Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Take Talk Episode 37

Episode Date: January 20, 2023

Hosts Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) and Steven ORourke (@callmesteveo7) are joined by Chris Wecht (ChrisWechtFF) to recap Super Wildcard Weekend, get you ready for the Divisional round, and discuss some backup QBs. --- 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. Welcome in to another episode of the TikTok podcast. This is a playoff episode of the TikTok podcast. I am your host, Brett Whitefield, with my usual co-host, co-host Steve. and O'Rourke and our lovely guest of the day, Christopher Wecht. How are you guys doing?

Doing good. It was a great week of playoffs. Another exciting week ahead of us, I think. Some pretty good matchups coming. Yeah, Steve, I see you sipping coffee over there with your pinky in the air. Yeah, feeling real good after last week's slate of games felt pretty confident. Viking. Vikings were my only blemish on the week.

And I said to you before the podcast, Brett, that like after we got done recording, I retrospectively, and I'm pulling the LeBron James here, but I was like, I don't know if the Vikings pulled this off. Oh, my gosh. But the Jaguars was the most satisfying of them all, I think. No, actually, I take it back. It was the Cowboys.

Bowboys, as much as I hate to say it, was the most satisfying because I couldn't handle the potential for a Tom Brady Tampa Bay run. It just did not feel like it was supposed to happen or that it was right. That's when it comes down to. It didn't feel right. Yeah. I mean, just like Giselle, everyone's ready to move on from Tom, you know, so it's like, come on. Yeah. I mean, she was really the one that started the wheels in motion and everybody's. Everybody fell in line with that one.

Yeah, so if you guys don't remember, Steve and I went pick for pick, and Steve got me on two of the games. I picked Tampa Bay. He picked Dallas, and then I also picked the Chargers, and he picked the Jaguars. So Steve, you know, it took one week of him getting his picks over on me, and he's already drinking his coffee with a finger in the air, a little pinky.

Like he's the Prince of England. and but Steve that's not all you did this week I got to bring it up you are tied for first place in the fantasy points playoff bracket yeah man that one uh so like Chris and I are I think I'm 10 spots down Chris is like I played Brett Mahera kicker so

well that'll be right Chris Chris played Brett Mahera kicker I think there's like 50 people in it though and Steve's tied for first through one week now obviously there's a long way go but heck of a start from you and when i looked at your lineup construction i was like wow he picked players that he basically thought we're gonna do well like that we talked about in the pod like you know you just nailed it all the all the way around is what i'm trying to say you know yeah it was

um i felt good about the mixture of playing guys who got eliminated and playing guys that i didn't feel i would either i would use again so like you so like walking away from that i didn't feel like i waste anyone and I got lucky because I forgot about Justin Jefferson and I started looking at everyone's lineups. You're not to admit that. Oh, that's right. I'm like, why didn't I'm like, I didn't even think about him and then it didn't say it. And it worked out. Hold on. You played Kurt Cousins. Yeah, because I felt good about Kurt Cousins. But you just like accidentally forgot he has Justin Jefferson. I didn't really think about it. I was just like, I was going through receivers and I was Keenan Allen, obviously.

I was like, I like Christian Kirk, and I forget who my others were, but I was like, these are like... Metcalf and Hill. Yeah, Metcalfe, I was like, that feels like a no-brainer. Tyree Kill, I was like, that is a no-brainer because he's getting out, but he'll put up yards. And then, yeah, after the fact I saw Justin Jefferson, oh, I'm going to get screwed because of that. Man, that's hilarious. You also played Barclay and Etienne, who ended up both winning. So that, that, Barkley was intentional because I feel like Philly shut down Berkeley last time they played, or last time being in week 14 when they played each other.

So I did that for that specific reason was that assuming they'd go, assuming they'd go on to play Philly. Yeah. I think everyone played Berkeley because a lot of people didn't think they'd win. Right. And I didn't want, I didn't want him because it was like regardless, I don't feel good about him against Philly. And then ETN, that was just, I needed it. I was like, okay, of all the guys that I think that could go out, but will get me points, I like ETN over Echler.

It's about the worst games for it possible for that. Yeah. And he still had a decent game. He still had a decent game. Jacksonville, it's like the one piece that Jacksonville, for whatever reason, just still can't figure out. And it's ETN's usage, how to deploy him, how to effectively get 100% out of them every week, they just can't figure it out.

Yeah, and for this week, like Chris said in their defense, they were down 27 to zero. Yeah. It does help. I would kind of figure out how to use my running back as well, because at that point, it really, it truly does not matter. They actually threw the ball to him a little, which they don't do ever. He had one catch. He had one catch.

He had like two or three targets, which is like more than he normally gets. Like two or three times what he usually gets. Yeah, especially because he can be that guy, you know, in the past game. But, well, let's talk about that game. So that was, that was one of the ones where Steve and I differed on and he ends up being right. I tell you what, that, at 270, you were both right. Well, here's a thing, though, guys, guys, at 270, this is going to sound crazy. I'm not saying I predicted the comeback, but I didn't feel great about the way the charges were up.

27 to zero. I'm glad you said that because then it doesn't make me sound like a douchebag coming in like, oh, I picked him to win and I also never thought, never have never lost doubt. No, I like sat there at 27 nothing. I'm like, this feels like it could flip. It's one of the, it felt similar to the Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, obviously completely different scenarios, but like it just felt like there were a bunch of fluky plays that got them there and it could, that it felt like it could fall apart at any moment. Yeah, like the Chargers did nothing to earn that 27-0 lead. Like, literally.

It should have been 40. It should have been 40-0-0-0. Right. And the fact that they didn't put the nail in the coffin speaks volumes to that Chargers team and that coaching staff, which obviously ended up scapegoating Lombardi, which was probably the right guy to scapegoat, you know? But, man, like I, like I said, I didn't predict Jacksonville would come back and win that game. But at 27-0, I was telling my wife, like, the second Lawrence figures out what the charters are doing, like, this game's going to get closer.

Yes. Because the charges were doing nothing, literally nothing. And it's funny, I saw, I forget who I saw that posted this on Twitter, but do you remember a certain 2014 game where a certain offense jumped out to a hot start? And then in the second half, only managed to put up six points and then didn't go for it on four. and one in opponent's territory was this the treas versus dallas Dallas in the playoffs Dallas and who their offensive coordinator was didn't that look pretty similar in how that happened in just like the second half having being not being able to move the ball at all yeah yeah that's that's a good one that's a good comparison same same offensive coordinator so yeah and so it's it's good it's

good to see that hopefully they bring in someone that's worth worthwhile to help elevate that offense because this is a team that should for all intense and for all intents of purposes like they made it in the playoffs they should have been a team that could have gone on a Super Bowl run with the health that they had in the way that things were coming together and it was play calling and yeah I mean mainly play calling and just not being able to move the ball I would say among QBs in the NFL Justin Herbert has the highest talent to disappointment ratio. Like the amount of talent he has versus the amount of times I watch him

and I'm left disappointed has got to be the highest of any player in the NFL. Because it's unbelievable what the guy is capable of yet you just don't see it. You don't ever see it. Like it's so, like those crazy throws, especially at the beginning of the year that Herbert was hitting, he has that in his body yet it's so uncommon. It's actually crazy when you think about it. You know, we chart all of the stuff. like go throw for throw and actually find those ridiculous throws in how inconsistent he is at making

them. It's not, it's not really a him problem is what I'm getting at. It's, it's a Lombardi offense issue. And I'm kind of excited to see a potentially unlocked Justin Herbert moving forward. And that's actually one of the things I want to talk about was, was Staley moving on from Lombardy, probably to save his own teeth, you know? Yeah. He had to blame someone for that. So, but Lombardy, probably the right guy to blame. I'm a big proponent of head coach continuity. While I think Staley's been terrible in his first two years there, I don't

like firing a guy after two years, especially when Staley was the number one guy of his coach class. You think of all the teams that were hiring that year, Detroit was one of them, the Jets were one of them. Staley was the most coveted guy. So, you got the most coveted guy in the NFL at the time.

