The Season with Peter Schrager: NBC’s Election and Playoff Guru Steve Kornacki, Dispatches from a Weekend in Buffalo, MVP Talk

up crowd in western Buffalo. I'm joined today by my producer, Aaron Wong Kaufman, who is doing the show remotely, so it's the first time we haven't been like together in the room. Aaron, what's up, Bud? Not too much. I'm I'm up here in Maine for the holidays, and um, you had you had your ex aparience in the snow with Buffalo, and I spent the weekend shoveling the driveway, so I think I'm tough. I live in New York City. It's cold here. We walked the streets were like all right,

we got the wind in our face. That Buffalo cold hit a different way, and I'm sure that main cold hit a different way. Let me give you a quick recap of the weekend. Everyone saw the game. I'll give you this stuff you might not have seen, and some of the other stuff that I collected during the weekend

while I was up in Buffalo. Start off with a long conversation with Mike McDaniel, the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, and the week leading up I was assigned to the Dolphins uh sidelines, so I had an opportunity to sit with Mike. And I'll tell you what he is as unique a figure in the NFL as you're gonna find. He is so refreshing. He is such a personality. But he's also empathetic, which I think is a weird word to use when we talk about NFL head coaches.

Most of our conversation was about Towah and it was off the record, but sort of on the record. Use it in the game broadcast if you want, but I didn't get it in the beginning broadcast, so the podcast is perfect. Really, what he was saying about to ah Um was that, you know, think about putting yourself in two is shoes, twenty four year old kid. You're not

a robot. You're a human being. You go from being the most celebrated college football player to the serious injury, and then for the first two years of your career being essentially told by everyone and their mother that you're a bust. And then you go and you end up playing really well, and then you're the m v P and then you're the leading vote getter for the Pro Bowl, and then after two bad games, you're a bust again.

And he said that he saw too on the sideline when he's watching the TV copy of their loss to the Chargers, which was the primetime game, and Mike was watching the game back. It was like, I don't like that look into his face. I don't like that look of being defeated. He says a lot of his job with Tah is not just pumping him up and lifting him up and and telling him he's got his back,

but putting himself in two isshoes. So when a mistake happened, saying, Okay, I'm frustrated as a coach because I see this, this and this, But how's to a feeling I I don't hear that often from NFL head coaches. A lot of it's top down and you're seeing some stuff and in New York right now with the Jets and and how Zack Wilson's you know, being handled not by the coaches

but just by the media and everything. And then you see other teams and how it's going with their young quarterbacks, and a lot of it is, you know, what do we do to protect him as far as not making him do too much with toua. I think the McDaniel to a relationship was really interesting. But Aaron, that was just the football stuff. I went for wings twice on Friday.

Should I be embarrassed? No, that's great. I saw I saw a post about you went to Gabriel's Gate, right, Yeah, But there was actually more to the story and landed. I had a meeting with the NFL network guys. The meeting ended and Brandon Bean, who's the GM of the Buffalo Bills, was in downtown Buffalo, which is about twenty miles from where he lives, and he was with his wife, Haley, and they're lovely and he says, Hey, I'm I'm downtown. Why don't you meet me for a drink before your dinner?

And I'm like, all right, a drink before dinner sounds fine. He says, pick up place. I literally walked outside the hotel and there's a place called the Bottom Being. All right, if you're a Sopranos fan, the Bottom Being has a very interesting connotation. The Bottom Bing is obviously the men's gentlemen's club off of Roots seventeen on the Sopranos, where you know Sills working down there, whoever you want to talk about. This was not a gentleman's club. In fact,

it was a very nice sports bar. And we go there and I'm like, all right, I don't know if I needed to drink a beer right now, I'll just have an iced tea. I'll sit, we'll catch up. He's gonna drink a beinger or whatever. And then we ordered twenty wins. We ordered pizza. I indulged, I enjoyed myself. The wings were fine. I'm not gonna say the Botto being wings were great, but they were fine. Then we finished and Jason mccordy lands because he's doing the radio

and we worked together on the morning football. He's doing the radio of the game and he's like, Hey, I'm gonna go meet up with some of the Dolphins players. Guys. I was teammates with last year. Do you want to join me and go meet up with them for dinner? Said? Absolutely? Where are we going? He goes, Let's find one of the Wings places. Turns out this Gabriel's Gate is an old school place from the eighteen hundreds, and it was

less than a mile away from where we were. We go in and this is like your prototypical Buffalo Wings spot. And I'm in my head like I don't need two things away. I already literally less than a half hour ago, I just housed ten wings. I don't need more. Get the menu and it's just a dream come true. Not only did I get ten hot wings with blue cheese and the whole thing, I also ordered a French onion soup because when in Rome, you know, it was cold as it was cold out. I'm telling you now, I

woke up all right. First of all, the review of the Wings were amazing. Everything's great. And the players that joined us, uh Eric Rowe who was injured, Javan Holland star second ear player who's fantastic, and Vernon McKinley, who played really well in this game out of Oregon as well. They weren't indulging in the Wings like I was I was knee deep swinging swimming and at those Guy said meetings, they were just saying hello to mccordy. Um. I loved

the wings. They were good. They lived up to everything. So we post a photo of Jason and I at Gabriel's Gate and the response is warm, it's great, and everyone's like totally into it. And then there was that bar Bill faction, that bar Bill Army. Bar Bill is the place that everyone says you gotta go to. However, bar Bill is twenty five minutes away. So here's my

statement to you, Aaron. If somehow, some way you and I get to Buffalo, whether it be we do a show live on the road for the a f C Championship game, or we're doing a show in the summer and next year and we're taking the season with Peter Scheger on the road, we will do it from bar Bill. We will have ourselves some wings. We will satisfy those. But as of right now, number one in my rankings as far as wings go, is Gabriel's Gate. At number two,

very far off is bottom Bank. I think if we do a live show there, we have to make a pack that we're not eating wings until after the show. I think it's gonna put you in a food coma. It's gonna be tough to do the show. Wait, there's more than my night. There's more, Like can I just keep going here and keep going eating? So we go do the Bills game, epic game. I'm on the sidelines. I'm freezing my butt off. Takes us a while to get back to the hotel. And I had never met

Mark Sanchez before in a professional set. I had I'd interviewed him whatever, and I've seen him at Fox things, but like, I don't know. Sanchez and I hit it off, like this is my guy. We had two days together. He let me a pair of wool socks. It was like the most endearing thing. He's like, do you have wool socks. I'm like no, It's like you should take mine. I'm like, ah, Sanchez was great, loved him. We finished the call the game and everyone's like Chippewa Street, which

is where our hotels, it's on fire. Everyone's fired up and it's open to four am. All right, So I'm like, all right, I'm down for one. We get back to the hotel around one am on Saturday. I've got like a six in flight, so does Mark like, I'm down for one. We go to a place called um Sidelines. Very good. I enjoyed Sidelines, but the owner of great Dude, if you ever been in, if you're in Buffalo and chiple Wall, if you win and go to Sidelines, there's

my promo. But they're like no food allowed or the kitchens closed. IM like, ah, I'm so hungry. It's hungry. Sanchez looks at me and I and it's Sanchez and it's his boy Stephen, and they're like, there's a Dominos down the road, shall we Aaron? Aaron, I'm not one to say no to a good time Dominoes, full pie house it, have a couple of cocktails, get on that plane, show up Sunday morning. I'm like different human being. I feel like I just went to Vegas for three days

with my boys. I feel like I haven't slept in weeks. Soccers on. I'm into it. I'm like, all right, I'm gonna stay awake. I watched the games. I gotta stay up for this Giant's Commanders game. I will tell you this. It is now Tuesday. I still have not really had like a strong sleep. I'm running on fumes, and I am still feeling my Friday night two orders of wings, my French onion soup, the blue cheese, the Saturday night two Am Domino's pizza, And here we are doing the podcast.

