KSR - NFL Cover Zero: Coaching Changes and Wild Card Weekend!

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

Matt Jones and Drew Franklin note the coaching changes that have already happened after the regular season came to a close.  What are the best jobs now available?  Matt explains which moves he thinks were warranted and which look like a mistake.  Drew reveals what he would like to see the Titans do moving forward. Is one team a clear favorite for any head coach looking for a job? Matt gives his thoughts on Nick Sirianni resting the Eagles starters in Week 18.  The Seahawks are the favorite to win the Super Bowl.  Should there be a rule change against teams with losing records in the playoffs?   Looking back on the statistical leaders from the 2025 season, who is your MVP?  The Jets became the first team to end the season without an interception.  Looking at the playoff games, Matt and Drew make their picks for the six games along with a TD scorer.  Matt notes one game that he could see a blowout result happen for either team!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin is a production of the NFL and IHeart podcast. It is cover zero and in his playoff time, it's the wild card round six games of excitement. It is also what do you call the Tuesday after Black Monday, the melancholy violent Tuesday. Drew is on vacation but was gracious. enough to leave his millionaire beach house to join us. Andrew, good to see you.

You as well. You all will be proud. My first day on the bench or beach, I pretty much just scrolled through anytime touchdown scores and NFL news. So I'm ready to go. That's exactly what your wife was hoping to fly that when you went down there. She was wanting to make sure to get her picks in. So I guess what we'll do is we'll go three parts.

We'll start with the coaches. that got fired, then sort of the news and notes, and then the playoffs. So, Billy, I like that, by the way, you're doing the all-black Johnny Cash PGA look today. Double logo today, hat and on the jacket. So we're repping the brand. But why black? It's not a common golf color. It goes with the most stuff.

So when you have a limited number of jackets, you can wear it all the time. Okay. Gotcha. But it does go with everything. It's also slimming, so that's good. Yes. Yeah. All right.

By the way, you with the goatee and everything, you kind of look evil. And I'm kind of liking evil Billy here. All right. So I'm saying that for the first time, actually. What in the hell is on your face? I didn't see you all this week these last two days. So you don't like it. You don't want me to keep the goatee?

Well, no, it's evil, though. Like, are you trying to be evil, Billy? Well, it's the playoff run. and, you know, as an employee of the NFL, I'm going to keep it growing until, you know, Super Bowl Sunday, right? Okay, so can we analyze your goatee for just a second, like really pick it apart? Go ahead, yeah, sure.

Very thick chin and a thick mustache, but I think you're struggling on the line between the two. It looks like maybe not as much hair there. One side seems to have very little hair at all. What's happening there? We're just growing at God's pace, Matt. I mean, there's really no, you know, serum being used or tactics involved.

We're just, we're here living. All right. Drew, what do you think about that? It's sort of, I don't want to say what I think it looks like, because I think it's, that would get us banned. But it's an interesting, it's an interesting, right? What do you think? You're a facial hair connoisseur.

Yeah, well, I actually logged on 15 minutes early because Billy and I had to record something else. And I've been sitting here small talking with him, but where the mic is positioned, I couldn't see it. So thank you for calling that. out. I'm 15, 20 minutes of looking at him and did not see that little fuzz on his chin. But you're right, it's like a, it's like a

villain. It's like we got the evil villain over there. You really do. You look like you could be the villain in a cartoon. I was thinking Austin Powers movie or something, but you know what? It's fine. Yeah, it looks like you're, I don't know, going to get droopy dog and

find a way to take away his treasure. Well, I like it. This is the all black PGA look. The goatee, it looks like you're trying to plot something evil, so it's perfect for the day after all the coaches get fired. So let's go ahead and let's go through them here. Yeah, so there have been four coaches fired since the last game of the regular season, including Atlanta Falcons, Rahim Morris. All right, let's go one by one.

Let's start with Rahim because he was the first one to go. One of the things I want to do here is say, like, how eager would you be for these openings? Rahim Morris, and there are a couple jobs that are open anyway because of other situations. Rahim Morris, 50-50 chance I thought he still was in Tampa Bay. Like, I go back and forth. Rahim Morris is someone that you could have any given point told me which team he was coaching and I would just guess someone in the NFC South. I kind of don't think Atlanta is the most exciting job to have in the world.

I don't think you know who your quarterback necessarily is going to be. How will you best remember the Rahim Morris era? For one, you're right. I thought like he was a hot name in coaching searches for several years while he was in Tampa. Gets his chance. You know, they fired the GM too. I think the GM did him wrong with that Michael Pinnock's pick where you just paid Kirk Cousins all that money and then go waste your first draft pick on a quarterback

when you could have got a lot of other pieces. Maybe Pinnix is good long term, but I think that situation alone set him up for failure to begin with. I think that was tough. And then, and then Kirk Cousins wasn't very good. So I think that hurt them, hurt them as well. Now, with that said, they tied for first in the, in the AFC or NFC South. So, you know, if they've just gotten one or two good breaks, I think they might have actually still, you know, it was a tie for the division champion. Can you name the last Atlanta coach that you think was good?

Dan Quinn. And I used good loosely there. He was fine. Yeah, okay. I guess that's okay. He was the coach for the Super Bowl, right? Yeah, he was the 24-3 coach.

I feel like didn't Dan Reeves coach there too after Denver? Yes. And then I think what? Jerry Glanville was the coach at one point back in the day. But I still think it's a franchise that, I don't know, if you were to do the best coach

in the history of beach franchise. I think Atlanta's is going to come close to the bottom in terms of the most historic coach. I think of their owner, Arthur Blake, with the Brmeagrave Red of Nights suits. But he's got the Billy kind of villain thing going on too. He kind of looks like a cartoon villain. So I think of him more than their coaches, actually.

He always ends up on the field at the end in very, he dresses like he owns a funeral home. I've always thought that about him. And I, you know, I think he's, I think he seems like a nice enough guy. Well, to me, it would be a job if I had my choice of all the jobs. It might be the one that I would be the least interested in. What do you think? Yeah, I have some favorites in the mix that we'll get to.

