Listener Calls and Final Thoughts

Off the pike is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA postseason is here and FanDuel knows the only thing better than watching your favorite team win is winning along with them. FanDuel's the best place to bet the teams, players, and plays during their playoff run. Build a same game parlay or try live betting and jump in after the tip off. And don't forget, with FanDuel, you get paid instantly when you win. Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app now and play your game. Twenty-one plus in Select States, eighteen plus in DC, Kentucky, or Wyom ing. Gambling problem? Call 1800 GAMBLER Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut Welcome into OptoPlay. Gum Brian Barrett reporting on a Sunday night after the Patriots just clinched the two seed in the AFC. We know they will play the Chargers in the first round of the playoffs after they beat down on the Miami Dolphins 38-10. Mike Rabel's first year as the Patriots head coach, 14-3. Not too shabby, man. So I want to get into all that. We'll get into the Patriots and the wins, specifics from the game, and also a quick pre view on the Chargers. We briefly went through this and we're ranking the playoff opponents, if you will, but just a quick take early on in the week, and we'll get into of course later on. We'll be doing full previews of the Patriots Chargers game coming up, of course. And James White is going to join us as he usually does on Sunday night. So we'll get his takeaway from this one and his takeaway on just your remarkable year one for Rabel , an incredible year two, of course, for Drake May. And I will get to the Celtics because oh man, I had to re watch that game this morning. I watched it with a couple of my buddies last night. And you know, when you're watching with your buddies, you're paying attention, but you're like, is this really what we're seeing right now? Jalen Brown is about to have fifty points. So I went back this morning to watch that full game again. It was just an unbelievable shooting performance. Remarkable stuff. So we'll get into Jalen in a little bit as well. And I get a big take on Jalen that I think people around here, I'm preaching to the New England audience, so I think a lot of you will like it, but all right, I do want to start with Drake May. And before we get into the game, and before we get into Drake May's individual performance in this game, I'm surprised because you heard my pod last week. From my perspective, the MVP had already been wrapped up. And I'm watching stuff late in the week. I'm listening to stuff. And it's like, oh, this is a real conversation. Despite what the odds say, this has now become a conversation again. Like, should Matthew Stafford win the MVP over Drake May? And I just can't understand it. I mean, we've thrown out some of the numbers, but we'll do a little metric man breakdown of the two guys right here. Really, only Stafford , what he has is touchdown passes, right? I mean, you look at the numbers here. Stafford's expected completion percentage. This is before today's games, 63.6%. That's higher than Drake's at 62.8%. So Stafford 's passes slightly easier than Drake's. Yet Drake's actual completion percentage of 71.7% prior to this game today is 8.9% points above expectation, and it's 6.2 percentage points higher than Stafford's completion percentage of 65.5%. Right? So Drake's actually has more difficult passes slightly, but the percentage between Drake's completion percentage and Stafford's, the gap is six point two percentage points, right? That is a crater. That is a large, large separation between the two guys, if that was a lot of numbers for you. All right. Stafford has a lot of help with his offensive line. He's only pressured on 31.8% of his dropbacks. Seventh lowest in the NFL, Drake's all the way up at 38.4% compared to Stafford at 31.8%, right? Almost seven full percentage points. So what does that mean? Drake is under duress a lot more. And watch the games. You see the plays Drake's making today where he's running away from defenders. Stafford has minus two rushing yards of the season. Like if you put Stafford on this team, he's getting sacked like crazy. Drake's brilliance as a scrambler and his ability to throw on the run allows him to put up these numbers because of the athleticism. Something a Stafford doesn't have. Stafford wouldn't be putting up these great numbers. They wouldn't be 14 and 3 if Stafford was on this team. That's like the simple test to do. You look at Drake in terms of when he's pressured, 89.8 passer rating, third in the NFL compared to Stafford's 82.4 fifth. Drake is pressured at a Y way higher rate, and he has a better passer rating than Matthew Stafford. Stafford has him in the blitz, a 121.8 passer rating. Drake is third at 115.5 . Very, very close to Stafford. Still really good. Stafford has more completions north of 20 air yards. 27 to Drake's 32. This again, all these numbers are prior to these games today because these advanced stuff haven't been finalized and all that. But Drake is at seventeen point three yards per attempt on those passes that travel north of twenty yards in the air. Stafford's fifteen point one. Advantage Drake. You know what Drake May's pass rating is on those specific throws north of 20 plus air yards. 132.5. Stafford really good. 1 27.1, but again, Drake is better. Under two and a half seconds. Drake is 79.4% , which is fourth at the NFL. Stafford 73.8% 17th. More than two and a half seconds, where Drake can really buy time. Best in the NFL, 66.2%, Stafford 59%, which is 13 th, middle of the road. Drake ended the day with 409 rushing yards, ran for more today, and four rushing touchdowns. As we alluded to, Stafford has minus two rushing yards. Drake is first in EPA, Stafford is fifth. Drake, by the way, EPA per play, it's not even close. 0.305. Stafford is 0 .218. Not close. Like that gap is huge. But the schedule. What about this easy schedule that the Patriots have played it. I'm not saying it's not easy, right? Compared to some of the other teams across the league. Have you seen this one that's going around? How about common opponents? Can we interest you in common opponents that both Matthew Stafford and Drake may play in? Drake in those g ames, common opponents. Six and oh. Remember, Stafford just lost to Atlanta, who the Patriots beat. Stafford four and two against the same teams as Drake. Drake has 14 touchdowns and three picks. Stafford in those six games, six interceptions, averaging a pick per game in those. And look, I know that's kind of deceiving because three were against the Falcons, but you get the point. Drake's actually been better against the same competition. Drake, of course has more combined yards because of the rushing yards as well. Today was the sixth game that Drake has had a pass rating of 125 and averaged more than 10 yards per attempt. So a passer rating of 125, okay? And yards per attempt are north of 10. Now how many Stafford has? Goose Egg. Zero. He actually doesn't have one game where he's averaged more than 10 yards per attempt. The other thing that I would tell you, as we kind of alluded to with some of the numbers, the pressure numbers, look at the rosters. Bukanakua is arguably the best receiver of the NFL. Devontae Adams, where Stafford has all these touchdown passes that are like one yard, the few the most of the NFL, two yards and in two. Uh my buddy Evan Valenti sent me that. But that's the that's what we're sticking to, and Stafford didn't even win his division, right? And then you look at the fact that that roster has been considered arguably the best roster of the NFL season long. How many offensive Pro Bowls does Drake have on his team? Oh yeah, zero. He's got Puka and a coup over there, right? The Patriots have two Pro Bowlers, him and Christian Gonzalez, right? This is not like I think this team obviously 14 and 3. It's been great to see. But even with that record, they got two Pro Bowlers. So look at the rosters, ask yourself how Stafford would play with this Patriots team, ask yourself how Drake would play with that Rams team. I think it looked pretty damn good, right? I mean that's the big test. The boss Bill Simmons has talked about this before when he's talking about the NBA MVP. You gotta ask yourself that question. So that to me is just stunning that this is now a conversation. And you see guys like taking shots at Drake. Like, why do people not like Drake? I my theory, and I think I floated this with Joe Murray the other day, is because he's a patriot. Like, there's no reason to dislike Drake. He doesn't do anything wrong. He hasn't even talked about the MVP, right? And the other component to this that I would mention is just like Cam Newton. I can't believe Cam Newton is so anti-Drake May. It's one of the most bizarre things, right? Cam Newton, there's probably what? Who who else in the NFL adores Cam Newton? Maybe there's a quarterback that I'm missing. Drake May did his celebration. Drake May said he was his favorite quarterback growing up because he played for his team, right? Drake loves Cam Newton. And Cam Newton just constantly shits on the guy. Earlier this season, when Damian Woody said he's the best deep ball thrower in the NFL, we just gave you the numbers on 20 plus air yard passes. His pass rating is over 13 2. So factually he's right, what Damian Woody is saying. And Cam Newton laughed at him. Like, dude, you gotta watch some of the games. Clearly what I believe is happening with Cam Newton is he just has takes. I don't believe he watches games. There is no way he would have that take if he actually And then his point about Drake May, he claims that he's not a game changer. And one of the things that he used to make his argument is that Jerron Mayo and Alex Van Pelt got fired. Gerard Mayo is a head coach. I mean, I'm sure he's a great guy. He couldn't run his nose. Remember, this is the same Gerad Mayo that claimed if at the end of that indie game. Remember, he's asked like,, hey, why didn't you take a timeout? He said we would have had less time if we took a timeout. He actually said that. He actually said that. Alex Van Pelt hadn't called plays since Obama's first term. Nobody else in the NFL was interested in hiring Alex Van Pelt as an offensive coordinator except the Patriots. That was one of the worst coaching staffs we have seen in recent NFL history. Drake May, because those guys got fired, makes Drake May not a game changer. Just ridiculous points. And I know like I'm sort of giving him more energy because I'm bringing that up. But I just I couldn't believe this week that it became a discussion. I should say at the tail end of the week. I thought you heard me earlier in the week. I thought the thing was wrapped up and now everybody's talking about it again. I think it's insane. All right. Uh let's get into today specifically with Drake May. This is a weird start for the Patriots. You felt like they were gonna win this game like 100 to 0, the way that the game started running down the field with Ramondre. And then the defense looked a little bit shaky, but let's start with Drake because again, awesome. 