First Things First - Dolphins fire Mike McDaniel, Patriots playoff mentality, Jalen Hurts playoff excellence, BUD List

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

(0:00) Patriots playoff mentality, Will Jordan Love outduel Caleb Williams? (24:54) Jalen Hurts’ playoff excellence, Can the Steelers upset the Texans? (37:24) Dolphins fire Mike McDaniel (44:56) BUD List (01:04:06) Drake Maye’s MVP look, Can the Cowboys eventually win a Super Bowl? (01:21:47) What would a playoff win mean for Aaron Rodgers? (01:27:12) Caleb vs. J-Lo, Trevor vs. Allen, Herbert vs. Maye (01:49:54) Frenemies (02:01:36) Eye Test (02:09:27) Packers take Jordan Love’s injury seriously vs. Bears  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live from New York. The show it's making a request. Okay. Because we just shared stories about butt dials that we get nervous about. For 2026, normalize just calling people. Now when I get a call, I was like, oh, you panic. There must be some sort of disaster. It's true.

Versus like, oh, that person probably wanted to see how I was doing. Yeah. Like, what do they want? Can I add something to that? Sure, of course. And if you accidentally call someone, you don't often and call and they don't answer because you butt dialed them. Yep. Text and say.

It's an emergency. No, text and say either, either lie and be like, oh, I was hoping to talk to you, give me a call, or sorry mistake. Or else people panic. People panic. It's an emergency, but now I realize I can't depend on. First hour of first things first. Today are the bills unleashing Josh Allen against the Prince. And is that a good idea?

Meanwhile, changes in Miami, brew. Mike McDaniel fired. What's next for McDaniel? And are the dolphins looking at Horibov? Hmm. And finally, well, it's the most motivational segment in all of sports. The Bud List alongside Nick Wright. I'm Kevin Wilde.

Who? Anybody on the bubble of the Bud List? Yes. Who? There were just people. Just several people? No, Trevor Lawrence. What would he have to?

He was on the bubble. He was on the bubble. He almost got it. I'll explain later. Okay, excellent. He almost was on it. We are starting. You're in luck with Drake May and the Patriots,

the first playoff game for the MVP candidate. Two seed after a 14-win season. Not trying to change up many things. You know what they say? It's not broke. Don't fix it. Take a listen to Drake May. Coach was, what coachman's preaching is just don't change,

you know, our process, our purpose, preparation, you know, kind of my, throughout the week, you know, what we've been doing. I think the natural thing is trying to, you know, try to, you know, something to do, get a little more amply as this is natural, you know, as a humans, you know, for a big game. And I think, just trust what you've been doing. And, you know, I told this guy at the end of the season before, you know, the playoffs came, hey, to put some extra work in to stay after practice. No, he's like, nope, we're going home.

Same, to the exact same thing. So I like that sound from Drake, May. Here's what I don't like. Favored by fewer than four in the wild card round in the last three. years. Patriots are favored by three and a half. Two and seven overall record against the spread, one and eight. And play for game differential is nine. Not very close at all. What are the chances that the Chargers upset the Patriots? I mean, I think they have a really good chance of upsetting the Patriots even though I'm not picking the upset. Does that it makes sense? It is not

what I believe is going to happen, but I see a lot of ways it can happen. If that, it logically makes sense to the audience. They have some natural advantages that I'm going to say in the duck from Kevin Wilds, because I think they matter and he does not. They have the more experienced head coach, and I think the more accomplished head coach. They have the more experienced quarterback. And you could argue more accomplished or not, I guess that probably depends on if Drake May does win the MVP. I think May had the better season, and I think May is better than Herbert.

but a lot of people think Justin Herbert's better than Drake may at this point in their careers. And so that at least is arguable. And I believe they have the thing that travels best in cold weather in the playoffs, which is the better defense. And that's not a knock on the Patriots defense, which I think has been solid but untested to a degree because of the quarterbacks they have faced. And the Chargers defense has what has carried them to this point is, I would say Justin Herbert's

toughness and playmaking and the defense. Like they have not been a prolific offense and Herbert's numbers haven't been great, but the fact that he's been available and made some clutch plays. So all of those things, Brew, can absolutely lead to what would, for

I think most people, not be a shocking upset. This is not what I would consider if there is such a thing as a typical two versus seven because there have only been seven seats for five years. these two teams are much closer in quality than I think your typical two verse seven would be. So, yeah, I mean, I think they have a good chance.

Well, Wiles, look, you could have put something up there. I know that graphic wasn't really favorable for you. But seven seeds, Nick, since they've been in the playoffs, are one in nine in the playoffs. It's just J-Lo against the Cowboys. Yeah, that's it. And so the likelihood, but this is obviously a much closer to seven than we're used to.

Yeah, I think, look, I'm going to say 40% chance. I, so that means I'm leaning heavy, leaning patriots, but not heavy. I think this is a really closely matched game. If the Chargers were healthy, I think I would be going for them. But they're not. They were healthy. They were. Yeah, they wouldn't even be the 7th C.

Right. They wouldn't beat the 7C. Now, without Joe Alt, and I know we kind of make fun, but he, they already lost Rashon Slater. Then they lose their other good offensive tactics. But they beat Pittsburgh and Philadelphia without Joe All. And so I still think they're a tough team. They ended the chief season.

I understand the chiefs ended up. I think that's still a good win. Absolutely. That was the game, the chiefs that in the game where Patrick got hurt was the game they. They knew they had a must win for the chiefs. I apologize because it was Houston. But yes, it was a must win. No, that's right.

There was a must win for the chiefs. And they ended the chief season. That win. So that's a big win to me, regardless of how the Chiefs finish the season. And they beat Dallas, too, which can be viewed as a good win. So they're still a dangerous team. I agree. Harbaugh is a great coach.

Obviously, last year in the playoffs didn't go well, but he's coached nine playoff games. Two of them been to two NFC championship games, a Super Bowl. So he's going to be ready, I would expect. Justin Herbert, you got a very talented quarterback. Everybody, whether they like Herbert or not, knows how to. talented he is. And he's got to have a chip on his shoulder because he's been bad in the playoffs. And he's having a very nice season, gotten a lot of respect.

He already had it, but he's gotten even more respect for how he's maneuvered this team with the injuries. And he's got to want to finish that off with playing well in this game. And then they have a pretty good pass rush. It's not like best in the league or near the best, but it's pretty good. And Drake obviously is taking a lot of sacks. So I think that's something. Oh, for the Chargers pass. For the Chargers pass.

And with Drake taking so many sacks, that's a little something to worry about, too. I'm worried about Justin Herbert. Last time he was in New England, he won the game 40 to 7. So I think he just comes in and, granted, that was Gerard Mayo, and that was Drake May and a totally different defense. That being said, you go in the building, like, is this where you guys won all the Super Bowl banners? I just put up 40 points on you guys not too long ago.

It just makes me nervous. I'd feel much better if he had lost 40 to 7. The other thing, and Danny will talk about it and everyone, well, Justin Herbert's defenders will talk about it. No Joe Walt. The offense line is banged up. It's like if he loses, give him a break. That being said, the Patriots do not get to the quarterback.

It is an Achilles heel of the team to the point where in the off season, I bet our number one target will be, if we're not going to Max Crosby or try to. to make some Miles Garrett, Hail Mary. Sacks were 22nd, QB hits were 23rd, pressures were 16th. Herbert's got the most hits taken and most pressures faced. And that's a little bit of like an okay

getting after you versus really bad. But I don't think it's gonna be the classic Justin Herbert under duress the entire game. So let me add to that. Cause in a weird way, leave that up just for a second. Those numbers, just like Miles Garrett's numbers, were even more impressive because they were all always losing.

A little bit. These numbers are a little more alarming because you guys led so much late in games. And he didn't throw it as much as a lot of quarterbacks. Oh, yeah, but this is the, this is the defense. This is, and so what I'm saying is. This is like the poor Jets trying to throw the ball. Miami trying to throw the ball. You guys had a bunch of times where teams were in got to pass situations and you still are near the bottom of the league.

It's not great. Here's the other thing that I tried to kind of force into the conversation last week, but it was too convoluted on potential playoff matchups and whatever it was. I don't think it's nothing that the Chargers opted into this game. Oh, they're confident. Right, the Chargers walked into Week 18 as the six seed and just said, we're resting everyone because we don't care. about that. We are fine with

falling into the, with losing this game, which guaranteed them by the way, they would get the Pats unless the Pats somehow lost their game. Because by the Chargers losing, the Broncos won, so they guaranteed the Pats we're going to get up to the one when they could have

you know, played to win to maybe move up to the five or certainly stay the six and be looking at Jacksonville as an opponent. But Jacksonville clocked them. And so I don't, I'm not saying it's good or bad strategy, but I don't think it's nothing that the Chargers basically said,

yeah, we understand by not playing our guys, we almost assuredly are going to be a trip to New England in round one, and we're fine with that. And it just speaks, maybe it's dumb, but it just speaks to, I think, their confidence. It just feels like they were bitten by the injury bug all year long, so Harbaugh putting them out there. Like, God forbid something happened to Herbert,

and everybody would have been like, why were you gunning for the five rather than the six when the one seat, you know, the AFC West was already done? I agree with that somewhat. My pushback would be, let's say it was this a normal AFC, a pre-Drake May AFC East Year. And the Chargers are walking into Week 18 and it's like, all right, if we lose, we're going to be the seven in facing the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen. And if we win, we're facing Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars. I think they might have put more importance on it. Like they certainly were not fearful of this matchup,

whether they should or shouldn't. All right. Moving on, Josh Allen is headed to Jacksonville, much like Coach Mangini's text about must win. He put himself through a self-scout. And here's what he learned. Take a listen. There's so much out there that I've missed, right?

Whether it's getting a little lazy with my feet and not taking a check down and maybe instead trying to force something downfield or throwing the ball away, not taking sacks, and allowing us to be in field goal range. And, you know, there's still so much room to improve. And I think I just have this extra emphasis, like I said, on points or to premium in the playoffs and just trying to do everything I can to give us points.

Kind of a perfect answer. Do you like that from Josh? I do. Look, I like the way Josh Allen gets ready for the playoffs. I don't know if this is new. It sounds like maybe it is doing the self-scout. But this dude is a. the playoff performer.

Like, that has been the difference, even though I don't think Lamar has been as bad as you have. Like, he has shown him. He hasn't been great in every game, but he has been awesome. I mean, you see, again, his numbers, he improves in everything. Even his interception percentage goes down, which is one of his big kind of flaws. And so he's going to show up. And I like that he's proven time and time again that the moment is not too big for him. He doesn't really feel the pressure.

And I think that's good because he's under the most pressure in these playoffs. Like he has to know that Mahomes is out, Burrow is out, Lamar is out, everybody's looking at me like this is the time. It's you against an old guy in Aaron Rogers or a bunch of young guys. And so he knows that, but I think his track record shows he'll be fine with that. His last three, his last five playoff games, it's two seasons. he's got 13 total touchdowns, zero turnovers. So he's going to be fine.

It's do the other guys show up. Look, I think the way they'll do it, I start out, you know, because that actually, that stat with the no turnovers, goes back to the year before that. I think he had four touchdowns and four turnovers in the postseason. That's when Brady the next season kind of took the offense down a notch and took it out of his hands as far as throwing as much. and he hasn't turned it over.

So I think first half, they'll come out. A lot of James Cook, a lot of throwing to the tight ends, playing conservatively. And if they need to, if they don't have control of the game or if they're behind, second half, they've been like the best second half team in the league. I think they'll unleash. I think that's very dangerous in the playoffs. I think that the idea of we're going to be conservative early. And if we fall behind big, don't worry.

This is a- think they think that and I don't think they'll let it go that far but I do think they'll say let's see if we can get ahead playing conservative. Sure. And then if they, if it gets close or whatever, then they'll have to let him go. Listen, I don't know how much of the tough playoff moments Josh has had. And there haven't been a ton that you mentioned that year he had four touchdowns, four turnovers. That's basically all a product of, I think, the one game, one game against the Bengals when he threw the three picks. He was terrible.

And that was a bad loss. That home loss. That was a bad loss. I don't know how much of my feeling on Josh Allen, the playoff player, is colored by disproportion of his games against the Chiefs because he has been brilliant, but he also has been very clearly antsy.

But how much of that is that playing the Chiefs? Two years ago, on the opening drive of the game, on third down, he throws up lateral. Well, you know what I mean? On third down, like the... They kept it, right? Right. They didn't lose it, but it was a wild play.

It was a wild play that also was a forward pass. Andy didn't. It doesn't matter. But it was the first drive. It's zero zero. There's 14 something left. Late in that game, before Bass misses the kick, he's extending for a first down. He doesn't need to and fumbles the ball and the Chiefs almost scoop.

So he has had some, but how much of that is just its playoffs and it's the Mahomes piece of it. So I'm not, I don't know how much that applies here. But here's my answer on what I. you know, need to see from Josh Allen this postseason. And I know that a lot of my friends in the media think we're all being unfair to Josh Allen. That just putting this pressure on him like, guys, I don't know if you know it. He actually doesn't have a perfect team. No, we know.

