Green Light with Chris Long - Week 17 Reactions! Refs Blow Lions Game, Eagles Fall to Cardinals & Ravens Sprint Past Dolphins

Episode Date: January 1, 2024

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Chris Long, Kyle Long and Dr. Fax are back in studio after the holidays to react to the wild results in week 17. The Lions suffer a brutal loss seemingly due to referee error, the Ravens breakdown the Dolphins and take the AFC's #1 seed and the Eagles lose to the Cardinals in Jonathan Gannon's return to Philly. We talk those games and more, along with our Miller Lite America's Teams and Moments. Enjoy! (00:00) - CFB Semifinals and America's Teams Presented by Miller Lite (35:08) - Ravens Race Past Dolphins (47:10) - Week 18 AFC Playoff Implications (1:06:42) - Chiefs Handle Bengals (1:17:23) - How Will the AFC South Shake Out (1:21:45) - Browns Ready for Playoff Run (1:28:00) - NFC: San Francisco vs Washington & LAR vs NYG (1:31:17) - Referees Blunder in Detroit vs Dallas Game (1:42:45) - Eagles Fall to Cardinals (1:54:55) - NFC Wildcards (2:02:11) - The Denver Situation: Broncos and Russell Wilson (2:14:09) - Miller Lite Mentions: The Browns, David Tepper, Tyrod Taylor and Father Time This podcast is brought to you by Cash App. With multiple tools for saving, spending, and sending, Cash App is the easy way to stay in control of your money. Cash App is a financial platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App's bank partner(s). Use the GameTime app for all your ticketing needs. Create an account and use code GREENLIGHT for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download the GameTime app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed. Make sure to check out Fax and the King every Wednesday on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FaxAndTheKing 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/c/GreenLightTube1 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

With the confidence this team has, they've already hit bumps in the road that would have sunk other offenses. Losing Mark Andrews, then losing Keaton Mitchell. You know what championship teams have? They have guys that step up. Next man up mentality. I can remember our Super Bowl year. We lost Sproles. He was a huge deal.

This guy's like a Hall of Famer. You know who stepped up? All those running backs. Jay Ajai, Corey Clement, Jason Peters went down. Who stepped up, Big V, got himself a contract. So the point is when you're on a team like this, you've got to have the depth pieces and you've got to have the support. system to elevate those guys, they have this. Welcome to the Greenlight podcast.

It's a new year. Welcome to 2024. We've got playoff implications galore here today. Chris and Kyle talk you through everything that happened in week 17 in the NFL, including the biggest story, the referees blunder in the Cowboys Lions game on Saturday. We also run through the Sunday slate, the Eagles, loss of the Cardinals. The chiefs are able to hang on against the Bengals, the Ravens race past the dog. dolphins to the AFC's number one seed.

They're going to have a decision on their hands whether to arrest some starters next week as they head into thereby. The 49ers easily blow past the commanders. And what might happen in week 18? Could the Steelers make it into the playoffs? They need a lot of help. Who comes out of the AFC South? Who comes out of the NFC South?

Well, all that plus our Millerite moments and America's teams. A great New Year's show for you today. Please enjoy it. Welcome. Greenlight podcast. It's a new year. Happy new morning. Happy New Year. I almost tweeted last night, the Eagles are not losing again this year, but I thought people would, like, abuse me for months to come.

You know, like, people just not getting the joke, but making the joke me. I got some English tea. It's a good way. I'm starting the new year off like this. No coffee. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. I saw you were getting some shit about that for a bunch of guys. you can beat up online. Shout out to Wawa.

What nice guy though on. Oh, how emasculating is that? You're drinking tea. I've been nicer online. Get fucking curb stomped by a guy who drinks tea. Okay? Try that on for size. That's too too too bad.

Hey, before we get into America's team, happy New Year to everybody. New Year. New Year, new you. Right. Hope you made it through the night. Mm-hmm. It was funny, my first America's team, before even getting into America's teams, is football guys because last night Meg's up dealing with the baby at midnight we did like the kid

countdown at 9 o'clock where they think they're you know we woke the baby up like the baby cared you guys realize the baby had a hard time at 6 p.m yeah exactly we we got them yeah yeah and then we're in berlin and all this stuff but but it gets to be like 1145 and i'm not even thinking about the time anymore because i'm just working on this show and i call nolan and we're going to go through the show and at 12.05, I look up and I go, man, I'm really sorry. I said, happy new year. I didn't even realize it was, we totally missed midnight. I had no idea. We were just ranting about the Ravens. We're at the age now where you wake up the next morning to 8 a.m. text that's a.m. text that's a happy new year. It's not like let's

fuck with these people. I got one face time from a guy in California. I'm like, he just doesn't get it. Everybody else is kind of on. Also, This texting on the holidays thing, like I used to get stressed out about it until I read. Happy Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. I got to check and make sure this guy's not Jewish. I'm nervous. Like, you know, it's just a loaded thing around the holidays where people text you, but really it's not that, it's not that hard. If somebody texts you, you text him back. Otherwise, you don't have to worry about did I text this person, Merry Christmas. It's what the Facebook poke is. It's like, are you still there? You know. What about the automatic automation stuff? So just stop.

Well, you send Happy New Year does the fireworks. Oh, that's the worst. I do like that. You like the fireworks. Do you? Like when I say congrats, and I didn't even mean for it to be over the top, but Apple has done a number on making it special when you say. It scares me.

So all I'm saying is like, there's no need to text anybody on a holiday that, you know, like a birthday, sure. I got one of those clock reminders last night. It was like set a timer reminder for New Year. Not doing all that. I was like swipe left clear. Not doing all that. In fact, I'm just going to be on the phone. Get out of my life.

As the ball drops. Ryan Seacrest was probably drunk somewhere. I was talking about the Ravens at midnight. So let's start with the layup line. And this is one of Kyle and I's favorite songs. I don't know. Did I introduce you to this song? Probably.

A few months back. I was like, I'm sure we've enjoyed it together. I have sent this song to 50 people. And the way I learned about it was Jim Harbaugh. This is Jim Harbaugh's pregame song. I didn't know that. They get ready to play Alabama.

So this is Jim Harbaugh's pregame song. It's called The Reck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Now, this song is, uh, well, a little background about the song. The Edmund Fitzgerald was, of course, an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in Lake Superior during a storm on November 10th, 1975 with the loss of the entire crew of 29 men. Don't think it's too soon. Here we go. Go to the 214.

24. You at 214. 14 is the best part of the... It's too rough to feed you. Pokemon. The cook came up like, you're gonna be hungry. At 7 p.m., the main hatchway gave in. He said, fellas, it's been nice to know you.

How hardcore is that? That's the mindset. That's the mindset of dudes on a freighter. They're just like, dude, no dinner, and I got worse news for you. We're gonna sink. And it's cold as fuck. It's November.

Luckily for Jim Harbaugh, it's gonna be the granddad. They say if they, have made it a hundred or 15 miles more they would have made it to thunder bay and they would have been straight but they sank and nobody ever found the uh the the remains of the guys they found the edmund fitzherald oh they found him but uh but reed this is the real layup line today this is for the people at home what let's go that's not that's not this is a trap let's go that's crazy link link link we're doing that yeah yeah yeah so we're doing that

Turn it up. Sorry, I yelled into the microphone. Don't get me one star. Like some of you. Shout out to Jalen Milro. I'm a fan of this. Today's the day. Lank.

Today's the day you let all the naysayers know. Let a naysayer no. Let's go. Today's the day. Our store order, Nick Saven. Woo! I'm not on board with any of this. The Edmund Fitzgerald lands in Thunder Bay today at the Grandaddy of the

them all where my colleague, Brock Verene, will be alongside the action. Oh, CBS. Turn it off. By the way. By the way, Oregon's losing. Okay. Six nothing. Hey.

So let's, God, the hater. The hater rate is pouring early. RTR. You tricked me into it. RTR. You texted me about the, you did that. I lured you out into Lake Superior and I sunk your ass, dude. Right, Dan Campbell.

Look how that's working out for Dan Campbell. I'm pulling. Okay. I'm pulling. They got robbed, Kyle. We'll talk about it. Yeah, by pirates. That John, Kyle Long-looking guy, John Skipper.

He's taller than me. I got a lot of texts about him. We're going to talk about this later, so let's not get into the whole call. But John Skipper, like, I was watching on the monitor my five-month-old baby screaming, and she was red-faced and bald. And then on the TV, there was John Skipper who looked more like an angry baby than any 6'7. Dan Skipper. He's 6'9.

Bro, the guy was... And he does have the same exact beard, hair combination that I do. Not that there's many combinations, but him and I, we've hit it off the nail on the head. If your baby woke up one morning and looked like Dan Skipper, what do you do? I would say, babe, we're set here. We're set. Oh, man. So we'll talk about that in a little bit, but I guess the first thing we've got to do is get into America's teams.

Before we get into America's teams, Kyle, you've got who tonight, Michigan, I take it? I'm going to be riding with Jim Harbaugh. I just think it's like the last hurrah, right? I don't really know the details of the Michigan Harbaas Saga. But there's a lot of people cheating in this college football. Ohio State supposedly hacking into people's, it's even worse. Ohio State's hacking into people. If they had some advanced county, so be it.

That's not so be it, though. Are they going to ban Jim Harbaugh forever, Nolan? From college? No, he's going to ban himself. Is he done there next year? I think he goes and takes a pro job. But he's allowed to go back to Michigan if he wants. Oh, yeah.

So this is his last ride. I hope he does take a pro job next year, and I am picking Michigan. Listen, okay, so. Because of the antics that just- So I'm going to take Bama anyways, but then I'm going to parlay. He said, he said Alabama minus 14. Minus 13 and a half, bro. So when I say I'm taking Michigan, that's what I'm taking Michigan against.

Okay. Minus 13 and a half. Nate's betting an alternate spread. Well, I got to tell you, Kyle, that's an alternate spread. The real spread on the game is Michigan minus two. So if you're going to bet Michigan, you got to hope they win my field. Okay, exactly. But that was the line I was presented.

Yeah, okay, yeah. I want the people in the chat to understand that the content. Kyle didn't know about alternate lines upstairs, and he was like, I will bet you that. How much? I was like, how much do you want to bet? That's a length situation for Vegas. If Bama's laying 14, Kyle. But can I just say that the ultimate bevel, that's the ultimate bubble.

That's going to be at the Rose Bowl. Are you kidding me? Every year, it's vitamin D deprived Eastern America, Northeastern, particularly. We don't get the sun for how long. know, but then you show up and you get to watch the Rose Bowl, whether it's on TV or there in person. It's always great uniforms, great teams. Yeah. And you get the sunshine, the trees are green. And they had some rain the last couple of days, so I think that's going to do something for the, I mean, you know, I think the cameras are better at the Rose Bowl. Reads, Reed's playing

CCR or something on the, anyways. So in the second game, I mean, the Cinderella story was, not Wisconsin, no, Washington. Washington and Pennix, like they've been the group that everybody wanted to see in the playoff because they're actually a true Cinderella story unlike FSU, Kyle. Are they a Cinderella story?

They are a Cinderella story. They're beating up on juggernauts all here. They haven't, but people wrote them off. They caught a bunch of points in the Pac-12 championship. They weren't supposed to beat Oregon the first time they played them. Pennix has hurt himself a bunch.

He's been in Indiana. He's at Washington. He's been in college football for like a decade. and I think this would be the most poetic in the last year of the pack 12 for him to get you're a pack 12 guy Kyle you haven't heard my pick okay who's your pick well you go ahead first I think Texas is probably the winner but I had to sprinkle a little something on the money line and parlay them with with with bama so Kyle you've got you've got Washington and Michigan that's all you had to say he handed me a

piece of paper so listen to this listen to this yeah Fiji frat University of Washington, futures bet. The entire frat threw in $25 at the beginning of the year for UW to win the national championship. Two games away now. Would you cash out? Would you? I would cash out. What's the cash out look for?

Wait, so if they win, it's 50K and they plan to throw a big party. I think they put like 26 or 2700. I think they put 26 to 27,000. I mean, $2,700 on the initial bet. Yes, on the initial bet. And what do you think the cash out is? I don't know. If the cash out's like $20,000, you take the $20,000, you go to the nightclub.

They said they're going to throw a party. You'd be willing to accept for this bet. That the win would be $50. Yeah, I might take the $10, $15,000 and throw a killer party. Yeah. For the national championship. And then root like hell for whoever's playing Washington, just so you don't feel bad. you're going to be rooting for you dub anyways if you guys to have a consolation deal if you don't win it

i thought it was a good story and that's knowing that the cash out was was was wise the phygians okay phygians okay here we go kyle we've got america's teams yeah we do i'll start um is it the the the raptors they they they lost to the pistons the who was it the raptors thank you canada for for joining the america's teams i mean detroit needed a win ever so badly they picked up a win the hadn't won in what like 30 games they were they were about to be for all they were they were about to surpass like all sports yeah like the longest losing street for all major sports all sports I think I think they're tied now right baseball team or 20 him lost streak yeah I don't think well we're an NFL team that goes 0 and 16 and 2 and 14 I've

been on some teams that we lost 20 something games in a row I think man all time pro losing streak so 76ers so I feel I remember that I feel I feel great about the rap doing that for our team in Detroit, especially not that Detroit Lions fans care, but you were about to get robbed on national TV. It's good to get that win in basketball. Do they have the cool jerseys with the raptor dribbling the basketball? I love those jerseys, yeah. Or do they have? Yeah, they still wear those. They still wear those sometimes. All right, my other America's team, Pop-Tart. I know I went on this big rant about like, you know, how these bowl games are fucking it up, and largely they are because for the most part, it's

too corporate and when you go to corporate it's like direct TV puts a huge direct TV on the trophy and nobody nobody's going to remember direct TV in 20 years when that trophy's sitting in the hallway at USC. That's a good point. You know what I'm saying? They're not even going to have the right TV anymore. What's directive? Right. Yeah, exactly. Directive. Yeah, what's a directive? Is that like something I'm supposed to do? I have a TV inside my retina. I don't need dish. And honestly, with YouTube TV and all this shit like it's already over for direct TV, but the point is, it's like if you're going to go corporate, make it fun. Bro. And don't do it like the closer you are to the big bowl games.

Don't do it. If you're like the Pop-Tart bowl, perfect. And I thought it was incredible. The Pop-Tart coming out of the toaster. The Pop-Tart going David Blaine disappearing into the toaster at the end of the game. The trophy. You ate the trophy. You could eat the trophy.

Well, the trophy was a toaster. You could put Pop-Tarts in. But the players ate a giant Pop-Tart at the end of the game. And they're dirty gloves and all their germs that they've been out getting at the bowl game. They just shared them. You know, it was, it was, it was kind of gross, bro, but I love it. Great, it was great. And to think about how you can build off this and maybe you think about like having the

smores pop tar and different flavor pop tarts. Yeah. And maybe like asking teams what their favorite is and then that pop tar just to go in like to the to the toast. Like, I think, I think this is going to be amazing. This is what you know there. There was a shout of the Pop-Tart mascot behind the ref, and the ref was like giggling. I'm trying to keep a straight face, and I said, that's me in my kitchen at midnight

with the snacks behind me. And I just, I'm giddy. And you know the snack's going to get you, but you're trying not to pay attention to it. And if I had Pop-Tarts in my kitchen that night while that game was going on, I would have destroyed the whole box. Okay. And then last thing. Pop-Tart as a team. Teams with black uniforms.

You know, the Saints, the Ravens this weekend. had Missouri, you had Oklahoma State. A lot of teams with black uniforms got the win this weekend and looked good doing it, not saying the Ravens look great. I don't know why they went with that combination. But Missouri looked awesome. You don't think the Ravens looked good? No, they had the purple pants and the black top.

I would have gone all black. People said that that was OBJ's peak aesthetic. That might be, oh, I don't know about that. That's what they were saying on the Giants uniform. And that was my initial reaction. That's my reaction. But it's kind of his heel look. I don't really have a lot of me.

America's teams. Kyle, I guess America's team will be you at home counting all your, your New Year's resolutions, and we'll see, you know? Like, it's just begun. So whatever you did this morning, you went for a run. Okay, we'll see. Check back in two weeks. New Year's resolution, eat my boogers less, blow my nose more. Do you eat your boogers? I'm just kind of making a mockery of these resolutions. America's teams, I do need a tissue, though, if you guys have one back there. Tissue. America's teams, I'm going to do like, a look ahead instead of doing like power ranking NFL teams right now I'm just going to be saying these are the guys who I think you should buy into if you're a fan and you want to

become a fan of a team we talked about the Chargers it's good real estate value right there like they may suck at first but you got the good pieces for me number one future yeah call blow your nose with this you big number one future America's team I just got a wife I think I got this snog dude number one future America's team UGA University of Georgia mm-hmm oh football at cats of me. Can I, can I, I forgot. Georgia's my fifth America's team.

