Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Take Talk Episode 34

Episode Date: January 4, 2023

Hosts Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) and Steven ORourke (@callmesteveo7) reviewed Week 17 and what the playoff picture is shaping up like. They also took time to address the Damar Hamlin situation. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Hello everyone and welcome in to the Take Talk podcast. I'm Stephen O'Rourke and as always I'm with my co-host Brett. Brett, how are we doing this morning? Oh, I'm excellent, man. Wednesdays have been my jam lately because I've been, I've been getting to the,

the academy early in the morning, 6 a.m. class. Nice. Getting some rolls in, hit some light lifting afterwards. I like, I come into the pot on Wednesdays just feeling immaculate. I dig it. That's awesome. Yeah. And that's awesome.

It is, it is awesome. You know what I just realized, Steve? We don't mention the company we work for enough. I tried to at the end of last one. Did you? I mentioned that we had the sale of like fantasy points for necklies in. We're, you know, it's a flash sale. Yeah.

It's flash sale. Obviously, if you're listening to us, you probably found us on the fantasy points podcast stream, feed or whatever. So that is obvious, but we probably don't talk about fantasy points. We order the words fantasy points enough, I don't think. So just yes. Yes. The early bird is still up. I think it's 30% off for next year.

Go check it out right now while you're listening. Don't waste any time. Amazing content from people who are just some of the best in the industry. Yep. And it's only going to get better. Like the everything Steve, Chris and I work on is not even been really unveiled to the world yet. And that's going to be. And behind the scenes.

And like some of the guys have been pulling stats and using them in articles. Yes. And soon all of you will have the opportunity to have actually. access to all those stats that we got access to. I think all our content is powered by our data now, Steve. I think everyone's made the transition. I know Scott and Graham have. I know Joe is doing a data-specific article utilizing our data.

Tom Brawley's put out some stuff with our data. So I think all of our main featured writers are now, have completely transitioned off of other sources, whether it was like SIS or PFF. They're now fully utilizing fantasy points data because we have that much of it. It's a lot. Like when I tell, when it's a lot. Like, it's awesome.

Yeah, I've probably 40 spreadsheets of data. Yes. Like raw football data. Yeah. It's crazy because I, Steve, I created the, the charting process that we do. And even I don't remember everything we have. So I'll get a call from Scott like, hey, dude, do we have this? And I'll be like, I actually don't remember if we have that.

I know, I think we chart that somewhere. We could get to that number. Right. We just have to do this and this. And then I usually immediately call Chris and say, hey, can you do this for Scott? But, yeah. Chris is the man. Like, oh, yeah.

We don't talk about that enough that so much of what we do, so much of like of the data that we have. Like, Chris is a huge, huge player in that. Oh, yeah. He's the, he's the nerd. I'm the football guy. He makes, he takes all the. like my my visions and thoughts and what and things i i dream of but can't accomplish with my own skills and he does it he makes it come to life i feel like we're like an evolution of each other

like you're full football guy i'm in the middle like i have the nerd to me but i also have football like i have a football side to me and just from playing and all that and then chris is Chris is like the data guy. Yes. So like we're just like an increasing step of like mixture Venn diagram of all of us all. Exactly. Yeah, you are the you're the middle. Right.

You're the middle circle. The cross section of the two. That's true. All right. Dude, I wanted to talk about something I thought was hilarious today. So I know you're a golfer. I am a golfer. I mean, I play golf.

I am not. True. Well, yeah, but you actually used to work this work. I used to caddy, you know. So you used to make an income, you know, in the golf space. And true, I enjoy golfing. In the offseason, I, we live in Michigan. So like winter, there's pretty much no, no golf.

Actually, there are some courses still dabbling because we don't have snow on the ground. So I actually just got an email today from Hilltop saying, hey, come golf. It's like 10 bucks. Yeah. Like next week, it'll be in the 30s, but you can golf because it'll be. dry, it'll be, it'll be dry and it'll be a little bit sunny. You just got to absorb the sting through the hands. Exactly, exactly.

But anyways, so, but in the office, I really enjoy golfing. So I'm pretty into it. I follow this world a little bit. My dad, I would call him a big time golfer. I think he's like a four handicap or something. And, you know, plays in like, you know, adult non-professional tournaments and stuff. So he takes it relatively seriously. He plays in multiple leagues.

But there was something that happened with the PGA this week that I thought was, was unbelievably hilarious and I wanted to get your thoughts and discuss what you would have done. So there's a golfer in the PGA tour named Scott Stallings. Oh yeah. Did you hear this story? I did. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Yeah, go ahead. Tell them. All right. Yeah. Yeah. So Scott Stallings has been waiting on his master's 2023 invite in the mail. I guess the way PGA does it.

They send you like a FedEx box with like a really nice package. Well, for the masters, it's a specific invite. Like only a certain amount of people get invited in. Correct. Like a guy for a guy like Scott Stallings to have made it to the Masters, like, I think this might be his first appearance. Yeah, because he's a fringe pro, right? Like he's not. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. He's like a lower, lower 80s to 125 type player. Yeah. Yeah. So anyways, he's been waiting on that invite. And it was way past the point where he thought he should have got it. So he started to have like these weird conspiracies.

Like, did my wife hide it from me to give it to me on Christmas? Like, what's going on here? Well, no. Jay actually mailed it to the wrong Scott Stallings. Yeah. And his wife has the same name too. Hilarious. So it's Scott and Jennifer Stallings twice in the same general area.

Like they lived near Atlanta, Georgia, I believe. Right. And so Scott, the wrong Scott Stallings that actually got his invite did the right thing and pinged the real Scott Sallings on Twitter and was like, hey, bro, I think this. I'm 100% sure this isn't for me. So that's probably for you. And then Scott, the real Scott Stallings ended up, and PGA in conjunction, ended up hooking him up with, you know, like, press, like some cool passes. He gets to go to the Masters anyways now. And they're doing like a special dinner with all the golfers and which is pretty cool.

But like, Steve, I think I would not have been the right thing. I'm a big time do the right thing guy. Right. But I kind of think I would have shown up with my bag and a caddy. It just been like, I'm here. What I do? And then I would have at least teed off of a whole one. And then I would have said something.

Like, by the way, I don't know why the hell you guys invited me. And like, I'd be granted everybody would know, like, all the other golfers would be like, hey, you're not Scott Stallings. Yeah, we know Scott. You're not Scott. No, I'm him. Just pull up, pull up my ID. Look, it's right here. I don't know what to tell you.

But I know. It's so funny. And, like, for such. a prestigious tournament like that to have it like with the masters is like hilarious because while we're all laughing about it there's someone behind the scenes that's getting in a lot of trouble oh yeah that's true that's true trouble like you have to send like you have to send 50 invites to just that's all you have to do and you'd like somehow you manage to yeah it's a tough day tough day at the office but i yeah it would be tough because in my head it's like oh my gosh you could like what if i like i would get to the door and And that, but, like, that's closer to Augusta than I've ever been. And, like, I, granted, I do the application every year, but it doesn't feel promising to get tickets one day. But, like, you know, and, yeah, maybe the closest I'd ever be. And that's, it's just so funny.

