NFL Title Game SB 60 Preview and Predictions

Well, the week is finally here, the one we've been waiting for all year.

The big game of the National Football League, the Super bowl.

Super Bowl 60.

And we have Ed Cleese joining us as he has all season long to talk about this big game and some more great elements about the Super Bowl.

Ed, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hi, Darren, how are you today?

I'm doing super.

It's freezing cold here, but it keeps you alive and awake and ready for some football this weekend.

Oh, well, that.

Yeah, it's the.

It's.

I've got a lot to talk about.

It's an interesting week to me.

We can talk about some of the specifics of the upcoming game, but I wanted to start talking about sort of the super bowl in general and then share some, like, personal memories and thoughts of it.

It's.

It's kind of funny because, you know, if you took a poll, Darren, and I bet you I'm going to guess that you're probably going to answer the same people like us who love the NFL and love football.

And if you took a poll of 100 people like us, Josh, I think our wives are probably being like, oh, my gosh, I hope there's not that many of them out there.

But if you took a poll of 100 of us and you said, list your top four football weekends of the year, I'm going to tell you right now, the super bowl does not make the list.

I never really think about it in that, in that regard.

I don't think of the super bowl as like the pinnacle of the football season to me, in terms of.

I just.

We're talking strictly as a fan and how much I enjoy it.

Thanksgiving would be way ahead.

The wild card, divisional round, the championship games would be way ahead.

Even maybe sort of like the opening weekend in terms of just what it does for me.

Um, and I think there's a couple reasons for that.

I think obviously there's one thing is it's sort of like one game, you know, now we're just down to one game instead of like some of the fun we talk about is the multi.

The multi view, right?

We got this game and then that game and, and you go from Thursday into Sunday into Monday and then the holidays.

It's Friday, it's Saturday, and, you know, we get done with the Monday game, Darren, and we kind of start reviewing the week and it's like, oh my gosh, it's Thursday.

We gotta start talking about next week already, you know, and it's, it's so the super bowl breaks the rhythm.

You have that week off in between, which I understand why they do it.

There's a lot of good reasons for it, but it does sort of always feel like it kind of stunts the momentum of the.

Of the week for me a little bit.

And we're out of football rhythm now.

And it's like, oh, yeah, there's still this one game left.

And then it's almost like this weird.

We almost, like, have to share the super bowl with all of the people that aren't like us.

Does that kind of make sense?

So it's like, it's almost like, you know, you go to church every Sunday all year long, and then Christmas Day, all these other folks show up.

Yeah, that is a great analogy.

That is perfect.

That is really perfect.

That or the people that work out all year long and then have to deal with the crowds, you know, January 3rd, you know, every.

Yeah.

You know, like.

Like, that's a very.

That's.

That's very good.

That's very good.

And then I think there's also an element of.

I don't want.

It's a little dramatic to maybe say sadness.

But we also know that.

Okay.

We also know this is it.

So part of the fun of the season is when we're watching the game is like, I can talk about this, and what is this going to mean for later?

What ramifications does this have?

Well, there aren't any.

If, you know, one team's a Super bowl champ, the other team isn't, and, you know, we'll see in September.

You know, that's kind of the way it goes.

So it's kind of like this weird sort of anti.

Climactic feeling for me sometimes on the super bowl, and.

It's.

And sometimes the matchups are weird, too.

So, like, you know, if.

If, if.

Sometimes we talked about this, sometimes it feels like the champion.

The.

The real super bowl is played.

The leagues weeding up the le.

The weeks leading up.

You know, the real super bowl was in the divisional round that year, or the real super bowl was the NFC Championship game that year.

And sometimes we get these games in the super bowl that are like.

And.

And I.

And we'll get into it in a minute.

I kind of feel that way about this one.

But let me say this.

I will also say on the good side, on the flip side of it is I grew up, was Navi, obviously a huge NFL fan, but also a huge NFL films fan.

And I. I consider myself pretty much an expert on the NFL and its history.

I don't know who's who, who's going to test me on that, but I'll claim it.

And within that subgroup, I consider myself to be an expert on the Super Bowls.

And then within the super bowl subgroup, I would say the first 30 are my total wheelhouse because I had books and VHS tapes that highlighted the first 25 or 30 Super Bowls, depending on when I bought it.

And I wore those out.

I can tell you about Super Bowl 3 and the Steelers and the Cowboys.

I watched those VHS tapes, those 30 minute highlight packages over and over and over.

So in a lot of ways, the super bowl for me was probably my greatest source of knowledge when it comes to the NFL.

And going into that, the one thing that the super bowl does do for me that the other weeks, like Thanksgiving don't do is it does leave that sort of like, where were you when Mark.

