Speaker 1: Be Around the NFL Podcast, Good Wind, Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Jansas. I come to you from
Speaker 1: a virtual room filled with sub heroes. Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal,
Speaker 1: What is up boy? Hey? Now, Christmas it's over. The
Speaker 1: Week's Healthy, the Week sixteen flagship show. But the real headline,
Speaker 1: Christmas it's over. Well, we were just talking. We all
Speaker 1: had our nice Christmas is um, you know, the pandemic
Speaker 1: can't take away, as he said, Dan, the joy of
Speaker 1: a child on Christmas morning. So it's nice to have
Speaker 1: that moment this year, at least in a year that
Speaker 1: has been trying for the whole world and this country
Speaker 1: and this podcast with what West has been going through. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's good to appreciate the good things and the fact
Speaker 1: that we all have healthy child drin and we get
Speaker 1: to celebrate the most special of all days, Christmas with them.
Speaker 1: So that was great. But you know, then it was
Speaker 1: time to get back to ball. Sessler and uh that
Speaker 1: was That was today Sunday, and there was a Jets
Speaker 1: Browns game that I don't think really somehow ended up
Speaker 1: making either of us happy. But I'm sure you much
Speaker 1: more unhappy than I. There are also some clinch games
Speaker 1: divisions were decided, and other other divisions and other playoff
Speaker 1: spots are wide open and up for grabs as a
Speaker 1: result of the action today. So what we're gonna do
Speaker 1: is spend through fifteen games and we you know, boys,
Speaker 1: sometimes we we we could be a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: elaborate in our descriptions of things and games and intros
Speaker 1: and to getting into games intros at the beginning of
Speaker 1: a show. Even Uh, we're gonna have to really be economical,
Speaker 1: can we do it? Mark? Yeah? I mean I could
Speaker 1: also just I could sit here and say nothing the
Speaker 1: entire show, which would remove probably forty minute some content.
Speaker 1: So you know, that's a team effort. But it's gonna
Speaker 1: take all three of us and more potentially to us
Speaker 1: as long as you can listen, tell me why Nick
Speaker 1: Chubb didn't run the ball thirty times today? That's all
Speaker 1: I know. We'll get into a very popular narrative popping up.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm sure everyone has more of a clue than
Speaker 1: the Browns coaching staff at this point. All right, let's
Speaker 1: get into it. It's that type of day. Uh. Let's
Speaker 1: start though with a big game between the Colts and
Speaker 1: Steelers really a tale of two games. Let's get to it.
Speaker 1: The thirty nine of the Colts. He wants to throw
Speaker 1: it deep and he throws it down the right side line,
Speaker 1: Deante Johnson diving through the end zone and he caught
Speaker 1: it for the touchdown. A thirty nine yard strike on
Speaker 1: first and ten Ben to Deante Johnson, deante seventh touchdown
Speaker 1: reception of the year. He had a step on rock
Speaker 1: you're scene and then Dovid caught the ball that right
Speaker 1: there was the turning point. Bill Hilgrove nails at w
Speaker 1: d V Ben Roethlisberg and thrown through a perfect dar
Speaker 1: to Deante Johnson, a touchdown pass that seemed to rouse
Speaker 1: the stealer Steelers from a week's long slumber. Roelinisberger through
Speaker 1: three second half touchdowns and the Steelers rallied past a
Speaker 1: stunned Colts team. With the win, Pittsburgh claims their first
Speaker 1: a f C North title since two thousand seventeen. Greg
Speaker 1: and that was a turnaround that was hard to see
Speaker 1: for coming. I was stunned. I'm sure the Colts were
Speaker 1: two and they are entering week seventeen now on the
Speaker 1: outside looking in of the playoff race, which is wild
Speaker 1: at ten and five and considering how well they've played.
Speaker 1: I wrote down on my you know, my little notebook
Speaker 1: at one point, Steelers so lucky to be down seven,
Speaker 1: because at that point in the game, when it was
Speaker 1: seven before the comeback started, it felt like it could
Speaker 1: have been forty two nothing. At that point, there had
Speaker 1: been a sixty five yard played by the Colts, you know,
Speaker 1: called back by a penalty that they didn't need to
Speaker 1: do on the in the back. I thought that really
Speaker 1: changed the game. Uh. The Steelers had fallen on a
Speaker 1: couple of fumbles, including one forced by t. J. Watt
Speaker 1: that got them their only early touchdown, and the Colts
Speaker 1: had quadrupled them in total yardage to that point, and
Speaker 1: they were dominating. I felt like up front on both sides,
Speaker 1: and that was a perfect play, uh, to highlight because
Speaker 1: when Ben hit that Deonte Johnson passed, it got them rolling.
Speaker 1: The defense had just stopped the Colts three and out
Speaker 1: to set it up. So the defense, which did not
Speaker 1: play well for the first quarter and a half of
Speaker 1: the two and a half quarters of the game, suddenly
Speaker 1: did their thing, and the Steelers started going deep and
Speaker 1: a lot of credit goes to Roethlisberger and made throws
Speaker 1: that he hasn't made all season and we've been making
Speaker 1: fun of him. And a lot of credit goes to
Speaker 1: their line, who I really thought, uh Past protected terrifically
Speaker 1: well and I thought that was a big difference in
Speaker 1: a day where the Colts were missing their top three
Speaker 1: tackles and they couldn't protect rivers well at all. I
Speaker 1: thought the like, you're right that it was a tale
Speaker 1: of two halves, one of those types of games. The
Speaker 1: Colts offense just seemed very res billiant to me early
Speaker 1: on with long drives and answering um, you know, tougher
Speaker 1: moments with long drives, and then they closed the game
Speaker 1: with a punt field goal, three straight punts and interception
Speaker 1: in a turnover on downs. They are a team that
Speaker 1: strikes you is they can play a really great half
Speaker 1: of football and then they can give you something way
Speaker 1: off the mark. And I for Pittsburgh, I just feel like,
Speaker 1: weren't they at some point, whether they're a great team
Speaker 1: or not, that's a different conversation. Weren't they going to
Speaker 1: break out of this slump at some stage? I mean possibly,
Speaker 1: like they wouldn't. But that's just not the Steelers team
Speaker 1: I know. I also know a Steelers team that can
Speaker 1: go into January and offer up another stinker. They've done
Speaker 1: that multiple times under Tomlin. Yeah, I think Pittsburgh is
Speaker 1: shown now all sides of them, and I don't think
Speaker 1: anything would surprise you. They're kind of, to me the
Speaker 1: A s C version of Tampa Bay, where they have
Speaker 1: this high ceiling and very low floor once you get
Speaker 1: to January. So it'll be interesting to see what version
Speaker 1: of them shows up, you know, and was all set
Speaker 1: to come on the show and take a big l
Speaker 1: for being completely wrong about Philip Rivers, which I still am.
Speaker 1: Phil Rivers has been really good this season, but I
Speaker 1: mean I was all in on Ben Roethlisberger this year
Speaker 1: and all out on Phil Rivers, and at halftime of
Speaker 1: this game, it was like, oh jeez, it couldn't be
Speaker 1: more clear which which a f C contender had the
Speaker 1: right old guy at quarterback and maybe the maybe the
Speaker 1: Colts still do, but the Indianapolis just looks so weak
Speaker 1: in the second half. Every bit is um dominant as
Speaker 1: the Steelers looked, and you know, Roethlisberg is hard to
Speaker 1: figure out because it just seemed like they were completely
Speaker 1: broken in this game, like we saw it coming for weeks.
Speaker 1: And then when they failed at the goal line on
Speaker 1: that they want, they lost the ball on downs where
Speaker 1: again they tried to run the ball and they're like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're not even gonna bother and then they were unable
Speaker 1: to have the drop by Chase Claypool and then the
Speaker 1: throw to the pylon they get knocked away in a
Speaker 1: nice play by the indie defender, and it just felt
Speaker 1: like it was not gonna happen. So, yeah, that Deonte
Speaker 1: Johnson touchdown. I can't think of too many moments in
Speaker 1: this NFL season where things change as quickly as they
Speaker 1: did with that play. I know at that at that point,
Speaker 1: Romo was talking about, you know, how high a seed
Speaker 1: that the Colts could get to, that they could get
Speaker 1: to like a two seed, and in a quarter later
Speaker 1: we're talking about them maybe not making the playoffs. The Steelers. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: what a huge when not just to get a nice
Speaker 1: taste in your mouth and some confidence, uh that they
Speaker 1: could beat a good team and that they're not the
Speaker 1: most broken offense in the league, because yeah, through seven
Speaker 1: or eight drives, they had about fifty yards in this game,
Speaker 1: but they could also rest their starters next week, which
Speaker 1: for this team, which was rolling out the old excuses
Speaker 1: to Nance and Romo about how tired they were and
Speaker 1: that they haven't gotten their bye week that they got,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of jobbed out of that, which is true.
Speaker 1: But a lot of teams have dealt with a lot.
Speaker 1: But you've just been hearing that more out of the Steelers.
Speaker 1: Now they have the division. I think it's debatable whether
Speaker 1: they should care about their seat at all. I don't
Speaker 1: personally think it's that big of a deal, and I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna get some some good players some rest,
Speaker 1: and they did it on the backs of t. J. Watt.
Speaker 1: By the way, West isn't here, but I'm sure he
Speaker 1: would be mentioning how why in a big spot got
Speaker 1: a huge force fumble, two sacks Stefan too and another
Speaker 1: one And if you wanted to vote for what defensive
Speaker 1: player of the year, he gave you some some nice
Speaker 1: little moments. I kind of feel like he's locked it up,
Speaker 1: depending on how you how you vote for these guys
Speaker 1: and Aaron Donald's got I think Donald's got a pretty
Speaker 1: decent chance. He would have my vote. But my my
Speaker 1: one thing though, is that, I mean, they're both so
Speaker 1: equally important to their teams. But t J watt Uh
Speaker 1: to me, just what he's done game after game, like
Speaker 1: in what the skid that they've been on, Like, he's
Speaker 1: my vote, um this year, Stephen Holder, one little note
Speaker 1: for the Cults. I know it was a bad second
Speaker 1: half for the Cults, but Jonathan Taylor, Stephen Holder, the
Speaker 1: long time beat writer Cities, never in his time covering
Speaker 1: that team seen a rookie developed as quickly. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: after a rough start. That's that's like midway through this
Speaker 1: season that he really really has come on. So that
Speaker 1: gives me a little bit of hope that you get
Speaker 1: a different version of the Cults a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: from now. If they get in, they gotta get healthy too.
Speaker 1: They were playing without both their tackles Anthony Costanzo with
Speaker 1: an ankle, right tackle Brandon Smith, he was on the
Speaker 1: COVID nineteen list so and they lost another one during
Speaker 1: the game, and that was a huge factor on the
Speaker 1: final fourth down play, which Rivers gave pretty good ball. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, the third tackle. They were down basically to
Speaker 1: their fourth and their fifth tackles actually, and he gave
Speaker 1: up a quick pressure and yeah, they need they need
Speaker 1: them back. Uh season high five sacks allowed against the Steelers.
Speaker 1: All right, So there you go. The Colts blow it.
Speaker 1: They had it all set up and now they are.
Speaker 1: They will be fighting for their lives in week seventeen.
Speaker 1: The Steelers. They are the division champions. Now let's check
Speaker 1: in with another division race that was decided out West
Speaker 1: Ross with a shotgun snap. Looks he's got it down Hawks,
Speaker 1: I got everybody on the Rams was looking for a
Speaker 1: short run and here it comes Russ scorn for the
Speaker 1: throat and he finds Hollis for the Corners off for six,
Speaker 1: stretched their lead. Have they are two minutes and fifty
Speaker 1: one seconds away for being NFC West champs. Good call
Speaker 1: by Steve rabel k I r oh yes, Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: through just one touchdown pass on Sunday, r I p
Speaker 1: let Russ Cook. What a fun time that was. But
Speaker 1: he made a count connecting with Jacob Hollister on that
Speaker 1: thirteen yard score. That's salted away. But twenty nine win
Speaker 1: over the Rams the Wind clinches an NFC West title
Speaker 1: for the Seahawks, their first. It's two thousand sixteen surprised
Speaker 1: me a little bit while the Rams slipped deeper into
Speaker 1: their offensive funk. Greg Seattle won this division because their
Speaker 1: defense figured out in the second half of the seasons.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say false, okay, because I would still give
Speaker 1: it to their offense and Russell Wilson over the course
Speaker 1: of the season, and they've played bunch of garbage quarterbacks
Speaker 1: and offenses in a row. But it's crazy that I
Speaker 1: have to throw Jared Goff into the mix with Colt
Speaker 1: McCoy and Sam Donald and Dwayne Haskins and and the
Speaker 1: other quarterbacks that Seattle's stopped. They deserve a ton of credit.
Speaker 1: It's a massive win for Seattle. And I was there.
Speaker 1: I remember when the Rams scored forty two points on
Speaker 1: Seattle in to win the division. Seattle hasn't one of
Speaker 1: the division since it's their first and four years. It's
Speaker 1: the first convincing when McVeigh has ever lost to Pete Carroll.
Speaker 1: And so their defense was huge and Adams makes a
Speaker 1: monster play Jamal Adams to stop a potential rushing touchdown
Speaker 1: at the goal line. Um and and that sequence to
Speaker 1: me was maybe kind of kind of told you everything
Speaker 1: the Rams had you know, five plays there, Adams gets
Speaker 1: him down at the one and then they have four
Speaker 1: plays right at the goal line. They don't trust Jared
Speaker 1: Goff to throw it once the Rams are down to
Speaker 1: their third running back after Henderson got hurt in the game,
Speaker 1: can't can't get one yard. And part of it, I
Speaker 1: really think gives that Sean McVeigh wasn't trusting Jared Goff. No,
Speaker 1: no one was trusting Jared Goff. Troy Aikman's teaing off
Speaker 1: on Jared Goff. Everyone is Mark Sesser has been doing
Speaker 1: it all season. You have the floor to dance on
Speaker 1: his grave. Mark I I don't wish to do that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think if anything that we you know,
Speaker 1: even on our Thursday preview show, when Goff's name came up,
Speaker 1: it's like we've already talked about that he's a problem.
