NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2016 Week 17 review

Episode Date: January 2, 2017

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, and Chris Wesseling – recap all the action from the final week of the NFL regular season which including the Redskins playoffs hopes being dashed in a close one against the Giants, and the Raiders falling to the 5th seed in the AFC. Plus, NFL Network’s Gregg Rosenthal joins the show to report live from what could be the final Chargers game in San Diego.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast has quietly released Jared Gough. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis and I am joined by a room filled with some heroes. Mark Sessler and Chris Wessling. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Happy New Year.

Happy New Year. Well, you two had quite a night based on the evidence that I gathered. I was nowhere to be seen with you. Where were you? Well, I had this adult pajama party to go to, which I didn't even know was a thing that human beings did over the age of free. It's not really, but yeah. Well, I was kind of a tag-along guest at this party,

and then Dan and I ended up at the cozy late at night. We got cozy at the cozy. My only interact, and that's a bar right up the street from the NFL media operations. I stayed home with the family, but I did attempt to interact with you through a device where you can play jukebox songs off your phone. And I put about 15, no money spent anywhere else. So I put about $15 into this app and dropped its raining men roughly 15 times into the cozy jukebox. But I hear it didn't get played as much as I thought it would. Things are a little hazy.

I pulled off a rare move where I stayed home with the family. till midnight. Then the wife turned in and then I headed to the Cozy and it was still I had not heard it and no one had heard it all night and then right around

I would say 1.30 West? Yeah, it was about 1.15, 130. Right when I was about to get an Uber and call it a night I hear it's raining men on the jukebox and thought of mark immediately. Raining men in pajamas apparently. I can't believe you invested that much money in a bit.

Well, think, I'm thinking had I gone to the Cozy it would have cost me probably 50, 60 bucks or something. So money well, money well spent. Mark has some pretty elaborate bits. That does not surprise me. Yeah. So, yes, this is the Sunday week 17 flagship edition of the Around the NFL podcast.

A lot of games to get to as the regular season came to a close today. 16 games to talk about. Greg Rosenthal, you may be aware of his work. No, it can't be. That's NFL network's Greg Rosenthal. He was in San Diego for today's Chiefs Chargers games and we'll get to him a little bit later. That voice was also with us at the cozy inn.

Yes, the great frags. My muse. My drop muse and no one else can have her. But me sitting in for Greg is Cletus for another show, my 12-ounce water cup. Hopefully Greg returns. We'll talk to him in a few minutes, but a lot to get to.

This podcast, of course, sponsored by Mr. Flames' economics class in the Hague. the Netherlands. Mr. F. Happy New Year to Mr. F as well. And let's start today's show on the throne of ease. Brady from the gun, short drop, quick throw, caught for the first down by Edelman and more. To the 40, midfield, inside the 40 at the Miami 30.

No one will catch Julian Edelman all the way to the house for a New England touchdown. Blood force trauma. Kevin Lee, Westwood won sports with us. the call. The New England Patriots capped another outrageously successful regular season with a 35-14 wipeout of the Dolphins. The win locked up the AFC's

number one seed for the Pats and locked the Miami Dolphins into the sixth seed. Chris Wessling, Tom Brady, three more touchdown passes, finishes the season, 28 touchdowns, two picks, the best ratio in NFL history with a minimum

event of 300 attempts. Winter is coming for this man. Just not yet. And like six years, you're right. We'll see. You know what? He's a real hero, though, just for removing Nick Foles from the NFL record book. That is.

We can all get behind that. That's strange 25 and 2. 27 and 2. That was a blight. Not the only person attached to that record that is likely to be removed, but we can get in later. Nice tease, bro. This was a game heavy on Julian Edelman and Michael Floyd, who carried a few dolphins defenders into the end zone, had a nice toe-dragging captain.

on the sideline, and then sprung Edelman for that 77-yard touchdown that you just heard with a vicious block on Tony Lippet. Michael Floyd looking like a big pickup. Brady likes him coming off those. What a great redemption story. Because of that big body. He's someone the Patriots haven't really had with that big body and speed down the sideline. I hear what you're saying, Dan, but it is something that the Patriots do better than any other team

and to the level that no other team we've ever seen does. They bring guys in that don't work in other organizations. And two weeks later, he's starring in your write-up. He's a center stage in your write-up. Yeah, he's a useful player. A lot of teams stayed away from him because he got like a historic DUI and most teams don't associate themselves with that type of situation. The paths don't care.

That's just not even true. What? Most teams have had DUI guys on their roster. No, I said historic. Did you see the video? Historic. I mean, what's the video? mean? What do you mean what's

the video mean? Just because there's a video out it's a much worse offense? I am saying that it was a very bad situation and he's a repeat offender in the DUI category and the Patriots do they only seem to make a claim on him. Some teams wouldn't want it.

In this individual circumstance the Patriots were the only team. That's hardly true throughout history or even in the last few years. I'm only speaking about this particular instance. Well I think that's just wrong to single out the Patriots and say they run their operation like in some kind of underhanded manner just because this particular time. I was actually pointing out that they're good at that, not that it was underhanded, that they

I was pointing out that it was underhanded. I was going to say they bring in what other teams can't make work and they make it work. Or they find out right away that if they don't work in New England, they typically don't really work anywhere else. So, I mean, 14 and 2. Not to get caught on that point. Sorry. Yeah, a tremendous season, 14 and 2 they go.

undefeated on the road and, you know, on the other side of it, West, the dolphins had something to play for in this game. They could have moved up. And once again, this makes you wonder how much longer we're going to see the dolphins when you see an effort like this at home. Yeah, I just think they were outclassed by a team that's much better than them. And I think we'll probably see something similar next week. The dolphins beat the Steelers early in the season when Big Ben was trying to play through an injury. And the dolphins outplayed them. Jay, Jaya hit a big game. This is a totally different Steelers team right now, though,

especially on defense where they're much better. And they haven't lost since Sean Davis, their rookie strong safety, entered the starting lineup. I just think the dolphins with Matt Moore at quarterback cannot hang with superior offenses. I would say that the dolphins up until today were sort of overachieving with Matt Moore at center or under center,

but it's because they were playing some really ragged defenses. And then you run into the number one scoring defense. And you're right, It's a dose of reality. How are you going to go into Pittsburgh and handle that? There are a number of playoff teams. You've got to wonder if they're already on life support. Their defense is an issue, too.

I believe they've given up the most yards in Dolphins history this year. These teams get out of this game healthy? As far as I know, they did. Okay. So that's what's going on with the Pats. They have the number one seed. Who has the number two seed in the AFC? We know that.

And before we get into it, let's welcome. on the line. He is, you know, a beloved member of the team now traveling across the world. Greg Rosenthal, you know, it's so great to be around an NFL network star. Greg, are you there? What is happening? Welcome to the Around the NFL podcast, a very smooth ship right now sailing in Studio 66. How are you, buddy?

I'm doing well. You know, I'm feeling a little threatened by your. boy, Cletus, but I'm going to try to bring it here. Yeah, Cletus, the Cup, is once again sitting in on the show. Don't worry about it. It's just, you know, he's here. It doesn't mean that you don't have a chair to come back to. Well, that's good.

You know, you take off for a funeral of a family friend and suddenly you're getting boxed out. It's a cold business around here, as I learned today in San Diego. Yeah, Cletus don't care. Yes, a cold business, it can be. And that's because we learned that Mike McCoy out in San Diego. What are you hearing, Greg? Well, what a brutal business this is, you know, they were at the end of the game, they're playing, you know, stand by me and they're playing, you know, the song they play at graduation and everyone's cheering the Chargers up to go off the field for the one last time. And then McCoy gets to the tunnel and the crowd just booze him mercilessly.

Oh, man. He goes to the locker room. He does a press conference. He makes his case to the media why he should be back next year. And basically the second he gets off the podium, he gets fired. Oh, man. He finished with a 27 and 37 record in the regular season over four seasons, one in one in the postseason.

But those two playoff games came all the way back in 2013. Mark, you would say that this was not something that he didn't earn. I mean, the charges have under, they haven't played well. I do feel from Mike McCoy, though, because they were hit with, and they're not the only team this is true of. an incredible laundry list of injuries. And, you know, I think the Cleveland game probably cemented this if it wasn't cemented long before.

But if they're also going to move to Los Angeles, it's probably only going to amp up the chance of a clean break with a coach that I think has nine regular season wins over the last two years. I thought he deserves credit for keeping that team competitive on a week-in, week-out basis with that spate of injuries the last two years, ultimately done in by fourth quarter. or failures, which, you know, often were his own doing. What else was the vibe there, Greg, for the potentially and quite possibly the last game in San Diego? It was weird.