Maybe that's too much information, but that was my trip to Buffalo. I loved it. That's amazing. I always get this feeling whenever I leave the city because I'm living in New York City. There's great pizza. I feel really picky about wanting pizza when I leave New York. But but there is nothing. As someone who's been to college, there's nothing quite like the two Am Domino's pizza. Like I don't care if it's Papa John's. I don't care if it's Dominoes. I don't care if it's a little Sea,

don't care. Dude, all indulge. I haven't had Pizza Hut in a while. Pizzaha. I see their ads are all over the Pizza Hut, still doing it. Don't know. I'd like a stuff plus pizza. I still like pizza. You go to Pizza Hut, they have like an arcade and they have like a salad bar in the Pizza Hut. I would indulge. I would have a little salad, feel like I'm being healthy. Then have like a double stuffed crust personal pan pizza and you get like the red

cup filled with coke. Yeah, pizza Hut. If you're listening, you want to be a sponsible here. The last time I was at a pizza hut was in China, and in China, pizza huts are like fancy sit down restaurants. Really, yeah, I haven't been through a Chinese pizza hut. What is that like? I mean, it's like pretty usual pizza dishes. It's not like I mean you're getting like some Chinese beer or something, but like it's um, it's not like you're getting like white tablecloth, Like what are we eating on?

I can't remember. Yeah, I don't remember how fancy it was. It just it felt such like such a bigger deal. Forget bar Bill. The next time you and I are going to China for a episode of the season live show from Pizza Hut. We're just trying to get to the Super Bowl, let alone China. But I'm thinking this show is gonna take off and we're gonna be doing a full tour within the next couple of weeks, and we're gonna end up in China doing pizza hut. Alright,

let's get to four downs, be ready. Alright, first down, the Dolphins. You were there, you were on the sideline with them. Are there such things as moral victories? They lost the game, but do you think is this a win for them? Yeah? Dude, like three straight losses and they're currently like hanging on to the glimmer of hope to make the playoffs. And yet I come out of that game, I'm like, Dolphins are legit. Here was my fear. My fear was the Dolphins weren't going to be able

to play in the cold. Because two has been terrible in the three games he's played under forty degrees. He never played in cold in college. He's from Hawaii. You've got, you know, a lot of different things going against them. And then they go into Buffalo and they just run the snot out of the ball right down the throats of a really good defense from Buffalo. And they were up late in the fourth quarter. And that was in

the conditions. Now, I know, when the snow came, the offense kind of sputtered, and you can say, well, when the conditions actually came, they didn't have it, But I think Miami acquitted themselves. Well. I think they silenced a lot of people, and I think it was important to put that narrative to bed because they're gonna go to the play else. I'm pretty confident that Dolphins will find their way in and when they go, they're gonna be

a road team. And if you look at the playoffs right now in the a f C, the number one seed Buffalo Outdoors talking ten degrees in January. Kansas City is the two seed, Outdoors talking ten degrees in January. Go right down the list, whether it's Cincinnati or Baltimore, whether it's Tennessee, they're going to have to go into

cold weather. Now Jacksonville, if they somehow pull it off and they win the a f C South and the Dolphins end up the four, the five seed, and all right, then Jacksonville, fine, Or if they end up playing the Chargers in a divisional round game, fine, Like that's to me, They're going somewhere in the cold. And I had to see it to believe it that they could actually hang and they did. And I appreciate McDaniel. I gave you

my host bill on him. Mike and I talked for a while about the T shirt he wore last week where he said I wish it were colder. They actually I got my hands on one. I showed it on the broadcast, the whole thing. They didn't They didn't shy away from it. A lot of coaches would have been like, that's not a storyline. Stop warm. He leaned into it, and mcdan know made this point, and it's my last point on Mike McDaniel. But I talked to him for a while, so I figured, if you're listening, you want

to hear. It's coaching the league fifteen years. He's coached one season with the Cleveland Browns. Okay, one season with the Cleveland Browns. The other seasons were spent in Houston, Atlanta, San Francisco, and Washington, d C. Mike's point to me was, for fourteen of the fifteen years that I've been coaching, my teams have heard you're the warm weather team going to the cold weather city. How are you gonna win?

How are you gonna win? He's like, we want a lot of games in Atlanta, we want a lot of games. You're like, you know, we want a lot of games with Washington when we had to a lot of games with Houston we had to go, and of course San Francisco last year. He said, the day before the NFC Championship game, it was like eighty degrees and sunny with no elements, and they went to Green Bay the next day and you saw what happened when they went into

Green Bay. So I don't think he believes in that narrative. Uh. You know, the people in Buffalo, they have heaters in their homes. They choose to use those heaters, just like the Dolphins show to use the heaters on their sidelines. That the whole thing was a little bit overblown, and I think the Dolphins they lost, but they silenced a lot of critics and people doubting whether that team can travel. Yeah, I agree. I was terrified watching Rahee Moster in the

first half there, that was how good is Moster? And then they stopped and they stop going to him. But then Savon Ahma was was Yeah, he was getting like seven and a half yards per carry. All right, second down? What can you tell me about this Patriots loss? Like this is the highlight? I feel like this stole world cut low light or highlight? Yeah, Rock Collins shout on defense,

He's all the way back. Stevenson flips it pack Stanford pan nowhere in Shy it's picked off Oh no, Livable Wow, and Chronicle tafor Jones, tench it in and wins the game for the Raiders. Have you ever seen it? And never a thing like that? I have no idea why he was doing that. Oh my goodness. I think it opens up a lot of doors two questions. I think, you know, in a in a small microcosm, it's like, hey, I mean they lost the game, and that's that's what happens.

It's a freak play. We're gonna talk about it for years. It's it's Leon Lead, It's Jim Marshall and Jacobe Myers and Rondre What are you thinking? I also think it opens up quite a few conversations about what the hell is going on in New England, Like, that's not a Belichick coach team. That's not something that happens when you've got Bill Belichick, the greatest situational football coach in the history of the sport, the greatest disciplinarian in the history

of the sport. That you expect them to lose because the talent might not be on the field. You expect them to lose, because who knows, it's a road game in Las Vegas. You don't expect them to give up a thirteen point lead with forty seconds, and you certainly don't expect mental mistakes to be the ones that killed them. A point that was made to me by someone from a different team, was that Jacobe Meyers lateral or throwback? Whathever? Was that happens right on the Patriots sideline? Like, how

is no one yelling go down, go down? Like that? That's not like that was in the middle of the field. It's not like it was on the Raiders sideline. Like even that situation was peculiar. And it opens up the door, like, what are we doing with the Patriots? I don't think they're going to the playoffs? Belichick seventy, Robbert crafts eight, Like is this the team they're rolling out next year? I don't know what the future is for everyone. Mac Jones is he the quarterback? It's great free agents left?

