KSR - NFL Cover Zero: Which QB would you trust in the playoffs?

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

Matt Jones and Drew Franklin jump into Week 17 with the Bears just falling short against the 49ers.  Week 18 will have a big impact on playoff scenarios and Matt is wondering how many NFC are legit contenders.  The Eagles 2nd half stats and lack of offense has Drew doubting them in the playoffs. Which QB are you going to trust in the playoffs?  Matt highlights teams that have disappointed down the stretch. Matt recaps his first play by play experience and the feedback from fans.  Matt explains some of the 'magic' during the broadcast and how coaches would reveal their game plans.  Looking back at the Christmas NFL games, how did we see two of the best kickers in the league struggle?  The Lions took a bad loss to the Vikings.   Matt feels bad for Travis Kelce's possible last home game at Arrowhead.  The Texans defense could give them a chance in the playoffs.  The Ravens put up a strong game against the Packers.  The Steelers have to be disappointed losing to the Browns.  The Patriots rolled past the Jets.  The Colts have lost 7 of 8...Matt wonders if it was worth it for Philip Rivers.  The Raiders lose and become the favorite for the #1 overall pick.  Plus, Matt reviews some rules for wearing different sports jerseys.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 I-Heart podcast. Week 17, NFL Cover Zero, Matt Jones and Drew Franklin. I hope everybody enjoyed their holiday break from us, and we also enjoyed it. Drew is in Lexington along with Billy. I'm in parts unknown as we, I'm on vacation this week, I couldn't miss week 17.

And Drew, my team just ended a difficult loss to San Francisco that was an awesome game. Another great game that the Bears are involved in. And this time they lose. But I actually feel pretty good about it, to be honest with you. No big deal. Who cares? Yeah, I mean, you lost the number one C, but it didn't hurt you overall. You've already got your division locked up.

that just ended up being a thrilling game. And honestly, I thought what would it be a seventh comeback? I thought the Bears were going to do it when they got the ball back. I thought we were going to see the Caleb Magic one more time there in San Francisco. Yeah, I mean, they had, first of all, how about two major hook and laterals in big games today? I mean, both in the Buffalo game and this one, I thought it was executed. Well, you don't have as much space, though, only on the 12-yard line. And, you know, I mean, maybe you can nitpick and say throw to the end zone there.

But as Shannon Dawson, the Miami offensive coordinator once said when he was at Kentucky, if it had worked you'd liked it. And it almost did. So I can't comply. I mean, look, the Bears were going to be the two seed probably either way, right? Probably. They had a shot at the one seat if they won a night. They didn't.

Now they're probably still going to be the two seed. They're probably still going to have to play Green Bay. So I don't know that it ends up mattering a lot. But also Caleb Williams played well, as did Brock Purdy. They both look great. Yeah, Caleb there at the end, showed off his feet to keep to play alive, just couldn't get that last completion to keep the game going. And you don't have moral victories,

but 49ers could end up being a one seed, and you played them down to the final minutes on their own field where the Super Bowl will be later this year. So you can hold your head high that the Bears are a true contender, even though they weren't able to get it done there in the final seconds. Yeah, I actually for the first time I think they are a contender. I also think they could lose in the first round to Green Bay unless they have to play Clayton Tune. But, you know, I really, I just have enjoyed how much I've loved this Bayer season.

And I legitimately think Caleb Williams is going to be good for like the next decade, which is something at the beginning of the year I would not have said. Yeah, he's been fun all year. Almost came up with another one today. My guy Luther Burden had a big play for you today. I remember shouting him at the beginning of the season. He's been kind of quiet, but he almost had a second touchdown, really turned it on. They're just such a fun young offense.

Even though they didn't win, they're an easy team to get behind, especially you mentioned that hook and ladder, no, it didn't work. What a play call there at the goal line there. Dude, they're just fun to watch. They're just fun. He is. He's guts. And then, you know, you got the tight ends is a rookie.

Luther Burton is like a second year guy. You know, they have all these young guys and they're going to be able to have them together without having to pay them a lot until they have to sign Caleb at some point. So you got to be excited. Now, the 49ers, we will hear this probably 600 times over the course of the next little bit. They're going to get to play every game, including the Super Bowl, on their home field. I actually don't know that it matters that much because I don't really think San Francisco's, I don't know, do you feel like they have a big home field advantage?

I'm saying that as someone who's never been and has no idea, but it doesn't feel like to me they do. I'm driven by the stadium when it was empty. It didn't look that intimidating. So I've got a little bit of credibility there. I don't know. I wouldn't think so that much. I think it's even crazy that they could still end up the one-seed at this point. I know they play Seattle next week. I think it's still win it. I mean, it's crazy they're even in this spot after we've made the Purdy Mac Jones jokes all season. Although tonight I will say there was a separation in Purdy and Mac Jones. He had some special plays tonight that that would be. I agree with you. This was the game where you saw which one was which one was which.

The stadium is in Santa Clara. I will admit, the Bay Area to me, it feels like there are 75 cities that are in the Bay Area. You got San Francisco, Oakland, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, I'm sure there are more. Everyone acts like they're right, the Berkeley, everyone acts like they're right next to each other. So I don't even know if it's really in San Francisco. So no, I don't think that home field advantage is overcoming. Now, they do have to beat Seattle next week to get that. And if they lose, they're like the five seed and we'll end up playing Seattle in the semifinals.

