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The Halfway House Podcast
You'll hear sports talk, opinions, and other things that might be relevant today & done tomorrow. If you're looking for that talk that isn't quite the network talk but is better than a lot of your barbershop talk... then you're home.
The Halfway House Podcast
Episode 065: Transitions...
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Ladies and gents, your two favorite knuckleheads are back after the release of the 2024 NFL Schedule and a 45-pt ass kicking of the defending world champions, Denver Nuggets, by the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game Six, forcing Game Seven on Sunday. In the episode, we continue to talk about the NBA Playoffs and the potential fallout of teams going into the offseason, the first half of the 2024 NFL Regular Season Schedule, EA College Football, and Jared Goff.
Timestamps are as follows:
Intro Music-00:00
Opening Banter-00:30
Minnesota V. Denver-02:32
Dallas V. OKC-19:06
What's Next in Cleveland? -21:25
EA College Football 25-30:27
2024 NFL Schedule Pt1.-34:35
Jared Goff-50:36
The Wrap-Up-56:09
Outro Music-56:25
Got something to say? Let’s hear it.
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The show on Twitter @thehalfwayhous2
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Thehalfwayhouse8@gmail.com
Ladies and gentlemen, boys, girls, children of all ages, welcome back again. It is episode 65 of the Halfway House Podcast. I am your glorious host, Ben Phillips. And to the other side of the screen of me, he claims to be a Dallas Mavericks fan, but I'm not quite sure how true that is based on who he picked to win this series in the NBA playoffs. He is the co-host, our co-host, your co-host, Mr. Co-host, Mr. Andre Lewis. All right, buddy.
SPEAKER_02I'm doing good. I'm happy that you finally admit that you be hyping up these Lakers in these Giants because you're a fan of them. I mean, I'm inferring that from the fact that you think me being ejected means I'm not a fan. You know what I'm saying? Just putting two and two together.
SPEAKER_00I don't know, man. You I mean you can put two and two together and get six. So I'm not sure exactly what you picked up out of that. I just know that you picked the Oklahoma City Thunder to beat your Dallas Mavericks in the playoff series, considering that it's the Oklahoma City Thunder's first time in the playoffs since you know the 2019-2020 season. I'm just saying that's all. That's all I'm saying. That's literally all I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02They really should be embarrassed because they really should already have us out of here, especially with how Luca is looking. Like he can barely even like that man is extremely hurt. Um, they got some changes they're gonna have to make going forward, definitely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so as you know, we're still in the middle of the NBA playoffs, second round. We got one team and the Boston Celtics who have handled business, um, winning their series in five games, but we still got the Knicks and Pacers. Knicks are up 3-2. We have the uh Mavericks, Thunder, Mavs are up 3-2, right? We also have the Timberwolves and Nuggets who are tied at three games apiece. That game seven is gonna be on Sunday. So let's just start, I guess, let's start with Timberwolves and Nuggets. It was a 45-point ass whooping in Minnesota in game six. What are your first thoughts on the 45-point ass whooping that took place in Minnesota?
SPEAKER_02Um what a weird series to get beat on. I feel like because it's so many blowouts or it's so many like dominant performances, even if the score doesn't indicate it, it's kind of been a weird series. But I guess it's the series that we kind of, you know, a lot of people expected a competitive series, or at least they wanted that. I feel that us, and I'm not talking about like us in general, just the fact that everyone has to react to stuff every day. Everything is too dramatic one side or the other. You know what I mean? Right. Like it was like, oh, Nuggets are done, they'll never win another championship. They don't know how to face adversity. And we even talked about some of that things when they was done all two. Then the Nuggets come back and it's like, see the Tim Wolves, I told you they weren't ready. Rudy Gobering, Kat, you can't count on them. Now it's game seven, and everybody just like, I guess we'll see what happens, which is what you should do the whole time anyway. Um, so I'm I'm not really certain who's gonna win because now it's a one-game series, and anybody can really pull it out. I mean, if you ask me who I favor, I'm trying to think, I'm trying to really figure out are the Nuggets of team that plays up or down, depending on the situation uh at this level. Like, are they just gonna come out in game seven and be like, well, we have to play, so let's play. Because it's kind of been weird. Obviously, it's hard to win four games in a row. Right. And even when they won game five, it was either game five or game four. Like when the game where Anthony Edwards had like 40 something, that was game four. I still feel like the Timberwolves for the most part should have won that game. I think the only time they were losing was when Anthony Edwards was on the bench. You know what I'm saying? Looking at the plus or minus. So it's an interesting series. For me, I'm more interested in the future of the Timberwolves, I guess. Because looking at what they look like at this point, and you just imagine that they're gonna eventually last longer than the Nuggets, just from an age standpoint, looking at Anthony Edwards being 22. They definitely have a bright future whether they win or not. But I do think they're a little bit ahead of schedule because if they get through the Nuggets, they're probably gonna go to the finals. I would assume that we probably both think that. I think the one of this series probably will go to the finals. And I think they have a good chance against pretty much anybody.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so think about this. Game one, Timberwolves win by seven. Game two, Timberwolves win by twenty six. Game three, Nuggets win by twenty seven. Game four, Nuggets win by eight. Game five, Nuggets win by fifteen. Game six, Timberwolves win by 45. And it was like it was, it was it was a it was a bloodbath in Minnesota in game six. So I do think I'm leaning Timberwolves. Uh, but you know, that's the thing. Like, I kind of said, you know, looking back at the prediction charts, I said Timberwolves and six, but they you know they they did not win game five, so they gave away the golden opportunity to have it as a closeout game in game six. You know, I've kind of been thinking like who shows up, who doesn't show up, when, you know, the fact that Denver is at home, you know, they're they're they you would think, of course, they're gonna be favored, right? But of course, Minnesota has won two out of the three in Denver in this series. So it's kind of like, okay, who you lean to, who do you favor? Is it the fact can Nicole Jokic, the Joker, step up to the play? Because I was kind of having these questions early on in the series. We know he's one of these one-of-one type players, but when you talk about the pantheon of those type players, which is kind of like the question that I phrased it last week was can he be one of those guys to be the reason that this team comes back from a 2-0 to win this series? Winning game six would have done a lot for that, but they did not show up to the fight properly prepared to win game six. So he gets another opportunity at home in game seven. And I don't like, and a lot of this is just like we talked about. We could talk about Joker all we want, but it's gonna depend on Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. Because they all struggled in game six. So I mean, Joker was the only efficient player for Denver in that, you know, in game six. So a lot of this is gonna depend on Jamal Murray, who struggled mightily. Can he bounce back? Is the wear and tear starting to really show itself in this series? Can Carl Anthony Towns be efficient enough for Minnesota? Can Rudy Gobert be efficient enough for Minnesota? A lot of good questions. I'm leaning Minnesota. It sounds like you're leaning Denver. I know it looks like we both think whoever wins this series, as you said, is gonna be in the NBA Finals. Who are you leaning as we go to game seven?
