NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2022 Week 18 Recap: Playoff Picture is Set

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

A room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal recap the final week of the 2022 regular season! To start, the heroes look at the playoff schedule (1:20) before covering all the games in the NFC: Lions at Packers (4:38), Rams at Seahawks (16:39), Giants at Eagles (25:40), Cowboys at Commanders (31:45), Cardinals at 49ers (38:38), Vikings at Bears (46:11), Buccaneers at Falcons (50:24), and Panthers at Saints (55:33). Then, we hit the AFC matchups: Patriots at Bills (59:50), Jets at Dolphins (1:11:42), Titans at Jaguars (1:20:28), Chiefs at Raiders (1:28:33), Ravens at Bengals (1:38:01), Browns at Steelers (1:46:56), Chargers at Broncos (1:57:14), and finally finishing up with Texans at Colts (2:08:52) - when we get some breaking news towards the end of the show. Note: timecodes approximate.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast is jealous of the way Mark looks at Dan. Well, one person is in between us from the Chris Wessling podcast studio. It's Around the NFL. I'm Dan Hansis with Greg Rosenthal, that man who looks at the way Mark and I look at each other. Mark Sessler. And he goes, that is not true. I'm loving how we're all looking at each other.

You know, we're coming off the team of ATL delivering. You doubt the NFL for one second after a snoozy afternoon slate. And here it comes. Sell it. With a season finale for the ages. 272 games now in the books and the playoffs are set, Mark Sessler. You know, Greg, when I do look at Dan that way, And you're here on the table in between us.

It's just a nice Greg sandwich in a way. We're just both giving you our... That warmth. Yeah. You're not excluded from it. Well, the bread is always my favorite part. Yeah. Back to the games.

You are the meat. 272 in the books. The playoffs are set... Ten regular seasons in the books. Ten regular seasons. For us. In the books. Here is the playoff schedule.

Let's start there. Yeah. Okay. The West of this game. the traditional early Saturday ballgame 4.30 p.m. Eastern. That's later. Yeah. West of us used to be earlier. Seattle Seahawks, seven seed at San Francisco, two seed on Fox. Saturday night, Chargers, five seed at Jags, four seed, AFC window. That's NBC. Peacock. Sunday, we have number seven Miami at number two Buffalo at one p.m. Eastern.

Feels like a one p.m. on CBS. Yes, at 4.30 p.m. Eastern, the NFC matchup between the Giants and Vikings, a 6-3 matchup on Fox. Then a final Sunday game. Baltimore, six-seed at Cincinnati, three-seed rematch of week 18. And then, yes, new as of last season, a Monday night playoff game, 815 Eastern. Dallas Cowboys, the five-seat at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the four-seed. There you go. That's the first round of the playoffs. to all the games, but that is what we got coming up next week.

Here we go. I mean, the least surprising development on our entire planet is that they put the Dallas Cowboys against Tom Brady as the Monday night affair, right? I think, I don't know. Actually, last year, that wasn't like the prime time slot, you know, because it's ESPN and everything. I think they had some bad games there. They, of course, had a game cut short last Monday night.

So that's like almost a make-good. And it's a fun little slate. Mark, sometimes you got it with your. your corporate partners, you've got to make sure the relationship stays strong. So you give them America's team before they eliminate themselves. That's not my role. I think they're all sweating because they're like, ooh, how can we tap what the old lions and Packers did on NBC?

We need the lions in this wild card. That's the only thing missing. Greg, you spent all day long telling Dan and I and all week and weeks long telling us that it didn't matter that the lions weren't playing. I said it could be great theater whether they are there or not. Well, that's what. Whether they can make the playoffs or not. Let's set the table here.

We're going to get through all the games from Sunday. We're going to start with the NFC and that Sunday night game, but also keep in mind we're going to hit the AFC later, including obviously the first game for the Buffalo Bills since Damar Hamlin's issue on Monday night and what a dramatic scene that was. So a lot of good football to talk about, including keeping our eye on what's going on with the league as Black Monday.

New Horizons Monday. fast approaches. But let us start. Yes, Sunday night football. The final game of the regular season. There it is. New Horizons. That's called massaging the message.

It's a softer, gentler approach to 18-teens facing new horizons. The seasons are over. We start at Lambeau Field where the Green Bay Packers were one win away from an improbable playoff appearance when they look down and out the Detroit lines. the team of around the NFL, found out earlier their season was ending no matter what after the Seattle Seahawks were victorious over the Rams, and yet we still got a great ballgame. So here we go. The Lions can end this ball game right here.

Fourth and one from the Green Bay 15. Goff takes the snap. Back looks, throws. Pot. First down, Detroit Lions. DJ charped down inside the 10-yard line. this game is over it is over execute a couple of snaps and these lions are gone home with a victory how big is this football team been tonight you want to change the conversation win some games

and that's exactly what they've done hit it graver one last time baby who will be the team The team Team The Team The Team Only one team Learn the right Now's the time to shine a light

Here we go Mark Team Of This is a very special honor Oh, it's the last time we'll hear that theme. But man, the lions go out in a beautiful way, a 20 to 16 win over the Green Bay Packers, the Detroit Lions who were once one and six and roadkill in the NFC finish nine and eight. And eliminate the hated Green Bay Packers in their building.

How many big games have the Packers lost in their building? In the Aaron Rogers era, it's usually. happened in the postseason this year they sucked in that fan base and then laid an egg on Sunday night but I still Greg want to give plenty of credit as we should to the lions who could have easily

lost that juice once they knew they weren't going to go to the dance and yet they finished off what was a truly promising season for the organization you say lay an egg I hear you I say lost a great game to a better team they scored 16 points

in a do or die game in their building Turn two turnovers. All I'm saying is, like, these two teams were better than plenty of the teams that made the playoffs. I believe that. I agree with that. The Lions had to go out and take that game. I love that the Lions get the ball in the fourth quarter, down three, marched down to take the lead. Then on 3rd and 10, Aaron Rogers sees a full house blitz.

No Fs given by Aaron Glenn. he sends the house and dares the four-time MVP to beat them. Instead, he makes a mistake. Kirby Joseph picks it off. It was the third near-interception that Joseph had, that this one he finishes off. Then on second and 17, to call that lateral play, the stones of Dan Campbell and Ben Johnson in that moment.

And then for the lion's season to essentially end, like so many other moments of this. lion's season. A fourth down decision. You can go for the field goal to get up a touchdown or you can do what Dan Campbell does and you can go for it and not worry so much about bad outcomes and trust in your players and end this Packers season. I wish they were in the playoffs.

But man, you can't tell me that this is not a sweet, sweet victory and moment for this franchise, the team of ATN. It kind of threw me on the broadcast because they mentioned more than once. Well, because they've been eliminated, probably they wouldn't have done that one play, the pitch back to DeAndre Seth. Maybe they wouldn't go for it on the fourth ones. But this is who Dan Campbell and the Lions have been all year long. It looked to me like a lot of the Lions games.

It isn't like we're trying to be completely out of bounds in terms of our risk-taking, but they do go for it. And it's a very 20-23 approach. It is a massive organizational lift for Dan Campbell for everyone. because when they were truly floating in the abyss with their record as it was, it was like nice story, but a lot of these hard knocks, nice stories, there's nothing to it when it comes down to it, and they completely turned around.

I mean, they overcame a couple of things tonight, too, because you had a Kirby Joseph pick that was taken away by that hands to the face. They had a missed field goal in a tight game, that James 61-yard, catch-and-run bomb that was pulled back by flag. I mean, a lot of penalties went against the lions tonight, but they kept overcoming, and I think that is who they are. And like, yes, I think they were in the playoffs. They are not a team you'd want to face.

It's a lucky. It's a fortunate situation for a couple of these mezzanine-level NFC teams. Yeah, you feel a little bit cheated. With all due respect to the Seattle Seahawks, to the New York Giants, those teams in the back end of the playoff picture, Detroit to me. And for instance, I have a bit of a conundrum with the power rankings, which will come out in a couple days. And it's like, I'm going to have the lines as a top 10 team in the NFL,

because that's exactly what they are. It just didn't work out for them in terms of tiebreakers and they just ran out of games to really to get into the dance. But it does give them a huge kind of trampoline jump as they look to next year. And there will be expectations in a way that you haven't seen around this team in many years. And that's for down the road. Do we have Jamal Williams after the game speaking with NBC Sports? I'm just grateful. I'm grateful to be able to play this game from my great-grandfather.

I'm glad that he's looking down with me. I know I'm making him proud. You said this ball's for him? Yeah, this is for him. Another thing, stop playing us, man. We're the Detroit Lions. We the Detroit Lions. Stop playing with us.

I don't even watch TV, but I heard everybody already ticked there, pick the Packers over us. That's the Lions of the Nutshell. He pivoted mid-tier. Like the tears were halfway down his face talking about his grandfather to pointing at the camera and saying nobody believed in us.

And he's right, except for Mark Sessler I was just going to jump this is a smart strategy that we talked about before I was like I had a feeling that everyone was going to jump on the Aaron Rogers thing

it's like they are the team of ATL so I'm just obviously going to pick the lions thinking less people would and no one on this little like graphic they did no one else did and just looks it makes you look as I said in the text

it's kind of a cloud hack it is and now what you need to do the next step are your representation and I know who your representation is you need to get this to lion's social media so they can amplify it. And then your clout is fully...

I know on Greg's game day view... Engorged. You also... Engorged clout. I've been picking them every week. They're the key to me getting into first place. The Lions keep winning. Your fault is you're doing this TV show.

No one pays attention to that. I'm just doing this dot-com picks thing that gets tweeted. Right. That's how you do it. I used to be in that picks thing. And then the guy that sent the email like, hey, get your picks in just gave up on me. I couldn't do it anymore.

I just like, I can't. One other thing I think... I give you respect for staying. with it. Thank you. I'm a company person. I think something that almost overtook what happened to Detroit in this game was the imagery, the camera work, and the somewhat mysterious language by the NBC Broadcasting Group about Aaron Rogers, arm in arm with Randall Cobb, walking off the field. And it was James and Williams who walked up to Rogers and said, could we switch jerseys, which is a common thing, maybe not always with Aaron Rogers. But he sort of said, no, I want to

want to keep this one. Jameson Williams has got like, I have four career catches. Can I have maybe your last jersey ever? This stuff happens all the time. But like, but it's just like the way they showed Rogers pensively looking around Lambo, it changed the tone. You ever get that feeling when you're watching something or you're listening to the announcers or like they know something that you don't?

Yes. There was that vibe. The way Tariko was setting it up and then the way the camera was just. I mean, this truly was like kind of the story of the game. Yes, the Packers season was over and another season was over for Rogers, this all-time great player. But for a lot of football fans, the story was really like the lines and the journey of their season and overcoming so many obstacles and then winning in Lambo to end the season. But that is not the way NBC covered it.

And we'll find out. We're going to learn more about it. But they have the cameras right in Rogers' face. He obviously is taking things in, looking around the field with his best buddy Randall Cobb walking back into the tunnel into the unknown. So we'll see. we'll see if that was a red herring or something that tells us what's coming next for the Packers. I absolutely

got the feeling that Torrico and Collinsworth had a feeling about this game. Or more than a feeling. Based on no, based on the conversation that they had. They spent days with Rogers and with Green Bay. It's just like they... With Aaron, yeah. And

LaFleur after the game said, you know, in my mind, you know, he expects Rogers back, but he's going to decide that and we'll see. because that does paint a different picture. It does because this was such, you know, a disappointing end to this season for the Packers. You're right.

I hadn't even, I just so wrapped up in the Lions that I hadn't even thought about, like kind of what a crushing end, because the Packers would have gone into the playoffs believing that they could do something. Now, either the Packers or the Lions would have been playing the 49ers. Tough spot.

Tough draw. I think the 49ers have to be thrilled. They're playing the Seahawks, considering those three their history against them their recent history this year but man that that's a crushing way to lose

after they got everyone all worked up and had a lead in the fourth quarter over the Detroit Lions give up that touchdown drive throw an interception can't get a stop ultimately they fell short big time in a fourth quarter just like they did

throughout the beginning part of the season I would have loved to see Lions Niners I think that would have been ultra fascinating It would have been fun. You know who you can blame for that? A little bit. Who?

Baker Mayfield. We'll get to it. I mean, among other people, if we're going to look at the season globally. I'm just saying, before we move on from this game, I do want to say, like, there's a chance, Jared Gough? Like, we don't know what his future is going to be. Certainly you expect him to be the week one starter there next year, but you never know. The way this game started with him throwing a lot of dirt balls and struggling in the cold, everyone's going to joking about his small hands.

Man, there was the drive before. four half time where it's like third and five and they're down nine three and they just got the fumble back and he leaves the drive and then Campbell goes forward on fourth and two when they're down 16 13. Remember they're going forward on fourth down when they were behind on that touchdown true and

Goff had that nice throw down the field to it like he delivered man. Yeah he delivered play after play after play he really delivered Jamal Williams who we heard breaking Barry Sanders's touchdown record and Jared Goff he may not be like the John Wayne of NFL quarterbacks not the picture of like what the great ones

look like or how they perform. But he was fearless in this game as well. Goodbye to the, oh, yes, Mom. I was going to say, like, how many, it's been a season where a number of quarterbacks have changed what we think about them entirely, but the easy, comfortable jokes about Jared Goff and his personality and his sort of, you know,

bowl of milk or glass of milk type persona, like throw it all away. I mean, what he did this season was pretty amazing. Great year for that offense. Great year for the lines, even if fall short of the player. So long team of ATN. I don't know how we pick another one next year.

That is the goat team of ATN in my impression, in my humble opinion. Let's move on now. All right. We mentioned the Seattle Seahawks. They are going to the playoffs because they got it done. Give them credit last week against the Jets. And yes, against Baker Mayfield and the Rams. Can Myers win this one in overtime for the Seahawks?

There's the snap. There's the spot. The kick is away. And the kick is good. The Seahawks win the game The final regular season game of the year They winning at home against the Rams And now the playoff chances still live for the Seahawks

And as we know They got the result they needed on Sunday night With the Packers falling That allows the Seattle Seahawks to move into the postseason With Gino Smith as their quarterback That is a real success story for this organization. A 1916 win over the L.A. Rams, who, as we've said, last week, had already set a record for the most losses ever for a defending champion. They finished 5 and 12.

This is a game that was close throughout. Seattle had gotten set up after a very questionable, in my opinion, personal foul on Jalen Ramsey, on a hit on the sideline on Gino Smith set them up for what looked like it was going to be a game winning football at the end of regulation Jason Meyer hits the uprights but after a terrible Mayfield

interception and overtime they get another chance kick the field goal game over Seattle advances The look on Sean McVe's face as he was walking to go shake Pete Carroll's hand was very memorable to me

the day started with reports really pumping up that McVeigh may not be back with the Rams. Ian Rapport, Jay Glazer, everyone. But he had always owned Pete Carroll. And that was the difference this season, I guess, between the Seahawks of old and this Seahawks team. I know they got to play this Ram team.

And yet when you watch these two Rams games against the Seahawks, they had both of them in control in the fourth quarter and Gino Smith and the Seahawks eventually get it done. I'm not going to try to pretend like they play. played a great game. Gino threw a pick right off the bat to Jalen Ramsey, seemed a little shook, didn't throw with a lot of confidence for much of the game, could have had more picks, had two in this game. But when they needed a drive late, got a little help by that Ramsey called, but they were also moving the ball by the end of the game much better. By that point of the game, Baker Mayfield

had sort of run out of answers, was just throwing up hope balls. And the Seahawks did just enough against a bad Rams team to get there and to give the fighting Dan Campbell's a chance. And I think Seahawks fans who were whining on Monday about how unfair it was that the lions were playing later should send an apology, maybe a fruit basket to Detroit for all that they've done. Sure.

