First Things First - 
Patriots vs. Broncos, Rams vs. Seahawks, Most to Gain & Lose, Upset Alert and Nick’s Picks

Episode Date: January 24, 2026

(0:00) Patriots vs. Broncos, Rams vs. Seahawks, LeBron James out of L.A? (28:10) Most to Gain & Lose (44:37) Like Ravens hiring Jesse Minter as HC? (49:36) Upset Alert & Nick’s Tiers (01:11:26) Darnold vs. Stafford, Is a Patriots blowout on the board? (01:24:09) Bills meeting with Mike McDaniel for HC position (01:29:42) Parkins’ Picks, Can the Seahawks shutdown Stafford? (01:52:33) Bills and Josh Allen looking for next HC, Interview Phillip Rivers (02:00:30) Most Important Players: Conference Championship Edition (02:11:42) Patriots vs. Broncos smack talk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Curious, man. I was just throwing that out. I wasn't saying like that was right. I wasn't thinking that was right, but I have no idea. Well, does you got to tell the story. The story is this. My son found a pair of antlers yesterday,

and we ended up giving them away, and we were researching about antlers. We were learning a lot, and one of the questions was, what are antlers made out? It was like cartilage? And it turns out the answer is bone. bruise answer it was just

toss out just hey wood I mean that's as good as anything I don't know it'd be different it'd be difficult

but I did get the bone mirror yeah you got it yeah you know what it was just if it was baseball strike one and then get out of the park first hour of first things first

today a special conference championship edition of most gain a Friday staple. And as you know, you can't have flowers without some rain. Who has the most to lose is Michael Jordan? He's not on that.

There's no question. No. No. I get it. You got to sell it. No, Jordan. I'm telling you. He's not on that. You said that last time, and he was number two. Is anyone number 23 on either team who can have a great game? Meanwhile, Lakers lose

again. Is there a chance they might lose LeBron James as well? We kick around some fake trades that don't really work. One does. Really? Oh, you got a list of a favorite. No, I just, the one we talked about.

There's one that the math works and both teams would talk about. Very interesting. And finally, it's the hottest segment in all of sports, an abridged version of Upset Alert featuring Jarrett Stiddle, alongside Chris Bressard, who does not think that antlers are made out of wood on Kevin Wilds. Nick, Nick, Nick's, Nick. Just two picks. Just two picks.

Just two picks. How are you doing against Perkins? It's over, right? Well, I won the regular season, which is the championship. Yeah, it's like the Premier League. And Brew. It's all about the playoffs. Danny, it's not accurate.

Last year in the playoffs, I beat Parkins. No one remembers it. You know why? Because the championship was the regular season. I wanted this year. I'm not going to call you James Hardin. To answer your question, this year's playoffs, I've had some bad luck. These should be worth double or triple.

I think it's over, right? He's so far ahead. He's four games up. There's three left to play. He has won the fake playoff competition. That is correct. But I won the championship. You did with you.

You're the champion. Just like upset alert. Congratulations. Yes. All right, we're starting with the Patriots one win away from their 12th Super Bowl appearance. Standing in their way, Sean Peyton and Jared Stidham, who hasn't thrown a pass in two years. Mike Vrable responding yesterday to Sean Payton's claim that the Broncos fans will have two weeks off. after Denver wins. Take a listen.

I think we're plenty motivated for the game. I think that our players are continuing to build confidence through the week. So I'm really excited to go out there and play. Love it. Nick, who do you have and why? They say it. Say it with your chest, too, when you say it loudly. Do the 10 toes.

Do the toes thing that Brew does. I'm not going to cringe on Brew's area, but I will say it. say it loudly, I've got the Broncos. Get on down! What? That is not true. Are you serious? That is not true. I can't believe it either. Well, he is 2 and 7. No, I'm not 2 and 7.

First of all, it's against the spread versus winners. It's 3 and 7 against the spread. I picked more winners. That's not the point. Really? The Bronco? Wow. Here's my, and I am, when we were here Monday, I did not think that I would be picking the Broncos. Mm-hmm.

my reasoning is as follows. Of all the teams that are still playing, that could have gotten the news, Sunday night, quarterback out, this is the team that it is the least devastating for. Now, that's not necessarily a reason they're going to win, but that is, I think, objectively true. This is the team most equipped to deal with it.

of all the coaches who could have been told you're going to have to play a backup quarterback in a big spot, maybe in the whole league, certainly right now, left in the playoffs. Sean Payton is the one most prepared for it with the possible exception of our pal Kyle Shanahan who did it this year. But Sean Payton, when he had Hall of Famer Drew Brees near the end,

when he had to go to a backup quarterback, he, in small doses, we can show it to you, was able to get more than competent play out of those backup quarterbacks. Now, it wasn't, you know, Drew Breeze level, but the yards and completion percentage were Drew Breeze level. The record was better. I don't buy too much into that.

They were hot that year. That was when Teddy was on that win streak. I mean, that's over two years. Yeah. But so and then the following year, when Sean Payton had to start a long-term backup, some guy that some people thought could be the Dark Horse MVP, he was cut. Again, he got, not a lot of yards, but the touchdown interception ratio is good, the rating's good. He got competent play out of it.

The home field advantage portion of what that is going to do to supplement the Broncos pass rush and disrupt the Patriots operation combined with the fact, and this is where I think Wilde and I just fundamentally disagree, I don't like how Drake May has played this postseason. Loved how he played the regular season. You heard no criticism of Drake May for me through the regular season because there wasn't any reason for him. I think that is very fair.

All of that is why I think in a tightly contested, low-scoring, very tough game. the Broncos crowd and the Broncos defense carries them to a 17, 13, 17, 14 type of victory. So that is what I am picking. Well, look, I've said all week, I think it's going to be a tough game. I don't think it's going to be easy. A lot of people think that because it's a backup quarterback. But I am going with your Patriots. Thank you, bro.

My goodness. Because here's the thing, Nick, and I know everybody loves Jared. Like, he's all this now. But the chances of him, like you said in the intro, he has not thrown an NFL pass in two years, all right? Two seasons. And so it would be completely understandable if he goes out there and is flustered, is nervous, is just, is rusty.

I mean, Rusty, that's almost a given, right? And so I think that is very much on the board. I also look at New England's defense, which in these first two games, has had nine sacks. So they've been putting – they averaged two sacks a game, one of the worst pass rushes in the league in the regular season, against not the great schedule, as we know. And then in the playoffs, they've gotten, you know, nine sacks. And so I think that they're going to be able to get some pressure on him. and that could just rattle them even more. And then the Denver defense,

I thought you had a great point yesterday when you talked about their defense giving up some points to good quarterbacks. Their last, not their last four, because at the end, you know, teams weren't playing their stars. But they recently had a four-game stretch within the last six games. Washington with Marcus Marriota,

the Raiders with Gino, Green Bay, and then Jacksonville. They gave up 25.7 points a game. That's right. So I, like I said, I see a close game being very possible. But I just think it's a lot to ask if Jared Stidham to go in there. We hadn't really played since, what, 2023? And really have a great game on this stage against a good defense.

And so I'm going with New England in this one. As you know, and longtime fans of the show have this memorized. I hate, and I mean that with all the vitriol that it holds, three things in this world. Yep. Can I say the first two? Sure. Injustice. Injustice number one.

That's good. The French art of pantomime. Why are you in a glass box? Exactly. And then what's the third one? Half measures. That's right. Oh.

And I didn't know, I had this idea in my mind. I didn't know that you would be the. target of my ire. Because this right now is what you would call a free roll take. No, it's the opposite. Picking the Patriots would be the free roll take. If the Patriots win, I get to say I picked it and if they lose, I get to make fun of you. This is the opposite of a free roll take for the record.

Once the Patriots. I am putting myself out there. Destroy. And I mean rout the Broncos. Wow. People who picked the Broncos, just like the people who picked the Chargers to beat the Patriots. And then all of a sudden, what do you expect from that offensive line? A lot of people picked the Chargers.

They scored three points. And there was nothing happened in the game to that offensive line that was going to, that changed. People were still being. People that picked the Texans, including entire shows that picked the Texans. C.J. Stroud, what are you going to do? Now, granted, the Texans were on a 10-game winning streak going into that game and had beaten the Jags, the Bills, the Chiefs who I give credit to, the Steelers. Herbert got one field goal. Now, the same thing is going to happen on Monday where it's like, ah, you know what, Jared Stidham?

Turns out a guy who is not a starting quarterback and who hasn't thrown a pass in two years, and turns out he's not playing super carefree. He feels the weight of having an entire team that was the number one seed and playing a great defense that has given up four field goals and one touchdown over two games. Finally, I think there is a fair point about how Drake has performed against these last two defenses and our Cupcake schedule. But this is how we have played against the top. I'm not on the team, by the way, so I'm just used to be. but Patriots against top five defenses this season. We're 3 and 0. The average score is 25 to 11.

Yards are 3.50, and we are going to throw that thing with 16 explosive plays. Also, that counts, runs. So I do not think it's going to be low scoring. I think it's going to be a route. And I think we're all going to be like, oh, of course it was a route. They've been routing teams all year. Can I say something? Because you keep bringing up the fact that NFL live, everybody picked the taxes.

I didn't know what show was. and that brew, I guess, picked the charges. That wasn't necessarily that brew. But so let me, hold on. I don't, I would understand your frustration if that was happening. And then after that, people were wantonly disrespecting the Patriots. I think there is, I have not seen anyone with a real platform saying,

the Patriots are frauds. I haven't seen it. Did I see before the playoffs people point out that their path to the two seed was the softest schedule and a quarter century in the league? Absolutely.

Questioning whether or not they were going to, you know, that if they played the bills, were they actually better than the bills? I think those things, not only they exist, I participated at all of it. But I have not seen

people picking the pats to lose, the pats win, and then people being like, that team's fraudulent. And I right now, this moment, am not picking the Broncos because I think the Patriots are fraudulent. I am picking the Broncos because I have been beaten damn near into submission by the Broncos' ability to find ways to win games and how good they've been at home. So I don't think, I want to make it very clear. I do not think Jared Stidham is as good as good. Bo Nix, certainly not as good as Bo Nix was playing at the end of the year and in the

playoff game. But I think he might be as good as rookie Bo Nix who went six and two in this stadium at home with Sean Payton. I think he's probably better than Taseom Hill, who won the majority of his starts and threw for like 200 plus yards a game with Sean Payton as his coach. So I don't, I, you are correct that there's, that Jared Stidham has the C.J. Stroud game. I feel like an idiot. And then on Monday, it's like, yeah, I mean, his backup quarterback had three turnovers. What do you want me to do? Yeah, that could. I'm not saying you would do that, but that's, that comes around. That could happen. But I, the other reason that I, over the course of the week evolved from thinking the patch would want a close one to the Broncos when a close one is,

I just asked myself, like, do I think Jared Sidham needs to have, like, what do I think the final score is if Jared Stidham's stat line is, 180 yards passing, one touchdown, no turnovers? If that's the final score, if that's his stat line, I think the Broncos win. Because I don't think that Drake May is going to play a clean game. And I took more about his quote than you guys did. His quote saying, you guys know me, I'm going to hunt big plays. I think that was a little young player hubris given the circumstances and given the nature of a road playoff game. And that's how he plays too, though.

Right. I don't blame me for saying that. And so I just, so I, this is, I just want to make it clear. This isn't me saying the paths are fraudulent. This is me saying. It feels a little like that, though, because, I mean, you are literally picking a backup quarterback who hasn't thrown a pass. in two years to win this game. I'm picking the number one seed in their building.

Yeah, but without their starting quarterback. That is correct. But if anything, it's actually disrespectful to Bownecks. Because I don't, I don't think the injury maybe is as devastating as everybody else. There is, I'll give you some credit, but you didn't mention it. You know, because I'm big when the nuggets, you know. Well, the altitude thing. The altitude thing.

I'm big on the altitude. It's, I, this is a top. crowd noise, like we won every game on the road. But the altitude. I think Seattle, Denver, Kansas City are the three hardest places to play in this league. This is one of them. So that's easy W. On to the NFC.

Rams in Seattle Sunday at 6th. This one is on Fox. Third matchup. And these teams have been even. Here's Devante. I'm trying to get over the hump. Take a listen to this. I've been here quite a few times.

And I think I may mention to you guys a few times. like, forgive me if I'm not smiling here to year after the first win or the second win, just haven't been here so many times and understanding exactly what it takes to, you know, get where we're ultimately trying to go. So it's obviously exciting to achieve, you know, the minor goals along the way that you ultimately need to do to get where you want to be. But, yeah, it just feels like almost like a mythical thing to me at this point, you know, like you do everything you can to get there and it's been so hard and been working so hard at it. So we're close. We just got to finish it out.

All right, Brew, same question. Who you got and why? Let me preface this by saying, and this will give away my pick, but I hope I'm wrong. I mean, you know, I hope I'm wrong in this one because I would love to see the top two MVP candidates facing off in the Super Bowl. And this happened four times before, so it's not like incredibly unique. But it feels like this race was so close.

Like a week before the end of the season, it felt like, Drake May, he was his own favor, right? Like he was going to win it, and then Stafford took it away again, we think. So I'd love to see the Stafford, Drake May Super Bowl, all right?