So I don't know that that's a big game next week. Yeah, what are the division? You said the Rams could still, I guess is there a scenario where if the 49ers win and the Rams win? I mean, they're not completely out of it. So those, all three teams, the AFCs kind of is what it is, but the NFC still has a lot of shakeup that could change the complete top seed. By the way, they just announced the schedule. So the Seahawks and the 49ers will play Saturday night,

winner wins the NFC West and likely is the one seed. The Panthers and the Bucks, which we'll talk about in a minute, will play at 430 for the NFC South. And then the Ravens and the Steelers of the Sunday night game, which was predictable because they play for. the division. I feel like the Ravens and Steelers have played on Sunday night 400 times in my lifetime, and they're going to do it again, although I'm excited about that. So do you think the Bears, between the Bears, the 49ers, the Seahawks, and the Rams. So just, and even Philly. So that's five

teams. How many of those teams do you think legitimately can win the Super Bowl out of the five NFC teams? It's weird because, you know, one team might not get a bite. It's hard to see. you who I have it here. But if I could just pick one, I still love the Rams as an outright favorite. The Seahawks just beat them. They're number one right now. I've got to have them in the conversation. And honestly, I really have put the 49ers and bears into, I know it's lame to group all four together, but the way it can still shake out, I don't know who's going to have the home field advantage and where they'll be playing just yet. Those three, I can't differentiate. Yeah, I mean, I think what will be interesting is whoever is the six seat, so whoever comes in third in the NFC West is

going to end up having to play at Philly in the first game, which means for them to go to the Super Bowl, they're probably going to have to win at Philly, at Chicago, and then at whoever wins the NFC West. That road is really, really hard. So, I mean, I don't know which of the teams is going to end up with that, but that's actually the road I think you do not want, which brings me to Philly. They won again. The stats on this are amazing. Ten teams this year, have passed for less than five yards and a half. Philadelphia's done it three times, and they're three and oh in those games.

That's one of the craziest stats. That's got to be one of the craziest stats in the history of sports. Yeah, so it hurts 0 for seven today, count of that. They're only the second team in four decades or something crazy to have lost multiple games or won multiple games by not scoring at all in the second half. He's the first quarterback since 90s.

1972 to win two games in a season where he doesn't have a passing yard in the second half. That's crazy. And even though they've held on to win, that's why I just can't believe in Philly is a contender. If you can have a second half that bad, sure they've lucked into winning two of them with defense. The counterpoint, they won at Buffalo. They won at Buffalo. I mean, they didn't win the game. Like, I mean, on some point they win these games, does that matter?

It's outrageous that they've already won as many as they have. That's why I just can't believe them in the playoffs. If you can have a quarterback that can go 0 for seven in the second half a meaningful game, even though they won, it was a lot of their defense doing it, but Jalen Carter coming back. I just can't believe in the Eagles if they can go with such long stretches without offense. And if they win next week and the Bears lose, they'll be the two seed. So like they would get all the way up to the two seat.

I do think it's, it's, it's, Philly is the most bizarre thing. They are the defending champs. They're the defending champs, essentially have their entire team back, have had relatively few injuries, essentially the same team, and only have five losses. You would think they would be the definitive favorite to win the Super Bowl. Yet all of us act like they are the worst team to ever play. And Jalen Hertz, who had a case last year to be, I think he was the Super Bowl. Bowl MVP, now looks like you playing quarterback. Not me.

I would be better than that. He looks like you, Drew. It is crazy. One of the big reasons that people don't believe in them is Jalen Hertz when he just won the Super Bowl a year ago. He's taken that big of a dip. We just had the big Nike commercials and the big campaign that kind of, he was supposed to make that leap into an elite quarterback.

But right now, if you were drafting quarterbacks going into the playoff, where would you even pick Hertz? I wouldn't be part of my. That's a great question. Well, first of all, he was kind of like this in college, right? So he started really well at Alabama. And then he was awful, like just awful. And he ended up getting benched for Tua.

And then he came back, if you remember, and he won the SEC championship game for them and then played Oklahoma and was good. So he did have a moment in college where he was hideous and then got back good again. So maybe this is just how he is. If you were, okay, so we know basically the playoff quarterbacks. Let's throw in the NFC South and the AFC North.

So let's just say there's 16 teams right now. If you were to rank the quarterbacks going into the playoffs that you trust in order, who's your top five? Who's number one? Is it Stafford, Josh Allen, Drake, May. I think those would be the three contenders. I have, even though May has been incredible, it might be our MVP, I still have to go Stafford and Allen just on the longevity and experience of doing it.

Do you have Stafford or Allen won, though? I'll say Stafford since he's gotten it done. I think you have to say Stafford. Even though I think Josh Allen is better, I think you have to say Stafford because like today in this game, it was there. The throw to win the game was there. I mean, it was completely there. And of course, he takes off his helmet,

is I don't know how these guys, Billy, how do these guys wear a helmet play the whole game, but then when they take it off, the hair's still perfect? How does that happen? Oh, it's not everybody. I mean, there's some messed up hairs out there. But I put my hat on for one second, and it looks like a sweaty, beady mess.

And they literally just take it off, and it still looks like a shampoo commercial. But he takes it off and he cusses. But Drew, it was there. And he did miss him by a little bit. He missed him by a lot. And that wasn't like a tight window where he needs a quarterback to step up and make a play. That was a pretty routine throw.

It was. Wide open. That's so unlike him to miss that. Really, it's unlike any quarterback in the NFL to miss one that routine. And then you have Josh Allen doing it in such a key moment where they really needed that to help their standing. Well, I've seen some dudes playing these last few weeks who could miss it. Clayton, Tune, whatever the dude's name was for Kansas City, Baker, Mayfee, like those. I've seen a bunch of

quarterbacks who have been unable to do anything. The injury report has not been kind of the holiday schedule with some of these primetime matchups. Some of the names we've seen. We'll do the Saturday ones in a minute. That was a murderous row of awful. It's first but back for this thing.

So you'll go with me, Stafford, one. Are you doing Allen or May two? You're going to do Allen? Allen, too. I'm going to say he beat him just last week. It's easy to forget that. So I will go, again, we're just talking about the quarterback. I'd probably go May 3.

Now, is 4 Lamar, Aaron Rogers, Bo Nix, Caleb Williams, Jalen Hertz. Who are you picking number 4? You could have Purdy on that list? Purdy, yeah, for sure. Who's four? I guess we Jordan Love's on that list and then I've seen him in a while

Yeah exactly So that's a tough list I mean that's like seven guys You can make a case for Justin Herbert also on the list He's not for me He had won anything I can't I'll probably

I'll probably go a healthy Jordan love Okay But again he doesn't really win either I just think we have more to come from him I'm going with youth there you know. Also, we didn't say Sam Darnold, who's having an awesome year, even though it's kind of...

