Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - NFL Squad: NFL Playoff AFC/NFC Wildcard Weekend Upset Alert, Head Coaching Carousel

Episode Date: January 9, 2025

In this week's NFL Squad, the crew discusses the current landscape of vacant head coaching jobs in the NFL and where things are headed with certain jobs, plus they discuss the NFL Playoffs Wildcard Weekend and which games on the AFC and NFC side are poised for Upset Alerts. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Turbo TaxReady for stress-free taxes and the most money back, guaranteed? Head over to TurboTax.com today and get matched with your Expert—who’s ready to take your taxes off your plate, so you can focus on your day. LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.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 TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win or lose your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started.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)

It's the most exciting time of year because even if your favorite team is not in the NFL playoffs, there's a lot to discuss about the future of your favorite organization. That's coming up on this episode of NFL Squad. You are talking ball with the NFL Squad, sponsored by Game Time. From the Chiefs to the Bills, Falcons to the 49ers, and everyone else around the NFL, it's the local experts of the Locked On Podcast Network bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming weekend for hard-hitting football with our harder-hitting takes.

Buckle up, it's the NFL Squad, and we have a seat for you. No hurt feelings allowed. Squad up, you're part of the NFL Squad. And welcome back, everybody of the NFL Squad. And welcome back, everybody, to NFL Squad. We took a couple weeks off over the holiday season, but we are back. We are grabbing our favorite drinks, beverages. Hopefully, you're grabbing your favorite as well as you join us here.

We're going to get ready for a wild, wild card weekend coming up at the NFL. But things are already going a little bit crazy out there with coaching vacancies opening up across the National Football League. Of course, we are all part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And this NFL squad episode is brought to you by PrizePix. Go to prizepix.com slash locked on NFL. Use the code locked on NFL to get $50 instantly when you place your first $5 ticket. And I am joined in this squad today by Cody Rourke, locked on Broncos and producer extraordinaire Landon McCool, locked on Cowboys, James

Arco, not locked on Illinois, locked on Bucks, Mike DeBate, locked on Patriots Kevin Ostreicher, locked on, not going to win the AFC Championship, Peter Bukowski locked on Packers coming through, sorry Kevin, you know I love you man, where the man, where the man already, we're coming

in hot already. We got to come in hot here, guys. He's not wrong. We've got some interesting job openings coming up or not coming available. They are available here in the NFL this offseason. Gentlemen, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, New England Patriots, Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears, and Las Vegas Raiders. Kevin Ostreicher, or not Kevin Ostreicher, sorry, Mike DeBate, as we all boo Ross Jackson of Locked On Saints. Boo!

Boo me! Sorry, guys. Boo Ross Jackson of Locked On Saints, booing himself. What's up, Ross? Sorry, guys. I was interviewing for the New Orleans Saints head coaching position. My fault. Oh, well, so that position has been filled, but Mike DeBate of Locked On Patriots. Explain the team you cover, guys. I was interviewing for the New Orleans Saints head coaching position. My apologies. Oh, well, so that position has been filled,

but Mike debate a lot on Patriots. Explain the team you cover, man. Explain why they did not or did give Coach Mayo a raw deal here in firing him after one year. Well, it is kind of difficult to make the argument that giving someone only a year is enough time to prove that they are a worthy head coach in this league. But gradually, there started to be an erosion of trust between the fan base,

between the organization, and between the players on the field and the coaches in that locker room. And when that exists, you need to make a change. And that's exactly what happened with New England. In those that I talked to close to the team this week, there seemed to be an erosion that continued to unravel, and really what started to make it unravel even worse was the fact that this team came out of their late round bye, their late bye in this 2024 season, and they lost 30-17 to the Arizona Cardinals in a game that

