NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Playoff picture

Episode Date: December 24, 2013

A room full of heroes -- Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler and Chris Wesseling -- comes bearing an early Christmas gift for "Around the League Podcast" fans.  The crew brings clarity to a complicated playoff picture ahead of Week 17, discusses the latest news and notes from around the NFL and offers their picks for this season's Pro Bowl.  Join the conversation on Twitter: @NFL_ATL or #NFLATL, and help the heroes by nominating them for the 2013 Stitcher Awards at stitcher.promotw.com.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the League podcast, never trusted the wildcat. Welcome to another edition of the Around the League podcast. My name is not Dan Hansis. It's Greg Rosenthal. I'm with Mark Sessler. I'm with Chris Wesseling. I'm with Zach, the Gold Standard.

It's a room full of heroes. We're changing up the intro for one day. Why not? Why not, right? Day before Christmas. And listen, the only reason Dan's not here is because our poor friend was caught at the airport roughly, what, eight or nine hours after his flight was supposed to take off? Sad.

Dan, the smart one, is back home with his family for Christmas. We're here on Christmas Eve. He is trying to watch the news right now for us on one hour asleep, so we appreciate that while we're hanging out in 70-degree weather. Nice. Your first Christmas in L.A., Chris Wessling. It is. Spending it alone.

Good. times. I just thought, you know, we don't normally have a podcast on Tuesdays, but I just thought Christmas Eve, people are going to want to download some things and listen to them on their iPads. What else would you want to do at Christmas? What you need to get away, especially if you, you might need to get away from family for a couple minutes. This gives you that buffer just to say, I got to handle some business, go in the bedroom, listen to 45 minutes of this show. And here's the reality. It's, you know, the end of the year. People have work off. There's parties. There's more football to talk about right now than there has been all year.

the highest traffic day on around the league all season on a Sunday, this Sunday. And that's because everyone's alive. There's so much going on in the playoff picture. These are the big games that we're going to remember, I think, all off season long. So, you know, life is slowing down for the rest of the world. But this is our prime time. And let's get to it. Let's talk about Monday night football. 49ers, Falcons, much better game than we thought. The 49ers closed down Candlestick Park in style. Mark Sessler. Let's start with. you. I know you enjoyed the game. Were you surprised that the Falcons stayed in it? What were your big takeaways? I was in the sense that, you know, and you never want to say this about a team and

there's no proof of it, but to the naked eye, Atlanta looked to me a month ago like a team that just had given up. And then you look at what they've done. They had won a couple games out of, I think three out of four there. And then they played the Niners right down to the wire last night. And I thought that, you know, an undermanned offense. They don't have Julio Jones. They haven't been the same team without them. They really fought to the end. So I take back, I think, a couple times that I wrote and said on this show that I thought they had just mailed it in.

Since that game that basically the bucks blew them out and everybody accused them of quitting on Mike Smith, they've beaten the Bills and the Redskins, they've given the Saints a scare, they've given the 49ers a scare, and they nearly beat the Packers in Green Bay. This has been a competitive team. Well, and we normally wouldn't spend so much time talking about the Falcons, but they have a big part in this NFC playoff picture coming up and they have Carolina coming to Atlanta this Sunday and now Steve Smith probably not going to play in that game and is that a game now Carolina I think all these week 17 games where teams are favored but need to clinch they're not

all gimmies and I don't think going to Atlanta is a gimmee for Carolina right now no I agree Carolina is a much stronger team than Atlanta but playing on turf in the dome Matt Ryan's record in the dome is still very impressive. That's not a gimmie by any stress. He was great last night. I think everyone reminded, oh, yeah, Matt Ryan's pretty awesome. I mean, he had a great game. You know, they ended up not going to overtime or winning the game because of a magical

play at the end that was a good defensive call. You know, who was it? Tremaine Brock broke on the ball and Navarro Bowman takes it. And that, I mean, that's a way to end the stadium. But Matt Ryan and the Falcons look good. The shame to me right there is that I would have loved. to see San Francisco had they lost last night, have to go head to head with the Cardinals for a game that would, the winner of that really would go into the playoffs because it bothers

me to see that Arizona could knock off Seattle the way they did. When you've got a quarterback throwing four picks, that speaks to the strength of the rest of your team. And I give them a good chance against San Francisco. They could win that, go 11 and 5, and miss the playoffs. It would have been the game of the week. Arizona, San Francisco, play-in game, which it would have been, if the Falcons had scored there. But let's, you know, give a little love to Brock and Bowman. And it must have been cool to be there the last night of that stadium. Not the, you know, most beautiful stadium in the world,

but a lot of great memories there to end it on a play like that. And it's almost like, you know, 49ers fans you've had it. I know how you guys feel now watching all the Patriot success and being annoyed. I mean, it's like 49ers fans have had it pretty good. To close down the stadium with that game is pretty sweet. Not bad. Brock's had a great year, and they gave him a contract extension about a month ago. He's earned every bit of it.

