Two for the Win
Mike is a U.S. Navy Veteran and Bryan has more than a decade of civil service experience. Together, these blue collar guys dissect the latest sports headlines and events.
Two for the Win
Two For The Win - S2.41 - Bananas, Inside Jobs & NFL Season KickOff
The sporting world explodes with drama as baseball brawls, college upsets, and NFL blockbuster trades collide in this action-packed episode.
Baseball brings the heat with benches clearing between the Rockies and Giants after Kyle Freeland takes exception to Rafael Devers admiring a home run. Meanwhile, Houston's Framber Valdez raises eyebrows by deliberately crossing up his catcher after surrendering a grand slam. We dive into these emotional flashpoints while celebrating the growing popularity of "Banana Ball" – baseball's theatrical cousin that's selling out stadiums nationwide with its unique blend of sport and entertainment.
College football's opening weekend delivered seismic results as Florida State shocked Alabama 31-17, catapulting from unranked to #14 in the polls. We analyze Arch Manning's challenging debut against Ohio State's defense and break down the current top 10 rankings after week one's reshuffling.
The NFL dominates our conversation as the season kicks off tonight with Eagles-Cowboys. We unpack the Micah Parsons bombshell trade that sent the star defender to Green Bay for Kenny Clark and future first-round picks, making the Packers the first team to spend over $100 million on just two players. Our comprehensive season preview includes division winner predictions, rookie standouts to watch, and bold Super Bowl matchup forecasts.
Whether you're a baseball purist, college football fanatic, or NFL devotee, this episode captures the electricity of a sports landscape brimming with compelling storylines and unexpected twists. Join us as we celebrate the return of football while appreciating the dramatic moments unfolding across the entire sporting world.
September 4th 2025. Welcome back everybody. You don't know it, but we talked to you on September 3rd too. We had some technical difficulties.
Speaker 2:So here we are again.
Speaker 1:Everybody. I'm Brian with an I and I'm Mike, and we are two for the win. Mike, what do we got going on tonight? Man? Something going down? Wait, something's happening.
Speaker 3:I mean I know we have a loaded agenda, but I mean, I know there's things going on in sports, but am I forgetting? There's something supposed to be happening. Oh, that's right. That's right the start of the NFL season is tonight.
Speaker 1:Nfl kickoff is tonight.
Speaker 3:Two bum-ass teams playing hey, a little biased there Just a little bit, just a little biased Sorry as a Commanders fan sitting here in all this Washington gear.
Speaker 1:Oh, I've been decked out all day. I had to let them know. Oh Lord, we're still here.
Speaker 3:Anyway, aside from that, I mean we have some, you know little anger issues in baseball. What else is new for baseball? Got some things happening in the college ranks. I mean because we just had week one in the college ranks. But let's start off today. Oh, sorry, I don't want to cut off the sponsors. Oh, we got to get our sponsors and partners in on this.
Speaker 1:But it's no big deal. Let's go ahead and rock and roll. Body by D gym, one in Yorktown, one in Gloucester. Deshaun's a great guy, great owner building a great business. He's a former bodybuilding champion himself and training future bodybuilding champions in their own right, among other things going on in that gym. Our friends at Solace Outfitters, christian and Caden Sorry, mind blank, sorry, words. Outfitters, christian and Caden. Sorry, I'm mind blank, sorry, words are tough. Christian and Caden good friends, solace Outfitters, two young athletes, basketball players in fact, building a brand at the same time. They're doing a great job. And down here in Virginia Beach, the Giving Tree Chiropractic Service, justin's a great guy, very good at what he does, making chiropractic services accessible to everybody. So great job, fellows. Thank you for being our sponsors and partners. We appreciate y'all. So, mike, what are we jumping into first here, bro?
Speaker 2:Well.
Speaker 3:I think where we're going to start off here is a bit of a fun subject that we've hit on a couple times in this show. Everybody if you're not familiar, there's this thing called Banana Ball. Banana Ball, and recently the owner had some interesting comments he made. Where he's the owner slash CEO, and he basically said Banana Ball isn't just, like you know, the baseball version of Globetrotters. It's a sport all into its own. It's its own thing. It's not trying to be one thing or another. I mean, yes, it's mostly baseball.
Speaker 1:More like the Ringling Brothers if they were a sport.
Speaker 3:It's a mashup of a lot of things that are a lot of fun and for those of you that might not be familiar for what we're talking about, we have mentioned it a few times on this show. But basically it's baseball, but with a little flair, a little panache. A little panache, they put a little spin on it. They have players come in doing entrances like it's WWE. They got some hip swinging, lip syncing action. Yes, I mean, you're not far off it. They do some dancing out there on the field. They might do a backflip and catch the ball in the outfield. They do tricks before they try to get an out. You know, they do all kinds of crazy stuff. They have guys batting on stilts. They got people batting with bats that are on fire. There's fire.
Speaker 3:There's fire, but they even get the fans involved. If you're in the stands and you catch a ball on a foul ball, what would normally just be a strike, it's an out. You're out Out of there, so the fans can affect the game. So it's a very entertaining thing and they sell out a lot of stadiums and they tour around.
Speaker 1:Oh, they sell out fast. I can never get tickets bro.
Speaker 3:Oh well, cause, they do a raffle and then you buy it, buy a ticket if you win the raffle. But they have four teams now traveling, when they started with just two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right, they're nice little expansion there.
Speaker 3:Uh, I can see it happening, honestly, hey, all I'm saying is, if you haven't seen it, give it a chance. You can stream it somewhere or watch it on TruTV if you still have TV. It's interesting, it's worth a watch. But moving right along into baseball, the Diamondbacks got some bad news recently. Damn their left fielder Gurriel, out for the season towards ACL. He was trying to cover in the outfield and the center fielder and him were going for a ball at the same time and he kind of did an awkward hop to get out of the way and not run into the center fielder and that was it Torn ACL, terrible terrible he's done for the rest of the year.
Speaker 1:Man, our thoughts and prayers go out to you, bro. I know that's rough.
Speaker 3:Unfortunately, they will have to be without his services probably leading into next year, because ACL takes a little time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, unless your name is Adrian Peterson.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's just a freak case.
Speaker 2:I don't know what that dude did, but he's just a freak of nature.
Speaker 3:But speaking of freak of nature, there recently was a game between the Cleveland Guardians and the Red Sox in Boston and we had this unusual play happen with Trevor Story at bat, and I'm going to play you a little bit of that audio right now.
Speaker 2:Fly that one down the line, that one heading near the pesky pole, and that ball has no left against the wall and it's going to be a foul ball.
Speaker 2:It hit his gloves. He came up with the ball. Did he catch it or did it go off a fan? Holy smokes, this was close to a homer. That's close to a robbery. You see the contact there. And then off of the fan it comes out of the glove right there off of a fan, and then boston was challenging to call a foul ball. So it is interesting because the official score is set double and on the field it looked like the first base umpire was ruling fouls so in case it was kind of hard to follow, I'm going to dive into what happened.
Speaker 3:So Trevor Story hits a ball towards pesky pole, which is like one of the shortest home runs in baseball. He hits it over. That way the Guardian outfielder runs over, tries to catch the ball, kind of does so, but he winds up touching the ball while it's still in his glove against the pole. But while he crashes into the wall he lets go of the ball and it rolls off the wall and he kind of plucks it off the wall. And so they were confused for a minute. Is it a foul ball? Is it an out? Like he didn't complete the catch? You know to steal something from football, but because it touched the pole it's a home run Home run, so he gets a home run in this game.
Speaker 3:Things were just on the Red Sox side in that game. They won that game and with that funky home run to help them.
