Hoosiers Keep Winning & Dodgers Keep Dealing

Nick (00:00)
We're back. It's the height differential. That's Neil. I'm Nick. Got a lot to talk about. A lot of baseball, a of football, But first off, Neil, is that a new hat you got on?

Neil (00:13)
That's a new hat my dog. That's a new hat. Look at that. Bam Bam Goat bangles goat. I think it's actually a tiger woods hat, but it could go either way won that at the won that at the second annual who day golf scramble on this past Sunday for being close to the hole not only on one hole But I also won the second close though I was close to the hole on both contest and I beat somebody by about one and a half feet

Nick (00:23)
It can work both ways.

If that, if that, and I, it would be me and I put it there first. So pressure was on. I thought I was probably going to win. And then you get a good, good shot. thought it might be a little deep, but it did honey in the back edge and pops. My dad walked it out and I lost that on that sweet Tiger Woods goat hat.

Neil (00:43)
That would be... Who would that be? Would that be you?

It hung on the back edge. Back edge of the game.

Nick (01:09)
But we did win the thing. I don't know if the teams were really that fair. ⁓ But we did not play that well. We started off OK. We came home limping a little bit.

Neil (01:11)
We did.

Yeah, back nine was challenge, but we limped home. We did it though. We'll take a dub to dub. We'll take it.

Nick (01:30)
But dude, I'll tell you, for somebody who retired for two months, winning two closest to the pins in a scramble, you gotta feel pretty good about that.

Neil (01:38)
Yeah, we might go on another about a month hiatus, but you know we were back a solid good week and a half couple golf scrambles in last couple weeks hit the ball pretty well. Like you said, the back nine is starting to fall apart on all of us, so maybe we do need to take another couple weeks off and get back at it here next month.

Nick (01:55)
And dude, 17 on Glen Oaks, my worst hated hole of all time. That downhill lie over the creek. I can't figure that shot out. But I mean.

Neil (02:06)
Glinox

is just hard. It's just hard in general.

Nick (02:11)
It was, but good time on Sunday we part laid that into watching the Bengals and the Packers second half actually look like a football game, but it wasn't enough as the Bengals lost We'll get into that. Let's start with baseball. The Mariners team that's never been to the World Series up two-oh headed home tonight against the Blue Jays.

Neil (02:33)
Yeah, I mean they they went into the Seattle went into Toronto and just took care of business. It was a pretty good exciting game one close match up the big dumper Cal Raleigh put one in the seats to get that gate that back to even and then the Mariners end up scoring a couple more there. Take game one, but game two was an absolute bloodbath. So yeah, Mandarin sitting really really good shape going back to Seattle for the next two possibly three if they if they need to go five, but they're in a great spot.

Nick (03:03)
Yeah, great spot and know, Jorge Polanco is kind of in the unsung hero of the postseason for the Mariners. Game winning RBI's in three consecutive postseason games. You know what they're calling him right now in that Mariners clubhouse? They're calling George Bonds. George Bonds, I mean, he's hitting like Barry Bonds right now. I mean, you know, he got signed at the very end of the offseason.

Neil (03:16)
Will they come? What's that?

Forge. Okay.

Okay.

Nick (03:31)
I think he's on a one year deal with the Mariners, but has really came up clutch for them had two home runs last week against against scubal. I mean the Mariners have only won two games. We've talked about it. They haven't been to the World Series. They've only won two games in the ALCS three times in their history. And obviously this is one of them. They also did it in 95 and in 2000. But the Mariners at home.

Neil (03:46)
Yeah.

Nick (04:00)
with the chance to go to the World Series for the first time. And all you gotta do is win two out of the next five and you're there.

Neil (04:06)
Hope they do it get gene Suarez in the world series a big gene Suarez fan over here

Nick (04:12)
Well, we talked about a lot of guys that are hitting, he's not one of them right now. So I mean, if he starts hitting, that line up looks even deeper. But it's George Kirby and Shane Bieber tonight. We'll see that game is actually going on as we're recording. We'll see how that goes, see if the Mariners can get one game closer to getting to the World Series for the first time in Major League history. And how fun that will be to cover for Alex Mayer, our guy down there in Seattle.

Neil (04:14)
He's that one. No, he's not.

Nick (04:40)
the media relations director for the Mariners and former Louisville Bats PR director. What must, he's head spinner right now with how much work he's doing, but it's gotta be a blast.

Neil (04:40)
Yeah.

So what you're saying is if they make it, it would not be a good time to hit them up for World Series tickets.

Nick (04:55)
You can try. Shoot your shot. Shoot your shot.

But so Mariners looking to go up three out tonight and then the other series also to as the Dodgers starting pitching is just dominated through the first two games.

Neil (05:10)
yeah, Blake Snell fantastic game one Yamamoto follows it up again with the one one run complete game yesterday. So those two back to back pitching performance is only giving up. I think Snell didn't even give up a run there. The Brewer scored one late off a reliever, but ⁓ you know for those two pitchers only give up one run and I think a combined 17 innings of starting pitching. That's that's getting it done. That is absolutely getting it done and then now you're going back to LA for two or the next three games.

And it's an experienced veteran team that the Dodgers are with that lineup that's been there before obviously last year Yeah, every year basically like this team that there's no way the Brewers are cooked. They're done put them in the grave Dodgers are moving on

Nick (05:47)
Every year.

Yeah, and you talked about the starting pitching for the Dodgers. It's definitely been the story. mean, the first team to have consecutive starts of at least eight innings since 2008 team when the Giants did it with Madison Baumgartner and Johnny Quedo. They've had eight starts in this postseason and seven times their starter has gone six plus. First time a team has done that since the 2013 Tigers.

We've talked about this in previous pods, all these teams not going with starters, pitching your closer in a deciding game five or starting your closer in a deciding game five to see a team like the Dodgers. Now look, I know they got a $450 million payroll and guys can get hurt and they've got guys backing them up. But to see starters actually going out there and throwing 110 pitches and going eight and nine innings.

Neil (06:31)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (06:50)
As an old school baseball guy, I still hate the Dodgers, but it's good to see.

Neil (06:55)
It

should be that's the way the game should be played. Yep. You get started pitching let him go out there I mean that the Brewers are are guilty of what you just mentioned You know like a lot of their games like they've been throwing the closer in the first inning the setup guy in the second inning and just kind of Piecing it together Peralta I think went last night. He got roughed up a little bit. He's been their best starter He was well, wasn't good enough No, but I mean the Dodgers are a prime example of what you were talking about and I'm piecing in bullpen games together

Nick (07:14)
He wasn't mad, but he just wasn't good enough against Yamamoto.

Neil (07:24)
And it works sometimes and other times it doesn't.

Nick (07:27)
One team has the luxury of having a $450 million payroll. And that's why the Dodgers are able to do this. And you know, their bullpen has been ravaged by injuries. Their bullpen is not that strong. So they have to rely on starters and their starters have stepped up. And if their starters were struggling, I think the Dodgers would probably be struggling. So, I mean, they've had to have their starter step up. And now in games three and four, you get Tyler Glass now in Shohei. So it's not getting any easier.

Neil (07:31)
They do.

Good luck.

Good luck.

Nick (07:59)
And so yesterday, this guy had a home run for the Dodgers to become the Dodgers postseason all time home run leader. If you had to guess who that was, who would you say?

Neil (08:13)
I'm gonna say it was probably our guy that did he move out of the hotel? This my guy, uh, who was that? was...

Nick (08:24)
Not to Yasker.

Neil (08:25)
Nazi Oscar? ⁓

Nick (08:27)
He hadn't been there long enough.

Neil (08:29)
God.

That's a hoop hit a home run yesterday.

Max Muncie.

Nick (08:32)
Yes. And I mean, look, he's been there for a while, but in no world would I expect him to be the all-time leading home run hitter in Dodgers postseason history with 14.

Neil (08:46)
Well, when you look at the lineup and the guys that I mean, Otani has been there a year, Freeman's been there a year, Will Smith's been there a few years, but he's not gonna be that guy. I mean, Edmund Hernandez, mean, these guys haven't been around as long as me. mean, that's the name of the game, you're there longest. So it's not when you look at the lineup, it's not surprising.

Nick (09:03)
Yeah, I

mean, if you made me guess, I probably would have said Mookie. But I mean, he's been there what five, six years now. So I guess it's possible to get to 14. But months he's been there the longest and he's had some good post seasons and yeah. Yeah, that home run last night got him to and makes him the all time postseason home run leader for the Dodgers.

