2026 NFL Schedule, Draft America NFL Schedule, The AL Sucks | Episode 235

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Alex Boyajian (00:00)

Alright, welcome back. It's been it's been a while. It's been a very long time episode 235 of chaotically intolerant We're back. Our last episode was pre Super Bowl the last one that was released ⁓ But we are here The big occasion is Mike has released his his schedule his NFL schedule We're doing it just in time for the NFL schedule release on May 14th We're already getting a little trickles in

You from from the NFL that they love to do, you know, just like ruin the schedule release basically But we'll talk all about that on the back half of the show on the front half We're gonna be doing some major league baseball. You know, we didn't even do a season preview this year We're just gonna talk a little bit about it. I mean the American League so bad They're so horrible and then a little bit NFL draft talk because the NFL the NFL always finds a way to dominate no matter what ⁓

But before you do that, go check out chaoticlintolerant.com. have an updated website, updated store with some, a much more streamlined ⁓ buying process for a lot of our merchandise on there. Some cool new designs, some ⁓ kind of a relaunch of the brand, ⁓ slight, slight rebrand. But go check that out. Go check out draft America. You're going to find the full or new NFL schedule or old new NFL schedule at draftamerica.com and ⁓

Yeah, make sure to like, subscribe. Let's go.

All right, Mike. So let's start. Let's start in Major League Baseball here. ⁓ I think the number one thing, you know, we're jumping in May 13th, right? We didn't have any sort of expectations on this show for any team because we didn't do a preview. ⁓ The Tampa Braves are sitting in first in the American League East. ⁓ Six of the top seven run scores in the National League or in Major League Baseball are National League teams. Number two.

is the Washington Nationals. Hilariously enough. ⁓ Let's see, Kyle Schwabers hit six home runs in five games, five consecutive games as well, tying the Phillies franchise record for consecutive games with home runs. He can break that record tonight against the Boston Red Sox or yesterday as you're listening to this. ⁓ And that's, know, that just embarrasses the Red Sox more. The Red Sox are a very bad team. They're in the cellar. They can't hit.

They're a horrible offensive team right now. ⁓ What else? Tampa, nine and one in their last 10. ⁓ And the CBA could go to Congress and Mark Teixeira could be sitting in on those ⁓ hearings if the Major League Baseball Collective Bargaining Agreement has to go to court, which would be just a weird, weird thing. We're in the future, Mike. I got to say we're in the future.

Yeah, that's it's just something that's hanging over the whole season is worrying about what's going to happen after the season. How how many games might we miss in 2027 or I mean, if this goes to court, Jesus, this could or goes to Congress. This could get even worse. So, yeah, but the American League stinks, stinks to high heaven.

Really bad three teams. Three teams right now are over are three or more games over 500. One of them is only three games over, so basically 13 of the 15 teams are either three games over 500 or worse. Cleveland is leading the central 24 and 21. The Sacramento Oakland Vegas Athletics are the only team over 500 in the West 21 and 20.

You mentioned the Rays incredible. Another smoke and mirrors job by Kevin Cash. And then the Yankees who, you know, their pitching had looked unbelievable. Max Reed left today's game with a sore elbow. ⁓ So those two teams at the top, two and a half games apart. And then everyone else stinks. Orioles playing a little better. Maybe Red Sox, Jays. ⁓ It's a mess. I'm kind of appalled at how bad the AL is.

Um, and that the, say the Orioles are treading water right now. Yeah. Yeah, they are. They've been so beat up. mean, they got, well, I got Trevor Rogers back just for him to give up six runs last night, but they've, they've been, they've been, uh, dealing with a lot of injuries and, um, frankly, they, you know, depth has been tested a lot. Their bullpen has actually been, I mean, Rico Garcia has had, I believe the best start ever for a reliever. He's given up one hit.

In to 64 batters, I think is what it is. Unreal. Yeah, they're treading water, but you know what? Everybody's treading water. Really? I mean, I know the raising Yankees are good, but everyone's in it right now because you know the worst team. In the American League. The are the angels at 16 and 28. There are only six and a half six and a half games out of first and they are just God awful. Right, so.

You know, everybody's in it. Yeah, that's a good, that is the good thing. Everyone's in it. ⁓ I, completely agree on the Tampa Bay Rays. I feel like we do this every year. ⁓ you know, I, I feel like a broken record saying that the Rays are really good. And the first part of the season, they're going to run out of steam. It's just, it's almost a guarantee. ⁓ athletics, I saw, recently saw them in person. I'd never seen them in person. ⁓ I gotta say the

no matter what, they're Sacramento, if they're Vegas, if they're Oakland, the branding is just beautiful. Gorgeous jerseys. mean, the colorway is just something, it's great to see on a baseball field, especially against the Baltimore Orioles, orange and white. It looks amazing. I just had to get that out. Or the Philadelphia, guess we, can we create a name for the A's? The Philadelphia, Oakland, Vegas, Sacramento.

That'll be a tough one. We're have to use a lot of brain power to think on that one. But to the National League, I mean, the Dodgers feel mortal right now, but I feel like, again, we kind of say that every year under this, you know, reign of the Dodgers where they feel mortal in the regular season, then they hit the gas when it really matters. So how much weight are we putting on a not amazing start from this Dodgers team? I mean, they're still 24 and 18, so.

It's not bad. No, we're not putting, I wouldn't put anything into it. mean, they, they are struggling offensively, which is surprising. They're struggling offensively. ⁓ the, the overall run numbers, it's not so much about that, although 208 and 42 games feels low for them. ⁓ you know, obviously Tucker hasn't put up the numbers, you know, I think people have, have wondered about Otani. He's pitched unbelievably well.

but he hasn't really hit, you know, that's gonna change, you know, Freeman bets. I think it is a matter of time before they heat up. ⁓ I do think they have maybe a little bit of a vulnerable spot in the bullpen, but there's just still nothing that's gonna lead me to believe that they're not the best team until proven otherwise. Yeah. What about Milwaukee and Sha, I mean this.

This NL Central is incredibly tight. You can probably make somewhat of a case for each team. that accurate in your opinion? Yeah, I mean the Reds went into a real tailspin losing 8 of 10, but there's still two games over 500. Pirates in Iberdi is kind of waiting for them to just fall apart, but it feels a little different this year. Pirates feel a little bit different to me and Saint Louis has been the biggest, honestly the biggest surprise in that division, maybe even more than Pittsburgh. ⁓

Getting like an MVP type season from Jordan Walker. You know Cardinals are hanging around. The Brewers just swept the Yankees. The Cubs have had two 10 game winning streaks in their first 40 games. I mean they're very streaky and they got shut out twice. It's a good division. I don't know if I feel confident Saint Pittsburgh or Cincinnati can win it or even Saint Louis. I think it will come down to the Cubs or the Brewers, but. It's it's refreshing, because usually both central divisions are really bad. Yeah.

