Rice on the Mics

The Reset Button

• Ian • Season 1 • Episode 47

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The Reset Button.
This week we’re chasing stability — for the league, for New York football, and honestly for all of us watching the chaos.

We start with full Jets and Giants season post-mortems: what’s broken, what needs fixing, and why kicking the can down the road just keeps the problem alive. Then we zoom out to the NFL’s coaching carousel — John Harbaugh is the hottest ticket, but the real story might be Baltimore suddenly needing to nail a franchise-defining hire. Plus: McDaniel out in Miami, coordinators getting axed, and the ripple effects across the league.

Then it’s Rolling the Dice with Rice — quick recap of last week, the season record, and picks for every Wild Card game with the angles behind them. After that, a College Football Playoff check-in (including Miami vs. Ole Miss delivering the hype), and what these semifinal matchups mean with draft declarations starting to fly.

We close with the Knicks snapping the skid, the NBA trade market officially waking up, and a few MLB offseason notes as the league keeps shifting under the Yankees’ feet.

Tap in. Hit reset. Let’s roll.

SPEAKER_00:

I guess he's money when we're define it as it does it too. Ladies and gentlemen, we are officially in reset season. Not the cute kind either, the real kind. When you hit that point where you're not just chasing perfect, you're chasing stability, normalcy, a plan. Something that doesn't feel like chaos with a different coat of paint. And if you're a New York football fan, you know exactly what I mean. So today we start with the Jets and Giants post-mortems. And I'm not even gonna pretend that week 18 told us something new, something that we didn't see before. Week 18 was pretty much just the credits rolling with the curvier enthusiasm soundtrack plan. The real question is: what are we resetting to? What's the identity? What's the fix? And for both teams, that answer isn't one thing. It's a bunch of big things that actually have to connect together. Then we go around the league because the coaching carousel is spinning off the rails, and the headline is John Harbaugh, obviously. He's the hot ticket, everybody's lining up, but the bigger ripple is the part that nobody is really talking about out loud. The Ravens' job is open too. That's not just another vacancy, that's one of the most important jobs in football. And the pressure around Lamar's window is about to get real loud real fast. After that, we slide into rolling the dice with Rice, our pick segment that we've been doing all year. A quick recap of week 18, the season's overall record, and then we're picking all six wildcard games because bonus pick week, right? Look, it's the playoffs. I'm not gonna leave money on the table. College football has a lot going on too. I don't know if you noticed, so if you haven't exactly been locked in, don't worry, I got ya. We'll touch the playoff semis, the draft stakes, and then we're gonna get right into the Knicks trying to snap out of this slump. And surprise, we actually had a couple MLB moves worth mentioning too. So, yeah, that's the theme this week. Reset season. Recentering, building stability, turning the noise down, and getting back to something that makes sense. Not a fresh start just because it's cute, a fresh start because you're tired of the chaos. Race on the mics, episode 47. Let's do it to it.

SPEAKER_01:

Tranquility based here. The Eagle has landed.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, we are uh we're in reset season, so let's start there, right? What are we what are we resetting to? Not new year, new me stuff. I'm talking about the grown-up version of a reset, right? The kind where you're not chasing hype, you're chasing stability, you're chasing normal. You're chasing, can we go one week without the whole operation looking like a group project that got started the night before it was due? Because unfortunately, that's where the local football scene is right now. So let's just rip the band-aid off with the Jets. This is not a one move away situation. This is not a new offensive coordinator and we're cooking situation. They have some talent. They do. Brees, Garrett, Mitchie, Adonai Mitchell, the old line looks good. But the problem is what they don't have is the winning mindset to make it work. So, so whatever, whatever we thought at the beginning of the season, we were wrong, myself included. This is now a full-on rebuild. And the only thing worse than admitting that again, honestly, is pretending that you don't have to do it. I I I uh I saw a stat this week that genuinely made me laugh out loud in that I'm actually enjoying the pain kind of way. Laugh. The Jets found themselves in the record book after week 18, and they broke a record that has stood since 1933. 1933. You know what the record was? They didn't have an interception all year long. Do you know when that in 1933 the leading passer for the entire league threw for 533 yards? Justin Fields, for as bad as he was, and only playing five games this season, had 1,200 passing yards. 533 for the season. League leader. That was MVP numbers back when men wore leather helmets and and they had factory jobs on Monday after the game. And somehow the Jets keep ending up in the same sentence as that kind of bad passing trivia. That's not fun history. That's that's an absolute crime scene. That's the kind of thing that gets brought up when people are building a case while your franchise is cursed. That's a record that will legitimately never be broken ever, just based on the pure passing volume alone. And look, look, I I know, I know how Jet fans are. Hell I am one, right? We're delusional. We'll fight through anything, we'll we'll talk ourselves into anything. When the the schedule comes out, we say we can go 10 and 6 or whatever. You know, if we hit on a lineman and if the defense can come together and get in the top 10, and you know, the new staff can unlock the run game and yada yada yada yada yada, the list goes on. Yeah, you know what else? If my aunt had balls, she'd beat my uncle. I mean, good God. Okay, so let's fix it though. Let's listen. So where do we start with the reset? How do we how do we fix this thing? Well, here's the uh here's the Ian Rice checklist, right? Here's the Rice on the Mics checklist. And first and foremost, like anything, starts with quarterback. And not a quarterback. The quarterback, the quarterback plan. A young guy who can actually grow with the team, grow with the coach, who shows some real promise, who can lead men in the locker room, not a bridge, not a placeholder, not a vet that's been around forever. Don't pull up Phillip Rivers. Not a we'll see or we can fix him kind of thing. You want stability? It starts there. It starts with getting a young, smart, strong quarterback. And I I had people in my DMs all week, like, oh, just suck again next year, get one of the QBs in the draft, it's supposed to be loaded, you know, Mendoza this or more that, blah, blah. I get it. I understand the logic of being bad again and stacking more picks and loading your team up this year, but here's the problem with