Neil (09:09)
Yeah.

Yeah.

They've played in a lot of games. They've in lot of postseason games in the last couple of years.

Nick (09:31)
a stat regarding both these teams, the Dodgers and the Blue Jays being up 2-0.

Neil (09:38)
I believe it's the first time since 1970 that both road teams have won the first two games of championship series. So both road teams going up to go heading back home first time in 45, 55 years, 55 years.

Nick (09:54)
So yeah, and there's some other stats with that too. Teams up 2-0 in a best of seven have won 78 of 93 times for 84%. And in a 2-3-2 series where you start at home and then you go on the road for three and come back, the teams winning games one and two on the road, an even better number, have won 24 of 27 for 89%.

Just two years ago, the Diamondbacks rallied from an O2 deficit against the Phillies to advance to the World Series. That was 2023. The last time a team came back from ⁓ O2 when they lost the first two at home, the 1996 Yankees did it against the Atlanta Braves as the Braves were looking to win back-to-back World Series and

Won the first two at Yankee Stadium, came home and Jim Layritz changed that whole series and the Yankees won the next four games and that's when the beginning of the Yankees dynasty kind of started.

Neil (10:52)
Thank you.

Yup. Yup.

Nick (11:02)
So a lot of good numbers. You want these series to be a little closer because you want it to be fun to watch, but it'll be ⁓ cool to see the Mariners get to the World Series. And whoever wins that ALCS, I'll be pulling for them to beat the Dodgers because the Dodgers have won it.

Neil (11:18)
Yeah, I agree with you on that.

Nick (11:20)
So you talked a little bit about Teosca. We gotta get into this a little bit. So the Dodgers are in Milwaukee. They're staying at the Pfister Hotel, which is famously known for being haunted. And I think they tried to stay there. Teoscar said the lights were kind of going on and off. He heard footsteps and his wife also saw this stuff and heard the footsteps.

Neil (11:23)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (11:48)
And she refuses to stay there. So they got out and they're not staying with the team.

Neil (11:54)
I don't blame them and they're not the only ones apparently Mookie Betts rents an Airbnb is what I read so he doesn't stay there either but I don't blame you start seeing this paranormal stuff I'm getting out of there that's not for me ghosts flickering lights and spirits and like especially when I'm trying to focus on winning a National League Championship I'm getting the heck out of there as well and if you're the Dodgers why are you staying there? mean I guess maybe like that's where most teams stay but why?

You got players that don't want to stay there. got players booking their own travel because it's so creepy. Go stay at a nice Marriott.

Nick (12:29)
Well, there's a full list of players that refused to stay there. So yes, I agree. Like I asked the same question. Why do we continue to stay there? Why do teams continue to stay there? Bryce Harper refuses to stay there after supposedly his clothes were moved from one side of the bed to the other while he was sleeping. So yeah, this is a real thing. And you talk about, hey, I don't want to be distracted while I'm in the NLCS.

Neil (12:49)
Thank

Nick (12:57)
But also dude, if wifey saying we gone, we gone, right?

Neil (13:00)
You gone? That's why I don't

understand why the Dodgers are gonna stay there when their own players are freaked out by it. Like it's a distraction. This could become a distraction. Luckily it wasn't. And Teoscar clearly didn't distract him when he hit a bomb last night. But this is a potential distraction. Go stay at a different hotel. where your players can get some good night's sleep. They don't have to try and worry about where their clothes are going, if the lights are going on and off, and if the faucet's running in the middle of the night.

Get you a little nine hours, 10 hours of sleep uninterrupted so you're fresh to go for the game the next day.

Nick (13:34)
Well, I'll you one thing, if I'm sleeping and I wake up and I see something moving, I'm out. I ain't playing. Like I've seen Paranormal Activity. I've seen the movies. It's nothing to mess around with. like, I've never seen Ghost. I don't want to start now. You know, we can drive five minutes to Waverly Hills and spend the night there. But you know what? I got zero, zero interest in doing that.

Neil (13:40)
getting the hell out of there.

Nope. Nope.

Nope. I got no interest.

Nick (14:03)
I might go look at it during the day. I might look at it during the day, but you ain't finding me there at night. I guarantee that.

Neil (14:03)
No. Nope, not even doing that.

I'm not stepping foot on that property. No chance. Day, night, doesn't matter. I'm out.

Nick (14:16)
And for people that don't know Waverly Hills Sanatorium is a former TB hospital and it's been on several TV shows for about how haunted it is. What, it's about 10 minutes away from the house? We can go check it out anytime, but.

Neil (14:28)
Yeah, I'm You

can go down that body chute if you want.

Nick (14:32)
I'm not, no, no. I'm not playing with that. Like I'm not playing with any of those demons, any of those ghosts. I'm keeping everything just even kill. We ain't messing around with the spirits. Well, I'm not even playing Ouija boards.

Neil (14:47)
I'm not even going to

fake haunted houses. I hate haunted houses. I'm not going to any haunted houses. Fake ones, real ones, it don't matter. I'm out. I don't like to be scared.

Nick (14:55)
But if you do go to a haunted house because people want to go or like say there's somebody like a hot chick that wants to go, your strategy is just to get in and out as quick as possible and don't scream. Like dude, I'm serious. My head's down and I'm just going. Like get me out of here.

Neil (15:07)
Just run it through. Run it

Close your eyes like this. Yeah.

Nick (15:16)
Don't you agree? Like,

don't enjoy being scared. And I know it's not real, but just get me out of there. Get me out.

Neil (15:24)
Yeah, I got no

interest. Zero interest whatsoever.

Nick (15:28)
get me out. And that's what ⁓ Teoscar's wife said too. And he listened and as he should have, and evidently Mookie Betts shares the same sentiment as he was not staying there either. So the thing is quit staying at the Pfister Hotel Milwaukee. Like Neil said, let's find us a Marriott, get those points and let's get out of there.

Neil (15:45)
Yep, that's step one. Yep. Yep, gotta get the points.

Get your free wifi with the

convoy member. You know, lot of perks with the Marriott.

Nick (15:58)
So both teams up to, we'll see what happens. But as of right now, looks like it's gonna be the Ems and the Dodgers in the World Series. If things don't change, then let's go Ems.

Neil (16:10)
Let's go in.

Nick (16:12)
So to get into college football, I guess I'll give you the floor because the story of the week was your who, who, who-sha's.

Neil (16:22)
I mean, what a win. Got to be the biggest win in program history. I mean, it was just unbelievable job. Mendoza, Signetti, Surratt, all of them. IU's first top five road win in program history. Now they're one in 46 in the category. Viewers points at home for Oregon since 2022. I mean, it was just an absolute, and IU led most of that game. It wasn't like they had to come some miraculous comeback or something like that.

You know, Mendoza threw that pick six to tie the game 2020 in the fourth. And what did he do? Calm, cool and collected came right back 712 plays 75 yards. I mean you text him on that back shoulder throw to Surat. A pro, it's just a pro throw and then you know the defense steps up, gets an interception after that kick field goal and it's lights out so unbelievable job by the Hoosiers. If there was any doubts on, you know, I mean the Illinois game was something but everybody kind of like, it's just Illinois.

But when you go into Eugene, Oregon against the Oregon Ducks who are one of the college football's top choices to win the national title, and you beat them on their home turf, questions are answered, the Hoosiers are for real.

Nick (17:29)
absolutely not a fluke like they dominated this game and You talked about that throw? to sir at in the end zone, I mean dude, I just it just looked like burrow to chase and It's just the quarterback knowing where his guys going to sir at knowing exactly when he needs to turn and it's you can't defend it as a corner and it was just Absolutely beautiful. But yeah, you talked about him throwing that pick six

Neil (17:41)
Mm-hmm.

Nick (17:56)
And he was under duress a little bit, but you can't float that one up there. they recovered. And for all the talk that we talk about the offense, Mendoza had 215 yards and Serap had eight for 121 and a tutty. They had six sacks and Dante Moore did not get comfortable the entire game through those two picks. Indiana, mean, dude, they're gotta be in the conversation as one of the best teams in the country.

Neil (18:00)
It was a floater.

