NFL Rants & Raves is your weekly dose of unfiltered football talk. Steven breaks down the games, the calls, and the storylines that had everyone yelling at their TV, and this season he goes head to head with Axis Iron, the AI challenger, in a season-long battle of NFL picks. Rants, raves, hot takes, and a scoreboard that never lies.
Episode 6.38 – Week 13 Preview
The guys are back to take a look at Week 13. No Professor Playoffs just yet, but we expect him to make a visit to the set soon as Steven allows him to come into the new studio. This week, Steven shares a new story about his youth as the guys do a usual tangent regarding ditching. Did you ever ditch?
Then the guys listen to Derek Anderson say "It's fine!" five times. The guys also discuss other NFL News, as James Harrison believes the NFL is targeting him with fines, the guys still believe that Cortland Finnegan was the problem with the fight but feel Andre Johnson got lucky that he is playing on NFL Network this week otherwise he might have gotten a suspension, and QB Brett Favre insists that he will retire after this season and maybe become a reporter. Whaaaatt?
The guys then look at all 16 games in Week 13 and make their picks while going up against this week's guest picker, Nacho! Nacho was not able to be on the show, because he was sleeping but his picks are up at www.NFLRandR.com for everyone to see. Steven makes Atlanta at Tampa Bay the challenge game this week. Steven has Atlanta while Jeff takes Tampa Bay.
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Episode 6.37 – Week 12 Recap
Jeff is back from No. Cal. and he has lots to say as the show goes for 2 hours and 34 minutes. The guys talk a little about Thanksgiving turkeys gone bad, football and picks. Jeff shares some stories of he and his son shooting guns while Steven was left to take care of Jeff's mom for Thanksgiving. The guys then focus on the NFL News with Andre Johnson and Cortland Finnegan getting fined $25,000 each but neither got a suspension, which leads Steven to ask, "What do you have to do to get suspended in the NFL?"
The guys talk about Spygate II and Josh McDaniels getting fined $50,000 for video taping that happened in London. Rex Ryan talks about HIS supermodel wife, take that Tom Brady! DeSean Jackson getting his "wittle feelers" hurt, and the up to the minute news as the guys learn that Frank Gore broke his hip and will be out for the rest of the year.
The guys finish up by talking about all 16 games. Steven and Jeff differed on 10 games, with Steven getting six correct and Jeff getting four. Not a failed attempt but not that successful either. Nipper did lose to Steven, but his fashion picks wound up beating Jeff so the next time Nipper comes on the show, he gets to use his fashion sense again. With the Packers losing to the Falcons, Jeff tied the Challenge Game picks at 6 each.
Episode 6.36 – Week 12 Preview
Jeff is away hunting turkeys this Thanksgiving, so the show's original co-host has come to fill in. Nipper Knapp joins Steven for this 360th episode to get you all ready for Week 12 in the NFL. Nipper talks about what he has been up to since leaving the show and says he feels like a little like Brian Dunkleman but is happy for the shows success. The guys talk about Steven being a part of Nipper's TV show creation, Gentrification.
The guys get right into NFL News and talk about the Vikings decision to fire head coach Brad Childress. Steven turns the book over to the "I Hate Brett Favre" side, while they both agree that it really is not all Brett's fault. The guys talk about the Jeff Fisher and Vince Young problems in Tennessee and Young's text apology to Fisher. Nipper simply calls Fisher, "mustache". They also discuss the Patriots as the empire, the lack of no elite team in the NFL, the guys give Phillip Rivers some love and the guys send their thoughts and prayers to Titans OC Mike Heimerdinger who is suffering from cancer and has left the team to undergo chemotherapy. We wish him all the best.
Finally the guys look at all 16 games in Week 12. Nipper employs a strange new technique for picking games and only differs on 4 games from Steven. The big news is that Steven and Jeff differ on an unprecedented 11 games. Emma just said, "Whhhhaaaattt!" Steven picks the Challenge Game this week and he picks the Green Bay at Atlanta game. Steven has the Packers while Jeff has the Falcons and just as a side note, Nipper takes the Packers too. But not sure Nipper's picks count!
