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Welcome in. We'll try with Nick Wright Episode two seventy three. I think we've got it. Maybe not. Hopefully you have my audio now, you have my video working through a lot of tech stuff, but that's no problem. We got a lot to do. Demons's here. He's the best sports veteran America right now. It's given out four winning teasers in a row. He's twenty seven to eight documented, not documented on this show, but documented by the great people at CBS Sports Pick them against the spread. He's crushing
all professional handicappers. Uh, life is good. Yeah, the Chiefs gonna get revenge on the Raiders, the last team to beat them, the team to mock them with the karmas stuff. DeAndre Hopkins on the team. We have all this, we have a new sponsor, million things to do. Let's get right to it. Here's what missed the cut, Demanse. Bobby Sala at the green Bay practice, gonna join the staff in a consulting role. Sharp move by green Bay to get him and to prevent San Francisco from getting him.
A little double dip. Bryce Young is gonna start at Denver, which has led to one of the most It's not one of my picks, but it is a jaw dropping point spread because the Denver Broncos. Did you look at this? Do you know off the top of your head, Demanse, what the Panthers at Bronco goes?
What the line is the Panthers? You know me, not the Panthers, the Broncos their favorite. I can't remember about how many? Is it like seven?
Ten bicks? Bow Knicks ten point favorite. If you'd asked me before the year, what would need to happen for bow Knicks to be a ten point favorite going into a football game? I don't know what my answer would have been, evidently it's played the Panthers and Bryce Young's return and Brandon Aubrey, the best player on the Cowboys right now, They're kicker is missing practice this week for
jury duty. So how about that all right? Before we get to football, I have a rant demonse because the NBA started this week and for the majority of my life, had you asked me what my favorite sport is, I would have said the NBA by a significant margin. Over the last the last decade, and really since my team drafted and nurtured and you know, played the greatest player to ever play in the NFL, the NFL has risen to where if you'd asked me two years ago, I
would have said they're dead. Even NFL and NBA tat like my favorite days or NFL Sundays. My favorite time of year is NBA playoffs, And over the last couple of years, the NFL has ascended past the NBA, but the NBA is still a very strong number two for me personally. And then this year's opening Night, and I just didn't feel the juice, but I'm like, it's the
opening night, I want to watch it. And then I watched the Celtics shoot sixty threes, and then I saw that Joel Embiid was out already, and Zion is out already, and Kawhi is out still, and here's the rant or the warning or whatever. About five years ago, I hosted a panel at Sloan, the sports analytics conference that Darryl Morey, my pal among others, were a part of, and I asked Darryl what I think is a thoughtful question, which is, how do you try as a league to serve multiple
masters in this regard. The reason NBA guys can make sixty million dollars a year, the reason gms like Daryl can make well into the seven some into the eight figures a year, is because the NBA is a super
popular television product. That's it. It is because all of the money is general rated by the fact that it is an entertainment product that people value in a way They don't currently value hockey, and they don't value any of the you know, go down a few levels, you know, uh, Ultimate Frisbee, and they don't value paddle or padel or whatever it's called, like they're all sports. But in this country, the NFL is king and the Prince is the NBA
and then Major League Baseball. And so what I asked him was, what if the best way to win starts to conflict with creating the best television product, Because it is his job to create a winner, but it is the league's job to maintain popularity. And if the best way to create a winner makes the league less popular, then what are we actually doing? Because yeah, people want to win, and they want championships, but the reason they want one of the reasons they wanted is because what
goes along with that is incredible wealth and riches. But if the league becomes less and less popular, there's less and less money, and then all of a sudden, running a basketball team is not as good of the gig as it once was. Being an NBA star is not as good of the gig as it once was. And his answer was, listen, my job is to look at the rules and create the best chance of winning possible. If the league needs to change the rules, so be it.