Speaker 1: We get it, um, except it's a lingering and current
Speaker 1: problem when his you know, terrible interception puts the team
Speaker 1: back when he's when he's fumbling. And for me, I
Speaker 1: I this game, when it was thirteen to six, after
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson waltzt into the end zone, I just thought
Speaker 1: to myself, this is Pete Carroll's UM type of game,
Speaker 1: and it's not Sean mcveigh's. This is not the way
Speaker 1: the overall Rams experience. UM is wanting to be going there,
Speaker 1: and they have like an elite past defense and they
Speaker 1: have a super Bowl level defense, and you're not really
Speaker 1: asking that much of this offense UM compared to what
Speaker 1: some teams have to go through. Think about Deshaun Watson
Speaker 1: on a weekly uh level. And so for me, it's
Speaker 1: just disappointing because you are looking at a team that
Speaker 1: I think could be very dangerous, but you simply can't
Speaker 1: trust one half of the ball. It hurts. It hurts
Speaker 1: that Cam Akers wasn't out there. I think he's been
Speaker 1: a big part for them, but the passing game either
Speaker 1: goes UM hot or cold, and you know pretty quick
Speaker 1: into a contest what it's going to be. I mean,
Speaker 1: it seems like to me that he's going from to
Speaker 1: an actual liability on this team now. And I thought
Speaker 1: that the first half interception he through was just like
Speaker 1: a head scratcher, and it was exactly the type of
Speaker 1: play that led Sean McVeigh to publicly admonishes quarterback a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks back. That was you know, that public
Speaker 1: move by McVeigh was meant to clean up his quarterback's
Speaker 1: head a little bit too sharpen up because this is
Speaker 1: now the end of the season and it's time to
Speaker 1: to win divisions and and make playoff runs. But now
Speaker 1: the Rams go from entering last week against the Jets,
Speaker 1: they were in the driver's seat that when the NFC
Speaker 1: West and win eleven or twelve games, and now it's
Speaker 1: all up in the air. I mean, the Rams can
Speaker 1: still get to the playoffs if they beat the Cardinals
Speaker 1: in weeks seventeen, but they can now miss the playoffs
Speaker 1: entirely if they lose to Arizona and then Chicago beats
Speaker 1: Green Bay next Sunday. That, I mean, that is quite
Speaker 1: a turnaround for a Rams team that just seemed to
Speaker 1: be in such a good place. And I'll push back
Speaker 1: on that, Greg. I Uh, I absolutely think the Seattle
Speaker 1: Seahawks were going nowhere fast with this defense. And you
Speaker 1: can say you could look at, uh, their opponents, which
Speaker 1: is fair also, but also you know, you play who
Speaker 1: you play, and they have held i believe five straight
Speaker 1: opponents now under twenty points. Uh. This was something that
Speaker 1: you could not have just like you couldn't have pictured
Speaker 1: the Steelers going to the tank the way they did
Speaker 1: and then coming out of it. I would have never
Speaker 1: thought there would have been a five game stretch this
Speaker 1: year where this Seattle defense against anybody could have pulled
Speaker 1: off five straight twenty points or less games. So you
Speaker 1: gotta hand it to Ken Norton and Pete cal for
Speaker 1: getting that figured out. Yeah, I'm I'm wary, just because
Speaker 1: you know, I still have it in my head, like
Speaker 1: sometimes people say, like your defensive ranking is more about
Speaker 1: your strength schedule than anything else, and so I want
Speaker 1: to see them against a good offense. But you're right,
Speaker 1: they couldn't have stop anyone early in the season. Adams
Speaker 1: is the biggest difference. I do worry that they're that
Speaker 1: that Carol thinks being conservative on offense is why they're winning,
Speaker 1: and I and I know they're not turning it over,
Speaker 1: so maybe that is part of it. But they're they're
Speaker 1: they're often struggled today. Um and the Rams. You know,
Speaker 1: the Rams defense played more than well enough to win
Speaker 1: for most of it. It's thirty nine midway through the
Speaker 1: third quarter, and and the reason why it was even
Speaker 1: that close, I mean, golf was lucky didn't turn it
Speaker 1: over three or four times. That's why we're ripping him,
Speaker 1: if you I mean, even though the stats are bad,
Speaker 1: it could have been worse. He threw one just as
Speaker 1: grizzly as that interception that the Seahawks drop. He also
Speaker 1: fumbled it, as you mentioned, uh, and then hurt like
Speaker 1: he he well, he hurt his thumb. That was pretty
Speaker 1: deep into the game. He actually made a couple of
Speaker 1: nice throws after that. With those, he looked like he
Speaker 1: totally um dislocated at his thumb and the camera caught
Speaker 1: him putting it back into place. It was. It was
Speaker 1: fairly gruesome, but by then the game was was over.
Speaker 1: And Uh in Seattle, Yeah, you're right that they deserves it.
Speaker 1: This is a dangerous team. I don't think anyone is
Speaker 1: a huge favorite in the NFC. And when you have
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson, uh, you have a chance. Because he had
Speaker 1: a third nine, a third and eight, a third and
Speaker 1: seven like late in this game where he just sort
Speaker 1: of made the Russell Wilson type of play. And that's
Speaker 1: that's the advantage of having It's almost like what what
Speaker 1: we could say about Seattle in early September can be
Speaker 1: said about them to some degree still as they enter
Speaker 1: into the NFC playoff race. Anything could happen with this team.
Speaker 1: All right, let's spend through the games that were played
Speaker 1: before Sunday, uh and start with the finale to Saturday.
Speaker 1: And it was a memorable one, all the style, pick
Speaker 1: yourself and it's good, good, I'm gonna win this game
Speaker 1: with one second left, It's Miami the Raiders five. I
Speaker 1: hope you did not go to bed tonight until this
Speaker 1: was over. Jimmy Steppolo And well not that was not
Speaker 1: Jason Taylor, wasn't I don't think so. W q A
Speaker 1: m with the call. Yes, Jason Sanders made the kick,
Speaker 1: but this was this was a case of peak fits. Magic.
Speaker 1: Ryan fitzpatricker leaved an ineffective to a Tonga by loa
Speaker 1: and led to Dolphins to one of the most improbable
Speaker 1: winds that franchise history over the Law Raiders. Uh. You
Speaker 1: know that in thirty four yard miracle completion to mac
Speaker 1: Hollins pass by Fitzpatrick that was made while the quarterback's
Speaker 1: head was being damn near torn off by the face
Speaker 1: mask mark. That that was magic. That was fitz magic.
Speaker 1: It was you know when it just made me. Um,
Speaker 1: it made me happy for Dolphins fans, who you know,
Speaker 1: I think people that go Dolphins fans had all this
Speaker 1: fun in the seventies and eighties. Those people are seventy
Speaker 1: years old right now. Younger Dolphins fans have been through
Speaker 1: so much, and so I know that the conversation coming
Speaker 1: out of this is how do you handle if it's
Speaker 1: magic and tuah and who should start? But I think
Speaker 1: for if you're if you're a Dolphins fan that's waited
Speaker 1: so long for this moment, that is something you will
Speaker 1: never forget. Imagine a paw the size of art and
Speaker 1: keys grabbing your nose and eyes as you attempt to
Speaker 1: do anything in life, and to do it well. Still,
Speaker 1: I think that it's magic. Um. He is this sort
Speaker 1: of Devil may care figure who keeps popping up. He's unkillable,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it's the last time we'll see him.
Speaker 1: If they need him again in the playoffs, dement no
Speaker 1: matter who starts next week, I think they are right now. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's a Chan Gailey thing, and
Speaker 1: some of the plays that they decide to call and
Speaker 1: expand the offense when he's in there, they just look,
Speaker 1: the flow is better, there's more comfort. I think to
Speaker 1: us still does some really good things, but you're here
Speaker 1: now to get into a playoff race and do whatever
Speaker 1: it takes. So I don't mind the way that some
Speaker 1: people do. And you guys might disagree with sort of
Speaker 1: flip flopping between quarterbacks as needed, No, I like it.
Speaker 1: We we talked about it when they did this before
Speaker 1: that it's okay to treat I think it's okay to
Speaker 1: treat quarterbacks like adults. And Flora's said it well after
Speaker 1: the game. You know, I'm I'm concerned about everyone in
Speaker 1: the slacker room and we're out here. You're trying to win,
Speaker 1: and if I need to call on the relief pitcher,
Speaker 1: that's how he used the words um in a certain situation,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it. I just how can you be
Speaker 1: mad that he's having his cake and eating it too.
Speaker 1: You know, there's six and two and two US starts
Speaker 1: and they're going, they're probably going to the playoffs, and
Speaker 1: these snaps for two are so valuable. Now, is Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick a better quarterback right now than too? It's yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously I don't think that's that's I don't
Speaker 1: think conversation. Then let's be honest here this thing where
Speaker 1: we want to protect to uh, but also make our
Speaker 1: points that it's a big boy stop protecting him there.
Speaker 1: It's like Patrick starting, and I know Flora has already
Speaker 1: announced it that it's it's to us starting with seventeen.
Speaker 1: I I can't believe that. I think Ryan Fitzpatrick at
Speaker 1: this point is earned starting with this team and getting
Speaker 1: a full game. And let's also remember that they don't
Speaker 1: win that game without a miracle and the Raiders becoming
Speaker 1: a total joke on defense these last few weeks. That's
Speaker 1: the only reason they ended up winning the game. They
Speaker 1: waited too long to go to Fitzpatrick. VI ask me,
Speaker 1: I don't get the loyalty to start a rookie when
Speaker 1: it's clear the veteran is coming into every week and
Speaker 1: showing you he should be the guy. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: there might there might be some thought that it's like
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick over the course of a game is going to
Speaker 1: turn it over, and they had had a good formula
Speaker 1: with to it. Now this I think it was his
Speaker 1: worst start along with the Denver start. I mean he
Speaker 1: he was holding the ball way too long, uh, And
Speaker 1: you had to take him out of there. But you're
Speaker 1: you're right about the Raiders defense. Um, Like, people got
Speaker 1: on John Gruden a little bit for not taking the
Speaker 1: touchdown when the Dolphins were giving it to him. They
Speaker 1: were trying to let the Raiders score late. And if
Speaker 1: you had wanted to do it on third down, after
Speaker 1: you took the clock down as much as you could,
Speaker 1: you know, there was about a minute left and you
Speaker 1: would have just had to stop them from giving a
Speaker 1: touch when I you know, the more I thought about,
Speaker 1: I don't blame him because ultimately, how can you say
Speaker 1: to trust your defense when what you just saw happen.
Speaker 1: It's the only reason Fitzpatrick didn't go h touchdown touchdown
Speaker 1: field goal is because Mac Collins dropped a potential touchdown
Speaker 1: on Fitzpatrick's first drive. So like the second Fitzpatrick came
Speaker 1: in the game, they totally collapsed. They gave up a
Speaker 1: touchdown in like twenty seconds the drive before that. So
Speaker 1: it's like, no matter how you want to, you can't.
Speaker 1: Really I don't. I can't. I can't blame Gruden for that. Well, no,
Speaker 1: but I would say for what Pittsburgh's gone through up
Speaker 1: until today, and you know, turning that city almost evil
Speaker 1: against the team with what what the Raiders swoon and
Speaker 1: it was a couple weeks ago there. They couldn't possibly
Speaker 1: duplicate what happened a year ago. They just couldn't. It's
Speaker 1: it's a different team. We trust them, and they did
Speaker 1: duplicated and their defense fell off a cliff to such
Speaker 1: a degree. And I know that there's some injuries and
Speaker 1: stuff there, but they go into the off season with
Speaker 1: all the same questions they had last off season. I
Speaker 1: think Gooden is just quickly. I went and looked from
Speaker 1: week thirteen onward, this is a weird staff. But from
Speaker 1: week thirteen onward, in Gruden's last six seasons, his teams
Speaker 1: are eight and twenty four. Because I remember his Bucks
Speaker 1: teams always collapsed at the end too. That's how he
Speaker 1: got fired three two of the his last three years,
Speaker 1: they collapsed at the end. And now he's doing it
Speaker 1: in Vegas too. I don't know, there's something about John Gordon.
Speaker 1: He just collapses at the end. I mean he's gonna
Speaker 1: he's gonna pay for that in the sense that that's
Speaker 1: going to be the narrative around him and the Raiders
Speaker 1: in this offseason. But when you signed a ten year contract.
Speaker 1: That's as far as it goes. You just have to
Speaker 1: deal with headlines that are annoying. But Dophins team. I
Speaker 1: love this team. This is my favorite funds. I was
Speaker 1: happy for Henry Hodgson and that those type of wins.
Speaker 1: I don't care who you root for, they don't come
Speaker 1: around very often. Um So I hope Dolbin's fanned enjoyed it,
Speaker 1: and I think they did. And if you're if you've
Speaker 1: been following this podcast, one of our favorite UH things
Speaker 1: on Sunday was the listen to Brent Musburger make UH
Speaker 1: his play by play calls for the Raiders. And we
Speaker 1: haven't heard much of Brent obviously is Vegas has gone
Speaker 1: into a total swoon. But I did ask Ricky to
Speaker 1: to pull up a sound of Brent calling the Ryan
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick face mask completion, and it did not disappoint. Here
Speaker 1: we go. A win is a win, is a win.
Speaker 1: We'll take it. That's right. You never give one back
Speaker 1: in the bags. The penalty flags come flying. That was
Speaker 1: completed across midfield to the and he got a face.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, how does someone get I don't believe this.
Speaker 1: They got ahold of the face mask and Fitzpatrick somehow
Speaker 1: got the ball off. He somehow launched the ball wide
Speaker 1: open at the only one yard line of the Raiders defense.
Speaker 1: This fifteen yard penalty will be added to the end
Speaker 1: of the play first down. I've never seen anything like
Speaker 1: this in my life. Like he's been doing this sixth years,
Speaker 1: he's never seen anything like it in his life. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Raiders Football, Brent Musburger. All right, let's move on
Speaker 1: to more wild events unfolding on Christmas. Uh In a
Speaker 1: game between the Vikings and Saints, handoff goes to Camara
Speaker 1: looking for space on the right side towards the goal line. Touchdown.
Speaker 1: Alpa Chimara, Mama, they're going at man again and you
Speaker 1: see the snow. Snow everybody so. Alvin Kamara, with his
Speaker 1: sixth rushing touchdown of the game, ties the most ever
Speaker 1: in an NFL football game. Ernie Never's back in nineteen nine,
Speaker 1: boy Zach Streep induced McAlister with the called w w L.
Speaker 1: Did you start Alvin Camaro in your fantasy championship? Alvin
Speaker 1: kamaras had a ninety one year old NFL record with
Speaker 1: six rushing touchdowns a fifty two to thirty three Saints
Speaker 1: went over the Vikings that clinches New Orleans his fourth
Speaker 1: consecutive NFC South titled Kamarrow also set a career high
Speaker 1: with a hundred fifty five rushing yards, scoring on runs
Speaker 1: of forty one, five, six, seven and three yards. Greg,
Speaker 1: That's quite a performance by your boy, oh man. Hit.
