KSR - NFL Cover Zero: Playoff berths being clinched!

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

Matt Jones and Drew Franklin start off with another thrilling victory from the Bears to clinch a playoffs spot.  Has Caleb Williams answered all the questions about him this season? The Jaguars get past the Broncos, are they a contender? Matt explains how he's been practicing calling games in preparation for the New Orleans Bowl.  Matt recaps the wild ending to Steelers-Lions and another winning season for Mike Tomlin. The Ravens put up a fight against the Patriots.  What is the future of Lamar Jackson? The Eagles clinch the NFC East with a testy win over the Commanders. The Saints notched a 3rd straight win behind Tyler Shough.  The Bills held off the Browns. More on Matt getting ready for the New Orleans Bowl with facts about both teams. The Titans post a victory over the Chiefs, who suffer another QB injury.  The Chargers come back against the Cowboys.  Matt wonders what changes the Dolphins will make in the offseason. Another loss for the Bucs has them under .500 after a 5-1 start.  We preview Philip Rivers leading the Colts against the 49ers on MNF and wrap up with TD and Survivor picks for NFL Week 17. 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. Welcome, everybody, to Week 16, NFL Cover Zero podcast. I am in New Orleans, Louisiana, where earlier today, the Saints got a big victory, but we're not leading with the Saints. We are leading with the fact that there were some great games today. Drew is in Lexington. Drew, I am in a very good mood because my Chicago Bears made the playoffs today,

thanks to the lost by the Detroit Lions. And if they can win one more game, we'll win the division after what Saturday night was probably one of the best Bears wins of my lifetime. Yeah, you've got to be on Cloud 9 right now. I mean, you had the exciting comeback, the way it ended, the celebration after, and then you get what you needed today with the Lions. I saw you haven't won a playoff game in 15 years. Do you think y'all can go in there and win one?

Well, I worry that right now we're scheduled to play the Packers again, which I think would be the worst luck. I'd rather like to play anyone but them. But yeah, I mean, I guess we'll start with that. I mean, the games today, a couple of them are very important. But, I mean, I think you could make a strong argument that I have seen, well, first of all, that the Bears have played the two of the three most exciting games of the year, right? The game against the bingles, which just kind of went

back and forth, back and forth. We were at the Bill's Bucks game, which was so good, but I don't know, I mean, the game itself wasn't great against Green Bay, but that comeback is like one for the ages. I mean, I would think for the Bears fan that set through that cold in Soldier Field, saw the onside kick, saw the amazing Caleb Williams off his back foot throw, uh, and, you know, and, and then saw the touchdown pass in overtime. That's got to be like one of the best moments you'll have as a sports fan, right? Yeah, crazy finish. I had completely written them off in that game like most people I think I did.

I saw, you know, the probability thing. Green Bay was at 99% in the fourth quarter. And back against the wall, not only do you get the onside kick, he makes that throw on fourth down. There were just so many ways they could have lost it, but they kept making the right play to hang on and get it done. So I was happy for you, and that was just a great game to be a fan of football.

Yeah. I mean, Green Bay has got to be just kicking himself. So, first of all, if you were a Green Bay fan, would you be mad about the hit that took out Jordan Love? A little bit. I mean, you're mad because you're mad because you have to watch Malik Willis play two and a half quarters. That's why you're mad.

I actually didn't think he did badly. Yeah. I mean, the third down that he gets stopped, I think if he dives, maybe he gets that. But I actually thought all things considered, he did okay. You know, I don't think it was. a dirty hit, but I also think it wasn't an illegal hit. And so anytime your player gets hurt on an illegal hit that does kind of stink, right? Yeah. And I mean, it comes right after losing Michael Parsons,

too. I know Jordan loves, this shouldn't be out very long, but just to have your two stars on each side of the ball go down and back-to-back weeks is unfortunate when you're in such a great place and consider it a contender. So you're a neutral, okay, so you don't, you know, you don't, you don't care one way or the other. Are you rooting for the, I feel like, I mean, I'm, I've got the shirt on. I'm biased. I think this Bears team, though, is insanely likable. Caleb Williams, you know, I think the fact we haven't been good, I would just think objectively, if you didn't have a dog in the fight, you would be happy that the bears are doing well. Do you think that's the case? I don't think, I don't see how there would be any bears hate. Yeah, it's fun. I mean,

you like when a team that hadn't had much success in a while, you know, throws their name in the hat. They're a fun offense. They're young. You got a brand-dum. new coach ripping his shirt off. I saw today. Caleb Williams was serving food out in Chicago, and he had on a cheese grater hat. I don't even know they made cheese grater hats, but that's pretty cool.

So, well, wait a, he had a cheese grater hat. Yeah. I didn't see that. That's good for Caleb. So, I mean, they're just having fun and having a great year. So, yeah, of course it's hard.

You'd be have to be a hater to root against them unless you're a fan of one of their rivals, and I'm not. And, you know, starting next year, okay, you'll get the burden of expectations. they'll have to play a first place schedule, right? So things will get much harder next year. And so in some ways you can just have the joy of this one. Now they play the 49ers in the Lions. They just have to win one of those games to make the playoffs.

And the Lions could go into that last week with nothing to play for. We'll see what happens after next week. But you know, you've got to be happy. And then Caleb Williams, I mean, I think he's answered all the questions. Obviously, Drake May had a great game that just finished up, and he's been, and so is Bo Nick's been really good. Jane Daniels was good last year. But, I mean, I think I feel comfortable in saying the Bears have their guy, right?

And how about the three of the six best or five best records in the league being the second-year quarterbacks? Yeah, and with Caleb Williams, I saw a stat that he's on track to have the lowest, like, interception percentage ever. He has to get to a certain baseline of his many throws and he's not far from it. Well, he has the fewest interceptions of any of any quarterback ever with a thousand or whatever it is, thousand attempts or whatever the status. I don't think people would think that. Because they still sort of, I think there's this perception that he's this like wild

guy. You don't know what he's going to do. Does he make good decisions? But he has like 12 interceptions in his career, which is a crazy number. Yeah, he just had a few that have been untimely. Like, he throws the one away a couple weeks ago in the end zone. And those stick out a little bit more because they've tossed him in games. But overall, yeah, he's been protecting the ball. And was it, like six comebacks this year where they've been throwing in the last couple minutes? I mean, the guy just goes out there and wins.