Yeah, the National League, rare. It's pretty rare that you see the East being like the worst one by far. But ⁓ I mean, Atlanta, very good. And then Philly has scuffled to start Washington. I think Washington, I think we said this like last year or even two years ago. ⁓ Two years ago, we said in a few years, the Washington Nationals are going to be really good. I think we're really on the cusp of that. It feels like they're missing the pitching here.

Which that is what those good young teams usually miss. They can hit the ball and you can keep that going for a while, but pitching, can, I think you can pick that up easy. You just make a few, signings in the, uh, you know, in free agency in this off season, maybe we could see them contend next year. Um, maybe for the division. A lot of people thought that this nationals team was rebuilding the rebuild. I mean, the names, the lineup names, it's, it is kind of stunning that they're doing so well, even.

The OPS is a pretty good for some guys anyway, but James Wood, Curtis Mead, Brady House, CJ Abrams, Jacob Young, Dalen Lyle, Joey Weimer, Nassim Nunez, and K-Brit Ruiz. I just read you their starting lineup for tonight. They've already got four runs in the third inning and threatening. So I give a lot of credit to ⁓ Butera, the manager. I almost said Drew Butera because I think that's the cousin. That's his cousin.

But it's Blake. ⁓ Yeah, I think that they've actually been one of the great stories ⁓ early this year. It's sort of they've they've been sort of a 180 from the Phillies in the Mets. I Phillies obviously playing better now, but two teams who've just greatly underachieved. And here's Washington. And yeah, you're right. Pitching huge problem for them. But it's I love when you see one of those teams that everyone said is going to lose 110 games and they're suddenly finding themselves tied for second.

in that division. Atlanta, Atlanta is really good. And we figured they would be tons of injuries the last couple of years. Alex Anthopoulos is, he knows what he's doing and they've got their core guys and they're still getting healthy. They still have pitching on the way. So I think the Braves, you know, if there's one team that I'd say, hey, I think they got a good shot to beat the Dodgers, it would be Atlanta. Anything with the Padres? You think they can?

Same old, same old. I mean, you can't have Fernando Tatis, Homerless and Manny Machado hitting under 200 and then hoping that, you know, Mason Miller is going to pitch three innings a night in the, the postseason to save you. just, they just don't have enough. They just don't have enough depth. And they, to me, they feel like the same team every year. I think 2024 was their best shot. had they gotten by the Dodgers, they would have won the whole thing. I firmly believe that, but couldn't score a run those last two games. It just feels like they're so.

They're just an above average team. Really does. And what's the diagnosis on the New York Mets? Because you frequent Mets games. Well now, I mean, they're pretty damn cheap, which is nice, but they don't hit. mean, the bullpen is kind of a mess or was a mess. I think the Bichette signing, bringing in Simien, taking on all that money for two guys.

with sub 600 OPSs, know, there just wasn't a lot of depth. I mean, think you talk, they let Alonzo and they let Diazco and those guys wouldn't make much of a difference on this team, truthfully. So ⁓ pitching, mean, the Mets are just, they just don't have a great farm system and they're relying so much on these, I don't know, these overhyped veterans, declining veterans, really. Yeah.

All right. Well, I think, ⁓ I, well, we didn't even do like world series predictions or anything. So what is the, world series prediction? What matchup do you think's going to happen? Cause I think I know who you're going to say is going to win. Well, I mean, I've been saying the Dodgers every year. And so I'm just going to, the last time I picked somebody other than the Dodgers, I picked the Braves in the national league and I was wrong, but they won a hundred and something games and they lost Texas who I had in the world series.

⁓ I'll go with Atlanta in the NL. I'll just mix it up. Why not? Just because it's too easy. Low hanging fruit to take the Dodgers. And man, in the AL, it's like, God, I would in theory feel comfortable picking someone other than the Yankees just because that's, last year at this time, we would never have thought the Blue Jays would be the team. I don't trust anyone in the central, although I really hope the White Sox win that division. I don't trust anyone in the West.

So unfortunately, I'm throwing it back to the 90s with Braves Yankees. It's a great matchup. That is, that's a great matchup. Just colors and logos and uniforms. ⁓

Yeah, that's a tough one, I mean...

Cause there is an interesting storyline developing in Chicago with Murakami. ⁓ He's already talking about not wanting to sign an extension. He wants to test the free agent market already knowing what Otani has been able to bring in for himself with endorsements and the international market.

It would be like, especially with the Pope being a White Sox fan, wouldn't it be so White Sox if they like won the division, go on a run? That would be kind of awesome. I mean, that would be, that would feel like, you know, that would feel a little bit like divine intervention with the Pope. mean, I think I kind of have to root for that. Yeah, they've got some, they've got some solid pitching. ⁓ And obviously Murakami is the headliner, but

They're a fun team. They're having a good time playing baseball. That's the sense I've gotten from watching their highlights and seeing the way that they won some of these games, games that they absolutely would have lost in years past. ⁓ No, I actually think that they've been a great story this year for Will Venable. Will Venable kind of reminds me a little bit of Dave Roberts, that look. ⁓ And remember, I mean, the first...

first series of the year, the White Sox got swept by the Brewers and gave up 29 runs. And actually, their first six games, they started one and five and gave up 53 runs. They have really turned it around since then. so, yeah, I don't see why not. mean, Miguel Vargas is finally hitting, remember he was hitting like 160. It's like that sad meme where he...

The Dodgers traded him to the White Sox. By the way, Murakami leads the league in strikeouts 63. So there's some holes. He's batting 228. We know he's not pop, but yeah, I've been impressed with the pitching. Davis Martin's five and one with a 1.62 ERA. I don't think anybody outside of that clubhouse in Davis Martin's family knows who Davis Martin is. And this kid's been outstanding. I've actually had a...

Pretty solid rotations here. So go White Sox. I hope they turn it around. I see them ⁓ going to the ALCS. I'm going to take the Yankees. I think the John Sterling bump. John Sterling bump. It's got to get them there. mean, a John Sterling RIP legendary in baseball journalism and in the broadcast game. ⁓ mean, just an absolute legend like the voice.

The Yankees win, I feel like it feels blasphemous trying to, you know, ⁓ not cut or copy it. ⁓ But I feel like that's that's kind of like that bump that I feel like the Yankees needed. You know, a lot of teams, they have something to play, you know, they usually have something to play for when they go deep into the playoffs. And this might this might be it for the Yankees. This might be the year they get it done, even though it's it's, you know, feels a little discouraging right now.

Um, and I think I'm going to go cards in the national league. think there's going to be someone that comes out of nowhere. There has to be someone that comes out of nowhere. The Yankees are the layup. Give me cards. Yankees. That's gotta be a match, a rematch of a world series at some point, right? Right, right. Yeah. Great call. Why not? We both rolled the dice on Texas in 23 at the all-star break. That was one of the, one of the times I actually got it right.