Speaker 1: It was awesome to watch because I think it showed
Speaker 1: off what what doesn't get enough attention from Camara is
Speaker 1: that he is so strong. Like Hit, it's one of
Speaker 1: this load of the ground things, but his core and
Speaker 1: whatever it is, like his let when he gets in
Speaker 1: his mind that he's not going to be tackled, he
Speaker 1: his balance and his strength is just incredible. And you
Speaker 1: just saw Vikings to tens of players get some good
Speaker 1: players like Harrison Smith sometimes just like bouncing off of him.
Speaker 1: And it's that strength, along with everything else that he
Speaker 1: does that makes you know, for me, he's the one.
Speaker 1: He if you need one running back, that's the guy
Speaker 1: for me. I mean from a fantasy angle, you have
Speaker 1: made your point. Um. I am one of the ultra
Speaker 1: losers that in one of these stupid consolation games that
Speaker 1: couldn't be more meaningless and Fantasy went against Henry Hodgson,
Speaker 1: who you mentioned you had Alvin Kamara, and I just said,
Speaker 1: I I'm not checking the score again again because there's
Speaker 1: no reason to you. This thing is a wash and
Speaker 1: it's over. I mean, you knew right away that he
Speaker 1: was lightning strong and ready to go when he had
Speaker 1: that forty yard touchdown blast. And it's kind of cool
Speaker 1: to watch a game like that. That's super historical. How
Speaker 1: many young people would have maybe watch one of their
Speaker 1: first football games on Christmas night and say this is
Speaker 1: what a star player does. I mean, you'll wait another
Speaker 1: seventy years for that to happen. But and um Saints
Speaker 1: in Almos six hundred yards offense. It kind of makes
Speaker 1: you think, I'm not sure there's a dominant team here.
Speaker 1: But if every team is on in, they're oute their best.
Speaker 1: The Saints are pretty spicy. Yeah, And I think it
Speaker 1: showed you that the Saints don't need vintage Drew Brees
Speaker 1: to operate with great efficiency on offense because Kamara is
Speaker 1: the engine of that offense and you just need Breeze
Speaker 1: to be, you know, a decent facts simile of himself.
Speaker 1: Now that's up to debate if you can even be
Speaker 1: that at this point but when you have Camaro, by
Speaker 1: the way, it's twenty one touchdowns this season, I think
Speaker 1: he has around seventeen hundred total yards UH through this
Speaker 1: same And this tells you this is why fantasy football
Speaker 1: is maddening, why you can never predict anything in sports. Uh.
Speaker 1: Albercamara had two touchdowns through the same stretch of games
Speaker 1: fifteen games last season. He had to all of last
Speaker 1: season h entering week sixteen. UH. This year he has
Speaker 1: twenty one. But I just thought, you know, on a
Speaker 1: day where Drew Brees through two interceptions didn't have a
Speaker 1: touchdown that they score still put up a fifty burger
Speaker 1: that would have been unfathomable five years ago because Drew
Speaker 1: Brees was the offense back then and then on the
Speaker 1: other side of the ball, Like, you know, not much
Speaker 1: needs to be said about the Vikings other than uh,
Speaker 1: the fifty two points were the most allowed by the
Speaker 1: team since nineteen sixty three, and the five eighty three
Speaker 1: total yards by the sentence represented the most yielded to
Speaker 1: any opponent in the history of the franchise. Mike Zimmer
Speaker 1: not mincing words after the game. Yeah, this is a
Speaker 1: bad defense, worst one I've ever had. By the way
Speaker 1: Mike Zimmer has been coaching for twenty seven years at
Speaker 1: the pro level, He's he's had not a lot. I mean,
Speaker 1: there have been some shaky defenses that he's been a
Speaker 1: part of, and I think he meant it. And I
Speaker 1: know they came into this year with no Danelle Hunter
Speaker 1: and they traded away Yannick and they haven't really had
Speaker 1: a pass rush. It's not been perfect. But he was
Speaker 1: legit fiery after that, and um, I think it's this
Speaker 1: is as frustrated a team as there is in the NFC, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I think that's an emotional thing to say.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, because it's ultimately kind of like
Speaker 1: a hey, it's not my fault move. Um you know,
Speaker 1: it's like, hey, I've been coaching all this long and
Speaker 1: they've never been this bad. I think they'll he'll be
Speaker 1: around another year. But it really was such an encouraging
Speaker 1: day for the Saints, who are still gonna be playing
Speaker 1: for home field in week seventeen. So that's it's tricky,
Speaker 1: you know that they're gonna be playing, but I think
Speaker 1: to to go. I know Breeze got intercepted. One was
Speaker 1: on a tip pass, but he did throw it twenty
Speaker 1: six times for three D and eleven yards, which is
Speaker 1: incredible efficiency. Uh that you know, the arm doesn't look great,
Speaker 1: but just the fact that they were able to generate
Speaker 1: any that that sort of efficiency without their top you know,
Speaker 1: two of their top three receivers, their stars, Cam Jordan
Speaker 1: and Marshawn Lattimore, I thought, played like stars on defense.
Speaker 1: So it's a good feeling win for them to kind
Speaker 1: of head into the playoffs. And I did really appreciate
Speaker 1: Troy Aikman like quietly apologizing for giving Tastom Hill too
Speaker 1: much love a few years ago in the playoff when
Speaker 1: the Saints had and in sort of taking responsibility for
Speaker 1: some of the hype that Tastom got after that. It
Speaker 1: was just another moment and what I think has been
Speaker 1: an m v P season, not a Troy Aikman. I
Speaker 1: love having Troy troyce a week. I think it's been
Speaker 1: a different Troy. I don't know if it's because he
Speaker 1: felt the heat from Roma, but I'm shocked to say
Speaker 1: I think he's the He's the analyst m VP of
Speaker 1: the year. Are you that's that's that's a big take?
Speaker 1: Are you referencing the Taysom Hill was the best player
Speaker 1: on the field game he played. Yeah, that was the game.
Speaker 1: That was the game because it was against the Vikings
Speaker 1: and he played seven or eight. It's also I mean,
Speaker 1: if you're Troy Aikman, you're saying I have so much influence.
Speaker 1: And I love Troy Aikman as much as anyone growing
Speaker 1: up watching football, but I have so much influence over
Speaker 1: the football world. That was huh. You know, he doesn't
Speaker 1: listen to this show, that is confirmed, so he won't
Speaker 1: hear what I have to say. Well, he watches every
Speaker 1: single minute of Good Morning Football. I mean, if he
Speaker 1: could just give us that he check in on our
Speaker 1: flagship show, even like for twenty minutes, just while you're
Speaker 1: going out on your job, maybe you'll like it, Troy,
Speaker 1: and start giving us giving us a shout out on
Speaker 1: Thursday nights next week. I don't know next year. Alright,
Speaker 1: let's move on another blowout. Brady play actually fake dropic
Speaker 1: of the look Staffield. Those are deep ball right sideline
Speaker 1: called Paul Gronkowski touch staff Champa Bay holy rock a moley.
Speaker 1: What a ronominal pitch by the big former debate of
Speaker 1: Tom bradyho New England. Oh a modelie I love Jane
Speaker 1: Decker half w f U s The Fox are getting
Speaker 1: hot again, Tom Brady through four touchdowns and one half
Speaker 1: of play, including another hook up with Gronk as the
Speaker 1: Bucks took a thirty four zip lead into halftime, Enter
Speaker 1: Blade Gabbert Cruse to forty seven seven win over the
Speaker 1: corpse like Detroit Lions in Ford Field, I mean, what
Speaker 1: is the state of the Lions bandwagon now? Mark? I mean,
Speaker 1: is it just like is it like one of those
Speaker 1: um coal minor things, the seesaw thing that just like
Speaker 1: wandering along on a track through the through the dusk gip,
Speaker 1: very dusty, very you know, probably just alone, no one
Speaker 1: chasing it. Um, some decrepit characters still hanging around on
Speaker 1: some skeleton's. It's a mess. Mark. The Bucks continue to
Speaker 1: look like an X factor in the NFC playoffs here, Well,
Speaker 1: I think we've sort of been feeling like with the
Speaker 1: Bucks that there there are two Bucks teams and when
Speaker 1: you get this one, um again, it's it's not onlike
Speaker 1: the Saints where you just think like, I'm not sure, um,
Speaker 1: where to say this or that is is impossible because
Speaker 1: Tom Brady um to Greg's point about Robert Guerrero. Is
Speaker 1: that his name, like trainer guy, Like he's turning back
Speaker 1: time to some Alex Guerrero probably has a brother named Robert.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be I know it's not Pedro. I am
Speaker 1: aware of Pedro Guerrero's career, but I just you know, like,
Speaker 1: how how many times in a season, no matter the circumstance,
Speaker 1: do you see a quarterback taken out at halftime because
Speaker 1: you just know there is no way the other team
Speaker 1: is going to creep back? And I mean, look at
Speaker 1: to be fair, they would have crushed die right Anyways,
Speaker 1: Detroit looks completely asleep at the wheel to me. But
Speaker 1: you're coaching staff wasn't there. You're coaching staff has been
Speaker 1: wiped out from Corona. I mean, I just think that
Speaker 1: some of this stuff, because we'd have no idea what
Speaker 1: a coaching staff needs to do over the course of
Speaker 1: like forty eight hours, um, to prepare or make these changes,
Speaker 1: some of the stuff just slightly insurmountable. And you're a
Speaker 1: bad team. Matthew stafford Um, you know, minutes into the
Speaker 1: game is hobbling around on one foot. I mean that
Speaker 1: this thing was cooked, was up. The last time you
Speaker 1: see Matthew Stafford in the lines uniform. The guy's got
Speaker 1: all sorts of injuries now an ankle. It doesn't make
Speaker 1: any sense to play him in week seventeen and his
Speaker 1: status is up in the airs. That lines, you know,
Speaker 1: have to weigh how they want to handle this, and
Speaker 1: it would not be as surprised if it's a complete rebuild.
Speaker 1: The Bucks clinched the playoff birth with the wind, so
Speaker 1: you brought Tom Brady into your building to class up
Speaker 1: the joint, to make it professional again, to get the
Speaker 1: offense reaching the heights that you thought it could with
Speaker 1: the playmakers. And now you have a double digit win
Speaker 1: sees and you're not gonna win your division. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna be talked up as a favorite in the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: But I kind of like where the Bucks are. If
Speaker 1: I'm a Bucks fan, I like where they are right now.
Speaker 1: They're playing with confidence, and they have Brady in January.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of things can happen. Well, I
Speaker 1: like where they are because where they are is the
Speaker 1: five seed, and so they they have to win next
Speaker 1: week to make sure they keep it. But that means
Speaker 1: they play the NFC East winner, and so that's a
Speaker 1: nice that's a nice first round matchup. Whoever the NFC
Speaker 1: East winner is, I'm gonna pick the Bucks to beat them. Um,
Speaker 1: you know we we say, okay, it's the Lions, you know.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah. Brady had six hundred and sixty eight
Speaker 1: yards in six touchdowns in a four quarter stretch in
Speaker 1: sixty five points those against NFL teams. And it's not
Speaker 1: like it's just like these wide open guys, you know,
Speaker 1: trapes in through broken coverage. He's throwing dimes like the
Speaker 1: throw of Gronkowski was insane. The touchdown to Brown was insane. God,
Speaker 1: when I thought at his best game of the year,
Speaker 1: like these were, he throws like if you protect him,
Speaker 1: and it's not gonna be as easy in January. But
Speaker 1: when he's protected, no one goes through his reads and
Speaker 1: and slings it as as well as he does. Like
Speaker 1: some of these were third reads. It was awesome. Counterpoint.
Speaker 1: How many yards need throw it for in the second half? None?
Speaker 1: Very streaky. These Bucks. Don't trust them, you know, it's
Speaker 1: good to have both sides of the coin. And this
Speaker 1: is the same Bucks team, by the way, that was
Speaker 1: shut out last week in the first half against Tins.
Speaker 1: Then they dropped thirty four this week. But the Tampa
Speaker 1: base four and ten yards of total offense in the
Speaker 1: first half was the most by any team in any
Speaker 1: half since two thousand and ten. Uh, can you guess
Speaker 1: which team it was that was? There was a special
Speaker 1: team in that year. Well, I people forget the two
Speaker 1: thousand ten Patriots was the second best Patriots offensive all times.
Speaker 1: So I'm sure it was the Patriots. You're incorrect. It
Speaker 1: was the Eagles confidence remember that before when the the
Speaker 1: VIC Eagles peaked obviously before the end of the season,
Speaker 1: but when they were on they were outrageous. It was
Speaker 1: a Week ten game against Washington where they went off
Speaker 1: for four d twenty five yards. Um. All right, there
Speaker 1: you go. So the Bucks cruising the Lions. They got
Speaker 1: a lot of work to do. Let's continue to power
Speaker 1: through the Saturday sleeps. Here's Murray get a lot one
Speaker 1: for the end zone. Natersupted by a Kellow weatherspoon. He
Speaker 1: undered through a Christian Kirk and a Kello makes up
Speaker 1: for the fourth down and inches run play by jumping
Speaker 1: in here. Look at Robert Sala hopping on the forty
Speaker 1: Niners sideline. A huge takeaway by a Killow Weatherspoon Greg
Speaker 1: Pop with a call k n b R. Now, do
Speaker 1: not take this as me being negative or critical of
Speaker 1: Robert Salo, But do you think that guy likes the camera?
Speaker 1: You think he's playing to the camera a little bit.
Speaker 1: He was on camera for about of that telecast. I
Speaker 1: would like to see the numbers because I'm not even
Speaker 1: being I'm not exaggerating that guy. There's a love affair
Speaker 1: between the camera and Robert Sala And it was his
Speaker 1: show on Saturday in Arizona. The d C was all
Speaker 1: over your screen of San Francisco. Was defense made life
Speaker 1: miserable for Kyler Murray in a twenty to twelve win
Speaker 1: over the Cardinals. Greg, the Cardinals reverted to this enigma
Speaker 1: status uh in this game, well, San Francisco authored another
Speaker 1: reminder that they lurk as a monster. With some better
Speaker 1: luck it is, it could be a devastating, you know,
Speaker 1: season ending type of loss for Arizona, except now because
Speaker 1: of the Rams lost. Um, you know, Arizona has a
Speaker 1: winning in scenario. So they got they got helped out
Speaker 1: on Sunday by the results. But I wasn't shocked just
Speaker 1: because I've seen this out of their offense before. They're there.
