Speaker 1: They Around the NFL podcast is not responsible for the
Speaker 1: downfall of your favorite geees.
Speaker 2: Take responsibility from the Chris Westling podcast studio.
Speaker 3: It's around the NFL.
Speaker 2: Dan Hans is here, got the Heroes, Greg Rosenthal, Mark
Speaker 2: Sessler the Week seventeen preview.
Speaker 4: In Bulk.
Speaker 5: What's up, guys, I disagree with what Zumwalt said. Uh well,
Speaker 5: I think you are responsible Dan for when bad things
Speaker 5: happen to the Dolphins.
Speaker 4: Like why just why do you like them?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 4: I love? I love Dolphins fans. They are so mad
Speaker 4: at me all the time.
Speaker 6: I feel like you go out of your way to
Speaker 6: even say I understand the Dolphins fans.
Speaker 4: Doesn't matter what I said.
Speaker 5: I was talking about them, and it encourages them because
Speaker 5: no matter what I say, yeah, they're gonna get me off.
Speaker 5: Just like you know, we'll consume enough like media, you know,
Speaker 5: Twitter and podcasts and whatnot. I feel like I've heard
Speaker 5: this from many football analysts over the last three years.
Speaker 5: At some point, Dolphins fans are mad them. There's one
Speaker 5: thing that's the you know, constant among this.
Speaker 2: You know you know what myke some analysts out there
Speaker 2: or hosts, you know, what might get them to shut
Speaker 2: up about not believing in the Dolphins win a playoff
Speaker 2: game for the first time in twenty five years.
Speaker 4: Let's start there.
Speaker 5: What's a good starting point when Sunday in the in
Speaker 5: the game of the week and there you go, that's
Speaker 5: another one that would.
Speaker 3: Be a good one.
Speaker 4: And just beat the Cowboys. I feel like that. And
Speaker 4: I'll be like, but just wait till the playoffs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then they get all that again. Oh it's
Speaker 3: so unfair. Please good I'll tell you about unfair.
Speaker 7: Good ball team, good ball club.
Speaker 3: About four plays into week one. That's unfair.
Speaker 6: That is the signature element of a country that has
Speaker 6: not faced war on its own soil in a long time.
Speaker 4: That we're spending time on that.
Speaker 2: Okay, save it for the war podcast, uh, Mark? And no, right,
Speaker 2: I know you want to come in with something about
Speaker 2: World War two?
Speaker 3: Right now?
Speaker 7: I know.
Speaker 4: Here we go in a row. Now, let's let's avoid
Speaker 4: the the.
Speaker 5: Old Patrick out zone of interest hive out there. Great
Speaker 5: movie really sticks with you a hive. I just heard
Speaker 5: from people that were like, oh, yeah, that was incredible.
Speaker 3: Good. I'm so happy. Keep it up.
Speaker 2: Greg, Let's go for the ultimate streak. Let's go with
Speaker 2: the Joe DiMaggio Nazi streak on this. You brought it up,
Speaker 2: did I?
Speaker 3: Though?
Speaker 2: Yes, Welcome to Around the NFL Week seventeen. We're going
Speaker 2: to get into the previews and just a reminder, this
Speaker 2: is our Thursday tripleheader.
Speaker 3: We have a what you're gonna get here?
Speaker 2: We got later on tonight Jets Browns Thursday Night Football
Speaker 2: with Greg and Chris Westling's brother Nick Westling.
Speaker 3: How about that?
Speaker 2: And also the Dreamatorium is alive on NFL Plus. Let's
Speaker 2: start though. Oh and by the way, stay tuned. We're
Speaker 2: gonna get to the Russell Wilson situation and everything going
Speaker 2: on with the Broncos, a team that is trying to
Speaker 2: figure out a path forward.
Speaker 3: So a lot to get to.
Speaker 2: But let us start where we always start, with the
Speaker 2: Island games and Saturday night December thirtieth.
Speaker 3: You know it's that time of year.
Speaker 2: Saturday is a popular ground for NFL and we got
Speaker 2: a good one because it is the Detroit Lions at
Speaker 2: eleven and four, traveling to face the Cowboys, who have
Speaker 2: not lost at home this season. They're seven to zero
Speaker 2: and I'm trying to figure out Greg and we look
Speaker 2: at what's going on in the league right now with
Speaker 2: two weeks to go the AFC, the Ravens have a
Speaker 2: game in hand over the Dolphins for the first seed.
Speaker 2: There the bottom of the standings in terms of the
Speaker 2: wild card, it is very muddled in both conferences. San
Speaker 2: Francisco's stunning blowout loss on Christmas Night has turned the
Speaker 2: NFC top of conference upside down, and it is the
Speaker 2: Detroit Lions who all of a sudden have something to
Speaker 2: play for in terms of the number one seed if
Speaker 2: things break a certain way and the Cowboys man. The
Speaker 2: Cowboys just need to get back to their winning ways.
Speaker 5: Right and the Cowboys can still hope for the Eagles
Speaker 5: to help them out in the NFC is very unlikely,
Speaker 5: but yeah, the Cowboys have something to prove to themselves.
Speaker 5: They're five and a half point favorites here. Look minus
Speaker 5: two eighteen not a lot of respect here on the
Speaker 5: muddy line for the Cowboys over unders fifty three and
Speaker 5: a half are not a lot of respect for the Lions.
Speaker 5: Rather because like, the Lions are more consistent overall right now,
Speaker 5: their defense isn't great, but their offense is fantastic, And
Speaker 5: I just want to see that matchup about the Cowboys
Speaker 5: run defense. Last in the league in success rate allowed
Speaker 5: against this Lions offensive line, which you know, as I mentioned,
Speaker 5: when Frank rag Now is there, especially in the interior,
Speaker 5: they're just tough. Gibbs can run inside, Montgomery can run inside.
Speaker 5: They're gonna stay patient. They're healthy on the offensive line,
Speaker 5: and I just think teams are going to continue to
Speaker 5: try to run the ball down the Cowboys throats until
Speaker 5: they prove they can stop it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, why not?
Speaker 6: I mean, like I we asked after that Bills game
Speaker 6: if what James Cook accomplished against the Cowboys defense was
Speaker 6: a bit of a roadmap for future opponents, and until
Speaker 6: that's proven untrue, keep going for it, and like that's
Speaker 6: Detroit's bread and butter. I think, like we've talked about
Speaker 6: the fact that Jamiir Gibbs and David Montgomery a completely
Speaker 6: re fashioned backfield, which felt like an odd offseason move
Speaker 6: for me for a Lions team that ran the ball
Speaker 6: well last year.
Speaker 4: It's completely worked out.
Speaker 6: Like I would say, David Montgomery, if I were to
Speaker 6: list the players that I was lowest on historically to
Speaker 6: change my mind this season, David Montgomery would be near
Speaker 6: the top of that list.
Speaker 4: He's been really affective for them.
Speaker 6: Jamiir Gibbs has been part of one of the best
Speaker 6: rookie classes by any team all year long. And we
Speaker 6: got a version of Detroit last week that like it
Speaker 6: came close to giving that game up.
Speaker 4: But I don't like this five and a half points.
Speaker 6: I think that's a disrespectful to a Detroit team that
Speaker 6: like is going to give Dallas a fight.
Speaker 5: I think it's like it maybe a come factory, a
Speaker 5: little bit of a come down. They don't have as
Speaker 5: much to play for a Cowboy has been great at home.
Speaker 2: Well, the Lions went out even shut out everything else
Speaker 2: if they get no help at all, and they went out.
Speaker 3: The Lions the number two seed in the NFC, which
Speaker 3: is not nothing.
Speaker 2: I mean, you're one playoff win and one Niners upset
Speaker 2: loss from hosting the NFC title game potentially in your building.
Speaker 2: It's an interesting setup there for Detroit. And I am
Speaker 2: totally shaken about the Cowboys after these last two weeks.
Speaker 2: But also it was on the road, and I think
Speaker 2: what I do see and what I think the Desert
Speaker 2: Seas is the Cowboys playing at Jerror World are a
Speaker 2: totally different team and they are going to be playing
Speaker 2: with a level of confidence that you just don't see
Speaker 2: on the road, and they're just a more dynamic, effective team.
Speaker 2: In fact, they've been just not just winning at home
Speaker 2: this year, they're blowing out teams on the road.
Speaker 3: At home.
Speaker 2: They have a plus one seventy one one seventy one
Speaker 2: point differential in seven games this year.
Speaker 3: So, as much as Detroit is a great story and
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 2: We're all rooting for them as a graduate of the
Speaker 2: team of atl do I think their defense is going
Speaker 2: to have answers on that turf in Dallas.
Speaker 3: No, I think the Cowboy's gonna have a big week here.
Speaker 5: One answer could be Chauncey Gardner Johnson though, and so
Speaker 5: if he returns and sounds like there's a decent chance
Speaker 5: of it, him and Melafon, who's been a revelation last
Speaker 5: week's okay, Suddenly you got some movable players that can
Speaker 5: do a lot of different stuff at the safety position.
Speaker 5: I'm not expecting them to be a great defense, but
Speaker 5: neither of the Cowboys been last five weeks EPA per play.
Speaker 5: These are the twenty fourth and twenty fifth defenses in
Speaker 5: the league. So, Dan Quinn, you're probably getting a head
Speaker 5: coaching job this Ye're like, let's see it. This Cowboys
Speaker 5: defense was supposed to be great. They've been good in parts.
Speaker 5: They're great when they have a lead, and it's a
Speaker 5: certain sort of games. These are two of very even
Speaker 5: teams overall, sixth and seventh on the in the year
Speaker 5: in terms of total dvway. I don't I think the
Speaker 5: Cowboys just had one bad game. People are being a
Speaker 5: little hard on the Cowboys. Last week was two of
Speaker 5: the top seven or eight teams in the NFL, and
Speaker 5: they basically played to a draw and that they came
Speaker 5: out on the short end there on the road. And
Speaker 5: these are again two of the top seven or eight
Speaker 5: teams in the league, and I expected to be closed.
Speaker 7: So I'm with you.
Speaker 5: I like the the five and a half points for
Speaker 5: the Lions, but if the Cowboys, you know, struggle and
Speaker 5: they barely get this win, Tyron Smith's not practicing like
Speaker 5: I'm not gonna be panicking.
Speaker 6: About them, nor am I like and I'm not panicking
Speaker 6: about what happened against.
Speaker 7: Wait wait, wait, wait, they gotta win.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, if the Cowboys are going into
Speaker 2: the last week a three game losing streak, I'm with you,
Speaker 2: but I just mean, last week didn't make me feel
Speaker 2: any differently other than their other than Tyron Smith might
Speaker 2: be a bit of a Jenga piece for them and
Speaker 2: he might be out again.
Speaker 4: Why why does that make feel differently? Because they lower
Speaker 4: the struggle.
Speaker 2: To score and they can't get a big stop and
Speaker 2: they're giving up yards all over the place against a team.
Speaker 7: Here's why.
Speaker 5: Because Dolphins and Cowboys to me were pretty evenly matched
Speaker 5: going into that week, and I watched luck that's a game.
Speaker 7: I said, those are two even teams. So I just
Speaker 7: kind of felt the same.
Speaker 4: I think it is.
Speaker 6: It matters that Jonathan Hankins is not being avail for Dallas.
Speaker 6: Like he's kind of someone that you don't really talk
Speaker 6: about much or think about much, but he's like a
Speaker 6: lynchpin in their run defense. And without him, they've been
Speaker 6: beaten up by Buffalo, they were beaten up on third
Speaker 6: down by Miami. The Cowboys since Week fourteen are one
Speaker 6: of the worst third down defenses in the league. I
Speaker 6: think that links to Jonathan Hankins. I think it links
Speaker 6: to their run defense. But I don't come out of
Speaker 6: that Dolphins game. I know where you're coming from.
Speaker 3: Dan.
Speaker 4: It's like if you're the Cowboys.
Speaker 6: You kind of need to change perception and go take
Speaker 6: some of these games. It's been a late season gauntlet
Speaker 6: for all of these heavyweights, and the Dallas schedule has
Speaker 6: been rough. Had they gone and been blown out the
Speaker 6: way they were against the Niners, I would just view
Speaker 6: them as complete frauds.
Speaker 4: That's not what happened.
Speaker 3: We're bout the week before, by the way they got it.
Speaker 7: They got to fix their pass right.
Speaker 4: But so they are.
Speaker 2: They're an up and down team though. But see that's
Speaker 2: what I'm talking about. All of a sudden, we're many.
Speaker 2: We're moving day for Daddy, but we're moving the goalpost
Speaker 2: now in the Cowboys. So we went from two weeks
Speaker 2: ago everyone's saying this is a true Super Bowl contender.
Speaker 2: Look out Eagles, lookout world too. Oh it's well, they
Speaker 2: hung with the Dolphins and they didn't come out on I.
Speaker 4: Don't think everyone is seen hopefully it's the super Bowl though,
Speaker 4: Wait a second, whoa whoa whoa Like I think they're
Speaker 4: just listened to every show on this podcast that.
Speaker 6: They're in that five or six teams, and like they've
Speaker 6: got issues and a lot of it is like.
Speaker 3: Trying to win a chip here.
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, the Cowboys were trying to win the same
Speaker 2: way for the first time in like a quarter century.
Speaker 2: The Cowboys. The expectation, the demand here is to win
Speaker 2: multiple playoff games. So I just I think they need
Speaker 2: to right the ship and prove and this is a
Speaker 2: nice way to do it against a very good lines
Speaker 2: team at home.
Speaker 5: Do not do not lose. This game proved to themselves.
Speaker 5: Daddy's got a show.
Speaker 3: Don't come close.
Speaker 5: He's It's not just the same old Zaddy. You know,
Speaker 5: I got you big for your test, big tests, all around, underdog,
Speaker 5: not this week.
Speaker 2: All right, let's move to the other primetime Island game
Speaker 2: on the schedule. Here it is New Year's Eve night.
Speaker 2: It is in Minneapolis. It is the struggle, struggling, fading
Speaker 2: team of around the NFL, the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 4: Walcome welcome me in the Green Bay Packers.
Speaker 2: Interesting this is This is an interesting kind of look
Speaker 2: at the state of the bottom of the NFC playoff picture,
Speaker 2: because at at one point on this podcast we were
Speaker 2: high in both of these teams. There was a time
Speaker 2: where the Vikings were the team that was fun and sexy,
Speaker 2: and that's how they became the team of Aten and
Speaker 2: then the Packers rose up. If you remember that Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: performance and the weeks that followed, we were all about them.
Speaker 2: And now we have two seven and eight teams and
Speaker 2: essentially mark an elimination game.
Speaker 6: Right, And I think that one of the reasons that
Speaker 6: we became as we were searching for the team of
Speaker 6: atl which is not like you're not looking for a powerhouse,
Speaker 6: you're looking for a story. You're looking for someone that
Speaker 6: you can kind of like become fascinated with. It had
Speaker 6: a lot to do with Josh Dobbs and like what
Speaker 6: he had done on multiple in multiple situations this season
Speaker 6: and what he did even last year. And now right,
Speaker 6: you're in a situation where, like they you could see
Speaker 6: Josh Dobbs starting, you could see Jaron Hall starting, you
Speaker 6: could see Nick Mullins.
