NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Week 13 recap

Episode Date: December 7, 2015

A room filled with heroes - Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler, and Dan Hanzus – break down all the action in Week 13, including the Panthers holding on to their perfect record with a shootout win in New Orleans, and the Patriots falling for the second week in a row, this time to a 5-7 Eagles team. Plus, the heroes discuss how the Week 13 games will impact playoff hopefuls like the Jets, Bills and Buccaneers as the season draws to a close.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 NFL podcast would be a good fit for Chip Kelly's office. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hanses, and I am joined by a room filled with heroes, Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. Hey, Dan. Happy Sunday to you.

Oh, what a Sunday. great day in the NFL, not just for me, because some things broke the old Zeusers way, which is always, you know, it's nice when that happens. You're feeling good when the third person comes out within 30 seconds of the show. Absolutely, that's a sign right there. But also, there are a lot of great games today,

a lot of action, a lot of big plays, a lot of missed extra points, which I believe the league believes that makes a more exciting league. And perhaps it does, Wes. I think so. But a lot of show out there to get, to. And this is our big Sunday recap show where we go over every game.

I, like I've said before, I like to look at it like inside the NFL used to do with Len Dawson, Nick Bonaconte. We give every game the respect it deserves. And we go through each game. We break it down because that's how we do. Why give me that look, Greg? Well, maybe a couple of games will respect a little less. But there will be respect. Dolphins, Ravens. Let's not give it too much respect. Right. It's been such a good, I mean, you know, last week, I think it was last Sunday show. I was running by a slogan that I was going to pitch to the higher-ups. Remember, it was NFL, never been better. Right. I like that. I got two new ones. You guys let me know what you

think. The NFL, get a load of this action. Not bad. Yeah, solid. I like that. All right. There's this one, too. NFL, I think I'm a fan for life. I like that. I like it. That just rolls right off the tongue. You could fit that easily on bumper stickers anywhere else. You know what tells it is that Dan loves it. And that shows the listener and the NFL fans out there. If you love it, everyone's going to love it. I like

that. I like that outlook on things, Greg. Today's show coming up, we have the showdown between the Saints and Panthers, which became a shootout down in the Superdome, the Saints showing a pulse. The Patriots, the throne of ease. We have some trouble, Greg, on the throne of ease. We'll talk about that.

Also, Sunday night football, the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on Matt Hasselbeck and the Colts, Hasselbeck looking to move to 5-0. So we'll talk about whether that happened. The NFL, I think I'm a fan for life. That's what I'm thinking. This is before the show. You know, Dan was giggling to himself for a regular four or five minutes,

and now we know why. That one got me. I don't know why. I think it just works. What a payoff for the three of us as well as those. Just wait until the feedback online. People are going to be connecting with this. I got a feeling.

All right, let's get right to the games because there's a lot of football. There are no buys to speak of. So let's go. And let's start with those Carolina Panthers who entered this week, undefeated, as we all know, and they remain that way. Cam Newton threw for five touchdowns for the second time in three weeks. And the Panthers fought off a peskey and potent Saints offense and a 41-38 win at the Superdome. Chris Wessling, the mailman.

The Panthers are 12-0, and Cam Newton might be the new favorite for league MVP. Am I crazy? I don't think that's crazy. Greg likes to say that nobody's hotter than Russell Wilson right now. Cam Newton's got to be close. In week 10, he started a game 11 for 11 for the first time in his career. In week 11, he threw five touchdowns for the first time in his career. In week 13, he throws five touchdowns again and completed 15 consecutive passes at one point.

Excellent game by Cam Newton. Ted again dropped a pair of would-be touchdowns. Long touchdowns. Can't believe it. Gotta watch the tape to believe that. He catches like one out of three wide open touchdowns, right? That's like the average. It's good if you're a shortstopping, you're up to bat.

But it's not good as a wide receiver. This is a game where the Panthers, every team, even 16 and O teams, have sloppy games. They had three first half turnovers. The defense, which had been really stingy, allowed four touchdowns, and then the gen two drops. They actually have about five or six drops on the game. So to pull out a win, it speaks to. how well Cam Newton's playing, and really the whole team. The whole undefeated season came down to a fourth down.

This fourth quarter had so many back and forth. How about this, Wes? You watched the closest of any of it. Is this one of the games of the year in the NFL right now? I mean, so much went on in this fourth quarter. It was a good game. I think right now we've got like 14 games of the year. But yeah, there were four or five lead changes, and you had a shootout.

So that always qualifies for a game of the year. How does Carolina give up this many? points with what we've seen them do on defense in general. I would just attribute it to pure sloppiness. I mean, they were on the road. You're going to have a couple of games like this a year, and, you know, the Saints have a pretty loaded offense. True or false?

There's some coverage breakdowns, too. Kurt Coleman, defensive player in the year, candidate. False. I would say Pro Bowl candidate, though. I mean, he's behind only Reggie Nelson with six interceptions, and really a credit to Dave Gettelman, who finds these under the radar free agents every year, and their coaching staff, Sean McDermott, the defense. coordinator, Ron Rivera, they turn all these guys into good players.

Reminds me of what Arizona does and what the Patriots do, which is groom your own players, but also find players that don't work in other systems and make them work in your own. Kirk Coleman had played for Sean McDermott in Philadelphia, so that was a good fit. Right. I'm kind of kidding about that, although Josh Norman, who you mentioned, is definitely a candidate. He's the one in coverage on Brandon Cooks on the decisive play in the game where the Saints, they don't even care trying to set up a field goal and said they just go for. for a bomb down the field to Brandon Cooks. Norman was in good position,

although Cooks kind of turned the wrong way didn't seem like they were on the same page. Wes, what are we looking at for the rest of the season right now? Is this going to happen? Well, they've got at Atlanta, well, they have home to Atlanta, at the New York Giants, then at Atlanta, then Tampa Bay. So I think the Falcons have lost five straight games.

Why not? The reeling, the Giants look like to me, they've got Eli Manning, O'Dell Beckham, and nothing else, and then the bucks are a wild card, but that's four games you would have to think the Panthers would be heavy favored. And then after the game, outrageous.

A game where Saints, probably one of their best games of the year, and yet you lose at home. Sean Payton immediately starts honking about the refs, Mark. Yeah, he went crazy afterwards. I mean, according to the beat writers, one of them said, I've never seen him so livid. And he was specifically upset about a pair of,

in his estimation, of incidents where 12 men were on the field for the Panthers twice, not called. He basically said, listen, around the country on Friday nights, the refs catch that high school ball dan come on i used to cover high school ball and the refs aren't very good because they're high school referees that's what he's saying john pantin also asked about brandon browner you know and dennis allen the new coordinator yelling at each other on the sideline browner got right in his face and peyton just reacts with a very dismissive oh go blog

about it it's like it's like the 50th sideline argument this year that john peyton says oh it's not a big deal no don't look away you know don't don't worry about it brandon browner has been the worst cornerback in the NFL this year. Three more penalties today, gave up two touchdowns. There was a three-play sequence where he got burned by Ted Ginn who dropped the ball. Devin Funches dropped the ball with him in coverage. And then Cory Brown burned him, and he, Cam Newton overthrew Corey Brown. But three straight plays Brandon Browner got burned.

The craziest thing, too, about that is that everyone knows that Rob Ryan has struggled as a defense court, and now he's down in Tijuana getting drunk enjoying himself. I saw him Santa Monica just the other day. Yeah, I think he was on the way to Tijuana. Oh, there you go. But how bad do the Saints have to be? Everybody knows Brandon Brown is the worst cornerback in the league, that he still has a job after all these weeks.

It tells you a lot about what's going on there. He has 20 penalties, which is the most in the league by a lot. Delvin Bro, their other cornerback, has 11 penalties, which is the second most. Come on, bro. Come on, well done. There are five touchdowns away from breaking the record for passing touchdowns allowed, right?

