This episode is brought to you by Unstoppable. Discover the inspiring true story about Anthony Roblasts, who defined every expectation to become a national wrestling champion, and Unstoppable, a new original movie from Amazon MGM Studios and director William Goldenberg, evoking the excitement and camaraderie of classic sports dramas and thrilling wrestling matches. Unstoppable features an all star ensemble cast including Jireel Jerome, Jennifer Lopez, Don Cheatle, Michael Panya, and
Bobby Canavali. Watch Unstoppable now exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.
Welcome in What's Right with Nick? Great Episode two ninety playoffs are here finish the r profitable gambling. Even though Week eighteen didn't you know, kind of out with a bit of a whimper if I must say, lost the season long picks contest to Parkins by one. Pit our picks here deserved two and three ended up being one, three and one, so not a great final week. Also, speaking of gambling, before we get to it, did you
see gambling? Twitter demonse just drag me all week because of my populist opinion that hey, let's try to claw some of this money back from the sports books for the refund your bets if you have an overtime underdone, They came, I mean you have, oh, unanimously and the amount of boot licking these fake gambling touts were like, oh, so, what do you you want the sports treating the sports
book like they're the soup kitchen. Listen here. I like a lot of America's sports books, and as I told you last week, I'm gonna be partnering with one of them here in the next few weeks. Not sure which one again, you know, have your people talked to my people, We'll see we can work something out. Uh. And while I will partner with them and they are providing a service, I want to make something very clear. It's the public against the House, and I'm on the side of the public.
I'm not a you know what I mean, I'm not I'm not rooting for I don't know anything about Star Wars, but the Emperor Palpatine. Is that a good reference? I'm not sure I will the idea that how many people were like that would be so unfair to the sports book. Huh. Unfair to the sports good. That's the goal here. They can just give us a little. I mean, my goodness, gracious folks like, yes, obviously that would be a are
these people do? These people go to casinos and look at a roulette wheel that only has one zero and are like, you know, probably should throw two on there. And in fact, some places put three zeros on there. Walking through the pits and they're like, you know, excuse me, casino manager. I know it says blackjack pays three to two, but you know a lot of places these days are doing six to five and people still pay it, Like
what are you doing? Rooting for the sportsbook? And I gotta deal with again these fake these kids who have been gam who have been alive for a shorter period of time then I've been gambling, like Kelly and Vegas and her just sycophantic tribe of morons being like, oh my god, did this guy just learn about gamble? Guys, there's a lot of things. You can come after me
for a lot of things pretty fairly. There's slings and arrows that I leave myself open to try to stake out the corner of Nick Wright hasn't been gambling long enough to know the rules when I have been. I'm forty years old, and I have been gambling, you know, not for a living, but as a way to make or in many times lose money that I, you know, was my weekly income since I was eleven. I don't think that like you coming to me and being like and by the way, what.
Amongst your friend?
Well so no, so when I so, I real quick, then we'll get the football. Started playing poker with when I was nine, and like with family and friends with my grandparents, and then not poker with my dad. And then when I was eleven, we got a small bar size pool table and my dad. I've told this story before. My dad played me a nine ball, five dollars on the nine, two dollars on the five, and I ran up like a forty dollars worth of wins. He then was like, all right, you gotta give me a chance
to get even. Let's up the stakes. I was eleven, so I didn't realize I was in the midst of the oldest hustle in the book. I said, yes. I left the basement that night owing my father one hundred and eight dollars and he I was eleven, and he made me pay it. He wrote up a contract and said, you'll pay me ten dollars a month for the next year, and I was like ten, even though I was eleven. I was like, ten dollars a month for a year. That's one hundred and twenty. I owe you one hundred
and eight. He's like, yeah, I'm only charging you ten percent interest, and you're gonna have to find a way to pay me. He thought that the lesson I was gonna take from that is gambling is risky, and don't do it. The lesson I took from it was you can make a lot of money gambling if you know what you're doing. So I just then ran that exact same hustle on my friends in my basement for years,
and I won so many video games. We would play for each other's video games like you didn't have cash, Like you get a video game for Christmas, we'd play for that. We played for basketball cards, all this stuff. And my dad, by the way, again is statue to limitations. I've maybe told this story, I maybe haven't. People see I look a lot like my father, but he doesn't
have the nose I have. And the reason he doesn't have the nose I have is because in his youth, when he was a pool hustler again, and I didn't know this when I was playing him. He hustled a guy in the you know, inners of Kansas City, and the guy broke his nose with the pool cue. And so when he gets your nose broken, you get it fixed. Sorry, pops, but it's been sixty years since that happened to you.
