Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL podcast will still be irrelevant in February,
Speaker 1: I hope. So welcome to another edition of the Around
Speaker 1: the NFL Podcast, presented by the United States Marine Corps.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan hands As I come to you
Speaker 1: from a room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosetal.
Speaker 1: What's up always? Oh? You know what? What is more
Speaker 1: than you know? Having our holiday spectacular? Danny did a
Speaker 1: great job putting that together. We thank all our our
Speaker 1: great guests. We have all these like kind of lovely
Speaker 1: partying shots and what the mean the whole year has
Speaker 1: meant to us? And then like twelve hours later, here
Speaker 1: we are taping another show. You know, I thought you
Speaker 1: were gonna speak of the numerous technical difficulties we had
Speaker 1: had the sound on the beginning of the show, which
Speaker 1: also is another very moment um. So apologies to the
Speaker 1: listeners for that. That was actually and before you start
Speaker 1: adding Rickey and shre Her on the subreddit, that was
Speaker 1: not on her either. Issues with Colleen's Mike. That's just
Speaker 1: you know, listen, it's pandemic life. Sometimes things don't go
Speaker 1: the way we want on the technical side of things.
Speaker 1: That's life. Yep. Yeah, And I would say, you know,
Speaker 1: when if we want to look at at the whole process,
Speaker 1: we can lower the cost of these podcasts to the
Speaker 1: subscribers if they have um technical complaints. Wow, really coming
Speaker 1: out swinging And if I really I learned from our
Speaker 1: government to just like, if things go wrong, pretend it
Speaker 1: never happened. I just don't even mention. That's another method
Speaker 1: that works. And if it does come down to where
Speaker 1: where we need to offer someone up as the sacrificial lamb,
Speaker 1: why not make it. Nobile are fill in producer today, Erica.
Speaker 1: We gotta have a little headstart on the holidays, so
Speaker 1: no bile filling in. So if you have any any
Speaker 1: issues about the production quality, not just of today's show,
Speaker 1: which he is directly involved with, but any issues in
Speaker 1: the past, just head on over to Nobile corner wherever
Speaker 1: that might be right or check out his you know,
Speaker 1: I think he does some other podcasts. It's like it's
Speaker 1: about college football. It's but it's only around draft time
Speaker 1: with some some stickies, Mr Sticky or something like that.
Speaker 1: A lower level operation for sure. I'm not sure when
Speaker 1: it airs. Welcome to the big leagues in the bill
Speaker 1: all right, how ho ho Yes, Merry Christmas. It's week sixteen,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna go through every game in our preview episode.
Speaker 1: A bit of a weird week. We have a Christmas
Speaker 1: Night game, we have three Saturday games in addition to
Speaker 1: Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and then the rest
Speaker 1: of the league is also playing. There are no more
Speaker 1: bye weeks, there's no more traditional Thursday night football. We
Speaker 1: are reaching the home stretch of the regular season. And
Speaker 1: despite there being thirty do teams divide dirty two by two?
Speaker 1: Does that's how many teams playing the game that give
Speaker 1: you sixteen games? So just zero muscle memory. I feel
Speaker 1: like that you've done that problem four times. Did I
Speaker 1: get it right? I think I nailed it. Sixteen games
Speaker 1: but only three matchups this week between teams that both
Speaker 1: have winning records Colts at Steelers, Rams at Seahawks, Titans
Speaker 1: at Packers. All those games are very important to the
Speaker 1: playoff picture. And speaking a playoff picture, you have an
Speaker 1: Eagles Cowboys showdown of two nine lost teams that has
Speaker 1: big ramifications in the NFC East despite it being only
Speaker 1: week sixteen. Yes, is weird. Let's get into it, and
Speaker 1: um we're gonna do with draft style once we get
Speaker 1: rolling today. But we'll start. Let's spend through all those
Speaker 1: specialty games Saturday, Christmas. Let's start with Christmas. How about
Speaker 1: that Christmas Night. I don't know where the players come
Speaker 1: down on this. I imagine they're not thrilled about playing
Speaker 1: on Christmas Night. But it's also a big spotlight games,
Speaker 1: so I think there's that to The Vikings travel to
Speaker 1: the super Dome to face the New Orleans Saints, and
Speaker 1: the Vikings essentially kicked away any chance of going to
Speaker 1: the playoffs with a lost last week. So um, the
Speaker 1: schedule gods did not get a favor done for them
Speaker 1: by the Vikings. Who really, this could have been a
Speaker 1: very interesting game on both sides. Uh if the Vikings
Speaker 1: would have won. But still, you know what, it's football.
Speaker 1: You get something to watch with the Christmas night and
Speaker 1: the Saints need to win. And Drew Brees needs to
Speaker 1: play better. Mark, Yeah he does, you know it's it's um.
Speaker 1: I don't put too much on him looking a little rusty,
Speaker 1: especially early on in that in his return last week, UM,
Speaker 1: I think I think we'll get a little bit better
Speaker 1: version of Breeze. It feels like you can't get Drew
Speaker 1: Brees and Michael Thomas on the same field, um this season,
Speaker 1: and we just really haven't seen that that that also,
Speaker 1: you throw in Alvin Camaro, the three of them together,
Speaker 1: which is what you'd expect all year, it's just not happened.
Speaker 1: I I would look at this game and say that,
Speaker 1: UM my one concern a little bit, and I think
Speaker 1: the Saints match up really well against um, the Vikings,
Speaker 1: and they can run the ball. I mean, Minnesota was
Speaker 1: just I thought waxed by Chicago's ground game, which is
Speaker 1: a very unusual thing for the Bears to pull off
Speaker 1: with the Bears offensive line played well. And if the
Speaker 1: Niners can control Minnesota's front the same way, um, this
Speaker 1: should just be a blip in the radar. The Saints
Speaker 1: can't slip up here, they they if anything, like, I
Speaker 1: just keep hearing ahead to this January game where New
Speaker 1: Orleans is going to have to go on the road
Speaker 1: to probably Green Bay or some hideous climate, and that
Speaker 1: feels like the end of the road. Um to even
Speaker 1: is that cliche? I don't know if that. It just
Speaker 1: seems that that happens to the Saints over and over
Speaker 1: that if you put them in ugly weather, you know,
Speaker 1: bye bye potentially. The point is I feel like it's
Speaker 1: a little cliche in the sense that everyone just says, oh,
Speaker 1: Drew Brees can't throw anymore, so put him in the
Speaker 1: cold weather and it's over. But there's more to the
Speaker 1: Saints team than that, right right. I mean there's a great,
Speaker 1: great defense here and a special running back in Album Kamara,
Speaker 1: and maybe Michael Thomas is back. We don't need to
Speaker 1: get too far into the future here. But um, I
Speaker 1: think writing off the Saints team us because they're not
Speaker 1: in the Super Dome, I think that's premature as well well,
Speaker 1: and this matchup is a great counterpoint to the Domes
Speaker 1: only is going to do so much. I mean, we
Speaker 1: talked revenge games every week. This is a real revenge game.
Speaker 1: The Vikings have ruined the best era of success, uh
Speaker 1: in Sean Payton's running New Orleans in terms of a
Speaker 1: four straight years. You know, they ended it twice in
Speaker 1: these playoffs, and so this is a real revenge game.
Speaker 1: And uh, I think it's huge to get Drew Brees
Speaker 1: looking good before the playoffs. I thought he you know,
Speaker 1: he played his best in that Chiefs game at the end.
Speaker 1: Maybe that was a sign that he's getting some rustaff
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a sign that you're not gonna go too
Speaker 1: far with um. What's what's my man? Little little Humphrey,
Speaker 1: Little Jordan Hut. I mean, we got little Jordan Humphrey.
Speaker 1: We got Tommy Lee Lewis, the beer man who's been
Speaker 1: on and off the Saints roster, was off it for
Speaker 1: a while and was the practice squad. This is who
Speaker 1: he's throwing to right now. When tray Quan Smith got
Speaker 1: hurt and Michael Thomas is on, I R it's like,
Speaker 1: you got Juwan Johnson. I'm like, Yeah, these are practice
Speaker 1: squad guys getting called up and are his targets and
Speaker 1: he's struggling. So I just I find that their end
Speaker 1: of this breeze era, probably because I've you know, I've
Speaker 1: been tracking it very closely, really fascinating. There's there's really
Speaker 1: not been much like it. I don't think in the
Speaker 1: last twenty years where we kind of know he's done
Speaker 1: after this year. They've had this incredible run, not just
Speaker 1: for fifteen years, but the last four years that they
Speaker 1: haven't capitalized. And you could see Sean Payton sort of
Speaker 1: defending their record earlier this week, getting a little touchy,
Speaker 1: being like well, it's not like we have only been
Speaker 1: one and done. That's not true. And yeah, okay, you
Speaker 1: want a couple close games against bad teams in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: but it would be a total disappointment if this team
Speaker 1: doesn't do some damage. And I still think they can
Speaker 1: and I think they match up well against the Vikings.
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I would lock this up if
Speaker 1: it had made it in our uh desert past the
Speaker 1: desert test. But it's just on that border, so uh
Speaker 1: so I can't do it. The Minnesota offensive line is
Speaker 1: collapsing right now. They're kind of terrible in the trenches
Speaker 1: on both sides of the ball, and that's where the
Speaker 1: Saints are really good. So I do think it's one
Speaker 1: game where the Saints, like big guys up front, just takeover.
Speaker 1: And one little note, I mean, Justin Jefferson, who has
Speaker 1: been phenomenal all year, is a hundred and thirty two
Speaker 1: yards away from breaking the Randy Moss rookie receiving record
Speaker 1: for that team. And I think it's interesting that last week,
Speaker 1: I mean a little narrative he had to Justin Jefferson
Speaker 1: had to squash um was that he was caught audibly
Speaker 1: um basically telling Kirk Cousins to wake up in the
Speaker 1: end zone after he totally missed him on a throw,
Speaker 1: and uh like probably the ball. Well, because it's let go.
Speaker 1: I don't wanna. I don't want to get too sidetracked.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, but I do want to mention a quote
Speaker 1: Cousins had after the game, I'm sorry, mark Um, where
Speaker 1: he said he was thinking about all the team's sto
Speaker 1: opportunities throughout the game while he was backtracking during his
Speaker 1: fourth in one play. That to me is Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: in a nutshell. He was like, as I was running
Speaker 1: back and back and the play was getting more and
Speaker 1: more hopeless, I was thinking of all our busest opportunities.
Speaker 1: That's not who you want as your quarterback. Let's move on,
Speaker 1: all right, So we have the vikings done, the Saints
Speaker 1: looking for positioning. Now let's move to the Saturday game
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay at Detroit. And you know makes sense of
Speaker 1: the Bucks somebody, because I struggle with it. You watched
Speaker 1: that game last week and they were a complete mess
Speaker 1: in the first half, down seventeen. Nothing, can't do anything
Speaker 1: right on either side of the ball, and then they
Speaker 1: just you know, turn it on in the second half
Speaker 1: and go off uh in that win, and now they
Speaker 1: get a Detroit team that's facing all sorts of issues.
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen rears it's ugly had again, this time hitting
Speaker 1: Detroit on its coaching staff with a lot of close
Speaker 1: contact designations that put a lot of things up in
Speaker 1: the air for the lines. And Week sixteen, Greg, what
Speaker 1: what a what a COVID game? This would be Saturday
Speaker 1: morning on NFL Network and like their interim coach isn't
Speaker 1: there and half their coaching staff. They just fired their
Speaker 1: special teams coordinator, which was a fun little storyline because
Speaker 1: he went rogue and called the fake punt that Devil
Speaker 1: didn't know about, Like that would have been a huge
Speaker 1: story in week four, but now it's like who cares
Speaker 1: about this Lions team? Um, you know all the players.
Speaker 1: He apparently is well liked by the guys that work
Speaker 1: in that special teams unit, But like you could go
Speaker 1: on Twitter and defend that guy, but you got you
Speaker 1: gotta get the guy out of the building if he's
Speaker 1: the special team's coach deciding to call fake punts and
Speaker 1: like like what are you doing? Then? Like you can't
Speaker 1: do that? And I love the report out there I
Speaker 1: think it was the Detroit News that this was a
Speaker 1: pattern of behavior. But what's the guy's name? By the way,
Speaker 1: I guess we should name him. There's a pattern of
Speaker 1: behavior of glory boy behavior by the special teams coach
Speaker 1: who who like to bring attention to himself, which is
Speaker 1: something just a lovely little subplot around that organization, a
Speaker 1: special teams coach that wants the spotlight on him. Brandon comes,
Speaker 1: maybe they should make him the coach for this week,
Speaker 1: higher and back. Um. And so I'm not worth you
Speaker 1: know what, I'm I'm with you. The Bucks are confounding.
Speaker 1: We've talked about that, but this is a Lions defense
Speaker 1: that not only is terrible but is incredibly injured too. Um.
Speaker 1: So that's just you would you would assume they could
Speaker 1: put up like forty on them. I just you know,
Speaker 1: the everyone clung to the Bucks defense is this sort
Speaker 1: of consistent element. And the one thing is they have
Speaker 1: been torched through the air um. Four hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: six against the Chiefs, three seventy six against the Rams,
Speaker 1: three thirty two against the Falcons, So you know you
Speaker 1: can do damage against them. It's been a problem. And
Speaker 1: and you know, I this game is it is just
Speaker 1: a speed bump probably for them. But uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Detroit did some damage last week. I thought as well,
Speaker 1: so I would just I don't know. To me, to me, Tampa,
Speaker 1: I'm with you, Dan that it's like the offense seems
Speaker 1: to play um about thirty out of sixty minutes. And um,
Speaker 1: it's it's week sixteen and we're still saying that. So
Speaker 1: maybe that's just baked into who they are. Um, but
Speaker 1: that that's concerning to me when you're gonna roll into
Speaker 1: January against teams that are playing four quarters on offense,
Speaker 1: not to they have the highest ceiling and lowest floor
Speaker 1: I think of any playoff team. I could see them
Speaker 1: playing the NFC title game. I can absolutely see them
Speaker 1: losing seven to six in the first round of the playoffs,
Speaker 1: like they're all over the place. Here's the thing that
Speaker 1: I and we should get into some of these playoff projections.
