Hitch Route

Carson, Carson, Carson... The former #2 overall pick who was a late-season injury away from probably winning MVP and then perhaps leading his team to a Super Bowl victory that same year... Oh how far he has fallen... Since then, he has been traded away twice in two seasons. And because he landed in the NFC East (currently Beast, formerly Least) once again, he now has the opportunity to face his former Eagles quite frequently. The last time this happened, the results were quite disastrous for the Commanders. And now that he is on IR, he will miss both of the season's remaining revenge games. Week 8 against the Colts and Week 10 against the Eagles. Therefore, this week is the first-ever Carson-less Wentz Bowl, a matchup between two teams that have employed Wentz that he himself will not play in. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Indy has also decided to introduce a backup QB to the starting lineup - what a remarkable show of sportsmanship. We at Hitch Route, however, are celebrating this game by not watching it!!! Tune in to hear Alex and Rob predict how this week's matchups will go and also give their insight into which other matches are worth watching or not!

In case you live under a rock, you most likely heard that Christian McCaffrey was traded to the San Francisco 49ers. And if you heard that announcement, you almost certainly heard in the same breath that CMC went to Stanford - therefore he would be good to go for Sunday after getting traded on a Thursday. While we at Hitch Route may have *only* gone to Duke, we are quite skeptical of this claim. Surely, CMac looked good on Sunday and is a truly elite player in the NFL, but it's preposterous to use the fact he was a Cardinal in college as evidence for why he will be totally fine despite the major life interruption. Nevertheless, while this was maybe the most humorous development of the past week, there were many other exciting ones. Perhaps none other than Justin Fields and the Bears taking Gillette Stadium by storm and preventing Belichick from surpassing Papa Bear Halas in wins for at least one more week (Alex is clearly biased, but this undeniably was a major win). Tune in to hear Rob and Alex break down some of the week's major events!

When considering the performance of Russell Wilson this year in conjunction with his recent $250 million extension, it is rather unsurprising that the Denver QB finds himself under immense scrutiny. In our last episode, though, we pointed out that some trends are due for reversal or regression; Rob staunchly believes this is true for DangeRuss, and he has even put his money where his mouth is (much to his recent chagrin). Folks, while this may be a football podcast, allow us to use this moment as evidence for some brief financial advice: do not buy the dip simply because there is a dip. Market devaluations happen for a reason, so seriously consider the underlying circumstances when investing in contradiction with current trends. Back to football, though, as we near the season's halfway point, it will be quite fascinating to see what teams can reverse their own dips. Will the Packers be able to right the ship and return to contending status? Will the Jaguars be able to keep up in the AFC South after slipping from their strong start? Will the Lions finally replenish their cafeteria with a strong batch of kneecap soup? Tune in to hear Alex and Rob predict the outcome of Week 7 and try to find the answers to these questions!

Cliche as it may be, nothing lasts forever. This is true with life, truer with sports, and perhaps most true of all with Cooper Robert Rush, whose time as a starter is coming to a close. While wins are the most important statistic, there are many other stats directly related to player performance that portray the Dallas QB negatively; nevertheless, he did a wonderful job keeping Dem Boyz in the playoff race. There will always be situations and trends that are on the verge of ending, and finding those critical points within the NFL is of great interest to us at Hitch Route. Tune in to hear Rob and Alex break down some of the week's most intriguing matchups and perhaps analyze a few trends along the way!

As franchises progress over the course of the season, they often realize the need to move on from current players, coaches, or executives. Many changes are left to the offseason, but sometimes situations are so dire that they must be dealt with immediately. That is how the Browns felt when trading for Deion Jones, and that is how the Panthers felt when firing HC Matt Rhule. While it's important to use hindsight when evaluating the decisions that were made in order to learn from past mistakes, it's very interesting to consider what Carolina does now in its current position. The Panthers are facing this decision now because it looks like their season may more or less be over, but all teams will have to undergo this high-level organizational analysis at some point this year (unless maybe you're a true contender, but even those franchises can and should make changes). It's too late to know certainly who does what, but we at Hitch Route eagerly await the opportunity to analyze these changes. For now, though, tune in to hear Rob and Alex predict how Week 6 turns out!

