Guess the Lines Week 1, Plus Favorite NFL Futures With Cousin Sal

Bill Simmons (0:00)

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Ask 10 football fans what to do on 4th Down, you'll get 10 opinions. And somehow, every fan watching from their couch is absolutely certain they would have made the right call. That's because every situation is different, and State Farm believes insurance should be too. You get to know your needs and help your personalized coverage, create a personal price plan to help fit your life and budget today like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

The Bill Simmons Podcast is presented by FanDuel. The NFL is here and it's the most rewarding season ever on FanDuel with the all-time FanDuel Rewards Club. Every eligible bet can earn you points. Win or lose, you still get points. The more points, the bigger the rewards you can unlock. Head to fanduel.com/bs to start earning with FanDuel Rewards Club. 21 plus select states are 18 plus DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Game problem call 1-800-GAMBAR. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut.

We're back, baby.

Year 20, Guess the Lines. I'm Bill Simmons, that's Cousin Sal. Just want to mention four podcasts from me this week. We got Sunday Night, Right Now, Live on Netflix. Got I'm Going to Do Something Tuesday Morning, and then Wednesday and Thursday, I'm going to be live after both games. So a big four spot, and then you're going to be on the Ringer Gambling Show, now called Ringer Wise Guys. We'll be live on Twitch. We have a whole plan for the big Friday weekend show. The games are starting. Do you like this Wednesday, Thursday thing?

Cousin Sal (2:05)

Three days? I kind of do. I like it. It's three days. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we waited long enough. Eight months of soccer and horseshit basketball. No offense.

We're good. Yeah, man. Three days. Very excited. And this is an emergency podcast because Roger Goodell got extended, right? That's what this is.

Bill Simmons (2:21)

He got extended over Christian Gonzalez.

I have no idea if I'm going to have my corner back for the Seattle game. So and then we have our fantasy draft on Tuesday, too. So we got games Wednesday night, game Thursday night, all kinds of stuff to talk about. We have an action packed plan for this, by the way. We're new Guess the Lines first. And then afterwards, we're going to have our annual futures draft, which we usually do closer to the AFC, NFC thing. But the season, I can't remember it ever starting this late. I know there are reasons for that with the calendar, but we're new Guess the Lines first.

Cousin Sal (2:55)

Shame on the powers that be. Don't ever start it this late again. Like we're ready in July. Well, our research is done.

Bill Simmons (3:02)

I really felt ready this week. Like I was ready to get going, but I know with the Labor Day, I was watching college football. I watched college football all day yesterday. UCLA 1-0, dramatic.

Pulled away from Cal in the second half at Cal. That was fun. The Michigan game. Before we do Guess the Lines, what was your take on the Michigan game and did you lose money?

Cousin Sal (3:22)

No, I didn't lose money, but my take is, okay, a couple of things.

One, a Hail Mary should never be completed. It should be like one in 100, not one in 10

Play some Def and Defense. That's my big takeaway. Secondly, can we get the stadium clock with the official clock to sync up? You and I, if we put our iPhones on a desk, it's going to go to eight o'clock at the exact same time, even though if you're AT&T and on the Verizon or you got your phone wherever, and I got my, why can't we get that to sync up? And then all this nonsense goes away.

Bill Simmons (3:57)

And Michigan's not that good is the other takeaway, right? Like Western Michigan really took it to them, because that's one of the tough games that in UCLA schedule is they have to go to Michigan. And then after you watched that yesterday, it's like, ah, they're feeling less scared of that one.

Cousin Sal (4:10)

Oh, Michigan people going crazy. Yeah, we did it. Take that. Screw you. And the one time I was like, hey, you have six losses on your schedule. A and B, you really lost that game because you stormed the field after beating Western F in Michigan. That's a loss, sorry.

Bill Simmons (4:24)

I also felt like we watch a lot of these. That was one of the only times I've seen them be like, oh, no, actually, there's a split second left, one more play. Usually, when that's anywhere near zero, the game's over. Everybody walks on the field, all that stuff. All right, we're doing Guess the Lines first. So background, if you've never watched this before, because we are doing this on Netflix this year, we guess the lines, we send them to each other. Neither of them look. I try to be surprised. You look after I send the lines.