You kind of got to give him more than two years probably so i like the fact that they're moving on from their offensive coordinator that and he's shown that he can put together a very competent and successful defensive game plan yeah so like it's that that part of why he became a head of why he got the recognition to become a head coach and why he was in this position he's still good at that and has shown that he's good at that it's not like a a matt patricia thing where it's like all right you you came in here and everything's kind of a disaster. You know, you can see the spots where he's there,

where and why he's there. It's just he needs help. Like most headcovers, he needs help and he needs to get the right people beside him. And hopefully, hopefully they bring in someone, like I said, that can elevate that offense instead of someone who keeps it stagnant, keeps it in place. The Chargers had a higher password. over expectation than the dolphins, the giants, the Jaguars, and still lost that game.

So they were being aggressive, and it just, they just weren't being effective with it at all. Yeah, that's great. I mean, aggressive in that they were passing more than they were running. Right, they didn't just try to run Echler into the Jaguars defense over and over and be like, we're trying to salt the clock away. Like, no, they were trying to pass. They just weren't doing it effectively, which we've kind of seen all season. that's kind of been who they are.

And that's like, yeah, if you go back and look at Herbert's past chart, I mean, there's, I think, maybe two to three targets beyond, you know, 15, 20 yards. Everything is under 10 yards. That's dang near every game, too. Yeah. It's criminal. He's Alex Smith. They've turned him into Alex Smith, effectively.

Pre-tireeal, Alex Smith. Alex Smith, yeah. And that's with a load of receivers that are, you know, they're good at, certain things, but speed and separation aren't necessarily like their calling card as a guru. And so running these short, you know, these short routes and all of these short concepts, it either leads to incompletions or, you know, stop for two, three, four yard gains because you just don't have guys that are necessarily elite after the catch. And that's fine.

It's just that you need to run an offense that's more tailored. to that. Right. Yeah, one thing that surprised me early in this game was the Jaguars inability to kind of figure out how to beat what the chargers were doing. You know, the chargers were playing like this really aggressive

zone with pressure look. Like that front seven was playing very aggressive. They were doing a lot of gap exchanges. They were blitzing on passing downs. They were basically in your face the whole game. And then the entire secondary was squatting on short routes. Yes.

Kind of like they knew what Jackson would try to do to combat that. Get the ball out quickly. Yeah, you're going to pressure the quarterback. Expect the ball out quickly. There's really two ways to beat what the charges were doing. One, you have to hit a deep ball and make them play off a little bit. Yeah. Or two, you have to put those front seven players in some type of conflict and, you know,

get your guys in space, basically. And they were able to do any of that until the second half. but if they would have figured that out in the first quarter, Steve, the Jaguars may have blown out the charges. Like this was crazy. I mean, Trevor Lawrence gift-wrapped him four interceptions. And, you know, a couple of them were, like, you got fooled, and that was, like, they were pretty rough.

Like, because my, like, in the beginning, I was like, oh, my gosh, he is, is he really, like, crumbling under the pressure of the moment? Because that's all it felt like was him, trying to force things. It was dumb, like dumb mistakes, dumb, preventable mistakes. And I thought, like, oh, my goodness, he's just trying to force the moment's too big. But like you said, second half, they settled in. They started, you know, recognizing coverages and, you know, taking their time instead of trying to just rush through things, which is what it felt like Trevor Lawrence was doing in the first half. Yeah, do you look at those four interceptions?

on their face like the first one i mean the first two actually were pretty fluky right so first one gets it's a batted ball by the d line no quarterback's still responsible for that we don't necessarily chart that as a turnover where they throw right he's still responsible to know that that throwing lane is not open um but it's still fluky nonetheless most badded balls don't turn into you know interceptions that get returned for 20 yards and then it's a basically a layup for a touchdown or did that one go the full six did one of those guys returned? No. No, no. I think they all had good returns, but none were related to the answer. Yeah. Then the second one, the receiver got completely mugged, and there was no call on that.

So, and then the next two after that, I felt like Lawrence was pressing a little bit. The pressure had got to a point where it was boiling over. The moment was just too big for him at the time, and he was pressing a little bit and made two really, really bad decisions. Yeah. But man, he, credit the X. guy like he to be able to shake off four interceptions and then come back and win a game that's like incredible i heard did you hear what he said when he was coming off the field to the interviewer i don't think so i just love it it's just uh just speaks to such a good mentality he said you know my my whole team is is doing everything they can to win us this game and they're counting on me to lead

them and i can't just roll over after four bad plays and and call it a game like no my job is to shake it off and get back out there and get back in the fight. And so that's what I did. He's like, I had no choice but to do that. Like, I'm not, I'm not ever laying down and going to sleep, basically. So, yeah. I thought it was just, you know, it spoke to his mentality and, in how strong mentally he is. Because most, most quarterbacks don't bounce back from that in the same game.

And then he rewarded everyone by taking the Waffle House after. Yeah. I love that. That's some, like, Friday night lights and stuff right there. And there's never. Never lost on a Saturday yet. Yeah. In this whole career.

It's true. High school, college, NFL, undefeated on Saturdays. Is that true? It is. It is. It's a great stat. Undefeated on Saturdays.

He never lost a Saturday Clemson game. Nope. Nope. In three years there, he never lost a game on Saturday. He has not. Wow. All right.

All right, Trev. I see you. But it's this. it's this evolution of, you know, being able to flip a bad first half into a good second half of why Trevor Lawrence was highly touted the way he was. I mean, this is like this season and especially this back half of the season, we're seeing why Trevor Lawrence was hyped the way he was. Everything, like all the tools, the decision making, the arm, the athleticism.

It's all starting to show through as like the pro- confidence. Yeah, confidence in the processing part of the game have started to become, you know, built into it. Like it's second nature. It's starting to become second nature to them as much as it can be. Yep. Credit to Doug Peterson, too. That was, I mean, keeping guys engaged when they're down 27 to zero going to go into halftime, whatever you say to them.

Doug does a great coach. like he he probably got a bad beat in Philly we'll see how it ends up in Jacksonville but he's a great coach he's probably one of the top coaches in the league and you know him and Trevor Lawrence could be a deadly pair

for years to come yeah Lawrence is everything that the Eagles hoped Carson wins would be honestly yes I mean seriously a big big physical

gifted guy with you know great athleticism great arm seems like a great head of his shoulders because everyone thought that about Carson when he was drafted. Right. You know, we didn't know he'd end up being a mental midget. Oh, that's a politically correct term, but we didn't know that he would have such a defeatist mentality.

Yes. But yeah, I mean, Lawrence just is like exactly who Peterson probably thought he was getting in Wentz and he's living up to it, though, where Carson didn't really, at least I guess he kind of did it early on. Yeah, so far, but probably not ever. And I must say, well, like, this, the evolution of this receiving group over the course of the season has been fun to watch as well.