You know, I talked to a lot of the fans beforehand, and, you know, some of, a lot of them, you know, the ones that were left here, it's like they get a bad rap because, you know, a chunk of the stadium was empty, but it was a loud crowd. But the ones that were here, it was like they're the last of the diehard. They were talking about how most of their family members have given up on the team and they make fun of them for still going and it's like they used to have a group of 25 people who would go every every year every single game and now it's down to like six so it's the last of the diehards and it's it was a strange vibe because they went through it all last year like last year I think

they were sad and they were embracing the team and this year they're just annoyed and you know pissed at dean spanos essentially and and everyone was basically saying if they leave like forget them. They're not, they're not going to be rooting on the L.A. Chargers, they're the Las Vegas charges. I think that's something that they, they're sort of boldly slash brashly, you know, diving into this move to L.A. thing, which I think people in L.A. are very mixed on the idea of that working. But one of the fans you spoke to, Sally Morgan, in quotes, we supported this team and we didn't have much to support most years, and now they might leave us, question mark. That's unacceptable. Sally Morgan, Greg,

real person? Real person. Yeah. You know, I wasn't sure questioning your journalist chops right there in a big smile. No, I want to confirm.

I'm out there talking. Yes, she was one of she had season tickets. I think her husband had been coming since 62 since he was seven years old at Balboa Stadium. I mean, they were pretty heartbroken. That group especially was

just kind of sad. And I think the thing that's crazy is I think this, I still think they could be back next year. I don't think the NFL wants them to leave but that's a story for another podcast. Mark, neatly potentially tying you into a plot

thread from the final season of the wire there. I liked it. Let's now turn our attention to the game itself. First punt of the game is at 117 to go in the third quarter. Now Tyree Kill takes it at the 5. San Diego didn't think

he was going to take it. Here he goes. He's at the 25.30. They blocked the punt or the Sheet is gone. They can't get to him. Tyree Kill stays on the right boundary. 10.5. Touchdown. Kansas City.

A 98-yard punt return for a touchdown. And now Tyree Kill is 12th rookie touchdown. Yes, Mitch Haltes, KCFX. Tyree Kill did it again. 37-27 win for the Chiefs over the Chargers. The win coupled with the Oakland loss. clenches the AFC West for the Chiefs and locked Kansas City into that second seed

and the first round by that comes with it. So Greg, how about the Chiefs? What were you seeing there? Well, they're kind of the same team every week, which is amazing. And the difference, I think, this year between last year, is Tyree Kill. I mean, like Eric Barry said, he's kind of the X factor.

He's the extra thing that kind of puts them over the top. Tom Bah Lee was talking. And I thought he made a good, point they know they're not a dominant offense they know they're not a dominant defense they've got special teams but they they think that if all three of their groups are playing well it's a little bit of a cliche but as they have been then they're a really tough team to be and that's how every week kind of plays out for them the yardage is similar between the two teams in most of this game but they win the turnover battle they get the big plays on offense and and he said chris jones so i know

Chris has been talking up, is the best three technique he's ever seen. High praise. Pretty good. Not bad. Greg, you mentioned on our client, I am client during the game that you are. Whoa, whoa, we don't say that around here. Apologies should not have mentioned the name of the client. You were sitting near some sort of cheerleading commander slash coach.

Offensive coordinator. I couldn't quite picture what was going on with you. Can you paint that for us? Well, this was really the better part of the game for me. Apparently, cheerleading coaches have someone up in the booth, like an offensive coordinator, who's barking down instructions through a headset to tell them all what to do. And it was non-stop, and you do not want to cross this lady. She is yelling at people saying, you know, hands behind their back, line up, line up, no, no, no,

like screaming and yelling at them. They're messed up. You know, she's telling them what to do. and this is this is for three hours straight and the chargers might be a mess but the cheerleaders I feel like are in good hands Greg are you going to be on the show on Tuesday I will be back

okay I promise it's NFL networks Greg Rosenthal well we anxiously await your turn trampling and make sure you drive safely and happy new year buddy happy new year all right final thought on the Chargers. That fan base doesn't really get the credit they deserve,

but that franchise has been in San Diego longer than any team that has ever moved in the NFL. They've been there for over 50 years. It's kind of flown under the radar a little bit. What kind of seismic ship this would be for that region, but the way Greg put it, the people he was talking to, they're ready for it to happen if it's going to happen. It sounds like it's reached that point in terms of...

Well, it's almost like a breakup where you break up, then you get back together a little bit, and then you realize, uh-uh. Yeah, it's just not working. Speaking of the Oakland Raiders, let's talk about them. Simeon, they set up the screen, Booker on the left side. He has it, Booker who's inside the 35, inside the 30, inside the 25, foot race 20, 15, 10, 5, touchdown, Denver.

43 yards on a screen pass, and the gamble by Jack Del Rio backfires in a big way. 16-0-0 Denver. Dave Logan, K-O-A with the call. The Broncos won't have a chance to defend their Super Bowl title in the playoffs, but they at least go out a winner, a 24-6 win over the reeling Oakland Raiders who played like a team still mourning for their lost quarterback. Mark, Matt McGloin got beat up in this game,

exited with a shoulder injury, his non-throwing shoulder, but you have to be worried about them. They're all the way down to the five-seed now, and they're on their third quarterback. What's going on here? think we were worried about them already in this just simply confirmed that doubly. I mean, it's not easy to go into Denver and win. I don't care who you are, but the idea that we could get either Matt McGloin again after the way he looked today or Connor Cook, and that still sounds like it's up in the air to some degree. Jack Del Rio said he would want to go with McGloin if he's

available because of the sheer experience, which makes sense. Connor Cook looked like a naive out there. It was not a good sight. So, yeah, I think this is, you know, they're going into Houston. I can't, you could not hand craft a better playoff team to have to go face no matter what situation you're in. But I think we're looking at two teams in Houston and Oakland that are going to take quick exits unless Oakland specifically turns it around very quickly. I think Houston must look at Oakland and say what a great, what a great gift we've been given to face a team with as many quarterback questions as we have. And then, you know, we've picked on the Texans all year, but they play defense at home just about as well as anyone in the league.

and if you're going against Matt McLean or Connor Cook with that defense at home, I think the Texans might have to be favored in this game. Right, the only gift that no one will get, the viewer will not get a gift. Right, I was going to say that. I mean, we are kind of banged in a big spot as the football fan here. But that's just the way it is. And it's amazing. And I feel terribly for Raiders fans who have been waiting so long to kind of get back into relevance

that how much things have changed on Christmas Eve in the second half they're whipping up an opponent Derek Carr looks better than ever and then in the blink of an eye he's gone and then really reality set in through this game like oh Matt LaGloin is good that's an uphill battle with him and then he gets I mean they are in deep

trouble and you're right West the Texans I would you know we're not picking the games yet but I feel like they they're in a very good spot they're going to stack the box on Latavius Murray and Jalen Richard DeAndre Washington and dare the quarterback to beat them whichever quarterback it is right and look what

today because Denver's rushing defense, you know, if you're watching these Broncos games, they've been vulnerable, you can run on them. But 57 yards for the Raiders today. And I think on Thursday we talk about the one way you want to come in and set the tone of your Oakland, come in and run the ball on them. Because Oakland does have a diverse backfield. They've been able to do that. And the opposite happened. And so, yes, it's a terrible diagnosis potentially against Houston. And Mike Floreo of NBC Sports reported that Gary Kubiak told Broncos players after the game that he will retire. We heard about this earlier Sunday that health issues are playing a role.

So Kubiak getting ready to step aside. And Wes, where does the Broncos job rank in terms of best available head coaching jobs right now? I think it has to rank at the top. When you're talking about the ownership group and John Elway, that is one of the best run teams in the NFL. They have a rich history. They've got the nucleus of a great defense. you may or may not have a shot at Tony Romo or even if you keep Trevor Simeon

promising start today out of him but I think the coaching line up there it stacks up to be pretty interesting Vance Joseph Miami's defensive coordinator is in the running per rap sheet which is interesting because Wade Phillips who's been a mastermind with the defense is not under contract in 2017

let's move on to the NFC and speaking of number two seeds Ryan in the gun takes the snap here comes the pressure Matt going to throw Hardy to catch. He broke the playing touchdown Atlanta. What a great catch against Sterling Moore for Justin Hardy. West Durham, WZGC with the call.