SPEAKER_02Probably man, it's hard to bet on those guys. Because, like you said, Jamal Murray, I don't think he's gonna have 10 again. But I don't think Jaden McDaniel is gonna have 21 again. Like it was a bunch of anomalies in this game to me.
SPEAKER_00Um for the record, I just want to remind you we both we both picked the Timberwolves to win this series.
SPEAKER_02I know, but I don't just saying, just saying. I feel like I want to go with Minnesota because I don't know, maybe I'm putting too much on Ant. I just feel like I know he's gonna go off. And I feel like the Timberwolves are less reliant on Anthony Edwards than the Denver Nuggets or on Joker. Like I feel like it takes a lot for him to actually orchestrate that whole offense and make everyone efficient. And if they're just not hitting, then it's gonna be a problem. I think there are different things that everyone on Minnesota can do. Like, like we talked about Jada McDaniels earlier from him just playing his defense. Um, they're not looking at Mike Conley to score 20. Rudy Gobert, they just need him out there doing what he does. You know, they need Carl to score. But it's when you look at the individual pieces, what they have to do is kind of more reliant on them. So if they could just hold it together for one more game, they might get through. Uh, obviously it's tough to bet against the champions, but it's just it's been an up and down series for them. Even whether they win or not, they definitely have to do some things going forward. I understand, especially if they get through them and then they end up winning a title again, you might feel like what changes do they need to make. But this doesn't seem sustainable to me in the ways that I think that we thought they could be, you know, as far as you know, a three to five year period when it's so much on one player to create everything. Which I feel like wasn't even the case last year as much. But this year, it seems like if he's not creating the offense for them, like you know, Eric Gordon had his game, and sometimes Michael Porter will have his game where he's shooting good and knocking down shots, but it's such a random thing, and with that much variance, no matter how much talent you have or how good of a player that you have leading the crew, it's gonna be a problem. That's the same thing we talked about with the Celtics. Like, they've been the dominant team over there in the East for a while, but it's so much variance with how they play, especially when they were shooting way more threes than they are now. You can lose games if you're not consistent. Um, greatness, consistency is a very, very primary factor in that.
SPEAKER_00You know, I I think just kind of I'm listening to what you're saying. I I I don't know, like to me, it kind of feels like game seven, I kind of depended the direction you feel like you really need to go as a franchise if you're the Denver Nuggets, right? Because you know what Joker is. You like to think you know what Porter is, what Aaron Gordon is, what Jamal Murray is, right? So what changes do you make? Because you can't make real, I think, changes unless you're willing to trade somebody like Jamal Murray, which I don't think that's something they're really considering, right? But I think the thing that, you know, it all goes about the personnel and the personnel that you're facing. Minnesota simply just has more bodies to throw at Jamal Murray than someone like the Lakers did, right? And they also have more bodies to throw at Joker, but Joker being Joker, it's like, okay, it's more of a can we just make him be less efficient? When you can do what you did to Jamal Murray in game six, and you've been able to do it multiple times in the series, that kind of throws a the question of exactly what do you do? Again, what do you do from a personnel standpoint? And I don't know exactly what do you do if you're the nuggets. Because this is the this is who you got to dance with, this is who you won the dance with. So what changes do you make? And I'm just not sure how to answer that question.
SPEAKER_02They got a draft better. Well, I understand they got all these people, but it's like it's no different than the Knits in some regards. I understand they got a coach that's kind of running them down, but the Nuggets are getting run down too, because like you said, everybody who on the Nuggets who we know can contribute, you done named them. I mean, you know, you got Carwell Pope in there too, but it's like they don't have as many people, like you said, and that's on the GM to replenish that talent. Like you gotta bring people in through that. Because when you got all these guys, you can't sign nobody for real. Because you already paying so much money to everybody else. They gotta do something. Like if the Timberwolves, not the Timberwolves, if the Nuggets had like the Thunder draft board and development, you know, scheme, they would be crazy because you would have way more bodies plus what you have at the top. And I understand the Thunder hasn't got to the point yet where they have to pay all these people, so we'll see what it looks like at that point, but it might be enough now. And I always talk about this period of NBA. I wonder how we're gonna look back on it. Is it gonna be Joker's era or is this gonna be a transition period between LeBron and whoever comes next? You know, whether it be Vic or whether it be one of these other young guys. It it once we get to the point where those guys are older enough to start winning and they actually have teams around them, even Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves, I imagine they'll get some more stuff around them. It's gonna be a problem for the niggas. I don't know how this is gonna age.
SPEAKER_00So depending a lot of this is gonna depend on the game seven on Sunday. But do you, if you Denver, if you don't win, do you consider moving Jamal Murray?
