Sage’s Hot Tub & CFP Bubbles: Ira Kaufman

In sports, if you want to be the best, there are no off days. Welcome into the No Off Days podcast. Just looking at my fantasy football team, and we're bad. This is a bad year, Chris, to double down on Bucs receivers. Yeah, I've got a Mecca Igbuka in one of my leagues, so I feel you. Oh, my goodness. We're going to get into all of that, of course, without introduction. This is Chris Cave to my left. And, uh, and... Oh, a crime has been committed. I don't know if you know this. This is just coming down. A crime has been committed. Kevin Cash did not win manager of the year. That is a crime. Who did? It would be the venerable Will Venable, the Chicago White Sox giver. He did a fine job, you know, but I feel like it gets to the point where Cash is always up there so much that, like, that is, he's kind of, even though he's won it twice, he's like the Buffalo Bills of managers, you know. People are just used to seeing him there, and then they're like, well, that should be good enough. Or it's the old gal who could never win the Oscar, and they finally gave her one just because she'd been up there so many times. Yeah, that lady. And, you know, I just, yeah. But obviously he did a fantastic job. But is he getting a lot of credit for, I mean, the White Sox were a great story, yes, but he's getting the raise with a better team. I think we can agree on that. We can, but this is a regular season award, so it doesn't really take into account. Things they did in the postseason, but which was strike out a lot for the White Sox. Oh, yeah, that was not good. But we are going to talk some football on on this year on this this year podcast. And for more on that, let's bring in Brian King, because we've reached the bye. And in the NFL. Which is kind of, we take a little inventory. And I think we do some self-scouting too, don't we? We do. We do. I've done a lot of it. What are some of the changes that we're going to be implementing here on the Bide so we're a better, cleaner operation on the backside? Me and Chris Griffin, we're going to communicate better, first of all. The headset communications have been off all year this year with us. So we're sitting down and we're going to rededicate ourselves to having better communication among the headsets. You guys should work on those, just do the big cards. You know, like. Goofy and then, like, some symbol and then, yeah. Well, we're starting by, like, the NFL. We're each putting green dots on the back of our heads, like the green dot helps on the helmet. Yeah, and just put it directly on your scalp. That's it. Don't put it on a helmet. Yeah, that's right. Shave Chris's head, put a green dot on it. You've earned it. You've earned it. Yeah. So, bye week in the NFL and no big trade deadline deals for the Buccaneers. Not really surprising, I suppose. It has not been Jason Light's track record. You know, this is his 13th season as the GM for the Bucs. Wow. He's made one in-season trade. Really? Yeah. Steve McClendon back in 2020. That's a solid pick-up. You know, he loves his draft picks, and he doesn't want to part ways with any of them, and that's kind of what you do in today's NFL. If you want to make a move, you're trying to get draft capital in return. I'm going to turn and... Yeah, so none of that. But Kirk Cousins back in Minnesota. How about that? He's the winner. He's the big winner. You know what? He is the winner in life, honestly. Like, he will not go down. He is the Energizer Bunny. He is like the meme of the Undertaker. Anytime they cast him off, hey, you're just going to start in place of the next guy. You're the bridge quarterback. That's going to take your job. It's like he's off the mat like the Undertaker. I just, much respect. He's like Ryan Fitzpatrick almost, he's getting up in it at it. Kind of area where he team-to-team and he gets that success wherever he goes. But mine is kind of the gimmick, yeah, a little bit. Not that Fitz is a gimmick. He has some magical moments with the Bucs, but moments they were. So, yeah, you know what? If I'm Kirk, what is your demand as you go to the Vikings? Like in the offseason, are they going to play the game again? Are they going to go get a young quarterback? Are they just waiting for Kyler Murray to be healthy? If he's as productive as he was during, not the last season he was there when he tore the Achilles, but the year before, which was under Kevin O'Connell's first year there, I believe, keep him. I mean, he's got a couple years left under the hood. You think? Yeah. I know that whenever you try to stick a fork in him, he starts kicking. All right. Much like our own Brian King. Thank you. Just still kicking. He's trying to. He might be actually kicking Chris Griffin during the course of this show if the communication breaks down. No, we're good. We're on the same page. Okay, good. Same page. All right, so anyway, to circle back to bye week, we have a special bye week commentator coming up. We should have this guy in live. It's a travesty he's not been in live with us. He doesn't want to leave the comforts of his palatial estate. We've got to get him out here one time. It's Ira Kaufman. All right. Yeah. Ira Kaufman's joining us. He's going to talk a little bit about the Bucs. I don't know if he's opinionated about how they've been so far this season. I'm kind of curious to see how he's going to be. He's always got something. He's always, you know, he's always stoned on something and, you know, I'm kind of, I'm usually shocked. It's like, what's your big takeaway? And it's something I didn't even have on my radar. It usually has to do with pasta or something. It could be. Well, you know, we'll try to get into some of that. It's a two-block interview, so Kato, any over-unders on the Scotts? Number of Scotts, Scotts. It's a two-block interview, and it doesn't matter if I'm there or not because he still calls me Scott when I ask him a question. So I'm Scott, I would say I'll set the I'll set the total at 17. 