Can't trust in a one-off season player. That's a great question. I can't believe I'm going to say this. But I think I'm going Bo Nix. And I would have had Bo Nix 16th about six weeks ago. But I think I'm going Bo Nix because he just keeps winning in these games. He puts up huge points. I want to say Lamar, but he's not healthy.

And he also doesn't really win. consistently in the playoffs. So I guess... Aaron Rogers is taking that spot. Lamar will be on the couch. Oh, see, I disagree. I think I think balls. I mean, Snoop won.

So I think, well, we'll get to Aaron Rogers in that chump job. But I, and then fifth, I don't know, I guess fifth maybe brought Purdy. Is that how you would go? I think you got to go Purdy.

Yeah. That's an interesting question. Which quarterback do you trust the least? It's Baker Mayfield, right? Definitely. Baker at this point. Why is he so bad, Billy? A lot of hate for Baker right now.

I don't know. He's, I don't know if he's trying to do too much or if it's in his head, but he's been awful. Like, there's no other way around it. The defense has been bad, but Baker's been just as bad. At some point, they have to have considered benching, right? Who's your backup? Oh, God.

I mean, I don't even know at this point. Is it the guy from Florida? Is it Trask? Trask is not on the roster. Or it's Teddy Bridgewater who came into the game earlier this year. I would, I think I would put in Teddy Bridgewater. Water. I think I would. I mean, well, let's just talk about that game.

The bucks, let's see, they lose to the dolphins in a game that they were behind from the get-go. All they have to do is beat the dolphins. And they're, well, I guess it ended up not mattering because Carolina lost it. So ultimately, I guess it didn't really matter. But at Carolina won, it would have mattered. and they get destroyed by who was Miami's quarterback? Quinn yours. Quinn yours.

I mean, Quinn Ewers wouldn't have even started at Texas, and he outplays Baker Mayfield. Yeah, they end up getting bailed out by the Panthers, but in the moment they didn't know that result, and they let Quinn Ewers have a huge game afterwards. Your boy, Mike McDaniel, was raving about what a leader Quinn is. I don't know if that was a shot at Tua, but he was just talking about the leadership qualities he has.

I don't know if that's someone they'll trust the future in Miami. When coaches say that, I think they just don't have anything else. He's a great leader. What does that even mean? But, okay, I guess it means Tua doesn't show up to practice on time and stuff like that. Yeah, I think it is more of a shot at Tua. But if you're the Bucks, for Baker, had another, what, three turnover day, and then you let Quinn Uers beat you in a spot that in the moment you thought was to stay alive in the playoffs.

Another huge disappointment stacking up for the Bucks, who've had two completely different seasons this year. Beginning when they're awesome to now, they're just trash. How disappointed are you, Billy? Like, like, how, like, you, I mean, you legitimately, we had long conversations about Baker being the MVP in like week six. And now he, I don't think, would start for the Southern MESS team I saw in New Orleans. Like, how do you process that?

Well, the back half of the season is the season and Bucks fans everywhere know and love and have been watching for the last two decades. I mean, this is predictable for Buccaneers to go seven of their last eight losses and Todd Bowles to be terrible when defense is a specialty. I mean, I was lureding for Seattle to win that game. Or excuse me, Carolina. What was that word? You just said lording?

Excuse me, rooting. I was rooting. I was rooting. Just so Tampa and Carolina wouldn't have this. What words were you trying to say? You combined, what were you going to say it started with an L? You know, I'm not sure. I mean.

You were learning. Okay, so you were learning. I'm just angry at how the season's gone. It's really disappointing. And to the point where I was rooting for Carolina to win the game, so not everybody watched Tampa and Carolina on primetime this next week. I mean, it's going to be embarrassing. 430 games, so that's going to be like the nationally televised game,

which has to be the first time Bucks Panthers. Do you think they let Chris Myers do it? Like, is it like a reward for all he's given to them? the NFC South over the... I mean, he gets bumped for Brady and that... Then he, Kevin Burkhardt, he's got to be pretty upset, right? Like, I've been doing these

Panthers guys. He honestly has an honorary seat in the press box. They've got to let him do it. Yeah, if it's not Chris, it's Kenny Albert. I mean, if it's not one of those two guys, it's going to be disappointing. But they're going to probably, but they're going to big time even let Brady come to Carolina. I don't like it.

It's just Todd Bowles is going to be a coach that could win another division title at eight and nine. Think about that. I mean, Tampa's already done that once winning a conference championship or, excuse me, division title with a losing record. I was trying to look up to who's on the broadcast. I'm not soon to who he had. Well, they just announced the game

times. They probably don't get lucky. Yeah, they probably don't know yet. If there's end up losing by 17 to the Seahawks, let me ask you, what do you think about the two teams, both taking the policy that they would have no announcements or putting on the scoreboard of the score of that game. And apparently in Carolina, the Carolina coaching staff

wouldn't let anyone associated with the team know what was happening for the Tampa game. Do you like that? I get the idea, but it clearly didn't work because both teams played so bad. They weren't being distracted. So maybe they're better off letting them scoreboard

watch on the sideline. In both teams lost, so it doesn't help. It kind of reminds me like in golf, some guys will intentionally not look and others will be paranoid asking their caddy, and actually checking scores the whole way. Some people, their mindset, they want to just be locked on their task at hand

and others want to be aware of everything they need to happen on the outside. Which would you do if you were in golf? Like, would you... See, I think I would rather look, because if I didn't look, I think I would be looking at the people in the crowd's faces and trying to judge their reactions. And then I think I'm even more in my head

than if I just looked on my own. I would have my caddy checking Twitter after every shot on their phone in the golf bag, letting me know everything going on because otherwise I would be making it up in my head. I would be wearing myself out with possible scenarios that were going on that I didn't know about.

By the way, I'm in a hotel right now and the room next door to me, I think has like seven women who are seemingly engaged in a wrestling match or something over next door. Like it's... Do you go check on that? Well, I mean, it's almost midnight.