OK, about myself. It feels good to get things right, doesn't it? Yes. All right. We're going to move to the NFL draft. ⁓ Let's start. I have I have a bunch of winners and a few losers in here. ⁓ Cardinals. My biggest question is, is obviously, you know, love ⁓ love is an absolute monster in the backfield. ⁓

But why are we taking a running back at three? That feels like they just said take the highest, you know, the best possible guy on the board. You know, are you relying on Jacoby and aging Jacoby Berset, which I love Jacoby Berset and Carson Beck, or did they just not like the quarterback market this year? I mean, I feel like there's many other positions that they could have filled it to. I mean, you go edge rusher, you go literally anything else, but a running back.

which is one of the positions with the shortest lifespan. ⁓ So that really had me scratching my head.

I, I like it. You do? Well, yeah, because, ⁓ Barkley, mean, how, what was he number two? It was that the last time a running back was picked that high. I think with teams have some on a running back. mean, it depends, you know, how, how the Cardinals want to run their offense, but they, they gotta feel like.

the running game in the NFL is not dead. Having a dynamic weapon, whether it's a Derek Henry type or Saquon Barkley type, that really can open things up for your offense. I like it. I don't know that there's a safe pick or a quarterback pick or they just should have automatically gone with defense. I think if you like the player enough, you go for it. And I love the idea of the Cardinals. We never really say like, ⁓ who are the greatest running backs in Cardinals history? There haven't been that many.

James Connors got to be one of them. Yeah. Didn't like Edger and James go there at the end of his career. He on the Super Bowl team in 08, know, Tim Hightower. They've never really, you know, I remember the early 2000s, they had Michael Pittman briefly and Marcel Shipp. mean, the guys that were decent backs, but they've never had, I mean, they had Emmett Smith at the very end of his career, but that's not, you know, that's not Emmett Smith, Emmett Smith. Who, who was, oh my God, David Johnson.

Yeah, I mean he was good. If you're talking about single seasons, I just remember as a fantasy player, he was a absolute monster for like one year. And I remember giving everything up so I could get him. I was also probably 15 when I did that. But yeah. If you remember David Johnson's year, that's you know, ball. The Jets. Jets had a really good draft.

I would really stay weary about the Jets though. cause it feels like they are kind of in this cycle where they have a good draft. Then the prospects look really good. Those first couple of years, they extend those prospects very quickly. And then it all just kind of falls apart again. And then they trade those prospects for a ton of picks. And then we just repeat the cycle where they have another good draft with multiple first round picks. And it's just, you know, a rinse, ladder rinse repeat.

So I just be really weary of the Jets overall. hope they maybe just take a step back. Don't get overly excited over a good first year from your prospects is essentially what I'm trying to say. And I feel like the Jets do that a lot.

Yeah, I mean, think I like the Jets always seem to go logical in their draft and they've gone with linemen in years past like to break a shot Ferguson Nick Mangle they've gone to sauce Gardner and they go with the know, edge rusher this time. So it feels like they're doing the right things. They're just never getting the right results. Yeah Vegas obviously you take Mendoza. He's the slam dunk number one pick ⁓

But, ⁓ you know, I really didn't see a ton of focus on the offense for them. I know you have Brock Bowers. ⁓ I really would have liked to see more of a focus on the offense to kind of support your young guy. They did. They worked a lot on the defense, which makes sense because the head coach, but still worries me a little bit that they didn't focus as much as maybe they should have on the offense and adding weapons. ⁓ But what do I know?

⁓ Dallas heavily revamping the defense, taking Caleb down Malachi Lawrence in the first round, five of their seven picks were on defensive players. ⁓ And their first offensive pick came in the fourth round on a tackle from Penn State Drew Shelton. ⁓ So I think that's the right way to focus. I mean, you look at the just the splits, the offense and the defensive splits from last year, Dallas's defense was atrocious. So

Rightfully so, they should be revamping everything on that side of the football. ⁓ Baltimore. Baltimore going in on Lamar Jackson again, really giving him some support. The new head coach, I think he wants to get on his good side. Yeah, mean, like, linemen, that line, that's been the biggest problem for years and years and years. was never addressed. Bad offensive line. I love that they went that direction with their first pick. Yeah.

⁓ and then adding a Zion young as well. ⁓ great run stopper. He gets all he's gotten a lot of quarterback hits. but I think, you know, they, they've been saying with more maturity, maybe that those turn into sacks. so you did bolster the, the defensive line as well. ⁓ really focusing on the trenches is, is what it seems like. ⁓ Philly expecting AJ Brown to be gone. They take, they trade up and take Mackay lemon. Lemon. Yeah, it is lemon.

⁓ Obviously, he thought he was gonna be picked by Pittsburgh, gets the phone call from Pittsburgh, and then they're like, no, we're taking you. We're taking you now. could be an exciting time for Philly. I mean, it's just, you know, they're not a bad team by any means. And ⁓ I think people are a little, you know, they had them as underdogs when they won the Super Bowl because of the prior year. So maybe we're gonna see that same type of thing this year.

Yeah. Howie Roseman, he knows what he's doing. ⁓ Ty Simpson. Good for him. He gets to sit behind Matt Stafford and with Sean McVay. They're saying Jimmy Garoppolo is going to retire. I don't know if he already did retire, but they're saying he might. But if he gets to sit in a quarterback room with Matthew Stafford, Jimmy Garoppolo and Sean McVay, that's a pretty good place to develop, you know, as someone who was kind of, who was doubted coming out of Alabama.

who was, you know, a lot of people said it was a reach for them. But I feel like if Sean McVeigh takes someone at 13, he takes a quarterback at 13. There's good damn reason he's taken them there. Yeah, I think it's a little surprising, but you you have an aging quarterback. I don't think it's ever a bad move. I mean, think the Rams are a pretty good team as it is. Not that you ever don't want to add good players, but look, if McVeigh believes in him, then, you know, only time will really tell.

This is one of those you can't judge, especially if the Rams like going to win the Super Bowl this year and they are the favorite. Then then they're in great shape moving forward. Yeah, the Giants. Literally trying to be Giants. They're trying to be the old school Giants. Excuse me, trying to be the old school Giants, which is pretty cool. The first two picks, they had two picks in the top 10. They took Arvel Reese, a linebacker who can

pretty much do anything. ⁓ And Francis, I don't even know how to say this guy's last name, Maui Mowiga. I didn't watch the draft, so I didn't hear any of the name pronunciations. ⁓ But he started all 42 games at right tackle. ⁓ I mean, he's probably the number one anchor in his class from what my research says. ⁓ my research. ⁓ So I mean, again, John Harbaugh.

trying to come in, bring those old giants back to life and give Jackson Dart some much needed protection. ⁓ Saints going all in on Tyler Shuck, adding a ton of weapons, which again is awesome to see. I'm really excited for that. I like Tyler Shuck and a quick thing on the Colts and then we'll move on to the schedule. ⁓ I think the Colts had a pretty damn good draft considering they did not have a first round pick this year.

