2026 NFL Schedule Release | WINNERS & LOSERS That Change EVERYTHING (Ep. 2026)
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1 hr 1 min
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May 17, 2026
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Sun, May 17, 2026
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Episode Transcript
0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. Butterfly Refresher from Starbucks.
0:03Guava and passion fruit flavors with mango pineapple flavored pearls.
0:06Yeah, that feels like summer before you even taste it.
0:09Funny how one small stop becomes the best part of the day.
0:12Start your summer rhythm with Starbucks. Try the new tropical butterfly refresher from Starbucks.
0:16Park it right here everybody it's time for the tailgate.
0:19It's me Joey P. Joe P is up here with my two best friends Andrew Erickson, Mr.
0:23Big Pot Energy, and Derek Brown Derek Brown, the king of bros fresh off another bout of NyQuil.
0:28You gotta get healthy son. You gotta start taking better care of yourself.
0:32Come on. Derek Brown doesn't wash his hands, that's why.
0:35Seriously? Gross dude. I just subscribed to, you know, I'm living my best Lamar Jackson life out here.
0:40Well, he does have three kids Erickson so that's never a good thing.
0:43I like finger foods too. Works out well. Mmm.
0:46Freezing. All right, we got a great show for you today.
0:49The NFL schedule dropped this week so we're gonna talk about the winners, the losers, and we're gonna talk about some of the fun videos.
0:56We're gonna talk about that a little bit that's going on.
0:59We're gonna talk about week one, week 18. Just give you all kinds of takes and not like too serious, okay?
1:05Because this is tailgate. This is where we just talk football.
1:08We just hang out. Me and the boys. We just talk and ball.
1:11And if you like this kind of stuff, well, subscribe to the channel, drop your comments below because you could win free
1:17stuff like our latest giveaway, the Jamar Chase jersey.
1:20That's right. We're giving away a signed Ja'Marr Chase jersey on this channel that you can win because it's a new channel.
1:26It's really easy. Subscribe to the channel, drop your comments below.
1:29That's it. That's all you got to do. And of course, you should like this video and you should share it with
1:35all your friends because this is not about hiding from the world, your little advantage in fantasy or a little advantage in betting.
1:41No, no, no. This is about fun. It's about football.
1:44It's about friendship. And it's a festival of all those things right here every single day on the tailgate.
1:49So let's check it out here and let's start with the reasons why the NFL hates your family.
1:54I want to start there because not only do we have three games on Thanksgiving now, now we have a Thanksgiving Eve game.
2:01Thanksgiving Eve is not even a thing. So let me walk you through this right now.
2:05It's kind of a thing. It's a thing when you come back from college and you hang out with all your friends
2:11who are all back home, not to watch football necessarily.
2:14You're going out to the bars. Yeah, you go out to the bars and now you can watch the game.
2:20It's perfect. See, this is why no one's having sex anymore, Derek.
2:23This is why that generation isn't getting laid anymore.
2:25See, in the 90s, it was a totally different thing.
2:28Okay? We didn't have cell phones walk around. Now everyone's going to watch on their phone.
2:33They're going to be out at the bar. They're watching the phone and watching the, was it the Rams and Packers is going to be on there.
2:40And these are great games on Thanksgiving Eve and day.
2:43But see, this is the problem, Derek. This is why the, you know, we're going backwards as a society.
2:48Man, I feel like such an old man yelling at clouds, but does the NFL have to dominate every damn day of the freaking calendar?
2:55Like I love it as much as everybody else.
2:57And I love football, but good Lord, man, between the holidays.
3:01And now we got Thanksgiving Eve, there's football and there's a, on the Friday afterwards.
3:05And it's stretched across Christmas Eve and Christmas day and all that.
3:08Like, can we ever just have time? Like with, like, with family and friends and stuff?
3:12Like I get it, but still like, geez. And I love, I love standalone football games.
3:17Everybody who's watched me over the last two decades of doing this knows how much I love the standalone games.
3:22Cause you get to really sit down and really kind of take every moment in and do all that stuff.
3:28But again, it's just hard for family stuff, man.
3:30Like when you have kids are on the holidays or you have company coming in or relatives and stuff like that.
3:36And look the black Friday game I liked. Cause I was like, yeah, you know what?
3:41Day after Thanksgiving, everyone's just kind of sitting around.
3:43That's fun. The night before now it's on top of it.
3:46It's kind of, let's run through the schedule here.
3:49So you got Rams and green Bay Packers. Okay, cool.
3:51Fine. Whatever. Thanksgiving day. This might be the best Thanksgiving day slate ever.
3:55So we've got pretty good lions hosting the bears.
3:58We got the Cowboys hosting the Eagles. And then at night you got the bills and chiefs, which by then, theoretically Patrick
4:04Mahomes should be up and running pretty well, literally and figuratively.
4:07And then black Friday, you got the Steelers and Broncos, which okay, whatever.
4:10Like, you know, when you're looking at which game is going to be a turd, it's clearly black Friday.
4:16It's definitely the Friday game. Oh, you know what?
4:18The NFL will always put the Steelers on guys.
4:21They always put the Steelers on. So many prime time versus Denver.
4:24How many prime time Steelers games are there? Just get how many prime time Steelers games you think there are this year?
4:30Oh, there's don't look. Oh, I don't know. Three.
4:32Take a guess. I wouldn't. Deepro says three. I would say three.
4:36Yeah, it's a three. You're both wrong. It's four.
4:38Oh, we're both wrong. Like we were so far off.
4:41We're up by one. Bro, that's, that's a lot.
4:44That's too many. That's four too many. That's four too many.
4:47Okay. Thursday night is, I mean, that's prime time technically, but I'm not, I mean, everyone gets a Thursday night game for the most part.
4:54It's a prime time game. Well, Thursday night, we all know is really just Tennessee versus Jacksonville.
4:58That's really what Thursday is for. Yeah. So they go, I'm assuming one Sunday.
5:02Yeah. They got one Sunday night game, one Monday night game, Black Friday and Thursday night.
5:07Like that's, yeah, that's pretty status quo for a team with a, plays in a very lucrative market.
5:12Obviously Steelers fans are some of the best fans in the NFL.
5:15So. Oh, absolutely. Oh, look. And having, you know, just become a converted yinzer after the NFL draft this year.
5:20Clearly I feel the same. I'm very, very big kinship there for the Steelers nation.
5:25Did you get a terrible towel? Did you bring one back?
5:28I bought one for Scott Bogman. So that was the tease.
5:31Do you have your Steelers onesie on underneath? I don't.
5:33I have my chain. I have my chain from the other day from the draft show.
5:38I could wear that. And I got the coolest hat ever that I wore on the show, but I got my Steelers chain still.
5:44So wearing that. Oh, you got beads. What did you do to get those beads there, Joe?
5:49I think you know. If you know, you know.
5:52No. I think you know. Well, I know. But I don't want to make all this noise.
5:56The audio guys are going to love me. I got a terrible draft towel and sent it to Scott Bogman as a little present for our pal Bog.
6:04So that was the surprise gift that I was sending him.
6:07He was very appreciative. It's a cool looking draft towel.
6:10It has all the draft logo on it, the terrible towel and the whole thing and stuff like that.
6:15So yeah, man, Pittsburgh is. I need one of those.
6:18Great culture. I'm going to wipe my dog's feet when they come in from like one of the back of the body.
6:24Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's talk about Christmas games, because this is the other trend that started the last couple of years
6:30where I know growing up, Christmas was always about the NBA, which I didn't.
6:34As a little kid, I cared about like in the 80s and 90s.
6:38I kind of cared about. Actually, I did watch some of those games.
6:41But then at a certain point, I just didn't.
