Green Light with Chris Long - NFL WK 18 Reactions! Lions Top Vikings, Bucs & Broncos In Playoffs & Jerod Mayo Fired!

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

Welcome to the Green Light LIVE NFL Week 18 Reactions show! The NFL Playoffs are set! The Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions topped the Minnesota Vikings to take the NFC's #1 overall seed. Jared Goff and Sam Darnold led their teams on Sunday Night Football that quickly went Detroit's way. The Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers locked their tickets to the postseason with victories over the Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints. Bo Nix and Baker Mayfield both balled out for the teams in the must-win matchups. We also had some records and incentives earned this weekend - Geno Smith secured $6 million, Mike Evans recorded his 11th straight season of 1,000 receiving yards and Von Miller earned $1.5 million with a sack of Drake Maye. Chris Long reacts to everything that happened in the NFL in week 18 and looks ahead to the NFL Wild Card weekend. (00:00) - Intro (4:25) - Tyreek Hill (17:25) - Jerod Mayo Fired (35:03) - Doug Pederson Fired (1:00:05) - Detroit Lions Knock Off Minnesota Vikings (1:29:30) - Philadelphia Eagles & Green Bay Packers Matchup In The Wild Card (1:38:10) - NFC South: Bucs & Panthers Roll (1:53:00) - Seattle Seahawks Beat LA Rams (1:59:00) - Wild Card Weekend Lookahead Want your Green Light Merch so you can look exactly like Chris and the fellas? Hit the website below and get kitted! https://stores.kotisdesign.com/yotehouse/products Have some interesting takes, some codebreaks or just want to talk to the Green Light Crew? We want to hear from you. Call into the Green Light Hotline and give us your hottest takes, your biggest gripes and general thoughts. Day and night, this hotline is open. Green Light Hotline: ‪[phone]‬ Send any Talent Search submissions to: [e-mail] Include any video of your talents, takes and bits as well as a little bit about yourself. Love hearing from the Green Light fans. Also, check out our paddling partners at Appomattox River Company to get your canoes, kayaks and paddleboards so you're set to hit the river this summer. https://paddleva.com/ Green Light Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/user/951jyryv2nu6l4iqz9p81him9?si=17c560d10ff04a9b Spotify Layup Line: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1olmCMKGMEyWwOKaT1Aah3?si=675d445ddb824c42 Green Light Tube YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxWFAA-wuB7osdiAJyLOcw Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And I think last night, the thing, you talk about the fingerprint of Dan Campbell, the fucking hunger, man. The, that team was hungry. It's like they're never full. You know, the way they came out in that game, and I know it's the biggest game of the season. You know, it's for the one seed or the five seed. But their mindset, and I know they're at home, their mindset was just so, So A1. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast. Thank you for jumping on today. It is Chris and Nolan. They run through everything that happened week 18 across the NFL.

The firings, the teams that made the playoffs, the teams that are now heading to the offseason and looking to the draft and the players that are looking for new teams, i.e. Tyreek Hill. You all saw that press conference where he was like, Miami, I'm out. Adios. We look to these playoff matchups in one hell of a game between the Vikings and the Lions Sunday night. great episode. We will be back midweek for you. Make sure you stay tuned on YouTube. We've got some great stuff. Howdy. What's up, y'all? Yeah, it's just me. It's just me. What's up, chat?

There's, I don't know, six inches of snow on the ground, which is like a state of emergency when you live in Virginia. And we decided to go solo today and let the fellas get some rest. I know I talked about Nate was going to take some time away. Was in a car accident, New Year's Eve. He's totally fine, but we just gave him the week off. And I told Bo enjoy his Monday. I'm in here with Cowboy Reed, Nolan, Tanner is on the microphone as well. If you hear Tanner, that's who you're working with today.

There's just not a lot to break down as far as actual football games. You know, I sure would have loved to come in here today and talk, well, Reed wouldn't like this but if we had something to talk about from Saturday night with the Bengals pulling that game out but it was all for not because Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos predictably God's team came through. He came through and they made the whole they made the whole Sunday totally worthless. Yeah, never a doubt. Really nothing happened. If a week ago you thought the Detroit Lions were the team to beat in the NFC and the road was going to go through Detroit like that happened um if you thought the Bengals were cooked for three months running now you were right the Bengals were ultimately

cooked uh and um you know the seating kind of fell in the place with a couple little hiccups and you know ultimately the bucks got it done in the south and that seemed like a foregone conclusion boy was it interesting for a little bit but like let's start with um some of the some of the things that happened that had nothing to do with the exes and those, some of the things that happen on the microphone, some of the things that happen with some of these coaches getting axed. It is Black Monday. There's always a few coaches getting fired today.

My old ball coach, Doug Peterson got let go, as well as somebody in my draft class, Gerob Mayo, who every time I watch a video online of somebody in the New England area, including Robert Kraft, talk about Gerard, the fucking subtitles say Gerard. Because they can't speak English in New England. It's, it's, it's, it's, seriously. I'm like, who is Gerard Mayo?

Put some respect on his name. I seriously, spell it correctly. I know these robots are handling this, um, these subtitles and shit. Um, and it's pretty impressive. But, um, start with Tyreek Hill. We just start with Tyreek Hill. Tyreek Hill says he is open the funniest thing about the Tyreek Hill

statement which in effect says like I'm gone I'll see y'all later is that they asked him promptly after the game like how is a captain do you as a captain as a captain as a captain of the ship how do you as the captain of the Edmund Fitzgerald push on and make it to was it uh what what was their port um how are you going to make it to shore i'm not making it to shore i'm jumping off the fucking ship i'm not going to be here next year um and i you know my time in miami is is all done like they didn't even ask you that bro like he he could not wait to say it um

so tyree kill presumably not going to be a part of the dolphins next year and i know people went like I had a couple of people text me last night and they were like, what about the Tyreek thing? Like, what are you going to say about that? First off, a couple years ago, and this is why you don't say yes to shit. ESPN was like, yeah, come up to come up to wherever the fuck we are, Connecticut,

and spend the day basically walk into this washing machine where all they're trying to do is like a conveyor belt of trying to extract the take out of you that they can use to throw gas on a fire, right? Like come up here for a day. It's going to be great. Like you really could use any of course, you know, my marketing guy is like, you know, I love my marketing guy. But he's like, it'll be good for you.

Your career, it's going to help your career to go out to, no, it hasn't. Go up to ESPN for a day. And Tyreeke Hill decided to leave the Kansas City Chiefs around this time. time and the dolphins had picked him up and, you know, we had talked about Vegas and we had this at this point, David Carr, Derek Carr was still in Vegas and Tua was the quarterback in Miami. And, you know, all cars on table, just not a huge fan of the quarterback in Miami, just don't think he's like one of those capital E elite guys. I don't think he's even a lowercase elite guy. But, you know, that was what was going to happen. And I made a comment to some to the

effective and sometimes when you're on TV you don't think about your words so carefully and you want to make a point you know maybe I should just said nothing but I said like you know I'd rather see Tyreek go somewhere where the quarterback can get him a damn ball and Dolphins fans were up in arms and the whole thing well they racked up a lot of yardage you know that offense when they played inferior competition over the past couple years was like the greatest show on turrets. when they played teams that were of their quality or better, teams that won football games, they never failed not to show up.

They always floundered. And Tyreek in a lot of big spots, listen, amazing player, incredible skill set, the whole thing, but a lot of big spots, I mean, left Dolphins fans one more. And certainly the quarterback, whether he was available or not,

Although Tyreek definitely helped his development, you could even argue that like without Tyreek, I don't know if there is a development to this degree, but like eventually, fast forward a couple years down the road, Tyreek is running from Miami. And if the quarterback is the quarterback that the y'all said he was, he wouldn't be running from Miami. Now, I understand that availability factors into this and he's fresh off a season where he's catching the ball from guys like Skyler Thompson and Snoop Huntley for much of the season. sucks, especially for guys 30, and he's staring his mortality in the face, even though I think

he has a couple more years in him, but his football mortality, when you turn 30, especially one of these speed positions, you start thinking, am I, do I have a five, seven, 10 year runway anymore? I don't. I need to maximize my earning potential or the window to win. And so I do think it's a complicated reason. If you wanted to boil it down to one thing, like maybe it's partially winning. Maybe it's partially the money. Maybe it's partially he doesn't have confidence in the organization and who could blame him. But you made this decision. You know, you left the best team of this century post Tom Brady and the Patriots to find greener pastures in Miami and catch balls from Tua and play for Mike McDaniel. And now fast forward a couple years down the

road after my disastrous ESPN spot. Wasn't a disaster after all because this guy's tucking tail and running. He doesn't want to be in Miami. And I'm not saying he's afraid or anything like that. I'm not taking shots at the guy. But from a football standpoint, he doesn't want to stick it out. He's quitting on Miami. And, you know, I, listen, I think Tyrese got a lot of expenses that he has to,

I'm not being fucking funny, dude, like this stuff. this stuff popped up all year long. Like Tyreece got a family to feed. And it's like the Brady bunch, man. He's got to get paid, man. And I don't know if this deal wasn't enough for him, but he's looking at this deal coming up in a C. If he finds a trade partner, he's going to want a new deal.

And so, like, I totally get that that you got to support your family and you want to maximize your earning potential and all that. And like in his mind, he wants to get another deal and all that stuff. but like from a team standpoint from like a from a football player standpoint if you're asking me how I feel about it like I think football and sports in general has changed a fuck ton to where like loyalty is nothing anymore you know I'm not going to back in the day when I was a player when when I you know I had to walk uphill in the snow to get to school and all that shit like but there's plenty of examples I can tell you where I acted on loyalty and

In retrospect, had I know the way people move now, I might have done things differently in a number of circumstances to preserve myself. But that's not the way football was as much. And it's changed, and sports in general have changed where, like, and listen, we've always had guys hold out. We've always had guys say, you know, I want a new contract. We've always had guys. There's always been quitters.

There's always, but it's just become a lot more mainstream to the fact where Tyree kill after the last game of the season when you're in the playoff race, essentially. and your quarterback's been dinged for a lot of the year, you know, you're just walking to the podium and unsolicited, hey, I'm out. And, you know, I got a text to from people who are like, oh, it's unforgivable. Like, you can't do that. Can't do that. He can.

Somebody's going to make a move for him. He knows that. Unforgivable. We will. We'll forgive him. Next year, we'll be talking about, wow. isn't it cool to see Justin Herbert throw the ball to Tyreek Hill? Isn't it look at pick your poison between Terry McLaren and Tyreek Hill.

As fans, we move on quick. You know, Miami fans might not move on, but it's really not about that. You know, members of the media are going to throw their hands up and say, this is terrible. He's cheating his teammates. And it is true, like he's quitting on his teammates. But to his, to his, credit he waited to the last game to do it i guess in today's day and age that's that's um there's something

to be said for that uh listen i'm not going to get all upset about it and go high and mighty because this is not the way things are anymore like loyalty's not the same as it was anymore in the NFL like i it's just not it's not what it once was and so like people are going to say you can't do it yes you can you can you know it's like saying somebody's not worth something you're worth whatever somebody's going to pay you somebody's going to say you can't do this yes he can somebody's going to trade for him um and by the way ben roberts by i'm just seeing i'm seeing stray bad comments in the chat this is why i shouldn't keep the chat up by the way chris said you can't put one corner on j j and lock him up um a meek freaking robinson ben watch the fucking tape my man

had help a lot of the night Um, not take, not take away anything that Amiga Robertson did. He also had help from the, the quarterback on the opposing team. No doubt. Watch the damn tape, Ben Roberts. Come in here firing off shitty comments, willy-nilly here. I'm going to call you out. Okay.

Tyreek Hill quitting is not going to get me all upset. It's not. Because this is the way things are now. And somebody will take a statement. that at Tyreek Hill because he's still a damn good player. And, you know, he's had some drops in big spots and he's missed, he's missed in some big spots. But somebody's going to take a shot at him.

And there's an argument to be made that he was held back in that offense. Yeah, 100%. The deep level of the field. I mean, you look at. I didn't say it. Well, I'll say it. There are a handful of young QBs around the league who would love to launch it to him. I mean, you know, Herbert and L.A.

Drake May in New England. I mean, as an Eagles fan, I hate to say this one out loud. You had mentioned it. Jayden Daniels throws as good a deep ball as anybody. And they're another team with a ton of cap space. So I agree, man. There's a market for him. Definitely a market for him.

We'll see him again. And for everybody this week, like, hey, he's cheating the game or he's cheating his teammates and all this stuff. And I agree. But I'm also not going to get up here on my soapbox and have to step down off it next year to talk about how awesome it is to see Justin Herbert throwing the ball to a guy with that kind of speed or Jaden Daniels connecting on deep balls of somebody like Tyreek Hill.

And, you know, Kevin Kernick says, stop talking about Hill to the Chargers, L.O.L. Did you really laugh out loud, Kevin? I doubt it. His character does not fit our team, our team. That's totally Cowboy-Reeds, Burricks. on her account. We wouldn't even think about it. Well, how are you weeing Jim Harbaugh as if you don't think the single most important thing to that guy is winning?