14 of 18, 191, 129.4 passer rating. Uh, just a couple of highlight plays, the 35-yard flea flicker right on the money. And then to extend the drive, he avoids a sack, picks up seven yards. He's actually face masked by the defensive lineman, still is able to get away from him. Right? Again, going back to the MVP, Stafford cannot do that. Stafford would be sa cked in that particular situation. Uh the series rate before for half, where the game was getting a little dicey, was 14 to 10. That is a great job by Drake, right? You didn't have much time, and you got down the field with two separate chunk plays there right he had the nice pass to booty leading booty out of bounds and then he picks up fourteen yards with his legs and gets out of bounds so really nice job by Drake because he just realized hey if they're in man coverage I can pick this up he gets himself in the team and field not himself, but he gets Boregales in field goal range at least. He hits a career at high fifty-nine yarder. So that's, hey, we don't have a lot of time left. Let's get points on the board. Outstanding job by your MVP quarterback right there. First series after half. The touchdown pass to Ramondre. Are you kidding me? It's an absolute dart. It's in the perfect place. And then later on on a boot, Henry catch and run for 29 yards where Drake gets out. The defense cannot catch up with him on the boot. Finds Henry. Henry picks up, he realizes Henry's got a ton of room to run there. He picks up 29 yards. He scrambles, six yards to keep the sort of series alive. And then obviously we mentioned the dart. I should have mentioned Ramondre to Drake to Ramondre after that because the touchdown came after the Henry catch. But that was a really nice throw, obviously, on the touchdown. And then before the Ramondre rushing touchdown, he threw a beautiful ball to Hunter Henry, right in front of the safety. Like Hunter Henry wasn't even in front of the safety yet. He just knew that he was going to be there, threw it in front of the safety because Henry was in front of the defensive back. Just perfect placement by Drake. And then the third series after half. I labeled it MVP Drake. Just an absolutely ridiculous throw to Stephon Diggs. He's running forward and he's jumping forward as he throws the ball. I don't know how he does this. 34 yards. And then he has another crazy pass where again going back to this idea of extending plays, Chubb is taking him down. He did the same thing in the Bills game, right? Chubb is taking him down, and he's still able to have the arm strength to get the ball out to Hooper for five yards to make, that a positive play. And then he snuck for he excuse me, he ran for eight yards after that, set up the Travion touchdown. Another great performance by your MVP quarterback. Can't all wait to see this guy get his first opportunity in the postseason because this is like in the next gen era, I outlined some of these numbers. This it by the way that I'm looking at it since it's been charted, this is gonna go down as like the most accurate season in the history of like the next gen era. And look, I I know it doesn't go back that long, but it's still pretty amazing to see that. I mean, Pat Mahomes has been here for the next genera. Joe Burrow has been here for the next gen era, right? Alright, then uh the defense. So no H and no Waddle. That's a thing here. First series, the Dolphins move it, but at least at the end of that series, Milton Williams steps up, right? It was nice to get him and of course Campbell back, but Williams blows up a play for right, loses six yards, and then they go for it on fourth down. No one was open. So all right, I'm like, all right, maybe just a slow start to the defense here and they'll pick it up after that. But no, after that, the second series, they just couldn't do anything to that Miami offense. Washington picked up nineteen yards right in front of Davis. Davis had a tough game today, had the pass interference later on in the game. Right a six yard run, a jet sweep to Washington, Washington off lot, a left end for four yards. Ewers finds Hill for eight yards, then a couple more runs, like right six yards, right seven yards, right for two yards, Gordon two yards. Then he actually loses a yard. Marcus Jones blows up the play, but then they have the play action touchdown to Washington. They made it fourteen to seven. So early on in the game, the defense just didn't look really dialed in. I I get it, like you look at the final numbers, they look outstanding, right, for the Patriots. But if you look at the first two series of the game, the Dolphins were successful, had successful plays on sixteen of their first twenty-two. Right, that's 72. 7%. The best in the league is 52%. And the Dolphins, without I guess you could say they're three best players, because Hill's been gone for the majority of the season, but without Hill, Waddle, and A-chan, 72.7% . So then, all right, third series, they pick it up. They finally stop the run, right? They get a three and out where they stuff Gordon. Durden stuffs that on third down. And then the fourth series was a really good series for them because it's a short field after the offense puts you in a bad situation. They take over at or should say the special teams. They take over at the 39. Oh no, this was the um where they don't pick up the first down. So then you get a holding, makes it first and 20. Wright tries to get to the outside. Gonzalez, unbelievable play where he makes the tackle. And him slash Gibbons force the fumble. So avoid the short field, and you're able to come up with a turnover of your own. So that was big. But after that, another short field, they get burned on a screen, right? Where they take over at the Patriots 40 after the block field goal. Yours gets a completion, then on second down, Barmore sacks, uh, Barmore picks up the sack, just a big bull rush. So they lose seven. But then on third down, they set up a nice little screenplay, thirteen yards. They caught the Patriots with that screen. That sets up a fourth and three. I I don't know why they kicked that. I'm going for that if I'm the Dolphins. I have nothing to lose. And they end up hitting it, but that makes it 14-10, which opens the door for Drake May to go down the field at the end of the game there. But and then the first drive after half, they got killed on a screen again, which you would figure they'd be ready for that, right? So great corner blitz. Christian Gonzalez puts the pressure on you, get the interference on on Carlton Davis. Like I said, not a great game for Davis, and I do think he's gonna be attacked in the postseason because of the guy that's on the other side. So he gets a 27 yard penalty, then you get the full start, and then right runs. Jennings blows that up for seven yards. But then there's a screen to Washington back the other way, the Pats uh or excuse me, the Pats rally to that one, but then the next play, it's third and seventeen, McDaniels catches Rabel and Zach Kerr again with the screen, where they pick up uh 20 yards on that one in the first down. Now, luckily at the end of that series, you have the Ewers interception, which yeah, great play by Hawkins, but that was more about Ewers. I don't know . He has two guys that are open. Greg Olson did a great job of the broadcast, but back-to-back possessions, they were bailed out by s or excuse me, back to back possessions to give a big yardage on screen passes that they clearly weren't worried for, are ready for. So this is something that obviously they're gonna dial in for the Chargers and hopefully knock on wood later on in the postseason as well because now that's on taped that the Patriots were not ready on third and long situations for screens. And then early on in the game they just had a real difficult time slowing down the Dolphins. Now that was an issue obviously for them earlier in the season as well, but I will say like they picked it up after that. Once the Patriots got the lead, they were all over Ewers after that. So they did pick it up once they got more of a lead in the game. But I would say despite the numbers looking good, I would say a little bit of an uneven performance by the defense. It was good to get Milton Williams back there, but just little things that you don't expect. One time getting caught on the screen fine, probably not the second time, and just the first two series of the game, the inability to slow down the Dolphins is something that I quite frankly, didn't expect whatsoever. It was nice to see some turnovers because that's been something the Patriots have struggled with this year. So I think the defense could have been better. I was completely fine with the offense. I mean, obviously, the short yardage play, you would like to see that be better from the Patriots when they're going for it on fourth down, but the big thing to me about the offense, we know what Drake May is gonna do. How about Ramondre, man? So we're now going on like five games where Ramondre Stevenson looks like 2022 Ramondre Stevenson again. Where I was talking to Doug Kide about this earlier in the week, right? First series has the nine-yard run, then a 57-yard run under the jumbo package. Really nice stuff by McDaniels there. I did feel like McDaniels is putting certain things on film on the first two series. Remember he had Ramondre direct snap, so that was interesting to see. Uh, he had Williams with a run in that particular situation earlier on in the game as well. And then, of course Ramondre, the direct snap, where he runs in the direct snap. But then how about the fact that Drake is pressured? I should have mentioned this in the Drake section, uh, section as well. Drake's pressured, and then he's able, he's looking for Henry. He can't get it to Henry. So he's it's kind of like a follow-way pass to Ramondre, but Ramondre catches it well behind the line of scrimmage, and he's able to pick up seven yards. So really nice play by Ramondre there in terms of the passing game. And then he has this amazing run later on in the game. He was hit in the backfield, right? They should have got him for a loss and the Patriots maybe they punt uh I can't remember exactly where they were on the field, but nonetheless, it would have been fourth down. Ramondre's able to run for 19 yards after that. So he breaks the tackle and then he keeps going. That's what he was so good at in 2022. And then of course the touchdown pass that he caught. It's a really nice cat ch by a running back, right? Like Ramondre's been really good at the passing game. So you look at the and then of course the 35 yard TD run where he looked like he shot out of the cannon. This is the most athletic Ramondre Stevenson has looked in more than three years, right? You got to go back to 202 2. And then you look at the last five games. I alluded to some of these numbers, but now you look at the numbers. Last five games, 41 carries, 319 yards, 7.8 per carry, four TDs. And I get you've played some bad defenses in there, but I don't care. You can just tell from an eye test perspective, he looks a lot better. And then also during the stretch, 16 receptions, 171 yards, a couple of touchdowns through the air, right? He ran for a what a buck 31 before garbage time? Clicked in on seven carries, caught a TD, had a touchdown grab and two on the like on the ground as well. It's just really nice stuff. So that's a good thing going into the postseason. When so often this year, we talked about a struggling running game. Now we're not only just seeing efficiency from the run game, we're seeing big runs from Ramondre. We expect that from Travion, but Ramondre, man, it feels really good to see him get his legs underneath him and look like the guy that we saw a couple years ago. And then just real quickly, because like I said, I mean we're gonna have a lot of time to sort of get into the playoff situation and the matchup specifically with the Chargers coming up next weekend . But just wanted to touch on this briefly, and maybe I'll regret this. This is the team in the AFC I would want to play the most. Okay, because you have both tackles out. They're completely banged up. Josh Allen is his own thing with the Bills, where we know he can be Superman. The Texans have the best defense in the NFL. The Broncos, obviously weren't going to play them. They're the one C, but that's a well-rounded team. Jacksonville's caught fire and they force all these turnovers, right? So I I guess I would have rather played the North champion, but that was out of the question because of course the Patriots are in a situation right now where they're a division winner as well. But we ranked the teams, and and Jamie I both agreed on it earlier this week that this is probably the best matchup for the Patriots because of some of the things they're dealing with. I mean, they lost to the Giants, they lost to the Commanders, they got crushed by Indy, and I get this is when Indy was good. They got crushed by Jacksonville, thirty- tofive six. They lost that game to Houston a week ago Saturday, and I understand that that's a great Houston defense. And it does feel like they want to play you, right? They didn't even try in the game against the Chargers, so maybe they would have preferred you for the Jaguars, but that's look, California team coming through the cold weather, I'm all for it. And I know like they don't really feel like a California team by the way they run it. Like they don 't feel like a warm weather team, if you will. They feel like a team that, you know plays