sounds a lot closer than it really was. The Patriots were never in that. They played listless football. They played very undisciplined and very fundamentally unsound. And when you have that kind of effort coming out of a bye, especially when you know that you're playing for pride and you're playing for your coach's job, essentially, that really kind of brought to light that there was a disconnect in the coach's room. I happen to like Gerard Mayo very much, and I do believe that he does have something to contribute to a team in the future, and I do believe he will find another home somewhere, whether it be in college or whether it be in the NFL, but for the Patriots, this was the right move to make. Now they have to make sure that the coach that they bring in not only embodies everything they want on the field, but is able to handle all of the extracurricular aspects of the job that

were just a little bit too big for Gerard at this point. I'm so glad Mike, that you, you started with the fan part of this, because I think that is such an underrated piece of why these decisions get made. And I don't even think it's a bad thing. Like when your fan base does not trust your coach and let's not forget Mike

the last week of the season they had a chance to roll over to get the number one overall pick there was not organizational alignment they go out and they win that football game for reasons that just like defy explanation you it's untenable and the the team is made up of players who live in the community they interact with fans every day they know by the way what's, what's said on Locked on Patriots and Locked on Ravens and Locked on Broncos and Locked on Cowboys. If the players aren't listening, their families are, their friends are. They know what's being said.

And when it becomes toxic, I think an ownership group is well within its rights to just say the fans don't trust this coach. And unless we think he's Vince Lombardi reincarnated, we find another guy they can find another Gerard Mayo and guess what like Mike Vrabel might be a better option anyway he might have been a better option to start with yeah that's exactly what happened here in New Orleans the ownership group Gail Benson who's the owner of the New Orleans Saints and governor of the New Orleans Pelicans here in town she and her ownership group said man they really don't don't like him. Like that was a big part. That was a, that was a big part. It's like, they saw the, the, the, the, uh, the stand start to empty. They saw, they heard the booze for the first time.

You don't hear booze in new Orleans very often, uh, when it comes to the saints at least. And so like that shift and, and for a team like the new England Patriots, it's been so long on top of its game. It's so long on top of its game and so long on top of the game for things to shift the way that it's shifted over the course of the past few years. Yeah, you are going to hear that fan vote. Just ask Aaron Rodgers, who's the owner of the Jets. Yeah, right.

I mean, Aaron Rodgers is firing people left and right because Jets fans are incredible. If there's one silver lining for Patriots fans right now, it's to say that we're not the New York Jets. So I think that's the only solid they're finding. But, Ross, I think you're absolutely right. That is such an incredible part of this. The Patriots have heard the boos the last few years.

The fans in New England are not ashamed to boo their own team. It's when they're not showing up. I was there for last year's. Absolutely. And you heard it, and it definitely was palpable. But this time, they didn't show up at the arena. They didn't show up at the arena. They didn't show up at the stadium. That parking lot was relatively empty for a regular season finale

to give your team an opportunity to head into 2025 and say, we're still behind you. We still support you. We've got a great young quarterback. We believe in what you're doing. For them to not show up in droves, I think, was a real eye-opener for the Crafts, especially after being drubbed 40-7 just a week earlier against the Los Angeles Chargers. So again, perfect storm in New England.

We'll see what happens now in the next couple of days. Big deal when the Jets show up and all of a sudden the green jerseys in the stands outweigh the blue and red jerseys, right? It's also easy for the Crafts to just simply point to this as a Bill Belichick choice, right? Oh, well, this was Bill's hand-picked guy. That's a good point. It's easy for us to move on. I think that's probably an easy way for them to kind of get out

from being the scapegoats of this, too. James Yarko of Locked on Bucks, I want to ask you this question because for every job that's open, somebody's going to fill that job, right? There's only 32 of these things in the world. Somebody's going to take these jobs, even if they're really bad dave canales proved that every somebody will take even the worst job in the national football to his credit he did a pretty good job there at the end of the year look out for the panther you got to get him liam cohen

yeah buccaneers offensive coordinator liam cohen is one of the one of the popular names obviously there's others but he's one of the popular names here in this week this year's coaching uh early coaching talk if there is a job here and I know there's got to be some contextual value for Liam Cohen specifically, but if there is a job here on the board that you're looking at that is the best for a coach like Liam Cohen, which one is it? Say it, James. Probably the Bears.

