NFL Predictions, FSU's Strategic Moves, and Miami's Coaching Changes

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:09

the north florida sports network. All right, welcome back it's nfl picks on the usual the day we do it. Sports Network Thursday. That's right, but we did this actually Tuesday, but it did not sound good, bored, we don't need to, but we're here. We're going to give you everybody's picks. Unfortunately, we do not have Mike or Justin here on the rerun here, but we got their picks at the moment, so we'll go over them. Before we get started, we'll go over the records. Last week I was 10-5-1.

Speaker 2 1:00

Ooh.

Speaker 1 1:01

Yeah, that's right, justin 9-6-1. Yeah, that's right, justin 9, 6 and 1, mike 8, 7 and 1 and Jimmy 7, 8 and 1. So solid against the spread. We are looking at hard rock app in case you wanted to play along, make money make money yourself. All right. Well, we'll go over the picks, like you said.

Speaker 2 1:32

Like I said.

Speaker 1 1:33

Talking to myself. We all picked KC, except for Jim. Now Right.

Speaker 2 1:41

You went with the Steelers.

Speaker 1 1:43

Yeah, I mean, the Chiefs actually blew someone out.

Speaker 2 1:46

Yeah, I didn't think they would do it two weeks in a row. I had a feeling.

Speaker 1 1:51

Christmas. You know, Just being at game on Christmas, you know it's like, oh, this is different.

Speaker 2 1:57

You can't not have Travis Kelsey Right.

Speaker 1 1:59

Exactly, it's more of like a playoff feel and that's just more cements. I it's more of like a playoff field and that's just more cements. I don't know how I didn't pick them. I feel like they're going to put them on the trophy man.

Speaker 2 2:13

Yeah, until they lose, I mean you could get.

Speaker 1 2:15

I bet the odds now have gone way up, but get decent odds for them to win. But they're the clear favorites. I don't care what anybody says. And uh, but you picked the steelers. You were wrong I was wrong everybody else picked the chiefs, all right, so we'll go to the next game that already played out. And the ravens man, they beat that.

Speaker 1 2:42

I was right about the Ravens yeah, I mean Lamar Jackson, someone you know he might be right back into the MVP conversation. If you know, josh Allen is not quite as big a favorite if you look at the betting numbers.

Speaker 2 3:01

But he also had Derrick Henry man.

Speaker 1 3:05

I was wrong on this one, six points. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. Houston couldn't do anything.

Speaker 2 3:11

No, they man. Cj Stroud doesn't look right, right, he looks out of sorts Telling you that injury man two weeks ago.

Speaker 1 3:21

You and Mike took the Ravens. Justin and myself we're dead wrong on that one. So we'll go now to games that we have not seen yet. And it starts right now where we usually do it, and that's tonight, thursday night, boxing Day, and that is the Seahawks and the Bears. Now I don't think anybody's taking Chicago in this game, although you know this is one of those crazy games there at home the Seahawks haven't been playing well, but we're all taking Seattle here.

Speaker 2 3:59

Right, there's no, nobody's trying in Chicago and even if they were.

Speaker 1 4:06

Well, I mean it doesn't make sense. I mean you still have a quarterback that needs to. He doesn't want them to get you know a good draft. I guess he does.

Speaker 2 4:14

Yeah, I mean he doesn't want to die out there, but he's, you know, at this point, the better the draft pick.

Speaker 1 4:23

But yeah, well, we all picked Seattle to win this. It's now at four. Four and a half Doesn't change. You know what?

Speaker 2 4:43

Flip it. You know what?

Speaker 1 4:45

No it. You know what it means. There's just a lot of money coming in on Seattle. They're just adding points. I'm not going to flip it, I'm going to stick with this. Since the guy didn't have it right, we'll go with what we already picked. We all picked Seattle. Let's go to the next game. It's New England, it's the Chargers, it's Milk Steak making the trip cross country. We're all picked New England in this because of the spread, except for myself. I went with Milk Steak in this. I'm going to eat the four points. I think they need to win. I think they get it done. Um, what are you thinking here with, uh, new england?

Speaker 2 5:33

I like mac jones also, not mac jones drake may yeah apologies um I did that on purpose. I don't know, man. I just don't trust. All the stupidity is out of the Chargers from the Brandon Staley era.

Speaker 1 5:53

Yeah, well, all right, we all. Let's go to Cincinnati Denver. That game is plus three Denver Denver going into Cincinnati. We're split on this. I am taking the Bengals as well as Justin. You and Mike are both taking the three points and the Broncos on the road, and you know I'm just taking Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase.

Speaker 2 6:23

Right, you're not taking the Bengals, You're taking two players.

Speaker 1 6:27

I think they're going to score enough points to where you know the defense can try to hold them back and being it still is a rookie quarterback, you know.