Like, Myron Metcalfe, who does the ESPN show with me, he's a hater. And he's like, you know, you've had six comebacks. And, like, we've been losing six times in the last two minutes. Like, okay, but last year we lost all those games. So if you agree, like the chiefs are a perfect example of the team who won all those close games last year. It caught up to them this year. The Bears lost all those games last year. I think the Bears were a lot closer to being good last year than people realized.

And then this year they win them. So I think it does even out. And this is just the math going our way. Yeah, the culture is completely changed with Ben Johnson, too. I again watch this coach game speech. It was like five minutes long and I watched every second of it. I do have to say. speeches are a lot.

Like, they need it. He needs an editor, okay? I mean, I think you get, you know, in hockey, Rod Brindamore has like a 45 second for the Carolina Hurricanes. He doesn't go more than 45 seconds. I think that's a perfect amount. When you are like rivaling Tolstoy for length of your speech, you need to bring it back. So I like Ben Johnson. First of all, this middle-aged men taking their shirts off.

I'm done with that. Okay. Like I talked about McAfee, Benjah, y'all got to keep your shirts on. You, you know, when you have great chance to hair, keep it off. And then we got to do the link. But I do love the guy and it's been awesome happy. I think this year the coach of the year race is so open. They know the cameras are on.

And it's kind of like performance art to help their case for voters. I think that's the case because it's never been so wide open for Coach of the Year. And they're all trying to sell themselves in these locker room. Who would you vote for in that? right now. I mean, you got Liam Cohen, you got Kyle Sandhann, you got Mike Vrable, you've got Ben Johnson, you know, and then Mike McDaniel in Seattle, like who you, who you, who you going with? I've sat on here the last two weeks to watch Liam Cohen climbing the ranks, and then with his outcome today, I'm sticking with him. That's been my pick for a while, and I think he's,

they've played their way into it. Well, before we switch, we'll go to that one next, but before we switch to that game. I have to tell you, I've watched the Bears lose some version of that game my entire life. And to actually have it go right for once, yesterday was just like a great sports day for me. Kentucky won, Duke lost, Caliperi lost, and then you get this Bears win, which was bigger to me in some ways than all of them. I just, I loved it. And, to my fellow bear compatriots out there, let's enjoy this one because that'll be one, you know, that'll be one that when you're doing the top 10 regular season wins of all time, you'll put that one up there.

Now, the Jaguars kind of destroy Denver on the road today. I don't think anybody saw that coming. I think at this point now, everybody has to say A, the Jaguars are for real, and B, Trevor Lawrence is good. And I think six weeks ago, no one would have said the second one of those. I saw Trevor Lawrence in the last four games. He's got 1,200 yards, 14 touchdowns, no interceptions, and they're 4-0. I mean, that is like an MVP stretch.

I know he's not, doesn't have enough time to go win the MVP award. But since their by week, they have been unbelievable. And then what he did today, Denver's got the best defense in the NFL. He went and scored on like six out of seven drives. So just an unbelievable game by the Jaguar. and they're doing this all, not that Travis Hunter is going to be huge. Now, wait, wait, how do you say it? Jaguars?

Jaguars? Jaguars? I mean, I still don't, haven't gotten anyone to tell me what the right way is. Everyone makes fun of mine, Jaguars. I don't think Jaguars is correct either. And so I'm just going to say it's an unpronounceable work. But, but. Well, they deserve some respect on their name, the way they, they certainly.

Certainly do. And if you're Denver, you know, now, you know, that I think is, who has the tie right now? Is it the Patriots or the Broncos for the one seat? Because they have the same record. I'll be honest. I was killed in the Patriots, not winning that. I believe it's the Broncos. I don't know if this is updated, but the one I'm looking at right now on NFL.com says Broncos.

Well, I'm sure. I'm not sure if that's right or not. But either way, one of them does. But the Broncos, I think, could have maybe locked it up if they had won today. but they don't. Are you buying Jacksonville as a Super Bowl contender, or is this one of these where they're the two seed and they get upset in the first round,

lose to a seven seed at home? I think I'm going to say they're a contender because they're turning it on at the right time. There's not a lot of football left. We're heading straight for the playoffs, and they've been beating good teams. Like I said, just beat the top defense. They got a little swagger.

I don't know if you saw Liam Cohen kind of clapped back at Sean Payton after the game. Sean Payton had said something like they're a good team for a small market. And Liam Cohen let off his press conference saying, not bad, a small market can go into Maha and get a win. So they're kind of filling themselves a little bit. Liam Cohen and you and I have been around him a lot. For a dude that is as dorky as he is, he talks an amazing amount of trash.

In some ways, he's kind of like Billy. Like, he has like, like, Billy, you talk more trash than someone like you, normally would. And I think Liam Cohen is kind of like that. You have a mouth that's kind of Liam Cohen-esque. But that just doesn't come out of nowhere. That's because I'm ultra confident in what I do. And so maybe he is. Yeah, he's prepared. Now, he has more success than you do at this point. I guess true. But if you were head coach of the Jaguars, you might have that success too. We don't know. Both employees in the NFL, so I say that we're closer than maybe you think. I had an observation in this game I want to ask you guys because there were a couple times in this game where the players couldn't hear the whistle.

The crowd was so loud in Denver. Do you think that technology will ever change? Will we have whistles 20, 30 years from now? Oh. What would you suggest instead? Lights in your helmet, maybe. Lights in the helmet? Yeah, I don't know.

Like when the plays over. How would that work? I don't know. The play's over and then like red lights go in your helmet so you know to stop. The red lights go where? Like you don't like in your peripheral somewhere. I don't think they're looking inside. You're talking about peripheral. Yeah, like you'd be able to see a red or a green light when the plays on or the plays off.

I mean, it just seems like technology that could be updated. Or the red light that's on a shot clock in basketball. I just put that on every helmet. And if you're running at a guy and his red light goes off, you know, the play's dead. It's genius, Billy. Yeah, I think that's a solution, though, in looking for a problem. I mean, what? Like, okay, so that happened twice today.

I mean, at first, if I was in the NFL would start with making the goalpost higher. I still don't understand why they're not higher. Yes. And then they've already got rid of the chains. So, like, I'm ready. I mean, they've made a big step. I will say, really, I've never heard anyone even fathomed that is a thing that needed to happen. So that is a very unique thought.

Just trying to prevent injuries. you know, plays happening after the whistle. It's trying to prevent injuries. Okay. Did you think Dion Sanders was at that game and he had a whistle on today? He was in the suite watching Shador and he had a whistle. And I like the idea that he just walks around all the time with a whistle. And I want to think he blows it anytime he sees something that's wrong.