If we weren't doing this, I might be going, excuse me, like it's midnight now. I mean, because we're doing this, maybe I'm, you know, maybe I'm loud to them. But they are, they are literally, if you hear in the background, cackling and fighting, that's what seems to be happening in the hotel room next to me. I think you would have to, you would have to look. It reminds me of, okay, so for people who don't know, I did, I called my first ever play-by-play game last week for the New Orleans Bowl.

And I honestly didn't know, Drew, whether or not people, like our fans or people online, would be nice about it or not. You know, I didn't know if they were going to be, like, encouraging or be like, you steak, right? So then I was, so I was like, I'm not going to look at my phone during the game at any point. But then I started thinking about if I don't look at it, am I going to wonder, like, what's the reaction? Right. So I decided I compromised and looked like only during like every other commercial break.

And the first time I looked, Drew, I look at it and I have no text messages from anyone. And I get on Twitter and I have like two notifications. and I go, oh, this must mean it's bad. Right, like no one is, everyone is scared to say anything. And then my producer told me, we're not on the air yet. Because the Louisville game had run long. So I was interpreting the silence as like, oh, this must be terrible. Then once the actual game started, I started getting feedback and it made me feel better.

And people were unbelievably nice and positive about it. But I feel like if I was the 49ers, then it would have been like I was with the phone where I was like, this silence is saying something to me. I don't think I could do. So were you just broadcasting to nothing? To know what at all? And let me tell you, that's hard. Because it's like, imagine you were giving the state of the union, but only to Billy. And you had to like, they wanted you to speak majestically, but you knew only Billy was that.

there. Because ESPN wants you to call the game, even if no one's listening, because if a play happens, it's big. They want to have your call, which means you have to act all excited, and you're just looking at Ray there, the engineer, who has a look like he wants to be at home with his family for Christmas. And so you get all energized, and then he just stares at you, and it doesn't feel good. Well, just like Panthers and Bucks, is it better to know you're not on the air or better to just think that you have thousands of people listening so they can still doing your best. When I mentioned, I have no messages. Then my producers says, we're not on the air. And I was like, well, now, you know, you're right. It was worse. Because when we came back from break,

I was much worse because it threw me off trying to talk and not being on the air. So that's a whole thing. I'll also say this. I prepared more. I'll talk more about this later on, but I prepared more for this game that I think like most people prepare for like I prepared like brain surgeons must for brain surgery.

Like I couldn't have done more work. I feel like the quarterback for Western Kentucky Maverick McGuire and the Southern Miss quarterback Brailand Braxton. I feel like they're my family members now. I've talked about them so much.

Did you call them on Christmas just to say hi? I had one of my relatives text me and say, I will remember the name Braylin Braxton until I'm 85 years old, you said it so much. And I, like, those two people, I want Maverick McGibert to be my friend. I said his name 9,000 times. It does give me an appreciation, Drew, for these places. I've been giving Chris Myers a hard time. But I actually have a lot of respect.

That's a hard job, a lot harder than I realized. Last week here on Cover Zero, you showed off your new poster board. It was blank at the time. Didn't use it. Didn't use it? Okay. Did you fill it out at all or did you just fill out and not do it? Nobody told me.

Nobody told me. ESP, it'll make it for you. So I bought those poster boards. Put them in my suitcase. Flew them to New Orleans. Night before I started trying to do it. Here's the first problem. I was trying to like put the boxes.

I don't have the best hand. writing. So my squiggly lines were not straight. So it already looked like a child had done it. And, you know, I messed up and had like marked through it. And then the TV crew who was sitting with me at the meetings was like, you know ESPN will just do those for you. And Renee or Reney, I think, I don't know, he said his name's both Renee and Raney. I don't know which one it is. But he was like, you can just have mine. And he sends it to me. There's a FedEx in the hotel. And then I had my own board, so no one told me that. You're giving away the secrets.

I thought these guys knew everything. They just got ESPN info laying around. There's one guy. I want you to think about this guy's life. There's one guy that makes the play-by-playboards for every college football game every week. So it's a swab? What a genius. I'm serious.

It's his full-time job. He makes the boards for every game. for every announcer. So every ESPN announcer, except apparently one person does their own and they won't tell me who it is. And I'm going to figure it out one day. Everybody uses the same board. Of course, nobody told me.

I was about to make my own one. But there's one guy. That's his entire job is every week he does the boards. And by boards for folks, I mean like who the players are and their stats and their positions. He does it for every college football game every week. They say he works from like Sunday. morning to Wednesday night, 24 hours a day. Well, that takes the charm that I thought was in it.

After I saw your poster board, I thought everyone was like a kid the night before projects do in a hotel room with markers and poster board. I think everybody like makes their own spin on it, but the original like thing you get, the template all comes from the same guy. Is that a job you would want? I don't think I'd be very good at it. You got to be good at things to sell to do something like that. Too lost than the numbers and info would get too boring.

I'd end up messing it all up. Yeah. Well, I enjoyed it. Your Western Kentucky Hilltoppers were a fun team to watch. And, you know, it was a fun, it was an entertaining time. It was the hardest thing outside of writing my book. I'm not kidding you. It was the hardest thing I've ever done.

What was the hardest, like, specific thing? Like, knowing, you know, down and, you know, how far away when? This is getting into the weeds. But, like, you guys might. People might be interested in this. Okay, so first of all, the Superdome, I mean, the view is from Baton Rouge. Like, it's so far away. So, ESPN has its national broadcast, which is its big games.

And you get monitors for those games where you can essentially see the monitor at the same time. But we were on a regional broadcast, which means they use like remote crews, which means your monitor is three-septory. seconds behind, which means you can't call the game off the monitor. You have to call it off the field. Well, I was so far away, I couldn't see, right? So your spotter, he will point to you who caught the ball, who made the tackle. But it takes him a second, right? He's a human being, right? So it takes him a second to, like, figure out on the card. And so you have to call to play live, but do it at a pace to give your guy enough time to tell you who caught it and to tell you who tackled. And sometimes just human beings can't find the name.

And so you have to be like, uh, blah, blah, blah. And then those two teams played fast. And so, like, immediately you were to the next play. Like, Western Kentucky and Southern Miss are two of like the four fastest teams in the country. And that combination, it just felt like somebody was like drilling in your brain constantly nonstop for four hours. So you're ready for the next one, though. You got that out of the way to fast, fast, pace.