I feel like I can tell that story. So again, I'm not trying to throw out all my gambling bona fides. But it was two thousand and three and I was on South Salina Street and Syracuse playing in a poker game with Albanians. Like the idea that I need to be lectured on on how gambling works from idiots on the internet. I know how it works. And guess what, folks, it's hard to win, so let's try to just get a little bit of juice back for us. Okay, it was just I feel better. I really. This is why
you shouldn't read the comments on the internet. There's a lot of reasons why. There's one of them. I was blissfully onware. I was getting absolutely annihilated, and then Danny, my old buddy, Danny Parkins, says to me, He's like, oh, man, gambling. Twitter's really coming after you. And I'm like they are and I look and I'm like, god, dogg it, they sure are all right. Here's what missed the cut. The Bears are interested in Mike McCarthy. The Giants aren't making
any changes. Why would they. They're a mess, and Trevor needs a new head coach. I want to say one thing about the Trevor thing. Keeping Trent Balkey makes me so sad for Trevor. He his ability to keep his job is unprecedented. He won a power struggle with the Niners against Jim Harbaugh, and now he can hire Urban Meyer, hire Doug Peterson, and is gonna get to hire another coach.
There was a hilarious moment though, in the zoom the media zoom split screen like this demons between the owner of the Jaguars shot and Trent Balky, where Shod Cohn is like, you know, we're gonna keep you know, Trent in place, blah blah blah, and somebody asked him a question. He's like, what if the new head coach wants you
to replace the general manager? And again Trent is on the zoom and Shad Cohn says he's like, well, if the person we decide on for the new head coach, you know, really believes we need a new general manager, then I would make that change. And again a sign the Jags might not know what they're doing. My guess is Trent Balky who gets to interview the new head coaches. One of the questions are gonna be so you're gonna replace me? Because if you are, I gotta say, I
don't think you're getting this job. All right, let's get to the show one seeds love go ahead.
Yeah, so Detroit locked up there by with the win against Minnesota, and now Detroit is super Bowl favorites. Uh, do you consider them the biggest threat to your chiefs them being Super Bowl favorites? Or is it somebody else?
No, it's the Bills. It's been the Bills all year, and the this is I didn't get everything right in the preseason, but this was one of them that the Bills were way, way, way undervalued by the world and that they were still going to be excellent. And so here's why I think, tell me if you because I tried to explain this on the show yesterday, but I don't know if I did a good job of explaining it, or maybe I did do a good job, but it's just my like my co hosts aren't as big a
gamblers as I am, so it didn't really translate. I said that even though Detroit right now is the favorite to win the Super Bowl, I think that if Detroit played Kansas City in the Super Bowl, Kansas City would be the Vegas favorite. So how do you square those
two ideas? And my rationale was, I think what Vegas believes Detroit is more likely to win the NFC than the Chiefs are to win the AFC, that Detroit's path is cleaner because I would imagine right now, after Detroit and Kansas City, the two biggest Super Bowl public picks are the Bills and the Ravens, and Kansas City is gonna have to go through, in all likelihood one of those teams. And so I don't look at the Lions
as the biggest threat. And I do want listen, I thought the Lions were going to lose that football game, and they played great. They played great, and that listen, Terry and Arnold got hurt. That's another defensive injury. And I know folks saw how they played against Sam Darnold and said, well, what more do you want from them? Like, it doesn't matter they had all these injuries, look at
how great they were. I do not think that specific defensive approach, which I'll explain in a moment, will work against great quarterbacks, which was we're just sinning the house, man, we are just sinning the house again and again and again. They blitzed over sixty percent of the plays in that game. Darnold did not handle it well and the Vikings offense
couldn't function because of it. The last thing, historically speaking, great quarterbacks love being blitzed because they get mann to man coverage, they can usually diagnose it before the snap, and they know where the ball's going. Now, Detroit's in a unique spot where they could make the super Bowl and never have to play a great quarterback because the NFC, in my opinion, only as one, and that's Matt Stafford, and Stafford is an underdog in Round one two Minnesota.
But in the Super Bowl. I don't think that will work against Patrick Mahomes. I also don't think that would work against Josh Allen. And if you're playing the Ravens in the Super Bowl, it means Lamar definitionally has gotten over his playoff bugaboos, because to get to the super Bowl, for Lamar, it is Steelers, then Josh Allen, then Patrick Mahomes assuming the bracket holes. If he does all of that, then lamar postseason questions are answered. So for Detroit, I
give them massive credit for what they've accomplished. And Dan Gampbell taking that team from three wins to nine wins, to twelve wins to fifteen wins is remarkable, truly remarkable, and I think they are are good enough whole to win the super Bowl. And listen, maybe even with all these injuries, they'll just outscore people and they'll be able to do it. But what they did Sunday night, to me, was not sustainable against the type of quarterback they're gonna
have to beat to win a Super Bowl. But it was very sustainable demons against Sam Darnald. And I know you have a Donald question.
Yeah, do you think that Donald played himself out of a contract with that performance? And like it's the first big game of the season.