Well, then we're going to share. Okay, good, we'll share it. That's a giant-in-light set way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my number one. Talk about the future, and I want to talk about this weekend. Well, I'm going to talk about the future because of this, like, if you're a Georgia football player, there's nowhere that you're going to transfer to you to give yourself

a better chance to win. Like, you're surrounded by the best. Georgia is what Alabama was for so long, where it's like, no, no, no, bro. When we get to the league, we look at the guys in our lot. And, like, Eddie Jackson came to the league. from Alabama and he looked at me deadly eye and was like oh we could have beat you all last year and I'm like I was like you're a fucking kid you don't even know what you're talking about and then I watched him play and I see all the guys he played with play

he said he could have beat the bears yeah it was you know during training camp he said that in the locker room all the guys in locker room are like somebody kill him here's the that guy on the panthers that guy on the panthers this year he's like that guy on the panthers this year he's the guy from Alabama two years ago so Eddie Jackson it was 20 no I know I'm just talking about I'm talking about year to year to a year to a Tugavaloa these were the guys he was playing with yeah so Georgia is that now number one America's team we don't even transfer we're gonna keep this stock rising you know it's like magnetic there's a game called snake. I.O. on the phone where you move the snake around you eat other snakes you get bigger and bigger

Georgia is just gonna you think they're like snake just gonna just keep getting bigger unless they themselves. Can I tell you something about Georgia this weekend because I really did write this down, but as you know, like my notes are everywhere. Georgia is an America's team for taking care of Florida State. And I know people are going to say Florida State, the way they lost because of all the opt-outs and everything doesn't change anything about the Florida State argument for the playoff. And you're right. It wasn't a good argument in the first place. I think that's the whole thing. Like for you to prove to people that you deserve to be there, you would have had to play Georgia tough or beat Georgia. And your guys opted out.

That was their decision. So part of being a team is deciding that something's important enough to you. And if it were more important to prove that point, guys would have played. Okay? And I think George's depth is better near depth. And I don't care how many videos Danny Cannell puts out where he's walking through his giant rental home. That's what Danny's doing. Danny, it's a nice fucking place.

A lot of staircases, though. So I just, I don't know what you want if you're a Florida State fan, but that was your chance. And I think Georgia's and America's team for just quieting that down. If anything, though, people made more noise after the game. But we just shouldn't go back to this argument anymore because it was so fucking ugly. And Kirby Smart, I've seen this a couple years in a row where they get into a bowl game. And the bowl game might not mean that much to other people. But they look hungry to win these bowl games.

And that was why betting them in the first half was like free money. And Kirby Smart put it this way. He said, guys, come back. If you want to come back and play for the seniors. If you don't want to play for the seniors, I respect it. So what do you think about what I said about the future? I love Kirby Smart. Are you going to, is there a better,

is there a coach you'd rather play for right now? No, like that. Is there a locker room you'd rather be a part of? He's up there. Is there a town you'd rather have backing you? Than Athens. I don't know. I mean, Lane Kiffin and Oxford sounds fun too.

Man, did you see the scoreboard piggy puffed? Yeah, yeah. I want to go to Colorado. Anyways, I just think they're an America's team. Good for you. You might be America's team, Wayne Giffin. I think they're an America's team

because they shut up the noise. I said what I said, Chris. I don't feel bad about it. America's team, Lane Giffin as well. Number two, the Chicago Bears. We've talked about the Bears on this show, but I truly feel like the future is so, so bright in Chicago. And they have a lot of decisions to make

and they're good problems to have. Who's the quarterback going to be? Well, the stadiums seem to understand that. We want Fields. We want Fields. Justin Fields getting interviewed after the game. It's a dream come true, you know, for this guy to do the things he does. Eddie Jackson, the same guy we were just talking about who's, you know, still on that defense is the guy's a magician.

There's a certain way that the Bears play football with fields a quarterback, and it's awesome to see, is Iber Flue's going to be the head coach? What are they going to do with the O.C. position? Who are the picks going to be? Are they going to trade the number one? In an alternate university, you're going to go after a quarterback and deal to Atlanta. Alternate. And, you know, well, here's the first.

funny thing, the irony of yesterday being a quote-unquote tryout game against Atlanta for Atlanta for Fields. People in our studio were like, yeah, it's a great opportunity for him to showcase his skills to Atlanta. It ended up being a game that with conviction, people said that Justin Fields is the Bears Quarter. So do you want to talk about this now and not save it for later? I'm doing my... No, I know, because we got to hit the Fields thing now or later. We're going to hit that we're going to get into the nitty-gritty of what they should do? Sure. Okay, they should keep him. Yeah.

They should keep them. I mean, the decision has been made. I mean, to me, the decision has been made for weeks now. You know what I mean? And I guess this is my... There would be a mutiny there. That's my thing, Kyle. Like, he has decided...

That's our guy. Well, Iber Flues. You talk about him. A lot of times you let the team decide at the end of the season. The team has decided by playing hard and beating teams that are in the thick of it. Like Atlanta had to win that game to go to the playoffs. Yeah. And you fucking killed him, dude.

And Justin Fields made some great plays. He missed a couple throws, but like so did every quarter. You know what Josh Allen did yesterday? He missed 15 throws. And so the point is, when it comes to Justin Fields, the decision has been made. The only decision you have to make is who's the offensive coordinator. And that's a huge decision. And who you draft?

Huh? Those are the decisions you have to make. Because here's what you could be looking at next year, Kyle, if you stick with Justin Fields. Marvin Harrison, the top tackle, you re-sign Mooney. Or Brock Bowers, I like their tackles. Braxton Joe's darn all right. I don't think you'd change the thing. Or you could move one of them inside. You know, like the point is, look at that group outside and tell me for a team that's just beaten a number of playoff teams or teams that are in contention for the playoffs that beat the Lions, you know, a team that's damn good, that beat the Vikings a couple weeks ago when the Vikings

were hotter that beat the Falcons with their season on the line. If this is your floor, Kyle, why would you move on? Six weeks ago, it was the safe decision. You could feel it to trade Justin Fields. It was the safe decision. Now tell me what decision feels more unsafe if you're Ryan Polzer. I'm just writing down on a piece of paper right here. I have the initials. MHJ, CK, Fields, BB, DJ Moore. Marvin Harrison Jr., Brock Bowers in this offense with Cole Commet, the things he's able to do and has done for a long. long time. His availability and the offense is great. The leadership, Bowers would be a seamless transition. Fields, I mean, he's just, he's special. And I think if, I think this is the,

this will be the year where we truly see a, a true bump in statistic. So you're keeping him. I'm keeping fields. Okay, because yesterday you were kind of like, uh, no, no, I wasn't. You were like, you want to read my tweet on the show? You got to look at the trade. You want to read my tweet on the show? You read it. No, no, you just brought it up. Well, don't get upset. What I said was, What I said was here are the options that Ryan Poles and the Bears have to consider. Okay, and if that's the case, I don't even think you need to consider it. So you just did what Twitter did to me yesterday. Well, no, what I heard yesterday was over and over again that they had to look at the options,

which is not a hot take. It's not a hot take. I'm just trying to get the cards on the table here. Okay. Because if they look at the option. If I'm the Bears Brass, I have to at least see what the offer sheet looks like for some of these teams that are obviously going to be suited for the next to build. If the offer is good in the offer. their opinion, send it.

Now, what that threshold for good is, I don't know. And it could be great based on the way Fields has played. He'll thrive elsewhere. We do know that. And we'll have even more to show for it. And the reason I bring it up is because I think it's a good point. A lot of people would say, look at the picks. You have to look at the picks.

Nobody's going to make a decision right now. Like, even if the right decision is Fields, organizations don't just say. There's somebody in that building. That's going to say, we need to look at the picks. And Caleb will. And I think look at it. They say fuck picks. It's like Caleb Bloss.

or Caleb blinders. Like Maggie had for my home. Here's what you have to be careful with. And I'm not saying you, Kyle, so don't read this wrong. But what I am saying is for anybody that's like, look at the picks, when you start looking at things that aren't real yet, they can look like something that it's not going to. Look at Carolina and all they gave up to get Bryce Young. How do you think Bryce Young would look in Chicago right now with that offense? Not the way Justin Fields looks. And like I said, like your floor, I know what the floor looks like with a rookie quarterback. you really think you can if you if you go backwards they'll never let you live it down unless

the guys like special it'll just be the next recycle of the cycle you'll you'll never be able to go back one that I live through a bunch what that cycle of new QB new QB new coach new OC new QB new QB new coach new QB coach such and such you start to forget names bo heart agrees the interim OC for the Raiders and I was like I forget where and when I had him well that and that's the And I'm sure you know the same feeling. It's so many coaches coming through the building. You start over again. I mean, for everybody on the team, you talk about DJ Moore, Eddie Jackson saying like,

when you have your wide receiver, you're number one being like, he's the guy. You kind of like, like he's not just saying that for no reason. He's not saying he deserves a chance. He's saying he's the guy. So trust players. You know what I'm saying? Like I know there's some people that have been down on Justin Fields this year. Look at the locker room videos in there, some of the Instagram lives from these guys.

And you can attest to this, Nate. You've been a teammate who's excited to be with other. teammates and Fields is featured in these Instagram lives they're all dancing they're all you know doing their thing they have fun together they play for fields they obviously get up for iber flus yeah but to your point the big question is going to be the offensive coordinator one thing that was brought up last night was when it came to jalen hertz's development because he wasn't always jalen hertz of last year and you can see it this year there was a year where they loaded up they gave him the weapons and he had that MVP run I think that's in justin fields his body yes like if

If it's in Jalen hurts his body, it's in Justin Fields' body. And I'm not picking Justin over Jalen, but what I am saying is Justin has more talent. Okay, take that how you will. He's the most talented guy on the field at any given moment. The guy changes. And so you take him out of these situations and you put a Caleb Williams in there. What does Caleb Williams look like when the pocket collapses and they're backed up? And he could look great, but I promise you he's not going to look better than Justin Field.

He's not getting out of those sacks that Justin Fields escaped from yesterday. And another thing is this. I'm not sure how relevant this is, but the USC kid last week looked insane in that game. He set a record for USC. So you tell me, there's too much unknown, and when you have a known commodity, when you have a known commodity, it's not like having a game manager known commodity. You have a guy with a high ceiling. But go get Marvin Harrison Jr., right?

You got to get a wide receiver, right? And just the wide receiver. But imagine you have one of those drafts where it's the wide receiver. Imagine you have that defense and then that offense, like, How many groups in the NFL next year would have a better group outside that you can say for sure? So that's why the Bears are the number two. They could be America's team. And Bears fans, look, this is great news.

I just talked about the Georgia Bulldogs and Kirby Smart and their dynasty that they're building. The Bears have that ability. And I know Ryan Poles and we know Ian Yates Cunningham. Those are bright young minds in the game of football that you've got to get to know because they're making the right decisions. And they will continue to. Number three. Real quick, somebody just typed this.

Caleb Williams didn't have Chicago. on his list of teams he would go to. That was, I think that's based off that tweet where he's liking a tweet. It's an aggregate account. Where somebody says Chicago is not right for this guy. And he likes the tweet and he's like basically by liking that tweet saying, yeah, I see you, bitch. Like, fuck you.

You know, like I like your, you're, there's multiple ways to interpret that. But to me, the one way to interpret that is not, I'm not going to go play for Chicago. Why not? Who wouldn't want to go play for Chicago right now? Of all the teams in the top five, where would you want to play if you were a quarterback? You want to go to New England? Nah. Like, I don't know, but I don't know that kid's background.

Like, I don't know his background. Like, I don't know, like, where he has family, where he doesn't have family. Maybe something like that. Chicago's right in the middle of the country. Yeah, family on all sides. For everybody. I guess. If you go to Tankathon, NFL right now, which is a great website, it just gives you

his draft order. It's pretty. But, you know, Washington. Washington is hot on Gail. Yeah, yeah. Okay, New England. I wouldn't want to go play in New England before. I'd want to go play in Chicago.

They have everything there for you. You wouldn't want to go to Washington over Chicago. If you're a football guy. Bro, you're thinking, like, you have to think like a young 20-something-year-old. How do you know how he's thinking? I mean, the fact that he liked that tweet, like, I don't know. There's a lot of things he's done that I don't know. I don't see it that way.

I think we're willingly jumping out of the gym for narrative. Him saying that he wants to go ball up and cry with his dog, like after a loss, like who knows what he's thinking about. It's just saying like things like that. It's just like why even put that out there? Why say that stuff? Why like a tweet when you kind of know everyone's watching and looking at it? But that's the part about being 20.

I don't think you're thinking that way that everybody's watching. I just think you're just like I have done things. And that's what I mean. Like I don't know what like why he would like if it is leaning towards I don't want to go to Chicago. That's why I like this tweet or like you said. I know why. I know why. I know.

It is. And let me tell you this. Out of the top five, there's no team I'd rather go play for than the Chicago Bears. Let's go. Not only is a great football city, but they've got a fucking defense lined up. They might have stability if he refuses back. You know, the coordinator, who knows? That's the biggest decision they have to make, but everything's there for you.

They have better weapons than New England, better weapons than Washington, better defense than both those teams. Arizona. In the top five, though, like, wouldn't you like, if you're a quarterback, a young quarterback, you may be thinking about, like, who has the best O line, like, where I'm going to be maybe protected? And in a year, they might have the best O line out of that group. They might have it right now.

New England, Washington, Chicago. I don't think there's a lot separating those groups. They'll look at the stats on the Washington stuff. Granted, we've talked about. And again, to compound the whole thing, if Caleb Williams is in there, how much worse that offensive line looks statistically? Okay, that was good.

We got it out. Yeah, I just wanted to get it out there because we had it for later, but it was good because he said, what did the Twitter's to break. Well, I got to know your take because the Chicago thing, The Chicago thing, you know, it's the Fields thing has been... I'm sticking with Justin Fields. Now you've got to pay the guy.

Okay. And that's going to be a bridge you got to cross. Okay, number three, the Indianapolis Colts. We love Shane Steichen. We love all these coordinators that came from Philly last year, because the other team I got on the list of the Cardinals. Yep. Jonathan Gannon going up and doing his thing.

But for the Colts, I can't wait to see Anthony Richardson in his second year. He's been in all these meetings. He's heard the breakdown of the film every week. there is stuff to be gained in terms of your progression as a quarterback as an offensive mind. So for this year, if Anthony took it the right way, which I'm sure he did, under Shane, I mean, you can't help but try to latch onto that team and say they're going to be damn good for a while just based on how they perform this year. So the Colts are number three, Cardinals number four, and the Packers are number five.

How about the Texans? Well, the Texans are already there. No, I mean, yeah, but next year, you think about the way that we, we said this earlier in the, in the year, the way a whole generation of Dallas fans grew up, like watching CJ Stroud play, like there could be a whole generation of Houston fans. And I think, absolutely. Hey, I want to throw one more in the, in the, in the, where there's a lot going on this year. And there could be some unrest. So I was thinking like the National Guard. Hmm. You know, and like FEMA and stuff like that. Oxnard FEMA, you know, it's going to be a real shit show. It's getting wild. I did. noticed that there was a lot of people enjoying the surf on the west coast. Yeah, big, big waves. Big waves. Zuckerberg's got a bunker.

There were people crying and laughing and going sick in the same video. I was like, because I thought it was a tsunami. If I was there, I'm like, we got tsunami. Where was the warning? All right. So we're done with. There were no horns. We're done with America's teams.

We have an ad read, and then we're going to get into the slate, starting with Baltimore and Miami. So for those of you who came here for that, you're going to get it. You also get the Philly thing soon. Okay. And we hope you enjoyed America's games. So Monday is still game day, and game day is the perfect pizza day. So make Little Caesars the official pizza sponsor of the NFL part of your game day.

