Sports Live! With Steve and Justin
Sports Talk Live! With Steve and Justin! NFL Offseason Analysis: Team Moves and Super Bowl Predictions. A Recording of our live Youtube Sports show every Monday Night 5pm EST.
Sports Live! With Steve and Justin
Sports Live! NFL First Week Outlook!
you. Hello everyone and welcome back to sports talk live with steve and justin. How are you, justin? I'm good, steve. How are you? Hello everyone and welcome back to Sports Talk Live with Steve and Justin. How are you, Justin?
Speaker 2:I'm good, steve, how are you?
Speaker 1:I'm good I got new glasses I can see again.
Speaker 2:That makes one of us.
Speaker 1:I mean, I haven't bought glasses in 10 years that's a long time, right. And it was strange because my dominant eye is now my weak eye. It switched over for some reason and so and that's why I was having I was having a hard time walking down steps because I couldn't see them. My brain kept screwing me up, and it's so funny, when I got the new glasses, I kind of ran down the steps from the place and went, oh my God, what a difference, good for you. So yeah, that's what it was, and at night it was worse, a lot safer.
Speaker 1:A little bit safer, yeah, a little bit safer. So I put a monitor in my studio here Studio 3J that is and now I can see you right in front of me. I'm always looking at the camera too, which is made it a lot easier. I hope that makes for for a better, a better podcast better viewing experience better viewing experience doesn't look like me.
Speaker 1:I'm reading off of a teleprompter, which I could just turn that. Turn that into a teleprompter, but I don't have to do that. So, just for everybody's edification, sports Talk Live with Steve and Justin has its own channel now on YouTube. If you're watching it, it's because of that. It also has its own spot for audio-only podcasts. It's on all the major networks. It's also being broadcast live on YouTube and it's being broadcast live on Facebook.
Speaker 1:X was hooked up but then they kicked back at the last minute, so, whatever, so we're live. There's actually four people watching us, which is three more than the last time, considering I didn't really, uh, say that much about it last time. So so that's great and just so those people know, you know you can chat and you can, um, you can, you can talk to us through chat if you have questions or whatever. Hopefully that is, anyway, anyway. So just a note. I mean last time you know we predominantly are going to talk about the NFL, right, just in this show. I mean, it's the first week you wait all year after the Super Bowl again to basically be back and to listen and to watch football again. But just a little note from last week. So last week we talked about the rule changes, as you have watched, know, and I wanted to get the rule changes right. So I took little blurbs from the NFL's video explanations that were published on YouTube and I didn't want to misquote them Because there are some very delicate issues to it all.
Speaker 1:Having said that, we published the video at what? Five or six o'clock at night, at 9am I had an email from the NFL saying I violated their copyright rules without their permission. So I thought that was pretty funny that they were able to do that in such a short period of time and figure it out. And they also said it's okay, because we're not using their, their property to make money. You know, we don't have a television show or something like that. They're allowed, allowed us to use the content, but they reserve the right to recall it or stop of us at any time. So that will be the last time I use anything from the nfl site. Um, so next time they're gonna have to rely on me to try to figure out what they're trying to tell us and whatever it is. I thought that was pretty amazing how quickly they responded. Actually, youtube said something right off the bat said you know you do have some content in there, but it's going to be okay.
Speaker 2:I'm sure everything's monitored and they know right away oh, they know, right away they.
Speaker 1:They have, you know, computer systems sitting around there. You can only imagine what happens in television when shows you stuff without, without permission.
Speaker 2:But they must have agreements and those kind of things with with I think on on that level, it's probably better to ask forgiveness than ask permission.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm happy to say, like I said before, maybe it's the logos they objected to, maybe it's anything. We're not going to do it again. So we don't have to worry. At least I'm not going to do it again. You're welcome to do whatever you want, as long as you're willing to take the risk. So we left off last time talking about the Cowboys and how they were going to get that contract deal done. And, matter of fact, I was listening to I want to say the dog was on vacation, but I was listening to the afternoon dog show on Sirius Radio and Drew Pearson was on and he said he absolutely believed that the contract was going to get done.
Speaker 2:Michael Irvin said the same thing.
Speaker 1:And it was a great interview. Drew Pearson was amazing, which he was an amazing player, and three seconds later the bulletin came across and I'll leave it to you.
Speaker 2:Well, jerry, being Jerry, is where we left off. We both expressed our thoughts on that. I thought the deal would get done, especially because we were getting closer to the opening of the season and you know, based on history, I thought it favored the Cowboys to get the deal done and Jerry had already spent money on two other players and I thought, you know this is the way to go. Jerry saw it differently. The Packers must have been lying in wait for a while with that deal and the Packers struck while the iron was hot. You know they're going to move some talent up and around on that defensive front because they got rid of their run-clogging defensive linemen and I think they have the players to do it. They've got some serious pass rushers. Before they got Mika and now that you're adding Parsons to Rashawn Gary and there's a young man from Georgia who's just a beast on the inside who not only can stop the run, he can get to the quarterback from the inside. So I think the Packers have elevated themselves quite considerably here. What they've shown you is that they think they can win now that this is their window, that giving up those two first-round picks in their mind we're not going to help them more than getting somebody in here right now, in this window which I would say is a four year window that was the length of his contract where they think they can, you know, make upgrades elsewhere to help their young quarterback and to get their offense going, and certainly they believe their defense is a top-tier, formidable defense that's going to keep them in games and put a lot of pressure on other teams, which would make it easier for their offense to have to, you know, methodically go down the field score points and not have to play catch-up or try and get ahead by a lot. They made a deal and the Cowboys, you know Jerry's selling you a bill of goods in a way. He's got his run-stopping defensive tackle and he's got draft picks that he said are going to. You know they could potentially be pro bowlers. So he seems content on where they're at and building.