After the absolute circus that was the first month of the NFL season, we're reaching a point where we can finally understand what exactly each team in the league is made of. Some are legit contenders, some are cesspools, and many teams are in the middle on various ends of that spectrum. The season is still early, so franchises aren't exactly defined by their records, but obviously, some are separating from the herd for better or worse. Winning a championship isn't easy, and it's even tougher to consistently contend - just look at the Rams. They basically just lose one old man from their offensive line, and now they look absolutely lost out there. Nevertheless, lots of teams are still discovering themselves, so tune in to hear Alex and Rob analyze the current state of the NFL!

In case you live under a rock, there is a man in the NFL named Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Jr. Also known as TB12, he has been a constant presence - and perhaps a thorn in your side - for two full decades now. A major presence in his own life is his wife Gisele Bundchen; that might not be the case for much longer, though... So what's Brady gonna do it about? Simple. He's gonna do what he always does - win. He beat the Atlanta Falcons after being down 28-3, so there's no way he's going to lose in a 1-on-1 matchup as important as this. He's gonna take the kids, the house, and all of Gisele's money. Because he earned it. If Brady is nothing else, he is a winner. Oh, and he's gonna crush the Falcons this week, too, for safe measure. Tune in to hear Alex and Cade predict exactly who else is going to win their matchups this week.

Another week, another set of games. The season is still a bit hectic and unpredictable, but lots of teams starting to get into a rhythm now. Slowly but surely, we will be able to see who are the true forces to be reckoned with in the NFL, but for now, let's just make the most of it and enjoy these fun matchups. Tune in to hear Alex and special guest Cade break down exactly what happened in Week 4!

If it isn't obvious by now, the NFL is a QB's league. And while not every quarterback can be the GOAT Cooper Rush - still undefeated in his career as a starter - almost every quarterback is out there trying to prove something. Lamar wants to prove that he's worth a $500M contract; Brady wants to prove to Giselle that playing one more year of football was worth it; Justin Fields wants to prove that he's legally qualified to be called a QB. But Ryan Tannehill? He is on a mission. A MISSION, ladies and gentlemen! If nothing else, he is out there to prove that he is the greatest active quarterback with Ryan in his name (he could never live up to the legacies of Ryan Leaf and Ryan Fitzpatrick, so he'll have to settle for this), which is why he'll give it his all when he faces Matt Ryan on Sunday. At the end of the day, football will continue to be very exciting because every QB has something to fight for, and this week will be no exception. Tune in to hear Rob and Alex dissect the upcoming matchups so they can predict which teams will end up on top and which teams will flop!

After saying that Week 3 was going to be a snoozefest compared to the week before, it looks like Alex and Rob couldn't have been more wrong (well actually, one of them could have predicted every single game this week incorrectly, but that's neither here nor there). As it turns out, nearly every game of football this season has the potential to be highly entertaining, and the season is likely to only get more amazing as we move forward. Nevertheless, our two cohosts will go over all of last week's matchups - some more in-depth than others - and try to analyze what happened in order to draw some conclusions about how the league landscape will shape up as we approach the playoffs. Tune in to hear Rob and Alex unearth the dairy-driven deceit behind why the Packers always win, realize the importance of temperature when preparing your daily serving of kneecap soup, and come to many other scintillating conclusions about the NFL!

In contrast to last week's slate of games, Week 3 appears to be a far blander, if not unpleasant, set of matchups. In fact, 9 out of 10 optometrists would recommend against voluntarily watching some of these games (Steelers-Browns, we're looking at you - but not actually since we value our eyes). Nonetheless, we may be proven wrong and this could be another great week of football. Or it might be somewhere in the middle like mediocre, competent slug-fests that embody the spirit of Ty Montgomery. In either case, tune in to hear who Alex and Rob will win this week!

Let's face it. Multi-score leads officially do not matter in the current NFL. We saw this time and time again in Week 2, including the Falcons almost reverse 28-3ing. And while that inability to maintain large leads (unless you're the Bills) is maddening for fans of leading teams or survivor pool competitors, it certainly makes for entertaining football. And that's exactly what this week was. Tune in to hear Rob and Alex dissect some of the week's most interesting games!

