NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL Week 17 recap

Episode Date: December 29, 2014

A room with some heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler -- recap the final week of the 2014 regular season, breaking down all 16 games from Sunday. Plus, Chris Wesseling calls in for the Aaron Rodgers vs. J.J. Watt MVP debate.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's going on in the playoffs. Go there now. The Around the NFL podcast had nothing to do with Daniel Jeremiah's torn Achilles. Really? Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Anzis, and I am joined by a room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys? What is up?

That's true, by the way, about DJ. I know there has been some rumors. Daniel and I, despite having the same first name, have had some differences since he launched his successful podcast, Move the Sticks. We did not tear his Achilles. DJ is great. I listen to his podcast. I love hearing TD on it.

The only thing that bothers me a little bit is it feels like TD is a little more engaged, a little more into it. You know what I mean? You know, you can't love all the podcasts equally. I just get the feeling you love him a little more. On this show, there's a lot more to do in terms of video production, a lot more going on behind the scenes. DJ still for right now is kind of like when you guys first started as, you know, your Ronald League podcast. You know, we've got to grow.

We're not at this level just yet, you know? A bit of a backhanded insult, I would feel like, just happened, just occurred. T.D., is it possible that there's too much of you on that podcast? You have a large role in it. This is week 17, folks. This is the end of the Yellow Brick Road, a long regular season. Mark, you've been there. You've been down the road.

This is the fifth regular season. We've worked together at the NFL.com. And another one's in the books. A lot of stuff went down today. Did you like the year? Greg, did you like it? It was great. I love that it was 425. Five games are going on.

Four of them had big time meaning. The NFC seating kept changing every 10 minutes. Same thing happened early with the AFC wildcards, which we'll get to. That's what you look for. And now we're ready to move on to January. I'm always happy. Probably the most competitive. Of all the ones that we've worked together, right down to the end.

I know personally, Dan and I follow a couple of teams that, a continued threat of total disaster shows. Yes. Yes, which we'll get into a little bit later. And thank you, Mark, for going more macro there because that's what I asked you, Greg, but you stuck to just talking Sunday. Actually, you liked the year.

Did you like this year? Yeah. Aspects of it. I didn't like the beginning of the year. It was a great year. Like the end of the year more. Why? What was so good about the end of the year?

Less, you know, things that weren't good. Yeah, that's fair. I'm not even certain what we're talking about at this point. It's probably best. What the hell's going on out here? So why don't we get into the games? There were 15 games played before Sunday night football. So every team played on Sunday that only happens once a year in week 17.

So let's get straight to it. We start at Lambeau Field where the Green Bay Packers clinched the NFC North in a first round by with a 30-20 win over the Detroit lines. The Packers survived to scare in the second quarter when Aaron Rodgers aggravated his calf strain was carted to the locker room. Rogers returned, sparked the win. the win, and then, to me, locked up his MVP award with it. But the big picture here is the Packers are the number two seed

and are only behind the Seattle Seahawks and home field. I think for a minute in the newsroom, when we saw Rogers go down, it was a thought of not only does it, you know, look at how difference of the difference maker is for that team, the entire Super Bowl race completely altered. Because if there's one team that I look at that can challenge Seattle at home or in Seattle in the playoffs it's Green Bay when they're firing on all cylinders

I mean they looked so average when he was gone Here they go out of the he actually hurts the calf Moments before throwing a touchdown past the Randall Cop to make it 14-0 He misses the equivalent of half of a quarter I would say of action And it goes on 14-0 to 14 14 14 he comes back in And they win 30-20 so you do the math This guy is that important to the team And he's got such a great swagger about him

I saw somewhere on Twitter that he He came up to Matt Flynn, who filled in not so capably in Rogers' place and said, I got this. Went in? First try back in, touchdown, and the Packers never looked back. And, you know, when he comes back in the game, I mean, it wasn't just the season could end. It's like this game. I wasn't even looking past this game. When the Lions come and score those two touchdowns and you think Rogers probably isn't coming back in,

you're thinking the Lions are going to win this division. And even if Rogers gets to play next week, they're going to be on the road. and it's a whole disaster, and then they come in and do what everyone expected. It's really amazing that he, facing that defensive line, Rogers just came back and didn't miss a beat, and he is not healthy. So this two-week break is vital to not just Rogers' ability to play at an MVP level,

but for the Packers to have any chance of advancing out of the NFC and getting past Seattle. I don't like the fact that you're just handing him the MVP. I mean, JJ Watt. He earned it. Had another monster game, your boy, he went over 20 sacks, on the year. He couldn't have a bigger impact than any defensive player

we ever talked about. We're going to get into that when we get Wes on the phone about maybe that debate. But I think what Rogers did here, I thought it was beautiful the way such a great season, one of the best seasons in recent memory for a quarterback, he capped it with a little Willis Reed magic at the end of the game. I think that will stick with voters. I think

that's going to put him over the top. He's had a great year. If you're a Packers fan and you're in your 40s, even, It's been since 1992 that you've had nothing but supreme play at quarterback, which drives me crazy. That's fair. And the other thing I was just thinking just now, and I wasn't going to say it, but since you bring it up, if it was a Brown's quarterback or a Jets quarterback that went down in a heap in the second quarter, his cap would have exploded inside his leg.

And he would miss the playoffs and they would go out and then he'd never be the same player. I don't know with the Packers gifted franchises like this, he's back in the second half and they win the game. You know, I don't want to be sour grapes, but it's true. No, that didn't sound sour grapes at all to me. Well, they're going to be a playoff by, and Rogers with these seasons, now that he's starting to stack up, I mean, we're talking about old Packers quarterback. At some point, he's going to be stacking up a career that we can talk about him versus Farver.

I mean, if this is his second MVP award, I think he's played this year better than he ever played before, and he already has an MVP award. Ooh, la, la. We move on. So I said that the Packers have the number two seed, the number one seed, the Seattle Seahawks. Once again, the second year in a row.

They are the top-seated team in the NFC. Pete Carroll's team rallied back from the halftime deficit to lock up the NFC West title. The 26 victory over the St. Louis Rams. The Seahawks were down at 6-0 at the half in this game, but took care of business. Now we're going to get on the phone. He is not with us in studio today, as we said earlier,

but we do have him on the line from Cincinnati, Ohio. he's a man that's been in Cincinnati for several days now. I can imagine his liver is probably in great danger. Chris Wessling, how are you, buddy? I'm doing great, boys. How are you? Very good. Hearing his voice proves that he's alive. Yeah, I'm doing well.

Very good. It's great to hear you, Wes. So the Seahawks down 6-0, they come back and win the game. Is there any reason to think, though, that they could be vulnerable at Century Link in the playoffs? Well, I don't think so. I don't think they're invincible, but I wouldn't use the very... vulnerable. Their defense, I think, is better than it was at any point last year when they won the Super Bowl. The offense had two turnovers and a failed fourth down today, which made the game seem a lot closer than it really was for most of the first half. But they were clearly

the better team, and that game should have been a blowout today. But it was 6-0 at the half-time. What about their progress on offense recently didn't show up? I mean, that stunned me just because the Rams looked like a dead team last week getting trounced by the Giants and then they go and it's a tie game here in the fourth quarter? Well like I said it was the two turnovers and the failed fourth down. That's what made it seem like it. The Seahawks hit three or four times as many yards I think it's the Rams at half and they were just down six to nothing because they turned the ball over. So to me those were a couple of fluke plays and they got back on track in the second half and pretty much dominated the game. Wesleyan, I see Lynch had 11 or 14

carries, and then they had Turban with 11. What was going on there? Why the committee situation? I have no idea. I didn't hear any explanation. They just decided to kind of rotate the two backs throughout the game. This whole Lynch thing's bizarre. He misses the first quarter every other game, it seems. Now they're splitting carries with Turban. He did have a lost fumble today.