Speaker 1: If the Bucks went out, they're going to get that
Speaker 1: five seed, which means they get to play the NFC
Speaker 1: East champion, which is a nice spot, which I could
Speaker 1: totally see them losing and and and things change because
Speaker 1: seeds change, you know, depending on lowest seed advancing. But
Speaker 1: if like seeds held, then they would be at like
Speaker 1: the one seed, which you know probably is going to
Speaker 1: be the pack. I don't know, that's a that's a
Speaker 1: that would be a fun matchup, which is another reason
Speaker 1: why these Saints, by the way, just quickly should really
Speaker 1: be trying to win these games and get the two
Speaker 1: seed to stay home longer and to possibly set up
Speaker 1: a much easier first round match for them then than
Speaker 1: they would if they You fall to the three seed,
Speaker 1: then you get the NFC West loser, which is the
Speaker 1: Rams are the Seahawks, and that's much tougher. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: two seeds still very important. Yeah, you get the home game,
Speaker 1: and then if somehow the one seed gets knocked off
Speaker 1: the NFC title games in your building, if you win
Speaker 1: one night. Actually, I would suggest the Saints don't try
Speaker 1: to win these games, go completely countercultural and kind of
Speaker 1: mail these in and see what happens. All right. I
Speaker 1: like that. Um, all right, let's see Buccaneers clinch playoff
Speaker 1: birth with winning Week sixteen. Lines would also clinch playoff
Speaker 1: birth with Bears loss at Jaguars in Week sixteen. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on San Francisco at Arizona. This the middle
Speaker 1: Saturday game. The forty Niners just got waxed by the Cowboys. Uh,
Speaker 1: they are going in the wrong direction. Another losing season
Speaker 1: for Kyle Shanahan, and they now get a Cardinals team,
Speaker 1: uh Mark that has seemed to got gotten its mojo
Speaker 1: back these last couple of weeks. Um Kyler Murray played
Speaker 1: excellent football in Week fifteen, and this sets up well
Speaker 1: for them to get a much needed win as they
Speaker 1: make their playoff push. Yeah, they've got to watch out
Speaker 1: for the mistakes. They They caught fire um last week
Speaker 1: for Shore late in the game, but they also had
Speaker 1: you know, four fumbles in that game and an interception.
Speaker 1: Um DeAndre Hopkins lost the ball at Philly's nine yard
Speaker 1: line in the opening drive. It's just these little things
Speaker 1: about the Cardinals, especially on offense, that UM I struggled
Speaker 1: to believe in them as like a deep journey into January.
Speaker 1: But I think their defense, and we've talked about Hassan Reddick,
Speaker 1: like they've had guys stepping up week after week on
Speaker 1: that defense. And you're facing a Niners team that what
Speaker 1: what is what is the Niners week at this season?
Speaker 1: Unless you're finding out that Raheem Mostered is back on
Speaker 1: the injury list. Um Mullins needs Tommy John surgery potentially. Uh.
Speaker 1: They are just resolutely hammered on the injury front, and
Speaker 1: I think it's fascinating and I don't he's you know,
Speaker 1: I don't. We probably won't see it or anything. But
Speaker 1: Josh Rosen was signed to the Niners off the Bucks
Speaker 1: practice squad Cardinals game. I kind of would think that
Speaker 1: if you want to do anything super spicy, you know,
Speaker 1: throw him in there. That's where Josh Rosen is at,
Speaker 1: three years after going number ten overall, he's getting signed
Speaker 1: off practice squads for injury designated also rans in weeks sixteen. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's been on that Bucks practice squad all year and
Speaker 1: I think another team, I'm not sure if it was
Speaker 1: the Jags or who it was. I tried to sign
Speaker 1: him early and he wanted to stay because he thought
Speaker 1: the opportunity was better long term. He just stayed on
Speaker 1: the Bucks back but he might say, hey, um, entering
Speaker 1: the mix with Kyle Shana and going into next season,
Speaker 1: that's a nice place to be to C. J. Beathard
Speaker 1: is starting this game at quarterback. There's no divo Samuel,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, and I'm with you, Dan, I'm impressed
Speaker 1: that UM by the Cards the last two weeks on
Speaker 1: both sides. Yeah, they had the turnovers, but they had
Speaker 1: better rhythm, like a nice mid range game like we
Speaker 1: a the passing. We saw UM some consistent chunks that
Speaker 1: they gotta win though. If they don't win out, the
Speaker 1: Bears have the tiebreak over them, and the Bears are
Speaker 1: only one back. The Bears have the Jags this week.
Speaker 1: It's pretty tricky. It's it feels like it's a two
Speaker 1: team race. But the Bears have that tie break over
Speaker 1: the Cardinals. So if they slip up either this week
Speaker 1: or next week against the Rams, which is a much
Speaker 1: game when the Bears Jacksonville. So yeah, think about think
Speaker 1: about what we've watched this season. Think about what makes
Speaker 1: more sense for January football. Is that the Arizona Cardinals,
Speaker 1: the upstart team with Kyler Murray uh and DeAndre Hopkins,
Speaker 1: or is it the Chicago Bears and it's probably against
Speaker 1: the Saints. Bears Saints is a terrible playoff game, I think,
Speaker 1: but it Kyler Murray versus Saints, that's a perfect wild
Speaker 1: card game. It's almost like there's there's a domino yet
Speaker 1: to fall to make sure this falls the way it
Speaker 1: should be. You know, maybe at the big chlorine tank
Speaker 1: on Sunday, for instance, maybe that gets taken care of.
Speaker 1: We we don't know Tommy John surgery, uh, named after
Speaker 1: the former baseball pitcher. UH. That is like an eighteen
Speaker 1: month recovery timetable in baseball. I don't know what it
Speaker 1: is for a quarterback in the NFL, but that's a
Speaker 1: terrible setback for Nick Molins. If that is what ends
Speaker 1: up being the diagnosis, that's a tough situation. And UM,
Speaker 1: looking at the desert, I see this is a game
Speaker 1: that is lockable, So I will lock up the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: who looks really good the last two weeks of the forts. Uh,
Speaker 1: look like they are ready to call it a season.
Speaker 1: So I lock up the Cards final Saturday game Miami
Speaker 1: Miami at Las Vegas. Another game. This is now the
Speaker 1: second UM spotlight game in Week sixteen. That could have
Speaker 1: been a lot of fun if just teams took care
Speaker 1: of business at the Raiders when they have first and
Speaker 1: goal from the four yard line last Thursday Night punched
Speaker 1: that in. They are in live and well in the
Speaker 1: playoff race in the a f C. And then there's
Speaker 1: this huge matchup with the Dolphins. But as it turns out,
Speaker 1: the Raiders are now all but dead. Uh and now
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins greg have a chance to fortify their
Speaker 1: play opposition against the team that's going in the wrong direction. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's still just as big for Miami because no one's
Speaker 1: losing in the a f C. You're gonna have to
Speaker 1: get to eleven to make it, and so it's it's
Speaker 1: a it's a thin line here for Miami, which is
Speaker 1: like how they play every week is a thin margin.
Speaker 1: Fair Like whether it's some weird special teams play or
Speaker 1: they like take advantage of the opposing defense. And you
Speaker 1: could see that this week, like having a flaw in
Speaker 1: their run defense, or there's just like a blown coverage
Speaker 1: they take advantage of, or you know, it's some sort
Speaker 1: of crazy, crazy long play that doesn't seem repeatable that
Speaker 1: they'll do it, Like that's who this team is. It
Speaker 1: It is repeatable because they do it each and every week.
Speaker 1: And that's why I'm locking up the old Dolphins on
Speaker 1: the road on Saturday night. I like it. I like it. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm very annoyed because um, as I texted in the
Speaker 1: bill before the show, I am also locking up the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: so that keeps. Last time we did this we both lost.
Speaker 1: This is huge. This is huge. The Dolphins unite in
Speaker 1: a big spot on Saturday night, Mark one game behind Greg,
Speaker 1: so that that will stay the same. But I could
Speaker 1: potentially pick up a game on both of you boys
Speaker 1: got a week seventeen The Raiders with Marcus Mariotta. Is
Speaker 1: it Mariota most likely starting here? Is that what we're hearing?
Speaker 1: I think it's probably more likely Car on. You know,
Speaker 1: we're taping this early on Wednesday. On Tuesday, they split work.
Speaker 1: So if cars already splitting, wh's weird that to split work.
Speaker 1: But if cars taking practice, that's maybe they're trying to
Speaker 1: pull the Oki dok. That's very possible that they're faking
Speaker 1: us out. We've seen that lately. But it sounds like
Speaker 1: cars got a chance. I mean, even if car does start,
Speaker 1: we don't have no reason to suspect he can finish
Speaker 1: that game because that did not. He could barely walk
Speaker 1: when he yanked. Is growing on Thursday, so there is
Speaker 1: a decent chat it would be, I would say, for
Speaker 1: a Raider season that has gone to hell again for
Speaker 1: the second time in a row. The seeing the way
Speaker 1: Mariota played last Thursday, I'd like to see more of
Speaker 1: him if we're gonna have to watch the Raiders in
Speaker 1: prime time. UM, So I'd rather see Marks Mariott at
Speaker 1: this point. But you know, Gruden might have other ideas.
Speaker 1: I would I could argue the same thing. I think
Speaker 1: that he gave that offense um an element that Car
Speaker 1: didn't have. So if you get if you get like
Speaker 1: a mobility reduced version of Car, that doesn't interest me
Speaker 1: a whole lot. Um. I just think that one of
Speaker 1: the other stories here is this Raiders defense has completely
Speaker 1: fallen apart, and they can say, yeah, they they they
Speaker 1: focused on, you know, finally stopping the run against the
Speaker 1: Chargers after allowing you know, four yards on the ground
Speaker 1: over the previous two weeks. Why did why did Los
Speaker 1: Angeles throw run the ball at all? In that game?
Speaker 1: Every time they went to the Skies they torched Las
Speaker 1: Vegas so thoroughly that I just think that which team
Speaker 1: is more disappointed, which team is coached well in all
Speaker 1: three phases, and which team looks like a complete car wreck.
Speaker 1: I feel confident in Miami take care of business here,
Speaker 1: nicely done. Um, you know, in the defense we give
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan a pass every year, it seems. Over the
Speaker 1: injury issues the forty Niners have. The Raiders were missing
Speaker 1: four guys on their starting defense. Well they have been
Speaker 1: for weeks, and I get that, but that they were
Speaker 1: that great defense even before that. But they were probably
Speaker 1: gonna be back. I you know, I have some hesitation
Speaker 1: here because of the way the Dolphins play. It'll probably
Speaker 1: be close in the fourth quarter. And there there is
Speaker 1: some positive news for the Raiders. They're getting back probably
Speaker 1: this week. Henry REGs, Jalen Richard, Cleveland Farrell, Damon Arnett,
Speaker 1: and Jonathan Abraham. I mean, that's a lot of that's
Speaker 1: a lot of players that we're missing in the locker angle.
Speaker 1: But the Raiders, the Raiders are cooked. They'll they'll find
Speaker 1: a way to lose. If they found a way to
Speaker 1: lose that game last Thursday. Uh, what makes you think Miami,
Speaker 1: a well coached team that's gotten the game, gotten it
Speaker 1: done a week after week, is gonna starting to get
Speaker 1: a bit nervous about this. But um now I'm gonna
Speaker 1: hang with Let's switch off of it. I I don't
Speaker 1: like you being on the same pick anyways. It gets boring.
Speaker 1: You're on my pick exactly. You know, there's no you
Speaker 1: guys work it out. Okay, all right, let's move to
Speaker 1: the UH Sunday and Monday primetime games. All right, now,
Speaker 1: now we're talking. Now, we're talking some football. Tennessee Titans
Speaker 1: at Green Bay Packers. I don't know. I was gonna
Speaker 1: say Al Chris and Michelle, but Al Michael's unfortunately came
Speaker 1: down with the rohona and that means Mike Rico has
Speaker 1: been getting a lot of minutes lately. Uh. This is
Speaker 1: a great game. This is a tremendous game the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 1: And I said it on last Sunday's podcast. I'll say
Speaker 1: it again, Ryan Tannehill, what he's brought to that organization,
Speaker 1: it's unbelievable. They I looked it up because I knew
Speaker 1: it wasn't a lot, but I did look it up
Speaker 1: just to check. And the Miami Dolphins sent Tannehill to
Speaker 1: the Titans. Uh, it was Tannehill and a sixth round pick.
Speaker 1: And the Titans sent back a fourth round pick and
Speaker 1: a seventh round pick. That that kind of tells you
Speaker 1: where Tannehill was at that point in his career. And
Speaker 1: now you look where he is now. He's gonna end
Speaker 1: up this season with close to forty total touchdowns. And
Speaker 1: everyone looks at Derrick Henry and rightfully so, because he's
Speaker 1: a stud and he might hit two thousand yards this year.
