NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2023 Week 18 Recap

Episode Date: January 8, 2024

In a room full of heroes - Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, and Marc Sessler recap the final week of the 2023 NFL season. The heroes start the show by running through the AFC and talking about Bills at Dolphins (03:20), Texans at Colts (16:20), Steelers at Ravens (29:50), Jaguars at Titans (35:20), Chiefs at Chargers (42:25), Browns at Bengals (47:00), Jets at Patriots (51:30), and Broncos at Raiders (59:20). After the break, the guys hit the NFC and talk Cowboys at Commanders (01:04:15), Vikings at Lions (01:11:25), Eagles at Giants (01:19:10), Buccaneers at Panthers (01:26:36), Falcons at Saints (01:32:29), Bears at Packers (01:42:20), Seahawks at Cardinals (01:48:50), Rams at 49ers (01:59:25), and react to Arthur Smith being fired by the Falcons (02:05:16).  Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the NFL podcast. Now football is back. From the Chris Wesley podcast studio, it's Around the NFL. the Sunday flagship program week 18 the finale of the regular season it is now all in front of us dan hands us here with heroes gregg rosenthal and mark sessler and yes here we are it is set sunday night football in the rear view we're going to get to that game first we're going to mix things up but here it is you ready sest dog yes here we go wild card weekend excuse me super wild card weekend. Packers at Cowboys on Sunday afternoon. Rams at lines on Sunday night. Eagles at Tampa

Bay on Monday night on Saturday. Greg, Mark, Cleveland Browns at Houston, Texans. West of this is back. We have Case Keenham involved again. And we got an exclusive peacock game for the cock fans out there. Dolphins at Chief Saturday 8 15 p.m. and then Steelers at the number two seed. Who would have thunk at Buffalo Bills Sunday, 1 p.m. Eastern with the Ravens and Niners, both on by. It's set. That is the road to Super Bowl, 50. Eight? Yeah, maybe.

Okay. I always struggle with numbers. Football is back. It always is a little bittersweet. Always this weekend, it feels good. It feels good to do it for the last time, but it also feels a little sad when you're, you see in Scott Hanson, say goodbye for the season. And my son, I remember this feeling as a kid.

He was kind of bummed out this morning. That was like, oh, this is the last one. It's ending. But the playoffs are head. It's, I mean, we were having that football as back conversation. That was four months ago. I feel like that was two weeks ago at this point. It's shot by.

I mean, at the same point in the same time, like, the end of the regular season is also necessary because we have finished the narratives with a bunch of these teams. I feel like this year, though, it happened later. for a lot of them, which was better. It's been a great regular season. And I don't remember like a wild card round with so many

and we were talking about it like just like there's a, and it could go a lot of different ways these games. It's not like, you know. There are no quote unquote floating trash bag games. Right. No haman Eggers that are just going to get picked off. I mean it's, there are definitely some stronger than less but like I see some intriguing matchups.

It's, there's a lot to, unpredictable nature to. Nice sell. And there's like. I really mean it though. don't say that kind of stuff too much because sometimes I just I'm not buying into it. I want to see what happens, but this is a weird wildcard round. Well, Week 18 is satisfying the last weekend of the regular, it's satisfying because there are these through lines

like yes, some things have changed, some teams are falling apart injury-wise, but there are these through lines and we saw it in what I thought was a great way to cap the season in this Bill's game. This Josh Allen roller coaster has been here from the very start of the very

first big primetime game of the year to the very last. Yes, and that is where we're going to start. It is Super Bowl 58, by the way. I mean, you knew we nailed it. You, that was close. Yes, the bills have been really kind of a great symbol of this season, unpredictable ups and downs, just when you believe in a team.

They turn their back on you, but then they come back around, and they had to win five in a row to win this division, the AFC East, the dolphins who had been in control all year long. but in Miami in front of thousands and thousands of Bill's fans, Buffalo put on a show. Miami. Three receivers to the left, Cedric Wilson to the right, two in the shotgun with A. Chan to his right. Back to pass as the Bill's fans get into it, fires out to the left sideline, and it's intercepted by Taylor Rap, picked off at the 23-yard line. The pass was off the mark and rapped.

Picked it off before it reached the sideline. An unbelievable play. Roberts. Your team just won the division on Sunday night football. Where are the goddamn bongos? I'm having some integrity today. I'm saving. Okay.

He just is trying not to be biased. It's okay to be biased. This was a big time. win in a big spot. This would have deserved them. I gave them the bongos a couple weeks ago. Yeah. I think there was a more deserving.

Okay. The Buffalo Bills. Producers choice. Get a punt return for a touchdown. Stops on defense. A touchdown scoring drive by the offense, which had been up and down all night. And then, yes, that final stop on defense,

the interception by rap on a float throw by Tua. And there was a lot of those in this game. and the Miami offense went ice cold when it mattered most final score bills 21 dolphins 14 they both finish 11 and 6 but the bills sweep the dolphins in the home and home which means they win the tiebreaker which means it's the buffalo bills as we said that are the number two seed after all of this mark the bills find away and I thought it was as we're watching after they fail on that fourth in less than a yard on the QB sneak which I hated the call and And you're like, geez, are they going to find a way to blow this game after they had it in their hands? It was like kind of the most Billsy Bills game. And this time they find a way as they have in recent weeks and they're the division champs as a result. They really are overcomers. I mean, to go through what they went through in the first half and have Josh Allen have two end zone interceptions, a fumble later on.

And you're kind of just waiting for at some point for Miami to heat up because the injury list for Buffalo was starting to rack up. up. Rezuel Douglas went out. Gabe Davis went out. Deon Dawkins went out. And it's just like, can they survive this game? And they've been doing it all year long. A couple weeks ago, it would have seemed completely outlandish that they would have won this division with the way that they were such an up and down nature. But I think it's, you know, if you're Sean McDermott, the reason that you're still the coach to this team beyond Josh Allen is that the Sean McDermott defense needs to be a difference maker. And this Miami offense, which I think really misses Jalen Waddle two weeks in a row, missed them tonight.

They were out of sync in the entire second half after closing the first half with two touchdowns, four straight punts and that pick to end the game, they had less than 50 total net yards in the second half. That is tough to do. The no show. It was a complete no show. It was a complete no show. And I know they were missing people.

They are banged up too. But Buffalo, I thought the Josh Allen experience in the final 30 minutes was truly special. It was a truly special version of Josh Allen. Him picking up that third and forever as a runner, where there ended up being a penalty on the play on Miami, was Josh Allen. Him picking up all those short yardage conversions throughout the game until that last one.

And I'm with you, Dan. I just thought, like, it's worked like six times or five times. Is it going to work one more? It's okay to run the ball. One of the reasons... I said 10 people in the box. It's like, you have to have something in your best. of tricks there.

Just run the ball in a normal way. Like, there are different runs. And I think that's why they won the game. First half, the dolphins are able to run the ball well on those two touchdown drives. They have 100 yards rushing at half time. Second half, the bills come out and they come out running consistently in that first drive. They end up blowing it. But they run the ball well.

And the dolphins can't do anything. And ultimately, like, the dolphins need to be a special offense. know they were without Moster and they really miss Waddle. You're absolutely right. But too many times in these games against good opponent, it is a thing, Dolphins fans. The offense starts out pretty well. In the second half, they're nowhere to be seen.

This Bill's defense has really played special, considering all the injuries down the stretch. They earn this game. If Allen didn't keep turning it over, I know he's the one that set him up, they outgained him by a couple hundred yards in this game. Yeah, Alan nearly got the Bill's beat here with three brutal turnovers, you know, some were worse than others.

There was, we were talking about Eric, that interception of the, I think, a second quarter where it was just like, what, what world is this man operating in? But that's kind of been part of his DNA since he came into the league, but sometimes where he gets on tilt and he's just so desperate to make a play. And then for the first half to end, for first half to end at the one yard line, where he throws short of the goal line with no timeouts, Sean McDermott and bad timing, but it's a contractual agreement between the league and the network. You're grabbing Sean McDermott 30 seconds after a brutal failure in the red zone.

And he calls out his quarterback. It's like, my quarterback can't throw short of this goal line in that situation. It's a great, great group tackle by Miami, though, too. Great play by Miami's defense. And then in the third quarter, Allen gets the ball ripped away once again in the red zone, which is another great play by Miami's defense, but also Wilkins, yeah, Wilkins made. a great play, but Alan's got to be better than that. You got to protect the ball. He can't let take anybody take the ball away from you in this

moment. But to get the punt return was I think, you know, it kind of is, it gets a little loss in the mix because so much happens in this game. It's really a pretty wild game. In fact, I think we're going to make it our game of the week on NFL plus because it had so many twist and turns. In the fourth quarter, we're down. We're looking at a 14-7 score in favor of the Dolphins when Deonté Hardy takes that punt 96 yards to the house and it's one of the bigger punt returns in recent Bill's history and it changed that game because all of a sudden it went from the bills feeling like in fans

and again thousands of Bill's fans in that building feeling like it's just another frustrating day for this team to okay we got things even and what happens the bills when they get the ball back after another stop they go right down the field eight play 74 yards Allen to Knox puts them ahead and then when they need to get the stop after they can't finish the game off on offense it is the bill's defense

with again, two have thrown hospital balls. There is just no execution for Miami's offense but you got to give Buffalo's defense credit for getting the big stops. It's just stuff that wasn't happening to Miami on these special days where we were watching their offense in awe because

you've been you've hovered around Tyreek Hill all season. He had a bad drop initially. He had a second pretty bad drop on late in the game that would have been a big difference maker, but a Bill's DPI saved them on that one, but it's like Tyreek Hill was not Tyreek Hill tonight. It didn't look very healthy at the end of the game. Uh, it, it's, their running game vanished entirely. And it's, you know, it's not just a two-a thing, but it's like, I don't know, they didn't have a single drive of more than four plays in the second half. And it's, it's, it's, it's Buffalo's defense, but it's like,

Miami couldn't find a way out of this. They started the fourth quarter. I'm thinking about the scenario. They started the fourth quarter with the ball. and a touchdown lead. And you go back to how that sequence played out. Penalty on Armstead. Supposed to be one of their best players. Gives them a first and 15. Tyreek drops that pass that ends up making it a second and 15.

They would have been close to a first down there. Then they have a penalty, you know, two misses a throw, but then they have the illegal blindside block, and that ends up killing that drive. You give up the punt return, and then there's just more mistakes on these throws, and you're not getting any running either.

they tried to go back to H& and it didn't work. And in big spots, you're throwing the ball, the Cedric Wilson, and then at the end of the game, you're throwing it to Claypool. And that throw, I was like, is this just a terrible throw? Is he expecting Claypool to cut it off a little sharper? Maybe that's possible, but they just haven't been in sync. And you're right, Mark, that, like, they don't look like the dolphins, those exciting moments.

But, like, when were those moments? Because, like, against the Eagles, let's say, in a big prime time, spot they don't have those moments really they have 17 points against the chiefs in germany they don't really have those moments against the cowboys they find a way to get it done in a field goal game and then you have this ravens and bills game so that's a pretty long resume in their biggest games of the offense just being okay just okay mission accomplished not quite now the dolphins they are going to the playoffs and uh and they get the chiefs in kansas city fun game nice game interesting so if the if the Miami dollars would have found a way here that we

would have had a rematch it would have been Buffalo going right back to Miami but the way it works out now after all of this the bills more or less were maybe a lot of people predicted them to be like the number two seed in the AFC just not the route that we expected I'm going to glow to bit here guys go ahead I've been following along the in season hard knocks falling along the dolphins uh oh you know I'm going to pour myself a nice glass pick my feet up on Tuesday night and enjoy the final the season finale this one Hey, listen, you deserve that. And now, Dauphin's fans waiting for me to land a kill shot.

I'm not. No, you don't need to. I mean, you can't. It's not that long ago that the bills were the 12 seed in the AFC, I believe. Right. They were at 6 and 6th. They were the 12th. I think that was the same week, the Jaguars were playing for the one seed on Monday night football.

Figer was on the panic button at several times this season, guys. And here we are, division. And rightfully so. This team has teetered multiple times, but they found a way. Nice timing for a five-game winning streak. All right. They are banged up. Both teams are.

The one thing about Miami going against Patrick Mahomes, like Andrew Van Ginkle hurt tonight. You've obviously lost Bradley Chubb, Jalen Phillips. They're down to almost nothing at Pass Rush. Do you have Agba's there making a lot of money? You're right. Ingram was out there. They were having to send the Blitz to make money.

You mentioned, though, panicking. Sometimes Josh Allen was panicking against the Blitz tonight. He eventually settled. But you know who didn't panic this week? That was me. When Nick Wesleyan came to me and he called me a coward. Wait, hold, wait. Stop that's what I want to do right now.

What? Nick really did come for your manhood a little bit when he came in off the top rope and called you a coward and called you out. So what I want to do here, I'm going to take video. Go ahead. You're going to reply to the camera that I'm pointing at you. I'm going to send this to Nick in real time. We'll get a response for him. Well, we're also on the podcast right now.

But the moment Nick called me a coward on the show, I didn't take that personally for some reason. I don't have the emotions, the feelings inside where that gets to me. But when he took the Dolphins, I knew that the lock competition would be over for the first time in history before the playoffs because I'm not a coward, but I recognize someone who's bad at picking games when I see it. And that's Nick Wesley. So if he was taking the Dolphins, that made me feel good about the bills.

Lock it up. Oh, God. Mark looks like it needs to go on a vacation. No, it's, I mean, it's, it's, it's been like... All right, I'm sending this off to the, uh, the Wessling thread right now, and I'll let the listeners know if we get a response before we sign on. Nothing is more enjoyable for Dan and I then to watch Greg gloat as he's destroyed all of us in the law competition. That's, um, for 18 weeks in a row.