6:44And it just felt like, OK, NBA can have Christmas.
6:46Not anymore. To Debro's point. Now the NFL has to dominate not just Christmas Day, but Christmas Eve, too.
6:52So now we're doing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day triple header.
6:55No, no, like one game or two games. There's three.
6:58I also feel bad for the for the players because it would be nice for them giving up so much of their look.
7:04I get it. This is the chosen profession. They get paid a lot of money.
7:08But it's also nice, especially for these guys who have little kids sometimes, dude, to have a little bit of time.
7:14I feel like where you can like take it.
7:16OK, we're going to we're going to spend Christmas together with the family.
7:20This we get Christmas, despite the fact not seeing daddy for the last, you know, I don't know, you know, 17, 18
7:26weeks or even more and training camp and all that.
7:29So here's the Christmas Eve day schedule. Christmas Eve Texans Eagles.
7:32Great game on paper. Absolutely. Then Christmas triple header.
7:34You've got the Green Bay Packers. You got versus the Chicago Bears.
7:38Big in division game. You got the Broncos and Bills, which again has massive implications, right, in terms of playoffs potentially.
7:44And then the Rams and Seahawks in division two, which they've chosen three premium games, Erickson, which is awesome, which I don't
7:50know if I'd rather them do that or just give me the three worst games you have that week and just put them on there anyway.
7:57Like, why are you wasting all of the good games here on Christmas day where I just feel like a lot of
8:03people just want to do other stuff on Christmas?
8:05So you're not spending time with your family and you're staring at the TV.
8:09That's why they did it. That's why they stacked all those games.
8:13I think a lot of people just throw it on to have in the background.
8:17So people that aren't usually watching football anywhere are just going to, oh, well, like the game is on.
8:22Let's throw something on. We want to watch the Christmas story for the 12th time in the last few days.
8:28Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, I do. 12th time Christmas story.
8:30Yes. I think that's exactly what you're supposed to do.
8:33Yeah, but we work in football. So it's a little bit different for us versus a more casual fan where it's like,
8:39no, like I'd like to have something new. I would say, too, to your point about feeling bad for the players.
8:45I feel bad for the players that have to play on Christmas and Thanksgiving, like because there are teams that are playing on both.
8:52Well, the Rams, right? The Rams, the Rams, the Packers, the Bills, the Broncos and the like that.
8:57Yeah. I mean, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
9:00There's a lot of teams that are playing on both holidays, which seems very, very unfair.
9:04Yeah, dude. Like, and again, I feel like an old man yelling at clouds.
9:08And anytime I put anything like this on social media, everybody's like, well, they get paid so many millions of dollars.
9:14It shouldn't matter at all. Dude, like, dude, but there's still a human element of this.
9:18Like, come on. Like, can we stop like with all of that?
9:22Like, and just talk about the fact of like, they still have families.
9:25They still have kids. Kids like they want to spend time with their families on holidays, just like all of the rest of us.
9:32So like, let's cut the crap. Like, let's not get into all that stuff, man.
9:36I mean, I think it's fine. Like, I hate it.
9:39I still think it's fine for them to play on one particular holiday.
9:43Yes, but not both. Not every. Not both. Like, that's kind of where I would want to put my foot down.
9:48It's like, look, I think this is a little extreme now where we have to have, again, they're putting the same teams
9:54because they believe that these teams are going to be good.
9:58But that's the issue that the NFL gets bit by is what if these teams aren't good?
10:02So then you get a crappy backup court by playing on both Thanksgiving and Christmas.
10:06And it's kind of like, well, NFL, you did this to yourself.
10:10Like, you went over-invested. And I know one of the teams that they're really invested in this year when you just look
10:16at all the primetime games and standalone games is the Chicago Bears.
10:19Like, they are very much betting on Caleb Williams in his year three, second year with Ben Johnson that I think the offense is going to cook.
10:27The defense is where I get really concerned. And if there is a major injury, right?
10:31What happens then? Because that's something that the NFL can't necessarily see coming.
10:35And that's when you run into issues where who started for the Vikings last year at quarterback?
10:39That was just a game that I could not.
10:42Yeah. That game was absolutely. Didn't the Vikings win and beat the Lions?
10:45Jaren Hall. It was. Yeah. It's just like games like that.
10:48So we did this with the Thanksgiving game of these Christmas games.
10:52Which game is the turd? Which game is the one that you're know I'm going to take a nap potentially during this game?
10:58Which one is it? Can I tear it down for a second?
11:01How this goes wrong? Which one's the nap game?
11:04Nap game. Turn game. However, you want to drop it in the comments.
11:08What do you call that game? That is bad.
11:10When on paper, it looks right now. The Seahawks.
11:13What if Stafford's out and this is Ty Simpson versus the Seahawks?
11:16Or what if it's the Texans versus the Eagles and it's Davis Mills versus the Eagles?
11:20I mean, Davis Mills was good last year. You can't control that.
11:24He's okay. Look, in theory, you're trying to sell the game and the advertising and all that.
11:28And again, I don't mind if it's like you had one standalone game, especially because it's a Friday too, right?
11:34Four. If this was Saturday, I get it. Like, it's a Saturday.
11:37Okay, cool. Whatever. But that time of year, college football goes away on Saturdays and the NFL starts taking over.
11:43And I understand all that. But on Friday, like, I don't know.
11:46And then Thanksgiving Eve, it just feels like, and again, I want to watch these games.
11:51Like, these are games that I really want to turn my attention to.
11:54I want to sit there and I want to watch the whole thing, but not over spending time with family and friends
12:00and people that I haven't seen as well. Not over making core memories with my kids and my family.
12:05Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I also understand that there's people that are alone.
12:09People don't celebrate Christmas, but everybody celebrates Thanksgiving. You know?
12:12Well, you can celebrate those core memories with the lions and the bears in the background.
12:16I guess. I guess. It just feels like it's getting destroyed by Mike McDonald's defense.
12:20We'll all sit here and roast some marshmallows to it.
12:23It feels like we're getting to a saturation point too.
12:26And the other point that I just want to make about this too.
12:30And look, I understand. This is unpopular. You feel differently.
12:32Comment below. We like to have conversations here on the show.
12:35You're like, no, I love this. I want football all the time.
12:39I want football all the time too. Within reason.
12:41I also feel like it kind of downgrade downgrades a little bit.
12:44The, the beauty of Sunday, like football Sunday used to be kind of like this magical thing where like you're all in
12:51on Sunday and then it became Monday night football.
12:53Okay, cool. That's, that's great. We love the standalone game.
12:56And then it became Sunday night football. We're like, okay, yeah, well extending it.
13:00That's actually really cool because some people are so busy on Sundays.
13:03You get that cool one standalone game, especially with the flex schedule.
13:06That was cool too. And then we moved to Thursday night.
13:09Okay. That's also cool. It just feels like we're downgrading Sunday.
13:12It feels like football Sunday is no longer going to be a thing.
13:16And we're just going to have random games on every day of the week going forward.
13:20At some point, it's going to happen in our lifetime.
13:23And the other thing that's going to got to happen along with it is we need the second bi-week for everybody because
13:29these teams in the travel schedules are getting out of control.
13:32And I think you're going to have more injuries and more issues and more of the NFL to Andrew's point where you're
13:38talking about like, everybody's like, oh, you know, like this looks such a good game.
13:43This is such a good game. And then we end up getting Eric, you know, getting, you know, Brosmer playing quarterback or
13:49God knows who else because people can't stay healthy because of the travel schedule and everything that's going on there.
13:54I do think guys that a certain point we got to revalue and reevaluate how these bi-weeks work and when we play these in-division games too.
14:01I think that's also very important. Two quick points on that.