It's a lot of fruit baskets. Yeah, sure. Yeah, the after the game, after the missed field goal, you go to O.T and Seattle goes three and out, and there's the chance for the Rams. and, you know, Baker, who is very up and down with the Rams, just like he's been for most of his career, they have a chance to win the game.

Van Jefferson kind of streaks open on a second and 15, and if Baker just zips it in there, that's a big gain, and who knows what happens at that point. Instead, he puts a lot of air under it. It throws a balloon that's intercepted by Quadrae Diggs, who waves at Bobby Wagner on the sideline as he goes out of bounds, and it was very close to over. at that point.

So a tough way for the Baker season to end as we look at a very unknown time around the Rams, the Sean McVeigh's status unknown, Baker status, who knows? I mean, I think if you out, you look at that Baker performance against the Broncos on Christmas Day, which was pretty flawless, although it wasn't asking him to save the world, but it was a very clean game. But outside of that, because of that Raiders comeback, was they were abysmal for most of that game until the very end. And it's been spurts where Baker, I think, has been impressive to come. in and do it without a full off season or a lot of time to get up

to snuff in their offense. But a lot of times it's looked like Baker Mayfield. And especially last week and this week missing certain throws that would have saved the Rams. You're playing with no Cooper Cup. I mean, there's people missing all over the place. The offensive lines look better despite you know, Baker's done

fine for the situation. He's in, but he's him though. He's just him. That was the pocket was clean and Jefferson was open and like I said, he threw a blimp. Right. And a couple plays before that, I guess I'm thinking of the drive to end regulation where they could have

gone down and tried to kick a game winning field goal. He also missed Jefferson and he's just slow making decisions where he's always like a beat late and that that's been his problem and the Seahawks benefited from that. They got the Jets at the right time. They had the right week 18

opponent and they beat the Lions and that's, it sucks but they play that game. I remember that game well. It was like four 48 to 45. 48 to 45. It was one of Gino's best games. It was at the point of the season

where the Lions' defense just couldn't do anything. And they tried to keep up in a shootout. And unfortunately for the Lions, like that game loomed super large because I don't think the Seahawks team that's entering the playoffs is at their best right now. You never know if things could change, but I think this is the worst batch of possible. They got blown out twice by the 49ers.

48 to 20 was the combined score of those two games. and it didn't look that close either one of those times. You never know. It's still an incredible success story for them to be able to celebrate tonight. Ken Walker had a nice day, 114 yards. They really wrote him. Here's a quote from Diggs, who had the interception that set up the win of Jefferson. That dude was wide open.

In my mind, I was thinking the worst. I felt like I was 25 again running and jumping in the air. It was one of those plays. They drew it up perfect, got us in the coverage they wanted, and I was going to go out and make a play. So credit to Seattle. they're moving on and it might not be the game that people want to see but at the end of the day it doesn't matter sea ox fans congratulations it's been an awesome ride might got mcvay out of the division too maybe maybe the way that the way that ended in the look on his face i was like man if they had won this game would it have changed rames i hope not i don't think it could i hope not but that feeling and the reports that he's just like so down and stuff and then to he man he just looked crestfallen i wanted to mention that it is new horizons monday coming up. And

this was from Schaefter. McVeigh has gone back and forth on the decision and needs time to get away to process all that has transpired over the past year. Winning a Super Bowl, being courted to work in television, getting married, watching his wife's

home country of Ukraine invaded, losing his grandfather, and then a coaching a team that has fallen short of expectations. Which one of those doesn't fit in with the others? Well, all right. I know what you're saying, but like who knows. I'm sorry, everything's serious. No, no, no, not at all.

But just like I like that that's coming from him. I would. And maybe on the home front. Is the war in Ukraine really backering it in his decision making? Of course it stands out when you bullet point it like that. It's kind of the most absurd thing I've heard. I mean, none of the rest of it, I think felt like it mattered except for that this season's been miserable. And he works works himself in a way that he was considering retiring last year.

I don't think that was all like a leverage way. Well, do you remember the feature that came out about him? before the season. And, like, the one picture of Payton was the fact that he can't just let any of this stuff go. So we'll see. But they also talked about him as someone who wants to go out and have the best coach, the most coaching wins ever. So it's like, which are you?

I read our friend Jordan Rodriguez and the athletic about it. And I just thought it was notable. She noted that the Rams don't think he'd be retiring from football. They think it'd be taking a break, kind of like Sean Payton. And by taking a break, they could either be waiting for him to come back. which is almost impossible. Or they just know that they'll be able to get some draft picks for him. And they could use some draft picks whenever he does come back.

It could be mutually beneficial at this point in Rams history. It doesn't feel like they're close to getting back to a Super Bowl. And I just wonder with that roster and everyone's saying, Matthew Stafford will be back. I don't know. This is an interesting. Jordan would be a great person to have on the show for our next episode of Flashpoint. Absolutely.

Because if McVeigh knew that something about Stafford that we don't know, and then the Rams know something about McVeigh that we don't know. It's like a, you know, house of cards. All right. Let us take a break, and we will continue on. All right. Welcome back. If you're just joining us, which would be weird, it's a podcast.

Week 18's in the books, 272. In the books. We got the playoffs set. We continue now to roll through the NFC. We finally, we've been waiting and waiting for the Eagles to lock down the NFC number one seed. They finally did it. Hertz gives it off to Scott. Up the middle.

Touchdown. Boston Scott. The giant killer does it again. Yes, he does. Okay, that was the best highlight I could think to give to Grave digger. This was not. I was tasked with watching both NFC use games today. Not great.

Sometimes you feel like you're earning your money a little bit. Yeah. You know? NFC East was not dynamic in week 18. Which isn't to say teams involved in the NFC. East will not be dynamic in the next few weeks. We've got three of them in the playoffs. It is to say that maybe some of them will be.

The Philadelphia Eagles are the number one seed after a 22 to 16 win over the New York Giants who remain the number six seed. The Giants next week will travel, as I said, to Minneapolis to face the Vikings, who they played very tough on Christmas Eve, the Eagles. The what do they say, the fruit of their spoils? Is that right? To the victor goes to spoils. The fruit.

Something about fruit. They get fruit. The fruit of their labor? Fruit of their labor. Wait, did anybody hear anything? No, I didn't hear anything. I think it was fruit of their labor. Yes, Justin?

Yeah, just back to your earlier point. That was Philly's only touchdown. What other highlight were we going to do? That's all it is. Kenny Golade's touchdown? Kenny Goli, finally in his last game as a giant, most likely, did score touchdown. But anyway, they take care of. of business. I said on the Thursday preview show, boys, that I thought it was kind of an important

game for the Eagles, not just to win against the Giants backups. And trust me, it was all Giants backups for the most part. Play well. And they didn't really. I think they had the touchdown and five field goals. The offense was a little funky, but Jalen Hertz came out of it seemingly healthy, you know, between the injury costing him two weeks and then not doing much today. He's out of the MVP conversation. But more importantly, he should be ready to go and two. weeks and the Eagles will be as well. 14 and 3, big season for them. And we're going to talk about a coach later in this show that took pains to explain why he played starters deep into a contest when there was no desire for that. The Giants

hung around the Eagles with zero snaps for Daniel Jones, Sequin Barclay, Dexter Lawrence, Kavon Tibido, Leonard Williams, Andrew Thomas, John Feliciano. I mean, they really legit rolled out all your backups. They played a too tight end set, basically, the whole game. It's like a preseason game. So that they wouldn't play their top three receivers. So that their top three receivers didn't risk getting hurt. Which, A, good move.

It's amazing they were competitive. Smart head coach. But it's also crazy because it's like the Giants made the playoffs to the point where they had to really make sure they protected Isaiah Hodgins and Richie James. Like the Chargers are out there. They say they can't start to. But like the guys they're protecting

are Isaiah Hodgins and Richie James who were lucky to make the team back in. That's all they got right now. That's good coaching. That's good coaching. And the fact that they were competitive in this game, I think they'll be loving that. I think they're feeling good.

I actually think the Giants kind of enter the playoffs playing better than they've played all season. There was one absurd moment in this, Dan. Do you agree the idea? because this, you know, whether you want to keep it close or not, why show anything that you might use down the road? But they attempted that fake field goal where Jamie Gillen, just the Scottish hammer just got destroyed.

And it's like, this game came down to six points. You could have been, you could have a chance to be within three. I mean, it's not a big deal, but it was. It wasn't actually a close game. It was 16 nothing at halftime. And the Giants got a very late score to set up an onside kick. But the Eagles kind of controlled it the whole time. And Ion Eagle gets credit because as soon as that special teams,

gaff occurred he said oh the scottish hammer gets nailed i was like that's that's a pro he nailed um we're going to talk about the tennessee titans later uh justin so you might want to earmuffs this one um a j brown set the eagles record for receiving uh passing the great uh mike quick uh around 1500 yards he ended up with so uh unbelievable season for him the eagles i'm a little nervous about the Eagles. I think they're a team that they're going to have to show that they can get back to that top gear because it's been a while now since we've seen it. But they took care of business and got that one seed.

I mean, it would have been an outright disaster if they lost out the last three weeks. Yeah. And didn't get that one seat. They got it. Now they get to rest up. And there you go. This is kind of the perfect outcome for me personally because I like the Eagles. I'm rooting for them.

I pick them to win the Super Bowl. Good. But I do like the. consternation in Philly and this result them getting the one seed but everyone's going to be like so anxious for the next couple weeks and I don't know I never know what to make you enjoy that yeah I do like the Philly angst I enjoy like I never know what to make of it like when a team kind of comes to the finish line taking on water after a really dominant season just because we've we've done this long enough sometimes like then they lose the first game and everyone's like oh see

and then sometimes it doesn't matter late in the first quarter in the playoff game. And it's like, oh, okay. But sometimes it doesn't matter at all. Like the Eagles, for instance, kind of slowed down at the end of that full season. I mean, I know it was foals coming in there, but they didn't exactly end on it. And I can think of Patriot seasons where they ended really poorly in the regular season and then hot in the playoffs and vice versa. Someone's going to prove you right.

Someone's going to prove you wrong because Philly, Dallas, Minnesota, Tampa, outside of San Francisco and Seattle have all been full of warts in the last couple of weeks and fading in sort of of just tripping their way into the playoffs. Like, please, we're inviting you into the post season. Come through the door. It's a new season. You don't have to play San Francisco until the championship game at worst. That's the best game. Yes, avoid the Niners as long as you can.

Yeah, let's stay in the NFC East and hit the other game because, yes, the Cowboys seem to be taken on some water too at the wrong time. Third and six, snap the Prescott, quick throw to the first. That one is picked off by four. At the 20, he's going to walk in. Pick six, touchdown, touchdown, Washington. And once again, that Prescott will give you the opportunity on defense to take that ball away.

Kendall Fuller missed it the first time. He had his hands all over that the second time. All right, that's Brian Weinstein and Julie Donaldson with the call. Greg. Calm down. What's going on with you, Greg? He loves ball.

You're waiting. I don't doubt that. My note said London Fletcher. And I was like, I'm pretty sure. I think we've been through this before where it's like definitely not London Fletcher speaking at some point. I don't know. Are you trying to like Ron Berger to me?

It's a three-person booth. So sometimes I hadn't heard the call. I got it. I had it though. Before Greg screamed it, I was going to say Julie Donaldson with the pick six. And what she's referring to is Dack and the rest of the Cowboys were so like shamelessly sloppy in this game.

And unplugged in terms of playing sharp competitive football that literally the play before that he throws kind of a lazy pass that fuller has a easy path to for a pick six only fuller slipped and was unable to catch the ball and before the announcers could even finish making the point of oh he really blew that deck does the exact same thing targeting the exact same receiver and the exact same cornerback on the next play this time it's an easy pick six and it was kind of like at that point all she wrote washington cruises to a 26th to six win and yeah again uh we got dallas going to tampa the eight and nine nfc south champion on monday night next week and they'll be a favorite in that game maybe not a big favorite maybe around three points i would guess but i don't know how any cowboy fan uh or mike mccarthy for that matter who's going to be feeling the heat by the way if they don't if they go one and done uh can be feeling good about this team how they ended the season they just something seems off mark with the Cowboys, and I'm looking at their recent schedule here.

Well, that tells you the story. Look at the quarterbacks they played in the last month plus. Yeah, you had the terrible loss to the Jaguars. You beat Gardner Minchu. You beat the Titans. Josh Dobbs. Josh Dobbs. And then you lose to Sam Howell and the commanders.

Right. They barely beat Davis Mills. I mean, not all these teams are going to be able to surge this entire way. And it's not all about the DACP, Scott interceptions. I think, like, if you take away, not that you can, but if you take away the turnovers, not this game stands out as a true mess,

but he's been pretty great, I think, otherwise. It's just that this, they're not all these pick sixes are not the same. The stuff he threw today was just bad. It's surprising. Right. He has been incredibly unlucky. Like, for what it's worth, his turnover-worthy play percentage of PFF has been very average throughout the season.

Not good, not bad, but it's really resulted in a huge amount of interception. and some of which were not his fault. But this time he's not playing well. I'm more concerned about the defense because that was this team's calling card for a while. But now they're thin at cornerback. Defensive tackle is clearly a problem. Like they haven't been good at the second level

in terms of their linebackers. They're getting smoked by by Sam Howell who like, hey, Sam How about that go balling through? Yeah, that was a nice pat. I mean, if you take the go ball out, his stats are not good, but you can't take it out as part of it. Yeah, that was an encouraging. wouldn't, if I'm no commanders, it wouldn't stop me from being very aggressive to find a

quarterback. But maybe he could be your backup next year. Yeah, I think Dak finished with 15 interceptions and, what, 12 starts or whatever. And you had 14 for 37 for 128. What? It was so bad. And it made me think. I was wondering as I'm watching the game because Dallas, you know, couldn't make any real move once it became clear that Philadelphia wasn't, wasn't going to lose that game to New York. Get him out of the game. Get out of the game. Get out of the game. But I think it was one of those things where the coach is like, I need to see, I need to have them go out on something positive. And they did

score a touchdown right before the half. In a retrospect, maybe that should have been the time where you pull the trigger. There was just not much to build off. So you kind of flush this game and hope that the better version of Dallas shows up. Michael Parsons also was kind of limping on and off the field throughout this game. He seemed to be banged

up. Not a good day for the Dallas Cowboys. Maybe the whole scoreboard watching and being distracted and knowing that the game it probably didn't matter. Maybe that's a factor. You've heard about players, talk about that,

but they average 2.8 yards per play. They had 10 first downs. This is one of the worst offensive performances all season. That's crazy. This is an outlier. Yeah, you're going to play a team that's not very good next week in Tampa,

but they're not terrible and they're going to be home and they have Tom Brady. It's like this all feels like it's building towards something with the Cowboys. I agree. We'll see.

I wonder. We'll say. We'll say this where nobody's underdog. They won't be. They're expected to win. They're three-point favorites. They were three-point favorites. You've told us, though, that the Bucks are winning the game.