At the end of the day, regardless of your level of passion for football, it's pretty safe to say that those of us who invest in the sport do so because of how fun the NFL is as an entertainment product. And after a very enjoyable Week 1, we can only hope the same will be true for this next slate of games. The NFL cares about how much we enjoy football - primarily in the pursuit of profit, of course, but it's a win-win if you're willing to pay the price of fandom - and that goes into many of the organization's operational decisions, including the Pro Bowl. This line of thought was definitely at play when the league decided to entirely revamp the event, and now there will be a far greater emphasis placed on skills challenges rather than actual football; we here at Hitch Route certainly welcome this change and imagine that many other fans do as well. We enjoyed it so much that we may or may not have gone on a ridiculous tangent in this episode about a meme skills contest between Virginia McCaskey and the late Queen. All in the name of fun, just like the NFL. Nevertheless, tune in to hear Rob and Alex's extensive thoughts on what Week 2 will look like as well as a few wacky tangents!

After one week of football, all we at Hitch Route can say is WHAT. A. DOOZY. This was certainly one of the best, most exciting opening weeks for the NFL in recent memory. Dennis Green once said about Alex's Chicago Bears, "They are who we thought they were." Much less is true about the NFL as a whole following these introductory performances in 2022. While it goes without saying that football is an emotional, often unpredictable sport where anything can happen on any given Sunday, this week was admittedly wild. The only exception to this chaos may have been the 3-Yard Man Ty Montgomery, unwavering as ever in his new Patriots uniform. Nevertheless, while it may be tough to draw some serious conclusions about the different performances and outlooks of the different franchises after only one game, that won't stop us from trying. Tune in to hear Alex and Rob break down the NFL after the first week!

Super Bowl XLVII MVP Joseph Vincent "Vinnie Boy" Flacco is once again a starter in this NFL, and that's nowhere close to the craziest thing about this upcoming 2022 NFL season! Tune in as Alex and Rob give a little overview then dive into predictions for the first week - just in time for a potential Super Bowl matchup! Who else is pumped for Bills vs Rams!?!?!?

First, we focused on the AFC, and now it's time to shine a spotlight on the NFC. There's just something about the West, though. For some reason, both conferences' deepest divisions look like they're in the West. Our special guest Cade called the NFC West the Thunderdome, and that's a pretty fitting description. So many good teams will head into the gauntlet that is the NFL season, but only a few can perform well enough to become contenders. Tune in to hear Alex and Cade analyze the changes in the NFC landscape over this past offseason in order to determine which teams have the best shot at winning the Super Bowl!

Hello, world! The 2022 NFL season is upon us, so we here at Hitch Route are excited to break down the changes every team made over the offseason as we get a lay of the land for this upcoming year. Up first, Rob and Alex will break down the entire AFC landscape and try to predict which teams will most likely be contenders! And stay tuned for our NFC analysis, too!

We are OFFICIALLY at the start of Season 2 for Hitch Route! In case you live under a rock and somehow haven't heard the news, the OG pretty boy Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr has decided to hold off on ending his illustrious career. That's really all that needs to be said. This man decided to put all of the NFL's fans through an emotional roller coaster, and I don't intend to forgive him anytime soon. P.S. This is Alex as always. Much to my chagrin (and Anish's joy), I must also mention that gifted but loathsome dickweed Aaron Rodgers is back too...

Alex here. I don't know about you, but I'm NOT feeling 22. That's right - today is my 23rd birthday; I have officially started my Jordan year as Rob put it. But even on my birthday, I don't get a day off from writing these episode descriptions... Ironically, we here at HR don't have an HR department; otherwise, I would've filed numerous complaints by now, but this was definitely the last straw. Unlike Brady, though, I'm not a quitter. I'm here for the long run, so I hope you'll be hearing my nonsensical dopamine and adrenaline-fueled antics for years to come. But even if today is about me, football comes first. This week, Anish and Rob and I took a deep dive into the conference championship matches, made our Super Bowl predictions, and spent an extended time honoring and reminiscing about TB12. Even if he's gone, though, the three of us are confident in the NFL's future because of all the shining young stars we have at the QB position, not to mention the talented stalwarts who likely have at least half a decade ahead of themselves. Make sure to tune in! Note: For legal purposes, neither Alex nor anyone associated with the Hitch Route podcast actually believes Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. is a quitter and we all have deep respect for him. Retiring after a long, illustrious career deserves nothing but praise. Unlike the Cowboys and the Packers, he was the true antithesis to choke artistry. He may not have ended the season on top like last year, but he was still as clutch and committed as can be until his last snap.