Like, what a, what a one in a billion chance that that happens? The fact that their wives are names of the same years. That's the crazy. That's just so funny. Is that, like, everything down to a T, like, the, like, right. what the way they would have had to differentiate is they would have had to have had the right address or what like pull his social security number and match him right right how does that even happen it's not like he's never earned a paycheck from pGA before they have to have the guy's address on file right i know this makes you this makes me think that like what were they flipping through the phone book Like is that is that how they do it? They're like flipping through the phone book.

It's like stalling, stalling, stalling. Scott and Jennifer, there it is. And then like they're matching with a sheet. It's like, it says he's from Georgia. Yeah, maybe they just Googled Scott Stallings address. And so the fake Scott Stallings, he's not really the fake Scott Stallings, but in this case he is. Not the golf for Scott Stallings. He's a, I guess, a big time realtor in the area.

So it's funny. He probably had a bunch of like paid ads on Google would be a my. That's a good point. Yeah, so he probably Googled Scott Stallings and actually found his address because of his business. Right. And then that's just so funny how you messed that up there. Like how? Yeah.

The fun intersection between sports and fandom that like, like, those flukes are always funny to watch and funny to see. And thankfully now, Scott Stallings can show up to the Masters and Play. That's exciting for it. He probably had some anxiety and stress waiting for that invite. He probably was sitting there like, I swear to God, I wouldn't. I got qualified for the tournament. They told me, like, what the hell is going on here? What is the base pay if you show up and don't make the cut?

Does everyone get paid in that tournament? No. I think everyone does get paid in the Masters, right? I don't think so. I don't remember. I'm curious now. Yeah, I know the... Because it's not an all-quot.

It's not an all-make-the-cut type situation. It's not a no-cut tournament, so I don't think they would get paid. I'm looking it up really quick. Yeah, you're right. Top 50 get paid. Because you would, like, you'd see that at, like, the tournament this weekend, the tournament of the century tournament of champions. Like, that's a no-cut, I think that's a no-cut event and where everybody gets paid no matter what.

Gotcha. Yeah, yeah. So top 50 in this case got paid or each year get paid. So, yeah. I was just saying, if you just show up and get a check for a, like 50 grand for showing up, I would for sure show up with my with my bag and caddy, you know, but yeah. All right.

That's enough golf talk. I guess. I could talk golf all day. Steve, we still got to hit the sticks. Like we've been talking about it since you moved back, but we'll get out there this, this spring summer. So, all right. Well, we had a very exciting week of football.

It was. We're almost to the end, which is crazy. I know. I can't believe it. it's always bittersweet. I warned the team this every year because it's like everyone's worn down, you know, when someone pops up sick and we need a guy to take an extra assignment,

you know, at the end of the year, everyone's a little more reluctant to jump on that game, you know, the fervor is gone. But I warn guys like, hey, week 18 comes and you're going to be wishing you had games to take.

Yep. And that's exactly what's happening for me, at least in my mind. Like, I'm, it's very exciting to have my life back. but it's also a little sad. Like, man.

Yeah, that's it. So it is a weird cross section of that where you're right. I'm kind of like coming to the realization of like, all right, I have like time again, time that isn't necessarily watching football or at least not current football, who knows what. But like,

like it's not 100% necessary every day of the week like it was like it is now. But at the same time it's like, no, but I like that. So I don't know. Is that like it's like, It's like weird. It's like it's a good thing, but is it a good thing?

Yeah, right. All right. So let's jump in. There was probably five or six games I thought were worthy of talking about. We actually previewed most of them on Friday's pod with Chris. Yeah. Let's start with the Chicago Bears heading to Ford Field in Detroit to take on the Lions. That game was a short summary, that was the exact type of response you're looking for from the Lions after they got pooed on,

the week before by the Panthers. Yeah. They basically did it to the Bears what the Panthers did to them. Right. Bears went to Detroit and Detroit 1, 4110 on Sunday.

And yeah, it was, it was just exactly the performance you wanted to see in the sense that, like, hey, Chicago's not good. They've lost, they have the worst defense in the league.

They, you know, they've been limping in. I think they've lost like eight, nine in a row. And it's a team that you have to go in and beat. If you're, if you're going to be a, in the playoff conversation, it's a team that you need to go in and beat handily.

And they did. And they did it in all phases of the game. And the offense, the offense looked good. The defense in the beginning, it looked like things might get dicey. First, first, first bear's drive, I was like, oh. The first quarter, I mean, the first quarter, Justin Fields went for over, over a hundred yards. rushing. Yep.

And so it felt like, all right, this could be a shootout, and we don't really want to have that happen. But then the defense kind of settled in, and they got pressure and started really, the lion's defense really started wreaking havoc on a bear's offense that, you know, is very, very short on talent at every position. And you saw it.

I will say that I did kind of have the same feeling that I had in the Panthers game where it's like, You know, I think the Bears had two giant runs on the first drive alone. And I was kind of, but when I stepped back and looked at it, I was like, you know what? I don't want to call it fluky. It wasn't necessarily fluky, but they had to accomplish those yards with flukier type plays. They weren't just running the ball down the lines thrown. It was one of them was that really cool.

That was a really cool play, by the way, the toss, the fields. Yeah, the, was it third and one, fourth and one? Yeah, third or fourth and one. Justin Fields was in the shotgun. done and then they bring commit in motion and go under center. And we've seen this a lot in the league where the tight end will go under center and then take like a QB sneak look for the first down. And that's exactly what the line's defense thought was happening.

They all immediately pounced on the A gaps and commit pulls the ball and does like, I think it was, I don't remember if it was power or counter, but it was a, basically a pitch out the fields and fields broke it loose for a massive game. So it's like I don't want to call it fluky. it was a great play design. You know, situationally, it's a little risky because you're tossing the ball eight yards deep on fourth and one. Right.

But, you know, so I wasn't too concerned because I'm like, they're not going to pull that play out again, the whole game probably. And then the other big Fields run was a scramble. Right. So Fields completed, what, three passes in the first half? And I think he only completed four in the second half, so it wasn't like. I think he finished at, I think he finished at 33%.

I think he went like 9 for 21 or something like that. Seven for 21. I'm looking at now. Yeah. Yeah, he had a pick in there. He got baited by, like end of the first half, the lions were playing your traditional

sideline protection prevent. Basically like they rushed one pass. You've seen this look a million times the NFL, but one pass rusher. Just don't let the bears get a quick completion to the edge so that way they can't. Either they're going to kick a field goal or get close. to the end zone for a shot.

I think they were close to field goal range, actually. So it would have been a field goal situation. They were because they just had a good kick or turn. And the lions put Hutch as the little cover two corner out there. Yeah, they had Hutch. They had Hutch on the lion sideline. And then they had James Houston on the other sideline. They were the two flat defenders.