Oh, there's no doubt they are. And then you know, then the road for them. I mean, you look at what happened around the Big 10. It gets a lot easier. They don't play. They don't play the Michigan's in the Ohio States the rest of the way. The only the only time they'll face one of those two teams is if they make it to the Big 10 championship game and then you look at Penn State. Now they've lost three in a row that hours out for the season. That was their toughest game remaining on the schedule was at Penn State. You know it still probably will be a tough game. Penn State's talented, but.

It's not anything like we were expecting it to be. And outside of that, you've got just middle of the road teams off on the schedule. Your home games are against Michigan State, UCLA, and Purdue, and you're on the road at Maryland. it's on the road at Penn State, like I mentioned. So the road to the Big Ten Championship is wide open for IU. mean, just put the pedal to the floor and drive it on up to Indy. Because I mean, they're in the driver's seat.

Nick (19:14)
Yeah. And it's not just their offense. Like they're a balanced team. They're good in every facet. And I don't know, just it's like to fathom the job that Signetti has done up there. Like it's almost like nobody ever expected Indiana to be in the top 25 to be in the conversation regarding the playoff. His first year, they get to the playoff. Everybody's like, all right, this is kind of fluky a little bit.

Neil (19:44)
Yeah.

Nick (19:44)
But to follow it up and to begin the season the way they've done, it's to me, it's the story of the college football season, other than the top teams kind of falling out. You know, it's that and IU and I that's what this season's been all about. And the one number you left out there, they were one for 72 all time against top five teams. All time one for 72 going into Saturday. And now

Neil (19:55)
Yeah.

Nick (20:12)
They are 2-72 against top five teams and they're a top five team themselves.

Neil (20:20)
there's no doubt. No doubt.

Nick (20:23)
And you can talk about Indiana potentially being the number one team. I think Ohio State also deserves to be in that conversation. We talked about Indiana just putting it on Illinois. Ohio State didn't put up the numbers that Indiana did offensively, but they turned them over three times, turned that into 21 points. And Indiana's defense is just, or not Indiana, Ohio State's defense is.

Neil (20:32)
Yeah.

Nothing.

Nick (20:51)
is incredible and I think they're the number one scorer in defense in the country. Their opponents are averaging five points a game and Illinois had two touchdowns in the second half. I think the final was 34 to 16. That doubled the number of touchdowns that Ohio State have given up all year.

Neil (21:08)
Yeah, Ohio State is the real deal. I said, the defense is the story for the Buckeyes. At this point, mean, there's nobody that's going to stop them. They're definitely rolling to the Big Ten title game. They'll be in that college football playoff. ⁓ If they do make it, IU Ohio State in IU's backyard up in Indianapolis, that's going to be fun.

Nick (21:31)
It'll be real fun. it's all about Ohio State's, we've talked all about their defense, but I feel like Sands getting better every game and the weapons they've got on offense. their offense is nothing to sneeze at either. I guess the one benefit of them not playing in the regular season is if they do get to that point, you'll see it for the first time.

Neil (21:53)
Hopefully they can just beat Michigan this year. They've struggled with that the last couple years, but if they can get past Michigan, they'll be there.

Nick (22:00)
So one person that's not gonna be there this week is James Franklin. Fired after three straight losses to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern. The Oregon game was a great game, overtime loss. Everybody's talked about your struggles against top five teams and you've got a chance there, you don't pull it out again. And then your team just completely falls apart the last two weeks. The loss to UCLA was, even though we talked about how-

going out West is always kind of tough. You can't lose to a team that's as bad as UCLA is and you follow that up with a loss to Northwestern. Would you surprised if the news that James Franklin is out at Penn State?

Neil (22:42)
A little bit. I mean, not not surprised that I mean, I expected it to come at some point, but to do it right now. Little surprising. I thought maybe they give him until the end of the year to try to figure it out. Get this thing back on track. Like I said, you know they still have opportunities against like an India ranked Indiana team coming up and I believe they might play Michigan. I think so. I they have opportunities to turn it around. I thought maybe they would give that to Franklin, especially after the season they had last year. Taking him to the college football playoff.

I mean, as you said, his track record of beating the top five, top 10 teams is not very good. But he did make the college football playoff last year. I expected him probably to finish the year. But Penn State wasn't willing to give him that opportunity. they paid him, what are we talking, 50 large to sit on the couch for the rest of the season.

Nick (23:31)
Yeah, the numbers are just, I'm telling you, if you ever get offered a head coaching job, whether you think you can do it or not, you take it. I don't know if there's anything better than being a fired coach. I think you're talking about something like $200,000 a month, something like that. And how long does that last?

Neil (23:40)
I might just suck on purpose. You pay me $50 million to go sit on my couch, I'll be good with that. ⁓

What? Not in 2025.

Yeah.

Nick (24:01)
These

numbers are just crazy and to go away for a coach that, I mean, he's had success at Penn State. It's not been the success that they probably wanted him to have. They get to the playoff last year, bunch of high hopes this year and you lose three straight. I mean, a month ago, nobody would predicted James Franklin to be gone. And now he is and you wonder, do they get a little better now that Drew Allard is hurt because

He's kind of struggled there. People have talked how poorly he's played a little bit and I don't know, just a mess there.

Neil (24:38)
Big mess.

Nick (24:39)
Is your boy Signetti, I'm sure his name's gonna come up for that opening.

Neil (24:44)
His if his name will be on every college coaches opening. I mean we're talking Penn State He's probably gonna be on all any other big college Florida comes open. He's gonna be on that list Yeah, it's on the verge I mean any any big college football opening he's gonna be on that list. There's no doubt

Nick (24:55)
But it looks like that one is going to come open too.

So, and we've talked about this off air a little bit, but at Indiana, like you can get to the national championship game. It's not like the old days where, you know, if you're at a smaller conference, you know, you couldn't get there. Indiana is in the big 10. can get there where he is now, but is just the pull to go to such a prestigious program too much to pass up for him, you think?

Neil (25:08)
.

I mean, you think about the two schools and what they value and Penn State values football. I mean, nobody at Penn State cares about basketball. It's a football school. All of their resources are going into football. They're playing in a 90 something thousand seat stadium and I think they're renovating it or they have plans to renovate it to make it even nicer. And at IU, do they value football? Sure, mean, everybody values football.

IU is a true blue blood basketball school. Basketball will always be the king there. You know, that's, that's where the focus is of the fan base. That's where the money's going to go. Like they care about being good at basketball more than football. And then that's the same at places like Kentucky and places like North Carolina and places like Duke and Louisville, know, like basketball is going to be king. Do we care about football? Yes. We want our football teams to be successful, but basketball is always going to be king. So I think the money.

I mean, I don't know. You might be able to pay him with Penn State will pay him. Who knows, but I just think the lure of going to a true football school and being the top dog at that school probably might be a little too much.

Nick (26:40)
I agree. And what's going to happen is Indiana is going to have this football history where for the first, however many years they were just most of the time, terrible, sometimes okay. And then they're going to have this two year blimp where they get to the playoff both years and he's going to leave to go to Penn State or wherever. I I think there's a good chance that he's somewhere else next year. And then they're going go back to where they were.

Neil (26:52)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Nick (27:10)
So you're just gonna have this long chart where they're here and then for two years, we're in the playoff, we're one of the best teams in the country, and then it's immediately gonna come back down.

Neil (27:21)
Well,

I don't know if that doesn't have to be the case. I mean, ⁓ if you go find another diamond in the rough like a signetty that can come in and win right away, you know, like he took him to playoff in year one.

Nick (27:24)
I'd say it's pretty likely.

mean, how many of those exist

though?

Neil (27:35)
Probably not many, but you might find, I don't know, maybe you find one. But they found the right one. So they hit it once, you gotta strike gold twice, which is not likely, but it's possible. So.

Nick (27:47)
I mean, every

year that you can retain him is a win. If you can just keep pushing him off loop, leaving year, a year, it's a win. I mean, was, people thought he might leave after year one. They got him back here for year two and.

Neil (28:01)
I'm

not surprised he didn't leave after year one because he took a lot of his players from James Madison with him. I think he wanted to stick through it until those guys transferred out of the program, like they graduated and moved on. So I think he owed it to those guys. And now those guys, their time at Indiana is coming to an end. A lot of them were sophomores, juniors when they came in. So now that their time's coming to an end, I don't think he feels the need to stick around like he probably did after year one.

Because like I said, he brought some guys with him and he didn't want to get a quit on him after that after one year. So I don't know.