Speaker 5: And rule out joshtaps just because when the I think
Speaker 5: he's probably media was there. They they did this song
Speaker 5: and dance of splitting the raps between Hall and Mum.
Speaker 6: Right, and we're at the point where we've you know,
Speaker 6: we've hitched our wagon to a team that isn't a
Speaker 6: fair amount of chaos and hard to believe in, and
Speaker 6: that that's okay.
Speaker 4: I don't have a huge problem with that, but so
Speaker 4: is Green Bay.
Speaker 6: I think, like Minnesota came so close to upending the
Speaker 6: lines a week ago, and like I, if it were me,
Speaker 6: I would start Nick Mullins again. I know he made
Speaker 6: some critical mistakes, but he is super productive, and that's
Speaker 6: where I'd go with this because I think the Green
Speaker 6: Bay defense has become so it's super destructive. Right well,
Speaker 6: he's destructive and productive. He's both got both. Nice job,
Speaker 6: Nice job there. I just feel like Nick Mullins if
Speaker 6: anything activated, like their wide receiver group, and you don't
Speaker 6: have Jordan Addison right now, like and T. J. Hawkinson
Speaker 6: is out for the season, you're limited on what you
Speaker 6: can do. So it's like, do you really put this
Speaker 6: in the hands of Jaron Hall?
Speaker 4: I guess so.
Speaker 5: It is crazy. It's a fifth round rookie. I kind
Speaker 5: of expect Daron Hall to be the quarterback. It's bizarre
Speaker 5: to me they're doing the thing where nobody seems to know,
Speaker 5: Like Justin Jefferson spoke to the media and legitimately didn't
Speaker 5: didn't seem like he could possibly be acting that he
Speaker 5: doesn't know, and when the media was there, which is
Speaker 5: just the early portion. It was like Mullens and Hall
Speaker 5: were getting the reps. To me, that's a sign it's
Speaker 5: probably the it's probably Hall, because I don't know why switch,
Speaker 5: why go through all this, but we sort of got
Speaker 5: lost in the shuffle. Hockinson's injury out for the Seasoniller
Speaker 5: massive dj Wanham is now out for the season and
Speaker 5: has been their second best defensive lineman, I would say,
Speaker 5: behind deaneil Hunter, Like that's massive. Byron Murphy, their best
Speaker 5: cornerback at a position where nobody's playing well right now,
Speaker 5: has been out of practice. Addison might not be there,
Speaker 5: and it's just a bit of a mess. They have
Speaker 5: no more cornerbacks and they're going against a really productive offense.
Speaker 5: I looked today and I was like, man, this Packer's
Speaker 5: offense feels like it's one of the better offensive league suddenly,
Speaker 5: Jordan Love and all as Jurkies, and it made me, really,
Speaker 5: they have better numbers at basically every measurement you could
Speaker 5: come up with than the twenty twenty two Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 5: Packers offensively right now, not even just like oh, the
Speaker 5: last six weeks, it's like, no, over the course of
Speaker 5: the season, that's how well they've played.
Speaker 7: Lately, so I think it's a toss up.
Speaker 5: I like the Packers to win this game, but it
Speaker 5: does worry me that they suspended JayR.
Speaker 7: Alexander.
Speaker 5: Let's talk about it in this series. This is their
Speaker 5: best quarterback. Why don't we start by listing to JayR.
Speaker 4: Set the table day.
Speaker 2: Alexander is the cornerback of the Packers who is a
Speaker 2: Charlotte native, who before overtime of their Week sixteen game
Speaker 2: against the Panthers, decides to take it apart in the
Speaker 2: game out started before overtime started, right or soh no,
Speaker 2: before the game started.
Speaker 3: He comes out on the field even though he's not
Speaker 3: a captain.
Speaker 2: Okay, so there's the first mistake, and he then called
Speaker 2: the they win the coin toss, he calls I think tails.
Speaker 2: He says defense and that would he was supposed to
Speaker 2: say was defer. So became a situation where the officials
Speaker 2: really wanted to stick it to the Packers. This guy
Speaker 2: walked up on the field, who wasn't the captain who
Speaker 2: said the wrong thing once he called the coin toss,
Speaker 2: they could have given the Panthers the ball at the
Speaker 2: to start the game and to start the second huge mistake. Luckily,
Speaker 2: the head coach of the Packers had spoken to the
Speaker 2: game official beforehand and it made it clear what he wanted,
Speaker 2: so they let him off the hook. Anyway, Alexander Goet
Speaker 2: suspended this week with ahead of a playoff game, which
Speaker 2: tells you how annoyed and over Jayira Alexander they are
Speaker 2: with this guy, no matter how talenty it is he is.
Speaker 3: Here was his explanation of this situation.
Speaker 6: So were you supposed to be a captain because the
Speaker 6: team announces the three game captains and you were the
Speaker 6: fourth and you called a toss?
Speaker 3: What happened there?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean, you know it's only suit and you know,
Speaker 8: I don't think coach knew I was from Charlotte's, you know, So.
Speaker 4: So you just did that on your own?
Speaker 8: I mean, I mean, you know, I mean it was like,
Speaker 8: you know, the guy bagged me up, you know, so
Speaker 8: they made me laws from you.
Speaker 1: Did you realize you almost made it a big mistake
Speaker 1: on the call?
Speaker 3: Though?
Speaker 4: What do I do?
Speaker 5: That's and they continue They proceed to walk them through
Speaker 5: kind of what happened because.
Speaker 2: Se that Giro exender doesn't seem to have any idea
Speaker 2: what's going on at all in the world.
Speaker 4: I should have been walking out there. I'm from Charlotte.
Speaker 3: He didn't know that.
Speaker 4: Also, new Drop, we need to clip it only suiting
Speaker 4: I'd like.
Speaker 6: I have to say that we've listened to probably five
Speaker 6: thousand quotes from athletes on this show, and that has
Speaker 6: to be one of the most bizarre interactions to the
Speaker 6: point where like, as a young twenty something I got
Speaker 6: very into these like novels, historical novels by Carlos Castanito,
Speaker 6: who like went down to Mexico and studied Peote and
Speaker 6: the effects of Payoti on a human being. I was like,
Speaker 6: what has what is going on with Jiro Lexander? It's like,
Speaker 6: is he not there? Is is he okay?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 5: That was immediately after the game to put it contact.
Speaker 5: That wasn't during the week, Yes, before his suspension. Unlikely, Yeah,
Speaker 5: unlikely he was on Peyote, although you never know, Tyre,
Speaker 5: Alexander is a character and pretty much every time he
Speaker 5: talks he leads you in a wonderful direction of surprise,
Speaker 5: and so it wasn't totally out of character. And I
Speaker 5: don't think there's a spending him just for this, And
Speaker 5: that's what Matt Lafleur said.
Speaker 7: It feels like it never one thing.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it sounded like he actually had maybe gone out
Speaker 5: when he wasn't the captain before, Like that's that's.
Speaker 2: A crazy I'm not going down like ranting grumpy sports
Speaker 2: writer territory to say this guy is the problem with
Speaker 2: the Packers. But for a defense that is, you know,
Speaker 2: free falling under Joe Barry.
Speaker 3: For him, it's just not a good look.
Speaker 2: He's also wearing sunglasses that maybe Britney Spears was wearing
Speaker 2: in two thousand and three or so during that interview,
Speaker 2: just if you haven't seen it before.
Speaker 4: So there's just a I don't know, he seems kind
Speaker 4: of nice.
Speaker 5: He's not been available for them for he just returned
Speaker 5: from a massive injury and it hasn't quite been himself.
Speaker 5: This is a this is a big I mean this
Speaker 5: this is It reminds me a little bit of Packers
Speaker 5: line first PLAF last year. It's a chance for the
Speaker 5: Packers to show their growth because I don't know if
Speaker 5: you guys remember the first Vikings Packers game. That was
Speaker 5: the game afterwards where everyone started making the cutups about
Speaker 5: how the Packers offense is just a bunch of bumbling uh.
Speaker 5: Moron's basically where with penalties and like seventeen drops and
Speaker 5: like people were playing the Benny Hill music and it
Speaker 5: was pretty much the the nadir of their season. It
Speaker 5: was mid season and now here they are like rolling
Speaker 5: a bunch of rookies a chance to show how much
Speaker 5: better They've got a big spot for Benny Hill.
Speaker 2: It's gonna say, can we find then? I like this, yeah,
Speaker 2: but I don't know the Benny Hill music. Can we
Speaker 2: find something new?
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's fair.
Speaker 4: One of them Benny Hill was like fifty years old.
Speaker 6: Well it's like one says, all those our music reference
Speaker 6: a pre y two k offering that was a little
Speaker 6: edgy if you were a child watching it came from Britain.
Speaker 3: You're from Britain.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but I used to watch Benny Hill when I
Speaker 6: was like seven or eight, which I don't think it's
Speaker 6: something I would throw to my children to watch.
Speaker 7: I've ever seen that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Vikings, we have some breaking news are starting jar
Speaker 5: in Hall.
Speaker 4: All right, well it's big time case closed.
Speaker 2: This is why the hostess to do it. We have
Speaker 2: some breaking news production moments this.
Speaker 4: Episode is this. Yeah, but when that's that fair, that's
Speaker 4: that fair.
Speaker 2: We just just came down from Madison behind the glass,
Speaker 2: the Vikings are starting the rookie Greg Darren Hall.
Speaker 7: I think it's the way to go.
Speaker 5: He looked good on that one drives like.
Speaker 4: Been turned off by two quarterbacks at this point, two.
Speaker 2: Capable and and Nick Mallins is so frustrated because I
Speaker 2: could carve up this defense, then maybe we'll see him.
Speaker 5: It's it's a little shocky, and I think it shows
Speaker 5: you that as much as the Vikings would like to
Speaker 5: make the playoffs and actually have a great chance to
Speaker 5: make the place if they went out they're in essentially though,
Speaker 5: that's if they went out there BA basically in. I
Speaker 5: think they're saying, as much as we want to do that,
Speaker 5: we don't know if that's going to happen or not.
Speaker 7: Like we want to see what Jaron Hall can look
Speaker 7: like too.
Speaker 5: And the advantage if there is any advantage to Nick Mullins,
Speaker 5: it's not enough that we want to pass unseen Mark.
Speaker 2: You could see him in the second half potentially you
Speaker 2: never know out hope.
Speaker 6: We're it's one of these scenes where you're going to
Speaker 6: probably see all of them all over. I mean, if
Speaker 6: there were more weeks to the season. Thankfully only two
Speaker 6: more of for the king and as.
Speaker 2: Much as it feels like it's over for the team
Speaker 2: of eighten, this has been a weird, weird year.
Speaker 3: Maybe the Vikings have a push.
Speaker 6: Has this gone any better than the last time we
Speaker 6: picked the Vikings? I would for you for me because
Speaker 6: I'm not culpable.
Speaker 7: Yes, that was howere of a disass call? Think we
Speaker 7: picked them at like five.
Speaker 4: And oh and they immediately lost right, Yeah, they tanked
Speaker 4: hard and Mark took it as a personal front to
Speaker 4: him and was yes for seven months.
Speaker 6: Because it's like NonStop text being like, well I wasn't
Speaker 6: part of that vote.
Speaker 2: It's like, in some ways you're coupable for this too,
Speaker 2: because you're a Josh Dobbs thing.
Speaker 3: But it's fine.
Speaker 6: That is you want to come about listening to previous
Speaker 6: tapes like that's entirely true.
Speaker 3: It was Dobbs that pushed it over the top, and
Speaker 3: he was your.
Speaker 4: I won't listen to Greg. You have to back me
Speaker 4: on this, what about evidence?
Speaker 7: In fact, Dobbs was the reason we picked the Viking.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but I'm not the reason we picked the Vikings
Speaker 6: mostly Mark, in my opinion.
Speaker 4: I find that to be annoying.
Speaker 3: I know it is all right, let's get to the draft.
Speaker 2: It is time now for the first overall pick presented
Speaker 2: by Draft Kings, and I will take this an easy one.
Speaker 2: The Miami Dolphins at the Baltimore Ravens. This is a
Speaker 2: early game, interesting, interesting time slot for the game.
Speaker 4: But it's you know, unrewarding.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of you know what, I don't mind
Speaker 2: it about a hammer drop early game. We don't have
Speaker 2: many of those, so it's a nice little change of pace.
Speaker 7: In theory.
Speaker 5: They could have flexed out Bengals Chiefs, which would have
Speaker 5: been nice, but a week ago, I get why they
Speaker 5: didn't do that.
Speaker 6: God forbid, we don't have Tony Romo talking about Patrick
Speaker 6: Mahomes for another four and a half hours.
Speaker 2: The Ravens are given three points here and in a
Speaker 2: good spotlight here for Iron Eagle and our guy Charles
Speaker 2: Davis with Evan Washburn looking impeccable on the sideline.
Speaker 3: So good matchup here, great matchup, and.
Speaker 2: At this point it is hard to look at the
Speaker 2: Ravens and say they're not going to win a big
Speaker 2: game because they've done it over and over and over,
Speaker 2: and you know, coming off the way they played against
Speaker 2: the forty nine ers.
Speaker 3: I guess they seg into a different.
Speaker 2: Place now, Greg, because now they are no longer going
Speaker 2: to be the team. I don't think that is putting
Speaker 2: up win after win after win, but is kind of
Speaker 2: seen as a little lesser than Now you're the big boys.
Speaker 2: And you heard Lamar talked about it this week that
Speaker 2: you know we're still the underdogs. We're still the underdogs,
Speaker 2: but they're not. They're very much the favorite, and I
Speaker 2: think the at least in the AFC, and the Dolphins
Speaker 2: have a chance here. And Dolphins fans listen up, like,
Speaker 2: if you want to shut up people who you think
Speaker 2: hate your team like me, which I don't really hate them,
Speaker 2: but if you want to shut people like us up, wow, wow,
Speaker 2: you have a chance to wrap up your division and
Speaker 2: stun the Ravens coming off the Niners whin. It's a
Speaker 2: nice setup for Miami to make a true statement right.
Speaker 5: And try to get that one seed for themselves. And
Speaker 5: they're not viewed, you know, in the desert by as
Speaker 5: big underdogs. It's only a three point line, which is
Speaker 5: pretty interesting in Baltimore minus one to eighty money line
Speaker 5: the over unders forty seven. I am surprised by that
Speaker 5: but I think the rest is part of it. They're
Speaker 5: coming back from the West Coast, little resttop action on
Speaker 5: a short week a huge win. Dolphins have that extra
Speaker 5: day arrest and everything. But to see these teams as equal,
Speaker 5: I think is surprising, because yes, they're trying to build
Speaker 5: this underdog.