all that. If you keep putting off the problem, the problem now becomes the culture. You become a team that's always waiting for the next savior. And then when the saver shows up, you ruin them because the building still stinks, and the culture is being okay with losing games. So step one, quarterback. That's always what it is, right? Step two, head coach conviction. This is what we were promised with Aaron Glenn. Presence, the backbone, the identity, that we're gonna be hard to play, teams are gonna feel sore after they play us. Okay, then be that. Because right now, the Jets, the Jets have too many Sundays under their belt where the body language just said, yeah, if this goes sideways early, we're out. And and the league can smell that. You you claimed no nonsense right from the start, and you were tough on the media, and you even cut guys that made mistakes early in the season. And guess what? That harass, hard ass, pain in the ass, asshole mentality only plays when you're winning games. And you're not. You're 3-13 picking second in the draft. Third step is free agency, right? Jets have some good cap space coming up, but you gotta be smarter, not louder. Okay? Don't go after the name because it's the name. Stop shopping like you're emotional. Stop doing retail therapy. Stop buying the expensive thing because you're mad at how the season went last year. Build the trenches a little more on both sides. Build some real depth. Build the boring stuff. The boring stuff is what turns wins in December, right? That's what gives you longevity throughout the season, not over by Halloween. This is what it really means to reset for the Jets. Stop chasing the moment. Stop chasing the headline. Stop being the get right game for any team that's struggling that you're gonna play. Start building the machine, start sharpening the arrowhead. Start being respectable again, for God's sakes. Anyway, alright, so the Giants now, right? The Giants. Well, the Giants are a different kind of mess, but still a mess. Uh honestly, their biggest fix is not just add a receiver or upgrade at corner or safety. The Giants' biggest fix is the head coach. Getting the head coach right. Get the tone right, get the leadership right, get the culture right. Because you you've got something that you haven't had in a long time, and funny enough, the last time you did have it, you won two Super Bowls. You have a young quarterback out of Old Miss who, as long as he stays upright, is showing that he can play in this league. Do I know Jackson Dart is for sure the guy? No. No one does. Sophomore slump could be coming just like Jaden Daniels, right? But I do know this. He has shown that he's got enough talent where you cannot waste the next year making him learn a system that gets fired the next year. That's how you ruin a kid. That's how you ruin Daniel Jones. Different offensive coordinator, different head coach, different offensive coordinator. I mean, that's the thing with the Giants, though. Everyone thought that life after Tom Coughlin was going to be easy. Like, oh, we'll just modernize and we'll keep winning. The culture will carry over from the veteran players. Yeah. Well, guess what? Here we are again. Welcome to the coaching carousel. Since Coughlin got let go, quote unquote, it's been a whole lot of new plan, new voice, new era, and not a whole lot of new results, not a whole lot of winning. So if the theme is reset, then the Giants reset is this one band, one sound. Everybody beating to the same rhythm, front office, coach, locker room, no divas. Because if that part isn't aligned, it doesn't matter how talented the roster is. You're just gonna keep losing close games, and it's gonna be chalked up to oh, they're making progress, they're getting better. Yeah. Losing close games only plays for so long. New York football is uh in shambles. So anyway, anyway, let's uh let's widen the lens a little bit. Let's go around the league, and uh obviously the headline this week is Harbaugh, right? But Baltimore is also kind of the quiet bombshell, right? The uh the NFL is in full chaos mode right now, as it always is when the season ends. Black Monday touches every team and it takes no prisoners. Hot ticket is obviously John Harbaugh. He's out in hall he's out in Baltimore, and the whole league immediately turns into the Hunger Games, right? It's funny too, his brother Jim, who is enthusiastic to say the least, I guess, he said, quote, yeah, he'll be a head coach next year. I hope we play him, and whoever he does does go to is gonna be a formidable opponent. He even hit us with a classic, uh, he has an enthusiasm unknown to mankind line, too, which is what they said about him. I mean, that's the most hardball sentence of all time, right? Like you can hear the khakis just talking. Harball sweepstakes aside, here's what people aren't talking about. The Ravens now have an opening, too. And that's a big boy opening. Okay, that franchise has basically had stability forever. Ozzie Newsome, I mean, it's gonna be what, their fourth head coach in franchise history, I believe. That's not a normal vacancy. That's not, let's just try a young play caller or some college guy. That's like you better get this right or you break the thing that makes Baltimore Baltimore. And I'm gonna say it again because I've been on this in the past couple weeks. Where there's smoke, there's fire. That Lamar Harbaugh sounds like it was uh it was a little deeper than the public version that got out. And now the pressure ratchets up real fast for Lamar. I hope he can handle it. If Baltimore starts slow next season and they lose some games early or something, the entire conversation turns into was Harbaugh the glue? Is Lamar happy there? Did they make the right choice? What's next? That's a that's a reset with potential big consequences. So, so where does Harbaugh land, right? That's that's the million dollar question. Well, the betting odds jumped in on it immediately, and the Giants are the favorite right now with the Raiders lurking right behind. The Giants part makes sense, right? New York loves a proven adult in the room, big market, big job, stable voice. And if you're sitting there with Dart and you're trying to stabilize the building overnight, hiring Harbaugh is like hiring a bouncer for a club that's just been a mess for way too long. But, and this is a big but don't sleep on the Raiders angle either. And that's the fun what if, the maybe twist. Because if Harbaugh goes to Vegas, you're talking about offensive talent, you're talking about Max Crosby on defense, and you're talking about having the juice of the number one pick in the draft, taking a quarterback you personally want to mold or trading back and whatever, and just building your legacy even more. The downside with the Raiders is congratulations. You now have to live in a division where you got to see the Chiefs, even if they are somewhat rebuilding, it's still Mahomes. The Broncos with Sean Payton, and they're the number one seed in the AFC. And oh yeah, your brother twice a year. Imagine Thanksgiving at the Harbaugh House. And uh so from there, you got the NFL confidential sources stuff that's been going around. Apparently, nine