Speaker 1: He's having a Hall of Fame type run these last
Speaker 1: three years. But it's amazing what Tannehill is brought to
Speaker 1: that offense. And now he's up against Greg Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: and the Green Bay Packers, who continue to win. They
Speaker 1: look like they're gonna be the number one seed in
Speaker 1: the NFC, But the last two weeks at least, it
Speaker 1: hasn't exactly been a dominating uh team. This feels like
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a good game. Yeah, and if they
Speaker 1: don't win this game, you know they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: play Week seventeen to try to get that one seed.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm excited. And it does make you think about
Speaker 1: the relationship between Henry and Tannell. You mentioned the rushing
Speaker 1: yards that Henry had I read this week in the
Speaker 1: twenty six games without Tannehill before he arrived, is fifteen
Speaker 1: hundred yards less than what he's got with Tannehill in
Speaker 1: the games. So yet he has thirty two yards and
Speaker 1: twenty six games with Tannehill and like seventeen otherwise, so
Speaker 1: it's it's a symbiotic relationship. He was disappointed tan Hill
Speaker 1: not to make the Pro Bowl. Was disappointed for him.
Speaker 1: This is one of those years there won't be alternates.
Speaker 1: Remember Andy Dalton would make it every years. Like the
Speaker 1: seventh the FC deserved for because everyone who has pissed
Speaker 1: Tannehill didn't make it. And then I looked and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: do you take josh Allen Mahomes or Watson out? You
Speaker 1: could take Watson out if you wanted. Uh. He certainly
Speaker 1: has had a better season I think than Kyler Murray,
Speaker 1: but that's it's an NFC, a f C thing, or
Speaker 1: even Russell Wilson. That's how good. Uh, Tannehill's been in
Speaker 1: the rushing game, you know, rushing matchup, and this one
Speaker 1: is awesome. I love that they've been using Aaron Jones
Speaker 1: as a real primary back. They didn't do it all
Speaker 1: year until the last two games. He's been splitting work.
Speaker 1: I think they saved him up for December and now
Speaker 1: he's getting you know, of the snaps and that makes
Speaker 1: them a lot better well. And also I mean you
Speaker 1: look at the Titans the thing more than any other
Speaker 1: team when they are on and we've talked about like
Speaker 1: the high floor of their offense, they have, you know,
Speaker 1: broken people by halftime. So I think this game is
Speaker 1: fascinating because I don't entirely trust either defense. Um, wouldn't
Speaker 1: it be amazing if Tennessee could do something to affect
Speaker 1: or make the Packers uneasy? I just don't trust that
Speaker 1: to happen. Aaron Rodgers sacked five times last week. That's
Speaker 1: not been the case with that offense. Um, Carolina made
Speaker 1: him really uncomfortable earlier, you know, later on in the game.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if Tennessee can do that. But
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans, when they've been good, to your point, Dan,
Speaker 1: they've been balanced. It's not just Derrick Henry like They've
Speaker 1: a couple of these games when they've been up thirty
Speaker 1: five whatever at halftime, it's been a split between their
Speaker 1: air yards and their ground yards. So if they can
Speaker 1: achieve that this will be the game of the week. Um.
Speaker 1: I never trust game of the weeks though, something always
Speaker 1: goes wrong, So UM, I will wait and see. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you are somebody that loves points, this. This is
Speaker 1: pointing toward shootout that should be too teams that are
Speaker 1: going up and down the field. I have no doubts
Speaker 1: Tennessee is gonna move the ball against Mike Petton's defense.
Speaker 1: I just I think they'll be able to run it,
Speaker 1: and I think they'll be able to throw it and
Speaker 1: score uh you know, three or four touchdowns at the
Speaker 1: very least, and then it just becomes an issue, Um,
Speaker 1: can the Packers keep up while they have Aaron Rodgers?
Speaker 1: But you know, I watched the game last week that
Speaker 1: the Packers played when they went totally dry in the
Speaker 1: second half, and it did give me some uh pause,
Speaker 1: like could that happen in a big spot in the
Speaker 1: season or or am I just being a little Have
Speaker 1: I become spoiled by Aaron rodgers success this year? And
Speaker 1: he should. He deserves a benefit of the doubt that
Speaker 1: that's not gonna happen in a game like this, A
Speaker 1: big spotlight game with big ramifications for both teams, big
Speaker 1: big m v P. I think game uh two for Rogers.
Speaker 1: If he had to straight I mean, I'm sure he'll
Speaker 1: do well. I guess it's a it's how how well?
Speaker 1: But he needs to light up the Titans. I think
Speaker 1: on national tea, you know that these games shouldn't matter more,
Speaker 1: but they just do. And in the Packers it it
Speaker 1: should matter more for them. They it's not their fault
Speaker 1: the schedule they've played, but they they Someone pointed out
Speaker 1: they have as many wins this season over winning teams
Speaker 1: as the Jets do, right, which was the lowest, the
Speaker 1: lowest strength of schedule in the league, you know, by
Speaker 1: a decent amount, the second lowest strength of victory, which
Speaker 1: is just like the quality of the teams you beat
Speaker 1: UM in the league. So yeah, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: big test. It's a big test for them. The Titans,
Speaker 1: it feels like are in big games every other week.
Speaker 1: They've won plenty, they've lost plenty, but it feels like
Speaker 1: they've played everyone, especially in the a f C. Doesn't
Speaker 1: that point to perception though, because of certain teams, because
Speaker 1: you know, if they don't if they don't have a win,
Speaker 1: a signature win over UM, you know, a huge operation
Speaker 1: were talking about, Well, no, but this is every year.
Speaker 1: It's not just Cleveland. I think Cleveland bat Tennessee and
Speaker 1: it hushed some of that, but it's like you've done nothing.
Speaker 1: You have to keep doing things to prove yourself. Um,
Speaker 1: the Packers, You're right, like, up until a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks you look at who they've beaten. It's not the fault.
Speaker 1: They'd be beating a bunch of cupcakes. I mean, this
Speaker 1: would be a prove it game for me. Um, But
Speaker 1: I believe in the much more than they did last year.
Speaker 1: I still think you're gonna get a lot of shots
Speaker 1: of Mike Petton on the sideline with a mask on,
Speaker 1: going crazy. I think, Uh, I think the Titans win.
Speaker 1: How about that? I say, Titans thirty eight, thirty four.
Speaker 1: What do you guys got? I took the Packers. Um,
Speaker 1: but I tried to do what I call on NFL
Speaker 1: game debut, which, by the way, you know we have
Speaker 1: we have a Christmas show. Check it out after the
Speaker 1: Christmas game this year, after the post if we're if
Speaker 1: we're gonna be taping on Christmas morning, then I at
Speaker 1: least I'm gonna promote it here so people can. I
Speaker 1: don't know right now, so people can. So you're saying
Speaker 1: game debut is on immediately following they have the post
Speaker 1: game show or the New Orleans but then immediately following
Speaker 1: that and in that game, I'll do what I call
Speaker 1: a thread the needle game, which is I'm picking the
Speaker 1: Packers a win. It's a very small um line in
Speaker 1: the old Desert, But even then, I'm picking the Titans
Speaker 1: to somehow thread that needle. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: What is the Desert saying? I think it's three and
Speaker 1: a half. I think it's three and a half. I
Speaker 1: think that it's interesting that you've got Mike Rabel's former
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator who knows the Titans. Well, he's the boy
Speaker 1: with the beard. He's now to me more of a
Speaker 1: man than a boy. And I think that, um, this
Speaker 1: game will be very close. I'm gonna go Titans too though.
Speaker 1: I think Titans thirty three, Packers thirty. I did take
Speaker 1: the Packers. Yeah. Where where are we with the Titans
Speaker 1: right now? They're tied atop the a f C South
Speaker 1: with the Colts. How does the division shake out there? Greg?
Speaker 1: Give me your tabulation? They they are going to be
Speaker 1: They could clinch it if they win and the Cults lose.
Speaker 1: They have the tie break the Titans do over the Colts. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's probably do no matter what, No matter what, if
Speaker 1: they finished with the same record, it's the Titans will
Speaker 1: win the division. Yeah that's right, so they But if
Speaker 1: you know, if the Colts win this week, the Colts
Speaker 1: would in the Titans lose, the Colts would take control
Speaker 1: of the division. And I tried to come up with
Speaker 1: these scenarios, Dan, Actually it was really related to the
Speaker 1: Jets that the Colts um would would be resting their
Speaker 1: starters against the Jaguars in week seventeen, and actually there
Speaker 1: basically is no scenario for that. The Cults are gonna
Speaker 1: very likely have to play to get into the playoffs
Speaker 1: next week just to make sure. So that's bad news
Speaker 1: for the Jets. Winch is a playoff Berth with a win,
Speaker 1: right the Yeah that the Titans playoff Berth with the win,
Speaker 1: but not the probably not the division. This week we
Speaker 1: are we are not looking past this week in the
Speaker 1: tank watch. We are looking squarely at the big chlorine
Speaker 1: tank in Jacksonville in the showdown between the Jaguars and Bears.
Speaker 1: All right, there we go, finally Monday Night Football, the
Speaker 1: final primetime game before we get into our draft. I mean,
Speaker 1: it look good on paper back in August, but not
Speaker 1: so hot now. The Buffalo Bills, who have already clinched
Speaker 1: the a f C East and really, you know, they
Speaker 1: stand very little chance of catching the Chiefs for the
Speaker 1: number one seed, but still win football games. That's good.
Speaker 1: They go to New England now to face the Patriots, who,
Speaker 1: of course, we're eliminated last week in the loss um
Speaker 1: to the Dolphins. What are you looking for in this one? Mark? Well,
Speaker 1: so Stephon Gilmore is out of the picture for New
Speaker 1: England and a Patriots defense that was you know, lashed
Speaker 1: by the Rams, um, thoroughly beaten by Miami. This defense
Speaker 1: is is broken. So if you're Buffalo, um, you're the
Speaker 1: team right now that people are trying to project. Who
Speaker 1: is it that can challenge the Chiefs, who could give
Speaker 1: them a test? Um. I have no problem saying that
Speaker 1: it's Buffalo in my world unless you got like a
Speaker 1: supercharge version of the Titans, um, and you've got stuff
Speaker 1: on digs plane at ultra high levels. Josh Allen is
Speaker 1: playing out of his mind. Um, they're clicking. They're playing
Speaker 1: their best football on both sides of the ball right now.
Speaker 1: And I don't see why you don't go in and um,
Speaker 1: you know there was I thought it was emotional when
Speaker 1: they came off the plane last week, Buffalo, and this
Speaker 1: is like cold weather cities do this, Like thousands of
Speaker 1: fans showed up at the airport because this matters what
Speaker 1: the Bills did winning this division. Um, this isn't a
Speaker 1: team that's gonna let down this week. I think an
Speaker 1: exclamation point of whipping New England would be psychologically valuable
Speaker 1: to Buffalo. Why not go do it, um and do
Speaker 1: it with authority? Right? Think about how much has changed
Speaker 1: since the Bills escaped over the Patriots in Week eight.
Speaker 1: It's kind of at a part in the season we
Speaker 1: forget about that. The Bills offense struggled for about a
Speaker 1: five or six weeks stretch. Bill Belichick has had Josh
Speaker 1: Allen's number. I would say that continued this year considering
Speaker 1: the relative seasons these two teams have. UM, that was
Speaker 1: a game where I remember thinking Cam Newton played as
Speaker 1: well as Josh Allen, which was you know, that's maybe
Speaker 1: the only week I'll season you could have said that.
Speaker 1: And the psychological thing between these two teams can't be understated.
Speaker 1: The Patriots record against the Bills and the two thousand
Speaker 1: tens was the single most dominant record any team has
Speaker 1: ever had over another team ever, and those the Bills
Speaker 1: of that decade weren't that bad. It just sort of
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense that the Jets and the Dolphins did
Speaker 1: much better actually against the Patriots. But they did, and uh,
Speaker 1: it meant a lot to him last time. I'm sure
Speaker 1: it would mean a lot now to go in there.
Speaker 1: There's no reason why the way the Bills are playing
Speaker 1: right now that they shouldn't um really take care of business,
Speaker 1: and that they shouldn't want that two seed. Now they're
Speaker 1: they're in contention. They'll know when they play this game
Speaker 1: that the Chiefs have already clinched on field. By the way, Dan,
Speaker 1: you assuming the Chiefs win against the Falcons, but I
Speaker 1: think the two seeds should matter for them. I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna want to get it, get as many home
Speaker 1: games in Buffalo as they can. So you know, the
Speaker 1: same thing that I was saying over the NFC. It's
Speaker 1: different this year obviously. If and that's bummer for the Bills,
Speaker 1: um and the Saints, but in they passed, you would
Speaker 1: get that second seed. You'd also have a bye, and
Speaker 1: then you'd come out of that by with a home game,
Speaker 1: and then who knows that the number one seed gets
Speaker 1: knocked off, maybe you're hosting a title game in your building. Uh,
Speaker 1: you could still do that though that last part is
Speaker 1: still in place. So getting that second seed, uh still
Speaker 1: entitles you to the home game and then potentially still
Speaker 1: can host the conference title game a few advance that far.
Speaker 1: So big deal on that just kicked the Patriots as
Speaker 1: ask that they're ready to go home. And one note
Speaker 1: connected to the fans up there, and that's a great
Speaker 1: fan base in Western New York that had a great
Speaker 1: run in the nineties. That was also bittersweet because the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl failures and then just an endless run of
Speaker 1: suffering really from nineties six until Sean McDermott came around.
Speaker 1: That is now finally they turned the corner. But New
Speaker 1: York Governor Andrew Cuomo said this week that the Department
Speaker 1: of Health is working on a plan that would allow
Speaker 1: the would allow people to attend the Buffalo Bills playoff game,
Speaker 1: rapid test them prior to going to the game, and
Speaker 1: then contact trace after the game. The move is meant
Speaker 1: to be a prototype for how such events can be held.
Speaker 1: Of course, there is a vaccine, in fact, two vaccines
Speaker 1: that have entered the public domain in limited fashion, but
Speaker 1: not it's not going to be in time to vaccinate
Speaker 1: large swaths of the population and get people in buildings
Speaker 1: for the playoffs. Here is a way for the Bills,
Speaker 1: because I think that's one thing. And it's happening in
Speaker 1: Cleveland to where these fan bases that have been waiting
Speaker 1: and waiting and waiting for these playoff games and now
Speaker 1: they finally come and what either have no one in
Speaker 1: the building or ten thousand fans or whatever. If there's
Speaker 1: any way to make it happen in a safe way,
Speaker 1: I'm for it. I'm with you. I can't think of
Speaker 1: a fan base. Well you mentioned them, but the Bills
Speaker 1: fan base is one of these groups that win or lose.