Maybe that was a factor in it. But it's just, it's such a strange thing because he's playing great, and yet there's always this little extra stuff. Are they resting him, though? I mean, that would make some sense. Maybe? I really have no idea. There was, I would send back and forth between two games,

and I didn't hear any mention of it. I would assume Tarvin was playing well, so maybe that would factor it into it. Wes, we're burying the lead, by the way, though, that the St. Louis Rams didn't finish 7 and 9. They finished 6 and 10. Was that a mistake in bookkeeping or something? How did this happen?

Well, did they go 8 and 8 last year? Maybe they had to kind of swing that balance. Yeah, that 7-8 win plateau that they loved to hit. They didn't get there this year. What does it mean? Well, their quarterback was out all year, so maybe if San Bramford was in there, they would have got seven. Very true. Wes, what kind of setup do you have there in Cincinnati that you're working with?

I am at my brother's house in a part of town called Cheviot. Okay. I mean, are you like in a basement by yourself? You know, are people all drinking and partying around you? What's happening? There's no drinking going on today. Everyone is recovering from the previous four or five days. Wow.

That's an upset. Wait, Wesleyan, I downstairs, I put the over-under at beers drank by Wesleyan at 80. You've been there since Tuesday, so I think that's actually, that's fair, that's maybe even conservative.

Over-under, where does that land? Where do we land with that? I haven't counted them, but I don't think it's 80. I will say this. Does that mean it's far more than 80? For any of our younger listeners, you know, the key when it comes

ingesting alcohol is to drink responsibly. Sure, inside a house, You said Wesleyan, that could count all seven brothers. There are a lot of... The Wesleying brothers are single-handedly keeping the American beer industry afloat. All right, let's move on. DeMarco Murray and Des Bryant each broke single-season franchise records leading the Dallas Cowboys to a 44-17 victory over the Washington Redskins on Sunday.

The Cowboys finish the season at 12 and 4 and will host the Detroit Lions next weekend at Jury World. Wes, bring you back in. The Cowboys proved this all wrong this season. Are you buying in on the boys as an NFC contender? Well, I buy in that they could beat the Lions in the first round, but after that, we'll see what happens if they go to Green Bay or Seattle. I don't think they're going into either one of those places and winning. I don't like what I'm seeing from DeMarco Murray.

He had 100 yards today. Looked okay, but he's not explosive. A lot of it was because the Redskins were so bad at tackling today. Um, I don't think he's the tackle breaker. They're terrible tackling every week. They were even worse today. Watch his touchdown run. It looks like they didn't even try.

Um, I just don't think he's a tackle breaker that he was earlier in the year. And it looks like those carries are kind of taking their tool on his body. I'm kind of surprised for you to give up on the lion so quickly, because that's kind of been your team. You did a very nice preseason call of them as a playoff team. And you got that right. I'm, I'm a little surprised you're just assuming they're going to lose it, Dallas. Well, they'll be the underdog

And I think that's probably right But I also think they could certainly go in there And beat them To me, I don't know I saw, I had the Packers game on in the background today And how many passes Stafford missed And that's been a trend for him all year So if he's not making passes

It's going to be hard to back him But I think overall they have a more talented team Than the Cowboys And what about Tony Romo? I was seeing a lot of tweets out there that people were surprised that he was in this game for so long. He ended up throwing 34 passes, played very well again, and obviously one of the best, if not the best statistical season of his career.

Why was he in for so long? I think Jason Garrett had a different plan than every analyst and a tweeter in America today. There was some kind of outrage about him playing his starters, and he was clearly playing to win the game. I would have thought they would have taken Murray out when they jumped out so a 27 to 7 lead, but they kept him in, and then the Redskins had a couple of plays to get back in the game,

and at that point it was probably too late to take them out. Well, you know, Robert Griffin, he goes in, he throws 336 yards, touchdown, and two picks. I mean, they go into the offseason. I don't know, there's a lot of reasons a couple weeks ago. I think he might not even be back with Washington next season. You've watched him play a couple weeks in a row. What should take?

I would not pay attention to the box score at all today. I thought he was terrible. Wow. He threw two red zone interceptions on back-to-back series, lost a fumble, and a strip-sack fumble that went for a touchdown deep in his own territory, and his two longest plays of the game came on play action, passes behind the line of scrimmage that Deshaun Jackson and Pierre Gerson did most of the work on. So I think the box score is incredibly misleading for him.

Wow. And it has been all year, really. There's a quote after the game, Jay Grun, when asked about Griffin, and the quote was, a lot has to change. I immediately saved that one for the morning people, because that's a good post there. And I do want to give Jason Garrett credit. This is the opposite of kind of the old Jason Garrett.

I like the fact that they played to win this game. It doesn't make sense Murray's out there for so long. But we're going to kill a Cowboys team for stomping on a team on the road, taking care of business. And for a few minutes Sunday afternoon, it looked like the Cowboys were going to get it by. You've got to take a chance and try to get that by. Yeah, and the final score isn't really reflected.

I mean, the Cowboys were in a control all game, but at one point, I believe it was 27 to 20, and then the RG3 fumble happened, and another, I think Dunbar had a long run. So it was kind of a piling on at the end there. But, you know, you can't argue what the Cowboys win in four games in a row and blowing teams out entered the playoffs. Like you said, there's the momentum you want. All right, so the Cowboys are going to the playoffs. One team that is not going to playoffs is the Niners, who sent Jim Harbaugh out a winner on Sunday

a 2017 victory over the Cardinals at the Jeans' Youth Hostel in San Francisco. The Niners then announced, now shortly after the game that the team had, quote, mutually parted ways with Harbaugh, who, of course, took the Niners to three NFC title games and one Super Bowl in his four years, so a huge move by the organization, one that we all saw coming for months,

but finally official. Wes, have the Niners, to use a Job phrase from Rest of Development, will the Niners one day look back at this and say, I've made a huge mistake. They're sending Jim Harbaugh back to whence he came. College football, I guess. But, yeah, I think they have. He has more wins in, I think, four years than they had the previous eight years.

He had 49 of them. He made a point to point that out in his post-game press conference. He thought it was fitting. He's going out 49 wins. Well, I don't think he's blameless in any of this. I mean, obviously he wears out his welcome pretty easily. so he's not blameless, and I don't know. I guess Trent Balken's the power struggle,

and I doubt that the owner was really behind Jim Harbaugh for the last nine months. So there's a lot going on behind the scenes, but yeah, I think that the next coach they have will probably have a lot less success than Jim Harbaugh. If this was Frank Gore's last game as a 49, or really these last two, I know they ended up losing the Chargers game, but he had a monster performance for him to put up 144 yards in his last game in San Francisco

and run out the clock on the end and help deliver a victory for the around the NFL crew. We've had a year-long competition against our feature departments and picks, and this 49ers win clinched it for us. And it is a Greg, a very Greg-like move to get behind the inconvenient truth at a time

when most people are going to put the focus on Harbaugh, you've got to get the inconvenient truth. Well, whatever. It was his last game, he's one of the best players ever. Harbaugh said after the game in his presser, where he was very reflective, he said Frank Gore's going to be playing. playing football somewhere next year and, you know,

louded how great he played. How funny was that? The whole press conference was weird. When he left the press conference, they literally announced the move one minute later. So they were waiting until his press conference ended. Then they announced the move. He quoted dirty dancing.

