00:00:02
Speaker 1: Welcome in What Draven the Great? Episode four eighty nine. This episode of What Draven the Great, as always, is presented to you by our dear friends at boost Mobile we Alsow for the first time in a while, get to welcome back demands fresh from the final days of paternity leave. And you really did time this paternity leave perfectly. As your final your first day back at work was also your newly nine month old daughters first day trying out a little daycare with other little babies, as that one milestone was hit yesterday. Great to see you. How are you good?
00:00:44
Speaker 2: To see you? Bops, I'm amazing. I'm amazing. Right it talks about basketball football seasons here, but yeah, I'm ready, fool.
00:00:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it is. This is kind of perfect timing as a few scheduling notes for you guys. So we're gonna have the shows this week. Then I made a quick pivot instead of going dark for two weeks while I'm out of town before football gets going, instead of re racking old episodes, and we still might do some end of week like best ofs you know from the summer. Maybe bring back a couple of the fifty greatest players the last fifty years, have some of those episodes drop in your feed something like that. I kind of made it a bit of an executive decision and hit up Ty Butler and Damon Bruce, one guy on the East Coast, one guy on the West Coast. Two great radio hosts, one from San Francisco, one from New York who both have their own YouTube shows, and for the first time ever in the five YEARSSH this show is run, we're gonna have live episodes of What's Right with Nick Wright that Nick Wright is not a part of. So we will have next week in your feed and on YouTube and on Spotify and iTunes anywhere you get your podcasts. As always, like rate Subscribe Review, we will have live episodes, but I won't be on them. It'll be Ty Butler and Damon Bruce. So those will be coming your way at the end of August, and then I will come back refreshed from Europe with my wife to get us rolling in football season. And the timing of today is also quite well, quite good because we there are some football stories and we're ramping up as we're four weeks and a day away from opening kick. But the only real big stories this time of year are usually injury related Telaramie Tunsell went down in training camp or this, you know, Micah Parson's rehab. I'm not saying it's behind schedule, but he's targeting like week six to come back. They're kind of bummers stories usually, And so the NBA gave us a bit of a gift by announcing their opening Night and Christmas Day games, which is where we will start the show. But before we do that, straight the voicemail brought to you by Boost Mobile, Quinn Williams gets a very nice extension with the Cowboys three years up to one hundred and six million dollars Panthon Niakos in Greece. The owner seems to really believe that he might be able to get Nikolejokic next offseason with any other NBA superstar, I would say that is an impossibility with Joker and the fact that he has yet to sign an extension. Daniel Earmuff's buddy, I'm not putting it at zero percent. I think it's I think.
00:03:44
Speaker 2: It is in his character too.
00:03:47
Speaker 1: On the board, Wow, Daniel, what an evolved take by Daniel. Daniel puts in the dock. As long as he doesn't NBA teams. Dude deserves to be happy. He's given me everything. So Joker's like, you know what, America, it's been cool, Deuces. I'm going to grease to play basketball. Daniel's gonna wish him well. Good for you, Daniel. I respect that. I appreciate that. Also, Ben Simmons allegedly eyeing a comeback and Bill Simmons. Listen, Bill Simmons is my friend. I consider him my friend. He did a podcast with my dear friend and Coast Kevin Wilds where Bill just casually dropped the take that he's not a seat belt guy, that he just drives his car, waits for the card the thing to stop beeping after him minute, and just doesn't wear a seat belt. It was one of the more wild takes I've ever heard. Also, just a total missed opportunity by kW on that Demons. I don't you might not get this reference, but the listeners will. kW should have just just absolutely just slid in there when Bill is just being like, yeah, I know it's bad, but I don't wear a seatbelt. All. He was sitting right there for him For kW to be like, con didn't make you buckle up, it would have been great, it would he really missed, he really missed the opportunity. If so, if I'll explain the joke now to people who aren't in the Bill Simmons lower. Bill Simmons did a podcast with Conk Nipple, who is you know just finished his rookie season in the NBA and was a long time Bill Simmons fan, and is you know nineteen years old. Bill's studio like my studio is at his house and Bill and Bill. It was actually on I was on the pod with him when he said kind of in passing and then when I was driving con home blah blah bah, and then people picked up on it. It's like, wait a minute, you drove him home. He didn't like send a car, and and so they asked men. Bill's like, yeah, I drove him home. He's nineteen years old. I didn't want to put him in an uver. It was its very adorable, but so Wild's missed an easy joke there. But more importantly, Bill, you gotta wear your seat belt, man, This isn't nineteen sixty five, like you just gotta wear your seat belt now. I I I This podcast from Bill made me do some introspection on my own seat belt wearing because I realized something that makes no sense whatsoever. I wear a seatbelt one hundred percent of the time that I am driving. I wear a seat belt one hundred percent of the time that I am riding in the front seat and my wife is driving, which is really only Daniel's only driving. If I've been drinking Jesus passenger Princess all the way, I wear a seat But then I thought about it. I was like, but in ubers, I'm at like eighty percent, and in taxis are I might be at like, yeah, eighty percent, I maybe seventy five, I don't know, And in taxis I might be at like twenty five percent, which makes no sense because those are like, they're far and away the most aggressive, reckless drivers of the cab drivers. And so I you know, I'm using Bill Simmons pod as a turning point for me. I'm just gonna be one hundred percent seat all guy, all the time, whether I'm driving or not. I already was while I was driving, but it was a wild take hearing someone just be like, yeah, I don't I and I even in the producer saying do you sit in the front of maneuver. No I sit in the back seat of vaneuver, but I'm saying that that's what I'm saying. If I'm in the front seat of a car driving or passenger, I always wear it, but for something and I only ever sit in the back seat of ride shares or cabs. For some reason, it doesn't like I don't know why. It's not like it's safer. I just don't think of it.
00:08:11
Speaker 2: Maybe it's it's seat noise isn't going off.
00:08:14
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:08:15
Speaker 2: I don't know what I see.
00:08:16
Speaker 1: I also did try to think of like the circumstances under which I was like, I suppose if you had like a classic convertible like from the sixties, and we're driving down like an ocean front highway, maybe you would like maybe under that specific picture in my brain, you want to just feel like totally unrestricted. But other than that, I feel like just bill for me, you know, longtime listeners and readers, friends, people that grew up watching you listening to you wear your seatbelt bro like, and I you know what, we can put this out on social and I think it will get momentum. This is I want to lead the charge of folks in media that Bill Simmons has done something for us, either by writing columns when we were in high school or college or by paving the way in a lot of ways. Because k W did not push back nearly enough, that was a moment. I would be, I honest to God, think it's if we do the math on it, like not much less reckless than if he just dropped like on the pod, like yeah, the first of every month, I do a little cocaine. Like that's just my thing, like just like Jesh's my thing, Like I and I feel like that he said that. kW would have been like, WHOA, don't do that. So like Bill, wear your seatbelt, Bro, you're driving a lot. You're in California, where your seatbelt's going to these Clipper games and into it dome.
00:10:02
Speaker 2: That's a farhad the amount of driving. Does that matter? No, Maybe it's a short trip down the street to the grocery store. Do you need to have a seatbull on?
00:10:14
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean the thing is like it's it's I'm a gambler, right, And so there's a lot of there's risk versus reward that we have to always incorporate. And I would say there is literally zero reward from not wearing your seatbelt, just none, Like there's just you get the That's why I tried to create the scenario. I'm like, all right, maybe you're in like a nineteen sixty two Stingray convertible, the winds in your hair driving like maybe, but no, in general, guys, just driving an escalade down the p like throw a throw a seat. Just go ahead and buckle up, man, buckle up. You know what. Let's buckle up, guys. That's the that's the lesson of today's show, Scott and Bucklow. All right, let's talk NBA Opening Night. Go ahead.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: So the full NBA schedule releases Thursday, but they've already announced some big days. So Opening Day we've got Pistons at Celtics, Sixers at Knicks, Thunders at Spurs, and then Christmas Day you've got Spurs at Nicks, Heats at Celtics, Sixers at Lakers, Thunders at Timberwolves, Nuggets at Warriors. Which of these games are you eyeing or looking forward to?
00:11:30
Speaker 1: Well, so massive takeaways all over the spot. First of all, I'm gonna jump right to you know what. We'll get to the snubs later. Let's talk about the positives. Five teams got both Marquee Days, thunder Spurs, Sixers, Knicks, Celtics. Those are the five teams that are playing Opening Day and Christmas. The only I guess somewhat prize there is the Celtics' brand equity being that strong. I mean again, like I I wouldn't think the Celtics would be left out. And the Celtics are one of the greatest franchises in the history not just of the NBA of sports, and they've got a superstar in Jason Tatum, and they're supposed to be good, really good. But it it surprised me a little bit that the Celtics were. Let me put it like this, of the five teams that got double dips, the Celtics were the most surprising, even if it's not that surprising at all, so that you know, that jumped out to me. The five other teams that got a single game were the Pistons more on them in a moment, the heat more on them as well, then Timberwolves, Nuggets, Warriors. Okay, so in no particular order. My immediate first takeaway is we have a bunch four years face of the league conversations and then every single year, the NBA tells us, yeah, it's Bron, Yeah, it's just Bron. In fact, we can't even do the schedule until Lebron signs. And then when he does sign, we're gonna give his team the premier spot on Christmas Day, the three pm Chris or five pm the third game on Christmas, the the Marquee Christmas Day game. Hey, are we gonna do rematch of the finals? No, we'll put that in the morning. All right? Are we gonna do? What are other options here? We're gonna how about how about Lebron with you know, with his one game back in Los Angeles? How about that's the Marquee game? Okay, that's Christmas?
00:13:56
Speaker 2: All right?
00:13:56
Speaker 1: What about Opening night? Opening Night? What are we doing? Are we doing the rematch of the finals?
00:14:02
Speaker 2: There?
00:14:03
Speaker 1: No, we're not gonna do that there. Oh, okay. Are we gonna do Jail and Brown Jason Tatum that you know that? No, we'll find another spot for that. How about Lebron against the defending champs? How about the defending champs when they get to open their drop their banner? Lebron's there? Sound good for everyone? Think people will watch? Good for ratings? Good for business. Cool? What are we doing with Wimby? We'll put them on after what about? What about? What about? On Christmas Day? We'll put them on in the morning when Beal are opening their presence. We gotta make like Again, I'm not even saying this is not an evaluation of whether or not this is what they should do. This is an evaluation of what they will do. And what they're telling you is the NBA universe still revolves around Lebron James, right or wrong, and they're scheduling it accordingly. So that's first take away. Second takeaway, Steph Curry's star power is real because of the fifteen teams, not fifteen ten teams pardon me, that have games Opening Day or Christmas. The worst team by a mile is Golden State and they're you know they are. They're they were never going to be left out. Like every other team listed there should be somewhere from really good to excellent. And then there's the Warriors in a game that nobody even thinks Jimmy Butler will be back for and they are the final game on Christmas Day, so shout out to them on that to step on that front. Couple other small takeaways surprising to me. Demands that we're gonna have a Christmas Day and Opening Day, by the way, but focus on Christmas. For there's five games with no Durant, like I can't the I can't remember the last time Durant's team with the Suns. Maybe I don't think so, though, because those seems were like and Durant's on a good team. The Rockets are Rockets are a good team. To have no Durant on Christmas Day is noteworthy to me. I'm not I and again they're the only I don't know that there were snubs. I'm sure the Caves are a little annoyed, and I bet the Rockets are a little annoyed. But that's really all that jumps out to me. Let me ask you, h I am. Also, I'm a little surprised that the Pistons got invited to the party, even though it's the three pm, middle of the day opening day game. That and maybe they didn't work. It's a little surprising the Pistons are there. I would have thought maybe the heat with Giannis would have gotten both, you know, Opening Day and Christmas Day. But I guess if heat at Celtics's Christmas, You're not gonna have Celtics heat opening night. So that's where they mix in the Pistons. But it is surprising to me even that the Pistons got that slot over Cleveland or hell over Houston, like that is.