Speaker 1: Um I call them narcaleptic. It's like they just go
Speaker 1: to sleep out of nowhere. You never know when it's
Speaker 1: gonna be, but they can just go to sleep for
Speaker 1: halves at a time. This was the moment of the
Speaker 1: Christmas weekend where I was like, what are you doing
Speaker 1: to me? NFL here. It's like my son Walker didn't
Speaker 1: even want to go out, you know, during the buck
Speaker 1: Lions game, we ended up going out. I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna game pass that one later because he just
Speaker 1: wanted to watch football game. And then we're back here watching.
Speaker 1: You know, we gotta get it on Prime. That's fine too,
Speaker 1: but like they're they're not doing anything the whole game.
Speaker 1: It's like, let us have a family, Like, let us
Speaker 1: have a little family time. But at least, you know,
Speaker 1: at least the forty Niners showed up. But I do
Speaker 1: have a theory that Greg actually plays nothing in his
Speaker 1: house and never has played anything else in his house
Speaker 1: other than Pro football, so that Walker probably would be
Speaker 1: very interested in other programming but has no idea that
Speaker 1: other programming exists for human beings that he does not
Speaker 1: have a choice. It's kind of like, remember what was
Speaker 1: it Tom Maronovitch. Sure was that his father who just
Speaker 1: hammered him to be he's got the bug. You had
Speaker 1: it to Sessler when you were a young boy. He's
Speaker 1: got the bug. He's just you know, he's addicted. You
Speaker 1: got to get him out of that. I can appreciate that.
Speaker 1: I mean, he he must have enjoyed um. You know
Speaker 1: the Kyle Shanahan's Solid version of this. I would say this, Dan,
Speaker 1: I think Solid is that way all of time. And
Speaker 1: so when the producers get um a little bug up
Speaker 1: their butt to like focus on him in a game
Speaker 1: like that where his defense was rising up, you just
Speaker 1: get I don't think he suddenly becomes like animated Sala
Speaker 1: because he senses that a camera like from the meszzanine
Speaker 1: section is like folk. I think that's just who he is.
Speaker 1: But he also knows now because it happens. Remember his
Speaker 1: big breakout was when we were in London last year
Speaker 1: and he was all over the TV and everybody's talking
Speaker 1: about it. Now he knows that cameras are there. So
Speaker 1: I think there's a little bit performative. But you know what, Listen,
Speaker 1: this guy is trying to get a head coaching job
Speaker 1: and he's telegenic, he's a good looking guy, he's jacked,
Speaker 1: His defense is playing well. You could argue, even though
Speaker 1: last year's Niners uh nearly won the Super Bowl, that
Speaker 1: this version of the team is making him look even better.
Speaker 1: With all the injuries and COVID madness and everything this season.
Speaker 1: When you combine all those factors and the fact that
Speaker 1: he's a television darling, there's gonna be an owner for
Speaker 1: one of these teams that is absolutely gonna get sucked
Speaker 1: in uh and might it might payoff handsomely for that
Speaker 1: team and higher Roberts. I don't think there's any way
Speaker 1: we come out of this cycle without Solid being the
Speaker 1: head coach of someone. And part of the reason is
Speaker 1: the games like these, these showcase games where the defense
Speaker 1: is playing great and he's all over the camera for
Speaker 1: the audience. I think it's like what he turns Kwan
Speaker 1: Williams into it, like everyone that plays for him plays
Speaker 1: so hard. And I mean, I do like a team
Speaker 1: like the Niners, and we know how I feel about
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanaham, but in general, you know they've been through
Speaker 1: a lot, and they have they played as tough, and
Speaker 1: they played with total might yesterday and it's a divisional game,
Speaker 1: and if you're the Cardinals, you're probably thinking, I don't
Speaker 1: want to deal with the Niners in Week sixteen because
Speaker 1: of what they can do to anyone inside their own division.
Speaker 1: And I'm just like Jeff Wilson blowing up for a
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty three yards. You kind of knew by
Speaker 1: halftime this is the Niners team. This is what they
Speaker 1: can be no matter who's on the field. Sometimes um,
Speaker 1: but they seem to me as someone you have to
Speaker 1: look at with extreme caution and danger heading into next
Speaker 1: year if they were ever to stay healthy. This team
Speaker 1: is pretty freaking badass. I kind of enjoy watching them.
Speaker 1: And back to the Cardinals, shame on them. A game
Speaker 1: you need your opponent's planning for nothing more than pride.
Speaker 1: They have a third string quarter quarterback C. J. Bethard,
Speaker 1: who lights up Arizona's defense for three touchdowns. You mentioned
Speaker 1: Wilson goes for a d and eighty three on the ground.
Speaker 1: I mean you gott. I mean that's a bad reflection
Speaker 1: on the team and the coaching staff performance in that spot.
Speaker 1: Ugly stuff, bad job out of Kyler Murray. It was
Speaker 1: a tough game for him. I think that's just who
Speaker 1: they are. I think they've been an eight and eight
Speaker 1: type of team all year, and if they lose that,
Speaker 1: I mean obviously not. I locked up the Cardinals because
Speaker 1: I thought they were coming out of that funk last
Speaker 1: two weeks and it seemed like they had they had
Speaker 1: been in their valley and they were coming out and
Speaker 1: the Niners were going the other direction. But that's you know,
Speaker 1: you can't. That's why, like when anybody wants to get
Speaker 1: on people, oh you're locked. It doesn't have enough enough
Speaker 1: Onions's this with this league of hours week to week.
Speaker 1: Let's bring in Shook. Here he comes, Nick Shook, you
Speaker 1: are a special man. How you doing today? I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think the only person who's really looking at especially
Speaker 1: special today is Gregg and his glasses. I know he's
Speaker 1: all business, sharp, smart. If going on, then he would
Speaker 1: be even sharper, I would imagine, yeah, ute, right, So
Speaker 1: Shook actually brought you in a little bit early. But
Speaker 1: that's fine. You're already here, so let's get into it.
Speaker 1: Moving on to the NFC East and a big showdown
Speaker 1: between the Eagles and Cowboys, Big third and three. They
Speaker 1: really need this at their own forty eight Dalton back
Speaker 1: frowze it down the right side, over the top from
Speaker 1: Lamb at the thirty hard the run of that zone.
Speaker 1: How about Andy Dalton and Ceedee Lamb and fifty two
Speaker 1: yards and the Cowboys have back to back touchdowns all
Speaker 1: right back to Sunday action. Bring the bomb goes in
Speaker 1: Brad Sham the sham god k r l D with
Speaker 1: the call, Andy Dalton had his way with the eagles
Speaker 1: woeful secondary, throwing for three seventy one yards and three scores,
Speaker 1: two of them to Michael gall and that pitch and
Speaker 1: catch strike with Ceedee Lamb thirty seven seventeen Cowboys over
Speaker 1: the Eagles, who are now eliminated for playoff contention with
Speaker 1: that loss. Meanwhile, the Cowboys playing for chance of the
Speaker 1: NFC at East title on Sunday, shook. That is insanity
Speaker 1: when you remember where this team was. It's recently it's Thanksgiving. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like we're in different years with this team. Uh.
Speaker 1: In this last month, especially for them, in the last
Speaker 1: three weeks, three straight wins, Uh, they look like a
Speaker 1: completely different football team. And I'm sure Andy Dalton has
Speaker 1: a bit of influence on that, considering that he hasn't
Speaker 1: either been knocked out with a concussion or left because
Speaker 1: of COVID. He's been there. He's been able to establish
Speaker 1: a bit of a rhythm. But really it's their entire
Speaker 1: offense has really come into form. He's relied on his
Speaker 1: receivers a lot. Especially today. He hit long strikes on
Speaker 1: Mark Cooper. Michael Gallup had a day. He hits Hede
Speaker 1: Lamb on that play that we just played there. Uh,
Speaker 1: two of those three guys absolutely dusted Eagles defenders in
Speaker 1: one on one situations at the line, which kind of
Speaker 1: put them in a good position to make those plays.
Speaker 1: But Dalton looked composed. He took the check down when
Speaker 1: he wanted to. There was one drive just before the
Speaker 1: half where I thought he was gonna check down his
Speaker 1: way all the way down to a touchdown. He ended
Speaker 1: up hitting Gallop on the long strike down the sideline
Speaker 1: to kind of break that trend. But they just looked
Speaker 1: like a much better off It's even Ezekiel Elliott broke
Speaker 1: a hundred yards that was kind of um uh buoyed by,
Speaker 1: you know, a long run in the fourth quarter kind
Speaker 1: of ice things. But the thing is with this team,
Speaker 1: and I think it's because they played against an NFC
Speaker 1: opponent or an NFC East opponent, excuse me, um and
Speaker 1: the Figle Eagles specifically, who couldn't get out of their
Speaker 1: own way, committed twelve penalties even when they won, when
Speaker 1: they were up by twenty, this game was still a
Speaker 1: comedy of errors. I mean, in the fourth quarter of
Speaker 1: the Eagles had multiple opportunities to come back to get
Speaker 1: at least within a touchdown. They were granted I mean
Speaker 1: gifts in terms of field position and did absolutely nothing
Speaker 1: with it and then would give the ball back to
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. There was one instance in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: where Jalen Hurts throws an interception in the end zone.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys go three and out and gained zero yards
Speaker 1: before putting the ball right back to Eagles, who find
Speaker 1: themselves in a similar scenario. Jalen hurts fumbles review was
Speaker 1: kind of I don't know, you could you could argue
Speaker 1: one way or the other. I think he was down,
Speaker 1: but that didn't really matter because the Eagles still can't
Speaker 1: get out of their own way. But when you're right,
Speaker 1: when it comes to the Cowboys, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know if they're gonna find their way to the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I know we laughed about this a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: ago when we talked about this, that's not gonna happen,
Speaker 1: Pitch Posh. Well, the Washington just left the door open
Speaker 1: for them, and if they get in. I know this
Speaker 1: division has been bad, but they could actually give a
Speaker 1: playoff team a little bit of a run as long
Speaker 1: as they can defend. We have a knack for laughing
Speaker 1: at things that come true in hideous fashion weeks later,
Speaker 1: so I wouldn't put it past us. Well, they also
Speaker 1: are now big Eagles fans because you know, they are eliminated.
Speaker 1: Both the Giants in and um the Cowboys are eliminated.
Speaker 1: If Washington finds a way to beat the Eagles, uh
Speaker 1: next week. The Eagles are so banged up shook after
Speaker 1: watching it Hurts today, Like what, what do you think
Speaker 1: the chances are Eagles can go out and get it
Speaker 1: get a win next week, you know, like because otherwise
Speaker 1: otherwise Washington is gonna get into the playoffs. I think
Speaker 1: it's the chances aren't great. Jalen Hurts had a nice
Speaker 1: little run in the second quarter today where you know
Speaker 1: he was he was completing passes and look comfortable and
Speaker 1: it was fun to watch him he kind of ran
Speaker 1: into some struggles in the second half with defensive adjustments,
Speaker 1: which talking about the Cowboys, that's kind of funny because
Speaker 1: Cowboys defense making adjustments with that um and I think
Speaker 1: that obviously Washington has a better defense. I really think
Speaker 1: that game comes down to the availability at quarterback. Can
Speaker 1: Alex Smith play in that game, because Taylor Heineke did
Speaker 1: a little bit for them this week when he came
Speaker 1: in in the second half, and he was when Dwayne
Speaker 1: Haskins was benched, But if they're forced to go with
Speaker 1: either of them, I don't have a lot of confidence
Speaker 1: in that team. I mean, Haskins was horrible before he
Speaker 1: was benched. Their offense had no life and they had
Speaker 1: to rely on their defense. They put their defense in
Speaker 1: a hole. They turned the ball over three times, a
Speaker 1: muff punt returned for a touchdown and then uh an
Speaker 1: interception on the part of Haskins and a fumble. It
Speaker 1: was just it was like I know and and it was,
Speaker 1: but it was ugly. So I don't think that the
Speaker 1: Eagles have a great chance it's in that game. So
Speaker 1: I don't think the chances are great for the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: but there is still a chance Eagle score touchdowns on
Speaker 1: the first two drives, including you know, the eighty yard
Speaker 1: strike eighty one yards to g Jacks three points after that,
Speaker 1: and then on the other side, you know, the Fletcher
Speaker 1: Cox injury was big, it seems for Philadelphia on defense
Speaker 1: because when he goes out with the stinger, that's when
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton started feasting, feasting. Uh. No one better to
Speaker 1: find toast more than poor Michael Jacquette, the Eagles cornerback
Speaker 1: who was targeted nine times. He was covering Michael Gallup
Speaker 1: mostly but a Marii Cooper to uh nine targets, seven catches,
Speaker 1: a hundred and eighty two yards eventually got benched. That's
Speaker 1: the second most yard is given up by any cornerback
Speaker 1: in the NFL UH this season, according to Next Gen Stats.
Speaker 1: So the Eagles aren't you know, maybe who knows what
Speaker 1: the NFC s. It's such a ridiculous division that to
Speaker 1: write off any team, Well, the Eagles you can because
Speaker 1: there eliminates but uh, I'm off. Yeah, so I will
Speaker 1: write them off. Actually, but I'll say this, they if
Speaker 1: they can fix their secondary, they seem to have something
Speaker 1: with this young quarterback. You know, maybe they can get
Speaker 1: back into it next year, but it just was never
Speaker 1: happening this year. They had too many issues. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I feel like we do that as much as you
Speaker 1: do that with the Cowboys to do that with the
Speaker 1: Eagles too. I mean, they're gonna have to prove it
Speaker 1: to me before I'm all of a sudden, No watch
Speaker 1: out for the Eagles next year. But that next year
Speaker 1: is what they have to look forward to. Now. I
Speaker 1: will not be watching any of them deeply for the
Speaker 1: next leg six months. Get let's get through this playoff part. Well,
Speaker 1: you might get like Tom Brady versus the Cowboys or
Speaker 1: something in the playoffs. So you're gonna that's spicy? Why not? Now?
Speaker 1: Indian made himself some money if nothing else today. Now
Speaker 1: onto the Washington football team. Teddies in the shotgun. Ready,
Speaker 1: Davis too is right now. Davis switches to his left
Speaker 1: hip as Bridgewater has the snatch that's pumps throws into
Speaker 1: the flat complete Anderson. Anderson left pile on scores a touchdown.
