NFL Full Week 4 Preview plus CFL Preview | Boxing, WWE, and AEW | Fights and Football Friday!

3 months ago

It is a Fights and Football Friday (featuring some NHL and Calgary Flames talk). First, Peter looks at the things he is worried he's wrong about in the NHL this season. Later in the show, there is also some Calgary Flames talk reacting to the Zayne Parehk news. Then, its time for Fights and Football Friday. In Football, Peter looks at every game in the NFL and breaks down what he expects to happen in every game from a real-life and Fantasy perspective. He also analyzes all three games in the CFL. Then, it's on to the fights where Peter looks at what fights should be next after Daniel Dubois' win over Anthony Joshua and Jaime Munguia's bounce-back win. The show closes with a WWE RAW and AEW Grand Slam recaps.

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Transcript

00:00:00Welcome, everyone, to Couch Potato Diary.

00:00:07Happy Friday.

00:00:08My name is Peter Kline.

00:00:09Thank you very much for popping by today.

00:00:13Shout out Bello and Balan, Balan Brownie, already in the chat, saying hello.

00:00:18Shout out to you guys.

00:00:19Shout out to everyone watching live here at twitch.tv slash primetimepk, or if you're

00:00:23listening in podcast form later, or on YouTube, youtube.com slash at couchpotatodiary, which

00:00:29is the most fucking annoying thing ever.

00:00:31But coming up on the show today, it is a Fights and Football Friday, so we're going to be

00:00:35running through every game in the NFL, plus all the CFL action, fights to make coming

00:00:40off of the big boxing that we had, and I haven't talked wrestling in a while, which was very

00:00:45unlike me, so we're getting into some WWE and some AEW.

00:00:49I do have some catching up to do on NHL preview stuff, so we're going to start the show with

00:00:53that and then get into the fights and football stuff.

00:00:57So, thank you guys so much for popping in, as always, all your thoughts and questions

00:01:02and comments in the chat, very welcome.

00:01:04I mean, until they're not, but you know what I mean.

00:01:07Anyway, let's get into it, and do a little bit more on the hockey preview before we get

00:01:10into the football.

00:01:18So my cat has been sound asleep beside me the entire morning, and now that I have started

00:01:23talking, she just has to come in and get her camera time.

00:01:28So she'll blend in with my black sweater, don't worry about it, you'll barely notice

00:01:31her.

00:01:32I will, because she will bite my beard, but we'll be fine.

00:01:35Anyway, so, oh yeah, no, there we go, leaving already.

00:01:38And stepping on the keyboard, that's going to be helpful.

00:01:40Okay, so, this NHL season, and you know, any time with this job, really, with previews

00:01:47and stuff like that, it doesn't help to come on and say, I don't know.

00:01:51That was one thing I was told very early on in my career, is like, you know, you say

00:01:55I don't know a lot, just, like, don't do that.

00:02:00And I still think I say I don't know a fair amount, but I do try to, you know, you want

00:02:04to come down one side or the other, and so I, you know, let's lock in, these are the

00:02:09things that I think.

00:02:10But, I still have enough humility and grace, really, that I am aware that I could be wrong

00:02:16on some shit.

00:02:17And so today, I hope you're not adjusting the volume while you're doing that, so today,

00:02:23we are going, what a shit show to start, going to be starting with a look at the things that

00:02:31I am worried I am wrong about in the National Hockey League this season.

00:02:36So, number five, oh, hey, Bailey, Bello says bello.

00:02:42Number five, the impact of the better situation out in Utah.

00:02:46I have been saying on here for a little bit that I think the Utah Yeti HC Jazz team will

00:02:53have a really good opportunity to make the postseason this year.

00:02:56I thought that they had a very good team that was ready to take a step last year, and then,

00:03:02you know, where are you going to live?

00:03:04Why does this arena suck so bad?

00:03:06Hey, what are your thoughts on Salt Lake City?

00:03:08Have you ever thought of Salt Lake City before in your life?

00:03:11All of these different things start to come up, it causes a bit of a distraction, they

00:03:14lose like 13 games in a row, and everything goes to hell very, very quickly.

00:03:20They're not going to have that this year.

00:03:21I'm going to assume they're not moving out of Utah year one.

00:03:25That would be quite the thing, and if it is, I mean, whatever.

00:03:29That is going to be a very tricky team to, you know, figure out.

00:03:34But I do think that this is a team that has quite a bit of talent.

00:03:37They go out and acquire Sergeyev, there's already a lot of young pieces there that you

00:03:42feel very excited about, and so I think that Utah is going to take a step this year.

00:03:46But I am worried that I am just kind of whistling past the graveyard when it comes to some of

00:03:53the struggles, and just assuming none of them were hockey related, and all of them were

00:03:57life distraction oriented.

00:03:59So I am worried that I'm just going to be wrong about that.

00:04:05Where is Salt in Lake City?

00:04:07I'm sure they have salt everywhere in Salt Lake City.

00:04:10I've never been.

00:04:11It seems like a lovely place, though.

00:04:12They had an Olympics.

00:04:14Number four.

00:04:15Maybe the Rangers just aren't as good as I think they are.

00:04:18I, look, I'm not unique in the thought that the New York Rangers are going to be a very

00:04:22good hockey team this year, but I do think that this is a group that is ready for a run

00:04:28towards the Stanley Cup, and I'm a little bit worried, though, as time goes on, and

00:04:35it just doesn't really click, ever.

00:04:39They made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year, so this isn't a bum of a hockey

00:04:44team or anything like that, but they also didn't play great in the playoffs.

00:04:50They got, whether it was a timely goal at a right time, they were kind of outplayed

00:04:54soundly throughout many parts of games against Carolina and stuff like that, and they just

00:04:59happened to keep winning those games.

00:05:01And so that has kind of stuck with me in the back of my mind, is that maybe this team's

00:05:04window is closing a little bit more rapidly than I think it is, and so that kind of concerns

00:05:11me a little bit.

00:05:12And number three.

00:05:13The development of the kids in Montreal.

00:05:15I have said that, like, my breakout players list had two players on the halves on it,

00:05:20with Cole Caulfield breaking out from already being a brokeout.

00:05:24I think that he moves into superstar status this year.

00:05:29And Yuriy Slavkoski, I think, takes a big jump in Montreal this season.

00:05:35Those are the kids, Bello, that I am talking about.

00:05:37Those are the guys that I think have an opportunity, and like, another year of Nick Suzuki, I think

00:05:42on the blue line, they have a couple of guys, Ghouli and such, that have an opportunity

00:05:47to progress a little bit.

00:05:49But there is also, again, the thought of A, everyone has thought, like, Buffalo has been

00:05:54waiting for that breakout for like four years.

00:05:56Ditto in Ottawa.

00:05:58And Detroit to a certain extent, although they were actually in the playoff race until

00:06:02the last day of the regular season this last year.

00:06:04So I am thinking that Montreal's talent is good enough that they can kind of jump the

00:06:09line a little bit, but if that talent doesn't take the big jump in the way that I think

00:06:14it does, and probably specifically in net, then this team isn't going to have the big

00:06:18advances that I think they're going to have.

00:06:21And me having Montreal in basically every list that I have done previewing the season

00:06:25this year will have been an entire waste of time.

00:06:28And two, Markstrom being the missing piece in New Jersey.

00:06:32We have all talked about it, you see the hat, based out here in Calgary, talked about the

00:06:37Markstrom trade, ad nauseam.

00:06:40By the way, if you want a full breakdown of that, if you just want a nice refresher, Game

00:06:43Over Calgary, I have a video up on the Game Over Calgary YouTube channel, so just go check

00:06:48that one out.

00:06:49And check out the preseason reaction there from me.

00:06:51But I, quick recap, last year, trade deadline, I said that New Jersey had a chance to win

00:06:57the Stanley Cup if they made a move to go out and get Tanev and Markstrom from the Flames.

00:07:02They decided to get none of them, instead getting Jake Allen.

00:07:06Which did not lead to even playoffs, let alone a run, toward the Stanley Cup.

00:07:10But now, they make the big acquisition in the offseason for Shea.

00:07:13They go out and get Jacob Markstrom, who, to Deeds' point, also, hello Deeds, Markstrom,

00:07:20fantastic mask.

00:07:21Elite mask game.

00:07:22We don't have enough good masks.

00:07:23I think we need to talk about that a little bit more.

00:07:25I shouldn't say that.

00:07:27We have some good masks, we don't have a lot that stand out.

00:07:29We don't have a lot of unique.

00:07:30I feel like we need to focus on these a little bit more.

00:07:33Anyway, I'm rambling.

00:07:35I feel like Markstrom's the missing piece in New Jersey.

00:07:39I feel like this is a guy who, when he is at his best, is the type of goaltender that

00:07:44this team needs to get them to the promised land.

00:07:47Like I genuinely think New Jersey is in that circle of teams that can win the Stanley Cup

00:07:52this year.

00:07:54And so, there are a few ways I can be wrong in that.

00:07:57A, that's really hard to do, just in general.

00:08:01Being a team that can win the Stanley Cup, there are but a few of them.

00:08:04And so, there's a lot of gap between where they were and where I think they can be.

00:08:10And a lot can go wrong in this spot here.

00:08:13We are coming off of a season where Jacob Markstrom was very good.

00:08:18That was coming off of a season where Jacob Markstrom was really bad.

00:08:21And goalies tend to not, at his age, tend to not just, oh yeah, no, bad season, rock

00:08:27it up again, here we go.

00:08:28That tends to not be the case.

00:08:30So, there is absolutely a world where Markstrom isn't as good as I think he is.

00:08:35This team isn't as good as I think they are.

00:08:37Already, he was dealing with an injury out there.

00:08:40Also, the East, quite good.

00:08:43And that division, at least at the top, quite good.

00:08:45And so, there are a few ways where that one kind of goes wrong.

00:08:49And I'm a little bit concerned about that.

00:08:51The number one thing I am worried about in the NHL previews this year, Stephen Stamkos'

00:08:56impact on leaving the Tampa Bay Lightning.

00:08:59I have come on here a number of times and said, also, when I pop in at 960 when they

00:09:04let me, I have said that people are kind of sleeping on the impact Stephen Stamkos had

00:09:10on Tampa Bay.

00:09:11And I know, for a bit, being like, Stephen Stamkos, kind of underrated, no one's talking

00:09:15about how good this guy is.

00:09:18That seems a little extreme.

00:09:20I do think that there comes a point where, okay, he's old, he's heading toward free agency,

00:09:26it's just going to be a whatever, he's actually not that good, he's just a veteran guy and

00:09:31we just remember the good old days.

00:09:33You tend to, once a guy hits a certain age, and quite frankly, a point in their contract,

00:09:38you start to be like, okay, yeah, whatever.

00:09:40And he's also had the injury issues, right?

00:09:41So I think people just kind of write off what Stamkos can do.

00:09:46But 240 goal seasons in the last three years is nothing to scoff at.

00:09:50And I still think he's a better hockey player than Jake Gensel is.

00:09:53And so while maybe this does set them up long term a little bit better out in Tampa Bay,

00:09:58I think that this year, there's going to be a bit of an adjustment and there's going to

00:10:02be a bit of a step back.