00:17:46
Speaker 2: Land.
00:17:49
Speaker 1: No, I the NBA clearly agrees with you. Like the NBA clearly agrees with you. So here are my other, you know, general takeaways. I do think for Opening Night, six Ers next thunder Spurs is awesome strategically by the league because for most people and by the Vegas odds, those are the projected conference finals. So an opportunity for the NBA season to start with those four teams basically and end with those four teams. I like that. I also would be remiss if I didn't recognize who wasn't playing on Opening Day that we haven't mentioned. So demons go ahead, because you have a fun little fact here in stat here.
00:18:49
Speaker 2: So the Lakers have played on Opening Night every year since twenty nineteen. How do you think that they missed the cut this year?
00:18:58
Speaker 1: So what happened in twenty nineteen? This kind of goes back to my original point. Bron signed there, Bron left, and the Lakers all of a sudden like, sorry, guys, we don't have a spot for you. Like Lakers at Celtics is sitting right there for anybody that wants it instead of Pistons at Celtics. And you guys know how much I the Oh yeah, Lebron got there in twenty eighteen, signed in twenty eighteen. Pardon me, you guys know how much I how much I like Luca. But the fact that the the Lakers have been supplanted in the Western Conference by the two small market juggernauts thunder Spurs, and that they just for the first time in eight years or seven years, they're not an Opening Night is I guess somewhat noteworthy to me. Well, listen, I I think it is. I'm really interested in what Luca can do this year. I they also, you know, they they looked at the team that Luca took to the NBA Finals with Dallas a few years ago and said, how can we best remake that? And that's what they tried to do. I you know, it's been I spent a lot of time while you were on paternity to leave talking about how I thought the Lakers could have handled the final year of Lebron better to where maybe he would have signed with them for the minimum rather than signing with the Sixers for the minimum. But that that's water under the bridge at this point. But the the league is making very very clear to you through this schedule, at least in my eyes that they view right now, they're three biggest attractions as the Sixers, the Spurs, and the Knicks. That's the metal stand with also receiving votes being the Thunder and the Celtics, and they I'm I'm very I'm in i am very interested in how the Thunder, what the Thunders coverage is like in national TV games, and all those things are like this year because they were never an overwhelmingly popular team outside of their own fan base to begin with. But when it's like, yeah, but they're the champs, they're the best. They're the juggernaut that you know, gives you a cachet that gets removed a bit when you don't win the title again, when you don't make the finals again. And now it feels like the Spurs having beaten them and being a team on the upswing, while the Thunder it feels like lost some you know, semi valuable parts and some pieces are a team that is potentially at least not on the down swing, but just a not quite as good as they were the last couple of years. So that's interesting. And then you know, the teams we haven't really discussed here. I mentioned the Heat that I thought maybe they could have gotten the double dip opening day on Christmas aunt LaMelo and the Timberwolves. They host the Thunder on Christmas Night and then Joker against Steph as the nightcap, with two teams that I don't think either one really thinks they have a real shot at winning the championship, despite having in Joker's case, maybe the best player in the world and in the Warriors case, with Steph, one of the greatest players ever. Before we get to these other questions, did you demonte did you have anything that jumped out to you or that or you want it about your Celtics. I am anything about the opening a few nights h. No.
00:23:08
Speaker 2: I was surprised that they got added to both to both of those days considering how the last couple of years has went. But I am really looking forward to seeing how the Timberwolves look this year. I'm very high on them. But uh but yeah, no, I mean, oh yeah.
00:23:23
Speaker 1: Because so, I mean, that'll be that seeing Aunt LaMelo is going to be a show, that's for sure.
00:23:31
Speaker 2: Do we not.
00:23:32
Speaker 1: Have any details on the first six or Celtics games. That's the other thing.
00:23:40
Speaker 2: That to me is, yeah, the fact that Jaylen Brown's going to be able to guard Jason Tatum all year over there and yeah.
00:23:49
Speaker 1: Back and forth exactly. And so now, listen, they're gonna play each other four times, but if they it that that is the other so that you know what I just stumbled upon. My other big takeaway that the league decided instead of having if they wanted to have Bron and the Sixers as the premiere Christmas game, the third Christmas game, the five PM slot, that they didn't make that Sixer Celtics, that they they they prioritized Lebron's one game back in LA over what could have been Jalen Brown's first game back in Boston.
00:24:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know what I mean.
00:24:42
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, yeah, I mean that's definitely true, but it is, but it also feels like there's more. I don't think I don't think it's fair to call it bad blood between the Lakers and Lebron. It might not be great blood, but I don't think it's like it.
00:24:59
Speaker 2: You know, they you don't think that's pretty either. There hasn't been the Jalen Brown situation with the Celtics and Lebron with the Lakers, like just feeling like the team has not done well by you, you know, like I feel like they both didn't have like crazy bad I didn't Jalen.
00:25:15
Speaker 1: Brown feel yeah, I mean yeah, I think Jalen Brown feels done dirty and has like and there has been little, you know, semi public sniping between the sides Lakers and Lebron and Luke and all that publicly has all been super positive. You know, thank you for a great run. We appreciate it. Through he did, he didn't get traded away, so you know it just even if below the surface there is you know, carping about the other side to people, it's not as obvious as I think the Celtics Jalen Brown thing. And I'm really interested. So that's the game that isn't listed here that I am. I'm most interested in singing Jalen Brown's first game, not against Boston, necessarily first game in Boston, like he obviously should get a standing ovation from the crowd. I imagine he will, but seeing him and Tatum go head to head, I think will be you know, really fun and really interesting. And so yeah, I think the you know, shout out to the NBA. Also the what are the other opening week games that we know about, demanse.
00:26:33
Speaker 2: So we got Lebron versus Cleveland, Denver at OKAC, and Knicks at Celtics. Do you think that any of those should have made Opening Night?
00:26:43
Speaker 1: H No, I think these are all exactly you know, we've listen, Lebron's been playing against the Calves without being on the Calves for almost a decade now, so like we don't need that one. Denver at OKC, I mean that was I mean that is a good matchup in a good series. Uh historically has been a good series potentially, But no, so oh you know what the game that So this one does jump out to me now that I think about it. We have Thunder at Timberwolves and Nuggets at Warriors. Nuggets at Timberwolves seems like, you know, the one of the prime rivalries right now, and you know they've played in the playoffs a bunch of times, so I think that one you maybe could have done Thunder against the Warriors, But They probably wanted to give the thunder up make that more likely to be a good game, and they think the Timberwolves will be better than the Warriors. But it does feel like Nuggets Timberwolves is the more heated rivalry and we're not. I don't know when we're getting that. And oh, one other note, the only team with top ten title odds to not be in one of these games is the Raptors. Now, I think that's twofold. One is I think it is because the way television ratings work, anytime you do a Canadian team, it kind of it's not great for the rating because you get such a boost from the home market, but the home market when you do a Canadian team's not measured because it's not the US. So I think that's a small piece of it. But the other piece of it is whatever's going on with Kawhi. I think that if they put the Raptors on Opening Night, or if they featured the Raptors in any of this, Adam Silver would be accused of either putting his finger on the scale or tipping his hand like about what penalty is or isn't coming. So I think they felt it was easier just leave the Raptors out of it. Plus again, like the Raptors aren't great for television ratings purely because they're a Canadian market. All right, I think we covered NBA Opening night really well. I still we've been on the show for a half hour. I think probably the best thing we did was the Bill Simmons seatbelt stuff. We'll see if we can top that with our football discussion. But first support for today's episode comes from Square, the system powering around half the places I go. If you've ever tapped to pay and thought, WHOA, that was fast fast, it was probably Square. Whether you're selling lattes, cutting hair, running a back game, day spot, or managing a design studio, Square helps you run your business without running yourself into the ground. And right now, listeners can get up to two hundred dollars off Square hardware when you sign up at Square dot com, slash go, slash right that's s q U A r E dot com slash g O, slash WRI I g h T. Visit Square to get started because the right tools make a all the difference. There's just something about businesses that use Square. They feel a little more put together. Quick checkout, easy, receipts. Sometimes you can get loyalty points. People love that Squares the platform behind the scenes of so many businesses you already love, and gives them one connected system to take payments, manage inventory, run payrolls, send invoices, and track it all from one place. Squaresn't just fast, It's smart, transparent, and built for the way people actually run their businesses. No contracts, no hidden fees, no complicated installs. Just tools that accept every major payment method Tap, Chip, Apple pay, and Online. Let you see sales and inventory in real time across every channel, and help you access your earnings immediately with Square Banking. Want some real proof business Businesses using Square Online earn thirty six percent more revenue on average. If you're starting a business or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. Right now, you can get up to two hundred dollars off Square hardware at Square dot com, slash go, slash right, that's squ a r E dot com, slash Go, slash w r I g HD. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today, All right, de Monte, Let's talk a little NFL training camp.
00:31:23
Speaker 2: Oh we are a couple weeks in the Chiefs training camp and seen some pretty good things. Patrick Mahomes, a full participant, says that he sometimes forgets about his knee injury and just plays football. He seems to be connecting very well with Cyrus Allen, the rookie wide receiver. There's also been a couple of fights out of training camp. Kenneth Walker shot a takedown apparently. So what's been catching your eye? Chiefs training camp?
00:31:47
Speaker 1: All right, So a few things. One is, listen, Patrick's gonna play as if he never got hurt. And there is I think because Patrick doesn't have He doesn't have the speed of Lamar, or the size of Josh Allen, or just the obvious crazy athleticism that we see from certain NFL and NBA guys. People have underrated in their head what just a sick, raw athletic specimen he is because the dad bought or whatever. But this is a player who his second year as a starter, got his kneecap dislocated on the field and missed two games in a year they went on to win their first Super Bowl. And then a player who in his fifty year as a starter, suffered a brutal high ankle sprain during the first during his first playoff game, the Divisional round that usually would keep guys out a month. He not only missed zero games, but in the AFC Championship Game and in the Super Bowl, you could argue the two biggest plays of the game were Mahomes scrambles. And it's a player who blew out his knee in December, and I feel like I can say this, I don't think he'd be upset with me. By March was texting me videos of him working out and making throws on the practice field or on the training field, whatever.
00:33:41
Speaker 2: It is.