It's really funny.

I started thinking about this, Darren.

I just kind of went through my head and all the Super Bowls and I was pretty much able to go to every single super bowl and go, I know where I was for that one.

I remember being here, I remember being there.

I remember what kind of day it was, you know, whatever.

And that gave me an idea.

And we'll see if what you think about it is I came up with a top 10 list.

This is not the top 10 best Super Bowls.

This is not the top 10 most memorable Super Bowls.

These are the top 10 moments that I, as a fan just remember about the Super Bowl.

And all of these sort of play into my love of the game.

And the.

We always talk about like all the peripheral things around football that we love about it.

And why do I remember what I remember and where was I?

Who was I with things like that?

So I kind of came up with this.

We can kind of speed through it a little bit.

You can tell me if you remember.

I know.

I know for sure, Darren, 100% that my number one on the list is going to be one that you remember.

I'll just, I'll.

I know.

I'll tell you where I was.

And I am 100% sure you're going to be able to tell me where you were too.

So I had a couple honorable mention to start.

My very first memory of any kind of NFL at all is of Super Bowl 18.

They dominated the game.

38:9 was the final in that game and that was an upset.

Washington was the defending champs.

I do not remember watching that game, but I remember a snapshot.

I'm only like 6 years old, but I remember a snapshot of Marcus Allen running for a touchdown in our living room.

And I remember thinking, I don't like that.

You know, just like that was.

And I don't.

It's this weird.

I don't remember much from those years, preschool, kindergarten or whatever, but I remember that.

I remember Marcus Allen scoring a touchdown against the Redskins and thinking, that's not good.

I don't like that.

And then my other one would have been just from a few years ago.

And it's a little bit more of the.

What happened after would be the.

And I remember going into that super bowl there was a few rumors about a virus in China that could cause some problems.

And I ran a retail business at the time and, and I was kind of concerned about it and I was worried about it a little bit and thinking, oh, I got some conspiracy theorist friends that are telling me this is going to be really bad.

And.

And I was like, oh, no, nothing.

And I just kind of remember we had a big family gathering and then, you know, we're four weeks away from everything shutting down and not being the same for quite a while.

And that may have been the last like family thing we did for.

In a normal way for.

For quite some time.

Was that.

Was that super bowl party there?

So those are my two honorable mentions.

And you tell me if you're ready to start going down the countdown now.

Yeah, yeah, hit the countdown.

Okay, so number 10, I've got Super Bowl 36.

This would have been February of 22,002.

This is the Patriots Rams super bowl the.

And it's got.

What sticks out to me is the number one thing that sticks out to me is it's my favorite all time halftime show.

That was U2 after 911 with all of the names of the people, all the victims in the.

Coming down from.

However they.

However they did that behind the.

Behind the stage.

That really stuck out to me.

That's.

That's my all time favorite super bowl halftime show.

It was awesome.

And then what's kind of funny about it is that was the year that the Patriots were the first team to come out to be announced as a team and they were such huge underdogs and like everybody was rooting For Brady and the Patriots and, and it's just kind of funny to kind of look back at that now to think of how they became villains down the road.

But that first year was like America, the Patriots, the underdog, this young kid at quarterback.

And they, they went, you know, he brings them down the field.

The game winning field goal.

It was just such a feel good, fun game.

But I really remember that, that halftime show.

Yeah, I remember that one too.

That was, that was pretty spectacular.

Especially you know, all the amp up the hype and everything about the greatest show on turf and Kurt Warner and you know, how is this Patriots defense going to shut down that offense?

And man, it was just, it was spectacular.

It was everything you could want in a Super Bowl.

It was great.

It really was.

It really was that.

It's, it's, it was so fun watching it.

At the time I was rooting for the Patriots even though I really liked Kurt Warner.

But yeah, that, so that, that one sticks out to me.

Going backwards.

This number would be number nine for me is Super Bowl 31.

And the reason I remember this one, this was, this was packers and Patriots, another Patriots game also in New Orleans.

And this was not a very good game.

This was pretty easy game, kind of boring game in a lot of ways.

But the reason I remember it where I was is I was a freshman in college at the University of Oklahoma and my buddies and I, many of us were from Tulsa and we were freshman year.

If we could get back to Tulsa occasionally for a weekend for, you know, home cooked meal and a little change of pace, we would do it.

So we all packed into my buddy's station wagon.

And his station wagon then was about 13 years old.

So we're talking, this is like an early 80s.

This thing was rough.

And on the way back from Tulsa, we were leaving Tulsa on Super Bowl Sunday to get back in time to watch the game at the dorms.

