Speaker 1: Be Around with the NFL Podcast. Is ready for the playoffs?
Speaker 1: Well we better be. I mean started like five days ago.
Speaker 1: If we're not ready for the playoffs, I don't know
Speaker 1: what what's gonna go down. We're still at the bus station.
Speaker 1: Come on, welcome to the Around the NFL Podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: Dan Hansen's Heroes. That's Mark Sessler. Greg Rosenthal looking like
Speaker 1: Han Solo. According to Mark Sessler, laser saber take it out, baby,
Speaker 1: all right. I don't understand how you don't understand that
Speaker 1: he's not part of any sort of Labors laser saber scenario.
Speaker 1: But if you're watching this on YouTube, Greg has the
Speaker 1: Han Solo from the original Star Wars look with like
Speaker 1: the kind of crisp white shirt underneath the black vest.
Speaker 1: Leads us how it looks to me, and I um,
Speaker 1: I think he could he do well on Hallo like
Speaker 1: a Halloween night, as like a daddy going out as
Speaker 1: Han Solo. I don't know what's happening below what I
Speaker 1: see on the screen. It I mean, yeah, I've got
Speaker 1: some sweatpants on. We're at home. I just know this
Speaker 1: is the highest compliment Mark's ever given me, and that
Speaker 1: Mark's never wanted me more physically than than right now
Speaker 1: in this what's all accurate? Also, I don't know where
Speaker 1: Amica stands on that whole franchise, but you can like
Speaker 1: maybe take it back to the house after the show
Speaker 1: and be like, I'm not your father a zing zing
Speaker 1: zing you are your Your ability to capture the narrative
Speaker 1: of that franchise is appallingly low, seriously brand for you, Like,
Speaker 1: how many times did Simone have to say no, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to role play Star Wars until you just
Speaker 1: gave it up and just figured that's not going to
Speaker 1: be my life. Well, why do you assume that she
Speaker 1: said no? Good answer? How do you know you really
Speaker 1: think Mark would marry a woman that didn't go down
Speaker 1: that road? All right, you know this is all very inappropriate,
Speaker 1: especially at the top of the show. Yes, is Pound
Speaker 1: for a Pound the greatest week of football of the
Speaker 1: calendar year, Divisional playoffs. We got rid of all that trash.
Speaker 1: Let's let's talk about the trash. We got rid of
Speaker 1: the Cardinals, Steelers, Are you kidding me? Eagles? Fu gazy?
Speaker 1: Oh they're all gone. Patriots a sneaky bit of trash.
Speaker 1: Didn't know they were trashed, but they were all boys
Speaker 1: come on, cowboys, They gone cowboys, flat track bullies as
Speaker 1: what's left studs like Greg Rosenthal in a brown jacket
Speaker 1: that reminds Mark of the Fantasy movie franchise is the
Speaker 1: sci fi sci fi and I think maybe you, instead
Speaker 1: of you know, taking minutes out of the show asking
Speaker 1: these questions, you could do eight minutes of research and
Speaker 1: be as up to snuff as possible for any comment
Speaker 1: I would make about I'm just going to tell you
Speaker 1: and maybe maybe a little people are in the dark here.
Speaker 1: Mark is a Star Wars fanatic. Pretend that he's not,
Speaker 1: but he's the guy that's at the theater the night
Speaker 1: it opens. It doesn't matter which of the seven hundred
Speaker 1: sequels it is. I want to say this Mark is
Speaker 1: someone that is ignorant to it. Obviously, I have put
Speaker 1: it out there that you and your little Star Wars
Speaker 1: buddy Zumwalt, I was open to sitting down and watching
Speaker 1: the best one of them, whatever it was, and I
Speaker 1: and you guys never took me up on it. So
Speaker 1: now I'm like a rebel fighter, like a Darth Maul
Speaker 1: figure now, so you definitely know more than than You're right.
Speaker 1: We we didn't do a good job on that invitation,
Speaker 1: because I think it happened not too far before a
Speaker 1: national pandemic struck the country, so we could we could reinvestigate.
Speaker 1: All Right, that's enough Star Wars for today. It is.
Speaker 1: We're gonna get to all the games. Bengals, Titans, Niners, Packers, Rams, Bucks, Bills, Chiefs.
Speaker 1: Any of those teams can win the Super Bowl. And
Speaker 1: that's why this week has the potential to be a
Speaker 1: real special Divisional Round playoff. Let's start with the a
Speaker 1: f C. Let's start with the team boys, um, that
Speaker 1: everyone's gonna be rooting for unless you're in the Nashville
Speaker 1: Greater metro area. The Cincinnati Bengals, who come off that
Speaker 1: win at home against the Las Vegas Raiders. Huge field,
Speaker 1: goodwin for the entire region, for the fan base, and
Speaker 1: you got that you're handing out game balls throughout the city.
Speaker 1: Is the head coach. But now you have to turn
Speaker 1: your attention and get ready for the number one seeded Titans.
Speaker 1: And Mark the Titans are well rested. They are a
Speaker 1: team that was playing much better down the stretch. Their
Speaker 1: team that probably will have Derrick Henry back. Although as
Speaker 1: we're taping this, we don't have a certainty on that,
Speaker 1: which perhaps is a little surprising. H And perhaps most importantly,
Speaker 1: on some level, Nashville is in their own building, their
Speaker 1: own backyard. What are your thoughts about this game? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, I think for number one, like Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: smiled at reporters when they asked him, um on Thursday
Speaker 1: if he would be available, I tend to think that
Speaker 1: we're heading towards getting Derrick Henry. What version, what version
Speaker 1: of Derrick Henry we get? Uh? That's I guess that's
Speaker 1: the mystery a little bit. I mean, they've run the
Speaker 1: ball real well without him, and I just think that
Speaker 1: they're a team that you look at their offensive line, um,
Speaker 1: it's like, no matter who's in there, they've been a
Speaker 1: good run blocking team. And I trust that to be
Speaker 1: the case against the Bengals, who are missing Larry Ogunjobi
Speaker 1: Um Mike Daniels. I know he's not played a huge
Speaker 1: role for them, but they're just they're a little low
Speaker 1: on bodies right now. It sounds like Trey Hendrickson will
Speaker 1: be back um and on flip side for the Titans,
Speaker 1: It's like this Titans team, finally, this is the team
Speaker 1: we've waited for their back. They got here through I
Speaker 1: think valiant play with a lot of challenges, another team
Speaker 1: coach by someone other than Mike Rabel, and that situation, Um,
Speaker 1: I don't think that would have happened. That's who the
Speaker 1: Titans are. They've been real resilient, but they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to find a way to do to stop what Cincinnati
Speaker 1: does best. I mean, they're just a big play operation
Speaker 1: on offense. We understand that Joe Burrow has morphed into
Speaker 1: a total star, and you look at Jamaar Chase, Tee Higgins,
Speaker 1: Tyler Boyd. I think it puts a lot of pressure
Speaker 1: on Kevin Byrd, who has been awesome at safety, Jack
Speaker 1: Rabbit Jenkins, look at Christian Fulton. How do you stop
Speaker 1: these wide receivers. If you can do that, and you
Speaker 1: you get Cincinnati into what happened last week with the
Speaker 1: Raiders were no matter the field position, they were having
Speaker 1: to kick field goals against the Raiders defense. Can this
Speaker 1: Titans defense with Jeffrey Simmons and the rest of those
Speaker 1: guys upfront put Joe Burrow into a tough situation and
Speaker 1: and and put a clamp on some of these whiteouts
Speaker 1: who have a chance to break the game wide open. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you do it. You do it by getting that pressure quickly.
Speaker 1: Paul Dayner talked about it, the weaknesses their interior offensive line.
Speaker 1: It's pretty bad offensive line in general, especially on the
Speaker 1: right side. Who is at prints and um Billy Print
Speaker 1: and whoever's next to him at right guard? Like they
Speaker 1: were a mess last week. They've been a mess most
Speaker 1: of the season. And the Titans are so good at
Speaker 1: creating mismatches and doing the stunts and putting Audrey on
Speaker 1: the inside and just giving you a lot to look at.
Speaker 1: And that's one big advantage I think the Titans have
Speaker 1: in this game is coaching, just because I think Mike
Speaker 1: Rabel has been in playoff games since their third straight
Speaker 1: season in the playoffs and even in the regular season.
Speaker 1: I think one of the strength of this team, especially
Speaker 1: this year under Shane Bowen, their new defensive coordinator, doesn't
Speaker 1: get a lot of love. They say he's the final
Speaker 1: play caller. Well, they improved a lot on defense this year,
Speaker 1: and one thing they do is they change their game
Speaker 1: plan week to week. They are very much like the Patriots.
Speaker 1: The Titans have been waiting for this game, and I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna throw some things that Joe Burrow, much
Speaker 1: like UM, happened during the year at various points, and
Speaker 1: I think slowed down their passing. I don't think you're
Speaker 1: gonna stop them, but I think they're gonna have to adjust,
Speaker 1: and I trust Zach Taylor and that coaching staff to
Speaker 1: adjust as much. Maybe not well that that is a
Speaker 1: narrative threat of this podcast, at least this week, UM
Speaker 1: Greg banging the drum that za Zach Taylor is maybe
Speaker 1: not cut out for this here. I think the Cook
Speaker 1: index that we talked about with Paul, the Mike Sando
Speaker 1: Cook index on the Athletic tells me that, yes, they
Speaker 1: have made changes to how they attack the opponents. They
Speaker 1: love to get out front quick. They're gonna try to
Speaker 1: jump down Tennessee's throat take control of the game that way.
Speaker 1: And I know the idea that the Titans are being
Speaker 1: overlooked and marginalized is fair on some level, and maybe
Speaker 1: I played a small role in that as well. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, the way the Bengals have been
Speaker 1: able to kind of dictate the flow of all of
Speaker 1: these games throughout week a team, UM really tells me
Speaker 1: that they're the team to watch here that I think
Speaker 1: the Titans as the number one seed, are deserving of respect.
Speaker 1: But the Bengals are the team that feels like there's
Speaker 1: an orange wave here right now. And that's why I
Speaker 1: feel good about them right now because I don't think
Speaker 1: their offense is gonna go there and get shut down.
Speaker 1: I just think that's one of those things where they're
Speaker 1: playing with such confidence and the quarterbacks playing at such
Speaker 1: a high level that I think Tennessee, as good as
Speaker 1: the defense is, is really gonna struggle to to get
Speaker 1: home and in a way that's going to wreck the
Speaker 1: game plan. So I think Cincinnati scores points. Now, does
Speaker 1: that mean Cincinnati wins? No? Then it goes back to
Speaker 1: the offense of the Titans. Obviously. Uh, Derrick Henry is
Speaker 1: a huge part of this. He's gotta be out there
Speaker 1: that the video they showed on NFL Network. I assume
Speaker 1: that he'll play as well. We just have to say
Speaker 1: when we take this. It's not official, but he probably
Speaker 1: will be out there. How much should they use him?
Speaker 1: I'm really curious what kind of workload he is. Do
Speaker 1: you He has a metal plate in his foot, hasn't
Speaker 1: played in nine weeks, so is there gonna be a
Speaker 1: situation where you're like, oh, yeah, take everything the Titans have,
Speaker 1: but now add Derrick Henry. Well, what version of Derrick
Speaker 1: Henry is it? Because they're gonna I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: need to score let's say, twenty eight points in this
Speaker 1: game to thirty points. I don't know if they have
Speaker 1: that in them, because we just haven't seen it enough
Speaker 1: over the last two months. It's been very good Foreman
Speaker 1: and Hill you'd have been very good, but they haven't
Speaker 1: been home run guys the way Henry can be. I
Speaker 1: just I struggled to see them scoring points here. And
Speaker 1: it's a great point, but I wonder, I guess, like
Speaker 1: even if he's out there and and the Bengals don't
Speaker 1: know what version of Derrick Henry it's gonna be either,
Speaker 1: and so they're gonna have to take him real seriously.