00:33:45
Speaker 1: The combination of the fact that he got the surgery the day after the injury, his insane work ethic, and his wild natural athleticism is going to lend itself to as fast as an ACL recovery as we've seen. And that's what we're in the midst of seeing. And so I my concerns for the Chiefs are not about Patrick. Now that is not to say the Chiefs doesn't the Chiefs do not have concerns. Obviously, for the fourth consecutive year, the entire wide receiver room is uh yeah, maybe yeah, maybe Rashid Rice can play himself into shape after having an offseason that was slightly derailed by having a knee cleanup procedure and then a couple days later being sent to jail for thirty days. That was an ideal. A first round pick. And Xavier Worthy, who got hurt the first game, one of the first plays of the first game last year and then this year in camp already reaggravated that shoulder a little bit again or rec I don't even know if it's the same shoulder. Reaggravated a shoulder. That's not ideal. Uh, this, as Demonse said, the breakout guy of camp is fifth round rookie Cyrus Allen. Listen, maybe he's Pooka Nakua. We'll see. There's you know, there's a mid round wide receiver almost every year. They don't always turned into Pooka. But that is a legitimate contributor immediately. Maybe that's him. The Chiefs think it can be him. The Ravens think it can be Jakobe Lane. Like you know, the mid round wide receiver that looks great in training camp is not an unprecedented thing. Seeing that player turn into a real contributor as a rookie. That's a bit different, so the receiving room's a question mark. They spent the sixth overall pick and trade it up to get mansword de Lane. He has been, you know, not in full contact ever since a shoulder blade injury back in OTAs. I'm not as worried about him as others. I think he'll be back in the next couple of weeks. He should be there for week one. But the secondary as a whole is new and will be a work in progress. What I think the Chiefs have going for them on that front as far as the secondary, because it's young guys, it's guys who haven't played together, is they don't play what I would consider be a top flight quarterback until mid October. Their first five weeks of the season are bow Knicks, Daniel Jones, Malik Willis, and then whoever's starting for the Raiders at that point Mendoz are Cousins. Then they have a bye. The good quarterbacks on their schedule are after that and so I and again, bo Nicks has proven to be a gamer and his clutch and his and the Chiefs, but I just don't think he's gonna be whipping the ball all over the field. So the secondary will have time to gel the question. The only other major question I have, then I'll talk about the things I have confidence in, is what is the pass rush going to look like. They did not address edge in the offseason much at all. They did draft are Mason Thomas, so they hope he can be good there. They just signed Emmanuel Agba, who's been in the league ten years. He's a journeyman at this point. He did win a Super Bowl with the Chiefs. But where they are hoping they are going to generate the pass rush is Chris Jones. Alongside him Peter Woods, who sixteen months ago people thought could be the number one overall pick of last year's draft after a pretty lackadaisical year at Clemson. He fell all the way to the end of Round one. The Chiefs grabbed him and he has looked sensational sensational in camp, so they hope they can get the pass rush there. And then on the other side of the ball, where my confidence for the Chiefs this year really comes from is I believe they have right now the best offensive line Mahomes has had in four years, maybe five. You add that to the fact that for the first time since Mahomes' first ten games as a starter. They have a legitimate plus player at running back in Kenneth Walker. I think they are going to Teams are gonna have to respect the run. They're gonna be able to stay ahead of the chains, and they're not going to be asking Mahomes to do everything. The most important thing for any Patrick Mahomes team is having a solid offensive line, and the second most important thing is having a defense that can get off the field on third down. We'll see if they have that defense, if they have enough pass rush. I truly believe they have that offensive line, and I think Mahomes is gonna be a man on fire this year, even if he doesn't have the receivers necessary to be able to put up crazy numbers. But we saw him win a League MVP with his number one receiver being Marquez Valdez, Scantling, number two being McCall or Juju, number three being McColl the number four being Justin Watson, So I wouldn't put it past him. But I think they're going to be more of a run centric team and I'm fine with that. And then Eric b Enemy after the True Family tragedy that he had a few weeks ago is back with the team, and he makes a real difference with this team. So for all those reasons I am, plus the fact that I don't believe in the Chargers, and even though I have grown to begrudgingly respect what Sean Payton is built in Denver, I don't I don't think Denver is gonna repeat fourteen wins. You know, I'm bullish for Kansas City. But you win six games, you miss the playoffs, you lose obviously the air of invincibility, and you lose some of the bravado. You gotta go back out and earn it again. Schedule too, well, the schedule is light early and gets tough late. Yeah, so starting in week so, I'll just go through the schedule quickly. Here I told you the first four weeks home Denver, home Indy, at Miami at Vegas, then the bye, then a tough three game stretch, and then a little break home for the Chargers at Seattle, at Denver for home for the Jets, at Atlanta, home for Arizona. Okay, So that's the first ten games, and then the final seven games at Buffalo, at the Rams, at the Bengals home for New England home for San Francisco at the Chargers home for the Raiders. Should we do a little win loss Chiefs way too early, win loss, go through the schedule.
00:41:32
Speaker 2: Yeah you like that?
00:41:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, I'll do We can both do it, and we'll see what record will come up with.
00:41:41
Speaker 2: All right.
00:41:42
Speaker 1: Home for Denver, Week one, Monday Night Football, Arrowhead on fire, my homes back Chiefs. Remind Denver the division still goes through them. I'll take the Chiefs there. They're one and h. You're with me against your guy Daniel Jones. Home against the Colt Sunday Night Football. We're two and oh chalking up.
00:42:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, two and oh.
00:42:09
Speaker 1: Week three at Miami, Week four at Vegas. Holy shit, the Chiefs are four and oh going into the bye. Okay, Week five, out of the bye home Andy Reid off a bye against the Chargers. We're five and oh.
00:42:27
Speaker 2: I'll give that.
00:42:30
Speaker 1: Weeks that's Week six, actually not Week five. Game games game five though, five and oh going into Seattle Sunday Night Football, Super Bowl Champs. First loss of the year. Yea five and one. We're five and one. Following Sunday Afternoon with Jim Nance and maybe Tony Romo on the call uh in Denver after having beaten Denver in Week one. We lose. We're five and two. We're five and two home for the Jets. Week nine, easy work at Atlanta. They're trailing in the fourth quarter. It looks stupid. Find a way to win. Get that win home for Arizona. Win through ten games. We're eight and two. Short week in Buffalo, Thursday night football on Thanksgiving. That is a loss. That is an absolute lockstock loss. Loss at Buffalo. The following Thursday at Los Angeles, that's the Rams. That's a loss too, that's a loss to We're now yeah, we're eight and four, little extra rest at Cincinnati, the Bengals at that point, who knows what their team looks like, who their coach is. That's a when. We haven't lost to Cincinnati since they claimed it was Burrowhead. We're nine and four home New England, maybe with some seating on the line. Monday Night football. That's a when.
00:44:34
Speaker 2: Take the Chiefs there.
00:44:36
Speaker 1: We're ten and four the home San Francisco. The Chiefs have not lost to the Niners in Mahomes' career. It's also now it's late December. God knows how many players the substation has eaten by then. That's a when they're eleven and four. Week seventeen at the Chargers, the Chiefs are eleven and four. The Chargers probably need the game to keep their wild card hopes alive. Gritty win, the Chargers win, the Chiefs go to eleven and five, and then the final game of the year against the Raiders at home. The Chiefs win. They're twelve and five, twelve and five, four and two in the division. They are undefeated at home. They are four and five, or they have five? Yeah, I think four and five do the Is this the year they have the extra Yeah, four and five on the road, twelve and five season, the two seed in the AFC. Yeah, again, it's in pencil, not been. That doesn't sound unreasonable, right, That's not like a crazy Chiefs homer. Take those I.
00:45:56
Speaker 2: Could see them. I could see them winning one of those tough ones in there, like that Chargers game there at the end, and sneaky like losing.
00:46:03
Speaker 1: To the Racers and the last absolutely right, I was gonna say they could. Certainly. I don't have any shock shocking wins and I don't have any stupid losses.
00:46:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I mean.
00:46:16
Speaker 1: Like they they they might have a dumb loss in them. But twelve and five, which.
00:46:25
Speaker 2: If Mahomes is healthy the whole year, what's the flour.
00:46:31
Speaker 1: Mahomes is healthy the whole year, the floor. This year's ten wins again, I get it. Last year they won six games. They even before Mahomes got hurt, they were in big trouble. I get that. There was a they went from you know, the year before last. They were probably too lucky on those close games. Last year they lost every single close game they played. They they were beat up from the three straight Super Bowl trips. Like it was it was too much. All right, there's a fantasy football question here to month I do want to address real quick.
00:47:08
Speaker 2: Uh so you're not a fantasy football guy, but would you draft? Would you draft Josh Allen?
00:47:14
Speaker 1: I are they? Is this about Josh Allen or Cyrus? Allen Cyrus? Yeah, potentially. But here's I've got some intriguing news. I, as you guys know, I'm known to play in a few high stakes poker games every now and again. Most of them I tell you guys about. Some of them, I don't because it's with I don't know, it's with a group of people that I know. It's not loan, it's just it's just it's just just people I don't know if they're you know, publicly playing in these games always. I was in one of those games about a month ago, and somebody at the game just casually was like, and again, I know this might surprise you guys, but as well, sometimes at these games people drink, so we're have you know, a few cocktails. And one of the guys at the games like, hey, Nick, you play fantasy football, don't you? And I'm like, well, not, you know, believe it or not, not really. I bet the games. I root for the Chiefs, like it's I haven't played in a while. And he's like, he's like, oh, well, we have like a high stakes league, but we also have like a more fun, you know, mid stakes league. Somebody dropped out you want in, and I just kind of in passed it. I was like, sure, yeah, no problem. Smash cut to four days later, I vaguely remember the conversation. I'm in a WhatsApp group chat. I'm I've now been sent the buy in details. I don't know what their high stakes league is, but what they're considering a mid stakes league. I would not consider a mid stakes league, and I'm and I'm in. They've already run their draft order, and so I'm going to for the first time in a decade, have to study up on fantasy. I'm gonna I'm not gonna talk about it on the pod because I don't think it's good content. Uh content, Yeah, Blue Duck brain Trust is here. I don't know what the man so I, So I am gonna be I. I have to be in on fantasy at least to a degree this year, So keep that in mind. Speaking of fantasy stuff. By the way, just a little note because Demonte doesn't know this because he wasn't here. I'm back on Cameo and the number one thing people are requesting on Cameo is for like me to announce their draft order. I also was so bad on Cameo when I signed up for eight years ago that the platform only allows like I can only have three requests in the queue before they turned me off like before, because they're worried I'm going to disapport people the way and the last time because last time, I yeah, well last time I signed up for it, and like the second person who asked for a cameo was a young lady who's like my boyfriend's in like a high school or college student, and he wants to do what you do. Can you send him some inspiration? And it was so no, it's going the other way that you think. I just I just messaged the lady back. I'm like, just give me the kid's number. And instead of doing a threty five second cameo, I did a forty five minute phone call with him and I was like this, I don't I don't have the bandwidth for this. But I forgot to deactivate. So then requests just kept, you know, coming in over the years, and I never responded to him. So but I'm back on there. The announcing the fantasy football drafts is a big thing. I also do think that I'm at let me just look real quick. I'm opening it up. Uh all right, yeah, we're I have three open requests and one of them expires tomorrow, so I need to get I need to do one right now. Do you think they would like that? I don't know. Some of these are private. I the let me just see what this is. Hold on now, the customers requests don't share them publicly. I'm not gonna, oh, wait, hold on a second. Uh No, I'm gonna do the I'm gonna do them on the air. I that kind of ruin. Then then the person might be like, why not even pay for it? I could have just gotten it. I'm not gonna right, but people, the big thing on there is like announcing fantasy draft orders. That's why I was thinking of it all right. Before we get to the bills, boost Mobile is proving that you don't have to over pay for great wireless. Unlock the savings with twenty five dollars a month Forever Unlimited Plan. It's a permanent price with no contracts and no priceikes. You can keep your phone and your number, but you save up to six hundred dollars a year compared to the major carriers. Stop overpaying and switch to a fair price at boostmobile dot com today based on average annual single line payment of AT and T Verizon and T Mobile customers compared to twelve months on the boost Mobile Unlimited plan as of January twenty twenty six. For full off. For details, visit boost mobile dot com. All right, demante, let's talk bills.