Another week has passed, but this one was for the record books. It would not be an overreaction to say this was perhaps the best divisional round in NFL history. And the fact that both Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady were eliminated is part of the reason why (yes, Alex is writing the description as always). Half of the State Farm gang is gone -- and Mahomes is arguably only still in it because of a coin flip. It wasn't money that led to the Packers' demise, but it was Gould. The Chicago Bears will always get the last laugh, Anish. That's why we fired Matt and Ryan and replaced them with Matt and Ryan. All jokes aside, literally every game was a nail-biter that ended on the last play, and now we're in store for two very interesting conference championships. Can Joe Cool put out the red hot Chiefs? Will Sean McVay finally solve the Shanahan puzzle? Tune in to find out our takeaways from this past week and our predictions for Sunday.

Another week, another set of games, another set of co-hosts. For the first time ever, the exact combination is Alex and Cary, but otherwise, this episode is pretty straightforward. There are way fewer games to address, so we make sure to dig deep into our recaps and predictions while still making room for laughs and tangents along the way. Make sure to tune in!

Once upon a time, Fox lived in a dark cave. Fox was lazy, but wanted to obtain a lifetime's supply of gold. Fox heard about an intellectual decathlon that lasted 18 weeks. This decathlon was run by the mighty Panda. Panda was ambitious, and quite tough. He was not to allow any forgery, for there would be a large meal in store for Panda if he did catch a cheater. However, the winner received a large prize, enough to get the panda his lifetime's supply of bamboo. The panda decided that he would try his luck at the decathlon, but would also come up with a scheme of sorts. Fox decided to ask his two friends, Hare and Sheep*, to help him out. Fox pitched a plan to have himself dress up as Hare and Sheep and enter the decathlon as them. In exchange, he would give them a portion of the gold if he won disguised as them. Hare and Sheep were very dumb, so they were willing to let Fox participate in this competition for them. At first, the disguises were working perfectly as planned. In fact, Fox, "Hare", and "Sheep" were doing quite well. However, by around Week 9, Hare got cocky. "I'm going to do this myself," he said. "I'm going to win that money for myself." With no other option, Fox let him compete. By Week 11, Hare was out of the competition. Fearing the same fate, Sheep let Fox take over the rest of the way, and although Fox was outfoxed himself, he was able to get by as the unassuming Sheep, as animals would laugh as soon as they saw a sign of his dark complexion. At least Akash wasn't around. Fox made it all the way to the end as Sheep, far surpassing anyone else in the competition and claiming the prize. However, Panda found out about the scheme to cheat the decathlon, and was very unhappy about it. For weeks, he demanded answers from Hare, Sheep, and Fox, but no one budged. Eventually, there was a breakthrough. A tip from Hare to Panda gave Panda pause. Panda knew everything. Somewhere, somehow, Hare received 10 gold pieces. Fox was starting to become anxious. Panda was going to eat them. He didn't want to die. He had so much left to live for. He started to wonder how much longer he had. When Panda decided to meet with him and Sheep, he knew his time had come. What he found out is, Panda is an herbivore, and never would have done anything in the first place. Fox had become anxious for no reason, and realized that Panda was actually quite an amicable guy. They sat down and talked about the decathlon, and everything the year had brought. This is that conversation. * Sheep was actually quite dark for his kind. He in fact was considered the black sheep of the wild. However, unlike the idiom, he was quite acclaimed. His charisma was off the charts, although he did have quite the low constitution, which he would complain about. He was very well liked, and people always laughed when he was around. He brought a lot of joy to the wild as a black sheep, and he was proud of it. His dark complexion was unmatched. He was special.

BING BONG. We're back. And we're back in style. We might not be as handsome as Tom Brady or Jimmy G, but we're still more than sexy enough this week because we got all four hosts on for the first time ever! That's right: the absolutely lethal Alex-Anish-Rob-Cary combo. We're like the Burrow-Mixon-Chase-Higgins quartet of podcasts, and now all of us are finally on the gameday roster at the same time. Tune in as we tie a bow on the 2021 regular season, predict how Super Wild Card weekend goes, and have lots of laughs along the way in this cRaZy episode!