He just has, according to the analytics community, the best offensive line in football, the rushing champ, and the number one pass defense. It's got a bad rush defense, I think very shaky skill position receivers, right? Not skill position, but receivers. Because I think tight-in's good, running back's great. And a coach that we think gets tight. You know what I mean? All things considered, it's kind of like a league average-ish situation that we expect to be propelled by an all-time great quarterback.

So what do I expect from Josh this postseason? The answer is everything. The answer is to be able to make the splash plays without turning the ball over. The answer is to be the reason your team wins. Because that it is, it can't be, quarterback's the most important position. There's only 12 really good ones in the whole world. The league's 20th best quarterback makes five times the league's best running back.

And it's not fair to ask these guys to care. That's not the sport and that's certainly not the sport in the playoffs. If I thought the bills were a bad team, wouldn't feel this way. I don't think they're not a perfect team and they're oddly built, but they have definitive strengths outside of Allen. The offensive line and

the running game, outside of Allen are brilliant. The past defense, it's ranked number one in the league in yards. I don't actually think it's the best past defense, but it's a good past defense. That plus, what is supposed to be, head and shoulders, the best

quarterback on his side of the bracket when you incorporate experience, that That's why they're favored against the 13 win Jags team that I think is really good. I think the Jags obviously can win this game. I might pick him to win this game. But I expect Josh to be excellent. And I think that is what he would want people to expect for him to be excellent. And there's very little reason right now to think he won't be excellent.

Correct. I mean, when you look at his track record. Sunday at 1 in Jacksonville. Jordan Love, bro, back practicing to turn the reins door to Malik Willis while recovering from concussion. Will Rust be a factor in his return? Turn, take a listen. Still just practicing all week and, you know, staying locked in and, you know, obviously

was suited up last week, was ready to go. But yeah, you know, it's been a couple weeks, but no, it doesn't feel like that. I think, you know, just staying with it in practice. Now the history doesn't bode well on the road versus a division rival last four post seasons. Oh, and nine. That's just overall in the league. Yeah, when you're playing another division rival, losing by 18 points and putting, give So that's interesting.

I definitely don't see that happen. So the road team, when they play for a third time, that's interesting. Yeah, so not good. But maybe Jordan Love can switch it up. I mean, look, this is a, and very evenly matched game. I wouldn't be surprised if Chicago won. I think I'm going to, you know, my team is the Packers, and I feel good about them. But I do.

I do. Well, we all, I mean, we all know once they lost Micah, like they weren't really. But I feel good. I feel like they have like a puncher's chance kind of. Yeah. Okay. Like maybe I would feel, I'll probably feel, I don't know if I felt better about the Ravens. Yeah, I mean, I would have been more excited.

They got more dynamite the ravers. But anyway, I do think, look, in a year, maybe next year, maybe two years from now, Caleb, if he continues to improve, should be better than Jordan Love. At this moment, I think Jordan Love is better. I definitely think he's more consistent. You worry about him sometimes, too, but he's certainly more consistent than Caleb. And when you look at last time they played, as far as a complete game, because Jordan Love got hurt in the second game they played.

But J-Lo was much better. Caleb did have the nice second half comeback, but through the interception to end the game, trying to make it happen. And Jordan Love was great. And so, look, Josh Jacobs got rested last week. I think that will be important. who'll have a good run game. I think Jordan Love is facing a lesser defense,

even without Mike. And Mike have played in that game. But even without Mike, I still think the Packers defense is better. They're far more experienced. Jordan Love, for a young starting quarterback, this is his fourth playoff game. So he's been up and down,

one great, one mediocre, one bad. But I think that experience helps him against Caleb. So, yeah, and even the coaching. I mean, Matt LaFleur versus Ben Johns as far as head coaching the playoffs. So I think a lot of things favor J-Lo, so I do feel good about his chances of out-playing Caleb. So I think Caleb's better than him. He has not.

Right now? Yeah, I do. But in these matchups, he hasn't been. To your point. And even, I mean, Caleb against Green Bay in both games was awful in the first half. And in the second game was bad for the first three-plus quarters. You know what I mean? And like that second game against Green Bay was bizarre in that it has the two greatest plays of Caleb's career.

And that it took those two plays and an on-site kick to save what otherwise was going to be a terrible loss. To Malik Willis. Right. So Malik Willis who came in and played well. But so there is something to this Jeff Hathley Packers defense has given Caleb real trouble. and so I think that is noteworthy. But I don't, and even if I'm wrong that Caleb's better than Jordan right now, you're not, I don't believe, going to get Crisp A. Jordan Love.

I don't think you miss three weeks and all of it, you know what I mean? You are in your first game back instantly, you know, as sharp as can be, especially. now he's been dealing with this part for a while without what I would consider your best weapon and safety blanket and Tucker Kraft and so all of that. His backups played pretty well though. Oh yes.

Who was actually, as you've pointed out, the guy who was higher draft pick the same year was supposed to be the better of the two players. But it's still not Tucker Kraft who might have been in route to being the best tied in football this year. I also don't love if I'm Jordan Love in this

spot the type of defense the Bears have, which is, yes, I understand. It's a bad defense, but it also is a defense that forces turnovers. When that has been, when you say Jordan Love had one great game, one mediocre game, one awful game. The reason the mediocre game was mediocre was a game-sealing pick, and the reason the awful game was awful was three picks.

Like, he has been in his limited postseason experience, a guy that will put the ball in jeopardy. Now, I don't know what Caleb's going to look like in the playoffs, And even though I think Caleb Williams, one of those talented players coming in the league in 10 years, I think it's possible that a guy in his first playoff game. I've never seen him. I've never seen him in the playoffs, so I don't know.

I don't know how he's going to play. I've seen him in the crying. I don't know. Going in a important game and he's in the stands crying. I think Caleb was probably, of all the young quarterbacks that are in these playoffs, I think Caleb pretty clearly had the best college career. Maybe I'm wrong.

We can check it. North Carolina's Holiday Bowl. But we're going to bring up the college stuff. But regardless, so I do think there is... Cam. It was pretty good. Say? Cam.

No, I'm just... Oh, no. No, the Bow-Nix Drake and Caleb. Also done that. And so, but the... So that is, to me, an unknown factor. But I think Caleb's going to play his best game against the Packers, which is maybe not saying much.

And I think Jordan Love's going to be rusty. Like, I don't like this spot for Green Bay. And I also don't think Green Bay right now is a great team. They could have been, but I think with the injuries and the limping into the playoffs, they're not to me a scary matchup. Why are they favored? Listen, I think that the bookmakers and the public like the Packers,

and they don't trust the bears at all. I mean, that's the answer. Is the line the same as Bill's Jags? So we're like, yeah, Josh Allen's supposed to go down to Jacksonville, and it's the same line. I don't know. I kind of like the Packers. I look at him. Well, look, the Packers beat him when both teams were kind of whole. Yep. And then almost beat him with their backup was beating them for most of that game. And you don't expect Caleb to continue. Like, he's been kind of poor in the first three

quarters and great in fourth quarters a lot. You don't expect that to continue. You think he's going to either level it out, but he's not going to keep having all these. But, I mean, that is what happened in week 18? Right, right. But it's got to, it can't happen, you know. He likes to kind of, I don't know, comes on late. But I, it's impressive. I also trust the Bears running game more than the Packers running game.

And I think that's something Caleb's going to be able to lean on to maybe more so than Jordan Lovel. Jaylon Hurts headed back to the Super Bowl, back to back Super Bowl MVP. We discuss next on FS1 on the Fox Sports Channel on Sirius X. This a boss answer. Hey, a podcast number one in the world. Thank you for that accomplishment. And YouTube is only 22 million away from a billion views coach. Again, if we're not there by the Super Bowl.

I mean, right now we're ahead of schedule. We're on pace. Head of schedule. She's nervous, though. Don't let her fool you. Around a million a day. And we have more than 22 days till the Super Bowl. But we hit a snag.

You do more of the things where people unsubscribe because you're so obnoxious. It's going to cost Gianna. Yeah, coach, it was. It was bad. MVP hosting the 49. winners, Philly starts their title defense. This is Sunday at 4 on Fox. Here's Jalen on stepping up in huge moments. Take a listen. Why do you think it isn't in your career you play better or you've elevated your performance in these high stakes games? Some things are in you.

I'm just answering your question. I don't like it. I love it. That's a boss. hurts to continue his playoff excellence. Nothing else need be said. It's just how I roll. Yes, I do. He's obviously facing a defense that's injury riddled and struggling. So everybody except Sam Darno has cooked against them recently.

So I think he'll play well. But beyond that, he does, he's proven he steps up in the biggest moments. I mean, even when you look back what happened to him in college when he got benched for Tua, that's tough to come back from mentally. And he did it, you know, with flying colors. And obviously now in the playoffs. So if you look at this grade, his last three years in the playoffs, this is his record.

That's the second best I assume to Mahomes. Passer rating. Look at the touchdowns to turnovers. That, I believe, is five games or six. He's won six of his last eight playoffs. He's eight games. I think that over the last three years. That's eight games.

So he's got 19 touchdowns total. Nine pass and 10 rushing, but only two turnovers. So I just think with the combination of, I'm not saying he can't have a bad game. But I don't see him having a bad game. Six of his eight last playoff games, he's been over 100 passer rating. I see at worst him just kind of being solid. But I think he'll play well. And again, that combination with going against a struggling defense,

I think he's going to look good. Yeah, to your point, Brew, when you look at the numbers, the numbers are pretty daunting. The 25th and past defense. The 24th and takeaways was 16. The 31st in interception, so that shouldn't be a problem. Their last in sacks, they've only had 20 sacks. It'd be prior to the Seattle game.

The three games prior, they'd given up 30 points, an average of 30 points. So all that lends itself to it. Every single linebacker that was on the original 53-man roster is hurt. So they're either on IR or they're not practicing right now. So there's not a single linebacker who's on the original 53-man roster. Now, all that being said, the last time he faced Silas defense, and it's only been one time, is with the Jets. They lost 20 to 14.

He did have 300 plus yards. He had 327 yards. He threw two, he had two TDs, but he had three intercepted. Yeah, that was a bet. And his quarterback rating was 59.5. So there is that component to it, but when they have, from a scheme perspective now granted different team

different place but you know that that part does come into play to some degree I would be shocked if he didn't have a really good game against the 49ers but this would be a horrible loss for Philadelphia which is which sounds

disrespectful to the Niners but it's not meant to be no it's the Niners I think I think there is a very legitimate case for Kyle Shanahan to be coach of the year. You guys know how strong I feel about the season McCaffrey had. And I think Sala was, you know, making chicken salad, if you will, for a good portion of the year, given the injuries.

They're not trying to disrespect the players, but just given how many injuries they had, but eventually it caught up to them. So I understand, and I, Phillies at home, they're rested. They're, you know, getting guys back that are important. So I agree with you guys that it would be a bad loss. It's also a loss I could see happening. because I, and it's not, I want to make this clear to answer this question. I think it is close to off the board that Jalen Hertz has a dog of a game,

like, like cost them, let me rephrase it, cost them the game, makes a bunch of mistakes, turns the ball over, that's not who he's been in the postseason, but he also has really outside of that, the Super Bowl, they lost against the Chiefs, really their playoff losses, and I think the one of the loss, to Tampa. That was his first playoff. Well, they lost two.

They have two games against Tampa. He doesn't throw for a lot of yards. He's not probably... He doesn't throw a ton. So like last year, the Eagles in the conference championship game in the Super Bowl, scored 95 points, and the offense,

and the defense scored, offense scored, it was unbelievable. Their overall offense. And even in those games, he didn't throw for $250 in either one. The first two rounds of the playoffs last year, he threw for a combined 260.

And the offense was what it had been all year. Sequin dominated. You know what I mean? Jalen made some key moments or in the first round against Green Bay had like a 40-yard run for a touchdown. Then it was snowing.

Right. Well, the snow game was the Rams and that's when Seekwans pounded himself on the helmet of the 80-yard run. But he was not, the Eagles offense for the first round of the playoffs last year, was what the Eagles offense was during the regular season last year.

Jalen took care of the ball, Sequin was explosive. The Eagles offense, in the beginning of the playoffs this year, is what it's been throughout this regular season. That's simply bad. They have not scored more than 20 points against a playoff team since week three. They have been, they scored 13 in a win against Buffalo, which is, again, a credit to the team. They scored 10 in a win against Green Bay.

They scored, was it, 19 in a lot, with Detroit, it's not a playoff team, but they didn't score, 19 in a loss to the Chargers. The Eagles' offense has been a struggle all year. Now, if they end up losing, we'll figure out who to blame, you know, after the season. I don't all of us, right now, I know you are. I don't all of a sudden, coach, think. A.J. Brown, you're not. No, no. Believe it or not, he's going to blame the coach.

