NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2024 Week 16 Recap

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Patrick Claybon and Nick Shook to recap all of the Week 16 action from around the NFL. The show starts with a rundown off all the NFC playoff implications in Eagles at Commanders (01:20), Lions at Bears (10:37), Vikings at Seahawks (19:25), Rams at Jets (29:14), Cardinals at Panthers (37:48), and Giants at Falcons (45:18). Up next the AFC playoff implications in Steelers at Ravens (55:19), Texans at Chiefs (01:03:15), Patriots at Bills (01:10:24), Browns at Bengals (01:19:28), and Titans at Colts (01:25:45), and 49ers at Dolphins (01:31:27), before wrapping the show up with Jaguars at Raiders (01:36:40) and Buccaneers at Cowboys (01:42:51). 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. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we always have the strength of victory tiebreaker. I'm Greg Rosethal. I'm in the Chris Wesleyan podcast. podcast studio, solo in the studio, but joined by knowledgeable, wonderful friends all around the country. In fact, Patrick Claibon is in the V-O booth because he's feeling a little bit sick, about 60 yards

for me, and Nick Shook is in Cleveland. Welcome, Patrick, and thank you for your consideration for not wanting to get everyone sick. It's too nice of you. Well, it's, you know, it's the holiday season. Everybody's got people flying all over the planet and all over the country. And if I could sit over here in this lonely box the biggest podcast, then that is what I am going to do. Well, finally, it shook as company. You're used to sitting in a lonely box

during the show, Shook. This box is more of a bedroom, but yeah, pretty much. Yeah, Patrick sent me this text at 8 in the morning, and I'm like, well, you can just, we can figure it out. You can just take the show off. But look, the NFL, it's not going to allow it.

And Patrick, he knows the show must go on. There are playoff spots being clinched. There are seedings being figured out. We learned a lot about how this playoff field is going to look on Sunday, and no result was bigger than the one in Landover, Maryland. Let's head there. Second and goal to 10. Snap to Daniels.

Eagles bring four. Into the middle of the end up. Test out. Test out. Touchdown one again. James a Crowder. Amazing. Clutch football from the ones in the offense.

They've done it again. Done it again, and this is absolutely a dark. Now think about this, Jayden Daniels, the magic man, the kid, the come from behind victory. What a thaw! What a kid! What a play! Unbelievable. I mean, how many signature wins does this rookie need?

I love you, Brock Bowers, but just give Jayden Daniels the award. 36 to 33, the Washington Commanders, get it done. in a fourth quarter comeback victory over the Philadelphia Eagles who played most of the game without their quarterback. Jalen Hertz. Kenny Pickett got it done, but that doesn't take anything away from what Jaden Daniels did against this Eagles defense. He put up 36 points on them. He came back from 27 to 14 down in the fourth quarter. Shook, just what stands out to you most from a five touchdown performance from Daniels and yet another just kind of magical moment for a franchise that it really feels like is turn the page completely from the Dan Snyder era for good.

Yeah, five touchdown performance with two interceptions. And those are important interceptions because Daniels overcame that. One of them he sailed. It was a big mistake. You'd think that might doom younger quarterback or other quarterbacks that maybe aren't as mentally tough as Jane Daniels. But no, he went right back to work, let him down the field threw a beautiful touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin, threw a couple of really nice touchdown passes to Alameda Zakias by extending the play, and then that dot over the middle,

throwing it into an open window before the receiver is even there because Zach Bonn, I don't know why he put Zach Bonn in coverage in the middle of the field, leaves it open for him, and he throws it perfect dot touchdown. It demonstrated to me the composure and the confidence and the maturity that I've seen a lot in Jayden Daniels this year. I even saw it in New Orleans last week,

even though they barely won that game. You've seen it throughout most of this season. And he is so calm and collected and just sure of himself. And that's what allows him to lead his team back to victories like this. And it was only possible because, I hate to say it, Jalen Hurts gets knocked out of this game in the first quarter because the Eagles were rolling. The commanders had no answer for Saquan Barkley. Soon as Hertz gets out of the game and Kenny Pickett comes in, they shift their defensive strategy. They go from two high safeties to one.

They put more guys in the box to stop the run. It limits Saquan. Eagles have to find other ways to make things happen. Their guys are dropping passes. and the commanders, they're getting every opportunity in front of them, and they're capitalizing, and they get a big win. Yeah, and I think that's absolutely fair to point out. Hertz missed most of this game, and I have heard people say,

well, you know, Hertz wasn't playing defense, and yeah, that's true. But when Jaden Daniels throws that interception with under four minutes to go, in another world, that's where Jalen Hertz and Sequin Barkley have the drive that kind of ices the game. Instead, they end up settling for a field goal on a short. short drive, only four plays, and Jane Daniels gets the ball back. Now, that doesn't change the fact that he got

it with 158 to go against what's been the hottest defense in the league. And at one point, they had a snap with about 23 seconds left, a third and one. And if this hadn't worked out for them, I probably would have been killing them in the post game. They decided to run the ball there with

Brian Robinson. They don't get the spike off until 11 seconds to go. So you only had time there, shook, for probably two more plays, and that's where you got to give Daniels a lot of credit just between him and Cliff Kingsbury and Dan Quinn, the way they've managed these sort of situations, Daniels has 81 yards rushing on the day as well. Like, he always seems to play his best when it matters the most, and that's what you love. This is the first time Washington has been 10 and 5 since

1991. That is absolutely outrageous. Yeah, Magic Johnson was celebrating afterwards. He said a clinched the playoff spot and a little premature there as we got we got to wait for a couple more things to settle down but those those 81 yards rushing a huge chunk of that came on a fourth and eleven where jaden daniels just steps through and jaylon hertz had a significant absence in this game cj gj got run from the game cj gardner johnson for two unsportsmanlike penalties i have to think it'll be a little more difficult for washington to do what they did especially in the secondary kind of exploiting some mismatches as you mentioned was z Bond their late if CJGJ was able to play but not just overcoming those turnovers. There were five of them. It wasn't just the Jaden Daniels interception. Brian Robinson had the ball stripped out as well

as the special teams play and there was so much leading the Eagles way other than losing their quarterback and one of their better players in the secondary. But they had opportunities, big opportunities like a third and six late where Devante Smith ran a great route.

Kenny Pickett hits him on a slant and And DeVante just drops the ball, something that he rarely does. And the gun, pick it. He puts Doxon in motion. Pick it. He's back. He's looking. He is firing.

Juggled and dropped by DeVante Smith. Devonte Smith had it in his hands. Maybe a touchdown and he dropped it. Oh, I was looking for the pathos there from Merrill Reese. He's a pro on WIP. And you heard it. You heard it because that would have taken. the under two minute warning, the commanders would have had to use their timeouts.

He might have scored a touchdown on that play. And sometimes shook, that's what playoff seating and spots and seasons come down to are just you need to get a break and then you need to take advantage of a break. What did you think about the Washington defense actually in this game against Pickett? You know, the Eagles go three for 16 on third down. I know they struggled early. Did it make you feel any differently about this team? in general, which looks very much headed to the sixth seed here in the NFC.

No, I mean, I felt good about their performance because there was times where they would get after Kenny Pickett and he would have nowhere to go. He'd be under pressure. There was a time when they slid the protection to the left and left Dante Fowler with a free rush to sack Pickett on a key third down. That stuff has happened. And then it happened plenty in this game. But also, the Eagles played the fourth quarter as if every pass catcher went to the sideline, got a big tub of Crisco out and just coated their hands in it. Because they dropped passes left and right. They were accurate throws, a lot of them. them that Pickett put on the money and they just didn't finish the catch. It felt like one of those

games were like, I know Patrick, you're very anti-momentum, but the momentum was just shifting against them because they kept dropping these passes. It's like they were playing tight. And as they stacked up one after another to another to another, by the time Devante dropped that, I was like, well, that just fits the way this whole fourth quarter has gone. Now, that's not necessarily something that was forced by the Washington defense. There was a catch that Seekwon Barkley made that Bobby Wagner finished the play through and knocked it out as he was trying to finish the catch along the sideline. That was a huge breakup.

That one credited to the Washington defense. But, I mean, they also forced turnovers. They picked off, picket after he finished off the first drive in which he appeared after Hertz got knocked out. He comes in and throws a touchdown pass. Next drive, he throws a pick like immediately. And it gets them back in the game. So they definitely did their part to keep the commanders in this game and buy them the

opportunity, especially considering the five turnovers that Patrick mentioned. A complimentary win, for the most part. A crazy one, but a complimentary win with a little bit of help on your side with the fact that Hertz wasn't playing. Yeah, more than a little. There's no way they beat a Jalen Hurd's Eagles team with five turnovers if he's out there. I'm sorry, but that's just how it works out.

And I said they're headed for the seven seed. I shouldn't have said that, or the six seed. The Packers or the commanders will probably be the six or the seven, and it's too hard right now to guess. But this absolutely puts a big dent into the Eagles' chances of winning the number one seed in the NFC. It is out of their hands now, and it is almost certain that they're going to be the two-seed

with the winner of the NFC North, very likely being the one seed. Next-gen stats only gives them a 4% chance because they didn't have the tiebreakers anyways against the lions and probably against the Vikings, and now they're behind both of them at 12 and 3. So a really costly loss, Nick Siriani was just saying how sloppy he thought it was in retrospect.

It's funny how it's like, yeah, that's all true. And yet, if Devante holds on to that, it's a pretty gutsy win to win against your division rival on the road. And you had great things like AJ Brown was just, you know, handling Marshawn Ladamore who was out there. Marshal Ladamore had three pass interference calls in this game. And even then, AJ Brown was beating him on slants. AJ Brown to me is he's on my all pro team.

I don't care what the numbers say. He is just an outrageously good player. But a huge miss opportunity for the Eagles. And it probably means they're going to be headed. on the road, if they're lucky enough, to make the NFC championship game. But where will they be headed? Would it possibly be to Detroit? Could it be to Minnesota?

As this game was happening, the Lions were playing the Bears, and the Lions game finished first. Let's see what happened. And anyway, we're good, we're good. Yeah, you are. Jerry takes, stumbles coming out of there, wants to throw, does down. He'll got a man wide open. Sam Leporta.

Touchdown, Detroit Lions. Oh, my goodness. Jared stumbled coming out from behind, center, regained composure, regained his grip on the football, and then threw it down to a wide open, Sam Leporta for a touchdown, 21 yards on the connection. I think he did that on purpose. I think Jared Gough did that on purpose.

Because you could hear some guys, even through the reps, might yell and fumble, fumble. Jared Gough went down like he dropped the ball. I think that sucked in a lot of those Chicago defenders up to the line of scrimmage. Great call there by Lomas Brown, T.J. Lang, and Dan Miller on WXYT. Yeah, that play is called Stumble Bum.

It was on purpose. I didn't realize it was on purpose at the time when I'm watching it. I mean, they faked me out, but Jemir Gibbs goes to the ground. He falls. Goff stumbles in such a believable way that, like, how did he do that?

How many times has he practiced stumbling? His whole life. And then the- He doesn't have to practice. I guess. Come on, bro. And then the kudagra is, and that's what I'm impressed.

The announcers heard it, was all the other Lions players going, Fobo! Fobo! They're like yelling at the time. And if you watch the play, you see the hesitation by the Bears linebacker. Who was that?

Was that T.J. Edwards? Covering Leporta. And that one little second of hesitation leads to the touchdown pass. The Lions win 34 to 17 against the Chicago Bears. They did everything that I experienced. expected in this game. This was the game.

It just was so confident they would cover that seven points on game day view. I said that was my pick of the week was them getting over the team total, which was 26. They did that by halftime. They were awesome offensively in this game, 475 yards, 27 first downs. And you could really pick any player that you want to highlight on the lion's offense. You could pick Jameson Williams, maybe a comeback player of the year candidate. Can you come back from your own suspensions? Jared Goff, who threw the ball 336 for 336 yards on only 32 attempts beating the cold weather allegations.