Tom Brady is a free agent. Bill Simmons went into this in depth with me a couple of weeks ago, Like, Brady's miserable with this Bucks team. Are we sure he's retiring. On this note, the Patriots seem as like, is there no way that Brady comes back one more year for the Patriots. That's the stuff that happens when you lose games like that. You have those conversations. Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be a free agent? Do you not bring Jimmy in if your Belichick and say all right, what

are you firing the coaches Patricia and Judge? Are you firing Belichick? No? But are you talking to Belichick and saying like, where are we going with this thing? Maybe? I just know this that I broke with chas H mccordy every day it was the Patriot for three years. His brother has been one of the all time great Patriots. Robert Kraft is in it. He's in the team meetings, he's in it. He travels with the team. He loves this stuff. Robert Kraft has to be seething right now.

And it's not just like, oh, Robert Kraft is sad that his team isn't competitive in these games. No, Robert Kraft wants to be a championship contender every single year. And I wonder if there's some hard questions that they asked this offseason, and it was only brought to light even more with that freakish play. I might be all she wrote for the Patriots, and I don't know what that means long term, but I think it's gonna an interesting off season in New England. Alright, third down, what's

the Jalen Hurts injurym mean for his m VP chances? Yeah? Good question. So I put this on Twitter on Monday night. I said, if Jalen Hurts misses a couple of games, does that mean he misses out on being the m v P. And I said that he should have a chance to be the m v P. He's been the m v P h to get them the thirteen and one. He's been the best player. He's been the guy wired to wire, and he's elevated his games so much. I

think he's really valuable. And I would say the responses were like boo hoo hoo, like this is what it is. You got to be on the field, and if you're getting hurt in December, I'm sorry, Like it doesn't matter. The votes come in at the end of the regular season, and the numbers really do show that Mahomes has had the statistical season that is far superior to Jalen Hurts. And I think the Mahomes army is making a case.

It reminds me, Aaron of my childhood watching the NBA in the nineties and Michael Jordans and three was the best player in basketball, but Charles Barkley won the award, and and in ninety seven it went to Karl Malone. You know, like the voters, they might be bored by Mahomes. But at the end of the day, is Mahomes not the most valuable player in the league? Is he not the best player in the league what he's doing on

a week tweek basis. He saved them in that Houston game with some you know, miracle, but he saved them in the Denver game when the defense gave up twenty seven straight points or whatever it was. Mahomes was there down the stretch when they needed a most Mahomes numbers. He might end up breaking the single season passing record, like it's probably the Homes Award now. And I think if Jalen Hurts had been able to finish the whole season and go wire to wire, it was probably his award.

That's the cruel truth. To it. Um, what are your thoughts? Do you hold it against him? I just think it's how the voters vote, you know. I so I have a tough time because sort of along the Michael Jordan's lines, like it's tough to see the same person win MVP over and over and over again. I mean, even if he's right, but he's still been I mean everyone he's the guy. Yeah, um, I think you know. Andy Reid had that thing. He came out in the press conference

this weekend. He was like, if Mahomes isn't the m v P, I don't know what he's doing wrong. And of course, like every coach is going to fight for their players, but yeah, I don't know. I mean, all right, let me let me put these out here for you. Let me you're the voter right now. Now Here's that works for years, as long as there ever was the AP voting. There's fifty voters and they all can only pick one guy, and the winner of that most votes

is the m v P, and that's that it's non disputed. Whatever. This year they changed it. They did a different thing where they're going to be doing it, where you rank your top few m v ps and your first place vote is waited deffinitely than your second place vote data in your third day vote, and then they put those tabulations together and that's how the m v P is voted.

Let me ask you, if you're a voter and you have to rank, you're top four right now, knowing that Jalen Hurts might miss a couple of weeks, who who do you put in your belt? And then I'll do mine? Okay, I think unfortunately, I think Mahomes is first. I think it hurts the second. Um. You know, I don't want to be too much of a Homer, but I'm gonna have Alan third. You're not Josh Allen's amazing. Yeah, I

just know it's it's tough to say that. Um. Fourth, Um, I'm gonna say Russell Wilson just so that he can finally get a vote. No, not seriously, but Russell Wilson not getting a vote for them if he was like Ryan Fitzpatrick went to Harvard, Like, yes, we understand, stop mentioning it every time. Um, I'll fill it in. Your fourth, I would say, without your the listen for you probably go either justin Jefferson or Burrow? Right would Burrow? Yeah, Yeah, mine would go like this, I really want to put

firm Hurts. I think it sucks that he got hurt, but like I understand it, I'd go one Mahomes two, I'd go, Okay, how about this, the winner of the Monday night game between Cincinnati and Buffalo in week seventeen is my number two? Vote get her? So that's Alan or Burrow two, three the other other and then I guess Hurts is four. So those are my four guys that are in there, all quarterbacks. I know it sounds like it's a quarterback award, but those are the four

I would go with. Uh And I'm curious with the listeners think as of right now going into week sixteen, Mahomes Hurts with an asterik Alan and of course Joe Burrow, who is suddenly red hot and is getting himself in the conversation. Alright, fourth down? Who do you want to shout out this week? Two years old turned twenty two five days ago and might have had the best single game performance by a New York Giant in a big game in the last five years. Cavon Thibodeaux is my

shout out. I got to know this guy just a little bit in the pre draft process. But what I really got to know was what other people were saying about him and the Giants, And we had Joe Shane on earlier in the season on this podcast. The Giants really liked what they saw. They were like, he's authentic. He says things, but he backs him up and he actually means them, and he's a good kid, and he's a smart kid. And I think he had the quote of the year and he's like prime Time, I don't

look for prime time, prime Time finds me. Whatever he said after that game. Thibodeau was amazing on Sunday night. Amazing in a game where we're like, oh, Daniel Jones and Sakwan Barkley have to step up. They did, but it was Thibodeaux who stole the show. And for the New York Giants to have a defensive player play like that in a Sunday night game in the NFC East, I couldn't be more jazz for this market, for that team, for that franchise, and for that kid just twenty two

years old. I thought he was the best rookie on the field this weekend, and he makes the game saving tackle on third on second and goal but also makes the game saving you know, strip touchdown, all whole thing. Thibodeau is a freak. We've been waiting for him. He's been showing flashes and it's been boiling up to this point. They've got three games left. They need him to play

that way for those final three weeks. And I'll tell you what New York New York football between Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner and Bam Knight, the rookies that these that this market has right now, and now you add Cavon Thibodeau to that, just an unbelievable performance. Who do you give your who do you give your fourth down to?