14:05One, does it also feel to a certain extent every NFL season has just become like to this point, like a war of attrition on injuries?
14:12Like look at the Broncos, what happened with Bo Nix and all those other guys.
14:16And it's like, whoever stays the healthiest also and has a good team can go the farthest.
14:21Well, I guess the opposite point of that is whoever has the deepest roster goes the furthest.
14:25Like whoever does the best job of backing themselves up in all these positions.
14:29But again, this all comes back to all the injuries and stuff like that.
14:33And I honestly don't think that like decreasing the preseason and decreasing the ramp up for like NFL players is the difference
14:39between being in practice shape and gym shape and being in NFL game shape.
14:43I kind of feel like they're doing a disservice to the players and like, oh, take less hits and stuff like that.
14:49But it's like the injuries don't seem to be slowing down.
14:52And number two, how are we all going to feel when we eventually get to a 24 game season and football is
14:58Wednesday through Monday and you get like one or two days off?
15:02Like I know it sounds hyperbolic, but how, how are they playing 24 games?
15:05I, the same can be said of when people said, okay, well, how are they going to get 16 and 17 and
15:1218 and all that kind of stuff. Well, I mean, yeah, they're going to play, they're going to move it to 18 games, but like 24 games.
15:19I, I, I guess when you start adding in playoffs, that's another, you know, I mean, yeah, if you're talking about playoffs,
15:25but then I guess you have to 22 with an 18 schedule.
15:28No, but like, can we get to like 19 weeks of regular season football or 20 weeks of regular season football?
15:34You don't think that could happen? No, but that's still not 24 games.
15:38When it's all 24 game season. I mean, if you're including the playoffs, I mean, we got 21 right now with a
15:44massive disadvantage of the next year for the teams that go into the playoffs and have long runs for sure.
15:49Well, once one thing to, to the, to the injury point, the NFL, it seems like it's, they obviously say they want
15:56to prioritize player health, but they obviously want to prioritize.
15:58They say they want to prioritize the international part of the game.
16:02That's why we're playing so many international games this year.
16:04And that's why before they expand the game or the season to 24 games or add that 18th game, I think that
16:11we're also going to see every week. There's going to be an international game.
16:14Just like there is, there's an international game in week one.
16:17That's the reason why. And this kind of dovetails into the week one schedule where the Seattle Seahawks are playing on Wednesday
16:24night football against the new England Patriots, because we need to accommodate for the Rams and 49ers playing in Australia so that
16:30the USA can watch it on Thursday night, the following day.
16:33I like that the NFL wants to become an international sport.
16:36I do think though, we have to do the double bye weeks.
16:39And I do think we also have to, I also think there's something to be said for opening the season to a
16:45certain degree, maybe not even week one, maybe you start in week three where all the indivision games go from like week
16:51three to week seven or something like that. And then you play them again in the latter part of the year in a section.
16:58So you kind of, and I know that's going to be challenging.
17:01Like, is that what you're thinking? No, what I'm saying is I think that there's so many travel issues now and so
17:07much international stuff and all these other things that the most important games are these indivision games, right?
17:12So I do think playing them towards the beginning of the season is good.
17:16And then playing towards the end of the season is good drama and something you want.
17:21Yeah. But in between having two bye weeks to stretch them out a little bit so teams can get healthier for that last stretch run a little bit.
17:28I do think that's very important. And it's just very difficult to do the way you're moving everything around.
17:34And I think you're asking a lot of the players and the coaches and, and a lot of this stuff here.
17:39And I, and I think we'd all agree to a certain extent, like we all know Thursday night football quality suffers because it's on Thursday nights.
17:47It's yes. Like do we want to, do we want the best product or do we want to just jam it down everybody's throat all the time?
17:54And I think the answer is clearly the latter.
17:57Yeah. So that's fine. The answer is a letter.
17:59But I want good football too. I want my, I want my cake and I want good football too.
18:04And I want to sit in front of the TV and watch good football while I eat my cake.
18:10They also need to increase the roster sizes in my opinion, because if we're fighting a war of attrition with injuries, they
18:16need to increase the active roster size. They've been doing it.
18:19They've been progressively with that, with the practice squad getting a little bit bigger.
18:23Yeah. So I think they have, but it needs to get bigger, bigger than it is.
18:27Yeah. I agree that the extra bi-week and the expanded player roster should be, if we really, if we really care about
18:33player health, really, and everybody's got to wear the, the Romeo Dobbs helmet.
18:37There you go. Yeah. They got to make a cooler looking version of it.
18:41Totally fine with it. I'm fine with it. But for guys to start wearing it more frequently, it's got to look better.
18:47Cause it does look odd. I'm all for it.
18:49Hell no. I'm here for the oddity. I'm all for it, man.
18:52Spaceballs it up. Let's go. Well, we are going to do a spaceball sequel.
18:56Yeah, dude. God, if Romeo Dobbs is in that sequel, that'd be amazing.
19:00I'd be so good. Oh, that'd be great, man.
19:02All right. So, uh, primetime breakdown. The Rams have the most seven primetime games followed by six for the Bills, the Packers, the Chiefs, and the Seahawks.
19:10So the Chiefs is a little ambitious for six, but whatever.
19:13I get it. Sure. Five for the Cowboys, the Eagles, the Bears, the Pats, the 49ers, four for the Giants.
19:19Of course, my Pittsburgh Steelers, uh, the Vikings, the Ravens, the Lions, then the Texans and commanders.
19:23And then you get all the way down to one for the Saints and one for the Browns and zero primetime games
19:29for the Jets, for the Titans, for the Cardinals, for the Raiders and for the Dolphins, which again, if you watch the
19:35power ranking shows, that kind of makes sense. So, I mean, do you ever want to see the bad teams on primetime or no guys?
19:42Like, well, like I, I think that the NFL is going to regret not putting the Titans in more primetime games.
19:48I was just going to ask you, I agree with that.
19:51Which one of these teams might have a flex team, flex game into a primetime.
19:55I would say the Titans. Well, the tennis tights, because they're going to win the division.
20:00So that's why. There you go. Flex it. AFC South.
20:03The Raiders. Thursday night. Yeah. I think the Cardinals, Jets, Dolph.
20:06I mean, the Dolphins and Cardinals. Nobody wants to watch the Jets in primetime.
20:09Those teams that are so screwed. Like, dude, Malik Willis has no shot of keeping this job.
20:14I'm sorry. Like, it doesn't matter what he does because the team is going to be picking first or second.
20:20This year. In 2027. He's not wrong. And if you look at the way the contract is structured, it's like, we're planning
20:26to be our quarterback this year and they're going to draft the next guy.
20:30I don't see how you can look at their schedule and think, oh yeah, they're going to win this amount of games.
20:36There are so many quarterbacks that are going to be draftable next year.
20:39So if it's not Archie Manning, is it Dante Moore that they take if they're picking first or second?
20:45Are the Cardinals picking first or second? So Malik Willis, like if you got him in Dynasty and Superfielder, because it's not going to last until next year.
20:52I think that this is where he has his value for the 2026 season.
20:56He's going to run a ton. And then after this year, I think it's going to sputter out.
21:01I don't think the Dolphins are going to be, that roster is not going to be anywhere close to competing next year.
21:07And once you get the quarterback in house, the clock starts on competing or at least the idea of it.
21:13Yeah, by apocalypse weeks, here we go. Week 10, we got the Bears, Broncos, Eagles, Bucks all off.
21:18Week 11, you got the Falcons, you got the Browns, Packers, Rams and Patriots and Seahawks off.
21:23And then week 13, you've got four teams out as well.
21:26You got the Ravens, the Colts, the Raiders and the Jets.