17. Wow. All right. I'll take that. Yeah. I'll take it. I'll go. I'll go over. Yeah, he's I bet he's gonna be animated. He hadn't talked to Scott in a while. Yeah, he might he might knock out 17 Scotts in the first sentence. Wow. That's probably a low total. Scott Scott Scott Scott Scott Scott Scott Scott. All right, let's get going. All right. Very good. And then at the end of the show, we're going to do something. The Toy Hall of Fame. This snuck right past us. Oh, is it time for that again? They've already done it. The nominees, or they've announced? Nominees, and they just announced like last week. We got caught up in this World Series stuff, and it completely blew by us. But I'm going to make a game with these toys, and you're going to tell me, you know, what toys made it in and what toys did not. Okay. You might be surprised. Yeah. We'll find out what Chris's weird toy obsession is this year. This is the year. Oh, yeah. Tickle Me Elmo was mine last year, wasn't it? Big, big Tickle Me Elmo guy. You totally took that. You twisted that completely. I didn't twist anything. No, as I recall, the question was what toy had the greatest impact. Yeah, but you said you wanted a Tickle Me Elmo. I don't think I ever said that. Well, the record states that he certainly said he had a Furby. He had a Furby. Look, you can go back and listen to the podcast. I don't know what episode it was. I never said I wanted one. Our discussion was over which one had the – and Tickle Me Elmo changed the game. People lined up and ran over each other to get one of those things. Yeah. But then remember he said when he was a kid, it was like the biggest thing, trying to act like he's 21 years old. I was already a full adult when Tickle Me Elmo came out. Yes, you were. But I'm still disappointed that Cookie Cato didn't line up to get me one of those. Yeah. It would have been a great investment. It's never too late. Elmo's back up. He's a finalist this year, I'll tell you that. Is there a different version, like a massage me Elmo or a scratch my back Elmo? I'm out. Very demanding Elmo. Oh, wow. Okay, very good. That's coming up at the end. All right, thank you, BK. We'll catch up with you momentarily. If you are listening and you want to watch, you can go to fox13news.com slash nodpod. And if you're watching and you want to listen, you could. Subscribe, take out your phone, zap that QR code on the screen, and it'll take you to our show page. Feel free to leave comments on our YouTube channel. You can leave a rating on iTunes, but only five stars are accepted. Please subscribe, fox13news.com slash nodpod. All right, so because we're going so NFL-heavy on this program, courtesy of the Sage, I figured let's get into college football because, man, we are in the thick of things, and I feel like the picture is kind of... We're reaching a point, and I spent way too much time this week kind of mapping out how this thing's going to go. And, you know, I have my own opinion on things. Obviously, I looked at it through an Oregon Ducks perspective. It does not look good. It does not look good. I knew it didn't look good, but people kept saying, oh, you never know, it just went out, just went out. And then I looked at the bigger picture, and I said, no, no, it doesn't. I still disagree with you. Doc, it's not good. Pull the plug. Alright, so we're going to play a little game as we kind of dive into some of these topics in college football. It's overreaction or on point. Overreaction or on point. Am I making a statement that is an overreaction or am I making a statement that is accurate? As the kids would say, on point. I mean, I'll chime in a little bit, but yeah, I want you to be the main responder here. I have the final say. Alright, here we go. First statement. The clear-cut number one team in college football right now, here in week 11, is Georgia. Is that overreaction or on point? You're on point. Yeah. They did lose to Auburn. I don't know how. I still don't know how that happened. Three turnovers, but I still don't know how it happened. Yeah. They are the most consistent. And on both sides of the ball. And we've seen so many Jacqueline Hyde moments from these other contenders. And Georgia has had the one. But I think when they are focused, and probably the worst thing for the rest of college football was them losing Auburn, they are the most complete. I think every team is prone to a one-week letdown, you know, at the very least. And I think that their response following that Auburn loss has been very good. Dominant wins against Florida and Who was it? Ole Miss. And I think that kind of woke them from their stupor, so I would agree. That's on point. All right, UCLA and Utah, they are the two unbeaten teams in the top 25 right now, but they don't have a very good strength of schedule. That means they've played. The softer side of things like Charmin, they'll go one and done in the playoff. One and done for Utah and UCLA. I would have to go overreaction on that one because you're giving me two teams there. Uh, where I think that if they both make it at least one of them and it will depend on matchup, but you're going, you're playing a punchy team, probably a powerful team that wins the first round game. Maybe, maybe they were the home team. So I think you're going to face a tough team there. You will second round, but, and UCLA would too, but you're giving me two cracks at the egg there with two, both of those teams. I would say that that is an overreaction. I think it's an on-point statement. Utah's best win is BYU probably, right? Mm-hmm. In that game, I mean, BYU threw four picks. They were, like, penalized, like, 11 times. They did help the Utes a lot. That catch by Miami tight end Elijah Lofton last week, very controversial, by the way, that would have tied the game. It was a horrible call, and it was clearly a touchdown. Overreaction, because this is, I have to do a caveat here, I agree with fans that say that is ridiculous. I know when my eyes tell me it's a catch, it's a catch. I'm right there with you, but it's an overreaction in your statement because it was actually the correct call based on the rule. So bad rule, but correct call. That is correct. No, you were right on point there. I mean, I just think, like, some of these rules, it's like you just have to see it. You have to see it. You try to make a black and white rule, and it's like, well, but, yeah, that was a catch. He did catch it. I know what a catch looks like. And he got two feet in. But, yeah, so in that situation, it wasn't a fall to the ground, but it was a catch two feet, and he secured it, and then the defender knocked it out. Yeah. All right, so