It's probably the Bears. You have a young quarterback with incredible athletic ability and Caleb Williams that he can kind of mold. You have a great wide receiver core that, you know, you can, you can look to the Rams that Cohen was a part of. You can look to the box of this year before Chris Godwin goes down.

You have a trio there that can do some serious damage. You have a tight end that he can get the ball to probably need to address the running back a little bit, but I mean, that's, that's really the best fit for Liam Cohen and the kind of offense that he likes to run. It certainly isn't the same. So quit, quit ruling Ross. I mean, who doesn't want to inherit the 32nd most cap room. And if you're, if you don't know the count, that's the worst, that's the lowest amount of capital in the national football. Thank goodness. Thank goodness. These coaches don't just take head coaching jobs for one year normally, Mike.

That's usually not the case. But thank goodness these guys are looking at long-term stuff instead of all of us who go, wow, things are really bad right at this second. We're talking 2025, Ross. Okay, that's what we're talking about. Landon McCool, Lockdown Cowboys. The Cowboys are not listed on this list of coaching vacancies. What is the latest, greatest, or what is your prediction for what's going on there in Dallas?

Well, the latest is that they denied the Bears the opportunity to interview Mike McCarthy. So it sounds like, at the very least, they are negotiating with him. But we'll see. I tend to think what's going on is that they want to get Mike McCarthy under a very specific situation. Right. And, and I think that they're using this to kind of negotiate that. And if,

if they, if that doesn't work out, then they'll probably let his contract expire in a week and then go look at Luke, move on to the next. Why Landon? Why? If it needs to be that specific,

move on. Like if you, if it needs to be like, it's like, think of, think about being in a relationship. Like if it needs to be that, all right think of think about being in a relationship like if it needs to be that. All right.

I have to have my poker night on Thursday and I need to be able to see other women twice a week. Then just break up. Let's just be done. Why? Why? Chill out. What are we doing? Don't bring that name up in here with me.

These situations are not like relationships, you know, not in that sense. Like there's there's it's a lot more it is when it's jerry jones they are literally relationships like he just i don't know man my relationship doesn't have my relationship doesn't have millions of dollars invested in it i'm i'm good on that my relationship doesn't care if that the team i'm attached to ever wins a super bowl um but there are a bunch of things out there concerned about whether or not they're gonna win a super bowl we're to start diving into this weekend's playoff picture, starting with the NFC. The best conference goes first.

Coming up next on today's NFL squad. Today's episode is brought to you in part by FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. From big upsets to game-winning drives, The NFL playoffs are always better with FanDuel. And right now, new customers to FanDuel. You can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed. That's $200 in bonus bets. Win or lose. The FanDuel app gives you everything you need for live bets,

same game parlays, and so much more. I will be in Tampa, Florida, covering the Washingtonhington commanders wild card playoff matchup against the tampa bay buccaneers where the buccaneers are favored by three points at home to beat those commanders the over-under on total points scored is sitting at 50.5 points so they're expecting some fireworks in that game whatever you think is going to happen this weekend in that game or any other game put your opinions to work by visiting fanduel.com to join today and again get started with 200 in bonus bets whether or not that first five dollar bet wins

or loses that is fanduel.com make the playoff season unforgettable with fanduel an official sports book partner of the national football league the nfl playoffs are getting kicked off this weekend and we're going to kick off our coverage and our conversation of those playoffs. The wildcard playoff round looking at the NFC. If you're not familiar, the Detroit lions are the number one seed in the NFC. They're not playing this weekend followed by the Eagles, Buccaneers, Rams, Vikings commanders. And yes, Peter Bukowski number seven, the green Bay Packers all the way to the bottom of that list. They will all be playing this weekend, but the NFC is not going to get started until Sunday afternoon. The AFC is going to have three games in the bank

before the NFC even takes the field, and that is going to be Peter Bukowski's Green Bay Packers not traveling to Brazil for a rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles. Peter, we're going to let you go to the floor, my friend. Is there an upset brewing here? How much does the quarterback situation matter with with two quarterbacks that are at least a little bit banged up one i think a little bit more than the other though i i really wish that i could have one of those men in black uh uh oh