Speaker 7: Mentality where you know, blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 5: It's like but according to the numbers, like DVOA, for instance,
Speaker 5: has had the forty nine Ers and the Ravens as
Speaker 5: two of the best twenty teams of the last twenty
Speaker 5: five years, basically the whole season. Now the Ravens are
Speaker 5: actually ahead on top of the ring. It's like both
Speaker 5: of them have been elite, elite teams forty nine Ers,
Speaker 5: Ravens and pretty far away from the rest of the NFL,
Speaker 5: including the Miami Dolphins. I do wonder if it's an
Speaker 5: advantage or a disadvantage for Mike McDaniel to look at
Speaker 5: that forty nine Ers tape. And yes, the Dolphins and
Speaker 5: forty nine Ers do things quite differently in terms of
Speaker 5: how they win, how their quarterbacks win offensively. But essentially,
Speaker 5: here's the offense that we're most similar to. The coach
Speaker 5: I'm most similar to here's what the Ravens did with
Speaker 5: their disguised coverages and everything and winning physical, physical matchups
Speaker 5: against them. How can I adjust what the forty nine
Speaker 5: ers did poorly and make it work for me?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you're I think that's absolutely right.
Speaker 6: Where it's like, yes, you can't just say what Mike
Speaker 6: McDaniel is doing is the same as Kyle shanahan. But
Speaker 6: there are a lot of roots and shared DNA there.
Speaker 6: This game to me, boils down to availability. I think
Speaker 6: it's very impactful that Kyle Hamilton has not been practicing
Speaker 6: this week. I think he has been a huge piece
Speaker 6: of what Baltimore's done on defense. Patrick Queen is banged up,
Speaker 6: Rokwan Smith is banged up. Is A Flowers did not
Speaker 6: practice on Wednesday for the Dolphins. Jalen Waddle did not
Speaker 6: practice today on Thursday's right, and they're calling it not
Speaker 6: overly severe. So it's like there's a chance he plays,
Speaker 6: But what version do you get? Tyreek Hill is practicing
Speaker 6: today on Thursday? Devant a Chant is practicing today. It's
Speaker 6: like the Dolphins, like Tron Armstead has like eighty two injuries.
Speaker 4: It's like their injury list has.
Speaker 6: Just been wild and so it's like, I think this
Speaker 6: is such an intriguing matchup, but it really comes down
Speaker 6: to who is on the field and what percentage of
Speaker 6: health they have.
Speaker 3: I thought this was really interesting.
Speaker 2: You know, we played it on the last show, but
Speaker 2: I want to play it again here because it wasn't
Speaker 2: hard to decode which teams. Patrick Queen was talking about
Speaker 2: when in the aftermafter the Niners victory, he pointed out
Speaker 2: what makes the Ravens different.
Speaker 9: Play a brand football and people don't want to play.
Speaker 9: Everybody want to be out here Q playing about football
Speaker 9: and grass and stuff. I mean, we ain't with all that.
Speaker 9: So you could do all that stuff. You just gonna
Speaker 9: hit in THEMUF ever play honestly, you know, we get
Speaker 9: care of this boy. All the pred stuff you do,
Speaker 9: gammixed stuff, you just out. You still have a line
Speaker 9: of play football. You still going to get touch. So
Speaker 9: that's how Mind said, that's how we want to come
Speaker 9: out and just you know, hit people in the.
Speaker 2: Month, and that is what's going to happen, uh with
Speaker 2: the Baltimore Ravens, who are going to take it to
Speaker 2: the Dolphins, humble their fans. I'm locking up the Baltimore
Speaker 2: Ravens in this game. I think they're a perfect matches
Speaker 2: and as good as the Dolphins season has been, I
Speaker 2: think this is a bad matchup for them, and I
Speaker 2: think the Ravens are going to bully this offense and
Speaker 2: come away with another resounding win.
Speaker 6: I think, like what Patrick Queen said also bags into
Speaker 6: like the Lamar Jackson MVP conversation where it's like he's
Speaker 6: his numbers don't blow you away, but you can't question
Speaker 6: his value. Like I was looking at Nick Schuk's QB
Speaker 6: index and he has and tell me, if you agree
Speaker 6: with this number one to a number two Lamar, number three,
Speaker 6: Dak it.
Speaker 3: Is too and number one is yes, you'd be in yes.
Speaker 7: But isn't that top five?
Speaker 4: Really? I don't know about that.
Speaker 3: Well, let me let me go.
Speaker 6: You have to also you'd have to move Josh Allen
Speaker 6: or Matthew Stafford out of there, or Jalen Hurts comes
Speaker 6: at six.
Speaker 4: But like to me, it's like wow, like Lamar is not.
Speaker 6: It's a weird year for MVP obviously with the quarterbacks,
Speaker 6: like I would just go Christian McCaffrey at this point,
Speaker 6: but like you can argue that Lamar, like figures and
Speaker 6: stats wise, isn't that guy, but he is based on
Speaker 6: everything that he's done over the last ten or eleven weeks.
Speaker 4: And it's like we're getting these schedules.
Speaker 6: And that's why I don't like this, is that that
Speaker 6: this is baked into like a ten games happening, you know,
Speaker 6: early in the day in Los Angeles. Is that like
Speaker 6: this is another one of these MVP showdown games we're
Speaker 6: getting the week after week and like we're reacting off
Speaker 6: of what we saw literally twenty four hours ago, and
Speaker 6: the vote keeps changing.
Speaker 5: You know what, now that Mahomes has taken a step back,
Speaker 5: I probably would have it Alan if like I was
Speaker 5: doing QBA, I'd probably have it like Alan Lamar either
Speaker 5: one or two, those two, Dak Fair, and I would
Speaker 5: have l Stafford and Purdy four and five probably, but
Speaker 5: to of might be in there.
Speaker 6: They're all close. Uh yeah, Like so I know it's
Speaker 6: tough for you. Don't think two is top five?
Speaker 5: Well yeah, that's just what I just said. He's either
Speaker 5: five or six. So but who who is he deaf?
Speaker 5: Out of those? I think it's all close. I mean
Speaker 5: Stafford I think is in that mix. I think Purdy
Speaker 5: is in that mix. He's got Baker Mayfield number eight.
Speaker 5: I think Dak's been amazing.
Speaker 7: That's wow. That's a big drop from the top six.
Speaker 7: That is uh wild.
Speaker 5: I am a little worried about this matchup as as
Speaker 5: someone who's locked up the Ravens five times and definitely
Speaker 5: rooting for them, because number one, where's the weakness in
Speaker 5: the Baltimore Devens.
Speaker 7: It's definitely at cornerback.
Speaker 5: I know Marlon Humphrey's playing better lately, but their cornerback's
Speaker 5: gonna beaten.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 5: This is a tough matchup for their cornerback number two.
Speaker 5: I as much as Lamar played great, very well on
Speaker 5: Monday Night, I do worry a little bit that their
Speaker 5: offense has not been in rhythm lately and not a
Speaker 5: lot of like in rhythm throws. He's broke the pocket
Speaker 5: a lot more and you're just counting on him to improvise,
Speaker 5: which he obviously can do, but you just would like
Speaker 5: to see that like a little more consistently. It's there
Speaker 5: one week, it's not the next And unlike playing the
Speaker 5: forty nine ers, defenses is crazy. But I think the
Speaker 5: Dolphins are have been a better defense last two months.
Speaker 5: They've been like Baltimore, an explosive offense and a top
Speaker 5: five defense that can win games in different sorts of ways.
Speaker 5: And I think you saw that last week. So I
Speaker 5: am a little worried about it. But I'm locking it
Speaker 5: up too. I already had.
Speaker 6: Locked in, and I don't than just let's go back
Speaker 6: to the team that has has gotten me, yes.
Speaker 3: And and just to counter punch to all that, which
Speaker 3: is all.
Speaker 5: I think it's gonna be close, Like it's not a lot.
Speaker 4: Only one of these teams smoke the forty nine ers
Speaker 4: in San Francisco like three or four days ago, So
Speaker 4: like the Ravens, I just think they're at another level right.
Speaker 5: Now in a way that almost sometimes those worrying me
Speaker 5: because it is so hard to stay at that level
Speaker 5: back to back weeks.
Speaker 7: We just saw it with the Bills.
Speaker 5: It's like the Bills followed up You're gonna be cowboy
Speaker 5: and you get florioed?
Speaker 4: What Lamar Jackson Mike Florio and his postgame press conference.
Speaker 7: Why am I bury? I just locked them up.
Speaker 2: I'm saying they're looking for any type of motivation and
Speaker 2: people doubting them, Well, so you are kind of he
Speaker 2: was locking up a team that you're doubting a little bit.
Speaker 5: I wasn't worried about I didn't know about that Floria thing.
Speaker 5: It to cover the bar threw it out, but he
Speaker 5: did say that they were god that they wouldn't even
Speaker 5: like be like worthy of beat on the field I've
Speaker 5: ever they were going to get totally smooth at Floria,
Speaker 5: Like okay.
Speaker 4: Gloria wood Doors the entire concept of what's happening.
Speaker 7: To stay aggressive.
Speaker 5: By the way, John Harbor, I really don't like this
Speaker 5: new super conservative unfourd down John Harbor.
Speaker 2: Floria had a very dignified, extensive tweet response as well,
Speaker 2: like a like a man who just lost a presidential election,
Speaker 2: like it was like a concession speech.
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Speaker 4: All right, let's keep moving here, we gotta we gotta
Speaker 4: pick up the pace.
Speaker 3: Mark you're up.
Speaker 6: So I'm looking at the slate early and late, and
Speaker 6: what I see you over and over like quality team
Speaker 6: versus floating trash bag.
Speaker 4: And so for me, it's like, I want to see how.
Speaker 2: When you say floating trash bag, do you mean like
Speaker 2: the beautiful kind from that movie American Beauty or just
Speaker 2: an actual No.
Speaker 6: Less that was artistic, That was artistic and beautiful, very nineties.
Speaker 4: Yes, a little that was artistic.
Speaker 6: This was more like you're driving down the highway and
Speaker 6: there's a trash bag. It's gonna end up in the ocean. Sure,
Speaker 6: it's gonna clog things up into a problem. That's the
Speaker 6: seagull is gonna choke on it. We're ready for it
Speaker 6: to go away, and we're ready for sattist.
Speaker 5: Movie inspires one of Dan's least favorite things when movies
Speaker 5: don't hold up well, because that movie did not does
Speaker 5: not hold up.
Speaker 4: It's got some problems, you know what, including some of
Speaker 4: its actors. Guess what the stars. I here's a take.
Speaker 2: I'm pushing back on the take that it's has an
Speaker 2: age girl watch it recently.
Speaker 6: Fun fine, it's also where you're at, like in a
Speaker 6: way like maybe at age twelve pounds back because mine
Speaker 6: was like seven years ago.
Speaker 2: It's become like the prevailing sentiment that it's terrible and
Speaker 2: now it's terrible coming back around.
Speaker 4: Okay, Wes Bentley, you know who kind of ruins it though, Yeah, Spacey, Yeah,
Speaker 4: well that's hard to it's it's tough to get up.
Speaker 2: The criticism around it hasn't been about him being a creep.
Speaker 2: It's been that the movie is heavy handed and and
Speaker 2: all that.
Speaker 3: It's a great performance though.
Speaker 6: Right, all right, we're good with that. Greg's betting amazing.
Speaker 6: Yeah for you, Greg U. I will take San Francisco
Speaker 6: at Washington. Maybe it seems curious, but I really actually
Speaker 6: And then San Francisco is giving up twelve and a
Speaker 6: half points, uh, which does not That feels fine to me.
Speaker 6: I have no problem with that money line minus seven
Speaker 6: fifty for the Niners over under of fifty.
Speaker 4: That's a high over runner.
Speaker 6: But I think that to me felt like a little
Speaker 6: bit of a Jacobe Prissette factor there, because he's been
Speaker 6: actually really great for them two weeks in a row,
Speaker 6: and he's gonna start sam all these samhow experience might
Speaker 6: be over forever in Washington, we know the head coaching
Speaker 6: experience will be over. I mean, I think the whole
Speaker 6: team blew it, but he he was spicy. If nothing else,
Speaker 6: I want to see how San Francisco responds. I don't
Speaker 6: have a problem with the idea. They're probably going to
Speaker 6: come and blow Washington's doors off, But this is one
Speaker 6: of the few teams. It's a pet team to me.
Speaker 6: Trent Williams is still banged up with a groin injury,
Speaker 6: Deebo Samuel's banged up. So I wonder if you're San Francisco, like,
Speaker 6: do you push these guys into action, do you use
Speaker 6: Deebo Samuel as much as you would normally, or do
Speaker 6: you try to get out of here with a win.
Speaker 4: It still matters.
Speaker 6: They're still fighting for that number one overall spot in
Speaker 6: the NFC.
Speaker 4: You cannot let up the Niners.
Speaker 6: I think have a This is a statement game in
Speaker 6: a way for them to turn around after what happened
Speaker 6: on national television that completely altered the MVP race, completely
Speaker 6: altered people's confidence in the Niners, which I think is
Speaker 6: a little bit over baked.
Speaker 7: I don't I don't know if I agree with that.
Speaker 7: I think if it.
Speaker 6: Would alter the MVP race, yes, but entirely I suspect.
Speaker 5: You know, they're heavy, heavy favorites to make the Super Bowl.
Speaker 5: That hasn't changed in most people and I don't think
Speaker 5: you can make it no matter what they do here.
Speaker 5: Possibly they're not making a statement this week.
Speaker 6: I'm just saying, like, come out, and like their version
Speaker 6: of a statement has dropped forty points on this time.
Speaker 4: Sure, I wouldn't heard anything about them, though.
Speaker 5: I think I think I'd like to see it, just
Speaker 5: because I want to see them playing their best at
Speaker 5: the end of the season and looking looking like they've
Speaker 5: looked they need to.
Speaker 7: They really want to get that one seed.
Speaker 5: They haven't had those home games in the big spots
Speaker 5: the NFC Championship enough. Uh, They've They've really missed Uric Armstead.
Speaker 5: I think the last couple of weeks, we don't know
Speaker 5: if he's going to return their their offensive line. To me,
Speaker 5: when especially when Trent Williams is out obvious, it's it's
Speaker 5: like it it went from being like very good to
Speaker 5: a problem and that's something that's not going to be
Speaker 5: tested this week because there's no worse pass rush in
Speaker 5: the league than Washington. I mean, they made the Jets
Speaker 5: offensive line look like, you know, like the early nineties
Speaker 5: Cowboys last week, so I mean it's a standing back then.