We talked about the 49ers as a potential Super Bowl team. They now have a chance to be the one seed or the two seed with a little bit of help. It would take some luck, but they have a chance to play some more games there in the playoffs. Not a great game last night, I don't think. Kaepernick was a little up and down. Does that worry you at all about our 49ers love? It does a little bit. Kaepernick is still too inconsistent.

I think this offense tends to go as Vernon Davis goes. And he had that problem with his eyes last night. He wasn't himself. I've played sports with one contact in where I've had eye problems. And it really messes with your hand-eye coordination. You can't get your timing down. Well, I think he got his contacts back in, right? Well, whatever was going on with his eyes,

he dropped two passes in the second half that he would normally catch. They were right in his hands. I'm just saying I've played games where your eyes and your brain are telling you, your hands are telling you two different things. I think that was definitely a part of it. I like that Chris is using his personal experience in like the 35 and over beer softball league compared to Vernon Davis,

like a monster NFL player with guys running at him. That's all you would, but when your eyes have an issue, it messes with your hands. Do you play any softball, Mark? Do you play any sports? Any more? At the current time, I do not play sports. I'm not on teams involved in weekly schedules.

in games. I'm not either. I never really got into that whole post-collar. I did this dodge ball thing once for a year or two. People just did it to meet girls, basically. How did that go? Well, I met my wife separately to that, and then I thought, well, what's the point of this? Right.

And so I quit. Well, hopefully, once you met your wife, the idea that you'd be part of sports teams to meet women would melt away to Sunday. Right, right. Exactly. And then I was like, we're grown adults playing dodgeball. I was good, though. We won the championship. I'm pretty dodgy.

He is telling you in a nutshell, West, that you need to curtail your adult athletic teams. So the 49ers get the win. I don't think it changes. It doesn't change my view of them because they're a team that's not going to blow out everyone because of that offense. It keeps other teams in games. They've still won five straight. They have a chance to be the one seed. Let's talk about that playoff picture now because the NFC is really interesting going into the final week.

And we'll break down the NFC and the AFC now. But let's start with the NFC. and all four divisions are up for grabs. And both playoff buys are up for grabs. We know the winner of the NFC West and the NFC South are going to be the two playoff teams, but we don't know who the one seed will be. The Seahawks get the one seed with the win. The Panthers get a playoff by with the win.

If there was going to be an upset this weekend between one of those teams blowing the by, Carolina has to go to Atlanta Seattle is hosting St. Louis Which, where do you think the surprise could come from? Oh, definitely Carolina losing. I don't see Seattle losing two straight home games. The only thing that will, I agree with that, but the thing that would concern me a little bit

is what we saw with Seattle's offensive line last week and just the effect it had on Russell Wilson and it's not as if St. Louis is any less of a challenge on that front. They've got obviously the potential. defensive player of the year in Quinn. That defense, you know, they played Seattle real tough last time they faced each other. They dominated Seattle last time on the Seattle offense. They dominated them on Monday night.

That's a different scenario. It is. I don't think that's an upset. The Seahks are so much better at home, and the Rams are also so much better at home. Well, they just lost the game in which they had four interceptions. Right, the first time in two years. I don't think you're going to see an upset in either place because I think Carolina, look at Steve Smith is a, if he's not able to play, that's a big,

chunk out of their offense, but he's not, as Damashek would say, the Jenga piece that suddenly they can't function. It's that defense that's going to shut down Atlanta, take control of Atlanta's offensive line. And I think we're looking at Carolina and the Seahawks as you're one and two. Yeah, the odds say you're right. I think St. Louis, even though it's in Seattle, is a dangerous opponent because Arizona showed last week that a dominant defense can shut down that Seahawks offense. That's one of the worst games Russell Wilson's ever had in his career. Seahawks win by at least three touchdowns.

This won't be a game. I'm trying to make a case. It's not a pattern. It happened and it's not going to happen two times in a row. Well, you know what? I don't buy that because it's not going to happen. People say, oh, they haven't lost two years. Well, they could have lost the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who had a good defensive performance that day

and dominated that day. Kelly Clemens on the road in the toughest venue in the NFL with his starting left tackle out? No, it's not going to happen. It's going to be a blowout. We're going to play this back for you when Kellyn Clemens drops the hammer on the entire NFC. By the way, Kellyn Clemens only four incompletions last week. Well, did he throw six passes?

20 passes. Kellyn Clemens does not have a hammer in his arsenal to drop on anyone. All right. So we think Seattle probably wins that game. But if they don't, for some reason, San Francisco has a chance to slide in to the division championship if they win in Arizona. They could even get the one seed if New Orleans, Carolina, and Seattle all lose. So that, it's hard to imagine, but San Francisco has a chance. But let's say, okay, Carolina does get that buy, Seattle gets the buy.

Let's look at New Orleans and Tampa Bay. If New Orleans wins that game, they are in the playoffs. It is in New Orleans. If you're a Cardinals fan, you need the Saints to lose. Do you guys think, as a Cardinals fan, there's any reason to be hopeful? No. If things haven't lost the whole year, they're not going to lose to the bucks. Yeah, as the Cardinals' Twitter account...