the little memory eraser eraser things yeah so i could just forget about the last two weeks if i could just forget about the last yeah thank you cody um who am i who am i again um for the for the listeners cody held up his cell phone with a light on by the way it was a good bit all the underlying metrics tell me that this packers team is really good all the all the metrics that i care about epa per play and the dvoas and all the acronyms that people love to make fun of me on Twitter for. Those things say that this Packers team absolutely has a chance to upset the Philadelphia Eagles. But the team that I've seen over the last two weeks, they look like they should not even be playing this weekend.

So it is hard for me to square those two things right now. I also remember week one, once upon a time when the Packers did everything, they tripped over their own testicular region so many times in week one. I can't even tell you. And they were one stop away at the end from winning that game. 411 yards of offense with a C plus performance from the offense against the defense that turned out to be the best defense in the league. The Ravens game notwithstanding kevin i appreciate that um and so like yes the packers can absolutely go to philadelphia and and beat the eagles especially since jalen hurts will not have played football in three weeks by the time he goes out there assuming he's cleared he still has not been as we record record this, gone through concussion protocol.

And I know fans are like, well, they're just slow playing it. Like, no, there is an independent person that has to clear him. And if they were just dicking around, they could have done it last week. And they didn't. So this is not just like, oh, let's just hand wave this. No. And brain injuries are, they're brain injuries. Like, we can't just say

well he'll be back and be fine let me just throw one stat at you and then i'll shut up um almost 25 percent of jalen hurts his dropbacks this year have resulted in a non-target that's a sack a throwaway or a scramble a quarter of his plays led the nfl in such plays as long as you just don't let him beat you with his legs and like limited to one or two big plays because aj brown and davante smith are going to get some yeah it's gonna happen this offense is inconsistent through the air yeah inefficient quarterback and that's what the packers have to do really that was a lot of amazing information, but I'm going to tell you right now, here's all I heard. Testicular region,

sticking around, get some, I hope Ross, we need to send this clip to hims and blue chew and just start. The listeners, the audience needs to let us know if they remember the blue chew days. We need. Oh,

geez, man. I know a lot. 100% do. I see people like Locked On eras. And if you're struggling to score in the red zone, all the time. All the time. You got a lot of true blue comments.

My next NFC game will be Sunday night. It will be the very next game of the wildcard weekend. It will be the Washington Commanders visiting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. James Yarko and I have an amazing crossover scheduled, so I am not going to let James Yarko poison the water. Instead, I'm going to turn to Ross Jackson. Wait, wait, wait. Someone who is – no, I am the host, Illinois.

Sit down. Ross Jackson of Los Angeles Saints. You have covered games against both of these teams this season, so I want to get your opinion because you also covered them both in December or January. So very recent information from you. I want to get your thoughts on this matchup and who you think could come out with a win this weekend. Well, I'll tell you, one of those teams hung 51 on the New Orleans Saints. The other one just only put up 20 against a really bad defense uh and the taping buccaneers better team didn't score as much they were saving it for the playoffs they were saving it for the playoffs

um the taping buccaneers have without argument a much better defense than the new orleans saints have 31st in run defense are the new orleans saints not nearly that low i believe james correct me if we're on top five run defense in the in in the nfl if i remember correctly for the uh for the bucks at least going in the last weekend and i know the saints didn't move that needle very much i say not top five but they they've worked their way towards the top takes they started off top 10 that's right pretty low yeah uh yeah they thank you bo nix drastically yeah right so i think like if I'm looking at these two teams based on what I saw against the New Orleans Saints, I got to say it's the Zambia Buccaneers.

But here's the thing for me. What I'm looking at most of the time is head coach, quarterback when it comes to the playoffs. And you heard the conversation that Peter just had, the inefficiencies of quarterback when it comes to Jalen Hurts and the difference that that can make. And I think Matt LaFleur is, without argument, the better coach in that matchup as well. I think Dan Quinn's the better coach in that matchup, and I think Jaden Daniels is the better quarterback. So I can see the Washington Commanders coming out on top of this.