But I don't think, Brew, I don't know that all of a sudden this is going to be an electric Eagles offense. Even if Jalen is a big game player, which he clearly is, I think this is going to be a conservative, cautious, trust the defense type of Eagles offense, which is who they've been all year long. And that's not necessarily a problem. It's just what I expect. Well, that to me is the one thing that could give the 49ers an edge. They go into this game feeling like they're playing with house money and they're loose. And they're willing to take chances. And because, you know, they've dealt with the injuries.

Where the Eagles are going to this, there's the pressure of they didn't play their guys, so they lost the second. All the stuff that's been dogging them throughout the entire season, all that pressured up. You know, the offense isn't playing the way it is. And then they go out there where San Francisco rolls in. It's like, hey, we're the underdogs. Nobody expects to win. We're going to cut loose.

Yeah. That can really give you some momentum. You're worried about the... I don't like this. I remember I was trying to come up with a word to describe the Eagles offense. I've gone through a few iterations. Remember, soylent? What do you call it?

So, soilent? Meal replacement. Yeah. Gianna, what is that called? Soilent. You got, no, you got it. It's a big tech thing. S-O-Y-L-E-N-T.

Yeah, people, it's, you drink. So it's like this green goo that they made in Silicon Valley. How come I haven't seen this? No, it's just goo, and it's got like all of your nutrients, and they put it in like a baby, bottle and you're just like while you code. So it's got everything you need and it will keep it'll make you successful health wise but it's the most boring thing on the planet. It's green goo.

I got to look this up. No, it's not good coach. That's the point. It's effective but boring and that's the Eagles. If they win, not just this game game, but the Super Bowl, nobody cares if it was boring. I don't think it's an effective strategy to, to. bad vibe and soiling your way to Super Bowl. You're very worried about your Eagles.

And I don't understandably. But I've got a quote in the Bud List, I don't want to spoil it. But Jalen Hertz has a quote that if we heard from anyone else talking about it's, Lamar says nicer things about Todd Munkin. It's out of control. That's coming up in 23 minutes, turning our attention to the Steelers. Mike Tomlin, home underdog on Monday night to see. despite Nick's favorite graphic outlining his Monday night dominance.

Here's Mike Tomlin. I think about D'Amico Ryans when I watched their tape and how he played the game and the tip of the cap to him. I think that Houston, Texas played a way, play collectively the way that he did. They're tough and smart. They play and play to win. They play with the motion, as I mentioned. And so, man, really excited.

don't take home playoff games for granted. Certainly don't take home Monday night playoff games to granted. I mean, listen, you guys can make fun of me and it's fine. But here is what I know. Mike Tomlin believes you can't come into our house on Monday night football and beat us. He believes that. And that there is, and he will tell me if you think I'm wrong. I think he will message that to the team.

I think that and whether it's a placebo effect or not, I do think they have a slight psychological bump that this game is Monday night and not Saturday afternoon. I do believe that. Because it is record? Yes, because if you've never, if you've been coaching somewhere for 20 years and you've never lost in this setting,

you're going to feel good about it. Well, first of all, they have lost. No, 12-0 at home. Oh, okay. 12 and 0 at home, 22 and 3 overall. Sorry, really. Put your readers on. And so do I think that's the biggest factor of this game?

No, of course not. But I don't think it's nothing. It's up. And I think Mike Tomlin knows it's not nothing. That's all. I would usually give Nick a hard time about this. But as a head coach, when you're at the podium, you know what you're saying. And when you specifically reference the Monday night component of this, that wasn't just a,

slip of the tongue or he knows what he's saying and he's sending a very strong message of like, yeah, we're really good in this environment and we expect to be good again in this environment and on this day because that was not an accident that he said that. But is it just random or

the Steelers preparing in some unique way that gives them? You know, it doesn't matter why as long as everybody believes that that's going to work. Last time we had something like this, it was Trevor on Saturdays and they had the third greatest comeback in the history of football.

I'm just telling you. You guys made fun of me for that one, too. That he hadn't lost on Saturdays at, like, no, that it was in his whole football career because he'd never lost on Saturdays in college or in the pros. He's lost a lot of Saturdays on the NFL. Well, no, they don't play that much on Saturdays in the end. When they do, he's probably wrong. I'm just telling you.

I think we started talking about, like, different phases of the movement. Okay, that's fine. I just, whenever you break out the. Tell Mike Tom on that. Clems it. Well, Mike's not to. He's not talking about. He's not going to give away a special song.

He's just saying I have it. I don't know what it is. Coach in Miami back to the NFL. Dolphins fired Mike McDaniel. He went 35 and 33. Pretty good. 7 and 10 this year, but missed the playoffs. Dolphins ranks under Mike McDaniel.

First two years, things are pretty good. That's when I became a believer in 2023. Total yards per game. This first tool was bawling. That was the first time they've ever yelled at. For what? Because I was like, I don't believe in two and I think he's an injury risk. And you were like, oh, I like leading the league in passing, and he's an Iron Man.

And you just remember smoking. He's an Iron Man. What's your headline here for this firing? I can start you off if you want. Mike McDaniel in Philadelphia, but go what direction you want. I got a, and this is tongue-in-cheek, but McDaniel beaten by Harbaugh again. The Ravens beating them in the season. Like, I know all the reporting, and they're reporting it, so I'm not talking to anybody about this, but all the reporting is that this is not related at all to John Harbaugh that they haven't even really talked to him.

But a couple days ago when Harbaugh was still the Ravens coach, not only was McDaniel going to be their head coach and had met with the owner, but he was going to be involved coach in looking for the new GM. Now, what changed? You know, Harbaugh obviously got fired. And one of the guys they're talking to, at least for GM, has a relationship with Harbaugh. So, and I wouldn't blame them for, you know, wanting John Harbaugh. But I, here's what I want for the Ravens. They've interviewed or they're going to interview Brian Flores of the reports, Robert Sala. I like both of those guys.

I'd prefer Flores as a head coach and Mike McDaniel as the offensive coordinator. I can't imagine what he would scheme up having Lamar Jackson and Darry. Eric Henry. We saw A. Chan was one of leading rushers. He was a good running back, but he's not Derek Henry. And Tua obviously had great success under McDaniel to some degree. Now it... Both dolphins coaches. Yeah, that's the thing. Now, if it was solid, solid and McDaniel worked together in San Francisco. If it was solid and McDaniel, I'd be fine with that too. But McDaniel as an O.C. with Lamar, I think it would be hot. Yeah, I don't know if this is purely hardball related or not, but it is hard to go and get a GM if you have a head coach in play. because which GM is going to want to come knowing that you've got to keep the head coach. So you don't even get to make the most important decision that you're going to make it as a GM. So I think that becomes challenging.

So maybe Steve Ross took a look at that or talked to his consultants and said, hey, we need to clean this up. It could be horrible related. In terms of Mike McDaniel, we talk about Sala, potentially being a head coach in Canada. Sala went 20 and 36 for the Jets. Mike McDaniel had a winning record of the Dolphins. Mike McDaniel took the Dolphins to the playoffs two years in a row, which is the first time that happened in 20 years. When he got there, Tua was considered a bust. The next two years, Tua had great seasons, and then granted, his production came down.

But he went from being an absolute bust that people thought, you know, maybe they need to move on from him, to suddenly be coming. I mean, I don't know if he finished top seven in the MVP voting like your guy. But he was in. He probably did. He was definitely in the mix. And I also think Mike has a contract through 2028, so he could easily either take some time off if he wanted to do that. If he wants to go be an offensive coordinator somewhere, great.

But you see, after a year of people decompressing, suddenly Salah, who is in the same division as Mike McDaniel and got beat by him a bunch, he's now a head coaching candidate. And Mike, who has a winning record and did something that hadn't been done at Dolphins, he'll be in the mix again soon, too. I think he could, I think he theoretically could be in the mix this cycle. Yeah, possibly. Listen, I think he is a brilliant offensive mind. That doesn't necessarily make you a great head coach, but I want to ask you about that in a second.

I think that probably the offensive systems are too different. But I, you know, I said this two months ago on the, it might have been off the air, actually, but that I'd love for the Kansas City Chiefs to call him and say, hey, come be our offensive coordinator, which under Andy is always a little tricky because Andy's head coach and that, but run game designer,

everything and get the glow of what I think would be a bounce back year with Patrick next season and then maybe, you know, go get another job. That's right. One year is a quarter. Exactly right. The question I have, though, is this. Because I like Mike McDaniel's kind of corkiness, if you will.

I also think he's obviously brilliant schematically, offensively, and I think he was a victim kind of of his own success early with Tua, which is he made Tua look so good they paid him, and then it ended up being a bit of an albatross for the team. But all the reports about what I would just call a flippant lack of respect for the head coach concern me. You know what I mean? The lateness and the way Tariq, that was.

even reporting. We saw it the way he acted. So. But is that a Miami thing? So that's what I, or is, or is that this is, so this is where I'm going to ask kind of an uncomfortable question. Is it that he is always going to have trouble in getting if they are, if things aren't going great, getting football players to respect him? I think it's, I think it's like the tough, the tough of, I think there's a reason that Robert Sala instantly like commands respect and something.

Some of it is, is a big, tough, strong guy in the room of a room for football players. Liam Cohen. But Liam's a big guy. Like, it just feels like he is, I don't know, he felt like he was getting walked all over in Miami. He's like a brilliant, bookish guy. And so. Bellatech wasn't going to win any UFC fight. No, but they won.

No, I understand. I understand that. Well, my point is, what players respect is someone that can help you be better at your craft. Players respect someone that help you can be as successful as possible. And if that happens, then you get paid a lot of money. So part of this could be he didn't get to choose the players. And when you bring in players with challenges from a character perspective, and you start loading the locker room with guys like that,

you're going to have a lot of incidents. And then it's going to look like this guy has no control. Then the second thing is, did he have control? Could he find guys? Could he suspend guys? Or was that the GM's purview? And that's why the GM got Ken first is because he, brought in these guys and then didn't discipline these guys.

So there's a function of how much power do you really have to enforce the things you believe in. And then respect is all about can you make me as successful as I can be at my craft. And if you can do that, it doesn't matter how old you are, what you look like, how much you weigh, dudes will be like, I'm all in. Also, at the end of the season, when it was over for them, their last six, seven games, They play hard for him. So it made me think they really like him.

One final note, the Lions did reach out. Mike McDaniel and Dan Campbell. See, I think that would be perfect. I love that. That would be perfect. That would be smart. That would be smart. That would be great.

That would be unbelievable. That would be perfect. I didn't know that happened. That would be excellent. Five from New York. See, it's the show that likes Mike McDaniel in Detroit a lot. I, yeah. I think that's a perfect fit.

I also think he and Dan Campbell doing a little redux of that Schwarzenegger-Davito movie. Pretty good. It's Halloween. It goes as Halloween. That would look quite interesting. They'd stay in the next to each other. Like a buddy. Yeah, exactly.

Second hour, first things first. Today, will Drake May look like the MVP on Sunday, or will he just totally melt down? like the Wizard of Oz. Meanwhile, Jerry Jones revealed his number one goal before he retires. Spoiler. Multiple Super Bowls. The winningest

NFL owner ever. Four. He needs four. He needs four. He needs four. He needs four. No, no. Never say never. But right now it's time for the most motivational segment in all of sports. Also time where we read viewer mail. Christina, thank you very much for going to the post

office. Physical mail. Dear Wilds, love the show. And the latest showcase from the best actor on the show, and maybe in all of sports or sports television, Chris Prasard. Are you, Nick, and Coach Manjini ready to admit that he's a great actor? Even though his IMDB page does say Chris Broussard as self. In hashtag reality. Hi, cheers, Ryan and Brian.

I'll let you. you go first. Are you ready to admit that brew is an ex-coblin actor? There's no ready to admit. I've always said... That's Denzel. He's... Not only is he a great actor, he fools you with misdirection basically every time.

It proves he's a great actor. Yeah. And I respect the depth that he has. He can go serious. He can go comedy. There's so many layers to the way that he presents his characters. To me, That's what moves me.

Is playing himself is the only pushback. But I, but he plays himself. I was myself in hashtag. I was a reporter, but my name was Jackson Blade. I mean, it's just, what? Jackson. I didn't have a name. It was not.

I was just a reporter. I was just a reporter. I thought it would fit. Jackson Blade. Jackson Blade. He's an improv. I got comedy All right, here we go.

Here we go. All right. I said, Coach, at the top of the show, that Trevor Lawrence was on the bubble of the bubble of the bud list. He was about to be on the bud list, Nick. But then I thought about our conversation a few days ago about Drake May.

And then I looked in the comments. Oh, gee whiz. scorching. Ouch. The comments coach were harsh on Kevin Wiles. And so it hit me that, you know what? Kevin Wiles has actually put his guy Drake May under more duress. There's like a target on Drake May now.

Yeah, people are like, I'm a hate watching. I mean, if he, before he's a second year player, first, season. It's house money, right? First of the time they make the playoffs, everything is good, no matter what happens. But now, he actually has to go out there and play well and win. So you have put the target on his back, and I will say this to Drake. Seize the day, young man, seize the day. Carpe Diem. Look, Joe Burrow, who's in the Super Bowl his second year, hasn't been back to the playoffs in four years. let alone the Super Bowl, Jaden Daniels last year,

conference championship. As a rookie, I know he got injured, but still, things have totally changed there in Washington. So you never know this is the chance and the field is wide open, as we've all said, Drake, for you to get it done. We know your guy, Kevin Wilds, believes in you. I believe in you too.