00:10:03And I also think that there was an emotional component to this out in Tampa Bay.

00:10:08And like CJ brought up on his show with Julian, I think it was a week ago, I'm behind, but

00:10:14talking about how Vasilevsky was like, yeah, tell Stamkos, I've already told Stamkos, like,

00:10:20just be kind on the one goal you get on me this year, because he's definitely going to

00:10:23get one.

00:10:24And all this stuff.

00:10:25Like, they're just, they're waxing poetic about him.

00:10:27And I worry that all of that is going to kind of damage things out in Tampa a little bit.

00:10:32I'm also worried that I've maybe gone a little bit too hard on the Jake Gensel isn't Steven

00:10:37Stamkos thing.

00:10:38I don't want it to seem like I think Jake Gensel is dog shit.

00:10:41He is just the, like, Ensign Carter out there with the Sedine Twins, and not that Ensign

00:10:47Carter was dog shit, but you know what I mean, that he's just this overrated whatever who

00:10:50just happened to have good line mates.

00:10:52That's not the case.

00:10:53Gensel is quite good at the sport of hockey.

00:10:55And thusly, I think he is going to have probably some pretty good years, pretty good games

00:11:00this year with Tampa Bay and probably put up some pretty big point totals.

00:11:04But I do think that there is a step back coming for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

00:11:08Okay, so that is the hockey part.

00:11:10So we have now got the non-fights and football stuff out of the way on a Fights and Football

00:11:14Friday.

00:11:15Let's get to the football.

00:11:17It's time for your NFL Preview, going into the week in the National…

00:11:21Football League!

00:11:22I missed this in the last part, so apologies, deeds.

00:11:33Wolf needs to get the Trevor Kidd treatment and have a wolf instead of a dragon on his

00:11:37mask.

00:11:38The backplate could be a moon.

00:11:39Yeah, how do you not?

00:11:40Right?

00:11:41Like, and even like with the flames, you could have a fiery moon, but like a subtly fiery

00:11:45moon, not the moon is on fire, but just like a subtle fire in there and all of that.

00:11:51There's definitely something there.

00:11:52And Deeds also saying Sabres and Devils in the playoffs, Lightning and Islanders are

00:11:56out.

00:11:58I would agree.

00:11:59The Sabres one, I'm just, I can't get there just yet with the Sabres.

00:12:04We'll get into the full team previews in a little bit.

00:12:07Next week, probably.

00:12:10I think they need a little bit more offense and the goaltending needs to not scare me

00:12:13as much, but they definitely could.

00:12:15Like there is a number of different universes where that team makes the playoffs this year.

00:12:20Okay.

00:12:21Now the football.

00:12:22As we get into week four in the National Football League, coming off of last week, I had this

00:12:27written down.

00:12:28We talked about it.

00:12:29Week two, or what was my week one, didn't go great in the old prediction game.

00:12:34This week was better.

00:12:35We still didn't quite get to 500, but we were at nine and 11 for the week in the NFL.

00:12:40The picks that we clicked on five and five.

00:12:43Also I did say on here and doing this again, the today's ticket portion where I officially

00:12:50give out all the picks that I'm actually going to be clicking on.

00:12:53That was a podcast exclusive last week and we went 11 and six on that.

00:12:59And that was NFL, CFL, boxing, and some UFC.

00:13:02So that went pretty well and going to be incorporating kick into that a little bit

00:13:07more.

00:13:08There's just, you know, not that it's overly intrusive or anything, but here on Twitch,

00:13:11there are some like, Hey, just make sure you specify if we're going to be talking about

00:13:15gambling and we're not talking about gambling the whole time.

00:13:17So I don't want to put that thing on.

00:13:18It's a whole big thing.

00:13:19Probably didn't need to explain it, but Vyvanse and coffee is quite a combination.

00:13:23So let's get into the NFL preview, shall we?

00:13:26We begin with a scintillating matchup out in Carolina as the Panthers take on the Cincinnati

00:13:31Bengals.

00:13:32Bengals favored by four and a half.

00:13:34The total in this game is at 47 and a half Cincinnati, one of the most concerning teams

00:13:40in the NFL so far this season.

00:13:42Statistically, some of this stuff looks pretty good, right?

00:13:45They're 12th in DVOA, which again is an efficiency statistic, fifth on offense, 24th in defense.

00:13:52Think that probably tells the story for you.

00:13:54A lot of the other underlying numbers on this defense actually aren't bad.

00:13:58success rate, EPA per dropback, dropback success rate, and rush success rate.

00:14:03So a few of these things they are actually able to hold up.

00:14:07It's just a few other big ones not necessarily working out.

00:14:11For example, 30th in defensive EPA per play.

00:14:14So that is telling me that for the most part, you have a team that is kind of keeping it

00:14:21in front of them, not allowing teams to get past the six and like the sixth in success

00:14:26rate and 30th in defensive EPA means that for the most part, like on a play to play

00:14:30basis, the defense is doing all right.

00:14:32It's just those big Jaden Daniels just beat you over the top plays that are killing them

00:14:37right now.

00:14:38And that was the thing last week.

00:14:39I was surprised at how much of the conversation around Cincinnati focused on, oh, well, Joe

00:14:44Burrow is just not a winning quarterback.

00:14:45It's like, dude, he, did they punt on Monday?

00:14:49If they did, it wasn't a lot.

00:14:52They were doing very well offensively.

00:14:55Defense just couldn't get a stop against a kid who hadn't really proven to be unstoppable

00:15:00just yet.

00:15:01And so I, I think the defense is the bigger part of the problem right now out in Cincinnati.

00:15:07I think the offense is fine.

00:15:08They're fourth in EPA per play, fourth in success rate.

00:15:11They're actually second in rush success rate.

00:15:13There's been a lot of talk about, oh, well, they're just missing Joe Mixon.

00:15:16It's like Zach, Zach Moss and Chase Brown have been fine.

00:15:18There's nothing, nothing off about this offense.

00:15:20I know we want to, and even I have fallen into that, right?

00:15:23On Monday, talking about, oh, well, it's Joe Burrow and all the distractions and stuff

00:15:26like that.

00:15:27It's like, well, they scored 30, you know, like they put up some points and I get against

00:15:32Washington, you should.

00:15:34And they did struggle against New England and they looked all right against Kansas City.

00:15:38I am not saying everything is perfect in Cincinnati.

00:15:40Do not hear what I'm not saying.

00:15:42But I think the offense is actually moving things relatively well.

00:15:46They face a Carolina Panthers team that sucks.

00:15:49And yes, they beat the Raiders last week, but the Raiders, say it with me, suck.

00:15:53This is still a bad football team.

00:15:5629th in DVOA, 30th in offense, the defense bumps up to 21st.

00:16:00The Gardner-Minshew effect, so to speak.

00:16:03I still think this is a very bad team.

00:16:05And yes, Andy Dalton and red rocketing all over this game.

00:16:08Fantastic.

00:16:09Love it.

00:16:10Great.

00:16:11There is no way that A, Cincinnati allows themselves to go to 0-4, and B, that they

00:16:17have fallen to this point.

00:16:19And so I do think that we are getting a bit of a gift number at Cincinnati, minus 4.5.

00:16:26And I think that if Jaden Daniels doesn't get a miraculous hero ball at the end of Monday

00:16:34Night Football, we're probably looking at Cincinnati even like plus, or minus like 6.5-7.

00:16:41So to get them at minus 4.5, I think you're fine.

00:16:43From a fantasy football standpoint, Joe Burrows will start this week, right?

00:16:47I mean, honestly, wherever you drafted Joe Burrow, you probably have to play him anyway.

00:16:51I would trust Zach Moss.

00:16:53I think you can trust Zach Moss, more specifically.

00:16:56And I think that that is a play you can feel comfortable with.

00:17:01Carolina's run defense is 24th in defensive EPA per rush, so they haven't been very good

00:17:08at stopping it.

00:17:09I do think that the Cincinnati Bengals are going to be able to run on them a little bit.

00:17:13And so I think that's a play.

00:17:14Mike Gusicki is still a play if you're desperate at tight end, which everyone is right now.

00:17:18So I have no problem with that.

00:17:20On the Carolina side, no Deontay Johnson kind of stings a little bit.

00:17:23I think Chuba Hubbard, there is, like Cincinnati hasn't given up a ton on the ground so far

00:17:29this year.

00:17:30But they, you know, again, like we talked about, they've given up some big plays and

00:17:33all of that through the air.

00:17:34I don't think there is an option there.

00:17:37Like maybe at Deeper League, if you want to take a look at Xavier Leguette, just based

00:17:41off of the injuries that they have, then maybe you can roll with that.

00:17:45But that might be a bit of a wait and see one.

00:17:48But if you're desperate and you're feeling some type of way, that ain't a bad play to

00:17:52throw that one in there.

00:17:54But I think Chuba Hubbard is a fine play, but there might be better options out there.

00:17:58Denver taking on the New York Jets.

00:18:00Jets favored by 7.5 in this game.

00:18:01The total is at 39.5.

00:18:04Denver is 19th in DVOA, 28th on offense, 13th on defense.

00:18:10All of their stats, basically, on the offensive side are in the, like, 25th to 27th range

00:18:16in the NFL.

00:18:17And all of their stats defensively are basically 8th.

00:18:22But they have had a bit of trouble stopping the run when they need to, a 23rd in the NFL

00:18:27in defensive rush success rate.

00:18:28For the Jets, 10th in DVOA, offense and defense both right around there.

00:18:31They have a number of categories on both sides in the top 10 offensively.

00:18:36We have started to see people get very excited about the Jets now.

00:18:40Coming off of a good Thursday night performance against what is a pretty good New England

00:18:44Patriots defense.

00:18:45I do think that you can start to buy in on the Jets.

00:18:48We talked about this on Power Rankings Day when I had them in the top 5 begrudgingly.

00:18:53They are just, it is clicking now.

00:18:56Having another weapon on offense like a Braylon Allen really does make this thing a little

00:18:59bit interesting.

00:19:00And having another weapon that Aaron Rodgers trusts in Allen Lazard I think is interesting.

00:19:04And I think that is going to be very important in this game.

00:19:07I think that there is going to be a real focus on shutting down Garrett Wilson.

00:19:12And we saw that last week.

00:19:14The Patriots really dialed in on that guy is not going to beat us.

00:19:18And look how that turned out.

00:19:20But last week we saw Patrick Sertan III cover Mike Evans almost exclusively.

00:19:26And they were able to do a really good job of completely taking him out of the game plan.

00:19:31And we saw New England again do the same thing to Wilson.

00:19:34And that allowed Aaron Rodgers to go to, or not, I guess allowed, I don't think he

00:19:38was champing it a bit to do that.

00:19:40But that guided Aaron Rodgers in the direction of an Allen Lazard who ends up having a relatively

00:19:46decent game.

00:19:47And so I think, again, if you are in a deeper league where Allen Lazard is owned, I think

00:19:51you can roll with that.

00:19:53If you are in a league where you have Garrett Wilson, I don't think you sit him or anything

00:19:59like that.

00:20:00Because, like, he is, he is very good.

00:20:03But I would, I would at least give, give a little bit of a thought to that.

00:20:08Anyway, just that's the one part of this matchup that I think kind of intrigues me a little

00:20:13bit.