Speaker 1: They were there. There's no fair weather aspect to that.
Speaker 1: And how about this Brandon being GM Executive of the
Speaker 1: Year in my book starts with the Stefon Diggs thing,
Speaker 1: but that team has become a power very quickly. Um,
Speaker 1: And it's not just Sean McDermott. Greg calls him Brandon
Speaker 1: bean Counter, so maybe that will work against it's mostly
Speaker 1: Sean McDermott. Though as much as I you give credit
Speaker 1: to being I do think McDermott has as much power
Speaker 1: as any coach in the league. And I think he's
Speaker 1: a good model. You know, there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: that think the coach should be the the guy who
Speaker 1: hires the GM, which is what happened here McDermott, you know,
Speaker 1: basically hired being a year later. It's you really do
Speaker 1: think he's a bean counter. I mean, you know, he's
Speaker 1: slightly on this, he's executing. It's like John Schneider. It's
Speaker 1: very similar to John Schneider and King Greg Bury a
Speaker 1: GM pick that you had yesterday as well. I don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on with somebody else was a bean counter?
Speaker 1: Oh was the Dee Potesta? That was just yeah, well
Speaker 1: that was just trying to have some fun. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move to the Wait were you finishing a point there, Greg? So? No, great, Yes,
Speaker 1: this is we're a long way away from Uh Doug
Speaker 1: Whaley put it that way. And who was the old
Speaker 1: man that was there before or maybe after Whaley? Buddy Nicks,
Speaker 1: and we're together. It's like we we have found the key,
Speaker 1: uh to jump starting this franchise. We're gonna go get
Speaker 1: that wide receiver. Sammy Watkins. Sammy Watkins, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I can't remember his name either. Let's just move on,
Speaker 1: all right, Let's get to this. Let's get to the draft.
Speaker 1: Uh oh boy, I'm not ready for this. And it
Speaker 1: turns out Mark, you have the first overall pick. Now
Speaker 1: when we go through the games of the schedule that
Speaker 1: we kind of dole out and figure out who's gonna
Speaker 1: watch what comes Sunday, So you're up first. You have
Speaker 1: ten games to choose from. Let it rip. Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go with this Rams at Seattle Eastern Spot. Okay, okay.
Speaker 1: I mean it's a fascinating game to me because the
Speaker 1: what you upset that I've taken this, Greg, Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: it's the Rams season on the line and the show today.
Speaker 1: You know, we we um. You never expected the Rams
Speaker 1: to be in this situation, to have to bounce back
Speaker 1: from losing to the Jets in December, when you know,
Speaker 1: a week or two ago we're talking about them. Is
Speaker 1: this totally balanced operation that UM has a chance to
Speaker 1: win playoff games? I still think they do. I mean,
Speaker 1: someone was gonna lose to New York. I just I
Speaker 1: felt that way, and it's and it's um humiliating. I mean,
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh basically said it entirely. But if you are
Speaker 1: the Rams, you we have got to start to see
Speaker 1: some consistency out of Jared Goff and this would be
Speaker 1: a good spot for that to happen. A team that, um,
Speaker 1: you know, they know well that they can match up
Speaker 1: well against. Uh. I just I think, to me, this
Speaker 1: is all about Jared Goff, and show me who you
Speaker 1: are over the next two weeks and beyond, because it
Speaker 1: seems to me every third game you get Jared Goff
Speaker 1: totally disrupted and he's you know, it's he's not a
Speaker 1: game manager. He's turning the ball over. You can't do that.
Speaker 1: You can't call him the game manager, even at his
Speaker 1: at his lowest. So, um, do we put that loss again?
Speaker 1: I know he didn't play out of his mind, but
Speaker 1: do we put the loss to the Jets on Jared Goff?
Speaker 1: That felt like a team wide meltdown, including on that defense,
Speaker 1: which I'm putting I am putting it on him to
Speaker 1: some large degree because I mean, because he wasn't on
Speaker 1: the field when Frank Gore ran for eight yards on
Speaker 1: that first carry to close out the game and then
Speaker 1: caught the pass. Also, it's like you gotta you gotta
Speaker 1: step up defense and make that play get the ball
Speaker 1: back there. It's not just on Jared goff obviously, but
Speaker 1: I mean the Dolphins game. I can point to a
Speaker 1: couple other loss stuff and hants you like it, hants um,
Speaker 1: my daughter. It changed my impression of them, And they're
Speaker 1: not a different team. They're the team that every third
Speaker 1: week has that loss. Well, how do you go from
Speaker 1: whipping the Patriots the way you did to falling to
Speaker 1: the New York Jets. Something is going on. You're not
Speaker 1: a consistent team the Patriots that it used to be.
Speaker 1: I mean that right, No, but the Patriots were coming
Speaker 1: off a week where they won forty five to nothing
Speaker 1: over the Chargers. So they're a weird team, no doubt
Speaker 1: they To your point, Mark, I've never been more worried
Speaker 1: about Jared goff Um in his future and just like
Speaker 1: where he is than I am right now, because I
Speaker 1: think that Patriots game is is maybe the perfect example
Speaker 1: why because they didn't really trust him in that game
Speaker 1: and they were coaching around him even with a lead,
Speaker 1: like because he didn't look right early in that game either.
Speaker 1: By the way, I thought he might have played worse
Speaker 1: against the Patriots than he did against the Jets, And
Speaker 1: so when you're starting to coach around your guy in
Speaker 1: a game that you're winning a little comfortably, and I
Speaker 1: am concerned. I don't think it's all about golf, though,
Speaker 1: because I think about this first matchup between these two teams.
Speaker 1: I think about the fact that mcveigh's five and two
Speaker 1: against Carol. To me, that's significant. Um, you know, considering
Speaker 1: where these two teams have been at relatively even over
Speaker 1: the last three years, that one teams won five out
Speaker 1: of seven, that's significant. And I think about that game.
Speaker 1: Goff didn't play that great in that game either, and
Speaker 1: their defense just shut down the Seahawks. And are the
Speaker 1: Seahawks and their offense good enough right now to put
Speaker 1: up a lot of points. It wouldn't surprise me at all.
Speaker 1: I'm picking the Rams in this game. Wouldn't surprise me
Speaker 1: at all. This is a defensive battle that McVeigh is
Speaker 1: a little bit better in situational football, and the Rams
Speaker 1: can go out there and win a relatively defensive game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think we're on different pages on this podcast
Speaker 1: with Jared Goff. I'm very much also in the camp
Speaker 1: that Jared Goff is Jared goff. I mean, he's never
Speaker 1: he's not gonna be this like superstar guy. He's there's
Speaker 1: gonna be peaks and valleys and maybe down the line
Speaker 1: the Rams during the side, we need to do something
Speaker 1: about this. But for in the here and now, he's
Speaker 1: their guy, and he's he's gonna be throwing the stinker
Speaker 1: every once in a while. And you know, we talked
Speaker 1: about it, and Troy Aikman says it a lot. The
Speaker 1: NFL is a week to week league, and I almost
Speaker 1: put nothing, nothing into that Jets loss when I look
Speaker 1: ahead to this game, because I think the Rams are
Speaker 1: gonna be hyper competitive in this game. They've already beaten
Speaker 1: the Seahawks once. And then I look at like what
Speaker 1: the Seahawks have done this season, um, and they've been
Speaker 1: an up in town team. Their defense has gotten much better,
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that. How much this defense has
Speaker 1: improved in Seattle over the last let's say five or
Speaker 1: six weeks. It went from being a historically awful group
Speaker 1: to now they're winning games occasionally to their defense. And
Speaker 1: every week their defense is giving them a chance to win.
Speaker 1: I'm a little curious about what's gonna happen with this offense.
Speaker 1: So is the let Russ Cook era? Is it already over? Like?
Speaker 1: Was that? Because that was a lot of fun. Like,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, I get why the Seahawks are
Speaker 1: now maybe going back to their roots a little bit
Speaker 1: and they're you know, playing better on that defensive side
Speaker 1: of ball, and they're running the ball and Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: is doing his thing on occasion. That's not as fun though,
Speaker 1: is what was going on earlier this year where they
Speaker 1: were just involved with shootouts and it was just all
Speaker 1: these wild games. Um. I want to see the Seattle
Speaker 1: offense getting back to where it was earlier this season.
Speaker 1: And um, and I think they're gonna need to be
Speaker 1: better than they've been the last couple of weeks to
Speaker 1: handle the Rams, even Rams team coming off that awful loss.
Speaker 1: I mean, some of the issues I think for Seattle
Speaker 1: because their sixteenth and passing since Week nine was offensive
Speaker 1: line related to some degree. I mean, they had some
Speaker 1: problems there. They you know, the Giants um put it
Speaker 1: on Russell Wilson in a way we hadn't seen and
Speaker 1: and they just haven't really been the same since that game.
Speaker 1: Both of these teams seem vulnerable to me. Because if
Speaker 1: you get in Golf's face, this team is done and
Speaker 1: so it does come down to your quarterback. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is the first overall pick, and no one has
Speaker 1: trust that he can take him to the super Bowl. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, he's not. I mean, yeah, we're talking
Speaker 1: with circles on this because we all agree with that.
Speaker 1: I think everybody sees that. I think any one of
Speaker 1: the top five and you've got a big problem. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree, unless he he turns out. I think this
Speaker 1: has been his most disappointing season. I really do more
Speaker 1: than last year. Um, but I think I think any
Speaker 1: one of the top five teams in the NFC could
Speaker 1: make the super Bowl. And I definitely put the Rams
Speaker 1: into that. I don't think there's a huge, huge graph.
Speaker 1: This is a great example of how teams changed, Dan,
Speaker 1: you put it very well with the Seahawks, Like teams
Speaker 1: in December are very often not the teams we saw
Speaker 1: in September. It's a big game. If the Seahawks win,
Speaker 1: they win the division. If the Rams win, then they
Speaker 1: control their fate and can go win the division. In
Speaker 1: Week seventeen and cam Akers who had a hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy one yards against the Patriots, then has an a
Speaker 1: high ankle spring against the Jets. He's not playing in
Speaker 1: this game. He's at least missing Week sixteen, so that
Speaker 1: that hurts their offense UM as well. And finally, just
Speaker 1: a little bit of housekeeping here. So with a win
Speaker 1: uh here, the Seahawks would clinch the NFC West. If
Speaker 1: the Rams win each of their last two games, they
Speaker 1: clinch the NFC West. The Rams clinch a playoff birth
Speaker 1: this week if they win and then the Bears lose
Speaker 1: or the Cardinals win. So a lot on the line
Speaker 1: in that game, all right up next to the draft, Greg,
Speaker 1: I really wanted that Rams game. Feels like that's the
Speaker 1: biggest game left. Maybe watch it. Don't think I'm just
Speaker 1: saying we might trade. That might be the biggest game left, um,
Speaker 1: on this regular season schedule, just because it's kind of
Speaker 1: the sides of division. Move on, Greg, you can get
Speaker 1: past it. I know you can't. I'm well, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take my Tony Romo game. Uh.
Speaker 1: It's Steelers Colts, So nothing wrong with that. Um. You
Speaker 1: having to watch the Pittsburgh offense for three and half hours,
Speaker 1: I don't mind you know it. I find it. I
Speaker 1: love it. Actually you love it. You love Big Ben
Speaker 1: going down in flames anyone in this country. That's so
Speaker 1: not true. I was, I was. I swear if you
Speaker 1: went and listened to this podcast, I was the biggest
Speaker 1: supporter of how good this guy was. But you're right,
Speaker 1: if a if a team like the Steelers is gonna
Speaker 1: go down, I want him to go down hard. I
Speaker 1: want to go down in flames, in shame and infamy
Speaker 1: being an eleven and oh team that loses sixth straight
Speaker 1: and then they're like, wait, do we even bring back been?
Speaker 1: That would be kind of fun. And I've enjoyed watching
Speaker 1: this Cults team I picked the win the Super Bowl. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's still on the line here. They're tenant four. Not bad.
Speaker 1: How about that matchup? You got the Forest Buckner's back.
Speaker 1: Uh Autrey played well last week, Comico terray Um who
Speaker 1: had been out for a lot of this year. So
Speaker 1: there's three guys who all missed a bunch of time,
Speaker 1: who are all good pass fishers against the Steelers old line,
Speaker 1: which I think is at the center of their struggles
Speaker 1: because of Ben in that running game behind the battle
Speaker 1: line has no chance and so this is a tough
Speaker 1: matchup for them. I really believe it. They lacked total balance.
Speaker 1: Their line has been injury prone and a mess. And
Speaker 1: I mean the Cults though, who we like you talk
Speaker 1: about teams changing, and we pointed to their defense, you know,
Speaker 1: all season long is the stronghold that they have been
Speaker 1: torched a couple of times in the past month, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I do, Greg. I think you mentioned to
Speaker 1: Forrest Buckner, uh coming back and playing last week, and
Speaker 1: he won Defensive Player of the Week and it was
Speaker 1: probably one of the most courageous defensive performances you'll get
Speaker 1: all season because essentially no one thought he'd play and
Speaker 1: he came in and completely had a huge impact. Um.
Speaker 1: I the Cults, to me, they are imperfect, but you're
Speaker 1: getting the better version of the offense and Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 1: and they are running the ball which pitch it's Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: is not doing. Um, I'm with you. The crash and
Speaker 1: burden nature of the Steelers is fascinating. Um. And I
Speaker 1: don't say that as no I don't see that as
Speaker 1: a Brown supporter, but it's just so interesting where we
Speaker 1: were three weeks ago. Like, I honestly like if you
Speaker 1: think I'm sitting around like like rooting against the Steelers,
Speaker 1: like the Cleveland has to take care of their own business.