That is, I do pay Kevin to just throw some wild takes out there just to keep him, specifically in this situation, keep Tyreek out of the AFC West. So Kevin's doing his job. Kevin, L.O.L. Let me know what Jim says later when you talk to him. I'm just going to fry people today. I really don't care. it's just me here at the end of the show you're going to be like i wish all the other guys were on the show it's snowing out here all right the vacancies the vacancies the first one like listen you start out yesterday um and i see adam schfter i'm sorry to do that like i know it's a topical movement with my hand here seriously it's it's all in my head so

me all know what i'm talking about worst seat this week ernestine huh you guys don't get it you'll get it the whole lawsuit ernestine worst seat skip bayliss is significant other skip balas is going down finally we don't like skip i'm not skip bayless fan okay all right so the vacancies maybe skip Somebody said, somebody just fired off something about a Zen. Look at Pavlov's dog here. Where is my damn? Where is my Zen? I had a damn.

You guys, uh, oh man. Damn, dude, I can't undo that comment. Oh, here it is. Peppermint 3. Peppermint 3. Let's get into the fireans. I need a Zen before I get into the fires. The fireans.

Don't try this at home. It's a terrible habit. Um, listen, the mayo thing obviously jumps off. the page it's it's one year into now okay Kevin if you want to hey Kevin you got a you got a good point here Kevin Kernick says Tyreek has 15 kids he's not coming to California paying our taxes let's be real please you I don't know I'm not a like a tax guy but that sounds legit I live in Virginia the vacancies the vacancies okay Mayo goes down. I think anytime you see a coach get fired after one year, you're like, damn,

that was kind of fucked up. Why'd you hire him in the first place? Anytime I see a black head coach go down after one year, I say, here we go again. I mean, we see it a lot. And I'm not going to make this whole thing about race, but like it definitely is like Robert Kraft stepped in it, whether or not you think Giraud Mayo deserved to be fired. It does happen a good bit with black coaches. we've talked about this at length, as if it's, it wasn't hard enough to get promoted. And, you know, like, I'm not going to argue with you in this chat. If you don't like what I have to say, like, just do some reading. There's been a number of really insightful articles and podcasts, including podcasts that

we've done here, detailing how hard it is for African-American coaches to make that jump, to head coach and some of the, the kind of built-in mechanisms of, nepotism or, you know, offensive coaching trends or, hey, some of the barricades, some of the key positions that often get promoted to head coaching jobs. Like, it is what it is. I'm not saying he got fired because he's black. I'm not. He got fired because Mike Grable's out there.

But RKK has to deal with what he stepped in, which is a volatile issue. I mean, like, anytime you fire a coach after one year, people are going to be asking you questions and when you do it and it's a young black coach it gets a little stickier now let's take this out of the conversation right now and just talk about it for what i think it is because the optics of it aren't great but what i what i think it is is a simple um a simple scenario where robert craft isn't used to having to think on the fly like he's used to 20 years of brady and bellichick and just everything's stable and he thought naively and i think i think he he thought like kind of immaturely for an 80 plus year old guy that like i'm going to make this succession plan that nobody else

nobody in the nfl does this like there's no fucking there's no succession play teams don't have five and 10 year plans like that's a luxury you lose that luxury when the shine comes off the Patriot way. You can't five years ago say, hey, we're going to make Gerard Mayo the next head coach. I'm going to put a clause in at some point where he is the next head coach, which kind of, if Bill didn't know about it, is it kicking the nuts to Bill. And Girard's one of his best coaches. And now you're saying, like, we have not only a plan for your exit, but we also, we also know who's going to succeed you and he's on the staff and we're not really going to tell you about it. And I care so much about this Giraud Mayo guy that I'm going to clip his wings and make sure

he stays here. Like, if you love somebody, you let him go. This isn't doing him a solid. This is not him. He might have meant to do him a solid. You know, I'm pretty sure when he put the claws in Jarab Mayo's contract to where, you he's going to be the next head coach, he's going to succeed Bill Belichick. He's thinking he's doing him a solid at that point. But I think part of that solid was born out of like a FOMO thing

where he doesn't want Gerard Mayo to get a job somewhere else and look good, which is lame to me. Yeah. It's not a solid. It's a fuck you wrapped in a solid. And I'm not saying Robert's a bad guy. I think he's a great guy. I don't think he meant to step in it with the black head coach thing. I don't think he, I don't think he knew what he was doing. I think sometimes when you're able to kind of coast for it, and I don't want to disrespect everything they built by calling it coasting. There's a lot of work that goes in that thing.

But like for the better part of, you know, the century, you're able to kind of make decisions on autopilot because you have the greatest head coach of all time and the greatest quarterback of all time. And all of a sudden, you think naively that you're going to have this long runway to make this decision and things aren't going to change a little bit. And for you in retrospect to say, hey, Gerard Mayo didn't have enough time. And I see that in retrospect, like, I think he's going to be a head coach in this league, but we rushed into this.

You rushed into this. You fired Bill. So you created the accelerated timeline and then put him in your words into an untenable situation, which I appreciate him coming out and saying, I really, I really, really do appreciate him coming out and saying it. because he could have shot us a bunch of bullshit. And he said, this is on me. I'm not trying to give him credit for fucking up here.

But it was a fuck up. You know, and this was his statement, a statement which came out immediately after the game. I do think they're, you know, like common sense would say, hey, a lot of the times in these situations, there is the, hey, need you to lose this last game. You don't lose the last game. I'm pissed off.

I'm going to ask you. That's plausible. I get that whole. thing but that statement looked like it was written for a week now right the statement came out right after the game and i'm going to paraphrase the statement i've known the guy a long time i didn't want get fomo if he was an incredible hire somewhere else but mike bravel's available now i know people think it's fucked up but ultimately i don't care i'm like 80 years old that's kind of what i read when i read that statement and um you know i think i don't want to use the same

The saying is the road to H.E. double hockey sticks is paved with good intentions. I'm not saying he's going to hell. I have a lot of respect for Robert Kraft. This is just the guy on his podcast talking that had one fantastic year in New England, and I appreciate every moment of that year. But whether it was good intentions or whether, you know, Mike Vrable took a consulting job, basically for a year instead of like going and taking a job that he'd have to sign a contract. and they let him out of that consulting job to go look at other deals like i'm not saying this is what happened but you'd be naive to discount the the possibility that this was in the works

the whole year long and in in that circumstance it's totally fucked up so um you know i i think the regression on defense definitely hurt this situation had they been more competitive defensively, I think that maybe Kraft would have been able to stomach it. I think again, like I'm painting a picture of Robert Kraft. He's a lot of things, but one thing he's not as a robot. You know, like his flaw in this situation is being a human being. You know, like he wants the right thing for the young coach, but he's kind of being greedy, keeping him in-house. So he puts in a succession clause. And then he's probably thinking at the end of the day, hey, I want to do a solid by this guy because I promised him something, although I could buy him out of this

clause. It's some number. I don't know what the number would have been, but you could have bought him out of the clause probably and let him go do his thing somewhere else or remain on staff. Like, and then he thinks he's doing him a solid by giving him the year. But it's a year where you don't invest at all in free agency. Like the roster is gutted. You've got a rookie quarterback. You play half the season almost with, not half, but more than a few games with Jacoby Brissette. And it might have been half the season. I don't remember. It feels like a long-ass season.

But the bottom line is, I think the straw that broke the camel's back is probably some of the post-game comments that went south, some of the moments that left the fan base feeling displeased. And again, Robert Kraft is human. And, you know, I think he looks at it like, you know, he's a fan himself. He said it out loud. And I think he cares what people think. And I think that can be a weakness. And, you know, I think he cares what people think.

And, you know, I also think he cares what Bill thinks. And I think he cares what people think of the Bill and Robert dynamic. Like, you can say a lot of things about who in that long chapter of success was a straw that stirred the drink. I truly believe it was a team effort. You know, if we've learned anything for teams to maximize their output, their window, you got to have it all. You know, they not only had the greatest coach of all time, they also had the greatest quarterback of all the time.

And Robert fits in there somewhere, and he can share in that success. But when you fire Bill, it's kind of a line in the sand. And let's not act like you want to see Bill succeed if you're Robert. And the last thing Robert wants to see is, Bill's success are fucking up the defense. And so the defense didn't play that well. And I think part of this is like, oh man, Bill's sitting somewhere just sneering, like laughing his ass off or something like that.

And so again, I think this is a very human decision. And I think he stepped in it. I think he stepped in it by doing it at all. You shouldn't promise things. If you're promising this guy an opportunity, you didn't give an opportunity. Now, the one thing, and I want to, to be fair to Robert Kraft is, you know, he treated this guy poorly in giving him one year to fix something that was going to be hard to fix. I don't know how many coaches would have coached

this team to a competitive record, but as short as the leash was, the weight was short too. So, like, if I'm framing this in a context of like, hey, when David Cully got fucked or when Lovie Smith got fucked in Houston, those are guys that had put in 30 years. you know i want to be the devil needs no advocate but i'm going to do it you know uh mayo started coaching in 2019 if i'm not mistaken yep and so you know to his point of him not being quite ready what did you think was going to happen what did you think was going to happen when bill when you let bill go uh maybe a year before you plan to um it just all feels very impulsive it all feels very like whichever way the wind blows, like, you know, I feel this way about the fans.

I feel this way about Mayo. I want him here. Now I feel this way about the direction of our team. And ultimately, I think it's a feeling of like, hey, Ben Johnson's out there and Mike Vrable's out there. And maybe we knew all along that he would be available. And maybe worst case scenario, there was some knowledge of his availability and what his plans were. You know, so I again, I think Robert stepped in it. Like, what's the take here? The take is,

it's a messy decision and it culminates in another messy decision. And, you know, Robert Crafts had a lot of success over his, his tenure, kind of being a steward for that organization. As he put it, like he's he's responsible to the fan base he's he's responsible for you know the patriot way but let me tell you some about the patriot way now the the patriot way you got to it doesn't just carry over and it doesn't carry over by hiring mayo and it doesn't carry over by hiring brayble it doesn't so be careful trying to just get the band back together and do things in a way where you have this like your new england and i can afford to just hire the people that we trust and nobody else like those days are over the patriot way is only as good as what's put on the field and like post tom brady

the patriot way hasn't really existed you know uh and post bill it definitely doesn't exist so somebody's going to have to build a new way in new england maybe with you know the foundation that those guys laid because make no mistake about it they laid a great foundation and There's a lot of ways to do things that they can continue to operate under the assumption of. But you're not just going to clap your hands and be like, okay, now we're going to hire Vrable. He played here. He's going to get this thing right. The question I have is with Vrable, who would the coordinator be?

Because in Tennessee, he nailed the first two hires, right? It was LaFleur and it was Arthur. Yep. And then they couldn't get their footing. So, you know, I'm a Vrabel fan and the whole thing, but it kind of feels like a shiny object kind of deal. When you really should be taking a beat. And if Ben Johnson wants to interview there, I think you should definitely give him an opportunity to do so, which they are. And even if you're not going to hire him, you can learn a lot about your organization through these processes.

I think also Robert Kraft is very used to having, you know, Bill and Ernie and all those guys there. And now, like in making this decision, he probably feels a little butt naked. So, you know, you want to use these opportunities to interview, to self-scout, to figure out what you might be able to do differently, even if you're not going to be hiring that guy. And whether or not you hire Ben, that's a very valuable. interview. He's going to probably push you to point out things that are wrong with your organization, things that are limiting, you know, things that he'd want to see, you know, taking care of before he took the job and whether or not you're going to give him the job or not, you can try to fix those things. So, you know, they miss Bill. They miss Tom, but those guys aren't walking through the door.

So you might as well start over. And if in the process, Mike Vrable's the right decision and you can enact like a kind of continuum of the page your way, great. But that can't be, that just feels like some idealistic bullshit. You know, it's what got you here.

Idealistic bullshit got you here. You know? Right. Owners, man. I got a lot of respect for the man. I just don't think this was the best, the best course. and here we are.

And now he, and I know he's hurting, having to make this decision, standing up there and I'll give him credit. He definitely took it on the chin and said, hey, it's on me and that sort of thing. But, you know,

ultimately the guy's not going to care about what are the optics. He's 80 years old. And I've said it four times. I hope he's 80 years old. And he's not like 78. Somebody get an age, get me an age on, on Robert Kraft.