But as I run through him in my head, yeah, I don't know if it's saying you're in a division that's not usually very good. Well, you're in a winnable division. That's a positive. That could get the – you could get the playoffs right away. You could be very good. And B. John Robinson is obviously a positive guy to have on your team. So I think it's not one of the four that just got fired, but there's six openings. I would say have the six openings, my team that's been headed opening for a while,

maybe the last of all those. Well, that's true. But you might think you have your quarterback, depending on what you think of Cam Ward. All right. What's the next one? Kevin Stefansky let go by the Browns, two-time coach of the year, 45, and 15. in his six seasons. I understand why they did this,

but I'm not sure that I think it's a great decision to let him go because I think he's a really good coach. It wouldn't shot me if he gets one of these other job openings, to be quite frank with you. I guess the reasoning is that you say, well, we're going to restart because I don't think they're choosing Chador. Now, he was very quick to leak out within minutes

that he didn't want Deshaun. Fawkes. Like that, or Deshawn Watson, excuse me, that came out within seconds of him being let go.

I think that was intentional. I actually think Stefanski's a very good coach. So I, I don't know that I think,

Drew, this is a good decision. Yeah, it took over right around COVID, got him the playoffs, has a coach in your trophy

in his case. I'd say his phone will ring very quickly and he might even be coaching one of these other teams we're talking

about. Yeah, I think you will. I mean, if you're Atlanta or one of these other teams, I think you would look at him.

The Browns can't get out of their own way. Do you believe his leak that he had no interest in Deshaun Watson? I think so. Just the fact that because if I were there, I would want everyone to know that I didn't want to be a part of that or what anything to do with that either. So I would say the hurrying us would get it out there. I did like the owner who said in the press conference,

one thing the Browns have always stood for is getting high character guys. I like that answer. You know, I mean, you might as well. I mean, it's 2026. Just say anything, right? Like, you can just say whatever. And people go, oh, of course, they like high character guys in Cleveland. Why wouldn't they? Or maybe the lowest character and had worse trade in history, whatever you want to call it. But when you're not winning, I guess you've got to try to point to something or make it up at least. Well, what's the next one, Billy?

The Arizona Cardinals have moved on from Jonathan Gannon after three seasons. He went 15 and 36 and never figured out Kyler Murray during that time either. I kind of knew this was going to end as soon as I saw his welcome to the team video. I don't know if you remember when they initially showed him talking to the team, he was like, okay, guys, we're going to be playing football here, and it's going to be swell. And I thought, yeah, this isn't going to work. I just, I knew immediately. Like, I didn't need to see one other thing. Another team where Jerry Glanville is coached, another team that runs.

really doesn't have an iconic head coach. I knew within seconds that the Jonathan Gannon thing wouldn't work. And three years later, that's where we are. Hey, managed to make it three years for a franchise that doesn't have much of a winning tradition and a quarterback that's been pretty inconsistent that had high hopes. With the Browns, maybe we can include the Falcons, but certainly the Browns, these are just a couple places that don't have much culture or anything to point to right now. And sure, Gannon probably need to go more than the Browns coach, but it just feels like these places are doing when you get hired. All four of these jobs where they fired their guy Monday

have been four franchises that pretty much have been horrible for the last decade. I mean, all four of them. And I guess there's a part of it where you just, you know, I guess you're just playing musical chairs with the coaches. But it is kind of, I mean, I guess, okay, by Jonathan Gannon. who's next? Who's going to be the next one that's going to have the job for three years?

I guess there must just be a culture of when you're in that much heat. You're just not going to do well because Arizona is a pretty also dead end job. It is. I'll just go, I guess, Gannon was a defensive coordinator with Eagles. They'll just go, whoever wins the Super Bowl this year,

they'll probably go out and get one of their coordinators, repeat the cycle, and in season three. I hope he gives a better intro speech, though. The Gannon speech, if you want to ever look for, when you're starting a new job where you're in charge and you want to know what not to do, go look for his intro video. I think he said something like, so who took the bus here? And like, no one had taken the bus.

They're like, we are multi-millionaires. We do not take the bus to the facility. I think it was downhill from there. And then I guess what's last, Billy? Pete Carroll, 74 years old, one and done with Las Vegas. Embarrassing for him, unfortunately. I mean, a great career. USC national championships, wins the Super Bowl in Seattle.

Like a lot of old people lost his fortune in Las Vegas when he tried to go one more round. It's a shame. I like Pete Carroll. Now, they did get one last win so he could go out on top at 3 and 14. But I actually thought this had a chance to work. I mean, I didn't think they'd win a Super Bowl, but I thought he actually had a chance to be okay, but they were never really competitive.

They did, however, win the first game of the season and the last game of the season. And, you know, I've always said it's the most important thing is your first day and your last day. And Pete Carroll did both those with. That's true. Good for Pete. With their win on the back end, though, it almost messed them up with their pick. They had to be bailed out by the Giants getting win there too. Pete, this is one of those, though.

Everybody's just going to, you said it. You should have just stay retired, man. You had a great career. You're 74. If you want to go to Vegas, just hit the slot machine with the other 74-year-olds over and over for hours at a time. It's hard to be old, though, because, like, when you're old, you still think you can do it, and you still want to, you know, you still want it to work out. You know, you don't want to accept being old. I mean, I, for those of you that watch this, I wear these readers.

And for some reason, every time I put them on, a little piece of my soul dies. So I really try to strain and say, you know what, I can still read this. phone. Like, I don't need these. And I think that's how Pete was. He was like, I can still coach. I don't have to just go sit at home. But now he's going to sit at home and he won't get another job. Sad, though, because I like Pete Carroll. Seems like a fun guy. I like Pete, too. I'll remember for the Seahawks year. Hopefully this will be forgotten. And you're right. He wanted to prove he was young and he said, all right, give me the map. I'm going to Vegas. And I'm going to show him. I still got it. I'm taking Gino with me. And then next thing you know, can you know, can you know. Or Gino. And that's another one. Well, they're going to get the number one pick.