00:20:14And so I meant to look at this before.

00:20:16Taking a look at some of the player props, player receiving yards, Allen Lazard is at

00:20:2132 and a half.

00:20:22I don't think we're going to play that.

00:20:23Garrett Wilson.

00:20:24Oh, they brought it down.

00:20:2654 and a half is a really good number for that.

00:20:28I don't think that that, I don't think there's a value in that.

00:20:31It's already baked in.

00:20:32What happened there?

00:20:33Honestly, there might be a little bit of value in the over.

00:20:35Like, are they really going to hold Garrett Wilson that down?

00:20:38I don't know.

00:20:39So there might be a little bit of value in that one.

00:20:41I, I just think the Jets plus a touchdown and a bit on Denver is a little aggressive

00:20:52right now.

00:20:53I still, like, I get the Jets just blew out New England.

00:20:56Thursday night, we have to caution against overreacting a little bit too much.

00:21:01So this is not going to be one I click on, but I'll take Denver plus seven and a half.

00:21:04I think that Denver actually keeps this one kind of close and the Jets will win, but I

00:21:11don't think you can go beyond that.

00:21:13Jacksonville, taking on Houston.

00:21:15The Texans favored by six.

00:21:17The total is at 44 and a half.

00:21:18This game is a disappoint off, so to speak.

00:21:23As you have Jacksonville, who has just been shit pumped in basically, like, I mean, last

00:21:30week was the worst one, obviously last week was the bad one against Buffalo, but it just,

00:21:34it has been incredibly disappointing all season long out in Jacksonville.

00:21:39And that I think has allowed or has made the market kind of turn on them very, very quickly.

00:21:46But Houston, it feels like it's disappointing more.

00:21:49You look at Houston's numbers right now, they are 14th in DVOA, 26th on offense.

00:21:53They are 28th in dropback success rate.

00:21:56A lot of their defensive stats are middle of the road, and I think, honestly, some of

00:22:00those are, I mean, there's two sides of it, right?

00:22:03They had a bit of a shootout against the Indianapolis Colts, and then they were able to shut down

00:22:07Chicago, who everybody shuts down.

00:22:09So I do think that, again, minus six is a little aggressive for this, like, to assume

00:22:14that this Houston team that has had some struggles, honestly, offensively, so far this year, to

00:22:19assume that they are going to win a game by a touchdown over Jacksonville right now, again,

00:22:24it just kind of feels a little aggressive, and it feels like a little bit much.

00:22:28So this is one where, again, I am going to stay away, but for the point of this pick

00:22:34per game, as I always do, I'm going to say Jacksonville plus six.

00:22:38Again, I think they lose, but I think they keep this one relatively close.

00:22:42This line, I can't figure at all.

00:22:44The Rams taking on the Chicago Bears.

00:22:46The Bears are favored by three, and the total is at 40 and a half.

00:22:49I get the Rams are going on the road here, but it's still, like, it's September 27th.

00:22:55It's going to be the 29th by the time, right?

00:22:56Yeah, the 29th.

00:22:58By the time this game is happening.

00:23:00What... like, it's not going to be minus a billion out in Chicago.

00:23:07It's not going to be this absolutely hindrance of a game that is going to just cause some

00:23:13major problems for the Rams coming from sunny, sunny Los Angeles.

00:23:18Also, Matthew Stafford is the quarterback.

00:23:20He played in that division for a hundred years.

00:23:23I don't understand this one at all.

00:23:25Now the Rams, again, they have underwhelmed a little bit, but they have played really

00:23:29hard, at least.

00:23:3025th in DVOA, 17th on offense, but the defense has been bad, at 31st.

00:23:34But the Bears, their DVOA is at 24th, 32nd on offense, 8th on defense.

00:23:39I think, honestly, the play in this one is probably the under, and that's going to be

00:23:42the case for a lot of Chicago games, as their defense is very good, and their offense is

00:23:46very bad, and easy to figure out, we will say.

00:23:51And so I do think that, from a Rams perspective, this defense probably figures out Chicago,

00:23:56and gives them some issues, and I think Matthew Stafford, with the understanding of the weapons

00:24:01that he has, which are limited, but the combination of Stafford and Sean McVay against this defense,

00:24:07I think is a very, very, very interesting matchup.

00:24:11And so, I am actually going to go, this will probably be one that comes up a little bit

00:24:15later on in some of the other content I'm doing today, take that for what you will,

00:24:19but I am going to say LA Rams plus the three, and I will go under 40.5 for this game.

00:24:26All NFC North matchup, I guess we continue in the NFC North, as it is the Minnesota Vikings

00:24:31taking on the Green Bay Packers, Green Bay, minus 2.5 in this one, which is a little surprising,

00:24:38but is also quite a bit of respect shown to Minnesota, who right now, 4th in DVOA, 1st

00:24:44in defensive DVOA, which was not something I expected, but they're 3rd in defensive

00:24:47EPA per dropback, sorry, defensive EPA per play, so this defense has stepped up big.

00:24:52The offense for Green Bay has not fallen off without Jordan Love.

00:24:56Well, it has, but just picked up in different ways, I suppose.

00:25:00They're 29th in dropback success rate, but they're 5th in dropback EPA, so they are

00:25:08putting up some big plays, just not all the time moving the sticks in the ways that they

00:25:13would like to.

00:25:14Taking a look at Jordan Love and his stats right now, or not stats right now, sorry.

00:25:21Status of Jordan Love, he's close.

00:25:24Game time decision on Sunday.

00:25:25So that does kind of complicate things a little bit.

00:25:28If you are to assume that Jordan Love would be getting the call in this game, I think

00:25:32that Green Bay minus 2.5 still feels like a steal.

00:25:34I understand we are all very excited about what Minnesota is doing so far this year,

00:25:40right?

00:25:41I think, yes, this has been great.

00:25:43Oh, hello, Oljeka, I hope I'm saying that right, hi.

00:25:48We're all very excited about what Minnesota has been doing, it's been a fun story so far.

00:25:51But the Packers are a, when healthy, significantly better team.

00:25:57And they are a very, very good offensive team.

00:26:01Defensively, it has left a little bit to be desired, but they are still 12th in defensive

00:26:06DVOA.

00:26:07And so I do think that they are a squad that can come out and maybe try to limit some stuff

00:26:12here for Minnesota just a little bit.

00:26:15This would be a big win regardless of who's playing quarterback for Minnesota.

00:26:19But this is a real interesting test for this defense, and I think it's also an interesting

00:26:23test to see where the Green Bay defense is at after a couple of weeks in some weirder

00:26:27matchups for their defense going up against the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans.

00:26:32So I think this is going to be kind of a good measuring stick for both.

00:26:35But I am going to go Green Bay minus two and a half.

00:26:38I just feel like this team is more than a field goal better than Minnesota is right

00:26:43now.

00:26:44Another division matchup in the South as Atlanta is playing host to New Orleans.

00:26:49You have the Saints, who are second in DVOA, fourth on offense, fifth on defense, against

00:26:54Atlanta, whom they have kind of bounced around all over the place.

00:27:03It is, it's fun.

00:27:06And yeah, sorry, Ooyeka, can you listen to the track, Heart Time?

00:27:12At some point maybe.

00:27:14There's a video on YouTube.

00:27:15Okay, I will give it a go when I can.

00:27:18But yes, for Atlanta, you have a team that has, I think, on the first game of the year,

00:27:27wildly underwhelmed.

00:27:29And then going into a Sunday nighter against Kansas City, all right, well they hung the

00:27:33Chiefs, so where do we put them?

00:27:36Same thing now goes for New Orleans.

00:27:37Two gigantic wins to start the season, but then looked very pedestrian against the Philadelphia

00:27:42Eagles, kind of leading you to the, oh, they've been figured out conversation.

00:27:46And so that is a, it's a tricky, tricky matchup this week.

00:27:52I have said that even with the early season success out in New Orleans, that the New Orleans

00:27:58Saints are a bit of a house of cards, especially offensively.

00:28:03Offensively for Atlanta, I still think there's some room for improvement.

00:28:06Hey, I think they've looked pretty good so far, but I think that they brought in some

00:28:10pieces late in camp, and so I think there is still a little bit of meshing that can

00:28:14go on there.

00:28:15I do think that they limit New Orleans one more time.

00:28:18And I think, again, this one probably a little bit lower scoring, so we're going to do another

00:28:22double shot on this one.

00:28:23We are going to go Atlanta minus the two, and we're going to take under 42 in this game.

00:28:30Philadelphia taking on Tampa Bay.

00:28:31The Eagles favored by a point and a half.

00:28:34The total in this one is at 43 and a half.

00:28:36I get Tampa Bay has had Philadelphia's number the last little bit, and it hasn't looked

00:28:41overly impressive all the time for Philadelphia.

00:28:44And now you have a week off, or a full game, sorry, with basically Goddard, Jahan Dodson,

00:28:52and Saquon Barkley as the best options out in Philadelphia offensively is a problem.

00:28:58It's a real big concern for this group.

00:29:01And I do worry about them offensively.

00:29:05Defensively for Tampa Bay, they kind of got chewed up by Bo Nix last week, and it was

00:29:09in ways that Jalen Hurts can also hurt them.

00:29:11And so I think that this minus one and a half is a little bit too much of an overreaction

00:29:16to some of the concerns we may have about Philadelphia.

00:29:19And also about this matchup.

00:29:21That obviously has not gone well for Philadelphia in the past, but I do think that Philadelphia

00:29:26is just a better team than Tampa Bay.

00:29:28And actually, by a pretty significant margin.

00:29:31So this is one where I think there's a little bit of overreacting to what's going on out

00:29:35in Philly.

00:29:37The Indianapolis Colts playing host to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

00:29:41The Steelers, the road favorite, at minus one and a half of the total, sitting at 40.

00:29:46Pittsburgh has been one of the dominant teams so far this year.

00:29:49Defensively, they have balled out.

00:29:51Offensively, they've done enough to have some kind of success.

00:29:57Defensively, they are first in every stat that I look at.

00:30:00Offensively, they are middle in the road of basically everything.

00:30:04I will note, you've probably seen me look down at my phone a couple of times.

00:30:07I have Jalen Warren in fantasy, and so I have been alerted numerous times now that Jalen

00:30:11Warren is out of this game.

00:30:14And that is, I don't think it's a major change.

00:30:17I do think he is a talented running back, but I also think that there's going to be

00:30:20a lot of Cordell Patterson involvement now in this offense.

00:30:24That would be a sneaky pickup.

00:30:26A little bit of a if-you-are-desperate play, but you have the Indianapolis Colts who are

00:30:3124th in defensive rush success rate, so they do give up some chunks in the run game.

00:30:39So I think this could be an interesting spot for Harris, and I think an interesting dart

00:30:43throw type of a move for Cordell Patterson, if you want to go that way.

00:30:48But this one, I think that Justin Fields continues to get better in this offense, and I have

00:30:53talked before about a lack of respect that I have for the Indianapolis Colts' defense,

00:30:57and I think that this will be a game where Pittsburgh figures that out a little bit,

00:31:01and then defensively, I think they swallow up Anthony Richardson.

00:31:05So I think that this one goes the way of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

00:31:08I have them.