I think if he does it again, yeah, So here's here's what is simultaneously awesome and so cruel about sports. But really, this sport, the NFL because I get annoyed at times when people dismiss playoff performances or really anything in the NFL with this at small sample size. Because it's a small sample sized sport. You're not gonna get the five hundred at bats you get in baseball. You're not gonna get a seven game series you get in basketball. You get a game, couple games. That's the nature of
the sport. And Donald went into Sunday night. So if we just go backwards forty hours, Sam Darnald had sitting in front of him this, if I play great tonight, we get the one seed. I basically guarantee myself one hundred million dollars and have a real chance to win the Super Bowl. Instead, he had his worst game of the year, and now he goes into his first career playoff game knowing, if I played terribly again, I'm just Sam Darnold again, and that again, that might be unfair.
But that's why football is so great is because it is a little unfair, and so it's so captivating to watch. And if they if he plays poorly, so he's never played in a playoff game, so it is not an exaggeration at all to say Sunday Night was the biggest game of his career by a mile, and now the next Now the biggest game of his career is this weekend or sorry, Monday night. He can he can save it, but if he plays poorly and they lose. I do not believe Minnesota is giving him a long term contract.
Maybe they franchise tag him, or maybe someone else you know, wants to trade for him and give him the contract. But it's now up in the air in a way it otherwise wouldn't have been. Uh, we have some breaking news. The Titans have fired their GM Ran Carthon. Listen, I real quick on that they brought in Let me get the exact time on this correct, because this is breaking news. So they brought in Ryan Carthon from San Francisco a couple of years ago. And his first big move is
that right? Hold on? Wasn't his the January of twenty three? So hold on? Was that not his first big move? I thought his first big move was the AJ Brown trade? Do I just have that wrong? So I want to be fair here hold on? So yeah, I do have that wrong. So who the hell traded AJ Brown? So Ran Carthon got there in January of twenty three. Who was the GM there before? Oh, John Robinson. So that's what happened. Okay, So this is where I had it in my head. My apologies, and I'm glad I checked
that because that would have been bad. John Robinson traded Aj Brown, It infuriated Mike Rabel, and basically I think because there was that severing of a relationship between Vrabel
and John Robinson, they picked Vrabel. They then brought in Ran Carthon and it didn't seem like Ran Carthon and Vrabel wherever exactly aligned and in that instance they went with And now that does look like it was a mistake because Rabel is probably the hottest coaching candidate this side of Ben Johnson, and they just decided to move on from Ryan Krthon. But that is that's a short tenure man January of twenty three to January of twenty five with as a GM. Usually gms get more time
than head coaches. We don't listen, we're not and now they are also they're in this is the spot you don't want to be in where you're and the reason if I just for a moment, the reason to defend the Giants bringing both guys back, Shane and Dable. I don't like it. I probably would have fired both of them. But what you don't want to do is fire one and then have your GM and head coach not aligned. And now that's exactly what the Titans are gonna have.
The Titans are now gonna hire a general manager, and that general manager is gonna say, well, I didn't pick Brian Callahan the head coach. It's not I want my head coach. And so now Brian Callahan goes into next year where the GM isn't his guy. And so that part is that usually that misalignment doesn't work out so well. And so but the Titans, I don't know what happened. I don't know why they waited a day. Uh, but they have fired Ran Karthon. All right, Demant, let's move on.
So the regular season is wrapping up? Or is wrapped up? And ballots or do who would your picks be for MVP, Offensive Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.
Okay, so listen, Bengals fans would tell you they should sweep the board. Bengals fans think they have the league MVP and Joe Burrow, the offensive play of the Year mister triple Crown Jamar Chase, and the defensive player of the year the sack champion Trey Hendrickson. I would say, if you have the three best players in the league, probably should not need the Chiefs help to make the playoffs. So those wouldn't be my picks my MVP pick, And
again Wilde said it exactly exactly right. There is no argument for Patrick Mahomes to be the MVP except for the fact that he's the league's most valuable player. That's really the only The only argument for Mahomes this year to be MVP is that he is actually the most valuable player in football. But of course that's not good enough, so it's not Mahomes. I thought that if Donald or Golf were awesome Sunday night, they would have the winner.