21:29So the Jets have to watch 12 straight weeks of football.
21:32There you go. Speaking of which, the schedule release videos all came out on social media, which everybody looks forward to, except for these two guys.
21:39I like it. I enjoy them. I think they're fun.
21:42Sometimes I think they're a little overrated and sometimes they suck.
21:45Sometimes they're good. The Jets one is a little controversial.
21:47There's people who love it and hate it. I showed it to my daughter this morning.
21:52It's like taking the different color palettes and they put them together to make the color of that team.
21:57And then they swipe down on the color and then it's the logo of the team in the week they're playing them.
22:03And she was like, oh, that's kind of cool and stuff like that.
22:07And I was like, is it? Is it though compared to a lot of the people don't like it?
22:12They think it's a joke. I think it's hilarious because I think it's a metaphor because watching the Jets is exactly the same as watching paint dry discuss.
22:20I don't disagree. I think the Jets have a good offensive players.
22:23They do. Yes. If they only had someone to throw them the football or a play caller.
22:28Gino's like, I think you guys are too low on Gino.
22:31Here's the pro Gino. Oh gosh. Here we go.
22:33You don't watch them the last two years. Here we go.
22:36The last two. All right. He was fine his last year at Seattle.
22:40He was fine. When the hell happened to Seattle?
22:43Like, I feel like I woke up from like hibernation.
22:45What's a Joe's pro Dan. Why am I in this?
22:48No, no, no, no. Hold on. Hold on. I woke up from a nap and now Joe is the biggest Daniel Jones truther in the world.
22:55And Erickson is a Gino Smith like stand. Dude.
22:58What? What happened? He was not a Daniel Jones fan.
23:01What has happened? Top 10 completion percentage from a clean pocket last year.
23:04It's not his fault the entire offensive line got injured and he's lost his best receiver after week one.
23:09What did he do against the Pats? Here we go.
23:12In week one? He ripped them to shreds. Who cares?
23:15Who cares? Who cares? Who cares? I'm just saying.
23:17He's got Garrett Wilson. He's got Brees Hall. He's got a good offensive line.
23:21Like, his play caller's bad. Admit that. Like, that's not good.
23:24They're worse. It's like Frank Reich. They're worse than good.
23:27Matt Nagy. The ick. A lot of ick. He's still trying to.
23:30He's still going. He's still going, Joe. He's still going.
23:33He's still going. They're better than Dolphins. There were some good reaction videos.
23:37I highly recommend the Falcons one because it was like the old school SportsCenter commercials they did with all their players, which was hysterical.
23:43Titans was good too, man. Titans was good too.
23:46Titans was okay. Oh, come on. The Titans ones in the past were better.
23:50As the man on the street. I'm just saying.
23:52You don't like what the Titans did? That one was funny.
23:55Okay, the previous ones were way better when they would ask the people what the logos were and they would give up
24:01fake football team names because they didn't know who they were.
24:05They would say, oh, it's the Cowboys and it's the Colts and things like that.
24:09That was more amusing than what they did. I'm just saying like their bar was very high and I thought it was under.
24:15Everybody loves the Chargers Halo one. I thought that was super overrated too and overproduced and nonsense.
24:20I love it. Did you play Halo? Chris play Halo?
24:23No. You play Halo, bro? Oh, so that's why.
24:25There we go. There we go. A little bit.
24:28I like it because it wasn't technical. It wasn't Tecmo Ball.
24:31It was a Tecmo Ball. Is that why? Well, Tecmo Ball is superior to Halo.
24:35What do you want me to tell you? Drop the comments.
24:38I will say the Vikings one. I like the Giants because they add Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci and it says Joe.
24:44No. The Giants one was good actually. Jameis Winston on the street with people giving away Giants tickets playing Pictionary.
24:50He was drawing the logos of the teams they were playing horribly.
24:53Because of course Jameis Winston was in there. And Jameis Winston was in there.
24:57That was fun. The Will Reichert one in the fancy restaurant for the Vikings with- That was funny.
25:02With Chris Jericho of all people. I guess Chris Jericho is a big Vikings fan or something.
25:07I don't know. I don't know where that combination came from.
25:10But all the dishes they were serving him for 17 course meal were all inspired by.
25:14That was very clever. That was very well done.
25:17I liked the Step Brothers one from the Raiders.
25:19I thought that was cool. They kind of leaned to the cringiness of the two rookie waterbacks.
25:24It was so cringy, dude. Yeah, but I feel like they embraced it.
25:27It was. It was. They embraced it. But the whole time you're watching and you're like, oh, my skin doesn't feel right.
25:33Something's wrong with the universe. They're massive doors. It felt like watching The Office.
25:37It was great. It was well done based off of that.
25:40Joe. So while you were scrolling through all these videos, while you were taking your morning poo, did you or laying in bed late last night?
25:48Did you find that you didn't like or are there anything you didn't like?
25:51Yeah, I didn't like the Chargers one. OK, you said that.
25:54I thought the Bears one was pretty, pretty good.
25:57It was a good idea, but it didn't execute it great.
26:00It was a it was a it was Roma Doonesa as Bob Ross.
26:04I thought the Buccaneers one was a little, again, overdone.
26:06And then, of course, you got the Dan Campbell one.
26:09Do you see the Dan Campbell one? No, I didn't see that.
26:12Dan Campbell coming out of his office to the Bolton board, to the court board and just posting the schedule and walking away.
26:19Oh, that's see. They're all business because they know that they're going to bounce back big this year.
26:24They got they got a rubbing in Joe's face.
26:26They got the best schedule that you can ask for.
26:29It's a oh, my God, they're they're going to.
26:32There was a part of me was like, yeah, that's cool.
26:35And there's a part of me was is that the best you got?
26:38Yeah, the pots was stupid roller. And then Joey's laying in his bed.
26:42He's like, now it's boring. Did you watch the Arizona Cardinals one?
26:45No, I didn't realize they wanted to actually announce the schedule.
26:48Well, I mean, it's terrible. No, I think that theirs was all A.I.
26:52driven. And that's just telling their players have to pay the Cardinals to be in the commercial packing in the season.
26:58They're just like, we're ready for 2027. We didn't even spend time to make our actual video.
27:02The Rams Napoleon Dynamite inspired one was pretty decent, too.
27:05I would. I will go see that one. I haven't seen that one.
27:09You'll go see that. It was like, you know, the opening of it would like they put the plates out with like the burrito and stuff like that.
27:16That's what it was like with it, with the, you know, Napoleon.
27:20You and I are going to be friends music.
27:22Erickson's so happy because he now he got a movie reference.
27:25He's so happy. That's great. He's like, I got that one.
27:28I know that one. The Browns Arcade was pretty good.
27:31That was all right. What did you think of Trevor Lawrence cutting his hair, guys?
27:35Dude. Oh, dude. It's not real. It's fake. It wasn't real.
27:38I saw. You guys fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker.
27:41I'm a boomer. You think he has an insurance policy on his hair?
27:45Why would he cut it? I don't know, but I showed it to my daughter this morning and she was very upset.
27:51I saw the picture where you could see the size and it's like, there's a toupee glued.
27:56I was like, dude, what in the name of super cuts has happened here?
28:00Like, why did they make that man look like young Mark Davis?
28:03Like, I was like, please tell me this isn't real.
28:06So they put like a wig on him and did the fake cutting of the hair?
28:10Is that what they did for the schedule? I don't know how they constructed it, but it's not real.
28:15So. All right. Well, there you go. I don't know.
28:18I mean, I threw it in slack and I was like, I'm betting the under on the Jaguars win total this year if this is real.
28:25Because good lord, the aura is gone. Yeah. I'd just be another boomer.