And I'm here to tell you the league needs to change some rules similar to what Baseball did with the shift and the pitch clock and paid immediate dividends. If your customer is telling you the product is getting worse even though the talent is getting better. Then you need to adjust. And the NBA, in my opinion, has do as two not quite existential crises going on, but they could become that. The first one is this, it took teams and players and coaches a long time to figure
it out, but they have finally figured out. It's not only that three is worth more than two, it's that three is worth a lot more than two because there is a fifty percent premium on three point shots. The smart way to play is probably what the Celtics did on opening night, shoot sixty of them things. Have it be your entire offense aside from dunks and free throws. That is the best strategy. That is also terrible television. The other thing the league or teams have decided is ah,
the regular season doesn't really matter. All that matters is peak playoff performance because we're judged on championships. But you know who, it does matter to your customer and telling your customer going into day one of the season, Zion's not ready, Embid's not ready. Who knows when KWHI is going to be ready? Embiid coming out and saying we're not playing back to backs. You're alienating your customers flatly. And I love the league. I love it, but this
shit is not sustainable. And this is where you need a wartime conciliarity in Adam Silver, and if he isn't one, they need to find someone to assist him with it. To make major structural shifts to the league. The simplest way to fix the threes problem is to change the scoring, but they'd never do it because all the records would be thrown out if it was fours and threes instead of threes and twos. It ends instantly, fixes it because then there's a thirty three percent premium instead of a
fifty percent premium. But that's not gonna happen, so you need to adjust. You need to adjust by doing the Hollandering idea. Was it Hollinger or is it No, it's not Hollander, it's the cartographer Goldsbury idea, which is have the three point arc truly be an arc, meaning it never flattens out and you get rid of the corner threes. I also think you could do something super radical and be like, hey, guess what, you know what's also worth
three points dunks? I know this sounds insane guys. But at its core, the NBA is at its best when dudes are flying over people meeting them at the rim. That is when it's at its best television product. A bunch of finesse guys hanging out at the three point line hoisting thirty footers is not good TV and everybody, everybody is damaged. If the TV numbers, if the ratings, if the interest goes down, you are not lifetime entitled
to a top spot in the American consciousness. Ask boxing, ask horse racing, as baseball, post strike, as hockey anytime in the last thirty years. You're not guaranteed it, and you are going down a path where the games are less compelling television and the fans are worried, do the players even care? And so, and also the load management issue of it. We need some evidence that it works. If you're gonna do it, I haven't seen it. I
haven't seen a drastic reduction in injuries. I haven't seen guys all of a sudden being of so much fresher come the postseason. It's not what I see. I see the guy who take time off in the regular season because of injury are still just as injured in the postseason. And so it's just a warning to a league I love, you are playing a dangerous, dangerous game. And this is you know what, demons before we move on to football.
This is a first cousin of take my tush push take yeah, which is be like, be careful TV, and also don't let it get too good. Like the best thing that ever happened to the not the best thing that ever happened, but a really good thing that happened for the NFL is that the Eagles never figured out how to get four yards a pop out of that, because if they did, they should run at every single play and they would win. And Howie Roseman and Nick Sirian and be like, our job is to win, and
yet it is. But it's the league job to make sure people want to watch what you're doing and that And this is not an anti Celtics thing. I'm not saying it because the Celtics shot sixty. And I brought up Darryl Mory because he kind of got this train rolling with Houston a decade ago. But it's a dangerous precedent, y'all, and it's bad for the league. I'm just telling you, flat out. The NFL, to their credit, has no problem
being like, oh, our customers like offense. We are changing the rules to make it easier to play offense, and we'll keep changing them. Our customers hate when quarterbacks get hurt, so we're gonna make it damn near impossible to sack the quarterback violently without getting a penalty like the baseball. It took them a long time and then they're like, you know what the shift to effective. Guess what new rules can't do it? Sorry? Sorry, Oh you were all
these things. You have to be ready, willing and able to adjust. All right, there's my NBA rant. Now we can get to football, demons. Go ahead?
Was off fair?
Uh?
So your chiefs finally made a move for a big name of my receiver in DeAndre Hopkins. Now he's not the player that he was when he was whack with Houston. But do you think that the hop can save us struggling Patrick Mahomes willby Mahomes saving DeAndre Hopkins.
Oh, I don't think anyone, either one of them needs saving. But I do think that this is a valuable addition, and there's a lot of layers to it. First, let me actually talk from Hopkins perspective. You know how many quarterbacks DeAndre Hopkins demand has caught a pass from drafted the same year as Kelsey. So this is year twelve for him. Drafted in twenty thirteen. Give it a guess how many quarterbacks?
Seven? Six or seven?
You're close. Seventeen. He has caught a pass from seventeen quarterbacks. Okay, So like I. DeAndre Hopkins, who is an all timer, five time All Pro, three time first team All Pro, he has caught passes from the f In his Houston days before Deshaun Watson got there, he had Brandon Whedon, Case Keenum, Ryan Mallet who passed away, Matt schaub tj Yates, Brock Osweiler, Brian Hoyer. Those are his quarterbacks before Deshaun. They then get to Shawn. He gets thirty eight games
with Deshaun and they're awesome together. He then goes to Arizona. They have Kyler Murray. They have thirty games together, pretty good. Kyler gets hurt with Arizona. He then gets Colt McCoy, Trace McSorley, and Chris Streveler. He then signs with the Titans and gets Ryan Tannehill, Will Levis Mason Rudolph And there's one other quarterback that I'm leaving out, but that's all right. That's those are his.
Quarterable Johan Deshaun Watson Houston was the best quarterback of all.
Those by a mile, by a mile. And so, oh, it's as bad as it gets.
Man Malik Willis. Maybe, Oh it's Malik Willis. Alink is that the name he left?