⁓ They added a couple of, mean, they CJ Allen, who was considered, I guess, the leader of the Georgia defense this year. ⁓ Said to be incredibly intelligent, know, knows defense really well. He could be a captain. He could be a first year starter ⁓ if he kind of develops right in camp. So that's really exciting. ⁓ AJ Halsey from LSU.

Say he's a ball hawk who can undercut the football a lot. So he's not just going to be, he can take hits. He's not just a kind of a weak safety. What we've seen, ⁓ a little bit with Nick cross who gets hurt a lot. ⁓ Jaylen farmer from Kentucky, he's going to be an immediate boost. He's going to play opposite of Quentin Nelson on the offensive line and the offensive line down the stretch last year was a big problem. mean, Dan asked Daniel Jones, it was a massive problem last year. So

⁓ But again, it's the cult so we'll see, you know, I'm really not holding my breath with this with this organization anymore I I kind of just go into the season expecting like seven and nine Seven and ten. Sorry or eight and nine, whatever. It's it's all the same to me ⁓ I just expect to have like the number 15 pick again next year because that's just what they do That's that's what a mediocre organization does and Chris Bauer will be here for another ten years at least honestly, so

Yeah, that was the NFL draft. But let's move into the premier topic of the day. Mike, let's go into your NFL schedule. All right, let's do it. Just to give a little context, and I also did another video on Draft America for it. This is a pet project, as they say. And it was something that, as the NFL schedule got progressively worse,

I got progressively more fed up with international games, 17 games, streaming Thursday night football every week. When I first got into football, everything seemed a lot simpler. I guess that's true when you're younger in general, but everything seems simpler. We kick off the season on a Thursday, although we only started doing that in 2002. Didn't even start making it a thing with the Super Bowl champs until the Pats in 04.

But it was pretty simple. would start the year and then you'd have Sunday and Monday all the way up to Thanksgiving. You'd have the Thursday games, you'd have the two games. Lions at 1230, Cowboys at 415. You get to about week 15 or 16 depending on how the calendar was. You'd have a couple Saturday games staggered, know, CBS, Fox. I used to love watching Joe Theismann, Mike Patrick, Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann and Paul McGuire, Sunday Night Football. And then...

Al Michaels and John Madden. That was a pairing. forget that those two were together after John Madden left Fox. And it was great. And I will tell you, I don't know why. Maybe someone out there, some sports psychologist can explain this, but when I used to look at the schedule, the most exciting part for me was always looking at week 17. Because you never knew what you were gonna get. You know, there were no restrictions on it. So you would have, you know, you could have.

We had as few as four division games one time. We've had as many as nine, I think, or 10. But you'd get matchups, you just didn't know how it was gonna play out. And I was always most excited about that. So I decided to do this and just make it fun and give people a chance to look at it and be like, that would have been a good schedule. I would have loved that. I wish football kind of was still like this. I think people are really starting to get fed up with the fact that they're probably gonna have to

be watching a Super Bowl on Netflix pretty soon, that they're gonna be watching a Wednesday night game before Thanksgiving now. A Wednesday night game in November. You got a Black Friday game. I this isn't baseball. This isn't hockey, it's not basketball. Don't stagger the games. mean, football, what's special about it is to have that day of the week, you know? There used to be 16 games and so... Anyway, that's the preamble. I don't wanna go on too long.

But I would love to show everyone what I think the schedule should be.

All right. Week one, you have Chicago at Seattle on Thursday night football. ⁓ I mean, Chicago went deep in the playoffs last year, Seattle, Superbowl champions. They get to, you know, raise the banner. ⁓ this year it's naughty. It's, it's in Melbourne. The opening game is in Melbourne. It's Rams Niners. So when I don't, are they playing on a Friday instead? Or, mean, what?

No, it's Thursday. Let me confirm this. Let me confirm this. But I'm pretty sure. Yeah, I thought the Seahawks were opening up.

on a Wednesday. his report says, they'll play the Patriots, which by the way, my schedule doesn't factor in that 17th game where you play. It's going to be Wednesday, September 9th. It's going to be Patriots, Seahawks. It's not even on the schedule, not even on the original rotation. But hold on, must've missed, I must've missed that then. The Patriots and the Seahawks are opening up on a Wednesday night. They're opening the season on a Wednesday night. Yep.

can say it as many times as you want, it's not gonna be less weird. ⁓ Wednesday? Are you fucking serious? Wednesday is not football day. That is Maction Day. That is when Maction happens. The only time that had ever happened before was in 08 and that had to do with something, I think it was a presidential debate, something to do with the upcoming election that year. And they had to move it. It wasn't scheduled to be on a Wednesday. So that was like a weird circumstance with the Giants and the Cowboys.

Absolutely ridiculous, but the reason I said Bear Seahawks. Usually they don't put like a Super Bowl rematch or championship game rematch right away. They tried that with Carolina Denver in 16. ⁓ Usually it's like an upstart team looking to. Have a changing of the guard and so Chicago Seattle felt like a great choice here to kick off the season on a Thursday. 6 CBS games for Fox games in the early window.

And then remember that back in the day, the US Open used to be on CBS. And so Fox would get all the late games in week one. Dallas Green Bay is my Fox game of the week. When Eagles Niners and then the league used to have the team that generally had the team that lost the Super Bowl play the first Monday night game. Hence, Bill's Patriots.

Yeah, so I'm just like having to look up and make sure that what you're saying is a hundred percent right about a Wednesday night game to open the season. Yeah, I'm just so I'm so baffled by this and and I feel like the the Super Bowl rematch like I don't that's essentially that is two straight games of the same team that is the same matchup two straight games. I don't care that it's nine months, you know in between or however long.

It's really dumb. don't like that at all. Buffalo, New England, great divisional matchup to start the season. Yeah, week one, generally there's only four or five division games, but figured this would be a good one to have the Patriots raise the AFC banner on the Monday night. And Josh Allen can celebrate having his kid that night too. He's a new dad. He's got the baby bump for this year. Nobody forget that. Allen's got the baby bump. Yep.

Well, he didn't have it. Hallie Steinfeld had the baby bump, but you know, by the way, in my schedule, Hughes, I'm sorry, Washington and Cleveland always open up at home. I don't know why, but the league used to do that. They always used to do it for Washington. I guess, I don't know, tradition presidential thing. And then Cleveland, guess they felt bad for taking their team. So the Browns always seem to open up at home. Well, Cleveland kind of makes sense. mean, like, obviously it's not the same organization, but Paul Brown, Canton, Ohio.

You know, it's that that kind of makes sense to me as to why they would do that because you know, that's the home of football. Essentially, I watched Draft Day about a week ago, too. I just I remember hearing them talk about Cleveland being the home of football. And I was like, yeah, but Draft Day. Great, great movie. Great movie. Don't let anyone tell you it's bad. Don't let anyone say that.