83. Yeah, you're good. Yeah, and you know, a lot of people like me are going to say, it's a bad look it's a bad look what you did to gerard it's a bad look what you what you did do another black young head coach or you know another head coach that you promised something and

you know you didn't set that coach up for success and you know there's going to be a lot of people are going to say hey you're a bad guy for that or you know you did xyz i think robert craft knows his intentions even if we don't i think he probably feels very comfortable with those intentions and he's also 83 years old. So he's going to do whatever he wants to do. And if it's hire Mike Vrable, that's what he's going to do. You better make sure that, you know, they have a vision for how you're going to, you're going to steward this quarterback

because the key to the next decade of success is this guy. Yeah, and if he is the guy, you know, that coordinator, office coordinator hire is going to be so critical, like you said. He's nailed, nailed that decision in the past a couple of times in Tennessee. and if it is kind of a round two of the Patriot way you know there's been Josh McDaniel's name floated out there and in that case you know that's a guy who might not have the same you know based on track record in head coach opportunities you might not have the same concern of losing him and having to stunt the development of the QB too so

that might be something interesting to watch as well if they go the variable route No question. So that's the Pats. I mean, the Jags fired my old ball coach, Doug Peterson. And there's no shock here in my mind. Like I was surprised they waited that long to do it. The only shock is really Trim. Ball. He's staying around. And, you know, I guess Shot Khan meant it when he said this is the best team we've ever assembled. Right. Because again, owner being a human being, if you're going to tell me, me and there are some talented players on this roster and they've done a nice job including acquiring probably one of the two generational talent wide receivers that came out of the draft this year i mean malik neighbors and brian thomas junior um just unbelievable players one of those guys in jacksonville you have a quarterback who's had injury history who has you know last head coach has had a hard time maximizing um you know that quarterback's potential you've actually seen a regression but you have two stud edge rushers in my opinion you know um you know the the the cover's not bare you know

there's some there's some good players on this roster um but again this is an owner in my opinion being a human being like i came out and said it in august this is the best team we've ever assembled what do i look like now in january saying it's the gm's fault i think that's part of it um I also think that he might have something on shot con. That's what Nolan was joking before the show. Because the reality is if you don't clean house completely, like the New Orleans situation, that's one thing, right? Mickey Loomis has been there a long time, very well respected.

I think he's done a great job for the most part, short of putting them in the situation they're in now, which is like, hey, you're in cap hell because they've kicked the can down the road a number of years and not hit the reset button. But like with Jacksonville, you got Trent Balkees sitting here. I don't know what the league thinks. I don't know what coaches think about, like taking a job and having to,

no, it says the head coach is going to answer the owner, not the GM. But it just seems like a messier situation than it needs to be. And if I remember correctly, Trent Balke and Jim didn't get along in San Francisco. You know, I don't know how Doug and Trent's, you know, relationship was, but either way, a little bit surprising than in clean house. And so now you've got the Jacksonville deal where it's like you're, it's basically an arranged marriage to this quarterback. I mean, that's what it is. This next guy is going to have to live and die with the development or the regression of Trevor Lawrence.

And if it stays the same, you ain't last in a couple years. years right so this job although it is attractive for some reasons um no state tax small market uh owner that seems to be although this owner has had six or seven head coaches since he bought the team like 13 14 years ago he it does seem to be a good place to work but um boy does that throw a little wrench in it not just the fact that you're married to the quarterback if you don't like the quarterback and not everybody likes each quarterback you know it's like coaches are like media members like there's quarterbacks that i just don't love and there's some that i'm going to give 15 chances to get it right because i see potential in the quarterback there might be a coach that says hey fuck this

i don't really like this guy i mean he's big he's tough he's got a strong arm but i just don't love his decision making. We've seen a big enough sample size. Doug just couldn't get it done, man. And I love Doug. Like obviously, having played for him, won a Super Bowl under him,

but that relationship just never took off. You could tell on the field. And, you know, there were a lot of head scratching moments, you know, their only playoff game they won, they actually dug themselves a spectacular hole. I mean, if you think about

what they had to do to get in the playoffs that year at the end of the season, combined with the, regression at the end of the last couple years. I mean, last year, they were, they tanked at the end of the year. It just was a torpedoed. And then this year, there were different points of the season where I thought they were the worst team in the NFL.

Yeah. And it, for some of the reasons I mentioned with the investment in some of the pieces in the roster and a coach just won the Super Bowl before, it did make it all the more head scratching. Yeah. Especially in the division where you felt like two years ago, like hey this is our this is this can be ours and then Houston draft C.J. Stroud and uh you know while the other teams in the division are playing with their food respectively you can't get it together

so there's there's a power vacuum this year that if the jaguars were on pace they could be that team in the AFC south especially with Houston taking a step back but they did not take that step and I totally understand why Doug Peterson is currently looking for a job. This will be the six head coach for the Jags under Shod Khan's ownership since 2012. And in the last decade, 10 NFL head coaches have been fired during or after their first season with a team. Trent Balke has hired three of those coaches. Tom Sulla, Kelly, and Urban Meyer. Not good.

No. So to say that he retains, like, you're not wrong in saying, like, oh, what does he have on? Yeah, and that's where it gets really interesting, too, when you think about prospective head coach candidates. Like you laid out, Chris, nope, like the first question, head coach, you know, as far as gauging their interest in the job is what do they think of the quarterback. But then after that, it's trying to figure out the GM ownership dynamic because clearly this guy has the ear of ownership. So, you know, if I'm a head coach coming in, is this roster going to be shaped in the vision? I have for it, the vision the GM has for it, do our visions match. So it's just, I think it's kind of a complicating factor in that way too. Trevor just hasn't done enough to make me run to take that job. Right. You know, I've been on this for a year, you know, and I know the injuries were a part of it last

year, but, you know, last year I kind of got some shit from Jags fans for the assertion that Baker was the superior quarterback. never forget it's one of those kind of crossroad situations where um in the the take olympics here where these two teams are getting ready to play each other and bakers you know people are trying to figure out whether they they really believe chapter two is real and it absolutely is and um i think that with trevor lawrence there were some really good moments but we haven't seen him build on those moments for a couple years now so right and next guy's got to be very very very confident they're going to be able to get something out of him so and and you know of course the day

started yesterday with um adam schaefter who like listen you say what you want about the guy but he knows shit i mean that's kind of how he stays in business he opens up the ESPN show talking about vacancies and um you know he goes down the list and pierce he goes regular conversations with david about the future and moving forward, leaning safe, which I think is great. You know, personally, whether or not you think it's the right move or not, I think that guy's, he's earned a second opportunity. They've given him next to nothing. You know, they start the season out with a backup quarterback as the quarterback.

Then they run through a couple more backups. Max Crosby gets hurt, you know, some promising young players on the roster, including Brock Bowers. But just, I mean, some of the people they were relying on late in the season. And the gauntlet of good teams that they ran through, quite honestly, during the middle of the season, if you look at their schedule, they were not given a lot of favors. Those guys played hard for Antonio throughout the whole season.

So, you know, like honestly, unless there's some, you know, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, especially since the last time you let the interim guys, go it was rich vasatia now albeit he didn't get a whole year that was a highly publicized deal where davis kind of took some shit for that and josh mcdaniels was a disaster um you know here's another thing just popped in my head with robert craft another human being thing is and it might it might lend some credence to the fact that maybe him and brable weren't talking but of Rable getting the Jets interview or pushing for the Jets interview.

Kind of like, though, hold on a minute. Hold on a minute, player. Let me get you, let me get you back home. You know, so Callahan in Tennessee, it's volatile right now. That's what Shepter had to say in the AFC South. Owner's not happy, leaning safe. Stuyken. Let me paraphrase here.

I have no idea the owner's fucking crazy. No, he's leaning safe. sounded like the GM would be out and probably, in my opinion, D.C. Peterson, he tagged with an out, obviously over the last 24 hours that shook out. Kevin Stefansky, he called safe. McCarthy, he said leaning safe. He will have opportunities to interview in other places. In my opinion, if Jerry Jones cares about Mike McCarthy, he'll make his intentions known ASAP so this guy can get in front of some other team.

because I do think as much as we like to make fun of Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys, they finish the season on a strong note. You know, those guys were playing hard. I do think eventually the Zimmer defense kind of fell into form for those guys. They had to deal with a lot of injuries. And if you talk to players in the building, evidently, they really like the guy, you know, off the record, on the record type thing. So I don't know if Cowboy fans are going to want to hear that or not, but it could be.

And of course, you know this about Jerry Jones. He is actually a pretty loyal guy. I think that's been his downfall at times with quarterbacks, with coaches. And so I would kind of lean that he might be staying there. Interesting thing that was brought up by Adam Schaefter, Sark's name, obviously Texas head coach Sarkesian has drawn some interest. I think that'd be interesting for real. like if if I'm looking to bring a young quarterback up, you know, I would look at a college guy

and he would fit the bill. I think he threw something out about the Steelers, possibly fielding trade offers for Mike Tomlin. You know, I saw Jay Glazer talking about the same thing people interested in trading for Kevin O'Connell. I don't think that happens. No way. I think that happens. It definitely doesn't happen in Minnesota. And in my opinion, it doesn't happen in Pittsburgh. And, you know, like last year, there were some people that were calling for Tomlin's head. We said wait it out, you know, two playoff appearances later, right?

Now, we'll see. It might end in another blowout. But, you know, people are getting on Tomlin about this team this year. I do think they built a little bit. You know, like at the beginning of the season, there were a lot of people weighing in on the fact that Justin Fields was washed, right? He was the problem in Chicago. He obviously wasn't the only problem in Chicago. And a lot of people talking about myself included that Russell Wilson was not the Russell Wilson of old. Now, I jumped out of the gym for him about midseason when they made the change. I

understood why they made the change. And I thought they looked really impressive for about a month. But that whole thing's kind of caught up to him. You know, he's kind of turning into a pumpkin. and it looks like it's midnight for the Steelers. A lot will be decided in that final game. I'm not saying Mike Tomlin's job is on the line, but there are people that are going to be talking about that if they get their ass kicked in the playoffs. That's the way this thing goes.

I personally wouldn't blame Mike Tomlin for them winning 11 games with a team whose win total was like, what, seven this year or something like that, eight? I don't know. And I know it's not all about going five, exceeding your win total but this wasn't a team that was supposed to win 11 games right 10 games you know so so um tom was not in my opinion uh in danger at all but when you have shafter talking about there's a reason shafters talking about this stuff like either somebody believes that it's doable

and they're trying to put it out there or um or maybe there is some some talk internally about like his future. I don't want to speculate any further, but that was weird to hear his name pop up there. This is a, you want, Hannah hit us with, oh, she paid for this question. We got to answer the question. Question, which is, this is from Hannah A, I appreciate you, which is more effective to building a Super Bowl winning team, a head coach that is a play caller, e.g. Andy Reid, or head coach who focused solely on team culture personnel, e.g. Dan Campbell. Curious about your thoughts. Man, I don't think there's any, um, any magic bullet. I really don't. I think it all depends on what you have on the roster. And I think like these vacancies, if for instance,

this is a great jumping off point to go through the vacancies, Hannah, but, um, these vacancies, if you were to rank them in terms of their attractiveness, we can kind of go through it this way. Chicago, I think, number one, tons of cap space, a QB that people can obviously see it with. We can make all the Caleb Williams jokes we want. And I certainly wasn't one of the people that said, hey, no questions asked, do this, but they did it. And he looks like he has an opportunity to be a franchise quarterback, in my opinion, as bad as some of the moments where you can really see it. Otherwise, Ben Johnson wouldn't be talking about jumping ship from his perfect situation to go interview in Chicago, division that was just like the toughest in the history of the NFL um you know and green

bay went one in five in division like this is going to continue to be a tough place to play i think that the quarterback in chicago demands that you go out and get an offensive guy right like to me that's not a culture build place it's kind of a conversation akin to the one we were having about the chargers in the offseason where and I thought differently, I thought go out and get a coordinator, but culture seems to be working there. And Justin Herbert has ascended. Justin Herbert's also a little bit more season. And he's a little further along in his development, whether that development was imperfect or not. I think you look at Caleb Williams and you say, hey, we need to put the fire out right now on some of the bad habits and tailor this

offense to him specifically and build the offensive line. But more than anything, the scheme has to be right because we have a young franchise quarterback. We believe that. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here interviewing for the job. So for instance, in Chicago, I do think it's an offensive coach. In a place like, let's say New England, they might believe that it is a culture thing. They might be wrong. They have eight high draft picks and a ton of cap space. And honestly, I think Drake May looked a little bit more pro-ready than Caleb Williams this year. Yeah. Like, you know, that's not to say that Caleb's not going to surpass him

and be the better quarterback down the line, but you look at a place like Jacksonville. I don't know. Like you have a quarterback who you've invested highly in. Maybe you want to fix him, or maybe you think it's a culture issue. The Jets have eight high draft picks, a ton of cap space. They're going to have to make a decision on Rogers. A lot of these places, it kind of depends on if they're investing highly in a draft pick in the first three to four picks.

New Orleans, for instance, probably is not going to be investing in a draft pick early. I could see New Orleans being a culture place. Yeah. You know, it's a place that I could see Aaron Glenn. You know, it's probably the worst job, but it's maybe the best division to join. So as you can see, each, each vacancy has a specific set of challenges and perks. So it kind of depends. Not to not to skirt the question, but to answer one way or another, it just doesn't work that way.

I think it totally depends on the situation. And so, you know, like Dan Campbell's done a tremendous job, but you know what Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes also did? they nailed the hires nailed the hires you know and we're about to get in this game that happened last night in a moment

I think there's a real good case to me made for Dan Campbell being the coach of the year just based off that game there you know when it's that close and I said this coming in the game you know maybe you just the winner of that game is the coach of the year and you know I think

Dan does enough things uniquely as a head coach to affect the outcome of a game, that team has a very unique fingerprint on it. They have very unique personality. It's not all play calling. Although the play calling has been tremendous. Aaron Glenn was great last night. That was like a masterpiece from him.