Episode 6.35 – Week 11 Preview
Steven and Jeff get ready for the final push to the playoffs. Steven is still only playing at 70% but with Jeff going away for the Thanksgiving holidays, the guys needed to do another show this week. First they cover the NFL News and talk about Matt Schaub being hospitalized with a knee bursa sac problem, Tom Brady missing Wednesday practice again and the stupid drunken Browns fan that tackled an 8-year old kid after the Jets at Browns game. Really?
The guys then answer questions that you, the listeners, posted on Twitter and Facebook. This is the guys great idea to get you all involved. This weeks questions included stuff like, "Should Michael Vick be considered for MVP?", "What will the Eagles do with Vick and Kevin Kolb?", "Are the Rams a potential playoff team?" and "What are the early predictions on Jeff's new team for next year?" Plus many others. Make sure you check NFLRandR on Twitter and Facebook to get your questions in for the next show.
The guys spend the last hour going over their picks for all 16 games in Week 11 as the NFL says good-bye to byes. The guys differ on five games this week as Steven tries to catch up to Jeff. Steven goes out on a limb and takes the Houston Texans to upset the NY Jets, and Jeff quickly pounces on that game to make it the Challenge Game. You can't blame Jeff as he is two games back in the Challenge Game Score.
Episode 6.34 – Week 10 Recap
With Steven still battling the flu, the guys almost called off the show, but as Steven watched Michael Vick destroy the Redskins, he just had to give it a go. Yes, that is Steven doing the show, you just might not recognize his voice. The guys talk NFL News with Donovan McNabb getting a contract extension prior to the game starting. The guys came up with PTHHDD (Play the hot hand, dumb dumb) as Mike Singletary names Troy Smith the starter for 49ers and Tom Cable names Jason Campbell the starter for Oakland.
The guys talk about the crazy season continuing in the NFL as Jeff suffers his worse week yet managing 5 wins. Steven switched to Cleveland and Dallas and went 50/50 while Jeff's only change to Houston backfired because of a 50 yard Hail Mary pass that got answered for a TD in Jacksonville. Steven and Jeff discuss all the races in the NFL's eight divisions and they are all still up for grabs with 25 out of the 32 teams still having shot of winning the division.
The show ends as Steven is the Smartest Man Alive with his pick over of the 49ers over the Rams and just as his voice goes out the show comes to a close.
Episode 6.33 – Week 10 Preview
The guys have come off the bench to bring you the Week 10 Preview show. Steven and Jeff answer listener questions posted on Facebook. The guys discussed a certain team firing their head coach, Troy Polamalu wanting to get the players and coaches involved in deciding fines for illegal hits and Rams fans getting a little excited over their 4-4 team. The guys give an explanation of how the waiver wire works and discuss how player substitutions are handled in the NFL. They also discuss the spit that never was, young teams starting to get hot and they discuss the Chad problem in the state of Florida. Not hanging chads, but the Dolphins benching of Chad Henne in favor of Chad Pennington.
The guys briefly go over the Week 9 games. The three overtime games, with the Raiders stunning the Chiefs, the Cowboys getting destroyed by the Packers and Brett Favre throwing for the most passing yards ever in his career, when at 41-years young Favre throws for 446 yards. The Browns put a beat down on the Patriots and some how Phillip Rivers manages to throw 4 TD passes and 297 yards with all his offensive starters on the bench.
Finally the guys preview all 14 games in Week 10. The guys differ on only four games and it was going to be more until Steven decided to pick against the Cowboys for only the second time ever on the show. Of course, he did reserve the option to switch back to the Cowboys before the game kicks off. Jeff picks the Challenge Game this week and he goes with the Rams/49ers game. Jeff takes the Rams on the road while Steven picks the 49ers at home.
Episode 6.32 – Week 9 Preview
Steven and Jeff are back from London and have plenty of football to talk about. Hear how they tried to do a show from London, but after recording for 1 hour 20 minutes, the show was nowhere to be found. Blame Leeds. The guys share some stories from their London experience, like meeting Woody Paige, and why Paige now owns John Elway, meeting Lindsay Soto and talking about their "victory" lap around Wembley Stadium prior to the start of the Broncos/49ers game. Thanks and shout out to all the folks that stopped by to say Hi at the Leeds and London parties.