Landon McCool, I want to let you chime in. James, you will have your turn on Thursday. Landon McCool, I want to let you chime in. James, you will have your turn on Thursday. Landon McCool, I want to let you chime in there. You obviously do not agree with Ross Jackson. Well, I was going to say I'm the other guy that also has a team that played these two teams in the last few weeks. And I'll tell you that I think that if

Cliff hasn't fallen off the cliff, then I don't know what's happening. He was hanging off the cliff and then Terry McLaurin saved him. No, I think the Cowboys wanting that 12-pick saved him is what happened there. And Micah Parsons suddenly getting a hingy knee or something. I love a, we lost because we wanted to take. That's really great.

Hey, listen, not because we wanted to, but certainly the Commanders certainly needed to win that game more than the Cowboys needed to lose it. And, and, and I think both of those sides were working pretty well in the first half and, and, and, and, and screwing up their, their chances. But I look, I think that to me, I think Tampa Bay looks like the stronger team right now.

Like that's, I think that's what, what, what matters when you're getting into the playoffs. Who's the most dangerous team going in or at the playoffs? So I think to me, Washington didn't play a good game against us. I mean, certainly in a game that they needed to win to kind of improve their situation, they didn't play good in the first half to the point where it almost felt like they were pulling Jaden Daniels just to kind of not screw up anybody's confidence of what's going on so uh i i i think i think you know for

me that the bucks are the hotter team going is he healthy david do we know that like that's that would be the thing that i would want to know like is he gonna he's perfectly healthy um jayden is fine the question really is marshall latimore and tyler biadish that james arco and i will talk i got news for you buddy the question will always will always be Marshawn Lattimore. Listen, listen. All of your information, all of your logic points to Buccaneers win, and I look forward to talking to all of you next week after I, after I, after the Washington Commanders prove you wrong.

We've also got Minnesota Vikings visiting the Los Angeles Rams Monday night football, and I'm not going to lie. To me, that's like the most boring playoff game this weekend. But Cody work, I do want to ask you these NFC slate Packers and Eagles commanders of Buccaneers Vikings at Rams. If you got to pick an upset, where's it coming from? I feel like it could definitely be. I'm going to go with the Packers over the Eagles at this point.

Look, I think what Saquon's been able to do in terms of the run, like he's a legit MVP candidate. However, it's probably going to go to a quarterback, you know, or in a situation like that. We always have this discussion every year. So much is predicated on is Jalen Hurts going to be healthy, right? Are they going to roll with a Kenny Pickett, you know, or Tanner McKee? What's the plan there?

A.J. Brown is going to have one moment where a pass goes over his head. He's going to get mad. And the Packers are going to find a way to capitalize on one of those instances. My only concern that I have with Green Bay is, okay, you lose Christian Watson, but you do have really talented wide receivers behind him. I still think that's a big question mark looming into this matchup. But if I had to pick an upset on the NFC side, I feel like it would be Green Bay over Eagles.

Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. Kevin Ostreicher of Locked on Ravens, get ready to talk because you're going to finally get your chance as we go through the AFC playoffs. I think James is there as well, too. Today's episode is brought to you in part by PrizePix. It is playoff time, and if you're like me, you want to make the most of these final weeks of football action, and that is where PrizePix can come in to give you a little bit of help.

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this wildcard weekend. First three games coming from the AFC and Kevin Ostreicher, Locked on Ravens. Look, the Steelers and Ravens are the second game of the wildcard weekend, but I can't let you sit there any longer and not say a darn thing in this episode. So Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, we all know that Lamar Jackson cannot beat the Steelers, right? No.

I mean, he did it a couple weeks ago. He did it about a month ago. The narrative's got to be dead now, right? Yeah, because it happened. So now we can put it to bed. But I'll tell you, when you have a situation where you play a team three times in a season, it just becomes like, yeah, we know you and you know us. What else are you going to pull any more fast ones on us?