Back to back years, uh, four out of five years and, uh, league sources have indicated that I'm strongly considering retirement, retiring on top. So I'll love to see. If you want to retire from the show, we'll just bring Nick in. Just say league sources have been reporting that that Team Rosenthal just feels like it has nothing left

to accomplish at this point. Go out on top. Four and five years, yeah. You're very likable person. That's what I've always said about you, Greg. All right. Let's keep moving here and I'll let you know if Nick gets back to us.

Let's head and check in on these other games of note in the AFC and we're going to go through all the AFC games and then we're going to hit the NFC but let's go to a Saturday affair in Indianapolis where the Texans and Colts are battling with the division the playoffs everything on the line as big a play as you'll have all season fourth and one at the Houston 15 minchu in the gun minchu to throw minchu swings it out to the back left side it's incomplete and the Texans take over on downs with 103 to go in the fourth quarter. What a stop.

Colts can't complete it. Texans have it. Well, I mean, first of all, Bill's with Bongo's. I stand by. I'm with you, Eric. This is an upstart. It's an upstart Bongo's team.

And the Texans, with the stop, with a big stop, that was a drop and a tough one. Mark Van Dammeer, K-I-N-MIR. LT with a call. CJ Stroud throws for 264 yards and two scores. Devin Singletary scored the go-ahead TD with less than seven minutes of play. And yes, the Texans get that stop when poor Goodson, the reserve running back, can't bring in a slightly errant partner Mienchu pass, and it is the difference.

So that win for the Texans combined with a Jaguars loss in Nashville, which we're going to get to, allows the Texans to win the AFC South, and they will host Browns. Super Wildcard Week, and as we said, that is a tricky matchup for the Browns. But, man, what a game, Mark Sessler. And C.J. Stroud,

I love that the game starts. Drops back. First throw is in the first primetime game in our league, and he hits it for 75, and they're off and running from there. I mean, we've seen, like, that almost hit like a Peter Principle type thing where it's like you're having a nice season,

you're a rookie. It's a great story, but you get to a moment like this and we learn that it's the step you need to take in the off season to get to that next place. Like, CJ Stroud just rolls onto the scene, executes on the first play, looks completely calm and comfortable, and then I'll go to the final drive

where, I mean, in one of the biggest moments of his career, very short career, in the game tied 717, he goes 7 for 7 for 82 yards to orchestrate the... I mean, he's just absolutely perfect in the greatest moment. And I think, like, I've said all along, I really think like the Texans are this weird team that are extremely well-coached.

I know they're a little banged up, but with C.J. Stroud and what Nico Collins is the way he's playing, it's like, I could literally see them winning multiple playoff games. It just wouldn't be that surprising in the AFC, a strange AFC. I think Stroud has made this team completely, unpredictable. They're totally enjoyable to watch. D'Amico Ryan's is someone that has changed the Texans organization from top to bottom. And what happens next is anyone's guess. This game was

why Stroud is just an outrageous talent, the best quarterback to enter the league since Burrow and Herbert. And man, I think his rookie year was more impressive than either of there, certainly than Burr, but then Herbert too. And this game was perfect because the first half is going to get forgotten. But he combines the spectacular with the steady, like an elite, elite quarterback. The first half, he didn't have one negative play. Everything was perfect in the first half of this game. They did not have like a big lead, but every decision he made, every throw he made was perfect. And I was just thinking, wow, this guy is locked in.

There's almost nothing more he can do, even though he's missing No Brown, missing Robert Woods. And then the second half of the game, that's where he needed to be spectacular. On that drive, you mentioned there's a second and 20 where he's running for his life, throwing off his back foot under total pressure and hits Dalton Schultz for 17 yards. That was a ridiculous play. And then later in the drive, the play,

I think a lot of people remember it was 23 yards to Nico Collins just feathers it in there as he's getting absolutely hammered under pressure. And Collins makes a fantastic catch too. Collins goes for 195 in this game. And that's CJ Stroud. Like he can do it all. He's one of the best quarterbacks in league right now.

Yeah. And listen, you said D'Amico Rines changed the organization and all due respect to D'Amico Rines, but it's not. It's C.J. Stroud. Well, it's the power. It can be a combination. The quarterback is so important in the sport. And I just, if you put Bryce Young on this team,

I just don't see it. But I think you put a guy like Stroud on this team in the way he's playing. He has totally changed everything for this organization. And, you know, we're just saying like Tua and, you know, having Jalen Waddle out of that game. and that was a bad break. Well, Tank Dell was Stroud's guy this season. And you took him out and then you get him.

Stroud gets injured with the concussion and he's gone for a couple of weeks. Take Noah Brown out. Take Robert Woods out. And they still find a way because he has, he's that special dude. And I think we, we kind of saw. I agree with you, Mark, with you take out the Ravens, okay? Because the Ravens are cut above in the AFC right now. And then, and with all due respect to the Steelers, I'm going to take them out.

Any of the other teams in the mix here are the five teams and the AFC. None of them would surprise me like beating up and going on a multiple game run in the playoffs. And I think the Texans are absolutely capable of that. And Stroud is a big reason why. It's the reason why. Yeah, it's going to matter what

version of Will Anderson you get starting. High ankle strength. Right. Like that's that. So when I say to Miko Ryan's like I think their defense has completely changed and a lot of young players have developed and grown for our eyes. So it's like there is a coaching element. Like Bobby Sloick really matters on offense and what

done with various offensive line injuries. And you see someone like Nico Collins, nine targets, nine catches, 195 yards, and a touchdown. And it's like, yes, it was the 75-yarder, but it's sort of the overall thing where it's like, C.J. Stroud, like any good quarterback, is going to turn players around them

into productive stars in the making. Nico Collins is going to get $25 million a year this offseason if the Texans are smart. He's not a free agent yet. But he, I haven't seen many players quite like it. And he's built like he looks like A.J. Green when you just look at him. But he runs, he plays like a tight end. He runs over people.

He makes a lot of, he has great hands, difficult catches. So they have a one. They have a two in Dell. It was exciting. And yet, despite all that, they're really banged up. They need to get Jonathan Grenard back. They need to get those receivers back. And late in this game, the Colts are driving.

And I'm thinking, oh, man, the Colts are definitely got to be in that early west of his spot. when they're only what 15 yards away when they call that fourth and one fourth and one Houston 15 yard line 106 to go they call a pass play on a day when jonathan taylor is running wild but they say minchew get the ball to reserve running back tyler goodson who i believe had six catches all year and uh the ball the ball is not perfectly placed but gudson can't hang on to it do we have i don't want to you have the colts call let's hear what the Colts call was Colts down by six

Mitch he's going to throw caught no it's dropped the ball he dropped the ball he had a first down but he dropped the ball in the far flat he could not bring in the catch it was well schemed they had it they knew they were

going to have man to man coverage he ran the swing pass out there the linebacker couldn't get there he was trying to run around the pick oh my god heartbreaking he feels so bad for the guy and you never want to be in and woke up this morning I feel like I always see this every year cross sports the ESPN headline stack and it's like player X drop won't define me or miss foul shot won't define me and define me and here is

a goodson after the game who's you know stand-up dude and on the roughest day of his career I worked too hard to you know just drop the ball like that and I got to accept that over the and that's okay. It's a tough grow. It's still touch my hands. It's all good. It's all good. Touch my hands. But next year, I won't be in that position ever again, ever again. That feels so bad for him.

Hopefully he does have a moment down the line and this. He could look back on this because that's a tough way for a season to end and for good. So that's terrible. I mean, I think it creates one of these conversations that you get in big games like this where it comes down to like a short yardage final. option here. And you've had Jonathan Taylor run for 6.3 yards on the day, 188

ground yards and a touchdown. And it's like, wait a minute, we didn't give it to jump. We don't just give it to your best player or make sure it goes to the, to the person who's been dominating all day long. And Minchu had a bad day. He wasn't throwing the ball while he threw for 141 yards. And

if he, who knows? It's not a good throw either. They both of us. It could have dropped it right in his hands, but it wasn't a great pass from Minchu either. So you kind of, you chose with to use your backup quarterback and a backup running back over your star running back who had been having a big day

those are all second thoughts of course you could also say well the play was schemed up and it was perfect right they're they're professionals you got to hit that play as a coach I think it was a fascinating

sequence because they did give it to Jonathan Taylor I mean they gave it to him on that drive the six seven previous plays yeah they gave it to him on third and two he got one yard

I actually thought watching Taylor there who would come in and he had been ruled doubtful with the heel injury. Even though he was gaining yards, I was like, oh, they should bring in Zach Moss. It would take a lot of hoodspot, but I thought he was running not as explosive, kind of careful on his feet on that six-yard gain

right before the last play. Like he had a ton of room, and I thought earlier in the game, Taylor hits that and would have picked up a first down. And it was fascinating because I think Stuyken might be up there with the best coaches in the league. in terms of game management, in terms of play calling. And he played that final sequence.

Very interesting. He decided, like, we're going to try to end the game here. We're not going to, even though we have three timeouts, we're not going to play it both ways, which is how most coaches would do it, which is maybe score a little faster. But if it doesn't work, we get the ball back. And he decided to kind of burn his timeout too before that play

because he wanted to see what the Texans played their defense and knew what play he was going to get called the perfect play, so I can't kill him. But then after using the timeout, you basically have lost the game because you put it all on that one. It's all that play. And they maybe wouldn't have won the game either. Like he would have been at like the seven yard line and they had four plays to try to score a touchdown. Oh, brutal.

But to the Texans credit, they get off the mat, even with all the injuries and they find a way to close out, win the division when they get some help the next day. And here is a locker room. That is a happy one with D'Amico Ryan's at the front. Love you guys, man. I'm proud of the determination, man. You talk about determination, pure grit. Everybody fight to their last play. That's what it's about, man.

And we punched our ticket. Very nice. Yeah, I don't mean to demean Domeco Ryan's. It's more about, like, the transformational nature of a truly gifted young quarterback. It wouldn't look to say without Stroud. I mean, obviously. But he was like Herbickeye.

That's football. It's like Walsh, Montana, Belichick, Brayette. Yeah. You got to give, you know,

everyone gets... And it's not because the team is functioning in so many better ways all over the place. And like, I just,

it's easy to forget where the Texans were like a year or two ago. I mean, it was like darkness. Or even seven weeks ago, I'll own up to it. He probably should have,

probably should have picked them as a team of ATL, you know? Well, they were discussed. It happens. They were the two teams that came down to. We caught,

pushing for Texans to his credit. We caught Dobbs fever. I mean, because I was part of the Dobbs. No regrets. Just saying that's fun. They're a fun team. What? What?

What? Can't with Greg sometimes. Why? Enough. What do you mean? How much do you want, Greg? What do you want? You want a slice?

What do you want me to say? What do you mean? What do you want me to say? This isn't about me. I'm giving Mark some credit here. What do you want me to say? We gave him a lot of trouble and I was going for the Vikings. And he wanted the Texans.

He was right. I was wrong. I wanted Josh Dobbs to thrive. We wanted Josh Dobbs to thrive. I think Dobbs was, and I signed off. Why do we endlessly litigated that way? It didn't work out. It was just the way it was.

But the Texans would have been nice. All of a sudden, we're acting like the Texans are a flawless organization. No, no. The Texans did a very team of a high end team of ATL type thing. I'm trying to give myself us the business, the same way we gave him the business for the business. Vikings back of the day. It's it's it's all fun. Very fun. You're right, Greg. As always, you're right. Let's move on to the next big game. Steelers and Ravens. Oh, boy. Steelers have a chance

to punch their ticket, too. Third and four, Steelers from there, 29. Shotgun snap. And it is Mason Rudolph. Down the middle one on his way. Oh, Zayotte Johnson, 30, 25, 15, 10. He's gone for that Steelers touchdown. 71 yards. Rudolph to Johnson. Sweeter than Nellie's blueberry pie. Yes, I tell you again. It's every week, Nelly.

Little Hill Grove at the call. Mason Rudolph threw a 71-yard touchdown. Passed the Deonti Johnson on the first play of the fourth quarter. Steelers grinded out 1710 over the top-seated Ravens, who, of course, rested multiple key players. including MVP favorite Lamar Jackson. That Steelers win combined with the Jack's loss on Sunday clinch. Yet another playoff appearance for Mike Tomlin,

who's team won three straight to close the regular season. My fearless prediction there was that they would not win again, but they went the other way. So credit to Pittsburgh and never doubt, Greg, Mike Tomlin. It's a massive FU from Tomlin to everyone who doubted his team and his place in the organization after all these years of consistent success. They're just a ridiculous team.

They are, I think, only the fifth team in NFL history to have a negative 20 point differential and win 10 games. Now they got an extra game to do it, but it's still like, like, statistically they're one of the worst 10 game wins teams ever. So when we're looking at these playoffs, like they do look like the team that stands out,

although in this season you're right, nothing would surprise me. weather was a massive factor in this game. I've seen some analysis being like, oh, the offenses, this and that's like the weather was as bad a, of a weather game as there has been all season. And to Najee Harris's credit and their

offense's credit, like it was a Najee Harris game. It was not a Jalen Warren game. I don't think they would have won this game without Najee Harris. He was like the definition of a mutter. And he was awesome and he kind of took him. Yep, a couple weeks in a row. He's been everything that you would have hoped he was when he was taken

in the first round. And, you know, if you found out before the game that Mason Rudolph was going to throw for 152 yards fumbled the ball three times you'd think this is this is a problem except that the Ravens don't have a lot of Mar Jackson there, nozay flowers, they're missing a bunch of guys

but I mean the biggest thing hanging over this Steelers team right now is that at the end of an excellent two-sac game, T.J. Watt suffers a grade 2 MCL sprain and according to J.J. Watt it could be a couple weeks of rest to recovery.

so it's like you take JJ Watt off this defense and it's like JJ Watt's one of these defensive guys T.J. Watt. T.J. Watt. Like wins games for you and it's like they're just not the same operation with Adam. So that like that is watching him walk to the locker room was like ah, this is awful for Steelers fans.