Speaker 1:But moving on from that game, the Rockies man, yeah, the Rockies they might be the highest in the West, but they are the lowest in the MLB. They are not having a great season it's been a rough, go for them. Change their name to the Valleys, Look look the Rockies.
Speaker 3:they've been having a season man. They've been having themselves one pain in the butt season for sure. So they had a game recently where they were going up against the Giants and tempers kind of flared early in the game. I mean early in the game. So you had Rockies pitchereland going against Devers the player for the Giants, and check this out.
Speaker 2:The final wild card spot. Devers skies one to right Way up there and gone. Another one for Rafi Devers and Kyle Freeland. The benches are clearing. Devers is trying to round the bases. Freeland was unhappy and now we got punches being thrown. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1:Devers still hasn't rounded the bases.
Speaker 3:So this is crazy, right? Because Freeland, he hasn't even recorded an out. He had an 0-2 count on Devers and Devers launches his home run and Devers admires his two-run shot, just watching it go over the fence, and Freeland's like bro, he took offense to it. He's like you can't just sit there and watch it. So you know, for a team that's not doing so hot, it's nice to see a little fire in their stomach. Like yo, bro, I ain't putting up with this.
Speaker 1:You see what he said. What did he say? Freeland's response Freeland, on what happened, on punches being thrown, and I quote I found it extremely disrespectful to show me up like that in the first inning well, what's crazy is he didn't even record an out.
Speaker 3:Oh lord, so you come in, you throw some pitches, you don't even record an out, and then you're thrown out of the game. They didn't throw out. Devers, they threw him out so this has to be a record. You know, one of the shortest starts ever. That's funny.
Speaker 3:Not even a single out. That's hilarious. So, moving on from that fiasco into another one that happened in Houston, man baseball volleys all day. I know the baseball is getting some attitude here. So a pitcher for the Houston Astros, valdez, he had himself a moment. You know he's sitting there pitching, got bases loaded, got Trent Gresham up to bat for the Yankees and his catcher, kind of before he throws his next pitch, is kind of like waving him off, like hey, you know, take a step off, you know back off, don't throw. And Valdez didn't do it, he just went ahead and threw the pitch. And that was a big mistake because that pitch went over the wall for a grand slam, third one this year for for gresham, unfortunately for valdez, you know this is not looking good. It's late in the start and he's giving up a grand slam. So I guess he got a little mad at his catcher. Things got crossed up.
Speaker 3:You know, normally in baseball you want your catcher and your pitcher to be on the same page. You know it's a younger catcher or younger pitcher. The catcher is going to kind of help ease. You know the veteran catcher is going to try to ease the young starter along and you know kind of you know, coach him through the game Like, hey, throw this high fastball and then bury that curveball, he'll swing it at every time, right. Or you know, when this guy's in a 3-2 count, he falls for the slider outside. Just throw it, he'll do it, he'll swing. You know, that's kind of the relationship they have. They have to be on the same page.
Speaker 3:So the very next pitch, after he's given up this grand slam, he says okay, I'm going to take a curveball for my next pitch. So the catcher's expecting curveball. Valdez said nope. He threw a 96-mile-an-hour fastball right down the middle and hit his catcher with a fastball because he crossed him up, caught him on the wrist and on the chest protector. You could see afterwards his catcher's like bro, really. You could see afterwards his catcher's like bro, really. Apparently they've made up. But that's some dirty pull, man. Oh my, that's some dirty pull right there. Man, you can't be doing that. Some bad news bears type stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, exactly. Speaking of bad news, when you tie a record and it's 31 years old, you typically think, okay, this has to be something awesome, right? You know, normally talk records it's awesome. This is not that case for Cal, the pitcher for the Braves, cal Quantrill, I think that's how you say it Quantrill, quantrill.
Speaker 1:Unless the Q is silent, then it's Entrill.
Speaker 3:No, I think you say the Q in this case. Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Anyway so his start against the Phillies was not so grand because he only pitched an inning and a third and gave up nine runs and gave up nine hits. Unfortunately, that ties a record, but what makes this outstanding for him is think about the person you're tying this record with. Now the Braves. We all know about their big three John Smoltz, tom Clavin, greg Maddox. Well, smoltzy, back in 94, had a similar such fate in just an inning and a third, giving up a bunch of runs to the Reds. So I mean, hey, you did poorly, but you did something that John Smoltz did.
Speaker 1:Look, all records are good records like participation trophies. You were there.
Speaker 3:Hey, participation trophies. You were there, you were there In fact, you made this moment Participation trophies should exist. Take your consolation prize.
Speaker 1:You're part of history forever now.
Speaker 3:But as much as it pains me to say this, being a Braves fan, I got to give a little nod to Schwarber, who had four home runs in this game and nine RBIs, so I gotta give it to him. I can't just be like oh man, and just not acknowledge it. I mean, you're doing something right there. But speaking of home runs, shohei Otani Otani. He has hit his 100th home run as a Dodger, so he's doing something, man.
Speaker 1:What a milestone to hit as such a young player.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean he's going to have plenty more man. It begs to ask the question how many home runs would he have if he came over here almost right away, because he didn't come over here until like his mid-20s? Yeah.
Speaker 1:So he's impressive. Yeah, he's very prodigy level impressive. Yeah, he's very prodigy-level impressive.
Speaker 3:So, speaking of young players doing impressive things, the Mets have themselves an impressive young pitcher, nolan McLean. He is dominating right now as a young pitcher. He is the first Mets player or Mets starting pitcher in their history to start 4-0 in his first four starts. And he's not doing this against scrubs. He recently got his fourth win against the Detroit Tigers, which is a favorable team in the AL Central. They're looked at as possible, you know, world Series-type team, but he recorded 14 straight batters to complete his start. That start against the Dodgers or not Dodgers, the Detroit Tigers. So he's doing something. Man. They've got to be pretty happy with this young rookie.
Speaker 1:They must be Well jumping on through here. Uh, you know, we got a little bit of basketball news here. You know, are we gonna? Yeah, we're going uh yeah, and let's talk about something juicy here. I know you guys probably may know, well, well, aware by now. But uh, kawaii leonard, uh, kawaii leonard, kawaii leonard. Sorry, I call him kawaii, you know anyway, I'm just me, though I'm weird y'all.
Speaker 3:Anyway, kawaii, leonard bro, you're doing this on purpose. Kawaii leonard, kawaii leonard. Anyway, kawaiiwhi Leonard of the Clippers is kind of looking a little bad right now because he's linked to this fraud situation with this company?
Speaker 1:Is it him or is?
Speaker 3:it everybody out there. Well, okay. So let's kind of give the rundown of what's happening.
Speaker 1:Is it everybody in?
Speaker 3:LA looking bad right now. I mean it is LA. There's a lot of bad out there, but anyway getting back to the story Shifty shifters huh.
Speaker 3:Hey, I mean, like we all know, some bad shit goes down sometimes in LA. Yeah, but Pablo Torres, he released this article and basically this article points out the fact that this company, Aspirations Inc, which was a company that was funded by Steve Ballmer like he gave a little funding to this, to his company, to help get it started. This company has filed for bankruptcy back in March of this year and their co-founder, Joe Sandberg, has been arrested on fraud charges. This company was supposed to be a tree planting company based out of Los Angeles. That doesn't sound like a shell name.
Speaker 3:Well, here's the thing. So this company was started. They have a couple other people, like Leonardo DiCaprio and some other stars linked to it, but more so, the questionable situation here is the fact that Kawhi Leonard was named as one of their spokesmen, but he never did anything for this company, like he never showed up, did autograph signings, didn't show up and do like a commercial or you know. Go on social media and say, hey, check this company what?
Speaker 1:there was one tweet, one tweet. What was it? And it wasn't even about aspiration. It was he was. I think it was something about getting paid or something going on with the game. I forget what exactly it was, but he only tagged aspiration in the post.