We're now like Zay Jones is a valuable receiver. And Evan Ingram is like... Ingram can ball. Starting to realize the talent while also using his hands the correct way. Well, yeah, and it's just health too. He played every game this. year. And, like, they, Peterson.

The Giants just totally screwed him up, how they used him. Yeah. I mean, how they messed that up. Peterson recognizes it. He clearly sees the value in using Ingram. And like this back half of the season, they have made him a focal point of this offense. And you can see, like, you can just see how well this group of receivers works and

meshes together. It's, it's pretty awesome. You know, for a lot of castaway guys, I mean, pretty much everybody on their receiving group is kind of a castaway in some way, shape, or form. And so it's cool to see how they've become a valuable group and become a group that, you know, I'd say like at the beginning of the season, I looked as, you know, bottom seven group in the league is now, you know, performing just as well as anyone, really. Yeah, I would say the way Inger was played down the stretch since really December,

he's getting back, like you're seeing why he was drafted so high in the NFL. Yeah. To the point where like, I'm not sure there's a linebacker in the NFL that can actually cover him one-on-one. It's getting to the point where like if you want to stop him, you're going to have to commit either multiple bodies or safety or defensive back. And what that does for your offense is crazy. Even if he stops producing because teams are committing more resources to stopping him, that's going to give you single high looks on an extraordinary amount of plays. You're going to get more one-on-ones. for Zay, more one-on-ones for Kirk.

I mean, that's a huge weapon if he continues to play at this level. I mean, he's been shredding teams when they've needed him to. He's had a couple of duds in there for sure, but I mean, he had like 170 yards against Tennessee a couple weeks ago. Yeah. It's like, how many tight ends are putting up 170 yards in a game? Like, not many. And it segues into, obviously, Jacksonville plays Kansas City this week in Kansas City.

And kind of segues into what I think is one of the more important things for their offenses utilizing Evan Ingram against Kansas City this time. When you went back and watched Kansas City versus Jacksonville from early this season, in the beginning of the game, Jacksonville wanted to and was trying to get Ingram involved, and Lawrence and Ingram missed on a couple. They had a couple chances, but they missed on a couple throws. It was mainly Lawrence missing Ingram once or twice on a couple deep balls. Yeah, one of them was a wheel.

Yeah, after that, they kind of went away from Ingram. He didn't have, I don't, he maybe had like one target in the second head. He had three targets in the first quarter and won the rest of the game. Exactly. So it's just, it'll be interesting to see how they use him this time because you can see they were trying to build that up in that game, in that first matchup. And it just, you know, it obviously wasn't hitting and they moved on to other things. And it'll be interesting because I think they know they have a mismatch there against Kansas

City with Ingram. And so I think he needs to get double-digit targets in this game for them to stay in it. Because this is a matchup that bodes kind of well for Jacksonville. Like if there's a team that Jacksonville can stick with, if they can keep their offense moving and not fall into what happened against the Chargers, the Kansas City defenses can be, like, you can move the ball on them. I'm probably not going that far, Steve. I think Kansas City should

roll through them pretty easily personally. I don't think anyone on that Jacksonville line is going to block Chris Jones. But. Yeah, that's got to be the issue for them. It's not so much the secondary as it is the offensive line versus defensive pass rush.

Yeah. Because, yeah, I'd be curious to see what they do. So the chiefs have been using, at some point, I forget exactly what we, they basically, LeJarees Sneed had been their slot corner all through the season, and at some point they moved McDuffie to the slot and put Sneed outside. Yep.

But now you get in, but then in week 18 when they played the Raiders, they had Sneed basically just follow around Adams to some good amount. Now you got Christian Kirk and the Jaguars. Do they kick Sneed back into the slot and have McDuffie play outside? I don't, it'll be interested to see how the Chiefs approach the matchup, especially with the evolution of the Jaguar's passing attack. If they don't, yep, Kirk could have a great game against McDuffie in the slot. Just not that he's been terrible as a rookie, but just nothing special either so far.

Yeah. And then, yeah, Lawrence could target him. Ingram's going to have his matchups. And yeah, maybe it's a quieter Zay Jones and Marvin Jones game. But, yeah, the secondary is not the mean issue. It's going to be that offensive, defensive line matchup. Yeah, and I think that Kansas City probably ultimately ends up winning, but I think Jacksonville has a chance to stay in this if they can move the ball on offense.

Their defense is another story. When they played Kansas City earlier in the season, and they were just toying with Jacksonville's linebackers. They were just sending crossing routes behind those guys all day long and forcing them to make a play, and they couldn't. And, you know, Mahomes picked him apart that way. They got to Mahomes once and turned him over, but for the most part, they were just reading off those linebackers

and forcing them to make a play. It'll be interesting, though, because Jacksonville did play double the amount of cover two against Kansas City that they normally play. They ran 30% cover two in their matchup against Kansas City. They usually run about 15% cover two. So it'll be interesting to see if they stick with that. Because when they ran cover two,

Mahomes completed about 75% of his passes for, you know, it was 88 yards and only about six yards an attempt and then aid out of 3.3. so like they minimized him but they still were efficient moving the ball almost every dropback turned into some sort of positive yardage except for i think two incompletions yeah that was um pre the uh the dynamic running back duo for canada city breaking out too right yeah chacho mckinan hadn't really been the guys yet i know potential played a lot in that game but yeah mcinnon didn't really that was edwards hilaire was getting most of the snaps at the time.

Yeah. And McKininin offers an even bigger matchup because between having McKinnon running and coming out of the backfield and then Kelsey, operating Kelsey over the middle, forcing Aluicon and Devin Lloyd to step up and make plays and cover those guys. That's what Kansas City wants. Kansas City wants those guys to make mistakes and force them to make a play. I think Cadiz Tony has a chance to be a factor in this game. If he actually plays.

He just doesn't play a lot of snaps. I mean, it may just have been that saving him for the playoffs type thing. This was his break-in. Yeah, we have the extra week season. Right. So he has experience against Jacksonville and kind of lighting him up a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, Nicole Harmon also didn't play a ton in week 18, his first game back from IR.

He was pretty heavily involved early in the season. and I don't know why they would go away from that not using it. Hardman? Yeah. It just said a couple days ago they were going away from it. Oh, they did. Yeah, they said that he just, he's having, he looks rough at practice and they're going away from Mekyll. Like, I don't even think he dresses this game.

Huh, that's crazy. Well, that, yeah, I guess McKinnon's kind of filled that in, Tony can fill in that other part. So they definitely can replace it, but he definitely was effective early. they also obviously didn't struggle to score points even when he was gone. So then, yeah, I guess the main receiver, you'll have Kelsey, juju in the slot, and Tony, Justin Watson, Skymore probably still doesn't play, really. Yeah, this could be a big juju game. I mean, if you want to attack the Jaguars, the slot is where you do it.

Yeah, slot in over the middle, and that's what. Right. That's why. And Juju did that against him last time. He had a decent game, and he was operating pretty well in space against their corners and their linebackers. Yeah. I mean, they move guys around a lot, probably more than any team in the NFL. Like, they probably all play a good chunk of slot snaps, all their receivers. Yeah. But, yeah, Juju is definitely the primary guy there. They should, I mean, yeah, I don't. Kansas City's offense shouldn't have an issue with this defense.