Week two, have Indianapolis at Jacksonville. So explain the Sunday night game being Indianapolis at Jacksonville. Yeah. So what happens a lot of times is you get these weeks, you really have to balance things out. You have to figure out, you know, breaking news, sorry, breaking news, Dolphins and Pro Bowl running back to Vaughn H. and agree to four year, $68 million extension with $32 million guaranteed.

That's not gonna end up bad. Not at all. Not at all. That's gonna be a great deal. my God. Yeah. Continue. Remember Sunday night football is not in this schedule is kind of the Monday night game, right? What it is now, what kids have grown up knowing. So, know, Jacksonville felt like a good, like want to get them on there early, maybe.

In case they're not good, but we also wanted to give them a Monday night game because they won 13 games. gave every Playoff team from last year a Monday night game that was pretty much always the case kind of a reward right and Jacksonville did win 13 games even if they got bounced early in the Colts who knows but Yeah shows that one, but you know the the good matchups are actually really during the day here. You had New England, Chicago

That would be a great, you know, 415 CBS slot game. Rams-Tampa in the early window. So, because, Rams would have to play in the early window if the Chargers play in the late window to kind of keep that New York, New York thing, the thing that Oakland San Fran used to have. And then I Ravens-Texans, Monday night football.

You know, I don't even know if you did this on purpose, but Indianapolis has a nice little history in Jacksonville as well. ⁓ Or a not good history of losing consecutively in Jacksonville. So maybe that's a good opportunity for them to break that. Possibly. ⁓ To week three. Let's see here. ⁓

What's game that I'm quite interested in? mean, Indianapolis, I'm always interested in Kansas City as a Colts man. ⁓

Yeah, I mean, that was kind of a hard one to pick like a real marquee game this week. So Philly Jacksonville as a 415 game again, putting Jacksonville in a prime spot. I think you could make a case that Fox would rather pick up the 49ers and the Chargers, but Philly, or Detroit at Chicago. Honestly, I could see that one too. Yeah. Yeah. It's always trying to have at least four Fox for CBS in the early windows. So was hard to ration what that non West Coast.

game might be. don't think it'd be the Jets ever or Atlanta, Pittsburgh or Tampa, New Orleans. So it kind of felt like, you know, Philly Jacksonville early in the year. Yeah, why not? And then I actually did not give the Cowboys a Monday night game. It's not that I feel bad about it, but that does seem sacrilegious because, you know, Monday night football, yes, it's about putting good teams on, it is also about ratings. The Cowboys draw ratings. So I only gave them the one prime time game, which feels foolish.

Honestly, that feels like maybe the single most unrealistic part of the schedule is my sort of lack of ability to get the Cowboys better games, but you don't have Cowboys bias. That's it. You don't have Cowboys, but I don't. And again, I don't work for the networks and do this professionally. it's but you know, but you see it this way. The Cowboys, they could get a prime time game. I've got them in a very, in a couple of feature games, a Saturday game. ⁓

another very intriguing game we'll see at the end and then Thanksgiving, obviously. there's still, without shoving them down your throat on Monday or Sunday night football, there's still lot of Cowboys ⁓ exposure. And then Rams Denver, two teams that lost the championship game last year playing on Monday night. And then the bye weeks, weeks three through 10. That was always how it was done. Week four, Baltimore at Indianapolis, that kind of old, ⁓

Old feelings. Baltimore has some feelings towards the Colts. ⁓ And we see Miami at Green Bay. ⁓ Is that a Super Bowl rematch? No, no, it's not. head coach, head coach, revenge game. Jeff Hathley. Right. ⁓ Carolina at Philly. Yes, this is the Panthers Monday night game of the year.

Kind of feels like maybe a measuring stick game for them. Obviously the Eagles always expect them to be good if not great. Chiefs Rams at 415, that was a great, that was an opportunity that was made possible by the Chargers being on a buy. So the Rams get to play a marquee game on CBS. So I feel like the networks love when they can get a team from the other conference, right? Cause it's always based on who the road team is. So if the AFC is the road team, the game's going to be on CBS. So the NFC teams don't get to play on CBS.

So they get a chance here to have the Rams in their late window. ⁓ week five, I see, I like Tampa, Detroit. That has felt like a very, ⁓ what's the word? Just a very common matchup. recently, you know, we've had a lot of good games between them that sets up a nice Sunday night game. And then Cynthia Pittsburgh, good divisional matchup. ⁓ Pittsburgh, that's their Monday night game.

for making the playoffs? Yes, they got two since he got three prime time games. I felt like I stretched a bit with that, but again, it was just sometimes when you're making this, it's like you have to look and it's maybe in a perfect world. You'd be able to align everything so that you could get all the perfect matchups, but I would imagine that even in the good old days, the NFL is spitting out tens of thousands of iterations of this thing and just trying to figure out what what worked the best. But yeah, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh again.

Division rivals on Monday night feels like you can always sell that even if they're bad. Yeah. And then Philly Dallas. at Baltimore. Good little like 2020s matchup too. I loved those matchups when they were both good. There was always a lot of fire there. Yeah, absolutely. Week six, we have Kansas City at Cincinnati. Obviously, Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes.

and then Seattle at San Francisco, a divisional round match rematch. So a lot of ⁓ rotating, a lot of like a round robin between a lot of these NFC West teams in prime time this year. Notice no 405 games. This was the other anomaly where, week one CBS had the US Open, so Fox had the only late games. And this used to be Fox would have the LCS coverage for baseball.

and not have any late games. So it would always be just like three CBS games. And Denver, New England, AFC Championship game rematch, that's the headliner game. A lot of times, conference championship games were not actually played in prime time. Over the years, they would just, it was like, oh, wasn't an automatic that just because it was a championship game rematch that it would be in prime time. So CBS gets this gem, I don't know if it's a gem, but this championship game wasn't, but Denver, New England.

is the headline afternoon game. then yes, Chief Spangles figure keeping the Chiefs till about week six for prime time gives it enough time that Mahomes is probably back by then. Yeah. I'm just looking at the other games here. ⁓ I just saw one. Pittsburgh at Jacksonville. ⁓ That's actually international in the real schedule.

No, no, Jacksonville protected that. sorry. Jacksonville did protect that. I love that they protected that game against Pittsburgh. We all remember the 2017 AFC divisional round. Wow Carter divisional round where Blake Bortle or a, you know, dominated Ben Roth, the Spurger and the Steelers. ⁓ Week seven, we have no Sunday night game. Right, right. The NFL used to actually have respect for Major League Baseball and not play during the World Series.

Yeah, if it went to game seven, that was fair game. And I get that because the NFL couldn't give up two Sunday night games, but they used to do it. So there was always the one week when the world series would have, cause the world series, don't think they actually play on Sunday anymore, but they did back in the day. So I was adhering to that. So you'll see, right? No Sunday night game, Kansas city, Seattle in the four 15 window. That felt like the big game wrestled with maybe going bills Packers instead, but then you would have only had three early games.