I'm sure to be talking about that. We'll see if baby-faced, nerdy Fernando Mendoza, how that's going to work in Las Vegas. I feel like it's going to be like when, is it road trip when the guy ends up at the party with all the women around him? I wonder if that's what'll be Mendoza when he gets out on the strip for the first time. Great road trip reference. That was the first DVD I ever owned. I have the whole movie memorized. That was DJ Qualls, I believe.

DJ Qualls, yeah. I like DJ Qualls. What's he do now? I don't know. He had a bit of new life when Reed Shepard got drafted by Houston on the internet. He got memed a lot. But other than that, I haven't heard much from him. DJ Qualls, you know, he's always going to have one type of role.

I don't think he was ever going to be a leading man. So he kind of needed, there's a kind of role that you're just like, this is where we get DJ Qualls. And I don't know if they've had one of those in a while. But Road Trip's a good movie. Although people forget, didn't, Didn't Tom Green like put a rat in his mouth or something during that movie? And he sings about tiny salmon swim in that impossible dream.

I really can't do the whole movie. Well, that'll be a good summer podcast. And then the two jobs that were already open were the Giants and the Titans. Let's go with the Giants first. I heard Joe Shane, who is my favorite GM just because he was on the one season of Hard Knocks where they proved that GMs don't know what they're doing. and they kept him, surprisingly. And I heard an interview where he was talking about what he was going to do for his coach,

like what kind of coach he was going to look for. And he said something to the effect of we have a lot of time, we're going to study, we're going to look at the collegiate ranks. And then he said, and we're going to use AI extensively. Oh. To do what? I mean, I'm not, like, I'm not an expert in AI, but what is AI going to do to help you pick a coach?

Is he just going to put in their resumes and be like AI, which of these resumes is better? We talked about AI just a few days ago on here about how it's still messing up who could win the Super Bowl, whatever you said, the Monarchs. What could he even say? I don't even know. I honestly don't know what role AI could conceivably have in picking a coach. It would have to do his job, like give me 50 questions to ask my job. job candidate.

It was literally to like do that for him. I mean, Billy, you're a nerd. What do you think it would do? Organization, maybe. I don't know.

Like what? There's not, I mean, there's, how many people's the interview it? It feels like there's a limited amount. Maybe a little like,

remember the five candidates? I made a little pros, cons. Maybe that's how he gets his candidates. Oh, you're, oh, you think AI, who should I hire his coach?

And then he's like, AI, scan all of football, All pro-rangeeati, Kevin Stefansky and DJ Qualls. Those would be the three we'd get. Nick Saban. They're interviewing Nick Saban. Yeah. Well, I didn't have a lot of confidence after I heard it

because it felt like somebody had just told him what AI was and he threw it in. That's your team. What are you looking for in your new coach? I'll go ahead and tell you, I don't like the names they're throwing around. Somebody randomly on the street the other day is like, you're excited about Mike McCarthy? And I was like, don't. No, they're not going to hire. Twitter. Well, no, but he was asking me. His names were thrown out. But the way it was presented to me, I was like checking my phone. Like, oh, no, what did I miss on Twitter? I don't know. I just, that's what I've said many times when we talk about anything with the team. I expect the worst. At least what I've seen floated around, a lot of recycled names like Mike McCarthy, which sounds about like something we would do.

You know, it's a really good spot for Rahim Morris. And then I can still think, like I feel like it's already another Southern Division team. I can see Raheem Morris. there. Yeah, they're going to do the way. I would like a name I haven't watched lose on Sunday before. Maybe take the Cardinals route and just grab me a coordinator out of the Super Bowl this year. But I don't want a veteran name that I've watched not make the playoffs over and over somewhere else.

So not Matt Nagy. Well, okay. No, he's another one. That's the number one. Matt Nagy, as a bear's fan, you do not want Matt Nagy. Do not get Mac Nagy. His name comes up a lot. Yeah.

Stay away from that. I'm just going to go ahead and tell you, that's, that's, that's, that's a, that's, that's fool's goal. I did hear Rich Eyes, I was listening to Rich Eyes in show today, which I never do, but Kurt Signetti, he was very adamant that Kurt Signetti should be hired by one of these teams, specifically

the Giants. Do you think Kurt Signetti would be a good choice for the NFL, and do you think there's any chance he would take it? There wins everywhere, so I'm going to be careful, doubting him. I know, but when you do Google him,

he seems to go to places that have never one off the grid colleges and then turn them into winners even at the highest level with Indiana. So putting them in a pro system with millionaires and these big, yeah, probably not. Players are millionaires now too. That's true. That's very true. Just the way he coaches too, you know, every time they show him on the sideline, he looks like he's ready to ring someone's neck. And I don't know what he's saying, you know, in the locker room, but I don't know how that would translate to the NFL. But you're right. They're making close to about the same amount of money in Bloomington right now. But you can do worse, right? Oh, oh, definitely. I would be happy with

him if he wanted to go to Nashville. It seems very improbable. But I think he's just a true college coach. Which of the jobs is the best job? Like, if you're going to rank the six, well, here, I'll give you mine and then you tell me if you agree. If I'm ranking the six in terms of how good the jobs are, I would say the Giants are kind of a definitive number one. You've got a quarterback. You're obviously in New York. And I think pretty much everything you would want is there. I would say number two, it's kind of all in the eye of the balder in some ways. I think I would want the flexibility of picking my own quarterback.

So I would probably take the Raiders second because I'm going to get the number one choice and I'm going to get whatever quarterback I would like in the system. I would probably say number three for a similar reason would be Arizona, that I get to pick my quarterback. Then I would probably say, oh, I mean what? I'm looking at Titans, Falcons, and Browns. I'm probably going to go Titans 4, Browns 5, Falcon 6. That's probably the way I'm looking at it. What about you?