But I think Seattle's going to win the game. And Nick, I think they're the better overall team. Now, if you just go down the roster, you can find ways to say, well, the Rams are better. Look at these guys, right? But when I look at those two games,

and I see that Seattle lost the turnover battle 7 to 1. Yeah. And there was one point difference between the two teams and the two games. Seattle lost the first game by two points with their quarterback throwing four interceptions. And then won the second game by a point. Still the quarterback threw two interceptions. They lost the turnover battle three to nothing.

And they still won. So I think Sam Donald's going to play a – not – not a – maybe not a totally clean game, but I don't think he'll have multiple interceptions. I think he may have one interception, one turnover, whatever, but I think he'll be relatively clean. And then I think because of that, they'll be able to win this game. And that Rams defense, I know it was strong early in the season. Lately, last six weeks, they've given up 31 to Carolina twice, all right? Detroit put 34 on them.

Seattle 38. Atlanta 27, and these were games they were trying to win. And then on top of that, I don't think Stafford's been great in the playoffs. Now, he might be great in this game. And he was great in the second game against the Seattle, and they still lost. But in the playoffs, he's got three touchdowns, one interception in two games, and the completion percentage of just 52%. I know he threw for like 300 yards against Carolina.

And all his touchdowns and interceptions came against Carolina. Yeah, yeah, right, exactly. In the Bears game, he had 240 yards, but completed 48% his passes. So I just think that he hasn't been himself in these playoffs against worst defenses than he's about to face. And I just think Seattle has shown in those two games they're the better overall team. These two teams played twice. In the first meeting, the Rams led after the first quarter, the second quarter, third quarter, and the fourth quarter. in the second meeting, the Rams led after the first quarter, the second quarter, third quarter,

and then there was a punt return, and things got haywire on them, and they, you know, and Seattle had a miraculous comeback, and I think it's fair to call it miraculous because the two-point conversion play involved. And then the Rams gathered themselves and scored a touchdown in overtime and lost the game anyway. The Rams this year, and that game, in my opinion, that Seattle loss, The knock-on effect was the following week against Atlanta. And other than that, their losses this year are a blocked field goal to Philly,

overtime to the Rams, or to the Niners, pardon me, by three, and the first in the Carolina game. I feel like the Rams have been the best team in the NFL all year. I look at Stafford's playoffs this year differently than you brew. I thought he had a bad pass against Carolina, but I thought he was really good in that game, and I thought the Rams as a whole were very mediocre, offensively, him included in the Bears game, but I don't look at it as like a bad playoffs

as much as a bad game against the Bears they got away with. He just hadn't been a VP level. Stafford, but for the totality of his time in the playoffs with the Rams has been an all-time great. Like as far as what if you were to say, and if we show his playoff numbers since he got to the Rams, the only quarterback who's been consistently better than Matt Stafford in the playoffs this decade is Patrick Mahomes. Also the only quarterback with more Super Bowl wins than him this decade, Patrick Mahomes.

And I trust him and I trust McVeigh. It's just one. What? Super Bowl wins. Oh, what do you mean? First up to say, Stafford's got one. Yeah, but what I know, I understand. But my point was, he has been, aside from Mahomes,

nobody's been a sure bet over the last five years in the playoffs than Stafford. And I, McVeigh with a third time up against this Seahawks defense has been so great all year. The second time McVeigh saw it, Stafford threw for $4.50. Yeah, that's that. And so I just, I, I do believe the winner of this game is going to win the Super Bowl, but I believe the Rams are the better team. I wonder, and Coach is going to come out in about 15 minutes. I'm going to ask him, does the 450 yards benefit McVeigh?

Does he have a, or does it benefit the defense? Like, remember what we were doing when Stafford threw for 450? We cannot do that. That's a good question. Or does McVeigh need to have a whole other chapter? More on this game in about 12 minutes. Seahawks, defense wins championships. Latest, but we're going to talk about basketball.

I won't have the next time. Lakers lost to the Clippers, three and six in their last nine. Latest loss on the heels of a Baxter Holmes article, which outlined some bust family dysfunction and a deteriorating relationship between LeBron and the front office. Here's LeBron on his relationship with the Lakers' past and future. Take a listen. I thought it was good.

But, you know, somebody can see it in another way. So it's always two sides of the coin. So, like I said, at the end of the day, how I represented this franchise and what I wanted to do to represent this franchise, someone I got here until now, it's been with the utmost respect in honor and dignity. Is this where you want to finish this season?

I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. Last two. Everybody's crazy. Everybody's crazy. I'm going. Hmm. Your reaction to that. Well, great piece by Baxter Holmes, and the piece is not about LeBron.

The piece is about the bus family, and everyone should read it. It's a lot of work you put into it. But the section on Jeannie and LeBron starts with this, and it's where I just want to focus for a moment. She didn't like that James was considered a savior for a floundering franchise when he arrived in 2018. And that it was he who chose the Lakers. rather than the team's leadership receiving praise for landing him. So I just want to address that very quickly. Tough one.

Because it's a little complicated. Yeah. The reason LeBron James, I think she's right, considered himself a savior for a floundering franchise. Or that he was considered a savior for a floundering franchise is because the Lakers were a floundering franchise. Yes. And he was their savior.

He saved them. Yeah, that checks out. In the history of the Lakers before LeBron got there, they had missed the playoffs 10 times ever. Once in the 50s, twice in the 70s, once in the 90s, once in the a odds. And the five years leading up to LeBron getting there, when they out in a 30-team league had the 30th most wins. They were the worst team in the league for five years.

LeBron got there, helped get them, Anthony Davis, and they won a championship. So, and I understand there's still mad at it. about Russell Westbrook, whatever. Let it go. If I were LeBron and I found out that's how they feel about me, I'd be furious. And I think, does LeBron have a big ego? I've heard that.

You know what? I think that's probably true. See a lot to deal with? Yeah. But does anyone deserve to feel like this franchise was on the brink and I got him back? And do I think it's because he wanted to live in L.A.? or because of an awesome PowerPoint by Rob Belinka? Things because he wanted to live in L.A.

So I just don't understand the bitterness there, Brew. And it's a weird thing to come out. Look, I believe LeBron and Jeannie Bus have had a solid relationship. I also believe that they could have a solid and good relationship. I believe LeBron when he says, I thought it was good. And I believe they could have that relationship and still it be true that she's in the office, said to somebody, oh now he's putting the Westbrook thing on us or you know something like that or you know we drafted brownie for him he should be great you know stuff like that you can call it two-face whatever but that happens people say things behind people's back and they still may have a good relationship with that person so I kind of think it's like that I don't think Jeannie I don't think I could be wrong I don't think she like dislikes LeBron or think you know all that while I do believe this stuff is in the article But I agree with you, Nick.

Look, the bottom line is Jeannie Bus and the Lakers and the Bus family should be grateful that LeBron decided I want to go to the Lakers. Because you are right. They if LeBron, now we don't know who they would have drafted, whatever would have happened. But there's no evidence from, as you said, the five previous years before LeBron went there, There's no evidence since Jerry Bust, their dad passed away in 2013, that they would have figured it out. Correct. LeBron just chose to go to L.A. because it's a great franchise and L.A. is a great city. And then he got you Anthony Davis.

And if you didn't have Anthony Davis, you wouldn't have Luca. Right. All right? So he did save the franchise. He got them one championship. all right and I'm going to say if LeBron had not decided to go to the Lakers the bus children

let's say they still sold after 12 years would go down as like abject failures as far as the owner the dad showtime Kobe and Shaq Kobe and Powell all those championships and since then outside of LeBron nothing

all right so they are lucky you look at Jeannie and the bus kids were particularly Jeannie as she got him a championship. She did a good job. And if he wasn't there, you wouldn't be looking at it like that. We got to go. Most to gain next on FS1 on the Fox Sports Channel on Sirius XM. We didn't even get to LeBron leaving.

Spent too much time on Drake, Matt. Not this year. We are almost at one billion views. We are only nine million away. Gianna and our social media teams is doing an excellent job. And our podcast is now top 50 in the world, but not just sports, the murder ones too. Really? Yes. People love those. I don't understand the world. They use, well, they use big words on them. That's not what it is.

Welcome back. It's conference championship weekend. And after a long campaign of pain and strain, Only four teams remain. What heights can they attain? What reputations can they maintain? You to explain who has the most to gain. Is Nick Wright in a segment we call? Most to gain. Thank you so much, KW.

Let's get right to it. Number eight, most to game championship weekend. Wow, huge W for me. Thank you. Listen, I gave you a high five. This guy broke out the doorstep of destiny, which, unlike Deerey, Unlike deer antlers is made of wood.

Correct. In week five, for a three and two team. Wow. That had lost to at the time, maybe Frisky Raiders team had turned the ball over five times of the Steelers. KW saw it. If this team makes the damn Super Bowl, he's the biggest winner. Round the door seven dozen. Number seven.

Wow. Clint Kubiak. Interesting. If the Seahawks win this game and the offense looks good. Is that enough to get him the best opening maybe in decades in the NFL? Head coach of the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen. The, and I think, you know, I saw today the bills that are interviewing Philip Rivers. Well, I thought that was a...

It feels to me like they might be, you know, bringing a lot of people in with their eyes on someone who's coaching this weekend. I just thought it was another one of their well-thought-out plan. It might be that as well, Coach. Paul Phillip Rivers, what? Clint Kubiak, Jesse Minter was the young defensive mind of the cycle. Clint Kubiak seems to be the young offensive mind of the cycle. Minter got the other gym job in Baltimore. I wonder, and if it's not Buffalo, there's still other openings.

Number six, Devante. I know that we know this, but it still is surprising. He's never played in a Super Bowl. It feels like he was in green. Like, oh, yeah, Devante was there. But no, he wasn't. That was Greg Jennings. Gosh darn it, making all those catches.

Devante learned from Greg Jennings. How to do it. Good job, Greg. But Devonte's an all-time great player. I think that's, I don't think that's an overstatement. And he has not played not only in a Super Bowl, but in a bunch of conference championship games. And so this is an opportunity for him to play his first Super Bowl.

Number four, number five, pardon me. Listen, man, the reason they call me Mr. Consistency is even when I have to wear it and I was, and be like, I was wrong, I do it. Sean Payton did a whole bunch of talking before the year. And I said it was a whole bunch of nonsense. I even made fun of colleagues of ours that are friends with him. I was like, I know he's good to have a beer, but you don't have to listen to him. Okay, well, they're a game from the Super Bowl.

And I'm picking them to go to it, even though they have a backup quarterback, and it's because I think he's going to be coaching that well coach. No coach ever has won a Super Bowl with two different teams. He got Danny Parkins in the overtime saying, if the Broncos pull this off, Sean Payton moves past Parcells and Walsh, the all-time coaching list. Now, that's too far for me, but you went to the Super Bowl,

the second franchise, the backup quarterback, it's something, Sean Pate, number five. Now to the quarterbacks. Number four, Matt Stafford. They make this Super Bowl. You look at quarterbacks the last quarter century.

He's Stafford versus guys like Big Ben, or a guy like Big Ben, starts to become a really interesting conversation. We talked to going at the midway point of this season, I think he was an underdog to make the Hall of Fame. He might in a week and a half win the MVP, that plus Super Bowl appearance, he becomes almost a lot to make the Hall of Fame. Number three, Drake May. Making the Super Bowl, I think, will cement him with the best young quarterback crown, and he might have an opportunity to just say, why don't we take Young out of that

phrase? Why am I just not the best quarterback? He'd have an opportunity. On the board. It would be on the board. And we haven't seen someone in year two. We've seen them make the Super Bowl. I haven't seen him win the Super Bowl since Russell Wilson did it. His second year's a starter. Number two, Sam Darnold. Would not be willing to call him elite yet, would be willing to call him a franchise quarterback, which I think that is, those are the steps you, you know, you take from, he went from bust to journeyman to solid starter, franchise QB. is the next stop on that train. And number one,

most against Jared Stiddle. Yeah, Stiddle. Nick Folles got four years, $88 million from the Jacksonville Jaguars and a statue in front of the stadium for a playoff. Amazing. I understand he is a year left on his deal. So did Foles for whatever it's worth.

It is not an exaggeration to say if he plays awesome this weekend and they make the Super Bowl, almost no matter what happens in the Super Bowl, this can be a mid, what would it be, eight figure game for him, $30, $40, $50 million,

not for one year, but on a future contract. I think that's in line. That's the most to gain. I put the guy at number one, the guy who was the most money involved because I know that appeals to coach is hard. Yeah, this is a really good list. And, you know, in retrospect,

I should have probably put Mike Vrable on the list. There's a guy who's going to have one of the greatest turnarons and franchise. history, erased the ghost of one of the greatest coaches of all time, and potentially coaches team to the Super Bowl that he won Super Bowls with. So he could have been on that list. Now I feel like I went, I went a little bit lighter. I went with DeMarcus Lawrence.

Here's why. It's not quite DeMonte Adam. DeMonte, though, has at least gone to five conference championships where DeMarcus Lawrence, this is his 12th season. He had 11 in Dallas. He had a couple really big years in Dallas. He got hurt last year. He signs a contract in Seattle, goes to Seattle, and he's part of a fairly young team.