And I just don't think Fields saw. I think he felt like Hutch was not in the play. he threw that so nonchalantly like oh this is an easy out row like cool we'll just get the it was a lollipop throw right then hutch just pounced on it for his third interception of the season i will say like there were moments like there was one sack i think it was the i think it was the sack in um it was james houston's first sack where he where he dips low and it's it's honestly insane. He gets so much power out of his legs that when he dips low,

he hits the tackle right in the waist. And he basically lifts the tackle and into Justin Fields. And, you know, he uses the tackle to sack Justin Fields. But on that play, you had Justin Houston making the sack.

You had Josh Pascal getting pressure from the inside. And then you had Aiden Hutchinson looping on the outside who also is getting pressure. Those are three of the Lions rookies. And they're all contributing in big ways. I think, I mean, Hutch, I don't know, did Hutch register a sack, but if he didn't,

he basically was responsible. He got a half sack and he was definitely responsible for another one. He was responsible for about two, for at least two. James Houston had three sacks with a forced fumble and Josh Pascal had two sacks. This is getting, like the lines are getting value

out of young guys and they're getting I mean, granted, let, don't get me wrong. Chicago is the worst offensive line in the NFL and it shows both from the statistics and from the eye test. But, hey, to do that with three young guys who, you know, are getting chemistry and making moves and developing their game and getting smarter, that's awesome value for the lines going forward, like into the future as well as, you know, into the game against

Green Bay next week. Yeah. This was Hutch's best game by far. It wasn't even close. The one player we're talking about where he caused the sack but didn't get the sack. Like, Steve, he bull rushed a grown man, NFL offensive tackle, 11 yards. Literally just picked him up. Yeah.

And moved him 11 yards deep. And what's really nice to see is Hutch's game starts and ends with that bull rush. Yeah. Like all of his counters and the inside counters and even the outside counters he has, it all starts with that ability to convert that speed to power and generate that bull rush. And that's really the first time this year you've seen him hit a bull rush. to that level. Right.

And I know it wasn't like a premium offensive tackle or anything like that. So I'm not going to say it was like a quality, super high quality pressure. But the fact that you're seeing it come together, he had 10 pass-risk wins in this game on 22 dropbacks. Right. And that's actually crazy. That's, I mean, 50% win rates are almost 50% win rates insane. But what I did see a value of, you know, like, like you said, he wasn't going up against premier offensive tackles. I mean, Tevin Jenkins went out of this game. So they were down a tackle to

like the Bears are, it's a rough team. They have a long way to go. But what I did see what I did see that was great was like the first game against the Bears. It was a ton of rollouts that they were burning the lions with. It was the read option stuff. It was RPO stuff. But in this game, Like you can see that you can see the development of Hutch from the previous Chicago game to this Chicago game where he's aware of who he's playing against. He isn't squeezing down as hard when he isn't squeezing down as hard on like rollout plays, you know, on the fake run. He's not diving inside as hard when on the read options. He's, you know, sticking a little bit closer to fields because he knows like, hey, with this guy, I need to stick closer to him. because obviously Fields is more likely to keep it than other quarterbacks.

And just the development in that area for Hutchinson is a huge step. And you saw it, like, it happened in eight weeks. And that's really cool to see a young kid, a young kid like him do that. Everything about this game, Hutt showed discipline. Like, he really showed the development of his discipline. And even to add to your point, like, sometimes, like, And, you know, when you're playing the read option, like against a guy as athletic as fields, even when you played exactly right, the quarterback still is athletic enough to beat you. And Hutch, if you go back and watch when I think they played week nine or week 10.

Yeah. There were times where he did kind of play it the correct way, but he overly aggressive, he was overaggressive and pursued, his pursuit angle was too harsh. He like, he's that he wasn't used to quarterbacks, we know, the run away from him, basically. Right. And Fields cooked him to the edge, essentially. This game, even the angles he was taking once he played it right, he was like, oh, you know what? I might give up three yards here, but it's better than getting cooked.

Yeah. And given up 10. Yeah. And he realized that. So you could just tell even the angles he was taken were way more favorable. And he, he, Fields did get stopped on a couple read option plays where he kept it for two, three. He had a five yard on there. But like, that's a big improvement to where they were, you know,

know nine weeks ago or whatever where hutch or literally any anytime fields kept the ball it was a big game yeah so very very impressed to see that um yeah i mean hutchinson he may not win defensive rookie of the year but he's in like he's he's he's been what the lines were looking for on the i was team i was team sauce for a while sorry one more point on hutch i was team sauce for a while for um defensive rookie of the year but two things about that sauce is kind he hasn't i don't say he's falling off but he's not making those high level plays at the same rate he was early in the year and hutch is getting better so we can talk about we can talk about the sauce thing when we get to the jets and see that true because i did i do want to i did want to touch

on him because i yeah yeah but anyway we'll get to that um unfortunately for the lines on the playoff front which is why you know they were a part of the preview and why we're talking talking about this game is because they are heavily involved in the playoff race. And we'll talk about it later, but Seattle got a win. So now for week 18, Detroit needs a win and a Seattle loss or tie to get in. You know, they don't, unfortunately after the Carolina lost, they lost the ability to control their own destiny. And so they need some chips to fall their way. But they are, you know, they bounce back from a loss against Carolina. They look to be rolling into Green Bay for a, for what is, you know, a win.

in for Green Bay and potentially a win in in for Detroit. They look, looking better than they had against Carolina. And some of that, it was one more, yeah, actually the Hutchinson thing. Some of the read option stuff, that's going to be useful against Rogers. They do a lot of that RPO quick slant game. Yeah. Rogers likes to do that.

The way Hutch defended it against fields, it makes me feel good about them matching up against Green Bay. Shoot, Hutch had a pick. The last time they played Green Bay. dropping in coverage on one of those RPAs, actually. So, yeah, the lines, they are definitely, I mean, I'm not going to say the Rams are going to beat the Seahawks, but I don't think, I think that game's going to be a little closer than people initially thought. Baker's got the Rams playing better than they were.

You know, after Stafford went down, their season looked pretty much over. And Baker's got them to, what, two or three? wins since he's started for them. He's got him to be competitive on a team that's super, very injured and, you know, lacking offensive juice. Yeah. So there's a chance for the Lions. They ultimately just have to worry about taking care of business against the Packers.

But, yeah. The other big game, I guess, that had massive playoff implications was Miami, New England. And that game really puts Miami on the outs. Yeah, Miami loses Teddy Bridgewater in the game, and they also lost the game. It's tough for Miami. I feel bad for them. They're down to Skyler Thompson, like, who's going to have to start in week 18 for their playoff lives. Yeah, like, this was an ugly game.

Mack Jones had some good throws. I feel like your boy Mack Jones is starting to come alive a little bit here at the end of the season. He looks better than he did in the midseason stretch. He's making throws. He looks way more of what we wanted to see from him this year. You're seeing it. Like we wanted to see some of that development, some of the deep ball accuracy, things like that. You're finally seeing it.