00:31:09I'm buying in to what Pittsburgh is selling me a little bit.

00:31:13So I'm going to go with Pitt, minus a point and a half.

00:31:15From a fantasy standpoint, and sorry I've missed the last couple, so if you do have

00:31:18any fantasy questions, let me know.

00:31:20But from a fantasy standpoint, not a whole lot I love in this game.

00:31:24Jonathan Taylor, you kind of have to start him.

00:31:26I would find a way to not start Michael Pittman this week, and for a few weeks going forward.

00:31:30I think he's a very talented wide receiver, but it is not meshing with Anthony Richardson

00:31:35at all right now, and that is a problem for him.

00:31:39So I don't, I would try to avoid Anthony Richardson, and basically anyone not named

00:31:42Jonathan Taylor in this offense.

00:31:44On the Pittsburgh side, Justin Fields, if you're super desperate, if you are super

00:31:48duper desperate, Cordell Patterson, I think actually gets a little bit of a run in this

00:31:52game, but I think Najee kind of gets bumped up a little bit.

00:31:55I am not going to buy into Calvin Austin with a big play last week, and George Pickens is

00:32:01I think very good, so I think you roll with him, and Fryermuth, what, do you have two

00:32:05tight ends?

00:32:06So roll with him if you can.

00:32:07But yes, to Deeds' point, Pitt as a defense fantasy-wise is the only bright spot.

00:32:12All right, I did miss fantasy for a couple of these.

00:32:14Philadelphia taking on Tampa Bay, you're starting, your Eagles, Goddard, Saquon, Hertz,

00:32:20I don't, actually starting Dotson probably wouldn't be the worst thing, depending on

00:32:24the injury situations for Smith and for A.J.

00:32:27Brown.

00:32:28I haven't seen a ton of updates on them.

00:32:29If they aren't in the lineup, then I think Jahan Dotson is a sneaky all-right play in

00:32:34like 12-teamers and a little bit beyond.

00:32:36For Tampa Bay, Bucky Irving, I think you can start to throw him in your lineup a little

00:32:40bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more.

00:32:43This is not a game to start Baker Mayfield, but the two receivers, you are absolutely

00:32:47starting.

00:32:48Atlanta taking on New Orleans, I, like this one, there aren't a whole, I would avoid

00:32:53Shaheed.

00:32:54Sorry.

00:32:55Stumbled on that.

00:32:56But aside from that, like, you're not sitting Alave, you're not sitting Kamara, I don't

00:33:00think this is a Derek Carr game.

00:33:01And for Atlanta, I think we have seen Mooney is working more and more into this offense.

00:33:05I think you can struggle at, sorry, I just saw Crimney there.

00:33:09I think you can put Mooney in and feel okay about it.

00:33:12And then, like, Pitts, Robinson, London, those guys are going to play.

00:33:16And Kirk Cousins, I would avoid it if I could.

00:33:19Again, quickly going back through some of the ones that I missed.

00:33:22Minnesota against Green Bay.

00:33:24Aaron Jones is a start.

00:33:26Justin Jefferson, obviously.

00:33:29Probably not Sam Darnold in this game, I wouldn't, although there's a couple spots where I kind

00:33:32of have to.

00:33:33And, I mean, Green Bay is 29th in dropback success rate.

00:33:37So, I, I don't know.

00:33:39I would try to avoid that.

00:33:41If Jordan Love is healthy, probably have to put him in anyway.

00:33:44And then, I think we are at a point where you can trust the pass-catching options out

00:33:48there.

00:33:49Chicago against the Rams.

00:33:50There isn't a bear I would start right now.

00:33:52Cole Komet is working his way into the offense a little bit more, and tight end sucks.

00:33:56So I would go with that, but I would avoid the running back situation.

00:33:59And for the Rams, like Parkinson, and, not Stafford, and that's, Williams, the one I

00:34:07was thinking of, I would go with that as well.

00:34:09And then I think we did, oh we didn't do Jacksonville-Houston either, Jesus, sorry guys, I missed a bunch

00:34:13of these.

00:34:14Jacksonville against Houston.

00:34:16Trevor Lawrence, I would, I think you would try to avoid that, although where he was being

00:34:21drafted you might have to.

00:34:23Thomas is kind of the only option in this offense I trust right now.

00:34:26Again, you probably have to play ETN based on where he was drafted, but aside from that,

00:34:30I would try to avoid it.

00:34:31And for Houston, I think you have to keep rolling with Stroud, and then with Collins,

00:34:35Dell, and Diggs, I think you have to keep going with those guys.

00:34:39I think Akers is an interesting play this week, given some of the struggles that Jacksonville

00:34:42has had, specifically in the run D, 25th in defensive EPA per run, and 27th in defensive

00:34:47rush success rate.

00:34:48So I think Akers is actually a pretty good play in this one as well.

00:34:52Denver against the Jets, we kind of talked about fantasy in that one a little bit, so

00:34:55I'll bounce back here now.

00:34:56Crimney is asking, struggling in tight end, aren't we all?

00:35:00Do I start Conklin or Hunter Henry this week?

00:35:03That is interesting, as, um, I think I would go Conklin there.

00:35:08I think that, again, one of the things I have talked about in the preview for that

00:35:12game is the Denver Broncos taking away Garrett Wilson.

00:35:18And so I think while Lazard benefits from that, I think Conklin will benefit from that

00:35:22as well, and so I think Conklin would be the way to go.

00:35:25But yeah, to Diggs' point, tight end has been a struggle so far this year.

00:35:29For our next game now, New England taking on San Francisco.

00:35:32The 49ers, favored by 10.5 points, with a 40.5 point total.

00:35:38There isn't a whole lot to this game, I am going to go with San Francisco minus 10.5,

00:35:43just I think they are in line for a bounce back spot here against the New England Patriots,

00:35:49and I think Kyle Shanahan wants to take it out on people wearing Patriots jerseys, even

00:35:54though it's no one close to the players who kind of cost him a 28-3 a long time ago.

00:36:00But I, like, New England sucks, and San Francisco doesn't, so let's go with that.

00:36:05There are some concerning numbers on the defensive side for San Francisco, but I don't

00:36:08think this is one where that gets exploited.

00:36:10And I just, I don't want to talk about this game.

00:36:12I think it sucks.

00:36:13From a fantasy standpoint, you can, I think you can start Brock Purdy, and feel okay about

00:36:18it.

00:36:19Mason at running back, you kind of got to.

00:36:21And at wide receiver, I think you have to, like, it would be weird to have this choice,

00:36:26but I would go Jennings over Ayuk at this point, and I think both of them you can start,

00:36:31especially as it starts to lean toward Kittle being out for this game, on the New England

00:36:35side.

00:36:36Ramondre Stevenson.

00:36:37That's about it.

00:36:38Washington, taking on Arizona.

00:36:39This one will have a bit of a different fantasy conversation, as you have, oh man, need CMC

00:36:46back ASAP, 100% Krimney.

00:36:48I could not agree with you more.

00:36:50I have a couple of fantasy leagues where I am with you on that, 100%.

00:36:54Arizona, minus 3.5 with the total, at 50.

00:36:58Washington, they are 26th in DVOA.

00:37:019th on offense, and dead fucking last on defense at 32.

00:37:06Arizona is 11th in DVOA, 8th on offense, 23rd on defense.

00:37:09I think Arizona only being favored by 3.5 points is a little insulting to Arizona.

00:37:14They have legitimately been a good football team this season.

00:37:18And yes, we have concerns about this team on the defensive side.

00:37:22And yes, Washington, just in a standalone game on Monday Night Football, took that spotlight

00:37:29and shone bright with it, and put on an excellent offensive performance.

00:37:35I still am not buying it.

00:37:36And I think that the Arizona is just kind of a souped up version of Washington right

00:37:41now, where you have young, exciting, mobile quarterback, can throw it up, do a whole lot

00:37:46of that.

00:37:47Murray's just a better version of that.

00:37:49You have, on both sides, a wide receiver who we really like, and can go out and make plays.

00:37:56But right now, Harrison, kind of an up version of McLaurin, which is kind of crazy to say.

00:38:01But just the way that their offenses are going right now.

00:38:03Defensively, neither team can defend very well.

00:38:05But Arizona is playing at least a little bit better defensively.

00:38:07So it just feels like everything on the Washington side, Arizona does it a little bit better.

00:38:12So I will very strongly suggest Arizona minus 3.5 in this game.

00:38:18And I feel really good about that one going forward.

00:38:22Deeds in the chat.

00:38:23The Jennings emergence has been great for me as a Niners fan, bad for me as an IUC owner

00:38:27in our Vampire League.

00:38:29Deeds, we've talked about this.

00:38:31I shed no tears for you in our Vampire League, because your team has been absolutely crushing

00:38:38it so far.

00:38:39So I worry not.

00:38:41And also, I have Jennings.

00:38:43So I hope that he has a good one here this week.

00:38:47And that Jordan Love decision needs to come in.

00:38:49So yeah.

00:38:50You, with the 50 point game yesterday, and leading the league in scoring, you'll be fine.

00:38:57You'll work through it.

00:38:58But yeah.

00:38:59Jennings being great has been really fun.

00:39:01So far.

00:39:02And I kid.

00:39:03You know, I mean, fantasy can be frustrating with all of those things at times.

00:39:05And even though things go well right now, doesn't mean they will in the next one.

00:39:09Alright.

00:39:10Cleveland taking on the Las Vegas Raiders.

00:39:12Vegas is favored by a point and a half, some fucking how, and the total is at 37.

00:39:16Again, both of these teams are dreadful.

00:39:19Cleveland was gifted an opportunity early in their game against the Giants, and then

00:39:22did literally nothing until the very end of the game, while the Raiders lost to Carolina.

00:39:28And so, I have no idea.

00:39:30I would take the under in this game.

00:39:32That will be my play.

00:39:33I can't imagine picking Cleveland or Vegas in any spot ever.

00:39:38So I will just assume that this game is going to be awful.

00:39:40No Devonta Adams for the Raiders this week, as I was again alerted.

00:39:46So that means there'll be even less points.

00:39:48So, from a fantasy standpoint, I think Jerome Ford actually has a pretty good day.

00:39:52I think that Amari Cooper, playing his former team, might put up a couple of fantasy points.

00:39:58On the Raiders side, Jacoby Myers, with no Devonta Adams, probably steps up a little

00:40:01bit.

00:40:02And Brock Bowers.

00:40:03We came three yards away from hitting that over last week.

00:40:06But I think Brock Bowers continues to factor into this offense.

00:40:09Kansas City taking on the LA Chargers.

00:40:11The Chiefs favored by seven, with a total at 40.5.

00:40:14Kansas City has had three squeaker wins so far, and now playing their fourth, I was going

00:40:20to say difficult, opponent of the season.

00:40:23I think the Chargers are a tough team to play against, but the spread would suggest maybe

00:40:26not an overly challenging marker for Kansas City.

00:40:29Well, the Chargers have been one of the bright spots this year, but offensively, it has not

00:40:33clicked and now Justin Herbert continues to be banged up.

00:40:36And I think that is the real story here.

00:40:38This will be a very good test for this Chargers defense after, yes, they are, where do we

00:40:43have it here, third in defensive DVOA, fifth in defensive EPA.