You guys are no fun. Well, no, but Arizona's Twitter account last night basically tweeted at the end of that Niners game. Ouch. Yeah. And yes, this is a Roger Goodell fever dream. I mean, this couldn't have wound up any better for him. This is what the league wants. Everyone's alive.

But like I said before, the Cardinals are going to be left out of this thing. when they're playing better football than two-thirds of the AFC, if not the entire AFC right now, that's a shame. What are some other fever dreams, Roger Goodell, would have? I didn't know he had fever dreams. Well, no, the concept that when parity did not exist to this degree back in the 80s, obviously now this is exactly what they want. And there's a reason for it because a big chunk of anyone rooting for any team

has something to hope for this weekend. If it's not your draft pick, it's everything else. This is Burt Bell's vision. Forget Roger Goodell. Let's drop some history on you. Commissioner back in the 50s, I believe, the 60s. I think he first came up with that saying in like 1947. What was the saying?

Any given Sunday. Any given Sunday. There you go. And I think he was an owner at one point, two, of the Eagles. And he came up with the whole idea to, you know, make the draft weighted towards the bad teams and make the schedule a little weighted. And the whole idea was to try to give everyone a chance. Every season.

This Sunday, there are 16 games. We're going to be working hard. No, no Thursday, nothing else. It's all Sunday, no Monday. 16 games. 14 of them have playoff implications. Is it 13 or 14? It's 13, actually.

I'm sorry. It's enough of them. It's 13 games have playoff implications, whether seating or getting into the playoffs. We've come a long way since the time when Burt Bell rubber banded a team name to the back of a domino to make the schedule. Also in the Burt Bell era, and I know we're getting. deep here. There was once the Stiegel's. Do you remember this? There was the Steelers and the Eagles,

and they were combined to make one team for one year, I think during a war or something like that, the Steele. That would be a nasty team this season. Yeah, I think it was during World War II, the early 40s. That would be a cool throwback if someone was just rocking a Stegles, Jersey. Let's move to the AFC. We don't think Arizona's going to get in because we think New Orleans will win. Although, I don't know, surprising things happen sometimes in these games that you assume. surprising will happen. If I had to pick one of all these surprising things, I think it would be the Saints losing at home

because I think the Bucks are a decent team and I think the Saints are the one playoff team that looks safe that's a little shaky. I don't see that happening. All right, let's move to the AFC. The Bucks can't beat the Rams in St. Louis, but they can beat the Saints in New Orleans. Hey, just want people to watch and be

interested. You know, let's go to the AFC and talk about the one seed should go to Denver. They have to just beat Oakland and Terrell Pryor, who will get to in a minute, is going to be starting for the Raiders. But it's hard to imagine the Raiders going into Denver and winning that game. Right, that's funny business. Denver will win that game. They have a buy, though. So the worst they could be is the two-seat. The Patriots host the

bills at the same time. And if they can just beat the bills, they get the two-seed. If they lose that game, the Bengals and the Colts both have a chance to move up. the Colts would need the Bengals and the Patriots to lose the Bengals are in the three spot and they have a chance to get that by do you think there's any chance that two three four slotting

is shaken up at all right now it's Patriots Bengals, Colts do you think that's that shakes up at all there's a chance but I don't see it happening yeah I look at like Bill Belichick coach teams don't tend to completely like dissemble in week 17

in a big spot like this the buy means so much to New England. And I do think the AFC is going to shake up in a way where, yeah, your two best teams in theory are one and two, and we're not going to get the cults getting to buy, which would be a disaster. The Colts could move up if the Bengals lose that game to the Ravens. Even if the Patriots win, the Colts could move up to three, the Bengals go to four. You don't know if that really even makes a difference. I don't think, you don't know until what the teams are in. We know the chiefs are the five, so let's get to the six seed, which is

really the interesting, probably the most fascinating thing this weekend is the six-seed. Do we think Pittsburgh or San Diego, the two teams that need more help, if you're picking one of those two teams to get through, which would it be? Let's see. I think San Diego is the easier road. I guess I have to go with San Diego just because I don't trust the chief to play their starters against the Chargers. Yeah, it's hard to argue with that.

there's a little magic to Pittsburgh and I don't know why I had this idea last night that we're going to be looking back on an eight and eight Steelers team that got into the playoffs and then won a playoff game and became the team that no one wanted to deal with and it's going to put all those

issues with Big Ben and Haley way into the background because you know what? When they're playing offense well, I don't think any team can beat them in the AFC right now outside of Denver and I'd love to see Pittsburgh get in. Love it. I don't think it will happen, though.

They needed three things to happen last weekend, and all three of them happened. This weekend, they need four things. But they're not implausible things. They need to win. Let's go through it. They need the dolphins to lose at home to the Jets. I could see that.

Sure. Yes. They need the Ravens to lose in Cincinnati. That should happen. That should happen. And they need the chargers to lose to the chiefs, in San Diego. I think that's the toughest one.