SPEAKER_02I don't think you gotta make a major change. I just think they just need more people. Right because Jamal Murray, if you move him, I don't think you can move him for anything. Because I don't think there's any player that you could trade Jamal Murray for that is more valuable than having Jamal Murray on that floor with Joker. With how long they've been together, the chemistry they have. And Jamal Murray, I mean, he he's not a regular season. I'm gonna just go off. Jamal Murray in the playoffs is a different type of human. So you don't have to really change that aspect. You just need a longer rotation so that these guys can actually make it to these games in a better form of themselves.
SPEAKER_00Okay, let me do it this then. If you're Minnesota and you don't win on Sunday, do you move call infinite towns and or Rudy Gobert?
SPEAKER_02I guess you see what you can get. I don't know if you do that now. Um, I guess those guys aren't as young as Ant. So if you want to do something, you would have to do it sooner rather than later. But I will wait to see how they play. I don't think they've been playing bad. I think they've been playing pretty good. You know, in theory, it's just they are who they are. Like, they're not elite elite talents. They're both just well, Rudy is an elite defensive talent, but like Carlos is a very good player, they're not like elite elite guys. So you might can keep it together because Anthony Amorts isn't done ascending. Like, he should get better. So you could just wait it out. But I don't know, with Kat being 28, maybe you do make a move. But I don't I don't know. I don't think they need major changes because honestly, in a different scenario, different seeding, this team probably would be in the Western Conference Finals if they fell on the other side of the bracket. You know what I mean? So when you get that far in the playoffs, maybe it's tweaks you have to make, not major changes, you know.
SPEAKER_00Well, I just, you know, winning and losing. Losing causes teams to maybe be more frantic. They see a window, they get more desperate, they start to, you know, teams do things like that. That's what I think happen to the Lakers, because I think they overreacted to losing to the Phoenix Suns. Not to keep dragging the Lakers into this, but I just, you know, teams can often overreact to decisions, you know, things that happen in the playoffs. They're like, we need to make major moves. When maybe it's more of a cosmetic change that you need to make. That's why I kind of posed the question to you. I was like, I don't know if I make a move if I'm Denver, but I I wouldn't be surprised if they at least thought about it. If the if the upgrade presented itself, right? Also, I think if you're Minnesota, I think Minnesota may be more reactionary and decide not to bring this squad back fully in tech if they don't win on Sunday. I think that's more of a high possibility. Because you got the you see Cat, you see Ant on the rise and you think let's do everything we possibly can to make sure he has the guys around him to win that fit. That that's just kind of my thought, you know, because I I it's working, but not too long ago we were laughing at Minnesota. And if they lose on Sunday, people will return to start laughing at Minnesota again. So it's it's it's very it is a very tedious position at best.
SPEAKER_02I feel like the people who would be laughing at Minnesota hating. But a lot of people just don't like Carl Towns and Rudy Gobert anyway, just on a personal level. So that's a lot of it. But for me, when you're talking about being reactionary, I think that's just a telltale sign of a substandard front office. Like I don't think the Lakers have a good front office. I would agree. I think the I think Minnesota does, especially um none of them brought what's the name, Dan Kong Leon. Is that the same? Yeah. And the like all the teams that are at this point, for the most part, they either have it's something that has them here. Like the Celtics have a good front office. Don't have a good front office. The Mavericks have Luca. Somebody, you have something that is taking you this far. And the fact, the thing that has the Timberwolves in this position is their front office. So I don't think they're gonna do anything crazy. Especially because they what they already did what we thought was was a wild move when they did the Rudy Gobert trade. So it's like if you feel that strongly about it, then I feel like you kind of will keep it together a little bit longer, maybe. And also, I don't think they think, yeah, when you get close, you like we got a window. I don't think their window is Denver's window. Like Denver might not care about let's do this, do that. They're like, we're gonna keep what we got because our window is right now, why Joker is at the top of his game. If you're in Minnesota, you gotta think, oh man, we got a 10, 12-year window with Anthony Edwards. If we win now, honestly, we're lucky. People don't win this early. So yeah, you could try to do some things now, but at some point you're gonna have to reshape the whole roster anyway. So taking a measured and a gradual approach would be the best thing for them, I think.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Let's stay on the Western Conference. Does Dallas win game six to end the series? Or does Oklahoma force a game seven and Oklahoma City? I don't know. But you need to know.
SPEAKER_02We need an answer. The weird series, I would just say, because I feel like we I feel like the Mavericks have already closed it up. I just really feel like when they were up and what was that, game four? Yes, they just ran out of gas, and it's just they don't have as many bodies as Oklahoma City. It's kind of the same conversation we talk about with the Nuggets. It's it's just that the fact that the Nuggets are better than the Mavericks, but the Thunder are worse than the Timberwolves. So it's the same dichotomy, but it's just in a lower level situation. I am gonna say that the Mavericks are gonna go ahead and put them out because I'm just thinking that Luca and Kyrie will just do some things that they won't be able to overcome. Um, but I have to see what they do because if Thunder got questions, if are they gonna play Josh Giddy or not, or are they gonna bench him? It's a lot of things they have over there that they don't they're uncertain about. The Mavericks, whether or not you think they're the highest level talent, or you think their roster is weaker than the Thunder, they know what they're gonna do. They know how they're gonna play. Everyone knows their role, and they it's no questions about it. So that certainty, I think, might factor in for them. So I'll probably say the Mavericks to go ahead and close it up.