Speaker 1: Mick mixing with the called w b TA Teddy Bridgewater
Speaker 1: connected on a fourteen yards scored to Robby Anderson and
Speaker 1: the PAFs defense at a field day against an overmatched
Speaker 1: Dwayne Haskins in the thirteen win over the Washington Football team. Yes,
Speaker 1: that loss, combined with the Cowboys went over the Eagles,
Speaker 1: means the NFC e s Yes, comes down to a
Speaker 1: bunch of bad teams playing for a division title. In
Speaker 1: Week seventeen, uh, Dwayne Haskins Shook had a pretty miserable
Speaker 1: week all told, the well earned embarrassment of the Strip
Speaker 1: Club visit and signed and uh fine, and then being
Speaker 1: stripped of his captaincy and then being so bad and
Speaker 1: the three turnover game that that there's a man named
Speaker 1: Heineke coming in for you late in the game. Yikes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, for that whole thing. This week was interesting
Speaker 1: because it was like, all the shame on Dwayne Haskins,
Speaker 1: how could you do this to your team? And then
Speaker 1: he was he basically turned it around and was you know,
Speaker 1: uh demanded to speak to reporters. And also it became
Speaker 1: a what a what a stand up guy owning his
Speaker 1: mistake and he's going to go out there and lead
Speaker 1: them to victory. And then he and I mean he
Speaker 1: just he looked bad. He looked worse than he did
Speaker 1: earlier this season. You can see why Ron Rivera benched
Speaker 1: him for Kyle Allen when he did, Um, he's slow
Speaker 1: in the pocket. His best two plays of most of
Speaker 1: the game were improvisational plays where he just kind of
Speaker 1: built out of the pocket and made something happen. The
Speaker 1: second time, it was because the receiver his defender got
Speaker 1: picked off in traffic. For the longest completion the day,
Speaker 1: he was fifty yards. It just wasn't good their offense
Speaker 1: and have really had any life and and um, and
Speaker 1: they put their defense in a bad spot and made
Speaker 1: it a very difficult game and made the Panthers look better.
Speaker 1: M hmm, what a what a crazy way because the
Speaker 1: announcers in the game said, you know, we probably won't
Speaker 1: see Haskins play for them again. Ian Rappaport said as
Speaker 1: much in a in a report before the game, which
Speaker 1: is a weird thing. So this was such a unique
Speaker 1: circumstance that Haskins was going into this game maybe even
Speaker 1: knowing like this is his last chance, but he could
Speaker 1: win the division. It would have been a really interesting
Speaker 1: story if he had. But he didn't. He flamed out
Speaker 1: and now it'll probably be his last bom and with
Speaker 1: the team. Because even if Alex Smith isn't ready for
Speaker 1: next week. The way Heineke looked, you probably figure they're
Speaker 1: gonna start him. What a what a weird season on
Speaker 1: a day where it's like it was Ron Rivera's big return,
Speaker 1: you know, the you know, playing the Panthers, and they
Speaker 1: brought they made a big show up, bringing out the
Speaker 1: Rivera strong shirts, i think for the first time today
Speaker 1: and then and he put up this stink bomb. But
Speaker 1: the that's how this is how the NFC East deserves
Speaker 1: to go down, you know, in kind of uh down
Speaker 1: to the week's seventeen game that no one wants to watch.
Speaker 1: It looked like they were turning the corner as a
Speaker 1: Division two. You know, a couple of weeks ago there
Speaker 1: was some u the giants in Washington were really started
Speaker 1: to establish themselves. But now everyone's you know, gone on
Speaker 1: the tank because the Cowboys have risen, and it's like
Speaker 1: we know the it is gonna be uh, this will
Speaker 1: be a season to remember or perhaps to forget. And
Speaker 1: you know, we don't need to pile on Dwayne Haskins
Speaker 1: at this point and and you know, be his daddy,
Speaker 1: but it's like, you know, he's not too far away
Speaker 1: from Josh Rosen now, so you gotta be careful because
Speaker 1: as if Washington doesn't tend uh, you know, to dump you,
Speaker 1: you might be a guy floating around on practice squads
Speaker 1: at five years old if you don't find a way
Speaker 1: to change things. Because obviously whatever has been happening so
Speaker 1: far in his career not working. Yeah, he's he's one
Speaker 1: hurried up trip out of town. Uh and then uh
Speaker 1: two more practice squads away from being him. So he's
Speaker 1: on his way. Yeah, it's just it's not a good
Speaker 1: situation for him. And you know, we get sucked in.
Speaker 1: You talk about this whole division looked like they were
Speaker 1: turning a corner. We as as people who watch all
Speaker 1: these games, we get sucked in a little bit when
Speaker 1: you see an encouraging performance like this and um like
Speaker 1: from the Giants for example, it's just, um, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Week by week football is not as consistent, I think,
Speaker 1: as we all know. But Dwayne Haskins, when you roll
Speaker 1: him out there, you don't have a great chance. Speaking
Speaker 1: of the Giants, let's just get through. Let's get through this.
Speaker 1: NFC East, My goodness, people fast forwarding Jackson dropped the
Speaker 1: throw fire to the end zone touchdown. It is tes
Speaker 1: Bryant too weeks in a row flash the X again
Speaker 1: and the former Cowboy has found a home. Not only
Speaker 1: were the Ravens, but in the Ravens ends all too
Speaker 1: easy Jerry Sandusky with the called w B A L Yeah,
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson four scoring drives in the first half, one
Speaker 1: of those possessions ending with that strike to Dez Bryant,
Speaker 1: and the scorching hot Ravens beat the Giants to thirteen
Speaker 1: for their fourth consecutive win. Uh Paired with the Steelers
Speaker 1: win over the Colts and the Jets upset of Cleveland,
Speaker 1: the Ravens that control their own destiny, needing only a
Speaker 1: win over the Banks, we get back to the playoffs, Greg,
Speaker 1: here we are. This is the proverbial team nobody wants
Speaker 1: to play. They are And and it came into the
Speaker 1: day thinking weirdly like, wow, the Ravens really might not
Speaker 1: make it. After the Dolphins game happened on Saturday night,
Speaker 1: thought wow, they really might not make it. And then
Speaker 1: the Colts and Browns, you know, slip up and now
Speaker 1: they're in the sixth seed, and you watch this game
Speaker 1: and you think, like, this is it. In the first
Speaker 1: twenty five minutes of this game. They had the ball
Speaker 1: for twenty two of those twenty five minutes. They were
Speaker 1: leading two seventeen to thirty one yards. Uh. Lamar was
Speaker 1: you know, on the first drive, was four for four
Speaker 1: making throws from the pocket. Did hit a couple of
Speaker 1: throws outside the numbers. They just need that like a
Speaker 1: little bit because now you're getting the Lamar that's running
Speaker 1: for eight yards and you're getting Gus Edwards and JK.
Speaker 1: Dobbins running combined twenty one six two, And I think
Speaker 1: more than anything, I think that's what's changed over the
Speaker 1: Ravens the last month is that the other running backs
Speaker 1: other than Lamar are getting it done. The rest of
Speaker 1: the running game was not great this year for for
Speaker 1: Baltimore outside of Lamar, and now they're getting it going
Speaker 1: and Dobbins has been great and they kind of cruised
Speaker 1: after that. It was just it was one of those
Speaker 1: games just out often where they strangled m early and
Speaker 1: then it was really over at halftime. It's like, we
Speaker 1: know what they are, and they know that we know
Speaker 1: that what they are, and and they're gonna try to
Speaker 1: do it anyways. And when they're this good, it doesn't
Speaker 1: really matter. And you know, I know it was the
Speaker 1: Jaguars a week ago, but they're They're halftime yardage compiled
Speaker 1: compilations were like jaw dropping, and they did it again today.
Speaker 1: And you know, Mark Ingram, who was a huge part
Speaker 1: of that offense, is an inactive, healthy scratch week after week.
Speaker 1: Now they found other guys and I think that the
Speaker 1: um better play and the and the way that they
Speaker 1: plugged in Mark Andrews has been big for them over
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks. Andrews really just uh was
Speaker 1: not the guy he was last year. And I think
Speaker 1: their whole tight end group lacks some of the depth
Speaker 1: that they had a year ago. UM, but when you
Speaker 1: get a daylight today and the running game is working,
Speaker 1: I this is a team that could beat anyone anywhere.
Speaker 1: And Andrews as a beast, he is kind of taking
Speaker 1: over as their true number one receiver. The closest thing
Speaker 1: to happened. It is wild that that Dez Bryant is
Speaker 1: scoring touchdowns in a playoff run. Like Andrews also acknowledged,
Speaker 1: like they're like, are you scoreboard watching? Everyone has this
Speaker 1: like sort of holier than now, like no, of course
Speaker 1: I'm not looking at the scoreboard. He was like, hell, yes,
Speaker 1: I was watching that the entire your time, so thank
Speaker 1: you for a human answer to that question. I'd be
Speaker 1: watching it. And then on the Giant side of things,
Speaker 1: you know, they were ready to be eliminated. They just
Speaker 1: needed either Washington or Philadelphia uh to win in the
Speaker 1: late window. Uh, and neither of those things happened. So insanely,
Speaker 1: the Giants could win the NFC East next week if
Speaker 1: some things go their way. But this is also now
Speaker 1: Giants team that's lost ten plus game in four straight seasons,
Speaker 1: six out of the last seven. And they're also oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, they are oh in three uh since
Speaker 1: week fourteen. Uh. They entered that week in first place.
Speaker 1: So you know, if you want to kind of point
Speaker 1: to the Daniel Jones ankle injury, is the turning pointed season?
Speaker 1: Or perhaps it was just as a team that was
Speaker 1: playing over its head and then got exposed down the stretch.
Speaker 1: I tend to think it. It's probably a little bit
Speaker 1: of both, but more the ladder either way. The Giants,
Speaker 1: you know, they seem cooked. But again, the NFC East,
Speaker 1: you have no idea how this is gonna It's pretty simple.
Speaker 1: I mean, they did the winner of Cowboys Giants wins
Speaker 1: the division if Washington loses. So if Washington loses, that
Speaker 1: that Giants Cowboys game is to win the division. So
Speaker 1: it's not like they need a ton of things to happen.
Speaker 1: That's they're also eight points seven points per game. Actually
Speaker 1: drama necessarily, but now it's not high drama. Danta Jones
Speaker 1: actually thought, I thought he played fairly well today, but
Speaker 1: the offensive line and everything else about the team, the
Speaker 1: defense has kind of collapsed. We gave him a lot
Speaker 1: of atta boys all year. In the last three games
Speaker 1: they've collapsed, especially with today. Speaking of collapse, alright, buckle up,
Speaker 1: we got the Cleveland boys here, shook and cessler. Let's
Speaker 1: head to the metal. Ends Jets get to stop the
Speaker 1: games over fourth down and a half yard mayfield under center,
Speaker 1: counterback steeg the pile ts it off. Let's see if
Speaker 1: the art official well the sea from the nearer side
Speaker 1: really on the field during the fourth down play, Remember
Speaker 1: the offense other than the fumble and recovered the ball.
Speaker 1: The ball will be returned the spot of the fumble,
Speaker 1: resulting into change. Because first und the Jets at the football,
Speaker 1: they will say, mayfield the ball up. Bob was shoots
Speaker 1: him with the call for w E P N Yes.
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield bubbled on each of the Brown's last two possessions,
Speaker 1: last on a QB keeper deep an opponent territory. They
Speaker 1: were misused that allowed the Jets to escape with the
Speaker 1: sten win at the Meadow Ends. That's two straight wins
Speaker 1: with the Jets after thirteen losses to begin the season,
Speaker 1: while the Browns now fighting for their playoff lives during
Speaker 1: Week seventeen, Mark, how much of this loss do you
Speaker 1: put on the COVID nineteen protocols that wiped away Glebland
Speaker 1: wide receivers. I don't put all of it on that,
Speaker 1: but I think that it's um a bit um acid
Speaker 1: on some of the takes that I've seen out there,
Speaker 1: and and and even to some degree um Trent Green
Speaker 1: sort of dismissing um the concept that Baker Mayfield had
Speaker 1: no starting wide receivers when this passing attack has thrown
Speaker 1: for an average of three d and thirty yards a
Speaker 1: game over the last three weeks. Uh, they were compromised.
Speaker 1: I think equally compromising was not having the identity of
Speaker 1: this team as their offensive line. No. Jed Wills, um
Speaker 1: know why a teller and you saw Baker Mayfield under pressure.
Speaker 1: And you saw Baker Mayfield at times some of the
Speaker 1: some of the times, and I thought he encountered pressure
Speaker 1: where there were a couple moments where some of these
Speaker 1: fill in the blank practice squad wideouts were running the
Speaker 1: wrong route and so you know, Baker, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: you can't turn the ball over, and Kevin Stefanski said
Speaker 1: as much, and I thought that they I think the
Speaker 1: relationship is strong enough where Baker gets what he's saying.
Speaker 1: Baker blamed himself for the game entirely. This has been
Speaker 1: an environment offense for me where Baker Mayfield sort of
Speaker 1: mistake free um play over the past month, which is, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, is that who he is? I think part
Speaker 1: of it is the offense he's in and that environment
Speaker 1: was completely taken away today. And I know it was like,
Speaker 1: why didn't they run the ball a bunch and only
Speaker 1: do that out of the gate, But the Jets are
Speaker 1: stopping the run, and I think that the Browns were
Speaker 1: trying to create balance and I think they maybe forced
Speaker 1: that a little bit um or a lot. It didn't
Speaker 1: go their way. The game got a little out of
Speaker 1: hand early, and I give credit to the Jets. Um,
Speaker 1: they made a couple. They went for Jamison Crowder through
Speaker 1: a perfect pass on a trick option play that put
Speaker 1: the Browns in a hole. Sam Donald, I thought he
Speaker 1: set the tone for the Jets on offense to some degree,
Speaker 1: went on on a scrambled truck to Brown's defender Malcolm
Speaker 1: Smith to the ground. I mean, the Jets wanted this game.
Speaker 1: They're not total dogs. I think they looked better than
Speaker 1: the Giants over the past two weeks and Cleveland, I
Speaker 1: don't know, Nick, the worst possible time for this to happen.
Speaker 1: I mean, this was a hard This is like, you
Speaker 1: have your Sunday's right, we all do. And if you're
Speaker 1: a Jets fan, you've been through helen back this year.
