Almost Shameless

It took until Week 15 when the Patriots were officially mathematically eliminated from the playoffs for the cowards to get up on their soap boxes and declare that we finally have proof that Bill Belichick can't do anything without Tom Brady. This podcast is dedicated to firing that lazy, bad faith, garbage fire take into the sun to burn for eternity (04:54).

The Patriots secured their biggest win of the season on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers with a classic Bill Belichick defensive performance and some old-school possession offense. Now that people are paying attention to the GOAT and his rookie up in New England, can they deliver on the promise they've shown and make a real playoff run? Tanya addresses that, where they stand in the AFC playoff picture as of now, and what it will take to sustain this momentum (2:40). Then she lays into Aaron Rodgers for being a know-it-all fraud who asserted his dominance all over Green Bay only to now hand his potential replacement the biggest opportunity of his career (18:55).

Tanya quickly recaps why it's encouraging that the Patriots won decisively against the Lions, who were a great matchup for their ailing offense, as they head into a more forgiving stretch of their season (2:00). Then she discusses the weird way that the broadcast handled Lamar Jackson's final drive in the Ravens' Week 5 win over the Bengals, and why it's yet another indication that Lamar doesn't get the respect he's earned (8:13). For the rest of the show, Tanya welcomes on Ladarius Brown to discuss the highlights of WWE's Extreme Rules pay per view and why one wrestler might be this generation's John Cena (13:49).

Almost Shameless is back at it now that everyone has settled into life in quarantine, and while there may be no sports happening at the moment, there is never a bad time to have a Bill Belichick, Tom Brady debate. Or is there? Tanya rips apart a rant by ESPN's Mike Greenberg, who believes the GOAT coach has to prove that he's still the GOAT without Brady. Then it's time to investigate what worked and what didn't with ESPN's 64-person bracket of All-Time College Basketball Players. Let's just say that it appears the kids have never heard of Lew Alcindor. And finally, Tanya welcomes fiance Chris Armendariz to the pod. He is a longtime ESPN video editor, but these days, their greatest mutual interest is binge-watching TV shows - and so they review everything they've watched start to finish since the start of quarantine.

We start out with a breakdown of the world in sports and at large as the United States comes to terms with the coronavirus outbreak, thanks in large part to Adam Silver and his leadership with the NBA (01:50). Tom Brady has officially left New England, it appears that everyone is sad about it and no one could do anything about it - and so Patriots Nation is left with a lot of questions and very few answers (08:52). Meanwhile, news broke that Brady plans to sign with the Buccaneers and Tanya reacts live (13:50). Plus, Bill O'Brien is still the worst GM in all of the NFL, much to the delight of the Arizona Cardinals, and Stefon Diggs just made the Bills potentially the best team in the AFC East (16:54).