Order online during our pizza pizza pregame one hour before and three hours after NFL kickoffs, plus all Sunday to have your NFL game day cover. Choose your favorite Little Caesar's pizza or pick the toppings you crave. It's a pizza pizza pizza win. And speaking of winning, everyone scores with convenient delivery or our in-stores. pizza portal pick up so grab some friends order your little seizures and enjoy during the games guys nicely done chris pizza okay and you know we're going to talk about baltimore and miami now and so i think it played out even even more on on the nose than what i thought but

baltimore's the better team they're the more physical team and i think more than anything they're more confident. And so, you know, the confidence is a big thing we've been talking about with the dolphins. You know, every week it's like, they say we can't beat anybody good. They say we can't be anybody good. You beat Dallas. Guys, see, we can beat good teams, you know, like trying to build confidence. Prove it to themselves. And that's why I thought last week when they played, the Ravens just no. When they played Dallas last week, and they got those two big shots off the bat, which I got to give to a lot of credit for, those were big time throws. They gave them confidence in that game. And, you know, I think you come to Baltimore this week, and we had Zach Sealer on,

you talk about the physicality. He played in Baltimore. He knows what it's about. But it's also this confidence that both the Harbaugh brothers have. And Jim has it one way, and it rubs people a lot of the wrong way. And John's like the guy that is a little bit more buffed out. He's just a little bit more buffed out, right? Like, you know, but he's still got that asshole confidence about him. And I think it comes down to one play that encapsulated the whole game. Because there was that same conversation who was going to be chasing who in this game because early on even though the ravens had them in third and long in the red zone they they just they they with Kyle hamilton down the Stevens down they were getting the ball moved on him but they had chances but the bottom line is

cheetah misses that touchdown the end zone you're kind of wondering is baltimore going to get tight at some point if they if they had had converted and and been down you know if cheetah caught the ball baltimore's down yeah that's brutal I think the answer is you wouldn't have been able to keep up and I think the answer is the rest of the game provided you the answer, but that fourth and seven. That was the play of the game, and it was the play of, I mean, it's the play that perfectly encapsulates Baltimore mindset yesterday. They weren't worried about who's going to be out in front. They weren't racing Miami. They were racing themselves. Like, fourth and seven, it's 2113. You get the ball out of the half. Okay, so we often talk about the middle eight. So what do you

want to do here. You get the best kicker in the world. It's fourth and seven. You just missed on third down for the first time like all game. And you've got a chance to kick this field goal and go up 2413. Two score lead going into half against this explosive offense. Even though they average about 19 points, which I've said for a month now in games they play play playoff teams and where did they land in this game? 19 points. Okay. So when I'm right, I'm right about some shit. But Baltimore, right? But Baltimore, fourth and seven, the safe play would be kick a field goal, get a stop, take this to the half. Worst case scenario, you're still up. They say, fuck that. They go fourth and seven, they throw the ball a likely, makes a one-handed catch, and he's out the gate. One-handed left-handed

catch, tucks it, doesn't touch it with his right hand, and then proceeds. Ricard had a one-handed. Run it in. I mean, but that-Rourd had a one-handed, just like it. Those were the type of decisions, because the two possessions prior, and we're fans and we're sitting here and I got money on Baltimore and and although I say although a lot of people I say although Miami I say although Miami averages 19 points a game in these big games I'm still waiting for the game that they score 30 and I'm like I hope it's not today and before the half they got the ball with nine minutes to go and Baltimore's starting to get the run game going to get over midfield and you're thinking slow down a little bit like if you if you can time this up you can have you can get a stop and

get a two for one and that sort of thing. But instead they take a shot to Beckham. And Odell Beckham, like, that's why he's here. You can say O'Dell's not a top five wide receiver anymore, not a top 10 wide receiver anymore, whatever you want to say. But when there's a big 50-50 ball or a shot you want to take, is there anybody better? Ball skills.

Than him with the ball skills and turning that right ankle and getting both feet down. So they take a shot there. And then the one that was really confounding to me was they get the ball. And, you know, there's like five, six minutes to go before the half. And I'm like, okay, this is the time you have. have a big chunk drive where you eat the clock up and you secure the two for one. Fuck it. Shot the flowers.

They were not playing against Miami. They were playing against themselves. They were trying to see how great they could be that day. Offensively. It was obvious. It was incredible. Like you said, that confident stuff is just worth its weight in gold. And all levels of that team on both sides of the football have, at all the key positions.

Special teams out of the half. They are so confident. They are so confident, and we've talked about the way that Roquan lays the gauntlet down for this team, and I have no doubt that this week, after some of the comments, it's evident to me that Lamar reads Twitter. Okay? He sees the things that we say. For better or worse, and obviously it's for fucking better.

That was some quarterbacky shit I saw yesterday. Some MVP shit. And there's sometimes when I'm playing Madden where I just throw it 60 times, and I'm going to have 400 yards, but I'm going to have like a 50% completion percentage. Lamar was like, I'm going to go Baker Mayfield this bitch, 158, 3, go out there and have a perfect day. And to your point, like, John Harbaugh is a big part of that. It's dated back to the confidence that he showed in his offense years ago. And he said, what do you guys want to do?

He's like, fuck it, coach, we want to go for it. That's the Raven's way. That's the Raven way. When they went out back on the field on 4th and 7 had the offense, we were like, what are they doing? And Harbaugh clearly had a problem with the way that McDaniel ran the score up on. Well, I kind of wondered after the game if Sean Payton and Harbar are buddies. Yeah, like your point. And I had, there was a Dolphins reporter who was down there complaining about them airing it out with the backout.

I'm like, how that's really rich. Snoop, stop. Yeah, stop. Like, so the point is, yeah. So the point, the point I want to make is they have the confidence, they have the players, they have the MVP, where they trust him enough on fourth and seven with everything that was at stake before the half to go. And I think Tua is a good player, good quarterback. We do this all the time.

And you know, you want me to stop doing it. Stop assaulting me in my mentions every time you guys run up 30 points on the Jets. In these games, you know, in the beginning of the game, the windows were there. And those linebackers, if you have good linebackers, eventually those hook windows and those quick throws, they go away. It close a lot quicker. And, you know, for Baltimore, they might be saying, hey, we'll give them the windows early and then we're going to take them away. And you could feel a point in the game where it switched. And not only was it being down and having to play on.

under pressure, but it was, we're taking those windows away. You sail some balls. You know, there's some turnovers, but more than anything, that front just started to get there. And the pressure in the middle of the pocket is really tough for him because of his size and that sort of thing. And I think, you know, when you talk about confidence and the fourth and seven, juxtaposed to, you know, the dolphins coming out in the third quarter, they're down 22

points. They got the fucking, they're supposed to be like the Golden State Warriors, no lead safe, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what the Chiefs were when they played Houston a couple years ago in the playoffs. That's not this group. Because on 3rd and 15, they're checking down one read. Third and 15, they're checking down one read. You know, like 3rd and 20, they're checking down one read.

So they're not like they've kind of said, hey, there's just no way we can get back in this game. It's only getting worse. And you could feel that when the tide turn. I know Claypool dropped the touchdown. I know Cheetah dropped the touchdown, but that's not the difference in the game. Baltimore is that much better, not just than Miami, than all the teams in the AFC. And there's one team to me that if they go in to Baltimore in the playoffs might have a chance to win. Three, two, one.

Cleveland. Bill's in Cleveland. I should have put Cleveland in there. What? I think Cleveland. Cleveland, for sure. Bill's in Cleveland. Yeah, Bill's.

I mean, I guess anybody's got a shot to beat anybody. I just put Baltimore at a different level. And I knew that this was the case in the AFC. If they have, yeah, the bills, bro. They're just like, how can you trust? them like enough to even say that like do Josh Allen yeah just so good got Josh Allen shows up yeah they beat the bill but like but if he doesn't like they get they get 50 piece put on but we're talking about can they beat the Raven okay

okay so that's what I'm saying is like there's two teams that I feel I would if one of the team shows up they have a shot and and for Cleveland we're gonna talk about them in a little bit but the whole point is I think with with the confidence this team has they've already hit bumps in the road that would have sunk other offenses. Okay, like losing Mark Andrews, then losing Keaton Mitchell. You know what championship teams have? They have guys that step up.

Next man up mentality. Likely. And Justice Hill, who I thought was great, like from the get-go this year, he gave him a different look than Gus. He gave him a different look than any of their guys. He made them explosive, the screen game. You know, some of the different kind of run concepts they can use with him out of the backfield as a kick returner.

I can remember our Super Bowl year. He lost Sproles. He was a huge deal. This guy's like a Hall of Famer. And you know who stepped up? All those running backs. Jay Ajai, Corey Clement. There were a number of guys.

Yeah, that really stepped up. And Jason Peters went down. Who stepped up, Big V, got himself a contract. And then he gets to Detroit and he's not as good, right? But the point is, when you're on a team like this, you've got to have the depth pieces and you've got to have the support system to elevate those guys. They have this.

And so. Hey, I didn't want to say shout out to UVA. alum Morgan Moses on that on that old line and playing very well running down like cleaning off he's had a really good career man yeah he really has he's been awesome and what a good guy that he definitely he's had injuries before but to see him still out there playing well and being part of like maybe an MVP and like MVP offense right now like if if Lamar ends up getting it like you don't get that without your old line everyone up front playing very well week to week and that's what the Ravens' own line have been doing.

And they've also, and they have played well, but they've also had a couple bumps in the road where Ronnie Stanley's been hurt and he hasn't played well. And so, like, I just, the point, an MVP is perfectly encapsulated in this guy, Lamar Jackson. I mean, he's everything you want an MVP.

You throw the stats out, because when I watch the Ravens, they should not be this good. It's just, like, and it's not just the quarterback offensively, but he, Tua, Brock Purdy, You know, Brock Purdy makes some plays off platform.

You talk about one read guys and golf maybe guessing at times or whatever. Like you want to throw people in that conversation that Cam New was talking about. But, you know, you can see when Tua is off his first read, and it's not two seconds, it could be a long down. And it's dangerous. Okay. And with Lamar, it's like the more time that passes in the pocket, the more dangerous he is. Now, he can also take the quick reads and he can do the one, two, three thing. But watch his plays and the way they develop.

And what they had three-man route maxed up yesterday. He's just back there baking and cake, eye in the field. And when somebody gets open, he hits them. And that's not what you see out of some other offense. Honestly, it looks like, like to what you were saying, almost like two out of four guys have to win immediately on a rush, like for you guys to, like, disrupt and get to Lamar Jackson. Because the way, like you said, that when a play is extended,

that after the initial, like, oh, my, I got, oh my God, he's going to get sacked. Once you realize he's not going to get sack, it's almost like, oh, he's about to get 20 yards. You're rushing to contain not to get home almost. Like, you're rushing to keep him home. But it's just like he's a guy. Even when you're rushing to contain, he still finds a way.

And he changes the way people rush. So like right off the bat, you have to spend more time in meetings because of this guy. He changes the aggressiveness that you guys play with and the whole thing. And like I said, they're going to be really hard to be at home. There's a couple teams that might have a shot. But more than anything, this win sets up. two things, okay, in week 18. The number one thing it sets up is Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

In Pittsburgh, having a chance to go to the playoffs, okay? And on top of that, if Pittsburgh wins this game, then we'll talk about Buffalo in a second, but Buffalo then has to win to get in. And Pittsburgh is a four-point favorite, so Vegas seems to think that the Ravens will be resting. And this is an interesting deal, because I just want to say this about Pittsburgh. The run game looked awesome yesterday. They knew if they went up to Seattle and got the run game going. They could win that game.

they did but more than anything mason rudolph the throws that he made at some points of the game were legitimate big boy throws they weren't just like game manager what is the deal here i didn't have that on my fucking bingo i didn't have it on my bingo card either but when he played a couple years ago who was he throwing the ball to george pickens makes a big difference i you know like and i know he didn't have it's just been a while i forget you know you forget but over the last two weeks the big shots the explosive that that he's been able to unlock to pickens and the new offense like i don't i want to be fair to kenny picket it I think if Pickett was healthy, you'd see some progression as well,

and they might not have had to win that game. But the point is, for your boy, eight and a half wins was the win total. I thought that was dead in the dirt when Kenny Pickett got hurt at the end of the Cardinals game. I cannot believe what a start to the season, then between wins seven and eight, what a crater, and then what a comeback to go eight and nine. And put yourself in a position now with Mike Tomlin again, not losing. losing in a season to play the Ravens, a team that even if the Ravens weren't resting guys, you've already beat them.

Oh, call the ambulance. But not for Mike Tomlin. If they win, they're in? If they win and Buffalo loses, they're in. I think there's another Jacksonville element to this. Jacksonville loses and they win. They could get in. They could also get in with a Colts Texans tie.

So there's a couple things that could happen, but the simplest way to get there is they got to win, and then they root for Miami. Okay? And so- The funniest meme going around is this is Martin Lawrence in the movie Life. And at one point he like leans up and he's like, no one wants to hear that bullshit. And it's like Mike Tomlin every time you guys think he's not. He's not dead. He's not dead.

And that's one of the reasons we said a couple weeks ago, like wait to the end of the season. Just wait. You know, because if they get in the playoffs, like what are you going to do? You're going to fire him for doing the same thing he's been doing for years? I mean, and actually like a pretty impressive job. even though he put himself in this situation in some ways. I thought they were past the point of no return with this roster and quarterback situation and fans are fed up with the star.

It was easy to. They just show up and win on the road in that fashion. It's awesome to see. And shout out to Mason Rudolph for like, just like looking at the micro inside. It's just like throwing the ball to pickings like right now when all this like heat is on him. Keep it simple. Like, you know what I'm saying?

And like give him a chance to kind of like redeem him. himself with the fans and everyone. And he did that over the last couple of weeks. And like a quarterback doesn't really have to do that. Like, yeah, you make the plays. But it's just something that it is cool that they still have a chance knowing it looked like a dumpster fire like just two to three weeks ago. And I think at the end of this game, you know, they force a big turnover, right? You know, like because it with Gino the last couple weeks, there's been magic all year with him.

and you did not want to defend a touchdown going in at the end of that game for Seattle. And I just thought this was a huge win for them. They hit rock bottom and they did something about it, which to me is evidence that there is still a sliver of culture there. And so while the job might be tough, they're getting it done. And so, you know, when you look at Baltimore in resting starters, Baltimore has a history. 2019, they were the one seed. They sat Lamar, Yonda, Earl Thomas, Ingram, Brandon Williams. they lost the next game.

If you remember that in the divisional round against, they got the by, then they lost. And so part of the concern for me, and that was the Titans, who barely threw the ball. And they ran the ball. And, you know, late in the season, you need those run fits. So if you're not going to get the reps in a game,

you better be practicing hard than the whole thing. Because, like, New England, when I was there in 2016, we had to play like a half. And then I got to stay in a little bit because I had some incentives. and I hit the incentive, so thank you, Bill. That's awesome. But on top of that, on top of that, I think playing that half really kept us sharp.

And I know that, like, Brandon Staley got killed for this last year. And sometimes because the guy has thought of as an idiot, people are like, he's just an idiot. And who got hurt? It was Mike Williams got hurt. Yeah. And then they blow the game in L.A. or in Jacksonville. They blow the lead. People are trying to connect the dots and that sort of thing.

but I can connect the dots to teams that sit people too much and end up in trouble. And, you know, I had read looked this up since 2005. Teams that rest his starters are sat at the QB before half in week 18 are 11 and 14 in their next playoff game. And then teams that did not rest their starters in week 18 are 30 and 9. So I'm not saying you don't rest your starters. And Brandon Staley definitely, you know, maybe kept Mike Williams in too long or that sort of thing. But it's a chance thing. It could happen in practice.

It's a freak deal. And so I'm just saying for Baltimore, you've got so much positive momentum. Look what momentum did for you. You're a short week off San Francisco. You show up. You kick the shit out of the dolphins. You're just mowing down elites, right? Mowing down elites.

You're mowing down elites. So then you take a break. Like, what do you look like? And with the history of the way they played in the playoffs, I kind of wonder how they're going to play this. In 2012, they clinched the north. They rested six starters. that played Flacko and Rice for a couple series. I still think they can win with Huntley.

And this feels like a spot where maybe the Steelers lose, right? Like it's just the way. Because they also, I think, won in 2019 against the Steelers in this same situation. It's a little bit different because the Steelers needed the Titans to lose. Titans did not lose. But, you know, like the Steelers were playing for their playoff lives. You're saying the Ravens should play their guys. I'm not saying.

I'm not, I don't have a take, Kyle. But the numbers you just present us with 30 and 19 versus 11 and 14 is an obvious one for me. If I'm a head coach, I'm saying, yes, guys, you have to wear your path. And it might be handing the ball off a lot early in the game and just getting some, getting some 9-1-7 out there. Even throw it or throw it to the sideline. So do you think this is a coach's decision or is a coach's choice to go to his guys and maybe get the captains and be like, okay. It's a coach's decision. It's always a coach's decision.

There'll be guys like on the Ravens that even if they play guys for a course, quarter. Yeah. Like there might be a guy gets shut down. Yeah. He's just got some nagging shit. And they were banged up coming out of that game. So like there are guys that you just got to put a personal touch on and say, hey, like this guy shouldn't play anyways. But I'm just saying there is a devil's advocate part of this argument where everybody wanted to jump Brandon Staley about that thing. Yeah. And maybe they had nothing to gain. I can't remember. But part of it is staying sharp. And you know, like I will die on that hill that they're, I'm not going to laugh at every coach that plays their guys when they don't have to. And knocking your rival out of

the playoffs. And that's one for me where I don't know if that's something that like say they're up late in this game. Is there a calculus for Harbaugh to say like who do we think we'd rather eliminate from the field? Who do you think's got a better chance of knocking off these other elite teams? Because it's them and it's some other teams that can beat by anybody, right? And I don't know if that in anybody includes Pittsburgh. I don't know if it includes some of these other teams. So I'm not saying that's like a loser. That's a loser mentality though. Is it? I think so. Like, you just got to, I feel like, it's like, yeah, you're thinking ahead. So win at all costs.

It's just win. Like, win. Why not play your guys? Because you, I think that team, you probably believe in your heart, like, yo, our backups are still better than they're, whatever they're going to play on the field. What I'm asking, and it's an open end question, it has nothing to do with what I think. But is there anything in John Harbaugh's head where he's like, you know, like, for instance, we're going to get into the NFC in a little bit. you think if Detroit had a chance at the end of the season to not play the Rams because they look like they could play the Rams and they had to lose a game to play somebody else? You think they would lose that game? I think so rather than having Matt Stafford come to or, you know, in some fantasy scenario, hypothetical.