And Ben Johnson has continued to be the hottest name in football. The shine just hadn't come off the guy. So the one thing more about coaching, and I'll hit you here. Um, among the vacancies, you don't see the Giants job. Uh, and I think it's the right move. This might not be, this might not be a popular take here, but I agree with John Mara. I do. Um, he did say, and he's right, Dable was coached the year two years ago.

They won a playoff game with Daniel Jones. Mm-hmm. didn't they and the shine has come off danio jones to the point where i'm kind of that's the biggest reason you're going to keep brian dable and i never felt like brian dable was all in on daniel jones so internally that matters if brian dable's like yeah i'll i'll swallow this pill but you can't hold it against me a couple years ago you know then in that circumstance you're doing right by him and saying hey you had to eat a shit sandwich we didn't think it was a a shit sandwich. It looked like a BLT to me. It wasn't a BLT. And John Mara, you know,

during the negotiation with Daniel Jones says, we've done everything to screw this guy up, which to me is like the owner stepping in and saying, hey, it might not look like this is a slam dunk, but I'm going to put my nuts on the table for Daniel Jones. And of course, he smashes them. But he also points out that Joe Shane had a great draft class, and he did. Malik Neighbors, Tyler Nubin, Drew Phillips, Theo Johnson, Tyrone Tracy. I just named two guys that went for 1,000 yards from scrimmage. You know, with the quarterback situation being what it was, they brought in Brian Burns.

You know, they made a number of other moves in the offseason of free agency. I don't think that it's always the right answer, just fire a guy. And, you know, I also think there's reason to believe that, like, maybe this is one of the jobs that Bill was after. You know what I'm saying? And that this thing was a foregone conclusion for a couple months and Bill gets wind of it. And he's like, well, I'm going to coach a UNC. I'm not saying I know some. I don't know anything.

I'm just throwing shit at the wall. I'm just a dude with a microphone. I'm just a dude playing a dude. How long do you think that leash is for Daible, though? Is it pretty much like next season? It's not long. I think they're going to drop to quarterback, and that quarterback has to look like the right guy.

But I do think it's the right thing to do to say, hey, you two get one opportunity here to get it right. And we have handcuffed you a different forks in the road. I also think the Joe Shane Saquan thing is pop culture fodder. I don't think it's what would they have done with Sequan Barclay in the lineup this year? They weren't making the playoffs.

They were not making the playoffs. They weren't making any moves. And honestly, it was the right thing to do by you can do all the Unisom commercials you want and I don't blame you, big fella. Like, turn it into motivation and the whole thing. But like, what they did is they punch your ticket someplace that changed your life. and I'm not saying they did that out of the kindness of their hearts, but they didn't really have a choice in my opinion.

Like, what are you going to do? Let this guy rot. So, you know, I don't have an issue with the Giants remaining in their current form and figuring it out because they're going to have an opportunity to draft a quarterback. And things can change fast when you draft a quarterback. I still am interested to see what Brian Daibel can do with a talented young quarterback. Like I'm a big fan of Daible. You know, I was there in New England with him.

I think he's a dude. You know, he's a hard ass. He's got the New England way. But he's also, he can be kind of a regular guy. It can be his own guy. And I believe actually, relative to a lot of the other assistant coaches, he's got a little bit more in his bag that came out of New England. You know, a lot of those guys try to be Bill. A lot of those guys that doesn't work out.

out the next stop you know you see the way josh mcdaniel stops have gone this guy is not josh he's a different kind of guy and uh you know i am i am interested to see what he can do in the future in new york even if it's just this one chance um i look forward to that so listen new york teams it's a shit show for you one of you guys at least knows what the shit show looks like next year the uh just you have no idea. But item one, if you're a Jets fan is like, hey, we're not, no more Rogers. Now, yesterday, seeing him go out like that for four touchdowns, you know, as a football fan, listen, you can take all the Roger stuff and we've all got personal opinions on, you know, his commentary on the McAfee show or kind of how he presents himself, like, not a huge fan of it sometimes, but

I'm going to be as real as I possibly can be. This is one of the best throwings. of the football in the history of the game. And if that's it, boy, it was it fun watching him. And no amount of New York Jets unwatchable football towards the tail end of his career can take anything away from the fact that he's one of the best to ever throw football. I mean, he's unbelievable. But he cannot be the Jets quarterback next year. One of the last touchdowns, everybody's mugging each other in the end zone.

Rogers runs in the end zone looking for people to high five. He gets a couple, like, spirited high fives. and, you know, Gary Wilson ran right by it. He's gone. And I love Gary Wilson. So it's not that simple, but it kind of is.

All right. So that's the coaching nonsense that we can get out of the way, all the non-football stuff. Let's talk about last night's football game, which is kind of what I came here to do. You know? Lions 6-0 against the winningest division in history?

Unreal. Coach of the year has to belong Dan Campbell. I mean, I love Kevin Savansky. I love Kevin Savansky. I love Kevin O'Connor. I love all the Kevins. Kevin Baumgartner. Yep.

Not Kevin Baumgartner. Brian Baumgarner, but he's Kevin on the office. I love all the Kevin's, but it's got to be Dan, Dan Campbell. There were moments early in the game where they look shaky. Listen, the near grounding that probably could have been a safety. The arm punt for a pick, the pace pick. Minnesota made some plays on defense, but as the game went on, Jared Goff just shredded the blitz.

As the game went on, when they needed answers, they had them. In those big moments, they didn't blink. And that's kind of who they are. You know, Gibbs carrying a full workload. we were kind of wondering how that was going to go for touchdowns you know um it's just amazing to me to watch this team work like through all the seasons of this this 18 game schedule you know because a football season you can break it up into phases you know you can break it up into and each individual team has different phases big wins hangovers um you know injury laden stretches

hot, hot streaks. They, it, they survived at all. You know, they just kept working. Going to San Francisco, people wondering if Dan's going to play his guys, because that game meant next to nothing, ended up meaning absolutely nothing. We'll play our guys. We'll play our guys and we're going to look like we've been waiting to beat

San Francisco all year long. You know, and I think last night, the thing you talk about the fingerprint of Dan, Campbell the the fucking hunger man the that team was hungry it's like they're never full you know what the way they came out in that game and i know it's the biggest game of the season you know it's for the one seed or the five seed but their mindset and i know they're at home their mindset was just so a one way they play with physicality the unblinking kind of effect of dan campbell when it's the fourth downs you know fourth and five hitting jamo on a crosser you know they go fourth and one before the

half of linebackers for minnesota are running around like chickens with their head cut off it's play action you know they take a shot you know in the intermediate part of the field on fourth and one uh fourth and one in the low red zone one of the biggest plays of the game that really helped ice this thing, you know, same play as they hit versus Green Bay in the low red. They got, you know, Jemir Gibbs on, on Van Ginkle. And as great as Van Ginkle is, there's barely any cover linebacker in the league that I won that situation. So if you're down there on the goal line and you've got Jamir Gibbs one-on-one as an overhang player, it's probably the wrong call. It's probably the right call for Ben Johnson

Detroit's offense. And, you know, like, that's such a challenge because as a player on the edge, if you've got that back, who happens to be one of the fastest guys in the league,

he's going to beat you the pylon, and you've got to play him in his back pocket, right? So you have to maintain inside leverage, but not get outrun to the pylon. And the other thing that comes off of that is the angle route,

you know? Right. And so in that scenario, you're kind of just dead to rights. And they go to it again and they make the play. But as much that I want to talk about Detroit's offense, I think the defense deserves and Aaron Glenn deserves. I mean, if they end up winning a Super Bowl, I truly believe they needed home field advantage to get there.

You know, I've said this a number of times. Like, you see how the pass rush and the pressure affected Sam Darnham. it is a lot harder to do that on the road. And if that's a preview of what that defense can play like at home in the playoffs and their current form with Anzolone back, now there's an injury outside, right? They lost Carlton Davis and Terry and Arnold, right, last night leaves the game. So we'll see what that looks like.

But I've just so impressed. It's like this is the biggest moment. We go out, San Francisco. They put up like 35 points on us or whatever it is. you know you're probably thinking hey Minnesota is going to score and they really had their opportunities but I do think Aaron Glenn held a lot back in that San Francisco game you know which is another piece of gamesmanship where it's like hey we're not going to show you anything I don't care how many points we need to win this game like part of it is we got the game plan this week

and there's a game plan next week and that game plan next week is going to be the best of the year and Sam Darnold had an opportunity to convince the Vikings that he is the guy, right? Last night and he didn't. And if the season ended today, they probably franchise tag him. And lucky for him, he's going to get some opportunities ahead of him. Like, the season's not over. So, you know, like, had he found a way to play better and get a win, we'd still say we need to see in the playoffs. and he could have won this game last night and gone home division around and they'd probably

slapped the franchise tag on him if you didn't play great right um so it's not over for sam darnald and quarterbacks are entitled to having a bad game this is a really tough place to have a bad game in this winter take all kind of scenario where home field advantage is on the line this was a terrible time to kind of have a stinker. And he wasn't alone. And that's what I want to be very clear about. Vikings fans are going to come in here today and expect me to just shit on Sam Donald.

I'm not going to do that. You know, again, he ain't my homes. He's not Josh Allen. He's not Lamar. He's not Joe Burrow. He's none of those guys, right? Right. He's not Jared Gough.

But I do think he's a guy you can win with. and I think this chapter just began for him and there are learning experiences along the way. Now, if the timeline that the Minnesota Vikings are on to make their decision as it pertains to their future does not accommodate these teachable moments, you know what I'm saying? Then so be it.

But he's going to have an opportunity to get this thing right in the playoffs. You know, I thought the offensive line was a real problem. the Interior Offensive line who we talked about leading up to the Green Bay game one of the reasons I was so disappointed in Green Bay was they had an opportunity

in my opinion to affect Sam Darnold the same way that Detroit did right but they couldn't and I think part of it is you know Green Bay is probably a lot more apprehensive to getting man coverage you know down Jire Alexander

down Evan Williams and that sort of thing like Detroit this is what they do and you know to bring that much pressure, the offensive line had a lot of trouble in the middle. They had a lot of trouble picking up blitzes. Skill guys were not ready for the physicality at the top of the routes. They weren't ready for tight man coverage, the aggression. You talk about a mindset?

These guys had such a mindset, you know. Darnold and Hawkinson didn't get on the same page early in the game, missed an out. That, you know, I think Hawkinson's got a catch. The ball's not in a perfect spot. Missed a shot that, again, the ball's not in a perfect spot. but I'm pretty sure if Kirby Joseph isn't hanging out back there, he might lay out and make that play. And so the physicality affected

them early in the game. I think also, they just said, Detroit said, hey, we're going to heat this guy up. We're going to play with great leverage. We're going to have guys, again, going back to the Jefferson conversation, watch the game in the field. They always had somebody overtop Justin Jefferson, Amique Robertson, play with great leverage,

you know, denying in cuts. late and down, somebody being up top, everybody else kind of fitting in and playing their role. I think the speeding Sam Darnold up, which is something he's been very good at this year, beating the Blitz. It just wasn't his night. And it wasn't the Vikings night. And obviously, if you watch them the past six to eight weeks, a lot of the shots, the big plays they hit are late in the down, right? Yep. Some of them are like punts, right?

It's just got to be like, throw the ball up there. Addison's down there in single coverage. You know, Sam's had the ball for three, four seconds. That was not going to be the case last night. Aaron Glenn made sure of it. And I think for them missing Aaron Jones for stretch is really hurt, but it came down to the red zone. Like, that's it.

And this is one of the reasons I think the Vikings will be okay in the playoffs. Like every game in the playoffs is a challenge, especially when you're the five, You've got to travel to L.A., a place where you lost, albeit with that face mask hanging over at the end of the game. But that didn't look like an easy matchup for them, right? And you talk about the pass rush up front and that sort of thing. There's going to be more of that this week when they play the Rams in that group who can get pressure with four, right?

Having said all this, the red zone has to be fixed. If they're better in the red zone in this game, this game is a fourth quarter game. but they're not, and the quarterback wasn't, and there were other people on the Minnesota Vikings who really didn't play well in the red zone. And that includes the offensive line. I think them not having a big road grading offensive line hurts them in the low red.

I also think not had Dar esau. Like, you know, like, hey, they replaced Darrysoe with Cam Robinson and the whole thing, but they just don't have that physicality up front anymore. And when you get down in low red, you just got to pass the ball in I thought Detroit was great in man coverage I think they mixed in zone in spots

where they thought they were going to get man and I can go trip by trip I think the first trip it's first and goal on the six forget everything that happened before it Sam Darnel's got to hit Addison in the flat coming out of that little stack Yep

fourth down fourth and goal hit that throw you're in the end zone you know the second trip down there at the seven misses Jefferson on the over and hey just Justin Jefferson's best receiver in the game he'd like to come down to that ball like you know that's one that like it's partially on him but you got to put that ball right on him right you know and then and then you know the fade to Jefferson was everybody's like where the fuck is he throwing that ball I'll get I'll give I'll give Donald this one branch hits his arm

so you get down there again in the third quarter big acres run that he checks to You know, Amique Robertson, as good a job as he did, you know, last night in coverage, he also had a big tackle on Acres to get him down. He also had a big tackle. I don't know if he tackled Acres, but he had a big tackle down to the goal line on Aaron Jones. You know, there was, Nailer was there on fourth down for Sam Darnold. You just, I can go through the moments in the red zone where there were points on the board, and you just didn't make the plays.