Yeah. I've had the time of my life. And he's like, it's like that song and he's got a smile on his face. What a weird. It's a perfect way for him to go out because that, his press conferences were stuff of legend and I guess if he's going to Michigan or wherever he's going to do well there too

and it only sets up by the way Harbaugh he's going to he won like crazy at the NFL level he's going to go to Michigan I'm sure their program will get better with him there and then another four or five years from now he will be a guy that gets paid more than any coach in the history of the NFL with some sad sack franchise I'll guess

it will be the Dolphins pays him all the money in the world to bring him back to the national football I'm surprised that he's going to college football I know the money is massive. As we tape this, we don't know it officially, but it sure looks that way. I mean, I think that there's something about him in the NFL to click. And I thought it all along he would wind up with another NFL team. Sometimes it's about the money.

And Rappaport reports is more than $8 million a year, which is insane money. It's more than any NFL coaches making, except for maybe Bill Belichick, which we don't know. Before we move on, we know the Cardinals are going to Carolina. Chris, do you have any Cardinals, Ryan Lindley as the starter thoughts going into the planet? Oh, go for it. It's hard to kind of take apart his game and feel like the Cardinals have a chance to go in to win. I mean, he had his best two drives of his career to open the game and then to close out the first half, the two touchdown drives, and then he threw three interceptions and had one more that was in and out of the hands of a defensive back with no wide receiver within five yards of him.

So it should have been at least four interceptions, had happy feet, stared down his receivers, still look like Ryan Lindley, but I guess a little bit of progress. And I still think, you know, it's going to be funny to see a team with four more wins than their opponent go in and be an underdog on the road in the playoffs. It's annoying. They should change the rules, and you should be able to host the game. Well, this might help that to happen. Yeah. And if the Cardinals were going to be a playoff factor this year with their backup quarterbacks, they needed to be with defense. And they gave up almost 600 yards last week,

and they gave up almost 400 yards here to a lousy 49ers offense. So they're not really playing well at anything. Wes, we're going to bring you back in a little bit to talk a little JJ Watt and the MVP race, all right? Okay. So the Cardinals lose, and they are going to the postseason. And the Carolina Panthers are also going. That will be the opponent of the Panthers who won the NFC South with a convincing 343 victory over the Falcons at the Georgia Dome. It's hard to walk into the Georgia Dome and win.

But no, they did it. The Panthers did it. They finished 7, 8, and 1, 4-game winning streak. They'll host the Cardinals next week. Greg, the Panthers run the historically inept NFC South. It was Ron Rivera's dream game. He won a game by 31 points in which his leading receiver caught one pass for 28 yards.

I mean, that's Ron Rivera. He just wants to run the ball, and they did it for 194 yards, and they found an identity over this last four weeks with the run game with Jonathan Stewart, with Cam Newton as a big part of the run. game and a pass rush that they didn't have early in the year, mostly Charles Johnson, but Star Lotholele had a big day today.

Connie Ely is popping up a little bit here and there, and they've looked like a team that is kind of playoff ready. I don't like this matchup for Arizona also because of the way Carolina's secondary is playing. I thought they did a very good job against Cleveland last week, and then today they held Julio Jones to 58 yards. Well, I think it starts with the pass rush. Matt Ryan had a terrible game. He threw two pick sixes.

He averaged in the Gabbard zone, 5.5. But it was because he was forcing passes while under pressure. When Roman Harper is returning the ball for a pick six with his gray hair, you know, you got problems. First of all, you know, it's okay to have some gray hair. Second of all, last week you said that it was Matt Ryan's division, NFC South. You said he took it from Drew Brees. But how about Cam Newton sticking it in Rosenthal's face saying, Take this pipe and smoke it.

Through 114 yards. No, maybe I'm the best quarterback. He was quarterback of the back-to-back NFC Champions, and that's never happened. No one's ever gone back-to-back to run the South. It is Cam Newton's division. I think Matt... I thought Matt Ryan had a better year overall,

but there's no doubt who was the bigger difference maker over the last month. I mean, Newton missed that game. Derek Anderson kept it moving, but you saw it in the Browns game. Oh, he looked great. This guy just got in a car accident. That's the amazing thing. Four wins in a row.

In the middle of this thing, his car tumbles three times over an intersection, and he's back a couple weeks later, and he's winning games in the playoffs. The box score shows six rushes for 51 yards in a touchdown, which looks good, but it's not insane. But those were such big plays in this game, and so many of them looked like they were going to be a sack to set up either third and 25 or just to punt it, and instead he gets out and ends up running for 15 yards. That was the big difference in this game.

I saw that last week, too, where he was, A, converting third downs with his feet. And, you know, a lot of the times with running quarterbacks, it's, oh, they take off at the wrong times, that's what they trust more. But not with Newton recently. It looks like he's making good decisions when to run and killed Cleveland last week, obviously did a nice job today as well. For the record, and I don't know if I'm going out on a limb on this, but I would be shocked if the Panthers lose next week to the Cardinals who, you know, they don't have a quarterback. And they're just too many losses there. Playing in Charlotte, I think the Panthers are going to win convincingly in advance to the divisional playoffs. We've got all week to talk about that.

We do, we do. 12 quarterback hits in this game and six sacks for the Panthers. That was impressive. I don't totally rule Bruce Ariens. Nobody can believe in us out, but you're right. They look like the better team. We can believe in them, but we're just, we shouldn't. Well, you're not going to deal with Atlanta's offensive line next week,

not that Arizona is a whole lot better. And we're probably not going to deal. We should say with Mike Smith next year as an NFL head coach. He seems like a great guy, but this was the opposite. of everything he preached in the preseason, which was running and toughness. All they can do is throw the ball a little bit. And I think by the time a lot of people listen to this,

he won't be the coach anymore. How about the Falcons and Jets very conveniently switch head coaches? I see Rex Ryan going to Atlanta reforming that team. And then the Jets get Mike Smith. Oh, I like that. He brings an era of calm to the Jets. Calm born. You go to hell, both of you.

What, you don't want, you know what, Mike Smith? Rex, as I said on the last show, Rex needs to go somewhere. There's an established quarterback. Matt Ryan is the guy. but I don't want to play in that mausoleum. A lot of people feel like Atlanta is a very good selection for Rex. There's good jobs available this year.

I mean, San Francisco is an incredible job, and Atlanta's a really good job, I think, just because of Matt Ryan and Julio Jones. All right, so we move on. The Eagles will not be one of the teams in the postseason this year, but they closed out their season with a 34-26 win over the Giants at the Meadowlands. The Eagles survived another monster day from Odell Beckham Jr. and avoided the dreaded 9 and 3 to 9 and 7 fade.