They're the 11th youngest team in the league. And when you hear the guys talk about the impact that he has, he has six sacks, but that group collectively, it's like seven sacks, seven sacks, seven sacks, DeMarcus has a six. Collectively, they're productive together, and they credit him for a lot of that. And they also credit him for the fact that he's given them perspective. All those years in Dallas has given him. him great perspective about how big this moment is, how much you should appreciate it,

how you should just focus on the task at hand. And this is his first opportunity to play in this game, and then it would be amazing for him to have the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl. Love it, coach. And I think he's been, his addition's been underrated since he got to Seattle. And he was, he was always a really good player in Dallas, but we somehow, you know, wasn't discussed all that much particularly after Micah. And that, whole, your point on that whole D-line collective, nobody in double digits, but they all, it's hard to double team any of them because all of them are so good. I agree with you on Vrable.

I actually would switch Vrable in for Kubiak. Although I agree with what you said about Kubiak, that's all out there. But Vrable, this would be huge. I mean, one three as a player with the Patriots and now to bring them back to the championship. Maybe I should just put Vrabel on in place at KW. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, I think he's got a little bit more to. I mean, it's this much.

But I'm going to switch Darnold and Stiddle. I think Darnold, I agree. Obviously, Stidham has a ton of gain from this, but he's still likely to be the backup next year because he does have a year left unless they want to trade him, somebody really wants him. But even if he wins the Super Bowl,

he enters as the backup next year. And I agree in the future may be a bigger contract. maybe a chance to start. But Donald, I mean, when we think about where he was just two years ago, I mean, he's backing up Brock Purton. Then before that, he was backing up Baker Mayfield. And now he could not only win the Super Bowl, get to the Super Bowl, stay where we are right now, get to the Super Bowl,

but you were toying with the idea that he's elite. And so his whole, I mean, and we talked about Rich Gannon, I kind of compared him. Gannon never really, even though he won MVP, got to a Super Bowl was never really considered elite or, you know, one of those top quarterbacks. But I think a lot of that's because he had 11 years of poor play. Six years of poor play is a lot easier to erase in people's minds. And I think if he gets to this game, especially if he plays well this weekend,

he pretty much erases that and then becomes, like you said, a franchise quarterback and maybe elite in people's eyes. I like that. I like that a lot. You know what was sneaky, just to add yours before I do mine, Kyle Shanahan was sounding the positive alarms about Sam Darnold. Remember when he was talking about like, hey, Steve Young took a while to come around. Oh, yeah, that's true. I was like, hmm, hit our radar. I'm putting Stefan Diggs and K. Sean Booty on the most to gain.

Because a common narrative was, look, Drake May is good. Mike Rable's a good coach, but do they have enough weapons? And whether, you know, Stefan made Drake better, Drake made Stefan better, it all has kind of worked. When Drake throws the ball to those two guys, he's completing 79% of his passes. He's got 12 touchdowns. And when we look at duos, this is just passer rating.

Drake to Stefan and Kishon, is that about 125? It's better than Stafford and Pukin Divadi. Now, these aren't counting numbers. It's just passer rating. But this is one of, I'm not going to say the best, but one of the better duos in the league, and they've just consistently flown under the radar,

And this is not necessarily an unpopular take. But when you look at Drake's spectacular throws, a lot of them are because they're spectacular catches. That game could have gone very differently if Kishan doesn't make that catch. And if even Stefan's catch in traffic, that one's a field goal, one's just a drop, and nobody would fault anybody,

hey, good ball didn't happen. A lot of Drake's success is due to those two guys. I tried to make that point yesterday. And you're like, the Patriots blew them out and we're in total control of the whole game. Okay. I absolutely agree with him. Well, Cinderella can't get to the ball without a pumpkin.

Time to find out who has the most to lose. Number five, KW on the most to lose list, is Will Campbell. That's fair. What does it matter? Who cares? Oh, his arms aren't that long? Well, Nick Benito, if you can't get your T-Rex arms, all Nick Benito. He doesn't have T-Rex arm.

Well, I'm just saying it's all relative. He's at a rough postseason. I think that's fair to say. You now have Nick Benito or Jonathan Cooper coming around the edge, Zach Allen up the middle, so it's going to be hard for that guard to slide over to help you out. Why was Trayvion Henderson not playing early in the year? Because he couldn't block.

I'm just telling you, if Drake Mays getting clocked, might be because of the guy who did when he was drafted, promised to, quote, fight and die for his quarterback. I like that. Will Campbell, number five. Number four, a trio, brew. Josh, Lamar, and Burrow.

I love this cake. I love this cake coming down I-95. If Drake May makes the Super Bowl, it's a good take. First of all, Joe Burroughs' whole thing is, I made a Super Bowl. Like, I haven't been back to the playoffs much since then. I made a Super Bowl five years ago.

It was five years ago when he made the Super Bowl played Matt Stappard. Josh and Lamar, obviously, their coaches have now been fired because they hadn't made a Super Bowl. Love it. If Drake May makes it, it's a, it, it, it, it, It is just a tough spot for those guys and for Burrow what you hang your hat on and for Josh and Lamar what you have not yet been able to accomplish. Number three, and coach kind of alluded to this, Bill Belichick. Oh.

So Tom Brady left you and won in one a Super Bowl immediate. Good take. You left the Patriots and within two years they're back in a Super Bowl? They could win a Super Bowl? Not great. almost enough to motivate the guy to call it Buffalo and be like, let me coach the bills, please. Interesting. I told you guys.

You guys thought I was lying. I got to keep you on your toes. No Michael Jordan. I'm not joking. Number two, Lions fans. Matt Stafford leaves you and all of a sudden people are like, is he one of the ten greatest quarterbacks ever? Goes to multiple Super Bowls, wins a league MVP. And Lions fans, even after Stafford won the Super Bowl,

five years ago, Lions fans were like, win, win. That trade, no, that trade, and by Lions fans, I mean, KW is one of these people, like, no, that trade was great for both sides. Was it? Well, yeah. I mean, it was great for both sides. But if the guy you traded away, ends up winning two Super Bowls and you just missed the playoffs. And don't show this next one yet because it's Michael Jordan.

I swear to you, it's not Michael Jordan. It's going to feel mean, and I don't mean it to be. I sent out a very earnest tweet about this person Sunday night or Saturday, whenever it was. But the most to lose, number one, is Bo Nix. Because if you, you can just reveal it now. I know Bo Nix is rooting for his team and his teammates. But Bo Nix, whose approval rating when he walked off the field in that divisional round game, was 100% in Denver and the highest it had ever been outside of Denver.

It becomes very weird if Jared Stedham wins the next two games. Carson Wins was about to win league MVP and gets his leg broken. He's never the same. And it's just the human condition is not equipped for that type of scenario. So I'm not, this is just pure analysis. I actually feel badly about it. But I have to be honest. I think that.

Bo Nix is in a rough spot if Jared Stidham just goes on. on two-game winning streak right here. That's supposed to lose. If he doesn't play well, and look, I mean, deep down inside, Knicks probably wants him to win without Jared playing well. Just being okay, right? Playing great defense.

Right, right, right. And if they win that way, I don't think it's as bad. Yeah, because Phil's, goes out there and balls. Yeah, yeah. And I just add one more thing about Bill Belichick, if you see how the Patriots are really better than, better than they than his last few years and he had to go to North Carolina. And I'm North Carolina.

I'm like, is this taking our whole kind of sports program down? And is this really hurting Michael, Michael Jordan's legacy? A little bit. Yeah, I think a little. That chap of that Tar Hill Carolina Blue. But they're like, well, Drake, well, Drake is actually from North Carolina. So that's good. Maybe it's just the basketball.

Maybe you could tweet about him. Head to Baltimore where the Ravens hired charge. Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter. He previously worked in Baltimore with Harbaugh for three years before working for another Harbaugh in Michigan. He then followed Harbaugh to the Chargers. Now will replace Harbaugh in Baltimore.

Brut do you like this? Look, none of us know if he's going to be able to make that transition. We've seen great coordinators. Josh McDaniels did not have success as a head coach. So we don't know, but everything I see, yeah, I think it's a great hire. From what I see,

young, hot, defensive mind. That obviously has been the Ravens culture. I think he's going to keep that established. He was in the building for, I think, four years with the Ravens, so he knows a lot of the players, the people, the owner and all those guys. So I think he'll be a great fit. And look at what he did with the Chargers defense. The year before he got there, 2023, they were 24th in scoring defense.

He immediately, in one year, took him the first. This year they were still top 10 and they had not had a good defensive culture. Like I think the five years before he got there, they hadn't been top 10 in scoring and hadn't been top 20 in scoring in four of the years. So he clearly knows what he's doing defensively. The key, of course, coach, who they hire is the OC. And you know, you hear Cliff Kingsbury and Joe Brady. I mean, I think those are good names. But I like this. higher and it seems like it'll work out for them. Yeah, and wow, you forgot, he did spend a little time at Vandy, so he did have a little

experience out there outside of that. And not all, the hardballs aren't identical twins. They have very different coaching styles and bring different things to the table, so he was able to get that perspective. To me, this makes sense from the aspect that I've talked about this a lot. That group that's been in Baltimore has been there for 30 years since the Browns moved to the Ravens that the GM was Ozzy in that first year we hired DeCasta, and then the salary cap guy, he's been there for 30 years, right on down the line, that building is filled with a lot

of people who have a very established way of doing things, and it's been successful for a long time. So the fact that he was in the building and understands how the culture works, and even though he probably didn't have an extensive relationship with the owner, he knows how that works to some degree. So to go get a total outsider and transition them into something that's so established might have been a little bit rocky. And now they have someone who has that familiarity, has had a lot of success outside of the building as a defensive mind, which in an area they need to, obviously, improve on. I like the fit a lot. I think it makes sense.

Marcha Brodo was offensive-minded guy as the head coach, correct? Yeah. Okay. I was with that. Yeah. No, that's what the reason I was asking is, I was 90% of what I want to make sure I was right. It's very just unique or interesting, maybe only to me, that the Ravens have never had a defensive focused head coach. Oh.

Because Brian Billick was an offensive Wiz kid and or with the Vikings, I think, before he came to Baltimore. Harbaal was special teams. And so despite the fact that they've always been defense first as an organization, like all their best teams, We think of the defenses. That's not distracting Lamar. Pre-Lamar, all the best teams, all the teams that have won championships. And even for several issues. And with Lamar, like, it was the great defense plus this amazing quarterback.

Now they have a defensive coordinator as the head coach. So I find that interesting. I thought that of all the first-time head coaches, the number one, if you wanted to go on offensive side of the ball, the number one draft pick was going to be Clint Kubiak. And if you want to go defense side of the ball, the number one draft pick was going to be this guy, Jesse Mentor. So they got, if they didn't want to go with, retreads unfair,

and so, you know, a guy who had already been a head coach before, I like the idea of it, but I'm going to echo what you said. We're all guessing. You know what I mean? There have been guys who have had unbelievable resumes, and it's just like, oh, they're a coordinator or not a coach, and there are guys that the higher, it's like, you've got to be kidding me, and they ended up being excellent.

So I think they probably, I was just going to say, they probably think he can be the next Mike McDonald. Certainly that's what they're hoping. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and I do think it gives him a better chance to be successful having a relationship with the group that's in the building because that is not going to change. So you need to get along.

If they brought someone in who had radically different ideas as to how to run things, than that established personnel group, that conflict I don't think would have helped them, especially in the short term and definitely not in the long term. Okay. Fresh edition of Upset Alert coming up right after the break next from New York it's the show preparing for a snowstorm are you prepared for the

snowstorm i don't know what i'll be totally honest i don't know what people mean i say prepare for it well do you own a shovel yeah of course that's what yeah you're gonna shovel you have some you're gonna shovel your yeah i've got idea of salt you should have a ton of rock salt yeah i've got all i've got all that but that are you spending the night in the hotel no new york i'm just i've got salt I've got a shovel. I've got plenty of food. You should get an electric shovel. They're really good.

What's an electric shovel? It looks like a shovel, but it's got a little snowblower on the bottom thing. Just push it. Yeah, I knew you wanted it. What? Really good. An electric shovel? Like it.

Look it up when you get home. Is it running on batteries? No, it's running on, yeah, it is a battery. Gas. You guys know where on the air. I've never heard of that. We're trying to help people out. We're running.

Check out electric shovels this weekend. today which quarterback has the most to gain. And why is it Jared Stiddle? Meanwhile, Coach Manjini, let's see if he supports my idea that the Patriots are just going to crush the Denver Broncos. And that's the game we're going to talk about right now. Patriots, four and a half point favorites in Denver. Rams, two and a half point favorites in Seattle.

That game Sunday at 6 on Fox. Now, there's four QBs, a veteran who might punch his ticket to Kenton, a phenomenon who might win MVP, a Phoenix rising from the pumpkin ashes, and a guy I once champion, but hasn't thrown a pass in two years. Nick, we'll start with you, kind of a cousin of most again. Which QB would have win Sunday mean the most to? So I think there's only one quarterback playing for historical significance, Sunday and Sunday alone, meaning

absent of what happens in the Super Bowl. And I believe that is Matt Stafford. I think that Matt Stafford, just by winning on Sunday, because I believe, and I think the offense player of the year voting kind of signaled this, the odd signal that he's

about to be named League MVP. By winning Sunday, and again, he is not the caliber of most of these quarterbacks, but he joins this list. MVP's that have been to multiple Super Bowls. Danny had this yesterday.