I agree with you completely on the Giants. They're like a runaway number one for me. You already got Scataboo and Dart bringing some juices, rookies. Our guy Wondell's looking good. They've got the tradition. One of the NFL's first teams, I mean, everybody knows the G-Men. So I'm going there and taking Dart and seeing what I can do with that team. Aline, joining you Vegas next.

Part of that's more just me wanting to be in Vegas, but, you know, the number one pick, likely to be. But you get the number one pick. And like, if you're a new coach, you get to get your course. quarterback. Nobody gets in your way, right? Like, you're going to get, and I mean, whatever people think of the choices, you get to pick. You also get to decide if you don't want any of these guys, and you get like a free year to kind of roam around until next year. So, I mean, I think that one's probably the best of the others. And then I'm going, I think at Lattah third. Okay. They came the GM, so I'm coming in with a new GM, hopefully we get along. We're

starting this together. I give a healthy pinnics one year. Probably not the long-term answer I want, but I give them a chance. And everybody knows that that wasn't my quarterback in my first year. And if it stinks the following year, I'm assuming I'm not fired it for one year. So you're not taking Cam Ward. Like, I thought you would take the time. I love them.

That organization is embarrassing. Okay. So what did they do? I love Cam Ward. Yes, by far last. Like a gap. I can't fit in the screen. And I love Cam Ward.

It's just the moment, someone, look around the league right now. Kevin Byard is a Titans legend picking off passes for your bears. We think about Henry and A.J. Brown and Vable. There are Titans everywhere making big plays right now for good teams, and they let them all walk out the door. So I just have no faith in that organization. That's a bad sign if you're a Titans fan.

Well, all right. So those are the six jobs. There might still be one or two more. Billy, what other news and or notes do we have? We'll start with Nick Siriani. He's defending his decision to rest the starters in the final week of the regular season. He said he knew this was an outcome that these things could happen. One thing he could guarantee was giving them rest.

I couldn't guarantee them anything else, but being healthy and going into the playoffs is a big deal for us. Are you buying that explanation? Well, I mean, I'm buying that that's what he thought. I disagree with him. I mean, I think playing the Packers would be a lot easier than playing the 49ers. now maybe he thinks because the 49ers are banged up, maybe he thinks there are a better matchup for the team. I'll say this.

If Siriani thinks the 49ers are an easier opponent than the Packers, then it'll play itself out and we'll see, and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. If he genuinely doesn't think it matters who they play, though, and rest is more important, I just would disagree with that. I think that's an incorrect point. If he believes it, but if he would represent, play in 49ers than that's fine, but I just don't believe that that rest is worth getting

a harder opponent, do you? Not at all. He better win. That's a good team coming to Philly. I know you're at home. That place will be rocking, but it'll be a bad look if they drop that game with this on the back end. It can have nothing to do with it. You know, the guys that set could play great. You just lose on a fluke, whatever. But fans will still be livid if they don't win that game after sitting all their stars in Week 18. So, I mean, the Bears lose. And, you know, the Bears are, I think if the Bears were playing the 49ers, obviously, we saw the end of that game two weeks ago and they lost.

So, I mean, the Bears, if you ask them for the game, they'd probably say, yes, I want to play the Packers. How about this? The Bears have never beaten the Packers in the playoffs. Oh, and 2. It's kind of crazy. how long these franchises have been around and they've only played in the playoffs twice?

Isn't that kind of an amazing statistic? It is. And I hate, it's another way that the Packers have had your number for so long. With the win streak and then never getting them in the playoffs. We've got to get you over the hump. We'll get to that game. We'll pick it here in a little bit. But I disagree with Siriani on that.

But that's another dude, though, to be fair, I thought his opening press conference was the most psychotic rame. I thought it was pretty. And then he ended up winning the Super Bowl. So maybe sometimes you can have a bad intro and be okay. What's next? The Seattle Seahawks are the favorite to win the Super Bowl at plus 330 on Draft Kings. But I found a trend you guys might find interesting.

Every time. Hang on, it's down to plus 330? Yes. Plus 330. Plus 350 Sunday night. So I wonder what's happened in the last two days to make people think that that's, seems crazy low to me for for a playoffs that I think 11 teams can win the Super Bowl. The only get plus 330 is nuts, but go ahead.

I was going to say there's an interesting trend with the Seahawks. Every year a Pope is elected. The Seahawks make the Super Bowl in 2005. A Pope was elected. Seattle won 13 games and played the Steelers in the in the Super Bowl. Well, there were popes before 2005. You know that, right? Yes, but the last three popes to be elected, the Seahawks have been in the Super Bowl when they do.

2013, Seattle beats Denver after winning 13 games and Pope Francis is elected. And then now 2025, Pope Leo. So that's, wait a minute. It's not the last three. It's the last two. 2005, 2013 and 2025. But they haven't made Super Bowl yet. This could be the third time.

Okay. So there's a difference between, though, and it's not the third. Could be the third. Could be the third this year. But Seattle did win 13 games already this year. I think of the Super Bowl, then I'm going to say that's a genuine Pope connection. But I, yeah, I don't know if they're going to. I'm very surprised by that number of how good their odds are.

Do you think they are even the best team in the playoffs? I do not. I won't spoil my picks, but I will tell you I am fading the Pope if the Pope has Seattle as a Super Bowl. I'm out of the Pope. Get him out of here. He's the table leader. Does not no ball, though. He can go lead papal somewhere in the Vatican,

does no ball. And also, don't you think the whole Pope, like the whole way we pick popes is amazing. First of all, I love that movie. What was it called? Codcliffe. That was a good movie. That was a great movie.

Did you see that movie, Billy? No, I didn't. You should. If you told me there's going to be a movie about people picking popes, I would have thought, eh, I don't know if that's the movie I want to see. But I thought it was really well done. It had intrigue behind the scenes, Pope conniving.

I liked it. And then it's also highlights, though, like everybody just gets in a room and you don't know who's going to come out. And I feel like the America embraced the trying to figure out who the Pope would be more this time than they've ever done before. And we got rewarded with an American Pope. It's just a reality show. That's all it is.