So the point is like there are teams and they have the luxury to not worry about it because they're that good. But some teams might say, hey, we don't like our matchup in that first round. We can change this. We can change this. You know, so anyways. I think, I think. There's a lot of time to sit and think. You know, when you're these guys. I had it happened to me the one time I was going to make the playoff with the Bears. And there's a lot of people. With the Vikings and Green Bay.

And the Green Bay, they kind of played soft at the end of the season and they let the Vikings win. So they would play them in the first round the following week. And they beat the hell out of them. And the Bears would have gotten in. That's when lovely. We won 10 games that year. So it happens. You know, and so.

He got fired. Intentionally or not. It just happens where things work out for the better or not for the week 18. But there is a mirror image game. in the NFC that we're going to talk about in a little bit that has a lot of implications. But here's what it sets up. The second thing it sets up, that Baltimore win, not only that Baltimore game against the Steelers and the implications there, but ultimately, Buffalo and Miami.

And this is going to be playoff football. Because for Buffalo, it may very well be playoff football, because if Pittsburgh wins, then Buffalo has to win to get in. This whole run that they've been on, it's kind of like going to New England and saying, you can't just run the ball. You're going to have to throw the ball. And they weren't great, but there was no shortcut. Now there's no shortcut to get into the playoffs.

For Miami, it's six or two. For Buffalo, it's in or out. This is going to be fucking huge. And they moved it to Sunday Night Football, which I think is big for football fans anyways. But on top of that, what it does for Buffalo, and I think it's a CBS game? I think it does a good, yeah, I don't know.

It was maybe, and then you lose Romo, and now you've got to watch something, because I love hearing Romo react to Josh. Yeah. Okay. So here's what it does for Buffalo, Kyle. And you tell me as a player, and Nate, you tell me as a player.

But I think this helps Buffalo because they're not looking at that score. It's either two types of pressure. And they're both good. Number one, hey, we're in. We're playing with house money. We could be playing in Buffalo. If we lose, we're still getting in.

Okay? The number two kind of pressure is almost even better. It's more uncomfortable, but as a player, it might get more out of you. And that's you got to win and you get in. That's it. Those two kinds of pressure they could be feeling Sunday night.

I feel good as a player. Like you're going on the road. It's you against the world. And they played well against the dolphins for the most part. You remember that game last... Here's what's interesting about this little rivalry that's popped up. Each game has been different. Okay.

In Miami last year at the beginning of the season, it was hot as fuck. Not an excuse. Buffalo had a bunch of guys down. Miami got the win. Okay? That was a lower scoring game. They got the win. The game in the snow, that was the closest thing to two full strength teams.

And that was a classic and Buffalo pulled it out. Then you get Skylar Thompson against Buffalo in the playoffs, right? So you don't get the two rematch or the trilogy. This year, in the beginning of the season, bills were at like Super Bowl full strength. They've lost some guys, but they've replaced some guys pretty well, I think. And now this matchup is going to look unique in its own right. And I think the key for Buffalo is can they execute the same game plan they had in week two of

or three or whatever it was. And I think they can because the game plan there was take away the flats, have the corners play the run, you know, play them up a little bit and and lock down the perimeter. And there are risks there, right? Like if you're playing cover two and you're playing aggressive, like that honey hole's bigger. 20 yards down the field and the whole. Yeah. And but for Buffalo, they brought in Rasul Douglas. That's huge. And I thought Rasul played really well yesterday. Like The reason they brought him in is, I mean, he's a zone corner with really good instincts. And he can play certain coverages better than other. They've kept him in good situations, and he's flourished there.

And he's got championship, you know, DNA, being an eagle in 2017. Those turnovers that they created at home yesterday are the reason they won that game, not the offense, not Josh Allen, who did not play well, who missed a lot of balls, okay? And he's been missing balls the last two, three weeks. Part of me has wondered, part of me has wondered. Part of me has wondered, and I've wondered out loud, and this isn't caping for Josh. People are going to tell me I'm caping for Josh.

But when you've got a guy that's part of the quarterback run game, and they pick that up over the second half of the season, as football players, not everything that's danged is on the injury report. And if you're a thrower of the football, I can imagine that certain little things, if you're a guy who runs the football too, can linger. So hopefully it's not an injury, but he has been off. And I think you'll get his best Sunday night.

I really do. But more than anything, I think it's just going to be an incredible, incredible game with a lot of, of, of, um, atmosphere. Is most are going to be back? I hope so. I don't know. Waddle's, they said Waddle might not play.

Okay, so if Waddle doesn't play, I know you're down Trey White and you're down Milano and that sort of thing, but you got DeQuan Jones back. The backers have picked up well nicely behind them. McDermott's still a good coordinator. Do you, do you think you're much worse off than the first time you played them? You know, because Waddle's down, because now you got one guy to worry about a little bit more. And so the bills are three-point favorites. The bills are three-point favorites.

And the Chub injury is a big deal. Chub injury's big. Holland will see. Officially out with an ACL. And that's terrible for Chubb because he was starting to play really well. He was starting to live up to that trade because that trade was one that for me was like, Ed Scratcher. But he was playing well.

And now you're down Jalen Phillips. You're down Chub. You're down Howard. Now they're a really good defense. They have a lot of pieces. But how many is too many to lose? And maybe Howard's up. But they lost Eichenberg last week.

And they blitz the hell out of Lamar. Lamar had a high success rate. It's all about how Josh Allen's gonna be dealing with that pressure rate. And Josh's been getting pressured for weeks now. And he got pressured a lot yesterday. And in the middle of the offensive line, they got beat bad in some situations.

The middle of that pocket, they had him throwing off his back foot. So can Miami do that the same way? I don't know, but this is gonna be an incredible game. I lean bills because I'm just not gonna come off my spots on who I think teams are. So do you think that the later game, if we should be worried about, now Buffalo has a little bit more time in Miami

to doubt distraction. No, I don't think so. I don't think so. They've gone to L.A. and taken care of business and night games. L.A.'s not Miami. I understand. No, I think it'll be a benefit because there's vitamin D. Tinder is tender.

There's vitamin D, which is not in Buffalo, so they're going to be in Miami. The weather's going to be nice. They'll go on a walk. Yeah. They'll get some nice lunch. They'll actually feel really good. vitamin D, which is huge for your recovery.

And Miami, in Miami, primetime games, not so great. You know, and both of these teams coming off a game with the Ravens, right? Like, Ravens and Pats, very, very, very physical teams. Baltimore probably may be more so, but, like, New England's still physical. So both these teams, early in this game, it's going to be like, it's going to feel like the Dallas game, I think, early in this game. Have we sobered up on Joe Brady? No, I haven't sobered up on Joe Brady.

Josh has got to make the throw. Yeah. Man, that Stefan Diggs would have been... Yeah. So I cannot wait for that game. Like a madden throw. And for Miami, what's at stake if you lose is obviously you got to go to Kansas City. And you think you had a tough time with him in Germany.

Dude, that deep at Arrowhead. You'd be at Arrowhead and Nick Bolton would be back because he wasn't there the first time. You know, so it's not where you want to go if you're Miami. There's still a chance for Miami. Like Miami just, Miami, if certain teams get beat, Miami can. can make a run. I'm mad at Miami, man. It didn't take you wrong.

It's just Tyreek. It's just like, Tyreek's a problem with Miami. Bro, it's not, but it's just honestly, he has one big, like costly drop. It doesn't look, just like you talked about earlier. It doesn't maybe seem like it

because of the scores, but like the flow of the game. No question. He has like a big drop, won a game. But let me ask you something. If you're the greatest show on turf is one drop a game going to kill you?

No. Is that the difference between 19 points and 40 points? But they're not the greatest show on turf. You're not. The Raven. were yesterday. The Ravens, the Ravens offense might be better than Miami's offense. But I don't, I don't believe their greatest show on earth without, without Moister. Like that's the moisture thing. I think, I think he demands, I think he demands more in a

defensive game plan when you know he's back there just for, for play action and whatever it may be, that other teams right now, even though Akoon, whatever. A-Chane. They really like A-Chane. They really like A-Chane. Here's my concern with being Now, moisture, as you call them. Yep. They can't split those carries. And, like, A-Chane's not the biggest guy in the world. Like, so how many times are you going to give him the ball in the game?

And for yesterday, like, he was a lot of their offense for a long time. Yeah. And so I guess my point is both teams have injuries. Some are more long-standing. Some might be newer. Who's going to be able to adjust those injuries? The bills have been adjusting for weeks and they're getting guys back. Claypool, step up, man.

Step up. Yeah, Clay. Block the noise out and just step up. You still got time. But they still get bones. boat race. Nate. I know. I know. I'm just saying. Somebody, somebody, I saw somebody say that those two drops were the difference in the game.

At some point, the Jim Jones cult that's going on down there has to stop with the fans, man. Like, you're going to end up on the ground with a Kool-Aid cup next to you. Like, walk out because it's not, that's not the difference in the game. Those two, there are teams that are better than you. There are offenses that are better to you. If the dolphins want to win, and this was, this was my point coming out of Dallas game. You know why that was so impressive to me? defense won that game. The offense played their part like any other good offense would do, came up empty a lot, forcing to kick field goals they did, but more than anything, the defense

won them that game, right? And so I think if they want to go on a run, they got to keep the points down to like 25 a game. You know, and if they get, if the defense, they're playing an elite team and they're chasing 30 points, ironically, Miami has showed us they can't do that in those, in these big spots. Or at night. Offense and they can't play from behind. Well, they're the most They're the most explosive offense and it's 19 points a game. Paradox. Look back. You're mad at me.

You're mad at me. You're mad at me. Look back at every time the dolphins have played a playoff team the last two years, how many points of game they've scored. It's probably 19 on the head. So the point is you can get mad at me, but what I'm telling you is the defense has to play better, and it wasn't even close, and they're losing guys.

So that's my worry about Miami. They can go on a run, but it's all about matchups. So he said moisture. He said Ocoun for Moster and 8. A-chan? Yeah. A-Chane, and he's changed a bunch. They do this segment with Charles Barkley on one of his shows.

It's called Who He Play For. Yeah. And they show four faces. Or they show a face, and then they have four teams. And Barclay has to get which one he plays for. I think it would be a fun segment to do it. With Nate, that would be awesome. Who he played for.

We'll do it next. We already rip Studio J from PNT, so we'll rip that too. but the team that Miami might have to go play as Kansas City and after yesterday buddy okay I'll just say this they found themselves in a hole because Browning can play okay like

Browning's on a contract where he's probably going to end up back in Cincinnati next year and the shame of it is he can't make a lot of money but like looking off Sneed to buy time for Higgins on the corner blitz beating the blitz in the red zone using his legs holding a safety on third and two like these are

big boy deals on the road at Arrowhead And you've got a 17-7 lead after that Trey Hendricks can sack. Kansas City's got a chance to answer. You know, Kelsey drops the ball. It's right off the mark. You know, like there's a bunch of stuff before the half where they have a chance to. What's so funny, man? They have a chance to get a touchdown.

And MVS drops the ball. And you're just like, again, dude, again. Like it's just every time. And you come out of the half. So you fuck the two for one up. You come out of the half. You know, since he's got the ball, you're down 1713, right?

And since he's driving and you get a hold, they're in the red zone, but then something interesting happened. Okay, this is hopefully the biggest moment of the chief season. I'm not trying to talk them into being contenders, because I don't know if they are, but Willie Gay, who was pissed off at Omenahoo in the red zone. The red zone's been a sticking point for the Kansas City Chiefs. You saw him on the sideline.

He was pissed, and I don't know if it was because Browning got out again or what, but he came through on that fourth and one and knifed downhill and made that play, and then they went. You know why they went because the next two possessions, something very interesting happened. Okay, the first one, they take a shot to NVS. Surprise, they don't hit it, but it's right there. And I'm like, okay, they're taking shots.

Like just a simple shot, okay? And then they go back to Watson for 41 yards. Oh, gasp, there's a flag. It's the same old Kansas City thing. It's a hold on Dax Hill. So they get a break, they take shots. They go down and they kick a field. Okay, they didn't score touchdowns down the stretch.

But, you know, Miami won a big game last week doing just that. Okay? So with the defense like this, kicking field goals is enough. And the next possession, you get a little Mahomes magic where he, I lose the ball. He's so, he's so elusive back there, and he's pumping, he's turning, and he comes up. And he converts on a second and eight, and there's a flag. And you're like, oh, shit, here we go again. It's on them.

And then what do you get the very next play? You get Rish-Rice's longest play of the season for the Chief. And they can't score a fucking touchdown. Which is, okay, baby steps. You know what about Bob, Kyle? one of the best movies of all time. I'm doing the baby steps. This is a start.

And field goals can win your games. You just saw it. You just saw it. I mean, Cincinnati's giving people a lot of trouble, and you haven't won a game at Arrowhead. He's the only guy I don't blink. When they roll him out there? Yeah.

And he goes out there and he leans over and you can see that little hamstring and it's just like jacked as fuck. I'm like, here goes the machine again. Six for six yesterday? Here's the deal. You're talking about Bucker? Bucker.

That guy's a machine. You got a great kicker. Use him. field goals. You got to kick field goals. You've got a great defense. And this defense has come on in the second half of games. They did not lose that game on defense last week. They forced zero completions the last three quarters. In the Buffalo game, they tightened up in the second half. There was a time when I turned to Nolan and was like, dude, this is what makes Kansas City dangerous in the playoffs. That was the last drive of the game last night. And they tightened up the last two drives.

You know what we had those last couple drives? You had multiple Carl off to sacks. Reed, just and Reed, turn it into a pass rusher. Great moves. Two plays in a row, Spags just putting them in the exact right spot. You had, you had Chris Jones sack. You had a Chris Jones pressure when Irwin's wide open, like, they just, the pocket caved in on him in the second half, and I think a lot of it had to do with adjustments they made, but also just as a group rushing together and collapsing that pocket. And in the biggest moment. And they can do that. They might not have five blue chip guys up front, but they have Carlophtus, they have, they have Dana, they have guys that can cave the pocket and they got one blue chip stud and they got pressures you know they

got backers that can run through like this is a dangerous group in the second half of a game at home and that's why Miami doesn't want to see them because they have the backers just like baltimore has the back is the chief's defense better than the Miami offenses yes okay and then my other the question is did you see the like we we heard jemar chase talking shit about this defense and I know that this defense is super tight from being there And all the pieces aren't the same, but the core of it is the same. Yeah. And I saw that defensive line flew to the ball down the field.

Yeah. On short and intermediate throws, particularly O'Mehoe. Yeah. Getting down there and just sparing guys in the back. Screen in the fourth quarter. I'm like, that shit matters. And it's the same thing as when you play O'Line. It's what I watched Creed Humphrey do yesterday.

And I texted him before the game, I said, salt mine game, his rookie year. Andy Heck had him stand up in the meeting the night before the game. He was like, why don't you introduce yourself and talk about what's important tomorrow? Creed stood up. He was like, I'm Creed. You guys know me? And I think tomorrow we should just bring these guys to the salt mines and find out how hard they want to work. Which I'd be like...

And I watched him play yesterday, and there was one play. He's got a guy with his arm straight up in the air, and he's just climbing his armpits. You know what I mean? 10 yards down the field. Yeah. I tweeted salt mines. After the game, Creed texted me two words. Salt mine.

And I'm like, this is the part of the season. season when Isaiah Pacheco, who busted for 1.30, a career high yesterday, can be that integral part of the offense where you can really wear people down up the middle. And then obviously, you've got Kelsey to fall back on where she writes the explosion. And man, MVS, can we just figure out what we're going to do with him? Here's what you got to do. Find a way to get Washington to fire their staff ahead of time. Get somebody. Eric B. Enemy on a plane to Kansas City. But would he want to go back and be an O.C? No, no, no.

Not an O.C. I'm talking about right now. I'm talking about the same thing that Vic Fangio did for the Eagles. I don't know if you can do that. It's called Consulting deal or something. That's what's got to happen. Eric Bienemy, the wart. It's like, you know, in the movies,

when all the guys are fucking off in their jail cells and they're all like, you know, making ramen noodles. And then all of a sudden you hear clink, clink, cling, cling, clink, cling, clink, clang, clang, and it's just the dude with all the keys and the wooden thing. He's just rattling it on the cage. It's like, guys, we better get our act together. That was how EB was in that building. If you weren't on your P's and Q's, you had to answer to E.

So you tell me he would yell at the quarterback? Dude, those two are so competitive and so on their P's and Q's. Like Sean Payton? And it's not only the quarterback. It's everybody. It's all those receivers you plug and play for the jet sweeps and the motions. And the motions. EB was the guy that made it all happen.