Speaker 2 6:39

I know, but at this point not really. Yeah, you're right, all right, yeah, because you're, you're right.

Speaker 1 6:45

All right, yeah, because you're going Broncos there. All right, well, let's go to where the Rams and they're playing the Cardinals. The Cardinals just look like they've thrown in the towel.

Speaker 2 7:03

They do.

Speaker 1 7:05

And the.

Speaker 2 7:05

Rams look the opposite, right, they got something to play for man.

Speaker 1 7:12

It's not up to seven yet. It was six when we did earlier Six and a half. It didn't change anything for me. I'll take the Rams to win by a touchdown here. Yeah, all right, I think everybody is doing that. All right, I think everybody is doing that All right. We'll go to the worst game of the week and that's Tennessee at Jacksonville. Oh my God, mike's taking Tennessee just to be interesting. But they're getting a point. So everybody else is taking the home team.

Speaker 1 7:48

I guess, moving on Buffalo hosting the Jets Interesting game in terms of the line here. Nine points for New York. So that is getting a pick by mike. He is taking the jets. Everybody else is eating the nine and taking the bills. Mike's jets, yeah, they're now mike's jets, all right. Um, we'll go to new york and there are giants are hosting the Colts. They're getting seven and a half at home and I still don't think that's enough for anybody to take them. It's not, it's not. Everybody took Indy. They're clearly they have to be tanking. They're just terrible. I mean, they got Drew Locke DeVito. I mean, it's just not good. I think the coach is good though.

Speaker 2 8:46

Right, he is good. He won games somehow. Not a lot. I don't think he's had a good quarterback yet in New York.

Speaker 1 8:54

But he had a good season with Josh Allen. Well, he's going to have Shador. Is that who it's going to be?

Speaker 2 9:02

I think so.

Speaker 1 9:04

All right. Well, we're all going Indy here, minus the seven and a half on the road. Another stinker of a game New Orleans hosting Las Vegas. Oh, this is one where I think everybody took Las Vegas.

Speaker 2 9:23

The Raiders Wow.

Speaker 1 9:26

I don't think that's happened all year. Well, they're minus one on the road in New Orleans. Wow, what a crap team, the Saints.

Speaker 2 9:35

Suck man, they might be the worst team right now the Browns speaking of suck, suck.

Speaker 1 9:41

They are hosting the Dolphins. They're getting six and a half at home. Let's see what we got on this and it is a clean sweep. We're all taking the Dolphins here. Minnesota hosting Green Bay. This is Green Bay's getting a point. This is going to be a hell of a game. We're split here. Justin and jim are both taking green bay. I myself and mike are taking the vikings big game here for both teams. Minnesota controls its destiny for a buy in the one seed. Now they have to go through the big boys which are in their division. But, like I said, they they control their own destiny, so it's going to be fun. Um, yeah, we're split on that one. Let's go to what else we got Eagles-Cowboys. Yeah, eagles-cowboys Cowboys are getting seven in Philly but everybody's taking Dallas.

Speaker 2 10:51

Yeah, well, they're different. Dallas with Cooper Rush at quarterback yeah, they look more efficient. That's odd, it's not odd. Yeah, you look more efficient. That's odd, it's not odd. Yeah, I mean it is if you go by salary. But I mean, dak is just, he's a nightmare All right, well, okay, let's go to Hockey.

Speaker 1 11:21

Hockey, don't you know, don't you know? Oh, tampa Bay, carolina, tampa Bay, tampa. Interesting line here. Carolina's been playing well. They're getting eight, though, going down to Tampa.

Speaker 2 11:34

Yeah, that's a big number.

Speaker 1 11:35

And so let's go to the sheet. Like I said, we already picked this Yep, so I might feel differently now, but we're split on the middle here. Mike took the panthers, justin took the panthers, you and me are feeling the bucks here, and I guess mine was. You know, just the law of averages. So the nfc south being that the bucks lost last week right, and I don't think the Panthers can keep looking confident.

Speaker 2 12:02

They kind of got embarrassed on national TV.

Speaker 1 12:06

They're playing at home. They have to have it. Baker's saying stuff in the media, so I think he's been playing well for the injuries and stuff. I think the Bucs are due for a big performance here and they the win by over eight. Just kind of a gut feeling there. But eight points is too much for justin and mike. All right, and uh, what else we got here? Is that all of them dynamite? No, we have the falcons, we have the um commanders. That's the night game. Sunday night, falcons looked a lot better with phoenix and this is going to be a matchup. And rookie quarterbacks phoenix, jaden, daniels, phoenix, phoenix Sorry, phoenix and Daniels. For Washington. The Falcons are getting three and a half on the road.

Speaker 2 13:12

Let's go to the sheet. The sheet says everybody picked the Commander Skins.