No, because Malik Willis never threw him up the Malik. He never caught a pass from Malik Willis. He has Malik. There are two people, not all of the seventeen. They're nineteen people have thrown him a pass. He's caught one from seventeen. The two have thrown him a pass they didn't catch one from Is Malik Willis and Derrick Henry h oo for two one targets by those two guys. So for d Hop this is an oasis in the
quarterback desert. And it's a really cool deal that it's not like a make a wish thing, but there is a cool thing that happens every year in the NFL that I don't know why he doesn't get talked about more. Which is the pre eminent dynasty with the best quarterback we've ever seen. Once a year surveys the landscape and says, who can we save and cup and who can we give a new lease on their career? That's with a
terrible quarterback situation, dysfunctional franchise. And two years ago they're like, you know what, young Djoka Kadarius Tony, come on down to a real organization, learn to play football with the Chiefs and play your cards right, you get to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl. And he's like, okay, deal, and he did and they did. And then the next year they look at the landscape again, who can we save, old friend mccol hardman, We get you out of the
Jets dysfunction. Come on down and guess what, you'll get to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl. And this year it's DeAndre Hopkins. Look around. You know what, will Levis Mason come on to Kansas City and in a few months DeAndre will get to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl. It'll be great for all parties involved. Now,
you know, I don't love old receivers. And he's thirty two, which is why one of the reasons the Chiefs are the Chiefs is because they didn't give up a third round pick for DeVante Adams a third round pick for Amari Cooper. They gave up a fifth round pick and Tennessee's picking up half the money for DeAndre Hopkins. And what Hopkins will do is play the exact role Rashi Rice was playing. He won't be as good after the catch, but it'll be excellent at the catch point. The slot receiver.
That'll be a Mahomes third down guy, and it'll work. It just flatly will work. Do I think the Chiefs would have been fine anyways? But this is minimal cost, not super high upside, but a little upside. Just like I really liked the Amari Cooper moved for the Bills. I like this move for the Chiefs. I wouldn't I there was rumors that, oh, the Rams want a second round pick for Cooper cup I would not have wanted that.
That's too eye of a price. And Cooper, even though he's a great player, his ankles might be shot his injury stuff. It's less of an injury concern with DeAndre Hopkins, and he's just gonna be a reliable third down target.
So isn't it like kind of wild? Like what's at stake for the Chiefs they give up the hop for a fifth rounder, conditional fourth. It's like, I don't.
Know, well, and by the way, you know what I'm so a couple of things. One is, I'm glad you mentioned the conditional fourth part of it because I called it a fifth rounder. I really should call it a fourth rounder because the condition is the Chiefs make the Super Bowl, and obviously they're going to, so it'll end up being a fourth round pick. I don't think there was a I don't think there was a huge market.
And I also think that while the rest of the league, like there's been a lot of reports that teams don't want to help the Chiefs threepete and there's you know, the Chiefs got to pay a premium on this stuff. The Chiefs and Titans did business this summer. The Chiefs traded lugerious sneed to Tennessee. So there is a relationship there, you know what I mean. And maybe I'm not sure, but I do wonder. I do wonder. I don't know
this at all raw naked speculation. I wonder if when Brett Veach was negotiating the trade with Tennessee and Brett said I want X, and Tennessee said, well, how about why, and then they're going through it. If he brought up to him, hey, all right, we wanted an extra sixth round pick in this deal. But never no, you will take your guys last best off, or keep that in mind if at some point this year you decide you
want to be sellers. In regards to DeAndre Hopkins, because Hopkins had looked at the Chiefs a couple of years ago. I think there were a lot of us that going into the year were like, man, Tennessee's not gonna be as good as they think they're gonna be. You know, that's a guy on this very show. I said his name. He was one of the first names I listed because I didn't think he'd be that expensive from a draft
or salary compensation. So those relationships do matter, and those relationships are good, and I expect demonse and you have to follow up to see DeAndre in a few packages on the field this Sunday against the Raiders.
Yeah. So, I mean the Raiders are the most recent team to beat the Chiefs, and they also took the offseason to mock Patrick Mahomes with the whole Kermit the Frock thing. So what do you think Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have in store with them this Sunday.
Oh, I don't listen. I don't think they're gonna forget the I think Mahomes will do something and then do a mimic Kermit the Frog thing himself. I think that's totally on the board. I also think that they're not going to forget Antonio Pierce saying he has the recipe to beat the Chiefs and listen, you are the last season that works out. Yeah, over the summer. He's like, yeah, we have the recipe and so listen. As long as we double team Max Crosby every play, this game should
be no problem whatsoever. All right, let's go to the Cowboys demanse Well.
So, earlier this week, Jerry Jones seemed to take a shot at his head coach Mike McCarthy and saying that the plays were bad plays and bad concepts, bad designs, all that it's not like Jerry Jones has any control over who's the head coach. But then a ton of former Cowboys players came out and said, on the record, has been very distracting, that there's been tourists were in the facility while they have practices or is this all
nothing or is there something? There? Is this bigger than what you thought initially?
Well, listen, the tours article is insane. I didn't understand the scope of it. The tickets are forty bucks apiece, forty bucks right, ninety bucks if you want to talk to hologram Jerry Jones after the tour, that's true story. But let's just assume. So let's assume that the average ticket ends up costing fifty because the cheapest is forty, the most expensive is ninety. Most people probably buy the tickets, but they make ten million dollars a year off this.
So ten million divided by fifty dollars means they're selling two hundred thousand tour tickets a year. Two hundred thousand. There's a tour every twenty minutes almost every day. That is a lot. And and here's the other thing, the crazy thing about it in the article, this isn't a money grab by Jerry Jones. Of that ten million, you know how much the Cowboys get one hundred and sixty
two thousand dollars because it's considered football revenue. So the way the math on that works is all football revenue gets split with the players and then split with every team. So the players get forty eight percent, the league gets fifty two percent. So ten million bucks forty eight percent off the top of the players. Now you have five point two million, five point two million divided by thirty two teams. Now you have one hundred and sixty two thousand,
five hundred dollars. So you might be like, why does Jerry do it? And it's not because of the money. It's because of the attention. It's because we're the Dallas dam Cowboys were the biggest show in town and we want this is how we want to do business. And the players hate it. And I don't blame them. I couldn't. I couldn't when I always knew the Cowboys did these tours.