Speaker 5: So it's like I'm with you, especially when the forty
Speaker 5: nine ers have the ball. I don't feel like I'm
Speaker 5: learning much, you know what, I like a lot because
Speaker 5: I do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the NFC is a little more saucing
Speaker 2: after that blowout loss in terms of intrigue. I'm already
Speaker 2: looking ahead and maybe maybe you get a flat Niners
Speaker 2: performance because they're doing the same to the Rams. There's
Speaker 2: a little bit of like two thousand and seven week
Speaker 2: seventeen Giants Patriots vive there where the Rams could make
Speaker 2: like one last big statement before the playoffs if they
Speaker 2: are to get there. Yeah, and the Niners are just
Speaker 2: trying to lock up a big win to get where
Speaker 2: they need to be number one seed potentially, so it
Speaker 2: you know, I think they're going to be favored obviously
Speaker 2: each of the next two weeks because they're still rightfully
Speaker 2: seen as one of the best teams in the league.
Speaker 2: But they were humbled and it's gonna be interesting, I guess,
Speaker 2: to see how they react to that.
Speaker 6: I cannot stand the MVP derby. Don't talk about it,
Speaker 6: don't worry about it about it, because like I can
Speaker 6: go find a game or two where Lamar Jackson like underperformed,
Speaker 6: but it happened months ago, and so it's like.
Speaker 2: That matters, context matters, Christmas all about.
Speaker 4: What you do.
Speaker 6: Like, as we get closer, he didn't have a four
Speaker 6: pick game against another one of the big tests that that.
Speaker 7: He did not.
Speaker 4: I mean, he melted down against Cleveland in one game.
Speaker 3: But that's it. Your guy can still win.
Speaker 4: I don't think he can.
Speaker 7: He's the third and four so favorite right now.
Speaker 6: I think he couldn't even be the number one on
Speaker 6: the Niners right now.
Speaker 5: Well, I've thought it was McCaffrey all along. I think
Speaker 5: that's I think that's a totally legitimate thing, looking at
Speaker 5: their offense and just how it's built.
Speaker 7: But all right, just needs to hope that Lamar loses.
Speaker 4: Basically, all right, let's do one more before taking a break.
Speaker 5: Greg, all right, I am unprepared here.
Speaker 3: Toughie, your first pick, you're gonna get Vikings.
Speaker 5: I'll take the Rams at the Giants. Rams are five
Speaker 5: and a half point favorites minus two thirty money line.
Speaker 5: I like the Rams to win this game. I don't
Speaker 5: like the Rams to win as easily as when I
Speaker 5: found out Tyrad Taylor's taken over.
Speaker 7: I think it's a pretty big difference. I think it's
Speaker 7: close to a Dalton level scale.
Speaker 5: You know, starting quarterback who for the limited time he's
Speaker 5: played this year, has unfurled a high amount of big
Speaker 5: time throws. I don't know if that's going to continue
Speaker 5: versus you know, maybe the most overmatched starting quarterback in
Speaker 5: the league. So you're going on the road across the
Speaker 5: country against defense which has been all over the place.
Speaker 5: It's gone from absolutely terrible to quite good to kind
Speaker 5: of back to terrible again the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 7: So I don't know what to think.
Speaker 5: But they are relatively healthy on defense, and it's just
Speaker 5: another chance for Stafford in this offense to kind of
Speaker 5: control the game. They have these long drives and then
Speaker 5: suddenly when you're playing the Rams, you're like, wait a second,
Speaker 5: it's the middle of the third quarter and we're down
Speaker 5: thirteen points and we've only had the ball like six times.
Speaker 5: They really have a way of shortening these games because
Speaker 5: of a very efficient offense that goes on these nine
Speaker 5: ten play drives.
Speaker 6: They and when you have Cooper Cup, Puka Nakua, and
Speaker 6: Karen Williams in there together, they have averaged almost thirty
Speaker 6: points a game. It's like their offense is fully formed,
Speaker 6: and I think coming into the season, I was like,
Speaker 6: I looked at a team that didn't do a lot
Speaker 6: along the offensive line after that was their achilles heel
Speaker 6: a year ago. Since their bye, which was ages ago
Speaker 6: Week ten, they had the second lowest they've allowed the
Speaker 6: second lowest pressure rate. Like their line is performed, and
Speaker 6: like they've been really healthy since their bye, and it
Speaker 6: becomes this NFC team. I love your comment about like
Speaker 6: the Patriots Giants end of season matchup that happened many
Speaker 6: years ago, where it's like this RAMS team has completely changed, evolved,
Speaker 6: grown developer over the course of the season, and it's
Speaker 6: like we keep propping up different people as coach of
Speaker 6: the Year. But Sean McVay is right in that conversation,
Speaker 6: like this team was universally counted out as a drifting
Speaker 6: driftwood on a dead sea before the season, and here
Speaker 6: they are, and like it's like, who wants to deal
Speaker 6: with them right now?
Speaker 2: I think the one thing that I've learned this season
Speaker 2: is to not doubt the brain trust there at all,
Speaker 2: because it did seem like and that was the prevailing
Speaker 2: sentiment that they bought that Super Bowl on credit and
Speaker 2: now they were going to go.
Speaker 3: Into this tailspin and have to rebuild.
Speaker 2: But the way they have developed all of these players
Speaker 2: on both sides of the ball, and you're right about
Speaker 2: the offense, Craig is not just Matthew Stafford having a
Speaker 2: big year or the rise of Pukainakua. Hel Cooper Cup's
Speaker 2: not even having a big year. He's been injured a lot.
Speaker 2: They identified a running back in the draft that became
Speaker 2: a star. The offensive line playing at a high level,
Speaker 2: The scheme is elite. And you tell me that the
Speaker 2: Rams are an easy out for anyone in this league.
Speaker 2: If they stay healthy, they are a true They're going
Speaker 2: to be a wildcard, that is a true wild card
Speaker 2: in January.
Speaker 5: Well there, they couldn't have been happy seen the forty
Speaker 5: nine Ers was on Monday Night, because now the forty
Speaker 5: nine going to be starting Week eighteen, and so the
Speaker 5: Rams are far from guaranteed to get into the playoffs.
Speaker 6: I mean, org beat the Niners and then suddenly everyone is.
Speaker 3: Like a lot.
Speaker 5: They also could clinch this week and they could rest
Speaker 5: starters next week. All they need is to win this
Speaker 5: game and the Seahawks to lose to the Steelers, which
Speaker 5: is you know a reasonable thing to hope for and
Speaker 5: then the Rams are in this week. I do think,
Speaker 5: uh that it's as much as everything else matters. And
Speaker 5: Puka's a true number one and got he was so
Speaker 5: impressed with to see in person, like God, like whatever
Speaker 5: the ceiling is, it's even higher than you could imagine
Speaker 5: for this this kid. So much of it as the
Speaker 5: Stafford improvising like you think of like Mahomes and Lamar
Speaker 5: as like the top like second reaction guys in the league.
Speaker 5: And I mean he had five plays in that game
Speaker 5: that are not in the in the call sheet. He's
Speaker 5: just improvising and he's freaking amazing at it. I don't
Speaker 5: think he's a crazy idea for MVP.
Speaker 7: I'd have him a little lower.
Speaker 5: But if it was like the NBA where he voted
Speaker 5: on five guys, I think he makes my top five.
Speaker 2: Stafford, Yeah, I mean you said that Pooka is fun
Speaker 2: to watch a person.
Speaker 4: I imagine some.
Speaker 5: So one where I was rolling left, we had the
Speaker 5: perfect view where he was rolling left and did the
Speaker 5: side arm stuff and I was just like trying to
Speaker 5: tell Walker.
Speaker 6: I was just like, do you see that, Like Stafford's
Speaker 6: in that Lamar world, were like you have to ignore
Speaker 6: the stats because he hate his like TD interception ratio
Speaker 6: was just never really outstanding. But it's like what he's
Speaker 6: doing physically is like this new version of.
Speaker 2: And I think we there was an NFL plus streamatorium
Speaker 2: mep Earliert Searson I was talked about.
Speaker 4: It is Stafford in the Hall of Fame conversation man.
Speaker 2: A year like this, I think has completely reframed how
Speaker 2: special he has been. And he's actually the flip side
Speaker 2: of And we're gonna get to the Russell Wilson drama
Speaker 2: and the disaster that that's become for the Broncos, the
Speaker 2: boondoggle that could have been the same thing for the
Speaker 2: Rams if Stafford came here and couldn't play. Instead, he
Speaker 2: kind of became a better version of himself and sustained
Speaker 2: his play in his thirties.
Speaker 3: Very interesting.
Speaker 6: I'm not going to bring up MVP again on this episode.
Speaker 6: I don't know why I don't. I don't know why
Speaker 6: I've done that twelve times. That's it's got to be
Speaker 6: annoying to the only one listening to Do you have
Speaker 6: something else to say? No, if you're driving around, you're
Speaker 6: probably annoying. You just brought say I'm not announcing that
Speaker 6: I won't bring it up again. It's a tedious Uh.
Speaker 2: Let's read a ban on MVP those three letters together,
Speaker 2: Eric for the rest of the episode starting now, Let's
Speaker 2: take a break and we'll continue on.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Right, Welcome back to Around the NFL the Week seventeen preview.
Speaker 2: In Bulk, the snake is slithering right back door at
Speaker 2: old Greggy.
Speaker 5: I will take a late game first one off the board,
Speaker 5: Bengals at Chiefs. Chiefs favored by seven. I don't want
Speaker 5: to hear Mark complain about Romo and Mahomes again, so
Speaker 5: you now you don't have to watch it. Money line
Speaker 5: minus three oh five for the Chiefs cut kind of
Speaker 5: a big favorites considering yeah, they were ted point favorites
Speaker 5: against the Raiders and they got smacked. How broken is
Speaker 5: their offense? This is another good test because the Cincinnati
Speaker 5: defense has been quietly broken as well, one of the
Speaker 5: worst groups in the league by almost any measurement, and
Speaker 5: so it's two of the most disappointing sides I think
Speaker 5: in the NFL, the Bengals defense and the Chiefs offense.
Speaker 5: I think if you're the Bengals, you're hoping Hendrickson and
Speaker 5: Hubbard can keep winning on the edge. You know, Janya Morris,
Speaker 5: we haven't been talking about is a rookie left tackle
Speaker 5: playing for the Chiefs or second year tackle wasn't played
Speaker 5: much and has not been good. And so if Hendrickston
Speaker 5: Hubbard can keep getting pressure at the tackle position, maybe
Speaker 5: that sets up another long day for the Chiefs offense.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I mean at this point, you just expect it,
Speaker 2: right at this point, you don't you kind of know
Speaker 2: that we were talking about this for a few weeks
Speaker 2: now that it's changed, probably ain't coming until after the season,
Speaker 2: but just them face planned. I thought it was just
Speaker 2: really interesting that with with the Mighty Mahomes and the
Speaker 2: great read, the fact that those turnovers happened and there
Speaker 2: were so much games still in front of them and
Speaker 2: they just couldn't adjust.
Speaker 3: They couldn't find a way to get it going.
Speaker 2: And at this point, and the Bengals are in must
Speaker 2: win territory just about here, right, Greg, I mean, they
Speaker 2: need they don't have tie breakers.
Speaker 5: They got to win both of them. They are not guaranteed,
Speaker 5: so they're in a deep poll.
Speaker 2: So you know they have they've been you know, they
Speaker 2: were cooled off obviously that the Pittsburgh loss really took
Speaker 2: a lot of air out of the balloon there and
Speaker 2: the idea of what they could be when they were
Speaker 2: riding at three game winning streak. So this is a
Speaker 2: game where I don't know what we're gonna get from Cincinnati,
Speaker 2: but I kind of do know what we're gonna get
Speaker 2: from Kansas City, and it will be a steady to
Speaker 2: very good defensive effort that could scramble Jake Browning, who's
Speaker 2: an up and down entity here. So I see this
Speaker 2: as crazy as it is, and it's a bummer because
Speaker 2: if you look in September, who since Sinnati at Arrowhead
Speaker 2: week seven to eighty. Now, I think this is going
Speaker 2: to be a low scoring game. I think this is
Speaker 2: going to be like a seventeen fourteen type game, and
Speaker 2: I think it's a true toss up.
Speaker 3: I don't think.
Speaker 7: I wish it was Dolphins Ravens in the spot.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well that's that's why I don't know why they
Speaker 6: didn't do that. I mean, you're you're absolutely right, because
Speaker 6: like Kansas City twenty or fewer points in eight of
Speaker 6: their games, and it certainly looks like it. I do
Speaker 6: think for the for the Bengals, like it's a tough
Speaker 6: slate down the stretch. Pittsburgh's defense, Kansas City's defense, like
Speaker 6: for is disappointed as we are by the offense. Like
Speaker 6: their defense has been super consistent game after game for
Speaker 6: the most part. Cleveland's defense next week. So it's a
Speaker 6: rough it's a rough. It's a rough stretch. For Jake Browning.
Speaker 6: It's also a chance for him to like bring us
Speaker 6: back into the world where we believe in. I'm Jamar.
Speaker 6: Chase took part in the walkthrough. He's got a shoulder injury.
Speaker 6: I think that matters a lot because Chase and Browning
Speaker 6: have connected pretty well playoff game.
Speaker 4: I would expect them to be there. Put Yeah, I'm
Speaker 4: with you.
Speaker 6: I mean, Kadarius Tony's banged up for the for the Chiefs,
Speaker 6: Isaiah Pachecos banged up. T Higgins coming off a huge performance.
Speaker 6: So it's like, I don't I don't feel like that
Speaker 6: that the Bengals team that we loved a week ago
Speaker 6: was floated away entirely.
Speaker 4: It's just kind of like, we'll see.
Speaker 5: This is gonna be the last time we see them
Speaker 5: as we know it now. I think they'll tag T Higgins,
Speaker 5: but you know, in terms of a meaningful game.
Speaker 7: If they lose this game, they're basically done.
Speaker 5: T Higgins mixing Tyler Boyd, Joanah Williams, four guys who
Speaker 5: basically started every game throughout this run.
Speaker 7: All four might not be there next year.
Speaker 5: I feel like they'll I feel like they'll tag Higgins
Speaker 5: because he's just too good. But you know, this is
Speaker 5: the end of something with Cincinnati, which feels weird because
Speaker 5: Burrow's so young. But they're just gonna have to reload
Speaker 5: on the fly and figure out what was wrong this.
Speaker 3: Year, dream it all up again.
Speaker 2: Last word on this game, Let's go to the New
Speaker 2: Heights podcast, which is by the way, presented by Waves
Speaker 2: Sports and Entertainment. Travis Kelce not having the year you
Speaker 2: expect from him, the Chiefs obviously not having the year
Speaker 2: he expected from them offensively, and he does that podcast
Speaker 2: with his brother Jason, and here are his thoughts on
Speaker 2: the state of their offense.
Speaker 3: Everybody's just got to do their job.
Speaker 10: Every single play, somebody not doing their job, and it's me,
Speaker 10: it's every one by one, it's everybody on the team.
Speaker 10: And whether that's prep, whether that's having the confidence and
Speaker 10: understanding of what the defense is in.
Speaker 3: Their their coverages, their gaps.
Speaker 10: And the run game, how we're picking up blitzes, how
Speaker 10: we're running routes versus certain.
Speaker 2: Coverages, all the above, and we should bring it up
Speaker 2: here because you could look at that as just you know,
Speaker 2: cliches there.