We know everything about you. We've been playing you for all these years now. So, I mean, this is going to be a really good game. I mean, it couldn't really go any other way, in my opinion. I know they had the chance of playing the Chargers, but this is just like cinematic Raven Steelers. And while the rivalry might not be from the days of Ray Lewis, Heinz Ward, Troy Polamalu, like those days, it has some juice to it again. I mean, Patrick Queen's been talking all year after going from Baltimore

to Pittsburgh and here in Baltimore, every Ravens fan wanted to see Derrick Henry, Stiff Arm, Patrick Patrick Queen we got that picturesque picture but this is going to be interesting because I don't know if Pittsburgh can keep up with Baltimore's offense if Baltimore gets it going I mean I don't know how many danger witches Russ Wolfson is about to eat before this game or if he's going to do high knees on the plane to prepare for it but I don't know Cody I might be scarring you with those references, and I'm sorry. No, no, not at all, man.

Let's ride. Cody's moved on. I want to flip this on its head and throw it back to Mr. David Harrison saying the Ravens aren't going to win the AFC championship taking shots at the beginning of the show here. I was just talking trash. Don't even read it. Don't even read it.

I was just talking trash. Okay, so there you have it. David Harrison picking the ball. There's no actual. I'm hosting. I'm not here to read it. Don't even read it. I was just talking trash. Okay, so there you have it. David Harrison picking the ball. There's no actual. I'm hosting. I'm not here to give opinions and analysis. I'm hosting. I just get to have fun and just be wild.

Just like the fact that somehow the Buffalo Bills-Denver Broncos spread isn't the biggest of the weekend. It's actually the Ravens. Nine and a half points on FanDuel favored over the Steelers. Eight and a half points, though. Even the Ravens got it. That's crazy. Cody Rourke of Lockdown Broncos.

The Bills are favored to put a whooping on the Denver Broncos. What is Sean Payton and – or what are Sean Payton and Bo Nix going to do about that? Well, look, it starts with having at least the threat of a run game against this Bills defense. Obviously, it's Greg Rousseau. I mean, you talk about Matt Milano. You talk about Von Miller. Like, Von Miller, as of late, looks like he's really just kind of been saving himself

for the postseason, and that's kind of a scary thing. Yeah, especially with them being in the position that they are in. That's a scary dynamic, but, you know, Bo Nix has had an incredible rookie season. You know, the Broncos have certainly exceeded expectations. Denver has only been blown out once this season, and that was by the Baltimore Ravens. They had a chance at halftime, I think it was a one-score game. Right before before halftime the Ravens go and they score then they get the ball to open up the second half they score again by the time Bo Nix stepped back on the field it was 31 to 10 every other game that they've played or have lost this season has been by one score or less so they've been competitive so if you can keep it close and you can find a way to make Josh

Allen somehow this Bills team make a mistake find a way to capitalize and that's what Denver did last year when they went on the road and beat them on Monday night football uh with Russell Wilson and probably one of the more improbable catches we'll see in the NFL with him to Cortland Sutton on fourth down but um so much is going to be based on Ken the Broncos defense which has struggled as of late the last handful of weeks they've struggled against good receiving cores I don't know what's happened you know teams are attacking the middle of the field with the linebackers and the safeties while they have a defensive player they're candid and pats are tan you know you're probably going to follow amari cooper bam on bam there i think it'll be a fun match up here i think if never could keep it close they might be able to shock somebody you never uh discount sean payton he's uh he's very uh

hungry about this yeah yeah buccaneers know all too well not to discount Sean Payton. That's not a shot at James Jargo. That's experience talking in a really big way. Unless they meet in the playoffs, and then it's fine. Okay, at least once. Mike DeBate, locked on Patriot. He never has as long as I live. From a show standpoint, but Los Angeles Chargers are a favor

to beat the Houston Texans on the road this weekend. I mean,ston texans have kind of fallen off a little bit but they still that line should be the biggest one of the week uh yeah so what's going on with that chargers texans matchup mike that has you most intrigued about the uh the opening game of the wild card round yeah i think basically is houston going to be able to keep up are they going to be able to find a way to keep this one competitive look they're running out of targets over there in Houston. I know Nico is still around. C.J. Stroud always gives you that puncher's chance. You have to Neil Hunter over on the other side, and you've got a pretty strong secondary. They can always keep things interesting, but look, Los Angeles right now starting to hit its stride. Jim Harbaugh loves to run the football.

