"You guys are in terrible shape. This is gonna be a lot easier than I thought."
— Dee, to Mac and Dennis
When the Philadelphia Eagles hold open try-outs à la the movie Invincible, Mac, Dennis, and Dee use the event for their own personal competition. Meanwhile, Frank and Charlie go to a tailgate party, where Frank trips on LSD and make things worse between them and the McPoyles.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- Badass Cape: Subverted; Mac and Dennis note that there are an oddly large number of people wearing capes at the tryouts, but none of them are remotely badass.
- Big "NO!": Liam McPoyle after Frank shoots his brother Doyle in the leg.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Charlie does this when the rest of the gang are arguing at the beginning of the episode.
- Call-Back: Charlie once again refuses to bump Liam's fist.
- Cavemen Versus Astronauts Debate: The episode opens with the gang in the midst of a heated argument over whether a mouse could kill a scorpion.
- Clown Car: The rather modestly sized McPoyle motorhome manages to carry at least a dozen McPoyles
- Competition Freak: Mac and Dennis openly admit that they have no chance of making the Philadelphia Eagles; they just want to use the tryouts to finally settle the question of who the better football player is. Dee also gets in on it after they mock her for thinking that women could play football.
- Continuity Nod: Dennis states that Dee "spent half her life in a back brace".
- The Dandy: Dennis openly admits to wearing a "light base" of foundation.
- Description Cut: Charlie urges the Gang that they can't spend their lives cooped up at Paddy's drinking all day, and that they should go outside to enjoy some fresh air. The scene quickly segues to them seated at a outdoor picnic table, surrounded by the exact same configuration of empty beer bottles.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Charlie has a moment of this when Ryan McPoyle seemingly responds to his inner monologue while he's tripping on acid.
- Glass Cannon: Dee can definitely kick a football farther than the guys, but Mac and Dennis both insist that she has "bones like glass" and indeed, she ends up breaking her foot on her second try.
- Hypocritical Humor: Mac and Dennis spend several minutes bitching about how people should show some respect for the Linc... while they're pissing against the gates. To add insult to injury, they then smash their beer bottles on the ground as they walk away.
- Laser-Guided Karma: When the time comes for them to practice hitting drills, Mac deliberately picks Dee as her partner so he can tackle her to the ground. Then he gets picked by Doyle McPoyle, who completely flattens him and takes him out of the competition.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Dennis, as The Dandy, is obsessed with diet and exercise to maintain his lean build, while Mac, as The Big Guy of the Gang, likes to brag about his supposed muscular physique. This episode reveals that both of them, despite physical appearances, are in terrible shape and can't bear even the slightest athletic activity without getting winded.
- Mushroom Samba: After dropping a ton of acid, Frank tries to use the bathroom in the McPoyle's Winnebago and hallucinates Artemis speaking to him through the toilet. It's later revealed that he never even made it to the bathroom and has in fact been stuck in a trash can the entire time.
- Noodle Incident: Frank somehow managed to lock himself in the bathroom of his cousin's Winnebago for three days at Woodstock.
- No, You: Mac gets into a fight with Doyle that quickly degenerates into this.Mac: Guy, if you think you're actually going to make the Philadelphia Eagles, then you're pathetic.
Doyle: You're pathetic.
Mac: No, you're pathetic.
Doyle: You're pathetic!
Mac: You're the one who is pathetic! - Physical Fitness Punishment: The coach forces the tryouts to sprint whenever they say or do something particularly dumb.
- Potty Emergency: Artemis gleefully states that she thinks Frank took a dump in the trash can.
- Product Placement: Played for laughs when an actor pretending to be Donovan McNab gives a speech to the tryouts that solely consists of him shilling McDonalds breakfasts.
- Reckless Gun Usage: Frank accidentally shoots Doyle in the leg while waving his gun around, seemingly unaware that it was loaded.
- Running Gag: This episode is the first appearance of Greenman, Charlie's character.
- Shout-Out: Mac and Dennis ask whether the actor posing as McNab is "the guy from The Cosby Show". note
- Slipping a Mickey: Frank spikes Charlie's beer with acid after Charlie refuses to take any as he doesn't want to trip on his own.
- Stunned Silence: Mac and Dennis are left utterly flabbergasted when Dee-as-Cole shows herself to be a pro-level kicker. After she (justifiably) gloats to them, Dennis finally summarizes how it's possible:"Those stork-like legs? They act like pendulums. And at the bottom of those pendulums? Feet like wrecking balls."
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Dee pretends to be "Cole" in order to try out for the Eagles by hiding her hair under a bandana, wearing fake facial hair and putting on a slightly deeper voice. Surprisingly, the coach actually seems to buy it.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Downplayed and lampshaded; Mac and Dennis don't immediately recognize Doyle as a McPoyle, but once he says his name they note the unibrow and the acne.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To the movie Invincible.
- You Go, Girl!: Dee decides to try out for the Eagles after Mac and Dennis tell her that women can't play football. She does get much further than either of them - mostly because they're both horribly unfit - only to end up breaking her foot immediately after revealing that she's a woman.