Speaker 1: So the fact that he's on the field, like it
Speaker 1: changes the way the defense for the Bengals can just
Speaker 1: approach this entire offense. I mean not the Donta Foreman
Speaker 1: hasn't also puncture defenses and run wild the last month
Speaker 1: or so. He's been awesome. So I don't think that
Speaker 1: it's like suddenly you have a running game. We all
Speaker 1: get that's not the case. But if it's Derrick Henry
Speaker 1: at his best, the Bengals have big issues I think
Speaker 1: on their defense. But if it's Derrick Henry is more
Speaker 1: of a decoit type person, it's still creates problems because
Speaker 1: you can't just ignore them until you really find out
Speaker 1: later in the game. Maybe this guy is not the
Speaker 1: guy that we thought he was at this point. And
Speaker 1: I've also looked if you look at Titans games where
Speaker 1: they've stumbled and had an issue when they've ever caused
Speaker 1: like a big turnover from Derrick Henry that has termed
Speaker 1: some games totally south for them. I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: you know that will happen or not, but I mean
Speaker 1: there is pressure on Ryan Tannehill in this game too.
Speaker 1: I think too, you know, probably step up and do
Speaker 1: to make some big plays because I don't love Julio
Speaker 1: Jones at this point, A j Brown is gonna be
Speaker 1: huge for them, and it puts pressure on the Bengals defense.
Speaker 1: See I I if I'm ranking the four sides in
Speaker 1: this game, the offenses and the defense, is the worst
Speaker 1: group in the game is the Bengals defense, and the
Speaker 1: best group is the Bengals offense. So to me, they
Speaker 1: have the strengths, they have the weaknesses. They they sort
Speaker 1: of go as logan, Wilson goes logan. Wilson has had
Speaker 1: an awesome season, and Wilson and Pratt were great as
Speaker 1: a tandem a week ago. But the Titans, with their
Speaker 1: play action and certainly they're running game, they put a
Speaker 1: lot of stresses onlinebackers. To me, it feels like a
Speaker 1: Foxer game. It could be a Leo Jones game. I
Speaker 1: was very encouraged by his Week eighteen performance. To me,
Speaker 1: that was as hopeful I feel like for Titans fans
Speaker 1: as Derrick Henry returning, because he looked healthy, because he
Speaker 1: moved well, because he was smoothed, he caught five passes.
Speaker 1: They made it a priority to get him involved against Houston,
Speaker 1: and you could just see he was moving well in
Speaker 1: that game. Now does that mean he's not gonna get
Speaker 1: injured in the first quarter, I don't know, but it
Speaker 1: actually it looked like the best that he looked since
Speaker 1: Week two. And he's got a real quarterback because Tannehill, Like,
Speaker 1: maybe we don't give the Titans enough credit, but I
Speaker 1: give Tannehill a lot of credit. I've really enjoyed watching
Speaker 1: him play this year. If you look at his rankings
Speaker 1: in PFF over the last three seasons, this is where
Speaker 1: Tannehill finished ninth this year, seventh and third. This is
Speaker 1: a real deal dude in a great situation, and that
Speaker 1: helps those rankings. Who's been in the playoffs, who's got weapons. Uh,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have a good offensive line, and I think
Speaker 1: that's where they could you know, they could have a
Speaker 1: problem in terms of getting pressure are on him and
Speaker 1: then he makes a mistake. But he's a real quarterback.
Speaker 1: It's not like it's Joe Burrow versus Joe blows the
Speaker 1: best reclamation project out there. Quarterback wise, right now, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, I think he's almost long since, like advanced
Speaker 1: past even that characterization. I think he's now. I think
Speaker 1: he Yeah, he's obviously on the right side of the
Speaker 1: Dalton line. You could say he's like a top ten guy.
Speaker 1: I kind of tend him in the back end of
Speaker 1: the top ten and he wasn't. And a lot of
Speaker 1: this had to do with his supporting cast and injuries,
Speaker 1: of course, But if you look at things like his
Speaker 1: passer rating, for instance, he was over one hundred three
Speaker 1: times in the first four teen games, but he each
Speaker 1: of the last three games he finished over one hundred.
Speaker 1: And that's completely tied to uh A J. Brown getting healthy,
Speaker 1: Julio Jones getting healthy, the running game continuing to deliver
Speaker 1: even without Derrick Henry. So yeah, I think also with Tannehill,
Speaker 1: which gets slept on maybe a little bit, is he's
Speaker 1: battle hardened at this point. This is not a guy.
Speaker 1: This isn't the lamb in Miami. This is a guy
Speaker 1: that's been through the battles now in January and is
Speaker 1: stepped up in the past. So I'm looking forward to
Speaker 1: seeing the quarterback matchup for sure. I think Burrow obviously
Speaker 1: has the edge because the way he's playing Tannehill is
Speaker 1: I'm with you shouldn't be slept on here, well in Tannehill,
Speaker 1: like they would have lost that Week E team game,
Speaker 1: I think to Houston had Tannehill not make one of
Speaker 1: the key escapes and throws in that whole affair. I mean,
Speaker 1: he is beloved by his teammates because if you want
Speaker 1: to rank quarterbacks, that's fine, but quarterbacks by toughness, I
Speaker 1: mean he has got to be top five. I think
Speaker 1: that he has done a couple of things over the
Speaker 1: last couple of years that sets him apart. I never
Speaker 1: saw that in Miami. He is just a totally different dude.
Speaker 1: And I mean this thing, I think the Titans have
Speaker 1: to look at this and say, everyone in the country
Speaker 1: either doesn't think we're gonna win or they're rooting for
Speaker 1: the Bengals, Well, maybe we take a hammer and stick
Speaker 1: it in your head. Well, I mean, I'm rooting for
Speaker 1: the Bengals because because of West, because it's a fun story,
Speaker 1: because of all that. But I'm worried about this game,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if is everyone gonna be picking
Speaker 1: the Bengals of anything. I feel like Titans minus three
Speaker 1: and a half it's going to be one of the
Speaker 1: more popular just betting picks of the weekend because on paper,
Speaker 1: it just really feels like the two lines are are
Speaker 1: an advantage for the Titans, and the coaching staffs in
Speaker 1: advantage and you're just counting on Joe Burrow and Jamar
Speaker 1: Chase to almost drag a team by themselves to the
Speaker 1: next round, which is totally possible at this point. Like
Speaker 1: the maturation, Chase is shown being able to take any route.
Speaker 1: Last week, it wasn't about going deep like those two
Speaker 1: guys are enough in the skill position. Guys are enough
Speaker 1: for the Bengals to possibly win a game. It's not
Speaker 1: like the Titans are some unbeatable team, but logically I
Speaker 1: think they're the better team. I really do. I gotta
Speaker 1: throw something else out there, and it becomes very important
Speaker 1: the divisional playoffs kickers when these teams are closely matched, uh,
Speaker 1: and it might be decided by field goal. Evan McPherson
Speaker 1: is having one of the better rookie seasons by a
Speaker 1: kicker that we've seen in recent years. Tennessee's got big bone.
Speaker 1: Randy Bullock could be a thing. Keep an eye on you. Listen,
Speaker 1: we we joke about it, but keep an eye on that.
Speaker 1: The weather looks pretty good. I checked the weather in Tennessee.
Speaker 1: It's supposed to be clear with a little bit of wind,
Speaker 1: but sunny, uh this weekend. So you've got that's calmed down.
Speaker 1: But I think it's a field goal game ultimately. And
Speaker 1: I think if I had if it was like someone
Speaker 1: you know, put a gun to my head and said
Speaker 1: you better get this right, which sounds horrific. Can you
Speaker 1: not a good situation? You can imagine watching that game? Um, also,
Speaker 1: I'd just be like call, I'd call the police if
Speaker 1: it was possible, if you were able to stand being
Speaker 1: a basement somewhere in Yeah, I imagine a basement scenario.
Speaker 1: I'm really in a tough spot, tough stitch in a
Speaker 1: big spot. Um. I know. I I was saying earlier
Speaker 1: that Tennessee could struggle to get to that magic twenty seven,
Speaker 1: but I can't rule it out like I would might
Speaker 1: I might say Tennessee, But at the same time, like
Speaker 1: you picked the Raiders last week, we saw that that
Speaker 1: loyalty to the A T N Bengals. Yeah, I guess, so,
Speaker 1: I guess that was a lack of loyalty and and
Speaker 1: maybe I'll root for them, but maybe Tennessee does win six,
Speaker 1: that would be my pick. I have to admit I
Speaker 1: picked the Titans online. As much as I want to
Speaker 1: pretend I'm rooting for the Bengals and I and I,
Speaker 1: but I picked the Titan because I am rooting for them,
Speaker 1: and picking them on this show would be like it
Speaker 1: would be like me picking the Patriots last week. It's like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it because that's what I want. But
Speaker 1: do I really believe it? Not? Not? Not? Particularly this
Speaker 1: They have a much better chance though than I believe
Speaker 1: the Patriots did a week ago. It feels like a
Speaker 1: field goal type of game to me too. I am
Speaker 1: picking the Bengals to win twenty um. But I will
Speaker 1: note that last week, UM, I make these picks for
Speaker 1: these eight YouTube videos from the NFL, I picked one
Speaker 1: in almost every game. I picked Team A on that format.
Speaker 1: Teamb on this podcast, then on our network show went
Speaker 1: in totally different directions. So it's it's I don't know,
Speaker 1: are you acting like you're breaking news right now? You've
Speaker 1: been doing that, that's been there. I was thinking of
Speaker 1: the Mark thing too. It's like, oh, I picked the
Speaker 1: Bengals on the podcast, but on the on the side,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pick the Tits. But that's silly, that's just
Speaker 1: that's right, it's being dishonest. Ultimately, I believe the Titans
Speaker 1: are gonna win, and I want all the Westleying brothers
Speaker 1: and everyone to come after me when I'm wrong, because
Speaker 1: I truly will be rooting for them. I think we're
Speaker 1: gonna try to watch this game together with Keisha, that
Speaker 1: that's gonna be exciting, and I think we're gonna be
Speaker 1: flying the Orange sorry, Graver, is graver around? Is Graver
Speaker 1: here to just say say hello? There is a how
Speaker 1: he's feeling. What do you think about this, Graver? Well,
Speaker 1: I just feel a little like weird and nervous because
Speaker 1: the Bengals are like the team of at L. It
Speaker 1: feels like and I'm over here as a Titans fans,
Speaker 1: the team is not you know, we we we also
Speaker 1: have enjoyed talking with you about the Titans each week.
Speaker 1: There's no animosity necessarily, so what do you mean? You
Speaker 1: know who has the biggest Titans fan on this podcast
Speaker 1: over the years by far was Chris Westling. He bucked
Speaker 1: back uh Dan calling them the Titoons, big Mariotta guy,
Speaker 1: and he pretty much transitioned right into Tannehill. So you
Speaker 1: know he would have enjoyed this team. What do you think?
Speaker 1: I do feel? I feel good about the Titans chances.
Speaker 1: I mean, like Greg was saying, I think they're just
Speaker 1: the better team. But the Bengals playmakers on offense, like
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, playmakers come and win games. That's where
Speaker 1: games are won and loss. So we'll see how Titans
Speaker 1: can handle out. Give us a score. I got Titans
Speaker 1: thirty three Bengals thirty, tangibly nervous. You seem tangibly. You
Speaker 1: don't even have them covering the spread. Not a lot
Speaker 1: of confidence here in Titans scring Now it's three and
Speaker 1: a halpen. Yeah, you know this is when you if
Speaker 1: you It's only happened to me twice in my life.
Speaker 1: But like when your team gets to the divisional playoffs
Speaker 1: and you know, you understand, if you win this game,
Speaker 1: you're in the final four. You are you are this
Speaker 1: close to the super Bowl, so they can get over
Speaker 1: the hump here. Graver is gonna be feeling good. But
Speaker 1: there's been times a season where Graver has been just
Speaker 1: on fire with confidence, not sing. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a sign of things going on differently in
Speaker 1: his private life. I know we're not supposed to. No,
Speaker 1: we can't talk about No, we can't talk about it.
Speaker 1: That could change. Although how is everything? Everything is very
Speaker 1: good vague terms, So that's not that wouldn't be the
Speaker 1: major factor. There's not been a change in the water
Speaker 1: there nothing uh negatively changed now, just vaguely in vague
Speaker 1: any like paperwork filed in any capacity. Lawyers are involved. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: what a story you know all you have to do.
