Pine Pony Podcast
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Pine Pony Podcast
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In this jam-packed football episode, we dive into the latest college football playoff bracket, discuss major NFL injuries, analyze the trade deadline, and look back at our pre-season predictions for NFL team records. We also update you on dramatic NFL games and make our mid-season playoff predictions. Featuring discussions on teams like the Bengals, Ravens, 49ers, Commanders, and players such as Dak Prescott, Myles Garrett, Joe Burrow, and Jaden Daniels. Don't miss out on our analysis and breakdowns!
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Welcome, welcome, welcome to another edition of a Pond Pony Podcast. It is me, the OG, and with me, we got the fantasy uncle. What's happening? Hey, yo. What's up, Populous? Glad to be back. Another week talking football. Coming at you live on an election night. That's right. Democracy may be dying, but guess what? Football is not, baby. That's right. That's right. So as we go through this, this episode, we'll do a talk about the college football playoff that just came out some injuries, trade deadlines. And then we're going to take a look back on what we projected the records to be, where they are the most surprising teams. And you know, what, you know, what could they look forward to, you know, moving forward on some of those teams, not all, but some. So let's get into it. Let's start the show. The Pied Pony Podcast. So right off the bat, let's talk about the college football top 25 playoff bracket. So the first bracket, which it should change throughout the next couple of weeks, we got the first four, which are the, the winners of their conference, Oregon, Georgia, Miami, And BYU all get the first round by currently. And then the next eight are Ohio state, Texas, Tennessee, Penn state. And they would play Notre Dame would play Penn state. Oklahoma would play Tennessee, Alabama would play Texas. And Boise state would play Ohio state Boise state being the highest ranked group of five winner. So who, out of all the group of five conferences. Whoever is the highest ranked team gets a, gets a, the number 12 seat. It's it, it looks like, or, or unless they're ranked higher, unless they're ranked higher, that's actually a wrinkle of it. I didn't even realize that's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, Hey, college football this week, you know, Clemson lost, got smoked by Louisville. I mean, that was just. Unbelievable. South Carolina beat this, beat. Texas a and m and, and South Carolina didn't even get ranked by the AP poll or the college football top 25. Which is wild to me. Yeah. Wow. Because they've had a lot of those games. Like that, that says something pretty bad about Texas a and M then. Right. So they were 10th, they were 10th last weekend and they lost to an unranked. Yeah. And if I'm, they dropped to like 20. Or like eight, the late teens or something like that. So that was kind of interesting. It feels super wild with the amount of teams that have fallen, not just that have caught losses, but have fallen to like unranked teams. You know, I haven't been super into college the past few years, but to you, like as someone who's been following it all along, like this is pretty hard to actually. Make like a full top 12. There could be any number of like 30 different teams. Well, lucky for them, five of the top 12 are already decided. Right. So really you're looking at half of that, that they got to figure out. And I mean, you know out. Are there any that stick out to you as teams that shouldn't, that probably should not be in the top 12? No, not, I mean, Alabama's the only two lost team in there and that is the one that would stick out to me considering SMU is eight and one and there's steam rolling like every team that they play. And they have a shot to win the ACC title. So like, that's a little surprising that Alabama is still in there. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, how, like, how, year after year, they, they seem to get this special treatment, right? Like, right. And then, you know, so you got on the outside looking in 13, you got SMU, Texas A& M at 14, LSU, 15, Mississippi, 16. Iowa state, 17 Pittsburgh, Kansas state, Colorado. Number 20. I can't believe how, how, how they've climbed themselves back into the discussion. That's wild. Washington state at 21 Louisville at 22 Clemson at 23 Missouri and an army at, at 25. So me as someone, again, admittedly less plugged in than you, I would say SMU is the team that. Seems most deserving that's not quite in there yet. Are there any teams that stick out to you aside from SMU? No, no, just because Ole Miss, I mean they can score but they're always trouble. Pittsburgh's a good team They only have one loss. They could Certainly climb the rankings and get in but again, they are like Clemson They're gonna need somebody in the ACC to to lose Yeah, to get in the conference game or get lucky and be in the top 12. But I mean, we play Clemson pit play, play each other. So that will decide kind of out of the two of them. Someone's going to get it. Yeah. Who could potentially get. And if they get in at all, not saying that they will, but if there's a shot, but one of them, I'll at least get a bump. Yeah. Right. And, or so SMU plays Virginia, California, and. else. So they still have three ACC games. They could be, they could lose the California and Virginia. But if they lose one of those, then it gets spicy because if Clemson wins out, they're tied at one loss apiece in the ACC, you know, that's like, so there's still, you know, which for all those teams that are, you know, Yeah, with a loss or two, you know, if it's non conference, it doesn't really matter as long as if you can get into a conference championship game, you can still win. I think that's the second, like, part that I like. I mean, the first part I like about the playoff, honestly, is just, there's more teams, and I felt like there's always been at least a couple more teams that's probably deserving of a shot. And so there's more teams, there's more gameplay, there's literally just more football for us to enjoy as fans. But then the second part of that is also like, as it gets towards then, There's also more schools and more fan bases that still have a shot at that opportunity. Yeah, that they're not out of it yet. And I think that's well and don't forget this. This is also a cool The first round games are home games for the higher seeds So that's cool. So like Penn State, Ohio State, Texas, and Tennessee would have home games. There's still a reason to play for that seating. Yeah. Right. Like, I mean, it's just, it brings another, you know, I mean, in all likelihood, if we're looking at this right now, Notre Dame, Penn State, that could go either way. Alabama, Texas could go either way. Oklahoma, Tennessee, I think Tennessee would smoke them. And then Ohio state, Boise state, like, ah, I don't see Boise state winning that game at all. So then we got Ohio state playing BYU. Like, I don't know how good BYU is. I don't, I don't, I don't know. I think, but if you're looking at this Ohio state right now has the