It's Survivor, Big Brother. But you don't know any of the candidates. Just someone emerges. Let's be honest, unless you're really Catholic and into it. Whoever, elect whoever, I'm with you. I'm watching it for the backstabbing and the drama. Put this thing on TV on Wednesday nights at 9 o'clock live. Maybe vote one out every week.

It'll fit right in our TV lineup that we love right now. But who's got more Pope connection? Is it the Seahawks with the stat? Or he's a band. fan. Oh, Billy. He's a Bears fan. He likes the Bears.

I mean, we've never had a Pope be this bear-tastic. So, I mean, maybe that's who went. Yeah, didn't we talk about if God was helping kickers make kicks the other night? You know, is God a Bears fan this year with the Pope? Maybe. God's always been a Bears fan. He just was asleep when we had Jay Culler. He was, you know, God wasn't paying.

total attention. By the way, about giving us toughest battles. I think that's... We were talking about kickers. How did you think Loopty-Loo handled the post-game? He did a post-game press conference, and he like took responsibility. I thought he actually handled it really well. I agree. And just as I'm selling stock in the Pope right now, I'm buying stock in Loop-D-Loop. That'll be the worst moment of his career by far. He's a rock bomb right now, straight up from here, So they're going to keep him, right? You don't think he had an incredible season. He really did.

So, yeah, definitely keeping him. I'll even say he won't match Justin Tucker, but it'll be like Tucker never even left. They'll just have an automatic three there on the roster for the next decade. It's interesting. I did like the video of Harbaal walking out with him. He had his arm around his waist. It was like an awkward middle school dance. but he was trying to be comforting.

You know, I mentioned I feel bad for kickers. So I'm glad to see Luke D. Lou, though, he stood up. He did his thing. And now I'm going to be pulling for him. It's going to be tough because next year, the pressure on any game-winning kick, and chances are he'll have one at some point during the season, it will be pretty immense, don't you think? Oh, it'll be automatic, though.

He'll be feeling last Sunday for several years. but he'll be automatic. I also, Lamar, I don't know if you saw the clips in Mar's reaction, he starts walking like they're going to the playoffs. And Lamar, I mean, you see the second he realizes it. But he was,

but he was, the point bringing that up is he was very gracious, went straight to the, to the Steelers, and even Lamar put on a professional kind of hardball with everybody around him in that scene, because you know. But did he say something nice to loopty loop?

I don't know anything specific to loop-de-loop, but Lamar also handed it very well, because you know that just absolutely gutted him and everyone on that roster. and they had a camera on him, and he handled it as well as you could, too. Yeah, well, feel bad for him. What's next, Billy? The Carolina Panthers won a division title for the first time since 2015,

but they are the fifth team ever to make the playoffs with a losing record. They are eight and nine. They're the first team to do it since the 2022 Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Tom Brady. I want to ask you guys, do you think we should change that division winners get home field advantage? Yes, I do. I think aren't those eight, nine teams, though? Like, they're like three and one or something in the first round, I think. I think the eight and nine teams have won.

Yes, I will take the controversial viewpoint. I don't know why we have division winners in at all. Like, why not just take the seven best teams? I don't really, I mean, in college football, there's an argument about using divisions because maybe there might be differences in resources or whatever. But in football, it's a salary cap. Everybody's the same. I kind of think the way the NBA does it is the way to do it.

Like, divide it into two. You play every team in that one. Maybe you play them twice. Maybe play them once. I mean, you can decide when you do the schedule thing or whatever. But then you can have a division winner, but it's kind of meaningless. Like, that's how it is in the NBA. Whoever wins the – nobody even knows who wins the divisions.

You just take the best teams in there in the playoffs. That's what I would do, at least. What about you? As a fan of team, it's not very good. My only hope is when our team wins the division. I guess we had a good run a few years ago. Maybe even Billy's division. It's just getting those teams in, reward them for winning their division.

I know the divisions. There's a big, big gap in how good they are right now. We got some really bad ones and some really good ones as this playoff bracket shows, where you got the Rams and 49ers barely getting in his wildcards or 60s as wildcards. So even though it's a little wonky this year, I think overall it's good to reward the champion with a home field advantage. Yeah, I'm definitely against the home field advantage. I mean, I think you pair them up and then you say, well, look, if you don't,

I think the five C, probably this Panthers game should be in L.A. That's the way I kind of feel. Like, I'm fine with the Panthers getting the 4C, but I think the home field should be decided. Or you just get the teams in. I don't want to say you seed them like in college sports, but you get them in and then you just do the record. But I don't think it's going to change. And that's the way, you know, for whatever reason they care about these division games. And that's what it'll be.

Let's take a look at the stat leaders after the regular season is now over. No, let's do that. Let's do that together. The passing title went to Matthew Stafford, who had 4,707 yards and is the favorite for the MVP. The rushing title went to James Cook, who had 1,621 yards. Before you move from that, who would you vote for for MVP, Drew? I'm giving it to me. I'm giving it to Stafford because of that because he won the passing title and both teams were similarly good even though the Patriots had any better record than an easier schedule.

Who would you give it to, Billy? Stafford. Okay. So Stafford wins. All right. What's next? I was Stafford all year. If he had won his division and they were the one seat, I'd give it to him.

Some of the other leaders was James Cook at over 1,600 yards for the rushing title. Jackson Smith and jig. touching title. I didn't realize that. Okay. Go ahead. Jackson Smithigiegbud didn't get to 2000, but had 1,793 to lead all receivers this year. And finally, in kick return yards, Ray Davis had the highest average over 30.4 yards every return. You did that. Just threw a Kentucky stand in there, right? I'm surprised about James Cook. If you had asked me to guess, I'm not sure I would have guessed James Cook. Because everybody always says, well, Josh Allen has no help. Clearly he does. He's got the number one rusher in the NFL. Cook surprised me too.

