The Bill Simmons Podcast
Darnold Does It, Snow Game II: Mile High, Pats-Seahawks, and the Wild Taipei Climb With Cousin Sal
26 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What are the highlights of the Seahawks-Rams game?
Yeah. Oh, man. Super Bowl LX.
I'm going to try to calm myself down. We are taping Cousin Sal is with me. We're taping 7 p.m. Pacific time. Just watched an awesome Seahawks-Rams game. My beloved Patriots won the AFC title in a blizzard. They did not give up a point for 55 minutes and won 10 to 7.
Chapter 2: Why is the Patriots' AFC title win significant?
And then we had a really fun football game. I'll let you pick. Sal, what do you want to start with?
I mean, I, you know, they're saying me having to listen to you gloat is perhaps the most courageous. It's the most courageous 90 minutes ever aired on Netflix.
Chapter 3: What makes Sam Darnold's performance noteworthy?
Calling me the greatest athlete ever, if I could put up with it, I would.
Yeah, you enduring this versus the guy climbing a giant building in Taipei.
Right, right, right.
So you're saying it's like 50-50. I think it's close.
They'll both be about an hour and a half, right? By the way, I lost money on that. I parlayed Justin Gaethje with the guy. I bet him the fall, basically. So anyway, I had to dig out. No, you didn't. No, no, no. It hasn't gotten that bad, Bill.
I can't, we got to talk about that at the end. I can't wait to talk about that thing yesterday.
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Chapter 4: How did the weather impact the Patriots-Broncos game?
Let's, let's go. We have a Seahawks Patriots Superbowl.
Yeah.
Which I think America is going to warm up to over the next two. First of all, the villainous Patriots are back, even though this is a precocious overachieving team. Pat says the underdogs flashbacks to 01 Sam Darnold redemption. This is one of the great underdog stories in the history of the NFL, I think. If they win, he's up there with Jim Plunkett, all that stuff. Malcolm Butler revenge game.
The worst Super Bowl loss. What was the worst Super Bowl loss, in your opinion? That one or the Falcons 28-3? It was actually a worse loss.
Oh, 28-3 is so hard to beat. I mean, it's not like the Bills dominated the Giants, but that nor would, just knowing what happened afterwards in the next three years was bad, too. There have been some bad ones, but 28-3. Yeah, I mean, you're part of them.
That was the worst collapse. The Butler one was, I think, the biggest holy shit. Wait, we're not about to win the Super Bowl and we just lost?
Yeah.
And then the Norwood was, I think, probably the hardest kick in the nuts.
Right.
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Chapter 5: What key moments defined the second half of the game?
Like, Oh, look what I got on the road and a blizzard.
And we didn't turn the ball over.
That's the key, right? I think your first half, what did you have, 48 yards in the first half?
It was terrible.
They had about the same in the second half. The difference is you guys were locked at seven. You got the points, and you didn't. Then we got the field goal to start third quarter. But for God's sakes, 28 quarterbacks beat Drake maybe today.
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Chapter 6: How did the quarterbacks perform under pressure?
28 beat him last week, maybe 20 the week before. What the F is going on?
It was the worst throwing game he's had since the Vegas game in week one. I thought he missed seven open guys and throws that he's made all year. Sertan broke up that one bomb. That was perfect. He threw another bomb. That was a good one. But he did have the naked bootleg to finish the game.
And he called it himself, I guess, right?
Chapter 7: What are the implications of the Super Bowl matchup?
Yeah, I sent it to you. I thought McDaniels called it. He didn't tell anyone on the team he was doing it. If you watch the clip, Hunter Henry's blocking his defensive end out to try to keep him from coming toward, you know, the line of scrimmage. And meanwhile, May's running toward the guy and Henry's blocking him toward May, but May just audibled it.
But for the old school Pats fans, the pre-2001, that was like the famous Grogan play. Yeah. Which... He used to do, he most famously did in the 85 season when they went to the Super Bowl against the Jets. He had like this old naked bootleg where he's like limping into the end zone. And it was always like the Grogan play. And then, so he does that. This team has pieces of that 85 team.
Did Grogan also have 10 completions in a win? Did he also?
I think he probably did.
If you go back to Grogan's stats, they were not good. I'm sorry. You like bringing up Kobe in Game 7 against the Celtics. What was he?
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Chapter 8: What insights were shared during Parent Corner?
7 for 28 or 6 for 24. I hate to always bring it back to basketball. This had Kobe.
You always do this. I know. Go ahead. He wasn't great. The defense carried him. His legs made a couple good plays. And then the naked bootleg. But, you know, I said this last week. It feels like the 96 season, Parcells' last season when it was like, oh, I guess we're in the Super Bowl. I don't think anybody believed it. I think Vrabel believed it. But when you look back at who they beat,
They beat three top five defenses. I think it's the first team ever in playoff history to beat three top five defenses.
He was terrible in the three games, though.
He wasn't terrible.
He had 15 sacks.
He was good in the second half of the Chargers game.
He threw three interceptions. He took 15 sacks.
He wasn't terrible. He had six fumbles. I'm not going to offend him.
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