And that's what I think ultimately. you know, probably wins out. But I think it's going to be a shootout. I think it'll be kind of a back-and-forth game, and it'll be who outlasts who. And unfortunately, I think the Jaguars are going up against the team that can outlast anyone at any time. Yeah, I will say this, Steve.

I do think if I'm Jacksonville, I'd rather play Kansas City than Cincinnati right now. I completely. Oh, no. Really? Yes, Kansas City is far and away the best team in the AFC. They may be top to bottom, but Cincinnati is the best quarterback in the league right now. Burroughs playing far and away above anybody else.

It's not even close. And I just think that Jacksonville would want to see Kansas City just because of the ability to move the ball against their defense. That's the only reason. I don't think Kansas, or I don't think Jacksonville's defense matched up well with Kansas City. Kansas City's offense, but I think that Kansas City's defense is more susceptible against the, specifically against Jacksonville compared to Cincinnati. Yeah, I'm just, I just want to avoid Burrow at all costs if I'm in, like, I think the bills are in big trouble this week.

I don't know. I'd love to play that offensive line. The Bengals are trotting out now. Has it mattered yet? Has it mattered yet. Has it made. They just lost two more guys, though. Well, Jonah and then the other guy, he was a backup anyways, right?

And the former starters replacing him. Here, let's jump to that game. So Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins outlasts of 34, 31. Barely beat him. Barely beat him. And then the Bengals outlasted Baltimore after preventing a last second touchdown. And now the matchup that got suspended. and that ultimately canceled a few weeks ago.

We get the rematch that everybody, I think, was looking forward to. And, yeah, it's two, I'd say two teams that are coming in in different states as far as where their quarterback is at right now. Very much so. Alan, he's starting to look like rookie second-year Josh Allen again. and I don't think that elbow is fully greased up. It's also, it's just a weapons issue. And we've talked about that, I think, a couple times.

They just don't, their weapons are all outside of digs or just like these downfield targets. And it seems like Alan just like feels that. It just feels the need to chuck it deep over and over and over again. Well, it's a decision-making thing more than a weapons issue to me. Well, I'm saying it goes there, I can, Like, all right, Diggs is covered, but maybe he's double covered, maybe he's just locked up, whatever. Gabe Davis is just, like, all he really does is run deep routes, different vertical routes.

And it seems like Alan just, like, defaults into making that his decision over and over again. Yeah. Which can work, because if you hit them, they're huge plus EV plays. But obviously, they also can get you in a lot of trouble. And be like just cold easily as your chain mover. only gets you so far. Yeah, right. I mean, you just said yourself, though,

they have a bunch of downfield guys. That just means they need Cole Beasley. No, no, I'm not saying they don't need Cole Beasley, but it also just only gets you so, like, Cole Beasley's not going to win you the game, though, either. Yeah, like, if you could add a... Like, Tyler Boy can win the Bengals a game in certain situations. I see where you're going from.

Like, I mean, like you said, we've talked about it, where the nose dive from talent-wise, as far, or I guess usefulness-wise as a receiver from Diggs to like Davis. Like Davis hasn't really realized any sort of intermediate route winning type receiver. He's been mostly just down the field, you know, down the field late breaking routes

because he's, you know, he's fast and he can push a corner, he can push a corner and force him to flip his hips. Right. Yeah, I mean, Stefan Diggs is phenomenal in pretty much every aspect. Yes, definitely. They need to find ways to get him more involved in the short parts of the field.

But maybe they're missing Dable more than people are talking about. You know, the play calling, like, Dable was able to scheme it up, and these tendencies that Josh Allen's playing with again, I mean, it's, you know,

I mean, these are huge problems. It goes beyond personnel. Look at some of these fumbles he had in the pocket this week. You just got to be like, dude, what are you doing? What are you actually doing right now? He doesn't be broken. He didn't run much.

And I don't know if that was a planned thing or what that. Especially in a close game, it's not uncommon for us to see Alan just like start taking the game over. And that really wasn't happening at all. this week. Yeah, you're right. There wasn't a ton of scramble and even on designed runs, you didn't really see one until kind of the fourth quarter from Allen. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I don't know. There's credit to the Day Bowl thing that you said, because look at what Daniel Jones is doing and his ability to limit turnovers this year compared to what he was doing prior to his career. And then Josh Allen before, or I guess not before

Dable, but Josh Allen earlier in his career and then now not having Dable, he's back to turning the ball over. So I assume Dable has influence in helping these, helping these quarterbacks make smart decisions, maintain the ball, things like that. Yeah, it seems to be like he's got to have a lot more, like that discussion probably needs to be had more. It's like how much Dable is actually affecting. I haven't done like a finite analysis of how the play callings change necessarily,

but it does seem like everything they're doing is scheming up big throws. Like even like one of the fumbles Alan had this week was like a max protection, two tight end, wing left, and you know he had seven, eight pass blockers. And he's just holding the ball forever waiting for a guy to come open. That type of stuff probably needs to change. So I know Cincinnati's not like, they don't have any elite players on their defense,

but they don't have any bad players on their defense either. And Cincinnati, I think, can probably expose those tendencies even better than Miami did. They might not force as many turnovers, but they're going to put Josh into positions where he's uncomfortable a lot more. So I would, I think I'm concerned about the bills this week, guys. I think I'm probably actually going to pick the Bengals in this game. Also. Bengals, too.

Despite not an offensive line. Yeah. One note on the difference in receiving court, it's easy to say, well, look what the Bengals have with Chase and Higgins and Boyd and the bills just have Diggs and then Davis. So Diggs is making $20 something million a year. Like the Bengals have Chase and Higgins on rookie contracts. It's pretty easy to make that work when you got those guys and Burrow on rookie contract, you know? Oh, for sure. Yeah.

So they're just at different stages of their franchise development. element. Yeah. Yeah, and Cincinnati's one of the top, top half the league in deep passing against. They defend the deep pass pretty well, and they have seven interceptions on it and only 22 receptions on 69 targets. So they've defended the deep ball pretty well this year. So it'll be interesting to see how if they try to utilize Dawson Knox a little bit more and try and You know, it's just like you said, there are more of us, they're more some of their parts than they are individualized defense. So it'll be interesting to see where Ken Dorsey tries to pick them apart a little bit.

And I think it's, I think it's the line, like trying to work against their linebackers. Even Knox though is a vertical threat. He's a vertical running tight end, vertical route running tight end. I'd like to see them use him over the middle a little bit more because I think he. He's a big body and he's athletic. I feel like he should be able to provide value there. They just don't use him there a lot. No.