in the NFC or excuse me the AFC North or something, like they Harbaugh to be physical, but there's really nothing great about this team. 122 point one rushing yards prior to the game this week. It's not even worth bringing up this game because they didn't play their guys. Twelfth in the NFL, four point four yards per carry, fourteenth. Hamptons four point four yards per carry. Did miss some time like everybody else in this team. Their rush success rate is twenty-fourth at thirty-nine point four percent. So they want to run a lot, they just don't do it successfully. Overall EPA per play is twentieth, and not good, well below average. Herbert's fifteenth in pass rating, ninety-four point one, right in front of her old friend Jacoby Purset. Like he has not had a great year, and it's not all his fault. He's pressured on 42.7% of his dropbacks. Only Sanders and Fields have been pressured more often on a pro drop back basis. Six interceptions when he's pressured. So he has not had a great year. He's been under siege. McConkey's a good player, but and look, he may burn you. We saw what he did last year. We all like lad McConkie on the Patriots, right, after what we sort of went through with Jalen Polk. Like he's a good player. And he had a huge game against the Patriots last year. And maybe he'll be fired up for this one. Gatson, the tight end, uh Syracuse guy, he's he's pretty good. But it's not like they have a ton of scary players on this team. Like McConkey's really good. And maybe he eats you up, but overall , it's just not a scary group of players, especially when you don't have the protection. And then their defense, they only give up points on 36.4% of drives, which is a really good number, ninth. But they're at 4.4 opponents' yards per carry, which is 23rd. They are tied for 10th in sacks. But again, this is not like you're going up against the Texans defense. It's a solid defense. It's not a great defense. I think the Patriots really, when you look at it from the matchup perspective, I think this is what you wanted. If you're the Patriots, get the home game. I against this team think it's a really good matchup for the Patriots. Alright. I do have to get to the Celtics quickly here because not quickly. I gotta get to Jalen Brown. Cause man, what a game that was. Fifty points. And he is now introduced himself into the MVP conversation. With out , and I'll make the point on why, but he is in the MVP conversation, needs to be in the MVP conversation, plus 8,000 right now. I gave out Drake after the Carolina game, plus, seven thousand worth putting a little bit on Dra on our guy Jalen Brown as well for plus eight thousand. I mean put ten bucks on it. You could win eight thousand if he wins. And if it's not, you know, it's not like you put a bunch of money on it. But eighteen of twenty six, 69.2%, six of ten on threes . And I just want to run through some of this. I can't go through every single point that he scored. I mean that would be very time consuming. But just some of the highlights right away. Hardens on him, gets to the free throw line, hits this high arcing two, makes it five three, doesn't hit the rim. The reason I just bring up that play specifically, first of all, the touch that he has on the mid-ranger right now, and secondarily, self-creating. Like the the amount of shots that he's hitting that he is self-creating, it is ridiculous the level of difficulty and the precision that he's able to hit these mid-rangers with. He's got hardening on him again, ISO, short corner fall away to make it 12-7. Again, this is self-created. It's a short corner follow away. It's much more difficult to take a short corner mid-ranger than it is a corner three. And he does it falling away. Like that's a really difficult shot. 16 tonight, you can tell, like, and oh, by the way, he hits a really sick floater over Brooke Lopez, who's seven feet. Throws it right over him and it goes straight down it in. Just ridiculous touch on the floater now, which is something that hasn't been a huge part of his game. It has been more this year. And then he mentioned Kawhi in the matchup, and we'll get into that. But 16-90 goes and doubles Kawhi after they switched to get Jalen off him. Jalen wanted the matchup. Then he's able to he doubles quiet, right? Runs over because Pritchard's on him. And then he's able to get back to Harden and contest his three that he misses. Just the effort on both ends of the floor. Hits a wing three from White, and he gets Jones on him. Spin, fadeaway too. Again, self-created 29-21. Like I he makes it look so easy when he's taking these mid-rangers, the followways, the spins, that it looks easy because a lot of these he doesn't even touch the rim , but these are so difficult, and it's all self-creation stuff. 53-50. He pressures Kawhi at half court, knocks it away from Kawaii. Kawai's able to pick it up in the backcourt, and then he comes up, takes it three, misses it because Jalen's all over him. But just again, the pressure that he's putting on Kawaii, he wanted this matchup. When Kawaii's off the ball in the next possession, he picked him up on the other side of the court. He picked him up in the backcourt like he was doing against Luca in the finals. Like he just brought that type of energy to this game. He had a catch and shoot three at third quarters when he went nuts. He had 19 in the third quarter. He has Collins on him. Looks like this is a one that he's uh busted out of munch this year. He makes it look like he's going to drive all the way to the basket. Then he can just put the brakes on. Collins goes back the other way and he gets himself an open elbow jumper. Gets Collins on him again, stops, keeps Collins on his back, and he shoots a lefty floater. Like, did you realize how difficult that shot is? A lefty floater for a right-handed player with a defender on his back. I mean the level of difficulty there is just ridiculous. 85-79. Again, wanting the Kawhi matchup, rear contest on Kawhi that takes it. He's like he's trying to take a mid-ranger, gets it away from him there, or excuse me, contests him there, and then on the other end, he gets a mid-ranger of his own. Just uh unbelievable stuff. Just really, really uh the step back that he hit on he had an ISO on Jones, he had a lefty step back. He got Brooke Lopez on him again, elbow extended following away, where he gets to the elbow, knocks Brooke back, not knocks him back physically, but because he's putting pressure on him, Brooke Lopez is going the other way, hits a ridiculous step back, and then Jones sort of cuts off his spot. So then he pulls back. Okay, this one was crazy. He hit a three ere Jones is like kind of like it was decent, it was good defense by Jones because he's trying to get back to his step back, and Jones is actually on his back, right? Because he tried to cross, he crossed up, brought it back. Jones is right there. Jalen is behind the three-point line and he doesn't have his dribble anymore. He jumps forward. Like you don't see that. He jumped forward from the three and was able to sort of gain some space that way and hit a three jumping forward . Like not a normal jump shot at all. It was a three. Hey, by the way, wasn't getting selfish, got uh gets doubled, gets wall shadunk, and then he got zubak on him, went right down, right past him where he kind of fooled Zubak where he slow ed down. Zubak's gonna slow down and then he just accelerates and gets all the way to the basket. But then, you know, he got draft, done got drafted over him, right? So twice in a row he scores on done, once at elbow jumper, and then he had a sick corner three. He had a step back corner three. I don't know if you realize this. Guys don't take step back corner threes. Step back threes are usually from above the break because you don't have room over there. His step back corner three, he's falling out of bounds. Just ridiculous stuff. And then he hit a great floater for the 50 to make it 133, 109 . And he's got the MVP chance. I it was awesome, man. The MVP chance in LA. I know it's not a Lakers crowd, right? It's a Clippers crowd, but still, I I want to just run through that because like the level of shot making with the combination of creating all these plays , he's at a ridiculous level right now. Like I don't think it's out of the question to look at him to say right now, he's the best mid-range shooter in the game. It's him and Shea Gildis Alexander. That's how good he's been. And I thought it was interesting what he said about Kawhi Leonard. He said he's one of the best two-way players of all time. Offense and defense, his ability to take over a game, his defensive versus So I think this is yes, giving Kwai Leonard credit for his career, but it's also sort of pointing out what he has to do, right? Like what he did against Luca in the finals, covering the best player on the other team for the majority of the series and also carrying an offense, right? And then he texts Missoula when they're going from Sacramento to LA and he says he wants to cover 'em. And he says, why wouldn't I? I seek those challenges. Obviously Kawhi is one of the great, so I want to start him. You could tell, like he really took the matchup personally, like I said, picking him up in the backcourt. And then he said after the game, I believe he's I'm the best two way player in the world. He should say stuff like that. But the other thing I'd say too is like what's interesting to me is first of all, just to get into sort of the twos away from the rim, Kawhi's having his best season. He's been one of the best mid-range guys when he's healthy.. 52% Two's away from the rim, rounding up here. Jalen's right there at 51%. This is Kwai's best season, and he hasn't played a ton. 51% for Jalen this year. He's basically doing what Kwai has done at his best season from a mid-range perspective. And I think he kind of views himself like Kawhi Leonard. Not the personality. Obviously, Kawhi is much more reserved than Jalen Brown, but sort of like the outsider, for lack of a better term. And what I mean by that is like, all right , it was LeBron, Durant, and Curry forever, right? Like those are the three guys. And then Giannis came along. And Kawhi, like, there was this brief moment at 19 where people were like, hey, is he the best player in the world? When he went to the finals and of course won it with the Raptor s, but he never got the same amount of attention that those other guys got. And I think Jalen kind of sees himself the same way. Where remember the Olympic thing? He's like, What the fuck? I just won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP on the finals MVP. I'm not even on the Olympic team. And I get it, it was picked before then, but you get the point. It's like Jalen feels just like, how am I not in this conversation? He feels like he's one of the best forwards in the world. How am I not on this team? So it pisses him off, right? And I would look at it too. Who's even talking about Jalen in the MV P conversation right now? If you look at this team right now, they're getting close to the number two seed. He's plus 8,000 on FanDuel to win the MVP. Luca is plus four fifty. Luca's team is not that good . And he's plus 450, right? You look at Shea minus 450, obviously the huge favorite because of the Thunders record. And now that Jokic is probably not going to beat the threshold with the injury. Cade's plus 7,000. Like and Bruns on, by the way, is right there too. Like Brunson's in this conversation for the MVP, right? And by the way, let me double check on the uh Brunson odds real quick because I did have it in front of me, but I forget what they had Brunson at. Because there's another part to the equation with Brunson where earlier this week, Brunson was named the Kia NBA player of the week, and Jalen was pissed about it. He said SMH. Like, I I was surprised. Like, you know that these awards exist, but I can't believe Jalen was mad about it. That's kind of who that's kind of how like what makes him who he is. By the way, Brunson right now is plus uh 7, 500. So he has technically shorter odds than Jalen Brown does as well. So he was obviously mad about that, which I think this is all part of the thing. Like I think he uses all these little things to motivate him, not making the Olympic team, right? What people thought this team was gonna be. People thought this