I thought it was good. Brady Mahomes, Elway, Bradshaw, Montana, Peyton. For a lot of people, that top row is the seven greatest quarterbacks ever. Certainly five of, or the six-st-storough quarterback's ever, pardon me. Certainly at least five of the top eight, depending on your feelings on Elway or Bradshaw. Then Kurt Warner, Fran Tarkington, Joe Thaisman, Brett Barb, Bart Starr. I think that if he wins, you win. this weekend coach, and I'm right that he's going to win the MVP.

When we talk about quarterbacks this century, Brady, Mahomes, Manning, Rogers, to me, are clearly the four best. He then is in the argument, along with Bree's Big Ben and himself, I guess. Like, that to me is, if we were to say the five best quarterbacks this of the 2000s, he then joins that discussion. I don't think I, you know, I've never looked at it like that. I mean, because Farrv, I don't can, you know, FARV is to me a 90s quarterback.

Elway obviously retired 99. Like those, so for like that is, he becomes historically significant. Can you run through it again just because I was trying to do the math? Quarterbacks of the 2000s? Yes. Brady, Mahomes, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rogers. Okay. And I think.

Wow. I think for most people, for most people after that is Breezer Big Ben. And I don't know how you want to split Kurt Warner, but I think Warner is probably beneath those guys anyway. With respect to Kurt. Stafford making another Super Bowl, winning league MVP, having these sick playoff numbers. The moment he gets out of Detroit,

if he shows playoff numbers, coach, he's been for now a half decade, the second best playoff quarterback in the league. He's second or third, and basically every category behind just Patrick. And so I think Stafford's my answer. The thing that I can't get my head around, though, with him is when you talk about Breeze and Big Ben

and all those other guys, they changed the franchise they were with. They elevated the franchise they were with. How bad Detroit had to be for him not to elevate that franchise? And I do that Big Ben didn't elevate. that franchise was excellent. And his first year there is full-time started. They went 15

and 1. I know. They lost to us. I know. But Coach, but that was he was a early on a replacement level young quarterback that the team was good enough to go 15 and 1 I don't want to say despite him. If they want to take him up

but Breeze. Breeze definitely elevated I mean I agree with you coach on that. And he it's not, he had Calvin Johnson. He had endemic and Sue. Like, they had some good players. They had all different kinds of coaches. Yeah. Jim Carwell asked some success there. He was a Super Bowl winning coach. So I

can I say something about that? We probably shouldn't spend a lot of time on that. He had one legendary teammate in Calvin Johnson and Sue's a great player. I do not think though that those lions seems like, man, those teams underachieved.

Those teams had a ton of talent. They did make the playoffs. What? Four times I know that's in what? Right. I mean, Calvin was great and Sue's a great player, but I didn't. That was, to me, a dysfunctional franchise. You're right, he couldn't lift it. And Breeze lifted the Saints, but would Breeze have lifted the Saints if he wasn't there with Sean Peyton?

And so I don't know. Like, I just think Stafford becomes historically relevant if he makes another Super Bowl. Yeah, so for me, it's Jared Stidham. And we got to kind of quantify or qualify this answer. Now, this is win the game because of them, right? Not in spite of them. Oh, well. Because if C.J. Stroud won the game last week.

It wouldn't have elevated his career. Like, we were looking like, oh, my God, I can't believe they won the game. So to me. But you're saying he plays great. Yeah. Well, he didn't have to play. I don't even know if it's great, but it's got to be part of the reason they win and definitely not the reason, you know, that holds them back or keep.

So to me, this is life-changing. To get the opportunity that he's getting. And you're right, he hasn't thrown a meaningful pass in a couple of years. I went back and I watched the two games that he played in 2023 last night. And it wasn't bad. It wasn't bad. He was able to run the operation while they were shifting, there was motioning. There were checks at the line of scrimmage.

There were, I'd say, not a ton of wow throws, but there were some really good throws. There were a couple times he put the ball in danger on deep throws down the field, but they were willing to take those shots with them. The most, the curious thing about him is there are three times in the goal line where they had problems, a delay a game, a false start, and a fumble in the two games,

but that was the only time operationally where it didn't look right. So I understand why Sean has confidence in him based off of just watching that. He's not going to be able to run like Bo Nex. He doesn't have that same sort of escapeability, but it's not terrible. It's not great.

It's not terrible. But for him to go in in this moment with this amount of pressure without practicing and then win the game, that changes the whole equation for him moving forward for any franchise looking at who could be the next Sam Darnold. Who could be the next guy that maybe was undervalued but has a potential to be something special. Well, I think certainly if like you made the stipulation, he plays really well. Like he's a part of why they win. They've got to be part of why they were. And so I'm glad you put that on it because I'm saying Darnold. And that's the thing.

If Darnold not just wins but like plays really well, then I think for him, it just, it rewrites his entire legacy. This is a guy who obviously was viewed as a bust who was drafted ahead of Lamar and Josh Allen. So it was like, that makes it worse because it's like you could have had one of these two guys. And so this, and then he's still young. He's 28. So this could really kickstart. Who knows what, you know, the future. Because his numbers are good overall the last two years.

I got a graphic later about he has struggled the second half of the season. But overall, his numbers are good. He's obviously won. And if he wins, gets to the Super Bowl, I mean, you talk about. And you talk, I think, Nick, you said it was hard on one of the teams in the must win. And you're more to gain, more to lose. But the Jets, the Lions, you see. Oh, yeah, Lions fans.

With Stafford. The Jets with, I mean, you bottom out so you can get that quarterback. Maybe they had him and didn't know what to do with him. Before we get to upset alert, I'd like to just say something controversial. I've been accused of being a homer because I root for the Patriots. And that perhaps some of my analysis is colored by the fact that I grew up in Connecticut did and went to the old Foxborough stadium, Sullivan Stadium. 99.999% of me is rooting for the Patriots in Drake May.

This guy is unbelievable. But a small part of my heart. I hate him so much. A small part, very small. It's small. And I'm a fan of sport. If you want to accuse me of being a fan of sport, lock me up and throw away the key. And if I was in communist Russia

Watching the game in Lake Placid Part of me would say, comrade Pretty sick Pretty great story These college kids pulled this off I'm rooting for Very small but there are a few cells In my body

They're rooting for Jared Stidham Part of me, you know, as I've said it several times Once a Patriot always a Patriot You gave the nickname, right? Also, a classic, too. A classic. I mean, you are. But that is a horrible loss for you guys.

It would be mortifying. Yeah. That would be a more. Just a mortifying miracle on ice type loss. But this is what you want. Correct me if I'm wrong. You would like Stidham to go out there and play great. No.

And you win. Patriots win, but Stidham, it's like, wow, he's really a good place. No, I actually, again, I actually want it to be a. 28 to nothing, which I am expecting maybe 28 to 3. But if there's some miracle on ice moment, there is a small part of my heart that will say, Stiddy. That's right straight from the Mara Fair.

You don't get more fair than that. You're rooting for the Broncos. I'm not- Time now for the hottest thing. I'm rooting for the snowstorm to cancel the game. It's up alert. Okay. Okay, first the standing.

Not great for you guys. What are you talking about? Well, I mean, you got one point. Last week, KW, you got a cover with Chicago. I got it. Brew had the Niners catch up seven. He needed to be catching 36. So that wasn't enough.

Coach, or Greg, I should say, had Houston plus three. I mean, the defense was trying to give it to you guys. So we go into this weekend, it's anybody's game. Yes. Seeing as nobody. It's not really anybody's game, though. Why? Because really, I think only Kevin and I can win. Why?

I don't think Brooke can win. Why? Because if he choose. Oh, I do have the same. Depends on who he chooses, but if he chooses the same pick as either one of us, he takes himself out of the mix. And there's only two games and two upsets. Okay, here we go.

Up sets. Let's go. Yeah, I'm going Rams on this. And I... Stop with the darn old pun. Sorry, it's a darn old winning upsettler. Good job, coach.

Go ahead. As you work. Sorry, he couldn't do it. My, Ramsey's been trying to get Darnold in for quite some time. And we finally were able to do it. And now you're... Yeah, getting darn old winning. Uffsettler.

Yeah, so when you look at this and you look at the production that Saffords had against this defense and the production that he had against his defense, Seattle. I think that's not going to change and they haven't been able to get to them in either of the two games. He's got zero sacks. And then the flip side of that with Sam Darnold, it hasn't been very good. It's been what, two touchdowns, six picks. That's problematic as well. And more so than either one of those two things is when you go into the third game of the season against the same opponent, I'm going to have to give the edge to McVeigh and Stafford from an experience standpoint and the difference between this game is going to be who does a better job

of breaking tendencies who does a really good job of showing them what they expect to see and then giving them something different and I would imagine that McVe probably has the edge there for for the Rams and that's why I like them be worth four and a half coach I'm rooting for excellent coach no it would be worth five and a half part of that's easy I haven't pulled this one out of my back pocket years, but it's appropriate. It's going to happen. No upsets. No upsets. No upsets. You're going no upsets. No upsets. Patriots win. Seahawks win. Coach, I just think those first two games, and Nick, I get it that L.A. was in control or leading the games. But the fact that Seattle could lose the turnover battle, seven to one. I like that.

Four to one in the first game and only lose by two points. Three, oh, in the second game and actually win. I think they're the better overall team putting it together. I definitely think their defense is better. The Rams defense has not impressed me recently. And Stafford hasn't been bad in the playoffs, but he hasn't been what he was in the regular season against two lesser defenses.

So I see Seattle winning this game. And I think Donald will be clean enough, one turnover probably. As far as Patriots, I just think it's a. a lot to ask of Jared Stidham has not thrown a pass in an NFL game in two years. It's a lot to ask to put somebody on this stage with that situation. And so I got no upset. No upset. And how many points that were?

You think first play of the game that come out with like hard sell play action, take a shot down the field with him? I mean, that wouldn't be a bad idea. Get to, you know. Walk them off. Yeah. I got to tell you, this is one thing after sitting next to coach. coach for damn, you know, a better part of a decade now.

I hope coach does this forever, but there's plenty of teams that could use coach's brain being involved in their organization. If coach ever goes back to another team, the first game that he's involved in, you better be damn sure they are running hard sell play action. Nobody loves hard sell play action to start a game more than coach Eric Manjini. I just love this. It's going to be deep over. It's going to be deep over.

Time now for the Pucksie Tone Phil. To make one of his last upset alert picks of the year, why they call me Puckstonny Fille football? It's because I live in a log and I'm covered with fur. This is a real test of one of my favorite sayings, defense wins championships. Much like Chris Broussard, where I've learned a lot from, I too am saying, no upset.

Zero upsets. Defense carries the day. Dusty, can we show my defense wins championships and the conference championship graphic? Patriots and Seahogs combined production this postseason. There have been 36 drives. There has been one touchdown,

six takeaways, and the passer rating. That's a nine, actually. Nine takeaways. Okay, W. Nets his glass. And the opponent's passerating looks to be 48.5. That's right. It's right.

It's right. The defense is phenomenal. The Patriots defense will start to get some respect eventually. Someone's going to come around like, you know, it was really good. The Patriots defense. But it's hard to prove against Justin Herbert in the offensive line and C.J. Stroud, who just keeps turning the ball over and without Nico Collins. And now we have playing a backup quarterback.

That being said, no absence. Who? Who should be upset? Who? Who? I can't win. You're done. You're done. He's not done.

He did. The Super Bowl counts? Because if they win, I understand, Coach. But the Super Bowl does count. Here's the problem for KW. Well, if the Patriots win, they'll be underdogs in the Super Bowl. He's going to go with them. So yeah, you're screwed, Bruce.

Sorry, you're out. It is what it is. You're right. I'm not for next picks. Red Hot. Not Red Hot. Not Red Hot. And listen.

We point thumbs not fingers. With that said, I got royally screwed across the. board last week. I have the bills catching a point in half by kickoff their favorites. Josh Allen, just don't be turning the ball over. They, I had plenty of opportunities. I lose that one. The Niners pick was a bad pick. I'll own that. The Rams I'm laying four and a half. They're up seven. Caleb Williams is facing the other goal line, 45 yards from the end zone with 10 seconds left. I'm wagering real American dollars on these events. That's a tough one. That's a really bad spot.

Patriots covered for me. This week, though, I feel great. And it's bad news for you, too. Denver, getting four and a half. Here's a fun stat. NFL playoff history. There have only been nine instances of the home team getting more than four points.

This is the 10th of a home dog in the playoffs of nine or more. Those teams are 9 and 0 against the spread. Since the merger, has there ever been a home conference title team, conference championship game team as underdogs this big? No. What about the team at home in conference championship games with a rest edge? Because the Patriots played Sunday and the Broncos played Saturday and they don't have to travel.

21 and 7 straight up. Stittum, you got two-year rest. Exactly right. Will Campbell's reaching for Nick Bedito. Can't get to him. Drake May. It feels the pressure is like, no, I still can take the shot. Oh, the ball's on the ground.