I have mentioned that on the show. You've said that? I said whoever won that division. Multiple times. Multiple times. I do want to mention that Dan Snyder was reportedly not at this game, which is strange for the owner's habits, according to the athletic. It could be his final game as owner.

with that popping up the a spokesperson for Washington didn't want to comment on it but it was reported by the athletic it which is coming in a way maybe maybe this win by Rivera in the ownership situation maybe that helps him stay the exact same thing tell me how that sausage just you know what i'm saying like oh we can't clarify what where he was or what's going on there it's just like are you just hanging out there i just want to know where tully the pig was i don't give it i don't care about anything else i think he that pig probably knows he has probably a two game run if there's no ownership change here and a lot of other changes. And he's like, man, half thing. It's a monster. I'm sorry. Greg, you were cut off there. I'm sure you were about to make a trenchant point. No, it was just what Rivera must be thinking, which is like, is this, this is happening again.

I guess I'm going to keep my job because they're not going to fire me right before they leave. But this happened with Jerry Richardson and Carolina. He had that job. And then the new owner came in. They gave him one year. If I was Ron, I'd get my wife and maybe some kids and a couple grandkids, get out of Dodge and just lay low. And hope they just kind of forget about me while they're trying to figure out everything else.

That's good move. That's just the pro tip for Ron Rivera. Let's move on. Other playoff NFC seating implications. To the Bay Area we go. The Big Bell Bottom. They're going to play action and Purdy going to throw and it is caught by George Kettle again.

Give him 11 on the year to today. How about that? Touchdown. George Kittle. The rubber bandman is catching the rock for touchdowns this year. In this one, he rips away from Camusier Hill. The rubber bandman? I think someone's up on the old Haydashbury before the game here.

Yeah. What's going on with some of these radio broadcasts? Hey, Danny, it sounds like he's blowing a bone. Bingo. The rubber band man. A guy who we talked about him on the podcast like midway through the season. like you know kiddle is not really kiddle anymore and maybe he's not the same guy he was anymore but he became a touchdown machine in the second half and that's yet another reason to feel very good about

san francisco uh who go into uh the playoffs on a long winning streak locked down the number two seed with a 38 to 13 win over a team that is technically the cardinals um so san francisco yes 13 and 4 long winning streak that they don't get the buy anymore with the new rules in effect but they will play at least one home game and if something goes crazy with the number one seed Eagles maybe the whole way through

the NFC we shall see. I think it's huge they get Elijah Mitchell back today he's barely played all season and then you get Debo Samuel back and you didn't have to use Christian McCaffrey too much it was the ideal way for a team that did have to win but they didn't want to expend

all the energy in the world. They also didn't want to sweat it out like this was the opposite of what the eagles did certainly what the the cowboys did or the chargers uh this was perfect and they've they've given every confidence uh to believe they're one of the best teams i know danny's power rankings believe so they will be the number one team going into the playoffs for whatever i mean i like the the bills i love the bengals i love the chiefs but i think san francisco just feels like a a runaway train at least they have the clearest path to the super bowl of any team now Are we all agreeing on that?

Absolutely. To get to the Super Bowl. No, I disagree with that. What's the doubt? What's the doubt here with the Niners? Time out. You think what team has a clearer path in San Francisco? That's a very...

The Eagles, I guess. The two of them are equal. To me, if the 49ers are in Philly, I consider the Eagles like a slight favorite. Not much, but slight. At best, it's a coin flip. I'm not worried about the Niners playing an extra game. When it starts with Seattle,

they matched up really well with them both times. And this game, you look at the score, and you think just another, like, absolute drubbing. And ultimately, it was down the stretch, but this game was 14 to 13 with just a couple seconds to go in the first half. And there was a stretch where, for the first time in a while, the Niners just went to sleep on offense, three straight punts, and Purdy couldn't generate anything.

And yet they climbed their way out of it. This was, like, not one of their finer performances. And by the end, they absolutely destroyed Arizona. It's like, I don't see another team doing this right now in the NFC. So I tend to agree with Dan that, like, With where the Eagles are right now, the Niners to me are just, if you're going to get Debo back, you're going to get Mitchell back. Purdy has not proven to be anything but completely legitimate. He's outplayed Jimmy G.

And he fits right in. And he's worked so well with guys like Kiddle and Brandon Ayyuk that I just don't, I don't understand who really would be favored over from this point. I know maybe Philly in Philly. But other than that, I think they're the best team in the NFC. and the one thing we should note is this was JJ Watts final game I tend to believe that like we're going to come September there's going to be JJ Watt

on retiring but I'm not trying to undo his decision or anything but just he is there a part of you that thinks you could attempt to not in the least but just I'm respecting his decision. If you were a little stronger with your point he might listen to Sessler and be like well he's got a point. No

I'm not trying to make him come back I just I think that you're looking at someone that's playing about as well as he has an ages. He had 12 and a half sacks and led the team and pressure rate and everything. JJ Watt is not falling off a shelf. Three-time defensive player of the year. He had 120 and a half sacks in the regular season and playoffs in his 12-year career. Here's something from JJ Watt after the game. I said I wanted to go out playing good ball and I'm playing good ball. I know I still can. I just choose not to. That's all. A great career. Is he if we were, you know, the, we just finished our 10.

10th regular season around the NFL here at NFL. Dot com. NFL media. You get it. Is he the peak JJ Watt, the best defensive player? Yeah.

I mean, I'd say yes, by a tick over here. Some people will say Donald, but Wadded his peak was just. So we're talking about like the impact on our show. I think like J.J. Watt just was something that many people hadn't even seen.

Yeah. Supernova. Supernova, bro. Good call. Yeah, and the purdy thing, it's almost, I feel like Greg gets a little under the radar now or it doesn't get enough, like the fact of this guy that was the last pick in the draft is coming and is having kind of a big year for them. If you look at his numbers, I know he's not at the level of those great AFC quarterbacks or Jalen Hertz when he's healthy, but he ended up with 13 touchdowns against, I think, three picks.

His passer rating was about 110 or so. I mean, and that got a lot of credit to the personnel and the coaching. staff but that is this season we talked about when garropolo went out it was like is it kind of over for san francisco and it kind of seemed like it was it is not over and purdy's rise has been a big part of it no they got better i mean today was a perfect example of a purdy game five in completions three touchdowns and almost nine yards per attempt it's crazy my my pushback with like calling the eagle certainly i think a coin flip if not better if they're home is Just looking at the two rosters, they're both loaded.

Looking at the two quarterbacks, I'll take Philly. And I do look at the teams that San Francisco's played. It's not their fault. They played one really good, I guess, defense that was playing well at the time down the stretch. That was when they beat the Saints 13-0. That was a weird game. They were coming off the Mexico game. And that was supposedly a thing.

But they were just playing a lot of teams that didn't really get in their way too much. And maybe Minnesota won't either, if that's the first. matchup after Seattle. That sets up as well as possible for them to roll into that NFC championship without playing an overly good defense. This haven't lost since October 23rd, and I don't see a weakness. 10-game winning streak as the Niners hit the postseason with Seattle Seahawks coming into their building.

No, Purdy did outdual David Blow, by the way. Blow did all he could. Looking for that newsletter. That's tough for you to have to write the newsletter after you leave here. You got to turn that around. It's a long day. I don't even, you know, you sleep for maybe three or four hours during this time of year and you just keep going. Sure.

That's the sacrifices we make. All right. Boys, let's take a break and then we'll hit the rest of the NFC and then move on to the AFC. All right, let's finish out these NFC games for the trip to Soldier Field where the Vikings and Bears did battle with nothing on the line. Well, something. Cousins, undercentered, play action, straight drop. Passed to the end zone. Caught touchdown, Adam Thielen.

Kirk Cousins throws a touchdown to Adam Thieland. And for Kirk, it's his 29th touchdown this season. For Adam Thieland, it's his sixth receiving touchdown. And that's where those men would end in terms of their statistical output in the regular season because Kevin O'Connor pulled many of his starters at the half. Game in hand, a game that didn't mean anything to the vice. Vikings who were locked in in their playoff spot. They win 29-13 over the Bears.

Well, I shouldn't say that. There was things on the line of the Minnesota Vikings. If things broke a certain way, they didn't. So they are where they are, and they'll get the Giants next week. Now, Adam Thielen had the touchdown. Otherwise, kind of a ho-home game, and the Chicago Bears with the loss, in addition to the win of the Texans, have the number one overall pick in the NFL draft. 10-game losing streaks have never felt so good in Chicago.

Yeah, because, I mean, you're so right. It's a season where wins and loss is you kind of can put it aside as a Bears fan because you got the number one pick. You already have a quarterback. You don't want to waste too many more years on this rookie contract. But you also go into the off-season with a monstrously large amount of cap space over any other team. The Falcons are second. And it doesn't mean you go spend it all, but it's like you have a lot of flexibility.

I think you can sell a lot of free agents on Justin Fields and what you're building, which is a far way we were not here in the summer. We were killing this entire organization for essentially about to be putting Justin Fields out there with nothing around them. And instead, look at it. It turned out pretty well, and you have a guy that is someone different

than we thought of a number of months ago. Still don't know if they have a coach, like the defense was bad. They did trade the number 32 picking the draft for Chase Claypool, which looks like a fiasco. That was a weird one. That's not looking great.

They started Nathan Peterman in a football game in the year of 2023. So I just, I can't give them too many flowers. But they did get some breaks. And George McCaskey, the executive, the owner rather, was seen toting around a Yeti cooler today after the game full of ice cream bars and giving them out to people. So that's kind of a shout out to the old times in the, like old Papa Bear. That's what he did at the end of the season.

Is that true? Nice season. Here's an ice cream bar. I was hoping you were telling the truth. not joking because otherwise that's kind of an eccentric move that that that is the truth all right well there you go well there was reason to celebrate for the bears and um yeah you you figure that that will be a draft pick for sale unless they absolutely fall in love with someone who is not a quarterback but this is a type if they handle this right and they have their management set up right and their

draft scouts set up right they could turn this hall into something that changes their organization and makes them a contender in the nfc next year that's They're in a unique situation. One little thing with the Vikings because you came out of last week's disaster and no one believes them, I get it. But Cousins going 17 for 20. I saw him throwing some heaters to like K.J. Osborne and stuff.

It seemed like it looked pretty good. This is how you do it, Staley. You rack up 482 yards of offense, 28 first downs, and you sit everyone by half time. I'm not going to try to revive your excitement about the Vikings. No, it was just like several of the week 18 games, these teams that were just like, let's get through this. They were watching the Eagles,

score and the 49er score, I believe. And then once they saw that, or the 49er score, rather. And once they saw that, say, bye, bye. And we're going to get, obviously, to the playoff implications or the games in the upcoming week. But put it this way, Vikings fans, especially Vikings fans that get annoyed at me on Twitter, you did go 13 and 4. You got at least one home game. And you could say in a serious manner inside that locker room, no one believes in us.

So maybe you could take that and do something with it. It's true. We'll see. All right, let's... Give it to us! Let's move to Atlanta, where the Bucks and Falcons did battle in a low-stakes affair. Zakias in motion from right to left. Here's Ritter, looking, shoots it in-zone.

I mean, what? There it is. Alameda Zakias for the Atlanta touchdown. That's it. I think that's the first Desmond Ritter touchdown pass. It was, and then he threw another. Oh! it's hope season in Atlanta for the Falcons who end their season in a positive manner

with a 30 to 17 win over the Bucks. So the Bucks clinched the NFC South last week by virtue. I was like that by virtue of their victory over the Panthers. So they'll host a playoff game against the Cowboys next week, Mark. But they also finish eight and nine on the season. By the way, the first ever losing season in Tom Brady's career. Yeah, you know, he started this game, and they yanked him before halftime, and Blaine Gabbard came in and was eventually replaced by Kyle Trass.

There was no Mike Evans in this game. Tristan Worf's was essentially not on the field. Tom Brady, though, looked like for a bit furious when they yanked him. I think he just, because of what you just mentioned, it's like Tom Brady is not built to sit on the sideline and watch the formation and the birth of his first losing season. Whatever, he had plenty of time to have a winning season this year. doubt, but I mean, just in this situation, he was annoyed.

But what happened was then the game started to tilt in Atlanta's favor. And I think that, you know, I don't want to overhype the Falcons. They've got a lot to figure out. But again, they're the second most cap room in the league. I don't know if you have a quarterback in Desmond Ritter, but I thought he played his best game by far today. And you do have a wide receiver in Drake London. You do have a really interesting running back in Tyler Alger who crossed a thousand yards.

I mean, it's like your guy, you're young, they have some young players. Offensive Rookie of the Year Canada and himself, Tyler Algear. No, because I think there's a thin pool there, but like he's also been a huge asset to them. Ted Becker might want to, you know, get him back on the horn. I hope he's feeling better, Ted, by the way. I think he should. Tyler Algae here, is officially your guy. Well, that seems like, I think he said he got the flu three times.

It's like a seasonal thing for him. He's, you know. Overworked. Need the sun to come back out. But no, I think there's like, there's some things to build around in Atlanta. Ritter, I mean, I just, I don't know. At least they didn't wait and not have. him play.

Like, the whole thing that happened with Marietta is weird, but, like, they needed to see Ritter. I don't think it prevents you from making other moves at that position necessarily. Bucks were tied when Brady left this game. That's probably partly why Brady was annoyed. He's out there, like, scoring 10 points on five possessions. I mean, it's not like they were dominating. Gabbert came in, and they got, like, a turnover to take the lead for a minute,

and then they didn't split the guys are still hanging around. Blaine Gabbart, what's up, bud? Yeah. Looking handsome. Blink Gabbard. I mean, that was never the problem with Blaine Gabbard. No, but he had like that. Like, he's got a...

Blaine Gabbard's kind of a beautiful man. He's just got a perfect haircut for him at this stage in his life right now. He's also a hero. We talked about that on the show, didn't we? Him and his three brothers saved some people from drowning. I saw that. It's nice. It's a nice thing to do it.

And, you know, who else did the same thing? Her old friend, Peyton Hillis, former Browns, Russia, who, unfortunately, you know, he put him in the hospital, but he saved some children in the sea. His own. His own children. His own children. And we hope the best for Peyton Hillis and his recovery on that end. All right.

Let's move to Norwoodins. See, Greg, one. They had a bunch of people from the University of Georgia. Yeah. Well, alumni, right. Right before we, alumni before we started the show today. And it was a party. We got Georgia playing TCU for the national championship on Monday across the sidewalk.

This is part of the probably the package of the page of the pageant. for to come, you know, and part of the job is, and this is not a critique of the company. It's very nice to do these tours, but where we each sit, which is along, against a very long glass wall with the big hallway where anyone being kind of

taken through dog and pony through the building is standing there always, they just gather and stare at us, and my, I face them directly where if like I'm sitting there eating like a piece of people. It's kind of perfect. It's happened like five times a day. There's one person to put in that spot it would be marked. I have the worst seat in the entire

And they're, like, crowding up with a glass, like, point is that, look at all these Yankees. And like, my working on a Sunday. That's not against the God's code. It was absurd. They're looking at what I'm looking at online. I don't need that. Like, I mean, it's fine. It's just work stuff.

But it's like, I'm not a, I'm not, you know, here for your observation. But yes, I am. Mark brings this up, I would say two, three times a week. And I never get tired of hearing about it. Because they have these tours two or three times week. It's like it. It exasperates him anew every time. Or it's like a middle school football team coming through.

I'm glad that they're here, but it's like they're staring at me. Like, I didn't, it's 8 in the morning. I don't want to be looked at, you know? I was like, oh, Tornation. I got the vapors looking at this big facility. Go Georgia. Well, they came right past the studio here, you know. Greg's shaking and saying, he's like, I actually, you know, went to school in the South.

I know what Southern cultures. But I've watched a lot of TV, Greg. No, you're plugged in. I know what true Southern culture is. I got the vapors. All right, let's go. That's how they all spoke. Well, have we got anything else?