The Falcons scored on all five of their first half possessions, then withstood a Saints comeback attempt in the second half. The final score 38, 32. The Falcons win. They lock up the number two seed in the NFC. Matt Ryan put the finishing touches on his MVP resume, throwing four touchdowns all in the first half. Chris Wessling, the Falcons rolled up over 320 total yards in the first half alone.

You know, who could stop this offense in January? It's a good question. You know, every week they look like they're getting more and more honed. They're clicking on all cylinders every week. And then this first half, it was just incredible. They score on the opening drive for the six straight week. They score a touchdown, which is the first time that's happened since the merger. And then they go, by the middle of the second quarter, they've faced one third down

while scoring four touchdowns. That's just incredible efficiency. They had only had the ball for four minutes in that span. I am so happy as just a pure fan to see Atlanta notch that number two seed because for all the teams that might have snuck into the playoffs that we aren't overly impressed with, the idea of Atlanta and Dallas facing off or Green Bay in Atlanta, or Green Bay in Dallas, and even you throw Seattle in there,

I think they've got some weaknesses. but the NFC playoffs line up to be fascinating, and it's the Atlanta Falcons. You know, last year they peaked so early, and then it was, they just vanished. The way they're playing right now, it is, I don't know who would want to deal with them right now. Their offense is white hot.

We had the little exercise last week where we were pitching MVP candidates, and Wes, you spoke about Matt Ryan. I made the case for Aaron Rogers, but I think that Matt Ryan, he, once again, I mean, if he had to rubber stamp his, resume or not that you rubber stamp resumes but you know where i'm going sure um he did it again i mean and you said it west from week one to week 17 this guy was one of the very best quarterbacks if not

the best quarterback in the league almost every week and that's why you should be the MVP there are so many numbers that support his case after today he finishes with a 117.1 passer rating tom brady's in that magical 2007 season was 117.2 they're virtually identical and matt ryan's going to have the highest yards per temp of any quarterback in history with 400 passing attempts. I do think their defense, which is this, I'm not breaking news here, has been an issue all year, continues to be one. And it's, but you know what?

Sometimes you roll into the playoffs with this kind of an offense and you make up for your defense. I mean, we've seen teams with last ranked rushing attacks win the Super Bowl. There's always these quirks to these teams. Yeah, their defense was a little bit better today than the final numbers were show. It was 38 to 13. I believe late in the third quarter or early fourth. So it was a blowout.

All right. So we know that the same, oh, we should touch on the Sean Payton rumors floating around out there, Mark. What are the people, what are the streets saying? Streets talking. Well, there were whispers that there is a mutual interest between Sean Payton, whose name creeps into the news and into these circles every year. Every single season. And it's the result of an active agent.

and in some cases an act of imagination, but I think there's something to this that the Rams and Sean Payton may have mutual interest. And, you know, if you put it all together, it makes some sense. But he's under contract. He just walked around the owner's meetings last March with his little briefcase with a contract extension in it. So, you know.

What do the Rams have to trade? I mean, you already gave up your first round pick to the Titans. Good question. I mean, this is the Rams for a team that just got to this highly desirable market, feel like a desperate team. If you look at the game, we'll talk about the Rams a little later. But if you look at that stadium today, there was nobody there.

They need juice. Sean Peyton would provide some juice, I think. But we'll see what happens. This could be all smoke, but we got the time to figure it out. The Washington Redskins had a chance to get back into the playoffs. Did they take advantage of their opportunity? First and 10 of the Giant 23. And it's a play fake.

Cousins looking. backside pressure he throws defender falls down and a pass that's picked off on the near sideline Dominic Rogers Cromarty he was looking for Maurice Harris who stumbled and Cromartie right on the spot gets the pick the 29th of his career his fifth of the season and the momentum out of this building for the Redskins as well as their playoff hopes john sadick westwood won sports the Redskins had everything to play for on Sunday and they gave it away more accurately. You like that!

You like that! No, we didn't, Kirk, because you gave it away. Your fourth quarter interception sealing Washington's fate in a 1910 loss to the Giants. For New York, it was another showcase of their excellent defense, which has made enough plays to cover for a slacking offense. Wes, Kirk Cousins cost himself millions of dollars with one ill-fated throw, yes or no?

I don't think so. I think he's still getting paid. They easily broke the franchise record for, most yards this year. I think Kirk Cousin since midseason of 2015 owns the NFL's highest passer rating. I think he's proven that he can run a pretty darn explosive offense. But those two games where you controlled your own destiny against the Panthers

and a Giants team that really had not much to play for, that's so depressing that you could not win those two games. In your building? I mean, I think also, yeah, I mean, Kirk Cousins, his name is on that highlight meltdown play. But there's a lot more to the Redskins failures than just Kirk Cousins. I think he definitely coaches and GMs when they evaluate the whole body of work to Kirk Couss. If you're one of these 7, 8, 9 teams without a quarterback,

he is a much safer proposition than hoping you can, you know, strike it rich with a second round quarterback or something that you have to start from absolute scratch with. They also rushed for 28 and 38 yards in those two home losses to the Panthers and Giants. That's just as big of a problem, if not bigger. When they were good, we saw them pounding people with their own, but that feels at this point months ago, right? Yeah, this is, you know, it's a team loss, obviously, but DeAngelo behind the glass, who's a Redskins fan.

We were just talking about this before the show. I felt what he felt last year in week 17 when the Jets blew a chance to get to the playoffs when Ryan Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter against the bills. Kirk Cousins, you know, he blew this game because they were struggling to get going in the, on the offensive side of the ball all day. They finally get cooking with a big pass play in the third quarter and almost immediately throws the red zone interception to kill off one drive and then he throws the pick when they were right outside knocking on the door

a field goal range again. He's going to get paid. I think the Redskins would not be wise to overreact to this game. But it does make you think a little bit. Is Kirk Cousins really the guy that you want to pay $100 million? They're kind of in a weird spot where they might not believe it but still do it anyway. Everybody gets $100 million. If you're a quarterback in the NFL and if you're the franchise guy and he's proven, I think, over the last two years to be the franchise guy, you're getting $100 million.

I like that New York, they were locked into the fifth spot. Nothing was going to change for them that they played their starters from wire to wire. And you see a guy like Paul Perkins, 102 yards on the ground, 161 total for the Giants. Now, I don't trust them to do that week after week, but for one of their biggest weaknesses, the run game for most of the year, it's an encouraging step. I don't think it's a weakness any longer. The way he's been running specifically over the past month, getting better every week, and then Rashad Jennings a little bit healthier.

I think they can run the ball now. Now whether Eli can pass it, that's a different question. That's a big, yeah. They once again did not have a good offensive showing. Eli made a big pass, a big completion downfield to set up the field goal. They were ahead 10-0. Washington came back, and then they got the field go to go ahead. So this is how they play.

This is, it might be surprising to what we're. we thought they were going to be going into the season, but they try to get enough points on offense. And then we've talked about this is the season where every team has this like pretender defense. The Giants have the real deal defense. They might have the best in the league. They're holding, I think they've held opponents in the 12 point range

on a weekly basis now for about a month plus. So they're, I mean, they're the real deal on D. Can they score enough points? Let's check in on another playoff team, the Seattle Seahawks. four-man rush Wilson has time throws to the end zone touchdown Seahawks Wilson to Wilson Luke Wilson five yards deep in the end zone on a slant

and it was a dark thrown by Russell 11 yards and the Seahawks fight their way back into this one against the Niners 14 to 12 it wasn't pretty but the Seattle Seahawks that by the way was Steve Rabel K-I-R-O but the Seattle Seahawks got it done a 25-23 win over the 49ers who will have a new coach and general manager in the coming weeks. We'll get to that in a bit.

Let's start with the Seahawks who finish as 10-5-1 NFC West Champions and await the winner of Sunday Night Football, pull back the curtain a little bit. We're recording this as SNF is being played to find out their wildcard opponent, Mark. This, you know, Seattle, they got the win, but again, you feel weird about the Seahawks going into the playoffs. I do. I mean, if we're concerned about the giant scoring points, it's not that, not as much with Seattle, but this is a team that at halftime had 20 yards rushing, and they had 10 yards in the entire first quarter. Chip Kelly was going for broke, going for it on fourth down twice in the first half, and they got up early, which is one of the

only times I've seen the Niners do that. But with Seattle, they mine their way out of it, but I am concerned. This is against the worst defense in the league. You would think this. This would be a playoff tune-up for the Seahawks. And they really struggled for much of the game until turning it on late. They really are not a balanced team right now. And it's the counter-opposite of the Seattle teams that we've all watched over the last four or five years where you know that they're built for January football road or at home. I don't see that with this team right now on offense.