Speaker 3:Oh lord okay, so he tagged them once. Well, apparently tagging them once was enough to get $28 million. So $28 million for basically doing nothing.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking that's a good price.
Speaker 3:Amen. I mean, kawhi Leonard gets paid to do nothing anyway. He hasn't played much basketball here lately. But I mean, look at this man, think about it. If you could get $28 million for nothing, I mean I would take a fourth of that man. If you give me just $7 million, I will be, I'll do nothing, all you want you know Not that I'm anybody of any note that could you could make anything off of, but hell, it's good when you can get it like this. You know when you could just, hey, just give me this money. But the one thing that they're pointing out in this whole situation is they are suspecting that this money is being floated out there from this company because they're trying to circumvent the luxury tax or the cap in the NBA. So basically, kawhi Leonard, come here, we'll get you your money, but we're going to do it in this kind of shady way Now. Granted, it's all speculation right now, but the league is investigating.
Speaker 1:Now I was reading some more on this today. Apparently, this is not such an uncommon thing. I mean, it's illegal, but apparently this happens out there and I beg the question do you think the Patriots were funneling money to Tom Brady?
Speaker 3:I mean, he always took those pay cuts no, I don't think so because, let's keep in mind, he was getting endorsement deals. He was married to Giselle, who was making 10 times what he was, so I mean they weren't hurting for money around that household at that time. But this has had something like this happen before where Joe Smith, when he was dealing with the Timberwolves, there was some funny business going on there and they docked the Timberwolves five first-round picks. So I'm wondering if they find any link cause that makes this a real thing, if there might be some picks taken from the Clippers in the same order, maybe more.
Speaker 1:That's going to hurt. Maybe, some more, we'll see. But well, mike, are we ready to talk about some football? Do you mean college football? Absolutely, because college has been in for about a week or so now and the NFL kicks off tonight. We'll get to the NFL in a minute. Everybody, hold your horses, I know, I know.
Speaker 3:We all want to talk NFL I know we all want to talk thatfl, no I want to talk.
Speaker 1:That I can feel it from here. Okay, guys, we're chomping at the bit, but we're going to talk about some college football real quick.
Speaker 3:Let's talk about week one yes, we are, and you know let's. Let's start up with the game that everybody was like really hyped on right. Everybody wanted to see that number one team versus that number three team. Those teams were Texas and Ohio State. In Ohio State for this game, let's not forget, ohio State was last year's national champ. They're a pretty good team. Granted, they did lose players to the NFL Teams like this. They already have some players in place. They just got to fill a couple spots.
Speaker 1:I mean, I had Ohio pegged for this win here. I thought it was a good game, or I thought it would have been a good game coming into it, hey look, it was a good game for some.
Speaker 3:If your name wasn't Archie Manning, yeah. If your name wasn't Archie Manning, yeah. If your name wasn't Archie Manning, it was a good game. That's what I'm referencing. But uh, that's not to take anything away. I mean because, like, let's, let's keep it in perspective here. This wasn't a blowout. I love perspective. This was a. This was a 14 to 7, you know, loss to the champ. So you're being tested out the gates, so you're seeing basically what equates to almost an NFL-level defense right out the gates. And now I get it.
Speaker 2:The name.
Speaker 3:Archie Manning means we've got to be high on his possibility of being great like his uncles.
Speaker 1:Uncle. There's only one great uncle, and his name's not Eli.
Speaker 3:He did beat Brady twice in the Super Bowl, not by himself. I know he didn't do it by himself and granted, look, I'm not saying he's great, but he showed up when it mattered. And for the record, I don't like Eli, I don't Me either. Well, you don't like Eli, I don't Me either. Well, you don't like him because he was with the Giants in your.
Speaker 1:Anderson, I don't like him because he's a crybaby. Oh, that's true, he is a crybaby. Somebody once said do you think Eli will get into the Hall of Fame? I said only if he cries first.
Speaker 3:Anyway, we're getting side railed from the conversation about this game. That'll be his bust, him with tears, him with tears, oh good Lord, anyway. Yeah, no, they'll put his bust in there only if he can have his defensive line and offensive line and all the other people that carried him, his running backs and everybody else. Then put his bust behind all those. Anyway.
Speaker 1:It'll just be a Polaroid of them, because they're not in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3:Anyway, it'll be on his chest. Let's get back to the college football game we were talking about.
Speaker 3:Let's get back to Archie Manning here. So Archie Manning had to face a Matt Patricia led defense, which I know you're all wondering. Yes, matt Patricia did have the laminated play sheet with his wooden pencil over his ear. I don't know how you use a pencil on a laminated play sheet, but he still does it every year. So the point that I wanted to make is this game both defenses were playing outstanding and the coach even said for Ohio State that they were just trying to play the field position game because they saw Arch didn't have it. And, to Arch's credit, he did plow through all this hard road to get a touchdown later on in the game and, almost in the late going of it, almost take his team downfield to get them in position to tie it up. So he fought through it, albeit he didn't put up great numbers. He did have a couple picks and he only had 170 yards.
Speaker 1:But you've got to build off of this right, yeah, I mean, I thought it was probably a good experience for him and a high-caliber defense right out the gate, you know.
Speaker 3:Right and honestly, I think he would benefit from staying a little longer in college. I really do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think so too. I mean, honestly I don't think staying in school is ever a bad idea. Well, he'll make more money anyway. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Most of them make more in NIL in college than they do on their rookie contracts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you damn sure ain't going to make no money in the NFL. You keep playing like this.
Speaker 3:Not with rookie contracts, might as well, take it while it's good.
Speaker 1:And then we had a couple other good matchups LSU and Clemson.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was a tight matchup. Again, only a touchdown difference for LSU to take that win. And Tigers looked good. They looked real good in that game. But, the game I watched personally and was just captivated by was Florida State and Alabama. Now Florida State's not ranked Alabama's 8th at the time of this game.
Speaker 1:Yeah, florida FSU beats Alabama. And, by the way, while we're talking about Florida, florida State freshman linebacker Ethan Pritchard was the victim of a shooting, probably this last Sunday night, but with my feed it might be a little bit dated, but either way, pritchard was shot in Havana, florida, while visiting his family. The kid's only 18 years old, by the way. I think he might even be a rookie on the team, I'm not sure, but anyway, very young player just starting a football career. But he's okay, he's in stable condition. So we just want to wish that young man and his family speedy recovery and look forward to seeing you back on the field as part of this defense that took over Alabamaabama this weekend yes, and that's.
Speaker 3:I'm glad you said that, because that's exactly what the game looked like the entire time. Florida state made the alabama offense look scared, like they had them on the ropes all game. Don't get it twisted. I mean, bama was trying but they won. Fsu won 31-17 over Alabama, a ranked opponent. So you know that's going to help them in the standings and they're definitely going to use that momentum. And you've got to remember this team, you know, not too long ago, was just a two-win team, you know, and before that they got snubbed on the playoffs. Now, granted, their quarterback did go down and that wouldn't have helped them if they did make it in the playoffs. But they're overcoming the adversity that they've dealt with these last few years and if they can keep this together, you know, keep this kind of performance going, it's going to be a good year for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree with you, bud. Another game, a game that I actually really liked, was Notre Dame and Miami. That was a lights-out game too. Yes, yes, and what's his name with that catch? Let me find him real quick.
Speaker 3:I mean, that was a tight game and both offenses were just yeah.
Speaker 1:CJ Daniels, mind you, the last name, by the way. Anyway, CJ Daniels one-handed catch Commanders fans, if you have not seen this catch, go back and look at it, because this is just a phenomenal one-handed NFL-level OBJ-looking motherfucker catch. Okay, this thing was incredible.