Speaker 1: But to watch what's happened over the last three weeks,
Speaker 1: butting against the Steelers, you can win the division. As
Speaker 1: a Cleveland Browns fan, you need them to lose this game, right,
Speaker 1: I'm not, But I guess that's not really where I'm
Speaker 1: coming from, is like just sitting around like excited that
Speaker 1: they stink right now. It's just it's incredible where they
Speaker 1: were a month ago and to this point, and it's
Speaker 1: like you almost want to draw them in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: It's it's not something you'd say about a team that's,
Speaker 1: you know, days away from maybe having their twelfth win. Well,
Speaker 1: let's let's see what happens here. Because I agree with
Speaker 1: you totally on that. If you take what you've seen
Speaker 1: from the Steelers really, since that stupid Ravens COVID game
Speaker 1: on the Wednesday or Thursday or wherever the hell it was, Um,
Speaker 1: they have just not been the same team. And it
Speaker 1: becomes now a question two questions to me when I
Speaker 1: look at the Steelers, Hey, how much is Big ben
Speaker 1: Um responsible for the offenses complete collapse? Here um, whether
Speaker 1: it's because of their game plan which was exposed, and
Speaker 1: the game plan is the way it is because they
Speaker 1: don't believe Ben has that ability anymore to go up
Speaker 1: and down the field beyond the short routes and be
Speaker 1: how much do you believe in Mike Tomlin to see
Speaker 1: his team out of this funk, because we've seen it before,
Speaker 1: I mean in all different sports and certainly in the
Speaker 1: NFL as well. A really good team, uh is cruising
Speaker 1: along and then they hit a really deep valley and
Speaker 1: you and you just write them off essentially, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, Oh, they have a good week,
Speaker 1: and then they have another good week, and then we
Speaker 1: see that, Oh, that was just kind of a uh,
Speaker 1: you know, the ebbs and flows of the season. Is
Speaker 1: that what's going to happen? I kind of think that's
Speaker 1: the more likely scenario rather than Pittsburgh completely imploding and
Speaker 1: going down in flames and finishing eleven and five or
Speaker 1: whatever like. That's what I see is the more likely scenario.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, that is more just gut
Speaker 1: more than anything else, because there's nothing we've seen from them,
Speaker 1: and I'm focused almost entirely on the offense. And other
Speaker 1: defense hasn't been quite as good, and the injuries that
Speaker 1: played a role there as well. But it's the offense.
Speaker 1: There's nothing that we've seen to tell us that they're
Speaker 1: about to snap out of the funk. And the culture
Speaker 1: a tough assignment. Well, the Cults are a big play defense.
Speaker 1: They will give up place. They remind me a little
Speaker 1: bit of a Tony Dungee Cults defenses. Uh. And they
Speaker 1: play a similar style like the closest thing teams played
Speaker 1: with Tampa too, which is that they're gonna give up yards,
Speaker 1: but they make big plays. Um they're plus twelve in
Speaker 1: turnover margin that is number one in the NFL, and
Speaker 1: so they they tend to force a lot of turnovers.
Speaker 1: It's hard to count on. But you're going up against
Speaker 1: the Steelers offense, it makes no big place. So I
Speaker 1: like that matchup for the Colts. I like them to win.
Speaker 1: I think the Steelers have just become easier for defensive
Speaker 1: coordinators to prepare for, which is not what you want
Speaker 1: to be in December. I mean that Colts defense also
Speaker 1: allowed you know, Deshaun Watson is Deshaun Watson, but playing
Speaker 1: with um non household names to say it nicely at
Speaker 1: wide receiver. They tour right through them, so they're gonna
Speaker 1: need some big place Beca're not a shutdown defense from October.
Speaker 1: They're not a shutdown defense, but they always find a
Speaker 1: way to end up making something like one of their
Speaker 1: great players makes a great play and then it shuts
Speaker 1: it down. I mean, they are so fortunate to still
Speaker 1: be in this division race in the a f C. South.
Speaker 1: I mean, two of the last three weeks they've needed
Speaker 1: a miracle fumble at their own goal line against the
Speaker 1: same Houston team, and in both situations there was a
Speaker 1: fumble they needed and credit goes to Darius Leonard for
Speaker 1: the most recent one. But the ball needed to bounce
Speaker 1: the way they it had to bounce and they had
Speaker 1: to fall on that FuMB. It happened twice and they
Speaker 1: get two wins directly off it. That that says a
Speaker 1: little something to me as well, that maybe the Cults
Speaker 1: aren't quite as good as the record indicates. But I know,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm thinking the Steelers this week, It's
Speaker 1: all I don't know why. I'm probably gonna look bad
Speaker 1: because they're gonna big Ben will throw for negative fourteen yards.
Speaker 1: But I like the Steelers bouncing back here. You're right though,
Speaker 1: because two weeks from now we could be like, oh,
Speaker 1: the Steelers are back, you know, blah blah blah. It's
Speaker 1: like it's these are just ebbs and flows. Maybe unless
Speaker 1: it's an epic collapse. We don't know where we'll find out,
Speaker 1: all right, Third pick, you guys, bang me in the
Speaker 1: biggest of all spots. There's not a lot of great
Speaker 1: games this week. As I said, there's only three games
Speaker 1: with two teams with winning records, and they're now all
Speaker 1: off the board. So logically I have to find the
Speaker 1: one that has the most playoff implications packed in for
Speaker 1: both teams, and it's Philadelphia at Dallas. UM in a game, Greg,
Speaker 1: you could tell me if it's a loser go home
Speaker 1: match for the team for a true elimination game, So
Speaker 1: that I mean, if if if I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: watch two losing football teams, let it be a loser
Speaker 1: goes home match, and I also get to see um
Speaker 1: Jalen Hurts of course, now, who very quickly was announced
Speaker 1: as a starter for Week sixteen by Doug Peterson, and
Speaker 1: he's coming off a really impressed Why did he need
Speaker 1: to announce that that. I don't know. I think he
Speaker 1: was probably asked it and he said, yes, he will
Speaker 1: be the starter. That would be my guest. I didn't
Speaker 1: watch the press conference, but uh, he'll be fun to watch.
Speaker 1: I say this more. Um, It's not a negative or
Speaker 1: knock on Jalen Hurts at all, but it just seems
Speaker 1: like this is less shocking now than it used to be.
Speaker 1: Like Jalen Hurts like coming in, uh in his second
Speaker 1: career start and having four d total yards and four
Speaker 1: touchdowns that would be unheard of from a rookie quarterback
Speaker 1: even five years ago. But now I feel like we
Speaker 1: see it. We saw it multiple times this year, and
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert did it as well, and we saw Kyler
Speaker 1: Murray hit the ground running and Patrick Mahomes of course,
Speaker 1: like this stuff happens fairly regularly. Now it's Hurts his turn,
Speaker 1: and that's great for the Eagles and the Cowboys. I
Speaker 1: will I get into troubles sometimes. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: think it's just because I'm a populist at heart, and
Speaker 1: I like I like when the Cowboys are good that
Speaker 1: it seems to be kind of fun to me. Uh
Speaker 1: So I I always end up doing things like picking
Speaker 1: them to make the playoffs are picking them to win
Speaker 1: on Thanksgiving and then they always lose. So I refused
Speaker 1: to fall down that trap yet again. I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: that the Eagles win this game, but uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the Cowboys look better last week against San Francisco. I'll
Speaker 1: give him that. You are a populist. I think that's
Speaker 1: it's um, that's a good destination. Um. No, No, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of good qualities to come with that. I'm
Speaker 1: not one, and I um can get into weird places
Speaker 1: for not being one. I will say this, it is
Speaker 1: it's one thing to come in and perform statistically well. Um,
Speaker 1: And I think quarterbacks are just much better prepared coming
Speaker 1: out of college than they ever have been. Her has
Speaker 1: been through what he went through a lot in college too,
Speaker 1: and he's pretty mentally tough from people around him that
Speaker 1: that know him. I just like he brought life to
Speaker 1: this offense. How many how I mean he was banged up,
Speaker 1: but zach Ertz was a non story all year long,
Speaker 1: or a frustrating story. But little guys like Greg Ward
Speaker 1: and Quez Watkins, who, um, you know, when you've got
Speaker 1: a good productive quarterback in there, it brings life to
Speaker 1: all this, Miles Sanders is playing well, everything is more
Speaker 1: um you know, hard to plan against with the Eagles
Speaker 1: now and you've got a quarterback that can run. It
Speaker 1: opens up the ground game and it's just like what
Speaker 1: could have been. And we've already discussed it. But um,
Speaker 1: I think it's no small feat what he's pulling off
Speaker 1: as a rookie. But you're right, Dan that it's not
Speaker 1: it's this would have um, we would have people would
Speaker 1: have been left paralyzed by the side of the road.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's a fairly new phenomenon here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: now you're you're absolutely right it it feels like much
Speaker 1: more pot I mean, it's create the but the way
Speaker 1: he's done it has really impressed me because he's a
Speaker 1: better thrower than then I think he was expected to
Speaker 1: be this early in his career. That you know, he
Speaker 1: he had a touchdown where he had that sprint left
Speaker 1: and had to set his feet and throw it to
Speaker 1: Greg Ward. That was a great throw. He had a
Speaker 1: couple of really nice go balls to Alice on Jeffrey, who,
Speaker 1: by the way, you know, there was all that talk
Speaker 1: about he didn't get along with Carson Wentz couldn't get
Speaker 1: anything done with Carson Wentz and back. I couldn't help
Speaker 1: but noticing when Hurts had that rushing touchdown. You could
Speaker 1: here Hurts himself screaming as he's going into the end
Speaker 1: zone in this empty stadium, just being like and then
Speaker 1: all the teammates like running up to him and going,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I love that stuff. I think that
Speaker 1: stuff matters, and he seems to have a lot of
Speaker 1: that without getting too deep into like the intangibles. He
Speaker 1: that was the reason why DJ really loved Hurts. Um
Speaker 1: Daniel Jeremiah, your your nemesis, Dan going into the draft
Speaker 1: was the intangible stuff. And he can't see that more
Speaker 1: in a in a more defined feud with DJ than me.
Speaker 1: And they look at what's happening on Twitter, some of
Speaker 1: the just mean spirited bars back and forth. There's no
Speaker 1: I'll give you a little'll pull back the curtain a
Speaker 1: little bit. Sometimes. Now it's and this is one of
Speaker 1: my favorite little developments. When move the Sticks drops a
Speaker 1: zinger on you that he really is excited about, he
Speaker 1: will actually call me on the phone, not text me.
Speaker 1: He'll call me and say, hey, check out what I
Speaker 1: just posted. Like that's how excited he gets. He's a
Speaker 1: big con. He's an old school like phone user, which
Speaker 1: I which I respect. You know, there's not enough of
Speaker 1: those out there. You're burying the lead a little bit. Though.
Speaker 1: He's so excited to zing you, you get under his skin.
Speaker 1: I wonder, Greg, for some reason, I wonder, what's I
Speaker 1: don't think? So? I think the thing we like is
Speaker 1: that neither of us getting under each other skin at all.
Speaker 1: And it's someone that we can actually go full on
Speaker 1: like we want to, and we know neither one is
Speaker 1: gonna take it personally. That's all Greg is ever wanted.
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm so edgy with my personality and my
Speaker 1: sense of humor that people. Finally I've found someone who
Speaker 1: could take a joke. He appreciates it when you come,
Speaker 1: when you come hard. You're right, um, all right? Where
Speaker 1: were we? Okay? There we go. This Cowboys teams a
Speaker 1: fluke by the way, plus seven the last two weeks
Speaker 1: and turnover margin against two two uh teams falling apart.
Speaker 1: That's not sustainable. I love, I love the Eagles pass
Speaker 1: rush to make Andy though on the little one, little
Speaker 1: many Cowboys note that could affect them going forward. Kellen
Speaker 1: Moore is being whispered about um to take over Boise
Speaker 1: States head coaching role. That would take away all right,
Speaker 1: and Tony Pollard. We'll see Zeke Elliott uh caff injury
Speaker 1: as we record this. There's a lot of unknowns about that.
Speaker 1: But regardless of Ezekil Elliott's on the field, Tony Pollard
Speaker 1: deserves a bigger role in that offense. And you wonder
Speaker 1: when Zeke Elliott, you wonder what Zeke? I know right
Speaker 1: now it's it's Zekel. It's it's Zeke Elliott hit season,
Speaker 1: just like it's Carson Wentz hit season. Some guys seem
Speaker 1: to attract criticism more um, is really Zeke Elliott that bad?
Speaker 1: Because everyone seems to be taken getting a line to
Speaker 1: say how terrible. I think he has not been healthy,
Speaker 1: but he's not been himself and their offensive line has
Speaker 1: been a mess. And I thought Pollard last week brought
Speaker 1: some energy to that offense, and he's always like he's
Speaker 1: done that in little little bits. But I think it's
Speaker 1: the Zeke Elliott contract attracts a lot of um. You know,
Speaker 1: I think he was that bad this season. I think
Speaker 1: he was that bad this season. There's no arguments that
Speaker 1: he was that he was a top twenty running back,
Speaker 1: which is, you know, you don't expect that he'll be
Speaker 1: on the team next year. I did check this out.