J.K. Dobbins looks like he's going to be back in the lineup. Still limited this week. I know the ankle injury is still on the injury report, but he's looking like he'll go. And if he does, that opens things up so well for guys like Quentin Johnston and especially Ladd McConkie, who has been phenomenal this year. And that secondary in Los Angeles is a lot better than people give it credit for. Derwin James, one of the most versatile defensive backs in the league, he always gives you a shot, whether he's making plays in the backfield

or whether he's playing up toward the line of scrimmage. This kid can do it all. I think Los Angeles just has too many weapons right now in their arsenal for Houston to catch up. I think this is going to be a comfortable win this weekend for the LA Chargers. And they've got playoff Zeke, baby. That's what I'mgers. And they've got playoff Zeke, baby. That's what I'm talking about.

That's what I'm talking about. Zeke, baby. Getting a dog in Zeke Elliott. Let's go. I think we're all going to combine for as many postseason yards as Zeke this year. Let's be horrible. Another Ohio State running back. We all might have more if he gets a carry.

He might go for negative. No, that's one thing Zeke won't do. Yeah, he won't go for negative. He doesn't go for negative, but he doesn't go for anything more than two yards either. So somewhere in the zero to two yards every carry. James Yarko of Lockdown Bucks, you're finally going to get the opportunity here. But I don't want to hear anything about this wild card match between the Commanders and the Buccaneers. I want to hear your – don't encourage him. I want to hear your don't encourage him.

I want to hear your upset pick out of this AFC bracket this weekend. Well, what I wanted to say had nothing to do with the matchup, but you wouldn't let me talk. What I wanted to say was you owe me a public apology because on this very show, when the

Bucs were four and six, I said they will make the playoffs, and you said in all of our years of doing the show when the Bucs were four and six, I said they will make the playoffs. And you said in all of our years of doing the show, locked on Bucs together, you had never disagreed with me on anything more than that statement. That's fair. And until the third quarter last week, I was right. So I'm not going to give you anything there, buddy.

Who's the upset in the AFC anyway? Nice try. You still owe me an apology. Jeez. I guess I would have to go with, if I have to pick one, it's going to be the Broncos. I just don't really see it happening. But to Cody's point, when they can keep those games close,

Bo Nix has just developed into an incredible player to watch. And I saw something the other day where John Gruden was offering guys $20 for every player on defense that they could name for Denver, and they have this no-name defense that just dominates because the only name anyone knows is Sertan. So as much as I love Josh Allen and I love watching the Bills play, they just don't seem to have that next level when they get to the postseason. So there could be some disappointment there.

That would be my pick. Could you imagine Sean McDermott might get fired if the Broncos beat the Bills? Oh, my gosh. You said John Gruden offered, and I thought we were going to have to cut the stream. I thought we were going to have to cut the stream. I got it. I did not know what was coming next. I felt the Bills. Oh, my gosh. You said John Gruden offered, and I thought we were going to have to cut the stream. I thought we were going to break out of here. I did not know what was happening. I felt the same thing, David, but I didn't feel it until after John Gruden offered $20. Oh, my goodness.

All right, well, that's going to wrap it up here, guys, for this NFL Squad episode. So make sure you come back next week because we're having a lot of fun here, and each of us is coming to you every single day, bringing you the latest on your favorite NFL team. So make sure you're following every single one of these guys in this NFL squad here this week. Don't miss a moment of the coverage. All of it.

Part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. Spider too wide banana, man. Not tell you, man. Now here's a guy.