There was eight fumbles in this game. I mean it looked, this was an awful walk. The Steelers picked up six of them. So like sometimes the game comes down to that. They did dominate yardage for the most part. Like Tyler Huntley could not get it going. There was more starters in this Ravens game. Then I think people realize, like, the offensive lines and the defensive lines for the Ravens basically were in the whole game.

There were starters throughout the defense for Baltimore. But Rudolph's been good. Like, even on that touchdown, he had a shorter route. He could have thrown it to, and he always pushes it a little further. He goes further to Johnson, gets rewarded with a big touchdown. He only had two incompletions, 18 for 20 for 152. Like, they've been pretty solid with Steelers. And there's this report that, you know, Pickett is still their franchise quarterback from our guys.

in Rapport? I'm like, they're literally going into a playoff game and he's not starting. That's, he's not your franchise quarter. Exactly. Well, it's like, just don't stir anything up right now. Just say yes, fine. Everything's fine. But like, come on. Well, yeah, they're in an interesting spot. Yeah, looking forward. But it is really

it's, it's, it's pretty crazy that they did go on this run with Mason Rudolph on top of everything else. So it's they're not the team. They're not the sexy team here, obviously, in the AFC. And I just said earlier that, you know, I kind of take them out of the mix of the teams that I think can win multiple games, but geez, I'm not going

to doubt Tomlin. I'm not going to doubt the Steelers, you know, maybe they'll muck another one up and find a way next week because they, you know, they're starting to believe in it. But the T.J. Watt injury is, is massive. I think that is what takes the most wind out of the sales here. 100%. Yeah, it's, it's unfortunate, but it is an incredible division in this division, which ended up having so many winning team. Everyone's a winning team. and the Steelers won five and one in it. I know there was some weirdness to it, them playing backups, including Huntley and Browning and the Brown,

but they still went five and one in the best division. Very good. And the Ravens, do they get out healthy here? Trying to think. I think they pretty much did get out healthy. I mean, I guess one of the benefits of sitting your key stars on offense is they can't get hurt. So they will, of course, have the buy,

and then they will face the lowest-seeded remaining team in the divisional playoffs. All right. Let's keep on moving. Oh, let's head to Tennessee where the Titans team that's had a rough year had a chance to do something.

Rune, a rival's year. That's always a good thing. Let's see if they did it. Fourth down in two. I think they did. Lawrence in the shotgun. I don't want to spoil it. Looking, firing.

In complete! Yes! Yes! Hell! Yes! Pass was intended for Evan Angram. Edmonds had good coverage, and the Titans take over on downs at the 32, only needing to kneel to win this game. Mike Keith, I'm really happy.

I get that. That's good. I wonder if Mike Keith's one of those guys where it's always his full name. you only gets addressed by full name. Mike Heath with a call with Dave McGuinness. The Jaguars, they just couldn't get it done with the season hanging in the bounce. Trevor Lawrence sailed that pass incomplete

and the last place Titans escape with a 2820 win in Nashville and the Jags started that season, this season, 8 and 3, but end the year with five losses in six weeks and they missed the playoffs and give the AFC South to the Texans. Mr. Sessler, Mark Sessler,

what a frustrating afternoon. season for Lawrence and the whole Jags organization. The implosion is complete. I mean, we've been sensing it and feeling it and yet they still had a chance at the very end of this game to tie it up against the Titans team that was playing

with a terror set on fire. And you have that poor past Evan Ingram just off target. It kind of looked to remind of me of the frustrating moments from Trevor Lawrence in the past, but this game had plenty of those because earlier on that same drive Calvin Ridley is wide open. And

Trevor Lawrence just basically overthrows him. It's just, he's off. It's like he could have, that would have been a touchdown. He could have sealed it right there. There was a ricocheted interception early in the game, which wasn't totally on Trevor Lawrence at all. But he threw a bad interception of Sean Murphy Bunting on what was a clear communication. There was a downs, they went out on downs early on where he throws short of the sticks on

fourth and six. And there was a goal line stand where Trevor Lawrence is stopped at fourth and goal, you know, inside the one on a QB sneak and he stuffed and the one thing about that play is that Trevor Lawrence switched into that play. And he took it.

He took a total accountability for it, but he said if I'm going to do that, I've got to nail it. And it was just like, this team had no margin for error without Christian Kirk. I really feel like they never were the same without Christian Kirk. And I never would think I'd say that about that player. But it's like it's something happened to this passing game.

Trevor Lawrence obviously has not been healthy over the past month. He didn't look particularly hurt to me at all in this game, but something, it's almost like something's going on because we got the version of Trevor Lawrence from early last season. And we know that he quietly has just been a massive turnover robot behind a lot of the, because I think now it's just a great quarterback. We just expect him to be a star and maybe even like a top five guy. He's not played that way of late. And today was the epic and total meltdown. And it doesn't happen if their defense does not allow Derek Henry for Rumble to 153 yards off 19 carries. He had a 69-yard run at one point. They just broke this Jaguar's defense. So it was a complete and total team implosion that we've seen coming for a while. The Titans were up for this.

Derek Henry, his last game likely as a Titan. He spoke on the Jumbo-Chon after the game, like thanking everyone. Let's listen to it. I thought this was interesting and fun for one of the great players in franchise history. Thank you for the greatest eight years in my life, the ups and the downs. Y'all been there for everything, doing that person and watching as a person and the player always supporting me.

I love y'all. I love seeing the 22 in the stadium. Hopefully I was an inspiration to all the young kids and everybody in the community. Just thank y'all so much. Man, God is good. And tighten up there. What a class act. And the only reason I know he's gone beyond that speech

was after the game during the press conference, he thanked his avocado guy in Chishville. So that's when you know it's over. You're leaving the neighborhood. Yeah, there was a great shot of him in Tanna Hill kind of having a quiet moment before going out for the game. And Henry was kind of emotional talking about. What a career in Tennessee if that's it.

Right, saying that's my dude. And it was fitting for him to run all over the Jaguars, 19 for 153 because he's been doing that. his whole career, 1,664 yards against the Jaguars in 15 games, which seems outrageous. He averaged over 100 rushing yards in 15 games, but then someone put the stat out. Derek Henry's actually averaged over 108 yards from scrimmage against all AFC South teams. Like, he has, like, dominated that division in a pretty special way for eight years, and the

Jaguars just weren't ready for it. Like, this division should have been there for the taking. there was a lot of reasons why but ultimately Lawrence wasn't good enough in the end that last drive was was tough to watch like miss misthrow after mistrow

and maybe he doesn't trust in his teammates to get a yard in that situation so he calls his own number and I don't blame him they couldn't get a yard all season in those spots so like it's more than just Trevor Lawrence yeah but I'm also gonna I'm not gonna bury Tua for the way he played in this game

and then let Lawrence off the hook because he did, he did make some, you know, boneheaded mistakes and turned the ball over throughout the season. I just wonder how healthy he was. Like, even going into the weekend, you were seeing reports on Saturday about his shoulder and how serious it might be. And he's a competitor who likes to stay in the lineup.

So he forced himself in. I just, I wonder if you're going to learn more about his health in the days after the season. Yeah, had three separate injuries. And it wasn't like, you know, he's hobbling around. round out there. It wasn't Joe Burrow with his calf situation, but it's like, you're right.

Underneath what we can't see, it's like, is it affecting even mentally what you're thinking you can do? Because, I mean, I think we saw that like Justin Herbert a year ago when he was banged up. It's like, it changes your mentality if you don't feel 100%. I mean, they were in that division game last year, divisional round game

against the Chiefs. They really could have won that game because of the injury to Mahomes, but they had drops, they had untimely turnovers. They had some sloppy defense play and then that kept happening all year and basically this season for them was flipped from last year they they had that strong finish last year this year uh they end up collapsing and i do wonder if it's possibly the last mike ravel game too we don't know there's been a lot of insider reporting that feels like a fertile situation for some drama absolutely

so the jaguars go home and do we see what happens next uh with them and let's keep moving now We'll head across the sidewalk where the Chiefs and Chargers did battle. You're down and goal to go. Stick wants to throw it. He's going to pump fake it. Scrabble, he's hit and goes down and fumbles it. Pick it up by Mike Edwards. Edwards at the 30.

Room to run. A minute who knocks it out in Edwards trying to get a defensive score. 30, 20, 10, 5. Touchdown. Kansas City. Mike Edwards, the king of the pick six, gets a scoop and scorn. score. Yes. Mitch Holtus with the call. Big time scoop and score there for the chiefs. And then they get a field goal from Harrison Bucker with 49 seconds to play. It's the difference in a 1312.

Of course, this is how the charger season ends. 13, 12 chiefs over chargers. And the chiefs finish 11 and 6 and locked into the AFC's number. three seed for the playoffs entering the game so mohomes inactive Travis kelsey a healthy scratch kelsey by the way finished with 984 yards so that ends his bid for an eighth straight 1,000 yard season me i want to play a series give me that a thousand that get me out but that's his call or the team's call or whatever um we're also big time year uh big time year i feel like where um bonus celebrations really went mainstream this year this oh yeah Chris Jones, and we saw it with Davian Clowney and several other places this week. But Chris Jones has a sack that triggered a $1.25 million bonus,

and he was on top of the world. So those are the things I will remember from this game. Otherwise, not really an overly consequential affair on the history of the league. There aren't too many, as you would say, ultra-mourabund teams this season. There's been, you know, you can trust them to kind of show. the Chargers season needed to end and it needed to end weeks ago and it mercifully has come to a conclusion

and I feel like everyone from Austin Echler running for 11 yards off 10 carries like everything is just bottomed out with this team right now and it's time for a long winter's nap A lot of Jim Harba chatter. Jim's been trying to get back into the league

for years through you know dropping these sources and he interviewed with the Viking didn't get that job. They gave it to O'Connell. And he's coaching in the national championship on Monday. Coaching in the last of the championship on Monday. Been suspended a couple times.

It really sounds like that'll be his last game with Michigan and that the Chargers, everyone's saying is interested in him. And I think if they're interested in them and they want to hire them, I think they probably can. So that'll be the next time we talk about the Chargers, most likely. I got to think the Chiefs are annoyed, though, at the way the Sunday night game ended because the Dolphins coming into town. feels much more difficult than the Steelers coming into town.

Like, I'm annoyed at the Jaguars, first of all, for losing that game because it made the Sunday night game feel less important. It wasn't a winner to go home for the bills. It put the Steelers in early, so the Steelers weren't waiting to find out anything either. But the Chiefs, that's a tougher matchup for them, Miami. I got to think they're a little more concerned with the Dolphins team coming in there than the Steelers.

I was hoping Jeff Smith was going to get a win before his in-term run. Maybe just make him head coach. You could, but they close the season with five straight losses. Oh, well. Including three straight after Staling, Telasco got let go on December 15th. So the Chiefs, we will see they are to me the kind of X factor in the AFC.

If they're true to their form of this year, they'll have another disappointing offensive performance. And they could be one and done. And that would be fitting. And that would make sense. I don't know. Never know. It's kind of crazy that...

Like, do you think it's also possible they go on a run? Absolutely based on... Sure, it's possible. Amense history. Like, yeah. Amense history, yes. I mean, that's all it's about. It's not about anything we saw really on the field this year.

It would be surprising if they suddenly became electric on offense. Well, and Patrick Mahomes is their quarterback. It's fine. But we've been saying that all year. I know. That's why they are a tough one to figure out. All right, let's take a break. And then we will keep rolling.

Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now, I'm Drew Franklin, and this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining.

And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. Is the kind of conversation that connects the dots from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow.

We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast.

Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your. your opponents. Listen to the NFL fantasy football podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. All right, let's keep moving here. Let's head to

Cincinnati where the Bengals are looking and their season with a winning record. The Browns nothing to play for. First down and goal from the seven. Joe Mixon has one rushing touchdown. So far here in the first quarter he's in the backfield to the left of jake browning browning back at the 12 ready for the snap catches looks left goes to mixon catches at the sims and he's into the end zone touchdown bangles joe mixon with a touchdown run and a touchdown catch and the bengals are up by two dds bun fact mark dave lapham gets paid $327,000 a year just to go boom boom well i don't know who else you could put in that spot no one yeah dan horrid with a call with dave lapin with the booms wcke y jake browning through three touchdown passes joe mixon

rushed for a season high buck 11 and a score also cut that touchdown the bengals coast to a 31 14 win over the browns uh the bengals uh led this game 24 nothing at half time on a day when cleveland locked into the fifth seat of the aFC rested their key players on each side of the ball mark since he misses out on the postseason but they do finish 9 and 8 over 500 a nice achievement given the slow start. It was a horrendously slow start and then of course the burrow injury

that ended his season. It's also because they have a winning record the first time that this division has all finished with a winning record since the version of this division that goes back to like 1930 something from something called the NFL West.

I'd be curious how many divisions since the realignment, I think it's very, very how many times it's happened. It's got to be a handful. So that's a nice finish for the Bengals on that note. I mean, this game had me wondering.

You know, in the old days, they would take like the NFV NFL title team and have them go play sometime later in the winter, like a collection of like college all stars. And that's what I thought this game kind of was a test sample for a little bit. It was like every one of importance for the Browns

was not on the field. And like the most dismayed, annoyed person to me seemed like Jim Schwartz, who had had this, like, pristine defense, and is watching like these, because, you know, they have, like, some of the stuff they've done goes back decades for this Browns team in terms of what they've achieved. After the first quarter, it was 159

yards to zero. At halftime, it was 241 to 71 to 71. Jeff Driscoll throws an interception on the first pass of the game. Joe Mixon, I'm glad you mentioned him, because he's one of them, all these players today, and they really dug in on

on this on these broadcasts, but because he crossed a thousand yards, he triggered like a $350,000 bonus. And there's a bunch of players that are going crazy. And it's fine. Everyone's very open about with the celebrations now

when they hit the trigger the escalator. I guess it matters. I mean, I don't, like, honestly, it's like... You guess it matters. Well, no. I mean, for some of their salaries, it's a portion,

but like, you know, bonuses are nice. We all feel the way. Jackpot, baby! I don't know what else to take from this game. It's like... You don't have to take much of them. work and Cleveland was... Don't have to dig for anything.

