Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Dave Naylor (FULL INTERVIEW)

Episode Date: January 10, 2026

Ryan Pinder is joined by TSN’s Dave Naylor to break down the entire NFL Wild Card Weekend, starting with the Buffalo Bills and whether this might finally be their year to go all the way despite a tough matchup in Jacksonville. The guys also dig into Pittsburgh barely surviving against Baltimore and now facing the Texans and the league’s best defense, wondering if we could see a little more Rodgers magic. They wrap up by quickly hitting on the rest of the slate, including PHI/SF, LAR/CAR, CHI/GB and LAC/NE, giving their thoughts on every key matchup.VIDEO LINK: https://youtu.be/Ba012wn-5lc#pittsburghsteelers #nfl #nflfootball #nflnews #baltimoreravens #steelersnation #steelers #buffalobills #buffaloCHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTShttps://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It is Wild Card Weekend, and what a slate we have of six games, three on Sunday, two bonus games Saturday, and a Monday nighter, including Jack, producer Jack Steelers. And a man who's going to be taking in two of those games in person, TSN Football Insider. Dave Nailer joins us, Dave. You got a busy weekend, begs packed. You've got what, the bikini with the winter jacket. You've got hot climate and potentially cold one this weekend. Yeah, and I don't know if I banked too much on Jackson's.

climate. I was there for a Super Bowl, you know, 20 years ago or so. And my memories was, it was like, you know, eight degrees in drizzle. It was, it was that part of Florida is not to be counted on. So yeah, it's one of those prepare for anything weatherwise weekends. Well, it feels like the leads, often the bills in your part of the world, you know, working in Southern Ontario, and rightfully so. But it does also feel like a team that has been so close, but has not gotten over the hump. And here they go into the AFC playoffs with no Joe Burrow, with no Patrick and Holmes, and with a lot of really inexperienced quarterbacks in the field,

albeit maybe more complete teams in the field, where are you out on the Buffalo Bills, and what kind of a team are they running into in Jacksonville this winter? Here's the paradox of the Buffalo Bills. This is probably the most flawed version of the bills we've seen, you know, for the last several years. I mean, they didn't win the division this year, but they won the division five straight years.

and yet the path to the Super Bowl seems more wide open. And that's kind of where this gets really interesting. And I think one of the things we're all trying to get a handle on is what is the value of playoff experience? And we're going to find out because the bills have a lot more of it than anybody else. And it starts with Josh Allen. And you go back to, you know, Buffalo ended their playoff drought back in, I believe it was 2017. 17 years, they played a playoff game in Jacksonville. Since that time, the Jaggs won't have bid back to playoff once.

You know, like that's, so this is, this is not an organization that has a lot of playoff experience. And Buffalo does. They're the battle tested team. But, you know, this is a team that doesn't have a lot of weaknesses on defense. And, you know, they're very, you know, metrically, they look great against the run. You know, they're very difficult to pass against. The bills have relied more on running the ball than passing it this season. And in the games where they haven't been able to run it early, they've really struggled, you know, to move the ball through the air. I think the interesting thing with Jacksonville, if you look at their scores, they've had a lot of, I don't say blowout wins, but, you know, significant margin victories this season, which usually takes the run game away from your opposition.

So some of their run defenses, yeah, they're stout against the run. They make good tackles, all of that. But some of it is going to be game script. You know what I'm saying is that they're giving it up the run. The bills, I think there have been times particularly on the road this year where they've given up the run too quickly. And I think they've got to stay committed to it. But for all the Josh Allen narratives that go into this playout, I think the most important aspect for the Buffalo Bills on Sunday is James Cook

and the ability to run the ball. Now, when it comes to passing it, they're going to Dalton Kincaid, I think you're going to get better get a better run out of him. He's their most talented pass catcher. He missed three games the regular season. They had him on snap counts down the stretch. Metrically, Sean McDermott said it this week. It's a completely different offense when he's a focal point and healthy

and participating fully. So that's a big thing to look for on Buffalo's side of the offense. Can they stop the run? That seems to be something that has cropped up in a big way this year, the bills.