And a lot of that is on Sam Darnold. Arnold. And so, you know, this was not his best game. It wasn't even close. But I do think they have an opportunity to get things together. When you're a team and you come out of a game like that where you get beat up by Detroit and it's supposed to be a close game and you're standing at the podium, like, I think you can with confidence tell your team, hey, it'd be one thing if we were getting the shit beat out of us in the field all day. You know, if between the 20s, it wasn't even close. You know, defense made some plays. The offense, although it wasn't perfect, they got down there a few times with the help of the defense at times, just couldn't make the plays.

I mean, another one to highlight Sam Darnold's inaccuracy last night, it's 10-6 in the second in the second half. You got the ball at midfield. You hit Nailer at the 40 and plus territory, and you put it behind him. The guy on Nailer fell down. Amik Robertson is the only guy. out there who can make a play on nailer if you put the ball on him he might score you know it's one broken tackle and you're to the house instead it's behind him and you stumble off the sideline so just a lot of missed opportunities but the lions again like just hung tough play with leverage guys in coverage played their asses off Jefferson two catches 48 yards um other guys won their matchups blitzes kept them from taking shots lions were all over the underneath stuff

screens r pos little guys swarming in the run front just really impressed what aaron glenn did did an incredible job at one point in the fourth quarter he's sitting there with his fucking legs cross on the bench looking like his day's done that's the kind of body that's the kind of body language that tells me i i know i just cooked yeah and you know good for him i hope he had a good rest he's going to have a week rest. This team had a week since the buy week and week four. And you can kind of take care of things like figure out what's going

on with the corner, figure out what's going on with Zitler and his hamstring. It might have just been cramps, but it does help to have a week like that to reset. And more than anything, the home field advantage for these guys is huge.

Because Detroit is a serious serious fucking problem at home. Like that is a really tough place to play. And for Minnesota, I said this before the game, which team needed it more? I think Minnesota needed it more. Now you picture Sam Darnel with that offensive line going on the road. That's a tougher, although I think they can get it right, that is a tough pill to swallow.

You know, and then obviously you lose some of the added pressure of facing a Flores defense where things are all over the place and you're trying to ID people and there's eight people in line scrimmage you know if they're in Tampa too or what um that is easier to do on the at home than on the silent count on the road so i'd love for them to win next week so we can get a rematch mostly because of what was said in the postgame handshake when dan campbell just walked and he knew what he was going to say great job see you in two weeks yeah it was awesome that was that was sick And I think it was a sign of respect. Yes.

You know, I think those two coaches really respect each other. I'm a big fan of both those guys. It's a shame they can't both get recognized for what they did this year. And, you know, of course, people say, hey, why doesn't Andy Reid win the damn coach of the year? And maybe he should. It's part of the problem I have with these awards is like very inexact science. You know, MVP, coach of the year, defensive player of the year.

Defense of player of the year, I thought Trey Henderson went out and won it last night but supposedly your defense has to be one of the best defense in the league. I think it makes it even more impressive that this guy went for 16 buckets on that defense. I can tell you.

I can tell you, man. That shit is hard, man. That shit is hard. I had 13 on a 2 and 14 team. The last guy to do that since I did it was Cortez Kennedy in the fucking 80s. So getting buckets on teams that are struggling is a tough deal getting buckets on that defense there's nobody else rushing the passer they lost hovered down the stretch um you know they lost reader and free agency they just they haven't

gotten enough out of the guys they brought in um you know whether it's like osi or that type of their murphy like those guys have not developed as rushers and some guys in the back end got kind of old and got exposed some got exposed Anna Ramos fired. You know, I'm jumping around here. But like, we're talking about defensive player of the year. I think Trey Henderson probably deserves it, but he's not going to get it. Pat Gertan is in the running.

He's the odds on favorite. He jumped after week 17. And officially, Trey has 17 and a half after Saturday. 17 and a half sacks on that team, especially in a year where it's not close. The other guy is 12, 13 sacks. Usually when you're 12, 13 sacks, you're like third in the league. You're like your second or third in the league. You know, this situation where I think Trey,

with what he did Saturday night should be in the conversation, but his odds were, what are his odds now? Just double check. The stream's not frozen. We are checking for defensive player. The year odds. He's plus 1,000. That's from Matt Kingston in the check.

Yeah, thank you, Matt. Johnny on the spot. So, yeah, I mean, just a really impressive job by the whole coaching staff in Detroit. And, again, I think Minnesota's not done. I think they're one of the best teams in the league. But the quarterback, obviously, is the guy that has to prove something right now. Last week I said he's, in my opinion, he can be somebody's franchise quarterback. And I still believe that.

But they have to do a better job. working around the elephant in the room, which is that this guy has never been in this position before. And I don't think they were ready from that standpoint. And I also think, like, in a game like that, like having hots against the blitz, I didn't think their hots were all ironed out. I also think losing Aaron Jones,

who can be a really good option late in the down or early in the down if you get pressure. You know, late in the game, there was one time where they're blitzing this, this sucker and they got two guys in the route and you know there's just really nowhere to go with the ball so i didn't think this was uh minnesota's best game plan and when erin glen beats kevin o'connell and you end up in a game where you're not scoring points we said this early when they didn't go it's it's hard to settle for field goals in a game like that even though it was

low scoring early you knew eventually the dam's going to break Um, all right. And real fast, this was our MRP game from Friday. Oh, so I got a pick. We got a pick and you'll, uh, you'll have it in front of you in a second. We're going to scroll through. Why did Matt Kingston just pay $2? Like he works here. What the fuck do you want to say, Matt?

He's just supporting, he's supporting the fellas. He's supporting you on a snow day. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Um, we got Eric Ebron, Anthony Harris. there's a Wahoo. Yeah. We already picked on McKitt.

Yeah. We did. Yeah. Yeah. Magic man. Yeah. Matt Burke. Harvard grad.

Teddy Lehman. Terrence Newman. You remember Matt Burke didn't go to the White House and everybody was like, no big deal. And then I can go to the White House and they were like, I'm going to kill your whole family. I'm going to check, check him on the guy who said he was going to knock my teeth down my throat with a baseball bat after that. Pussy. Anyways. I'll go.

So, oh, Corey Schlesinger, that's a good one. And your old teammate Nick Fairley on there. But I'm going to go Joe Webb. Nice. Because I'll never forget. I'll never forget when, I'll never forget when he, didn't he start a playoff game? Yeah. That was the day I was like, even as a pass rusher who's like so tired of, it's like

Tom Brady when he gets on TV and he's like, I don't like that tiki techie. personal fouler i don't like that rob i'm like you made this the way it is bro yeah 2012 uh he went as it was a rough outing i don't even get into the numbers but he did start a playoff game out of uab joe web yeah joe web uh started a playoff game i believe it was against the packers um and i'll never forget sitting there thinking as a pass rusher with everything i just said i i'm okay with protecting quarterbacks. I don't ever want to see this again.

Like there's a reason. We wait all year. You know, like the playoff bracket, wildcard weekend, you know, a human being takes nine months. And then we sit there and we're like,

what's it look like? What's the baby look like? You only have to wait a few months for this, but it's arguably just as big a deal. When I got to see this in the matchups and like the quarterbacks that are in and like, are these games going to be close?

No one wants to see. a damn backup quarterback started a playoff game. So I am all for protecting these these rich pampered pretty boy quarterbacks as a consumer. Better product. Started with Joe Webb

for me. Joe Webb, congrats. Quickly before we go to our next one. It's kind of a backhanded thing where I'm like, hey, congrats Joe Webb for making our MRP. But I didn't like having to see you start that playoff game. A little bit. But I don't mean it.

disrespect at all yeah he was there shout out how many dudes have started a playoff game it's the whole thing where we're like you know my kid watches this guy yo boy pizza on uh youtube and he's like a guy that that plays madden like on youtube and then he he talks about the players and i always get mad because i walk in and the guy's like hey this guy's trash you know this guy's a bad player and you know wailing will be like yeah that guy's true i'm like where'd you hear that he's like yo boy pizza I'm like, that guy can, that guy can kick rocks because, again, it's the, it's the, what was that guy led better from Jacksonville? Is Jeremy Ledbetter?

What's his name? Jonathan? Jonathan Ledbetter. Let's call the Jonathan Ledbetter rule. You can't be in the NFL and suck. No. You especially can't be in the NBA and suck, but you can't be in the NFL and suck. And you certainly can't suck and be a quarterback in the NFL.

there's no way that a regular person I mean you can get mad at a quarterback not playing well but in summation I'm not going to sit here and disrespect Joe Webb so fucking quarterback in the NFL Jeremiah led better was the lead better we were looking for Jeremiah led better with the backflip yeah get a backflip guys like who's that guy is like some guy I've never heard of doing a backflip celebrating a sack guys 320 pounds

That guy was the most athletic, accomplished athlete in his county. No question. So you can't suck and be in the NFL. Quickly before we hit our next game's message from BetMGM. BetMGM has made betting easy and sinless all season long. Hopefully you've been able to pick up some plays for us to use in the BetMGF app. If you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code greenlight to get up to $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with bet MGM.

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in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. What do we say? You can't lose. You can't, yeah, yeah, but happy hunting. Happy hunting. You can lose gambling. That shouldn't stop you, but you should be careful, okay?

By the way, what did I finish? Two and three or three and two yesterday? Uh, you were, pull this bad boy up. And did we end above 500 as a group? Can you give us, I've got to, I've got to let, I've got to do makins, but, um, do makings, just read it right now. We'll do it with the chair. All ready?

So you, you went Vikings plus three and a half and, and Panthers. If I'd have been there at red zone period on fucking Friday, I would have known they weren't ready. Yeah, yeah. And then Panthers Falcons over 48. Easy. ding uh colts minus five and whole shit jets plus the game out you don't need overtime uh jets plus one okay dang um and uh seahawks rams over 39 oh good three and two three and two and then chiefs plus 10 which was his most confident pick tell me what that was fellas that was that was

making yeah this is making i like the social y'all made where y'all were like he kept going Andy Reid, Spags? Yeah. They're going to be out there coaching. They're not even interested in winning that game. No, no, all. All right, so he had the cheese. So, O for one, and then he had Eagles minus two and a half.

Eagles minus two and a half. Rams plus six and a half. Okay. And Dolphins Jets under 39. Wrong. That looked like an under for a while. Jags, Colts, under 44.5. Wrong.

So what did he end up? So he is going to be 42. 39 let me do some quick math you guys the question is did myself Stanford steve and making picking five games a week against the spread and totals go above 500 all of us individually you and step for Steve yes making drop below 500 oh my god wow Arthur Fonzarelli said 52% is the key that's why I went 65% Arthur or whatever I went yeah making good. Oh, he ended up above 500? Okay. Good. So we all ended up above 500. What was my final tally regular season? Cowboy. Final tally is 55 and 34 and one. Okay, 55, 34 and one. Is that clear

52%? I think it does. The only reason I'm being an asshole about it is because I sign this deal with Bet MGM and I take it seriously, man. Like, I don't want to give y'all bad plays. Like that to me feels like stealing. There's a bunch of guys in the industry now who will just take money from gambling sites and they're like oh fuck it whatever happens happens i don't want to lose y'all money i love y'all okay so i hope i hope you tailed me play and you're picking your you're you're you're you don't have access to the full slate to pick yeah that's the craziest part you're picking yeah you're picking you're picking what other people haven't picked so we're good we had a really good year so anyways amazing the green light sharps yeah seriously don't cut yourself around us

all right NFC South well let me get to the two seed okay there's the one seat has been decided Detroit the road goes through Detroit Eagles are two

seed that was set and just so you know the line has moved because Jalen is still not out of contention protocol yep so it's now minus four

well didn't it open at two and a half it opened at one and a half so it's moved then it's moved kind of the other way. Yeah. Yeah, the opposite way. People just all over the Eagles right now

and fading the fuck out of the Packers. Which, I mean, listen, Green Bay punched their ticket to Philly by losing to Chicago, right? In a game that probably couldn't have gone worse. Like, honestly, because you finish one in five in the division,

you know, team that has not beaten the Vikings, has not beaten Detroit. also lost in Brazil to the Eagles and we're supposed to you know talk about them and like they're an NFC elite type of team like they're ahead of schedule if you'd ask me what they'd have been like the next two years like two years ago I think most people wouldn't have foreseen this this type of success that they've had so it's not a failure you're in the playoffs you're in the murderers row of the NFC North,

but you lose to Chicago, so you stamp your ticket to Philly. And if I didn't see the game, I would think maybe they had some interest in going to Philly or something like that, but they didn't. Because Jordan Love gets dinged in this game. He's got an elbow.