easiest road. To the championship because Oregon would play the winner of Penn state, Notre Dame, Georgia would play the winner of Tex of Tennessee and Oklahoma. And Miami would play the winner of Texas and Alabama. It's like, yeah, but there's still a lot of chips to fall here. Yeah. Yeah. Also on Boise state, I wouldn't be so quick to count them out because I feel like Ashton, Is he's liable to take one to the house, just any given play. And it's not just against the bad teams. He's looked really good against the the, the better, the, the power five schools that they played too. So I just feel like they could sneak out a win just from him having a two or three big plays, you know? Right. Yeah, that's true. That's true. That's true. I shouldn't, I shouldn't count them, count, count my chickens for the hatch, right? Yeah, man. All right, well let's move on to some NFL talk. We got some injuries happened over the weekend or just one that I noticed. Dak Prescott has been placed on IR for his hamstring. So he, so the Dallas Cowboys have officially thrown in the towel. We all saw it live on television, at least if you could lip read, which it wasn't very hard to lip read. Dak Prescott said, we fucking suck. Yeah, I suck at lip reading. I really do. And I saw the clip and I was like, Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. He definitely said that. A thousand percent. You could, you could, you can tell every single syllable of what he's saying. It was so obvious, like, and I don't blame him. He's frustrated and guess what they do. So it is what it is. And then. Good news for the 49ers, it looks like CMC could play this week. If not this week, definitely next week 11, but I think he's going to play week 10. He's looking pretty good so we'll see, you know That's good news for the 49ers because they desperately need another weapon because they is booty cheddar right now. So That is the worst kind of cheddar. Yeah, you don't want to be booty cheddar for anyone listening that doesn't know that is the worst kind of cheddar not really, I guess it's not really an injury, but my homes, everybody was thinking ACL like right off the bat. And then he came back into the game and he's got a little ankle, ankle injury. They say, so they say, so we'll see how that goes. And then Jordan loves still suffering from a groin injury, man, he, man, we need a bi week and thank God we got one this week. I'm telling you, we need a bi week after that beat down. Take all those fucking receivers. Out to the punishment shed and give them 40 fucking lashes for every drop man. That shit was so I was like, all right Yeah, jordan love did have a couple like pretty bad passes Okay, but most for the most part he was actually throwing some good balls and the motherfuckers were just flat out dropping them I don't care how old it is. I don't care. It wasn't cold. It was all bullshit I want to say real quick on that interception the pick six Yeah, so in the Eagles game, that was the same play that he threw a pick six like exact, like identical. Same way he threw it la Florian to just stop calling that whatever that play is. Throw that thing out of the fucking playbook. Never call that play ever, ever again. Like, it's just whatever, it's just like, he can't, whatever design, it's like, you know, in college football, or like the video game, or Madden, it's like, Yeah. You've just got some plays, where it's, no matter how many times you run it, It never works. Like it's always like, for me, it's a counter my team, like coastal Carolina. Anytime I run a counter run, it's immediately stuffed in the backfield. And it's like, it's, I can never run that play. And that's what it feels like is that play. They should just never run it. Cause it's no matter who they played against, it's never good. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't realize I know exactly which one you're talking about that Philly game to sit. Yeah It's like it's almost like they're setting up for a screen But and this happens in the game to the video game is if I'll do a screen and my running back will get caught up In the linemen, so I'm still trying and then by the time you get the ball I'll try to get the ball off. You're either being tackled halfway So you throw the ball like two yards and if there's a lineman there to almost catch it You Yeah, anyway, so yeah, the game is, is real, it's, it's kind of real. It seems like a play I've done, dude, I just play it. So I just won the, the championship with coastal. I, yeah, Smith and UTEP lost to Ohio state. And then I beat Ohio state in the final. It was tough to do because I could not throw down the field. Any, any throw I passed down the field, it was picked off. Like, I mean, first possession of the game, I threw a pick six. Oh yeah. Yeah. I ended up beating them pretty, pretty heavily. Cause I then got a pick six later on in the game and like in two interceptions in a row and I scored, scored on both of them. And then it's pretty much lights out there. Defense was, Coastal's defense was. So if you're counting that's four seasons two National titles by coastal. All right one by utah. All right. Well, we are we are proud of our gosh strength Yeah, getting it done in madden That's right. No college football. No, what? Sorry All right. All right. That's enough. That's enough. That's anyway Off topic off topic moving on Trade deadline was, so, Mahomes is fine, right? That's what we were gonna say. Yeah. Mahomes is fine. Mahomes is fine. Those, that's all the injury news I had. So the trade deadline was today it was 4:00 PM we got a couple of trades. We got some teams that made some really good trades. That just helped them and overall. So we'll start off with the Steelers. The Steelers picked up another wide receiver, Mike Williams. I thought that was, that was awesome. And then I can't remember who the other guy was, but it was a defensive end player, Preston Smith from Green Bay, Green Bay traded Preston Smith to the Steelers, which, you know, it was a great number one in Green Bay. He was losing snaps to younger guys. And number two, his, his salary was 2 million this year. It goes up to 13 million next year. So losing snaps, the younger guys were dumping you and we got some picks back. So all in all, I think solid move by green Bay, solid pickup by the Steelers, because it seems to be, they're happy with their direction. I think they're, they're making a serious push for the playoffs right now. Picking up Mike Williams, which people were projecting Mike Williams to go for a couple of weeks now since Devante Adams. Yeah, I mean, they've been rumored to several of these wide receivers. They didn't get D hop. They didn't get a Mari Cooper. They finally get Mike Williams though. I think that this is the sort of thing they've been looking for. One of these larger guys that could play the classic X role. I think they, they, they prefer to have pickings playing more like a flanker style thing that they move around the formation constantly. And Mike Williams is still a very large human that could get down the field and a decent amount of speed. So he will stretch the defense for them. Absolutely. Absolutely. So really like that for the Steelers the