team could be a lottery team. I mean, look, I'll hand up. Like, I didn't be this good. Did you? Right? Jalen like uses all this for motivation. Most guys are not gonna tweet something about somebody else winning the player of the month. And look, clearly he had the case, like he had a better month than Jalen Brunson. The numbers would indicate that. But that stuff like motivates him. And you think about the MVP conversation. If the Celtics end up with the number two seed, as we said, Jokic is out. Like he's probably not, and look, we don't have to get into the whole discussion. I think the game threshold is pretty stupid, but Jokic is going to be out. Shea has a loaded team. That team is loaded. Like it was we're two weeks removed from talking about that team breaking the Warriors record. They're absolutely loaded. And yes, he's the best player on the team. But does anybody think Jalen has close to the amount of help that Shay has right now? I mean, the Celtics are taking guys that weren't even rotation players. Some weren't even really NBA play ers and they're playing them . Jalen has to carry this thing. They lost Tatum, right? They lost Drew Holiday, Porzingis, Cornette, Al, right? And you look at even like Cade Cunningham, right, with uh Detroit. Durin's gonna be an all-star. Jalen doesn't have a second all-star with him right now. Luca has had Reeves most of the season. I can't imagine another guy having to sort of do what Jalen has to do right now with this team. Like, and if you're just looking at, let's put this simplistically, value? Who has had more value to their team? Where are the Celtics right now without Jalen Brown? Like it's crazy. Uh by the way, just looking at some of these numbers . Shots between 15 and 19 feet. So these mid-range twos , 75 makes the most in the NBA. He had four in the game the other night. Ingram is second with 63. DeRozan is third at 4 8. So he has by far the most makes 12 more than Ingram. How about Jalen on those shots? He was 4 for 4 the other night. 75 of 135, 55.6%. Ingram is 63 of 126, 50%. So 5.6 % points better than the guy that's hit the second most. DeRozan's 48 of 110, 43.6%. So what 12% points better than the guy that's third. That's why I was going through these shots that he was hitting the degree of difficulty, like it's not normal to shoot those shots with such a high level of efficiency, right? That's why I tell guys not to take them. It's like, hey, if you're gonna take that, you might as well take a three. Only certain guys should be allowed to take those shots. Jalen's obviously one of them. Obviously hit six threes in the game as well. And look, some of this sort of overlaps, but he was four of four on twos outside the paint. He was seven of eleven on twos in the restricted area inside the paint. I told you a little bit of a floater in that game as well. He is third this year on made twos outside of the paint, and he's shooting 49.7% of those shots. Better than the two guys in front of him, Ingram and DeRozan. Shea's fourth, by the way, and he's at 50.9%. So Jalen really close when it comes to that. He has 286 made twos, only Shea has more. And a remarkable number for Jalen, considering you look at just the raw numbers, he's shooting 38.4% on pull-up threes. Those are difficult shots. He's shooting 38.4%. He's better than Mitchell, Booker, Brunson, Luca. All those guys are sell to 36%. Now Shay's ridiculous 44.3%. But he's better than you would think that Mitchell, Booker, and Brunson and Luca have better pull- up threepoint numbers than Jalen. Jalen's shooting him at like a career best, 38.4%. So I really do think that he belongs in the MVP conversation. And again, I know we've done this multiple times this season where we've praised him, but it's very rare to see a guy this late in his career that's already won the finals MVP, that's already won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP, has been named an all-star a bunch of times, has been an all-NBA performer in the past for, a guy this late in his career to make this jump, it's remarkable. Like usually see, okay, a guy from his rookie to second year is gonna improve. Then in his third year, he's gonna improve. But once you get to like five, like you're not getting better after a certain amount of time, right? Especially when you're entering your 30s. You usually just don't see this from a player. So for Jalen to make this leap at this point in his career, it is remarkable to see. Uh, real quickly, one other thing on the Celtics I just wanted to mention. Garza in the Clippers game 11, 6, and 3. He actually had a block and he caught it, which is old school. You don't see that that often in the NBA. He has double digit points and three straight. He's hit a three in five consecutive games. And if you look at the numbers, and look, I get it, the Celtics have been playing really well during the stretch, but the last seven games, Garza on the court, the Celtics are a plus 98. That's the second best number in the NBA during that stretch behind only Kawhi Leonard. Luka Garza off minus seven. They've actually been outscored during the stretch when Garza's not been on the floor. The numbers with him on the floor during the stretch, a 134.8 offensive rating, Denver's number one in the league at 123.1, a 103. 5 defensive rating. OKC is first at 104.1. No other team is south of 110. They are at 103.5 when Gars is on the court. Plus 31.3. So what's he doing? Well, one of the things, and I'm sure you've heard Scal mention that he's a great screener, he is a phenomenal screener during the stretch. 5.1 screen assists per game, number one in the NBA during that stretch. That means his screen is directly leading to baskets. He set one in the game last night for Jalen at the top of the key where Jalen just went right he set such a hard screen that the defense couldn't react. Jalen walked right into an open three. So excellent screener, which is obviously very important in this offense, especially when you have Jalen Brown and Derek White, right? Peyton Pritchard. He's averaging during the stretch three point seven offensive rebounds per game, and he's only playing around 20 minutes. Four players this year average more than 3.7 per game. Pl , Adams, Durin, and Gobert. So all massive centers and Durin, who's, I mean, massively jacked, not as tall as those guys, obviously. So that adds up to 6.2 offensive rebounds per 36 minutes. Two players average more than that on the season. So he's been, during the stretch, the best screener in the NBA, and he's been one of the better offensive rebounders in the NBA. And like I said, it's a seven-game sample size. Garza was out of the rotation. And I thought he was never playing for this team again, like significantly. Yeah, when guys are out, like he would play. But I didn't think he was going to be a big part of the rotation. Remember, they were going without bigs at times. When Kate was off the floor, they were not playing a center for large stretches this season. All of a sudden, Garza gets his opportunity a couple of weeks ago against what? The Raptors. And they see alright, he's screening effectively. He's got two simple tasks, rebound and screen. And he has been unbelievable doing those two things. And did we see Walsh becoming this really effective player for the Celtics this year? No. So I think when you look at the Garza situation, and look, I get it, he has some issues defensively. He's not the fastest guy, although I think he's defended fairly well, clearly over the stretch, if you look at the numbers. But he knows how to use his body, both on the offensive end and the defensive end. He's going to go after all these offensive boards. He's going to get you extra possessions. So just like Walsh, I'm like, oh yeah, Walsh is starting this game. Is that going to is he is he really going to play a lot now going forward? And it was like, oh, yeah, he's actually really good. Gars is a guy that they got that didn't minister couldn't play for Minnesota and they've gotten this level of production out of the player. Like, if I'm gonna believe that Walsh can do this, why shouldn't Garza can be effective player? Like, obviously I think Walsh will have a better career because of the position type and his ability to defend. Like, I'm not disputing that, but I think Garza can be effective player for this team. So it's been really fun to watch. All right, coming up next, we'll check him a three time Super Bowl champ, James White. Off the pike is brought to you by FanDuel. Football fans, we've waited all season for this. It's time to flip the switch to playoff mode on FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, all FanDuel customers can get in on the action with a wildcard reward for the NFL wildcard round. Just pick your card and you can win up to a 100% profit boost. So I'd be looking at a same game parlay for this Patriots Chargers game. So I like the Patriots on the money line and I think they're the superior team. Drake 200 passing yards, digs for 40 receiving yards.. Big game Diggs going to be targeted a lot. Ramondre Stevenson a touchdown. Ramondre's been in the end zone, it feels like all the time over the past few games. What is it? Six in his past four games. Head on over to fanduel.com slash pike for a chance to double your winnings for NFL Wildcard round. Play your game with FanDuel, an official sports betting partner of the NFL playoffs. Twenty-one plus in present in select states or eighteen plus in present in DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming. Opt in required. Rewards are nonwithdrawable. Restrictions apply, including bonus and token expiration, leg requirements, and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit CCPG.org/slash chat in Connecticut. Welcome back into Off the Bike. Joining us now, three-time Super Bowl champ, James White. James, you've been joining us a couple of years on this podcast. We're finally gonna be able to do it after a playoff game, man. Finally. Pretty crazy, but it's been fun to watch this year, the turnaround, the competitiveness. Um took a took everybody to get this thing done from the coaching staff to players. They they believed. I I I I didn't quite believe early on, and like I said they they've kept it going all year long and they they really have a chance this year, I believe. Yeah, before we get into specifics here , week eighteen and I guess most of your career it would be week seventeen, right? Did were you still in the league when there was week eighteen? Uh one year? I think I think I retired that year when they first started. Yeah, so I guess it would be week seventeen for you. Is it just weird, especially because for your entire career you guys were in the postseason, but just like kind of looking around like who's what team is playing what guys, like it's it's tough to keep track of because all of a sudden it's like all right, Josh Allen's going to keep his streak alive. He's coming out of that game. For some reason the Eagles sat a lot of guys, although they could have improved their seating, maybe they were comfortable with either matchup, but if they got the two, they would have guaranteed two sort of uh home playoff games. Or they could have had two playoff games if they win their first one, of course, but just feels Yeah, there's there's different ways of of going about it. I think only one year, which may have been my rookie year, uh when we played Buffalo the last game of the year, where Bill decided to sit some guys and whatnot. But other than that, I'm pretty sure we we we always played the last game of the year. But every every coach has their own way of doing it. I'm surprised Philly didn't play their guys, especially on offense. Not like they've been really rolling on offense. They they really need another game to to go out there and hopefully they can, you know, get a little consistency before they get into the playoffs. But hey, we'll we'll just see. Maybe they want to get their guys kind of a week off and you know make them feel good going into the playoffs. Did you ever have an incentive? Like a bunch of Patriots had one today. Like Hunter Henry, I think it was $2 50,000 on his final catch of the game. DeFon Diggs keeps hitting his. He's got like he keeps hitting like half a mil. I think he's hit it like three times. You ever have anything like that the