With Alex moving to New York, Anish is left on the mic by himself...watch him analyze, waffle, and yawn his way through this episode as he makes some great cases and interesting observations about the NFL.

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVERYONE!!! LET'S MAKE THIS YEAR A FUCKING GREAT ONE!

Welcome back to Hitch Route! As you may have noticed, Hitch Route took last week off for the holidays, so we hope y'all had a restful time. But now you get to hear our lovely/annoying voices once again! Not all of our voices, though; Anish was caught up with family obligations, so we have Alex as always but also Rob as a guest once again. Nevertheless, we persisted. The regular season is almost over, and we had a very interesting week of football to analyze and also another one that was arguably less interesting to predict. And perhaps it's because it's the holidays and we wanted to include some extra content - or more likely just because we're rusty - this episode will be a doozy. We hope you enjoy it, though, as we get back into peak performance before heading into the playoffs. Last but not least, we just wanted to write a formal dedication to the legendary John Madden. While he is not a founding father of the game like George "Papa Bear" Halas (yes, Alex is writing this as always), Madden helped directly shape much of how football culture currently exists today - obviously most notably in the form of his eponymous video games. A man who was full of life even until his death, he will be missed.

After a marvelous performance from backups Cary and Rob since our star players were put on IR due to finals, the starting lineup is back in place for Week 14! And while they may have gotten their jobs back, one man who didn't was none other than Urban Meyer. The Jacksonville experiment is over, but the Hitch Route experience lives on! This past week featured lots of good games with almost comebacks, including every AFC North game from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati to Baltimore (who faced Cleveland). But most tragically of all, one comeback that was successful was the effort by the putrid Packers to overcome the beloved Bears. That's right; in case it wasn't obvious already, Alex is back on writing duties. All in all, though, it was a very entertaining week to be a fan of the NFL. And it's only going to get better because of - outside of fantasy - no more bye weeks!!! Tune in this week to see for yourself how well Alex and Anish brush off the rust before charging* towards the end zone! *Yes yes, we know we didn't post this until AFTER the Chargers lost TNF, but we did our best. We still have to get back into form after our bye.

Like so many NFL teams who have had to turn to their benches this year to brave the cold, harsh reality of the longest season ever, so too has the cold, hard reality of Finals Week forced Hitch Route's franchise QBs Alex and Anish to sit this one out, paving the way for our friends and former guests Rob and Cary to make the start in our place. And while it may not have been the prettiest performance worthy of a bust in Canton one day, we hope you come away from this week's episode feeling just what we do — that Rob and Cary did more than enough to lead their respective teams to victory, and in this year's NFL, especially in Week 13, sometimes that's all it takes to get the job done. I mean, just ask the Seahawks, Steelers, and Lions. Yes, you heard that right — YOUR no-longer-winless Detroit Lions. You know what they say — a win is a win, and that's all we'll really remember once Alex and Anish emerge from the other side of their final papers. Enjoy.

Get it? PUNTer Kaufman? hahahahhahahhahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! - Anish Since I actually take our podcast seriously, let it be known that this is the episode where we make our predictions for Week 13. Also, this week honestly has to be the best of the season no doubt since it's impossible for the Packers to win. - Alex

Hey guys. This is the episode where we talk about games and stuff. Alex is good at fantasy, Anish isn't, and they're both bad at Survivor Pools. What else do we need to say? In all seriousness, though, (just kidding - it's physically impossible for us to be serious) this was a big week for Anish and the miscellaneous; it likely was a big week for all you listeners, too, because the trade deadline passed in many fantasy leagues. So that means if you didn't trade them or drop them, you're stuck with all your garbage players!!! Anish made a pretty big splash, actually, to try keeping his playoff hopes alive... Tune in to find out who he gave up and who he got in return.