lions pick up as a Darius Smith from the Browns. I mean, solid move for them since Hutch Hutch went down. So they needed to pick up somebody and, and. You know, next man up, I guess. Yeah. I, I think he'll be better than the, the sort of backups that they've been rotating in there since Aiden Hutchinson went down. Absolutely. Absolutely. They, and they got them for, you know, they, they, you know, a seventh round pick. Like, yeah, I mean, mostly what they're, what they're paying is they're going to be paying that salary in the next couple of seasons. I'm surprised the Browns didn't dump off more. Like, why not? Well, they let go of Amari Cooper. Right. And they let they who else? Right? Right. But I mean, in ku, why not? Why not trade miles? Garrett trade in ku sell the te sell the team. Yeah. Especially these older guys. I mean, Chu, I love him. Who's you playing? You know, but it's like you, you gotta imagine Che doesn't have much left. Is the Sean Watson going to be your quarterback next year? Probably not. Is Jameis Winston going to be your quarterback next year? The problem with Watson is his contract. Like he probably can't trade him, you know, right. But he's not going to play. Cause he's going to be fucking injured. Yeah. It sucks. So, all right. Khalil Herbert to the Bengals. That's a nice pickup for them. They needed another running back. Zach is. Supposedly likely to go on the IR. I think that they, they, I think that the Bengals themselves are confident they're going to have to put them on the IR. And that's what this move is about. I think this makes a lot of sense. I'm honestly surprised that took this long into the season for somebody to go, you know, go after one of those Chicago running backs. I mean, I feel like this entire time, Chicago's had three decent running backs on their roster where most teams barely got one. Or if you're the Cowboys, you get zero, you know, so right, right. I think this is a smart move. I, I think that this was good for both sides here. Yeah. And then the last one we'll bring up the best one, Jonathan Mingo to the Cowboys for a fourth round pick. Surprising. I don't like everyone. This is just Jerry Jones, man. I mean, He makes the Cowboys fans think that he's doing enough just to win. And in reality, he's doing enough just to make them think that he's doing something. And that's how he makes his money. I mean, you let Amari Cooper go and a fourth round pick, and you'd basically turned it into Jonathan Mingo and a fucking seventh round pick. Like what the fuck? What? Like, what was the point of letting Amari Cooper go? You should have kept him, but that's what he does, man. And I mean, the fucking, the socials, you know, whether it's like Facebook or Instagram, they keep wanting to show me these, like, Reels or posts or whatever it is of Cowboy fans who are irate. And I'm like, yo, I can completely understand why they're so fucking pissed. Cause he kept saying, don't worry. We got a good squad. We got the right coaches and the right players. We don't need to make any moves. They sat on their hands all off season while other teams were finding ways to get better. You know, Smitha like this, he kind of sounds like Dabo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Shout out to Smith, front of the pod. I mean, just call him a space fit. That's all. He's, he's definitely like a disgruntled Cowboys fan right now. Oh yeah. And then last one I just saw it. I forgot about Marshall Lattimore to the, to the commanders. Commander's going to be good, man. They're going to be real good anyway. So let's move on to. The main topic, Main topic. the look back of how good we are at identifying what each team's records going to be. Oopsie. I have a hunch this didn't go well. We'll see. We'll see for me. So we'll, we'll start off with the AFC North. I'll read out the current record and what we predicted them to be overall, and we'll discuss. So the AFC North. The probably the most surprising team, the Cincinnati Bengals. We had them at 14 and three, 12 and five. They're currently four and five, the Ravens we had at 12 and five. Oh, and Persians, the first number strength, second number 12 and five, 10 and seven, they're currently six and three. So they're on pace. We're we're not, we're not out there yet. We're, we're still looking good there. Steelers are, we had, we both had them at 9 and 8, they're currently 6 and 2. Certainly could lose 6 more games and win 3 more. Listen, this is not our fault. Magic Beans, I'm pretty sure we said when we did the Steelers prediction, Look, Magic Beans might prove me wrong, but on paper, this team should not even be 500. Right, right, right. And sure enough, they have a lack of talent all over the place. And somehow they're, they're actually ahead of the Ravens in that division. They're going to make Mike Williams, another thousand yard, like receiver in the second half of the season. I would not be surprised. And in the final team, the Brown, another surprise, the Browns. You had them at seven and 10. I had them at nine and eight. They are currently two and seven. So yeah. So really what's surprising is the bangles are not as good as we thought they were. So the off season drama. Really has caught up to them in injuries and the Browns are worse than we thought they were and are probably where they actually should be. And we were probably just too high on them. Well, I, I remember, I remember making the mistake of thinking, you Deshaun to go, but I mean, there's no way he's going to be any worse than this. We've already seen him play much better than this. I think. If anything, he's finally going to get over whatever psychological issues have been going on. And boy, were we wrong. He'll at least take a step in the right direction. No, he is actually worse this year or, or should I say he was worse? And I mean, I, I just, I, I would never have forecasted that it would actually be worse, but here we are. It's wild, man. Yeah. So I mean, the, the hard knocks is supposed to air sometime in November. I want to say the 20 something. So this should be, I mean, like, it'll be interesting. I don't know, but my fear is I like, I hope that it starts before like we get flashback because if it starts where it is now, it's not going to give us the juice, man. Yeah. I don't want to start where the record is now. I want to see where, when Deshaun was sucking and I want to see who's talking shit. It's entirely possible that we missed like. The most turmoil, you know what I mean? Right. I guess we'll have to see how far back it goes back. Cause I don't know, but. We'll see. Yeah, I mean the Ravens though, Derek Henry Turning the clock back proving you wrong again that the old man still can run Derek Henry the entire fucking league. Okay, Derek Henry, Saquon Barkley. Did you see him do the reverse? Yes He definitely got tested the next day for drugs, for sure. Yes, test his fucking ass, man. Test him. Test Derrick Henry. Test fucking Joe Mixon while you're at it. Just all of these guys just proving me wrong. I'm just, I keep calling him for the demise. The Ravens dominated the Broncos this weekend. I mean. Yeah. And what's it what's what's funny is like it was it was set up first by the first