I want to do it. Like, I'd like to do it once a year. I would not want to do it every week. I will tell you the coolest thing is interviewing the coaches before the game. Because this is crazy. Like, they will tell you, Drew, what they're going to do. And you have to promise, it's like implied you won't tell the other team. But then the other team's coach will say something, and you'll be like, they'll be like,

well, we think they're going to do this. But you've already heard the coach say they're not going to do it. So, for instance, I knew that there was a very good chance, Billy, that Maver McIver played. He said if Rodney Tisdale struggles at all, we're going to go to McGuiver. But then the Southern Miss coach didn't expect him to play unless there was an injury. So like, you wanted to go, I know, but you're not allowed to do that.

And then they tell you the trick plays. You wonder, see, now I think Tony Romo calling the plays that year, I'm not impressed at all. Because they tell you what they're going to do. Like they told us all those trick plays they were going to run. So because they want the announcers to be able to spot them when they're happening. I wouldn't be able to keep a poker face. If I just had a meeting with one coach and the next one says so long,

I'd laugh or turn red like, no, don't do that. Don't do that. No, no, no, no. Yeah. Different plan. Different plan. But, I mean, like, it's crazy to me that they volunteer the information about the trick plays, right? You got trust the announcers.

So now when you watch a game and somebody goes, I think they're going to go off right tackle here, there's a decent chance, Billy, that they told them that. So now I find Romo much less impressive than I did a few years ago. Do you think that's all coaches or do you think it's just mid-major? Like, do you think that the elite coaches, like Ryan Day is telling the guys that the plays that they're going to run? Or do you think this is more of, like, we're trying to showcase? relationship they have. I mean, it is probably a case that Southern Miss and Western Kentucky are excited about the publicity of a national ESPN game because they were talking to the TV

crew and us. I don't think they would have told just me. I didn't know them. But they knew the TV announcers. And so, yeah, I mean, that's probably true. I don't know Bill Belichick tells his plays to the announcers before the game, but these guys did. And, you know, that was kind of cool. And then it was weird, like, they cuss and stuff. You know, they don't, they're not. They're not on TV, so you see like a different side of their personality too. So I enjoyed that. I did enjoy kind of the behind the scenes. But then he would look at,

he'd say things like, you know, when they come out in the A formation, and then he'd look right at you and I'd go, oh yeah, it's a good one. It's good when they come out that formation. Yeah.

Like you are in the same wavelength? Yeah, that's one of my favorite formations. They need to make sure they, and then the last thing, like half the Southern Miss coaches were going to Memphis after the game. because the coach got hired in Memphis. But they weren't allowed to say it.

So they would act like they were committed to the program. But we knew as soon as the game was over, they were all going to Memphis. So they were talking about like, you know, it's a great place to be. And Ian Fitzsimmons would be like, well, are you going to be at Memphis next year? And he'd be like, you know, go Southern Miss. Got to walk that fine line this season as they have the crossovers all over that sport. Yeah, but I enjoyed it and it was a great experience. All right, let's go to you mentioned the games on Thursday.

Yeah. I mean, your three home teams all had their quarterbacks out for the year. It's supposed to be this marquee day and it was still good. But to have some of the starting quarterbacks we did, it really took away from the excitement. I mean, Chiefs Broncos should have been a great way to end it. But, you know, with Noamah Holmes and Chiefs already out of it, who could have predicted that as your marquee game there. Cowboys commanders, I didn't see any of because my mom made me promise we wouldn't watch any sports until 4 o'clock. She said, why can't we have Christmas

as a family without watching sports? I was late getting to Christmas because of a flight delay. So my mom said no sports until 4 o'clock. So I did not watch sports until 4 o'clock. So I missed it. You probably watched it because your wife likes a team. Was it worth seeing? Yeah, I'm in a Cowboys family. So we plan our Christmas around this. We're glad it was the one o'clock game. We did dinner as soon as it was over. It was all right, kind of entertaining.

Dac had a big game, but we do have one concern. Brandon Aubrey missed another field goal, and I'm starting to worry he's broken. He was automatic for so long. The last couple weeks, he's had more misses than I think he's had in his career. Well, the charges guy did too, Dicker the kickers. So, like, they were the two best kickers in the league, and now they're both, like, clanking them. is it is kicking like can it just get in your head i guess i mean dicker the kicker they basically

lost because he missed yeah obris wasn't as uh as important they still won the game doesn't matter their season's over and it was long it was 50 something but for someone is automatic that was weird and then yeah dickers was a lot more important uh i don't think there's anything to it i still believe as we've seen this year there's something going on with kickers uh they're having a magical season but it was weird and seeing a couple of automatic guys not be so automatic late in the season. Would you give Aubrey, like he wants to be paid like insane. Like he's asking apparently for more money than even than any kickers ever made by a lot.

Would you pay it? I think I still would, but I even said this when he missed again. I thought for a guy that's trying to be the highest paid kicker of all time, he's kind of fizzling out at the end of the season, missing a few here there. But no, I think he's still worth it. he's still, for the most part, consistently automatic from, you know, up to 60, 65. Yeah. I don't know, man.

I mean, I get it, but like the money he's asking. Harrison Butker makes four years $25.6 million on his contract extension he got. He's also not been great this year, right? Like, I mean, he's not, like, he's been fine, but he's not been, especially earlier in the year, he missed some big kicks as, well. So, yeah, maybe when you pay these guys, it goes to their head and they can't kick it as well. I thought the lines losing the Vikings is the most embarrassing loss of the weekend. Lions need to win just to continue.

I mean, if they win, they would have a winner take-all game next week as well against the Bears, and then they lose. It's an embarrassment. You know, there's been a lot of surprise disappointments this year. The Chiefs leading the pack, but I'm almost just as disappointed the Lions. I think maybe I might even pick them to be my Super Bowl or at least the NFC championship out of that side of the league. And I can't believe they've had opportunity after opportunity to stay in the mix.