SPEAKER_00I think the Mavericks will close it out as well. You know, don't play with your food, don't force a game seven back in Oklahoma City, even though you can win. Try to give, if possible, a day or two an extra day or two for um, you know, Lucas knee, his Achilles, and everything else that's bothering him. Give yourself an extra day or two, possibly, to try to get some treatment. And don't play with your food and go ahead and get it over with, you know, because this Oklahoma City team is young first time around. You know, expectations have been the number one seed. You know, it's still the up-and-coming train. We're not necessarily expecting them to win, and if you don't win, it's a disappointment. But speaking of disappointments and teams that have so far met expectations, at least. We're talking about the Boston Celtics who handles their business. They won that series gentlemen's suite four games to one against the Cleveland Cavaliers. They are now in their third straight Eastern Conference Finals. I think it's their sixth and eight years. Let's talk about the Cavs because there appears to be some turmoil in Cleveland. There's Darius Garland, there's Evan Mobley, there's the future of Donovan Mitchell, there's the front office in JB Bickerstaff. They traded all those picks again for Donovan Mitchell. He may not resign. He says he's happy in Cleveland. We'll find out if that's true. What does the future hold for Cleveland? Or at least the short or the short-term prison. Nothing. They're the Cleveland Cavaliers.
SPEAKER_02I'm done. You want to claim it? No one wants to play there. They have a bad everything about the organization has been bad forever. They treat, they don't know how to draft, they don't know how to build a team. They had one great player. He decided to leave. They called him trash, burnt his jersey. No one wants to go there. The only reason that Cleveland has a ring is because LeBron James was born in Ohio. No one cares about that franchise. Which is, I mean, and we gotta have that. I'm gonna have to bring up that conversation sometime in the summer when it's not to happen in the NBA's problem with small market teams. But Cleveland is like the most primary example of that. Damn and Charlotte. You'll never win a championship in a place like that unless you have Sam Presby or somebody who knows how to build a roster in an immaculate fashion. And they don't have any of that. Like Donovan Mitchell, that was not the choice. I understand you got some relevance. Like you made it this far, but we trying to win titles, or we not? I don't know what to do. Like they're done. They got some good players, but they're not good enough. Donovan Mitchell is a very good player, but he's not great. Um, it's nothing that you can do in that situation. Like, Cleveland is, you want to tell you their future? Lottery. Until they eventually get another player or just forever. Like, you gotta think. Any team that's Cleveland, they they're just bad forever until they get somebody, and then they get somebody, that player leaves, and then they're bad again. That's the history of these, all these small market teams. You get lucky if you get a Giannis like Milwaukee that can change the fortunes and he stays. But that's the anomaly, that's not the example. So I say there's nothing for their future. And I wouldn't blame Donovan Mitchell. Like me being happy somewhere and leaving doesn't mean I wasn't happy. That doesn't portray what I said. See, but Kyrie said I'm gonna sign back and then say he wasn't. See, that's different. But for you to, you know, that's when he was in Boston, though. But I can be happy here and then think I could be happier somewhere else. And I don't think anyone thinks they'll be happier in Cleveland than they would somewhere else. Even LeBron didn't think that, but he wanted to get a city one, so yeah, that I think that's their future. You you could tell me if I'm wrong.
SPEAKER_00I think you're cruel. But you know, I that's I I don't know, man, because like you you might you made a swing, but you as you say, you probably didn't make the swing for the right guy. I I don't know exactly what you do because it's like if he stays, I want to leave. If he leaves, I'm gonna stay. Kind of like you got some egos that you need to kind of massage here. You got a front office who seems to kind of be in flux with the head coach and trying to figure these decisions. You got the front office making draft picks that not people necessarily loved, or you know, that agents didn't want their players going there. You know, in the case of Evan Mobile, if you are to believe the reports. So you got a tough spot to be. You know, you you finally won your first playoff series without LeBron James since 1993. You know, you win your first playoff series since 2018 with LeBron. But this roster is not gonna win your championships. It's kind of Chicago-esque, right? It's kind of like you got players, but they're not gonna be good enough to be the number one or number two guy in the East if they're rolling. So what do you do? You are in a tough spot because if I'm not mistaken, your picks pretty much from 25 to 29 don't belong to you. So even if they're in the lottery, they may not be yours. So Cleveland is familiar with that spot, you know. There are rules in place for things like that almost. It's a bad situation. But let's look at the Boston Celtics, who are now again, third straight Eastern conference finals, and I believe six out of eight. We know for the Boston Celtics it's championship or both. Just that simple. But as we look towards who their opponent could be, whether that's the Indiana Pacers or the New York Knicks, how do you think the Celtics will fare against either one of those teams?
SPEAKER_02Probably sweep them.
SPEAKER_00Not give them one, you know, Boston will give you one.
SPEAKER_02Nah, I'm not I'm not a fan of that. I'm not a fan of saying, well, they'll give them one. Nah.
SPEAKER_00Not intentionally, but you know, they they will come out lackadaisically.
SPEAKER_02That that that to me, that doesn't change the analysis enough. And when I say that, I mean like a lot of times people will be like, well, they're gonna put it on them, and they're like, they might get one, but that's just something to hedge your bitch. Man, the Boston, they're gonna get them boys out of there. Like, what's a reason that like, you know, and I'm not and I'm yeah, Boston can do some Boston things. It's not one reason in my mind that they should lose any game. Like, there's no advantage. There's nothing that either one of those teams possess that makes me think, wow, they can beat Boston once. It's not even about winning the series. What could they do to win a game against Boston? Realistically. Like they're there they don't have it. If the Knicks make it, they're already done. They barely making it through this series. Tom Thimple don't make it. Yeah, we're gonna get to the Eastern Conference Finals, but we ain't gonna be playing for four more years. He at least took three years off of everybody's career this year. Terry Taliburning, he's playing good, but it's like he's still not 100%. And who else on the Pacers is gonna do something? The Pacers of just like, it's like if Boston was almost like if you was like, oh man, Boston need this, this, and this. That's the Pacers. Boston is the team that the Pacers hope that they could be one day. Like, you're not gonna beat us. Like, it's really, it's no point even doing the Eastern Conference Finals except because we need to watch the games, but man, if Boston don't sweep somebody, I'd be disappointed in them. Because I see no reason that they should lose. And I'm doing this under the, and I'm not even saying it like a best player in a series type of thing. I'm just saying from a roster-to-roster standpoint, they just have too much talent. And so I'm ready for the finals. Like, I don't even need to watch the East no more.