28:29I thought about trying to style my hair in a similar way to Trevor Lawrence's today, but I chose not to do that.
28:35All you do, just pull out the bowl and meow.
28:38All right. Let's talk about the winners and the losers here.
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31:03Pets age zero to 10. All right, let's talk winners here.
31:06Erickson, give me some of the winners that you thought from looking back at the schedule.
31:10You're like, yeah, OK, these teams are actually in a good spot because it looks like you want to talk about Dan Campbell to me again.
31:18Detroit Lions, easiest schedule in the NFL based on the forecasted Vegas win totals that Warren Sharp does every single year.
31:23And it's not just the entire schedule. It's the easiest schedule to open the year through the first five weeks.
31:29No team hasn't used to schedule the Detroit Lions.
31:31So, Joe, I know that you were a little bit lower on the lines in the power rankings in the NFC show,
31:38but they're going to be making you eat it early on, I think, because I think that this team is checking off
31:44all the boxes of a team that's going to regress positively.
31:47It's so weird to look. They're actually one of the top teams that is qualifying for the worst to first because they
31:53finished last in their division last year, despite being nine and eight.
31:56So the Detroit Lions, their offense was still top five last year.
31:59If the defense can just get a semblance of health, they've been gutted by injuries over the last two seasons.
32:05And I think, too, that game against the Patriots in Germany face me.
32:09Hold on. I'm on Ross St. Brown homecoming. I, yeah, the Lions are going to win a lot of games this year.
32:15They're going to bounce back in a big way.
32:17And honestly, looking at their schedule, I'm not done yet.
32:20I know, but I want to stop you because something heinous is happening.
32:24Let the man talk, Joey! Something heinous is happening in the background.
32:27Derek Brown is trying to De Niro mog me in the YouTube channel right now.
32:31Don't even stop. Just stop. Well, that was for Erickson.
32:34That was for Erickson. De Niro facing on this YouTube channel, and it's me.
32:38All right? That was for Erickson because I was like, you're good.
32:41You're good, you. Go ahead. Preach, Erickson. I just had to stop that from happening.
32:45That was ridiculous. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Erickson. I apologize to the listeners, and I apologize to Andrew Erickson.
32:50Can we just mute, Joey? Go ahead, Erickson. What I was finalizing because I read the article for the schedule release and some of the fantasy takeaways.
32:58I mean, when I compare the Lions' outlook compared to the Atlanta Falcons.
33:01I don't know if I was finalizing the articles.
33:04Yeah. Then you should draft B. John Robinson over Jameer Gibbs.
33:07Do it. Because I think, I mean, Gibbs right now looks like he's teed up to just be the number one overall scoring player in fantasy football.
33:14I think he is. I agree with that. The Lions schedule really does ease.
33:18I mean, we talked about it. Where are the Falcons in the power rankings?
33:22Nowhere near the Detroit Lions. Who has a better offensive outlook?
33:25Who do we feel more better about the quarterback?
33:28And again, situation matters so much with running backs.
33:30So I think for me, it's Gibbs over Bijan.
33:33I think that it's a conversation worth having. Do you put the phrase more better into the articles you write?
33:38Just out of curiosity. I don't know. What's the last one you read?
33:42No! Touche. See? Touche. You're good, you. You're good.
33:44You're good, you. Stop it. Stop making that face.
33:47You're not allowed. It's my thing. You don't steal my bits.
33:50I don't have many left. All right. So the Lions are a winner for you, Andrew.
33:54I respect that. I also want you also to not forget the one box you didn't check, check or check or whatever.
34:00Tick. I made tick and check one thing. So the box that you didn't check is the box of Dan Campbell over
34:07coaching and sending his team into losses with his very firm hand over and over.
34:11Can we get, we're going to have to get this clipped whenever Detroit's number one in the power rankings going into week seven.
34:17I just got to say this. And when they fall apart and when they fall apart in the last couple of games
34:23or in big situations every single year. So good.
34:26Let's not pretend like it's not a thing. Let's not pretend like Dan Campbell doesn't constantly in every game that seems to
34:32matter completely miscue every single important coaching moment in terms of clock management, in terms of decision-making process, in terms of going
34:38for fourth down in the first quarter of a game.
34:41Enough already. Enough. Dan Campbell is a good football man.
34:43Man. He's out of his depth when he comes to actually head coaching.
34:47I'm sorry. Sorry. Who are the other winners for you, Andrew?
34:50I'm just curious. Oh, man. What was that? What do you want to know?
34:54Other winners. I don't have time to read your article.
34:57So I figured out what you're saying. Clearly you don't.
34:59You're like, give me the TLDR version, please. Because I don't have time to read.
35:04Too busy watching all these schedule release things on the pod.
35:07He can't do it. Well, you know, if you did like a fun AI video about it, maybe I'd watch it.
35:12So the Saints have a good schedule overall. And I guess technically they don't qualify as a winner because their first two games kind of suck.
35:20So that's kind of where I don't feel as great about New Orleans playing on the road against the aforementioned Detroit Lions.
35:26Who's going to be favoring that game? Who's going to win that game?
35:29I would probably lean towards the Lions and then have to face Baltimore.
35:33So the Saints might be one of those teams.
35:35Are they again, we've talked about this when you start Owen too.
35:39It's a not a good look for making the postseason that particular season.
35:42So I think that's something that the Saints have to be concerned about if they start out Owen to just based on some of their earlier season matches.
35:50But the rest of the schedule is really good.
35:53Tennessee Titans. I was going to say, but but for their next five games are against the Raiders, the Falcons, the Giants, and then the Steelers.
36:00So, I mean, yeah, yeah. So it gets easier.
36:02But do they enter in week three as OK?
36:05It's a must win game already for us because we're already.
36:08I mean, they get the Raiders. So, yeah. Yeah, well, exactly.
36:11It's like a game that they should win. But, you know, pressure.
36:14So, you know, I get you. You know, I went to probably at the gate, though.
36:19And then the Tennessee Titans. You don't you're not a bigger winner because you're facing the Jets in week one.
36:24Robert Sala revenge game. Oh, like teed out, baby.
36:27Love that. All right. So you're right here for it.
36:29Like the Lions is a winner in the schedule.
36:32Are there any other teams to besides the one you talked about?
36:35And you thought also like, yeah, this is another winning team.
36:38Like I'm a big fan of this schedule, the way it broke for somebody.
36:42Or that's like kind of the big ones for you.
36:45All the Bengals. They have the third easiest schedule.
36:47So they're going to be a Super Bowl contention team if Joe Burrow is healthy.
36:52I mean, I think that's really as simple as it comes down to.
36:55And the schedule is favorable for them. And yeah, I wrote up more of them.
36:59So, Joe, you won't check out the article. But if anyone else is interested, that are Colby.
37:04Check out Andrew's work at fantasybros.com right now. It's great.
37:07Whether you're sitting on the toilet, whether you're walking the dog, whether you're on the treadmill or just, you know, sitting back
37:13in your office right now and don't want to do any work.
37:16That's what you do. Go read the article. Schedule.
37:19Was it what's it called? Andrew? Me like you this.
37:21Me hate this on the schedule. What's it called?
37:24It is called, pulling it up right now, 2026 NFL schedule released fantasy football winners, losers, and takeaways.
37:29All the SEO juice that you need. I love a good takeaway.
37:32All the SEO you could possibly handle. D-Bro, do you have any winners and losers?
37:36Did you just steal the work from Andrew Erickson's article?
37:39Tell the truth. No. I went through all the schedules last night.
37:42Late, late last night. It was a very defensive, high-pitched no, wasn't it, Andrew?
37:46I was like, no, no, I didn't. No. I didn't copy and paste.