teams have been sniffing around Harbaugh. Now, I don't know, I'm not the best at math, but I know there's only six coaches that got fired so far. So clearly that's not just teams with openings. There was some Packers whispers, there was uh even some teams that are playing this weekend, side-eyeing that. Like, hey, you know, if you lose, are you sure you're good? And not to mention the Steelers as a dark horse. Yeah, if they get bounced first round and you know they want to move on from Tomlin, if Harbaugh really wants to stick it to him, could make it real spicy. Make a play right across town over to uh Steelerville. Look, and the other thing too is if Tomlin ever becomes available, that's another adult in the room candidate for the Giants that they would absolutely be interested in. But unfortunately for the Giants, if they don't play their cards right, they could end up doing half-ass interviews with candidates banking on John Harbaugh taking the job, only for him to go somewhere else, and then everybody else that they interviewed feels like the unwanted second choice, which would be uh a disaster for them. And just uh also one more thing that I want to touch on too, with all these interviews flying around, this is where the uh the Rooney rule conversation pops up. And the NFL's own language is that it's about hiring best practices and building a diverse leadership pipeline. Head coaches, GMs, coordinators, even quarterback coach now. The the intent is right and the goal is right. But unfortunately, the ugly reality is sometimes the process feels like the same handful of candidates getting cycled through for courtesy interviews. So that teams can just say that they followed procedure. And that's that's not fair to those candidates. Yeah, it's good interview practice, but that's that's not great. And it doesn't fix what the rule is trying to fix anyway. I don't know. That's all I'll say on it for now. Just know this that during reset season, the interview season gets messy too. And you can see which franchises treat it like real work and which ones treat it like it's paperwork. You know, and it's not just hardball. There's more coaching chaos. The league is cleaning house. Washington moved on from both coordinators, Cliff Kingsbury and Joe Witt Jr. Cling Kingsbury's likely going to explore head coaching stuff, and worst case, he settles for an OC job and rebuilds some crappy teams offense. But the whole story there was that the they had a philosophical split. Uh, the head coach wants to run the ball more and protect the defense while Kingsbury is fly by the seat of your pants living in the no-huddle. Dallas fired Matt Eberflus after the defense put up historic levels of bad. I mean, we're talking allowing 30 points a game, no pass rush. Understandable they got rid of Micah Parsons, but they were just getting carved up by everybody. And that's that's the Cowboys. So you already know what comes next. There comes the loud opinions and Jerry Joan quotes that sounds like they're written for a movie trailer, right? Literally, he he tried to make a joke about Trump and Venezuela during the uh press conference about picking a new staff. And Atlanta, also, Atlanta's doing the weird like president of football thing, and they're interviewing Matt Ryan. They're bringing him back, which is fascinating. And also very Falcons. They're openly saying that they want to talk to Harbaugh. That franchise is just trying to reset its entire chain of command, not just a playbook, and they don't even have a first round pick this year. And last but not least, Miami. Miami firing Mike McDaniel. I don't know, man. I'm still kind of side-eyeing that one because it felt like they were gonna, it felt like they were kind of like stringing him along, right? So they fired the GM midseason, and you figured, okay, well, Mike isn't long for this world much longer. But then he rattles off some wins. He gets the locker room to buy in a little bit. It shows some promise, right? They even told him, like, yeah, you'll help us interview the new GM, you'll be a part of the process. And then literally as soon as Harbaugh becomes available, it's suddenly it's uh we're in need of some change. Throw in that, and you got to basically floating the idea of a fresh start and wanting to get out. That's not just a full reset. That's a full meltdown. That's coach, that's GM, that's potentially quarterback, that's staff. And not to mention the cap math cap math, excuse me, on Tua is nasty. It's something like$60 million dead hit if they cut him. So yeah, good luck with that. Good luck to any GM trying to fix that. I mean, why would anybody want to go there? Maybe there is hope, yeah, for the Jets not to finish last in the division. Doubtful though. So yeah. So with the uh with the regular season closed out, we we now head into the best part of the football calendar, which is wild card weekend. And it's always the best weekend because it's the purest form of chaos. You're guaranteed at least one upset. You're guaranteed one team that thought it was safe getting punched right in the mouth. And on top of it, half of these teams have kind of already seen each other once this year. So the oh, we didn't know what they were excuse doesn't play at all. I mean, we get storylines everywhere. You got Packers, Bears with Jordan Love coming off the layoff, and everybody's like, oh, is he rusty? Can he, you know, can he da da da da? Side note, by the way, did you know that for both of their storied franchises, they've only played against each other in the playoffs three times. I thought that was crazy. You got Chargers Patriots with Herbert's hand being a real factor, and New England just looks like a juggernaut under Variable now. And then you got Bill's Jags and Josh Allen doing the whole I watched film and I realized that I'm trash routine. Yeah, forget it. Save me, spare me. You were the reigning MVP. I'm good. I got plenty of picks coming up for the in the rolling the dice with rice segment because that's where the uh the real fun is. But just know this. This weekend is gonna test teams' identity. When the game tightens up, who are you really, right? When the first scripted drive gets stopped, who are you? When the crowd gets loud and the refs swallow the whistle, who are you, right? That's the reset season two because the playoffs don't care what you were in September. They only care what you are right now. It's win or go home. So Jets and Giants, offseason reset. Ravens, franchise reset, half the league, coaching reset. And this weekend, well, we'll find out who's real and who's going to be reset. And with that, it's time to start talking some money because wild card weekend means the slips are back, and I'm giving you picks for all six games. Rolling the dice with rice right after this. Stay tuned. Here we are. It's time to roll the dice yet again. And before we jump into this wild card weekend, I just want to give myself a quick little victory lap because you know what? I earned it, okay? Week 18, last week we go 4-1, and that puts the season at 43-38. And I just want to remind everybody that we started this thing in a goddamn crater. Okay, we were 5-17 at one point. I had people