The Saints. Oh, yeah. Did we play the highlight? 42 yarder for the win. JJ Jansen to snap. It's been a long season. Pinero swings the leg. The kick is up.

It is good. Eddie Pinheiro wins it for Carolina to end the season in New Orleans. There you go, Greg, Eddie Pinheiro with a kick at the gun. Sam Darnold leads the Panthers. Right, Greg, to a 10 to 7 win over the Saints at the Super Dome. both teams finish 7 and 10. That's perfect. It's not how you start, Danny.

It's how you finish. That's the story of Sam Darnold's career. Yes, he only finished five of 15 for 43 yards and two interceptions, a quarterback rating of 2.8. But it was Sam Darnold who ran for a first down and then connected with Terrace Marshall for 21 yards on that final drive. And you know what that did? That saved me from watching overtime of this dreadful game. Well, they did a huge favor to all of America.

And beyond. So, yeah, the big storylines here. That winning streak for the Saints ends at three games. We'll see what Dennis Allen's future is. Steve Wilkes, the same as well. A lot of coach questions after the season ends for both teams. Jim Trotter, our NFL network reporter, was very curious why David Tepper, the owner of the Panthers, wasn't at this game,

kind of talking about what Steve Wilkes' chances are to keep that job or not. There's been, you know, confirmation that Teper and Jim Harbaugh spoke about the job, about the head coaching job. Wilkes did finish six and six. And this was kind of a game why I like Steve Wilkes as a head coach more than Dennis Allen. There was no business for the Saints to win this game. They could not have, I'll lose this game rather, could not have dominated it anymore for the first two and a half quarters. But the Saints just kept making dumb mistakes and the Panthers came out of halftime, at least trying their best. To the point you were saying about Harbaugh and kind of awkward.

news reporting from Jonathan Jones of CBS on CBS he tweeted this morning the Panthers spoke with Jim Harbaugh recently but only after a good deal of persistence on Harbaugh's side Carolina plans to focus its efforts elsewhere so whatever whatever Jim is telling Michigan and their alumni about oh yeah I'm not looking to leave according to the CBS reporting here he was

very thirsty for the Panthers to take him seriously as a candidate and yet they have not. He did this a year ago and got a raise. So I think it's, you know, with those college coaching contracts, maybe just turn that into more money. Well done. Who are that? Did Georgia defeat Michigan

in the semifinal? They did. They ended Harbao season. We wouldn't be talking about Harba. Michigan lost the TCO. I don't follow the college game. I literally watched four minutes of college football season, so. I did watch that Michigan game. I kind of like Carbao, but I liked seeing him in pain, too.

It was a fun game. All those Yankees watching football on Sunday. I like it on Sunday. Drew is a big Michigan fan back here. He was pretty devastated at the TCU beat them. Nine foot seven, Drew. Drew, any comments? Yeah, good luck with that.

All right, there you go. So that's the NFC. Now let's move to the AFC and that playoff picture starting where we have to. Of course, in Western New York after the. you know, really horrifying incident that happens Monday night in Cincinnati that leads all sorts of different changes and throws everything up in the air in terms of the playoffs and how the seatings will be handled. Well, the bills still had to take care of business, go back on the field and try to get back to being a Super Bowl team. And the good news, of course, by the way. Demar Hamlin continues to make progress in contact with his team now speaking, tweeting.

It couldn't be better. All of his mental functions are totally there. Tremendous news compared to what it was like even 72 hours ago. So great news. So now the Buffalo Bills filled with hope and spirit look to finish off their regular season schedule and get the Patriots out of the playoffs to Orchard Park. Fold puts his foot into the ball.

It's going to be short. Fielded at the four by Heinz. Coming straight up the middle to the 20, cuts it back in the 25. He's got an alley down the right sideline to the 40, 50, down to the. Down to the 40, 35, 30, 20, 15, 10, 5. Touchdown, naive, Hines, 96 yards. Run, run as fast as you can. You're not catching Hines.

He's your end zone man. Buffalo on the board with the first play from scrimmage. You can't make it up. You cannot make it up. Well, you know what? sequel that's not even it hit hit it Nick Fulke kicking it off now Heinz takes it a yard deep in the end zone going to bring it out out to the 10 to the 15 up over the 20 25 30 gets away from the tackler 35 40 45 50 they're not going to get him he's going for another one one hundred and two yards and there was a third one no just kidding it was just just quote unquote Two kickoff returns for touchdown from the heem Heinz, including obviously the first play since everything that went down Monday night in Cincinnati.

DeMar Hamlin himself tweeted out in the moment after the opening kickoff. OMFG. If you don't know what that means, look it up. It was those two kickoff returns by Heim's that were really the difference for the bills who did not have their A game defensively, but the special teams, excellence combined with some Josh Allen magic was enough for a 3523 win over the Patriots Patriots go home eliminated with the loss and the bills Mark Sessler finished 13 and 3 which isn't good enough to win the AFC number one seed but what a hell of a way to kind of get back on

the field after everything that transpired in the last week and no team in the league has been through more and you know it happened obviously instantaneously at the start of all these games and I was sitting with Greg and I just thought to myself and said out loud like how on earth can a game start this way and I just think the one thing that is

I mean this whole journey that we've been on over the past week that the bills have been on that every one of those players and players around the league I just got the sense that someone was kind of chosen amongst all of this to send a message right away that things were going to be all right for this Bill's team

and I mean Nihihim's who they traded for who has been a bit player his whole career You always heard about, like, well, we want to get Heinz more involved in the cults offense back in the day. And the Bill's got him for a certain reason. And now it's like the reason and the role he's played is utterly irreplaceable in Bill's history forever. I mean, it's just a very special thing where sometimes the way sports work, it's like the least obvious character is just pulled out of the fray and chosen to do something that leaves an indelible mark. And that's what happened today.

Let's hear from Josh Allen, who like you, Mark, you put it very well there. it almost felt like there was more at play the way this game started and really the entire tone in western New York today. I can't remember a play that touched me like that, and I don't think in my life. So it's probably number one. What about the second one? It was just spiritual, and I just going around,

and just something I was going around my team was saying, God's real. like you can't you can't draw that one up right that one up any better and i was just told by kevin currant it's been three years and three months since the last kickoff return so pretty cool Greg demar hamelin of course number three uh he wears for the bills and three was everywhere across the NFL including on the hats of all the bills players i thought of Steve Gleason's punt return block for the Saints immediately. And totally different situations, of course, in many different ways.

But a play that when I saw it, you knew how special it was. Now we're almost 20 years later and we still talk about that play. And when this kickoff return happened, I just thought we're going to be talking about this play in 20 years too. And I build a statue in Western New York. You got to. Two of them. The thing is, I think it's really important for the Bill's football team in their quest to go win a Super Bowl, which is part of this whole conversation that we're going to have about them moving forward to have that moment here today to then play the rest of this game out, a game in which they were in trouble and trailing at one point in the second half and kind of get through today and get that win and set up that we don't have to have a, a Bill's Chiefs,

a FC championship, or if we have a Bill's Chiefs a FC championship, that's going to be at a neutral site. And I think not that they're going to put anything past what happened

with Damar Hamlin. Look, they were FaceTiming with him, and he's now going to be a presence, I think, in their lives and talking, but he's getting better and better every week.

And I think to be able to handle the emotions as a football team of like, okay, this all happened, and then you've got to go play a game, and it didn't really go that well

for a lot of the game, but then to come out on top in the end and then start now to look forward to what their playoff matchup is going to be. I also think that's big, you know, just for everyone to start to move forward of what they're going to do and attack the rest of the season. It was an example of, it was another game where Josh Allen, you know, up until he started to make some big throws down the stretch. They just, their offense has looked somewhat suspect in recent weeks.

Stefan Diggs had a big catch that may be uncorked him. I thought, where is Stefan? Diggs three-quarters of this game. That was one of those Josh Allen throws that maybe nobody else can do. I also feel like the particulars of this game, just what you were just saying, Greg, this is a bit of a week, a Fugazi, Week 18 for a lot of different teams, for a lot of different reasons. The bills just needed to survive and have this happen in front of their fans at home.

And for that reason, I think it's a very special kind of checkpoint for them and had to happen the way to did today. Yeah, and Tony Romo calling the game with Nance, they also had great calls of those two plays. We heard from Bill's radio there, but obviously that was some special stuff. He said, Romo said, and Romo's, you know, he knows quarterbacks like nobody else. I keep thinking about to, he knew before anyone else. He's like, oh, Mike White doesn't, he's not just injured. He has multiple broken ribs. Yeah. And then we find out weeks later, he's got five broken whips. He's watching Josh Allen the last few weeks and saying he's not the same. He's not

the same. He's not throwing it the same way. And he said today, like in the last 10 days is the, the number he put on it. He sees Allen throwing the ball now the way he did before the elbow injury back in October. And that throw to Diggs was the type of throw. It was like, oh, okay. All right. So that's important for the bills, obviously, that you get peak out. He did have another red zone turnover, which has been an issue all season. But man, you just, you just, you try not to put too much into it and the mystical stuff and everything like that, although I respect, you know, Josh Allen bringing the spirituality into it. man, are the bill's going to get stopped this year?

You just feel like there's something really magical brewing with this season and this organization that's waited so long to get to the mountaintop. And on the New England side of things, because we should cover the pats because their season's over, really I got to give them credit, to be honest with you. It was sloppy and that's going to be something we remember about this season, uncharacteristic miscues. they had obviously the two massive special teams gaffs. Mack Jones threw a bunch of picks late in the game and won when the game was very much in the balance in the red zone himself. But after giving up that kickoff return to start the game, their ability to calm things down in that building,

get to halftime at 14, 14, 14, take the lead before their special teams blew it for him again. Greg, a very uncharacteristic New England season, a frustrating way for it to end, but kind of on brand in a lot of ways the way it all played out. They, to me, are a different team, obviously, since Brady's been gone. And they've been very, this was a very characteristic season to me of the last three. They've been a consistent.

At this level, though, the sloppiness, like at this level, this felt like a little beyond the pale for them. Also, like, your quarterback melting down on the sideline on a weekly basis. It was a little on edge. They were sloppy in a different way, absolutely, offensively. I think they were one of the most poorly coached, you know, sides of the football I've ever seen out of the Patriots. But just in terms of being, like, kind of a middle of the road team that does find ways to lose games that often does have mental mistakes. This time it was a special team,

so you just kind of don't know which side is going to pop up here. Their defense was playing much better at the end of this season than they had the last couple of years, certainly compared to last year. I think the defense would have been ready to go on a long playoff run if they had a good offense overall, and they showed something there today. But it was a bit of an end of an era here, I think, too.

That was, I think, the last we're going to see a Devin McCordy. It really looks like he's retired. Two turnovers he had in the potential of his last game. and Matthew Slater as well. So as a Patriots fan, Slater, it's hard to see him go out on this special teams guy. Maybe all, like, if there ever was a special teams hall of fame or he would be it, I don't think he'll get in with that. But he says he was shell-shocked after the games.

It sounds like that'll be it for him and McCordy. It has got to agitate Bill Belichick to no end that they came into this game with the 29th ranked weighted DVOA special teams unit. So I'm sure it dipped. It couldn't go much lower, but it obviously did. I mean, Bill Belichick is the coach we think of who on these Friday press conferences will go on a 14-minute-long soliloquy about special teams play when everyone else mostly ignores it.

So there are elements of this that feel un-Belichekian. I think there's obviously going to be a change on the offensive coaching staff. If you want to keep Mack Jones around, which at this point, you know, I said last week that I'm not sure I would assume that would happen, but what other options do you have? It's like get a better off O.C. in there. I think you can get Mac Jones back on track. I think it would be a mistake to make a rash decision at the quarterback. We're going to get into that. But I thought at one point in this game,

just give you an example, Mac Jones and the evaluation is tough because things were so messy in New England. One point in this game, he was in their three touchdown drives, their first three touchdown drives. He was 17 for 17 for 170 yards and three touchdowns. Like there's potentially a decent to good quarterback there. And I don't know if you kick him out the door after this season. And we'll see Greg. I know you've been, you know, talking a little bit about what happens with Belichick if he's getting pressure from upstairs about how the changes need to be made.

We know changes need to be made in New England. I think it'll be radio silence for a while, but I still am very curious to see what the outcome is of what Bill Belichick does. That all-time wins record is in, you know, target. He'll get him with another team if he wants to. I guess. I feel it'd be strange to throw him somewhere else.

And as we said at the top of the show, it will be the Miami Dolphins traveling to Buffalo in the wild card playoffs next week. Let's move to another team that's dancing. The Miami Dolphins. Hey, sometimes the dance isn't pretty. Sometimes it's an ugly dance. But it's all right.

You're dancing nonetheless. Dance like no one's watching. Is that the thing? I mean, it's always an ugly dance if I'm involved personally. Right. I can think of some nights at the Lost and Found where we'd probably dance not looking too pretty. All right.

Okay, let's get to the game. A win here and a Bill's win would give a dog to play. It's up, and it is good. Wow. Biggest kick of the year for Jason Sanders. And he comes through. With 18 seconds left, the dolphins lead at 9 to 6. What a big kick for Jason Sanders.

Wow. It was a big kick for Jason Sanders in a game that was all kicking. It was a game that had five field goals, and that's it. I tweeted, you know that community Donald Glover scene? And that's become kind of an iconic gift where he swings the apartment door open with the pizzas with a big smile on his face. And all of a sudden, since he's been gone to pick up the pizza, the entire apartment is destroyed. Someone's been shot on the floor. There's a fire.

That's how I imagine Jets and Dolphins fans, if you were like locked away around, let's say, Thanksgiving. And then you saw what was going on today in week 18. Really gnarly stuff. But the Dolphins credit them for getting it done with their third string quarterback. They find away 9-6, their defense. becomes the latest defense to shut down a moribund New York attack. And the five-game losing streak for the Dolphins is gone. They finish over 500.

They calm things down. And yes, like I said, they'll be playing the bills next week. So listen, sometimes the dance is ugly, but you get into the dance anyway. I was texted during this game with our friend Henry Hodgson, and we're talking about it feels like a preseason game. And he seemed ambivalent over whether his. beloved dolphins would make the playoffs or not. The crowd felt a little ambivalent. Like, they tried to get going at points today.

And it was crazy because this game meant so much. I was thinking, the Patriots will probably lose. So this is essentially a playoff game. The whole season's been leading to this. But meanwhile, in one TV, it's like you see the Bill's game, and it's like, wow, sports can be so crazy, almost impossibly powerful and strange moments in a game like that. then you can be watching Skyler Thompson and Joe Flacco and trading field goals and like everyone trying

to convince themselves this matters. You know what? In week 18, like as is the way or week 17 in past years, uh, you'll have a bunch of games that kind of feel like dog games because guys are already like thinking about their trip to Cancun next week. That wasn't the case here. You could tell them both sides of the ball. The teams were putting in effort. Sure. There was just a real struggle to move the football in any type of efficient way. And of course, these teams are both so beat up. Both sides were including at the quarterback position that this isn't totally stunning. Paddo lines bad quarterback play.

Yeah, those two things, to the Dolphins credit, one of the differences in the game other than a huge Quincy William's horse collar tackle that kind of pushed Miami into field goal range before the kick was made was their ability to run the ball. They were the only team that could actually do something which is rush the ball. Neither team could throw.