Speaker 1: Like the old journalistic h inverted pyramid. Sometimes it's grave.
Speaker 1: We just get asked that second question and then you
Speaker 1: get yourself your lead. Well, because he wants to share,
Speaker 1: if you really get down to it, he wants to share.
Speaker 1: He wants to tell you. So he's proud. He is proud.
Speaker 1: He's the man that's got these lawyers scrambling like her
Speaker 1: jets over Baghdad. All right, that's enough, sorry, Graeb. Good
Speaker 1: luck to your Titans, and notice that I did pick
Speaker 1: them to win by one point. You know who else
Speaker 1: is picking this game with confidence? The Westling Brothers. Hello, heroes,
Speaker 1: it's the boring brother Phil again this week. Before we
Speaker 1: get to the lock, this week, we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: why Nick took the whole month of December off from
Speaker 1: doing the locks. The first week he forgot. What the hell? Nick,
Speaker 1: who could forget about the locks? Do better? The next
Speaker 1: week he had a cold. The last time I did
Speaker 1: the lock, I had COVID, And finally he's busy at
Speaker 1: work to do lots. Come on, Nick, I thought you
Speaker 1: were the boss. I did two from one. Let's now
Speaker 1: talk about another reason why I had to do four
Speaker 1: in a row. When the text goes out about who's
Speaker 1: going to do a recording, the other brothers phones go
Speaker 1: silent and no one can answer a text. Come on, boys,
Speaker 1: step it up. Also, who asked for recompense when giving
Speaker 1: him an international platform? Cool boys? Not cool? Now onto
Speaker 1: the lock this week, since West of Thiss was so
Speaker 1: good to us, we were going with the Bengals again,
Speaker 1: Joey Burrow and company or on a role and aren't
Speaker 1: gonna be satisfied with just one playoff wind Jamaar Chase
Speaker 1: would be during the gritty and Nashville get Lincoln is
Speaker 1: Bengals gear again, Kisha Sorry Grave digger Bengals in a
Speaker 1: big spot. Lock it up? Yeah, not board anymore, not
Speaker 1: for it anymore. They'll go into the front of the line.
Speaker 1: You know, greg mentioned that you know he would be
Speaker 1: he'd accept the idea that the Westley brothers come after
Speaker 1: him in his little Han solo outfit. Uh if, because
Speaker 1: he picked the Titans. But I don't think they'd even
Speaker 1: get to Gregor's. They'd start in fighting and probably punching
Speaker 1: each other out and pulling each other's hair. This has
Speaker 1: been this is succeeded beyond even my wildest imagination. Uh,
Speaker 1: this bit of having the West Brothers on every week,
Speaker 1: because it's now just h degenerated into just a settling
Speaker 1: of scores every week between the brothers. The the actual
Speaker 1: picking of the games is set and dary like, even
Speaker 1: in the order in which they discuss certain topics when
Speaker 1: they come on the show. It's it's just a it's
Speaker 1: civil war and here we are sitting in the Roman
Speaker 1: colisee and watching them do battle beneath us. It's it's
Speaker 1: pretty great, it's amazing. And yes, the picks at points
Speaker 1: seem to just be made to settle scores with each other.
Speaker 1: They didn't seem to care whether they got it right
Speaker 1: or or not at all. All right, So there is
Speaker 1: the early game West of his two point. Oh, if
Speaker 1: you want to call it that. Before we move on
Speaker 1: to the great Bills Chiefs game and get Tim Graham
Speaker 1: on the line, might as well do it. I mentioned it.
Speaker 1: Ricky opened up the Kicker Club. You want to hear
Speaker 1: some kicker power rankings remaining kickers again. I don't want
Speaker 1: to be the guy that's dwelling too much on kickers,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna matter. Step aside, step behind the velvet Ropes.
Speaker 1: Number eight is big bone Randy. I don't trust him
Speaker 1: in a big spot. Uh. He's not a bad he's
Speaker 1: hung around. But do you trust Randy Bullock in a
Speaker 1: big spot? Like and I know he's slimmed down, but
Speaker 1: he those bones are still big underneath. He's less spefy,
Speaker 1: he's definitely left less spefy, but the name sticks. He's
Speaker 1: a little more like you know, thick Now he's t
Speaker 1: h I c c Yes. Seven Mason Crosby. There, we've
Speaker 1: seen enough struggles to know that he could have a
Speaker 1: bad day. I mean it's certainly within the range of outcomes.
Speaker 1: They're very loyal to Mason. Somehow he's made it through
Speaker 1: another season. But watch out. Six Ryan suck Up bucking ears.
Speaker 1: You guys stunned by that one. It's a strong it's
Speaker 1: a strong kicker field. If suck Up is six because
Speaker 1: he's a good kicker. Is Mason Crosby his hair his
Speaker 1: hair alone, I think puts the number eighty. It is,
Speaker 1: by the way, a very strong field. Number five Matt Gay,
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Rams Bowler. Yeah, Pro Bowl are very good kicker,
Speaker 1: but almost the victim of just being in a really
Speaker 1: good company here. Number four I'm a big fan. As
Speaker 1: I said of this kid, Evan McPherson, I think he's
Speaker 1: got um ice in his veins. He's scared to nothing
Speaker 1: and he's really thrived. Uh this season. Eight thirty three
Speaker 1: does not miss from in close. He's kind of automatic.
Speaker 1: I really like him. Number three Tyler Bass Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: What do you think about that? No complaints? I mean
Speaker 1: with Evan McPherson. When you find one of those guys
Speaker 1: you got him for a decade plus, it changes your
Speaker 1: friends called cold weather guy. You know, I'd have to
Speaker 1: I'd have to really examine the stats here, but I
Speaker 1: feel like the championship might have Ryan suck up a
Speaker 1: little underrated compared to some of these guys. Well, he
Speaker 1: wasn't quite tested in the last year's he did, he
Speaker 1: got the job done, certainly. I like Robbie Gold I
Speaker 1: got him at number two. Remember what our friends said
Speaker 1: in his invaluable analysis of last week's wild Card game,
Speaker 1: Jay Field and number one, gimme Harrison. If I have
Speaker 1: to pick one guy, gimme Harrison. Not just because or
Speaker 1: mostly because my son's name is Harrison, but that is
Speaker 1: a good kicker in Kansas City who handles the elements
Speaker 1: that is kicked in big spots and is a guy
Speaker 1: that you can count on. Where do you got you
Speaker 1: don't like it. I'm just saying Matt Gay is a
Speaker 1: pro bowler this year. You know, I don't know. It's
Speaker 1: tough to separate these guys. Gold feels a little high.
Speaker 1: Weren't they annoyed about Gold earlier in the season. He
Speaker 1: had some some moments maybe early in the year, but
Speaker 1: he's he's been brilliant. Put it this way, He's he's
Speaker 1: postseason guy. I don't think he's ever missed the postseason
Speaker 1: field goal and he hasn't, which they kept trying to
Speaker 1: jink him with in the whole that whole broadcast scenario.
Speaker 1: All Right, you guys, you guys have to leave the
Speaker 1: club now unless you're boosted. Are you guys boosted? Yes, Okay,
Speaker 1: get loose in the club. It gets crazy in here,
Speaker 1: like you would be stunt. It's like when the when
Speaker 1: you hear about like the kids at m I t
Speaker 1: um all the math kids, the whiz kids all end
Speaker 1: up in the same place and it's it's basically just
Speaker 1: like Caligula behind the scenes. That's the right. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know if I mean I'm saying, it's something that's
Speaker 1: kept under the radar a little bit. People think, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: the math nerds, they don't know how to get down,
Speaker 1: they go nuts. But when everyone around you was a
Speaker 1: math nerd, like, there are no nerds and suddenly you're
Speaker 1: all extremely smart, powerful, have shared values, and you just like,
Speaker 1: let's explore other parts of our experience and being. I
Speaker 1: would ask you this, damn like, what is um like
Speaker 1: or is it just kickers in the club and us
Speaker 1: are there? Is there a tangible weight staff of high value.
Speaker 1: I know what you're asking. I know exactly what you're asking.
Speaker 1: And we've already had the Princess lay discussion today. We
Speaker 1: don't need to get in any further. But just playing
Speaker 1: beer and drinks or does someone do it for me?
Speaker 1: Is that not a fair question about a place that
Speaker 1: serves a club? What do you want? I would want
Speaker 1: I would want a like a robust um uh wait
Speaker 1: stuff to be you know, helping the experience along. He
Speaker 1: wants a lot of young men dressed as Harrison Ford
Speaker 1: serving him drinks. Well, we've got you, Greg, so that
Speaker 1: they might confuse you for them. But it's fine, all right,
Speaker 1: let's take a break and then welcome in Tim Graham.
Speaker 1: All right, welcome back. As promised, it's time to talk Bills, Chiefs,
Speaker 1: the game of the week, and we're bringing in the
Speaker 1: big guns here, uh from the athletic It is the
Speaker 1: great Tim Graham who covers the Bills and Tim, welcome
Speaker 1: to the Around the NFL podcast. And I am sure
Speaker 1: you are quite excited as well as someone who covers
Speaker 1: the sport. You're at the center of the football universe
Speaker 1: this week. The big guns, he says, I forgot I
Speaker 1: forgot my ammo. So we'll see what happens here. I
Speaker 1: don't know. That was a hell of an introduction and uh,
Speaker 1: quite absurd, but well we do. We do our best.
Speaker 1: You know. It's kind of like setting the table, and
Speaker 1: but I don't I don't want to build the expectations.
Speaker 1: And now you even making me feel like it might
Speaker 1: be a letdown. But we're just gonna power through it
Speaker 1: and see what happens. You know, you need a big
Speaker 1: clock around your neck because you're like a hype man
Speaker 1: to go here. All right, I'm ready to deliver some
Speaker 1: some knowledge and and takes. All right, I love it.
Speaker 1: Let's start this way because, um, obviously, last year, when
Speaker 1: the Bills kind of rose and and became this superpower,
Speaker 1: sometimes it seemed easy for this team. This year there
Speaker 1: was more winding the road to get where they are now.
Speaker 1: And then, of course the masterpiece that was last Saturday Night.
Speaker 1: How surprised were you that that version of the Bills
Speaker 1: showed up because I know during the tail end of
Speaker 1: the regular season and you started to see the offense
Speaker 1: especially really coming out of its shell. But to see
Speaker 1: the dominance at that level, how much did it surprise you? Well,
Speaker 1: I think you're surprised anytime you see perfection, especially against
Speaker 1: the Bill Belichick coach team. This is the playoffs. This
Speaker 1: isn't the Jets in the regular season finale or the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Falcons the week before that. So too, take an
Speaker 1: opponent's best punch, um, whatever Bill Belichick had at his
Speaker 1: disposal he was using in that game, and the Bills
Speaker 1: didn't blink. It was, as you mentioned, all the great
Speaker 1: stats and historical and never been done before in the
Speaker 1: in the NFL regular season or playoffs for them to
Speaker 1: have those seven drive, seven touchdowns, no punts, no kicks,
Speaker 1: no turnovers, the whole thing. Josh Allen's stat line. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a surprise, but to see the Bills command the
Speaker 1: Patriots in general was not a surprise. They've just done
Speaker 1: it a few weeks or earlier. Uh. They're now on
Speaker 1: a five game win streak, with two of those victories
Speaker 1: over the Patriots, one in Foxboro. Then of course just
Speaker 1: last week. But you mentioned that that winding road, and
Speaker 1: you have to go back to October ten when they
Speaker 1: beat the Chiefs for the well, I don't want to
Speaker 1: say the first time because that's that's me indicating that
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna do it a second time, and
Speaker 1: we can get to that. But um, when they beat
Speaker 1: the Chiefs in the regular season at Darrowhead Stadium, that
Speaker 1: was the last time the Bills had beaten a meaningful
Speaker 1: opponent until the second game against the Patriots. They were
Speaker 1: in against Uh, a series of backup quarterbacks, rookie quarterbacks
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence beat him. Uh. They couldn't win consecutive games. Uh.