They 25 rushes in the game for 87 yards, three and a half yards of carry against, like we said, a terrible run. Most of it came late. They have issues. running the ball with us. I don't think we can figure out who the Seahawks are right now. They're so inconsistent from week to week. Some weeks they look dominant. Some weeks, they look beatable by some of the worst teams in the NFL.

They could go all the way to the Super Bowl or they could lose in the first round. I don't think we can figure them out at all. On the 49ers side, Trent Balky told a radio station KNBR AM in San Francisco on Sunday afternoon that he has been fired from his position of general manager of the 49ers. And Rapsheet reported that owner Jed York and the 49ers key decision makers are also expected to replace Chip Kelly, according to multiple sources. A full house cleaning is described as, quote, likely by several people with knowledge of the situation. It feels overdue, at least from the Trent Balky angle. Was it too soon to cut ties with Chip Kelly?

I'm done with Chip Kelly. I don't know what he offers the NFL that is enthralling anymore, interesting anymore. send him back to college as far as I'm concerned. The one difference with this team, and I realize this isn't a Niners team laden with stars with a lot of opinions necessarily, they really seem to like him. There are all these players coming out of the woodwork

saying that they like Chip Kelly. I'm wondering if he had changed at all or changed this approach. But what are you going to tell the next candidate coming in here? Because the roster is still absolute bottom of the barrel. Yeah, you have the number two pick. That's not enough to save an entire franchise.

depending on what's there. I think the biggest security factor for the next candidate is that your CEO, Jed York, has fired two coaches after one season. He cannot afford to fire the next coach after one season. That guy's got some security. I think I saw a tweet that they have $30 million in salary going to their last two head coaches. It's not just the head coaches. It's the whole staff.

It's everyone else attached to that too. So it's an incredible amount of cash tied up to an incredible failure. That power struggle between Trent bulky and Jim Harbaugh could not have gone any worse for the 49ers. No. Fallout from that. Look, I get that Jim Harbaugh is hard to work with. He might drive you nuts.

Great coach, though. Jed York bet on the wrong horse. And now they're really in football hell and they have to dig themselves out and they want to find new leadership to do it. Let's check in on the Dallas Cowboys who really had nothing to play for in this game. But we did get to see an old friend on the field.

Romo and the gun. And looking left for a little fade to Williams and a great head nod. Williams caught it. Touchdown. Romo with a touchdown on his first possession of the year, and I will guarantee you, you can see it. I don't know what they called,

but Romo looked up, and he looked at Williams, and he nodded. And it was as though they said, if you get press coverage, then you go right by the guy, and I'm throwing a fade. Brad Sham, the Sham God, K-R-L-D. and Shams exactly right. Romo checked out of, he played one series in this game. He had checked out of a run play near the goal line and into that pass.

And it was such a great illustration of the chemistry that Romo still has with his receivers and his deep knowledge and understanding of the offense. It's just an interesting little look into the soul of this team. So Tony Romo crisp and efficient one series of work. The biggest takeaway in the Eagles 27 to 13 win over the Cowboys, Romo, Dak, Prescott, and Mark Sanchez also saw time in this game. The Cowboys finish 13 and 3. They have the number one seed in the playoffs in the NSC.

While the Eagles finish 7 and 9 matching their 2015 finish, you'll take that with a rookie quarterback, right, Wes? Yeah, Carson Wentz is just such a tough evaluation because he's oozing with talent. You can see he has all of that, and he's got the commitment. He's got the high football IQ. He's got all that. And then his mechanics are just kind of a mess right now. And you wonder how that's going to be going forward.

Doug Peterson has said they expected his mechanics to be a little sloppy his first year. So we'll see if they can clean it up. But they've got some work to do as far as skill position players on that offense, too. I've watched Wentz all season, and I would take the ups and downs with him over every single quarterback the Browns have had since Bernie Kozar in a second. And because I think it's because. unlike some of these young guys that they do, if they want it or they don't,

it seems like Carson Wentz is so married to this job, to this opportunity that I wonder if it'll be a lesson for other quarterbacks with mechanical issues coming into the NFL, how he chooses to deal with it if it's successful. The Eagles need to add some playmakers around him as well. One stat line that will jump off this page, and I'm curious where you guys look at him

as an evaluation of a talent. Zach Ertz on 16 targets today, 13 catches. for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Looks like they have some chemistry together. Are you an Ertz fan, Wes? Doesn't he do this every week 17? I feel like last year he closed out the year with 14 catches, I think, for 15. Yeah, it seems like he shows up at the end of the year.

He's not a great blocker. He's kind of just a souped up wide receiver at tight end, but I just wonder why he doesn't do this more often. I mean, I wonder if it's also a function of an offense that has no field stretching wide receiver and, I mean, him, Ertz and Carson Wentz have matched together pretty well. I think it's just because this is the guy that is around 8 to 10 yards downfield

all day long for you. Breaking news. Just came over the wire. Minutes ago, that Chip Kelly firing is official, as is the Trent Balky dismissal. So both those guys out in San Francisco, it is official. Back to this game.

In fact, you know, Greg's not here. He's our, you know, our computation man around here. Computation corner, do we call it us? Compilations, tabulations, whatever. But luckily we have another robot, and he's actually over on the fantasy corner. So it's swinging over to Mark Sessler. What's being asked to be?

Tell us about the Dallas Cowboys. Who are they going to see two weeks from now? It all depends on how they. the seating breaks down in the next games. I know. I just wanted to use the robot sound effect mostly. Yeah, I mean, it's, I can offer you nothing. Let's talk in a week.

Do we have the wish you weren't a liar sound effect for Jerry Jones? After he told us that Ezekiel Elliott would play and play a lot in search of Eric Dickerson's record. Didn't come off the bench. There we go. Didn't come off the bench. Smart move, though. Whatever. Right?

I don't know. Like, there's no answer. Yeah. say it's a smart move or you can say it's not i mean what's the right answer it's it's the safer move and you got nothing to lose by sitting in if if he plays and he ever got hurt or tweaked his knee and he was out for three weeks jerry jones would be villain number one in the entire american southwest all right so mark is actually human and i know that because his heart was racing during the cleveland brown's finale today there's the snap the blitz throwing it long down the field touchdown pitchball

Kobe Hamilton wins the game in overtime as Landry hits him for 26 yards out, and this place is crazy. Bill Hillgrove, WDVE, WDVE with the call Landry Jones, pretty lob past the Kobe Hamilton in OT was the difference as the Steelers' collection of backups beat the Browns, 27, 24 at Heinzfield in OT, as I said. The Browns had the lead in overtime. They kicked the field goal and have the game won in regulation,

if not for a ghastly Isaiah Crowell fumble near the goal line. But Mark, not all losses or bad losses, right? Well, and I understand there are people in Cleveland that just want to win no matter what. They just want to win every game. And the meaningful nature of what this was tied to with the draft comes second to them. And good for them.

From where I stand, I am running out of years to watch this team turn it around. If they're going to be a bad team, go into the offseason controlling the draft. It's not like you were playing. a Pittsburgh team loaded with all its starters in there, and this was some sort of measuring stick game. It was a true definition of a meaningless week 17,

hollow attempt at a potential victory. I think it's important to secure the number one pick and see where they go from here. Pittsburgh is in a completely different situation. It's so obvious to see that the worlds away from the Cleveland Browns had Big Ben and the rest of those people have been on the field, they would have won by 25 points. Such a bizarre, bizarre game.

I wasn't really plugged in for the first three-quarters and then I got invested in the fourth quarter. I think you wrote like, you probably wrote like two or three Enderone posts off of the bizarre nature. It was a wacky game down the stretch. And two things like, number one,

I absolutely agree with you, Mark. We had a fundamental disagreement about whether it was important for them to win a game. Right. Once they won the game, now there's no, there's really no incentive.

None of this, oh, well, they went into the off season with two straight wins and they're going to feed off. That's all horse crap. Forget about it. I forget about that. And the other thing I thought

that just crossed my mind as you were talking, not that I wasn't listening to you, I was listening to you and also formulating a thought. All right, I'll take that. Can you imagine if the Browns were 0 and 15, and this is how they lost the last year's season? I mean, they've lost some weird games, but this

thing was... It was fourth and two at around midfield, if they got to stop there, the Browns fall out of the number one pick, and then they were going to, they went for it anyway, and the Steelers said, screw it, we're going to win the game. They had a pick six in the making off of Landry Jones,

that got fumbled off the pylon into the end zone. Landry Jones, of all people, picked it up for a Steelers touchback. I mean, everything was telling you the football gods are saying, not today. And by the way, almost never any day if you're the Browns. It's been an awful season.