Nick (28:36)
mean, Mendoza is like number two on some NFL draft boards, like at Indiana, like all this at Indiana.

Neil (28:42)
And he wasn't like he didn't put up earth shattering numbers at California last year. Like Cal was not a very good football team. They're an average football team. I think he was just a pretty okay average quarterback. I mean, I know he had some other offers. ⁓ D1 offers to transfer into but he chose Indiana and it's worked out for both of them.

Nick (29:03)
It definitely has, it definitely has and that'll be interesting to see what they do the rest of the way. But the schedule this weekend, it's kind of been relaxed the last couple of weeks with top 25 matchups, but we got five of them this weekend.

Neil (29:18)
Five most of

any week so far this season. I mean, we got a big one Ole Miss number five Ole Miss at Georgia who's ranked number nine. So old top 10 matchup, Tennessee at Alabama, huge rivalry there. Tennessee coming in at number 11 in Alabama at number six. And you got LSU going to Nashville to face Vanderbilt. You know, Vanderbilt team that's ranked eight 17th now coming off that loss to Alabama. But ⁓ what's that?

Nick (29:45)
Those six schools all got something in common.

Those six schools all got something in common. Yeah.

Neil (29:50)
It might play for the same conference.

might, you know. Other matchups, number 20 USC at number 13 Notre Dame and at number 23, ooh, the rivalry in Utah, 23 Utah at number 15 BYU. So out of those five matchups, which one are you looking forward to the most?

Nick (30:11)
Well, you got to stick in the top 10, right? And Lane Kiffin already putting out some banter there. I don't know. Have you seen this?

Neil (30:21)
What did he cut? He said that Kirby's smart. Did call him fat almost? Well, he's not losing a lot of weight on the sideline In a roundabout way, maybe.

Nick (30:24)
He didn't call him fat. He didn't call him fat.

But he was asked in his press conference if himself or Kirby Smart burned more calories with their antics on the sideline. The guy who asked it was like, yeah, just a random question a little out there. And he just kind of sat there quiet for a little bit. And then he closes by saying,

Neil (30:38)
He he he.

Nick (30:53)
I'll walk by the TV and saw his press conference today, talking about Kirby Smart.

doesn't look like he's burned too many calories.

Neil (30:59)
In a roundabout way, he's calling them a little hefty.

Nick (31:03)
Yeah, which is, I mean, I know there's no love lost between those two programs, but kind of a wild thing to say about the head coach that you're going to shake his hand whether you win or lose at the end of the game.

Neil (31:14)
I mean,

I'm guessing they're friends. You don't say that about somebody that you're not tight with. Yeah. ⁓

Nick (31:17)
But still, like,

a little cheap shot there.

Neil (31:23)
Yeah, I mean, both of them like neither one of them been playing great football in the last week. Georgia last week came back from 10. down to Auburn and Auburn, you know, had that goal line fumble as they were diving her. still think maybe it was a touchdown. Ref's called it a fumble. Georgia recovers and they go on to come back from 10. but should have been down 17. come back to win from down 10. and speaking of antics, did you see Kirby Smart's antics in that game?

Nick (31:50)
Talk to me about this clap hands thing or whatever.

Neil (31:53)
I mean, the video of it, I guess, speaks for itself. Basically, Georgia, Kirby Smart, wanted to call a timeout. Referee blows the whistle. I mean, clearly gives it the old timeout signal. Referee blows the whistle, you know, stops the clock. Then Kirby Smart was like, no, no, no, I was clapping my hands. So basically, he got a free timeout out of it by lying because the referees bought his story, did not award Georgia the timeout, but the play had already stopped.

players are huddling up talking to the coaches and stuff. It was basically a free time out for Georgia. ⁓ By saying he was clapping his hands when video clearly shows Kirby giving it the old timeout signal. Great strategy. But how do you, if you're the league office, how do you let this happen? How do the officials let this happen?

Nick (32:34)
Good strategy? Something we're going to see again?

I don't, you've seen, you know, coaches that are kind of intimidating when they've been there for a while and some referees can fall for that a little bit. They get in their head, but no, you cannot let them get away with this. And you may, it's kind of crazy. haven't seen it before. And if we have, I don't remember seeing it, but you wonder if it's something somebody else is going to try because heck, you'd be a lot better off with four timeouts and three.

Neil (33:06)
Mm-mm.

I mean a hundred percent. I'm actually surprised that somebody hasn't tried to do it before, but this kind of stuff with Kirby, it's not uncommon. know, like you watch him on the sideline, he does try to pull some things. So I don't know. It's just wild that something like that could happen. I'm sure the officials in that game have probably been reprimanded. I haven't heard, I mean, this is a clear video of him calling the timeout and then them resending it. I don't know.

Nick (33:44)
And like we have review for everything. You can't go review that. Go look at the review. Go look at it. He calls time out. It's pretty obvious.

Neil (33:48)
USAID.

Yeah. Yeah.

very, very

Nick (33:57)
We'll

get into this at the end of the pod, but there's hockey officials in Russia that are getting banned for life for making way harder, like screwing up a way harder call.

Neil (34:09)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (34:11)
I mean, that's not a hard call. You go to the replay, you can see a call timeout. Pretty clear.

Neil (34:15)
can't explain it, I don't know. But that's a big game. Ole Miss at Georgia. And Ole Miss had a ⁓ close one over the weekend with a pretty bad Washington State team at home. They squeaked out a 24-21 win. ⁓ mentioned, Georgia had to come back and beat Auburn. So two teams coming in, not playing their best football, but a chance to get right and get a resume win.

Nick (34:36)
Yeah, and everybody had put Alabama to bed there at the beginning of the season and they didn't dominate at Missouri, but Missouri is a pretty good team. They found a way to sneak that one out. I talked about Mendoza being ranked as high as two on some draft boards. Ty Simpson was one on that draft board. And anytime Alabama's got the first quarterback that's gonna be drafted, I think they're a team that you gotta be thinking about when it comes to the playoffs.

Neil (35:03)
No, yeah, Alabama is back. I mean, there's no doubt about it. They're rolling. know he said they struggle a little bit against Missouri. Missouri is a good team. But, you know, coming off the win at Georgia, another chance for a resume win at home against a Tennessee Volunteers team, one of their big rivals, highly ranked number 11. I think I the ball is worse. So, you know, Bama wins this. They're in the driver's seat to get to that SEC title game. And then, you know, their resume speaks for itself with the wins that they've racked up so far. They'll be in that college football playoff.

Nick (35:33)
Yeah, so big week of college football this weekend, looking forward to that. And to kind of put a bow on the NFL weekend last weekend, the game of the week was the Chiefs and the Lions. The Chiefs win 30 to 17. And I bet you don't know how many penalties the Chiefs committed in that.

Neil (35:56)
See one two three No zero zero Zero after the week before having 13 at Jacksonville 13 penalties the week before the NFL was like hold on here Hold on you gotta get the official gene they had called Gene Steratore Have a talk with all the NFL officials to say we can't call this many penalties on the Chiefs Can't be having it. We need the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Once again, we can't be having 13 penalties. So what happens?

Nick (36:01)
Zero. Zero.

Neil (36:26)
They go the extreme opposite and they're like, nope, you played a perfect game. Never seen it before. Perfect game.

Nick (36:31)
No flags

no flags. I Mean if the Bengals you know, um five minutes without a penalty I would be ecstatic. I I don't know if you've seen Like the goofy little video on the internet where dudes playing golf and he's dressed up as Patrick Mahomes and he's talking like Kermit the Frog But he hits the ball and it goes in the bunker He's getting ready to hit out of the bunker and the whistle blows from the other side. You can't see what's happening

Neil (36:34)
zero.

That's it.

Nick (37:00)
All of a the referee comes into the bunker and says illegal spot and he puts the ball in the green he putts it and makes his birdie.

Neil (37:08)
I mean, it's like you don't want to get into then and believe that there's all there's a conspiracy. The chiefs, the NFL and the chiefs, NFL and the chiefs and the phone, the chiefs. But when you go from one week of having 13 penalties to the next week of having zero, you're going to tell me that there was not a single hold that the chiefs had. None of the offensive linemen grabbed any Jersey. Nobody moved a little bit early. Nobody was lined up a little bit offside. There was no pass interferences in a game. What? No illegal contacts, no defensive holdings.