Speaker 1: And there was a stretch there in November and into December,
Speaker 1: even when you couldn't really envisioned the Bills winning the
Speaker 1: four games necessary to hoist that Lombardi Trophy because it
Speaker 1: was clear they weren't going to get the first round
Speaker 1: by and you were just wondering if they could win
Speaker 1: two in a row during the regular season, and they've
Speaker 1: They've flipped the switch at the right time. And that's
Speaker 1: not to say that they looked perfect in beating teams
Speaker 1: like Carolina, the Jets, and the Falcons, you know, heading
Speaker 1: into the playoffs, they didn't. They even had some some
Speaker 1: struggles there. Matt Ryan looked really good against the Bills
Speaker 1: and bad weather um in the second to last game.
Speaker 1: But then to do what they did against the Patriots again,
Speaker 1: like I said, that's a surprise and it really makes
Speaker 1: you think that this is the This looks like the
Speaker 1: Bills team that we did see in Arrowhead Stadium in October.
Speaker 1: Do you you know one one thing that's happened for
Speaker 1: Buffalo is the offensive line really in the last you know,
Speaker 1: over these couple of months have jailed so well. I'm
Speaker 1: wondering how that's happened in your in your opinion, I know,
Speaker 1: I saw Dion Dawkins had a I thought a great quote.
Speaker 1: He basically said, the world dropped us, the world dropped
Speaker 1: us on our head, and it was only us that
Speaker 1: could pick us up, no disrespect, but f everybody. I
Speaker 1: mean I I get a little bit of edge. I
Speaker 1: get a little bit of like, maybe they're annoyed how
Speaker 1: they were perceived. I mean, what's happened on that phone?
Speaker 1: Because the run game is taking off too. They have
Speaker 1: balanced and I think that's such a big turning point
Speaker 1: for them because that was a weakness a couple of
Speaker 1: months ago they had and I wish I had it
Speaker 1: here handy, but the line that they currently have that
Speaker 1: they've gone with for the past few games zero sacks
Speaker 1: allowed by the way, four straight games. But it wasn't
Speaker 1: that long ago that it has was changing on a
Speaker 1: weekly or other weekly basis because of COVID, because of injuries. Uh.
Speaker 1: And this iteration of the offensive line I think is
Speaker 1: the nine or maybe might be the eleventh. Actually I've
Speaker 1: lost track, but the you know that old football adage
Speaker 1: about chemistry on the offensive line and you need continuity
Speaker 1: and all those things. And granted, these guys were together
Speaker 1: all season, and they were the same unit pretty much
Speaker 1: last season in terms of the group of players. I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about necessarily where they were starting along that
Speaker 1: offensive line, but these guys have been together practicing and
Speaker 1: in meeting rooms together for for a couple of years.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it was again we're talking I'll use the
Speaker 1: word surprise on that because it looked like they were
Speaker 1: falling apart. And this goes back to a time when
Speaker 1: the Bills were struggling the times I was just mentioning
Speaker 1: when this line was being slapped together and it looked
Speaker 1: like one more brick crumbling from a really promising team
Speaker 1: that was favored to win the Super Bowl at one
Speaker 1: point during the season, and now all of a sudden
Speaker 1: was trying to find its way behind a group of
Speaker 1: guys who were sustaining serious injuries or not available. And
Speaker 1: Ryan Bates, uh, the guard who was you know, he's
Speaker 1: he's also the backup at center really wasn't used throughout
Speaker 1: the season. And we haven't gotten a really good reason
Speaker 1: why that is because he's played really well since coming in.
Speaker 1: Um and uh and that's just been here in the
Speaker 1: last month or so. But Dion Dawkins, of course, UH
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl left tackle who has been playing really well. UM.
Speaker 1: Mitch Morris, the veteran center. It's you know, it's been
Speaker 1: really impressive to watch, uh, this offensive line come together
Speaker 1: and kind of out of nowhere. You could not have
Speaker 1: seen that coming. Uh, with all the different versions of
Speaker 1: this starting lineup that we're that we're being assembled, and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden they just had one and
Speaker 1: it worked, and here we are, all right. It's like
Speaker 1: Doc Dawkins lost all that weight with COVID and so
Speaker 1: it took him a while to get back into form.
Speaker 1: But you mentioned the interior line that's so huge this
Speaker 1: week because that's how the Chief's defense. To me, roles
Speaker 1: is Chris Jones and Jarren Read and if they can,
Speaker 1: if they can do their job against those two guys,
Speaker 1: I just can't imagine the Chiefs getting a lot of stuffs.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you, though, as someone who's been
Speaker 1: covering this Buffalo sports scene for a long time, I
Speaker 1: feel like you were there at least twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: I am I wrong about that. I moved to Buffalo
Speaker 1: in January of two thousand. My first day at the
Speaker 1: Buffalo News was the Monday after the Music City Miracle.
Speaker 1: Everyone was in a fine mood, and then I went
Speaker 1: seventeen years without covering a playoff game, although I did
Speaker 1: get to cover the National Hockey League for seven of
Speaker 1: those years, and the Sabers had some good runs, so
Speaker 1: at least I I didn't get to experience some joy
Speaker 1: I remember, Yeah, you were on that list of like
Speaker 1: the good beat writers to to track on the RSS
Speaker 1: feeds for Rhoda World back in two thousand three, two
Speaker 1: thousand and four. So yeah, I mean it's big time
Speaker 1: to get there. It's like, hey, these are the good ones. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, to someone who's been there that long and
Speaker 1: like knows this sports culture, I guess I'm curious you've
Speaker 1: seen this team up close what it means to the city,
Speaker 1: and especially this version of of the team, the one
Speaker 1: season Buffalo Bills, Like how do you how do you
Speaker 1: think they're ready for this moment? Because I have a
Speaker 1: hard time picking this game And one of the dumbest
Speaker 1: reasons possible is what's convincing me that the Bills could
Speaker 1: do this, which is just that it like feels it's
Speaker 1: their time, like they've been together for a while there
Speaker 1: they seem extremely confident they got back to this point.
Speaker 1: What is your feel uh? And what is the feeling
Speaker 1: also of the city? Uh? Leading into this rematch with
Speaker 1: the and as a follow up to that, Who's better
Speaker 1: Josh Allen or Dominic kashak Alright, okay, so I'll get
Speaker 1: a little philosophical with my answer, uh in that I
Speaker 1: won't make any proclamations about the Bill's greatness right now.
Speaker 1: But in fact, and I've used this adage before, this
Speaker 1: anecdote before, with her permission, because we were having a
Speaker 1: conversation shortly after Brandon being the general manager was hired,
Speaker 1: and also uh with uh with Sean McDermott's father right
Speaker 1: after he was hired. So Brandon Bean's mother asked me
Speaker 1: after I got done interviewing her for a profile about
Speaker 1: her son, She said, do you think he do you
Speaker 1: think he'll be successful? And you know, what do you
Speaker 1: say to mom? Right? Um, But I'm trying to be
Speaker 1: you know, she's gonna be following the coverage of her son.
Speaker 1: I guess I'll go ahead and make it known. What
Speaker 1: what type of practical thinker I am? I said, I
Speaker 1: told Mrs Bean, I don't know, but when you look
Speaker 1: back on this, at some point, the Bills are going
Speaker 1: to become winners law of average, whether even if it's
Speaker 1: a hundred years from now, some at some point, the Bills,
Speaker 1: maybe like the Chicago Cubs, will win something. Um, but
Speaker 1: whenever that time is, we will have looked back on
Speaker 1: it and said, this is what it's supposed to look like.
Speaker 1: This is what it was supposed to look like. That
Speaker 1: a coach in general manager came in at the same
Speaker 1: time with the same vision. It wasn't somebody's leftover coaching candidate.
Speaker 1: It wasn't some lame duck general manager. Similar to what
Speaker 1: we're seeing with the New York Giants and what they've
Speaker 1: keep continue to go through or in Chicago. Uh this,
Speaker 1: I said, this is what it will look like. I
Speaker 1: think that when you look at a window being open,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to say a dynasty, but a window
Speaker 1: being open for a team's success a few years ago,
Speaker 1: we will look back on it and say, well, it
Speaker 1: was pretty obvious what we saw there. What the what
Speaker 1: the Bills were doing to the Patriots at that time.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just that Tom Brady left the division. The
Speaker 1: Bills were on an ascendancy, and here they are. It
Speaker 1: does feel like it is their time. Um, but the
Speaker 1: fans are are more cynical than that. They've been sneaked
Speaker 1: bit a bunch of times. And I'll use this, uh,
Speaker 1: this example for you. I need to double check so.
Speaker 1: Heading into the it was the Saints game on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: UM I do some work for the local CBS affiliate
Speaker 1: here in Buffalo, and they do for their weekly pregame
Speaker 1: show a pole and the poll heading into that game
Speaker 1: was what do you think is ahead for the Bills?
Speaker 1: There were four options. Number one was first round by
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. Number two was when the a f
Speaker 1: C East without the first round by. Number three was
Speaker 1: wild card team. Number four was the playoffs. The most
Speaker 1: votes at or so was missed the playoffs. Number that
Speaker 1: job I'm bringing you this up, but when you hit
Speaker 1: me in the mentions, Josh Allen's too low. Number Number
Speaker 1: two was wild card. So a majority of the fans
Speaker 1: were saying we were not winning the division, and most
Speaker 1: of those people said we're not gonna make the playoffs
Speaker 1: at all. Well, that's that's that's that's what's built into
Speaker 1: the d n A here, that's what's in this fan base.
Speaker 1: They had, They had hit a rough patch. Josh Allen
Speaker 1: wasn't playing particularly well or when he was winning games,
Speaker 1: they weren't complete sixty minute games. Uh, And the fans
Speaker 1: were just like, well, there it goes. Patriots are good again.
Speaker 1: What are we gonna do. There's nothing we can do
Speaker 1: here come the Patriots. Um, we don't deserve nice things. Uh.
Speaker 1: That being said, and I know I'm on a long
Speaker 1: winded response here, I do want to say that just
Speaker 1: because you went seventeen or eighteen years without the playoffs,
Speaker 1: so how many years that you've been underneath the thumb
Speaker 1: of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, that suffering does not
Speaker 1: mean you've earned your window or that it's And I
Speaker 1: think that there is a segment of the Bills fans
Speaker 1: that think, Okay, now is our time. We deserve this. No,
Speaker 1: you don't deserve anything. Um, this could be a clawed
Speaker 1: out division for some time. And in the Patriots shown
Speaker 1: they have some fight. There are a double digit win
Speaker 1: team and you know who knows what happens with all
Speaker 1: the Jets in But anyways, Uh, you aren't owed anything
Speaker 1: in the NFL. But this team is damn good. And
Speaker 1: I think that you do look back on times like
Speaker 1: this and say this is what it's this is what
Speaker 1: it's supposed to look like. That's a great response there.
Speaker 1: And this is a podcast that has a Jet span
Speaker 1: on it and a Browns fan, and I think there
Speaker 1: is scar tissue with certain fan bases. So I can
Speaker 1: give you there you go. You get the scar tissue
Speaker 1: that comes with years and decades of failure here. And
Speaker 1: I think Bills fans, and as someone who took Sam
Speaker 1: Donald before Josh Allen came off the board, you kind
Speaker 1: of say, but that's the guy, just like the fans
Speaker 1: and Cincinnati who might be a little different. Which is funny.
Speaker 1: The way you're there doesn't seem to be that same
Speaker 1: level of cynicism with Joe Burrow. They're all in. But
Speaker 1: maybe it changes this year for Bills fans when they
Speaker 1: see what this guy does. Maybe he drops a bomb
Speaker 1: on Patrick Mahomes in the Chiefs this weekend. We shall see.