SPEAKER_00Well, I will say this. The Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers play five times this year. Boston won three out of the five. So maybe there's some hope somewhere.
SPEAKER_02How did they play five times? I didn't know you played one team that much.
SPEAKER_00Well, in-season tournament played a factor in there too. So that's how now Boston did have a 155-104 win, so they that was an ass kicking right there. But it seemed like all dealt and despair for you in the Eastern Conference because it's like the Boston Celtics should win. If they don't win, then this is extremely disappointing disappointment, and that's a tough conversation to have, right? So we'll see.
SPEAKER_02Um and everybody need to apologize to LeBron because the whole time LeBron was in the East running through everybody, everybody was like, he's supposed to do that. The East is weak. And the Celtics keep not going to the finals. They let Jimmy Butler go twice. They and it was last year, yeah, they lost to the Heat. They be struggling their way through it. Just because you in a weak East, that don't mean it's easy to get through still. They y'all need to go back and apologize because that man was mollywapping everybody for a good decade. And them teams you could argue was better than these teams that the Celtics gotta face.
SPEAKER_00Eight straight finals, nine out of ten. One of those was in the West, though. So speaking of the West, let's go to the different sport. Or let's just let's just let's stay in the West. How familiar are you with college football? It's a bad transition, forgive me for. It's it's a bit of a clusterfuck, but no, I'm just I'm waiting.
SPEAKER_02I'm I'm I'm trying to say I'm waiting. You I'm I'm waiting for you to bring me back around.
SPEAKER_00Hey, you're humor me. We're gonna stay in the West. How familiar are you with college football? Semi. Semi. So for the childhood, for the for the the little kid that's in us, something important came out today. It was the return of college football with the video game. The trailer was released today. So college football 25. The trailer was released today. And we have been without college football for the better part of a decade. Right. 11 years, I actually believe is the number. Maybe 12. So college football is returning shortly. Is there a level of excitement for you, or was that not a big game to you, like it was for me and others?
SPEAKER_02Boy, I'm finna give these boys five touchdowns a game in that road of glory. I'm telling you this, it's gonna be a problem. Now, college football, that was there was not one person I knew who wasn't playing it at that level. Um, I like any game, especially. I thought they did a great job of telling stories in that game, starting you from high school all the way through. Once you got to the that's the thing. I was talking to my brother about this, and he was like, Yeah, on the trailer, it was like, this is not Madden. I said, Well, that's crazy because that's also a game that you put out. You should have that that's unless you know that even you know Madden went down. So I think people are looking for a substitute that's still football, but different than Madden. And I think this came at the perfect time. Um shout out to the NIL, I guess.
SPEAKER_00Man, listen, I'm excited, but I'm gonna wait. I'm just not I'm not gonna let my excitement overtake me. I'm not gonna, I'm just gonna wait and see exactly what the reviews of the game come when they first come out. I'm not gonna get it early.
SPEAKER_02July? It comes out in July, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I believe July. So, but I'm gonna wait. I'm gonna let I'm gonna let have to I'm gonna let the people kind of feed me the info, then you know, me hop into that, you know, that that that drug that is college football. So yeah, so I didn't really deliver on the transition, but that's okay. That happens from time to time. But I am interested to see, because like I said, it's the first college football game in well over a decade. So the expectations are high. Extremely high. Are they too high? Or do you think EA will deliver?
SPEAKER_02Uh well, I don't, I'm not one that thinks that the expectations and the quality kind of parallel as much. I feel like it's it's it's on y'all. It's not on the fans to be less hyped to be like, well, you know, it's EA. Nah, if people have been starving and they hungry, they gonna eat whether or not the meal is the best or not. But I think because they know the legacy of it, at least you would think they do, that they actually will try to make a great game. The thing with Madden is that people just buy regardless, and so they just stop caring. If you stop buying it, they would change it up some. When NCAA, if it comes out and because people have so many fond memories of it and they say, oh, this is trash, or it's just Madden with collar scenes, people won't buy it again. They don't got that kind of cachet with that. So yeah, I think they'll meet expectations. Like when EA wants to, they can make a good game. It's just they never want to.
SPEAKER_00Well, EA, get on your goddamn game, man.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, also uh, not sports, but they said GTA post will come out later this year, and that's gonna be a problem.
SPEAKER_00I thought it was 25.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's what I meant. Fall 25. I'm telling you this, I'm ready for that now. That's the game I'm most ready for.
SPEAKER_00Is it fall of 25 now? I thought it was early 25. Well, uh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02You meant pushed it.
SPEAKER_00Okay, they pushed it back. Okay. Speaking of games, we now have the NFL schedule for 2024, which means it sounds like the return of NFL Pickams, right? And my redemption tour continues. Let's talk about the first half of the schedule. We'll talk about the second half at a later date. But the NFL schedule came out on Wednesday. Would you like to look at the first nine weeks of the NFL schedule?
SPEAKER_02Let's do it.
SPEAKER_00All right, week one. We're just gonna go by some games that you know intrigues us, right? Just some games that we think have great potential. There's still a lot of time between now and the final 53-man roster. But we'll see what you know what happens, right? So, of course, the season opener will be the rematch of the AFC Championship game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs. And then you got in is it Brazil, I believe. You have Green Bay at the Philadelphia Eagles.
SPEAKER_02They wild for that. I am not going over there and playing in Brazil. Y'all want me to win the championship. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_00And then, if you want to think about Caleb Wood's first game, will be against the Tennessee Titans.
SPEAKER_02What a favor.
SPEAKER_00You got the Houston Texans, CJ Stroud against the Indianapolis Colts.