Sean Payton looking smug as ever. 17 Denver. 16 New England. Hard to get to 16, but they could do it. I would do it. One touchdown, three field goals. Broncos win, catching four and a half. And last but not least, my favorite bet of the entire year.

The Rams are the best team in the NFL. The Rams, record notwithstanding, have been the best team in the, or the, are better than the Seattle Seahawks. The Rams, Sean McVey against Seattle and Scour, 13 and 6. Last 15 against Seattle, 12 and 3 against the spread. Matt Stafford, as good as any quarterback in the world, not named Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs in the 2020s. The Rams dominated the Thursday night matchup for three.

three and a half quarters. And then Rashid Jihad returned to punt. Then Rashid Shihid got out loose on an end of a round. And all of a sudden, we're in overtime. The Rams got away with their bad playoff game last week. McVeigh came on after and was like, I hated my play calling. I let the team down.

I got conservative at the end. They got away with it. We're about to see the first great Rams playoff game this season, this evening on, this Sunday evening on Fox. Rams went out right. 31 20. 312. Rams catching 2 and a half.

Broncos catching 4 and a half. Both went out right. That's a 2 and 0 weekend, which is the lock? I'm glad you asked me in KW. Both of them. No. Both of them. Double lock.

Double lock. Can you have a double? I can do whatever I want. Double lock. Pulling for you. Double lock. I just, I want you to be successful. I am wildly successful.

It's four and a half. I don't know if any of those line there always had a new quarterback starting like that. Yeah, no way to tell. Patriots blow out on the board next. Not that you guys need any extra motivation, but did you see the strong Peyton quote, continuing that Denver fans will have some extra rest for the Super Bowl? No, I didn't know. Said they have two weeks for the rest up for the Super Base?

Yeah, no, I ain't seen. Is that matter to you guys are? You can rest in Cancun too at the end of the days. It is what a day. Slight misstep. By who? Really? Really?

Okay, Sean, just slight misstep. Why? That's not what they do. It's just the tiniest misstep. I don't think he said it arrogantly. It was just like, I got to answer you. No, I'm just like, oh, you know what I'm really focused on? I really like just being 100% on message.

Just a tiny, it's not a, it's going to be. No, it's just a tiny misstep. Well, I'm sure you haven't heard anything even remotely controversial coming out of New England because that's not what they do. decades, right. Yeah, so the whole thought process is you throw out bouquets to your opponent and you never say anything sort of inflammatory and you let them talk and then after you beat them you clown them like, oh, you had two weeks rest.

Well, the start of the season is 32 weeks away, so enjoy your 32 months rest. Flying under the radar here is all the free publicity Cancun gets. There's tons of great places to go on vacation. Oh yeah? Went there on my honeymoon. Oh, that's nice. Wow. Maybe that's why it's so popular.

Yeah. Everybody heard them. People heard through. Nobody knew about it before that. Patriots were favored by almost five, but this line is moving down towards Denver. Now, coach, the Patriots beat the Chargers by 13. They beat the Texans by 12.

The last time they played a backup quarterback. The Jets, they won by 28. I think a blowout is on the board. No, hold, no. That's not what you think. I guaranteeed a blowout. Blowout, coach. Yes.

Do you think a blowout? is on the board. Yeah, a ball, it's definitely on the board. And as much as there's confidence in Jared Stidim, he hasn't played. So that's a problem. You don't know what he's going to be like, and it's a big moment. You can assume what he's going to be like. But I think if New England gets up early and it turns into they have to throw and he has

to go win the game and they can unleash pass rushers, he's not great of getting away from pressure. So that's a problem. And when you, I watched a few games that he played, you know, there's a significant amount of wide receiver screens, quick throws, as opposed to having to move the ball down the field in chunks, having to sit in the pocket a long time. And Trevor Lawrence had, what, three passing touchdowns, a rushing touchdown. He lit him up. Jackson Dart, he had, I believe, four touchdowns as well. He kind of lit him up. So it's not like this defense hasn't been lit up at all during the course of the season. And Trevor did it in their place. So, yeah, I wouldn't guarantee it, but to say it's on the board, yeah, it's definitely on the board.

Yeah, and by the way, while you were talking, Coach, America saw Broncos plus four and a half were part of Nick's picks, and they were like, I got to get in on that. Yeah, that's true. So it is now Broncos plus three and a half. The line has moved a point in the last hour or so since we were on the air to where the Patriots are now only three and a half point favorites. Now, still, road favorites in a conference championship game is incredibly rare. Isn't that work like six? Doesn't the old road team or home team? No, you get two and a half for being at home.

So it would be a five-point swing if we're in New England versus in Denver because you get it in both directions. But regardless, I do think a Patriots blowout is on the board. Okay. Because it is certainly in play that Stidham is awful. Like it's the – You need it's in play or likely? I don't think it's likely. he's awful. I don't think

that. I think that him being 29 years old and having been in the league for this long makes him a different type of backup quarterback. My only counter to that, and that doesn't make any

sense to me, is after the Patriots played the Chargers, the discussion was Herbert was awful. And after the Patriots played the Texans, the discussion was, C.J. Stroud was awful. So now I think

Stidham is going to be, and remember, a few Adams in my heart are rooting for him, is going to be awful. So I look at these as all very separate things. So Herbert, I felt, and I'll try to be quick with it, went

into that Patriot playoff game scarred from the last playoff game where he threw four picks, and somewhere in his conscious or subconscious was, I just can't turn the ball over. And because of that, I've then watched, prepare to argue with Danny, all 22 of Herbert's dropbacks. The Patriot secondary got a bunch in that game, and guys are running open and Herbert won't

throw the ball. I think that was a Justin Herbert got in his own head game. CJ, it was a full-on meltdown, and it was now in both of those games, their offensive lines were, you know, accomplices in the murder of the quarterback of the game. Totally get it. So the reason I'm not saying, well, those two quarterbacks had awful games, so this one obviously will, I think both of those quarterbacks went into that game, those games with totally different responsibilities for what they thought they had to do in that game.

I think Stidham comes into this game saying, listen, Sean is asking me to do this and this, and I'm going to have time. And so I think one of the biggest X factors in this game is the Broncos offensive line. The biggest difference between your first two playoff opponents and this one is you go from back to back bottom five offensive lines you're rushing against to arguably, inarguably top five and arguably the best. And so I think that the Broncos offense is going to be mediocre.

That's what I think. And I think that the Broncos defense is going to get. to Drake May just like the charges and the Texans defense's day. It's undoubtedly on the board. Just because for what you guys said, Jared Stidham could go out there and be horrible. Yes. And so that's just what it is.

I think you mentioned the offensive line is a big X factor because New England's passwords has been good in the playoffs. It's J.K. Dobbins, if he, it looks like he's going to play. I mean, I looked at the history of those injuries. This would be the fastest I think anybody's come back from that. So it kind of feels like a little... That's tough. Yeah.

If he can play and then play at his normal level, like, that's huge, right? Because I don't, like last week, they ran... Bo Nix led him in Russia with 29 yards. But if Dobbins, who is a really good, you know, a good running bat, he could really help their run game, which would be a huge part of their offense if he can do it. So that could be an X factor for them too. Also, KW, you're... What you're describing and what we're talking about...

as a blowout. Like the as bad as the Chargers offense was, that game is 9 to 3 in the fourth quarter. And you guys have, you know,

the, just have a great time. The Houston game was less than a touchdown. The Houston game is 2116 in the fourth quarter. And the,

I don't think the Chargers' defense is better in the Broncos defense flatly. I don't. I think the Texans even spread on the Broncos defense. I don't think the Chargers

defense is. So like your, it's the, as, As bad as those quarterback performances were, those games were in the balance in the fourth quarter. And that's also where I think home field will help Denver. I think those teams, they're trailing, they're on the road, their quarterback's not playing well. Here's the only thing is Kevin's been right all year. So odds are he's probably right again.

You've literally been right about this all year. I'm not out on much of a limb here. I just don't think Jared Stidim is going to play well. I think that some of the Broncos' offensive line, which maybe is like a PFF thing, but I also think it's a Bo Nix calling out protections. I think Bo Nix is pretty good. I don't know if Bo Nix is calling out a bunch of protections.

I think he's helped. I think he will do a better job on identifying defenses than Jarrett Stitton. See, I don't know that. I think he's more elusive than Jared's. He's definitely more elusive. So I think he gets himself out of some sacks that then get credited to the offensive line. when we look at their overall sack now. No, he's excellent.

That was the thing Sean Payton said about why he liked him, was like avoiding the negative place. He's excellent at sack avoidance. There's no doubt about it, but I don't, I don't think he's in charge of the protection schemes for Denver. I just think he's gonna get, Jared Stenheim is gonna get tricked. He could.

Stafford in the driver's seat for MVP. The RAM's secondary, however, excited to face Sam Darnold. Cameron Kitchens telling the LA Times. They like to test the secondary Sam Darnel. They've got good receivers, and Darnel wants to throw the ball down the field and push it down the field. It's a lot of opportunities that I love when I get to show people my receiver skills. Hmm. Is there a chance that Sam Darnel Brew is the actual MVP of this game?

I think that's slim. Now, I'm not going to say very slim, but I think it's slim. Like they don't win because of Sam Darnel. They win because of the defense, the team, you know, the running game, and I know they don't have Zach Charbonnet, but I think, you know, they'll be fine in the run game. I see Darnold playing between solid and good. I think maybe one turnover

and the run game with Kenneth Walker Jr. is solid. The defense does a great job. You know, and Darnold threw for 270 yards against them in the win. So I think he can get some passes to his guy. He got great receivers. So they can make a few things happen. but I don't think it's likely that he's the MVP. It would be a great story if he comes out there and just balls.

That would be fun. But look at this graphic of Darnold. First nine games, those are great numbers, right? Look at the last nine games, and that includes the playoff game. Passer rating is way down, completion percentage, but touchdown interceptions, yard. Everything is dropped. I don't know what happened to him.

from in the first half to the second half of the season. But look at the record. It's actually better. Yeah. And so they don't win. All he has to do is go out there and not have a ton of turnovers and play a solid game, get the ball to his great receivers, and they should be able to win this game.

And you guys remember me talking about Sam Darnold in college and how his touchdown interception rate was almost like 50-50. Yeah. So that last nine games, kind of remind me what the numbers look like in college where it's like, okay, he has the production, you know, he's throwing X amount of touchdowns, but the interceptions aren't that far off.

Could that be him getting more comfortable as he's had success, like, okay, I'm going to be myself now. Let it loose. You always hope that guys are going to get out of that pattern, but typically, you know, they kind of divert back to who they are. And I'm going to say the same thing I said before the first time, they played the Rams because I thought that first game was his opportunity to erase what happened last year at the end of the year. The last game of the season, the playoff game, where he had this

unbelievable season, then the big moments came and he folded. And then that first Rams game, that was that next moment, we had a chance. I think it was, they could have the number one C, you know, it was, there was a lot on the line. Yeah, there was a lot on the line, the biggest game he had had as a Seahawk. So now here we are, and I'm hoping. for the same thing. This hero story is so close to having a happy ending, and he seems like a really good guy. So win or lose, I hope they don't lose because of him.

I hope, you know, should they lose, you know, it's a collective effort, not a four interception, one fumble type game from him. Okay. Coming up next, Josh Allen is sitting in on the interviews in Buffalo, and he's talking to Mike McDaniel, who I guess is not going to the charges? I thought there's almost a dumb deal.

Unless he gets this job. Seems weird. Sunday on Fox. I'm starting to get pumped up. Look at this. Trip to Super Bowl, 60 on the line. Stafford and the Rams take on Sam Darnold, top-seated Seahawks,

NFC championship presented by Intuit TurboTax, Sunday 6 Eastern, 3 Pacific. Only on Fox. You're watching that game for years, bro. Right after the javelin, D-thrown. I'm rooting for Jared a little bit. Former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is meeting with the Bills decision makers for their head coaching job. One of those decision makers, brew, Josh Allen, Diana Rossini-Reading.

Buffalo is making sure their best player, team leader, and face of the franchise is part of the hiring process. Josh will have significant say coach on the next coach of the Buffalo Bills. Do you like Mike McDaniel and Buffalo? And what do you think about Josh sitting in on all these meetings? Who else just got an interview there? Philip Rivers. It's in Florida, right? Yeah, these are now.

They're in Florida. So they're not having interviews in Buffalo. Okay, so you fly down to Florida. I get it. It snows in Buffalo. So you're not going down to Florida, and now you're interviewing Philip Rivers, which Philip maybe will be an awesome head coach someday,

but he's just playing a few weeks ago, and he's coached high school. So now the guy... Just so everybody knows. it has happened. Someone goes straight from being a player to a head coach the very next year. It's Norn Van Brockland.

Okay. It's the one time. Remember they did some similar with Jeff Saturday? But he had been out of league a while. He had been on TV and stuff. Well, I'm just saying high school. The reason we got rid of the last guy is, he went to two AFC championship games?

Yeah. But he couldn't get him over the hump. But that high school experience, that's what's missing in this formula. And it's just like, what are we doing? And I get it. We made an emotional decision in the locker room because the catch wasn't a catch and you wouldn't have been fired if it had been a catch. But since it wasn't a catch, we're going to fire you and things are bad.