CBS try to avoid Patriots Chargers Monday night.

You know, it's just good. Good matchup. Yeah. Good old matchup. Wild card game rematch. So yeah. And just like good classic matchup, Rivers and Brady. mean, Brady had their number, but they had some some classic games in there. Week eight. We have Carolina at Pittsburgh. Explain that one to me. That's that's a different matchup. I had to get the Steelers and Panthers a Sunday night game.

I had to get them each once on ESPN. so this worked out because I couldn't quite figure out when to get New England Sunday night game in there. Green Bay, I thought about that one. I thought about maybe Buffalo Houston, but it was hard because there were a lot of teams you wanted to get one game. You couldn't justify the Vikings not getting at least a Sunday night game, or the Lions, or even Atlanta. Because generally, the league would try to have some leniency towards the

meh teams and at least give them a Sunday night game. Not a Monday night game, premier game. So Carolina Pittsburgh felt like, it still two playoff teams from a year ago. Never know what you're going to get. Green Bay, New England, that was talking about AFC teams getting to play on Fox, NFC teams getting to play on CBS. This is an opportunity for Fox to have Packers Patriots, speaking of Super Bowl rematches. And then Denver, Kansas City. So the Chiefs get their first Monday night game. Figure by week nine, my home is going to be up and running. Get the Broncos their second Monday night game.

Another divisional divisional game. So that was the thought process there the only thing that we're missing when when you're keeping Green Bay in New England out of the Sunday or Monday night game is replays of Dan Connelly's Like 80 yard kick return. That's right, because we would have gotten that every quarter like remember when this happened

Patriots and Packers played on Monday night in 97, which was a Super Bowl rematch. played like kind of early in the season and Packers just steamrolled them.

Uh, week nine we have, all right, we got LA at Denver at eight 30 on Sunday night and then Detroit at Buffalo. Nice, good gritty matchup. I love that matchup. I have a Dan Campbell, Monday night game. Come on, at least one. That is such a, just a great, mean, I need Josh Allen versus Dan Campbell. Like I need oxygen. Yeah. Yeah. No, I just like, you know, proximity wise too, pretty close together. It was, if that felt like the

The time to get Detroit on there. I think they they weren't a Monday night game. Obviously the Bills are going to be the sexy team to get on there. ⁓ Pittsburgh, New England, 415 just a throwback kind of deals Steelers Patriots. It may be maybe Rogers. You know last year maybe not, but ⁓ San Francisco in the Rams. That's a good one, but it's in the 405 window. Because they play twice so you don't need both matchups to necessarily be like game of the week material. ⁓ But yeah.

Not a super strong early slate this week, but a couple good late games. And I think the prime time games stand out. Baltimore Cleveland always AFC North is always a solid matchup. It doesn't matter. To me, it's always a solid. I love watching the AFC North, especially like late in the season. Yep. Week 10, we have Buffalo at Minnesota on Sunday night and Pittsburgh at Baltimore.

A rematch of the Sunday night game from week 18 this past season ⁓ on Monday night. And that exists in the schedule, the way, week 18. ⁓ of course. No, I'm just joking. But yeah, yeah. New York Giants at Indianapolis, a rematch of the greatest game ever played. I like that in the 415. I do. That's that's a callback to a very old game. Well, Jetson Giants have to

Can't play at the same time. you'll notice they both those teams end up with a lot of 415 games, especially nowadays that the giants and jets aren't nearly good enough to get into prime time. It makes it even harder. And so they're always going to be pretty much one in four went Detroit Green Bay as the 415 game. Yeah. Buffalo, Minnesota. This was Minnesota's prime time game. ⁓ And then yes, Steelers Ravens. mean, you feel like you can't go wrong there. You also could go with the Daniel Jones revenge game route as well.

Thought about it. I did actually consider that game as a Monday night game, maybe. Yeah. Week 11, this is the end of the bye weeks, everyone. We have Philadelphia at New York on Sunday night and Green Bay at LA on Monday night. The NFC dominating the prime time slots this week. Yes, yes. Usually split it up, you know, but it...

The way it works is the networks would have to alternate. So I think it was 35 prime time games total. 18 Fox would lose. What you know, it was bad. I forget. I think this year was it was an odd number or even numbered year. So Fox had to lose one extra game. So you might see one more NFC road team in there. ⁓ I felt like the Giants had to get one. Got to give them a prime time game. There's a there's a good chance that they're going to be good. And it's New York. You can at least sell that from a marketing perspective. ⁓

Turns out I was only a couple days off with Packers Rams. I had him on Monday night on the 23rd. NFL's like now screw you, we're going to put him on a Wednesday night two days after that. ⁓ Chargers bills is the 415 game. Yeah, there was nothing super sexy. ⁓ The I thought about Ravens Bengals as the 415 game here. I think you could make an argument for that, but I also think you know Justin Herbert, Josh Allen feels like something that CBS would want to jump on. So I went with that and. ⁓

Yeah, so that was it. And then yeah, Packers Rams Packers ⁓ is kind of unusual. I sort of went against the grain, but because the Packers get two Monday night games, usually when a team has multiple Monday night games, their first game comes pretty early. I didn't get the Packers on Monday night until week 11, but so be it. Yeah. And then we really get into the ⁓ the football part of the football season. Thanksgiving, the two Thanksgiving games. I do have to say this is the one thing I'm not a fan of.

I love the Thanksgiving night game. I do. I love having an eight o'clock game, know, just being able to go to sleep with that night game on, you you're falling asleep from Thanksgiving dinner. It's that, I'm gonna miss that. I would miss that a lot. So that would be my one change. And maybe throw in a few more Thursday night games, I gotta say. Just a few more. All right, so a couple things. One, even though I love this format and would trade,

anything and everything to get it. I will admit that there are a few things that if everything else was the same, but they said, look, we're gonna put in a couple, because they used to do Thursday night specials. Like prior to this 02 to 05, they would have some random Thursday night games. And I thought that was great. And if they said, we're gonna do like one or two throughout the year, sprinkle it in, fantastic. If they said that that would be on Thanksgiving, great. Flex scheduling didn't exist here. So these are the matchups you're stuck with and so be it, right?

If they had said, we'll do fault scheduling for the last week of the season, I'd say good compromise. But anyway, I grew up in an era where football was over. We'd had six hours of game time, seven hours game time, whatever. And then, you know, relax, put on a movie on Thanksgiving night. We've had enough football for the day. So lions and Cowboys, they switch up. ⁓ They alternate years where one of them is going to be playing on CBS, which means. ⁓

since they're both NFC teams, one of them will have to, you'll only have two matchups to choose from for that team. And so for Detroit, it was a pretty easy selection between the Patriots and the Jets. Sure, if you want an easy win on Thanksgiving, we put the Jets, but I think it's fair to say the schedule makers would have gone with Patriots and Lions and 49ers Cowboys. Division games did happen on Thanksgiving, but I feel like that oftentimes the schedule makers would try to feature other teams.