And I don't know where it's coming from or why he's feeling more comfortable, but he looked more comfortable against Miami. than he has a lot of the season. I completely agree. I mean, he, he's what, like, he has some gunslinger in him where, like, when he feels like he needs to turn it up, he can. Right. He's done some things despite, like, he's transcended very bad play calling, very bad

situational play calling. And he is, the last few weeks, man, he has dropped some dimes. I mean, and just bad offensive structure in general. Like, just the whole structure of this. the offense is not even is not conducive to like good quarterback play. So yeah, he's having to rise above that has been a challenge. That little halfback wheel route he threw to Jacoby Myers. Did you see that one?

Yeah. Oh, that was such a beautiful throw. I mean, I don't want to say great play design, but one of the better play designs I've seen from New England, but they dial up this play where they have basically two running backs in the backfield. Jacobi Myers is one of them who's probably their best receiver. He runs basically a halfback wheel and Jones just lays it on it perfectly between three defenders, hits him in stride.

Beautiful throw. But Bridgewater in this game too, Steve, he made a couple ridiculous throws before he got hurt. I was surprised. He had one down the sideline that was like, it was just ridiculous. Yeah, he and Mack Jones. both offenses kind of took a little took a second to settle in in the game i feel like and once they both got settled and like bridgewater was facing pressure early new england was kind of getting home on him early in the game and it started to settle down you know later in the game and yeah

bridgewater had them moving a little bit but new england's defense played well i mean they contained tyreek hill and jaylin wattle his best as you can contain them. They still had a couple of splash plays, but overall, New England contained those weapons very well. Yeah, they absolutely did. And you, you kind of called that. Didn't you? Was you that said that? Yeah, I had said that I began. I like,

I like New England's defense. They play really well. Yeah, and then before the game, like Sunday morning, we find out that New England's only going to have four active corners, two of which have never played a snap in the NFL. And I'm thinking, oh my God, Tyreek and Jalen are going to go. Berserco. So I thought we're, because you and I both picked New England in this game. So I was scared for a second.

Like, oh, crap. Like this is going to be bad for the picks. And then they still got it done. Like I said, if you, like, if you're, if you have to give Bill Belichick, just a singular game. And it's like with this on the, with like playoffs on the line like it was, like I was going to choose Belichick. And I, like, they did it.

I mean. Kyle Dugger stepped in and, like, what, he had the pick six. And he looks great. He's a monster all over the field. I mean, he can do anything. He can guard in the slot. He can play safety. He can come up into the box as a run defender.

He's such a versatile player. It was his third defensive touchdown of the season. Yeah. He's all, I mean, he just shows up. Whenever you watch New England, he shows up all over the field. It's like him and Matt Judon. are just all over the field covering everything. This is actually a crazy stat, by the way.

It was his third defensive touchdown of the season. It was also the fourth straight game New England's had a defensive touchdown. In the sixth straight game, they've either got a defensive touchdown or a special team's touchdown. So you wonder why things are going better for New England lately. It's because that defense is turned up. And I like, even they had, it's never, like they had one or two bad games, but the defense has always been there.

Just imagine if they had gotten a competent offensive coordinator. Like, it feels bad. Like, now I'm going down the wrong direction here because we should be talking about how this is a good win for New England, moving out of the, like potentially setting themselves up to make the playoffs with a win in a week 18. But, man, it's just like all I keep thinking is they had, like, you saw their weapons on Sunday.

Like, you kind of got a glimpse. Tyquan Thornton started to get it. get involved a little bit more. Jacoby Myers had a good game. Remandre Stevenson is there. And it's just like, it's bothersome because you have to remember that Belichick was the, Belichick was the master of his own demise on this, on this front by hiring Matt Bressuch, putting him in charge of that offense. And it's. And Joe, Judge. Yeah, it's, it's, it just stinks because this team should have way more upside, but I like don't have faith. I don't really have a ton of faith of them to win against like an upper level team in the playoffs yeah i agree i it's it's

it's really tough because it's like they they almost just need to like like they're playing with house money at this point i don't think anyone thought they'd make the playoffs yeah that so like get into the playoffs do your best try to win with defense and then hopefully this off season they they get an actual real offensive coordinator and they get mac jones a dog at receiver like i think jacobby mires is a player. I think Thornton has utility. Yeah. Kendrick Bourne even might have some utility as a slot hybrid third-bed receiver guy. But get him an actual like number one receiver who can beat man coverage consistently. Right.

And really and see what you can do with this guy. I want Mack to get a fair shake before they, you know, write them off basically. Yeah. And like an elite receiver changes the structure of that receiver room. Like go from right now, where you're like, ah, it's just a lot of guys that are valuable in different areas, but there's nobody complete to, if you throw in a complete receiver, it's like,

oh, okay, you have your number one. Jacoby Myers is a great number, a great valuable number two who can win routes. Taekwan Thorne's a speedster who you can throw in the slot and kind of move around the field and do a bunch of different stuff with him. And then same with Kendrick Bourne.

And now all of a sudden you have a complete receiver room. Yeah. All it takes is that one guy. Yep. Exactly. they need someone with a little more dynicism who can, you know, really be dependable down in and down. I think that's a problem with their receiver room right now is they don't have, they have guys with unique skill sets. Like, Jacobi Myers is great against zone.

Yeah. He's a zone beater, really savvy guy, mostly a slot guy. But like, you play a team that's going to play a little bit more match or man coverage. Like, yeah, well, he's not going to have a great game. Right. Devante Parker basically is just a contested catch guy at this point. Right. It's just they don't have a guy that can kind of do everything and be that down-in, down-out, dependable receiver.

And I think that would fundamentally change what they're able to do if they get that guy. Yeah. On the flip side of Miami, Brett, if you're in trouble, if you're Miami and they play the Jets next week, is it? Yeah. No, no, they play. Yeah, they play Jets. Jets, okay. And they're limping in there with Skyler Thompson probably starting at quarterback.

We'll see what happens. But if you're on, if you're a Miami fan, if you're on the Miami team right now, like what are you, like, what do you think they're feeling as far as what their season has been? Because it's been like the highest of highs to now some really low lows. and it's not necessarily your own fault. Like you had injuries with Tua. So like what do you think? What do you think their view of this season?

I would be walking away from this. Steve, I've been saying it. I've been saying it. Like this, they regressed from last year. I've been saying this for a couple months now. Yeah. When McDaniel was being talked about as coach of the year, I was like, guys, like this team was better with Brian Flores.

Now, I realize what they're trying to do is totally different. Right. So I don't necessarily, I didn't expect Miami to be a playoff contender this year. And that's, I thought they would take a step back because that's usually what happens when you change regimes, right? Right. Like new system, there's a learning curve. They did bring in Tyreeks.

So I was like, that offense should be pretty good. Right. The defense could struggle. But, like, the offense has also gone through these weird stretches, even with Tua, where they've really struggled. And it's cost them in some games. And, you know, especially when he hasn't played, it's really cost him. So, it's got to be disappointing.

just because of where they were what six weeks ago? I mean, they were what, eight and three and they've dropped five in a row? Yeah, four in a row, five in a row. Yeah, five in a row. So. Yeah. But it's just like it's funny because their preseason expectations were like middle of the road. And then in season, every, like we all, most everyone got swept up in it.