I transcribed a sentence that Mark uttered while the Browns were driving in overtime. I will not tolerate anyone acting like this is some great achievement when Mitch Tribusky goes to another team and the Browns gets some good. guard who's out of the league in three years. Well, they, you know, listen, Browns fans, and again, there's

different camps of Browns fans like with any fan base, but the Carson-Wenz thing potentially still stings. And so how many years are you going to say we're going to not even have the power to take a quarterback? I like the way you put it there. They control the draft. The Browns have control over very little. Very little. But they control

this draft, at least the first pick, and the 13th pick, I believe it is. They have as well from the Eagles. Well, it is actually it looks like it's the 12th. It's the first, the 12th, the 33rd, and the 50th, that's four picks in the top 50. Get it right. They have, what, 12 or 13 total? I think it's 14 picks total, but I'd have to confirm that again.

But that's power, but it's only power, because they've done this before. You have to draft well, or it's just heightened embarrassment. You have to find a quarterback. Yes, you do. We have a nice conversation downstairs, Mark, that what if Bill Belichick calls up your boy Sashi? Sashi. and says to him,

Yo, this is Belichick. It's me, Coach Belichick. Why is he Sylvester Stallone? Have you ever heard him talk? I mean, he's never spoken before. That's not true. Yo, give me a 12th overall pick and I'll give you Jimmy G.

You're going to do it? Sure. Okay. I think it would be, I think it's a fair trade. I think that it's, you know, I don't, by all indication, there's not that quarterback sitting out there that you take number,

one overall. And I think we know that Jimmy G, like, unlike some of the quarterbacks that have in the past, cares very much about being a starting quarterback at some point. It's a risk. Yes, go for it. What are you going to get at number 12? Their last picks in that region are not even on the team right now in most cases. Bye. It's me. Bill Belichick. I think the call might go the other way. I'm not sure Belichick's looking to, you know. Well, I think we learned last year that Hugh Jackson has very defined, strong. opinions on quarterback, so he would have to be on board with it.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Let's check in on the other matchup in the AFC North today. Dalton back to throw rolls right, throws, caught by C.J. Usama. Touchdown, Bengals, as C.J. Uzama has his first NFL TD. Congratulations, C.J. Dan Hoard. Horde. Horde.

Sorry, Wes. There's a, there are Horde brothers in Cincinnati. There's also a Greg Horde. Greg Horde. He's also a sportscaster. Is it with two G's? I don't know. Is there a Chris Horde and a Mark Horde with a C?

There are only Dan and Greg Horde. They're like a sports casting dynasty. Dynasty. The Horde dynasty. WC.K. Y. Andy Dalton threw one touchdown pass and Rex Barkhead ran for two scores as the Bengals ended their season with a 2710 win over the Ravens.

And what was Steve Smith's final game? We love you, Steve. enjoy retirement. The Ravens go 8 and 8 while the Bengals finish a disappointing 6, 9, and 1. Chris Wesleying, put on your lab code for me. Let's go down to the lab and explain what went wrong with the Bengals this season in 30 seconds or less. The offensive line went from one of the best in the NFL to one of the worst in the NFL. The running game never really got a consistency.

The defense lacked playmakers as opposed to last season. and then AJ Green's injury, which really sabotized them toward the end of the year. But they did find Rex Burkhead. Unfortunately, he's going to be a free agent. He went over 140 yards today. I think he can be a good pickup for somebody. It's a good thing you wear the lab code because it's drafty down here. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that's how it is down in the labyrinth. I don't understand. Why don't you just get a space heater or something? It's not in the budget for what the NFL pays me. We're back in that world. Do you have anything to add? I thought we cleared that. Do you have anything to add Mark off of what West said about the Cincinnati Ball Club?

I mean, he's down in the lab. I'm just up here on the second floor of the house. Yeah, a lazy boy. Not really doing much. I don't know how I don't have anything to add. I think he's summed it up. What about Baltimore? Well, they're about to become an underground train that runs to Wes's old bar in Georgia, so farewell.

It's hard to take much out of this game. I think they were probably deflated after missing the playoffs and maybe didn't come out. with both guns blazing in this one. Joe Flacco to Steve Smith, I think, was anti-climactic. We all thought that maybe they would feed him. And his last game, he has three for 34 to end a stellar career, and he'll be in the Hall of Fame someday. Speaking of deflated, do you believe, Wes,

that Tom Brady had a role in the deflation of those footballs ahead of the 2014 AFC championship? No, that never passed the smell test to me, the logic test. I can see that he would tell those two guys or whatever, one guy. I like my balls right at the bottom of the legal limit. That made all the sense in the world to me. Do we have any other weather-worn bits we want to get into this show before it wraps? No.

Let's move on, in fact, and talk about this could have been a great matchup, but instead it was another knock-it-out game between the Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans. Savage. Sack. Fumble. It's been recovered in the end zone by Dayquine Jones. Touchstand! Titans!

Oh, it's the daily double, the sack, the touchdown, and the Titans get a defensive score for the first time this year. I like that ball. I like the fact, this is, and Wes, you tell me if you agree with this. I know it's not the greatest call of the year, but the reason I believe it deserves top 10 call of the year talk and speculation is because he did it in week 17 when it didn't matter. and he just still had the passion for the sport.

I would disagree with you in the sense that same reason why David Johnson can't be MVP. It's a meaningless game. I don't really care how good you up your game when the results don't matter. All right. I thought he brought some energy. I know you're very into this Mr. Horde character

from the previous call, but I thought a little bit more energy than that fellow. Let's put it on the list. And what Wes said, let's keep that under-advis. The committee will take that under consideration. And by the way, we're not effing around here. After the season ends, I'm thinking it may be the show after, when we get back from the Super Bowl or in that time frame,

we will unveil the top 10 calls of 2017. Sydney's thinking, great. It's a tremendous amount of work for me at a time when I should be kicking my feet up. Yeah, so Dayquan Jones put the Titans ahead with that fumble recovery and they never look back, ending their season with a 2417 win over the AFC South champion at Houston Texans. Both teams finished 9 and 7, but only one keeps playing. Mark, Tom Savage, left this game with a concussion.

What's his status? Tom Savage is real. Maybe. Well, I think we, you know, we're going to need to see because whenever you've got sort of a concussion scenario, you never get an answer within a couple hours what's happening with the player down the road. But it was very confusing how it was managed, where it went back and forth. He's being evaluated.

He's fine. Oh, wait, suddenly he's not. And then suddenly you've got Brock Osweiler back on the field and what has to amount to a week 17. You know, a lot of people out late at night last night in Houston for New Year's probably had some good dreams and some bad dreams. Some of them probably woke up in the middle of this game.

Saul Osweiler on the field and thought, what on earth has happened to 2017 already? I haven't had a good rant in a while. Do we have time for one? We absolutely have time for a rant. All of you couch jockeys and concussion experts, give me a break. Like there's something nefarious going on because Tom Savage got cleared.

Concussions aren't always cut and dry. You don't always notice the symptoms right away. So if the independent neurologist clears him and then tests him again a few minutes later and he does have symptoms at that point, shut it, couch jockeys. Let the independent neurologist do his job. It's not some big conspiracy. Did anyone particularly stand out anyone's opinion? There were several on Twitter and you know who you are. So pipe down, you clown.

he injure himself on a quarterback sneak? I would need to watch that more closely. Okay. Thank you for the detailed question. I should have known that. No, because I can't remember if it was Tom Savage that Terry Bradshaw was woefully out of date and out of step talking about concussions during halftime show today. I thought that might be who you were targeting.

And there would be other reasons to, you know, be a little concerned about Terry Bradshaw's analysis at this point. But I have to be honest, I was tasked. with watching this out the corner of my eye, and it paved the way. What, how far in the corner was it? It was pretty far. I was like, you know, I was like, you know, the league does not need to be more than 17 weeks long because I don't need to see some of these teams.

It wasn't just these two for more than 17 weeks. It is time for 20 of these teams to take a big old dirt nap and vanish. Go to sleep. What does the robot have to say about this? Thank you. What was that? Thank you. Hey, listen.

Your robot's weird, Mark. I don't know what to make of that. I like that person thing. Remember the 1980s movie Maximum Overdrive with ACDC soundtrack where the robots took over the world? I'll have to go look that up. I do not. All right.

