WEBVTT - NFL Week 17 Reaction: Maye-Stafford MVP DEBATE, Eagles & Bills PANIC? 49ers FOR REAL? | Nick Wright 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:05.920 Welcome in What Draven nick Wright Episode four oh nine, 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:10.840 our final episode of twenty twenty five. Twenty twenty five 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:14.880 has been an unbelievable year for the podcast. We partnered 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:21.400 with the volume Demons became a father, we added all 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:25.439 these great new sponsors, and we really hope twenty twenty 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.319 six is even better. It is also our second to 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:32.120 last show of the year. Did I say it was 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:34.320 our last? It's our second last. We have the gambling 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:40.159 show coming to you tomorrow. Last week we saw the 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:44.560 real perils of doing an NFL gambling show on Tuesday 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:49.440 Wednesday heading into the weekend. But despite the results, I 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.960 don't mind the process. This week we are tweaking it 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:56.040 a bit as Week eighteen as always tricky, but that 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.240 is coming your way tomorrow. We hope everyone had a 0:00:59.280 --> 0:01:02.920 wonderful Crew Smith's wonderful holiday season as we get ready 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:06.040 for New Year's to Monse. I was telling you before, 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:12.840 I keep having dreams about your daughter. She's about to 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:21.080 turn two months old. She'll turn no, two months, she's about. 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:24.600 Two months, like almost a week exactly, in. 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:28.920 Just over a week, and my subconscious must think that 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:31.520 she's way ahead of the developmental curve. Because with them, 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.880 my dreams involved her walking around and talking to me. 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:40.119 So I I mean, well, I assume Listen, I'm sure 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.280 she's going to be smart, and I'm sure she's gonna 0:01:43.319 --> 0:01:46.520 be athletic since you and her mom were both college athletes. 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:50.440 But I just what, what I am really trying to 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:54.480 get to evidently is her turning into a full blown 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.600 person with a personality, and that's going to take a 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:02.400 few months my subconscious to accelerate that process. But we 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.280 have a ton to do today. We have a loaded 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:09.800 show after an insane week seventeen, and this morning one 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.560 of my favorite things, the NFL Hall of Fame finalists 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:16.000 came out, So we will get to all of that, 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.000 and there's always This show is brought to you by 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:21.800 our friends at boost Mobile, and we bring you straight 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:27.359 to Voicemail presented by boost Mobile. Yokic left last night 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:31.520 with what looked like a scary knee injury. Now I 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:35.160 don't want, as they say in the Poker world, ride 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:40.000 the broom on this, but it looks like the preliminary 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:44.440 reporting is he avoided disaster that they think it might 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:47.480 just be a hyper extension with no real damage. That 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:54.760 obviously is season changing and more than season changing. When 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.960 you're talking about the best player in the league who 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.600 is just days off of a fifty six fifteen and 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:05.880 fifteen so and a guy who's never been hurt, a 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:08.959 guy who's been incredibly durable. It was shocking to see 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.840 him go down and it made me think, like, have 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:15.560 I ever really seen this guy in pain? And I 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.120 like where he really looks like something something got hurt 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.799 and I couldn't remember it. So ob Be our great producer, 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:26.760 Daniel is a diehard Nuggets fan. Uh, he's holding his breath, 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:30.679 but it seems like dating everything's gonna be okay. Uh. 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:35.080 Luca leads NBA All Star fan voting and Bron turns 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:40.640 forty one today, which means the numbers are in in 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:47.160 his age forty year of basketball and he was twenty five, 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:51.920 seven and seven from his fortieth birthday until today. Pretty solid. 