Oh, good. All right. At number two, Justin Herbert. So obviously somebody on this. year, this week's bud list is going down and they're going to lose and be disappointed. But Justin, you can lose. You're the seventh seed after all. Seven seeds are one and nine in the playoffs.

So it wouldn't be the worst thing. However, you got to play well. You can't have another stinker. Your first playoff game, you had one of the epic collapses in modern football history. Your second playoff game last year, you threw four. I don't know, four interceptions. So you have to go out there and at least play well, if not win the game. Here's the thing.

Justin, you have earned a ton of respect. You have a lot of respect already, but you've earned even more with the toughness you've shown this year, playing with the broken hand, the offensive line is in disarray. You've been sacked more than anybody, and you've gotten your team to 11 wins. Don't let that all go down the drain.

because if you play poorly, it will be he can't get it done. Now we know three straight games in the playoffs. He can't get it done. Justin, I do believe in you. So go out there and cook. All right. At number one, Josh Allen. Honestly, Josh Allen could be number one on the butt list for as long as his season last.

I mean, let's just keep it real because it is inescapable. that these playoffs are really about him more than any other individual. Josh, and you won't be number one on the butt list every week. I'm just putting that out there, but you could be. But you are already viewed as an all-time great, certainly a Hall of Famer. Some people view you as the best player in football, but you have got to go and make that perception now reality.

All right. And so that means you have got to obviously win this game. You really got to win several of these games, if not the Super Bowl. But you have to win this game by going out there and playing. Well, I get it. You're the sixth seed, but you still are the best quarterback in the AFC. If not, that some would say left in the whole playoffs. Lamar is gone.

Joe Burroughs gone. Patrick Mahomes, who's been your kryptonite, is gone. You're facing a 42-year-old. Air Rogers and a bunch of young up-and-combers. So no one is going to say, oh, they were to succeed. Oh, you know, what do you expect from Josh? You won 12 games. All right, you have got to go out there and cook and win this game against Trevor

Lawrence, because Trevor Lawrence, who has some similarities to Josh in terms of they're big, the build. He is athletic and can run, though not as well as Josh. So might start looking at him as that next. Josh Allen type quarterback if he beat you and has a run in these playoffs. So Josh, I believe in you. Excellent. Go ahead and get it done.

I mean, coach, you're always a fan of the Bud List. How did you like this episode? That's a playoff caliber right there. You got to step it up. What did Jaylor Hurts say? It might be in you. It's in you. It's just in you.

It isn't. Just like Jackson played is here. I, you know, outstanding list is always. But I'm going to add. Caleb Williams to the list. And here's why. So Chicago's lost three out of their last five games, including two in a row.

And they were trying to win. Now you're playing Green Bay, and the first time you played Green Bay, you threw the pick in the end zone to end the game. So that's what happened. And the second time you played Green Bay, there's no Jordan Love, and it takes an act of a miracle for you guys to win that game.

And now when you talk about how you feel about things, he said he hasn't been nervous in a game, since a game in high school they had. Since then, he's never been nervous for games. That's amazing to me. He's built for these moments. That's great. And then as a team, they're talking about not just this game.

They're talking about the next five weeks. So they're talking about the games in the future. So, I mean, I'd probably be a little nervous about a Green Bay team that I barely beat with an act of God, but he's not. So that's good. And I think there's a place, I think confidence is great. And it's important. But I think bravado and lack of perspective is really dangerous,

especially your first time dealing with the playoffs. I agree with that coach. I think that makes a lot of sense. That is reminiscent of how, and I'm not even throwing shade at Caleb, but how he came into the league. We're never going to punt. You know, I mean, seriously, though. It is.

You know, a six best quarterback in the league. Going to the Super Bowl, some people were saying. Don't worry, you won't have to punt. Right, right. So. I've seen a few puns from this. A few. I don't text.

You didn't tweet it. Whatever. Oh, gee whiz, I'm sorry. It's 410 on a Thursday. It means you're in for a real treat. It's time for another episode of the sports media embudsman, a little segment within a segment. Wow.

Wow. KW. You don't even have to do that anymore. That's the kindness of my own heart. Very nice. New Year and New Hampshire. Yeah. All right.

So we talk about market size in relation to sports coverage a lot. Yeah. And what? Are you like it? Coach must know what I'm talking about. Gotta be good. And I think that is very, very relevant in baseball, for instance, because there's no salary cap. So the teams with big markets have more revenue, they have an inherent advantage.

Yeah. You're a little market. You could charge four bucks for tickets and you don't have a stadium. Not like the Yankees. Like out in Cairns or Missouri, right? Sorry. I'm saying? The NBA does have a salary cap.

However, it's such a superstar-driven league, and it seems like super rich, famous young people might prefer living in cities like Los Angeles, New York, or Miami to, say, Milwaukee or Memphis. So it's a real advantage there. That is not really the case in the NFL. Who has been in the AFC, for instance, the team of the decade? The Kansas City Chiefs. Anybody care about the Chiefs prior to Patrick Mom's getting there? I did.

Not much else did. If it hasn't been the Chiefs this decade, who has it been? The Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo is small, but not just by like major sports market size. Buffalo is just a small market in general. But Josh Allen's there. They win a lot. We pay attention.

It's New York Jets and New York Giants who actually play in New Jersey, number one market by a mile. We don't talk about them at all because they don't win. So the Jacksonville Jaguars, have a very interesting opportunity starting this weekend. They can force sports media to care about Jacksonville. Now, I know Kevin Wilde is on the record saying, nobody cares about Jacksonville.

And other folks, and I, and the data that I referenced, and the internet thinks like I revealed a secret, they're like, there is a conspiracy not to talk about the Jags. Nick said, the executives told him not to. The executives didn't tell specifically about the Jags. Hey, bad teams that nobody cares about shouldn't be big topics, even though you love the quarterback. But once they start being good teams, then it doesn't matter where you live. Correct.

And all of us, so you beat the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen. Trevor Lawrence has real pedigree. Trevor Lawrence, I think when they get Travis Hunter back next year, he's a real star, like, you know, a crossover type of star. There is no reason Jacksonville can't be similar to Buffalo or Kansas City in that. a small market that becomes an A-LIST team. And if that happens... Start playing most of your games in America. I've been waiting.

Because I've believed in the Jags since these hats were cool. I'm not sure those hats are a thing anymore. Exactly. This is to prove my bona fide. I was... Do you know what that says? The prince that was promised. When did you get that name?

Exactly. Four years ago. No. I've been... Yes. Four years I've had this in my office. Waiting for the moment. Have you seen it?

No. I've never seen that. Right. And you know why? You haven't seen it? Because they're not in vogue anymore and I miss my moment. I thought. But I'm telling you, Duval, I've been there.

I've been waiting to break out the Prince that was promised big hat. I got this got to be a one of one in the world. I've got custom made four years ago after the greatest fourth, third, greatest comeback to playoff history. I had this thing made waiting to put it on. So they can, you can become the next thing, Jacksonville. And just remember when you do. Remember who was there with you back when these were cool?

This guy. Sports video on Buzzman. Oh, wow. Sometimes I get. What's the word of the bargain for? I get messages. I'm like, you know, how can I have a career in sport? They ask you that?

Yeah, often because I've got, you know, the wealth of experience. That might be an example of a segment going off the rails. I'm starting to like small. This is going to be getting into. Where's he going? This isn't even your thing. You're just indicting my thing. No, but that it ended with you wearing one of those hats from five years ago.

Yeah, I know. It's approved people. I've been with you, Jacksonville. I'm putting Jalen Hertz on the Bud List. We are in solid staying together for the kids category. I mean, Jalen Hertz and his O.C. As an example, once you have a bunch of married friends. I know you got your wife, do you want a nice present?

Okay, you got your nice. wife a nice ring. Yeah. If you showed that... Talk about the gifts I give my wife, which is not my girl. If I showed, if you, if your wife showed my wife that ring, like, I think you'd talk like, wow, what a beautiful ring. You don't have to jam in there, like Kevin would never do anything like that for me. Like, oh, it's just you see some like unnecessary shots. So here's Jalen Hertz on a very simple question. Did his decline in running keep him healthy for this playoff run. Take a listen.

This is great. The season's just kind of going the way it has, the approach this year and how the games have been called with this coordinator, with coach KP. It's just kind of going that way. And so just kind of taking it in stride and try to give my best for whatever a position I've been put in. Oh, God.

Not great. Just whatever position. He's a Super Bowl MVP, reigning Super Bowl champion. So here's just the data on how many times he was running this year versus playoff career. So it's rushes per game this year, 6.6. Playoff career goes up, rushing yards per game this year, 26 goes up to 42, eight touchdowns and 16 games in his playoff career, 10 touchdowns in nine games. So maybe he'll just turn it on like he's been fresh the whole year. He'll start running more similar to a story of a story we had with Mahomes, saving himself willing to take maybe a little

bit more punishment now that the game's stakes are a little bit higher. But I did think it was interesting that he doesn't seem thrilled with the play calling so far with his O.C. Looks like he put his O.C. on the butt list. Oof. Yeah. That was, that was a, just like coach said, like when you're at the podium as the coach, you don't. There's a reason behind everything you're saying. I don't think that's the case for every player. I do think that's the case for a player is buttoned up. Oh, yes. You know what I mean?

Jalen Hertz is not. He doesn't say things off the car. No, correct. Right. And so I, it felt intentional, which I'm not criticizing him. But look, we all, I mean, we all see it. Their play calling has been a problem. I just wonder, not to close out the Budliss in a second, but I wonder it feels like the final thing that he said, like the position I've been put in,

why he doesn't have more agency over the game plan, play calling. It's like, I wouldn't imagine. Mahomes saying something like that. He is an elite quarterback and a Super Bowl champion. Yeah, not a rookie quarterback. To me, that is a couple of things are surprising. So every week, throughout the course of the week, the quarterback and the offensive coordinator are working on the call seat.

So if there's plays the quarterback doesn't want, they get thrown out. If there's plays the quarterback wants, they get bumped up the call list. And usually the head coach, especially if he's an offensive guy, he's going to sit in on some of those meetings too. So when you get to Sunday, everybody's in lockstep in terms of the direction it's going because the last thing you want is calling plays that the quarterback doesn't believe in because they don't they don't execute that the same way and it has to be a collaborative effort what I don't love about this is saying this before playoff game because as much as I get on AJ Brown for creating unnecessary pressure or conflict why bring this up now or why even kind of hint about that now? Why not make that an off-season thing?

So you're going into the playoffs with the best possible attitude. But it doesn't seem like he, to your point, KW, has maybe as much say as he would like. And I'm basing that really just off the off-the-cuff, but I'm sure accurate, statements from Herb Street and Michaels. I think about Jalen Hurts not liking the tush push. You know what I mean? When they said during the week, we were talking Jalen, he was like, man, I was good at this before we did the tush push. and then Michaels added maybe he maybe he shouldn't know but he's out Michaels so you can do whatever he wanted he was like and we got the impression he doesn't

he wouldn't mind if that thing got banned himself like and and so that that to me was informative as well I could see why he wouldn't love yeah like who would love getting pushed right yeah by 600 pounds in a big pile of you know when you're the quarterback not not great uh Jerry Jones great Budlis great thanks as always Jackson played super bowl Jerry Jones wants more and more Super Bowl next My goal in life is to retire as the owner that won the most Super Bowls. That's my goal. To be retired in the NFL as the owner that won the most Super Bowls.

We've got three. How many more do I have to go as a single owner? Bob's got how many? Six. so I've got work to do I got work to do I got work to do but at least I'm up to the second rung in the latter

I mean that's the I mean it's nice to have goals yeah but I mean I would if I were a cowboy fan that would irritate me because it would feel flippant

about the fact that we have not been a game away from being a game away in 30 years. And the, you know, if I were a Cowboys fan and I heard

I, I will feel like I have failed despite my three Super Bowls, I will feel like I failed as owner of the Cowboys if I only get three. I said that awkwardly. You know what I mean? If I don't win another one, like that, it has been too like with that and but instead he says something that is close to a literal impossibility

what he is what the in order for that to become reality it would mean the cowboys are about to rip off the greatest run in NFL history for Super Bowls in the next eight years you know what I mean is or whatever it would be it is what we're talking about here so I mean I think it's I think it's ludicrous is my real reaction to it and then for Mr. Kraft the the six that he has and then there's three losses, right? They had one with, two with Bill and one with Big Bill. So there's nine. I've never heard him called that.