There's been some good, maybe just being healthy this year game, a little bit of bops and guys missed a few games. But yeah, that one of all, you listen surprised me. Our boy, Ray Davis, most of that, I don't have the numbers in front of me. I feel like the back end of the year, either they went to him more, or he was just about won a game. If he wasn't taken to the house, he was getting him a run to set him up for a score. So well learned, and it felt like that started when we were in Buffalo, because he had a big return in that one while we were there. Yeah, he killed it.

Yeah, man, I mean, no one ever talks about James Cook. I mean, literally the story is Josh Allen has no help. He's got the number one running game in the NFL. What do you mean? That's no help. Those people, and of course I'm not naming names because I can't think of who said it, but all of them should shut up. I would have lost a lot of money on that.

I would have gone Henry or Jonathan Taylor and bet the house against the field with those two. Beat Henry by 26 yards. And, you know, okay. See, I would have thought. By the way, I just got a news alert. So I have it programmed where the only news alerts I'm supposed to get are high priority national or international or national news. So the goal is only to get an occasional news alert. So that if I see a news alert pop up, I know this is something that needs my time.

Can I just tell you what just popped up? Yes. Colt Kempan and Keith Urban finalized their divorce. Oh, damn. Why would they think that's high priority? Are they looking at your... I don't think it's high priority if you're... If you're their children, I don't know them.

That is not high priority. If that's high priority, you would just be getting alerts every second for every piece of news all day long. That should not even be top 100. Did you open the leak? Did you open the link? No. Okay, so that's all I need to know. First of all I didn't need to know that.

But now that I know it, there's nothing, there's not one other piece of information from that that I care about. Nicole Kidman, did you see the show where she's like, I've seen two shows with her recently. She's like a guru in one of them, like a life coach. And they take them all to this well. Eldness Retreat. Have you seen that? Yeah, I'm trying to think of the name of it, but I watched it. It's called like, I don't know, something.

I only got a couple episodes in that. And then there's one where she like goes, it's with Borat. It's on Apple TV, and it's like she once had an affair with a younger guy and then he died. And like, then the dad thinks that he killed her. Like, did you ever see that one? I knew there was something with like a young affair kind of thing. I didn't know Borat was in it. I feel like she and what's the other woman that I think are the same person?

Julianne Moore, is that a person? A little strawberry blonde, reddish hair? Yeah, are they the same person? They're not. I would guess similar in age. They do. Because Julianne Moore had a show, right, where she was married to Kevin Bacon and then a girl moved in to be like her

protege and then her sister, which was the girl from White Lotus, came in to save her. I don't think I caught that one. I was still probably caught up in the fucking... How do I see all these shows? I've seen every one of those shows. I just, first of all I can't remember any of the names of any of the...

Sirens. It's called Sirens. I don't have you on that one. I don't have you on that one. I don't have you on that one. You all are helpful to me on these shows. I liked her more in, I guess, Mulan Rouge. that's been a while i think well the wellness one is some strangers right

non-perfect strangers boom i can meet you on that one i'm not sirens i'm not hip on non-perfect strangers well she's single now so uh hollert at your boy nico if you would like i've seen your entire catalog i'm sure after hearing that um that setup she'd love to meet up with you and julian you feel free as well either one of you i feel like we're all kind of what would you talk to them about if you met them can't talk about their movies. First of all, I would say, heard you got divorced.

I came up on my phone. Congrats? Yeah. And what do you think about Tyler Loop? Those would be the first two things I would say. And then after that, we just see how the conversation goes. What's next, Billy? While we're talking about the bills, interesting stat, the bills have lost eight straight

road playoff games since 1992. And with a playoffs without Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, or John. Joe Burrow, many people think this is Josh Allen's chance. That's an amazing stat. I didn't know that. They've lost eight straight road playoff games. I have no idea what's going to happen. Well, do you have any other news?

We can just start with the playoff games. Oh, yeah. We can get to it. Yeah. The playoff games, I mean. If there's important news, I don't want to skip over your important news. No, no, it's fine. I was just going to make fun of the Jets for a little bit, but we can skip that.

No, let's go for it. Let's make fun of the Jets, really quick. Okay, well, the Jets were the first team in NFL. history with zero interceptions since 1933. You know that. But they're also the team that's the farthest away from the playoffs. They have the longest playoff drought. It's been 15 years since the 2010 AFC championship game, their last playoff game.

That's an amazing staff. Even more so to me then. First of all, did you see there's been no team in college football to not get an interception in a season since 1970? Wow. And that's, I mean. And that's playing fewer games. That's playing fewer games.

And since 1970, and it was like Navy didn't get an interception in 1970. I mean, that's pretty unbelievably horrific by the Jets. And I said this on a past episode, I believe. But their playoff drought is also the longest, not just in football, but in any sport. And half the teams make the playoffs in the NFL. You just got to win the division. What's that? Or just come in the top seven.

I mean, that's, that is, is truly, and they're awful. Like, they have no hope at all. And they're New York. Their New York market. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to pick the playoff games, but then we're also, while we're doing it, going to pick a touchdown for each of them. So let's do this.

We'll start with the first game. I'll just do it in the order I look at the screen. So, Billy, I'll let you go first, then Drew, then me on the first game, and we'll just rotate through. First game is Saturday. We've got the Rams are at the Panthers. Let's start with who do you pick to win, Drew? You think the Rams can go on the road and get the W?

I thought about picking the upset here. It was really weighed on me. I wanted to do it, but it's just too big of it. a gap between these teams. I think the Rams go in there and win. I want the Panthers Magic to continue. I want it so bad. But of all the teams for them to draw here, that's the worst. So I think the Rams

get it done. Yeah, I'm going to go with the Rams. I mean, like I said, the eight and nine teams have won three of the four times they've played. But I don't, I don't think the home field's going to matter. And I think Matthew

Stafford will play well. I will say in all six of these games, literally all six. I do not think there could be a surprise winner. Like I think any of these 12 teams playing could win. As a matter of fact, the game with the biggest spread, which is Eagles 49ers, to me that makes almost no sense.

Like I actually think that game is one of the closer ones that you could have. But I... That spreads much lower than this one, Eagles 49ers. Oh, it is? So the Rams are the biggest. Okay, I can still see the Panthers winning. Nevertheless, I'm going to take the Rams as you do. All right, Billy, what is going to be your touchdown pick?