That's the toughest one, and to me, it so much depends on Andy Reid's attitude about playing his starters versus resting his story. Oh, and by the way, I realize this is a footnote, but they also need to beat Cleveland. Oh. That's just assumed. You assured a Sunday night that that was going to happen.

That's just assumed. Wait, are the Brown still playing the season? That's right. No, it isn't just Pittsburgh just sitting at home waiting for these other three things to fall. I do think, though, that they, listen, they will beat Cleveland. And I think if anything, they get down to the last game where there's, are they all at the same time these games?

Well, the San Diego game is later. So San Diego will line up against Kansas City and they will either know they've been eliminated or they will know they are in the playoffs with a win. So that'll be interesting. We'll see. It's funny how the Colts and Chiefs have swapped spots this week. Last week, everyone, you know, Jamal Charles is coming off historic game. Alex Smith's been playing so much better. They were the sneaky team in the AFC.

Greg is not the only one I've heard I don't know I said this before though You were the first one I've heard Say the Colts are starting to look like the Ravens or the Giants This wildcard team Well they're not going to be wildcard But a team that was kind of struggling

And just picks up momentum They fit that profile I've heard other people say that now Everyone seems to think the Colts are frisky now I don't see Andrew luck Yeah he could convince me into anything Well sure

He could talk me into a new house or something It's the fact that they've gone on the road and beating San Francisco, Kansas City. They've beaten the Broncos at home. They seem to be tested in these big games. They've beaten the Seahawks at home. And it took them a month to figure out, you know, they've got a couple other pass catchers

starting to bubble up they didn't before. They may have figured out how to get over that Reggie Wayne thing, and they looked like a team lost for a while. But honestly, outside of Denver, what team can't be beaten in the AFC? Denver can happen. And they can. But let's just say they're the best.

team in theory, right? If they're playing well, they're going to be, they're going to roll. Well, they've, they had the luck, the fortunate happening last week. They played a chief's team that hasn't rushed the passer since the first half of the season. Don't forget the Colts have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. A good defensive front can take them out. You wrote the AFC playoff picture recap. It's up on NFL.com. Check that out. Honestly, my head is spinning when I had to go through the sixth seed thing. I, I, I, I, visited that post, not sure of who I am anymore. Well, you pointed out some numbers that are heavily waited for the dolphins,

and we'll move on to the news shortly, but the numbers say the dolphins are the heavy favorites here for the spot, right? Right, well, are those, the football outsider site that does weigh percentages, and they do a great job with that, they put them at like 59%, and I think the next was 18% or something for Baltimore. Such a big gap. It's surprising to me, but I guess the dolphins just need less help than any other. surprised me too. What I think is if they all win all of them, Miami's the one team that wins. That has to weigh heavily

in the percentage. And if they all lose, it's Miami. Yeah. And I think the big thing there is they take into account who you're playing, and they don't see the Jets as a good team at all. They see them as about the 25th team in the league, and they're in Miami. That's fair, but I don't see the dolphins as a good team

at all either. No, and the recipe for disaster we saw against Buffalo, 19 to nothing, Miami played its worst game of the year when you get their offensive line against a defensive line that can cause havoc. That's the Jets. And what defense is more similar to Buffalo? They're not as good as Buffalo. I don't think overall. But in terms of the scheme and the players, it's the Jets defense. Mike Patton, Rex Ryan. And the Dolphins will abandon the run at any sign. No one's run on the Jets all year. So the dolphins need to win and they need either Baltimore to lose or San Diego to win.

So that San Diego game, it's interesting because the Dolphins need. If the Dolphins win any three-way tie, if the Dolphins and the Ravens win early, the Dolphins will be sitting there watching the Chargers, rooting for the Chargers to win. I'm rooting against the Dolphins more than any team in the NFL. It doesn't make any sense. I'd be fine if the AFC playoffs, just for the sake of our nation and for the people that watch football, went down to four teams. If the Dolphins make the playoffs, I'm going to petition, Greg, to let me not cover that game

so I can just not watch it in any shape or form. I do not want to watch the Dolphins in the play. It's a travesty. They are not a good team. You should know by now that even the fact that you just said that just now guaranteed you're on the Dolphins playoff game just to annoy you. Oh, God! No, God, please no!

No! No! They're so bad and they're so boring. The Gold Standard behind the glass today. Clutch play by the gold standard. And before we move on, I agree with you. I don't want to see the Dolphins. I want to see the Cardinals like Mark.

let's think about reseeding these playoffs and let's just have the wild cards come out of any conference and that the division winners or all the division winners they're in but after that it's the next four best teams from any conference and just throw them around wherever maybe throw the Arizona to the AFC

take away the conferences maybe even from another sport just being in the best group of people you can to compete I'm serious wouldn't that be a better playoffs put Arizona over in the AFC playoffs this year in the wild card something like that idea is going for it? What? The NFL has shown a willingness more than any other professional sports team to mess with the rules to make the fan experience better.