00:40:50So they have played well.

00:40:55For those numbers, though, they have played the Panthers, the Raiders, and the Steelers.

00:41:01When Justin Fields is the best quarterback that you've played by a lot, you have not

00:41:06really been tested as a defense.

00:41:08The Kansas City Chiefs will test you as a defense.

00:41:10And so I think that there is going to be, I don't think it's going to be an ass-kicking,

00:41:14like I don't think it's like, oh, this defense actually isn't shit.

00:41:16Like I think it's actually quite good.

00:41:19But I do think that they're going to have trouble in this one.

00:41:21And so I do think that this is going to be a Kansas City win.

00:41:247 is really high.

00:41:28It's just so high.

00:41:29Kansas City doesn't beat teams by 7 anymore, right?

00:41:33They do not blow out teams at this point in their journey as a football team.

00:41:39Let's look.

00:41:40Because they haven't won, did they win by 7 in any of the games this year?

00:41:44Alright, we're going to take a look here.

00:41:45We're going to go through Kansas City's schedules and see how all this kind of has played out.

00:41:51Because they just, they aren't a team that blows anyone out right now, right?

00:41:56So you look at it, so far this year, as he quickly scrolls through Wikipedia, oh they

00:42:02went 0-3 in the preseason.

00:42:03I'm sure they're devastated.

00:42:04Yeah.

00:42:05So a 7 point win against Baltimore, that was close to being a 1 point.

00:42:07But that is a 7 point win.

00:42:09So you have that.

00:42:10Then a 1 point win against the Bengals, 5 point win against the Atlanta Falcons.

00:42:13Let's go to last year.

00:42:15They finished 11-6, blibbity blobbity bloom.

00:42:18They…

00:42:19Okay, they beat the Chargers, or the Bengals, sorry, by 8 on New Year's Eve.

00:42:23And the Patriots by 10.

00:42:24They actually had a few more 7 point wins last year than I anticipated.

00:42:29So maybe I am just kind of being a little bit too cautious with this number.

00:42:36I just, they don't blow teams out anymore, but I still, I can't pick the Chargers in

00:42:40this game.

00:42:41Going against Mahomes is never fun.

00:42:42So I'm going to go Kansas City minus 7, and just kind of watch through my fingers

00:42:45like that.

00:42:46Buffalo, taking on Baltimore.

00:42:48I see the NHL note deeds, I'll talk about it at the end here, we're just going to

00:42:52wrap up the football here first.

00:42:53Buffalo against Baltimore.

00:42:55This game's going to be fun as hell.

00:42:56I will legitimately be waiting all day for Sunday night for this one.

00:43:00I think this game is going to be a blast.

00:43:02You have Baltimore favored by 2.5 points, the total is at 46.5.

00:43:05I am very surprised by Baltimore being favored in this spot.

00:43:10Buffalo has been the best team in the NFL this year.

00:43:14I don't have them number one in my power rankings because Kansas City, they're the defending

00:43:18champs, they're Mahomes and Andy Reid, and they're 3-0, so what am I doing to knock them

00:43:21off?

00:43:22But no team has come close to playing as good this year as Buffalo has.

00:43:26And certainly not Baltimore, who had four very good quarters against Kansas City, three

00:43:31against the Raiders, and three against Dallas, that they have not been able to put these

00:43:36games together.

00:43:37And so to suggest that they are a favorite against Buffalo, even on the road at night

00:43:43and all of those things, I just, I can't get there.

00:43:46I think Buffalo exposes a few holes on this team, defensively.

00:43:51I think Buffalo's defense probably gets exposed a little bit in this game, quite frankly,

00:43:55and so I think the over is in play for this particular matchup.

00:43:59But yeah, give me, give me Buffalo, and you know what?

00:44:02I'm not even going to cheap out and take the points, I'm just going to go full-on Buffalo

00:44:05Moneyline, and we will do a look also at over 46 and a half.

00:44:13The Jokes on You, with the amazing name, and also the question, full PPR, drop Zemir White

00:44:19for Roshawn Johnson.

00:44:20God damn.

00:44:22Drop Zemir White for sure.

00:44:24And yeah, if Roshawn Johnson's the one who's out there who's the apple of your eye, by

00:44:28all means, I think PPR, there is an upgrade there.

00:44:32And I think slowly Chicago's going to realize DeAndre Swift ain't it, and that is going

00:44:37to be a little bit more on the Roshawn Johnson side of things.

00:44:41I still think Khalil Herbert factors into this offense somewhere, although they don't

00:44:45seem to agree.

00:44:46So at some point I'm going to have to give up on that dream.

00:44:47But yeah, you want to do that, by all means.

00:44:50That is more a statement on where Zemir White has been, and honestly a statement on where

00:44:54DeAndre Swift has been.

00:44:55So yeah, that is perfectly logical with that.

00:44:58I also, again, have kind of skimmed through a couple fantasy ones, although really, like

00:45:03Washington, you're starting basically everyone in that game, because it's going to be awesome.

00:45:06Cleveland Raiders, we kind of went over it a little bit.

00:45:09Chiefs, I think you can start your guys, so yeah.

00:45:13And Chargers, start the running backs, and that's it.

00:45:16Buffalo against Baltimore, we made the pick.

00:45:17Buffalo, I think you can, we're starting to see you can trust the receivers more and more

00:45:21and more.

00:45:22Obviously, we're never sitting Josh Allen and James Cook as a must play.

00:45:25And I think Kincaid works his way into this offense a little bit more.

00:45:28Baltimore has had some tight end issues so far this year.

00:45:31And for Baltimore, Lamar, Henry, obviously, and Flowers and Andrews.

00:45:39Even though Andrews, it's been frustrating.

00:45:40You have to start Andrews.

00:45:4216 team league, so not a whole lot left for thy jokes on you with the Zemir White for

00:45:47Roshan Johnson.

00:45:48And yeah, no, that one, you are safe to do that.

00:45:52As a Raider fan, I can tell you there's going to be no point this year where you're going

00:45:54to be like, oh man, I can't believe I dropped that guy.

00:45:56Yeah, no, it's bad.

00:45:58Monday Night Football, Tennessee taking on the Miami Dolphins.

00:46:02Dolphins favored by 1.5, with a total at 36.5, which, holy shit.

00:46:08This is going to be a bad football game, with two bad quarterbacks.

00:46:12And so, you would then suggest that the weapons around Skylar Thompson, a little bit better

00:46:17than the ones around Will Levis, but Will Levis is better than Skylar Thompson.

00:46:21This game is going to be awful, and I can't wait for Seattle and Detroit to start, so

00:46:25I cannot watch this game more, but, I think, I just can't go with Miami.

00:46:31Like, it looks so bad, with Skylar, or with Tim Boyle, or whoever's a quarterback.

00:46:34It looks so bad.

00:46:35And I still am holding on to the slightest bit of hope that it is better in Tennessee

00:46:40than I think it's going to be.

00:46:42And so, I'm going to say that it's the Titans covering that, so we will go Tennessee,

00:46:47plus 1.5 in that spot.

00:46:48I'm not going to get as greedy, and just go Moneyline on that one.

00:46:51But yeah, we'll go plus 1.5 in that spot.

00:46:54In fantasy, Jesus Christ, um, you don't love it.

00:47:01For almost anybody.

00:47:02Like, you have to start your Dolphins because of where you drafted them, right?

00:47:06But I do think that, from a Tennessee standpoint, Pollard is a play.

00:47:11And kind of that's it.

00:47:12That, like, I, I, yeah, that's kind of it.

00:47:17In-depth analysis you came here for.

00:47:18Alright, Seattle taking on Detroit.

00:47:20The Lions favored by 3.5 points at the total at 45.5.

00:47:23Again, this is one, I think it's disrespectful to Seattle.

00:47:27I think the Seahawks have played better than Detroit has this year.

00:47:29I think that Detroit has really not been able to put it together so far, offensively.

00:47:35They have a new weapon in Jamison Williams, who seems legitimate, and it is fucking Jared

00:47:40Goff up.

00:47:41Because before, he could just look at Aminara, St. Brown, throw him the football, everything

00:47:44was fine.

00:47:45Now, he has to make these pesky things called decisions.

00:47:48And it is absolutely messing with him.

00:47:51And so, this offense has not been able to get into a rhythm so far, and, like, they

00:47:56are middle of the pack, passing-wise, and they have been crushing it in the run.

00:48:0052% of their runs have been great and successful, and they are 7th in the league in EPA per

00:48:05rush.

00:48:06So, yeah.

00:48:07They are running the ball with great effect.

00:48:10Going up against a Seattle team that I think has been really good.

00:48:12They are 2nd in the league in defensive DVOA, 3rd in DVOA overall.

00:48:17I think that this is a very good football team, and I think the Monday Night Spotlight,

00:48:21we're going to come out of this one with everybody saying that Seattle is the team to, is a legitimate

00:48:27team to watch out for in the NFC.

00:48:30So I will take Seattle, plus 3.5, going with the road dog, to wrap things up on a, for

00:48:37our NFL Preview here today.

00:48:39Alright, Bailey has kind of recognized that the NFL Preview part is back.

00:48:42Also, she's telling me, like, hey, Deeds messaged you about Zayn Parekh a while ago.

00:48:46And you, uh, oh, she's also falling off the table.

00:48:48Um, well we gotta talk about that.

00:48:50So yes, let's talk about Zayn Parekh here, and him being assigned to the Ontario Hockey

00:48:57League from the Calgary Flames.

00:48:59Um, just, honestly, for, strictly for my own purposes, I'm going to play the Calgary Flames

00:49:05talk thing now.

00:49:06I wasn't necessarily anticipating talking Flames today, but there's been a couple of

00:49:18things that have happened at camp, and so I want to just briefly talk about them.

00:49:21Uh, one, Deeds is saying, and I have no reason to believe that he's lying to me, although

00:49:26I should definitely just, you know, verify this, and while I trust Deeds immensely, this

00:49:31is also the same chat where someone was trying to get me to watch a YouTube video, so, you

00:49:35know, is what it is, uh, but let's just go here, my notification, go down, uh, the Calgary

00:49:40Flames have assigned defenseman Zayn Parekh to the Saginaw Spirit.

00:49:44Um, this is, this is the move to make.

00:49:48I know.

00:49:49I know.

00:49:50I know.

00:49:51He is this new shiny toy that everyone is very excited about, and that's super duper,

00:49:56and it's great, and it's fun, and it's all of those things.

00:50:00But he is not ready yet.

00:50:02Um, that doesn't mean he's not going to be.

00:50:04This is no knock on him at all.

00:50:06This is him being an 18-year-old defenseman in the National Hockey League.

00:50:09That's very difficult to do.

00:50:12And so, I, this isn't an indictment on anything at all, this is the natural progression of

00:50:17things.

00:50:18Um, you have a number of young defensemen ahead of him who have looked better than him.

00:50:22He has such clear and obvious gifts as a player, as a defenseman, all of these things.

00:50:30But, he also has some very clear and obvious things he needs to work on.

00:50:35And it just so happens that working on those things in the Ontario Hockey League is kind

00:50:41of the perfect spot for him.

00:50:43He needs to fill out a little bit more, and he needs to address his defensive game.