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:57.160 I understand that some folks would like to make the 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.360 story of the Lakers, you know, swoon over the last 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:04.720 few weeks that they have a Lebron problem. I would argue, 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:08.640 if the plan was ever have the guy with seventy 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:11.800 thousand minutes in year twenty three who just turned forty 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:16.880 one be our primary lockdown defender. That's probably a roster 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:21.080 build problem. Speaking of roster build and like rate, subscribe 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.760 review to our channel would be a wonderful New Year's. 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:24.120 Gift for us. 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.960 Did I I didn't even tell you, guys, I do 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.839 this very quickly before I get to the football that 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:33.480 I didn't even tell you when I was out there, 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:35.640 that I talked to Polinka. 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:38.279 No, when I was in a game. 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.920 When I was in the game, that's INSI when we 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:44.160 were at the game the day after because I have 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.960 been very critical of Rob Bolinka, some would say mean, 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:55.000 and when we were at the game the day after Thanksgiving, 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.200 he walked right in front of me and didn't like 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:02.839 was looking the other way, and I was just like, ah, 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.440 I was like Rob, and he turned around and saw 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.560 me and was clearly just my read on it a 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:14.680 little taken aback, and I did what I always do, 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.239 which is made things awkward because I don't want people 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:22.000 to ever say that guy's a coward. So he came 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.480 over and I was like, hey, man, nice to finally 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:30.320 meet you. Congratulations and he said, oh, thank you. And 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:36.720 I could have left it at that, but I, yeah, exactly, 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.200 but so I could have just left the congratulations, but 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.520 I didn't, and I was like, listen, maybe you know, 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:53.040 maybe you don't. I've been very critical, but congrats. I 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:57.080 was like, I was like, but congrats. You know, I 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:59.120 don't think I said you got Luca, but I just 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:00.800 kind of motioned over to the team, which at the 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:03.920 time was rolling and I still think, you know, he 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.800 is in a really good position. And he was like, oh, 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:08.960 thank you for that, and I was like yeah, and 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:10.719 I was And that was that. But that was my 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:14.920 Rob Polinka interaction. Now there is this small chance that 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:18.240 he had no idea who I was, or that he 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:24.440 had no idea I'd been very family talking about right, Yeah, 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:26.520 that would have been super funny if he really had 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:28.400 no clue who I was, just that I was just 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:37.640 a fan where critical but uh but yeah. So uh 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.479 there's our NBA talk for today as this will be 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:45.480 an NFL heavy show, and again, please if you could 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:49.200 subscribe on YouTube it really helps us, and definitely on 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:53.599 iTunes and or Spotify. Don't need to do both. Also 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:56.640 demand say do you oh no, that's just a light. 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.680 I thought you had something in your thought like a 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:00.320 little here. 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.760 No, okay, no, okay, there you go you were, I 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.599 talked about your daughter walking and talking and made me try. 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:07.520 It's unbelievable. 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:10.200 All right, let's talk about last night's football game. 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.400 All right. So Bijon rolled through the rams last night. 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.600 In the upset, Stafford messed himself up a little bit, 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:21.200 dropped to number two in MVP. He's at plus three hundred. 