Before we go to that? I just want to I was looking at some cavan stuff too, And according to New York Post, before the game, usually for the Giants, Xavier McKinney pulls everyone together and they just like have a game little huddle because he was injured. Thibodeau did it, and yeah, Kwan was like, it's amazing the leadership. This guy is showing like sixteen game fifteen games in his career. Um, so yeah, I'd love to seeing that. And he was

amazing to watch. The Giants were struggling on offense, and he kickstarted him. And despite being a defensive player, Um, so I'm gonna go from my fourth down, I'm gonna go with Jerick McKinnon, who you know, I remember watching him in Minnesota. He was always split in time with met Aciota, and Aciota would get all the touchdown Yeah. And then then he goes Remember his free agent signing, it was such a big broke it. Yeah, Shanahan was so excited. It was Jets or Niners, and he chose

the Niners over the Jets. And it was like a bidding war at the end. Yeah. And and there was so much like optimism for what he could do in the Shanahan system. And he gets injured, and then he comes back and he gets injured, and and it just seemed like his career was kind of petering out. He signs with the Chiefs, and you know, this year cech started for them, and he was catching all these touchdown passes. He was like a red zone weapon for them, and

then he faded out. Pacheco comes in and then this game, Pacheco fumbles in the second. He's like out of the game for a long time, and McKinnon just like he's he. He He had the game winning touchdown and over time he had seventy receiving yards. He had another reception receiving touchdown, he got the two point conversion like he and he was big against the Broncos too, with two touchdowns. He's amazing. So it's so good to say. I'll tell you this.

Last year in the NFC Championship game, they were riding McKinnon against the Bengals and they were sitting pretty and then he didn't touch the ball in the second half for whatever reason. They went away from that and Mahomes struggled and and defensive coordinator lowed and Rumot had all these tricks up their sleeve to confirm McKinnon almost was that guy last year for the Chiefs. That foresee him come back and then do it this year. I couldn't. I couldn't refer a guy more. I give you a

personal story. I was in Vegas with my friends one time, no joke, and Jet McKinnon and Matt Brita, who are college teammates, were there together and I didn't recognize him, had anything, And McKinnon's like, Yo, Shriggs, what's up? And like we were in the club together, and I was like, coolest moment. I'm like, I went to the club with Jett McKinnon. He was the man. I think he was drinking water that night, so I have new respect for him. Pretty good guy. Um. But yeah, let's see how it

goes down the stretch and I love that pick. That's great. Are you ready to bring our new guests in? Yeah, I'm excited and should I should I set it up a little bit. This guest has I think I want to tell him this and I'll say it as much when we bring him on. But like, there's been a couple innovations in an NFL TV that's been really cool. I think that the first down marker being yellow was a cool one. The scoreboard being on the game. I thought when they brought in Mike Pereira for the first time,

that was cool. And then there was this guy's addition to the NBC studio show. Our guest is the man in the khakis. We're bringing on Steve Cornaki after this and now it's time for our guest. I'm so excited to have him on the podcast. As I mentioned going into the commercial break, there have been some great innovations in Sports TV in recent years. I love the first down marker. I love the fact that we can now see the scoreboard. I think the addition on Mike Pereira,

I like Mike Dupp. I think when you have the players audio on the field, that's cool. But there may be no more enjoyable thing that I see on a Sunday night at around seven thirty o'clock seven thirty eight o'clock Eastern and December and January when I see this gentleman in khaki pants show up on my television with a giant screen and he's breaking down the playoffs scenarios with no further ado. One of my favorite guys to see on television during playoff time, Mr Steve KORNACKI, Steve,

what's up man? What a what a welcome? She's the compared me to the first town marker. I love you know. It's it's cool because I've been watching you for years on on MSNBC NBC, and I know politics, uh was where you got your start. But I got to imagine a lot of football fans they look at you as the playoff guy and not as the election. You know,

let's go into the Gerryman during situation here in Nebraska. Um, how have football fans kind of come to you in the last couple of years since you have been in the playoffs on NBC on that big screen TV. Yeah, no, I mean it's been it's been just a really fun experience for me, A great experience. Kind of. I think it came out of the election. Um, you know, I got a call from NBC Sports. Obviously the election ended right as the playoff race was kind of heating up.

You know, it's that time of year when you get close to Thanksgiving or so, and really just kind of kind of thought it was a natural fit the you know, believe it or not, just when you look at the election, you know, presidential election. You know, I spent months leading up to election night doing the road the two hundred seventy electoral votes. You know, if this candidate wins this state, if this candidate wins that state, what are the different scenarios,

what's the probability of all that? And it really there's a lot of overlap there with the with the NFL playoff chase. You know, hey, look, if the Jags win this game, if the Titans lose that game, what's it gonna do to the odds. What's it gonna do to the uh, you know, to the big picture. So you know, we really thought there was kind of an overlap. There got a chance to start doing it in this is the third year, and yeah, it's one of those It's just look, I'm a fan myself. You I love the UH.

I love the playoff chase I always have. So you get to actually kind of cover it is. It's just a really cool experience. I think you're great at it and you give it um this almost analytical, data driven angle to it with without the editorial that you put in there. You don't usually kind of weighing on your thoughts on what you think is gonna happen. You're like, just hear the numbers and hear how it goes, um. But you weren't always just data driven, you know, five

thirty eight like that kind of stuff. You you you've had a really rich journalism career and I go through it with with different publications. When did you start leaning into the numbers and when did you become that guy on the political side, and then how did you translate that over to the sports side. Yeah, it's funny. I mean I started I covered New Jersey politics. I think you're from Jersey originally, so you can probably you can appreciate what a rich what a rich could go back

to Christine Whitman. Let's go oh Man, Okay, yeah, Whitman. I got there is McGreevey was coming in, Bob Torres. So we're gonna go a separate podcast. But uh, Jersey was a great place to learn in the cover politics. And I tell people still to this day, the best stories I have, you know are like just covering the beat. What were you doing? No, I lived in I started in Woodbridge because it was centrally located, ended up in Hoboken. And the fun part of doing it then for me

was I didn't just cover the state House. I covered you know, Jersey has these these big strong regional county political organizations, Hudson County, Bergen County, yes, the Irish, Yeah, I mean, and that's where that's where the stories came from. So uh, I got to cover that. Spent a lot of time in Hackensack, you know, I spent a lot of time in New York and Jersey City, and and that's where I got the best stories from. But I

loved I did three years of doing that. Then I covered Congress you know for a little while, and and came back up this way and I actually it's it's I. I did some sports stuff. Um. I was writing for the New York Observative. This goes back about ten years ago. The Wall Street Journal had launched a sports section, um, and they had a thing called the Count and they were trying to kind of combine number sports and so I was a contributor to that for a little while.