And midway between Tulsa and Oklahoma City on the turnpike, his car just completely dies.

Just.

It's dead.

There's like.

And there's like way too many of us in this wagon to begin with.

I think there was like six of us piled in and we can't get it to start.

We don't know what's wrong with it.

This was also.

I don't even remember how we did it because, you know, this was pre cell phone.

So I think maybe somebody.

I don't, I don't really remember.

We were literally on the side of the road, and we were sitting up on a hill, just sitting there, and somehow we got some help.

I don't know if somebody went and called somebody.

We had to call my buddy's dad, Carlos Galvez, who's out there, came and had to drive all the way from Tulsa, had to pick all of us up in their other car, drive us all the way to Norman, and then the car was sort of his problem to figure out what they were going to do with the stranded wagon back home.

We did make it back just in time to actually watch the Super Bowl.

But I think my good friend Tony's dad, Mr. Galvez.

Carlos.

I think his Super Bowl Sunday was ruined that day.

Yeah, I'm sure there wasn't any drinking or anything.

No, that on the way back.

No, no, we were not.

We were.

We were not.

We were not drinking on the way.

Mr. Carlos didn't have a carload of disappointed drunks and.

Okay, all right, that's good.

No, no, not that.

Not that afternoon.

No, not that afternoon.

I can.

I can say that confidently that we're not.

At least not then.

All right.

And then.

So going backwards, we're going to go back to number eight.

This is a very weird one.

This is the Bucks destroying the Raiders.

This is one of the most boring Super Bowls we've ever had.

It was a boring matchup.

There wasn't much oomph behind the game other than maybe the Gruden thing, because he had coached the Raiders.

The Gruden saga, there was some of that, but.

But it was.

It was Rich Gannon, it was Brad Johnson, it was a good defense, but it was kind of like, blah.

And that is the first.

It wasn't the first super bowl that I was married, that the year before was, but this was the first year my wife and I just watched the super bowl together at home.

There was no party.

There was no gathering.

There was nothing.

I remember kind of thinking, oh, it's on me now to, like, arrange these things that, you know, for your life.

It's just like, people are like, where are you going?

What are you doing?

You know, it's like, you're a kid, you do what your parents are doing.

As you get older, you do what your friends are doing.

And then it was sort of like this boring game, and it's just my wife and I, which is fine, but it's sort of like, reminded me of, oh, If I want to keep this like super bowl stuff going, I've got to do it now.

It's sort of so sort of like this grown up moment that like, okay, this is on me now.

If we're going to have, if the super bowl is going to mean anything, I've got to sort of take charge, if that makes sense.

So yeah, I remember that one.

So going back, you're going to remember this one for sure, Darren.

Because one thing about the super bowl that I have done a lot over the years is hate.

Watch if you know I've always told you this.

I don't have a second favorite team.

Right.

I just have varying levels of disdain for the other 31 teams and some of those teams I have a ton of disdain for.

And one of them of course is the Dallas Cowboys.

I did not have much faith in the Raiders that day.

That was in Pasadena, right?

It could have been.

I don't remember San Diego.

I can't remember.

It was one of those.

It was definitely outdoor out west.

I think it was Pasadena.

But whatever.

I had very little faith that the Steelers were going to be able to help me out and beat the Cowboys that day.

However, as you remember, they were game.

The Steelers were in that game.

That was a, that was a.

They were playing tough.

They were really giving the Cowboys offense a lot of trouble.

And then of course, the two Neil O' Donnell interceptions.

The pick six for Larry Brown.

Larry Brown was the leading receiver for the Steelers that day.

So those massive, massive mistakes.

And I was watching that game with my parents.

This would have been the last year.

Yep, this would have been the last year I lived at home and, and I remember just being very frustrated and very disappointed that the Steelers were not able to pull that off.

And at least, you know, because that was coming off.

That was the Cowboys third and four years.

It coincided with a terrible stretch of seasons for the Redskins.

So I was just, I just hated Dallas so much and I was very frustrated that the Steelers were not able to help me or you know, out that day.

Yeah, that, that was the moment I remember most about that.

I think maybe the most biggest cheer I got that whole game is it was a short yardage for the Cowboys.

They had Emmett Smith go over the top and Lavon Kirkland, who was a, you know, a 280 pound linebacker, you built like a lineman, leaped in the air and met him midair and stuffed him, you know, on the famous play that Emmett, you know, always got the first down on that was number 99, right?

Yeah.

Number 99, yeah.

Vaughan Kirkland.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, I still have his jersey.

Nice, nice, nice.

Yeah.

So that I was definitely a Steelers fan that night.