We've heard people talk about it. I assumed Demonsey it was like a thousand bucks a ticket or given out to corporations or long times, you know what I mean, the occasional like guess what you and four friends for being a loyal season ticket holder can tour the facility. I didn't think it was a group of ten to twenty people every half hour it's just going through the facility. I mean, it's unbelievable.
He's also telling them like, it's like you could just do that during the off season. They're like, don't talk to the players. It's worked on them. Why don't you make it work?
People want to see, right, people want to see the players. And Jerry's quotes on this were unbelievable, where he said, no one's ever complained about it, but it wouldn't matter if they did. I mean this, it's just all time. I used to think that Jerry Jones distraction stuff was overwrought. Not so much anymore. The guy does seem to be a bit of a menace. When it comes to the Cowboys succeeding. It's really an unbelievable story. And they play
the Niners this week. Uh, and we'll see if that that comes up in Knicks picks for the It's a huge game for both teams, obviously, I would argue actually a bigger game for the Niners because the Niners always beat the Cowboys, and if they don't win this week and fall to three and five, it's a sign of real structural problems with the team right now. Meanwhile, in a weird way. Since the Cowboys always lose to the Niners, losing to them won't be as much of a shock
to the system. Also, in the NFC East, I think Washington's gonna lose to Chicago this weekend because I don't think Jayden's playing, and I think the Eagles are gonna lose to the Bengals. So even if the Cowboys lose, they could potentially keep pace in the NFC East. Uh right, yeah, maybe a little bit. All right, let's go to the Rams.
Yes, so the Rams year is obviously not gone as good as they hoped. You were Hio in La before the season. But injuries across.
The board the NFC Championship game.
Yeah, injuries across the board have them at two and four right now. Cup and Stafford were in some weird trade rumors. The Rams win tonight versus Minnesota, they're right back in that thing. What do you think is gonna happen with this team?
All right? The Stafford trade rumors were wild, like, and I think I think they were pretty unfounded. But it was that Minnesota might try to trade for him, which is who they're playing tonight. And Sam Darnold's got to be like, what the what are you kidding? Wasn't I on like everybody's MVP list a couple of weeks ago, Like now we're trading, by the way, let me tell you something. Right now, Vikings trading for Matt Stafford.
I would, yeah, immediately right.
More than contenders, the favorites in the NFC, the hands down favorites in the NFC, if they would do that. I don't think that's gonna happen. Uh, but it's a really weird spot, Like, let's just talk about those rumors for a second again. I think it's very, very unlikely, but in a weird way. Like if you're Sam Darnald tonight and you think these rumors are real, you're like, well, let's let's let's game this out. I play really. I
play well tonight. We win and we beat the Rams, and the Rams realize their season's over, they need to hold a fire sale and Stafford's available. That's not good for me. Okay, let's play out the other side of it. I play poorly tonight and we lose. Well, that's not good for me either. Poor Sam Darnald's kind of gonna lose. Lose. You're playing because you're playing the Rams, you beat them to say, to show you should be the guy. It makes it more likely that that quarterback's available. I don't
think they're trading Stafford. I also thought, you know, Pooka my return tonight. They think Kupp could return tonight. I or is supposed to play to night. I should say I thought the I thought the Rams were pretty transparent and leaking to the media. Oh yeah, I mean, we'd hate to trade Cooper Cup, but for the low low price of a second round pick, we'd trade him. Like, no one's giving you a second round pick for Cooper Cup and all his ankle injuries and the salary has
left nobody's doing that. But I still think demanse and maybe this is just me being tied to my preseason priors. The Rams, if they get healthy, could turn it around. And I will remind the audience that the Rams last year started three and six and then ended up ten and seven and in a back and forth one point
playoff game against the Lions. But this they really have to steal this one tonight, because falling to two and five might be a hole too big when you still have on the schedule at Seattle, at San Francisco, another game against Seattle, home for Philly, home for Buffalo, home for Miami, like the Rams need this win and Vikings obviously are the Vikings coming off No, they were coming off of by last the Vikings coming off a tough loss. Now. Other one thing on that though, fun fact because it
was Vikings Lions this weekend. The Lions this year, every team that has played them has lost the following week. Remember when the Niners did that a couple of years ago, where it's like every team that played the Niners then lost the following week. The Lions beat you up so much it would there's a real trend here where everybody that plays the Lions the next week they get beat and typically get beat pretty badly. So that probably doesn't
that maybe doesn't bode well for the Vikings. I don't know. It's actually a sneaky great Thursday night football game. All right, let's go to Let's go to Bronni real quick and then move on.
So, for the first time since twenty sixteen, the Lakers won an opening night that obviously wasn't the huge story here. Lebron and Bronny took the court together, and even for those that hate Lebron. You gotta admit this is a really cool thing.