Nick (37:38)
Yes. You can call, I mean, you can call holding pretty much any play you want. Anybody you want, can call it. Pass interference, you can call it probably almost anytime you want. And that's not saying they should, but these play like it's, it's a tough job to be an official. You all right over? It's tough job to be an official and, them to get no holding or no pass interference for 60 minutes is.

Neil (37:38)
Nothing? Nothing?

I never play. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (38:08)
just asinine and on top of that, the lion score on that trick play where where golf catches the touchdown, bobbles it, but eventually gathers it into score. And then after what felt like forever, they take that off the board for due to a penalty that he didn't set. And so not only do they have zero penalties, but you have you take off

Neil (38:14)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Illegal motion. Yeah.

Nick (38:37)
a touchdown because of a penalty that we're not even 100 % sure if it was a penalty. And Campbell is saying that the ruling came from New York while the officials are saying that it came from the crew itself. So somebody's lying about this.

Neil (38:53)
Well Terry McCauley was the rules official on the broadcast and he was all over it from the beginning. I mean he even said like this should not count that golf was under center to start he was under center and then went in motion and never came to a stop which I guess is a rule so ⁓ if we're in the business of believing Terry McCauley who's been an official for however many years he was an official ⁓ then it was the right call but

As you mentioned on the field, don't think they knew about it. I think you're right. I think it did come from New York. And if we're having penalties, we're having penalties being called from New York, then this game is getting a little sideways.

Nick (39:23)
But the crew said it didn't.

Yeah, the lead on field official in that game was Craig Roastead. And he said after the game that the crew on the field made the call. And that wasn't the way that we perceived it watching the game. That's not the way that Dan Campbell thought it came across. ⁓ He did say that if golf was in shotgun formation, then it wouldn't have been a penalty, but because he was under center, that's why it was called. So in the end, it probably was the right call, but

Neil (39:53)
you're Correct.

Nick (39:59)
When you flip that around and then the other team's getting zero penalties, it just, makes us stand out even more.

Neil (40:03)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (40:08)
So

everybody who's putting the Chiefs is dead. Are the Chiefs back?

Neil (40:13)
Yeah, I had them as dead, but they might be back. They might be back. I mean, that's a good, very, very good Lions team that they beat. And then you look around the league, you know, like the Buffalo Bills who we were all crowning as champions just two weeks ago are on now a two game losing streak. you're losing to, and so are the Eagles. then like the Bills losing at home to New England and then now going on the road to a mediocre Falcons team who maybe is a little bit better than we gave them credit for. But losing on the road at the Falcons.

Nick (40:27)
What's How Are The Eagles?

Neil (40:40)
commanders losing another team that we thought would be at the top of the league losing at home to the Chicago Bears and other mediocre team. So like you said, the Eagles losing two in a row. It's just the teams that we thought were good are not as good as we thought they were. And the teams that we were about to give up on are now resurgence and coming back. So maybe.

Nick (41:00)
Is it just

that maybe everybody is mediocre?

Neil (41:04)
I think that's probably more of an accurate statement. Yeah.

Nick (41:07)
I mean,

you know, we kind of were ignoring signs of the Bills and the Eagles because they were still undefeated. The Eagles offense was kind of was really struggling. ⁓ know, AJ Brown was complaining and they're still undefeated. But now after all that happens, they lose two in a row. The Bills squeaked out wins over the Dolphins and the Saints. And we kind of just pushed it aside, right? Because they're the Bills and then they go to lose two in a row.

Neil (41:17)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Right. Yup. Yup.

Nick (41:37)
We're kind of putting them on a pedestal before their two losses saying, you know what? They're still the best team. They've struggled recently, but they still figured out ways to win. But now those holes are turning into losses and who is good? Who's good?

Neil (41:55)
Colts are sitting there five and one. Baker Mayfield and the Bucks are sitting there. I think, are they five and one? Yeah. I mean, I think that the Buccaneers are good. I think Baker Mayfield is the real deal. We mentioned him being one of the top MVP candidates. I think they're good. Colts, I think are good, but not great. They're above average. Let's put them there. I think they're good enough. I mean, it's also the Raiders.

Nick (42:00)
Only two five and one teams.

I mean, they just put it on the Raiders.

I know it is,

but still, to be a great team in the NFL, you've got to blow out teams that aren't good. And you don't see that, and you see blowouts in college all the time, but you don't see that in the NFL. But that's what you should do as a really good NFL team. If you're playing a team that's inferior, you should blow them out. And the Colts did that, and they deserve credit for that.

Neil (42:31)
Yeah, it's true.

Yeah.

They do, they do. mean, they have a decent win against the kind of a fluky win, but a decent win over the Broncos. And then, and then your game, a game out in LA that they should have won that they gave away against the Rams, a pretty good Rams team. So I don't know. I think you're, you're right. It's a lot of average teams to slightly above average teams. I think when you get, get down to it here and

Nick (42:51)
It's fluky. No, it's fluky.

Neil (43:08)
the late weeks of the season in weeks 16, 17, you're gonna have a lot of jumbled up teams fighting for those three wild card spots. They come down to some tiebreakers, because they're all gonna be right around the same record.

Nick (43:18)
I mean, other than the Jets obviously are terrible, ⁓ but there's still a lot of open spots. it's gonna be, I mean, there's teams that are two and four that could end up in the playoffs. But one thing I wanted to talk, like you talked about the Bucks being five of one and everybody's talked about Baker Mayfield. And he's the fun thing to talk about when it comes to the Bucks. And they've got so many receivers that are hurt, they continue to win. But dude, nobody ever talks about top bowls.

Neil (43:23)
Yeah.

Nick (43:49)
And I I know he's not the flashiest coach out there. Like he doesn't get a lot of the headlines, but I think that dude deserves some credit for what he's doing in Tampa Bay. And every team has injuries and a lot of teams blame their struggles on injuries. But look how many injuries they've had with their wide outs. And I mean, yes, this is a credit to Baker too, but they just continue rolling on offense and they continue finding ways to win games late.

Neil (44:17)
Yeah. No, it's you're right. Todd Bowles does deserve a lot of credit. You know, he he turned him around last year, but Baker Mayfield, especially. I mean, we've talked about we've given it. We've given him his flowers on this show before. Ever since he's come to town, he's just taking that that team over, taking over by storm, turning them around. And he's playing the best football of his career. And like you said, with receivers being hurt and Baker still being able to get the job done, you know, credit to both of them.

Nick (44:44)
So let's rank the top 10 teams in the NFL and try to do this quick and we'll alternate one, two, three, four. You can start. Who do you think the best team in the NFL is?

Neil (44:54)
I'm going to give my best team in the NFL. I'm still going to give it to the Detroit Lions at number one.

Nick (44:59)
Okay, I thought you were gonna go a different direction there. I just gave Todd Bowles his price. And I always look at the NFC South and in the past years, I've been like they win this division, they get in the playoffs because they're in that division. I think they've jumped out of that and I think I've got them as number two.

Neil (45:06)
Yep.

Everybody bucks is number two, huh? Okay. ⁓ My number three team, we are gonna go, I'm gonna go with the Seattle Seahawks. I think it's probably the third best team. I mean, not really though. Like they should have won that game against Baker Mayfield two weeks ago. The team that you were putting at your top team, the Seahawks should have won that game.

Nick (45:40)
This is Hot Takes on Hot Takes.

Neil (45:51)
They kind of blew that one late, late turnover led to that Buccaneers field goal. But they just went on the road to Jacksonville, cross country to Jacksonville and beat a Jaguars team that's only lost once before then. They went to Pittsburgh against the Steelers team that's only lost once all year. That loss was to the Seattle Seahawks. So the Seahawks are playing good football and they're playing some of the best football in the league, think, right

Nick (46:16)
Well, and everybody talks about the big home field advantage in Seattle. They're one and two at home, three and and oh on the road. So for number four, I'm going Buffalo. I know they've lost two in a row. I know, you know, the loss last night to Atlanta, like you, a team that lost 30 to nothing to Carolina. And then they come in and beat the bills. Like this is what nobody knows what's happening in NFL, but I'm going bills. Number four.

Neil (46:24)
Yeah.

From number five for me, unfortunately I had him dead, but I think the Kansas City Chiefs have played their ways back in. mean, the 13-14 penalties they had in Jacksonville and they kind of gave that game away late with some late miscues of kicking the ball out of bounds and some late penalties there. They probably should have won that game on Monday night last week against Jacksonville, but you beat an Alliance team that I I said I have them ranked at number one.