And what are they facing with what Jacksonville's got? Yeah, and look, it's an issue. And the bills, when you look at yards per carry giving up on the run, you know, their bottom three,

5.1 yards per carry. They tied for the league worse at 24 touchdowns along the ground, scored. And that's kind of how Buffalo's defense is built year in, year out. I mean, when you have a Josh Allen offense, you kind of assume that you're going to be leading in games. And that, again, is going to diminish the impact of the run for your opposition. You're more built to take away the big play because you're expecting teams to be trying to get those chunk plays,

the big plays down the field to play catch up on you because you've got this great offense. And that definitely got exploited this year. And that is a huge thing. Now, the good thing for the bills in terms of this matchup is I don't think Jacksonville's path to victory is Travis Ateen. I think it's Trevor Lawrence. I think it's the elite passing offense. And the bills are much better built to defend that than they are to defend the run.

And their past defense is really kind of quietly improved over the course of the season, despite the fact they had a number of changes in the back end. And they really haven't excelled in getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. We'll see if Joey Bosa and Greg Rousseau, their ends, can have a kind of game. Frankly, the bills haven't got very often when it's been in the postseason. Most of their matchups, whether it was losses to Patrick Mahomes or losses to Joe Burrow in Cincinnati, you know, they've really failed to disrupt the opposing quarterback at the line of scrimmage, and that's one of the things they're going to have to do against Jackson.

Dave, your next stop after being in Jacksonville will be Pittsburgh, the best defense, perhaps, in the NFL against a. an organization that hasn't won in the playoffs in nine years, and Aaron Rogers, well past his prime. How does this match up? Do the Steelers have any magic? Yeah, there's some things on the Steelers side here that at least make this not a nightmare matchup for them. And look, I think Houston's defense is awesome. I saw them in person at the end of November when Buffalo went down there for a primetime game, and they, I mean, they took the bills apart. It was, you know, Buffalo's offense hasn't been what it was, you know, a year ago,

but to see them as limited right from the outset. And it's not any great secret. I mean, it starts with the edges with Danielle Hunter, Will Anderson, you know, it extends to the corners, Derek Stingley, Jr., Camry Losseter. I mean, those are four elite players that really sort of set the tone for that whole defense. But here's a couple of things that work in the favor of Pittsburgh,

at least to have a fighting chance here. And that is that what's Aaron Rogers known for in his career, getting the ball out quickly, right? especially at 42, he's not taking hits. And you saw it against Baltimore last week. They really didn't get close to him very often. So against an offense that's going to push upfield right from the snap, you know, being able to dump it quickly and dump it to the running backs.

I mean, last week, I think the numbers where Aaron Rogers completed 31 passes, 13 of them were to running backs. And so, and that's been what they've done all year. It's been the short, you know, get those, get J.L. Warren into open space, get Kenneth Kingwell into open space, have them break tackles. That's been their offense. That's really what loosened things up against Baltimore last

week. Here's where the matchup is interesting on that. You know, Houston is a pretty good, you know, fly to the football, rap and tackle defense. They don't give up a ton of yards after the catch, and that's what the Steelers live on. So there's a real kind of, you know, strength on strength from a sort of strategy point of view in Pittsburgh.

You know, the one thing about Houston, though, they have been susceptible to some deep balls. And we saw Aaron Rogers take his shots and take his opportunities against Baltimore that way as well. So, you know, the intermediate passing game may be the tough zone for Pittsburgh, but if they can get some deep shots and connect on some of those yards and space plays they like to run to sort of, you know, and to sort of be the set the tone for their offense against. I think, I don't think they're going to win the game, but I don't think it's a matchup. They may match up better against Houston than a lot of teams would. Fair. Two questions on the Rams and the Panthers. How in the world did the Panthers beat the Rams this season and not that long ago?

And secondly, is there any way they can do it again? Because the spread's huge, 10 and a half. Yeah. And if you, you know, you watch the way Carolina got into the postseason in the final week against Tampa Bay. I mean, I would just kind of double down what you're asking here. And, you know, the only thing about this is, and, you know, by recollection, I can't say how the Panthers beat the Rams. But the big thing is that it felt like about a month ago. Everybody was ready to crown the Rams. Best team in football. Everybody's flawed this year except the Rams, you know, number one seed, all of that.