It was, my one thought was like, you can't have, even though it's week 18, you can't have too many, you can't have too many regular season games like this. It just was a weird setup. Like, if you paid a lot of money to go to the stadium, it was just a strange. At least it was in Cincinnati.

You're going to have probably over under three a year. And it's unfortunate. You're right. Like, you have to, like, the ticket payers, either that's like the biggest game of the year or it's a guy who is on the Cardinals practice squad literally two weeks ago, Draft. That's where it goes.

Yeah. They signed them and started this game. But yeah, it's the last time we'll see the Bengals like this. That's my only thought that, you know, Mixing actually might be back. But Tyler Boyd, who had a big drop in this game, had a really tough year, Higgins. Like, this team is not going to be the same next year. And it's weird because Zach Taylor did a good job coaching, I think. And he showed that this year.

It's also weird, though, that Jake Browning, like, and quarterback wins is not a stat. But they had a winning record with Jake Browning. They didn't with Joe Burrow. They were 500 with Joe Burrow. They were won over with Jake Browning. So it was just that sort of weird season. And yes, the injury was a big part of that early. Even the first Burrow injury.

That's what I mean. It was a shell of himself. That's what I mean. The first injury was a part of him. Maybe Jake Browning was playing early in the season. There you go. Let Burrow get healthy. They're in the dance.

But they didn't and they're not. Let's move to Foxborough where it was a potentially historic end of an era for the home team. Eye formation. Recall the eye back. Takes another handoff, runs left, finds some room, gets free. Down the sideline goes Brees Hall, inside the 30, inside the 20, breaks a tackle, 10, 5, touchdown. That's an icing on the cake jet touchdown for Brees Hall,

Snow Angels, and the offensive end zone for the Jets. Bye, bye, Robert. I got to say, seeing Robert Kraft kind of slinking out of the box on the CBS telecast, yeah, it cost us. Graff pick, standings, but it's nice to just win up there. I don't want to be part of Bill Belichick's victory parade out of town, okay? No, the opposite occurred. Breeze Hall rushed for 174 yards and the clinching score on 37 carries.

This Jets coaching staff drives me crazy, I think because they were trying to get him a thousand yards, which he just missed. But 37 carries in week 18 is wild. And the Jets snap a 15-game losing streak against the Patriots. with a 17-3 win it might be probably is Bill Belichick's final game with a team

for which he's lifted six Lombardi trophies and nine trips to the Super Bowl the greatest run by a head coach ever and if this is the end for Belichick and Jay Glazer of Fox reported Sunday morning that that is almost certainly the case here

it's just a matter of how it's going to end it was a meek exit for the team that's just been a wretched team all year. They manage just 119 yards of total offense, which is the lowest in Belichick's 20 plus years on the sideline. It was bad weather there, but this is, you know, it's not just about the weather.

This has been a bad offense all year. The Patriots went 4 and 13, which is the worst record in Belichick's 29-year NFL coaching history. And after the game, Bill was predictably tight-lipped on his future. You know, it's a disappointing year for all of us. players, coaches, staff, entire organization. Not anything that any of us are in any way content with. But it is what it is.

As far as the future goes, I'll sit down with Robert as I do every year at some point at the end of the season. And we'll talk about things, as we always do. I'm sure that will happen. Well, that's really about all I have to say about that right now because there's anything else to talk about. There's plenty to talk about. He was also sick, by the way.

That's why his voice sounded that way. I mean, it doesn't sound like something that's going to happen like tomorrow morning. Like, it also, the other reports out there is if, like, if they move on from, like, their long targeted replacement would be Jared Mayo. So it's like, you don't have to rush, you're going to rush out and hire someone else necessarily.

It sounded defeated me. It was a weird site because it was obviously like, you know, Belich. not wearing his normal hoodie he was like in a parka with his entire body and face covered in a blinding snowstorm while the offense which is not a 2023 offense

is going one for 14 on third down you've got no answers to quarterback even if he were to stick around there's a lot to work on yeah I just I never thought he was sticking around at any point in the last two and a half months there's no reason to think that when Robert Kraft looked out into the stands

if you're watching us on YouTube we have a tweet of just what the crowd looked like in this game and yes, there's a snowstorm, but there's been a lot of snowstorms with full crowds. If they were playing meaningful football, there would be a full crowd. There were audible Jets chance at this game.

It was wild. It was empty at Gillette Stadium as Bill Belch. And it's fine. It's unfortunate. It had to end this badly, but it usually ends badly. I'm as a Patriots fan, just hopeful they kind of stick the landing

of how this goes, that it's not rank, you know, there's not a lot of ranker drama and bad blood and we'll see he called a 7 30 a.m. press conference tomorrow, Bill Belichick, to say like the end of the year thing with the media on Zoom. So, you know, Merry Christmas. Happy New Year, Mike Giardy. You're getting up early. I assume he's showing up for that because 7.30 a.m. you would, you would think nothing's happened by 7.30 a.m. It's hard to, it's hard to imagine it. But like, you know, the

Patriots first without Brady but now without Belichick if that's where this is going to go down and I you know I was on a couple different fatalistic jets text threads and everybody's like oh they they beat the Pats and now they're going to get a big time quarterback well maybe they have a third overall pick and maybe the Pats do but they don't have Tom Brady anymore

and they don't have Bill Belichick anymore and it's a whole new error for the Patriots it's not anything like it used to be and they have to kind of start over most likely and that's that's a crazy thing that is a crazy thing to think about because this franchise has been synonymous with stability and greatness for so long and now they're kind of like everybody else just trying to figure out a quarterback a coach a decision maker when it comes to building a roster it's a new day in new england right i i look at the back on this podcast and the history of our podcast at least if looked at and

through one very specific prism was the history of like saying that the patriots era was over and then it wasn't like at various points believing oh is this the end of the patriots era for it started in 2014. Is this the end of the Patriots era? Then we got to 2018. Wow, they got another Super Bowl. Is this the end? The next year when they lost to the Titans

in that final game and the dolphins in the final regular season. Okay, this is the end. And then it's like Cam Newton and Mac Jones. Now you look back and you think, wow, they had a winning record with Cam Newton and they made the playoffs with that. That was actually a good coaching job.

And it's like, that's the end. And so it's just been like a successive like decline of decreasing returns on these end. and I think it will be good. And that's why I'm not totally in love with the Gerard Mayo idea and not sure I even totally buy it either because it feels like maybe just start totally anew.

Start totally anew. I don't know. I thought I thought I... You don't know what? What happened? Corner the market with this one. You know, I thought I'll lock up New England. It was going to be a rousing final curtain call

for Bill Belichick. And, you know, part of attached to that was like actually trying to, wish well for the Jets who would have a better draft pick. And, you know, as you told me when you came into the office today, don't put any of your fortunes ever attaching them to the New York Jets. Just a terribly false. They're just not going to give you what you want.

They're not going to. That is one, I don't know much, but in my time on this earth, that team's not going to give you what you want. Even if it's a day where they won, they didn't give you what you want. They fell what, yeah, from the sixth spot where the Giants will pick now to the 10 spot. which is not insignificant, but I got to say, like, that was the first time they beat him since I remember being in the old newsroom in Culver City when they had that overtime walk off with Eric Decker from Ryan Fitzpatrick. It's just nice. It's nice to win.

Maybe this is a part of getting older. I'm getting more closer to the Keith Hans side of things. I don't want them to lose all the time. I just, even if it heard him, like, it was nice winning that game and not letting it be this Belichick and craft party because I saw way too many of those over the last 20 years. All right, let's keep moving. Let's go to Las Vegas, where Antonio Pierce was trying to end his successful internship with a win. In O'Connell starts the fourth, first and ten on the 33. Pumpfakes to the left, takes his shot.

Deep down the left sideline, open that, the five is Myers, catches, walks in, touchdown Raiders. The pump fake froze the defense, and Myers down the sideline. He has run one in. He has caught one. And the Raiders in full control here on the first play in the fourth quarter. Former Patriot Jacobi Myers had a nice debut season with the Raiders. He had two touchdowns. And yes, Antonio Pierce does get yet another win to close out the season.

27 to 14, the Raiders beat the Broncos on a day in which Aiden O'Connell threw for 244 yards. And two scores, Zamere White went over 100. hundred yards, and that is eight straight wins for the Raiders over the Broncos, including all four wins since they moved to Vegas. So these are two teams, eight and nine in a division that is still the Chiefs division, but the Chiefs came back to the pack a little bit this year. Interesting offseason ahead for both teams, neither going to the playoffs. Neither intrigue me on any level in terms of, like, what happened today.

I've kind of been pitching and I think that Antonio Pierce deserves a long look. I think he'll get one. Depends who else is out there for Mark Davis to consider. I mean, they flat out just played better under him.

I mean, even to like lose Josh Jacobs and have someone like Zemir White come in and run the way he did. Their defense, we talked about leading in points per game allowed since he's taken over. These things are tangible evidence that the team is playing hard for him.

You know, to me, it's like, I don't know what else you could have asked an interim to come in and do. That still may not be enough. Right. He's 5 and 4 as the interim head coach. Neither of these teams deserve to have a winning record. So I like that he put...

I'm trying to figure out what that means. What does that mean again? They're just celebrating, right? There's the pierce pop. Oh, the pierce pop. I've been sitting on that for weeks. There was Zastria bump, but I'm like, Dan, I have a cork bottle popping.

And I'm like, Pierce pop. That's on me. I should have known because you did tell me that. And I love it. The purest pop, absolutely. There's been a Pierce pop this year. I do like that Sean Payton said all week. It was very important for them to finish with the winning record.

This game mattered a lot to him. And then he ate it. I think it's fair for Broncos fans to, you know, I wanted them to curb their optimism a little bit because I'm not sure where this organization is going, either one of these teams. But here's what I know Broncos fans. If you lose eight straight games to the Raiders in the 2020s,

you're a disgrace. Oh. Yeah. They lost eight straight to the Raiders. That's so rare. They know that. They do better against the Chiefs. What?

What? What? Bizarre. And the crowd was chanting AP with 101 to play according to the AP. Oh, that's pretty cool. And on the way into the stadium, there were all these fans there that were like had signs up for Antonio Pierce and all this stuff as he's driving in. They know the way he drives in. And he parks his car, gets out of the car.

and goes around and hugs like 50 of them. That's the sign of a man who's like... This guy, Mother Teresa? I don't know. It's just like, I don't know if I'm going to get to do this ever again in my life. I'm going to enjoy it and thank these people. Very nice. For giving me some Pierce pop.

Peers pop. All right. That is the AFC. We're going to take a break. And then we'll hit the NFC side of things. And see, it's a tournament. And there's an American football conference and a national football conference.

And they have their own tournament. And the winners of the respective tournament. they play in the big one. I hope that there's someone out there that did not know that, that you actually just taught them that that would be... Well, I've taught my sons that

and that kind of when you first become cognizant to the way the conference structure works, it's a pretty big thing. Yeah, it's confusing. They're still trying to figure this out. It's so, like, both tournaments are very exciting.

And then to have the winner of each tournament face off in a bowl game. In its own tournament, a tournament of one game. a Super Bowl of champions. It's a Super Bowl. Pretty out there.

Mark, do you want us to continue to talk about this? Yes, absolutely. How about it? Let's take a break. We'll talk during the break about it. Okay. And then we'll hit the NFC. Let's go. Which is the other conference. Correct.

All right. We'll be right back. Hey, this is Matt Jones. Now, I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts, That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that?

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Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Very. Welcome back. Yes, we just took a stroll through the AFC in this, the final week of the regular season, playoff football just ahead. Now let's dive into the NFC side of things. And let us start with some business, the business of winning divisions, okay? And that starts in Landover, where the Dallas Cowboys. and this is unlikely. Nobody saw this coming. The Dallas Cowboys,

who seemed to be locked into that number five seat a couple weeks ago. Nobody realized the depth of Philadelphia's issues. The door opens for the Cowboys. All they have to do is beat the lowly commanders.

Could they get it done? Let's go. Prescott's in the gun. Back to throw. Looking right. Scrambles left. Still got it. Scrambles back right.

Throws in the end zone. Caught for a touchdown in the back of the end zone. by C.D. Lamb. I see you. You see me. What is up with that one? Brad Sham, the sham god, friend of the show.

KRLD. Dak Prescott to C.D. Lamb. Unstoppable. Lamb put the finishing touches on one of the great statistical seasons ever by a wide receiver. Only in 13 passes for 98 yards and two more touchdowns. By the way, like I said the other day, he scored in nine straight games. And running backs, you see stuff like that,

quarterbacks, but a wide receiver scoring in nine straight games, that's wild. And the Cowboys roll the commanders 3810 as they were supposed to to claim the NFCE's title from those free-falling Eagles who we're going to get to in a bit. The two-seat Cowboys will host the seven-seeded

Packers next weekend, and that is a spicy meatball, my friends. It is an extremely spicy meatball, and we'll have a week to talk about that the Packers and Matt LaFleur could get their old buddy McCarthy fired if they win that game. But for tonight, the Cowboys should enjoy it because this is progress,

even though it's the Eagles that kind of open the door. You can get fired in a week, but enjoy this moment. Right. Well, that's, I'm not reporting anything in particular. No, it's out there. Shepter, Ian, they're basically saying, like, it'll depend on how the playoffs go. So you can draw your conclusions. But this was a different Cowboy season.