He had an 82-yard dime to J-mo in that game. Or you could talk about Jemar Gibbs, who without David Montgomery in the lineup goes for 154 yards on 28 touches. I'm a little worried about all these heavy touch counts, by the way. They gave Sequin in that Eagles game, 29 carries. He's like, it's just a lot. It's going to be a lot for Jemir Gibbs down the stretch, but they did what they needed to do. They forced some turnovers, Patrick, and I don't know.

This team is special to me. I have my concerns about the defense, but I'm not surprised at all how this offense responded. Yeah, no, the offense is no surprise. And Ben Johnson just has to come up with, I guess, new things to show us every single week as maybe he wanted to put out of show. That's what Peter Freger was suggesting for the folks in Chicago. go who were there to watch the game as if right in 2024 you have to do things in a

particular place for people to see them uh but that's the narrative wait hold on a second because he also said he took inspiration after the game from jordan love stumbling and making a very similar touchdown pass i think i think in week one or something maybe it was against the lions themselves but he he took inspiration i mean this is an artist and and i keep seeing Lions fans. Why are they wasting these plays? Save him for the playoffs. Like, he's got these plays. He's got more of them. This is an artist who

he's getting inspiration each and every week. Don't mess with the art. No, it's beautiful every single time. And really this team, the offense is so good. Ben Johnson can call a regular little screen pass whenever he wants and the Lions are going to get 15 to 20 yards on it almost every single time. The defense is where the concern

is. They're able to pressure Caleb Williams. That's pressuring Caleb Williams. So it's a very low bar. But 30, percent of his dropbacks. He was six of 14 for 73 yards on those. He does eventually throw for 330 yards, but a lot of that's in garbage time. A lot of it was late. Keenan Allen had a long one where they're going to be in scorefest, right? If the lions are going to have this run in the postseason, it's going to be a game that the totals in around the 70s or 80s. But they're going to be in those games. And I understand that the injuries have mounted,

but they lose David Montgomery. They got one of the most explosive. if not the most explosive back in the NFL right behind him. We saw what Jamo can do today if he's getting more involved. Oh, man. There's really nothing you can. Okay, so maybe this is a conversation for like a Tuesday show or something, but he goes for 143 yards. He could go over 1,000 yards.

The variety of the routes that he's running is just really impressive. Our friend Ali Connolly and John Ledyard have been talking about on their podcast. Just what a great job. He's done blocking all year, how body. and he is running every route so hard. And he's just a different player. He's one of the most improved players, I think, in the entire league. I really find it fascinating that they were all watching the Eagles game in the locker room

because that Eagles game took a while and the lines were off the field early, shook. And when they saw that the Eagles lost, they celebrated as if it was like Clinton. I don't know if it was as if clinching a division, but they were all very excited. They finished at San Francisco on Monday Night Football. If you're in the UK, I'm going to, I'm going to. to do that game on Channel 5, the season finale, and then they close out with the Viking. So hopefully, even though a lot of drama has been taken away from us, not to give away what happens here at the Vikings game, but yeah, you know, hopefully that game, Nick, is for

the one seed. That would be a great way to finish this regular season. Yeah, and it preserves what we hope would be a great finish to this regular season, which we still have the opportunity there because, of course, I mean, the Lions did what we thought they would do, which is go beat the Bears. I just want to point out one thing real quick, because you talked about Points Fest, right? If it wasn't, for a missed field goal, they would have scored on their first seven possessions. They scored on six of their first seven possessions. Field goal touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown, missed field goal touchdown. They only had three more possessions and one of them

was the end of game. And the other, oh, and another one, the first time they didn't score there or didn't at least attempt a field goal, they had a fourth and two, I believe, or fourth and three from the 11. They were in the red zone and they were way up. But, but Dan Campbell, as Dan Campbell has wanted to do, wanted the touchdown there and not the field goal, which made made sense. They were already up three scores, so there was no point in going from 17 to 20, and they didn't get it there. Now, the only thing I would push back just a tiny bit was just on the garbage time aspect of the Caleb game. They were not able to run the ball all day, so that's encouraging for the lines. But I thought Caleb threw the ball well all day. They

moved the ball well pretty much throughout the entire game. They ended up with 19 first downs, 382 yards. The reason their first few drives short-circuited were fumbles, one by Caleb, and so that's on him. Otherwise, I thought Caleb had a really good game and another fumble from Roma Dunez. So you had these two fumbles early in the game, and it just led to a game script where they were always trying to catch up.

And that's true, but they were moving the ball, especially considering they lost two offensive linemen in this game. They're not a great offensive line anyways. They lost Braxton Jones, and they lost Taven Jenkins. They had another injury coming into the week, and not an extra guy active. So their offensive line throughout that game

were four different tackles and one center. And I know that in the lines did get a lot of pressure. As Patrick mentioned, Pat O'Connor got a bunch. Zedaria Smith got a bunch, but they didn't get a lot of QB hits or sacks on Caleb Williams

like every other team does. So it actually was a little concerning to me that they let Chicago move up and down the field so much. Shout out to Amman Ra, St. Brown, too, by the way. He goes over 1,000 yards. He has 100 catches, 1,000 yards, and 10 touchdowns for two straight.

seasons. He's the first Detroit lion to ever do that. A total badass. I don't know if Patrick Claibon is going to make it to the end of this show. Oh, we're good. I mean, he's good. You're, you're coughing over there. You're looking. I got a button. I know you do. But it's, it's late December. Christmas is right around the corner and playing well, broadcasting well, when maybe physically you're not at your best. That's just what stars do. Let's go to Seattle because that's what Gino and Sam Darnold were doing. First and 10th from the Seattle 39. 358 to go.

Seattle leads by four in the fourth quarter. Sam steps up. Sam throws left. Codd Jefferson. Touchdown! Yes! Sam, the man on the fan, finds the moneymaker Justin Jefferson. My God.

I mean, it's gone next level with this Sam Darnold thing. He's playing like one of the best quarterbacks. League. That was one of the plays of the season. I really believe that considering the stakes, the situation, the response from the Minnesota Vikings after Gino had just put together what might have been his best drive of the entire season, that play while getting hit. The second time on that drive that Darnold made a dime while getting hit. Just incredible. Jefferson ends up 10 for 144 and a couple of touchdowns. Darnold, that was his third touchdown pass. The Vikings win it. Yes, to get the 13 and 2, 27 to 12.

for dealing a cruel blow to the Seattle Seahawks playoff hopes. Man, this Vikings team, they find different ways to do it, but you got to give Sammy his flowers, Patrick, for doing it in a big spot there. It reminded me of the game against the Arizona Cardinals a few weeks ago where Kyler and company go down and score and the Vikings need to drive. And there was a third and seven and Sam Darnold steps up and he throws a seeing eyeball to Justin Jefferson,

which was a great Sam Darnold play. play. It was one of the best I've ever seen to make. This one was better. This because, as you mentioned, Gino had the drive. There was a third and gold touchdown to A.J. Barner where he barely gets his feet in the back of the end zone. And so pressure's mounting to get something out of this drive for Minnesota, where they are now trailing. And Sam Darnold takes a couple of big hits, including one where his face mask gets grabbed, his leg gets twisted up. This fight boy A. Maffei was all over him for several points in this game. And he steps up, not just stepping up, he's on the run, jumping off of one foot and making that throw to Justin Jefferson where

Julian Love is coming in from the safety, the corner is there, and it goes directly to JJ where nobody else can get it and he walks into the end zone, where there's nothing else to say. Like Sam Darnold is playing some of the best quarterback play in the NFL right now, and it's impossible to deny it. And it was the reason that I and a lot of other people question this team, I was wrong. Donald's dealing. There's nothing we can do about it.

that was one of those throws that it's like it's often characterized as effort Justin Jefferson's down there somewhere like it was half that and the other half was oh by the way I trust myself to let this rip because I still have a great arm like he saw a cover two he said whole shot except I'm going to throw it beyond both guys the corner and the safety because I trust my receiver to go make a play that's the confidence that you get from playing an entire season together and building it week by week to the point where you now believe in yourself that you can make that throw and you know that guy can make that catch and oh by the way we're doing it on the road in Seattle where the fans are loud

and the stadium's designed to keep the sound in and we're trailing and we need this win because we're trying to stay in the NFC race for the top seed and we just deliver. That's what the Vikings do. They just keep delivering. I get so much hate online for my skepticism about the Vikings. Guess what Vikings fans? Not skeptical today.

I mean, what more do they got to do? 13 and 2, 6 and 1 away from Minnesota. They have a huge game next week against Green Bay and then even a bigger one against Detroit. So I was really impressed with both quarterbacks in this game. And Darnold was ultimately better because he didn't throw the two interceptions that Gino did.

Now, the first Gino interception, you could fault Noah Fant a little bit for not continuing. But ultimately, Gino's made a few too many of those throws this year where he's on the run and he forces it. And that's on him. The interception that he made after they got the ball back with about a minute to go, they need a field goal, just to set up how the end of this game, went. Even after that Jefferson touchdown, which was with under four minutes to go, Seattle got the ball back. They got it into a really long field goal range. And Gino just kept getting hit, play after play. Both of these quarterbacks did. Eight quarterback hits, I believe, for the Seahawks,

seven for the Vikings. Gino's hobbling out there. He had a key scramble. But they end up settling for a 62-yard attempt by Jason Myers. He comes up short. The Seattle defense steps up, gets the ball back, 55 seconds to go. Length of the field, at least in terms of getting into field goal range, because they start at the 17-yard line before moving backwards on yet another false start. So many untimed penalties by the Seahawks offense.

Here's what happened. Gino Smith trying to snap the Vikings winning streak. Back to pass, Rose Wright. And that's it. Intercepted by Theo Jackson. And the Minnesota Vikings have won eight consecutive games they are 13 and 2 and Kevin O'Connell is the first coach in Minnesota Vikings history to have multiple 13 wins seasons I mean shout out to Camp Bynum for the way he gets this group ready

for those celebrations I'm just going to sound like a Gino stand if I just start railing against D.K. Metcalf right now so can you do it for me Patrick? Yeah no. D.K. It's not just that they're on the same Because even if D.K. was running the corner, it was a very lazy corner at that. And he barely gets his head around before the ball is picked off where, you know, how many times, right? Do you see this situation where D.K. and Gino aren't on the same page where you're just like, okay, no more option routes. Let's take the options away because when we saw it work, right, that there was the adjustment, the side adjustment that he and Gino had mid-rout that led to a long touchdown earlier this season. And we sang its praise is there. But here's the downside where you've got a defender picking off a ball

where they had a chance to win the game. And you mentioned those sacks before the Myers' 60-yard field goal. If Gino doesn't take those sacks, then that's not a 60-yard field goal. You know, it's 57, 55, and the ball landed about four yards short. And so if we're playing that game, Myers maybe puts that ball through the uprights, and it's a different situation at the end, where those mistakes are the ones that we're going to remember, despite how good Gino played other than those two throws, it's very difficult to give the ball the other team.