couple drives Derrick Henry just running right through our defense We had no choice but to pay attention to him and then of course they start Cutting us up through the air and it was just yeah ugly It was ugly Yeah in the other game. I mean bangles bangles whooped up on the raiders the chargers beat the so the famous jamest Were were god what? Three interceptions. I mean, this is the Jameis, you know, rollercoaster ride you go on. Oh yeah. We're getting the full Jameis experience right now. Oh my God. And of course Steelers had to buy. Anyway, moving on to the AFC South, we start off with the Texans. You had them at 12 and five. I had them at 11 and six. There's six and three. So looking good there. They are who they're, they're playing just about where we thought they were. No surprises there. Jaguars. You had them at eight and nine. I had them at seven and 10. They're currently two and seven. Ooh, wow. They are not who we thought they were. They are worse than it is. It is unbelievable. The, the drop rate in that wide receiver department. No, I, I believe it. First of all, the Packers aren't far behind. Okay. Just keeping it real with you. All right. They're in a same tier, I believe, but seriously, the, the, the thing about the Jaguars that has shocked me is that it's basically every single phase that has disappointed. You've got two players that have shown some moments in tank Bigsby and Brian Thomas, Jr. Okay. That's good. Even those players, I would argue, have not been consistent, and then down the line, whether it's Christian Kirk before he got injured, whether it's Trevor Lawrence, whether it's Evan Ingram, like, taking days off or whatever he's doing, the entire defense is Underwhelming. I mean, I didn't necessarily think it would be an elite defense, but I thought they'd probably be league average again, right? Everything about the team has disappointed. It's honestly like if Doug Peterson's not like on the edge of the hot seat, he should be, he really should be. Absolutely. Good. Couldn't agree with you more. They're very disappointing. Moving on to the Colts. You had them at nine and eight. I had them at 10 and seven. They are four and five right now. They have officially moved on at least for this season from Anthony Richardson starting But I don't know that they've moved on from the whole experience. I think they're like, Hey, we got Joe Flacco here. Let's reset a little bit. Let's have Joe Flacco start the season. We'll have AR 15 sit behind him. We'll reevaluate in the off season. Maybe we keep Joe Flacco for another year. Let AR sit again. Then we bring him back. That would be how I would do it. Coming from the Packers. That's how they do it every time. Yeah. Yeah, I completely agree with you. Not only do I agree with you that. I do think that's exactly what they're trying to pull off here. I also agree with them that it, that is probably the best idea. He obviously got shook with the amount of criticism that he started to receive this year. He didn't handle it. Well, apparently bat, the, the vibe started getting bad with him and the coaching staff, stuff like that, you know, and the thing is, like the kid. Exactly. And you know, it's, you can't expect these guys who they basically fall ass backwards into so much success when they're in high school, first couple of years of college with their basically big fish and little pond everywhere. And now they're at the NFL where you can't just wing it and be the best out there anymore. Everybody is so disciplined, so good, so fast and strong and everything else that, you know, He thinks that he can get by without really digging in. And, and, you know, all the reports have been that he hasn't, he hasn't taken people up on offers to stay later, to practice more with the, with the receivers and, and, you know, just the, just the vibes haven't been good with him, basically kind of taking this sort of head, man. He needs the, yeah, and, and I get where it comes from. The kid's 19 years old and everything he's touched has turned to gold. And he just doesn't believe he's gonna have any problem. But now he's, he's finding out the hard way that it ain't gonna come for free, he's gonna have to develop. You gotta get some gumption man. He's gonna have to develop and get better as a peer passer to stay in the league. Yep, I think they're doing the right thing like take a season hell take two seasons if you need I mean We've seen quarterbacks sit for three or four years before they started and that actually has paid off for some of these Aaron rogers I like the idea. Yeah Yeah, and then we go to the titans there you said 5 and 12. I said 3 and 14 They are currently two and six. So right on target, right on target. They are who we thought they are. Yeah. Going to the AFC East, right? AFC East. Yep. The Buffalo bills. You said nine and eight. I said eight and nine. They are seven and two. They're having a way better season than we thought they would be doing. I think they're one of the more surprising teams in the league. I'll give credit to Josh Allen. Yeah, I was never a believer that he could become the sort of like risk avoided Sort of quarterback and he really has been he's got two interceptions on the season on a total a grand total of four turnover worthy plays That is exceptional. That is, he is really made a point to not put the ball in harm's way. His defense is good enough to where if he just gets them to 21, 24 points, they're going to win most games as they have. And so it, you know, he has improved in the way in which I thought it would be the hardest for him to do. He has really cut down on the Yolo balls and you know, that's been the biggest difference, I think, with them outpacing our projections. Excuse me, then we got the dolphins. We both said 11 and six. Right now they need to win out in order to hit that mark because they're doing things right now Yeah, I mean injuries and then yeah, I mean injuries. I mean not having to they have no backup plan Their defense is still porous Yeah, and that's all there is to it Yeah. And, and they, they are reliant on the running backs, creating big plays and being a threat sort of opening up the pass game and early in the season, when most went down, a chain went down and then they had a chain plan for a couple of weeks, three weeks, four weeks, whatever it was less than a hundred percent, he had a high ankle sprain. I think he's getting back to good form now and they got to it back now. So I do expect them to be better in the second half. Probably not going to be enough to get them in the playoffs or match the projections we had for the range. Yeah. Yeah. Moving to the, the fucking jets. You had them at seven and 10. I had them at eight and nine, currently three and six. Whew. We've talked about the jets enough on this pod. We don't. We don't need to revisit them anymore. They got a lucky fucking win against the Texans with some bullshit. No call, no touchdown, whatever. I don't, you know, whatever. I would just say quickly, it is just really funny how every week a different member of the Jets. Takes their turn and ruining it for them. It's just, it's just hilarious how it's not just one person. Everyone's getting in on the act and