They did take care of big business in like important spots consistently. Dak Press got just preposterous today five in incompletions four touchdowns yeah and he's throwing the ball with like 10 minutes to go in the game and they're up three or four scores and you had a good theory why the way I was wondering at a certain point because we saw it

a lot this this week with guys looking to hit escalators in their contract and hit certain numbers I was like are they trying to get him another touchdown in case this MVP vote comes down to him versus Lamar because I think he is Dak probably not going to win MVP but I

think he's going to come in second place and he he didn't get that extra touchdown but he stayed healthy that's a very important aspect of this for the cowboys who get out of this game um as of from what i saw as we are recording this shortly after the game uh without any serious injuries micha parsons laughing on the sideline in the fourth quarter um as i said cd lamb unbelievable uh what he's been able to do and you know it is a different cowboys team and we might be saying something totally different if they lay an egg next week but this regular season was different because they did find a way to steal that division they the team that took care of business today I feel like other Cowboys teams in the past this game is 1310 early in the fourth

quarter and and in this game in the second quarter the commanders are ahead but you could sense there was no panic they go ahead on a long drive get a turnover right before the half and then punch it again with Lambs first touchdown of the day and the game's effectively over at half time so good job by the Dallas Cowboys and we see what comes down because I think one and done obviously would be totally unacceptable Mark for this team

do you have to get to NFC title game where they haven't been in 28 years is that what saves Mike McCarthy's job but I think there's something odd and off putting to me and you know I'm a Zaddy fan that that's what we're talking about right now because they've had such a big time year and the playoffs are a crapshoot

and they're playing a big time team next week I think the Packers are a very good opponent they are I would say the reason that dynamic exists is because we see this Cowboys team as one that should win multiple playoff games. They really should. They are different to me. Last year's team tripped up against Washington in the finale and then stumbled in the playoffs in extraordinary fashion for the second year in a row. It would be pretty stunning if this team went and did that because I think that part of their DNA is not present right now.

I know they've had a couple weeks that make you question everything. But to me right now, I think it was a question of balance with the Cowboys. like, are you going to continue to get run over on the ground by teams with the ground game? And today, I know it's not a great Washington offense, but they put the clams down on that. And I thought we saw a better version at least for stretches of this game of Tony Pollard. He's not the guy that you thought he'd be or who you'd want. But he did. He had like 50-something yards. And, you know, he made a difference.

And I think that aspect, because they're going to get into some tight spots. Like, if you can be balanced in those two areas, it makes Dak Prescott, who is playing out of his mind right now all that much better. Right. Stefan Gilmore did have his shoulder pop out of place. He said during the game and then he didn't return. But he says he popped it back in. He says he'll be fine for next week.

He was in a sling on the sideline, but he was kind of chuckling it up on the side. Yeah, he said after the game, he should be fine. I'm with you. The run game matters. C. Lam's numbers that you mentioned, 134 catches, 1749 yards and 12. And he caught all 13 of his targets. That is an outrageous season.

and it's hard to take too much out of the Cowboys here because the commanders have been the biggest dead team walking in the league Ron Rivera saying after the game he didn't know when he was going to meet with ownership but you would think that is going to come on Monday before we do our next show the Black Monday show and after that week six loss to the Niners is when and they said it during the telecast today which I hadn't heard maybe I did but you know so much stuff comes across our desk throughout the season that CDLand went into Mike McCarthy's office

after they got blown out by the Niders and said you got to start treating me like a true number one you got to get me the rock and he had 1,300 yards after week 6th. I mean, this is that's an all-time season and if he doesn't win an offensive player of the year it wouldn't be a travesty but I think I think he definitely

could be in the conversation. Yeah. In a very serious way now. We're taking CMC. And that's a fair pick. Or maybe Tyreek is a fair pick, but I think C.D. Lamb cannot be overlooked at this point. One last note on the Sunday night football pre-game telecast, Mike Florio, your old boss, Gregie,

reported that Commander's owner, Josh Harris is quote, enamored with the idea of Bill Belichick as his next head coach. I've now heard this from different reporters of like four different... This was your boss, though. Four different teams. Four different teams. And maybe they all are

enamored with Greg. Mike Florio. So these are well things changed and then he was very much not enamored when when things changed and I came to around the NFL what a what a great decision what a flash point in my life that was um all right let's keep moving on so the lions entered week 18 hoping to move up to the number two seed which obviously now we know that the cowboys are there but it didn't matter that dan campbell was going to play his starters and let's see what happened against the team of around the NFL. Jared takes turns, fakes the gift, sets in the pocket. Jared drifts left, look, look. Now he throws down field. It is caught. Left sideline. Cutting back. That is Amon Ross St. Brown. Angling at the 25 to the 20. To the 15, cut back at the 10. No. Not to five. Fighting at the two. Into the end zone. Touchdown, Detroit Lions. Oh, baby, what a run by Amman Ross St. Brown. Angling across the field, cutting it back,

70 yards from Jared Gough. I just, in a corner of my eyes, he's shaking his head. I genuinely upset. I'm not upset at all. I actually just, I just imagine, like, the actual announcing crew in the booth,

and then you're just behind them, like, screaming something. I'm like the fans that you hear under Dan Miller's voice. No drink dumped on you. Wish I had a drink right now. Amon Ross, St. Brown, from 70 yards out,

because Dan Campbell doesn't rest the starter. Dan Campbell doesn't rest, period. Jared Goff threw a couple touchdown passes, and the lions close out a fine regular season with a 30 to 20 win over the Vikings. Yes, the three-seated lions. So it ended up, they couldn't move because Cowboys wouldn't let it happen.

Still finished 12 and 5, Gregie. That matches their 1991 team win total all time. Wow. Played an extra game this year, but still, they will host a playoff game for the first time since the 1993 season. Mark, that's Camp Happiness Territ. It is. It's back in that zone.

When they were playing at the old Pontiac Silverdome. Their opponent at Fort Field will be the Rams and former franchise cornerstone Matt Stafford. He got to love that. But Greggie, Campbell's aggressive decision to play, his starters, did prove costly. Yeah, Sam LaPorte's

injury to me was the most important part of this game. A knee injury that Dan Campbell said after the game was not as bad as they feared, but it was bad. Right. And the reporting indicates

it's some sort he they called it a, or Ian called it a bone bruise and something else. Hyper extension, hyper extension, but it can cost you weeks. It sounded like he would probably miss a game, which is really disappointing. And it wasn't the only injury in this game. Brian Branch left, but was going to, it says after the game that he's going to be fine. And then Khalif Raymond, who played a really big part in this game also was injured. And that one did not look good. And you think, okay, Khalif Raymond, good returner, kind of a speed.

threat, but not that important. He was important today because Jameson Williams is also injured right now. And maybe James and Williams will be back. And Raymond was playing that role. And Raymond's punt return and his 41-yard catch were monster plays in a game that the lions always felt like they had. They were up to scores most of the game. But it didn't look like two teams that were wildly uneven. The Vikings ended up tallying up in a true Nick Mullen's fashion, 448 yards. He had 396. And the two teams were kind of going back. and forth and the lines getting it done when they needed to. So that is disappointing. I don't kill Dan Campbell for playing his guys. It happens, but this was close to the worst case scenario.

And as Lions fans, I can hear you in my head right now pointing out, Cleef Raymond would have been playing in this game. Yes, you can't avoid injuries. Clef Raymond, for instance, would have been playing. Lynn LaPorta, maybe he would have been playing too because they already have injuries at tight end. You can only sit so many players, but it was just a And in fairness, Mark, they were playing for something. Yes. They were. Yeah. They had a chance. if things went to move up a spot and if you're the two seed you're one major upset away from

maybe hosting the NFC title game so it didn't work out you understand the frustration by certain corners of Lions fandom but ultimately it's this is the game and it comes with a risk well and the Dan Campbell Lions have an inherently aggressive approach to everything so

it would have been atypical for them to pull you're watching Philadelphia get waxed on the scoreboard and the Cowboys Commanders game was close for a stretch at least And so you keep going with those guys. I mean, I cannot stand what happened to LaPorteur, though, because this came on a day where his touchdown catch, his 82nd catch of the season,

broke Keith Jackson's rookie tight-end receiving record. He's been so important to them. The Lions, just the way that they're built, they are four different players with 10-plus scrimmage touchdowns, which is the second most by any team in NFL history. They're really balanced. They're really constructed. They've been healthy outside of losing some running,

back play here and there. They've been really healthy. So to lose Leporta, like a week before the biggest Lions game in decades, is highly unfortunate. Yeah, their run game was very blah today, so that was a little I wouldn't say worrisome, but it was atypical of what they've been

throughout the season. But Gibbs did get a touchdown, and him and Leporta are the first rookie teammates ever to have 10 touchdowns in a season. How about that? Aiden Hutchinson's, I think, had two of his best games, if not the best games of his career and back-to-back weeks. He was dominant in this

game. So they do have a lot of positives, but I'm sure there's plenty of Lions fans out there that see Matthew Stafford on the horizon, and they think, oh, isn't that fitting? We have to get over this hump. How about that? How about that? There was one

amazing little tidbit that happened in this game. Yes. That, you know, and this is a very Dan Campbell thing too. He had Dan Skipper come in and report eligible and then he caught a pass on a drive that resulted in a touchdown a couple A couple plays later. It was Dan Campbell in motion, essentially playing a tight end with a huge block that set up David Montgomery for the touchdown. Dan Skipper rather. That would be even more

impressive. Sorry, yeah. It was the Dan Skipper drive. He gets the catch. He gets the block. And we say goodbye to, you know, what wasn't the best decision in the world to go team of ATL for the Vikings, but you win some. We thought we'd have Justin Jefferson this whole time. And he was a little in and out. He did get 12. for 192 in this game. He has over 1,000 yards. This stat is better than a lot of these lion stats

because all these stats are like, oh, we got to 17 games. He's one of only three receivers in NFL history to top a thousand yards in 10 games or less. And the other two are like, you know, like Connor O. McGillickey in like 1941.

I'll say this. Real person. And so Jefferson, this is from the 33rd team on Twitter. He missed seven games, as you said. He missed parts of two other games. Right.

to still break 1,000 yards and to put a a final period on the team of ATN I think if the quarter if Dobbs continued to play well that's a whole other situation that's what we were projecting and hanging our head on that and I think they would have been

they would have been one of the teams that you know they could have been the Packers but instead Dobbs faltered and then they kind of ran out of juice so that's also what makes Jeff achievement that, like, he played with a total quarterback tornado. They collapsed. I mean, this was the ultimate Mullen's game.

He got $3.96, but a couple late touchdowns. Oh, Dan Campbell, Dan Skipper. Dan Hansis, also big news here because I'm on a roll now in the locks, and I think I just moved past the cess dog in the old standards. Oh, disaster occurred on my side of things. Daddy Rich, making a move for that silver medal. I'm actually glad it worked out for you, so we don't have to, it's just, it's better this way.

All right, let's keep moving. So, what else is going on in the NFC? Yeah, those Eagles. So they were at the mercy of the Cowboys. But it's important to know that the Eagles and Cowboys kick off at the same time. Eagles don't know what's going to happen. You know, they go out and take care of business against the Giants and then you hope for the best.

They did not take care of business. Everything that you can go wrong around the Eagles right now. It's Murphy's Law. Taylor missed him last week. Perce of Domalert. Taylor back to throw. He's under pressure, he escapes to his left, now pitches it for Slayton. He's to the 10 to the 5, in for the touchdown.

Tyrod at the last second. Just threw it out to Slayton who was wide open. Darius Slayton's fourth touchdown catch of the season, and with 1.47 to go on the half, the Giants are taking it to the Eagles. It's now 23 to nothing. See, I kind of missed you in that call. Dan now.

It sounded so silent. See, and ironically, I'm mad at you for talking over Sit. But, Mark, I know where you're coming. There you go. Perspective. Hit Sid again. Let's hit that again. Flash point.

Yes. Flashpoint focus this week on the Eagles. How bad can it get? It keeps getting worse because they go down 24-0 at the half at the Meadowlands to a bad Giants team and they lose 27 to 10. So they are on the road at Tampa next weekend. And Mark, I mean, listen, you tell us because we know there's injuries on top of this. A.J. Brown goes out of this game.

Jalen hurts. You can fill us in on all that. But how could you have any confidence in this team, healthy or not, after what we've seen this last month or so? No, our flashpoint. came at days before what would be the most concerning performance yet for the Philadelphia Eagles. Preciant. And it's, yes, because that's how that series works.

A disastrous start to the game. After they punt on their opening drive, on the second march, after the Giants punted, they go down the field, E.J. Brown makes a catch and is wired up in a couple of defenders, goes down, and limps off the field with the knee injury. he rules questionable and not too much later ruled out and so suddenly you have a team that shows you how they can get out of a jam

when you didn't have Devonta Smith to start in this game you lose Brown and the offensive line that we've trusted all along was barraged and ransacked by the Giants. They had like 10 pressures on Hertz in the first 20 minutes of the game I mean he was beat up on the next drive they're down 3-0 and they go forward

on 4th and 3 from their own 48 and Hertz misconnects on a pass to Dallas Goddard and Hertz walks off the field with his like left pinky looking all crinkled and jammed up and so it's like suddenly Hertz is going into the tent he's banged up

crinkled and jammed up that does not sound good I mean it looked it looked bad I was like I don't know if he's going to come back in the game it looked dislocated is what it looked like it was facing the wrong direction he did come back in and in fact like Nick Siriani totally crinkled he was somewhat optimistic about Hertz like after the game

but what we'll see but in Brown for that matter. Well, yeah, but Browns looked bad, so I'm interested to see what happens with that. Garifolo says not believed to be serious. Yeah, so it's like, it's not just that, though. The defense, which

has been run over left and right, I mean, today it was different, like Tyrod Taylor who left the game multiple times too, is winging the ball down field. They put up 272 yards in the first half against the Eagles, who managed only 102 of their own. Harts and the entire offense, and most

of the starters are pulled before halftime because they're watching the score of the Cowboys game and the score of their own game and they're watching their starting quarterback be dismantled behind their offensive line. Right. You would have thought they would have pulled their starters because they had such a big lead. They pulled their starters because they were already

trailing by so much they had no chance to win. And the Brown injury is concerning, although Mike Garifolo, again, saying it's not believed to be serious, Reed Blankenship, who's really important in that secondary, left the game with an injury. And Cam Juergens, their guard left a game with an injury. So they didn't even sit those offensive linemen

until Hertz left. And I think we can say enough here. The Matt Patricia thing is a disaster. Like it got worse. Stunner. So that, I mean,

and now, listen, and we try not to be overly reactionary, but you ask the questions about what happens if the season ends worst case scenario. Well, we just completed a meltdown

where they lose five of six to close the regular season. If they go down to Tampa and things stay ugly it can get catastrophic for people connected to that team in a paid

it's like the fifth man or six game in a row where you're just you're getting shots of jail and hurts on the sideline a thousand yards stare into a total abyss beyond an orchard I mean it's just totally bizarre like team to where they were a month and a half go to here right they always

were not as good as their record. And I've seen some things as like, look, they were never that good. They were always their point differential and their DVOA was always like between 8 and 10. It's like, yeah, but they weren't getting blown out by the Giants and losing to the Cardinals without a single, without forcing a single punt. Like these last couple weeks, it's gone to a

whole new level of dysfunction. That's really rare for a team that had their record. In fact, it's unprecedented that a team that had a 10 and 1 record or better finish the season this back. And just like 10 and one didn't seem right. This doesn't seem right either that they would be this bad. So

the truth is somewhere in between, but the question now becomes, and this will be the biggest challenge Nick Siriani's had, is how do you get this team to flush this and show up and ball out? Now, the one thing we do know, and again, we have a week to talk about this, they've been through the wars. They nearly won a Super Bowl last year. And when the lights go on and they have a big playoff game, maybe things change. But man, it's at the point now where you can't be surprised if things don't change because this just feels like a team that's in a free fall. It just feels like all aspects of the team are crumbling.