Like in the airport, you're cutting the line. blow the whistle. I like Dion constantly having a whistle. He seems to always be wearing a whistle and a cowboy hat these days. I'm all for it. They don't really go together, but I like it. I don't know what the cowboy hat thing is. At first of all, Colorado was not even known for cowboys. Like, he's not, like, he went, it's like he went to Maine and decided he was a cowboy. Colorado is not, that's not what they do there.

That's like mountains and skiing, but nevertheless. So the Jaguars with a big victory. Let's talk about the game that I, so let me back up a second. So people who don't, we've talked about on the bike is I'm calling the New Orleans Bowl Tuesday. And a lot of you listening at home, you might be like, what's the New Orleans Bowl? And that's your loss because it is the, this is the 25th edition. Billy's alma mater, Western Kentucky, is playing the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. But more nerve-wracking to me is I've never called a play-by-play game, and I have to do it.

and we've talked about this, I've been very nervous. So Friday night, I freaked out a little bit because I realized, hey, I'm about to do something I've never done on national radio. So I've spent most of the weekend, the games I'm watching, I'm calling them. Okay? So I've been standing in my house by myself, calling the action as the TV is muted. If you walked by my house and could look in, you would think I was a crazy person. Well, today I had to fly to New Orleans, and I had to watch these games on the plane.

And I was sitting there, and I was watching Detroit and Pittsburgh, and I was flying. And I was calling the game in my head. But I realized at some point that the words were starting to come out of my mouth. And I was literally quietly, but going, looks over that man. first time. And there was a guy sitting across from me. And to his credit, I know he heard me. He had to have heard me.

And he never brought it up. And he never embarrassed me. He had to think I needed to be put out to pasture. But when I realized, I turned really red. I kind of covered my face. But to that man, if you happen to be listening, thank you for not embarrassing me. Because I do think I was out loud on a flight calling the Steelers Lines game play by play. You're just working, man.

You're a professional. Just doing your job. But he doesn't know that. Businessmen work on planes. I bet you Tony Romo, Tom Brady, they sit there and mumble college games on the back of the seat in front of them. They're on planes. It's all part of the business. First of all, they're probably flying private.

and they're probably not in an economy seat celebrating that I got an exit row. It's probably not one of those conversations. By the way, I don't like now that on the exit row, you have to have a long verbal exchange to get to sit on the exit row. And they used to just go, are you okay sitting on the exit row? And you go, yes. Now they like ask you 10 questions and you have to, and you can't just nod that they go, I need a verbal answer.

Yes, yes. And you're trying to do play-by-play while she's asking you if you're capable. That's right. So I did play-by-play of the game. And what I saw was a pretty impressive win by Pittsburgh on the road. Detroit fans boo their own team. But then Pittsburgh ends up winning at the end. Double offensive pass interference calls on two of the last three plays.

What did you think of it? I mean, that last play was just mayhem. And I was waiting for a replay. They gave us a while to get to it. and I thought this better be a clear offensive pass interference. And then, yeah, he pushed off pretty hard. It was kind of unnecessary how hard he pushed off. So explain to me because I couldn't hear the sound.

I was only trying to call the action myself. Yeah. What did the referee say? Like that whole period of time they were talking and like what was going on? Well, when the referee tried to announce to the public what they had decided, I bet he wants to take that one back. He was. What did he say?

We started off saying the call on the field is a touchdown, but then he has to go to offensive pass interference, therefore no touchdown. But then he kind of fumbled over the no touchdown, and some Lions fans are cheering and some aren't. The moment was way too big for the White Hat right there. And did he say something like, we can't replay? Yes. No, they can't replay it because it's a pass interference,

so there's nothing they can do about it. So he basically was like, you scored, but no, you didn't. And we're not looking at it. Is that kind of what he said? It actually would have been much better if he had put it that way because he was like stammering a little bit. So what's the argument they scored a touchdown? Was that not like his forward momentum had gotten stopped?

Well, St. Brown lateral to golf who jumped in. But they stopped his fore. They had running back. Like before he lateral, they had pushed him back like five yards. Yeah, none of it mattered once they had the flag for the pass interference. But John. I guess it just ends because it was an offensive penalty. It was an offensive penalty and then there was no time on the clock.

But it was a pretty blatant push-off too. But it was a chaotic ending there. And no one really had answers because they weren't showing a replay for a couple months. Why don't both of the calls were valid? But I'm surprised they called them. Right? Like I think you could call, especially the picks, I think you could call those a lot. And you probably could call the push-offs a lot.

And to call those in Detroit on two of the last three plays, I don't think they were wrong, but I'm very surprised they called. When they huddled the four officials, you could almost see them like, oh, my God, there's a lot at stake here because it's truly deciding a game of playoff implications. Yeah. I think they got it right, but it was a wild ending. It couldn't have been easy on them, but I think they did get it right. It helped that the defensive backs sold the push pretty well.

Dan Arlofsky was angry. I saw him on, you know, he was a former lines back. So he's a big lines guy. He was very angry about it. He was like, you can't call that, you can't call that. And then there were just people saying, just people just yelling at him. That's why you should never talk on Twitter. But I think it was probably the right one.

And now, by the way, the Steelers are nine and six. In the driver's seat to win the, division. All they need to do is win one more game. Aaron Rogers, first of all, Mike Tomlin is going to have a winning record again. 19 years. That to me is the most amazing stat. I mean, give me a more amazing. And oftentimes it's like 9 and 8. And yet he still has a winning record every single year.

And the fact Pittsburgh wants to get rid of him is kind of odd to me. I mean, they booed him three weeks ago. I don't get it. If you fire Mike Tomlin, another team's going to hire him immediately, right? Oh, yeah. I'm sure they were wishing they hadn't boot him because he's done nothing but when since then. But it's just also amazing.

That, I mean, that's not like a powerhouse division, but it's not terrible to be in 500. You have the Browns, but the Bengals and Ravens had some really good seasons during that run, and they still managed to get above 500 for almost two decades. And they also have that insane staff that what? They've only had like three coaches and, 65 years or something? Like, that's,

that is unbelievable. And Aaron Rogers, I'm a hater, and I'm still a hater, but he probably has been a little, I don't think he's been great, but he's been a little bit, certainly better than I thought he would be.

Do you think he keeps playing? Beyond this season. I don't know. He's looking so old over there on the sideline. They kept showing his face when the lions are driving late. He does look cold. He looks very cold.

He had a nice no look past today. He still got that in him. Did you see D.K. Metcalf get into it with the fan. That was the other big story. Yeah. Yeah, I did see that. Yeah, and the fan was interviewed, and he said all I did was call him by his full name. Like, just yelled out.