And Mark, like, I talked about it back in, shoot, It was probably week five when the Jets lost Breeze Hall and Elijah Veritalker on the same day. And I was devastated that day. And it turns out that Breeze Hall, who played five games this year, was the Jets leading rusher. So while there's been a lot of focus at quarterback and the dysfunction there, that tells the story of an offense that completely melted down. And I think it's probably going to cost their offense coordinator's job. Yeah, it's interesting because this, of course, is a Shanahan-esque offense where we're so used to over the years,

pre-Christian McCaffrey watching Shanahan dial up seven different running backs over the course of a year. Floods of injuries and it really wouldn't matter. They still get to 160 yards a game and it was the scheme. It was the system. And the Jets on a day like today and really since Breece Hall went down, they had 38 yards at 1.9 yards per carry today. It's like you can't, it's not just the quarterback. You got to find a way to surround good and bad quarterbacks, wanting underhand quarterbacks that are not really skilled to get you to the playoffs with something. And they couldn't do that. I mean, the Jets' offense really fell asleep,

and I think the Dolphins looks so different to us because I don't really view Tua as a... I think his numbers are better than who he is. That's just how I feel about it. Is he playing next week? Do we think, too? Well, we don't know. He's still in protocol.

Based on the post-con press conference, it didn't sound like McDaniel had a ton of optimist. Now, Teddy Bridgewater, who was active for this game, I think would make a big difference, because Skyler Thompson was skittish and a problem. Not a big difference, like you'll go win in Buffalo, But a big difference where you won't be the offense that you saw today because Thompson was a problem.

The offensive lines were problems, but Thompson had much better protection in general than Joe Flacco, who got hit, I think, 10 times and was kind of fighting for his life out there. That maybe a veteran quarterback could give them some chance here because Thompson threw the ball 31 times here for 152 years. Terry Bridgewater off and on the field. Stay in the game. I mean, you know, I'm not going to blame him for injuries,

but his two starts, he didn't even get through. And I think that's been, the one thing I'd say about Mike McDaniel, yes, they faded hard. And, like, it's not been impressive. Their offense today just looked completely like a different offense. But Mike McDaniel, without a lot of drama, has found a way to get here in year one with the dolphins with about as much, you know, revolving to our quarterback madness

as you could ask for outside of the Jets. He also went for two fourth and fives in this game from close to midfield, which I was surprised, including on the opening drive, with surprise he did with Skyler Thompson. And one didn't work, wasn't worried about Flacco taking advantage. One did, and then ended up leading to three points. So he was aggressive to the end. The Jets finished the season with 33 straight drives without a touchdown.

But at least you got Garrett Wilson, who I think would be my pick for a rookie of the year. Just eye test-wise. And in a year where there wasn't any huge obvious numbers, guys, I think he just looks to me like the best player. And he was 9 for 89 today. Flacco smartly just tried to throw it to him every single. I have an obvious to do in the offseason. And you've just got to figure out this quarterback thing.

Because you've got a good, you finally got a really strong roster. I think that, I think he's a true number one wide receiver, Gat Wilson. He'll only get better. And it was notable, Gregie. We'll see. Black Monday is coming up. Sorry, New Horizons Monday is coming up. And we'll see how everything plays out in the league.

But Sal is probably safe. But just his comments, he would not kind of endorse LaFleur after the game makes you think he's willing or knows he might have to sacrifice a guy that he probably doesn't want to get rid of for his own safety at this point. That's what six-game losing streaks do, and that's a sad way for the jet season. It was otherwise filled with hope a couple of weeks back to end. You know what I hate this stuff, though, because I'm not convinced that LaFleur can't do it. He's been around with his brother and everyone else. It's like you went through so much.

Like you were tagged to play a non-functional high draft pick who doesn't have it. And we all know that now. They didn't know that three months ago. And it's like, are we going to... Part of his job is the, quote, unquote, to develop. And I think they failed on some level as well to... I kind of agree with you. But they didn't fail to develop Brees Hall or Garrett Wilson

or other young players on both sides of the ball. And guys were open. For 40, 50 years, it's the quarterback they can. But they also just picked the wrong guy. Like, they picked the wrong dude, you know? Sure. But somebody's got to go, and that's what happens when you lose six straight games to end of season.

And you could say no, but it's like, Like, that's kind of the way. The owner probably wants somebody out. And Saul's going to be like, I don't want to be me. I don't think owners should be involved in this, but that's not how this works. Right. All right. Just getting started here on the AFC.

We'll be right back after this. All right, welcome back. By the way, did I mention that, I don't think I ever mentioned the final score. Dolphins 11, Jet 6. And for those like scorer gami guys out there. Scora gami. I know that you detest the concept. It was a safety on the final play after a 50-yarder. from the, your boy, Sanders.

It did trigger a scoreagami, though, for those who care out. It did not. I saw that. It happened one other time, and it was, I believe, in the NFC title game, Bucks ran 1999. There were reporting mistakes out there then because that was reported all over the place. The Bird Emanuel game. The Sean King almost went to the Super Bowl game. That was a bizarre conference championship.

All right, so it's a regular season, scoregami, which has no meaning. It either is or it isn't. Well, it never has any meaning. I guess it's my overall viewpoint on scoregum. Well, I would say nothing has any meaning. Nothing at all has meaning if you want to be that nihilistic about anything. Scorogami? No, but like you're deciding the scorogami has no meaning.

You know what meant something? You know what meant a lot? Saturday night in Duval. Duval. Let's go. Biggest play of the game right here. Shotgun for Dobbs, he drops. It's a blitz.

An all-out blitz. They hit him as he likes to go. The ball comes out. The ball comes down and picked up. The jags are running it back. The jams are going to run it back. The jags are going to run it into the blitz. In the end zone. Josh Allen scores a touchdown.

Josh Allen is running back for a touchdown for Jacksonville. Oh, look. Wow, what a man. That's integrity by a... That's the measure of a man. Yes, it is. Or it's masochistic, and I'm into that, too, you know? They're both great.

They deserved it after week 14. I didn't give it to him. They get it now. That was one of the calls of the year. Put that on the calls of the year. He said this is the biggest play of the game. He didn't hesitate, whether it was a fumble or... not that was great yep uh the god of bongo endorses your decision making here here it carries frank

frangy w o kv with the call yes josh ellen scoops up the fumble on the big hit on joshua dobs takes it to the house uh in a game that the tennessee titans despite being beat up and missing their quarterback and bench their second stringer and brought in dobs who had been on the team but for a couple of weeks they had to lead the whole game but let it slip away with 251 to play in the fourth quarter

20 to 16. The Jaguars are the AFC South champions. Calm down, Siri. Apple Watch malfunction. Moponoges. Modern day nightmare. Yes. 2016, Jaguars win the South and the Titans

go home mark. I was thinking about Gravedigger while watching this out on the town because it was like, man, Tennessee has been a tough watch for weeks on end. I don't see them as a playoff team. I think we got the better operation here. Well, the better operation to go face the Chargers team, I like that matchup. But I fell for Grave Digger because this was like Mike Rable and crew doing everything they possibly could with a guy that's not been, who wasn't even on the roster a couple weeks ago, a quarterback. I think Dobbs, it was smart what they did because Dobbs was the better option in this

game. He's not perfect. We get that. But that turnover really was the turning point. I mean, the Jacksonville defense, because they didn't get a great look from Trevor Lawrence in the offense. It was not them at their high point. But they, the defense allowed 116 yards and three points in the second half. Jacksonville ran under 50 offensive players from scrimmage the whole game. So to me, it showed that you can win different ways. You got just enough from Lawrence, but I think the better team won. And I feel bad for Titans fans, but I think this Jacksonville journey has really shown as much as any team in the league, a team that started completely unsure of who they were at the beginning of the season. And under Doug Peterson, I don't want

to over do the culture thing because he took over the worst situation. And there was no way that a coach couldn't come in and do a better job than what happened last year. But I think Doug Peterson, there was a lot of credit for also talking about development of a quarterback. Trevor Lawrence grew by leaps and bounds under his watch. I hear you. I'm glad the Jaguars are in. Much more excited to watch them. There are ceilings way higher. Trevor Lawrence is fun to watch I felt like the Titans deserve that game I'm not saying they don't

I don't know about deserve deserves a tricky word It deserves a tricky word I think they outplayed them They could have won the game They out gained them by 90 They're playing with a backup quarterback here Their defense in Jacksonville

got it done Like that bare front where they're putting five guys up on the defensive line and it's Trayvon Walker and Josh Allen who might have had their two best games of the year. And Corey Peters, kind of a random free agent pickup, ends up dominating a Titans' offensive line.

That was the Titans' biggest problem all season. It popped up here. But Dobbs was balling out. I mean, Dobbs was going back and forth with Lawrence the whole game and was put in a tough spot and was doing great. They were kind of outplaying them, and the Titans, the Jags' offense got tight, didn't play well.

The Titans were a defensive team and was holding them down. If Dobbs had, you know, seen that blitzer and just thrown that ball away, like, I'm not too confident that Jaguar's offense was going to do anything there and win that game. Graver, the everything went wrong for the Titans over the final two months of the year. The only thing that really did go right, although it ended up, you know, painfully falling short, was this Hail Mary that was Joshua Dobbs because not only did he lose Tanil to the ankle. Then the draft pick, Malik Willis, is kind of a mess and not ready for the moment. He did make the season. go out with your dignity and your head held high because he really did play well. Yeah, I mean, he played a lot better than I think anyone could have hoped or expected.

And on that last play, you wonder, why are you even running a straight drop back with no chip or running back help in the pass blocking scheme against the defensive front that has been dominating your backup offensive linemen all game with like four minutes to go and you've been running it okay. I mean, Henry's been popping five to seven yard runs. you get a first down there with the run and you potentially ice the game. You don't get the first down,

you pun it, you pin Jacksonville deep. It was aggressive, but they were aggressive with him throughout the night. Like he hit those third and longs. They weren't running on third and longs. Like he was hitting those throws against pressure. I agree with you. I was almost surprised how aggressive they were.

But man, if he had just seen that blitz. And the game plan obviously was we need Derek Henry to take us there. And they gave him the ball 30 times on the ground. He went over 100 yards, but averaged about three and a half yards of carry mark. So you didn't get that big time Derek Henry game where he had some nice powerful runs, but he couldn't make the big play to kind of win them the game like he's done so many times in the past. Had that stiff arm that just shows you that he's an impossible human being to deal with.

But yeah, they had the ball for almost 37 minutes. And I think it was like, let's keep the ball out of Jacksonville's hands so they don't get hot. And it can work only so long without a quarterback. But Dobbs, I think, you know, I don't. know what I think Dobbs has probably secured a clear cut high end back second you know number two quarterback role a year for a year from now or a look to that degree I think he's a good quarterback with with you know he's smart but this was this was Tennessee another team where like down the stretch you have total quarterback chaos and it's just hard to take them that seriously right jacks fans

don't be annoyed if I'm you know dismissing this because the offense scored 13 points here Lauren still played absolutely perfect until missing Kirk on that open touchdown to start the third quarter. He was pitching a perfect game, didn't have anything to do with him. Their lights out. It's good that their defense is playing better. I almost felt like they got this out of the way.

They almost knew they were supposed to win this. They were heavy favorites. They played a little tight. They got through it. I think they'll play better in the playoffs and they'll be fun to watch. That place was rocking. I loved this game because they were hitting.

It felt like a playoff game. It was so physical. That's a good home field advantage they have there. It's kind of slept on a little bit. Like that fan base endured. a lot of losing after that, you know, that really special run in 17, but it's been terrible since. It was the biggest crowd in that stadium since they pulled the tarps off.

Wow. It wasn't long ago. Those tarps were up. They were, like, hitting like crazy. It really felt like a playoff game. Almost every play just like it was popping. They were that way back in 2017 when this happened. But with it with Blake Bortles, a quarterback, now you have something where it's like,

wait a minute, this could last for a while. This is different. This is a different feel. And yes, they go out on a five-game winning streak. The Titans, I believe, was what, seven? Seven straight. They scored more than 20 points on that losing streak one time. Man, these AFC teams are like,

please pull us from the playoff race. Exactly. So the Titans have a lot of work to do, and we'll see what happens with them next. And the Jaguars get the Chargers in their building as a division champion. How about that? Let's move on next stop. Three tight ends.

Vegas. The home's looks that one. Vegas, baby. He moves to his left. Holds the ball, holds it. Now he's going to shovel it late. He's got McKinnon. Touchdown.

Kansas City on a basketball shovel pass. Straight ahead to the amazing Jerich McKinnon. I kind of think Patrick Mahomes is the amazing one. And Jarich McKinnon has done a nice job finding a niche in that offense and catching little miracle shovel passes. Like that, the other Saturday night, Saturday game was a easy 31 to 13 Kansas City win over the Raiders with the win because of the unusual, unprecedented circumstances in our league over the last 10 days. By winning percentage, by playing one more extra game, the Chiefs are the number one seed in the AFC and get the buy that comes with it. Of course, with the caveat, Gregi, that if the Chiefs and the Bengals were to meet in the AFC,

Chiefs in the Bills, I should say, were to meet the AFC title game, it would be on a neutral field, but the Chiefs once again, the top seat in the AFC. Yeah, I was thinking, like, how about Vegas for that game? Is that a possibility? They'll just go to Indianapolis. The Indianapolis is busy. There's a volleyball tournament. I'll get them out of there.

No, they've already told them they've rejected the NFL. I guess that was the NFL. What if the Colts had made the AFC championship? game what would have happened when was this booked well no they would have found a different that wouldn't have gone in with that as a possible scenario no they've they've known for a while i don't know but i do know that that i believe phil's daughter has been you know participating at that event so the city of indianapolis and um jim mrsay and the people of lucas oil field um said no we don't want the afc championship game we're going to be loyal to the volleyball sand people

okay i respect it i'm just saying i don't think that is extremely well i don't think that is extremely loyal. I do think it's safe to say there's no sand involved here. I think it's a beach volleyball staged inside the... I don't know. The thing about what this is. I don't know. Maybe?

Do you guys know? I mean, I know that volleyball's played indoors all over. I don't think it's sand. If you're in the Midwest, where do you get a chance to play beach volleyball? You don't live in the Midwest if you want to do that. You live somewhere else. Maybe there's a culture within the Midwest of people that have always dreamed. Maybe by a lake side in the summer, but not in January.

I'm just saying if you take a backhoe and truck in some sand, you're asking. You're probably make a lot of dreams come true. You're asking too much for a Midwestern civilian. We've paid no attention to this game. Call me an eyelist. I'm a dreamer is what I am. And this game, like I was hoping this wouldn't be that kind of a game because, you know,

I didn't want to give my whole weekend to the NFL. I thought I'll catch up to this at the end. Oh, you liked how this started then, Greg. And yeah, this thing was what we thought it might be, which is the Chiefs. Walk to this. Vic, that's what I'm saying. I think the Chiefs have to feel good that they've been getting pass rush over the last month. Now, some of that could be opponent related, but man, Chris Jones had one of the best games any defensive linemen had all season. Six QB hats, QB hits in one game, but Karloftus and Dunlop, since week 14, their fifth in pressure rate.

Before that, they were 26. So their defensive lines been getting after it. Mahomes kind of put the cherry, I think, on his MVP case. To me, there's not much reason. to go against them. And I think this game was kind of a reminder how they've done it differently. They're doing it with two tight ends.

And a lot of plays under center. And, you know, throwing the ball shorter. His average depth of target is shorter. Like, it's a different, Mahomes. You get the spectacular plays, but it's a different type of Chiefs' offense. That's who they've been. It's a different offense.