Speaker 3:Is that a technical term?
Speaker 1:I think. So I just made it up, but yeah, that was a great catch. I thought that was a great game as well, and then you had a number of other great games in there as well.
Speaker 3:Well, I think you've got to give Notre Dame some credit, because they started out with a new QB in this game in Carr. He knew the team and this is his first go-round and they were playing a ranked opponent. So that's the one thing that I like about this week. One is there was a lot of ranked opponents playing other ranked opponents. You weren't getting this number one ranked team playing some directional school that has no hope of winning. So it's good to see serious matchups being presented to the fans and for these colleges to actually test themselves out like that. That, to me, shows progression in college football.
Speaker 1:Yeah, uh, you got your eye on any week two matchups here, mike oh man, week two matchups.
Speaker 3:Oh, I haven't even had a chance to really see who's playing.
Speaker 3:Yet to be honest with you no, I mean there's, there's always going to be some good games. I, I mean for me, I always like the ranked games because you get some good play out of that, some good, good play out. Well, I mean no, I mean like okay, for example, you've got. Michigan ranked 15, going against Oklahoma, ranked 18. I think that'll be a good game. Two schools that you know they've had some good years between those programs, I mean, albeit Oklahoma it's been a long time since they were, like you know, really good.
Speaker 3:But, hey, you've got to start somewhere.
Speaker 1:UCLA and UNLV that should be a pretty good matchup down there.
Speaker 3:Let's see what the rankings look like now that we've had these upsets and teams being bumped around, sir.
Speaker 1:What was that? That was my Mr Magoo, like suspicious.
Speaker 3:So one thing I've got to point out, and this is after being unranked, florida State has moved into the ranking. They are number 14 in the ranking now. Nice, that is awesome. You go from an unranked team to 14 with that performance. You put up against Alabama, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:I'm happy for them. Yeah, very impressive and that was a good opening for them.
Speaker 3:Well, and since we had a little bit of a shakeup, let's do a little rundown of the top 10. Top 10 time. Coming in at number 10, we have South Carolina. The Gamecocks they're in there. They made it in the top 10. Got to get a new mascot, bro man. They love that mascot. They ain't changing it. So Notre Dame comes in at number nine. Number eight is Clemson. Number seven Texas Took a tumble from that number one spot. Oregon comes in at number six. Miami comes in at number five, georgia makes it in at number four, lsu comes in at three, penn State number two and obviously Ohio State has been bumped up to number one.
Speaker 1:Obviously After that performance in their first game. Obviously Now. Mike, before we move on much farther here I got a bad question. Is there trouble in Chapel Bill?
Speaker 3:Oh, what are you talking about? Did something happen in?
Speaker 1:Chapel Hill. I'm just talking about that 48-14 whooping that Bill Belichick's new team just took.
Speaker 3:Hey, I saw a great comment on that on social media where somebody said man, you know, if TCU can pull this off, we could maybe wind up with a final score of 72-24.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and not to mention, you know, his girlfriend, Jordan Hudson, was also spotted down there walking up and down the sideline.
Speaker 3:So I mean, they didn't really show her, they didn't show her that much. I mean, yeah, they didn't there, you might have seen her.
Speaker 1:People, I guess. I mean I don't see a problem with it as long as she's not interfering with what the coach is trying to do. She did approach him a couple times but you know I wouldn't have did that in the moment.
Speaker 3:I mean honestly, look, he has a girlfriend. What person hasn't had their girlfriend around them and maybe at their work, maybe at some point in time with them, when it's kind of like maybe I'm with the guys, like kind of leave me alone.
Speaker 1:Maybe she's his caregiver. That's why she always has to be with him. Oh good Lord, I hope not.
Speaker 3:That's all kinds of creepy Not that it wasn't already creepy to begin with, I mean old rich guys do whatever they want.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be that old rich guy one day and I'll probably have a 22-year-old girl. No, that's a little bit too young.
Speaker 3:too young, maybe 24 bro, that's so weird, I'm sorry. It just it all, right you?
Speaker 2:know no I'm not.
Speaker 3:Look, they can. They're adults, they can do what they want.
Speaker 2:This is like what they want.
Speaker 3:But come on now. I you know the next thing we're going to hear. We're going to hear him pulling an Al Pacino and what's his face? Robert De Niro popping out kids in their 80s. Hey, De Niro.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean that is crazy to me too, but you know, spread your seed. I guess, bro, Y'all made it. Do what you want to, do it just proves it's never done.
Speaker 3:You're never done.
Speaker 1:Anyway, we got some juicy news coming up in our flagship sport. Ladies and gentlemen, and everybody in between, let's welcome back NFL football for another great season, mike why aren't you clapping?
Speaker 3:I have something in the other hand and I can't really clap with one hand. Try to clap. You can't clap with one hand, man.
Speaker 1:Pat your chest? I don't know, just talk, oh okay. Anyway, welcome back to the NFL everybody Tonight. Two bum-ass. I mean, I'm sorry. The Eagles and the Cowboys kick off tonight, 820 pm. We were talking about this last night. Once again, we had technical difficulties, but just gave us a chance to come back and talk about it again because you know we're going to.
Speaker 3:yeah yeah, but we will get to that. I want to lead in with a couple of stories and this one to the nfl season just dropped today. Actually, yes, literally just happened a little while ago. Amari cooper calling it quits, damn. He signed with the raiders, the team that drafted him, and he is retiring. Five--time Pro Bowler, do you think? And once a Cowboy.
Speaker 1:Why are we talking about the Cowboys? Because they're playing tonight. He was on the Bills at one point.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're not playing tonight the Cowboys are oh yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1:I guess that is relevant, it is relevant. We don't need to talk about them though.
Speaker 3:Anyway, regardless, but we don't need to talk about them though. Anyway, regardless, but we will. Congratulations to Amari Cooper. Hope he finds success in whatever he does next.
Speaker 1:Yeah hanging him up after 10 years. Do you think this was just. Maybe his heart's not in it, or do you think there's?
Speaker 3:something going on behind the scenes there. Sometimes you just know, sometimes it's just time, yeah because it's a very peculiar time. I mean, you made it all the way through camp and OTAs and Well no, he kind of signed late in the process. Well, true, so I think because the phone wasn't ringing like it used to. It might be that it's just done.
Speaker 1:Maybe he's just going back home, yeah.
Speaker 3:But speaking of, didn't they draft?
Speaker 1:him.
Speaker 3:They drafted him, didn't they?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I said that a second ago, oh yeah, so maybe he's just going back home and retiring, not listening to me. You're right, look listening comprehension is not a strength okay.
Speaker 3:Apparently. But moving on, I want to talk about a good story out of the NFL. Normally, when you're an undesignated free agent and you're coming on to a team through spring training, you're really hoping you can make a team, you're hoping you can make it onto the final 53-man roster. And for the Ravens they did it with three undrafted free agents Right Bun who have made the team. So there's actually an article from Sports Illustrated out on this and they actually have a video attached to it. So go ahead and check that out, see if you can find it, because there's a long video attached to it. So go ahead and check that out, see if you can find it, because there's a long video attached to this where they kind of introduce all of these players and kind of tell them hey, you made the team and they're calling up their families. It's a really good video.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a little bit of a tearjerker. It's kind of sweet, kind of heartwarming.