Darren.

Going backwards, we're at number six now.

So the 88 season, this was when I so again, hate watch.

I hated the NFC east teams.

I also hated the Bears, and I hated the 49ers because those were the teams that competed most directly with the redskins.

And the 49ers were so good.

Right.

So a little frustrating and so some jealousy, Maybe.

This is the.

The drive by Montana at the end of the game.

It looks like the Bengals haven't won.

The long drive, the touchdown pass to John Taylor.

The 49ers.

When I'm watching that game with my parents, and that was the first time I remember understanding the importance of the elite quarterback.

And it was a little bit of a helpless feeling as somebody who was rooting for the Bengals in that game, watching Montana drive the ball down and thinking, they're not going to stop him.

And, you know, that might be one of the first times I can really remember thinking that, feeling that.

And obviously that stuck with me forever because, you know, that's the way these elite quarterbacks operate.

But Montana, that was the first time I really remember thinking, the Bengals can't win this game because they can't stop Montana, and it's not their fault that.

The one I remember most about that game is because it was a repeat super bowl, you know, much like this year's is.

And.

But the.

The.

Joe Montana was still the quarterback of the 49ers, and they still had some of the.

The Niners players.

That.

For Super Bowl, Cincinnati was like a totally different team.

It was all new players, new coaches, everything.

And it was kind of.

Kind of an odd thing to.

To watch, you know, as far as you look at that.

And.

Yeah, but I mean, it was a good super bowl, though.

I. I enjoyed it.

It was two good offenses.

That was good.

It's.

It's.

It's.

It's still probably one of my favorite super bowls of the 60.

Then we're going to go on to number five, top five now, so.

And again, this is the most hate watch of all my hate watches.

Which would.

Both of them Bothered me deeply.

But the second one destroyed me.

So a lot of reasons for that.

Darren, I've told you before, I got a lot of Giants fans in my life, including my brother in law and you know, they, they beat the Page.

I was shocked.

I was kind of disappointed that the Giants did it.

But there was also a little part of me that kind of didn't want the Patriots to go undefeated.

And it also meant that the Giants now had three Lombardi's just like the Redskins.

And when that game, Wes Welker dropped a huge pass in that game and if you recall, and then at the end of the game, the Giants clinch it.

My brother in law goes crazy.

He's like, I can't believe we did it again.

Was that the helmet catch Super bowl?

2007.

They lost twice to the Redskins that year who went 511 with Rex Grossman at quarterback twice.

That's.

They were not good.

They were not good.

They did not deserve to win the Super Bowl.

They.

Kyle Williams in the NFC championship game the week before fumbled two punts to basically hand them the NFC championship game.

So I, you can tell I've never gotten over that one.

It's probably the most upset I've ever been over a Super bowl that didn't involve my team.

And because my team hasn't been in so many years that that almost feels like all of them.

So that one really.

That, that, that one killed me.

Well, at least you're not salty about it.

That's.

I'm not salty but.

And we watched that game with my whole family.

My in law, we're at my in laws house.

It was a very nice setup.

We're having a great time.

And I'm, I'm like.

I kept thinking, okay, the Patriots are not going to be lose to the Giants again in the super bowl.

So I'll be able to gloat and get a little bit of revenge on him.

A little bit.

You know, at least they won't win twice.

And here we go.

So that so.

And he hasn't let me live that one down.

Still going backwards.

Number four.

Another one.

Same concept.

This is the Bills first.

The first one, this was a combo for me of hate watching because I did hate the Giants, but also very much rooting for the Bills.

I've said before, my mom's family's from Buffalo, she's a Bills fan.

So it was really, that was an easy one.

The Whitney Houston national anthem to kick off the game during the Gulf War.

And an amazing game comes down to the end.

Norwood misses.

And I remember feeling a certain level of pain for the Bills and the Bills fans.

And it's kind of funny because basically because of what happened later that plays got more painful at the time, it was just their first super bowl loss.

Right.

And which is painful and it hurt, but it's become more painful over the years knowing what was at stake and, and how it all unfolded.

But yes, that one really sticks out.

I watched that game with my mom and my dad in our house and I was really into that one.

I really, really wanted the Bills to win.

And alas, they did not.

Darn Giants.

So go ahead.

No, that was, that was a fun one because I mean, think about the, the stars that were in that game.

You know, not only did you have, you know, Machine Gun Jim Kelly and you know, Thurman Thomas and you know, the great Bills players later, but you had LT in that.

And Carson, you know, the Giants defense, you know that.

Pretty good defensive coordinator for the Giants too.

Yeah, some guy named Belichick.

Right.