So get him on an airplane. He's the detail guy from what I understand. He's the guy that like if you weren't on your shit, you were going to hear about it. And I don't know if they have a guy like that. Two housekeeping items from that game. Well, I want to say this. Cincinnati might be the reason they looked the way they did with the explosives in the run game, but you got to keep doing it.

You got to keep taking shots. You got to keep pounding the ball. Cincinnati, I want to shout out Trey Hendrickson. We put that social out. Somebody in the chat asked, who today reminds me of myself? And I said, like, Trey's going to have more buckets. I mean, but Trey reminds me of me. when I was at my best was was Trey it was the same mindset it was the same like

technique the whole thing and so Trey reached out to me he saw it and he's like dude thanks man that means a lot like the whole thing and I'm like yeah yeah it's awesome and then two days later I open up package at my house reads like we hey you got a package it's from the Bengals Trey gave me a New Jersey so I got the New Orleans one and then and then I got the the Trey Hendrickson with the Paul well not Paul Brown whoever it is is Paul the Paul Brown logo stitched in the jersey it's an orange 91 and wrote a really nice note like basically for tray when i was he i was to him like you know Kyle van denbosch was to me you know like i had the DVDs of

kyle van der boch on my gosh lit the way down the path for you yeah and and i didn't play like kyle van dernbosch i was a different player but the hustle and just watching him like like go about his business that meant a lot to me and if van deraubosh ever told me that i was a great player which she didn't. I would have been over the moon. And, you know, like I think Trey, even though he's me and better now, it's like, that was cool of him to hear that, and it was cool for me to get a jersey.

I hadn't gotten a jersey in a couple years. Mine was Steve Smith Sr. Steve Smith, Sr., he would have played like Steve Smith Sr. That's so funny. The funniest thing about Steve Smith, Sr. is What? What? The fucker. Yeah. I grew up a Panthers fan, as you know. Take this outside. And we go to Carolina. You jag. Just punching people.

Jagged. We went to Carolina and I got ejected and they threw beer bottles at me on the way out. I remember that. Fuck you, Carolina. They thought I was flipping them off. I was pointing to the guy that threw a beer bottle at me. And, you know, there was just all these narratives after the game and I felt terrible because I loved the Panthers growing up. I had face pain and went to the games and shit.

And I'm getting ejected at the stadium. You were like Jair Alexander. They didn't know them. They didn't know I'm from Charlottesville. You know? And then the worst part was Steve Smith and I are talking like. after one of the scuffles, like real close to each other, and we're just talking. Like, me and Steve, you know, like, we didn't have an issue.

And after the game, people thought me and Steve were getting into it. And I'm like, I would never, dude. He was one of my favorite players. And you're like, Steve would have killed me in Tuesday? Yeah, and Kyle modeled his game after Steve. So what's, um, you watch what's play. You know what's the clip, the best Steve Smith clip ever is Steve Smith versus Akiv. Yeah.

That clip of them going at it during that game is absolutely like football. Like if you like football and like two people who are assholes and like super competitive, just watch that clip. It was like Dion versus God, who was the receiver in there? They're like they hated each other. Well, I don't know, but it's like Mike Evans and Latimore, which we didn't get yesterday. Or it was like Jalen and who did Jalen fight? Who was Jalen getting out?

Yeah, like four years or three years ago. I don't know. I don't know. There's all these matchups, to your point. Like, there's nothing more football than watching two alphas. Last thing. You're going to like this. Wishing a happy birthday to Andy Heck.

Happy birthday. And Chiefs offensive line coach, Kyle's old offensive line coach today. Happy birthday. Got the run game going. Wish you called. AJ Green, Kyle. Okay. And then.

It was AJ Green. You're on the Greenline podcast. Great win yesterday. Yeah, he's not going to say anything. So all we have left to sort out in the AFC is that this whole AFC South mess, right? Jacksonville took care of business. I felt like this is a game where Trevor might have played in another scenario, but Jacksonville and Doug say, hey, we trust Bethard.

We trust the defense more than anything. The defense got it done. Josh Allen broke the single season record in Jacksonville. It was 14 sacks. He's got 16 a half now. He had three. He had a hack trick. So good for him.

And, you know, like, Bethard did a good job against the Blitz. So he got them out of this spot. No turn on. Did not turn the ball over. That was executed to a T by the. team, ironically, because they haven't executed anything right, but executing this game plan, they got it done, it was Carolina, and now they've guaranteed that if they win this week, they win the division, and they're in. Okay, but you've got Houston and Indy who got wins.

Houston, big day from Stroud, big day from Will Anderson, the young guys, Stroud's got, you know, Anderson's got seven sacks now. Slowick blueprint game, they don't have to do anything too crazy on offense, without any turnovers, you just go out and win the game, let your defense make some plays here. And that was a big win yesterday, but the win against the Titans two weeks ago was the biggest one of their season. And it was just because they finally slayed the dragon. They held Derek Henry down. You know, they found a way to stay in that game.

And Derek was still bleeding this week. Yeah. And so, you know, like that was a big win yesterday for them. Indy had a huge win. I thought they had it in control from the beginning. That shot to Pierce on third and one with Spillane in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, that was. a huge play and it set them up to kind of have control of the game you know they tightened up defensively at midfield they forced a lot of punts and drives to stall at midfield and the indie

defensive backs like I know Devante went off in the second half but a lot of no-name guys competing their asses off making plays you know they they scored on an opening drive again like that's been what they've done every game it feels like including game one indian houston they came out and they had control of that game. So, you know, I just think, I just think for Houston it's going to be not getting jumped in this game. They're way different than they were that first matchup. There are some guys who are down, but I think this team's grown up. So, you know, it is, the game's in indie, right? And so it's going to be a huge atmosphere. This is going to be another game that feels like a playoff game. And if you remember in that game, Richardson had played

early in that game, got knocked out of that game. The QB run game was something they had to prepare for. They don't have to prepare for it now this week. Texans pass rush, 12 pressures, no sacks in that game. So, like, they have to get home, and they've been getting home more. I think that's going to be the big difference is how much better that pass rush is. And Indy, their pass rush is a lot better now. Like, they're up near the top of the league and sacks.

So it might be as simple as which offensive line plays better. Yeah. And I thought Indy's offensive line did a really nice show. yesterday. So huge game. The way that lays out is whoever wins that game is in the playoffs, right? And if Jacksonville loses on top of that, you win the division. And so like the losers, the odd team out, even if Jacksonville loses. For Houston, they feel like, they feel like to me, like a team similar to the Rams. I mean, even though we've got like a super old quarterback in L.A. and a super young quarterback in Houston. Team you might not want to see. The formula is if you've got a

damn good quarterback and you've got a smart guy running the show, going offense. You've got a defense that's reliable. You tend to win more than you lose. And for the Houston, Texas, they may be just young and puppyish enough to go in there and beat somebody in the playoffs. I mean, I do look for them to get after it in Indianapolis. I think that it does come down to the quarterback at this point in the season. And Gardner Minshew, I just don't know if it becomes a shootout, if he can hang with our guy. I almost feel like if the Texans get in, they're more dangerous than the Colts. And I think most teams would agree.

And what's Zach Moss situation? Well, you know, Taylor's back and Taylor looked good yesterday. Yeah, but they're a two-back team. They are. And Stuyken, like, listen, that drive where they went to kick a field goal in the fourth quarter, I think they ran the ball seven straight times. And on the first drive, I think he was five for 25 or something like that, Taylor. And they kind of went away from it.

Can he do it again? You got to stay with the run game. You know, you got to stay with the run game because these guys up front are playing pretty well for Houston. And so the only team left that we really have to talk about are the Browns. And, you know, that, there's two games this year where the under felt like locks in prime time. It was Pittsburgh and New England,

and we know how that game went. It was like they hit it in the first quarter. We used to say we're going to go take the Browns to the Super Bowl. You got to go take a shit. Remember? You used to say that when we were kids? Well, I never said it, but it's pretty. The Cleveland Browns have an opportunity to go to the fucking Super Bowl.

We're not talking fecal matter. Yeah, and if the Browns want to go to the bowl, usually that's a process that takes place in the bathroom. but it could take place on the field this year. Yes. And so, Kyle, that was so well put. The question I have is, where do you rank among AFC teams? And you guys said it earlier, and I keep forgetting to bring them up.

But, like, there are two teams, in my opinion, that have the best chance to go to Baltimore win, the Bills and the Browns. And the Browns, I mean, they can do it on the backs of their defense, but their offense has a new life. A new life. And I think the Jets are the Jets defense. Every defense has a breaking point.

When you've seen them in some big spots late in the season, they don't look like an elite defense, at least on the scoreboard. And you can't put it on their offense, not showing up like the Miami game. Like their offense moved the ball early. They just, their defense just got shredded. And, you know, like when you talk about being down Cooper and still shredding that defense, like Aaron Rogers' job got even harder last year kind of looking at this team and thinking they'd be much better as a team than they have been this year.

And I think that's why you got to take that performance with a grain of salt a little bit. But I still think Flacco and the run game and the defense and the vertical threat that he poses. And Amari. The Faski coach of the year, Flacco, comeback player of the year. That's what I have bet in the last couple weeks. How funny was it Flacco dozing off on the bench, bro? Pretty funny, but he's older. I kind of.

Yeah, I know. But that's amazing. Like, I did my job. Like, and I'm on the bench, and I can just chill him. but I'm chilling so hard that they caught me. Towsing off a little bit. Well, we do know that, you know, your level, like, of, you don't realize how exhausted you are in the moment

because you're, you're so much of adrenaline. But when you sit and get that moment of silence, that's when you're at most of the east. You can kind of fall asleep. Yeah, like middle of the game, you'll be on the bench and you zone out so hard. You don't have been. Here's where they can't fall asleep with the turnovers.

And I think somebody brought this up, and I was talking to one of our listeners on Twitter. I have to be. And he was saying, you know, like, I can't trust the Browns because of the, turnovers. Now, I don't know how that plays out throughout the playoffs. You know, like, I don't think that's going to be an impediment to them winning a playoff game. But when you look at the teams in the Super Bowl over the last 10 years, all but maybe two of them had positive turnover

differentials. And Cleveland is down at minus seven. The Chiefs last year, minus three. I think Denver had a negative differential in 2015. I could be butchering this. But the bottom line is the vast majority of these Super Bowl teams have positive differentials. And so I do think there's something to them turning the ball over. And, you know, like on the road, that becomes an even bigger problem. Yeah. And they are going to have to go on the road. But I do think.

But what they can say, even with those turnovers, they're going to create some. The good thing is the differential should be control for that. Yeah. Although they should have a week of rest because they're locked into that five C. They can rest people this week. How much do you want to? It would shock me if they're a favorite over, let's say, the Jaguars in round one. Yeah, it would not shock me.

And I would take them to win that game. You know, if they play the Jags, they can win that game, they can beat the, they can beat the Dolphins, they can beat the Chiefs, they can beat the Ravens. There's no team they can't beat, and there's no team they can't lose to. Right. You know, because of their... Do you think that they're probably, like, the most feared, like, if you had to choose for a different team, like, yo, like, who do we want to see first? Like, is it like... As far as teams coming to play you, you know, like, the teams that are coming to play you, that's a spooky sight.

Even though the defense hasn't been as good on the rounds, you know, and that's something that they've got to answer. for in the playoffs, but, you know, that Achilles heel has been turnovers. And so we'll see if that. Joe Flacco hit a naked boot out of the blind side. He went out left. You don't do that with a 39-year-old? Kevin Stefansky is a coach and a half, man. And I think that's just kind of what's been proven out this year and probably should win

Coach of the Year. And, like, one of you guys said Flacco should be the comeback player of the year. And David, Todd, and Joe Guhee. And my prediction is coming together right now. If they keep winning, I said, like, a few weeks back, when we were asking, like, how would you write the end of the script? Like, if you were a script writer, and it would be Joe Flacco just coming back and almost running the tables and running through.

But to go, if he gets a chance to go to Baltimore and finds a way to win that game. Same thing with Stafford. Baltimore. Here's my bold prediction. Here's a bold prediction I don't mean. But if I say it and it happens, at least I posed it. But, like, both those guys win. against their old teams on the road it's possible that would be huge for cleveland because of course

like the ravens exist they were the old browns they got ripped out they yes that they hate the ravens i'm not saying they're going to win but i am saying there is they have a shot and and that's all you want when you get into dance okay stop he's going to lose his puck and boyleck oh joe flaco okay joe flaco san francisco they got the win just like baltimore lockup can we hear quick ad read though this podcast is brought to you by cash app know what your money is doing at all with real-time transaction alerts and card lock. What's that you say? You just lost your card.

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Greenlight download to the app store Google Play to start saving today beautifully done Kyle and for the San Francisco 49ers they got a win beautifully done by them rebounding off that tough game I'm not going to talk too much about that game it kind of went how we thought it would go um Brock bounce back but the bottom line is they are going to host playoff games and they have home field advantage and for the Rams that's good news right because the Rams

you know they had to root for the Niners the past couple weeks and now it's finally come to fruition where the Rams escape with a win the irony of like and the reason I'm bringing this up is obviously for people at home that don't know this like San Francisco is probably going to rest some starters just like Baltimore whether it's a good thing to do or not

that gives the Rams a better chance to lock up the sixth seed because that's what they want right I think if they go to of Detroit. They love that matchup. You know, San Francisco, giving them a chance to not having to go play Dallas. You know, and like Matt Stafford, you saw how he played against the

Blitz yesterday. Not as great. They had trouble up front, but they got it out of win. A couple picks. Here's the irony for me that Mason Crosby, who was just on the Rams, misses that 54-yarder. And the Rams still have kicking problems of their own. They missed

a couple extra points, but I thought, thought, you know, overall, this was, you got your big play from Pooka Nakuwa, you got your running game with Kairn Williams. He's going to get 1,500 yards. He was blocking his ass off. You know, like, in a year where CJ Stroud doesn't exist, he's your rookie of the year offensively. And, you know, you can't say enough about what he's done. I think, I think this is the, this is the floor for a team like this that can run the ball. Like, even if you throw two picks on the road, like, you have a chance to win because you have good playmakers and you have a run game. And the defense is played a run game.

The defenses we talked about is played better than we expected them to. So the guys up front, Kobe Turner, he has nine sacks on the year. And I don't want to say that too loud because I have a ticket for Jalen Carter for rookie of the year. Off of the defensive rookie of the year. Now, those odds have not changed. You know, he's still number one. But this Kobe Turner guy in L.A., if he was playing on a better team with nine sacks as an interior guy threatening to break the rookie record for the Rams held by Aaron Donald.

Like, you're talking about him as a rookie of the year, defensive rookie of the year. With the way you just laid it out. Yeah, Byron Young is coming on. Like, they are playing better on defense, but they have to win this game. Oh, they cut him with the Rams. Yeah, they cut the kicker. So who knows what they're going to do with kicker, but the bottom line is they got to win this game. That almost lost in the game.

They got to win. You know, point conversion by Tyrod Taylor, decision not to. I feel bad for Tyrod Taylor. Yeah. He did a great job. Yeah. You would have completed the hero arc. I feel bad for him.

But this is what it comes down to for them. They go to San Francisco. I think they can win if San Francisco rests some guys. I think even if San Francisco was at full strength, they're a team that's tough for San Francisco. Even though Shanahan's own McVeigh, I think when you look at the matchup earlier this season for a long stretch of time, nobody had played San Francisco as close. I mean, they were right there. If they go to Detroit, and let's talk about Detroit, like, because this feels like a long time ago,

but Detroit lost that game Dallas on Saturday night. When it comes to the matchup, I feel like Detroit had to walk out of there feeling pretty good. Like, they should have won that game. Now, if you're the Dallas Cowboys, you could say, hey, we shouldn't even giving you a chance. Mike McCarthy, bad clock management. I don't know why you're throwing there.

It's popped up this year against the Chargers. It's popped up a ton of times for Mike McCarthy. This is like a pattern of behavior where he just, he can't manage the clock. Okay, you could also say if you're Dallas, well, we fumbled at the goal line, that rule's stupid. Every time that thing comes up, people are like, we got to change the rule. But that's two weeks in a row that you guys have fumbled at the goal line. It's the most. It's the best rule.

You say it's the best rule? That rule, like, if you're fumble it into the end zone and it goes out, that it's a touchback. You should be punishable by death. Yes, absolutely. Like there's no way in hell. There should be a room, I mean a rule, where you get that ball back. Here's where it might change.

You don't get the ball back, but maybe you start at the five. You ever heard of something like that? No, I'm in the ballback. No, no, no, no. No, you don't start the five. The other team starts at the five. Oh, instead of the 20. If I got a beautiful girl, I take her on a date,

and I bring her home. And she's like, would you like to go up to my place? And I'm like, well, absolutely. That's why, you know, that's why we're all here. Yeah. And you get up to the door, and I'm saying, you're just like, is she going to?

to say let's walk to the male by the five yard line and try the next guy starts at the five yard line or is she going to say uh see yeah next guy starts the five yard line though that is that is crazy no but it's true it's true punishable by death yeah and speaking of this game that that reminds me of the scene in stepbrothers where everything's going great and then they fart in the tuxedoes and that was kind of like dan campbell now the tuxedo seem a little Yeah, now the tuxedo seem a little creepy. Like going for the two-point conversion again at the 10-yard line. We're going to talk about all that.