00:52:38
Speaker 2: So the bills open their new stadium and got new jerseys, and it seems that the fans are not fans, saying that the scoreboard is too small and the few as obstructed. Josh Allen also threw four picks in front of all the fans at training camp. Are the vibes already off to a bad start in Buffalo?
00:52:56
Speaker 1: No, I think, listen, I think the new stadium's fine. I you know, I think the huge video boards can be overrated at times. And now, granted, I've never been to Jerry World, so I've never seen the inverse of that of what like the huge video board is, but it's a Western New York stadium. Also, on the obstructed views thing, sometimes they don't actually even though there's a seat there, Sometimes the teams don't actually sell that seat. So I do before I kill them for it. Like, I'm not sure if that's like a seat people actually are buying. I can't imagine that you're gonna charge you know, a PSL in the season ticket price for an obstructive view seat. But people are also some people are complaining about the you know that it's not that covered. Listen. They wanted an open air stadium, and they should. They're in that should be a part of their home field advantage is that they are used to playing in the elements and other teams aren't, so I will support them on that. It's you guys know how I feel about that the Chiefs are no longer going to be in an open air stadium, and so that part to me is uh. I don't want to say a non story, but I actually think it is a story, and I think it's good that it's an open air stadium. I'm not as much of a Jersey zealot as other people are. I don't get super excited about alternate jerseys or the color rush jerseys or so I didn't actually have as big of a problem as some people did with these Bill's gray uniforms. But I'm also not really a Jersey guy. My and I talked to this on the TV show yesterday, so I don't have to spend a ton of time on it here. But Josh Allen, when he says, you know, he still hasn't fully gotten over basically his role in McDermott being fired once again was evidence that Josh Allen is more comfortable with Josh Allen taking accountability than so many people in the media are comfortable with Josh Allen taking accountability. It is so difficult for many of my colleagues in the media to balance both of these objective truths. Josh Allen is one of the best players in the NFL right now. Josh Allen at his best, at his best is about as dangerous and about as good as any quarterback who's ever played. Josh Allen is building, not has built, but is building a Hall of fame resume. Josh Allen will likely likely one day get to and win a Super Bowl. Balancing all of those objective truths with this objective truth. Every single playoff loss he's had since the thirteen Seconds Game, he played beneath his standard. And every single one of those playoff losses he had ample opportunity, and many people thought going into those games a better team than his opponent, and he was not good enough. Both of those facts are true. Thirteen Seconds game he played close to perfect football. It was just a bummer for him that the quarterback on the other side actually did play perfect football. Or you can say they both played perfect football and somebody had to lose, just got unlucky.
00:56:56
Speaker 2: Fine.
00:56:58
Speaker 1: The next year, he was a home favorite in the snow against Joe Burrow and the Bengals, and they got blown out and he didn't play well. The next year, he was a home favorite against what was supposed to be the weakest, most vulnerable Chiefs team of any you know of the Mahomes era got the ball back down three points in a game that he did not light up the stat sheet prior to it. But that's okay. Have an opportunity to go, ball in your hands, and Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs or beat him in a game where again he had one hundred and eighty yards passing in an eighty six passer rating, gets the Bills, you know, right around decent field goal range, not in the end zone. Doesn't put a stake in the Chief's heart. Even if they had. If Bass had made that field goal, for the record, what would have happened in that spot would have been Patrick would have gotten the ball back with a minute forty left in a tie game. But he misses the kick and they lose. The next year, and that's in his building. The next year, in a game that he actually played pretty well in to his credit, once again have the ball in his hands three and a half minutes left, down three points field goal, forces overtime touchdown, wins it, they get seventeen total yards and they lose. And then last year, after having three turnovers in regulation to go along with one of the worst turnover or anyone's ever seen at the end of the first half, your defense in overtime gets a stop ball in your hand, go get three points and win, and he throws a pick and they lose the game for his fourth turnover of the game. So yes, it's true the defenses could have been better in these playoff losses. It is also true that, aside from the thirteen seconds game, Josh Allen's in his playoff losses since the thirteen second game, I should say Josh has a passer rating in his four playoff losses of eight five. In one of the games he was at home, they scored ten points and got blown out. In the next game, he was at home with the ball in his hands for a chance to go keep Mahomes off the field win the game, they got zero points. The next game he had the ball in his hands with a chance to send Mahomes home, he got zero points. And the next game he had the ball in his hands in Denver with a chance to move on to the AFC Championship game. He got zero points, So all of those things can be true. Josh is way more comfortable excepting that the latter is true along with the former, the media as a whole is not. And I get a little vexed at the some of the commentary where they take Josh's overall playoff numbers, which are exceptional, and conflate them with the fact that he is six and one with sixteen touchdowns and two picks with a one fourteen passer rating in the wild card round and two and six with a ninety passer rating in the divisional and conference championship round. And again one of those games he was the thirteen second game where he was out of this world. So I I think he's the second best player in the league, and I think one day he likely gets through. But some of the stuff, and this is where a lot of the Josh Allen criticism is actually a media criticism. It has to do with like and I had a long back and forth with Bill about this over the weekend, with like Bill Barnwell saying he'd that if the All Decade team were released today, he'd be the quarterback on the All Decade team. What what Like I I think he has a very strong argument. I think he has a strong argument that he would be second team All Decade.
01:02:43
Speaker 2: But it's the physicals if you if you take out like all right, he hasn't won a Super Bowl, his playoff success hasn't been great, but he is no but it's.
01:02:55
Speaker 1: But that's not what all decade is. But but I mean the thing is like again, if I were doing an All decade quarterback, there an All decade team right now, Mahomes is obviously the All decade quarterback and then second team because they have first team second team. There's an argument, in fact, I would argue Josh over Lamar for the second team. I would, but there's certainly a strong argument for Lamar for second team, and some could argue if there were a third team, there's an argument for Stafford there or Stafford for second team Lamar. It is easier, far easier to make the argument that Josh Allen of the twenty twenties has been the fourth best quarterback than the best. Again, I think he's been the second best probably, but for the All Decade thing, again, Mahomes doesn't even get his first MVP or his first super Bowl or his first time beating Josh in the playoffs. But just in the twenty twenties, Mahomes has one MVP, four trips to the super Bowl, two Super Bowl wins, two Super Bowl MVPs, one first Team All Pro. Stafford has one MVP, one first Team All Pro, one trip to the super Bowl, no Super Bowl MVPs. Lamar has one MVP, two first Team All pros, no trips to the super Bowl. Josh has one MVP, zero first Team All Pro, zero trips to the super Bowl. Just very hard to like and his Yeah, he doesn't have far like of the decade, Lamar actually has the best passing stats, believe it or not. So I just I don't some of that stuff. I just don't totally follow, to be honest, I don't understand the logic for some people. All Right, let's do Caleb and the Bears for a moment.
01:05:00
Speaker 2: Caleb and Benn are entering year two coming off a very promising year, but you could say that that took some lucky bounces for them to get there. Do you think that Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson are legit or is their luck involved?
01:05:14
Speaker 1: Well, listen, there's a lot of you know, the reasons people thought Demon's the Commanders might regress last year because of the way they won games in Year one certainly can apply to the Bears, where there were so many games, including their playoff win against the Packers, where they just pulled it out of the fire or Caleb made some magic and then you saw the Commanders they did regress. Now, part of that was the Commander's dealt with brutal injury stuff with Jaden only playing seven games and an older team got hurt. Excuse me, sorry. So I do think that the Bears won't be quite as good at the end of games, and I do think think that the defense won't force quite as many turnovers. I totally anticipate that to be offset by the fact that I think Caleb is going to make another huge leap, Like when you saw Caleb go from being one of the most sacked players in history to being one of you know, having lack of sacks, be one of the better spots on his resume from last year. That level of improvement after year one of Ben Johnson, it just feels to me like, Okay, what does he need to do it what's his biggest thing he needs to improve on now? Not missing the layups, you know, improving the completion percentage from it was sixty two as a rookie, it was fifty eight last year. Getting that up to sixty three sixty four, which is a tenable number. That's the number one thing he's gotta work on. I just believe you. I believe you will. I think he is a superstar talent. I think he now has a head coach who could be elite, and I think that the Bears. I think that improvement will be enough to offset the obvious regression that's coming on the turnover side and the end of game stuff. But I also think some of that end of game stuff demons is the guy is dynamic, clutch and a playmaker. Like he's going to be better in two minutes and end of game situations than just your average good quarterback because of his athleticism and escapability and creativity. He just needs to be in fewer of those situations by playing better earlier in the games. He did.
01:07:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, Colin, I should reported that he lost some He lost some way. Uh do you think that's good or bad for him? I think it's great for him, I don't see him getting injured. It's that much faster. But that is a lot of weight.
01:08:08
Speaker 1: I got to see how he looks. Thirteen pounds is a lot. But we've seen you remember Lamarge weight fluctuating. Yeah, like he lost weight intentionally one year.
01:08:19
Speaker 2: Then gained it back.
01:08:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't. I didn't thirteen pounds a lot of weight to lose. I didn't think, like, I don't mind my quarterbacks having a little extra I will, yeah, I mean, I will trade a fraction of a second of speed for more durability. Now, maybe you know the losing the weight can make you more durable in a different way. But I don't always look at NFL guys losing weight as a good thing. And so I I that was I didn't see that in the rundown. I hadn't seen that news. So that actually was noteworthy to me, so to speak. All right, I think I think that covers it for today. I've got to go do Colin. You've got to go do Colin. We've got work to do again. A few scheduling notes. We'll be back on Thursday as always, and then the next couple of weeks when Demons and I are off. Ty Butler and Damon Bruce are gonna be in hosting live shows, So the Blue Duck and the Volume team are gonna be taking care of you guys. They're gonna do great. I have no idea what they're gonna talk about. The only pointer I gave them was that pointing out things they think I'm dead wrong about is always good content. So I would imagine if you've been waiting for some real chief skepticism on the show, you know those, the last couple weeks of August should be good. Subscribe to the channel. Helps us out on iTunes, on Spotify. Demansey, you look great. It's great to have you back. Enjoy everybody enjoying the rest of their day. I'll see you guys on Colin in a little over an hour. Thank you to Boost, thank you to Square, thank you to Volume, thank you to Blue Duck. Talk to you guys soon. What's right
Speaker 1: Welcome in What Draven the Great? Episode four eighty nine. This episode of What Draven the Great, as always, is presented to you by our dear friends at boost Mobile we Alsow for the first time in a while, get to welcome back demands fresh from the final days of paternity leave. And you really did time this paternity leave perfectly. As your final your first day back at work was also your newly nine month old daughters first day trying out a little daycare with other little babies, as that one milestone was hit yesterday. Great to see you. How are you good?