But that's the right throw. Like it is an obvious read there and you're right. I think the criticism on Ryan Grubb, the offensive coordinator has been picking up and up and up and up in Seattle. But ultimately it's a pretty clear read that he needs to be running towards the sideline there. And instead he rounds it off. And when you're a player like Gino who's going to win kind of from the neck up and with the anticipation, and you're backed up on your own goal line with 50 seconds left

and no timeouts. Like, that is the right throw. And D.K. Blew it there. And, unfortunately, that's sort of the end of the Seahawks season. We'll get into all the, for instance, I shouldn't say that. I'm sounding like a fan. But it could be. It could be without any of their control the end of their season. But to me, it was typical, Shook, because Ken Walker leaves this game hurt. It's just a microcosm of the season. The offensive line has a couple better moments protecting it, but ultimately it's caving in,

and it's too much of these third and longs because the three touchdown drives they went on, Chino was 15 for 15 with three touchdowns and had some of the prettiest throws you've ever seen. Steve Weish is watching this game and covering it and texting me just like the quarterback play in this game was absolutely next level. And yet, to me, it is fitting kind of in the end

that Smith and Jigba has the consistent game. He is the number one receiver there in Seattle now. And it just, there's too many things working against the Seahawks, even if their defense was up for it. Yeah, well, you speak about the offensive line caving. That's how you lead to two to ten on, two of ten on third down. And a lack of attention to detail with your 11 penalties accepted against you. I mean, this is how you lose a game like this against the top tier team.

You cannot afford to make these mistakes. You can't have your receiver as Mark Sanchez. as astutely put it, ooze out toward the sideline instead of hitting a hard cut toward the sideline when you need an anticipatory throw in a key spot to get out of bounds and save time. You just can't make those mistakes. And this has kind of been endemic of who the Seahawks have been at times.

And this is before you take Gino out of the game last week when they had to have Sam out, because we saw how that fell off of a cliff, where the margin for error for them has been very slim in some of these games. And it has cost them more often than that, which is how you end up where you are record-wise, where you're now basically thinking, are seasons about over?

Because you just didn't do the little things right, which is disheartening because as a team, they came together at the right time. But defense started to play better. Gino was ball in and everything else, but you're going to fall short because you don't take care of the detail. Defense played better today. You know,

that face mask penalty that Patrick mentioned was on a sack. If they didn't have the face mask there, it's a totally different game. They're probably getting the ball back there with a lead without a lot of time left. And who knows what's happened. They held Minnesota under 300 yards, under, you know, 21st downs.

They did a lot of good things. But the offense turned. it over twice. The Seahawks had 11 penalties in this game. Most of those on offense, like more than half of them in these pre-snap stuff. And I think they've built up something good, but at 8 and 7, that might not be good enough. This is one of the better conferences in terms of the records of teams going into the playoffs. So we could have, it's possible. We could have 7-12 win in plus teams. It's probably not going to happen. Or no way, that's not possible because no, it is possible. Yeah. No, they can get there.

Edit that out. Eric, or don't? let's go to the York. So that game happened late and we kind of learned what is the race for the one seed gonna look like now. Minnesota now has it in their hands

if they win out they are the one seed. Obviously the lions that's still true for them. The Seahawks knew this game was even more important because they certainly knew what happened earlier in the day

in New Jersey. Two tied end set with the strength to the ride of Matthew Stafford who's under center. From that right side, Pooka in motion. Play fake, roll right, Stafford throws, caught by Higby, at the 10.

Big Rigg Higgs to the goal line. Touchdown! Tyler Higby! Welcome back! Big Rigg Higgs! Touchdown, L.A. I'll put that one in the call of the year. I love it.

J.B. Long on KS.B.N., our friend, Big Rigg Hig. On a play, uh, so fun, it had a nickname. And our friend Jordan Rod Reed sent the nickname. It was called Lizard. And all the Rams were just giggling about why it was called Lizard, but they wouldn't tell us why. Tell us why. Tyler

Higby, the longest-tenured ram next to Rob Havenstein, I believe draft picked back early days. Before Sean McVeigh even was here, gets into the end zone in an ugly 19-9 victory.

Kind of typical for this season, Patrick. Despite that Bill's game, everyone remembers, they have a lot of kind of these ugly wins, but they are nine and six now. Pretty amazing for a team that was once one and four. Yeah, and you just heard 10% of Matthew Stafford's passing yards on that 11-yard touchdown to Tyler Higney. He threw for 110 yards in this game.

If not for Kyron Williams' efforts, they got 122 on the ground. Blake Horm had a long run that ultimately got called back for holding the Rams defense essentially won this game. questionable decision making by the Jets, surprise, surprise, gives the Rams this one where the Jets had a fourth and two that they threw four, got it early in the game, led to some points. They had a fourth and one that they did not get. They had difficulty corral in Pugua.

Everybody does, but they're able to hold them to 56 yards on eight catches. Eight catches for just 56 yards. Cooper Cup only had three catches in this game, but the Rams defense, Cam Carle got a sack of Aaron Rogers late, not just a sack, but a strip. sack. Jared Verst is able to get on top of it and the Jets never recovered from the Rams making some of those big plays where there were so many opportunities. Aaron Rogers threw the ball 42 times, but it wasn't enough to deal with this Rams team that is specialized. The win it so far earlier this year against the 49ers, this win and MetLife, just some absolute

ugly games that the Rams have managed to win and it shows their versatility because there's a reason Sam and Matt Stafford did not make it onto QB Island and our friend Jordan got a lot of grief for it after that Bill's game and then you look at these last two games against the 49ers and the Jets like that's kind of been his season a little up and down

now if you're a Jets fan that's right QB Island will be coming back at least by the end of the regular season. If you're a Jets fan you got to think like how many different ways can we lose games shook? They did not punt. They are the first team in 25

years. They only had seven possessions. Three of them ended on downs. So they go for it on fourth downs and they didn't get it. They are the first team to not punt in 25 years to not score 10 points. That's pretty hard to do. Not punt and not score 10 points and not turn the ball over until, I don't know way that. They did turn it over twice. That Rogers play, he looked very old. I don't know if you saw that, but that was that was a play where I know, I know he's been better lately shook, but like I was like, man, the young Aaron Rogers wouldn't have come close to taking that sack. Yeah, it's a reminder of the up and down nature of Aaron Rogers in his current place in his career and why we have no idea where he's going to play next year if he's going to play.

Because you can't figure out what he's going to be one week to the next. You can say the same about Matthew Stafford, but they're still winning football games and he's still throwing a touchdown pass in a key spot like we just highlighted earlier. That was the one thing that jumped out of me was three turnover on down. This is what happens when you get the confidence of scoring a touchdown on your first possession and you're like, oh, we can go do it again. It was a great pass to Devonte Adams in the back of the end zone. Fantastic catch.

Let's go do it again, except they can't because they're the Jets. And despite how well they've played in the last couple of weeks, you face a team that's actually fighting for a playoff spot and you learn real quick just how far away you still are. Right. And they also fumbled a punt return late when they were only down by seven and that helped make it get to nine, I mean, I believe, or get to 10. I don't know.

Like, what do you think about this Rams team going into next week? Okay, let's break down before I ask you that. Patrick, the situation. Yeah, let's get it. Okay. So they are in first place in the NFC West. They are nine and six. The Seahawks are eight and seven. Before the 49ers even played on Sunday, they were eliminated based on that commander's win, which really eliminated a lot of the pass for wild card possibility, including for Seattle. Seattle cannot be a wild card team. So it is division or bust for Seattle. Seattle trails by one game. They play in the final.

week. If you look at all the tiebreakers head to head, well, they'd be tied there because that Rams overtime win is now looming as the biggest game in the NFC West all season. They're tied there, tied in division record, they'd be tied in conference record if they were tied going into it. It comes down to strength of victory. Strength of victory is very complicated because it's like where the BCS, you're seeing if the teams that you beat beat be other teams. So it's not totally decided, but we asked NFL research, Jack Andrade, before the show,

he was doing all the calculations. And if Seattle wins on Thursday night, they play first. Of course, they have to win out to have a chance to win the division. They have to win on Thursday night, take care of business. The Rams play on Saturday night.

The Rams would not be able to clinch the NFC West on Saturday night based on the strength of victory tiebreaker. Now, that said, it could be clinched by the end of the week and they have such a big lead and strength of victory that even if it wasn't clinched by the end of week 17 before Seattle and the Rams face,

it could very well and likely would be clinched at some point in week 18. So it would lead to a very unsatisfying scenario where Seattle could possibly be playing to win that game and think they have a little bit of a chance and they do win, but they don't win the division anyways. Long story short, the Cardinals need to beat the Rams next Saturday night on NFL network to give Seattle a chance.

Based on how the Rams look today, like what do you think of the Rams kind of in that game? To me, I don't know if I totally trust them in any given week. You know what I mean? Like they're close, right? Yeah, well, the question is how clean is nine going to be? Matthew Stafford, we saw it against the Buffalo Bills. If he's protected, then the sky's the limit. They're going to be able to do whatever they do.

a spectacular game from Kyra Williams on the ground. There's also pressure in Stafford's face, and he throws a ball to DeMarcus Robinson and double coverage, and Tony Adams picks it off. This kind of like this late stage Stafford dichotomy where it's like, oh, that's Matthew Stafford. I watched him against the Buffalo Bills. And then who is this guy?

Kind of sneakily getting outplayed by like the ghost of Aaron Rogers in spots of this game where they just got to find a way to protect them. They didn't do enough to do that, I guess, yesterday. That's true. The numbers say he's one of the worst quarterbacks in football under pressure all season. Today he goes three for five within a reception. But he didn't take a sack. He sort of is in that Rogers mode where he refuses to take a sack.

And that's improved offensive line play. Hasn't taken a sack in three weeks. But it's also him being a little panicky. I mean, he's only pressured on 26% of the dropbacks today. And so, yes, if the Cardinals can get some pressure on Matthew Stafford, they'll have a chance next week and they'll have a chance to help out the Seattle Seahawks. and frankly, the NFL, which could use some week 18 games with a little bit of juice. At least we'll have some juice in that Saturday night game on NFL Network, he says.

A nice little triple header. But we would have had a little more juice if the Cardinals had come through on Sunday. But they didn't because Bryce Young got after it. Let's go to Carolina. Three tight ends to the right. Here's the snap that give to Hubbard over the right side. breaks a tackle 10, 5, high step, touchdown Chuba Hubbard, and the Panthers win in overtime, a game-winning 21-yard run by Chuba Hubbard.

Sweet Caroline, one more time in 2024. That is WRFX, Chuba Harvard, getting it done. A walk-off overtime touchdown. down. The Panthers finally get a win in one of these close games. It feels like they've been giving us a lot of entertainment. You couldn't say that about the 2023 Panthers or the 22 Panthers for that matter. Good for them. 36 to 30.

Not a ton of defense. Patrick played in this game. And yes, we are in a Patrick run here on the program, three straight games that he covered. I love you, Shook. You're going to have your moments later when we do the AFC. If you didn't notice, that kind of structured. to NFC, AFC. Oh, there we go.

And yeah, I don't have a problem with this. This is fine. The Arizona Cardinals are eliminated. That's it for them. They actually entered the day with a very reasonable path to win the division. And then by the time this game was over, they were out.

And something that I don't believe has happened thus far this season. The Carolina Panthers outran the opposition. And this is with James Connor averaging 7.8 yards per carry. But he only had 15 of them. and Chuba Hubbard went 25 on the ground for 152. It was the Panthers jumping out. It was a 20 to 3 lead that Kyler and the Cardinals were able to whittle away. A lot of it, thanks to James Connor, where Bryce Young had a touchdown drive where on two plays, he had 57 rushing yards, including a rushing touchdown, where they played less man because they had to.