Right. We should note, DeVonza Smith was not healthy enough to play this game, which that's a concern. The Andre Swift had an illness, which you wouldn't think would keep him out next week, but he also missed this game. So they were short quite a few of their skill players. All right, that was Bob Popper with a call, by the way. What if the illness was

mad cow disease? I mean, you don't know, we don't know what that would be trouble. We just don't know. We don't know. Like, we never find out what that is. when they say illness. It's not a knee or a... Mad cow disease. That was quite a thing.

And then Y2K came, and that was like the other big story in that era. You know, it was just like all these things that we couldn't control. Well, that was a bit Fugasey.

I usually think it's COVID. But for some reason, like they can't, no one can say COVID anymore. It went from like all these rules of a million different things to follow to be able to play in the game. You can't even admit it.

That's the cleanest way to move on. Remember they're cloning Dolly? They clone the lamb, too. Right. late 90s man I'm sure they've been cloning all sorts of things we don't know about it all right we mentioned the Bucks the Eagles will play the Bucks in

Tampa but the Bucks had to take care of their own damn business in Charlotte to win the division and punch their ticket let's go to that Bucketeer defense needs to buckle up now first now 15 Carolina good snap chest high pressure

coming pulled stripped away stripped away and recovered by the Buccaneers quarterback sack GTS GTS GTS T-S with a sack at a strip, and the Bucks recover those balls. Gene Digger, off with the call. Chase McLaughlin, kick three field goals.

The defense pitches a shutout, including that strip of poor Bryce Young. And the Bucs beat the Panthers' 9 Zip to win their third straight NFC South title, huh? That's a little surprising, but they were, I think, under 500 last year, but they won the division and then got killed in the playoffs. Big time Brady year, the year before, that was kind of legitimate.

And this year, they found away nine and eight. So they win the division, even though Greg Baker throws just for 137 yards. And this is a game that going into the fourth quarter, I believe, is maybe 6-0. Yeah. So not exactly how you want to punch your ticket, but ultimately it doesn't matter. The bucks have and they get the very vulnerable Eagles in their house next week. matters if Baker Mayfield plays the way he played today next week.

One of maybe the worst games of the year, I would say, for Baker Mayfield, 3.3 yards per play. Oh, my goodness. In terms of their passing. Does he look hurt? I don't think so, because he was throwing the ball. You got whacked in the last week. Yeah, the very end, he did ever, he has this rib injury.

So maybe that is all it. Some of it was decisions. Some of them were just bad throws, like missing deep things. throws by a lot. The Panthers actually got their hands on seven different Baker Mayfield passes. I counted four or five, which legit could have been intercepted. And this game would have been totally different. There's also some bad fumble luck. If you watch this game, you don't come away thinking the Bucks were any better than the Panthers. But they avoided big time mistakes. And yeah, that sequence, we just heard that force fumble. That was kind of the Panthers

in a nutshell. The play before that force fumble that all but ended the game, the Panthers had scored their first touchdown since Christmas Eve on a running play to Chuba, Harvard, but they called in the legal formation. It was the right call, but they, like, had an illegal formation on like a 30-yard rush. So you went from a touchdown to the next play, Bryce Young fumbles at Bryce Young did not top 100 yards. Greg. Yes.

Greg. I'm going to tee up here because I know certain people, if they align themselves with you going into this game, are feeling good. Yeah. You have, so you have a touchdown that gets called back. Yeah. And you have DJ Shark doing the old, I'm leaving. for the pylon and then getting the ball knocked away and turning into a turnover at the goal

line. That was the Antoine Winfield in one of the plays of the year. He did that early this season. I think was it against the Falcons? I don't remember. And he did it late. That probably should have been the highlight. Antoine Wilfield saving the touchdown. So they have essentially two touchdowns wiped away. They lose nine nothing. I mean, you have lived a blessed existence in 2023 and the Rainmaker. He is just, he is living it up as well, just like your picks. Four and a half points, no problem for the bucks, no sweat. I got some great messages. You really stepped in it this year, man.

You are having a wonderful season of good fortune and good picks. I mean, this was good fortune watching it. They were very lucky, but it was great to hear from Rainmaker Nation out there. Eric, I think we have some tweets. We can fly out. One fan, Richard, says, I can now fix my tea. That's nice. Triple G, that feels good.

That's good. And then from David, my eight-year-old being able to eat supper. Thank you. Thank you. It must feel good. You're saving families. You're saving people's aesthetic, you know, look. I don't think there's anything to say.

And it's your season of picks, no matter what they may be, you've just been spot on. This one felt like money in the bank, but the Bucks finding a way to make it interesting. That is, that's the game, I think, that is the hardest for me to pick early on. Just at first glance, bucks, eagles. I feel like it can go in about five different ways. Right, because don't forget the bucks got whacked by the Saints a week ago, too. Yeah, I mean, you can, like, talk about the fact that, like, you probably only need to score three points against the Panthers.

They've been eight scoreless quarters in a row. That's ridiculous. And their season, like, nose dives into darkness, and we get that. But, like, Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans and Godwin had a pretty good connection and chemistry throughout their hot streak of late. And in the last two games, it's been not that way at all. and Baker Mayfield today did not complete a pass

over 10 air yards. O for 8 on those passes. Maybe it is the injury. I don't know. There's nothing that you would have seen with your eyes that you would have been able to tell, but he certainly missed a lot of throws. This is also who the Bucks and Baker have been this year.

They've gone through, they're hot, cold, hot, and now they're a little bit cold, but they are in the playoffs. So that's a victory. I will say when he's had upper body injuries before and he continued to play, like in Cleveland,

when he had that one season led to his dismissal, like it absolutely, affected his throws and who he was in general. Right. There's some players that maybe play well through injury, and he should be appreciated that he's playing through injury, but there's other players that don't play as well through injury. He's undersized, so you take away a little velocity,

a little zip, it can make a big difference. All right. I'm glad Winfield, by the way, got that play. And that's a huge sack in this game. He did not make the Pro Bowl somehow. And yet I think he'll be the first team opera. So I think people will notice from this game. He was the difference in this game.

All right. Let's take a break. and we will continue our way through the NFC. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel?

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Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the the insights you won't find anywhere else.

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Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. All right, welcome back. We keep

on rolling. So we entered Sunday, week 18, with a messy NFC South and both the Falcons and Saints in contention for the playoffs. Only one team was going to still be in contention after the game at the Superdome. Let's head there now.

Second intent from the 39. Carr, play action. Stans. Now throws towards the end zone and looking for Shaheed. And Shaheed will come down with the football. Derek Carr, first to Alave, then to Rashid Shaheed. Mike Haas with a call, WWL, Greg, you will love to watch this game in real time.

It was very interesting NFC South affair between two teams that don't like each other. And that's only going to get deeper after what happened on Sunday after Derrickard throws four touchdown passes to lead the Saints to a 48 to 17 win over the Falcons. Atlanta mercifully was put to rest with the loss. Saints were alive until the Bucks beat the Panzer. So both teams missed the playoffs, but it's the Saints that close strong, 9 and 8. I think it's probably going to save Dennis Allen's job. We're going to get to Dennis Allen in a second here. But let's start with what they were able to do in this game,

which is what we saw down the stretch with Derrick Carr and the offense, just kind of improving in this last month. And Carr was very sharp in this game without Alvin Kamara. He was able to move the team. Chris Alave had another touchdown. you saw the Taysam Hill being worked in the way when this offense was going right and he was making things happen and when I think about this game the other thing I'm going to think

Greg is Arthur Smith and there is a there is a moment at the end of the game that we're going to talk about but first I want to talk about when I think Arthur Smith lost this job it is the inflection point of this game it's 31 to 17 in the third quarter with 316 to play and the Falcons have first in goal at the New Orleans 10. They line up, Greg and Mark.

Four times in shotgun. And Cordell Patterson gets the ball twice on runs. Desmond Ritter passes to Drake London for a two-yard gain. And then on fourth and two from the two-yard line, once again, at a shotgun, Desmond Ritter throws the ball. And Bijon Robinson kind of open, but he throws it well behind Robinson,

who doesn't even have a chance, and it's nearly a pick six, turnover on downs that was as close as Atlanta would ever get. And for Bijan not to touch the ball in that sequence, it was just like everything that's wrong with this team, everything that's wrong with the play calling and the usage of the best players, I thought was on display.

And sure enough, you kind of felt the air come out of the balloon for Atlanta who just got spanked the rest of the way. And the game ends in a funky way. because in the final seconds, it is 41 to 17. The Saints have the ball at the goal line. They are in a kneel down formation. But they hand the ball off to Jamal Williams,

who set the line's touchdown record last season. I knew, by the way, I was like, how did this happen? Because Dennis Allen says after the game, that was not the call. That knuckle had James Winston's on the field. He's the perfect person. And the huddle, they decide Jamal, who doesn't have a touchdown this season

after setting the Lions record. We need to give him a touchdown. And that leads to this interaction between Arthur Smith and Dennis Allen at midfield and the moments after the game. Oh, and Arthur Smith's hot that Dennis Allen scored a touchdown at the end. He is hot. He said, what are you doing? And he's going at Dennis Allen.

You can read his lips and you know. And I think he's got a right, by the way, to do that. Hey, hey, and it's effing bull, S, he says. And then after the game, here is Dennis Allen on that final touchdown. We should have taken a knee right there. You know, they asked me about getting Jamala touchdown at the end. I said I wanted to take a knee. We put victory out there, and the guys kind of wanted to get him a touchdown,

and they did that on their own. That's not, that's unacceptable. And it's such a bad look for Alan. Right. So it's, you feel, I actually. feel bad, and I'm not a big Arthur Smith fan, but you feel bad for Arthur Smith because he knows he's probably getting fired at the way this season ended and then to get kind of spit in your face in the last minute of the game that way. But then Dennis Allen is saying he's a positive

said, I understand that he's saying to Smith at midfield. But Dennis Allen is showing that the players don't respect him and we'll just audible out of a kneel down to get their buddy a touchdown. I was, what a mess. It is amazing. It's so saying they finish their season playing. their absolute best, getting their arch rival coach probably out fired, winning by 30, and yet they aren't going to end up making the playoffs

and that this is going to be the image that they have leaving the season apologizing for the last touchdown and a win. And I was kind of wondering, because I had the same reaction to you, like, man, this makes him look like his players don't respect him. Am I overreacting?

I saw this tweet from Ben Watson, who's the saint for a long time, a Walter Payton Man of the Year type of guy. And he wrote out, if your players are assisting coaches, don't run the plays you call it. You've already lost your team. If you're comfortable enough to tell the world about it, there's no turning back.

And I think that does kind of sum up Dennis Allen. Yeah, I think, like, I don't know what's going on behind the scenes in terms of like why there's this presumption that, like, we don't take a hard look at Dennis Allen and what he actually is because this always felt like a team that was just sort of like, we're willing to be milk toast this year. and he is the perfect coach for a team like that.

It depends on who becomes available, but why are you not always looking to get better? I would say, though, if for the bright note for the Saints, because like a month ago, the whole Derek Hart thing was becoming so ponderous, and it was like, talk about quarterback health. Like, he played through a lot of pain

and it affected his play, the same way we say with potentially with Baker. He's been really, really good over the last five games, multiple touchdowns in each of those games. He looked lights out today. And so you go into an off season where you don't have to like have him be the center point of every

conversation. There's other things to focus on. They won four or five to close the season. So this is in defense of Dennis Allen. They did get the ship back on you know, over the sea line. I don't know what that means. The ship was sinking. He was able to get it to the shore.

It doesn't matter because they don't get the help they need from the outside. But the stuff with Derek Carr is always frustrated me because I know he's not a superstar. But when he was getting buried during the season is like what a what a bad teammate what a bad quarterback's like there are a lot worse guys than derrick car now they're a better guys and they have to make a decision i guess at some point although i know this contract is i mean the money cumbersome for them money is tough

um he's gonna be you want to shoot higher down the line but like there are many other areas gregg with this team that you can improve in that coaching staff is another spot as well that you want to maybe look at but to their credit they did get to the nine and eight and you know they're not going to the dance but they close a lot better than the falcons then sure And they had, you know, an extremely easy schedule. And their defense, especially Dennis Allen, to me, is getting very creaky and disappointing. And they have to figure out how to get younger and better on defense. Because that's why they kept Dennis Allen's like, we got to keep this defense,

which has been so good year after year after year. And you saw the slippage start last year. And then it really came home to Roos this year where they were average. I do just to button up the Jamest thing, which is, it is amazing that it was James. Eric McCoy, a team captain who's been there forever, their center, said that it was not intended to be disrespectful, but for us it was about getting one of the most selfish players in the locker room that essentially moved to fullback, Jamal Williams.