Yes. It's a disaster. So the Saints are bad. The Panthers are very, very good 12-0 and flirting with immortality. Oh, Mercury Morris, what are you going to do? I know. Thank you.

Tell Mercury Morris to stick it. Moving on. The New England Patriots were 10-0 about, I don't know, one week ago right now. Now things are getting a little dicey here. Legitimate trouble on the throne of ease, perhaps. The Philadelphia Eagles collected a punt return for a touchdown, a punt block for a touchdown, and a 99-yard pick six by Malcolm Jenkins to build a huge lead over the Patriots.

They held on 3528 win in Foxborough. The Pats had a nice comeback, but it fell short. Greg, the Patriot Shield of Invincibility has been compromised. Yes or no? No. Well, they never were invincible. Who says they were invincible? That's you putting it on them.

Eh, you know. Oh, uh-oh, storm clouds. Oh, please. Oh, no, that's not good. The cherubs, they're like gremlins. They can't get wet. You've got to get inside. You can't get rain done.

This was a painful game to watch as a fan, but it was also just one of those games. I mean, this is only the third time in NFL history that those returns that you're talking about have ever happened in the same games. I mean, their special teams got absolutely destroyed. Tom Brady throws a pick six on the goal line where he gets pressured. A play after James White comes about a yard short of the end zone and he really should have scored on it on a long pass, a screen pass to him. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for them in this game. That doesn't take away from the fact that there are legitimate concerns.

Tom Brady got hit 13 times. It's obvious their offense isn't nearly the same without Gronk and Edelman on the field. So those are problems, but it was also a very strange game. The Eagles had more return yards than yards midway through the fourth quarter. I don't know. What kind of game is that? It's a weird one. It was 35, it was 14 nothing, 35, 14.

Because we don't get to see it too often, but the Eagles trying to run out the clock is one of the funniest things to watch. ever. They're in shotgun. They don't know what to do. It's like San Bradford rolling out and then sliding down to the line of scrimmage. But ultimately, they got the job done because this game, this game almost got away. You had the 35-14 midway through the fourth quarter. They get the Patriots get the touchdown, the onside kick, another touchdown. And it's like, oh, here we go. And then they got the, they got a stop after a miss, uh, attempted an onside kick for a second time. And then Tommy Boy couldn't get down the field betrayed by his own receivers. Right. Brandon Lafell was a drop. Scott,

Handler's head drops all the time. Kishon Martin is playing significant, important snaps for them as an outside receiver. I mean, the worst play in football right now is throwing it deep to Brandon LaFelle. It's a disaster. And it cost Brady an interception on one play where he thought LaFelle was going to go one way. He went the other. He threw an interception. LaFelle jogged on another one where he let up and it looked like that could have been a big play.

It's just big problems. You know when it's bad news, guys, for the Patriots, is when Greg, who keeps it together on Twitter, You very rarely let's his frustration get the best of them. When he's tweeting out, like, snarky comments about Brandon Lafell and deep routes, what was the tweet, Greg? It's something they were 0 for 47 throwing to Brandon Lafell the last couple weeks. That's real fan stuff. I actually like to see it, Greg. Like, creeping out of Greg onto his social media.

Love it. Well, it was interesting to be in our newsroom, which is, you know, 19 out of 20 Sundays, the Patriots win, and it's not a big news. But everyone was focused on this game and these wacky plays. and I felt, Greg, you were kind of in the middle of a fishbowl with everyone pointing fingers at you. Well, people love it. I mean, the biggest reaction in the entire newsroom all year is when the Giants, it looked like they intercepted the Patriots

to win the game and then it turned out. That place exploded like it was the Super Bowl in MetLife Stadium or something at the time. People love killing on the Patriots, but, you know, it comes with the territory, that's all right. So we, last week this time, we said, oh, don't worry about the Patriots. They'll be fine.

They're going to get healthy. They're going to end up with a buy. most likely. A little more nerves, West, now. I'll ask you this. Now, two straight losses. Obviously, the offense is not the same with all these missing pieces

that they might fall all the way out and have a three seed here. They have a three seed right now if the season ended today. And you lose to the Eagles. That begs the question, are you good enough to win at Houston in week 14?

Are you good enough to win at the Jets in week 16 or at Miami in week 17? It will help once you get grom To me, I believe they've been outscored by 20 or 30 points since Gronk went down with the knee injury. He's the most valuable non-quarterback in the league, I believe. So maybe you get him back and things turn around. But I'm not sure they're a much better team than the Texans. Yeah, I mean, the season takes on a completely different complexion after the way it started.

It's suddenly you aren't one of those by teams. Right. Because they haven't looked the same. And I assume that the offense will get back and clicking once these guys get healthy. It took a weird game for them to lose today. But there were a lot of bad things about the game. Even if you took away all those big plays, these two teams are playing each other fairly even midway through the third.

I mean, Tom Brady was the second leading receiver on the Patriots until they went on that touchdown drive to start coming back in this game because Tom Brady caught a 36-yard trick play, which they pulled out when they absolutely needed it. And it worked great. But there are legitimate problems. The Broncos and Bengals play each other coming up so they know that one of those teams is going to lose.

So the Patriots get a buy if they can, I win out, but you're right, at Houston, at the Jets are a very difficult game. You would think the winner of the Cincinnati Denver game will have the number one seat in the NFC at this point? At this point, yeah, but they both have some tough games too. Well, let's talk about the Denver Broncos who went to San Diego on Sunday and just took care of business. Danny Trevathan had a pick six of a Philip Rivers pass, and Brock Osweiler moved to 3-0 as

the starter. The Broncos ease past the Chargers, a 17-3 win, and what might be the penultimate game at Qualcomm Stadium. Again, that stadium filled with fans from the opposing team, just a depressing sight. And as far as the Broncos go here, listen, this is exactly what they need to do this season, at least in this early going, if this is going to be a Brock Osweiler team, he's going to be up and down. He's in his first year's starter.

When their defense is playing at the top of its potential, which it did today, they're taking a lot off the play to the quarterback. He doesn't have to make a ton of big plays. and that's enough. When you play a team like the San Diego Chargers, that's all you got to do. I mean, Philip Rivers had four completions to wide receivers, the entire game.

Granted, this is the same Chargers team that gave up three points two weeks ago to the Chiefs, I believe, so this offense is not right. But the Broncos basically just outclassed. The Chargers took care of business, and yes, now they are tied with the Patriots in terms of one loss

and have that head-to-head tiebreaker, so the Broncos are in great position. Is there any reason that you try to bring Peyton Manning back into the mix at this point? The formula is finally working for Gary Kubiak. I don't see any reason. He would have to – Osweiler would have to really struggle and they'd have to go into a funk where they – I feel like they would feel like we need to do something because the season's flipping away – slipping away with a kid that's not ready. Well, there's some warning signs here.

C.J. Anderson left the game with an injury. Vernon Davis left the game with an injury. Brock Osweiler had a pretty poor game. I haven't watched it, but I don't care. care what happened, 10 points against the worst defense in the league. Well, they took the air out of the ball in the second half. It is what it is, though. They didn't move the ball. I saw him throw a very costly bad interception when they were going to, you know, going for points. So I'm sure it wasn't Oswalders best game. That's going to happen. And when you have a great defense like that,

it's not that big a deal. Yeah. So the defense is going to carry the day. It is good to see Demarius Thomas, who had one catch on 13 targets. I still can't believe that. Last week, He had six catches on six targets in this game for 61 yards and the lone offensive touchdown. So the Broncos take care of business, and they are currently in position for a buy. I thought the biggest thing that came out of that Patriots game was their running game,

if they can be a dominant running team, we'll see. I mean, this wasn't that type of performance, but if they could be that type of team, why not? Rock Osweiler in the Super Bowl. Wow, that would be wild. Let's move on. The Battle of Ohio, that feels strong.