I think the Chiefs are starting to figure it out. And I would put them probably at number five.

Nick (47:17)
So number six, I still can't believe that you haven't said the Colts. So do I go to the Colts or the Eagles? I'll go Colts at six. I think they deserve it. I think week to week they've been consistent. mean, Danny Dimes is not a one week wonder. He continues to play good football. They just put it on the Raiders and I'm putting them at number six.

Neil (47:41)
Number seven, I think the Green Bay Packers will be my seventh choice ⁓ They come off a win against the Bengals they put a 40 in Dallas and a tie the week before ⁓ But the Green Bay three one and one on the season Already with that win over the Lions under their belt. I think that they're probably in the top ten I put him in numbers. We'll be at seven seven

Nick (48:05)
So I guess I gotta go the Eagles. I know they've struggled, ⁓ but I mean we're to eight and two weeks ago we had that but the them and the bills is one too. So I'll go the Eagles at eight. Who's your last pick for the top?

Neil (48:19)
Yep.

My number nine and last pick of this top 10 is a division leader. A team that when we ranked before the season started, when we said, me two teams that did not make the playoffs last year that you could make the playoffs this year. And I kind of went off, off, off the rails a little bit. The New England Patriots sitting there at four and two in first place in the AFC East.

Coming off, think they've won probably what? Maybe they won three in a row. They already have that win in Buffalo. Their offense is absolutely rolling. Drake Mays got that thing figured out. Mike Vrabel is coming in, turned them around completely. So at four and two, sitting in first place in the AFC East, the New England Patriots are my ninth choice.

Nick (48:52)
Greenwell.

So we get to 10 and we still haven't said the Steelers who are 4 and 1, the Jaguars who are 4 and 2, the Chargers who are 4 and 2, the Broncos who are 4 and 2.

Neil (49:12)
Thank you.

Nick (49:19)
the 49ers who are 4-2 and the Rams who are 4-2. So of those teams who do I think deserves to be in the 10th spot?

On to other rants.

Neil (49:31)
Oh, I wouldn't have gone there. That's a saucy choice. That's a saucy choice. Give me a reason.

Nick (49:34)
Going to ramps.

⁓ mean, McVeigh and Stafford and you know, they always, their defense is always good in the playoffs. They've got a good young defense and they've proven that they can do it in the, in the postseason. So I, I think the charges in the Broncos are almost two even, ⁓ you know, to kind of separate one or the other. So yeah, I don't, not saying it was easy call, but I'll go to the Rams.

Neil (49:57)
Yes.

Chargers have that bad loss at New York against the Giants and I think they've just lost again recently. They might have lost this past week, right? Oh, two point win over the Dolphins. Squeaky, yes, squeaking a close one over the trash Dolphins. You know, I'm not sold on the Chargers. I'm not sold on the Steelers. Steelers haven't really played anybody yet, but they're in what somehow turned out to be the easiest division in football because the other three teams in the FC North have absolutely stink.

Nick (50:14)
Yeah, they won this week.

Neil (50:33)
But I mean, some of these other teams like the Jaguars, they were there until, you know, they got main handled by the Seahawks at home this past week. I mean, a lot of four and two teams that are good above average, slightly above average, but it just all comes back to it. They're all about the same. We talked about this, you know, they're all just a bunch of above average, average to above average teams. ⁓

Nick (50:58)
Yeah. mean, and, but you know what? That's why people tune in. It's not like the NBA and you know, major league baseball where the Dodgers are there every year. And you know, ⁓ that's what, that's what people love about it. It's unpredictable. And week to week, you just never know. And well, one, I don't know. It's just, it is crazy. Some of the results that you see in the NFL. But before we get into kind of previewing,

Next weekend, one coach was fired as Brian Callahan is out in Tennessee 419 in his 23 games. Your thoughts on him being fired what six games into the season this year?

Neil (51:40)
Yeah,

it's no surprise. I mean, we all knew this was coming, especially after this last game. Some of his comments he made in his post game conference saying, we gotta be better and that includes Kame Ward. And he's kinda dogging on Kame Ward a little bit. when that's your number one pick from this past draft, ownership's not gonna take too kindly of that. Fans aren't either.

The blame stops with you and it just was not working. And I like Brian Callahan. He was great as an offensive coordinator in Cincinnati for us. I have nothing but good things to say from when his time was in Cincinnati. But him as a head coach in Tennessee was just a disaster. So I think he probably goes back to being a coordinator somewhere next year. The Titans move on, try to find a coach.

They shouldn't have fired Rabel in the first place, to be honest with you. I don't know what they were doing. That's probably the biggest mistake they've made was firing Mike Rabel after he had just taken to a number one seed in the AFC three years ago. But I don't know. It's just a tough place to win down there right now.

Nick (52:39)
It is, and there's been a lot of volatility in their front office with their general managers, with their head coaches. I'm not going to go into all the changes, but there's been a lot of changes there. ⁓ And I think the people in Nashville, they love Mike Vrabel as their coach. And you know, he had had some success there and you cut ties with him and then you don't have a quarterback on top of it you're coming into a tough situation. And I just think Brian Callahan was up against it and he's a young coach, but

Will he get another opportunity to be a head coach when you're four and 19 and you get fired a year and six games into your tenure? I mean, what do you say in your interview process? You can't throw the management or the ownership of the Titans under the bus when you're talking to new management and ownership. So do you just take any job because you get offered or do you need to be more picky about the jobs you're taking?

Because I don't care how good of a coach Brian Callahan was. I don't know how he was succeeding with those quarterbacks and only getting 23 games to fix it.

Neil (53:45)
No, no, you can't.

No, you're not. He was up against it as you mentioned. And I think you're right. Some of these coordinators do need to be more selective. You can't just go into a team that the cupboards bear. They got rid of Derek Henry. They're all pros superstar running back. Your quarterback is Will Levis, the guy that somehow was a pick in the second round. of the top picks is Neal Smith.

Nick (54:10)
I think I was gonna go higher than that.

Neil (54:12)
He was supposed to be maybe a first round pick and he ends up being the second round, but that guy's not a second round talent. He's not an NFL quality quarterback. you you finally get a piece in Cam Ward, but you know, he's going to go through some rookie growing pains and it's only been six games. So, know, he never really had a chance to do anything with Cam Ward, but then he came, we're done. Have any weapons yet either. It's like they haven't surrounded that team with enough talent for anybody to win. You could put Bill Belichick in his prime at the Tennessee Titans. And I don't think he wins with this bunch of.

this bunch of players. So they've got to do something different down there. If the next coach is going to come in and be successful, they've got to go get more talent. But you know, like you're right, though, that you do have to be more selective. If you're an offensive coordinator, the situation or a defensive coordinator and you're trying to find a head coaching job, just don't take any job that's offered because you'll find out real quickly. If a situation is not right, you're going to fail.

Nick (55:04)
Now if you're an older guy, I think yeah, you take it. If you're Mike Zimmer and you haven't been a coach and the Vikings come calling, you take that job. if you're a younger guy in your late 30s or your 40s, I mean, be more selective because I don't see how he's gonna get another chance to be a head coach after that performance. And I don't think it's all on him. We know he can coach a little bit. Now, being an offensive coordinator and being a head coach and being in charge of it all is a different thing.

Neil (55:06)
Sure.

Yeah.

Nick (55:34)
Tough situation there for Brian Callahan and. ⁓

Neil (55:37)
Joe Brady, think is the name that you're going to see pop up on a lot of head coach openings, especially the Titans. The offensive coordinator up in Buffalo, he's one of those, like we mentioned, one of those up and coming coordinators looking for his first head coaching job. And if I'm him, I'm not going to the Titans. You what I'm doing? I'm waiting for the Cincinnati Bengals to come calling. Once Zach Taylor gets the boot, which he should, hopefully this year.

You know, reunite with that Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow combo that he used to coach in LSU. That's the guy. Give me, give me, yeah, give me Brady.

Nick (56:13)
We're a ways away

from that. There's not gonna be no in-season coaching changes for the Bengals. Just not how the Browns do it. But I know it's your dream scenario. Yeah, so I mean, we talked about all this variable Callahan stuff. The first game after Callahan's fired, it's the Patriots at the Titans.

Neil (56:22)
It's not, I had to put it out there in the universe.