Speaker 2:I think it's a huge blow to the Cowboys and I think you know if you're a Cowboys fan, you know one of the bright spots on that team was Parsons and I think Cowboys fans savored that because the Giants handed him over on a silver platter in that draft. Cowboys fans savored that because the Giants handed him over on a silver platter in that draft and now you're left with kind of a huge hole to fill. And where is the replacement going to come from? And if you have to rely on a first-round draft pick, you're going to need a high pick or you're going to have to make more moves. On the bright side, if you want to be an optimist, if you're a Cowboys fan, you could say, hey, we traded Herschel Walker, we got back a boatload of picks and we turned that into three Super Bowls. So you know, I think that's how you have to look at it If you're a Cowboys fan, to be optimistic, how they parlay those picks, you know that remains to be seen.
Speaker 1:But let's be honest, that's three and four years down the road, right? Yeah, nobody's coming in. Not even Lawrence Taylor came in and made the team a winning team, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it takes five years, you know, unless you have pieces. But that means you've already built to start from the ground up with what you have pieces. But that means you've already built To start from the ground up with what you have and move forward and make deals and get picks and parlay those picks into talent on the field and hit on multiple picks. It takes a while, it doesn't happen overnight. You can change the culture overnight. You can change the locker room overnight overnight. You can change the culture overnight. You can change the locker room overnight. You can certainly win back the fan base, showing that you've improved. Right now, I think the Cowboys are not better than they were last year from this trade. I don't know how good they really are.
Speaker 1:There's the intangibles, right. He was the heart and soul of that defense and could be the heart and soul of the team, because it's never been Dak, right no?
Speaker 1:never, it's never been Dak. They wanted him to be, but he's not right and that team needs that. That's one of the things they don't have, and what Jerry Jones has done is undermine that. That's one of the things they don't have and what Jerry Jones has done is undermine that. And even worse is what he's done, I think, to the entire team and possibly the NFL, and that is he went around. The rules of collective bargaining are real and I'm a labor attorney so I know them very well. But the rules of collecting bargaining are real and I'm a labor attorney so I know them very well but the rules of collecting bargaining are very strict. He, as an owner of the team a super rich owner of the team went to a player, tried to cut a deal. Yeah, he broke the rules. He broke the rules.
Speaker 2:He broke the rules and there's seemingly no penalty.
Speaker 1:Well, if he would have stayed there, if he would have forced, if the player would have forced the agent to take that deal, there would have been ramifications. There's no way that that happens. In some aspects, jerry had to let him go and get a better deal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's unfair to the player to put him in a position like that, and technically, and it's just plain stupid, to be honest.
Speaker 1:But technically the league could still file I mean, the Players Association could still file a grievance against him for tampering.
Speaker 2:Players Association could still file a grievance against him for tampering. I saw today that there was a letter from Darrell Rivas addressing that and you know Rivas made some good points and you know he's basically saying they have a huge advantage over us, that they can just break rules against the CBA and get away with it and there's no ramifications and it shows how they take advantage of us. And you know other players may not be as savvy. You know, I think after their paycheck there aren't many guys that probably read through the CBA and know exactly what's on the line. You know we always see players kind of make bonehead moves off the field and you're like how did that guy not know not to do that? Or how could he even consider putting himself in a position like that?
Speaker 2:They have a CBA, they have all these things and guidelines and rules.
Speaker 2:If it was the other way around it would be big news, it would be all over ESPN, it would be on every show.
Speaker 2:The player did X, the player broke the CBA or the player was in violation or you know, and there would be strict penalties that would probably affect the team. In this case, it seems, because he left and went elsewhere, it kind of calmed the waters a little bit and Jerry's not in so much hot water, but he did violate the rules, there's no question about it. So something has to be said at the top. I think the commissioner has to come out and address this and at least give an explanation to some degree, not an excuse. And if he gets it wrong, it's a bad look and it's going to be a negotiating ploy for the players when the next CBA is up, which is going to make things even worse. And owners like Jerry aren't going away. I mean, these billionaires, they are who they are, so you know they want what they want, they don't want to be told no and they don't want to play by the rules.
Speaker 1:Listen, we live in the real world and we know those kinds of things happen, right, sure, but they happen in the back room they happen. And the player goes to his agent and says listen, reach out to them, sit down and talk to them, and there's this framework for a deal and I'm okay with it. You finish it off, and then it gets finished and then it operates right. But that's not what happened this time. It was done out in the light. Out in the light where he said we had a deal, that's the deal, and he went back on it Meanwhile he broke all the rules.
Speaker 2:He broke all the rules doing that, whether he had a deal, an agreement or not. And this played out, like you said, publicly, and it's almost as if they used Jerry to test the waters. Like they want this to be something that they can sell in the next CBA and make even more money they want. Look at you know.
Speaker 1:That's interesting. I didn't think of that.
Speaker 2:What's the show? The Hard Knocks right, they're inside the locker room, they're inside the general manager's office. I mean that struck me harder than anything else because I've watched I think three of them now and I remember Rex on the phone with Revis's agent, or Revis, and he slammed the phone down and he said let's see what effing happens and he stormed out and then Revis showed up at the end and you know, I mean ultimately it didn't work out for anybody with the Jets, but you see that drama and it sells and people want to come back to watch that. And this particular episode with Jerry, this particular event, is something that can play out on TV in real time and people are going to want to tune into that. And it could just be the NFL being a little savvy by putting this out there and creating this show. I mean they're smart. They do all kinds of stuff. Look at all the deals they've made. They know how to print money.
Speaker 1:But I'll be honest, I don't see the commissioner behind it.
Speaker 2:No, he can't be, he can't be exposed to that.
Speaker 1:I can see the owners saying amongst themselves let's get this done, let's see what we can do. I mean, that's greed, that's all it is 100%.
Speaker 2:It's always the bottom line.
Speaker 1:But how much money do they need to make? We don't even know, you don't even know how much they make.