The Cincinnati Bengals are a much better team than the Cleveland Browns, and they showed it a 37 to 3 win in Cleveland. Andy Dalton threw two touchdowns, ran for another, and the Browns are getting more depressing by the week, aren't they, Mark? Well, they are, because I think what it is, you look at the two teams in Ohio, and it's a case study in team building. One blows up the machine every two seasons and then is forced to hire the last of 11 available coaches, and the other has kept the same coach through thick or thin, like them or not. And the talent gap on Sunday between these two teams on both sides of the ball, on special teams, and in the coaching circle, was unbelievable to watch. It couldn't, I don't, I cannot think of a time that these two teams were farther apart in their destinies and where they're heading. And if you're a Browns fan, incredibly depressing. And if you're a Bengals fan, I really look at a team that I do not think has completely peaked at this point. their offense is running on all cylinders

and their defense is playing as good as it has all season. Gino Ackins did not show up in the box score in the first half, but he absolutely dominated Cleveland's interior line. He changed the complexion of this game and he ended this thing along with the rest of this team before the end of the first quarter. The game was absolutely over 10 minutes in. Oh, you know, I love you, Mark,

but I'm almost happy to see the Browns get it stuck to them in their building because this Johnny Mansell soap opera, which they have now played a part in. It's not all Mansell, who hasn't been on his best behavior. But, you know, what do you expect? You're playing one of the best teams in the NFL, and you're sending out a guy that barely should be in the league. This is what's going to happen.

Well, I don't disagree. I mean, at this point, it sounds like, you know, some of the beat-riders. To make a point? I mean, what is this? Well, I don't have a problem with Mike Patton out of the gate, sitting him for a week, and I don't think it's going to change who this team is. Manzell would have gotten killed today. It has a lot to do with what's around the quarterback.

Maybe. Again, it's all speculative. It's like he probably would have gotten killed, but he's not playing. So it's like, here we are. We're heading towards the middle of December, and the Browns still don't know if they can play. They know he's a knucklehead at this stage of his life, but they still don't know if he can play. You tweeted out, there's no excuse for this Brown's performance, none.

You're talking about the whole team, though. You're not talking about the quarterback. The quarterback has been the least of Cleveland's problems this season in general. We talked about that last week. That's handsome. This is on the defense, number one. Both lines are not what they promised to be coming into the season. They talked about themselves in the offseason as a top five secondary,

and the Bengals came in with all those things. They aren't even playing their first round linemen from this offseason Cincinnati. They're finessing them in on a slow way. They've got better players and veterans to teach the way to go, and it was a show in complete dominance. Let's talk about the relevant team in this game. You mentioned the Bengals are peaking. Jeremy Hill, I thought last week had his best game in the season.

This year he had a season high, I believe, in rushing yards. They're getting better, and next two weeks, it looks like the Bengals, the Steelers, and the Broncos all play each other, or they play each other throughout the season. So the Steelers and Broncos will be two tough games for them, but like you said, if they're peaking now, that's good news. I mean, I don't see, I don't look at those teams as there's a clear advantage over Cincinnati. I think Cincinnati is in the groove. They can play with anyone. They can beat the Patriots. Sure.

They could beat anyone in the AFC. and they haven't had those four or five bad Sundays this season. That's a scary thought if Jeremy Hill could become what Jeremy Hill was in the back end of last season. And then you add him to Andy Dalton having a career season. Bernard does his thing. AJ Green's been better and better the last couple of weeks after being a little down in terms of production. I mean, this team is pretty good. And it's the defense too.

It's the best Bengals team since they've made the Super Bowl. I don't think there's any question about that. They're better on defense. I was going to say they're probably better than the second one that went to the Super Bowl. I'm trying to remember those teams. What about the Carson Palmer ACL season? That was pretty good. They were a good team, but they were not at a team.

Similar on offense. They were loaded that year on offense with Chris Henry and Chris Johnson and T.J. Hussman Zada. That team had a shot in a down year, but this is a legit dominating team. And people don't want to discount wins like this or the one they had against the Rams. But that is the best sign. That is the best way you can tell who's a Super Bowl team and who's a dominant team. Who stomps the bad teams?

That's the thing year after year that you can tell. Okay, that's one of the best three or four teams in the week. Right, and coming off back to back losses, is it going to be the confidence and everything creeps in? Not at all. They came out and it's their two best showings of the year, total hammer drops. And Mark, I believe you had some type of imagery you wanted to share for those watching on YouTube for what's going on in Cleveland right now. Oh, yeah. Let's take it to the behind the glass.

Can you play our image? yeah sound effect really does it too i mean that's yeah the sound effect is really saves it i feel for the whole city because you're watching your other rival get better and better and grow and it's you're there is nothing to cling on to that you go into the off season and say this is where the hope lies yeah lebron that's what you can cling on well that's not the same sport gregg so it's something it's something i tell you what mark was pretty fired up today in the newsroom uh yeah very angry i i i think think it was a combination. Your intensity is well known. But when you take a dispiriting Brown's

performance and then all the excitement of the day otherwise in the league, including with my jets who are about to get to and all these other teams, you know, high, big plays, it's just extra depressing, I suppose. At one point, you told me you needed a 10-minute break from football. Well, because, you know, listen, I love football. I love covering it. It's a privilege to have a job. After an innocuous Frank Gore-com. Well, because, no, it's... I think he said you needed a 10-minute break from you, Greg. No, it was not Greg. I didn't talk to them all day. It's everything because you have to think about the contrast when you, and Dan went

through this with the Jets a few years ago, when your team is not just bad and under the radar bad, that you're a laughing stock and you're getting hit with tweets all day long from caring listeners, but they're like, ooh, how's Mark doing? You know what? I feel nothing at this point is how I feel. The quiet storm was in full effect today. I believe at one time you said something to the effect of every other team in the league can go to hell.

I'm tired of it. I'm tired of it. It was the most lopsided loss. since 2005, and that's saying something. And it looked that way. I'm going to put you on the spot mark. I set it downstairs. I would love for you to give us some type of maybe on Tuesday show an open letter.

Speak to the Browns, the fans, to the team itself. Get it all off your chest. Can you least consider it? I'll consider it. But here's why I don't think it means anything, because whatever patchwork change they make or whoever they replace, it needs a complete and utter gutting, it seems like. You can't have more disenfranchised people arguing behind the scenes and a bunch of power structures. But now you're arguing for the thing that you said the Bengals, you know, that they need to do that the Bengals didn't do, which is...

I'm not arguing for it. I'm just saying I don't know what to argue for at this point. You go figure it out. They're getting paid 400 times more than I am. It's not my job to figure it out. Also, Mark, Greg's team's on a two-game losing streak. Oh, I forgot. Sure. So he understands, like, where you're coming from right now. They left to the Eagles. Shared perspective. Shared perspectives. All right. Let's move. Yes. The New York Jets ladies and gentlemen

I said the New York Jets run the Meadowlands Let's keep it running The New York Jets Run the Meadowlands Like that's a place that people are even Who is running? They show up ten times a year It's where gangsters used to bury bodies

It's like a swampy mall It is the home of the four-time Super Bowl champion Giants, the one-time Super Bowl champion Jets. They weren't playing there when it happened. And yes, there are many dead bodies in the marshes of Jersey. But the point being is that the Jets played the Giants today and they won. By God, they won. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 390 yards and two scores a great game. But this really, to me, this story was less about the Jets and more about the Giants who are five and seven, right?

which doesn't eliminate you from the NFC East, which says a lot. Could be first place by the end of the week, but it still could. It's absurd. I think the Cowboys could be one game out of first if they win on Monday night. But just more of the idea that the Giants should be, I'm not even exaggerating like nine and three this season, if they could just close out games like a normal team, yet they've lost, I believe it's four and maybe even five games,

that they had a lead in the final minute of the game. Final two minutes. And that ties the all-time record with four straight four weeks left. That is outrageous failure in obviously the crucial point of a football game. And, you know, we hear it every year. And even Connor Orr, who was at the medal answer this game, we were IAMMing on Slack. Quit Slack and sign up for Slack today. And he was saying how the idea of Tom Coughlin gets floated as being fired this time every year.