I don't believe that. That fan is lying. He did not, like, he did not. You could call me Matthew Harper, and I'm not going to punch you in the face. I do not believe that. in the least. Do you? No, but I also wondered how the fan was even in that spot, like, where's the

security on the rail to be like, hey, fan, why are you leaning over in D.K. Metcalf's face? Like, how did he even get to that point, is what I wonder. You don't often see... The fan is very lucky that he had the blue hair covered his face, because we have no idea of who he is. You know what I mean? Like, he didn't this was not a situation.

Well, this is a little bit of a digression. But do you remember the Coldplay concert couple? Of course. Of course, yeah. So the woman, I don't know if you saw this, the woman was interviewed this week by the New York Times. Did you see this? Mm-hmm.

I saw that. Now, I have the controversial view, which no one wants to hear that I kind of feel sorry for this woman. And I actually was interested to hear what she says. And her life seems like it's been awful. Like people like yell at her and she hasn't been able to like go back to work and she doesn't feel like she only now feels like she can go in public. So I was like, I think this is fascinating, and it shows how we pile on someone in society, et cetera, et cetera.

And so then I look, the New York Times post the story. And I go read the comments on social media. People just hate her. Like they hate her so much. And I feel sorry for this woman. That could have happened to this Detroit lines blue hair guy if he was not careful. Wasn't that the point of her interview is that you shouldn't be hated for making a mistake? and then she just keeps getting hated now that she did the interview.

Yeah, people are mad at her for doing the interview. But like, what do you want her to do? Do you just want her to like, she just wanted to like move to Mars? Like, she has to have a life. She didn't commit a crime. She's got to go live in the woods by herself and never come out. Yeah, she's not allowed. Like, is she never allowed to ever, okay, she messed up.

But is she never allowed to move on with her life ever? I just feel sorry for that woman. And I know nobody else does, but I do. People make mistakes. I mean, Bert and Ernie, or was it Sesame Street? It was like, everybody makes mistakes. Can we not give them a break? I don't know if that was the exact lyrics, but that was the premise.

Yeah, yes, they do. Something, something. Your sister and your brother and your dad and mother, too. Yeah. So you're saying the Detroit fan was kind of like the Coldplay Cup. Well, I think he's very lucky because he could have become that woman. And then he would be doing a New York time spread. Now, do you think D.K. should get suspended?

Yeah, you can't be doing that, especially midgame. I don't care what he yelled, and I'm sure he yelled much worse than DK's full name. We can't have you leaving the bench to go grab a fan by the collar and uppercut them. Also, how did he hear him? Like, how did he hear it? That stadium is very loud. I don't know. When I hear my full name for my fiancee or my mom, it's like piercing.

But you don't know. But you don't know. But you don't know. No, I would never go that far. But, like, I can hear it. that I know of. Yeah. And what is it with Detroit?

Malice at the Palace, now this. It's like their fans. Have you been to Detroit? I can see my passport in Detroit. I can see it. I mean, although I do think people use Detroit now as like this like, but it's actually it's nice. You know,

what's the city you would want to go to the least in America? Like I say to you, you have to go spend one month in a city of some size. You know, let's say a city that has a professional sports. team. Okay. What's the city that I say you have to live there for one month that you would want to do it the least? Probably Orlando. Anything touristy. I just don't do crowds and touristy stuff. I actually think Orlando's a good answer, but I don't think I would have said that. If I could just play golf, I'd be fine, but if I got caught up in Disney traffic and hour waits for restaurants, I couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. Family.

and rides and like snotty kids tigers i mean like well i don't know if they have tigers but you know i the yeah that's a good one um jacksonville for me maybe see jackson bill i think is a good call because like jacksville's not even on the beach right well either for landa um i've been to jacksonville three times and had zero fun so who had two florida cities being on our list which is weird because at least the weather's, although the weather's not even necessarily going to be good in Jacksonville all the time. I'm saying Jacksonville. That's a good call. Jacksonville's mine. Until we had gone to Buffalo and I met those beautiful people and joined the mafia, I might have said Buffalo as someone stereotyping it from afar, but I had too much fun to say Buffalo.

Yeah, my point is a lot of people would say Detroit, and I think that would be the wrong answer. I actually think Detroit would be, you know, pretty good place, pretty good place to go. Oklahoma City might be up there too. I don't know. What is it? Like wood? I don't know. Hot in hotels.

Yeah, those might be the two. The games today, there's a lot of games that sort of on paper were meaningless, but we just finished one with the Patriots and the Ravens. 28, 24. Lamar gets hurt. It's 10-10 at halftime. When he gets hurt, you kind of think, all right, game over. but then the Ravens score two touchdowns.

They lead 2413. Snoop Huntley's playing pretty well. And then great drives, two great drives by Drake May. They get a turnover at the end and the Patriots win. Drake May had a pass to Williams. That was an amazing pass, an amazing catch. And as a, I really like cousin Sal and the ringer would call him Drake, maybe. And I've wanted to do that.

but I think now he's the Drake, yes. I mean, he is, he's good, and the Patriots are good, which makes me mad. Yeah, that throw was incredible to the side of the end zone. He had a long run. I mean, he's looking like he can do it all right now. But I had them completely written off, even though they were just down 10 early in the second half. I thought this was going to be a big blown opportunity when Lamar went out, and they still weren't getting anything done, and Derek Henry was rolling over him,

running over him, and then you look up and they pulled off at the last minute. I was pretty shocked by that. The winning continues for New England. I think Snoop Huntley, by the way, I believe he backed up Bernie Kosar. He has been in the league for a long time. I actually thought he played admirably well. I don't understand why the Ravens went away from your guy,

Derek Henry, though. I mean, they're up by three. They have like four and a half minutes to go. All they need to do is get two or three first downs, and they hand the ball to the other guy whose name is escaping me. I called it on the playing a couple times. Cameron Mitchell, maybe. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. See again, when you're a play-by-play guy, you remember these people's names. Cameron Mitchell. But they didn't give it to Derek Henry. I didn't understand that in those key moments down the stretch. Now, he had a bad fumble early in the game, which is, you know, there's been a year of fumbling for him, something he had never done to this season.

But other than that, he had been great. He was running all over him. Had the two touchdowns, like a hundred. 130-something yards. It's like he's right there. He's right there. And that's why you have. He's Derek Henry.