And now. A real commercial from an actual CBS primetime program that millions of humans watch. Miles from hell He's bleeding out The only way to save him We need to stop the heart from beating Is to kill him

Suspended animation With Scorpion Monday I mean I got drunk last night It was New Year's Eve And I never do this But I went on Twitter drunk

And I took some questions Podcast listeners And someone asked What was your favorite bit Of the season? What was your favorite thing all season? and I threw some things out there. You know, I think, Wes, you're lock it up.

I think, I don't remember what I tweeted at this point. But now that I think about it, Scorpion ads are right up there. I mean, nothing makes me happier when I hear them. Why was it we have to kill him in order to save him? Yeah, can we just one more time? Because I want to break this down just a little bit more. Miles from hell. He's bleeding out.

The only way to save him. We need to stop the heart from being. is to kill him. Suspended animation. Scorpion Monday. I mean, it's every week with these ads, it feels like six completely different type of ideas just smashed together in one soundbite.

And millions of millions of people watch a show. One day in the off season, I will sit down on my couch and binge watch every Scorpion episode ever. I don't think you come out better for that. Let's move on. Check in on the Jacksonville Indie Tilt. Oh, yeah.

Andrew takes the snap, sets up looks, he throws. Touchdown, Doyle! Jack Doyle! He did it with nine seconds left in the game. Jack Doyle comes up with a great catch, and the Colts lead in the football game, 23 to 20. Bob Lamie with the call WFNI. Andrew Luck threw a one-yard touchdown pass to Jack Doyle,

just nine seconds to play, lifting the Colts to a 24-20 win over the Jaguars. The Colts won 75 yards. and 84 seconds without the aid of a timeout to win this game. The result, India avoids its first losing season since 2011. Of course, gentlemen, that was the infamous suck-for-luck-luck campaign. The Jaguars, meanwhile, end another miserable year at 3 and 13. Chris Wessling, what should be the focus of the Colts off-season?

How about a new general manager? One who will actually get some young legs and pass rushers on defense. And the offensive line might finally have a nucleus they can build around, but they weren't ready to protect Andrew Luck for most of this year. Why not get a running back, too? Frank Gore is 33 years old and has zero big playability. I think you really need to construct this roster, which has been allowed to fall into disrepair over the last couple of years.

It's like as if Gore was brought in at one point as the final piece in the puzzle, but you are not in that world anymore. I do wonder because, you know, we call tomorrow Black Monday, that actually very little fresh coaching. GM firings seem to be announced on that Monday anymore. It's all Sunday night that you hear everything. And I, you know, we'll come out of this part of the show, but we've not heard anything about changes in Indy.

I wonder if that could be something that might happen a couple days from now after they do sit down and talk. Jim Mersay said two weeks ago that he had no changes in mind. He would have to review it at the end of the season. But the way he spoke, it did not seem like Chuck Pagano's job was in jeopardy. Which is really interesting to me because it looked like Pagano was done last year. he comes back and they have another disappointing year but it's not all on him obviously

there's personnel issues with this team and their goal their goal from an overarching macro point of view is they need to avoid burning off another year of their quarterback's prime which is what they did this year and he's still young I think he'll probably be 27 by opening day next year so you you would think health allows he'll have another five to 10 years after that

but I mean you just can't give away the guy's 20s with these flawed teams. Colts worth noting 68 point advantage and point differential over the Texans this year. Wow. There you go. By the way, Colts linebacker Robert Mathis played his final game. Nice season. Hallfammer?

I think he'll end up in the Hall of Very Good just because there are so many good pass rushers from his generation, whom I think were more well-rounded players. And one last note, Jags Lady, listen up. You can't have a newcomer coming. in and steal a show. Maybe it's time to steal a show. And also, if you say you got a beach house, don't tell strangers that it's right on the beach

and then correct yourself because you can't live with the guilt of lying to a television reporter. Anyway, the Jaguars win by year since their last 500 season in 2010, 5, 2, 4, 3, and now 3. Not easy being a Jaguars fan. Sorry, guys. Let's check in on last year's NFC champion. Yikes.

Can the buck stop Cam Newton? Two-point try. Here's the snap. Looking fire. It is incomplete at the goal line, knocked down by Keith Tandy, the Tandyman Cale again. Nice job.

Gene Deckerhoff, W-F-U-S with the call. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers broke up. Cam Newton's two-point conversion attempt with 17 seconds to play, the decisive play in a 17-16 win over the Panthers who follow up a 15-1 Super Bowl season with a 6-10 stink bomb. Speaking of stink bombs, Newton struggled once again,

throwing three more interceptions and a losing effort. Mark, looking at Newton's 2015 and 2016 stats side-by-side, it's pretty jarring. What went wrong? And should Panthers fans be worried that this could be the new normal? Is this Cam Newton? It's interesting that he's paired in a quarter of,

room with Derek Anderson, who seemed to also have a one fantastic deal-with-the-devil-type season that never, ever came around again. They're different quarterbacks. But I like what Max Meyer, our editor downstairs, wrote about this in the write-up, was that Cam Newton's performance was just as bad as what Mariah Carey offered in Times Square last night, which, you know, also received terrible reviews from the world in general. And she deserved those reviews, and Cam Newton deserves his poor reviews this season last. Yeah, it's interesting. Ron Rivera and I had a back-and-forth on Cam Newton this week. Did you know about that?

No. Oh, yeah. He wrote that Cam Newton is going to have to evolve. He's going to have to become a different style of player. So then I wrote an article saying they should use the Steelers Big Ben model because four years ago, the Steelers came to Big Ben, said, we don't want you to be a physical Marvel anymore. We want you to be a more cerebral quarterback, stand in the pocket, get rid of the ball faster and become a better quarterback. like more of a Tom Brady, Peyton Manning pre-snap kind of quarterback. Panther's website writer goes to Ron Rivera and says, hey, Chris Wesleyan of Enneville.com said,

look, we've got the Big Ben model here. Is that a good model for Cam Newton? And Ron Rivera said, yes, that's what we want to do. Get the ball out faster. We want to use the Big Ben model. I mean, you also played a role and giving him the Riverboat Ron nickname. Look, look at you plugged in.

Riverboat, Ron. What's the right word? We're simpatico? Yes, you are. You are. You are Sympatigo. I like Riverbitt. But I think they, here's what they need to do.

They need to switch the offense. I wonder if Mike Shula is going to stay offensive coordinator because the way they've been hinting that kind of hybrid college pro scheme. They probably want to get rid of that and go all pro, all NFL scheme and get rid of the college stuff, not as many designed runs. But also they need to draft a running back. And they need to straighten out a running game that went 35 straight straight games. over 100 yards, and then this season, five games in the second half of the season without 100 yards. I mean, it's funny, though, because what coordinator that today is being touted as the greatest thing that's happened next year from now is going to be the guy who may be out of a job?

Because last year, Shula had all these think pieces being written about them all through January, and how quickly that fades. I'm not saying he should be fired. I just wonder, especially since one of Ron. People have asked the same thing. One of Ron Rivera's coaching mentors is Norv Turner, who is now free to coach any offense he wants to if he wants to get off his couch.

The Bucks had a very, very slim chance of making the playoffs today. It didn't work out. They needed like 13 things to go their way. It did not. But they still finished 9 and 7, and their first winning record since 2010. And James Winston, the first quarterback ever to throw for 4,000 yards in each of his first two seasons.

So, you know, uniforms aside. and horizon line of the stadium with the sun, things are looking up for Tampa. I agree. Things are really looking up. I want to figure out what they're going to do with Doug Martin, who's so important to that offense. But Mike Evans is a future all-pro receiver if he doesn't get it this year.

James Winston's the real deal. They've got so many building blocks. Probably have to beef up that offensive line a little bit and then got a couple more playmakers on defense. But I think it's a very promising season for them. Absolutely. I mean, it was a couple months ago we were wondering if Dirk Codder was going to be,

won and done and I see them more as like you look at last year's Atlanta Falcons figuring out what they were under a new coach then maybe the bucks are the next team in that division to make a leap and and not toy with the playoffs next year but get there you want to talk about electric scenes to the meadowlands who's kick from Nick Folk falls inside the 10 yard line rolls all the way back into the end zone that's a loose ball who's got it I think the jets have a touchdown Nick Folk kicked it to no man's land and no player for Buffalo went near it. Mike Gillisley tried to save it. It rolled into the end zone.

Doug Middleton jumped on top of it and the Jets have scored a very odd special teams touchdown with 321 to go. Bob was shoes in WEPN. The bills wrapped a week from hell with a gnarly performance in their season finale. The Jets scored a touchdown on a Nick Folk kickoff into the end zone, which you just heard. What else needs to be said? The game was well in hand by that point. The final 30 to 10 in favor of the Jets who finish a disappointing 5 and 11 in Todd Bowles' second season.