And it happened again, I think it was on the cover of the post. But this year, I think it's actually going to happen. And I think the nature of all these losses, the fact that I have a feeling that they will be on the outside looking in by the end of the season. And the fact that this was such a visible loss to the Jets where there's some heat between these two teams, obviously always has been. He's 70 years old, I guess. Listen, if the Giants were to fire Tom Calfrin or he would retire at their behest, this would not be a tragedy. It's time to start fresh. He's been there forever and ever.

But this team no longer, I'm not going to say it doesn't respond to him. But at a certain point, there has to be action. There's too many losses like this this year. Is there a part of you that if this was the loss that sets that in motion, that it is the New York Jets that get rid of Tom Coughlin? Is there a little part of you that is either framing that narrative or enjoying the concept of that narrative? Not so much.

I don't have anything against Tom Coughlin, but I will say that Jets haven't beat the Giants since, and I remember it. It was Halloween 1993. I was at a wrestling event at Rockland Community College in New York, but I heard that Ronnie Lott had a game ceiling interception. You were wrestling? I was watching a wrestling event.

It was like off-brand WWF. It was like Hacks, Lodge, Jim Duggan, in the Independent League. My dad took me and my sister. So I remember hearing about it on the way home. It was like a 10-6 win. That's how long it's been. And, of course, the last time these two teams played, Victor Cruz had the 99-yarder that catapult.

the Giants toward another Super Bowl and basically was one of the low points of the Rex era. So it was nice to be on this side of the wind. The Jets have lost games like this for 40 years. So it was to see the Giants collapse. And I think the one thing I also want to get to is the big point of this game.

The Giants were up 20 to 10 with, I believe, 8 minutes to play first and 10 from the Jets 12 yard line. And a series of plays comes through where there ends up being fourth and two from the Jets 4. They elect to go for it. Eli can't find anybody.

He throws a pick. The Jets convert the next ensuing possession into a field goal. Tie the game with a touchdown on the next drive. Kick a field goal in overtime to take the lead. And then Josh Brown pulls a 48-yarder, a classic gag job and a season of gag jobs by the Giants. The Jets on the other side of one for once, and it feels good. How egregious is time mismanagement for a coach who's proven to be a very good coach

of the past decade. I mean, to me, it's not a fireable offense. Tom Coughlin, you've got one of the slowest backfields in the NFL, nothing behind Odell Beckham at wide receiver, a beat-up offensive line, no pass rush, slow linebackers, and no safeties. And you're not doing that badly this year. To me, he's getting the most out of their personnel.

Sounds like the GM should be the one they look at. Well, I think they're not closing these games, though I feel like that falls right at the coach's feet. That's fine, but you've got to hire somebody who's better. better than him. I don't, to me, a bad streak of clock management doesn't make you a bad coach. This wasn't a clock management loss, though. I mean, this was, he's talking about just going for it, which I don't have a huge problem going for it. He said after the game, he was trying to, and you can tell it's in their head. He was trying to relieve the pressure almost. Like, he's trying to score a touchdown there to just end the game. Whereas if you kick a field goal, it's still a two score game. It's not that big a difference. You went out with your best player holding the ball, or at least he's on the field, Odo Becker. and Eli Manning, those are your two best players.

You try to let them win it, but it's a Tom Coughlin team that has no running game. I'm interested, though, in your thoughts, I mean, during this game, you talk about snarky tweeting. You were very upset about the Jets. You said it was, no, I know, but you were saying it was a La Reveille Magnifico game for the Jets because they were playing so poorly for most of them. They were dead. I mean, the only way they won this game, and I'm fully aware of this, is that the Giants blew it.

The Jets did what they had to do and made the plays, and Ryan Fitzpitz. Patrick is the team MVP by Miles and I can't wait until you watch this game, Greg, see where he is in your QB index. But the Jets took a gift from the Giants. I still don't trust them. They got the Titans in their building next week. Do I think that they're going to roll over Marcus Marriota?

Absolutely not, especially if Dorel Rivas misses another week. So, yeah, I think the Jets are still a flawed team, but they're seven and five, and they're in the mix. They're in the playoffs of the season ended today. If the Jets make the playoffs in, yes. Do they get replaced by the DETs? Detroit Lions as the number two team in your paying rankings at this stage after two straight coaching staffs take New York to the postseason.

Well, that would, we're a long way from there. But that Lions lost would certainly, if I ever did an addendum. That loss alone would do it? That loss might move them up. It was that bad. How about Tom Coughlin comes back on Twitter and as Riverboat Tom? He ain't going on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Friendster. You're not seeing Tom Coughlin anywhere social media.

So the Jets are alive and life is good. Let's move on and talk a more AFC wildcard race, the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills. So we were due a good Buffalo Bills week. That's what I thought heading into this week. And we got it in Orchard Park on Sunday. Charles Clay took advantage of a busted coverage for a decisive 40-yard touchdown pass,

giving the bills a 30 to 21 win, keeping them in contention in the AFC. the Wes, how shocked for you to see Tyrod Taylor having success against the Texans D that had been swarming? I wasn't shocked by halftime because it was clear that Buffalo kind of had Houston's number in this game.

Taylor played well. The deep ball with Sammy Watkins was working well. Kevin Johnson, Texan's first round cornerback who had been playing really well, got benched by halftime because he gave up two touchdowns and a couple of bombs. The bills didn't pass a whole lot, so there wasn't a lot of chances for JJ.

Watt to get sacks, but they double and triple teamed him, held him without a sack, and only one tackle for a loss. It was a really, they did a lot of zone read stuff that was effective in the running game, too. I think the bill's offensive coaching staff outcoached the Texans' defensive coaching staff. I think Greg Roman's done an outstanding job with the bills. This offense, if Rex had delivered the defense that he promised, this team would be 10 and 2. I mean, they've delivered a great running game. Lashon McCoy is right now playing as well as any running back in the league.

I mean, he's right there with Adrian Peterson over the last month. Peterson, of course, had a tough team on Sunday. Thomas Rawls. But McCoy is right there in terms of yards per game and just how he looks week to week. Especially how the season started where he thought this hamstring thing was going to undermine his entire season. Now he's back to being shady. I think when you look at when the bills really struggled, a lot of it had to do with the fact that they had two or three players out of the lineup

week after week during a rough middle part of the season. and they're also finally getting Watkins involved. It was almost like they had to be pounded over the head by 4,000 beatwriters in the entire stadiums say, please throw to this guy, but two weeks in a row. He had a great game, and the Bills are in... They're six and six. They're going to be a game behind the Chiefs and Steelers

in the wildcard race, and they play the Jets in the season finale. To me, whichever one of those teams loses in the season finale definitely won't be in, and whichever team wins has a chance to be there with the Steelers and Chiefs. Well, the Bills' schedule is very favorable. they're going to be, I looked at it, and I think they're going to be favored every game

until they play the Jets. It doesn't matter, though. It doesn't mean that they're a lock to win. I'm just saying this was their toughest game of the next four. So they at least have a chance to go on a run. And I think the way the AFC is shaping up now, you're going to, like, whoever gets in of those two wildcard spots of the AFC, it's going to be a really interesting playoffs because they're all going to be capable of winning

because they're going to have to be on a role to get in there, whether it's the Chiefs or the Bills or the Jets or the Steel. I think it's going to be two of those teams, maybe throw the Texans in there. The number three seed Patriots, getting a six seed. I wasn't even thinking about that. That's what you're thinking about subconsciously for a minute. Well, let me ask you, do you trust Rex Ryan? All those teams are good.

Do you trust Rex Ryan to do this? No matter what the schedule is, can he put this thing out? I don't trust him to go into Washington where the Redskins are five and one and win. That's fair. I also don't really trust their defense to turn into the defense that we expected. I mean, would you even say they were that defense today? It wasn't a great. No, Brian Hoyer played pretty well.