00:50:47So, do those things.

00:50:49I think he will do that very effectively, and I think that he will be great one day.

00:50:54I think that he is a very smart kid.

00:50:56I think that the defensive limitations that he has, he will figure out.

00:51:03I just don't think he needs to figure them out at the NHL level.

00:51:06The OHL is still a good developmental league, and if he had come out and was just undeniable,

00:51:11then maybe.

00:51:12But, he's been good, but he hasn't been so good that you have to give him a look as one

00:51:17of the top six defensemen on this team.

00:51:20It just, it is not the case.

00:51:21So, let him go to the Ontario Hockey League, let him develop, let him go kick the shit

00:51:26out of everyone at the World Juniors, and do all of those things, and just be awesome

00:51:30in that way.

00:51:31But you do not need him to go out and do that.

00:51:36I think Flames fans wanted to see more of him.

00:51:38I guess maybe.

00:51:40You could have extended him in preseason maybe a little bit more, but also the Saginaw season's

00:51:46starting, right?

00:51:47The WHL season.

00:51:48Sorry, my cat's being very cute.

00:51:50The WHL season starts tomorrow, doesn't it?

00:51:55I am assuming that Saginaw's season starts right away, so why, just so that we could

00:52:00see him a couple times in preseason games when you're not going to be starting him anyway?

00:52:04Let Brustavich get a few more reps.

00:52:06Let Poirier get a few more reps.

00:52:07Let some of these defensemen who you're actually going to play on the NHL roster this year,

00:52:12figure out who they play well with.

00:52:14Use Training Camp for what it's actually used for, in figuring out where guys fit and trying

00:52:19to earn some jobs, instead of, well, we want to see this guy because he's a fun, shiny

00:52:23new toy.

00:52:24Again, preseason is what it is.

00:52:27I'm not saying that you need to, how could you possibly defile the sanctity of preseason

00:52:32games by playing a kid in extra games?

00:52:35I'm not saying that.

00:52:36It's the preseason.

00:52:37We all understand this.

00:52:38But, you have other things that you need to work on and figure out, specifically on this

00:52:42blue line.

00:52:43And so to have him taking up spots that he's not going to fill in the regular season anyway,

00:52:48you may as well just let him go to the Ontario Hockey League right when the season starts,

00:52:52and get into it, and just keep doing that.

00:52:55So I think that that is certainly, again, it would be fun.

00:52:59It would be great.

00:53:00But we don't need it.

00:53:01Also, I noted today that Nazem Khadri collided knee-on-knee, I think, with Blake Coleman.

00:53:06At least, that was the last thing that I saw.

00:53:08So that's awesome, and really great.

00:53:11But hopefully everything is okay on that one, because that would be, that would be not great

00:53:16to have any kind of injury issue to some of the veterans who you kind of want around this

00:53:20team.

00:53:21Yes, we do do NFL previews every Friday.

00:53:24Yes, it is, as Deeds is saying, it's a Fights and Football Friday, or Football and Fights

00:53:27Friday.

00:53:29So that's what I do.

00:53:30Run through the entire NFL, and for the next couple of months also run through the entire

00:53:35CFL, as you will know in a moment.

00:53:36And then whatever's going on in combat sports.

00:53:38We'll have some boxing talk, and a little bit of pro wrestling as this show goes along.

00:53:42But yes, speaking of the football, it is time to get back to that, and go into now, some

00:53:46CFL picks for Week 17.

00:53:51Again, for a full list of my NFL picks, or sorry, for my CFL picks, Three Down Nation.

00:54:06We have the best bets piece that is up.

00:54:10For those of you who are hanging out live right now, going to throw that in the chat.

00:54:16So those are the best bets for the CFL week this week.

00:54:20So not going to go point spread-wise, or anything like that, and again, trying to limit the

00:54:26old gambling talk on the old Twitch.

00:54:28But for podcast listeners, that will be a Today's Ticket at the end, for an exclusive

00:54:31one there.

00:54:32But, let's run through.

00:54:34Tonight, it is Winnipeg, taking on Edmonton.

00:54:36This game is back in Winnipeg, after it was the Bombers beating the Elks in Edmonton last

00:54:41week, and I struggle to see how Edmonton is going to fare better in Winnipeg.

00:54:48It doesn't get easier to play in Winnipeg as the season goes on, so I think that there

00:54:52is a real confidence that Winnipeg is going to be able to do this thing.

00:54:57And then, looking at this, I, like, you knew Winnipeg was on fire, right, like, figuratively.

00:55:04You knew that the Bombers were playing some very good football right now, or at least

00:55:08winning some very important games, but they put up a graphic the other day, was it them

00:55:15or was it the CFL?

00:55:17Um, shoot, I think I went to the wrong spot.

00:55:20But they have, like, on this six-game winning streak that they're on right now, one of the

00:55:24wins was against Hamilton, which doesn't mean shit, but they have two wins against BC, two

00:55:29wins against Saskatchewan, and if they win today, it'll be two wins against Edmonton,

00:55:33in a seven-game winning streak.

00:55:34So not only are they winning games, but they are winning season series, and just putting,

00:55:41like, every team that is even considering being in a playoff spot right now in the West,

00:55:47they are RUNNING through, and winning with, um, relative, uh, I was gonna say relative

00:55:53ease.

00:55:54They had to battle against Saskatchewan in both of those games, um, but still, they are

00:55:58winning those games very impactfully, and so to be able to sweep the team that's in

00:56:03second place, sweep the team that's in third place, and potentially sweep the team that's

00:56:06in fourth place, quite impressive, in a seven-game win streak, and, uh, Winnipeg.

00:56:12I still, I don't know what is holding me back from fully giving them their flowers this

00:56:15year, but I am on the bombers this week.

00:56:18BC taking on Hamilton.

00:56:19One thing that's really intriguing about this game is that both defenses have actually started

00:56:23to play pretty well.

00:56:24I did a mini-deep dive in that article that I posted there, from 3down, about how well,

00:56:30um, BC's defense has played since Matthew Betts has come back.

00:56:34They would be, uh, by points, they would be, I think, the second or third best defense

00:56:38in the league, if that point total over the last little bit played out, and like, passing-wise,

00:56:42the most passing error they've allowed in a game is 268 in the last three games.

00:56:45Like, they are playing very, very well, defensively.

00:56:49And so, I think that they're gonna be able to somewhat limit a pretty high-powered offense

00:56:54out in Hamilton right now.

00:56:55And now on the other side, the Ticats defense is playing pretty well.

00:56:58They bottled up Chad Kelly again last week, and, uh, gave up 30 points, but still, only

00:57:04allowed, um, it was at least under 300 passing errors in that game.

00:57:08So, I think certainly something to look for is how well these two teams play defensively

00:57:14in this spot, even though both offenses certainly have a lot of players that you would want

00:57:18to highlight.

00:57:19Ottawa taking on Saskatchewan.

00:57:20Uh, like I said, there's a breakdown for 3down Nation.

00:57:23Also, you can see behind me, the Ryder jersey and the Ryder Rey Mysterio mask.

00:57:27Shoutout, no copyright laws in Mexico.

00:57:30Um, but, I, um, taped the Ryder Happy Hour podcast, came out yesterday, so there's a

00:57:36little bit more in-depth on that game.

00:57:38But I do think that right now, Ottawa is struggling both offensively and defensively.

00:57:42Offensively, they're struggling to put up points.

00:57:44It's 21 or under in three of their last four, and 12 points in two of their last four.

00:57:49And defensively, basically every starting linebacker for that team is hurt, and they

00:57:54are giving up a whole lot of rushing yards to teams that, when teams run the ball.

00:57:59Montreal just doesn't.

00:58:00Um, and so I think when you look at the Armstead factor in all of this, when you look at the

00:58:05struggles that Ottawa is having, um, in protecting the football and all of that, I think that

00:58:10there is a really good job, a real good opportunity here for Saskatchewan to make it two wins

00:58:16in a row.

00:58:17Who would have thought?

00:58:18And lastly, Montreal against Toronto.

00:58:19Very interesting matchup, because Montreal, I said like, oh they're back on track.

00:58:23And then you watch that game, it's like, well, are they?

00:58:26Like defensively, they played great.

00:58:28But offensively, it's still, it's not clicking in the way that it was before.

00:58:32And like, no Phil Pott is going to do that.

00:58:34But I think as Fajardo kind of, again, re-acclimates himself to this offense after getting hurt,

00:58:40and figures out like, okay, I can do this with Rambo, I can do this, um, with Reggie

00:58:44White Jr., I can do this with, um, Gennarion Grant, I can kind of bounce these guys around

00:58:50and do it all kind of this way.

00:58:51I think that's going to get a little bit better.

00:58:53And Toronto, defensively, they've kind of been gashed up quite a bit lately, um, and

00:58:59so I think they have some issues.

00:59:01They do defend the run pretty well, but, I have it in my thing, Montreal doesn't run

00:59:05at all.

00:59:06Like, Walter Fletcher has fewer carries than AJ Ouellette, and AJ Ouellette has played

00:59:11once since Joe Biden stepped down.

00:59:14Um, like, he's barely played at all.

00:59:16The two are not correlated.

00:59:17Um, I, I would, just from what I believe, I think AJ Ouellette might feel the opposite

00:59:22about it.

00:59:23You know what I mean.

00:59:24Um, anyway, this is, this is not, um, a team that runs the ball a lot.

00:59:28And so Toronto's one strength, Montreal kind of goes away from.

00:59:31So I do think Montreal gets the, uh, the road win.

00:59:33Also they're undefeated on the road.

00:59:34So, uh, there is your CFL talk, uh, for the week, as everyone scampers away from the channel

00:59:39for a little bit.

00:59:40But let's, uh, let's bring it all back now, as we get into the fights portion of

00:59:44a Fights and Football Friday.

00:59:45Um, it is time to look after a mega weekend in boxing.

00:59:49There are some mega fights to make.

00:59:51Let's look at them in the Boxing Talk.

01:00:00All right.

01:00:01The boxing world was shooketh with Daniel Dubois picking up a knockout win over Anthony

01:00:06Joshua last weekend out in front of 98,000 people at Wembley Stadium.

01:00:11Eat it, AEW.

01:00:13Um, but now you have, um, I think a new star born in the heavyweight division.

01:00:18And while others were surprised by this monster upset, we were not here calling it, uh, Dubois

01:00:23and Dubois by knockout, uh, to help us have a profitable weekend around these parts.

01:00:28But now it's time to figure out what's next.

01:00:30And for Dubois, the answer is very simple.

01:00:33It is the winner of Usyk against Fury.

01:00:36There is but no other fight to make coming out of this.

01:00:39Save me the automatic rematch bullshit.

01:00:41Um, I don't know where my cat went.

01:00:45Um, anyway, sorry.

01:00:47Save me the automatic rematch bullshit.

01:00:48Save me, um, anything else.

01:00:51It has to be Dubois fighting, whether it's Usyk, whether it's Fury, for the undisputed

01:00:56heavyweight championship in Q1 next year.

01:00:59Um, there is, there's nothing else.

