NFL Playoff Team as COVID-19 Characters

NFL Playoff Teams as characters from COVID-19 (Past Pods were based on Game of Thrones Characters, Star Wars Characters and Always Sunny in Philadelphia Characters)

possibly our 5th annual? Definitely our 4th annual!

This is the widest choice spectrum in our 5 year history of this podcast — but, I still think we’ll pick 3 teams as the same thing from COVID-19

Zoom, Kobe Bryant (the only thing before COVID and a Harbinger of things to come), Unemployment/ Stimulus, Masks, Social Justice/BLM, Tok Tok/ Ocean Spray Guy on the skateboard, Election (Biden/Trump), Vaccine

Tiger King - Carol Baskin, Joe Exotic

The Last Dance

Karen’s Unhinged

Anthony Fauci

AFC: 1 Kansas City Chiefs (Bye), 2 Bills vs 7 Colts, 3 Steelers vs. 6 Browns, 4 Titans vs 5 Ravens

NFC: 1 Packers (Bye), 2 Saints vs 7 Bears, 3 Seahawks vs 6 Rams, 4 Wash Football Team vs 5 Buccaneers

NFC Teams

Packers are “the last Dance” — Rodgers “took it personally”

Saints — Roy Jones Junior from the 50+ Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones exhibition. Shadow of their best days because they’ve taken so many haymakers over the years, that it’s bound to end badly again

Bears — Rudy Guiliani’s press conference live from the Four Season’s Landscaping — you think it’s a good thing the Bears are in the playoffs, but really it’s more of an embarrassment to all almost everybody involved

Seahawks are Carol Baskin (started COVID as a potential mastermind and murder) — by November has faded from the MVP of COVID times like Russell Wilson has faded in the MVP Race

Rams are “Murder Hornets” — They are Hugh Grant’s character from HBO’s “The Undoing” with our friend Nicole Kidman. As much as they tried to make Jonathan aka Hugh Grant not seem like the murder… it’s been pretty obvious that despite best efforts that the Rams are guilty of being a tier below a true title contender

Washington Football Team — are the $600 Stimulus checks — Alex Smith is a feel good story but it’s nowhere close to enough to make anything meaningful happen

Buccaneers - "Aliens are Real” - Brady at 43 on a different team is strange. After a day or two everybody said “meh” and then like 5 months later a retired and credible Israeli Govt Official reiterates that “no seriously Aliens are real”… and then Tom Brady and his team rip off six wins in a row, because he’s an alien and what do Aliens have (the best weapons). Ipso Facto: TB12 is an Alien

AFC Teams

KC Chiefs are Fortune 100 companies and Airline Industry — they’ve always got enough juice to get bailed out - and they’re gonna keep winning because they are the 1%

Bills are the Lt Governor of PA John Federman (sp?)— things were looking ugly and then they just came in to drop the hammer, save the day, and flip the script on the AFC and potentially the whole League

Colts (Mike Tyson from the Mike Tyson Fight) - Been years since we’ve taken him serious. We question why we continue to watch Philip Rivers but as things have marched on your eyes keep telling you — he’s kinda still got it. (Shoutout to Frank Reich the true genius behind the Eagles’ Super Bowl Title

Steelers — Joe Exotic — started out ON ABSOLUTE Fire and by the end it’s pretty clear that they aren’t who we thought they were and they are not coming out of this as the winner.

Browns — They are the convergence of Jupiter and Saturn — it’s the first time in 450 years since they made the playoffs, but we’re all happy to see them briefly

Ravens — Lance Armstrong Documentary — they will never apologize for who they are, despite being flawed. Not implying that they cheat… and honestly that part of Lance Armstrong isn’t applicable. But the Ravens if they play a perfect game on offense can easily win and it won’t even be close — like Lance back in the day

Titans — they are the NBA Bubble’s eastern conference number 5 seed, the Miami Heat… They literally have to “out tough you” to win. And they likely can hang around - unless their opponent plays at their absolute best

Wildcard Card Round Picks

Saints vs Bears (this game will be way too close for Saints but they’ll eek it out)

Seahawks vs Rams (could see either team winning close or Seahawks in a blowout — going with Seahawks Close

WFT vs Bucs — I think Bucs get it done

Bills vs Colts — The Bills seem like a touch too talented to get beat in round 1 — but Colts might make them earn it

Steelers vs Browns — division rivals could go either way — I’ll go Browns in the upset

Ravens vs Titans — rematch of last year. Last Year the Ravens were the Rocketship and the Titans found a way — I think the Ravens pay the favor back this time, but that means Lamar plays his first great playoff game. If he can’t do that — Titans take it

Who’s your final four, who’s going to Super Bowl 55 and who’s gonna win this thing?