I'll take the easy one. Pooka Nakuwa had a great year. I'll take him to score a touchdown in this one. And hoping Carolina Mike plays before the game starts. I think that should be a lock that we can bet on too. So you got Pooka Naku. All right, Drew, I will let you take who would you like to have. This is, again, you have to score the touchdowns.

You can't just take the path. Yeah, a lot of targets there for Stafford. He'll hit a lot of them, but I'm not sure which one I want to pick. So I'll take Kyron Williams to run one in and let you all try to figure out what receiver tight-in Stafford's throwing to. So Williams gets a touchdown for me. So you're going to take Kyron Williams. All right. So, you know, you guys are both taking people from the Rams.

So I feel like I need to take someone from the Panthers. I don't know. How many Panthers do you know? It's pretty much Rico or McMillan or your house. Yeah, the rookie receiver has been great this year. All right. I'm going to take, I'll take Rico.com. He only has six touchdowns, though, on the year, but I'm still going to go with him.

I'll give me Rico. And so you've got Kyron and I've got Rico. All right, let's go the game that night. Bears Packers. I am officially not only nervous, I'm pessimistic. I think just because it's Green Bay and it's the Bears, and we haven't played well last two weeks. I'm wearing the hat to try to talk myself into it.

Who you got this weekend? I will let you have the pessimism. I love your Bears. This is the moment where everything flips. It's been all Packers for decades. This starts the beginning of the Bears owning that series. This is the beginning of Kalen Williams, Stuff, and Jordan. love and a locker for the rest of his career.

Your bears will get it done, man. I know as a fan, you have that built-in pessimism. If it were my team, I'd be nervous and thinking negative two. I'm neutral. I think your bears get the job done. Well, I hope so. I'm very nervous about it, but I will take it. I'm going to pick the bears,

but it's more out of hope than belief. But I think it'll be a great, game, I would love to be there. Unfortunately, if it was Sunday, I was going to try to go, especially if it was Sunday afternoon or Sunday night. But because it is Saturday, I do not think I can go. So I'm going to, but I'm still going to take them. Now, you get to pick the first one on the, on the touchdown, who you got? I'm going to go a little bit of a longer shot here. I'll let you all have these running backs. Jacobson Swift had been great this year for making a little money. I'm going to go to your tight-in and go with Colston Loveland, getting a big catch late.

He said some huge catches this season. So I'll go with a little bit of a longer shot here in our second pick and go tight-in. All right, well, then I'm going to take DeAndre Swift. If you're going to give me, if you're going to give it to me, and I actually think Billy's going to end up getting a pretty good one here, too. Who you got? Yeah, I'm going to get even weirder. I'll go Kyle Munung guy, the other bears running back to give me a touchdown.

So we're all picking bears. Nobody's picking Jacobs. He's an automatic touchdown, too. I don't want it. I love one. No one picking Jacobs. All right. Well, you may regret that, Big Bill.

Or if Kyle Fungi makes it, you will be pretty happy. All right, so let's go to the next day. You got the bills and the Jaguars. Any result in this game would not surprise me. I mean, either of these teams could blow the other team out. And I wouldn't be shocked. I really wouldn't. Two touchdowns either way would not surprise me.

Jaguars are better, but the bills have Josh Apple. And so because of that, I don't know what to do, Drew, do you? I'm leaning one way, but before we each pick, Josh Allen, look at your path. You've had ridiculous paths for so many years. Look in front of you. Sure, Jags, Lawrence, they've had a good year. But this is in Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. what you've had in front of you in the past.

It's set up. I know you're on the road, but if he can't do it now, as good as he is, he's just not going to get over that home. May he's just not do it. All right, I'm going to take the bills. I'm going to pick Josh Allen as my touchdown. I feel like in big games, when they get close to the end zone,

he only trusts himself. So I'm going to take Josh Allen, and that's my pick. Billy, who do you have? I'm going to go Jags receiver, Parker, Washington. I think he's been great second half of the year. Parker Washington. Parker Washington is your pick?

I mean, come on, Drew. As somebody that watches the AFC South, he's been pretty good for Jacksonville lately. But, I mean, we are throwing darts from pretty far away from the board right now. I've learned with Jacksonville because I pick a player on every team every week. They're very balanced. Like, right when you think you know who's going to have it, that's why I believe the board's got five guys plus 200 or less.

Of all teams, they don't really have a star. that she's just punching in every week. So who are you getting, Drew? I'm going to go, I never gave my team pick either. I'm going to say Jags get it done, even though I have a part of Bill's Mafia now. But I will pick James Cook since I just learned it. I was about saying, if you know what hits James Cook or James, that's crazy. I'm picking James Cook.

All right, so you get James Cook. All right. So then in the afternoon game, 49ers and Eagles, I don't know. I think this game, that's another one I can see either. team winning. I think you're going to get a good Jalen Hertz game here. That's what I think this is going to be the game. He actually plays well. So I'm going to take the Eagles something like 20 to 10, something like that would be my guess as a score. So give me the Eagles. What about you, Drew? I think the Eagles get the job done because they're just so well-rested. I mean, last week,

they just got their feet up at home watching NFL on TV. So they win and they better win, or I would hate to be Nick Siriani facing Philadelphia after the way the season would have played out there at the end. Yeah. All right. Billy, what is your touchdown pick? I'm going to take CMC, easy pick, but I will take the 49ers to win outright in this one as well. So you're going to take McCaffrey. All right.

That's a totally understandable pick. Drew, what about you? I was going to go McCaffrey. To get me my Eagles win, I guess I'll do Seque. I hate, no, no sake. I hate the favorites. That's boring. A.J. Brown gets in.

Mr. Drama gets him a playoff touchdown. So A.J. Brown, put me down for that. A.J. Brown. So after all that happens, A.J. Brown. You got to get somebody with some odds. I want a little juice. It's no fun watching Derek Henry run for a touchdown. He does it every week.