And four plays before that, they lose Christian Watson to an ACL. And, you know, they didn't look in sync, even when Jordan was in the game. The way they lost the game, you know, they botched it at the end. Matt LaFleur came out and said,

you know, they had a chance to run 30 more seconds off the clock before that field goal, but they took a time out because Matt was intending to go for it. And they talked them into taking the points, right? Kicking. So they call a timeout,

save Chicago, pressures 30 seconds or so, end up kicking the ball anyways. In retrospect, you probably just, kick with a running clock. As a result at the end of the game

they get a horse collar. It ends up being third and 11 with 15 seconds to go with Chicago having the ball at the 50 yard line down two or one, whatever it was. Either way, all they need is a field goal.

If you could freeze frame the defense that Green Bay was in, I think Jeff Havley's done a nice job this year. But the defense that they were in on 3rd and 11, 15 seconds to go, the middle of the field is completely open. Chicago's got three receivers stacked in a line in one of those fucked up-looking formations, you know, and they end up hitting an in-cut for 15 yards, which the key is, if you're playing the sticks and they get tackled, they can't spike the football.

It's third down. you give them the first down you give them around 12 seconds to spike the football and they do and they kick the game winning field goal and you could tell that meant something to Chicago that meant something to Caleb Williams

I'll say this it's amazing I'll say it one more time the amount that we projected what we thought Caleb would be like between the years in retrospect is kind of shameful as a football world like this guy was going to be soft this guy was not going to be competitive this guy was going to be he's a west coast kid he cried he had a purse he's fucking he fits he fits the chicago

kind of mindset dude like he is he's a competitive dude he wants to win he you know he he missed a lot of throws this year but he also had some plays where you're like i see it and i think the toughest thing for him we knew coming in was going to be playing on schedule in the NFL. And we thought maybe he'd hit some spectacular shots. He didn't hit a lot of spectacular shots this year. It really wasn't that. When he moves in the pocket, when he rolls out and he's outside the pocket, he throws about as good a ball as any young quarterback in the league on the move.

Some of the intermediate stuff that he does is very impressive. I just want to say finishing the season like that obviously meant something to him. And that's what you want to see. You want to see a guy who takes it seriously. We're out of the playoffs, but this game means everything to me. You know, we punted on this season a long time ago. The coach got fired the whole thing, but he never stopped. And so for Chicago fans, like you should be excited about what the future might hold because,

you know, looking back at the run of quarterbacks you've had for a generation or two now, I mean, you could say I'd like him to be Jaden Daniels or you could say I'd like it to be more pro-ready or you know, you could say I'd like to see him do X, Y, and Z, but the bar is not high to clear in Chicago. And I think you should be excited about the kid. But bottom line is Green Bay walked themselves right in the Lions then going to see the Eagles at the link. And they're limping in and the Eagles took that week. Yep. So, you know, I know a lot of people got upset with me about the Sequin thing. And this isn't a victory lap because it's kind of the classic argument that no one can win because if I say, hey, there's a risk of him getting hurt and him being in the game and he doesn't play. That risk never comes up. You know, I'm sure there's going to be people now that if the Eagles come out flat, they're going to say you shouldn't arrest anybody.

Jalen Hertz is still in concussion protocol, which to me was a bit unexpected. I would have liked to have seen him get some work in that game. And a lot of people ask, well, why would you want to get Jalen Hertz work? If you don't get Sequin work, well, it's pretty damn simple. Jalen Hertz hadn't played in going on almost a month now. And, you know, I do worry a little bit about him not getting time in that game and coming out cold against Green Bay. And we don't even know for sure what his status is.

Now, I would assume he's going to play. But he's still in protocol. and I think for the Eagles, knowing that they start game slow, this is going to be the key at home. You can't come out sleepwalk in. And I'm sure for Green Bay, they're going to put an emphasis on running the football. So like get control of the game, shorten the game. Jair Alexander's down.

He's not coming back. We saw what the Vikings made them look like in the back end. Good luck with this Eagles group. outside. I think the whole key's going to be, can you run the football, can you keep the turnovers down, and hope that, you know, hurts or somebody gives you the ball back for the Eagles offensively. But Eagles being two seed, I don't know who you'd rather seen Green Bay in their current form or Jane Daniels who just torched your defense. And I know Jalen Hertz was not in the game for that game, but it doesn't change the fact that Jane Daniels had his way with defense.

And a lot of it was self-inflicted. And I know they can't wait to see him again if they do see him. But I kind of feel like they got the matchup they want. You know, I'm not saying, hey, pick your poison. You know, neither one's probably lethal. But the commanders or the Packers, you know, if you're an Eagle, who do you rather see? I don't know. I think it's just a circumstance of line them up.

We're going to get a home game. Great. again the Packers yet to win a big game this year this is going to be the biggest one yet um 0 and 5 against the birds vikes lions 1 in their division and it looks like they're limping in bucks bucks get three seed they host washington cannot waver this game um i think it's going to be a really good one and by the way what a 1 p.m window yesterday absolutely carried by the nfc south thought it was going to be just a snooze fest, thought the bucks would roll. You know, and this is the NFL, man.

Like there's a lot of prideful guys on that, on that New Orleans defense. And I thought it was interesting to hear Tom call that game, having knowledge of that rivalry, having played New Orleans, having had trouble at times with New Orleans himself. Like, I don't feel like he was surprised that it was closer for a lot of the game. I felt like it was marred by penalties and you're not being able to get the run game going for Tampa. You know, New Orleans really played downhill. And I thought for a guy who was at the center of the universe, like probably public enemy

number one for most of America, Kool-Aid McKinstree having to guard Mike Evans when the whole world's got his over props, he actually did a pretty good job. Really good job. Yeah. And listen, the end of the game. It was wild to see. Like it was really wild to see because the Bucks had so many opportunities to ice this thing on the final drive where they scored touchdown and went up eight points. They had a lot of opportunities to just get down.

I think it was one Sean Tucker play where he could, he probably could have hit the back. You could argue they managed the clock a little differently. Maybe they don't give them another possession. Right. But they did. they find a way to get the ball back and the whole time you're thinking like are they going to do this thing

like when I say Sequin needs to sit I know there's a lot of Eagles fans that are probably like what the fuck everybody was it's like a great moment we could have had the same moment the bucks were playing for something for 59 minutes in that game to make the decision on whether or not to chase tying Jerry Rice's record for most seasons with a thousand yards consecutively and give him a $3 million bonus,

which I think is just as much a part of it, right? They like giving these guys, these bonuses. It's different than the Saquan thing. It is. It's five yards. 100%. It's five yards. And we said this, if Saquan needed 12 yards, try them out there for the first quarter, tried them out there for a series. it's about mitigating risk and the risk is much different for a running back trying to go for 100 yards than it is for a wide receiver in that moment

in a vacuum trying to go for five yards. The risk is assumed by the team. The team was at risk for giving the ball back and this to me is why that was such an interesting decision from Tampa because you're playing at that point for the division. At this point I don't think in that ball game Carolina had beaten Atlanta yet.

And it was so interesting, if you remember, there was a long sequence in Tampa Bay's game where they were trying to figure out a call. It was first and goal. Jalen McMillan did the gun thing, even though he didn't mean to do the gun thing. Like now you, he said his fingers were taped. He's a gun. Yeah, he said my fingers were taped. Which real fast, how ironic is. You see why you got to tape your fingers?

Put your thumb down. You see my middle finger? That's why his fingers are taped. but like which one real fast how ironic is that someone pointed this out on on twitter so he gets penalized for the gun and then the Tampa Bay canons go off when they score the touchdown hey 15 yarder oh but you guys scored the touchdown all right plug your ears let's listen to that gun go off that's a wild sequence no but you know the thing about cannons is not a lot of people are running around with cannons anymore even though a cannon could do way more damage You know, it's You get into this thing It's like well then we can't play certain rap music anymore

The games Right Right No one wants to be the fun police But if we're not doing the Hey listen And I'm totally I think this is the dumbest shit in the world

Hold on a second Let me do it Because I you know I live out here in the country So sometimes I gotta do it That's the dumbest fucking thing in the world bro Hey can I tell you how stupid that is You're either saying

I want to be a gangster or I am actually a gangster. Yeah. And either one's dumb because you're making millions of dollars playing in the NFL. You don't have to be. Or like I got a gun on my waist

is not like, I'm totally with you. Totally with you. Yeah. On that stuff. But then when you do this and that's supposed to be a gun, I don't agree with that.

I think Jaila McMillan is just giving you the first down signal. But there was a moment in that game where there's a four minute period of real time, but they're trying to sort out the fact that he got a first down and they got penalized 15 yards, so they're trying to decide they've moving back to like the 23, and for a second, they couldn't figure out what the fuck's going on.

Dean Blandino's, like, dude, just ask me, my beer pong guy. Just ask me, you know? And, you know, it ends up being a thing where I'm looking at the other game. I'm like, holy shit, are they stalling to get these games to be to ruin? Is that the where? I don't even think of the word, but they're going at the

same time. Simultaneous. All they have, yeah, simultaneously. All they want is to get these two games to end at the same time. So you get this classic like split screen thing. And they almost did. But the point is

it just if I'm New Orleans and I don't know, man. Supposedly they hate each other, the saints and the bucks. And they hated each other for 59 minutes. But when Mike Evans went in motion at the end of the game, it felt like they were all Mike Evans' best friend. Bro, if I were the saints, if I were the saints,

I'd say, oh, McKinstree, you're on this guy, adibo, you're on this guy, everybody. everybody's on Mike Evans. The minute the ball is snapped, you jump Mike Evans and you pick this ball off. And hey, we could win the game. We could go to OT. That could be six the other way. I'm not trying to make it seem like a damn, I'm not trying to seem, make it seem like it's a gas no thing where Jerry Rice is like, hey, you hurt me, Adibo. you know what I'm saying? That's some autograph signing. Jerry Rice is going to be on Kool-Aid McKinstry's ass or something. But like you had a chance to ruin in the most epic fashion a division rival season.

And keep, if Marshawn Lattimore was still there, you know what he would have done? Oh, he would have picked him up and just put him on the sideline. Fly on the wall. Fly on the wall. Marshawn Lattimore watching that shit. He was probably going crazy. Oh. Yeah.

There's no way, dude. And hey, I'm very glad he got it because I love Mike Evans. I think he's one of the most universally respected people. Also, Walter Payton Man of the Year candidate nomination from his team does a lot of great work off the field. And hey, he doesn't need anybody's help to pick up five yards. But it felt like he got a little help. I'm not saying he didn't earn it But if I was the Saints

I would have done some I would have done some crate There's very few times in football That you can do something like totally off the wall It definitely looked like he caught the ball And then the Saints made sure to touch him down At like eight yards Seven yards

You know okay you got the right Okay you're down That was wild Yeah I'm not saying they I'm not saying they let him But they could have made it very hard Everybody in the building Everybody in the building dude

Yeah. The millions watching at home. Eyes on 13. Crazy. But I would say this. Pretty funny to look back at his career and say, you know, a streak like this, so many things have to happen. One year in 2017, he finished with 2001 yards. Okay, week 17, he needed 54 yards. The last drive, he racks up 34 yards.

That drive ends with 10 seconds to go. That's amazing. Like there, and then there's yesterday. I think one year he finished with thousand six yards. Like, it's just all the things that go into a record like that, the consistency, the staying healthy. And I also think for Mike Evans, like winning a Super Bowl with the Bucks, deciding to play his career out in Tampa, being proved right, making a connection with Baker Mayfield, going to the playoffs a couple of years now in a row post Tom Brady. this team has won the division four years in a row. Yeah.

Like they deserve, when I picked them to win the division, I picked them because of the organizational continuity and the vision. And, you know, even though the defensive times this year, and I still think it's a problem, looks like Swiss cheese. I've been so impressed with what they've been able to accomplish, albeit in division that it feels like nobody wants to win. They'll take it.

and Mike Evans gets a special moment in Tampa. I'm so glad he's not doing it somewhere else. You know, somewhere weird. And Jalen McMillan, as good as the moment was for Mike Evans, if they don't have Jailen McMillan playing the way he did late in this game, they don't have the division. He's played great the last six weeks.

I think seven touchdowns last few games? I mean, totally just a stud, you know? And, you know, they needed, that because Chris Godwin I mean you talk about the first matchup with Washington they're about to repeat that and went their way godwin had a huge day they're going to need this guy to step up and um for a while there it felt like both teams are going to finish losers and Tampa would back their way in be the most nFC south thing but um Bryce young man watching bryce and pennix battle it out on the other tv awesome there's a lot of hope for this division in the future and I think like increasingly this

this season. Yeah, I can remember we started the season talking about quarterback plays dipped. What's going on? The too high shell. They're never going to score again. No one's that. Oh, oh. They're never going to score.