catch or no catch, here's my next statement. Doesn't matter because both Miami and Notre Dame are locks for the playoffs. On point. On point. That's the most on point thing you've said, I believe. I mean, Notre Dame, clearly a lock, right? What do they have left? SMU? Well, they do. I mean, yeah. They have a loss. They have a loss. But they have. BYU, who's, you know, considered a decent team. Yeah. Maybe they shouldn't be. And now they've got a win. They finally got a signature win. SMU and Syracuse. That's Notre Dame's red. BC, yeah. SMU. And so SMU could be the feisty one there. I feel like they're a lock. Probably, yeah. They could get in with two losses, depending on how things shake out with these other teams that have two losses now. And then you've got Miami, who? Duke, Virginia Tech, BC. Okay, Duke could be. Duke will put up a fight. Virginia Tech, I think they're tapping out. And BC is, again, a gimme. And then you've got probably the ACC championship game. So even if they pick up a second loss, they're in. I think those two are locks. Yeah, I agree. All right, the Big Ten has taken a massive step back this year and will only get two teams into the playoffs. Two teams into the playoffs. Oh, could you imagine the vitriol. After all this. After all this. Yeah. I'm going to say. I look at the standings. Part of your statement is on point, the massive step back. But the part I disagree with, where I will say overreaction, is getting only two teams in. Okay. So right now, your clear cuts are UCLA and probably Indiana. Yes. All right, so you have to do some Elmo tickling to make sure that next one gets in. If anyone can do it. It's you. I don't think you do. I don't think you do, Scott. Because you're going to have, look, first of all, let's admit the political part of this. The Big Ten is one of the two big boys at the table. It's getting at least three teams in. There's no written rule, but there is a rule that that's the minimum for them or the SEC, okay? And secondly. If you've got, tell me, two conference losses for Oregon and two for Ohio State, but I think Ohio State's goose is more cooked than Oregon's. Thank If Oregon gets to the conference championship game, even if they lose a close one, they're not going to penalize you for losing your conference championship game. But then you also have teams like Iowa that still only have two losses. Uh, you've got USC who will probably flounder this weekend, but they only have two losses. So I think you're getting at least three. you. Well, USC has got a tough road. They got Indiana and UCLA out of their last three games. So I think, I think if the, if USC wins out there in, yeah, uh, I don't think they're going to win out. I think that that's, that's a tough one to do. Um, and as far as Oregon. I'm telling you, I know we talk about this every year and how the conference championship loss should not matter because it's a bonus game. I cannot see them putting a four loss. Not a Big Ten winner in. I think they take the next best team. So, for Oregon, they have three losses right now. They don't care about conference losses. Well, then they would say that, you know, what if Iowa's sitting there with two losses and doesn't play? That's the team I'm saying keep an eye on. I think Iowa is the sneaky team in the Big Ten, and I agree that the statement is in. An overreaction, and I think it's going to be mostly political. What does Iowa have left? Purdue. They have Purdue, Illinois, Nebraska. I think they could win out. Yeah, I think they will. And then you've got Iowa sitting there with two losses on the season. I think they may be that third team. Okay. Ole Miss has Oklahoma, Wofford. Where's it, Wofford? Wofford. Spartanburg, South Carolina. And Mississippi State to close out the season. Did you hear me? Oklahoma, Wofford, Mississippi State. It should be win, win, win, right? Right? Ah! At Oklahoma? I don't know. Have you seen Jason Witten's calling plays now? Did you see what they did to Florida last weekend? Okay. All right. Well, let's just say. But with three losses already, you could stick a fork in them. Ole Miss done. With three losses already, can you stick a fork in them? That is on point, and here's why. Two of the three losses were ugly blowouts. Georgia just decimated them. But it is Georgia, and if you're going to give them the respect that you gave them off the top of this segment. Well, that's fine if that happens. Okay, if that happens to Georgia, okay. But then that also happened to Florida, and Florida's star has fallen mightily since they beat Ole Miss 52-28. And with this being said, I also consider that there are so many SEC teams right now with two losses that don't have a third loss yet that have a better resume than Ole Miss. But some of those, let's just look down the road. Okay. Because some of those teams are going to get hit with a third loss. And then if Ole Miss wins out, do you not look a little bit better? I mean, they do have good wins over LSU and Mizzou. Yes. I don't know. I'm not willing to stick a fork in them yet. Well, you're saying what Pete Golding is probably preaching to the world right now. But I got to think just the way they lost. Georgia looked so bad and then Florida. And I think that when it comes down, I know you shouldn't be punished for your losses, but your wins. But sometimes if your loss is a bit disgusting, they got to take a look at that. All right, the Big 12 has five teams right now in the top 25. That's the Big 12 with five teams in the top 25. But there is no way that the committee allows more than two into the playoff. So, again, kind of a political in nature bent here, but your thought. My thought is, boy, what if we had a 24-team playoff and then we could just get all these teams in, right? Expand it to 48, so Florida and Florida State have a shot. 24, but then you'd subtract every team, all 16 teams in the SEC. There's eight at large. I'm looking at Big 12 standings currently as we tape this. So you've got five teams are Utah, Tech, BYU, Houston, Arizona. You know, I worry for BYU, but even if they maintain two losses because the UCF loss won't look good. It won't. But they do have the best win. They had their Notre Dame. BYU's got that to hang their hats on as the Notre Dame win, and so they need to be big fighting Irish fans. Um, But I do