looking at me like that was uh handing out financial advice from a gas station. Now we're above water, we're breathing, and we're feeling dangerous again. And that's the whole vibe of the playoffs. Reset season. That's the theme. Everybody's record is clean, everybody's got a new story, everybody's got that this could be the year delusion, and I love it. Because that is where the chaos lives. So we're picking all six games, bonus pick week. No locals to drag us down anymore. Jets and Giants, yes, season's over. So the slips are free. The mind is clear. Let's get after it. Game one, we got Rams at Panthers. Rams minus ten and a half is the line right now. So yeah, the Rams are a wagon, right? I get it. Puka, Kyron Williams, Matthew Stafford on an MVP level caliber. People are looking at them like the NFC final boss. And they're getting healthy too. Uh Devontae Adams is supposedly supposed to be back this week. The Rams are the wild card, but not really a wild card, right? That's the narrative going around. But 10 and a half in a playoff game? That's crazy. That's a college spread. That's Georgia versus directional school numbers for a playoff game. Look, Carolina backed its way into the playoffs and they got a home game. Awesome. Cool. When a team backs into a home playoff game, they treat it like the Super Bowl. The stadium is going to be juiced. When's the last time they got to go to a playoff game? Plus, they can run the ball. And Ted McMillan, like I told you in the very beginning of the year during our draft special, is legit turning into a star right in front of our eyes. Am I saying that Carolina is a monster? No. I'm simply saying that 10.5 is a lot for a team that's going to play like their lives depend on it, and we'll give their home crowd a good showing. So give me the Rams to win on the money line, which is minus like 700, not worth it. But give me the Panthers to make it annoying. Official pick, Panthers plus 10.5. Wildcard weekend starts with some chaos. That's how it's supposed to be. That's how it's supposed to feel. Game two, we got Packers at Bears. The line is currently Packers minus one and a half. And this game is a coin flip. Vegas is basically admitting it too because the the line opened up Bears minus one and a half, and then all the money came rushing in, like, oh, we're going to get Green Bay with some points. And then suddenly the line flips to Packers minus one and a half. So what does that tell you? Well, it means it tells you that nobody knows, right? Everybody's guessing, which means it's the perfect wild card game. Chicago has been that lucky team this year that like there's one every season, right? The team that just keeps surviving. They get the weird bounces, they pull it out late. You're looking around, like, how are they still here? Are they really this good? And in games like this, division games, home dog, give me the home dog. Keep it simple. So official pick, Bears plus one and a half. If you're building a parlay and you want to sleep a little bit better at night, I don't hate buying it up to Bears plus three and a half, but my official pick is Bears plus the points. And honestly, it wouldn't it wouldn't even shock me if they ran the field at home against a division rival and the whole city loses their mind. Or they could get blown out. This game could really go anyway. Alright, game three, we got Bills at Jaguars, and the line is currently Bills minus one and a half. This is the this is the one everybody's gonna talk themselves into betting, right? Because the Bills have Superman. They have Josh Allen, they have the MVP, the red cape, the new dad, all of that. And yes, this is supposed to be the year because the Bills don't have to deal with Mahomes. They don't have to deal with Lamar in their path. But here's the thing: if they win this game, the road gets nasty going forward. More than likely, you're probably headed into New England. And then if you win that, you're probably headed into Denver. That's a 2011 Dirk Newisky mountain to climb just to get into the big game. Meanwhile, Jacksonville, it's one of those teams that nobody watched all year because it's Jacksonville. Let's be real. But if you have been watching them, you know that they're they're starting to look good. And Trevor Lawrence is starting to look more and more like the guy that people promised us he was going to be. So again, a playoff home dog with a small spread with a team that the public doesn't really respect, that's exactly how you get an upset. Jags plus one and a half is the pick. Same deal. If you're parlaying it, buy it up to three and a half, give yourself a little bit of wiggle room. And I'm also gonna say this clearly and loudly: I love the over in this game. It's currently sitting at 50 and a half. Look, if you don't like the Jag side, don't force it, but take the over and just root for the fireworks. Josh Allen is not gonna go down without a fight, and Jacksonville knows how to score. Alright, game four. We got 49ers at Eagles. The line is currently Eagles minus five and a half. And this line, it uh it uh it uh it smells smells a little funny because you look at the names and you're like, why, why is this spread that big? You got CMC vs. Saquon, AJ Brown versus Juwan Jennings, Purdy vs. Hurts, superstars everywhere, right? And yet the total is so low. Eagles favored by almost a touchdown, and Philly's been living in drama all year. No, it's telling me something's off. And whenever it feels funky, I would much rather be on the side with the points. Not to mention that the refs that got announced for all the games, the story came out that the head ref doing the Eagle game is like eight and two when he does those games, and he grew up in Pennsylvania. So you're gonna tell me the league didn't hear about that story and they want to change that narrative. They want to put a little damper on that. So just say it was a coincidence. Give me the 49ers plus five and a half, and again, if you're building a safe parlay, I'm gonna buy it up to seven and a half because I think this is one of those playoff rock fight games. They just go back and forth. They probably win by three, three and a half, whoever wins the game. Game five, Chargers at Patriots. Hey, we uh we get a Foxboro playoff game. It's it's been a minute. So you know what that means. The crowd is uh is gonna be ridiculous. And on top of it, you you know what uh the cold feels like on your hands in Foxboro? Now add in the fact that uh Justin Herbert's hand is already messed up. And look, it's one thing to have a hand injury in week 14, right? It's a completely different thing to have it in January in cold weather, taking snaps under center, trying to grip the ball, trying to throw it in tight windows, all while 270-pound men are trying to fold you into a suitcase. I I hate to say it because I do like Herbert, but this feels like another year where they're leaving the season early and they're asking, what if he was healthy? What would have changed? So my official pick is Patriots minus three and a half. I think the Pats win. I think the Pats cover, and Foxborough hosts yet another postseason game this season. Game six, last one, Monday night. Texans