It's the 40s. Oh. I have seen some spectacular quarterback in this year. And, you know, moments like Jaden Daniels against Cincinnati. or, you know, Joe Burrow a million times or Josh Allen against the Rams, Matthew Stafford against the bills. Like, what was your favorite quarterback moment this year? Like watching Pennix, you know, grow up before your very eyes on Sunday night football

and, you know, lead his team down the field to hit Kyle Pitts of all people, overcoming multiple fourth downs, a bad snap that goes for minus 20 yards or whatever it is. like Bryce Young getting bench coming back looking the way he looked yesterday looking the way he's looked the last five six weeks of the season the league's in good hands man no doubt it really is and and I'm so happy for Bryce Young um awesome a guy who you know we've never given up on in this particular building um so to speak not at Studio J um I just think I just think people discount how turbulent it can be when a high pick gets in the league and finds his destination. And I think for him, it actually works out well that David Tepper has such a short, an itchy trigger finger.

Because had he not, you know, maybe he doesn't find Dave Canales in year two. And who knows what that relationship's going to yield in the future. but I feel like this is a huge affirming moment for him. I mean, that's a team that's playing for the division. Yeah. They played the Chiefs tough this year. You know, they played the Eagles tough this year. They played a number of elite teams well.

And Bryce took the steps necessary to say, hey, I think he's the guy in the future. And, you know, like, there's going to be some people that are going to be waiting next year for him to make a mistake at every turn in the road because they're clinging to confirmation bias that he's not the guy. And maybe he's not. But I look forward to seeing him build his resume next season.

And probably a trendy little sleeper pick next year would be the Panthers, I think. You know, if they do things the right way, maybe they could be in the running for wildcar birth. Maybe they think, hey, we're a year away from one damn division. You know, it's all out there for him. They've got the eighth pick. So we'll see what they did. Defense.

Defense. Defense. Defense. Just load up. You know, he still needs. I mean, Leggett had some moments this year, but I still think he needs like Thielen's older. Yeah. I still think he needs some guys to throw to. Another piece.

But defense just wasn't competitive for stretches this year. So just a wild 1 p.m. window with the Bucks and the Panthers. And then, of course, you get the Rams, getting the four seed and hosting the Vikings. Let me just. a little familiarity there with O'Connell and McVeigh. Yep. Yeah, and that great game earlier this season too. So it'll be a fun rematch.

And I think I think I'm going to be there. I think I'm going to that game. Let's go. Yeah, more on that later this week. But I'm going to check that game out. So I think I'm going to be there in person and they're going to be hosting the Vikings, a rematch of that game. and you know like the thing to talk about here with the Vikings or with the Rams rather in their game yesterday is

Gino Smith getting his incentives good for him that's a big one and then telling the the OC to like take a hike yeah you know I also think the Rams saying they actually made out like bandits playing Minnesota a team they already beat in their house like I know that you wanted to see them win the game maybe and stay in three seed and that sort of thing. But they end up finding a way to get the matchup that they probably don't mind having and not have to play for anything yesterday. Again, I think Sean McVeigh looks at this like, hey, if I get a healthy, fresh Matt Stafford, it don't matter if we're the four or the three. Like, we're just, we're scary.

And, you know, how scary would this defense be if Aaron Donald was still playing? Right. You know, like with the front, I mean. You know, you know, so anyways, that's going to be a hell of a game Monday night. As far as Ryan Grubb getting fired, you know, I said all season, the offense, it just never felt like they had an identity. And I know part of that is, you know, the failure to build up front, the injuries to tackle at different points in the season, the revolving door at right guard, you know, the hesitancy to run the football with authority, the lack of a. ability to do so. And I think part of it is the quarterback too. As much as I've loved the Gino resurrection chapter, he's just too inconsistent in my opinion. Yeah. You know, so many moments where

they get down in the red zone and, you know, just be some backbreaking pick. Jekyll and Hyde. And it makes things really hard. And maybe part of this is Ryan Grubb. And maybe they bring him back for his third coordinator in three years. And he's the answer for them. But like it just felt like there was no consistency with the group. And I don't blame Mike McDonald for making this decision. You know, where he's been before, they run the football. Baltimore, Michigan.

You know, he probably has somebody in mind. But the question is, who's the quarterback? And, you know, like, again, Gino. spin the wheel again, third, third coordinator. I don't know. As much as I respect Gino, respect the hell out of him, and some of the heights that he's fought to get to, Seattle just feels like they can do better, in my opinion.

And, you know, like the offensive line's part of it, but it's the turnovers. It's the turnovers for me. Because a team like that that's going to play tough defense and run the football ideally and that sort of thing, like you have to play under control and, you know, you have to play within yourself and you can't be given the ball away. So it's not all his fault. We'll see what happens in the future. If they bring them back, great. But I do think things have to look a lot different up front. I mean, that's,

that's number one for me. You've got fun guys outside defensively. You know, you have Leonard Williams who played fantastic this year. Speaking of Pro Bowl snubs, he didn't get in. Two sacks yesterday. He was awesome. He probably ended up with double digits on the year, and he didn't get a chance to make it. You know, you've got Wollin who has been kind of up and down as of late. I think there's reason to believe he'll return to form, like that promising form that he had early in his career. Witherspoon is a damn Swiss Army knife. Yeah.

And, you know, they got the linebacker thing right. That was one very positive thing for Seattle. year is Ernest Jones coming over and bringing along one of their young guys to kind of step up and solidify a unit that was really bad to start the season. You know, love the young kid from Texas. He just got started. You know, you've got Nuwusu. You have some edges that are exciting. Fix the offense. And part of the confounding thing about that offense is it is talented. Like they have a lot of weapons. Yep, including the backs.

But it starts up front. Gino Smith is, he does have another contracted season with him. He's with him through 2025, but we'll see if they extend him. The big one is Tyler Lockett. He is a $30.8 million cap hit next year, obviously aging, and they've got JSN and DK. So he might be a, you know, cut casualty this offseason. No question. And maybe a team that, like Carolina, that we talk.

about could pick them up for some wide receiver help listen dk catching the ball from damn bryce young would be the funniest thing of the world after like dk catches a ball in the end zone and bryce comes up to celebrate with him like those chest bumps he's going to get a face full of dk macktap is what he's going to get that that that would be worth the price of admission just to see him throwing the ball to that that freak um but that never it always felt like dk and gino are on a little bit of a different page. You know, and I said this last week. I feel like Cortland Sutton is what,

and I don't mean any disrespect, D.K., because I think he's a good football player. I mean, that's not really up for debate. What we're talking about is exhausting potential. And, you know, like, I think Cortland Sutton is kind of what you want out of DK, but Sutton's a little bit more of a complete player. So anyways, let's see. that is the NFC, the AFC to finish out the show, obviously a whole bunch of hoopla about,

oh, Carson Wentz. And that's my guy. I love Carson. You know, he's had some really good moments in the league and just has never been able to find that second act where it sticks. And I thought maybe like after last year getting some time and then finding his way to Kansas. city like maybe you could revamp him i'm not saying they had a lot to work with offensively but probably no thanks um and then you know spags holding a lot back they just sat on their hands and said hey we might see this team again right right and we want to be

ready with a full deck for the third installment of this matchup and also i not for nothing if you're going to let Bo Nix into the playoffs or you're going to let Joe Burrow into the playoffs possibly I'm letting Bo Nix in the playoffs. Now, I think Denver is a damn good football team and they took Kansas City to the wire and that's all well and good, but I do think that factors into

having zero motivation to be competitive in that game. I do not know how many adjustments were made by the Chief's defense. It was pretty consistent of the same kind of plays, the same kind of movement by our offense, just making them up and down the field. Dr. Fax is here for his big moment.

He's in the chat. He says, by the way, I told you all, the Bengals were cooked at the start of the season. I believe the conversation we had, Fax, was I can guarantee you in the final week that will be vying for a playoff spot. Technicality, it looks like I'm right. Now, I was wrong about the damn win total.

hurt and i was wrong about them winning damn division i'll tell you that much and lose gone they've got a lot of decisions to make in the offseason we talked about this a little bit earlier um man oh man i just felt like they they let the talent on defense side of the ball really slip and they lost a lot of games in confounding fashion like just we talked about on on Friday there were six of their losses up up till Friday that we can point to one point to one point play if one play out of 10 went differently you know they'd be in the playoffs we wouldn't even have to be worried about this and that's the way it is for every team right you can point to a bunch of moments and that sort of thing but for a team that's been to the Super Bowl same quarterback

leading passer in league you know triple crown leader leader lead leading sacker like do you know many things you have to fuck up to be where you are. And it's, it's, it's confounding. And you got to get it right there because the damn quarterback is special. We know that. And there are some questions about that, like at some point in the season with some media members. But he is one of those guys. And, you know, if you can get the defense right, tough division, you're always going to have to Lamar, but the road to recovery for them is not as long as you think. And you've got two wide receivers, probably the best top two wide receiver in the game in Jamar, and T. Higgins, who's an amazing complimentary piece and could be one of the top

wide receivers if you go somewhere else. But they both have said they want to stay there. I love getting, I love facts being on the show still. Dr. Fax, if they get rid of Higgins, they're going back to the grill week one next year. Hey, listen. They're going to need an infusion of cash to bring everybody back. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see.

That's going to be one of the biggest stories of the off season. What happens with him? And again, I'll say this. If he goes somewhere else, I don't think about him as like this number two that, you know, he played next to Jamar Chase. Like, he's the number one. Masquerading as a number two. And they basically have had two ones this whole time.

I was really impressed to see the way they pivoted away from, Joe Mixon as the year went on. Like I thought Chase Brown was a revelation for them. And I knew that Gaseki would work out. Looks like he might have found a place. Yoshivas is a stud as well. But replacing T. Higgins would be tough. And, you know, I do think, again, with him being a 50-50 ball guy,

well, he might not always draw the best matchup. he is constantly making circus catches. And with his wingspan, with his height, with his physicality, with his catch point skill, I don't think it matters where he goes. I think this guy is going to get buckets. So, you know, since he lived a fight another day, we'll see you next year. But Baltimore, who I think is playing, like, if you ask me right now, and I'll say this outright, we're going to do this on Friday,

so don't quote me on anything i'm going to need the week to like make a pick and that sort of thing and i know eagles fans are going to get mad if i pick anybody about the eagles to go to the super bowl and i know fans are going to get pissed no matter what we say but i have no clue i really don't i'm to level with y'all this is the most wide open i have seen a playoff in a couple years where I think finally we're getting to the point where the good teams can be alone with each other. There's so many bad teams this year. Some teams got inflated. Some teams kind of like they want a lot of non-quality wins and you end up in positions where

you overvalue teams and that sort of thing. And it's just a beautiful moment where the dance floor is cleared. and we can see the best of the best. And there's some damn good football teams. I would put Baltimore, and I've been hot and cold on them this year because they've changed as the year has gone on. That team, undisciplined early in the season,

defense, the bottom falling out, linebacker play poor. At times early in the season, you're like, who's going to be that rusher? Matabique started slow. Van Oi became a real bucket guy for them. You know, they move Kyle Hamilton back to safety,

which I think was probably the big catalyst for them. I think the Ravens are playing as good as anybody. And, you know, the bills are certainly in that conversation for me. Entering the playoffs, firing on all cylinders.

You've got, to me, the two MVP candidates stops there. Lamar and Josh, pick your poison. But at the end of the the day we finally get to see the best play the best and uh i can't wait but this isn't me skirting uh an opportunity to pick a super bowl winner i just as a monday today i have no clue really i don't it's all matchup dependent it really it really is like um so i think baltimore

has as good a chance as anybody though and the one thing though with baltimore is zay flowers went down in that game. What's the latest on him, fellas, as of time of tape? I know coming out of the game, it seemed like the kind of the word then was there's a real chance he could miss this first round of the playoffs. And then Coach Harbaugh said earlier today that he's day to day. So I don't know whether that's gamesmanship to try to make the opponent prepares if he's going to be in the lineup and he's really going to be out.

That's what you got to wonder. The line opened up for that game at like nine and a half. Let's go through the lines real quick. Because I think Pittsburgh playing Baltimore in actuality is not the worst thing. Like if you're Pittsburgh, like I feel like if you're Pittsburgh and you come into the playoffs losing four games in a row, you kind of feel like, eh, like it's going to be tough. No matter who we play. Let's play the team that we've beaten most of the time the past five, six years. you know like let's let's play the devil we know and um you know i'm sure they held some things back

in the second matchup defensively uh i don't know what they're accustomed to holding back because they don't really show a lot kind of do the same fucking thing on defense over and over again um you know but there were opportunities in in that second game for them to stay in the game uh i don't take Pittsburgh incredibly seriously unless they're like they're going to they're going to turn things around and look better in the play but you know fans get upset when you say you don't take them seriously like hey win a game the last month of the season I don't know what would you what would you as a fan want me to say if I got up here and said hey the Steelers or they could beat anybody you just said I was a fucking idiot you you you Steelers fans included but then I get up here and

say I don't take them serious and you're like who is this guy well I'm just the guy who's watching football. We're not selling hope here. Yeah, dude, we're not in the business. And this is the thing, again, at the end of the season, go back through the season, there are 15 different clips you could pull off on me sound like an idiot because I'm talking about a team that today looks different than the team that I'm watching at that particular moment. Things change. Especially in this specific matchup, the Steelers you talked about earlier in the show have really gone like this over the last month. And the Ravens, the way they've changed, this is a number of one defense in December in EPA per play allowed you know that kind of efficiency metric so they are their teams going to play different directions as well totally these two teams have been so different since that first matchup but sometimes you get in the playoffs and it kind of it kind of goes out the window and uh you know is there a path to them beating Baltimore I don't know I'll work on that during the week but um yeah I think I think it's I think it's turnovers it's the way it's the

way they won the first game. And, you know, if Zay's not playing, things change a little bit. You know, and so, like, you get enough of these things happening and all of a sudden, a team that's a 10-point favorite finds himself in a ballgame with one of the, you know, a coach that loves to muddy it up, King Ugly is what I call him. He loves winning ugly. Mike Tomlin, he might have something in his bag. And one of the things in his bag might be more Justin Fields. Like, we've talked at length this season about, you know, the possibility of them putting in some packages for Justin Fields. We love the Russ move when they made it, like understood it. You know, there were games like a Raiders game where, you know, it's a lot harder

and it has to be because the quarterback's not making plays. And then they make the switch to Russell Wilson. He looks like old Russell Wilson. And we thought he was new Russell Wilson. And then we thought he was old Russell Wilson for about a month. and he's really just new Russell Wilson. So I can't figure out which Russell Wilson he is. But you stand up.