Speaker 4: That we all got a man up and do our
Speaker 4: job and all that.
Speaker 2: Or he could say, like, is he talking about the
Speaker 2: the level of preparation and coaching with the offense as well?
Speaker 2: And you have obviously the enemy is not there anymore.
Speaker 2: Matt Naggie took on a bigger role there. Obviously read
Speaker 2: is the architect? Is there frustration in that building? And Greg,
Speaker 2: you had pointed out Rashid Rice a lot of miscommunications.
Speaker 2: We know Tony has had mental and physical gaffs. Is
Speaker 2: the offensive lines was having breakdowns? Is this a situation
Speaker 2: in house in Kansas City where it's like this offense
Speaker 2: is not being put in position forget about just the
Speaker 2: skill level put in position to be successful on Sundays?
Speaker 6: He like he's their leading receiver because they don't have
Speaker 6: a leading receiver.
Speaker 5: Well normally in this situation, it offensive coordinator leaves and
Speaker 5: you turn from a very buttoned up unit to one
Speaker 5: of the sloppiest units in the league by any measurement,
Speaker 5: it would people would be going crazy about the offensive
Speaker 5: coordinator change. I think it's confusing because Andy reads the
Speaker 5: head coach, But I think it's totally fair to wonder
Speaker 5: like Eric Benemy leaves, Matt Naggie comes on, and suddenly
Speaker 5: they don't look very well coached.
Speaker 2: Great, there's always part of the reason why, I think
Speaker 2: the enemy or one of the reasons he didn't get
Speaker 2: a head coaching job. It was always very nebulous about
Speaker 2: what he was actually doing. And then even we talked
Speaker 2: about it over the summer. That NFL Quarterback show you
Speaker 2: would see during their Super Bowl run last year, it
Speaker 2: was Naggy that was very involved on the sideline on
Speaker 2: a game play by play basis, and you're always like,
Speaker 2: where is the enemy? Well, right now they're asking where
Speaker 2: is the offense and where is the flow to it?
Speaker 2: And the basic fundamentals is what Kelsey is also getting at.
Speaker 2: Why aren't we playing at a high level? That's crazy?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 4: Mark back to you, all right?
Speaker 6: Taking another early game Saints at Bucks, intriguing the Bucks.
Speaker 2: Basically that would have been a good number two pick,
Speaker 2: but you ended up getting it all worked out.
Speaker 6: Sure, Well, that's how the draft works sometimes. It just
Speaker 6: you know, I don't know why. I'm sort of stunned
Speaker 6: that Greg didn't take his Saints, But that's okay.
Speaker 4: I'll report to you what I've.
Speaker 5: They have not been my Saints for many years. Here,
Speaker 5: I'm rooting box Let's go win a division.
Speaker 4: That's the thing. They're in it they win and they.
Speaker 7: They are taking the game just because of that.
Speaker 4: Aren't we rooting for them to win this division? Like?
Speaker 4: How can you make an argument for anyone else?
Speaker 3: The only team that's like a deadbeat, it's been like.
Speaker 6: The best version of themselves for a while, and it
Speaker 6: starts with Baker Mayfield. And I think there's like a
Speaker 6: really specific historical A lot of these like historical notes
Speaker 6: about player X performing a certain way against the team
Speaker 6: begins to become nonsensical because the rosters have changed so much.
Speaker 6: But like the Saints and Bucks, Like when you put
Speaker 6: Mike Evans against the Saints defensive backs who have they're
Speaker 6: kind of similar, like they're nasty, like Marshawn Lattimore and friends,
Speaker 6: Like this.
Speaker 5: Is they've really missed them in this matchup where he
Speaker 5: was so good against.
Speaker 6: That right, Latimore has been like the guy, but like
Speaker 6: it's like Mike Evans has been held under seventy yards
Speaker 6: in nine of his last matchups against the Saints. This
Speaker 6: has been like their player, their guy, and like, I
Speaker 6: think the one thing that has been such a promising
Speaker 6: aspect to Baker Mayfield is that that offense was so
Speaker 6: frustrating a year ago. And how many times did I
Speaker 6: watch Tom Brady and Mike Evans unable to connect deep downfield.
Speaker 6: That's not been the case with Mayfield and Evans. I
Speaker 6: think that that's the kind of the engine of their offense,
Speaker 6: and explosive plays in this matchup matter a lot. When
Speaker 6: they battled the first time, you know, the Saints always
Speaker 6: made life very tough for Tom Brady during his stretch
Speaker 6: with the Bucks. Baker Mayfield went in and they won
Speaker 6: twenty six to nine. And like, the performance between Derek
Speaker 6: Carr and Baker Mayfield was night and day.
Speaker 4: But Derek Carr, for all the.
Speaker 6: Critique gets since Week eight, has been has one hundred
Speaker 6: and forty passer rating on deep passes, and so it's like,
Speaker 6: I think explosive plays make the difference here.
Speaker 5: Bucks favored by two and a half man This is
Speaker 5: a tempting lock here. Saints have the extra rest coming
Speaker 5: off the DNF game, But man, the desert's been given
Speaker 5: the Saints way too much credit for way too long.
Speaker 5: Like they were barely underdogs in La got smoked. They're
Speaker 5: barely underdogs here. They're playing their worst football. The Bucks
Speaker 5: have won four in a row. Offensively, they're great. They're
Speaker 5: a very good offense. Right now, they're a legitimate top
Speaker 5: ten offense. Evans leads all NFL wide receivers and touchdowns
Speaker 5: right now, he's got to get to like thirteen fourteen
Speaker 5: hundred yards, like his route running the jerk route he
Speaker 5: ran on for the touchdown last week against what cornerback
Speaker 5: was that last I mean, he just made him looks
Speaker 5: gonna make a lot of mosdiculous Tyson Campbell was. He
Speaker 5: was awesome. This feels like Dennis Allen's last stand. And
Speaker 5: Baker they're now saying like there's mutual interest in keeping him.
Speaker 5: He's played his best two games of the season the
Speaker 5: last two weeks. I think Baker's been solid all year,
Speaker 5: but he's been legitimately really really good the last two weeks,
Speaker 5: and he's playing a team that just doesn't get any
Speaker 5: pass rush here, Like man, I like the bucks Man.
Speaker 3: We should look him up. It's not too late, you know.
Speaker 4: We obviously we know what Todd Bowles is and what
Speaker 4: he isn't, so he has nothing to do really with
Speaker 4: the offensive game plan. Have we been talking about Dave
Speaker 4: Canals on this show early in the season, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: only went guy years. They went through a little slump.
Speaker 4: But yeah, it all so tells you so because he
Speaker 4: deserves credit.
Speaker 2: Because if we were just talking about Kansas City and
Speaker 2: what's going on, everybody's out of sync. It's an offense
Speaker 2: that is in sync and is potent right now. And
Speaker 2: you got the quarterback playing with confidence, and Evans is
Speaker 2: having an all Pro year, and you even got Godwin
Speaker 2: going a little bit now, and it's just like, okay,
Speaker 2: look out now.
Speaker 3: We shall see. This is also the same.
Speaker 2: This is why they are the most deserving team to
Speaker 2: claim this bizarre division. They also did lose six of
Speaker 2: seven at one point this season, so the DNA within
Speaker 2: them perhaps is still there to have a late collapse.
Speaker 6: But I think I have to do this, Like I
Speaker 6: was gonna go somewhere else, but it's like this has
Speaker 6: been the one of the more unexpected quarterback performances of
Speaker 6: the season by Baker Mayfield, who I think was a
Speaker 6: Dalton line candidate coming into the year.
Speaker 4: I'm locking up the bucks. They're gonna do it. 'en
Speaker 4: up with the Saints.
Speaker 5: Check you later, okay, Dalton, I I mean heck, he
Speaker 5: was way below that.
Speaker 7: That's why he got no money this offseason. He got
Speaker 7: a one year, three billion dollar contract, and he's.
Speaker 6: Been better than Derek Carr who got who got a Yes,
Speaker 6: there's environment, but he's going to be a dad soon too.
Speaker 4: What kind of contract would Baker gets?
Speaker 7: It is a very tricky.
Speaker 4: I love Baker at this value. Is tricky one Baker.
Speaker 5: One last thing, The Buccaneers are the only team in
Speaker 5: the NFL that everything else that matters in terms of
Speaker 5: their playoff positioning and everything, everything else in the NFL
Speaker 5: has no impact on them whatsoever. Literally, no other results matter.
Speaker 5: If they win one of their next two games, they
Speaker 5: are the four seed.
Speaker 7: Period.
Speaker 3: There you go.
Speaker 4: If they don't win either, if they go zero and two,
Speaker 4: they're out. That is that is mathematically refreshing. I do
Speaker 4: like that.
Speaker 3: To quote to quote the great Mariano Duncan.
Speaker 4: Remember Mariano Duncan nice little infielder back in the nineties.
Speaker 4: Not really.
Speaker 3: We play today, we win today. That's it.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's what the Bucks got to do, all right.
Speaker 2: I am up and it feels like it's been a
Speaker 2: long time since I've been up on the clock, and
Speaker 2: here I am. I do like the I like this
Speaker 2: game that it's still here. Raiders at Colts. I mean,
Speaker 2: come on, it's a big game in the AFC. You
Speaker 2: can look at these teams and say, oh, who cares,
Speaker 2: doesn't matter.
Speaker 4: These aren't Super Bowl teams. I get it, I'm with you.
Speaker 2: But it matters to the players, and it matters to
Speaker 2: the coach, and it matters to the fan base.
Speaker 3: So it's a game with a lot on the line.
Speaker 2: Colts at eight and seven, and they are, you know,
Speaker 2: with the Jaguars in a free fall.
Speaker 3: What's going on in the division over there? Right now?
Speaker 3: Where are they at?
Speaker 7: They're all tied?
Speaker 4: They oh my goodness, So the division is there? The
Speaker 4: wild card is there.
Speaker 5: Jacks have most of the tie breakers if it all
Speaker 5: stayed tied, but it's a three way tie.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And then you have on the Las Vegas side of things,
Speaker 2: the biggest surprise of the last couple of weeks has
Speaker 2: been what they've done. I mean, they put.
Speaker 4: Up a sixty burger on the Chargers.
Speaker 2: Then on Christmas Day they go to Arrowhead and they
Speaker 2: and they beat the Artists formerly known as the Chiefs.
Speaker 2: And yes, the Chiefs are not the Chiefs anymore, at
Speaker 2: least not this season, but that is still a huge
Speaker 2: win for that organization. Obviously for Antonio Pierce is trying
Speaker 2: to get that intern label ripped right the hell off.
Speaker 2: So take a look at the Raiders now, because if
Speaker 2: they can beat the Colts in Indy, and we saw
Speaker 2: what the Colt just got spanked by the.
Speaker 4: Time, that was a terrible loss. That was a terrible loss.
Speaker 2: So we know what's going on with the Colts. They
Speaker 2: are just hanging around here. They could be picked off
Speaker 2: by anyone. They could beat a lot of teams too,
Speaker 2: but they could get picked off. Then they would be
Speaker 2: the Raiders home against the Broncos in Week eighteen and
Speaker 2: hot damn. If they ever win out and make the playoffs,
Speaker 2: that would be one of the more unlikely rises for
Speaker 2: any team in recent memory.
Speaker 6: I mean it would, it would It would match the
Speaker 6: Basaccia experience.
Speaker 2: I mean even more so, like that team had some talent.
Speaker 2: They this team was completely off.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they had a much longer because Druden got fired
Speaker 5: so early.
Speaker 7: You know what I mean.
Speaker 6: It's interesting to me how they're doing it because I
Speaker 6: think your argument for Antonio Pierce, and we talked about
Speaker 6: it a little bit in the recap show, was that, like,
Speaker 6: if you're going to be a defensive coach in twenty
Speaker 6: twenty three, twenty twenty four, like your defense better be great,
Speaker 6: Like it better be like we better see like a
Speaker 6: noticeable difference, and like, I think that's happened with them,
Speaker 6: Like they won that game against the Chiefs where DeVante
Speaker 6: Adams had had one reception for four yards. They've had
Speaker 6: four defensive touchdowns in two games. And the Raiders are
Speaker 6: one of the deepest historical lower operations in all of sports,
Speaker 6: and they've never done that over the course of two
Speaker 6: games in their entire organizational history. And they've had some
Speaker 6: great defenses and some like ballhawk type players. You got
Speaker 6: a guy like Max Crosby who's played more percentage of
Speaker 6: defensive snaps than anyone else in the league and like
Speaker 6: has gutted through terrible injuries. That tells me you want
Speaker 6: to play for your coach that tells me you want
Speaker 6: to play for Antonio Pierson like I think they'd be
Speaker 6: one of the most expicy stories around if they ever
Speaker 6: snuck into the wild card.
Speaker 7: And it's basically a playoff game.
Speaker 5: Good pick, fun game, an elimination game for the Raiders,
Speaker 5: you know, if they lose their out, not quite for
Speaker 5: the Colts, who, just because of the division, actually have
Speaker 5: a decent chance. They could even lose this game, win
Speaker 5: next week and still have a decent chance to get in.
Speaker 5: I don't know if Josh Jacobs is going to be back.
Speaker 5: Julian Blackman has been really good at safety for the
Speaker 5: Colts is out. They're only three and four at home.
Speaker 5: The Raiders have also been a much better home team
Speaker 5: and bat on the road. So something's got to give there.
Speaker 5: This version of Minshew, who's been playing better I think
Speaker 5: in recent weeks. Despite that, I know that the result
Speaker 5: it's so weird. I swear he's played better the last
Speaker 5: three weeks versus this defense that could be trouble though.
Speaker 5: That could be trouble for the Colts. Two teams, good pick.
Speaker 2: I like this, all right, we'll say we'll say I
Speaker 2: wanted to be a dramatic affair, and we'll see if
Speaker 2: Jonathan Taylor gets it going again second game back after
Speaker 2: the thumb injury. I don't know if you just said it, Greg,
Speaker 2: but Colts can win out and still miss the playoffs.
Speaker 2: But they could also when their division.
Speaker 5: It could also like lose this game and very easily
Speaker 5: make the playoffs next week.
Speaker 3: There's a lot.
Speaker 7: It's crazy.
Speaker 5: The Colts three and a half point favorites in the
Speaker 5: money line is minus one seventy five.
Speaker 7: I'm taking the Colts. I feel bad.
Speaker 2: Raiders, Okay, Snakes to me, you know what, I'm going
Speaker 2: to go keep going down this road, and I'm going
Speaker 2: to pick up these games that are essentially playoff games
Speaker 2: for these teams. The Steelers traveling to Seattle to face
Speaker 2: the Seahawks. This is the Seahawks getting three and a
Speaker 2: half in this game. And yeah, Mason Rudolph, he's getting
Speaker 2: another start. It's been quite a journey for Mason Rudolf,
Speaker 2: but all of a sudden he's getting something that maybe maybe,
Speaker 2: I mean, you didn't think this would ever be a
Speaker 2: situation again that here we are in late December, turning
Speaker 2: the calendar over to January, and he is playing a
Speaker 2: quarterback in a huge game for the Steelers, and maybe
Speaker 2: the craziest thing it is the obvious right move for
Speaker 2: this team right now.