You take it Listen. I just want to jump in. I just want to respond to that part real quick. I don't think those people will acknowledge it was a really cool thing. I ain't that there, so I couldn't help myself but respond to someone on Twitter Fox Sports radio guy who I don't know definitively how old this guy is, but I would bet a lot of money he is younger than me and I I think probably
in his early thirties. And he tweeted, I'm just gonnad you the exact tweet because I was so annoyed by it that I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna I'm gonna break my prohibition and directly respond to somebody. So he tweeted, and this now, of course has thousands of retweets. I'll say it so you don't have to. There's nothing historic or special about Bronni and Lebron playing together. It's solely to satiate the ego of Lebron. James King,
Griffy Senior and Junior felt special. That felt weird, staged, and honestly just awkward. So I'll respond to the merits of all that in a second. But here's why I replied to this guy, and why I find some of this stuff so cartoonish. This line King Griffy Senior and Junior felt special, Bro, that was thirty four years ago. I don't believe you were alive, and if you were, you certainly don't remember how it felt. So don't tell me this felt different when you're just making it up.
You didn't. You can now junior and senior, different caliber players, all this stuff, But this pulling on the emotional that it felt differently, full of shit. You're just making things up. You were either not born or too young to have any recollection of how anything felt. So it's just again and away. And I saw Michelle Beadle be like yesterday
basically called the whole thing a sham. Folks, the guy who has played more minutes in the NBA than anyone ever, who has scored more points in the NBA than anyone ever, who is the most hyped prep player in the history of the league, who has been scrutinized more than anyone in the history of the league, who's had no scandal, who's had no off the court issues, who has been a leader in his community and at worst the third greatest player of all time and at best the greatest
player of all time, had a kid who we saw grow up on the sidelines. That kid then was a top college prospect. He then went to a top program and his heart stopped and he damn near died on the court. He then came back and started playing again and was a fringe draftable prospect. The team that still employs his dad, arguably the greatest player of all time, used a late second round pick on him, and these two guys were on the court in an NBA game together.
It's one of the coolest fucking things in sports. His string. And if you dislike Lebron so much that you're like, oh, what just a photo op to satiate the guy's ego, it you've lost the plot. Now, if later in the season Bronnie is, you know, stealing minutes from Austin reeves and getting cooked left and right, and Lebron's making it happen, that will be a problem. But that's not going to happen, guys, And I so listen. I thought it was supered dope.
And I also think there is an element of and this is goes unspoken with a lot of it, but all speak to it. We've talked about it a bit on this before that in the nineties a huge through line of NBA coverage was bad guys, the word thug thrown around a lot, absent fathers, kids all over the country that they don't see that. Sports Illustrated had a horrifying cover we've talked about on the show before, demanday of a little black baby boy and the headline it
was where's daddy? And talking about absentee NBA fathers. The face of the league for twenty years has been as active as involved parent and husband as we've ever seen in sports. And now his oldest son shared the court with him in an NBA game. If you can't see that, that is an unbelievable story, and save your what aboutism? Well what about later, let's see how it plays out.
But Tuesday night that was dope as hell and so oh and again, if you want to take shots at Lebron, take shots at Lebron, but don't don't recreate history about other moments that you weren't around for and how they're different. Just nonsense. Get Week eight Gambling Show next. What's right? Hey guys, it's Nick right. And before we get to our Week eight picks, let me remind you the NBA
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Void in New Hampshire, Oregon, Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty out one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dking dot co slash b ball. All right, so here, demonse, here's where we're at on my season picks. We weren't here last week. The week before last, I went one and four, first true disaster of the season. Last week I went three and two. We'll get to that in
a second. That means through seven weeks, I've made thirty five picks. Theoretically, since it's an odd number, I shouldn't be able to be five hundred, but I had one push in there, which has allowed me to be seventeen seventeen and one, which does mean if I had gotten in order to be tied with Demonse in his picks, I would have needed ten of those losses to be wins. Would I just just ten bets go a different way, and I'd be where he is? But last week I
felt pretty good about it. We weren't able to do it on the show, but we'll talk you through it. The Jags prohibition ended. I promptly bet them laying five and a half in London. They were down early, didn't matter. The Patriots stink. The Titans plus nine and a half. I gotta tell you, man that bs that I didn't win that bet. You might say, Nick, they lost by one hundred. They were up ten zero. I was catching nearly ten points. The game started ten to nothing Titans,
and then Buffalo scored thirty four consecutive points. But my other three bets I loved as well, even though only one two of them. Chief plus one and a half at the Niners Auto must fire every time the Chiefs are underdogs. It might happen again this year. Who knows. Pittsburgh plus one and a half against the Jets. That game didn't start well, ended great, and then and I gotta tell you, I know you're gonna say I'm crazy
Tampa plus three and Alfagans Baltimore. I don't feel badly about that bet get and I know that they ended up getting blown out yet well they can't exactly. They came out ten, oh, they should have come out fourteen nothing. Then they drove again and Baker through that pick in the end zone. So I felt like good process for all of these picks yesterday or last week three and two. Now here's the thing is, you guys might be able
to see if you follow me on Twitter. My guy Zach has been making these awesome graphics for us, and one of them is my season long betting trends and scores and everything. And he informed me I am ten and three when betting on AFC teams and seven and fourteen when betting on NFC teams, which would lead you to believe I have a much better pulse of the AFC right now that in NFC, which is a little disconcerting. Yeah, that's exactly right. I always lose to the NFC. You're right.