Speaker 1: I thought, listen, Tim, I thought the set up maybe
Speaker 1: a little grandiose, but then you delivered on multiple levels
Speaker 1: and including that philosophical closer. So that's what is that
Speaker 1: an emmy in your background? I mean that's a I
Speaker 1: think that's like a it's a lifetime achievement award. This
Speaker 1: is my hat holder. It's a fantasy football trophy. It
Speaker 1: is about about I don't know if you're here. This
Speaker 1: is steel that looks nice. That's something. No, it is
Speaker 1: set that it is there because it takes up a
Speaker 1: good bit of space. For when I do things like this,
Speaker 1: it seems like I have something impressive back there. It
Speaker 1: almost looks like something like a humanitarian award. So I
Speaker 1: would say fantasy, just like, oh yeah, that was when
Speaker 1: I work with Mother Teresa and the alums in the
Speaker 1: hands of you know whatever, greater good I don't know, alright,
Speaker 1: Thank you, people know that. Thank you Tim Graham. He
Speaker 1: has Dominic ash it by a lot. Josh Allen's going
Speaker 1: to have to do what he's been doing for seven
Speaker 1: or eight more years before Dominic conversation with Dominic Ashing. Mark,
Speaker 1: that's a goaltender in the NHL. Let's say thank you.
Speaker 1: I would also I would I'd say I appreciate that
Speaker 1: that information. I would also note that if you're not
Speaker 1: following um Tim Graham on Twitter, he is a very
Speaker 1: enjoyable follower because I understand that some of these bills
Speaker 1: fans and beyond are annoying. He is not afraid to
Speaker 1: drop a nuclear bomb on their concepts and ideas at
Speaker 1: any time of the day. It's quite a read. He
Speaker 1: suffers no fools. People ask me why I do it?
Speaker 1: They say, why do you waste your time, and I say,
Speaker 1: because I enjoy it very good. All Right, there you go,
Speaker 1: Kim Grant, thank you, buddy. Best of the luck, rest
Speaker 1: of the way. Maybe we'll see at the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: All right. So that's the Bill side of this story.
Speaker 1: And it's interesting before we kind of transition to the
Speaker 1: Chief side of this game. Uh, and thank you to
Speaker 1: Tim Graham, he was excellent. Uh, is that there's so
Speaker 1: much talk about the Bengals and we're guilty of this
Speaker 1: if you want to call it that, as well as
Speaker 1: this like fun story about this underdog franchise that here
Speaker 1: are the Bills in that same spot and they have
Speaker 1: a chance now to do something special. Uh. If you're
Speaker 1: old enough, you remember when they went to four straight
Speaker 1: Super Bowls and lost them all in the early nineties
Speaker 1: and it's been pretty much a desert since. So this
Speaker 1: Josh Allen situation now and the rising of this great
Speaker 1: team building and something we've definitely hit on on this
Speaker 1: podcast a lot, the importance of having that functional front
Speaker 1: office coach combo and just getting on the same page
Speaker 1: together on the ground floor all that stuff. Now here
Speaker 1: come the Chief Chives and Mark. The Chiefs are an
Speaker 1: interesting team obviously because as much as we pumped up
Speaker 1: and right rightfully so that brilliant effort offensively by Buffalo
Speaker 1: when they went seven for seven against Bill Belichick with
Speaker 1: seven touchdowns. The Chiefs scored six consecutive touchdowns a day
Speaker 1: later against the Steelers, which are you know, not not
Speaker 1: a great defense, but a pretty good defense with some
Speaker 1: big players. So it's a great matchup of two offensively
Speaker 1: gifted teams. Yeah, I mean, this is why this round
Speaker 1: of play of the playoffs tickles the loins, because it's
Speaker 1: just like, this is an insane There had to be
Speaker 1: a better way to put that. Well, there probably was.
Speaker 1: This is an insane matchup where it's just like I
Speaker 1: just want to sit down and like let it unfold
Speaker 1: over me because you know, you are looking at the
Speaker 1: heights and we spent you know, the Chiefs were frustrating
Speaker 1: if the Bills were the Chiefs have been a frustrating
Speaker 1: team to discuss all year because the question, I mean,
Speaker 1: on our television show on Friday week after we get
Speaker 1: seem to be do we believe in his team? Will
Speaker 1: they ever break out of their funk? Who are they are?
Speaker 1: Have they hit the end of the road? Is it
Speaker 1: just not their year. And then suddenly, now like the Bills,
Speaker 1: they look extremely explosive. And a whole huge thing was
Speaker 1: the turnovers with Mahomes. It was like, is this guy
Speaker 1: has he been figured out? Have the Chiefs figured out? Well,
Speaker 1: it's all seems like a little bit like nonsense to me.
Speaker 1: He did have twenty two turnover worthy plays. That said
Speaker 1: they have eight turnovers since Week nine. That narrative, now
Speaker 1: they had two of those came against Pittsburgh, so I
Speaker 1: get that. But they found a way out of that
Speaker 1: darkness real quick and real fast. Pittsburgh just did it
Speaker 1: was their last gasp. Everything we said had to happen.
Speaker 1: T J. Watt gets a touchdown, it happened. That was
Speaker 1: real nice for all of us analysts. But then the
Speaker 1: Chiefs dropped a massive, I mean just a dark cloud
Speaker 1: over Pittsburgh. They ended them, And I know that's a
Speaker 1: lesser opponent, but I suddenly deeply trust and I really
Speaker 1: love the emergence of Jerick McKinnon, who you know, out
Speaker 1: of football for so long, came back and looked explosive
Speaker 1: last week. There was a twenty yard uh screen to
Speaker 1: him early on in that game that I thought he
Speaker 1: got on my radar right away. They used the screen
Speaker 1: game really well against Pittsburgh, and I wonder how they'll
Speaker 1: attack this defense. There is no Aus White. I think
Speaker 1: this could be the game where that cost Buffalo quite
Speaker 1: a bit. We'll even better without him, which is very
Speaker 1: strange because White is one of the best corners in
Speaker 1: the league. But and that's a credit to the Bill's
Speaker 1: defense that things not missed a beat. But things are
Speaker 1: different now with Tyree Cole, so I you know, for me,
Speaker 1: it's just like, let's just hang on and see what
Speaker 1: happens here, right. I don't trust either defense to get
Speaker 1: a ton of stops. I think the game will be
Speaker 1: in the thirties. If it's not, I think it'll just
Speaker 1: be because the possessions take too long. You know, when
Speaker 1: we think about the Chiefs being more patient this year,
Speaker 1: and they they're really diverse. Both offenses are diverse now.
Speaker 1: They both can run. I think the Chiefs can run
Speaker 1: block really well, and you saw that with Derrick McKinnon.
Speaker 1: Will probably see Edwards a layer back. I think the
Speaker 1: Bills have gotten better that way too. Uh. It's been
Speaker 1: to combat these defenses which are typified I Buffalo, that
Speaker 1: are just trying to prevent big plays. They have those
Speaker 1: two safeties back there. That's why they've survived without White,
Speaker 1: you know, Hide and Poyer. I think they're they're starting
Speaker 1: to get kind of their national shine now. I think
Speaker 1: Payer got all Pro. And those are the guys that
Speaker 1: are gonna try to prevent Tyreek Hill from getting over
Speaker 1: the top. Hill look totally healthy, he's back, he's fine.
Speaker 1: Or prevent Travis Kelsey from getting all those yards after
Speaker 1: the catch. They did a pretty good job of that
Speaker 1: in the first matchup. I know a lot of things
Speaker 1: have changed, but they did a good job about preventing
Speaker 1: big plays for the most part. And uh, it's just
Speaker 1: like they've they are built in some ways to play
Speaker 1: this Chiefs team. You know this, this this matchup is
Speaker 1: not surprising. It's just a week early. I kind of
Speaker 1: think the winner of this game wins the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: in general, or at least is my favorite to win
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. Well, I think would be the best pick.
Speaker 1: And and and it's almost like they wrote it too much.
Speaker 1: For like, these are the a f C teams that
Speaker 1: just got rid of the old a f C powers
Speaker 1: of yesteryear. It's like bye ben by Patriots, we just
Speaker 1: dropped forty burgers. Let's make it as obvious as possible that,
Speaker 1: like we are the fire Show, and yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: care what happened like before December. Like Mahomes and Island
Speaker 1: are playing their best right now, and that to me
Speaker 1: is almost all that matters in the playoffs. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: throw out the Week five results entirely because it doesn't
Speaker 1: teach me anything, because I know as good as Kansas
Speaker 1: City's defense has been in stretches this season, they're just
Speaker 1: like many other defenses. You might even argue all defenses
Speaker 1: in the NFL right now, where they can be figured
Speaker 1: out and scored upon repeatedly. It was a Daniel Sorenson game.
Speaker 1: He had a nightmare in that in that matchup, and
Speaker 1: he's not being used much anyway right the So you
Speaker 1: know the Bills, especially where they are they're at right now,
Speaker 1: they can score thirty eight points on you. And now
Speaker 1: you look at Kansas City, they were in that weird
Speaker 1: funk period during that stretch of the season. It lasted
Speaker 1: longer than any of us, any of us imagined. Uh
Speaker 1: So I don't look at the game and be like,
Speaker 1: well they figured out Patrick Mahomes and company. Once they
Speaker 1: can do it again. No, I think the Bills are
Speaker 1: gonna really struggle to contain Mahomes and all the weapons
Speaker 1: he has. So it does feel like I feel like
Speaker 1: we're gonna be cheated. Uh. Boys, if this game is
Speaker 1: anything other than thirty five, this is this is the
Speaker 1: I know what Tim said was great. Uh, you don't
Speaker 1: deserve anything. Nothing is is given to you. But we
Speaker 1: the fans, especially after all that malarkey we had to
Speaker 1: watch last weekend, deserve fifty two to bring it. Give
Speaker 1: us the juice, give us the points, Let's fly. And
Speaker 1: I also love Hide and Poyer too. I remember that
Speaker 1: press conference after the first Patriots game and they were
Speaker 1: so annoyed with the media trying to frame a narrative
Speaker 1: their season away and and the way they kind of
Speaker 1: as a as a tandem helped to find that defense
Speaker 1: and the attitude and the spirit of the Bills defense.
Speaker 1: I love this Bills team and like sometimes on Twitter,
Speaker 1: people like, why are you like positive about the Bills
Speaker 1: all the time. You're a Jets fan because Jets fans
Speaker 1: and Bills fans have a kinship in that division. I'm
Speaker 1: okay with the Bills rising here that that would be
Speaker 1: a really nice story to see them get to l A.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I I look at this team and
Speaker 1: when I when I say that it's like time, to me,
Speaker 1: it's not. It's not time like they've waited seventeen years
Speaker 1: so they deserve anything. It's time that it's all coming
Speaker 1: together perfectly right now. This is the third straight year
Speaker 1: they made the playoffs. Alan's had his downs in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I think he's more mature now. It's fourth out of
Speaker 1: five year from McDermott. They've had different defenses ups and
Speaker 1: downs over the last couple of years. So how are
Speaker 1: you combining the great Alan play with your great Bills defense?
Speaker 1: Right now? It's not great, but it's about as good
Speaker 1: as we as we have in the NFL. It's one
Speaker 1: of the better groups. It's certainly better than the group
Speaker 1: that got uh crushed by the Chiefs a year ago.
Speaker 1: And then you have Alan running the ball, and that
Speaker 1: to me is like the X factor. He is number
Speaker 1: one by far now in rushing value on the season.
Speaker 1: According to QBR, he leads the league in yards per carry.
Speaker 1: He almost led all quarterbacks in rushing yards, and that
Speaker 1: was almost all after that Bucks game. Like design runs.
Speaker 1: He's running scrambles against man coverage with the Chiefs off
Speaker 1: and have and he took advantage in the first time
Speaker 1: he's running. It's time and they've been knocking on this
Speaker 1: door for years. And that's why I'm locking up the
Speaker 1: Chiefs on the road. Very very spicy wit, you're locking
Speaker 1: up the Chiefs on the road. Well, I've messed it up. No.
Speaker 1: I had the best set up the eighteen yard field
Speaker 1: goal to go to the Super Bowl, and then I
Speaker 1: kicked it into the pass of the center. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: have the Bills. Okay, well you you blew that and
Speaker 1: there's no coming back. Um, I believe I had. I
Speaker 1: had the Packers over the Chiefs in the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: back in September. So I can't turn back now. I
Speaker 1: can't now pick against the Chiefs so at home. God,
Speaker 1: their pedigree is so great. Um, this again, this is
Speaker 1: going to be a cop out, because it's gonna be
Speaker 1: I don't know if I even believe it, but I
Speaker 1: will say Chiefs forty one thirty eight Heartbreak City in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: But that is not there's no strong conviction there. This
Speaker 1: is absolutely a coin flip game. How about you, Mark?