00:00:44
Speaker 2: To see you? Bops, I'm amazing. I'm amazing. Right it talks about basketball football seasons here, but yeah, I'm ready, fool.
00:00:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it is. This is kind of perfect timing as a few scheduling notes for you guys. So we're gonna have the shows this week. Then I made a quick pivot instead of going dark for two weeks while I'm out of town before football gets going, instead of re racking old episodes, and we still might do some end of week like best ofs you know from the summer. Maybe bring back a couple of the fifty greatest players the last fifty years, have some of those episodes drop in your feed something like that. I kind of made it a bit of an executive decision and hit up Ty Butler and Damon Bruce, one guy on the East Coast, one guy on the West Coast. Two great radio hosts, one from San Francisco, one from New York who both have their own YouTube shows, and for the first time ever in the five YEARSSH this show is run, we're gonna have live episodes of What's Right with Nick Wright that Nick Wright is not a part of. So we will have next week in your feed and on YouTube and on Spotify and iTunes anywhere you get your podcasts. As always, like rate Subscribe Review, we will have live episodes, but I won't be on them. It'll be Ty Butler and Damon Bruce. So those will be coming your way at the end of August, and then I will come back refreshed from Europe with my wife to get us rolling in football season. And the timing of today is also quite well, quite good because we there are some football stories and we're ramping up as we're four weeks and a day away from opening kick. But the only real big stories this time of year are usually injury related Telaramie Tunsell went down in training camp or this, you know, Micah Parson's rehab. I'm not saying it's behind schedule, but he's targeting like week six to come back. They're kind of bummers stories usually, And so the NBA gave us a bit of a gift by announcing their opening Night and Christmas Day games, which is where we will start the show. But before we do that, straight the voicemail brought to you by Boost Mobile, Quinn Williams gets a very nice extension with the Cowboys three years up to one hundred and six million dollars Panthon Niakos in Greece. The owner seems to really believe that he might be able to get Nikolejokic next offseason with any other NBA superstar, I would say that is an impossibility with Joker and the fact that he has yet to sign an extension. Daniel Earmuff's buddy, I'm not putting it at zero percent. I think it's I think.
00:03:44
Speaker 2: It is in his character too.
00:03:47
Speaker 1: On the board, Wow, Daniel, what an evolved take by Daniel. Daniel puts in the dock. As long as he doesn't NBA teams. Dude deserves to be happy. He's given me everything. So Joker's like, you know what, America, it's been cool, Deuces. I'm going to grease to play basketball. Daniel's gonna wish him well. Good for you, Daniel. I respect that. I appreciate that. Also, Ben Simmons allegedly eyeing a comeback and Bill Simmons. Listen, Bill Simmons is my friend. I consider him my friend. He did a podcast with my dear friend and Coast Kevin Wilds where Bill just casually dropped the take that he's not a seat belt guy, that he just drives his car, waits for the card the thing to stop beeping after him minute, and just doesn't wear a seat belt. It was one of the more wild takes I've ever heard. Also, just a total missed opportunity by kW on that Demons. I don't you might not get this reference, but the listeners will. kW should have just just absolutely just slid in there when Bill is just being like, yeah, I know it's bad, but I don't wear a seatbelt. All. He was sitting right there for him For kW to be like, con didn't make you buckle up, it would have been great, it would he really missed, he really missed the opportunity. If so, if I'll explain the joke now to people who aren't in the Bill Simmons lower. Bill Simmons did a podcast with Conk Nipple, who is you know just finished his rookie season in the NBA and was a long time Bill Simmons fan, and is you know nineteen years old. Bill's studio like my studio is at his house and Bill and Bill. It was actually on I was on the pod with him when he said kind of in passing and then when I was driving con home blah blah bah, and then people picked up on it. It's like, wait a minute, you drove him home. He didn't like send a car, and and so they asked men. Bill's like, yeah, I drove him home. He's nineteen years old. I didn't want to put him in an uver. It was its very adorable, but so Wild's missed an easy joke there. But more importantly, Bill, you gotta wear your seat belt, man, This isn't nineteen sixty five, like you just gotta wear your seat belt now. I I I This podcast from Bill made me do some introspection on my own seat belt wearing because I realized something that makes no sense whatsoever. I wear a seatbelt one hundred percent of the time that I am driving. I wear a seat belt one hundred percent of the time that I am riding in the front seat and my wife is driving, which is really only Daniel's only driving. If I've been drinking Jesus passenger Princess all the way, I wear a seat But then I thought about it. I was like, but in ubers, I'm at like eighty percent, and in taxis are I might be at like, yeah, eighty percent, I maybe seventy five, I don't know, And in taxis I might be at like twenty five percent, which makes no sense because those are like, they're far and away the most aggressive, reckless drivers of the cab drivers. And so I you know, I'm using Bill Simmons pod as a turning point for me. I'm just gonna be one hundred percent seat all guy, all the time, whether I'm driving or not. I already was while I was driving, but it was a wild take hearing someone just be like, yeah, I don't I and I even in the producer saying do you sit in the front of maneuver. No I sit in the back seat of vaneuver, but I'm saying that that's what I'm saying. If I'm in the front seat of a car driving or passenger, I always wear it, but for something and I only ever sit in the back seat of ride shares or cabs. For some reason, it doesn't like I don't know why. It's not like it's safer. I just don't think of it.
00:08:11
Speaker 2: Maybe it's it's seat noise isn't going off.
00:08:14
Speaker 1: I don't know.
00:08:15
Speaker 2: I don't know what I see.
00:08:16
Speaker 1: I also did try to think of like the circumstances under which I was like, I suppose if you had like a classic convertible like from the sixties, and we're driving down like an ocean front highway, maybe you would like maybe under that specific picture in my brain, you want to just feel like totally unrestricted. But other than that, I feel like just bill for me, you know, longtime listeners and readers, friends, people that grew up watching you listening to you wear your seatbelt bro like, and I you know what, we can put this out on social and I think it will get momentum. This is I want to lead the charge of folks in media that Bill Simmons has done something for us, either by writing columns when we were in high school or college or by paving the way in a lot of ways. Because k W did not push back nearly enough, that was a moment. I would be, I honest to God, think it's if we do the math on it, like not much less reckless than if he just dropped like on the pod, like yeah, the first of every month, I do a little cocaine. Like that's just my thing, like just like Jesh's my thing, Like I and I feel like that he said that. kW would have been like, WHOA, don't do that. So like Bill, wear your seatbelt, Bro, you're driving a lot. You're in California, where your seatbelt's going to these Clipper games and into it dome.
00:10:02
Speaker 2: That's a farhad the amount of driving. Does that matter? No, Maybe it's a short trip down the street to the grocery store. Do you need to have a seatbull on?
00:10:14
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean the thing is like it's it's I'm a gambler, right, And so there's a lot of there's risk versus reward that we have to always incorporate. And I would say there is literally zero reward from not wearing your seatbelt, just none, Like there's just you get the That's why I tried to create the scenario. I'm like, all right, maybe you're in like a nineteen sixty two Stingray convertible, the winds in your hair driving like maybe, but no, in general, guys, just driving an escalade down the p like throw a throw a seat. Just go ahead and buckle up, man, buckle up. You know what. Let's buckle up, guys. That's the that's the lesson of today's show, Scott and Bucklow. All right, let's talk NBA Opening Night. Go ahead.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: So the full NBA schedule releases Thursday, but they've already announced some big days. So Opening Day we've got Pistons at Celtics, Sixers at Knicks, Thunders at Spurs, and then Christmas Day you've got Spurs at Nicks, Heats at Celtics, Sixers at Lakers, Thunders at Timberwolves, Nuggets at Warriors. Which of these games are you eyeing or looking forward to?
00:11:30
Speaker 1: Well, so massive takeaways all over the spot. First of all, I'm gonna jump right to you know what. We'll get to the snubs later. Let's talk about the positives. Five teams got both Marquee Days, thunder Spurs, Sixers, Knicks, Celtics. Those are the five teams that are playing Opening Day and Christmas. The only I guess somewhat prize there is the Celtics' brand equity being that strong. I mean again, like I I wouldn't think the Celtics would be left out. And the Celtics are one of the greatest franchises in the history not just of the NBA of sports, and they've got a superstar in Jason Tatum, and they're supposed to be good, really good. But it it surprised me a little bit that the Celtics were. Let me put it like this, of the five teams that got double dips, the Celtics were the most surprising, even if it's not that surprising at all, so that you know, that jumped out to me. The five other teams that got a single game were the Pistons more on them in a moment, the heat more on them as well, then Timberwolves, Nuggets, Warriors. Okay, so in no particular order. My immediate first takeaway is we have a bunch four years face of the league conversations and then every single year, the NBA tells us, yeah, it's Bron, Yeah, it's just Bron. In fact, we can't even do the schedule until Lebron signs. And then when he does sign, we're gonna give his team the premier spot on Christmas Day, the three pm Chris or five pm the third game on Christmas, the the Marquee Christmas Day game. Hey, are we gonna do rematch of the finals? No, we'll put that in the morning. All right? Are we gonna do? What are other options here? We're gonna how about how about Lebron with you know, with his one game back in Los Angeles? How about that's the Marquee game? Okay, that's Christmas?
00:13:56
Speaker 2: All right?
00:13:56
Speaker 1: What about Opening night? Opening Night? What are we doing? Are we doing the rematch of the finals?
00:14:02
Speaker 2: There?
00:14:03
Speaker 1: No, we're not gonna do that there. Oh, okay. Are we gonna do Jail and Brown Jason Tatum that you know that? No, we'll find another spot for that. How about Lebron against the defending champs? How about the defending champs when they get to open their drop their banner? Lebron's there? Sound good for everyone? Think people will watch? Good for ratings? Good for business. Cool? What are we doing with Wimby? We'll put them on after what about? What about? What about? On Christmas Day? We'll put them on in the morning when Beal are opening their presence. We gotta make like Again, I'm not even saying this is not an evaluation of whether or not this is what they should do. This is an evaluation of what they will do. And what they're telling you is the NBA universe still revolves around Lebron James, right or wrong, and they're scheduling it accordingly. So that's first take away. Second takeaway, Steph Curry's star power is real because of the fifteen teams, not fifteen ten teams pardon me, that have games Opening Day or Christmas. The worst team by a mile is Golden State and they're you know they are. They're they were never going to be left out. Like every other team listed there should be somewhere from really good to excellent. And then there's the Warriors in a game that nobody even thinks Jimmy Butler will be back for and they are the final game on Christmas Day, so shout out to them on that to step on that front. Couple other small takeaways surprising to me. Demands that we're gonna have a Christmas Day and Opening Day, by the way, but focus on Christmas. For there's five games with no Durant, like I can't the I can't remember the last time Durant's team with the Suns. Maybe I don't think so, though, because those seems were like and Durant's on a good team. The Rockets are Rockets are a good team. To have no Durant on Christmas Day is noteworthy to me. I'm not I and again they're the only I don't know that there were snubs. I'm sure the Caves are a little annoyed, and I bet the Rockets are a little annoyed. But that's really all that jumps out to me. Let me ask you, h I am. Also, I'm a little surprised that the Pistons got invited to the party, even though it's the three pm, middle of the day opening day game. That and maybe they didn't work. It's a little surprising the Pistons are there. I would have thought maybe the heat with Giannis would have gotten both, you know, Opening Day and Christmas Day. But I guess if heat at Celtics's Christmas, You're not gonna have Celtics heat opening night. So that's where they mix in the Pistons. But it is surprising to me even that the Pistons got that slot over Cleveland or hell over Houston, like that is.