They had over 100 rushing yards. I don't think the defense was that great today. And I'll say this about Rex. I mean, it's not going to be uncharted warders when you get to late December. He's had playoff runs. He's not a guy that's going to, I think, collapse under the face of pressure and scrutiny. I think Rex, I don't see him as a liability heading down the stretch. I'm not sure.

He's been a little liability in some of these games, but they've never had Greg Roman running his offense. Taylor reminds me a Kaepernick's first season. I mean, he's not reaching those kind of heights, but it's kind of like when you hit the right game plan and you are kind of winning the coaching battles, like that team's impossible to stop. And that was like Kaepernick in his first year with Roman. Let's talk more AFC playoff hopefuls.

Alex Smith continued his amazing streak without an interception. And the Chiefs had no problem moving the ball against the Raiders. A 34 to 20 win in Oakland over the Raiders. Mark, the Chiefs comeback continues. You know, this is a straight up rise from the dead for them while the Raiders fade from view. Yeah, I think the better team won. I mean, it was a kind of game that went back and forth.

It was 20 to 20 at one point because of the fact that three extra points were missed in this game. Wow. How exciting. I mean, I can't think of a game this season or ever, obviously, that where the extra point played a bigger role than it did today. It was absolutely weird to watch Sebastian Genick House missed an extra point. The Chiefs guy,

he has no friends in the locker room. He missed two. But it also ties... No, no, Cairo. Oh, Cairo. Oh, Cairo. He missed the key field goal, too. Yes, he did. Oh, it was a longer field goal, but yes. But this charts back to the fact that it was close down the stretch. And Derek Carr, we have not seen

a game like this from him this year. Three very ugly turnovers, including a pick six. That really, you know, with 10 minutes to go, this was anyone's game and then it suddenly became Kansas City's game with just enough from Alex Smith, became the third quarterback in history to throw 300 plus passes without a pick. The other two, Tom Brady and who?

Bernie Cozard. Oh, good old Bernie. Back in the 1992 season, or 91, I believe. I mean, you're talking about the missed extra points. If you're watching on YouTube, it's the most more mixed extra points today than there was all of last season, including the first ever two-point return, which was in the Saints game. That was one of the more exciting things I've seen. I've been waiting for that all year.

There was one last week that was called back for penalty, and it's here. It was history. Goosebumps. Special history. Just put the Chiefs in the playoffs right now. If you had to draw up the easiest schedule possible for a playoff hopeful, it's hard to do better than Kansas City's, which is home versus the Chargers, at Baltimore and Matt Schaub, home to Cleveland, and home to the team you just beat today on the road, the Oakland Raiders. That's probably, and you probably only have to win three. those to get in 10 wins. There's a good chance that'll get you in. They'll be heavily favored

in every year. I would argue they've earned it too because this is not a fluke team. It took them a while to get the run game going today, but they have a lot of different pieces and parts. I still look at Alex Smith as a guy that if you get into a wild shootout, I'm not sure he's going to get you out of that. But a couple years ago in the playoffs, he was in a showout. He's done it twice in the playoffs. So, I mean, I think he's not somebody that's an exciting quarterback, but this guy is playing very clean football. If it gets to that, he's shown he's done that in the past, I don't mind having Alex Smith as my quarterback from the Chiefs.

It sounded like a hot take, but when I was watching the last, you know, the 4 PM games and the Patriots are struggling and the Panthers are going back and forth. And I was thinking, are the Chiefs the best team playing right now? Are the Chiefs... What? Are the Chiefs right now? I'm just saying... Better than the Panthers. The Cardinals

would beat him by two touchdown. If you're just talking about the last six weeks and that's all you've watched, they can't do any more than what they're doing, which is winning every game by two scores, which is doing it in every complete way possible. They have a good secondary. That's a bad dog. They're running the ball well, and they're moving it on offense at will. So it's like they can't do anything more than what they're doing.

And I like teams that when you get into a hole, they're one in five. They aren't afraid to change their identity up a little bit and dig into what they are. And that's the Chiefs. Their season could have, if it was not as well coached and the leadership weren't as good in that locker room, that team could be one in 10 right now instead. That is a good coaching job by any coach to get out of that kind of hole shows you're a good coach. But how about the fact that no Chiefs wide receiver is caught a touchdown past the season? Oh,

okay. I was waiting for what... It was, car was overdue, by the I mean, he played really great last week, and one of the things I wrote was that every single like he hasn't had one of those games that, even just one of those games this year out of 12 and now it finally happened before. I mean, he missed a throw

that would have been a touchdown right before he threw an awful intercept. That's what I was going to say that he cost cost them points in a couple different ways, but He also threw one of the best passes all season on a touchdown in the first half to Crabtree where he put it right between two defenders. That was a nice throw. I mean, this guy's got, this guy gives them a lot of hope. I don't care about what happened today. All right.

Moving forward, let's talk about the NFC playoff picture. Guys, the Seahawks, they're freaking back. Russell Wilson was at his very best accounting for four touchdowns as the defending conference champs outclassed. Yeah, you heard it. They outclassed the host Vikings, 387. victory for Seattle. Greg, this game tells us the Seahawks remain a force while also serving as something of a Raville Magnifico for the Vikings, correct? That's right. I mean, this is twice that they've I said a Raville Magnifico. Every team's having the reveal today. Everyone gets it. I agree about

the Vikings. This is twice they're getting blown out in their own building. I don't need to hear from Vikings fans that they lost two key defenders early because those guys weren't playing on off. I mean, No one got hurt on offense, and they didn't score a point on offense. And they only had 125 yards. They only had 125 yards. The Seahawks, meanwhile, were the story here. And I'm going to start talking about their young players. I mean, I think that's why it wouldn't shock me if we're covering them in the Super Bowl.

They'd have to win three road playoff games most likely to get there. But their young players are playing so well right now. Tyler Lockett playing unbelievable. Now as a receiver and a returner had a big day. Frank Clark is suddenly coming up. had a couple sacks today. You put Luke Wilson in at tight end, and he makes a couple unbelievable plays early in the game.

You even, you know, you bench Kerry Williams. You put in Deshawn Shed. He played really well at quarterback. I think he was probably played well last week, at least compared to the rest of the secondary, too. So you get all that going. You get an offensive line that's now protecting Russell Wilson much better,

and it's like this team looks like a juggernaut again. And if you're John Snyder, you've just been praised for the past four seasons for developing the first wave of talent that we have known for so long. And some of them are moving on to some degrees. Most of them are in their prime. And here comes the second wave.

And I didn't even mention... I didn't even mention Thomas Rawls, you know, the undrafted guy who went over 100 yards again, who's at the end of that collection of... Where was Spicerack on Thomas Rawls, Wes? I didn't hear from Spicerack on Thomas Rawls. But Greg wrote today that the Seahawks have their three highest yards... There are yardage totals of the year in the last three games.

And it's no coincidence that it's been Thomas Rawls instead of Marshawn Lynch. Rawls has thoroughly outplayed Lynch this year. That's true, and he's outplaying practically any running back in the league right now. I actually wonder if Lynch is even going to be around next year, now that we've seen what Rawls can do. Yeah, I don't expect Lynch to be on the team next year. And I think that's a good problem to have, to have to play Lynch and Rawls down the stretch. I think Rawls probably has earned more carries at this point than Lynch.

But if you have a one-two punch and you can get a lead, they're going to be a tough team to come from behind. Because I think that defense, even though it's been a little up and down, I mean, the players are all there. There's no reason why they can't be dominant like they were today. I mean, they absolutely draft Bridgewater. They didn't let Adrian Peterson do anything. It's not often you see an offense held to 125 yards. That's a dominant performance.