Speaker 1: He has tons of guarantee and I wouldn't give up
Speaker 1: on him because of one bad year. But he came
Speaker 1: in and it wasn't right, and it came out and
Speaker 1: it wasn't right. There you go a right by the way,
Speaker 1: circling back to uh Ben Roethlisberger a second. His PFF
Speaker 1: grade this past week was twenty five point one points,
Speaker 1: the lowest by any starting quarterback this season, and it's
Speaker 1: the lowest grade in a single game since PF began
Speaker 1: as signing player grades in two thousand six. His PF
Speaker 1: grade was retire and there was and there was also
Speaker 1: and I usually I don't care about this stuff, but
Speaker 1: I also I think we could all relate to it
Speaker 1: because everyone plays fantasy um except for you, Greg, of
Speaker 1: course you've graduated um Field Yates of ESPN posted a
Speaker 1: screen grab of somebody's where in this This last week
Speaker 1: was the semifinals for fantasy leagues across the country and world,
Speaker 1: and he screenshot at a match or a game that
Speaker 1: had a guy that had Eric, Ebron and Juju and
Speaker 1: a point and a half lead going into Monday night
Speaker 1: and Ebron gets injured, no catches, he's out, Juju does nothing,
Speaker 1: loses a fun Bull for negative points. The guy had
Speaker 1: the lead and two players going on Monday night and
Speaker 1: lost his semifinal matchup. Now that is I would just
Speaker 1: there's a worst beat in the history of fantasy football.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're if there's ever happened, could
Speaker 1: you couldn't you just bench those players? And you could have?
Speaker 1: But I'll ask Greg. This is the Fantasy Expert pick
Speaker 1: built road a world brick by brick. Do you leave
Speaker 1: those guys into account for potential scoring changes to protect
Speaker 1: yourself because that could happen? Your defense gets a sack
Speaker 1: taken away. Blah blah blah. It's I mean, I've seen
Speaker 1: it happen. What do you do? Do you leave him an?
Speaker 1: You take him out? Greg? What's the lesson to learn here? Oh?
Speaker 1: Holy one, I don't know. I would leave him in.
Speaker 1: You got two of them? Does I mean? I get?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know about the scoring change thing,
Speaker 1: though it does. It seems crazy. I mean, you're not
Speaker 1: expecting to you know, keep players on an offense to
Speaker 1: produce negative points over the course of an entire game.
Speaker 1: This person, you might not have afy, you might not
Speaker 1: have the flexibility because you gotta place someone and I
Speaker 1: don't know, and it might be too late to lock
Speaker 1: out the I don't know. Alright, good, all right, let's
Speaker 1: move on. It snakes to me and yes, I need
Speaker 1: to have eyes on this game. The Jacksonville Jaguars, after
Speaker 1: getting blown out by the Ravens in Week fifteen, coupled
Speaker 1: with the New York Jets and probably defeating the Los
Speaker 1: Angeles rams Um, are now in the driver's seat for
Speaker 1: the first overall pick in the draft. And uh, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that's the way it's gonna stay. There's
Speaker 1: a probability. I believe the number is. It's seventy give
Speaker 1: or take a point or two that the Jacksonville Jaguars
Speaker 1: now picked first in the draft. Obviously, as a Jets fan,
Speaker 1: I want that first overall pick, whether you know Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence is there or just the leverage that comes with
Speaker 1: pick one. So this is to me, the big chance,
Speaker 1: this is the big hope. With a trip to Indie
Speaker 1: in week seventeen for Jacksonville. Um, I gotta get this
Speaker 1: win right here against the Bears. The problem is the
Speaker 1: Bears boys are playing a lot better the last two weeks.
Speaker 1: They beat the Texans thirty six to seven. They beat
Speaker 1: the Vikings thirty three to twenty seven in in the
Speaker 1: in an elimination game for bol teams. So the seven
Speaker 1: and seven Bears are playing better, especially on offense. Uh
Speaker 1: do we expect it to continue to against against arguably
Speaker 1: the league's worst defense? I mean I would think you do.
Speaker 1: M I would too know Mitch, you know, has played well,
Speaker 1: and I think the commonality between him and Montgomery playing
Speaker 1: well over the last month is the opponents. Montgomery's played
Speaker 1: the list of the worst rush defenses in the league.
Speaker 1: He's running really well, they're making it work, and Drabinsky
Speaker 1: has barely been touched during this little stretch. And you
Speaker 1: would expect the same to continue against this Jaguars team
Speaker 1: who can't stop the run, who can't really rush the passer,
Speaker 1: and where they're not even a now and seeing who's
Speaker 1: the starter, they're splitting reps between Minshew and like Glenn
Speaker 1: and Doug Morone said on Wednesday, I mean, what what
Speaker 1: is that accomplishing? Splitting reps that that seems actively trying
Speaker 1: to like to mess up both of them. Well, the
Speaker 1: Marone said, um, well there's a competition here. I mean
Speaker 1: it's this is unnecessary on the same team the since August,
Speaker 1: you still decide totally unnecessary. I mean, I would just
Speaker 1: say you follow the script that Baltimore did last week
Speaker 1: and others have against Jacksonville. UM. Jacksonville trailed in yardage
Speaker 1: two twenty one yards to sixty one at halftime against Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Chicago's offensive line, which was a hot mess a month ago,
Speaker 1: has been playing really well. I thought they battered Minnesota's
Speaker 1: defensive line last week. That's part of the picture with
Speaker 1: David Montgomery. UM our friends Cynthia Friedland has the Bears
Speaker 1: with the thirty three point three percent chance to make
Speaker 1: the playoffs based on her UM, her computer and her
Speaker 1: computer studies, and so they have something to play. I
Speaker 1: think that's the biggest issue here for for you, Dan,
Speaker 1: that it had had Chicago's script gone the way that
Speaker 1: we thought it would, where at this point you're talking
Speaker 1: about new coach, new quarterback, knew everything. UM. Instead, they
Speaker 1: have incredible life and they're this you're right there, this
Speaker 1: team that could wind up playing the Saints in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: We're not rooting for that necessarily, but Jacksonville has got
Speaker 1: nothing to play for you. It is how stunning that
Speaker 1: things have somehow broken against the Jets in every way
Speaker 1: possible here because, like uh, Greg said earlier week seventeen,
Speaker 1: doesn't look like it's gonna work out either with the
Speaker 1: Cults neating that win. But you know, my only hope,
Speaker 1: and call it blind faith, is that it's it's still
Speaker 1: much to his key and I you know, and even
Speaker 1: and even though he's played a lot better these last
Speaker 1: two weeks, he's also had a bone headed mistake or
Speaker 1: two in each game. Uh and Jacksonville, you know, last
Speaker 1: week notwithstanding, which was a blood bath against the Ravens
Speaker 1: team that is as hot as anybody in football. Um,
Speaker 1: they have been playing teams tight. And I just hope
Speaker 1: it is Gardner Minshew. If it's not Gardner Minshew, I
Speaker 1: think it tells me if there's really two doors there.
Speaker 1: If it's not Minshew, if it's Mike Lennon, because obviously
Speaker 1: we know Mike Glennon is not good. I don't think
Speaker 1: Gardner Minshew is good either, but he's I think he
Speaker 1: gives them a better chance. Uh, Doug Marone either really
Speaker 1: doesn't like Gardner Minshew and doesn't like his game, maybe
Speaker 1: doesn't like his personality. Maybe there's something behind the scenes there,
Speaker 1: or this is coming from higher up and this is
Speaker 1: just um Maron going through the motions and then he's
Speaker 1: gonna start Glennon because the owner told him to. Shot
Speaker 1: Khan could have his fingers all over this. Now that's
Speaker 1: the only thing I think, and that would be I
Speaker 1: think the more likely scenario here. And if that's what's happening, Uh,
Speaker 1: is that something the league is okay with? I guess.
Speaker 1: I guess. Ultimately it's shot Kan's team. So if he
Speaker 1: could be the head coach, if you wanted to him,
Speaker 1: and you could, you could argue, I mean, you could
Speaker 1: try to argue that either quarterback would be better than
Speaker 1: the other. It's not like you're sitting fran Tarkent in
Speaker 1: here or something um with Minshew not starting. Potentially, if
Speaker 1: you're Shot Khan, part of me is like, look at
Speaker 1: you're running a business and you've had a faceless organization
Speaker 1: outside of their little Saxonville playoff surge a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago. Um if you're thinking that you are a
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty minutes away from drafting Trevor Lawrence. I
Speaker 1: would start like I would, I would start a defensive
Speaker 1: tackle at quarterback. I don't care stop messing around here.
Speaker 1: But the problem is Maron says, I don't know if
Speaker 1: I believe a word of it. That no one's you know,
Speaker 1: got to him with these orders. Um, I just don't
Speaker 1: know what's really being said behind Maybe listen, we can't
Speaker 1: speculate too much here, but maybe Maron still thinks he
Speaker 1: has a chance to keep this job. So if he
Speaker 1: is getting a little pressure room upstairs, he's more likely
Speaker 1: to go along with part of the plan as opposed
Speaker 1: to going against it and being a shore gunner. Uh,
Speaker 1: if it came to probably even get fired before this game.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot cooking behind the scenes here. I
Speaker 1: do think just if I can get, as a Jet said,
Speaker 1: if I could get Meanshoe on the field, at least
Speaker 1: he has a little bit of juice and maybe you
Speaker 1: could spark the team and the fans get excited it
Speaker 1: there and maybe something happens. I don't like the idea
Speaker 1: of Mike Lennon saving the Jets is asked here, I just, well,
Speaker 1: here's your problem, though I got problems. I think the
Speaker 1: Jets are more likely to win a game the way
Speaker 1: they're You know that they could spring up and win
Speaker 1: another game. Whether it was against the Browns not as likely,
Speaker 1: but against the Patriots certainly possible. And you always hear
Speaker 1: coaches don't tank, and I direct you to two thousand
Speaker 1: and fourteen halftime, Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning by thirteen points
Speaker 1: or seventeen points against the Saints, and Lovey Smith coaching
Speaker 1: his last game for the Bucks. I don't know why
Speaker 1: he was helping them out. Benched all of his best players.
Speaker 1: And they say that tanking doesn't happen in the NFL. Well,
Speaker 1: he took out Mike Evans, he took out all his
Speaker 1: best players, and the Saints backups I believe that they
Speaker 1: were also resting, came back and won that game and
Speaker 1: delivered them Jamis Winston. Now that ended up not being
Speaker 1: the smartest movie either, but that is tanking. It happened,
Speaker 1: and it happened like Moron with a coach going out
Speaker 1: the door anyway, so it can happen, and it happened
Speaker 1: because Lovey Smith was behind it. Who now just got
Speaker 1: his ass fired by the University of Illinois. So whatever,
Speaker 1: don't do that. Let's go, let's be let's I was
Speaker 1: that was shameful and I feel like it's a forgotten
Speaker 1: moment in recent NFL. All right, let's keep moving. We
Speaker 1: gotta pick up the pace here. Yeah yeah, let's crank
Speaker 1: through these last ones and get on our way. Um,
Speaker 1: what do I need a late game? But I really
Speaker 1: want to watch the Rams games? So my strategy here
Speaker 1: is take the worst late game. I'm going Broncos Chargers, um,
Speaker 1: which are two bad teams that I've enjoyed watching all years.
Speaker 1: So this is a good bad game where one of
Speaker 1: them is very likely to just blow it at the
Speaker 1: end in some painful way. That's how the first game went.
Speaker 1: The Broncos won that game. I just want to give
Speaker 1: a shout out to Austin Ekeler, who has been playing
Speaker 1: at about He's like my height and is this, you know,
Speaker 1: a little other than me and is the strongest human
Speaker 1: I think in the NFL. Because he's so banged up
Speaker 1: and they're still giving him twenty five touches a week
Speaker 1: and he's still getting it done. For your fantasy thing,
Speaker 1: you know how they say ants can carry like seven
Speaker 1: million times their weight. That's Austin Necklor. He's He's he's
Speaker 1: the game. He's a baller because you see him in
Speaker 1: the open field and he's nowhere near what he should
Speaker 1: be and he's still just like carrying the ball amazingly
Speaker 1: for this team. So what a player. Austin also, when
Speaker 1: he was on our show last summer in his little
Speaker 1: office in his home or condo, had in neon lights
Speaker 1: his logo behind him. You know, nice move, nice little
Speaker 1: flex there like that, Like he he understands the concept
Speaker 1: of branding. Uh. You know, They've been an interesting offense
Speaker 1: since he come back. I just watching watching Herbert throw
Speaker 1: against the Raiders, Um, and it's it's the intermediate and
Speaker 1: deep throws and just the connection and how potent they were.
Speaker 1: I don't see how you keep it going against the Broncos.
Speaker 1: You know, John Elway came out and supported Drew lock
Speaker 1: the week said that when we when when he's down though,
Speaker 1: it's because the whole offense is sort of down together. Um.
Speaker 1: But this to me feels like, you know, I know
Speaker 1: we want to rush through these, but this feels like
Speaker 1: a good Carson Wentz landing spot to me bring in
Speaker 1: If they don't get serious about bringing in competition UM
Speaker 1: or trading for someone or or bringing someone else in. UM,
Speaker 1: I can't take this team seriously. I think they're they're
Speaker 1: at the edge of losing chunks of the fan base
Speaker 1: if they don't have a clear ride view of what's
Speaker 1: happening here at quarter fan base. Cleveland didn't lose fans.
Speaker 1: I don't think Denver is gonna lose fans either. It's
Speaker 1: a great fan base. But I think that they're they're
Speaker 1: not um, they're not milk toast, they're not agated. John
Speaker 1: Elway might lose them. I don't think they organization. I
Speaker 1: don't know, it doesn't matter, but I like I like
Speaker 1: your take their Carson Wentz wearing a Broncos uniform. I
Speaker 1: could I can envision that. I certainly can. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move forward, Mark, Alright, I'm gonna go Cleveland Jets. Okay.