Speaker 2:They want every last dollar. I mean, look at fantasy football how it exploded in the 90s and the early 2000s, how they went from guys that were just basically like stat nerds and hardcore like just football fans, trying to put together these leagues and keep stats by hand, and really into the process. And then it's all on computer. You point, click and shift, you have your roster, you draft your team, you pay your fee and every week you're glued in looking for all kinds of I mean, they monetize something that they couldn't put their hands on for a while and they did a great job and they've parlayed that all this time. Now, all that time later, they're in bed with the gambling companies. So it's all there. They're just they're making money on both ends.
Speaker 1:Right, it really is. They want every dollar.
Speaker 2:I mean, I would think you know if things were on the up and the only place you could make a bet was Vegas and you're the NFL, you're the owners of the NFL, you know that Vegas is making money on your product and you can't get a piece of that. You want to find your way in. You want that money. You probably feel entitled to it and I don't know that I disagree with that. But you know you have to answer to the players as well. But it's a double-edged sword. You know, I still don't think it's a good look. I think it's less than the integrity across the board in all sports and I think there's enough evidence out there to prove that integrity is just gone in pro sports.
Speaker 1:Well, we know what happened in baseball right In the 1919 Black Sox right, and what happened after that. The owners came out and they hired Kinsaw Mountain Lannis who is this over-the-top prosecutor-type guy who is tough as can be I think he was a judge, I take it back and he came in and straightened out all of baseball right. Straightened out everything, Went through. Of course. Who did they blame the players, the players, Right, and some did take money, there's no question about it. And what happens then Then? There's no question about it. And what happens then? Then there's this renaissance. So what happened? Babe Ruth happened, and then they focused on these players, Exactly what they're doing today post-steroid era. They've really created this post-steroid era. They've really created this and not to switch to baseball or not, but they created this home run thing where it's all about home runs and teams win that aren't all about home runs.
Speaker 2:Well, they did that in the 90s and I think they did that before. Analytics was even a thought Right. And now you see that analytics really is all about guys hitting home runs. You've got guys that can't hit 200, but because they hit 20-plus home runs, they have some sort of value and again it's taken away from the sport.
Speaker 2:In my opinion, call me a purist or a traditionalist, whatever you want, but to me it's about winning. And if you don't have the best team on the sport, in my opinion Call me a purist or a traditionalist, whatever you want, but to me it's about winning. And if you don't have the best team on the field, you're not going to win. And I don't care what analytics say. You can't predict what a guy's going to do day in and day out. You just can't do that. You may think that at the end of the day, his number's on his baseball card. We can fit the guy in here, we can plug him in and he'll put up numbers and we'll win, just because the average law of averages says we will. I'm not buying that. I just, you know, not on a daily basis, and I think you know what football has done is they've relaxed some of the rules. Right. They want the home run. They've taken away things. Like you know, man coverage is tough. You can't bump and run. You can't touch a guy after five yards, you can't. You know guys who, years ago the top guys, best receivers would not cross the middle. You had to have a big, tough, tight end to get passes across the middle. Now you've got a 180-pound, you know slot receiver running free all over the place and nobody can touch him, nobody can keep up with him and he rarely ever gets the snot knocked out of him. He's got free reign. Because they want the scoring, they want to open up the offenses and even the kickoff we talked about last week. They want to try and increase the percentage of scoring a touchdown from 8% to 12%. It has to happen organically.
Speaker 2:I don't know that rule changes can necessarily make that happen. Certainly, relaxing the rules will increase offense Penalties are part of the game. But calling more penalties, slowing the game down and then trying to speed the game up at the same time because audiences don't last that long, it's counterintuitive. So to do this, to go for the home run, let's bring people into the game. I don't know that football was ever suffering like baseball did. Football has been pretty popular for a very long time. I mean, it dominates everything. So I think they, just like you said before, they just got greedy. You know. They got to a point where they just wanted to get every last dollar, and if offense makes more dollars, then let's make more offense. How can we do that?
Speaker 1:I think that's absolutely true.
Speaker 2:And we lived through. You know, say what you want about Belichick and the Patriots and Deflategate and the spying thing. That was a dynasty. We're never going to see anything like that, probably ever again. It was great for the NFL. They had a villain, I mean, and you saw arguably the best of the best that you might ever see. You might have seen the greatest coach and quarterback combo ever.
Speaker 1:Come on, they came back. How many points were they down against the Lakers?
Speaker 2:Oh, 28-3?, yeah, 28-3. I'm not taking anything away from them, I'm just saying that all of that gets kind of washed away by what the NFL is promoting and trying to open up, instead of embracing that. I think that they did everything they could to, because Belichick and Kraft were always the ones, you know, arguing about rule changes and they always found. Belichick always found a way to subvert the rules legally and he's just a mastermind and that should be celebrated, because before this era you celebrated Lombardi and Landry and even Parcells, hank, schramm, chuck Knoll, right the list of great coaches John Madden. John Madden, you know, and I think it was relative to our generation, because growing up playing sports, we probably had coaches that were reminiscent of the guys we saw on TV and you learned personality.
Speaker 2:You know, when you're a little kid you don't really learn personality. You're little, you just want to play the game. You're not paying attention to the coach's demeanor and things. You know what he teaches you, yes, but his personality, no. As you get older you start to appreciate those things. You start to learn different things about different coaches and then you start to realize there are similarities between what they're teaching you and how they're teaching it to you, to what you see on TV, and then you develop your own style as you move on. Whereas you know this generation of coaches it's Belichick, and then it's you know it's Andy Reid and I'm not taking anything away from these guys To appreciate that I don't know that the NFL pushes it or celebrates it as much as they could, the way they used to when you had, you know, things like NFL films on every week and it was like you couldn't wait to hear that music and hear that. You know that voice and look at the films. And you don't see that much now because everybody's. It's just so saturated so saturated.
Speaker 1:Well, that's true. Um, I mean, there are things the nfl do a great job at and that's parody, right, they parody a schedule. I mean that they're able to weigh the schedules that the best teams from the year before play the.
