Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - AFC Squad: Week 13 AFC Recap, Which AFC Playoff Teams Would Best Represent In Super Bowl?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Week 13 around the AFC had everything that you could have hoped for, and James Winston just threw another interception. It's time for the AFC squad. You are talking ball with the AFC squad, sponsored by game time. From the chiefs to the Bills, the Ravens to the Texans, and everyone else around the AFC, it's the local experts of the Locked-on podcast network, bringing you spooks, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming weekend for hard-hitting AFC football. with our harder hitting takes.

Starting point is 00:00:30 Buckle up, it's the AFC Squad, and we have a seat for you. No hurt feelings allowed. Squad up. You're part of the AFC Squad. What's up, everyone? Welcome into an AFC Squad episode here. We're in the month of December. They've got us back off.

Starting point is 00:00:45 See a special thank you to our sponsor over there at Game Time. Today's AFC Squad Show is also brought to by friends over there at Fandul. Get a big return this season on Fandul. New customers can place a $5 bet, and you'll get started with $150. bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet visit fan dole.com to get started welcome into the AFC squad. Sit back, grab your favorite beverage and join

Starting point is 00:01:06 us as we get you ready for another wild week across the AFC week 14 but before we can get to that we've got to recap week 13. Let's go around the horn here, rapid fire fashion. I'm Cody Work host of Lockdown Broncos joined today by Star Stodied Cash. John Butchko of Locked on Jets

Starting point is 00:01:22 David Droganmeyer of Locked on Chargers. Mike DeBate Locked on Patriots. Kevin Ostriker Locked on Ravens and Chris Carter locked on Steelers. So you got some AFC West representation, AFC East representation, and the AFC North. This is, hey, this is fun. The South decidedly not to show up this week. But you know what?

Starting point is 00:01:39 We're going to bring the heat here on today's show. Let's go around the horn here. We'll kick things off. John Butchco, you know, the New York Jets had a very enigmatic performance against the Seattle Seahawks. You know, a little bit of a high. Like, oh, they're up 216, and then the Seahawks came storming back. Your quick thoughts, quick takeaway on what happened in that game. in a wheel around the horn.

Starting point is 00:01:59 I mean, the Jets in that game returned to kickoff for a touchdown. They recovered two fumbles off kickoff. They blocked an extra point, so you can't blame the special teams. You know, it's the story of the season for the Jets. They just find new ways to lose every single week. You know, when they get behind early, they get blown out. When they take a lead early, they find a way to blow the game. It's just a really, really bad football team.

Starting point is 00:02:23 You know, anybody who was expecting anything different coming out of a box, I think at this point was fooling themselves. This is a team that entered the season with sky high expectations, and they're going to pick in the top 10 in the NFL draft, maybe the top five, just a, just an awful football team. Well, hopefully Mike Tanabom has no say in who they draft this in offseason. It's going to be wild there. But, you know, Arrow Riders has offered a solution here to New York Jets fans.

Starting point is 00:02:48 He's got a new documentary coming out on Netflix called Enigma, and he's encouraged people. You could take some ayahuasca with it, and you can go back and see exactly the darkness or treat, and maybe there's a vision you can, find on the Jets season and what's lying ahead. But John Bush is going to have you covered every single day, locked on Jets.

Starting point is 00:03:03 Let's kick it over to David Droganmeyer of Locked on Chargers. The Chargers going on the road in and beating Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons who were coming off of a little bit of a by week. They maintained 1713 here in this game. A pick six, kind of a deciding factor in this game. And, you know, it's got a lot of people on the NFC side wondering if Kirk Cousins is finished. Did the Chargers put the nail in the coffin?

Starting point is 00:03:24 Yeah, like James Winston, I'm sure Kirk Cousins is hoping that. You know, everyone delivers him from pick sixes. And, you know, that was definitely a huge part of this game because he threw four interceptions in this game, including the one at the end by Derwin James that sealed a victory. The Chargers defense is the reason why they won this game. The Chargers offense was Ladd McConkey and Justin Herbert and then everybody else. Ladd McConkey had over 105 receiving yards at halftime. And you slowed down a little bit towards the in the second half because he is dealing with some injuries. I mean, it's a big thing for the Chargers.

Starting point is 00:03:59 Their offense has just been very sluggish. Thankfully, this year they actually have a real defense that can back them up and can really pull them out of the deep water when they don't have it. So that's playing complimentary football. And that's why they're sitting here at 8 and 4. AFC West is becoming a little interesting here, David. I know it's going to spice up a little bit towards the end stretch of the season. Let's kick it over now to Mike debate, locked on Patriots.

Starting point is 00:04:22 Mike, Broncos country was hoping that the Patriots will find a way. against the Indianapolis Colts there. They lose 25, 24. Just a little bit of a heartbreaker in the eyes of everyone at Denver there, Mike. What's going on in the Wingland? Yeah, well, snatching victory from the hands of defeat. Snatching defeat from the hands of victory than New England Patriots had it in their grasp, Cody, and they just couldn't get it done, not only for Broncos country,

Starting point is 00:04:47 but for a lot of other hopefuls out there that were hopeful that the Patriots could put away the horseshoe and make it one less team contending for that final playoff spot. But look, you can say all you want to about the New England Patriots being ill-prepared and having penalties be the problem. I preached that last week here on the squad and not being able to rise to the challenge. But ultimately, I mean, you allow your opponent in your home stadium to march 80 yards, 19 plays, grind that final drive out. And then, for good measure, put in a two-point conversion that not only gives the team the lead, but the victory, and then have to rely on a Hail Mary type 68-yard field goal attempt from Joey Sly,

Starting point is 00:05:28 which was a near impossibility. This is the reality for the New England Patriots. John talked earlier about not a very good football team for the New York Jets. There's seedlings of hope for the future for New England, but not right now. This is just a very poor football team with only a couple of bright spots to cheer for right now. Get Drake May some weapons.

Starting point is 00:05:48 I'm going to be pounding the table for that all up. Amen. Speaking of weapons, the Ravens lose one in DeA. Johnton Johnson. Kevin Ostriker locked on Ravens in a battle of the two MVPs that we talked about last week, Sequin Barclay versus Lamar Jackson. The Ravens fall a little bit short 24 to 19 to Jalen Hertz and Sequin there. I mean, obviously this was a tough matchup. Regardless, it was fun. It was build there, you know, some back and forth action here. But how do the Ravens respond from this one? It's tough. You know, the bye week, I know when you look at the schedule when it first comes out, you look at a week 14 by week. You're like, man, that's super late. Like you got to Google. through all these, all these games and get all these physical games under your belt before you actually get to a break. But speaking of weapons, Cody, the one that the Ravens seem to have lost is Justin Tucker. He's the worst kicker in the league this year. He's missed 10 kicks.

Starting point is 00:06:38 The Ravens lose by five against Philadelphia. He leaves seven points on the board. And in the Ravens five losses, it's been by a combined 22 points. Justin Tucker's missed a combined 22 points worth of kicks. Now, was it all on Justin Tucker? Of course not. Lamar Jackson on the off offense stalled out and put Tucker in that position. But obviously, if you're Justin Tucker, you do have to execute. And so now you're kind of talking about, like, what do you do now? Because I don't know about you guys, but the kickers out there, it's Randy Bullock, and Kate York.

Starting point is 00:07:09 Like, you're not really going to be able to sign anybody in December that can take it in the promised land, let alone someone that has the resume of a Justin Tucker. So the Ravens are kind of stuck right now between a rock and a hard place because it's like, do you ride it out with someone who clearly is in his own head? about everything, or do you try to bring somebody else in, at least just for competition's sake. So it's difficult because, you know, the Ravens for a decade plus, you could go, Justin Tucker helps on that field, regardless of where he was. You could put your groceries away, get him from the car.

Starting point is 00:07:38 You come back, the Ravens would have three points. Doesn't matter where he is. But now even on extra points, you know how you kind of lean with the ball a little bit to see if it goes in or not. Like, that's what we're experiencing here in Baltimore. It's a very odd feeling. It's a very uncomfortable feeling. and it's just really sad to see Justin Tucker has met so much to the city and franchise struggle so badly.

Starting point is 00:07:56 It's rough. Part of me also wants to wonder, is it a curse for Justin Tucker mocking Russell Wilson on the whole let's ride thing? Or is it the playoffs? Is it the moving the balls or like, you know, getting in the way of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey? Is it a Taylor Swift curse? Is that patriculated down to Justin Tucker? Everyone wants to know. We'll do a research on that. There will be a 30 for 30 documentary on that one day. We're going to kick it over now to Chris Carter, one of the hosts here on the show who also was in a game where there was some cardiac entertainment here, back and forth, a shootout inside the AFC North. They outlast the Bengals 44 to 38 and really kind of put the nail in the Bengals season. It's not official yet, but man, we say it every week, that life support, it's like, all right, there's a breath. But it, is that the going breath or is it we still have hope breath?

Starting point is 00:08:44 I think the Steelers kind of delivered a little bit of a hard punch here, no matter what Joe Burrell. Bengals team tried to do. The Steelers just simply were too much. They out, they outpowered them. Before I start about the Steelers, Cody, you got, it's the wrong curse. It's the Craven curse. Ever since Justin Tucker's appeared in that Craven commercial for that terrible looking movie. That's what started all of these problems. There's a reason they released the first eight minutes on YouTube of that movie. He's just like, hey, just come get it what you can. Anyways, the Steelers had a huge win this past weekend. It was a win that they needed to have.

Starting point is 00:09:18 but that when they delivered it, it was such a finite punch against with the Bengals because now it's come out and saying, hey, everyone said, oh, this offense can't score against anybody. Now all of a sudden, Darren Wolofsky's backing up and saying, well, I guess they could do it to the Bengals. But this is an offense that's shown like, hey, in years past, how many times the Steelers play the worst defense in the league and still come up with 19, 20 points? Now they're putting up 44 points. And now they're fine.

Starting point is 00:09:45 Russell's reading there. And I think what people should take away from this. is when you look at how the Steelers played in this game early on, you notice all the checkdowns, the hitting the running backs early on, they were intentionally saying, we're going to take what's there. Because the Bengals are coming up, they said, hey, we're going to stuff the run, and we're going to guard the jump ball, because that's what you want to do.

Starting point is 00:10:04 You want to throw deep balls, and you want to run the ball. So the Steelers said, okay, we'll take the underneath stuff. And then in the second half, the Bengals were like, I guess we've got to take the way of the underneath stuff. And then all of a sudden, George Pickens gets a deep ball down the sideline, and you're starting to get Van Jefferson, Van, Van, Van, Van Jefferson for 43 yards. Like that's how bad it got in that one.

Starting point is 00:10:22 And I think what the Steelers are showing now on offense is that they can do multiple things in an efficient manner. They can run the ball. They've had three straight games with Najee Harris getting over 100 yards. And they had a really dominant day on the ground on this one. They can throw the ball deep. They can throw the ball short. They can hit their tight ends, their receivers. And that's what's making them a really difficult team.

Starting point is 00:10:44 And the problem is now they're the number 10 scoring team in the NFL. which in my book, I said they were going to be a problem if they got to 16. If they got to like middle of the league with their defense, that's a problem in of itself. But now you're looking at a team that still has, I think, the sixth best scoring defense in the NFL right now. And they're about to get Alex Highsmith a huge piece of their defense that I've been missing for basically like, you know, most of the season.

Starting point is 00:11:10 This is a team that is incredibly balanced and I think is a lot more dangerous than anyone wanted to give them credit for all season. season long. And right now, if they can win this game Sunday against the Browns, they'll put themselves in prime position to only have to do a little bit more just to clinch the division. Now, Russell Wilson's playing well right now. It's nice to see him having success in Pittsburgh. And you mentioned the words brown and you mentioned prime. Well, the Browns, they ran in some prime time action. A Monday night football thrill of the Debra Broncos improved to eight and five match to win total from last year behind Bo Nix, who connected with Marvin Mims on the 93 yard touchdown. The Broncos defense for as bad as it was on Monday night football. football found a way to make some terrific plays at the end. It was a little weird, allowing Jerry Judy to go off for a career high. And obviously, he went from 30th ranked in terms of receiving guards, the NFL going into the game to now he's fifth after just one game here. They should have found a way to keep Pastor Tan on him longer, but it was hard without Riley Moss there.

Starting point is 00:12:05 But obviously, the Bronco is finding way to be a resilient team. Bo Nicks looking well. I know we talked about him last week. Denver's in a position right now. They're in that seventh spot of the wild card race. And they got a little bit of cushion there. So things are exciting in the Mile High City. That was an electrifying game there.

Starting point is 00:12:20 Broncos defense, two pick sixes. I mean, that tough to do there. High scoring game, though, Broncos outlast the Browns. We recapped our teams that were obviously here in the AFC show from week 13. And now we're going to also ask the question here on today's AFC squad show. When you look at the division leaders right now in the AFC, is there a team right now who's leading division that will be a representative in the Super Bowl this year? We'll debate and discuss here on today's AFC squad show, part of Lockdown podcast.

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Starting point is 00:15:22 But the question is, will any of these current leaders right now in these respective divisions across the AFC, east, northwest, and south maintain their spot and maybe even represent in the Super Bowl in February? We'll throw it here on today's AFC Squatchery, your part of the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Just a reminder, you can get coverage of your favorite team every single day, wherever you get your podcast also from the respective hosts that are here today on the show. Let's go a little rapid fire here, gentlemen, because right now, obviously, when you look

Starting point is 00:15:49 at how the AFC. is broken down. Seeds one through four. You're going to look at obviously Kansas cities there, the Buffalo Bills, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Houston Texans, and the AFC South there at the bottom and the four seat.

Starting point is 00:16:01 Will any of these representatives be in the Super Bowl this year when you look at it? I think everyone's odds on favor, you look at it. A lot of people are going to say, hey, Kansas City. A lot of people that maybe aren't fans of the teams that you guys cover are going to say, hey, yeah, probably Kansas City. But when you look at it, like the Chiefs, they were the favorite coming into the year.

Starting point is 00:16:19 What about the bills, the Steelers or the Texans. Let's go rapid fire here. John, who do you think? And then we'll throw it to Dave. We'll just go in order. We'll go rapid fire. And then we'll even look at some of the teams that are, you know,

Starting point is 00:16:29 in those wild card spots. Do they also have a chance? I would go with Buffalo right now. I think they've been the most consistent team through the season. Their top six in scoring offense, top six in scoring defense. They've got six wins by double digits so far this year. I know a lot of people will look at Kansas City, but, you know, chiefs aren't really,

Starting point is 00:16:49 Even though they keep eking out these wins, they're not playing at a super high level right now. I mean, I think the performances that get you by Carolina, the performances that get you by the Raiders, they aren't going to get you by Buffalo. We saw that a couple weeks ago. You know, look, I understand that Buffalo's got the history in the playoffs against Kansas City, but we've seen this through the history of the league. You always say this team can't win the big game until they do. I mean, people said this 20 years ago about the Colts how they could never get through New England. And then they did. people said in in the 90s, the 49ers could never beat the Cowboys.

Starting point is 00:17:20 94, they did. Look, it's going to be a really tough playoffs. I think there are a lot of teams in the AFC that could go far. I think getting the one seat is going to be really important this year. And even though Kansas City's got the lead right now, I don't, I kind of like Buffalo's chances to get it. The bills have a tough game in a couple weeks at Detroit, but they're finished. Their final three games are New England. It would be a preview.

Starting point is 00:17:41 And Kansas City, they still have to play the Chargers. They still have to play the Steelers. They still have to play Denver again in debt. Denver. So I think Buffalo, you know, potentially could get the one seed, and that's going to be really important because that gets you out of the wildcard round. And, you know, I think all three of the AFC wildcard games are going to be really tough on the home team. You know, even if you win, you may face an opponent that takes a lot out of you. So, look, a lot of ways this could go. You can't bet you know, you can't count out Kansas City. You can't count out Pittsburgh. Can't count out a lot of teams. But I think Buffalo is the odds on favorite. David, how are you feeling? I mean, we mentioned the bills, Steelers, and Texans. But even like right now, you look at the wild car teams, it's the wild car teams. It's the. Ravens, Chargers, Broncos, going to throw it here because we're in that category. Do the Chargers have a chance to represent in the Super Bowl this year?

Starting point is 00:18:24 Where are you gauging at with, you know, with where they're at, considering where their offense has been? Yeah, I like the, like the fact that the Chargers have a legitimate head coach here, and it definitely has been a huge difference in the culture. You know, the Chargers are a different football team than they were last year. They're a much more physical team. They're much more well disciplined. They are prepared. Every single game, they show up.

Starting point is 00:18:45 They don't look like, you know, they're a lot. out of place, which I could not say in previous years. So I like the direction that they are going. I don't think they have enough firepower on the offensive side to be able to put up the amount of points it's going to take in the playoffs for them to get there this year. Now next year, after the Chargers have $100 million in cap space and a bunch of picks, then yeah, they can definitely load up. And I think be in a much better position to go out there and vie for a Super Bowl.

Starting point is 00:19:12 But I think for me on the, in the AFC side, it's two teams. the Buffalo Bills and it's the Pittsburgh Steelers. I think the Pittsburgh Steelers, now that they got things going offensively, they've always been physical, they've always been tough on the defensive side. Now that that offense is starting to match things up, I mean, they're a scary opponent for anybody to go up against. And the Buffalo Bills, I think, has already shown that, you know, they can beat anybody. You know, they beat the Kansas City Chiefs.

Starting point is 00:19:38 And to me, like the Kansas City Chiefs are finding ways to win games, but they don't look like at anywhere as dominant as they have in the, the, you know, years before. Now there is something to knowing how to win and going out there and finding ways to get things done. But in the manner in which they're doing it does not give me a lot of confidence that when, you know, the margin for error gets ratcheted all the way down, that they're going to be able to put it together in those critical games against the opponents like the Buffalo bills and the Steelers that can score anytime they need to. Mike DeBator, are you going to make it two for two on the ASEE side and go with the Buffalo

Starting point is 00:20:14 bills here out of all the seven teams right now? the AFC black picture, who do you think will best represent or who do you think will represent in the Super Bowl? If you had to give a little bit of a too early prediction here. Yeah, I'm going to go with John on this one, Cody. I definitely am going to go with the Buffalo Bills. Look, there is something to be said about to be the man, you've got to beat the man, to quote Rick Flair. And I've done that several times here on the squad. Kansas City is still the defending champions, and they always have that chance.

Starting point is 00:20:39 You've got Patrick Mahomes. You've got Travis Kelsey. You've got a phenomenal Spagnolo defense. You still always have a chance to win any game. in. So until they're officially eliminated and done, I don't think anybody can count them out. But the one thing that I like about Buffalo that I'm seeing this year is a resilience that we haven't necessarily seen from them in recent years. Joe Marino talked about this a couple of weeks ago. This was supposed to be Buffalo's closed window. Everyone was talking about Miami,

Starting point is 00:21:05 maybe even the Jets, taking the division from Buffalo this year because of the losses they sustained. They came back with a solid resolve, and now that defense is starting to get healthy. coming back in to provide some continuity and some stability to that defense. So you're getting this team now that looks to be, not only playing their best football, but their best football may still be ahead of them. And that's a scary thing for the teams in the AFC right now. A lot of talented teams.

Starting point is 00:21:34 You guys mentioned the Steelers. You guys mentioned, obviously the Chargers are another team that I think could make a little bit of noise. I'm not counting the Ravens out of anything just yet. But when it comes to what the Buffalo Bills have done this year, I've seen it year after year here in New England. Yeah, there's something about the way that team is playing football this year that makes me believe this is a team to be reckoned with in the coming weeks.

Starting point is 00:21:57 Kevin Ostriker, how are you feeling about it? I know we talked about it earlier, the struggles of Justin Tucker. We talked about how big and how important he is in the postseason. Maybe this is something that just lingers in the regular season. And maybe, hey, the postseason, Justin Tucker gets his groove back. And he's got to ask Stella first. Yeah, I mean, the Ravens will always have a chance as long. is Lamar Jackson's on the field. He always gives you a chance to win. And now that you've added

Starting point is 00:22:19 Derek Henry, that duo will give you as good of a chance as anybody. But the way that they're playing right now, they're not going to be able to represent the AFC. They have to definitely clean some things up, which is why, again, we're kind of here in Baltimore. It's all this by week is too late. But now everybody's kind of thinking, well, this might be the best thing to happen to this team right now so they can sort some stuff out and get ready for their stretch run. So the level of confidence right now in Baltimore is definitely low, especially after you lose two of three games, obviously the Steelers and the Eagles being those two losses and kind of the way that you lose them with self-inflicted mistakes and essentially being out physical. And that's been something

Starting point is 00:22:59 that's given the Ravens fits all season when there's just a bigger, more physical defensive line in front of their offensive line. I mean, it happened with Philadelphia. It happened with Pittsburgh, Kansas City earlier in the season. It's like those fronts have given the Ravens issues. But then for a team like Buffalo. There really doesn't have the horses on the defensive line. Baltimore is able to dominate them. And, you know, a team like Tampa who has Vita Vaya, but other than that,

Starting point is 00:23:22 it's like who else is on that line. And even Denver, who has some guys on that D-line. Denver has some physical players, but they were even able to dominate over there as well. So I feel like to me, the Ravens have a chance. But if they play the way that they're playing now in the playoffs,

Starting point is 00:23:37 they will not get the job done. And matchups play a big factor too. I think Baltimore would run over Houston in the wild card round. if it was four or five. Like I feel like a lot of wildcard teams want that Houston matchup as opposed to Buffalo, Kansas City or Pittsburgh or whoever wins the North or whatnot. But I feel like it's all matchup based here.

Starting point is 00:23:55 And it usually is in the postseason because you might be running over teams one way or the other. But if you get that one bad matchup, it might be bad for you. Chris Carter, locked on Steelers. I mean, obviously the Steelers defense, the way that they're playing, the way T.J. Watt is playing. And with Russell Wilson finding his groove right now, they're a dangerous team right now. Do you feel like they could represent in the Super Bowl here?

Starting point is 00:24:17 I feel like they could. Like John and Mike, I think that the bills are still the clear favorite right now. They're playing the best football. They haven't lost since early October. And they've earned their wins. They've also been very confident in some of their wins. I think that's the thing, though, is that Josh Allen knows what he's doing.

Starting point is 00:24:35 He's got those guys locked up. But as Kevin brought up, styles make fights. and when they faced the Ravens back in late September, the Ravens destroyed them. And sure, you can say they've grown, the Ravens have grown, that everyone's kind of, you know,

Starting point is 00:24:49 a little bit different since then. But I do think there's something to the idea that there's going to be a team that knows how to run the football well, that could be the team that represents the AFC, just like the Lions are probably going to be the team that represent the NFC. They were my preseason pick, you know, in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette to even win the Super Bowl I had,

Starting point is 00:25:08 was the Detroit Lions doing. it this year. I think that there's, I've said for a while, the pendulum shift in the NFL was coming. I said it for years. We wanted to say, oh, Joe Burrow, they're just going to be thrown for 5,000 yards all the time, every time. And everyone just needs to find the new Joe Burrow that, that's not going to last you for so long. And look at it right now. Joe Burrow, he's throwing for 5,000. Doesn't matter. The teams, teams that know how to control the pace of play with other parts of their team are winning right now. And that's what the Steelers are doing. well. I think the bills do enough of that in their office. They're not just solely relying on

Starting point is 00:25:44 Josh Allen, though he is absolutely the straw that the straw that makes the drink. And I think that right now he should be the MVP candidate. But I also look at how things could play out. Like you said, the Lions game isn't going to be easy. Do the bill stumble at some point down the line here? I also think home field advantage could play a huge part in this. Cody, you guys were talking about it earlier. If the, if the bill stumble against the Lions, and lose one other random game to like the Rams or the Patriots or the Jets, those seem unlikely. But, you know, if one of those happen, it could be the Chiefs or it could be the Steelers

Starting point is 00:26:19 who claim who claimed the number one seed in the AFC. And I think that would be. Listen, I'm, Kevin knows, we did our AFC North preview. I said they're making the playoffs, but I thought the Ravens would win the division. I thought the, I thought the Steelers would be really good to get to close to at least to the point where they're at now. I just thought the Ravens would be a little bit above where they are. I didn't think they'd have some of the losses they'd have on their schedule.

Starting point is 00:26:43 But I do think when it gets to the playoffs, all bets are off. I think that this is going to be one of the best years of parity we've seen in the NFL. I think we're seeing that in college football right now. And I think it's going to make for a lot of fun when we get to January and the snow's flying and the teams are playing do or die football. You mentioned a run game. And right now, I mean, the Broncos are in a position to make the postseason, which I think is exceeding every expectation people had of them.

Starting point is 00:27:09 The one thing they don't have is a good run game. I set the Twitter roll on fire. I called out a national analyst who said that Bo Nix was supported by a strong run game. And I was like, if anyone's been watching the Brockies, you know that they don't have a good run game. It's been 30 straight games since they've had a running back hit 100 yards. That was back when Jerry Rosberg was the interim head coach. And Latavius Murray was the tailback of this team.

Starting point is 00:27:30 It's been a long long long time. Raven Legend. Raven Legend. See? A long, long time since that has been the case here. And so it's like for Denver with how good, like Bo Nex is playing really good football right now for them, they're not going to go far if they can't run. And look, the more I look at it, the more I'm hoping the bills get home field advantage because if Denver stays at a seven spot,

Starting point is 00:27:50 I kind of like a Broncos chiefs matchup in the wildcar round. I think that would be a tough matchup, I think for the chiefs. And I also think it would be a fun matchup to test where the Broncos are. There could be a little bit of spoils. They're not saying anything. But certainly that could be the case here. But, you know, obviously, looking ahead here, obviously, we want to hear your input from your favorite NFL teams. If we made a case for your team, make sure you lay it out there.

Starting point is 00:28:11 If you want to make one, we didn't talk about your team enough, hey, lay it out there. And we'll try to address that year going forward. But one thing we are going to preview as well, some week 14 matchups here around the league. Do the Chargers have a shot to make a statement against the Kent City Chiefs this week? And if they can, what will that statement be? We'll debate that much more here on today's AFC Squat show, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's AFC squad show is brought you by our friends over there at Fandu. As you all know, a Fandu is America's number one sportsbook.

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Starting point is 00:29:18 And you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. That's Fandul. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more with Fandul, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. Week 14 around the National Football League is here. we're going to take a look some of the bigger matchups with some of the AFC teams as you go into it. A lot of playoff stakes kind of, you know, right here. You have a couple teams on the back end still in the hunt there. The Bengals barely hanging on the Miami Dolphins, obviously in a position right there.

Starting point is 00:29:49 They suffered a loss of the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving. And then the Indianapolis Colts hang on for another week and keep their hopes alive while Denver, Baltimore, and the chargers round out those final three spots right there in terms of seats five through seven. And really the biggest game of the week here right now in terms of the AFC side, it's got to be Chargers chiefs, right? We in agreement on that one. Let's go rapid fire here. I want to go through bold predictions here.

Starting point is 00:30:14 Chargers chiefs. And then we're going to take a look at Brown Steelers. I know Chris, that's going to be another AFC North matchup. The Steelers looking for a little bit of redemption after losing on Thursday night football there. These feel like the two biggest games right now for the AFC conference. Let's start off with John. John, your thoughts on, you know, maybe a key takeaway, bold prediction for either of these two games. I don't know if it's bold.

Starting point is 00:30:36 I think the Steelers are going to run up the score on the Browns. I think this is a revenge game after what happened on Thursday night a few weeks ago, games in Pittsburgh. I would be really surprised if the Steelers didn't win and win pretty handily. David, we're going to throw it to you now. Yeah. So I think for this game with the Chargers and the Chiefs, last time these two teams played,

Starting point is 00:30:58 Justin Herbert had a high ankle sprain he was still doing with. There was no Rishon Slater. Uh, there was no Derwin James. He was suspended for that game. So, um, you know, this is a game where the chargers are going to be in much better shape, uh, health wise. You know, the thing is is who's going to step up on that offense, you know, because they, like, hey, we know with with the chiefs. If you want to beat them, you got to, you got to finish with the ball. You got to finish in victory formation.

Starting point is 00:31:23 You can't give them any time on the clock because they can score in 13 seconds as they've showcased. So, you know, this is a team where, you know, this is a big statement game. This is really the last, you know, I wouldn't say the last, but it's one of the big, biggest opportunities of the week of the year, really, for the Chargers to be able to plant their flag and say, hey, I am here. I am a team that you need to worry about, that you need to prepare for, that you should be worried about when the playoffs hit. This is their chance.

Starting point is 00:31:52 And up to this point, all of the games that they've had to play against, you know, the upper echelon teams in the AFC, they have not been able to get it done. So this is it. You know, if they're going to win this game, they're going to have to show it on the offensive side. They can't completely disappear in the second half of games like they have a lot this season. You can't do it against the Kansas City Chiefs or else you're going to lose. Well, Kevin, Mike, you, I mean, you two and I, we can enjoy the biweek. We didn't watch all these games, stress free and have some fun here.

Starting point is 00:32:23 So let it rip here on these bold predictions between these two games, Brown Steelers or the Charters and Chiefs. Mike, where are you leaning? Well, if I'm going to be a little bit of a homer and I'm going to do that, I'm going to go with Patriot ledger Jalen Rager, maybe having an impact on the Chargers chiefs. Look, bottom line, I know that's going to raise a lot of eyebrows and it's going to get a lot of people laughing at me, even in Los Angeles. But I did watch Jaylen during training camp and there is an ability that this kid has to rise to the occasion in moments where you don't think he has it in him.

Starting point is 00:32:55 He has the speed to be able to get it done. way to try to help neutralize that Kansas City defense is to maybe catch them off guard in a matter of what they weren't expecting it. Rager is someone that can make plays. So I'm not saying it's going to happen, but I'm just saying keep a sharp eye out because he is a guy that I think is capable of a lot more than he gets credit for it. So if you want a bold prediction, yeah, I think that's one of them. But more of my tame prediction, I think the charges give the chiefs all they can handle this weekend. That's always a tough matchup for Kansas City. Los Angeles rises to the occasion, I think they will this weekend.

Starting point is 00:33:29 All right. There you go. You heard of here first. Kevin Ostracker, where are you leaning? Are you going to stick with the AFC North? You're going to go with a little bit of an AFCS battle here. John and I are on the same wavelength because I agree. I think that, you know, the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to handle business against Cleveland.

Starting point is 00:33:42 And a lot of that is because obviously we talked about the trap game a couple weeks ago. And if it was one or not and, you know, that happened. But now it's okay. Pittsburgh knows what now they're going up against. And James Winston. And I feel like now it's like, okay, you got yours. Now we're going to go get ours back. So that's, I'm with John on that. The Chargers Chiefs game, I'm going to say my bowl prediction is Los Angeles beats Kansas City

Starting point is 00:34:04 by two scores by two touchdowns, actually. I'll go to touchdowns. It's not their ball. I think all of us are picking the Chargers. But I'm going to blowout. I'm going blowout. Okay. Okay. This is like Arrowhead. Yeah. I mean, I think to me that it's like David said, I think the Chargers, they're going to get up for this game because they know that this is the statement game. This is where David, I 100% agree. It's like, hey, everybody's talking about how the chiefs all pull out these close games and like everybody's talking about two times three time chance back to back. No, hey, we're in this division too, by the way, if you didn't know that. Like, this isn't just the chiefs west. And Cody, I know you can kind of sympathize with that

Starting point is 00:34:41 too because everybody's talking about the chiefs in that division when you have two other good teams in that division. But it's almost just like they can't keep getting away with it, right? They can't keep getting away with it. And then we say it every week. And it happens. So I'm going to say the Taylor Swift magic runs out this week and the charges get the job done in convincing fashion. All right. Chris Carter throwing it to you now.

Starting point is 00:35:02 Yeah, I don't want to jump over, Kevin. I just thought it was funny because this is like my third show where I've done a prediction on this. And both times I was like, this person's not going to pick the charges. They're going to pick the chiefs. And they're like, no, I'm picking the charge. I'm like, what the heck? And so I thought I was on the live. And then I come on this show and you're picking the charges, you're picking the charging,

Starting point is 00:35:22 and you're picking the charge. We're like, well, this is not that unique after all. I'm just going with the wave here. So I'm right with you guys. I think the Chargers win this one. Just the Chiefs have been eking out so many weird ways. I think eventually something crumbles there. And they might bounce back and still be the team to be in the playoffs.

Starting point is 00:35:36 I think this week is just the Chargers week. When it comes to the Steelers Browns, y'all been saying it too. Like, that was the short week on the road. If you're going back and you watch the All-22, I want you to click on the end of the Steelers' like first defensive possession in the second half and the beginning of the second defensive possession in the second half. It looked like a normal day and then blizzard. And it was just the Lake Effect Snow just crushed that game.

Starting point is 00:36:05 So you had the short week, the road game, the blizzard, you had George Pickens getting thrown to the ground by every angle all the time. Even on the Hail Mary, they just dragged him out of bounds with the ball was out in the air. and it still took that for the Browns to win by five. I think the Steelers, Mike Thomas is a good coach. He's a great coach in my opinion. I think one thing that he does is he gets his guys geared up for big moments. They were geared up on an offense for this game. If you go back and you watch the hard knocks for this week,

Starting point is 00:36:38 you'll see him talking to Nick Herbig, who had that big sack strip fumble on Joe Burrow that led to the touchdown the other way. I would be scared to be on the other side of Mike Tomlin this week because I think that he has got it into these players. This is a physical football team. They play really good defense. They want to run the ball on you.

Starting point is 00:36:56 And now they can throw the ball on you, deep short, tight in receiver, running back, whatever. The Browns are going to need Miles Garrett to completely go ballistic again in this game if they have any chance. If they do not, I think the Steelers dog walk them in this one. And that's where I have it going. I think my prediction right now is 33, 16. stealers. All right, multiple scores here at this point. And look, I don't disagree. I'm going to stay with the trend here. I don't know if I have anything bold to say necessarily, but I do think that the charters are going to be a team that, hey, right now, look, they don't have J.K. Dobbins.

Starting point is 00:37:30 He's got the knee injury. Everyone's saying, all right, they're not going to have much here. So, you know, Ladd McCocky's banged up. All right, what do the charters have? This is where Justin Herbert, I think, in these matchups against Patrick Mahomes, he rises to the occasion. Now you have the X factor of Jim Harbaugh there in the mix. I know they're going to have a really good game plan going into that game. I think the chargers are going to win. I'm not going to say they're going to win by two scores like Kevin did, but I think the Charters is going to eke out a win here. Now all of a sudden, the Buffalo Bills and can't see they're going to be buying for that number one seed at the end of the season here. And I'm also to agree. I think that the

Starting point is 00:38:01 Cleveland Browns just don't have enough steam in them Monday night game short week. And now you're playing an angry fired up Steelers team that, you know, Mike Tomlin's now miced up because of hard knocks. He doesn't like it. But man, it's going to be appointment viewing for all of us that love football. Obviously, if you're in the AFC North, it's going to be fun to watch regardless here. But one thing we all know is we're going to be watching week 14 around the NFL, in particular, the AFC. You want to say, thank you so much to everyone who makes us your first listen of the day, or if you're in every day or of the respective teams, or if your team isn't here, if their host isn't here, we have a locked on podcast for you. So make sure you find it here on the lockdown podcast

Starting point is 00:38:34 network, your team every day. That'll wrap up this week's edition of the AFC squad show. You know that. We'll be back next week for another episode of the show. We might have to hold some of these predictions to the fire. We'll see you then.

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