Speaker 4: That tells you a lot, just tells you a lot.
Speaker 5: Right We're not sure if Kenny Pickett is even going
Speaker 5: to be available, although there was some hope that he
Speaker 5: would be, but Tomlin made it clear early in the
Speaker 5: week that either way, it's going to be Rudolph, who
Speaker 5: got a lot out of George. Picketts is a very
Speaker 5: talented human and they're not doing themselves a service if
Speaker 5: they don't find a way to use him, and Rudolph
Speaker 5: did in a big way. He's not great to go
Speaker 5: down the field. And I'm looking forward to those. Man,
Speaker 5: I'm gonna get the bad with Pickens. That's just part
Speaker 5: of the DNA here. They might as well get the
Speaker 5: good while you're at it. And they were only not.
Speaker 5: They were only getting the bad and not the good.
Speaker 5: Get let the guy make plays, throw it up, and
Speaker 5: it made them. I don't enjoy watching the Steelers. I
Speaker 5: haven't enjoyed watching the Steelers for years now. Mostly rooted
Speaker 5: in the quarterback play, even at the end of the
Speaker 5: Ben era, that was at least a compelling watchable brand
Speaker 5: of football where you know you're getting that physical Steelers
Speaker 5: defense with an offense that has taken chances and row
Speaker 5: in the damn ball.
Speaker 6: Rudolph has more touchdown passes than Kenny Pickett with thirteen
Speaker 6: fewer games played.
Speaker 3: I can't.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're gonna rush Canny Picket back on the field,
Speaker 4: can we?
Speaker 5: Con also think it's interesting, like Feelers fans, he has
Speaker 5: more touchdowns this season that.
Speaker 4: Can no career wise, Okay, thirteen played that one game.
Speaker 2: It should be pointed out that Mason Ruff came into
Speaker 2: the league in nineteen ninety six, so that's.
Speaker 6: Thirteen few games, thirteen fewer games than Picket. But I'm
Speaker 6: not saying like.
Speaker 3: He didn't come in to the league nineteen eighty.
Speaker 6: I do find it interesting that like Rudolph like Steelers
Speaker 6: fans are, so they adore him to such a degree,
Speaker 6: Like the degree that they.
Speaker 7: Did it seemed to like him too.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you had to watch some of these
Speaker 2: guys that have been playing quarterback for the Steelers, you
Speaker 2: would probably want the underdog that you think didn't really
Speaker 2: ever get a fair shake. Although I feel like we
Speaker 2: watch a lot of bad Mason Ruff football too.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but not last week. What is it worth?
Speaker 3: Last week? It was fine.
Speaker 5: Devin Wetherspoon is possibly returning, which would be really big.
Speaker 5: That benchet of Tarik Willen I think worked. He had
Speaker 5: a great game last week. They put him back in
Speaker 5: starting lineup. Carol does have and I think you see
Speaker 5: it with the russ stuff, Like Carol does have a
Speaker 5: way I think of giving players you see with Gino
Speaker 5: a lot of confidence in getting the best at them.
Speaker 5: They got Weatherspoon in that Russell Wilson trade. I do
Speaker 5: want to see Gino like use the middle of the
Speaker 5: field more. This is a matchup that you can't do it.
Speaker 5: Everything is to the outside, Like there's so many great
Speaker 5: Gino throws, like he played really well last week, and
Speaker 5: yet like there's such high degree of difficulty. Can we
Speaker 5: get something over the middle of the field to Smith
Speaker 5: and Jigma and the tight ends like he's done it
Speaker 5: before and they just don't. Compared to almost any team
Speaker 5: in the league, they just don't do that. And you
Speaker 5: should be able to against this slow Pittsburgh linebackers and
Speaker 5: what's going on in their secondary.
Speaker 6: They're pretty banged up. Like Kenneth Walker did not practice
Speaker 6: on Wednesday. Jackson Smith and Jigba was limited. Jamal Adams,
Speaker 6: who feels like an enigma at this point maybe not
Speaker 6: really part of the team going forward, also banged up.
Speaker 6: Jordan Brooks was hurting that game no offense. So it's like,
Speaker 6: you know you're gonna it's that time of year for Seattle,
Speaker 6: but it's like part of those guys need to be
Speaker 6: healthy for their tackle.
Speaker 5: Worked last week against Tennessee and that is a big
Speaker 5: concern against t. J.
Speaker 7: Watt and Heismith.
Speaker 3: Seahawks have a sixty.
Speaker 4: Nine percent chance of making the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Nice even if they lose this week, they do get
Speaker 2: the Cardinals next week, but then you you kind of
Speaker 2: need some things to fall your way. So when this
Speaker 2: game eighty eight percent chance of making the dance.
Speaker 5: Right in the AFC, like a nine win team at
Speaker 5: this point is pretty likely to get in at least
Speaker 5: some nine win team in the NFC. I don't know,
Speaker 5: You're you're playing with fire if you if you get that,
Speaker 5: I mean we do not need Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3: All right, Mark back to you, buddy.
Speaker 6: So there is one final late game, but I'm going
Speaker 6: to take it later under the assumption that you're not
Speaker 6: going to steal it. From me because this is the
Speaker 6: special week where the NFL is created. As scenario, will
Speaker 6: will each be watching three games a piece in the
Speaker 6: early windows. So I'm going to take my final one,
Speaker 6: which is Arizona at Philadelphia.
Speaker 4: Similar situation.
Speaker 6: I want to see these like teams in the conference,
Speaker 6: like show me that they're still going to battle down
Speaker 6: to the end.
Speaker 4: And you're hunting for blowouts. That's what you're doing. That
Speaker 4: is exactly what I'm doing.
Speaker 3: Got the sniper ribs, You're You're on the sixth floor
Speaker 3: book depository right now.
Speaker 6: I tried to dress it up in a different way,
Speaker 6: but you saw right through that. That's what I'm looking for.
Speaker 6: If you're going to do three, two of them better
Speaker 6: be kind of easy narratives.
Speaker 4: Let's go that that's about you drafted forty nine ers.
Speaker 3: Now you need that.
Speaker 2: You want to take that party victory or rat lap
Speaker 2: on Sunday after waxing the worst secondary and well, I.
Speaker 6: Do I do feel that best player in the league again,
Speaker 6: I do feel that way.
Speaker 4: It comes everybody get ready. But you could say the Eagles.
Speaker 6: There is like a fair amount of intrigue around the
Speaker 6: Eagles because it's like the whole Matt Patricia thing the hole,
Speaker 6: the fact that like a j Brown at times have
Speaker 6: sort of vanished from this offense. The Jalen Hurts Uh
Speaker 6: essentially leads the league in turnovers from the pocket, Like
Speaker 6: we're like, I think he's an interesting study because it's
Speaker 6: like he made this huge leap last year where it's like, oh,
Speaker 6: that's what we just expected Justin Field to do this year.
Speaker 4: Well that's not how it works.
Speaker 6: But Jalen Hurts has taking a big step back, and
Speaker 6: I think that they're coaching, their coordinatorships have made a
Speaker 6: major difference to that team. They feel like kind of
Speaker 6: on the brink where there's just this like the Eagles
Speaker 6: front office, ownership, everything on down was like the most consistent,
Speaker 6: trustable team out there, like the NFC's version of the
Speaker 6: Ravens almost and like in the Last Fortnight, everything feels
Speaker 6: different and it's like, are the precipice of implosion if
Speaker 6: they have another bad performance and Arizona's probably not gonna
Speaker 6: go do that a little spice here with Kyler Murray,
Speaker 6: but it's like this is probably a home run for
Speaker 6: the Eagles, but if anything went south, I want to
Speaker 6: watch it because I think things get really interesting for
Speaker 6: a team that's hanging in a weird place.
Speaker 5: Right, it would sting to lose to Jonathan Gannon. It's
Speaker 5: a big Jonathan Gannon. Now people say revenge. You know,
Speaker 5: he was a helped him get to the super Bowl.
Speaker 7: But his whole.
Speaker 5: Controversy of how he left and the interviews and the
Speaker 5: process of that, that all like kind of led to
Speaker 5: uh h, shine the side getting hired and that didn't work.
Speaker 5: You know, it all didn't leave them in a good spot.
Speaker 3: On not the guy.
Speaker 5: I mean, Jalen Hurts I think is coming off one
Speaker 5: of his best games of the year. I think he's
Speaker 5: had a very good season. If to me a fourth
Speaker 5: year player that he hasn't as good as last year,
Speaker 5: obviously good, He's like, yes, I think he's been like
Speaker 5: a top seven or eight quarterback in the NFL. For
Speaker 5: where is his development to me is totally fair. It's
Speaker 5: the other stuff around them to me that's been more disappointing,
Speaker 5: namely the defense.
Speaker 7: The most controversial thing I feel like that happened.
Speaker 5: In the Eagles lately is like they're kind of bening
Speaker 5: Jalen Carter maybe didn't have the greatest effort on some
Speaker 5: players last week like played twenty one snaps.
Speaker 7: It's weird that No, you know that that hasn't been
Speaker 7: that talks.
Speaker 5: About to me, they just need to get back to
Speaker 5: running the ball. That it was a great swift game
Speaker 5: last week. I think you can run it down. The
Speaker 5: Cardinals throw interesting about Carter. I mean, see poems written
Speaker 5: mark about him earlier in the year.
Speaker 2: And also a guy that came into the league with
Speaker 2: some question marks about character and things of that nature.
Speaker 3: Let's see what's going on with him.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it might just be he never had
Speaker 5: many snaps in college. Neither did Jordan Davis, and like
Speaker 5: he's just wearing down and they're trying to save him
Speaker 5: a little bit for the playoffs because he is running
Speaker 5: out of gas.
Speaker 4: Man, I feel him. I feel that.
Speaker 5: Eagles favored by eleven minus six hundred, and you get
Speaker 5: Joe Davis and Daryl Johnston on the call.
Speaker 6: Pam Oliver about that big victory for me. Good team,
Speaker 6: good broadcasting standpoint. Greg, you're up, let's do Panthers Jaguars.
Speaker 6: How about that it's actually in the lock zone. You
Speaker 6: could lock again to the Panthers minus six and a
Speaker 6: half in minus two eighty five for the money line.
Speaker 6: Good one Panthers Jaguars. Can the Jaguars complete this collapse?
Speaker 3: You're rooting for that? Am I wrong?
Speaker 4: I announced that I've got.
Speaker 5: That they weren't good all year, and in that they
Speaker 5: you know, just before the season, I did not have
Speaker 5: them as like a playoff team.
Speaker 7: I am surprised.
Speaker 4: I would make you look very smart if they end
Speaker 4: up face playing.
Speaker 5: Nobody's gonna remember anything, everyone and none of it. I
Speaker 5: picked the Charger to make the super Bowl, none of you.
Speaker 5: I didn't need to say that. Yeah, but nobody cares.
Speaker 5: That's one thing you have learned. You get older, literally
Speaker 5: no one. No one's gonna care about your predictions.
Speaker 3: Right Who did you pick?
Speaker 4: Pick to win the biggest award? Individual award? What do
Speaker 4: they call that? Again? We can't discuss that, well, I can't.
Speaker 7: I actually don't remember you guys, do you remember? I don't.
Speaker 4: I think I picked Mahomes. You know we're gonna remasit
Speaker 4: all that stuff.
Speaker 5: Uh No, Trev potentially in this game, but he is proud.
Speaker 5: He did speak with the media, so I think he's
Speaker 5: probably gonna play. He's come up with a new injury
Speaker 5: every week. He's just had this terrible luck where he's
Speaker 5: played every game. It feels like he's missed games. He
Speaker 5: feels gone and and he's and he's uh not finished
Speaker 5: three in a row, right.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Like in his last four games, he's had a
Speaker 6: high ankle spring that looked terrible when it happened, right,
Speaker 6: He's had a concussion and a shoulder in quick recap Eric.
Speaker 2: The last three games for Trevor. Okay, here's game one,
Speaker 2: Game two three. I didn't know if that's true.
Speaker 5: I think of leaving the game yet, and it sounds
Speaker 5: like you will play. And I don't know what to
Speaker 5: put on his injuries because he had like seven or
Speaker 5: eight diying in that game against the Book. Yeah, but
Speaker 5: I don't know what to think about it because like
Speaker 5: he he had a bad game because he made so
Speaker 5: many poor decisions and turned them all over.
Speaker 7: But if you made like a list of the best.
Speaker 5: Throws in that game, he had more great throws than
Speaker 5: Baker Mayfield. So it's like I have a hard time
Speaker 5: saying like marks injury. I just mean that, like I
Speaker 5: don't need to be protected. These things are confusing. It's
Speaker 5: the defense, the offensive line, everything is kind of collapsing
Speaker 5: around them. Bryce Young playing a little better. So wow,
Speaker 5: go win this game. We need go win this game
Speaker 5: and get out of that one seed.
Speaker 3: Maybe.
Speaker 2: All right, let's take a break and we'll go back
Speaker 2: to Greg when we come back, right, welcome back, Greg
Speaker 2: gets back to you, baby boy.
Speaker 7: All right, what else is left?
Speaker 4: I think we could talk about a certain quarter?
Speaker 7: All right, let's go Chargers Broncos.
Speaker 4: Isn't that the only late game that I was telling
Speaker 4: you not?
Speaker 7: What's a shook game? Anyway?
Speaker 4: So oh, negative one eight five minus long and a half.
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna do four one o'clock games.
Speaker 7: If you're on this, we can switch it around, we
Speaker 7: can give it.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 7: I don't know.
Speaker 6: I just listened to the host here. He said, let's
Speaker 6: talk Russ. I figured it feels like a good time
Speaker 6: to talk Russ.
Speaker 4: I don't know what a coulda talked about it in
Speaker 4: for minutely weird?
Speaker 7: What a weird? Uh?
Speaker 5: Twenty four hours it's been since the report came out.
Speaker 5: Initially that like, oh they might be going to do
Speaker 5: the whole nation is dealing with it, and then thirty
Speaker 5: minutes later they are benching Russell Wilson for Jarrett Stidham,
Speaker 5: even though the Broncos have a chance to make the
Speaker 5: playoffs here. If they win out, you know they got
Speaker 5: a shot to make it. I believe Sean pay And
Speaker 5: when he says like he admitted that the finances are
Speaker 5: part of it to start a sentence, Rather, that's a
Speaker 5: fair point.
Speaker 4: That's a fair point.
Speaker 7: It where he says like the finances are part of it.
Speaker 5: They're trying to avoid Russell Wilson getting hurt potentially and
Speaker 5: then being on the hook for all this guaranteed money.
Speaker 5: But obviously they didn't do it until this week. And
Speaker 5: so until this week they decided like it was worth
Speaker 5: keeping playing him, and that actually we'd like to see
Speaker 5: Jarrett Stidham because we gave him this big contract and
Speaker 5: we don't think it's gonna be some big drop off.