But what about Alan being in on the meetings? I mean, it makes sense. Of course it does. Like bring Alan in. I don't know. Bring whoever else you want it. Like the whole process just seems like it was thrown together and not really well thought out. and now we're going to interview everybody.

If you're a coach, do you, how would you feel about that? Like, I mean, I guess if you're going into a job and the play, you know, you got to meet, I imagine with the quarterback at some point and just kind of talk things over, develop somewhat of a relationship. But would you like that? Because the thought is that does that give the player some power over the coach? Well, there's always danger to doing that. because then in the locker room now,

when decisions are being made and guys are getting cut. And let's say you cut a left tackle, you cut a wide receiver, can that guy, you know, when things are getting a little bit shaky, go to Josh Allen and say, hey, go talk to your guy. Go talk to your guy. Like, you know, how are you, this is your guy that you brought in and he's making these changes and now I'm going home. So there can be a little bit of, I don't know if it's jealousy or...

It's certainly weird. Just put more stuff on his plate. Baltimore did have Lamarion on the Zooms, some of their Zoom interviews. And I understand you want them to have a relationship with the quarterback, but it puts that guy in a tough position too because there have to be hard decisions that are made about personnel. And Josh has relationships with all those guys in the locker room

that are totally different than a head coach would have. And now he's part of the process of bringing the guy in. And if that guy suddenly makes sweeping changes to the organization, Josh is part of the reason why those sweeping changes are made. It's just the dynamic. I get part of the thought process, but then when you add some of these other elements into it, it just doesn't seem like this has been a really well-thought-out decision-making.

I think Bashadi and Baltimore has the right approach. Like, obviously, if I'm bringing in a coach and I have a superstar quarterback, if we like a guy, I'm going to, I would have him, okay, he's gotten, past step one or whatever, step two, we got to have him talk with Lamar or we got to have him talk with Josh and see if they can, you know, jive. But this, I agree with you on, like, I never like having a player hire the coach, so to speak. Mike McDaniel, look, we know he's a great offensive mind. I just, their problem was defense, you know, and so I think he worked wonders with Josh Allen, but defensively in Miami four years, he was only in the top 21st.

offensively. So I know you can go get a great coordinator, but. But if you're just going to go get the guy that's worked really well with Josh Allen, Brian Dayball worked really well with Josh Allen. So if that's the criteria, then you have a very clear answer. You don't know how Mike McDaniel is going to work with Josh Allen. They may not connect, you know, from a personality standpoint, from a scheme standpoint. It's a complete unknown, even though he coaches offense. The bills have gone from incredibly seemed like well-o-o-oil. machine franchise to are they dysfunctional in very quickly yeah it looks like it

looked like it was just tough playoff losses is what we thought not do they not know what they're doing live from New York New York my goodness it's the show that's on tilt because Danny is claiming a food gasey postseason picks championship it's first things first overtime today not all the will the sea hawks exhibit oh the seehawks shut down Everyone's All-American, Matthew Stafford. Also, the Bills are interviewing Philip Rivers to be their next head coach. Is it possible?

They just don't know what they're doing in Buffalo. Certainly possible. And we are less than 48 hours away from championship weekend kicking off. Who will make the biggest impact? I'm Nick Wright, alongside Danny Parkins, coach Manjini with the rare OTA block appearance. And Chris Broussard, Danny. Who do you think it's going to be the MVP of the weekend? Me when I go to and O against the spread.

All right, we start in Denver, where Wilde MVP Drake May will try to win his first road playoff game. The Patriots, it should be noted. O and four in the playoffs as a franchise in Mile High. Tom Brady, three of those losses. So it hasn't been an easy task even for the goat. Here's Drake May on the challenge. Just the AFC championship chance to go to the Super Bowl. I mean, that'd be huge, you know, another road environment that's had success in the past for us just to play to our standard and play to our road, kind of what we've been doing on the road all this season long.

I know it's going to be a tough challenge. They've got a great team. So we're going to have a tough challenge, but I'm looking forward to getting out there and, you know, looking forward to, you know, get a chance to possibly celebrate on a way field. It would be pretty special. Danny, what would making the Super Bowl mean for Drake May specifically? It would mean a lot. And so thinking about this all day, obviously, I'll start with the most obvious. It's looking like last year's draft class or two years ago's draft class was like a pretty historic quarterback class.

And it would cement him as the guy in the poll position. He probably already is with most people with him, Caleb and Jaden Daniels. But Jaden Daniels also made it to the conference championship game. And some people, to be fair, would say you got to include Bo Nix as well in the group. He got his team to the conference championship game just hasn't been able to play in it. Right. So if Drake gets further than all of them and has the best MVP finish, I think it would be, it'd be very hard to argue based on accomplishments. So that's the easiest one that I'll start with. He'd be the ninth quarterback ever to start a Super Bowl in year two. So pretty cool, exclusive list of guys he could join. He'd be the second youngest quarterback ever behind Marino.

He would jump in front of Big Ben, second youngest QB ever to start a Super Bowl. But I think this is the coolest one. In terms of combining winning and the Super Bowl appearance, like winning 12 games or more at age 23 or younger and making a Super Bowl, Dan Marino in his famous 1984 season and Drake May, when you combine that with a runner-up finish for MVP. And he might, maybe he wins MVP. But I'm doing the floor.

I'm doing the bare minimum is here, Super Bowl. Super Bowl appearance and MVP runner-up is the floor of what he will accomplish in his age 23 season. We're talking about one of the great starts to a career in NFL history. No, I agree. And he gets to Joe Burrow treatment if he gets to the Super Bowl. What's that mean? Burrow is still, to your point, riding off the fact that he got to the Super Bowl in his second year.

Now, you're right, a lot of it is he beat Mahomes. Yeah. But, and obviously that's not the case for Joe. Drake May, but this is a heck of a run. The defenses he will have gone through. That's true. All top 10, the Chargers, the Texans, and then Denver, and if he meets Seattle in the Super Bowl and went, like,

going through these three defenses is really impressive. So I think he would kind of be viewed. And next year, he goes in probably as a top five game. Maybe Burrow would be kind of the guy he replaces. because if Stafford gets there, he's obviously going to be in. So he's probably going in next season as a top five guy right away. Yeah, winning in Denver is tough. The last game I coached the Patriot was in Denver in a playoff game,

and we had five turnovers offensively. And then I lost an AFC championship game with the Jets in Denver. So there's a lot of scar tissue with that. And I know how hard it is to play in that environment. It's disappointing that Nix isn't there because you would have liked to have seen it head-to-head. and it is a little bit different now with Stidham. I don't know if this winning this cements anything. I think it's fantastic, but I think then it becomes, you know,

what does he do in the Super Bowl? And it also, as we talked about with Sam Darnold and some of these other quarterbacks, is how did they win? Right. Did they win in spite of him or did they win because of him? And that part of the equation is important. not only this week, but if they win this week, also in the Super Bowl. So I, this is a very weird spot for Drake May in that I actually, because of the Knicks

injury, don't think this game is a massive needle mover for him given where he already is. Like I think to what you said off the top, I think most people already think he's the best quarterback of that draft class or he has been the best quarterback of that draft class even if they think Jaden or Caleb or even Bo are going to overtake him like he's that that I don't think Bo is as great

as he was to get them there I think it's Drake Caleb and Jaden I do too right now I mean Jaden did go to the NSAT yeah right he did right and the three of them did great individual thing no I more than more than Bo I agree with your I you know

I agree with that I'm just trying to be fair to if Wilder, he'd be like Bonix just set the record for wins over two years. But I think he already has that distinction that right now he's in pole position of the draft class. I think he already has had the best not I think I know. He already has

had the best regular season of any of those guys. And this year, he had, I think, everybody agrees, at the very least, a top three regular season performance of all quarterbacks in the NFL. I think he already is in

that, is this guy a top five quarterback discussion as it is? Because of the injury to Stidham, I think that winning this game, again you got to see how it goes. I'm sorry, the injury to Nix, people

aren't going to treat it anything like Burroughs. Because Burroughs, it was not just he made the Super Bowl. It was he played the opposite of Jared Stidham. He played Patrick Mahomes, you know, coming off back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, having almost one league MVP that year. And so I think...

But what if he... I hear you, and that makes sense, unless Drake goes out there and is awesome. He throws for 280, three touchdown, you know what I mean? A gaudy game. That makes Stidham kind of irrelevant. I agree with you. They scored 28 plus and he has some awesome game. I just think, I think that this...

I've never seen anything like this, Danny, where the road team in a conference championship game is the one with all the pressure on it, where it feels like this is because of the quarterback injury and because Stidham hasn't played, it's not even like their backup. It almost would feel differently if their backup quarterback was Jimmy G. Even though I think Stidham might be better than Jimmy G for all I know, but just because someone we know used to be a starter, where it feels like the home team, it's a house money game, and the road team, it's a, this would be a catastrophic loss game, even though they're not touchdown favorites. They're small favorites.

That's what I was just going to say. You've never seen it before because it's never happened before. This is the least amount of experience, Jared Stidham, that any quarterback has ever had making a start in a conference championship game. So it is a one-of-one in NFL history thing. We don't have anything to compare it to. We got plenty of conference championship games

where the spread is three and a half points. Now, usually the road team would be the underdog compared to the home team, but this isn't like an unprecedented thing. It was five and a half, now it's three and a half. You've said Brew a lot, like this would be an awful loss for the Patriots. I think

it would be. I don't care what the point spread is. I think that it would be viewed as a massive missed opportunity. Well, that is true. I don't know how you can put them in the top five quarterback conversation after just one year. Was this a second year, to be fair, but you

mean one excellent year? Yeah, what actually year? Well, I guess here would be against the easiest schedule in 20 years. I mean, I think you got to I might have to cool it off a little. A gauntlet of playoff defenses

that he's going through. Yeah, and the ball was on the ground five times and just bounced the right way. So I, so let, let, and the quarterback play on the other side was tragic. So, coach, let me just ask you and I'm trying to put you on the spot.

And let me expand, let me soften it to make it easier. Expand top five to top six. Yeah. If we said Patrick, Josh, Lamar, Joe, and Stafford, let's just say that that is the top five. If the Patriots are in the Super Bowl and say, let's say Drake may play as well.

They win this week, go to the Super Bowl and they lose, but he plays a mediocre game. To me, it would be hard. There's not another quarterback that comes to mind for me that I would say deserves that spot. What if Sam Donald goes out and lights it up, an unbelievable game. Is he in that conversation?

I don't think Sam Darnold's as good as Drake May. I don't think... I'm just saying he's had back-to-back 14-3 seasons, took two different organizations to that level, and now he goes out and lights it up and... I think if it was his first three or four years, yes. But the fact that he had those six years... And if he had Josh McDaniels in his second year,

he might look different too. All right, let's go to Sam Darnold, hanging to the NFC where the Seahawks are hosting the Rams. Monday 6th Eastern on Fox. Some people are calling this the real Super Bowl. It's pretty sick. Fox had the Super Bowl last year. We get it again this year.

It's unbelievable. Stafford has looked like the MVP, at least to my eye, all season long, but he has his hands full with the Seahawks defense. Here's everyone's All-American on the Legion of Boom 2.0. Take a listen. Top to bottom. They've got depth. They've got, you know, quote unquote star power guys that are, you know,

really huge difference makers within games. And I think they're really well coached. You know, the more time you get into a system, obviously, the better you can be. And those guys are doing a hell of a job. Danny, do you think Seattle's defense can shut down the leading candidate for League MVP, Matt Stafford? Can, yes. I do. Do you think they will?

No. I don't think they will shut him down. We'll get to the picks in a second. I tip my hand probably all week. Like, I do think that Seattle is playing better right now. But why I've loved this matchup so much all year is arguably best young offensive coach. Not that McVeigh is that young anymore. He is with age, but he's plenty experienced.

And then arguably best young defensive mind and Mike McDonald, both of these games have been fascinating. Week 16, and I'll get to it in a second, was the game I predicted to be the game of the year. And then it was the 38, 37 overtime game. But the game that they played in week 11 was also fascinating because of, yes, the darn old turnovers and how close the game still was, but also, if we could put it up, Matt Stafford struggled.

Like, his fewest completions, his fewest passing yards, and his lowest yards per pass. Stafford in both games actually completed less than 60% of his passes. Now, in the week 16 game, which we have, it is the polar opposite of that, obviously. It is arguably the best quarterback game that anyone had in the NFL this year. And I totally understand why someone would look at that and say, well, I'll put more emphasis on the more recent one.

Well, and the trajectory says he's going to throw for 775. Yeah, right. But like, can Seattle shut down Stafford? They have sacked him zero times in two games. They've only hit him seven times in two games. So their pass rush has not been effective. He throws the ball very quickly. But 50% of the time, they held him to arguably his worst game of the year.

So they definitely can impact Matt Stafford. Look, I don't see them shutting him down. You're right. First game, they did kind of shut him down. But I don't see that happening here. I think they can slow him down and keep him in check. Like, I think that's the best thing that I could see happening with what they do at Stafford, where he doesn't throw for three or four touchdowns, doesn't throw for 400 yards.