Speaker 1: I I admire Gregg for locking either team because about
Speaker 1: how he closed that though, well I know that was
Speaker 1: that was a bit of a box job, but I
Speaker 1: like the heart and fire behind it. I get I've
Speaker 1: got this lock trophy here. I'm bringing it in game.
Speaker 1: You gotta try to bring it home. My reign is
Speaker 1: officially over. I'll bring it into the office this week.
Speaker 1: It can no longer, you know, be in my background
Speaker 1: about ten weeks ago, it's been city. It's waiting. I
Speaker 1: get concerned when I get it because part of me
Speaker 1: is just thinks the same thing thirty five, thirty two,
Speaker 1: thirty five. It's when when everyone is saying that it's
Speaker 1: gonna go totally south and it's not gonna be the case.
Speaker 1: I'm not rooting for that. I wanted to be that,
Speaker 1: but I keep seeing in my head although it's probably
Speaker 1: totally different than the pick I said on Tuesday to
Speaker 1: uh these other guys, but I'm going thirty eight Um
Speaker 1: to twenty Buffalo in a game where has a lot
Speaker 1: of problems, but you're not locking them up there. You
Speaker 1: have the winning by eighteen. I'm not pick a different team.
Speaker 1: You have a bigger score than an eighteen. You're picking
Speaker 1: this to be an eighteen point difference, and yet there
Speaker 1: might be another place on NFL media where you have
Speaker 1: the other team winning. No, No, I picked the Bills
Speaker 1: in that one too. Okay, well that's you're not locking
Speaker 1: it up. I'm not locking up because I'm not touching
Speaker 1: this game. This is not a I don't need. I'm
Speaker 1: still alive in the lock thing, and I don't like
Speaker 1: then your score just logically it would be closer than eight.
Speaker 1: That's a score of conviction. Greg, Can I do my
Speaker 1: own Am I allowed to make my own choice or
Speaker 1: much to critique every single thing that I do when
Speaker 1: it comes to locks? Who cares? You're like eight eight
Speaker 1: games behind you go? You go deal with your own luck.
Speaker 1: That's how you do it. I'm telling you back to
Speaker 1: back trophies, you know. I just that this is not
Speaker 1: going to be close. This is not going to be closed.
Speaker 1: The Bills are gonna drop, They're gonna they're gonna do
Speaker 1: something to the Chiefs early on. The changes the tone
Speaker 1: of this game. There may be injuries. I don't know
Speaker 1: what it will be, but I don't think this will
Speaker 1: be close at all. I think it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: real rough ending of the season. Too for Kansas City
Speaker 1: for this game to get away from the Chiefs quickly.
Speaker 1: It's going to be another one of those killer turnovers.
Speaker 1: And then in in Marriage with the Bills picking up
Speaker 1: right where they left up. I get a little nervous
Speaker 1: if I'm a Bills fan that you were so perfect
Speaker 1: last week that following up something like that, are you
Speaker 1: gonna still be? I mean, that's gonna be too many people.
Speaker 1: The Bills are kind of the trendy pick this week.
Speaker 1: The line has moved toward them. It's only one and
Speaker 1: a half. They're they're they're the pretty common pick out there.
Speaker 1: But that was true the forty Niners last week. Sometimes
Speaker 1: the public nails it. All right, let's uh take a
Speaker 1: break and then hit the NFC. All right, let's move
Speaker 1: to the NFC side of things, starting with Saturday night
Speaker 1: the Game five on Fox. I guess that means Troy
Speaker 1: Aikman gets this game, but who knows. It would be
Speaker 1: kind of funny if Tony Romo got this game. You know,
Speaker 1: if somehow Troy Aikman gets banged again and it's we
Speaker 1: actually maybe they cut to a Troy cam and we
Speaker 1: see Trey Kman's head explode. I mean, I feel like
Speaker 1: that would be pretty good TV. People would like to
Speaker 1: be that game. The forty Niners, Oh Dog coming off
Speaker 1: that uh big win in the wild Card round over
Speaker 1: the Cowboys, wasn't an upset. I don't think it was
Speaker 1: an upset. Maybe Vega said it was an upset, but
Speaker 1: they were the better team and they played like it.
Speaker 1: But now it jumps up a notch. The Green Bay
Speaker 1: Packers thirteen and four, coming off thereby undefeated at home. Greg,
Speaker 1: it's been, uh, it's been talked about incessant because that's
Speaker 1: how it works when the team's on buys. Some of
Speaker 1: the storylines just stay where they are. That the Packers
Speaker 1: are getting a healthy especially along their offensive line. I'll
Speaker 1: start you off this way, Greggy, do you have any
Speaker 1: concerns like they went through the entire season, had a
Speaker 1: dominant regular season with the line they had, and now
Speaker 1: you're gonna introduce all these pieces over make three fifths
Speaker 1: of the line, that they might have some hiccups offensively
Speaker 1: because the line hasn't played together and missed a lot
Speaker 1: of time. I'm not worried about that because Rogers manages
Speaker 1: his line so well. If Box is healthy enough to play,
Speaker 1: he's a huge upgrade. Josh Wells. You know we've seen
Speaker 1: him at center. He's been good. They did play about
Speaker 1: a half together in Week eighteen against the lines. I'm
Speaker 1: more concerned that they're playing a team in the forty
Speaker 1: Niners that have just one two playoff games, and we
Speaker 1: always get into disgusting this time of year, like is
Speaker 1: it better to be the team on the roll or
Speaker 1: or you have the rest. It's not so much that
Speaker 1: the Packers rested. It's that the last two weeks that
Speaker 1: the forty Niners pulled off in the way they did
Speaker 1: it in Los Angeles in Dallas, two playoff teams, two
Speaker 1: very good offensive lines that they just destroyed there their front.
Speaker 1: One those games and you can say, Okay, the Packers
Speaker 1: have this great resume, Well have they had two weeks
Speaker 1: as good as the forty Niners just had? Like to me,
Speaker 1: the resume is a little irrelevant because the Packers haven't
Speaker 1: played a real opponent since November. This is the Rams.
Speaker 1: The last meetingful game was three weeks ago against Seawan Mannion.
Speaker 1: They were trailing at halftime against the Lions. I don't
Speaker 1: want to get too carried away that, like the Bears, game,
Speaker 1: and the Browns game and the Lions game. We're all
Speaker 1: close or whatever, but this wasn't a dominant team. And yes,
Speaker 1: they're getting team, you know, they're getting pieces back. But
Speaker 1: I think just when you look at the matchup in
Speaker 1: terms of being able to get pressure on Rogers and
Speaker 1: then a team that can run the ball against the
Speaker 1: thirty ranked rush defense according to E p A like,
Speaker 1: that's a tough matchup and it's about a toss up.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm really surprised at the six point spread. Six
Speaker 1: point spread. When I look at the Niners, I feel
Speaker 1: like you can tell who they're going to be um
Speaker 1: early on. It doesn't always carry out, but they are
Speaker 1: one of the best teams in the league. Early drives,
Speaker 1: dominant long you know, ten plus minute drives, and it
Speaker 1: kind of shows you how the game might go in situations.
Speaker 1: I think that was very true against the Rams. It
Speaker 1: fell off a little bit against Dallas obviously, but that's
Speaker 1: a Shanahan special and I really want to see how
Speaker 1: the run game operates. You really can't take much from
Speaker 1: the first time these two played on the run game
Speaker 1: scenario because there was no Elijah Mitchell. They had traced
Speaker 1: sermon in there. I think they ran for about sixty
Speaker 1: seven yards. And this Packers defense has been good against
Speaker 1: the run the last two weeks, but in general they
Speaker 1: have not been And it's not just the run game,
Speaker 1: but what you have to do to guard the run
Speaker 1: game and protect against it. Because I look at that
Speaker 1: Travis Benjamin catch early against Dallas, which essentially looked to
Speaker 1: the defense like an overt running situation that turned into
Speaker 1: a big game through the air, and that's where I
Speaker 1: think Jimmy G is at his best. He he can
Speaker 1: he can deal him out, and I love him in
Speaker 1: that situation. I think this is I hate that it's
Speaker 1: the same narrative as a week ago because it's just
Speaker 1: who Jimmy G is. But it's gonna be four degrees
Speaker 1: in Green Bay. I think if you get into a
Speaker 1: situation where Jimmy J creates the mistakes, that could be
Speaker 1: the end factor here. I mean that happened with Dallas
Speaker 1: last week. As much as you don't want it to
Speaker 1: play the script, they were in control and that Jimmy
Speaker 1: G interception absolutely killed him. He has twenty five turnover
Speaker 1: worthy plays this year. Uh, He's He's had his problems
Speaker 1: and it's just like I, I, do you trust him
Speaker 1: enough to carry this? And it's right, that's that's that's
Speaker 1: it's that's that's the game. I mean, that's that that
Speaker 1: It's gonna be oversimplified on some level. But one side
Speaker 1: is gonna have Aaron Rodgers playing out of his mind
Speaker 1: and the other side's gonna have Jimmy g Who. It's
Speaker 1: not like if he makes mistakes, he's going to he
Speaker 1: does it, and now you're gonna put him on the
Speaker 1: road and very uh probably adverse conditions and going against
Speaker 1: the offense that's not gonna be stopped. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is Aaron Rodgers last seven games, one thousand passing yards,
Speaker 1: twenty touchdowns, zero interceptions. He is completely locked in right now.
Speaker 1: I think he's not a guy I worry about with rust.
Speaker 1: So we took a week off that if anything, that's
Speaker 1: good because of that toe injury, which he said in
Speaker 1: practice that whole stretch you're talking about practically because of
Speaker 1: the toe. But I guess I don't worry about it. Oh,
Speaker 1: I see what you're saying. Yes, and then Davante Adams,
Speaker 1: we know what he's all about. We know that he's
Speaker 1: going to show up in this game. But here's the
Speaker 1: other guy to keep an eye on. Alan Lazard has
Speaker 1: turned into a real number two receiver. If you look
Speaker 1: at the last six weeks of the season, Uh, Davante
Speaker 1: Adams has six touchdowns. That's best in football. Number two
Speaker 1: Alan Lazard five touchdowns. So your MVS looks like he's
Speaker 1: not going to be in this game. But Rogers is
Speaker 1: going to have his pick of weapons. He's got the
Speaker 1: great backfield tandem behind him, He's got the improved sucking
Speaker 1: up front with back tr back. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: If he's healthy, that's a huge upgrade. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't think six seems high. But I think this is
Speaker 1: gonna be a win for the Packers and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: ride with them. I'm locking them up. Well, that forces me.
Speaker 1: I think it's obviously a logical pick. It forces me
Speaker 1: because we're right at the end here, Like am I
Speaker 1: looking to tides in that has there's zero nobility in that.
Speaker 1: I don't care. I want to find out if I
Speaker 1: can win this thing. I'm gonna have to go reverse
Speaker 1: lock off with the Niners. I feel good about the
Speaker 1: team in general. Uh. To Greg's point, they've basically been
Speaker 1: in a postseason and they've delivered, and I think this
Speaker 1: is a real tough place for them. It could go
Speaker 1: real south. But I mean, they're not a team that
Speaker 1: just go gets goes gets blown out either. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're gonna hang around and if something magical happens. Dan
Speaker 1: and Mark are one game apart. I love that. I
Speaker 1: feel I feel like confident, But at the same time,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't shock me. That said, if the if the Packers,
Speaker 1: after all this build up this year, went one and
Speaker 1: done and it's happened in the past, we all know
Speaker 1: that with the Packers, they're not Their playoff resume is
Speaker 1: spotty despite a lot of regular season dominance that would
Speaker 1: qualify as huge failure. I just I don't see it, Greg,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't see this as a one and
Speaker 1: done team. I think especially Uh And I know you
Speaker 1: said that you think the winner of the Bills Chiefs
Speaker 1: team is the champion. I think until they're my favorite. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the Packers are my favorite to win this
Speaker 1: whole thing. Still, Um, I think it will be Packers
Speaker 1: against Chiefs or the Bills. Uh. First step is knocking
Speaker 1: off a very game UH San Francisco team, but a
Speaker 1: compromised one in the sense that Garoppolo was gonna make
Speaker 1: mistakes that Rogers won't. Yeah, Jimmy G is a tough
Speaker 1: thing to get over when you're thinking about this game.