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:24.160 Drake May's now at minus four point fifty after his 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:27.760 three interceptions. How do you think last night impacts the 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:28.600 MVP race? 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:34.600 So I think last night Drake May won the MVP 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:37.600 and I do not like that at all. And it 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:41.040 is not because I don't like Drake May. I said 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:43.960 on this show and on the TV show two months 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:50.240 ago that there aren't five guys in the league. I'd 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.760 rather have it quarterback than Drake May. And that's not 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:58.160 just moving forward. That is right now this moment, I 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:03.320 think he is. I been telling Wilds all year, how legit, 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.800 how much I do believe in Drake May, and he 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:13.920 is having an unbelievable season. And it is not as 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.160 if him winning MVP I would find it to be 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:21.280 a travesty or an outrage. That's not my issue at all. 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:35.199 My issue is MVP has slowly started to turn into 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:43.600 December Player of the Month amongst the MVP candidates. And 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:49.280 I don't like that we saw this there have been listen. 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:56.199 Twenty eighteen, MVP Mahomes was a no brainer. He ran 0:08:56.280 --> 0:09:01.240 away with it. Twenty nineteen, MVP Lamar was a no brainer. 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:07.000 He ran away with it. Twenty twenty it was a 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:11.559 two man race, Rogers and Mahomes. I thought it should 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:16.080 have been Mahomes Rogers. There was no issue with that. 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:20.680 That was a two great candidates. You know, Mahomes rested 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:22.280 at the end of the year. Rogers won it fine. 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:28.320 Twenty twenty one, Rogers and Brady. It was a legitimate argument. 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:34.839 Rogers won, and twenty twenty two, Mahomes ran away with it. 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:44.240 There was no question those MVPs were relatively easy. Twenty 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:49.400 twenty three was the first year I saw this phenomenon happen, 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:57.520 which was there wasn't a clear cut favorite throughout the year, 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:05.520 and then in December two MVP there were games amongst 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:12.960 the MVP candidates, Dak Purty and Lamar. And if I 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.560 have it correct, and I'm gonna double check to make 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:19.719 sure Dak Law, I thought, Dak you know, as far 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:22.480 I thought Christian McCaffrey had the best argument for MVP 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.000 that year, but it doesn't really matter, Like, that's not 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:32.760 the point. Dak played poorly in a December game to Buffalo, 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:37.160 and people were like, well, he's out. Now it's between 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:43.000 Lamar and Brock Party, and then Lamar and the Ravens 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:49.680 annihilated the Niners in Party and it was just like, Okay, 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:55.040 Party's out, now it's Lamar's MVP. That's that. And we 0:10:55.240 --> 0:11:00.680 ended up that year giving MVP to a guy. And 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:04.320 again this is not anti Lamar, I promise because if 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.600 we didn't get Lamar had a better case last year 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.680 than he did the year before. But Lamar in twenty 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:14.920 twenty three was fifteenth in the NFL in passing yards 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:21.160 and eleventh in the NFL in passing touchdowns, and while 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:24.720 he had an awesome passer rating, it was fourth in 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:28.520 the league. He did not have MVP numbers, but he 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:33.920 had the MVP December and so he won it. And 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:43.040 then last year, Lamar had been the MVP really all 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:50.800 year long, but Josh Allen had the moment against the Chiefs, 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:58.400 the sixth touchdown game and a loss to the Rams. 0:11:59.120 --> 0:11:59.679 And. 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:06.400 He had the finishing surge and because of that he 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:14.679 was the MVP. And this year, from start to finish, 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:19.760 Matt Stafford's been the MVP of the league. If we 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:25.080 look at if you take this season, demonte and put 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:31.760 the sixteen games each guy is played, and you reorder 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:35.960 them randomly, and you do that one hundred different times 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:38.440 with one hundred different orders as far as the order 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:42.160 of the games, and then stack up the MVP seasons. 