Speaker 1: But I couldn't believe what I was watching, and I
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe what I started to watch on Twitter
Speaker 1: yesterday on Saturday when you started to see what was
Speaker 1: happening to this team, and in the most critical game
Speaker 1: they've had in a decade. So, um, you know, a
Speaker 1: really rough watch and they're in hot hot water right now. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think that the marks right and that it had
Speaker 1: a lot to do with it, But it wasn't entirely
Speaker 1: on the COVID thing. And and the thing is too
Speaker 1: is the Browns follow protocol. Don't get in a hot
Speaker 1: tub with guys. I mean, how it's not that difficult.
Speaker 1: There's a reason the league makes these rules. And then
Speaker 1: you're not in this situation. I know you can be
Speaker 1: frustrated if you're one of those players, but follow protocol
Speaker 1: and you're not gonna be in this situation. UM. I
Speaker 1: do think that the Brown's offense became very predictable, um,
Speaker 1: and especially when they were trying to come back in
Speaker 1: the second half, because basically Baker Mayfield for an entire
Speaker 1: half didn't look at any of those receivers. He probably
Speaker 1: didn't know their names. He definitely didn't know what routes
Speaker 1: they were running on certain occasions. He was primarily looking
Speaker 1: at his tight ends or his running backs out of
Speaker 1: the backfield. And when it came down to them trying
Speaker 1: to mount a comeback, I basically would look at the
Speaker 1: down distant situation and say, oh, they're probably gonna try
Speaker 1: and run a screen or dump it off the Kareem
Speaker 1: Hunter Nick Chubb. Here, I saw Nick Chubb catch more
Speaker 1: passes out of the backfield today. I think I've ever
Speaker 1: seen in one game in his career. This is something
Speaker 1: that he's worked on. He worked, He spent a lot
Speaker 1: of the twenty nineteen summer working on that, and he's
Speaker 1: gotten better at it. But that's not enough. So I
Speaker 1: do think that it had a lot to do with it.
Speaker 1: Then again, don't dig yourself a twenty to three whole.
Speaker 1: I know your offense isn't helping you out, but you
Speaker 1: gotta play better defense. You can't get caught with your
Speaker 1: pants down on that trick. Play uh and allow them
Speaker 1: to score like that and and take momentum. I know
Speaker 1: there's no fans in the stand, but you know they
Speaker 1: still had some momentum going there. And I think the
Speaker 1: moment was too big for them. I don't think it
Speaker 1: was too big for necessarily for Baker Mayfield, even though
Speaker 1: we fumbled on fourth and one. But I think they
Speaker 1: realized as the game went on, oh my god, we're
Speaker 1: the victim. We've lost our starting receiving corps. Now we're
Speaker 1: losing to the Jets. This is a disaster. Woe is me.
Speaker 1: Baker helped kind of lift them out of it, but
Speaker 1: couldn't bring it home. And uh, and that's not what
Speaker 1: you want on your football team. That's also how they
Speaker 1: acted when they played Baltimore in Pittsburgh this season. The
Speaker 1: first time they played Baltimore and when they played Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: they got blown out. Both times. They weren't prepared. They
Speaker 1: weren't there and ready for the game, uh mentally, and
Speaker 1: I think that that's really what got them in this instance.
Speaker 1: Uh this week, m hm, you must have felt we
Speaker 1: were dan watching this one. I didn't watch it. I
Speaker 1: was focusing on the Jaguars. I did turn it on
Speaker 1: at the end. Um. I kind of was coming up
Speaker 1: from the angle of once I saw the Jaguars laying
Speaker 1: down like dogs and you know, good luck there, Trevor. Um.
Speaker 1: I saw that the die had been cast and it
Speaker 1: just wasn't gonna be meant to be. So it was.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like last week where I was, you know,
Speaker 1: super torn about it and not even torn. I I
Speaker 1: didn't want the just to win last week, uh that much.
Speaker 1: I was very torn, But this one was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: there's some there's some hard here on display, and they
Speaker 1: do if nothing else, they play hard for gaze and
Speaker 1: you can't take that away. Uh. It shouldn't be any
Speaker 1: excuse to keep out of gaze around and that's not
Speaker 1: gonna happen. Every everything you hear is that gaze is
Speaker 1: done as soon as next week's game is over. So
Speaker 1: now I think the decision with the Jets, with Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence out of the picture, is do you use this
Speaker 1: this war chest that you have and all these draft picks,
Speaker 1: uh to build around quarterback? Uh? Not necessarily with Donald
Speaker 1: as you were, guy, but with the understanding that, um,
Speaker 1: if you prove everything around him, including the head coach,
Speaker 1: that the team will get better quicker, or do you
Speaker 1: just restart everywhere? And there's a case to make on
Speaker 1: both sides. Uh. And that's going to be the narrative
Speaker 1: around the Jets this offseason. I Mean, here's the thing
Speaker 1: that the Browns like, this was a disastrous Sunday, um
Speaker 1: watching them, and it was a disastrous luck you know
Speaker 1: coming into it. But the Colts lost. You know, the
Speaker 1: Steelers really helped them out there. Um, that was a
Speaker 1: massive result for Cleveland. That all they gotta do is
Speaker 1: winning in against the Steelers who have nothing to play
Speaker 1: for and very likely I I believe will be will
Speaker 1: not play their starters throughout that game. We probably won't
Speaker 1: know until the game actually happens, but they've been you know,
Speaker 1: I just think it could have gone worse. I guess
Speaker 1: is how I would say, just because of the results
Speaker 1: their tenants five the Jets would have. You know, if
Speaker 1: it wasn't for that the zero blitz thing, the Jets
Speaker 1: of one would have won three out of four. Again,
Speaker 1: you know, the Rams had everyone available last week and
Speaker 1: they lost to the Jets. You know, the Raiders, we're
Speaker 1: hoping to make the playoffs. They lost to the Jets.
Speaker 1: So it's I guess that the way it's going right now,
Speaker 1: it's not totally shocking without all these players that the
Speaker 1: Browns didn't find a way to win. You know, if
Speaker 1: they had won that game, Adam Gays will be putting
Speaker 1: together a run reminiscent of one former Jets and former
Speaker 1: Brown's head coach one Eric Mangini, who saved his job
Speaker 1: with four straight wins to end of season. That would
Speaker 1: be the disaster scenario for dance Jets. Yes, I don't
Speaker 1: see it happening, but you know, never rule anything out.
Speaker 1: As a Jets Van Nick Shook, you're a total pro.
Speaker 1: You are. You're the pipe man. That's what I call
Speaker 1: you six Man of the Year. Thank you as always,
Speaker 1: and enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Yeah, no problem,
Speaker 1: thanks guys. All right, let's move on and check in
Speaker 1: with the number one seed in the a f C.
Speaker 1: Thirty nine yard field goal here attempt by Coup. He's
Speaker 1: only missed one all year, thirty five out of thirty six.
Speaker 1: He's the NFC pro goal kicker. Wisps down, cus kick
Speaker 1: is up and the kick is bet. It is no good,
Speaker 1: no good tools all invest one all year? Remember what
Speaker 1: the Chargers. He struggled early in his career and thought
Speaker 1: he would never kick in the NFL again. Young mrs
Speaker 1: only his second field goal attempt at the season. Mitch
Speaker 1: Holt is w d a f How cool you see
Speaker 1: what he did there? Not bad? Not bad? Young Waiku
Speaker 1: had been brilliant this year, but he pushed the thirty
Speaker 1: nine yarder in the final seconds on Sunday, allowing the
Speaker 1: Chiefs to escape with a seventeen fourteen win over the Falcons.
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes salvaged a frustrating afternoon with the go ahead
Speaker 1: touchdown past the Mcole Hardman in the final minutes, but
Speaker 1: then even then, the case Casey defense was unable to
Speaker 1: close out the Falcons on offense, uh in the final drive,
Speaker 1: but then Coup bailed them out. So you know, one
Speaker 1: of those things, guys, where sometimes it's to be both
Speaker 1: lucky and good. It seems unfair to the rest of
Speaker 1: the NFL. They have been lucky. A J. Terrell had
Speaker 1: an interception of the homes you know, which would have
Speaker 1: been you know, the second one right in the red
Speaker 1: zone in with two minutes left that would have ended
Speaker 1: the game. He just survived the contact with the ground
Speaker 1: like that that moment. Again, not saying that everything is
Speaker 1: about the Browns here, but it is interesting to think
Speaker 1: about how Week seventeen would be different if if the
Speaker 1: Falcons win this game, the Steelers would have had a
Speaker 1: chance to play for home field advantage. Now the Chiefs
Speaker 1: have it. The Chiefs will have the decision whether they
Speaker 1: want to rest for a couple of weeks or not.
Speaker 1: But uh, this team is confusing to me because you know,
Speaker 1: they feel dominant, but they haven't. Um. You know, we
Speaker 1: talked about the desert and uh, I don't know. It's
Speaker 1: weird because on game debut, like we can just say
Speaker 1: the point spread, so why can't we hear maybe we
Speaker 1: can I think probably find there. The Chiefs have not
Speaker 1: done their job. Put it this way in terms of
Speaker 1: the desert since they play the Jets in Week eight.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. So they are the worst team in the
Speaker 1: NFL against the against the spread right now, depending on
Speaker 1: where you're going right um, which is which is wild.
Speaker 1: But it's just a reflection of people expect them to
Speaker 1: win by two scores and they never do. And the
Speaker 1: Falcons are always close. Falcons have a game that matters
Speaker 1: next week too against the Bucks, so that's something to watch.
Speaker 1: But it's weird. It's a weird team. When I have
Speaker 1: a feeling they'll be able to flip the switch in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, but they never really totally flipped it in
Speaker 1: the regular season. They do at least overcome mistakes. I mean,
Speaker 1: this could have gone either way. But and then one
Speaker 1: or two other games from Mahomes has been gotten to
Speaker 1: and created some errors. Like they they're powerful enough to
Speaker 1: get through that, so I can consider them incredibly resilient.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, maybe maybe it's a little bit
Speaker 1: um it just became a little too easy, uh, collectively,
Speaker 1: just to assume the Kansas City would wipe people out
Speaker 1: and to assume that they had been wiping people out
Speaker 1: when they actually had not. Um. I probably fell into
Speaker 1: that trap a little bit of even like if Mahomes
Speaker 1: throws two bad passes in a row, I'm relatively stunned
Speaker 1: by it because you're just expecting perfection at this point,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna have a couple of games like this
Speaker 1: and it's still a matter of who do you trust
Speaker 1: the most to go on a three game run. Um,
Speaker 1: I'd put Baltimore there right now, and I'd put Kansas City.
Speaker 1: The rest of the teams have issues. Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 1: I mean as much as they could be frustrating because
Speaker 1: from our perspective, especially you after watching them win the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl last year and how incredible that run was,
Speaker 1: with all those comebacks and the point explosions, you expect
Speaker 1: them to just dominate the opposition. Uh. And then so
Speaker 1: you get on them for these close games and it's
Speaker 1: seeming like they're getting lucky. But then you look at
Speaker 1: their fourteen and one that is the most wins in
Speaker 1: the single season a Chiefs history. Uh, they may not
Speaker 1: be dominating the way we want them to. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure if you're a Chiefs fan you're you don't like
Speaker 1: that you're sweating out a game against the Falcons in
Speaker 1: week sixteen, but you know at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: you're getting it done. And if you the only the
Speaker 1: only way this is an shoe is if you actually
Speaker 1: do believe that the way these Chiefs have been playing
Speaker 1: this last month or so, where it just they seem
Speaker 1: to turn it on and off and go into little funks,
Speaker 1: if that's something that is going to follow them into
Speaker 1: January football, and I just don't see it. And I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people expect them to essentially flip
Speaker 1: a switch that stays on this time around. But even
Speaker 1: I say that, but even their playoff run last year,
Speaker 1: they went through the funks. So they went down double jig.
Speaker 1: It's ten ten points, fourteen points, I think, twenty points
Speaker 1: against Houston something like crazy like that, and it didn't matter.
Speaker 1: So just enjoy the roller coaster that is the Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs. I would be worried as a Chiefs fel
Speaker 1: I don't like the whole rest theme for two weeks,
Speaker 1: which is basically what happened last year too. And you're right,
Speaker 1: they dig dug it. I think it was twenty four
Speaker 1: nothing hole against Houston. UM, I don't like that feeling.
Speaker 1: Go out and just lace of wood on the Chargers
Speaker 1: next week and feel good about it. They're not gonna
Speaker 1: do it, so you want them to. They're not. That
Speaker 1: just makes sense, But it probably will come down to
Speaker 1: they have not in a play for and and part
Speaker 1: of it is because of Andy Reid's track record. He
Speaker 1: this happened to him in Philadelphia. Sometimes it's happened in
Speaker 1: Kansas City that he rests the starters. At this point,
Speaker 1: most of the NFL rest starters. He was kind of
Speaker 1: ahead of his time. This is the one year where
Speaker 1: if you wanted to make um probably a failed but
Speaker 1: out there pitch to not get the bye is that
Speaker 1: the bye week opens up all these avenues for one
Speaker 1: um flunkey to go catch Corona and have half like
Speaker 1: your team wiped out. It's like I kind of like
Speaker 1: keeping these teams on a very systematic, robotic schedule. UM,
Speaker 1: and you know, I trust the Chiefs to keep a
Speaker 1: lin on it, but you never know. Alright, good take Mark.
Speaker 1: That was a little bit of a p s A
Speaker 1: for I like it made. I think it made a
Speaker 1: lot of teams think when they hear it all right,
Speaker 1: we just talked about the best team in the a
Speaker 1: f C. Now the worst. Wiskey back out of shutter,
Speaker 1: back on back snap Tramiskey, play fake, gonna roll to
Speaker 1: the near side, Gonna keep it at the five? Why
Speaker 1: open to the end zone? Touchdown Metro Trabisky touchdown Bears
Speaker 1: Jeff John They a w BBM Mitch Drabinsky ran for
Speaker 1: a touchdown through for two more bolta veteran Jimmy Graham.
