Overview of The Bill Simmons Podcast
This episode is a wide-ranging week-of-action show that splits between NFL storylines, Week 6 picks with Joe House, and an extended basketball conversation with Cam Johnson and Tommy Alter. On the football side, Tom Pelissero breaks down the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts injury scare, the Chargers’ unraveling offense, a surprise Marvin Harrison Jr. trade situation, and why several coaches had brutal game-management weekends. The back half turns into a deep NBA discussion about how the modern game has changed, what it’s like to play with Nikola Jokić, and which teams and players are positioned to matter this season.
NFL Headlines With Tom Pelissero
Jalen Hurts’ blood clot issue
- The Eagles’ season got more complicated when Hurts’ calf issue turned out to be tied to a blood clot.
- Pelissero said the clot had moved, prompting treatment and likely a missed game against Carolina.
- Tanner McKee is expected to start, with Philadelphia already dealing with other offensive injuries.
- Despite the chaos, the NFC East is so weak that the Eagles are still very much alive in the division race.
Marvin Harrison Jr. trade chatter
- Pelissero discussed a surprise trade involving Marvin Harrison Jr. and Houston.
- The key idea: Houston was willing to pay a meaningful price because Harrison is still young, the team had a need at receiver, and there’s belief that a change of scenery could unlock more from him.
- The move is partly about fit with C.J. Stroud, who was his college quarterback, and partly about betting on future draft capital being worth the gamble.
Chargers and Justin Herbert
- The Chargers are in a bad spot, and Pelissero is skeptical that Jim Harbaugh’s situation is heading toward a quick collapse, but he is worried about Justin Herbert’s play.
- Herbert is taking too many hits and is playing the worst football of his career.
- The broader issue is whether the Chargers need to simplify the offense and lean back toward more of the Greg Roman-style structure that helped them win before.
- The team’s injuries on the line are making everything harder.
Vikings, quarterback value, and Brian Flores
- Minnesota came up as a strange but effective team: elite defense and special teams, with an offense that is not nearly as strong.
- The larger point was that if a team can win with a cheap or efficient quarterback, it creates flexibility elsewhere.
- Brian Flores was discussed as a coordinator who is essentially paid like a high-end head coach.
Kirk Cousins / Fernando Mendoza conversation
- Cousins is playing too well to be benched right now.
- Mendoza is the future, but there’s no need to rush him if Cousins keeps the team competitive.
- The more likely scenario is that a QB-needy contender eventually makes a trade offer if Minnesota or another team decides to pivot.
Bad coaching weekend
- Pelissero and Simmons both were frustrated with the league’s game-management decisions.
- The biggest offenders included:
- Todd Bowles’ aggressive fourth-down choices
- Nick Sirianni’s situational call at the end of a game
- Dan Quinn’s clock-management disaster
- Sean McVay’s late-game and special-teams misfires
- Pelissero’s point: some decisions are debatable, but others were simply bad process.
Rams warning sign
- The Rams’ loss and coaching issues were a major theme.
- The team is loaded with expensive veteran talent and traded-away draft capital, so missing the playoffs would be a huge failure.
- Even at 2–3, the stakes are enormous because the roster was built to win now.
Week 6 Picks With Joe House
Shared picks
- Buccaneers +2.5 vs. Steelers
- Both Bill and House liked Tampa Bay at home.
- They viewed Pittsburgh as a team that will hover around .500 all year and liked Tampa’s home-field spot, rest advantage, and defensive matchup.
- Texans +2.5 vs. Jaguars in London
- Both liked Houston as the better-value side.
- The Texans’ defense and C.J. Stroud’s play were key reasons.
- They thought Jacksonville had been a little overrated by the market.
Bill’s picks
- Falcons +1.5 vs. Bears
- Bill liked Atlanta’s run game and the Bears’ weakness without Montez Sweat.
- Cowboys +1.5 at Packers
- He thought Dallas was the better team and liked them getting points.