They were playing amazing. And then now it's kind of like obviously it's been disappointing, but then you look at it of, okay, this wasn't a complete team, but they did make the, you know, Bradley Chubb trade. It's just, it's interesting because it's hard to tell whether I think this is overall a disappointment of a season, but there's value in that, like, there were injuries and you didn't have two all the time. Like there are ways to look at this season as a success going forward, but still like. Is there a team that hasn't dealt with injuries though? No, there's not. But like, it's a little bit different when it happens to your starting quarter.

track. Sure. The most concerning part for the dolphins moving forward is like, what kind of drash capital do they have? Yeah. Do they have a first this year? No. Remember they traded for Tyreek? Bradley Chubb.

Oh, was that a first? No, they gave up a second for him, I think. Did they give up a first for him? I'm pretty sure. Yeah, so that, either way, whether it was the first or a second, they did the Tyreeke Hill trade, Taree-Kill trade last year. Three first round pick. Oh my goodness.

As well as a 2025 fifth. So they've internally, they got to be very disappointed with the way this is gone. Because they basically said by making that trade, we think we're this guy away from being awesome. And that's why I lean toward this season being more of a disappointment for them. Because they sold out at the deadline because they saw themselves as like potentially a pass rusher away from like being right at Buffalo, Cincinnati, being right with those guys. Yeah. Yep. Well, they're going to be in a tricky situation with limited draft capital and pretty sure they have some cap strife as well because they've made some splashes with Tyree Kiel and Taryn Armstead and etc.

Yeah. All right. Let's move on to Carolina visiting Tampa Bay. This game, I said I didn't want to give up on town at any point. And he came through. There it is. And the Mike Evans regression hit hard. We've seen this a couple times this year.

where we've been expecting and predicting a regression game for a player. I think the last one was Mixon. Mixon had like the most opportunity. He had 54 fantasy points and five touchdowns. He was leading in the NFL on expected opportunity, but also leading the NFL in difference between expected points versus actual points. And then he hit one game where he had like five touchdowns. So anyways, the Mike Evans regression hit massively.

10 catches, 207 yards and three tutties. he looked unstoppable against good corners too by the way I mean both of his touchdown catches were against Henderson C.J. Henderson. He had three. Yeah, but we're all three against Henderson? I know two of them were. I don't know who the other ones. The two go balls were against Henderson.

I know that for sure. Carolina, like they had their two, they had, well, they didn't have their two starting corners. They were pretty decimated in the secondary, though. And not having J.C. Horn, it showed up. up in this game. Yeah. Big time.

Godwin had a good game too, actually. He had over 100 yards himself. They had Jeremy Chin lining up against Godwin in this game. They, you know, and I mean, especially, it was interesting in the defensive structure they were playing as to why they wouldn't. After the first one and seeing Henderson get burnt, like how they ended up in the same exact situation. I mean, Brett, like I was watching the game and I had to like do a double take because

I thought that they, I thought they were replaying the touchdown from before. Yeah. The first one wasn't Henderson actually. It was Taylor. Oh, was it Taylor? And then they, yeah, and then they quickly switched Henderson onto him. But then it didn't matter. Evans then proceeded to torch him the rest of the game.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Keith Taylor Jr. He's a long, long fast corner. But didn't matter. Yeah. But then, like, it was.

It was, I mean, hey, Tom. Brady and Mike Evans, they have been one of the best combos in the NFL, and they bounced back. It had been a rough season, but they bounced back when it matters, and they took advantage of an ailing Carolina secondary. Yeah. And Tom Brady picked him apart, and that they didn't, the secondary didn't stand much of a chance against Brady. Yep. And also we talked about going into that game,

you and I did that the Tampa Bay run defense was heating up. You know, they've been way, way underperforming most of the year, but the last five, six weeks did really start to heat up. And it showed in this game, they held the Panthers to like 3.4 yards of carry on 22 carries. Panthers could get nothing going in the run game, period. The run defense is what won them the game. Like Tampa's run to you guys is what won them the game.

because while Darnold had some very nice throws, all of his touchdown throws were very, very fantastic throws. And why Carolina had been doing what they had been doing with Darnold is that the run game had been working. So Darnold was only showing those splash plays. Well, the run game wasn't working this time. So they had to put the game more into Darnold's hands and have him be more of a pure, like, drop back passer. And some of his mistakes showed up. Yeah, you put Darnold in predictable past situations and things get rough.

Right. He definitely, he definitely, he definitely, very, do you have three turnovers in this game or two? I believe he had, I believe he had three. Yeah, because he had a fumble on a read option. Yep. He had a fumble after a sack, and he also threw a pick. Yeah. Yeah, so that's a classic Darnold game there.

He totally, every nice thing we said about him, he totally went back to the old Darnold. But that's what happens when you put teams in predictable pass. situations. I mean, they were forced to throw the ball when, you know, on third and 10. And that's when things get ugly for a lot of quarterbacks. So. Yeah. And like I said, for all, like for all intents of purpose, purposes, if Carolina wanted to punt on a quarterback this year and run, like, you know, start to build out things, like, you know, without going quarterback first. Darnold's shown some value. Like, I think, I think he's shown, like, progression and steps in the

right direction as a quarterback. I mean, obviously, like we said, some of the mistakes are still there, but he's been moving the offense well. I mean, despite those turnovers, they still, he still had them in a position to, you know, win the game. Yep. So it, it's, you know, Carolina has a long way to go. It's even amazing that they put themselves in a position to make the playoffs this year because

they were a laughing stock at the beginning of the season. So to get where they are now is massively impressive. And I think that they should, that, like, they would view this season as a success because they've identified some young guys that they can build off of. And yeah, the fact that they even had a win-in-in game for the division is wild. That's impressive. It makes me wonder, does like, do you give Steve Wilkes a shot now? especially as good as this defense is capable of playing like right i don't know that i want to upset that

yeah i like like with steve will like with steve wilkes there i would imagine especially after especially after having someone like matt rule i think that that even tray boston put out a tweet this week like that said something of like hey it was it was still a good season we got rid of some trash halfway through. And so, like, I think that, I bet you that Wilkes building off of a toxic relationship was probably able to quickly develop a good locker room with those guys, you know, with the winning and everything and probably the change of culture. I think he probably deserves a chance.

Yeah. And then just, like, just pair him with a good offensive mind. And I think, like, I think he deserves it with the way. way they've with the way they've positioned themselves to even like I said have this game last week and they were competitive they almost won yep yeah I agree overall successful season so hats off to them and hats off to Tom for making it happen in crunch time yep he's there again and I don't know how far they go in the playoffs but hey they're in the playoffs and if they win this week he'll likely finish his career with without a losing season

True. How awesome was that punt that saved, basically saved Tampa, though. Oh, my gosh. That was ridiculous. Like, saved the game. Well, there ended up being off-season, offsetting penalties, right? And they re-kicked. It was only offsetting because he got the punt off. Oh, that's right. Because the illegal guy down. You're right. It would not. I didn't think about that. Wouldn't have even happen. If he doesn't get that punt off, then there's no illegal man downfield.