And, you know, there have been a number of games where the doubts have sort of crept in, including the one against Seattle, you know, where they had the huge lead. They basically needed a stop or just a sustained drive at some point past the middle of the third quarter in that game. and the clock would have been their friend. And yet, you know, they end up in overtime in that game. So the Rams have shown some cracks. I just don't think that Carolina is going to be able to score with them, especially if they can't run the ball better than they did last week. I mean, this is the team that's, you know,

the ground game with Rico Dowdell and Chuba Hubbard has kind of been the force on this. Especially Dowdell's season, which not many people didn't see coming, they weren't able to run the ball at all against Tampa Bay. If they can't do that, I just think there's just too much of a talent. here ultimately. All right, let's go to the morning game on Sunday, which should be a good one. Niners, Eagles, two teams with huge reputations, long sustained stretches of success over the last little while, but neither look exactly right. Again, it's the injuries with San Francisco, and for some reason, Philly's been good, but doesn't necessarily put it all together all the time.

And the run game's gone a little flat this year, which is weird because Seekwon went wild last year. Yeah, Sequin Barclay is not the unstoppable force that he was a year ago. I mean, it's been a dramatically different season for him. He's been certainly better than average running back, and he can still make those splash plays that can change games. But he hasn't been that force. And kind of Christian McCaffrey has been for the 49ers. I mean, for all of the kinds of points that people wondered whether he was ever going to be put together a season

with all that he can do, running the ball, catching the ball, just because of availability. I mean, that's been the biggest issue about a guy who has that many touches. And he's really sort of, I think Brock Purdy's playing the best football of his life. I think it's, you know, one of the things, it's great to be the guy who rises above expectations, the seventh round pick who's, you know, making less than the starting guard and all that. But now when you're making the big money, can you deliver when those expectations come with that? And he's certainly done that this season.

And, you know, Philly's a weird team. And it just, when you watch Jalen Hurts sometimes, you feel like the variance in his play on what you're going to get is very difficult to predict. I mean, you know, they had a game at Buffalo. I mean, and not a game where, you know, one of these games where everybody was rested, where he didn't complete a pass in the second half. Like, not one. And they won the game. That's it. That's the amazing part of the thing. But he had zero completions in the second half against Buffalo. So, you know, this offense can go cold. I kind of like San Francisco in this one. And this is one where you do get two teams that are, you know, very battle tested with playoff experience. Okay. My favorite game of the

week is a divisional matchup and teams that despite seeing each other twice every regular season have hardly ever met in the playoffs the bears host the packers bears suddenly have arrived packers have had flashes of looking great how do you square this one up from soldier field this is a big i look this is going to be a great quarterback battle because neither of these teams are great at getting to the opposing quarterback i think both these quarterbacks that i have time to you know to make plays and do things and you know especially since micha parsons has been gone for the Packers. I mean, they're just, they're just not the same defense. But, you know, I don't like to evaluate quarterback in the football game. Always saying it's going to come down to quarterbacks,

because I think that kind of becomes a lazy narrative that it's easy to go to in any game. But on this one, I think it really does. You know, this is because of just, I say, the way these teams can protect the quarterback, the lack of huge pass rushes. Neither one, you know, it was a gigantic ground game. And I saw, I saw Jordan Love play live at U.S. Thanksgiving game in Detroit this year. And again, you know, there's things when you watch a player play live that you can kind of appreciate a little differently than you watch them on television. And man, he was accurate that day. I mean, just, you know, throwing into very tight windows. There wasn't a ton of separation happening all over the field. But he was on. If he's on that kind of game, you know, they can win it.

But I think, you know, again, this is one where you've got two, two young quarterbacks. You know, Caleb Williams has had the breakout year under Ben Johnson, all of the advances that that Chicago team has made. And yeah, this is what you say, it's a, it's a weirdness because it's one of the best rivalries in the NFL.

I mean, just because of the history to it. I mean, two of the oldest franchises. And yet, you know, they don't have a great, at least recent,

you know, playoff history. That's why I think we're all jacked up for this one. Yeah. The only game we haven't talked about, the Chargers will be in New England to take on Drake May,

Mike Vrable and the suddenly very, very strong New England Patriots. I thought the Chargers season was over. when they lost Joe Alt for the second time for the season in Tennessee in November, early November. Somehow they're here, and I don't know how they've done it with this. Is it bubble gum and wrappers tape, glue sticks, like this O line, do they have any chance of beating the Patriots?

