like, no fucking way. That's a detail I've never paid attention to. They have these plants now that have these basins at the top that are like the thing that you leave for your cat when you go out of town where it meters out. You fill up the top basin and then it just slowly releases. I need that. Yeah, they're awesome. The plants never die. So it was just, yeah. I would say I probably didn't win the game, but I didn't look like I was, I don't know what quarterback. I wasn't Tim Boyle.

Yeah, but if you were to pick one thing in your house to forget to give water to, I think the plants are probably the one that you'd circle. I also forgot about the Stella medicine. The Stella medicine. But the water. The water. I also...

I was 0 for 3 on dressing my daughter every single time I'd dress her, and she'd be like, I don't like this. And then she'd just go dress herself. It's like, all right, that's fine. Yeah, wear what you want to wear. Yeah, yeah. She was like, I put her in. The one that hurt was I put her in a badger shirt, and she goes, this isn't beautiful. And then she went on a dress, and I was like, damn it. Was Bucky on it? Bucky was on it. Damn. But we're back. We're back. Yeah, I'm not a starter.

I'm a backup. Yeah, but... I'm a backup guy. For those scripted plays, you look pretty good. Yeah, right. Like, for a couple drives, I can do it. For a night here, a night there. But when it's an extended... This was like me having to... The starter went out for three weeks of the season, and I had to... We didn't go 500. It is true, because if it was for one meal, then all the fans would be like,

He should get more minutes. Yeah, he made an incredible mac and cheese. He might be the guy. Did I make an incredible mac and cheese on the third day that we had mac and cheese? When we had bagel bites for lunch and dinner, were people like, hey, can this guy only throw right? Yeah, probably. We survived. Okay. Numbers. Three. Eleven. Nine. What number do I want? Five. Here come the boys. Here come the boys. Boys are all going low today.

I went three. I'll go 31. 31? Shout out Aaron Glenn. Pug, by the way, can you hear me? Pug, Max threw you under the bus about the mouth breathing thing. What the fuck? What? What, Max? What'd he say? You threw me under the bus? That's not true. I mean, Pug, Hank is just... Hank! Why was Hank thrown in there? Hank is just what?

I'm Bird Gang. See, that is bullshit. All right, all right. Pug, what's your number? 99. Bird's Pug. Pug. Shane, Jack? 45. Wait, give Jack the headphones now. What?

Jack texts me because I had to do a video this morning. He started to text, good morning, big cat. That was weird, right? That's a weird start to a text. It was too formal. We have a real problem with Jack on the text thread because it happened one time before, and ever since then, every single time he hits us up with a favor...

I think it's Jack McCarthy. Yeah. I do every time. And I want to do your favors. I don't want to do Jack McCarthy's favors. That's probably on my end. I need to change your name to, like, Jack Good. Yeah. The Good One. Nothing wrong with Good Morning. On a text? No, no. I think that's too formal. I don't need a Good Morning. It just started. I won't send Good Morning. All right. I appreciate it. Let's just get right to the chase because I know you got a job to do. I got a job to do. It wasn't a Good Morning either.

I woke up at 5 in the morning. I've been awake for fucking 10 hours. Okay. What's your number, Jack? 45. 45. Shane? 21. I don't remember any of these. 9. 5. 31. Darter. 69. Oh. 69. Eagles are actually the smartest animal in the world. Love you guys.