Alex is on a flight back to Duke from Chicago, so you get me again. Hi, it's Anish. Please leave a message after the tone (anyone who gets this reference I will personally give $1). This is a (kind of) shorter episode. Well, guess what? We're going to start breaking up our usually longer episodes into shorter episodes, so be on the look out for a couple more this week! It was a week of muffed punts, so Alex told me to title it "Witcher 3: The Wild Punt," which is a reference to some random video game. You gaming nerds will probably know what he's talking about. We talk about a lot of cool stuff, just recapping last week's fantastic matchups. I finally get to celebrate the Packers being the favorites to win it all after a convincing win against the Rams, and some other stuff happens that doesn't really matter because all that matters is the Packers. Go Pack Go!

For Thanksgiving, we wanted to show our thanks to all y'all who listen to the podcast by putting out a short special episode. Perhaps the best part of this episode? No Anish!!! All jokes aside, Anish is not in on this special episode; Alex is here, though, and so is Rob in his second appearance as a guest. We spend the whole episode highlighting the gameday experience that was Ravens-Bears this past Sunday, which was attended in person by both of our featured Bears and Ravens experts. Tune in as they ponder football past and future for the respective franchises while also considering what they are currently thankful for, both on and off the field. Fire Nagy.

Unless we're dealing with an absolute garbage matchup like Lions-Steelers, every game has a winner and a loser. And while this is always true, some matchups are more defined by Team A winning and some are more defined by Team B losing. Whether the winners didn't do enough or the losers had particularly glaring mishaps, this week feels like a lot of the games were honestly defined by the losing teams. But in that largely underwhelming landscape, the truly elite performances stand out that much more. Jalen Hurts with 3 rushing touchdowns, Justin Jefferson with 2 in the air and almost 200 yards, Austin Ekeler with 4 touchdowns. But the true hero, perhaps the dark horse MVP of both fantasy and even real-life - Jonathan Taylor (Somehow, Alex literally has *all* these players on his fantasy team besides Hurts). JT had been grinding the past few weeks, but his play on Sunday against the Bills was truly next-level. The man almost single-handedly took down a team seen as a Super Bowl contender and made them look like clowns in the process. It's impossible to praise him too much at this point; that game was legendary. The same cannot be said about many games this week, but we do our best to highlight those that were worth watching: one rather interesting game we left out, though, was Ravens-Bears because we're releasing a special episode just on that matchup. Tune in to hear more about the other great performances of the week; other than that, Anish and Alex wanna wish y'all an awesome Thanksgiving. Don't let the turkey make you slower than Big Ben.

Hi... It's Anish. Alex couldn't write the description this week 'cause he's busy writing a paper. So you get to have me. What is this episode? Who knows! What do we talk about? Hard to say! But I did have my first losing week in weekly predictions this week, and I lost in fantasy 'cause of fucking Matt Ryan. Fucking bitch. Never again. This week was full of upsets across the slate, and we're gonna take a closer look at some of them. But maybe my fantasy season is the biggest upset of them all. At least my AJ Dillon strategy finally worked out; in your face, Alex. Anyways, fuck Matt Ryan and leave a message after the tone. Beeeeeep. P.S. Hey it's Alex now. I totally tricked Anish because I just wanted to see what crap he'd write up, but I honestly loved the energy so maybe he should do this more often. If you didn't get a chance to read his original description, though, I cut out like half of it and cleaned it up a bit too because it was agonizing to read. Almost as bad as watching Steelers-Lions. P.P.S. Still Alex. I'm not a huge fan of quote-unquote "trigger warnings" - that's right: I absolutely wanted you to hear "quote-unquote" in your head even though this is written: I am an absolute prodigy of rhetoric. Anyways, despite my opinion, I did think I should put out a quick disclaimer. My heart goes out to Ron Rivera. I just generally have a dark/edgy/cringy sense of humor at times; I lowkey feel like I might've crossed a line this time so I just wanted to be upfront before y'all blow up my DMs. Many of us have dealt with cancer affecting our loved ones, and that has certainly been a huge factor in my life. We all cope differently with trauma and I often do it with intense jokes. My sincerest apologies if you find discomfort with the grieving process when it takes that form.