00:17:46
Speaker 2: Land.
00:17:49
Speaker 1: No, I the NBA clearly agrees with you. Like the NBA clearly agrees with you. So here are my other, you know, general takeaways. I do think for Opening Night, six Ers next thunder Spurs is awesome strategically by the league because for most people and by the Vegas odds, those are the projected conference finals. So an opportunity for the NBA season to start with those four teams basically and end with those four teams. I like that. I also would be remiss if I didn't recognize who wasn't playing on Opening Day that we haven't mentioned. So demons go ahead, because you have a fun little fact here in stat here.
00:18:49
Speaker 2: So the Lakers have played on Opening Night every year since twenty nineteen. How do you think that they missed the cut this year?
00:18:58
Speaker 1: So what happened in twenty nineteen? This kind of goes back to my original point. Bron signed there, Bron left, and the Lakers all of a sudden like, sorry, guys, we don't have a spot for you. Like Lakers at Celtics is sitting right there for anybody that wants it instead of Pistons at Celtics. And you guys know how much I the Oh yeah, Lebron got there in twenty eighteen, signed in twenty eighteen. Pardon me, you guys know how much I how much I like Luca. But the fact that the the Lakers have been supplanted in the Western Conference by the two small market juggernauts thunder Spurs, and that they just for the first time in eight years or seven years, they're not an Opening Night is I guess somewhat noteworthy to me. Well, listen, I I think it is. I'm really interested in what Luca can do this year. I they also, you know, they they looked at the team that Luca took to the NBA Finals with Dallas a few years ago and said, how can we best remake that? And that's what they tried to do. I you know, it's been I spent a lot of time while you were on paternity to leave talking about how I thought the Lakers could have handled the final year of Lebron better to where maybe he would have signed with them for the minimum rather than signing with the Sixers for the minimum. But that that's water under the bridge at this point. But the the league is making very very clear to you through this schedule, at least in my eyes that they view right now, they're three biggest attractions as the Sixers, the Spurs, and the Knicks. That's the metal stand with also receiving votes being the Thunder and the Celtics, and they I'm I'm very I'm in i am very interested in how the Thunder, what the Thunders coverage is like in national TV games, and all those things are like this year because they were never an overwhelmingly popular team outside of their own fan base to begin with. But when it's like, yeah, but they're the champs, they're the best. They're the juggernaut that you know, gives you a cachet that gets removed a bit when you don't win the title again, when you don't make the finals again. And now it feels like the Spurs having beaten them and being a team on the upswing, while the Thunder it feels like lost some you know, semi valuable parts and some pieces are a team that is potentially at least not on the down swing, but just a not quite as good as they were the last couple of years. So that's interesting. And then you know, the teams we haven't really discussed here. I mentioned the Heat that I thought maybe they could have gotten the double dip opening day on Christmas aunt LaMelo and the Timberwolves. They host the Thunder on Christmas Night and then Joker against Steph as the nightcap, with two teams that I don't think either one really thinks they have a real shot at winning the championship, despite having in Joker's case, maybe the best player in the world and in the Warriors case, with Steph, one of the greatest players ever. Before we get to these other questions, did you demonte did you have anything that jumped out to you or that or you want it about your Celtics. I am anything about the opening a few nights h. No.
00:23:08
Speaker 2: I was surprised that they got added to both to both of those days considering how the last couple of years has went. But I am really looking forward to seeing how the Timberwolves look this year. I'm very high on them. But uh but yeah, no, I mean, oh yeah.
00:23:23
Speaker 1: Because so, I mean, that'll be that seeing Aunt LaMelo is going to be a show, that's for sure.
00:23:31
Speaker 2: Do we not.
00:23:32
Speaker 1: Have any details on the first six or Celtics games. That's the other thing.
00:23:40
Speaker 2: That to me is, yeah, the fact that Jaylen Brown's going to be able to guard Jason Tatum all year over there and yeah.
00:23:49
Speaker 1: Back and forth exactly. And so now, listen, they're gonna play each other four times, but if they it that that is the other so that you know what I just stumbled upon. My other big takeaway that the league decided instead of having if they wanted to have Bron and the Sixers as the premiere Christmas game, the third Christmas game, the five PM slot, that they didn't make that Sixer Celtics, that they they they prioritized Lebron's one game back in LA over what could have been Jalen Brown's first game back in Boston.
00:24:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know what I mean.
00:24:42
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, yeah, I mean that's definitely true, but it is, but it also feels like there's more. I don't think I don't think it's fair to call it bad blood between the Lakers and Lebron. It might not be great blood, but I don't think it's like it.
00:24:59
Speaker 2: You know, they you don't think that's pretty either. There hasn't been the Jalen Brown situation with the Celtics and Lebron with the Lakers, like just feeling like the team has not done well by you, you know, like I feel like they both didn't have like crazy bad I didn't Jalen.
00:25:15
Speaker 1: Brown feel yeah, I mean yeah, I think Jalen Brown feels done dirty and has like and there has been little, you know, semi public sniping between the sides Lakers and Lebron and Luke and all that publicly has all been super positive. You know, thank you for a great run. We appreciate it. Through he did, he didn't get traded away, so you know it just even if below the surface there is you know, carping about the other side to people, it's not as obvious as I think the Celtics Jalen Brown thing. And I'm really interested. So that's the game that isn't listed here that I am. I'm most interested in singing Jalen Brown's first game, not against Boston, necessarily first game in Boston, like he obviously should get a standing ovation from the crowd. I imagine he will, but seeing him and Tatum go head to head, I think will be you know, really fun and really interesting. And so yeah, I think the you know, shout out to the NBA. Also the what are the other opening week games that we know about, demanse.
00:26:33
Speaker 2: So we got Lebron versus Cleveland, Denver at OKAC, and Knicks at Celtics. Do you think that any of those should have made Opening Night?
00:26:43
Speaker 1: H No, I think these are all exactly you know, we've listen, Lebron's been playing against the Calves without being on the Calves for almost a decade now, so like we don't need that one. Denver at OKC, I mean that was I mean that is a good matchup in a good series. Uh historically has been a good series potentially, But no, so oh you know what the game that So this one does jump out to me now that I think about it. We have Thunder at Timberwolves and Nuggets at Warriors. Nuggets at Timberwolves seems like, you know, the one of the prime rivalries right now, and you know they've played in the playoffs a bunch of times, so I think that one you maybe could have done Thunder against the Warriors, But They probably wanted to give the thunder up make that more likely to be a good game, and they think the Timberwolves will be better than the Warriors. But it does feel like Nuggets Timberwolves is the more heated rivalry and we're not. I don't know when we're getting that. And oh, one other note, the only team with top ten title odds to not be in one of these games is the Raptors. Now, I think that's twofold. One is I think it is because the way television ratings work, anytime you do a Canadian team, it kind of it's not great for the rating because you get such a boost from the home market, but the home market when you do a Canadian team's not measured because it's not the US. So I think that's a small piece of it. But the other piece of it is whatever's going on with Kawhi. I think that if they put the Raptors on Opening Night, or if they featured the Raptors in any of this, Adam Silver would be accused of either putting his finger on the scale or tipping his hand like about what penalty is or isn't coming. So I think they felt it was easier just leave the Raptors out of it. Plus again, like the Raptors aren't great for television ratings purely because they're a Canadian market. All right, I think we covered NBA Opening night really well. I still we've been on the show for a half hour. I think probably the best thing we did was the Bill Simmons seatbelt stuff. We'll see if we can top that with our football discussion. But first support for today's episode comes from Square, the system powering around half the places I go. If you've ever tapped to pay and thought, WHOA, that was fast fast, it was probably Square. Whether you're selling lattes, cutting hair, running a back game, day spot, or managing a design studio, Square helps you run your business without running yourself into the ground. And right now, listeners can get up to two hundred dollars off Square hardware when you sign up at Square dot com, slash go, slash right that's s q U A r E dot com slash g O, slash WRI I g h T. Visit Square to get started because the right tools make a all the difference. There's just something about businesses that use Square. They feel a little more put together. Quick checkout, easy, receipts. Sometimes you can get loyalty points. People love that Squares the platform behind the scenes of so many businesses you already love, and gives them one connected system to take payments, manage inventory, run payrolls, send invoices, and track it all from one place. Squaresn't just fast, It's smart, transparent, and built for the way people actually run their businesses. No contracts, no hidden fees, no complicated installs. Just tools that accept every major payment method Tap, Chip, Apple pay, and Online. Let you see sales and inventory in real time across every channel, and help you access your earnings immediately with Square Banking. Want some real proof business Businesses using Square Online earn thirty six percent more revenue on average. If you're starting a business or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. Right now, you can get up to two hundred dollars off Square hardware at Square dot com, slash go, slash right, that's squ a r E dot com, slash Go, slash w r I g HD. Run your business smarter with Square. Get started today, All right, de Monte, Let's talk a little NFL training camp.
00:31:23
Speaker 2: Oh we are a couple weeks in the Chiefs training camp and seen some pretty good things. Patrick Mahomes, a full participant, says that he sometimes forgets about his knee injury and just plays football. He seems to be connecting very well with Cyrus Allen, the rookie wide receiver. There's also been a couple of fights out of training camp. Kenneth Walker shot a takedown apparently. So what's been catching your eye? Chiefs training camp?
00:31:47
Speaker 1: All right, So a few things. One is, listen, Patrick's gonna play as if he never got hurt. And there is I think because Patrick doesn't have He doesn't have the speed of Lamar, or the size of Josh Allen, or just the obvious crazy athleticism that we see from certain NFL and NBA guys. People have underrated in their head what just a sick, raw athletic specimen he is because the dad bought or whatever. But this is a player who his second year as a starter, got his kneecap dislocated on the field and missed two games in a year they went on to win their first Super Bowl. And then a player who in his fifty year as a starter, suffered a brutal high ankle sprain during the first during his first playoff game, the Divisional round that usually would keep guys out a month. He not only missed zero games, but in the AFC Championship Game and in the Super Bowl, you could argue the two biggest plays of the game were Mahomes scrambles. And it's a player who blew out his knee in December, and I feel like I can say this, I don't think he'd be upset with me. By March was texting me videos of him working out and making throws on the practice field or on the training field, whatever.
00:33:41
Speaker 2: It is.