And, you know, he doesn't dominate the game. That's their pattern of path to winning, I think. Yeah, I think they can slow him down, but not, not, I don't think he's going to get shut down. Yeah, the fact that the second game was so much better, so after they had the experience this season with what they were doing defensively, after they had a chance to see how Seattle wanted to play them, things that were successful from Seattle's defense, you know, in the first game. And then they go out in that second game and you put up, you know, almost half a thousand yards throwing the ball. That's problematic. And then you have the three touchdowns.

110 quarterback rating. And to me, Seattle has got to figure out a way to get some pressure on them. No sacks in either game, that's not going to work if it happens again. And the fact that the only, what, you said hit him seven times? Yes, it's seven hits and 79 dropbacks, no sacks, no turnovers. Yeah, I don't think that formula is going to work. So hopefully Seattle has either designed some pressures that they really like that they think can beat the protection or they're going to do

something, they've got to do something different, something to get off the tendency pattern so that Stafford is making post snap decisions and has to hold the ball longer than he wants to. I think it helps them that he threw for 457 yards in the second game. Because now

there's more of a sense of urgency, even though they want to change things. If they had shut him down again in the second game, you're thinking, okay, what we do he has problems with. So, So I think that Rams are the team of the year. I know Seattle's had the best season.

I also, and I know people are probably tired of hearing me talk about this, Rashid Shaheed Punt Return. But I truly believe we are one, you know, guy 51 on the Rams roster, not missing a tackle away from the Rams having beaten Seattle twice, having the second time they beat them, they beat them soundly because they were in firm control of that game late, you know, going into that and Darnold had been bad in both games up to that point because everything good Darnold did in the two matchups came after that punt return and we look at the Rams as a 13-14 win

team that if that game had been different, this game would be in their building. It's like, oh, they're clearly the best team in the league. They have the same resume of Denver and the Patriots, but instead of playing the second easiest and the easiest schedule in football, they played one of the hardest schedules in football. I think Matt Stafford had his bad game of the playoffs. It was last week against Chicago, and you guys blew it. Sorry, Parco.

Yeah, no, that did happen. Because week one of the playoffs, coaches Panthers. They were feisty, and that was, to me, a really bad, tough game for the Rams defense. Rams often scored 30. Stafford threw three touchdowns with 300 yards, had the one interception, and Puka saved him from the other one. So it's not like he was a flawless game, but he moved the ball. I just think McVey and Stafford came back when we didn't know if he was going to. They were like, they're going to trade him.

They didn't. Gave him the off season off so he could be peaking at this time. And I have massive respect for what Seattle has accomplished this year. I just think the Rams got away with their bad game already. And those teams are dangerous. What did you keep saying about the two matchups, the seven turnovers? I mean, that's baffling to me. Seven turnovers to one, and yet they beat them one of the games and lost by two in the other.

So you can erase. And the special teams is a problem for the Rams. Yes. Like, I mean, a kick return is usually an aberration, but I'm just saying their special teams in general is a weakness. And you're right. Usually when the turnover margin is that lopsided, the games are lopsided. And for them to be able to keep it as close as they did is a really. a good thing, but what did the Rams

hang in the second game? 37? 37. They lost 38, 37 in overtime. I just, I think this is Stafford and McVeigh's moment, and I don't think Seattle can beat the Rams by double digits. I do think, and I think

I've seen a game play out where it looked like, oh, the Rams are going to beat the Seahawks by double digits. They just blew it at the end. All right, time now for the most annoying segment on sports TV. Oh, what a friend. We're on the cusp of championship weekend,

which means it's time for Danny to put on a garish fake chain and guess which teams will win by flipping a coin. It's time for Parkins' picks. With friends like these who needs enemies. But here's the thing. 27 and 27 earned the regular season lost by half a game.

The Nick, not proud of it. Last year won 65% against the spread. Is the chain fake? There's no way to know. But seven and three. You really should not even be able to accept that bear's cover. That is such a shameful cover. I'm sorry.

Did they cover? Right. It is what it is, baby. I wanted the outright win. They're down seven. Caleb's back is to his end zone. He's going the wrong way, 45 yards away. I remember my first bet.

That's not how it works. All right, three and one last week. But more importantly than that, If we could go over the full season. There it is. That's not how this work. Congratulations on your regular season crown. That is the main part of the game.

But it's not the entire part of the game. Because the goal is to win as many best as possible. To give out as many winners to the public as possible. You have given out 31 winners. I've given out 34 winners. You're under 500. I'm above 500, which means the crown is still in play. Can I say something real quick before you do your pick since you brought me into this?

Yes, yes. Oh, for real. Like your intro didn't bring yourself. Brew. Go ahead. How did, do you remember how the picks ended in the regular season? What happened with Danny when he got all chesty? How he went 0 and 6 down the stretch.

And that allowed me to win by the skin of my teeth. Yeah. I'm doing the math correctly. Since I have that one push, if you go 0 and 3 the rest of the way, and I go 3 and 0, I will beat you again. Is that correct? I mean, I'm not great at math. Do I look scared?

Just checking. Okay. Some would say, you know, tread lightly, don't make the same mistake twice. But God, I hope we're on the opposite side of both of these games. I, God, I hope. I had both underdogs. I cannot wait to see who you have. I'm guessing, though.

Let's go in order, my friend, the AFC game. I'll lay the points. Oh, and you're not even having to lay the four and a half. Yeah, I'm sorry. Pull up your app right now. It's three and a half moving in my direction. So if the Patriots win by four, we both win. But, hey, New England minus three and a half.

Why am I choosing this? Could I talk about the superior quarterback? It's Drake, Mike. Sure, I could do that. But the Patriots defense, coach, defense wins championships wilds like to say. They're getting healthy. They are playing their best football of the year.

Through two playoff games, opponents running backs yards per rush. Best we've seen through two playoff games since 2002. Opponent passer rating. Best through two playoff games since 2011. Defense. Milton Williams. Christian Gonzalez.

Mike Frable. Patriots defense rounding into form. That doesn't strike me as a great opportunity for Jared Stidham to get a lot going there. I think the Patriots win the game by double digits. They'll cover three and a half and four and a half. And now are we on the other side, Nick, of the NFC? Yes. We are.

Thank God. I'll lay the two and a half with Seattle. You can talk about the close games. Most of your analysis all year of people who've been paying attention. Which team is the better quarterback? Yeah, I agree. Matt Stafford is better than Sam Darnold. But it's a team game, 53-man roster.

Well, they played in week 11. That was the game when Sam Darnold was awful, and the Rams won. What have these teams done since week 11? The Seahawks have been the best team in football. The Rams have been, okay? Lost a game to Carolina, lost a game to the Falcons. almost lost the playoff game to the Bears, almost lost the playoff game to the Panthers. They've been very shaky defensively.

Meanwhile, Seattle's been a juggernaut, blowing people out, winning their games, covering the spread, impacting the games defensively. Two and a half feels easy to me. I'm on both favorites on championship someday. You're going to choke this thing away twice. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. All you had to do was take.

one of the picks I had and you would lock in your Fugazi combined championship. You're going to blow it twice. Will I be putting it back on? Coming up next. Tune in next week. Will Philip Rivers be Josh Allen's next head coach? That sounds ridiculous. But it's a fun thing to talk about.

That's next on first things first OT. Welcome back to the O T. We got Coach Mangini and Willie Colon out here and the story in Buffalo is just juicy. They are doing head coaching interviews in Florida. Josh Allen's participating. My guy Mike McDaniel is interviewing. Philip Rivers is interviewing. Our pet's heads are falling off. Don't forget that Philip Rivers played football this season.

So a lot to unpack here. The question is a very straightforward one. What do you make of their coaching search? And I am going to just choose to Occam's razor this. Like the simplest explanation is most often the correct one. I don't believe Philip Rivers is about to be the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. But there are still four teams. playing this weekend.

And so it seems totally reasonable to me to assume that Chris Shula might be on their list. He was with the Rams, obviously, as their defensive coordinator. Or Clint Kubiak, the offensive coordinator of the Seahawks. I think that maybe... Dable?

Sure. I mean, Dable's the first name that everyone connected, but they could hire Brian Dable right now. Maybe Philip Rivers' agent is calling in a favor because he wants to get into coaching and he's getting his name out there. But there's just no way in the world, coach, I could imagine, that Philip Rivers gets to coach Josh Allen in his prime when he's been most recently coaching high school. Yeah, the search looks a lot like

the decision to fire McDermott. Which didn't look great in terms of the explanation. Not really well thought out. And you walk in the locker room and you weren't going to fire him if he wins the game and you feel like it was a catch when it wasn't a catch. But if it was a catch, it would have won the game. So he wouldn't have been fired, but you fired him anyways. And now you're here and bringing Philip Rivers into this mix. And I get what you're saying. Maybe they are waiting to interview some other guys. But what does this do?

And Philip Rivers seemed like a great guy. And he just played, which was miraculous after five years on the couch. But he has only coached high school football. And what we're talking about is we're talking about a guy that's supposed to come in and replace a head coach who took his team to two AFC championship games. And this new coach is supposed to be the one to get a kid. them over the hump. This isn't, this isn't, hey, learn on the job as you go. This is someone who's going to come in. Which is why he's not going to get the job. But, but, but, but from a fan base perspective, there's already 40,000 Buffalo Bills fans who have signed a petition to bring

back McDermott. You're not instilling a lot of confidence in the fan base in the terms of how you fired McDermott. And now you're going through the search and it just, it just doesn't seem like it's, yeah, well thought out and discipline. Yeah, I agree with. coach. I think the name that interests of me, interest in me most is probably Mike McDaniel, because I've always been a fan of his sister and his offense. And I feel like if Josh Allen is in that offense, he can do what Tua couldn't do. And that's being able to extend plays with his legs, right? Like Tua didn't run because obviously the concussion situation. Nevertheless, man, I think one of the things to your coach's point, I agree with, like your next half,

there's a lot of pressure on getting this right, because you do feel like you have a playoff roster, right? You do feel like, man, we're just, we just need a facelift here and we can we can make a running. Whoever this next coach is, man, he has to not only be in line with Josh Allen, but he also has to finish the job what Sean McDormick couldn't do, which is obviously go to distance. I also think right now, if you're if you're Josh Allen, you know, you being a part of this process, if I'm, you're doing your teammates, that kind of bothers me. I don't like the fact that you have, if you want to Josh Allen's teammates. Yeah, because I don't like the fact that you have that type of autonomy. You know what I mean? I feel like, man,

that muddies the water when it comes to accountability. Maybe I'm wrong. No, I just I just feel like that. I don't want to never sit next to the guy. He'd be like, you know what? I like the way you've been playing the last couple of weeks. I'm going to go upstairs and have a conversation with the front office. Like, I understand a quarterback is always going to be in alignment with the front office. But knowing that that you're the guy that can possibly have a bad guy or me, you know, not being the same in the court with you have that type of power.

That changes a dynamic in the locker room because you don't, you no longer become the guy I want to have beers with. You become the guy with, I have to sit. I have to be caffer around you. Our locker room is sacred. Our conversations are sacred. Now, the coach that you hire to be in alignment with you, you separate yourself from that brotherhood. You know what I mean?

You know what I mean? Coach. So it just, it bothers me. I don't like the fact that's public. Not to say that other guys don't have that or haven't had that type of work or that type of situation, but that being made public, that doesn't sit well with it. And I'm so glad that Willie made that point because that was my concern too, is it does put Josh Allen in a really difficult position.

100%. He's not one. other guys anymore. And even when Aaron Rogers was talking about that and other guys who have been in that spot, so now if someone gets cut or someone doesn't get the contract that they want or another hard decision

is made, can they go to Josh Allen and say, hey, go make this right? Can they look at Josh Allen and say, why didn't you protect me? Because you know that he's essentially got an office up top. So it distinguishes him from a player to almost a management role, which is

an awkward position for him to be in. So, devil's advocate point because the Raven said they were going to do the same thing with Lamar, that Lamar could be as involved in the interview process as they wanted them to be. Which is dangerous for Lamar too, by the way. Okay, but you highlighted it as a positive that Jesse Minter would have already have a relationship with Lamar from their time in Buffalo. Like these guys now make hundreds of millions of dollars in their contract. They are different than an offensive line manager defensive end.

Yeah, you're right from that aspect, but this is the problem. when you're a guy who's sitting at a table making those type of decisions, now you're held to a different standard, right? There's no longer you being late or sleeping around the locker room. Like, you now become an extension of the front office, so you now step into a presidential role.

We're not the same now. You know what I mean? Were you ever the same? Like, were you the same as Ben Rothesberger? The price tag was different, but when we was in that Foxhole, we were together. That's the difference. Now, I don't see you in that Foxhole with me.

Now, I'm now walking around the field like, man, I got to show up. And who's the closest thing to watch me outside the film is a guy I'm protected. So if he's not happy with my play style, I can no longer go to him and express how I'm, how I'm, you know, not functioning within the offense. Now he's looking at me like, well, maybe you just not hold up. Maybe now he's separating himself. And you want the guys. Like, if the guys are complaining about the head coach, they want to be able to complain about the head coach. If they want to complain about the GM, they complain.

That, you know, that's their safe space. but if you think one guy is kind of part of that other group, it's not quite the same same space. And think about the end of the game when they lost to the Broncos and the guys that were crying in that locker room. And why were they crying? Because they felt like Josh, they let Josh down, right? Now it changes that dynamic.