Yeah, the game, I don't think this game comes down to Burrow versus Allen, who puts up the most points. It's the Bill's defensive line versus the Bengals' offensive line. And can they limit Burrow enough through that to the point where their offense cannot score? Like, I don't, I didn't think the last game would be high scoring, and I don't think this one will. either unless it's just the, you know, the bills can't get pressure on Burrow and Burr just totally lights them up. The Bill's pass-stress is weird because they go through stretches since they've lost Vaughn where,

I'm talking within a game, even, they'll go through stretches where they're getting pressure. It seems like every other dropback. And then there were stretches in this Miami game where Thompson had all day to throw. Yeah. It was weird. But then like on the next drive,

he'd get pressured three dropbacks in a row. So it's like, I think, the bills are going to have to scheme up pressure more than they like to because we've talked about this a lot Steve they they love getting pressure with four if they get pressure with four that secondary kind of just comes together if not they the defense has been very vulnerable since miller's gone down so but i think i think you're right see or chris that's going to be a pretty big battle to watch is that the bills d-line versus the bengals o line yeah they were pretty middle of the pack that's pack we

concerns with pressure but yeah since like week 15 they're below 30% which is pretty low compared it's it's the low it's one of the lowest of all the remaining playoff teams at least yeah when they had Vaude they were leading the league and pressure rate with with a four man rush yeah so

big time change it totally changes the complex to that secondary yeah and like like you said Brett you can see it at times too you can just see their front four will get stonewalled for drop at a time. Yeah. And, you know, it's, they're starting to have to bring,

starting to have to use some more sim pressures and bringing Edbonds and Milano. You know a little bit more, which is not what they want to do because they like those two. They like those two in past coverage. And they like those two having, sitting and guarding the middle of the field. And so, you know, having to use those guys in different sim pressure looks and trying to shake things up a little bit to get pressure, having to waste those guys,

not necessarily waste them, but use them in the pass rush as opposed to in coverage. I think if they can force, if they can force them to have to bring pressure with multiple people, Cincinnati can start to dice them up because that's where Joe Burrell thrives is when

is against the Blitz. Yeah. Well, to that point, like, they had four sacks against the dolphins. Two of them were Matt Milano coming up to Agap on like a linebacker twist. The other one was Taryn Johnson coming off of a slot blitz. And Skyler Thompson just didn't idea it. Now, Taryn Johnson didn't get the sack, but he pushed Skyler right into a defense.

I think it was Boogie Bastion maybe on the play. I mean, so they're definitely having to ski more of that. And we've seen Burrow shred the Blitz. So if they can't get home with four, then I think Burrow is going to have a very easy, comfortable day back there. Let's talk, let's talk Dallas,

San Francisco. Yes. Mostly because I want to get to Brock Purdy, because I have a bigger overarching theme I want to get into a little bit too before we get off. But so Dallas, San Francisco, San Francisco pretty much destroyed Seattle.

That was the only blowout of the week. And like a quarter and a half too. It didn't like one and a half quarters. Yeah. Right. That's what I say. Even though it was a blowout, Seattle still came to play in the first half.

They kind of impressed me in a lot of ways, which is a good reminder that playoff football is different than regular season football. All these teams that are playing deserve to be here for the most part, except Seattle. Ironically, they're the ones that got beat pretty badly. but every game was close. So even though, you know, even when you're confident about a game, most of these games ended up being nail biters in some regard.

Yeah. We need to fix this ineligible man downfield rule, though. Seattle got, that felt like the turning point of the game, that first one they got in the red zone. One of them was completely erroneous too. Yeah, it's just like if it doesn't affect the play at all, like, why are we calling this so ticky-town? Like, there's got to be some subject.

Like use your brain a little bit of, okay. Yeah. Does this matter? The first one you're talking about, I'm like, there was no screen. There's no RPL on the play. I'm kind of confident. Yeah, the lineman thought the play was over and was going to celebrate. Not realizing Gino hadn't thrown yet.

Yeah. It's just. It had zero consequence of the play. I agree. They're also like with, you think with the technology we have at our disposal, like you'd be able to just see if the guy's actually two yards past line of scrimmage. I mean, that's the whole, that's the whole.

Just even if they are, just if it's not. Just, I'm in soccer. But even making it black and white, though, Chris, would be like, so much better because you can't tell me that one of those, he was actually two yards beyond line of scrimmage. He was clearly like a half yard. Right, right. At the time of the throw.

And the ref probably, like, looked at him, then looked at the throw and was like, oh, he's, or maybe looked at the throw, then looked at him. Right. And then through the flag. It's just, it looked like they were looking for penalties. almost. Yeah. The threshold is two yards, right?

That's kind of the move thought. It's one. It's one with a ghost one. Right. So it's, I don't know, it's, yeah,

just don't, you know, if it's a simple fade route to the back of the end zone, which I think it might have been, was what they were doing. Like, just don't, it's not worth calling.

It doesn't matter. It's irrelevant to the play. It's, uh, I obviously a point of emphasis this year. And, uh, there was one

I've seen a couple this year where an offensive line would just kicked someone's butt and they get called for a legal man down the field just for like just pancake it had been thrown and past a yard blocking too well at the point of attack right well that's the role if you're engaged

it doesn't apply right if you're engaged with it's not supposed to yeah not supposed to but if you pancake a guy at the line of scrimmage and then standing over him at a yard past yeah that's yeah that's dumb it's hopefully I really hope that next year this gets flattened out a little bit

because this year it's been yeah Seattle had like three or four and they don't even like they're not even a heavy like RPO team so yeah it's like okay I don't do we really like you said do it's almost like they were trying to like create justice for Seattle getting a bunch of favorable calls the week before right because it seems so

tiki tack that was the thing that was weird it was just like what Just ask yourself, is there a competitive advantage here? And if the answer is no, don't throw the flag. Right. Which is basically what Dean Blondino said when he was on the broadcast. It's like, I would not have thrown either of those flags. Yeah, so long story short, though, San Francisco Bowlbout, they're taking on a team this week at home that just probably put the end of Tom Brady's career on full display of the Dallas Cowboys.

But I wanted to talk about Brock Perkins. I want to talk about Skyler Thompson and I want to talk about why is my Tyler Tyler Tyler yeah there we go these are three backup quarterbacks

that are all drafted late in the draft and like from a team building perspective how much value is there to just throw in darts at at these types of QBs? A ton. It seems like it right? Like these guys all competed

like legitimately competed in playoff football games. Yeah. I mean, like, that, Huttley almost pull off a huge upset against the Bengals. Thompson almost did one against the, the,

the bills. And then Purdy, his team's, you know, he didn't have to do much, but he, he's giving more to that offense than Jimmy G. does.

Brock Purdy's creative ability, his ability to make plays outside the pocket, those are things Jimmy G. didn't offer that offense. And Purdy's almost like unlocked another aspect of this. this offense. It's crazy. Yeah.

But all these guys were later picks, and it's just like, when you look at the QB deficit in the league, there's a QB shortage. Like some teams' backup situations are so bad that if they were required to play a backup, they wouldn't win a single game. Yes. So how does this happen? How do we have three third string QBs, or I guess backup QBs playing in the playoffs,

playing well, and then there's some teams that just have nothing there. and they don't ever really do anything to fix it either. It's not like there's an expense associated with this. You know, the last pick in the draft fetched the 49ers Brock Purdy. Yep. They're paying them like less than a million dollars this year. Yeah. Just always be cycling through your quarterback crew is really the key.

Like, you didn't. San Francisco has done a good job with this over the, I mean, Nick Mull and CJ Bethard have all spent time looking good in this offense because Kyle Shanahan, it creates a great offense. But, yeah, they've constantly cycled through their quarterback situation. The Eagles have done this well over the years. Just keep cycle. Like, there's certain backups, I think, the case keynoons of the world that are useful in certain teams.

Where if your starter went down, you're a playoff team, you're just trying to keep it alive. But there's a ton of other backups that just, we know what they are. You know, like they're cycling these college, these rookies, these first get one year, got year out guys, just keep cycling through and see if you can find, you know, a diamond in the rough. And they don't have to be a superstar. They just need to be functional. And I think that there's a lot of credit that goes to how NFL offenses are built now,

especially in the last couple of years, compared to, you know, early 2010's 2000. where you can scheme offenses to be less dependent on a quarterback's decision-making ability. That's what Kyle Shanahan has done. It's what Mike McDaniel is trying to do. Like that's, and then with Baltimore's offense, it is a lot of one-reed, read option. Like, that's what Roman builds an offense for Huntley. That's kind of what they do.