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham and the Bears whipped up on the Jaguars
Speaker 1: to set up a winning in scenario next week against
Speaker 1: the Packers. Uh, you know, I don't know. It's a
Speaker 1: good job by Chicago. Let me say that first. What
Speaker 1: they've been able to do the last three weeks, especially
Speaker 1: on offense. Uh, Travisky has gone from laughing stock to
Speaker 1: a legitimate, you know, solution and a quarterback during this
Speaker 1: stretch of games. And a guy that moves the offense
Speaker 1: with efficiency, makes plays with his arms and legs. I
Speaker 1: mean he They would have scored maybe a fifty burger
Speaker 1: in this game if he doesn't exit the game early
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter because it turned into such a
Speaker 1: grizzly blowout. And it turned into a grizzly blowout because
Speaker 1: the Jaguars tried to lose this game. Let's not. Let's
Speaker 1: not you know, even hint that they were trying to
Speaker 1: win this game. You know, when you start Mike Glennon,
Speaker 1: uh and cite a quarterback competition this week. Doug Marone
Speaker 1: being a good soldier there. Who knows if they you know,
Speaker 1: he's trying to kiss up to the cons to keep
Speaker 1: his job. Who knows. But Glennon was terrible and uh
Speaker 1: and the Bears, even if Glennon was out and Minshew
Speaker 1: was in, the Bears are going to score a lot
Speaker 1: of points in this game. So Jacksonville gets what they
Speaker 1: really wanted in this game. The number one overall pick
Speaker 1: is now clinched. They should have Trevor Lawrence under center
Speaker 1: next September, barring some type of manning scenario. Oh and
Speaker 1: I would love that. I will love it. You're yeah,
Speaker 1: you're a little You're a little salty about it. I'm
Speaker 1: a little salty. I just didn't like the way they
Speaker 1: went about it. It didn't it didn't. It didn't sit
Speaker 1: with me the right way the players were trying. I mean,
Speaker 1: this thing was like ten ten midway through the second
Speaker 1: and then they know the next time I checked the score,
Speaker 1: it's like thirty four to ten, like five minutes late. Um,
Speaker 1: It's it's crazy. I get, you know, they've had a
Speaker 1: pretty rough ten you know, run here the last fifteen
Speaker 1: years of Jaguars. Now they get rewarded with trevor Or Lawrence.
Speaker 1: I mean the Bears are I guess, a good you
Speaker 1: know example of how you can't always count on, you know,
Speaker 1: a high quarterback to to solve everything. But they do
Speaker 1: have Mitch who just this morning, before before the game started,
Speaker 1: I saw one of my favorite headlines of the year
Speaker 1: from Adam Schefter, and it was NFL executives colon like, Bears,
Speaker 1: you know, should resign Mitchell Robinsky, Like because he's playing
Speaker 1: so well. Yeah, it's like, maybe don't listen to those
Speaker 1: you know, anonymous NFL executives telling you to sign Mitchell Drabinsky,
Speaker 1: Like how transparent is this? Like, hey, by the way,
Speaker 1: your competition really thinks you need to stein mit Mitchell Robinsky.
Speaker 1: Now that's room that threw me too. And uh, I mean,
Speaker 1: if anything, it's good for Mitch Drabinsky and and you know,
Speaker 1: for I've critiqued the Bears because I am not into Um,
Speaker 1: I like good defense, but I'm not in a team
Speaker 1: that like they're trying to you know, win games. You know,
Speaker 1: with the offense consistently scoring seventeen points. This is the
Speaker 1: first Bears team to score thirty LUs in four straight
Speaker 1: games since the sixties. Um, So what's what's not to
Speaker 1: like right now? If you want to talk about who's
Speaker 1: going to get in? This team is as exciting to
Speaker 1: me as the Arizona Cardinals on some level. So it's
Speaker 1: like my critique of the Bears was more like, Bears fans,
Speaker 1: don't you want an offense that's productive? And I I
Speaker 1: would just, um completely ignore questions about what to do
Speaker 1: with the quarterback and the coaches and all that business
Speaker 1: for another day. If I'm the Bears, I wouldn't let
Speaker 1: the Bears general manager make these decisions to start with.
Speaker 1: I would like, I would like to see how the
Speaker 1: Bears do when they're actually playing a half decent team.
Speaker 1: Their three wins, which by the way, followed a six
Speaker 1: game losing streak or against the dead ass Texans, the
Speaker 1: dead ass Vikings, the dead ass Jaguars, and the Packers,
Speaker 1: I believe will have something to play for next week, right, Greg,
Speaker 1: I don't know, we'll see um, but that is that's
Speaker 1: a pretty cushy schedule to get yourself back on track
Speaker 1: in eight and seven. Not taking anything away from them,
Speaker 1: but it should be stated that they have not been
Speaker 1: beating up on elite defenses. Yeah, I'm happy that the
Speaker 1: Packers are gonna have home field advantage to play for
Speaker 1: UM in in week seventeen because I really don't like
Speaker 1: it when playoff spots and we've seen it plenty of
Speaker 1: times get decided UH on teams resting their starters. So
Speaker 1: the Packers will have plenty to play for and and
Speaker 1: that's good because the Bears will have to earn their
Speaker 1: way in now. They could potentially lose that game the Bears,
Speaker 1: that is, and if the Rams take care of business
Speaker 1: against the Cardinals, the Bears still get in, so they
Speaker 1: have some they have some wiggle room, and UH, Bears
Speaker 1: Saints is about as likely as a playoff matchup we
Speaker 1: can There's almost like no likely playoff matchups. Everything is
Speaker 1: so up in the air, But Bears or Cardinals at
Speaker 1: Saints sounds like a very possible wild card to seven matchup.
Speaker 1: I just want to see Mitch throw for three yards
Speaker 1: and four touchdowns and run for another next week, and
Speaker 1: then play great in in a heartbreaking playoff loss that's
Speaker 1: not his fault, and then just be like, hey, Bears,
Speaker 1: figure it out now, Yeah, it's in play potentially here.
Speaker 1: This is another thing that we joked about two months ago,
Speaker 1: and now it is a very strict in real possibility.
Speaker 1: So knowing their ownership, I think Naggie saved his job
Speaker 1: no matter what happens. Strabiski, I don't know what's going
Speaker 1: to happen, but I would be surprised if Naggy losing.
Speaker 1: Naggi saved his job by giving away the thing that
Speaker 1: he claimed to be his special trait, which is play calling.
Speaker 1: So that should give you pause. But I think you're
Speaker 1: right that if they make the playoffs, I don't think
Speaker 1: there'd be much debate there. Hey, Ricky, set the clock on.
Speaker 1: These last two games were in the corn fields now
Speaker 1: with Denver and the Los Angeles Chargers locked the pass,
Speaker 1: they rushed three Setsuski climbs the pocket now and he
Speaker 1: left this fly. It's gonna be short of the end zone.
Speaker 1: It looks like spotted Mike Williams with the interception. There
Speaker 1: you go, big Mike, get yourself one more reception in
Speaker 1: the game. The game is over the charge or win.
Speaker 1: Heck of a reception by Mike Pick Williams from Drew
Speaker 1: Lock to end it. Matt money Smith, Boy, I'm a
Speaker 1: call k Y s R. And am happy Matt money
Speaker 1: Smith because he got to call a nice, clean play
Speaker 1: to end the game. No questions, no reviews, no drama.
Speaker 1: It's just over Drew Locks. Hail Mary head went unanswered,
Speaker 1: and Justin Herbert broke Baker Mayfield's rookie touchdown record and
Speaker 1: the Chargers nineteen sixteen win over the Broncos. That's three
Speaker 1: straight wins for Los Angeles. Mark Uh, you know, good
Speaker 1: for them, Yeah, good, good for them. And you know,
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert also crossed four thousand yards, so an awesome
Speaker 1: year for him. I will say this game got um
Speaker 1: like all the others, quite chargery because it was sixteen
Speaker 1: to three Los Angeles seconds into the fourth quarter, and
Speaker 1: during all this they allowed the Broncos to score on
Speaker 1: four straight drives. This was a Broncos team that had
Speaker 1: sixty seven yards passing at the half um and it
Speaker 1: created this final drama. But the lock um drive at
Speaker 1: the end there, which which ended in the Mike Williams
Speaker 1: interception in the end zone. It started with him um
Speaker 1: missing with Jerry Judy on a on a big pass
Speaker 1: down field, and then in the one driving narrative of
Speaker 1: this game, beyond two teams that are essentially staring at
Speaker 1: the offseason, you want seventeen regular season games, you want
Speaker 1: more of this, go get it for yourselves next season, NFL.
Speaker 1: But Jerry Judy fifteen targets, and I really liked him
Speaker 1: this year at times six catches for sixty one yards
Speaker 1: and five drops. I mean, I think that honestly was
Speaker 1: the difference in this game. He had a couple of
Speaker 1: big opportunities and they just lot. You know, you get
Speaker 1: the quarterback that comes in there, and I point to
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert where everyone around him becomes better and these
Speaker 1: guys that have been not been making plays start making plays.
Speaker 1: Um today, he did that with a couple of people,
Speaker 1: even without Keenan Allen in the lineup, and Drew Lock
Speaker 1: just does not seem to be that guy. And so they,
Speaker 1: you know, they spent the whole second half of this
Speaker 1: asking the same questions we do about Locked. The gonna
Speaker 1: be you know asking for months into the off season.
Speaker 1: And that's all I gotta say about this game. If
Speaker 1: you want to say something for three seconds, say it. Wow.
Speaker 1: Marks setting the table. He took the whole two minutes.
Speaker 1: I didn't realize that I wasn't attempting to do that.
Speaker 1: He set the table. He ate, He cleared the table.
Speaker 1: Let's move on, Sam hut right into the hands of Marcus.
Speaker 1: That's an interception for the Bengals. As Hubbard got to
Speaker 1: the right side of Watson poked the ball out of
Speaker 1: his arm. Watson is hurt and the ball fluttered right
Speaker 1: to Margus Hunt for the pick. All right, let's try
Speaker 1: this again, dan Ford w c k Y with a call.
Speaker 1: Tell me if you heard this one before. The Texans
Speaker 1: were driving for the go ed score in the final
Speaker 1: minutes when insert tragedy here, this time Shaun Watson sacked
Speaker 1: by Sam Hubbard, forced to fumble Margaret's Hunt. The greatest
Speaker 1: Stodian recovered. The Bengals added a field go after that
Speaker 1: thirty one they win. They beat the Texans that since
Speaker 1: his first road win a two year Sessler. Yeah, um,
Speaker 1: quick nugget on this one. Watson seems to be okay.
Speaker 1: According to James Palmer, um that he's you know that
Speaker 1: the injury at the end, he looked like he was
Speaker 1: in pain, should be okay, this is a Texans team.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the Bears going up against him. Brandon Allen
Speaker 1: through for three hundred and seventy one yards and was
Speaker 1: not stacked, So that kind of should tell you all
Speaker 1: you need to do. I came out thinking like, yeah,
Speaker 1: for the Bengals, Zach Taylor, I thought, put together a
Speaker 1: really good game plan, but you are playing the um
Speaker 1: one of the worst past defenses I've ever seen in
Speaker 1: my life. They the Bengals had five and forty yards.
Speaker 1: I thought Brandon Allen actually played well against the Cowboys,
Speaker 1: which is a crazy thought, but they kept turning it over.
Speaker 1: That wasn't related to Brandon Allen. I don't think he's
Speaker 1: the worst backup in the league anyways. I do think
Speaker 1: these games I always find them interesting, how they change
Speaker 1: what's like huge decisions even though they're meaningless. If you know,
Speaker 1: we know Zach Taylor is not getting fired there if
Speaker 1: there was any chance of that, the last couple of
Speaker 1: weeks got rid of that. UM we found out Fangio
Speaker 1: is not getting fired today. Um our Network and ESPN
Speaker 1: reported that, which which is interesting. Um, and uh, you
Speaker 1: think about who who did who did fand you and
Speaker 1: I think Anthony Lynne Anthony Lynn. I know we're not
Speaker 1: on that game, but like I think he may avoid
Speaker 1: getting fired because of these because what does it mean
Speaker 1: for Tom Talasco, who's already fired a couple of coaches.
Speaker 1: Does he go with them? The Chargers just might be
Speaker 1: like too lazy to do it? And uh, these games
Speaker 1: that really don't mean anything. A lot of times like
Speaker 1: changed the next couple of years. Well, I've watched the
Speaker 1: Chargers this year. All I could think of is bring
Speaker 1: back Anthony. Isn't Yeah, it isn't that terrible that like
Speaker 1: we're making it happens so often, but it's the most
Speaker 1: perilous way to make a huge decision. Well, it's also
Speaker 1: it's also about different organizations, you know, like the Chargers.
Speaker 1: I feel like I don't want to spend the money
Speaker 1: or started it all over, you know. And a shout
Speaker 1: out to David Johnson season high and rushing yards, scrimmage yards,
Speaker 1: touchdowns and it's his first one yard games since week
Speaker 1: A lot in two. Thousen that trade was worth it
Speaker 1: to Sunday Night for Ball Sunday Night play Action Rogers
Speaker 1: looking for his fourth touch that flash of the night
Speaker 1: ditch its welcome back Al Michael's at the call for NBC,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers locked up the two thousand twenty m v
Speaker 1: P Award with another big showing four touchdowns, three to
Speaker 1: Davante Adams. Unbelievable the year those two have had. Uh
Speaker 1: what a fearsome pair of pairing at fourteen win for
Speaker 1: the Packers over the Titans, a blowout for Green Bay
Speaker 1: winch one step closer to the number one seed in
Speaker 1: the NFC. Mark Sessler, the Titans, you know, their defense
Speaker 1: has been their achilles heel all season. They just weren't
Speaker 1: up to the task at snowy lambeau Field. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: thought it was interesting to hear Chris Collinsworth note that
Speaker 1: Matt lafleur Um, who you know, I think we like
Speaker 1: on the show. But we've taken we take a little
Speaker 1: throw a few little arrows at him with his boy
Speaker 1: with a beard scenario. He's not a boy anymore. But
Speaker 1: he talked about the fact that he Um felt like
Speaker 1: they could open up the playbook, can use plays that
Speaker 1: they wouldn't use in other situations against other teams, UM,
Speaker 1: basically because of Tennessee's pass rush. And this was just
Speaker 1: the kind of game where I thought, Um, the Titans
Speaker 1: are not totally built to win this kind of um
Speaker 1: situation in the snow. I know everyone thinks it's just
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry, but so much of their offense because they
Speaker 1: are more balanced than I think that the perception is
Speaker 1: around them. Um that the play action passed, the boot pass,
Speaker 1: a lot of that stuff got removed early. And then
Speaker 1: you have, um, the Packers running uh you know, rough
Speaker 1: shot over over the Titans defense. And I just think
Speaker 1: that when they can run the ball this way, it
Speaker 1: sets up Aaron Rodgers for glory and they looked unstoppable tonight.
Speaker 1: You have. It builds my belief and who they can be. H.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of ways that Titans can win.