Speaker 1: But I I I think when La Fleur saw this
Speaker 1: matchup that there are concerns. I mean that the run
Speaker 1: defense with Diebo Samuel in the background in the backfield rather,
Speaker 1: it's just so dynamic being able to tackle those guys
Speaker 1: in the open field the way they're lane. And then
Speaker 1: the boom box. Yeah, I don't know if you did
Speaker 1: you see the boom box highlights throughout the week of
Speaker 1: them walking out of the locker room with the boom
Speaker 1: box on the way in the field in Dallas. When
Speaker 1: I saw that boom box, I thought, oh, this team
Speaker 1: is going to Green Bay and the forecast may say
Speaker 1: it's twelve degrees maybe like feels like three at kickoff dry,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna be raining there in Green Bay because
Speaker 1: there's no way they're not covering this six point much.
Speaker 1: Kyle Sayahan runs the ball sixty of the time in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. With Jimmy G has this quarterback, this is
Speaker 1: the perfect day to go do that. Nick Bosa, he's
Speaker 1: out of that concussion protocol. I like their defensive front.
Speaker 1: I am worried that, you know, Rogers mitigates all that
Speaker 1: by you know, picking on the mismatches that Troy Aitman
Speaker 1: was talking about this week. Remember you know he he
Speaker 1: got a lot of notice for saying, how come they're
Speaker 1: not just you know, Dak Prescott's gotta over come with
Speaker 1: the scheme, mask for it and just go to the mismatches.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what Aaron Rodgers does better than anyone
Speaker 1: that's a concern with the secondary. But I at least
Speaker 1: think they cover those six points. And if you're gonna
Speaker 1: feel that good about covering and dropping some rein I
Speaker 1: picked them to win, just goes straight in there and
Speaker 1: blast them. Gregg picked, and I'm feeling good based on
Speaker 1: some certain standings this year. Well I'm not locking them up.
Speaker 1: You know, my other my over my uh my picks
Speaker 1: against the spread have been great. I've been great. I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe not great, but good, gonna be great? Good? Right,
Speaker 1: that's good. That's good. Hey, speaking of um stuff going
Speaker 1: on at home, did you guys happen to see the
Speaker 1: new ad that hit Twitter of the Russell Wilson and Sira, Yeah?
Speaker 1: I did, Yeah, that's good. That's pretty I mean, I
Speaker 1: guess it's the only thing that's the pointing is that
Speaker 1: it didn't show up before Christmas, because that would have
Speaker 1: been a slam dunk gift for the s O. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well you could still. You know. The great thing about um,
Speaker 1: you know, Christmas ending, is that if you surprise her
Speaker 1: with that gift, now, it really says that you know,
Speaker 1: you're not just give me a gift at holiday type
Speaker 1: of guy. You're thinking about her all the time. What's
Speaker 1: the name of the perfume, Ricky. I believe it's also
Speaker 1: like a candle. I think it's a candle on the
Speaker 1: shape is too. It's interwined bottles and you know, it
Speaker 1: kind of passes other things. And then in the commercial
Speaker 1: it shows her hand and his hand pulling the bottles away.
Speaker 1: It would have been cool if they did it when
Speaker 1: his finger was all jacked up in October and he
Speaker 1: just had this nasty beat up like finger pointing in
Speaker 1: the wrong direction. That would have been I mean, I
Speaker 1: would have liked it, but I but yeah, like, give
Speaker 1: give your significant other some perfume might be a candle,
Speaker 1: my look like a sex toy. And then just on
Speaker 1: re on repeat. Just play that Russell Wilson sultrarely looking
Speaker 1: at you know, why is Erica? Why am I asking
Speaker 1: too many questions? And you're answering me on Slack? Where
Speaker 1: are you not allowed to talk on mike anymore? What happened?
Speaker 1: Did Greg say something to you? Yeah? Actually I'm not
Speaker 1: allowed to No, No, I was looking. I was looking
Speaker 1: it up and wanted to get it to you as
Speaker 1: fast as I could. It's it's a fragrance duo's harmony
Speaker 1: and intense by Rand who's harmony and will probably Russell.
Speaker 1: Then they called them apart. Yeah, it's it is. It's so,
Speaker 1: it's it's fragrance. You know, it's it's not a candle,
Speaker 1: but it is a product that looks like it can
Speaker 1: it can pass for other things. Yeah, definitely. I was
Speaker 1: confused at first watching what Hey, what we need to do, Ricky?
Speaker 1: We need to be all over this intense ad campaign.
Speaker 1: Uh the second it drops when they have the ponderous
Speaker 1: like Calvin Klein ad where Russ is intoning things in
Speaker 1: a grave manner and she's like crawling all over his
Speaker 1: nude body, or we need to be kind of all
Speaker 1: over this story. So just like keep an eye on
Speaker 1: the Okay, all r, let's take a break of beer
Speaker 1: right back, all right, before we get to the last game, Mark,
Speaker 1: I have some big news for you, your Giorgio Giorgio
Speaker 1: Gio Giorgi hit me. Does the name Jeff Franklin ring about? Uh?
Speaker 1: I don't think so. Full House creator Jeff Franklin selling
Speaker 1: Beverly Hills mansion for eight five million sight of the
Speaker 1: Sharon Tate murders. Well, okay, Um, I've walked up that
Speaker 1: street many times and I would just let you know that. Um,
Speaker 1: the last time it looked like that house. Um, the
Speaker 1: owner was Trent Resiner. That's that. That was the red
Speaker 1: sort of up on a hill right. Um it looks today.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's Greek or just Mediterranean. Um,
Speaker 1: it is an eyesore. It looks so much to me, right,
Speaker 1: so you know it's place. They also have pictures all
Speaker 1: over the street. I'm saying. You know, if you see
Speaker 1: this man, call the authorities and it's a picture of Mark,
Speaker 1: you know it's little flyers everywhere. Well, tons of people
Speaker 1: walk up there. I wouldn't be alone. So twenty one
Speaker 1: thousand square feet, nine bedrooms, nineteen bathroom sits on three
Speaker 1: acres with a jet liner view of the city. Now, Mark,
Speaker 1: remember when, and that's not what it was then, it's
Speaker 1: what the place is now. It was nine is when
Speaker 1: it was raised and turned into this full house monstrosity.
Speaker 1: They actually had Bob Saggett from full House. The dad
Speaker 1: Danny Tanner passed away suddenly and they just had the
Speaker 1: uh post funeral gathering there. And now it's up for sale.
Speaker 1: And remember back in December where we gave each other
Speaker 1: Christmas gifts, Mark, and I gave you the Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: extension that had a lot of guaranteed money, and it
Speaker 1: maybe it wasn't the nicest gift, a lot of snark
Speaker 1: attached to it. I'm gonna take two. I'm buying this state.
Speaker 1: I'm raising this goodbye Gnarly mcmanchin from Hell. And then
Speaker 1: I'm going to connect with all the greatest UH set
Speaker 1: designers in the business Los Angeles historians. I'm gonna restore
Speaker 1: it to the Sharon Tate Home with a Roman Plansky
Speaker 1: and then give it to you. How about that for
Speaker 1: a gift? Well, I like this more than the the
Speaker 1: previous gift. Um. I wonder about my own mental state
Speaker 1: where I had to uh suddenly start living inside a
Speaker 1: duplicate um of a Hollywood home that you know, where
Speaker 1: one of the most grizzly events of human history occurred,
Speaker 1: and what and also while I was living there, what
Speaker 1: sort of copycat artists it might attract from you know,
Speaker 1: who knows where up in the canyons. I just a
Speaker 1: bit concerned. But I would take on the adventure and
Speaker 1: just say, let's go for but maybe not allow my
Speaker 1: children um to be on that ground. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that would, you know, just let's keep everyone safe.
Speaker 1: Is that okay? Y take it to leave a situation
Speaker 1: got right now? It sounds like he's asking for two houses,
Speaker 1: like you need to send for the family. That's a
Speaker 1: little much, I know. But if I own that house,
Speaker 1: then I'm we're flying. So all right, let's get to
Speaker 1: so that could be yours. Though if I can't make
Speaker 1: it happen, maybe you Ken Mark, I don't know what
Speaker 1: we're your salaries out these days, but it's not there.
Speaker 1: It's not I couldn't. I probably couldn't buy um an
Speaker 1: eight ft a patch of the lawn at this point.
Speaker 1: So all right, let's get into the final uh NFC game.
Speaker 1: It involves the defending Super Bowl champions. So let's get
Speaker 1: into it. Uh. It is the Tampa Bay Bucks playing
Speaker 1: host to the Los Angeles Rams, and we were obviously
Speaker 1: if you listen to the show on Tuesday, you know
Speaker 1: we were at the game on Monday between the Rams
Speaker 1: and the Cardinals. And the Rams look great. They absolutely did.
Speaker 1: You could say they look better than the Bucks looked
Speaker 1: against the Eagles. But it was almost like the Eagles
Speaker 1: cut both these teams in a way. If you really
Speaker 1: think about it, the Eagles and Cardinals were not playoff ready,
Speaker 1: so these two teams just took care of business against
Speaker 1: teams that were ready to go home. And now we
Speaker 1: see them against top flight competition. It feels like a
Speaker 1: Bucks game. But how do you guys see it? Greg
Speaker 1: will start with you, and this is the toughest game
Speaker 1: for me to separate the two. I think they're very similar.
Speaker 1: I think their defensive fronts are primed and ready to
Speaker 1: play their best that they've played all season, that they're
Speaker 1: peaking right now. Obviously, one side is Brady and the
Speaker 1: other as Stafford, and that's a mismatch. But if you
Speaker 1: just stack up pure talent, I think the Rams are
Speaker 1: are right there with them, and uh, for the Rams,
Speaker 1: it gotta feel like I'm not to get over the
Speaker 1: hill type of game because if you can win this,
Speaker 1: you get to the NFC Championship. You've got a long
Speaker 1: way to go. But there's been a lot building with
Speaker 1: this season and to have to come up against Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: who ripped your heart out with the best Rams team
Speaker 1: of all time in two thousand one, uh and who
Speaker 1: finished the job in ten in the Super Bowl, and
Speaker 1: now you get him again here as a member of
Speaker 1: the Bucks. Uh. Not who you want to lose to,
Speaker 1: but a team that you should have some confidence that
Speaker 1: you've beaten twice. I think that matters. Uh. I know
Speaker 1: it was back in Week three and last season was
Speaker 1: back with Jared Goff, but the similarities in those two games, um,
Speaker 1: where that the Rams offense got the job done, the
Speaker 1: defense made made enough plays. It doesn't mean that they
Speaker 1: they're gonna win this game because of it, but it's
Speaker 1: a much better defense. And I hate to focus on
Speaker 1: what the last thing that happens. The easiest thing to
Speaker 1: talk about, but the tristan worst injuries like massive because
Speaker 1: because Tom Brady is gonna have to get rid of
Speaker 1: the ball quickly, and it's one thing to do it
Speaker 1: against the Eagles, and it's another thing to have to
Speaker 1: rely on Really just Mike Evans and Gronk. I think
Speaker 1: that's enough. But if you don't have a great offensive line,
Speaker 1: then maybe it's not enough. I'm with you. I mean,
Speaker 1: because it's Tom Brady. You know, fine, there's no way
Speaker 1: to count any team out. And the Bucks have just
Speaker 1: got it done week after week. But what version, even
Speaker 1: if he plays, what version of Tristan works? What version
Speaker 1: of Ryan Jensen? I mean kind of last week, by
Speaker 1: the way, watching that, it's like the Eagles crush Jensen.
