Blake Bortles on Foot Speed, Eli's Last Stand, and Spygate 2
Eli Manning’s return to the Monday Night Football stage was essentially a living funeral. With Peyton and the whole Manning family in a suite in Philly, Eli gave us one more vintage performance: a hot start followed by some truly spectacular self-sacks that looked like a 55-year-old uncle falling down at a family reunion. PFT thinks the Giants owe it to the league to keep the Eli experiment going just a bit longer for the sake of the record books.
The Giants have to play Eli Manning again to let him get back to a .500 record
Now what sucks is now Eli's 116 and 117. You've got to play him again, though. You have to play him again. You've got to give him a shot to get back to 117, 117.
While the Giants are officially dead, the rest of the NFC East is engaged in a battle of who can suck the least. The Eagles managed to scrape out a win despite losing every wide receiver on the roster, and Big Cat is still holding out hope that they can somehow stumble into a division title over the Cowboys.
I would still bet on the Eagles to win the NFC East despite how bad they look
I still would probably take [the Eagles] to win the division, because they have a home game against the Cowboys, and they play the Redskins and they play the Giants. But if you had to ask me right now to put money on it, I think I'd still take the Eagles as bad as they've looked.
I can see the 2019 Eagles flipping a switch and going on a Super Bowl run despite how bad they look
I'm falling into the trap of what they've done the last two years. I agree with you. But I could see [the Eagles] just going on a run right now. [The Super Bowl Eagles] are eventually going to – everything's going to click, and they're going to flip the switch, and they're going to be great again.
The possibility of a 7-9 team hosting a playoff game is exactly the kind of chaos that makes the NFL great. While some media members want to re-seed based on record, Big Cat is firmly in the camp of keeping the rules as stupid as possible for the maximum amount of internet anger.
I support division winners hosting playoff games even with bad records because the unfairness provides entertainment
I like the fact that the Eagles could win the division at 7-9 and host a playoff game simply because we get to sit here and say, that's not fair. I like that it makes no sense. I like that if you win your division, you get a home playoff game, even if you're a terrible team. It just seems like one of those rules I don't want changed.
Spygate 2.0 and the Bengals
The Patriots are back in the news for filming the Bengals' sideline, a move so brazen and unnecessary that it has everyone questioning Bill Belichick’s motives. The guys aren't buying the "independent contractor" excuse for a second. Big Cat has a theory that this was a calculated move by Belichick to create a "Patriots against the world" narrative just in time for the playoffs.
Bill Belichick intentionally created the Bengals filming controversy as a rallying cry
[Bill Belichick] thinks that this was specifically ordered by Bill Belichick to have it become a controversy so that he can then reverse it and use it as a rallying cry to fix the Patriots' problems. he thinks this was specifically ordered by Bill Belichick to have it become a controversy so that he can then reverse it and use it as a rallying cry to fix the Patriots' problems.
Hank tried to defend the videographer as someone just trying to look busy with some B-roll, but PFT is convinced it’s just "Uber for cheating." Either way, filming the Bengals is the ultimate "why?" move of the season.
Blake Bortles Returns
One of the most decorated members of the Blake of the Year fraternity, Blake Bortles, joined the show to discuss his season with the Rams and dive into the Wikipedia Club. Blake shared some incredible insights into his life as a backup, including how he spends his time during TV timeouts throwing water on his face and rubbing eye-black on his jersey to look like he’s actually been playing.
We finally got the truth about the legendary "Civil ConFLiCT" rivalry between UCF and UConn. As it turns out, the players were just as confused as the fans were about the manufactured trophy.
The UCF vs. UConn 'Civil ConFLiCT' was never a real rivalry to the players
We had no idea that that was a rivalry game or we were playing for a trophy. We just thought it was another game. I think there has to be some sort of agreement when two teams want to become a rivalry, like equal hate or whatever.
The Wikipedia Club topic of the day was foot speed, which led to a breakdown of Blake’s own combine performance and the limits of human athleticism. Blake gave a massive shoutout to his teammate Brandin Cooks while making a bold prediction about the future of the 40-yard dash.
Brandin Cooks is the definition of elite foot speed
I think it's probably Brandin Cooks, a receiver we have out here in L.A., and I actually trained with him for the combine. I thought he was fast then, but he's on a whole other level of fast and the definition of foot speed.
I predict no human will ever break four seconds in the 40-yard dash
Dude, I don't know. Because, I mean, how low is the 40-yard dash record going to go? I don't know. Like there's no way anybody's ever going to break four seconds. I don't know. I guess maybe high 4-1.
I am faster now than I was when I trained for the NFL Combine
I'd imagine everybody's probably different. I think I'm faster now than I was when I was training for the Combine. But I would say there's probably guys that are the opposite of that.
Hot Seat/Cool Throne
Hot Seat/Cool Throne featured a heavy dose of baseball talk and some questionable coaching hires. Big Cat went after Cubs owner Tom Ricketts for crying poor while sitting on a billion-dollar stadium renovation. The idea that the Cubs would ever need to trade their stars for financial flexibility is a bridge too far for a suffering Chicago fan.
Tom Ricketts is lying about the Cubs being too poor to pay their star players
Tom Ricketts, Cubs owner, because he's poor. So he missed the budget for Wrigley expansion by 100%, he said. So just hate it when these guys who have billions of dollars... when time comes to pay their really expensive players what they're worth, don't have the money. Don't buy that bullshit. Like, it's not just you can't sign Chris Bryant.
I do not want the Cubs to trade Kris Bryant despite ownership claims of being over budget
Kris Bryant is the word. And everyone's, you know, what happens is whether they trade Kris Bryant or not, I do not want them to trade Kris Bryant. But what pisses me off more than anything is fans who are like, well, you got to trade Kris Bryant because we have no money. Don't buy that bullshit.
In the college ranks, Sam Pittman’s move to Arkansas caught some fire for being a total panic move by a program that couldn't land its top targets.
Sam Pittman is a panic hire for Arkansas
Sam Pittman is who you're talking about. He's the Georgia O-line coach. That is a panic hire for Arkansas. I saw his face. I was like, that's not a head coach. That's not a head coach.
Between Lane Kiffin looking like a guy who owns a boat called the "Poon Toon" and the upcoming Lowman Trophy presentation, the college football world is truly in its peak form.
If you're a Lions fan in Los Angeles, stay there and enjoy the 70-degree weather instead of flying to Detroit to watch a loss.