think, and we go back to this small pool and these silly kind of unwritten rules, if you're going to have to shoehorn three Big Ten teams in, at least, and maybe five SEC teams, what does that look like? What does that leave you? You got a spot for the ACC for Miami, let's say that. But, you know, if Wake Forest does something special, you got to put them in too. And then you've got Notre Dame clogging up a spot, and then you've got the Boise State or New Mexico, whichever it is, from group of six. So I think Big 12's capped. I think you're on point with that. Yeah, I agree. All right, and the final one, the preseason number one and number two, Ohio State and Oregon, each currently, as mentioned, with three losses, even if we get to the last week of the season and they are on the playoff bubble and they don't lose another game down the stretch, they will not make it in. Because they have backup quarterbacks. Ah, the old, this is going back to the Florida State missing the four-team playoff because they had to put in some crummy backup instead of Jordan Travis. Well, again, this is a, I will say that is an overreaction. And that is because Dylan Raiola for Oregon. Now, it's an adventure. You don't know which weekend you're going to get good, Dylan Raiola, but they've gotten it a couple times. And so I think he is a guy who could win you a game. Now, he could lose you a game, but I think he's a guy that could win you a game. And if you're showing me Oregon Ducks that you, if you went out and now you've got, you know, a couple decent wins on the resume, especially if you do something crazy and win the big, okay, but your question was if you lose, if you lose the, you don't play. No, I just, I say. Even if they win out, they have three losses. If they win out, then you're winning the Big Ten Championship. No, not necessarily. Okay, if you win out, but you don't get in, all right. I will still say this, though, that that's an overreaction because I think they can find, again, political. They've got to find a way to put three Big Ten teams in. Oregon, to me, has some juice now, has some capital. I thought Lanning firing the OC, I don't know, but it looked really good last weekend, what I saw against Ohio State. And Ohio State's back up. He is not Dylan Raiola. He does not look great. I say overreaction to that. Maybe I should have reframed the statement because I'm looking at these now as bubble teams that are competing against other potential two to three loss teams in the SEC and maybe the team that didn't get in in the Big 12. And I do think it matters. I think that they would look at that and say, okay, this is not the best version of X team. I agree that they could use that as an excuse. They could. Yes. The committee being the day. It's an excuse, it's a justification, whatever you want to call it, for saying, yeah, but this is not Oregon with Dante Moore and this is not Julian Sayin for Ohio State. So, for those reasons, I'm out. Can I give you, I'll give you one. Yeah, give me one. Overreaction or on point, if Oregon does win out. And somehow weezles into the playoff. Dante Moore says, I'm back. I don't think so. It's concussion. He's in concussion protocol. I would love that. He's going to all the practices and doing all the team things. I mean, he's just waiting. He's waiting to see. I know he is. But at the same time, I think that would discredit him. And it would discredit his head coach. And it would create a rift. Oh, unless Rayola comes in and like there's some type of fracture and it's he's at the heart of it, then it's like easy to move on. But I can't see them doing that. Can you spin a narrative, though, that, hey, this this new play caller, boy, this offense looks a lot better. I want to go be a part of that. Yeah, I think it was silly to to rule out the season for him. But like, I don't know. I'm not his doctor. I'm not sure what's all. Anyway, I think we figured it out. All right, time to dive into our bye week discussion with none other than the sage of Tampa sports, Ira Kaufman, coming up on the Off Days Podcast. Welcome back to the Off Days Podcast. I think the last time we talked to our friend Ira Kaufman, I think it was, was it not? Or preseason, perhaps. Yeah, he was so full of hope and optimism. What do you say we check in on him now? I wonder how he's doing. Here's our discussion with the Sage. He is the sage of Tampa sports and, you know, probably has a dinner party to get to at some point here tonight. So we'll try to be as brief as possible, but we welcome in Ira Kaufman from Joe Bucks fan. Ira, great to see you. I'm sure Mrs. Kaufman has a list of honey do's for you to accomplish this week because it is the Bucks bye week after all. So I don't know if that's like, you know, got to pressure wash the sidewalk or fix that leaky flapper in the guest bathroom. But are we, are we being put to work this week? I'm not exactly known to be a handyman. For example, we still got a little water at the bottom of our hot tub from last year. Just a little bit of water. So I went out and I bought this. Wet, dry vac, you know, and I figure, yeah, this is easy. I open the box, there's 14 hoses, there's all kinds of attachments. I look at her, she looks at me. If we try to do this, that's a divorce. That's a divorce. I had to go scour the neighborhood. I got some guy coming over on the weekend to help us, Scott. We can't put a nail in the wall. I mean, that sounds like wisdom from a marriage that has been held together for 45 years now. By the way, congrats on the anniversary. Thanks. And Scott, I was going out the door yesterday to do our podcast on Joe Bucs fan. And my wife says, don't be harsh on those boys. Don't be harsh on the Bucs. And I walked out. The last thing I turned around and said to her, don't listen to this podcast. Don't listen to it because it's got three and six is three and six. No matter how you slice it. I kind of want to come back to the hot tub conversation. You and Mrs. Kaufman, we do the hot tub? I'm just thinking of, like, the Will Ferrell SNL skit where you're eating, like, lamb chops and turkey legs inside the hot tub, the hot tub. Well, we're doing that, and then the little Boston Terriers running around, little Cosmo, and he's digging his nails into the top of the hot tub. He's going to break this thing one day or