fucking it up at the most inopportune times. It's just crazy. And then we got the Patriots. You said five and 12. I said six and 11. They're currently two and seven. I don't yeah. I, I mean, they're worse than we thought they would be, or they could be on track, but I mean, You're probably closer. I think they could get three more wins. Maybe they're looking bad. They're looking real bad. I mean, when you lose to. The Titans, like you bad. I agree. They do look bad. I will say though, I have been somewhat impressed at what I've seen from Drake. May. I think that he's got the right attitude and you know, in the, in these post games, he talks about how. His wide receivers who are not getting open and dropping passes and his offensive line, which is not doing a good job and not protecting him at all. He's talking about how these guys are battling and he needs to do better and throw better balls and stuff. I love how he, he is. Putting all the onus on him to get the offense moving better. And whenever things are going well, it's always us. I think that that is the kind of attitude you'd like to see from a young quarterback like that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Going over to the AFC West. The chiefs, you had them at 13 and four. I had them at 10 and seven. They're going to fucking blow me out of the water. Eight. What was I thinking? Not, not saying 17. Yeah. Making us look stupid. The Raiders, you had them at eight and nine. I had them at seven and 10. They're awful. Two and seven. Like, they just don't have a quarterback, man. I mean, you can't keep trying Garner Minshew and Aiden O'Connell out there. Like, like, what were you thinking going into the season starting with your starting quarterbacks being those two? The funny thing is, is that they are turning away from both of them now. And next week they're going to start Ritter. And I'm like, he's in the same fucking bucket. He's in the, he's already gotten plenty of opportunities and he's not consistent. I mean, he's had a couple of good games here and there, but fucking all of them have, all of them, would you say that they're kind of going to be in a Full rebuild after this season. They don't, I mean, they've already dumped, they've already dumped a couple of the coordinators, right? And I think Antonio Pierce is like on the very edge of the hot seat. And honestly, he has made some pretty boneheaded, like. Yeah, I mean with Tom Brady being part owner now, man. That shit is not gonna fly. You got to think Tom is going to be Pushing for action like he's not the type to like be patient with this stuff. I don't think. I know the players love Pierce, but Love ain't gonna get it done my friend. And then we get to the Chargers. You had him at 6 3 I had him at 3 14 They are five and three right now. A lot better than I think we thought they would be. Absolutely. Very tough team. If you would very, very hot, hardball like. Very much. The offensive line has been killing it. Joe all, not only is he going to be good, he has basically hit the ground running. And so, you know, Dobbins has come back and been a better player than I thought he could ever even be, given the devastating injuries that he's come back from. And then the way that this offensive line has been Turned it around from the disappointment. They were last year. I mean, this is perfect for Harbaugh football, you know, certainly does not help or certainly does not hurt that you've got a guy in lad McConkey. That seems to be the real deal as a wide receiving you know, an alpha sort of go to reliable guy. So, you know, and then last team in the division, Broncos nine and eight, we had them there at five and four. So I would say we're right on track with the Broncos. And then last about this division before we move over to the NFC, the Chiefs game, you know, everybody could sit here and say, Oh, the Buccaneers should have got the ball in overtime. They should've got, I can't believe we let it go to a coin flip. First of all, this is the regular season. No, like almost every league does the regular season is different than the playoffs. In, in MLS you get one overtime. What do you mean? What do you mean when you say like every league they do it different. It's different. Regular season rules are different than playoff rules. So in the regular season in the MLS it, you play one overtime if I'm not, if I'm not mistaken or in the regular season you play in overtime. Yeah. I don't even think you play it. The game is just over. But anyway, a a lot of soccer does this where you play one overtime. And then at the end of that, if it's tied, it's tied. Whereas in the playoffs, you play it over time, two overtimes. And then if it's tied, then you do a penalty kicks. Yeah. Right. So it's like, it is more fair in the playoffs, which is, In the regular season, we don't need to be here all night trying to, if you can't stop them, I'm sorry, then you should do better than you should have went for two in the, in the, at the end of the game to win the game versus kicking a tying field goal, fire your coin flip coach. I just, I mean, I just, it's just, it's just, you go, you go on social media and everybody's just complaining. Oh, I can't believe all the chiefs got away with one again. I can't believe the bucks didn't get a chance. It's like, Oh, that's the rules. Like stop, stop. If the Bucs truly deserved the win, then that it wouldn't have gone to overtime. Right. Exactly. So F off Bucs fans, Baker Mayfield's trash. There you go. I said it. All right. Moving to the NFC North. Well, let's start with the West. We'll start with the Rams. Nine and eight, we had them. They are at four and four right now. So looking good, looking, looking like I maybe was wrong when I said this team is dead in the water. They seem to be coming back. They've got all their players, except for Puka Nakua, because he just likes to throw punches. For no apparent reason, he's really pissing me off this year. And then we get ejected for a punch, like go ahead and try to hurt him. That looked like he wasn't even trying to punch her. So it was a weird, soft ass punch that he got in trouble for anyways. I was like, Oh God. And then we got the Cardinals eight, nine, you had them seven and 10. I had them there five and four leading the division currently. Looks like, you know, Kyler Murray's locked in. He hasn't, he hasn't stayed up late playing black ops six yet. Yeah. 49ers. Probably the biggest surprise yet. We had you had them at 13 and 4. I had them at 12 and 5. They're currently 4 and 4. So they're gonna have to win out to hit your record. I don't think they're gonna hit mine either. We'll see what happens when CMC comes back. I don't think they're gonna get there. It's definitely gonna help to get CMC back, but They're not getting IU back. You know, they're, they're, they're having issues with not just injuries, but really just play in general, like on the defensive side of the ball, especially when it comes to the run defense, like a couple of guys that were killing it last year just seemed to be having like much worse seasons. Not sure what that's about, but if they can't get that turned around somehow, then I just can't see this. I mean, it's probably arrow up