I mean, this is a game where I think the charges defense has to keep them in this. I mean, we know the metrics on Drake May and the offense that has emerged in New England. And the big thing about, the thing is the one thing that strikes you about Drake May. There's lots of good second year quarterbacks, you know, who can look over the course of the season. They put up good numbers. They advance from year number one. They're high pedigree guys. It's what you expect.

But if you look at the game law, there's probably still a fair amount of variance in what you get out of them. Because that's just the nature of young quarterback play. Look at the consistency of Drake May. That's what really is amazing. I mean, the range of where his passing yards lands every week. I believe he threw a touchdown pass in every game but one. I don't think he has a multiple interception game this season. I mean, the consistency and the predictability about what you're going to get from Drake May

is what I think really kind of rises him above other similar quarterbacks who are early in their careers. And in order for the Chargers to win this, they're going to have to interrupt that. And that's the tall order. Because I don't think with this offense against New England's defense, they're going to score 30. And Drake May and the Patriots might. So I'm going to hang this one on the Chargers defense to try to keep this close and see if Justin Herbert does make a few throws and pull some magic to pull this one out of the fire. But it's a tall order for the Chargers, I believe.

Six games this weekend. The field Titans pretty considerably moving forward. There's not a lot of four-down football left, but we always have football news. You've got the draft. You've got the offseason. And we've seen some CFL players head south. Three stampeters of note have inked with NFL teams. Damien Alford, Jalen Hutchins, and Jacob Roberts.

Is this particularly bumper crop of CFLers this year? Is this the usual path, but we're talking about it now in Calgary because we lost three in the last couple of weeks? Yeah, and it's surprising actually to see one team lose three guys. It doesn't happen very often. And I think this has become less of a league of guys transitioning back to the NFL, and here's why. It used to be if a guy came out of college and couldn't get an NFL shot

or he got cut in an NFL camp, he'd sign in Canada right away. way. So you've got a lot of 22, 23-year-old players showing up as American rookies in the CFL. Now, you know, guys will waded out. They'll try to get into a second camp. They'll, you know, hope for a practice roster call. So a lot of guys are a little older when they come to this league. And for instance, you know, the BC Lions had Robert Carter Jr. One of their, their corner, the guy who made the crazy interception that everybody saw this season. But he's an undersized guy. But I remember seating this year saying, boy, that's a rarity to see a 22-year-old American starter in this league. You don't see it.

very often. And part of what teams are attracted to in the NFL, I've seen this for long enough, is they're looking for athleticism and youth. And Robert Carter, who I just mentioned, is a guy who has that. Damien Alford certainly has that. I mean, six, five receiver basically didn't play college football his final season because of an injury. So there was no tape, no numbers, nothing when he was at Utah after his years in Syracuse. But I remember six weeks in the CFL season last year saying, there's a guy who's going to be in an NFL camp next year. Now, will he stick? That's a whole different thing.

But just on the plays he was making and the measurables and the height, somebody was going to sign him. And, you know, the other guys you mentioned, the defensive lineman in Calgary, you know, those are guys that I think are, they were great at getting to the quarterback. You know, that's the other skill that will get you notice in the NFL. Is it still, besides great quarterback play, which is, you know, hard to find on the open market, teams are always looking for guys that can get to the quarterback, and that's the opportunity that those two guys have taken up in this offseason.

But yeah, a bit of a surprising in this day and age to see three guys off of one team. But that's part of, I guess, like Calgary did last year in the CFL, they reloaded the roster, right? It was not a bunch of CFL veterans, guys from other teams, cast off. These were guys that were fresh and new to the league. Alfred being the first pick overall in the draft as a Canadian. And sometimes when you splash with those guys, and hit on them, the rebound of that effect is you don't have them in the next year.

Dave, appreciate the insights. Great stuff. Enjoy a wild card weekend. And don't worry about the stampeters. It's 2026, you're the horse. So they'll be okay. Yeah, there you go. I mean, you got that.

Thank you, sir. TSN Football Insider, Dave Naylor. Appreciate it.