And being able to take a lot of that, figuring out. the game and figuring out defenses and having the offense and the structure of the offense figure that out for them, that's where I think there's value in bringing these quarterbacks in because you just need a guy that has, you don't just need him. There's obviously a lot into it, but by bringing them into an offense that has developed weapons and a developed scheme that can scheme guys open, you can bring in a guy that you just need him to be accurate and you just need him to be calm in the pocket. and that's what Purdy's doing.

Skyler Thompson, he's played what, three, four games now? He's kind of figured it out. And yeah, go ahead, Brett. Perfect segue to what I actually wanted to talk about. So Bill Parcells has the famous QB criteria that he looks for in a quarterback. This is a pretty famous doctrine. It's been written about in several books. But here's the baseline of his doctrine for drafting a quarterback

and allowing him to play on your team. One is be a three-year starter in college. Two, be a senior in college and also graduate from college. Start 30 games at the college level and win 23 games. So when you talk about comfortability in the pocket, what gives you that comfortability in anything in life? It's experience, right? It's repetition knowing.

Well, guess what? All three of the guys we're talking about right now, they were all three-year starters. They were all seniors in college. I don't know if they actually graduated or not. I didn't take the time to look that up. They all started 30 plus games. Actually, all three of them started 35 games or more.

And they all won 23 games at the college level. We used to make fun of this doctrine because it's like a bunch of arbitrary numbers, right? Right. It's like, who decides 30 games is the best number? Like, why is that a thing? The number doesn't really matter. The point of it all is what you're talking. There's not a hard number.

there's but there's a range where there clearly is a boost in possible NFL success. Yeah, it's that experience. Like these guys have all, they've seen battle. You know, they've all been at war. They, like, they, they've had a lot of reps under their belt. They've had a lot of things thrown at them.

They've carried a lot of weight on their shoulders, especially guys like Tyler Huntley. Actually, all three of them, really. They played for teams that were underwhelming in their conference, overperforming for what that team brand was. Yes. Which comes with a lot of pressure. Brock Purdy was the Trevor Lawrence draft class.

He was like, I think, the second QB recruit that year and picked Iowa State for whatever Godforsaken reason. And played insanely well as a freshman. And, you know, that pressure started about them out from there. So I think there is something to be said that, like, I think we, like, I know that I'm going to think about that a little bit more when we're going through. tape this year looking at college prospects. It's like there's a lot of guys. I mean, Chris and I were just talking yesterday, Jaron Hall and Clayton Tune and

some of these dudes that Yeah, Max Duggan. Like, how many of them check these boxes, I wonder? Because that experience is important, man. Like, Skylar Thompson, like, you would never thought that dude was a seventh round pick on Sunday's game. The confidence and swagger he was playing with for a guy

that, like, had, like, six months ago, he had no idea if he'd played in the NFL. Right. He had the best. make a roster for God's sakes. And he, like, it's crazy. And he took how many hits in that game and got up every single time, ready to go, ready to go.

You could make the argument they win that game. Because, like, Tyreek and a lot of the other offensive players pretty much looked checked out in the beginning of that game and, like, weren't really, you know, didn't seem like it was like they really thought they had a shot. Right. And then in the second half, they're like, oh, like, we've really got a chance here and seem to pick it up. I wonder if that crept into their mind at all.

But yeah, they definitely had a, yeah, Scott O' Thompson did not look like a seventh round rookie. The whole experience thing, it makes you think, like we hear all the time that backups get on teams because they have experience in the NFL. Why not take a guy that's played, have an experience at college where the level of play is still very high and like a lot of the pressures are similar.

Like, do the Cardinals need a Colt McCoy on their team versus a guy like, Skyler Thompson or Brockford. You don't need, it doesn't have to be NFL experience to be good experience. Right. And I still, like, this isn't, like, I think a lot of this is built around that, like, the way they're off, the offense that is, the way the offense is built that they're playing in. Because I don't think that this is a universal rule for every team of like, hey.

No, yeah, a bad offense is a bad offense. Right, but I think there are offenses that. that there's more value to do this than there is to do it in other places. And, like, Miami is a good example. San Francisco. All three of them are, actually. Detroit is another example that's coming along. And it's just going to show how much and how important offensive structure is

and just that, yes, it's valuable to have a guy like Patrick Mahomes and a guy like Josh Allen. Those are obviously the guys that are, you know, they're aliens and they can win new games on their own backs. But I think that we're starting to see that you can scheme a good offensive structure and get the weapons around them to where now it's more feasible to win games without the superstar quarterback. Yeah. I mean, it's scheme that creates identity.

Like, these are all three of these quarterbacks are talking about. They're in team situations that have an identity. they know what their scheme is. I know the Dolphins regime is new to Miami, but that scheme and identity was already created in San Francisco, and they're just imparting that in Miami. They've brought in Tyree Kill to assist with that.

So, like, yeah, culture, identity, ecosystem, it's all very important, clearly. When you drop a guy in the mix with this kind of experience, it kind of just goes, you know? Like Huntley, he's not Lamar Jackson, but he's 85% of Lamar Jackson, probably. He's impressed me every time he's had to play for Lamar, not going to say every game,

but he's had moments where, like, yeah, this guy can play. It's mostly the decision-making that is, like, the difference. Like, Lamar just has, like, he's, you know, a tenth, you know, half a second faster on knowing what to do. Maybe Lamar doesn't reach out that ball over the goal line that Huntley did, and it gets returned for a phone, like, stuff like that. It's like, that's the major difference between a guy like Huntley and Lamar, which can come, you know, more experience will help that. Yeah.

And to like back to the Dallas, San Francisco, talking about San Francisco, like Brock Purdy didn't play that good of a game against Seattle. He did have to do much. He did some poor decisions, some decisions that could have come back to bite him. But guess what? They have five of the best weapons in the NFL on their own offense. And those guys went out and made plays. And that's the wiggle room. that Brock Purdy gets to play with.

And within that offensive structure and because of the weapons they have, he doesn't have to be perfect. He doesn't have to be lights out every Sunday for this team to win a game. And, I mean, it showed it showed on Sunday. He had a couple throws where it looked like throws either play. He should have been made out of the defense, but they had a guy who made a play for them, and it flipped it on its head. Yeah, he had a, there was a deep shot.

a deeper shot, not, I forget how far exactly, but a vertical route to Debo that was, a lot of people were lauding as an awesome throw, but it was an inches away from being picked off. Like if the Seattle, yeah, like that was, it was not probably where he should have thrown the ball. Right. But the ball sneaks through.

But that's all he really, he just needs to either keep getting lucky like that or just not make mistakes, too many mistakes. Anyway, he can, they can get away with a couple, but just keep it limited. And the tail is there, too. Like the escape that he had on the almost touchdown to IUC towards the end of the game, he has that escapability in the pocket. He's very good. His first two touchdowns were of that variety.

Yeah, checkdowns that Jimmy Groplo wouldn't have gotten to. The checkdown to McCaffrey, McCaffrey's not even part of the loud scheme. He's literally pass blocking. Purdy makes like three guys missing the backfield, rolls out, sees McCaffrey just standing there, flips it to him. Right. The next show to Mitch, same exact thing. Literally running for his life, makes several guys miss, drops it out.