If they were awesome and they won, that guy at fifteen and two for award, that's become quarterback only would have to get real consideration. Darnold was terrible, Golf was not that good, and so they're both out. So it really just is Lamar and Josh and everyone seems to be trying to equivocate on why you know it should be Josh over Lamar. I have less of a problem with it. To me, it is very very simple. I think that they were both outstanding this year. They both
led their teams to division championships. Josh didn't have Derrick Henry and Josh hasn't won one, so I'd give it to Josh. And if people are like, oh, it's not like the people seem to be uncomfortable with the idea that one guy having two and the other guy having zero should play a factor in this. But it always has like the if it's really really close on awards, I don't care if it's the Golden Globes, the Oscars, MVP,
the cy Young, any of it. If it's really really close and one guy's wanted a couple times and the other guys never won it, then the guy who's never won it gets the nod. So and the other reasoning is the entire rationale behind Lamar winning it last year is the rationale for Josh winning it this year. Didn't have the most eye popping numbers, but did more with less. The team won thirteen plus games. You know that was
excellent in the biggest spots. So he gets it, like to me, and also the only reason we don't have right now a team going for a three beat while also being undefeated is because of what Josh Allen did on that fourth and two play. Now you can say, well, the Chiefs ended up losing twice. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't think they would have played their JV roster had they been going for a super Bowl. All right, I'm sorry going for an undefeated season, which also I didn't
even think about this. It's just occurred to me in real time. It's be the ultimate pain for Bills fans. Did the Bills beating the Chiefs this year increase the Chiefs chances of beating the Bills in the playoffs again? Because it removed the incentive to play guys in Week seventeen or Week eighteen and potentially have guys get banged up because they were going for an undefeated season against what would have been a desperate Broncos team. Maybe I
don't know, But so Josh would be my MVP? Well you Lamar, go ahead.
Yeah you're saying Josh won't be her MVP? Is Lamar at plus three twenty? Is that enough to get you to at least bet on that.
No, because I think that I I think Josh is an overwhelming favorite to win it. I just yeah, so like I don't And it's not the type of bet where it's like, oh, I like the odds aren't going to change very much from now to then, and so no, I would have Josh one. And one other thing about Lamar winning it last year with very pretty pedestrian numbers but all the intangible stuff that Josh has this year, it was a route the voters forty nine first place votes for Lamar, so it wasn't close in the end.
All year long we thought it was gonna be close, and then the voters kind of hurted to Lamar. So Josh would be my MVP. Saquan would be my Offensive Player of the Year. Offensive Rookie of the Year, Brock Bowers has an awesome case. He's the best tight end in football this year, not for rookies, but four tight ends, but it's gotta be Jaden Daniels. Defensive Rookie of the Year has to be Jared Verse, my preseason pick, and
then Defensive Player of the Year. In a weird year where Pat Sertan is the overwhelming favorite, people are gonna say I'm a Homer. I don't care. It should be Chris Jones because according to the Pro Bowl ballot, and I assume the upcoming All Pro team, the Chiefs have one good, great defensive player, Chris Jones. They have no other defensive Pro bowlers, none, It's just Chris. And yet going into Week eighteen, they had the number one scoring
defense in football. So if you only have one great defensive player and you have one of the best defenses in football, and TJ. Watt doesn't deserve it this year, I don't think Hendrickson deserves it. When he was on a terrible defense, I would say Chris Jones. Chris Jones isn't gonna win it. Though. All right, let's go to the playoff dark horse stuff. Demanse uh yeah.
So with the playoff bracket locked, let's take ahead. Let's take a look ahead at some teams that might be able to make some noise with how the seating fell. Which one of those lower to your teams could you see making a big splash in the playoffs.
So listen, this isn't gonna shock anybody, but my answers the Rams. I think the Rams are gonna beat the Vikings. And the Rams played Detroit in the playoffs last year, it was a one point game. They played Detroit Week one of this year, it went to overtime. And so the well, Baker's oddly no, but Baker's not a lower seed. They're the three seed, like I'm not. Like I think when we say lower seed, we're talking four through seven.
So that removes Kansas City, Buffalo, Baltimore, Detroit, Philly, Tampa. And if we let's throw that bracket back up there, I don't you know, I think Green Bay is gonna lose in round one, and I don't think that Pittsburgh, the Broncos, the Chargers, or the Texans have much of a chance of doing anything. And so to me, it is the Rams clearly as the one. I think they're gonna Yeah, I mean that. Do you think they're gonna beat Philly?
I do think I do you think they're gonna beat Philly? But I think that's just well if they do how Philly was last year.
But I think no, I mean that that that and Jalen Listen, Jalen Hurts. They seem pretty company. He's gonna clear concussion protocol, but he hasn't played a full game since Week fifteen. Week sixteen, he got knocked out early miss seventeen and eighteen, So there is that factor for it. Green Bay winning would really fluster the bracket because and that's what they did last year, is the seventh seed they beat the two seed and then they you know, went to the one seed San Francisco because the NFL
playoffs receeeds. So I'm thinking the Rams win, the bracket holds, and then they go get Detroit. But if green Bay were to win, then green Bay gets Detroit and the Rams get the winner of Washington Tampa. So that's the like the what you're looking if you're watching on YouTube, what you're seeing is a potential bracket. But just remember in the NFL, the way it'll work is Detroit in Kansas City will play whomever the lowest seeded winner is
and then the other two teams play each other. So as a for instance, let's just say Pittsburgh where to beat Baltimore. Then pitts Kana City gets Pittsburgh, you know, if Buffalo beats Denver, like so the the way it is set up is it'll be two versus three and then the one seed against the winner of the four, five, But if two or three get upset, then that kind
of changes the bracket. It's also why you can't really do an NFL playoff bracket March Madness style, because if you get you know, you have to get everything in round one right in order to know who's playing who, and so you can't really, you know, teat game it out that way.