Bryce Young was killing them once the defenders got their backs turned in the first half. but it eventually goes into overtime. Bryce is making those anticipatory throws. And just when it kept seeming like Kyler Murray had opportunities to come back and win this game, he would get out on the edge and Kyla would get ran down. Yeah. That's what jumped out to me,

this Carolina Panthers team that could not corral Patrick Mahomes five weeks ago on scrambles was beating Kyler Murray to the sideline on multiple plays, including one where I'm wondering what was going on with the clock because I thought Kyler got out of bounds, but they railed the clock. Jonathan Gannon had to take a timeout in a long, Chad Ryland,

58-yard field goal to send the game to overtime. But the Panthers defense made plays late, which is weird to say in a game that was 36 to 30, but the Panthers defense, which has been play averse in the fourth quarter this season, finally makes the plays they need to win. I'm glad you pointed that out about, Kyler, because you look

on the statute, 8 for 63, that's what we've been wanting to see, be a little more aggressive. I think he was more aggressive, on the ground the last two weeks and he wasn't that successful. Maybe he was chopping up his feet occasionally, but he just didn't look like he had the same amount of juice. It's late in the season. Maybe that's the reason. But you're absolutely right. That was huge. Yeah, Gannon essentially blamed the officials afterwards. And I agree with him in this case. And it would have been really unfortunate if amongst the confusion of whether Kyler got out of bounds there or not

15 seconds going off the clock and them not taking a time out, ended up. ending their season. But Rylan kind of bailed the officials and I guess Gannon out in that situation and they went to overtime. But Bryce to me was the story and it's not a mistake that Bryce keeps

getting Patrick Claibon covering these games. I know how you enjoy watching him. He, going into the afternoon window, I think was second in the NFL and EPA per play today. I don't know what it ended up as. And so you'll look at the box score and you see 158 yards and two touchdowns. But

He also ran for 68 yards and a touchdown. Over half of his throws resulted in touchdowns or first downs. So if you watched it, just eye test, it's really impressive what he's doing. These are throws that he's making before his wideouts are making breaks. And also credit to David Moore and Adam Thielen for making some really good catches too, not household names, at least not David Moore, but Thelan's hands are just amazing. And I like seeing them get rewarded because this,

offense, especially coming off a bad week, shook, has really been one of the stories of the second half of the season that they got it going. Yeah, what we found in this, I don't know if I would call it a resurgence, but the next step in Bryce Young's development, is that he's kind of gotten a little bit of Drew Brees in him, in that all of these throws are very

anticipatory. And that's Dave Canales, understanding where his quarterback's strengths lie and then schemeing the offense accordingly. And then you kind of allow them to make plays. Like, Dan Chisina caught his second career catch today in a kind of big spot. It was so surprising that the cameraman missed him and thought it was somewhere else and just completely missed the catch and had to refocus to find him on the field. But it's because of the way

this offensive scheme and Bryce is playing really well. Also on the Cardinals point, James Connor had 117 yards. Didn't get a carry in the fourth quarter. In a fourth quarter in which they actually managed to put 10 points on the board. Because they were down by 10. That's the question that I have because that doesn't make a lot of sense to me when that's the power of your offense. And Kyler on the run, 20-yard touchdown run, but you're right. This has actually happened a lot with him in the last, I don't know, six weeks or so, which has been every time he tries to get out to run, there are no spaces to run. It's like defenses are preparing very much so to contain his scrambling ability,

and then he's forced to throw it away or just take a small gain. When he went out of bounds, I thought he may have gotten knocked backward, and because he wasn't going out of bounds with forward progress, they ran the clock, but it was a very peculiar situation regardless. Well, I think it was the communication, too, between the officials that they didn't communicate that to the coaches, but it's all beside the point on some level. They almost certainly weren't going to score a touchdown there. So the field goal just would have been closer. Another couple of spots were like Marvin Harrison. It doesn't win a contested catch. It's disappointing that

it's hard to know what to do with this cardinal season because it was a missed opportunity. They went into the buy at six and four and they've lost four out of five since. You know, this is a bad loss ultimately. They weren't that close with Seattle. It was really that Minnesota game. It was the margins are so small. That game where they really outplayed the Vikings and blew it on a couple game management and just Sam Donald making big plays at the end, that kind of ended up being their season, but we need you, Arizona. I still think it's a step forward. Unfortunately, it feels a lot like the Kyler Murray, Cliff Kingsbury years, but I know, I think you got to give Jonathan Gannon a wider berth. This was one of the hardest rebuilding jobs in the NFL. I think they were very

competitive for what they had last year without Murray most of the year. Now they're 7 and 8. That's a significant step up. They're way over there, over under wind total coming into the season. Like, it still was a big step forward going into year three. I think be patient. Even if there were some moments down the stretch where you just want to see Kyler take that big step. I'm not sure that we saw that this year. He's just a very good quarterback. Maybe he's not going to be a great quarterback. Or maybe he just needs to have the right year. This was not that year. So the Cardinals are out. What about the Falcons? They're playing early. They have Michael Pennix. They absolutely needed a win and they got it. And here goes Locke looking to the near

side. They got batted in the air and intercepted Matthew Judeon. Another pick six and a touchdown. Boy, I hope SMU's not watching this game. Oh, thanks. Drew Locke has thrown his second interception and They both mid-pick-six. Well, the random SMU Mustang, are they? Drive-by there by West Durham and Dave Archer. Having fun like Matthew Judon, WZGC. Yeah, Judon with the great Nick Van Exel touchdown celebration.

At least that's what I thought. Drew Locke, second pick-six of the game. That one wasn't really his fault. That was bad luck. His offensive line completely collapsed on that play. and Greg Van Rotten and Evan Neal really didn't give him much of a chance. It gets tipped up and Matthew Judon makes a play.

Hasn't made a ton for the Falcons this year. They win 34 to 7. But the story here was Michael Pennix's first start. They needed the win to really stay in the playoff mix and they got it. And I just thought he was so much better than the numbers indicated. When you go back to watch this,

Shook on Game Pass for QB Index, I think you'll be like, wow, that's one of the better 18 for 27 for 202 in an interception games you've ever seen. First of all, the interception came on a drop from Kyle Pitts that could have been a touchdown or would have had them right on the doorstep. Second of all, like this, the eyeball test tells you he is not a normal rookie. Like Jaden Daniels, he has a ton of experience. He is looking off defenders. He is being decisive, but he's also getting to a second and third reads at times. He was accurate, and yes, it was against the Giants,

but a lot of this came against pressure. I think a really encouraging first start for Pennix, where his arm strength and ability to get out of trouble and be on the move and do a little more play action, it was all there. It kind of made the Falcons playbook open up. Their offense just made more sense, and they are 8 and 7,

and I am looking forward to watching them the next two weeks. They have a very interesting game next week against the commanders. And Pennix, I think, gives them a much better chance to win it than Kirk Cousins would have. Yeah, I think their offense never quite made sense for Kirk Cousins to begin with. We spoke at ad nauseum about the fact that they never ran play action. And you don't need to run play action to get Pennix going. You talked about pressure, seven for 13 for 77 yards into pressure.

That's very, very good for a rookie making his first start. Usually the numbers would be in the basement. They'd be terrible against pressure because it's usually too fast for a rookie. But Pennix is no ordinary rookie because of all the time he had in college, which is one of his big selling points coming into this game. also helps you in the grand scheme of things when your defense scores two touchdowns and when you rush for, you know, put an 127 yards to the ground as a team, you know, and Bejohn Robinson has another solid day. But overall, you don't need the quarterback to go through you to touchdowns when that

works. And that's fine. That's perfectly fine. I'm very much looking forward to like getting a deep dive in this game because I think Pennix was one of the guys in this class that would be able to produce something like this. And I'm not saying that the Falcons are like suddenly back, but considering where they were, this is a big win for them. The fact that they just weren't dreading the post-game press conference because their quarterback struggled again. So that's a win for that. It was worth it. Life is short. The crowd was loving this game.

The crowd was so much more amped up for Pennix. One of his best throws of the game was his first one. And it was dropped by Ray Ray McLeod, who just continues to have too big a part of this office. And that's kind of why I mentioned. Like, it's just beyond the numbers. There was at least three drops. Drake London, who did have some nice catches,

had a drop on a key play. But you just get Mooney in London. been more involved. Bajan is just so good though. I'm glad you mentioned that. Penix was in favorable situations because his success rate today was so good. He goes for 103 yards from scrimmage. He's now over 1,600 on the season. I don't think people realize that he's on the doorstep of like a 2,000 yard, yards from scrimmage. That would often lead the league where he is right now. And in fact, he would be leading the NFL in 2023 if he was in that. So he had one of the more impressive 22 for 94 as I've ever seen because they did not block it well. And he made so many people miss,

including on one of his touchdown runs. I just, I know Sequin is incredible. He's having a better season. But when I just watch Bajon like play after play, I was like, man, I don't know if I'd rather have any running back in the NFL right now than Bajan. Even Sequan. I know that's crazy. No, he's a threat. I mean, they're both threats anytime. But Bijon will take more risks as a runner in the open space. Today, he almost cost himself a first down. going backwards, but that's what he's thinking. He's trying to make big plays every single time he gets his hands on the ball. And I think with Pennix starting, he's able to do that more.

I think the offense, and I recognize, right, they get the pick six, but what those two pick sixes, but that also takes a couple possessions away where Pennix's numbers probably could have been a little bit better, Kyle Pitts. Calling it a drop is doing cow pits of favor. He handed the ball off to the Giants, essentially in the end zone. that was the kashon booty special from the patriots just like lift like volleyball like a like set it up like a volleyball player that was that was unfortunate but the reason right that i think you know pending the results on sunday night football in the way the season goes it's it's not

just that they're not dead shook it feels like they have a chance now not just because of the change at quarterback this is a defense that we were joking about their ability to sack the quarterback they added three more today and in the second in half after the buy. This is like sneakily one of the better pass rushes in the league, considering what they've been able to do. And that's crazy. Thinking about before the buy, they

had nine sacks total. Right. I think it gives them a good chance to win these final games where it's going to be important each week. They're at Washington and then they're home for Carolina. Neither is easy. I would have said with

cousins, they would have been underdogs, maybe in both of those games, certainly against the commanders with Pennex, I think they have a better chance. Arnold Abacetti had a sack there up, yeah, I think you said the 16 sacks in the last few weeks. They are now 13 and 3

wearing those red helmets. Just make of all the throwback looks, and there's more than a few that should just be the permanent looks, this is high on the list. Just make that. And then Jesse Bates had the other pick six where that one was on Drewlock. Until that moment, Drewlock was actually playing

quite well. And is a significant upgrade from Tommy DeVito, but that is a really low bar. And ultimately, he's still Drew Locke. But man, Jesse Bates now for the season, has as many interceptions and force fumbles combined as any player in the NFL. Just one of the great free agent signings

of the last few years. Pennix ends up, by the way, with a plus 8.1 EPA. The only two Falcons games that were any better in terms of EPA by a quarterback this year, Can you guess them, Nick Shook? Oh, I'm sorry. I should just put it up for it because

No, go ahead, Chuck. Come on. One's got to be Tampa Bay. Okay. These were our games. You know, we did TNF. We did Monday night football together. I mean, it's just sitting right there for you.

I'm trying to think about what we did on Monday night. Does the Eagles that come back whenever the Eagles? It was both bucks games. The Monday night game was the buck game. He threw for like 800 combined yards in those two games. So he still didn't want to double up on bucks. Yeah, it was the two bucks schemes. And Kirk Cousins, who the broadcast crew tried to give extra credit for

because apparently Raheim Morris was like, hey, look, if you need to have a week to feel sorry for yourself, you know, you could be the number three quarterback this week. And Kirk was like, no, I'm here to be the number two. And they're like trying to give him credit. I was like, that is the ultimate offer that you know the guy's not taking. It was like me telling Patrick that he could have the show off today. being sick.

He's like just sell myself and shook down the river. Yeah, if you want to phrase it like that, like, hey, if you need a, if you need the evening to feel sorry for yourself, call you. I'm joking. I really was an option, Patrick. Although, as I'm making it, I just know how you are that if the, unless the day went horribly wrong for you, you were going to be in that chair. Because if you were doing game day, game day live as he did, you know, you're a warrior.