You kind of expected, well, eventually they're going to kind of ruin that stat by putting up some yards in garbage time, but they just, like, didn't let it happen. They just kept coming after Teddy Bridgewater. Can we talk about Cordarelle Patterson's kickoff return celebration, which was one of the greatest unintentional comedy moments of the season. It was outstanding. They are down 35 to nothing, or is at that point?

That's correct, yes. He takes the kickoff a couple yards deep in his own end zone, makes a nice move. He's giant and fast. We've always known that, so he blows away the competition. Then he gets around the 40-yard line, again, 35-0. He begins high-stepping to the end zone. As he crosses the goal line, he does some type of, like, I don't know,

quasi-heisman pose. Like the Dion thing where you put it about. behind your head, yeah. Then he jumps, runs through the back of the end zone, jumps into the crowd, gives the football to a lucky fan. Hey, guy, you'll always remember this skit made it 35 to 6, tears off his helmet, and then shouts in celebration to all his teammates. Come back to us, Corderall. I feel like I've seen this before on the old Leon commercials. Yeah, I mean, over under on how many times that's featured on an NFL now segment, I'm going six.

I loved it. It was a lot of fun. It was, you know, the one thing they could be happy about it. I took Corridoril Patterson. You know, there was like four different parts of the celebration. If you watch it, too, there was, like, different movements. Even while he's still on the field, it was amazing. You know, I said we can just put the Chiefs in the playoffs right now.

We can do the same thing for the Seahawks. That's true. The next three weeks are at Baltimore and Metchab, home to the Browns, home to the backsliding Rams, and close out the season against the Cardinals team, almost certainly to be locked into the number two season. And they're only going to need three of those games. I think they can win in Arizona. If they can win, they can get that five seed,

and that five seed is going to be playing at the NFC East champion. So that's going to feel like a good game if you're the Seahawks, whether it's a rematch. Maybe Redskins, whatever it would be. Russell Wilson goes into FedEx Field for the second time in four years and comes away with a playoff game. And I know we want to move on, but very quickly, no one's playing better at quarterback than Russell Wilson right now.

He's had three almost perfect games, And he was outstanding today in the pocket, out of the pocket. When he had to scramble, I mean, he just made some of the Vikings defenders look bad. To me, what typified it was he has a 53-yard rushing touchdown at one point, but it's called back by penalty. And then the very next play, he just throws a 53-yard touchdown to Doug Baldwin. That's just the kind of role he's in right now. Too easy.

I could see Russell Wilson hang with all his bros from that SI profile from a couple years back, like watching entourage drinking Pepsi, you know, just pigging out of pizza. Watching himself in the entourage movie. I want to party with you, Cowboys. You know, skinny dipping. Well, that would be a little weird. Let's move on.

The Cardinals and their rookie running back, David Johnson, looking good again. He went over 100 yards from scrimmage, and the Rams remained an offensive disaster. Arizona improved a 10-and-2 with a 27-3 win. Chris Wesleying, the Cardinals, didn't let an inferior opponent hang around in this game, and the Rams are inferior.

The Rams are dysfunctional, at least on offense they are. And the Cardinals, they were concerned not in this studio, but in some other places that Chris Johnson was integral to the offense and he'd be hard to replace. In fact, David Johnson is an upgrade. He's more physical. He's a better pass catcher. And he was excellent in blitz pickup, especially in the first quarter. We had three highlight blitz pickups. They had a 524 yards today.

They're season high and ruffed for their second most yards of the season. Nice. They are getting stronger, and David Johnson is better than Chris Johnson. I totally buy all that, and it makes sense watching them. But why did Bruce Ariens disagree, then? Like, why do you think the answer? What do you think the answer is? Why did Bruce Ariens think Chris Johnson?

Doesn't know what he's doing? Three reasons. Three reasons. David Johnson had one error-filled game early in the season where he had a fumble and, I believe, a drop and missed past protection. Carson-Polmer loved Chris Johnson's past protection. And I think Ariens is a loyal person who thought, Chris Johnson had earned a longer rope.

I mean, and it was up until about three or four games ago where Chris Johnson was sensational, but clearly in November we saw that change. And this is where the Cardinals, what they didn't have last year was when their running back started to get injured and they couldn't run the ball. There was no one young like this to come in and do it.

Herwin Williams looked good today. Their offensive line is better than last season. And we sat in the studio in the Seahawks game on a Sunday night a few weeks ago and said, Chris Johnson just not physical enough to break tackles against good defenses. David Johnson is physical enough. Fisher couldn't wait to get to the podium

and announce that Case Keenham was going to start next week. Doesn't matter. It's like, I don't know. You talk about like class. You know, he's a classy guy. Like, isn't that part of class? Like, you can't wait to bury your starting quarterback Nick Foles who you traded for and gave that money to.

I'm not saying Nick Foles deserves any sort of things. No, I was going to say Jeff Fisher, class, he's not the first coach I would think of for Clay. Right, that's the competition committee, which Jeff Fisher is a major. remember of it. If they have some type of dinner party, like at the combine next year, don't think we're getting invited. I'm just going to go out of the limb. But Fisher also said after the game that he's run out of answers. There were multiple people that tweeted that said

he's run out. Has he ever had an answer for his offense? Well, in 1999, maybe. I don't know. It was quite a long time ago. A couple yards short. Anything else, Wes? No, I think that about covers it. Cardinals also have scored more points and allowed fewer points than the undefeated Panthers, I think they're just as good. How big is that comeback against the Seahawks? Because that's the only Seahawks lost in their last, what, seven games now? So the Seahawks would be right on the Cardinals' heels, if not for that huge comeback. Cardinals, I think, have won six in a row.

They're rolling. Playing good football. Moving on. Also playing good football, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with James Winston. You know, Winston continues to show the, this is what I call, Greg, the It Factor. Something I'm floating out there. A moxie. It factor, a new thing by me, Moxies.

fine too. The rookie quarterback had a key first down run on third and 19 and followed that rush four plays later with a game deciding touchdown pass to Mike Evans, 2319 win for the Bucks over the Falcons, Atlanta, which started the season 5 and 0 and has now lost five straight. They're 6 and 6. The Bucks are a legit playoff contender at 500 now. And I will hand it to, first of all, we'll talk about James Winston in a second here. I just want to say, what the Falcons are pulling off is admirable and impressive. You could start 5 and 0 and somehow be on basically almost out of contention for the playoffs by the first week of December. That's hard to do.

Congratulations. They're the reverse chiefs. They are. Can you think of the last team that did something very similar? Oh, the Broncos under. You got it. Yeah. You get the toaster.

You mean after Josh McDaniels was after beating the Patriots running around Denver's home field, pumping his fists at all four corners? I think there was 6-0, right? That's right. You know how I know that James Winston run was incredible? Because that ends up setting up the touchdown. They would have kicked the field goal. It looked like he was down. It's what I like to call

the Ortega meter. There's a man in our... The Ortega meter. And there's a Mark Ortega in our newsroom. And by the sound of his exultation, you can tell how good it plays. And it sounded like he gave labor to someone during that play. It was the most

insane sound I've ever heard. Like animals were being hurt. Well, Ortega is also, he goes through about six music shows a week. He might have just been really hung over, like throwing up in a garbage can. I think it's possible that all these things are true. But yeah, so, I mean, it was funny. I was on the NFL Now Game Day Blitz program, the White Couch of Shame or Truth, something like that.

And I believe it was I tell her that they're kind of amazed by Bucky Brooks and and MJD, what kind of like an awkward athlete. James Winston is that he doesn't, he's not fluid in his movements. I think Ike Taylor, here's the run if you're watching on YouTube. Ike Taylor referred to him as like an old Volvo. You know, this isn't a jaguar racing down the track. But he gets the job done.

I mean, he's a really interesting guy, a fun guy to watch. And I don't know if he's going to win offensive rookie of the year this year. Marcus Marriota is putting on, putting a lot of numbers up now. But Mari Cooper is having a big year. There's some options. Todd Gurley, if he could finish strong. But they got this right. And think about all the talk that went on in the off season about,

is this guy going to be the right pick? He is the right pick. He's saving jobs and stilling hope. What else can you want? I can think of a few teams that would take an old Volvo right now. And that's what he is. Your team. Wasn't he a lights out closer in college baseball?