Speaker 1 13:22

Okay, they did nobody's believing in the rookie on the road here, although I would not be surprised oh yeah I wouldn't. Um, atlanta has a lot of weapons. Um, this guy's not like some 21 year old rookie, he's like 24, he's played at two different colleges, he's had multiple coaches and I think it's just a different, all the more reason. What the? What the hell were they thinking?

Speaker 1 13:51

you know, maybe they were just like, they figured out that they really liked this guy and they were like well, we got kirk cousins and probably shouldn't have done that, and they finally were like, yeah, we, we definitely shouldn't have done that yeah, paid him that much money I mean maybe they, they've they still really like this kid, you know, and and he looked like he, he looked better. I mean look like the team you know responded but we'll see here. This will be a big test on the road. Uh, nobody thinks he's going to get it done here.

Offensive Line Upgrades and Football Analysis

Speaker 1 14:22

Um with three and a half points, so at least they're not putting the money on it. We're going to go to. We got one more and that'll rematch in the NFC Championship. Lions going to San Francisco.

Speaker 2 14:45

It's going to be an ass whooping.

Speaker 1 14:47

It's only three and a half for the Niners. Yeah, you know, I don't know about that, I just think. You know. I think, especially now with the backups, I would not. This is a classic Shanahan like watch wins by two touchdowns after they're eliminated, just to prove to everybody how genius he is yeah, I don't think so.

Speaker 1 15:13

I don't think so man, because the lions are still battling for that buy and they're in a hot and they're in a battle with the eagles and the vikings for that. Right now they have a leg up. They can't afford to lose. So I think there lies the four to lose, so I think there lies the and. So that's just not enough points for the Niners. They just haven't been playing well this year and no Trent Williams.

Speaker 2 15:37

Everybody's hurt. You know, everybody's older, it's over Kyle.

Speaker 1 15:44

And we all agree Detroit on that one, all right. So there you go, there it is there it is folks all right, well, uh, we have some new developments here, and so we have to. What is that?

Speaker 2 16:02

new developments developments.

Speaker 1 16:18

That's right. I want to talk about offensive line Portal combat. Yeah, I'm going Florida State off a 2-10 season. We talked about the coaching changes, but it really comes down to players and today we just got the center for next year being Wake Forest Center. And tell me a little more about this guy. Well, he's Wake Forest Center. And tell me a little more about this guy.

Speaker 2 16:50

Well, he's Wake Forest Center.

Speaker 2 16:53

Yeah just committed today. You know he's what a four-year starter, three-year starter, honorable mention, all-conference. It's an upgrade at one of the most important positions on offense. So that's a big pull. I don't think anybody. You know they missed on Cade Kittler from UCF and people were kind of panicking there. I think this was the reason. They were sort of cool with him walking and going and committing to Arkansas. So this is big, big one. They also got Micah Pettis out of Ole Miss a few days ago another literally huge pickup.

Speaker 2 17:35

Yeah, so they've added four offensive linemen through the portal Adrian Medley, gunnar Hansen, this kid Petty, john from Wake Forest and Micah Pettis. That's two tackles, a guard, a center, so that's.

Speaker 1 17:53

I mean that's doing something yeah, and you're talking about guys that are going to play. I mean Luke Pettybonds, who I was talking about this guy is all ACC. I don't remember mentioning this guy brings toughness. That's what Mike Norvell says, which is great. Blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2 18:11

Well, he's coming to play next year. He's coming to play.

Speaker 1 18:14

He's going to help with a bunch of the calls at the line of scrimmage. This is really going to take a lot of the pressure off Thomas Castellanos and you're talking about both guys coming in, so they're going to be on the same page here. I love this move just because of the position it's in it. Um, this is a position that where you saw kind of almost a decline at the position and leading to maybe what was the firing of the last offensive coordinator.

Speaker 2 18:42

So yeah, I think, uh, I think just the wear and tear of of playing that for five, six years for Maurice Smith it finally just took its toll on him. Man, last year it was kind of a toss-up whether or not he was going to be able to give you any consistency.

Speaker 1 19:02

Well, when you say you want to turn it around right away, the first you know, for all fans who watched this last year are like well, who the hell are you going to get in the line?

Speaker 2 19:14

Yeah, I mean it starts up front.

Speaker 1 19:16

Right. So this is a good. This is a guy that starts with the ball. This is a good pickup and then, like you said, the huge monster from Ole Miss.

Speaker 2 19:26

Yeah, my competitors. And, like you said, the huge monster from Ole Miss. Yeah, my competitors. I mean dude, 6'6", 6'7", 360. I mean, this is going to be a different offense man. You're not asking your tackles to straight-up pass block for six seconds anymore and slow developing stuff. So hopefully you're going to see an improvement across the board with the offensive line and maybe even some of the young guys that are left in the program. You know, with the season under Herb Hand they'll get something going.

Speaker 1 19:59

Yeah, well, I mean, that's just a good sign.