It's also a little disconcerting because in reviewing my wagers for this week, four of the five NFC teams, I gotta turn it around somehow. I gotta turn it around somehow. So the first one Demond's, however, is my one AFC team. You're gonna hate it. I'm sure. Go ahead.
Yeah, you've got Cleveland plus eight and a half versus Baltimore.
Yeah, I just yeah, I'm just gonna be I might logic on this is twofold. First one AFC North games. You should not be laying more than a touchdown in any circumstance that it's divisional games. The division's too well contested. You shouldn't ever be laying more than eight and a half. And the other and by the way, just back that up. Dogs in AFC North games are forty five and thirty one against the spread in their last seventy six games
or whatever that is. But here's the other reason. The Browns team just got a new lease on the season. With Jamis being the quarterback, you are going to see more excitement and belief in that offense than you have seen all year. And Baltimore the one thing they can't do is defend the pass. Now, I understand Amari Cooper's gone. I'm not acting like Jamis is gonna be great. Finish well, oh yeah, that's the right aways. Yes, the back door is always wide open with the Ravens. You're one hundred
correct on that. And so do I feel great about betting Jamis Winston and the Cleveland Browns uh in any spot? I don't. But do I feel like that a home divisional dog of eight and a half points is almost a must fire, especially if you think that team's defense in Cleveland is pretty decent. I do. So I'll take Baltimore plus the eight and a half.
Next, and next you've got green Bay minus four at Jacksonville.
So fade and the Prince and so here's here's why I think this is the rare time where laying laying more than a field goal on the road is the sharp side of things. I don't think it can be overstated how bad Jacksonville's defense is. The Jags defense can't cover anyone. The Packers have three viable legitimate receivers, and Jordan Love is out here trying to throw four touchdowns
a game. Now, you might throw a couple picks with it, but he he is foot on neck at all times, and so I just feel like this is a game. Green Bay scores thirty one thirty two points and I don't think Jacksonville is gonna get to the high twenties. I think green Bay's defense has been better than I expected. This year feels like a thirty one, twenty one, thirty one twenty four type of green Bay win. So I just think Jags have arguably the worst defense in the
NFL right now. It's certainly on the very short list. So this listen, I feel bad fading the Prince, but green Bay minus four, I think it is the sharp side of this one demonsa your thoughts.
And I like green Bay minus I'm yeah, I don't trust exactly twenty one was I thought the Jags wuld score there, and I don't trust the Jags at all. I don't know what's going on there. Like from everything, I can't blame it on Doug Peterson. It just seems like the players don't even want to catch the ball, and then when they can, Lawrence is overthrowing it. It's what I'm seeing on the field. It's like he can't execute the play.
Wow, players, Well that's what he said. That's what That's what Doug Peterson said, the exact thing. Also, I will say this and I'm listen, I'm not besmirching your handicapping abilities at all. But I would wager a lot of money and one of these games they were terrible, and
one of these games they were excellent. That you have not seen a second of JAG's football the last two weeks because back to back weeks they were six thirty am West Coast start times, and I just don't think you were getting game.
And I've had on their past games.
And so but I think that's actually fine because they look terrible in the first one again in Chicago. They looked good in this last one. But you're playing the damn Patriots, So what does it really matter? Right? All right? Next one?
Next we've got Atlanta minus two and a half at Tampa Bay.
Hold on, I think you just skipped one, didn't you. Oh no, oh, no, I skipped That's my bad. No, no, no, you're right. Yeah. I just worry that Atlanta. I'm sorry that Tampa Ravens beat them twice. Yeah, I just think the emotional toll of that loss and no godwin, No Evans Baker also got beat up in that game.
I'm just Tampa gotten DeAndre Hopkins.
If they wanted, well, sure they could have tried. Yeah, definitely. But I just, I really I think that when did the Chiefs trade for DeAndre? It was Tuesday? Right? Was it on our two? No?
This is this is Wednesday. This wasn't interesting.
Lose yesterday, Okay, So that's why I didn't know if it was yesterday morning or the day before yesterday. Okay, the you're probably right, doesn't matter. You are right. It was yesterday morning. It broke. It broke like early early morning, yesterday morning. Uh, And so point that I the reason I'm asking it is it does seem like the Chiefs and Titans were working on it Monday, even if it wasn't done, and Tampa didn't know they were gonna need a receiver on Monday. So the now, I do think
they're gonna get Mike Evans back. I just think that Tampa's defense has been highly disappointing. Atlanta's gonna be able to move the ball, and I just think that that type of loss against Baltimore, where you get beat up and you lose key players, I just could see Atlanta having real control of this game, even as bad as they looked last week. I'm laying less than a field goal again, I'm taking another road favorite, which is typically not the sharp side of things, but I do that
a few times. This week, I'm gonna lay the two and a half with Atlantic because I think the Tampa injuries are too much. And Baker, by the way, is four and ten against the spread at home against division opponents, and Kirk Cousins, off a loss, is forty and twenty six against the spread, which is fifth best since he in the last twenty years in the NFL. All right, next one. I'm telling you right now, I don't feel great about this, but I feel like I'm obligated to do it.
