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The Bill Simmons Podcast

A Goofy Cowboys Tie, the Reeling Ravens, a Crazy Sports Weekend, Guess the Lines, Mets Sadness, and Sox-Yanks With Cousin Sal

110 min episode · 2 min read
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Episode

110 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Productivity, Health & Wellness, Investing

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Overtime Rule Assessment: The new 10-minute overtime format where both teams get possessions lacks urgency compared to sudden death. Teams like Green Bay played conservatively to force ties rather than risk losing, suggesting 12 minutes would create better competitive tension and reduce anticlimactic endings.
  • Ravens Defensive Crisis: Baltimore's defense projects to allow 560 points over 17 games, their worst pace in franchise history. At 1-3 with seven key injuries, they face legitimate year-from-hell territory. Kyle Hamilton publicly apologized to fans, acknowledging the product doesn't meet Ravens standards from recent seasons.
  • Kicker Value Proposition: Brandon Aubrey's impact for Dallas demonstrates modern kickers are worth approximately 20 yards per quarter in field position. With new kickoff rules and 65-yard field goals becoming routine, elite kickers now warrant consideration as top-tier assets, potentially justifying first-round draft compensation in extreme cases.
  • Ashton Jenti Evaluation: The Jaguars running back proved his top-six draft status despite poor offensive line play. He consistently breaks tackles behind the line of scrimmage and makes 20-plus defenders miss per game. His ability to fight back to the line when hit immediately separates him from typical rookie backs.
  • Coaching Age Threshold: Coaches over 55 show declining performance based on historical data from Shula, Noll, and Landry. Pete Carroll at 73 demonstrates this with poor clock management and undisciplined play. The cognitive demands of competing against coaches in their 30s like Ben Johnson may exceed capabilities despite physical fitness.

What It Covers

Bill Simmons and Cousin Sal analyze Week 4 NFL outcomes including the Cowboys-Packers 40-40 overtime tie, Ravens defensive collapse at 1-3, new overtime rules, and preview Red Sox-Yankees playoff matchup while discussing coaching decisions and player performance metrics.

Key Questions Answered

  • Overtime Rule Assessment: The new 10-minute overtime format where both teams get possessions lacks urgency compared to sudden death. Teams like Green Bay played conservatively to force ties rather than risk losing, suggesting 12 minutes would create better competitive tension and reduce anticlimactic endings.
  • Ravens Defensive Crisis: Baltimore's defense projects to allow 560 points over 17 games, their worst pace in franchise history. At 1-3 with seven key injuries, they face legitimate year-from-hell territory. Kyle Hamilton publicly apologized to fans, acknowledging the product doesn't meet Ravens standards from recent seasons.
  • Kicker Value Proposition: Brandon Aubrey's impact for Dallas demonstrates modern kickers are worth approximately 20 yards per quarter in field position. With new kickoff rules and 65-yard field goals becoming routine, elite kickers now warrant consideration as top-tier assets, potentially justifying first-round draft compensation in extreme cases.
  • Ashton Jenti Evaluation: The Jaguars running back proved his top-six draft status despite poor offensive line play. He consistently breaks tackles behind the line of scrimmage and makes 20-plus defenders miss per game. His ability to fight back to the line when hit immediately separates him from typical rookie backs.
  • Coaching Age Threshold: Coaches over 55 show declining performance based on historical data from Shula, Noll, and Landry. Pete Carroll at 73 demonstrates this with poor clock management and undisciplined play. The cognitive demands of competing against coaches in their 30s like Ben Johnson may exceed capabilities despite physical fitness.

Notable Moment

The Cowboys-Packers game nearly ended incorrectly when the clock operator failed to stop time with one second remaining. Had the official not caught this error, Green Bay would have lost their final possession opportunity. This human timing mistake in a four-hour game almost determined the outcome before overtime.

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Episode Transcript

This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra, the official beer partner of the NBA. While the NBA season is heating up, the best moments are served cold, just like a refreshing Michelob Ultra superior light beer with only 95 calories. Nothing better than enjoying the games with a crisp, cold beard in your hand and even better to see them in person. Luckily for you, that's where Michelob Ultra comes in, getting you closer than ever with the chance to see all the action in person with courtside tickets to NBA games and more Michelob Ultra superiors worth playing for enter now at michelobultra.com/courtside. Michelob Ultra courtside twenty five to twenty six. No purchase necessary. Open to US residents. '21 plus begins on 10/01/2025 ends on 06/30/2026. Multiple entry periods. See official rules at miglowbutcher.com/courtside for free entry entry details, prizes, and details. The bill Simmons podcast is presented by FanDuel sports book. We are also presented by the ringer podcast network. Put up a new prestige TV podcast tonight, actually episode four of task broke it down. Me, Joanna, Rob, you can hear that. You can listen to rewatchables on Monday night. We started Redford month. We're starting at two days early before October, but, we are going to do the sting as the first episode. So that is what's coming. Unbelievable sports time right now. Ryder cup this weekend was really fun. Check out Fairway rolling for the recap of, everything that happened on that baseball playoffs are coming. We're gonna be covering that in the Rainier gambling show and coming around the New York, New York podcast on off the pike with, Brian Barrett as well, the Boston podcast that we have. And, this week it's, it's just gonna be a lot of stuff going on because it's red sox, Yankees, a huge, huge, huge monkey wrench for me personally. I'm gonna talk about it with Sal a bit later, but I really hate the Yankees. The red sox did not have as good of a team as the Yankees, so we have a crutch. But losing to the Yankees, is my least favorite thing. I think if I had to rank it, Yankees Lakers are just at the very top of just pure hatred of franchises. And then it really dips to another level after that. Those are the two. Those are the two I never would've let my kids be fans of. I just really dislike both teams. I wrote a bunch of comms about that over the years. I wrote a whole thing about sports hate. I really sports hate both of those teams, but I actually also genuinely hate the Yankees and the and the Lakers too, but especially the Yankees, especially growing up when, they used to kick our ass year after year, and then they were super arrogant about it. And then everything finally flipped. In 2004, we came back from three nothing and beat them. And for the …

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