Speaker 2:I think that's important I'm not necessarily fan of enforcing parody or forcing parody on the league, but the way they do the schedule, I think, is brilliant. I'd like to see less divisional games in the beginning of the season. Uh, you know, I don't necessarily need to see the the championship game rematch right off the bat. I hate that. I know that draws in the first weekend, but people are salivating by week one. They want football. They just want to see their team play.
Speaker 1:I don't, and I understand this league passion to be all over the world. I understand that. I just think it's too difficult for the players. I think at times it's not. Listen, if you're going to travel to London, I don't care, we should do it after the bye week or before the bye week, and then they come back and they have a week to rest.
Speaker 2:I don't think it's too hard to work that into the schedule, but it's a lot. It's a lot to ask the players to be in Brazil, to be in Mexico City, to be in London, to play these games all over the world. Maybe they feel the press from other entities that make tons of money and they want to get into that level of money-making. But your product is going to suffer eventually. Your product is as good as it is because of the talent on the field. So if you water down the talent, no one's going to want to watch that Right. The flip side to that is, in other areas of the world they probably don't know what they're missing, so they don't know what it looks like, right. So it's easy to water it down and present this product that's exciting and scoring and touchdowns and all the celebrating, because that's what resonates with the fans, and they don't know where it started or where it came from. So I guess you know, as a traditionalist maybe I'm in the dust there, but ultimately it's about them making more money.
Speaker 1:Right, I understand that. I mean they probably sell a lot of jerseys and and things to foreign countries. And we know, you know, we think about the deal with Ronaldo. Right, they was this huge diesel. Ronaldo is a famous soccer player. For those of you who don't know I'm sure you all do that they sold.
Speaker 2:Do I have to admit that I know who that is.
Speaker 1:They sold so many jerseys. He signs this new contract for, whatever it is half a billion dollars they sold so many jerseys the next day that it paid for his entire contract.
Speaker 2:I mean that's brilliant and insane at the same time. I mean I don't begrudge anybody their money and that's. You know. Certainly, soccer is huge, huge, huge sport. It's extremely popular all over the globe. I, you know, I'll stay away from what I really think makes it popular, but ultimately soccer is a sport. You know you have some of the most world-class athletes that can run up and down the field. I mean these guys are in incredible shape. Sometimes you look at them and think why isn't this guy playing football in America, which is, you know, playing soccer? This guy's in fantastic shape. Why isn't that guy swinging a bat?
Speaker 1:But you know it's. I have a friend, tony, who played professional soccer in portugal or spain or one of those places at a very, very high level until he got injured, and watching a soccer game with him is different than anything I've ever. I've watched a lot of soccer in my life. I'm not a crazy soccer fan, um, or maybe even a casual fan, but when you watch it with somebody that really knows a lot about it and talks about it he knows the players personally he goes, oh, I played against him in Argentina 20 years, you know and, and and. It's just a different thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you watch sports with somebody that played, they see things differently because they played it. They see things unfolding on the field that probably most, even most hardcore fans, don't see, absolutely. So it adds an element to it that you don't get just watching with. You know regular people, but you know, I think that's for any sport probably. I think a good example of that is Tony Romo on the broadcast. You know Tony Romo is incredible, breaking down plays before they happen and you know telling the fans what to look for even before they come out of the huddle sometimes. And it really listening to him makes me wonder like, wow, they really had a good quarterback If he was that good on the field, as he is in the broadcast booth, you know, cerebrally. You know we talked about it once before. You know I thought Romo had an incredible string of very unfortunate incidents that you know prevented from from really getting to and winning a championship. They definitely were primed for a championship the year he got hurt and that's unfortunate because, who knows, I mean they still went 13 and 3 without him, or I guess 12 and 3 or.
Speaker 2:But watching these games on TV and the way it's evolving with the streaming networks and Apple TV and Amazon, and you know, especially football Football. They're telling you percentage of plays, what play to look for, who's going to get the ball. They're showing you hot routes. They're showing you what defenders are in and out of position. They're trying everything they can to make this more interactive and entertaining for the fans. But it's a different fan base altogether Because I think the old-timers like us. We just want to watch the game Half the time. We don't even want to hear what the broadcaster has to say, because they're just so over the top or you could just think they don't know what they're talking about.
Speaker 1:When I used to watch hockey games years ago when I watched the Rangers, I was a real Ranger fan still am and I had season tickets way back when and it was funny because we used to turn off the television broadcast and put on the radio broadcast and and watch it that way, and that's how we used to watch it.
Speaker 2:So that was one of my most memorable moments was turning off the uh, I think it was fox broadcasts for the Yankees, which I didn't mind, I just was so used to listening to it that way, in 95, when Mattingly hit his home run in the playoffs, I could hear the crack of the bat on the radio before John Sterling you know, it is high, it is far.
Speaker 2:And I mean, I still have chills thinking about it and that was an incredible moment. So when you find the way you want to engage with these things and consume them, it makes the experience even better, and I think that might be something that these leagues kind of miss. Most fan bases want their homer announcer right. Like we all love Phil Rizzuto, his stories were incredible. He was giving you historical information, all right, so he talked about cannolis and lasagna and whatever, but there was a charm to that and now we don't have that anymore.
Speaker 1:How about he used to take off to get across the bridge to go home before the end of the game?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they would show pictures of the bridge.
Speaker 1:So, so just to go over, you know something I saw, and that major league baseball must be in heaven If, if, if the season end today, right, so if the season end today, the wild card game would be Boston and New York.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's a one game rating that will have, you know it would have tremendous ratings. I don't know that that's necessary. I think they'd rather have a minimum of five games between Boston and New York Then the wild card game on the other side is Seattle and Houston. Not as exciting. I mean, I think because you have the catcher, the big dumper against Houston and Houston's kind of the black hat. Now I think people are, you know, world against Texas, kind of thing.