As much as we love football, we also know it can go wrong very quickly. Whether it's injuries or simply chaos, we want to keep the game as clean and safe, and enjoyable as possible, which is why we need rules. In turn, we need officials to enforce those rules; even if we don't like the actions of referees - especially those that completely interrupt the flow of the game - regulation is a necessary evil. HOWEVER, the disgraceful reffing from this past MNF is unforgivable. Alex is obviously especially enraged as a Bears fan, but the entirety of social media has come to a consensus that the Bears-Steelers matchup was simply one of the worst, most biased games from an officiating standpoint in NFL history. Yet the league is seemingly going to do nothing about it. The refs stole the game from the Bears, and they're not even gonna get a slap on the wrist (just tune into the podcast if you wanna hear Alex's entire mental breakdown over this game). MNF was the worst, but penalties seemingly have over-plagued the league this week and also season more generally. Officiating is hard to get perfect; we get that mistakes happen. But too much unnecessary interference by the referees is ruining games and making them less fair despite refs only existing to ensure fairness. Whether things are fair or unfair, though, we have to accept the facts. The 2021 NFL season is now halfway over, so check out this episode to hear Anish and Alex break down all the important developments of the week as we're now deeper into the playoff hunt. The Bears most likely will not be one of those teams, but we'll have to wait to see if the Bears can blame that on the officials, too.

We're 8 weeks into the season, but we just experienced a very dramatic turn of events this week. Derrick Henry and Jameis Winston are out for the year, the Rams just added Von Miller, and Geno Smith finally got a win. The biggest story of all, though, might be the legendary emergence of Mike White. We don't know if he'll be the Jets quarterback moving forward, but he will start next week for sure. And even if he doesn't start again, he's certainly left his mark on the league and in our hearts. He's not the only backup doing everything he can to step up, though; besides him and Geno, Cooper Rush and Trevor Siemian also stepped in for injured starters and got the wins their franchises desperately needed. That's the beautiful thing about football: so many guys who get overlooked over their careers sometimes just need one chance to prove everyone wrong and leave their mark. We see it every year, and we've even already seen it time and time again this season, but this week, in particular, captured that principle so perfectly. It's why we love football. ANY. GIVEN. SUNDAY. Tune in to hear what else happened on Sunday, and you're in for a special treat this Halloween season as we feature Cary - a name that should sound familiar - as our second guest of the year!

Week 7 of the NFL is in the books, but it feels like we're only just now starting to tackle the core of the NFL season. It's taken almost 2 months, but now we can start to truly assess how good different teams and players are. Are the Chiefs even a playoff team now, let alone a championship contender? Are the Cardinals truly the best team in the league? Are the Lions truly the worst? Records don't mean everything, but they definitely say a lot; perhaps this is most telling when you look at them piece-by-piece like when the Panthers and Broncos both started 3-0 but have since gone 0-4. If teams want a shot at changing their identities, next week's trade deadline might be their last chance. As questions loom over the futures of Sam Darnold and Tua Tagovailoa, will either of their teams try winning the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes? Anish and Alex are idiots, so don't expect them to have the answers, but tune in to hear their stupid opinions/predictions and maybe laugh a few times along the way!

We're one-third of the way through the 2021 NFL season now, and we really have to start looking towards the playoff hunt. As some teams grow stronger and make their case, others are gonna derail and get killed off so to speak. Just like the animal kingdom, a hierarchy is forming and now teams have to decide whether they're predators or prey. Teams like the Rams, Cardinals, and Ravens have all asserted themselves as predators; individual players like Derrick Henry and T.J. Watt seem particularly out for blood. This all begs the question: which teams are the prey? Who's falling out of the playoff race only for the rest of the league to feed off them? And do any of these teams have what it takes to claw themselves back into the hunt? Tune in and find out who we think has a shot. P.S. To all you zoology nerds out there, don't you dare tell us that "Seahawks" aren't an actual species. It's a commonly used nickname for osprey, so checkmate. If you wanna talk about how buffalo is actually a misnomer for bison, though, feel free. We encourage intellectual debate here at Hitch Route even if Anish and Alex never show it.

Week 5 is in the books, but instead of breaking down every game, Anish and Alex will only cover half the schedule at most moving forward so that they can still provide interesting, in-depth commentary without making their episodes longer than an actual NFL game (Alex is hardly sorry, though, because he has so much to say and insists that you're better off after listening to him ramble). They didn't meet their target timestamp for this week, but pump the brakes before you attack them. Just like any other rookies, they're still developing and have a ways to go before hitting All-Pro status. That being said, listen to them break down the more surprising developments of the past week and then decide to really put their money where their mouths are by placing the Hitch Route's first-ever multi-game bet! We really hope you get a kick out of this week's episode because a lot of kicks - PATs especially - were missed this past week.