They basically asked him to play fullback for a lot time of the season, busting his ass with a positive attitude. It was to get him a touchdown. He deserved that, and it wasn't, he was saying it wasn't just James. It was a collective all 11, this guy deserves it. And if it wasn't a collective, we wouldn't have done it. But that to me, so is the whole team. There's only one quarterback on the field, though.

The quarterback is an extension of the coaching staff on the field. But McCoy might be the guy more than anyone that decides this. He's a captain. He's a center. He's the one hiking. And they're all in the huddle. And they decide we're not going to listen to Dennis off. That's worse than just James decided to do it.

That was the whole team decided to do it. 10 times 10 people worth. Right. Right. But it is the center snaps it to the quarterback. Yeah. And I just think that is you can't do that. And whatever.

We'll see what happens and what management thinks about how the season. It's almost fitting that's how the Saints season ends. Yes. Even with a win for all the melodrama. And I think people follow the Saints love the melodrama. You have this to chew on. Here's another episode of the soap opera for you. What if he hadn't scored the touchdown?

What if he were stuffed? That would have been even weird. That would have been great. Really weird. Yeah, you're right. It's crazy. They won for games convincingly. Well, but also because you remember the one,

primetime game, which would have put them into the playoffs. They weren't that competitive two weeks ago. So it's like, that's the same thing. It's kind of the best of both worlds for Saints fans. You get to knock out a rival, get the coach fired, enjoy wins, and then Barry Dennis Allen and the staff anyway. So enjoy it. Part Blanc.

All right. Part Blanche. I say Blanc. All right. To Lambo Field, where the Packers are looking to punch their ticket. Right. Love under center. And here's the handoff to showtime.

What is going on in there? Inside the 35 to the 31-yard line of Chicago. And there is your dagger. There it is. Oh, there is your dagger. Great cold. Who is that guy just screaming yes? One of my favorite tropes.

Wayne Larvey with the call, that's Larry McCarran. Yes. good old Larry you always need a Larry around anyway yeah there's the clinching run and Jordan Love continued his outrageous play

down the stretch he threw for 316 yards and a couple scores Packers to the playoffs with a 179 win over the Bears the Packers have now

won three straight games and they will get as we said the Dallas Cowboys next week in Jerrow That is a nice one. All right. Greg, Jordan Love, here's a stat I saw right before we came in. 18 touchdowns, one interception in the last eight weeks of the season.

When I think about the best games played by a quarterback this year, if you stack them all up, like the really memorable ones, Jordan Love played a lot of them. I kind of am having a hard time almost believing how good he is. because just based on this second half of the season, he's playing like a top five quarterback or a future top five quarterback. That's the level that he's looking at a defense

which has played fantastic over the last six weeks. One of the best in the league, the Bears, and he's looking so composed. When there's pressure, he gets rid of it. When they're playing soft, he goes short. When he has a play to make that's special, he can go make it. He had five incompletions in this game.

Two of them were on improbably great throws that should have, could have possibly been touchdowns. They also blew an end of the half sequence. They missed the kick. This was as dominant a 17 to 9 game as they could have possibly played 432 yards and only seven drives. They more than doubled the bears in total yardage.

They dominated this game. They closed out the bears with the ball and just killed the clock. That's why you heard Wayne Larvey getting so excited. I'm just so impressed with Jordan Love. To me, him and C.J. Stroud this weekend were kind of the two biggest stories. Like, wow, we have two dudes, and in the biggest spots, they really step up. Yeah, and those seven drives, all but one went for 50 plus yards, and a bunch went for way more.

It's like their offense, especially I have Aaron Jones back. I think that matters a lot. He was awesome. When your wide receivers are healthier than they've been through big chunks of Jordan Love's development this year. This is like a scary team. And it's like a weird team for Dallas to have to deal with. That's kind of what I was saying.

Yeah. This is not some layup team for Dallas on their march to. I'm a little shocked. They're favored by a touchdown to start. Get in early on that. Aaron Jones, as you said, rush for 111 yards on 22 carries. That's his third straight 100 yard performance. So not only you have love kind of ascending to start him here.

Now the running game has put things together. Even the defense, which has been bad for most of the year, is putting together some ever maybe the competition is in that high well they held the bears to 192 yards it paid well to 91 after half and that's a couple weeks in a row so the the packers are hitting the playoffs um with a lot of momentum on the chicago side of a ball here gregg fields you said they they did not get into the end zone in this game he got beat up a little bit we talked about this as a final exam for fields did you see anything here that would like make the bears pause if they were leaning one direction or another yes because i think

if you look at what Fields has done in the second half of the season as he's played better, he still looked like Justin Fields, just sort of a better version of him. And today you saw some of the warts, which is holding onto the ball a lot. I think the Packers played really well defensively because in every key third down situation, they were just winning up front, Wyatt, Kenny Clark, and Rishon Gary. Like that defensive line can save the rest of their defense if they're playing well. And so Fields wasn't protected well, but you saw the limitations maybe of like, well, we got account on defense and fields being good enough because today it was like fields wasn't going to

elevate them enough and the defense like defense in the NFL can come and go depending on the week if you play the wrong quarterback and they were out class today so I think it should make them pause a little bit I've never I've been in the camp that they're probably going to take a quarterback there but it shouldn't be just on this kind of makes you wonder if like Luke gets the OC could be in some hot water you never know I mean I the one thing that stood out for this game late a small note, because it's the end of Chicago season, but, like, Fields to me clearly looked like he had been concussed or suffered some sort of, like, head injury,

and, like, he stays in the game, and then they yank him, like, three plays later. To check him after his head was slammed on a... It was clear to anyone watching it, like, wait a minute, check him right now. Don't let him go three more plays. And that probably should have been a penalty. It was one break the Bears didn't get. I felt like Bears were getting a lot of breaks just to stay in this game.

this was maybe the best game the Packers played, I think, as a team all season. And the Chicago Bears have the number one overall pick by virtue of that trade with the Panthers last year. And they also have the number nine pick. So two top ten picks, including number

one. So not a huge offseason. One of the most important off seasons in the history of that proud franchise. Yeah. And I really think it's going to be with Iber Fluse, which is risky. Tracy Wolfson, I thought, had as telling a report about Iber Fluses as any one.

She talked to the president, Kevin Warren before the game, and Kevin Warren talked about how continuity is necessary for this team, that if you look at teams that can get it going, it's with continuity. And then he mentioned Dick Vermeal specifically with the Rams, saying it took him until his third year till he won. So that's the president of the team was making the decision.

There you go. All but saying, Iber Flus is definitely back. All right. Let's now move. to Arizona, where the Seattle Seahawks were looking to keep their playoff hopes alive, but they were going to need help. They got some from the kicker as well.

This is going to be to win the game. There's one second left on the clock. Do the Seahawks have a winning record in 2023? Hey, it matters. Right now. A 51-yard field goal attempt by Prater. Off the left hash mark. Gilliken puts it down.

Kick is away. and the kick is no good no good Prater misses from 51 Steve Rable with the call yes Prater was wide right

from 51 out and the Seattle Seahawks hold on for a 21-20 win over the Cardinals who finished 4 and 13 the Seahawks yes 9 and 8 we now welcome in

a man who knows he got those pipes yeah for the field goal. Well, we've got some pipes here. Nick Shook, your thoughts on today's affair. First of all, how are you, buddy?

I'm great. I'm imagining myself as an upside down goalpost right now. You can do. We all are. I feel like, exactly. Shook, so obviously Seattle needed Green Bay to lose. They didn't. But, you know, a nice way to end the season.

And it was kind of a fitting way for the season and for the Seahawks, ups and downs, a lot of close, close plays, close games. Yeah, very typical of this season for them. But you know what? The Cardinals, I got to give them credit the, the, the PA people, the people who run the scoreboard, because they tried to engage in a little bit of mental warfare late in that game. The Seahawks have a one point lead and the Packers have won.

And they display it on the scoreboard during a break right off the top that the Packers have won trying to take all the motivation out of the Seahawks. With like a banner and everything, too. I mean, it was like a pretty weird. decoration. They put the whole thing up. They really played it up. Good planning out of them.

And the game ended like 30, the Packers game ended 30 minutes before the Seahawks game. So it went back and forth a while after that. It just shows, you know, the fighting genos have a lot of heart in them. You can take the playoffs away. You can still get the win. They shouldn't have won.

Prater missed a kick that would have put him up 10 with 30, with about three minutes to go too. Yeah, before that kick that we just rolled. Yeah, he missed another one that would have made it a 10. game. But you know what? You got to give a ton of credit to the Seahawks. This is, you know, for all the games that they've lost this year in a variety of different fashions, they have been a team that's been able to pull out close ones, say for that last second loss to the Rams when Drew Locke was in there for one terrible decision of a throw.

They've been a team that's done pretty well in these situations. And they did well in this one. And it's funny because the second half of this game, they were lifeless. So they had nothing, they could do nothing on offense. And they give up a touchdown to the Cardinals on the most interesting fake field goal, I think I've seen it a long time where the kicker is out there and then he's running to the sideline and suddenly Kyler Murray is taking the snap and throwing a touchdown pass but Gino gets down the field. They take advantage

of the missed Prater field goal. They go down the field four plays they cover the yard just they need Gino drops a perfect one in the bucket to Tyler Lockett and the only thing I could think of in that moment beyond oh my God, I can't believe they completed that pass. That was a great throw was God, I wish they could do this consistently they wouldn't be on the edge of being eliminated

from the playoffs which they were eventually eliminated from if this was just who they were for most of the season, they would have been a much better team. And yet they were still almost in the postseason. Now, you think about all that, you think, well, the future's bright. They got a lot of young studs on both sides of the ball. They got Charbonnet.

They got Kenneth Walker. They got a receiving core that rivals some of the best ones in the league, and they got a defense with Devin Witherspoon and some other guys that you've got to get really excited about. But then you wonder, is Pete Carroll going to come back and coach again, or is this his time to walk away? So there's still some uncertainty.

I was happy to see Gino lead that drive because it's been an up and down year for him where he's kind of been the new Dalton line and I feel like he's a better quarterback than that and he should have been better. He's listening, quiet. Well, Carol said, Carol said he wants to come back. Yeah, we have that actually him getting asked after the game.

Will they want him to come back? I'm not sure it's the final answer, but that's what he said after the game. Let's listen. You said you love this team. Do you want to run it back? Does it make you want to come back and coach him again? Of course, of course I do.

Of course I'd love to do that. Do you expect it to do that? I do. I do. I do. At this point, I do, yeah. That does not sound like a guy. that's concerned about his future with the team. There was, like, an assistant to the ownership, like, or one of the people that kind of the executives

that was sitting there in the second row watching, too. I don't take anything out of that, actually. I think in that we've seen it before. I just mean... Wait, how do you know that? Because the beat writers wrote about it or whatever. You know, they tweeted that out. They were like, it was pretty interesting

that he's sitting there, like, watching this. You're so laser focused on the situation. You didn't know the seating chart in the presser. In this spot, I think if he was going to be going, he would say that no matter what. He not gone. So I don't know. I'm not totally sure. There were the insiders, including Ian, kind of put it out there, that maybe he would be walking away.

But he seemed to tip it. I was, the comment I was making was you equating Gino with the Dalton line, which is the prime meridian of quarterbacks. Is there any question about his future quarterback or is that? I think there's, I think there should be. I mean, he was 11 for 22 at one point in this game. And, you know, he did have that final drive. And that was a very Gino-esque. And, like, it was very Seahawks offense-esque, too.

But I'd say you just have to look around and see what you have. I mean, it's just like, I wouldn't, I get, I think you think, I see you think that Gino is, like, a better thrower than he's ever been in his career. And there's high quality things about him. He's a good leader at this stage. Like, there's a lot of different elements to Gino, but it's like, this is not a quarterback that you can feel like you can go win three playoff games with. I just don't feel that way.

He just is the least of their problems. I mean, I think they want to get younger at the position. It would make sense to pair him with a draft pick, basically. And he's on the second year of, he has some guaranteed money coming in. But he was like 11th or 12th in PFF's grades last year. He's at the exact same spot. Like, that's where he

checks out to me just like slightly above that median in playing. Like, he also broke a record today, which this surprised me even as a Gino file. the most go-ahead touchdowns in the history of the NFL in the fourth quarter overtime this year.

So by this measure, he had the most clutch season of all time. That's kind of crazy. It's pretty crazy. It also tells you they weren't scoring a bushel of points before the fourth quarter. He's kind of like, there's a correlation with him and Derek Carr in a way.

Not the biggest problem on the team, but also, like, is he the future your team? Is that the problem is you have a defensive coaching. You just gave up 466 yards to the Cardinals and this happens week after week after week. And like, yeah, there's... And Nick, one thing, because it's like, I feel

like this is happening every week, but Jonathan Conner got started slow today. And I thought Seattle was like promising because they were shutting down Arizona's ground game like in the first quarter plus. Jonathan Connor ends up with 150 on the ground and 204 total yards. Like, it's like this guy

is in the shadows on a team that no one's paying attention to kicking people's butts on a weekly basis. You said Jonathan Conner? That would be like Jonathan Gannon and Connor matched up together, which I like. It just became one person. I think we need a new segment.

I guess we'll have to wait until 2020. Because I'm thinking Jonathan Gannon and James Connor, but like James Connor has just been a punisher on a weekly basis. I would give Jonathan Connor an extension. He's running as well as he's ever run. It's Connor corner with Mark Sessler. It's a weekly segment. We have not gotten out of a card.

It needs a little work. It needs a little work. I'm not going to lie. I was treading into an uncomfortable situation. and I'm glad Dan just billed me out of because I'm like, do I correct them? Absolutely. I wish I loved anything as much as Mark loves John Connor this year. I love James Connor.