another. But he won't jump in. He won't jump in the pool. He wants nothing to do with the pool. And some dogs just love it, right? They dive right in. Not this one. Well, we all have to know our limitations. So... Speaking of diving in, let's do it, Scott. Yeah, you know, so let's go Bucs honeydews on this bye week, right? So if you come out of this bye week, you roll into week 11, facing Detroit on the road. What is one thing here during the bye that you think this team really needs to drill down on and address? To me. So it's Chris Godwin. And here's why. A couple of years ago, before he got hurt in the middle of the season, he had 50 catches in seven games. He was leading the league in receptions. He looked like vintage Chris Godwin. Then he got hurt, came back last year. Still recuperating. Looked great this year, Scott, in training camp. Looked great. I expected a big, big year out of him. With Mike Evans' departure, I thought he would pick up the mantle, be the number one receiver, and prove that he is a number one receiver. And instead, what do I got, Scott, after nine games? I got a Emeka Egbuka. I don't know if you saw my Twitter tweet the other day. He's leading the Bucs with 284 receiving yards. That's after nine games. Scott, that ranks 80th. In the league, there's 79 guys ahead of him in receiving yards, and he's the top guy on the Bucs. Where's Godwin? You know, where's Egbuka? Hurst got benched after one snap on Sunday night. Are you kidding me? Scott, I'm playing Hurst. I don't care how many balls he drops. I'm not getting anything out of these other guys. Ted Johnson, you know, a gadget guy, caught a big pass, but he also dropped two, and McMillan's not around. This receiving core, you know, I don't want to make excuses for Mayfield, Scott, because when you really look at it, he hasn't played well for a calendar year. I'm pretty concerned about number six right now. And this was an area that I think if we have to be honest with ourselves on the reporting side of things that we missed because we thought. I'm speaking collectively. Maybe you can disagree with me here, but Mike leaves for San Francisco. He only played in eight games last year, had three and some change, 100-yard receiver on the season. We thought this is an area of surplus. They have talent here. They got Godwin. They have Egbuka, to your point. They have an up-and-coming Tez Johnson. They drafted the position in Hurst, and yet... None of those guys have really been the answer, and it makes me wonder if it's bigger than kind of the Johnnies and Joes here when it comes to the receiving woes that we're seeing so far this season. It looks like they miss McMillan a lot more than we thought, Scott. You know, I like McMillan. I think he's a good player. I think he's a number two, number three receiver, but a good one. And he looks a little injury-prone at this point. I don't know if I can slough off Mayfield's prolonged slump with the receiving core. Otten is kind of an okay tight end, nothing great. You know, does some things fairly well, but can't get downfield. I don't understand this Hurst thing. We don't see him in practice, Scott. He's probably not doing a good job in practice. He's probably dropping balls. Otherwise, I can't believe the guy gets one snap against the Bears. And they're wasting a lot of good defense, Scott. They're wasting. They remind me of Minnesota. Now, look, their defense isn't as good as Minnesota's because Minnesota's arguably the best in the league. But this is like a top-five defense right now. I mean, they made Caleb Williams look awful for three quarters. Awful. And he'd been a hot quarterback. So they're wasting, you know, and special teams. So, so I thought the bears were waiting around, waiting to get beat Scott for the final 40 minutes. Can you beat us? We don't want, we don't want this win. They had a 90 yard kickoff return wiped out by a penalty. They had a lot of penalties. They had some dropped balls. Williams looked terrible and the Bucs find a way. How can you get five takeaways and still at a partially blocked punt, Scott, and you walk away without a win. Hard to do. Yeah, it's extremely hard to do, but this seems like just, if there's one Achilles to this Bucs team all season long, it's been, like, there's a couple things, one or two things in each game that they just do horribly, and for whatever else you might say about how they played, and we've seen now every loss that they've had, it's been a one-score game, Ira, but Um, like they just, they don't afford themselves enough leeway to make those mistakes that other teams are maybe good enough to get away with. The Bears, uh, certainly have talent. Their defense is pretty good with Simmons up front. I thought they were pretty stout. Um, and, and Caleb Williams is a talented enough quarterback that I think he was, he was kind of daring the Bucs to step up and do something and making some, some. ill-advised throws along the way, but they don't have that luxury. And that's the kind of the confusing part, because you look at a team on paper that you, probably at the beginning of the season, you were probably with me. You think this is the Bucs division to lose. And yet. I think it all starts with the plays that are called and the comfort with the quarterback. I get the receiver issues, and you wish you had somebody that was just this dynamic threat that's always open, and maybe they just don't have that right now, or maybe they're just not healthy enough to perform at that level. Like, Baker has not been great. He's been partially injured this season. I don't know if he's dealing with something else right now. The play calling has kind of been suspect as well, and I don't think, I think it seems like Zach has kind of been learning a little bit about his offense on the job because it's obviously changed. I mean, they've become a run-heavy team. You know what bothers me the most, Scott, about the lack of a passing game? You just mentioned it. They've got a really good running back. I mean, Irving has been fantastic this season. I mean, the guy's probably going to finish like number three rusher in the league. And it's only because, you know, you've got guys like Robinson ahead of him and Gibbs. I mean, these guys are fantastic players. Irving's right there. So, Scott, when you have that as your