But have we ever seen a coach have a trick play that is so tricky that the reps. That the reps got tricked. They got tricked. Yeah, well, let me just finish saying this before we go into that thing. Like, Dallas came out of this thing lost Tyler Smith. Like, who knows what's going on with his foot? Not good news. Terrence Steele has been beat like a drum.

Aidan Hutchinson was awesome. The defense played better for Detroit. Like, they really did play better. They looked a lot better. There's a lot of things for Detroit you feel good about. Like you went to Dallas and made Dallas look different than they've looked at home all year. Yeah, Seattle played them tough, but that was a shootout. You really won a game because they won that game.

You want to talk about this? We won a second. We won a game against Dallas in a low-scoring game at home. And you said, hey, would Jared Gough be able to keep up? And he didn't play great. And part of Detroit, it's not a new thing, but you know that, like, Jared golf's not always going to be better than the other quarterback. And there's situations where...

I got a lot of respect for the guy, but there's situations where there's going to be a better quarterback on the other side, and there's going to be a lot of rushers, and there's going to be a ferocious defense, and you might play the Niners. You might play... I would have said the Eagles a long time ago, but not...

Boy. You might play the Cowboys again in Dallas. And that's what all this came down to. The end of the game, you know, like this situation, everything that was on the line, you want to talk about the Rams this week? The Rams might be, you might have played yourself into a situation because you lose that game in San Francisco's resting starters, right? Because there's nobody chasing them where now the Rams beat the Niners and play you at home, the matchup you don't want.

And, you know, like maybe you don't want the Packers match up either, but the Matt Stafford coming to town thing, I don't like it. No. Okay. And so like you played yourself in that situation or the reps played you in that situation. And on top of it for the Eagles, like they're sitting there dog cussing. the refs, they lose that game, and Dallas wins that game, and now Dallas has the NFC East and two home playoff games. So for the league, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but it is good for the league that Dallas gets two home games. If you're talking about dollars and cents,

and you know, you know the playoffs, you're better for the league when the Cowboys are in it. And so, like, you could say at the end of the game that they blew that thing honest, but you are opening the door for people saying, why was it Dallas that, that, that, that, that got the call here. And I just wanna say this about that call. You've got a brilliant two-point conversion call. You have a couple all week that you work on. You're like big situations, these are our plays.

It's gonna hit. They go motion the first play, call time out. You lose your first play, right? Then you go to your second play, which is that big trick play. Then you get backed up on the bad call and you go again. And then you go again after you get bailed out on the penalty.

That's where I have a problem. And Dan had balls the whole game. Like the fake punt was ballsy. They didn't get anything out of it because they, you know, they get down the red zone. Tank Lawrence continues to be one of the most underrated guys in the league. He's created more negatives than any good rusher over the past 10, 15 years at edge, in my opinion.

Like he's, he is a negative machine and them not being able to get points down there, you know, going for it on fourth. And then the next time laying up and kicking a field goal, I just don't know what the, you know, they kick that field goal and then Dallas goes down there. It was 10-10 and they take a 17-13 league. Like if you're willing to go for two, a lot of people say that's a situation where you're like on the road, you're playing a better team. You don't want to go to overtime.

Just get it done. A lot of people look at situations like that and say, hey, well, you have confidence in your guys to make the plays. But I would have confidence in my guys after that first situation to go to overtime and beat these guys. because you showed enough during that game that you could beat these guys. And so that's where I have a problem with Dan. It's going on fourth and three, then not going on fourth and three. And then late in the game, it's taking all these two-point conversions. And every time you take them, you're one less play in the book.

And I know it from different spots and that sort of thing. Now, let's talk about the call, because you've been an offensive one. Before I talk about the call, this feels to me like for Dan Campbell and the Lions, like the double doink was for the Chicago Bears and Matt Nagy, guys that we consider to be really good coaches, young, coach of the year type candidates. I hope it isn't the case because I saw what happened there. But as it pertains to the game, the call, I mean,

a couple of things we know. Jared Goff told Taylor Decker and it's on video, go report. Taylor Decker, and for people at home, report means a guy who's ineligible, usually, a number in the 70s or the 60s or the 50. Or the 50. walks up to the guy with the white hat and you almost make a mockery of the process. It's like, reporting!

You've heard it happen in practice and games. But you don't have to say that. You don't have to do it loud. You have to do this motion. You have to make eye contact. It's kind of like, I am reporting. Like, you have to say reporting. Eye contact words.

But the white hat is not present for the country. He's on his way out. So what I saw from the ass end angle of Taylor Decker is his right elbow sticking out, which to me tells me that he did report. I know Skipper, whether he reported or not, that's here norther, but 68 did report. And I know Taylor, I trust him.

I liked what he said after the game or what he didn't say after the game. But here, in this situation, you're robbing an offensive lineman from a dream play, a dream scenario. You're robbing a coach from being able to instill confidence and faith in himself with his team by going for it, having an answer, having it down pat and they executed it. And I know you have issue with going for it,

but they almost had it again. They almost got them down there, the drop. I mean, it was close. Yeah, but again, when you make that decision, somebody's lying. When you make that decision, Jared Gossed a little off with that ball, and those are the little throws that, you know, we don't talk about. But they already want it.

They're not a deep shot you overthrow or that sort of thing. You have to know who your guy is. And do you trust Jared to make that throw in a situation where it's got to be right on target? and I just wouldn't have done it. I would have, I loved going for it. It was a shame that it was put in the hands. Here's my thing with the, I just hate about like the NFL and the referees and the call.

And then for the viewers, like, we have, we have this, we have this referee, the head of the referee, watching the game with us and chiming in and telling us that basically they got it wrong. And they can't fix it. What's the point of having the whole thing, hey, they're going to New York to help them. speed the game up and they can get calls right. Like, why can't, when it's something that important, why can't they just figure that out and change the phone ring and say, hey, put them back out. You got it wrong.

Hey, put Dallas out there with 13 seconds ago. Like, you got it wrong. That's what it should be. And to Dan Campbell, two pointers to come back and say that. It wasn't like they kicked off right after. But to Cape for Dan Campbell just a little bit, I would say, yo, it's the end of the year. You don't want to have your guys out there for an extra quarter, extra whatever. Like, you don't want.

Like, you know what I'm saying? You don't want someone to get hurt. I got no problem with doing that. I have no problem. But after the first one doesn't work, after you get. It's the mentality. You're like, hey, we're going for it. You're then on the floor because of the penalty.

It's not the same as a two-point conversion. Like, the math does not support it. And so, you know, I love Dan Campbell. And I love that he doesn't seem to have, he looks at every situation individually. He's not like a slave to the numbers. He's not a slave. It's a field thing, and it's aggression, and I love it. But sometimes he just gets himself into these problems.

And I think that- The way he crumpled up that paper at the press conference. Man, I'd hate to be that piece of paper. And he said today that he wrote the play down for the referees. He wrote it down before the game on paper and said, this is what would happen. And that's the worst part about it. And it's the same crew that got the call wrong in the Kansas City.

game. And I don't think, I don't think they think, and the Bears game. They didn't call at the end of the half. This guy, the lions are now 0 and 5 or something when he calls. And he's been demoted from the playoffs. Yes. Yeah, they're out. They have like a minus 200 yards. But demoting him from the playoffs is an admission that this went wrong. Yeah, I know. And so it changes, it changes everything. It's almost worse. Like that's like, like watching like as you as a fan and you're watching and you're hearing, oh, the head ref is telling us, hey, they got that wrong. And it's just like, you're watching. You're watching. you're like, yo, if he's saying that they clearly got this wrong, how was it allowed? I have executive power.

I heard he did, but that could have been a meme. It's unprecedented, and I saw one of those aggregate weeks as well. Yeah. But like it would be something. But for Detroit, I feel like you've got to come out of this game. And this can't be the type of thing that wrecks your season, because I've seen it before where something goes wrong like this for a team. And bury the tapes.

Don't show it. And watching that meltdown on the sideline, watching Skipper. And I get it. Yeah. But that's the type of thing that can just, like, can kill the mood. Because it's, yeah. And then, and then if and when you guys lose down the line, like, guys are going to be like, well, if we didn't get, well, if we didn't get job in that game,

we would have played here. Yeah. So it's a tough deal, man. But it is what it is. And the Eagles had a chance to take advantage, and they couldn't. And I think, like, Eagles got exactly what they wanted Saturday night. They got Dallas to win because they knew they could leapfrog Detroit in that situation, and they could win out and still win the east.

And they show up and, you know, like Eagles fans have been waiting for this a long time. I'm not going to be able to tell you anything revelatory. I think the number one problem with this defense is personnel, and I don't think that's changing. And a number of those plays, whether it's them not being able to sort out a two-man concept, them, you know, DB getting shook by Michael Carter in, out in the, out in the field. Like a bunch of little issues, Ringo at the goal line, totally flat-footed, giving up inside release on fourth and four. These are not just things that, they happen to other teams, right? Like you watch around a league, any of those things happen on a weekly basis, but they happened so spectacularly bad with the Eagles.

Like Ringo didn't have a shot. He was totally flat. footed. Michael Carter shook. Rick's so badly it was like it wasn't even the two-man game, a guy almost broke an ankle. You know, like there's just so many situations on the back end. That tossed the Connor in the second half. The angles are so bad. The run support's so bad. And, you know, this defensive front, I feel bad for him because they're actually a strength on most teams. You can unlock that strength. You can unlock. They're not who they were last year. And we said that coming in.

Like you're saying, they're not coupled with anything on the back end. compounding effect of you know the back end being shit and not being able to stop the run with a light box anymore because the backers are so bad and you get you get avonte maddox back you know and usually with howie roseman when he sends somebody the rescue you're like oh it works out like that lifeline worked but robert quinn last year didn't work and i was behind the robert quinn thing it didn't work but it wasn't a necessity this year to stop the bleeding the shack Leonard thing had to work out. It's not going to work out. The, the, the, the Maddox thing coming back, the Byrd thing. Maddox, you know, Dorch is the guy's name. You got beat by a guy named Dorch,

who's actually a pretty good player. I'm not, it's just funny name. Yeah. But like, you know, you think he's coming to the rescue. It's going to save the day. But like some of the biggest plays that you gave up were the guy that you were waiting to come back on. And the same thing with fired that you sign him. The coverage hadn't been great. Shaq Leonard doesn't look like he magically got faster or younger looking. And so the personnel issues on defense are going to be the reason you lose in the playoffs. You know, like, hey, Eagles can make a run.

I know I said last week after the Seattle game, the world's not ending. You know, you're 10 and 4 or whatever it is. Most years, if you have a chance to win the division at the end of the year, you're pretty excited. I think 2017 made things a little bit tougher for the, the Eagles, right, right? Because, you know, the bar has been raised. But now it's, you have joined the pack. Like you are just, you're part of the pack.

And are you a good team? I don't know. Can you win playoff games? Yeah, you can. People want to put it on the offense at times and the whole thing, but there was a stretch of this game where Arizona had the ball for, you know, the entire first half basically and into the second half

where they came out and just did what they wanted and ran the ball. So even when they were down, I worried because they were getting exactly what they wanted offensively. You had that pick six was basically a gift. It was a great runback, but it was a gift. And, you know, the worst part about that was they had just got done with a long drive ahead of that. And then you got to go back out and play defense, and the defense can't get off the field.

So the Eagles offense, they were scoring too quick. You know, like the defense barely had any time on the bench. And so part of that is run some half court. Run the ball. You know, like, even if the other stuff is working in a game like this, and you know you can take it from this team, you can just take their food, take their food. It might take a little longer,

but take their food and give your weakness a chance to catch their breath. But instead, I think Jalen Hertz ran the ball in third quarter on a design run, it's their ninth run of the game. And so, like, this is something that keeps popping up for them. And another thing that popped up for them is trying to ice the game where they kick a field goal and not score a touchdown. They get a holding penalty on Jordan Milata. and they've had this stuff with Kelsey before the field goal

against the bills, and there's a number of drives throughout the year where even their strength is hurting them a little bit up front in these situations where you've got to close it out. So I can't point to one thing. You know, the offensive scheme has devolved from last year. We've called it an imitation of last year. The defensive scheme is totally different.

The players, the personnel has changed completely, and most Super Bowl teams don't have to replace two coordinators. You know, like watch teams that have to replace a coordinator off a Super Bowl run. Usually, they're still in it maybe because the other side of the ball is still intact. Kansas City. But when you lose two sides of the ball, basically, from a mindset and a game planning standpoint, it's going to be hard. And so. And the Chiefs without Spaggs.

Yeah. It'd be like if Spaggs left the Chiefs. After the Super Bowl. And Eric B. Enemy left after the Super Bowl. Like, that's how you'd be talking about the Chiefs the same way. And they are in a lot of circles because these teams seem similar. What if Dom was secretly giving out plays on the sideline? And Dom not being there.

Like, ever since Dom hasn't been there, they've been really struggling. So maybe when he gets back, he gets back to the playoffs, right? Playoffs or are you a playoff? Playoffs? Okay. But the bottom line, if we're talking about things that, like, things that really suck for this team right now, it's the personnel on defense. There's just no way around it.

And, you know, like, when you lose in the playoffs, if you lose in the playoffs, we will be saying it's because of the defense. So, like, what would they have to do to patch up right now at this point in the season? We've thought through all the scenarios here. Time machine. But I'm saying, so you as a coach, like, what are you doing differently in practice or what are you doing to maybe get your guys up or whatever? I would say try different guys, but they got guys off the street right now. You know, like, there's just no, there's, you can't dip into the bag any deeper. It's like when you're looking for something in your backpacking, you've checked every pocket.

There's no, it's, oh, it's just Ringo. Oh, it's just Rick. The same thing again. So I don't think there's an escape defensively. And going to the playoffs is all going to be about matchups. Like, if you go down and play the Bucks, like, that's no sure thing. But you can win that game. You go to Dallas.

Like, I think you can, I still think you can beat the Cowboys, man, but you got to score. And that puts a lot of pressure on your offense. I don't know if you can beat the Niners. No. You know, and a team like the Rams, they're dangerous because of what you got going on the back end. The Packers, they're dangerous to you. So every team can beat you. The Rams strength don't couple with the Eagles' business as well for the Eagles.

Every team in the dance can beat you, so you've joined the pack. And so, you know, like people want me to say something about the Eagles that might give them some hope. Here's the hope. You're in the playoffs. You can make a run. You know, we made a run with a backup quarterback a couple years. ago, but that team was much better. And that team also, I can remember a time when, you know, Kyler Murray having the ball at the end of the game and they should have let Dorch score

because he was going to score, right? Instead, you end up having to chase a touchdown with 30 seconds to go. I remember a time when it was when teams didn't want to be in the Cardinals position at the link trying to close out a game. I remember that. I remember it in 2017. I remember it. You didn't want to be... I was on the other side of it. Yeah, you didn't want to be running a two-minute drill at the end of the game against our group. And you didn't want to be running a two-minute drill against that team last year. But the things that you've done from a personnel standpoint

and just the way the cookies crumble with the injuries and the scheme, now if you're Arizona, you're feeling like Philly felt last year on defense in those two-minute situations. Like, we are playing a team that is food right now. And when you look at the defense of the Eagles, they're a bottom five defense right now. Like, I would challenge you to find a defense

that's performed worse than this defense over the last month of the season. EPA per play, they're down there. They're in the bottom three. 30th. Over the last what, Nolan? Since week 12. Since week 12, they're 30th in EPA per play on defense.

So teams making runs with defenses like that, a lot of people like look over here at the Jalen Hertz thing. That's a shiny object. Jalen Hertz is good enough to be your quarterback. Jalen Hertz is good enough to be your quarterback for the next five years. If you end up looking somewhere else for a quarterback, I don't think you can repeat the Carson Wens, Jalen Hertz thing.

And I don't think you should. I think it's about the defense. And you can fix it next off season, but there's nobody walking through that door. Something you realize in the NFL after a certain point is like, we're kind of, they locked the door. It's just us. Makes me very happy to be a Bears fan because you watch that game,

and you watch the Bears defense, and you're like, we got dudes. We got dudes all over the place. Dudes. Types of dudes. And also Jonathan Gannon, somebody just put this in the chat. I can't talk about this without talking about Jonathan Gannon. We came into the game and said, Jonathan Gannon, number one, has done a great job,

despite the memes, despite the shots, the verticals, you know, like his mannerisms. You know, he's an easy target and people got after him, just like they got after Siriani, just like they got after Dan Campbell. By the way, Antonio Pierce talking about choking somebody until they go to sleep or whatever he said a week ago, I got no problem with it, just like I had no problem with the Dan Campbell knee thing. So go back and look at your timeline when Dan Campbell said he was biting kneecaps. Yikes. I don't want to name names. I don't want to name names, but some people made that a big deal. Me? No, no, no, no, I didn't. No, I didn't. No, it was quite the opposite. But I'm saying,

we're not naming them. What about the bills coached, the Alcata thing? Ah, it's a little far. He wore a red, white blue shirt. They're four and O since that speech. But like I said, though, if you're, whether you're a 9-11 truther, like Rogers or your McDermere's, or you're You know, win one for Osama. Like, either one, you have a chance of redemption. Because Rogers ran through, all it took was Rogers run through on 9-11 with the flag, and everybody forgot about it. McDermott just needs to do that next year. Was that 9-11?