Bill Parcell's Big Bill. I like that. Yeah, when they were together, there's always Bill and Big Bill and Bill. Yeah. So, yeah, so there's nine of those, and he hasn't been, we just talked about 30 years. So to me, if you have a goal, which I think is great, and it hasn't worked. that hasn't worked out in 30 years. You'd think at different points, you'd say,

okay, let me try something radically different here. And, you know, I guess when you've been as successful as he's been in other areas, you just assume that success is going to translate to all areas, but it hasn't. So at some point, to realistically achieve this, you might have to take a step back and say, we need to try something different. And I don't see what's being tried differently this year versus every year. That's where I was going, coach.

His goal really is to be the GM or president who wins the most Super Bowls. Because if his goal was to be just the owner that wins the most Super Bowls, he would hire or let his son or hire some football people and get away. You're still the owner, but just let it go, right? And the hunts, how much football stuff are they doing with the chief? You know, craft. how much, you know, so like let it go. But he, just like he said it, my goal, it was all about him, not the fans, not the team.

That's the problem. Look, they all, over those 30 years where they've been the only NFC team not to reach the conference championship game. You've had different quarterbacks, different skill position players, different coaches, different everything. The one constant has been Jerry Jones. And I've been saying it, I think he's just created a culture where they're more of an entertainment entity. They're more of, you know, this dramatic soap opera than they are a football franchise. And so, I mean, that's only a little more realistic than me saying I want my goal in life is to win an Oscar. You know, I mean, like, it's, like, it's, wow, you're selling yourself short.

It is on the board. I'm just saying, we're like, you got a chance. Maybe I got more of a chance than it is. Can I just show one of my favorite graphics? Yes, I love this graphic. So gold medals mean you won the Super Bowl, silver medals mean you lost the Super Bowl. Bronze medals mean you lost the conference championship game.

It's 30 years, guys. The Cowboys are the only team in the conference without a medal. The Eagles in their division, two golds, two silvers, four bronzes. So the Eagles have been to eight conference. championship games in the last 30 years. I think when you debuted this, the Lions and Commanders were also at zero. Yes, that is correct. Because I debuted this two years ago, or three years ago, whatever it was, the Lions

and the Commanders have been in the last two years. The Cowboys, so while the Cowboys have had, it's also a bummer graphic in a weird way for the Niners who in the last 30 years, been to three Super Bowls, been to five other conference championship games and haven't won one. The Cowboys have been one of the best, I think they're top six in the NFL over the last 30 years in regular season win percentage. But in their conference, no team's been further.

It feels impossible, but everyone except for the Vikings, commanders, and lions have played in the Super Bowl. So only four, only three other teams haven't played in the Super Bowl. The Vikings have been a game away four times, and one of those teams, one of the best teams I've ever seen, the 98 Vikings. Commanders and Lions just finally, you know what I mean,

appear to be, you know, getting to that level in the last few years. And they've had quarterbacks. It's not like the dolphins that are just like we haven't been able to. No, you've had two really good quarterbacks. You've had back to back what I would call Hall of Very Good quarterbacks. You know what I mean? Like Tony Romo and Dak both are going to fall short of being Hall of Famers, but both were perennial top 10, you know.

And you had Parcells there at one point as an coach, and he won Super Bowl, he won Super Bowl, or went to Super Bowl. There's two different organizations. Hey, it's good to have goals. Also, we shortchanged Kraft to Super Bowl, the loss of the Eagles with time. Oh, right. Yeah, I think we have none of it. He's been, he's been to.

I also erased that from my memory. Yeah, two Giants and Nick. Chargers, Patriots. Yesterday, we had the Patriots and Mike Brable giving Herbert lots of compliments. Today, it's Herbert giving Drake May compliments. Take a listen. He's a very talented player. Every time you check on the scores, you know, he has a big game,

so I got a lot of respect for him as a quarterback. Coach, you expect Drake May to look like the MVP in his very first playoff game. I think that's going to be really challenging for him. And because... Says that with no evidence, this guy. No evidence. Let me show a little bit of the evidence. I don't know if we can pull up the graphic here.

So what he's facing. So they're tied for third. in interceptions. They're tied for fourth in the red zone. They're tied for fifth in past yards per game. Tied for ninth in a point in points per game. And then 10th in sacks at 45. So this is, it's a daunting list of categories that they're really good in. And the one that concerns me a lot is the sacks. And with Drake, he's done a better job of not being sacked as much, but he was still one of the highest sacked quarterbacks in the NFL. I think he's, think he's gotten better at that, but that's concern me. And I, from the start of the season,

that's been a concern of mine with him. Where I feel good about it is I do think Josh will have a lot of wide receiver screens, tight end screens, back screens, quick passes, hard sell play action. That's max protection to give him shots on the field. Josh, I imagine, is going to protect him and try to get him in some kind of rhythm so that he can feel comfortable. And then, then, you know, when that happens, there's a potential to really make some impressive plays. But this is going to be really daunting for it. Yeah, look, I agree with what you say it, coach. I'm not expecting him to, like, light it up and have some superstar game.

However, I'm going to give you something that'll boost your optimism. It's pretty high. People are trying to take me down a peg. Recently, there have been a lot of. young quarterbacks to play well in their first playoff game. Yes. Jordan Love had a 157. He was amazing.

Passer rating, right? Three touchdowns, 272 yards, and beating Dallas when they had won like 16th straight. Problem is, that was a 7-2, so that kind of. Yeah, but no, but the Cowboys had won 16 straight at home. Okay, right. And he's first playoff game. Jaden Daniels last year, 110 passer rating, two touchdowns, 268 yards in his first playoff game. Brock Purdy, 131 passer rating, 332 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions in his first playoff game.

And then C.J. Stroud, 157 passer rating, 274 yards, three touchdowns. So it doesn't mean they're, obviously, they've had some bad playoff games after that. But the first playoff game, that should make you feel good. This is why you are the heart and soul of the show, bro, because you have been banging on the, I'm worried about the experience. for a long time. But then he went and twisted it and gave me a compliment because Josh had pulled this graphic, won a playoff game QB in their first or second year. Mahomes for a while was the exception to the rule.

There was one out of 10 guys from 2014 to 2020, five of nine. We do count Trevor there. He had a rough first half. What do you mean? We have a rough first half. When you say we do count, it's a rough first half. It was questionable. Rough first half.

You leave that one out. It's a fact. I feel very confident in Drake, and I felt like I didn't do a great job explaining how confident I was. You did. Accused you of being a simpleton because you just counted up Matthew Stafford's touchdowns, and you said, this is a number, bigger than this number, and he's the MVP. So I decided to take a page out of your book. Got into the analytics a little bit, like to show you this graphic.

This is Drake May. You can go full with that if you want. Any of us, I wish Dan, Danny watched this. That's an ultra-sum. This is Greg May's total EPA on one access and CPOE. So tell me what both. I'm sorry, KW. Yeah, completion percentage over expected.

And what's EPA stand for? Expected points adding. And so what do those mean? Good job. Exactly. What do they mean? It's all relative to all the other quarterbacks. And then this is a, it's adjusted for,

location and depth of target. Yeah. A lot of times they don't adjust for depth of target. This one is adjuster. Highest single season mark at 10.8% full 2% better than the second highest. Aaron Rogers in 2011. So I think this will put any discussion about Drake May's success in the playoffs or MVP really. Too bad. Mike drop. You're welcome. Do you love that? I did the I would, I'm a I'm not, you know, I'm more of a fuel guy. You're more of the numbers guy.

Obviously, in charts. I just wish you, I don't know what I'm seeing, so I just wish you could explain it to me. He's, put it back up. I don't see that. No, like, what is, great job? He's the best. I understand, but, like, how do they, like, calculate EPA? Are they, like, guessing?

Calculate it. Yeah, like, how do they, you know. I'm just trying to love. How do they calculate, you know, earthquakes? The Richter scale. Yeah, but what is going into it? You'd have to ask a size model. All I know is if it's the biggest, I don't stop down and be like, well, is it?

Show me the calculations. And if it's a little tremor, like on the bottom left and stuff's just falling, you know, chandelier's shaking. You're okay. But if this is the best, can I tell you something? Holy cow, he's number one. Way up there. We have to move on. This is the Kevin Wilde's America's grown to love.

This is a 2000. Dumb and funny one. Not not. Not. What? PPA times CPEA always since 2009, dude. Since 2009. Not single season.

Since 2009. Well, it is single seasons, but it's, yeah, but all of the seasons. It's not just Matthew Stavre. There's so many quarterbacks on that thing. Brady's in there. And depth of target. Don't go in. Is this depth of target?

A lot of them will sell you ones without death of target. I told you. Boom. I'm back. Nice. I'm back in a major way. You are. Bill's at Jacks. Sunday out one, The Prince versus the guy who can go Superman mode.

Brew will ask you this one. Do the bills need to unleash Josh Allen to win this game on Sunday? If I'm the bills, I go into this game with a conservative game playing early on. I'm throwing to the tight ends. I'm running James Cook a lot. And I'm seeing can we get control of the game that way? If we don't have control, it's nip and tuck or, God forbid, I'm behind. That's when I'm unleashing the dog, so to speak, and letting Josh go Superman mode and seeing if he, I don't want to get behind. Don't get me wrong.

But if we can't get control of the game conservatively, then I'm going to have to let him go ahead and Superman mode. Well, they are, Jags are first against the run, which is going to be. to be problematic and they haven't been very good in terms of pressuring the quarterback, sacking the quarterback, they're 29th, they're low again in past defense, the 21st in past defense. The game plays out or should play out where it becomes a passing game. Now where I have real concerns is similar to what we're talking about with New England, they're very good in terms of interceptions.

They're very good in terms of takeaways and that, if Josh goes too extreme and tries to go similar to the side we've seen in the past where he takes those chances that he shouldn't take, this is a team that can actually capitalize on that. So it's striking a balance of it's got to be passed first just based off of how they're built, Jacksonville built and how good they are at certain things. But the chances he takes, this is a team that can actually make him pay for it. Listen, I agree with that. But I also, and I said a version of this earlier, but I'm going to repeat it,

I find some of the way, we vacillate between, in our Josh Allen discussion, we as a media, deification and patronizing. Like, he's playing the position at the highest level I've ever seen. There were a lot of people, and I went at him, and maybe I ended up being, was wrong. Before the year, I argued with our pal Bill about this. Before the season started, he was like, Josh Allen's best player in the league. And I was a gas. I was like, Patrick just beat him.

Like how he's like, he's the best player in the league. Whenever he's had these monster games, we talk about, is he going to get in the MVP conversation, best player in the league? And then the patronization part of it is, talk about like, don't ask him to do too much. Make sure he doesn't make the mistakes. Now, listen, the bills aren't a perfect team. This is, it is not a failure.

It is not an indictment if he does not carry this team to the Super Bowl. but this is his opportunity. This is, this kid could be his moment. And it is for a player who is discussed, I don't think this is hyperbolic, in terms of one of, if not the most physically overall gifted player ever at that position.

He's at least discussed in those in that ballpark. It is not too much to say, Josh, here's our plan. We are going to unleash you. We are going to have. ask for the wow plays, and we need you to also not turn the ball over. Like that's, and that for, and if he, listen, if he doesn't do it, he doesn't do it. I'm not going to come on here on Monday and be like, Josh Allen's a fraud.

But this is his path. He has an opportunity right now this moment for it to be conventional, almost not debated wisdom that going in the next season, that's the best player in the league. He has that opportunity this postseason to go do that. And you do that through greatness. Nick, I'm just saying there's a difference between taking chance. and being reckless. Right.

I think that he needs to take chances, but he can't be reckless because this is a team that can make you pay if you're reckless. Totally agree. And that's, but that is his responsibility as a near 30 year old veteran MVP quarterback to be able to thread that needle. You know,

he's earned, like, you're right. I agree. Like, you go from deification to patronizing. But he's, that's because he,

I mean, usually have the graphic, but he is the roller coaster. I mean, it is what it is. So, what would a win? to Aaron Rogers.

That's next on First Things First on FS1. Wild Card weekend sponsored by Verizon Saturday. Coverage begins at 3 o'clock. Rams. Against Bryce and coaches Panthers. Frisky Pan. I feel frisky. They are.

He is back in the house. Do you hear this? Oh, I didn't. Pam will be on the drum. Oh, wow. It's really cool. Sunday 49ers in Philly. That one's at four.

Again, all on Fox. Welcome back to First Things us right now. We are headed to Pittsburgh. Texans, favorites over Mike Tomlin on Monday, and Aaron Rogers looking for his first playoff win in years. Nick, what would a win in this situation mean for Aaron Rogers? Well, first of all, he would be square with Tomlin.

I feel like he owes Tomlin one. In that, like, I don't think Aaron had a ton of good options this summer. I know we feel like he would have thrived in Minnesota and given that JJ once again dealt with injuries, maybe that would have been a fine spot. But Minnesota was going to J.J. McCarthy at the beginning of the year. It did not feel to me like there were a lot of viable playoff teams that wanted Aaron Rogers to come in.