Like Kirk. And you're not even wearing a helmet the whole time like Kirk was. Just in case. He's one snap away. I mean, don't wear the helmet in the game. Let's just throw up this graphic before we take a break just to depress all the Giants fans out there. They showed this on the broadcast, and I couldn't believe it. This is the chance that the Giants have to be the worst outright record in the NFL, first time since 66.

Winless at home, first time since 74. Winless in the division, never in holding the number one draft pick, 1965. almost immediately after they showed that graphic they showed John Mara looking up, I believe, at the graphic and then walking away when he realized it. I don't

know for sure if that's what he was looking at but they showed him he didn't look happy it's rough times but ultimately they should thank Tommy DeVito and Drew Locke for this quest to get the number one overall pick. More on that later. Let's take a break. That was the longest

first segment of this season. Who said you can't get better in week 16. 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? That was my other big takeaway from that game.

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Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Second down at seven for the Steelers. play action russell wilson rolls right throws intercepted picked off marlin humphrey he's going to the house pick six marlin humphrey and the defense stepped up to the moment oh what a play and this house is on fire love that call by jerry sandusky on w b a l yeah

how about a little complimentary football patrick claybon How about the defense making a big play? That was two touchdowns in the span of about four game minutes as we went into the fourth quarter. Ravens back on Saturday. That already feels like a while ago. Beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 34 to 17. These two teams are now tied at top the division at 10 and 5.

And it was another game, Patrick, where it was kind of like with your Raven, like how you want to get beat by Henry, or by Lamar, or in this case, by a defense, which held their own as well. Oh, yes, a defense that has been so good. Zach Orr got so much criticism. There was questions about switching over play caller duties. This was before the buy.

The pass rush got better in that win against the Chargers. And here against this George Pickensless version of the Steelers, before that play on Marlon Humphrey's pick six, Rashad Bateman's running a crosser, he stops for some reason. Lamar winds up throwing a pick directly to Mika Fitzpatrick. And so that's the game situation, and you think the Steelers are poised. But then the pass rush gets to Russ. He's rolling out, throws behind his receiver, and Marlowe makes a play, where this Ravens secondary wasn't making plays earlier in the season.

Now they decidedly are, and you got good contributions from Rashad Bateman, who had the foot injury was questionable coming into the game. He scored a touchdown on a great Lamar throw, where the offense was executing, and Derek Henry had a lot of space to run through the Steelers. were very lucky to hold him to what was one of the best rushing performances of the week and that's, you know, someone might hear me say that, say that's crazy. Derek Henry could have very easily had 200 yards in this game.

Right. There was a couple of plays where they just got him by the ankle. He still ends up with 162 on the ground, 27 through the air. And there's been a few games like this, but man, watching how they opened this game where they ran eight of the first 13 plays to Henry, and he was just eating them up because they were giving him the inside runs

because they were protecting the edge against Lamar on those gives. They just put you in such a bind. I was impressed by Lamar in terms of in the game situation, it was 17 all that the Steelers were absolutely game here. They tie it up mid third quarter. And if you're a Ravens fan, you're thinking, man, this is a game. We've looked better.

And they're tied like it's happening again. And on that very next drive, six plays, 60 yards. Every single one of them is Lamar Jackson. There's no Derek Henry. It's a nice throw to Mark Andrews to start it. It's a touchdown to Andrews to finish it. It's a Lamar run in the middle and a couple nice throws. And he ends up with a very efficient day except for that interception.

And finally, one of these games isn't close. I mean, we always hear how every time it comes down to the end and the Ravens kind of cruise there and are back in position to potentially get a three seat here in the AFC with some help. Yeah, I felt like that six-place 60-yard drive was really the statement drive of the entire day because it was very back and forth.

It was a classic Raven Steelers game and it just looks so easy for Baltimore on the following drive. In fact, when he dropped back to pass and found Andrews in the end zone, as soon as he dropped a pass in my head, actually out loud I said to my TV, he's going to find Andrews in the end zone

and then he throws it to Mark Andrews in the end zone because that's what they do. And when they're firing on all cylinders, they're a well-oiled machine. It's just that at times it has disappeared. It did not disappear in this game. The shocking part was the fact that the defense found the dagger. They put the hay in the barn for Jerry Sandusky with that pick, which, by the way,

Russ, what are we doing? That throw was on the wrong shoulder. It was about two yards behind him. What are we doing? You know, not a great play for him. I think he just missed the throw. I think he's just on the run and made a bad throw. He absolutely missed that throw.

Yeah, he absolutely missed that throw. I was just shocked because he usually doesn't miss those throws. No, and he fumbled going in for a potential touchdown in the first half. Those were really the two biggest plays of the game in Ardarius, Washington. popped him on that, on that run. So you got to give credit. What did you think about the game plan, Patrick? I didn't notice this watching it live by Pittsburgh's defense.

It didn't feel like they had a lot of pressure because they didn't. But they blitz 62% of the time. And they blitz with at least six pass rushers nine times. And it really, to me, is an example of how Lamar has grown because he had the ball out so quick. I didn't even notice they were doing that. Yeah, and there was, you know, Highsmith had a great pass rush. He actually stripped sacked Lamar. The Ravens were able to recover that.

The Ravens did get away with recovering, I think, three fumbles in this game, including one on the punt return, one from Lamar, where the Steelers could have very easily gotten those. I think T.J. Watt probably came back and was playing after leaving the last game with an injury with a little bit of something, and then the Steelers weren't getting their usual production from him in the pass rush, And so maybe that led to a little more blitzing. But even then, when they got caught in these blitzes with these Henry runs,

normally there's a plan, right? There's a plan for Lamar. But it seemed like, all right, we're going to force Lamar to give the ball. Okay, that can work. But not when Derek Henry is getting five and six yards of carry. It just seemed like they would eventually run them out of it, but they never did. Right. And they just, they never ran them out of it.

And he just knew where to throw it on those blitzes, which I just think, look, he's always been able to win from the pocket. But like a lot of seven, eight year veterans, he's a lot better. It reminds me of Big Ben. It reminds me of most great quarterbacks in year seven, year eight at winning before the snap. And I think Lamar does that more now than he did three, four years ago. And so he was just popping those little ones to likely and Zay Flowers ends up with 100. And yeah, they sent all those pressures and you never felt it.

On the other side, you actually did feel the Ravens pressures. It was pretty even just total pressure percentage. But Russ goes five for 11 for 18 yards when pressured. You didn't get anything outside the numbers. So he made a couple plays, but it's just tough to rely on that ultimately. And there were a lot of injuries for the Steelers. They were without Dante Jackson. They were without Deshaun Elliott.

And then Joey Porter Jr. got hurt in this game. So these two teams have to flip around and play on Christmas. And right now the Steelers are in first. But the Ravens got to feel like, ooh, the Steelers, there's a good chance they could lose against the Chiefs with all these defensive injuries. Yeah, I'm not like trying to be a hater here. But I do have some concerns about the Steelers just because I've never seen an offense

look so vastly different when you take one player off the field that's not a quarterback like this offense. like the russ pressure numbers maybe they can get him back they need them back they desperately need them back because the rust pressure numbers totally fit with what you see on the field which is when it's third down and he needs to throw a lofted like moonball to somebody he's got nowhere to go because pickens is not on the field it has really limited their offense he actually had a pretty good day with that considered it's just that like if they don't get him back soon I'm concerned down this stretch here especially with this quick turnaround how well they're going to perform because they're just hamstrung by it with the fact that they don't have it okay so that was

the later game on Saturday. As I mentioned, these two teams will be playing against the Texans and the Chiefs on Christmas Day, and that means it's time for the Sunday Drive presented by the all-new hybrid Toyota Camry. Let's go to Arrowhead and see how that one shaped up. Second in nine, Kansas City, in the red zone at the Texan 15-yard left.

Mahomes on the far hash on the pocket, stepping up, and trying to squeeze three states on his feet. Five, Mahalms is into the end zone. Touchdown. Kansas City on that bad ankle, stepping through the pocket, running all the way to the sweet neckler of the end zone. Ooh, Mitch Holthes on WD-A-F.

It's rare that the first touchdown of the game is the one we go with, but to me that was the defining play of a 27 to 19 victory by the Chiefs. Watch out. As if, I'm such a dope. Like, as if I needed it. a game like this for me to be like, watch out for the Chiefs. But I guess I did. I was impressed,

Shook. I thought this was their best overall offensive performance of the season coming after their worst offensive performance of the season. They looked really good in this one. I think 27 to 19 against a really good Texans defense. Yeah, Marquis Brown fit into this offense perfectly. I know he finished with five catches or 45 yards, but you could tell it was like a seamless fit. And it really just expands their options in the past. passing game, which helps Mahomes complete 28 to 41 for 260. But what stands out to me the most is that play. I'm so glad you picked that play because this is a guy with a bum ankle.

But for some reason, in the year 2024, Patrick Mahomes believes he is now a power rusher and just likes to lower his shoulder at the goal line. It's the second time he's done that in the last month. And it just kind of shows that in the number of different ways they can beat you. Yeah, they're not impressive. But this is one of the more impressive victories, like you said, against a good defense. They capitalized on turnovers made by CJ Stroud. They held them off at the end.

The Texans had a chance to, you know, potentially take. take the lead or at least, you know, tie the, or get it close. They were down by five, and they force a punt three and out like that. And the game is basically over from there. That is the mark of a winner. That's what you have to do in games like this late in the season. They're doing it. Right.

It wasn't a heavy drive game. So they had three points per drive. That would lead the league most years. That does not include them finishing the game on a seven play 46 yard drive where they just are kneeling at the end, which is becoming a chief's trademark. So this really was their best performance, I think, of the season, because it's going up against a really good Texans defense. And I thought Mahomes played smarter. He got rid of the ball so quickly. It was a great Mahomes-Reed game plan game where they kept having the leverage and he

knew exactly where to go with the ball. It was the quickest he got rid of the ball, 2.55 seconds since 2021, like early in that season. And then we mentioned the rushing value. We had 27 rushing yards on that first drive. Ends up with 33. And I just thought their coaching was great all round. CJ Stroud, despite the interceptions, was game and made more really impressive plays in this game than he has in a while. But when they needed it, Spagnolo dialed up the perfect blitz and the Texans offense was confused and a lot of late pressures on Stroud. And even though I thought he did a lot of good things, ultimately it was too much for him. It looked like a playoff game to me. Like if you told me this was the divisional round, I was like, yes, I could totally see that.

No, absolutely. And I was looking back and thinking of how the Texans kind of started. this whole thing by blowing that lead against the Kansas City Chiefs years ago before they went on their first Super Bowl run. And I do disagree about the Mahomes touchdown being the most consequential play of this game. It was Tankdale's injury. The Texans had something going on offense. It really felt like during this game after coming back from the broken leg and all he went through getting shot in the offseason, this was Tank Dell's best performance that I'd seen. And he scores a touchdown on the last play of his season where he takes the shot to the knee. You can see tears on eyes of players on both sides of the ball. You have

Will Anderson consoling C.J. Stroud as they load him up onto the cart there. And the offense was very stagnant after that, where it was kind of all on Nico Collins. And over on the offensive side, you wouldn't think too much about DeAndre Hopkins performance, but it was so chiefs. He caught four passes, all of them on third down. Like, Newk Hopkins shows up in, kind of this weird bizarreo Travis Kelsey role where it's those guys' jobs to move the sticks and now Xavier Worthy and Hollywood are able to make the explosive plays for the Chiefs

where the whole picture has kind of come into clarity for this offense now. Yeah, Worthy ends up with a touchdown in this game too in a 19-yard run and Mina Kimes had a good stat that in terms of yards on short passes he's now in the top 12 I believe in the entire NFL. So they've actually done a better job figuring out just to use him,

kind of like they used Rishi Rice early last year on those short crossers. And Kelsey, who does look older and can't break a tackle anymore, he's less important with Marquis Brown back. Suddenly you add one more weapon along with Pacheco, not that he's kind of looked full Pacheco yet. It just makes them more dangerous. And yeah, that tank injury is brutal. I couldn't agree more with everything that you said

he was playing so well in this game and I've never seen a reaction like that out of teammates and a quarterback and CJ you know I when I said Joe Mixen consoling CJ after it I just thought like that that's leadership there by him and they did get a field goal drive

a long field goal drive going after that but that drive actually to me was typical once they got close they took a sat they took a penalty then they took a sack. You know, their offensive line got more injured in this game, Shaq Mason. Their rookie, Blake Fisher, got hurt at right tackle, and then he came in and out, but he really struggled.