00:33:45
Speaker 1: The combination of the fact that he got the surgery the day after the injury, his insane work ethic, and his wild natural athleticism is going to lend itself to as fast as an ACL recovery as we've seen. And that's what we're in the midst of seeing. And so I my concerns for the Chiefs are not about Patrick. Now that is not to say the Chiefs doesn't the Chiefs do not have concerns. Obviously, for the fourth consecutive year, the entire wide receiver room is uh yeah, maybe yeah, maybe Rashid Rice can play himself into shape after having an offseason that was slightly derailed by having a knee cleanup procedure and then a couple days later being sent to jail for thirty days. That was an ideal. A first round pick. And Xavier Worthy, who got hurt the first game, one of the first plays of the first game last year and then this year in camp already reaggravated that shoulder a little bit again or rec I don't even know if it's the same shoulder. Reaggravated a shoulder. That's not ideal. Uh, this, as Demonse said, the breakout guy of camp is fifth round rookie Cyrus Allen. Listen, maybe he's Pooka Nakua. We'll see. There's you know, there's a mid round wide receiver almost every year. They don't always turned into Pooka. But that is a legitimate contributor immediately. Maybe that's him. The Chiefs think it can be him. The Ravens think it can be Jakobe Lane. Like you know, the mid round wide receiver that looks great in training camp is not an unprecedented thing. Seeing that player turn into a real contributor as a rookie. That's a bit different, so the receiving room's a question mark. They spent the sixth overall pick and trade it up to get mansword de Lane. He has been, you know, not in full contact ever since a shoulder blade injury back in OTAs. I'm not as worried about him as others. I think he'll be back in the next couple of weeks. He should be there for week one. But the secondary as a whole is new and will be a work in progress. What I think the Chiefs have going for them on that front as far as the secondary, because it's young guys, it's guys who haven't played together, is they don't play what I would consider be a top flight quarterback until mid October. Their first five weeks of the season are bow Knicks, Daniel Jones, Malik Willis, and then whoever's starting for the Raiders at that point Mendoz are Cousins. Then they have a bye. The good quarterbacks on their schedule are after that and so I and again, bo Nicks has proven to be a gamer and his clutch and his and the Chiefs, but I just don't think he's gonna be whipping the ball all over the field. So the secondary will have time to gel the question. The only other major question I have, then I'll talk about the things I have confidence in, is what is the pass rush going to look like. They did not address edge in the offseason much at all. They did draft are Mason Thomas, so they hope he can be good there. They just signed Emmanuel Agba, who's been in the league ten years. He's a journeyman at this point. He did win a Super Bowl with the Chiefs. But where they are hoping they are going to generate the pass rush is Chris Jones. Alongside him Peter Woods, who sixteen months ago people thought could be the number one overall pick of last year's draft after a pretty lackadaisical year at Clemson. He fell all the way to the end of Round one. The Chiefs grabbed him and he has looked sensational sensational in camp, so they hope they can get the pass rush there. And then on the other side of the ball, where my confidence for the Chiefs this year really comes from is I believe they have right now the best offensive line Mahomes has had in four years, maybe five. You add that to the fact that for the first time since Mahomes' first ten games as a starter. They have a legitimate plus player at running back in Kenneth Walker. I think they are going to Teams are gonna have to respect the run. They're gonna be able to stay ahead of the chains, and they're not going to be asking Mahomes to do everything. The most important thing for any Patrick Mahomes team is having a solid offensive line, and the second most important thing is having a defense that can get off the field on third down. We'll see if they have that defense, if they have enough pass rush. I truly believe they have that offensive line, and I think Mahomes is gonna be a man on fire this year, even if he doesn't have the receivers necessary to be able to put up crazy numbers. But we saw him win a League MVP with his number one receiver being Marquez Valdez, Scantling, number two being McCall or Juju, number three being McColl the number four being Justin Watson, So I wouldn't put it past him. But I think they're going to be more of a run centric team and I'm fine with that. And then Eric b Enemy after the True Family tragedy that he had a few weeks ago is back with the team, and he makes a real difference with this team. So for all those reasons I am, plus the fact that I don't believe in the Chargers, and even though I have grown to begrudgingly respect what Sean Payton is built in Denver, I don't I don't think Denver is gonna repeat fourteen wins. You know, I'm bullish for Kansas City. But you win six games, you miss the playoffs, you lose obviously the air of invincibility, and you lose some of the bravado. You gotta go back out and earn it again. Schedule too, well, the schedule is light early and gets tough late. Yeah, so starting in week so, I'll just go through the schedule quickly. Here I told you the first four weeks home Denver, home Indy, at Miami at Vegas, then the bye, then a tough three game stretch, and then a little break home for the Chargers at Seattle, at Denver for home for the Jets, at Atlanta, home for Arizona. Okay, So that's the first ten games, and then the final seven games at Buffalo, at the Rams, at the Bengals home for New England home for San Francisco at the Chargers home for the Raiders. Should we do a little win loss Chiefs way too early, win loss, go through the schedule.
00:41:32
Speaker 2: Yeah you like that?
00:41:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, I'll do We can both do it, and we'll see what record will come up with.
00:41:41
Speaker 2: All right.
00:41:42
Speaker 1: Home for Denver, Week one, Monday Night Football, Arrowhead on fire, my homes back Chiefs. Remind Denver the division still goes through them. I'll take the Chiefs there. They're one and h. You're with me against your guy Daniel Jones. Home against the Colt Sunday Night Football. We're two and oh chalking up.
00:42:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, two and oh.
00:42:09
Speaker 1: Week three at Miami, Week four at Vegas. Holy shit, the Chiefs are four and oh going into the bye. Okay, Week five, out of the bye home Andy Reid off a bye against the Chargers. We're five and oh.
00:42:27
Speaker 2: I'll give that.
00:42:30
Speaker 1: Weeks that's Week six, actually not Week five. Game games game five though, five and oh going into Seattle Sunday Night Football, Super Bowl Champs. First loss of the year. Yea five and one. We're five and one. Following Sunday Afternoon with Jim Nance and maybe Tony Romo on the call uh in Denver after having beaten Denver in Week one. We lose. We're five and two. We're five and two home for the Jets. Week nine, easy work at Atlanta. They're trailing in the fourth quarter. It looks stupid. Find a way to win. Get that win home for Arizona. Win through ten games. We're eight and two. Short week in Buffalo, Thursday night football on Thanksgiving. That is a loss. That is an absolute lockstock loss. Loss at Buffalo. The following Thursday at Los Angeles, that's the Rams. That's a loss too, that's a loss to We're now yeah, we're eight and four, little extra rest at Cincinnati, the Bengals at that point, who knows what their team looks like, who their coach is. That's a when. We haven't lost to Cincinnati since they claimed it was Burrowhead. We're nine and four home New England, maybe with some seating on the line. Monday Night football. That's a when.
00:44:34
Speaker 2: Take the Chiefs there.
00:44:36
Speaker 1: We're ten and four the home San Francisco. The Chiefs have not lost to the Niners in Mahomes' career. It's also now it's late December. God knows how many players the substation has eaten by then. That's a when they're eleven and four. Week seventeen at the Chargers, the Chiefs are eleven and four. The Chargers probably need the game to keep their wild card hopes alive. Gritty win, the Chargers win, the Chiefs go to eleven and five, and then the final game of the year against the Raiders at home. The Chiefs win. They're twelve and five, twelve and five, four and two in the division. They are undefeated at home. They are four and five, or they have five? Yeah, I think four and five do the Is this the year they have the extra Yeah, four and five on the road, twelve and five season, the two seed in the AFC. Yeah, again, it's in pencil, not been. That doesn't sound unreasonable, right, That's not like a crazy Chiefs homer. Take those I.
00:45:56
Speaker 2: Could see them. I could see them winning one of those tough ones in there, like that Chargers game there at the end, and sneaky like losing.
00:46:03
Speaker 1: To the Racers and the last absolutely right, I was gonna say they could. Certainly. I don't have any shock shocking wins and I don't have any stupid losses.
00:46:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I mean.
00:46:16
Speaker 1: Like they they they might have a dumb loss in them. But twelve and five, which.
00:46:25
Speaker 2: If Mahomes is healthy the whole year, what's the flour.
00:46:31
Speaker 1: Mahomes is healthy the whole year, the floor. This year's ten wins again, I get it. Last year they won six games. They even before Mahomes got hurt, they were in big trouble. I get that. There was a they went from you know, the year before last. They were probably too lucky on those close games. Last year they lost every single close game they played. They they were beat up from the three straight Super Bowl trips. Like it was it was too much. All right, there's a fantasy football question here to month I do want to address real quick.
00:47:08
Speaker 2: Uh so you're not a fantasy football guy, but would you draft? Would you draft Josh Allen?
00:47:14
Speaker 1: I are they? Is this about Josh Allen or Cyrus? Allen Cyrus? Yeah, potentially. But here's I've got some intriguing news. I, as you guys know, I'm known to play in a few high stakes poker games every now and again. Most of them I tell you guys about. Some of them, I don't because it's with I don't know, it's with a group of people that I know. It's not loan, it's just it's just it's just just people I don't know if they're you know, publicly playing in these games always. I was in one of those games about a month ago, and somebody at the game just casually was like, and again, I know this might surprise you guys, but as well, sometimes at these games people drink, so we're have you know, a few cocktails. And one of the guys at the games like, hey, Nick, you play fantasy football, don't you? And I'm like, well, not, you know, believe it or not, not really. I bet the games. I root for the Chiefs, like it's I haven't played in a while. And he's like, he's like, oh, well, we have like a high stakes league, but we also have like a more fun, you know, mid stakes league. Somebody dropped out you want in, and I just kind of in passed it. I was like, sure, yeah, no problem. Smash cut to four days later, I vaguely remember the conversation. I'm in a WhatsApp group chat. I'm I've now been sent the buy in details. I don't know what their high stakes league is, but what they're considering a mid stakes league. I would not consider a mid stakes league, and I'm and I'm in. They've already run their draft order, and so I'm going to for the first time in a decade, have to study up on fantasy. I'm gonna I'm not gonna talk about it on the pod because I don't think it's good content. Uh content, Yeah, Blue Duck brain Trust is here. I don't know what the man so I, So I am gonna be I. I have to be in on fantasy at least to a degree this year, So keep that in mind. Speaking of fantasy stuff. By the way, just a little note because Demonte doesn't know this because he wasn't here. I'm back on Cameo and the number one thing people are requesting on Cameo is for like me to announce their draft order. I also was so bad on Cameo when I signed up for eight years ago that the platform only allows like I can only have three requests in the queue before they turned me off like before, because they're worried I'm going to disapport people the way and the last time because last time, I yeah, well last time I signed up for it, and like the second person who asked for a cameo was a young lady who's like my boyfriend's in like a high school or college student, and he wants to do what you do. Can you send him some inspiration? And it was so no, it's going the other way that you think. I just I just messaged the lady back. I'm like, just give me the kid's number. And instead of doing a threty five second cameo, I did a forty five minute phone call with him and I was like this, I don't I don't have the bandwidth for this. But I forgot to deactivate. So then requests just kept, you know, coming in over the years, and I never responded to him. So but I'm back on there. The announcing the fantasy football drafts is a big thing. I also do think that I'm at let me just look real quick. I'm opening it up. Uh all right, yeah, we're I have three open requests and one of them expires tomorrow, so I need to get I need to do one right now. Do you think they would like that? I don't know. Some of these are private. I the let me just see what this is. Hold on now, the customers requests don't share them publicly. I'm not gonna, oh, wait, hold on a second. Uh No, I'm gonna do the I'm gonna do them on the air. I that kind of ruin. Then then the person might be like, why not even pay for it? I could have just gotten it. I'm not gonna right, but people, the big thing on there is like announcing fantasy draft orders. That's why I was thinking of it all right. Before we get to the bills, boost Mobile is proving that you don't have to over pay for great wireless. Unlock the savings with twenty five dollars a month Forever Unlimited Plan. It's a permanent price with no contracts and no priceikes. You can keep your phone and your number, but you save up to six hundred dollars a year compared to the major carriers. Stop overpaying and switch to a fair price at boostmobile dot com today based on average annual single line payment of AT and T Verizon and T Mobile customers compared to twelve months on the boost Mobile Unlimited plan as of January twenty twenty six. For full off. For details, visit boost mobile dot com. All right, demante, let's talk bills.