You're right, because it's been very running back, tight end-centric, a huge chunk, a higher percentage than any of his career seasons. Of his touchdown passes have been short touchdown passes to running backs and tight ends. And you see it. They're a great red zone, team. They are. They've been good. Like, their defense, to your point, like, pressured Stidham on 45.2 of his dropbacks. Their highest rate for the Chiefs in three seasons. I wanted to see if Stidham could come back and do it did last week against a great Niners defense. And it didn't even come close to happening. I mean, that's fine. I thought he played well, though. He's fine. But I mean, last week was like a magical performance. Like, is he Brock Purdy? Like, did they clone Brock Purdy and may turn him into Jared Stidham. They did not. Look at it this way, Mark. The first Super Bowl we ever went to was at Luke.

Lucasoil Stadium. Yeah. It was Indianapolis. They got the bid because of the new stadium. I remember that week. And it was a great. They got beautiful weather. That was 46.

So Gregi's blocked it out because of the outcome of the game itself. But I don't know if the Colts get another Super Bowl. This is your chance as a city to get something that could be better than the Super Bowl because it's the two best teams. You say it yourself, Gregi. You can get the two best teams in football in your city for a huge game. And instead, you're going to have the central. zone invitational

in the building. It's just like it's not too late to make a couple phone calls. It does seem like you could send the Central Zone volleyball operation to a different indoor facility. It does feel possible. We know you know Phil Wesseling I believe his daughter has been playing at

this tournament in the past and he's thinking there ain't going to be a Bill's Chiefs AFC championship. Okay. I see where you go with that. But good job. Greg just blew my left ear drum out. All right.

Stidab was so. It is very athletic. I think he'll get a backup job because of that. I think he played quite well in this game overall. And he sort of is already a backup. Right. He does have that job. Well, he's a free agent.

It's wide open. He showed way more than I would have ever expected in these two games. Last week alone would get you a further job. I had no clue that he was, that he could run as well as he could or that he had the arm that he could. And I did have a clue. Clu Cadarious Tony could be this good, but I think it's pretty telling, man, how powerful and shifty he is going into the playoffs. What a big deal. And also, the best play in this game that

didn't count was the chiefs in their huddle doing the ring around the Rosie with their arms around each other, like swirling around and coming out of it, like a hurricane into a bizarre position that wound up as a trick play with Tony scoring. It got reversed by a flag, but then he scored to the next play. I think it's almost like their secret weapon. They gave up like a third round compensatory pick for him. Like, what do you think, Mark Dave? and Charles Woodson talk about. I feel like it's not the first time we've seen them just paling around. He's there.

It's always Woods in there. Yeah, I don't know. Raiders history. Do you think they have like a real friendship? Like they're buds? I think it's a, it's one of those friendships that's by, you know. I think they're talking ball. I mean, you could say a lot about Mark Davis.

You think he's asking him like who should be my quarterback next year? Well, I mean, maybe a little bit of that, but more just talking about the game in front of them. That guy's a football guy. If nothing else, he's the son of the ultimate football guy. you know watch football every day of his life I think they're just talking ball got it our friend Bert Breer did put out a report this morning that the

Raiders are considering Jimmy Garoppolo obvious ties to Josh McDaniels as their lead man next season we'll get thank you for bringing that up we'll get into it later on in the week or whatever but like is that an upgrade over Derek Carr

I think it's almost like what's going on apples and apples but yeah Yes, Justin, before we take a break. Before the break, I forgot to do this for the last game. Oh, you know what? He's, again, showing he's a man of principle and integrity. He acknowledged that he ignored the concept of Bongo's while back. Right.

And in this same situation, now he's gone Bongo's, and he's gone. I'll remind you that I lost my law. It says a lot about his crew of the person. He kind of lost everything. And yours was in a more dramatic way, but I did the same thing the previous week. get behind your team and you kind of try to put that positive energy, it just doesn't work out sometimes. Right.

Now, got to detach. And I love the integrity, but I love, like, execution even better. So we do want to get that with the game, you know, if it's possible. Yes, for the next lock, I will remember during the game. Grave Digger is the only person attached to us that gave Christmas gifts. We didn't give them anyone. He gave nice little Guinness-flavored chocolates, has been fused with Guinness beer. Wonderful gift.

Very nice. Had one. Kind of a wild thing to pick. I was trying to. I texted what made you think to do that? And they said, hey, listen, I looked interesting. Yeah, I know Mark likes beer. And I was like, yeah, that's true.

I was wondering if I alone got that gift and you guys got like rose-scented, you know, bathroom spray or something. Gross. All right. Let's take a break. We'll be right back. All right. Before we welcome in our buddy Nick Shook for the last time this season, we should clarify. that Greg, you and I

had to be locked the Jaguars. Really glad we're going back to settle this. But Greg, you just pointed fingers a graver for not, you know, in a clean way. Yeah, it's like sloppier than Patriots special teams right now. We have to clean it up or heads are going to roll. Very ugly DVOA for your professionalism. All right, let's now check in with the other team that played

on that fateful Monday night in Cincinnati, the Bengals, who were looking to finish the regular season, on high, even though they are peeved about the league's rule changes ahead of the playoffs. Brown's going to throw from the end zone, hit and brought down. There was the ball. Oh. The ball comes out, recovered for a touchdown. The Bengals knock it away.

Trey Hendrickson stripped it away from Anthony Brown, and it's recovered in the end zone for a Cincinnati touchdown. That's what you call taking care of business. Dan Horde, Dave Lapham, with the call. The Cincinnati Bengals jumped out ahead early on the Ravens and kind of coasted from there. 27 to 16, Joe Burrow threw for a touchdown. Joe Mixon ran for another and pulled a coin out from his sock

and then flipped it in the air to mock the NFL's decision to potentially decide a playoff game if it were to happen with the Ravens by a coin flip for home field. not happening because Cincinnati took care of business. They are 12 and 4, Baltimore 10 and 7. Nick shook. The pipe is here. I'm here to flex in representation of the Bengals who turned away all the criticism and all the consternation regarding the coin flip and said, you know what? We're going to go out. We're going to take care of business as a playoff team and a title contending team should do. It wasn't the prettiest game, guys. Now they jumped all over

early thanks to those takeaways. They really should send the Ravens a gift basket provided they don't run into them again in the postseason, which we'll see, because they did them a huge favor by playing their third string quarterback this week and protecting Tyler Huntley in the event that he has to play in the playoffs. Anthony Brown, well, probably a nice kid, Oregon product, clearly not suited for a game of this magnitude. Two very ugly interceptions early. You saw the strip sack recovered for a touchdown there. That was the Bengals route to victory. They jumped all over and put 21 points on the board from those takeaways. They go into the half with a 24 to 7 lead.

And that was pretty much all she wrote because the second half, they didn't even break 100 yards offense. That's something that they need to figure out going forward. They got to figure out what the Ravens did defensively that shut them down. They missed some opportunities. Joe Burrow had Jamar Chase open for a touchdown under through him a little bit. There was a couple of the long passes that didn't get completed. They could have gone for big gains and potentially touchdowns.

They don't look quite as strong as they have for the last two months. But coming off of what they dealt with last week, I can understand that. And all in all, They got the job done. They secured the home game going into next weekend. That's all that really matters to them. And we can leave the change in the coin purse.

Go spend it on parking because you don't have to spend it or use a quarter to flip it to figure out where you're playing next week. Well, it will be fine for that, number one. Although that's, you know, when you talk about these players' salaries, not a huge issue. I also use, like, a card now to pay for parking. I don't even use coins. I normally do, too. Yeah. That's because you live in L.A.

Yeah. Well, it's instructed of us. But I mean, yeah, the Bengals. Class warfare. Humble brag. They were messy down the stretch, shook. And I think it said a lot about the Ravens. They had one drive of their last 10 that went over 12 yards.

And it kind of looked like there were these big misconnections. The biggest concern for me, because I'm not really, I just kind of this week 18 stuff, I'm willing to let it blow away. But Alex Kappa was carted off the field with a left ankle. You already have Lyle Collins out. That's the entire right side of your line. This is what happened to him last year when they were trying to, you know, keep Joe Burrow upright. So that just is a lingering concern for me. but I really thought at least it showed their defense,

which were turnover ball hawks last January, that they could do it again today. And they prayed on a quarterback that was not ready for prime time. But this Ravens team in general, I mean, Rappaport reported this morning that it is completely, essentially said that no one truly knows if Lamar Jackson will be ready for the wild card matchup. And it just seems like it's trending in the direction of like,

are we going to see him again this season? And if we don't, and you get this or Tyler Huntley next week, I love Cincinnati's chances. You know our friend Peter Schrager, he was on Bill Simmons football podcast, and I happened to catch on Twitter. They had a conversation about this. And you know Schrager's plugged in as anybody. And he didn't report directly that it was something he was hearing from the Ravens.

But he certainly in the conversation that he was having about the subject of Lamar Jackson and his continuing absence, kind of let it hang out there that there might be more to this potentially than just an injury. with his uncertain financial future. And I just thought it was notable coming from Schrager the way he, you know, had that conversation. Interesting thought. It is fascinating.

It also is weird to look at the different reports about whether Lamar is going to play next week or that they're feeling confident or they're not feeling confident. And it like changes depending on which reporter you listen to and what time of the day and which day it is. But to me, actions speak louder. The Ravens knew the most likely outcome here

was they were going to lose this game. with a backup, and that they were going to go back to Cincinnati next week. That's exactly what's happening. They ended up sitting some of their starters. Mark Andrews. Including Huntley, who is the key one, that they really didn't want to lose if they don't have Lamar. To me, you wouldn't sit Huntley if you felt like you needed this game or if that you're confident Lamar.

It's an awkward week 18 thing. I hate this when they play each other twice in a row. I think the Bengals, if I had to pick, might be the best team in the NFL. And yet I think this is an awkward matchup next week for them. It's a division matchup, a very good defense. One of the only defenses in the league, if healthy, shook that I think can hold down Cincinnati's offense and just ugly it up, especially if they can get any quarterback play. Yeah, you saw an example of that today.

I mean, like I said, in the second half, they couldn't break 100 yards. I mean, their offense went from being fairly high powered. The same offense we've seen for most of the second half of the season 2,1 that was borderline anemic. Joe Burrow just didn't quite look comfortable. Joe Mix and stat line doesn't reflect a game that you'd be proud of. And they've shifted a while ago. They shifted toward this pass heavy offense that incorporated the running back in the passing game a little bit. But you couldn't really rely on the run game that constantly or that consistently.

If you were in this situation for four quarters next week, you're talking about ugly in a game up. We get an ugly playoff game where the Bengals suddenly find themselves in a situation where they got to go down and try and kick a game when he field goal if it's that close. I could very much see that happening because if Huntley's in the lineup, he gives them a better chance to match them offensively or at least come close enough. closer than Anthony Brown could. The average four yards for play today, Shucky. Yeah. That's crazy. They got to sit on that lead.

There's no guarantee that you're going to go sit on that lead in a playoff game next week. So, yeah, definitely a little bit concerned about them. But I agree with you. Might be the best team in the NFL when all things are running correctly. They just didn't in the second half again. I don't think you're getting two weeks of this from the Bengals in a row. The line issue concerns me. But if Tyler Huntley played today and did not turn the ball over and they still just did

what they've done under Tyler Huntley, which would just be a very unimpressive to the eye offense in terms of production. Like, this game is very close and goes down to the final minutes. It was the turnovers that set them up for these quick scores. They weren't moving the ball. One more week of the Baltimore Ravens. The hay is almost in the barn and we can move on as a football world. Hey, before we go to the next game, Shooky, as I said earlier in the show, this feels like the bills that are a great team and a great story,

and it just feels like this could be their year. But Cincinnati is a great story too, and they have a great team, and they have a great team. And they have also, like the Bills, a tremendous quarterback who believes in his team and believes in himself. He was asked after the game while wearing a giant white turtleneck and looking like a cooler Kevin McAllister from home alone. He was asked about the idea of a Cincinnati Bengals Super Bowl window. Windows my whole career and everybody that we have in that locker room, all the coaches we have. you know, things are going to change year to year,

but our window's always open. He's good with these quotes. That's not my quarterback, but I wish it was. Yeah, I know every couple of weeks he drops a verbal dime like that. In addition to the physical dimes on the red iron. In addition to those, Shook. Yeah, yeah. I mean, is 90s fashion completely back?

Because I got some serious flashbacks there. You know, it is in Ohio, I'd say. It just got there. No, we've reached a tipping point in the nostalgia culture right now when New York Times is doing a profile on the kids of today are now using digital cameras that they're finding in their moms like and dad's drawers because they prefer that to using their phones. We're reaching a saturation point of nostalgia.

But I guess every generation hits that, so whatever. Good luck finding new digital tapes when you run out of the one that you're using that was in the camera to begin with in your mom's closet. Just a warning. F-D cards. Yeah. Let's head to Heinz Field where Mike Tomlin was looking to keep up one of the most impressive streaks in professional football.

Pickett throws it down the middle. Touchdown. George Pickens. Pickett to Pickens from 31 out. And the Steelers in position to tie it up. This is what makes a quarterback on the edge of becoming a great quarterback. Oh, look at that. That's Craig Wolfley. So Kenny Pickett is on the edge of becoming a great quarterback.

Now, you may or may not agree with Wolfley and Bill Hillgrove of WDVE. But those are the vibes around the Pittsburgh Steelers after a season ending 2814 win over the Browns. The Jets losing again cost Steelers a playoff spot. It's the Dolphins to take that seventh seed. But Chuck, incredible way. for them to wrap their season. And yes, for Mike Tomlin, he keeps that incredible streak of over 500 seasons. They finish nine and eight.

Yeah, this is the rebuilding year. This is supposed to be the transitional year for the Steelers. The first year without Ben Rothesberger, the year that everything just fell apart, except they go nine and eight. He stays above 500 in the season. He finishes there. Kenny Pickett is clearly the best quarterback on the roster. I'm not going to say he's on the edge of being a great quarterback,

because there's still a lot of things he's got to work on. But you see the glimpses. You see the decisiveness. you see the fact that he's comfortable in the pocket and he knows what to do when he's under pressure. Let's think about this, guys. They finished with a little bit over 300 yards off as 337, 9 to 15 on third down, yet Kenny Pickett finished with under 200 passing yards and completed just 13 passes. Do you know why they converted those third downs?

Because Kenny Pickett extended the play and found his guys over and over again. It's not the stuff that, you know, it's not the in-between stuff where he overthrows a guy or he misses a guy or somebody drops a pass, Deonti Johnson, Connor Hayward, a couple of those today. It's the stuff in the key downs. And that's what excites me about him. Like I said, I'm not going to say he's on the edge of being a great quarterback, but he's exciting. Also exciting, George Pickens.

Just three catches today, 72 yards in that touchdown that we just played on that highlight. That is a pairing that I cannot wait to see where they go because it's clear they already have that connection. They're just starting to work on those back shoulder fades down the sideline. And George Pickens, as we all know at this point, is a freak of nature. If Kenny Pickens continues to develop at the speed, he's at right. now and Pickens continues to rise up and get better over the years, man, they're going to get to watch out. That's going to be quite a duo for years to come. So it's a really triumphant

way for them to end the season, a season that nobody expected anything out of them. They avoid finishing in the seller. They finish above 500 and they got a lot to be excited. They also have some things they need to address in the off season. But man, an organization that really knows how to keep things stable, even when it looks like everything's against them. It's a very Browns-esque end of the season. I feel like they've lost to the Steelers in week 17 slash 18 like 47 times. But it's a very Steelers-esque end because it sort of to me reminds me of what happened in Jacksonville a little bit where you started off with an offense that just looked completely lost at sea. Here we are today. You've found a quarterback. You've found weapons

around them. An offensive line that was in tatters in the summer, they're not perfect, but they were competent. The running game grew. Naji Harris turned into something better than we thought. all these little pieces and they're all in the same contract essentially together and you still have one of the best coaching staffs in the league that never that refused to die this season on any level i love the mike tomlin like situation i know there's some steelers fans that in the past like we need this guy out of here he can't get us over the hump i'll take mike there have been that from steelers fans absolutely what hit me i agree i would take tomlin over literally almost every coach in the league outside of belich what what what what

that sounds in real time like gregg does not agree but i think you have to to say, Greg, that Mike Tomlin is just a six-per-s straight, non-losing seasons, unbelievable coach, and multiple Super Bowls. They should be the playoff team. The playoffs would be more fun with them in it. They're seven and two in their last nine games. I've always thought it's a little underrated to end your season with a win, because like all the teams that make the playoffs don't get to do that except for one.