All right, let's go on to Oh, you have a ms of the team you picked. What did you think about them not caring about their seeding in that last week there?
Yeah, so I I understand it. They're an old team that is one version of themselves on offense when healthy, and a totally different version when not. Stafford has not been playing his best football as of late. He's the oldest quarterback in these playoffs, and they determined that they would rather, you know, roll the dice on being the three or the four seed versus having the guys be banged up. And so I don't I have no problem with it whatsoever. I also think the Rams are a
dangerous team. Man. They've won nine of their last eleven. They started one in four and finished the year well. They won nine of their last eleven prior to week eighteen when they weren't playing their guys. I just I think that is a legitimately dangerous team, even though their last they scored forty four on Buffalo Demons, and then in their next three games they won twelve six nineteen
nine games and thirteen to nine. They scored forty four against Buffalo and then forty four combined in their next three. All right, let's go to the last topic of the segment.
Oh yeah, so the team to beat in the AFC will not be able to be beaten in the next month and a half. They obviously missed the playoffs and this is back to back years now they've missed the playoffs. Cincinnati, Uh, what should they? What are they going to do there? What's what's the plan?
Which is well, I mean, I don't know. I would I would recommend they stopped talking. That's the first thing I'd recommend. The second thing I'd recommend is they recognize September counts and they just they they can't keep getting off to these brutal starts and then just thinking we'll get hot at the end of the year. And it is now a undeniable trend that has cost them repeatedly as great as Joe Burrow is. He's been there five years. They've been to the playoffs twice. His rookie year. We
want to throw that out, totally understand. But they started the year one five and one. His second year, they you know, was the one year they didn't start terrible, but they started the year two and three. Is third year they started oh and two and started the year two and three. Last year they started oh and two, and they started the year two and three. This year they started oh and three, and they started the year
one and four. Like those are two big a holes to pull yourself out of repeatedly, and you know them's the breaks, guys. And would it have been fun to see them in the playoffs, Sure, But even when their season was on the line. Two weeks ago they went to overtime with a decent but not great Denver team, and a couple days ago they needed Russell Wilson to totally have a game management meltdown to a gape with a win against a floundering Pittsburgh team. They're not a juggernaut.
Juggernauts don't go nine to eight. Juggernauts don't need help in Week eighteen to make the playoffs, and.
So what the defense? It's the defense. I mean, I think they're playing well. They obviously play well, but they just I think there's the there's the answer some of those.
I mean, it's it's the defense. They also did score nineteen points in Week eighteen in the game they had to win, and like Burrow wasn't great in that game, they were able to win it. And yeah, but the I don't think Higgins is gonna be back, and I think that team doesn't have great coaching. They just fired Loui an Arumo, their defensive coordinator. Like this is a long, tough offseason that they earned by losing to the damn Patriots in Week one. Like, just get your together, guys.
We don't lose to the Patriots in Week one and you're not in this position. Quick break, right back, what's right? Welcome back in what's right with Nick? Right? All right? The regular season's over, demons, So we can do a bit of a year in recap before we get onto the postseason. So take over.
Yeah, so it's the end of the year. You finished forty eight forty and two on your regular season bets, let's take a look at how your preseason bets went do you want me.
To just ye oh yeah, there we go get the ground. No, I'll go through it. So I crushed win totals. Did not do as well on the other ones, so we'll go. My overs were as follows. The Chiefs over eleven and a half they won fifteen games, so that was an easy one. The Rams over eight and a half they won ten despite resting their guys the final week. The Broncos over five and a half they won ten. So those not only did those all win, those were all locked weeks ago. The Bears over eight and a half
was locked out weeks ago. That was a bad one. The Unders the Jets under nine and a half, they won five games, that was locked weeks ago. The Raiders under six and a half they got red hot at the end of the year, still never sniffed it. That was locked weeks ago. The Giants under six and a half they won a game at the end of the year that was locked weeks ago. And Philly under ten and a half. That was a disaster. So those we
did eight preseason win totals. The six winners we had were winners December first, like, those were not even close. Now is when we get to the sketchier piece of it. Division winner bets one great one that covered a lot of us elsewhere. The Rams plus plus three hundred was a great bet, the Bears plus three forty terrible, Cincinnati plus one sixty five terrible. I kind of split Dallas and Washington plus one seventy five and plus eleven hundred.
Remember I put like a quarter unit on Washington. Obviously Philly won that. And then my division winner parlay Kansas City, Buffalo, Cincinnati, and again this is a lesson for folks.
I the.