Go ahead, You've got a New Orleans plus seven at the Chargers.
Yeah, So here's the deal. I obviously don't think New Orleans is good. In fact, I think they're bad, really really bad. However, the following people for the Chargers did not even practice yesterday. Darius Davis, will Disley, Hayden Hurst, Quinton Johnston, Lad McConkie, Denzel Perryman. They had another four guys that were limited in practice. Also, they are they they don't score points, so how are they really going
to cover seven? Their points scored this year are twenty two, twenty six, ten, ten, twenty three and fifteen New Orleans for all its faults, and you know, and I think again, I think New Orleans is a bad team. New Orleans, prior to last week against the Broncos, had been able to move the ball most of the year and score some points. I just think that this also, there will unequivocally be far more Saints fans at this game in
Los Angeles than there are New Orleans fans. I just I don't think the Chargers have earned the right to be a touchdown favorite over anyone. So I'll begrudgingly take the seven points and believe this is going I mean, last game the Chargers play, they didn't score any touchdowns and Herbert once again got beat up. The offensive line,
pardon me, has not been as good as advertised. This just really feels to me like a seventeen thirteen, seventeen, fourteen, sixteen to ten ugly game where New Orleans is not. New Orleans is gonna get to the teams. And I just don't know that the Chargers are scoring twenty plus. That offense has been wholly uninspiring. So I'll take New Orleans plus the seven.
Last one, demonsee, last one, Yes, Chicago Brin's two and a half at Washington my favorite.
Well, so listen, this is my third road favorite I'm taking. But I am also gonna mention road fats are sixteen and two against the spread the last few weeks. And
this is a very very simple math. Jaden Daniels isn't playing, and Marcus Mariota is not going to be able to duplicate what he did to Carolina, that Chicago defense is going to get after Mariota, that Mariota is not an NFL starting caliber quarterback, Chicago off of by huge spot bad defense in Washington, and Washington star young quarterback's not going to be playing. The Bears are winning this game, and they're winning this game by more than a field goal.
And so I now, if Jaden plays, I would feel totally differently. But this line says Vegas does not think Jaden is playing. The Bears would not be two and a half point road favorites against Chicago if Jaden were playing. In fact, I think i'm the Bears not be two and a half road favorites against one Washington if Jade were playing. In fact, I think it would be Washington by two instead of Chicago by two. And a half.
So actually flexing this game to like a different time slot, and now it's gonna be.
It was gonna be a yeah, it's a bummer. It was gonna be just the regular one o'clock game with I think Cincinnati, uh, Philadelphia being the marquee CBS game with Nanson Romo. They flexed this one, and now that's kind of a bummer for CBS now Nanson Romo if Jayden doesn't play. But yeah, that is exactly what happened.
All right, So my five picks for the week, after nine of my last ten picks had been underdogs, we have three favorites Atlanta Road favorite of two and a half at Tampa, Chicago Road favorite of two and a half at Washington, Green Bay Road favorite of four at Jacksonville. And then two big dogs, New Orleans plus seven at the Chargers and Cleveland plus eight and a half half at Baltimore. All right, Demons, you have four straight winning teasers, two that we haven't yet. You know that since we
weren't on the air last week two weeks ago. Your teaser Houston plus a half point at New England, they blew them out. Washington plus fourteen at Baltimore. They were in it the whole game. They ended up losing by seven. A plus teaser, my friend, that's a great one. And then last week, you want to talk us through last weeks.
It was a two team seven and a half point teaser. I cheezed the I tease the Chiefs up to nine against San Francisco and Houston up to plus ten at Green Bay, and those both worked out pretty well.
Easy way. And both of those were covering the whole time. Yeah, both of those were covering the entire time. So what are we looking at this week?
So this week it's a two teamy seven point teaser at minus one four.
Roll not seven and a half. You're going away from seven and a half point.
The only reason I the only reason I ever go to the half point is just to if it's like thirteen and a half to get.
To fourteen numbers, yeah, or whatever it may be.
But yeah, So, I mean, this week we're teasing Cleveland up to plus fifteen and a half against Baltimore, and I'm teasing the Chiefs down to minus two and a half at the Raiders. And I had some other teasers in mine here that were a little chippy but you know, I went through the process a little bit long, a little bit longer, and this is what I came up with, And yeah, I think this will cash. I like this one a lot.
Can I tell you something.
A plus A plus? I don't think I mean a plus. It is week one.
Getting the Chiefs down to two and a half is perfect, and getting Cleveland up through not only fourteen, but fifteen as well, which has become a slightly not a but because two point conversions being more prevalent, it's a little more important than it used to be. I love this, I love, love, love this teaser, and I also love that you didn't I was worried you were gonna tease the Jets.
Hold on. So yeah, so I actually didn't hear what you said for like the last five seconds. I'm sorry.