last week? Because I do remember Brady, maybe this when he was in Tampa. Like he knew Gronk needed like one more catch, so he made sure to get Gronk the ball at the end of the game. Did you have a have it in one of those? Uh I did and actually I think I fell short of it one year and the Patriots actually they still gave it to me, so which which was nice. So yeah, yeah. So it it just depends. Probably depends on the person, depends on how the organization's feeling and and whatnot. But yeah, they they did it was like me and a couple of other guys. We were like just short of hitting our incentives and they actually gave them to us. So yeah, it depends how ownership is feeling. Gotcha. Now it's been announced Patriots Chargers is going to be the Sunday night football game. So I know during the regular season you said you prefer the one o'clock games. Playoffs like night game at Foxboro , you prefer those to like an earlier game or I still I still prefer earlier games, but playoffs it kinda it kinda is what it is. I mean, at that point it's like you know, y we know what's going on here. We know the the importance of the game, so I'm fine either way. I mean any playoff game you can have at home, it's gonna be a great atmosphere, you know, and Gillette. It's been a it's been a while, you know, since since we've had this type of game. Crowd will be into it, the players will be into it. Not that the Chargers are a bad football team, but um they're gonna they're gonna lean into their run game. We gotta be able to slow that down and contain Herbert. I think that's really in there. Their defense is pretty solid as well, but I think we can handle our own offense. Yeah, I was saying earlier, I'll just bring this up now then, because I was saying earlier out of the matchups, the potential matchups they could have had, the Texans, the Bill s, or the Chargers. This was by far my preferred team. Now, obviously, the Patriots aren't gonna treat it that way. They're not gonna say that. But me, I thought that this, like, you take look at the off ensive line, they're dealing with both tackles being out. Herbert's been pressured at an alarming rate north of 43% of his dropbacks. And with the Bills, even if they're not the vintage bills over the past four to five years, that we've seen, where they had for the most part during Allen's run here, they've had really good rosters. That roster sort of dipped off. They still have some really good players. Like obviously Cook's great, but the defense isn't what it's been in previous years. And then the Texans, they have the scariest defense I would say in the NF in the NFL, especially when you get both those guys in terms of the pass rushers and Anderson and Hunter and Stingley at the cornerback back position. Their offense is getting a little bit better towards or was towards the end of the season here. I feel like the Patriots match up pretty well with this tri like offensively. They want to run the ball, but they don't run the ball very efficiently. A McConkey, we know he could have been a Patriot, but I just feel like it's a better matchup than these those other two teams. Like if I was gonna pick one, that'd be the team. I don't want to disrespect the Chargers, but that'd be the team. Yeah, Texans is a team I definitely wouldn't want to see in the first round. Their defense can their defense can literally win them any football game they step out and play. I mean and then playing Josh Allen we we saw what he did to us a few weeks ago. I mean they're they not they're not what they once were a couple years ago, but at any given point that guy can take over a football game. So I think this is the matchup that we want, but at the same time, I mean, you still got to go out there and win it. And then you got to continuously play good football teams in order to make it to a Super Bowl. So gotta be willing to accept any challenge. Yeah, the Patriots open this up. They are three and a half point favorites coming up on a week from as we're recording now. On Sunday night. All right. One big thing that I took away from I'd say the final month of the season I mentioned off the top of the podcast is we talked about a struggling running game for large stretches this season. Travey on his head, his run where he's getting all these deep touchdown runs and final four weeks James your guy Ramondre Stevenson he's made some really nice catches he had a long run today he also had a couple of broken tackles, was hitting the line, uh, was hit behind the line of scrimmage, broke a tackle. He's looked really good. Like, this is the closest he's looked to the guy that when the Patriots gave him the extension a couple of years ago, that's the Ramondre they thought they were getting from 202 2. So, no, I know this year it was fumbles, then he was dealing with health stuff. It just feels like he's in a really good spot right now in terms of they now have I feel a lot better about the run game going into the playoffs than I did even three, four weeks No, it's been it's been fun to watch. I mean, we didn't consistently have a run game earlier on in the year. Bags have been, you know, they've kind of had their spurts of of good football games, but these last several weeks, guys have been they've been hitting the holes, offensive lines getting hats on hats. They're still been getting you know pretty decent size gains on you know some big runs. But yeah, to watch it today, you know, from the first drive, you know, Ramondre toting the pill, you got offensive line blocking it up. I mean, even Trevion throughout the game was making plays too. You're gonna need that in the playoffs. I mean, we always say the teams who can run the football and stop the run in the playoffs. That's typically the teams that end up winning. So if we can run the football like that and got obviously got Drake playing the way that he's been playing all year long, it'd be will be a tough out. So so yeah it's but it's been fun to watch Dre. Um it's a rough start earlier in the year. A lot of people wanted to kind of give up on him and whatnot. Stay the course. Obviously the coaching staff still believed in him. He still started even after the fumbles and whatnot. And he's been a huge part in the team's successes back half of the year. And like I said, he'll he'll be confident going into this this playoff run. He'll be he'll be really important. And he continues to show his versatility too. Like I think people forget like this this guy can literally catch the ball out of the backfield extremely well. This is good as Trivion . Yeah, I I mean he's had some really nice grabs this year. I think all the way back to the first Miami game where he caught one down the sideline. This one today that he caught, I know that he was open, but it wasn't like that was not an easy catch to make. I I understand he was open. He made a really nice catch last week as well. It just feels like he's more athletic than he was earlier this season. I don't know if that was just he was dealing with the foot situation that was sort of holding him back, and then right when he came back, he didn't really look like the Ramondre that we've seen in the past either. It just feels like for whatever whatever happened over the past three to four weeks, I don't know if it's different treatment. He just finally feels like usually guys feel worse as the season goes on. Like maybe he feels better as the season's going on, which I think hey, either way it's a good thing because obviously they ran like Greg Olsen was talking about on the broadcast, they were running a lot out of those jumbo packages, which can only help them going forward because Patriots for large portions of the season didn't have a run game at all. And now Drake May has that to work with at his disposal as well. But just on Vrabel, you guys played him one year in the postseason , Brady's final game. What did you remember about going up aga inst like a Brable coach team in the playoffs? 'Cause I that's a game too where he pulled that trick out of Belichick's book where he was wasting time, where he's taking back to back penalties, but it wasn't the same penalty. They eventually changed the rules. So obviously that team really well prepared. His players believe. I mean, we I compete against him for a while. I mean, when he's coaching at Ohio State, when he's coaching for the Texans as a assistant coach and a coordinator, and then when he finally got a job in Tennessee, he just always knew it was going to be a tough matchup, especially you know their defense. Um, be physical, they're gonna pressure you. It's gonna be a four-quarter football game. So yeah, the preparation is definitely gonna be there. That's and the players wanna play for them, and I think you you've seen that all year long when it comes to this football team. You see them score touchdowns, he's celebrating with him. You see them get sacks, he's celebrating with him on the sideline. He's on the iPads when you know the kick-offs going on. So he's sitting down on the bench with the D line and all that stuff. So he's fully in tune with it. He he knows what's going on. He knows how to coach. So you trust to believe the team be prepared and ready to go. All right, and they got a couple of guys back in this game today. Obviously Campbell's back out there, Milton Williams out there. I didn't really notice Campbell that much. I mean I'd maybe when you go back and watch it, so I guess that would be a good thing, right? And then with Milton Williams, he made a couple of nice plays, especially broke up a play in the backfield too to cause like a six yard loss on a run. So I thought that was good that they got him back, but both those guys back. You'd like to get Spillane back too. Obviously, he didn't play, but he got both those guys back before the playoffs started. Booty got back into the lineup as well. So I feel like that's huge. That they're actually getting healthier. It's not like those guys, like we think about the Chargers, the team they're going up against. They're not getting their guys back. The Patriots got them back and they looked the same. No, I I thought it was good to get them back, you know, one week before the playoffs that way, you know, and they're not getting thrown into the fire, come playoff week. Not saying that they couldn't have success, but to get one game back under your belt, you know, play well and then you know be confident going into the playoffs. I think that's a a huge bonus. Hopefully they can get you know a couple of other guys back. But it is it was definitely good to see 'cause sometimes I always say that it's the more healthy teams that go out and there win those playoff games. If you have your best options out there at every position, you you're probably gonna stand a better shot of the other teams banged up. So it's unfortunate for the Chargers, but it's something that we gotta we gotta take advantage of. All right, it feels like the AFC is wide open right now . I was mentioning this earlier, just like the quarterbacks that are usually in the postseason aren't in the postseason with the exception of Allen and as we're recording right now that Ravens Steelers game's going on. But like Pat Mahomes is not in the playoffs. The guy that has won three of the last what five or six whatever it is. He's won like three in five years. He's not even in the postseason. They've been basically they like took over for you guys where you guys were in the AFC championship every g every year, and then it turned into the Chiefs being there every year. Now the Patriots are back in. Maybe it can be the Patriots and they can start beating the AFC Championship game every year. But who do you like in the other conference? Who do you think comes out of the NFC? I mean, I a couple of weeks ago, I would have said the Rams , but I don't know what's going on. Like they've had some weird losses down the stretch of the season. It felt like at the end of the game today they were trying to get Stafford the MVP over Drake May patting the stats late in the game, but who do you like in the NFC? Oh, it's it's tough. I mean, Bill y hasn't been playing that great. I don't I don't believe in them . Uh forty niners, I just just I Their defense stinks. Yeah, just yeah, just don't know what you're gonna get from them. It might be to me, it's either Seattle or I like