And so 49ers Cowboys feels great. It's not like super long travel for the Niners to go to Dallas on Thanksgiving Day either. All these teams, well, with the exception of Dallas playing in Houston, ⁓ the NFL used to also respect teams playing on short weeks and have them at home the week before just to not have to travel again. So yeah, so those are Thanksgiving games. You look at the one o'clock matchups. Chargers Ravens is the big one there.

I like the I like New England at Detroit just purely from the the you know, Thanksgiving is an American holiday. So you have to have the Patriots. I always thought that the Patriots should be included in that. Like I know Dallas is America's team. And I understand the Detroit I mean Detroit like that's just you know, that is the that's the tradition. But like why is New England the New England Patriots? The literal like the people who founded the country.

Why are they not included in the Thanksgiving festivities? I feel like they should have always been in there, especially, you know, with Tom Brady. mean, how is Tom Brady not playing on Thanksgiving, especially in the Pat the Patriot uniform in the snow every single year? I feel like that has to be a gimme and that's just been a missed opportunity. So I like putting New England there, even if it is against Detroit in a dome, I don't care. I at least want to see a Patriot on my screen.

Thanksgiving that feels like it makes the most sense in the world a lion Where is a lion involved in Thanksgiving? There are no lions in Thanksgiving lore But a patriot, I mean that's who who sat down with the Native Americans, you know If we want to go based on the elementary school history of Thanksgiving Pilgrims Patriots, whatever ⁓ Cincinnati and Houston Sunday night and then Philly

at Chicago on Monday night, the Philly at Chicago feels like that, you know, setting up a pot or maybe a barometer for who's a real, playoff team that feels like that would be a perfect time for that. Yes. One rule I also broke more so in the nineties, early, very early through 2000, ZNFL used to try to have Monday night games being warmer climates, but you'll see over these next few games, I kind of ignored that rule, including here. Yeah.

Sorry, Seattle Rams first of two matchups as the marquee game. So NFC championship rematch part one. I would not. I would not agree with that rule that like the prime time game should they should prioritize a warmer climate, especially when you're getting into the winter. This football is a winter game. You got to lean into that. You got to lean into the snow. You got to lean into the shit and the cold. I don't care about the score. Playoff team survive in all types of climates. Yeah, so.

Maybe not Seattle, but Seattle was good. mean, Seattle played at home. It still gets cold in Seattle. It gets very cold in Seattle. All right. then, ⁓ week 13. We have LA Rams at the Arizona Cardinals. I feel like they always have to have a Rams Cardinals game in prime time at some point during the season, no matter how good the Cardinals are expected to be, no matter how

bad, you know, whatever they have to play on prime time. ⁓ And I just kind of love it. Yeah. And again, the challenge of with the two LA teams, both being West coast teams too, ⁓ you'll notice the Chargers and Rams kind of, you kind of have to get them in prime time more. So this was an opportunity where it's the Chargers are home here against Denver ⁓ Rams, it'll be on the road and playing at a different time window ⁓ and Seattle Philadelphia as the big game. That's a ⁓ playoff matchup we didn't get.

but certainly when we could and I sort of wrestled with going 49ers chiefs in that spot too, putting the chiefs on Fox but landed on Seahawks Eagles. I think that's the right. That's the right New England Jacksonville and we get Jacksonville. It's Monday night game and kind of another barometer game for the 2017 rematch of the AFC title game. We all remember that one. Yeah, week 14 we have.

⁓ LA Chargers at the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night and then Kansas City at Buffalo. You know, I gotta say, I, I kind of feel like Kansas City at Buffalo should be a 415 game. Yeah. Yeah. And I thought about that too, but you really can't. It's hard to say chiefs bills also shouldn't be Monday night. You know what I mean? So it was hard. I looked, the Raven Steelers is kind of one of the

interesting early games here, Dallas, Philly, but it was like, just looking at these matchups, I'm like, is who hasn't, you know, the Chiefs, I want to get them their second game. got the Bills three. So I figured, mean, I, I could have, I think you could have gotten away with Miami at Indianapolis on Monday night, just because of the historical factor. You know, you, you could reference the, what the O2 wild card game, their old AFC East rivals, their

you know, pretty classic teams, I would say. I think you could have gotten away with it. I think you could have gotten away with that and just kept the bills. I was there. I was at the Dolphins last playoff win. ⁓ Yeah, I mean, they could have been good, too. Speaking of I that wouldn't have matched up with the with the ⁓ ABC or CBS Fox. You know, the network, so right. Yeah. Week 15.

The Saturday games. Give me a little insight on the Saturday games. ⁓ mirroring, so in those four years, ⁓ this calendar year did not mirror any of those exactly. So the closest one was 2004. And so that year you had weeks 15 and 16 were the Saturday games. And then because that year, week 17, the Sunday games were all January 2nd.

Every game was played on Sunday. They didn't do any New Year's Day games. I guess they must have left that for a bowl game. So you'll see the staggered window. I chose Indianapolis at Houston just for you. ⁓ Saturday afternoon. So because CBS has the Sunday four o'clock games, Fox got the late afternoon Saturday game. Both LA teams are home. I had to choose an LA team. This is what I was talking about, getting the Cowboys plenty of exposure without being on prime time. And then Bears-Lyons.

It just, I don't know, it just felt right to have them playing the ESPN Saturday night game. So it's fun. Yeah, you start getting into that. We're getting into holiday season. Pretty light early window, only seven games on Sunday, but I would say Tampa since he's interesting, Philly, Washington. It's kind of, you know, you never know what you're to get. then Seattle, Denver, I kind of wanted to be able to do more with because it was, you know, it could have been our Superbowl matchup, but I couldn't ignore 2012.

Or 13. Sorry. And I couldn't ignore Patriots bills. ⁓ and then the Jags get a second Sunday night game, a third prime time game and the Ravens at home. So, ⁓ and then Atlanta green Bay on Monday night, this was a chance to throw Atlanta in there, get the Packers, get a Monday night game at Lambeau, even if it is on December 21st. What was that? The 16 NFC championship. Yep. Yeah. Atlanta rolled in that right. Last game ever at the Georgia dome.

Yeah. ⁓ and I feel like, was that like the 95 NFC title game too? Did Atlanta and Green Bay play? No, that was Green Bay Dallas. ⁓ all right. Week 16, we have a Friday game. ⁓ Friday football. Let's go. Christmas day. It happened. This did happen, but it was Christmas Eve those years, but they would have, if they had a Friday three o'clock game now.