I don't think we need to get too far into this game. We've got a lot of games to get to of more consequence, but I guess just a little post-mortem for the Eagles and the Giants, gentlemen. I think Philly, I mean, if you're Chip Kelly, you've got to think about two years in a row, underwhelming quarterbacks have been able to work this offense to some degree. But the Eagles passed up on a quarterback in the draft last year. Now, it looks ridiculous, but they passed up on Manzell.

Now, that looks smart at this point. But a couple of other quarterbacks, too, they could have had. And so, do you go into next season? They're in the quarterback market. I think they have to be. They have to. Whether it's free agency or the draft, you have to be adding. But free agency offers nothing.

So it's got to be the draft. That's fair. And what about the Giants? Is Tom Cougham back? Yes or no, Greg. Yes, I expect it. Ian Rappaport reported it was looking that way. they had 500 yards of offense again this week,

this time against Philly. Last week it was against the Rams. The offense was humming at the end of the season. They weren't efficient in this game, so they ended up losing. But I think you got to stick with what's working. You don't want Eli to start all over. I think Kaufflin will be back.

They'll probably get maybe a new defensive coordinator, get rid of Perry Fuel. By the way, this offense was very good this year, you know, with Eli Manning having the best statistical season, perhaps of his career. And next year you get Victor Cruz back. hopefully he comes back like Victor Cruz of old and you got, you know,

O'Dell Beckham was, I think, 11 for 185 and a touch today. If I'm Ben McAdoe... It's insane. It's insane the run Beckham's been on. If I'm Ben McAdoo, I buy O'Dell Beckham like a horse-drawn carriage that leads to a brick-in-mortar mansion somewhere in upstate New York

that he could just spend his off-season and he saved his job. I like that. All right, so, you know, the Giants and Eagles, they're sad teams, but no one's sadder than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who blew a 14-point second-half lead, lost 2320 to the New Orleans Saints.

The Bucks do get a nice consolation prize, however, in the form of the number one overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft. Gentlemen, we have to assume that topic will be spent on a quarterback, right? Josh McCown and Mike Lennon and the NFL's worst dancer, they are not the answer. I get it comes down to if there's a quarterback that people really, all we're hearing, and we don't know anything about the college players for the most part of this point. You're going to speak for yourself. Well, Dan, you last watched a college game in 1997, I believe.

Notre Dame, Florida State. But honestly, like, I'm not sure there is a number one pick quarterback. No, we don't know anything now, and it's not just us. I mean, Daniel Jeremiah, as much as he knows, doesn't know who the number one pick is. We're not even sure who. Bucky Brooks told us in this very studio that everyone excited about Marcus Mariotta being the god. Maybe he's not a guy that you should necessarily count on as being a real NFL player. But what a way to lose this game?

It was a, what was it? 16-0 in the fourth quarter? Greg is the one person that watched this game? No, I didn't. I didn't watch it. Dan actually did. But I'm just saying they were up two scores going into the fourth quarter and they were going to lose that number one pick to Tennessee.

Who knows who that one pick will be? But maybe that'll change the fortunes of the bucks, the fact that Josh McCown couldn't get it done against this lousy Saints. And Josh McCown stinks. I don't care what anybody says. On the other side of the ball, I'm curious. I feel like that was a shot at West, but he's not here to some degree. No, I don't want to take shots at West, but I just never bought it on the account.

But I will say the Saints shut out the bucks on the second half. I know not a big achievement. but Rob Ryan all pumped up on the sidelines at the end of the game. So maybe that's where you can make a case. Hey, keep me for a third year. Do you think Rob Ryan gets a shot to, again, revitalize his career after a terrible sophomore season in New Orleans? I do.

I think he'll be back. You know, Kenny Vicaro, who might not be the greatest source in the world, which is weird, said Rob Ryan will be back last week. I do. I think Sean Faiton and him get along and they want to turn it around. But this is a team we've mentioned here, just kind of keep an eye on. We do think they get along? I think so.

I think, I mean, they yell at each other on the sidelines, but I think there's a lot of respect there. I think compared to Spagnolo, for instance, who is there and some other defensive coordinators. I think it depends on who becomes available because the bottom line, whether or not you buy into Rob Bryant, like statistically, his defenses, have never really been good outside of two seasons.

It's true. It does feel a little odd, though, that after such a disappointing season, and this is a dread, this is a Super Bowl contender, a lot of people thought that now there would be no changes after season this bad for the Saints. Usually it's a coordinator that's to bite the dust to pay the price, right? That's a good point. Something could happen.

Maybe the GM. Mickey Loomis. The Denver, let's move to the AFC. The Denver Broncos locked up the number two seed in the conference with a 47-14 pasting of the Oakland Raiders. Mark Sessler, Peyton Manning, didn't throw a touchdown pass in this game, but 47 points tells us there should be no panic about this offense as we head to January. He didn't need to.

He didn't need to have one of those games where he, he's, you know, ripping the defense through the air. I mean, he threw for 273 yards. He looked sharper, obviously, than he did to me on Monday night. This was the conditions were different. This was his kind of game. Oakland's defense, you know, Kaleel Mack was not healthy. I think he's been dealing with that hamstring.

And it really came down to Denver just getting an early lead and just nursing it. I mean, this is the Oakland Raiders. What do you want me to tell you? By the way, too many, although Tony Sparano buried the balls, some nice wins in the back half of the season or in the 12 games he coach. But too many of these losses, I would think, for him to be considered on any level to get the interim tag removed. This was probably his last coaching hurrah in Oakland, at least. That was something that I thought too watching this game because there's been, with their offense especially.

You've got a game like last week where Carr and the whole thing, the attack looks good. And you think there's promise. But then the next week they go out, and they had something. like six of their, like six of the first eight drives had a negative yardage. I mean, it's like they completely melt down when they deal with the better team. So they've got to get someone in there that can get more talent, protect Carr better, and just build that team around them. New GM will help too, but I don't think that's happening.

When we all expected, it would have been a stunner if the Broncos of some of losses, but it is big for them because they're banged up at linebacker and other positions to get healthy, get that buy, get a home game in the divisional round, hope that the Patriots lose and who knows and then you could get a home game, most likely. They're more likely to go to Foxborough for the AFC Championship. They do get Ronnie Hillman back here today, at least getting a lot of carries. Wouldn't surprise me if he's a big factor in the playoffs. And how about Demarius Thomas?

I like him going over 1,600 yards this year. Franchise record. Big year. By the way, I still resent anybody that picked up C.J. Anderson on waivers and fantasy. Nine touchdowns and six games. Three today. You're all garbage. That seems harsh.

Let's move on. The Baltimore Ravens locked up the sixth seed in the AFC playoffs with a 2010 win over the skidding Cleveland Browns. Mark, Joe Flacko, and the Ravens' offense has struggled in December. Do we believe the light will turn on in January? We know what happened last time Joe Flacco played in the playoffs. It's weird because I don't see one thing about Baltimore that tells me why they've completely fallen apart on offense the last few.

Today it looks like you look at the score and you look at the fourth quarter and maybe they bounce back. but you're right and left tackle or injured, and they're not playing. I think that's one thing. That really today, Cleveland put a lot of pressure on Flacco, and I think that seven of the first eight drives ended up punt, or one of them was they went forward on fourth down in the red zone and didn't get it. So Cleveland did a very nice job defensively.