SPEAKER_02Now that's a must-watch game. Two up-and-coming quarterbacks that I'm excited about.
SPEAKER_00You have Tua Tonga Valor uh hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars. He's right now not participating in off-season the program. So do what we believe is to a contract situation. I'm telling you, man, I wouldn't pay the guy, but that's neither here nor there.
SPEAKER_02I also would say I wouldn't say Tua is hosting the Jaguars, I would say the Dolphins.
SPEAKER_00Well, I just wanted to make you aware of that. Then you got the Minnesota Vikings at the New York Giants to open the year.
SPEAKER_02What is what a matchup of people trying to beat Eli Manning.
SPEAKER_00That's not that's not necessary now, is it? And you got the Washington Commanders at Tampa Bay. Got the Jets going to Santa Clara to play the 49ers. Double blowout. You did two back-to-back blowouts. I don't know, man. Oh, you got your Dallas Cowboys heading to Cleveland. What, what, what, what, what you're gonna have to explain though.
SPEAKER_02Don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_00Don't worry about it. No, okay. All right, you know what? I ain't gonna worry about it. Week two. First Thursday night game of the year is a division game between Buffalo and Miami.
SPEAKER_02Up in the air.
SPEAKER_00Then, of course, we just kind of looking at it. We go, you got New Orleans going to Dallas. You got Indianapolis against Green Bay, Cleveland at Texas, San Francisco at Minnesota, Pittsburgh against Denver, Cincinnati at the Chiefs. That's an early game, week two. Not an early game, but that's early in the year for what I thought you might see between, but I guess they want to get Burrow and Mahomes out the way.
SPEAKER_02He may not make it to week eight.
SPEAKER_00Oh Sunday night, week two. Caleb Williams going against CJ Stroud. Let's watch. And then you got Michael Penix. Oh, excuse me. Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons. Boy, you disrespectful. Hey, look, I didn't draft them. I didn't draft him. I'm gonna tell you this. Um They're playing the Philadelphia Eagles, who have re will have returned.
SPEAKER_02Me and a couple friends were supposed to go at some point. I have a friend who is in Atlanta. We're supposed to go see one of these Falcons games. Well maybe the Cowboys game. I don't know. And I asked them, I said, You think Penn is gonna be playing yet by the time we go see him? They was like, You dirty. I said, I guess we'll wait and see.
SPEAKER_00Thursday night, week three, Patriots at Jets, Giants at Browns, Bears at the Colts on Sunday, Texans at Vikings, just kind of looking.
SPEAKER_02A lot of young quarterback matchups. I'm excited about.
SPEAKER_00Got San Francisco at the Rams, Kansas City going to Atlanta. Got a double header on Monday night, Jacksonville at Buffalo, Washington at Cincinnati. That's week three.
SPEAKER_02And Ravens at Cowboys.
SPEAKER_00Did I miss that one week three? Yes, I did miss that one. Good catch. Then week four, you got Dallas at the Giants. I don't know, man. I don't think y'all are gonna be that good this year, but I said that a year ago, right? But you know y'all not gonna be good, though. That's the difference as well. I actually I actually have no idea about the Giants, man. I have let me give you one.
SPEAKER_02Four. Over under four and a half wins. That's y'all number. Oh. Is that really the number? Oh, that's my number. Oh, over.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, over. You're going over, dog. What do you think is six? Set the number at seven and a half. But keep your composure as I say that. Don't lose all composure. Um Cincinnati at Carolina, week four, Minnesota at Green Bay, Jacksonville at Houston, Pittsburgh at Indianapolis, Denver at the Jets, Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, playoff rematch, Kansas City at the Chargers, Buffalo at Baltimore, Doubleheader again, Tennessee at Miami, Seattle at Detroit.
SPEAKER_02They'll never give us no top-tier doubleheader. It'd always be two games that they know we probably wouldn't watch if it was the only game, so they give us two of them.
SPEAKER_00Let me stop before I go to week five. Netflix is gonna have the Christmas games on Wednesday. How many streaming services will we need to have? Because it sounds like you got Sunday ticket that's on YouTube TV, you got Peacock, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and you probably got some other ones I'm not thinking about. When is enough enough?
SPEAKER_02That's so yo, they're not gonna finish me. I mean, I feel like I got all this a lot of the streaming services anyway, but I ain't finna add nothing. Like, I'm not getting Peacock just to watch an NFL game. And if you don't got Netflix at home, people, man, get your little free trial, watch them games and cancel. Like, they can't make you subscribe. They can't be like, well, you ain't subscribed fast enough. No, you need new subscribers in that bottle. Just get your free trial, watch the games, and go about your business. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00NFL is greedy, but we knew that already.
SPEAKER_02Super greedy. When you said we care about player health and added another game, we knew what it was up.
SPEAKER_00Well, we knew before this.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they shamed it.
SPEAKER_00Jesus. Week five, Thursday night. Tampa Bay at Atlanta. Got the Jets, Minnesota, Baltimore at Cincinnati.
SPEAKER_02You see it. Panthers at Bears. I'm gonna tell you this. If Caleb Williams goes off on them, boy, that boy David Tepper is gonna be so mad. Look at you could have had Caleb Williams, but you did all them shenanigans to move up and get who you got. Who did they draft? Bryce Young.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Buffalo at Houston, Indianapolis at Jacksonville again. Well, just repeating myself. Cleveland against Washington, just kind of looking at the matchups. Green Bay goes to play Los Angeles. The Giants will go to Seattle. Dallas will go to Pittsburgh, and that's the Sunday night game right now, NBC. And the Saints will go to Kansas City.
SPEAKER_02That's a sore one for Saints fans. Also, I don't know if I've seen a Giant win yet.