Tomlin very clearly did and waited for him. You know, that long process. And the way to pay that back, if you will, is to get this monkey off Tomlin's back. You know what I mean? By break this playoff drought, I think remove any question about Tomlin's job security

by winning this game. So I think that's the first thing. And the second thing, coach, is it would, for I think most people, fully erase the Jets chapter. Like the, from his part of the story. And I,

this is a bit of an awkward juxtaposition. because you were so intimately involved. And the Brett Farv's end of time with the Jets didn't go great because he was hurt and everything that happened with it. But because he got that one great season in Minnesota, that's not, you know what I mean? People think of, to me, they think of Farv the Packer, the great year in Minnesota, and that's it.

And I wonder if something similar can happen to Aaron if they win this game. Because if they win this game, people will believe they can go to Denver potentially if that's the matchup and win. And if that's not the matchup, then it's too hard to figure who they'd be playing. But I think they will give them a real shot against anybody in round two if they win this game. Yeah, I mean, just so we understand, I did go nine and seven that.

I was saying, I do think of far as early on. Before he got hurt, he got hurt. And I was happy that Brett was able to do what he was able to do after that. And I think we'd say healthy things could have been different. And I've been as hard on. Aaron Rogers as anybody during that Jets time, but it would erase that. And I think it's ironic that Jets are paying him, or 20 million on his their cap this year, where Pistmer is paying him 14.

So that's great. But the way that he's been this year, to me, I think, is how I envision a great player at the end of his career. He's now working with the wide receivers, both in the building, outside of the building. There seems to be, he seems to be very comfortable being part of the team. as opposed to having to be the center point of the team. It's not about doing the interviews every week. He's not creating any controversy.

And he's played better than I expected him to, especially I didn't know how he would fit with Arthur Smith and how that relationship would unfold. So I'm really excited for him because he's had an amazing career. He is a Hall of Fame player, and you want to see guys like that ended on a high note, and he's got the potential to do that. and he's to me changed a lot in terms of his approach at the Jets versus how he's been now.

Well, look, if they lose, then this is, he kind of goes out assuming this would be his last year, blah. Not this wasn't terrible. They made the playoffs, but it was like, you just did what Russell Wilson and Justin Fields did the year before. So kind of blah. If he wins, it's not quite far in Minnesota, but he has. that he would go out, like, let's say they won and then lost the next hand. He goes, if he retires, it goes out on a high note. Like, people will remember he got the Steelers their first Super Bowl or first playoff win since 2016.

They couldn't get over the hump. He got him over the hump. And it also opens the door, because I think if they beat Houston, if they beat Houston, why can't they beat anybody in the AFC? Houston's beat Buffalo, Jacksonville. You know, it opens the door for him really to go out in a blazer glory. It also opens the door for next season. If he wins this game, if I'm Indianapolis, maybe Minnesota.

Why not Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh again? Yeah, I mean, Brew. Like, I don't, he doesn't sound like a guy that wants to retire. He sounds like he's actually having a fun again. Yeah, I don't think he plans on retire. I did think that before. I don't think that after his comments when he was like,

yeah, I bet there's one or two teams that would like to have me. I don't think he's, I don't think he's, I don't think he necessarily plans to retire. and maybe plan to come back in Pittsburgh. Live from New York, first things first overtime. Today is Josh Allen going to outplay the Prince and Nick debuts a huge hat. Meanwhile, special edition of Frenemies. Is someone here predicting an Eagles blowout? Stick around.

And finally, a new edition of I-Test features a large magnifying glass, one of the best segments on the show. I really like it. who has the most at stake heading into the playoffs. Alongside, Christopher Sart, Nick Wright, Danny, I asked you how is your health resolution? For 2026. Just wanted to share your health.

Personal trainer session, first time ever on Saturday. It is Thursday at 5 p.m. And I am still sore. I got it. Can I just say something like that? Still very sore. You don't want to share that type of stuff. Why?

I asked him. Why? You're supposed to be embarrassed? It's his health journey. Yeah. I think I should be embarrassed? You were wearing a big hat. Yeah, basically, yeah.

Yeah, you think I should make sense. That's what he's saying. That's what you're saying? Yeah, man. You're supposed to be like, I'm ready. He loved it. No. They see it.

This is television. They know what we look like. You don't want to draw more attention to it is all I'm saying. But now people are going to be like are going to be like, are going to in three months, in three months, people are going to be like, why doesn't Danny look different? That's an indictment on the trainer. That's not on you. Thank you.

Thank you. Do better, Jeff. Yeah. Go. Yeah. Are you in for it? Time now for Danny's guarantees. Danny's guarantees?

Yeah, I kind of made a whole new segment because we just keep on asking something guaranteeing me in a guaranteeing. Packers in Chicago, Saturday night, Caleb looking for win number two on the year. Take a listen. Against the Packers, no wrong. I think I am built for these moments mentality-wise. I've worked. And so, you know, that's, that's, I've been in a bunch of big games before and a bunch of big rival games.

And so, you know, in those moments and in these moments, you know, I don't, I think I can provide a spark for the team. I think I can, you know, do whatever my team needs me to do. Okay. Danny, you're guaranteeing, but I want your reaction to that. And then I'll ask, are you guaranteeing that? I respect what Caleb did and, you know, you know. The Red River rivalry and some of those. But this is Bears Packers.

It's a little different, a little bit of a step up. I don't think. But he knows that. You guys had an issue with that answer? No, I have no issue. I don't know, but I think that. I like him feeling that way. I don't love that answer.

Did it feel, though, but it didn't feel braggadocious. It didn't, it didn't, like, I thought it was matter of fact. It felt a little bit like that. I mean, you didn't. It hit me a little bit. Yeah. Any sophomore quarterback said that. Even Drake May, like when we played Duke.

Like I feel like, I mean, he just, I don't know, man. Like, I mean, I thought it was like Jalen Hertz when he said sometimes it's just in you or whatever. He's proven it on the highest level. No doubt. But I felt like this was like the text. Nick get mad. The text of the punter, we're not going to be punting much. I mean, I felt like it was going into the NFL, it was like I'm going to come in here and dominate.

and he was in for a rude awakening. And I think you're looking, I want him to be confident. I want him to feel like that, but I don't think you have to put it out there like that. By the way, fewest punts ever for a bear's punter in a season this year. Tori Taylor.

Yeah, still. Never wrong just early. Just throwing it out there. Taylor got it right. Was the text this year or was it before last season? Welcome to Chicago. You're not going to be punting that. Okay.

Last season, he putted quite a bit. And if I was going to describe Caleb in three adjectives, confident would be one of them. So I do think that is in character. Or cocky. Well, there's a thin line. That came off as cocky to me. See, can I answer this question? And that's fine.

If he goes to delivers. Whiteless hasn't asked it. Oh, I guarantee. You got a guarantee. No. Wow. The non-guarantee. And here's smart.

We shouldn't do these when you won't guarantee it. Here's the reason. Well, I'm learning TV. I'm not guaranteed. Because J-Lo is a bad boy. That has nothing to do with them. I am not interested in your little guarantees on this game. I'll play the guarantee game.

I'll give you some analysis on Caleb over Jordan Love here in a second. But I do not care how this looks. Just win. Oh, that I agree. Just with that. No, but not always. We've said it is a playoff game. But I'm saying, well, so I don't have a lot of experience with my team,

these playoff games and I have no experience with my team in these with a quarterback that I absolutely have been more invested in how the quarterback looks than the result of the game before. But if he throws four interceptions and the Bears win, I'll come skipping into work on Monday

morning. Because this game in particular... It's very hard to do that. Only all time grades can have four. Yeah, he's not going to win. The Prince did it. I'm not predicting it. I'm not predicting it. I'm just saying just win. I'm not interested in the guarantee on this one. But I will say, as Bad as the Bears defense is, and it is bad.

And Jordan Love should be able to move the ball at will against the Bears' defense. The Packers' defense, without Micah Parsons, just as bad, if not worse. The last four games, Micah got hurt four games ago. They are on a four-game losing streak entering the playoffs. They're averaging 28 points a game allowed, nearly 400 yards, zero interceptions, three sacks, pass rating allowed of 109. And the only team in the last four games with no picks and they had four sacks was the Jets. Worst defense in football.

So I absolutely think in Chicago no Micah Parsons. I do think Caleb will outplay Jordan Love. I'm just not interested in guarantee. Did Micah play when they held Caleb and company to six points for, what, 55 minutes or so? No, no. Okay. So that defense looked pretty good. Either that defense is pretty good or Caleb was pretty bad.

Well, the rope-ed up by the bear's offense. They're poignant with him. So I agree with you that whoever it's just about winning, period. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Bears win. I'm picking my team is the Packers. That was my prediction. And I'm standing on it. And you believe in them.

I believe. I believe. I don't abit. I don't flirt with other teams and pick other teams. I got a serious injury. The best player on the team got injured. Period. All right.

But I feel good about their chance of beating the Bears. And I feel very good about Jordan Love being better than Caleb. Caleb is still, I said earlier, Danny, in a year, maybe two, whatever, he should be better than Jordan Love. Right now, I don't think he is. He's not consistent. And he's not, he's accurate on dynamic spectator. But he's inaccurate a lot on just the simple layups. Against them in the two games, he's completed 55% of his passes.

That's low even for him. His pass rating is 87. Jordan Love, here's the stats when they, the one full game both of them played. Now, Micah did play. So obviously he was facing a tougher defense. But Jordan Love was the better player in that game and obviously won that game. I still think the Packers defense is better than the Bears. I think the Bears, as coach used the phrase earlier,

it took an act of God for them to win that game against the backup quarterback when Jordan Love got hurt. And I just expect Caleb to, he's been bad early on in games lately and then come on with some super heroics in the fourth quarter. I don't think that's going to happen. I think Jordan Love with Josh Jacobs being. and revitalized from the rest. I think that he's going to play.

You want to put a period on this? Yeah, just very... No, just quickly. My concern, I think the Bears are going to win. And I think that the Packers, I think the Rust from Jordan Love being out for a few weeks, the home field advantage for the Bears, I think the running game for the Bears is going to be enough to overcome it. But I do think it is something and not nothing that two times.

and both recently, this is going to be the third time they've played in five weeks, which is incredibly rare. Like, it's not just the third matchup, which happened sometimes, but the fact that they played twice in a three-week stretch and it was at the end of the season, and they're playing the playoffs is very odd. And it makes you think that there's not going to be able to be massive adjustments from those. And both of those games, this Jeff Haffley defense, shut down, Caleb, the entire first half, and in one of them, the third quarter as well into the fourth, that part, to me, and the fact that the first game, Caleb played a good half, the second game he played a good, you know, final five minutes plus overtime and kind of going in the wrong direction. That would be the one piece of this game that concerns me. And I think that's why Wilde's answer your question from earlier. I think that has a lot to do with why the Packers are favored. Because it is a little surprising to me that this injured Packers team that didn't look good at the end of the year is a favorite in Chicago. Next up, Bill's in Jacksonville. Josh versus. the Prince. Here's Josh on comparing this team to some of his old squads. Take a listen. There's so much out there that I've missed, right? Whether it's getting a little lazy with my feet and not taking a checkdown and maybe instead trying to force something

downfield or throwing the ball away and not taking sacks and allowing us to be in fieldgo range and you know there's there's still so much room to improve and I think I just have this extra emphasis like I said on points or to premium in the playoffs and just trying to do everything I can to give us points. Danny, you're willing to guarantee Josh Allen outplays the Prince. Absolutely. That's outrageous. I have absolutely no problem doing that.

And I could build a negative case against your guy. Basically, they're literally one couldn't exist if you watch the NFL last two months. It's been the best quarterback. Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't going to put the qualifier on two months. Well, I mean, just putting on their careers and turnovers. Oh, for careers, Josh has Trevor nipped. I will admit.

You just put a random. end of benchmark there. These two quarterbacks, I think Josh Allen over Trevor Lawrence is reasonable. But I'm not guaranteeing that the bills beat Jacksonville.

I think it'll be a fantastic game. But that Josh Allen will outplay Trevor Lawrence, Josh Allen in the playoffs is about as sure of a bet as you could possibly get that he's going to have a great game. And even more so,

if you don't want to go to ancient playoff history, just this year, Josh Allen, when he's played good defenses, has been spectacular. He doesn't get limited. Jaguars have a top 10

defense. Josh Allen has played five games against top 10 defenses this year and he has been excellent. He is scheme proof. He is going to play well in the playoffs against good teams. Home road. It doesn't matter. To me he is the safest

bet on one of these quarterback guarantees that I could have. Well, I mean, I would say it matters a little bit. He's never won a road playoff game. Those didn't all come against Kansas City. But I would tell you who's going to win? Is he going to play well? No, no, no. And that's what I was about to get to. He has played well in two road playoff games.

He has played poorly in two road playoff games. And Trevor Lawrence is playing right. He's the hottest quarterback in football. Of course he doesn't have the playoff resume of Josh Allen. Oddly, you know, one way to look at it is they both are over against the chiefs. Trevor's undefeated against everybody else. And so, but the. So I think that, and I think to me guarantee, if Allen outplays Trevor, they win.

So you might as well guarantee the bills win. There's not, there's not going to be a game where Josh Allen plays great and the bills lose, in my opinion. Really? Yeah. I don't. I mean, the bills are one of the worst rush defenses. Travis E.T.N. has 150 yards rushing. They can lose.