Like, yeah, now you're one of us, but now you're kind of like, you're the extra phone. You know what I mean? It just, I feel like it's just something that shouldn't have been made public, but now it is. And now guys are going to start looking at Josh. By the way, he's due to the whole. have foot surgery to, right? Like, there's

circulation behind that. And what if Josh helps hire the next head coach and the next head coach is a disaster? A hundred percent. Everybody's going to be like, really good? I mean, he's still Josh Allen. I got to imagine Josh Allen. I got to imagine Josh Allen's going to be fine. And I'll just say one thing about Mike McDaniel. Maybe the Dolphins shouldn't have fired him. He could have been the O.C.

How about you don't fire Sean McDormick? Well, okay, but he could have been the O.C. of the defending champs for Baker, Mayfield. He could be the, he's going to be the offensive coordinator for Justin Herbert with Jim Harbaugh. He turned down the opportunity to interview for the the head coaching job in Cleveland. He interviewed for other head coaching.

Like, he might be the head coach in Buffalo. Mike McDaniel, pretty in demand the guy. I mean, the Dolphins didn't win any playoff games, right? When he was there and Buffalo did. Sure. Same division. Sure. But Mike McDaniel, pretty in demand.

Like, he's going to fall up from getting fired. Yeah, John Harbaugh is in demand too. That's a thing. Okay. I've done it my whole career. Sunday on Fox with a trip to Super Bowl 60 on the line. Matthew Stafford and the Rams take on Sam Darnold and the top. top-seated Seahawks, the NFC Championship presented by Intuit TurboTax Sunday at 6 Eastern,

3 Pacific on Fox. Welcome back to the OT. Time now for most impactful player, two games, four teams, one guy that we think will make all the difference for each squad. We'll go in order. What's first? Who will be the most impactful Patriots player? I promise I'm not going to do this for every team, but I'm taking Drake May.

I'm not going quarterback or across the board. They are 8 and 0 on the road this year. Everyone talks about it because it is true. I've been to a playoff game at Denver. You've coached at a playoff game in Denver. You've played at a playoff game. Lost in Denver. Yeah, you lost the T-bo. I lost an AFC champion. Yikes. I've never lost. I was just there as a fan. But like if they are, there's pass rush problems. There's offensive line problems. There's crowd noise problems. Okay. You're the better quarterback by far in this spot. You've been. unbelievable on the road this year. You've been incredible under pressure. It's the type of profile of player that is designed to overcome a bad offensive line and a tough road environment and all that. So like if you can do what you've been all year, do it against the best defense by far you faced on the road.

I think Drake made's most impactful guy. Yeah, I got their rookie left tackle. That's Will Campbell, man. He's going to need a plan and a prayer because he's going to get one of the most versatile pass rushers in the national football league. And that's Nick Benito. I love Nick Benito, just turn on the tape and you'll see why. Nevertheless, man, this dude is giving up three sacks in the last two playoff games.

That's a problem. Especially, he did that at home, by the way. Now you're going on the road, hostile environment. You know the defensive line for the Bronx. It's probably one of the toughest in the national football league. He's going to have a big day for Drake May to do what he does. No one's going to help Drake May and help the left tackle. A really good running game.

Sure. And so I'm going with Remandrey Stevenson. And Remandre has been great throughout the course of the playoffs. Right now he's got 20 carries for 120. 23 yards. He's averaging 4.7 yards of carry. And when you look at Trayvon Henderson, he's at 2.5 yards of carry through the postseason. So Ramandre has been excellent in terms of his production. And when you run the ball and run the ball successfully, it slows down the pass rush, it calms down the offensive line. It gives them a chance to attack as opposed to having a sit back

the whole time. And it's like body blows for a boxer. It just wears down the defense. And then all the play action becomes that much more meaningful and all the other things that you want to do, you gain the edge back from a defense that's as aggressive and as able to create pressure as Denver is. All right. Let's get to the other side of the coin. What's next? Who will be the most impactful Broncos player? Yep. For me, this is Nick Benito and you mentioned him Willie. He had 14 sacks in the regular season. He's a sack in the playoffs. And, and what? What is? What? You're going to, he's a second. What almost changed the game last week was the pressure on Drake May, him putting the ball on the ground. And it's interesting because as good as Denver's been at applying pressure, they haven't been great at creating fumbles.

And this is a game where Nick Benito not only has to get to the quarterback, but he's got to know where the ball is and get the ball on the ground. And I think he has an opportunity to do that. Yeah, I'm going to piggyback off of it. Willie mentioned him first on the Patriots side, but I'm going with Nick Benito also. Now listen, Cooper's an awesome rusher. Allen's a monster on their defensive line. Obviously, the Broncos all year was, can they catch the 84 bears for most in the season?

Fell short, but that is the biggest strength of their team by far. With Knicks out, they're going to need to dominate. The Will Campbell situation, the left side of the Patriots offensive line. They're just, I mean, every stat about their pass rushes, the Broncos are 13 and one when allowing a pass rating below 100. Two and two when they get above. They have to make an impact on. Below 100.

That's a pretty amazing. Just 100. 100. Yeah, just make an impact, play off your crowd, get there. So Benito is the face of it. There's a lot of guys who could do damage in that Broncos pass rush. But I think we had a stat the other day. 75 or more pressures, 14 or more sacks.

It was Miles Garrett, Aidan Hedgeson, and Nick Benino. It's one of the best defensive players in football. Oh, dog. For me, it is Jared Stitton. We've been talking about them all week. There's no doubt Sean Payton's going to have him prepared between the ears. Nevertheless, I've been talking about the operation. He's been taking snaps with his backup center.

Now they get their starting center back, Luke Wittenberg, which is great. He's going to be able to direct traffic, control the noise on the office line. But nevertheless, it's about cadence and snaps. You can't have those mishaps in between that solely because Stidham's only been working with one center. Hopefully that's not the issue of this game because we've seen what happened with C.J. Stroud and how that looked at all the starting center, excuse me. You're talking about the fumbling and all the other nonsense that came along with that. They need to have a smooth operation for Stidham to have a big game.

Hopefully that's the case. Willie, I went back and watched his two games, the last two that he started, and his operation was actually really clean throughout the game. The only place in both games that it was bad was on the goal line. A delay game, they had a false start, and then a fumble on the goal line. The rest of the operation was really good. You can't have operation mistakes there. I know Nick did most to gain earlier.

The literal most to gain this weekend is Jared Stidham. I mean, if Jared Stidham... Outplays money? If he wins because of him? Huge. I mean, we're talking tens and tens of millions of dollars. Teams will look to you to be a starter. It is a life-changing thing for you, your family, your reputation.

Like, Sean Payton has said he's one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the world. If you're one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the world, that's a really good gig. He obviously has the most to gain if you take it literally. What's next? Who will be the most impactful Rams player? Yeah, I'm going back to the quarter. to the quarterback here and I'm saying it's Matt Stafford because he's played Seattle twice. One game, he had 457 yards and it was the best quarterback game anyone had played this year.

The game in week 11, they almost lost when Sam Donald just kept giving the ball to the other team because he had his fewest yards of the season, his fewest completions of the season. He's the MVP of the league, we assume, and Seattle's defense has been much better than the Rams defense the last third of the year. So I think Seattle is going to score points on the Rams. You've had two sides of this coin. You were dominant in one game. You were pretty bad in the other. You were just fortunate to win because the other guy had one of the worst games all year.

Matt Stafford needs to play like the MVP in order to overcome the Rams defense. Yeah, I'm going to one of his wide receivers to Devante Adams. And we all think of Devante Adams as, of course, he's gone to a Super Bowl. He was on all those Green Bay teams. Yeah. But he hasn't. He's been to five conference championships games and never been to the Super Bowl. He says it's like this mystical thing that's eluded in his whole career.

And they have a great opportunity to do that. And the opportunity gets that much better if he can perform like the number one and create some plays, which he's done his whole career. I know how impressive he is down in the red zone. We need some more of that magic in the field, too. Yeah, I'm going with Byron Young, their star Edge Rush, who has 12 sacks on the season. Now he's dealing with some injuries. He's been hampered with that.

But nevertheless, man, when we've seen this Rams defense half success against Sam Donald is when this defense line has taken over games when they're able to condense the pocket, really speed Sam Donald up. He's going to have to be impactful on the edge. And what I love about this Rams defense, man, they come at you away. It's not just certain Jabverse can get high. Tom about Fis can get going. So for him and this defensive line to impact this game, they have to be able to get after Sam

Donald and it starts with him coming off the edge. Let's get to the home team in the NFC championship game. Who will be the most impactful Seahawks player? So I'm going with Kenneth Walker here because obviously the goal for Seattle is not to make this a Sam Darnold shootout. You watch Seattle and they are sometimes calling plays not to hide their quarterback, but to simplify. Like there's some one rethrows, there's some get the ball quick. Calm him down because sometimes he can be a little skittish. We know that.

Well, best way to do that. You were talking about it earlier is a great running game. Charbonnet gets hurt. Kenneth Walker comes in, has three touchdowns. Last week, he had two combined over the previous 14 games. Kenneth Walker is a good player. And now they don't have as much depth at the running back position, so he's going to have to come through in order

so this is not a Sam Darnold has to be a hero type game. Yeah, I got Rashid Shahid. Every since he left New Orleans, man, he's been popping off the tape. You talk about week 16 in that game, man. He had a 58-yard punt return, right? And he talked about last week in the divisional game, had a 95-yard kickoff return. This dude has been the X-factor,

and one of the weak spots on this Rams team is their special team. I mean, they fired their special team's coordinator middle way through the season. Nevertheless, man, this dude... It was week 16 after this game. It was very late in the season, yeah. He's averaging 29.9 yards and kick returns, 16 yards and punt return.

He can be the X factor for the Seahawks and it would be the reason they win this game. Talked about DeMante Adams on the Rams side and not being able to go to a Super Bowl. I'm going to talk about another older guy, to Marcus Lawrence. So this is 12 season, 11 years in Dallas, had some really incredible years, signs a three-year contract after getting hurt in Dallas, comes into Seattle. And now this is his first opportunity to play in this game, and it'd be amazing for him then to go to the Super Bowl.

And he's going to be a big part of why they go to the Super Bowl. They haven't been able to get any sacks at all on Stafford. They haven't really been able to get many pressures on Stafford. And it's been a group effort in Seattle. He has six sacks, just three. other guys with seven sacks. But the guys there talk about his presence, his, his, um, him keeping the guys in the moment, him explaining how special this is. And, and that to me has been a powerful part of their late season drive and their success. Only seven hits on Matt Stafford in two games with 79 dropbacks, no turnovers. Like I, is it possible? Right. He's so smart. receivers that are so good, they get rid of the ball so quick.

I don't really know if it's possible to generate a bunch of a pass rush against that. You got to eliminate his first read because you know he's always looking to puller, especially on the explosive plays, especially on those end breaker routes. So if they can eliminate those where he has to kind of choke on the football, that's how you'd be able to get to him. And you've got to force him to make some post-snap decisions. And you also have to show him things that he's used to seeing from your defense, but play something else. So you give him what he wants, give him the look that he wants, but then bring him. something else so that he has to process it because if he knows it goes and it goes to the right

place. Stafford below 60% completion in both games against Seattle. Even the game that he had the monster still completed less than 60% of his passes. A little bit of trash talk, Bruin. The AFC's championship game needs it. Pats, Broncos we discuss coming up on the O2. Not that you guys need any extra motivation, but did you see the strong patent quote continuing that Denver fans will have some extra rest for the Super Bowl? No, I never said. two weeks to rest up for the space. Yeah, no, I see it.

Is that mad at you guys all? You can rest in Cancun, too. At the end, guys, that it is what to have. The AFC championship game needs a little juice. Smoke. Yeah, like, I want to see, like, the teams meeting at the 50-yard line arguing about which team. There is Packer staff.

Yeah, which team has, like, more trips to Cabo and Cancun booked over. Like, NFC championship game is going to have juice. Division rivals, two best teams this year. AFC has been like, oh, what a great story. Jarrett's did them. I like this. Little trash talk in the AFC. Yeah, man.

I mean, not to be the old man on the Porsche, but that was the NFL I played in, man. When we played the Ravens or a division rival, those guys would come out in cold weather with their arms all bay-boiled up at six-pack out, and they'd be saying ungodly things, and I kind of got your mojo going. The fact that you've got your head coach talking,

now you've got to back them up, right? Now you've got to be up ready for the fight. Yeah, I don't think Bray will really want them to say that. I remember when we played the Steelers, our first Super Bowl, and they were already booking Super Bowl tickets and hotel rooms. And so then when we beat him, we asked if we could get those tickets in the hotel rooms.

But we didn't say anything ahead of time, but after the game, we're like, hey, you got those rooms? Yeah. Yeah, but you took note of it ahead of time. Oh, yeah, you absolutely took. And I'm sure there's going to be T-shirts to say you can rest in can tune too. Yeah, it's just like it's something after the game. Well, now we live in the world of social media, so the clapback is instant. Like do-d-d-d-do-do-do.

All that fun. And people don't take it through all the time. We're all in the, everyone's in the pocket. Yeah, it's fantastic. But the AFC needed it. I like it. Good old-fashioned trash talk. Never heard anybody.

Enjoy the games. Stay warm. We'll be back on Monday.