Yeah.

Yes, yes.

Who really may have been the MVP of that game.

Not good enough to get in the hall of Fame though, I guess.

And two legendary head coaches.

You know, when you have Charles and Levy, you know too.

Yeah.

And for me just that, that age.

And you'll kind of see a theme here as we wrap it up.

That was sort of my golden age of the NFL that like late 80s, early 90s is when it really became my thing.

This is the strike.

The strike year.

The Broncos take a 10 nothing lead in San Diego over the Redskins at the end of the first quarter.

And 10 year old Ed Cleese starts to cry.

I am crying, literally crying at the end of the first quarter and I think it's over.

We're not going to come back this, you know, you know, having a 10 year old reaction 35 points later in the second quarter, the Washington has a 25 point lead at halftime.

We set all kinds of records.

That is still maybe in some ways my favorite super bowl because it was kind of unexpected and I was 10 years old and it was really cool.

And I was watching my mom and dad and I remember when I started to cry, they were like, you're fine, you know, there's still 3/4 left, blah blah blah.

And you know, maybe I haven't matured that much.

You know, 38 years later I don't, you know, the tears don't come quite as quickly as they used to.

Now it's just, you know, anger, but bitterness, like you've pointed out many times.

But yes, that was, that's a very happy memory for me.

All right, yeah, that would be.

So just a couple years later, we win it again.

Now my, I had a good friend named Tony and he invited me to go to a big eighth.

We were in eighth grade, big eighth grade.

Kids watching at somebody's house, super bowl party and there was gonna be girls there and that, you know, was always kind of exciting and interesting and place you would want to be.

But I just couldn't do it.

I just couldn't do it.

I knew even at that age that there's no way I'm gonna be able to go to this party and lock in on the game.

And I was such a nerd even back then, Darren.

I would VHS all the games.

And that day, not only did I VHS the game, I v I video record, I put on VHS all six hours of the pregame as well.

So I, when it was all done.

So when it was all done, that's like sadistic, it's crazy.

So when it was all done, I had a six hour tape that I remember I wrote, you know you'd write it on the side, right?

You'd write the little, the note on the side of the VHS tape and it said Super Bowl 26 pregame.

And then I had another tape that was Super Bowl 26, like the game.

And it's kind of funny, I don't think I ever went back and watched the pre game, but I did go back and re watch through both 26 a few times and I have since it wasn't a particularly interesting or good game, it was just the culmination of one of the most dominating seasons in NFL history.

The 91 Redskins cruised the entire year, the entire playoffs.

They cruised through Buffalo that day.

And it's.

You didn't hear like that week like your mom coming in and say, hey, who taped over my Golden Girls episode?

I love the Golden Girls, by the way.

I actually have a Golden Girl sticker on this laptop that I am recording on right now.

So there you go.

Derek, believe it or not, I think.

You'Ve got some issues.

To say the least.

To say, to say the least, that's for sure.

But it was kind of funny.

The year before was the game the Bills and the Giants and I was pulling for the Bills and my mom really rooting for Buffalo.

I did not feel the same the night next year.

So my.

My heart could only go out to my mom and those poor people in Buffalo for so.

For so deep, you know, when it came to the Redskins, so sorry, all bets were off and just really shocking and amazing for me to think that that is the last time that my team has been in the super bowl was I was in eighth grade.

That is.

That's how old my son is right now.

So, gosh, I hope he doesn't have to wait as long as I have.

So.

But that going to bring us to number one, Darren.

And you might be thinking, wait, what could his number one be?

Because he's already mentioned all of the Redskins Super Bowls in his life.

So the number one.

So even though I've kind of bagged on some of these Super Bowls, I can tell you this, I have watched all of them my entire life.

I've never missed a Super bowl except for one, and that's number one on my list.

And it's kind of funny because I always would brag to people, I'd say, you know, I'm such a big sports fan that I'm going to make sure when I have kids that I don't know.

We're never going to have kids during big events.

You know, we'll plan it out a little bit better.

So it's kind of funny that boom, the first one comes and it is literally Super Bowl Sunday night.

She came early.

She was supposed to be closer to about Valentine's Day.

She came a little bit early, but she arrived early that morning.

Darren.

And then the rest of the day is a total blur.

And I remember thinking, oh, my gosh, the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl.

I got to watch the super bowl.

And I was kind of pulling for the Cardinals because I like Kurt Warner, and I kind of root for the upset.

And I think I slept in a chair with my neck crooked to the side.

And I remember waking up and it's midway through the fourth quarter.

And I do remember watching through haze and low light and then bringing the baby in and my daughter in and out a couple times and thinking in this weird way, this is an amazing game and I'm kind of missing it.