That's gonna be a bloodbath and Yeah, yeah, yeah, there might be more fans cheering for the Patriots and Mike Rable than they are cheering for their hometown team in the Titans just because of how much they do love right

Nick (56:48)
And I would think he's gonna take, do everything he can to just put on him.

Neil (56:53)
You have to. I mean, you absolutely have to.

Nick (56:56)
So the Colts play the Chargers, which should be a good one. The Bucks and the Lions. And then we have the icy hot bowl in Cincinnati on Thursday night as Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco square off against each other. The second quarterback duo to face off against each other after the age of 40. We asked, would this be the first time last week?

Neil (57:07)
Woo!

Mm-hmm.

Nick (57:24)
Would it be the first time that we've seen two quarterbacks 40 and over facing each other? It is the second time. Drew Brees and Tom Brady did it three times in 2020.

Neil (57:24)
We did.

I see whole I see hot bowl part two

Nick (57:40)
I guess if they played three times, think it would technically

be the IC bowl four, IC hot bowl four.

Neil (57:45)
Or,

yeah, okay. But no, mean, looking forward to it. We'll be there tomorrow night. ⁓ The Bengals, if they have any hope of trying to get back in this thing and get to the playoffs, now is when your season starts. The new season starts tomorrow night, because now you go through a string of three straight home games. You got Pittsburgh.

You got the New York Jets and you got the Chicago Bears all at home before the bye week. These are three games that if you have a chance of getting into playoffs, you need to win all three of these and they can. I think that there's a chance for them to do it. Joe Flacco in the second half, at least in Green Bay, breathe the little life into into that offense. I think the first half, the coaching staff did a poor job of calling the plays and letting him Joe do what Joe wants to do, like throwing the football.

But once they opened up the playbook in the second half, the Bengals offense came to life. The defense did not, but I think there is a glimmer of hope with Joe Flacco based on what we saw in Green Bay. And the next three games are games that you could win.

Nick (58:48)
Yeah, the Bengals game on Sunday was a tell of two halves. And anytime you go to the first quarter where you're out possessed 14 to one, you're gonna have a hard time you win in that game. And their defense was good in the first half, got that stop and kind of kept them in the game. And then the offense starts showing signs in the second half. And what does the defense do?

Neil (59:10)
doesn't tackle, doesn't get stopped.

Nick (59:11)
guys let Josh

Jacobs just run down straight through everybody for a touchdown and you cut it to six when you go for two and you get a sack, you got them a third and eight and what do you do? You leave golden wide open for a first down. So yeah, they look like a football team in the second half for the first time since, I guess in the second, well, the fourth quarter against the Jags, Browning, they look like a football, but since then they haven't.

Neil (59:20)
39.

33 yards.

Nick (59:40)
We saw that in the second half and if they can figure out a way to beat Pittsburgh, who if Pittsburgh wins this game, they're five and one everybody else is, mean, Bengals are second at two and five. I mean, it's pretty much lights out for the division, but if you can figure out a way to win that one, you get to three and four, they dropped to what four and two and, then you, your schedule lightens up and you can see what happens, but I don't know, still long road to go, but it.

Neil (59:48)
It's, yeah, it's like... It's lights out north, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (1:00:10)
You did see some things from Joe Flacco that you think can help this team. And I know one thing, he was impressed with his weapons in Jamar Chase and Tee with the things he said.

Neil (1:00:19)
No, it's

got to go both ways. mean, Joe Flacco, as you mentioned last week, is coming from a situation in Cleveland with statistically was the worst receiving core in the league with all those drops. He comes and he's got Jamar Chase catching balls over defenders shoulders and double coverage. And Joe Flacco squeezing these throws into tight windows, something that Jake Browning wasn't doing. So both ways, Jamar Chase and T Higgins are finally getting opportunities to make plays because Joe Flacco's

throwing the ball to him and throwing him in the right spots. And then vice versa, Joe Flacco's not having receivers drop the ball. So Flacco's stats last week were actually pretty good, 29 to 45 for 219, two touchdowns. His QB, his rating was 90, which was higher than any Jake Browning rating we've seen. Jake Browning's highest rating was against Detroit, I think it was 76. So a lot higher rating from Joe Flacco in that one game than we've seen from Jake Browning. So.

Ride that momentum going into tomorrow night. Hopefully the coaching staff has a better offensive game plan from the get go.

Nick (1:01:19)
Look,

you talk about gameplay and the man had three days to get ready for that game. Like I don't care. I don't care who your coaches are like you're not gonna just walk in and look like you've been together for years Like it's not all on the coaching staff No, it's not yet even said it he had three days

Neil (1:01:23)
He's a veteran. No, he's a veteran. Yes, you are.

Yes, it was. Yes, it was. Joe Flacco's not a rookie. Joe Flacco's not a

rookie. He's not a rookie. The man has been around football. He knows the basics of football. Let him throw the ball. So let the man throw the ball. Why are we scared to let Joe Flacco, a Super Bowl MVP, one of the top 20 quarterbacks statistically in league history, get out there and sling the ball to two of the best wide receivers in the league?

Nick (1:01:43)
I know he knows the basics of football, anytime you're playing with a new team, it's gonna be different.

Neil (1:01:59)
Stop it with this reverse stuff and screen passes and all this other nonsense. Get out of here. I don't care if he's been here for three days. You let the man throw the ball and make the plays because he's Joe Flacco. He can do it.

Nick (1:02:00)
Night, work it.

I'm not-

He's Joe Flacco. And that's kind of the point. He is Joe Flacco. ⁓ No, they were not great in the first half. dude, it takes longer than three days to get, you know, like, ⁓ But I will say that we talked about the back shoulder throw from Mendoza to Surat. The throw from Flacco to Chase to cut the score to eight, unbelievable. Huh? Yeah.

Neil (1:02:15)
He's got a rookie. Look.

Which one? There was two of them. The one that he the touchdown on? He had the one that he scored the touchdown on, but he also

had another one to chase earlier in the game in that first down where he basically buzzed the helmet of the defender and chased somehow a hole in that one too. The touchdown.

Nick (1:02:45)
Well, I'm talking about the touchdown and

that was not the drawn up play from Zach Taylor. Jamar Chase gave Flacco a different route because he saw that the way they were playing it and they kind of just playgrounded it. And that's when they scored the touchdown.

Neil (1:02:54)
I heard about this. Hard call nose. Audible.

I mean, that's what smart football players do. You've got the best wide receiver in the league and a Joe Flacco who probably knows the game better than any other quarterback in this league right now than Aaron Rodgers, because he's been there for so long. He knows what he's doing. Let the two guys, let them call the plays. We don't need Zach Taylor. Get Zach Taylor out of here right now. Get him out. Let's let Joe Flacco and Jamar Chase be offensive coordinators and head coaches. Heck, they should probably call the defensive plays too, because nobody on that side of the ball knows what they're doing.

Let them run the team and we'll see where we're at the end of the year.

Nick (1:03:36)
Well, and they asked Jamar Chase, like, how much do you understand the quarterback position? Do you think you could play it? And he's like, no, I understand everything that a quarterback, you know, is trying to do out there. And I think that helps me be one of the best five receivers in the league, but no, I don't want to be a quarterback. I don't want to throw the football. want to catch the football.

Neil (1:03:54)
I think he's just fine where he is.

Nick (1:03:56)
Yeah,

bingles hosted the Steelers. Always fun when the dirty Steelers come to the Natty and it'll be fun to be there tomorrow night. Hopefully.

Neil (1:04:06)
Have

you checked off your tailgating items off your list yet? I got mine. Okay.

Nick (1:04:11)
I got to that tomorrow morning. Well, not

tomorrow morning. I'll probably leave work at about 2 30 and then take care of all that.

Neil (1:04:18)
Cutting it close. Cutting it close.

Nick (1:04:19)
We'll be cutting

it close. We'll be good though. So that wraps up the NFL. ⁓ lot of good games this weekend and we'll see if the Bengals can take care of the Steelers and get back in the AFC North. So the one thing I wanna close with is, we talked about the officials and the Chiefs and the Lions game. And I had mentioned briefly about a hockey official

Neil (1:04:23)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Nick (1:04:49)
in Russia in the KHL. So the puck slides under the goalie and it goes in the net. But video replay shows that it didn't actually go through the pipe. It actually went behind the pipe and went under the net and went into the goal. They allowed this goal to count. And when the game finished, the goal stood. That referee who made the wrong call was banned for life.