So that's how I kind of got got started a little bit with that crossover of you know, politics and sports. Uh. Then ended up you know, doing the TV stuff and election nights and here we are. Yeah, and when you prepare for that election night and you're doing the numbers at the board, obviously John King's on CNN, You're on MSNBC. Uh, who the Brett Bear. I don't know who's doing it

for Fox News. But it's like this has now become a job, like just like NFL Insiders, a job just like you know, this is the cooking segment on the show. Like you are the guy at that full screen and you have to manage not only the numbers but also be the technical guy. To know where to go and where to swipe. How much work are you putting in into just the technical part of knowing how all those things work and then also trying to balance that with

the actual data and information you want to provide. The prep is is I I think the almost is a full time job in a lot of ways, and it's learning the counties, it's learning the geography, it's learning the history of each county to be able to say something meaningful on the fly if a count it comes into into play. Um. The other thing that's become a huge part of this in the last couple of years is,

you know, voting is more complicated than ever. People vote by mail, People vote two weeks early at an early voting site. People vote on election day at a at a polling place, and those depending on what which way people vote is are very different. You know that the people who vote an election day it's pretty strongly Republican.

The people who vote by mail it's overwhelmingly democratic. And so one of the things that I do is I spend months calling county level election officials across the country

and asking them, what is your sequence on election? What is the sequence that specific because it's meaningful because if we're standing there, you know this, George, we just had a Georgia Senate run off, and if we get a big batch of votes from a big county fifteen minutes, you know, after polls closed, you need to know what you're looking at, you know, if you're if if it's mail ballots, it could mean one thing. If it's early votes, it could mean something else. If it's same day votes,

it could mean a third thing. And to be able to interpret it, you need to know what it is. And it's very as the votes come into our system, it can be very unclear. So a lot of this is just calling up county election officials asking them to take you through what their plan is. Um. A lot of them are really good about it, you know about talking about it. And one thing I've learned too is that old Mike Tyson line. Everyone's got up to a

lot of times. A lot of times they got a good plan for what they're gonna do, but it doesn't work out, and you've got to be so good on the fly. And I respected so much. TV though, is a visual medium and it's not just the information. You also have a look and you have a style and a swagger and there's cornaki is a thing. And I remember,

you know, after the election, they showed your tie. Maybe you put it on Instagram or something, and it was put together by Staples because you have been ripping it off so many times, like Christ like Chris Farley, like in a van down the river. You're just You're in it, man, You're totally in it. Your look I think I feel like that's just authentically you, which I love that they didn't try to try to change that when when you

got on air. The problem with a tie was I don't know, I still don't learn how to tie a time, right, So that was the only Yeah, this was twice was pandemic. There aren't a lot of folks around, so I know people who know how to tie ties. That's how I've kind of got behind this world. And uh, you know, I I usually have a few kind of just on the shelf, and I could put one on and finish

the knot. But it was the only one that was tied, and there was no one else around to do it, so I, you know, the thing was coming apart of the seems literally stapled it together to get through the election week. Now I got a second one, but once again I had to have somebody else do the through the dirty work for me. Did it blow you away? Though?

Like Halloween people went to Steve cornecky like, and it's like the look of like the khakis and the tie, Like, did you ever think in a million years that you'd be this, you know, not only an important influential figure in journals and be like a cultural icon in a lot of ways. It's not. No, I still don't know what to make of it. It's you know, baffling. I mean, and I didn't even the whole khaki thing, I mean, honest to God, like I I didn't set out to

make that, you know, a thing. Again, I think it was kind of like a pandemic thing. I was. There wasn't a lot of adult supervision here Rock, and I was just I had him on during the day and then I look at my clock and it's like five time to go to the studio for election night. So I just tucked my shirt and put the tie on and and go out there. And then the next day, I think sometime that week, my producers asking me, He's like, what kind of pants are those? And I'm like why

why are you asking me? People were interested? I don't lasting honestly, So the last thing I ever ever would have expected. I love it. Um all right, let's go to the football side of it. So every Sunday night you get there. What time are you rolling in to the Stanford studios to get to that that fall that big screen what do you call that? The full screen monitor? What time? Yeah, it's the same technology we use here,

you know, big board. Um, there's a little different. There's a little they got they got a wooden frame around. There's a little classier, I think, But uh no, it's cool. I get there, you know, a little bit before to one o'clock games. Um, and you get to just watch, you know, they got him all on the screen, you know, in front of the room. Um. And it's one of

those last couple of years. And I'm just kind of pinching myself because I'm sitting and I'm like, I'm I'm watching the games, but really I'm like I'm watching again, which is just you know or you know now Jason Garrett or you know, uh and seeing their their real time reactions, you know, two different things. Um. Is it's really cool. It's just it's a it's a you know, you're watching the Hall of Fame a reacting real time

to these games. And if you've ever sat there just watching at home, wondering what they're thinking, now you're actually seeing it. So that's that's been a really cool experience. You have out like pad and paper, you've got a statistician with you because in real time, those things change. And then hey, by the way, we're going live in about twenty minutes, Steve, what's the latest of four o'clock games? Just ended? Like how is that all worked during the day?

Because I think you're so good in such real time and it's almost like the n c A tournament reveal when you're like, here're the latest playoff standings and here's what your team needs to happen to get in. Yeah, it's so we've we've got a great partnership with PFF, you know, as a data provider, so they've been they're

in touch with us, you know throughout the day. You know, got a producer, John for Along, who I work with, and um, yeah, you know you kind of know going into the day what the big possible playoff implications stories

could be. But then you know some of them fizzle out, you know, based on you know, how the games go, and then some of them really kind of come into focus during the day, and then we get a big update, you know, I think you know, usually it's about five o'clock, I say, after the one o'clock games are done, we get a big update about where things stand now and kind of what the contingencies are for the four o'clock games. Because you know, the way Football Night America works, we

go on seven. Usually there's still a couple of games still playing out right, so we know there's like this Sunday was a great example is past Sunday. You know that a f C wild Card picture. So much hangs on that Patriots Titans, right, and I mean, at one point we're standing there in the middle of the seven o'clock hour and they're both going overtime. What are we

gonna do for this hit? And then suddenly they both end in regulation one in the most crazy and and personally, as a Massachusetts native, pain By I've ever seen, but it just changes and shakes up the numbers in a huge way. Um, Okay, we're week sixteen right now. You did the show on Sunday. We just had a Monday night football game. Would you mind, you know, indulging us a little bit. Can we go and we go through some of these teams and just kind of help with

the listeners. All right, let's start with one of our favorite teams um on this podcast, one that we talked about all the time and we've had so much commentary on at the Detroit Lions. They have now won what looks to be seven of eight games. No team has gone to the playoffs, are starting one in six since nineteen nine. And yet here they are on the doorstep. They're not currently in there in what we call in the world of football quote in the hunt, but they're

right there. They've got three games left. Go through the Lions scenario, what they need and what the percentages are. Yeah, we got him at so still not even not even wow, Okay, no, but it's not I mean, it's nobody. Basically, if you go, it's a fight essentially for the last two wild card spots in the Cowboys and then you got the two more right Cowboys more or less, you know, you let's stipulate that the Cowboys, you know, are are there at five, so six right now would be the Giants the Giants