01:01:01I don't want to see another Dubois-Joshua, um, let this kid have this big moment, uh,

01:01:05that there was nothing like, oh, well, Joshua just didn't, whatever, no, he, he, the reason

01:01:10he didn't is because he got absolutely brained in the first round by Dubois, and then just

01:01:14fought like an idiot the rest of the time.

01:01:15You can't, oh, well, I didn't take the guy seriously enough, so let me have a take-see-back-sees.

01:01:20Doesn't work like that.

01:01:21If you wanted a, a shot at the heavyweight championship, you, you shouldn't have taken

01:01:24someone fighting in a heavyweight championship fight lightly for the fucking third time in

01:01:28your career.

01:01:29So, no.

01:01:30No automatic rematch.

01:01:31Give this kid a undisputed title shot against Usyk or Fury.

01:01:35For Joshua, again, there's only one fight in my mind.

01:01:39It's Deontay Wilder.

01:01:41And I get, Wilder has lost four of his last five.

01:01:43Two of those are to Fury, one of them is against Nishang, who I think we kind of underestimated

01:01:46a little bit.

01:01:47But these two have danced around each other, and for them to, um, not fight would be a

01:01:54great miss.

01:01:55And it is already a significant miss, right?

01:01:57Like, we are getting this WAY too late if we are doing this.

01:02:01But I, I, do it anyway, right?

01:02:03We got Mayweather Pacquiao too late, and the fight wasn't awesome.

01:02:06But we still got it.

01:02:07I mean, at least, give us this, like, these two guys who have been part of a renaissance

01:02:13in the heavyweight division, and defined an era in heavyweight boxing.

01:02:16You're telling me you can't sell that?

01:02:18Like, come on!

01:02:19Um, there's, this is, this is the fight to make.

01:02:23So let's get it done, finally.

01:02:24On the other side, you had Jaime Munguia with a big win, um, over the weekend as well.

01:02:29Up next for him, I have him against Cristian Mbilla Assomo, um, I think it's very obvious,

01:02:36I'm not overly familiar with the name, but, um, Cristian's coming off of a win over Dervyachenko,

01:02:41he's 28-0, uh, Ring Magazine has him as the, like, number one contender at 168 pounds,

01:02:48they have Munguia at 2.

01:02:50So it seems like this one checks out, right?

01:02:53Makes sense?

01:02:54One guy is one spot ahead?

01:02:55May as well do it.

01:02:56Um, I don't think it's the big fight that Munguia was maybe looking for, coming off

01:02:59of a, uh, a win on ESPN, while I was, I was very impressed with Munguia, that this is

01:03:04not a shot at him at all.

01:03:06It wasn't the most dominating win.

01:03:08It showed a level of maturity, and it showed, uh, a well-rounded fight game for Munguia,

01:03:13but it didn't, it wasn't like, okay, well, get this guy, like, where's, where's Terrence

01:03:17Crawford, let's get him right now.

01:03:18It wasn't that.

01:03:19Um, if Terrence Crawford wants a taste at 168, uh, sure, let's do that, but, um, I

01:03:25think you have to give him kind of a bit more of a legitimate fight before we, we get back

01:03:28into the, the name brand territory of this whole thing.

01:03:32Alright, this show has gone long, so apologies for that, thanks for, uh, sticking around

01:03:36through all of this one today.

01:03:38Uh, let's get into now some pro wrestling talk, as, uh, both WWE and AEW put on some

01:03:44shows that were really fun this week.

01:03:50Alright, uh, WWE Raw, let's get into it.

01:03:54A big, big moment at the end, um, but just a couple of other notes.

01:03:58We're not gonna go, like, beat by beat for this whole thing.

01:04:01Um, I have loved this last part of the CM Punk-Drew McIntyre build.

01:04:06I get some people didn't like the, the bracelet stuff, I thought, for as cheesy as it was,

01:04:11they played it up very well, and I think both characters act believably around it, and so

01:04:17that has really, I think, done a good job of getting us to this point.

01:04:23And now that they are at this point, they are hitting it out of the park.

01:04:26They have, I think, conveyed the seriousness, and shown proper hesitancy, while also being

01:04:33confident and kind of feeling like they have to do this.

01:04:35Both guys have said, my families don't want me to do this.

01:04:37CM Punk is like, I probably don't even have another Hell in a Cell match in me.

01:04:40Drew McIntyre is saying, like, I have had back injuries, uh, he didn't say that directly,

01:04:44but I have had injuries there that have never been fixed, which apparently is true.

01:04:48So, they have, they have done a good job of really driving home how serious this is.

01:04:56How this makes no sense for them, but they have to do it, because that guy is standing

01:05:00over there, and this is the only way that we can end this thing, is by me beating him.

01:05:06Or by me figuring out that I can't beat him in this thing.

01:05:08But this is the only place for this to end, even though it is not where I want to be.

01:05:14And I think that this has really, really gotten over the seriousness of the structure

01:05:20in a very incredible way.

01:05:22And I have loved it.

01:05:23I love that it feels a little bit more organic, even though we all kind of figured Bad Blood,

01:05:28um, this, you know, Hell in a Cell was born at Bad Blood, um, and this is also just kind

01:05:33of the time when Hell in a Cell was happening anyway.

01:05:36But because it's not called Hell in a Cell, it doesn't feel as forced.

01:05:40And it just, it feels more legitimate, and it feels very serious.

01:05:43And it feels like, oh, this is the only way that this could, um, this was the only way

01:05:49that this could finish, is by Hell in a Cell.

01:05:51And it's not just, oh, this popped up.

01:05:53Braun Strowman against Bronson Reed, this might be the feud of the year.

01:05:56These guys have been unbelievable in just wild, chaotic, car crash, literally and figuratively,

01:06:03uh, television, all throughout this feud.

01:06:06It's been amazing.

01:06:07And now, Last Monster Standing, I would imagine we get the ring exploding on Monday, um, that's

01:06:12a whole lot of fun.

01:06:13Um, but this, it's just, it has been some good old-fashioned fun in the WWE.

01:06:17And then, how can you not be happy for Jey Uso?

01:06:20Him getting the Intercontinental Championship, that reaction, massive.

01:06:24You want to talk about, like, getting over and being made, Monday night, that was it.

01:06:29He was 100% that in this.

01:06:32It was a phenomenal performance.

01:06:35And, um, the crowd, fully into it.

01:06:38I, like, the match itself, it was fun.

01:06:40It was good.

01:06:41Um, it was surprising to have him take the belt off of Braun Breaker, um, I kind of thought

01:06:46Braun was settling in for a really long title run.

01:06:48But I also don't think that this knocks Braun Breaker down any, right?

01:06:52Like, I think that he is now kind of established as a real, like, ass-kicker type of a guy.

01:07:00And I think they have done a good job of legitimizing him.

01:07:03And there's going to be a rematch here.

01:07:05But I do think also, if now Jey kind of gets caught up in this swirling storm heading towards

01:07:12Vancouver of, uh, war games and the Roman Reigns stuff, I think this also kind of ties

01:07:19in to what Cody was talking about when they did the thing at, where Georgia Tech plays

01:07:24football.

01:07:25Um, where Cody was like, hey, there's a tribal chief.

01:07:29It's not you.

01:07:30There's a WWE champion.

01:07:32It's not you.

01:07:33And now you can also say, like, hey, Jey is main event Jey Uso without you.

01:07:39And he won his first singles title without you.

01:07:43And so there's all of these things that I think you can get kind of excited about and,

01:07:48um, build this up in that type of a storyline, and I think make it very impactful.

01:07:54And so I think it match, it fits into that one as well.

01:07:57But overall, the Intercontinental title picture is so fun.

01:08:01I have really liked how they've done it on Raw.

01:08:03Um, I've said before, like, one of my main issues for the last little bit was, like,

01:08:09everything built up to WrestleMania perfectly.

01:08:11But it felt like everything had to finish at WrestleMania, right?

01:08:16And I get that it is, it's the new, it's the new season out of WrestleMania, and so it's

01:08:20the season finale.

01:08:21But it was just like, oh, well, we can't, Gunther can only lose the Intercontinental

01:08:24title at WrestleMania.

01:08:25Well, Roman Reigns, like, he can only lose the belt at WrestleMania.

01:08:28Cody can only win the belt at WrestleMania.

01:08:30Miami can only win the Intercontinental title at WrestleMania.

01:08:33What, are you going to take them off of it somewhere else?

01:08:35No, not a chance.

01:08:36Can't do that.

01:08:37Like, all these different things, there was but one place that it could happen, and that

01:08:41was WrestleMania.

01:08:42And so I like that they've kind of gotten away from that formula now.

01:08:45Have it be on a random Raw, on a Monday night, in wherever the fuck they were, Ontario, California.

01:08:50Have the, like, I don't think you need to have world title changes, but at Bad Blood,

01:08:55maybe we get a women's title change.

01:08:56Like, it doesn't all have to be just WrestleMania, or just SummerSlam, for title changes to happen,

01:09:03and so I hope this is a bit more of a sign of things to come.

01:09:06Like, you still have to have special things for those big shows, but it doesn't all just

01:09:11have to be, well, this guy got beat for the first time, this guy got beat for the first

01:09:13time, this guy lost the title, this guy lost the title, this guy lost the title.

01:09:16Every big moment just happened at WrestleMania, and the rest of the year, you don't really

01:09:19have to pay attention to.

01:09:20I think they've done a good job with that, but like I said, overall, the icy title picture

01:09:25is really strong right now.

01:09:27And building off of that tree from WrestleMania, like we talked about, Gunther reestablishes

01:09:33the prestige of the Intercontinental Championship.

01:09:36And from that, Sami Zayn, who maybe they dropped the ball on, his post-WrestleMania win with

01:09:44Kevin Owens against The Usos at WrestleMania 39 was not the strongest, but they rehabilitated

01:09:49him and got him back into a upper midcard toward the main event status with that Intercontinental

01:09:55Championship win.

01:09:56From there, Gunther spins off to the title picture, and he's been excellent, and now

01:10:01is the champion.

01:10:03The Sami Zayn part of this, I guess, Intercontinental title tree, Sami Zayn goes off in feuds with

01:10:09Chad Gable, legitimizing Chad Gable with a couple of amazing matches and a really good

01:10:13heel turn against Sami Zayn out in Montreal.

01:10:17From there, Sami and Jey Uso kind of, you know, build that relationship back up, while

01:10:22Chad Gable elevates now the awfully named American maid, or whatever it is.

01:10:29But now he's in a feud with The Wyatt Six, and that feels like a bigger thing.

01:10:33So we've now elevated a couple of things, and then Sami Zayn goes into a feud with Braun

01:10:37Breaker, and because still the Intercontinental title feels important, Braun Breaker winning

01:10:41it eventually feels important.

01:10:43And so he gets elevated in this whole thing, and now you have Jey.

01:10:46But also, Braun Breaker, that Fatal 4-Way here in Calgary, where Braun is going around

01:10:50and talking shit to every person in that Fatal 4-Way, made him feel like the asshole bully

01:10:55jock in high school, but also gave him a bit of a swagger and a bit of an air to him.

01:11:00That was really, really great.

01:11:02And I think, again, elevates him, and it made everyone else in that feel like, okay, there

01:11:06is something going on with him and this guy, and that's what this is going to be.