Speaker 1:So then, why is this thing giving me a hard time? National League, the Mets and the Dodgers.
Speaker 2:The Dodgers are the wild card.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's watchable baseball for sure. And then the other side is San Diego and the Cubs. The Cubs have draw. I don't know that many people tune in to watch San Diego. They're kind of a quiet letdown.
Speaker 1:And the teams they would play. They would play the winner of the Mets and the Dodgers would play. They would play the winner of the Mets and the Dodgers would play Philadelphia. So whoever wins and plays them is going to be a big thing.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:The other one, san Diego, and the Cubs would play Milwaukee. Oh wow, seattle and Houston. Winner plays Toronto and New York and Boston winner plays Detroit, which is a pretty good team.
Speaker 2:Detroit's. You know, I mean they've got Scooble at the front end and you know they're formidable. I mean they play pretty decent baseball. I mean they play pretty decent baseball. One thing that is glaring to me is that Gleyber Torres was the starting second baseman for the American League this year. You know, they seem to be a fairly fundamentally sound baseball team. I don't know that. You know, in a short series they can out-hit anybody, but they might out-pitch you. They might just out-pitch you, which in the playoffs is very important.
Speaker 2:When the bats go quiet, you're in trouble especially if you're a team like the Yankees, the Mets Dodgers, that's an interesting one that one is. You know there's a lot of history there, or at least enough history. You know the Dodgers ended the Mets' reign back in the 80s. The Mets clearly not afraid to play the Dodgers. I think it's one team that the Mets are very much a wild card in terms of what you're going to get day in and day out. You have one player, soto could take over a game. Was it yesterday or the day before? I think it was yesterday. He had a grand slam. He had like six RBIs. He's obviously a tremendous player. There's drama there because of the contract.
Speaker 2:People want to tune in and see that If the Mets were to play in the next round, if the Mets and Yankees advance, I mean there's always buzz. It's always buzzing when both those teams are in the playoffs. I mean I know it's more so around here but the national storylines are always for underdogs. But the Phillies are another team. I think people love to hate Philadelphia, but this particular Phillies baseball team I think is very likable. I you know they've got three guys on that team that I wish the Yankees had gotten. But uh, they play good baseball and they're not afraid of anybody. They don't care who's pitching, they're going to come out to beat you. They don't care who's pitching for you, they don't care who's pitching for you, they don't care who's pitching for them, it doesn't matter, they don't need their ace on the mound. They're going to come out there clawing and scratching, fighting. They'll beat you any way they can. They play a different brand of baseball than Philly. For sure they're not lumberjacks like the Yankees. I mean, they do have lumberjacks, but the Yankees are kind of a paper tiger.
Speaker 2:I hate to say it, but on paper they look. You know, with Stanton and Judge, you know Bellinger, I mean they've got tremendous bats in that lineup. But it's a different Yankee team than it was years ago. People are not afraid to play the Yankees anymore. I don't care what Dom says. People are not afraid to come to Yankee Stadium anymore. Players say it all the time. If you find any player that had played a significant amount of games at the old Yankee Stadium and after in the new stadium, they'll tell you it's just a different vibe. It's not as intimidating. In fact it's not as intimidating. In fact it's not intimidating at all.
Speaker 1:There's a different buzz? I don't think so, because it's it's not a a fan stadium, it's a corporate stadium.
Speaker 2:It's a corporate. It's a. It's a vegas hotel.
Speaker 1:I won't I don't go, I won't go. Yeah it's. I've never been there.
Speaker 1:I've never been to the new stadium oh, you've never been I've never been to the new stadium and I don't go because years ago, when I was a kid, we couldn't afford to go to baseball games. My dad worked in a factory and every once in a while he got tickets for working in a factory and him, my cousin and my uncle and I would all go to the met games because those tickets were easy to get, yeah, and we'd go to the game. It was usually a double header and of course I saw a Tom Seaver pitch, I saw Nolan Ryan pitch. I saw people like that back when they were with the Mets on double headers that were. They played the Cubs where it went 20 innings, you know, great, great thing. So I think I think major league baseball has decided that regular people can't go to games anymore and and I I think if you're going to have 162 games, you have to make some accessibility for people, that it doesn't cost them a thousand dollars to take their kids to baseball.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's, it's an expensive proposition to find, uh, you know, affordable tickets to go to these games. And then when you get there, you're, you go for your lungs trying to buy, you know, snacks and candies and sodas and food or whatever. And then you know if the kids want uh collectibles or items or you know you're, you're in for a lot of money. It's, it's not what it used to be and it was expensive then.
Speaker 1:So just to get back to our football thing, mark, who's listening to us online and thank you, mark, for listening made the comments that when we were talking about players, bring back players like Dawkins, atwater and Lynch, so guys like Aquan Bolden are never defenseless. That's Mark.
Speaker 2:So those players have kind of been legislated out of the game. And so those players have kind of been legislated out of the game. They've just legislated that kind of contact and that kind of play. You know now, I mean last year was it last year or the year before they put that rule in where you can't tackle from behind, you can't drag a player down from behind, and why are we playing tackle football? I mean, if a guy gets beat, he can't go after the guy.
Speaker 2:I think by doing that, trying to legislate the way these guys play, you're actually doing them a disservice, because if a guy has to think about how he's doing it and not just letting his natural instinct and talent lead the way through the play, someone's going to get hurt. That's the way I see it. I agree You're going to put these guys in a terrible position to do something awkward or not compatible with the game, and that's. You know, someone told me that in 20-plus years you're going to see it'll be flag football or two-hand touch, and I'm starting to believe that You've got these. What do they call them? There's these leagues where these guys play with no pads.
Speaker 1:Oh, I don't know those leagues, but I've seen them right.