And it just doesn't feel like it's their season. And you really hurt for Tank Dell. He has a dislocated kneecap, according to Ian Rappaport. He was held in the hospital overnight on Saturday. It's a really serious injury. And so obviously, our best goes out to him. them. The Texans are now 9 and 6, and they have to turn around and play on Wednesday against the Ravens. And you just think about that game and you think, okay, the Ravens, even in Houston

are heavy favorites, I would say, to win that game, or at least favorites. And the Steelers have an uphill battle playing the Chiefs, although they are at home on Christmas. And the Ravens now tied, they don't need to worry about tiebreakers because if the Steelers went out, they are going to win the division. They need to get a game up on the Pittsburgh Steelers if they want to win the division. That was the Sunday drive presented by the all-new hybrid Toyota Camry, whatever your vibe. It's a Camry vibe. Learn more at Toyota.com slash Camry. Okay, so we went into Sunday after those two results in the AFC. This is the AFC portion of the show. And the bills knew we had to beat the Patriots to have any hope of still getting that one seed.

they wouldn't mess around play with their food would they hear it second and nine with 1019 left made from the shotgun throws it out in the flat and it's incomplete is it a lateral pass and a free ball it's in the end zone is it a lateral yes it's a touchdown the bills recover the ball in the end zone taren johnson jumped on the football for the touchdown Greg rousseau was out in the right flat to foil the pass but it was a backwards pass recovered for a TD if I see

another backwards pass to a Patriots running back this season I just that play they were always doing that play I don't know if it's the timing like the running back like why are you doing that play Ramandre has had a tough year with ball security

he lost two fumbles in this game oh they credited that one to Drake May actually but we have eyes how dare you give another turnover to my boy who did have an interception in this game on a play that I don't know what happened

the Patriots like two different receivers fall the Bills escape with a 24 to 21 victory and yes it was as close as that score indicated even though the Patriots scored with a minute and 13 left it's hard to say that the Bills outplayed the Patriots on a day where Patriots have a little more time of possession

dominated it in the first half They end up with more yards. They were better on third down. They had 28 first downs. A pretty surprising and flat performance by the bill's defense overall. And I think there's reason to be concerned, but I think there's also a reason to just look at the schedule and figure it's going to take care of itself.

They were without Damar Hamlin, Taylor Rap, Matt Milano, Rizul Douglas in this game. And it showed they could not get off the field. At linebacker, Bailin Specter was really strong. and the Patriots offense kind of dominated for the first 30 minutes of this game. And despite that, it was only 14-7 at halftime. Josh Allen looked like it was going to be a concern in terms of an injury for his hand. But afterwards, he said he just hit his elbow really hard and did not have feeling in his hands for a while.

And they lucked out a little bit. One of his throws just went straight up, but it fell to the ground. And it looked like Mitch Trubisky was maybe going to come into the game. But it makes sense that you would lose feeling. in your hands when you slam your elbow to the turf on what was like a 10 degree day. At one point, Drake may just drop the ball because like the ball, I think, was so icy cold. It was freezing there. And the bills escape. I guess it's just one of those games. Just get out of here with a victory. They are 12 and 3 shook.

I don't know if you're going to feel any differently after watching this game than you did before. The only thing I guess it didn't help was Josh Allen's MVP case, but I don't think it's really going to matter. Yeah, I was keeping an eye on it, and I was, you know, it would look like one of those games. By the way, that's the ulnar nerve, I believe, that's affected when it makes your whole forearm and hand go numb. I've dealt with that myself, not fun. And on a cold day like that, I mean, even that fulble recovery in the ends and it looked like guys are slipping and sliding around to get on the football. So, conditions not great. Bill's offense, not great.

Are you due for a performance like this in which you've been putting up an insane amount of points in the last, I don't know, six, seven weeks, 30 plus is the first time they've landed under 30 points since, what, way back in weeks. six, okay? So they were due for this. They also have Patriots, Jets, Patriots. Yes, they're in a fight for the AFC seating in the AFC seating race, but it's Patriots, Jets, Patriots, and you're at home. So I can understand why maybe you come out a little bit flat against the team they know you're going to beat. And ultimately, they did beat them because they are the better football team. It's not necessarily because they played well, because if they were dominated, you know, by the Patriots offense so much, a better team wins that game, but they didn't because it's the bill. So, you know, the James Cook touchdown realm was nice. He finishes with

11 for 100 yards, and you get out of town. You know, you go home, you say, all right, we won, we keep going and we try to correct some things and make sure we don't come out as flat. If anything, it's a reminder of two things. There are no gimmies in the NFL and you must always be prepared. You cannot afford to come out flat even if you did win this game. And two, for some reason, mid to semi-late

December, somebody in the MVP race plays an Orchard Park and has a clunker. Last year it was Dak Prescott. Today it was Josh Allen. Okay. I forgot about that Dak Prescott game. You're absolutely right. Everybody did accept me. I forget that he was even in the MVP race.

Do you want to apologize, Patrick, like one of our blue sky followers suggested for saying there was no need to talk about this game? The Patriots showed up and they made it again. Well, to peel back the curtain, I actually had the Patriots hitting the over on their total, which thankful for some late Bill's penalties on what was a nine snaps inside the 10-yard line on the last position, the second to last possession for the New England Patriots. But, yeah, Hitham had written that down because we weren't going to talk about it. And so I read it, you know, and I got to take credit for the words that are in the teleprompter where I said that we weren't going to talk about this game. But I thought there was an opportunity to see a Bill's defense that had been dealing with injuries that had that had seen 82 points in the last two games that they played to kind of have another performance against a young quarterback who hasn't made the mistakes that he did today. This was one of the worst Drake May games that we've had in the past several weeks. Hold on.

I would disagree because I think the first half he played like perfect. You're right. Down the stretch, there were the two turnovers, but one of them is

remandre dropping the ball, right? I mean, he shouldn't fire the ball backwards to his running back like that. Well, why is that the play?

It's a hot-chance play there. But an absolutely beautiful ball, the Kayshan booty for a touchdown. And booty goes five for 95. I think made all the right

decisions in the first half as they were moving. moving the ball and ultimately move the ball and the bills for most of the day. So I didn't think it was like a bad game out of my guy. Just if you take, well, you know, you could say that about any game, but there was

the questionable interception that he threw in the end zone. And Josh Allen had one of those as well, but you guys mentioned the talent disparity between these two teams. Josh Allen can afford to make that mistake. Drake makes that ball to a patriot. And this is a ball game. This is a ball game. Sands those two turnovers by New England.

Yeah, it was one of those where if you just didn't know anything about the two teams, you would not have thought the bills were a better team. But that's why you do got to look at the score because they are a better team. If they were in a different scenario, because Drake may hit that shot, like, they would have played better. That's at least how I believe. Like, they would have done enough to find a way to win. And it is a reminder, they put old Alec Anderson out there and they do the sixth offensive lineman thing. They do mash when they need to and they ran for 172 yards. And I believe if they had had more possessions and had the ball more,

like they could have run for 275 on the Patriots. Before we leave this game, there's not much more here. You know, Gerard Mayo and his game management decisions are just crazy at points. He punted on a fourth and six with eight minutes to go

down to scores. And it's just you just can't do that. They're at midfield. His defense had given up scores on two of the last three drives before that. They end up giving up a, you know, just one first down, but they give up four minutes of clock. The Patriots don't get it back until about four minutes left, and they're down to scores. The game's over at that point. It just, it just makes no sense for, for him to make

that decision. And we've seen that again and again. Ian Rappaport, our guy said that Patrick Kraft, I mean, Jonathan Kraft and the crafts really want to keep Gerard Mayo, and the plan is to keep Gerard Mayo. But they keep saying this so much, he even said unless the floor falls out over the next three weeks. I was like, well, that's a pretty small sample size. You're kind of leaving the door open here. Certainly, they could look at this game and find it encouraging, because they certainly played hard, and if Remandre

had a little better ball security. Maybe they even went in Buffalo, but it didn't happen. I feel like the floor's already gone. Like, what floor is left? I guess if they got blown out embarrassingly, like they did last week for a few more weeks in a row, maybe that would change their mind. He shouldn't be making decisions off that. I've seen enough,

frankly, but I get it. It's not very patient. I'm not being patient with this new staff. The bills should almost root for either, you know, they should root for clarity. They should root for sitting in the final week, which just gave me a nightmare scenario that the Patriots are going to blow their draft pick positioning

because right now they are up to number two in the draft pick. But if the bills are resting everyone in week 18, that could be a problem. Let's keep it with the teams that are still in the race. Yes, the Bengals are still in the race. Let's go to Cincinnati. Burrow in the shotgun, back at the eight, Chase Brown to his left. Yosey Bosch goes in motion, now goes back in the original direction.

Burrow to throw, steps up, throws, and it's caught for the touchdown. T. Higgins with the catch. He tosses the ball way up into the air like a geyser. Burrow was being pulled down and just flung it forward for the touchdown. Oh, Joe Burrow. He knows he gets to come up with something fancy to make us pay us. attention at this point in the year, but we should be paying attention. They're still in this wild card race. I saw a number that had him at like 20 plus percent. That's pretty significant.

He got it done. I mean, his three touchdown streak is just absolutely outrageous. He finishes with 252 yards. Three touchdowns did have a late turnover, which for a second made it look interesting, but they end up cruising 24 to 6 over your brownies. And it sets up a game next week, with the Broncos shook, where the Bengals can at the very least be playing a meaningful game in week 17. And if they win it, playing a meaningful game in week 18. Small victories. Which is, that's all they wanted, right? When they had this awful start in which the defense couldn't stop a nosebleed, all they wanted to do was figure out a way to stack wins. He basically had to go perfect down the stretch. And so far, they're doing it. Today, they did it

with relative ease against the Browns team that started Dorian Thompson Robinson, which was like, you know, red meat to a pack of dogs because they just went after him all. day. The pressure numbers don't bear it out, but I'll tell you what, he was under pressure all day. This defense for the first time all year put together a quality, high quality performance, limited the opponent to six points, and Joe Burrow did more Joe Burrow things. I was semi-convinced he was down, but I'm glad that he was not ruled down because that throw was awesome. We had the Patrick Mahomes falling down, throwing, diving in the Super Bowl a few years ago. This one might be even better, obviously smaller stage, but the result remains the same, which is that we know

what we're going to get from the Bengals' offense, which is going to be Joe Burrow throwing three touchdown passes, even though the last one was kind of in garbage time, which, by the way, made him the first player in NFL history to have 250 plus passing yards and three plus passing touchdowns in seven consecutive games. Historical performance against a team that will be forgotten by history in the Cleveland Browns, so they took care of business.

Good for you, Bengals. Well, there was a fumble on the very first drive. The Browns were knocking on the doorstep, and Deonté Foreman fumbled it on the goal line. Who knows? Maybe the game would have just been different if the Browns scored there. No. No.

No. Okay. No. Miles Garrett got his 100th career sack in this game. Congratulations to him. Some bright spot. But yeah, Joe Burrow was absolutely down on that touchdown to T. Higgins. Oh.