Speaker 1: I mean that's just you know, I'm not gonna let
Speaker 1: that sit out there for the for another thirty four weeks. UM,
Speaker 1: I would say a Browns fan, and you know this
Speaker 1: is just deep psychology. It was extremely UM. There was
Speaker 1: incredible relief watching the Rams fall to the Jets because
Speaker 1: I was always I don't like the idea of having
Speaker 1: to play in ohen thirteen or oh and fourteen team. Um,
Speaker 1: that sounds like a nightmare to me. Uh. I thought
Speaker 1: the Jets like kind of showed you to Greg's point
Speaker 1: that they're not just gonna take a total nap here. Um,
Speaker 1: this is now. Quentin Williams is not He is out
Speaker 1: for the season. Had a concussion at a neck injuries
Speaker 1: on I R. I think that's a big loss for
Speaker 1: New York and this is just it's it's huge because
Speaker 1: I think he could have had an impact in this game.
Speaker 1: We haven't seen too many people put heat on Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield of late. I mean, his numbers are off the charts. Um,
Speaker 1: he's playing real comfortable and I don't think the Jets
Speaker 1: are the team to do it. But if you're Cleveland,
Speaker 1: it kind of reminds me of the Giants game a
Speaker 1: little bit. These are games you need to win. Um.
Speaker 1: It starts with your ground game, it starts with your
Speaker 1: offensive line. Let's not get too tricky here. Their defense
Speaker 1: does just enough. Um. But the one thing I saw
Speaker 1: in that game, though, and Chris collins Worth pointed it
Speaker 1: out in the Giants game. Miles Garrett is not himself
Speaker 1: right now. Now. That may be fine this week, but
Speaker 1: in general, Um, he's talked openly about and this is
Speaker 1: you don't hear a lot of these stories. The corona
Speaker 1: absolutely has impacted his ability to breathe, to deep breathe
Speaker 1: um when playing, and he looked totally gas during parts
Speaker 1: of that Giants game. So that's a factor. He's there,
Speaker 1: he's there shining hope on defense. Um, in this game,
Speaker 1: you just gotta do enough to get out of town. Heybe,
Speaker 1: will I think, yeah, that the Browns are way better
Speaker 1: than both the Giants and Jets, but they've definitely caught
Speaker 1: some breaks here with the injury situations for both teams,
Speaker 1: and I think Quinn and Williams. You know, he was
Speaker 1: going punch for punch with Aaron Donald last week, and
Speaker 1: it's unfortunate. I hated hearing that neck injury. Anytime you
Speaker 1: hear neck injury, I hope that's nothing that could be
Speaker 1: serious because careers end over neck injuries and that's the
Speaker 1: last thing that Jets need. Um. I don't expect anything,
Speaker 1: uh like what we saw last week. This seems well
Speaker 1: set up for the Browns to romp a team that's
Speaker 1: playing really well as taking care of business all year
Speaker 1: against a Jet team that got their win and now
Speaker 1: just lost their best player. Uh. This feels like a
Speaker 1: romp to me. And that's not being a pessimistic Jets fan.
Speaker 1: It just to me makes more sense knowing both teams
Speaker 1: could be a letdown game for the Jets. I'm with you.
Speaker 1: They got their win. They you know, they just got
Speaker 1: Once they keep their opening score street going like that,
Speaker 1: they can just cruise. Uh. I mean you want to
Speaker 1: talk about there as the head coaching Adam Gaze offensive
Speaker 1: genius eight straight games with a score. Um, so stick
Speaker 1: that pipe in your smoke, stake that and your pipe
Speaker 1: and smoke it. Whatever. Mark You're up next, Snake, I'm
Speaker 1: up again. That's interesting, Okay, Um, I will go. Let's
Speaker 1: see here. I'm gonna go because I you know, I
Speaker 1: want to keep eyes on Cleveland. I'm gonna go with
Speaker 1: a little bit of a trash bag operation here. Cincinnati Houston. Um,
Speaker 1: and what's not like about the Bengals producing one of
Speaker 1: the most courageous performances we've seen under the watch of
Speaker 1: Ryan Finley. What can they do against Houston? Will they
Speaker 1: psychologically be able to match up after what happened on
Speaker 1: Monday night? Houston to me, I you know, you get
Speaker 1: to watch the Shawn Watson. This game truly sucks. It
Speaker 1: truly does and I don't need to sell it much
Speaker 1: more than what it is. I mean, Houston is look forward.
Speaker 1: Um they have GM interviews going on, coaching interviews. Figure
Speaker 1: that stuff out. Let's stop wasting the prime of Deshaun
Speaker 1: Watson's career. We've seen a few teams do this and uh,
Speaker 1: they've got to get out of these woods pretty quickly.
Speaker 1: And Deshaun Watson this week, Um, you know it wasn't
Speaker 1: just Dwayne Haskins. He got a little uh tiss tisk
Speaker 1: from the team for showing up to I think it
Speaker 1: was his girlfriends or something, um event that she had
Speaker 1: with a bunch of Jaguars players with no masks, Like,
Speaker 1: are we are Texans players? Are we learning anything here?
Speaker 1: I thought he was he was opening his own restaurant.
Speaker 1: It was his own restaurant then, but I mean it's
Speaker 1: it's still it was like more more photos of like
Speaker 1: eighteen people with no masks on. I don't you know.
Speaker 1: It was a weird. It's a weird thing that they're
Speaker 1: allowing coaches to interview now, by the way, via zoom.
Speaker 1: So the Texans are starting as of today. We're taping
Speaker 1: this on Wednesday, And so if I was the Jets,
Speaker 1: for instance, I might want to think about speeding up
Speaker 1: the process here. Yeah. Well, I also was like, who
Speaker 1: who are these interviews names that you've heard attached to
Speaker 1: the Texans, Like, none of them are making me think,
Speaker 1: oh God, I gotta get that guy right, But that's
Speaker 1: a very specially broken scenario where it may be someone
Speaker 1: that's gonna comply with old Jack. All right, so old Jack.
Speaker 1: So maybe there's a strategy there. Mark, when you pick
Speaker 1: up terrible game, you don't have to really pay attention
Speaker 1: to it, and that makes sense to me, But the
Speaker 1: way it sets up with the old juice are very
Speaker 1: rarely are And I back up, now, what's that? Aren't
Speaker 1: eye up next? No, I'm sorry, sir, you're not. But
Speaker 1: you've been snaking this whole time, and so as Mark,
Speaker 1: I'm the middle guy, so you can never go in
Speaker 1: a row unless no I am I'm the third guy,
Speaker 1: so I do snake. But I was the first guy, yes,
Speaker 1: and I spent I just completed an um two point
Speaker 1: snake operation there. So podcast goes to Greg alright, goes wait,
Speaker 1: hang out a second Mark YouTube viewers just swoom. I'm
Speaker 1: always in the middle. I'm the only one that doesn't snakes.
Speaker 1: I'm always in the middle, Mark, Greg. Okay, go ahead.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know where we got lost there,
Speaker 1: but it's over. Go ahead, Greg, all right, Um, I
Speaker 1: always see. Yeah, I did a premature cross off of
Speaker 1: a line. We're all set now, go ahead, all right.
Speaker 1: I'll take the premature line cross. That's all it was.
Speaker 1: I'll take the Ravens Giants, which I thought would be
Speaker 1: a more compelling game a few weeks ago. But this
Speaker 1: Giant's defense, which we've given a lot of credit to
Speaker 1: over the course of the season for good reason, has
Speaker 1: struggled the last two weeks and UHS nine and DV away,
Speaker 1: So let's probably calm down about calling them, you know,
Speaker 1: a shutdown defense. They're kind of they're more of a
Speaker 1: punch above their weight defense. And if you look at
Speaker 1: the way that they've lost the last two weeks against
Speaker 1: the Browns and the Cardinals, it's been against good, diverse
Speaker 1: running games. They sort of had no answer for and oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, the Ravens come in as good and
Speaker 1: diverse a running game as you'll have. Maybe Daniel Jones
Speaker 1: is gets healthier for this game, um, because it would
Speaker 1: be a big time test for him. Baltimore is gonna
Speaker 1: come after you. They did it last week, even though
Speaker 1: their cornerbacks are hurt. They're just gonna take the chance.
Speaker 1: They're gonna come after you. Can you figure it out?
Speaker 1: That's kind of what Danna does is struggled with. And uh,
Speaker 1: good luck to the Ravens. This Giant's team, which had
Speaker 1: seemed fun, Uh, may go into weeks seventeen without even
Speaker 1: a chance to to win this division. You're not fun
Speaker 1: enough if you're the Giants, you forget about the Even
Speaker 1: when they're playing well, the offense was still not doing much.
Speaker 1: And now you know you're in a situation where you're
Speaker 1: not gonna shut down Lamar Jackson and the Ravens where
Speaker 1: they're playing on offense right now. The last three games
Speaker 1: since Lamar came back for the COVID list uh thirty
Speaker 1: four points, forty seven points, forty points, all wins, of course,
Speaker 1: and the Giants in their last five weeks or four
Speaker 1: weeks coming out of there by nineteen points, seventeen points,
Speaker 1: seven points, six points. It all seems trending in a
Speaker 1: certain direction here. I don't know if it's gonna be
Speaker 1: forty to fourteen, like Ravens that to the Jaguars, because
Speaker 1: like you said that, you know, the Giants are proud
Speaker 1: defense that have been overachieving the season. So I don't
Speaker 1: think it gets that bad. But it could it be
Speaker 1: thirty to fourteen. That's kind of what I see this game.
Speaker 1: Another easy win for the Ravens. I'm with you because
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, Jacksonville has played teams close. They
Speaker 1: haven't been it hasn't been all blowouts. Um and Baltimore
Speaker 1: just whipped them. And my takeaway from watching Brown's Giants
Speaker 1: was that where Cleveland had to get really creative in
Speaker 1: other games to um throw defenses off, and they liked
Speaker 1: their trick plays. It was the most vanilla um week
Speaker 1: of football on offense to Cleveland's produced, because I think
Speaker 1: they just simply weren't scared of what New York would
Speaker 1: do on offense at all. So why if you're Baltimore
Speaker 1: not go in and um do what you do and
Speaker 1: drop bombs. I mean, there they are one of the
Speaker 1: most dained. The a f C playoff field is insane.
Speaker 1: But Baltimore feels like, and I feel like I say
Speaker 1: this about a couple of teams, they could beat anyone.
Speaker 1: They could beat anyone in the league playing this way,
Speaker 1: and I wouldn't be surprised. Good thing that I traded
Speaker 1: in my Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl pick for the Dolphins. Well,
Speaker 1: here's the thing, though, I mean, we're all on the
Speaker 1: same page that the Ravens are hyper dangerous right now,
Speaker 1: but they don't control their own destiny. The Dolphins, if
Speaker 1: they went out, could take their playoff spot, So the
Speaker 1: Ravens have a chance. And that would be pretty crazy
Speaker 1: that the Ravens could win their last five games, you know,
Speaker 1: kill most of the teams have that great win over
Speaker 1: the Browns in prime time and Lamar will be playing
Speaker 1: like an m v P and then they're sitting at home.
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody wants Well, if you're a fan
Speaker 1: of these other wild card teams, you're cool with that.
Speaker 1: But if you're a football fan that's just watching and
Speaker 1: you want the best playoff matchups, you want the Ravens
Speaker 1: in this game. But they only can control what they
Speaker 1: can control. And my last thought. Joe Judge was on
Speaker 1: Good Morning Football today. In fact, he came in immediately
Speaker 1: after the old Zeusser. When I did my power ranking segment,
Speaker 1: they moved me up. I usually do a six thirty
Speaker 1: two thirty five am hit, which is not great. It's
Speaker 1: you know, setting the old alarm at five forty in
Speaker 1: the morning and then you get in the shower and
Speaker 1: you get ready. But I got moved up to six
Speaker 1: fifteen uh with with Joe Judge on the schedule, and
Speaker 1: you know what, that made a big difference. I struggled
Speaker 1: with that and then I finished the hit, and then
Speaker 1: there's all there's a Sessler like you know, who knows
Speaker 1: what's going on with Sessler. The man is seriously a vampire.
Speaker 1: He's in full texting flight, already shooting me texts about
Speaker 1: various league issues before the sun has even risen. So
Speaker 1: I don't know when Cessler went to bed, or when
Speaker 1: he woke up, or if he went to bed at all.
Speaker 1: Maybe filling the gaps right here, Mark, I have a
Speaker 1: terrible um. That is something I need to work on,
Speaker 1: because I I'll you know, I'll be active and up
Speaker 1: or at least just you know, lying in bed and
Speaker 1: watching my phone, like at four in the morning, and
Speaker 1: I'll start texting people and it's like, oh I was
Speaker 1: five with a text I was up. I was just
Speaker 1: amazed that you were up. Well, I mean I have
Speaker 1: you know, we have there's no sleeping in in our house.
Speaker 1: I don't think any of us have that scenario. But
Speaker 1: our kids don't. Um, you know, sort of fall out
Speaker 1: of bed. They launched at a bed and they make
Speaker 1: it very clear that they are awake. I still turn
Speaker 1: those notifications off, you know, until seven thirty, you know,
Speaker 1: just in case, you know, just in case there's a
Speaker 1: sessler or I think various other people out here the
Speaker 1: other day, ye sending that five thirty. I don't want
Speaker 1: that weakening. But my point Joe Judge on Good Morning
Speaker 1: Football one of the all time. This guy gets it quotes.
Speaker 1: With all due respect to Christmas, let's forget about Christmas
Speaker 1: for a while and focus on the Ravens. Joe Judge
Speaker 1: gets it, dot Com facts slash members best word, the
Speaker 1: ball coach guy's about ball. That's it, Jesus, not a
Speaker 1: big deal ball. Back burner back that you know, back burner,
Speaker 1: the religious figures. Yeah, There's there's no way you could,
Speaker 1: you know, possibly like do one job as well as
Speaker 1: you could do and hold Christmas also in high esteem,
Speaker 1: like in different sides of your brain. Christmass picked up
Speaker 1: like a gorilla press lamb and thrown it to a dumpster.