from here, but not arrow up enough for them to be the kind of You know, contender they were last year. Absolutely. And then Seahawks eight, nine, we both had them at eight, nine. They are currently four and five. So, you know, we'll see where they end up, but we're looking right on with them. Yeah, man, this is a tough division, man. That this division is going to be interesting to watch here. They're all. If I, if I had to put my money on one, I would actually put it on the Rams. The thing that I like about the Rams is that. They're, they're, the worst part of their team is, is Ben, the defense and a lot of their young guys are actually turning the corner and the past couple of weeks we've had both Jared verse and Brayden Fisk. Lead the team in pressures. This past game, they had seven total team sacks and two of them were from Fisk and another two were from Jared verse. And like, these are young rookies that they're really counting on to kind of fill that void that Aaron Donald left on that line. And I do think that they're starting to come around to that. So I do think that arrow, that things are going to be arrow up for the Rams more so than anyone else in this division. So if I had to put money on it, I'd put it on the Rams. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. Moving to the NFC East, got the Giants. We had them at seven and 10 and six and 11. They're two and seven. This team is worse than we thought they were. No surprise, actually. No surprise. Now when I looking back on it and looking back at hard knocks and I'm like, ah, I probably should, this team was not looking good. When you put all your money into Daniel Jones. Judging by the fucking clowns at the top of this, the tippy top of this organization, it's like, we should have known, man. You can't, you can't count on these guys for improvement, man. And I mean, I understand like, you don't want to pay Saquon Barkley a ton of money, knowing that you're going to suck the next season because you got Daniel Jones as your quarterback. But if that's fine, don't do that. But then don't then reinvest it into Daniel Jones. It's like. Just take your fucking lumps and pick a new quarterback next year, right? Right and don't don't bother signing a running back at all. Just pick up three ones Just pick up three ones You you know, you got tyrone tracy at the at the very end of the draft Just let him be the guy let him which he's been don't he's been doing pretty well Don't waste any money at all on a guy like devon single terry, you know what I mean? Like it's just Very stupid. And then speaking of organizations that are terrible, Cowboys nine and eight, 10 and seven, they're currently three and five. Gosh, this team sucks. They're awful. We talked about it earlier. They're, they're very bad. As we said, Dak, we fucking suck. That's all, that's all that needs to be said. He said it himself. The team that's probably most surprising in this division is Is the commanders you had him at four and thirteen. Yeah, no respect. No respect I had a five and twelve They're currently oh man. Oh, seven in two Wow, wow, Jaden Daniels. Yeah VP could win MVP and rookie of the year I mean what a turnaround for Dan Quinn And this team, like, unbelievable. Yeah. A ton of props to Dan Quinn and the entire coaching staff that he put together. They really have turned around so many of the same guys that were underperforming last year, still on the squad, but they're getting production from them. And it's like, all right, all right. I, the coaching was a big problem. Clearly, you know, in, I remember thinking in the off season, like, man, they basically have a question mark everywhere. Every single phase of this team, a brand new CEO, a brand new coaching staff, a brand new rookie quarterback. They're bringing in these offensive linemen are guys that have kind of washed out of other jobs. I. All along the defense, they, they basically traded cheap free agents for the more expensive ones. They let go and it's just like, can all of this work out at once? Probably not. That's why I was betting against it. But, you know, Dan couldn't company full props to them. They made a fool out of me and they said, Hey, we could, We could take these question marks and we could fucking make lemonade, bitch. So kudos to them. Kudos to Jaden Daniels too, who legitimately seems like the real deal. There's basically Terry McLaurin and a bunch of dudes he's throwing too. I mean, they picked up Noah Brown off of a practice squad and they made him into a constant regular contributor. I mean, it's just, you know, good stuff. Yeah. And then got the Eagles, which 10 and seven and 11 and six. So yeah, I mean, they're at six and two right now. We'll see how they turn out. We'll see how they turn out, but it's a two horse race in this, in this division between the commanders and the Eagles. So that should be fun to watch. Yes. Moving to the NFC South, we got the saints. We both had them at six and 11. They're currently two and seven. They fired their head coach, Dennis Allen. I don't, again, this is one of those teams that you just wonder. You had Derek Carr on the roster as your quarterback, your backups weren't like, I mean, I know you know, it was high on Spencer Rattler and all that, but I mean like not for this season, you know, maybe not for next season, further down the line, if that, and. Reese, you extend Kamara and then you trade away Marshawn Lattimore. It's just like, why weren't you just fire selling this team as well? Just like the Browns, like get rid of everyone, man. Like go retool, redraft, get a new, new head coach and get a new identity. Leave all this Sean Payton shit behind. Yeah. Especially when you look at some of the older guys. That are the ones that actually are producing. I mean, that's a blessing. Cause that means that you could actually trade these guys. There's someone like there would be a team interested in Kamara for this season. Like a chiefs or somebody who could like, not even just Kamara, but like some of their older, like Davenport or whoever, no, he's not on team anymore. But anyway, I know you were just saying, but like another team, like the Steelers or like the chiefs that could use a one year rental. Yeah. And like where your team is currently at in the, in the level of competitiveness that they're showing, it does not make a sense to in the middle of the season. Extend a really old running back like that. And that's not to take shots at the guy that he's had a great career. He's, he's an excellent running back. It's just that I don't understand that move. There's other positions and youth that you should be prioritizing right now. Well, not to mention you got Derek Carr throwing Yolo balls to get his players hurt. Yeah That that really is the kind of throw that they that they tried it to teach quarterbacks not to throw They literally they literally call those hospital balls. Yeah. Oh, yeah in the case of alaba it literally sent him to the hospital, you know, anyway, hopefully a lot of it gets better Moving on bucks Seven and ten eight and seven they're four and five right now. I think I think we're right on track with them And then the Falcons nine and eight, 12 and five, you know, they're