foundation and a good offensive line, play action should be foundational. I mean, it should be ABCs. The linebackers are creeping up to stop Irving. There's got to be seams behind these guys. It's not like you don't have a running game, and they're daring you to throw. So that's not the case. Scott, you mentioned the division. I think this whole thing is about the division, and here's what I mean. If they were in the NFC North, you know, even the NFC East, because the Giants are 5-2-1, I think the Bucs would be big sellers this week. I think you'd be saying goodbye to Vita Vea, Godwin, maybe Winfield. I mean, who knows? But this division, you know, the ownership is looking. They're looking. They're looking. Falcons, Saints, are you kidding me? You know, Panthers. And we can win this thing with eight wins. And maybe they can get to eight wins. Maybe they can't. But, Scott, in the big picture of things, is that really what you want? You're supposed to be hunting championships. You know, they always make a first-round flameout. Is that good enough? It's not good enough for me. Well, look, and I, and I know that this has been discussed a lot within the last week or so that like, well, if you're, if you're buyers at the deadline, what are you buying really into? Like, do they really have a chance at winning the Super Bowl? But I, I just kind of push back on that thought process because what you want in competitive sports is just an opportunity, right? Don't you just want the opportunity regardless of throw the record out? You know, they've all got three wins right now. They have the opportunity, and to me, they've been, of a not great group of division teams, they've been the best of that group. I think they have the best upside. side. So. Who cares if you can make it all the way to the Super Bowl? Like, don't you want an entry into the dance to at least have an opportunity? That's why I think, like, use the trade deadline without leveraging too much. And I don't know what deals Jason Light is privy to, but don't you think they should have been buyers? Or do you come out on the other side that maybe Sal scrapped the year and we'll see you next time? I'm kind of with you on this, Scott. Now, look, I'm not giving up a first-round pick and trying to get Justin Jefferson. I'm not doing that. Maybe I even stay pat. I wouldn't be a seller. I'm with you. Don't be a seller. Because this division is awful. And as long as it's awful, I'm not going to be a seller. I'm with you. Are they a Super Bowl threat? No. I mean, let's be realistic, Scott. They're not. Unless Mayfield has an incredible renaissance. But, you know, I'm not getting out. Atlanta surprised me. They traded Jesse Bates. He's one of the best players, Scott. Arthur Blank's 84 years old. He's not getting any younger. He's giving up on the season. You know, that's the kind of message you're sending to the rest of the Falcons. I'm not ready to do that. I'm with you on that. But, Scott, one of these years, one of these NFC South teams, maybe it's New Orleans in a year or two, you know, it's going to be a 10-win team. You can't be down for this long. The Bucs have been very, very fortunate in this division. Very, very. This is like nine years in a row it's been a terrible division. I'm with you, Scott. I think I would just stand pat. You know, we're good enough. I think Jason Light feels he's got to be incredibly frustrated, Scott. I think his feeling is the roster's better than this. It's better than three and six. And one quick point, Scott, something that you said earlier. They don't win the close games, Scott. They don't win them. The three games they won, 16-0, then they beat up Carolina, and they beat up Dallas. But the close game, that Pittsburgh game. I keep looking back at Pittsburgh, 16th to 3 in the fourth quarter. I mean, it was Pittsburgh. All of a sudden, you know, they're the 80-83 Dolphins with Dan Marino. They lost that game. They had all the momentum, all the momentum Sunday night in the fourth quarter. They find a way to lose the game, Scott. Like you said, they don't make one play. It was the Colston-Loveland is open, you know, by 20 yards, and you lose the game. So, Scott, here's to back my point up. They're 3-6. And they've scored 24 more points than they've given up. They don't win the close game, Scott. In crunch time, they don't make the winning plays. We will take a quick timeout in our conversation with Ira Kaufman, but worry not because much more fun and frivolity coming up on the other side. We'll have you more, Scott. Welcome back to the Nautilus Podcast. He may not be a fan of shop vacs, but he certainly knows his way around one-buck place and has his pulse on the finger of this Bucs team at 3-6. Now more with our discussion with Ira Coffman. What's particularly frustrating is that you have, to your point earlier about this defense that has played exceptionally well, it's essentially everything that we thought about this team has been inverted as the season has played out. You thought you had a solid receiving core. You thought you had a lockdown offensive line, and you thought you'd have a gunslinger at quarterback. Instead, you don't have those things, and you have a running game. That is exceptional. You have a defense that is forcing turnovers like we've never seen before. And those are two elements that I think most teams in the NFL would say, give me that Bucs defense and give me the Bucs run game. And yet they're still not finding a way. So what's that key ingredient in those close losses that they can turn? Is it a confidence issue? Is it crunch time play calling? Is it like, is it? Just kind of waiting for the next, what's the next thing that's going to drop? I don't know. Part of it, Scott, part of it, and it's a great problem to have, but they rely too much on Chase McLaughlin. I mean, the guy's fabulous. He's absolutely fabulous. When he misses a kick, Scott, which he hasn't done this year, you and I are going to look at each other in the press box, if I ever see you in that press box, white guy, and we're going to say, did McLaughlin just miss a kick? We're going to be that shot. He's that good. Well, Scott, you've got to score touchdowns in this league. I think they got six touchdown passes in nine weeks. I mean, that's absurd, Scott. Absolutely absurd. The defense is