So he, so yeah, he's, they really just need him to keep creating like that and also take care of the football. Right. He doesn't have to do, he doesn't have to make big time throws or wild throws, you know. You're not containing the best running back, best full back, top three tight end and top wide receiver duo in the league for seven seconds on a play. Right. forever. And that is the interesting, that's the matchup of the week for this game is Dallas's defense.

They, I believe they had Diggs travel with Evans pretty much on, uh, not into the slot was the only spot that I saw. Like he was tracking him side to side as far as when he was outside receiver. I'm pretty sure, right? For the most part. I'm interested to see how Dallas matches up against San Francisco because they have so many weapons and Dallas, their second cornerback has been an issue and just defending, like, defending in general has been kind of an issue later in the season outside of whoever digs is

covering. So they made a big change in their defense this week. They moved Duran Bland, the rookie corner that had been playing in the slot to outside corner and basically had Javon Kirst play slot corner who also got banged up. Who knows how bad. Maybe they were up by so much. They just said not worth you going back in. Yeah.

And he's fine. But that's a big, that's a big change. And I mean, I'm curious what they'll do this week. Because it was, Nashon Wright wasn't even active. Trayvon Mullen wasn't active. They were both playing their other outside corner spot in week 18. Yeah. Xavier Rhodes didn't really play.

They signed him last week. So, I mean, they're not, they're not equipped in. the secondary to cover this and they already are making adjustments to try to plug holes as it is and if curse isn't also not in a good shape that is not good yeah ever since ever since brown went down on the opposite on this on in the back field they've been scrambling to try to figure out how to cover up that second corner yeah and this is the one matchup of the week that does it they didn't they didn't play each other this season everybody else i mean Cincinnati and buffalo almost played each other we're starting to each other, but this is the one where they don't.

And the closest, Matt, like, I went and watched San Fran versus Las Vegas, because Las Vegas runs similar coverage schemes to Dallas. And at San Francisco, they used a lot of screens, and they used a lot of overroutes, deep overs to try to confuse linebackers and safeties. I think Dallas's linebackers are a little bit better than at Las Vegas, but it'll be interesting to see if they just are picking apart with Debo and Iuke in the slot and then kittle over the middle. Kittle over the middle. I know.

I know. Say that like five times fast. Kittle over the middle. Kittle over the middle. Kittle over the middle. Boom. Got it. Yeah, so who we take in Dallas, San Francisco?

I'm taking the Niners. I think they can limit Parsons enough, do enough to slow him down. And I don't trust Dallas to use them effectively, and I don't trust Dallas to not give Zeeke basically the same number of carries as Pollard in this game. And that'll ultimately be their downfall, I think. Yeah, Dallas is, I think San Francisco wins. I think for Dallas's offense to stay in this, because I think that's the biggest, I think that is a question I have is if Dallas, what Dak can do against an elite defense. like this. And it'll be interesting to see if they start utilizing a motion and get

those, get Hufanga and those linebackers to move and slide a little bit and get them off, you know, not comfortable. If they can't do that, I think it's a long day for Dallas. But I think ultimately San Francisco wins either way. I just think they have too many weapons and their defense is too good.

And I don't trust Dallas. Dallas to beat San Fran. Yeah, it's, I think I told Chris on Tuesday that I was going to pick Dallas just to be contrarian for the pod. But because, you know, after the Monday night game, you kind of felt like Dallas was almost like this invincible team. Yeah. But then you sit back and you realize they just stomped on the carcass of Brady and that Bucks. The Bucs looks like they have all year. Yeah, left which is, left which is clueless self.

and Todd Bowles looking like he's never watched a football game before. Like it was just, you know, they were doing what just had to be done. They were putting the animal down. You know, the animal had already been hit by the car. So the more I evaluated that game more, I was like, I don't think Dallas did much to impress me in this. So I'm going San Francisco all the way. I believe in what they got going on.

Purdy, you know, I've been waiting for this breakdown from him where he's just going to start chucking the ball into harm's way. And, you know, he had one that was close. this week, but still nothing too scary from him. And if anything, he's really done a good job of obfuscating pressure and just mitigating what

defenses are trying to do. So I'm pretty confident with the 49ers, and I'm taking them. Yeah. Chacha. We didn't actually pick Cinsie Buffalo. Do we want to do that really quick before we get to the last game? I think everyone is picking

Cincy, no? Yeah. Great. Chris, you're picking Sintzy. I'm going to pick Buffalo to be. Okay. I'm going to do the contrarian. I'm going to pick Buffalo.

I think they can win. I think if Josh Allen... Oh, they definitely can win. Josh Allen can do a turnover or less. Buffalo wins this game. Throwing that turnover or less? One or less turnovers and they win the game, I think. Okay.

I think it's... I think he'll have at least two. I think he'll have one lollipop interception down the field. And then I think he'll have a sack fumble in there as well, personally. Yeah, and I'm praying it doesn't happen. The last game of the week, though. Yes, the Giants at Chris's Philadelphia Eagles.

Woo-hoo. Chris, how are you feeling about this game? Oh, they're going to smash the Giants. Ooh, confident, swagger. I love it. I was talking to my dad's a Giants fan. I was talking to him last night. He's like, you don't think we have a chance at all? I was like, no.

I'm sorry, Dad, but they, they, don't have a chance. Did he call you a biased hack? No. He didn't. He was like, oh, man. I think it would be that. You know, I say they're going to smash him.

But like you said earlier, Brett, this is the playoffs. A lot of games end up closer than we think they do. So, yeah, that's definitely possible. But not taking anything away from Daniel Jones, what he did, he looked awesome last week. But it was against arguably the worst defense in the league. It's definitely one of the worst in the league. Yes. And Dave Old knew that and said, you know, go out and we're just going to throw all over you.

If they play man, just take off and run. And he just kept it. He just did it over and over and over again. I don't see how the Giants slow down the Eagles offense. There's no, all right, we just got to limit Justin Jefferson and T.J. Hawkinson will fall down. And we don't have to worry about the other two guys running around. like you use a j brown devontas smith dallas scotter like they should not be able to match up with the eagles assuming and all of this depends on hurts health obviously he's not on the injury report so it's a good thing

doesn't mean that he you know is going to be running around like he normally does but that's a big big factor in all of this of course yeah did you say just in jefferson chris yeah i well that's funny because I was under the impression that he actually played for the Giants last week and he was, I thought him and Hodgant switched numbers, that didn't happen? They got the wrong jerseys in the wrong locker room somehow?

Listen, only the Minnesota Vikings could make Isaiah Hodgins look like Justin Jefferson. Yeah. Seriously, I mean, nothing against Mr. Hodgins. Hodgons is a solid player. He's had a fantastic breakout campaign for what a six-fielsen's true pick. Yeah, he reminds me so much

of Travis Fulgum for the Eagles a few years ago. Like, looked like they. They found a dot. A little bit more twitched up than Fulgham, but yeah. Yeah, yeah. Similar, you know, journey they're going on. Yes. And it doesn't mean that he'll end up being totally out of the league in a year or two.