Secondary shutdown, Baltimore's receivers. Then Flacco, you know, they just got hot at the end. They got hot and they started to make some big plays down the stretch. But really, I would be concerned about the Ravens in general. I don't think, I think they're one and done in the playoffs. I mean, they got blasted by Houston. That was a bloodbath, how dominant the defense of the Texans was in a big game for Baltimore last week.

They don't have the two tackles, and they're losing 10-6 midway through the fourth quarter to Connor Shaw. You've got to give them credit for winning the game that you've got to win, but it's not a good sign. Well, this is a run-based offense, number one. I mean, I think that's what they want to be, and they can't do, they haven't been able to do that when you've got your left-and-right tackle not in the game. I know people don't, you know, it's, oh, what's happened to the wide receiver in the right.

So, well, no, they fundamentally have, like, two far vastly less interesting players in there at those positions. They do get back what I think was a first-team All-Pro this year in Helodi Nata for the playoffs. So that's a nice little addition to the team, you know? You get one of your best players back? Defense hasn't been their problem, though, at least not today. Damasek floated Nata as a janga piece,

his theory that every team has a player that they cannot live without. They have not been the same team with him out of the lineup, but maybe that's not the main reason. Mark, let's talk about the Browns a little bit because... Let's not. And I know, I know. I said this downstairs that they're sitting at seven and four, and it seemed like no matter what would happen,

even if they didn't make the playoffs, this would be seen as a season of growth for the organization. And perhaps it is in terms of stability up top. But at the same time, this could not have ended worse. So the five-game losing streak, Mansell gets in, plays terribly, then gets hurt. Then he has some more off-the-field issues, missing a, what was that, some type of treatment session and got a fine for that.

And then had a house party, basically. And then had a house party that apparently Josh Gordon maybe went to. And that led to him missing a walkthrough that got him suspended. Justin Gilbert is hated by every player on the roster. He's a first round pick. So, I mean, what's transpired over the last five weeks is an absolute nightmare that really puts into concern what this franchise is going to do in the offseason. Oh, we got! We have sadness. That was, again, Tim. Predictable. If you had had a house party drop somehow in there, little kid in play action, that would have been something.

Way to be prepared, T.D. I know you're going that route, but I did think about that, though. That was weird in House Party 3, by the way, when out of nowhere, kid who was only famous for his big high top showed up with dreads, or he got dreads as part of the, or am I thinking of a class act. Maybe it was class act, actually. Wow. A pivotal moment in cinema. Your knowledge of it, your knowledge is much more than I anticipated. Yeah, class act is a terrible movie.

But anyway, what were we talking about? The Browns, they're an embarrassment. I just look at it. It's so weird because I'll never forget I went over to watch that lashing of the Bengals when they went six and three after that and sat alone atop the AFC North. I thought the same thing. At worst, they go 9 and 7, and there's a lot of reasons for hope and they maybe even have two quarterbacks, not one.

And now you find out basically after this week, they had the same questions they did last offseason, which is what's up with Josh Gordon? and in the future of our team. Do we have anything a quarterback? Do we need to start over there? You know, there's basically, what's the situation with our front office?

Can they pick players? There's so much. They're going to keep petting and they're going to keep Ray Farmer. That's the difference. I think you know you have a coach and a coordinator that you like, an offensive coordinator.

Those are two big things. A lot of people, I understand the circus route with Cleveland that all these players are going crazy. And the thing is, anyone that's been watching Cleveland since 1999, that's not unusual. This has been happening. A lot, but none of those players have been held accountable. Isn't that the biggest disappointment, though, that we're even talking about this after week 17?

It is, but I like Petten at least saying, you know what, if you're not going to respect your teammates and be all in for your team, you're not going to play. And some can say is Patton's culture, one of the reasons this is happening, I don't know. We'll find out. Haslam made some strong statement saying, it doesn't matter what round you were drafted, you know, we'll get rid of guys essentially. I'm paraphrasing, you know, if they don't turn it around. I mean, the problem is Gilbert and Manzell are two prominent guys featured here. They're the first round picks. Manzell is supposedly the future quarterback.

And Josh Gordon is the best player on the team other than Joe Thomas. And he was suspended for the game. So I don't even know if he's going to be back on the team. I sort of expect that they're just going to give up on Josh Gordon. One last thing, you can't just give up on Josh Gordon, have him wind up on the Bengals next season, though. It won't be the Bengals, but it'll be some NFC team or something. You can't control that.

I mean, you just can't control it. He's not helping the team. You've said it yourself, Mark, this offense was fine. They weren't, like, gangbusters, but they were fine until Gordon showed up, which is ironic, and they went in the tank. Yeah, and they also made a quarterback switch to someone that's not prepared to play the position. Well, you said you thought Connor Shaw looked better than Johnny Mandel. Oh, I mean, think anyone that watched the game would say. I mean, he was serviceable.

He looked comfortable. He looked prepared. I thought the worst first round of the last 10 years was the Browns in 2012 with Whedon and Richardson. They might have doubled down. They might have been. It's early. It is early, but it is early, but I would say that after one year, right, here, one thing, Greg, after one year when it was Whedon and Richardson,

there was a lot of reason to think that Richardson was a very promising place. You can't look at Gilbert or Manzell right now and say that. Major figures on this Brown's team have went after Justin Gilbert in the press, which only let you know that something bad is going on behind the scenes with that guy. Manzell seems like a train wreck so far. And so we believe in wake-up calls in these situations. That doesn't often happen. I give Gilbert a better chance just because he plays cornerback than.

than Mandel, but either way, it's not good. All right, let's move on. Justin Houston recorded four sacks, falling one half-sax short of the sham NFL record held by Michael Strahan, leaving the Chiefs hot take, scorching take, to a 19-7 win over the Chargers. It was a win-in-in scenario for the team of around the NFL,

but Greg, the Chargers just had too many injuries to pull off another unlikely win. Well, let's stop calling them the team of ATL. We chose them, and they were official, but they were never in our hearts. We picked totally against them against San Francisco. I thought Philip Rivers had an amazing singular performance to come back in that game. But what the team showed up today is the team that they were,

a mediocre team that had no one on offense that was going to die in the playoffs. San Diego Supercharges. San Diego Supercharges. Sorry to talk over you. No, it's okay. Emotions. While I'm having a hard time collecting myself, I'm sure the listeners are feeling the same way after that kind of performance.

Oh, you never were on board with this team to begin with, Greg? I liked them early in the year, but I thought it became clear that they were a team on defense that just didn't really have an identity, not a good enough pass rush. Kansas City, they're not that good, but at least you knew what they were here. I mean, Justin Houston, Tombaal Lee, they were getting after Philip Rivers today.

That was the difference, and it shouldn't have been 197. And I thought Andy Reid coached a terrible game. If he didn't let Chase Daniel throw so much in key situations, especially in the red zone, I think it would have been a blowout because they looked far better. And if JJ Watt didn't have a transformative season and was just blowing everyone away and placing himself among the legends, Justin Houston is the defensive player of the year.

But Houston, bad timing to have such a magical season. It's weird. It's like gone completely under the radar what he's done from a sack count perspective. In any other season, it would have been something we'd write about every week. That's a good point. about five plays at the end of the game where he could have tried to, where he could have broken the record. One of them, he got close to Rivers, and Wes

has pointed out often that Houston's really good at run defense too, so he's one of the best defensive players in the league. At least they have something there to build off. It felt like they maxed out of their talent, though, which is not good when you go 9 and 7. It's like, I don't think this Chiefs team could have done any better than this. If I'm a Chiefs fan,

I just, I want to see something different on offense next season. I'm not say blow up the machine, but you cannot you cannot expect to go back to the playoffs with a scenario where you don't throw a touchdown to a wide receiver all season. This is not Pop Warner. That is an absolute outrage. I think Albert Wilson's okay.