It's, it's, it's Carolina's ball. Like, if Carolina recovers that, it's their ball. That point was ridiculous, dude. Almost at the 50 yard line. Like, almost in field goal range with 40 seconds left, 45 seconds left. I know it's hard. If you guys listening didn't see the punt, go watch it. I know it's hard to get excited about a punt.

But this was a broken play, a train wreck. Punter was getting chased by multiple defenders. And it looks like he's just going to either throw the ball out of bounds or run out of bounds to not create worse havoc. But he has to wear with all. He's getting to the sideline to realize I have a window here. And he boots it. It wasn't like a beautiful kick or anything, but he boots it 35, 40 yards.

I mean, he got down to the one yard. I got downed at the one yard. Oh, that's right. It did. It was that crazy. Yeah. And there was offsetting penalties on the play, so it had to be re-kicked. But to Steve's point, there's no illegal man downfield if he doesn't kick the ball.

So without him kicking that ball, Carolina gets the ball back on what, the 25, 30 yard line, 40 yard line. Oh, yeah, probably closer to like the forward, like 40. On the other side of the field, though. Like they would have been in enemy territory already, yeah. Right. Yeah, it was crazy. And they would have been in the driver's seat to tie that,

or actually go take a lead in that game. So pretty remarkable play by a punter. One of the better plays you'll see a punter make ever. Yeah. But, hey, with the way, hey, if Tom Brady and Mike Evans can do this and which they've shown, they can in the past. They can do this against anyone. If that connection heats up, they can compete with anyone.

And that defense, hey, they've put this team in a position to, you know, make a Super Bowl before. There aren't a ton of changes since they've been there on that defensive end or the defensive side of the ball. So they have a chance to make noise. I don't know if they will, but they have a chance. And they're likely to play Dallas, right? in the first round? That's actually probably almost subtle. That could be up in the air too, though.

Oh, you're right. The way things play out this week. Yes, right now, if everything were to stay the same, they would match up with Dallas. Who they lost two earlier in the season. Yeah, but wasn't that a... It was a real ugly game, like 20 to 12 or something like that. Micah Parsons had a heck of a game

and had pressure on Brady all day long. that's right it was actually no that no they played a week one and the in the buccaneers actually won that game

or yeah maybe it was the other way around that they won I do remember Parsons going crazy in that game but yeah um oh yeah that was the game deck got hurt in yeah he didn't have a great game

yeah anyway we did address let's uh let's move on to the other side of the Miami New England saga is the Jets at Seattle.

This game had a lot of playoff implications for a lot of reasons. The Jets were fighting for their own playoff spot. Seattle's fighting for one. Detroit needed Seattle to lose this game. But for whatever reason, the New York Jets allowed Zach Wilson to wear a Mike White jersey on the field.

And I don't know why they did that, but that was not, you can't tell me that was Mike White playing football. That was definitely Zach Wilson. Yeah. I mean, it looked that way. I think there was more pressure. I think Mike White was under

pressure all day. Seattle did a great job of creating pressure on him, but he was a mess, brother. He did not play well. He got beat up and it was an ugly game all around. And at no point

no point did you think that the Jets even had a chance. They're deep like the Jets. defense played well on a play to play basis the Jets defense played well. Soss Gardner, I mean, at this point now, Soss Gardner is shutting down an entire half to a third of the field. Like teams aren't even looking his way. It's gotten ridiculous.

I think he went up against D.K. Metcalf four times, or went up against him quite a bit during the game. D.K. Metcalf had four targets and one reception for like three yards against Sauce Carter. I mean, at this point, like I said, he's shutting down halves of field. And it's crazy. And that's why I think that he still deserves to be right at the top of the defensive rookie of the year conversation because if they, like, I think we'd be having even more of a conversation about him and the way he's playing.

It's just that the conversation with the Jets is their offense. the inept quarterback play that they've gotten the last like two weeks, two, three weeks. And so unfortunately for, you know, Sauce, he's been so consistently good that I feel like he's gotten a little bit lost in the shuffle and of, and just kind of like now it's, we expect him to be good because he's been so good. And all our focus is on how the Jets offense kind of ruined their playoff chance. I mean, it didn't kind of. It ruined their playoff chances because they had opportunities to get back into this

game. And they just had no point could they get anything going on offense. I know, I know you know, you know, Mike White was under pressure a decent amount, but everything he did in this game looked like the opposite of what we've seen. Like the things we've complimented him on versus Zach, Wilson specifically is like he takes care of the ball. Yep. He keeps the off.

He makes the simple throws to keep the offense in rhythm. Yeah. And he's savvy enough in the pocket that he's not taking unnecessary hits and sacks. Dude, he, he held the ball for like almost three seconds a drop back in this game. He, we chart him for four turnover really throws. He wasn't pressured on any of them. So a lot of the pressure he sustained was self-induced. So on top of those four turnover-related throws, he also had a sack fumble.

Like this guy, he was. just a mess. I don't, it's almost like he got in his own head. Like, I have, I've got to go out here. I've got to press. I've got to win this game. It's like, no, dude, your defense is playing outstanding. They held the Seahawks, what, 20 points? Was it? Was it 23 to 6? Yeah, 23 to 6. 23 to 6. And like right away, they were moving, like, right away in the game, Seattle went down and scored. New York had a chance to respond. And Mike White threw that interception to quandary day. What was that, though? It was a terror.

It was ugly. Double covered, under threw it. Yeah. And then that set the tone for the rest of the game. Yeah. The only reason Seattle was able to put up the points that they did was because Seattle had the ball a ton. Yeah. Because New York's offense couldn't move it.

The run game wasn't really there for them. And Mike White had to throw the ball. and like we were waiting for the regression. It happened last time. Like Mike White, he did this last time. He showed a couple flashes for a couple games. And then once teams got, you know, they get some tape on him for that year. They start to take advantage of his weaknesses.

Yep. So in summary, this game, this was the death nail in the jet season, unfortunately. But big season for them. I mean, this was really kind of. out of nowhere. No one expected them to compete this year. I think everyone had year three kind of earmarked as like, all right, that's when we want to see this Robert Sala team take that step. And they did it in year two.

They're going to be a fun team to talk about this offseason because while there is the quarterback situation. Yeah, while there is the optimism of the team of almost every other piece on the team, the offensive line, defensive line, defensive backfield, offensive lines, linebackers. You're excited about everything. It's just that they, like, Like, they thought they had the quarterback thing figured out.