01:11:11So they have done a great job of going from the Gunther run to now building up a number

01:11:17of these guys, to the point where Sami Zayn eventually is going to get a title shot, and

01:11:22is going to legitimately feel like he could potentially be a threat for that title.

01:11:26So I think they've done some really great work over there on Monday Night Raw.

01:11:29SmackDown's been a little blah lately, for sure.

01:11:32Now let's get to AEW.

01:11:33It was Grand Slam.

01:11:35First we have Daniel, um, Bryan Danielson against Nigel McGuinness.

01:11:39It was fun.

01:11:40It wasn't one of the epics that they've had before in Ring of Honor, but to expect that

01:11:43would be insane.

01:11:44But it was cool to see them in there again, doing their thing, on a big stage that was

01:11:50quite frankly worthy of their talents, more so than Ring of Honor was at that time.

01:11:55But I'm interested to see what they do with Nigel now.

01:11:57Is he an every now and then character?

01:11:59I think that is something that AEW would benefit from.

01:12:03I know that when AEW was starting, WWE was getting shit on a lot for part time performers.

01:12:09And specifically part time performers in major roles, right?

01:12:12Like Brock Lesnar's the champion and he's defending it four times a year, which I was

01:12:16okay with if that meant it elevated the Intercontinental Championship, and it didn't.

01:12:20But now, like, I feel like AEW has kind of abused it the other way, where Jericho's an

01:12:26every week performer, well he doesn't feel special.

01:12:28Adam Copeland was an every week performer, well he didn't feel special.

01:12:32And then he broke his leg.

01:12:33Like you have all of these different things, like Mercedes Monáe, every week we're seeing

01:12:36her, doesn't feel special.

01:12:38There's nothing that feels overly different and overly special right now in AEW.

01:12:43And I think if you were to have a Nigel McGuinness who would come back two, three, four, five

01:12:47times a year, that would be fun.

01:12:50And make him feel important, and quite frankly, kind of make him, treat him like a legend

01:12:54when he comes out.

01:12:55Which he is, I think, deserving of that status, given his work in the wrestling world.

01:12:58I thought it was a cool moment retiring the FTW Championship.

01:13:02It was a neat thing for Hook, but it's absolutely run its course.

01:13:06And so to retire it in New York, with Taz there on commentary, it's just perfect.

01:13:10I'm interested to see where Hook goes from here.

01:13:12I do think, obviously, cold hearted handsome devil that he is.

01:13:16There's a look to him that is great, there's a style that is really interesting, but there

01:13:20is a lot that needs to be kind of rounded out in his game.

01:13:23And I think they would tell you that.

01:13:24And I think he just needs in-ring time.

01:13:26And so he would benefit from a house show schedule, or from being able to work on other

01:13:31promotions and just get those reps and get that repetition instead of just doing it every

01:13:35week on AEW.

01:13:37And this is where the relationship with Ring of Honor is a little bit frustrating.

01:13:41Where ROH is just a TV taping at the beginning of the thing.

01:13:44If ROH was its own separate touring brand, you could do a full set of TV tapings with

01:13:50Hook, with them, and build that up instead of, well, we can't have him on ROH because

01:13:54then he's wrestling two times in the night and that doesn't help anyone.

01:13:56Have him go out and do a month and a half's worth of TV tapings with them and just get

01:14:00more of that in-ring experience.

01:14:01He just needs more reps, right now, is basically what he needs.

01:14:06Tag Team match was a blast.

01:14:07It's great seeing Kyle Fletcher kind of get bumped up in these matches a little bit and

01:14:11get taken a little bit more seriously in these opportunities.

01:14:14It feels like he is kind of the next strong prospect.

01:14:18The one thing I didn't like is that this is starting to feel predictable when it comes

01:14:23to the Callis family.

01:14:27You have a match, it's highly competitive, it's really fun, Don Callis gets involved,

01:14:31he gives him the screwdriver, and then there is this inner conflict of do I or don't I?

01:14:35And I guess there wasn't a whole lot of that, it looked like Fletcher was just going to

01:14:38just stab motherfucker with it, but you have Osprey come out and stop him from doing that,

01:14:44and all is right in the world.

01:14:45But, then they lose the match off of it, and that happens a lot in these big Callis family

01:14:51matches.

01:14:52It becomes a little bit repetitive, and it was just a little bit like, oh my god, we

01:14:56get it.

01:14:58Because there's been so much of that in Ring of Honor right now, oh I don't want to hit

01:15:00him with the tiger driver or whatever, oh I don't want to hit her with this kendo stick,

01:15:04oh I don't want to hit this guy with a screwdriver.

01:15:06There is so much inner conflict going on, oh don't go to the dark side, how could you?

01:15:10It gets a little bit repetitive.

01:15:12But I do think that we are going to see a Kyle Fletcher turn, and he's going to go

01:15:16fully to the dark side, and I would assume Mark Davis gets back soon, and we get a full-on

01:15:21Aussie Open type of a thing.

01:15:23And maybe even there's a mutual respect with Ricochet and Osprey, and they team up to face

01:15:28Aussie Open going forward.

01:15:30Because that's kind of where I see that kind of going, and them kind of branching off from

01:15:33there.

01:15:34MVP and AEW is interesting, that it's kind of a back-and-forth with Swerve, that there

01:15:39is some talk about who might be coming with MVP, I think there are some interesting notes.

01:15:43Yeah, I think it'd be fun.

01:15:46Mariah May, Mina Shirakawa, Willow Nightingale, that could be interesting.

01:15:50I am a big Mina Shirakawa fan, I am a big Willow Nightingale fan, and Mariah May is

01:15:54certainly something.

01:15:55But we need to get the celebration thing over with.

01:15:58Like, no one is taking a championship match seriously before she is able to do this title

01:16:04celebration thing.

01:16:05And so, like, we just, I think we need to put the old stuff to bed before we're doing

01:16:10this new thing.

01:16:12And so I hope that kind of gets figured out.

01:16:14And then, Mox against Darby Allin was great.

01:16:16I've said before, but Darby Allin feels like a star.

01:16:19Like he is a little undersized, for sure, but his style, his recklessness, the fans

01:16:24love him, the whole presentation makes him feel a little bit more legitimate.

01:16:28And then him landing on the hardwood looked painful as fuck.

01:16:32And then, like, Mox has this reaction to You Can't Kill Him that was just perfect.

01:16:36And then he does eventually end up getting the win.

01:16:39I love this BCC with Mox.

01:16:42It feels like a Batman type of a villain, where it just feels like everyone at any time

01:16:47is in danger of just an extreme level of violence.

01:16:51He carries himself perfectly.

01:16:53So does everyone else in this crew.

01:16:54Like everything fits this so perfectly.

01:16:58They do such a good job with it.

01:17:01It is the seriousness that you want out of these type of characters.

01:17:04Danielson coming out and choking him with a tie is amazing.

01:17:08Private Party coming out after was a bit of a fart in church, so to speak.

01:17:11Just a bit of a, I don't know, okay.

01:17:14That's it?

01:17:15Alright.

01:17:16But I do, like, that match is going to be an ass-kicking, and I think now Mox being

01:17:20the number one contender makes for an interesting night for Wrestle Dream.

01:17:26How they got there was weird.

01:17:27I did not like how we did this roundabout way to get Jon Moxley in this with Darby Allin

01:17:33having already earned the shot.

01:17:34We're getting into wins don't matter and stakes don't matter when, oh, this guy won a championship

01:17:41opportunity at All In.

01:17:43Actually, it's going to be at All Out, so just don't worry about that.

01:17:46Even though I know he got on the mic and said he's going to finally have his All In moment.

01:17:49It was just a different thing, and just forget about that.

01:17:51And now Darby Allin, yeah, he wins this thing so that he can be the number one contender

01:17:54for Grand Slam, but he's going to put it on the line against Jon Moxley because the champion's

01:18:00not going to wrestle.

01:18:01Oh, okay.

01:18:02That makes sense.

01:18:03Just kidding.

01:18:04The champion's going to wrestle.

01:18:05Huh?

01:18:06So, the booking was weird.

01:18:07But we get to a very interesting spot now where you have Daniel Bryan against Jon Moxley

01:18:12at Wrestle Dream.

01:18:14And the stakes attached to Bryan Danielson certainly didn't make for a more dramatic

01:18:22night against Jack Perry.

01:18:24But it does against Moxley, because you can very easily talk yourself into Bryan's last

01:18:30match being in his home state against a guy who he has a tie with in the company, and

01:18:35from a storyline standpoint, for Mox to retire him after how the BCC started with them being

01:18:40rivals and all of that, I think storyline-wise, it works.

01:18:45He's had the match with Nigel, so you kind of cut that, like, there isn't the, oh, he

01:18:52has so many more, whatever.

01:18:53So it's like, well, there's a couple other ones he could have.

01:18:56And he's not, again, retiring full-time, or all the time.

01:18:59He's just retiring from being a full-time guy.

01:19:01So there's still a couple dream-matchy things you can do.

01:19:03But I do think you can kind of like, okay, this is a legitimate opportunity that he could

01:19:09lose.

01:19:10And I think, despite deeds, the ADD of the booking staff is very frustrating.

01:19:13It is, like, it just kind of feels like, all right, this is the way we're going, and we

01:19:18have this idea.

01:19:19Ooh, but wait, what if we did this?

01:19:21And then you kind of like try to, they equal parts over-explain and under-explain, and

01:19:27just nothing really clicks.

01:19:28And so, I don't want to go too negative on AEW, because this show was fantastic.

01:19:33And there's been a lot of very fun stuff in AEW lately, and I think they have tightened

01:19:37some of it up.

01:19:39But, um, it is still, like you said, it's just, it is all over the place, um, with all

01:19:45of these things.

01:19:46And then, another part of it that I didn't love, was, like, Christian.

01:19:50He has their version of Money in the Bank now.

01:19:53And so he has to physically sign the contract to go out and cash it in on Bryan Danielson,

01:19:58and it was thwarted by Kip Sabian stealing his pen?

01:20:03Like, what?

01:20:05And you, you even contract, like, just, so in case you didn't have it just beat over

01:20:10your head that this is so much less serious than all the other stuff that's going on,

01:20:14you had them run by Cesaro, uh, sorry, Claudio, and, um, Pac, and it's just like, oh shit.

01:20:21And you just, like, you see the guys who are supposed to be serious there, and then this

01:20:24goofball of a thing in a world title picture was annoying.

01:20:27But I do think a lot of that Deeds is getting tightened up, but it's just, it's not perfect

01:20:31in the way that it needs to.

01:20:32Okay, that's going to do it for the stream today, and for the show.

01:20:36Thank you to Deeds hanging out in the chat here for as long as you did, this was a long

01:20:40show today again.

01:20:42So thank you very much for hanging out.

01:20:45Next Monday is a holiday here in Canada, so Monday we are going to be off, and then back

01:20:50to the regularly scheduled programming on Tuesday.

01:20:54So thank you, if you missed anything, it's available in podcast form, wherever you get

01:20:58your podcasts, and on YouTube, just search Couch Potato Diary on there.

01:21:04This has been fun, Deeds, glad you think it's a great show, I will talk to all you guys

01:21:08on Tuesday.

01:21:09I'm out, have a good one, everybody.

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