Chicago to another loss today, but uh I like Chicago. I like what Ben Johnson's been able to do for them um in one yearar. Simil to Vravel, first year as the head coach, has the quarterback playing better. Their defense is really good. I mean, for them, it just all comes down to how Caleb performs. If he can consistently throw the football and get the ball out on time. I think they'll be all right. And if they 'cause they can run the football really good too. If Swift and Manungay, if they're rolling, they're they're a tough team to deal with. Like when they beat Philly, you know, probably uh like a month or so ago, I was like, okay, like this team that ran for like two hundred or something yards on Philly. Like that's that's tough to deal with, especially come playoff time. And we know Ben Johnson, he's gonna run the football. I mean he did it when he was in Detroit with the two backs that they have. So yeah, I would say Seatt le or Chicago . Yeah, Seattle's interesting because they get their great home field advantage, of course, and they get the one seed they get to buy. They won't have to leave Seattle in the NFC playoffs, which is Sam Darnold.. That's the only thing Yeah, that's the thing. Last year, like remember week eighteen last year, he was terrible. Obviously, that didn't repeat itself this year, but he was terrible in week eighteen and then he was awful in the playoff game. I think a lot of people can't really get that out of their mind. I also think, man, they're like really conservative. Like the Patriots, they'll be aggressive when they need to go for it on fourth down. That team is just not aggressive at all, which is obviously not what you want. Yeah. I mean they can run the football well at times, so I think they're gonna have to try and not let him throw it, you know, 30 times if he can throw it for 20 times and, you know, they were able to move the ball efficiently, then I think that plays in their favor, but becomes a drop back football game for that football team. I don't think that's what they want. So we'll see what happens with Sam Darnold this year. Yeah, I can't wait to see Drake. I've said it like eight times over the past two weeks. I can't wait to see him in the playoffs. Another really great game today. Made a couple of sick throws. He made that this is the second time this year where he's getting taken down and he's able to make a um complete the pass. He did it in the first Bills game. He's getting torn down. He did it again today when he found Hooper. I'm like, this is crazy that he can make these plays. That's why to me too. The plays he makes scrambling and the ability to extend plays with his legs and extend drives with legs with his legs rather with legs yeah I I that's why I think it's just like that's what has separated him from Stafford plus like Stafford's the five seed like how can the five seed be the MVP, right? I think like Drake has done so much for this team. No, no disrespect to the rest of the guys on the team, but it's not like you don't look at this roster and say like, hey, look at the like you look at the Rams are off, you're like, whoa. Like they got you look at the Patriots, nobody expected this. No. I agree with that. I mean, nobody expected the Patriots to be, you know, at this point, at this point in the season, or at this seed of the number two seed in the AFC, nobody probably even expected the Drake for him to play this well. Probably people expected Matthew Stafford to play this well. Him and Sean McVeigh they have a great relationship. That system is is perfect for him. And not to take away you know anything away from him, but I think it's more impressive what Drake May has done with less, in my opinion. I mean, Matthew Stafford, I know Devontae Adams missed last the couple weeks, but you got two, you know, potentially top five receivers on your football team with a, you know, with a great play caller and all that good stuff. So yeah, but I mean, like I said, not to take anything away from him, but what Drake has done has been extremely impressive. Definitely wouldn't be anywhere anywhere close to any contention if it won for him. How about first one thousand yard receiver in a Patriots uniform since Julian Edelman. It's been a while, man. How many years has Edelman been retired? Four, five? Yeah, since oof, 2020. 2020? Did he retire after 2020? Yeah. Pretty crazy. Yeah, he definitely played in 2020 because he was he went I remember he went up in Seattle. Yeah, he got hurt. Yeah, then he got hurt. So yeah, I think it was after that. I don't think he played post pandemic. So it's been yeah since 2020. So that's it's a long time for the Patriots to have to have a 1,000 yard receiver. All right so I know Belichick earlier in the season I should say he put it out there not interested in any NFL jobs. What do you think though, James? Do we at least get like, hey, this team's sniffing around Belichick. Maybe Belichick could come back to the I know things did not go great. And he he's already making moves there, right? He already got rid of his offensive core. He brought brought in Bobby Petrino , which is just crazy to me. Thinking about like the controversy he had back in the day at Arkansas. Not to say he's not a great offense or a good offensive mind, but I Falcons, they were interested the first time. They now have an opening again. Just uh they gave Raheem Morris only two years. It's still a very talented roster. I mean, do you think anybody look I don't think he's nearly as appealing as he was a couple of years ago because at that point, like he was still he had just coached at the NF L, like the Jordan Hudson situation. I mean, that's a distraction as we've seen with North Carolina, but do you think anybody like contacts him ? I mean I I I don't think so. Just based off, you know, the year he had at at Carolina this year, they were pretty uh unsuccessful, so I don't I don't think so. Not to say that he doesn't doesn't deserve it because he's you, know, greatest coach all the time and all that stuff. But you know, times have definitely changed on unfortunately. And he doesn't have the the hot hand at the current time. And that's that's what you know, these owners and everybody they're looking for the the next hot thing , next, you know, pretty coordinator or all that stuff. That's that's what they're looking for for their for their next head coach. And Bill's just he's just not that person right now. Not not to say that he couldn't get a head coaching job and turn things around, but yeah, I don't think so. Yeah, the only reason I think it's a possibility is because last year there was like really good candidates, right? Like everybody knew Vrabel was gonna get a job. Ben Johnson had been like in the conversation for like three years and had been waiting for sort of the right job and he finally took it when he took, of course, the Chicago job. I mean, Kellen Moore was considered somebody that people are interested in just because of that. Eagles offense in 2023 wasn't in 2024. They turned it around. They were really good offense that year. So people thought Kellen Moore would have an opportunity. Like, I don't know who the obvious can't maybe Salah. Like, is I Salah will probably get a gig again, I would think, but I don't know. I've heard people mention uh the Chargers defensive coordinator. Mincer as like a possibility, but like I I don't know like the obvious candidates right now. Yeah, uh I'm not sure. I know no B flow is definitely probably one of those guys. He should get another chance, yeah. Yeah, yeah, he he should. I mean it's been it's been amazing to see what he's been able to do with the the defenses in Minnesota, all those crazy blitzes in fronts and all that stuff and confusing quarterbacks. He's definitely the best defensive coordinator in in football in my opinion. So he definitely should get a fair shot to be a head coach once again and I'm sure he'll be extremely s successful in his second time. Um but yeah I don't I don't know who's the top candidate. I mean it should probably be B flow in my opinion, but other than that, I have no idea. So hey, you may you may be right when it comes to that. I mean Bill Bill can potentially sneak in there if there's not a really hot name on the market. Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see what happens here, but yeah, it almost feels like I don't know, uh I heard um on the bosses podcast they mentioned like would anybody call up Signeti or feels like he's gonna pretty good gig though. You can't he can't he can't leave that. I mean that's that's they have a chance to win a national championship. I'm I'm sitting right there. You got Dude, that is that is a crazy story. Like how Indiana is that good at football is it's a s it's really astonishing. It doesn't really make any sense. Yeah, I I don't get either, but they beat us so bad this year. I hope they win the national championship to make me feel better about myself. I I've never been beat like that before so, You like them over Oregon? Yeah. I mean they already already beat Oregon. I'm pretty sure earlier. Hard to beat a team twice, but but yeah, they're they're pretty good football team, well coached. Um, I mean, I said those that coaching staff has been together for some time and they have a system and then it works. I mean, hey, hats off to them. It's gonna be not gonna be easy, but got a real chance to win a national championship. Yeah, Oregon's really tight. I like I like Lanning. He's a good coach. Yeah, he's a good coach too. I like him as well. Yeah, it's a great gig too now in the uh NIL world where you got all that Nike money there. I know uh Indiana's gets some pretty big donors too, obviously. Uh Mark Cuban, I think, went to Indiana. But Yeah, it's all about having somebody to back you. That's what that's really pretty much what it comes down to. I know Kenny Dillingham was like asking the bil if there's any billionaires in Arizona that want to donate. That's pretty funny. All right, James, before we let you go here, uh prediction, Pats, Chargers. You like the Pats in this one? Ooh, you said we're three point favorites. I see us winning twenty-four uh twenty four seventeen. I I I can see that one. Twenty four seventeen Pats. I think it'll be a four quarter football game. Um it's gonna be competitive. Just gotta slow the run game down. I think we'll be we'll be you know pretty good. I think our offense will be able to do what they need to do. Run game's rolling, Drake's rolling . Defense had to attack that that banged up offensive line of the Chargers. Gotta take advantage of it. Yeah. Oh, I know I said last thing, but one other thing um non Falcon Super Bowl because obviously that'd be the answer what's your favorite other playoff game uh twenty eighteen uh AFC championship against the Chiefs that that game that game was crazy. Dude, that was that was an insane game. Yeah. You guys came out and you were just going up and down the field on them. And then all of a sudden the second half, it's like, oh shit. Yeah, it's like, uh oh . Dude, even the f even the OT drive, like, wasn't there three third and tens? Yeah, it was some crazy people making all these one-handed catches and all that. It was freezing too. It was Oh, it was brutal. It'd probably be that one or even my rookie year we played baltimore when we came back from down fourteen twice. That that was pretty oh yeah that's what that was pretty crazy too. That was Nomana Mandola. Yeah double pass. Yep. That was that was a wild one. Yeah, that wasn't I I that wasn't the other the other one was crazy. The uh there was a Ravens game back in the like before you were on the team when I forget the kicker's name at the time, he shanked like a chip shot. It was crazy. And the Patriots ended up going to the Super Bowl. It's one of the ones they lost to the Giants, but he just like sh it was the same week that the guy on the Niners when Harbaugh was there, like he he muffed the punt and the Giants ended up wanting that way. Yeah, it was a crazy AFC NFC championship game, but that's a good one. I should have known that. That Chiefs game was just I like how fired up were people like going into that week that everybody was crowning the Chiefs. Yeah, we we were we we were into it, man. We nobody was giving us a chance to go on the road and win. 