How does Vegas look right now that we’re days away from Super Bowl LVlll

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Instacart for the win. We're going to start in Vegas where Will Brinson, moderator, picks six podcasts, the greatest daily NFL podcast you can ever listen to. He also occasionally writes for CBSSports.com, joins us every Monday, but it's Thursday and he's in Vegas, which is why we didn't do it Monday. So, where are you set up, just in case we have any people out here who want to come watch you do your thing? Well, I mean, I went to Radio Road yesterday, and I walked there, which was a mistake. It was like a mile and a half. It was a really long walk. But Radio Road, cool scene down at Mandalay Bay, we're actually at the Bellagio.

I swear this is a true story. I leave Radio Road, come back to the Bellagio. CBS built three big, huge stages on the fountains, like on the water. And the fountains go off. I know somebody who can technically control the fountains. And they'd be like, they'd call the people with fountains and say, play Lionel Richie's Up All Night and fire the fountains in five minutes.

And they'll start going mid-show, which is awesome for the closing scenes and all that. So, this is related to all things, including the commercial, the music bump back there. But I get in the cab to come back from Radio Road yesterday, and I get in the cab. And the guy goes, and this is a bit of a huddle, right, too, obviously.

That's fine. He goes, I recognize you. And I was like, really?

I really did? Come on. And he's like, yeah, you're on the sports network. I was like, oh, cool.

And I'm like, you guys shoot me straight, Will. No BS. I was like, OK, because it's too short to sign up for Joe Biden or what? Are you serious? I swear to God.

I was like, yes, yes, yes, yes. Mark, the cabbie. One, she is, obviously. And two, I know this information as one of the five or six highest ranking people at CBS. Clearly, they tell me to do like when they find that out, they decide that they're like, oh, it's called Brinson and tell him. Let's be honest, they would tell Pete Briscoe first anyway. Yeah, they would tell Briscoe.

And you know what? Briscoe was the cabbie. Well, Brinson is joining us from Las Vegas. Pick six podcast, CBS Sports Dotcom. He joins us every Monday. All right, let's let's get to the game.

It is amazing to me. I have spoken to zero people who are picking the San Francisco 49ers to win this game. Zero people. It's a what the Niners are a one and a half point favorite. Forget about being an underdog. They are a slight favorite in the game. I have spoken to nobody who thinks they're going to win. Does that mean they're going to win? Kind of, kind of as you think they will.

Here's the thing. So from an overall roster and team perspective, the Niners have a better team. They have better school position, guys. They I mean, in case she's having better defense.

Yeah. She's she's saying there's better Niners defensive line is technically better, although I think Chris Jones is the best player out of all the defensive linemen. The difference is the Chiefs are have been playing awesome.

Since the playoffs started and I said this for several weeks, I guess I said it on here. I know I said on the podcast, like, what if one of the Chiefs just put the switch on offense once the playoffs start and they're good again. Well, they've done that and that shouldn't be that crazy because they have Andy Reid, they have Patrick Mahomes, they have Travis Kelce. Patrick Mahomes is like two plays away from being at six Super Bowls to start his career. So straight to rules of 16 and starting as the quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The dude is amazing. And you know, Kyle Shanahan had the she had the Chiefs beat four years ago, but there was a team that had Tyree kill right at a much over Travis Kelce. They had a much better defense. And I don't people in Carolina love Steve Wilkes, but I mean, give me the bigger Ryan's any day of the week over or Robert Salah, you know, but either or any day of the week over oversee Wilkes.

There's so many different reasons to pick the Chiefs. The biggest one that scares me is the fact that everyone is on them and the line isn't budging. Right. Right. That'll tell you. Do we know what the percentage and I'll get this tomorrow when we talk to the guys at the MGM. Do we know what the how much money has been and what percentage of the money and percentage of the wagers have gone on Kansas City at this point?

Well, I mean, I'm not I mean, I don't want to dog your guests tomorrow, but I mean, and like that information is that information. I think it's largely irrelevant in 2024. You know, like, yeah, it matters if you're getting these huge, huge bats and like, you know, if everybody if the public's all betting one thing, and it starts to be one thing, I guess you make the case. I don't think it matters as much just because of the all the different ways that you can bet all the different places you can bet.

So, you know, if you get like, if you're getting one thing and seizures and getting a different thing, or whatever it is, I would be cautious like reading too much of that. I will say, and I think this is the best case to be made for it is the people are betting the Niners heavy. And the big money is on the Niners, like the big bets.

It's like, you know, 500k money on bad or whatever, right? The big bets are on the Niners. Those are probably the same people, almost certainly the same people, who bet on the Ravens and who bet on the Bills, right? And in other words, they're fading the Chiefs, who were not a great football team during the regular season. But, again, you have Patrick Mahomes, you have Travis Kelsey. They came out against the Ravens. Mahomes is 11 of 11, and they did enough early on offense to set themselves up to be able to play great defense. And that defense is great. If the best thing to ever happen to Andy Reid is Patrick Mahomes, then the second best thing is Steve Spagnola going 10 and 38 with the Rams and never being able to get another head coaching job because he has to stay with the Chiefs and be their defensive coordinator and win multiple Super Bowls. I mean, this is the best Chiefs defense by a mile that they've had since Patrick Mahomes got there.