How do we not think he's a great athlete? That's a good point. I think he's not a great, not that he wasn't a great athlete. athlete, but kind of an awkward, doesn't have, like, the fluid movement that you would expect. Ben Rothlisberg is kind of like that. And he was known for, that's fast. He was a phenomenal athlete. He was known for closing out games, too, in terms of making big comes backs in college.

And you've seen that at the end of these games, that he's confident. He had that quote, I think we have it talking about what he said to his team right before the game-winning drive. I go in the huddle, you know, out of that long drive guys, and a tire. I said, who wants a touchdown? I smiled. I said, who wants a touchdown? Mike said, me, me, me. And I said, all right, you're going to get it.

He's fun. I like it. I like James Winston. You bring up a good point, Greg, because Albert Breer wrote in his notebook a couple weeks ago, a good looking at the bucks and how impressed and really surprised they are by his leadership this season two. And this is a guy that back in May, when we knew it all,

we were going to say, oh, he's going to throw 40 interceptions. The guy's going to be a turnover machine. Instead, he's everything the opposite of what we thought he'd be, and he's completely surprising. I remember we were saying he can't handle it. We don't want him in the New York with the Jets because he couldn't handle the media. Nonsense. You know, I think you were joking about the it factor, and the geeks will tell us that there's no such thing.

Everything I know about the history of football tells me there is a it factor with quarterbacks, and I think he has it. And right now, Matt Ryan's the opposite. I mean, he sets up the game when he touched on. There's still time enough for Atlanta to go down and try to put some points on the board and win, and Ryan then throws his intercept him, which has become a weekly thing. He's not the reason they're losing, but he's also not. He's not pulling out games at the end. Who does he hands besides Julio Joan?

It's got nothing. Yeah, I mean, it's not all on him. And there's the other, I mean, he deserves obviously blame for really falling back this year. But he targeted Julio Jones 17 times in this game because he has nobody else to throw to. Like when Roddy White had a catch in this game, it was almost like they had to stop the game. And, you know, have him the ball. Yeah, having an address to the crowd like Brett Farr. But, I mean, it's gotten to that.

And the other thing about this offense, Devante Freeman, remember when he had eight touchings. In four or five games back in September and October, he's come down to Earth. He doesn't have a 100-yard game or a rushing touchdown in five weeks. So when you take that element out of their offense and the fact that they don't have weapons and Matt Ryan is not playing at his best, it is no surprise that their season has went down into this. It's not the first time that Kyle Shanahan's offense has gone off a cliff in, you know, Thanksgiving post- Thanksgiving. So you're saying no regrets about Kyle getting out, getting out the door?

I have so many regrets about the Cleveland Brown's den. Let's not go back there. All right. Let's move on then. I'm sorry, Mark. It's fine. Okay. The Miami Dolphins became the latest team to collect a pick six from Matt Schaub, the key play in a 15 to 13 victory over the Ravens in Miami.

Ryan Tannahill threw for just 86 yards in his first game without former offensive coordinator Bill Laser. Thanks, Zach. But Miami did enough to keep their, I'll say, their faint play. If they're on the NFL.com grid, like in the hunt, I'll say faint playoff. there today. I noticed TV graphics because they won this game. They basically have to win out. They got to win four in a row and hope multiple teams collapse. So that's

not really. But there's nothing with the Ravens though. They are done. Anybody have something to say about this game? This was not a pretty football in Miami. Well, I was tasked with watching this and I really don't think we should spend more than a minute. Okay. One minute you have, Mark. Matt Schaub, another pick six. This guy is unbelievable.

It's unbelievable. He's unbelievably bad luck, though. I mean, this wasn't totally his fault. He's an artist, and he's painting with interception. He's got to have something to do with this is happening this much. He's the greatest pick six artist of all time. You got to respect it. I mean, it's his corner. It's not a corner that you would say is lovable or something you'd want to be remembered as. Yet he says, this is mine. I'm owning it. You know, in a Christmas story where the narrator describes his dad as weaving a tapestry with cuss words? Yes. Shob weaves a tapestry with pick sixes. Do you know what the name is?

It was a tip pass. Yeah, but he knows every way to do it. Right. I will say this. There's one hopeful thing for the Ravens. You only got 20 seconds left, Mark. Buck Allen did a nice job. 170 combined yards today, a big threat as a pass catcher out of the backfield. Listen, there's not a lot to like in Baltimore. Fantasy playoffs. PPR leagues, 12 catches.

I'm going there, but it's played with it. You have six seconds. Devonte Parker, too, something for the Dolphins fans to look for you. Touchdown two weeks in row. There you go. And finally, Wes, in a Christmas story, what is the name of the father in Christmas story in the credits? I do not know. His name is the old

man moving on nice trivia dan thank you hey whenever you can bang the mailman with some trivia this is a great day i'm a rough day dan got the toaster you couldn't get the christmas story thing i got i got a jet's win over the giants i got a patriots loss i got milana vintraub our fantasy team clinching a buy i got my league of record fantasy team first place i'm flying home tonight i basically just took all the bad things away today let's get some young monday we got some Young Monday? So we just spent more time on Dan's fantasy league than the minute on this game.

Brandon, what's going on? We got some Young Monday back here? He doesn't know who Young Monday is. It'd be fine if you don't. Young Monday. Get your Dan Hansen. Get your Dan Hansus, but that's the artist, Young Monday. Get your Dan Hansus.

Just give me this moment, guys. Get your Dan Hansis is the man's best ready. You'll read. Now listen to the sounds from around the league. I heard from David Ely, our editor who's friends with Young Monday, that he was changing his name. Well, I think he's terrible idea.

The old Dirty Tuesday. No, he ditched the singing career, I believe, and just dropped the moniker altogether. He's now and again. I'll have to get involved with this because I think he has a lot of talent. Moving on, is Blaine Gabbard good? Yes. The former draft bus hit Tori Smith on a 71-yard touchdown pass in overtime. The difference in a 2620 win over the bears at Soldier Field.

Gabbert helped to force overtime with a 44-yard touchdown run. What is happening here? So, yes, again, is Blaine Gabbard good or do the bears just suck? Wes. You were saying the 44-yard run, what's happening here? Next-Gen stats have been pretty informative. 20 miles per hour. Entering this game, he had four of the five fastest speeds in the last month by a quarterback.

He can move, baby. He'd be perfect for a rollout offense. We were talking about NextGen. Didn't Carson Palmer have the fastest run of the year or something for a quarterback? No, he had a faster run than any. of Adrian Peterson's runs last week. I see. Colin Kaepernick, by the way,

tweeted out, congrats to Blaine and the rest of the team. Keep rolling. Like, how much is he writing that through gritted teeth? He's not writing anything. That Blaine Gabbard is looking so much better than Kaepard.

He didn't even know the Niners played today. Also, for all the people in a conga line waiting to put Jay Cutler in the Hall of Fame and give him the MVP award this year? Oh, stop it. Because he's doing so great this year. Westluck Strahman argues.

Oh, come on. Like, everybody. Just falling all over themselves to say Jay Cutler's awesome, one touchdown in his last three games. Gabbert, they didn't move the ball at all for three quarters either. But that contract is one of the biggest bargains in football. They have them under contract, I think, for like $1.5 million next year. He is a good option to be a starter. If he was going to be a free agent, I'm not saying he would work out wherever he went,

but he would get a good contract. And they're lucky to have him because they can now draft someone to pair with him. Four yards per attempt before overtime. Look who he's throwing to. The Gabbard zone. I understand. I'm just saying, you don't want to crown Jay Cuddler. I'm not ready to do that with Blank Gabbard.