Speaker 3:Yeah, especially with all these players, go through. If you make it and finally make it, you're living a dream. So for these three players, jay Higgins, a linebacker out of Iowa, is one of the players, and then Reuben Lowry is a safety out of the University of Tennessee, chattanooga, and Keon Martin is a corner out of University of Louisiana Three players definitely you got to keep an eye on. They made some plays in preseason that won over the team. Definitely, if you get a chance, go watch the video because it's really worth the watch. And speaking of somebody else who's having some good days right now Nick Benito. Nick Benito just got a contract extension from the Broncos. He now becomes the highest non-quarterback, or highest paid non-quarterback, in Broncos history. He just got an extension worth $106 million with $70 million guaranteed. So congratulations to him. The deal can be worth up to $120 million with some incentives. So he got himself a big old payday.
Speaker 1:He did, and before him it belonged to Patrick Shurtin II. You know, patrick Sertan Sertan, I always call him Shurtin, you know.
Speaker 2:I can't say nobody's name.
Speaker 1:This is why we have me pronounce names, so we can make fun of it later. But yeah, sertan, who's also on my IDP squad, he's, you know, he was the last one to have it last year about this time, september 4th 2024. So congratulations to Mr Bonito for now taking the cake and getting it over that century mark.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, this is the opposite of what you do there, cowboys. You sign a player early, you don't sign them late, anyway, or trade them. We'll get to that too. You don't sign them late, anyway, or trade them. We'll get to that too. Speaking of things happening, good, we got to swing back and talk about something not so good, so the Jets.
Speaker 1:We got a bipolar show man. We do. We keep some on their toes. You know, One minute they're happy, next minute they're sad. Like it's a rollercoaster of emotions. We can't just go all negative, all happy.
Speaker 3:This is gotta have balance man, I know this is what relationships are founded on is the emotional roller coaster, okay? Well, you know, I just think of like bruce lee, where he's like be like walter, my friend, don't look at me like that.
Speaker 1:I like mine better.
Speaker 3:Okay, tomato, tomato, anyway. So the bad news is for the Jets. The Jets Elijah Vera Tucker is going to miss the entire season. Their right guard tore his tricep Terrible and that's a long, painful injury. He's going to be out for the entire season.
Speaker 3:But on a more lighter note, I have a story that might be relatable to you and a lot of other listeners. So people have kids, right? Sometimes you might let them play with your phone, you know, just to distract them, or whatnot. You know just to distract them or whatnot. Uh, but recently the panthers, they had a situation where they had an injury in their wide receiver room and they wanted to bring back hunter renfro because they had cut him. And they were like, wait a second, we got an injury. Hey, hunter, come on back.
Speaker 3:So they've been trying to reach him. They called him like 10 times and every time it got sent straight to voicemail after like a ring or two. So they're like what the hell? We're trying to reach this guy. We want him to be on our team. And so finally, hunter Renfro looks over at his son. He's like you keep swiping at that phone, what's going on? And he's like, oh, nothing, somebody's trying to call. He's like, well, give me my phone, who's trying to call? He's like well, give me my phone, who's trying to call me? His son was ignoring the calls from the panthers trying to call him back and offering him a deal to come play for them, and the reason why his son was watching bluey on his phone you know I can absolutely relate to this.
Speaker 1:Uh, because my phone. My son has done that on my phone as well as from his tablet, because it's kind of connected now. Now he says dad, such and such is calling and I'm like, okay, cool, let me grab it for you. Hang up on them yeah, I can relate to that all day.
Speaker 3:My son has definitely done that, especially for important phone calls yeah, I think every parent can kind of relate to I missed a call because my kids, you know watching something on my phone, or my kid is playing a game on my phone and keeps swiping away my phone calls.
Speaker 1:Well, that's kind of hilarious and, yeah, definitely relatable. Now, maybe this next thing's relatable or not, but I know Tyreek's kind of had a rough go of it here in Miami the last couple of seasons and now this season is going to be the first time since he arrived that he has not been named a team captain. His teammates did not vote for him to be a captain.
Speaker 3:Well, I mean given the statements he made at the end of last year.
Speaker 1:And then the police thing, which I know wasn't totally his fault, no, it wasn't totally his fault.
Speaker 3:But I mean, like you know, you're basically saying I'm out of this bitch after the season's over, I'm out of your hoes. Your teammates don't want to hear that. But I mean, he's kind of got other problems going on right now. He recently was married, and I say recently because it's only been 17 months, oh so it's not even, it's not even a full two years. I forgot about and he's getting divorced.
Speaker 3:So another, some other issues and, I hate to say it, she's gonna walk away pretty, pretty hefty paycheck out of out of this marriage. So it's kind of a rough go for him and you know the running with the police not being voted a captain wife is leaving had to fire at his house, which, mind you, his neighbors they gotta be some jerks, because when he was having that fire at his house they're out there like sitting here on Instagram like taking videos of his house burning, like did anybody?
Speaker 1:call the police. Did anybody?
Speaker 3:call the fire truck like call the fire truck if you want to start doing world star after that go grab a bucket and start throwing water, bro, yeah how about.
Speaker 1:We're in miami.
Speaker 3:I know there's water nearby somebody got a garden hose somewhere. I mean geez like start spraying be.
Speaker 1:No, I could definitely relate to this and I honestly I feel for him for a little bit because he probably, you know, most men have much higher and longer hopes when a marriage, you know, and a fiancé ship begins, so you only feel for him a little bit.
Speaker 1:No, I feel for him a lot of it because you know, my marriage only lasted barely two years to the day, but me and my son's mother we dated for like almost four to five years I think it was something like four and a half years before we got married um, and then, like I say, literally not even two years to the day, our marriage, you know, fell apart. So I can definitely relate to that. Like that's pretty rough to go through. Uh, so I can only imagine you know what kind of soul searching he's doing at the moment.
Speaker 3:It probably getting married is way too easy, getting divorced is hard no, you have it.
Speaker 1:Well, it might be the other way around. It might be the same. Getting divorced is easy because all you got. You know. It takes two to say I do, but only one to say I don't.
Speaker 3:Right. But what I mean is you can theoretically meet somebody, go to Vegas, get married and you're married, Just like that, Just that quick. But to get divorced you've got to go through all this rigmarole, fill out all this BS.
Speaker 1:Well, in Vegas it's different. I think you can get like a 24-hour annulment or something like that, right if that's the case.
Speaker 3:But what I'm saying is like years later, when you're just both like to a point, or one is to a point where it's like I'm over. It's not as easy, you know. It's not as easy to get separated, you know.
Speaker 1:It's. It's not as easy to get separated. You know, it's easy in the physical amount, but it's not easy paperwork wise. That's what I'm saying. It's paper. Paperwork makes the world go around, apparently. Speaking of making the world go around, uh, green bay's defense is gonna make some quarterbacks heads go around here soon because micah parsons has been traded. Everybody knows this information by now, but we're going to dissect it here.
Speaker 3:Okay, look this is some next-level, just craziness from Jerry Jones again. You know, just when you think Jerry couldn't pull off some more ridiculous moves, he does this. You know like I get it. You know he usually waits till last minute and then signs the player. And mind you, all these holdouts, all these players, they all show up, they all get signed, they all wind up getting paid. It's just this time they wind up somewhere else. Micah parsons has found this the true solution to how you get paid or traded. If you really want to get traded, pull the Micah Parsons, show up, lay on the massage bench and eat some nachos and they'll trade you, because that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean they didn't do too bad on trade value. It's a 26 and 27 first-round draft picks as well as all-pro defensive tackle Kenny Clark.
Speaker 3:Here's the thing, though. I mean there's picks based on how the Packers are. That's going to be like late teens, early 20s, maybe because they're a fringe playoff team, Maybe but they're going to have two first-round draft picks for the next two years, including their own.
Speaker 1:So I mean, I don't think the return was bad, I just don't know. And now, granted, let's think now. I know my opinion was a little bit different last night, but I've done some more reading today. Thank you, micah Parsons is in his prime, yes, but he does have trouble staying healthy and has been known to not show up in the crucial moments of the game.