Speaker 5: Maybe he'll be better, maybe he'll be worse, And that
Speaker 5: it's the combination of Russell Wilson's play and the contract.
Speaker 5: Russell Wilson, you can tell, is putting out all this
Speaker 5: stuff through his sources that say it's.
Speaker 7: All about the contract, and no, it's a combination.
Speaker 5: If Russell Wilson was bawling out and it wasn't coming
Speaker 5: off one of the worst games of his season, I
Speaker 5: don't think you would be bench right now.
Speaker 2: It's God's plan here. Two things I find it to
Speaker 2: be refresh. There's a team at the bottom of the
Speaker 2: AFC playoff race. It's like, we're not kidding ourselves here,
Speaker 2: Like we could ride with Russ and risk the financial
Speaker 2: side to try to get in the playoffs and maybe
Speaker 2: we'll make some No, we're already looking ahead to the
Speaker 2: future of this franchise. And I think an old Greg ism, GREGI,
Speaker 2: it's like, it's two things can be true. It's yeah,
Speaker 2: Russell Wilson is a Dalton line level quarterback at this point.
Speaker 2: He's not a terrible quarterback, but he's you know, in
Speaker 2: that kind of soft underbelly. Where would you put him,
Speaker 2: I don't know, like fourteen to seventeen in that range.
Speaker 2: And what does not work is to pay a Dalton
Speaker 2: line quarterback like a superstar, especially when there are risks
Speaker 2: of guaranteeing money for a quarterback. You have now decided
Speaker 2: with new leadership this year. Okay, we tried it out
Speaker 2: for a year. We're moving forward. It all kind of
Speaker 2: makes sense now Denver just has to eat all the
Speaker 2: pooh and it's unprecedented almost levels of financial penalties. They're
Speaker 2: going to incurry here to move on from Russ, but
Speaker 2: it's still you got to do it because you you
Speaker 2: did try this year. And I think they did a
Speaker 2: good job in having patients lading this song to see
Speaker 2: if this is a marriage to make work because of
Speaker 2: the money. It didn't work, and they're moving on, and
Speaker 2: I think it makes sense.
Speaker 6: I think in theory you would say that the best
Speaker 6: possible avenue he could have had to save his career
Speaker 6: was under Sean Payton or under a coach like Sean Payton.
Speaker 4: And I think it's I kind of love what they're doing.
Speaker 2: But it's not even about like he needs to save
Speaker 2: his career, because I don't think he's some hopeless cause
Speaker 2: you know, it's.
Speaker 6: Just coming off guy coming off coming off of last year,
Speaker 6: like his Broncos career, like the version of him in
Speaker 6: Denver where it's like he would stay beyond this season
Speaker 6: he finished. He's top ten right now in completion percentage,
Speaker 6: touchdown pick ratio, and passer rating it. But it doesn't
Speaker 6: look like it's kind of like Lamar, you just you
Speaker 6: got to watch the games.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it's not ball. You know, it's like
Speaker 7: he's not but.
Speaker 6: I think it's like people are not like watching Brouckles
Speaker 6: games all just like he's just a disaster because he
Speaker 6: was that last year. No, he's not like he's just
Speaker 6: in the middle of the road like you're saying, but
Speaker 6: I'm wondering more like if you're the Broncos and if
Speaker 6: you're Sean Payton, who was clearly told before he took
Speaker 6: the job, like you're not tied to Russell Wilson, you
Speaker 6: can evaluate and see what you want to do, Like
Speaker 6: why are we keeping the general manager, like who made
Speaker 6: this trade? And like like they evaluated Greg like you
Speaker 6: were saying you were down on Russell Wilson before that
Speaker 6: trade had ever happened, a season before that trade ever happened.
Speaker 6: It's like the general manager, who is hired to make
Speaker 6: these kinds of decisions entangle you financially in a wise
Speaker 6: way towards a franchise quarterback made a terrible decision, and
Speaker 6: other people were seeing that Russell Wilson was not the
Speaker 6: same player.
Speaker 5: And Russell Wilson is guaranteed a lot of money next year.
Speaker 5: People kind of are getting it twisted. It's like, oh,
Speaker 5: they're getting out of having to pay him next year,
Speaker 5: it's like, no, he's actually get banged.
Speaker 7: Guaranteed money next year.
Speaker 5: The extension they signed him to, which to be clear,
Speaker 5: was in the area of the Mahomes and Josh Allen's
Speaker 5: type extensive. It hasn't started yet, Dan, it starts next year.
Speaker 4: That's wild. It's it's totally insane. It's funny money, Greg,
Speaker 4: if you have it right.
Speaker 5: Well, I think I think in terms of the actual money,
Speaker 5: it's still over thirty plus that they owe him. But
Speaker 5: in terms of the dead money the cap space that
Speaker 5: kills eighty five million. In theory, they could eat it
Speaker 5: all in one year. I don't think they'll do that.
Speaker 5: I think they'll just doing that. They'll spread it out
Speaker 5: over too, but that it might be tempting that the
Speaker 5: Falcons were in a somewhat similar scenario and they decided
Speaker 5: to eat all of Matt Ryan's money, which was like
Speaker 5: forty or something in one year to at least get
Speaker 5: it off the books, because suddenly Russell Wilson's gonna cost
Speaker 5: you like forty nine million in twenty twenty five on
Speaker 5: the cap and it's like, man, maybe maybe we just
Speaker 5: want to take our medicine. And that's why it's one
Speaker 5: of the worst trades in NFL history because the contract
Speaker 5: and all the picks that led to Weatherspoon and Mafia,
Speaker 5: all these like picks for Seattle.
Speaker 7: What a who is to.
Speaker 3: Put that in?
Speaker 2: It absolutely was, and just to put it in perspective,
Speaker 2: so if his cap hit is near what you say, fifty,
Speaker 2: if they spread it out.
Speaker 5: If they spread out, it'll be in the thirties next year,
Speaker 5: and then near fifty and twenty five.
Speaker 2: The cap at least this year, and it always creeps
Speaker 2: up is two twenty five. So that's going to be
Speaker 2: eating up a large part of their availability. So it's
Speaker 2: a It's a type of move that if you hit
Speaker 2: on it, and then I'll use staffor again as an example,
Speaker 2: it opens up your window as a contender for several years.
Speaker 2: But if it goes the other way, this is a
Speaker 2: mistake that is going to continue to reverberate for multiple years.
Speaker 2: And I wonder if Sean Peyton, then he's not a
Speaker 2: man that lacks confidence, if he ever truly thought that out,
Speaker 2: and if he's now realizing, oh wait, okay, I couldn't
Speaker 2: fix them, and now look, I'm basically handcuffed in a
Speaker 2: league where coaches don't usually get more than three years
Speaker 2: to write a ship.
Speaker 6: I mean, Sean Payton didn't have a lot of other
Speaker 6: options and he took this. He got huge money, right,
Speaker 6: so there's I mean, that was a huge part.
Speaker 4: I would just say this are we would have waited
Speaker 4: it out and eventually found something you could But are we?
Speaker 4: Are we in an NFL?
Speaker 6: That's so absurd and so like ill thinking that's another
Speaker 6: team this offseason is going to convince themselves to bring
Speaker 6: in Russell Wilson as a starter. Like if that happens,
Speaker 6: I lose entire faith.
Speaker 3: But here's the thing.
Speaker 2: In general, he's again I don't think he's bad, and
Speaker 2: look how many bad quarterbacks you watch?
Speaker 6: I know, But like then it's just like what are
Speaker 6: we What are you saying getting paid like don't know,
Speaker 6: Smith or something that makes more sense.
Speaker 4: This is what is outrageous, getting paid like this to
Speaker 4: play like that? Right that doesn't it will get that
Speaker 4: will get leveled a little bit.
Speaker 5: It feels a little awkward though, as like a Teddy
Speaker 5: Bridgewater type. So I'm with you, Mark, I don't know.
Speaker 5: I don't think there's going to be a starting job.
Speaker 5: Maybe once all the chairs stopped moving, maybe they'll just
Speaker 5: be some team that that needs.
Speaker 3: The commanders will like the Raids, But I don't do that.
Speaker 7: I actually kind of doubt it.
Speaker 5: This is so ugly though, Like so Jordan Schultz had
Speaker 5: this reporting and then it was backed up I think
Speaker 5: by the Athletic that the Broncos approached Wilson two days
Speaker 5: before after their upset of the Chiefs, so just you know,
Speaker 5: almost two months ago now late October, and told him
Speaker 5: they were gonna make him inactive if they didn't adjust
Speaker 5: his contract and defer the injury guarantee that I was
Speaker 5: talking about, and that they threatened him and they got
Speaker 5: into a major dispute that the NFLPA got involved in.
Speaker 7: Who knows.
Speaker 5: It's interesting to me that Russell Wilson is his side
Speaker 5: is clearly putting this out there to make Sean Payton
Speaker 5: and the Broncos look bad. And Sean Payton is very
Speaker 5: aware of what is happening. And these two still have
Speaker 5: to work together the next couple of weeks and Russell
Speaker 5: Wilson is going to be the backup SUP this week.
Speaker 7: That's what Sean Payton said.
Speaker 5: So they're having this sort of source war, and he's
Speaker 5: basically saying Sean Payton's a jerk.
Speaker 4: I shouldn't be benched.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna put this out and then I'm gonna go
Speaker 5: on Twitter and go on a streak of liking a
Speaker 5: bunch of tweets from all these accounts like that. I
Speaker 5: mean that, like it is twenty twenty four. Here are
Speaker 5: the people JFA football. He liked JPA football. Oh that's
Speaker 5: one of those terrible ones Fantasy fanatics he did, which
Speaker 5: I'd been talking about liking some other stuff. Of all
Speaker 5: putting these out there of how poorly Peyton's treaty him
Speaker 5: and how great Russell Wilson is, and then his public
Speaker 5: statement is that, like I trust in God, and I
Speaker 5: really think it's interesting because these two guys shown Peyton
Speaker 5: and Russell Wilson, few people have tried to manipulate the
Speaker 5: media through sources to make themselves look better and to
Speaker 5: like get money than these two guys. So it's like,
Speaker 5: you know what, it's like my it's like my super
Speaker 5: Bowl of like source offs.
Speaker 6: We have been doing this for a long time, and
Speaker 6: like there is like no one gets Greg more, not
Speaker 6: no one, but like top five get Greg fired up.
Speaker 6: Sean Payton is consistently cemented in the trus.
Speaker 4: Else strong I see.
Speaker 5: I get, it's why they were yelling at each other.
Speaker 7: There's two alike.
Speaker 2: I also find football, you know, the Twitter verse to
Speaker 2: be exhausting sometimes because it's hypocritical that we're we're always
Speaker 2: talking about how, you know, the the owners have too
Speaker 2: much power, and the and the players. We should always
Speaker 2: side with players and this thing that's happening. But then
Speaker 2: it depends on the player. And Russell is not an
Speaker 2: overly popular guy, so all of a sudden, we're not
Speaker 2: like saying he's being done dirty, but he is being
Speaker 2: done I.
Speaker 7: Think, just like I think it's working what he's doing.
Speaker 2: But just like Derek Carr, this I think is an
Speaker 2: unfair loophole. I'll call it the car clause because it
Speaker 2: happened with him with the Raiders last year. That you
Speaker 2: sign a certain deal that you expect to protect you
Speaker 2: and then they kind of use it against you. And
Speaker 2: in this case, you hold him, put a gun to
Speaker 2: his head and say, unless you change your contract, we're
Speaker 2: going to end your career there and bench your ass.
Speaker 5: But here's the thing they did, so that's why the
Speaker 5: report they did, but they didn't for two more months
Speaker 5: so they didn't actually do it. So that's that needed
Speaker 5: a little pushback in terms of their party. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 5: they threatened that they were going to do that, and
Speaker 5: they didn't do it.
Speaker 2: They waited till they were himself with context matters too.
Speaker 2: That was at the point of the season where things
Speaker 2: were going really well.
Speaker 7: No, it was that.
Speaker 4: It was when they were three and five and they
Speaker 4: said they were going to bench. Said then it was
Speaker 4: after the Chiefs upset.
Speaker 7: Yes, but they were three and five at then, Okay.
Speaker 2: Well they they had they had turned the corner after
Speaker 2: a terrible start.
Speaker 4: Where were they They were one and four, right.
Speaker 7: They were one and four and then they were one
Speaker 7: and five. I think they had won.
Speaker 2: One and five and so they were kind of things
Speaker 2: were at that point in the season. Things were turning over.
Speaker 2: I'm just saying sometimes it's like where do we choose
Speaker 2: when to side with ownership and when do we side
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 6: Like also like the one like it's not Russell Wilson
Speaker 6: is not being thrown into the breadline where you're still
Speaker 6: go to get a job at like CVS next week.
Speaker 4: It's like he's making.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, if you want to put it through that lens.
Speaker 2: What are we talking about anything?
Speaker 4: I am, well, that's that's that's a fair question. It's
Speaker 4: like he's this is what then happen.
Speaker 6: He's an incredibly disappointing quarterback for what they thought. It's
Speaker 6: a disaster, and he's still making an incredible more He's
Speaker 6: making way more money than he deserves for what he's
Speaker 6: given them.
Speaker 5: He Uh, this was one where he's doing the pr
Speaker 5: thing and it's it's working.
Speaker 6: I mean, every wedding everywhere, we're gonna kill Sean like
Speaker 6: Russell Wilson is.
Speaker 7: I think I think Sean Payton needs to handle that better.
Speaker 2: Every big name, almost every big name player has representation
Speaker 2: that works for him.
Speaker 4: And when these crisises happened different. There's spin, and there's
Speaker 4: it's part of the It's part of the game.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, But I think it's fair to look at these
Speaker 5: two guys, John bat and Russell Wilson and say they've gotten.
Speaker 3: Guys a whole other category.
Speaker 7: He's actually because I think he knows he's mean enough.
Speaker 4: Russell Wilson, all right, let's move on. All right, let's
Speaker 4: see let's see anything about that game.
Speaker 6: No, we're good, Mark, all right, Uh, I'm gonna take
Speaker 6: my fourth early game because this point, someone just find
Speaker 6: an off fire arm and take me out.
Speaker 7: What does it matter.
Speaker 4: I'll take one of it, but I'm going Tennessee at Houston.
Speaker 4: Speaking of putting in perspective, you're watching football for a
Speaker 4: living sassy Tennessee it. I actually I think you just
Speaker 4: take this game. So that's not a fourth. I know
Speaker 4: what I'm doing.
Speaker 6: You can't have it both ways. You can't say I
Speaker 6: can have it. I can you have it both ways?
Speaker 6: You have it both ways, like twenty five times a show.
Speaker 6: I'll have it both ways. I'm happy to take the
Speaker 6: game from you.
Speaker 4: I am happy to take it for myself in the
Speaker 4: nick of time.