It's clear to us now that Zach Wilson isn't the answer right now. Nope. You know, hey, players can develop, things can change. But he is not the quarterback that is going to elevate this current New York Jets team. And so they have to, I mean, it's, it's a weird situation because you're super excited about the team. But you also have some questions because they have to figure out that quarterback position. Yeah. It makes me wonder if they'll try to do one of these regime changes,

like bringing Jimmy over or something, Jimmy G. Yeah, right. So someone they're comfortable with that they know, like, you know what, probably not going to find a stud with the capital we have or whatever, but maybe Jimmy G gets us over the top for right now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And then on the flip side, the Seahawks are in this weird love triangle with the Packers and the Lions where like it's, there's, the Packers are really, the only team that controls their destiny. They win, they're in. Right. The Seahawks, they can win and still not make the playoffs. Same with the Lions.

So the Seahawks need a Packers loss. No, wait, hold on. What? Yeah. No, you're right. Go. Yeah, Seahawks need to win and get a Packers loss. Yep.

Sorry, I confuse myself for a second. The Lions need to win and get a Seahawks loss. Yep. And the Packers just need to win. Yeah. But there's a lot of different ways this could, play out and I think

technically the favorite right now is the Packers right because they control their deathers. They don't need something else to happen. Yeah, because the Packers are favored against the Lions at home so that would put them as like favorite to make the playoffs. Yeah. Well, even mathematically

speaking, I think they have the best odds just based on the fact that they don't need magic to happen. Right, right. Right. So big week though for the Seahawks. Yeah. They they get a Rams team and that's, you know, been pretty bad this year. But also a Rams team that gave them troubles just a few weeks ago. So, yep.

And a team that had that gave them trouble with Wolford at quarterback. And Baker Mayfield's shown to be an upgrade at the position. Yeah. You know, it may not be amazing, but he's still been an upgrade. And I think that Sean McVeigh's figured out how to utilize him a bit. Seattle's not going to have a cakewalk. Obviously, they're favored, and they should win the game. But it'll be a tough game.

It'll be the Rams have proven to be more competitive than anyone thought they would be to finish the season. Yeah. And the really interesting thing about the way the NFL scheduled these games is that the lions will know when they're taking the field if the Seahawks won or not. Yeah. Which is so what? I don't know what, and I'm a Lions fan and it kind of benefits the Lions in a way. I don't know why the NFL does this, though. The whole reason they don't schedule the week 18 games ahead of time is so they don't do this.

Right. And they did it anyways. Yeah. I don't know why you wouldn't like fill this Green Bay Detroit game onto the Saturday. Like Kansas City plays Las Vegas Friday after or Saturday afternoon. Like that'd be, I feel like that would be a perfect slot for the. Tennessee Jacksonville would be the perfect Sunday night game. It's a playing game.

The winner makes the playoffs and it doesn't affect anybody else. And Trevor Lawrence deserves national attention and national broadcast because he's making the leap. Put him on the damn TV and let everybody outside of Jacksonville see what he can do. He isn't just made the leap. He's made like several. He just, he skipped multiple steps. He went from like, ooh, we're concerned about this guy as a process. back too. Oh my God, he's arrived.

Like he's... Another fun team to talk about. But let's, like we said, Seattle needs to make some things happen. Or, you know, they have to win. When they win and see where the chips fall. But it's funny because they're cheering for the lions, but the lions are cheering against Seattle.

So that's just kind of a funny thing. Steve, check this out really quick. There's a real possibility that in the next few years, You have the five best quarterbacks in the NFL playing in the AFC. The AFC is going to be a bloodbath, man. You have Patrick Mahomes, Josh. Well, it has been, but it's getting even more crowded. Now that the Chargers are legit, the Bengals are legit,

but you have Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence. That's a murderous real. Lamar Jackson, if he stays in Baltimore, he's definitely a top 10-ish guy. That's crazy. Like who in the NFC is even near those guys level? I thought. Aaron Rogers, but he's old, you know?

Yeah, it's funny because like the NFC is out with the old and then AFC's in with the new. The NFC, yeah, the NFC doesn't have a ton of amazing quarterback play. If you think about it, Kirk Cousins, Jailen Hurd. Jailen Hertz is the best one. And he still has growth needed to be done as well. Right. Yeah, actually, real quick, before we. before we move on to our last game that I wanted to talk about here,

I did want to note that, like, what's happening in Philadelphia is a little concerning. Like, they controlled their own destiny to get that first round by. But, like, they're kind of backing into the playoffs. It doesn't feel great. I know a lot of that's because Hertz hasn't been available. So I don't want to put too much stock into it. But, like, it is kind of like...

It's the defensive. For me, it's the defensive side of the ball that worries me. Like you said, the offense, Hertz is out. Min shoes looked serviceable. True. The offense is going to stay humming. Like, Devonta Smith has proven, I think at this point in the season, like he's, they have a 1A and they have a 1B.

It's not a number one, number two receiver. They have two top tier receivers on their team. And the offense, the offense is solid. When Hertz gets back, I'm not worried about the offense. It's the defense. The defense has been, they started out the season. strong looking like just like both of their units were top three units and it showed because they didn't lose a game for the first however like you know 11 12 weeks but now that like the defense

just doesn't seem to have the juice that it had on the in the defensive backfield that's where it's showing up like they still are getting some of the sacks they're still generating like some of that power with the defensive line but that secondary just it's just the It's not even the secondary. It's the middle of that defense. The linebackers and the safeties are really struggling to cover people right now. And that's hurting that. Like, Bradbury and Slay are fine.

Like, I'm not concerned about those guys at all. I know Slay gave up the one deep ball a couple weeks ago, but like, who cares? It's one play. Those linebackers and those safeties, though, are getting kind of wrecked. Yeah. So. So it'll be something to watch. Yeah.

Also. Just real quick, who would have thought, like, five weeks ago that the Giants would be the team resting starters against the Eagles in Week 18, and not the Eagles. Right. Like, that scenario flipped on its head. Right. Which is a perfect segue because we won't dive deep into the game, but the Giants beat the crap out of the Colts and qualified for the playoffs convincingly. And just what a year for New York. I think, like, I, Dables, probably the coach of the year, I think.

I think a lot of people are agreeing about that, especially with Philadelphia kind of faltering down the stretch. So, but. It's one of, it's Dable, Siriani or Campbell for sure, but probably Dable. Yeah.

Hats off to, New York for making it. They're an interesting team that, who, I mean, again, another team that shouldn't have made the playoffs in a, in what we thought would be a rebuild.

Now they're just in this interesting zone where they could go a lot of different ways with their team. but that's not the focus right now. It focuses Daniel Jones led, helped lead the New York Giants to the playoffs. And I, you would have, I would have bet you a million dollars that I would never say that sentence.

Right. If you said I was going to say that sentence at the beginning of the season, I would have laughed you. I would have laughed you out of, out of the, out of the room. Yep. All right.

Let's do our last game of the week that we wanted to review. And that's the Minnesota. Vikings at Lambo Field against the Packers. They get kind of curb stomped in this one, but they kind of curb stomped themselves, Steve. They lost 41 to 17. This is the game we've all been waiting for from the Vikings. Just everything comes unglued because the dark magic had to run out at some point.

We've seen it. We've seen it twice this year now. We saw it happen against Dallas and then we saw it happen against Green Bay. A little bit different on both sides, but like the Dallas one was a little bit different than the Green Bay one. Like I think the Dallas one was more of a dismantling of like the Dallas offense just moved the ball up and down the field at will whenever they wanted. Whereas this one was Kurt Cousins.