And the Steelers weren't going to win the Super Bowl. I'm just saying the Steelers weren't going to win the Super Bowl. They were going to probably lose next week to the bills. To just end the season on a four-game winning the Super Bowl. streak and like oh we got robbed by what happened and stuff that feels great i know they would would have rather go watch a playoff game no those good vibes you're right huge success the season is for what it was and what it was expected to be and what it seemed like it was going to be in october a huge success and a lot of reasons uh for optimism speaking of reasons for optimism shoki you are

a lifelong browns fan we talked about it on a thursday podcast podcast a little bit Deshawn Watson and his underwhelming start to his Brown's career and whether there was any reason for concern. What were your thoughts about his performance in this game and in general, the six starts or whatever he made this season, five starts. I mean, I'm not concerned necessarily with his play. I am concerned about the fit with the coaching staff, whether they know how to properly use his talents because he's kind of shaking off a little bit of the rust with each week. He's not back to where he was still, but you see glimpses of it. today he had no time to throw all day. Pittsburgh's defense, which was supposed to be their strength all year

and wasn't for a good portion of it, but is very opportunistic, got after him. Seven sacks could have had 10, maybe even 12 as a team because he escaped four or five of them on his own. I mean, he's doing everything possible. He made a couple of bad throws. He also holds the ball forever. Some of those sacks I thought were on him.

Sacks are a QB. Staten. To me, that's been the number one problem he's had the last six weeks is he's holding the ball kind of like a rookie quarterback. And he's always been a little bit like that, but you haven't seen this spectacular plays to kind of offset that. Well, I mean, Greg, you can even go back to his time in Houston. Years ago, my biggest issue was him with the fact that he'd run out of clean pockets. That was not the case today, but that was his issue for a long time.

So that's where I go to with the fit. I don't know if necessarily this offense is really fit for him, if Kevin Stefansky in the way that it's set up. I'm telling you, they're going to make a change of defensive corner. I think they have to at this point based on how they've played for the majority of the season. I'm not saying he's going to get fired. But I understand that Kevin Stafansky should be under fire for the way that this team perform this year, especially in key moments.

He looked like he just didn't have a good grasp on game management. And I'm just really curious, a little bit concerned about how they proceed from here with him and Watson as a pairing. It shows you because, I mean, this was a coach of the year a couple years ago. Everything looked like sky is the limit. They beat in the Steelers in the playoffs. And where they are now, I mean, I think a lot of this can be put on Stafansky. Obviously, I think Joe Woods is history. But in-house, I wonder if they wonder what you're wondering.

Is Tafansky and his scheme the right fit for, unfortunately, this massive investment that we've made? And it's like that investment has power over the coaching staff. Well, Jimmy Haslam took over Brown's ownership 10 years ago now, so the length of this podcast. What a 10 years it's been. The team is 54, 106, and 1 since then. That's the second worst. Mark in the league. I wish I knew who the worst was.

I'm guessing the Jaguars. Probably my team. And Mark, one last thought, you are the number one Bernie Kozar supporter. He's in some ways your surrogate father. Your thoughts on him being dismissed from the team's radio broadcast team on Sunday. Earlier in the week, he placed a bet on the Browns to win the game. Did he talk about it or something? I don't know, but I just want to give you the floor, Mark.

But I think it's unfortunate. You know, you're essentially an NFL league employee when you're operating out of that. I think we've seen that way and you break a clear league policy. We all know about that. I did find it interesting that it was reported that he bet 19,000, which is his number, of course,

his jersey on the Browns to win. You can't tell me that Bernie has that much money floating around that he should be making that reason. Well, he doesn't now after not winning that. Oh, Bernie. But you know what? Bernie Cozor? I love Bernie Cozor.

And I also locked this game up. In honor of Bernie. And I locked it up for Bernie. There you go. So you had kind of on the same. Oh, no, he was picking the brown. So you weren't on the same page. That's good.

No. We don't know whether he, did he wager on the Browns or do we just know he wager on the game? On the Browns to beat the Steelers and $19,000. His decision-making, maybe not always sound, but it's hard in the good place. We're the worst team over the last 10 years. Former researcher and now 7'9 producer Drew Christensen has confirmed to me. He can't let go, Drew, by the way. I emailed the research team privately earlier today to get some information.

And then he comes in on my IM clients. saying like, hey, dummy, you should have known this or something like that. I'm like, bro, you got to let go. You're not in the research department anymore. And I can keep talking about Drew right now because he never talks. No, he's not, you know, you can say anything you want. Get a camera on him. Like all eight foot four of him, he's just going to just, you know, stew and maybe squash me after the show.

Anyway. It's happened before. There he is. Drew, do you have anything to say? This is your chance. It's week 18 to finally clap back at the bozos on this side of the glass. motionless and silence you know what's good though

if it ever comes down to it and it's like on air versus behind the glass showdown we've got shook on our team to take down we got the pipe and nice transition there Gregie the pipe all season and it's been a few years now you've been awesome and a great asset

for us helping to cover all these Sunday games so as another regular season comes to a close we sincerely thank you sir I think you're getting better every year you do this and uh you're a stud buddy so thank you very much thank you uh you know my parting words will be this um as a league employee i do not condone betting on games however if my life depended on it i would always bet on you guys oh okay well now you're fired but i'm glad

thank you it's pretty clearly laid out in the in the guidelines but shoki thank you very much buddy have a great night get a lift in i love you also and uh Thanks, guys. Thanks, we love you. All right. We'll be right back after this. All right, welcome back. Let's head to Denver for a AFC West matchup that had nothing on the line,

and yet people were talking all throughout the contest. We'll tell you why. First, this. Playfate, Russ, Rolls to, he's right, throws a ball wide open receiver. Cortland Sutton, touchdown, Denver. 20 yards, Russell Wilson, DeCorton. Sutton, Sutton's second touchdown reception of the season, and he was wide open. Miserable season for the Broncos. We all know that, but, and there's Dave Logan, K-O-A.

The fact that Russell Wilson showed a little bit of a pulse these last couple of weeks of the season. Everything's fixed. Well, I wouldn't go that far, but it's better than the opposite, where he finishes with eight touchdown passes or something. So maybe something. And you also get a win, 31, 28, over. the Chargers and Russell Wilson had three touchdown passes in the game. Gregi, you watch this game and what I was alluding to was the Chargers, based on the Ravens Bengals outcome earlier, were locked into the five seed. There was a thought that a lot of the starters wouldn't play.

And not only did a lot of Chargers starters play, they played deep into the game and one of their key players left on a cart. So a lot of criticism for the head coach, Brendan Staley. Yeah, Mike Williams has a back injury. Ian Rapport said X-rays were negative, that they'll be test. on Monday it didn't look great although Staley said in the post game that he could have maybe returned to the game Mike

Williams. Joey Bosa was also shaken up and then just didn't return but that one didn't seem serious. The starters were pulled by Staley with the score 31 to 20 Broncos with 11 minutes left. I'm counting starters as Herbert but

they weren't all the starters I mean Keenan Allen was 11 minutes left in the second quarter. In the fourth quarter. Oh in the fourth quarter? Wait in the game. Whoa. So they kind of got They got the worst of both worlds, which is they've tried to win the game, but the Broncos and old Russ was putting it on them. Hey, look at that throw on the run to Judy. That's old Russ.

So it was crazy. That throw you're talking about was part of a three-play 75-yard touchdown drive with 25 seconds left in the first half. When that drive started, again, 25 seconds left in the first half, Russ had 14 passing yards. So it was the rest of old. They were running the ball a little bit. Important context, Greg.

Thank you. But then he finished with 283 and 3. He suddenly had bombs away. He had three of those beautiful Russell bombs. Hey, I'm Russell Wilson, and I throw a sexy deep ball. Down the stretch of this game and the Chargers defense, who were playing all their best players, kind of got steamrolled by Latavius Murray and Russell Wilson.

So it all was strange, and so was Staley's explanation afterwards, where he said that you only have so many players with only two practice squad elevations. Other playoff teams had to play their best players today. as well. These aren't easy decisions in hindsight is perfect for everyone to decide. No, see, that's like... That's just not really true. That doesn't ride with me because you can't say things like every other playoff team was

dealing with this and doing it the same way. It's like, no, they weren't. We saw all across the league the teams weren't doing that. The Giants played with, as we mentioned, like the two tight end personnel of a whole game because they didn't want to play their wide receivers. Right. The one thing is because I think there's been a little bit of a pattern. We kind of questioned

the use of Herbert after he was hurt. Keenan Allen got put back in a little prematurely and got dinged up. And we've seen how different this whole thing is when either Keenan Allen or Mike Williams were not available. And so this is a worst case scenario if Mike Williams were ever not available next week. It's trending in a good direction. But I just, you know, I get it.

You're the coach. You can do whatever you want to want. Maybe the players are telling you we want to play. I get all that. But it's like the only thing that matters when they started this game because they were locked in with where they were going to go is next week. Right. And I was walking through town on Friday.

all of a very familiar voice. And it just so happens that Matt Money Smith on his very popular drive time radio show here in Los Angeles was doing a live show from this place called Rock and Brews. And I, of course, I ducked in there and I chatted with money and we were talking Chargers. Of course, the former voice of God on this show and also the voice of the Chargers now. And he was optimistic, you know, he gets extra guap the deeper they go on the playoffs. That's his money for a reason. Right.

So he wants a deep playoff run for a lot of reasons. And he was saying, we're healthy. Like, this team has a chance. They're fine. And then I was talking, I was at a barbershop yesterday. And I was talking to him, George at Jags Barbershop in Westchester here in L.A. And he is a huge Chargers fan. And we were having the conversation that they're healthy.

He's like, this is a star cross team. Something always seems to happen. And that's all I can think today while we're leaving these players in and Mike Williams is getting carted. Like, be smart chargers. Don't let the football gods come for you. Don't give him extra chances. So ultimately, George, the salon man, knew more than Matt Money Smith. Why would it be a salon man?

Well, just that haircut. It's a barber. It's a barber. He knew more than Matt Money Smith. He played by plane. Do you go to a salon? No. I mean, assuming a salon is typically not somewhere for me.

The salon. You also saw a broadcaster I enjoy very much in Petros. You did. I let him know that you're a big fan. I said, just let him know. I really love his style and what he does. And it sounded like his response. was incredibly underwhelmed.

Well, it was... And then it left me with a bad taste of my mouth on that text thread because it was just like you were kind of sticking it to me. I know. I worried when I saw your reply, I was like, oh, no, Mark took it a certain way. Well? I know you're a big fan. Petros and Money, again, the big drive time team here on 570 AM radio here.

Yeah. For some reason, I felt compelled when I met him to almost immediately tell him that you were a huge fan. And I think I caught him off guard because why would this guy that he just met then be like oh my friend loves you and he was like oh cool so when i wrote oh cool is what he said um you took it as like him being like oh cool but that was never the tone over text you cannot tell what the tone is and the tone the verbiage was you know clipped you know my mom says no good deed goes unpunished i was just trying to do you a solid and look who catches fire ultimately i don't

i don't talk about sinking over this one suppose it was a good deed like it did they have you on the show No, you think, I'm not going, I'm not talking into a mic. Your NFL network's Dan Hanses, you're at the thing and they don't have you on. No, that's worked with Matt Money Smith for hundreds of hours. That's L.A. Sports Radio. They had a Kings like defenseman on there. They were chopping things. I have no idea of what's going on in L.A. sports. Hey, Grave-Digger, you were saying. Sorry, I didn't mean to derail that very interesting conversation.

I didn't know. I'm sure it was. I just wanted to remind everyone, it feels like forever ago that Justin Herbert suffered that rib injury and we were all wondering, why Brandon Staley left him in the game as long as he did. It seems like he didn't learn from whatever happened earlier in this season in this game. Right on the Keenan Allen situation. It's also weird because they're one of the teams that were at the forefront of like never play any players in the preseason. So I'm almost less concerned about that he played everyone. That was really annoying.

And if Mike Williams is, you know, compromise next week, then that would be the biggest problem. But also like he wanted to like, in theory, I think. think keep the winning vibes going that was the idea and they lost the game to the Broncos and it wasn't the backups they lost it was the starters that lost fans of somewhat recent football history will remember the ultimate and not to bring it up again because now I'm going to talk about 42 Greg and I'm not doing it on purpose but the ultimate flex in this mode was when Tom Coughlin in week 17 or week 18 when the Patriots were going for the perfect season on New Year's Eve the Giants were already locked into a wild card spot Coughlin said I'm playing

everybody and we're trying to knock off the undefeated Patriots in a very Tom Coughlin type move and they played this gorgeous back and forth shootout that the Patriots held on for the win but it did really did I think and they talk about it now and I think it was true it kind of really elevated

the Giants not just through the NFC playoffs but when they saw the Pats again in the Super Bowl they felt confident we could beat them they're not unbeatable but usually you just got to use common sense and be smarter about it. I guess we're talking about it maybe a little too much because nothing that bad happened but it was interesting.

Before Coughlin, Vince Lombardi did the same thing in a very critical situation at the end of a season and said it was one of his favorite days of coaching. One of his greatest coaching experiences to have his guys go out there when it didn't matter and to go do it anyways. They lost the game, but it's like... Belichick did it on the regular.

I mean, people would lose their minds. The results not good. The result's not good. Remember when West Welker blew out his knee in a meaningless week 18. That was unfortunate. We should mention quickly, too. Sean Payton confirmed he spoke to Bronco's ownership about the head coaching vacancy.

He can't officially interview for the job for another week and a half because of league rules because he's still under contract with the Saints. You have to wait until after the wild card round. What are they going to trade? They don't even have any first round picks. Well, they have future first round picks. And Rapsheet reported that conversations happen about the trade and that that part of the situation, may already be settled, the trade part. So we'll see if Sean Payton gets a better offer, but we'll see.

We have Peyton who's inviting his time with Fox this year, obviously, talking about the conversation with the Broncos. Any team that would want to inquire or speak with me can do so. They just need permission from the Saints. And then down the road, if that's something that materializes into anything else, then there would be compensation required, much like a player trade. Denver's the first team. And I was able to have a conversation with their owner, and that's kind of the protocol.

So it would go team to the Saints, and then the interview process can't officially begin until the 17th of this month. Okay. So that's really where it's at. I mean, one word, leverage. Right. This is where we think Sean Payton wants to go. Well, will we have other options? We'll find out.

It actually occurred to me during this game. Like, is Staley worried about Sean Payton? so he's still trying to win games because Sean Payton's made it awfully clear he wants that Chargers job. The most interesting thing Sean Payton said when he spoke to our Peter Schrager there on Fox was quarterback would not be the most important thing to him.

Ownership and the GM and the structure, that's what matters to me. When I arrived in New Orleans, we didn't have a quarterback. He basically is saying, I can make the quarterback thing work. I'm worried about the owner. And what do owners have?