forcing turnovers like 13 in the last three games. When have we ever seen a – this looks like the 0-2 Bucs, you know, and they don't have four Hall of Famers. Bowles has done a really good job on this defense. And because of that, Scott, if they can win this division, the odds are he's going to stay. The odds are he's going to save his job because that's his side of the ball. And what are they going to do, Scott? Go get another offensive coordinator next year. Next year. And I think Mayfield's the guy that picked Robinson. So I'm not letting Mayfield off the hook here. Yeah. I mean, so, yeah, that was obviously one of the big storylines going into the season was the survival rate of Todd Bowles. And so you're saying win the division, he's back in 27, regardless of whether that's eight wins. Nine wins. That would bother me, Scott, because my point is this. I don't know how you feel about it. I got to have a winning season if I'm ownership. I got to win nine games. Then, even if I don't make the playoffs, I can say we had a winning season. We were 0-4. We rallied. Eight and nine, Scott, even with a division title, that's two years in a row with a losing record. I'm not on board with that, Scott. I'd have to make a change at that point for me. Yeah. I mean, I get the argument, but I'm looking over the course of this season and saying, what exactly are we pinning on Todd Bowles? And he's not free from blame. I know that he always, the frustration a lot of times lies on the lack of aggression, like we saw at the end of the first half against the Bears and settling for three. But that kind of proved to be Probably a smarter play, right? I mean, you ended up beating those three. Maybe penalties, Scott. Penalties might be on the coaching staff a little bit, especially those offensive. But, like, even, like, these false starts on the offensive line, is that coaching? What is that? And you're getting some on your best player in Tristan Wirfs. Like, this is the stuff that it's head-scratching to me, and that makes me feel like. The components of a decent enough team to make a playoff run is still there, but there's just, I don't know if it's just confidence, if it's this mysterious momentum that we all search for in sports to capture some of that. But I look at the back half of their schedule and I think... There's an opportunity, you know, it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough in Detroit. You're saying what? Do you think five, six wins out of these last eight is doable? Would you, would you stick your 401k on it? Uh, well, uh, Scott, when it comes to retaining bowls, I, nine, nine's my, nine's my low ball. Nine. Gotta have nine. Eight, eight's not good enough. Can they do it? They're probably going to be three and seven. Probably. They'll, you know, they're going to be underdogs, you know, five point, five and a half point underdogs in Detroit. Uh, can't expect them to win that game. That's three and seven. Like you said. Can they go 6-1 in this team? You're right about the schedule. But, Scott, you and I said the same thing last year. We said after the bye week, and they were 6-2, hey, the schedule softens. This team might win 11 or 12 games. They won two out of the last nine. So, Scott, this is a prolonged slump now for Mayfield and for this football team. They're really testing the patience of Buck fans right now. Yeah, no doubt. I think that a lot of folks had, you know, maybe some buyer's remorse with the Baker contract. Yeah. And, and. You know, you let Mike go, and maybe there's some remorse that you didn't fight harder to keep him. Thank So it feels like, I feel like I'm watching that episode of Seinfeld with opposite George. You know, if every instinct I have is wrong, then the opposite of that must be right. What are you, a marine biologist over there? Yeah. That's a titleist. Yeah, so I think maybe that's what it is. you. It's like... I don't know. This Bucs team and this season has caused me to kind of really like. What? I don't know. I was on board for the Baker contract. I'm not going to be one that says like that was that was a horrible deal at the time. I thought, hey, that's the price of admission in the NFL. You have a seasoned quarterback. He's shown you good things. He is clearly a leader of men. And that is something that you want. And I looked at the roster and I said, I don't see a ton of holes. And if there's any question marks, it's on the defensive side. And yet those questions have really been answered. It's the things that I thought I knew. That I'm having to, like, ooh, okay. And so, I don't know. I guess I'm kind of like this, one of the very few hopeful voices that says, I don't think they're as far, I don't think they're as bad as the 3 and 6 record indicates. All And I think they're closer to turning things around than many people would lead you to believe. But maybe I'm just naive. Maybe I'm just naive. as good as the run game is, and it's been great, no question. right. It's still a passing league, and you've got to get chunk plays. By the way, I don't think they're using the running backs enough in the passing game. Gainwell caught 73 balls for Pittsburgh last year, and Irving, you know, a couple of years ago, was very, very effective as a target out of the backfield. And. Take the check down, Scott. Stay ahead of it, you know, with the running game. And, you know, remember what Brady used to do in New England with some of those running backs? The guy ended up with 90 catches. And it was very effective for Brady. So I'm worried about Mayfield, Scott. I'm worried, and I'll throw this up at you. And I hope you don't fall off your chair here. Suppose he doesn't play well down the stretch after the bye week. Suppose he doesn't. Now the draft comes along. Suppose they're 7-10. You know, they got the 11th pick in the draft. Suppose they really like a quarterback. I mean, is it inconceivable that they draft a quarterback at that point if Mayfield struggles again? Is it? No, and I think that you have to, at that point, you can't be looking through the lens of money, which is hard to do. But I think that you will lose. Lose. Your audience, so to speak, if you sit there and in your situation, you're painting, like, Baker's not good. Yes, you are indebted to him financially, but, like, you also can't simultaneously just