This getting Cincinnati wrong cost me thirteen units. My Cincinnati division winner bet. I didn't lose thirteen units, but the having it I had, Yeah, right, and I would have won that parlay. But whatever. But again, so my the let me pull it up exactly here for a second, because our graphics guy for the guy that does Zach, who does our graphics for I'm gonna post this shortly for social. So my preseason uh win totals if you include the vig and everything. I bet nine point nine units.
I won thirteen point eight units. So basically plus four units there my division champion win totals. Because those weren't all full unit bets. I bet three full units because those were mostly half or one unit bets. I won two point two, so I lost basically one unit there. Now we get to the playoff bets and some again some good and some bad. Here. I had the Jets to miss the playoffs. That was a winner, Miami to miss the playoffs, that was a winner. Philly to miss
the playoffs. That was a loser. But those were all plus money, so that was really good. And this is what was really bad. My biggest bet of the year was this Giant Raiders Saints Steelers bet plus two hundred. That was a three unit bet. If you remember, Giants missed by a mile, Vegas missed by a mile, New
Orleans missed by a mile. But Pittsburgh not only didn't miss because if you when I made it, I said, if it's close, if one of these teams looks like they could make it, then I could simply, you know, hedge my way out of it to a degree, you know, bet them to make it. Late in the year when it's close. That opportunity never presented itself because Pittsburgh started ten to three, so they were always like minus a huge number to make the playoffs. So that was a
bad one on. So I have a no hedging rule on any bet that I make, with the exception of a bet that I make with the purpose of potentially hedging. So let me give you an example of what I mean there. If so, if you see a team that you do not think can win the Super Bowl, but you think at some point let me give you, let me rather than do it without proper nouns, I'll try to think. So let me go to the current NBA odds and we can explain it maybe a little bit better. So,
gosh darn it. So let me just check the championship NBA Champion odds, so right now. Again, example would be so let's say, demanse, So the Rockets right now are forty four to one to win the championship. I do not think the Rockets can win the championship, but if I do believe that they have a really good chance of making the conference finals, okay, I might bet the Rockets to win the championship with the express purpose of if and when they make the conference finals, hedging out
of it. Yeah, betting exactly right like that. If a team's forty four to one right now, and I think there's a good chance that at some point they're ten to one. I might make that bet just for just for hedging purposes. Now, again, this missed the playoffs bet is not exactly that because I thought I could win that bet. But I also thought if I'm making a three unit bet that I would have a chance to lock in a profit. But again Pittsburgh was too good.
These other two bets were not full units. They were kind of lottery tickets Green Bay Jets Philly. It all missed the playoffs. That was seventeen to one. That obviously was a disaster. And then this one Kan City Buffalo rams Chicago to make the playoffs that was seven to one Chica. You know, three out of four. Three out of four doesn't pay on parlays, which is totally fair. So again on those I bet six point eight units. I won four point seven, so I lost two point one.
And then my two Super Bowl bets, which are annual lottery tickets Kan City versus the Bears in Kansas City to beat the Bears. Those were disasters. So the way the full thing plays out, believe it or not, I bet twenty one point seven units Demanse on our preseason bets. I got back twenty point seven. So that was a
fifteen minute explanation about how I lost one unit. I mean, and that is like and the and so it just you know, we did all that, We did the whole preseason gambling show, and at the end of the day minus one unit, which considering the fact that I was minus two units on my sixty five to one and ninety five to one Super Bowl exactas, means I did pretty good. I basically broke even with a couple of
lottery tickets. So I don't mind it. All right, let's get to now that we've recapped that, let's get to our game today, this or that.
Yeah, so we're playing this or that today, but there's gonna be a small twist on it. So since there's a lot of stories circulated right now, I'm gonna go off with two topics and use this decide which one you want to talk about. From there, we know you'll probably can get on both.
Yeah.
So after Miami's season ended, Tarreek Hill said, I'm opening the door. I'm out bro yet. Meanwhile, Mike Evans cracked a thousand yards for the eleven straight season for little help. Would you rather discuss Tyreek Hill or Mike Evans.
The Mike Evans thing was awesome, but I'd rather discuss Tyreek Hill because I think it's fun to discuss where he could end up. So the team that I could see if they lose to the Chiefs again trying to make a play for him is Buffalo. But I don't think Miami would trade him within the division, so that would make a lot of sense. He would be unbelievable there. They need a field stretcher, but I don't think Miami would do it. There is no AFC North team that
makes sense to me. There is no AFC South team that makes sense to me, because Houston's the only one that Tyreek would potentially want to go to, and they have their receivers. I wonder if the Chargers would be interested. The Broncos theoretically could be interested, but again, if you're a team that doesn't have a great quarterback and you just saw Tyreek kind of napalm his way out of Miami, you probably don't want to get in that business. So the Chargers would be the highest on the list of
potential AFC teams. NFC teams the Cowboys make a ton of sense, and Mike is already recruiting him, and the Commanders Demons with your guy Jaden make a ton of sense. Those are really the only NFC teams. The Eagles have their receivers, the Lions have their receivers, the Vikings have their receivers, the Packers have their receivers, the Bears have their receivers. Tampa has their receivers, the Rams have their receivers, the Niners have their receivers. And again, I only think
a contender would trade for Tyreek. So I say Chargers, Cowboys, Commanders are the most likely destinations for next year and then, And people might be like, why didn't you mention the Chiefs. The Chiefs are not trading for Tyreek Hill at his salary. They're just not. They made the choice to move off the super expensive receiver, and they've won every Super Bowl played since then. Now with that said, what I think
is gonna happen is someone's gonna trade for him. It's not gonna go great, And in twenty twenty six he'll be a Chief again. Twenty twenty five somewhere else, and twenty twenty six he'll be a Chief again, that's my guess.