The 7 and 9 Bills now enter an offseason loaded with uncertainties. One thing we do know, E.J. Manuel should not be part of their future. He was dreadful in this game and eventually got yanked in favor of Cardell Jones. And I don't know if that was their plan the whole game. It very well might have been, but it could easily have been for performance issues. We know the background of this by now that Tyrod Taylor got bench for financial reasons. But if you needed any other look into the soul of E.J. Manuel, the football player, not a good look today.

Missing receivers all over the field. What a disappointing performance for Anthony Lynn, too, because this is a guy that 24 hours ago, teams fighting over Anthony Lynn. Can Buffalo even keep him in Buffalo? I hope they don't hold this game against it. Well, it's not just, you're right. And it's not just that. It's just that.

Wasn't he forced to play E.J. Manuel? Well, he was, but I still don't say that this definitely persuades the general manager to get rid of E.J. Manuel. I'll tell you why. He's lived through all this stuff already. It's ridiculous. Doug Whaley, is the man that drafted E.J. Manuel and is somehow still going to be in charge of choosing who the next head coach is. But you would think this guy has played himself out of town. We'll see.

But one thing, I don't like what's going on. in Buffalo at all. On Saturday, this was a post on Deadspin that I saw that I thought was interesting. The bills put out a highlight video, like a two-minute highlight reel of their entire season, like a sizzle reel type thing, and they went to the pains of keeping Tyrod Taylor

out of the video entirely. What? Yeah. So obviously it is a nuclear situation behind the scenes there around Tyrod Taylor. What the hell? It's embarrassing. you wonder who's calling that shot because how were you not going to be found out?

Yeah. It was going to look bad no matter what. Very weird. And it came out after the game that both Todd Bulls and Mike McCaghanon are safe in New York. I think that's the right call. And I thought because the season was over, it would be good to check in with my old man, Keith Hansis. His thoughts on the end of another empty jet season. His name is Keith.

He's dance dad. No doubt about it. He's a big Jets fan. What is he going to say about the game today? What is he going to say about the game today? Happy New Year. Happy New Year. His Jets win today gives him a record of 5 and 11, very disappointing season.

I thought we had a lot of high alts going into it. It just didn't work out. One of the key things I felt was the number of injuries that they had, 72, which was tops for the league. As far as improvement goes, obviously they still need to find a quarterback. Hopefully they can come up with somebody, and they need to

defy up that offensive line to start with those two things. And they'll have to make a decision on Revis, which way they're going to go. As far as Bowles goes, I think they should give Bowles one more chance. If they start off slow, or

if the team starts quitting, which the at times it appear to, then he's got to go. But give him another shot next year and see how it rolls. Okay, take care. Bye. Keith's right. A lot of big decisions need to be made. And the offensive line has been a point that they have not really invested in that line.

No first round picks in years. And, in fact, only one second round pick years ago, King N. Ugly, I can't even remember his name anymore, but a draft pick that didn't work out. So they need to invest. I would not be surprised if they go offensive line in the first round. Start building a core. It's a rebuild. King Ugly, I'd like a couple of those guys on my offensive.

Vlad Dukas was his name. Oh, yeah. Well, Chan Galey's out, right? It sounds like he's out, yes. And they want a offensive coordinator who uses a tight end and uses the ground attack more than Chan Galey did. Yeah, and I think it became kind of a run. It was fine.

Hello, Greg Roman. Yeah, I don't know which way they're going to go. And Chan Galey, these things always strike me is a little odd because Todd Bowles, your job's safe, but you need to make changes. So it's like, okay, what am I going to do? All right, I guess I'll follow the O.C. You know, they had a top 10 offense last year with Ryan Fitzpatrick and quarterback. Nobody was complaining about Chan Gelley then.

He had a bad year, but his, the team, and I've said it many times. The roster was very poor this season, and then they got beat up with injuries. Can I get Mark's opinion on the game's ultimate mercenary accusing the Jets of having no loyalty? Oh, it's an annoying. It's an annoying subplot for a team that has too many distractions late this season. Dorel Rivas, who should be, A, you're bringing Dorel Rivas back, I thought, to be a leader and to be the guy that kind of can remind everyone how important it is to play for the Jets and what it means. And some of the stuff that came out the quotes, I think it was on Friday.

Jets have to show class. To me, I want Jets fans in general. I tweeted something about it. And you hear a lot back from the fan base when you throw something out. out there like that, and it was 95% Jets fans that were fed up with Revis. Yeah, it's, you know. Delusional comments. He has no leverage, and he's still acting like he has leverage.

Let's move on. Oh, by the way, still, still no Christian Hackenberg. Christian Hackenberg is real? I was going to say, Tom Savage is not the guy for that comment anymore, right? Let's check in on the team of ATL. Bradford passes out of it, and pats the ball, fire center in the field,

caught Rudolph at the five. Leap through the end zone. Touchdown! For Kyle Rudolph, the 29th receiving touchdown of his career, which is a new Minnesota Vikings record for tight ends and it's 16-0 vikes. Paul Allen, KFAN, with the call.

The team of ATL went out on a high note. Sam Bradford tossed three first half touchdowns, leading the Vikings to a 30. 3810 victory over the woeful bears. The Vikings who started 5-0 finish 8-8 and 8. The Bears, it could be worse. It could be the Bears who finished 3 and 13. Their worst record ever since the NFL expanded to a 16-game schedule in 1978

and the most tied for the most losses in franchise history. Mark Bradford set the completion percentage record breaking. Drew Brees' record, stayed healthy and had a solid season overall. Is he the Vikings starter in week one next September? Completely unknown, because you have to find out where you are with Teddy Bridgewater's recovery and health. Answer the question. Yes. You think he is?

Yes. I think he showed a ton this year. It was easily the best year of his career. And you can say Pat Schumer's dink and duck offense got him that completion mark. But he was the most accurate quarterback in the NFL this year on intermediate and deep throws. when he was asked to go deep, he did it very efficiently and very well. So you just keep Teddy Bridgewater buried as a backup, your former first round take? I don't know that Teddy Bridgewater is ever going to be Teddy Bridgewater again with the severity of the injury.

But regardless, Sam Bramper was better this year than Bridgewater showed at any point. Well, I think they were expecting a big leap from Bridgewater, number one, in this offense. I'm not sure that would have happened with the way things played out. But I would say this, that you have to promote competition between those two after the way Bridgewater was lost. That's what I would do as a coach just have them compete. I don't think there's a clear yes or no right now at all. Yeah. And, you know, I would think the trade would be a failure

if you looked at Bradford as a one and done because they gave them first. People kind of forget now because it was so crazy what it all happened. They have a first round pick to get St. Bradford, too. And, you know, maybe it was kind of a scramble because they thought they had a Super Bowl contender, like a lot of people do. I think they did think that. And it didn't work out. But he did show enough you would think that he should be on their grid as a,

a long-term answer. The only thing I'd say, and it's easy to look back if you're a Vikings fan to be agitated with handing away a high pick for a quarterback in that moment is that if they had gone 2 and 14 or something with Sean Hill under center, jobs are lost. And you cannot really convince teams to keep you around through terrible seasons. We just saw that with Mike McCoy. I think Sam Bradford will, he might be an injury risk for the majority of his career, for the rest of his career.

But the game film from this year says they found their quarterback. And if that's the case, the first round pick isn't that much to give up. And you know what? Bradford, despite his health this year, has had injury issues. You need a solid backup. Teddy Bridgewater can be the backup if this is the direction they go. And maybe he gets his opportunity and wins the job. I think it's not the worst situation to be in.

Well, I think we know that capable guys. Absolutely. It's not like you're going to, you have to get rid of one of them before next season. No. And one note on the Bears side, who they ended the season, they were being frisky for a bit there in December, and then it kind of crumbled in the last couple of games. But Rapsheet reported that John Fox, his job is safe,

as is the jobs of his staff. So it looks like he will be back for a third season and gets a chance to turn around hopefully for the Bears fans with a young quarterback they can get behind. Yeah, one last thing, Matt Barkley really fell apart in the last few weeks. And any sentiment that he was going to enter next year as the starter be re-signed as the starter is out the window entirely. Let's move on to the L.A. Coliseum, a sparse L.A. Coliseum.