'Cause me we we never really had to do that, especially when I was there. All our playoff games were at home for the most part. I mean, I might have been that when in twenty fifteen we played the Broncos. But other than that, pretty sure everything every one of 'em was at home, so it was something different for us. Great challenge and took 'em down, man. That was it was fun. Got caught a couple breaks, but but it worked out. Yeah, they had to change they change the overtime rules because the Chiefs are bitching about it. It is what it is, man. Yeah. All right. That is three times Super Bowl champ, James White. James, thanks so much for the time, man. Appreciate it as always. No problem. Appreciate you. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zetbound Terzepatide may be able to help. Zetbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with obesity, or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off. Zetbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5 , or 15 milligram injection. 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Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-5979 or visit ZeppBound.lily.com . Welcome back into Off the Pike. Great stuff there with James White. Always enjoy talking pats with James. We do have time for a call, so let's do that. The number is 617-396-7172. Hey, Ryan, it's Jack at Salt Lake. Uh another decisive Patriots victory. I know it's the Dolphins, but still the Dolphins put up a fight in that first half. I was getting a little worried and then second half happened and nothing to worry about. Romandre Stevenson, how about him in this game from fumble issue last year and then at the beginning of this year, with the injury, and then all of a sudden he's just like, nah, I'm gonna I'm gonna run for an insane amount of yards today. Uh what do you think we need to worry about going into the postseason? Uh looks like we're probably playing the Chargers . I'm sure that'll be decided by the time podcast airs, but is there an overwhelming concern that we have with this Patriots theme or do you think that they're gonna be solid. Uh really looking forward to next week playoff football in New England. Let's go . Yeah, a couple things there, and we'll bring in producer extraordinary Jamie McClan. I'll start with the do we have to worry about anything in the playoffs? I think it was like clearly this is not, you know, like one of those great Patriots teams, the dynastic teams that we've seen, like going back to although 18 like wasn't wagon during the season, they just found something at the end of the year in terms of the run game, which actually is kind of similar to what we've seen over the past few weeks, despite the competition not being the best. But 16 wagon, I still contend that that's Brady's best season. He lost one game. They were 11-1 during the regular season because he was suspended. He was off. I mean, we all know what he did in the postseason. And then 14 was an incredible team. I mean, you had Rivas on the defense. They prime Gronk, right? So like I'm not comparing it to those type of teams. Clearly they're not on that level. But I do think that the AFC right now, like maybe by the end of this we say, oh, we should have all known that this team was going to come out of the maybe we end up saying that at the end of the playoffs, right? But it's just weird because you don't have, and look, not that he's been in the playoffs since 2022, but you don't have to borrow the Bengals. Lamar, and we're recording this before Lamar versus uh the Steelers, but has it looked like vintage Lamar? The Bills, they still up Josh Allen's still Josh Allen, but it hasn't really been like a vintage Bills team of the past four to five years, where from a talent perspective, they've always looked like one of the better teams in the league. That's kind of caught up with them. So I do think just because this AFC is wide open and clearly you have a home game, there's an opportunity if you win this one. You could have another one, depending on what happens with Denver, right? Like I don't think it's impossible to see Denver with Bo Nicks going down . So I think it's just like things that we've worried about all year. At times, they can be loose in the run game. We saw that early on in the game today. They were able to clean that up later. I think the score helps, especially when you're playing a rookie quarterback, and the run game is sort of taken away and they obviously didn't have a chn in this game. So I think that would be part of it. I I was a little bit concerned with Carlton Davis today because that's I think he's had a good yeah I think he's had a good year but you know those costly penalties that I think he could pick up but, I think he's a solid player. I'm not making this out to be this huge indictment on Carlton Davis. Uh it feels like , and we talked about both issues that from just a pure football perspective, because as we said the other day, these allegations both are very serious, but it feels like based on what the NFL has said that neither one of those guys is going to miss any time in terms of the postseason here, right? And again, like I said , very serious allegations, but just from a football standpoint. So I don't think that's going to be a distraction for this Patriots team when it comes to that. But at times we've seen they've struggled against tight ends, right? Kincaid in one of the Bills g game had a bigame. We saw Fannon and Joku both had touchdowns against them, right? Um we saw at the beginning of the season Bowers, I mean when healthy is probably the best tight end of the NFL. Bowers had a big game. Aughton put up some numbers so that in the middle of the field. That's why I was worried about this Dolphins game slightly at the beginning of the week, just because of A-chan, but they didn't have A-chan. So I think it's the same things that we've talked about for the majority of the season, but I like I and I said this, I can't remember if it was with Joe or Doug this week Bec because we know what Henderson can do from an explosive standpoint and like to what he was just mentioning about Ramondre like dude, he looks like a really good athlete again, which we haven't seen this for a couple of years. So, like, all year we talk about this team not being able to run. And I get you've played some of the worst rushing defenses at the NFL down the stretch of the season, but I do think I can look at that objectively and say, yeah, I understand that's not the best competition, and the Chargers are going to be more competition than the teams you play lately. But I can also look at it and say, well, Trevian Henderson, we know is a home run hitter, and Ramondre Stevenson, like I we did a pot of month ago with Callahan where I was saying, hey, are they gonna fade Ramondre out and give more opportunities to Travion? And now he looks like himself again, which I don't know how this happened, right? Like it's been three years. He was fumbling the ball like crazy at the beginning of the season. He was not effective when he was running the ball. And all of a sudden, like the final touchdown run he had today, it's probably the fastest he's run in like three years. Yeah, nice. That touchdown catch he had was nice, and uh the first big one he had at the beginning. of the game I mean, that's basically a home run he's already hitting too. They're just a really nice complimentary team. And I don't know. That's why I like them, that they can run the ball again. Hopefully they can keep doing that. I'd say I don't know. The only thing that gives me pause, I mean, it's kind of it's kind of the good and the bad of the AFC. It's like the AFC is wide open and thus they have a great shot, but that also means they're part of the reason that they're wide open, right? Because they're a young team. I mean they could just like fumble the ball. Things get out of hand. That could be the game. But I think you mentioned the the Raven Steelers game. I mean, if Aaron Rodgers wins, he obviously won a Super Bowl, but if they don't, I don't not a single uh quarterback or team, their current team, has played in the Super Bowl out of the AFC. So I mean it's like anybody could win, which is really interesting, I think. Yeah. So I think the AFC is like I mean, for lack of a better term, like the quarterbacks you expect to be there aren't there. That's part of it. And I think that crazy though, Brian, not a single quarterback has has played a Super Bowl. It must be like almost unprecedented, at least since the beginning of like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady's reign. Yeah. The other thing too, like Herbert, I know it's only a small sample size and maybe this is how he gets on track. Because remember Peyton Manning struggled at the beginning of his career in the playoffs, but Herbert's been bad in these postseason games. I hope I don't jinx um why would I even say that? Like I'm not jinxing the team by saying something along those lines. But I don't know, man. It's just really cool that we're back in the spot. Yeah. Where a 14 and three, like I get it. One of the easiest schedules of the past 20 years, whatever that number has been floating around. But what are you supposed to do? Not beat up on these teams? I still can't believe like one of the craziest results of the season is they lost to the Raiders in week one. Like I feel like now, like you know how we give out our picks every week. We should just not do week one picks. Like do a week 18, maybe, right? How do you know? Like, cause remember last year the Patriots beat the Bengals, and that's part of the reason the Bengals didn't have an opportunity to make the postseas on last year. So it's just it's just weird. Week one is, right? And I think you could say uh week eighteen too. Like based on who's like I the Bears had something to play for and they lost, but I stink didn't still get the two seed? 'Cause Eagles lost too? I th I think they lost to the commander, so yeah, that sounds right to me. But uh I think Peter Schrager said on Bill Simmons' pod last week, never, you know, don't bet on week one, don't bet on week eighteen. And he's he's right about that apart from the Patriots crushing the Dolphins, but I lost some some serious change yesterday. I lie I missed both games in terms of the Panthers and the Forty Niners losing. But um maybe next year I'll learn that that factory. Well the Raiders thing I was just I can't believe the Raiders game. Looking back No, it's a whole different team. And I mean in terms of the fourteen three I remember praising Chip Kelly's play calling during that game too. And it's like you are he's at Northwestern now. Well that was the thing too, right? The Patriots uh I don't know, struggling on the first drives of the game against teams too. That that kind of persisted even to today with they they didn't get that fourth down call the Dolphins, but um it's just a way different team and it feels like they've just improved. Like I know they're playing the Jets and Dolphins to finish the season, but I mean they just completely smacked them around and they're pretty healthy. Like nice seeing Milt Williams and Will Campbell come back today and play some serious snaps, so that was good to see too. Yeah, and if they have that level of at least just a threat of a run game. It's totally because remember earlier in the season, Drake was having to do everything. Like they couldn't run the ball at all. It's crazy that we went from Ramondre kept putting the ball on the ground, Gibson, who unfortunately, ends up tearing the ACL. He was he got more carries than Trevion Henderson in a game earlier this season. So we thought he was a non-entity. We looked like Ramondre's fumbling and then he wasn't good to the point where it's like, do we now are we looking at a Patriots team that now has two good backs? It's like, yeah, actually actually we are. And they're complimentary too. Like they have a nice uh different style, especially Ray Mondre. Like he's he's breaking tackles again inside the the hash marks, which is nice to see. Yeah. Do you think by the way I I kind of glossed over this earlier when I said it. Do you think the first couple of series McDaniels is putting stuff on film for teams to think about? He had a flea flicker in this game. He had a direct snap to uh Ramond re. Yeah, Wildcat. Yeah, he had those