One area I wish I could have fixed was having both Washington and Dallas having played on Saturday. Dallas played on Saturday the week before here, Washington played on Sunday, so it's a shorter week, which does feel a little unfair, but I was like, I can't ignore Commander's Cowboys as, you know, I could see maybe changing that. Well, I could have changed it to Minnesota and the Jets just because that's a, you know, the Jets on Fox, had to be a different day than the Giants on CBS.

And I thought about like Detroit, Atlanta. Yeah, it could be sexy. We could have put Green Bay, Chicago, but then we don't really have a good, you know, Fox 415 game to feature on Sunday. It felt like it was good to save the Packers and the Bears. So that little folly aside, both teams playing on a short week, but the Cowboys getting one extra day of rest, ⁓ mea culpa there, but yeah, yeah, very commanders. And then Jags Giants.

so that we could get the Giants on CBS and the Jets on Fox. Saints-Bucks kind of just felt like it was okay to get the Saints again in there because maybe they'll be decent. I mean, that could be about... They could very well be in a heavy battle for the division at that point. mean, you're looking at Tampa Bay. I would say they're probably third.

in that division right now and expectations I mean Carolina coming off winning the division and almost winning the playoff game and then New Orleans with Tyler Shuck and adding a lot of weapons maybe second I I'm not sure I'm not I'm honestly not really sure what the barometer is on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right now because I think with Baker you're kind of always in it they feel like they're always in it doesn't matter so and it's the NFC South so you are always in it no matter what the Atlanta Falcons are in it

right now, hell, could have won the division last year if they won, if like one game goes their way that they lost, they probably, might win that division. So, yeah. Yeah, I like that. I like getting those division matchups in like on the Saturday games, you know, cause there's probably, it's probably going to mean something. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. And so, and New England, Kansas city, that was my chance to get New England at CSPN game.

Can't really go wrong Patriots Chiefs there and then Ram Seattle. That's the perfect one. I think to end the Monday night slate because no Monday night game in week 17. So we do get to feature one of those ⁓ Ram Seahawks NFC Championship rematches in prime time and this felt like the perfect time to do it. I'm looking at week 17. We got a Super Bowl three matchup here only Dallas at Indianapolis at 830.

What goes into that one besides the Super Bowl three matchup? Of course, weirdly, the Fox needed a game here. Fox had early windows had four, so I had only these really to choose from. ⁓ For some weird reason ⁓ in 0405 both years, the Cowboys played the last Sunday night game. They had the Giants one year. That was Eli's rookie year, and they had the Rams. They finished with an 05, and there's just something. And I think, you know, too, they played the second to last Sunday night game. There's just something about.

getting the Cowboys the last prime time game because I had kind of left them out in the cold. ⁓ It had to be a Fox game. I thought Green Bay, Minnesota maybe could have gone there. ⁓ I wanted to do Giants-Philly here, but I'm trying to remember why I didn't. ⁓ I think it might've messed up their earlier matchup and I didn't have a good alternative to week 11.

And CBS gets the late window here. And so you've got two games that CBS could choose from as its game of the week. Chiefs Broncos, sure. Or how about LALA? Chargers Rams to end the season. Eight division games, eight non-division games. It's a box of chocolates. You just never know what you're gonna get here. ⁓ Love the idea that the Ravens playing the Bills in week 17. How about that? I like that.

I'm sorry, it Super Bowl V, not Super Bowl III, the Blunder Bowl. The Colts lost Super Bowl III, the Colts won Super Bowl V, 1630. ⁓

Yeah, I just yeah, I like the non because it does feel like there's a ton of meaningless games in week 18 or week 18, whatever. ⁓ So I like this. I like this a lot. And let's go to the postseason schedule. ⁓ We have wild card weekend, not super wild card weekend, just wild card weekend. It's not super.

There's not a super amount of teams in it. Right. No Monday night game though. So three games both days. I didn't have a choice there if we're going to stick with reality to some degree, you know, of having six playoff or seven playoff teams in each conference. ⁓ So, you know, and again, it would be subject to change, but generally if it went CBS Fox on a Saturday, it would go Fox CBS on the Sunday. ⁓ NFC championship game is the early game this year. It alternates. So it'll be the three o'clock game and ⁓

And then Superbowl 61 in Inglewood, California. Scroll below that. See AFC, NFC Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Sunday night, perfect sunset to the NFL season. ESPN gets the call. Everybody's in their uniforms, hanging out. They've got the lays on their, you know, around their neck. ⁓ Andy Reid may be coaching the game if he loses the championship game wearing the Hawaiian shirt and the- Are they playing real football?

yeah, yeah, no, this is a real game. This is the game I grew up watching. They would have these elegant introductions, they would do all this Hawaiian-themed stuff, and then they would introduce the teams and they would save the Super Bowl-winning team for last, because the game had already been played. Everybody was there, so if your team won the Super Bowl, the players could go participate. It was, I'm telling you, if you go back and watch some of those old Pro Bowls, I know it's an exhibition, I know they're just having fun, but man, there was something fun about watching the Pro Bowl, and it was like...

Yeah, the Super Bowl's over, now we get like, we still get a little bonus football before we have to say goodbye. A little taste, yeah. A little taste. Just a taste. And skills challenge. When's the skills challenge? Saturday? Yeah, yeah, whenever. Make up your own schedule on that. Whenever? I love the skills challenge. I love watching the old highlights. I'm not saying, I'm just saying, can be any time. I'm open to suggestions. I love the old highlights of the skills challenge, seeing like Rich Gannon.

And Peyton Manning, like you have some legends and then there's like, so there's a few like randos thrown in there. ⁓ that I remember there's like a Packers quarterback. It was, it was like in between. Yeah. It was right. I can't remember what it was, but it was a Packers quarterback. ⁓ and he can, he could throw the ball pretty far. It wasn't Brett far. It wasn't like the legend. wasn't a Packer, but Jeff George could throw the ball really far. No, who was, who was before far?

Don Magic Man, Majeski. Is that who I'm thinking of? I don't know. I can't remember. That's not, I know, I know, I know Magic Man. That's not who I'm thinking of. ⁓ anyway, skills challenge is awesome. I love the skills challenge. All right. Well, I think that's a, that's a good place to stop. great job on the schedule. I know that, you know, you work real hard on it, in the off season, you know, put that together.

Very cool, you know a good little alternate universe thing ⁓ Yeah, so go check that out. You can look at the full schedule download the schedule ⁓ on draftamerica.com hell Maybe you can play it in Madden or something. Well, maybe we can figure something out like that. Yes Yeah, let me know if you figure anything out ⁓ But I think that's a good place to stop. It was a good first episode back from the long break Make sure to LIKE comment subscribe go check out draftamerica.com check out chaotically intolerant comm as well

We're going be having John from Spring Hill Sports on this weekend. We're going to be doing a little ⁓ dual guest. I'm going to go on his show. He's going to go on Come On Chaotically Intolerant, probably coming out sometime next week. So make sure to check that out. And ⁓ yeah, we'll see you next week.