NFL Season’s Biggest Surprises With Peter Schrager | The Bill Simmons Podcast

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Peter Schrager to discuss some of the biggest surprises of this NFL season. Then, Joe House joins to make their Million-Dollar Picks for NFL Week 12.

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48 comments

  4. See with the Bills most of big names that left were over the hill and not really contributing at a high level anymore. Hyde is not in the league, Poyer and Tre White are 2 of the lowest graded DBs in the league. Even Diggs was a shell of himself the 2nd half of last year. They had youth behind those guys developing for years. National ppl who dont follow them just didnt know their names

  15. I just smashed my phone in front of 30 guests at my party because of the lack of timestamps on this video. My wife just took our crying kids and said they’re all spending the week at a hotel. This man has ruined my life and my party. I can’t handle this anymore. Goodbye Bill Simmons. I am no longer a fan.

  26. The one positive aspect of being a Browns or Giants fan right now is knowing that a highly drafted QB or veteran stopgap will be automatic upgrades. Even if the draft pick doesn’t fully pan out or the vet doesn’t go on some Baker/Flacco type run….it will still be better than an awful QB you’re paying $40 million plus per year to. Watson has fallen from elite to historically bad and Jones was literally never good, even at his ‘22 peak. Deshaun wasted true greatness because he’s such a horrible person and Danny couldn’t parlay being a great person into being a good QB. Both disasters teach a common lesson. Use character assessment to EXCLUDE not to INCLUDE. You should never acquire a player because they’re a great guy but you should avoid truly bad guys no matter the talent. No intelligent, calibrated, competent team builder/evaluator would’ve drafted Jones 6th or traded 3 firsts/fully guaranteed deal for Deshaun. Both were obvious errors in the moment that huge numbers of people, fans, analysts, writers, broadcasters etc objected to as they happened. Both groups were unequivocally correct. Bad ownership is the common thread….Mara and Haslem are inept in different ways but they share these two tendencies, especially with respect to the QBs. They make major mistakes then compound that error by refusing to admit it. Every owner/GM makes mistakes and they’re all capable of major ones given enough time but the good ones realize it quickly and adjust. The moment you realize an error you move to correct it, no matter the cost. Broncos traded premium picks and a few players for Russ, then handed him a huge extension to pair him with new HC Nate Hackett. The trade, extension, and hire were all huge mistakes. What happened next? Took them less than one season to realize Hackett wasn’t the guy so they fired him, eating him whole contract, while paying huge money and draft pick compensation to bring in Sean Payton. Cost them well over $100 million plus a premium pick to solve that problem but they accomplished it in under a year. They weren’t afraid to move very quickly, spend even more money, and lose another pick to set it right. Then they allowed Russ to play another year to let an elite coach assess him and burn a year of $$, but benched him that same season once they knew he wouldn’t produce at the level they needed to avoid triggering further injury guarantees. After the season they cut him, which required them to eat $85 ish million in dead money over the next two seasons….again recognizing sunk cost and accepting whatever they must to correct it. Now with an elite defense and rookie QB Nix developing week after week under Payton the light is starting to appear at the end of the tunnel. One more season of dead $$$ to burn, another draft cycle, another year for Nix to improve….think where they could be in 18 months. The 2025 draft class, the 2025 season, tons of cap relief thereafter, the 2026 draft class all culminating in year 3 Nix with a far better team around him ready to do battle in a loaded west. Not there yet but it’s coming. All because an organization didn’t allow huge mistakes to ruin a decade.

  27. The Panthers gave CMC 17 million touches in 3 years leading up to the trade. I kinda expected him to be a declining player after all those touches; whether due to injury or the loss of a step.

  35. Thing I'm most shocked by is, this was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Buffalo. And the scary part is, it is a rebuilding year for Buffalo. And yet they are 9-2 at their bye week.

  36. "Buffalo being good is surprising" lmaoo. Its not if youve been paying literally any attention to the NFL for the last 5 years and didnt want to just crown the Jets as champs in the preseason. And.. "do you think they kept Kelce in the garage?" Bernard locked Kelce in the garage and threw away the key.

  41. Bad by you Billy…you were pumping jets as best without asterisk…you said they were afc East champs….now you are saying “But, I realized that…” No you did not. You said Fins and Pats were trash and now look at how you Malcolm Gladwell it…brutal.

  46. Biggest surprise to me is the Lions 9-1 Goff balling should be 2nd or 1st in MVP nobody talking bout Sam Dornald comeback player of the year yea Kirk balling off an torn Achilles but Sam was cut 3rd erbody wrote him off and Barkley OPY award and Quion Mitchell of the Eagles 🦅 DROY

  48. I think bill belichick is a great defensive coach, but I think there is reasonable concern regarding his drafting and staffing decisions. If he is demanding complete control, I would have some reservations.

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