They never got a touchout from a wide receiver. They almost did too much. Bow came half a yard short, fumbled it, and Kelsey. He knew what he was doing. It's almost like he tried to do it there. By the way, remember I made a somewhat, you know, joking, making the leap case for Chase Daniel back last Oh, yeah.

Well, he did it. One year later, he piloted them to a key victory. I'm not sure. The key victory here today. That's a stretch, Greg. Pretty bad, though, a little grim for the Chiefs, when there's, Alex Smith goes out with a lacerated spleen, and then Chase Daniels comes in and you don't miss a beat.

I don't think there was a huge downgrade with the way that he's used to quarterback. There were some quotes before the game from the charges. They're like, oh, we don't think it's that big a difference between Daniel and Smith, and I think that's somewhat true. I mean, Smith is better, I think, over time, but it's not. Well, it didn't look like that big a difference. For someone with the last name Daniel, Dan, it's Chase Daniel, not Daniels.

We really dislike it when people add an S on the back end. Hey, listen, I am a Daniel. We dislike it? Who's we? I'm plugged in on the Daniels scene myself. Oh, well, that would make sense. If I did that, that was an error, but don't say I'm an outsider in the Daniel game because I'm in. You're St. Daniel, by the way.

So, you know, you're looking down on everyone. You're a faux Daniel, by the way. St. Matthew, Daniel. Don't well. It still ends with that. You're not an honorary member. How many different names do you have? Sorry about it, man.

You're mysterious. You name yourself after a touchdown, and then your last name begins with Saint. I think we're starting to see some sort of unified theme here. The big takeaway, TD, potential fraud. Let's move on. I just don't know where to go with this. All right, so the chargers aren't going into the playoffs.

Neither are the Houston Texans. However, JJ Watt bolstered his MVP argument with three sacks, including a fourth quarter safety that helped lift the Texans to a 2317 win over the Jaguars. as Watt finishes the season with 20 sacks becoming the first player in NFL history to do that twice since that stat became official in 1982. It's time to bring back Chris Wessling on the phone.

Wes, what else does Justin James Watt have to do to win an MVP award? I know Greg is driving this train that J.J. Watt for MVP train, and I won't have any problem if he wins it, but to me, Aaron Rogers is the best player in the NFL, and clearly the most valuable to his seat.

Do you think the Texans would have won today if it wasn't for a while? I didn't watch a game. Yeah, I think they probably would have, but it would have been close. It could have gone either way if he didn't play. They were in control most of the game. Bortles came back and scored late. But the Jaguar's offense was pretty useless all day. They have one pick six on Case Keenum that was a big part of that game.

Nine and seven they go, and this is not a lot of people are saying the same thing, but it is absolutely true. This is a 3 and 13, 4 and 12 team that happens to have the best defensive player potentially since Lawrence Taylor, and they're 9 and 7, and they miss the playoffs. But, you know, if I'm a Texans fan, I feel great because I have a once-in-a-generation superstar just hitting his prime. I just need to locate that quarterback, and we're going to be okay. This Texan team reminds me a little bit.

That's a good point about Watt. They remind me a little bit of the Dolphins team when Pennington came there and one comeback player of the year, and they had the easiest schedule we had ever seen in 11 games, and people thought they would be good the next year. The Texans have one of the easiest schedules this year that we've seen in a long time, and don't be surprised if they take a step back next year. That's what I would say.

Yeah, I agree with the schedule. I do think they played their best at the end, because the defense, other than Watt, was very generic most of the season, and they made the Ravens last week look like an amateur hour. I mean, that was a bloodbath. They have Bortals go 14 for 33 today. They were playing pretty good. They would have been more dangerous, I think, in the playoffs than the Ravens are.

Maybe Romeo Cornell needs to get some consideration for that assistant coach the year award. I don't know about that. Well, it's not Gary Kubiak anymore. Is that a real award? They give that to people. That is this year. First year. We've mentioned it probably 17 times.

I know. I always thought you guys are just joking. No, it's real. Is it, do they actually make it? Is it like a made out of metal? It's going to be like something they give it honors, I think, yeah. I'm not sure it's a real. It's not real.

gold, it's probably like stainless steel or just another byline that has to be cranked out in Super Bowl week. Wesley, one question for you, like, don't you feel, I look at this season by Watt, and I understand who's going to argue with Rogers getting an MVP? He is an MVP-level quarterback, and his season has been pristine, but the award feels like a sham to me because if you, well, no, because it's going to go to a quarterback year after year almost, and we're not, we could go 20, 30 more years without seeing a season like this by a defensive player.

Well, I mean, if you're asking me, I don't think it's a sham. I think, I mean, I don't know what you want Aaron Rogers to do. I just feel like, in a way, the award itself is basically just outside of a few outliers, best quarterback of the year. Well, that's the way the game is played. I mean, Vince Lombardi has a quote saying he would tell his cronies that football is the perfect team sport except for the glaring imbalance of the quarterback position, and I don't know how you escape that. You have the defensive player of the year award for a reason.

Cessler, why are you popping Aaron Rogers of stones? Quit popping a stones. I don't even know what that means. You're popping a stone. The guy's had an amazing year. That sounds rather ugly to me. I'm not discounting Aaron Rogers. The point is, yes, there's no way to outdo what a quarterback's worth is to a team,

especially Rogers, and especially what we saw today, if you want narrative and everything else. It's just that I think we could go decades and not see a season like this from Watt, unless it's Watt doing it again next season. That's true Wow I can't believe it took so long Wow TV he was doing all the work behind the glass

He's also doing our video content If you check out NFL now We did our big three takeaways From week 17 And he's really proud of himself I am and I'm all in for JJ Watt Because I know what it's like Doing it all by yourself today

You know Wow You've been doing something I've not been aware of them Well Wes sorry I didn't get you anything for Christmas But I did let you watch Case Keenham will start one last time because he's probably not starting in the NFL ever again.

So that was it. And I had the flag flying high today. All right, Chris Wessling, continue to not be drinking beer. All right, we'll do. We'll see you soon. Let's move on to the New York Jet Tropitans. And likely, what was Rex Ryan's last game as Jets coach?

Jets wiped out a 10-point deficit on the way to a 37-24 win over the Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Field. If Wes was here, I would ask him the name of the state. stadium, and then he would make a sarcastic comment about that. Ryan got the Gatorade bath from his players after putting the final touches on a four and 12 nightmare season in Gotham, which, you know, it's a very Jets move. I'll just put it at that. But it also tells you how much these players genuinely love Rex Ryan.

I'm going to miss this guy, and I'll ask you, and I'll ask you, Mark, is there any case that can be made why Ryan should stay? Yeah, because I'm not sure who you bring in as a head coach. that's going to be, A, a better defensive coach, number one, or be just a better kind of presence. I think Jets fans love Ryan for a good reason. But at the same time, I think from the ownership on down. Well, Greg is smirking me, but I like Ryan.