are in great shape, you know, just statistically. So then you go down to Washington and Washington is also under there in the seventh spot right now, but they're under fift. Then you go to the Seahawks there in the eighth spot, same record as Detroit, but they beat them head to head, so they have the eight spot because of that. But the Seahawks percentage of getting into the playoffs is actually I think we have met twenty nine. I think there are ten points less than Detroit because the trend is

so unfavorable. The schedule is so unfavorable for Seattle. You know, they gotta go to play at Kansas City this week, So you look at it from Detroit standpoint, essentially a right now at seven and seven, I think the schedule is you know, look Carolina Chicago at green Bay. Um, it would have helped him. I think last night off green Bay had lost, because then green Bay would definitely have nothing to play for in that last game. It's possible, not that likely, but it's possible green Bay is gonna

have something on the line in that last game. But those are three very winnable games for Detroit on paper. So kind of the way I look at it is the Giants have the best chance of getting one of those last two spots. And I think the Giants have a gift here in the schedule because they get Philly

in the last week and Philly is probably not gonna happening. Yeah, and if if Philly wants to rest starters, and it looks especially likely with the jail and hurt situation, and then you get the Colts before that the Giants, if if you really then say, okay, Giants more likely than that are going to hang on. Let's say that's six.

It's about Washington, Washington, Seattle, and and Detroit. And if Detroit just wins the last three, all they need to have happened is both Washington and Seattle lose one, and you can it's in the past. It could be this weekend. To actually be this weekend when you look at it like it could happen because Detroit plays Carolina this weekend, totally winnable, right. Seattle goes to Kansas City, huge upset if Seattle actually wins that game. So Seattle could be

seven and eight coming out of this weekend. Detroit could be eight and seven coming out of this weekend, and Washington goes and plays. The Niners could obviously lose that. They could be seven seven and one, so right away this weekend, Detroit could pass both of them, and then all they'd have to do is win out. All right? Love that? All right, We've got a huge game, and we're recording this on a Tuesday, the podcast to go

live on Tuesday night. Huge game Thursday. I laughed, because you and I are in sports, are in sports media. You're in a different sort of media as well when you talk to politics. But when Jeff Bezos pays three billion dollars to the NFL to get a Thursday night package and they tell you you've got Jets Jaguars in week sixteen, I can only imagine he and his lieutenants are like, well, that's an interesting decision, NFL, thank you

very much for that. And then here we are Jets Jaguars Thursday Night with potentially a playoff spot on the line. Can you go through the Jets and Jaguars a little bit? This might be spoiling the weekend listeners because they will already know the outcome, but going into the game, how important is this one? And really, Jacksonville, their story is amazing. The craziest thing about Jacksonville right now is they're sitting at six and eight and they control essentially they control

the a f C South. If the Jags go three and oh, that's going to include a win the last week of the year against Tennessee. And they so right and and I mean Tennessee also at seven and seven, controls the division. If they went out, that would include a win over the Jags. Jacks couldn't catch them, but I mean Jacksonville. It's huge for Jacksonville because I think essentially they need to get into that last week within

one game of Tennessee. If they're within one game at Tennessee going into that last week, then all they gotta do is beat Tennessee. They tie him in the standings, they have the head to head be two and oh, head to head, they'd get the division. And yeah, Tennessee is playing Houston this week, so you know, if Tennessee wins that, and I look the way Tennessee has been right been playing, that's no you know, we I think our model has a seventent likelihood Tennessee wins the game.

Say Tennessee wins the game, huge opportunity for the Jags here because you know, the underdogs against the Jets. But if they win the game, then they Houston the next week, you know, so they it would put them in a situation where they could win this one where I think it really makes it likely that that last I believe in momentum, Like, the Titans have lost four straight and I know the numbers might say, well, here are the odds all that I don't know, Malik Willis might be going.

And they've lost four in a row and they've fired their general manager and they've had issues all season long. Like to me, that's that's the stuff that the numbers maybe don't account for. And to me, it's like Jacksonville's just rolling, you know, and Jackson's was rolling that the one.

The one thing I say though, is as think about Sunday night, you know, Washington came in six one and one, New York came in winless in the last four and then the Giants going, I know, they got a little help their potentially Washington's coming off by the arrested, and they still couldn't find it. But yeah, and then for the Jets to it's look, the Jets, I think we haven't met about twenty because going into the weekend they were in it. Yeah man, yeah, huge, huge missed opportunity

for the Jets, huge missed opportunity for the Pats. Pats would have been over fifty well over to make the playoffs if they hadn't blown that game. The one thing the Jets have going for them, at least potentially, is they get Miami last week of the year. So it might not be playing for anything, yeah, or it could be. It could potentially be a playoff spot on the line. You know, if the Jets can be so I sar Jets,

you know, if they can win this one there. I think they're trying to put themselves in the position there where that Miami game matters last week and there's a chance to potentially they need some help, but it's a chance to potentially leap frog Miami and get in. Okay,

So these are the realistic options. But some of my favorite stuff is when you get the well, if this happens and that happens, and you get the Russell Crow beautiful mind graphic up and then you got the guy from always Sunny in Philadelphia connecting all the dots, then you've got the true detective image, and it's this long shot can make it. To give us your greatest long shot scenario for a team that no one expects to actually make it that still could here it is the

most remote playoff possibility. The odds of this happening are zero point to percent. Okay, so this is this is the Indianapolis Colts. They are not out of it yet. They are out of the wilder. It's not. The wild card is out of the question for them, but the a f C South isn't. And here's what the Colts would need to have happened to win the FFC South and get in. They would need to win out obviously, and that would put them at seven nine and one. Then they would need Tennessee to lose all three of

their remaining games, that's Houston, Dallas, Jacksonville. If that happens, Tennessee is seven and ten, Indianapolis is ahead of them. Then they would also need Jacksonville to lose to both the Jets and to Houston and then Tennessee the last week, and the Jags would land at seven and ten and then at seven nine and one the court. So they just gave up the biggest head in NFL history. This would be the biggest playoff come back history to get in.

That's amazing. They have the biggest playoff, they have the biggest regular season collapse, and the greatest playoff come back. That would be a fantastic sticking. All right, let me wrap this with just a couple of rapid fire questions. You have this incredible journalism career. I always start off with advice. What would be your one piece of advice that I gets an elevator, Gal gets an elevator and looks at you and says, Wow, you're doing what I've

always wanted to do. What would be your advice to a young journalist trying to break into either politics or even sports media at this point? Yeah, I think, if it's early in your career or whatever, just don't be afraid to to take a chance and don't be afraid to kind of go off the beaten established path. Because I was telling you the start of this, the experience I had in Jersey was just such a great one

for so many different reasons for me. And it wasn't you know if I was grad when I was graduating college, you know, if I wanted to start in political journalism, or I mean that the move would have been go down to d C. There's a you know, a million ways to try to get in down there. And I found kind of a unique job covering state politics in New Jersey and I learned a lot about journalism. I learned a lot about politics. It's a cliche. I learned a lot about life. Like I said, I just had

so many great experiences there. UM learned to just I love the state, I love the people, and that I love the culture, and it's just a it's a huge, huge part of my life. I still talk about it a lot and get me going on Jersey. I'll go all day so um, and you know, it all ended up working out two from a career perspective, So you know, don't be afraid, I think to kind of take a chance and go off the beaten path, because that's where some of the some of the fun in life might be.