So you don't think Trevor, like, could win a shootout. Oh, okay, that's fair. I mean, like 35, 31 type of game. Okay. Give it up. Fair enough. up and the E.TN has a great game. I guess that's a fair point.

But I just don't, I think it is dismissive, overly dismissive of what Trevor has been for the second half of this season to feel fully confident that anyone's going to out play it. Like he is on an all-timeish heater. 19 touchdowns, one pick in his last, or one turnover in his last six games, nearly 300 yards per game and they're beating people by three scores. Oh, he's on fire. And that includes what? He's on fire. He's on fire.

It's almost this side of the table. You know what we believe in? What? Are you going to make this a Drake May thing? Or can we just talk of? Due dates. Is he almost too hot? Well, but you could have said that at any point.

You could have said over the last few weeks. But he's been beating a little bit of some. I went to Denver and kicked their teeth in. besides Denver, but the rest of it has been a little bit of Tobaccoe. I beat the Chargers by 29. It's pretty good. I mean, the Chargers are in this win streak.

Denver's in this win streak. Indy, when it was fighting for its life, was in this wind streak, but we can say tomato can, that's fine. So I just think, I think it is, I don't think you would guarantee if the seating fell differently. I don't think you'd guarantee that Alan would outplay Herbert. I don't think you'd guarantee that Alan would outplay May.

I don't think you'd guarantee. And so I don't, I think it's dismissive of Trevor to guarantee that he outplays a quarterback who's playing that well. But the word guarantee is what you're hung up over. Like, I think, I'm not willing to guarantee it, but I do think Josh Allen, like, which one do I think will play better? Josh Allen. I imagine you would even agree with that. I don't know. I think that the, I think the wrong team might be favored in this game.

I think it's a little, just, I think a lot of this is disrespectful of the general. I think heater is like those things end. Like that suggests that it's a streak and not who he is. That's who Josh. 19 touchdowns, one turnover and beating everyone by 20 points is a heater for peak Mahomes or peak. No quarterback ever is that. Jordan Love. Right, right.

That's what I'm saying. No quarterback is that for their whole career. Yeah. That's the question on the table. Is, has Trevor Lawrence finally arrived? Because this is what was expected of him coming out of Clemson. So has he arrived and is he now an elite quarterback? Or was this just a run, a nice run, and he's still going to be up and down and go back to what he was?

We're going to find out. Can I just reply to that quickly? Josh Allen is also, and again, I think he's great. And I think the winner of this game is going to play in the Super Bowl. But Josh Allen is known to be on a heater and then have a. a rough one. But he's been far more consistent and just better than Trevor Lawrence. He's had a better career than Trevor Lawrence.

No one is arguing it. I don't know that I think he's had a better year than Trevor Lawrence. I don't know that I feel that way. I don't know. I mean, and so. I mean, that's arguable. Trevor Lawrence is past rating still is pretty low. Yes.

For what that's worth. Next up, Chargers in New England. Here's a somewhat confident Justin Herbert, Danny. Take a listen. We just think about winning each game, you know, doing our job each week and studying, practicing, preparing, you know, and I think we're really thankful and grateful for the opportunity. You know, a lot of teams aren't playing this week. So for us to be able to have a chance, it's all we can ask for. Okay.

Danny, you're guaranteeing Justin Herbert outplays Drake May. Yeah, I'm sensing the theme here. 63.5% guaranteed. That's pretty good. 63.5% guarantee. Got a problem with how I came up with that? You want me to show my math on that? Yes, please.

Okay. I converted the opponent pass rating of the Chargers into a percentage. They have the best opponent passer rating of any NFL team since 2012. They're a really good pass defense. So it is not just the caliber of the quarterbacks. And I once compared Drake May as a prospect to Justin Herbert. I think Drake May is excellent. I think their styles are actually very similar.

These are two excellent quarterbacks. But Herbert gets to go against the Patriots defense. Oh, that's first play. And Drake May gets to go against the Chargers pass defense. And I just think even with the offensive line injuries for Herbert, it's a much easier ask for him to carve up New England than for Drake May to carve up the Chargers. Wow. I'm not infuriated by this because as much as we talked about Joe Walt, we don't get to the quarterback.

We don't do it. And it's going to be an Achilles heel of this team. to the point in the guys pick a lane do you want me to have no you pick a lane rational do i want me to say drink mate i guarantee you i am saying just i expect justin herbert to do some damage to this team we have played a bunch of guys who are like eh like you're not even the starter for the bad team and we got to go up against you here's the patriots defense this season we are 23rd in sacks we are 20 or 22nd in sacks 23rd in qb hits we are 6th or 22nd in cubs we are 6th 16th in pressures.

Justin Herbert takes a lot of hits, but I wouldn't be surprised. I saw Justin Herbert last year, I think it was last December, put 40 points in the building. So do I think Drake May will outplay Justin Herbert? Yes. Do I think Justin Herbert will play well? KW. Yes.

I love it. When you say you, for us to pick a link. Yeah. You remember the coolest segment on sports TV? Of course. Pack stats from yesterday. Stats are cool. Yeah, stats are cool.

Remember how Danny showed a stat that the Patriots past defense when it plays a quarterback with a pulse gets got. And you were like, I reject it. That's, I don't think we had an whole argument. You were like, the audience doesn't understand it. We were like, we do. Yeah. And now, and now.

I win research. And now today, I think Brew was aghast because now it seems like 24 hours later today, you're like, you know what? The Patriots past defense might be susceptible to a good quarterback. Is that not what's happening? I don't want to be weird about it. But I said we have the number three best offense. We are like Mike Tyson rising up.

I am confident that we can punch. We have the number four best scoring defense. I am not confident that we can take punches. So now that Justin Herbert is there, I didn't like Danny's graphic because all Danny's graphic said was pretty good quarterbacks play pretty good against the Patriots. And also, Josh Allen was. carrying a lot of weight here at 128, everybody else around 90s. We don't need to relitigate.

Then let's not average it out to 105 or whatever it was. No, I think I think Drake will play better than Herbert, but I don't think we're going to like feast on Justin Herbert like other teams have sort of like solved the offensive line. That's not our strength. This is, this is your defense mechanism. This is fair. What do you want to say?

Drake may, you know what? I don't really want him to win MVP. I don't because so if he does it, you'll be fine. I think Drake May will play excellent. I'm positive. Drake May will play excellent. I'm positive. Well, then they'll win.

Yes. If Drake May plays excellent. I think Drake May will play excellent. You have the sound. Did that confident? The, I'm saying Justin Herbert is a good quarterback. We have not played good quarterbacks all. We played really one.

And we're one in one against him. Justin Herbert can throw the ball. Yeah, he can. So we can't run the ball. And we can't get to the quarterback. So I can't do it. So listen, I think the Pats are going to win this game. I think it's going to be a really good game.

I think the Pats are going to win. I am more confident. I'm trying to think of all the, yes, this is the one game where I don't see a path for New England to win if Herbert outplays me. If Herbert is able to overcome the offensive line issues, finally for the first time, have a good playoff game, and whatever his line is, May doesn't get there. Because I agree with you, where we agree is in this regard. The reason I look at the Patriots as a good team, but Drake May is a great quarterback

rather than a great team with a good quarterback is because I think the single biggest strength of their team by far is this kid. And so I don't think they have, I agree with you. I know they have a top five scoring defense. I don't actually think they're one of the five best defenses. I think they, I like the running game. I don't think they have a great running game.

I think they did an amazing job rebuilding the offensive line, but I don't think they have an amazing offensive line. But, you know, to get it from where it was to where it is. I think their path for all these playoff games, unless somebody implodes, you know what I mean? Unless somebody beats themselves, is Drake May's got to be excellent. Every, every game they're going to win, I think is going to have to go through the right arm of that kid.

And I think that's a tough ask for a young player, but he should be able to at least. Trayvion could break a few. Travion's, yeah, the running game. But I don't know that I think Trayvion's better than Amory in Hampton. Like, again, I understand. I think Hampton actually is good. Yeah, and so I think both have good young running backs like.

I think are, we'll see. It'll be interesting. Yeah. I'm going to watch. You know what? What? Let's bet a seafood tower on it. Oh, man.

We're back. Really? I'm kind of badger ball air to gamble. Just win? I hate to say it. Yeah. Because you ordered the plateau. I know.

Me and Danny are just going to go out. No. Yeah. Real tower? Real tower. We get punished. You're the plato. Time now for frenemies.

We're a couple of best friends. Breast friends. Bring the group chat to sports television. We begin in Philadelphia. The Eagles hosting the Niners, the champs, Super Bowl MVP, Jalen Hertz. He was asked about his playoff experience and how that will affect this week's preparation. Take a listen. You just take it a day at a time, truly.

Take it a day at the time. You know, obviously it's zero zero. It's a new season. season. Got everything you want in front of you, but you got to take it a day of the time. Encyclable. As always. Point spread going up a little bit.

Yeah, that makes me a little, that to me is maybe Trent Williams related, which would be a disaster for the Niners. I'm going to believe Trent Williams is going to play. For the purposes of this conversation? Yes, for the, and for, and because it's Sunday and it's a playoff game, but it just to move from four and a half to three and a half with those. To me, Trent Williams is way more of a factor than Ricky Pearsall, as far as the ability for the offense to function.

But go ahead. No, no. The question is along those lines and the points where, like I said, is getting bigger. More likely, 49ers upset, Eagles blowout will define blowout for the purposes here. 10 points or more. I think 49ers upset because I don't think the Eagles have the capability to blow out a good team. and I think there's evidence of that all year long. Their blowouts have come against the Giants, commanders, and Raiders.

They, early in the, you know, they beat Dallas by four. They beat the Chiefs when we thought the Chiefs were going to be a good team by three. Their biggest win by margin over a playoff team is the Rams by seven, but that's make believe, it's not make believe, but if people remember that game, that's a one point game. The Rams are kicking a field goal to win. And then it got to seven because of the amazing Jalen Carter block,

scoop, score, touchdown. They haven't since that Rams game in week three. They haven't scored more than 20 points against a playoff team. And I don't think the Niners are going to have, listen, Purdy does sometimes throw some up for grabs. I don't think they're going to have so many self-inflicted errors the game gets away from them.

and I just don't believe the Eagles' offense is going to flip a switch. So I just don't think blowouts on the board. So I'm surprised at how I feel about it because I do. I came into the year really believing in Philly, thought Sequin could back up last year, picked them in that game against the Chiefs when we were there. Then the offense kind of falls apart, the trouble, the A.J. Brown drama, all that stuff comes back,

the Petulow stuff. I kind of sell all my stock in them. Their defense has gotten so good. late in the season, post their buy, Fangio's an amazing defensive coordinator, their defense is very healthy, that no one's really doing much of anything against them, and I'll give you this piece of history,

for whatever we think about Siriani, obviously the guy wins and he wins in the playoffs. They do blow people out at home. Their home playoff games have been non-competitive because they play to their style. They hold opponents to about 14 points per game, four of their five wins have been by 12 or more, 21 point point differential.

But that game that we just saw San Francisco play against Seattle was one of the most physical football games all season. And Philly got to rest their guys. So I know it's an extra day of rest. That game was last Saturday. This is Sunday for San Francisco. But the Eagles have had 14 days, 15 days, since they last played a game. And the Niners against Seattle, if we can show it,

I think Philly's defense is in Seattle. Seattle's class. And that was the worst game that the Niners have played in the Shanahan era. And so if we're defining blowout by 10 points, that game against Seattle was 13-3. That's a blowout. Yeah, that doesn't. You see what I'm saying? Yeah, I mean, that doesn't feel 13 to 3 doesn't feel like a blowout.

And that game didn't feel like a blowout. It didn't at all. But I just, San Francisco coming off that performance in that game and Philly resting and this game being in Philly, there's a lot of thing going towards Philly in the spot. The flip side to Philly resting is it's been even longer than since their offense shoulder pulse. Because remember, the second half against Buffalo was a travestate. Right. No completions.

Right. The 17 total yards, no completions. First half against Buffalo wasn't amazing. But they had the one touchdowns. They looked like a football team. Correct. And so I also, Philly last year in the playoffs, the first couple rounds, the first couple rounds, was who they were in the regular season.

Sequin Barclay was awesome. The defense was good. Jalen Hertz was efficient, but the opposite of Prolific. He threw four, pardon me. You're good. The blowouts came in NFC championship game in Super Bowl. Round one and round two against Green Bay and the Rams, Hertz threw four combined under 270.

Not average, combined in the two games. And so they didn't like flip a playoff switch. at least early. The Washington game, they scored 55, the Super Bowl, they scored 40. They looked unbelievable. So this year, the offense has been below average all year. And I understand getting Lane Johnson back will absolutely matter.