sloppy, but dammit, I mean, I think they're coming around and, and I think they're, they're starting to run away with this division here. And then the final division, the NFC North. We got the Vikings, the Vikings six and 11, seven and 10. They're currently six and two right now. Sam Darnold resurgence of a career. It's like, Holy cow, you get them some wide receivers and a coaching staff worth of shit, and he's a good quarterback. Yeah. I mean, the crazy thing about Sam Darnold is like, he's never been very, what I would call like, Cool and not like confident. He's never been Resilient and this year he is making plenty of mistakes like he You know Basically every game he makes at least two passes that either Are intercepted or should be intercepted in a way where you're like, what the fuck was he looking at? But he literally just forgets it and he plays with confidence the very next play and I feel like whatever has happened with him somehow someone has got him it got his groove back and he's playing with confidence and you know kudos to him for turning shit around and You You know, being on a winning team you'd love to see stories like that. Surprising team in this division. Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I feel like I still feel like on defense there, there's kind of a lack of talent, but yet Brian Flores keeps coming. Causing turnovers. He keeps forcing turnovers. And I think it's credit to the coaching. Moving to the bears, eight and 11, nine and eight. They're currently four and four. I think they're out playing. I mean, their record is four and four, but I think they've played better at times than, than we would expect, especially Caleb Williams. Yeah. We weren't very high on him to begin with. I think judgment is still out there for him. Only eight games, small sample size. Yeah. But they're they're better than I think most people expected them to be yeah, particularly the defense The defense has been really good I, I feel like the offense is probably going to come along, come around as the season goes along. You saw a couple of really good catch and run efforts from Romo Dunze. I think eventually you'll see more and more of that. And Caleb Williams will get better with the offense. There's still a lot of plays where it seems like he's not on the same page with his receivers. I think this is just, you know, He's really young and he needs more reps. That would, that would be my guess. I, I think that he improves, Roman improves, and, you know as a natural sort of factor of that, that offense improves. And the defense is already there. And if it weren't for the fact that they were in the NFC North, I would say that they got a shot. They probably don't just because it's such a competitive division though. But then we go to the Packers. We've both had them at 10 and seven. They're currently six and three. They came out like a, like a rocket. I think things are cool. I mean, they lost the first game, but then they just, you know, rattled off a bunch of good wins, but I think finally the mistakes that we've had all season against these worse, these lesser teams. We finally played a team that was able to exploit those mistakes. The penalties, we had a fourth down where we could, we could have stopped the lions or fourth down. And they were, they weren't even going to hike the ball. They were just trying to draw people off sides and they got us to jump off sides, giving them another first down. So just. Again, stupid penalties plagued the Packers, you know, being 25 years, average age is that with drops and just, you know, yeah, it's in the right direction. It's a very young team, particularly on offense. And so you, you, you got to kind of, you got to kind of, I agree with you though. I think, I think the biggest sort of knock against them has been. Basically like sloppiness. It just seems it's not even so much that there's penalties or that there's drops that there's turnovers it's that they It seems like so often they're they're swinging the game too. Like they're they're making a huge impact Like it's always at the most inopportune time like the turnover Just before you're going into halftime, right. Or like a, a, a penalty where you're already in field goal position and it's a third and two, and now you're out of field goal range and it's a third and 12 and it's like, what, like that, you know, that just makes a big swing. It's just there's been too, too many of those things where I felt like that was an unforced error, you know, and it is what it is, but you know, And Dr. Dantavian Wicks, man, the guy is so frustrating because you see him play and it's just like, Ooh, he just whooped his guy. He, he, he gets open on demand and then he will drop, he will drop some of the easiest catches and it's like, Oh dude, you already did the hard work. You got wide open. And so basically what should be a really big play, sometimes a touchdown, he's, he's dropping. And that's a big swing too. Cause now you're down you know, you're, you're, you're going a third or fourth down and you, you didn't convert where you were about to just score a touchdown or whatever, and it's just. I feel like there's been a ton of that, but I mean, they're still in the mix. So that's good. Right, right. Absolutely. All right. Then the last team we just spoke about that game lions, you had them at 12 and five, I had them at 10 and seven. They're currently seven and one outperforming, definitely better. It got it more together. I mean, Jared golf is playing lights. He is like one of the best completions percentages ever in, in a season in the NFL. I think I saw something where he's only thrown like five incompletions or some stupid shit like that. He actually had a three game span where he threw, I want to say it was, he threw five incompletions. But he threw six touchdown passes. So more touchdown passes than incompletions. Incredible. And I'm not, that probably didn't hold up. Cause I think he had like four incompletions this past game, but I mean, even in bad, even in bad weather, he went 18 of 22 and it's like, yeah, it's like, bro, the, the efficiency, the way that he's been able to improve, particularly when he's under pressure is pretty, pretty impressive. He really has become an elite quarterback. It's almost crazy to think that, oh, Jared Goff is on a lead court, but he absolutely is. He absolutely is. And Jameer Gibbs and David Montgomery are just Yeah. The duo, like, both of them are nasty. They wouldn't even need really good running backs because that offensive line is so good at run blocking. But they do anyways. And so you, you got Jameer Gibbs, just ripping off huge runs left and right. And yeah, blueprint on how to build a good team for sure. Yeah. And I know that they don't have the perfect record the way that the chiefs do. But for my money, I think the lions are literally the best team in the NFL right now. Yeah. So with all of that being said, as we have looked back, let's real quick run through who are going to be your division winners. Like, what's our playoff look like midway through? So a FC let's go. Who are your division winners? A FC East. That's bills, dolphins, jet Patriots. Yeah. It's the bills. I think the bills