Speaker 9: C J.
Speaker 6: Stroud, who practiced good is returning. I found that so
Speaker 6: depressing for the Texans, who are one of the best
Speaker 6: stories around. Uh, to lose this quarterback and so this
Speaker 6: is such a winnable division the version that we got
Speaker 6: of c J. Stroud and the Texans are the team
Speaker 6: I want to win this division enough with everyone else.
Speaker 4: Give me a break. Uh, they're you know.
Speaker 6: When you look back at the first matchup, one thing
Speaker 6: stands out to me is that Derreck Henry had sixteen
Speaker 6: carries for nine yards and four receptions for one yard.
Speaker 4: Historically, you have to go back deep.
Speaker 6: In time to find a player that had twenty offensive
Speaker 6: touchdowns or twenty offensive touches with ten scrimmage yards. That's
Speaker 6: never happened in the Super Bowl era. So it's like,
Speaker 6: if you can, if you can nullify Derek Henry and
Speaker 6: like it sounds like Will Lewis is gonna come back potentially,
Speaker 6: but it's like this is somewhat of a dead offense.
Speaker 6: Go take care of business, Houston, win this game. You
Speaker 6: got Stroud back in the lineup.
Speaker 3: This is the.
Speaker 6: Most intriguing team in the AFC South. If he's performing
Speaker 6: the way that we know, and especially if you get
Speaker 6: guys like Will Anderson the rest down the stretch back
Speaker 6: as well, it's like this is a well coached team,
Speaker 6: Coach of the year potential. I want to see Houston
Speaker 6: in the playoffs start right here.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 4: They were given up five and a half points.
Speaker 5: They yeah, they are they are favorite here. I guess
Speaker 5: that's assuming well, this should be minus two fifty five.
Speaker 5: It's probably Levis. It's probably the last two games of
Speaker 5: Derrick Henry's career. According to Derrick Henry in Tennessee. So
Speaker 5: that's interesting. He was kind of talking about like he
Speaker 5: sees where it's going and he wanted to play for
Speaker 5: one team, but it's just probably not gonna happen. Taji
Speaker 5: Spears being fantastic is part of that. Kind of shows
Speaker 5: you the limitations of a great backfield. I would put
Speaker 5: them in the top three four backfields in the NFL,
Speaker 5: and it really doesn't matter much for them.
Speaker 4: Well, there's nothing else happening with that offense too, That's
Speaker 4: it can't be.
Speaker 5: Just that CJ being back, Blake Cashman being back, but
Speaker 5: might not have Anderson or Grenard, which is what made
Speaker 5: this defense special. So the Texans are definitely capable of
Speaker 5: losing this game too.
Speaker 7: They're not some juggernauts.
Speaker 5: Strauta was struggling a little bit before the injury too,
Speaker 5: and now has missed a couple of weeks. So I'm
Speaker 5: with you, Mark, I really hope they win and find
Speaker 5: a way in all.
Speaker 4: Right, up next, I mean, like can have five games.
Speaker 5: Will all end up with the exact same game. That's
Speaker 5: why it was not worth There's so many worked up.
Speaker 5: We so many like well each have three, it's very easy.
Speaker 6: No, there is no other show like this where works. Wow,
Speaker 6: we got fin about what we have to do? No,
Speaker 6: I just has that happened this year?
Speaker 4: That's no. I think we're getting killed with that early
Speaker 4: slate situation.
Speaker 9: Right.
Speaker 2: I got New England at Buffalo, and it is Buffalo.
Speaker 2: We got a college spread here, They're given thirteen and
Speaker 2: a half.
Speaker 4: That's absurd to me? Is it how the Patriots defense
Speaker 4: is played?
Speaker 2: The idea here, and I am fully on board with it,
Speaker 2: is that the Buffalo Bills are at home in a
Speaker 2: have to have it game.
Speaker 3: This is not a trap game. This is the Bills.
Speaker 2: No, they cannot mess around here. And they know they
Speaker 2: got the Dolphins next week. They survived that little slip
Speaker 2: up against the Chargers, and so they had that type
Speaker 2: of game and they got away with it after you know,
Speaker 2: finding ways to lose earlier in the season. So the
Speaker 2: idea here is I get it, Belichick, and the defense
Speaker 2: has been competitive this year. But the Bills, when they
Speaker 2: are operating at a high level at home, I could
Speaker 2: just see them going off here and I think the
Speaker 2: spread actually is fair. And I think the Bills are
Speaker 2: the great mystery to me of the season because and
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: No one.
Speaker 2: Oh, it can't bring it up, but certain things that
Speaker 2: hardware that's handed out at award shows. Josh Allen truly
Speaker 2: was the big winner last week because all of a
Speaker 2: sudden he could be in that conversation with a strong finish.
Speaker 2: But they got to get to the playoffs first, and
Speaker 2: they got to win these games.
Speaker 3: So it's all in front of the Bills.
Speaker 2: They could be in two weeks time, they could be
Speaker 2: the most disappointing team in football this year, and really
Speaker 2: the most disappointing team in the last couple of years.
Speaker 2: I think in the NFL, if this thing went a
Speaker 2: certain way and they and they missed the dance, or
Speaker 2: they can go in like a house on fire and
Speaker 2: the team that people are picking to go to the
Speaker 2: super Bowl and it wouldn't seem crazy. So a lot
Speaker 2: to be figured out around Buffalo right now.
Speaker 5: I think it's a huge difference to win the division
Speaker 5: and we'll get to that and they have to, you know,
Speaker 5: hope the Dolphins lose.
Speaker 7: This week to get there. But it's such a huge difference.
Speaker 5: I think even going in as a two or three
Speaker 5: seed and going in as a six or seven, it's
Speaker 5: just so hard to be the six or seven. They're
Speaker 5: playing a team that handled them earlier in the year.
Speaker 5: Certainly Mac Jones' best game of the year, he's long gone.
Speaker 5: Bailey Zappi is coming off his best game of the year.
Speaker 5: This defense still like not consistent the Bills defense, and
Speaker 5: like don't have a consistent enough pass rush.
Speaker 7: Von Miller.
Speaker 5: You know what a disastrous season he's had with the arrest,
Speaker 5: But for the Bills that he just I don't think
Speaker 5: it's coming. It's he just isn't gonna make an impact.
Speaker 5: So you need your offense to score thirty forty points.
Speaker 5: He used to do that reliably against the Patriots defense,
Speaker 5: and I tend to think you're right, Dan, that they
Speaker 5: can do it again. This State Pagers defense is good,
Speaker 5: but let's not get carried away. They're like they're a
Speaker 5: good defense, They're not a like unstoppable defense. They can
Speaker 5: still give up like two ninety yard drives to Russell
Speaker 5: Wilson in a big spot, you know when it matters.
Speaker 6: No, I'm not saying that there's something that's special about
Speaker 6: their defense, but it's been consistent. It's been pretty consistent
Speaker 6: the Bills under McDermott. I think these kind of things
Speaker 6: matter like they're seventeen and two in December and January
Speaker 6: regular season played like they close seasons. Well, I think
Speaker 6: they understand through all the chaos that's unfurled inside and
Speaker 6: outside the building. You know, it's been a weird year.
Speaker 6: Last year was a weird year for the Bills. Two
Speaker 6: years in a row and a weird way. They have
Speaker 6: to take care of business, and they will, and there's
Speaker 6: no reason to expect. There's no element to New England
Speaker 6: that suggests an upset like Rimondre Stevenson's been put on IR.
Speaker 6: I think that they looked explosive on offense against the
Speaker 6: Broncos for the first time and like a thousand eons,
Speaker 6: Do I trust that that's who they are for the
Speaker 6: next two weeks? No, No, the Bill's the money line
Speaker 6: is pretty wild here minus eight hundred. At least that
Speaker 6: Christian Barmore is playing like a standout defense.
Speaker 3: Very good.
Speaker 5: I always believe that th sacks and three sacks plastic.
Speaker 5: That's really been great for the second half of the season.
Speaker 5: So at least there's one nice young player they have like.
Speaker 3: None, Yeah, we have so few.
Speaker 2: I got a lot of work to do and he
Speaker 2: is one and it's going to be a vitally important
Speaker 2: draft coming up. Who's going to be in charge of
Speaker 2: that draft? We don't know a great stat here from
Speaker 2: the research team. We'll go out on this with this game,
Speaker 2: with a win versus the Pats in week seventeen, the
Speaker 2: Bills will have ten wins or more for.
Speaker 3: The fifth straight season.
Speaker 4: Roberts Roberts, how old you? How old are Eric Roberts
Speaker 4: Actually just turned thirty two years old by a young
Speaker 4: looking through our beautiful mustachioed boy.
Speaker 2: Eric Roberts is thirty two, So the end of his twenties,
Speaker 2: early thirties, he's known nothing but ten wins. Seasons are
Speaker 2: more buffalo for all the other years pretty much of
Speaker 2: Eric's life, for most of them, had zero such seasons
Speaker 2: of ten plus wins from two thousand to twenty eighteen.
Speaker 2: So Sean McDermott much beligned in certain corners of BLOGI sphere.
Speaker 2: He arrived in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 3: Do the math. He's been part of the right.
Speaker 4: But my niece and nephew only know Josh Allen.
Speaker 3: There you go. What a life? Yeah, it's nice? What
Speaker 3: I know? I know? Pain.
Speaker 6: I want to tell you one thing about Eric like
Speaker 6: I went to my desk. Yes, I'm sure this occurred.
Speaker 6: If it happened to only me, that would be very noticeable.
Speaker 6: But like, uh okay, really nice Christmas card from Eric, handwritten.
Speaker 6: Who's doing that anymore? Like my like my my grandmother's
Speaker 6: like the last person that sent me things like that.
Speaker 2: So the great Sean Kelly also Sean Kelly. Absolutely very
Speaker 2: nice Eric, that you guys all should have gotten a note.
Speaker 2: If not, that would be awesome if.
Speaker 4: To compare what you said to me versus Yeah, all right.
Speaker 7: Knapp into my desk this week. Yeah, come straight here.
Speaker 2: I'll be checking in on that and reading it closely
Speaker 2: to see if there's any differences in the letters.
Speaker 3: That goes back to me.
Speaker 2: And uh, I guess I'm gonna toss this over to
Speaker 2: sestag enjoy the Falcons at the Bears.
Speaker 7: No, I think it's me. Well, we'll figure it all
Speaker 7: out afterwards. That's not where.
Speaker 11: It's not in my direction that I'm throwing this hot
Speaker 11: potato to somebody. Falcons at there as the Falcons keeping
Speaker 11: their playoff hopes alive just barely with that win over
Speaker 11: the Colts, a decisive win. So you know what, Greg,
Speaker 11: it's like, if you're gonna ask me to try to
Speaker 11: figure out what version of the Falcons are gonna get
Speaker 11: it this week, you're going to the wrong guy.
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody really knows. But they have an
Speaker 2: opponent that also is a bit, a bit, a bit
Speaker 2: hard to team to decipher right now. So this could
Speaker 2: be a close game, It could have a could go
Speaker 2: in a lot of different.
Speaker 5: Directions, but it does feel like a bit of a
Speaker 5: like a coach off, like a hot seat off. Next
Speaker 5: week's Falcon Saints feels possibly like a loser gets home job. Potentially,
Speaker 5: if the Falcons won these two weeks, they have a
Speaker 5: reasonable chance to make it either as the division winner
Speaker 5: or the wild card, almost fifty to fifty, about thirty
Speaker 5: eight percent chances if they won both of them. So
Speaker 5: it's it's not too late for them to save their job.
Speaker 5: The Bears have been the number one defense in EPA
Speaker 5: per play allowed since week how about that six week six.
Speaker 5: That's a pretty long timeline here, And I think these
Speaker 5: games really matter for Eberflus if they they have the
Speaker 5: Packers next week, Like if they could knock out the Packers,
Speaker 5: I mean, if they win these two games, I don't
Speaker 5: think there's any chance Eberflus has gone, So it does
Speaker 5: matter for these two coaches, I think.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think if if you want to make
Speaker 6: an argument for Eberflus, it's like what he is meant
Speaker 6: to be good at, they're good at.
Speaker 7: They've like in the guy.
Speaker 6: And I would also even say for the front office,
Speaker 6: like the Montes Sweat trade wasn't just a vanity move,
Speaker 6: Like it's absolutely worked. He fits into their defense. They've
Speaker 6: been really good on that side of the ball. I'm
Speaker 6: looking at the entire league and I'm like, are the
Speaker 6: Falcons the most disappointing team in the NFL considering where
Speaker 6: I thought what I thought they would be back in August?
Speaker 4: There's some competition. Been the team that has desmondridd Or
Speaker 4: the quarterback be the most disappointing.
Speaker 3: To me in the NFL.
Speaker 6: I thought person how much I thought personally that they
Speaker 6: were going to kind of do something that got a
Speaker 6: lot of talks.
Speaker 5: Bengals are up there for me, but Bengals are injury base. Yeah,
Speaker 5: but it's to me, it's not. They were disappointed with Burrow,
Speaker 5: and I think they'd be disappointing with him still.
Speaker 7: But You're right, Patriots are up there.
Speaker 6: The Bills need to finish strong, but they have a
Speaker 6: potential to be up there.
Speaker 7: But you're right there. There aren't many I'm.
Speaker 4: Saying for Arthur Smith, it's like, what is your selling point.
Speaker 6: It's like you're in that Patriots chargers, deep chargers, chargers,
Speaker 6: and so that we know what happened to that coach.
Speaker 6: It's like, I'm just saying Arthur Smith's resume. Here is
Speaker 6: rough rugged.
Speaker 5: Last test for that running attack. Again, such a good
Speaker 5: run defense. It's not a bad game. I'll take it.
Speaker 5: I'll take it. It's a final chance for the Bears.
Speaker 5: Home favorites minus three and minus one.
Speaker 2: Per next Gen Stats, the Bear is currently less than
Speaker 2: a one percent chance to make the playoffs if they win,
Speaker 2: though greg in Week seventeen, Chicago's playoffs chances jump to
Speaker 2: one percent. So it goes from less than one percent.
Speaker 2: Will probably be eliminated this data point.
Speaker 6: What does that mean though, Like like artillery would need
Speaker 6: to fall in like four other organizational buildings, Like how
Speaker 6: do you get in with a one percent chance to
Speaker 6: make the playoff?
Speaker 3: There is a path in weekend?
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, they're not eliminated. They would need a thousand
Speaker 5: incredible to see a lot of things would need to
Speaker 5: happen here, here, anything else, No, gang, we've said it
Speaker 5: all all right, this is uh. You're gonna have like
Speaker 5: a fifteen minute post show draft to figure out.
Speaker 3: A draft after the draft.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's coming up for us, but that's private and
Speaker 2: you don't need to be involved with that, and you
Speaker 2: don't want to be involved with that. But remember adible
Speaker 2: header TNF Browns Jets Dreamatorium with me and Greggy. Where's Mark?
Speaker 2: Another trip to the Currentist? Remember need that call