Neil (1:04:57)
Mm.

Oof. Oof.

Nick (1:05:21)
Should we have bigger repercussions for referees and officials in the states?

Neil (1:05:29)
Absolutely, yes. The answer to that is yes. Now banning somebody for life may be a little harsh, especially, I I've saw the video of that, the puck, in real time it's almost impossible to tell. I mean, it's very hard to tell, but also, there's no replay in Russia. They couldn't go back and get the call right.

Nick (1:05:47)
Evidently not.

Neil (1:05:49)
But back to your point of in the States, yes, I mean, especially when officials blow a call or there's a controversial call, they never have to answer questions about it. So let's start there. Let's have an officials press conference after each game.

Nick (1:06:01)
Well, they do

in the NFL, have pool reporters for the officials. That's how we found out about the golf call in the Lions Chiefs game. But I don't know if any other sports do that.

Neil (1:06:12)
Okay, well least they have that in, but like,

they need to. And especially in college sports, you know, like there's nobody ever has to answer, ⁓ it's maybe the NFL, but nobody ever has to answer for calls that they'd get wrong or controversial calls or this and that. So let's start there. And then yes, if you blow a call, especially in a big moment or a big game, there should be repercussions where you're suspended or you can't, maybe you're not working a post-season for a while, you know, or maybe you go down a level.

⁓ in your rank. So there absolutely should be harsher repercussions in these states, but goodness gracious, Russia needs to lighten up a little bit, I think, on their end as well.

Nick (1:06:51)
But we know this like there are like observers of officials and they score their games after every time that they're out there But we as a public never hear anything about what are you doing? Nobody? What?

Neil (1:06:58)
Yeah.

Sorry.

Computer was about to die. We don't want that to happen. All right.

Nick (1:07:15)
We don't want that to happen. But

we never hear anything about these scores. They never made public. And maybe we should get that public. Maybe that should become public information. And we've gone to the replay system now where if, well, let's bring it back to Jim Joyce in Armando ⁓ Gallaraga when he was throwing his no hitter and Jim Joyce screws that call up at first base and

Neil (1:07:37)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (1:07:43)
Armando Galarraga doesn't get a no hitter and he's never gonna get that back. And that was because of his one bad call.

Neil (1:07:50)
I mean it wasn't just another, that was a perfect game on the line there.

Nick (1:07:52)
Perfect game, yeah. So

that perfect game goes away because Jim Joy screws up that call at first. where he, our officials and referees are human beings. And I mean, you could see how that hit him emotionally, like he knew that he screwed up. But should, if you make a mistake like that, should you have to sit out five games, 10 games?

Neil (1:08:06)
Yeah.

Yeah, in the case of Jim Joyce, it's hard because for two things. number one, that call in today's day and age would be overturned and that would be based on replay, and Galarraga would be celebrating his perfect game. So a call like that, especially in Major League Baseball where all these things can be reviewed, probably doesn't happen again.

But also Jim Joyce's call didn't affect the outcome of the actual game. I mean, he did take away a piece of history, which really, really sucks. But the biggest repercussions to officials should come in calls that do have a direct impact on the outcome of the game. We're talking wins and losses, especially if you're in the postseason and your call knocks somebody out of a tournament or knocks somebody out of a playoff because you missed one. So Jim Joyce, yes, that should be repercussions, but maybe not as strong as some other scenarios.

Nick (1:09:06)
Well, I mean, get what you're saying and there's not going to be many situations where it's something that screws something up that isn't a win or a loss, but people aren't going to remember. I mean, aren't going to remember who won that game. You remember that he had a perfect game taken away from him because that was the history of it. And there's only been a select few in the history of baseball. So, but I think the main thing is you're right. Like the replay is a protection mechanism.

Neil (1:09:23)
You know.

Nick (1:09:35)
for referees and officials. And I know a lot of them didn't want it to be involved because they feel like it kind of takes their responsibility away. But in the end, if you do make a mistake, at least you're not gonna live with it for the rest of your life like Jim Joyce is with that call. And as fans for the most part, we know that calls are gonna be right. Now we still sometimes see replays and we're like, I have no idea how that play called or that.

Neil (1:09:38)
Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Nick (1:10:04)
how that play got overturned. So, I mean, it still happens, but I don't know.

Neil (1:10:06)
Yeah.

Yeah, I you're going to see the biggest screen is going to come on the the calls that can't be reviewed. So like in football, you like the past interference, non-pass interference calls and basketball, like fouls, not foul. You know, you're not going to they don't review that stuff. So it's all these judgment calls that aren't reviewable that that are going to be the topics of conversation in situations like this. And then that when there is controversy and those kind of judgment calls.

those officials need to answer and why they made those calls, what they saw, why they made them. And if they want to admit that they're wrong, then go ahead and admit that you're wrong. You don't have to pretend like you're right just to save your ego. If you're wrong, just say you're wrong.

Nick (1:10:50)
Well, the official who made the holding call on Logan Wilson on third down in the Super Bowl, banned for life. The official who just allowed the Chiefs to come out and have another fourth down opportunity after they had been stopped on fourth down in the AFC Championship, banned for life. So let's be Russia on those and for everything else, we'll be a little more chill.

Neil (1:10:55)
I agree with that.

And for life. Yes.

I'm talking prison

time. There should be prison time for those two.

Nick (1:11:16)
I would not, I'd vote yes for that.

Neil (1:11:21)
Yeah.

Nick (1:11:22)
I guess, you know, we talked a little bit about prison time last week and we need to, we need to do a correction. We did, we did, did. I won't say we did. I get got.

Neil (1:11:28)
Yeah. You got got.

You got got. Unfortunately you got got. Yeah. The.

Nick (1:11:38)
How did I get got?

Neil (1:11:39)
The unbelievable story that we were all outraged about of the Olive Garden waitress getting stiffed on her tip and launching a fastball, Randy Johnson fastball breadstick basket at the customer who did not tip turned out to be a false story. So all is good. What the lesson is still to be learned in that story is if you can't tip, don't go out to eat because that has I mean stuff like this does happen, you know.

So I'm sure there's multiple rachers around the country that have wanted to fire a breadstick basket at a customer before for being stupid and not tipping and probably haven't. But the lesson in this story is still there to be learned. If you can't tip, don't go out to eat and tip your servers 20 % or 15 at the least.

Nick (1:12:27)
Yeah.

And also the lesson is if the mugshot, she's cute, maybe do a little more research, make sure it's Because that, that,

Neil (1:12:31)
Yeah.

Check your source. Don't get distracted.

Don't get your eyes distracted by the pretty girl. You gotta read the story and the source. You gotta check the source too.

Nick (1:12:40)
Yeah. And,

and this AI era, I know it's, it's just like the NIL era. It's all new to us. ⁓ Double check everything when it comes to AI. mean, now we're seeing Fred Rogers with all these rappers sitting on his, sitting on his bench and all these like 50 cent and Eminem songs is 1950s style ballads. So.

Neil (1:12:58)
That's all that. That's all that video. That's funny.

Yup.

Nick (1:13:09)
We might I don't know. Have you heard those?

Neil (1:13:12)
I've not heard those. I have seen the Mr. Rogers with the rappers though. I think those are pretty good. Those are fun.

Nick (1:13:15)
So we won't have to

get into these ballads of these without me, many men, they're turning them all into 1950 style songs and AI's doing a pretty damn good job with it. I mean, they kind of, they honestly, they kind of.

Neil (1:13:23)
I'll check it out.

Now let's check it out.

Alright.

Nick (1:13:37)
We'll check one out on the way to Sensei tomorrow.

I'm, we're wearing white, don't forget.

Neil (1:13:41)
I've got it ready to roll. Got the chili. Chili will be in the crack pot. Grilled cheese will be flowing on the grill. You just make sure you got that ice and beer.

Nick (1:13:50)
you know we'll have it. So excited to hit the road tomorrow to watch the Bengals hopefully get back in the ASC North Hunt and we're definitely be back with you Wednesday. We've decided these Sunday shows and we decide we're gonna do it, we'll do it. But with the Bengals not playing on Sunday, there might be a pretty good opportunity.

Neil (1:14:08)
I think we have

a, yeah, we'll probably be back on Sunday.

Nick (1:14:12)
But

for now, I'm Nick, that's enough for today. You've been listening to the height differential. We'll catch you either Sunday or Wednesday.