Speaker 3:Well, that's because some, you know, left tackles have kind of made him disappear. That's why you pay a good left tackle, because that's their job to make the Michael Parsons of the world disappear when you're playing, to make them non-existent?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because that's what you want.
Speaker 3:You want disappearing. You know big-time talent. We're muting you. Yeah, we're done with your nonsense. We're making you disappear in this game, but neither here nor there. I mean, we're looking at a player who's looked at as one of the top tier pass rushers in the game. So you're not just handing them over nothing, you're handing over a player that is like a cornerstone. You build your roster, you build your team around a player of this caliber.
Speaker 3:Now, granted, he does catch some fire because at times he's not as know gap oriented he's. You know, see ball, get ball, go where the ball is, and not so much playing off the run or playing off of a screen. You know, I mean not saying he doesn't cover a screen, but if he notices it, but he's not, he's not covering things like maybe a TJ Watt does or a Miles Garrett does, but he's still up there. He's still one of those guys. He's still going to possibly turn in double-digit sacks for the Packers this year, provided that he's healthy. I mean, there is talk about him getting epidural to his back so he can play, but he's been on the practice field, he's been practicing with them, and I think the Cowboys were going to hide that injury or take care of it.
Speaker 1:But the Packers had done, said no, you get that fixed, bro. Well that's probably. I think they have an opt-out option in that contract.
Speaker 3:That's probably why Dallas didn't get as much of a return. Yeah, they probably didn't get as much of a return. Yeah, they probably didn't get as much of a return because of the fact that hey, what's this thing with his back?
Speaker 1:I mean that might be why they didn't want to pay him as much.
Speaker 3:Are you talking about Jerry, jerry, mr Jones, gee, mr Jones, mr, I want glory hole.
Speaker 1:What so wrong? We're going to pretend you didn't say it.
Speaker 3:No, no, he literally said that one time. If you don't believe me, look it up. He did say it.
Speaker 1:Now granted it's not in the context, I'll ask my good friend ChatGPT.
Speaker 3:It's not in the context you're thinking of when you're drilling for oil. They refer to the hole you make as the glory hole.
Speaker 1:Sir, this is not going well for you. I just want to say that right now.
Speaker 3:I'm giving you the context of what it means. You're the one with your mind in the gutter.
Speaker 1:This is not going well, or is it? Anyway, now Dan Orlovsky calls it the worst trade in history. I don't know if I necessarily agree with that, given the return they got.
Speaker 3:Look, if both sides feel like they came away a winner, then okay. But from the outside world, from the rest of the people who have eyes and ears, we look at it like what?
Speaker 1:My guy was sleeping on the trainer's bench in the middle of a game bro, he was taking a nap and eating nachos.
Speaker 3:Man Homeboy was just chilling.
Speaker 1:He was like a VIP fan. Likeos homeboy was just chilling. This is he was like a vip fan like dang.
Speaker 3:This is what it's like, look this is the new way to get yourself off a team or get you paid. You don't sit there and wipe your social media. You don't stay away from the team, you don't threaten to hold out. This is what you do now.
Speaker 1:You lay on a bench and eat nachos and given his and given the his you know rate, you know his annual salary, the right, the Packers have set an NFL record in their own right. They are now the first team in the NFL to be spending more than a hundred million dollars on two players in a single season. In a single season, each of these guys' salaries based around $55 million.
Speaker 3:Which, by the way, for those who don't know which players I mean yeah, we know, michael Parsons is one, michael.
Speaker 1:Parsons and the other guy who we know, jordan Love, I mean. So they're spending. They're the first team to spend over a hundred million dollars in a single season on two players, which is significant well, you got to think about this, though they're.
Speaker 3:They have a lot of good young talent though. Yeah, receiver wise, they got a bunch of young receivers. They got young tight ends. Now they got a veteran back, but they're not paying them like huge money. They're paying them all right money and he.
Speaker 1:You know, green Bay's always had a thing for people's ex-linebackers Cause I remember Preston Smith, when he wouldn't sign or when Washington wouldn't sign him, they let him walk and he went to Green Bay and he's been good for him and he was a yeah, he was a breakout player for them, for them.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, this trade nobody really saw coming, because a lot of people are like, well, how come this team didn't go for him, how come that team didn't go for him? It's come out that the Eagles actually reached out and tried to do this deal and the Cowboys are like, no.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't be surprised if the Commanders tried to At one point he wanted to come play for dan if the cowboys had done that.
Speaker 3:That's a big middle finger to everybody else in the division and in the nfc. I think every team in the nfl would have been like really dog somebody get jerry out of that really bro, stop letting him make decisions.
Speaker 3:Really, bro, come on now. Well, the fact that this was a shocking trade one of the first people talking about it was k adams of up and adams uh podcast slash, uh youtube show. Well, actually it's not just on youtube, it's on uh, some platform. Sorry, I'm not familiar with how you can catch her show everywhere, but apparently one of the fans that talks to her said if you can make this thing happen and this was early on he said if you can make this thing happen, I will get a tattoo of you, because she was, like, one of the first people talking about this as a possibility. So this fan is true to his word. He went and got a tattoo of Kay Adams with the cheese head hat on on his body.
Speaker 1:And he still didn't get her phone number or a date.
Speaker 3:Well, but here's the thing. Here's the thing. How many times have you met somebody who's like man? If they do that, I ain't coming to work. I ain't coming to work. And where are they? The next day they're at work.
Speaker 1:I feel like this has happened a lot through my career, especially watching the Redskins play.
Speaker 3:Or just like your friends, I mean.
Speaker 1:Commander, sorry.
Speaker 3:Where your friends are like you know, man, if they win, I'm gonna run butt naked down the street. I'm going to run butt naked down the street.
Speaker 1:That's so outdated, nobody wants to see that. Do something actually cool. Look, do a handstand walk naked down the street Now that would be a sight.
Speaker 3:It'd be impressive. It would be impressive. But the point of the matter is people normally say things outlandish and they don't follow through.
Speaker 1:This is one time where somebody said they were going to do it and they did it. Look honestly, in today's world, it doesn't surprise me.
Speaker 3:I feel like I should be surprised, but I'm really not well speaking of. You know possible surprises or you know what may come of things. Uh, why don't we talk about who do you think will be the offensive and defensive player of the year, this year Rookie? Offensive and defensive player of the year.
Speaker 1:I mean we can answer both questions, rookie and league-wide.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm more interested in the rookies. Okay, rookies who do you think is going to be the rookies.
Speaker 1:I'll start with the rookie defensive player of the year. This is probably giving me. I think it's going to be Travis Hunter rookie offensive player of the year. This one is kind of up in the air to me because a lot of people are thinking Chinty. But I'm thinking if Cam Ward comes out here and lights it up, I'm thinking your number one overall pick is going to be rookie of the year see for me defensive.
Speaker 3:I don't think it's going to be. Don't think it's going to be Hunter. I think it's going to be Abdul Carter on the Giants. I think he's going to be the hands-down walk-away run-away player.
Speaker 3:That's a good nomination, as well, and as far as offensive rookie, I don't think it's going to be Genting. I mean he has a good chance, has a good case. If he stays healthy he should be monster this year. And I do like the Ward pick. I really do. I think Ward's a good one to pick on, but I think Golden, with the Packers, that wide receiver, I think he can catch fire on that offense being there because they're loaded with receiver talent and you can't double everybody. So Golden's going to get some opportunities this year and with a healthy love at quarterback and that run game, they're going to get some opportunities to throw downfield. I think that offense, if they can get some short fieldage opportunities with with michael parsons being on the defense getting some turnovers helpfully and you know I have xavier mckinney on the back end who was monster getting interceptions last year I think that they have an opportunity to get some good offensive production out of that kid and golden I I think it's a possibility I think so too.