Well, aren't you guys just the luckiest audience in the world? Because of technical difficulties this week, you've been blessed by not one episode but two!!! Best of all, more episodes mean more Rob!!! If you think this extra content feels like a drag, though, just think about the snoozefest that is the Steelers offense for one second and be happy this show at least has a pulse. Honestly, though, someone call a doctor because we're not sure if Roethlisberger has one. We can't check for ourselves because we don't have medical degrees, but we're still able to diagnose how well every NFL team is going to perform this week. Check out our predictions to get your weekly prescribed dosage of debate and laughter - and also dog barks. (Seriously - Alex's dog Quaker is probably the only reason Big Ben stayed awake last Sunday.)

We're making history this episode - Hitch Route is bringing on its first-ever guest! Meet our friend Rob, a lover of the NFL and the Ravens in particular, who has been our biggest supporter since day one. Because we have an extra football whiz on the podcast this week, we decided to take an extra deep dive into most of last week's games. This includes asking the big questions here that no other podcast is willing to address. Why did Taysom Hill throw that interception when he could've just run the ball into the end zone from mid-field? When will Danny Dimes finally be seen for his full worth and be addressed as Danny Dollaz? Why are the Cowboys finally Dem Boyz again and not just those guys? Perhaps the biggest question of all, though: who's the star of Andy Reid's dreams? Tune in to find out the answer to all these questions and more!

In the NFL, every day is Leg Day. Whether you're Lamar or Big Ben, Justin Tucker or Scott Norwood, a player's performance is mostly defined by the literal and metaphorical legwork they put into their training and gameday mentality. That's why we're kicking back this week and dedicating the episode to all of the legs that make the NFL what it is today. But perhaps the biggest moment of the episode is Alex's hot take to kick things off. He thinks the Cowboys have a leg up on the rest of the NFC Least - and he doesn't even think it's close. Maybe you agree, but Alex believes in Dem Boyz so much that he agreed on-air to humiliate himself if he's wrong. Let's hope he didn't end up putting his foot in his mouth.

Everyone falls down in life, but you're a king if you manage to pick yourself back up. Even kings will have their jester moments, though. The biggest jester moment of them all might have been Anish and Alex thinking the Jaguars would win Week 1, but even they've bounced back from their mistake. Check out this week's episode of Hitch Route to find out who else did, too. Legal Disclaimer: All uses of "king" are meant in a metaphorical, gender-neutral manner and should be interpreted as such. If there are any doubts, please note that Zoltaba Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer; anyone and everyone who joins the team will be paid absolutely nothing.

As it turns out, the ones who truly needed medical professionals were Alex and Anish. Tyrod Taylor and the rest of his squad heard rumors of our merciless taunts, so they had to put us in our place. Yes, Houston we're sorry. We unfairly targeted the Texans; as garbage as their franchise is, perhaps they are not the *only* dumpster fire in the NFL. We'll make sure to highlight those candidates, but the major focus of this episode was reflecting on the first week of the NFL season. We ask the important questions: Does Snoop Dogg embody the Chiefs' mentality? How good of a Jeopardy host really was Aaron Rodgers? And perhaps most importantly, why hasn't Jaguars coach Meyer watched a single NFL game in his life? Come on, Urban! We know it's not because you're at church all day on Sundays, so tell us the truth. The people deserve to know.

Welcome to Hitch Route! This is Episode 1 - just in the nick of time for Bucs Vs. Cowboys!!! Or as Alex likes to call it, Super Bowl 2021 champs versus Super Bowl 2022 champs. This week, we're keeping things simple: We make our poorly researched predictions for Week 1; we place a sports bet that will be embarrassing to even think about next week; we laugh at the absolutely miserable Houston Texans. That's right: even though Anish and Alex hate each other's teams, at least they can both be proud that they're not Texans fans. No matter who you cheer for - yes, even you Houstonians - you'll definitely get a kick out of our podcast. (Note: This will not be the last time the Houston NFL franchise gets mercilessly insulted for comedic effect, so please contact your doctor if this adversely affects your mental health.)