be so stubborn about it that you miss on a potential generational talent at the position, even if it costs you financially. I think, and I would guess... Jason is, you know, he knows, he's a smart guy. He knows how to handle these situations. It would be super uncomfortable. Because then it's like, what do you do? And Baker's going to be immediately offended. But at the same time, look, you were willing to play hardball contractually with him. Like, if you bring in a young player and kind of put his feet to the fire and kind of turn it up, might you get a better version of Baker that's going to be competitive? And put yourself in a situation also where I don't feel beholden to start a rookie quarterback because that rarely goes well. Can you imagine how frustrated Godwin is right now, Scott Godwin? He must have thought he was going to have a big season. He's got a quarterback, big O-line. He's healthy. Scott, he's healthy. There's nothing wrong with Godwin except Zach Robinson. Thank I don't see him being utilized, Zach, on the slants, over the middle. We know what this guy can do in the middle of the field. I just don't see it, Scott. you I don't understand. This terrible passing game, considering they got a heck of a running game. very It's really troubling. You know, I sense your frustration level rising throughout the course of this conversation. much. So I would suggest that you start to fill that hot tub up, get that thing, you know, turn it up to 11 and relax the rest of the afternoon. Hop in there with the misses. Next time I'm on, I'm going to look like a prune. Scott, you don't mind. You don't care. You don't care about me. You got time. You got time to de-prune. I mean, we're on a bye week, my friend. We appreciate the conversation. As always, it's always great to catch up with the Sage. And, yeah, I will be catching up with you in a press box very soon. Okay. I'll leave you with this. Yeah. If they were in another division, they'd be selling off pieces right now. Well, thank God for the NFC South, Ira. Thank God for the NFC South. There you go. Ah, yes. Oh, optimism. It springs eternal when I talk to the sage. Overflow is just like the waters in the hot tub. Or sometimes not. All right, coming up on the other side, it's time to get into the latest toy discussion, the Toy Hall of Fame. Apparently, we missed it on our radar. We had something that was more, you know, relevant at the time. I don't think so. Anyway, BK's back with us, our fun block on the other side. It's beginning to look a lot like... We've got a Christmas tree in the studio. How did that thing get in here? I don't know. We've been doing this whole show, and we didn't realize there's a Christmas tree off to our right. Oh, look, we got a shot of it. That's wonderful. It's in a dark corner. We put some lights on that thing. Rochelle's doing overtime work over here. All right, so it's the Toy Hall of Fame. Toy Hall of Fame. What I'm going to do is give you the finalists, and you tell me whether or not they got in. You ready? Yeah. Rolling. First one. Bingo! Did Bingo make it into the Hall of Fame, yes or no? What kid is... Kids don't play bingo. That's for our, you know, more aged citizens. You know, big bingo nights down at the hall. Yeah, I gotta say no. I mean, I don't even think this thing should be considered a toy. Clearly this is a first ballot, because we haven't heard of it before. No, yeah. We would have covered that. I don't think Bingo's a first ballot. You're out, Bingo. Bingo is in. First ballot, Hall of Famer. Congratulations. It's been a long time. How about this? This game, Sorry. Oh, I like Sorry. I love this game. It's still fun. Play it today. I really love to, like, needle the people I'm playing with. It's shocking. And so I'll call it, I'll call it Sorry. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. And then when your little piece bumps him out of the way, you say, sorry. And it's just like, oh, they just want to strangle me. That makes me love the game. Yeah, I love Sorry. It's a fun game. I can't believe it's not in the Toy Hall of Fame already. Let's put it in. It is not in. Still did not make the cut this year. Should have said sorry. Oh, I should have. Sorry. Are we? That would annoy a boy. You don't want to play Sorry, Wes. Hey, look who it is. There it is. Tickle Me Elmo, did it make it this year or not? I thought it already made it. No, it did not make it. That was despite Chris's best efforts. I beat it so hard. Again, super creepy toy. Like, I don't think the Toy Hall of Fame has room for the creepy toys. This was the first toy to go viral back when there was no social media. Do you remember this? How much money is generated for Tyco? People were, like, fighting in the store. They were murdering each other for this thing. It's got to be in the Hall of Fame. Tickle Me Elmo was shut out once again. And yes. Who is on this committee? I don't know. I guess they don't, it doesn't matter how much money a toy makes, right? That's clearly not what they're considering. No. I love that we've simply come down to anti-Tickle Me Elmo and pro-Tickle Me Elmo on panel here. Yeah. Well, look. There's nobody that lobbies harder for Tickle Me Elmo than Chris Cato. What do you think? That's a good class, right? It's pretty good. It's not a complete class without Tickle Me in there, though. Yeah. Seems empty. Good job, guys. I'll go to my grave for lobbying for that annoying toy to get in the Hall of Fame. And once you go to your grave, you will finally not be ticklish. I'll be buried with Elmo. I hope. Sorry. How are we? Sorry for that discussion, everybody. All right. Much thanks to our guests this week, the great sage of Tampa sports, Ira Kaufman. And great job by everybody here at Nod Pod Headquarters. Rochelle, she got that wonderful shot earlier if you were watching. She put the lights on the tree, too. Oh, she turned the lights on. Now she's got to get another shot of it. This is wonderful. And much thanks. Look at it in that dark end of the studio. Sad little corner we put it in. I love it. Christmas can't get here soon enough. Everybody get your trees out. Time to get it done. For BK and Chris. Oh, and Chris with a K on the ones and twos tonight. The green dot. I am Scott with the green dot. I'm Scott. Until the next time we're on, there are no pumpkins.