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:49.439 I think Stafford wins MVP eighty five out of one 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:59.679 hundred of those reordered seasons. But because Week seventeen Drake 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:05.600 May he throws five touchdowns and Week seventeen Stafford has 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.600 one of his two bad games that he's had all year, 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:15.719 it's now going to be betting wise, it's over and 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:20.520 conventional wisdom wise, Drake May won the award even though 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:25.080 Stafford has thrown for more yards, has thrown for twelve 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:30.640 more touchdowns, has taken twenty five fewer sacks. They have 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:36.720 the same number of interceptions. Now Drake Man's a slightly 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:37.760 higher passer rating. 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:38.800 One more game too. 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:42.400 No, they played the same number of games. 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:45.720 No, And I'm saying, okay, yeah, fair enough. What do 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.640 you mean? I guess they've they've both played their Week 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:50.679 seventeen game. I was gonna say they've got one more game. 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.240 It's not locked up, But going into the tea yesterday 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.319 I would have easily given it to Stafford the Pigs. 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:59.400 No, I mean they both have a they both they 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.360 both have a Week eighteen game. By the way, do 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:05.800 my lights just get really weird? Uh? Okay, can I 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:07.559 fix that? I don't know how the hell that happened. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.000 I'm gonna keep talking to you guys. Oh, now it's better. 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:12.319 I don't even know what. I didn't even touch anything. 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:14.319 I don't know what just happened. That was really weird. 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.440 I looked like I was glowing for a moment. The 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:18.640 bright lights is not a good look for me. I 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:25.200 need very just regular warm lighting. No, I I just don't. 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:31.080 It feels to me like MVP is slowly moving towards 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.080 who's hottest at the end of the year, and I 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:40.640 don't love that. And I just think Stafford And this 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:43.600 is where I do think when it comes to league MVP, 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:48.320 it's totally fair to pick nints. I think the fact 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:53.040 that Stafford has done it in the league's toughest division 0:14:54.120 --> 0:15:00.479 against a brutal schedule where they have played Houston, phil 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:11.400 the Niners, Jacksonville, the Niners, Seattle, Seattle again those seven teams, 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.600 and I'm that's just me listing the teams they have 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:19.040 played that have locked into the playoffs, not including games 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:22.600 at the time that we thought were big like Indie Baltimore, 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:28.400 Tampa Bay Carolina where he didn't play well Detroit. 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:30.960 And Drake Mayor just had his five touchdown game against 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:32.280 the Jets. 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.880 And again he's still he was. I'm not gonna neck 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.000 that game. He was perfect in it, and I think 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:42.680 he's an awesome player, but I just don't love that. 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:50.440 It feels to me this is I guess my general take. 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:56.120 It feels the last three years. This is the way 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:02.080 the MVP has been done. The first three months of 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:08.720 the year are to determine who the actual candidates are 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.880 and then the award is given based off who has 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:21.560 the best December. And I don't love that, and it 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:27.560 feels like we are And by the way, Stafford Thursday 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:34.400 night against Seattle, Stafford was unbelievable. That was his second 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:39.000 most recent game. They scored thirty seven points, He threw 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.600 for four hundred and fifty seven yards. He had three 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:47.000 touchdowns against that defense and now the team blew it 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:49.440 at the end. My lights just did that thing again. 