The guys still can't believe that Randy Moss has been waived by Minnesota and is now a Titan and Steven feels "Chilly" will be gone next year if he does not deliver a Super Bowl Championship this season. The guys also talk about the Bills getting Shawne Merriman off waivers and Steven believes that Chargers QB Philip Rivers should be the AFC Pro Bowl starting QB. Steven goes off on Shanny's decision to bench Donovan McNabb in favor of Rex Grossman in Washington's loss to Detroit, and the guys talk about more injury news in the NFL.
The guys finally get to making their Week 9 picks, and although Steven is nine games behind Jeff, the guys only differ on 3 games going into this weekend's matchups. One thing Steven is certain of, is that he makes the Giants at Seahawks the Challenge Game because he feels there is no way the Seahawks will be the Giants, even in Seattle.
Episode 6.31 – Week 6 Recap / Week 7 Preview
Steven has come out of the his 102 degree bye week and come to play and the guys take on both a quick recap of Week 6 and a preview of Week 7 together in one show. The guys discuss some of the fallout from some of the big hits from Week 6 and Jeff wants to know when he gets his steak! But first of LONDON, Baby! The guys share plans for London meet-up.
The guys talk NFL News as they discuss the $175,000 in fines dished out by the NFL to James Harrison, Brandon Meriweather and Dunta Robinson for their big hits, the Colts getting "ship all banged up" missing Dallas Clark, Austin Collie and Joseph Addai, the trade deadline, and Jeff does not buy James Harrison's narcissistic "woe is me, I'm going to retire" nonsense. The guys then briefly recap Week 6 before looking ahead to Week 7.
For the first time ever, the guys agree on all 14 games on the schedule. (of course, after the show, Steven changed two picks and informed Jeff to pick a challenge game) Steven moved off of Atlanta to Cincinnati and off of Pittsburgh to Miami and Jeff made Bengals at Falcons the Challange game. Steven has Cincinnati while Jeff has Atlanta.
Episode 6.30 – Week 6 Preview
All teams have now played a fourth of the season and the one thing the guys agree on is that this is a different kind of year. Steven and Jeff have some fun at talking about all the NFL news this week. First they take a look at the possibility of Brett Favre's streak of consecutive starts coming to end, and Steven says he would much rather have Favre and "Father Time" playing against the Cowboys this week.
The guys also discuss the following NFL news as Rex Ryan says he and not Darrelle Revis will make the decision on whether Revis play this weekend, Andy Reid not ruling out Michael Vick for Sunday's game, Tom Brady saying "No Mas, NO Moss!" to questions about the departed receiver, the Chargers finally pay LT Marcus McNeill a ton of cash and a report that the NFL stands to lose $1 billion if players are locked out in 2011. OUCH!
Finally the guys take a look at the 14 games coming up in Week 6. Steven and Jeff make a friendly wager on who will pick more games correctly this week as they differ on four games. Steven makes Jets at Broncos the challenge game, with Steven taking the Jets and Jeff taking the Broncos.
Episode 6.29 – Week 5 Recap
Week 5 is in the books, and the guys suffer their worst week of picks since the inception of the show. Jeff felt he needed to write an article to defend his picks this week, while Steven says, just move on and let's get to next week! The guys are joined by San Francisco 49ers insider Matt Maiocco of Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and quickly becomes the shows NFL BMOC Bay Area or the Cable Guy. Matt talks about the 49ers recent struggles, the bay area fans finally turning on QB Alex Smith and chanting for David Carr and Steven asks if Mike Singletary is on the hot seat. Follow Matt on Twitter @MaioccoCSN or on his blog at CSN Maiocco Blog.
The guys then take a look at the NFL News, where Steven once again says he would never trade with Bill Belichick and the Patriots, as the Patriots acquire WR Deion Branch from Seattle for a 4th round pick. Why would the Seahawks make that move right now? The guys talk about the latest surrounding Brett Favre and a report that surfaced from a website that he send inappropriate texts and lewd photos to Jets sideline reporter Jenn Sterger a few years back. Jeff questions Sterger's new stance while Steven questions the timing of this report. The guys also talk about all the injuries that hit the Packers this week, as Aaron Rodgers gets concussed and TE Jermichael Finley is out three to six weeks with a torn meniscus.
The guys end the show by going recapping the 14 games of Week 5, and admit that nobody really knows anything about this crazy, NFL season. The excitment comes from the uncertainty of which teams will step it up as the season progresses. Jeff is the smartest man alive as the Lions whip up on the Rams and Steven is left to lament his change of heart on Da Bears!