And I think that Ryan, if he wanted to make a case to keep Ryan, he'd have to completely give over the offense, which in theory he's done, but to someone completely, maybe Mark Tressman. What if you paired Mark Tressman with Rex Ryan? I mean, here's the thing, and you're right, Jets fans do love Rex, because, you know, he's such a charismatic guy. But I think Jets fans also get that it wouldn't be a bad idea to blow up the machine. This is four years in a row.

Here's the thing, though, like, who do you, right now, who do you see, who excites you as the potential next coach? Mark Sessler. As a coach of the Jets? Yes. I could potentially run their video department or even be, like, fourth in charge. That's how the mangenia started. He's burying balls.

He was with the Brown's organization. So I'd be their coach like 25 years from now. I mean, he hasn't had a winning season in four great seasons here. I understand. And one of those two great seasons is a nine and seven. He doesn't know anything about offensive. If he could play every game in Miami, he'd be Vince Lombardi, but that's not possible. Well, maybe he should be the Dolphins coach.

Every great moment that Rex Ryan's ever had is in Miami. He either gets a contract extension, gatorade bath. It's terrific. Here's the good news. John Edzick's out. There's no way he's coming back. You know, it sounds everything we're hearing. you know, we're hiring Charlie Casserly, Ron Wolfe's involved.

All this stuff is going on for a reason. And most likely, Rex is going to be out too. So the Jets, the Jets have, here's it. Let's talk about the game, by the way. I just got to say, Gino Smith, nobody else did what Gino Smith did today, which was have a perfect 158.3 passer rating. He played brilliant football. He had one bonehead fumble, but he was accurate.

He had a beautiful deep ball. five passes of 30 yards or more. He made Eric Decker look like he was playing with Peyton Manning again. Decker almost set the single season or single game record for the Jets. He had well over 200 yards and a touchdown. Gino Smith and Greg, you've been riding the

Gino Smith Gino coaster for some time now, about a month since, and this, and I don't like to throw the glacier, John Idzik, too many compliments, but Idzik was supposedly behind the decision to bench pick and go back to Gino and it turned out to be the right move because

Gino kind of saved his season a little bit, and it all came to ahead in week 17, where he played brilliantly. He actually did flash signs of being a Pro Bowl quarterback. But isn't Gino Smith a reason that a lot of candidates potentially would be scared to take this kind of a job? They don't have a quarterback, so that is something to be scared of. But Gino Smith is an option, and I don't think he's a terrible option. I have been saying – Well, you would love it as a Patriots fan. No, I think he's –

I just think he's gotten dumped on more than necessary. and he's played fairly well over the last five weeks. If you just watch those five weeks in a vacuum since that first Dolphins loss, I think he's been solid. He's shown a lot of promise. When you watch him, he looks like a guy who might be a guy. And on the Dolphins side, just another terrible loss. And to me, it's so silly that Stephen Ross just basically said,

welcome back, Stephen, welcome back Joe. Be happy you're not a Dolphins fan. I know. It could be worse. I tweeted that. And then handsome Hank, notorious DOP, tweet it back at me, watch what you say. don't want to ruin our relationship. And I get that.

So British and so severe. I know. You got to feel for Dolphins cities who are stuck with Philbin. And then Mike Wallace might not be stuck with Mike Wallace for too much longer because he was benched for behavioral reasons. He had an attitude issue of some kind. Well, he pulled himself from the game. Yeah, tell us about this, Mark.

You wrote the post. Well, initially it was, and it's probably not that much different that he was benched for attitude issues and that there was some reports that he got into a scuffle with a coach verbally. but then Jeff Darlington from NFL media talked to a couple dolphin sources that said that he basically, after Charles Clay scored a touchdown right before the half,

Wallace walked off the field and told Philman, I don't want to play anymore. It's Shades of San Antonio Holmes, also in Miami walking off and getting into it with his teammates. Very strange, and it makes me think Mike Wallace won't be in Miami next year. Moving on. Teddy Bridgewater. Ooh, jaunty.

I can't believe we're wasting the jaunty song on this game. Teddy Bridgewater threw a go-hand. had 44-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, guiding the Vikings to a 13 win over the Bears. Day Cutler's return to the lineup was uneventful as Chicago gears up for an offseason of great potential change. Do we have anything we want to add on this game, gentlemen? Well, what a way for Jay Cutler to keep that trade value nice and low. I read something that the Bears would actually have to maybe give up picks to trade Jay Cutler. Seriously, they would have to trade like Cutler in a fifth to get a sixth back.

Just to dump the salary. So they went from this past January, giving him $130 million contract to the following January, maybe having to give up picks just to get them off their hands. That's a bad season. Nice little season, too, by the Vikings. Seven and nine, Teddy Bridgewater looks solid. Something. You got a coach, you got a quarterback.

I think they can be a little excited. Get Agent Peterson back? Probably not. Maybe, who knows, but if he is back, you know, strangers things have happened, it's not a bad team. It's weird that a year ago, the Vikings fans probably couldn't have been, more depressed with their quarterback situation because you had Christian Ponder and who knows what else. And the Bears were feeling great about it. And the Bears are feeling great. One

year later, I think that poor Bears fans are among the most depressed in the league because everything's about to get blown up. All right, that's enough of that game. Let's move on to another scorcher. Kyle Orton threw one touchdown. Anthony Dixon ran for another touchdown. The Bills finished their first winning season at 10 years. That's good. 17-9 win over the Patriots. This is a game that meant nothing for the number. one-seated pats. But Greg, you have some concerns as they enter the playoffs, don't you? Well, I don't think they've played good on offense for more than a month. They peaked offensively in the Indianapolis in Detroit games. And then over the last month, they've struggled against

Green Bay, San Diego. They had a good half against Miami, the Jets, and now the Bills. And I know they were sitting a lot of people, but Brady played half the game in the offense didn't play well, and it was out there. It's just a fact. I doesn't mean they can't respond, but they haven't played as well on offense. Well, this same Bill's team that took care of business against Aaron Rogers and the Packers are tough to deal with on defense. We've learned that. And Brady left at half with six points in about 80 yards passing. Did not look good.

Now, Edelman's not in there. Robb. Gronki's not in there. I know. They had a bunch of subs. It was really almost a preseason affair for the New England the way they handled it. They pulled Brady at halftime. In comes Jimmy Garapolo. I don't know.

I mean, New England, I think they're going to get it right. This is a team that knows how to fix itself over the bye week. By the way, in two weeks they're going to win 42-7. Exactly. I don't think there's a lot to be worried about yet. Bills have to be kicking themselves for losing that game to the Raiders. It could have been exciting. And the Broncos, too, just watching this,

they could have forced the Patriots to play this game because you just never know and get that home field. And great, you want to give a little credit to Mark and I. We told you 400 times. All the times you were worried about this team, they'd go 12 and 4 and be the one seed. What happened? I give you guys all the credit in the world.

We're Sears, a pair of them. All right, let's move on. Andrew Luck threw for 160 yards, and two touchdowns before sitting out the final two quarters and the Colts won their final game of the regular season at 27-10 win over the Woffel Tennessee Titans. That's a, Titans get the number two pick in the draft and the Colts will play next week in the wild card round.