- Green Bay’s big win over Chicago didn’t change his long-term skepticism.
- Teaser: Patriots -1.5 and 49ers -1.5
- Bill preferred New England against the Jets and San Francisco against Washington in teaser format.
House’s picks
- Patriots -1.5 in a teaser
- Chiefs -2.5 in a teaser
- He trusted Kansas City after the bye and did not believe the Chargers were in a position to win big in that spot.
Running joke of the segment
- House kept joking about “Steinman picks” for strange underdog calls.
- He also revived the ongoing “bad coaching award” joke, giving Sean McVay the week’s dubious honor.
NBA Deep Dive With Cam Johnson and Tommy Alter
Learning to play with Nikola Jokić
- Cam Johnson said the biggest adjustment is not to the ridiculous passes, but to the overall flow of playing with Jokić.
- The key is understanding spacing, timing, and how quickly Jokić can read the court.
- Once Cam stopped overthinking and learned where to be, the game opened up.
The value of elite shooters
- Johnson and Simmons talked about “professional shooters” — players who shoot without hesitation or self-editing.
- Tim Hardaway Jr. was used as an example of a guy who can come in and immediately let it fly.
- The point: in today’s NBA, confidence and repeatable shot-making are major skills.
How the league has changed
- The modern NBA is more:
- guard-heavy
- action-based
- screen-heavy
- data-driven
- positionless
- More teams now use guard-guard and guard-big screening actions.
- Traditional roles have blurred; many wings are effectively playing as oversized guards.
Cam’s development and role in Denver
- Johnson said it took time to feel comfortable in Denver’s offense.
- By late in the season, he felt he had a real handle on the system.
- He also reflected on how his own career path — from undersized shooter to NBA wing — fit the direction the league has taken.
- He likes Aaron Gordon as the perfect modern big-wing hybrid.
Playoff lessons and title-window reality
- The Suns’ 2021 run came up as an example of how thin playoff margins are.
- A few plays can swing a championship series.
- Johnson argued that success is rarely linear; title runs often include setbacks, injuries, and timing breaks.
- He also discussed how the second apron makes roster continuity much harder.
Cap, roster-building, and franchise stars
- Cam made the case that star players who stay with one team should maybe count less against the cap.
- The point was less about stars getting paid less and more about making it easier to keep homegrown cores together.
Other player and team talk
- DeMar DeRozan: one of the easiest scorers to understand because he never gets sped up.
- James Harden: still one of the hardest players to guard, especially in Houston.
- LeBron: the conversation touched on peak versions of LeBron and how different eras changed his game.
- 2017 Warriors: discussed as one of the greatest teams ever, maybe the best of the last 25 years.
- Drew Holiday: praised as the kind of player who raises any team’s ceiling without caring about stats.
- Pacers / Knicks / East race: the East was framed as extremely deep, with one good team likely to miss the playoffs.
National team / Olympics idea
- Johnson liked the idea of younger U.S. teams getting more continuity in FIBA play.
- He argued that international teams benefit from chemistry, especially countries like Spain and Serbia that keep core groups together.
Cam, Tommy, and Simmons chemistry
- The segment also had a lot of fun off-court banter:
- random dinners
- trade-rumor jokes
- “Cam Johnson’s expiring contract” as a nickname
- Tommy Alter’s reputation for assembling oddly famous dinner groups
Main Takeaways
- The NFL is chaos right now: injuries, quarterback uncertainty, and bad coaching decisions are shaping the Week 6 conversation.
- Philadelphia’s season is still alive, but fragile: Hurts’ health is now a major storyline.
- Houston and Denver came up as teams with real upside: in both the NFL and NBA segments, the conversation centered on smart roster moves and system fit.
- The modern NBA keeps rewarding skill and processing speed: Cam Johnson’s perspective made clear how much IQ, spacing, and shooting matter now.
- Roster-building is getting harder: the second apron, expensive cores, and the realities of cap management were a recurring theme.