He's Derek Henry. I mean, there's nothing he's better at than the clock churning end of game runs. That was the thing he was so amazing with the Titans year after year. I just, I didn't get, you know, that's your season on the line. And you got Snoop handing it to Mitchell and you go, this is not what you all were, this is not what this was supposed to be. It's exactly why you signed Derek Henry. As everyone else gets tired, he just gets more downhill and picks up steam. The later of the game, the better it gets and just completely went away from him. Do you think we've seen Lamar's peak? He's injured,

another back injury. Numbers haven't been the same since the hamstring. Yeah, see, that's a tough one because there's no quarterback that to me is more vulnerable to his age than Lamar. But I also, don't, like, there's still moments. There's still sparks. I don't know. He's injury prone, clearly. He seems to have done a better job in recent years of evading the injuries, but this year especially, it's been like four different things.

So that does worry me, Drew. I hope we haven't seen the peak, but I kind of think maybe we have. Yeah, this year, it's just been several different injuries. Seems to have lost a step. If you look at his rushing stats, even when he did have some healthy games, he's not running it as much. I feel like he's hitting net decline a little bit. So we'll still have some good football left,

but the MVP caliber Lamar, I think, is behind us. Well, I do think when he hits that moment, and I don't know if he's hit it yet. I'm not willing, but like he'll fall off the planet. Like, I think it'll be like, you know, I mean, that's kind of what happened to Michael Vick. It was just over at some point. You know, he had that one good year coming back for the Eagles,

and then it was just over. Like it's just, I kind of worry about with him, Russell Wilson. It was just kind of, you know, all of a sudden it was just over. There are guys who, well, I mean, those are not, those quarterbacks are all not the same. But there just hits a moment for some dudes when you're not just a guy relying on your arm, when you're doing a, I wonder if it'll happen to Josh Allen at some point. Like, is there going to come a point that he just hits a wall? I hope that hasn't happened for Lamar because he's my favorite player.

And for the Ravens, too, they're in a win now moment. They completely wasted this season and win now. Derek Henry, you know, even though he seems like a robot, that's not going to last forever. You went out and got DeAndre Hopkins, who's getting old. I mean, this was a win now season, and they've completely dropped the ball. Yeah. Well, tough loss. And now, you know, the bills were hoping for that loss to have a chance to actually win the division.

That makes, that's almost impossible at this point. All right, let's go through a lot of these other ones. We'll kind of go quickly. The Eagles beat the commanders. I didn't watch one minute of this game. So one of you has to tell me something that matters from this. Marcus Marriota got hurt. So they had to turn to Josh Johnson for the commanders.

He's still in the league. Yeah. Yeah, the true backup quarterback champion. Josh Johnson. Yep. There's a name I haven't thought about in a long time. I thought he was a singer now. It was his ninth team since 2009, the commander.

How was he? Great? No, he was bad. But the Eagles, they clinched the division, and it's the first repeat champion in that division in 20 years. I remember I saw that statistic. That's an amazing statistic. Although Eagles fans to have won the division,

still have a shot at winning the Super Bowl, they hate their team, just hate it. Like, they hate them so much. I now want to watch the game just to try to remember what Josh Johnson looked like. I have no visual in my face, but I feel like I've seen him a lot.

Well, other than Washington running out of quarterbacks, the other story is the Eagles went for two up by 17 with four minutes left and it turned into a brawl. Pretty good fight. Lots of, lots of fists. Big Dom was in the midfield? I have no patience for people complaining about that stuff.

Stop them. Who cares? When did these athletes, like, when did they get their feelings hurt so much? Like, when you played as a kid, did you ever go, okay, everyone, there's a minute left, let's stop trying? No, no one's like, why do we expect these athletes to stop? Plus, there were, what, seven minutes to go? Like, why can't they go for it? It's not like there was six seconds left.

Thought they were running up on them. I think it started with two defensive backs shoving, the lineman knocked one over and next thing you know the bench is cleared. Sequin Barclay, I can't remember who he said. He was running towards the pile and someone from the commanders, maybe Wagner stopped him. It was like, don't go in there and get this mess. Like punching people, you're going to break a hand on a helmet.

You're going to get five. Let the reserves fight. Like what are we doing here? If the game's over, let's not mess with this. I like in hockey where, and this happened the other night when the hurricanes played the Panthers, two players were mad at each other, but it was like Andrew Marchand, who's like the Panthers best player,

and it was Aho, who's like the hurricane's best player. And so they appointed two other guys to fight for them. Enforcers. Yeah, but like they went on, they literally almost went on the ice like ceremonial. You and I have to fight because they're too good to fight. I was like, only in hockey is that the case. Football has that too, though,

if you're a reserve, if you're a special teamer, you fight. Yeah, I've always thought if I was in a bench clearing brawl, which I wouldn't be because I don't play sports. But I would find someone that doesn't want to fight either and lock up, and we'll just kind of maneuver and whisper to each other. They lock up and then they just skate in a circle and hold each other. Yeah, that's the, we're fighting, but we're not, we agree we're both too pretty for this.

We just wanted to look good on camera that we were there for our teammates, but we're not actually mixing it up. That's what Mike Greenberg does at ESPN about. He lets the other guys fight, and then Mike Greenberg, he grabs Joe Buck, and they just circle around in circles and make sure not to hit each other. Well, after this commander's fight, Dan Quinn said, we'll see you all in two weeks, because I guess they play again. I don't know what they're going to do in two weeks because they have Josh Johnson as their quarterback. But this ain't over. It's not over.

Chapman's coming. I'm ready for the Josh Johnson era. Saints when going away against the Jets. I, you know, you need to shut the Shuck up because he is absolutely killing it for New Orleans, right? No, there are very few quarterbacks playing better. I think they have their franchise QB. That's three straight wins. He was connecting with Alave all day.

He had like 140 yards, two touchdowns. He made a few impressive throws. One kind of similar to that Drake May throw, you mentioned. So, yeah, it looks like New Orleans might have found some lots. life and the old shock. And while we're talking Saints, Tayson Hill became the first player in the Super Bowl era to have a thousand yards passing,

rushing, and receiving in a career. Hmm, that's an interesting stat. That's another dude who's been playing since the 60s. I mean, like, for a guy who is, like, essentially, like a utility infielder of football, the fact that he's been on the same team, he's got to be the saint that's played, well, Alvin Kumar if he's still in the league.

But otherwise, he's got to be the longest, serving saint, right? Yeah, and it's crazy. It's so weird that there's only been one of him, and he just, his last is so long. And he threw that long touchdown today to Alave. So, I mean, he's out there contributed as Billy said he does it all, and there's never been a utility player like him.