Speaker 1: But if Tannehill throws two in or exceptions, uh and
Speaker 1: goes eleven for twenty one yard, it's not gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Like if this is all the Packers need, but you know,
Speaker 1: to get that sort of defensive performance. But they could
Speaker 1: have played this game all night and the Titans would
Speaker 1: have gotten anywhere near Aaron Rodgers. I mean, almost anyone
Speaker 1: could play quarterback. Rogers was good. But the amazing thing
Speaker 1: is so many of great Rogers is greatest games this year.
Speaker 1: He hasn't had to make like Wold plays. There weren't
Speaker 1: a ton of wild plays tonight. Like they didn't need to.
Speaker 1: They just moved the ball up and down the field.
Speaker 1: Guys were wide open. It's just such a professional offense,
Speaker 1: the way they go about their business. Yeah, thirty seven
Speaker 1: carries two and thirty four yards, two touchdowns. A J. A. J.
Speaker 1: Dillon went off for one, Aaron Jones went off for
Speaker 1: ninety four UM and it really should have been about
Speaker 1: sixty four, but Mike Brabel did not toss his red
Speaker 1: flag on that run. That's set up a Packers. I
Speaker 1: mean that just that was really the Titans night in
Speaker 1: a nutshell. They were just a step slow and just
Speaker 1: not all the way there. Chris Collins was said something
Speaker 1: a little bit unfair. I thought, at the end of
Speaker 1: the know that the Titans are type of team here
Speaker 1: that weren't ready for playing in these type of conditions.
Speaker 1: I don't think the Titans should be labeled that way.
Speaker 1: I think they showed that they were a tough team
Speaker 1: last January. But on the flip side of that, this
Speaker 1: defense is going to get them beat at some point
Speaker 1: in January. I just don't. I think that's just one
Speaker 1: of those things where I look at all these teams, Well,
Speaker 1: if they even get there, I shouldn't. I shouldn't assume
Speaker 1: they beat the Texans next week to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Anything can happen. But this defense week after week and
Speaker 1: these big matchups against contenders. Remember we saw it with
Speaker 1: the Browns a couple of weeks ago, even a total
Speaker 1: destruction of their day. So when Ryan Tannehill doesn't have it,
Speaker 1: and there's been a few weeks where he hasn't this year,
Speaker 1: he's had a really nice year, Uh, there's no coming back.
Speaker 1: This happens. Well, it's like and and honestly, I look
Speaker 1: at the Houston game in Week seventeen, and Houston's offense
Speaker 1: when they want to be it can be super frisky.
Speaker 1: And I don't love that for Tennessee. I mean, if
Speaker 1: you you know you do that, and this is a
Speaker 1: smart thing to do. Greg does the worst position group
Speaker 1: or best position group in a game. And the Titans
Speaker 1: defense just has not impacted quarterbacks all year long. So
Speaker 1: I think you know, you look, you could go chart
Speaker 1: a couple of Titans games were certain offenses that need
Speaker 1: to get off the humper, like quarterbacks that needed to shine,
Speaker 1: had some of their best games against Tennessee. Because they're unaffected,
Speaker 1: they're not badgered in those games. That would concern me. Right,
Speaker 1: So then you then I not even play. I mean,
Speaker 1: if the Texans beat them, everyone go home. The Texans
Speaker 1: can't beat the Bengals. The Texans, you know, they've been
Speaker 1: somewhat competitive, but not overly lately that it's just we
Speaker 1: don't even know if Watson's gonna play. But yeah, you're right,
Speaker 1: they do win the division the Titans if they win
Speaker 1: this game. I do push back a little and like
Speaker 1: Collins or, I think he holds a lot of sway
Speaker 1: because a lot of AP voters are just kind of
Speaker 1: like tuning in right now. It's like he said, the
Speaker 1: m v P race is over. Don't tell me it's over.
Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, there's a big week left
Speaker 1: for this Packers team, Like that's a significant part of
Speaker 1: the sample. And and I don't think it's like some
Speaker 1: huge difference between Mahomes and Rogers. I think Mahomes will
Speaker 1: even if the season ended today, would get some votes.
Speaker 1: And they're both gonna play next week. If if Rogers
Speaker 1: like had a stink bomb, you know that that that's
Speaker 1: part of it. Um. I don't think it's over. And
Speaker 1: when I remember this season, it's crazy. I think I'll
Speaker 1: remember Davante Adams just as much because we have We've
Speaker 1: always talked about like, oh, Adams is one of the best,
Speaker 1: the very best receivers in league. But this is the
Speaker 1: year to me where he is the the the guy.
Speaker 1: And because he missed a couple of games, the numbers
Speaker 1: aren't quite as crazy. He's still won ten for over
Speaker 1: right now. But man, he has just been dominant and
Speaker 1: tonight was another dominant night. And on the flip side,
Speaker 1: like you like it, it feels like game after game
Speaker 1: you're watching a J. Brown limp off the field. He's
Speaker 1: been dealing with a lot healthwise. Corey Davis didn't show
Speaker 1: up tonight. This just was not Tennessee's evening. It doesn't
Speaker 1: really lower my opinion of what they can do if
Speaker 1: they're on, but they're just a insided team to me.
Speaker 1: And but there's the a f C has a lot
Speaker 1: of this going on. So I don't know what will
Speaker 1: happen obviously, that's why they keep doing this. Otherwise, I
Speaker 1: tell you right now what will happen. There you go,
Speaker 1: and then personal milestone watch. Derrick Henry finished just under
Speaker 1: a hundred yards in this game. He needed to get
Speaker 1: about a hundred and fifty to stay on pace for
Speaker 1: two thousands. So now he would need an absolute monster
Speaker 1: game against Houston next week to do it. But you
Speaker 1: know what, don't put it past Derrick Henry, especially against
Speaker 1: the Texans defense. Uh, and Greg you are You're good
Speaker 1: with this stuff, so I'll see it up. The Packers
Speaker 1: have the number one seed locked up. If they win
Speaker 1: next week, they are the number one seed in the NFC,
Speaker 1: they get the bye and the NFC playoffs go through
Speaker 1: lambeau Field. But two other teams can get that by
Speaker 1: as well. How does it happen? Well, yeah, original Steve Correy,
Speaker 1: Cornaki Karnaki, baby, yeah you could be Corneck. Well, if
Speaker 1: it's a three way tie, the Saints can get in,
Speaker 1: which so the Saints are not out of it yet.
Speaker 1: They have that um that game next week because shoot, now,
Speaker 1: I forget who did the Saints play off the top
Speaker 1: of my head. Bad job the Panthers. The Panthers uh,
Speaker 1: and then uh the Seahawks Uh still haven't out have
Speaker 1: a chance to because they would win the tiebreak over
Speaker 1: the Packers. If the Packers lost the Seahawks one and
Speaker 1: the Saints lost, then the Seahawks still have a chance
Speaker 1: at field advantage. So it's nice that, like all these
Speaker 1: teams have something to play for. And I think people
Speaker 1: are gonna be frustrated. I don't know if you're gonna
Speaker 1: get to this about the Sunday night game. I know
Speaker 1: Mark's not happy about this. Feels corporate, like very corporate.
Speaker 1: What do they what was the announcement? So it's the
Speaker 1: Washington football team versus the Eagles and get out of here. So,
Speaker 1: you know, the more I thought about it, because I
Speaker 1: always try to guess these things, and I had a
Speaker 1: flaw in my guests, which was was Rams Cardinals. They're
Speaker 1: in a tough spot. They can't pick a game that
Speaker 1: has a potential to be dead. And they also can't
Speaker 1: or at least shouldn't, and I think they don't pick
Speaker 1: game that could change competitive that could be a competitive
Speaker 1: disadvantage of a team making the playoffs. And I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure that eliminated every single game except for Washington Eagles.
Speaker 1: If you pick any other game possibly on the slate,
Speaker 1: it either could not matter at all um for both teams,
Speaker 1: or it could not matter for one of the two teams,
Speaker 1: and they would have rested all their starters. Like let's
Speaker 1: say the Packers or the Rams if they knew they
Speaker 1: were in before they got to Sunday football, then they
Speaker 1: rest their starters and suddenly the Cardinals, for instance, make
Speaker 1: the playoffs just because they got to play on Sunday night.
Speaker 1: But it sucks. It's about a third rule. You have
Speaker 1: to eliminate the game that could feature Tyler Heineke started.
Speaker 1: That's very fair. I would rather roll the dice with
Speaker 1: a game that could be great or have compelling storylines
Speaker 1: and good quarterbacks involved, than lock yourself into, you know,
Speaker 1: the worst division in the history of the fessional football
Speaker 1: limping to the finish. I don't know. I understand both
Speaker 1: sides of it. I know what you're saying. I do
Speaker 1: think they did not want the chance of putting um
Speaker 1: Mason Rudolph and Myles Garrett back in prime time. Well right,
Speaker 1: or well, it's not so much that is just they
Speaker 1: don't I don't want to deliver a team. They don't
Speaker 1: want to deliver a team to the playoffs. For instance,
Speaker 1: let's say they put the Bears Packers in there, and
Speaker 1: the Bears knew they didn't have to to play, then
Speaker 1: you know it's a dead game. Or you know they
Speaker 1: could have had the Rams sitting everyone, and suddenly the
Speaker 1: Cardinals make the playoffs because of that. It's a tough
Speaker 1: spot and the same thing could have happened with almost
Speaker 1: every a f C team, So I know a lot
Speaker 1: of options. I will say for us, it's bad luck
Speaker 1: for us if the Dallas Cowboys make the playoffs and
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns do not. I my personal UM rule
Speaker 1: to myself is that I will follow no human rules
Speaker 1: through the entire off season, UM, be them personal or societal.
Speaker 1: I do not follow any rules at that point that
Speaker 1: to me tells me everything is broke and down to
Speaker 1: such a degree that, UM, I'm not interested in what
Speaker 1: else thinks or does total spiral scenario on deck for Cessler.
Speaker 1: Let's hope it doesn't play out that way. I have
Speaker 1: to say that, UM, I don't know Mike Tomlin, but
Speaker 1: I followed his coaching career and I know what the
Speaker 1: Steelers what they just came out of that horrid funk?
Speaker 1: Am I certain that Mike Tomlin was not gonna say, no,
Speaker 1: we gotta keep grinding, we want to go into playoff
Speaker 1: sealing strong? Does he really want to bench his entire
Speaker 1: offense when they just came to life after they went
Speaker 1: into that deep slump. I want to I want to
Speaker 1: bank on the Steelers rest in people. I don't. The
Speaker 1: only thing is they had no boy and that was
Speaker 1: such a sticking point with the roster. As I mean,
Speaker 1: I understand a sound of gray, wonder if it's press
Speaker 1: certain people but not others. But that's the one team
Speaker 1: that I thought how to legit beef with how they
Speaker 1: were moved around left and right and lost the week
Speaker 1: off which every other team has. So do you use
Speaker 1: it for that reason? But do your point Dan, like
Speaker 1: I mean, have they earned a week off to go
Speaker 1: sit in street close watching backups toil? No, they might
Speaker 1: want to stick it to the Browns to you know,
Speaker 1: his division ride might one who I'm sure they I'm
Speaker 1: sure they would love to, you know, open up with
Speaker 1: that little beautiful nightcap. Two things, Jared Goff, there are
Speaker 1: reports out there that that thumb injury that he suffered
Speaker 1: in the second half of today's loss is a broken thumb,
Speaker 1: which puts his status for Week seventeen very much in doubt.
Speaker 1: With the Rams potentially needing a win to get to
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and the backup quarterback of the Los Angeles
Speaker 1: Rams is John Wolford. People about that never taking a
Speaker 1: snap in the NFL. Now you know he's He's had
Speaker 1: some fun ones. In the preseason. Ian Rapport did the
Speaker 1: weird thing where he said teammates are made, some fun made,
Speaker 1: some fun place where I was like, Wow, John Wolford,
Speaker 1: I'm surprised, um and uh Ian Rappaport. Ian Rappaport said,
Speaker 1: like his teammates have been really like excited, you know,
Speaker 1: about what he's doing in practice. It's just almost like
Speaker 1: you don't even pass that along. That's the first agent
Speaker 1: asking for a favorite. What's happening here? No, I mean
Speaker 1: I was more getting wondering, like, is this the first
Speaker 1: little bread comes of Wolford comes in here, has a
Speaker 1: decent game, gets them to the playoffs, and we've got
Speaker 1: the golf golf controversy all offseason. I tried to call
Speaker 1: it the golf troversy. Right off the bat, and uh,
Speaker 1: I like it. I like I like that to hold
Speaker 1: my breath on that one. Um And finally we talked
Speaker 1: about Christmas at the top of the show. And I
Speaker 1: want to say a big shout out to Stephen over
Speaker 1: at Stew's Wood. You know, some people think that Stew's
Speaker 1: Wood the wood craftsman who does incredible work and has
Speaker 1: done stuff for the show, including crafting um our Lock
Speaker 1: of the Week title one year, and I know he's
Speaker 1: done projects for Chris Westling. Uh it's Stew's Wood is
Speaker 1: the company, but his name is Stephen and uh. I
Speaker 1: reached out to Steven and asked him to put together
Speaker 1: charcooterie board is what they call it for My wife
Speaker 1: was asking for that, and you know, he did great work.
Speaker 1: As you look at the craftsmanship there, it's nice. Do
Speaker 1: you put on that just like cheese and crackers and
Speaker 1: stuff just things that you don't like cheese, crackers, things
Speaker 1: like that. But I'm just asking that's the main purpose
Speaker 1: of it. So shout out to Stephen over at Stew's
Speaker 1: Wood and Stewswood dot com. Check out his website. Also
Speaker 1: on the Graham and Twitter. So thanks to anybody else
Speaker 1: have anything that I would request that Steven build me
Speaker 1: a second house in l A out of wood. Can
Speaker 1: he does he have time for that? A tinder box?
Speaker 1: All right, Steven, reach out to Mark and maybe you
Speaker 1: can make that happen for him. All right? The week
Speaker 1: ahead Tuesday Show, Get excited. No Thursday Night football, that's over.
Speaker 1: In fact, next Sunday's show. Every team plays on Sunday,
Speaker 1: so a monster Sunday show. And that will also of
Speaker 1: course decide the playoffs. So yes, we are here now
Speaker 1: that we're heading towards the season finale, the regular season finale.
Speaker 1: I look at it like a television show. So's you
Speaker 1: can't miss this week on the Around the NFL podcast.
Speaker 1: Thank you to everybody, uh for listening. And until then,
Speaker 1: this is Dan Hansons signing off for a quiet storm
Speaker 1: the Old Boss, Ricky Hollywood and Nick Shook the pipe
Speaker 1: Man until Tuesday m