Yeah, please stand up. But the thing I'd love to see would be some Justin Fields sprinkled in. These are the types of games where you burn the ships and you just say, hey, fuck. After that game against the Bengals the other night, like the way Russ looked, you know, obviously that lasts for that fourth down throw that was a little unmooth. Like you kind of put it on him. You should have made that catch.

But why not change? it up a little bit. Yeah. You know? Just throw them in there and maybe it's, you know, you're rotating, you're doing one of the other certain drives, whatever. But the Ravens are 10-point favorites. Total is 44 points.

That game is the 8 p.m. game on Saturday. But a 10-point line in the playoffs is not small. Pittsburgh, last year they were a touchdown dog at Buffalo. I mean, you know, at some point for Pittsburgh, you're going to want to do more and just get in the dance, which is a very privileged thing to say. If you're a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, right? There's a lot of fan bases

that would just love to be in the dance every year. And I think that's where the, that's where the dissatisfaction with the job. Tomlin's done post-Rothosberger comes from. But I do think, you know, if Russ is not the quarterback of the future for them, like maybe they decide like he's a band-aider, that sort of thing.

Another thing is Arthur Smith is going to be in conversations to be a head coach this year. Whether he's a head coach or not, that's a guy that like, it's the anti-Ben Johnson thing. Get out while you can. Right. Like, you know, there was a very, it was a bell curve of Russell Wilson stock and we all bought up here. Okay. And only he knows what's gone wrong the last month of the season. But I think like if you have an opportunity in your Arthur Smith to go look somewhere else, you have, obviously take it, you jump at that opportunity. And, you know, there are teams that might make you want to stay around and be a part of it. But it feels like the answer for the Steelers going forward,

whatever happens in the playoffs or not, like is not that team in its current form. And I also, I also think their defense is like not as good as you're accustomed to seeing. You know, in the back end, they have some issues. And, you know, it's one of those things where if you don't have a true like lockdown corner you better be pretty good across the board and it's not taking anything away from Joey Port Jr. Because he's a good player. But like the other guys have to be better.

And, you know, Baltimore is just, they're held to deal with right now. They are. The way they put this thing together at the end of the season. The only thing that stands in Baltimore's way is Baltimore. In the past, Baltimore, last year included,

Ken's City earned that win but part of the reason they earn that win is because the Ravens kind of beat themselves like they just whether it was Zayflower's mistake in the red zone or the failure to run the football I think the Derek Henry move was made with one thing in mind

January and they've gotten to January hell they had him playing in the fourth quarter of that game because they still had to win it but you know he survived all that and now you burn the ships and if you got to run the ball 40 times a game you're going to do that so i think the ravens are ready to do whatever it takes to win whether that's lamar using his legs which was a criticism last year it's like it sucks for this guy who's otherworldly talented and and a really good passer and you know as he's developing early in his career

people are like hey he's not a passer you know and to be him and to hear that criticism and for everybody to be like yeah stay in the pocket and then last year at the end of the season people are like I wish you to ran more you know it really does suck at times to be Lamar um and all the other times it's amazing because you're like you're one of one and a million so uh cannot wait for uh this weekend uh i don't really have much else other than let me i'll give you the other lines for those wild card games. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, finish up, finish up. So Chargers, Texans, that's the early game on Saturday, 430 on CBS. Chargers are three-point favorites,

42 and a half is the total. It's chalky, but I like the Chargers. It's such a chalky thing. Yeah. But that defense is different at home. That could be low scoring. Yeah. It's interesting. They profile really similarly. I mean, QBs are excited about run game and consistent by both offenses throughout the season and then really good defenses. So, but yeah, I definitely lean chargers too. They put more complete games together.

Yeah. I will say watching the Texans yesterday, they, you know, they played the Titans who weren't giving up much on defense. But that first drive that their starters were in. It might have been the best drive of the season.

It really. It really was. It really was. He did six and six. He was throwing some great balls. It like if you wanted to get fooled and be like everything's fixed you well listen and that's the whole thing with these lines is you know the the the Broncos are catching like nine points and I thought that was a little much um I agree I thought it was a little much but am I falling for what they just look like this week against a bunch of backups am I falling for you know what I do think the Broncos could give could give buffalo some problems with their defense. Like, you know, when you talk about, like, Pat just erasing somebody,

you know, and Riley Moss being at, like, it kind of comes down to how you, how you take care of the slot in the middle of the field and the tight ends. And I think that's where, I think that's where Buffalo has an advantage against those linebackers and in the middle of the field. And, you know, the pass rush. Spencer Brown's had a great year. Dionne Dawkins is a stud. They have done a good job up front.

Aaron Kramer is a great coach. This is going to be a challenge, but that's a lot of points. You kind of wonder if Vegas is playing Broncos betters against themselves. Yeah. It jumped off the page. The minute I looked, I was like, oh, man, it's a lot of points. And I had the wherewithal to be like,

wait, hold on a minute, player. but a lot of people just probably jumping on Denver with all those points. And while our defense, you know, obviously we were playing all backups yesterday, but the one issue that we did have even yesterday was those linebackers covering the running back since Smajapy Rine specifically out of the backfield. And if that's something that Josh Allen, what, the last five weeks, he hit Todd Johnson, Ray Davis, even James Cook for long touchdowns right out of the backfield. So backs out of the backfield, bro.

It's a great point. And that's, as we said this all along, like Denver is going to struggle with, with one thing in particular, it is like, hey, a back out of the back field on like a wheel. Yeah. Again, so the backers for Denver. I mean, and those guys and those backs catch the ball like receivers in Buffalo because Josh is going to put it on them down down the field. And so, yeah, like that's an interesting one. Another team that's kind of had a week because they didn't play Josh.

and the fellas against the New England Patriots who find a way to lose out on that pick. And maybe we should have talked about that a little bit more. I don't think it was a tank. I don't think it was Robert Kraft reacting to a tank or to him failing to tank. I don't think that's purely what it was. I also think this year, and you talk to some people and you say, oh, it doesn't matter what year it is for the quarterback class. Like, you know, you're going to get two ones or something like that to, you know, move

out of that number one spot. And so that spot has an inherent value. It does. There's definitely going to be people that are going to be itching to move up to one, and you could have been there. But at the end of the day, you have your quarterback in New England, and you know, you weren't looking for one. And again, this isn't the strongest quarterback class.

So Buffalo, getting that win or losing that game, the win for them is sitting there, guys. And they'll be. They'll be ready to roll. Yeah, Packers, Eagles in the 430 game on Sunday, as we mentioned, Eagles, four points, 45 and a half. Now, Jalen, obviously, we mentioned he's still in protocol, but that's also because the Eagles haven't practiced,

so they haven't been able to update that. You got to run the ball. The Tampa's got to run the ball. That's their way. And I think Jaden Daniels and those guys, they're going to, this team's got a really good vibe about them, man. Like if you sometimes it it's you don't know any better as a young team young quarterback like what's it like playing on the road in the playoffs like I don't know um and you know something I always

talk about I was just talking about it with Ertz um because he's he's when he went and he used this after I played but when I had talked to the team they brought like guys up to talk to the team um who had been in the play playoffs and me grand total of like two three playoff games over the course of a year they were like yeah we we need to get your inside i was like okay sure um the point i made was the play doesn't care who makes it you know like and it you see guys in the playoffs who have a ton of experience who fuck up you see young guys making plays in the playoffs every year um my experience in the playoffs having waited nine years to go finally got there in new england

first quarter of a damn game. I'm trying to do too much jumping out of my gap and I'm having one of the worst series of my season. And, you know, it's because I wanted to make a play. I wanted to make a play. I've been waiting a long time to be in the playoffs. I wanted to help my team. I want to make a play. And, you know, it didn't hurt us. We were playing Houston. We beat the dog shit out of them. But, you know, I didn't have my best quarter in the beginning of the playoffs. And I took from that this lesson, which is like you got to let the play come to you. And in the playoffs, I think your biggest enemy sometimes is you trying to be not a hero, but justify your existence in that game and, you know, to try to make a big play. And I think, I think sometimes guys go into the playoffs and they

try to do too much. It really isn't about that. It's about execution, just like any other game. And young guys can execute veterans can fuck it up and if you try to go out looking for a play to make you're going to end up making a play for the other team in a lot of scenarios so um to me that's the big key whether you young team whether you're a veteran team is let that play come to you the play does not care who makes it and um and for me uh that was the most valuable thing i could tell the younger players. And so a young team like the commanders, I'm sure somebody like Bobby Wagner is is able to impart some of that wisdom that he that he's picked up over his veteran career. But like there are some young guys that are going to be making, you know, going to be asked to

make big plays in the playoffs, like whether it's Jared Verse or Jaden Daniels or, you know, any number of these rookies defensively that are going to be called upon to do a really important job late in the game, where it'd be a corner trying to thinking about, oh, I'm going to jump this route, or, you know, I'm going to make a big play here. Like, sometimes you've got to let the play come to you. And so that would be my parting shot to any of these teams in the playoffs, especially young team like the commanders who hadn't really been there before. And so that commanders bucks, bucks are favored by three points. 50 and a half is that total. And that's obviously, that's the Taylor Heineke revenge game from 2020. He's, he's,

not on either of those rosters. That's right. Taylor Hanuky, Tom Brady matched up in that game. And then Monday, Vikings, Rams, Vikings, one and a half point favorites. 47 is the total in that game. That game's going to be a lot of fun. That game's going to be a lot of fun.

I don't know what's going to happen. And like I said, I get to see it in person, I think. So I'll keep you posting on that. And what was the line in that one? One and a half. Vikings favored by one and a half. 47 total. It's a tight one.

I don't know what the line was in that first game, but that thing went down to the wire. So anyways, real fast, we'll hear from Airbnb. Oh yeah, I love hearing from Airbnb. I love hearing from Nate for Airbnb.

I love hearing from Nate. What's up Greenlight fans? It's your boy, Dr. Fax, and I want to talk to you about Airbnb. Me and the Green Light crew a few years ago, we stayed at Airbnb for the Super Bowl in Arizona, and it was absolutely immaculate. It had a huge,

Cactus in the backyard had a pool had enough room for everybody way better than a hotel and then recently just purchased a house with my girl and we found out that we can be host and your house might be worth more than you think and you can find out at Airbnb.com slash host. I love that Nate remembered the cactus. He was like man, we went to Arizona and you wouldn't believe what they had in the backyard. Giant fucking cactus. Need one of these. That's my dog. Airbnb, Nate, in the chat, Airbnb. Thanks,

the spread in the first Vikings Rams game was Vikings by three. They have. And the last thing for today, we just want to mention, thanks to bet MGM and all you football fans, we want you to picture something. You bet your favorite players, is a first touchdown score, but he throws a block to send a teammate into the end zone,

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for rewards are non-witrable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Happy, honey. Yep, so come back Friday. We will be talking about all things wild card round, probably going to give out some season-long awards. Probably going to weigh in on where we stand on the MVP race coach the year and all that stuff.

I want to hear from, you know, Dr. Fax and the return of Dr. Fax and making. and we'll be probably making some predictions as far as this weekend's concerned. But again, wide open, I would tell you that Detroit has earned the right to be the team to beat. Like if it matters at all what people are saying, they have earned that right. But I think there's a lot of teams that would have something to say about that. There's some great quarterbacks in this damn tournament, man, including the young ones like Jaden Daniels, you know, Patrick Mahomes, who's had to fight through so much this year.

and looks like they're rounding into form. Josh Allen, Lamar, unbelievable. Matt Stafford, guys. Does he have one more run in him? Can Sam Darnold prove that he's one of the guys? Is Baker Mayfield more than just a fun story where you're like, man, that guy was pretty good? Like, is he going to get a chance to make a real run?

There's so many questions I have about the Wild Card round and beyond. So I can't wait to try to answer some of those Friday. Hope you all come back and hope you all had a great weekend. Hope y'all hit all your incentives. Get paid. Yeah, get paid, y'all.