Multiple coaches, too. Like, I mean, he continues to stay no matter what the regime. It's like, we got to have our, and they always call him a utility knife, which, I don't know, do people under the age of 30 carry utility, utility knives anymore. Do either if you carry a knife? No.

No. I had one when I was a Cub Scout that didn't last long. I remember my grandfather would be like, no man goes without a knife. And now I love my grandfather, but that seems like a psychotic thing to have said. Oh, my grandfather would pull his knife out of his pocket. It would be dirty, and he'd carve an apple and eat off the knife.

He always had the knife. It was used for everything. But if I saw a person just walking around with a knife now, I think I would call authorities. I'd be like, this man has a knife, and we're at the Burger King. But, like, there was a time that everyone did that. Apparently, they carried their own Taysam Hill. The Bills played the Browns, 2320.

I knew this game would be closer than it should be. I knew the bills would play down the competition. I didn't realize that Chador Sanders would take three straight sacks on the game-winning play, and it would be fourth and 43. He didn't play good, but he didn't play terrible, but he had a chance. And then a terrible final drive. Yeah, he started off great. He ended up going the wrong way.

He completed his first eight passes and scored on the opening drive. Can we get a shout out for Harold Fannin, Jr., by the way? From where? From Bowling Green. Oh, that's right. Another touchdown today. I saw a tweet while I was sitting on the airplane where somebody wrote, people didn't think Harold Fanon could play in the NFL

and he showed him. And I thought, well, I know one person that did. I know one person that believed in Harold Fanon, Jr. Well, how about today? He set the Brown single season record for most receptions by a rookie with his 67th and it was a touchdown and he hit the 6-7 when he scored. So what a day for my guy. And a rushing touchdown. Yeah, he did. He was one of, they brought him in there for the rushing touchdown. down. So Bill's win. I still don't know whether Shador's good or not. I think we're going to be

like that probably for his entire career. Pause just a second. Show you something. Look what I bought. This is my Tom Hart said I needed a card. And you can see this is big. Tom Hart said I needed a card to put the lineup on and all this. So I bought these two pieces of poster board. Look at that. There you go. And this is going to be, I'm going to work on this tomorrow, but this is my chart where I will put the, you know, rosters for both teams. Those are giant. Like, that's like an art project board.

That's exactly what it is. It's an art project board. But they didn't have, the one was just like the size of a sheet of paper, and the other one was massive. This was like the only middle size they had. So do you have a bunch of markers to be color coordinated? Are you going to go?

I have markers. I'm just going to use one color. I'm not going to be all wild. I also don't have all that much time. can I give you a stat I learned about each team? Yes, please. Let me start with Western Kentucky. Did you know Western Kentucky has had a top three-round draft pick

each of the last four seasons? They're the only team in the group of five that has done that. Western Kentucky has had a guy picked in the top three rounds in the NFL draft the last four years. Isn't that amazing? It's impressive. I'm trying to think of who that. I expect it to be more of a reaction from you all on that.

I think that's crazy for a school like Western Kentucky. I was looking at Billy, the alum, and he's just acting like business as usual for Western over there. It's been like this for like a decade or so. They've been a little bit of a stepping stone with the NFL. It's been that way for four years. It's not been a decade. It's been that way for four years. Yeah, so who is that?

Like Malachi Corley and Bailey Zappi or what? There was a defensive player, I think, last year was the last. Yeah, the Lepton Stout on the 49ers. then I will tell you for Utah or excuse me Southern Miss the new coach is Blake Anderson. This is his first game. So interesting story. They named him the interim coach for the bowl game because the coach left. And he said, well, I would like to be the full-time coach.

And they said, no, we're having a coaching search. So they made him interview. They made him meet the, like they made him do all the same. things that they made other candidates do, and then they still picked it. So, which is interesting, you would think like he was already there. He had been working there, but they ended up picking him. What I like about him is at his press conference, he had frosted tips in his hair. He's a 55-year-old man, and he came to the opening press conference with frosted tips,

which I kind of gave him a hard time about today on the radio. I was like, you show up to you showed up at your press guy. Because I saw a picture of him over this year. He didn't have frosted tips. Mid-season tips. Wow. Mid-season tips. Like, he didn't have it a few weeks ago.

So he got it for the opening press cards. Wow. So do you think maybe the second interview was like, is he, did he already have the frosted tips or was he so confident after the interview? He's like, I'm frosting my tips. Maybe he got the frosted tips. And they were like, no, wait a minute, maybe we need to do these interviews. Oh, that's what happened.

He was his normal self. He got the frost of tips. Like, we don't know this version of you. We need to re-meat you again. We need to start from square one. Blake, are you going through a midlife crisis now? What is happening? Anyway, by the way, I have to meet him tomorrow for coaches.

So I don't know. I may not bring up the tips in person. He's probably listening to this. Your Titans won against the Chiefs. How was that? Well, remember I told you all? last week this would happen. We just keep getting better and better. Ward made some awesome throws. I'm really starting to believe in him. He's getting better each week.

DK at receiver, they connected on some big plays. We're using big Jeffrey Simmons on offense and back-to-back weeks. Who cares? Throw it out there. We're having fun. I was in on the tank before, but I got to admit, I was very happy for them to win the last couple weeks. So Gardner Minshew followed up at Mahomes' ACL tear with his own ACL tear. ACL tear is for everyone. Who is the guy they put in? That was a guy I'd never heard of. What was his name? Oh, God. O'Lockadoo from South Dakota State. It was his second year. Never heard of that guy. And now he's going to, what? He's going to start the next two games, I would assume, right? He has to start Christmas Day against the Broncos. How much do you think the schedule, the TV schedule hates that?

Olockadoo. That reminds me of my favorite nickname of any athlete ever, Billy. Drew may know this. But there was a guy basketball player named Mommadou Injai. And on SportsCenter, one of the announcers said, ain't nobody love him like his mama do injure. It's one of the all-time grades. It's a good one. That's, I think, you don't get a better nickname than that. So Olockadoo.

Al-A-Dukin. He's the Christmas Day games, he's starting one of them. Josh Johnson could be starting the other one, and Max Brasmer could be starting the other one. Oh, no. Christmas Day took a huge, with the injuries. Wow.

Three. Yeah. Well, now you can actually see your family during that. As opposed to watching football. Chargers beat the Cowboys. I didn't see one minute of this. Anything that I would need to have seen? Cowboys went up earlier looking pretty good.