Speaker 1:Now let's open up the league offensive player year and defense player of the year. Who's your early pick? Too early to pick?
Speaker 3:for defense. I mean, it's kind of hard not to go with Miles Garrett, you know, for defense, because I mean he's monster every year. So that's probably who I'm going to lean to on that one. Offense-wise, you know you usually give it to a running back because they wind up giving the MVP to a quarterback. So if I'm going to have to go that route, I'm going to go for a comeback one in Christian McCaffrey. And that's not me being Homer, that's being hey, he's healthy, and when he's healthy and he's in that Shanahan system, he was all you needed on offense.
Speaker 1:You know, and I'm not disagreeing, and one guy I'm going to throw back into defensive rookie of the year, maybe even defensive player of the year if he has a good enough season. I like Malachi Starks on the Ravens man Rookie, defensive back Playing in one of the league's toughest secondaries. Defensive back playing in one of the league's toughest secondaries. Um, and you know, as far as you know, aside from him, if we're going with somebody, I think it's going to be a pass rusher. Uh, you know it could be. You know, I don't know if I really have an opinion on this, but I I see zach bond maybe getting it linebacker out of Philly For Defensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 3:Defensive.
Speaker 1:Player of the Year. You know, I could see two older guys. You know Von Miller, and I forget his name anyway. Sorry, Bobby Wagner, I could see either of them getting it because they're old vets. Put your fandom away. It's called fantasy.
Speaker 3:Well, that thought is fantasy, because both those players are so old and washed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like, come on man. I mean, levante Davis is an older guy. He was putting up having a pretty good season last year too, so I could see it being a number of guys, but I think it's going to be a pass rusher, okay. What about offensive player of the year? Uh, you know, I really like bo nicks and I I like courtland. Honestly, I like courtland sutton too no, no, no, okay.
Speaker 3:No quarterbacks because, let's face it, they always give offensive player to somebody. That's not a quarterback.
Speaker 1:MVP is always going to wind up being a quarterback. Well, I go with Cortland Sutton. Honestly, I think that he's just going to have a breakout year this year. Why? Because he is a true number one receiver who's looking to break out, and that offense the way they've set it up to go this year, especially if they get some help from their run game. I see Courtland Sutton having a hell of a good year this year. A thousand plus yards, at least ten touchdowns, maybe more. A good year.
Speaker 3:I think for a receiver, though, you've got to get to that close to 20, if not over 20 TDs if you're going to start that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he'd have to have like a Jamar Chase level type of year.
Speaker 2:And even Jamar Chase, jamar Chase is another good one as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he'd be a good one as a possible.
Speaker 1:And I think somebody who might take a step back is and it all depends on the performance of JJ McCarthy Justin Jefferson could see a streaky year this year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean we'll see how that shakes out. But speaking of how things shake out, what about division winners? Who do you think is going to win the divisions?
Speaker 1:Oh Lord, we'll come back to the NFC East. Oh, oh oh. Division winners, let's go ahead. I know the divisions, but let's go ahead and get them up in front of us here. Where is the divisions?
Speaker 3:Not prepared, are you?
Speaker 1:No, we're not. I didn't know we were going to do this.
Speaker 3:How are you not going to know? We're going to do it. It's on the rundown. It is on the rundown.
Speaker 1:There you go, right there, there we go. We'll just leave it right here, leave it right there.
Speaker 3:You tell me who do you think is going to win each of these divisions?
Speaker 1:Okay, let's see here AFC or disagree, but I'm thinking the Bills are going to run away with this one, Okay.
Speaker 3:I think Bills will take it, but I think Patriots are going to surprise some people this year.
Speaker 1:I don't know about that much. I think the Dolphins have a better chance.
Speaker 3:I don't feel as high on them. Moving on, how about the AFC North? Who you got for them?
Speaker 1:AFC North. To me, this is a toss up between the bangles and the ravens. I like the ravens because lamar jackson is arguably the number one quarterback in the league right now. Him and josh allen could be argued it probably. But uh, I believe mahomes has fallen off a little bit the last year or so. Um, I believe the ravens, under lamar jackson, uh, and john Harbaugh, I think they're going to win and maybe even go deep into the playoffs. Lamar might even be an MVP candidate for me.
Speaker 3:He definitely owns the regular season when it comes to being. You know, stat-wise it's the playoffs that things kind of derail a little bit, although he did put up a good performance against the bills. It was just a dropped ball that cost their season the weakest division in the nfl, the afc south.
Speaker 1:Uh, I don't even know if I want to pick a winner from this, because somebody has to all these teams are sad, but somebody has to win it I'm gonna rest my laurels on the titans, okay. I believe in cam ward and I believe in Bill Callahan and at WROG. I like the Jacksonville Jaguars and Sunshine what they're doing down there.
Speaker 3:Look, look, I don't know what you're smoking, but they ain't doing that. No it's not.
Speaker 1:I like the Titans. I mean the Texans are. Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 3:I like the Titans as a team, but I'm honestly thinking and you're going to call me crazy when I say this I honestly think that the Colts are going to do it.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:And here's why, remember, this team was one win away from being in the playoffs last year. They've only gotten. So are the Broncos, yeah, but they're not in their division. Look, yeah, point. Being Texans, they looked really weak last year. They have a weak offensive line. I don't know that I can trust that they're going to put up the performance needed to get over the hill, even though I like some of their players and I like the way their team is constructed a little bit minus that offensive line who looks weak as shit.
Speaker 3:I just think that the Colts have a little more going for themselves. Plus, they've upgraded some positions through the draft. They've got a pretty good rookie tight end who might flash as one of their premier pass catchers this year. So that's my pick. Let's move on to AFC West.
Speaker 1:I can't blame you there. Afc West, I think it's between two teams. Neither of them named the Chiefs, although I think that's going to be a tough division. The only reason I think it's going to be the Broncos over the Raiders is because the Broncos actually have receivers okay to throw to. The Raiders got some. The Broncos actually have receivers okay to throw to the Raiders. The Raiders got some good receivers and maybe even a young breakout candidate too. Uh, but they're just putting it all together and the Broncos are coming into year three now under the Sean Payton system. So I like the Broncos to be able to edge out the Chiefs and the Raiders on this and take the division.
Speaker 3:I'm kind of feeling the same way. I mean, the Chiefs had a lot of one-score games. It was really tight and all of the teams in their division played them really tough. I mean, the Raiders lost one game because of a blocked field goal. They were literally going to lose the game, but a blocked field goal got them to win. So I think they're going to have a tough time running through this division like they have in years past, because they've all gotten a little better.
Speaker 1:Moving on to the NFC, so let's start in the NFC South. We'll save your division and my division last. All right South. What do we got for the NFC South? Honestly, I really like the Falcons, but I think the Buccaneers are going to win this one again.
Speaker 3:I really like the Falcons, but I think the Buccaneers are going to win this one again. Dang it. I'm going to agree with you. I think that the Buccaneers got it again. It's weird agreeing with me, right?
Speaker 1:It's weird that we're agreeing on a lot of them.
Speaker 3:I can't go against you in this because the Falcons I am not going to trust you until you show me, you can do it. That's my problem with's kind of where I'm at with them too. You either show us or you go home. Then I'm playing with our emotions.
Speaker 1:Michael pennix's first year under center, first whole year under center. You know, I'm looking forward to seeing that now with the nfc north. Uh, you know, lions, I think they'll still be strong, but I really honestly, this is going to be a dark horse pick I like, like the Bears. I disagree, sir. They have all the pieces, they just need a good coaching.
Speaker 3:Alright, I disagree, sir. I don't think it's going to be them, I think it's going to be the Bears.