Even though I'm watching it, I'm not really, you know, ingesting what's going on here, so.

But obviously, well worth it.

But that is the one super bowl that I don't really recall watching very much of.

And.

But I do very much recall where I was, what I was doing, and what was happening around me.

And it's kind of funny because then my son was born on Thanksgiving a few hours after he was born on Black Friday.

So there you go.

So, so, so much for the planning.

Still during football season.

Yeah, exactly.

What's going on?

The.

The other best.

Another great.

Another great football weekend.

My daughter.

My.

My.

My youngest was born April 6, so, you know, we were okay.

Unless it was draft day or something.

No, it wasn't.

No, it wasn't.

No, it wasn't.

But, yep, there's.

And that's sort of, you know, that's the thing about the Super Bowl, I guess, is, you know, there's only one every year, and it does mark a lot of time for me.

Yeah.

I mean, going back to what you said in the very beginning, you know, the super bowl might not be your.

The weekend you might look forward to in your top five for the season.

I will.

I will agree with you.

Except when your team's in the Super Bowl.

You know, I've.

I've had the privilege of having my team in eight Super Bowls that I can remember and, you know, was enthusiastic about, and it is the greatest weekend in the world.

And those two weeks are like agony as you're waiting for that to come up.

So Seattle fans and Patriots fans, I. I know how you feel.

It's.

It's a great feeling when your team's in there and you got a shot at it.

It's very disappointing when you lose, but it feels, oh, so great when you win it.

So this feels a little bit like a dig, Darren.

Like a dig.

You know, you're telling me what it's like to have your team in the super bowl eight times in your lifetime when I just got done telling you.

It's been eighth grade since my team was there.

Yeah, I told you.

I'M spoiled, and I'm very blessed that my team has been there that much and been competitive in it.

But it's been, what, 20 years since they've won one.

So.

So, so it's been a long time for myself as well.

Yes.

All right, well, let's get into, you know, this Super Bowl.

You know, we have.

We have a very interesting matchup.

You know, I think, you know, people complain about the matchup, but if you sit there and look at it, both of these teams at different points this year have been number one in their division.

They've had the best record.

You know, the.

The Patriots were overcome for home field advantage by the Denver Broncos, but the Seattle hung on till to the end, deserved it, and both played well at the end, and here they are, you know, so I think it's a good matchup.

It's representative of both conferences, and I think it makes for an interesting game.

Well, I'm gonna.

I, I just can't.

I can't be disingenuous.

I don't like it.

I don't like the matchup.

I'm not super interested in it.

I don't think there's much.

There's.

There's not a hook for me in this game.

I find it a little disappointing that New England was able to get there with such a boring run to the super bowl with almost nothing really interesting happening and getting.

Catching some really good breaks and playing great defense.

That's.

That's for sure, that there's.

And.

And Drake may, you know, doing enough, I guess.

But no, I, I'm not a big.

I'm not a big fan of this super bowl matchup.

However, that doesn't mean that it won't be a great, compelling, interesting, fun game.

And no matter what I say, the band, like I said, I said it last week, the banner will hang forever whoever wins it.

And the ring shines just as bright as any other.

So it doesn't really matter what I think.

They're going to play the game.

I'm going to watch it, and so are you.

And so let's make some picks.

And the NFL is going to make a lot of money, so the song goes on.

They absolutely will.

And so I thought this week we do it a little bit differently because I'm, you know, you're six points up on me.

So it's 102 to 96, so I need to try to rig the game as best I can to catch you.

So I came up with, we've got one.

We've got seven Things to pick.

We're each going to pick the winner, the spread, the over under and the MVP.

Those are going to be worth 2, 2, 2 and 3.

And then we're going to do three bullet predictions that are also worth three.

So we've got all kinds of points out there for me to catch, perhaps pass you and get my pigskin dispatch dispatch hat on my head.

So, so what's the total amount of points here?

We can.

Oh, my gosh, let me.

Somebody gets a perfect score this week.

How many points?

You're going to make me get mad.

Do math on.

So that's 9, 12, 14, 18.

18.

So my magic number is I gotta get 13.

I got 13.

13 to shut you out.

Okay.

Correct.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

And the other thing is I gotta be, you know, I tried to be somewhat strategic and not pick the same things you're picking.

So here's what I'll say.

I am not going to change any of my picks based on what you say.

I have them written down and I'm gonna stick with them.

So if you match me, you match.

Me, you have that privilege of.

Because I pick first.

So no, I'm gonna.

I'm gonna be honest.

So you go first and I'm not gonna change.

So let's just go real quick.