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:52.880 I don't know what's going on. We're just gonna the 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:55.560 take it to camera now. 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.400 Dropped two in a row, yes. 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.920 But uh, I know they dropped two in a row, 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:04.240 but one of them was one of them was a 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.840 thirty eight to thirty seven win, all right, thirty eight 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:12.960 thirty seven loss. And so I just it is very 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.760 diff difficult for and I know Drake Man the great 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:21.240 comeback against Baltimore, I just don't it doesn't sit right 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:27.440 with me that it feels like it's becoming a glorified 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:31.840 December Player of the Month. So that's where So right now, 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:35.400 my vote would be for Matt Stafford. I don't think 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:38.920 he's gonna win it. And I also think we've talked 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:44.720 about this all year that man, it is crazy how 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:55.600 thin these margins are in sports. But is there an 0:17:55.760 --> 0:18:05.760 argument that not tackling Rashid Shahied on the punt return 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:12.680 in the fourth quarter last Thursday night is going to 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:17.560 cost Matt Stafford a spot in the Hall of Fame? 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:24.840 Maybe because if they win that game and they are 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:28.080 sailing to the one seed, I happen to believe if 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.919 they win that game, they'd come out more ready to 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:33.840 play last night because they know we control our destiny 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:37.239 for the one seed rather than being locked out of it, 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.880 as they knew going into last night that they were 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:43.280 locked out of the one seed. And I think you 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:47.920 saw that lack of attention to detail early. If they're 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.160 the one seed and Stafford has the exact same numbers, 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.439 but in a win, he is going to win MVP 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:58.080 and maybe and they are the huge favorite to that 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.879 moment to win the Super Bowl, and this now impacts 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.600 the Rams are now demands in a very interesting spot 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:10.399 in this regard, and this impacts whether or not we 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:14.960 want to bet them this weekend. Here is the situation 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:22.400 for the Rams. If the Niners beat Seattle on Saturday night, 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:27.760 the Rams are the sixth seed, locked into the sixth seed, 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:32.560 no matter what they do against Arizona. The sixth seed 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:37.960 means you're either going to Chicago or to Philadelphia cold 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:43.760 weather January road playoff games. That is, if the Niners 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:48.320 beat Seattle, the Rams are locked into the six If 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:55.120 Seattle beats the Niners, then the Rams can be the 0:19:55.200 --> 0:20:02.560 five seed if they beat Arizona, and so whether or 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:06.520 not they have anything to play for will be will 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:11.120 depend on what happens Saturday night. I still think on 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:15.600 a neutral site, I like the Rams better than any 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.919 team in the league. But McVeigh has not and his 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:23.480 Rams teams have not been great in cold weather against 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:27.320 good teams, and their road just got so much harder 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:31.240 over the last couple weeks. 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All right, deman' say I 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:49.359 gotta get on a soapbox here for a minute, So 0:22:49.440 --> 0:22:50.040 go ahead. 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:53.360 Uh yeah, we now have a half day decade sample 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:57.480 of the seventeen game season fourteen game playoff. You said 0:22:57.480 --> 0:22:58.879 you wanted to talk about this. Do you have some 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:00.480 gripes yet? 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:08.840 Well, so they expanded the season shortly after COVID. They 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:11.639 expanded the playoffs during COVID, and it stuck with it. 