With no fans in the stands in most of these stadium — this is the hardest season of trying to pick these games — plus 2 extra teams qualified for the first time.

I’ll go with Chiefs hosting Bills in AFC Title Game.

NFC Title game is going to have at least one lower seed I’ll try Packers hosting Seahawks - but only because I have zero faith in the Saints. (Rams, Bucs, Seahawks could all go on a real run).

Packers vs. Bills - Super Bowl

Packers to win it… but let’s make it clear — Packers, Bills, Chiefs, Ravens, Rams, Bucs, Seahawks could all win this thing — 7 of the 14 teams could get this thing done.

Christmas comes to Baltimore Ravens early

Christmas comes to Baltimore early - The Ravens could be a juggernaut

Places listening

Australia, Philippines, UK, Angola, Germany, Spain, Tunisia and Fiji

Walpole, MA. Chicago, Waxhaw, NC Philly, NYC, Irving, TX, Rockaway Park, Miami, Zulpich Germany / Luanda Angola, Heatley Australia

How Badly have the Patriots WR corps fallen since the Antonio Brown experiment ended?

How much did the loss to the Ravens matter (relative to the rest of the season)?

Are the Baltimore Ravens peaking too early or are they simply a juggernaut?

How much do the Pats need the win against the Eagles?



Best Man Speech Podcast (Ep3) - plus taking the MARTA with Urban Meyer at Super Bowl 53

Tony Frangie - living the dream at Super Bowl 53 plus Best man Podcast 

Start with how you acquired the tickets

Urban Meyer on the MARTA

The reemergence of Todd Flaman 

What were the highlights of pre-Super Bowl?

What were the highlights of the Super Bowl itself and Mercedes-Benz Arena? 

Highlights of Post-Super Bowl?

How was the ride back to Charlotte and Flight back to Boston? 

Did you go to Parade?

Best Man Story — your brother did what on the lawn? 

Started a band at age 40

People and teams the patriots usually avoid en route to Super Bowl titles 

Tom Coughlin - obvious!  plus Jags almost winning AFC threw wrench in Pats mojo before SB 52

Eli Manning - obvious 

Peyton Manning - On way to Super Bowl 50 and 48 with Denver and super bowl 41 with Colts 

The Ravens - bounced pats a couple times 

The Broncos in Denver - even before Peyton got there 

Game of Thrones as 2019 NFL Playoff Teams PART 2 Podcast

Filibuster Freestyle’s 4th annual NFL Playoff teams as Game of Thrones Characters is here and these are the Part 2 podcast notes:

LA Chargers  - Daenerys Targaryen (while she was still in Meereen) - Essentially displaced/ homeless and they have to go east if they want to “go west” aka win the title. Her Dragons were young, the cards were stacked against her, she wasn’t even beloved in her home town, she had to leave her home town due to a lack of support. The chargers have had terrible luck with Kickers, people question their QB and coach a lot, but there is potential for greatness. They’ve won on the road despite  history of not doing so. Nobody is sure how much trust to put in the Chargers, but no one seems to want to face them, and no one seems to hate them.

Baltimore Ravens (House Stark after killing Little Finger) - The Ravens seemed to be left for dead with Joe Flacco at the helm. There was talk of John Harbaugh not coming back, enter Lamar Jackson at QB and everything has changed. The Ravens seem to find a way to win ugly and/or survive to fight another day. Jon Snow at Hardhome, John Snow when he was saved by Uncle Benjen stark after the Night’s Kings killed Viserion the Dragons.) Now House Stark has Bran reunited with Arya and Sansa, and their slitting little fingers’ throats, they killed Ramsay Bolton with his own Dogs, they are poised to recover from certain defeat. 