The Colts entered January with a lot to prove, though, don't they, Mark? I think so. I mean, you know, Wesleyan has pointed it out on the show a few times and the offense is an up-and-down operation. I don't think there's something overly special about the defense. defense. Andrew Luckdo finishes the year with more touchdown passes than any quarterback in the game, and I wouldn't want to deal with him in the playoffs, frankly. A lot of upsets in this game. One, Jordan Palmer threw passes in the NFL this season, three of them in this game. I mean, that's pretty crazy.

The Titans threw 31 passes in this game between him and Whitehurst for 50 yards. I've never seen that. When you want to talk about, 1.4. If one team wanted, I'm not sure this would be a shocker, but if one team wanted to say one and done, we're not. excited about what happened this season. Ken Wisenhunt could not have done less to undo the reputation of him being a quarterback whisperer. Well, that's one thing when you get a young Big Ben, but his record over the final couple seasons in Arizona into this year is abominable, and he's shown very little ability to develop a quarterback.

By the way, unless you're Bill Walsh, I'm kind of all set on the quarterback whisper move. Yeah. I'm kind of done with that. Well, right, we've maybe not us, but everyone, including us, is labeled. I'm not sure if I'm not a Bill Walsh is a quarterback whisper. Enough of the whispering, everybody. I don't even know what that really means, but it doesn't really check out over time in most cases.

Someone named Zerlon Tipton. I know that guy. And nine carries in this game. I just wanted to point that out. This is Week 17 in a nutshell. That's where we are. All right, Mark steps out. Greg and I will finish the show,

and we finish it by talking about Sunday night football. Yikes. Where Antonio Brown returned to fun. Energy level up here, Dan, big game, where Antonio Brown returned up for a touchdown and sealed the AFC North for the Steelers with a 63-yard touchdown reception late in the game. The Steelers went 27-17 over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night football. That is an AFC North championship for the Steelers who really rebounded in the final month of the season after being obviously up and down in the first two-thirds of the season.

and it also gives them a home game against the Baltimore Ravens next weekend. And the Bengals, where do the Bengals go? They will be heading to Indianapolis on Sunday. Two teams I thought for certain were first round knockouts. Obviously, one of them will not be knocked out in the first round. But let's talk about this game. Greg, your takeaways on a big win for the Steelers. Oh, there's so much to talk about, but Labion Bell's injury and then A.J. Green's injury,

on top of that were kind of my takeaways because these are two playoff teams. Levyon Bell, no structural damage, something we'll be talking about a week. There seemed to be some optimism after the game. It wasn't that serious. Short week for the Steelers. Right. And it's just, they're just not the same dangerous team without him. I've talked them up as an MVP candidate. They only had 29 yards rushing. They managed to win this game despite a few things going wrong for them, but they got a punt return

touchdown. They got big turnovers when they needed it. and they survived in advance. Antonio Brown is the best wide receiver in football in 2014. Listen to these stats. 129 receptions, 1,698 yards, 13 receiving touchdowns. Obviously, he makes an impact on special teams as well as we saw. He won't be getting any MVP votes, but Antonio Brown is a monster stud.

I think he's finally on everyone's radar, and with good reason, the guy is a superstar. He will be. He won't be. Wait, what? What am I lying about? I'm just saying, give me ODB's 12 weeks over any other receivers 12 weeks. That's what I'm saying.

That's what I'm saying. Give me his 12 weeks over any other receiver's 12 weeks. How about do it again next year? Antonio Brown doing this every year. I'm not saying he's the best. If a baseball player missed 40 games, though, you wouldn't really consider him to have the crown as the best player. So I think we should give Brown his due.

I think you can make a case for Demarius, Thomas, but I'm going to go along. Dan's right. Get back to me next year. I'm a big Brown fan. I'm just saying. Those 12 weeks are pretty special. I wish you were to liar.

I'm not missing those 12 weeks already. You know what he also did? He had a signature game-winning touchdown to win a division in the AFC North. One-on-one coverage. The Steelers didn't play it safe. They threw the ball a couple times right at the end of the game. One got knocked down, and then the next one, Brown takes it 63 yards to win it. That's what big-time players do.

Yes, and I love me somewhat, El Beckham, but let's see him do it. some impact games, and then we'll get back to him being the best wide receiver in football. I just don't know that guy. All right. And you know what? Calvin Johnson didn't set the touchdown record, so, you know, fight down T-D. I think the other thing we saw- If that's your real name.

I think the other thing we saw in this game was a Steelers defense that's continuing an upward trajectory. It wasn't a bad game for Andy Dalton, really, and he had the early interception. The other one was bad luck. He really had some bad luck when AJ Green fumbled that bass. At that point, I thought the Bengals were making a comeback. But overall, the Steelers are getting more pressure and they look like a better defense over the last month of the season. I thought this was a positive game for Andy Dalton to go into the playoffs on.

He made some throws. If AJ Green doesn't fumble that ball, who knows what happens. But let's not bury the lead. This game clinched for Greg Rosenthal, the around the NFL picks title. Congratulations, buddy. That is the lead. You ended up beating me by one game in the standings.

Yes. Although this one, Mark had a chance to tie me in this game. That was a swing because he had the Bengals. There's no reason anyone should ever get behind Cincinnati in prime time. I did it. I chose the Steelers, so I finished a game behind you, but congratulations that's your second. And this is the lead of the entire show.

We might even move it to the front. You're looking at me with too much sincerity right now. Well, I do also. There is a shadowy league figure. You mentioned the other. Oh, yes. That he wanted to make sure we mentioned that he beat all of us. Well, yeah, we had this competition with the feature group.

The shadowy league figure, Mr. Marvel. He did have the best individual record. There have been some questions about whether all his picks were in time each week. But, you know, he had the best record in the year. I'm not touching that. I could get in trouble there. I thought Mr. Marvel did a fabulous job really reading the tea leaves week after week. But, Greg, as far as the around the league group, around the NFL group, you win the title.

Down Cap, moving on. That's it for week 17. And the end of the regular season. The throne of ease. You are sitting on your throne of ease with your number one city Patriots and your picks title and your fluffy white sweater. Life is good for Greg Rosenthal. We will be back on Wednesday.

Is that true? I think we're going to come back Tuesday this week. We'll come back Tuesday. Because of New Year's Day, we want to come back a little earlier. Yeah, we'll come back on Tuesday and we'll start digging into these great-great-ish wild card matchups and start digging in on the playoffs, which is a lot of fun. Do we have a Jim Mora sound drop? No, we don't.

Okay, cool, cool, cool. That's not on you, though. You can't read my mind. I like how you're bathed in darkness right now, T.D. And some, kind of like a Marvel character. Speaking of Marvel. So anyway, we'll be back on Tuesday. Thank you for listening.

This is Dan Hansis signing up for the sizzler. Are you getting emotional back there? I am, you know, it's in a fun season, fun regular season. It has been nice. You know, 17 Sundays is late podcasts. Yeah. And, you know. Only podcast.

Right, that we're putting it up. It'll be up, you know, by one, two in the morning, East Coast and Jim Harba era. I'll miss that too. We got a lot of international listeners. You know, great listeners. They're worried to work, 6 a.m. in London or 7 a. I mean, we're going to be hitting them three times a week in the playoffs.

Kevin Patrick will be listening to this while he just breaks his own benchmark bench press record. So anyway, this is Dan Hansis, signing off for the mailman, the sizzler, the boss, and TD behind the glass. A great regular season, indeed. This is an IHeart podcast.