Pickens had a big game, but the Chargers just came back and pulled away. Herbert had a pretty good game. It was just a pretty standard. You know, nothing too out of the ordinary other than Cowboys blowing that early lead. No Dallas quarterback has ever led the NFL in passing yards. Dack is on pace to do that. And Harbaugh has a new saying.

It's called The Worm Has Turned. And I didn't look it up. What's wrong with that? That is the same. Oh, what is the – I didn't know that. No, I mean, that's the same. I don't know what it – why, but that's – he didn't make that up. Like, that's – the worm has turned is a thing you say.

But why? Did you look it up? No, I didn't look it up. No, it has like, that's a real saying. The worm has, I've heard it. I think maybe it's like something about a change. I mean they're changing or evolving. I got it.

It is someone who was previously meek or long suffering suddenly becomes assertive, defiant, or fights back. But what does, but why do, what, worms do they turn? What is that? I mean, worms have to turn. at some point. Why do worms turn? But you guys are still not getting why that's a same. Like, no, I'm telling

you what I know. I mean, they could have said the alligator has turned. They say the worm has turned clearly for some reason. Just telling you what I was hoping you guys. Can we figure it out? Can you tell him? Billy, why we talk about will you look up and find why the worm has turned? I mean,

I understand the concept of turning. The question is, why do we say the worm has turned. This is the most Jim Harbaugh thing you could possibly say. I know that much. I still don't know why the words are.

Well, it is a real sight. I've heard it. I just never really had contemplated me. While he looks that out. Cowboys out of the playoffs, though. Vikings beat the Giants. Bingles beat the Dolphins. Neither of those games really matter,

except I do think Mike and Daniel is likely gone, don't you? I don't know. I would have thought that earlier. I think they might keep him and get rid of Tua. There were some reports of that. the game today. I was there. I didn't see that. Well, too, I mean, the problem is they're on the hook for $50 million for two of whether he's there or not. Yeah. Quinn Yura's actually played pretty well today. I mean, didn't get the win, but to make Quinn Yor as a rookie. But they were down, what, like 34 to

three? And then he started playing decently well. Yeah, yeah, just for a rookie thrown in like that, it could have been much worse. Burrow was insane. That's for sure. He had four touchdowns. Looked like the borough of all them fun again. They can put those, Andrew Luck concerns to bed. He was looking great out there. The Falcons played the Cardinals when I was in the Atlanta airport for reasons that only the people of Atlanta know, that was the only game available in the entire airport, was the Falcons and the Cardinals, which is not a fun game to watch.

I mean, Lions are playing the Steelers are like, nope, can't watch that anywhere. Only Falcons Cardinals. So I did get to see a lot of that victory. Texans nearly blew it to the Raiders. you know, Raiders have been awful, and they had a shot in this game. They did. When I first flipped over, I was shocked to see that the Raiders were winning. I mean, they've been terrible, and you're playing the Texans,

maybe the hottest defense in the league right now. In Houston. Yeah, and they were scoring points on them, but Houston was able to just hang on and win in the end. That would have been a terrible loss for Houston, which still at that point was in contention of the AFC South. Still are, but at that point the Jags hadn't won yet. That would have been a horrible loss.

So why does the worm turn, Billy? It comes from a 1546 collection of proverbs by John Haywood in which he said, trade a worm on the tail and it must turn again. And I don't know. That's all I got. That still doesn't explain what that means. Trade a worm on the tail and what?

And it must turn again. At the time, again also meant against or oppose. Turn a worm on the tail. and it must turn a game. Yeah, 1546. I'm not even sure what that sentence means. I don't either, but John Haywood was preaching it back in 1546 about how any animal... John Haywood's nonsensical poem in 15 become something Jim Harbaugh says.

I mean, I guarantee you, Jim Harbaugh is not, you know, not read that. He may have. He'd be the guy. guy, he'd be the coach to read this to his team. That is the saying. I think of all the coaches, he's the most likely. He's the weirdest. I'm going to, neither of you have given me the answers.

So here's what I'm going to do. I'm just going to Google, do worms turn. Do worms turn. Yes, worms can turn. Well, that doesn't answer my question either. AI's stupid. All right, next. The bucks lost to the,

Panthers, I'll leave the floor to you, our Bucks fan, Billy. How mad were you at this loss today? Yeah, but this was tough. I mean, they started five and one. They're now seven and eight. Todd Bowles should be let go at the end of the year. It's just unacceptable. But you still can win the division.

I mean, ultimately, you play the Panthers twice. You just need to win one of the two. So if you had won today, I think you were in really good shape. Now, as I see it, it's basically whoever wins the next one. The Panthers will have to beat you both times. Well, yeah, we got to beat Miami next week and Carolina. We've got to win these last two and then we're in. And then you still win the division, right?

Correct. But the magic's gone regardless. Like the Baker MVP discussion, the litany of receivers, it's just not lining up this year. And I mean, to lose to Carolina like that was just embarrassing. I mean, I know that's a franchise trying to turn the corner, but I mean, you've lost to New Orleans, Atlanta, and Carolina in three straight weeks. It's an embarrassing by Todd. That is embarrassing. I was happy to see when it was the NFC

South, you know, one of the, it's a game between the top two teams. I was glad they gave it to Chris Myers. I thought they wouldn't reward him for all of his NFC South service. They did. And so that made me very happy for him. I thought of you guys because Chris Myers said,

I've never heard a December crowd in Carolina quite like this. Well, he would know. He would definitely know. You can take that. to the bank. I didn't know he said that. That's great. There's no one I trust more to measure the volume of Carolina crowds than Chris

Myers. I would trust him more than I would the guy who owns the franchise, actually. All right. So tonight, or tomorrow night, Philip Rivers takes the field against the 49ers. I am extremely eager to see. I think there's a chance this goes horribly wrong. I also wanting to win, and I want it to be a Disney movie. But, you know, it's one thing to do it once,

it's another thing when your body's like, okay, we're not doing this again, are we? I think this could go horribly wrong. I can't even believe we're here where on, it's almost Christmas, and I'm excited to watch Philip Rivers play football. Me too. If you had said this before the season began, I wouldn't even know what situation could get me to watching Philip Rivers play football, but here we are in prime time.

I'm going to believe he gets it done. I think they're going to win. I'm going to trust in Phillip Rivers. I'm sure he's been on the Peloton all week, if not in the ice tub all week. He's going to look even better in his second game. Now, is it Brock Purdy or Mac Jones? Again, they're the same person in my mind. I think it's Brock Purdy, right?