I see improvement, but let's hear you thinking Gabbard. Why is that ridiculous? I know what Jay Cutler is. Because we know who Blaine Gabbard is too. No, we don't. We don't know who Blaine Gabbard is a good argument. Now we're going to say he's going to be a stud. Gabbard is a good argument to not always judge quarterbacks after three years on a terrible football team.

But at the same time, let's just. continue to wait and see and not draw a final conclusion at this point. Right. No, he's going to can. Gabbard. Okay. They're going to actually rename it Gabbard, Ohio. That's where Hall of Famers will be in charge. That doesn't sound good. That would be controversial.

Moving on, Marcus Mariotta put the Titans ahead for good with an 87 yard touchdown run. Finally seeing those legs. Midway through a crazy fourth quarter, the defining play in a wild, 42-39 win over the Jackson Maniota threw two touchdown passes to go with 112 yards on the ground out dueling Blake Bordles who fired five touchdown passes himself.

This game probably means squat gentlemen from a playoff standpoint, but these quarterbacks at least make these teams interesting, Greg, and that's worth something. The kids are all right. I mean, look at Winston, Mariotta, Bordels, all the young guys, car, like all these guys, all their teams have to be really happy with where they're at. I wish this was the game on Thursday night football, though. Oh, yeah. There were seven touchdowns in the fourth quarter of this game.

There were six touchdowns in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter of this game. It's incredible that Jaguars are so bad when Bortles is on pace for 36 touchdowns and 4,300 yards. Alan Robinson's on pace for 1,450 yards and 14 touchdowns. And Marioo, one of the best rookie games we've seen. Well, it's the defense, the Jaguars defense. Put it this way. The Chargers scored three points at home. then they scored 33 points in Jacksonville,

then they returned home, and they score three points. That's what the Jaguars defense is right now. Who's that on, Gus Bradley? Sure. But you can't make a Caldwell? You can't make a coaching change when your young quarterback's on pace for 36 touchdown. Somebody say Young Monday?

Bring him out of retirement. The kid can play. I would like to see. Dan checking his text. I want to know who Young Monday is. Young Monday, Brandon behind the glass, Young Monday is the performer. he's an emerging hip-hop artist in Southern California

who wrote and performed the hit single Get You Dan Hanses. Oh, okay. That's a pretty good song, actually. This episode has to be the record for game reviews, deep-sixed by Youngerun-Dade Talk. Listen to the song. Mark, listen to me a son.

I had heard this a thousand time NFL drinking game where you drink every time Dan goes third person. Because I think you're up to like four. There would be some. sobriety from east to west. There'd be some fatalities, I would think. Anybody else have anything else in this game? If not, let's move to Sunday night football. We've had some nice primetime games this year. This was not one of them. The Steelers and Colts, the Steelers really outclass the Colts led by Matt Hasselbeck, a 45 to 10 win for Pittsburgh, a game in

which Ben Rothelberger, who looks as good as ever right now, threw for four touchdowns, 364, no interceptions. DeAngelo Williams went over 150, total yards, Martavis, Brian, and Antonio Brown, each one over 100 yards with touchdowns. This was a one-sided affair, Greg Rosenthal, between a team, the cults that, listen, they're limited without Andrew Luck. They're not a great team, and the Steelers are a real favorite in the AFC. I stupidly thought this could be one of the games of the week. I was interested in watching it in the first quarter and a half the Colts are leading,

and we talked about it before we started taking it. It felt like a team that was playing its best just to stay in the game for a quarter and a half and then just an avalanche of Big Ben just dropped all over him. Yeah, I mean, we just talked about the Chiefs, the Bills, the Jets, all teams that have postseason hopes. But it's Pittsburgh for me. If you have Big Ben and he's healthy, the way this offense is playing,

I don't care what seed they are. I don't care how many playoff games they have to deal with. They could go the entire way in the AFC. Dan used the word outclass, which is perfect, because it's one thing for Matt Haslbeck to play the game manager rule and beat four bad teams. But you come up against a Steelers team.

This is what they've done offensively over the past month, 597 yards, 459 yards, 538 yards, 522 yards. The one game they didn't hit 500 yards was the game that Landry Jones started and Big Benz came in in relief. This is the best month-long stretch of offense than any teams had all year.

Wow. And I think with the Steelers, that's like what you were saying, Mark. when I look at it from the perspective of a Jets team at 7 and 5, I see the Steelers of the team. They're going to take one of those wild cards spots. They're too talented. So we just put the Steelers and Chiefs in the playoffs.

See, I won't go that far with Casey, but the Steelers barring another Big Ben injury, which, let's be honest, we can't rule out. The guy gets hurt now from time to time and could miss time. But I think they are so much better than most of the AFC, and they show it on a weekly basis. They have to play the two top seeds in the next two weeks, the Bengals and Broncos.

They might be better than those teams. Maybe they'll win both of those games. I think they are better in Denver. I would be surprised if they didn't split at least. But let's say let's give them a split. But that opens the door and it makes it more interesting for teams like the Jets. Okay. Maybe aren't as good, but it opens the door for them. But the Jets have to win two.

Right, and the Bills. And the Jets are about a 50% chance to be in any team on their schedule. Let's talk about the games that Pittsburgh won when there was no Big Ben. And Levyon Bell's been out for a big chunk of the year. I mean, this is one of the most resilient teams in the entire NFL. consistent week to week. You get them in there. I don't care who they play with. They could deal with New England. They could take them down on a good day. And their performance last week, having the lead and then blowing it against Seattle in Seattle, it looks a little different even today

when you see how well Seattle's playing. Those are two of the best teams in the NFL going to toe to toe to toe in Seattle last week. What I think today did was put away any hope that the AFC South is going to get a wildcar team. That's over with. The Texans with a bad road loss. But you were the only person in America. No, they literally were in the playoffs if it ended today. Yeah, but nobody believed that that was going to hold true for five weeks. No, no one did. You're right.

Okay. Any other thoughts about this game, gentlemen? No, I think we covered it. I think the Colts defense hasn't gotten any better this year. You know what I mean? No one's going to stop the Steelers offense at this point, except for a very good defense. And the Colts just aren't that.

They haven't shown any progress really throughout the season. When's Andrew Luck coming back? Week 15, according to Thursday, right? They think. Matt Hasbeck left this game with an injury, never good when Charlie Whitehurst. As much as we love clipboard Jesus here around the NFL podcast, when he's in the game, it only signals bad things.

Speaking of Sunday Night Football, Mark, did you happen to see Bob Costas' jaunty scarf? Ooh. Yeah, I saw a tweet from Colleen Wolf who noticed that it wasn't just a scarf, but a turtleneck cited that as a power combination for Costas. You call that a power. A power turtleneck. Power scarf.

A power scarf. Those two words have never been put back to back before. We made history on the round of the NFL pockets just now. Mark, thank you for doing that for us. Quite a knife for you. Between that and all your favorite players running around for Pittsburgh, big Ben James Harrison had a big night. He's ageless.

Love that guy, Mark. I cannot wait to get out of the studio. Well, we're going to let you out of the studio right now, Mark. Rest up, buddy. We will be back. Just know we're going to be back on Tuesday with Colleen Wolfe. We have to go to work on Monday, Mark. I can't wait to get back in the studio for that.

Yeah, you know you have to come into work tomorrow also and pump out high-octane posts, maybe a couple of the Browns. We'll see. All right. I'm not promising. I want a sunny disposition with it, too. Happy Mark. All right. So we'll be back on Tuesday.

Colleen Wolf will sit in on the show again. We love having Connie Fox with us, so she'll be back. So make sure you check that out. Thank you for watching on YouTube. Thanks for listening along. Make sure to leave some comments and leave us. High star ratings on iTunes. Check us out on Stitcher, whatever that is.

Just validate our experience until then. This is Dan Hansis, signing off. For Quiet Storm, the mailman, Chris Wesley. The boss. Brandon. Be behind his last. Don't Tuesday. Got to get a nickname for Brandon.

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