Yes. Yes. God. So here's the deal, man. Like, the Eagles, if they want to get in, they're going to get in. But if they want to win games, the defense, the bleeding's got to stop. And Matt Patricia, who I think is a good coordinator, has got to pull some shit out of his ass. AJ Brown, not talking to the media.

Big deal, not a big deal. It's a big deal. It feels like things are, I mean, like, we've all had those days. I understand. I'm not attacking AJ Brown, but it's a canary in the coal mine. It's like things are bad. Yeah, yeah. So. And, but to finish what I was going to say, Jonathan Gannon, coming in this game, you knew he'd know Jaylin, right? Because he's practiced against him the whole thing. You knew the D-coordinator. Rallis was there. He knows this offense. But what I think you underestimate is how well he knows the defense. and the personnel, and what gives the personnel problems. And the Cardinals gave them problems all day, and Kyler Murray, ball barely touched the ground in the second half. Okay, James Connor might have had his best day this year as a Cardinal. Michael Carter had his best day as a Cardinal.

And who's it happening to all these things? It's the Eagles. Tyler Murray throw? Yeah. Yeah. He's a gamer, dude. He's a gamer. I'm glad he's playing well,

because he gives them a lot of excitement next year, because when you see this offense, that the Cardinals have put out in the field the second half of the season. They're real NFL. That's why they're on my future America's team list. Yeah. Okay.

So anyways. Bye, bye. Off of that, you have, we're in the NFC, Detroit and Dallas. We talked about that. We talked about the Eagles. All they had to do was win. We talked about Chicago.

We think the decision is the coordinator. Let's talk about Chicago and who they beat this week, and that's Atlanta. And I just think when you look at that, the Falcons absolutely blew a golden opportunity to still be playing for everything this week. And the Falcons had to go to Chicago in the snow and win.

And what a scene, again, like Kyle, you would think the Bears were playing for the playoffs. The vibe in that stadium, that tells you all you need to know. They weren't playing for the playoffs. They were playing for beyond. They were playing for their future. And who was going to be in that locker room? And they know.

And that's dangerous. And they know when they rally behind their quarterback, great things happen. And I tweeted yesterday, it's great to see the city of Chicago get behind the quarterback position like this. I've never seen this kind of support. But, granted, I've never seen anything like Justin Fields in Chicago. I mean, the crowd chanting, we want fields.

It's awesome. So that's an inspired group of people. And for the Falcons, you're supposed to be inspired. You get your back against the wall, which is, again, like, it's a reason that I think what the Bears are doing should be taken seriously. And to win a game like this, to lose a game like this for the Falcons, their entire season, they ran out of time. They fucked around too much.

They waited to make the move to Heineke. And I think that cost them. I mean, Ritter's turnovers, a couple games that you could have. You don't have them now, and you have to win that game, and you can't. And maybe they weren't going to be that good, you know, this year. Maybe we kind of look at Drake London and Pitts and Bejohn and, you know, some of the pieces and the defensive additions, and you're like, oh, maybe it was a lot of smoking mirrors, no matter who was playing quarterback.

But I do know this. Their lifeline, Arthur Smith's lifeline seemed to be Chicago. And it seemed to be Justin Fields. And that lifeline dries up the same week. It feels like that you get knocked out of the playoffs. And so I don't know what the future looks like in Atlanta, but they had a chance. And with the Bucks and the Saints playing and the Bucks having a chance to take care of business, they blew their opportunity. And the Saints now still have a chance. They play the Falcons. They play the Falcons this week. And there is a chance for both those teams. They just need the bucks to lose to Carolina, which doesn't seem too likely.

No, it doesn't seem too likely, but, you know, Baker looked human yesterday, and, you know, Carolina doesn't have to lose. They can play the spoiler. That's a dangerous spot for a lot of teams. Like, the pure joy of knocking somebody out of the playoffs is awesome. And so, you know, like... I've never done it, but, oh. There's going to be a lot on the line this week.

And I love this time of year. I can remember my second year in Philly when we went four and six, and then we had to make a run and things had to fall right for us the last game and one of my favorite memories was going into locker room after the game having beaten Washington and then watching TV in that tiny little coach's office it was me Dom Howie Roseman Doug Peterson Kelsey Fletch and maybe Nick Foles like there was just all the old guys were in there and we're watching I think Minnesota and the Vikings and the Bears of the Vikings and we needed something to go for for us and it happened on that little TV in the bowels of and truly the bowels of FedEx

field because the whole place is just a big shitter and we're in we're in that tiny office and it was just being together in that moment and not knowing what's going to happen to have to root for something else those are the special moments and we got in the playoffs and you know double doink happened and we almost made a run you know New Orleans beat us but the whole point is a lot's going to be decided this week and some teams might get get left out who could make a run and some teams are going to get you're going to slide in and make a run and so i love this time of year i love the the idea of we're going to talk about incentives later in the week like guys have incentives um you know there's draft stuff on the line you know you've seen the

lovey smith situation where he's supposed to be tanking he's defiant and actually gives them the biggest gift that they could get right in cj stroud and will anderson and all this stuff and so i just cannot wait for this weekend even if a lot of these games seem like ah who cares there's something to care about in all of them. Packers Vikings last night, Matt. And the Packers, they look like they believe right now. And for Minnesota, I got to say, O'Connell, who I think is an ace of a coach, like you covet that guy, like having him in the building, look what he's been able to do

with all these different quarterbacks, but he hadn't done it with Jaron Hall yet. and to make that decision. Okay, and maybe the turnovers with Nick Mullins was what he had on his mind. And maybe it was Josh Jobs and something we don't know about the reason that his play declined. Maybe it was the Vegas game that just scared him off. But the bottom line is picking Jaron Hall to be the guy with the playoffs on the line seemed a little curious to me. And I'm not saying for sure that they did some calculations and we're like, hey, we don't want to be at nine wins. We want to be at seven wins because maybe they have something up their sleep.

or there's a guy that they're going to be targeting in that range. But it didn't feel like an honest try. To me, it felt like the Vikings rolled the guy out there that would look like he was trying, but they gave up that big lead and they put Mullins back in and they can still look like they're trying and they're calling timeouts at the end of the game down 3310. I don't know if that was their honest shot.

And for the Packers, good for them, because they took care of business. And Jordan Love looked really good. He missed a couple big throws. it could have been 45 to 10. Like, that was an impressive deal going on the road with your playoff life on the line and winning like that. And obviously...

Chris Collison glazing him last night. Who was? Chris Collinsworth. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. What did he say? Because I had the sound off.

He was just like just... And I'll tell you why, you look at the old pictures here. And there's old Brett Barb. He's got no feet on the ground. There's our guy at Jordan Love. So I'm 20 years later. You like that, Chris? Oh, Tariq.

Rico's like, oh, yeah? Similar? They look familiar to you? Look familiar to you, Chris? In Italy? We're up here in our tuxitos. And they're giving Aaron Jones and Jordan loved champagne after the game on the field. Like, it's just...

Sparkling. It's a weird time of year. And I think... Fight after the game? There was a little fight after you. Yeah, a little shuffle. Aaron Jones looks like Aaron Jones. That's a big positive for them.

But they did this without Christian Watson. Reed left the game at some point. Like, they're not doing this with a bunch of all-stars outside. I don't think Wicks played. They're growing together, though. So he did this with down multiple guys. If you're the Packers, not just this year, but like you're excited about the future. Yeah, for sure.

And Jordan loves a dude. And, you know, this just means one thing for football. The Bears Packers' rivalry is back. It's back. And there's going to be two really good quarterbacks playing in that game. And they play next week. Like, the Bears are going to want to keep them out of the playoff. dude. Mercedes Lewis Bowl.

Let's hear a couple messages before we went to the moment. Yeah, and hey, I just want to say this. We're going to talk, we're talking about the one game we have in Broke down this week is Chargers. I didn't know that was that happened. Nobody knew it happened except for me because I kept hitting the Live Under just every chance of every, what the fuck is wrong with you? Well, Kyle, what's right with me is I walked away with the, you know, sectional off that, you know, like it's a unit. A couple units. off of just knowing that these guys are not going to score 35 points. So a sectional is not your unit.

A section of a sectional is a year. Yeah, like, yeah, exactly. But you've got a whole section. I got a whole sectional off that. Like, or at least a Chase Lounge. And it was a good, it was a good day at the office, betting live under. Same thing with Cincinnati and Kansas City.

And that was miraculous. But the whole thing is, Broncos are in the news this week because of Russell Wilson. And we've talked about this, like, I, this is, this is, this is, This is the point where I asked myself, what's wrong with me? Because I'd have to act like I was up in arms to, like, I'd have to be manufacturing outrage to be mad about the Russell Wilson situation.

And Nate and I were on different sides of this. He's tilting his glasses. Nate and I were on different sides of this. But I didn't hear Nate talking about Jimmy G or Derek Carr or any of these guys that got benched over the last couple of years for contract reasons. So my question would be, what's different? What's different? And if you're going to say to me,

where Russell's playing better, that's fine. Then they benched and protected their finances and still won a game. If you're telling me they're still in the hunt, they won a game. I don't know what some people are so upset about here. And a lot of the people that are so upset about Russell Wilson

have been making fun of them for two years. It's hilarious to me. It's peak 2024 now media. Wow. No, yeah, I agree with that. I definitely agree with that. That there's people flip-flopping, but me like yeah and that's fair i honestly like for whatever's going on i just hate that right now

russell is even in the question of being like the bad guy where he's not and and that's that's what i don't like is just that people who's made him the bad guy i think people are like looking like oh why like why wouldn't he take that deal like he should take that deal be a team player and it's the person in question is john payton it's sean no i i agree i i i agree i with that too i don't like even though it was a joke the the the kissing babies and this and that and it's kind of like making fun of his character and it's just like bro like come in come in and treat me like a football player rate me as a football player i had his own his own office and like guys you want to talk about for the most of his career he has not been one of the guys so like now

you're listening to any of the guys i'll talk about him they couldn't get in contact with him they had to contact him through a liaison so i i got and maybe they should do that again because they were winning. I got no problem. The best defense. They had a nickname. But that is an interesting one. You know,

why not? Russell could be somewhere else. Maybe put him somewhere else so it's not distracting. Everyone seems to have a problem with all his, whatever. So you're talking to a guy that doesn't have a problem with Russell and doesn't have a problem with what the C-Haw or what the Broncos did. Matter of fact, we like Russell.

There is a cap. And here's what's crazy to me. Everybody making fun of the Broncos is about making a bad decision, a football decision for the last two years with Russell. Wilson now they're actually trying to take matters into their own hands the people that didn't even make that decision and say hey we're not going to fuck ourselves even worse if this guy breaks his leg we're going to owe him the 2025 salary everybody's going to look at them in that situation like what a dumpster fire of an organization for not only making that deal but then for getting him

hurt and owing him all that money and setting yourself back for two so for me like somebody's got to explain to me and I understand there's people in the chat that say uh you you know, Russ, I feel bad for Russ. They did them dirty. The whole thing. Where were you last year? Where were you with Jimmy G? Where were you with Derek Carr? And you can tell me it's a different situation. But I would tell you, nothing's changed for the Broncos this week. Same backup benefited from both situations.

They beat the charges. Same backup benefited in most cases, which was wild. They beat the chargers, okay? And I don't know who they're going to play next week or what their playoff odds are. But some people are freaking out like this is, it's nothing. So, you know, what do you want that team? to do. Somebody's just got to tell me. I'm open to having it explained to me why I should be mad, but I'm not getting there. I haven't been able to get there. So like that's, that's my two

sense about the, uh, that's good. That is my two cents about it. I don't want to be unfair to Russ. It would be different if this was a guy on his rookie deal or something. It hasn't been paid. This guy's one of the highest paid employees in Colorado. You think I care? Let me, let me ask you this. Yeah. If Russ doesn't stay there, where's the best fit? Minnesota is the leading I saw some Russ odds for next year Minnesota was Where's New England?

Shortest odds. New England? They're up there. They're like number two. One thing I'll say about the Russell thing, people always talk about inauthenticity like he's not authentic. Well, we saw obviously in that interview

and credit to him for not bringing this up, it's obviously been a thing for a while now, right Chris? Yeah. Goes back to that Chief's game. Russell hasn't spoken. about it. Yeah. Amazing.

He was asked about it and he spoke about it and he handled it. It was an authentic conversation with an athlete who was going through something that's tough. But at the end of the day, it's a business. Oh, God, listen to this. Not the same situation. Russ is a Super Bowl QB. He shouldn't get, he should get respect.

Carr hasn't done squat. Russ is not a Super Bowl QB right now. That guy's a Dolphins fan. That guy's a Dolphins fan. Okay. He's a Dolphins fan. No, nothing against you, dude. I mean, like, I totally respect the other point of view,

but you can't just say Russ is a Super Bowl. But you can't erase it. But hold on. You can't erase it. You can't erase it either. No, but it's irrelevant. When is it relevant? It's not relevant.

Guys get cut that had great careers all the time. Guys get moved on from that did something 10 years ago all the time. Yeah, it's not once a Super Bowl, Super Bowl, always a Super Bowl. You don't have diplomatic immunity like Shohay's translator. No, it's not like being a sex predator, dude. It's not like it's a good to you. It's not like it follows you around in a positive way.

I don't know where he's going. No, I'm saying if you win a Super Bowl in your rookie year, it's not a guarantee that you're going to be that caliber of player in year 10. Now, Russell was an awesome player early. He also benefited from having one of the best coaches ever and one of the best defenses. But we're not even here to go back and contextualize his legacy. It should be totally irrelevant. He's not a Super Bowl quarterback right now.

No. But it's not his fault that they gave him that. They agreed to this contract. But it ain't John Peter's fault. I hear that. That's the organization. It's just the organization. So call the Walmart family thugs.

Well, I think, right? The use of that word. That's who owns them? I just, I don't care. I don't care. I'm not going to go into the use of that word because I don't care. Me and R.C. Walmart, they're so thug and they're going to start throwing up.

Okay. Okay. So when I talk to, when I talk to Ryan Clark this week, I'll probably be like, yo, that was wild. You know, but like, I don't care. You know, like, I know that was to make a point. It's TV. It's irrelevant. That word is irrelevant.

Russ winning a Super Bowl 10 years ago is irrelevant. What's relevant right now is we've been making fun of this organization for two years. We've making fun of Russ for two years. And now all of a sudden, we're going to take Russ's side. And the organization could make it even worse for themselves, but they're deciding not to do it. It's not like they took all his money. You know, it's just, hey, man. No, I can't.

And that's the point. No, that's why. I love it. And somebody said, I think it's less about Russ and more about Peyton handling a QB that he clearly didn't want. Mike McDaniels doesn't want to it, but you see how he publicly supports him. That second part, I don't know about that. McDaniels has not said anything to say he doesn't want to it. And by the way, if he did, I'd be like, see, I told you.

But you can't take that away from me and then use it against me here in this argument. There's no way. And I don't, what, he yelled at Russ? Fuck out of here, dude. Please, bro. You ever seen, yeah, like, they weren't saying this about E.B. Last year and he was yelling at Patrick. But this is a good point.

This is a good point, though. The dolphin. Not like that. We'll close it. Not like that. What? Who? E.B.

They were saying that like, nobody said that about E. Not no. Players were saying he was too hard. That wouldn't. That wouldn't. And then mad other players came back in Cape for him. It was just like, no, he's a good coach. But players aren't saying anything bad about Sean Payton.

No, I hear. The comparable reaction that we could go off of is the media. The media said, and I'm not even going back to E.B. The point to me is like, coaches yellow players. Period. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, you know, the Dolphins fan, and I want to close this out, said Sean Peyton and his ego and Russ were never going to work.

He said Mike McDaniel's history, and we're going to get Jim Harbaugh. Bro, you don't let Mike McDaniel go. You know how I feel about the quarterback? He said Mike McDaniel is history. But the point is, Sean Peyton and his ego and his ego. and Russ's ego, we're never going to work. He's on baths fault. And that to me is more of a, I can get behind that.

You want to tell me Sean Payton's got an ego? Yeah, dude. But do you believe that's right then? Like, if my ego doesn't get along with your ego and we're at a work setting, like, don't we have to work it out? Like, in a process of, it rushed through for 4,000 yards,

and the ego got in the way, and they were going to the playoffs to then be a different conversation. But Russ is not the reason that they were in the playoff race this year. There's a tolerant level. There's a tolerance. And Chris, you can probably speak to this.