he had a what was it? Williams got a carry. Yeah. Yeah, so I do wonder if he was kind of playing around putting things on film. So I was thinking about that too, where my first reaction was why is he showing right but then you think about like for instance that Raymondre goal line set where he's that quarterback maybe it's because Raymondre's not always gonna run it right up the middle. Maybe there's some play in the playbook where Drake may catches a pass. I don't know. So you might be right about that. Yeah, I was wondering if he was doing that. Yeah, then the flea flicker too, Greg also made a good point where it was like one extra step that Henderson took to like really sell it. You know, he like did a little pause hesitation. I thought that was a really nice play, actually. Like, did you compare that? Did you see that Panthers flea flicker yesterday? One of the worst plays I've ever seen in my life. In the red zone. Have you ever heard of a fleet flicker on the twenty yard line? Dude, I will say this, I was watching that game. Yeah. The officiating was terrible in that game. Yeah, I wasn't I'm not look, the weather was crazy too. I'm not gonna say they were gonna win the game. Yeah if the officiating was better, but they they got a it doesn't matter for them anyway, they got in right. So typical for the NFC Sound, right? Eighty nine classic. It's like dude, you get this crazy game, you get this insane game, it's like ah, everything's on the line, dude. Dude I, don't think Orlovsky knew. People knew when last week was set up. I didn't before you said that. I didn't know before you said that. He kinda trickled out like I feel like Tuesday or Wednesday. People put it together. Yeah, because Orlovsky's like, hey, you win this big game at home, you get in. It's like, no, actually you don't. And hardly a gimme Saints Falcons, right? And I can't believe the Falcons too, right? Like they they miss out on the three-way tiebreaker, like they had a million dumb losses this season. Just crazy to think about, you know, maybe John Parker Romo hits that extra point against the Patriots. You know, they're in the playoffs. Rolowski's not much of a sharer either. You notice that? Like it's like you know Riddick's in the booth too? You know Fowler's in the booth? Like even when the ref would come on, he's like just starts arguing with the ref when it's like, dude, let him finish his point. Like he was compla he was so mad about other calls that he was mad about the call on Tet where it's like, dude, he clearly just smacked him in the head. Like, that was even if you think the other calls are wrong, like that doesn't make that one right. Like, dude, like what what are you talking about? Yeah, that was probably offensive pass interference. But uh I don't know it's I get it's probably his only game right that he's calling Orlovsky, so he's gotta get his money's worth. Dude, when he's like, Oh my god, he overthinks everything during the broadcast. He's like, Be needy, not greedy, Baker. I'm like, oh my gee, we do not need this dude. Just call the game. Just tell us what you see, man. I don't I don't know Brian this I got out of the subject. I probably shouldn't say it, but it was nice having Greg Olson on their broadcast. I I feel like we never get him 'cause first of all he's on the at Fox and second of all Pat riots have sucked so we never got him in the past, but that was nice. He's good, man. He's good. And you know, Brady's been a lot better this year too. Mm-hmm . But yeah. He's handled that situation really well. Like goes on shows of Brady too. It's kind of tough. It's like Did you notice uh Tom Brady's new commercial, at least it was new to me, the pizza commercial. I hadn't seen that one before. Big week for Brady, hanging out and uh hanging out with Leo. Oh yes, hanging out with some other people as well. Yeah, uh I forget her name, but Brax and Barrios is ex. Yes, exactly. She's like an influencer, right? Like a in in IG model or something. Yes, exactly. Yeah. I think still older than Bill's girlfriend, Jordan. Alex Earl, but only barely older. I'm pretty sure she's like twenty-five. She is twenty-five. But in fairness, Brady's a bit younger than Belichick at the same time. And maybe a bit more handsome if I 'm so bold to say that. Yeah. Partying with Leo too, man. Like what a weekend. What a new year's for Brady. He's not playing around. Pizza commercials too. I haven't seen the commercial I just saw that I saw like I I didn't have the volume on because I did see that. It was on the other TV. Does he make a joke about eating pizza? Like it was actually a a better joke and one that I'm surprised has never been made before where they they say pizza hut kind of like a a quarterback snapping the ball which apparently no one's made that joke before so it it got a mild chuckle out of me so that's something. Because remember when it was like he had subway and it's like, well, he doesn't eat bread. I like to think he's relaxed some of his crazier dietary restrictions that allowed him to win a Super Bowl at forty-five, but who knows? Yeah, fair enough. I did hear him recently. He did a podcast with um he was on Shaq's pod . Yeah. And he was saying, which I found this crazy, he said after like three years in the NFL, he didn't need a playbook. He did not need a playbook. No, he said once he once he knows the play and he sees the play, he just has it in his head. He said he had like a photographic memory, which I guess is believable, right? If anyone could in football, it'd be him. And also, you know, I was thinking today they they talked about how McDaniels has six Super Bowl rings with the Patriots because he's been around the entire time and you know they just had a really nice consistency in their offensive scheme, right? Yeah. Like I'm sure they would add things, but Brady's like I just general same . Yeah. Same like principles and whatnot. Like I'm sure like every week, like they're putting in the special plays for games, right? Like I'm not I'm sure they had these, but it's just like, hey, if we think we're gonna get this look, like the NM and Dola double pass, be like, hey, the Ravens are subject to the or like the weekday remember the ravens game where they found the loophole in the of course I remember that yeah great that was one of the best bell check things he's ever done like the running backs were ineligible or something they had to change the rule that was crazy it was like Vareen would spread out why, but he was ineligible and then they'd throw it to like Nate Solder or someone in the middle. Yeah, and Harbaugh was pissed off, and then he told the Colts they they're deflating the balls. Those are good those are good times, man. They were fun at the very least, like dramatic times for the Patriots. I was stressing out about all that in the flight game, but in hindsight, I mean it was just it was so interesting. I was fat, you know, every minute of my life was spent thinking about it, I feel like. We're back, man. We are back. We're gonna get playoffs, but good week, good college games too. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Old Miss. Big win for old miss. I was watching that game, Brian. Congrats. Yeah, I don't know what's gonna happen with this lane situation, man, where it's like, hey, guys may not be able to stay on the staff. It's like how could you how could you resist if you're a assistant coach? You're that close to winning national championship? I think you like have to and be like go to the press, big what do you want me to do? Like leave this team, you're so close. Yeah. My theory on that is so by the way, there was also like a report out there that Lane wanted to be on the broadcast. It's like, dude, no, just on the LSU broadcasts, they don't need you on the old miss broadcast after you left the team. But he also there was uh so what I my theory on this is remember Lane like was acting like he was gonna stay the co like oh I wanted to coach a team. Then it turned out like he was lying about all the players wanting him. Like players started tweeting out, he's like, This is not they're not like that's not true. That's not what we said. But so I think it was a really bad PR situation for Lane. And then Lane lets the assistants go, right? When that was not supposed to happen at first, because remember, he tells the assistants, get on the plane with me, or you're not coming to LSU. So he threatens all the assistants. Like, hey, if you don't come with me now, yeah, you're not coming to LSU. But then he realizes, like, okay, this is really a bad look. Like, I'm leaving the team with nobody besides the guy that they named the head coach. So he says, All right, they can go back . What I think happened is Lane said, Okay, they'll probably win the first game against Tulane. I don't think they'll beat Georgia. Right, by the way. They didn't Georgia when Lane was the coach. I don't think they'll beat Georgia because the portal opens up a few days after that. Right. So I think he just expected that his guys would be back for the portal. And to Lane's credit, like that's one area he's been really good. Like he gets feels like a quarterback every year in the portal, right? Jackson Dart was from the portal. Their Chamblist is from the portal. So I think that he missed he just thought they were gonna lose. So that's why he said they could go back before the portal opened up. And now it's like he's put himself he's twisted himself into another pretzel if he says the guys can't go back. It'd just be a terrible look. Totally. I mean I I get that the LSU job is a prestigious job, but clearly he miscalculated in the sense that like he kept apparently he didn't think he could be win the national championship, right? 'Cause it's like this these opportunities don't come around that often, right? When you have a good shot of actually winning. Yeah, and I get it's like, Oh like Saban basically told him to go to LSU he talked to Pete Carroll and it's like Saban said he should go to the place that he can recruit the best. So that's clearly what he told Lane Kiffin. But my thing is just when you look at it, first of all, the team's in the final four. Like they have a chance. I'm not telling you they're the favorite. They're not, but they have a chance. Like they're in the final four. And maybe Indiana ends up being this like super team, but Oregon's really good, and Miami's got great defensive lines and a great defensive line and a great offensive line. But there's a chance that nobody thought they could be Georgia, and they did that, right? I mean, they I think that was the biggest line of the week. It was like nine and a half or eight and a half at one point. But Sabin wanted LSU a title, of course. Les Miles wanted LSU . Ed Orger on won at LSU . So it's like if he wins a national championship at LSU, like I'm a lot to him, but wouldn't be a lot more special winning at Ole Miss. Right. Yeah. I guess it goes both ways, right? Sometimes you want to be part of that fraternity of a great team, right? Like if you're a Yankees manager, it's not like, oh, they won all these already. It's like, well, you gotta be part of the elites, right? Yeah. True. But all right, man. Enough old missed talk for the night. Well, go past Brian. What a what what an amazing season, though. Yeah. This is an awesome weekend though, because you get Thursday, Friday, the college football games. Mm-hmm. The first games, uh, Ole Misses on Thursday. Um Old Miss Miami and then Oregon Indiana's Friday night. Then we get the playoffs on Saturday and Sunday, Monday. And Monday, right? They really stretched it out. I like that though. I'll be watching. Yeah. All right, Jamie. Good stuff, man. Thank you, Brian. Alright, as always, make sure to get your voicemails in 617-396-7172. Email your thoughts and questions to off the plike at gmail.com. Thanks to Jamie McClellan for producing this podcast, and we'll chat in a couple of days. Must be twenty-one plus in president select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 plus in present in DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 18-00 GAMBLE orR visit rg dash help.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgambling help.org in Maryland. Hope is here.it Vis gambling helplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8 Hope NY or text Hope NY in New York.