37:50Well, the article hasn't been published as the time of this recording.
37:53So there's no way he could have read it.
37:56Exactly. See? Thank you, Erickson. Oh, wait a minute.
37:58So you accused me of not reading an article that wasn't even available?
38:02No, I was saying articles- You dirty son of a bitch.
38:05How dare you? I was referring to articles in general, not just this particular one.
38:09What was the lesson you read an Andrew Erickson published article?
38:12I was fixing to say, Joe, what was the last Erickson article that you read?
38:16I don't read Derrick Brown articles either. Exactly. Don't take it personally.
38:20Joe doesn't read. I write books. I don't read them, okay?
38:23Actually, I do. I'm reading, actually, currently I'm reading, I just finished Pride and Prejudice earlier this year, which I had never read.
38:29Yeah. Which was excellent. It's easily one of the favorite books I've ever read.
38:33You should culture yourself a little bit. I don't read books.
38:36And now I'm almost done with the first Lord of the Rings book, which I never read Fellowship of the- I've never
38:42read the Lord of the Rings trilogy. And I'm such a big fan.
38:46It's so stupid. I love the movie so much.
38:48I should read the books to see all the differences and all the other stuff.
38:52And it's starting to get going. I know it was slow.
38:55I did the book on tape years ago and I just didn't love it.
38:59So now I'm older and I'm trying to be more mature.
39:02And that's what I'm reading right now. And then I'm going to move on to something else.
39:07So I'm trying to read some books. He actually puts his glasses on his desk to use.
39:12That's right. That's right. I have to. Yeah, schedule winners.
39:14Yes. I actually like the Chiefs, man. I like their schedule because of the sense of if Patrick Mahomes doesn't start week
39:21one, if he is put on the pop and say we get Justin Fields for the first four weeks of the season.
39:27Okay. Opening with Denver is not good, but then they get the Colts, the Dolphins and the Raiders and a bye week.
39:33So I think there's a realistic chance that we might not see Patrick Mahomes until week six, guys.
39:38Like, am I crazy with this? And if that's the case, this is a really good opening part of the schedule for the Chiefs.
39:44That's interesting. What do you think of that take, Andrew?
39:47I think that he's going to play, but he may not be 100 percent like in terms of not 100 percent healthy,
39:53but he's not operating at the peak level of Patrick Mahomes as a NFL quarterback.
39:57He's way too competitive, in my opinion, to have Justin Fields start over.
40:01I think that he's just going to force his way onto the field.
40:05And I think maybe after the bye week you see the normal Patrick Mahomes.
40:08Like, that's what I would think is more likely to happen than him to just straight up miss games.
40:14Yeah, I could certainly see him missing them. Wait, when is their first bye week?
40:18Week five. We've got to look at that again.
40:20Week five. So literally, like, if he starts on the pop, he gets four weeks and then a bye week.
40:26Four weeks and a pop and a bye week.
40:28He gets a bye week to ramp up and then week six.
40:32It's not crazy, man. Yeah, you know what? I hate it.
40:35I think he's right, Andrew. I think he might be right.
40:38Especially if the schedule is easy, they probably feel like they can make a run there.
40:42Well, they're facing Denver week one. That's not, I mean, that's not official.
40:46Well, I know that, but that's an L. That's what I mean, but that's an automatic L.
40:50But then they get three wins. So they're walking out of that end of their bye week, three and one.
40:56Then they get a bye week. And then Mahomes comes back with a three and one record.
41:01How many games did Justin Fields win last year?
41:03He was a jet. I mean. He was a jet.
41:06He won something for the Bears. I just asked the question.
41:09Just asked the question. How many did he win for the Steelers the year before that?
41:13I think there's a hidden agenda before that question.
41:16I love that he's taking shots at Justin Fields, but he defends Geno Smith.
41:20That's what I love. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Geno's awesome.
41:23You pot, kettle, kettle, pot. Who's a better passer, Geno Smith or Justin Fields?
41:26Well, Geno Smith. Who's a better thrower of the football?
41:29Okay. Thank you. That's what he's asked to do.
41:32Who's the better runner of the football? Erickson? I mean, Justin Fields.
41:35There you go. What helps you win NFL games?
41:38Do either of you have a morbid curiosity like I do just to see like with Andy Reid if he can somehow break through to Justin Fields?
41:45Yes. I think I do. I'm old enough to remember Justin Fields at Ohio State playing for national championships and actually being
41:51pretty good at throwing the football and like looking around going, yeah, Justin Fields is going to be a problem in the NFL.
41:57And then he went to Chicago to one of the worst coaching staffs possible.
42:01You can ask for a quarterback. And then after that, he went to the Steelers where he did win.
42:07He was four and two before he got replaced as a starter.
42:10He was almost five and one that year in a game that they almost came back and beat the Colts.
42:15I remember that game very well ago. Oh my God, Justin Fields is going to bring this team back.
42:21And he just fell short. And then they just replaced him.
42:24And then he had to go to the Jets last year.
42:27And I don't want to hang that on anybody.
42:29Like, I don't want to hang that. That's not fair to Justin Fields.
42:33So I'm just curious. I kind of want Justin Fields to play four weeks just to see it.
42:38Any other winners for you before we talk about the losers?
42:41Because losers are fun. No, I mean, I had a lot of the same teams that Erickson had written down the lines, the Bengals.
42:48So no, we can get to parts of the game.
42:50All right, well, give me your losers. All right, wait.
42:53I actually have one other one I just want to throw in real quick.
42:57Chargers play the Cardinals and Raiders to start the year.
43:00So I'm going to draft the Chargers defense in fantasy this year because of those two games that they opened the schedule with.
43:06Yeah, very nice. Well, Chargers defense is pretty good to begin with anyway.
43:10So well, it's their DC. So that's that's a concern.
43:13Yeah, we still got the personnel there, though. Personnel.
43:15Not that great. All right. Pretty good. Charge name the three best Chargers defensive players.
43:19Go Derwin. Mac Derwin James. That's two. The third one.
43:22Two. The third. Okay. Which is a third at 13 sacks last year.
43:26That gets pretty good. That would be my third.
43:28Yeah. There you go. There's three. That didn't take very long.
43:31Look at that. Take it easy. We're good. Start on the questions.
43:34I'm just answering questions. This is becoming very good.
43:37I'm just asking questions. It's like Cartman's on the Smurfs.
43:40I'm just answering them. It's like that episode of South Park where you're like, I'm just asking questions.
43:45I'm just asking questions. I'm not insinuating anything. But were you in love with a Smurf?
43:49Because I heard that. I heard that that was true.
43:52I'm not saying you were in love with a Smurf.
43:55But if you were, I'm just asking that question.
43:57You know? Did you? Did you do that? All right.
44:00Let's talk about losers. You got any losers from the schedule?
44:03Dude, the Packers like, guys, tell me they didn't get hosed to this.
44:07They're the only team with two Thursday night football games, a Wednesday night football game on Thanksgiving week.
44:12And they play on freaking Christmas Day. That's right.
44:14Tell me. Tell me the NFL doesn't hate Green Bay to an extent.
44:18And everybody's like on social media because I put this out last night.
44:21They're like, oh, well, they get so many days off.
44:24Dude, that's not what we're talking about here. They get so many days off afterwards.
44:28Sure. But these shortened weeks, if anybody's kind of on the fence about playing, you're probably not getting that player active that week.
44:34That's the big thing. Jordan Love is like Jordan Love, you know, has a rolled ankle on Sunday and he's got to play on Wednesday.
44:41Right. Josh Jacobs. Yeah, that's that's the point. Tucker Kraft coming off an ACL.
44:45Yeah. Like, do we do we not think that the Packers got screwed a little bit here?