00:52:38
Speaker 2: So the bills open their new stadium and got new jerseys, and it seems that the fans are not fans, saying that the scoreboard is too small and the few as obstructed. Josh Allen also threw four picks in front of all the fans at training camp. Are the vibes already off to a bad start in Buffalo?
00:52:56
Speaker 1: No, I think, listen, I think the new stadium's fine. I you know, I think the huge video boards can be overrated at times. And now, granted, I've never been to Jerry World, so I've never seen the inverse of that of what like the huge video board is, but it's a Western New York stadium. Also, on the obstructed views thing, sometimes they don't actually even though there's a seat there, Sometimes the teams don't actually sell that seat. So I do before I kill them for it. Like, I'm not sure if that's like a seat people actually are buying. I can't imagine that you're gonna charge you know, a PSL in the season ticket price for an obstructive view seat. But people are also some people are complaining about the you know that it's not that covered. Listen. They wanted an open air stadium, and they should. They're in that should be a part of their home field advantage is that they are used to playing in the elements and other teams aren't, so I will support them on that. It's you guys know how I feel about that the Chiefs are no longer going to be in an open air stadium, and so that part to me is uh. I don't want to say a non story, but I actually think it is a story, and I think it's good that it's an open air stadium. I'm not as much of a Jersey zealot as other people are. I don't get super excited about alternate jerseys or the color rush jerseys or so I didn't actually have as big of a problem as some people did with these Bill's gray uniforms. But I'm also not really a Jersey guy. My and I talked to this on the TV show yesterday, so I don't have to spend a ton of time on it here. But Josh Allen, when he says, you know, he still hasn't fully gotten over basically his role in McDermott being fired once again was evidence that Josh Allen is more comfortable with Josh Allen taking accountability than so many people in the media are comfortable with Josh Allen taking accountability. It is so difficult for many of my colleagues in the media to balance both of these objective truths. Josh Allen is one of the best players in the NFL right now. Josh Allen at his best, at his best is about as dangerous and about as good as any quarterback who's ever played. Josh Allen is building, not has built, but is building a Hall of fame resume. Josh Allen will likely likely one day get to and win a Super Bowl. Balancing all of those objective truths with this objective truth. Every single playoff loss he's had since the thirteen Seconds Game, he played beneath his standard. And every single one of those playoff losses he had ample opportunity, and many people thought going into those games a better team than his opponent, and he was not good enough. Both of those facts are true. Thirteen Seconds game he played close to perfect football. It was just a bummer for him that the quarterback on the other side actually did play perfect football. Or you can say they both played perfect football and somebody had to lose, just got unlucky.
00:56:56
Speaker 2: Fine.
00:56:58
Speaker 1: The next year, he was a home favorite in the snow against Joe Burrow and the Bengals, and they got blown out and he didn't play well. The next year, he was a home favorite against what was supposed to be the weakest, most vulnerable Chiefs team of any you know of the Mahomes era got the ball back down three points in a game that he did not light up the stat sheet prior to it. But that's okay. Have an opportunity to go, ball in your hands, and Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs or beat him in a game where again he had one hundred and eighty yards passing in an eighty six passer rating, gets the Bills, you know, right around decent field goal range, not in the end zone. Doesn't put a stake in the Chief's heart. Even if they had. If Bass had made that field goal, for the record, what would have happened in that spot would have been Patrick would have gotten the ball back with a minute forty left in a tie game. But he misses the kick and they lose. The next year, and that's in his building. The next year, in a game that he actually played pretty well in to his credit, once again have the ball in his hands three and a half minutes left, down three points field goal, forces overtime touchdown, wins it, they get seventeen total yards and they lose. And then last year, after having three turnovers in regulation to go along with one of the worst turnover or anyone's ever seen at the end of the first half, your defense in overtime gets a stop ball in your hand, go get three points and win, and he throws a pick and they lose the game for his fourth turnover of the game. So yes, it's true the defenses could have been better in these playoff losses. It is also true that, aside from the thirteen seconds game, Josh Allen's in his playoff losses since the thirteen second game, I should say Josh has a passer rating in his four playoff losses of eight five. In one of the games he was at home, they scored ten points and got blown out. In the next game, he was at home with the ball in his hands for a chance to go keep Mahomes off the field win the game, they got zero points. The next game he had the ball in his hands with a chance to send Mahomes home, he got zero points. And the next game he had the ball in his hands in Denver with a chance to move on to the AFC Championship game. He got zero points, So all of those things can be true. Josh is way more comfortable excepting that the latter is true along with the former, the media as a whole is not. And I get a little vexed at the some of the commentary where they take Josh's overall playoff numbers, which are exceptional, and conflate them with the fact that he is six and one with sixteen touchdowns and two picks with a one fourteen passer rating in the wild card round and two and six with a ninety passer rating in the divisional and conference championship round. And again one of those games he was the thirteen second game where he was out of this world. So I I think he's the second best player in the league, and I think one day he likely gets through. But some of the stuff, and this is where a lot of the Josh Allen criticism is actually a media criticism. It has to do with like and I had a long back and forth with Bill about this over the weekend, with like Bill Barnwell saying he'd that if the All Decade team were released today, he'd be the quarterback on the All Decade team. What what Like I I think he has a very strong argument. I think he has a strong argument that he would be second team All Decade.
01:02:43
Speaker 2: But it's the physicals if you if you take out like all right, he hasn't won a Super Bowl, his playoff success hasn't been great, but he is no but it's.
01:02:55
Speaker 1: But that's not what all decade is. But but I mean the thing is like again, if I were doing an All decade quarterback, there an All decade team right now, Mahomes is obviously the All decade quarterback and then second team because they have first team second team. There's an argument, in fact, I would argue Josh over Lamar for the second team. I would, but there's certainly a strong argument for Lamar for second team, and some could argue if there were a third team, there's an argument for Stafford there or Stafford for second team Lamar. It is easier, far easier to make the argument that Josh Allen of the twenty twenties has been the fourth best quarterback than the best. Again, I think he's been the second best probably, but for the All Decade thing, again, Mahomes doesn't even get his first MVP or his first super Bowl or his first time beating Josh in the playoffs. But just in the twenty twenties, Mahomes has one MVP, four trips to the super Bowl, two Super Bowl wins, two Super Bowl MVPs, one first Team All Pro. Stafford has one MVP, one first Team All Pro, one trip to the super Bowl, no Super Bowl MVPs. Lamar has one MVP, two first Team All pros, no trips to the super Bowl. Josh has one MVP, zero first Team All Pro, zero trips to the super Bowl. Just very hard to like and his Yeah, he doesn't have far like of the decade, Lamar actually has the best passing stats, believe it or not. So I just I don't some of that stuff. I just don't totally follow, to be honest, I don't understand the logic for some people. All Right, let's do Caleb and the Bears for a moment.
01:05:00
Speaker 2: Caleb and Benn are entering year two coming off a very promising year, but you could say that that took some lucky bounces for them to get there. Do you think that Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson are legit or is their luck involved?
01:05:14
Speaker 1: Well, listen, there's a lot of you know, the reasons people thought Demon's the Commanders might regress last year because of the way they won games in Year one certainly can apply to the Bears, where there were so many games, including their playoff win against the Packers, where they just pulled it out of the fire or Caleb made some magic and then you saw the Commanders they did regress. Now, part of that was the Commander's dealt with brutal injury stuff with Jaden only playing seven games and an older team got hurt. Excuse me, sorry. So I do think that the Bears won't be quite as good at the end of games, and I do think think that the defense won't force quite as many turnovers. I totally anticipate that to be offset by the fact that I think Caleb is going to make another huge leap, Like when you saw Caleb go from being one of the most sacked players in history to being one of you know, having lack of sacks, be one of the better spots on his resume from last year. That level of improvement after year one of Ben Johnson, it just feels to me like, Okay, what does he need to do it what's his biggest thing he needs to improve on now? Not missing the layups, you know, improving the completion percentage from it was sixty two as a rookie, it was fifty eight last year. Getting that up to sixty three sixty four, which is a tenable number. That's the number one thing he's gotta work on. I just believe you. I believe you will. I think he is a superstar talent. I think he now has a head coach who could be elite, and I think that the Bears. I think that improvement will be enough to offset the obvious regression that's coming on the turnover side and the end of game stuff. But I also think some of that end of game stuff demons is the guy is dynamic, clutch and a playmaker. Like he's going to be better in two minutes and end of game situations than just your average good quarterback because of his athleticism and escapability and creativity. He just needs to be in fewer of those situations by playing better earlier in the games. He did.
01:07:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, Colin, I should reported that he lost some He lost some way. Uh do you think that's good or bad for him? I think it's great for him, I don't see him getting injured. It's that much faster. But that is a lot of weight.
01:08:08
Speaker 1: I got to see how he looks. Thirteen pounds is a lot. But we've seen you remember Lamarge weight fluctuating. Yeah, like he lost weight intentionally one year.
01:08:19
Speaker 2: Then gained it back.
01:08:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't. I didn't thirteen pounds a lot of weight to lose. I didn't think, like, I don't mind my quarterbacks having a little extra I will, yeah, I mean, I will trade a fraction of a second of speed for more durability. Now, maybe you know the losing the weight can make you more durable in a different way. But I don't always look at NFL guys losing weight as a good thing. And so I I that was I didn't see that in the rundown. I hadn't seen that news. So that actually was noteworthy to me, so to speak. All right, I think I think that covers it for today. I've got to go do Colin. You've got to go do Colin. We've got work to do again. A few scheduling notes. We'll be back on Thursday as always, and then the next couple of weeks when Demons and I are off. Ty Butler and Damon Bruce are gonna be in hosting live shows, So the Blue Duck and the Volume team are gonna be taking care of you guys. They're gonna do great. I have no idea what they're gonna talk about. The only pointer I gave them was that pointing out things they think I'm dead wrong about is always good content. So I would imagine if you've been waiting for some real chief skepticism on the show, you know those, the last couple weeks of August should be good. Subscribe to the channel. Helps us out on iTunes, on Spotify. Demansey, you look great. It's great to have you back. Enjoy everybody enjoying the rest of their day. I'll see you guys on Colin in a little over an hour. Thank you to Boost, thank you to Square, thank you to Volume, thank you to Blue Duck. Talk to you guys soon. What's right