Look, the Seahawks run defense has been terrible all year. And I think they ranked 30th coming into today and like every notable metric when it comes to defending the run. So that's a big issue with them. That's a big part of why they gave up so many yards to the Cardinals and why they ended up being the team that they were. But you got to give a lot of credit to James Connor. He just had his first thousand yard rushing season of his.

career. And in a year in which they had to go through a couple of quarterbacks before they could actually get to the point where Kyler was healthy and available to play, they needed somebody to carry them. And in certain games, the Dallas win being one of them, he did that. So I got to give him a ton of credit. He's had a good year. But if we really talk about the Cardinals as a whole guys, this is not where I thought I would be with them when the season started. I thought it was going to be a disaster. Oh, yeah. The vibe around this team, despite finishing four and 13, is about as optimistic as it can be going into the off season. I think there's a lot. I'm with you

and I talked about that on Thursday. It just feels like they're in better hands. Shucky, always in good hands with you. You've been such an important part of our Sunday show for a few years now and you did that big lift for us with lift, nailed it, pipe with Claibon when we were

in England and we'll be sure to keep you in the mix, whether it's the playoffs or the off season. We thank you for everything you do for us. And a great job on QB Index as well on a weekly basis. thank you guys i feel privileged to be entrusted with this role both here and qb index uh it is very i'm very fortunate and i look forward to potentially seeing you uh in Vegas when we all continue they know fit is strong you know those those these playoff cuby indexes they'll test you you know

you're at the end of the season you got it you got to stay sharp you got to stay focused like when you have to do leg day you know it's like you just got to do it hey hey you know what it's one of the best things you can do for your body is back and legs as a man hit those It gets the testosterone going. We got to do it. We got to get that. Well, push in the whole thing.

That's how shit goes out on the regular season. Thank you, my man. Give him a round of applause. Give him a round of applause, Roberts. By the way,

there's a QB index that you're charged with if you're doing the column that comes out soon where you have to rank not not at the starter. Every single quarterback, essentially.

It's the last one. It's like 100. This year, it's going to be like 78 people or something. Like, you know. We have, we're going to get to our sandwich props

later in the week. There's one that's connected to two long-forgotten quarterbacks. And I was thinking to myself, how do you, these guys, are they even in the QB index? But you just answer my question. Yeah, everyone's in the final one. Okay. All right. Let's keep moving.

It's time now for the Sunday Drive presented by the first ever Toyota Highlander. Not a lot on the line for the Niners and Rams, but, you know, pride matters. San Francisco 20, LA 19, after a 12. yard rushing score, the 11th rushing touchdown of Carson Wentz's career. His first start as a ram. Drama. He put the Rams on the high side for the first time in this regular season finale. From the two, snap, play fake, roll right, when stops, Wens throws, back at the end zone.

It's caught. It's a two-point conversion for Turbo 2-2. Hey. Mark, not even for J.B. Long, for you, I really. rained it in there after what happened last week. Well, you were going to reach out to him after what happened last week. I'm sure you did that. I didn't

see him at the barbershop, but we're going to cross paths at the barbershop. Yeah, well, we'll see what we'll have a counter that is. That was a great call by our friend J.B. Long and a great two-point conversion throw by one Carson Wentz. Remember that guy

who played for Matthew Stafford resting in this game and the Rams hold on for a 21 20 win over the Niners. The Niners obviously had the NFC locked up. They're the number one seed. They rested a bunch of their key guys. And it is the Rams that get their 10th win of the season.

And I think, again, these things matter, Gregie. Sean McVe, they wanted to get into that double-digit win. And where does it put them in the playoff picture? It puts them in Detroit. So that two-point conversion and the subsequent force fumble of Sam Darnold that really ended the game. I didn't want that to be the high. That felt negative.

Change their destination. They would be going to Dallas. They would be in the seventh seed if they didn't win this game. And now they're in Detroit. They're the six seed. I don't know if that's a better or worse matchup, but it's a spicier set of matchups to me because it gives us the perfect revenge game.

Double header here with McCarthy Cowboys and Stafford Rams. And was impressive. Wentz actually made some good plays in this game. He led the game in rushing yards. 56 rushing yards and 17 attempts. That tells you what kind of game this is. I do like the idea of Stafford versus the Detroit secondary. I think that's a promising matchup for them.

I mean, we've been talking about all these coaches of the year, and I understand what's happening in the desert. But like what Sean McVeigh has done, honestly, from a year ago at this time, it was like, is Sean McVeigh like walking away from football? Is he going to become an announcer? Is he burnt out? Nice year.

And there was the think piece about how he felt he was burning other people out around the building. It's like what they've, accomplished and what we could you talk with the cardinals it's like low expectations for the rams it was just assumed they'd go in five games or something and bottom out and then have to rebuild and it's like this is one of the better coaching jobs of the last five last half decade in i know it sounds weird but this game actually i think proves that point because yes it was a lot of backups in uh Trent williams iuk dubo they all started but they all left after one or two series depending on which guy it was and that was true for like the super

Dupor stars on both teams. The Rams also sat a lot of people. Pooka Nakua played into the third quarter to get his rookie record. But just the fact that there was so much spirit. Thanks Walker. Just the fact that there was so much spirit, like they were getting, they were all fired up and just seeing the Rams backups

compete with the 49ers backups and come back. Like, I was thinking that wouldn't happen a year ago because the Rams starters weren't as good as other teams backups a year ago. They're just a better team. Yes, they've really built that thing on the fly. And on the San Francisco, I kept my eye on this game in the first half because, you know, I'm a Sam Darnold fan. I thought he played very well.

Yeah. And kept the offense moving. And Brock Party's the starter. If something happens to Brock Purdy, I think Darnold has the ability to run this offense. And I thought you saw that in just the snapshot of this game. So 26 yards for their offense after halftime. So the Rams backups mostly, although actually there was a lot that Kobe turned. A lot of their starters were in there.

They lost Jordan and filler their starter. But they locked the 40. Pooka is down in the second half. After that touchdown, he's one yard shy of the rookie wide receiver yardage record. And I think two catches and the rest of the first half. They're desperately trying to get the record to get him off the field and they can't do it. They're trying to force it in the final 10 seconds of the first half so they could just shut it down. Yeah. And then apparently, as, as you said, he did eventually did get it in the third quarter and they could mercifully get a coup out of the mix before he got himself hurt. So very good, very good. Tough day for Bill Groman who, uh, previous. had that record set back in 1960. I'm not sure we're Bill Gromon at this point. Can we give, I don't know anything about the guy. And he did it in 14 games. He could be like the Thai Cobb of the NFL.

I don't know what his background is or whatever. So boy, overpraise him. But to have that record in 1960, you kidding me? What kind of offense was that? It's incredible. They had some, they had some scoring back in the, like those AFL type team. He was on the Oilers.

Unfortunately, he passed away three years. How many records, Greg, though, do you see? not almost not in the modern NFL that of your breaking records from 196 everything's in the last era tax year right and he did it and did it in 14 games so groman groman hey you deserve you recognize you deserve it hopefully you were a good guy i think you are still in the mix for the best rookie receivers ever yeah Greg afforded us that he's passed away but he's left us we wish the best i mentioned that he i just checked that out uh he died during uh 2020 did you say rest in power yeah i second that all right and that was

the Sunday Drive presented by Toyota let's go places learn more at Toyota.com slash grand highlander uh oh if it's the Sunday night podcast after week 18 that could only mean one thing

breaking news somebody's gone and it is Arthur Smith the Falcons after it was reported by Tom Pelliserro the Falcons confirmed the dismiss of their head coach after three seasons. And here is a statement from Arthur Blank.

Decisions like this are never easy and they never feel good. We have profound respect for Coach Smith and appreciate all the hard work and dedication he has put into the Falcons over the last three years. He has been a part of building a good culture in our football team, but the results on the field have not met our expectations. After significant thought and reflection, we have determined the best way forward for our team is new leadership in the head. head coaching position now additional reporting from palisero here reggie the falcons say the search

quote will be led by blank and mackay rich mackay uh with input from falcons general manager terry fontno and several other appropriate members of blanks atlanta falcons and a mb sports and entertainment organization so the gm appears safe but arthur smith runs out of time and and i as we talked about earlier, a grim ending in New Orleans, kind of set the table for this, and now Smith has to take a walk. Shout out to Rich McKay. I remember when he was on the hot seat as their GM,

like 20 years ago or 15 years ago, and then he somehow got kicked up to CEO, so he's actually making more money and has more responsibility, and he's the one firing everyone. That's how you do it. He also got flagged for piping in fake crowd noise into the Falcons facility. That happened too.

Okay, I know Rich McKay is not the centerpiece here. Them putting Fontaineau in the statement is positive because I think Fontenow has done a pretty good job. He's only been there three years. It was a total tear down. And we talked about it earlier when we were talking to Arthur Smith. It was just like the point of Arthur Smith, what Arthur Smith was supposed to be,

what he was supposed to do in terms of that running game specifically in his offense. And you saw it last year. You could see it. It was totally gone this year. And so I think that's what, killed them more than anything. I think if they somehow were seven and ten or eight and nine and they were competitive and they had the number three running game in the league and they had some

good numbers for their stars, I think he might still be there. But that his strength turned into their biggest week. Yeah, like what attracted me to the concept of like this year's Falcons back in, you know, July and August was that there seemed to be a vision. It was like even if the rest of the league's doing this, like Arthur Smith with Bijon Robinson and the rest of the crew is going to try to go do something different. And you kind of believed in it because we saw, saw that blueprint in Tennessee with Derek Henry, with Ryan Tannahill. But the missing element

like all along here, like if we're going to talk about Tomiko Ryan's being lifted up by the play of a young promising quarterback is that for years on end, like especially with like Marcus Marriotto and then with Desmond Ritter this year, it's like the quarterback play whenever there is even an ounce of positivity

there are two or three incredibly frustrating things that seem to happen every game like didn't every Falcons game sort of feel the same? Well, the image that I'm thinking of right now because Ritter was Jekyll and Hyde on Sunday where he was pretty good in the first half and then just started making mistake after mistake. And the image that I have that I'll remember this season is the shots of Arthur Smith after yet another devastating Desmond Ritter turnover.

He rolls his eyes or puts his hands in his face. And yeah, that's and that's organizationally where I don't, Arthur Smith, I thought, didn't do a great job this year. But I also, when they put Desmond Ritter, gave him this former third round pick and all of a sudden say, this is your guy in an offseason where there were other options out there, put him in a bad situation. And then when they couldn't get the running game going, Greg, as you're saying, it just kept on compounding. And his play calling was suspect as well. It just, it never came together for this team with him. I liked him as a character in the, in the NFL.

And he's not going anywhere. I'm sure he'll be an offensive coordinator. He'll probably be highly in demand. that is an OC because that's when he got the job at Tennessee, he was probably not going to do the weekly McAfee paid spots. I don't think he was getting, you know, Aaron Rogers money, but he was, he was on there. Speaking of weekly, he was on there. Speaking of just the media, it is a tough sitch.

And I know, maybe not the nation isn't plugged in this, but like for Georgia public broadcasting, like, I mean, they took this whole story in a different direction. It wasn't, you know, Arthur Blank was on their channel, but it's like that, you know, like the whole story flipped. That Silver Fox asked the question to the owner that needed to be asked. Yeah. Wala, a few weeks later, there's a change at the top of a break of public trust, really, from Arthur Bank. And he was getting the jump on it.

The first report of this came out at 902 Pacific, which would make it 12.02 Eastern on Black Monday. So technically, yes. It made it there. And Ben Boland of the Boston Globe. is the only one I've seen reporting this, but he's been piping Belichick to Atlanta possibility for weeks now. And so they have a job opening. Bill has, what, a 7 a.m. press conference, East Coast tomorrow?

I can't you really hire the guy who was the coach of 283? I don't know. It's just something feels funky. All right. So there you go. It's not a disqualifying, but it just opened the up to lots of jokes. It's just weird. The week ahead is going to be a lot of fun here.

So we're going to do a little Black Monday podcast. So that's another, what are we up to now? That's four coaches gone. But the first one after the season, after the regular season concluded. You could almost say we just sort of did a little bit of a tiny Black Monday episode. A little bit. Yeah. Maybe we don't need.

No, no. I think we, you know, we. I feel like Ron Rivera we're going to learn about tomorrow and maybe a surprise or two or three. So that's what we'll be there for. anything else you want to oh let me uh i'm going to check in a tankathon real quick now that we have the um draft order set let's just did nick get back to you on a oh he did actually immediately very quickly i thought he was going to send a video i think yeah i think he's bad i got your live i got your live reaction eat greg sorry eat poop gregg so okay i love it

I mean, I don't give him half the grief that his brothers, including Phil, do for his, his picks, his takes. And it is very much on my radar now. Yes. The big race for a second here, Hansus catching up. Like I said, Hanses is his radar too. He's the only one back now. All I wanted was the silver medal out of this. And I'm moving up the old charts.

All right. Here is the... I'll take care of last place for you. 2024 NFL draft order. Chicago, Washington, New England, Arizona, Chargers. That's your top five. Giants, Titans, Falcons, Bears, Jets.

That is the top 10 picks with Minnesota and Denver on the outside looking in there. So that is to put a bow on the regular season. As even if your team makes the playoffs, it's a very exciting time. When your team doesn't make the playoffs, even when it's a depressing season or a frustrating season, you miss it because it's like you just went from three straight months

every Sunday or, you know, if you get a primetime game, having that to look forward to and now begins the long wait. Whenever your team exits the picture, whether it's now or sometime this month, it's that long wait until you get football every week again. So another regular season of the books for us as well. 11. Well, you could follow another sport or two if you must.

11 is 11 regular seasons is that the number is that that's that's it for our podcast 11 that's we're up to 11 so thank you to everybody for listening all regular season long thank you uh to big funk and eric by the glassy sunday shows are a major lift and they've done great work all year we'll be back monday full week of shows till then heed the call Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio

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