Exactly. Major League Baseball would never make any change in a hundred years. Well, look at the Pro Bowl. I mean, suddenly they mix that soup up. I could see this happening. And if I was a professional host like Dan, I would have teased earlier that we're going to go over some of our Pro Bowl picks. But first, let's get to a little bit of news. All right, we've got to start with Tony Romo. The newsroom was filled with excitement. I've never seen so many. Is that the word for it?

Well, how would you describe it with the Tony Romo news? I think the newsroom was a fluster with, you know, well, we didn't know what the situation was, right? It wasn't a something show. We didn't know what the situation was. When it dropped in the news, you know, the first report is he's out for the year, and we keep learning more, and then Jason Garrett comes out. He refuses to say that I've never seen so many middle-aged men running around so fast. There was a buzz in the air, definitely.

And right now, as we tape this on Christmas Eve, Jerry Jones has expressed, I would say, some optimism or hope that Tony Romo could play this week despite his herniated disc in his back. And he basically says he might be cleared if he feels better later in the week. there's nothing structurally wrong that says he couldn't play. NFL media insider Ian Rappaport has reported through his source that Romo is unlikely to play. But it's something, I think, based on Garrett and Jones's comments that we're not going to know about until the end of the week. It's similar to Aaron Rogers here in that it's purely a medical decision. Jones has said if there's any way we leave it up to Romo, he'll play through the pain. He's reportedly getting an epidural for the pain.

So the Cowboys are approaching this as if there's any chance that Romo can play, it will happen. But it depends on the medical clearance. You know, it's the second week in a row where they got frisky with the flexing of a game into Sunday night where the Cowboys game that we thought we'd see could be very different. And a lot of people, you know, I wrote a piece yesterday basically, I don't want to hand it to the Eagles. but this isn't a good matchup for Dallas even with Romo on the field and I don't like their chances

with Orton who hasn't played in two years being thrust into that lineup. Yeah, I didn't mention the NFC East playoff picture or NFC North that I knew we'd talk about here in the news that's of course the winner take all game I think we both, we all like the Eagles to win that game even if Romo's around

I will say that the Romo factor if he does come back from this it just there's always so much drama it would be fascinating with Romo and his career, and if he could get out there, what a moment on Sunday night that would be with the division on the line there, right?

I'd love to see him play, and I want to see what kind of creative drama he can come up with a bad back. The last time I was this excited about a Kyle Orton game was 2011, week 17. Kyle Orton returns to Denver as a member of the Chiefs with a chance to get revenge on Tebow Mania.

You were as excited then as you are now about Kyle? I was excited for that game. game. It just felt it was... And they did, and then Denver backs into the play. No, no. The Denver won three to nothing, I believe, and Tim Tebow had two completions in that game, and it was the worst game ever. So, Kyle, and don't let me down again. That was, it was a big disappointment. Let's move on and talk about Vaughn Miller, a story that got lost in the shuffle yesterday. He is out for the season, one of the league's best defensive players on the AFC's number one seed. And yet this story sort of got lost with everything else that went on. How does this

change your view of the Broncos? Mark Sessler? Well, you know, people quickly point to the fact that they were 6 and 0 without him to start the season. And there's a lot of talent in Denver. And if the offense is doing what it can do, it's not the same as if the Chiefs lost the equivalent of Von Miller. But I think he's the most complete defensive player in the league right now. He can do everything well, and maybe he wasn't having his best season, but it's a big loss because a lot of the guys that they had when they went 6-0 also aren't healthy. They're not a healthy defense right now. Derek Wolf, Kevin Vickerson, Rahim Moore, Wesley Woodyard, all were healthy and playing well when Von Miller was out. None of that is true right now. I feel like if the

Broncos are going to win, they're going to have to score 40 points every game now. Whereas I thought there was some hope that Champ Bailey coming back, Von Miller, maybe Moore and Wolf and Woodyard all come back and they could have a pretty good defense in the playoffs. I no longer think they'll have a good defense in the playoffs. Their cornerback, Kvon Webster, who is playing okay for them, is also injured. Bailey's been a shell of his former self. They had a four-game stretch where they gave up 29 points per game up until last week when they got to play the Texans. Every team in the AFC has problems, but they have a problem. They're an imbalance team. I mean, they're not as banged up as the Patriots.

They're probably not as imbalanced as the Patriots. The Patriots defense is not good either. So they still should be seen as the favorites, but I don't see them as some gigantic favorite by any means. Let's talk about a story you wrote last night, Chris Wesseling. Terrell Pryor and his agent are getting into the mix. Terrell Pryor will start this Sunday in Week 17 against the Broncos. Tell us about what his agent was saying.

Terrell Pryor's agent It seemed like he's been frothing at the mouth Just waiting to get this out This has been festering for six weeks Told CSM Bay Area last night That Dennis Allen is setting Terrell Pryor up to fail Byte by removing Matt Begloin And starting Pryor against the Broncos

Who are on the bottom third in the NFL and defense And against whom Pryor had the second best game of his career Earlier this season He's crazy It's an odd way to sabotage your quarterback. It is odd. It's an opportunity, and that's what he's been asking for. The comments were just out of this world crazy.