Speaker 2:It's just like, you know, ironman football or whatever, and you know, I mean, some of it is really over the top, egregious, some of these plays, but I don't expect it to be like that either. You have real athletes on the field in beds, but you can see now where you know the game has changed when you take players like that off the field. It's it. In my opinion, it is not good for the game. I you want guys to. Hard hits are part of the game, right? I mean, when a running back puts his head down like Earl Campbell and runs a guy over, you're going to start calling penalties for that. A defensive defender. I mean, when a running back puts his head down like Earl Campbell and runs a guy over, you're going to start calling penalties for that. A defensive defender. I mean, where is it going to stop? I just think the rules just keep coming and coming and coming. Let the players play, let the coaches coach. I agree.
Speaker 1:So we've decided. Or I decided and Justin said okay. So we've decided. Or I decided and Justin said okay. And that is that, since we're going to be here every week during football season, that we would challenge each other to pick four games every, and it's really like a parlay for me. I'm saying that I'm going to pick these four teams and now that we've condemned NFL about gambling, we're going to gamble ourselves and nothing in the end.
Speaker 2:You can't beat them, join them.
Speaker 1:Nothing better than than a Hippocratic. Hippocratic sorry, I'm not a doctor.
Speaker 2:I'm a lawyer.
Speaker 1:Hippocratic statements. But for the first thing, you want to go first, or you want me to go first?
Speaker 2:Are we doing both New York teams first and then our picks, or you want to do the picks?
Speaker 1:first. Well, my pick concludes. I'm betting against my favorite team.
Speaker 2:All right, so then you go first, all right.
Speaker 1:So, as we know, justin's a Jet fan. I'm a Giant fan Was was a Jet fan.
Speaker 1:He's an eternal Jet fan. Don't let him con you. All right, and that so what? My first pick is the Washington Commanders minus six. So I think I don't think the Giants have it together enough to beat the Washington Commanders, I just don't. I think they've got their act together enough, and farther along the way that the Commanders are going to destroy the Giants, and I think that they, that all their weak points that have been prevalent during the preseason, are going to really come out the first game of the year. I mean, even in 86, they lost to Dallas the first game. That was a hard-fought game. Even in 86, the Giants lost the first game, and I think they're going to do it again.
Speaker 2:Six points is a lot. The Giants certainly have a lot of question marks and they have a lot to prove, but they've brought in some talent. They have a new quarterback. I don't think we're going to see Jackson Dart for quite some time yet but they've got skilled position players and their defense. People are kind of salivating to see that defense and I think Dayball is the head coach prepping for this first game. He seems to always be very well planned for the Redskins for some reason. So I don't know that the Giants can win that game, but I think I would take the six points.
Speaker 1:Well, we will see. I don't think he's ever prepared for a game, to be honest, but if you want to believe that, I would love to believe it too. Go ahead, your first pick.
Speaker 2:All right, I'm going to go with the Chiefs. At Chargers, the Chiefs are given three points and I think the over-under is 45.5. I'm going to go with the Chiefs. I think there seems to be some question running back with the Chargers. I think the Chiefs now have solidified their left tackle position, which means you might see Mahomes either slinging it around the field all day or having time enough to find an open slot to run. They've got talent all over the field. I think Kelsey will have a little bit of a resurgence this year, especially now that we're coming off the engagement. The NFL is eating that stuff up. So I think that there's. You know it breaks my heart to go against Jim Harbaugh at home, but I don't think that they're going to be able to keep up with the Chiefs in the long run. So I'd give the points and take the Chiefs.
Speaker 1:Well, you know what my issue for that game is it's in Brazil.
Speaker 2:You're right, it is in Brazil. I forgot about that, so that adds an element to it. Who's going to be more prepared? And nobody's more prepared than Andy Reid.
Speaker 1:You know, the only thing he wasn't prepared for was the Super Bowl. Was the Super Bowl, I mean, I think that he realized that.
Speaker 2:I think his game plan was to just do as much as they could to take Barkley out of the game, and they kind of did. I mean, it didn't sound like he had over 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns, but he had to take something away.
Speaker 1:I think that they had many weaknesses last year and I think Philadelphia figured out exactly how to take advantage of them. They did.
Speaker 2:Their left tackle was nonexistent and it showed in the Super Bowl. They just couldn't stop the rush. They just couldn't. They couldn't keep guys off Mahomes he was running for his life almost the whole night. They still had signs of flash when they would throw the ball downfield. But they did a good job, philadelphia, taking away their weaponry and getting after the quarterback and putting it on him. And you know, I think the Chiefs defensively did the best they could. I mean Philly's loaded, you know you can stop Saquon, but you've got, you know, smith and Brown. I mean they're just loaded with talent. The quarterback's pretty good himself. So the tush-push, you got all the weapons in their arsenal Right.
Speaker 1:So I think there's a lot of questions there for them. I think there's a lot of questions there for them. Certainly the hoop lot in Brazil is going to be pretty big around Kelsey.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm sure she's flying down there and doing whatever.
Speaker 2:So that's what I think. There'll be a big buzz and it'll look good on television to tertiary fan bases for sure?
Speaker 1:So am I going to my second game now? Is that it? Yeah, so I'm picking the Eagles over the Cowboys minus seven.
Speaker 2:Is that game in Dallas?
Speaker 1:That game is at the Eagles, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, yeah, that's kind of a, I mean our sheets is 7.5, but I think it's 7 now on FanDuel. Defending Super Bowl champs coming out against a division rival at home. Yeah, they might stomp them pretty good.
Speaker 1:And how do you think that fan base is going to be at the first game after, because they weren't at the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2:Beyond rapid.
Speaker 1:And do they get their rings at the first game at the halftime or beforehand? I think they do.
Speaker 2:It's at the first game. I guess it would make sense to do it in the first game. Is that a Sunday night? Monday night game? It is Thursday night. Oh, it's opening night. Oh yeah, so that would be probably part of the opening ceremony, Although I don't know that they would show that on TV.