at Steelers, and the line is currently Texans minus three and a half, or excuse me, minus three. And this one is simple for me. Don't overthink it. Houston's defense has been ferocious all year. Okay, they've been mean. And the Steelers, well, I look, I just have a hard time believing that a 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers is uh going to be escaping that kind of pressure for four quarters in a playoff game. Not when Houston can make it ugly, man. They they can just get up and let the defense work. And CJ Stroud hasn't had to be perfect either. He's had to do just enough to be steady. And in a wild card weekend game, steady is what gets you through it. Give me the Texans minus three. If you want to be a little bit safer, I'm cool with buying it down to two and a half, but Houston is the side. And yeah, by the way, if Pittsburgh gets bounced early, just because they beat Baltimore and backed their way into the playoffs, don't be shocked if that turns into yet another coaching conversation and another reset. Reset season doesn't stop just because you made the playoffs, man. They've been trying to get rid of Tomlin for God knows whatever reason for a while now. That might be the final straw. So that's the card. That's the uh the final play. We got Panthers plus 10.5, Bears plus 1.5, Jags plus 1.5, and I love the over at 50 and a half. Take the Niners plus five and a half, and then give me the two favorites Patriots minus three and a half, and Texas minus three. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna hold you hostage, right? We're taking some dogs here, it's a little risky, but you know the rules. These are picks, they're not commandments. Don't go betting the rent money because I got you excited because I'm talking into a mic real loud, right? This is the best weekend of football every year. It always delivers at least one upset and at least await what they lost kind of moment. So just, you know, bet responsibly. And speaking of moments, we just got one into college football because the Miami Ole Miss semifinal ended while I was still recording this, and it was exactly what we wanted. So I'm gonna touch on that next, do a quick little recap, quick story. We'll dive a little bit into the college football playoffs reset energy, and we'll dive into some of these guys' draft stuff, what they're playing for and what it means going forward. Keep it right here. And it just went final. So, what better time to transition into some college for a minute? Because that was absolutely worth the hype. Miami pulls it out, they beat Old Miss 31-27, and they're going back home with a chance to win a natty at hard rock. That's the part that's so insane. Like, we're talking about a Miami team that didn't even play in their conference title game. People were side-eying the resume, and now they're one win away from their first national title since 2001. That's the definition of a reset right there. You don't get to rewrite the story like that unless you've actually built something different. And the game itself, man, it started like somebody hit the energy saver button, to be honest, where you slow burn. It was physical. There was a couple moments where you're watching, like, are we sure that this is the semifinal right now? And then hold on to your butts, people. The fourth quarter shows up, like it got a text that said, You're on national TV, act like it. Old Miss takes the lead late. Trinidad Chambliss, how about that? Say that name three times fast. Trinidad Chambliss, who, by the way, is a year removed from winning a Division II title at Ferris State. I think I read that. Division II football. Now he's in the college football playoffs. He was out here throwing darts like he's been doing it since Pop Warner, which he probably has, to be honest with you. But he hits Daquan right for that touchdown. There's about three minutes left in the game, and you're thinking, shit, Ole Miss. They pulled this out, man. This is really about to happen because nothing against Ole Miss, but they've been playing with that nothing to lose confidence ever since Lane Kevin dipped on them for LSU. And again, I don't even mean that as a shot. It's almost like it hardened them. Like the whole team was like, oh, we're not good enough? Okay, cool. Watch this, hold my beer. But then Miami. Ooh, Miami. Miami showed the difference between teams that want the moment and teams that actually can hold on to the moment. Carson Beck leads them down the field, keeps them calm, and then with 18 seconds left, he scrambles in for a game-winning touchdown. And it wasn't some pretty storybook drive either. Everything was clean. No. It was messy, it was tense. It had your heart rate spiking, but he gets it done. That's what a quarterback looks like when he's not playing to avoid losing, he's playing to win. And big shout out to Miami's defense, too. They deserve a lot of love because they've been the backbone for this entire run that they've been on. Early in the game, they had Old Miss looking like they were trying to run an offense through wet cement. I mean, they had one explosion play for 73 yards, and then Miami just settled right back in and they made them earn every yard. That's a defense that travels. That's a defense that wins in January. So here we are. Miami's in, and now we're waiting on the winner of Indiana, Oregon. And this one, oh boy, oh boy. This is the one I've been circling. Because yeah, it's a semifinal. Yes, it could be the last time you play a game with your brothers. Yes, it's a rematch between the teams that played during the regular season with much, much higher stakes. But it's also a draft audition in real time. Fernando Mendoza on the Indiana side and Dante Moore on the Oregon side. Two quarterbacks that are going to have NFL people watching like they're scouting with a microscope. Every throw matters. Every decision matters. How you handle third and long matters. How you respond to one bad drive matters. And Indiana, man, Indiana is the ultimate reset story of the whole season. I mean, you want to talk about Miami wasn't supposed to be here. Indiana really wasn't supposed to be here. Okay? They were supposed to be the nice season, cute run, clap it up for him. No, instead, they've been walking around like they own the room. They own the lobby, the hotel, the block, everything. And honestly, it all starts with their coach Signetti, Kurt Signetti. He looks like he's mad at the sun that it came up this morning. He looks like he got a parking ticket in 1997 and he's still thinking about it. And he joked about it himself. He does that on purpose. He says, same face on play one, same face on play 150. Because if you're preaching stability and composure, you can't be on the sideline acting like you just hit the lottery every time something goes right. I get it. I understand a little bit of emotion, but stability is good. And that's kind of why this fits this theme of this episode. It's reset season, right? Reset season doesn't mean everything is perfect, though. It means you're steady. You can enjoy the highs, but stay humble. You can recognize the lows, but don't get stuck in the spiral either. Okay, you're playing