Speaker 2 20:04

Yeah.

Speaker 1 20:06

I mean, hey, I think the rock bottom was hit Right.

Speaker 2 20:09

I mean it's hard to go any lower than 2-10.

Speaker 1 20:11

That's true.

Speaker 2 20:13

I mean, you could have not won any of the games. Really, the only one you won last year was the FCS team.

Speaker 1 20:20

Well, you got a quarterback with experience. You got a center with experience. Those are the guys that are going to have the ball the most. On offense, you already got two new guys off a two-win team. I'm I'm excited about that in terms of just a fast turnaround yeah, and you added deuce robinson from usc, right d rob's kid not to mention yeah, and the receiver position in general. Uh, I think is just just better. More experience, bigger.

Speaker 2 20:49

Much taller.

Speaker 1 20:50

More physical, yeah, more traits that are going to a purpose and whether it be, you know, a type of running game, but they want guys that can block and can run deep.

Speaker 2 21:07

Yeah, I mean you're going to see a lot more of you know, I don't think that you know that Johnny Wilson and even Keon Coleman, like. I don't think the way they were used in the offense was unique to Alex Atkins. I don't think that was his influence. I think you're going to still see that out of the wide receiver position. You know it's going to be interesting, man. We're going to still see that out of the wide receiver position. It's going to be interesting, man. We're going to run the ball a lot and then you're going to have big guys downfield in those matches.

Speaker 2 21:34

I'm also excited about Randy Pittman, the tight end transfer from UCF. He's more of just kind of like a gadget player on offense. If you remember Gabe Neighbors from a few few years back, he's a lot like that. Another big addition to uh, to the offense man.

Speaker 2 21:52

You gotta have guys that can catch the football okay he was originally a florida state commitment a couple years ago I think he kind of got squeezed out of the class when they took more lock. Um, so good to see that they made up for their mistake on that one right and you know.

Speaker 1 22:09

So this is, you know, positive signs yeah because I was gonna say you know, I asked you this a few weeks ago, or even a month ago.

Speaker 2 22:19

It was, you know no, everything was dumpster fire yeah, so these, this is you know.

Speaker 1 22:26

It feels like it's. I know what's wrong. I had to make you know, I had to get this right.

Speaker 2 22:31

Right, it started with making the decisions with the coaching staff. You know, once that was that's. The hardest part about it is having the coach convinced to fire guys. And there we are.

Speaker 1 22:49

And there we are.

Speaker 2 22:50

There we are.

Speaker 1 22:51

And there we are. There we are, yes, all right. Well, there we are Another week of picks in the bucket.

Speaker 2 22:59

In the old shooter's bucket.

Speaker 1 23:03

We'll see who comes down with the most wins this week, but what do we got? We had to go. We gotta get on out of here. Alright, see, it's a Boxing Day ride. Boxing Day, happy Boxing Day.

Speaker 2 23:23

We got to rid of that, can't we, can we? It's got to be, nobody knows. Well, you know it's kind of like Christmas. Nobody really knows when that came from, it just popped up.

Speaker 1 23:40

People celebrate differently Around the world.

Speaker 2 23:43

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 23:44

Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:45

Like on different days.

Speaker 1 23:48

Arm day at the gym.

Speaker 2 23:51

Oh yeah, glamour shots, glamour hammers, glam hammers. You walk around with a hoodie and no sleeves.

Speaker 1 24:03

A lot of people in Canada go shopping on this day.

Speaker 2 24:08

Really.

Speaker 1 24:09

Yeah, similar to Black Friday, as in America, isn't that odd? England likes to just eat leftovers there you go, lazy Brits.

Speaker 2 24:30

Well, yard work the day after Christmas.

Speaker 1 24:35

Yeah, new Year's coming up, playoffs coming up. We got those to look forward. To Keep an eye on this portal.

Speaker 2 24:47

Look forward to.

Speaker 1 24:49

Maybe some hoops there it is. Yeah, it's looking rough. Hey, just one win away From getting right back to where you need to be. To get back to where you need to be.

Speaker 2 25:01

Jim Laranega stepped down.

Speaker 1 25:02

Jim Laranega from Miami said I am tired of it.

Speaker 2 25:06

I'm not coaching this Matt Cleveland kid anymore. I'm done, done. I'm going to see how you did this, hamilton.

Speaker 1 25:12

I think he was saying that the year after he went to the Final Four, he said he had eight players at the first team meeting saying they're leaving for NIL. That is where you're at when you're at Miami or where you're at anywhere.

Speaker 2 25:27

Anywhere that's not prioritizing basketball.

Speaker 1 25:30

Right? Well, we've got a lot of football to watch before the end of the year. We'll do it, we'll do it, we'll watch it, we'll react to it and we'll talk to you next time right here on the North Florida Sports Network. I'm goddamn, madder than shit.