You'll go.

Go give me.

Get.

Go ahead and do all three real quick.

Give me winner spread, which is the Seattle by four and a half.

And the over under is 45 and a half.

Okay, I'm gonna go with the chalk.

I'm gonna go with Seattle winning it outright for the points.

I'm going to take New England because I think it's going to be like, well, and I'm going to take the under on the 45 and a half.

I think it's going to be like a 24, 20 game with Seattle winning.

Close one at the end.

You know, maybe one of those episodes where, you know, they.

New England has to go forward on fourth down instead of kicking a field goal because they're too far behind.

And, you know, I think it's going to sort of end in that way.

That's not my.

One of my predictions, but that's my three picks that you just asked for.

Got it.

Well, I'm only going to.

I'm only going to be able to make up one of those on you because I kind of figured you go Seattle.

So I went New England.

And I also took.

Obviously, if I'm taking New England to win the game, I'm taking them to cover the spread And I also hit the under.

The reason being that I'm not sure how New England could possibly win this game unless their defense really holds the Seahawks down and limits the amount of big plays that the Patriots need to produce on offense.

So I've got the Patriots to win to cover and also going under.

Yeah, we'll see if my.

My hedge bet there on the.

Over on the point spread in the overall winner.

Helps thread the needle there.

So who you got for mvp?

Mvp?

I'm.

I'm also going to go a little bit chalk.

I'm going to go with Darnold.

I think he has had a phenomenal season.

I think he had a phenomenal season last year.

Just had a bad game at the end and sort of put a.

A black eye on the whole.

The whole season.

I bet you the Vikings wish they had him now.

I'm.

I'm sure they do, you know, but, you know, he's won 14 games with two seasons in a row.

He's been, you know, played very well, played up to his expectations like we talked about last week, and I think he's going to end up, you know, doing enough to let his team win.

And the quarterbacks, when those usually happens, you, the quarterback, the winning team usually gets that.

So I'm going to go with Darnold.

Yeah.

And I'm going to go with May because I don't see any way that the Patriots win this game with him not being the mvp.

Meaning it's.

I don't know what the set of circumstances would be that New England finds a way to win this game and May doesn't play very well.

You know what I mean?

That seems like a real.

Now that's happened a couple times in the playoffs, but the Seahawks are a different animal than the teams they have played recently.

They're not going to be able to win this game.

10 to 7.

I don't think so.

I'm picking.

I don't know if I really believe it, but I'm picking May to be the mvp.

I really considered Kenneth Walker because if this game kind of goes a little bit the way I think it really might, maybe a little boring, a little slower, neither quarterback really lighting it up.

Then sometimes it gets to a point where, like, you have to pick somebody and then maybe if, you know, Walker has, you know, 85 yards rushing and two touchdowns, they'll just sort of be the designated MVP.

But, yeah, my, my answer is May.

So that.

That's my mvp.

Yeah, I think that that's solid.

A solid pick.

Okay, so let's.

What's your first bold?

Well, my first bold is I'm gonna.

I think this is going to be a defensive game and so much because these both defenses are very strong.

I think they're going to be well prepared because they're well coached.

And so I'm going to say that we're going to have at least nine punts in this game between the two.

Nine punts.

Okay.

That's interesting.

All right.

I like it.

Well, hopefully you're wrong because that's not super compelling.

But I've got.

I kind of went the same sort of route and I've got that Darnold is going to throw for 220 under 225 and have at least one interception.

So a little bit of a combo there.

So in other words, he's not going to have a great game.

I don't think he's going to dip a terrible game, but I think they're going to keep his yardage down.

He's going to turn it, he's going to throw it an interception at least once.

That's going to help keep the game close and, you know, maybe provide the little bit of life that New England's gonna going to need.

So that's my first bolt.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

Okay, well, my next one is I'm going to look at.

I'm looking at the offenses a little bit and I don't.

I think with the defenses both being so strong, there's, you know, strong corners, strong back ends to these both teams.

I think they're going to have to do some maneuvering the offense coordinators to get people into some mismatches like as they always do every week.

But I think the tight ends are going to play an important part in this game.

So I'm going to say that a tight end on each team will score a touchdown in this game.

Okay, tight end touchdown times two.

I like that.

I am going.

Travion Henderson, I think looms as a little bit of an X factor.

He has done almost nothing in the playoffs, so I'm a little wary to pick this because I'm not sure how much they're going to use him based on his usage so far in the playoffs.

But in the regular season he did have a knack for the big play.

A couple some massive plays.

And again, if you're picking New England to win this game, they're going to have to do a few special things, I think.