You've had really, really talented teammates before. And there's a scale, whether they're like sane or insane. Yes. And, you know, it's the crazy hot thing. It's the crazy hot thing that you've seen guys set up on Instagram. Now, you've all heard Lawrence Taylor stories about how he was in the building or asleep and meeting. But he was when the fucking game started. When he put on his going out dress, he took, oh, he there was nothing like LT.

when Antonio Brown was worth my goodness. Like what Tampa did with him that Super Bowl year, you know, like, you can live in my house. Like, you're a fucking psycho. You can live at my house because I want to win a Super Bowl. And, you know, when those guys stop being good or as good as they were, and I'm not comparing A, B, or any of those guys to Russ, but in a different way, if we're talking about egos and the whole thing.

If you have a brain, you get it. You get what I'm saying. But I respect your opinion. I respect your opinion. If you disagree. But you can't win the argument because there's precedent for this, and you were not making noise about Derek Carr or Jimmy G. Or any other players that this happened to in the past.

Or position players, man, that this happens to... All the time. All the time. Okay. So anyways, let's talk about the mentions. But first, I got a message from our sponsors. You shouldn't have to worry about when you buy tickets to your next big event. Game time is the fast and easy way to buy tickets for all the sports, music, comedy,

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Again, create an account and redeem code G-R-E-E-N-L-I-G-H-T for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. And then, you know, by the way, with game time, my son doesn't listen to his pod, but the wizards play the Warriors. He loves Stefan Curry. Okay, so this isn't like February. I'm trying to get really good seats for that game.

Looking at game time, he's going to freak out. If we can just get him to be close enough where Steph Curry can hear him, I think that would make his year. Are we going to get Steph Curry's shoes to replace him? the last pair of shoes he had. Yes, that would be great. That would be great. Chris, whenever you're looking forward to this football season,

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that hits your taste buds so hard, you'll feel it in your heart. And I would say this to R.C., my dog, R.C. Greg Williams is good friends with both of us. If Sean Payton's a thug... What is Greg Williams? Guilty by association. Was it, bone thugs in harmony down there?

Ladies and gentlemen, we got them. Ryan Clark, you're now under arrest. Yeah. Yeah. So I guess my point is like Sean Payton ego, the whole thing, but I'm just, I'm not going to get as excited about this. Okay, so we got mentions, and then we're going to get out of here. Best flight. What you guys got?

Green Baypackers, very quick. Oh, really quick. Just got to get over the lakes. I've got, um, I've got, um, I've got, the Browns. Short flight home. You get to spend New Year's Eve in the mistake by the lake, as some people call it. It's a great town. I think it's a great town. They got the rock and roll home. It really is. Shout out to my buddy Ezra. They got other things. He knows who he is. But yeah, best flight. I mean, it's got to be good. Rams had a good flight too. I mean,

just to escape that situation and know, hey, we're going. Depends on what the winds were. Yeah, it's true. Headwind. Worst flight, Florida State. well only technically only half the team was on that flight as danie cannell pointed out so half the guys didn't have to take that flight i work with dana cannell i like dandy me and dana have gotten into it before but walking through that entire rental house was just absurd dude i mean he started upstairs walked out down showed the big screen tv and then finished the video on top of a mountain it's a gorgeous house but it doesn't win you the So did you do a worse flight? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, worst flights can be Detroit. There could not be a worse flight than that flight home. Yeah, you're right. I mean, it's awful late at night. You're right. Dallas is further than you think. It's like way down there. Everyone hitting you up.

Detroit's further than you think. Everyone texting you saying you guys got jobs. Like, they showed it on the TV. You can see him reporting. People afraid to ask Dan if he wants peanuts. Like, you know, it's just, Just, Bevel Conway, the Rose Bowl, Michigan, Alabama. It's vitamin D overload.

It's the granddaddy of them all. And you know what? I just, I think it's the coolest setting for a football game in the world. It is, dude. They should do the Super Bowl there, but they don't have enough luxury boxes. They should build a shell around that stadium. Like they did the Soldier Field. No, but like temporarily for the Super Bowl.

Like, just put some big, like, elevators outside the stadiums. stadium where if you go into the luxury box, you just pop up there. And it's like, you know, construction scaffolding. Whatever you got to do, that fucking stadium should host a Super Bowl at some point. It never will. Bebel Conway for me was Thursday night football. The combination, when the browns look good, they look good, man. That orange and brown and the numerical. A little hokeyish. I mean, yeah, but I think the hokey's actually, the colors aren't as bad as people think. It's just the browns have superior unis. Yeah, the uny. And the jets. on that field, a grass field, it looked thick with two seas, that grass.

That fescue looked thick, but it didn't slow anybody down. People were playing offense out there. I'm going to go ahead and give you my anti-bevel Conway. It's David Tepper Tantrum. The David Tepper Tantrum was unbelievable. Kyle? Big Bs for Big Baby. You know, sometimes rich people aren't that bad.

I think sometimes rich people get a bad rap. because they actually are decent people. They just have a target on their back. And then some rich people like David Tepper just ruin it for all the rich people because they act like a caricature of a rich person. Like this is the most dismissive, disrespectful thing. And there was a Duval County resident

who really might have spared Mr. Tepper his life because there was a guy of Jags jersey right in front of the box. He almost climbed up in the box. There was a guy trying to climb up in the box. If I'm that guy, I sue. If I'm that guy, I sue. I sue.

I don't know what I'm suing for, but I sue. So much money. It's going to cost them so much. Did you see the owners? Oh, the drink? Just damages, bro. And the fact that he did it in front of people

on camera just tells you how how fucking entitled this guy is. I saw what happened. And when you, you saw it. I just named it. And he named it. And the thing is, it's a direct reflection of how your football team looks.

This guy doesn't know anything about football. And that's, and that's his message to fans. when Jimmy Johnson got up there Saturday night, he understood something. And I know that it's a lot different. David Tepper just lost the Jags and his team's a joke. But Jimmy Johnson got up there and he said, and thank you to all the fans that hated the Cowboys.

And you guys are what makes this thing go around. It was that moment of like, here's an olive branch, a winking a nod to people that might have hated me. This team still do. But this thing we put on out here is the best thing in sports. This league is like nothing else. And David Tepper needs to remember that when he treats fans that way, because the fans are what makes this game go around.

And, you know, I've gotten into it with fans before. Usually they had it coming or something. But generally, to treat fans like this is just embarrassing. Yeah. I mean, it's just embarrassing. And it's a direct reflection of who they are as an organization. And I have zero faith that if you're a coach and there's two options, Ben Johnson escaped the Titanic last year, not signing there.

as their head coach i'm not coaching there like yeah good luck you got to find somebody else so why that's on twitter like quickly what would make you mad enough to throw a drink on somebody oh plenty of things but it's not going to be my football team losing and hearing a chirp from the stands like you know just you can't take a chirp i mean i'd spill a drink on somebody that did something to me interpersonally but i mean not from us i mean everything from the vantage point to like Throwing the drink down it was like a metaphor for class. I got a quick anti-it- It was just it was fucked up at the bevel um carway so sugar bowl media day we have We have we have QB1 Quinn's sitting up at the podium

Yeah with absolutely no one around him and the entire media around the young manning boy who Realistically if the game goes the way it's supposed to he's not a even going to see the field. He's not even going to play. So, like, what are we, like, what are we doing? Like, for media, like, one of the biggest games of the, like, you're, like, what are we doing and what are we, like, what are we projecting for the future that, obviously, whatever's going to get clicks more is the more important thing. You're Mr. Marketing. Quinn, like, he's Mr. Marketing. I am. He loves marketing. I don't see the marketing, like, behind typing up the backup quarterback. I see it. Because his, guys make him.

more NIO money than I'm making sitting here doing this podcast. We're earning a hard living here and this guy's just sitting there at the fucking side table. I mean there's there's a buzz about the guy is all I'm saying. I get it but I don't get it. It's a junice qua. It's a juna sequa, Kyle. Doesn't look good. It doesn't look good. It looks more than anything it just looks like the day and age that we live in. Okay. I got Hollow Man. Father time going after Joe Flacko. He just hasn't caught him. He hasn't caught him. Yeah, fucking Joe. on you father time ain't happening you know i see a little gray in the beard but he's joe flacco's dad looks younger than joe flaco he's got good good jeans scary um so i'm gonna go

hollow man um tyrod taylor i mean i i feel bad for the guy i mean just his career arc he's pretty good like he he he's been a good option for teams and i like him as a guy but like down to the bad luck he had with the chargers and that in that needle and then you know Like earlier this season, one of the biggest spots for the Giants was against the bills at the goal line. And he makes that major snafu where he checks a play to a run, and they end up running out of time, I think. I forgot about that one. And then last night, yesterday, he has a chance to get that two-point conversion, whether you throw it or run it, like, just don't do that. And so to drive them down to possibly win that game at the end of the game, miss a field goal, I just feel bad for Tyraud Taylor, Hollow Man.

Solid dude, though. Good dude. Fly on the wall. Roger Goodell, as it pertains to the Lions Cowboys situation, when it was happening where it was he the next day, what's the correspondence with people around the league, you know, power players, the whales, so to speak, what are they saying?

Yeah, I think fly on the wall for me as a gambler, if I could get into any two rooms in the NFL this week, or if I could just get into any of the rooms and figure out who's playing who and how hard they're playing, because, you know, there's some edges to be had this weekend, and I'd love to know. We'll go to the next one's going to be St. Louis Memorial Award. I'm going to give it to Richie James.

Anybody know why out there? Because he's playing football for the Chiefs. He's getting opportunities. Well, he's playing football for the Chiefs, but there was a point in that game last night after Cincinnati scored in the second half. I love Pop quizzes. Where they just, they kind of squibbed the ball.

Like it just went short, and it took a really bad bounce. And Richie James, being able to fall on that thing, I think it's the difference between them winning that game and not winning that game. It was a huge play on special teams for them. to be able to come up with that ball, and Richie James deserve some credit.

He's also not named Cadarious Tony. Dude. Did they sit him? I haven't seen a lot of them. Look. I haven't seen him on my best. There's such a problem there. But I mean, it's got to be looking better.

So we've got to have Memorial Harrison Butker. Yep. No missed extra points on the season. One miss field goal. He was great six for six yesterday. They've been riding him heavy for the last five weeks. The defense plays well. Bucker gets field goals.

now we're doing best seat in the house Rams boarding the flight watching Pittsburgh beat Seattle Oh that's so beautiful Isn't it? Subsequently getting them a playoff spot I mean I could share that You know

For I mean What other teams probably had good seats in the house For watching their rooting interests The 49ers right Saturday night they're chilling They're like oh No they're walking up the field you see Debo Like someone's holding up a phone

And they're like yes Yeah, but just the fact that like Saturday night, you know, Detroit getting the loss, you know, if we take care of business against Washington, we're going to have mini-bought. Even better, it was New Year's Eve. You know, like, you have bottle of reservation, tables, and it's just like one of those things you're on the fence. If you lose, am I even going out? Worse seat in the house or fly on the wall. Another one would be the Eagles players trying to get their tables Saturday night or Sunday night after that game. Like, even going out in public, I know just by watching this team play that some of those guys win.

out in public. Oh. Yeah. I don't fault that. Like, I don't, I don't like that. I'm not going in public after that. But you have to, but you have to know what that entails and what that can come with in a city like Philadelphia, like hearing the DJ being the mic and be like, it was a, it was a good day, but the damn Eagles loss or the potential of even that little bit. I'm not going to be out there for that. Yeah. And so, yeah, I just kind of wonder how that went. Game ball. Rupon Smith in the Ravens second half defense. And I'll give it to Lamar Jackson.

I mean, you know, I don't want to overthink this. Lamar Jackson is everything right with our sport. I said, you know what's fun for me explaining to my kids, like, who they should watch and why. And like, I can remember a couple weeks ago watching the Eagles game, it just kind of came out. I wasn't thinking about it. But Devante Smith made a big catcher. He did something smart. And I was like, Waylon, that's the guy.

I was like, you want to watch a guy do everything. right, be a great teammate, say the right things like this guy, Devante Smith, is awesome. And I love being able to watch TV as a dad and look at positive examples and point to him. And Lamar is the guy yesterday that I was like, Whalen, you're not just looking at the MVP. You're looking at maybe one of the best teammates in the league. You're looking at a guy that after the game says all the right things. He's focused on winning. And when his teammates are around him, you can tell they're having fun and they love playing

with him. And I think that's just as important as how good he is on the field is like We were gifted this talent and he could have been an asshole He could have been all types of people You know we've seen some elite players over the years act certain ways But we are so lucky to have Lamar Jackson on the field But also the guy he is so I just wanted to give him his flowers as a as a football player and as a dude Got a game ball? He gave it

You got a game ball I'm gonna give it to Mike Tomlin. Nice. 17 years straight, over 500 record. Yeah. So Steelers don't die. Mike Tomlin, all the...

Who said the middle class is gone? All the outside, well, like we said earlier, all the outside noise happening, and that team seeming like it's imploding, like, it takes a coach like this to string things together and to see them keep winning at the end of the year. Here's the deal. We gave George Pickens some shit the week before they played the Bengals, right? Everyone did. Everybody did.

And he went out and played his ass off. Last week, I employed a certain strategy because I wanted them to hit the wind total. I started saying things about George Pickens on the pod. I said, he got a long-ass neck, bro. George is a weird name. You know, like how many wide receivers name George? So this week, I'm actually not going to say anything because I want the bills in the playoffs. Oh, I see.

So I'm just going to butter them up. man, the Steelers, George Pickens, you're a Hall of Famer if you keep this up. That's the old Belichick trick, right? You talk good about the people. You big up your enemies. Yeah. So they take their guard there. I want to see the bills in the playoffs.

I mean, I'd love to see the Steelers in if they could both win great. But, yeah. Let's hear your viral moment of the week, and then we'll wrap it up. My viral moment of the week, this week is going to Kyron Williams' mother, who is seen. the game when Kyra Williams is obviously trying to hand the ball to her in the stands and a fan, a Giants fan takes the ball and the way she goes after this ball and has a textbook strip from this man.

Wow. Absolutely great. Shut up. Yes. This guy suck. Look, and then that's the second thing about this viral clip is just as fans, like when does it stop and like you can clearly see that this. This is his mother.

This is Black Friday behavior. Bro, yes. It's just like mindless consumerism. But it's just like, are you even that big of a fan? Like what you just want an NFL ball? Like you're clearly a giant man. He's the guy outside the hotel with the Sharpie. Oh, but yeah.

Like, and I'm a collector and I'm a guy and it's just, even if you're that, it's just like, bro, that's someone's mom. And when does this stop? Like when does he stop? And maybe he didn't know that at the time. But even if it's a female, bro. I know. Why are you wrestling? over a ball.

That's clearly not going to you. It's clearly not going to you. And it's something that we've seen on both ends this year become an issue or a meme or, hey, that player last week, it looked like they tried to make it seem like he's snatching the ball from a little kid when he's barely trying to snatch the ball from a guy like this who was trying to be kind of, I don't even know what you call that. But it just needs to stop. I'm happy that the mom end up getting the ball.

And also, if you're zombie mode. If you watch it, If you watch it, Kiron Williams' dad, like it's one of those things where he probably knows his wife. He didn't even budge in the situation. He's in the chair,

just sitting here with it. She's going to get it. He's not punched that motherfucker. I'm glad that she got the ball, but I just thought the way she snatched it from him was, by the way, Kiron Williams really want to get you on the show. I didn't know you were from St. Louis.

We've got to get all the St. Louis guys on the show that are making noise in the NFL. Laporta. Love to have Karen Williams. Cameron Williams is a lot of fun. What about Sexy Red? Sexy Reds from...

We can get Sexy Red on. I don't really know anything about sexy Red other than that, like, I saw her name a lot over the past year. All right, well, with that... I would just like to be the first two offer condolences to Bo for not being allowed to go on the... Hollow Man. Any other sporting event, because the Badger just lost.

Hollow Man. Bo. Oh, for two in the last two days. He went to the Badgers game tonight? He went to the Badger's... No. No. I always to score that Badger's...

35. Tune into FACC in the King. He might not even show up tomorrow. No, because he was the coin toss guy at the Eagles game. And then, I mean, it's just like, no Allen, hollow man. Subscribe. Yeah. Tell your friends.

Tell your friends. Bring your friends. Bring your friends. Guys, have a very happy new year. We will be back later in the week. Just something to note, Stanford C is moving to Fridays because it's not as much college football. I might drop a pod Wednesday solo. I got my new home studio up and running.

That place is great. We were watching. ISO, ISO. Yeah. So check that out. You're about to run an ISO. I'm going to run an ISO. Cheers.

Yeah, ISO. Everybody clear out. It's just going to me in the chair. I like that. I don't know if you guys like it when it's just me in the chair, but I kind of like it. No offense to anybody else. I can start when I want. I can start on Tuesday night.

So we'll see on Wednesday. I'll probably drop something and that's how it's going to go the rest of the season. Steve on Friday. All right, take care. Have a happy, two thousand. Peace. Peace.