First and 15 on the 34, Mannion. Throws far aside. It's Juggled and picked off by Bethel. He's going to take it back at the 40, at the 30, at the 20, the 10, the 5. Touchdown Cardinals. 43 to 6 on the pick 6. Dave Pash, K-T-A-R, the Arizona Cardinals, finished strong, obliterating.

the Rams 44-6 in front of approximately 314 people at the L.A. Coliseum. Yeah, but bring another NFL team to L.A. Do not box. Please. NFL. Come back to us. You do not. You waited decades to get this L.A. situation right. You wanted to get the perfect setup. This does not feel right to bring the chargers into this situation right now.

Couldn't agree more with you. The way they are. Anyway, Carson Palmer threw three touchdown passes, and the Cardinals thrive, despite losing David Johnson. to a knee injury. We don't know the severity, but they believe as ACL is intact, and it might be a meniscus injury, and that's good news. That's bad news.

That's kind of good news. Anyway, that's a sour ending to a brilliant season for David Johnson. As for the Rams, Yikes West, they finish 4 and 12. They have no juice whatsoever, and we're hearing those reports of Sean Peyton being connected to the team. Yeah, I think if you're a Rams fan, you can look at 31 teams in the NFL remained pretty competitive until the end where you thought they might be able to upset a team, and then you

had Jared Gough's Rams, which gave no threat to anyone, really. Just complete ineptitude on offense. The offensive line got worked over by the Cardinals' defensive front today, and golf was miserable again. I think if you're a Rams fan, you're looking, okay, guys who were number one overall

picks who were this bad for stretches of the rookie seasons were Eli Manning and Alex Smith. You hope that maybe they can turn it around like they did? I the Rams are just a they've been a hard watch all year the best thing that's happened is the floor's kind of fallen out and you hope that you get reorganization with a coach that can you actually bring in a staff that develops players on offense to start

you can't toy around with that anymore and we talked about it on Thursday show Carson Palmer was playing better down the stretch he had another nice game today I believe Larry Fitzgerald ended with a league lead in receptions He did indeed. And you hope that David Johnson, he's right by training camp, and they take another shot at this because obviously there's still some,

there's no juice in L.A. There's still some juice in Arizona despite a frustrating 7-8-1 season. Yeah, they go 7-8-1, and if they had a few special teams, gaffs go a different way, they'd be in the playoffs right now. I mean, a more successful kicker probably would have made them, you're winning maybe 10 games with a different kicker. Let's check out with the robot. I'm just curious with the robot,

some computation from the robot. What would happen? Where's the robot, said? Thank you. No, we need it. Forget it. Forget it. Anyway, let's move on to Sunday night football.

Aaron Rogers said that the Green Bay Packers could run the table six weeks ago. That's exactly what they did. Lions rush four. There goes Rogers again. Looking to the outside again, throwing, and it is caught for a touchdown by Geronimo Allison. I mean, you just, you can't stop him if he does that. The amazing quarterback through four touchdown passes,

27 of 39 for 300 yards, no interceptions. Another brilliant performance by the two-time MVP. in a 31 to 17 win over the Detroit Lions. Another one. One more. We triple locked it, gentlemen. We locked it up. Yes, we all locked up the Packers.

We felt confident that they were going to finish the job, and that's exactly what they did, the 31-17 win, where they clearly looked like the better team in this game. And Rogers was simply Chris Wessling. the best player on the field as he's been for a month and a half now. He's dragging this team into the playoffs. Carrying this team like no other player in the league right now, I believe. And playing at a high level, it was so amazing to see his legs.

You know, that's a great sign going into the playoffs, a guy with a calf injury a couple weeks ago, making plays, extending plays in a way that a lot of quarterbacks just can't do. And it... Oh, Sunday night. Wait a minute, this Sydney bit just grows in its magnificence every week. That sounds like it came out of an L.A. sound studio. That was Phil Collins on drums, by the way.

So impressed. So impressed that we don't have to hear that song again until next September, hopefully. That's true. That thing is out of my life. Out of your life. What? So you thought. We're still going to have late Sunday games.

Well, I'm not going to appear for those. Getting a last little shot in. I was going to say if we are, if we're button-free for a minute, Sydney, that... Button-free. Well, you've got to press a button to make that happen. It's that the playoff seatings, which we've, I think, you know, a little bit we've avoided talking definitively because we needed this game. The playoff robot? Yes.

Wheel them out. Very, not lumbering machine. Yeah. Well, I'm going to go through this question. Quickly? Yes, we love to. All right. So in the AFC, obviously the Patriots and Chiefs have sealed up the one and two seed respectively.

And then in a game out of the AFC that feels very much has a little west of his flavor to it. The quickly fading Oakland Raiders visiting the Houston Texans, which that feels like an early Saturday game to me. It is. The time slots are out. Oh, they are? That is Saturday at 4.35 p.m. Eastern Time. Competing robot. Well, and beautiful.

So later on Saturday, and this, Dan, we went through this during the game, and I think we nailed this right down to the final minute. Late Saturday will be Detroit at Seattle. Then on Sunday, you get the Miami Dolphins of the Pittsburgh Steelers early. And then the New York Giants visiting the Green Bay Packers, Eli Manning 2 and O against the Packers in the playoffs on Sunday afternoon. Marky matchup, winter is here. Well, the Giants, yeah, that will be fun.

The last two times we've seen the Giants in Green Bay in the playoffs, they've pulled off what people thought to be upsets, including a 15-and-1 Packers team. So we get that that will be built up throughout the week. But, you know, back to this game. Yeah, so Aaron Rogers, again, and we talked about it earlier in the show, Matt Ryan deserves the MVP,

but Aaron Rogers kept his name in what's been a really fun race this year. 40 touchdowns, West. He finishes with leading the NFL, like you said, drags the Packers from 4 and 6 to 10 and 6 to another NSC North title. And then you look on the other side of the field. And what can you say? The Detroit lines, we saw this when they were 9 and 4.

When you looked at the schedule, they looked a little soft at 9 and 4. And then when they played some good teams, when the games counted the most, they crumbled each time. And what makes you think things will be any different, Wes, in the playoffs? Nothing. They finish with a minus 19 point differential, which isn't quite as bad as the Houston Texans, but there are middling teams such as the Cincinnati Bengals, the Titans, the Colts who have much better point differentials than the Detroit Lions.

That tells me that they're not nearly as good as the 9 and 7 record says they are, and I think they're going to be outclassed in Seattle. And what a difference between hosting the New York Giants in your own building next week had they beaten Green Bay tonight versus going to Seattle next week. I'm not saying this is the Seattle team of recent years necessarily, but I can't think of a tougher place to play in January. Did I say the final score was 3117? It's actually 3124 because in the final waning seconds, Maddie Stafford through it basically was a Hail Mary to get it to 3124. It doesn't matter. Not enough for this time. Make that minus 12 point differential then. There you go. So the bottom

line is the lions are sliding into the players. And the only reason they're even in the postseason because the Redskins totally choked against the Giants. Spit the bit in a big spot. So there you go. The Green Bay Packers flying high into the playoffs. And I don't want to face them. Who's the most dangerous team in the playoffs right now? I'll keep the Cowboys in it.

Who's the most dangerous team in the NFC playoffs right now in terms of who would you not want to see, especially in their building? Land of Falcons for me. Over the Cowboys. Right now, over the course of the season, the Cowboys, but the Falcons are putting up 35 to 50 points every game. I could make the case for the Packers. I think the Cowboys are right there too.

The Falcons defense still worries me. I do think their offense is an incredible juggernaut, but I think you can take them down, pound it out, and make their defense pay. I'm much more excited as a football fan by the NFC playoffs. I think there could be some. You never know how. this plays out on the AFC side.

Things can get crazy, but there's some teams that aren't too exciting. In the NFC, there are some really deserving teams that could be in the Super Bowl, and it's been fun to see how it plays out. Peeking at the right time. I mean, whether it's the Packers or the Falcons, and certainly the Cowboys haven't faded at all, and they're all peaking at the right time. As impressive as the Chiefs and Steelers have been of late, I still can't escape the feeling that the Patriots are such a good team so well-rounded that they're going to come out of the AFC,

You guys are right. Rividing playoff football in the NFC this year. Okay, so that is the final Sunday night regular season podcast. I'm going to call it 15 out of 17 good shows. I won't say which two shows didn't work. I have a suspicion, but I won't ask you to name it. No, but great work by everyone. Great work behind the glass.

We'll be back on Tuesday. We'll check in on our sandwich props that we made both before the season. and then halfway through the season when we added some more see who came out on top who got banged in a big spot and we should also check in on the fork how do we did with the fork all that stuff Tuesday until then this is dan hansis signing off for the quiet storm the mailman new money and gregg rosenthal live from san diego my god till tuesday This is an I-heart podcast.