And Sequin was showing more signs of, you know what, life is disrespectful. But he was getting, he was showing more pop. Yeah, burst is a better way to put it. I just don't I don't think Philly is getting to 27 and I don't and I understand we just saw the Niners

score three points. Week before we saw him score 42 and I think that Kyle Shanahan in the playoffs is going to be able to get the Niners to 20 and so I thought and I will just add this quickly

I would as Wilds would say us one take chip on the roulette wheel I think Niners blowout is not impossible. I think Niners get rolling, that crowd gets antsy, and it feels and looks like the playoff game for the Eagles two years ago. Not my prediction, not what I'm saying, but I don't think that's an impossibility. I think that that is of the home teams this weekend,

the one that I think might struggle the most, if they all of a sudden find themselves down 10-0 could be this Philly offense. I'll just say the Eagles defense is much closer to the Seattle's than the Bears. No doubt about it. All right. So there was news today on the coaching front in Miami. The Dolphins announced that they are parting ways with Mike McDaniel, who went 35 and 33 with the dolphins, but 0 and 2 in the playoffs in 7 and 10 this past year.

There's already reports that the Lions are interested at him as an offensive coordinator. should another team be interested in Mike McDaniel as a head coach? Here's the thing. I think Mike McDaniel in some ways was a victim of his own success in that he made Tua look so good they invested in Tua rather than admitting what I think is the reality, which is if Tua Tunga L.O is your quarterback your offense is going to have a ceiling against good defenses. Yeah. There are going to be limitations.

and things he can't do, and then all of a sudden McDaniel's career became inextricably tied to Tua's, and it went downhill. I think he is obviously a brilliant play designer. I do worry about the culture stuff, and I don't think it's nothing that the team, from the reports about late to meetings, the Tyreek stuff, that that team just didn't feel buttoned up. So if I had a team where I feel like the culture is already in place, people are talking about Detroit as an offensive coordinator, it's obviously wouldn't happen.

If Dan Campbell was like, I'm resigning. You know what I mean? And that culture's there. Sure, sure. Then I would like it. But if you have to build something from scratch while I would trust him to help mold a quarterback, I don't, I wasn't impressed with that piece of his coaching job in. Well, I mean, what about then Baltimore?

They have culture. Baltimore is very interesting because I do think they have a culture, but I wonder, it doesn't seem like that it seems like they are going after, oddly, defensive-minded, strong personality coaches. So this would be very different than the guys they're currently interviewed. Yeah, so I think Mike McDaniel is a good coach. And yes, I definitely value offensive wizard play caller because I think it's the most valuable thing your head coach can be. You and I have had disagreements about that. A lot of people

will say be the CEO, be the leader, be the culture guy. To me, it's like if you can be the play caller who is the offense, that's the most valuable thing for your quarterback if you have a good quarterback. Mike McDaniel had a winning record with Tua. Mike McDaniel, and we can show what the offense was, we just removed the season where Tua was out for the for the majority of it. You know, so his four seasons except for 2024. He consistently had a top 10. offense and that's in 51 games, the vast majority with Tua. Some of them are worth out, but just vast majority with Tua. Tua also threw the fifth most passes behind the line of scrimmage, despite missing

13 games in that time. So he had a top 10 offense with a quarterback who didn't throw past the line of scrimmage. I'd like to see that guy with the real quarterback. Let me ask you this. Then why don't, what you described to me, is a great offensive coordinator. Yeah. And so, like, that, there is nothing wrong with being a great offensive coordinator.

And I do think you dismiss too much the leadership part of being an NFL head coach, the, you know, gathering the respect and attention of 53 pro football players piece of it. And it did seem like that got away from him in Miami. me. I think the fit of him alongside Dan Campbell in Detroit is A-plus. I agree. That would be absolutely perfect. Listen, I think anywhere he goes as offensive coordinator works. I'd be interested in Kansas City. I said, I mean, I 100% agree. Oh, I don't think he's a Shanahan system guy, Andy Reid's old school West Coast, so I don't know how much that meshes. But the, Kansas City needs me. I would love him in Kansas City. I think there is a strong argument that Philadelphia is, no matter what they do this offseason,

is going to be looking for a new offensive coordinator that he would fit there. I think offensive coordinator he fits everywhere. I don't know that I yet believe he fits everywhere or anywhere as a head coach. Yeah, go somewhere with the great culture head coach, learn for a year or two, then get a second shot in a year. Good addition to frenemies. Also, check out the What's Right podcast today. Oh, thank you, Dan.

Excellent. No problem. Willie Cologne and Coach Mangini come out. For the eye test, what's most at stake heading into wildcard weekend. It's coming up. Time now for the eye test. Everyone knows I see the league very clearly. So heading into Wild Card weekend, here's what I'm seeing.

Who has the most at stake with these NFL playoffs? Beyond the fact, of course, that it's win and go home. Gentlemen, to the bottom row of the eye test. Four people down here. Lamar Jackson, what? Kind of surprising, given that, you know, he's not in the playoffs. He's home. I know. But if Justin Herbert or Drake May or Josh Allen were to make a Super Bowl next year,

all of a sudden, Lamar Jackson has another AFC quarterback who's passed him in the discussion. Justin Herbert, fairly self-explanatory. He has no playoff wins. It would be nice for him to at least get one and have his resume start to match his talent. Caleb Williams, a part of what is looking like, maybe an all-time quarterback class. Bow Nix is the one seed this year, Jaden Dan. Daniels was in the NFC championship game the year before. Drake May could win an MVP this year and is the two seed. Caleb Williams go on a run, maybe make a Super Bowl. You can kind of reset the narrative of that quarterback class.

And Jalen Hertz, if he makes it to his third Super Bowl, 13 quarterbacks in NFL history have three Super Bowl starts. 12 of them are Hall of Famers. And your guy, Ben Rothesberger will probably get in. So if Jalen Hertz can get to three Super Bowls, that's a lot of stake. You can start getting fitted for that gold jacket. To the next rung on the eyeless of, you don't mind.

Oh, which one of these doesn't belong? Sean Payton, Matt Stafford, and me, three handsome rich fellas. Sean Payton can become a one of one. No coach in NFL history has won a Super Bowl with two different franchises. Oh, wow. And now he's the one seed.

So it could be Denver and New Orleans, something Parcells never did, Belichick never did. It would be an unbelievable thing to put on his resume when we're trying to differentiate the all-time great coaches. Matt Stafford was I think Matt Stafford is going to win the MVP even though I would vote for Drake May. If he does and he has an MVP in two Super Bowls, he joins an exclusive list of people.

Brady, Bradshaw, Montana, Mahomes, Elway, Peyton, and Bart Starr with an MVP and two or more Super Bowls. Like the late additions to that would just be incredible rise up the all-time ranks for Matt Stafford. And me, listen, I like this national TV life. I got a lot of reputation at stake here in Justin Herbert and Caleb Williams. They're underdogs. I lost my picks contest to Nick Wright. I got to get hot during these playoffs. I got to restake my claim.

Gotta get hot. To the next row of the eye test, who has the most at stake. Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott. Sean McDermott, if you go one and done in these playoffs and Josh Allen, you lose another year without the Super Bowl of his prime. No one's blaming Josh Allen. and they absolutely will blame your defense because your defense has absolutely been the problem this year.

And with Harbaugh available and all of these teams seemingly moving on from coaches quick, I think Sean McDermott needs to have a deep playoff run. He's going to catch a ton of heat as much, if not more, than Josh Allen. And everyone's talking about Mike Tomlin and TV. So he hasn't won a playoff game since 2016. He could justify the entire Aaron Rogers experience with just one playoff win. Obviously a deeper run, even more than that. And I imagine, as we get to the top row here,

everyone would agree. The title of best player in football is on the line. It's wide open, D.P. It is on the line. With Mahomes and the injury and missing the place, if Josh Allen can add to the MVP, the stats, the playoff resume, and get a Lombardi trophy on there,

it's an unimpeachable resume. He will go into next year as the widely held belief that he is the best player in football. Coach, you see the league like I do? I love the fact that you, I'll put yourself on this. I got lots a game. That is smack dab in the middle too.

Yeah. That's Caleb Williams-esque. You're built for these moments. I am built for these moments. That's right. Big playoffs with me. You did say it with McDermott. You said he has as much to lose or more than Allen.

I think he, I think we've established that he has more to lose than Alan because of the trend that was just set with firing Harbaugh. When an organization has to choose, do we move on from our MVP quarterback or a long-time head coach, regardless of how good the resume is, they're going to choose the quarterback. So at the end of the day,

if they decide to make some changes because they don't like this run, Josh Allen's still going to be there. But McDermott, you know, there's just not as much, there's not really any reporting on like Josh Allen and McDermott not being on the same page

like there was with Lamar and Harbaugh. So I don't think it's a lock that if Buffalo loses, he's out, but it'll certainly be discussed. No, I don't think it's a lock either. I just think at the end of the day, if a decision were to be made, we know how that decision is going to go. The coach is going to go, not the quarterback.

Yeah, I'm surprised you don't have Sam Donald on this, DP, because if you talk about where they sit, they have the top seed, they have the home crowd, he got the Pro Bowl nod, he's had a pretty good season. Nevertheless, man, we all know about Sam Darno's playoff woes, right? You talk about taking down and sacks against, as a quarterback for the Vikings,

didn't play well. They call it the playoff meltdown, if you will. needs to have a big game because a lot of people, a lot of critics, and I don't know if they're right or wrong, but they feel like he's been riding the coattails of this defense in a really good run game and a, you know, a really good coach in Mike McDonald. Sam Donald has an opportunity to not only make a playoff run, but also rewrite his legacy, right, because he's seen in one light as a court as a system quarterback. He's able to carry, you know, carry this team, make it run. And by the way, all the weapons are there for them. Everybody's

healthy, you know, the office line, yes, has been spotty. He doesn't do well under pressure. he's going to have to kind of write those rows, rewrite those rows. And if he's able to do that, man, you know, he could be dangerous in the playoffs. Listen, I consider Darnold, no question about it. He went from Minnesota chose to move on to getting $100 million contract, to backing it up in the regular season and going into week 18. We're like, is he going to choke? Yeah.

And then he didn't choke. He was efficient, but he didn't really make a ton of play. He was 13-3. It was much more about the defense than the offense. Now you're the one seed, you're the Super Bowl favorite. If he wins the NFC, goes on a run, listen, we've questioned quarterbacks who have won a ring or made a Super Bowl Brock Purdy Jalen Hurts. It's not that he will have no questions, but he'll go from a guy that we question to,

you see the best value in football? That contract will be looked at as like, oh my God, what an incredible job. But the point you made, and really, that's a great choice. The point you made the fact that we're grading him on, he didn't choke him the big moment. And that was a plus where, you know, the amount of games we won last year and now this year with two different organizations, he's being viewed as a different type of quarterback. So it can't just be don't choke, Sam.

You expect him to be able to help the team win in this moment. Because of the price tag in the team he has right, you know, right next to him. Listen, he, he to me right now has an opportunity. And we talk about staff and we talk about purdy. Like, he can come out of this thing because the way this team is constructed, right? You know, like we love McVeigh and Stafford, but they've been spotty down the road the last couple weeks too, so Seahawks got a shot, man.

Well, yeah, and if the Bears take care of business, his first-round matchup is overwhelmingly likely to beat. You know, could you have to play Matt Stafford again? Right. Right. You could have a rematch with San Francisco, just another NFC West matchup, losing the playoffs there, and all the criticism will be right back.

Packers are talking a little tough against my bears. I'd be honest. I feel like responding. You better bring your brass up. So I'm going to do it. Coming up. On the O-Tick. If I had my pick, you know, for any team, it would have definitely been the Bears.

I want my give back for sure. We get a chance to put the Bears season to bed. That means a lot to us for sure. Harvey Field was going to fall. If we had to go to Philly, it was going to Philly. But I'd rather play the Bears first. A lot of guys took that hit that he took a little personal, you know, so I'm not saying we're going to go out there and play dirty or nothing like that.

But we definitely don't defend our brothers. So that, listen, I love. I love rivalries. I love trash talk. Less hate in the world, more hate in sports. Like I like that these teams hate each other. That's great. But the Josh Jacobs clip at the end there about like,

we're gonna defend our brother and that hit on Jordan Love. You guys are football people. Can I show you the hit on Jordan Love where he got a concussion? Sure. That's it. He ducks. That is not, am I create, that is not a dangerous, like that's not like an illegal It's not like an illegal dirty hit, no?

It's an accidental. It doesn't matter whether it is or isn't. It's just what you sell the group that it is. Okay. Hey, they want to take out our guys. Look at how they're playing. That's what you sell. Yeah, it bears.

This is like a declaration of war, and you have to understand now that the Packers are now gunning. So you have to come out hot. You can't wait to the second half to turn it up in this game because now they're looking to go bang it out with you. So for me, your first 10, your first 15 has to be aggressive. You have to make a statement that we're not going back down. No, I definitely cannot deal with another slow bear start.

and I'll be in the building for it. But to be clear, it's fine that you sell your team on that. But that is not a dirty hit, right? Well, you're looking for everything and anything. Yeah, it wasn't intentionally dirty. It's just what you're going to need to sell. What you're going to need to sell. Saturday night cannot get here soon enough.

Look for the handsome guy on the robe. We'll talk to you tomorrow.