Speaker 1:I don't think they will.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they'll have that place going for sure, man. I mean, why not give players their rings and raise the banner against the cowboys and stick it right in jerry's nose?
Speaker 2:absolutely all right. So, uh, I'm gonna go. My second pick I'm gonna take the bangles at the browns. My second pick I'm going to take the Bengals at the Browns. Cincinnati's giving five and a half. I'm going to take the under 48 and a half. I think that's what you said to me, it was 48 and a half, but I think the Browns are a mess. I don't care who had a good season last year, who's coming, who's going, they can sling it, they can this, they can that. The Cincinnati. I think Cincinnati has to come out firing on all cylinders. I think they're going to try and put points on the board points on the board early and often. And you know Joe Burrow can sling it. You got Jamar Chase his number one wide receiver in football and I just think it's way too much for the Browns to handle. I don't care how much prep time they've had. They seem to have had some internal turmoil and you know that team is just a disaster. So I think Cincinnati will take that one for sure.
Speaker 1:Give the five and a half points. That's one of my games too. I'm taking Cincinnati in the five. I'm taking Cincinnati in the five and a half points. I think the Browns are going to get destroyed. I just think that's just. I don't think the Browns are ever good. I think that ownership in the whole place is in total disarray. I think of all the money they spent and all the stupidity they did. I think the Browns are the ones that offered the guaranteed contract that screwed up the entire world that everybody has to offer them now, and so I'm going to take the Cincinnati and the five and a half as well. So that's my third.
Speaker 2:My third is the Dolphins at Colts giving Indianapolis one and a half points or no, I'm sorry, indy's the favorite, indy's giving one and a half points. I'm not buying that. Oh, I ain't buying that. I'm taking the Dolphins and the points and I'll see you next week. I think the Dolphins are loaded on offense. I think their defense may have gotten better, but I think the Colts are a sham. I just don't see the Colts competing. I don't think they have. I don't even think they know who they're. You know Jonathan Taylor's good running back. I don't know that he can stay healthy or will stay healthy for the whole season. In fact, I drafted his backup in my fantasy league. Their quarterback can't stay on the field, not reliable. They have virtually no weapons outside of that. So I'm very comfortable taking the Dolphins and all their talent on the road and taking the one and a half points.
Speaker 1:So I was going through. I wanted to pick a separate team than you, but you look at the Vikings and the Bears. I'm not touching that with a 10-foot pole. Right, ravens and the Bills are you kidding me?
Speaker 2:There's some tough games.
Speaker 1:week one Texans and the Rams. Is this the year the Texans really get it together? Who knows Lions and the Packers? I ain't touching that one either. So the 49ers and the Seahawks are interesting because you have Darnold going to the Seahawks are interesting because you have Darnold right going to the Seahawks. It's going to be his first game and he played real well during the regular season last year. He played tremendous.
Speaker 2:They were. What are they? 13-4 or 14-3?
Speaker 1:And if they still have the same and the coach is decent, right Coach has been good in Seattle. The Niners I think they've taken a few steps back defensively. I mean they still have what's his name? Is it TJ Watt? Who am I thinking of? Not TJ Watt, no, Bosa, bosa. Bosa. They still got Bosa, who has a big deal right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I would stay away from that. Titans and the Broncos, denver minus eight. I don't think so.
Speaker 2:That's a lot of points.
Speaker 1:That's a lot of points. Jets and Steelers two teams that have everything to prove and have nothing to do it with.
Speaker 2:One team has a brand-new head coach, three-headed monster at running back their defense. It's there, but it's it's not operating on all cylinders. And the Steelers are well coached and there's a little drama there with Aaron Rogers who's got some serious weapons on offense.
Speaker 1:So you know it's pit by two and a half. It's, it's Pitt by two and a half. It's funny, the over is 38 and a half Under over 38 and a half.
Speaker 2:That's a low over. Yeah, well, I mean, it's Pittsburgh. They don't give up a lot of points.
Speaker 1:The Jets have a good defense, you know that game could very well be, you know, like 20 to 17. The other is Cardinals at the Saints. Now is this the year that the Cardinals actually get it together.
Speaker 2:Well, it's most likely not the Saints year. The Cardinals have some talent too.
Speaker 1:They have, but we've been saying that year after year. Today's is the year, and it seems like the quarterback never comes into his own, even though he has all that talent.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is probably a make-or-break year for him. I mean, he's in the league over three years now, right? So if he doesn't turn, the corner this year if he doesn't turn the corner and show that he can remain on the field and he can get rid of the football in a timely fashion and find open targets, then they're going to be looking for a quarterback next year for sure right, we have raiders and the patriots.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, um, so that leaves me with.
Speaker 2:well, the raiders I'm, you know, they got geno. I mean, he had a good year last year, right, and the Patriots have Drake May, they've got a couple weapons.
Speaker 1:So that leaves me with, in my mind, your game the Dolphins and the Colts or Panthers and Jaguars I picked that game too. Panthers-jaguars, I think I'm going to go with your Dolphins. There we have it. That's my pick. That's my fourth pick.
Speaker 2:That's your fourth pick and my fourth pick I'm taking Jacksonville and I'm giving the three points and I'm taking the under 46.5 against the Panthers. I know it's an unpopular pick. It's probably the one game this week everybody's looking at the Panthers because they have some serious talent at wide receiver and they've got their new quarterback. They've got Bryce Young there who everybody thinks is going to straighten it out. I'm not a believer. I love Trevor Lawrence. I think Trevor Lawrence puts it together. They come out here in week one and you know that's a team that I think can be scary. So we'll see.
Speaker 1:So, all right, those are our picks. So let's wind it up with this. At the end of the weekend, what's the story, what's going to be the thing that we say, wow, is it going to be? Jared Allen comes out and beats the Ravens.
Speaker 2:Josh Allen.