Give me a receiver, a tight end. In this case, I'm going receiver and go on A.J. Brown. All right. AJ Brown, it is. For me. You're going to go with her? I guess I'm going to have to go Sequin, right? I mean, if you're going to give them to me, I guess I'll take, I will take Seaquin.

All right. So that night, Patriots and Chargers, I've already picked the upset. Chargers make Bill Simmons cry and make all of Boston the sadness that it deserves. I'm going to take Justin Herbert on the road, give me the Chargers. What about you? I'm close to doing that with you. I really think the Patriots could be in trouble here. To be different, I will say the Pats.

I just had Drake May as my MVP, so I need to lean into the Pats a little bit here. I'll say they get it done at home, but this is, don't sleep on Herbert. If they can protect him at all, this is a game in there where he can go in there and shine and light him up in New England. So you're taking Drake May as the scored in the touchdown? I'll put me down for Traviont Henderson for the touchdown. So you're taking Henderson. Well, then I will take Drake Bay for the touchdown.

I like having quarterbacks on my team. What about you, Bill? I'll take the rookie Hampton, the running back for the Chargers. The rookie Hampton. All right. Did you know that was almost my name? Omario. What?

Omarion? No. Hampton. Oh, the last name. We got to put this in his first name. Yes. My mom almost. name me Lamarion.

But you decided not to. You could be a Hampton. I can see it. You think I could be a good Hampton? Yeah. I was supposed to be a Joel. People could be listening to Hampton and Joel right now. Cover Zero with Hampton and Joel. Cover Zero with Hampton and Joel. All right.

Billy, do you know your backup name? I was William from Minute 1. Oh, that's right. You got the family. Yeah. So I have to do the fourth for me. my kid. All right.

We go to Texans and Steelers. It should be a low-scoring battle in Pittsburgh. I kind of feel like Pittsburgh is going to find a way to squeeze this out. It just feels like on a Monday night, that crowd advantage will be, like, strong. So I'm going to actually take the Steelers to win. But on my touchdown, I'm going to take Nico Collins as my touchdown pick, even though I do believe that Pittsburgh wins the game. What about you?

I guess, Billy, you get to pick next. Well, I'm going to take Houston for the game, but if you'd like my touchdown pick, I think I'm going to go Nico Collins gets it done. I said Nico Collins. Do you not listen? I literally went first, and I said Nico Collins. Oh, I just love him that much. I mean, I don't get to pick it.

Even if he scored two touchdowns? You need to pay attention to the game. Well, D.K. Metcalf is coming back from suspension, so I think he could get it done. Well, there's going to be a lot of pressure on him to score after missing the last two games. So actually, I think D.K. is a good pick. Well, that means Drew, you give me the game winner and then the final touchdown. You guys took place here. I was going to go Steelers and D.K. Metcalf.

Still keep me with the Steelers. But I'll have to go Gainwell, Warren, Gainwell, Warren, Gainwell, Kenneth Gainwell. Kenneth Gainwell. All right. So for those of you scored at home, Billy's team is pulling. Bukonakua, Manungai, Parker Washington, Billy McCaffer, not Billy McCaffrey, Christian. Christian McCaffrey, former Vanderbilt Commodore, Billy McCaffrey, Hampton, and D.K.

Drew has Kyra, Kyra Williams, Loveland, Cook, A.J. Brown, Henderson, and Gamewell. I've got, why did I write Rico down twice? No. Who's the first game? First game is Carolina. Yeah, Rico the first one. Yeah, Rico Dowdell. I have Rico and Nico because I have

Colons as well. DeAndre Swift, Josh Allen, Sequin, Barclay, and Drake May. How about that? Rico and Nico. I've got them both ready to go. Sounds like a little parlay there I might add to my car. A little Rico Nico Parle.

Did you say that those picks are our victory bundle presented by Liberty Mutual? Yes. It's time for the victory bundle presented by Liberty Mutual. Let's do the three games that I feel the best. Well, we'll each do the game we feel the best about it against the spread. I'll go first. The game I feel the best about against the spread. See, I don't feel good about any of these games.

I guess I'm going to take Buffalo as a road one and a half point favorite. Everyone's going to bet Buffalo. but I believe in Josh Allen so I will take Buffalo. Billy, what will you take? I love Houston on the road. They are a three point favorite. They have the best defense in football. Aaron Rogers

used all his magic in the final week of the regular season. Give me Houston as a road favor. I don't like that being part of the bundle since Drew and I both picked against it. But we'll take it nevertheless. Drew, what are you at? Well, Hampton, I'm taking your bears. They're getting points

at home as the two seat. You tell me they get a point in a half? I think that's what it was. Last time I saw it, point in a half. You're giving me that? Absolutely. Give me the bears at home. They're winning the damn game. My mom also said they would have called me the nickname my great-grandfather had, which was hamp. I wouldn't want to have gone by hampe. I would have insisted they just do hamph done. I'm not going to be hampe. So Houston, Buffalo, and Chicago, that's your Victory Bundle presented by Liberty Mutual, start your quote at Liberty Mutual.com. If you start with the college football playoff Thursday night and Friday night,

and then the wild card Saturday, Sunday, Monday, would you say this might be like the best five-day stretch of football that you have all year? Yes. Thank you, college football for putting those games on weekdays leading into the NFL slate. I love it. I land for vacation Saturday at like 2.30. straight to the couch for that Saturday night. Slate and probably won't move until Monday when it's time to go to work.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. That is a great sequence of games for all foot. And you better enjoy it because after that, there's only, what, six games left, one college football game. And then there are more games this weekend in the playoffs than the entire rest of the time. Actually, that's not true. Is it? Yeah, that's not true. Never mind. There's seven games left after the six this week.

So, you know, I was close. Two games off. Billy, evil Billy. Thank you very much. Drew, enjoy your vacation. All right. Thank you. We will remember if you're going to cover, make sure you cover zero. NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin is a production of the NFL. Podcast. For more podcasts from IHeart Radio, visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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