the next snap like it's the only snap. And on top of it, you get the bigger coaching tree layer here, too. I mean, it's kind of wild to be honest with you how much Nick Saban is still in the middle of the playoff, even though he's not coaching and hasn't coached for years now. Signetti, Lanning, Crystal Ball, Golding. All of these guys have pieces of that Saban DNA in them. The structure, the detail, the standard, the whole do-your job mindset. All different styles, too, different personalities, but they're all cut from the same call, the same backbone. It shows because all these teams didn't once look rattled. Now, quick, quick draft pulse check before we get out of here because with teams getting eliminated, there's some names that are starting to hit the table, and it's only going to get faster from here. So big name that uh declared for the draft, Caleb Downs. It's a big deal. It's a legit top of the draft type defensive back, and you know how rare that is. Like safeties don't usually get that kind of love unless they're really special. I mean, he's got the awards. Production, the impact. He's one of those guys where the tape doesn't need a sales pitch. You you know what you're getting if you draft him. And then the other big name that I saw that declared was Ty Simpson, quarterback for Alabama. And that adds a little more spice to the quarterback board. Uh that matters because every time a legit quarterback declares, it kind of changes how teams behave in April. It changes the trade market. It changes the do we reach or do we wait conversations. And it also changes how desperate front offices get, which honestly makes everything more fun and makes my job easier to talk about. So keep going, guys. I love it. So yeah. Well, Miami punched their ticket, and Indiana, Oregon is the showcase game tomorrow, Friday. The uh the QB game, the the who's really built for this game. And then uh the next thing you know, we'll be watching at a national title on Miami's home field. Crazy to think about, man. Good for them. But yeah, so that's that's the college slate for now. Uh I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that the MLB has to be ready to jump on a table just yet, but there have been some moves, and the market's starting to tell a story. So we're gonna hit a little baseball quick, but then we're gonna go straight into the NBA because the Knicks have finally looked like themselves again and pulled their way out of this slump. We got Diamond and Hardcourt up next. Keep it right here. But it's not. It's not I'm screaming into the mic for ten minutes moving just yet. But it's it's moving along. Like it's not dead, it's just it's winter, man. It's winter baseball. So a couple we we've had a couple we've had a couple chess moves, a couple little hears and there's right, and there's a couple big dominoes still standing. And the Yankees and the Mets are both kind of both sitting there like they're waiting for a sign from the sky to make a move. So anyway, first move, uh the Cubs go out and trade for Edward Cabrera, Miami Marlins pitcher. Honestly, I kind of get it. Cabrera's one of those guys where every time you watch him, you go, Oh, uh, if this dude can string some some stuff together and some health and command, he might be an ace. The problem is he went eight and seven last year with a three-five ERA. 150 strikeouts at 137 and change last year. So the swing and miss stuff is there and it's legit when it's there. The problem is he's had injuries, and every now and then he has a couple stretches where it's like, where is this fastball going today? Kind of deal. But the Cubs are the Cubs are basically betting on the upside of end the team control. Here's the thing. Here's the part that I care about from a New York angle. That's one less arm on the trade market. So if if the Yankees were sniffing around, maybe a little pitching upgrade, maybe a little tweaks and uh twigs, you know. Well, the Cubs just took a big bite out of that apple. And it also it also tells you what kind of offseason the Cubs are trying to go for here. They're in that we're trying to win now, we're trying to stay competitive, but we're not doing it in the loudest way either. I mean, Kyle Tucker might as well be gone. It doesn't look like they're gonna pay up for him at this point now. And they pay a price in prospects to trade for Kabara. They took a swing, which now they still might go shopping for a little bit of offense, but it leads into the bigger thing hanging over the MLB right now, which is that the free agent market is still weird, right? There's legit names still just hanging around. Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Alex Bragman, Bo Bachette, A U A Suarez. And it's like everybody's just kind of waiting for the first big yes so that the rest of the room can exhale and sign some guys. And I've seen the best fits chatter, Tucker to the Yankees, because he's that lefty swing and the short porch, and it would basically be Dior trying to patch that soto-sized hole again with the closest thing available, but you know, it's worth repeating because it matters. The Mets are also pushing for Tucker too. And I'm not trying to make this uh make this a Mets Yankee thing, but if Tucker ends up in Queens, it now changes the whole tone of what we're talking about in the city. Because then it's not the Yankees need a bat. Now it turns into the Yankees watched another good bat choose the other side of town. And while all that's happening, the AL East is quietly turning into a no free lunches division again. Blue Jays go and sign Kazuma Yakamoto Okomoto. Kazuma Okomoto. Let me get his name right. Let's not be idiot about it. Four years, 60 million. The story's pretty funny too about how he chose the Blue Jays. Dude basically let his daughter pick a logo, and she chose the Blue Jays, and that's the team he ended up on. Honestly, I kind of respect it, man. That's uh it's one of the most wholesome free agency stories in a long time. But the real part is that Toronto is acting like a team that just got a taste of something and they want more. They're stacking arms, they're stacking depth, and they're trying to keep that window open for a long time. And then you read the list of what else they're bid up to, allegedly. You know, Dylan Sees, Tyler Rogers, some more pitching help. Like, Toronto, Toronto isn't doing the one move and vibes offseason, and we signed Vladdy, so we're good. Like they're doing the we're spending, we're serious, we're not asking permission offseason, we're here to play off season. So the question becomes how many of these teams are getting better while the Yankees just sit around on their hands? Because that's where Yankee fans start doing the thing where they stare at the wall and they don't even get mad anymore. They kind of just go numb, you know, like they're like, I'm not angry, I'm disappointed, but it's for three straight months. Look, I I can sit here and pretend to know what they're doing, but I I'm sure there is a move coming, whether it be Mets, Yankees, or both. It's just uh It's been a quiet offseason for New York. At least signing guys. I mean, Mets let go of everybody they could. Anyway, doesn't