SPEAKER_00Don't be ridiculous. Do not be ridiculous. You're a lot of things. You don't have to be ridiculous today. All right, week six. San Francisco SEL. That's the Thursday night game. Then you have Trevor Lawrence against Caleb Williams over in London, Tottenham. You got Washington against Baltimore, Arizona, Green Bay, CJ Stroud will go to New England, Tampa Bay against New Orleans, Cleveland against the Eagles, Indianapolis against the Titans, Chargers against the Broncos. Pittsburgh will go to Las Vegas. Atlanta against Carolina. Detroit against the Cowboys. On Sunday night, you got Cincinnati at the Giants. And then on Monday night, you got Buffalo at the Jets.
SPEAKER_02Boy, that was a late Western week, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00I don't know, man. Because it's like it's some division games. Got Detroit at Dallas. Got Cincinnati at the Giants. I know you don't you despise the Giants and you just think of them as a pathetic franchise.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I still haven't seen a win for them. Shout out the Lions, though. Jared Goff got his money.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, man. We're gonna have to talk about that because that's we'll we'll talk about that later. Uh week seven. Thursday night, you got Denver at New Orleans. You got the Patriots at the Jags. You also have Cincinnati at Cleveland. Houston will go to Green Bay. Miami will go against the Colts. Detroit will go to Minnesota. Philadelphia goes to New Jersey to play the Giants. Also, you have Kansas City at the San Francisco 49ers. Super Bowl rematch. Then you got the Jets going to Pittsburgh. Then another double hitter. Baltimore at Tampa Bay. And the Chargers at Arizona.
SPEAKER_02Houston and Green Bay, probably the game to watch. Like I said, it's a lot. It's so many young quarterbacks that are so many matchups that could determine the future of the league. I saw Kansas City go Mollywap to 49ers again.
SPEAKER_00Well, Mollywap. That's that's not the word, though, is it? Because when you pick these kind of blowouts, you're not you're very real, are you correct?
SPEAKER_02Do you think that do you think the 49ers are going to be better or worse this year?
SPEAKER_00Probably about the same.
SPEAKER_02Nah. Everybody hurt. Another year of disappointment. Everybody don't know what's going to happen because if they go on the bad street, people are going to be talking about Shanahan, uh, Bark Purdy, people in the scene now. So even if they don't respect him, they're going to play him like they do. And Kansas City went and signed every receiver who ran a you know a 3-1. So they it's going to be a problem for them. Like, it's going to be really bad.
SPEAKER_00All right, week eight. Thursday night, Minnesota will go to Los Angeles to play the Rams. You got Baltimore playing the new Cleveland Browns. Tennessee will play the uh Detroit Lions. Coach will play the Texans. Packers will play the Jags. Jets will go to New England, Chicago, and so the number one and number two picks I expect to play between Chicago at the Commanders, when Jaden Daniels is the quarterback for Washington, and Caleb Williams is the quarterback for Chicago. Also, you got Buffalo at Seattle, Philadelphia against the Bengals, Kansas City against the Raiders. You got the Cowboys going to Santa Clara to play the 49ers. And then you got the Giants at Pittsburgh for week eight.
SPEAKER_02Man, Jaden Daniels is going to have a really, and that's going to that's a game that's going to emphasize it because week eight well know the records and well know about what we have. Dan Daniels is going to have a terrible season. He's going to have a really bad season. And it's not because of his talent, it's because Washington has nothing.
SPEAKER_00Then week nine, Thursday night. Got the Houston Texans going to Easter East Rutherford to play the New York Jets. Got the Dallas Cowboys going to Atlanta. Denver will go to Baltimore. Miami will go to Buffalo. You got the Raiders going to Cincinnati. You got the Chargers going to Cleveland. You got the Colts going to Minnesota. You have Washington going to play and East Rutherford to play the Giants. You also had the Chicago Bears going to play the Arizona Cardinals. Detroit will go to Green Bay. The Rams will go to Seattle. Jacksonville will go to Philadelphia. And to wrap it up on Monday night. Tampa Bay will go to Kansas City. So that's the first half of the NFL schedule. Just on some of the games you've heard, what are your thoughts?
SPEAKER_02Two questions on week nine. Texans at Jets. Will Aaron Rodgers be playing? Or will he be hurting?
SPEAKER_00That's the hope because you don't really have a. I mean, Tyrell Taylor's your back backup plan.
SPEAKER_02So you would hope so. Lions at Packers. Who will be winning the NFC North at this point? Week nine, Lions and Packers big divisional matchup.
SPEAKER_00I'm going to say Green Bay. No? Yeah, I'm going to say Green Bay, but it's going to be close. That's good. Like the NFC North is going to be interesting this year because you got Detroit who won it a year ago, right? Will they be able, even though they just paid Jerry Goff, is he that guy? They paid him like he's that guy. You got Jordan Love, who is they got a really good team in Green Bay. You got Chicago, who had a team that started to emerge a year ago down the stretch a little bit. They believe they now have their franchise quarterback. You have Minnesota who improved their team. They think they have their franchise quarterback. So that's going to be an interesting division.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think they're going to start moving into becoming the NFC's best division in the foreseeable future.
SPEAKER_00Any other thoughts on the first half of the NFL schedule?
SPEAKER_02No, I mean a lot of I mean, you knew it. It was so much great young quarterback talent, but actually seeing all the metros we're going to get was exciting. Did not see a Giant win, though. That's my main takeaway.
SPEAKER_00I don't even want to stay in the disrespect. There are teams worse than the Giants in this league, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_02It's funny because what you're saying is true. It's so funny. Imagine being a fan of one of the top five worst teams just every week you know what's coming, but you gotta watch it because you love the game. Imagine being a Carolina fan last year and then knowing you're not getting your pick, just losing 15 games for no reason.
SPEAKER_00Will any team after the first nine weeks be undefeated?
SPEAKER_02No. Look at these teams. Don't nobody got what it takes to do that.