You know, the things he was saying that Dennis Allen stumbled upon a gym, the find of the season in Terrell Pryor, and he botched the discovery of this gym. Is it the find of the season in Oakland? No. You couldn't throw the ball. Well, I'm not seen as a great player, but I, I mean, I get, in agent speak, reduced down to normal language. Everyone thought Terrell Pryor was a lost cause.

And, you know, he was, he is a great athlete we discovered this year. But is he a great quarterback? No. But it's an opportunity. I don't see how he's being sabotaged. This is the same as any other situation in which there's no answer at quarterback and the coach just goes with the hot hand. You can't blame him for that.

Prior had eight interceptions without a touchdown over a four-game stretch in which the offense fell apart. You can't blame a coach for turn into another option. Yeah, if anything, Dennis Allen's trying to save his job. He's not trying to sabotage anyone. He's trying to win the game, and he thinks Pryor, who played well against Denver before, could help him do that. I would bet the Broncos are a lot more scared of Thorell Pryor than Matt McGloin right now.

That's fair. That's totally fair. It's an odd move by an agent and not really a graceful move by an agent. Well, puts them in a bad spot. Pryor had to quickly apologize and say these comments are not how I feel towards the Raiders' organization and yada yada yada so he put his client in a bad spot you could say this is the most important game of prior's career now he has to leave an imprint on the front office for the season and he's got to spend the week defending his agents dumb comments if prior ever left the raiders week don't you think he'd get another job in a second not a starting job he would quickly be brought in somewhere else to work with absolutely this could be the last start he ever makes though without an injury in front of him i mean that that's where he's at it's a big game it was just such a wild story i've we've right

these types of we've written stories for a long time and i've never seen one quite like this so we had to mention it let's get to aaron rogers as we wrap up the news as we tape this the one thing we know is mike mccarthy said that he wants an answer on rogers's status a little sooner this week than he has in past weeks and that's really the only thing that's different the only thing that would give me hope if i was a packers fan is he did hint strongly hinted that he and ted thompson could take the decision in their own hands this week and remove the medical evaluation. That would give me a little bit of hope if I was a packer-

If this were 1988, wouldn't he have been playing for the past week or two? Yes, I don't think there's any question. Well, maybe 78. I don't know about 88. The decision comes down to Thompson, it sounds like, ultimately, from the reporters in Green Bay. For what it's worth, there was a feeling among some reporters there that the wind was changing on Monday, but I don't think we know.

I think we'll find out earlier in the week. We're taping this again Tuesday, so we'll see. I don't think we give Matt Flynn much of a chance if he's not in. I give anyone a chance against that defense. Okay. I think we're all picking the Packers if Rogers is playing. No question. Let's get Rogers into the playoffs, shall we?

Let's get Chip Kelly into the playoffs. Let's get either Rathusberger or Rivers into the playoffs. Let's get all the good quarterbacks and offenses in. Well, that's fair. Thank you. That's what I would like. All right. We just talked about Rivers and Rathusberger.

Well, I mentioned them. There are two of the quarterbacks that got some Pro Bowl voting on our first annual Pro Bowl ballots, unconferenced on NFL.com. If you want to find it, I would just Google the words Lyle the intern. Yeah, that's the easiest way. And Pro Bowl voting, and you will find it. It's got all our Pro Bowl choices. And they're going to get announced. this Friday on NFL network,

we're going to have some reaction for you on NFL.com. You can still vote if you're listening to this by December 26th. So if it's Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, what could be better than unwrapping some Pro Bowl votes? You know when you're done opening your presents and it's depressing? Because if not now as an adult, but as a kid you waited all year for Christmas, then it's suddenly over and it's like 4 o'clock on Christmas Day. that's when you get on that computer and you start to knock off some pro bowl notes.

At that point, that's the point where you think, what would I rather do than choose Marcel Reese or John Conner? That's exciting. This could be fun, choosing the fullback for the Pro Bowl. So much power. Rividing stuff. Let's talk about some of our choices. Let's go through the quarterbacks first.

Mark Sessler, you had Ben Rothesberger on your list. Chris Wesleyan and I did not You left off Tom Brady I thought that was interesting What's your decision making there? Well hold on number one You get to pick six guys And do I think that there's seven or eight guys

That would be if they were in a pro bowl game I wouldn't blink yes And I just went Rathlisberger Because I look at this team And you take him out of what Pittsburgh is Not that this isn't true of Brady This isn't a big Ben versus Brady thing I just love what Ben's done this season

I think that he proved to me that something that West pounded the table on a couple months ago, as bad as the Steelers were, when you have that quarterback, you can't count him out. We're still talking about them as a potential playoff team. And I think he's the toughest quarterback around, and so it wasn't hard for me to vote for him. Now, the Pro Bowl is different this year than it's ever been in the past. I don't know if people know this. Let's bring in the Gold Standard here to just see, are you aware how the Pro Bowl is different this year and could you explain it how it is different?