Okay, Well, I was saying I love the teaser. I think you did great, and I but I was I was worried you were gonna tease the Jets, because the Jets the Jets from minus seven just to straight up beat the Patriots. Problem is no, and I think patri are the worst team in the league. But until the Jets win a game, they can lose to anybody. I know that sounds, but I'm like, I just wouldn't want the Jets to involve. So I love this teaser. I
think this is a sharp teaser. All right, let's do touchdown Jeanie real quick before we answer some questions.
Yeah, so we're taking a break off the offer to reassess the process TM. In the meantime, let's bring back out the touchdown Jeanie. So, who's scoring a touchdown this week? Between or not between? We got Kansas City Hopkins? No, no, no, I'm sorry. You go ahead and pick your anytime touchdown score. I forgotten.
So the the earfine. The options are Hopkins plus one sixty, Kelsey plus one oh five, Xavier Worthy plus one sixty five. This is the week Travis Kelce gets in the end zone. Uh and so that the god dog it. That's so annoying.
What happened?
Sorry, nothing, I'll I'll tell you in a minute. Uh So Kelsey is Kelsey is my bet? There, Kelsey would be my bet. I think he's gonna score. He kills the Raiders. He scored four one game against the Raiders. He had seven catches for twenty six yards and four touchdowns. Seven catches twenty six yards four touchdowns. That picture of me and Kelsey celebrating the Super Bowl two years ago after the parade in the club where it says al
F and Bundy. He got that nickname because of that game, because al Bondi once scored four touchdowns for Poul Kai. It was an old marriage with children thing, and so he would always talk about it, and Kelsey scored four touchdowns. So I'll just take Kelsey plus one oh five. All right, quick break, answer some of your questions. Next, What's right? All right? Welcome back in What's Right with Nick Wright? And let me remind you guys, the NBA is finally back.
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plus eight and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in New Hampshire, Oregon, Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see d k n G dot co slash b ball all Right, Deman's some listener questions Please.
Jeff Bergstorm or Bergstrom, a podcaster is never late, nor is the early. Here arrives precisely when he means to.
That's a well done turn of phrase, Jeff. Listen, and our producer Matt says, that's correct, and it's not because our computer malfunction. Right Bruin over there.
Next, Eric, who says, question from a TV from a TV product perspective, what do you think is the difference from the Dynasty Warriors, which were super popular in Missoula ball? Oh?
So, I so, listen, I don't think people understand the volume of threes I'm talking about, Okay, the Warriors, the twenty eighteen Warriors, for the record, not only did they not shoot the most threes in the league, they were below average in three point attempts per game. Right at it, they were twenty nine a game, which was sixteenth in the league. The Rockets were far and away the most at forty two a game. So this is what I'm
talking about, Okay. In twenty eighteen the most in the league were Rockets with twenty eight with forty two a game, And that was when I asked Daryl about it. The previous year, the highest was the Rockets at forty. Number two was thirty three. Okay, so seven years ago one team took more than thirty four to threes a game. All right, Now, let's jump ahead to last year and
I can pull it up for you right now. So and keep in mind those Dynastic Warriors were shoot but seven years ago one team shot more than thirty four threes a game. Last year, Demansey, you know how many teams shot more than thirty four threes a game? Seventeen seventeen teams. So it's just the game has just changed and so massively, and again through one game this year we had we've had seven of the twenty four teams that have played shot more than forty threes in their
opening night. I just don't think it's good for So it's not about the Celtics. It's about this. The Celtics are the best team and right now they're playing mathematically the smartest, so the only chance anyone's going to have is to do the same thing. And it's just like it's just not good for the sport. I know, I'm right, all right.
Next uh, Steven Weather says, who in the year with more wins Demonse's teasers or Trevor.
Lawrence Monse's teasers. Yeah, I was about to say these teasers. I mean, there's no question about it.
Justin next week. Next week, got Scott Frasier. What does Buffalo need to at least have a chance to get past Kansas City or Baltimore this year? Cooper was a start? What else do they need?
I listen, Buffalo has a chance. They have a chance. I don't think there's more that that they are gonna be able to add. They're just listen. They're gonna need Josh Allen to have the game of his life in January and for the Chiefs to stumble like I'm the Chiefs Bills thing they play in a month. We can talk about it more there and then the Ryan Fitzgerald has an interesting question, So go ahead.
Are the Bucks more likely to make the Eastern Conference finals or miss the playoffs?
Make the I mean, listen, I don't think they're I don't think they're gonna make these reference finals, but you're not missing the playoffs with a healthy honest, So the answer is make the conference. He did a weird thing, which wherever weird, Yeah, we don't win the championship, they might get rid of me. It's like nobody. I mean, I feel like that's you letting them know if they don't win a championship, you might want to leave. We'd weird spots. That's a that's another one of the prongs
of the NBA that I didn't even get into. All Right, great show, Good luck to everybody gambling this weekend. See you guys on First things first at three o'clock. What's right? Hey, thanks for watching. If you're still here, do me a favor. Hit the subscribe button, then hit the bell so you can be notified when we have new episodes. After you've done that, one more favor, go to your favorite audio
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