It wasn't even down. Oh, really? Okay. His thought was totally down. They missed that. All is fair in football. T. He talked about it.

T who was banged up in this game. Did he finish the game, Chuck? He caught that touchdown pass early, but I didn't see him out there. late. I would not be too concerned about that though. Okay. But they were targeting Yoshavaz a lot late. Yeah, there was an ankle twisty tackle where T. Higgins

was down for several minutes didn't come back. Near the right sideline, yeah. He ends up eight for 58. He talked after the game on that burrow throw. Crazy arm angles Joe flew from today. Hold on. The one he threw with me. Not because it's my touchdown. The motherfucker looked like Superman when he was throwing it. So, I'm calling

Superman from this day forward. F*** that, man. Superman. That was at Trags on Twitter. Go ahead. Shout out to Trags. Trags. Trags to follow. T-R-A-G-S.

Great clip there from T. Higgins. Yeah, I'm with him. Superman. Well, I mean, Joe just spent all that money on the Batmobile. And now we got the F. Batman quote from T. Higgins. So I love a Dicey situation. Speaking of a quote, so let's listen to Burrow after the game, the most intense man in the NFL.

Feels good to playing big games. that's that's why we do what we do that's why we work so hard you know everything that I do in the last season is to put myself in the best position to play great at the end of the year in these big games coming up so that's it's exciting to be still be in it

guys work really hard coaches work really hard so it's nice to ride off a couple wins here what do you guys think about the perfectly quaffed hair with the tank top combo the white tank top you know I gotta say this

he is a phenomenal quarterback but he doesn't quite have enough shoulders and traps to really fill that out while sitting down but the hair makes up for it because well I think in Joe's defense it would look weirder if he was up there retracting his scapula

to take the pose that he needs for this pristine a shirt I'm not going to call it the alternative title that it's most most commonly known by. I was careful not to there. He came in with a different outfit, though, something over that. But clearly after the game, he just didn't feel like wearing it.

I think a lot of the audience, the female part of the audience, would disagree with you, Shook, anyways. No, I think the hair in the face and everything else, I mean, the guy is attractive. Don't get me wrong. I'm just saying, if you're going to sit down in a tank top like that or an A shirt, you know, a little bit more. But it's the threat count on that thing is crazy. I mean, that's one of the nicest looking A shirts I've ever seen in my life.

You don't buy those in a three-pack. Those come one at a time. Yeah, we can't get those. Like, we don't have access to that. No, and we never will. But the Bengals, they might just still have access to the playoffs. All I'm rooting for in these final weeks are games to be more relevant or most relevant. It's like that Falcons commanders game would have been even juicier if the commanders had lost.

The whole NFC slate would have been. But even that, okay, that's a good week 17 game. Bengals, Broncos, which is a Saturday game. game. It's in the middle there. That's one of the biggest games of next week. It's basically a playoff game for the Bengals. You want to show us that you deserve

a little something, Bengals? Go ahead. Beat the Broncos. I'll be impressed. Who knows if you'd still get into the playoffs because the other results on Sunday didn't go your way, including the one in Indianapolis. First and 10, outside zone. Big hole for Jonathan Taylor. There he goes again. 50,

40, down the far sideline. He might do it again. 10. 5. Touchdown! I-D-Y! That one covers 70 yards. Jonathan Taylor having a monster game at week 16. That was Matt Taylor on W-F-N-I. Yeah, Jonathan Taylor was running angry, and then he just ran all the way into the, you know, under the seat, under the, what do I want to say?

Tunnel. Into the tunnel. Thank you. There you go. Hel him the ball, too. It's like he was afraid that, yes, they would take the ball away from him. And then I think one of his teammates jokingly tried to take it away. You know, it's the whole thing.

They're having fun with it. Jonathan Taylor, 218 yards in three touchdowns on 29 rushes. Well, surely he had all the rushes if he ran 29 times. No, Anthony Richardson, 9 for 70 in a touchdown on the ground. Trey Sermon, 8 for 25. Tyler Goodson goes 4.4.2. Yes, they only allowed Anthony Richardson to throw the ball 11 times in a game that they scored 38 points. This was a crazy game.

The Colts scored 38 consecutive points after trailing 7 to nothing. And then the Titans scored 23 consecutive points to make it an 8-point game with under three minutes to go. But it never was totally, totally in doubt here. And the Colts get their 7th victory. I mentioned them in context with the Bengals because even if the Bengals won out and the Broncos lost out, it would be the Colts that would get the seven seed

if the Colts can keep beating the poor teams of the NFL and they've got a couple easy matchups down the stretch and I don't know what the big takeaways are here. Chuck, you're shaking your head out of disgust even thinking that the Colts could be in the playoffs. They play at the Giants and then the Jaguars the last two weeks. So they have a decent chance to finish 9 and 8. This is what 10 years of knowing each other gets you right there.

Greg, reading my expression, knowing exactly what I'm saying. Because it would be criminal if the Colts got the playoffs over the Bengals. I mean, just look at this game dominating on the ground. Okay, I guess that's true, like for our entertainment purposes. Yes. But I can't really say that the Bengals, like, deserve to... make it, you know. No, I mean, realistically, neither.

They're hoisted on their own partard. Although, uh, if they beat the Broncos and then they beat the Steelers in week 18, then they kind of will deserve it. So I take it back in this hypothetical that I don't think is going to happen because I don't think the Bengals ultimately are going to be good enough to win those two games. The Colts are in it. And they're, they're going to be weirdly rooting for the Bengals next week because they need that victory over the Broncos.

They're also a weird viewing experience because they dominate on the ground in a game like this and Richardson throws 11 passes. He also gets a touchdown run vultured from him by Jonathan Taylor by virtue of being ruled just down short of the goal line. I mean, that's neither here nor there, but it's a weird, like, team to watch offensively. And yet when they rip off big runs, they are majestic. And they were for Jonathan Taylor today. It was nice to see him get a bounce back game. Whereas on the other side, you know, you turn the ball over left and right, Mason Rudolph throws three picks and the Colts capitalized. So this is what they should do against a team like this, even a divisional opponent. But the fact that it ended an eight-point game,

I'm sitting here watching it. I'm like, all right, this game is over. Like, I could start recapping and finishing the notes here. And then all of a sudden, oh, there's a touchdown. And there's another touchdown. I was like, don't do this, Colts. Don't do this to me right now. Not after what happened last week.

In fairness, the Titans never got the ball back with a chance to win the game. Well, technically they did with three seconds and 89 yards to go. But it's too close for comfort for me. Yeah. Go ahead and get the stops. Like, it's great to consider this game, right? The Indianapolis Colts run for 335 years. yards. Tony Pollard gets

35 yards on the ground and Mason Rudolph has three picks. The Titans still scored 30 points. All of these things happened. And to where, you know, Gus Bradley's unit can be solid. They can force like they get Bo Nix to

throw those interceptions. And they make plays. You can't have Mason Rudolph leading touchdown drives like this. Like it's kind of irresponsible at this point, like late in the season. where it's like we want to believe but we're going to need you guys

to make just a few plays because this is the best game the offense has had. Yeah, the Titans actually had a 51% dropback success rate which is very high out of, so it was very much a Will Levis like Peak Will Levis game which is actually most of the plays were great except for all the turnovers

and that's how the Titans lose their 12th game of the season. They are 3 and 12. The Colts probably running the style of offense Colts fans had wanted to see all year and I keep hearing that. That's like, they should have been doing this all along. I think they've tried.

They just haven't, it just hasn't worked as well. And for that to do it against a good Titans run defense, they've tried. Like, they'd love to get up by this much where they don't need to throw the ball. But that's just not how most Sundays play out. But they do get this one and they are still alive heading into week 17. Let's take a quick break. We're going to wrap up the slate with the other AFC team trying to just hang on for dear life before we get It's a Sunday night football.

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? 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. It's 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 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. Hey, Chan, the pitch. He's got a first down more. 40, 35, 30. He's going to score.

Touchdown, Dolphin! Wow. Great speed running that right side again, Jimmy. This time, he takes it to the house. That's going to do it. Whenever we can play the Dolphins theme song, it's a good day on NFL Daily. Devin A. Chan.

What a day this kid had. helping the Dolphins win 29 to 17. It was close throughout, but they bust it open late. A-chan leads the team in rushing with 120 yards and a touchdown and leads them in receiving with six catches and 70 yards through the air. That's just how Tua and this offense does it. At least shook on a day where Tyree kills,

fantasy owners were probably pulling their hair out because he could have had like three more touchdowns than he did. Dolphins ultimately win on a day where the 49ers, as I mentioned earlier, were eliminated before they even took a snap. The dolphins have just a little bit of life here at 7 and 8. And the dolphin still attempted just 10 passes of more than 9 air yards. But that's neither here nor there. Because they won the football game, it was a huge bump up from usual, right?

I know. There was one pass over the middle of where I was like, oh my God, it's beyond 15 yards. Here we go. Here's the breakthrough. There would have been a really nice pass to Tyree Kill. not for a great play in coverage by the nearest 49er. And that kind of captured the day in a nutshell, like a lot of near misses, almost for the dolphins,

but they finished it off. And they did what they had to do, which was win a game against a team that honestly looked like they played like the better team for stretches in this game, but couldn't finish off their own drives because they would commit penalties and then they would take negative yardage plays in the worst possible situations and miss field goals,

and that's just who the 49ers are this season. So it's a battle of two teams that have underwhelmed, but the dolphins are probably playing better football right now overall and that leads to what you got today. Yeah, they were basically the same in terms of yards for play and total yards even with that late H& touchdown. So I'm with you. I think though we did learn there is a at some point you're going to get to the part of the the running back depth chart where it actually hurts you that you're on your fifth running back. No offense to Patrick Taylor. He's also playing without Trent Williams to help him out and against

a pretty good Dolphins front. But they're rushing attack. collapsed, Purdy, led them with rushing. Debo, who had his best game of the season, I thought, looked really explosive. I was just like, where has this Debo been all year? He goes seven for 96 and a touchdown through the air and also had five or 25 on the ground and just looked way faster and more physical. And he's such a confusing player to me because he just hasn't been this player this season.

Ultimately, yeah, you called it out. They just shot themselves in the foot. And I'm glad because at least the dolphins have a relevant. relevant week 17. Why are you laughing? Well, it's like, I'm glad the 49ers shot themselves in the foot. I just thought that was funny. I just mean the, okay, yeah, that's, that's fair. I wasn't glad to, to be really real, because I picked them to win.

And I was, that was a, that was a just Greg on our game debut show. And that, that did not, did not hit for me. The 49ers, they were already eliminated. They have a big spot, though, in, in week 17. They're on Monday night football against the lion, so we'll watch them. but the Dolphins-Browns game now at least has a little bit of relevance. That's only if the Broncos are not able to clinch their playoff spot on Saturday. But if the Broncos lose on Saturday, then the Dolphins, it depends a little bit on the, like, who wins, who doesn't,

but ultimately they're behind the Colts in line, I believe, for these playoff spots. But it also depends if it's two-way, three-way, four-way. So there's a lot that could happen depending on a lot. what the combination is, the dolphins, they're alive, just barely. Yeah, not to add on to the whole, like, gross idea that the Colts making the playoffs, but if I had to pick between the Dolphins and the Colts, I would also pick the Dolphins to go to the playoffs. I would, too.

According to Next Gen stats, they have the Bengals and the dolphins both at 7%. I remember I said 26 before. That was from, like, there's different models. I trust NextGen. That's us. they both have a 7% Colts are at 13 and the Broncos are at 78.

So yes, it's pretty rare and now that we've reached the portion of the program where we've gotten rid of all the potential playoff teams, just to recap today, the teams eliminated the Cardinals, the 49ers, the Cowboys, and the Saints.