It was arguably a primetime game. So we shouldn't be surprised that he performed this way. It was pretty much a national broadcast for the Fox. Game of the week. Yeah, it was the Fox Game of the week. I think the only pocket of the country that was getting. the Battle of Los Angeles was just like that corner pocket of California. Everyone else was getting the Minnesota Green Bay game.

So we should, we should, I should have, I should have known that the dark magic of the Vikings couldn't overcome the primetime Kirk. And it almost like, it seemed like it almost leaked onto the Packers, right? Because like they did nothing in this game. It's pretty rare. A team puts up 41 and wins by 24 points. I'm like, they legitimately didn't do a single thing that makes me worried about them as a team. And I know the Packers are surging right now, but like, Steve, the Vikings spotted them 20 points in the first half.

They're between the kickoff return and then points off turnovers. There's 20 points right there in the first half. Like, you're not overcoming that in any game. Sorry. Yeah, I mean. And the Packers basically went into cruise control after that. Right, right. And I mean, hats off to the Packers special team.

teams for turning the corner. They've consistently been one of the worst units in the NFL. Like, hats off to them for doing that. Like, Kishon Nixon's a weapon in the return game. True. And it's like, hats off to Green Bay. They put themselves in a position to be a win in it. All they have to do is win on Sunday.

That's awesome. But, like, I just have a hard time buying into what a lot of people are pushing right now where, you know, Green Bay has won a few games in a row. I don't, it hasn't been the hardest schedule, in my opinion. Like, they haven't faced a ton of, like, top tier teams in any way, shape, or form. And, hey, Minnesota, yes, they have a great record. But we, everybody's been saying it about Minnesota. They're a middle of the road team who's having a lot of one score luck this season.

And, you know, they're showing up in big moments, but they still had this in them. I don't know. It's like green. I'm not as excited about Green Bay going into week 18 than as I think a lot of people are within like the like within talking heads and football minds. Same. I feel the same way. And maybe that. I don't.

I know it comes off bad because, you know, we have Detroit ties. But I'm trying to be as unbiased as possible when I say like take away. if you strip Aaron Rogers and the Green Bay Packers and you just looked at a blind test, you would view this team as like, hey, good for them for getting themselves in this position at the end of the year, but they don't really deserve to be here. Yeah. And I'm not even a Packers hater necessarily. Like I like A. Raj.

I enjoy watching and play. Right. So it's not even that. I just, they don't do anything that's that terrifying. Do I think they'll put up a heck of a game against the lines? Yeah, they're going to be, they're going to be firing. It should be a bloodbath. Absolutely.

And Aaron Rogers, he shows up in big moments and it's a big moment game. So I'm sure he's going to come, you know, he's going to come out firing. But still, I mean, it shows up. He had a 5.3% wild throw percentage. Like he was making the big throws. But where it's shown up this year is that he also had a 5.3% turnover worthy throw percentage on Sunday. And he's had that this year where he's always been one of the most like consistent takes

care of the ball. Green Bay always up there on the fewest giveaways list, you know, top of the NFL because of Aaron Rogers. But this year, he's put the ball into harm's way way more than he had in the, in his, previously in his career. like his a lot of his interceptions are his fault they're not like fluke receiver mistakes bounces off the hands he's making some poor decisions that he hasn't made or um throughout his career yeah oh one last note on this viking's game steve can we can we not give t j hawkinson

12 targets a game anymore uh the vikings might have won that game if you if you distribute if you If you give Hawkinson zero targets and you give those to other people, I genuinely think this game completely changes for Minnesota. And that sounds so mean. And I think that Hawkinson is a good player. But, man, he had a lot of bad plays on Sunday. He had a drop deep ball that could have gone for six. He had a ball bounce off his chest and go for an interception.

Like a lot of them. He had another seam route. Kirk puts it right on his hands. It just goes right through him. Yeah. A lot of plays that were impact. plays that had a very, very direct, like, correlation to how the game flow went, came on the heels of a mistake of T.J. Hawkinson, unfortunately.

And it's just, it's like sloppy body mechanics. He just doesn't ever have his body in the right position. It's so weird for a guy that's that athletic to be, to have this issue. But he's got, he's got, he's got 130 targets this year. Doesn't, doesn't even have a thousand yards receiving. Yeah. Like, and it's so weird to me. Look to Detroit on what they've done since he's left.

It's not a coincidence that, hey, he was that. He's a guy who he needs targets. He needs and kind of like, he deserves targets in the passing game. But he just, there's a high variance of output for him. And there's, you get the good games,

but you also get the ugly and the ugly, showed through this week. Yep. Indeed. All right, Steve, we got to wrap it up. We did want to acknowledge the DeMar Hamlin incident before we get off the pod, though. I know I'm someone who prays a lot and believes in prayer, so my prayers are with him and his family. I, you know, I've prayed for him to be healed and for him to, you know, pull through for us. Very sobering moment, though, Steve, in the NFL. And we just definitely wanted to acknowledge that. Did you want to say anything?

Yeah, it's a traumatic thing. It was, I know that I, when I watched it, it was, I was very in awe and every, like, just seeing the emotions of guys on the field. And I think sometimes we forget the humanity in these guys that are out there for our entertainment. There's, they are at, you know, they are putting themselves at risk with the way the collisions are and they are still humans and you know i obviously i've been praying for demar hamelin and i wish him all the all the best in recovery in his recovery and i you know everything for him

but also just everybody that experienced it that you know it's okay to ask for help it's okay to want to talk to someone it's it's a it's a traumatic experience for everyone involved and but most of all right now like the focus is on DeMarre getting healthy and because he is such a he is such a fun player to watch he is such a downhill very good hard hitting safety and you you just you hate to see it because it might just be a fluke accident yeah yeah great very crazy moment um i can't remember anything like it to be honest and i know you know as someone who has to watch a game for a living i didn't even want to watch the rest of the game if they were to play that.

I can't imagine what was going through the players' minds when they were like, you got five minutes to get ready. It's like props to the coaches and the players for taking control that situation and being like, no way. This is like everybody needs to take time with this. When I saw Josh Allen's expression sitting on the bench, I kind of knew they weren't playing. You know, he wasn't going to just try to pull himself together for that.

And nor should you have to. I mean, that was, you know, I know the emotions I was experiencing just sitting on my couch, let alone, you know, all those friends and coworkers and teammates. Like, man, just unbelievable what they had to go through. So, again, prayers to DeMar and his whole family. And hopefully very speedy recovery for him. And then we can get back to talking about this tremendous bill season they're having. So yes. But all right, with that, guys,

thank you so much for listening. We'll be back Friday for a preview pod heading into week 18 and the final week of the season and figuring out those last two playoff spots. So for your host, I'm Brett Whitefield. This is my coach Stephen Norfolk, and we are out. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, wait, and review on your favorite platform. Come join the roster at FantasyPoints.com.