matter. Uh another baseball note before we pivot over to the NBA. I just wanted to touch on this. The Tariq Scoobyl arbitration meeting went down, and if you don't know what arbitration is, it's basically the league doing an annual ritual where teams and players argue about how much they're worth in front of each other in court in the courtroom. It's incredibly stupid, it's incredibly silly, but it does happen every single year, and it lets a lot of the players know exactly where they stand in their team's eyes. Scoobyl has is been the best pitcher in the world, right, these last few years. Back-to-back side Young's lights out stuff, basically carrying Detroit to the playoffs. And he's kind of in that rare zone where he can go to that arbitration meeting and reset the entire market. He can say, I am worth this, and you can't say otherwise. And it's kind of the same theme that we've been on all episode here, right? It's resetting the baseline, it's hitting the reset button. Like, what is your value? What is the new normal? How does the league react when a dude says, nah, I'm good. I'm not taking that old number. I'm I'm taking the new number. Which, by the way, their numbers weren't even close. Scoobyl went in asking for 32 million this year, and the Tigers offer him 19 million. So that basically solidifies that they're going to be trading him because they are so far apart on money, it's it's not even close. Anyway, the MOB right now, there's there's some movement, there's some markets tightening, the AL East is getting meaner and meaner by the day, and the big bet's still holding the league hostage until somebody blinks. But that's what I got for the MOB. It'll heat up soon, and as soon as it does, I'll be the first to let you know. But for now, let's slide into the NBA because this is also where the reset season theme has been screaming at us, right? And it starts with the Knicks. The Knicks needed a gut check, period. They were on a four-game skid, and the vibes were getting weird. The Mike Brown talk started popping its head up again. The big cat is soft, started popping its head up again. People were doing that classic New York thing where it's like, oh, oh, yeah, you thought we were good? Yeah, watch this. And then boom, just like that, the Knicks beat the Clippers 123-111. And it wasn't just like a win either. It was like a remember who we are kind of win, you know, like, yeah, we're here, we're not messing around. The Clippers were hot too. They won eight of the last nine and could have easily had one of those nights where you know the Knicks were down 10, the crowd gets quiet, and everybody starts staring at the scoreboard like it's a bad math test. But the Knicks responded, man. They took care of business. Brunson 26, Kat 20 and 11, and more importantly, seven assists. OG follows it up with a 20-piece, Deuce gives you 16 off the bench, and the whole thing just felt like connected. It felt like the boys were back in town. The chemistry was there again. The turning point, too, was on the run. They went on a 24-7 run late in the third. It looked like the Knicks were basically saying, okay, that's enough. We're we're done playing around. Let's stop playing with our food. Let's put the game out of reach. And that's the part that I care about with Kat specifically. Because when things get rough, Kat has moments in his career where he slides into that pouty, low energy, I'm not getting my touches, woe is me vibe. And Knicks fans, this ain't Minnesota, man. They sniff that out immediately. We've seen way too many talented guys do the emotional checkout thing, and we don't buy it at all. But this game, man, he he answered. Hit 10 points in a fourth, made plays, he facilitated, didn't sulk. That's the reset that we're looking for. Now the other thing that I want to talk about with this too is Carmelo Anthony's comments. Uh I don't know if it was on, I think it might have been on like the NBC post-game or whatever, but basically, basically Mello came out and he was saying that the Knicks are too dependent on Brunson. And look, I'm not saying there's zero truth to it because late game offense can definitely get predictable sometimes. It turns into Brunson dribble, Brunson dribble, Brunson bailout. But the bigger point is what team isn't dependent on their star? I mean, take Giannis away from the Bucs, what are they? Take Luca or LeBron away from the Lakers. Take Steph away from Golden State. It's not an argument, man. It's a reality. And when you have a superstar, you depend on your superstar. And also, by the way, respectfully, respectfully, mellow, you can't come in years later and act like the Knicks didn't have to live through Mello ISO, Mello ISO, everybody stands still era, right? Like I watched you do that for years. We were dependent on you, brother. That was the whole movie. And the irony is, too, that Brunson is the type of star that you actually want to build around. He facilitates. He makes things look easy. The dude took less money to make the team better. And it wasn't a small amount of money. That's not a small thing. That's a I'm serious about winning here in New York thing. So I don't know. If anything, if anything, I'm taking Melo's quote as the kind of thing that like it gets clipped and makes a little noise and honestly might a little bit of might have lit a little bit of a fire under the players because whether they say they listen or not, they do. They hear that. The New York media hears that. The fans hear that. And then lo and behold, suddenly you get a response game like the one from the Clippers. So, you know, speaking of uh while we're on stars talking about loyalty and speeches and this, that, and the other, I gotta rip into Giannis a little bit here. Giannis comes out and does the oh, I would never I would never demand a trade from the Bucs line and I, you know, blah blah blah blah blah. Talk about trying to save face and clean up PR style. I mean, it's January, right? The deadline is coming. The Bucs are in that awkward zone where they're not where they want to be, they don't really know what they're doing. And Giannis is basically doing the, yeah, I'm locked in, I'm committed, press conference tour. What everybody else talks about, what my agent talks about, that's not up to me. Look, I'm not saying he's lying. He might truly feel that way, he might truly want to go on a last hurrah with the Bucks here. But anybody that really understands the game and is watching what's going on, he he wants out so bad, it's not even funny. But that's the type of statement that always pops up when there's smoke, right? It's like when it's like when a couple posts, oh, we're so happy on Instagram. And it's like nobody asks, why why are you telling me about that? And that's what it fits into the reality of the in-season trade market for a superstar, too, right? It's brutal. It's this isn't 2K, it's not three picks and a hoodie and my ninth bench guy. It's hard money, it's hard rules, it's hard matching salaries, it's teams not wanting to gut themselves mid-season when they might be on a run. So yeah, look, uh, Giannis says, quote unquote, says the right thing, I guess, for the fans, but they don't believe it. And