44:50No, it certainly does feel like it's going to be a tough.
44:53I also I still think I know they traded their draft picks and all that stuff.
44:58But Erickson, I know in our little private chat there on Slack, you know, you're bringing up an excellent point where Micah Parsons.
45:04How many games did the Packers win last year without Micah Parsons?
45:07Andrew. They won zero and they don't have Don Caving Wicks anymore.
45:11I think that was also pointed out in that Slack chat.
45:14So thank you, Mayor, for your contribution. And the other thing with Green Bay, too, is their end of season schedule is
45:20just played like cold weather game after cold for the last five games are going to be played in the frozen tundra.
45:26So whether it's at Soldier Field on Christmas, Lambeau in January, there's just not a lot to like about the entire slate
45:32for the Green Bay Packers, especially when you add that fact that Parsons probably won't be ready for week one to start the year.
45:39And then how effective will he be when he actually does return to live game action remains to be seen.
45:44I think we could live in a world where the Packers are last in that division.
45:49I don't think that's an absurd thought. No, I don't think it's absurd at all.
45:53It's I mean, with the way Jordan loves his time into straight year.
45:56Who's the backup QB there now that Malik Wilson is gone?
46:00Oh, they signed Tyrod Taylor. Tyrod. Tyrod. Another Jets quarterback.
46:02Tyrod Taylor is a medical miracle. That guy is still like walking around.
46:06He's had the worst luck of any person. The Chargers medical staff punctured his lung to get Justin Herbert on the field.
46:12What? I will still to this day believe that was absolute and total medical incompetence.
46:16I did not say it all at a.m., but I do have a medical background.
46:20I was going to say maybe you shouldn't say it so much as ask the question like Andrew does.
46:26Was it medical malpractice? I don't know. I'm just saying it out loud.
46:29I'm just asking. It's true. I'm just I'm just asking questions.
46:32Call the spade a spade. That's all we're doing.
46:35Can I ask another question? I guess. Yes, please.
46:37Will the Arizona Cardinals go winless in 2026? No.
46:40Looking at their schedule. Absolutely not. They have too much talent.
46:43Oh. Yeah. They have too much talent on that offensive side.
46:46They're going to have one or two days where somebody's going to go nuts like a Jeremiah Love or a McBride.
46:52Like Bricep was admirable last year, dude. Fine. Let's walk the schedule real quick.
46:55I mean, they play the Jets. Like there's still a chance.
46:58They play the Jets in week 15. Like that's one they could win.
47:02Okay. Well, they play the Chargers. That's a loss.
47:05Seattle. That's a loss. 49ers. That's a loss. Yeah, but we all know that.
47:08Same thing happens every year. It's like one of these individual games goes sideways.
47:12I mean, we can't go to the Cardinals. Nobody thought that the Panthers were going to beat the Rams and it happened.
47:18And nobody thought that was going to happen. I was all over them covering that spread.
47:23Well, Andrew is because you're the biggest Panther fan ever.
47:26Understood. Bang the drum, Andrew. Bang the drum. I want to get you a little mini drum.
47:30Can we get you a – I'm going to look on Amazon right now.
47:34I'm going to see if I can get you like a mini – I thought you were going to make a joke
47:40about a little Bryce Young jersey and somewhere that it's actually a little life-size.
47:44I was fixing to say that again. Well, the life-size one is.
47:47There you go. There you go. Erickson, do you have any losers that you want to talk about here before we move on?
47:54Oh, losers. Let's see. Let me pull up this article that I was working on.
47:58So the Carolina Panthers don't have a great schedule.
48:01Third most difficult. And that's just the perks of when you win the division.
48:04That's such a big thing that plays into when we talk about the worst to first type of trend that happens every year.
48:11It's teams benefit so greatly when you just come in last place.
48:14When you're in division, even if you're not necessarily like a total dumpster fire of a team and when you're just kind
48:20of sneaking to the finish line to be the top team in your division when you're not like an actual elite offense
48:26or defense and you run into some issues. So the Carolina Panthers for me are a team that probably is not going to repeat.
48:33And then, I mean, this is an annual tradition where the Giants basically always get screwed in some way, shape or form.
48:39Like last year, they had like the toughest schedule ever in Brian D'Abel, basically never had a chance.
48:44This year, they will face the toughest road schedule, according to Warren Sharp.
48:48So their non-divisional road games include the Rams, the Texans, the Colts, the Seahawks and the Lions for the New York Giants.
48:54So that's not including that they have to face the Cowboys on the road, the commanders on the road and the Philadelphia Eagles on the road.
49:01So I think, again, going back to the point we've talked about with the Giants, we've liked a lot of things that they've done.
49:08I still think that they're a year away. Yeah, I think that's a pretty good sentiment.
49:12I just looked on Amazon, by the way, and on Google Shopping stuff.
49:16I can't buy any sort of Carolina Panthers drum.
49:18I think that's weird. You would think that's an item that they would sell readily.
49:22Panther shop. What are you doing? I mean, there's a market inefficiency right now.
49:26I'm saying there's a market inefficiency. I'm saying we should have that on our shop for tailgate.
49:31We should have a little major Panthers drum that you could bang at the game with a little tiny, you know, if
49:37not, I got to make one for Andrew. You could probably get like one of those little preschool drums that Bryce Shum uses.
49:43You could like get one of those things where you like monogram, you know, like everything you can personalize this, whatever, a
49:49little drum and you could put, that's got to do for Andrew for Christmas.
49:53It's a lot of work. Speaking of beating the drum, the Buffalo Bills are the fans could be beating the drum to
49:59fire Joe Brady with the start of their schedule.
50:02They start with the Texans, the Lions, the Chargers.
50:04Hold on. Tell me if he's not under fire at the beginning of this schedule.
50:08Texans, Lions, Chargers, Patriots, Rams. I think that's what does the record have to be after week five of those?
50:14I don't. I see one or two losses in there at most.
50:17I'm sorry. I mean, the bills are good. They're underestimating Josh Allen.
50:21The bills are really good, but those teams are really damn good too.
50:24They are, but Josh Allen finds ways to overcome things.
50:27I think if they're five and oh, then everybody will be singing the praises of Joe Brady.
50:32If they're, he'll be two and three. Number one.
50:34If they're number one guy. If they're two and three though, tell me that the fan like that, that we're not going
50:40to be walking into week six and oh, they get the Raiders.
50:44So it's a bounce back game, blah, blah, blah.
50:46But Joe Brady is, oh, he's feeling the heat.
50:49They won't fire him. By the way, speaking of all the fun things on the schedule release of the Vikings, when they
50:55came to the, the meal for the Buffalo Bills, whatever that dish was, it was a broken table with Buffalo wings on it.
51:01With sauce, like on the plate. That was pretty funny.
51:04That was, it's really good. It's long, but it's really good.
51:07And I like when kickers get to start and things and have their moment.
51:11All right. Let's talk about week one, week 18, our favorite games on the slate here.
51:15Debro Erickson. When you start to look ahead here to the first week of the season, obviously a lot of in-division games.
51:21That's what we're looking at here. Some are really hot.
51:24San Fran, LA. You've got a rematch of the Superbowl too.
51:27You've got bears, Panthers. You get the trash bowl and the Falcons and Steelers.
51:31Falcons and Steelers. So what's your favorite week one game?
51:34Hey, you've even got night game of Cowboys giants too.
51:36That should be a fun one on Sunday night football.
51:39What's your favorite game on the slate, Debro for week one?
51:42Dude, I, my eyes immediately went to Buccaneers and Bengals.
51:45I feel like that's going to be like a 51 total game and a shootout.