They have money. And what does Walmart? have all the money all the money and as bad as like we've talked about the russell wilson side of this and why it would make it messy for someone going there but i think you could maybe even get out of that contract in another year if it ends up being terrible he's if you're going to denver as a head coach you need you got to be a high high quality guy with a resume to have some rope to survive a potential bad russellson year two it makes a little more sense that's a great city, great fan base, great history, and new ownership.

We don't know about them, but they got a ton of money they'll spend to make the Broncos. Outside of the Russell Wilson contract, which you're right, I think at some point you make a decision. If it's not working, you move on. Everything else about the Denver Broncos, I think would appeal to Sean Payton. Right. And he wants the coach, and I'm not sure other than possibly the Rams where he could have an opportunity. So, you know, let's see what happens there. All right. Let's head to the most amazing game that's ever been played to Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the central zone invitational later this month plug now I'm just going to be looking he scrambles out to the right to get rid of it throws it to the end zone and caught

it Jordan naked my goodness on fourth and 20s with the catch my god Jordan aches so they're going to go for two here we go Texans going for the juice and the lead Davis looking throwing to the end zone, caught, and come through it. Jordan Aitens comes up big again, wide open as the Texans grab a one-point lead with 50 seconds to go. What are you? That was one of the dumbest things. It was so good.

Or every cult's game of the last month. No, not even that. I mean, it's... Why did the Texans win this game? You got Davis Mills. Doing that at the end. Mark Vandemir with the call, K-I-L-T, yeah they convert a fourth and 20 for a touchdown go for two make it to beat the cults and

zach heifer was right they had one win in them under jeff saturday by the way that is crazy 32 31 and because the texans have this incredible comeback win and i guess you know the cults made it happen by playing miserable boneheaded defense in the final plays of the game but like they don't pick number one anymore. They drop to the number two pick and the Chicago Bears get the number one pick. It could be one of the more crushing developments for the Texans in many years when you look back at it. It was delicious. I don't know why. I don't think they deserve any good luck the way they've handled everything, especially if they don't keep Lovy Smith, although we'll hear from Lovey in a second. But I just love these sort of insane week 18 moments. And Davis

Mills. He win this game. He hit a fourth and 12 on the move to Brandon Cooks earlier in that drive. He was fourth and 20 under extreme pressure. This is Davis Mills. This is not Patrick Mahomes. He's rolling to his left and he has two defensive linemen right on top of him. And then he throws across his body. And the Colts defender has the game. All he has to do is knock it down.

Instead, he runs forward. What are you doing? Justin jumps up. It goes right through his arms into the winning hands of it. It was one of the moments of the season. It was the only moment of the season that I yelled out. out in the newsroom and screamed, probably annoying Mark from 50 feet away. No, you didn't annoy me, but I, to me.

You're loyal to football. Like, Greg, I know that it's amazing moments of athleticism, but like, there are a lot of Texans fans that have their head on straight that are standing up in the ball sharing. I also picked the Texans to win. I wanted that. But that's great. Those are trifling items. If there's like Andrew Luck and no other quarterback in this draft, then it's meant to be a better

draft, like the Texans, because of Davis Mills' late game heroics, don't have the chance to pick the quarterback they want. This means this game is utterly meaningless. It could reverberate for years for this organization. And I don't know enough. You know, we've got to talk to our buddies. Bryce Young's the consensus, but we'll see. We'll see.

But now you don't control that. This whole absurd Texan's journey for two years should have ended with this. And to Greg's point, and especially if you follow a team that can't get a quarterback for 50 years, they had Deshawn Watson a generational talent. That ended the way it ended.

to then fall into a potential another number one overall pick star. That would have kind of sneaky annoyed me and other teams that are in my position. So maybe I don't feel too terribly. And you also like, I'm like just as a football fan, I'm thinking as a Texans fan. Right. That's why I'm so mad thinking about it. But the Texans and their players and their coaching staff, they know whatever is the next era of Texans football probably doesn't involve them.

So that's why the game played out the way it did. I mean, it makes me think about like, the old movie Major League with Tom Barringer and Corbyn Burnson and Charlie Sheen. It's like, was there some type of front office figure that was like, no, and like racing down to the field to try to stop this. But of course, nobody did, and I don't believe that happened. There's no, like, I don't think anyone's saying like, oh, Lovie Smith and the player should have tried to lose this.

But I think that is where you create just situationally a chasm between your front office who had plans to do. The one thing that could happen is if Chicago holds on to that, If they want to just, they fall in love with someone, then they're not taking a quarterback. And maybe you're right back where you started. But they can also trade that. The Texans also have Cleveland's first-round pick. So they have ammunition, but it's just like, come on here, guys.

You want to hear what Leibbith has to say about the draft? I would, because I don't know how often we'll get to hear from it again, depending on what they do. Okay. This is the option that I had. So you're saying, hey, guys, playing this last game, you know, all that you've been working for all your life, you play to win, forget that, lose the game on purpose. I think that would be a hard one to get by. They wouldn't expect me to say that. I didn't.

Each week, our game plan has been to win the game. It's kind of simple as that. And that's what we followed through on the day. Ultimately, I'm happy for Smith. If this is how he goes out, he doesn't let ownership have. We have one other thing from Levy? Okay, let's hear it. Do I expect to be back?

Yeah, I expect to be back. You know, absolutely. It's like a dare, Greg. A dare you to bring you back. Well, he said he's been talking. into ownership. Maybe that was a dare. I don't know if he's basically on that.

The way that Ian Rapport are National Insider, remember when they changed that to his title. Did they change it again? I think that's it. National Insider. I mean, football. Tom Belisero. He's the NFL Network Insider.

Couldn't you make him international at this point? It's an international sport. He's not dueling against an insider from Spain. His title is NFL Network Insider. He reported, you know, that Lovie's future was very much endowed. over on Fox Jake Laser thought Nick Casario

the GM's future might be in doubt so we'll just see we'll see what is going to happen here we have developing news oh developing news

according to I'm being told rap sheets Twitter bio National Insider for NFL Network and NFL.com I think that's new

I think that was tweaked somewhat recently I'm going to do my digging as the zoo isn't that what I said yeah you were right I want to do some digging and find out when that changed.

I would just say you could go if you wanted to pull full power move. You go Earth Insider. You're not dueling against NFL insiders from Africa. Yeah, I'll be digging on this story. Just leave it at that. Was there something else? Yeah. I just like that, you know, if they're sending them out,

they don't deserve to win this game. They don't deserve it. This franchise, I don't, you know. Remember, they were losing to. John Watson before anything happened either. He wanted out of this franchise and... And also keep in mind... I know you're very excited about this.

The Colts don't want their division rival to get the number one pick either. That's true, too. Oh, no, I think it was a savvy move by the Colts. It was a good job by the Colts. Graver, though, you still... Your prediction that the Colts would finish in last place that didn't happen.

True, but there's an argument to be made that Houston was a better team than Indy this year. They went one, oh, and one against them. I think it's finished with one win better. worst team in this division. I mean, what a disastrous end of this season. I believe the Texans went undefeated in their division. No.

It went 3.13 and 1. 3.2 and 1 though in the division, which is ridiculous. Lovie Swift started the season going for a tie and annoying everyone. And he ended the season going for the win with a two point conversion. Who says there can't be personal growth? And annoying everyone. Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

Just talking about it. Now it's official. The Texans once again in the market for a new head coach. Ian Rappaport and Mike Garifolo, together reporting that the Texans have fired head coach, Lovie Smith, another one and done in Houston. So David Cully, given no chance in 2021 to build that program fired, even though he kind of outperformed, the team outperformed what they expected. Lovie Smith comes in, given no chance to build the operation, sticks it to the team out on the way out the door. Week 18 and then is let go. So once again, Mark, the Texans will be on the lookout for a coach.

They do have some positives now, of course, in terms of what the job they have, they already have, I think, an extra number one. Is that correct? Cleveland's for years to come. And even though they, you know, blew the number one overall pick. They pick number two in this draft with a lot of cap space, but also a lot of dysfunction around that organization in recent years. Yeah, I think it's like you go, it reminds me of reading like the very,

biographies on Bill Belichick, where he talks about when he left the whole Brown situation and was going to go to New England. It's like just always think about ownership when you take a job. It's so important because if that shifts, you're probably going to lose it, but ownership creates culture and everything else. And like, you do have something to offer as the Texans. They're loaded with draft picks. There's a couple of players on that roster that I think because of the Texans have been overlooked, young guys, and there's something to build off. I think Lovie Smith showed down the stretch here coaching them that. they were playing teams tighter.

They weren't just the joke they were all of last season and for the beginning of this. And in the end, it didn't matter. You just get canned. And it's like, what is the direction? Why did you hire Levy Smith? I get that it wasn't the most inspiring hire. But like, did you and your, in the back of your mind,

if you're the GM, Nick Aserio, if you're the owner, Cal McNair, think, you know what? We're probably just going to get through this season with Davis Mills or whoever, set ourselves up post to Sean Watson to get these draft picks after we trade them and then get the coach we really want.

just a sort of dirty business to me. Right. I can't remember an NFL head coach ever being hired where it felt like it was a short-term hire the minute they made it in that the coaching search itself was a mess. Easterby was involved.

Josh McCown was involved. The whole Brian Flores suing the NFL felt like it was kind of involved and maybe pushed the McNair's. I just think it's embarrassing. for Nick Casario, whether he wants to put it on ownership or not, that he hired Cully as the first thing he did as GM. He made it one year.

Then he got to hire Lovie Smith. He made it one year. Most GMs never get to their third head coach. If you hire two head coaches, and that's over, I'm thinking of like Thomas Demetroff when he hired Mike Smith and Dan Quinn. That lasted, you know, 10, 15 years. But he's not getting to a. third head coach.

Casario would be the first GM in history to ever get to hire three head coaches in one year. And yes, you can say, well, the Watson thing happened. They didn't cover themselves in glory there either. And I don't know where to put the blame. I put it on the organization, but it's just like embarrassing. And I already see the fans being like, well, they shouldn't have hired Lovey and he's not the guy anyways.

It's like, this was always the plane. It's like, that's what fans of bad teams say, like justify. Just like, yeah, I mean, and the reason was one of the reasons why his eyebrow raising is, yes, Levy Smith, who they elevated to take the job is 64 years old. He came up, he did, you know, he had a bad run with Illinois, his previous head coaching experience in college. And it didn't seem like for a team that's young and trying to figure things out that you would hire an older veteran coach. And in a lot of ways, it's, yeah, that didn't make sense because none of this really makes sense. There is no real roadmap right now for the Texans.

And I would be very wary if I am a, and there are only 32 chairs. So there's always going to be a lot of interest in taking one of them. But I'd be very wary if I was a head coach going into that situation right now. I don't care about the cap space and the draft picks. It's like, is that a functional operation and do I want to be a part of it? Well, they interviewed Jonathan Gannon, the Eagles defensive coordinator twice last year. And supposedly he was a strong candidate. And there's been a lot of speculation that he might be the guy.

Ian's already reporting that Gannon and 49ers defensive coordinator, Domingo Ryan's, who used to play for the Texans. What about Josh McCown? Yeah, I say McCown. I think he's out now. I think now that Easterby, yeah, because he was, that was the whole Easterby sources, and he had McNair's ear. I think that was an Easterby.

I mean, we can't, like, you know, I don't, I remember a time when they didn't want us to talk Easterby a little bit here and there, but let's be real that, like, by removing that whole situation from what we know, like, you can attract a different type of candidate potentially. Perhaps. I do love that love that love he, got that win on the way out. I love that. And I also love that he has three years remaining on his deal, which are guaranteed money and dollars.

So there you go. You don't have to go pound the pavement tomorrow for work. You're going to get paid well for the next, you know, thousand days. Don't cry for me, lovey Smith. He's doing fine. He'll be fine. But he rightfully. He's a prideful person, though.

So this is, you know, but he, it's not, who's going to walk around viewing it as his fault? I don't know. Organist bad team behavior. And that's just the start. That was a little teaser of New Horizons. Monday. We'll be back on Tuesday where we will recap

all the madness that is coming up. The fallout from week 18. Obviously, a look ahead, a beginning of a look ahead to the playoffs. And of course, seeing what's going on across the head coaching ranks, there's always a ton of turnover, Gregi.

We've been doing it, like we said, for a decade now. It's crazy. We're going to handle this. We'll be on top of it. You follow around NFL you will understand what's happening around the NFL that's a promise 10 years we're here in the chris wesseling podcast studio i was thinking of chris when naheem hines made those plays he was

always a big nahim hines like why can't they get the ball more to nahim hines we we miss chris so much as the end of the 10th season it's crazy i had graver listen to uh our first week 17 regular season finale show to see if he could find any good little nuggets and he said I was not even involved in that show because I was down and we still did find some but I was not in the show because I was down in the newsroom

doing something else I can only imagine it was like coaching firings or something like that I don't know I literally wasn't even out of the show yeah it was a so did we still find a clip yes I listened to an hour an hour long podcast from 10 years ago today and found a clip Are we better now?

Why are you putting our producer on that job? Just why not? On the football Sunday itself. I should have told them earlier, but, you know. I just had the earbuds in while I was watching the games this afternoon. Right. It's good stuff. It's good content.

It was fun. I like staying in, you know, touch with our old show. Yeah, like, do you think that the three of us as broadcasters have improved in the 10 years based on what you listen to? Or have we declined? You could be honest. No, I mean, you've obviously improved, but you were still, like, even back then, you could tell what superstars you were all going to be. See, that's why he's our producer. On the show itself, who do you think did the best job?

You would just listen to the whole episodes. Like, who was, who shined the brightest? Wes. Okay, well, take that. Can I argue with that? It's still actually going to bother Mark. No, it's not. When the head goes to pillow.

It will not because I think it's also deadly accurate. When head goes to pillow, though. He's going to a pillow in about five minutes, so not a lot of us. I could hear Wes laughing that Dan's comments right there. This is our hard to believe time flies, and this is our second full regular season without Chris now. But he's still very much part of the show and always will be. Love you, buddy, wherever you are. All right.

The season's not over. The regular season is over. Oh, yeah. 272 down. How many to go, Gregi? On the spot in a big spot. 13? Eat the call.

Let's see, you got five, you have five games, Wild Guard weekend, four division, that's nine, two championship, 11, Super Bowl, 12, right? Wait, no, no, it's something's not right there. Six this weekend. Six, six. Yeah. Four, three, ten, six four, six four, two, one. Six four, two, one. Six four, two, one. Six four, two, one. Nailed it. Nice work. Oh, the Pro Bowl skills competition. Sorry, 14. Right in front me, Mark Sessler is wearing an extra-large number 15 official Tim Tebow jersey tucked into his jeans as per the terms of the bet tied into the week 16 Brown's Jets game. Mark, you're a man of your word. Congratulations. You put a clown suit on Mark. I didn't mean to. It was just a bet.

I would have been wearing a weed in Jersey, but Mark, thank you. Well, listen, and I, you know, I sit next to Wesleying in the newsroom, and I see the look of jealousy in his eye that I get to wear this for the first time ever. It was yours as a wedding gift. I had to pull the tag off of it. Yeah. So it's not getting a lot of use by you. It's not jealousy. It's pity.

Poor Mark, he's fine with wearing the jersey. He looks good. He's got a nice dress shirt on underneath. He's really pulling off the look contrary to expectations, but every sad sack in the building has to come up and ask him about it. Why are you wearing a Pimbo jersey? It has been slightly distracting. See, that was worth the hour. I stand by it.

Well, not my hour. This is an IHeart podcast.