SPEAKER_00I'm just asking, you know, you just never know. A team can get extremely hot.
SPEAKER_02Who? The only team that was undefeated last year was the Eagles, and they got and they flooped their way to undefeated. They the most trash ten and well, how many wins they had? They had like 25 wins. It was still terrible.
SPEAKER_00Well, they I think they started off like eight and one. I always a 10 and one, but we, you know, you saw the holes in the team. So just curious about it. And as you said, no team you think will be undefeated after the first nine weeks. Also, you said that you thought that Jaden Daniels is gonna have a terrible year, not because of him, but because of the lack of talent around him. We're gonna put that on wax as well. Any other bold statements you'd like to make that doesn't involve the New York Giants?
SPEAKER_02Nah, I mean, I feel like this season, I mean, unless some surprises happen, I feel like this season seems way more predictable than last year's. I mean, if any team gonna be undefeated, I guess you could say the Chiefs, but even that's not certain because it ain't like they got the easiest schedule.
SPEAKER_00Real quick. 212 four years only.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's a lot of money. I mean, what else can you do? If you think that's your guy, if you think your window is now, um, yeah, it's some people you ain't gonna be able to keep, but it's like it's the same thing when we were talking about the nuggets. It's only GM to do that. Like, you gotta just keep drafting well, and we'll be okay. Um Jared Goff has shown that you can win with them in this NFC, especially. If this if they were in the AFC, I don't think you pay them. Because I don't think Jared Goff gets it done over there. But in the NFC, who's stopping Jared Goff? Purdy? You know what I mean? Like all the guys that we think can do something in the NFC, they're all really young, unproven. So you just it projecting. Even with Dak, he has had playoff walls, so it's like Jared Goff is good enough to win the NFC. Why do you think the Falcons went out and signed Kirk Cousins?
SPEAKER_00Oh, wait, wait a minute. Well, that we we've had that conversation before, but Kirk Cousins can win the NFC. I don't know about that.
SPEAKER_02Well, we looking at two different NFCs. Because even the teams at the top 49ers and Eagles, I think they can get got. You know what I mean? So I think they made the right decision because they should they should have been in the Super Bowl last year. I didn't forget what Dan Campbell did. I know y'all did because y'all love him, but I didn't forget that they was up 17-0 and he kept going for it on four.
SPEAKER_00Well, cap hits including this year. 27 in change, 32.6, 2026, 69.6, 2027, 54.6, then you have the out potentially, and then you got another cap hit of 61.6. So they're paying him like a top dog. Let's see if he performs like it.
SPEAKER_02Are they though? Because he got 53. When Dak Dak says he wants 60. The next guy comes up, he's gonna get 60. So they're paying him like he's a really good dog. Like he he obeys, but well, he ain't the toughest one in the neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00Average salary for the New Deal is 53. Signing bonus is 73. Guarantee that signs is 113, total guarantees is 170. I don't know, man. It's you know, they they paid him like it. They believe he's the guy that they've they've spent some money this offseason when you think about Sewell and Amon St. Brown. They they they have they have started to pay. So maybe these are the lines of the future, and these are not the Detroit lines that we have known and grown up to watch.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, and also I wish, and I know it doesn't work this way. I wish a lot of these teams where people be like, Don't you, I wouldn't pay him. I wish they just wouldn't pay him and then and then watch the team crumble. Because everyone thinks they're just uh I wouldn't pay him, I'll give somebody else, and then they underestimate how hard it is to find a quarterback. Like I had a friend who a Falcons fan, and he was like, Everybody always talking about Matt Ryan, we need to do better, we need to get him out of here. He's not as good as Aaron Rodgers and all this. Then Matt Ryan left and they were trash forever. Because you know why? Because it's hard to find a quarterback. Just because you feel like this guy isn't the guy, that doesn't mean you don't pay him. That's the same conversation we be having with the tour thing. Um, I just feel like I feel you, but it's like let him go and then try to find a guy.
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, two teams you speak of, one of them, two teams have can make that decision. One is Miami, the other is Dallas. You know, you pay the guy again, or you let him walk potentially.
SPEAKER_02Dallas gonna pay that. That's not even a conversation for me. They've been the most conservative franchise in all the NFL for the last 25 years, and you're telling me they're not gonna pay Dad Prescott? Come on now.
SPEAKER_00Well, we shall see. We shall see. You got anything else, buddy?
SPEAKER_02I do. Well, did you have anything on Bronny?
SPEAKER_00Nah, because I'm I want to see how that's gonna play out. Just news and speculation right now, just like once we can play out, like his whole career. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like once we know exactly what he's doing. We got we still got time. So, you know, a lot of just speculation, just going through the process right now. Like, once we know what he's doing, then I'm willing to have more of a conversation on it. He did look good the other day, though. At the comeback, he did look good.
SPEAKER_02For me, that shows how not hyped people are about this draft that Bronny James has been the most talked-about prospect, someone who he I don't even think people expect him to go in the lottery. Um I can say, I guess we gotta wait and see. I'm kind of wary of his NBA potential. Um, because you know what I learned the other day, yesterday, like Bronny is 6'1. I thought he was way taller than that. Nope. For him to be 6'1 playing the way he plays, I don't think that's gonna cut it. Um and I kind of do feel bad because it's so much on him because he's LeBron James Jr. But it just goes like that sometimes.
SPEAKER_00What else you got? That's all I have. That's all you got. As my man said, sometimes that's just how it goes. We'll see exactly whether he plays college ball next year or if he decides to actually enter the draft. I personally want to see him go back to college for another year, but hey, whatever decision you make, we're gonna go with it. But ladies and gentlemen, that will wrap up episode 65 of the Halfway House podcast. For my co-host, Mr. Andre Lewis. I'm your host, Ben Phillips. And in the meantime, and in between time, we'll see you next time.