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:17.280 I don't love this. I think sixteen game season was better, 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:20.720 but I understand everything's always expanded like that is a 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:24.040 that is a fight that's not going to be won, 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:27.359 and this other one probably isn't either, but I want 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:30.000 to get on the record on it, and I've advocated 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:33.760 in the past for the seventeen game season via the 0:23:35.160 --> 0:23:41.880 international week, so I don't have a huge problem with it. Now, though, 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:46.600 that we have a half decade of the expanded playoffs 0:23:47.440 --> 0:23:50.360 from six teams a conference to seven teams a conference, 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:58.479 I think the jury should be in that it was 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:05.679 better at six teams of conference. Because anything in life, 0:24:07.000 --> 0:24:10.800 not any that's too That's what we're stating. Most things 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:21.840 in life are improved by a little exclusivity, by a 0:24:22.040 --> 0:24:28.359 little bit of man. You could be good, you could 0:24:28.359 --> 0:24:36.480 be deserving, you could do things right and still be 0:24:36.640 --> 0:24:43.080 left out, which makes getting in all the more rewarding 0:24:44.080 --> 0:24:49.680 and gratifying in the greater reward. And when you look 0:24:49.840 --> 0:24:56.560 at the playoff field this year and what has turned 0:24:56.560 --> 0:25:04.960 into a pretty ah Week eighte it is because every 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:12.560 team that is worth a damn is gonna make the playoffs. 0:25:12.600 --> 0:25:19.200 And under the six team playoff field demonse per conference 0:25:19.280 --> 0:25:24.959 twelve team field, the Bills would be in a situation 0:25:25.160 --> 0:25:30.879 where we're headed into Week eighteen on the outside looking in, 0:25:32.960 --> 0:25:36.879 where we have to beat the Jets and get help. 0:25:37.880 --> 0:25:43.760 The Chargers would be in a situation where they've overcome 0:25:43.800 --> 0:25:49.080 all this, had this great year, but because they couldn't 0:25:49.160 --> 0:25:54.440 take care of business against Houston, they have to go 0:25:54.640 --> 0:25:59.560 win in Denver in week eighteen. 0:26:00.040 --> 0:26:03.920 Sorry, they don't like. 0:26:05.960 --> 0:26:09.119 No, no, no, that's I'll do it for the whole league. 0:26:09.240 --> 0:26:11.399 It's not that, no, no, I get what you're saying, 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:14.400 but like the. 0:26:13.400 --> 0:26:15.159 Well, I'm just I'm looking at the seven and the 0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:22.600 sixth seed. I the it's it's really it is absolutely 0:26:22.640 --> 0:26:29.080 not that. It's that last week's Every game down the stretch, 0:26:29.160 --> 0:26:36.120 run the last last week and this week has felt okay, 0:26:36.200 --> 0:26:40.879 they're playing for seeding, but no one was playing for 0:26:41.000 --> 0:26:49.520 their lives. The Because of the expanded playoff field, the 0:26:49.560 --> 0:26:55.280 Packers can sleep walk on defense through a game against 0:26:55.320 --> 0:26:59.119 Baltimore because they know they're going to be in the 0:26:59.119 --> 0:27:04.600 playoffs anyway. At nine to six and one, they're locked in, 0:27:05.440 --> 0:27:10.560 as opposed to the Packers having to win that game 0:27:11.680 --> 0:27:16.560 to then hope to win this week and have pressure 0:27:16.640 --> 0:27:27.480 on the Bears to not fall like it again. Every 0:27:27.640 --> 0:27:31.920 single team that is any good is in the playoffs. 0:27:32.560 --> 0:27:37.920 That's too much. You want there to be a team 0:27:38.040 --> 0:27:44.680 or two that was good but not good enough. Every 0:27:44.920 --> 0:27:50.480 single team in the league this year, with the possible 0:27:50.560 --> 0:27:57.360 exception I guess of Pittsburgh. If Pittsburgh loses this weekend 0:27:58.119 --> 0:28:03.080 that is above five hundred will make the playoffs. That's 0:28:03.160 --> 0:28:08.280 too much. If the Steelers win this weekend, then every 0:28:08.400 --> 0:28:11.600 team in the league that finished above five hundred will 0:28:11.600 --> 0:28:22.120 make the playoffs. That's not what you want, and there 0:28:22.160 --> 0:28:27.080 would be there should be real stakes to the only 0:28:27.160 --> 0:28:31.600 Week eighteen games that feel like they have massive stakes 0:28:32.560 --> 0:28:37.680 are divisional games because the division is terrible. The NFC 0:28:37.720 --> 0:28:41.240 South and the AFC South. That's it. I'm sorry, the 0:28:42.320 --> 0:28:47.080 NFC South and the AFC North. But under the six 0:28:47.200 --> 0:28:54.040 team format, Texans, Chargers, Bills would all know if we 0:28:54.200 --> 0:28:58.120 don't win this weekend, we could be out and one 0:28:58.160 --> 0:29:04.000 of us will be. Under the old format, the Packers 0:29:04.960 --> 0:29:09.680 would have felt going into this Saturday, if we can 0:29:09.760 --> 0:29:17.760 win this game, then we can set up where Week eighteen, 0:29:18.600 --> 0:29:24.320 if Chicago trips up, we're in and they're out and 0:29:24.400 --> 0:29:28.120 so and there is an added benefit. And I'm actually 0:29:28.200 --> 0:29:32.520 glad the Chiefs are not a part of this because 0:29:32.520 --> 0:29:35.720 people would assume this is a Chiefs thing. The second part, 0:29:37.880 --> 0:29:41.959 it also was more fair when there were two buys 0:29:42.400 --> 0:29:46.680 per conference when the one and the two seed gotta buy. 0:29:47.880 --> 0:29:52.800 The Broncos and the Pats have been start to finish 0:29:52.840 --> 0:29:57.520 this year, the two most consistent best teams in the AFC. 0:29:59.080 --> 0:30:02.240 They are likely both going to go fourteen and three. 0:30:02.960 --> 0:30:10.080 The Broncos reward is going to be they get a buye, 0:30:11.040 --> 0:30:15.360