So I've got Travion Henderson going for at least one 30 plus yard play in the game, that winds up being a big play in the game.

So more than an explosive 30 yards or more, you know, that could be a screen pass, it could be a run, but I envision some sort of really big play from their rookie running back that even if the New England offense is stumbling a little bit, that maybe they get by because they're able to bust one.

Interesting.

Okay, yeah, he.

He could be that X factor.

He's definitely got the talent.

There's so much analysis right now.

There's a few nerd things out there about the, I guess the two high safeties that Seattle plays and how it's a little susceptible to running backs that are kind of shifty and can bust big ones.

So I didn't really dive deep into that, but I kind of liked it when I heard it, so that.

That kind of helped me settle into where I picked.

Yeah, I guess I'm going to sort of counter that with my.

My last pick here on a prediction, because I think Seattle's defensive line, I think that's where the key to this game is going to be, that's going to really.

Is going to put them to victory.

These guys are outstanding.

They have a good rotation.

They.

I think all four of them penetrate very well, you know, even the interior guys.

And they're going to cause trouble for not only the running game, but.

But they're going to cause trouble for Drake May because I think he's.

He's going down with four sacks at least in this game.

Seattle's going to register at least four sacks.

Seattle, four sacks.

Okay.

Yeah.

They are in big trouble.

May's going down that much.

That's going to be big trouble for sure.

I'm going to say that again, kind of following this theme, that if the Patriots win this game, they're gonna have to do something a little special.

So I'm going to say either their special teams or defense scores a touchdown in this game, they're going to get one on a return.

Is it Marcus Jones who's gotten a couple for them this year?

He's kind of like their big play guy.

And their defense has been pretty opportunistic, maybe still a little, I think, until it's over and there's no more doubt, meaning they win the Super Bowl.

There's probably that little twinge of the.

Is that.

Are those ghosts still there for Donald anywhere?

He has completely exercised them to this point.

And, you know, I think you kind of think, well, is it.

Is it possible?

With two weeks to prepare, Varel really Good defense, can they cook up something that messes with Darnold and maybe he, you know, throws a pick six in the flat or you know, something, something funky.

So I'm picking either the, the Patriots special teams or defense to make a big play that actually winds up in the end zone.

So those are my.

So those are my three bolts.

So we didn't, we didn't copy any Bolds.

So it's possible that one could make up as many as nine points on the other just from those alone.

So.

So let's hope that's not you.

Yeah, well.

Well it's pretty.

Based on our picks.

Darren, there's pretty much.

I mean the Patriots pretty much have to win this game.

It would be a wild set of circumstances for Seattle to win and for me to get all my picks right.

So that would be quite.

It could very well happen.

You know, the Patriots, you could cash in on this.

You know, I don't think Drake May is going to be the MVP if Seattle wins the game.

Yeah, I, I doubt that.

Yeah.

So only happened I think one super bowl.

And that was a defensive.

Doug.

Yeah, that's right, Chuck.

How.

See I told you Those first number 54 linebacker for the Cowboys.

See, I told you.

I told you those VHS tapes and books still are still embedded.

Right here.

Right here.

Now, now I want to tell you about one.

One that I tossed and turned on.

I, I wanted to put it as one of my picks.

I just.

I didn't have the guts to.

And I'm going to say it publicly because this way next week you can laugh at me for, for not maybe not picking it.

Maybe it would have made a difference.

I think there's going to be a crucial point where there's going to be a two point conversion scored by one of the teams that's going to make it the game really interesting.

Okay.

At the end.

Two point conversion.

Yeah but I, I just didn't have enough the gump.

We really should have won for 10 points.

Now Darren, because here's the big question.

Will Bad Bunny wear a dress during his performance or not?

Here's the big.

Here's the big question for me.

I don't care because I.

Because sometimes I'll watch the super bowl because they halftime because it's interesting.

Well, this is one where I'm going to get a snack.

I'm going to use the restroom.

I might know.

Walk the dog.

I don't know.

Whatever.

So it's this little.

Well, I'll let you know next week if he wore the dress or not.

I was actually going to make that one of my picks, but I decided to stay chalk.

Stay.

Stay.

Football.

That's right.

That's right.

Yeah.

All right.

We'll enjoy it, man, like I said.

Yeah, you, too.

And a long time till we get to do it again.

We'll.

We'll wrap it up next week, but it's gonna be a long time before we can talk about games again, so.

Yeah, most definitely.

All right.

Well, good luck to you and good luck to both teams.

And the fans of the football.

Just enjoy it.

And the fans of the Seattle Seahawks and the Patriots really enjoy it because these are special moments.

So I've heard.

Yeah.