Follow The Money | August 19, 2026 | Hour 3

**Mitch Moss** (0:02)
That's what I always say, you always follow the money.

**Pauly Howard** (0:11)
Thanks for checking in, watching the program as always on YouTube TV, listening series, XM Channel 158, iHeartRadio, TuneIn Radio, or any of our affiliates across the country. Big hour coming up, we'll get to tonight's Major League Baseball card. We'll get you our best bets at the back end of the show today. And right now we begin the hour by going out to the Progressive Guest Line and welcoming in professional sports better, Paul Bovi to the program. Where in the world is Mr. Bovi today?

**Paul Bovi** (0:38)
I'm in New York City, in Chelsea, to be specific. I just came from Saratoga. I had a nice Sunday and all is good. So we're ready to roll with some NFL.

**Pauly Howard** (0:50)
Very good. I love that.
I think I'm gonna make a trip to Saratoga next year for the first time, by the way.

**Paul Bovi** (0:57)
Oh, awesome place. You'll have a great time. Very festive town. Very opulent, so it will fit you well.
You'll have fun. You'll have fun.

**Pauly Howard** (1:10)
Let's get into your favorite win total at this point with the season now coming up in a few weeks of the NFL. Which team is it?

**Paul Bovi** (1:19)
I mentioned this on the show when I was pounding the table on the Knicks back in June. I'm sure you guys have covered it.
At the time, I leaned into the quarterback carousel of ineptitude of the Vikings this past year, and the fact that Brian Flores, Kevin O'Connell are back and that they won nine games last year despite this ineptitude. It can only be better with Kyle Murray, who put up decent numbers two years ago.

**Pauly Howard** (1:54)
So what have you done? Are we talking about eight and a half as a win total? Is that your standard play? Do you approach it from an out win total standpoint?
Tell us exactly why you love the team coming up with the season now rapidly approaching.

**Paul Bovi** (2:08)
All right. So I'm over eight and a half. I played them for the division. I think in addition to looking at the obvious, which is Max Brodner, Carson Wentz and JJ McCarthy, look at the numbers that they put up. Beyond that, you look at the offensive line, which many do not focus in on. That offensive line did not take the field together until week 12 and only once thereafter. O'Neill in and out of the line up, Dara Shore in and out of the line up. The only player that logged all 17 was Will Freese. Henceforth, 60 sacks allowed, only second to your Oakland, Las Vegas Raiders, who gave up 64
Touchdown to intercession ratio, 18 to 21
18 touchdowns, 21 interceptions. That was the worst in the league.
Even the Cleveland Browns were better with only two under 500 Yards per attempt, 4.9, fourth from the bottom. Yards per completion, 9.5, fourth from the bottom. So there's a lot of reasons why you would feel that the Vikings offense is going to be better. And I think it will be prolific this year. They got Jennings from the 49ers to complement that receiving corps. They got a running game, Jordan Mason, more than capable, running behind that offensive line, put up solid numbers. Not sure how much you're going to get out of Aaron Jones at this point. He is 31 years old, but he's still got something left in the tank. So there's a lot of reasons to feel that the Vikings could go over and should go over this eight and a half.

**SPEAKER_5** (4:09)
I am with you on that. Oh, sorry. Continue.

**Paul Bovi** (4:12)
Leaning into that, I think all three teams in this division have taken a step back. And that's part of my reasoning as well.
Okay.

**SPEAKER_5** (4:24)
I also am with you with the over and to tie it in with the roster, because there was no rapport or chemistry with McCarthy and Jefferson. I'm sure you're expecting big things out of Jefferson after he was ticked off how things went. He still somehow had a thousand yards last year, but only had two touchdowns. So he could be in for a loss.

**Paul Bovi** (4:45)
It's a total miracle, Paul. The fact that he went over a thousand yards. Now, there's one thing I do want to point out with the Vikings. The only concern I have is a little bit on defense because they did lose several players, Hargrave, Allen and Jonathan Greenard.
And those three collectively, 177 tackles and 10 sacks.
So I think they're going to be better on offense, but they have some unproven players to replace those three on defense. And that would be my only concern. But as far as Jefferson goes, yeah, Jefferson entered the league first year 1,400 yards, and every full season, he's put up monster numbers, 1,500, 1,600. So I played him over 1,150 yards, which to me is a no-brainer. That's 68 yards per game. When you bet these futures on running backs, on receivers, they're going to make it more often than not if they stay healthy. You're betting on the health of the player. You get 17 games out of them, you'll probably go over 65% of the time.