Speaker 1:Josh Allen is going to come out and beat the Ravens. Josh Allen, josh Allen is going to come out and beat the Ravens and what I think it's going to be, I think it's going to be Cincinnati. I think that arm is going to go to town with those wide receivers. I think you're going to see Chase, unless he's injured, gets injured somewhere during the game, because it's possible wide receivers get injured first game. They're not loose enough, they haven't stretched enough, they haven't ran enough. That happens all the time. But I think they're going to be a dominant team, cincinnati and surprise everyone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they have a lot to play for. They went to a Super Bowl. You know there's still some guys there. Burrow is, you know, the guy's a champ, I mean, you know he plays very good, smart football and if they can protect him, keep him upright, you know they can go far. There's no reason why. I mean they have talent, they have a fairly decent defense, you know, and they're playing in a division that you know I think is theirs for the taking, you know, for a change.
Speaker 1:It never was before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but this year it may be. They have a window for sure.
Speaker 1:No doubt about it, because next year, if Kansas City has a play, well, us here, and they get great draft picks right, they're gonna somewhere along the line Kelsey's gonna retire, but they're still gonna have this quarterback. Yeah, they're gonna put a team around him and they're gonna come back, whether Andy reads there or not.
Speaker 2:I mean they, they do a great job drafting offensive talent. They find guys that are fast and explosive and one guy goes down, another guy steps up and you don't know where that guy. It's like the same player. It's like how do you guard against that? They do a good job drafting, so you know. Barring a trade.
Speaker 1:The Hunts, Kansas City are the class of the league.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean they're the oldest tenured owners in the NFL. Now, or is it still? The Roonies are still there. I mean the Marys aren't the Giants, you know, they're NFL royalty.
Speaker 1:Absolutely AFL, then NFL.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. So Len Dawson may not be there anymore, but you know what are you going to do.
Speaker 2:It's a good fan base, a great stadium to play in. It's exciting, it's fun to watch on TV. I mean you know they got a lot of shade the last few years for a variety of reasons. Um, I think people can do without the off field stuff and the Swifties and all that, but you know they're. They got a great coach and a good quarterback and you know the NFL wants to see if somebody can catch Tom Brady, so they're not going anywhere for sure.
Speaker 1:I have to be honest, I'm not really a Swifty, so to speak, but the off-field stuff doesn't really bother me that much. I mean, most of the time that off-field stuff bothers you in the NFL, it's because it interferes with the on-field things. And though Kelsey has had some slow issues somewhere along the line maybe he's hurt a little, maybe he didn't come out and play as hard or it's hard to say a player doesn't play hard but wasn't as successful I think he's always been there. I think he's always been the player that he is. It's not like he was more concerned with the off-field stuff. I think he's a Hall of Fame player and he'll always be a Hall of Fame player. When he's done being a Hall of Fame player, I think he's a Hall of Fame player and will always be a Hall of Fame player. And when he's done being a Hall of Fame player, I think he'll retire.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think he's got some gas left in the tank for sure. You know, last year I think they did a good job masking for a long time how deteriorated their offensive line was and his production was down a little bit because I think they had to, you know, use him in a different role.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And you know, like I said before, if they've shored up that left tackle position which I think they have, and they're healthy and they can protect Mahomes, his production will go back to go back to that level of play. He may not be like a 15-touchdown guy, but he's going to get 7, 10 touchdowns. He's going to factor in every game. They're going to find him. He's going to get open. I mean the guy knows how to get open. I mean that's one of the things that made him so successful is they've got all these other weapons that everybody has to worry about that can explode and blow the top off the field or blow the top off the defense. And Kelsey finds his way in the zone and sits and catches passes all day long. So you know it worked for a long time and they're, you know they're formidable for sure. You have to account for them.
Speaker 1:So here it goes final note to the to the first week. How many wins do the jets have?
Speaker 2:I really like aaron glenn and I don't want to disrespect him, but it's the Jets and you know, I think, the over-under. Do you know what the over-under is? Whatever it is, I'll take the under, I'll leave it at that.
Speaker 1:Well, it's probably eight, it's not nine.
Speaker 2:I'll take the under. I'm going to say they get six wins this year.
Speaker 1:What do you think about the Giants?
Speaker 2:The Giants' defense, if it's for real, could keep them in some games. I don't think they're a playoff team, though I don't think they're on that level.
Speaker 1:Not yet. You have to have at least nine, right I?
Speaker 2:mean they've got a tough schedule. They're playing the toughest division.
Speaker 1:Dallas isn't going to do anything, Dallas is going to implode. They're going to be the worst team ever and the worst team they've had in some time and you know you're going to see players come up with crazy injuries only because the team has no heart, because Jerry cut it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's harder to pick. Well, yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:No, that's it Go ahead.
Speaker 2:I think it's harder to pick where you think the Giants will finish, because I'm pretty sure we're going to see Jackson Dart, no matter what, at some point this season, and the only way we don't see him is if the Giants get off to like an eight and two start, and I don't see that happening. So you know, and he may be a better thrower of the football at this point, may give them better option to win and score points at least, but does that translate into them being a playoff team and having more than nine wins? I don't think so.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to pick eight wins for the giants, and that's, I think that's fair. So that's, that's where I'm at. I don't. I don't have their schedule right in front of me, so I can't really go through it, Thank God. But, I think. I think that's where we leave it. What do you think? I think that's good. Another week in the books, another week in the books, and we had more online listeners than we've ever had, so that's a step in the right direction.
Speaker 2:Very good we're promoting the show.
Speaker 1:We're going to move forward. Hopefully our Super Bowl show will be all full of people. Sounds good. That would be great, alright thanks so much next week we're back to Mondays. As I said, the video show is live and it's also recorded on the Sports Live with Steve and Justin channel on YouTube, and you can also find the same show, uh rebroadcast, if you will, on uh all the major podcast networks if you just want to listen. All right, thanks, justin. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Steve Uh, you almost called me coach. I almost called you coach.
Speaker 1:I've been called a lot of things in my life.