I love that. I always talk on this podcast about the broadcasters I grew up looking to at someday emulate, but also the sports writers and how important Peter King or a Bill Simmons or Gary Smith was to me. Who was the political writer or pundit on television that when you were in high school, college and right out of school you were looking to and saying, Okay, that's someone that I really aspire to someday even emult Yeah,

you know, honestly, it was election nights. I mean a huge memorable election night for me and for you know, tens of millions of people was the two thousand election. And you know, I really think that's one that kind of was a pivot point where you know, we had a lot of blowout elections before two thousand, were a job like mine wouldn't have made much sense because by eight oh five pm we'd know who to winn oorl.

But we we live in an air now of close elections and election that go on sometimes for days, and that was really kind of the first one. And the guy I I just I watched, you know, all night and for for the next forty days was Tim Russer. And I just think Tim Russer had a great ability to communicate what was going He had a lot less technology. I mean the famous thing with Tim Russer and election, Yeah, the grease board because at the Smithsonian or it's at

one of those big museums. Um, but just taking you through what was going on, what the paths were. I think he had a great way of communicating. I think he had a great kind of way about himself on the air. I think he's somebody people just you know, I know this is working at NBC. I know this is true. Off the air. I've met so many people. I didn't know him personally, but I've met so many people who did, and they just they talked about what

a great person he was off the air. But I think that came through on the air, you know, And and I think it's just you know, um, the audience wanted to kind of spend time with him, and I know I kind of felt that way as a viewer, So I think it was Russer definitely. It's special and I'll never forget, you know, when we learned that his passing, like the response that me just as a viewer had just completely just like I cannonball to the gut like

that that's a huge loss. And you know, he felt like a guy you'd have a beer with, because I think authentically he was a guy you'd have a beer with. He was a Buffalo Bills fan and like that was

just who and like that's really endearing. I think you have a lot of those same qualities where you see you on television, and this is you know, I think the greatest compliment to a broadcaster to another one is I'm like, I feel like you're authentically yourself and you are who you are, and I love that you lean into that and you get as excited and as fired up by the election results as you do about the NFL playoffs scenarios. And I think it's a viewer we

really appreciate it. No, thanks, it is. I hope that comes through because I'm a fan. You know. It's like I I do. I care about the election results. I care about you know, getting it right. I care about the NFL playoff Chase, Like you know, I'm a I'm a fan myself. Like I said, I'm a Yeah, I grew up a Patch fan. I try to keep that quiet around New York, but you know, I I got an interest in this too, So I hope that comes

through all right. And the last two are a little sillier, but I think you'll enjoy our early episode here, one of the one of the most um i'd say recognizable, but also daily viewers and passionate yours to my morning show NFL network, Good Morning Football is the actor Paul Rudd, and Paul Rudd is a huge Chiefs fan and he will text me throughout Good Morning Football. Why are you not talking about my homes right now? Why are you busy?

With Josh Allen? And he loves the show. We had him on our podcast and he talked about when he got the news that he was voted as People's sexiest man um he wasn't alone in one. I believe Steve Cornaki was voted as one of People's sexiest men alive. Where were you when you got that news? What was your reaction and how do you how do you handle such news like that? I feel like my ego would be out of control. I tell people that's where the real voter fraud was in. I have no idea where that.

All I could say is that you know, our tastes are in are in decline in this culture. If something that is happening, was there a photo shoot, like did they show up and they're like all right, CORNACKI put on the Khakis No no, no, no no. I found out about it and it was I was, I was, I was on the list that was nowhere near to the top and and believe me, it's it's not been worth the grief I've gotten from my friends. Uh, and my last one is this we talked about meeting. I

just you know, name dropped Paul Rudd. So casually, trust me, I do what every conversation I can. Um, who's the person that is someone that you never thought would ever be a viewer of yours or a fan of yours that has stopped you that you're like, it was pretty crazy that person X knows my work, loves my work, or even had the wherewith thought of saying, hey, I know who you are. That's a good question. Um, my

all time favorite movie is Hoosiers. And uh, the director of Hoosiers turns out was a viewer and I, you know, I found out. I'm trying to remember exactly how it was that I found out, but UM got in touch with him because he, you know, knew my work. Did you go to Hickory High? Have you been? We im into the gym? Yeah, he lives, you know, he's they went, They're all I you eyes, It's well, that's that's where the game, the championship game was shot. Think the field us,

which is Butler's. But there is a gym probably about an hour east of Indianapolis, and it's the gym that was Hickory High's home and they've converted into they play games there, but they also it's almost like a museum too. You know the movie Hoosiers to Indiana High School Basketball. So I've been there. I saw like an exhibition game there,

which is a really cool experience. And I got to go to an Indiana University game with David Anspaul, the director, with the writer and you know, they they went to IOU. You know, they grew up in the culture of Indiana basketball. And I just heard so many great stories from them and it was a just a just a great I spent the whole weekend asking him a million questions about you know, the movie about Bobby Knight, about you know,

it's a great, great experience, Jimmy child. Did they put their khaki pants on one leg at a time, just like you do? It's not bad, right, measure measured the rims that. Yeah, Um, I really appreciate you coming on. You will be on Sunday night, I imagine will be uh glued to the television set to see what the latest playoff breakdown is yeah, actually not this Sunday because we're it's Christmas night and there's only gonna be a couple of games the okay, so it's it's gonna be

a kind of bare bones. But the last two weeks, well, New Year's Day will pick it up again, and then last week and all that fun chaos of the final Sunday of the year. As someone who is a complete mess on the touch screen every morning on our show where I don't know how to work this button and they're telling me to zoom in and I completely you know, just I'm faltering everywhere. I am amazed at your grace and your you know, dexterity on the board, but also

the information. And it's Steve Cornaki. This is a thrill for me, and I think our viewers are going and listeners are gonna love it. Thanks so much for joining the season with Peter Schreeger. Hey, happy to do it. Good lucky the rest of the season. Awesome guys, Steve Cornaki. Football Night in America Sunday nights, you see them an amazing, amazing mind when it comes to data but also footballs and scenarios and and now in this case the playoffs

scenario and awesome dude. Also thanks Steve. All Right, Steve Cornaki was awesome and in there he said, the Giants are in really good position to make the playoffs, so that they just have to take care of business with the Colts in two weeks or the Eagles team that is going to be benching their starters in the final week, and the Giants could be looking at a sixth seed, which would be wild considering how dark and dreary the last few years have been and how dark and dreary

the start of December has been. I gotta tell you, I stayed up way too late Sunday wired, just like just like completely electrified by the Giants Commanders game A because of the calls, be because what it means to New York City and see, because of all the Giants fans that I have in my life, and I'm on Twitter and I see some great, great Giant fan content out there, and on a week to week basis, there may be no better stuff than what I see from

my next guest. His name is Eli Rax, but Eli Rax also goes by Vibes because he is constantly positive and vibing with the Giants. He's not one of the he's what was me? Guys? And he was feeling himself on Sunday night on Twitter. I asked him on the show Eli Rax, what is up? Man? What was going on? Piece of blessing? Brother? Sure, thank you for having me on. Man, this is this is a great opportunity. Thank you so much. I gotta tell you. You do your own content online.