Speaker 1: So you can prove yourself has to be wondering or
Speaker 1: the other. All right, moving on, now it's my pick,
Speaker 1: and I apologize for that embarrassing mishap on my end. Um,
Speaker 1: it goes to me, and I will take Atlanta in
Speaker 1: Kansas City. Listen, I'm picking this late in the draft,
Speaker 1: and I get Patrick Patrick Mahomes game. Give it to me, um,
Speaker 1: and we keep waiting for the Chiefs to beat someone
Speaker 1: fifty to thirty or fifty to twenty or fifty seven
Speaker 1: to six. Um, maybe it happens here Atlanta. The Falcons
Speaker 1: are a pretty annoying team to watch, even if you're
Speaker 1: not a Falcons team. Like the game against Tampa last week,
Speaker 1: You're you're playing so well in the first half, your
Speaker 1: defense is speaking of like, you know, overachieving. You know,
Speaker 1: you shut down Tom Brady in that offense. It's seventeen
Speaker 1: nothing at the half, and then you come out of
Speaker 1: the half and Brady goes right down the field on
Speaker 1: you it's seventeen seven. But then Matt Ryan takes the
Speaker 1: Falcons right down to the field seven midway through the
Speaker 1: third quarter, and then that's it. The Atlanta said, we're
Speaker 1: now going to fold up tent on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball and allow Tom Brady have his little latest
Speaker 1: celebration party. And now you, the Falcons and their fans
Speaker 1: get to hear a bunch more about Super Bowl fifty one.
Speaker 1: If you don't want people like us to remind you
Speaker 1: Falcons of super Bowl fifty one and what happened in
Speaker 1: that game, stop doing stuff like that. What are you doing,
Speaker 1: like what kind of performances that and to complete inability
Speaker 1: to close out of game. So that's my thoughts about
Speaker 1: the Falcons and the Chiefs. I think we're at the
Speaker 1: stage with the Chiefs right now, and I know they
Speaker 1: lost Clyde Edwards, a layer to a high ankle sprain
Speaker 1: and hip and it's a bad injury, but hopefully they
Speaker 1: get him back out of the by in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: That's to me the only thing left for the Chiefs
Speaker 1: because I know they're gonna win either. Both of these
Speaker 1: games are one of these games and have the first
Speaker 1: seed and be locked in as much as they can.
Speaker 1: Just don't get hurt, don't patch for my homes, don't
Speaker 1: twist your knee up. Let's let's get out of these
Speaker 1: games healthy and get into the playoffs at full strength.
Speaker 1: Are close to it, I'd say get healthy too. On
Speaker 1: the offensive line, I think they've they've been real banged
Speaker 1: up there, and maybe you don't notice it as much
Speaker 1: because you know, they still are putting up. They put
Speaker 1: up four hundred yards UM in every game except one
Speaker 1: over their last seven games, and and you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're not blowing teams out, but they look in spurts
Speaker 1: as explosive as any football team I've ever watched, so
Speaker 1: you know, but still it would be nice to get
Speaker 1: you know, their line healthy. I think that's the one
Speaker 1: thing if you're gonna get if you're gonna create mistakes
Speaker 1: for Patrick Mahomes like the Dolphins did a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago, they seem to get through those mistakes the
Speaker 1: Chiefs really well. But um, that's that's your method here,
Speaker 1: and I don't see the Falcons is a team that's
Speaker 1: gonna cause a lot of chaos and havoc for Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 1: You wouldn't think so. I mean that, as Dan mentioned,
Speaker 1: the Falcons gave up thirty one points in three fourteen
Speaker 1: yards to Brady in one half. I mean the credit
Speaker 1: to Tom Brady for stiff being able to do a
Speaker 1: performance thrown for as many yards as Brady did in
Speaker 1: one half on Sunday um all season. So that's forty
Speaker 1: three year old Tom Brady. So what what should Tom Brady?
Speaker 1: What should Patrick Mahomes do? You would think they'd finally
Speaker 1: get a nice to score win, they would clinch on
Speaker 1: the field and uh in a season where almost no
Speaker 1: teams are gonna rest, and you feel like you would
Speaker 1: need it this year more than ever because it's been
Speaker 1: a rough year. I wonder if Andy Reid's gonna rest
Speaker 1: for two weeks, because he's gonna rest for weeks seventeen
Speaker 1: and get a bye. We'll see. We also saw your
Speaker 1: boy Todd Gurley get benched officially and over the last
Speaker 1: two weeks, and I started thinking watching the game, I
Speaker 1: started thinking, it's dr really done? Is there? I would
Speaker 1: get I would give like a fifteen percent chance his
Speaker 1: career stops after this year. Is anyone going to pitch
Speaker 1: him as a starter next year. I think he'll get
Speaker 1: a job if he wanted it, But just I don't
Speaker 1: know if he's definitely gonna want to play for a
Speaker 1: million dollars and be a backup or whatever it would
Speaker 1: write he set. I mean, we can't speak for the
Speaker 1: men and his passions as a professional football player, but
Speaker 1: he's set up here should be financially for life, and um,
Speaker 1: that would he's not going to get another big contract,
Speaker 1: and I don't think team's gonna be knocking knocking down
Speaker 1: his door coming off a season he was not great
Speaker 1: at the end of the Rams run because of the
Speaker 1: nia and the bone on bone condition in the knee,
Speaker 1: and then he's averaging about three and a half carries
Speaker 1: three and a half yards to carry this year with
Speaker 1: the Falcons. He's just he's just not the same guy anymore.
Speaker 1: Knocking down his door would be aggressive. Yeah, well that
Speaker 1: would be and I hope, I hope it wouldn't happen
Speaker 1: either way. Just knock or just you know what, call
Speaker 1: him calls agent. Actually, just just just completely professional about this,
Speaker 1: all right? Uh, finally, Snakes Dezeuser, I believe this is
Speaker 1: the last game Caroline at Washington. Wow. So we did
Speaker 1: an entire draft with every single team in the league,
Speaker 1: plus all those other games on Christmas and Saturday in primetime,
Speaker 1: and a first place team gets the last pick in
Speaker 1: the draft. That's where we're at with the Washington football team,
Speaker 1: a team that I guess we admire for their tenacity
Speaker 1: on defense, but uh, I guess it stops there. Uh.
Speaker 1: They face the Carolina Panthers, who you know, let's face it,
Speaker 1: since the end of September, they lose every single week
Speaker 1: just about they find a way. Um, we have a
Speaker 1: issue here at the quarterback position with Washington, and we
Speaker 1: talked about it on the Christmas special. Dwayne Haskins bozo behavior,
Speaker 1: goes to a strip club, um, without a mask on it,
Speaker 1: gets his photo taken, it becomes an issue. He's disciplined
Speaker 1: by the team. He's obviously puts him in a COVID
Speaker 1: close contact designation. Who knows maybe has COVID after that
Speaker 1: night out, and um, you have al by the way,
Speaker 1: your coach had cancer, you know, compromised individual Alex Smith
Speaker 1: as a leg injury. So there's a lot of indecision
Speaker 1: about who's even gonna be behind center for this game.
Speaker 1: So Washington's in a tough spot, and it's because their
Speaker 1: former first round pick just seems like a knucklehead. Well
Speaker 1: he it looks like he's on track to start. Dwayne Haskins.
Speaker 1: He did practice on on Wednesday. You know, they don't
Speaker 1: really have a real NFL quarterback on the raster other
Speaker 1: than him and Um. Alex Smith is still hurt. Alex
Speaker 1: Smith was watching practice John Beck available. So I think
Speaker 1: this is one of those you know, we always say
Speaker 1: it's a sliding scale for talent, it's also like a
Speaker 1: circumstantial scale for um punishment. Like if they were able
Speaker 1: to punish Dwayne Haskins harder, I bet they would, UM,
Speaker 1: but I think they realized he gives them a better
Speaker 1: chance to win than than um Johnny Bananas off the street.
Speaker 1: And they're trying to go win a division, the real
Speaker 1: world challenge, and so he's gonna start. He's gonna start
Speaker 1: this game. I think you're right, because Ron Rivera does not.
Speaker 1: I I don't care if this is sourced by no one.
Speaker 1: This is just my opinion. Ron Rivera does not like
Speaker 1: Dwayne Haskins professionally personally, he wants nothing to do with
Speaker 1: him on his team starting quarterback. But what's he gonna do.
Speaker 1: He's in a situation where, if this was different and
Speaker 1: you still had Kyle Allen and Alex Smith, you he
Speaker 1: would actually absolutely bury Dwayne Haskins and put him so
Speaker 1: deep in the doghouse that you might not ever seen
Speaker 1: Dwayne Haskins again. So I'm sure grinds Ron Rivera's gears
Speaker 1: that he has to now put this guy on the
Speaker 1: field to lead his offense. That's that's I mean. And
Speaker 1: if you're the rest of the Washington offense, you know,
Speaker 1: you probably if that's the case between he and Ron
Speaker 1: river and it certainly seems to be. They know all that,
Speaker 1: and then they've got their quarterback going out and doing
Speaker 1: absurd things during the I mean, this offense um may
Speaker 1: not have a lot of belief in their own quarterback.
Speaker 1: So how about you know, Derek Brown, Brian Burns, Jeremy Chin,
Speaker 1: this young Panthers, this defense. I've been talking them up
Speaker 1: all year. Have you got to go win one of
Speaker 1: these games? I mean, to your point, and you say
Speaker 1: that have a tough time closing um and they there's
Speaker 1: been some weird close games where stuff is happening at
Speaker 1: the end of the contest. That's you know, variable, but
Speaker 1: go take care of business here once be the berserker
Speaker 1: that I thought you would be against the team trying
Speaker 1: to win the NFC East. Maybe better to keep losing though,
Speaker 1: you know there's a team that's rebuilding get a top
Speaker 1: five pick. But you're right there. We should mention they
Speaker 1: just fired their general manager, Marty Herne, who had one
Speaker 1: of the craziest again general manager careers where he built
Speaker 1: up the Jake Delone Panthers was fired, came back into
Speaker 1: the building and now Matt Rule I think will essentially
Speaker 1: higher his own general manager. This this should you know,
Speaker 1: not a bad last pick. Um. I think it'll go
Speaker 1: really quickly. The Panthers, of nothing else, go on longer
Speaker 1: drives than any team in the league. That Washington defense
Speaker 1: gives up gives up longer drives than any team, and
Speaker 1: like that's Washington style. They just let you drive on
Speaker 1: them and then they stop you in the red zone.
Speaker 1: So this has like a nice two hours, forty seven
Speaker 1: minute type of vibe to it. And I'm I I'm
Speaker 1: sorry to all your Christian McCaffrey fantasy owners. He is
Speaker 1: not practicing still. He is, according to Matt Rule, doubtful
Speaker 1: for Week sixteen. So you just lost them. It just
Speaker 1: what a what a tough situation. Bye bye, um. And
Speaker 1: if you're in the Fantasy Championship despite Christian McCaffrey missing
Speaker 1: the entire season, just be happy that you're so good
Speaker 1: at fantasy sports, because what a sign that is. All Right,
Speaker 1: that's it. Week sixteen preview not bad. No Thursday night
Speaker 1: football mini recap. We're not gonna do a Christmas night show,
Speaker 1: so don't be looking for that. Just give us a break.
Speaker 1: I mean, just let us have a couple days off.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a couple of days off here, enjoy
Speaker 1: the holiday season. Um, and then Sunday night we'll be
Speaker 1: back and we will recap, Yes, fifteen games that that
Speaker 1: should be fun. That should be fun with the help
Speaker 1: of Nick Shook, we'll need it and hopefully Chris Wesley.
Speaker 1: And before we sign off, no, Bill, can you jump
Speaker 1: in here? The Bill? Are you on? Mike? Are you
Speaker 1: able to what's up? Buddy? First of all, well, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I still have to see how you do
Speaker 1: and post on the production, But so far, so good.
Speaker 1: No technical glitches filling in for Ricky? You did, have
Speaker 1: you sent a private chat in the middle of the
Speaker 1: show that I caught and I didn't have a chance
Speaker 1: to speak on it during that conversation. Uh, this is
Speaker 1: a quote from Nobile. I actually know Whaley personally, that
Speaker 1: being Doug Whaley, the deposed GM of the Bills way
Speaker 1: back then. Do you want to elaborate on that for
Speaker 1: the audience? I text him here and there. He's a
Speaker 1: nice guy, gives a good scotting advice. How do you
Speaker 1: how do you know? Like, how did that start? I
Speaker 1: go to the NFL p a collegiate Bowl and he
Speaker 1: was the head of that and then now he was
Speaker 1: most recently had the head of football operations for the XFL.
Speaker 1: So m hm, oh, he look at that. Nobile is
Speaker 1: a mover and a shaker, the head of football operations
Speaker 1: for the XFL. Where is all right, since you're our
Speaker 1: source on the XFL, where is that league at? Because
Speaker 1: obviously Vince bailed on it again, but there was someone
Speaker 1: that tried to come in and save it. I think
Speaker 1: the Rock bought it, that's right. I think I think
Speaker 1: they're gearing up for um launch or re launch. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think they're coming back next year. Alright, So Doug Whaley, Yes,
Speaker 1: it did not work out with Sammy Watkins, there was
Speaker 1: a big roll of the dice, but you obviously are
Speaker 1: a football lifer. And happy holidays to you if you're listening.
Speaker 1: And the Bill, thank you again for helping us out today.
Speaker 1: Happy to join you guys. All right, this is Dan
Speaker 1: Hanson signing for a Quiet Storm, the old Boss, the Bill.
Speaker 1: Some guys just one name, don't need anything else. That's him.
Speaker 1: He's the Bill, all right. Merry Christmas, Happy high happy kond.
Speaker 1: We'll see on Sunday.