And they just keep taking bad, bad losses. I mean, you're not even playing nine here. You're playing Brosmer and you can't get the win done. Scoring 10 points, just it's been disappointing to see a team that I thought was going to be legit this year, be so bad. But I'm not sure which is more embarrassing. You know, the offense only scoring 10. What did you? They have six turnovers in that game.

They just kept turning over one after another, yeah. But also then allowing Max Brosmer to score any points. I mean, like, dude was like a mediocre quarterback at University of Minnesota. You give up 23 in a huge game. That was an embarrassing performance. And you do wonder, you can't help but wonder if Dan Campbell, Mr. Bighting the Kneecaps, Metallica, it stares into the abyss, it'll stare into your soul. You wonder if without his two coordinators, I don't know.

Do you think he's still, is he still the guy? Or is it like, you know, maybe he needed those guys? I think he's still the guy, but we're seeing how good Ben Johnson is. There's no doubt that hurt him losing Ben Johnson. But even in some of their bad losses, the offense has scored a lot of points. So it's not just a Ben Johnson thing. The defense has given up a lot in some of their losses. I believe here recently they even had losses with 20-some and 30-some points.

So it's not all on Ben Johnson leaving. But I still believe in Dan Campbell, even though this has just been a horribly bad season given the circumstances. And they've mostly been healthy. They can't blame that. Yeah, you have to wonder about Aaron Glenn. I mean, Jets are bad. But the defense has taken a big drop since he's been gone to.

Broncos beat the Chiefs. It was a brutal game to watch. I feel like Travis Kelsey shouldn't have to go out like that. Like that's the last time he goes to air ahead. He's playing with some guy. the guy's name like Ola Dukin, Ola Doken. What was his first name?

Bart or something. Chris. Chris. Chris Ola Adukin. Where does he play in college? Montana State, I believe. South Dakota State. You can't, if you're Travis Kelsey,

it's Taylor Swift's husband. You can't be going out playing with a Montana State quarterback. He's got to, I feel like just that alone, he's got to come back. On the other hand, why would you come back? Right. Like, I mean, you're going to be part of a couple worth $2 billion.

So maybe why go play with Ola Kandi? So, I mean, you know, I don't know. What would you do if you were him? It seems like the end. There's even people that noticed on his way out of the stadium, he did like a double tap on the wall. It's almost like you would do a goodbye. Like normally walking out,

you don't do that little double tap on the door frame on your way out. But people notice he did that on a very slow walk. out of the stadium that might, and you know, we've all been speculating all year, this could be the end, but even adding to it, what a sad ending this could be. I don't like that they're moving to Kansas either. And I don't like that they're building, I don't like that they're building a dome. I mean, one could argue Kansas City should be in Kansas, but I liked it where it was. And, you know, we've been to Arrowhead. It's got a lot of history. Now they're going to have a dome. That's going to stink. But, you know, I mean, I don't know.

The Chicago Bears decide. We talked about the move in Indiana, that that would be awful. And then Kansas City goes and actually does it. I hate it. I've been there. I've been there many times. As you know, it's one of those iconic venues. The new win, the mockups that they're showing look exactly like every other new stadium.

Texans beat the Chargers on Saturday. Again, we mentioned the kicking. Is Houston have any chance of actually making noise in playoffs? He got a great defense. C.J. Stroud. okay? I'll say, yeah, they have a chance just because of that defense. That defense is special. Stroud's been fine. He had a couple bad turnovers against the Chargers this week. I don't think they can go the whole way, but I mean, that defense will keep them in most games. So I will,

I will say they're good to maybe win one with that defense in the playoffs, but not many more. And Matt, I think you could have done better play-by-play than Rich Eisen for this game. Did you listen to any of that? First of all, I don't need that criticism. Like, you're like, the fourth person that wrote me and goes, well, at least you're better than Rich Eisen. First of all, Rich Eisen is a fellow ESPN radio employee and an employee of the NFL. So, you know, everybody should be nice to Rich Eisen. Ravens Packers, you know, nice to see the Ravens get a victory. I cannot believe the Packers gave up 41 points to that Ravens team.

I know they were playing backup quarterback, Clayton Thune or Toon. I love that these dudes are all having to play. But still, you can't give up 41 if you're that defense, can you? My guy, Derek Henry is special. It felt good to see King Henry again. They have four touchdowns, 200-some yards. He was the whole story. A week after losing a game because they wouldn't give Henry the ball.

It was all Derek Henry in this one. Even though your boy, Tyler Huntley still played well, it was the Derek Henry show. that's why they won. I did like John Harbaugh said he regretted not giving him the ball the week before. That was good for the coach to admit that. I like when people admit their mistakes. Derek Henry was amazing. Eighth time in his career, he's gotten over 200 yards in the game. That's the most of anybody to ever do that. You don't have any mixed emotions about the fact you let him go and he does this. It haunts me. I mean, now it's like a, it's a thing.

There's a tweet out now that's going viral about how the Titans should still have Derek Henry, AJ Brown. I saw that. Mike Brable. People including Malik Willis. Yeah. Mike Vrable. I mean, there's several defenders they let walk that went on to have big

gears. We've got guys scattered everywhere that should still be on the team. Yeah. That's tough because the thing is they're right about all those. You should have. Jonas Smith. Yeah. Go to Sunday.

Brown's beat the Steelers. Another kind of pitiful performance. All Pittsburgh's got to do is when. It's not like Chodor does a lot, but Pittsburgh had no offense at all. They did have a great drive there at the end, but we're not able to put it in the end zone. You know, Mike Tomlin, everybody, me included, praise the demon for yet another nine-win season, and then all you got to do is go win in Cleveland, and they don't. And then Miles Garrett accuses them of being more concerned about not letting him beat the sack record than winning the game,

which I love that amount of sort of self-absorption by Miles Garrett. I enjoyed that. Yeah, the Steelers are pretty banged up. D.K. didn't help them getting that suspension. They lost their tight end to an injury. But they also just ran into Harold Fanon Jr. Another touchdown for Harold Fanon. He's the reason the Browns got here, but I'm with you.