It should be Brock Purdy. All right. I think they're going to destroy them. But I will say this. I think it'll be an amazing environment. When you consider the fact that if the Colts win, they still are set up in that last week of the season to play the Texans to win for the division. But they have to win tomorrow. So it's a must win game.

It's Monday night football. It's this Phillip River situation. I do think that will be a crazy good atmosphere. And what if he does it? What if they look good with Philip Rivers? I mean, come on. Work with me here. I know you think he's going to get killed.

But the Colts still have a lot of talent. I don't think that's good for football. I don't think it's good for the sport. If it can be proven that a man can do nothing for five years, get old and fat and have to be around kids, and they can come back in like three days and win a football game. I don't think that's good for the sport. I think it says, like, there's no other sport where you could do this.

You can't just, like, not play baseball for five years and go hit a home run, right? You can't not pick up a golf club for five years and win the Masters. Like, this is, it can't happen. It is a bad look for, like, young quarterbacks with all the training and supplements and everything you have now. And Philip Rivers says to a microphone, I'm fat, and then goes out there and plays the exact same position and same sport that the young, more athletic guys do. And he is, I read a column, somebody in Indianapolis, I think, wrote a column that said,

Philip Rivers has made me feel older than I ever imagined because he is only 44, but we talk about him like he's Grandpa Simpson. So like it kind of stinks because he's younger than I am, but I talk about him like he's going to fall over. And so that's also kind of a little demoralizing that I act like he's decrepit, but it is true. But I'm rooting for him. I mean, I've said a lot of mean things.

I'm rooting for him. I want it to work. And if it works, maybe to bring out more people from retirement. Maybe other sports will try this. No, I like that. We find out that next week instead of Josh Johnson, we get Joe Montana. Drew Breeze, here he comes. Another season on the line.

Yeah, I mean, I guess they can do it. I mean, it's better than who is the guy again for the Chiefs? South Dakota State. Olockadoo. I have written down somewhere. Oladonke. Ola Ducca. Ola Dukin. Ola Dukin.

Well, Ola can't wait to watch him, man. I hope he crushes it. All right. So did any of us get touchdowns? Drew hit with JJ McCarthy with a rushing touchdown. He is up to four points. Matt, a Houston running back did not score a rushing touchdown. So you stay at five.

And you check all of them. All of them did not. And then Trey McBride did not score. So it is 5, 5, 4 in the touchdown. Drew is trying to make a lot. late comeback here at the end of the season. And I think the ones I've hit have been, like, ridiculous. Like, when I pick Josh Allen doesn't hit.

J.J. McCarthy, who got hurt in the first quarter, hits. Makes no sense. All right. Who's the... Who was your Survivor League team? It was the Saints, and they did win. So we move on. Now, do you want me to change the game at all?

Like, you said, I need to pick in categories next week? Well, we'll have... Are we doing a midweek podcast? Have we talked about that? It is Christmas. That's a good question. Yeah, I don't know. Well, just in case we don't, let's go ahead and say, I do think you need to pick in categories.

So what you need to do is first, the way they do this is the Thursday, Friday, Saturday games. Okay, all the games before Sunday. You have to pick one of those. So what are the choices of those games? You've got Cowboys commanders, Lions, Vikings, Broncos, Chiefs, Texans, Chargers. and Ravens Packers. You have to pick one of those. So which one do you want of those?

Well, do I need to go by teams I haven't picked yet, or are they all on the table for me? No, no, you have to pick. It has to be one of these teams, those five games, and it has to be someone that you have not picked. Well, I know I haven't picked that. So who have you picked out of that group? I have picked Kansas City. I have not picked Dallas or Washington. Okay.

Have you picked the Lions or Vikings? I have not picked either of. of those teams. The lines or the Vikings. Texans Chargers? Texans Chargers. Texans Chargers, I've picked both. Okay, so you can't do that one in Ravens Packers?

Ravens Packers, I have picked neither of those teams. All right. So you've got some choices. Who do you want? See, this is a lot on the line here that I'm having to make a decision on the spot. If I haven't picked Denver, then I think that's the choice I got to go here. Denver on the road. You've not picked Denver.

Well, that's certainly the choice. I mean, we've already said they're playing a question. quarterback none of us have heard of. Yeah, so I think I'll pick Denver there for that category. All right. Now you go to Sunday. You're going to need to pick one of these, Sunday or Monday. It has to be somebody you haven't picked.

Okay, somebody I haven't picked looking through this list here quickly. The Titans play the Saints, Drew. How confident are you in Cam Ward right now? Oh, no. You definitely would want the Saints there. I don't like that picking up. Well, I've already picked the Saints, so I can't do that. You know, I haven't picked the Bucks yet.

They have to win on the road in Miami. It would be poetic if they lost, so give me Tampa. Have you picked the Seahawks? Yes, I have picked the Seahawks. What about the Patriots? Yes, I've picked the Patriots. Okay. Well, I wouldn't want to pick Steelers Brown.

Just give me Tampa. I'll go down with the ship if it goes. So give me Denver and Tampa is my two picks. I like those. Denver and Tampa, you could get through this, and then you would be down to the final week. Denver, so your two picks. are Denver and Tampa next week.

And then the next week that all the games are at once, you'd only have one more. Now, again, you missed a couple weeks, and they were the ones where everyone lost. But nevertheless, that wasn't your fault. That was the way the life works. All right, well, I want you all to listen to the New Orleans Bowl. Oh, yeah, we will.

Oh, definitely. I'm missing that. I've got my board. I mean, right now nothing's written on it, but this is what it's going to look like. and you know, you people right now you don't know much about quarterback Braylin Braxton, but you're going to know on Tuesday as he takes Southern Miss against, what is it, Tisdale, the quarterback at Western.

Can I ask you a question, Billy, because no one's answer. Why did they take out their one quarterback and put in Tisdale halfway through the year? He got hurt. Maverick, McGiver. Yeah, because his name was Maverick McIver, which is a great name. The best quarterback. And he put up crazy stats at his last school in Texas. And he put up crazy stats earlier.

He was named like player of the week, three out of the first seven weeks. And I thought he got benched. But him getting hurt actually makes a lot more sense. If I'm not mistaken, Maverick's offensive coordinator came with him from Texas to Bowling Green. That's correct. Yep. Well, see, that wasn't in the notes. So thank you.

Yeah. First time for both of them. Tyson can matter. Yeah, Coach. Maverick's not playing. So it doesn't matter. All right. Well, thank you guys.

very much. We will see you later. This has been NFL cover zero. NFL cover zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin is a production of the NFL and IHeart podcast. For more podcasts from IHeart Radio, visit the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.