Philadelphia Eagles - Welp this is a story about the ability to hang on to power when all seems lost. Nick Foles is the “wildfire”. This is Cersei Lannister using Wildfire with Maester Qyburn and blowing up all of her enemies at once in the Sept. The eagles were having the classic super bowl hangover. Everybody was coming for them and coming for them hard. They seemed to have painted themselves into a corner with no plausible escape… and then the ineffective Carson Wentz is “injured” and they insert Nick Foles. Nick Foles is the Wildfire. He allows for an inexplicable change of momentum, just like Cersei’s stunt at Great Sept of Baelor.

Chicago Bears - Night’s King Army and Khalil Mack is the ice dragon, Viserion. They were going to be tough to defeat, but they were outgunned in terms of game changing dragons, and then Jon Gruden gifted the Bears an asset who takes them to another level. 

New England Patriots - The Patriots have always been featured as somebody like Tyrion Lannister or the Night’s King. But I think this year’s Patriots are Jamie Lannister at the battle in Season 6 or 7 with Sam Tarly’s dad and Dickon Tarly. When Dany had three Dragons, and only a heroic move by Bronn saved jamie from being burned alive. The patriots are a shadow of their former selves, as is the 1 handed Jamie, and they are out gunned. But, they are wiley, so there’s a small chance they survive, but not because they are the best team. 

Kansas City Chiefs - Missing Karim Hunt really changed things a bit for the Chiefs —so this was my toughest team to provide a game of thrones character. But here it is… This whole tale started after a young Robert Baratheon struck down Rhaegar Targaryen at the Trident (and then Jamie Lannister killed Aerys the 2nd (the Mad king). If the Chiefs win the super bowl, they are young Robert Baratheon and if they get knocked off, they are Rhaegar Targaryen. And the beauty of this comparison — Rhaegar is actually Jon Snow’s dad. And I’m convinced that Patrick Mahomes will lift the Lombardi Trophy one day, if not this year… just as Rhaegar lost the battle of the Trident, but “won the war” by conceiving Jon with Lyanna Stark. 

LA Rams - Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper of Dorne — The NFL Season is long and drought with peril — The Rams came out of the gates like Oberyn Martell against the mountain and seemed destined for the Super Bowl but, after the past month, I’m increasing concerned that one of these NFC defenses might squish their heads like a Giant Grape. (Fake band name of the week, “Giant Grape”)

New Orleans Saints - The Unsullied. The saints seem to have all the weapons and the home fortress to defend. They might be a little one dimensional, but at the end of the day, if they can play their game on their home turf in the style in which they’re accustomed, aka no gimmick football - they’ve got a it handled. 

Merry Christmas Podcast / Happy Holiday - 2018 podcast from the Filibuster Freestyle

New Podcast drinking game. Any time there’s a random “dog bark”, or police siren, or freight train horn, or most notably an uninvited guest offering peanut gallery comments, etc — the listeners drink. We’re calling it, “More inebriated than you want”

Fake band name - faux pax - “Jackie Onassis’ corpse” 

Fake band name of the week for realzzzzies: “Fat third basemen”

Patriots update week 16 - their D is good - but Brady and Gronk are backsliding hard and fast.

The 2018 Patriots team has three outcomes for the post season:

1) They’ll ride a “Solid D” and “Ball Control Offense” to a Super Bowl title like the 2001 Pats.

2) They’ll somehow make the Super Bowl and get routed by a superior opponent like the 1985 and 1997 Pats.

3) They’ll lose in the first round like the 2005 and 2010 Pats — signs point to Door Number 3.

Very outlandish Ravens / Eagles super bowl 53 prediction 

Is there a band that listens better while “partying”, but worse sober than Sublime? Maybe Pink Floyd?

Facebook is the worst rant = Mark Zuckerberg is Lex Author

Honestly - and we mentioned this on a pod post World Series... if Sox win every 5ish Years - that model works for me. They have the money to do that and unlike football (stud QB), basketball (two top 20 players) or hockey (great goalie and injury luck)... money and health are all that matter in baseball and while health is random only 4 teams have money in mlb 

Thirsty beaver pub hat story - next time