I think everyone just penciled in. The Steelers went in this one and locking down a playoff spot. Huge choke job. But now the pressure is on. They're heading home. But still, you're getting a round. Ravens team that is desperate and just played well. So Steelers absolutely dropped the ball here.

Found it interesting that Shador played against, or Aaron Rogers played against Shador and Dion. So that had to have been pretty cool for A-Rod today, getting... Yeah, so I played an interview on my ESPN show that was great. They asked Shadour about that. And he got, they're like, do you think it's cool? You mean playing it, somebody played against your dad. And his answer was, you know, I'm in the locker room and there's a lot of old guys everywhere.

That was his answer. which I thought was oddly disrespectful to everyone involved, from Aaron Rogers to the people in his locker room, to just anyone over the age of 30. He was just like, there's just a lot of old guys everywhere. That's exactly what he said. Shadur's been ducking every question since he's taken over the job,

but I feel like that one he could have easily answered. Like, yeah, this is a cool moment. My dad played against him. I'm playing against him. How neat. No, I didn't want to give him anything. I do wonder, I mean, I'm making fun of my, Miles Garrett, but he might have been right because, you know,

Strahan got the, got the record on FAR, after Farv sort of took a dough, a dive. I wonder if Aaron Rogers didn't want to, like, do the same thing and have it be two, even though he's not a Packers quarterback now, two of them do it. Patriots and the Jets, I looked up at one point today, early in the red zone, and it was 35 to three. So I'm going to assume that's essentially what continued to happen. I did hear an interesting story about the Jets. There's a Jets bar in New Jersey where Jets fans get together.

And the bar has a rule that the first beer cannot be bought until the Jets score a touchdown, which I think is a bad rule for a restaurant to do. But what it ends up doing is people come in before the game and have, beer because they know that they might not score a touchdown. So today, I had a friend that was there, and they were down 42 to 30, but the fans are still yelling at the TV, hope, and when they score the touchdown to make it 4210, the place went nuts because they were finally allowed to buy a beer. Yeah, they didn't score to the fourth quarter.

That's kind of sad. It just adds to the sad Jets fan existence, but I guess when you're that bad, You have to create clever games like that to keep everybody entertained. So is that brilliant or stupid marketing? Because it could be brilliant. A, we're talking about it. B, people drink a lot before the game to kind of get ready for it. And then it also keeps people's interest so that when they finally score,

you get more beer, although the Jets have had three games this year where they did not score Techdown. Yeah, I was just pulling up the Jets schedule here. They've had several games where they haven't scored some. I'm going to say it's a bad idea, but I like that they're trying it. You need some excitement there. They had their 16th game in a row without an interception today extending their record. I mean, they can't even intercept a pass. Maybe it should be you can't buy beer until we intercept a pass.

So are they going to go the whole season and not intercept a pass? I mean, that's insane. There's only one game left. On that note, they trained at Soss Gardner. Did you see that Soss Gardner has gone one and seven with both teams? the Jets traded sauce Gardner when they were one in seven and the Colts are one in seven since adding him. So he was part of the interception problem

and he just took it to Indianapolis. I did not see that. That's bad mojo. The Saints, Tyler Shuck, wins his four straight game. I got sent a tweet that said, Tyler Shuck is the only NFL quarterback who's already on record with his 2028 presidential endorsement. He apparently endorsed Kentucky Governor Andy Bashir.

So I like that. You know, he's won four straight games. He's already gotten his presidential endorsement. You know who his agent is, by the way? No. John Rabinowitz, who most of you may know as Morgan and Morgan guy. I know John. I saw him at John Michael Montgomery a few weeks ago.

So those of you all around the country who see Morgan and Morgan ads, you may not have known that Tyler Shuck, not only is he already endorsed the presidential candidate, he also, his agent is Morgan Morgan, which I kind of think is awesome in its own way, right? Well, that's a good guy to represent because he might be your rookie of the year with the way he's been winning lately. He's turned it on and looking like a franchise QB for the Saints. That's probably more Tyler Shuck than I've ever watched with him playing my Titans today. I like the idea that a guy would get his agent by looking at the billboards driving on his way. Hey, there's the guy.

I'm going to get that guy to be my agent. I mean, we know, we know Jobbittance, and he's very smart. But I was shocked when I saw that he was his agent. He's a plaintiff's lawyer. And he ended up as Tyler Shuck's agent. So I don't know. Shucks got a little groove. I kind of like him.

Jaguars win again. Are they a Super Bowl contender? Well, earlier when we were ranking our quarterbacks, I'll be honest. If we were doing a recency bias, Trevor Lawrence would have been high on the list because he's been incredible for five or six weeks now. Jags just keep winning. I don't think he'll win it, but I've been shout him out every week and I'm going to keep doing it.

The Cohen coach of the year candidacy should still be on. He's the first coach to ever take a four-win team, turn him into a 12-win team. It's just been remarkable what they've done without even using their top draft pick who's been injured all year. And still, I think, don't they still have it? No, they lost their chances of one seat. But they can be the two-seat. in the playoffs, depending on what happens with the Patriots.

Was it worth it for Philip Rivers to come back? He's gone 0 and 3, but he's played pretty well in the games. He's kind of given old middle-aged chubby guys hope in life. But he has to postpone his Hall-Fame candidacy for five years, and he hasn't won a game. Do you think it was worth it? I think it was. It was a fun story, especially I'm a Coltator, and I enjoyed watching the game.

But was it worth it for him? Yeah, he looks pretty emotional. in this final interview today, he all but said it's worth it. You know what he said when he came back, wanting to set an example for the players he coaches and then his 20 kids. I think, even though I didn't win a game,

I think most people would say he did better than anyone expected. So I would say. Oh, yeah, I would definitely say that. Definitely did better than it. Certainly I expected. The Raiders, they won by losing, right? Because now they're going to get the number one pick almost certainly.

They'll get to pick whatever quarterback they want. Brady will get to pick a quarterback. I mean, they should have lost, right? Yeah, and Gino's so bad. I mean, love you, Gino. It was a good run. You had some great years where he surprised everyone. He looked bad today.