Over there, so that we'll make Bryce on in them instant contenders next year.
Tyreek doesn't want to go to Carolina, man, I mean it would be he doesn't want to do it. That's just not going to happen, all right.
Next, So the top of the draft order is set and it looks different from a week ago. Would you rather discuss New England blowing the number one pick or Tennessee getting the number one pick?
Well, the only interesting thing about the Patriots blowing the number one pick is this folks acting like the Chiefs are the first team in NFL history to rest guys in Week eighteen, when literally that same earlier that day, the Bills put on such an epic tank job that they lost to a team that didn't want to win, that had only won three games all year and was playing its third string quarterback. And that just gets lost
in the ether. And so Tennessee getting the number one pick, I mean, they probably draft cam Ward, maybe Shador, but it seems like Vegas thinks it will be cam Ward and they hope they get it right. Like Tennessee is one of the more hopeless and least interesting teams in the league, and so you hope they get the quarterback, right. It was never gonna be Will Levis and Titans fans who were so mouthy this offseason, because the Titans did go for it. They signed you know what I mean,
They spent a lot of money in free agency. They traded for Lagerius Snead. By the way, what a great trade by Brett Veach. Beach had a whole list of teams offering third round picks for Lagerius Snead. He took the Titans because he anticipated the Titans might be terrible. They end up being the worst team in the league
this year. And now the Chiefs they don't actually get the first pick of the third round because that actually rotates, but they now have the second pick of the third round because he took the best possible trade that you could get for Snead. So the Chiefs are gonna draft thirty well, assuming they win the Super Bowl, obvious, they're gonna draft thirty two, sixty four, and sixty six, which I like quite a bit, all right.
Next, Aaron Rodgers entered the five hundred touchdown club and may have played his final game in the NFL. Caleb Williams wrapped up his first year with the Bears, winning Green Bay since twenty fifteen. Would you rather discuss Rogers' potential final season or Caleb's rookie season?
I'd rather Oh, I'll be honest, I'd rather not talk about either of these right now. Feel like I've talked about these two quarterbacks a lot. I love Caleb and I'm glad it ended on a high note. But we're gonna spend a lot of time talking Caleb and the Bears once they decide on their head coach, because that's the most consequential decision this franchise will make over the next decade, is who this head coach is? And Rogers I'm just sick of talking about all right? Last one?
Week eighteen was not the most exciting week ever. Felt like most of thee was resting their guys and most games didn't matter. Are we sure we need seventeen games? When your Chiefs demolished thirty eight zero by the Broncos, which is grace? Would you rather discuss Week eighteen or your Chiefs?
I mean, did the Chiefs game went exactly the way you'd hope for? Which is nobody got hurt? So I don't really like the Chiefs things irrelevant. Here's the thing about Week eighteen, and nobody has put it quite this simply, but this is the best way to think about it. The more games in the season, the more likely the
final games meaningless. And the NFL opted to extend the season, which means it's more likely you have a lot of Week eight teams like the one you just saw, where a lot of teams are locked into where they are. And and again it sometimes things like this are the easiest to think about if you just go max men, if the NFL season were one game long, then the final week of the season would always be meaningful for every single team because it would be your entire season, right.
And if the NFL season were a hundred games long, then for a lot of teams, the final six weeks of the season might be totally meaningless, and for most teams, the final game of the season would be you'd be locked in if if it was still a sixteen game season, how many teams were one hundred percent locked into their playoff position in Week sixteen. The answer to that is one the Houston Texans. That was it. They couldn't they had already clinched the division and they couldn't go higher
than four, so they would have been the only team resting. Guys, you extend it one week. The Chiefs are locked in, the Bills are locked in, the Eagles are locked in. The Rams are locked in a band, and they don't care as much. The Commanders and Packers are locked in a band and they don't care as much. Like that's what you get, Like, that's just how it works. So I the it is, and if you go to eighteen games, you'll get even more of it. So just be careful
what you wish for on that front. Quick break, answer some listener questions. Next, we'll right welcome back in. We'll drive in the Great Demons. Let's go to some listener questions.