are the most complete team in that division. Okay. A FC West, I'm gonna assume is the Chiefs. Yes. A FC North. Feel like I'm, I'm be Raven Steelers Browns. Oh, I, I was actually thinking of a different one. Okay. I think it's the Ravens. I think that the Ravens are the best team there. I, I do think that the Bengals are a little bit sneaky though. Cause Joe Mixon, Joe Burrow has really found his groove and like he has quietly been on a tear this past month and he did, he did the normal Joe Burrow start out of the gate really slow, but he has really, he's really been on the, I actually watched. Every play of this last game against the Raiders, and I understand it's the Raiders, but still it, I don't think he made a single bad decision that entire game. And this, this is without Tee Higgins, five touchdown passes, spreading the ball everywhere, I mean, he's on his shit right now. Right. I disagree. I think the Steelers are gonna win this division. That's right. I'm fucking calling it. Steelers are winning it. No way. All right. And then AFC South, who you got? Texans. Gotta be Texans for me. It's definitely the Texans for me. I think we probably get Nico Collins back this week and one of their offensive linemen also is coming back. I think that's going to help. The defense has been doing all right and I do expect the offense is going to pick back up. They've been basically underperforming so far and I understand they lost digs for the remainder of the season but I think they're still going to, they're still going to improve on offense. And luckily they're in a weaker division anyway. So, so now we've got our four, who are your next four? Who are your, your next four in playoffs? Certainly the teams in the North. I, I think probably both the Steelers and the Bengals weaseled their way in. And I think probably a team most people aren't looking at or aren't necessarily expecting. I think the Chargers are going to get it. I think the chargers are getting in there. Okay. Did I do four or is that just three? That's three. You need one more. Okay. Let's see here. Guess I'm not too confident about anyone else, but I'm looking at the Broncos. We're looking real good right about now for that. While I asked wild card spot, man, they fraudulent. I tried telling you they fraud. Is it fraudulent? Like the dolphins right now? Like, are you like. The Dolphins. I feel like the Dolphins are too far back though. I would say the Dolphins, but I think they're in the hole. Patriots, the Raiders. Those, those teams are all three wins and under. All right, fuck it. The Browns are two and seven. Broncos. Broncos. The Jaguars are two and seven. Like realistically, the Broncos and the Colts are the only two teams that like could really vie for that. I mean, they, they could lose games and other teams could catch up. But as we stand, I honestly feel like the Broncos and the Colts are, are. At a pretty even level, like if they, if they played against each other, it would be just whoever's so you're saying Broncos, I'm saying Broncos. You talked me into it. I agree with that. All right. And then let's, let's finish off the episode. Talk about the NFC division leaders, who you got for the North. The Lions. I got the Lions. I think that they're, they're just the most complete team in the NFL right now. Yeah, I agree. I agree with that. Despite I want the Packers, I don't, I don't think they're going to win the division. And then NFC South, who you got? The division winner. Rams. Wait, oh no, that's the West, right? South, South, yeah. I got, I got the Falcons. I think the Falcons are going to win that. Yeah, for sure. NFC East. Oh man. I think it's going to be the commanders. I think I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. It's wild to say that it's, it's so weird to say that like out loud. And then last, last division, the, the West you sticking with Rams. The Rams, yeah, I think the Rams are the ones on the come up right now. Man, it's hard to count the Rams out. I'm going with the Rams too, even though I was really thinking Cardinals. I'm really thinking about those Cardinals right now. They could win this division. Secondary team, 1A, 1B, Rams, Cardinals for me. With that being said, I'm thinking Packers still get in. Vikings are getting in. Think the Cardinals get in. Man, that last team. You don't think the Eagles get in? Oh, wait. Oh, I forgot about them. I forgot about them. No, the Eagles. So there you go. So I have Lions, Falcons, Commanders, Rams, Packers, Vikings, Eagles, Cardinals. Would you agree with that? Or is somebody else you want, you thinking? I actually am switching out the Cardinals and I think the Seahawks get in there. I think the Seahawks are just, just a tad bit more of a complete team than the Cardinals. Wow. Wow. Unbelievable. I think they're Cardinals defenses. It's kind of, but kind of, but yeah, okay, well there you have it. That's that's so, so when we get to the playoffs, we will take a look back and see where we land. All right. So real quickly, I know we were trying to wrap it up, but who do you think like we were the most right on so far and the most wrong gone? Well, NFC North as a whole, we were the most right on. The NFC man. The NFC South is more we, we'll wait and see. We could be a lot closer to being right on that, on that whole division as well. The NFC nor, I mean east. No, we were, we were way off. We, we the commanders and the cowboys and the, the giants the NFC West, so far so good. We're pretty, we're pretty close to being spot on there. A FC. We were, we were way off on the South or, or whatever bills, dolphins, jets, Patriots, we, yeah, well, I was thinking like more so just like that, that individual teams, was there like one that you thought was, we were spot on and one with, we were definitely off on. I mean, yeah, so far, I mean, I think we were more spot on than we were off. Without like running through each team again, I think we have more teams. Like I would say we're about 80 percent on right now. We'll see what happens at the end of the season. The ones that definitely stuck out to me was the commanders. I was way off base on the commanders. And then on the other side of the scale, I would say. Maybe the only team where things actually went how I had it in my head would be the Titans. I literally thought, I bet you they'll have a pretty solid defense and I bet you it won't matter because the offense will be so inconsistent and Will Levis will be benched by like week four or five and maybe he made it another week or two after that, but basically the It's what I had envisioned in my head. And so I, I think everything else has been kind of a little bit right. Kind of a little bit wrong. Absolutely. Absolutely. Completely agree. We'll see. We'll see how it all rolls out. This week we're not going to do a look ahead tonight cause it's election night and that's when we record those look aheads. And this is a, you know, this is a nice meaty episode for you to chew on. So. We'll leave you with that. And as always, you can hit us up, email pine pony podcast, 22 at gmail. com or on threads, Instagram, and see what we're all yelling about pine pony podcasts, or, and that's all we got. Check you later. Adios.