It's New York Provival. You guys do great stuff. But I gotta get right into it. What's it feel like to be a Giants fan after finally getting a big win first time in maybe a decade. Let me tell you this, man, and I just want to paint this picture first for the Giants community. I mean, all Giants fans know that day, right, It's like your first case. You can't forget it, right. That's the last time the Giants had made the playoffs. So winning this Sunday is

exactly what we needed for this Giants community, for this city. Guys, we finally are making the playoffs at any eight percent chance to ninety of making an eight percent, So man, we'll take a right. I'll take those os to Vegas any given Sunday. But the Giants have a chance to make the playoffs. Guys. This is it. This is what we waited four six long years. Guys. This should be in your man cave of shrine of coach day Ball and freaking Joe Shane that a New York city is

buzzing Giants. We are here, we arrived. This is amazing, Shrikes. How do you feel? This is amazing? I feel great. And you know i've kind of I grew up a Giants fan, but I put that hat away and I you know I have I'm objective, I'm on NFL network, I'm on Fox, I'm on the sidelines doing all these things. But I gotta tell you I got like a little grin in my face watching Cavon Thibodeau just just dominate that game. Giants haven't had a guy like this on

defense since Oh I don't know. I mean you tell me Astray and o C and Tuck and those guys. I got. This guy was unbelievable on Sunday as a Giants fan, A what was your action when they drafted Cavon Thibodeaux and then be Sunday night seeing him step up like he did. Listen, when I tell you I was a huge fan of Cavon Tibodeaux, you know, coming out the draft seeing him in college. They were saying he had a slow motor, but I didn't see that.

When I broke down this film, I saw that the guy didn't really didn't give up on the place as some analysts thought. And just to see him come out and be that guy to have that high motor. You could tell he was looking at gas or some of this stuff, but he was still out there attacking that defense. Man. It was a huge coming out party for Cavon Timbo though. I'm so proud of that guy. Man. But he's exactly what I expected watching that film, that this guy is

gonna be a monster. He's gonna continue to distructive league, and man, I'm just glad he's on the Giants man, for sure. What's your reaction to Commanders fans saying that the refs won that game, not the Giants. Listen, there's a lot of calls that didn't go to Giants way this season as well. Right, we didn't really cry about it, but just to see you guys on my timeline, even even Kevin Durant, man, really, come on, come on, Durant. You have a number one. You're in Brooklyn, Okay, so

in your contract is not really getting there. But he's supposed to root for the Nel team regardless because you were in Brooklyn. So I don't want to see none of that in my timeline. Get over it. Go fight the Colts and I mean the Lions, et cetera for your spot. All right, this is it. We got our spot. Stop crying. Let's go for that. Yeah, all right, I love this. I just take us through like the Giant

fan community over the last five years. I know this sounds like a weird question because everyone just assumes that like w f A N is where people go for their content or MSG or or even NFL Network or ESPN, But like there's such a I wouldn't say it's like a sub world, but there is. Like, if you're a diehard Giants fan, you know your stuff. You know, uh, you know Big Blue what's it Big Blue Interactive. You've got like the sites that really follow it day to

day and the Reddit threads and all that stuff. It's kind of cool that you guys have all become almost more influential and more go to than the TV networks in the radio stations. You know, it's pretty awesome, man. I mean for the last six years, I mean we have over platforms since this Talking Giants entertain the Talking Sports New York Revival as well, So you know what

we do was this. You know, it's just great man, to have a pulse on the Giant community and to actually get to this point of winning football is this makes the content a whole lot easier to put out. But to give the Giants to spin, you know, within that six years, to say hey we will get there, we will surpass and you know, stop losing eventually, and to finally get to this point within the Giants community, let me tell you it's awesome. But they used to.

There was there was some some people banging their heads against the wall. There was some fight, and there was a lot of a lot of Giants fans wearing paper bags over their heads. So to get to this day, take that paper bag off, man. Enjoy these moments. Win, lose, a draw, but right now we're winning. But enjoy this moment, Giants fans. It's been a very very long time. Take it all in and um, the fact that we have a chance to fight to get to the Pinnacle like

the Super Bowl. I mean, all it takes is one game, right, so you gotta enjoy this moment. Man, this is awesome. All right, I'm gonna wrap it here with you. I appreciate you coming on. Why don't you let us know where we can find your stuff and who you do the show with. And uh, if you're not a Giants fan and you want to see complete New York caisteria when it comes to sports fans, this is where to go. I love checking in with these guys every single week.

So guys, you can follow me at I am Eli Rax on Twitter and i G. But guys, most important me, I'm from the New York Revival gang with my guy Mr Glass half Full and Mr l hef a Pilgrim. If you don't know his videos about now, then I don't know what you got tapped into. All right, this is where the Giants is at. We bring that here, Okay, So tapping man New York Revival at New York Revival on Twitter and at New York Revival Underscore on i G. Come check us out, man, I'm telling you you'll have

a great time for sure. For sure, New York Revival, Eli, We appreciate you. Keep on with those good vibes. Thanks for joining the podcast. I've had a good luck to your giants. I appreciate you. Shk same here, Thank you so much. Piece of blessings. All right, there we go, fun episode, Um Buffalo awesome Steve Karnaki, great Eli Rax also known as vibes. You just feel just like optimism around the giants for the first time since I've been an adult, I think, And that's what feels like a

New York City right now. Life is good. The NFL is in a great place. We've got an amazing weekend ahead, Like Saturday is the big day I'm going to We're doing our Fox NFL kickoff pregame show on Saturday, not on Sunday because there's only a few games on Christmas. They're mostly on Christmas Eve. But even the Christmas Day games, which I was like, oh those games stink. I don't care about Broncos Rams, Like I don't know Packers Dolphins is a game like that's two teams fighting for their

playoff lives. I'll be watching it, um, but I do wanna real quickly wish everybody a very very Christmas, have a great holiday. If you celebrate Hanukah Kwanza, have an awesome holiday season, and I beg of you. Please be safe. So many silly things happened during this time of year. Be smart with your drinking, be smart with the driving, all that stuff. UM, just appreciate everyone listening in Aaron

to you, my buddy, UM, have a great holiday season. Yeah, on behalf of Aaron, Jan Kaufman, on behalf of the I Heart team, on behalf of our two guys in studio here Mike and Jason just kicking ass. We're doing it. Uh. Jack Rudd, our music maestro with the amazing beats, and on behalf of the NFL and the NFL Digital team. Thank you for listening to this podcast. CORNACKI well, guy, I love them. Until next week. The Season with Peter Scheger,

Thanks for listening to everybody. H The Season with Peter Schreeger is a production of the NFL and partnership with I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio VI is it the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts