Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - NFL Squad: Worst Divisions in the NFL, Should League Change Playoff Format?

Episode Date: December 12, 2024

In this week's NFL Squad, the crew discusses the worst divisions in the NFL and debates whether or not the NFL should look at changing their playoff structure, eliminating the divisions with the winner having an awful record from getting in and which teams might stumble in the final four games of the year?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Omaha SteaksFrom legendary steaks to mouthwatering desserts and more, save 50% off site-wide for a limited time at OmahaSteaks.com. Plus, our listeners get an extra $30 off with Promo Code NFL. IceShakerCreated by and used by the Gronkowski brothers, IceShakers has sold over 1 million bottles. They have changed the game with workout bottles, and this is the gift you’ve been looking for… go to IceShaker.com and use the code LOCKEDONNFL at checkout to save 25% on your order.Hillsdale CollegeAll of Hillsdale’s courses are self-paced so that you can start whenever, and tune in wherever. Plus, you can go deeper with readings, quizzes, discussions - or just enjoy the lectures. Go right now to hillsdale.edu/lockedon to enroll. There’s no cost, and it’s easy to get started.PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started.Bilt RewardsStart earning points on rent you’re already paying by going to joinbilt.com/LOCKEDONNFL. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

AFC South, NFC South, NFC West, which is the worst division in the NFL today? Time for NFL squad. You are locked on NFL, your daily NFL podcast, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. And welcome inside this week's NFL squad. It's NFC and AFC colliding. So sit back, grab your favorite beverage and join us as we get you ready for another wild week across the national football. League. It is December football, the most important month in the national football league to this day, even with the added regular season game to the schedule. We are part of the Locktown Podcast Network, your team every day. And this episode is brought to you by FanDuel, where new customers, you can place a $5 bet and get started with $150 in bonus bets.

If you win that first $5 bet, visit FanDuel.com to get started today. I'm your host, David Harris, and also hosting the Locktown Commanders podcast for this illustrious network. and joining me as usual, Locked-on Cowboys host, Landon McCool, locked-on Packers host, Peter Bukowski, on time for this one. And Matt Derry, Locked-on Lions, representing the best team in the National Football League. And, of course, we've got some AFC interlopers here today, Kevin Ostriker of Locked-on Ravens, Chris Carter of Locked-on Steelers, and Tony Williams of Locked-on Jags bringing the barbershop atmospheres for some real NFL talk here on NFL squad today.

And we're going to get real, guys, about the worst divisions in the National Football League today. And I'm looking around at the group. And there's only one of you. Wig. AMC South, my friend. You're the only guy brave enough to come through for this conversation today. So I'm going to start with you, man. AMC. South. Is that the worst division in football? If it is, why? If it isn't, let me know which one actually is. It is. It's the worst. You know, I had to mute myself. I don't want to say it, you know, the first time, right? But no, it's the worst. And that's because the Houston Texans are supposed to be good,

and I think they're real mid. That's mediocre. I just don't think that – I think Tampa can beat them on a neutral field any day of the week, and then the rest of those teams, even the Saints, even the Panthers with the way that they're playing right now, would take out both the Jags and the Titans. So, yeah, it's the worst.

I used to call it the Mountain West of the NFL, and then they looked like they were doing better, right now is back being the mountain west of the NFL again. Can I piggyback on this quick, not to totally derail the show. Absolutely. Please derail it. I've been thinking about this because there are three NFC teams, NFC North teams, of course, the team that I cover.

I'd hate to help Luke Braun and the Minnesota Vikings. But a 9 and 4 team and 11 and 2 team are going to be wild cards. They're going to go on the road in the first round. Why? Tell me why this makes sense. Like I understand the seven seed, like the Packers has the seven seed, went to Dallas last year. Landon was, Lanner remembers what happened. But if the goal is to have an equitable playoff, I don't understand how a Buccaneers team in the NFC South might win eight or nine games and host a playoff game against what could be a 13 win or 14 win Minnesota Vikings team.

That is nuts. And I just, I don't see any reason. I think if you say winning your division gets you a guaranteed playoff spot and then we seed based on record, I don't see any reason why that's not better than what they currently have. You keep the division in the primacy of your division because you still play the most games against your division. It gets you in. It's the same number of games. The TV partners are happy.

Who's mad about this? Tell me who's mad? Whig is mad. Apparently, wig, what you got to raise your hand here, Wig? I don't know how the AMC does it, but you can just go here. Okay, well, I just think, I kind of agree with Peter, but the problem is, is I can't let the recency of that situation be the reason why the rule gets changed because it's the total opposite in football.

You see them four lost SEC teams around here in seventh place in their conference, and they're sitting there crying about some team from the ACC. That's the flip side of it is, whatever everybody's super competitive from top to bottom. oh like maybe if the Bengals weren't so bad, you know, unexpectedly, they could say that in the NFC North because you got, that's a tough to make. Unexpectedly to some wig, unexpectedly. Right, right, right, right.

That's awful. Right, right, right. They are, but you get my point. It's like from a year to year thing, going into the season, folks expected all those teams to be really, really good. So it's just the flip side in football. But Tony, like all of a sudden now, they want to reward.

It would be better to say, okay, if the Bengals won eight games, like we've got two teams from the at the aFC south or the fc north excuse me on this call why should the ravens and Steelers not each have home playoff games this year why should the ravens have to go on the road to Houston a an aggressively mediocre team in the a fc and and play a road game that to me that just doesn't compute like we're never going to seed teams by dv o a though maybe we should uh and but this is no way no because of because of tv i'm mostly I'm mostly joking about that. Landon's going around going, I think.

The answer is TV. Landon's right. It's TV. And look, college football, you also figure that the NFL would get it right. And Pete's not wrong. But they're doing exactly what college football is doing. How Boise State and Arizona State are getting buys. How the five seed is a better path than the one seed in that tournament is silly.

The NFL, you'd figure, because it's always the king and above everybody else, would get it right. And they're not. And Pete has a point. I mean, Minnesota and Green Bay are very. very good. And it's not going to be those two teams every year, right? Like, we've seen it when it's the NFC West. Like when it was LLB and it was the 49ers, like, it was crazy that one of those teams was going to have to be a wildcard. But I think it's, it's also the counterbalance

of that of like the years where like a 12 and 5 second place team from the AFC North doesn't, you has to go on the road to an 11 and 6th AFC North winner or whatever, like a division. I think there's sometimes it plays against it where it's like, hey, the division winner should should hold the pace of they deserve to have a home game because they won their division. And I think there's some credence that there's also plenty of legendary moments that happened because of those. You think of Demarius Thomas's touchdown against the Steelers. The Steelers were 12 and four. The Broncos were eight and eight that year. You think of the beast quake. One of the greatest playoff runs of all time happened because they did it in Seattle, not in the Saints. And is that fair to

the Saints, maybe not, but I think that's the history of is that, like, they want to give division winners. Like, if you win that division, you deserve one home playoff game. But after that, when you face other division winners, that's it. It's right. So you still get upsets, though. Like, you're still going to get upsets if you seat it the way that I'm saying. Like, the, the Packers were nine and eight last year. They did not deserve a home playoff game. They still went into Dallas and beat the brakes off the Cowboys. Okay. That's a nut, Peter. We can talk about other examples here. I guess I don't have a problem with let's change the rule, right? Okay, let's come up with this great rule.

And that rule should last for 20 years. I think I just have a problem. Peter, this is not necessarily specific with you because your team is one of them. I don't want to change a rule based on a scenario where we see this year where three of the top four teams in one conference are all in one division. I talked about it on Locked on NFL that everybody's sitting there forgetting about Minnesota. as if they don't even exist and they're one game behind Green Bay or one game behind Detroit. We'll show up to one of these maybe once in a while. Right, right.

But the thing is, is let's come up with rules that are fair every year and not just in the year where there's an anomaly of all of these really, really good teams being in one. But Tony, when was the last time the AFC South was worth a damn in the playoff race? All right. So let me tell you. Okay, so let me tell you where, let me tell you where my, this is how old I am. I didn't grow up in Jacksonville. By the time they got a team, I was almost 30 years old.

I grew up a fan in Washington. And I remember the NFC East with Bill Parcell's Joe Gibbs, Jimmy Johnson, and Buddy Ryan. I thought it was unfair that they beat each other up all year. I thought it was totally unfair. And the 49ers and Bill Walsh just sitting out there just beating up on the Falcons and the Saints all year. And then all of a sudden, who's the team of the decade in the 80s? The 49ers. So we've seen this before.

Let's just come up with rules based on what's good all the time, as opposed to like the anomaly of one year. Wouldn't that help a situation like that wig? Like when you have all those great teams in the NFC East, if they're all like, think about it this way. Not if their records aren't top tier, Pete. I think that's his point.

Those teams up on the other. And so they were lower each other. And you've got a nine and seven team and you've got it. But also you do have other games. Like there's only six games. And now with the end, so my thing is with the extra game now, we get a better feel for this.

Because six, your division games are working. a little bit less, right? Because it's six out of 17 versus six out of 16. And like there's this great stat. Right now, the Packers, Vikings, and Lions are 28 and three against the rest of the league. 28 and three against everyone not in the NFC North. The Packers have lost to the Lions twice and the Vikings out of four losses.

Their only other loss is to the Eagles who are the two seat in the NFC. The Vikings only loss outside of the division is to the Rams who are in. second place and and the line only loss is to the bucks who are leading the NFC south like we've never seen anything like this i get it i get it i guess my problem is i deal with i'm in the southeast and i deal with college football and i can't stand when subjectivity gets too involved because i'll reverse it on you if we're going to really see the kansas city chiefs this year oh which one of y'all going to put them in the top four. And they're 13 and one or whatever their record is. That's where subjectivity starts to change this a little bit. You don't have to be

subjective. You can just seat it based on record. And I think that's fine. But that is subjective. If you do it just based on record, Peter, my point is, this is the flip side of it. When you do it based on record, you're not still doing it based on who the better team is. well but but isn't that a better gauge of who the better team is than the way you do it now or if you only win eight games you might get a division you might get a home playoff game because you win your division like if your division is like it's it's the same argument like to your point about being in the southeast i i take this the cc fans argument to heart like hey why should clemson when they're beating up on our sisters of perpetual sorrow in the

acc and i include my syracuse orange and there me and matt syracuse orange uh like And they were a nine-win team. We're back. Look, I'm just saying. Football school. You beat some teams. Nah. And you're very good.

But I understand the argument that like that Clemson conference win should hold less weight than a two or three loss, not a three-loss Alabama team this year because of who they lost to. But in another year, it could be the case that a three-loss Alabama team is just and I don't. And I don't. And I don't. And I honestly don't. And I honestly don't. And I honestly don't.

And I honestly don't. And you deserve to be in. Yeah. And I honestly don't because I have sat here for years and watched them get away with these rivalries and that foolishness. You can't tell me that Pitt and West Virginia ain't a barn burner regardless of their record. Most of these Mason-Dixon Southern teams, they get away with that. And then you look at their record outside of the conference. They're losing to these teams outside of the conference early in the year.

So I watched Florida State in Miami for 15 years dominate college football when one was in the ACC. and one was in the big the big east or whatever it was. And the second Miami of Virginia Tech went to the ACC, neither one of them won the conference flat. Miami still hasn't won it in 25 years. But we knew Miami, we knew how good they were because of the people that they kept recruiting and who they kept putting in the NFL.

But it doesn't mean you're going to win every week. Who's better? Minnesota Vikings or Atlanta Falcons? Minnesota. They just meet them by three touchdowns. Minnesota. My thing is it makes the regular season matter in ways that right now, like Ohio State didn't even get to the Big Ten title game, and they're in the playoff at eight.

Like that seems crazy to me. And that's that's what's the productivity part. This is your point wig. This is the subjectivity that I think ruins everything. Like the Packers are in a position right now. And I understand that I'm coming from this from a Packers perspective. But the Packers are in a situation right now because they lost to the lines on Thursday. Let's not bring it up.

If the Vikings win the next two weeks, a week 17 game between a Packers team that could be at that time, 11 and 4 and a Vikings team that at that time could be 13 and 2 could mean zero in the playoff race, essentially zero. Like that to me is bad. And Landon, your first point was the TV partners? Wouldn't the TV partners rather that game potentially be for a home playoff spot because we're still fighting? for seating in the NFC. Like, that just seems like a better system to me. All I know is that I agree with Tony that the AFC South is the worst conference. I'm glad you mentioned that.

I'm glad you mentioned that. So this conversation of who the worst division in football is has gone all kinds of which ways. I love that. This is what I love about our NFL sports. We're going to have another conversation about which division leaders might stumble here in the final month of football. And I don't know how,

but somehow it's going to get into why Brony James shouldn't have been drafted by the record. Coming up next on today's episode, Benafel Squad, part of the lockdown podcast network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you in part by Built Rewards. And if you're a renter, then you need to listen up because this is a total game changer.

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Make sure you use our link so they know we sent you. Don't wait, start earning rewards today. Continuing now, today's episode of Locked on NFL squad, AFC, NFC, NFC colliding for the first time. And it's already been a lot of fun. We're going to bring up another topic and see how this thing goes. We're going to talk about which division leader right now, most likely has the odds of stumbling down the stretch here as we get into the last month of football.

And, of course, all these divisions are led by the bills, the Steelers, the Texans, the Chiefs, the Eagles, the lions, the Bucks, the Seahawks. And I don't know if everybody would agree, but I would probably say the Detroit Lions are probably the least likely to stumble of all these division leaders. I think the bills and Joe Marino could have a say there. But since he's not here, Matt Derry, we're going to go to you, which of these division leaders do you see as being most likely to stumble coming down the last month of the NFL schedule? I just don't, and look, I just don't like how the Chiefs are playing. And I think even if they finish with the one seed and do their thing, I look at them as a stumble candidate in round two of the playoffs. I just playing with fire and Mahomes is great and Kelsey's great and that defense is great.

You know, Chris Jones I love, but I'm telling you, I just, I could see a scenario where they sit in that, in that perch in the one seed, sit out a week, get the buy, and then stumble in round two. As far as regular season, yeah, you mentioned the Lions, David. schedule's not so easy for them as compared to, let's say a Philly team trying to catch them or even in Minnesota. Lions have to play the bills and Josh Allen. Still got to go to Chicago and play on the road. And of course, the narrative's out there.

Jared Gove kid, winning the cold weather. Okay. But it's still out there. So that'll be fun next week. And then having to play Minnesota and San Francisco on the road, Minnesota at home. So watch the Lions to maybe get a loss here. I mean, they've won 11 in a row,

but I would anticipate one or two losses maybe for my lions coming down the stretch here just because of attrition. But I still think, they'll finish with the one seat. Yeah. And of course, the Lions are a part of arguably the biggest matchup of the weekend coming up. So we'll talk about that here in just a little bit.

Kevin Ostracker, Locked on Ravens, I want to kick it over to you now. So we've already talked about the AFC South being the worst division. The Houston, Texas are leading that division. However, in his conversation, he also rattled off a bunch of teams that all just kind of happened to be in the NFC South. So I would probably say that Wig thinks the NFC South is the second worst division in football. I think that's probably fair to say the Buccaneers currently lead that division. And I want to ask you this.

If the Buccaneers win the NFC South, how much of that is they're really better than the Atlanta Falcons and how much of that is the Atlanta Falcons and Kirk Cousins specifically just could not at all this season find any kind of consistency. Yeah, it's just been a nosedive for Atlanta. I mean, I feel like Tampa, sure, I mean, they'll earn it, I guess. But I mean, when you're talking about a potential first round exit, I feel like Tampa is someone that you can circle,

especially with the wildcourt teams that we're talking about. And I would feel more confident in Minnesota. I would feel more confident in Green Bay, defeating Tampa Bay than I would in Tampa Bay pulling out a victory there. And sometimes it's just how it is. I mean, with the AFC South, like we were talking about it's like how do you feel like it's right that Houston can essentially walk to a home playoff game in a division that really hasn't had anything of substance this season? But when we're talking, I want to kind of flip this a little bit on its head, when we're talking about stumble candidates, I know that we're talking more so. in the playoffs. But Chris and I both have a very interesting schedule dilemma here in these next three weeks.

And when you look at it, Pittsburgh and Baltimore have three games in the next 10 days starting on Sunday because both teams play on Christmas. They play each other on the Saturday game before that. But yes. Yes. Well, technically 11th. But 10. 15th to 25th is technically 11, but we're doing 10 for math sake.

So you look at Pittsburgh's schedule. It's Philly, it's Baltimore, and it's Kansas City. And depending on how you feel about it, it is brutal. Depending on how you feel about Kansas City and there's stumble, whatever, that could be a different thing. Baltimore has the Giants, they have the Steelers, and then they have the Texans. We could be talking after week 16,

and this division could be tied between the Ravens and Steelers if Pittsburgh loses the Philly and the Ravens, and Baltimore beats the Giants and the Steelers. So in terms of Stumble candidates, I'm not saying this for the playoffs for Pittsburgh, I still think they can be competitive in the playoffs. But I just don't think the AFC North has decided despite Baltimore having some issues they have to work out. Plus, Chris, I mean, I don't know how you feel about it.

But George Pickens being injured right now really, really worries me about that Steelers passing game because I don't know who else they have. That's where I was going to go to is that George Pickens was thought to just have a minor hamstring. Mike Tomlin updates us today and says it's more significant than they thought. He's doubtful for this week, most likely out. I get the impression the Steelers are going to be like, look, we need that guy for the playoffs. We're basically in the playoffs right now. Let's rest. They might rest him both the Eagles game and the Ravens game.

And then still maybe not bring him back against the Chiefs because that's a four-week stretch. You go from Saturday to Wednesday because of the third-and-stay game. So I look at the Steelers schedule. I think this is the absolute worst time to missing one of the top receivers in the NFL in an offense. We don't have all those weapons. Now, Russell Wilson and Arthur Smith, if they're a lot of the best, was a combination of quarterback and offensive coordinator to make that not matter, I think that they're a pretty good combo to have because Russell Wilson's been doing a good

job of finding all the other guys in the offense. He hasn't depended on George Pickens. You look at this past one against the Browns. He was finding Jalen Warren and Skowareneck and anybody in the Steelers' offense. Pat Fryman, we've got, you know, it's finally getting his touches back-to-back touchdown weeks. I think they can stomach it. But again, it's when, it's who they're playing and when they're playing. The Steelers have not won in Philadelphia since 1965. That means neither Mike Tomlin, Bill Coward, nor Chuck Knoll ever won in Philadelphia. It is a current.

I don't know what it is. It's just something that happens. I'm not picking them to win this. I don't care if J. J. Brown punch each other and bring to the- Knicks-Sri-A-Ronekurs might be stronger. I don't know. Well, we will find out.

But then again, after that tough road trip, you go on the road again in a short week against the Ravens. and then you go and then you get come back home, but you're playing the chiefs. To that's point, maybe the chiefs that are in the middle of their stumble, and that gives the Steelers a break, but that's not easy. So I look at the Steelers, and if you're looking at a team that's going to not finish as strong as, say, the Lions or the Bills or one of those other teams, the Eagles, I can see that because of their schedule.

The obvious answer, though, I think that if you're picking one of these division leaders right now to fall off, to fall off, it's the Seahawks because they are playing the Packers, the Vikings and the Rams. and they're not exactly a top to your team. But the Steelers, they have big questions coming up this next month. And that brings in the other candidate for worst division of football at the NFC West. But Landon McCool, locked on Cowboys, man, you're in the unusual position of not talking about the Dallas Cowboys and playoff football this season. And we'll see if that runs another season next year.

But right now there's three wildcard teams in the NFC, Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers, Washington commanders. if you're one of these division leaders that's probably going to host a home playoff game whether you deserve it or not, which of those three teams do you not want to play the most? I'm sorry, what was the three? I glitzed out for a second. The Vikings,

the Packers, and the Washington commanders. That I don't want to play. I think to me, like the Vikings right now, I mean, I don't, they just,

even though we kind of each week are just waiting for the Sam Darnold to explode, like I'm just waiting for at some point, point, like the arms to fall off and it's like the whole thing to just completely imploded place, that defense is so good. And I think that their game translates well into the playoffs. You know, we'll see how well it gets as the further you go and you need advanced quarterback play. But I think, you know, as far as playing defense and running the football, that would be a team that I wouldn't want to have to play, especially early in the playoffs, because I think

that they'll give you a real dose of physical nature. early on in the wildcard or the division round. Yeah, and Wig on the AFC side, man, we're looking at the Ravens Chargers, the Broncos. I think everybody would assume you're going to say Ravens here. But is there a case to be made for the Chargers of the Broncos to be the more dangerous team that you wouldn't want to see compared to the Ravens? Yeah, the Chargers.

And the reason why is because they, by default, they play complimentary football. They better not try to open it up. They'll get the doors blown off. So they know who they are. They play it in a phone booth. And when you play that way, don't have to change. And usually that's how it gets in the playoffs anyway. Everything, the limited possessions, everything tightens up. The bench gets shorter. You know, everything,

you know, because everything is all about, you know, we got to win to advance. So they're going to be used to playing in that box because they do it 17 times during the regular season. And you just got to be patient enough and willing enough to go in there and do it with them the way the chiefs were doing the other night. The chiefs are now accustomed to that because they've had to play that same way all year, whereas by choice, that's how Pittsburgh wants to play. That's how Detroit wants to play. That's how Philly has always wanted to play. I just love the fact that everybody's doing it, even if it's by choice, by force, they're playing football. We're blocking and tackling matters. And that's why it's going to be fun. I think that makes Ladd-McConkie one of the

wild card pieces in this postseason run, because if he is out there, we saw with Ladd-McConkey and not much else the Chargers, I understand the Bengals defense, absolute cheeks. But they, they scored at will on that team. We saw them in a number of primetime games play well with Ladd-McConkie out there. And when he's not out there, as we saw, it gets really tough for this Chargers team to move the ball. But their defense is so disciplined. It's a testament to how much coaching matters, right? Because it's not that different, a group personnel-wise, than it was last year. But Jesse Mentor comes in from the college game with Jim Harbaugh,

and they are just playing fast. They're playing physical. That defense can keep you in games. And then when you have a guy like Justin Herbert, though Tony Wiggins has seen firsthand in the postseason what second half Justin Herbert in a playoff game might look like. But I just think that team with Jim Harbaugh, they feel different.

They are a really, really scary team. And I just, but to me, it all hinges on Lambeconchi. If he can't play, like they can't win. If he can't play, they can beat anybody. Like they're just, they have the biggest variance to me in the postseason.

It really just hinges on a rookie receiver. That's the crazy part. I will admit they're a little bit better this year than I expected to be. Wigg and I talked on Lockdown NFL earlier season about them. And I was not very complimentary of them. And I would say that they have been better. The Buffalo Bills have also been better than I expect them to be this season. They will face off against the Detroit Lions and arguably the best game of the week 15 slate.

We'll dive into that and all the other big games this weekend. Coming up next on today is Locked on NFL squad, part of the last one. the Locks on podcast network, your team every day. Today's episode is also brought to you in part by Ice Shaker and commanders fans, sports fans all across the country. I know you're like me. Your holiday shopping list is, let's just say, far from complete. Well, if that's the case,

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Show your support for your favorite team with the best branded workout bottles on the market. Ice shaker. Wrap it up this week's NFL squad episode talking about some of the best games on the schedule this weekend. And we're going to wrap it all up with bold predictions coming from Landon McCool, Kevin Ostracker and Tony Wiggins. So gentlemen, get your bold predictions ready to go. But we're going to start with the game of the week. Buffalo Bills at Detroit Lions.

Matt Derry, the question for you, obviously, is are the lions going to make good on that one and a half point spread that they are favorites and went by. And is this a legitimate Super Bowl preview in your eyes? Didn't you mean Peter Bukowski's Lions? I'm just kidding. Sorry. Let's be honest, you know, the Lions, the Lions escaped the other night, certainly, you know, Pete's Packers game all they could handle and got some help from the 12th Manus, as Pete said, but on his show. But let's be honest, the Lions are, the Lions have played so many games. games, close games lately. They played the three and 11, the Kevin O's striker, a three and 11 deal. Now they get a little bit of a break, a little bit of a rest from last Thursday to this

Sunday playing the bills. But bills coming in awful loss scares me a little bit. Josh Allen playing unbelievably well with six touchdowns last week. This is going to be an absolute war. And this could be a game in the 50s. I mean, first team to 50 getting a 50 burger might win it because the Lions still have injuries defensively. And the bills we just saw got carved up by Matthew Stafford. Certainly the Lions off. at home can do the same thing. But one and a half is an interesting number, David, as you mentioned, because that means a lot of folks figure that 11-game win streak would come to an end this week, and it just might because Buffalo's a very good football team. Something special about this Lions

Club. And that game's in Detroit, isn't it, Matt? Yes, it is. Why is it only one and a half? That seems disrespectful to the lion coming off a mini buy. And the bills just had to travel across the country, like all the way across the country. Now they have to go travel again. Like that, to me, that should have been, that should have been three, if anything. I don't understand that line at all. Yeah, so one and a half some places, two others. I think people figure that maybe this is just that time that the lions finally lose. I mean, they're 12 and 1.

They won 11 in a row, but, you know, it's going to come to an end eventually, right? Unless they just keep running the table. That's what being Campbell and his guys are doing. They're playing great football, but this is going to be a tough test. And with all those guys out hurt on that defense and having to deal with Allen and his legs, that could be a deal breaker on. Sunday at 425. A lot of man coverage. I think that's the, that's the matchup is like, if you're going to play a bunch of man coverage, Josh Allen's going to carve you up.

Yeah. When Hayton Hutchison went down, a lot of people thought the lions were going to be ultimately cooked there and certainly they've been able to withstand that loss as well. So a lot of good things going on in that matchup. We're going to stick in the NSC North here. Peter Berkowski, Green Bay Packers going on the road to the Pacific Northwest to face Seattle Seahawks. Favored by two and a half points on the road is, is that disrespectful to the Seattle Seahawks? or is just a testament to the elite status that is the Green Bay Packers? Well, that game opened at three and a half. So evidently, the market thinks that it is disrespectful to the Seahawks.

The fact that it's at two and a half now means that there's action on Seattle. I frankly don't understand that. I see a Seahawks team. I understand they're playing great defensively lately. But Jordan Love, since the Packers have come back off their by, he's been as efficient as any quarterback in the league, leading the league in EPA per play the last month. This is a defense right now that is playing.

even with the Lions game, really good football, despite some injuries without Jair Alexander, without Adrian Cooper. So, like, I think this is a game

the Packers are going to win because I think they're going to be able to pressure. If you can't block, you just, like, games against the Packers, if you can't block, you're just cooked

because they can block. And if, like, games are still, I understand, we just had a game that was like 600 to 600 and 1 in L.A. But the game still comes down to if you can block.

And if you can't block, it's going to be tough to beat good teams. They just can't, this Seattle Seahawks offensive line just stinks, and they can't stop the run. So like, Matt LaFleur will give you 40 carries. We know that. We've seen that.

So I just think it's a bad matchup for the Seahawks. Yeah, and the NFC West will continue to battle it out with the AFC South for worst division in the NFL, along with the NFC South. Chris Carter, Pittsburgh Steelers are traveling not too far to face off against the Philadelphia Eagles. My locked-on commander's audience is going to be hoping that the Steelers can pull off that five and a half point upset victory because the Eagles, potentially the Eagles win and the commanders lose in New Orleans this weekend.

Eagles will clinch the NFC East. If the Steelers can pull off the wind, commanders pull off the wind, then that makes next weekend's Eagles commanders match up a little bit more sexy. What do you think happens in this battle for Pennsylvania? Listen, man, I went to college at Chain University, the first historically black college and university in the land. It's by Philadelphia. Let me tell you, those people are crazy. That environment is crazy. That's the reason the Steelers have not won there since 1965. It's a curse that's been upon this franchise.

If Russell Wilson lifts the curse, catch me on the next squad show. Better yet, Peter, bring me on that night because I'll just be screaming Super Bowl because I've never seen this happen in my life with the Steelers winning in Philadelphia. I have to think the Eagles are playing some really good football. they do a lot of the things the Steelers want to do Andy Wiedel, who's second in command of the Steelers front office. He helped build the Steelers, the Eagles trenches not too long ago. So he's trying to do that for the Steelers.

I feel like the Eagles are a step ahead in that direction. So you're missing George Pickens. You're playing a team that kind of plays the way that you want to play, who's healthy. Now, granted, Jalen Hertz, AJ Brown, who knows what happened there? That's kind of weird. But I just, I think with all that, the Steelers have been winning pretty well lately. I think this is a week where they take a loss,

they have to reevaluate, come back on the short week, and then see what they can do against Baltimore, where they've had a lot of success recently. But I just, I'm sorry, but I can't touch this Philly curse that's just existed since time of memoriam for the Steelers. And again, this is a good Eagles team on top of that. Imagine all that's a lot of focused in one direction. It's, I couldn't imagine that.

Yeah, yeah. Listen, Eagles Cowboys at Cheney University, I had to find the place where most people because the yo mama jokes, the cuss words, everything, the vitriot. That was more fun than the game. I would sit and watch the Cowboys, Eagles fans argue all day.

It's one of my favorite things. It's kind of wild to think that the Lions might win the Super Bowl between the, before the Steelers just win a football game in Philadelphia. That's kind of wild to me. Bold prediction time. We'll start with Kevin Ostracker, locked on Ravens, buddy. What's your bowl prediction here for week 15?

Man, I'm sticking Baltimore for this one. The Ravens opened up on Fandals 14 and a half point favorites for their game against the Giants this week. I'm saying the Ravens win this game by 30 plus points. Oh, 30. The Giants are pretty bad. The Giants are pretty bad. There's no quarterback is what, Drew Locke is going to be their quarterback if all signs points in being healthy. There's no Dexter Lawrence on that defensive line.

And I just want to say the New York Giants have ruined my life. And the reason for this is because back in the day, really before last week against Philadelphia, Jalen Hertz kind of saved this for me. But Daniel Jones was the only NFC quarterback to ever beat Lamar Jackson. When the second the schedule came out, I circled this game against the Giants, not because I thought it was going to be this clash of the Titans or anything, but because I wanted the Lamar Jackson revenge game over Daniel Jones. I wanted that game. And what did the Giants do? they cut them and they didn't let me have it and they didn't let Baltimore have it. So now the only thing left, the only thing that's right is for Baltimore to go out there

and beat this Giants team by by 30 points. 30 is a lot. But I just feel like with what we've seen from this Ravens team, they haven't played their best football over the last three weeks. They've lost two of their last three games. Lamar Jackson was clearly not happy about a lot that's going on. I feel like this is going to be Lamar Jackson saying, hey, I'm still here too.

and Josh Allen is talk about the odds going up for MVP. I think Lamar Jackson has a game where he says, what are we talking about? I'm still in this race too. Congrats to anybody that's got Lamar Jackson on their fantasy roster in the playoffs right now. Look at my face. Look at my face.

Oh, like three or four. Your prediction. 30 points. It's a giant not bold at all, to be honest. I might have to go 40 then. I might have to go 40. 40. 40.

That's a little bit more. That's a little bit spice here. Well, Landon McCool logs on Cowboys. What's your bold prediction for this weekend? Here, here's my bold prediction. I think the James Winston chaos circus comes into town and they take down the Kansas City Chiefs. Just by the weird energy around these two teams

somehow cancels each other out. And this whole season has been dancing with chaos. And that's what this game is going to be as well. It's going to be a microcosm of how this season has just gone back and forth. Somehow the chiefs find a way to slip away and beat teams. they have no business beating in these games this year. They're going to find a way to lose this one this week. I'm picking.

I don't know why because you asked me to. I'm picking the Brown to go over the chair. That is a post-game press conference. I will definitely make sure to tune into if that happens. Tony Wiggins locked on Jags, man. Take us home with your bowl prediction. Well, he stole my bowl prediction. So, you know, I got to start arguing with Bikowsky again about this.

So what do you want to do now? You want to take, no. I'm just joking. I want to relegate the Jaguars. Sure the Texans have a home playoff game. Let's continue. Yeah, I know it. I'm going to pick the coast to ups at Denver, man.

You know, I think Jonathan Taylor will get going a little bit. It's always quirky when you play against a team that has sort of an offense you don't prepare for and a dude that does things that you don't prepare for. And we've been glossing and loving on Denver and Sean Payton. I saw them all over national news today. And people were talking about Coach of the Year stuff. hold on. Let's hold on for just one minute. Let's go ahead and say that that's going to be the upset. Even though I don't really believe it, I actually was going to pick James Winston to beat Kansas City.

But I'll go with that. I'll go with Jonathan Taylor. I like that. I like that. And so to recap today's episode, Arizona State absolutely deserves their by-week. Thank you to everybody out there for tuning into this week's Locked on NFL squad. Of course, we will be back next week with a lot more fun. And each of us is hosting our individual shows, bringing you all the. content and coverage you can handle across the national football league. So until we see you again, if you're out about, please be safe, be kind. We'll see you next week for another episode of Locked on NFL squad, part of the Locktown Podcast Network, your team every day.