the Bucks say the right thing too, but they know that the time is coming. Everybody says the right thing. Yeah, we'll we'll see what the actions say. Right? And now for the weirdest NBA story of the week, Trey Young to the Wizards. It's not that he got traded, that's not the strange story. Everybody knew that Trey was coming to move. Everybody knew that Trey was getting moved. The part that melts my brain, that's like really like what? He wanted to go to Washington. He told them specifically, I want to go to Washington. Who in the middle of the season requests to go to a 10-win team? That's so backwards. I don't get it. That's like saying, Yeah, I'm leaving the party and then I go sit in my car. But whatever. I don't know, man. I guess the Wizards are just selling them the you're the guy pitch. You can do whatever you want here, pitch. You know, you're the face, you're the engine, you're the anchor for the rebuild, and I don't know, it reunites them with some people who know him, I guess. He he knows the GM pretty well. As for Atlanta, on Atlanta side, they get a reset. I mean, they pivot into their wings and their depth, they don't have to run things through Trey anymore. They get CJ McCollum as a veteran expiring contract, uh Kispert as a shooter, they get some flexibility to move forward. So they hit their reset button. Trey's contract is probably nuts. I don't know what it is off the top of my head, but it's probably nuts. But it's not the uh it's not the blockbuster trade that we all expected in terms of Trey to a contender, but it might be one of those trades that makes more sense in six months than it does right now. I don't know. That's the theme, though. That's what we're on. That's what we're talking about this whole episode. You reset the situation, you reset the role, you reset the expectations. So Trey goes from a guy that's like, why can't you win big to I'm planning on building something here? It's like image reset. So that's good, hopefully for him. Anyway, that's the combined segment. A little MLB, a little NBA. The market's tight in the MLB, the Jays are spending, the Cubs make a nice trade, the bats are still floating around, there's still some big names out there. And as far as the NBA, look, the Knicks snap out of it. They just gotta keep going forward. Mello is throwing some hot takes out there that are a little shaky. And Giannis is doing the uh PR jujitsu, you know? Anyway, from here, we're we're basically set up to bring it home, basically land the plane. Uh, we're gonna hit the outro with the reset season message, give you a little motivation to continue into your weekend, and make you feel good about sitting on your ass and putting your feet up and watching football for the next five days straight. We'll get you out of here. Thanks for listening. Thanks for sticking with me. That is a rap. It is time to land this plane. And honestly, honestly, I feel like this episode did exactly what it was supposed to do tonight. It hit the reset button without pretending everything magically got fixed overnight. Because that's the thing with a reset, right? It's not fireworks, it's not a victory lap. It's more like recentering. It's you looking in the mirror and going, alright, what are we actually doing here? And that's basically where we're at across the board. Jets and Giants, we're not sugarcoating it anymore. That's two different flavors of chaos, but the same goal. Stability. The same mission. Build something that doesn't collapse the second that the wind changes. With the Jets, it's a full rebuild, top to bottom. And with the Giants, it's the coach hire, it's the dart development, and it's making sure this thing doesn't turn into another decade-long coaching carousel. And then around the league, the coaching market is on fire currently. Harbaugh is the headline, obviously, but the the part that people aren't talking about enough is the Ravens opening being just as massive. That's a franchise that does not miss often, and they can't afford to miss now. Lamar's window is real, and the pressure is gonna get loud fast if they stumble early. We also got into the wildcard weekend, we got into the picks. We're in the tournament now, no more style points, no more. It was close, it was cute. It's survive in advance or pack it up. College football-wise, we had an absolute classic with Miami and Old Miss. And now we're staring at a title game setup that's gonna have real draft ripple effects, real legacy stuff, and real this program is for real energy. As for the winter sports, well, the Knicks snap out of the skid, and it was a good win. It was it was the kind of win you could feel. It was the we're not letting this spiral anymore type of win. And then around the NBA, too, you get. Stars doing PR pressers and Trey Young choosing the weirdest destination possible. So, sure, cool. As for the MOB, it's still the slow cook season, right? The the stove is on, the hot stove is cooking, but it's more like a crock pot. I promise you, stuff is going on behind the scenes, but don't you dare open that lid and take a peek. But yeah, that's the menu. That's the week. That's the that's the reset. And honestly, if you take anything from this theme, not even sports, just like life, just in general, it's this. A reset isn't you giving up, right? A reset is you getting honest, getting honest with yourself. It's saying, this isn't working, and I'm not gonna keep doing the same thing and pretending that it's all fine. You're not chasing perfection, you're chasing stability, chasing normalcy, a baseline that you can build on, calm the outside noise, right? Get your feet back underneath you. And by the way, it doesn't have to be some dramatic huge move either. Sometimes a reset is literally just more sleep, maybe some more water, a good game plan, making one good decision, and then another, and then another. So, you know, wherever you're at right now, if you're if you've been feeling a little scattered, a little behind, a little stuck, take the pressure off of yourself. You don't have to flip the whole table in one night. Just recenter. Small wins. One by one. You start stacking them up, and you'd be surprised how that how fast that tower gets tall. Alright, that's enough out of me. I know. I appreciate you guys for pulling up like always. Uh if you're listening and you haven't yet for whatever reason, please follow the show, please subscribe, please leave a rating. It genuinely helps more than you guys realize. Pushes me to the front of the page, gets more people listening, makes the show better. Share it with a friend. Share it with somebody who's as sick as you are. Trust me. You know who they are. Hit me on Instagram at RiceOnTheRadio. My DMs are always open. I love the back and forth. I always answer. I love hearing what you agree with, what you think I'm out of my mind about. And of course, you you already know how we close the show. But if you're new here, we always say to make sure you spread good energy in this world, right? Good things happen to good people. And make sure you tell someone you love them. I am Ian Rice. This has been episode 47 of Rice on the Mics. And I'll catch you on the next one. Same time next week.