We saw a little more Kenny Pickett. The Giants, I think, had lost 13 or 14 straight road games, so they broke that streak. Somebody had to win this one. It was just an ugly game, really, but the Giants poured it on them. I was driving to the airport listening to the NFL Radio Red Zone. And they're only two games in the late set. So because of that, especially for like 20 minutes, it was all Raiders, Giants, radio. And the Raiders radio is one of the sadder sounds I've ever heard.

Like they know they stink. They're trying to argue that they're not trying to lose and then they're playing poorly. So they're like, we're really not trying to lose. And then they start losing. And then the announcer goes, but it's kind of. good that we're losing. But I want to be clear we're not trying to lose, but we're being successful losing. And I was like, dude, just give it up. First of all, who's listening to the Raiders play besides me? And secondly, it's the right thing for them to do. And for the Giants, that you don't

need a quarterback. So what difference does it make if you pick second, third, or fourth? Yeah, you know, Vegas Radio, they're probably thinking of all the things I could be talking about in this town right now. I mean, take me anywhere. I can do live radio about something going on. I got to sit here and talk about Gino Smith and Kenny Pickett. Yeah. Our boy, Wondell Robinson made history for the Giants. Thousand yards. Yeah. The shortest, shortest player to ever get 1,000 yards at 5'8. It's never been done before. Is that right? I didn't know he was the shortest player ever to do. Shortest receiver to hit a thousand yards. So shout out to Juan. That's a really interesting stat. I hadn't.

I had no idea. So now you got the game set up for next week. We will do a preview, midweek. How did you do? Did you stay alive in the Survivor Bill? Well, I had to pick two, and Denver did hit for me, but my own team, Tampa Bay, knocks me out of the Survivor Pool after their loss. You went a long way. That's a long trip. Now, granted, you missed a couple weeks, but still, to do it, that is a very long trip. You have to be proud of yourself. What about our touchdown pool? The touchdown pool that we, that, uh, Let's see that we did not do. Look at him.

I know that the spotter hasn't picked who made the tackle yet. I know that you didn't look, did you? Well, did we do it because we did not do a preview episode for this one. There you go. Yeah. I couldn't remember who I had either. So it's actually my fault because we ended up not doing it because of Christmas. You're exactly right, Billy.

I'm unorganized, but I'll get there. Don't worry. I also had one more thing for you. It was a trick question. I knew he hadn't done it. I wanted to see if you were paying attention. One more thing for you guys. I saw a guy in a Devante Smith jersey at the gym this morning.

Do you guys wear jerseys? Is it acceptable to wear jerseys after a certain age? Well, first of all, two questions. Yes, I think it's acceptable to wear football. So in my opinion, you can wear a football jersey if your team is playing that day. Okay. Okay. to the game.

Okay. And then baseball, I'm kind of anti-wearing baseball jerseys because I don't think they make anybody look good. But like, if you're going to a game, you can never wear a basketball jersey. That's my theory. But to a gym. To a gym. Was he working out in it?

Yes. You can't do that. That's weird. Working out in a football jersey? Yes. Yes. That's weird. Did not approach it to say that.

Do you agree or disagree with that, Drew? I agree. I have a few Titans jerseys and I only wear them at a Titans game, usually like over a hoodie or something. I would never wear them anywhere else and I certainly wouldn't wear them to the gym to work out. That seems weird. Of all the things to put on, why would I want a big bulky football jersey at the gym? When I see people wearing a football jersey and it's not to a game, I assume that. they smell.

I'll give you to a sports bar while your team's playing as a close second. I agree. Because I consider a sports bar almost like you're going to the game. Yeah. But if I see someone walking down the street in a football jersey, I don't know why I think they smell, but I kind of think they smell. And I'm not sure if that's a, I don't know if that's a bad stereotype by me, but do it, am I wrong?

Well, it's probably because you're assuming that they wore it to a game and there's not a game going on. So they're still wearing it from either the past Sunday or the day before. I just also think the material is not good for like water absorption. I would argue hockey sweaters are the best

looking of all uniforms to just wear as a general person. Do you agree with that? Yeah. And with some football jersey, especially if you go authentic, they have like a to actually put the shoulder pads walking around, almost like you're just left practice or something. They can overdo it a little bit.

But you can wear a hockey jersey. Do you tie the string there in the middle? Yeah, I actually think they look good. I kind of think actually, now, by the way, these are the rules for men. I think it's completely opposite for women. For women, I think basketball jerseys are fine. And I actually think women look pretty good in hockey sweaters as well.

I don't know if I've ever seen a woman wear a woman. baseball jersey. I don't think they would wear it because they're not flattery, not anyone. And then football's probably fine. But actually, I think women can wear basketball jerseys. Men, I do not think, are allowed to. Bill, do you have any bucks jerseys? Oh, yeah. I've got a Tom Brady jersey I'll wear. I got a Western Kentucky basketball jersey that I'll have to wear for you sometime, Matt. No sleeves and all. Why would you do that? Why do you have that? I don't know. Same thought process.

this is Drew, you know, you kind of wear a sweatshirt and you wear it over the shirt. Men should not wear basketball jerseys unless they're in the game. I'm really am. I mean, children, okay. But when you are 18, you should never as a male wear a basketball jersey again. You look ridiculous. And I even mean like, like, I can't think of one person that's an adult that wears a basketball jersey that does not look ridiculous. What about when they're wearing it something that's not a game or anything athletic?

No t-shirt under. I'm just letting my arms and everything, everything show at the grocery or at school. You should be punished for wearing a jersey period. A jersey with nothing on under it, you should be sentenced to prison. Prison. I hate it. I hate it. It's a good rule.

And I also say, if you do do it, you better be very thin. because nothing looks worse. I'm not trying to be mean. We all know this is true. And I have friends who wear them. And I have a friend who listens to this that wears them. And I'm going to say to you, you are my friend. I am talking about you right now.

Stop. You have children. All right. Next week, we're all wearing our favorite jerseys. I'm not what. You will never see me in a basketball jersey. I didn't like wearing them when I played. I'm certainly not going to wear them now.

All right. Well, thank you guys very much. We will be back Wednesday to get you prepared for week 18. Now that the schedule's out, this has been a fun edition of 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

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