This is a real trial by fire. I do believe that the Pro Bowl is different this year in that the fans have a larger stake and there's no conference-based voting. That's accurate. I don't know if the-great job there. Correct. I was about to say, but I don't know if the fans have a larger stake.

I don't think they do. That might not be correct. It's good, though. But the conference voting is what you got. So you don't have to choose three AFC or three NFC quarterbacks. You just choose your favorite six quarterbacks. or your favorite six running backs, and it could be five from the NFC, one from the

AFC, whoever you think are the best. Chris Wesleyan, you had Andrew Luck. You were the only one of the 5 ATL writers, Kevin Patra, Dan also, of course, had their votes. You're the only one that Andrew Luck in the Pro Bowl. Well, let me just first say that this is the Proble, which is, you know, we're not talking about the most important game of the year here. Thank you. Your Proble bout is not the Magna Carta.

It's fun to talk about it. No, but I'm just saying you're allowed to, like, okay, some of these picks are going to be no-brainers. They have to be acknowledged for their greatness. You can, I think, out of six quarterbacks, you can pick one or two. I have no problem picking Andrew Luck over Tom Brady or even Ben Rathesberger. Andrew Luck, without him, I think the courts not only don't win the division, they're probably a three-win team. I think he's put that team on his back all year and carried them, and I think he should be acknowledged for that. Tom Brady's missed too many throws for my like.

I think he's still, he's extremely valuable. He's carried that team too. But I think luck has been, he should be acknowledged for what he's done. Well, I can't argue with any of that. You chose luck over your boy, Cam Newton. Wow, the quarterback position, it's tough to just get to six. It was. I had Cam Newton.

Mark had Cam. Cam Newton is a preening schmo. He's not my boy. Whoa. But you're always defending his way. He's had a good gear, but I don't like him. I would not vote for him for the Pro Bowl. Well, you would if you thought he was one of the six best quarterback.

I didn't do that stupid Superman thing in the first down dance for a quarterback. Wow. A quarterback should not be a preening schmo. I'm pretty sure that in the bylaws of Pro Bowl voting, you were not allowed to, you know, count touchdown celebrations as part of your vote. I think you can do anything. The pro-bo voting is there is no Bible. This is what I'm talking about. No rules, big fan steak right there.

That's right. And the fans always blow it. You know, every all-star voting, pro-bow voting, I'm encouraging everyone to vote and check out our picks. and use those to help you not choose some star that stinks now because there's always big mistakes when you let the fans vote too much I had Cam Newton in I had Brady in there was basically there weren't that many disagreements I had Brady, Breeze, Manning Newton Rivers

I would say that you look at R5 slates together there were very few controversies yeah we were fairly similar there's just little differences like Dan chose Nick Foles for the Pro Bowl which I think is totally legit you can make that case. I think he missed too many games. Another interesting pick, Ryan Matthews at Running Back. You were the only one that chose him, Chris.

I like that choice. Well, I don't see why not. He's had as many 100-yard games as any running back. He's really carried that offense over the last four or five games. Greg, you've mentioned that if there was a spot for first and second down running back, he might be an all-pro. He's run as hard between the tackles as Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch this year. And to me, Ryan Matthews is the one guy in the NFL this year.

You can tell, are you watching the games? Well, that's a great point because I think it's quickly, you mentioned Ryan Matthews to almost anyone. Oh, but isn't he the guy that's always injured? Isn't he the guy that's been a disappointment? Actually, if you just put, you've ripped the names off all these guys' jerseys, he is a very good Pro Bowl pick. Yeah, he's the guy that if you're trying to tackle him a couple yards from scrimand,

you better get ready because he's going to run you over it. He's been one of the most. I'm just saying. Greg is Adam. care of a Ryan Matthews. You know what, Greg, that's two times in a row. Felt a little manufactured the stand. That's not at all.

I wasn't thinking. I don't understand. I like it, though. It's a bit at this point. Matthews is one of those guys that's fun to watch, is what I'm trying to say. Yeah. He gets you fired up. Yeah, no one's killing.

And Wes has been, you've been riding that train for all season long. It's my Twitter consensus theory. If you have every fantasy football expert in the land agreeing on something or every sports writer in the land agreeing on something, you're probably going to be right if you go the other way. That's a good point. I had to put Frank Gore into the Pro Bowl. Also had Matt Forte, Charles, Lynch, LaShawn McCoy, Peterson. There's so many good running backs this year that you really couldn't argue too much.

That six spot was where we all kind of differed. You had Matthews, I had Gore. I believe you had Alfred Morris. Eddie Lacey? Eddie Lacey. Yeah, we all had Lacey, didn't I did not have Lacey. I did not have Lacey. At wide receiver, we were really similar across the board.

some people had Alshan Jeffrey and Brandon Marshall. Some people did not have Brandon Marshall. There was a lot of Demarius Thomas, Jordie Nelson, decisions. You guys went with Nelson, am I right? I did go with Nelson, and it's more for the degree of difficulty on the catches he made early in the season

when Aaron Rogers was there, but I would have no problem with somebody choosing Demerius Thomas over him. Oh, it's another category where there's clearly more than enough guys that would be no issue pro bowl players, but you can only pick so many. Dan has the qualification, which I like of, is he a player that made plays to change games and win games?