Speaker 1: And really the interior line there all right. I mean
Speaker 1: Tom Brady was under Durest, took four sacks, a lot
Speaker 1: of that, all of it happened after those guys were out.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're built around that offensive line, and I
Speaker 1: just wonder in that situation, if the line is having
Speaker 1: any issues, and let's say Jalen Ramsey uh reduces or
Speaker 1: takes away Mike Evans for large portions of the game,
Speaker 1: then you are looking at a Rams defense that to me,
Speaker 1: you've got Aaron Donald. You really could cause a lot
Speaker 1: of problems in this game. For the Bucks. I know
Speaker 1: that it's like you've got von Miller coming off one
Speaker 1: of his most impressive performances. Leonard Floyd, you know, a
Speaker 1: Sean Robinson. There is a lot to like about this
Speaker 1: Rams defense right now. I think they do match up
Speaker 1: pretty well, just because the Bucks are the one team
Speaker 1: in this remaining landscape where there are guys missing all
Speaker 1: over the place, and it's you know, they covered all
Speaker 1: covered that all over against the terrible Eagles team they
Speaker 1: just did not show up last week. But I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's gonna be so easy against Stafford has
Speaker 1: also thrived really well against the Blitz. You guys make
Speaker 1: a good point, um, good points about this, Like there
Speaker 1: are ways to look at this game and see it
Speaker 1: as setting up very well for Los Angeles. Like Tristan Worse,
Speaker 1: for instance, as of Thursday was not practicing. Um, and
Speaker 1: you know that's not a good sign. I mean, we
Speaker 1: still have some time to go here. But even if
Speaker 1: he does return, I mean the fact that he tried
Speaker 1: to go back in the game on Sunday and how
Speaker 1: to exit. Uh, it's very likely or possible I should
Speaker 1: say that he will not be playing in this game. Uh.
Speaker 1: If the offensive line is compromised. That's playing right into
Speaker 1: the hands of the strength of Los Angeles would not
Speaker 1: only have Aaron Donald, the best defensive player in the league,
Speaker 1: but Von Miller, who has really come to life here
Speaker 1: uh in recent weeks. Here's the thing, though, and this
Speaker 1: is what I can't get past, and not even being
Speaker 1: in person at that game on Monday night really changes
Speaker 1: for me the feeling that are the Rams hardcore? Are there?
Speaker 1: Are there? Are the Rams for real? Are in a
Speaker 1: big spot when the stakes are highest and the competition
Speaker 1: is big time? Do they have the guts to stand
Speaker 1: up and go win a game? I'm not there yet
Speaker 1: because I don't think the Cardinals were worthy to be
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. Uh quite frankly, how bad they were
Speaker 1: by the end of that season, and then the way
Speaker 1: they know showed so I didn't learn a lot about them.
Speaker 1: And then if you go back through the season as
Speaker 1: recently as Week eighteen, when they got up seventeen nothing
Speaker 1: and then laid down against the Niners and lose that game,
Speaker 1: and they didn't just start going through their schedule and
Speaker 1: any time they were supposed to win, for the most part,
Speaker 1: they won and took care of business. But anytime someone
Speaker 1: punched them in the mouth, they didn't know how to
Speaker 1: handle it, and that's where you'll find all their losses
Speaker 1: and speed bumps in the season. So the reason ultimately
Speaker 1: is it's Brady what he brings the things that the
Speaker 1: fact that the Bucks play so well at home, and
Speaker 1: I just do I just see the Rams going on
Speaker 1: rust the country and becoming that team that they haven't
Speaker 1: been yet. I don't I think this is a ten
Speaker 1: point game. They did go up seventeen on the Forts,
Speaker 1: which is it's kind of maybe a silly way to
Speaker 1: look at it, but they they've sort of been in
Speaker 1: playoff atmospheres, uh, back to back weeks, and I just
Speaker 1: think matching up against the Bucks offense, you have Jalen Ramsey,
Speaker 1: you figure he's gonna play a lot more man coverage
Speaker 1: this week on Mike Evans. You know, you give Gronk
Speaker 1: as much attention as you can. Tom Brady is gonna
Speaker 1: make those safeties that came in last week's Nick Scott
Speaker 1: played great and Eric Weddle was fine when when he
Speaker 1: was out there, but you would think he's gonna make
Speaker 1: them look more vulnerable. I just look at both of
Speaker 1: these defenses and I have. I am just as worried
Speaker 1: about the Rams offense and think that they are primed
Speaker 1: and playing really well, and that even though I'm always
Speaker 1: an offense first guy, like I like the under in
Speaker 1: this game. I think it's gonna be tough for both
Speaker 1: of these teams to run the ball. I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be tough for both of these teams to get
Speaker 1: consistent long drives. And I think it might be a
Speaker 1: game that's more more suited to it to a Tom
Speaker 1: Brady gets a chance to go win the game with
Speaker 1: with a touchdown at the end, but it's more like
Speaker 1: a twenty to seventeen type of game or twenty that
Speaker 1: it does feel like maybe a Brady finds a way
Speaker 1: type win where it's not necessarily gonna be pretty, but
Speaker 1: at the end of the day he makes enough plays.
Speaker 1: One other big injury update here, so Leonard ford Nette,
Speaker 1: who went on i R in December with a hamstring injury.
Speaker 1: He practiced on Thursday and he practiced on Wednesday, so
Speaker 1: he's trending toward a return. Ronald Jones heard his ankle
Speaker 1: in week seventeen. Doesn't look like he's playing, So for
Speaker 1: Nett is a big piece too, because I mean, he's
Speaker 1: playoff Lenny for a reason. He was a major reason
Speaker 1: why they won the Super Bowl last year, and he
Speaker 1: was having a great year this year before he went down.
Speaker 1: If he comes back and is functional and can stay healthy,
Speaker 1: that adds a much needed dimension to their offense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, flip side. I I'm encouraged by what cam
Speaker 1: Akers did again to Cardinals m paired with Sony Michelle.
Speaker 1: I know it's like you can't run against the Bucks,
Speaker 1: but we'll see. I mean they're more balanced. I don't
Speaker 1: want to double the Jimmy g scenario, but I mean
Speaker 1: some of those games where the Rams were punched in
Speaker 1: the mouth, as you say, I mean, and they were
Speaker 1: on defense by the Niners especially, And you know they've
Speaker 1: had a couple of bad losses, but some of those
Speaker 1: tied of Matthew Stafford mistakes as well. I mean, ken
Speaker 1: Matthew Stafford be as clean as Tom Brady or is
Speaker 1: this one of those games where Tom Brady throws a
Speaker 1: couple of picks that's happened too. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: those mistakes will matter a lot, but I do think
Speaker 1: the Rams are a little more balanced. I would ask
Speaker 1: you this, which coach. Do you think, um, who do
Speaker 1: you trust more of these two coaches, Sean McVeigh or
Speaker 1: Bruce Arians. I guess I trust the Bucks coaching staff. Yes,
Speaker 1: staff I would say, you know, they're both a little
Speaker 1: wonky sometimes in game management. And McVeigh gets so considerative.
Speaker 1: We saw it and that came like no one loves
Speaker 1: to blow time outs with like eleven minutes left in
Speaker 1: the third quarter more than Sean McVeigh. And he's like
Speaker 1: in currently conservative and I get at Stafford's made made issues.
Speaker 1: So I like left which and more than anything, I
Speaker 1: like I like the idea of what Bowls could do
Speaker 1: in this game. Because the thing that worries me as
Speaker 1: as a rams uh father here, you know, a father
Speaker 1: of a rams fan, you know what I mean. What
Speaker 1: what worries me is what's gonna make my daughter unhappy
Speaker 1: is father, is his balls cooking this group up? Because
Speaker 1: last week when he put Jordan white Head out there
Speaker 1: and they're kind of playing three linebackers, but one of
Speaker 1: them is a safety, it's white Head and Lavante David's
Speaker 1: back and Devin white is just flying all over the place.
Speaker 1: In the secondary, which has been a problem all year
Speaker 1: is healthier than it's been all year. They weren't with it.
Speaker 1: They didn't have Murphy Bunting in that game, but he
Speaker 1: could be back this week too, and it it sort
Speaker 1: of looked like a veteran defensive group that it was
Speaker 1: almost waiting to get to this point. They all came back.
Speaker 1: They've all they're all super Bowl champions. They handled being
Speaker 1: defending champions as well as any you know team In
Speaker 1: all that, The twenties sixteen Patriots did a good job.
Speaker 1: They almost wanted again, you know, they went back, but
Speaker 1: they did a great job. And like now they're back
Speaker 1: and they're just what whatever the best is that you're
Speaker 1: gonna get out of this veteran group. I think you're
Speaker 1: gonna get it. They're healthy, and it worries me that
Speaker 1: they could they could create some just mistakes by Stafford.
Speaker 1: And to underline the rams point I made, these are
Speaker 1: the losses, just for the record. Week four Arizona thirty
Speaker 1: seven twenty when Arizona mattered, Week nine, Tennessee sixteen, loss
Speaker 1: Week ten, nine, Ers thirty one, ten loss Week twelve,
Speaker 1: Packers loss Week eighteen nine or four loss. Every time
Speaker 1: they've had that chance to say we're we're a real deal.
Speaker 1: They've how about weeks three against the Box, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean they gotta give them a little credit for that.
Speaker 1: If you've got to go back, I'll give him that.
Speaker 1: I'll give him that, but it doesn't change my feeling
Speaker 1: about this team overall. I think I don't see them
Speaker 1: stepping up here. Uh did you guys pick this game? Well, um,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go. I just I trust the Bucks to
Speaker 1: win it, like or something like that. I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be close. I really like what I saw. The
Speaker 1: Rams team against the Cardinals gave me super Bowl vibes.
Speaker 1: I understand the opponent, but um, I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: give Tampa Bay the test of their lives. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: took the Rams. It's partly because Ellis does watch game
Speaker 1: debut on Friday evenings and she's very disappointed. I don't
Speaker 1: pick them. But the only reason, you know, I did
Speaker 1: that for partly you're trying to make it as an
Speaker 1: analyst in this business. All right here, here's a news flash.
Speaker 1: None of us has any idea what's actually going to happen.
Speaker 1: So in a coin flip situation, nobody does you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, you picked the Raiders. None of us knows
Speaker 1: it's gonna happen in the future. I think it's a
Speaker 1: coin flip game. I think this Rams team is so talented.
Speaker 1: I think it's a top five team in the NFL.
Speaker 1: You have them well eighth in your power ringings. I
Speaker 1: would have these two teams four and five. I think
Speaker 1: I'd go like Bill's Chiefs Packer Box. Rams would be
Speaker 1: my top five, and so to me, it's a coin flip,
Speaker 1: so you might as well go with Go with your heart,
Speaker 1: although my heart also is rooting for Tom Brady, so
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm gonna be a mess. This guy
Speaker 1: has not lost the year's a great crazy staff for
Speaker 1: Tom Brady. He's won nine street divisional round games. That's
Speaker 1: for posterous. He's almost played an entire season's worth of
Speaker 1: football in conference championship games. That fourteen this would be.
Speaker 1: He's had a really nice career. Regga's issues. He's divided
Speaker 1: here on this game. I really, I really am. I'm
Speaker 1: not going to really be rude. I'll be happy for
Speaker 1: either team, you know, alright, that's it. That is the
Speaker 1: preview of the divisional playoffs. Man, The way we set
Speaker 1: it up every game is going to be decided by
Speaker 1: three points or less, it seems like, so hopefully we're right.
Speaker 1: Chiefs game which you did it lock, Well that doesn't
Speaker 1: what what? So then the other three games that you
Speaker 1: did not lock are also invalid in terms of your prediction.
Speaker 1: The most come to make sense. I am locking. I
Speaker 1: had to lock against you for obvious reasons, so that
Speaker 1: you know it's true. Because you know, Dan was up
Speaker 1: up um three games and now it's too and so
Speaker 1: if the forty Niners have a lead late, it could
Speaker 1: be it could It's the right move. It's the right move.
Speaker 1: Good luck to you. Mark, Not really, I want that
Speaker 1: trophy right here, right here. Now you've got too much
Speaker 1: stuff over there. I'm gonna move all that stuff make
Speaker 1: room for it. All right, Thank you everybody for listening.
Speaker 1: You'll hear from us again on the podcast side Sunday night,
Speaker 1: wrapping up all these great games, and you can see
Speaker 1: us on NFL Network on Saturday morning. We'll we'll have
Speaker 1: we will have our special divisional around uh one hour
Speaker 1: around the NFL program, So check that out as well.
Speaker 1: All right, until then, remember what you gotta do. Always
Speaker 1: beat the call.