No, there's no question. And actually, if you stack the four units up, I think the 49ers offense or the Chiefs defense would be the best unit because I think the 49ers offense is obviously great. And, I mean, Kansas City's offense, I think, has done enough. I don't think they have allowed us and because they don't really have multiple weapons offensively. They're a good running team, which actually probably bodes well for them because the one weakness on San Francisco's defense, the real weakness, is in stopping the run. They've had a hard time stopping the run. Green Bay ran through them in the first playoff game, and Detroit had a lot of success running the football, which is why, not to bring up the argument from two weeks ago, to me, that was where Detroit should have gone for it at the end of the first half, not kicked the field goal because you were running the ball so effectively in that game. Obviously... Well, the line that Pete Prisco, and I love giving Pete Prisco credit, but I have to here.

Wow. The line he's used all week, actually two or three weeks, about the Niners is, if you block them, you beat them. And in other words, if you block the Niners' defensive line, one, you're giving yourself time to throw. And that secondary is gettable. It's definitely gettable from by Patrick Mahomes.

And then two, you can run against them. And I think with the way that the Chiefs are built, with Andy Reid having two weeks to prepare, with Andy Reid having, you know, done enough on offense against this Cal State team before, and the defense, again, I just don't think it's nearly as good as it was four years ago. To me, they're going to do enough on offense.

I think it's a low-scoring game. I think Kelce catches a touchdown, maybe two, maybe three, maybe he does three Taylor Swift celebrations. What would the Taylor Swift heart emoji for Taylor Swift? That would be the emoji? That would be one.

And then he would hold up a one and a three for 13, because that's your lucky number, or favorite number. And then you do a little bicep flex and kiss your bicep. That's, I mean, to me, those are the three Taylor Swift celebrations. As a Swiftie, those would be my top 30.

How many people out there are tired of Taylor Swift? Mostly, you can put them all into one demographic. Of course. I'm digging it. My cabbie, Mark. Or maybe he's not. He just wants to know if it's true.

No, I think he's tired of her. Oh, he's ruining football. I will say this.

I think that if you're tired of Taylor Swift and tired of Travis Kelce, there's a lot of it. I understand it. But, you know, it's good for the game, Adam. And for CBS Sports and Paramount Plus.

It is great for the game. I thought it would be a great idea, and this would have been a great service on Paramount Plus, to have a second screen option, a Manning cast, with Jason Kelce and Taylor Swift watching the game together. I mean, I wouldn't rule that out entirely. I can't confirm or deny that Taylor Swift is a psyop for political candidates or that we will have a second screen with Jason Kelce and Taylor Swift.

I think the problem with that is you don't typically put cameras in luxury boxes. And I'm not sure we want Jason Kelce filmed it. I mean, I don't even want it, but I'm not sure. Well, of course we do.

But I'm saying, like... What are you talking about? Of course we do. You do know we report to the FCC, right? Even Paramount Plus? Well, I don't know the answer to that. I mean, we watch stuff on streaming services all the time.

They work blue. I got a streaming service, I think all bets are off. And neither of them would... By the way, shout out to my son Robbie Rinson, who's very excited about the new Knuckles show. The ad will premiere during the Super Bowl coming up on Paramount Plus. Awesome. Yeah, Knuckles from Sonic. Idris Elba is a boss. I don't even know who that is, but that's good. Wait, you know who Idris Elba is. Oh, okay. I didn't understand that.

I'm sorry. Yes, absolutely. I want him to be the next James Bond. We've talked about that before. For a lot of the same reasons why I am absolutely overplaying the Taylor Swift effect, I want Idris Elba to be the next James Bond.

For the exact same reason. Well, Brinson, before we let you go, I know everybody's picking the Chiefs. I have a hard time picking against the Chiefs, even though my wife is a 49ers fan. I would love to see her win. It's been a long time since the 49ers have won a Super Bowl. Ninety-four.

Yeah, I'd like to see her. I mean, it's one of the historic franchises. They have a chance to get one, what is it, one below... The Patriots have six, the Steelers have six. I think they can get to five with a Super Bowl win here. So I'd love to see that happen, too.

I love historically great franchises. But I'm on board with Patrick Mahomes making a run at Tom Brady. I am absolutely on board with this, and I also would love to see Andy Reid get another one.

So who's your pick? Yeah, I'm picking the Chiefs 24-21. I think, yeah, my, I had, I mean, I like to bring up this theory frequently, but, you know, Andy Reid is sort of like Phil Mickelson, I think, where it took a long time to win that first one. But when, you know, when Phil won his first major, they started coming like crazy. And I think Andy Reid won his first Super Bowl. And now he's got Mahomes, Belichick and Brady are out of the way. They're the new Belichick and Brady, and these Super Bowls are just going to come in great frequency. And I think you get three and five years, you're a dynasty. And it wouldn't shock me if, at the end of this run, for Mahomes and Brady, if they weren't considered the best at their profession all time.

It is very possible. I wonder if it's a necessity to have Travis Kelce be a part of this for a few more years. Like if Kelce were to win another one and then retire with three rings and then give one, Munoz, then maybe give one of them to Taylor on the field after the game. I think he was asked about that. He was asked about that on Monday.

And he said, yeah, I'm a little more worried about this ring first. I think we're rushing these two kids into something that they don't need to do right now. I know, Taylor.

She's just busy getting her sight out, man. That's true. At least she has to wait until after the election, at least. Exactly.

Exactly. December 2024, that's when Taylor and Travis can get married. I think you've got to wait until after January. I think we've got to get past the sixth. I'm just saying, I think we must at least get past the sixth. Will Brinson, thank you so much, man. We'll talk to you later. All right, buddy. See you, man. CBSSports.com, pick six podcast for Will Brinson and company.