51:49How about you, Erickson? For you, is there one that you're like, Ooh, this has my eye?
51:54I talked earlier about the Titans and jets. I think that that's a massive game for the Titans to show we are
52:00a completely different team and not dumpster fire. I mean, dude, they are gonna, I mean, if we're talking, I mean, I don't know.
52:07I haven't looked at any like, cause obviously you have the betting lines out too for week one with a lot of these games.
52:13And I, it's cause it's a home game for the Titans.
52:16So I imagine their favorites and I would take them with laying the points.
52:20Whatever it is. I'm taking the Titans laying. I mean, it's probably like a field.
52:24What do you, what do you think? We think the line is right now.
52:28Titans minus two and average Titans minus three. It's minus two and a half.
52:32You nailed it. I would say minus three. I would take that easily.
52:36The over-unders three and a half in that game.
52:38I mean, I think Robert Sells is gonna run.
52:41Oh, I like the over. I like the over.
52:43He's gonna run circles around Aaron Glenn in this particular coaching matchup.
52:47You got Brian table with, with cam Ward. I think that this is a really good setup for the Titans to kind
52:53of set expectations for cam Ward in year two.
52:55So that's a game that I'm going to be eyeing as well.
52:58Patriots Seahawks. Um, it doesn't really bring me a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings just based on what we saw the
53:05last time, but these teams are going to be a little bit, they're going to be, but they're going to be a little different.
53:11Uh, the Ken, uh, Ken Walker's and I'm not on the Seahawks.
53:14Like he was the guy that we also 15 days till AJ Brown too.
53:18We were on a countdown and AJ Brown is going to be on the Patriots.
53:23So although I think that the initial reaction is like what D bro, where it's like, this is really gross and the
53:29Patriots are going to get smoked again. Um, maybe a little bit different because a little bit of different person on no clean Kubiak for the Seattle Seahawks.
53:36So although it's going to be a road game for the Patriots, as opposed to playing in a neutral field, maybe the
53:42Patriots can keep it a little bit closer. Usually this always happens whenever we expect it to be a blowout, it's closer.
53:49And then whenever we expect it's going to be closer, it ends up being a blowout.
53:53So maybe it's a little bit closer. And then I think Bill's Texans is the one I'm looking at too.
53:59Another rematch of that Thursday night game where Josh Allen couldn't do anything.
54:02I was going to say, I feel like we're kind of burying the lead to the 49ers and Rams.
54:07That's going to be one. It's not Australia. That's the only reason I'm like, could this get me weird?
54:13Yeah. I know. I agree with Erickson that when there's that much travel in that big of a time, it's also being played Friday morning.
54:20That's so weird. It's weird. Like, do guys get amped up to be like, all right, 9 a.m.
54:25Let's play. Like, I want to see the commanders like get off to a good start against the Eagles too.
54:30That's a very important one. They're like, they're all important, but like week one's got some good stuff.
54:35Andrew, forgive me. Did you get to say any of your, who's the biggest loser from the schedule for you?
54:41I wasn't sure if we, we skipped over that or not.
54:44I just want you to get your two cents in and plug the article one more time.
54:48Well, I appreciate that. Got to get those clicks.
54:51Well, the Patriots schedule is much harder than it was last year.
54:54The cupcake schedule is no longer in existence. So that is unfortunate for them.
54:58The commanders also have a tougher schedule to start the year.
55:01Eighth toughest schedule overall. First half of the season.
55:04They had to face the Eagles twice. Seattle Seahawks, the 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams.
55:08So yes, we like the addition of Sonny styles.
55:11We talked about him on the rookie show, but is it enough against some of the tougher offenses in the NFL to
55:17make a difference in the win loss column? I am not so certain.
55:20So I think the commanders might start out of the gates a little bit rocky.
55:24Might have to make a second half run. All right.
55:27Let's end the show with week 18. I like that the schedule goes full circle here.
55:32Battle of the backups. I love week 18. Well, hold on.
55:35But I do like that we have week one Giants Cowboys.
55:38And then week 18 Giants Cowboys. I kind of dig that.
55:41Like the full circle. Like the symmetry. Yeah, I like that.
55:44I like the balance. It appeals to my Libra sensibilities.
55:47And then you've got. God, don't even start with this drama.
55:50You've got Bears Lions in that last week too.
55:52Erickson. Packers Vikings also. Week one and week 18.
55:55Since we're doing this. Since you're making us do this.
55:57Yeah, there you go. Yeah, man. Erickson, which one for you stands out on week 18?
56:02What matchup? I hate week 18 so much. Also, Commander's Eagles.
56:05Since we're doing this joke. Why did you do this to me?
56:08We get so many backups. Week 17 is way better in my opinion.
56:12It's the reason why we play fantasy championships in week 17.
56:15Not week 18. Week 17 actually matters. Okay, so which one's going to matter?
56:19So which one of these games are going to matter the most?
56:22Maybe that sneaks up on us. Is it the Buccaneers and Panthers?
56:25Is it the Colts and Texans? Is it the Saints trying to win a division?
56:29The schedule makers are clearly hoping that they get another NFC South title game between the Carolina Panthers and Buccaneers.
56:35Which is why they're hilarious when the Saints are like three games up on everybody.
56:39Right. So that's a game that they're obviously ready to pivot.
56:42They're like, all right, we're going to put one NFC South title game on that Saturday slot at 4.30 p.m.
56:48That's what they always do. It's what they did last year and end up not even mattering because of something like how the schedule ended up playing out.
56:55I would say what Matt, so I think Bears-Lions makes a lot of sense.
56:59I think you mentioned that. I think that's going to be a relevant game.
57:03Titans-Jaguars. Titans-Jaguars. Yep. Another sneaky one. I think that could make a big difference there.
57:07For the division? Yeah, I think those are kind of the main ones, to be honest.
57:12And then the Dolphins are going to be in total.
57:15I mean, actually Dolphins, Patriots, Cardinals, Rams, because there could be number one pick on the line type of stakes here with which team has more losses.
57:22Good call. Because, like, it's just... Well, hot take, Andrew.
57:25Whoever has the most losses at week 17 has already won the number one pick because they're both going to lose in the next week in week 18.
57:33Well, I mean, not if the guys are resting their players.
57:36If the Patriots can't have anything to play for, the Rams don't have anything to play.
57:40I mean, we talked about this with Matthew Stafford, Sean McVay.
57:43What do they value more than anything? Health. So, oh, no, we don't need to beat up on the...
57:48I mean, this is the game the Cardinals win, right?
57:51Because this is what dysfunctional franchises do. The Carson Beck Bowl!
57:54The Carson Beck Bowl! They win meaningless games for no reason.
57:57Just be like, well, we beat the Rams. We split the series with the Los Angeles Rams.
58:02And then they lose out on the number one pick.
58:05That goes to the Dolphins. And it's Archie Manning to South Beach.
58:08Chargers and Broncos could be for the division, too.
58:10I think that that's a very interesting one. Nobody said Browns-Bengals.
58:14What about that? What about you? The Bengals are going to be resting all their players.
58:18Yeah, like they're in the division wrapped up. Oh, okay.
58:21I should know better. And the Ravens and Steelers are going to be playing out their lost seasons.
58:26Oh, there you go. Time flies when you're having fun.
58:28And that's what we like to do here. Make sure you subscribe to Tailgate NFL on YouTube.
58:33Subscribe wherever you hear podcasts. Again, drop your comments below.
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58:52And again, this is just us hanging out, talking a little ball here, having a good time.
58:56We better get our rest in now. We better see our families this summer because once the football season starts, that's it.
59:03We won't see anybody else at any given time for any holiday.
59:06Never again. But we will see you all again here on the Tailgate NFL.
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