And Nelson against Dallas, that touchdown catch he had where he reached over the defender, that started the comeback. And then there was a third and nine later in that game where he reaches out one-handed on a crossing route. If he doesn't make either one of those plays which are exceptional, they don't win that game. And he didn't have big numbers that day, but those were two plays that almost no. one's going to make. A Jordy Nelson highlight reel would be more fun to watch than any other receiver in the NFL. I had an issue with Greg. Greg doesn't pick Josh Gordon but selects Greg Little. When you talk about watching the games, I would suggest maybe check back in. That's not true.

Mark, you chose Julius Thomas. Give the tight end a little bit of love. Well, I think that there's number one, I went Kronkowski as part of this group. I don't care if he's hurt. That guy is by far the best, but to me it came down to Julius Thomas and Jordan Cameron. And I am a Brown's Homer to some degree, but I went against Cameron because I loved, if this season ended a week eight, he would have been a home run pick. But he really vanished down the stretch where I think Julius Thomas and Wes, again, one of the first guys to mention him over the summer. Thomas, to me, was a revelation this season. I think he's still producing and part of a record setting offense. And again, I just went, it was a flip of a coin. I went Thomas. I had the same

decision and went with your boy, Jordan Cameron, whereas you went with my boy, Julius Thomas. And it's because to me, Cameron had better numbers, except for the touchdowns, with three different quarterbacks, one of whom ignored him for most of the year in Jason Campbell. And I can't blame Jordan Cameron because Jason Campbell won't throw to him. And Cameron still wasn't one of the, I think he was third in yards among tight ends. Yeah, I believe that's right. He had, he disappeared for times. And maybe that was not his fault.

It's not his fault. That was the quarterback. And to me, the difference between... Maybe I made a mistake. I didn't have him on there. I didn't have Grunkowski either. You can't put Grunkowski in for half a season. Oh, you absolutely can put Grunc because you saw how much of a difference he made to that team.

Cameron and Thomas, both former college basketball players. I think Jordan Cameron is more athletic, moves more fluidly. And if you put him in the Broncos offense, he's even better than Julie's Thomas. I like to see that. I put Thomas in. I don't like putting anyone that misses four games. That's about my cut-up. If the baseball player missed 40 games, you would never put him in the pro, in the

in the All-Star games. Grunk could play three games and get my vote over these bum-tight ends that we're putting it. None of them are bucks. Hobos. Let's wrap up strong, shall we? Because the people have been emailing, tweeting, saying, where is Mark's take on T.J. Ward, the Brown's safety?

Can we get that before Christmas? Can we talk a little Pro Bowl campaign for T.J. Ward? Well, you know, I thought the safety group was interesting. There's a lot of good safeties, and there's a lot of back. ones too, frankly. But for me, Ward, I think that he's the guy that, I think if he played in a different city for a different team that was on television a little bit more, he'd be, he'd have more recognition. By nature, each week I was covering the Browns. And I wasn't happy with Ward in past seasons because I found him to be very spotty in terms of coverage. I think he's

become a much better player this season. And look, I just pulled the trigger. When we were given this exercise, one of the things I looked most forward to was putting T.J. Ward on my ballot. Outside of Earl Thomas, he's easily been the best safety in NFL, I think. Big, huge hitter for a safety, covers well. Probably the best run defense safety in the NFL. And I think may have been the best player on a talented Brown's defense this year. See, that's why you come to around the league. We're taping podcast on Christmas Eve, and we're telling you how you can intelligently fill out your Pro Bowl ballot with T.J. Ward.

You guys convinced me. I did have them on, but basically because you guys convinced me. And you were right. And I also want to just say before we go to Kenan Lewis, wherever you are, Saints Cornerback. He was very upset that we did not include him on our Pro Bowl ballots. For some reason, he chose me and Dan to tweet at, and he wanted to know why he was not on there. And I looked a little deeper into it. You know, Keenan Lewis is a borderline pro bowler.

He belongs there. I wouldn't argue with it. He maybe belongs there over some guys I had. so I'm sorry vote for Kenan Lewis I think Keenan Lewis deserve some votes sure yeah he should be in the conversation

anyone that cares enough to anyone that tweets at us is in the conversation that's how you break that except for the idiot fan boys right if Steve Gregory of the Patriots tweeted at me I'd be like put him in the pro bowl anyone that just

wants to give us some attention anyone that wants to give us awards thank you iTunes for making us the best of 2013 awards or whatever Thank you for listening. Smooth as silk. Thank you for listening, everyone,

and making this pre-Christmas season about as fun as can be. We'll be back on Friday previewing all the week 17s games. The gold standard will be there. Will you not? Oh, I most certainly will. We'll be excited. In the meantime, hope everyone has a great Christmas

for the gold standard, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, they enhance us and Kevin Patra in absentia. Merry Christmas to them as well. I'm Greg Rosenthal. We'll talk to you, Frank.