Hodgins would look nice on the bills right now. Holy. You would. You very much would. You need that big possession guy who doesn't have to only be winning downfield to catch the ball. Yes. Going back and watching Giants, Philly, not the weekend. matchup but the one prior i don't think i don't think philly really thinks they can lose to the giants the way

they played that game i think philly would philly knew they were going to win i think the way they were running their routes and the way they were just throwing deep balls at a rate that they at like a higher rate than they normally do like they were they were willing to just take chances against new york because they knew that they had better athletes and they when i knew when new york was on office offense they couldn't run the ball with Sequin. Daniel Jones was constantly under pressure. And he, like passing the ball, he did well. But the problem was that he was pressured all the time and he could only complete short

passes. And that's where Philly's defense thrives is keeping everything in front of them, bringing you down at the point, you know, at the point of attack and minimizing yak. And that's what I worry is that without Daniel Jones having his ability to scramble outside of the pocket, which Philly did well to mitigate less earlier in the year. And that if Sequin struggles, who steps up for him, that's

the problem. That's a question. Leonard Williams did miss that first matchup, right? Dory Jackson definitely did. I appreciate Williams did because I think he did as well. Miles Sanders went berserner making it, right? Yeah, the whole run. They ran for like 200, or They ran for some ridiculous high number of rushing yards, the team as a whole. Yeah, they're much, giants are much healthier than they were.

Yeah. But they're also, the linebackers are an issue for the Giants this week. Yeah, Jay Davis. Yeah. That's going to be a problem. So it'll be interesting to see what they do because against Minnesota, they trotted out several. I mean, several times six or seven defensive back. They've done that all year.

They know their linebackers are an issue. And I wonder if Philly will use a lot of two tight end heavy personnel to force them to keep their base defense on the field. And if they'll just attack Goddard and those guys against their linebackers. And if the Giants don't, then they run it down their throats like they did. Yeah. And that's four or whatever that was. I think Philly knows they have, I know they know they have more weapons.

and like I said, I think the secondary, their secondary was super banged up. It was at the point in the year where I don't even know if they had four defensive backs healthy. They've got like seven guys that now have playing experience because of how banged up they've been across the year. It was bad. And I think that there's obviously some to that. But still, even with the guys that are coming healthy, Adori Jackson adds value. But they still don't have a guy that can match up consistently against both Brown and Smith. And Philly knows that.

And they also... But Dory's not stopping either of those guys, though, let's be honest. You're right. No, but it helps. He's their best chance. Yeah, this would be a... This would be one of the worst losses in Eagles history if they lost this game somehow. So, yeah, they're not losing this game.

Yeah. The Giants are just not a, they're not, the talent level is just not there yet. Any type of goodwill that Siriani builds up with Philly fans would be immediately. out the window if you lost the Giants in the playoffs. Yes, as the one seed with, yeah, yeah, it's not. And this is the matchup they would, they could only ask for outside of Seattle beating San Francisco somehow. And even then, I think that they, I think that this one is better suited for them

than playing Seattle. Yeah, you're not wrong. Yeah. There was a part, yeah, part of me was thinking that when Seattle was up was like, I don't, I think I'd rather have the Giants play them next week. And, yeah. people are obsessing over Daniel Jones performance a little bit

when it's it was the Vikings defense was terrible just so bad Daniel Jones isn't going to be able to scramble or run the ball at least I don't think he'll be able to scramble or run the ball against Philly the way he did against Minnesota and that's what really

that's what helped break this game open was that they they need that run game for their offense for their offense to get going and to get comfortable and that's what Philly did last time is they stopped them at the point they stopped them in the run game and then forced them to start airing the ball out and that's where the giants start getting uncomfortable is forcing is putting them into predictable passing situations yeah they're

not a passing team they've only been a past a positive pass rate over expectation team against the same team the Vikings when they've played them each time yeah that's not what they want to do yeah i think he could get off some scrambles for sure though um I don't know. It'll be interesting to see how much the Eagles are worried about that. If they put a spy on him and just say, you just follow Daniel Jones around or not, or what they end of spies don't work in the NFL.

No? They don't work. They did a lot of five-man, seven-man fronts, five-man pass rush against the Giants in week 14. And that seemed to help contain Jones, because they were able to get into their base defense and just run their four defensive backs and trust their linebackers in coverage. And with five guys, they were containing Jones well.

And I think that the Eagles are very good at that. Their defensive tackles are very good at maintaining their lanes in the pass rush. And they also have two fast guys that can contain on the outside. And I think that's what helps to mitigate Daniel Jones' scrambling situations. Yeah, I mean, in theory, they should be used to the read option. conflict game because they play against it and practice every day. So we would hope, right? All right, so let's pick it out.

I think everyone picking the Eagles here. Yep. Yeah. Cool. If Darius Slaten and Isaiah and Hodgins combined for over 200 yards receiving against the Eagles, I'll eat crow, but I don't see that happening. And without that, I don't see the Giants having any chance to win. No, it kind of being close, but just because it's the playoffs,

but yeah, they should not win this game. They have to get Sequin Barclay going. If Barclay, and whether that's run game, pass game, whatever way, but they need to get him worked into the game. He opens out off. 14 touches, not enough for you? 14 against Philly last time? No, he hit 14 last week, I believe.

But that I think that they, some of the touches that would have gone to him went to Daniel Jones scrambling, designed runs, and he was doing well against those. I don't think those are going to be there this week, and so those touches need to go to Sequin Barkley, because I think that's where... I think they need to get him going in some way, shape, or form.

All right, so we all picking the Eagles then. Well, sweet, that's the whole slate. That is the whole slate. What game are you guys looking most forward to watching? Well, as a fan, mine would be the Eagles. That's a move. Removing that, yeah, removing that probably, probably Dallas, San Francisco. Ooh.

Really? Yeah, I think it's the most interesting. We might all go different here. Brett, what's yours? I think you'll pick your Jacksonville Jaguars. Yeah. Yeah, and I'm going to pick the Bengals and Bills games, so we are all going different here. So it's a great slate is what that means.

It is. There's a lot of exciting matchups. I know the spreads on some of them are great. I think like San Francisco's. maybe like eight and a half favorites and I thought it was like four or something. I know Citi, I think, was nine. They're big.

The Eagles are minus seven and a half. Yeah. And so there's some larger spreads out there, but I still think these games have a potential to be really good. Okay, you're right. 49ers are only three and a half point favorites. Bills are five and a half point favorites on the Bengals. That's backwards.

Wow. There should literally be on different, different. I'm going to bet Bengals and 49ers. I think the 49ers spread should be higher the 3.5. Yeah, you should literally switch those spreads. And I think I'd be like, okay. Most, like, true diehard football fans say that this weekend and next weekend are better than the actual Super Bowl Sunday because you get way more football bang for your buck.

The teams have more rivalries and stuff. Yeah. NFC teams don't really play each other much. Saturday and Sunday again this week. Last time that happens this year. Yep. It's all coming to a finish that's exciting. And we'll see how it comes out.

Right on. All right. Well, let's get out of here then. Quick and dirty, as usual. We will be back next week. We're probably going to throw an extra episode for you guys either next week or the week after because we are going to do an award show slash all pro voting

from the team here. We'll probably do all three of us because that would be fun. And yeah. That, I don't know, Steve. We'll probably, maybe we should do that the week between Super Bowl and

the championship weekend, right? Because there's no games to talk about. Yeah, and that's when the honors thing is. Okay, well, I want to do our thing before theirs. So we got to just make sure we do that. There's is that Saturday, I think. So if we do it, you can be perfect. Okay. So we'll do it that week then. Yeah, thank you so much for listening. I am your host, Brett Whitefield. These are my fun friends and co-host Stephen Rourke and Christopher Weck. And we are out.

Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoint.com.