And yeah, other than the Cardinals, all of them were eliminated before they even played. and the Seahawks are just holding on for Deer Life needing Arizona almost certainly to win that game next week. But you never know. You can hold on for Deer Life for a few weeks. The Dolphins and the Bengals and the Colts have been, and they are still alive. Let's go to the one game on Sunday that mattered most for draft positioning to Las Vegas. Abdul alone setback.

He gets the handoff, cuts through the right side of the hole, still on his feet at the five, racing in the end zone. Down Raiders. Oh, Amir the magnificent. What a season. He hands the ball to Jackson Powers Johnson. Big Man Spike. Raiders lead. 1914 with 1126 to go on the 4th.

That is some professional broadcasting by Jason Horowitz on KRLV. He's got the juice. He's got the excitement. He knows Raiders fans want to win, even though maybe they shouldn't. Yeah, it's a mirror. What did he say? The Magnificent.

I love it. Is Amir having that greatest season? I didn't know. He's been fantasy relevant late this season, but Magnificent is a stretch. He does have five touchdowns on the season. I'm looking here now. He's over four yards per carry. He's going to top 400 yards from scrimmage for only the fourth time in a long career.

I mean, he was a rookie in 2015. I will never forget that preseason because our good friend, who this podcast studio is named after Chris Wesley. Loved him some of Mir Abdullah after the 2015 preseason. So here he is still getting it done. And yeah, their defense did the rest against a rough Mack Jones led Jaguars team. Patrick, I'm sorry that Mack Jones' only good moment in the last few weeks was finding a wide, wide, wide, wide open Brian Thomas for a long touchdown,

which was crucial in your fantasy semi-final. Yeah. And so now I have to rely on, you know, a Monday night football game to try to get back in the best fantasy team I've had. Nobody cares about that. But Brian Thomas goes over 1,000 yards in his rookie season. Brock Bowers went over 1,000 yards. And, hey, something to feel good about for these franchises where they've got really good rookies and a whole lot of issues going on other than that. But you got those two pieces for both of these franchises.

Yeah, Bowers goes 11 for 99. and Thomas goes nine for 132 in a touchdown. And I'll keep repeating. Brian Thomas would be my wide receiver one right now from this class. Reasonable minds could absolutely disagree. But to me, they got a top five, top eight type of talent back at pick 16 or 17. And Bowers, there's a reason why so many teams were so high on them. The Rams are trying to trade up for my...

I might take him over all those wide receivers too. I might take him over Brian Thomas. They're awesome. And so that's the good news, but both these teams are now at 3 and 12, and the Raiders fall all the way to 6 in Tankathon right now. It is wide open, though. There are six teams at two or three losses, but there's only one at two. And that's the New York Giants.

So the New York Giants, they have the Colts, and who do they have to finish the season? I believe it's the Eagles to finish the season. unless they pull off a big upset in one of those games, I guess the Colts is a somewhat reasonable ask. They are going to have the number one overall pick. So there's some good news for the Giants and the Raiders because of their hard strength of schedule actually fall all the way to six.

Right now the Patriots are at two, the Jaguars three, Titans four, Browns five. But there's a lot of road to hoe here because the Patriots could be playing backups and who knows what happens. Maybe your Browns can sneak in. to the top there, Shooki. I know people in Cleveland are paying very close

attention to the whole. I had a friend texted me tonight about the Raiders and about the Panthers, so they're very much in tune with that. Raiders fans, if you need one reason to watch your team over the last two weeks, Brock Bowers is now 10 receiving yards away from setting the rookie tight end receiving yards

record in a single season. It was owned by Mike Ditka at a thousand seventy six yards. He's at a thousand sixty seven with his 101 catches and four receiving touchdown, so keep an eye on that. And also, So you're going to hate it in April, but today was one of those wins that, you know, gives a fan base a little bit to cheer about going into the winter. Like we're in December.

It doesn't matter except for draft positioning. And yet they've had so many things to go against them. And today the breaks went their way. And that alone just made me happy for them because it's been a rough year. Shout out Mike Dica, by the way. When you have a record from 1961 that you did in 14 games, we're always like, greatest of all time. and he didn't have the longevity that the other great titans have. So he's really not in the consideration,

but the first five, six years of his career, he was totally dominant, all-pro type of player before obviously becoming the Bears coach. That record is as old as my dad. That was the year he was born. So, put on you Brock Powers if you break it, 1961.

Yeah, when you're going 56 for over 1,076 in 12 and 14 games as a rookie, that's a real. Yeah. That's a real man. That is a beast. And, you know, he did it, did it for the Chicago Bears. Finished his career with the Dallas Cowboys. Patrick, I used to accuse you of being a Dallas Cowboys fan. You have beat the accusations. You have played her.

You're as tough as a rookie Mike Dicka. Well, I don't know about, I don't know about that for sure. But I appreciated the time and the opportunity. And pending our last discussion, you know, it's a tent pole event that sometimes masquerades is a cost control metric, but let's abolish the draft. Let's let's have people stop cheering for losses because it's weird and it takes the fun away from things towards the end of the season. I agree. I think there's a better

way that we could do this. I was absolutely and there wasn't even like a little bit of my heart that wanted the Patriots to win today. I wanted Drake made a play a perfect game somehow and them to lose. I was getting a little anxious and it is stupid. Also stupid this Cowboys season. Let's go to Dallas. Mayfield and the gun

Five man rush Here's Lewis Sackett he's not down yet And he somehow threw it to White who caught it And that hooker takes him down And the Bland comes away with the ball He's got it

He's got it Oh Bland comes away with the ball Oh Bland came away with the ball And the Cowboys Somehow came away with the victory 26 to 24 on Sunday night football one of the sneaky most entertaining, surprising primetime games of the year. We finish our Sunday slate with one of the most important results of the day.

The Buccaneers are out of the playoffs if the season ended today, lucky for them. It does not. They have two weeks to try to pass Atlanta. But what a disappointing loss on a night Nick shook where there was a lot of hard hitting. and so I thought it was fitting that it was Jordan Lewis and Duran Bland who were part of a great effort

in that Cowboys secondary finishing off the victory and yeah that was our friend Brad Sham over at KRLD and Babe Laufenburg giving Cowboys fans something to enjoy during a seven and eight season

there only one game behind the bucks yeah you had me panic there for a second I was like wait they're not out of the playoffs right the season ended today which it does not one of the most one of the hardest hitting games I can recall, especially in the secondary, in a long time. I mean, Cowboys defenders just laying the wood sticks on Buccaneers, pass catchers, tight ends,

receivers, no matter what, you can say, well, Baker might have thrown a hospital ball or two. No, I don't think so. I think that it was a matter of Cowboys. Yeah, but at the same time, the Cowboys were hitting. Like, they were just closing. They were playing great defense in the secondary. They made some phenomenal plays that interception Lewis had on that deep ball. thrown by Baker, Mayfield was a fantastic play

and then the play that we just heard there to clinch it for them. A wild game, really. You said one of the most entertaining an incredibly volatile game that whenever it was really out of reach, the Buccaneers kind of started to run out of time and then right before you, you know, they just instantly

two minute drill their way down the field. Baker looks sharp. They move the ball right down there. They score. And suddenly we had a ball game until we didn't because of a defensive play. So I win for the Cowboys in a season that is lost, but you know, it kind of makes you think what would happen if they had Dak Prescott?

Well, not just that. Tarigo pointed out, they'd be on a five-game winning streak if they just didn't mishandle that block pund against the Bengals. The Bengals would be eliminated and the Cowboys would be 8 and 7 and not really going anywhere

with that record in the NFC, but they'd be out of five-game winning streak. I think long-term for the Cowboys, this win has a good chance to save Mike McCarthy's job, Mike Zimmer's job. I think it's been trendy in that direction. if you listen to the reporting around the Cowboys and even the speculation from Collinsworth,

who's not just throwing stuff out there, I would be surprised at this point if McCarthy isn't back. Now, the next two weeks could still happen, but Mike Zimmer and this defense has been one of the very best defenses in the league now over a six, seven-week stretch with Micah Parsons back. And don't forget that this Buccaneers' offense had been playing great. And you look at the numbers and they're not that bad.

They end up getting over 400 yards. 25 first downs. Even Baker's numbers look okay. But he was a little panicked. He took some sacks in spots that he shouldn't four sacks there for the Cowboys. That last play was kind of typical. He doesn't have great process, but he ends up holding the ball. He's really strong and he finds a way to make a play. But the Cowboys ultimately make an extra play. And it's a devastating loss for them. They had one four straight. You can't win them all, but they thought they would win this one in Dallas. Yeah, on paper, I had them winning this one going away.

But I think that it speaks to what you just mentioned with the coaching staff. I felt like watching this game, even in the third and fourth quarter, that the Cowboys out coach the Buccaneers. Like they were not maybe a full step ahead, but a half step ahead offensively, just doing basically having a counter for whatever the Buccaneers defense did. Now, granted, they punted a lot late there, but they were able to stay on the field for a decent amount

and kind of keep the Buccaneers at bay. they also had some playmaking and some takeaways and stuff like that. And then I felt like, you know, defensively, every time the Buccaneers tried to throw the ball down the field, it's just like they had a great game plan for what the Bucks like to do. And it wasn't until they went up tempo that they were able to find some success. It was a difficult knife for Baker. I mean, I know numbers wise, 31-43, 303, 2 touchdowns in that pick that we talked about,

looks good, but nothing came easy for him. And I think that's a credit to Mike Zimmer's defense, which is playing really well despite losing guys, DeVario Oversone, not out there. You know, it's... But they got Blan back, which I know they lost Trayvon Diggs now along the way too, but he's been playing really well. He was on Mike Evans for much of the night. He ends up picking up the fumble at the end.

Obviously, Parsons playing really well, but Jordan Lewis, that whole group back there, Malik Hooker, were making plays. I'm impressed. They were just hitting, though. I mean, on a night where they were hitting, the hit, I think I'll remember the most is Vita Vaya. in coverage, just destroying Jake Ferguson, or else he wouldn't even had that closing sequence.

Like, Ferguson looked like he was headed for a first down, and Vaya just absolutely destroys him. That was one of my favorite hits I've ever seen in my life, and it'll not soon be forgotten. I want more Vita Vaya in coverage, just like him on an island, like covering tight ends and stuff. That would be fun. Test those hands.

He said he used to play, I think, quarterback or running back. I remember I'm talking about that back at the combine back in the day. So I don't know if you'd like that. I'm really glad they left the Cowboys in prime time. Just like I said, you know, you got to leave this team in primetime. They actually have become sneaky entertaining at the end of the season. I'll give them credit for that on a night where they could not run the ball at all. And Cooper Rush almost threw the ball away at the end of the game on a near interception.

He actually had a number of really nice throws down the field in the first half. A great one to Cooks. The touchdown to Tolbert was beautiful. A long one to C.D. Lamb. Rush played quite well, at least for half of this game. And yeah, the Cowboys making it happen at the end of the season. The Buccaneers finish with two very winnable games against the Panthers and Saints, but it's division matchups. You never know what could happen. They will need to win those two games to get to 10 and 7. The Falcons close in Washington next week. That's the game that I

think bucks fans are going to have circled that's sunday night football they're going to need some help from the commanders because if if not uh i believe the falcons close with the panthers at home i guess neither one of those are are total gimmies but but we'll see it gives us a little more spice for the nfc south down the stretch that's what we're looking for shuky spice and the cowboys are spicy playing hard for a regime that a lot of people thought was probably going to be gone about a month ago, maybe not. Yeah, and look, let's play the music. We had a big day, Patrick Claibon.

He played through pain. We got Eric Roberts behind the glass, sweating out, the Bills game. That's all we got. Look, when Michael Pennix Jr. is leading a division possible champion into week 17, you know football is back. 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 app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant.

And I'm Michael Fiorio, 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 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.

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