Austin says, do you think that the forty nine Ers quarterback contract could be could be the inflection point for the teams that not feel sorry to not feel obligated to play quarterbacks and that are not top ten players and just go to the draft that year Jesus Christ.
So to not pay quarterbacks that are not top ten guys, I I I doubt it, but it would be interesting. This is the thing Barnwall's talked about for years. I've talked about, which is is will a team not in the position the Niners are in, will a team ever do the following. Let's say that team's the Niners Rock Party.
We're not paying you. You have a year under contract, you're gonna play it out, and the next year we're trading you for a first round pick to a team that wants to pay you, and we're just gonna stay on the quarter the rookie contract quarterback cycle until we hit on a no doubt superstar. What we're not doing
is paying a mid tier quarterback top tier money. Nobody's been willing to do that, and I don't think the Niners are gonna do it, but I think it would be the smart thing to do, all right, Demon, Tyler's got a question for you. Who do you trust more in these playoffs? Jayde and Daniels or Jordan Love. I know you're the Jordan Love guy, so I was curious.
Yeah, I gotta go with Jordan Love here. I've already seen it Jayde and Daniels. Obviously, he's had a great rookie season, but it's all been regular season stuff. Haven't seen him in the postseason yet, so I can't say that I trust Jaye Daniels more. But but I mean, yeah.
Guys, that's the exact right answer. Listen, that's the exact right answer. Anybody that has never started a playoff game, the you just don't know how that cauldron's gonna impact them. And Jordan Love has played two playoff games, played unbelievable in one and played decent in the other. So there's just more of a proof of concept there, all right.
Next Jamal first time catching the live I normally listen on Spotify. What do you think the best bet of the year? You guys made.
Best bet? We I don't know. I mean, there's so many good ones, but I do think us giving out to the audience the Bucks Rams seven to one division winner bet when they were both underdogs for it is pretty good. Like midway through the year. I like that one a lot. I mean, I did hit a nice same game parlay on my own, but that was, you know, that was that's separate al right.
Next Curtis Actually Sam thoughts on the LiAngelo ball song.
I don't have anything. I haven't listened to it.
You haven't listened to it at all? A little bit different.
Okay, no, I've seen it plenty of times, but is it good?
It's I've only heard the first, uh that little twenty second snippet, but apparently it's it's the league's talking NFL guys even they're banging it. I think after Dan Campber's motivational speech to the players, one of the players is like, throw that lie angel on after like all the hockey?
Really they played the song yet? Oh good? But ms I mean I'm not anti. I'll listen to it.
There's a little follow up there that says, which ball brother do you think will end with the best career? I mean it's gotta be Amelo.
I mean, yeah, it'll be LaMelo even though, but I just's it wouldn't surprise me if LaMelo never once makes the playoffs because he's gonna always have the numbers of a max guy. And if LaMelo is a max guy on your team, I don't know how you're gonna be a playoff team. Maybe he'll mature, but maybe not.
All right, Next, Curtis says, if the Chiefs three peat this year, will you be the first to advocate for a four peat? Or will the Broncos and Chargers have caught up enough with the Chiefs to have a saying it.
The Chiefs three peat. Yeah, I'll probably think that they're gonna go ahead and keep winning Super Bowls. Yeah, But the idea that I'd be worried about the Broncos is laughable. Broncos had a really nice season. I'm happy for him. But the No, I don't think the Broncos or the Chargers are threatening the dynasty as of yet. And I think the Broncos are a ways away, and we'll see how far away the Chargers are. But no, I'm not worried about the Broncos or the Chargers. All right.
Last one, Jordan, aside from getting your three peat pick right, what are you hoping the most? What are you hoping the most to get right about the twenty twenty four NFL.
I that's a really good question. So I just have to take the Chiefs out of it. I'd like the Rams to go on a run. Oh okay, I'd like the Rams to go on a run because I feel like, even though they're not my pick, I've kind of been, you know, at keeping them in the contender category all year. I've been talking them up more than most all year, and I'd really really like to see a Mahome Stafford
super Bowl. We we should have gotten that three years ago, and then that second half against the Bengals happened and we didn't get it, and so I you know, so I'd like the Rams to go on a run. All right, we'll do our wild Card weekend picks on Thursday. Great job, everyone, Great job to Monday. I'll see you guys on with Colin in ninety minutes on my show in about three and a half hours. What's 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 platform of choice and subscribe there as well. Don't forget. We're live every Tuesday and Thursday ten thirty am Eastern Ish ten thirty five, ten forty. It sometimes changes, but that's why you hit the bell. You hit the bell so you're notified. You subscribe so
we can get to two hundred thousand followers. We're right around one hundred and fifty thousand. We'd love to get to two hundred thousand, get demanday another plaque, so like subscribe rate, send a rating to do all that cool stuff. Thanks guys,