Speaker 3:No, sir, I do not agree with that pick. But you think Bears, I will think what I think and what I am thinking. Packers I like the Packers. I think the Packers going to take it. I think you're going to have some. Let's face it JJ McCarthy is a rookie. He's going to have rookie mistakes and that may cost him some games in the year, so he might not Albeit. The Vikings are probably going to wind up being the second team in this division. I think the Lions are going to take a huge step back after losing two key coordinators, and you have a weaker offensive line with their recent retirement from one of their offensive pieces. Yeah, and they're having to figure out who's going to play center now because of the way they've shuffled, so it's not going to be as pretty.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I'm sticking with the bears. I think that they have all the pieces there. They just needed a better scheme, better coaching, and I think they got it under ben johnson. So that's actually my dark horse pick. Now, who are we doing first, the east or the west? What do you want to do? Let's do the west first. Okay, you're picking the 49ers. I already know and honestly, I'm kind of inclined to agree with you looking at the field here.
Speaker 3:I know the Rams have been the. The 49ers have the easiest schedule out of all 32 teams. They're coming back healthy for the most part. I mean, we still have Brandon Iaduk on IR and we've had some receivers on IR with some injuries, but that's been cleared up and we have players and we're ready to go. So I'm not being a fanboy, I'm just saying Plus, can you really trust Matthew Stafford, who's already having back issues and we haven't even played a single game yet?
Speaker 1:Now, don't get me wrong, I also like the Cardinals Kyler Murray. He's in a make-or-break year.
Speaker 3:I think people are sleeping on the Cardinals. I think they are sleeping on them too, Because they've made some key moves on defense in the draft and through free agency and they are starting to look like a team that's building towards something and they've been playing well under their new coach.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know they got Marvin Harrison Jr. Kyler Murray's going to be an amazing player.
Speaker 3:Marvin Harrison Jr needs to show us something. This year. You came in with all that hype and you were good.
Speaker 1:I think him just like Odunze in Chicago. They both are in a crucial sophomore year right now. Yeah, show us.
Speaker 3:I think Kyler Murray's in a, in a, you know not maybe a precarious place, but hopefully you can see over his offensive line. He has to stay healthy.
Speaker 1:If kyler doesn't stay healthy, they're gonna and they got a good running back tandem, because trey benson is really almost ready to step in for james connor, and they got a good one-two punch in both exactly, and trey benson is expected to steal some carries from James Conner this year. All right, sir, let's hear your biased in the NFC East. Oh, you know I'm picking the Commanders. But if I'm being realistic with myself, just based on how things shook out in the playoffs last year, the Eagles could maybe, if they try, win the division, but I think it's going to be my beloved commanders.
Speaker 3:So wait, what's your official pick? Are you picking commanders or eagles?
Speaker 1:My official pick is that long run-on sentence.
Speaker 3:I just said Get off the fence, pick one.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm picking commanders. I'm always going to pick the commanders.
Speaker 2:Okay, but I'll be realistic.
Speaker 3:I hear your advice.
Speaker 1:I see you, eagles, but I got to stay with my team okay.
Speaker 3:So wait, you don't trust Russ's cooking in New York.
Speaker 1:No, and Russ we do not trust.
Speaker 3:All right, then I guess we're going to go with the Eagles here. Because I trust the Eagles, I have morals who have shown me they can win a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:Honestly, jackson Dart strikes more fear into me than Russell Wilson does. What about Dak Prescott? No, zero fear, zero fear from eggs over my hammy here with the hamstring.
Speaker 3:Given the layout we've laid out for people who might get into the playoffs or are going to win their divisions, who do you have for Super Bowl Commanders? Two teams in the Super Bowl who are going to be there?
Speaker 1:Okay, commanders, I like. Honestly, it's hard to say the Bills won't be there. The AFC has a handful of good teams, teams. I'm going to ride with the Ravens because I picked them earlier. I think the Ravens will edge out the Bills to make the Super Bowl and down here in the NFC. I really think it's between the Eagles and the Commanders.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you're going.
Speaker 1:The Packers might.
Speaker 3:You're going Ravens-Eagles. Is that what I'm?
Speaker 1:hearing no, ravens-commanders.
Speaker 3:So you're saying there's going to be a Super Bowl with two teams that are literally right next to one another.
Speaker 1:I know let's have a party, bro, block party, good Lord. Anyway, that will be the rockinest Super Bowl party ever, because they're not that far apart, well.
Speaker 3:I know the one I would like to see. The one I would like to see is Bills and Lions, because either way, one fan base is getting their first Super Bowl. That would be cool to me because both those teams are pretty decent and I would like to see it. But what I think is actually going to happen, I think we're going to see like a Bills-Eagles Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I'm not mad about it because I like the Bills to make it two. I like the Bills and the Ravens being the top two teams in the AFC. They're kind of hard to pick between. Both of them have arguably the best quarterbacks in the league right now.
Speaker 3:Well, and I'm not that's not throwing any shade at Burrow, but his weak defense has let him down over and over again. And the Chiefs, I mean like they're getting a little long in the tooth and they got a rough go just getting out of their division, they got long teeth and look, I mean it's you're. You're banking on some really injury prone receivers to stay healthy. Yeah to to support your season. So I don't know man, I just, I just I got a.
Speaker 1:Now, who are we looking forward to? Who's your week one matchup, Mike? Who are you looking forward to seeing play the most to kick off this season?
Speaker 3:Well, let's keep in mind we've got a game tonight between the Cowboys and Eagles.
Speaker 1:They count, you can pick them.
Speaker 3:I'm not picking that one, but we need to tell people, don't forget, there's a game on Friday night between the Chiefs and the Chargers. That's right, the Chiefs and Chargers are playing in. I think it's Sao Paulo. They're in Brazil.
Speaker 1:Sao Paulo or something like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah they're playing in Brazil and that'll be 8 o'clock game. It'll be on YouTube and so definitely catch that game. But for me, the game I'm most interested in seeing and I know you're thinking I'm going to pick the 49ers, and no, I'm not picking the 49ers, I'm picking the Monday night game I think only you would think that the Vikings and Bears. I want to see that game because we're getting two quarterbacks that are kind of intriguing. We're getting to see JJ McCarthy in his first really go-round as the starter and we're seeing second-year Caleb Williams under his new coach and coordinator in Ben Johnson. I want to see what those two offenses really look like. That's going to be more interesting to me than some of these matches.
Speaker 1:I think that's going to be a good matchup. Another matchup I'm looking forward to is the Raiders and the Patriots. The Raiders now under Pete Carroll, Geno Smith under the helm, Jenty jumping in. They got Brock Bowers coming back for a sophomore season and the Patriots inaugural season under Mike Vrabel, Drake May, the brand-new shiny quarterback from last year they got a couple pieces.
Speaker 1:They finally got a, a receiver and Stefan Diggs yeah they got him a couple receivers, you know Matt Collins, stefan Diggs, a couple others, and they got that running back tandem and one of them they just drafted, trayvon Henderson. So I'm eager to see both of these teams put a new product on the field.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think it'll be a good matchup. And it's kind of a historic matchup because they kept running into each other in playoff games early on in Brady's career the whole famous tuck game, yeah, and honestly I think that's going to be a good matchup and I'm eager to see it happen.
Speaker 1:Now, everybody, I'd like to once again thank our sponsors and partners for being with us Body by D, jim Solace Outfitters and the Giving Tree Chiropractic all three of them phenomenal businesses and places to do business with Great owners very good at what they do. Thank you all for joining us once again. It's finally NFL kickoff. We're going to go watch some football y'all for the last time tonight. I'm Brian with an I and I'm Mike, and we are Two for the Win. Thanks, everybody.